WANT OF CHARITIE Iustly charged ON ALL SVCH ROMAnists as dare without truth or modesty affirme that Protestancie destroyeth Salvation In Answer to a late Popish Pamphlet intituled Charity Mistaken c. By Christopher Potter D. D. Chaplaine to his Maty in Ordinarie and Provost of Queenes Colledge in Oxford OXFORD Printed by the Printers to the University 1633. TO OVR MOST GRATIOVS AND MOST Religious Soveraigne King Charles c. Dread Soveraigne AMongst the many excellent Vertues which have made your Maties Person so deare to God and so precious in the eyes of all your good People the most eminent is your Piety which gloriously shines in the innocency of your Life in the constancy of your Devotions in the justice and mildenesse of Your blessed Government and especially in your tender cares thoughts for the conservation of true Religion and of the Peace of the Church in this crazy quarelling Age. This Piety in your Maty gives me the boldnesse humbly to lay at your Foote this unworthy Piece and the boldnesse also to hope that your Maty will graciously accept it Both because it was undertaken in obedience to your Maties particular Commandement and because in it I plead as well as my Weakenesses will permit for the Faith and Charity of our Church against the Faction of Rome who very falsely pretending to Truth and Vnitie are indeed the true Authors and Continuers of the miserable Schismes of Christendome If here in I have done any acceptable service to God and his Church and to your Maty I have my desire The Father of Mercies crowne Your Maty with all the comforts and Benedictions of Heaven and Earth and continue long the happines of these Your Fortunate Islands in the holinesse and health of their Gratious Soveraigne Your Majesties humble Servant and Chaplaine Ch. Potter Reader THis Answer had beene publique some Moneths agoe if it had not beene delayed partly by sicknesse and the indisposition of my Body and of my Minde also which was ever averse from Contentions in Divinity and now rather desirous to spend in Devotion the few and evill dayes of my life that remaine and partly out of the hope I had to see a second Edition of the Mistakers Work which the strong report of that Part promised or rather threatned But that hope failing and being loath to seeme to faile in my Observance I now commend it such as it is to the blessing of God and to the use and judgement of the Church My Answers without further affectation are true and modest I speake to the Cause not to the Person VVhosoever the Mistaker be he hath my pitty and my prayers He thinkes unworthily of Truth that beleeves it to have need of our Passions My desire is all Personall Defects may be charged on my Selfe none on the Cause I haue not followed the Mistaker in all his wandrings But let Him not take that for a pretext of clamour For if He will be ingenuous He must confesse that I have not omitted without Answer any one thing of moment in all his Discourse Or if He will not Our Readers will confesse it I have onely neglected his repetitions declamatory and injurious speeches and the like impertinencies which being set apart the true Summary of the rest is this that followes Charitie mistaken Chapt. 1. 2. ROman Catholiques judge that Protestancie unrepented of destroyes Salvation For this judgment the Protestants charge them with want of Charity This charge saith the Mistaker is 1. improbable 2. untrue 1. Improbable For the Catholique Church expresses and diffuses her Charitie for the temporall and spirituall good of men in all imaginable sorts Shee is charitable to their bodies in her Monasteries Hospitals redeeming of Captives providing for Orphanes c. and to their soules by converting of Heretiques and Infidels by teaching the ignorant by directing the scrupulous with books of Cases of Conscience c. Charitable to very Protestants their heresies are onely condemned and it is not said that they sin against the Holy Ghost because they may be converted to the faith reconciled to the Church and so may be saved Answer Sect. 1. SOme Roman Catholiques judge charitably of the Reformed Iesuiters furious and destructive in their censures against all that are not of their faction That Faction infamous for their cruelties charged with want of Charity not the Catholique Church The Catholique Church and the Romane ignorantly or cunningly confounded The Catholique truly and really charitable and so the English but not so the Romane not to her owne Children especially not to Protestants Of whom the Mistaker and Others speake and thinke no better then of Infidels Though we entirely professe and embrace the Catholique Faith in all the parts of it Charity mistaken Cap. 3. 4. 2. VNtrue The former judgement proceeds not frō want of Charity but from truth Which may appeare by these grounds of truth which follow 1. Almighty God hath founded but one Church and ordained but one Religion wherin he will be served and out of the communion of this one Church there is no salvation This Vnity of the Church is proved by many testimonies of Scripture and by the consent of the Fathers of the East and West And it is likewise proved by the same authorities that out of the Communion of this One Church salvation cannot be obtained Wherefore all Heretiques and Schismatiques being out of this Church Communion must needs eternally perish Answer Sect. 2. OF the Vnity of the Church VVherein it consists How it is violated Each discord in Opinion dissolves not the Vnity of Faith The Communion of the Church in what sence and how farre necessary Charity mistaken Chap. 6. 2. THis Vnity is directly broken betweene Roman Catholiques and Protestants who are not both Professors of this One Religion or members of this One Church For they differ in prime and maine points of Faith in which the Reformers have departed frō the Church Besides the Protestants are not at Vnity among themselves and therefore much lesse with Romane Catholiques Their bitter contentions speeches one against another declare them to be of different Churches and Religions Whence it followes that Roman Catholiques and Protestants are not both saveable in their contrary wayes Anwer Sect. 3. THe true difference betweene the Roman and Reformed Parts of the Church Protestants have rejected nothing but Popery that is corrupt superadditions to the Faith confessed by learned Romanists to be doubtfull and unnecessary novelties Errors and Abuses of Rome reformed by us without Schisme Those errors damnable how and to whom Of the dissentions of Protestants among themselves They differ not in any point fundamentall Charity mistaken Cap. 6. FVrthermore the Protestants are properly Heretiques at least if not Infidells Heretiques because they reject and disobey the judgement of the Catholique Church For it is not the matter or quality of the doctrine but the pride of the man who prefers his owne opinions before the
