shows that the Ancient Christians lookt upon the Church as the Pillar and Ground of Truth no other ways but as it professes preaches establishes and keeps up the Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles recorded in the Holy Scriptures unto all which they indifferently apply these words of S. Paul which are thought immediately to speak of the Church which supports the Truth delivered in the Holy Scriptures from Christ and from his Apostles Upon which account the Creed also which is a comprehensive breviary of the great Scripture Doctrines is wont to have the same attribute given to it Particularly by Epiphanius (m) In Exposit fidei Cathol n. 19. who calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pillar as the Greek word signifies in good Authors or prop of Truth c. our life our hope and the assurance of immortality And by S. Austin (n) De Symbolo ad Catechum L. III. C. 1. who tells the Catechumens in his Exposition of the Creed to them that it is fidei Catholicae fundamentum c. the Foundation of the Catholique Faith upon which the edifice of the Church arose built by the hands of the Apostles and Prophets Which hath made some learned Men (o) Jo. Camer Jac. Capellus refer these words of S. Paul not to what goes before but to the words following making a full stop at God and then beginning a new sentence in this manner The Pillar and Ground of the Truth and without Controversie great is the mystery of godliness c. which reading is countenanced by a Greek Edition of the New Testament at Basil 1540. where the words are so pointed as if the sence were this God incarnate and the great Truths depending thereupon ought to be the very Foundation of the Doctrine thou preachest The Doctrines of the Creed that is are the very Foundation and Pillars of the Christian Faith as the Jews it is known call the great principle of their Religion the Foundation of the Foundation the Pillar of Wisdom as Maimon speaks when he treats of this matter Stick close therefore to the Holy Scriptures and to these Articles of the Faith in the Apostles Creed which are the fundamental truths of Christianity it appears by what I have now said by which the Church maintains and defends the Truth and the Truth upholds the Church and we defend both Hold this fast as the ground of all and likewise lay up the word of God in your heart that it may setle there and take root and bring forth fruit unto Holiness that your end may be everlasting Life Make the Holy Scriptures your Rule and trust to them according to what the Son of Sirach saith of its ancient Books Ecclus XXXIII 3. A Man of understanding trusts in the Law and the Law is faithful to him as an Oracle or as the asking of Vrim That is here he may enquire and have a certain answer which will not deceive him Show your selves such Men of understanding as to enquire no where else And if any Church or Person would have you enquire of them only take that for an undoubted proof they are not to be trusted If they would not guide you by the Holy Scriptures that is by Christ the way as you have seen who hath shown us no where else that we know of what we ought to believe if they would have you follow their ungrounded Traditions whereby they would inlarge your Creed beyond the ancient bounds know that you ought not to follow them nor be led by them For such may soon cease to be the pillars and supporters of the Truth because they leave that whereby they should support it and place themselves whom they call the Church in the stead of it An evident sign they are not what they pretend for the Church it self ought to be demonstrated by the Scriptures So S. Austin (p) L. de Vnitate Ecclesiae cap. XVI tells the Donatists in those known words which are worthy to be preserved in remembrance Setting aside all such things as these which he had said they could likewise alledge let them demonstrate their Church if they can not in the discourses and rumours of the Africans not in the Councils of their Bishops not in the Letters of any disputers whatsoever not in signs and fallacious wonders for we are prepared and rendred cautious against these by the word of the Lord but in the prescript of the Law in the predictions of the Prophets in the Songs of the Psalms in the words of the SHEPHERD himself i. e. Christ in the preachings and labours of the Evangelists that is in all the Canonical authorities of the holy Books Let this be done so as not to gather and relate those things which are obscurely or ambiguously or figuratively spoken there which every one may interpret as he pleases according to his own sense For such things cannot be rightly understood and expounded unless those things which are most clearly spoken be first held by a firm Faith. This is the very sense of the Church of England which teaches all her members first to hold by a firm Faith those things which are clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures and by them to understand and expound those things that are more obscurely delivered believing nothing to be necessary which is not read therein nor may be proved thereby nor receiving the Doctrines and Decrees of any Church unless it may be declared that they be taken from thence For haec sunt causae nostrae documenta haec fundamenta haec firmamenta as he there speaks you heard before These are the proofs of our Cause these are its foundations these are its supports And therefore as he also speaks in another Chapter of the same Book (q) Cap. III. de Vnitate Ecclesiae which he begins thus Let us not hear such speeches as these These things say I Those things sayest thou but let us hear These things saith the LORD These are certainly Books of the Lord to whose authority we both consent we both believe we both obey There let us seek the Church there let us discuss our Cause And let us not so much as think of looking after any other Articles of Faith but those which were from the beginning which our Church firmly believes in the three Creeds Nice-Creed Athanasius and that commonly called the Apostles (r) Article VIII because they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture For after the Faith confessed and sworn in Baptism as S. Hilary (ſ) Ad Constantium August speaks we ought not quicquam aliud vel ambigere vel innovare either to doubt or innovate any other thing It is absurd that is to doubt whether this be sufficient or to add any other to it as if this were not enough So he interprets it a little after Faith is still inquired after as if there were no Faith already Faith is to be written as if it were not in the
heart being regenerated by Faith we are now taught what to believe as if that Regeneration were without Faith. We learn Christ after Baptism as if there could be any Baptism without the Faith of Christ It is most safe for us as it follows a little after to retain that first and only Evangelical Faith confessed and understood in Baptism V. And that a good and righteous cause may have good defenders and supporters let us read the Holy Scriptures wherein this Faith is contained chiefly for this end that we may order our steps that is our Lives and Conversation according to the rule of God's word Let us always remember that our Religion is a mystery of godliness as was shown before in which we are not well instructed if it do not teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in the World. Which is the best way also to continue in the Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks most agreeable to these words which he writes to Timothy grounded and setled or stable and stedfast Colos I. 23. For they are the good ground in the Church who in an bonest and good heart having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience Luk. VIII 15. As much as to say if we would stand fast in the Faith and not fall away as our Saviour saith others would do in time of trial v. 13. we must first come to hear and read the word of God with unprejudiced minds and upright hearts desiring to know the Truth and resolved to receive it though never so contrary to our present inclinations and interests This is the honest and good heart which secondly must keep and preserve in mind and heart what it hath