Christians Now I must confess these Notes as he well observes are common to all Christian Churches and were intended to be so and if this does not answer his Design we cannot help it The Protestant Churches do not desire to confine the Notes of the Church to their own private Communions but are very glad if all the Churches in the World be as true Churches as themselves The whole Catholick Church which consists of a great many particular Diocesan or National Churches has the same Nature And when the whole consists of univocal parts every part must have the same Nature with the whole And therefore as he who would describe a man must describe him by such Characters as fit all Mankind so he who gives the Essential Characters of a Church must give such Notes as fit all true Churches in the World. This indeed does not fit the Church of Rome to make it the only Catholick and the only true Church nor do we intend it should but it fits all true Churches wherever they are and that is much better To answer then his Argument when we give Notes which belong to a whole Species as we must do when we give the Notes of a true Christian Church there being a great many true Churches in the World which make up the Catholick or Universal Church we must give such Notes as belong to the whole kind that is to all true Christian Churches And though these Notes are common indeed to all true Christian Churches yet they are proper and peculiar to a true Christian Church as the Essential Properties of a man are common to all men but proper to mankind And this is necessary to make them true Notes For such Notes of a true Church as do not fit all true Churches cannot be true Notes As for what the Cardinal urges That all Sects of Christians think themselves to have the true Faith and true Sacraments I am apt to think they do but what then If they have not the true Faith and true Sacraments they are not true Churches whatever they think of it and yet the true Faith and true Sacraments are certain Notes of a true Church A Purchase upon a bad Title which a man thinks a good one is not a good Estate but yet a Purchase upon a Title which is not only thought to be but is a good one is a good Estate All that can be said in this case is That men can be no more certain that they have a true Church than they are that they have a true Faith and true Sacraments and this I readily grant But as mens mistakes in this matter does not prove that there is no true Faith nor true Sacraments so neither does it prove that a true Faith and true Sacraments are not Notes of the true Church 2. The Cardinal 's second Objection is That the Notes of any thing must be more known than the thing it self which we readily grant Now says he which is the true Church is more knowable than which is the true Faith and this we deny and that for a very plain reason because the true Church cannot be known without knowing the true Faith for no Church is a true Church which does not profess the true Faith. We may as well say that we can know a Horse without knowing what the shape and figure of a Horse is which distinguishes it from all other Creatures as that we can know a Christian Church without knowing what the Christian Faith is which distinguishes it from all other Churches or we may as well say that we can know any thing without knowing what it is since the very Essence of a true Church consists in the true Faith which therefore must be first known before we can know the true Church But the Cardinal urges that we cannot know what true Scripture is nor what is the true interpretation of Scripture but from the Church and therefore we must know the Church before we can koow the true Faith. As for the first I readily grant that at this distance from the writing the Books of the New Testament there is no way to assure us that they were written by the Apostles or Apostolical men and owned for inspired Writings but the Testimony of the Church in all Ages But herein we do not consider them as a Church but as credible Witnesses Whether there be any such thing as a Church or not we can know only by the Scriptures But without knowing whether there be a Church or not if we know that for so many Hundred years these Books have been owned to be written by such men and have been received from the Apostles days till now by all who call themselves Christians this is as good an Historical Proof as we can have for any thing and it is the Authority of an uninterrupted Tradition not the Authority of the Church considered as a Church which moves us to believe them For setting aside the Authority of Tradition how can the Authority of a Company of men who call themselves the Church before I know whether there be any Church move me to believe any thing which was done 1600. years a-go But there is a Company of men in the World and have been successively for 1600. years whether they be a Church or not is nothing to this question who assure me that these