Equals the acts and vnion of Charity because they deny what they owe not to her their subiection and seruice this is an vnsufferable and schismaticall arrogance whereof the Church of Rome hath now for many ages beene deepely guilty Many other things are said against vs but surely the most capitall r Valent. in Th. 2. 2. Tom. 3. disp 1. qu. 1. punct 7. in explic quaest § Quibus amnibus Omninò verè Orthodoxè docetur ad Summum Pontificem pertinere explicationem editionem Symboli fidei id est eorum quae à fid elibus credi debent Quae veritas vsque adeo continet summam caput totius Christianae Religionis vt nemo Catholicus esse possit qui illam non amplectatur neque vllus sit Haereticus qui illam non neget Id. ibid. punct 7. §. 40. Postremo idipsum Ab exordio Ecclesiae constat controuersias omnes de religione motas ex D. Petri Cathedrâ fuisse judicatas eosquo tandem solos communi Ecclesiae judicio Haereticos esse habitos qui repugnârint definitioni ejus Cathedrae Heresy Schisme of Greekes Protestants c. is that they refuse to bee commanded and gouerned by him who will needs be perpetuall Dictator at Rome and from thence giue lawes to all the world Communion with the Catholique Church may bee distinguished and measured according to those different degrees of vnion which men may haue with Christ for vpon this vnion that communion is founded Christ may bee considered either as a King or Ruler in regard of the whole visible militant Church or as a Sauiour and Head in regard of his mysticall body or his true spirituall members Among the Kings liege people that liue in outward obedience to his Lawes some carry in secret euill and disloyall affections to him others loue and obey him with th◠heart So it is with our Lord. All tha◠liue within the pale of the Church professe to honour him as their Prince and Gouernour euen though they deny th◠power of godlinesse by hypocrisy o◠dissolution others constantly and vnfainedly serue him in all the duties of holinesse He rules them all as King they are his Subiects but he is a Sauiour onely to these latter who liue and dye in hi◠true faith and feare who are therefore liuing members of his mysticall body to whom he communicates by his Spirit effectuall graces spirituall motion and eternall life This blessed Company is said in Scripture s Col. 2. 19. to hold the head and is called t Heb. 12. 23. the Church of the first born who are written in heauen and u Gal. 4. 20. the Mother of vs all When some of the Ancients speake of the Catholique Church w Clem. Alexandr Strom. lib. 7. pag. 514. edit Heinsianae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iterum in fin libr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen contr Cels lib. 6. p. 318. Geaec. Haeschel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor Pelus lib. 2. Epist 246. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. de Bapt. cont Donat. lib. 5. cap. 27. Ecclesiam veram intelligere non audeo nisi in sanctis justis Et sic passim many times they vnderstand it in a strict notion onely for this fellowship of the Saints as it containes all and onely them that haue spirituall vnion and communion with Christ as their Sauiour When Saint Cyprian compares the Church to Noahs Arke the paraleil runnes most fully and properly on the Church in this sence For of the Arke and this Church it is true whosoeuer is without is saued whosoeuer is without perisheth neither of which perhaps is truly said of any visible Church And thus x 1 Pet. 3. 21. S. Peter seemes to apply that similitude and sayes the Arke was a type or representation of the inward Baptisme or the Lauer of regeneration wherein the sprinkling of Christs blood purges the conscience and saues the soule Communion then with this Church is no lesse necessary to Saluation then vnion with Christ nor can he haue God for his Father who hath not this Church for his Mother Which Sentence S. Cyprian the Author y Epist ad Pompeium vses not of the Church of Rome as the Mistaker seemes to beleeue but where he vehemently disputes against it Whosoeuer either wilfully opposes any Catholique veritie maintained by this Church or the Catholique visible Church as doe Heretiques or peruersly diuides himselfe from the Catholique communion as doe Schismatiques the condition of both these is damnable The Scriptures and Fathers cited here by the Mistaker proue this and no more and therefore proue nothing against Protestants who neuer denied it We deny that * What this importeth see the next §. pag. 58. Popery is any part of the Catholique Church or maintaines any one Catholique verity We deny also that Protestants are in any degree dislinked from the Catholique Church or from the Church of Rome it selfe or from any Church or Christian on earth so farre as they communicate with the Catholique The contrary is easily and vsually affirmed but not so easily proved by firme and conuincing Arguments Charity Mistaken Cap 6. 2. THis unity is directly broken betweene Romane Catholiques and Protestants who are not both professors of this one Religion or members of this one Church For they differ in prince and maine points of faith in which the Reformers haue departed from the Church The Protestants are not at unitie among themselues and therefore much lesse with Roman Catholiques Their bitter contentions and speeches one against another declare them to be of different Churches and Religions And hence it followes that R. Catholiques and Protestants are not both saueable in their contrary waies Answer Sect. 3. THe true difference betweene the Romane and Reformed Parts of the church Protestants haue rejected nothing but Poperie that is corrupt superadditions to the faith confessed by learned Romanists to be doubtfull vnnecessary novelties Errors and Abuses of Rome reformed by vs without Schisme Those errors damnable how and to whom Of the dissentions of Protestants among themselues They differ not in any point fundamentall THe a See D. Abbot True ancient Romane Catholique Ch. 2. p. 81. Ch. 3. §. 3. p. 111. p. 113. 114. Protestants never intended to erect a new Church but to purge the old the Reformation did not change the substance of Religion but onely cleansed it from corrupt impure qualities We preach no new faith but the same Catholique faith that ever hath beene preached Whatsoever is good and true in the Roman profession we approue Wee haue abandoned nothing but Popery which is no branch of Religion but the shame and staine of it nor any part of the Church but a contagion or plague in it which dangerously affected the whole body though by Gods great mercy the vitall parts kept out the poison Naaman was still the same man before and after he was cured of his ieprosie