thus received and not presently let it slip or lay it aside as a thing never to be thought of more after we have heard it And lastly we must not only in a warm fit of zeal begin to put in practice what we learn but bring forth fruit with patience or continuance This is the way both to draw others into the Church and to continue our selves in it and to make us constant defenders of the Christian Faith That is to do our part in this great Office of being the Pillar and Ground of Truth Which is a thing incumbent upon the whole Church and consequently upon every one of us who are members of it And therefore remember that the Christian Religion for which we are to be Zealous is the acknowledgement of the Truth after godliness as I said before Tit. I. 1. It is the Doctrine of piety to the study of which if we seriously and heartily apply our selves it will be our best security against all impostures and preserve us from the subtil and crafty insinuations of those who corrupt or pervert the Christian Doctrine and finally be the most powerful means to make Christianity prevail in the World. Remember the advice of S. Paul to this Church of Ephesus Ephes IV. 14.15 where you may find the true way to continue firm and stedfast and not to be tossed about as Children with every blast of Doctrine c. and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by speaking or rather following the Truth in love or according to the Hebrew Dialect being fixed and established in the love of God and of one another For the Hebrew word Aman to which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers signifies not only to speak Truth but likewise to be firm and constant fixed and established which if we be we shall have a settled unmoveable confidence of God's Love and Favour towards us For he that heartily loves God and his Neighbour will never be startled much less shaken by their bold Anathemas though all the World should tell him he shall be damned if he do not believe this or that proposition which they say is absolutely necessary to his Salvation because there is something within him that gives them the lye and assures him there is no truth in them who say that God hates and will reject him who believes all the ancient Faith which works by Love. God himself testifies the contrary by making the Truth efficacious in his heart to purge him from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and by changing him into his own likeness in Holiness Love and Goodness And the more thoroughly any Man is renewed in the spirit of his mind the more perfectly will he be assured that they pronounce a false judgment upon him and consequently be the more heartily resolved against that Religion which makes men so liberal in pouring out Curses upon all them that do not embrace its novel opinions Which brings me to the last thing I would have considered that VI. We do not perform our duty I may safely affirm nay confidently aver we are not the Pillar and Stay of Truth as we ought to be unless every one of us in our several Places and Stations oppose with a becoming Zeal the Errors Innovations and Incroachments of the Church of Rome who are the Men that are of all other most guilty of the just-now named Uncharitableness or rather Pride and Cruelty For they utterly un-Church us and as much as in them lies cut us off from the Body of Christ and bar the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven against us By this alone if there were nothing else we are sure they have grosly erred and live in error that they deny us to be a part of Christ's Church who believe and confess with Heart and Mouth the whole Catholique Faith every thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confessedly and by Universal consent the Ancient Christian Belief in which the Apostles and Martyrs died by which alone Righteous Souls for many Ages went to Heaven knowing nothing of the Pope's Supremacy of Transubstantiation of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass for quick and dead and the rest of their new inventions We deserve not the name of Christians no nor of Men if we stand not up resolutely against such usurpations and corruptions of the Christian Doctrine and maintain that Faith which we profess and wherein we stand to be the true Grace of God the Faith once delivered to the Saints Which is incumbent chiefly upon the Bishops and Pastors of the Church who I have shown are the Principal Pillars of the Truth as Timothy was in the Church of Ephesus and therefore ought to appear with all their might for the support of God's true Religion here established instructing teaching exhorting all committed to their charge to be stedfast and immoveable in it to the death And every honest hearted Christian ought to do the same in his rank and condition by following those instructions by fortifying himself against Romish delusions by indeavouring to understand the Truth and to detect their Errors Which are the more earnestly to be opposed because the new Articles of their Creed are not a Mystery of Godliness but tend many
or Laick anathematized Justinian himself also in his Epistle to the Bishops at Constantinople (l) In Collatione I. quintae Syn. takes special notice how the Fathers in the Council at Chalcedon anathematized those who had delivered or do deliver any other Creed but that which was expounded by the 318 Holy Fathers and explained by the 150 Fathers that is the Apostles Creed expounded by the two first General Councils at Nice and Constantinople For we * Tom. V. Labb Edit p. 422. would have you know saith he that those things which were expounded and defined by the four holy Councils of Nice Constantinople Ephesus the first and Chalcedon concerning ONE AND THE SAME FAITH we keep and defend and follow them and all that are consonant to them And whatsoever is not consonant to this or may be found by any person written against those things which were defined concerning ONE AND THE SAME FAITH in those four Councils or in one of them that we execrate as altogether abhorrent from Christian piety And this Emperor was no mean Divine though Baronius is pleased to slander him as illiterate and presumptuous for medling in matters of Faith for Pope Agatho himself and the whole sixth General Council who approved of Agatho's Letter (m) Cont. VI. Act. 4. put him in the rank of the most excellent Fathers and Ecclesiastick Writers For to prove out of the Fathers two Natures in Christ he tells Constantine Pogonatus that S. Cyril S. Chrysostome and a great many other Bishops whom he names taught this praeomnibus c. and above all these that zealous defender of the true and Apostolick Faith Justinian the Emperor of pious memory whose integrity of Faith did as much exalt the Christian Commonwealth as by the sincerity thereof it was pleasing to God c. which is enough to make the defenders of the present Roman Church blush at the insincerity of their great Annalist who makes this Emperor to have been a perfect block not past his A. B. C. (n) Ad At. 528. n. 2.551 n. 2. and many other places whom one of their own Popes who lived in the next age to him and is Sainted by them makes equal to say no more unto S. Chrysostome and the greatest Bishops that had been in the Church I might add the praises which Pope Gregory the great gives of him in many places but I shall rather observe how he in the later end of this Age concurrs with him and with the forenamed Councils in this opinion that no other Faith but this was to be admitted For giving an account of his Faith (o) L. I. Epist 24. as the manner was upon his advancement to the Papacy and speaking of the four first General Councils in so high a Style that he professed to receive and reverence them as the four Books of the Holy Gospel he gives this reason for it because on these as one a square stone the structure of the Holy Faith ariseth and the rule of every ones life and action consists So that whosever doth not hold this solid ground although he appear a Stone yet he lies out of the building After which words he also professes his veneration of the fifth Council and approves of all that they ordained This custom in the Roman Church particularly of giving an account