Books which we call the Scriptures were written by such inspired men and contain a faithful account of what Christ did and taught and suffered and therefore I believe such Books and from them I learn what that true Faith is which makes a true Christian Church As for the true interpretation of Scripture that we cannot understand what it is without the Church this I also deny The Scriptures are very intelligible to honest and diligent Readers in all things necessary to salvation and if they be not I desire to know how we shall find out the Church for certainly the Church has no Character but what is in the Scripture and then if we must believe the Church before we can believe or understand the Scriptures we must believe the Church before we can possibly know whether there be a Church or not If we prove the Church by the Scripture we must believe and understand the Scripture before we can know the Church If we believe and understand the Scriptures upon the Authority and Interpretation of the Church considered as a Church then we must know the Church before the Scripture The Scripture cannot be known without the Church nor the Church without the Scripture and yet one of them must be known first and yet neither of them can be known first according to these Principles which is such an absurdity as all the Art of the World can never palliate 3. The Cardinal 's third Objection is That the true Notes of the Church must be inseparable from it whereas the Churches of Corinth and Galatia did not always teach true Doctrine some of the Church
of this for all those Articles which are before the Holy Catholick Church must in order of Nature be known before it That there is a God who made the World that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and descended into Hell that he rose again the third day from the dead and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence shall come to judg the Quick and the Dead I believe in the Holy Ghost and then we may add the Holy Catholick Church and not till then For the Church is a Society of Men for the Worship of God through the Faith of Jesus Christ by the Sanctification of the Holy Spirit which unites them into one Mystical Body So that we must know Father Son and Holy Ghost before we can know what the Catholick Church means And is it not strange then that our Faith must be founded on the Authority of the Church when we must first know all the great Articles of our Faith before we can know any thing about a Church This inverts the order of our Creed which according to the Principles of the Church of Rome should begin thus I believe in the Holy Catholick Church and upon the Authority of that Church I believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost and no doubt but the Apostles or those Apostolical Men who framed the Creed would have put it so had they thought the whole Christian Faith must be resolved into the Authority of the Church This short Discourse I think is enough in general concerning the Notes of the Church and I shall leave the particular Examination of Cardinal Bellarmin's Notes to other Hands which the Reader may expect to follow in their order The End. BELLARMIN'S First Note of the Church concerning the name of Catholick EXAMINED Prima Nota est ipsum Catholicae Ecclesiae Christianorum nomen Bellar. cap. 4. de notis Ecclesiae p. 1477. IMPRIMATUR Apr. 8. 1687. Guil. Needham RR. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Domest THat the sincere Preaching of the Faith or Doctrine of Christ as it 's laid down in the Scripture is the only sure Infallible Mark of the Church of Christ is a Truth so clear in it self so often and fully prov'd by Learned Men of the Reformation that it may justly seem a Wonder that any Church which is not conscious to her self of any Errors and Deviations from it should refuse to put her self upon that Tryal This gave Being to the Church of Christ at first makes it One and makes it Catholick According as this fares in any Part or Member of it is that Church distinguish'd and denominated it will be True or False Pure or Corrupt Sound or Heretical according as the Faith it holds bears a conformity or repugnance to the written Doctrine of our Saviour An Orthodox Faith makes an Orthodox Church but if her Faith becomes Tainted and Heterodox the Church will be so too and should it happen wholly to Apostatize from the Faith of Christ it would wholly cease to be a Christian Church This may seem to be the Reason that the present Church of Rome being notoriously warp'd from Truth declines the being examined and measur'd by this Rule having indeed some reason to be against the Scripture that is so evidently against her and endeavours to support her self with great Names and Swelling Titles Hence it is that we so often hear of the Name of Catholick Antiquity Amplitude Vnity Succession Miracles Prophecy and several others that their great Cardinal sets down as so many