h Replique liur 1. chap. 10. Perron calls the faith of adherence or non-repugnance may suffice to wit an humble preparation of minde to beleeve all or any thing revealed in Scripture when it is sufficiently cleared By which virtuall faith an erring person may beleeve the truth contrary to his owne error inasmuch as he yeelds his assent implicitely to that Scripture which containes the truth and overthrowes his errour though yet he understand it not This maine distinction of doctrines whereof we speak hath expresse ground in the Scriptures of the N. Testament Therein the Church of Christ is often called i 1. Tim. 3. 15. 1. Pet. 2. 5. Heb. 3. 5. 6. the Spirituall house of God The foundation of this house is either reall personall or dogmaticall and doctrinall The Reall foundation is k 1. Cor. 3. 11. Eph. 2. 20. Christ the Dogmaticall are l Matt. 16. 16. 18. Heb. 6. 1. those grand and capitall doctrines which make up our faith in Christ that is that m Tit. 1. 4. common faith which is n 2 Pet. 1. 1. alike precious in all beeing one and the same in the highest Apostle and the meanest beleever which the Apostle o Heb. 5. 12. elsewhere calls the first principles of the oracles of God and the p 2. Tim. â— 13. forme of sound words These hold the place of the common foundation in which all Christians must be grounded The materialls laid upon this foundation whether they be sound or unsound are named by S. Paul q 1. Cor. 3. 12. super structions which are conclusions either in truth or in appearance deducible from those principles Concerning all which superstructures the generall rule is that the more neere they are to the foundation of so much greater importance be the truthes and so much more perilous be the errors as againe the further they are removed off the lesse necessary doth the knowledge of such verities prove to be and the swarving from the truth lesse dangerous It is cleere then that some points are fundamentall others not so But here all Protestants are defied by the Mistaker not onely particulars but in corps their Colledges Universities all or any of them dared to give him in a list or Catalogue of fundamentall points So high a Challenge in a subject of this nature might better have beseemed his betters some Cardinall rather then a * See Char. Mist pag. 1. Cavallier It seems the man thinks excellently of his owne learning and judgement and that conceit fills him with this courage But his strength is not answerable They that have tried it say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The prudent Vlysses in r Iliad ss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et ad Ther 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer gave good counsell to some busie persons that were forward to meddle in matters beyond their Spheere the Mistaker stands in neede of it and may do well to follow it By fundamentall points of faith for of them alone the Mistaker expresly speakes in this discourse we understand as hath been noted not the necessarie duties of Charity which are comprehended in the Decalogue nor the necessarie acts of hope contained in the Lords prayer there beeing the same object both of our prayers and of our hope though both these vertues of Charity and Hope are fundamentally necessary to the salvation of Christians but we meane those Prime and Capitall doctrines of our Religion which make up the holy Catholique and Apostolique faith once for all delivered to the Saints which faith is the same which Jude 3. the Church received from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ Christ from God as Tertullian speakes that faith which essentially constitutes a true Church and a true Christian These fundamentalls are all contained in the rule of faith which rule being cleerely but diffusedly set downe in the Scriptures hath been afterwards summed up and contracted into the Apostles Creed either by the Apostles themselves or by the Church of their times from them This Creed taken in a Catholique sence that is as it was further opened and explaned in some parts by occasion of emergent Heresies in the other Catholique Creeds of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedon and Athanasius is said generally by the Schoolemen and Fathers to comprehend a perfect Catalogue of fundamentall truths and to imply a full rejection of fundamentall heresies and hath beene received by Orthodox Christians of all ages and places as an absolute summary of the Christian faith For proof wherof we will first argue ad hominem and teach the Mistaker how to esteeme of his Creed out of his own Masters whom he will not distrust or gainsay Begin with the a Concil Trident Sess 3. Symbolum Apostolorum est principium illud in quo omnes qui fidem Christi profitentur necessariò conveniunt ac fundamentum Ecclesiae firmum ac unicum Councell of Trent The Apostles Creed is that principle wherein all that professe the faith of Christ do necessarily agree that being the firme and onely foundation of the Church The b Catec Trident pag. 13. ac 14. Apostoli hanc Christianae fidei ac spei formulam composuerunt veritatis summa ac fundamentum primò ac necessariò omnibus credendum Catechisme of Trent to the same pupose The Apostles composed this profession of Christian faith and hope as a summary and foundation of that truth which is necessarily to be beleived of all c Azor. par 1. lib. 8. cap. 5. Symbolum Apostoâ—orum est brevis fidei complexio ac summa omniuÌ„ credendorum veluti nota quaedam signum quo Christiani homines ab impiis infidelibus qui vel nullam vel non rectam Christi fidem profitentur discernendi ac internoscendi sunt Huic Symbolo addâ—ta sunt alia duo Nicaenum Athanasianum ad uberiorem explicationem fidei Azorius This Creed briefly comprehends the faith and all things to be beleived is as it were a signe or cognisance whereby Christian men are differenced from the ungodly and misbeleivers who have either no faith at all or hold not the right faith To this the other Creeds of Nice and Athanasius were added onely for further explanation d Jacob. Gordon Hunt Controv 2. cap. 10. num 10. Regula fidei continetur expressè in Symbolo Apostolorum in quo continentur omnia prima fundamenta fidei Neque enim adeò obliviosi fuerunt Apostoli post acceptum Spiritum S. ut in Symbolo fidei quod omnibus credendum tradiderunt praetermittereÌ„t primum praecipuum fidei fundamentum Huntley a Scottish Iesuite The rule of faith is expressely contained in the Apostles Creed wherein are contained all the prime foundations of faith For the Apostles were not so forgetfull as to omit any fundamentall point in that Creed which they delivered to be beleived by all Christians e Greg. de Val. in 2. 2. disp 1.