of their Faith to their Brethren when they were newly advanced to the Priesthood is mentioned by Pope Gelasius (p) Epist 2. ad Laurentium Epise and seems to have been begun upon occasion of the great factions which were raised against the Council of Chalcedon Whereupon Childerick King of France as soon as Pelagius was advanced to the See of Rome upon the death of Vigilius whose sentence had been condemned as heretical in the 5th Council desired to know if he held the definition of the Council of Chalcedon which contained the Nicene Constantinopolian and Ephesine Faith unto which he answered in a Letter which is in the body of the Canon Law (q) Decret pars 2. Causa XXV q. 1. c. X. that he received the definitions of the 4. General Councils concerning the Catholique Faith and then having rehearsed the Creed I believe in one Lord Father and Son and Holy Ghost viz. the Father Almighty c. he thus concludes This therefore is my Faith and the hope which is in me by the gift of the mercy of God of which S. Peter commands us to be ready to answer to every one who asks a reason or an account of us From which it appears sufficiently that they had no other account to give of their Faith in those days than that which we now give in our Church who believe all that they did then and believe as they did that nothing more is necessary to be believed But it will be usefull if I give a brief account also of the sence of the following Ages in this matter And in the VII Age Pope Agatho before mentioned sent a Synodical Epistle from himself and 125 Bishops assembled at Rome to the 6th General Council held also at Constantinople in which there is a confession of their Faith which they say they were taught by the Apostolical and Evangelical Tradition which consists of no more Articles than are in the foregoing Creeds It is inserted into the Acts of that General Council (r) Sess IV. Sextae Syn. wherein those Creeds were again recited and confirmed in the same words and under the same penalties as in the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon with a severe prohibition of so much as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a new manner of speech or invention of a word to the subversion of what was then determined Which was done more largely in the Council immediately following called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a kind of supplement to the former sitting in the same place where it was decreed in the very first Canon that the Faith delivered by the Ministers of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the divinely chosen Apostles who were eye witnesses to him should be preserved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any innovation immutably and inviolably And then they ratify distinctly the Decrees of the Nicene Council and the other five following General Councils which they name in order with the occasion of them and conclude with these words We neither intend to add any thing at all to what was formerly defined nor to take away any thing nor can we by any means do it In these two Councils Pope Honorius was condemned as an Heretick which I mention only for this reason that the ground of his condemnation was because he had consented to the defiling of the undefiled Rule of Apostolical Tradition viz. the Creed They are the words of Pope Leo the second who receiving the Acts of the sixth Synod which were transmitted to him anathematized Honorius because he had not adorned that Apostolical Church with the Doctrine of Apostolical Tradition In the next Age
Almighty against every such refractory opposer of the Truth which he should obey There is no exception from this Rule for as it there follows v. 11. there is no respect of persons with God. Would to God they would seriously lay this to heart who now seem to be possessed with a mighty Zeal for Truth and for a right Faith that they be not so deceived by this warm Zeal as to miss the end of Faith the Salvation of their Souls which can by no means be obtained no not by Faith it self without an Holy Life PART II. What it is to be a Pillar and Ground of Truth and to whom this Office belongs HAving shown with some care what the Truth is of which S. Paul speaks which was the first thing I propounded the two next may be explained together with less pains viz. what and who is the Pillar and Ground of these great Truths which are necessary to be believed by all that will be saved I. And as for the first of these they of the Church of Rome would have us by a Pillar and Ground to understand that which is the very Foundation of our Faith that upon whose Credit and Authority all Christian Truth and the certainty of our Religion depends For taking it for granted that the Church is this Pillar and presuming also that they only are the Church they thence infer that we can be sure of no Truth but from them and that they give authority and certainty to the very Word of God it self and likewise whatsoever the Church i. e. they declare to be Truth is therefore to be received insomuch that if they make any new Articles or Faith we are to give a full assent to them because all Truth depends upon the credit of their Church This sounds strangely in the Ears of those that are not accustomed to such Language and may be thought perhaps a misrepresentation of their Doctrine But â—â—â—larmine to name no more vouches this to be the Catholique sense of this place and from the words Pillar and Ground of Truth proves that the Church cannot err either in Believing or in Teaching (y) L. II. de Concil 〈◊〉 c. 2. and again that whatsoever the Church approves is true and whatsoever it disapproves is false (z) L. III. de 〈◊〉 Milit. c. 14. But this only shows that they are hard put to it to find proofs for their high pretences For it will appear in the process of this Discourse first that it can never be proved the words Pillar and Ground have respect to the Church and not rather to Timothy for which there is good Authority as well as Reason I shall let the Authority alone till its proper place and only note Secondly That there is good reason not to refer this to the Church for having called the Church a House it doth not seem a congruous speech immediately to call the same Church a Pillar as on the other side it is very agreeable to call Timothy a Pillar in that House and to wish him to behave himself therein like other great Persons to whom in other places he gives the name of Pillars But Thirdly if it do relate to the Church it no more concerns the Church of Rome than any other Church and immediately relates to the Church of Ephesus in which Timothy presided Which Church of Ephesus (a) Concil Floreat 〈◊〉 ult with other Churches of the East condemned this Headship of the Bishop of Rome upon which they build a Soveraignty over our Faith. And further if we should suppose Fourthly That the Apostle respects the Church Universal and likewise that it is not only bound in duty to be but also actually is the Pillar and Ground of Truth yet Lastly it can never be proved that he speaks of any other Truth but those grand Fundamental Articles of Faith those Catholique Doctrines which were once delivered to the Saints and which blessed be God are maintained in every Church to this day not of all truth whatsoever much less of an absolute freedom from all manner of error For letting these things alone at present I shall shew that this is all that can be meant by the Pillar and Ground of Truth if it refer to the Church as I am content to admit not that the Church as they absurdly affirm is the very foundation of our Faith upon which it relyes but that it firmly retains upholds and professes the Christian Truth against all the force violence and opposition of Earth and Hell of Men and Devils that indeavour to overthrow it That this is the natural import of the phrase I will manifest First from the propriety of the words Secondly from clear reason and the Holy Scripture I. First from the propriety of the words in the Greek Language In which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently signifies such a Pillar as stood before their common Halls and Courts of Judicature upon which the Decrees and Orders of the