perpetual and never-failing Marks and Characters to find out the True Church and to Assert his own I shall in this short Tract examine the first of these and that I may give it all the fair play imaginable endeavour to represent it in its full force and to its best advantage Bellarmin makes it thus to speak for it self The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3.4 makes it the Sign and Mark of Scismaticks to be called after the Name of particular Men tho' of the Apostles themselves whether of Paul or Apollos or Cephas And in the Writings of the ancient Fathers the Orthodox Churches were known and distinguish'd by the name of Catholick and the Conventicles of Scismaticks and Hereticks by the Names of their first Authors And therefore since the Church of Rome is by all even her bitterest Adversaries called Catholick and the several Sects of the Reform'd after the Names of their particular Doctors as Luther Calvin Zuinglius and the like it follows that the Name of Catholick is not only a sure undoubted Mark of the true Church but also that this Church of Rome is that Church This is his Argument and as much as he values his Church upon it I can see no more in it but this that because Churches professing the true Orthodox Faith were anciently styl'd Catholick therefore all that have been styled Catholick since be their Faith what it will must be True and Orthodox Churches And because the Apostle forbids Christians to be call'd after the Name of particular Men tho of never so great Eminency in the Church And those mentioned in the Works of the Ancients were really Scismaticks and Hereticks that were so call'd as the Valentinians Marcionites Montanists and others Therefore all that in after-Ages shall be so nick-nam'd tho out of Malice and Ill-will by their Enemies whilst they disown it themselves must go for Scismaticks and Hereticks This is so weak a Topick that I might justly break off here having expos'd it sufficiently by a bare Representing of it Yet for the Reader 's farther Information and Satisfaction in this matter I shall proceed to shew these three Things I. In what Respect the name of Catholick was esteemed by some of the Fathers in their Time a Note of a Catholick Church and in what Respects 't will ever be a standing Note of it II. That from the bare name of Catholick no Argument can be drawn to prove a Church to be Catholick III. That the Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the true Catholick Faith neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church I. In what Respect the Name of Catholick was esteemed by some of the Fathers in their Time a Note of the Catholick Church and c. And this as evidently appears from their Writings and even from those Testimonies cited by Bellarmine was upon the Account of the Catholick Faith that in their Time was generally and for the most part in conjunction with the Name of Catholick and when ever it is so 't will be an Infallible Note of a Catholick Church The Catholick Faith is that which was deliver'd by Christ himself to his Apostles and by them to the Church contain'd in those Writings which they by
more evidently proved to be no true Catholicks than those of the Roman Communion may in all those Articles of Faith which are peculiar to themselves For as to Points of mere Belief how much more than the Apostles Creed can they shew us to have been received always every where and by all Christians But as for that large Addition of Tridentine Articles annexed to that Creed by P. Pius the 4th no unbiassed Person can believe they have ever done any thing like proving that any of them have been received always and much less every where and by all those whom themselves own for Catholick Christians 4. By this Note of a Catholick no Society of Christians can bid so fair for Catholicism as the Reformed Churches but especially the Church of England whose avowed Principle it is to receive nothing as an Article of Faith but what is contained in the holy Scriptures Artic. 6. or may be proved thereby Nor doth she embrace any one Doctrine as an Article of Faith but what is clearly expressed in those Books of whose Canonicalness there never was the least Dispute in the Primitive Church Secondly I proceed to shew that if we should acknowledg this to be a true Note of the Catholick Church instead of enabling the Church of Rome to make good her Pretension of so being it will destroy it And instead of doing Disservice to the Reformed Churches it will do them excellent Service and be a certain Argument of their being true Parts of the Catholick Church And 1. I will shew that it will not at all Advantage the Church of Rome as to that her Pretension and therefore can do us no Prejudice The Cardinal proves 1. That his Church began to fructify throughout the World in the Days of the Apostles from these Words of St. Paul Col. 1.6 The Truth of the Gospel is come unto you as it is in all the World and