errs. VIII. Ofconflancy in the Profefuìon ofthe. True Religion. 63 thofe Points of Doctrine and Pratttce which we oble& to them ; what can be more impertinent than this Demand ? When they know that . in all thefe Points we charge them with Innovations in Matters of Faith and Practice, and fay that thofe things came in by degrees, feveral Ages after the Apoftles time, fotne fooner, fone later ; as we are able to make good, and have done it. And would they have us fhew them a Vifible Church, that oppofed thefe Errors and Corruptions in their Church, before ever they appeared ? This we do not pretend to thew. And fuppofing they had not been at all oppofed, when they appeared, nor a long time after, not till the Reformation ; yet if they be Errors and Corruptions of the Chriftian Doftrine, and contrary to the Holy Scriptures, and to the Faith and Practice of the Primitive Church ; there is no Prefeription againft. Truth. 'Tis never too late for any Church to rejel thofe Errors and Corruptions, and to re- form it felf from them. The bottom of all this Matter is, they would have us to thew them a Society of Chriftians, that in all Ages have preferved it felf free from all fuch Errors and Corruptions as.wecharge them withal ; or elfe we deny the perpetual Vifibility of the Catholick Church. No fuch Matter. We fay the Church of Chrift hath always been vifible in every Age fince Chrifl's time ; and that the feveral Socie- ties of Chriftians, profellìng the Chriftian Doctrine, and Laws of Chrift, have madeup the Catholick Church ; force Parts whereof have in feveral Ages fallen into great Errors and Corruptions ; and no part of the Catholick into more and greater than the Church of Rome ; fo that it requires the utmoft of our Charity to think that they are a. true, tho' a very unfound and corrupt part of the Catho- lick Churchof Chrift. We acknowledge likewife, that Wewere once involved in the like Degeneracy ; but by .the Mercy of God, and pious Care and Prudence of thofe that were in Authority, are happily refcuedout of it : And tho' we were not out of the Ca- tholick Church before ; yet fence our Reformation from the Errors and Cor- ruptions of the Church of Rome, we are in it upon better Terms, and are a much founder Part of it ; and I hope, by the Mercy and Goodnefs of God, we lhall for ever continue fo. So that to the perpetual Vifibility of Chrift's Church, it is not necefhary that the whole Chriftian Church, nor indeed that any part of it should be free front all Errors and Corruptions. Even the Churches planted by the Apoftles in the Primitive Times, were not fo. Si. Paul reproves feveral Doftrines,and Practices in the Church ofCorinth, and of Coloffe, and of Galatia ; and the Spirit of God, fe- veral Things in the Seven Churches of Afla : And yet all thefe were true Parts and Members of the Catholick Church of Chrift, notwithftanding thefe Faults and Errors; becaufe they all agreed in the main and effential Doftrines of Chri- Itianity. And when more and greater Corruptions grew upon the Church, or any Part of it, the greater reafon and need there was of a Reformation. And as every particular Perfon hath a Right to reform any thing that he finds amifs in himfelf, fo far as concerns himfelf; fo much more every National Church hath a Power within it felf, to reform it felffrom allErrors and Corruptions, and by the San&ion of the Catholick Authority to confirm that Reformation ; . which is our Cafe here inEngland. And whatever Part of the Church, how great and eminent foever, excludes from her Communion fuels a National' Church, for reforming her felf from plain Errors and Corruptions, clearly condemned by the Word of God, and by the Doctrine and .Prafticeofthe Primitive Chriftian Church, is un- doubtedly guilty of Schifin. And this is the Truth of the Cafe between us and the Church of Rome. And no blind talk about a Perpetual Vifible Church can render Us guilty of Schifm, for making a real Reformation ; or acquit Them of . it, for carting us out of their Communion for that Caufe. Seventhly, and Lally, (to mention no more) theypretend, that we delude the People, by laying too much ftrefs upon Scripture, and making it the only Rule of Faith and Manners : Whereas Scripture and Tradition together make up the entire Rule of Faith ; and not Scripture interpreted by every Man's private Fancy, but by Tradition carefully preferved in the Church. So that it ought to be
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