12. pag. 480. ex edit Binn ann 1618. Colon Gr. Lat. Olim quilibet Arcl â—episcopus Patriarcha literas quae Synodicae appellantur inter se dabant nihil aliud continentes quà m rectfidei suique sensus confessionem quod in Orientalibus Ecclesiis hodiéque fit usque ad hoc tempus Patriarch immediately after his assumption to a place of so great trust and authority in the Church should render an account of his faith by his Synodicall or Circular letters called otherwise p Optat. Milevit lib. 2. Siricius hodiè Episcopus Rom. noster est Socius cum quo nobis totus orbis commetcio Formatarum in una communionis societate concordat literae formatae and q Aug. Epist 162. Communicatorias literas jam olim propter suam perversitatem ab unitate Catholica quae toto orbe diffusa est non accipiunt Donatistae Et saepe de illis in ea Epistola communicatoria directed to his Peeres and Companions in that dignity that by the sight of his profession his faith might be judged whether he were a sound Catholique or tainted with heresie and so whether he were fit or unworthy to be admitted into their Communion If in those Letters he did professe entirely to adhere to the Catholique Creeds his profession person was accepted as sound Orthodox The Circular Epistles yet extant of r Extant Concil 6. Gener Act. 11. Sophronius Patriarch of Hierusalem of s Conc. 7. sive Syn. 2. Nic. Act. 3. Tarasius Patriarch of Constantinople of t Apud Baron ad ann 556. num 33. Pelagius Patriarch of Rome of u Extat inter Epistolas Photii MSS. Graecè in Bibl. Bodleiana Photius of Constantinople and many others testifie this So truly said S. Austin w Aug. Epist 57. Regula fidei pusillis magnisque communis that the Creed is a rule of faith common to great and small The meanest Catechumen must beleeve so much and the greatest Patriarch can beleeve no more In those old and golden times those Articles were thought abundantly sufficient and it was thought a great sacriledge to adde any thing to them or diminish them No Catholique in the world was then required to beleeve the Popes Supermacie or his Indulgences or Purgatory or Transubstantiation or any doctrine now debated betweene us and Rome No such matter These things were brought in long after the beginning the Church of Christ was long without them and was well without them and happy had she been whether we regard truth or peace if she had still so continued Nor can it be reasonably said that all or any of these things though not expressed in the Creed are yet contained eminently in the beliefe of the Catholique Church For to omit that these are no traditions or doctrines of the Catholique Church but onely the partiall and particular fancies of the Romane unlesse happily the opinion of Transsubstantiation may be excepted wherein the later * Vide Nicetae Thesau Orthod Gr. Ms in Bib. Bodleiana Euthym. in panoplia tit 21. Hierem. Patr. CP in Resp 1. ad Lutheranos cap. 10. Resp 2. cap. 4. § 3. Nichol. Episc Methon Samonam Arch. Gaz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter Liturgica Graecè edita Parisiis 1560. Greeks seeme to agree with the Romanists 1. what reason can be imagined why amongst many things of equall necessity to be believed the Apostles should so punctually and distinctly set downe some and be altogether silent in others As well nay better they might have given us no Article but that and sent us to the Church for all the rest For in setting downe others besides that and not all they make us beleive we have all when we have not all 2. I suppose no learned Romanist will say that in the beleife of the coÌ„munion of Saints all the new doctrines of the Romane Church are virtually contained Yet the learned y Replique ch 1. Card. du Perron thinks it probable that the Article of the Catholique Church and the Communion of Saints is all one this latter clause being onely an explication of the other 3. Many of the Ancient Doctors have left us their expositions on the Creed Ruffinus S. Augustin Cyrill of Hierusalem Chrysologus Maxim Taurinensis others Where they speake of the Catholique Church all say we must beleive the unity universality perpetuity sanctity of the Church none at all say any thing of any soveraigne infallible power in the Church to prescribe or define what she pleases 4. Lastly Azorius the Iesuite gives a faire meaning to this Article of the Catholique Church and such as little favours the conceit of our Mistaker z Azor. paâ— 1. lib. 8 cap. 6. §. Sed mibi probabilius Substantia articuli quo credimus unam Sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam est neminem posse salvum esse extrà congregationem hominum qui Christi fidem religionem profitentur susceptam posse salutem obtineri intrà hanc ipsam congregationem hominum piorum fidelium I beleive the holy Catholique Church that is saith he I beleive that none can be saved out of the Congregation of those men who professe the faith and religion of Christ and that within that company of holy and faithfull people salvation may be obtained Now to the reasons alleaged for the full and formall sufficiency of this rule of faith to which nothing essentiall can be added or may be detracted we may adjoine the full consent of the Ancient Doctors Greeke and Latin who come in with one voice each one almost contributing his suffrage to testifie for this perfection of the Creed that in their dayes it was so acknowledged a Iren. lib. 1. cap. 2. 3. Ecclesia per universum orbem seminata ab Apostolis corum discipulis accepit eam fidem quae est in Deum omnipotentem Hanc fidem diligenter custodit Ecclesia in Celtis in Oriente Aegypto Cùm enim una eadem fides sit neque is qui multùm potest de ea dicere superfluit neque is qui parùm imminuit Irenaeus having repeated the most important Articles of it saith It is the faith which the Church throughout the world hath received from the Apostles being every where one and the same admitting neither addition nor diminution Therfore it is called by b Tertul. de vel virg cap. 1. Regula fidei una omninò est sola immobilis irreformabilis Hâc lege fidei manente caetera admittunt novitatem correctionis Tertullian one onely immoveable and unreformable rule which remaining safe other matters of discipline may be altered or corrected as occasion requires And the same Author againe c Id. de Praescript cap. 13. 14. Haec regula null as habet apud nos quaestiones nisi quas herefes inferunt quae haereticos faciunt manente form âejus in suo ordine quantumlibet quaeras tractes Fides in