bringeth forth Fruit as it doth also in you c. But what is this to his Church Is the Gospel's bringing forth Fruit in all the World the same thing with the Church of Rome's so doing 2. He adds the Authority of several Fathers for this Church's being spread in their Time all over the then known World but gives us none of their Sayings except St. Prosper's The first Father he cites is St. Irenaeus in the 3d Chapter of his Book Edit Paris p. 53. But the Father here only saith That this Faith which he sums up immediately before and is but the chief part of the Apostle's Creed the Church disseminated throughout the World diligently preserves as if it were confined but to one House But how doth this concern the Church of Rome Which is not once mentioned with others here particularly named except we could be made to believe that wheresoever the Word Church is found that Church is still to be understood Next he cites Tertullian adversùs Judaeos Edit Rig. p. 189. and having search'd that Book these or none are the Words he means viz. Those Words of David are to be understood of the Apostle's their Sound is gone forth in all the Earth and their Words unto the End of the World For in whom have all Nations believed but in Christ who is now come The Parthians Medes Elamites and those that inhabit Mesopotamia Armenia Phrygia Cappadocia Pontus Asia and Pamphilia Egypt Africa and beyond Cyrene the Romans and Jews now in Jerusalem and other Nations as now of the Getuli and Moors all Spain divers Countries of the Gauls and those of the Britains which the Romans could never conquer are subject to Christ c. But I again ask What is all this to the Church of Rome more than to any other particular Church belonging to any one of the many Nations of which that of the Romans is one and two whole Quarters of the World here mentioned His third Father is St. Cyprian Edit Oxon. p. 10◠in his Book de Vnitate Ecclesiae But here is nothing he could fancy to be for his purpose except these Words The Church is one which by its Fruitfulness is extended into a Multitude As there are many Rays of the Sun and but one Light c. So the Church of our Lord which being filled with Light sends forth her Beams through the whole World is but one Light which is diffused every-where But though this be said of the Catholick Church is here the least Intimation that the Church of Rome is this Catholick Church After St. Cyprian follow several of the later Fathers their Books being only directed to But the narrow room I am confined to will not permit me to examine them nor need we look any farther to be satisfied how this greatest Man of the Roman Church condescended to the most shameful impertinence in citing Scripture and Fathers for the doing her Service But we must not overlook St. Prosper's Verses in his Book de Ingratis viz. Sedes Roma Petri quae Pastoralis Honoris Facta Caput Mundo quicquid non possidet Armis Relligione tenet i. e. Rome the Seat of Peter being made the Head of Pastoral Honour in the World whatsoever Country she possesseth not by her Arms she holds by her Religion But considering how early this Father lived viz. about the beginning of the Fifth Century he could mean no more than this That the Church of Rome the most Honourable of all other by means of that Cities being the ancient Seat of the Emperors keeps still possession of those places by the Religion they received from Her over which she hath lost Her Old Dominion And what is this but another plain Instance of most idle quoting of Ancient Authors Not to reflect upon Fetching Arguments from Poetical Flourishes But not to stand to consider how Ample the Roman Church was in the times of those Fathers nothing is more evident than that that part of Christendom she took up was but a small Spot of Ground compared with the Space those Churches filled which tho they held Communion with Her were distinct Churches from Her and owned no Subjection to Her. And it was about or above an Hundred Years after the youngest of those Fathers that the Pope was inverted by that Execrable Wretch Phocas a Blessed Title in the mean time with the Primacy over all Churches And Gregory the Great who died in the Beginning of the Sixth Century not only sharply inveighed against John Patriarch of Constantinople and his Successor Cyriacus for assuming to themselves the Title of Vniversal Bishops though there was no appearance of their designing any thing more thereby than an Addition of Honour not of Power to that Patriarchate but also called those who should affect such a Haughty Title Greg. Epist 37. 70. lib. 11. Ep. 30. l. 4. the Forerunners of Antichrist And as these Bishops taking this Title was a Demonstration that they acknowledged not the least Subjection to the Bishops of Rome so Pope Gregory's calling
