contradicts the Justice Goodness and Veracity of God to authorize any to be a witness of his Truth that might lye and deceive the World in their attestation And methinks it concerns as well English Protestants as Us to maintain the Catholick Church for an Infallible Witness seeing at this distance from the Preaching of Christ and his Apostles they as well as we have no other Infallible assurance then her Testimony whereby to know either which are the undoubtd Books of Scripture or what the true meaning of them And thus that Religion which Protestants pretend to be contain'd in only Scripture must rejecting Church Authority necessarily float in an Ocean of incertainties and we miserably be left in the mysts of conjectures among dead Letters with the twi-light of natural reason to search out Faith and the Eternal Salvation of our Souls Lastly the fore-quoted Texts being so express for the Church to have a Power from Christ to oblige all men under pain of Damnation to believe and submit to her Proposals as to Faith God hath also endowed her with Infallibility in bringing to our knowledge revealed Verities seeing otherwise such a Power in the Church and a correspondent obligation in her Children would not bear an equal proportion And therefore these two are inseparably link'd together a Power to bind to Believe and Infallibility in the Obliger Christ assisting his Church with his Holy Spirit to guide her Infallibly into all Truth because he hath invested her with a Power to bind to believe and giving her a Power of obliging to believe because he hath made her Infallible in such Proposals It seeming most conformable to the Divine Goodness and Providence that such an externe proponant of Faith should be established as might afford no just cause to suspect whither it be true or no which is proposed and in all reason no greater assurance can be desired then to have an absolute certainty that that Authority cannot err in points of Faith to whom we must in such Proposals captivate our Wills and Understandings For this is but to assent upon undoubted evidence then which nothing is more agreeable to mans nature Neither is it rational to believe that God who is essential Reason and Wisdom ruling all his Creatures according to the several Dispositions Imprinted in them would impose such a Duty on Discoursive Entities upon other terms Blessed be God who hath so carefully provided for us in giving us a Law which is the only means to Salvation and also an authorized guide to direct us in the certain knowledge of it namely the Catholick which cannot possibly lead us into errour as hath been formerly shewn Thus certainly these Scriptures witnessing the Churches Authority are agreeable to reason now let us see what further light can be added to them from the Writings and universal practice of Antiquity SECT VIII The Churches Authority or Infallibility taught and asserted by the Ancient Fathers IF I should produce what Antiquity affords us on this Subject I should rather transcribe Books than Passages so Copious and Industrious have the Fathers been on all occasions to press a point so necessary S. Athana coni Aria S. Hier. S. Aug. Pole St. Cyp. de vnit Ecc. Tert. c. especially in their Polemical Discourses against Hereticks to vindicate their dear Mother the Church in her Just Rights and Priviledges against all Rebellious contradictors of her Authority And thither I refer such as desire more ample satisfaction for the present I shall content my self with some few choice places and they are these We must believe saith Irenaeus â— l. cont hae ca. 49. those Priests that are in the Church those that have a Succession from the Apostles who together with the Episcopal Power according to the good pleasure of the Father have received the certain gift of Truth We must not believe saith the English Protestant Church those who in their Episcopal Chaires have had an un-interrupted Succession from the Apostles seek not for the Law of God from their Lips for they are fallen from the Truth yea General Councils can err and have erred in Art 21. of the 39. their Definitions having no certain gist of Truth by Divine assistance Thus they flatly contradicting good Irenaeus and Ancient Doctrine Now whom shall we believe The old Saint or the new Protestant Give him a little more Audience for he proceeds thus The Church Cap. 62. l. praed shall be under no mans judgement for to the Church all things are known in which is the perfect Faith of the Father and of all the Dispensations of Christ and firm knowledge of the Holy Ghost who teacheth all Truth But say he what he will Protestants will assume a Power to judge and condemn her of no less gross and damnable Errours then Idolatry and Superstition to justify that thing they call the Reformed Church Though it were no difficult matter for them to perceive the Injustice of such Proceedings when the same Saint goes on and tells them and us That it is easie to receive the Truth from Gods Church seeing the Apostles have most fully deposited in her as in a rich store-house all things belonging to Truth For what if there should arise any contention of some small questions ought we not to have recourse to the most Ancient Churches and from them receive what is certain and clear concerning the present question Thus far he And if this course is to be taken in small questions doubtless much more in matters of high concern as many points are now controverted between Us and Protestants In such to be left to our own private conjectures and Interpretations would be most unsafe and unreasonable And had Protestants taken the course here prescribed by the Saint for the inquisition of Truth when they first raised questions about Religion as in such cases all Christians ought to do could ever such a thing as the Protestant Church have had a beeing or existence For 't is as visible as the Sun that there was no pre-existent form of Faith in the whole Christian World according to which they modeliz'd their Religion in England and with whom they communicated when they divided from the Church of Rome their Catholick Mother If great St. Austin was not little in esteem with our modern Hereticks they might receive full satisfaction from him in this point if they would Impartially peruse his Writings against the Donatists and other Enemies of the Churches Faith and Unity That of his is very remarkable against Crescontius Though saith he there cannot be produced Lib. 1. cap. 33. from Scriptures any examples of such a thing yet the Truth of the same Scriptures is held of us in this matter when we do that which pleaseth the whole Church which the Authority of the same Scriptures commendeth that because the Holy Scriptures cannot deceive us whosoever feareth to be deceived with the obscurity of this question let him require the judgment of
the Church which the Holy Scriptures without any ambiguity do demonstrate To the end that because the Scripture cannot deceive us whosoever is afraid to be deceived by the obscurity of any question may have recourse to the Churches judgment concerning it which Church the Holy Scriptures demonstrate without any ambiguity Two things are suitable to our present purpose which are clear from hence First that though we may sometimes doubt what is Truth yet we can never doubt which is the true Church demonstrated to us by the Scriptures upon whose judgment while we rely we are secure from holding any thing contrary to the written Word commending to us her Authority Secondly That though the Scriptures are Infallible and cannot deceive us yet if we will not deceive our selves and kill our Souls by the dead Letter without the quickning sense we must believe what the Church believes submitting our private reason to her publick Interpretation For else let Hereticks never so much boast of Scripture for them we may tell them in the words of the same Saint This ye Cont. Faust l. 32. c. 19. seem to do that Scriptures may loose all Authority while every one may allow or disallow what his own mind suggests to him out of them That is may not subject his Faith to the Authority of Scripture but subject Scripture to his Faith It being indeed the property of all Hereticks not to take sense from but to bring sense to those Sacred Oracles forcing them by manifest distortions or dark conjectures to speak in defence of their prejudicated Tenets and so make nothing of Scripture while they seem to value nothing else Now what remedy against this intolerable abuse of the Word of God and everlastingly-quarrelproducing evil but that of Origen Quoties c. As often as they Hereticks Ho. in Mat. Praef. l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bring forth Canonical Scriptures which no Christian but believes and assents to they seem to say Behold the word of Truth is in our Houses but we must not believe them nor depart from the Primitive Ecclesiastical Tradition nor believe otherwise then as the Churches of God by succession have deliver'd to us And to put them to silence with that of L. de Praes p. 19. Tertullian We must not appeal to Scriptures neither is the controversy to be setled upon them in which either there will be no victory at all or very uncertain Yea there is no good got by disputing out of Texts of Scripture that is as interpretable by private reason and play'd upon by wit but either to make a man sick or mad But that is only to be believed for for Truth which in nothing disagrees from the Tradition of the Church Thus he fully agreeing with Origen in the fore-quoted place And I cannot omit here what the glorious Bishop of Hippo hath so apposite for our present purpose to his Catechumens The Holy Church the Church which is one the true S. Aust de Symb. lib. 1. v. 6. Church the Catholick Church fights against all Heresies She may be resisted but cannot be conquer'd All Heresies have gone out of her as unprofitable branches cut off from the Vine see Protestants your Original but she remains in her Root in her Charity The gates of Hell shall not prevail against her Nor that to Honoratus when therefore we see God standing for us and so much fruit and proficiency doubt we to repose our L. de util Cred. c. 17. selves in the bosom of that Church which from the Apostolical Chair by Successions of Bishops Hereticks on all sides barking in vain against her hath obtain'd Supremacy of Power To whom not to give the chief is truly either the highest Impiety or harebrain Arrogance Thus the Fathers always brought Believers to the Church for a firm foundation in tottering times there they cast Anchor and fix'd themselves amidst the storms of Controversies and Contentions rais'd by unreasonable men with the wind of strange Doctrines lest they should make Shipwrack of their Holy Faith this still they prest upon all Christians in doubts of Disputations the Church the Church believe the Church the Pillar and ground of Truth the Sacred Depository of revealed Verities the rich Store-house of all things belonging to Salvation protected by Christ to the Worlds end endowed with the certain gift of Truth by the special guidance of the Holy Ghost founded upon a Rock that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against her Which is nothing else but what they had learn'd and received from Scripture and Tradition A Truth so convincing that it extorted from Dr. Field a great Patron of the English Protestants In his Book of the Church words to this effect Controversies are now a days grown to that height and so numerous and intricate that few have time to discuss and search into them thoroughly for satisfaction