vultis Vides frater Parmeniane sancta germanitatis vincula inter nos vos in totum rumpi non posse loued and pittied and prayed for them Though the peeuish Schismatiques did much abuse this Charitie of good Catholiques towards them For hence they tooke occasion to argue in fauour of their Schisme and Heresie as if their Aduersaries by their owne confession did justifie it and them reasoning thus o Aug. Cont. lit Petil. lib. 2. cap. 108. Petilianus dixit Venite ad Ecclesiam populi aufugite Traditores si perire non vultis Nam vt facilè cognoscatis quòd cùm ipsi sint rei de fide nostrâ optimè judicant Egoillorum infectos baptizo illi meos recipiunt baptizatos Quod omninò non facerent si in Baptismo nostro culpas aliquas agnouissent Videte ergo quod damus quam sit sanctum quòd destruere metuit sacrilegus inimicus Id. contr Crescon Gram. lib. 1. cap. 21. Intentio tua est in parte Donati hominem potius baptizari oportere hanc intentionem hins probare conatus es quòd etiam Nos esse illic Baptismum non negamus Id. ibid. lib. 4. cap. 4. Quaeris a me à quo to baptizari conueniat vtrùm ab eo potius quem ego Baptismum habere confirmo an ab co quem tuus hoc non habere contendit Vide eundem de Bapt. contr Donatist lib. 1. cap. 10. 11. Your selues said they to the Catholiques confesse our Baptisme and Sacraments and Faith for the most part to be good and auaileable We deny yours to be so and say there is no Church no Saluation amongst you Therefore it is safest for all to joyne with vs. Doe not the Romanists at this day in the very same manner abuse the Charity of Protestants And is not this directly that Charme wherewith they worke so powerfully vpon the Spirits of simple people Our answer is the same which S. Austin opposed to the Ancient Donatists in the places cited By the way from that fauourable judgement and opinion which good Catholiques in that age had of the Donatists esteeming them to be their Brethren notwithstanding their Schisme and Heresie these Corollaries may be probably deduced 1. It seemeth that an Hereticall Church where in some Heresy is publiquely maintained by the Guides and Pastors of it is in some kinde the Spouse of Christ and bringeth forth p August â—le Bapt. con Don. l. 1. c. 10. Ecclesia Catholica etiam in communionibus diuersorum ab vnitate separatis per hoc quod suum in cis habet ipsa vtique generat Filios Christo per Baptismum Children to God and Brethren to the Orthodox beleeuers Especially if She baptize her Children in the name of the Trinity as did the Donatists 2. It seemeth that euen in an Hereticall Church Saluation may be had as a child may be borne in a plaguy house and may liue though he hath a running botch on his body In such Churches the very ignorance and simplicity of the Vulgar is a preseruatiue to them against the poyson more hopes of them then of the Learned 3. It seemeth to some q Mr. Hooker lib. 3. §. 1. The Morton of the Church cap. 1. §. 4. cap. 7. §. 10. men of great learning and judgement but herein I had rather leaue the Reader to his judgement then interpose mine owne that all who professe to loue and honour Iesus Christ though it be in much weakenesse and with many errours yet are in the visible Christian Church and by Catholiques to bee reputed Brethren Or to the same purpose wheresoeuer say they a company of men do joyntly and publiquely professe the substance of Christian Religion which is Faith in Iesus Christ the Sonne of God and Sauiour of the world with submission to his doctrine and obedience to his Commandements there is a Church wherein Saluation may bee had notwithstanding any corruption of judgement or practice yea although it be of that nature that it may seeme to fight with the very foundation and so hainous as that in respect thereof the people stained with this corruption are worthy to be abhorred of all men and vnworthy to bee called the Church of God For further illustration and proofe of this opinion these things are said That to beleeue in Iesus Christ the Sonne of God and Sauiour of the world with submission to him is sufficient to constitute a Church wherein Saluation may bee had is warranted as they thinke 1. By Scriptures a 1 Ioh. 4. 15. Whosoeuer shall confesse that Iesus is the Sonne of God dwelleth in him and he in God Againe b ibid. v. 2. Vide in h. loc Tirinum Euery Spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God The like passages are c 1 Ioh. 5. 1. 5. elsewhere S. Peters Faith was the same d Matt. 16. 16 17. with this and the Faith of e Ioh. 11. 27. Martha and of the f Act. 8. 37. Eunuch And the Faith of all these is approued in Scripture 2. Heretiques themselues must bee acknowledged though a maimed part yet a part of the visible Church g Hooker vbi supr Magaltanus idem probat contra Bellar. in Tit. 3. vers 11. Ann. 2. For if an Infidell should pursue to death an Heretique professing Christianitie onely for Christian prosessions sake could we deny vnto him the honour of Martyrdome Yet this honour all men know to be proper vnto the Church Heretiques therefore are not vtterly cut off from the visible Church of Christ If the Fathers doe any where as oftentimes they doe make the true visible Church of Christ and Hereticall Companies opposite they are to be construed as separating Heretiques not altogether from the Companie of Beleeuers but from the fellowship of sound Beleeuers For where profest vnbeleefe is there there can be no visible Church of Christ there may be where sound beleefe wanteth Infidels being cleane without the Church denie directly and vtterly reject the very Principles of Christianity which Heretiques embrace and erre onely by misconstruction Whereupon their opinions although repugnant indeed to the Principles of Christian Faith are notwithstanding held otherwise and maintained as most consonanâ— thereunto To which purpose the words of h Salu. de Gubern l. 5. Eis traditio Magistrorum suorum doctrina inueterata quasi Lex est qui hoc sciunt quod docentur Haeretici ergo sunt sed non scientes Denique apud nos sint Haeretici apud se non sunt Nam in tantùm se Catholicos judicant vt nos ipsos titulo Haereticae appellationis infament Quod ergo illi nobis sunt hoc nos illis Nos eos injuriam diuinae generationi facere certi sumus quod minorem Patre â—lium dicunt Illi nos injuriosos Patri existimant quia aequales 〈◊〉 credamus Veritas apud nos est sed illi apud se esse