venture their Cause to any other Sentence but that of Scripture which had so plainly decided for them and was indeed the most proper to be appealed to yet the greatest number and the most learned of the Protestant Writers have never declined the Judgment of the Primitive Church but next to the inspired Writings of the Apostles have always esteemed and been willing to be determined by it And we are well assured that the Ancient Church even the Roman it self as well as the whole Christian besides is in all material Points on the Protestant side and a perfect Stranger if not an utter Enemy to those new Articles of Faith and Corruptions of Doctrine which have been since brought into the Western Church and which we have for that Reason protested against because they were unknown and contrary to the Faith and Doctrine of the Primitive Church It would too much exceed the set Limits of this Paper to make this out so fully as might easily be done by going through the chiefest Points of Difference between us Bellarmine in his Discourse upon this Note goes wholly off from it and chuses rather to pursue Luther and Calvin and some other worthy Reformers through all the Paths of Calumny and Slander but I shall not follow him to take him off from those false and injurious Representations he hath made of their Doctrines If any Body has the curiosity to see the Art of Misrepresenting in its greatest perfection let him but read that Chapter but if he will see it as perfectly shamed and exposed let him read Bishop Morton's long and learned Answer to it * Apologia Catholica p. 61. to p. 278. We are examining the Doctrines and finding out the Marks of the Church and not of particular Men and had Calvin or others taught any such Doctrines as are very falsly there laid to their Charge I know none had been concerned in them but themselves and no Church could have been prejudiced by them any farther than it had received them I shall therefore keep more close to Bellarmine's Note tho not to his Method upon it and I assure a late Adviser †Advice to the â—onfuter of Belâ—â—mine 't is not the design of confuting him but setting Men right in the way to the True Religion and the True Church when others are so busy to draw them off by false Marks and Pretences which is the cause of this Vndertaking I confess it would be too prolix as Bellarmine says to produce all the Testimonies of the Ancients thereby to shew what was the Doctrine of the Primitive Church in every particular Point controverted between us I shall therefore offer only some plain and brief Remarks by which the sense of the Primitive Church may be undeniably known in most of the Controversies and by which it will appear what was the Doctrine of the Church then and how contrary that of the Church of Rome is now to it And here I should first begin with the most Primitive that is with the Apostolick Church which truly and only deserves the Title of being Mother and Mistress of all Christian Churches that ever were or shall be in the World it is as vain as arrogant for any later and particular Church to assume that to it self which is but a Sister-Church at most and younger than some of the rest and tho more fine and proud yet not half so honest and uncorrupt This Apostolick Church which was founded and governed by the Apostles over all the World is the true Standard of the Christian Church and as in revealed Religion That which is first is true according to Tertullian's * Id verum quod prius id prius quod ab initio ab initio quod ab Apostolis Tertul. de praescript l. 4. Axiom because it comes nearest to the first pure Fountain of Revelation so as he adds That is first which is from the Beginning and from the Apostles We should first then examine what was the Faith and Doctrine of the Apostolick Church the greatest and almost only account of which we have in their own Canonical Writings which are received and allowed as such by the whole Christian Church and in these our Adversaries find so little of their own late and new Doctrines that they cannot but own that these are insufficient to authorise and establish most of them without the Authority of the present Church and without the help of unwritten Traditions When we produce Scripture against our Adversaries we then produce the only Authentick Records of the Apostolick Church and the only certain account we have of the Faith and Doctrine of the most Primitive Church let them object therefore never so much against Scripture as a Rule of Faith yet whilst it contains the only sure Testimony of what was taught and believed by the first Christian Church so far as any of these Doctrines are not in Scripture so far they cannot appear to be the Doctrine of the Apostolick Church and whilst we hold all that Faith and all those Doctrines that are contained in Scripture we hold all that can be known to be so in the most pure and most Primitive Church and whatsoever they have added to Scripture which they will needs have to be but an imperfect Rule of Faith they have added so far as can be known to the Doctrine of the Apostolick Church for if