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might be numbred perhaps if the Church were included in one Province But now that it is diffused throughout the whole World no mean is left of knowing what is the Opinion either of all or most Our Adversaries I suppose will say that when the Governours of the Church dissent about any matter of Faith the Faithful must suspend their assent while the Controversie endureth and content themselves by an implicit Faith to believe in it what the Church believeth not enquiring in the mean while what the Church believeth but leaving that to be enquired by the Church her self To this I answer First that this grants us all we desire For we dispute here only of explicite Faith maintaining that our Adversaries have no certain Foundation for that If they flee to implicite they thereby forsake explicite Faith. Secondly almost all our Adversaries confess that there are some Articles which even the most ignorant Christians are bound to believe with explicite Faith and Connink 6 De actib sup disp 4. dub 9. asserts the contrary Opinion of some Canonists to be held erroneous and even heretical by the other Doctors Further all consent there are some points of Faith necessary to be believed by all with explicite Faith not only because commanded to be so but because the explicite belief of them is also the means without which Salvation cannot be obtained Wherefore Hosius 7 Hâ—s contra Prol. Brent lib. 3. in relating the known story of the Collier saith he did not make that Answer of believing as the Church believeth before he had entirely repeated the Apostles Creed and professed his adherence to it Now suppose the Bishops differ about some Article necessary to be believed with explicite Faith as happened in the times of Arianism Certainly the Faithful cannot at that time sulpend their assent if they do not together suspend their hopes of Salvation But not to insist upon that Example suppose a Controversie raised about doing somewhat which God in the Scripture expresly commands to be done such as we contend to be Communion under both kinds reading of the Scripture c. What is then to be done Must all action be suspended This were to deny obedience to God. We must therefore chuse one part and so reject the pretence of implicite Faith. Again implicite Faith is thus expressed I believe what the Church believeth It therefore supposeth the Faith of the Church Of what kind not implicite surely For that would be absurd in the highest degree Certainly then the Church could not justly be accounted the Keeper of Tradition which is nothing else in our Adversaries sence but that Doctrine which Christ delivered to his Apostles they to their Successors until it was derived down to us If this be true the Church of every Age must of necessity distinctly and explicitly know that Doctrine Otherwise it cannot faithfully and accurately deliver it to the succeeding Church Then how shall this Faith of the Church her self be expressed It can be by no other Form than this I believe what I believe than which nothing can be more absurd But I need not refute a Folly which our Adversaries do not espouse as appears from the words of Duvall 8 Quamvis aliqua successu temporis suerint in Ecclesiâ desinita de quibus antea eitra haeresin dubitabatur certum tamen est illa fuisse semper à nonnullis praedicata declarata Quòd autem ab aliis non crederentur istud tantùm vel ex oblivione vel ex ignorantiâ Scripturae aut traditionis proveniebat Duval in 2.2 p. 111. Although some things were in process of time defined by the Church which were before doubted of without the Crime of Heresie yet it is certain they were always preached and declared by some But that they were not believed by others arose either from the forgetfulness or from the ignorance of Scripture or Tradition Is it therefore this explicite Faith of the Church which serveth as a Foundation to implicite Faith So it ought to be and so I doubt not but our Adversaries will say it is But in this case wherein the Governours of the Church dissent about an Article of Faith it cannot be For that which the Church explicitly believes is no desinite Opinion but a meer Contradiction repugnant to it self and destroying it self For one part of the Church believeth the Opinion whereof the Controversie is raised to be true wholsom and revealed by God the other part believes it false pernicious and suggested by Men. Now to have the belief of the whole Church you must joyn both parts of the Contradiction together and so the Church believeth that Opinion to be true and false wholsom and pernicious revealed by God and suggested by Men. But this is not Faith but a deformed Monster consisting of contrary and