Scriptures and Religion must all stand at the courtesie and suffrage of the Roman Conclaue 2 They teach that much of the object or matter of faith is not contained in Scripture any way that the Church hath an unlimited power to supply the defects of Scripture and that she may propound any doctrines as necessary to salvation which haue no other ground but her owne authority which is equall to that of Scripture There are many things saith y Mel. Canus Loc. lib. 3. c. 3. fund 3. Canus belonging to the faith of Christians which are neither manifestly nor obscurely contained in the sacred Scriptures And Doctor a Princip Doctrin li. 12 c. 5. initio Stapleton Very many things necessary to salvation and necessarily to be beleeved are not comprehended in the Scriptures but are commended to us onely by the authority of the Church And againe b Id. Relect. Contr. 4. qu. 1. art 3. ad arg 12. Etiamsi nullo ScripturaruÌ„ aut evidenti aut probabili testimonio confirmetur The Church may propound define matters of faith without any evident nay without any probable testimony of Scripture Do not these words of Stapleton imply that the Church of Rome propounds many things to the beliefe of Christians without any probability from Scripture With what ingenuity then or conscience do they pretend Scripture in each Controversie against us since by their owne confession many of their assertions are meere unwritten Traditions leaning onely on the authoritie of their Church On the contrary for the fullnesse and sufficiency of Scripture in all necessary points we have the full consent of Antiquity and of many learned Writers of their owne even of Bellarmine himselfe whose plaine words to this purpose have been already noted And the same Cardinall though herein as not seldome contradicting both himselfe and his fellowes c Bellar. lib. 3. de verb. D. interpret cap. 10. ad arg 15. Sciendum est propositionem fidei concludita li Syllogismo Quicquid Deus revelavit in Scripturis est verum hoc Deus revelavit in Scripturis ergò hoc est verum Ex propositionibus hujus Syllogismi prima certa est apud omnes secunda apud Catholicos est etiam firmissimas nititur enim testimonio Ecclesiae Concilii vel Pontificis grants that a proposition is not de fide unlesse it be concluded in this Syllogisme whatsoever Gâ—â— hath revealed in Scripture is true but thâ— or that God hath revealed in Scripture ergâ— it is true If matters of faith must be revealed in Scripture as this reason supposes then the proposall of the Church cannot make any unwritten veritie to become matter of faith Yet to salve the soveraigne power of His Church he makes all the strength and truth of the minor in this Syllogisme to depend on the testimony of the Church and by consequence the truth of the conclusion which ever resembles the weake Premisse So as if this be true there is no truth in the Scriptures or in our Religion without the attestation of the Church 3. They teach that the Church is infallibly assisted in her proposalls and doctrines so as she cannot erre And this dreame hath made Rome sencelesse of her errours and careles to seek any remedie nay utterly incapable of remedie For to mindes really possessed with this fond persuasion and prejudice the most convincing reasons the most plaine Scriptures the most pregnant authorities of Fathers which proue the Church of Rome may erre or hath erred are all lost and made ineffectuall and seeme not strong arguments of the truth but strong temptations against it And this imagination of their Churches infallibility is to them at once both a sufficient reason of what is most unreasonable and a sufficient answer for what is most unanswerable That the Church is infallible we do not absolutely deny wee only deny the Church to be absolutely infallible Some of the most able Writers of the Roman partie do so fairly limit this priviledge that in their sence we do without difficulty admit it Their limitation is double regarding 1. the subject of this infallibility 2. the object of it First for the subject they plant this infallibility only in the Church Universall or the Catholique body of Christ on earth comprehending all his members not in any particular Church or any representation of the Church in CouÌ„cels Generall or particular much lesse in any one member of the Church no not in him who pretends to be the Head So d Walden lib. 2. Doct. fid art 2. cap. 19. §. 1. Ecclesia Universalis fideÌ„ habet indefectibilem non quidem in Generali Synodo congregata quam aliquoties errâsse percepimus Sylv. Sum. verb. Ecclesia cap. 1. §. 4. Ecclesia quae non potest errare dicitur noÌ„ Papa sed congregatio fideliuÌ„ Et vide gloss in cap. 24. qu. 1. call A recta Waldensis Sylvester and others 2. For the object or extent of this infallibility they grant it reaches not to all points or questions in Religion that may arise but only to such Articles as belong to the substance of faith such as are matters essentiall fundamentall simply necessary for the Church to know belleue To omit e Maldon in Iohan. 14. 26. Dubium est an illud docebit omnia referendum sit ad illud quaecunque dixi vobis quasi non aliud docturum Spiritum sanctum dicat quà m quod ipse anteà docuiffer Non repugnabo si quis ita velit interpretari Charron vetité 3. chap. 5. §. lc second poinct L infallibilité de l'Eglise ne s'entend que des choses qui concernent la substance de la foy laquelle ne reçoit point de contrarieté divet sité changement pource nulle correction reformation ou amendement estant vne tousiours immuable non reformable dit Tertullien de virg Veland Et ibid. saepe others Dr f Staplet Princip Doctrin lib. 8. controv 4. cap. 15. Stapleton is full and punctuall to this purpose He distinguishes controversies of Religion into two sorts Some saith he are about those doctrines of faith which necessarily pertaine to the publique faith of the Church Others about such matters as doe not necessarily belong to the faith but may be variously held and disputed without hurt or prejudice to faith To the first sort he restrains the infallibility of the Church But in the second he yeelds that the Church may sometimes erre either in her discourses or in her conclusions that without any violation of Christs promise made to the Church for infallibilitie And of this assertion He giues diverse good reasons The first and chiefest taken from the end for which infallibility was given to the Church It was given saith He for the common salvation of the faithfull and not for the satisfaction of unprofitable curiosities or for the search of unnecessary subtleties For as nature so God is neither defectiue in necessaries nor lavish in
descended aliue into the pit of hell is rashly and vncharitably said God is mercifull and who knowes whether some of them did not repent in the last moment All that this example teacheth is that men ought not to rend themselues from the Church of God or joyne in the despising of gouernment with them that seeke their owne glory and not the glory of God It is a certaine truth that m Matth. 28. 20. all things ought to be obserued which Christ hath commanded and that n Mark 16. whosoeuer beleeueth not in Christ shall be condemned But here is no warrant for the Church of Rome to force vpon the world her owne commandements and Creeds in stead of Christs That in S. Matthew o Matt. 18. 