Court were wont to hang or be fixed Unto which Tertullian alludes when speaking of an Article of the Creed in the place above named * L. de Resurrect Carnis C. 18. he saith Vnum opinor apud omnes EDICTVM DEI PENDET I suppose one Edict of God hangs up among all viz. to be read by them having just askt before quonam titulo Spes ista proscripta est by what TITLE this hope viz. of the resurrection is proposed and held forth to all And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ground signifies not the foundation but the Seat where any thing is placed so as to be settled and laid up to remain and abide there And at the most can mean no more than the stay or establishment the seat or settlement of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumenius renders it the confirmation of truth or if we will have these words allude to a building because the Church is here called the House of the living God as elsewhere the Temple of God which is the same they signifie no more but supporters and upholders without which the edifice would fall to the ground And the most we can make of them when they are applied to the Church with respect to the truth is this that the Church sustains and keeps it from sinking or falling as a Pillar firmly setled upon a Basis sustains and upholds the fabrick laid upon it This consists in these three things which I shall distinctly though but briefly mention for the Reader 's clear information in this matter First The Church is that Body of Men which preserves and keeps which maintains and holds up the Christian Faith which God hath committed to its care as he did to the Jews the Divine Oracles delivered in old times And as the Church will answer it to God and not be guilty of betraying its trust it must constantly preserve the truth committed to it that it be not lost and do not perish This might be divided into two that the Church
is the keeper and Conservator of all the Holy Scriptures and the Divine Truths contained therein and that by faithful keeping them it upholds and supports the Truth as a Pillar doth the building which rests upon it But this is sufficiently included in what follows Secondly the Church is not only to preserve the Truth but to profess it and to give attestation to it that is to bear witness that this is the Truth of God and this alone which he hath revealed for the Salvation of Mankind By which means it doth not only hold up the Truth but hold it out to others as the Sacred Edict or Decree of God which all are to take notice of and observe And so Thirdly It is by this means to promote and propagate the Truth and not let it fall to the ground as a building doth when the Pillars that supported it are removed In brief As Heretical Churches were the Pillars and Stays of falshood they maintained and defended it they testified to it and indeavour'd to continue it and leave it to Posterity just so is the Church of Christ the Pillar and Ground of Truth it professes the Christian Faith it maintains it as the Truth of God and notwithstanding all the persecutions troubles losses torments whereby its Enemies would shake the constancy of those who maintain the Truth they testifie to it and declare to future Generations that this as S. Peter speaks is the true grace of God wherein we stand This is the first consideration to assure us of the true meaning of these words II. The Second is as strong for plain reason makes it evident that this not the other is the sense of them The Church that is cannot be the very foundation upon which the Truth is built not that which gives it authority and makes it to be Truth for the quite contrary is declared by Truth it self that the Truth is the foundation upon which the Church is built and which makes it to be a Church So S. Paul instructs this very Church of Ephesus who were built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner Stone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit II. Ephes 18 19 20. It was therefore a Church of Christ because it held the Truth which He and his Apostles taught And so a great number of the Ancient Fathers expound those words of Christ to S. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock i. e. upon the confession of Faith which thou hast made upon that Truth thou hast confest I will build my Church Matth. XVI We can own no Society of Men to be a Church of Christ unless they profess the true Faith of Christ And therefore the true Faith must be known before we can know whether they be a true Church or no who call themselves by that Name and consequently they do not give authority to the Truth but the Truth to them because the Truth must be supposed before they can have any authority Observe the above recited words I beseech you which say the Church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets c. i. e. upon the Truth revealed by them in the Gospel It is a Church by holding and believing this for if this be not the thing which makes a company of Men to be a Church of the living God tell me why the Mahometans are not his Church They are a society of Men professing some belief and having some truth and devotion and being governed by Laws as well as we There is no reason why they belong not to the Church of Christ but because they have not the Truth as it is in Christ Therefore the Church doth not make the Truth but the Truth makes the Church the Truth doth not rely upon the Church because it is before the Church which relies upon it Which was the Doctrine of the Church it self in after Ages as it were easie to shew if I intended to write a great Book I will content my self with two Testimonies in ancient times the one is of S. Chrysostome who thus expounds these very words the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth Not like that Judaical Temple saith he for this is it which keeps together and contains the Faith and the preaching or Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Truth is both the Pillar and the Ground or foundation of the Church The other is S. Austin in his third Book upon the Creed to the Catechumens (c) Tom. IX which begins thus You know this viz. the Creed to be the foundation of the Cathlique Faith upon which the edifice of the Church arose being built by the hands of the Apostles and Prophets And with this of Gabriel Biel in latter Ages (d) L. 3 in sentent Dist 25. Dub. 3. Catholique truths without any approbation of the Church are in the nature of the thing immutable and immutably true and so are to be accounted unchangeably Catholique Which brings to mind another remarkable saying of S. Austin who after he had produced in his first and second Books against Julian the Pelagian the testimonies of XI great Doctors viz. Irenaeus Cyprian Reticius Olympius Hilarius Ambrosius Innocentius where by the way it is observable he mentions the Bishop of Rome only as one of the eminent Bishops not as Head of them all Gregory Nyssen Basil of Caesarea John Chrysostom Hierom makes this reflection upon their consent which he lookt upon as the voyce of the Catholique Church Qui tamen veritati auctoritatem non suo tribuêre consensu c. who notwithstanding did not give authority to the Truth by their consent but received testimony and glory by partaking of the Truth They endeavour indeed to put by such evident conviction as this by a little distinction that though in it self the Church is built upon the Truth yet in respect to us the Truth is built upon the Church Which appears already to be a vain conceit unto those who consider that the Church cannot be the foundation of Truth to us unless we first know it to be the true Church of Christ and indued with this priviledge from God to be the Ground of Truth in this sense which I am now confuting But whence should we know this If it be said from the Truth which it professes then the Church is not the Foundation of the Truth to us for we must know the Truth before we can know that to be the true Church which calls it self the Foundation If we say from the Church then the Church is the Pillar and Ground of it self and we believe it to be the true Church because it says it is Which is so absurd and dangerous that the Mahometans as I said will be as true a Church as any else they may boldly put