Scripture be not the only Rule of that yet it is the only Historical Account we have of it But I shall not at present deal with them out of Scripture tho as it is only a Record and Evidence of the Apostolical Faith they will count this but a Trick I know to draw them into a Scripture Dispute which they are mighty averse to and which they design to avoid by an Appeal from that to the Primitive Church we will go on therefore with our Note as they I suppose mean and understand it and that we may not be too troublesom to them with Scripture and the Apostolick Writings we will go several Ages lower even down to those Times wherein the Church was in its glorious State under the first Christian Emperors and whether their Doctrines or ours were most agreable to those of this Primitive Church Let us now come briefly to enquire in some particular Instances and by some few short Remarks and Observations And First Was any such thing as their pretended Supremacy then allowed of when in the first general Council at Nice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Nicen. Can. 6. There was a limited Power assigned to the Bishop of Rome as there was to the other Metropolitans of Alexandria and Antioch who were to keep their Bounds set them by antient Custom which is utterly inconsistent with an Universal Supremacy over the whole Church by a Divine Right as is since pretended and claimed contrary to all Antiquity For the next General Council appoints the Bishop of Constantinople to have Prerogatives of Honour
we are all made to drink into one Spirit 4. There is also an Unity of Obedience to all the Institutions and Laws of Christ which is an Instance of Unity that ought by no means to be forgotten this being no less a common Duty than the Profession of the Faith the performance whereof uniteth us effectually to him as to our Head and maketh us living Members of his Body 5. There is the Unity of Christian Affection and brotherly Kindness of which our Lord spake when he said By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another Thus St. Paul 1 Cor. xii The Members should have the same care one of another c. 6. There is an Unity of Discipline and Government which is maintained chiefly by retaining for substance the same Form that was left in the Church by the Apostles by the Bishops and Pastors confederating together as much as may be for the edification of their Flocks by regarding every Regular Act of Authority in one Church as the Act of the whole and giving no occasion to breach of Christian-Communion by abusing a lawful or by claiming an undue Authority c. 7. There is likewise an Unity of Communion in the Service and Worship of God in glorifying God with one Mouth in joining in the same Religious Assemblies for Prayer and Sacraments for Acts of common Piety and Devotion according to the Rules of the Gospel I need not mention any more Instances of Christian Vnity since those that are more particular may be easily deduced from these Now to speak clearly there ought to be all these kinds and Instances of Unity in the Church but we see evidently that they are not all there I mean in every Part and Member of the Church And therefore they are not all necessary to the Being of a Church how necessary soever they may be whether to the Wellbeing of it or to the Salvation of those Persons whereof the Church consists But some of them are necessary to the Being of the Church and they are the acknowledgment of the one Lord the Profession of the one Faith and admission into the state of Christian Duties and Priviledges by one Baptism And this is all that I can find absolutely necessary to the Being of a Church inasmuch as the Apostle says That we are all baptized into one Body And therefore so far as Vnity in these things is spread and obtains in the World so far and no farther is the Body of the Church propagated because it is one by this Unity But then indeed there ought to be a farther Unity an Unity of observing all the Institutions of our Lord Jesus an Unity of Christian Charity and good Will an Unity of Government and Discipline an Unity of Communion in Religious Assemblies to which I will add also that there ought to be an Unity of Care to keep out of the Communion of Christians all dangerous Errors and unlawful Practices And when such begin to appear much more if they have taken root and are grown to a scandal to root them out again But Unity in these things does not run through the whole Church or through that Body which is one in the three former Respects and therefore it must necessarily be granted that the Church is not one Body in those later Respects tho it ought to be so But because these are proper Instances of Church-Unity tho not absolutely necessary to the Being of the Church therefore it cannot be denied that those particular Churches which keep Unity in these Respects better than others do have the Mark of Ecclesiastical Unity in a higher Degree than