repugnant parts CHAP. XXI That the consent of Doctors even when it can be had is more difficult to be known than that we can by the help of it attain to the knowledge of the Truth TO what we observed in the precedent Chapter our Adversaries may perhaps answer That when the Governours of the Church differ about a matter to be believed then indeed the Faith of private Christians cannot rely upon their Authority but that this dissent is not perpetual that they oftentimes consent in delivering the Doctrine of the Church and then at least may be securely believed in what they teach To this I reply First that hereby they must grant they have no certain and sixed Rule of Faith for many great and weighty points of Religion contrary to their continual boasts of the abundance of Rules whereby God hath provided for all the necessities of his Church Secondly the Governours of the Church have now for many Ages differed about some matters upon which according to our Adversaries depend the hopes of eternal Salvation For Example whether the true Church is to be found among the Greeks or among the Latins For of the five Patriarchates of the Church four are divided from the Church of Rome and accuse her of Heresie and Schism both which Accusations she retorts upon them Now this is a matter of great moment which may be justly doubted of and can never be determined by the consent of Doctors But to omit that this consent if it could be had is not so manifest and obvious as a Rule of Faith ought necessarily to be which by the confession of all must be clear evident and easie to be applied This Duvall 1 Secunda conditio eaque pariter essentialis est perspicuitas Nam si hee regula obseurè sidei mysteria proponeret regula fidei non foret Duvall in 2.2 p. 207. assigns for an essential condition of a Rule of Faith and acknowledgeth that if a Rule obscurely proposeth the Mysteries of Faith it would thereby become no Rule And for this reason our Adversaries so much exaggerate the obscurity of Scripture that they may thereby
Church cannot be by this way known by our Adversaries They freely grant it urge it and labour to demonstrate it The second Method is used by many who contend that the Church may be known independently from the Word of God by the help of Notes and Characters perceived by Natural Reason such as are Miracles Sanctity Antiquity Amplitude and the like But they withal admonish that the Church cannot this way be known as it hath annexed to it the Privilege of Infallibility by the assistance of the Holy Ghost and consequently as it is the certain Rule of Faith. They deny this can be any other way found out than by Faith relying on the Promises of Christ and the other testimonies of Scripture But that the Authority which these Notes conferr is Humane Fallible and a Foundation only of humane and acquired not of divine and infused Faith. So among infinite others teach Canus 2 Loc. Theol. l. 2. c. 8. Bannes 3 In 2.2 qu. 1. art 1. dub 4. Suarez 4 De fide disp 3. Sect. 10. Duvall 5 In 2. 2. p. 10. Conink 6 De actib sup disp 17. n. 68. Arriaga 7 De fide disp 3. Sect. 1. Ysambertus 8 De fide disp 26 art 2. Gillius 9 De doctr sacrâ l. 1. tract 7. c. 9. Amicus 10 De side disp 2. Sect. 5. and Rhodius 11 Duplex est authoritas Ecclesiae alia est purè humana prout sc eam probant miracula prophetiae alia hujusmodi alia est divina prout ex assistentiâ Sp. S. est infallibilis Neutra potest esse objectum formale fidei Non prima sequeretur enim sidem esse naturalem esse fallibilem c. Rhod. de fide qu. 1. Sect. 4. §. 4. The last of these affirms there is a two-fold Authority of the Church the one purely Humane as it is proved by Miracles Prophecies and such like the other Divine as it is Infallible by the assistance of the Holy Ghost Neither can be the formal Object of Faith. Not the first for then it would follow that Faith were Natural Fallible c. Certainly it is absurd to imagine that the Church of Christ redeemed and governed by him and animated by his Spirit can be known by the sole light of Nature without Revelation Nature might discover somewhat admirable and excellent in it but nothing more than humane or exalted beyond humane Infirmities But this is not that we seek for We are enquiring a Method of knowing the Church as it is the Rule of Faith and Infallible which since this Method cannot perform it cannot be produced in this place For these Reasons our Adversaries sly to the third Method and endeavour to demonstrate the Church from Notes which they pretend to be assigned in Scripture So Driedo 12 De Eccl. dogm l. 2. c. 3. l. 4. c. 4. from hence that Christ is not now present nor teacheth with his own mouth in the Church nor attesteth the Preaching of others with Signs