in for their share of this priviledge Nay if confidence and power can carry it ingross it wholly to themselves It remains therefore that this is the true sense of the words which I have given The Church keeps the Truth and keeps it up It is the Conservator of it and preserves it from falling to the ground it proclaims it and holds it forth to others it continues the truth in the World and settles it in mens minds but it self is built upon this Truth not the Truth upon it Which derives its authority from God who sent Jesus Christ into the World to teach us his will and gave him power to send his Apostles as he had sent him God bearing them witness with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will. This will be the more plainly laid open if I spend a little time in showing what is here meant by the Church which is commonly thought to be the Pillar and Ground of Truth and was the third thing propounded in the beginning to be explained III. The Church or House of God signifies every where a company of Christians united under their Pastors unto Christ their Head by a sincere Faith and joyned one to another by Brotherly love and communion Where ever we find such a Society of Men and Women there is a Church and all the Societies of this kind throughout the World make up that which we call the Catholique or Vniversal Church the whole body of Christ or Christian Church Of which the Church of Ephesus here spoken of was a part one eminent company of Christians professing the truly Catholique Faith and joyned to Timothy as their chief Pastor for the worship and service of Christ and for to be the Pillar and Ground of Truth as these words must be interpreted if they relate unto the Church They indeed who are now of the Roman Communion understand by the Church only the Pastors of the Church And some of them this Church representative as it may be called that is the whole assembly of Christian Bishops as many as can meet together representing all the Churches under their care But others understand only one Bishop alone the Pope of Rome who is then the Church Virtual in whom all the power of all the Bishops in the World is united But as there are no such notions of the Word Church in Scripture so if they be applied to this place they will appear very wild fancies unto any Man who will soberly consider the scope of it For it is very evident that the Church is here mentioned as distinct from Timothy who was the prime Pastor of it and who is directed how to behave himself in it Therefore if this Church was the Pillar of Truth the whole multitude of Believers at Ephesus united under him and the rest of their Pastors must be lookt upon as having an interest in this great priviledge and honour as well as duty to be the Conservators and Supporters of the Christian Faith which they had received For S. Paul as I said is instructing Timothy how to demean himself in this Society which he calls the House or family of God that is among true Believers in Christ formed into a Society under the Government of their Guides who were to take the greater care that every one in the Church was well taught instructed and ordered because they were the Pillar and Ground of Truth This made S. Paul very solicitous that Timothy should carry himself well and be a good Pastor in that Church of which the Holy Ghost had made him chief Overseer And not knowing when he might have opportunity to see him and give him personal instruction by word of mouth he wrote this Letter to him for his direction that he might fully understand how to discharge this Office. And therefore these words it appears by the verse foregoing v. 14. relate partly to what went before and partly to what follows These things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness c. Which whole Paragraph is to be understood as if he had said in more words Though I hope shortly to discourse with thee face to face yet not knowing what may hinder and retard my hopes I have sent the above written instructions to thee not to trouble the Church with vain disputations about the rites of the Law and such idle questions as the Jews are apt to raise but to remember as I have said in the beginning of this Letter v. 4 5. of the first Chapter that the end of the Commandment is charity the love of God and of our neighbour This therefore teach them and instruct them also to make prayers supplications and intercession with giving of thanks for all Men for Kings and all that are in authority Chap. II. 1 2 3 4. teach them all likewise how to pray v. 8. and instruct the Bishops and the Deacons and all the rest in their Office and Duty for it is of great concernment that they be well informed because this Church over which thou art set is the very Seat of Truth which is not to be found in any other place but in such a company of Believers Who ought to uphold and defend it when thou art dead and gone and therefore had need be well setled and established in it especially in the great mystery of godliness wherein all Christians agree and about which there is no Controversie That so the Church may never let it go and this Truth may not dye and fall to the Ground when we are laid in our Graves but be delivered to those that come after as the very Oracles of God. Who now is there so blind as not to be able to see that by the Church is meant not merely the supream Governour of the Church which was Timothy but all that company of Christian people under their several Bishops and Teachers who belonged to Ephesus All of which S. Paul left Timothy when he himself went into Macedonia to take care of and to charge that they taught no other Doctrine as you read 1.3 and in this House or Family he was when S. Paul wrote this Epistle to him not in a General Council for there was none in three hundred Year after this time Therefore he doth not speak of the Church Representative as it is called much less of the Church Virtual as they term it that is the Pope For then mark what sence the words will make I have wrote to thee not knowing when I shall see thee how to behave thy self in the Bishop of Rome as if he would have us fancy Timothy in the Popes Belly and himself gravely instructing him how to carry himself with
great circumspection and discretion there I do not love to use such words but there are no other I can find so apt to represent the gross absurdity of their Doctrines who take upon them to give infallible interpretations of Holy Scripture from the Universal Bishop the grand and only Oracle of Christendom as they would have him esteemed or from such Councils as they are pleased to call General and can obtain their approbation You see what godly ones we are like to have if we give up our Faith to them how they will pervert the plain words of God to serve their own interest and wrest them from their natural and easie sence to another which is so forced that there is no Man so rude but would readily discern the absurdness of it if he were permitted to read and did consider the Holy Scripture For their great Cardinal Bellarmine alledges these very words to prove that General Councils confirmed by the Pope cannot err (e) Lib. 2. de Contil. Auctoritate C. 2. Class 2da nay that particular Councils approved by the Pope have the same priviledge (f) Ib. cap. 6. Denique where it is evident to the weakest understanding that the whole company of Christians that were at Ephesus united to their Pastors without which they could not be a Society or Company are the Church here spoken of and therefore are the Pillar and Ground of Truth if this relate to the Church and not merely some particular person in that Church much less a General Council of all the Bishops in the World and least of all one Bishop in whom Timothy could not be said in any sense to be as he is here said to be in that Church which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth viz. in that Church whereof he was the chief Governour which was the Pillar and Ground of Truth in that part of the World. For this is not an Office appropriated to any particular Church but belonging to the Catholique Church and to every single Church as it is a Member of the Whole And here