fewer wit and abilities to do it as such a business of concernment require that no security remains but to fly into the arms of the Church and acquiess in her judgments and definitions But from words let us proceed to deeds from the Doctrine to the practice of Antiquity SECT IX The aforesaid Authority of the Church cleared and demonstrated by the constant practice of all Ages IF we cast our eyes through the whole Christian World not a Popish Priest in the exercise of his Spiritual Jurisdiction but is in some sort a practical proof of this Authoritative Power wherewith the Church is invested by Jesus Christ Yet residing more eminently and with larger extent in Bishops the supreme Order of the Clergy made Overseers of their respective Flocks by the Holy Ghost it appears more gloriously visible in the Decrees and Acts of General Councils the highest Ecclesiastical Tribunal determining all emergent Controversies in Spiritual matters with Anathemae's against all Contradictors whatsoever And Catholicks in all Ages acknowledging their Sacred and obliging Authority paid most inviolably the just Tribute of Obedience to their Decisions with submission of their private Judgments and Opinions however rational before they seem'd unto them So that what points soever were once declared to be of Faith by lawful and approved Councils those who persisted in the contrary Doctrines where accounted Hereticks and being justly Excommunicated for such incorrigible obstinacy shunn'd by all the Faithful as no better than Heathens and Publicans Now I cannot think that English Protestants will say though such Decrees issued out from General Councils yet it was by an usurped Power not of Right and so though such exact obedience was paid by Christians to them yet it was in their own prejudice and not of duty or obligation though truely in deeds they assert it because they pretend much veneration to the first four General Councils and Bishop Montague one of the Learnedest In his Appello ad Casa men they ever had proceeds so far as to defend against his more zealous Brethren of Romes ruine the
instill into well-meaning Souls their Pernitious Doctrines for saving Truths And this is the true reason why the Arians did so storm at the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consubstantial and in furious rage cry against it as an innovation when first inserted into the Creed by the Nicene Fathers as a most proper and powerful Antidote against their poison And why those Sons of subtilty did take such indefatigable pains and put in practice such curious Artifices to counter-check or wholly extirpate that term out of Christian Confessions as well knowing if that word liv'd and prosper'd in the Church all their Arts and Eloquence could not easily gain more Proselytes but their Anti-Doctrine must die and perish And as upon the same account the General Councils of Lateran and Trent after the unhappy birth and growth of the Sacramentarian Heresy did make use of a new word viz. Trausubstantiation to express more aptly the Ancient Faith so for the same reason our modern Reformers exclaim against that term as a novelty in Religion because it manifestly contains their condemnation and enervates their main Plea of Reformation SECT X. A farther Declaration of the Churches Authority or Infallibility in General Councils from Autiquity THe Church of God in all Ages by General Councils giving an decisive Sentence in controversies about Faith as hath been shown in the precedent Section each Decree and Anathema speaks in deed and reality her Infallibility in such Decisions Notwithstanding lest perverse minds or weak apprehensions should misconstrue her Actions and not judge aright of the grounds of such proceedings the Ancient Fathers who best understood the belief and meaning of their Catholick Mother have in their Writings left undoubted Testimonies to the World that they cannot erre who follow her voice declaring by those Assemblies what ought to be believed for revealed Truths S. Athanasius so famous for his Confession of Faith and Sufferings for it in his Epistle to the Affrican Bishops tells them that Verbum Domini per Oecumenicam Niceae Synodum manet in aeternum Not doubting to affirm the Doctrine of the Nicene Fathers to be the Word of God and of Eternal Verity From whom and other Fathers the Glorious Emperour Constantine had Learn'd to write to the Churches That whatsoever is Decreed in the In Epist ad Ecc. apud Sacta l. 1. c. 6. Holy Council of Bishops is altogether to be ascribed to the Divine Will S. Ambrose that great maintainer of Ecclesiastical Authority and Discipline professed resolutely that he would rather part with his Life then the Nicene Faith Sequor tractatum Epist 12. Niceni Concilii a quo nec mors nec gladius me poterit separare The Council of Nice is my guide from which neither Death nor the Sword of Persecution shall divide me And what of St. Hilary and other Catholick Bishops and Confessors that suffered from the power and malice of the Arians before they would part with one Syllable or Letter of the Nicene Faith by changing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same Substance into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the like Substance is well known from the Faithful Records of those times When above six hundred Fathers were gathered at Chalcedon in a General Victor Afri de Persec Wand ca. 61. Barronius c. Council there celebrated and some perhaps secret Arians propos'd the re-examination of the Nicene Decrees it in no sort would be permitted the Holy Synod crying out Si quis retractat c. If any one retract let him be Accursed If any one inquires anew about them let him be accursed Cursed be he that adds Cursed be he that Innovates For in such definitions in points of Faith being rather the Decrees of God than men should they have been subjected to a fresh Inquisition had not been so much to question the Fathers Assembled in the name of Christ as the Infallibity of the Holy Ghost assisting their endeavours in such Decisions Which is not my collection but the assertion of St. Leo the Great both for his Sanctity and Supreme Pastorship in the Church of God in his Epistle to the Emperour Martian in these words Praenoscat Pietas nostra Venerabilis Imperator c. Venerable Emperour let Ep. 78. your Piety first know that whom we send from the Apostolical Chair are not directed to combat with the enemies of Faith we daring not to go about to handle those things which have been defin'd by the good pleasure of God both at Nice and Chalcedon as if they were weak and doubtful which so great an Authority hath ratified by the Holy Spirit And therefore the Emperour that the said Decrees might be more vigorously Habetur in Codice Justini executed publish'd an Edict Strictly commanding humane contentions and Inquisitions to cease about those matters and all Christians under the Roman Jurisdiction to submit their Judgments to the Decrees of the most Holy Synods Because besides the penalties of the Laws they would by such quarrells incurre the just censure of joyning with Jews and Pagans against the Church Yet alas Protestants do so and will needs be the only or truest Christians St. Austin the Oracle of Antiquity De Bapt. cont Donat l 1. tells us That though concerning Rebaptization of Hereticks persons of eminent Learning and Piety did dispute among themselves peaceably the question insomuch that there were contrary decisions of particular Councils in the business 'till in a plenary Synod of the whole World that which was soundly believ'd was without all doubt confirmed And elsewhere That concerning the validity of Baptism Cont. Parm. lib. 2. given by any one not a Christian nothing ought determinately to be concluded without the definition of some General Council And that concerning the validity of Baptism given by Hereticks there was no question to be made being already agitated perfected and defined in the unity of the whole World Which had it been done before St. Cyprians Glorious Martyrdom he makes no doubt but the Holy Martyr would have submitted his Judgment to the L. 7. cont Donat. ca 53. Authority of an Oecumenical Synod And therefore that saying of Lib. 2. de bapt cap. 3. the same Father Priora Concilia nunquam a posterioribus emendari That former Councils are sometimes corrected by the later is not possibly applicable to decisions in points of Faith as if something amiss in such Decrees might be amended for then the Saint must needs contradict himself in his well-known assertions And therefore is to be understood either of further explications of such points and then 't is sound and Catholick Doctrine or Customes and Rights appertaining to Church-Discipline which are alterable by the Authority of Councils for the better as present circumstances shall require And doubtless many opposite Canons of Lawful Councils may be found in such matters and makes nothing against the Doctrine of the Church concerning her Infallibility But in matters
name no more and only such as Protestants themselves repute Hereticks those Arch-Enemies of the Doctrine of Grace so abundantly delivered in Sacred Writ yet fly thither also to set up Nature against it as St. Austin who best knew relates of them in these words Let us say they the L. de Nat. Grat. 39. Pelagians believe what we read what we read not let us believe unlawful to maintain Thus Scripture was their Sword and Buckler against the definitions of the Church whereby they were condemned neither could they so escape the brand of Heresie And Protestants taking up the same Weapons in the same manner to uphold themselves against the Faith and practice of all Ages by treading in the steps of such Predecessors shew sufficiently of what Generation and Spirit they are and seem justly involv'd in the same condemnation Thus having made good the first thing I promis'd in this Section namely that the common course of Hereticks is to have recourse to sole Scripture and to urge it as Interpreted by themselves against the Churches sense and judgment to speak any thing of the second to wit the different Faith and Practice of the Christian World would be but actum agere a superfluous labour being so largely before declared Sect. 5. of Trad. and the two last Sections of the Churches Authority in the handing of Tradition and the Infallibility or Authority of the Church and thither I refer the Courteous Reader Only for the present give me leave to say that I carefully comparing both these together found manifest different Rules of Faith without any possibility of reconcilement old and new Hereticks appealing to Scripture and resolute to be tryed by nothing else without any visible Judge to interpret them The Ancient Fathers and present Catholicks asserting the word of God whether written or unwritten as delivered to us by the universal Tradition of the Church and declared by her voice in approved General Councils to be the only sufficient and sure foundation of Christian belief I found that if these built their Faith on solid and safe Principles as it appeared to me they did the other must needs rely on an uncertain and groundless foundation for their Religion and having a desire to be numbred with the Saints not Hereticks of old I found I could not be so except I did relinquish Protestancy and unite my self to the Roman Church of the same belief and practice with Primitive Christians SECT III. A declaration of the English Protestants Doctrine how and why they make Scripture the only Rule of Faith FOr the clearer handling of this point and prevention of all mistakes