Kin• Jameso If. 168 . ~ 7/;e HIS T 0 R Y of the PuRITANS. VoL. II. his own convedion ; which were, the "great devotion of tbe church if " Rome ; the adorning their churches ; their aCls if charity, which wo·e " greater than the protejlants could boajl if; the numbers who retired from " the world, and devoted the"!feh1es to a religious life. He was convinced " that Chrift had left an infallibility in the church, which the apoftles ac– " knowledged to be in St. Peter, ACls xv. It was the authority of the " church (fays he), that declared the fcriptures to be canonical; and cer– " tainly, they who declared them could only interpret them, and where– " ever this iifallibi/ity was, there muft be a clear fucceflion, which could " be no where but in the church of Rome, the church of England not " pretending to i'!fa/libility, though fhe aCled as if fhe did, by perfecut– " ing thofe who differed from her, as well proteftant difrenters as papifl:s; " but he coul<l fee no reafon, why dijfenters might not feparate from the " church of England, as well as the church of England had done from " that of Rome. --" 'f'heprincefi's The PRINCESS anfwered the king's letter with great refpeet; "fhe rep!;•. " affirmed the right if privatejudgment, according to the apoftle's rule, '' of proving all things, and holding fajl that ~~·hich is good. She faw clear– " ly from the fcriptures, that jhe mufl not belie~Je by the faith if another, '' but according as things appeared to herjf!f. She confeJred, if there was " an infallibility in the church, all other controveriies muft fall before it, " but that it was not yet agreed where it was lodged, whether in a pope or " a general council, or both; and fhe defired to know in whom the in– " fallibility refted, when there were two or th ree popes at a time, aCling " one againfl: another; for certainly the fucceflion muft then be di fo rder– " ed. She maintained the lawfulnefs and necefiity of reading the holy " fcriptures ; for though faith was above reafon, it propofed nothing " contradiCtory to it. St. Paul ordered his epiftles to be read in al l the " churches; and he fays in one place, I write m to wife men, JU DGF. " YE WHAT I sAy; and if they might judge an apoftle, much more " any vtber teacher. Sbe excufGd the church of England's perfecuting " the difrenters, in the beft manner the could, and i:1id the reformers had " brought things to as great perfeCtion, as thofe corrupt ages were capable '' of; and !he did not fee how the church was to blame, becaufe the laws " were made by thejlate, and for civil crimes, and that the grounds of " the difrenters leaving the church, were different from thofe for which « they had feparated from the church of Rome --" It was impofli– ble for the princefs to clear up this objeetion. But bifhop Burnet adds ve– ry juftly, that the feverities of the church againfl: the difrenters, were urP· 725· ged with a very ill grace, by one if the church if Rome, that has delighted herfelf fo often, by being as it were bathed with the blood of tlitofe they call heretics. Upon the whole it appeared, that her highnefs was immove– . · ably
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