it will be very profitable I think to note these six things for the full explication of this place of Scripture I. The first of them is that which I now mentioned that every particular Church one as well and as much as another is a Pillar and Ground of Truth in that sense which I have declared This is not a prerogative which belongs to some one Church but a priviledge appertaining to the Universal and to every particular as a part of it For if the Church at Ephesus was a Pillar of Truth as S. Paul here affirms then by the same reason the Church of Antioch the Church of Corinth the Church of Rome and the Church of Jerusalem had the same authority For that which made any one of them a Church made the other so viz. the true Faith of Christ there professed and union with their Pastors for the Divine service and therefore that honour or Office which belong'd to one of them must of necessity belong to another because they were but so many members of one and the same Body That is every one of them in their several Countries wherein they were planted had the truth of God committed to them which they were to maintain and support unto the very death and endeavour that every one who was a Stranger to the words of eternal life might by their means know and believe them And accordingly every Church hath contributed unto this and no one Church could ever with any reason pretend to be the sole supporter or defender of the Christian Truth Of which there is this plain demonstration that then the Church is most of all the Pillar and Ground or Buttress as some translate it of Truth when it is assaulted by Heresies and not only beats them off but beats them down and suppresses them Now all Heresies were not quasht and confounded by S. Peter and his Successors in the Church of Rome but by other Apostles and Evangelists and their Successors in other Churches This is demonstrated by a learned Man of the Roman Communion * Joh. Launoii Epist pars Quinta Antonio Varillao p. 35. c. by XII famous instances out of a far greater number S. John for example not Peter or any of his Successors struck down the Nicolaitans S. Paul the Nazarens and Cerinthians S. Luke the Ebionites as he proves out of good Authors particularly Hyginus who relates how the Bishops of other Sees not the Bishops of Rome quasht the Ptolemaites the Noetians and divers other Hereticks as the Synod of Antioch did Paulus Samosatenus (g) Enseb L. VII Eccles Hist c. 22. and the first General Council of Constantinople where Damasus Bishop of Rome was not present either by himself or his Legates did Eunomius and other Hereticks Which leads to the second thing I would have observed II. That every eminent Pastor in the Church who laboured in the word and Doctrine as S. Paul speaks in this Epistle V. 17. had these very titles anciently bestowed upon him of the Pillar and Ground of Truth because the Bishops were the principal Trustees with whom the Faith was deposited as may be observed in the words of Irenaeus before mentioned and many other ancient Writers and in S. Paul's words to Timothy when he bids him to keep the depositum he had committed to him and commit the same to other faithful or trusty persons who should be able to teach it to others 2 Tim. I. 14. II. 2. and because they were principal Instruments in defending the Truth against opposers in propagating the Christian Faith to those who were ignorant of it and in preserving the rest of the Church in the belief of the Truth which they had entertained by their constant instructions and zealous exhortation to hold fast what they had received Nay we shall rarely if at all find any Bishop of Rome called the Pillar and Ground of Truth but several other Bishops are frequently called by this name S. Basil for instance (h) Epist LXII Tom. II. writing of the Bishop of Neocaesarea newly dead bewails his loss very much because he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ornament of the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very words of the Apostle here in this place the Pillar and Ground of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strong and firm establishment of Faith in Christ c. And upon the same occasion writing to the Church of Ancyra (i) Epist LXVII whose Bishop was called Athanasius it appears by some of the foregoing Epistles he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man is faln who was indeed a Pillar and Ground of the Church And complaining in another Epistle (k) Epist LXX of the miserable estate of their Churches he says among other things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pillars and Ground of the Truth are dispersed the Bishops he means were banished from their Flocks Which
it self for the sake of it Neither is this meerly the Ecclesiastical Language but the Holy Scripture it self gives those this honourable title who constantly indured tribulation for the Gospel sake though it did not cost them their lives Thus our blessed Lord speaks to the Church of Philadelphia III. Revel 12. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the temple of my God. Which signifies partly that he should be an eminent Instrument of upholding the Church and preserving many in the profession of Christianity by his constancy and firmness in it and partly that he should be so established himself by the grace and power of God that he should never fall according to that of S. Peter 1 V. 10. But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you and partly that he should be made in the highest sense a PILLAR that is an Apostolical Man who should be advanced to the most eminent imployment in the Church of teaching and instructing of Governing and Ruling as a principal Pastor in the Temple of God. In one word be an Angel of the Church as he speaks in the beginning of this Letter v. 7. and in all the rest an illustrious Minister and Messenger of God to publish the glad tidings of Salvation to the World. Such the Apostles were whom Theodoret calls the Pillars of the Truth with peculiar respect to their sufferings Behold saith he †Orat. de providentia Tom. IV. p. 441. Peter and John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Towers or Bulwarks of Godliness the Pillars of Truth supporting the Structure of the Church being scourged by the Jews but rejoycing and glorying V. Act. 41. that they were counted worthy to suffer shame or to be disgraced for his Name And such like were these victorious Souls as Arethas * Comment in III. Rev. 12. expounds our Saviour's words to this Church For he that conquers saith he the adverse powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is constituted a Pillar and Ground of the Truth rejoycing himself immutably so he interprets in the temple of my God and establishing others in goodness that they may not fall from their stedfastness IV. Any eminent person also in the Church though not a Martyr is sometime called by this name in Ecclesiastical Writers For instance Jo. Damascen thus addresses himself to Jordanes the Archimandrite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (b) Epist ad euâ—n de Triâ—agio O most Divine Father the Pillar and Ground or stay of Truth Nay thus zealous persons in the Laity especially if they were of great quality contributed to the support of the Faith by supporting these Pillars of it So S. Basil in one of the forenamed Epistles having bewailed the banishment of their Bishops whom he calls the Pillars and Ground of Truth prays Terentius a Count of the Empire to preserve himself safe that they might have some to rest upon God having graciously made him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (c) Epist 345. a support and a prop in all things to us But they of the Clergy more particularly though of the Order below Bishops were lookt upon as having no small share in this Office. For S. Cyril of Alexandria (d) Lib. V. in Esaiam Tom. 2. p. 768. having mentioned Christ as the foundation and believers in him as pretious Stones built upon him unto a holy Temple compares their instructors in the Mysteries of Religion to the most pretious Stones such as those mentioned LIV. Isa 11 12. which God uses some in laying the foundation others as