I shall faithfully deliver what the Protestant Church of England teaches Principally in this main fundamental of her Religion and not injure it or her to the best of my judgment by any Observations made thereon First she teaches That Holy Scripture doth explicitly contain all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite and necessary to Salvation This the Composers of her Articles do teach and this they must teach who will make the written Word an entire Rule of Faith that is comprehending all points necessary to Salvation Now in all reason to satisfy those whom they would perswade to be of this belief it ought to be made evident that the Apostles in their Writings did intend plainly and perfectly to comprize whatsoever is necessary to be believ'd and practis'd by all Christians and deposited them in the Church as a complete Rule of Faith for the tryal of all Doctrines she also receiving it for such and practising accordingly in all Ages Which once done their position is then a most clear and rational inference But this being impossible for them to prove because contradicted by the Faith and practice of the Primitive Church which could not be ignorant of all Apostolical Doctrines and Constitutions and also of present Catholicks receiving them from her by an uninterrupted visible Tradition must needs be a false and most dangerous Principle though laid for the foundation of their Religion Secondly for a further ground-work she teaches That General Councils may and have erred even in things appertaining to God That is in matters of Faith as well as of Fact as her own Expositions more freely express her meaning A Doctrine the first Reformers would never have given place in the foundation of their Spiritural building even for their own sakes but that it was not possible their new Fabrick of Faith could stand for any considerable time without fall of the Churches Authority Were not they then sit men to be credited if General Councils may err But that which follows Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary unto Salvation have neither strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that they be taken explicitely out of Holy Scriptures Is the very quintessence of Anarchy and Rebellion so destructive of all Government though an Engine made only to batter down the Church that were it put in practice as here taught confusion would cover the face of the earth and the World would run quickly back into its first Chaos For if things ordained by General Councils have neither strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that it is made out to every private Judgment that they are taken out of the Holy Scriptures I demand by whom this may be or must be declared Now let it be considered that Church Governours are instituted by Jesus Christ having the Keys of so wonderful and transcendent power committed to their hands That whatsoever they Mat. 18. 18. shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever they shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven With a promise from Christ That where they meet in his Name he will be in the midst of them and ver 19. that he will be always with them to the Mat. 28. 20. Worlds end And that the Holy Spirit shall guide them into all Truth Joh. 16. 13. I say let this be consider'd and if the Decrees of such a Tribunal ordaining concerning points of Faith and proposing them to all Christians to be believ'd as the revealed will of God by his word from Heaven and necessary to Salvation have no strength nor Authority 'till it may be further declared that they are taken out of Holy Scriptures those that require this condition to make them obligatory cannot possibly give any reasonable satisfaction to this demand unless they find out such a Judge who is fitter and in all probability more likely not to err or deceive us in teaching what are revealed Truths But how impossible this is to be done any one of an ordinary understanding may without much study determine Yet while they are in vain attempting it if men should take their word as too many have already in denying
relying we have only a firm and rational belief of revealed Verities constant and immoveable among all the changes of Sects and Hereticks True it is in every act of Faith there is use of Reason whether it be referred to the Authority of God revealing or the Church proposing For we captivate our understanding to the obedience of Faith because we judge nothing more reasonable than to believe God and we securely rely upon his Church whom he hath promis'd to assist with Infallibility in such proposals But shall we say therefore that Reason is the prime intrinsical Motive of Faith and into which it finally is resolv'd Nothing less For this discourse and approbation of Reason are but necessarily previous and antecedent to our deliberate and rational acts of Faith the acts themselves are acts of the understanding not discoursing but purely assenting Which assent is not for Reasons sake but for Authority Were the last resolution into the judgment of private Reason Faith could not be Divine or Supernatural Reason indeed produces an act of Faith as well in Catholicks as Protestants but with a vast difference For a Protestant believes such a Truth to be from God relying upon his Reason only that it is revealed and this assent is not rational because his ground is deceitful But in a Catholick Reason acts only so far in points of belief as to bring him to Authority declaring such Truths to be sufficiently revealed by Almighty God which he cannot with any reason suspect to be Fallible in such declarations I believe this says a Protestant because my Reason tells me it is revealed and will allow no other judge of this Revelation I believe this says a Catholick because an Infallible Authority assures me iâ— is revealed and my Reason tells me there is no other sufficient ground or evidence for Divine Faith and therefore give up my private judgment to the Church And which of these Principles is more safe and rational let Reason judge Thirdly I demand of these Rationalists whether there be any such thing as Heresy in the World and what it is Oportet esse Haereses 1 Cor. 11. 19. c. There must be Heresies St. Paul hath said it and that 's sufficient And as for what it is 't is well known the Church hath always taught That Heresie is the voluntary Election of some private opinion contradicting the Doctrine of the Church And that he is to be accounted an Heretick who neglecting the Churches Authority with a stubborn mind defends wicked opinions But if we should admit their new definition That Heresie is to contradict any fundamental point expresly contain'd in Scripture In my poor judgment according to such a definition there 's no such thing as Heresie or Hereticks but both Arians Anabaptists Fanaticks c. are as good Catholicks as any Christians of the World For if private Reason be the only judge of the true Sense of Scripture for every one to rely upon these and all other condemned Hereticks the Montanists excepted relying upon the written Word as interpreted by Reason with sober enquiry and real endeavours to find out Truth cannot justly be so reputed The Arians have so much Reason and Scripture too in the bare Letter on their side that take away the Churches Infallibility and universal Tradition interpreting and delivering to us the true sense of it the Controversy would never be decided All places would swarm with Nestorians Eutychians Anti-trinitarians Barengarians Anabaptists c. neither could we condemn them if this Principle be good for doing their duty in following Scripture as the Light of their own private Reason or Spirit dictates to them Let them not say that these and such like are justly condemn'd for contradicting express Scripture against their knowledge and the judgment of their own Reason For they must remember first that themselves do not condemn the Anabaptists upon only Scripture grounds Secondly that it hath been demonstrated that all fundamental points are not so express in Scripture as they imagine And thirdly that 't is most uncharitable to say That all those whom they condemn for Hereticks do against their own knowledge and Conscience contradict the express Word of God and run headlong to hell with their eyes open Can we possibly imagine that among so many Millions of Arians there was not one single person had any Conscience It cannot be denyed but that many Hereticks have and do live Vertuously in the Eyes of the World For who knows not That Satan sometimes transforms himself into an Angel of Light And while they profess and protest that if it was once made apparent to them that their Tenets are against the Word of God they would not one minute persist in them we judge it uncharitable to affirm that notwithstanding the protestations of their sincerity and real though misguided zeal they all wilfully sin against the Light and knowledge of their Consciences We Catholicks indeed assert That sufficient evidences of credibility are produced by us to convince them of their Heretical opinions and dangerous state without Repentance But withall we say That God in his just Judgments which are inscrutable suffers them through strong delusions to believe Lyes in that the Light of Truth is veiled from their Eyes by passion or prejudice or worldly Interest while they so continue and we pray for them in hope that the Father of infinite Mercies will in his good time discover Truth unto them and bring them home unto his Church But for these Rationalists to damn all those whom they esteem Hereticks as contradictors of the Word of God against their Conscience and knowledge is a censure most unreasonable and little beseeming such whose lives are not so Gospel-like but that many Sectaries who differ from them in fundamentals may justly be reputed at least as conscientious and in charity cannot be thought otherwise All which duely consider'd plainly proves that they must either change their Judge of Controversy in points of Faith or give us some new Rule to discover Heresy And withall that if they will stick close to this Principle they must maintain that all the General Councils of the Church even that celebrated by the Apostles themselves were meer tyrannical Usurpations in obliging all Christians to believe and practice according to their Decrees whatever their private Reason could say to the contrary Fourthly in vain and to no purpose hath Jesus Christ instituted Authoritative Overseers and Governours in his Church For the perfecting Eph. 4. 11 12 c. the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the Edification of the Body of Christ till we all come in the unity of Faith c. If every one must acknowledge no visible Authority upon Earth to have any obliging power over him in Doctrines appertaining to God but be his own Teacher in all points of Faith according to the Dictates of private Reason Fifthly If every one be sent to Scripture to compose a Creed for himself
