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
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
of Corinth denying the Resurrection and the Galatians warping towards Judaism and the Church of Corinth being guilty of great miscarriages in receiving the Lords-Supper and yet were owned for true Churches by the Apostles An argument which much became the Cardinal to use it being the best evidence I know of for the Church of Rome being a true Church that every corruption in Faith and Sacraments do not Unchurch but how this proves that true Faith and true Sacraments are not an essential note and character of a true Church I cannot guess I would desire any one to tell me for him whether a corrupt Faith and false Sacraments be the Notes of a true Church or whether it be no matter as to the nature of a Church what our Faith and Sacraments are Secondly Let us now consider the Cardinal's way by some certain marks and notes to find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is To pick out of all the Churches in the World one Church which we must own for the only true Church and reject all other Churches which do not subject themselves to this one Church To find out such a Church on whose authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith and in whose Communion only pardon of sin is to be had That this is the use of Notes in the Church of Rome I have already shewn you and truly they are very pretty things to be proved by Notes as to consider them particularly 1. To find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is This methinks is not a natural way of inquiry but is like seeking for we know not what There are two inquiries in order of nature before which is the true Church viz. Whether there be a true Church or not and what it is The first of these the Cardinal takes for granted that there is a Church but I wont take it for granted but desire these Note-makers to give me some Notes to prove that there is a Church There is indeed a great deal of talk and noise in the World about a Church but that is no proof that there is a Church and yet it is not a self-evident proposition that there is a Church and therefore it must be proved Now that there is a Church must be proved by Notes as well as which is this true Church or else the whole design of Notes is lost and I would gladly see those Notes which prove that there is a Church before we know what a Church is To understand the mystery of this we must briefly consider the reason and use of Notes in the Church of Rome according to the Popish resolution of Faith into the authority of the Church the first thing we must know is which is the True Church for we must receive the Scriptures and the Interpretation of them and the whole Christian Faith and Worship from the Church and therefore can know nothing of Religion till we have found the Church The use then of Notes is to find out the Church before and without the Scriptures for if they admit of a Scripture-proof they must allow that we can know and understand the Scriptures without the authority or interpretation of the Church which undermines the very foundation of Popery Now I first desire to know how they will prove That there is a Church without the Scripture That you 'l say is visible it self for we see a Christian Church in the World but what is it I see I see a company of men who call themselves a Church and this is all that I can see and is this seeing a Church A Church must have a Divine Original and Institution and therefore there is no seeing a Church without seeing its Character for there can be no other Note or Mark of the being of a Church but the Institution of it And this proves that we cannot know that there is a Church without knowing in some measure what this Church is for the Charter which founds the Church must declare the Nature and Constitution of it what its Faith and Worship and Laws and Priviledges are But now these essential Characters of a Church must not be reckoned by the Romanists among the Notes of a Church for then we must find out the true Church by the true Faith and the true Worship not the true Faith by the true Church which destroys Popery Hence it is that these Note-makers never attempt to give us any Notes whereby we shall know that there is a Church or what this Church is for there are no Notes of these but such as they dare not give viz. The Authority of the Scriptures and every mans private judgment of the Sense and Interpretation of them for at least till we have found a Church we must judg for our selves and then the Authority of the Church comes too late for we must first judg upon the whole of Religion if we must find out a true Church by the true Faith before we can know the true Church and we cannot rely on her Authority before we know her and therefore they take it for granted that there is a Church which they can never prove in their way and attempt to give some Notes whereby to know which is the Church and then learn what the Church is from the Church her self which is like giving marks whereby to know an Unicorn before I know whether there be an Unicorn or not or what it is 2. Another blunder in this Dispute about Notes is That they give us Notes whereby to find out the true Catholick Church