buttresses some for the Gates others for the Walls of the holy City that is the Church that all her Children may be taught of God. V. Nay one of the forenamed great Doctors of the Church warrants me to add that every pious member of the Church in his place and calling hath his share in this great trust For whosoever saith S. Gregory Nyssen (e) Hom. XIV in Cant. Canticorum p 684. is perfected in these two great Commandments to love God and to love his Neighbour he is framed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pillar and Ground of Truth according to the language of the Apostle By both these we may become such Pillars as Peter and James and John or if there be any other since them that hath been or shall be worthy of this name And he doth in effect say the same in the place before named (f) De vita Mosis where he observes the Apostle requires others to be Pillars as well as himself when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. XV. 58. be ye stedfast or stable unmoveable abounding always in the work of the Lord. For he that is thus firmly fixed and setled as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and diligent in well doing whatsoever trials he hath to shake him he supports Religion he maintains the credit of it in the World he doth great service to the Truth by shewing how good how useful how laborious it makes those that embrace it And I am sure it lies upon every one of us as an indispensable duty to hold fast the Truth and to profess it and practise it and notwithstanding any danger or trouble unto which it may expose us to testifie unto it if need be by constant patient peaceable suffering for Christs sake And he that doth thus is according to his measure though never so mean a person in the Church a Pillar and Ground of Truth And thus Theodoret expounds these words he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the assembly or congregation of those that believe the House of God and the Church and these he saith are the Pillar and support of Truth For being founded upon the Rook they both remain unshaken and preach by their deeds the truth of their Doctrine And Theophylast also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Church is a constitution or an assembly of truth For all things that are done in it are true nothing shadowy as under the Law c. VI. I have but one thing further to add That the more and the better they are who joyn in this work the greater support they give to the Truth First I say the more the greater number there are of those who maintain the truth by preaching writing suffering or well doing and the greater credit they have in the World the stronger Pillars they are and the surer doth the truth seem to be in the eyes of those to whom they represent it Upon which account the Doctrine of S. Paul and Barnabas which he had received by revelation as well as other Apostles yet being communicated to James and Cephas and John who were eminent Pillars and been approved by them received the more strength by their concurrent testimony II. Gal. 2 5 9. And it was still more confirmed by the whole Council of Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem
defects of the Scripture and make things unwritten to become matters of Faith. Which is such an unbounded Prerogative that we may have a new Faith as often as they please to pretend a Tradition for it though they cannot prove it For we must rest in the authority of the present Church which affirms it and that against the very Scripture it self which tells us it is able to make a Man of God perfect and against the testimony of the Universal Church which I have shown forbids the producing of any other Faith but that which was evidently delivered by the Apostles there 3. We cannot allow the Church an Infallible authority that is such an assistance in her Doctrines and proposals that she cannot err in any thing she defines In Controversies indeed arising about matters of Faith we own and reverence the authority of the Church (t) Artic. XX. so as not to contest the publique judgement but to prefer it before our own private conceits in doubtful things But as it ought to proceed in its determinations by the Rule of Gods word So we think it possible it may mistake in the application of this Rule and therefore we do not blindly resign our selves to its authority without all regard to the Holy Scriptures unto which the Church ought to have a respect in all its determinations No that 's another proud pretence of the present Roman Church that they cannot mistake in their definitions and therefore we must submit unto them without examination From whence this intollerable mischief hath insued that it hath made them both insensible of their errors and careless to seek any cure of them nay utterly incapable of a remedy For as one of our own Divines excellently speaks (u) Dr. Petter's Answer to Charity mistaken Sect. 5. whose words those are this conceit of their Infallibility is to them both a sufficient reason for that which is most unreasonable and a sufficient answer to that which is most unanswerable To this they retreat upon all occasions when they are not able to maintain their ground they have no other way to defend their errors when they are plainly set before their eyes but to tell us confidently they cannot err Which is a very strange boldness for we demonstrate in manay instances that they have erred erred most grosly particularly in this that they have added new Articles to the old Creed to be believed under pain of Damnation and added a new Canon of Scripture to the Old Testament against the clearest evidence in the Records of the Universal Church that the Books they have newly received were never acknowledged for Canonical Scripture If by the Church indeed they would understand the Church truly Catholique the whole Body of Christ in all times places and ages and if by matters of Faith they would understand those grand Articles which I have mentioned in the first part of this Discourse and if by being Infallible they would understand not an absolute impossibility of erring which humane nature is not capable of but not actual error there are none of us make any question but the Church is Infallible That is the whole Church hath not erred nor shall not err in the whole Faith or in any necessary part thereof for such error would cut Men off from Christ the head and so leave him no Church at all which is impossible It hath been the very scope of first my Discourse to show that the Church hath always kept the great fundamental truths of our Religion and not erred in them but transmitted them down to us whole and undefiled till the Church of Rome in the Council of Trent corrupted the Faith by their errors which they have mixed with it For to a particular Church such as that of Rome is we cannot allow this priviledge of not erring because we know they have erred even in fundamental Truths and thereby ceased to be Churches Witness those glorious Churches to which Christ himself sent his Letters by S. John the Apostle These Prerogatives therefore not belonging to any Church every one must be content with those two Offices before mentioned which are sufficient First The Office of a Witness testifying the authority of the Holy Scriptures unto its members Secondly of Gods instrument by whose Ministry in opening expounding and urging the Holy Scriptures the Holy Ghost begets a divine Faith in us And by performing these Offices it supports and continues and propagates the Truth and so may be called the Pillar and Ground thereof The meaning of which I shall now distinctly set before the Readers eyes that I may give a short account of the fourth and last thing propounded in the beginning IV. How the Church may appropriate to it self this Title 1. First Every Church and every person in it especially the Bishops and Pastors are the Pillar and Ground of Truth officio by Duty and Office whereby they are obliged to keep maintain and uphold the Truth This always was and always will be incumbent on them which is sufficient to fill up the sense of such attributes as these which do not always note performance of Duty but only obligation to it As when our Saviour saith to his Disciples Ye are the salt of the Earth it doth not signifie that they were necessarily so for he supposes immediately the salt might lose its savour but that they ought to be so and if they were not so would be good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot Matth. V. 13. 