't is impossible there should be any unity among the Christians in Faith and Worship That is 't is impossible there should be any such thing upon earth as one only Catholick Church Of the breach of which unity endless divisions amongst those who adhere to this Principle are apparent and most visible demonstrations Lastly whosoever seriously considers the difficulties of Languages the multiplicity of the occasions and intentions of the Writers the various lections in Copies of the Original the infinite and considerable differences in Translations the equivocation and ambiguity of Words the variety and obscurity of Circumstances together with the weakness of all and ignorance of most men endeavouring by themselves from dead Letters to attain to the knowledge of the sublime mysteries of our Holy Faith transcending all humane understanding and comprehension cannot but conclude that 't is altogether impossible that private Reason should be the only Interpreter and Judge of the true Sense of Scripture for every one to rely upon for his Salvation seeing nothing can be certainly gather'd and concluded out of naked words considered barely in themselves involving so many difficulties and uncertainties in regard to incomparably the greater part of mankind And if a Protestant Preacher will speak out ingeniously in this point he must tell his Auditors in these or such like words Beloved we exhort you to search the Scriptures and whatsoever we say is necessary to Salvation to believe us only so far as your own Reason doth tell you we teach according to the Word of God for that is the Rule and private Reason the sole Judge to give an unappealable Sentence in such Cases This is our Doctrine and this is also your practice but truely Beloved all things rightly considered we must needs confess that 't is an unsteady foundation to build your Faith and Salvation upon for after this way of proceeding you are infinitely obnoxious to dangerous errours and cannot but deceive your selves in matters that concern your everlasting Happiness So he preaching ingenuously Neither indeed can rational security be had in things of eternal Interest 'till reposing our selves in the bosome of the Catholick Church we take her word as well for the Sense of Scripture as the Letter A ground doubtless sufficient for me to justify the change of my Religion and for others to follow me SECT VII An answer to some of the principal places of Scripture upon which Protestants rely for their Rule and Judge of Faith IT being a main fundamental point of Faith to know what is the Rule and Judge of all the rest they who hold the written Word for a compleatly sufficient Rule and Interpreter of its self or give private Reason the Authority of a Judge in expounding it as such a Rule must necessarily ground themselves upon Scripture for this Article And some if not most of the principal places are these To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there 's no light in them Isaiah 8. 20. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Joh. 5. 39. These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life thorough his Name Joh. 26. 31. And Paul reason'd with them out of the Scriptures And they search'd the Scripture daily whether those things were so Act. 2. 11. All Scripture divinely inspir'd is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly instructed to every good work 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life Apocal. 22. ver 18 19. To all which and whatever other Scripture-proofs Protestants produce for themselves against us I first by way of general reply demand of them whether they bring such Texts as demonstrative arguments evidencing their position or only as probable If only as probable they conclude nothing against us Catholicks who have the judgement and practice of the Universal Church the best Interpreter of Holy Scriptures and conveyer of true Sense standing on our side with infinite advantage against their Novel Expositions But if they produce them as demonstrations how comes it about that any doubt of them seeing every demonstration is such as that granting the Premisses the conclusion cannot be denyed From that of Isaias they urge us thus Behold O Papists the Prophet of the Lord sends the Jews to the written Word of God as the Rule and Judge of what is taught them I answer Doubtless they who affirm this have quite forgot that the High-Priest in all doubts of any moment about Divine Worship was constituted Deut. 17. 8 9 c. by God the supreme Judge to give a definitive Sentence under pain of death to the disobeyers And so they set up the Holy Prophet against Moses and make one Scripture as they Interpret it contradict another This plainly shews they abuse the Text whose genuine Sense will easily appear by light borrowed from the Context Isaias prophesied in troublesome times and the Jews were very sollicitous what the event would be and neglecting to enquire of God had no recourse to the Law and the Prophets but 1 Sam. 28. 6. sought unto them who had familiar Spirits and unto Wizards The Prophet grieved at this Vengeance provoking sin sends them to the Law and to the Testimony where this grand impiety was forbidden and withall puts them in mind of Levit. 20. 6 27. Deut. 18. 9 10 c. their great folly in seeking to such who had no Divine Light for the Revelation of future contingences which could not possibly be in them who undertook it against Gods Word Now in the name of wonder what is this to a Judge of Controversies in points of Faith It is not lawful to consult the Devil to know future events because he is a Lyar and it is a thing forbidden in the written Word therefore the Scripture is the only Rule and Judge of Controversies in points of Faith and Worship among Christians 'T were well such Disputants would learn to be Logicians before they turn'd Controversial Divines To the second Search the Scriptures c. I find so satisfactory an Summa Theolo par c. 7. Answer in Becanus that I shall do little more than translate his words Our Blessed Saviour in this Chapter Joh. 5. 39. is disputing with the unbelieving Jews who denyed him to be the Son of God or sent from him To convince them he makes use of four Topicks First The witness of John the Baptist whom they accounted a Prophet and had formerly told them pointing to our Blessed Saviour Behold
c is damnable and the sin of Schism which surpasseth all other crimes This is so home and punctual that to quote any more will be superfluous neido I see admitting the Holy Fathers Authority what can rationally or satisfactorily be reply'd by our Adversaries But thirdly the Church is Catholique respectu hominum saluandorum in respect that as many as are saved are called to be Members of it Therefore 't is said Acts the 2. v. 47. That there were added to the Church dayly such as should be saved And St. Paul tells us Quos praedestinavit Rom. 8. 30. hos est vocavit c. Whom God has predestinated to Grace and Glory from all eternity those he in time calls out of the World into the Congregation of the Faithful which is the proper notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original from whence comes the word Ecclesia that in the Communion of his Catholick Church they may make their calling and election sure by working out their election with fear and trembling Testimonies of the Fathers in all Ages are very copious to this purpose View a few of many The Holy Catholick Church says L. 14. Moral ca. 2. St. Gregory the great teaches that none can be saved except within her affirming that none can be saved in any-wise who are without her Whosoever Ep. 152. ad Donat. says St. Austin shall be separated from this Catholick Church how laudibly soever he thinks he lives by this only wickedness in that he 's divided from the unity of Christ he shall not have life but the wrath of God abideth on him And again Being Do vnit Eccl. c. 19. out of the Church and divided from the collection of unity and bond of charity thou shouldst be punish'd with eternal fire though burn'd alive for the Name of Christ St. Fulgentius his Schollar hath the fame l. de fide ad Petrum ca. 37 38. St. Cyprian's words are little different Do they De vn c. Eccl. think says he Christ is amongst them when they are assembled out of the Church of Christ No though they were drawn to torments and execution for the confession of the Name of Christ yet this pollution is not wash'd away no not with blood this inexpiable and inexcusable crime of Schism is not purged away even by death it self Which is no more then what they have learn'd from the great Doctor of the Gentiles when he says Though 1 Cor 13. 1 2 3. I give all my substance to maintain the poor and though I give my body to be burn'd and have not charity it will profit me nothing And the reason is because 't is a sacrifice without charity which Schism destroyeth For charity saith St. Austin no man transports out of the Church Are not these loud Alarms in the ears of Protestants and all other Separatists to awaken them from their present Lethargy and make them sensible of their sad condition Can they hear these terrible accents and yet continue to deceive themselves with the specious Name of Reformed Christians While they are divided from the Communion of the Catholick Church can their morally good Lives their civil Conversation their formal Piety without the power thereof their Saint-like zeal which in the preciser sort dazels the eyes of common People who think all is gold that glisters Can any or all of these save their precious and immortal Souls No they cannot For out of the Catholick Church saith the same St. Austin Epist 48. cont Donat c. they may have Faith they may have Sacraments they may have Scriptures they may live laudably they may do good works they may suffer death it self for the Name of Christ all this they may do and have but out of the Church Salvation they cannot have Thus the Ancient Church always taught and we with them And this all Hereticks and Schismaticks will sadly find true without repentance But God of his mercy make it work effectually on them as it did on me to bring them into the bosom of the Catholick Church I will close up this discourse with that famous place of St. Austin Multa L. cont Ep Fund ca. 4. sunt quae in Ecclesiae Catholicae gremio me justissimè teneant Tenet consensio populorum gentium tenet auctoritas miraculis inchoata spe nutrita charitate aucta Vetustate firmata tenet ab ipsa sede Petri Apostoli cui pascendas oves suas post resurrectionem Dominus commendavit usque ad praesentem Episcopatum successio sacerdotum tenet postremo ipsum Catholicae nomen quod non fine causa inter tà m multas haereses sic ista Ecclesia sola obtinuit ut cum omnes haeretici se Catholicos dici velint quaerenti tamen peregrino alicui ubi ad Catholicam conveniatur nullus haereticorum vel basilicam suam vel domum audeat ostendere Ista ergo tot tantaque Christiani nominis charissima vincula recte hominem tenent credentem in Ecclesia Catholica etiam si propter nostrae intelligentiae tarditatem vel vitae meritum veritas nondum se apertissime ostendat Apud vos autem ubi nihil horum est quod me invitet ac teneat sola personat veritatis pollicitatio Which is to this effect That the consent of Nations an Authority set up with Miracles nourish'd with Hope increas'd by Charity establish'd by Antiquity the uninterrupted succession of Priests in the Chair of Peter the Apostle to the present Bishop and lastly the very name of Catholick most justly kept him in the Catholick Church while only the empty name of Truth did keep a noise and ratling among Schismaticks wholly destitute of all these arguments to work upon a rational understanding And let any man who desires sincerely to follow Truth and save his Soul judge whether these motives which kept St. Austin in the bosome of the Catholick Church after his Conversion ought not to convert him to become a Member of the same Church and keep him in it SECT VI. Wherein the Protestants Plea of pretended Errors in the Church of Rome to justify their Separation is refuted BUt they object further that the Church not only may but did err in points of Faith and Worship and that they separated not from the Church of Rome but from her Errors and Corruptions that they might not communicate with her in her sins But certainly whoever impartially considers what has been said in the precedent and some other Sections concerning the Churches Indefectibility can never think it possible that such gross errors and corruptions could invade the Church to her utter ruine The Church of Christ which is the pillar and ground of Truth and could not be so was she her self lyable to error in points of Faith hath always been more Faithful in keeping the Depositum of the Gospel intrusted to her inviolate and unspotted from all blemishes of corruption which unreasonable men that is Schismaticks and