those others inasmuch as they have not only that Unity which is a Mark of a true Church but that also which is the Mark of a pure Church and are not only one Body in those things without which they could not be Parts of the Catholick Church but one also in those things wherein all other Parts of the Church ought to be one with them We therefore according to Truth allow the Church of Rome to be a Part of the Catholick Church because she holds that one Lord that one Faith that one Baptism which we hold without which there were no Church at all And thus far she maintains Catholick Unity But inasmuch as she hath violated the Institution of our Lord Jesus concerning the other Sacrament as in other Respects so by withholding the Cup from the People notwithstanding he said Drink ye all of this and that the Apostle said We are all made to drink into one Spirit even all that belong to the Body of Christ she has departed from Catholick Unity the Unity of Obedience Because she will not be content to be a Sister but claims to be the Mother and Mistress of all other Christian Churches and has advanced her Bishop to be Head and Monarch of the whole Church and will have Commuion with no other Christian Society but such as will be content to become her Subjects and will allow no Act of Ecclesiastical Authority to be valid but in a State of Dependence upon her she has therefore departed from the Catholick Unity of Government and Discipline Because she has brought the Sacrifice of the Mass Transubstantiation Purgatory Invocation of Saints c. into her Creed and Practices suitable to such false Doctrines into her Worship she has departed from that Purity of professing the Faith c. in which all Churches should be one And because she will have no Communion with us but upon these Terms which are impossible she has departed from the Unity of Catholick Communion Finally Because she has pursued all Christians that dare to open their Mouths against these Innovations with Anathema's c. and sacrificed the Lives of innumerable Christians to her resentments she has departed from the Unity of Catholick Charity With these things the Church of England cannot be charged nor with any such things as these not truly and justly I am sure In her Worship and Aministration of the Sacraments she transgresseth not the Institutions of the Lord in her Government she encroaches not upon the Liberty of other Churches To her Creed she hath added no Novelties To her Communion she hath annex'd no unlawful Conditions she doth not unchurch those Parts of Christendom that hold the Unity of the Faith no not that Church it self the Church of Rome which has added thereunto so many enormous Innovations She hath not embroiled the World nor wasted Countries with violence Upon such accounts as these she hath the Mark of Christian Vnity incomparably more than the other Church From such distinct notions of Vnity as I have laid down it is evident that nothing can be more idle than to seek for a Church by that Mark of Unity which the Cardinal lays down which comes to no more than this that Men be all of a mind that there be no Divisions among them c. since it is not
it was sometimes a Mark of an Orthodox and Catholick Christian to be joyn'd in Communion with the Roman Bishop therefore it must always be so and it can never happen that a Man should be united to the Church and disjoyn'd from the Pope Because St. Hierom referred himself to the Chair of Peter when Damasus sate in it therefore he would have done the same to his Predecessor Liberius after he had communicated with the Arians Of the same kind is the Argument from Optatus Finally because St. Augustin thought that Cecilian had reason to value his Communion with the Roman Church more than the multitude of his Enemies in as much as the Principality of an Apostolical Chair had always flourished there therefore the Bishop of Rome is Head of the Church As if there were no other Apostolical Chair besides that at Rome and as if the Communion of no other Church was to be esteemed when a Bishop meets with unreasonable Opposition but one that is by virtue of her Chair Mistress of all the Rest For what he says out of St. Augustin in Psal contra partem Donati it has had its Answer p. 107. Pope Leo indeed speaks a little more to the Purpose but without any Authority as being a Witness in his own Cause For it was but a few Years before that Zosimus Boniface and Celestin had set up a small pretence to an Universal Headship tho nothing was got by it but a notable Rebuke from the African Fathers whereof St. Augustin was one for introducing a worldly Pride into the Church But no wonder if those Popes that followed still kept their Eye upon that Power which their Predecessors could not as yet compass On the other side it appears by most unquestionable Evidence that the Primitive Fathers knew no greater necessity of being united to the Roman than to any other Catholick or Orthodox