and Miracles concludes We must necessarily slee to the Scriptures and enquire thence which is the true Church Stapleton 13 Dicimus ergo libentissimè dicimus cum Augustino in Scriptur is quaerendam esse Ecclesiam i. e. quae sint notae dotes proprietates Ecclesiae ex S. Scripturae oraculis non ex humanis document is investigandum esse De princip dectr lib. 1. cap. 24. We say therefore and willingly acknowledge with St. Augustine that the Church is to be sought for in the Scripture that is what are the Notes Privileges and Properties of the Church is to be found out from the Oracles of Holy Scripture not from Humane Arguments The same say the Popish Disputants in the Conference of Ratisbon 14 Tantummodo igitur ex Scripturis Religionem Christionam cognoscimus quia tantummodo ex notis in Scripturâ declaratis non ex aliis cognoscimus quae sit vera Ecclesia Colloq Ratisb Sess 8. We know the Christian Religion only from the Scriptures because from the Notes only declared in Scripture and from no others we know which is the true Church This way also Card. Richlieu 15 Meth. liv 1. Chap. 8. chiefly follows But there are many things inconsistent to be found in it As first that it supposeth the Scripture to be acknowledged for the Word of God. For no man can believe the Notes of the Church laid down in the Scripture to be true and certain till he be first perswaded that all things contained in it are true and Divine But how shall he who hath not yet known the Church for such is he who enquires after it be assured of the Divinity of Scripture if it be true what our Adversaries so often inculcate That the Scripture to us is of no Authority till attested and confirmed by the Church Thus a manifest Circle will be committed Scripture received for the Authority of the Church and the Church for the Authority of Scripture Card. Richlieu confesseth this a great difficulty but contendeth it may be solved by saying The Church is known independently from the Scripture by the help of Notes which Natural Reason suggesteth can agree to none but the true Church But if the Church can be known before the Scripture what need the Scripture be consulted to find Notes whereby we may be brought to the knowledge of the Church To what end these Labyrinths and fruitless toil to search out a thing already known Not to say that this Method is coincident with the second before mentioned and is therefore for the same reasons to be rejected Besides it manifestly contradicts our Adversaries Hypothesis concerning the obscurity of Scripture Every one knows how much they exaggerate this obscurity and Richlieu himself within a few pages of this place maintains it is obscure both as to the sense and as to the letter and that not only to the Reprobate but even the Elect to the Faithful and Doctors themselves Who after all this can believe that he speaks sincerely and in earnest when he undertakes to demonstrate out of this Book so obscure and impenetrable to the greatest Wits the Characters of the true Church not to a Doctor or a Believer but to an Infidel For this he pretends about his Conversion is the Dispute raised The Cardinal therefore in that undertakes a most difficult matter But the obscurity of Scripture is not all the difficulty of this undertaking For how shall it be demonstrated those things are by Scripture assigned for the Notes of the Church of which Scripture is wholly silent nay teacheth the contrary to some of them as might be evidently proved if the intended brevity of this Dissertation would permit it But suppose the Scripture attributes to the Church whatsoever our Adversaries would have to be so many Notes of it This avails not unless it appear that those Notes are not only true but also the only Notes and that no
troups as Slaves to Hell to be with himself for ever tormented yet no mortal must presume to reprehend his faults because he is to judge all to be judged of none Who not to mention obsolete Stories but lately commanded all to believe there is five heretical propositions in Jansenius and yet although humbly intreated by many Doctors would not declare in what part of Jansenius his Book they might be found What is this but to account Christians as most vile Slaves The seventh Note of the Church consists in this 3 John IV. 23. That she worship God in Spirit and in Truth The ancient Church of the Jews indeed used a gross and sensible kind of Worship and was employed about the mean and beggerly Elements of the World but it is the peculiar glory of the Christian Church to worship God in a way most consentaneous to the simplicity of his being and the holiness of his nature Not so the Church of Rome which observeth so many diverse and difficult ceremonies that in comparison