Hereticks have endeavoured by all means possible to introduce thereby to defile the Virgin-purity of Christ's Spouse contending so earnestly for the Faith once deliver'd to the Saints that in this Holy quarrel she was ever very liberal of her dearest blood willing rather to undergo the greatest tortures then it should suffer in the least manner Yea so vigilant and eagle-ey'd hath she been hitherto in the discharge of this important duty that no Authority Learning or Sanctity of any person whatsoever could introduce the least innovotion in Religion without vigorous opposition and condemnation As is evident in Origen and Tertullian those wonders of their times to name no more being a thing so obvious in Church History See Vincentius Lyrin ca. 23 24. Moreover all points of Christian belief being taught and establish'd in the Church by Christ and his Apostles and as such conveyed down to us ever since that time by Universal Tradition and for the most part most visible practice as the Sacrifice of the Mass Prayer for the Dead Invocation of Saints c. 'T is altogether impossible the Church should fall into such damnable errors as are imputed to her by our Adversaries except so many millions of Christians of different Nations and Languages scatter'd over the face of the whole earth should to no purpose in some Age conspire together to teach the World a palpable lye in direct opposition to what they had received and in matters whereon depend no less then the eternal Salvation of themselves and Posterity a thing inconceivable to humane reason But impossibilities clouded in plausible terms shall be asserted for truths before some men will confess themselves Schismaticks in separating from the Roman Church and Infallibility must err before they be condemn'd as erroneus who yet confess themselves Fallible But let us suppose though it be not true that the Church was lyable to errors in matters of Faith can these men who accuse her to be erroneous assure us that they err not in the accusation For being by their own confessions Fallible that is not certain whether what they affirm be true or no unless they can evidence that those are errors indeed which they lay to the Churches charge no man can rationally believe them seeing the publick judgment and attestation of the Church to the contrary is incomparably of far greater Authority and will overpoise whatever amounts to less then demonstration And in all Justice the right ought to be thought on the Governouts side ' til the revolters from them by producing causes sufficient to justify the withdrawing of their obedience make the contrary undeniably clear to every eye They are the accusing Party the Church defends her right without a definitive Sentence can be no decision What Judge will they therefore stand to in this Controversy We know they ought to submit to the judgment and determination of the present Church her voice being as it were the voice of God in declaring what is of Faith or not and cannot but wonder that they will not also acknowledge it when our Blessed Saviour says plainly of Luke 10. 16. Church Governours He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and who despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And 1 Thess 4. 8. St. Paul He that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God who hath also given to us of his Holy Spirit But because by her they already are convicted and condemned and therefore refuse to stand to her determination as Hereticks and Schismaticks have done in all Ages will they refer it to Antiquity and let the Ancient Fathers give the Sentence This they cannot rationally refuse neither in word to make a flourish do some of the most Learned of the Protestants but only pretend to reform the present Church that they may conform to Antiquity and undertake to rectify the Church of Rome in points wherein she hath forsaken her primitive purity But they are at great variance and in disorder amongst one another in that they cannot agree when Religion began to be adulterated and when these errors crept into the Church For being no less then damnable errors as they pretend in things practical and daily in use by so great a Body and therefore notoriously visible and speaking aloud their original seeing they can assign no certain time a task impossible as we have before shewn when first they were brought into the Church 't is an undeniable argument that they are not innovations but of Apostolical practice and institution According to that famous Rule of St. Austin Quod ubique ab Ecclesia Catholica observatum est c. Whatever the Catholick Church observes in all places if we find it to have been instituted by no General ouncil we must believe it to have come from the Apostles themselves to us by Tradition Some of them allow the Spouse of Christ to continue in her Virgin purity for the first five or six hundred years 'till the time of Gregory the great that glorious Saint and Pope so affectionate to our Countrey and justly called our Apostle Others think this confession too liberal and will have the Mystery of Iniquity to begin sooner which is true if understood of Apostates from the Church not of the Church Apostatizing and so with them this defection from the Faith by the mixture of Antichristian Doctrines and practices must invade the Church immediately upon the first 300 years after Christ or thereabouts some maintaining this others that Pope to be the Antichrist every one fancying a time which they conceited most advantageous for their purpose For after tryal finding that the Fathers of the first 600 years could not be admitted Judges in the Controversy without a manifest condemnation of themselves they warily retreated within the first 300 years of Christ which being times of hot and bloody persecution more or less and little then written by the Fathers of the Church they thought nothing considerable could be produced against them within those Ages for their condemnation in the present Controversies not then started or what was upon record might easily some way or other be evaded So that they will have the light of their new Gospel to be tryed only by dark times as to the decision of the present points like Litigants who will admit only of such Witnesses who can say little or nothing to the cause in hand and by all means will have those debarr'd to speak who can give sufficient evidence against them For no rational cause possibly can be given why they should assign 6 or 5 or 300 years after Christ for the beginning of the Apostacy from the Faith as if Christ should just then forget his promise of pâ—rpâ—tual assistance and guidance of his Church into all Truth or else not be able to perform it more then any other time but only they were resolv'd whâ—â— they found those Doctrines and practices to be evidently asserted by the ancient Fathers which they
we find among the Ancient Fathers concerning the supreme Pastorship and Jurisdiction of St. Peter and his Successors the Bishops of Rome while they speak severally in their Writings Let us now hear them speak united in General Councils the most Sacred and Supreme Judicature that is on Earth in things that concern our Eternal Happinefs The General Council at Florence Ann. Ch. 1234. declares the Faith of the Catholick Church in these words Definimus S. Apostolicam Sedem c. We define that the Holy Apostolick Chair and Pope of Rome hath Primacy over the whole World and that the said Pope of Rome is Successor to S. Peter Prince of the Apostles and true Vicar of Christ and Head of the Vniversal Church and Father and Pastor of all Christians and that full Power was given to B. Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ to feed rule and govern the Vniversal Church as is contain'd in the Sacred Canons of Oecumenical Councils Which though celebrated but 400 years since and upwards yet I first produced it because not only subscribed by the Latine Fathers but by the Greek Church also and taken out of more Ancient Councils as the words express and former Acts make good For in the first General Council Ann. Ch. 325. at Nicaea so famous for Anathematizing the Arrian Heresie it was defined That who holds the See of Rome is the Head and Chief of the Patriarchs seeing he 's the first as Peter to whom Power is given over all Christian Princes and all their People as he who is Vicar of Christ our Lord over all People and the Vniversal Church of Christ The General Council of Chalceden Ann. Ch. 451. Acti 16. consisting of above 600 Fathers after mature deliberation declare That all Primacy and Chief Honour according to the Canons is to be kept for the Archbishop of old Rome Which is not so to be understood as if the Sacred Constitutions of General Councils first gave this Supreme Authority to the Roman Bishop but upon several occasions the Councils defin'd this Supremacy of Jurisdiction to belong of right to the Bishop of Rome by Divine Institution Else how could the sixth Canon of the first General Nicene Council say Ecclesia Romana semper habuit primatum The Church of Rome always had the Primacy And by what tenure she held it in their judgments is manifested in the Preface of the said Council in these words Ecclesia Romana c. The Church of Rome by no Synodical Decrees was set over the rest but by the Evangelical voice of our Lord and Saviour obtain'd the Primacy And in the second Session of this Council of Chalcedon after the Epistle of Leo the great then Pope to the Fathers was publickly read confirming the Nicene Creed against the Arrians there arose an unanimous acclamation Haec Patrum fides Apostolorum fides c. This Faith of the Fathers is the Faith of the Apostles we all believe so all Orthodoxal believe so let him be accursed who believes not so Peter hath spoke by Leo c. Which last words signify nothing if they had not believ'd Leo then Bishop of the Roman and Apostolical Chair to succeed St. Peter in his Faith and Jurisdiction I am sure the same Leo believed so when he tells us That our Blessed Saviour said only to Ser. 3. Anniu Assump St. Peter I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not And chose him alone of all the World to be set over the vocation of all Nations and all the Apostles and all the Fathers of the Church by a peculiar Commission to feed and govern his whole flock Besides in the third Session they stile him Vniversal Archbishop and Patriarch of old Rome and afterwards give sentence against Diosorus in the name of Leo and St. Peter to acknowledge and testify thereby that they believ'd him to succeed St. Peter in his Universal Pastorship Which Title of Universal Bishop though St. Gregory the great out of Humility refuses as not used by his Predecessors and bitterly inveighs against it in that sense the then Patriarch of Constantinople did proudly arrogate it to himself Yet 't is most certain and evident from the same Epistles he did maintain it to belong by Divine right to the Bishops of L 4. Ep. Ep. 31 34. L. 7. Episâ— 30. Rome as St. Peter's Successors that very Supremacy and Jurisdiction in Gods Church which all Catholicks now attribute to the Apostolical Chair And whoever confesses the thing we will not quarrel with him about the Name If our Adversaries will assert with St. Gregory That the care of the whole Church is L. 4. Ep. Ep. 32. L. 11. ca. 54. L. 7. Ep. Ep. 63. committed by our Lord himself to Peter the Prince of the Apostles That the Roman and Apostolical See is Head of all Churches That all Bishops found in fault are subject to it We shall not much press him to call the Pope of Rome Universal Bishop neither ought he in that sense which St. Gregory condemned And indeed the usual stile of the Church is not to call the Pope Universal Bishop but Bishop of the Universal Church More may be seen to this point in the Letters of the said Council to the same Glorious Pope Leo. And in the first Act of the Council of Constantinople under Menas they address themselves to Pope Agapetus in these words To our most Holy and most Blessed Lord Archbishop of old Rome and Oecumenical Bishop To which may be added Conc. Sardicense Gener. ca. 3. Synod Rom. sub Sylvestro ca. 20. Conc. Tolet. 