2. But Secondly The first Churches of Christ in the Apostles times were actu effectu actually and effectually the Pillar of Truth that is they faithfully discharg'd this Office and perform'd their Duty constantly maintaining the Truth as it is in Christ in its purity and simplicity For the Apostles were a part of those Churches whom God led into all Truth which they taught sincerely and intirely while they lived and do at this day instruct us in the Holy Scriptures in the whole Truth necessary to our Salvation 3. But we cannot say the same of all succeeding Churches that they did faithfully perform this office though in duty they also were bound so to do No some of them were so far from being Pillars of the Truth that they let it fall to the ground We have strange instances of it with which I shall not fill these Papers in the History of the Church which show us that if we take not heed to our selves and the Doctrine that is delivered to us we have no security that we or any other particular Church shall continue firm and stedfast supporters of the Truth For Pillars themselves may decay and if they be not well lookt after will go to ruin and fall to the Earth 4. Even this very Church of Ephesus which was a Pillar and Ground of Truth while Timothy presided in it afterward began before all the Apostles were dead to remit its first love and zeal for
exalted himself when he got it declared in the Lateran Council that he was above a General Council and the Universal Church (z) Sess XI being blasphemously called by his flatterers the Spouse of the Church the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah From which very Phrase of Spouse no less Man than Bellarmine (a) L. II. de Concil Auctor c. 17. himself labours to prove the Pope to be absolutely above the Vniversal Church and above a General Council because it is contrary to the Apostle and to the order of Nature that the Wife should be above the Husband This is sufficient to show what we ought to think of the present Roman Church which is so far from being Infallible that it hath erred more than any other Church 6. But though there be no promise either to that or any other particular Church of being preserved from Error yet the Universal Church in some part or other of it we are sure will always be a Pillar and Ground of the whole Truth necessary to Salvation because our Saviour hath promised the gates of hell shall not prevail against it That is the Church shall be perpetual which it cannot be unless it hold the Truth intirely it is joyned to Christ its Head. And thus one of their own Cardinals (b) 〈…〉 de 〈◊〉 L. II. c. 〈◊〉 L. III. 〈◊〉 understood the Infallibility of the Church with which they now make so much noise When we say The Church cannot err in Faith or Manners it must be thus taken according to the Doctrine of the Fathers that God doth so assist his Church to the end of the World that the true Faith shall never fail out of the same For to the World's end there shall be no time wherein some though all shall not have true Faith working by Love. Unto this exposition we heartily submit but that the present Church of Rome or indeed any other particular Church cannot degenerate and depart from the right Faith we can by no means allow but think our selves bound by the most sacred tyes to oppose these arrogant pretences that the Church is Infallible and that they are the Church They are no more the Church than any other company of Men professing the Christian Faith nor so much neither for there are truer Believers than they I have proved also that other Churches have erred and therefore so may they nay they have erred and that so grosly as to be able by no other means to maintain their errors but by pretending they cannot err And therefore let no Man be so forgetful of these things as to trust them to be his Guides fancying they cannot mislead him They have misled those that rely upon them and have led them into a maze or labyrinth in which it is impossible for them to find their way and know what is the Truth For if we should grant them their Church cannot err they are not agreed nor ever will what they mean by the Church Whether the whole body of Christian People which is the new Heresie among them as some of themselves call it or a General Council which the learnedst and best Men among them maintain or the Pope who hath a great many on his side but they cannot agree about the manner of his definition whether alone or in a General Council nor about the time whether at any time or only when he resolves to publish Doctrines as matter of Faith nor about the matter whether all things even matters of fact or only matters of Faith and after all no body can tell when there is a true Pope So that all their Faith falls to the Ground and they cannot be certain of any thing they believe because they cannot be certain of the very Ground and Foundation of their Faith which is their Church These things I have only briefly toucht which are more largely handled in other Books that the Readers may be sensible how happy they are who are freed from these Impostures And that our People may know their duty in this Church of England whereof by the Grace of God they are Members I shall conclude this Treatise with Six Considerations more whereby the whole I hope will be made more useful I. First I desire every one to consider from what I have said that this Church in which we are is certainly as much a Pillar and Ground of Truth as any other nay more than many other Churches For we openly profess and recite twice a day in our own Language that every one may understand it the whole Christian Faith comprised in the Apostles Creed with the explication of some part of this Faith by the Nicene Fathers once every week or more and a more distinct Explication of the same Articles by Athanasius once a month That is we hold and assert and maintain all those things which have always been and are confessed by all Christians the True Ancient Catholique and Apostolique Faith and the Holy Scriptures wherein this Faith is Originally contained And if we knew any thing else to be the mind of God delivered to us from Christ and his Apostles by the Universal Church we are prepared to receive it and did it appear would immediately embrace and propagate it But the Vniversal Church as I have shown hath declared this to be sufficient nay full and perfect and moreover forbidden any other Faith to be either composed or offered to those who would become Christians To all which that I have said in the First Part this memorable saying of Pope Leo (c) Epist ad Pulcheriam Augustam the Great may be added The short and perfect Confession of the Catholique Symbol or Creed it self which is sealed in as many sentences as there were Apostles i. e. XII Articles is so instructed with Caelestial munition or defence that all the opinions of Hereticks with this Sword alone may be cut in pieces II. And therefore Secondly every one of us is bound â—nless we will betray our trust and as we will answer it to our Lord Christ the Author of our Faith to hold fast this Faith to preserve it intire and to defend it not suffering any of it to be lost or any addition to be made to it as if this were not sufficient to Salvation Take fast hold of instruction of those great substantial unquestionable Truths mentioned in the beginning let them not go keep them for they are your life as Solomon speaks of Wisdom IV. Prov. 13. They are the Wisdom of God our Saviour the Rule which the Apostles preached equally among all Nations as Venantius Fortunatus (d) Praefat. in Symbol speaks the comprehension and perfection of our Faith as S. Austin (e) Sâ—rm CXV de Teâ—p or an Ancient Author under his name the Test as I have shown and Mark whereby the Faithful are distinguisht from Unbelievers and Hereticks And having this Note of a Christian you ought neither to seek for nor to admit of any other being indued