of them the Mosaick Rites are both few and easy This you will soon acknowledge if you compare the fourth or at most the third part of the Pentateuch for no more is taken up with ritual matters with so many vast volumes the Ceremonial Pontifical Ritual Missal Gradual and others which prescribe the external part of the Roman Service Lastly the true Church is that which neither usurpeth nor disturbeth the civil Government Therein imitating Christ her Master who offered heavenly things to all earthly to none professed his Kingdom was not of this World withdrew himself unto the Mountains when sought for by the multitude to be made a King and refused to be a Judge in a matter of inheritance The true Church observeth the Apostles precept 4 Rom. XIII 1. of being subject to the higher Powers And that other 5 Ibid. v. 7. of rendering to all their due tribute to whom tribute custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour Not so the Church of Rome whose Head the Pope deposeth Kings at his pleasure absolveth their Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance and pretends to a Sovereign Dominion over the whole World. I might produce many other like Notes of the Church out of Scripture but these suffice to shew how great danger they expose the Church of Rome to who out of those Holy Writings permit a judgment to be formed of her Truth and Purity I will now proceed briefly to demonstrate that not even from those Notes which the Church of Rome assigns can it be known that she is the true Church Card. Richlieu assigns four Antiquity Amplitude Perpetuity and Succession Amplitude shall be considered afterwards the other three I will now briefly touch Antiquity consists solely or chiefly in this that the Church which is called Ancient have preserved the same Faith Worship and Religion from the beginning While the Church of Rome therefore glorieth in Antiquity she meaneth that she now professeth the same Faith which Christ formerly instituted and his Apostles taught But to know this there is no other way than to compare the present Doctrine of the Church of Rome with the Ancient Monuments of Christian Religion of which Scripture is the Chief Now this in nothing differeth from the first method which we only approve and our Adversaries reject If then the Church cannot be known by that method neither can it by that which our Adversaries propose The discussion of perpetuity is yet more difficult For therein is to be proved not only that the present is the same with the first and original Doctrine but also that it was so in every Age and that this profession of the old Religion was never once interrupted Now how vast and unexhausted a knowledge of antiquity doth this require No ancient monument must be neglected infinite Volumes both Printed and Manuscript must be read through This few Men can attend to or if they could one Age would not suffice Yet this accordding to Richlieu's method must be done by any Infidel who is a Candidate of Christianity The same may be said of Succession That is twofold of Doctrine and of Persons The first is coincident with antiquity and perpetuity the second in Gretser's judgment is of little moment Without Truth of Doctrine saith he 6 Sine veritate doctrinae successio Pastorum est exigui ponderis De verb. Dei lib. 4. cap. 9. Succession of Pastors is of small weight But suppose it of the greatest moment What is more laborious and difficult to say no more than to prove that in a long series of Succession continued through XVI Ages there never happened the least interruption Thus much of the Notes singly As for all taken together it is manifest that even in our Adversaries opinion they cannot be certain since they are found in the Greek Church The Cardinal denies that of Antiquity because the Church of Constantinople cannot demonstrate her claim of being founded by St. Andrew Let it be Certainly the Churches of Hierusalem Antioch Ephesus Corinth and Athens which are parts of the Greek Church were founded by Apostles and the first even by Christ himself Again the Cardinal denieth the Succession of the Greek Bishops because their Patriarchs were heretical But first it matters not what the Patriarchs are if the other Bishops be Orthodox Secondly this very thing may be brought against the Succession of Popes for some of them have been condemned by General Councils Lastly if heresie interrupts succession it will be no more certain that the Succession of Popes was never interrupted than that no Pope was ever an Heretick But how shall this be ascertained especially to an Infidel of whom we now treat who may consider that many in the Church of Rome openly teach the contrary To this may be added That it is absurd in