1 sub finem assertionis fidei Conc. Milet. ad Innocent Papam ejusque responsum Conc. Turon ca. 21. Conc. Afric ca. 15. ad Papam Celestinum Syno Rom. 4. ca. 3. Conc. Bracanse primum ca. 23. Conc. Aurelian 4. ca. 1. c. with many more which none ver'st in the Acts of Ecclesiastical Synods can be ignorant of and these may suffice being so full and punctual to the purpose If to these Testimonies so undeniably asserting the Popes Supremacy over the whole Church we should add universal practice which from undoubted Records would appear by the Popes calling of General Councils presiding in them personally or by their Legates confirming their Acts by Appeals to the Apostolical Chair from all parts of the Christian World in Ecclesiastical Causes by determining Controversies reforming Abuses by investiture of Bishops Depositions Censures erecting new Sees Conversion of Nations by Apostolical Ann. Ch. 596. men and in particular of our Nation by St. Austin and his Fellow Monks sent hither by St. Gregory the Great and in a word by their Authoritative ordering and care over all the Churches of the Christian world the prosecution of these particulars would swell whole Volumes and therefore not here to be undertaken But by what has been said 't is apparently manifest that our Adversaries herein cannot be of a different Faith from us but they must also forsake
among the Gentiles and they should Sacrifice in every place and Chap. 1. 11. a Pure Offering should be offer'd to his Name a new form of Worship prescrib'd a new form of Government erected new Sacraments instituted new Precepts deliver'd Councels super-added agreeable to the Evangelical Law And in a word a Catholick Church founded to continue for ever This Church of Christ as it is one body so likewise it was of one heart and of one mind while Apostolical purity remain'd unspotted The Professors were all united in the same Faith Worship and Government holding close to Church-Tradition the Pillar and ground of Truth without any rent or Schism Till among Act. 20. 29. 30. themselves arose Wolves in Sheeps-cloathing not sparing the Flock teaching perverse things to draw away Disciples after them That is who set up a Congregation of Christians separated from the Communion of that Church which was founded by Christ and his Apostles And so by this means unity being destroy'd and Faith perverted Heresie shut up the gate of Heaven against false Christians as Infidelity did against Unbelievers A sad case this yet not so much to be wondred at seing the Apostle tells us Opportet esse Haereses There must 1 Cor. 11. 19. be Heresies for the Tryal of others and greater glory of the Truth And therefore the true Church hath in all Ages been more or less vex'd with them But never more then in these last and perillous days which since Luther's Apostacy from the Church of Rome have produc'd such an innumerable brood of New Gospels and Sects all pretending to believe and practice those Doctrines and that Worship which were taught by Christ and his Apostles and to be the only true Church of God or at least the purest Members of it Now it being acknowledg'd on all hands that they only are the true Church who believe and observe all points taught by Christ and his Apostles necessary to Salvation and 't is impossible contrary Beliefs and Worships should be all true and come from the Fountain of Truth Christ Jesus those whom a more serious desire and care of their Eternal Good may excite to seek for satisfaction in so important a business shall upon diligent inquisition by the blessing of God find that the chief externe grounds or evidence ordain'd by Christ for the guiding us in the knowledge of what was taught and left by him to be believ'd and practis'd to the Worlds end and consequently also for discerning which is the true Church among so many Pretenders are those according to which the Church of Rome regulates her Faith and Worship namely Universal Tradition and the Authority of the present Church as shall hereafter be made manifest And the farther they search into the Rule of the Protestant Religion that is sole Scripture interpreted by private Reason or Spirit exclusively to Tradition and Church Authority the more they will see such unsteady Maxims are destructive to Faith and manifestly leading to endless Divisions and Errors in matters of Religion This Conviction I had in examining the Fundamentals of the Roman and Protestant Religion and therefore am not to be blam'd for the Change I made and to my understanding whosoever searches as I did will easily receive the same satisfaction SECT II. A Preparatory Discourse to Church-Tradition and what it is THo' whosoever examines aright the Motives of Christian belief cannot rationally but become a Catholick that is find evidence how he may come to the certain knowledge of what Christ and his Apostles taught the World yet Faith is not grounded on Reason but Authority and that no less then Divine which excludes all possibility of Errour Whatever it is that brings men to know what they must believe Faith hath for its formal Object Divine Revelation into which it finally is resolv'd So that we believe nothing as of Faith but what is revealed and because it is revealed by Essential Verity who can neither deceive nor be deceived Catholicks then believe by Divine Faith Truths only revealed by Almighty God wherein Protestants agree with us But Catholicks believe the same Truths as they are ascertained declar'd and handled down to us by the Testimony of the Church wherein Protestants are defective the difference thefore between us in Faith arises chiefly from hence in that we use not the same externe Medium to convey unto our understandings the knowledge of what Truths are revealed and what not For could we once agree about this latter we should soon be of one Heart and of one mind in all points of Faith especially when once this Medium is proved to be infallible As to this Medium therefore Catholicks regulate their Faith by the Rule or Standard of Tradition and Church-Authority as the externe Proponent of Faith a Proponent also evidenced to them by the same Rule to be Infallible and thus they safely rely on the Testimony of Tradition and Church Authority in Declaring and Expounding both the Sense of Scripture and all other Christian Misteries necessary to Salvation Whilst on the contrary Protestants relying on the sole express Texts of Scripture interpreted by private Reason or Spirit as their only Rule and Guide in matters of Faith become unsteady in their Belief obnoxious to dangerous Errors and divided amongst themselves into endless Sects and Factions But because a more clear understanding of this matter in some sort depends on a right notion of Tradition we shall here define it in the sense it is usually understood by Catholick Divines Tradition then is the delivery of that Doctrine which was taught by Christ and his Apostles from hand to hand descending as such from Fathers to their Children making up the body of the Faithful This is the true notion of Tradition among us Catholicks and it matters not whether it be call'd Divine Apostolical or Universal being only the same thing exprest by divers adjuncts For it is call'd Divine because Christ our Lord as well true God as true man is the Spring-head of it It is call'd Apostolical because the Apostles immediately receiv'd from him things so deliver'd and Preach'd them to all Nations And Universal because Attested by the Catholick Church of all Ages to have been handed to her as originally proceeding from Christ and his Apostles And to prevent all mistakes let Protestants take notice that the Church of Rome sends not her Children only to search for what is Divine or Apostolical Tradition in matters of Faith and Discipline out of the Writings of the Fathers or other Libraries of Books fill'd with dead Words which are subject to various Interpretations by Critical heads without any hope of Agreement and can have no Authority dependent on Tradition though upon this account she has infinite advantage against all other Communions in the World to justify her Faith and practice in any unbyass'd Judgments But sends them to a visible living Oracle Oral Tradition that is the voice of the present Church attesting
been manifested in the precedent Section And for further confirmation I here ask whether Hoc est Copus meum Hic est Sanguis meus be not plain words without any Ambiguity in their Grammatical construction We Catholicks indeed taught by the universal Tradition and practice of the Church doubt not of the Sense of them But can Lutherans Calvinists and English Protestants maintain their meaning to be clear and perspicuous among whom above fourty several Interpretations some flatly repugnant to each other are found about them Can such variety and contrariety proceed but from obscurity Either from that or else some of them must wilfully contradict Scripture and resist the Holy Ghost by maintaining a dangerous Doctrine against their own knowledge and Conscience But who those are I leave them to wrangle upon their own grounds eternally among themselves In the interim I 'm sure upon Catholick Principles they all stand unanswerably convicted of wilfull Heresie Besides Christ's real descent into Hell is an Article of Faith yet the Calvinists deny it against Scripture Acts 2. v. 27 and 31. as plain Acts 2. 27 31. in our judgment and so think the English Protestants also as the Apostles Creed They bring no other Scripture for their Negative but flatly deny this place to be evident and concluding Now what must be done to end this Controversy in a fundamental point The clearest Text Scripture affords is already produced to give them satisfaction 't is unsuccessful and they raise clouds of new invented Interpretations to hide it from their own and others eyes Can Scripture now judge and conclude this Controversy Moreover the Lutherans and English Protestants agree with Catholicks in asserting the necessity of Baptism to Salvation grounding themselves on that of St. John Except Joh. 3. 