before we know what a particular Church is For all Bellarmin's Notes are intended only for the Catholick Church and therefore his first Note is the name Catholick whereas the Catholick Church is nothing else but all true Christian Churches in the World united together by one common Faith and Worship and such acts of Communion as distinct Churches are capable of and obliged to Every particular Church which professes the true Faith and Worship of Christ is a true Christian Church and the Catholick Church is all the true Christian Churches in the World which have all the same Nature and are in some sense of the same Communion So that it is impossible to know what the Catholick Church is before we know what a particular Church is as it is to know what the Sea is before we know what Water is Every true single particular Church has the whole and intire nature of a Church and would be a true Church though there were no other Church in the World as the Christian Church at Jerusalem was before any other Christian Churches were planted and therefore there can be no other Notes of a True Church but what belong to every true particular Church and that can be nothing but what is essential to a Church and what all true Christian Churches in the World agree in viz. The True Faith and Worship
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
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
have also divided from them For 't is very idle to say that tho we were Members of that Church when we first began to differ from it yet that by our Divisions we cut our selves from her Communion and therefore that the Unity of her Communion is not affected by our Departure For thus we may as well excuse all the separations from ours or from any other Church viz. that by separating from us they no longer belong to us We are very confident that in all Points of Doctrine of any great moment we of the Church of England do agree much more together than those of the Church of Rome and as for them who have gone out from us they as little break the Unity of the rest whom they are gone from as Luther's departing from the Church of Rome broke the Unity of those who still remained in it So that either the Church of Rome must renounce her pretence to Unity upon this account that Sects and Parties have not broken away from her or she must set up this wise Note of the true Church that all her Members are united except those that are divided from her which is a Mark that will fit any Society in the World. But the Cardinal does here offer a difference between the Division of Hereticks from the Church and a Division from Heresy That in their Church they have a certain Rule for ending Controversies viz. the Sentence of the chief Pastor or the Definition of a general Council and therefore Dissension does not arise among them from the Doctrine of the Church but from the Malice of the Devil Now in answer to this not to be importunate with that Question That if these be the ways of compounding Controversies how comes it to pass that their Controversies still remain I would know 1. Why were not these the means of composing those Controversies that carried us away from them Our Fathers were once of their Communion and those means were not sufficient to retain them in it To say this arose from the Malice of the Devil is to say in effect that the Devil was in 'em which is a little too Magisterial for a Controvertist though he were a Cardinal Unless he resolves to ascribe it to the Devil that they were taken off from an implicit Faith and a blind Obedience to the Church of Rome For it seems to be some Peoples Opinion when Men begin to judg a little for themselves the Spirit of Heresy comes in and then away they go But from hence I gather that the Sentence of the Pope or of a plenary Council is no certain Rule for ending Controversies nor certain means of preventing Divisions if some other means be not used to keep Men from trying the Spirits and proving all things What they are the Cardinal knew very well but mentioned them not nor shall I need to do it In the mean time when whole Countries went off from that Church as soon as they had a little considered what they had believed upon her Authority I need not say whether the Separation was caused by the Doctrine of that Church or by the Malice of the Devil but leave the World to judg But 2. How could those be certain means of composing Controversies concerning which even in their own Church there were the greatest Controversies of all What deference is to be given to the Sentence of their chief Pastor has always been a great Dispute amongst them and the best if not the greatest Part of their Church do not think him infallible Nor is it yet agreed what is requisite to make the Sentence of a general Council decisive nor of those Councils that have contradicted one another which they are to follow And that cannot be a certain Rule for deciding Controversies which is it self controverted So that they have neither that Union of Members among themselves nor those certain means of Union which they pretend to have Which I shall farther shew from a Learned Writer of their own the Famous ‖ Ep. par 8. p. 353. Launoy who in an elaborate Epistle to Nic. Gatinaeus wholly overthrows