I. " That we, in these nations, first received the Christian religion from Rome, by the mission and authority of the pope."
II. " That whence and from whom we first received our religion, there and with them we ought to abide; to them we must repair for guidance in all our concernments in it; and speedily return to their rule and conduct, if we have departed from them."
III. " That the Roman profession of religion and practice in the worship of God is every way the same as it was when we fii^st re- ceived our religion from thence ; nor can ever otherwise be."
IV. " That all things, as to religion, were quiet and in peace, all men in union and at agi'eement amongst themselves in the worship of God, according to the mind of Christ, before the relinquishment of the Roman see by our forefathers."
V. " That the first reformers were the most of them sorry, con- temptible persons, whose errors were propagated by indirect means, and entertained for sinister ends."
VI. " That our departure from Rome hath been the cause of all our evils, and particularly of all those divisions which are at this day
VOL. XIV. 2
1 S ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TREATISE
found amongst the Protestants, and which have been ever since the Reformation."
VII. " That we have no remedy of om' evils, no means of ending our differences, but by a return unto the rule of the Roman see."
VIII. " The Scripture, upon sundry accounts, is insufficient to settle us in the truth of religion, or to bring us to an agi'eement amongst ourselves; seeing it is, — 1. Not to be known to be the word of God but by the testimony of the Roman church ; 2. Cannot be well translated into our vulgar language ; 8. Is in itself obscure ; and, 4. We have none to determine of the sense of it."
IX. " That the pope is a good man, one that seeks nothing but our good, that never did us harm, and hath the care and inspection of us committed unto him by Christ."
X. " That the devotion of the Catholics far transcends that of Pro- testants, nor is their doctrine or worship liable to any just exception."
I suppose our author will not deny these to be the principal nerves and sinews of his oration; nor complain I have done him the least injury in this representation of them, or that any thing of imj)ort- ance unto his advantage, by himself insisted on, is here omitted. He that runs and reads, if he observe any thing that lies before him, besides handsome words and ingenious diversions, will consent that here lies the substance of what is offered unto him. I shall not need, then, to tire the reader and myself with transcriptions of those many words from the several parts of his discourse, wherein these principles are laid down and insinuated, or gilded over, as things on all hands granted. Besides, so far as they are interwoven with other reason- ings, they will fall again under our consideration in the several places where they are used and improved. If all these principles, upon examination, be found good, true, firm, and stable, it is most meet and reasonable that our author should obtain his desire: and if, on the other side, they shall appear some of them false ; some impertinent, and the deductions from them sophistical ; some of them destructive to Christian religion in general ; none of them singly, nor all of them together, able to bear the least part of that weight which is laid upon them, — I suppose he cannot take it ill if we resolve to be contented with our present condition, until some better way of deliverance from it be proposed unto us ; which, to tell him the truth, for my part, I do not expect from his church or party. Let us, then, consider these principles apart, in the order wherein we have laid them down ; which is the best I could think on upon the sudden, for the advantage of him who makes use of them : —
I. The first is a hinge, upon which many of those which follow do in a sort depend ; yea, upon the matter, all of them. Our primitive receiving Christian religion from Rome is that which influences all
ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 1 9
persuasions for a return tliitlier. Now, if this must be admitted to be tine, that we in these nations first received the Christian religion from Rome, l)y the mission and authority of the pope, it either must be so because the proposition carries its own evidence in its very terms, or because our author, and those consenting with him, have had it by revelation, or it hath been testified to them by others who knew it so to be. That the fii'st it doth not, is most certain : for it is very possible it might have been brought unto us from some other place, from whence it came to Rome; for, as I take it, it had not there its beginning. Nor do I suppose they will plead special reve- lation, made either to themselves or any others about this matter. I have read many of the revelations that are said to be made to sundry persons canonized by his church for saints, but never met with any thing concerning the place from whence England first received the gospel. Nor have I yet heard Revelation pleaded to this purpose by any of his copartners in design. It remains, then, that somebody hath told him so, or informed him of it, either by writing or by word of mouth. Usually, in such cases, the first inquiry is, whether they be credible persons who have made the report. Now, the pre- tended authors of this story may, I suppose, be justly questioned, if on no other, yet on this account, that he who designs an advantage by their testimony, doth not indeed believe what they say. For, notwithstanding what he would fain have us believe of Christianity coming into Britain from Rome, he knows well enough, and. tells us elsewhere himself, that it came directly by sea from Palestine into France, and was thence brought into England by Joseph of Arima- thea. And what v/as that faith and worship which he brought along with him we know full well, by that which was the faith and worship of his teachers and associates in the work of propagating the gospel, recorded in the Scripture. So that Christianity found a passage to Britain without so much as once visiting Rome by the way. " Yea, but one hundred and fifty years after, Fugatius and Damianus came from Rome, and jDropagated the gospel here; and four hundred years after them, Austin the monk." Of these stories we shall speak par- ticularly afterward. But this quite spoils the whole market in hand. This is not a first receiving of the gospel, but a second and third at the best; and if that be considerable, then so ought the proposition to be laid. These nations a second and third time, after the first from another place, received the gospel from Rome ; but this will not discharge that bill of following items which is laid upon it. What- ever, then, there is considerable in the place or persons from whence or whom a nation or people receives the gospel, as far as it concerns us in these kingdoms, it relates to Jerusalem and Jews, not Rome and Italians. Indeed, it had been very possible that Christian re-