5. a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Calvinists hold the contrary and by no means will allow Water there mention'd to be taken literally for natural Water but drink it all up with a dry Metaphor How can they convince them if Scripture alone be judge If with us they urge them with the consent of Fathers Universal Tradition and practice of the Church so interpreting these words of our Blessed Saviour the Controversy is at an end Or if Calvinists will be yet contending they can speak nothing Solid or Rational in their own defence To all which may be added that judicious and accute Observation of an able Controvertist That though Apology for Tradit p. 137. one intent and end of writing St. John ' s Gospel was to show the Godhead of Christ which the Arians afterwards denyed yet the design prov'd so unsuccessful that never any Heresie was more powerful and spreading than that which oppos'd the Truth intended by his Book So he yea and it is most certain the Arians at this day do make more use of that Gospel than any other part of Scripture to beat down the Divinity of the Son of God A manifest argument that Scripture was never intended by the Author of those Sacred Oracles for the final decision of controverted points but for something else proper and agreeable to the nature of dead writings However we make no question but all Catholick Doctrines are contain'd in the Bible by Rational deductions with infinite advantage above what our Adversaries can produce for their defence upon the same grounds as hath been made to appear by able Controvertists before any Impartial and understanding Judges More need not be said in a matter condemned by the common sense and experience of the whole World SECT VI. That private Reason in Controversies of Faith is not the Interpreter and Judge of the true Sense of Scripture for every Christian to rely upon for his Salvation SOme English Protestants of Critical Heads to qualifie the absurdance of the former Thesis still holding close to the written Word for a compleatly sufficient Rule of Faith make private Reason the Interpreter and Judge for every Christian A Principle which though it may seem plausible and gain followers because it makes every one Sui juris independent and his own Master a thing so desirable and sweet to flesh and blood yet no less than the other doth it contradict the whole Christian World always teaching Vt Scripturas ipsas sic Scripturarum sensum pure imperturbate solum ad nos Traditionis alneo deferri That the pure and uncorrupted sense of the Scripture doth depend upon Tradition as well as the Scriptures themselves And accounting it a giddy Spirit of Heretical rashness Scripturae interpretationem ex proprio ingenio petere To refuse to give ear to the voice of the Church and give ear to the Whisperings of private Reason which is so exterminating a Principle and destructive of Religion that it doth not ruine this or that or some few Catholick Truths but like a general deluge with an irresistable torrent sweeps away the Church it self by overthrowing the unity in Faith the Life and Soul and Essence of it 'T is a subject would afford a large field of Discourse but I shall content my self with brevity and I hope others also Whosoever shall desire more ample satisfaction I refer him to the Exomologesis of Mr. Cressy where 't is solidly confuted in answer to Mr. Chillingworth the great Patron and first publick Assertor of it with approbation The principal Arguments which convinc'd me for I was one of those very unreasonable Rationalists when I was a Protestant and with which I rest fully satisfied are these following First if private reason be the only Interpreter and Judge of Scripture for every Christian I desire those who are minded to give a satisfactory Answer to those places of Sacred Writ which in my poor judgement cannot stand with their position St. Peter teacheth us 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 c. That no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private Interpretation but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost That is as the Sacred Pen-men of Gods Word writ by Inspiration of the Holy-Ghost being his publick Instruments to reveal the Divine Verities to the World so those Sacred Oracles are not to be interpreted Authorative by the private Reason and Will of men but their true sense and meaning if call'd in question is to be received from the Governours Concilium Trid. Ses 4. of the Church whom God has authoriz'd to declare his will unto his People Of which he gives a convincing reason in his 3d. Chap. telling 2 Pet. 3. 15 16 17. us That in his dear Brother Paul's Epistles are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction This is not compatible to the definitive Sentence of a Judge in any Controversy which must be so clear and perspicuous that the most unlearned or refractory cannot doubt or mistake after pronunciation Neither
not They was the dividing party and Actors in this separation being so contrary to the nature and notion of Schism from Scripture and Antiquity yea and a common sense for how could a Church possibly separate from a Communion whereof they never were Members though it should be granted that they made the separation yet they say that Schism being a voluntary departure from the Communion of the Catholick Church they cannot be condemn'd for Schismaticks who only separated themselves from the particular Church of Rome But alas this is no better then a Cob-web Plea to keep Protestants from falling into the Gulph of Schism For first grant that the Church of Rome be but a particular Church yet as such 't is a true Member of the Catholick Church as the most Learned Protestants of the Church of England not only grant but contend for against other Dissenters and so they could not separate from the Church of Rome as such but of necessity they must separate from the whole with whom she as part thereof communicated Secondly if the separation was only made from the particular Church of Rome and not from the Universal let them shew us any Body of Christians agreeing with their Protestant Church in all Material points of Faith and practice to whom the first Reformers united themselves when they made a separation from their Catholick Mother If Communion with the Greek Church be pretended 't is most irrational when condemned by themselves in their Belief concerning the Procession of the Holy Ghost Mass Transubstantiation c. And indeed if they will be of their Communion they must agree with us almost in all points wherein they now differ from us and alledge as just causes of their separation But how justly shall be scann'd hereafter If with the Lutherans 't is as vainly pretended for by the Confession of those who made a full search into the Lutheran Tenets they agree in more points with the Church of Rome against the English Protetestants then on the contrary And 't is well known that when the Controversies were hot between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants as Hereticks are always as well fighting among themselves as against the Church the Remonstrants plainly asserted they would sooner return into the Bosome of their Catholick Mother then joyn in those points with the Calvinists with whom of all other Sects the English Protestants may most pretend to have Communion Which nevertheless hath as airy a foundation as either of the other when the greatest Patrons and Goliahs of the English Reformation condemn the Calvinists of fundamental Errors in denying Episcopacy to be jure divino and the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and for differing from them in other points contain'd in their 39 Articles and Book of Common-Prayer their publick Liturgy and way of Worship And so while they separate from the particular Church of Rome as they pretend and not from the Catholick from which they grant no man ought to separate they notwithstanding are found to be left by themselves a Church of their own constituting finding no part of Christs Catholick Church or any other with whom when they separated from the Roman Communion they actually joyn'd themselves or do yet in the belief of the same Articles of Faith in the acknowledgment and submission to the same Church Government in the participation of the same Sacraments and way of Worship which are essentially requisite to Church-union But thirdly though no Catholick denyes the Church of Rome as taken for the peculiar Diocess belonging to the Bishop of Rome is a particular Church as well as the Church of Ephesus or Church of Corinth and the Pope as Bishop of this Roman Congregation belonging to no other Jurisdiction is a particular Bishop Yet seeing also that all Catholick Christians do and the first Protestant Reformers did believe before their separation that the Roman Church as taken for the whole collection of the Faithful as holding Communion with the See of Rome is the Catholick Church and that the Pope of Rome as succeeding St. Peter in his Primacy by divine Right add Institution hath a Universal Headship and Jurisdiction in Spiritual matters over all particular Churches I say the whole Catholick World and first English Reformers thus believing before their separation they stand condemn'd for Schismaticks by the most Sacred and highest Tribunal on Earth not for separating from the particular Church and Bishop of Rome but from the Communion of the Roman Church as Catholick in respect of the extent of her Power and Jurisdiction and the Pope as St. Peters Successor supream Pastor and Head thereof And this guilt will never be wip'd off 'till it be evidenced that the Christian World is in an error and believes a lye and that the Supream and Universal Jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome is but a meer usurpation and innovation in the Church But this the Protestants neither have done nor ever will be able to do and yet ought to have been done by the first Reformers before they separated or by the continuers of it for the justification Which is an attempt no less desperate then to endeavour to perswade the World that the judgment of a few interessed passionate persons may not only ballance but also ought to out-weigh and be preferred before the greatest Authority and certainty we have on earth This is enough to manifest the unity of this Plea to any unbyassed and indifferent judgments But because Protestants do sadly deceive themselves in being perswaded they are true Members of the Catholick Church by imposing upon the word Catholick a notion different from the most usual and common sense of the Church in all Ages and thereby satisfy themselves that their separation is neither damnable nor dangerous that is not Schismatical this being a proper place for it I shall endeavour to undeceive them by applying the word to its genuine acceptation in which sense it had much influence on my Conversion SECT V. The sense and meaning of the word Catholick as it is us'd by the Church THe Church is said to be Catholick in three respects First ratione loci according to universality Mat. 28. 19. Mar. 16. 15. Jo. 4. 21. Act. 1. 8. Ro. 1. 17. Ro. 10. 12. Eph. 2. 14. of place whereby 't is distinguish'd from the Jewish Synagogue For the partition-wall being broken down by Christ the chief corner stone of this Spiritual building both Jew and Gentile were united into one and the same body of Christianity extending it self into all corners of the World Hence it is that of St. Cyril The Church is called Catholick because 't is spread over all the World from one end to the other Whereas before the true Worship was confin'd to Judaea and the Jewish Nation Secondly the Church of Christ is Catholick ratione temporis according to universality of time from its first existence because being once founded by our Blessed Saviour Mat. 15. 14. Dan. 3. 44.