this case to pretend Heresy against the Succession of any Church For that is the very thing now inquired by this Infidel which Society of Christians is the true Church and consequently which of them are Hereticks or Schismaticks This method therefore can never certainly teach us That the Church of Rome is the true Church CHAP. XXVI That it is uncertain what the Vniversal Church believeth IF after all this we should grant That our Adversaries may certainly know which is the true Church it were yet to be inquired what this Church believeth But how shall this be known For first it doth not suffice to know what the greater or lesser part of the Universal Church believeth unless we know what is the Faith of the whole For our Adversaries confess That the greater part of it may erre So Tostatus answering to those who from the Universal corruption of the translations of the Bible before S. Hierom's time argued That the whole Church then erred replyed That all the Copies indeed of the Latin Church were corrupted but in the Greek Church were preserved entire Now saith he
other is assigned in Scripture This the Cardinal himself admonisheth It is to be observed saith he 16 Method liv 1. chap. that although it doth not follow that Society which hath one of the Notes of the true Church is the true Church yet it follows that Society which wanteth one of these Notes is not the true Church Valentia had gone before him These are the Notes saith he 17 Non sunt notae Ecclesiae sigillatim sed conjunctim quia fieri possit ut una harum altera aliis conveniat Val. Anal. fid lib. 6. cap. 7. which we urge One Holy Catholick Apostolick These are not the Notes of the Church singly but conjunctly because it may be that one or two of them may agree to others And indeed it cannot be denied that the Greek Church hath many of these Notes If therefore from one or more of them we might argue affirmatively the Greek must be granted to be a true Church To conclude therefore that the Roman or any other is the true Church it is necessary that no note of the true Church be wanting to it and that it be evident no other note is assigned in Scripture besides those wherein she already glorieth While this is uncertain nothing can be securely concluded from any Notes whatever That an Infidel therefore be rightly instructed it is required that he read over the whole Scripture from one end to the other accurately weigh and examine all places that he may be ascertained none of those Notes have escaped his diligence But this besides that it is long and tedious and apt rather to discourage and deterr than allure an Infidel to the Christian Religion is impossible if our Adversaries Doctrine of the obscurity of Scripture be admitted For who can promise himself that nothing hath escaped his most sagacious enquiry amidst so much darkness and intricacy as our Adversaries pretend to be in Scripture Much less can an Infidel be assured of this whose Understanding is yet clouded with Errors and his Eyes with Blindness Yet if he be not certain that no one Note of the Church is unknown to him how many soever he hath by his search observed in vain doth he sweat since even according to our Adversaries many Notes contribute nothing to that Society to which any one is wanting And this is so much the more difficult because our Adversaries are not agreed about the number of the Notes Valentia and many others assign four Driedo six Medina ten Sanders and Pistorius twelve Bellarmin fifteen Bosius an hundred In so great variety of opinions what certainty can be expected But what if in this diligent reading of Scripture many things shall occurr whereby the Catechumen will be induced to believe there are many other Notes beside those which our Adversaries point out and those such as will divert him from embracing the Communion of the Church of Rome He will in the first place observe those words of Christ 18 John VIII 31 47. X. 27. If ye continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples indeed He that is of God heareth God's words My Sheep hear my voice Hence he will conclude that the truth of Doctrine and its conformity to God's word is the most certain Note of the true Church But our Adversaries will never permit that he should make use of this Note to find out the Church For that would introduce the first method so much hated by them and it were to be feared that the Catechumen comparing the Doctrine of the Church of Rome with the Scripture would find a manifest repugnance in many things Another Note of the Church he would find to be the observation of the Divine Precepts from the same places For he cannot be said to hear the voice of Christ that obeys it not And in other places Christ saith 19 John VIII 10 14. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my Love. Ye are my friends if ye do what soever I command you God also foretold by his Prophets that under the new Covenant he would write his Laws in the hearts of Men and make them to walk in his statutes But can the Catechumen find this observation of the Divine precepts in the Church of Rome where the Cup is taken from the Laity Prayers performed in an Unknown Tongue and many other things used expresly contrary to the Divine Commands The Scripture oft-times calls the Church the most chast Spouse of Christ Now this Chastity consists in keeping her Faith to God and transferring no part of the Divine Worship due to him upon any other objects Otherwise God will implead her of adultery and give her a bill of divorcement Will the Catechumen then from this Note conclude the Church of Rome to be the Spouse of Christ by whom he perceiveth so many Creatures Saints deceased their Reliques the Cross Images and the Host to be worshipped and adored Meekness and Gentleness is also a note of the Church when her Children are frequently in the Scriptures called Sheep Lambs Doves Turtles Isaiah foretold all cruelty should be far from the Church of Christ 20 Isai XI 9. LXIII 25. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain Christ left his Peace to his Disciples and said to them 21 Matth. XI 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls Who can then imagine the Church of Christ to be that Society which persecutes all dissenting from her with fire and sword and scarce useth any other arguments than Racks and Gibbets Of the same nature with this Note is another laid down by David He calls 22 Ps CX 3. the Church a willing People who are not retained in the Communion of their Saviour by force and fear but by a most free and that most fervent Love. Hence her most excellent Pastor is said 23 Zach. XI 7. to govern her with two staves one called Beauty and the other Bands but that you may not mistake those bands are 1 Hos XI 4. the cords of a Man and the bands of Love. Is Rome therefore this Church of Christ which wheresoever she commands hath no stronger bands to retain her People than the detestable Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition To these two last Notes is conjoined a sixth That she be free and not a Servant of Men especially of Pastors This the Scripture teacheth in many places particularly Gal. IV. 25 26. John VIII 32.36 2 Cor. I. 24. III. 17. IV. 5. 1 Pet. V. 3. Ja. I. 25. That therefore is not the Church of Christ which serveth the Pope whose Slave Cajetan expresly calls her Is that Church free upon which the Pope imposeth arbitrary Laws which none must call in question Can he be denied to be Lord of the Church who as the Canon Law 2 Decret part 1. dist 40. can Si Papa tells us although he should carry innumerable People by
is known by Faith. But to this I oppose the Opinion of those Divines who hold That all Christians may fall from the Faith except one single Woman Hence I conclude That the Infallibility of the Church cannot be of Faith because repugnant to the Opinion of these Catholick Divines Certainly we who deny the Infallibility of the Church go not so far as they We believe that God preserveth to himself even in the most difficult times a remnant according to the election of Grace and that there always remains at least an Invisible Church whose name being collective cannot consist and be restrained to one person Our Adversaries therefore cannot pretend their Opinion as it is at this day proposed to be of Faith And so much the less because they can assign no Foundation of this Faith. Not Scripture Tradition Decrees of Popes Definitions of Councils or Consent of Pastors For first I have proved in the preceding Discourse That none of all these can be rely'd upon at least according to our Adversaries Hypotheses and then it is the constant Doctrine of Papists That the Church is not believed for them but they for the Church Again it is certain that the Infallibility of the Church cannot be beieved for the Authority of the Church it self For that would be a manifest Circle and he that doubteth whether the Church can err doth for that very reason doubt whether she doth not err when she thinks that she cannot err Therefore Bannes 1 Non potest reduci ad authoritatem ipsius Ecclesiae hoc enim esset idem per idem confirmare Bann in 2. 2. qu. 1. art 1. dub 4. said truly That the Church is the Infallible rule of proposing and explaining truths of Faith cannot be reduced to the Authority of the Church it self for that would be to prove the same thing by it self Why then is it believed Our Adversaries commonly answer That it is a thing before all others to be believed and not for any other Rule for then the same Question would return about that Rule And because they commonly require three things to make up an Act of Faith. 