17. If thy Brother offend thee tell the Church is nothing to the point in hand Our Lord speakes of a brother wronging his brother and after priuate admonition refusing to obey the Church which may be vnderstood of an assembly as well Ciuill as Ecclesiasticall Howsoeuer it cannot be meant of the Church Catholique which cannot bee told of priuate injuries but of particular Congregations or as p Chrys hom 61. in Matth. vide etiam Tirinum in locum S. Chrysostome expounds it of their Pastors And if any disorderly or obstinato persons wil not be reformed by their good counsels they are to be esteemed as prophane Publicanes and sinners or to be punished with spirituall censures Yet in these censures any Church may erre through misinformation or ignorance and may sometimes strike the innocent as is confessed by Pope q Decretal lib. 5. tit 39. c. 28. A nobis Innocent the third and r Mag. lib. 4. dist 18. lit F. Lombard Whether in points of discipline or doctrine so long as any Church holds to the rule of truth gouernes her selfe by the word of God shee erres not We are to heare the Church our mother true that is not rashly to oppose her especially if shee be carefull to heare God our Father and Christ her Spouse of whom it was said s Matt. 17. 5. Heare him The Mistaker therefore vainly inferres from this place that the iudgement of the Church in all Controuersies is Soueraigne and Infallible and that absolute obedience is due vnto Her no appeale being allowed no not to Scripture though expounded in a Catholique sense and consonantly to the judgement of the most ancient and famous members of the Church The Text euidently speakes of particular Churches to which I suppose he will not easily yeeld these goodly priuiledges After his wont still when he talkes of the Church he meanes his owne and euer mistakes the Romane for the Catholique The Church Catholique or vniuersall is confessed in some sense to be vnerring as shall appeare hereafter and he is little better then a Pagan that despiseth her judgement For shee followes her guides the Prophets and Apostles and is not very free and forward in her definitions All this is as false of the Romane Church as it is true of the Catholique The Treatise of S. Cyprian of the vnity of the Catholique Church for that title a Epist 51. himselfe giues it is directed against the schisme error of the Nouatians who peeuishly seuered themselues from the Communion of Catholiques because they gaue the peace of the Church to such as repented after their fall in times of persecution There is nothing in that Treatise which the Protestants dislike saue onely the corrupting of S. Cyprians text by some Romish zelote b Cap. 3. secund Pam. these words added to the Text. Primatus Petro datur super Cathedram Petri fundata est Ecclesia super illum vnum aedificat Ecclesiam Christus who hath added and fourred in two or three false glosses of his owne in fauor of S. Peters Primacy Contrary to the faith of written copies and of the elder editions which were before Manutius and Pamelius contrary to the constant doctrine of that holy Martyr in other parts of his workes and even in that very place which is corrupted and contrary to the reading of their owne Gratian c Caus 24. q. 1. can Loquitur Dominus ad Petrum corrected by Pope Gregory 13. And in this vnworthy fashion they haue handled many other records and d Vide Rog Withring Apol. Bell. num 450. monumeÌ„ts of Antiquity adding altering razing them at their pleasure Sixtus Senensis highly commends Pope Pius the fift for the care which he had e Epist dedic ad Pium 5. P. M. Expurgari emaculari curâsti omnia Catholicorum scriptorum ac praecipuè veterum Patrum scripta to extinguish all dangerous bookes and to purge the writings of all Catholique Authors especially of the ancient Fathers from the filth and poyson of heresie At Rome they call it heresie not to speake the language of the Court or to say any thing in behalfe of Protestants A few yeares since when the learned Iesuite Andreas Schottus of Antuerpe published 600 Greeke Epistles of Isidorus Ielusiotes out of the Vatican Library never before printed Beyerlinck the Censor of Bookes there was content to passe them to the presse f In approbatione libri editi Antuerp Graecè 1623. because they contained nothing contrary to the Catholique Roman religion It seemes they had not passed but vpon that condition Though since on better consideration that vnwary clause is left out in the Approbation of the last edition of those Epistles in Greeke and Latine at Francfort This by the way Anno 1629. S. Augustine in his Epistle of the vnitie of the Church largely debates that maine controversie betweene the Catholiques and the Donatists concerning the Church Those Schismatiques pretended that the Catholique Church was perished in all other parts of the world and that it remained only in their factious Conventicles in some corners of Rome and Africa or as they loued to speake in the part of Donatus Against this fancy which is the opinion in effect of our Romane Catholiques at this day the learned Father proues that the Catholique Church may not bee confined to any corners or Countries but that it is vniversally diffused thorough all the world And hee constantly fetches all his proofes from the holy Scriptures often protesting that he will not fight with any other weapons g Aug. de vnit Eccl. cap. 6. Dicitis in nullis terris heredem permanere Christum nisi vbi cohaeredem habere potuerit Donatum Legite nobis hoc de Lege de Pâ—opheus de Psalmis de ipso Evangelio de Apostolicis Literis Legite credimus You say ô Donatists that Christ hath no inheritance but in the part of Donatus as now 't is said of the Popes party Read and proue this to vs out of the law the Prophets or the Psalms out of the Gospell or the Apostles Letters Read it thence and wee will beleeue you h Ibid. cap. 3. Non audiamus
Mystag Miss Muzarab in Bibl. P P. Colon Tom. 15. p. 787. Diâ—nys Eccl. Hier cap. 7. Church in her Liturgies remembred all those that slept in hope of the Resurrection of everlasting life and particularly the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Bishops Fathers such as led a solitary life and all Saints beseeching God to giue vnto them rest and to bring them at the Resurrection to the place where the light of his countenance should shine vpon them for evermore Signifying by this Memorial their faith as t Vbi supra St Epiphanius hath it that the departed are aliue and subsisting with the Lord and their hope of them as of those that bee from home in another country and that at length they shall attaine the state which is more perfect Some particular Doctors had in these matters particular opinions which must be severed from the generall sentiment and customes of the Church which to this day are conserved in the Greeke u Vide Marci Ephesii Episc Epist encyclicam Churches notwithstanding the pretended Vnion in this and other points at the late Councell of Florence This ancient observation of the Church we condemne not Wee say prayers are to be made for all that are departed in the true faith of Christ that is first Thanksgiuing that they are deliuered from the body of death and miseries of this sinfull world Secondly Requests of Gods mercy that they may haue their perfect consummation in body and soule in the kingdome of God at the last iudgement The Roman writers vtterly condemne the former doctrine and practise of Antiquity z Azor. Instit moral tom 1. c. 20. lib. 8. See of this matter the learned Primate of Armagh in his defence against the Iespite One of them feares not to censure it as absurd and impious By this the Mistaker may feele his errour and see that it is not the Protestants but his owne Doctors that agree with the old Heretique Aerius The vnity of the Church is nothing hindred by diversity of opinions in doubtfull matters It is a great vanity to hope or expect that all learned men in this life should absolutely consent in all the pieces and particles of divine truth The light whereby wee see in this state of mortality is very feeble and very different in regard of the good spirits illumination the capacities of men and their diligences in study prayer and other meanes of knowledge So long as the a Iud. 3. faith once deliuered to the Saints is earnestly contended for and kept entire that is the b Tit. 1. 