the pretence in Question For whether or no there be such an Union in the Church of Rome as will serve the Cardinal's turn I will leave the Reader to judg by this short and faithful account of that Epistle First then He proves unanswerably by numerous and apposite Testimonies of every Age That from the Apostles Times till the Council of Trent the constant universal Doctrine concerning the Church was this that it is the Society of the Faithful without ever inserting into the Definition of it any thing relating to its being united to the Pope or any other Bishop as to a Visible Head. Nay P. 400.415 Secondly That all the most Learned Lovers of Antiquity and Godly Opposers of Novelty in the Roman Communion both in the Time of the Council of Trent and ever since have retained that Notion of the Church and stuck to the Ancient Definition And Thirdly P. 415.419 That Canisius and Bellarmin have egregiously innovated in their Doctrine by adding to the ancient Definition such things as are repugnant to all Antiquity and mean while that they opposed each other Canisius making it of the nature of the Church to be under a * Uno summo post Christum capite Monarch and giving no place in his Definition of it to other Governours to whom the Church also is to be united Whereas Bellarmin makes an Aristocracy wherein one is Chief at least †Esse caetum hominum c. colligatum sub regimine legitimorum pastorum ac praecipue unius Christi in terris Vicarii Romani Pontificis De Eccl. l. 3. c. 2. a tempered and limited Monarchy essential to the Church going in this matter against Antiquity against Canisius and against himself in that he elsewhere makes Antiquity a Note of the true Church and says 't is a Demonstration of the Novelty of a Doctrine when the first Authors can be named and pointed to which is his own Case and Canisius's as to this Doctrine He reflects upon both of 'em P. 418 419.428 for ill Logick in these Definitions and shews how they destroy each other He censures the Followers of Canisius sharply and judiciously and then remarks that tho Bellarmine have greater Authority amongst Divines yet Canisius's Definition is more generally received and that for four Reasons because there is more Court-Flattery in it because it is put into Catechisms which the other is not and so sticks by virtue of an early Impression because some Men are mad upon Novelties and lastly others insufferably Ignorant as to the Holy Scriptures and Ancient Tradition the Principles of true Theology Fourthly He thinks they have done harm to the Church and that for these Reasons 1. Because P. 430. for want of Logick they have confounded the Nature of the Church with the State of it 2. They have neglected St. Paul's
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
meerly Unity that is a Mark of the true Church but Unity in the true Faith nor is Unity the Mark of a pure Church unless it be upon Terms of Obedience to God of Charity to one another of keeping the Faith unmixed with Errors and Innovations and the Worship of God free from material Defects and forbidden Practices From hence also the Folly of that conceit may be easily discerned that in this divided State of Christendom there must be one Church which is the only Church of Christ exclusively to all the rest that are not in Communion with her Which is as much as to say that because there is not that Unity amongst Christians which there ought to be therefore there is none at all and because they are not united in one Communion therefore they are not united in one Lord one Faith one Baptism That fond Principle now mentioned is advanced by the Romanist for the sake of this Inference that because we grant the Church to be but one and withall acknowledg them to be a true Church therefore we being divided from them can be no true Church our selves That is to say because we acknowledg that they have that one Faith in which all that are united belong to the Church therefore we are out of the Church our selves who have the Unity of that Faith too and moreover the Unity of observing all the Institutions of Christ and the Unity of Catholick Terms of Communion c. which they have not If some part of the Church gives just cause of Offence or if another takes Offence where none is given this is indeed contrary to the Duty of the Members of the Church but not utterly inconsistent with their being Members of it And if St. Paul was in the right when he said If the Foot shall say because I am not the Head I am not of the Body is it therefore not of the Body It will be also true that tho the Foot should say to the Hand thou art not of the Body because thou art not the Foot the Hand would be of the Body for all that As for the Unity of Communion which they boast so much of in the Church of Rome I say 't is an Unity of Communion among themselves but 't is not the Catholick Unity of Communion because the Terms of it are many of them unjust and unlawful whereas we of the Church of England having as much Unity of Communion among our selves as they have this also to say as we have abundantly shewn that the Terms of our Communion are every one of them just and lawful and therefore ours is a Catholick Unity If there are some Protestants that will not communicate with us it is no