1. The Testimony of God revealing as the formal Reason and principal Foundation 2. A Rule whereby this Revelation of God may be manifested 3. Motives of Credibility which may induce us to be willing to believe they think the first is here present and the third abundantly to be had in the Notes of the Church which are perceived and dictated by Natural Reason but the second wanting which they pretend not to be necessary in a matter of first belief such as this is But first if a Rule be not requir'd in forming this first Act of Faith Why is it necessary in others Why may not all the other Articles be believed for the Authority of God by the inducement of Motives of Credibility with which the Christian Religion is abundantly furnished Secondly Which is chiefly to be regarded it is absurd to boast of a Testimony of God revealing which no way can be known The Infallibility of the Church or any other Article of Belief can never be proved to have been revealed by God but by some Rule either living or dead whereby things revealed may be distinguished from not revealed otherwise the most foolish Opinion may intitle it self to Revelation and then cannot be rejected Here they fly to Motives of Credibility and by them undertake to supply their defect of a Rule and manifest the Revelation But if these Motives can confer upon the Church so sufficient an Authority that what she proposeth as revealed by God must be believed Why may not the like Motives give the same Authority to the Scripture and assure us of the Divine Original of it And that such Motives are not wanting to the Scripture Bellarmin 2 1 De verbo Dei ib. 1. cap. 2. Suarez 3 De fide disp 5. Sect. 2 3. Duvall 4 Duvall in 2. 2. p. 120. and Martinonus 5 De fide disp 7. Sect. 1. among many others expresly confess Why may we not then by these Motives first be satisfied of the Authority of Scripture and from thence learn all things necessary to Salvation which are clearly contained in it and be so saved without recurring to the Church Further How is it gathered from these Notes and Motives of Credibility that the Church cannot err whether evidently certainly and necessarily or only obscurely probably and contingently The first our Adversaries will never say for then it would necessarily follow That Faith is evident which they all contend to be false insomuch as Bellarmin 6 Ante approbationem Ecclesiae non est evidens aut certum certitudine fidei de ullo miraculo quòd sit verum mir aculum Et quidem quòd non sit evidens patet quia tunc fides esset evidens Bell. de Eccles l. 4. c. 14. disputing of Miracles the chief of these Motives hath these words Before the Approbation of the Church it is not evident nor certain with the certainty of Faith of any Miracle that it is a true one And that it is not evident is manifest for then Faith would be evident Besides if these Notes evidently prove the Church cannot err it would be most false what our Adversaries before delivered with so great consent that by these Notes the Church is not known as it hath an Infallible but only as it hath an Humane and Fallible Authority Lastly They acknowledge as we before shewed That a manifest and convictive Argument cannot be deduced from one or more of these Notes although fortified by the Authority of Scripture if any one be wanting How then will they afford evidence when perceived by the sole light of Nature and are much fewer For they allow more Notes to be pointed out by Scripture than taught by the light of Nature Do these Notes then only perswade probably If so I have gained what I was to prove For then it will be only probable that the Church cannot err and the Faith of Papists will have no certainty as not exceeding probability For whatsoever they believe they believe either for the Testimony or for the Judgment of the Church and so cannot be more certain or evident than is the Infallibility of the Church in testifying and judging Some to elude this make a twofold evidence Physical and Moral and grant the Arguments of the Infallibility of the Church not to be Physically evident but contend they are Morally So especially Aegidius Conink 7 De actib sup disp 2. dub 2. num 46. collat cum dub 3. num 71 72. But here in the first place this manifest absurdity occurrs That when they acknowledge these Arguments to be only Morally certain they yet maintain Faith which is founded solely upon them to be Physically certain for that degree of certainty all attribute to Divine Faith. Besides it hence also appears that this Moral Certainty doth not suffice because it