PRO 



PRO 



altogether; as affording no sufficient data 

 for religious truth, but engendering only 

 strife, animosity, division, and bloodshed : 

 and, it must be confessed, that when the 

 enemies of the Protestant faith behold 

 the rancour, the bigotry, and the malice 

 of many sectaries, and particularly of 

 those sects which are the most numerous 

 and popular, they have but too much 

 ground for their triumphs. When the 

 spirit of ChiUingworth shall have influ- 

 enced the hearts, and directed the lives 

 of all Protestants, their professions will 

 be as consistent as their leading princi- 

 ples are rational and scriptural. That au- 

 thor addressing himself to a Romish 

 writer, speaks of the religion of Protes- 

 tants in the following terms. " Know then, 

 Sir, that when I say the religion of Pro- 

 testants is in prudence to be preferred be- 

 fore yours ; as, on the one side, 1 do not 

 understand by your religion the doctrine 

 of Bellarmine or Baronius, or any other 

 private man amongst you, nor the doc- 

 trine of the Sorbonne, or of the Jesuits, 

 or of the Dominicans, or of any other 

 particular company among you ; but that 

 wherein you all agree, the doctrine of the 

 Council of Trent ; so accordingly, on the 

 other side, by the religion of Protestants 

 I do not understand the doctrine of Luther, 

 or Calvin, or Melancthon ; nor the con- 

 fession of Augsburg or Geneva ; nor the 

 catechism of Heidelberg, nor the arti- 

 cles of the church of England no, nor 

 the harmony of Protestant confessions ; 

 but that wherein they all agree, and 

 which they all subscribe with a greater 

 harmony, as a perfect rule of faith and 

 action, that is, THE BIBLE! The Bible, 

 I say, the Bible only, is the religion of 

 Protestants. Whatsoever else they be- 

 lieve besides it, and the plain, irrefraga- 

 ble, indubitable consequences of it, well 

 may they hold it as a matter of opinion ; 

 but as a matter of faith and religion, 

 neither can they with coherence to their 

 own grounds, believe it themselves, nor 

 require belief of it of others, without most 

 high and most schismatical presumption. 

 I, for my part, after a long (and I verily 

 believe and hope) impartial search of the 

 true way to eternal happiness, do profess 

 plainly, that I cannot find any rest for the 

 sole of my foot, but upon this rock only. 

 I see plainly, and with my own eyes, that 

 there are popes against popes, and coun- 

 cils against councils ; some fathers against 

 other fathers, and sorae fathers against 

 themselves ; a consent of fathers of one 

 age against consent of fathers of another 

 age ; traditive interpretations of scripture 



are pretended, but there are few or none 

 to be found : no tradition but that of 

 scripture can derive itself from the foun- 

 tain ; but may be plainly proved either to 

 have been brought in in such an age after 

 Christ, or that in such an age it was not 

 in. In a word, there is no sufficient cer- 

 tainty but that of scripture only, for any 

 considering man to build upon. This, 

 therefore, and this only, I have reason 

 to believe. This I will profess ; accord- 

 ing to this I will live ; and for this, if there 

 be occasion, 1 will not only willingly 

 but even gladly, lose my life ; though I 

 should be sorry that Christians should take 

 it from me. Propose me any thing out of 

 the book, and require whether I believe 

 it or no, and seem it never so incompre- 

 hensible to human reason, I will sub- 

 scribe it with hand and heart, as knowing 

 no demonstration can be stronger than 

 this: God hath said so, therefore it is 

 true. Irv other things I will take no man's 

 liberty of judging from him, neither shall 

 any man take mine from me. I will think 

 no man the worse man, nor the worse 

 Christian ; I will love no man the less for 

 differing in opinion from me. And what 

 measure I mete to others, I expect from 

 them again. I am fully assured that 

 God does not, and therefore men ought 

 not, to require any more of any man than 

 this : to believe the scripture to be God's 

 word; to endeavour to find the true sense 

 of it, and to live according to it " 



Such are the genuine principles of 

 Protestantism ; such the spirit by which 

 all Christians ought to be actuated. Those 

 meu, who, calling themselves Protest- 

 ants, are of a contrary spirit (and it is a 

 lamentable fact that their number is daily 

 increasing) are a disgrace to their pro- 

 fession, and bring dishonour on the com- 

 mon cause of Christianity. Their devo- 

 tion is enthusiasm, and their zeal mad- 

 ness ; while their increasing number por- 

 tends one of the greatest of all public cala- 

 mities; threatening to rekindle the latent 

 embers of persecution, again to light 

 up those fires which the united efforts 

 of reason, philosophy, and the principles 

 of rational religion have conspired to ex- 

 tinguish for ever. See AHMINIANS, PRKS- 



BYTEBIANS, PURITANS, REFORMATION, and 



ROMA?* CATHOLICS. 



PROTESTATION is a form in plead- 

 ing, when one does not directly affirm or 

 deny any thing that is alleged by another, 

 or which he himself alleges. 



PROTRACTOR is the name of an in- 

 strument used for protracting or laying 

 down on paper the angles of a field, or 