more our Fault than that the Papists refuse to do so And tho in point of Interest this tends to weaken yet in Controversy it cannot prejudice the common cause of Reformation That part of the West that has left the Church of Rome may labour under Discords that affect their very Communion while she her self does not and yet in the Cause against her they may be all in the Right Where Truth is maintained against a corrupt Church there may yet be Disobedience to Authority overvaluing Questions of no great moment a greater stress laid upon Opinions and Practices than the Cause will bear and this shall be sufficient to break Christian Communion And at the same time gross Errors may be maintained and with one consent imposed upon the World by the other Church and all the while the Differences how weighty soever that happen by the bye may be so over-ruled by Force and Power and the sensible Interests of this World that they shall not affect their Communion with one another But for the Reasons already laid down it were a fond thing to chuse a Church by the Mark of such Unity In short If we would in all Respects keep within the Unity of the Church this must be done by professing true Doctrine by leading good Lives by a charitable Spirit and Behaviour towards all Christians by frequenting Prayers and Sacraments and by submitting to the Authority of our lawful Guides in all things of Indifference and Expedience And then we may be sure that whatever others do we keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace And though the Church after all is not that one Body in all Respects which it ought to be and which it would be if all Men did their Duty yet that we our selves are such Members of that one Body as we ought to be and as all others ought to be likewise Now all this Unity we may keep in the Communion of the Church of England but we cannot keep it all in the Communion of the Roman Church as the Terms thereof now stand But if this Unity be not enough when once the Romanists can prove that Union to the Pope as Head of the Church and Union to the Roman Church in all that she believes and teaches is also necessary to our Being of the Church or even to our maintaining that Unity which ought to be amongst all Christians we will also acknowledg the Pope's Supremacy and believe as the Roman Church believes but not till then THE END LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Eighth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ Sanctity of Doctrine Octava Nota est Sanctitas Doctrinae Bellar. de Notis Ecclesiae L. iv c. 11. IMPRIMATUR June 4. 1687. Hen. Maurice SEeing the New Covenant is the Charter upon which the Church of Christ is founded and all the Blessings which this Covenant promises are appropriated to that Sacred Society to be in Communion with it is doubtless a matter of vast importance to the Souls of Men and it being so it is not to be imagined but that the blessed Jesus the most concerned and careful Friend of Souls that ever was hath been sufficiently mindful to leave such plain and easy Directions behind him how we may find his Church and satisfy our selves whether we are in Fellowship with it or no as that neither the Learned nor Unlearned may be left in the dark for resolution in such a momentous Enquiry But how much the Church of Rome hath made it her Business to snarl and perplex several Points of Religion which our Saviour left plain and obvious enough to all Capacities is too notorious and in nothing more than in this how to discover and find out the true Church In order to which her most Learned Doctors and particularly Cardinal Bellarmin have given us certain Notes by which as they pretend the true Church may be distinguished by honest and diligent Enquiries from all false Churches whatsoever But how far these Notes are from performing what is promised for 'em hath been sufficiently proved upon a very fair Examination of the Seven first of ' em I proceed therefore to the Eighth viz. Sanctity of
in his Bed (y) Oecolampadius cum vesperi sanus cubitum ivisset mane inventus est ab Uxore mortuus in Lecto Bellar. For this also he quotes Cochlaeus though he says not that he went well to Bed. And so far is it from being true that he had for a long time been ill and for fifteen days before confin'd to his Bed But grant it true I have said enough before in answer to it in the Vindication of Luther I shall only add That before the Cardinal had brought this for an Instance of an unhappy Death in Protestants he should have prov'd that Papists are not as subject to Apoplexies or any other Disease which causes a sudden stoppage of the Circulation in the Heart as Protestants are For Carolostadius the Ministers of Basil he tells us in an Epistle they publish't concerning his Death write that he was kill'd by the Devil (z) Andream Carolostadium a Daemone intersectum Ministri Basileenses scribunt in Epistola quam ediderunt de morte Carolostadii Bellarm. He has not told us where this Epistle is and I despair of ever finding it I shall therefore send the Reader to Petrus Boquinus a Student at Basil when Carolostadius died and attended his Funeral who hath given an account of his Death and exposed this impudent Forgery as I find him quoted by Melchior Adams (a) In