Bishop When Pope Victor took upon him to excommunicate the Asian Churches for not observing Easter as the Roman did they were so far from thinking a Union with him as their Head necessary to their being Members of the Catholick Church that they called a Synod of their own reprehended the Pope's Arrogance and resolved to adhere to their own Custom St. Cyprian Firmilian and the Africans did the like in opposition to Pope Stephen Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. p. 228. Ed. Oxon. Firmilian plainly telling him that while he thought to Excommunicate all them from himself he had but excommunicated himself from them In ancient Times there was no shadow of any such Headship in the Pope as of late Ages has been contended for He was treated with no other Titles of Respect than other Bishops were who were called Popes and Vicars of Christ no less than he as he was by them stiled their Colleague and Brother no less than they by him In respect of Presidency over particular Churches his Jurisdiction was confined as well as theirs in respect of the common Care of the whole Church each of them was deemed to have an Authority and a Trust no way inferiour to his All which our Adversaries do full well understand who are but a little conversant in St. Cyprian if they would but speak what they know But because St. Hierom's Complâ—mt to Damasus is insisted upon by the Cardinal let St. Hierom be heard speaking to this very Point so clearly that we cannot desire he should have been more express Where-ever saith he there is a Bishop whether at Rome Hier. ad Evagr. Ep. 85. or at Eugubium or Constantinople or Rhegium or Alexandria or Thanis he is of the same Worth and of the same Priesthood The advantage of Wealth and the disadvantage of Poverty does not make a Bishop to be higher or lower but they are all Successors of the Apostles To conclude this Point Popes have been anciently censured condemned and excommunicated when they were thought to have deserved it Julius was Excommunicated by the Eastern Bishops Sâ—â— Vindic. of Answ To some late Papers p. 6. c. Liberius Anathematized by St. Hilary Vigilius Excommunicated by the Africans Honorius Condemned by the VIth General Council Did these Fathers take the Pope for their Common Head and the Center of Catholick Union Some Popes have been Hereticks as the Romanists themselves cannot deny and therefore time has been when it was so far from being a Note of the Catholick Church to be united to the Pope that it was impossible so to be without separation from the Catholick Church But the Cardinal has a very notable Argument to prove the necessity of this Union viz. Experience since those Churches have withered away that are divided from this Head the Pope Witness the Asiatick and African Churches anciently famous for numerous Councils for learned and holy Men but since their Schism from the Roman Church reduced to obscurity and plunged into gross Ignorance To which it might be enough to answer That although where the Sin is flagrant and beyond controversy there the Calamity that befalls the Offender may without breach of Charity or impious Intrusion into the Councils of Providence be well deemed the effect of God's Justice Yet in a Dispute about Right and Truth to take advantage from the Afflictions of a Man or of a Church and to make them an Argument against the oppressed side is barbarously uncharitable and wicked and becomes none but those who care not by what means they come to their end But not to pry into the Secrets of Divine Providence Might it not have served the Cardinal's turn to assign the Afflictions and Ignorance of those Churches to the Irruptions of their Enemies upon them who at length prevailed and utterly destroyed some of them and to this day hold the rest in Slavery If this be not enough what if one should add that their not uniting themselves to the Pope was indeed one cause of their Misfortunes who had much rather see those ancient and glorious Churches laid wast by Infidels then saved by the united Arms of Christendom to make a vigorous Opposition to his claim of Supremacy However it is not more certain that they were once the most flourishing Churches in Christendom than that when they were so they did not acknowledg this Union to the Bishop of Rome as the Head of the Catholick Church nay that they opposed the Beginnings and Preparations to so unjust a claim and therefore their denying it at present can with no reason be alledged as the cause of their Distress One thing more we have to say to this doughty Argument that if it may be trusted how comes it to pass that we have a contrary experience in Churches nearer home which have not fallen into decay by separating from the Pope We are apt to think that from the Reformation to this day there have been as many Persons eminent both for Piety and Learning in the Church of England as any Age ever produced in any Nation That we are not sunk into gross