he comforting said Fear not for I am truly risen from Death and permitted to live again among Mortals But from henceforth in a far other manner then I have been accustomed And presently rising went to the Chapel of the Village and continuing in Prayer 'till day then divided his Estate into three Portions one for his Wife another for his Children and the third which he reserved for himself he without delay distributed to the Poor that he might have Treasure in Heaven And not long after being now freed from the cares of the World he came to the Monastery of Mailros which is almost surrounded with the River Tweed And taking the Tonsure liv'd in a private Cell which the Abbot had provided and there continued to the day of his death in such Contrition and Austerity that though his Tongue were silent his Life did speak what wonders he had seen above others Now the Vision was this My guide said he had a shining countenance and bright apparel we walk'd in silence and as I thought towards the Solstitial rising of the Sun At last we came into a Valley of vast breadth and deepness but of infinite length which being scituate on our left hand did present unto us one side very terrible with enraged flames the other not less intolerable with storms of Snow and Hail overturning all things Both were filled with Souls of men which seem'd now and again to be toss'd hither and thither as with the horrible violence of an impetuous tempest For not being able to endure the fury of the excessive heat poor Souls they threw themselves into the midst of the insufferable cold And when they could find no rest neither in those Winter quarters again betook themselves to the torrid Zone c. Knowest thou said my Guide all these things which thou hast seen I answered no he replyed that Valley which you behold so terrible with intolerable heat and cold is that place wherein the Souls of those are to be pacified and chastis'd who deferring to confess and amend their wickednesses fly at last to repentance on their death-beds and so leave their Bodies who yet because they confessed and repented though but before their departure shall at the day of Judgment be all received into Heaven But the Prayers of the Living and Alms and Fasts and especially the saying Masses do help many that they may be freed before the day of judgment c. And this I had says S. Bede from one Genegils a Monk and Priest of a very holy and rigid life who often convers'd about these things with this miraculous Liver so famous for his wonderful Austerities and Visions that both by word and deed he wrought powerfully on many to repent and spend their time well on which depends everlasting bliss or eternal misery And yet Protestants are never the better refusing to believe that there is never a Purgatory for penitent Souls thoroughly purg'd at their departure from their Bodies though this man and others have been sent from the dead to testify to the World the truth thereof Which I confess I cease to wonder at when I consider that they are deaf to the living voice of the Catholick Church If I should proceed in relating what wonderful Miracles God hath been pleased to work for the Approbation of a Monastical Life from Heavenly by men famous in that Angelical Profession both in former and later Ages as St. Benedict St. Bernard St. Dominick St. Francis St. Teresia St. Ignatius I should utterly destroy my intended brevity and therefore refer you to their Lives faithfully transmitted to Posterity But especially to the wonderful Life of that great Saint and Patriarch of Monastical Profession in the West S. Benedict which the Church owes to that famous Light and Doctor St. Gregory deservedcalled Englands Apostle For he was embarqued and on his way to bring the glad tydings of the Gospel to our Nation though recall'd to Rome against his will and inclination And afterwards when advanc'd to the Popedom he sent St. Austin and his fellow Monks to perform what he intended Who Ann. Ch. 596. succeeding in the Holy attempt and converting Edilbert King of Kent with his People and from thence diffusing the Christian Faith by degrees into other parts did Preach and establish all those doctrines rites and Ceremonies practis'd at this day by the Church of Rome as Protestants confess being fore'd to it by the evidence of unquestionable Records And yet now esteem'd by them but as Superstitious Innovations though God has been pleased to own them for his and confirm the word and practice of the said Teachers with following Miracles which were wrought so frequently by the Holy Monk St. Austin that B. Gregory exhorts him him to Humility in these words I know most dear L. 1. Hist S. Bedae c. 31. Brother that Omnipotent God hath shown great Miracles by you to the Nation whom he would have elect Wherefore 't is necessary that concerning this Heavenly gift you rejoyce with trembling and tremble with joy You may rejoyce in that the English Nation is brought to inward Grace by these outward Miracles But fear least by reason thereof the infirm mind should exalt it self in presumption and while 't is extoll'd with honour abroad be depressed at home with the levity of vain Glory c. And why these Miracles wrought by the said Saint in his Apostleship should not be evidences as well of his Mission and Doctrine as those accompanying the first Promulgators of the Gospel to the World no reason sufficient can be given This I am sure of as they converted Infidels so they stop'd the mouths also of the Britains who long before had received the Christian Faith and in some few external Observance differ'd from him About which the British Bishops and the said Apostle meeting to make up a persect unity between them when neither Arguments nor advice nor entreaty nor reproof could prevail to perswade them to the Catholick customs in the observation of Easter Tonsure and some other Ceremonial Rites in Baptism A blind man was brought in and they upon tryal not obtaining of God a Miracle for the confirmation of their practice Tandem Augustinus just a necessitate compulsus c. they are St. Bedes words At length Austin Hist l. 2. ca. 2. forced with just necessity bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ beseeching him that he would restore to the blind man his lost sight and by the corporal illumination of one Spiritual Grace might enlighten many Faithful hearts Hereupon immediately the blind man receives his sight and Austin is extolled by all for a true Preacher of the Supreme Light Then the Britains confess indeed that they perceived it was the true way of righteousness which Austin Preached This I had not specifyed but that I know some English Protestants against all History and common sense derive their Religion from the Ancient Britains Who differ'd only from
opposition to all Sects of Christians divided from it though never so many or so numerous Which separation from a Mother-Church is as manifest in the Protestants as in the Arrians or any other Schismatical Hereticks who might as well have objected to the true Church from which they separated that she was not Catholick because they professing the Name of Christ and holding most points of the Christian Faith were not Members of her Communion So then a Catholick is a Christian communicating with that Church in Faith and Practice which was founded by Christ and his Apostles Which Church doth evidence it self for such by a perpetual visibility and succession from that time to this present Age By consequence he is no Member of any new Communion of Christians gather'd together by some Doctor teaching contrary to the aforesaid Church and Faith received Neither would there have been any need of adding Roman to the word Catholick had not Hereticks arose denying the Church of Rome to be Mother and Mistress of all Churches and St. Peter's Successor to be the supreme visible Head and Pastor of the Faithful and yet in their divided Communions pretending either to be the only true Church or a part of it But then true Believers did and do commonly call themselves Roman-Catholicks to distinguish themselves from all such false Churches And a Roman-Catholick is in plain English a Member of the Church of Christ founded by the Apostles scatter'd over the face of the whole Earth in Communion with the Bishop of Rome as supreme Head and Pastor of it Which the word Catholick by it self signifies as vertually this only more expresly The Church always being very careful upon emergent occasions to express her self by distinctive marks or terms sufficient to point out the only safe and high-road to the haven of Happiness that those belonging to her charge might not shipwrack their Faith on the rock of Heresie or be swallowed up in the gulph of Schism And those who are without might know their dadger and fly to the saving Ark to preserve themselves from perishing in the deluge of their sins Hereupon with the Ancient Fathers to be a Member of the Catholick Church or of the Roman Church signifies the same thing and to be a Catholick is to be in Communion with the Roman Bishop Qui Cathedram Petri c Who hath forsaken the Chair of Peter upon which the Church is founded doth he perswade himself that he 's in the Church So that St. Cyprian St. Hierom De vnit Eccl. ca. finding divisions in Syria and every one being greedy to gain such a person to their Communion gave them this Answer I communicate Ep. 58. ad Dam. Papam with him who communicates with the Chair of Peter Which they all pretending to and it being not possible for them to be all Catholicks in divided Churches he earnestly desises of Damasus then present Pope Even by the Cross and Sufferings of Christ to write unto him with whom he might communicate in such distractions As is manifest at large in his 58 Ep. to the said Bishop And in his 57 Ep. to the same Pope among much more he hath these words Ego Beatudini tuae id est Cathedrae Petri communione consocior c. I communicate with your Beatitude that is the Chair of Peter I know the Church is built on that rock Whoever eats the Lamb out of this House is a prophane person So then in St. Hierom's judgment He was no Catholick who did not communicate with the Bishop of Rome and whoever in Church-divisions adher'd to him could not be otherwise The Catholick Church being founded on the Chair of St. Peter as a rock to remain for ever maugre all the malice of her enemies The words related by St. Ambrose De Obit Satyri of his Brother Satyrus are home to this purpose Rogavit c. He demanded saith he whether he was of the same judgment with the Catholick Bishops that is the Roman Church Optatus Milevitanus proves L. 3. cont Parme. the Donatists not to be Members of the Catholick Church Because they were not in communion with Syricius the then Bishop of Rome And St. Austin tells every Christian He may Epist 162. 163. know himself to be in the True Church if he be a Member of the Roman Church by Communicatory Letters in use Anciently in which the Primacy of the Apostolical Chair always flourish'd Of which this also is a manifest argument in that the Fathers to convince Separatists that they were no Members of the Catholick Church by shewing the true Church to have a perpetual visible succession of Pastors by Divine institution always made use of the succession of the Roman Bishops reckoning from St. Peter to the present Bishop then in possession of the Apostolical Chair So St. Irenaeus adver haer l. 3. ca. 3 4. St. Aug. l. cont Epist Manich. quam vocant Fundamenti ca. 4. St. Athana Orat 2. cont Arianos Epiph. haer 27. St. Cypri l. 1. Epist 6. c. And at present in the common use of the word the best key of language in the mouth of our Adversaries all Christians in Communion with the Roman Bishop are called Catholicks St. Austin observes the same in his time Velint nolint c. Will they nill they not says he Hereticks and Schismaticks themselves cannot but call a Catholick a Catholick And therefore advises to hold the Christian Religion in the Communion of that Church which is Catholick and so call'd even by her Adversaries In vain therefore do Protestants pretend to be Members of the Catholick Church if the Fathers be Judges not communicating with the Church of Rome acknowledged by them to be true And as vainly will the Puritans have the Church of Rome cease wholly to be a Church to make themselves a true one being both alike condemned by Antiquity Neither can they possibly escape the force of St. Austin's dilemma wherewith he set upon the Donatists Did the Church Lib. 1. cont Gaud. c. 7. perish or did she not If she did what Church then brought forth the Donatists We say what Church then brought forth the Puritans Where received their first Founders their Faith and Baptism From whom had they deliver'd to them the Sacred Oracles This argument strikes them dead S. Austin proceeds If she did not perish what madness mov'd you to separate your selves from her on the pretence of avoiding the communion of bad men This argument confounds the Protestants who acknowledge she did not perish and yet will not confess the madness of their separation but endeavour to justify it though the same Father affirms positively We Epist 48. are certain no man can justly separate himself from the communion of all Nations And again All separation L. 2. cont â— p. Parme. made before the drawing of the net on shore alluding to the Parabolical expression of the day of judgement Mat 13. 47