vita Carolostadii I am now come to the fifth and last Act of this Tragedy which is so lewd a Calumny that any Man but an Advocate for their Church might be ashamed to own it viz. John Calvin was eaten up of Worms as Antiochus Herod Maximinus and Hunricus were and not only so but invoking the Devils he died blaspheming and cursing (b) Joannes Calvinus vermibus consumptus expiravit ut Antiochus Herodes Maximinus Hunricus testatur Hieronymus Bolsecus in ejus vita Qui etiam addit eum Daemonibus invocatis blasphemantem execrantem ociâ—â—e Bellarm. But what Authority has the Cardinal for this the Testimony of Bolsec a Man of so prostituted a Fame and whose Lies are so gross that many Popish Writers who have studied to blacken Calvin have been ashamed to own him The Charge is twofold 1. That he was eaten up of Worms 2. That involking the Devils he died blaspheming and cursing both which are as false as any thing ever forged by the Father of Lies 1. That he was eaten up of Wolms by which is meant the lowsy Evil as may be seen by Bolsec's Words quoted in the Margin (c) Sed ad Calvinum nostrum ad gravissimos ejus variosque morbos quiâ—us uâ—serâ— ad extremum usque Spiritum excruciatus fuit revertamur quem praeâ—er eos quos Beza reference commemoravimus eo quoque moâ—bi genere afflictum constat quo justo Dei judicio quosdam manifestos apertos Dei hostes qui divinum Honorem atque Gloriam invaserant sibique usurparant vexatos punâ—tosque legimus is est pedicularis Nam hâ— Vermes c. Vita Joan. Caâ—v c. 22. Now were this true yet if we may believe a Learned Man of the Church of Rome who was one of Calvin's irreconcileable Enemies it is not to be look'd upon as so strange a thing for he has undertaken to prove that nothing is more natural than for the Body of Man to breed Vermine and Lice and produc'd many famous Men who have died of this Disease (d) Vasseur Annal de l' Eglise Cathed de Noyon p. 720 721. It must indeed be acknowledged that the lowsy-Evil is not always a Sympton meerly natural but a vindicative Effect of the Almighty when without any Reason in the Humours or state of the Body sufficient to cause that loathsom Disease it appears to the Destruction of some notorious Sinner Yet it is certain that this Distemper is naturally incident to humane Bodies since Lice do seem to consist chiefly of that Salt which together with other Humours does copiously breath through their Pores This Truth may be reasonably gathered from the Chymical Resolution of Lice and from their medicinal Powers and Effects in some Distempers Besides that I have been assured by a Learned Gentleman much addicted to Physical Experiments that he formerly having three or four days together visited Glass-furnaces attending on some Experiments there made has taken from the Backs of the Glass-makers after they had sweated profusely in the same Shirts three days together a great quantity of dry Salt which was caked on the outside of their Shirts and that this Salt being put into a Glass and set two or three days in a sunny Window did all become a body of little creeping things like Lice If therefore the Salt which exhales through the Pores of Mans Body be the matter of Lice the considering Phisician may give good Reason why and how the Disease may be produced as it often happens to be in Bodies first decayed and disposed to such a Malady by other Diseases where the Putrefaction of Humours and the Resolution of the animal Salts being very great and the internal Heat and Motion which should carry them through the Pores being too little this unctuous and saline matter stops in them and there stays long enough to be animated into Lice which as soon as unlivened creep forth in abundance and are successively followed by dreadful numbers of the same Generation so long as the Patient lives But I shall say no more of the natural Causes from whence this Evil may sometimes proceed but supposing it now to be as certain a Token of the Divine Vengeance as Bellarmine would have it I shall shew these two things 1. That Calvin did not die of this Disease 2. In case he did the Church of Rome hath no reason to triumph in it 1. That Calvin did not die of this Disease This will I think be manifest 1. By reflecting upon the first Author of this Story 2. By considering what others both Papists and Protestants of unquestionable Authority have written concerning Calvin's Diseases and Death 1. By reflecting upon the first Author of this Story Bolsec was the Man who first told this Tale to the World and not till thirteen years after Calvin's Death All the rest Surius Lingeus Lessius c. are beholden to him for it Nor do I wonder that they licked up his Vomit but it may seem more strange that Cardinal Bellarmine should if we consider these two things 1. That he was Calvin's mortal Enemy 2. That many Papists who have made it their Study to defame Calvin are ashamed of him 1. That he was Calvin's mortal Enemy One main occasion of his Enmity was this Bolsec having quitted his Habit for he was a Carmelite Frier at Paris turn'd Quack and came to Geneva where finding himself in no esteem among the learned Physicians he resolved to set up for a Divine for something he delivered about Predestination he was first gently reproved by Calvin but he