4. common faith of Christians containing all Catholique and necessary verities so long as men c Phil. 3. 15. 16. walke according to this rule charitably though in other things they be otherwise minded the Church is but one her vnity no way violated For this vnity consists in the vnity of faith not of opinions and in an vnion of mens hearts and affections by true Charity which will easily compound or tolerate all vnnecessary differences Factious and fiery Spirits kindle and fly asunder on small occasions but among wise men each discord in Religion dissolues not the vnity of faith or Charity Points of Religion are well distinguished by d Aqu. 22. q. 2. art 56 q. 29. art 3. ad 2. Thomas and e Staplet dupl lib. 1. c. 12. n. 3. Rel. c. 1. qu. 3. art 6. notab 1. 2. Licet vtile est de rebus difficilibus in Ecclesia aliter atque aliter disputare nec hoc vnitatem violat sed veritatem illustrat Stapleton Some say they are primitiue Articles of the substance of Religion essentiall in the obiect of faith dissention in these is pernicious and destroyes vnity Others are secondary probable accidentall or obscure points wherein the oppositions and disputations of learned men proceeding modestly are tolerable and sometime profitable for finding out the truth Vnity in these matters is very contingent and variable in the Church now greater now lesser never absolute in all particles of truth And therefore those ancient Worthies the Fathers of the Church as they were most zealous to defend even with their blood to the least iot or title the rule of faith as they called it or the Creed of Christians or as the Scripture calls it the f 2. Tim. 1 13. forme of wholesome words the g Heb. 6. 1. 5. 12. Principles of the oracles of God or of the doctrine of Christ so againe they were most charitable to allow in other things beside or without the faith a great latitude and liberty As in a musicall consort a discord now and then so it bee in the descant and depart no tfrom the ground sweetens the harmony So the variety of opinions or of h Firmilianus ap Cypr. epist 7 5. num 5. August ep 86 Socrat. Hist lib. 5. cap. 21. rites in partes of the Church doth rather commend then prejudice the vnity of the whole Indeed in the multitude of opinions there is but one truth but among sundry truths there is but one necessary to salvation that wherein the holy Scriptures as the Apostle saith are able to make vs wise by 2 Tim. 3. 15. the faith in Christ Iesus The keeper of this truth and of the Scriptures in which it is treasured is the Church not of one City but the Catholique Church that is the fellowship of Saints dispersed through the whole World And it is not in deepe or difficult questions but in this necessary faith or truth wherein the Fathers alleadged by the Mistaker justly require an exact and perfect vnity among Catholique Christians To be ignorant of this faith or to erre in it though vnwarily is dangerous but to corrupt or contradict any part of it though but in a word or syllable of moment is damnable The difference betweene the Arrians and the Catholiques was but in one letter the least in the Alphabet yet never was the Church troubled with a more pernicious heresy And many times the addition or alteration of one word or two in the confession of faith had reconciled the Eunomians Photinians Sabellians Macedonians c. with the Catholiques But in this case for the Catholiques to yeeld in a word or syllable had beene to yeeld their cause and to betray the truth Therefore worthily and truly said k Basil 〈◊〉 apud Theodoret Hist l. 4. c. 17. S. Basil to the officer of Valens the Arrian Emperour not a syllable of divine doctrine must be betrayed For though Faith be sound in other respects yet one word saith l Naz. Tract de fide S. Greg. Nazianzen as truly like a drop of poison may taint and corrupt it and as m Hier. Apol 3. adv Ruff. cap. 7. S. Hierome for such a word contrary to this faith are Heretiques justly cast out of the Church But though faith be kept entire yet if Charity be wanting the vnity of the Church is
but a man before distempered after sound and healthy In the prime grounds or principles of Christian Religion wee haue not forsaken the Church of Rome wee leaue her onely in her intolerable errors and abuses Shee hath mingled with Gods Bread her owne sowre leauen and with good milke some drammes of poison We haue cast out onely this poison and leauen and feed Gods people with the true bread of life and the sincere milk of his word Where the late Popes wander in by-paths we leaue them that wee may more safely walke with the old good Bishops of Rome in the old and good way And in the issue that which distinguishes a true Papist from a true Protestant is no more but this the former will needs be a Romane the latter only a Catholique The difference at this day betweene the Reformed part of the Westerne Church and the Romane consists in certaine points which they of Rome hold for important and necessary articles of the Christian faith which the Protestants cannot beleeue or receiue for such Whereas contrarily the things which the Protestants beleeue on their part and wherein they b Voiez Vray vsage des Peres par Iean Daillé Ch. 1. iudge the life and substance of Religion to be comprized are most if not all of them so evidently and indisputably true that their Adversaries themselues doe avow and receiue them as well as they For they are verities cleerely founded vpon Scripture expressely acknowledged by all Ancient Councells and Doctors of the Catholique Church summarily deliuered in their Symboles or Creeds vnanimously receaued by the most part of Christians that haue ever beene in the world Such are the verities which make vp the faith of Protestants and which are c Semper vbique ab omnibus credita Lirin properly Catholique hauing carried the consent of all ages and Parts of the Church vniversall And if all other Christians could be content to keepe within these generall bounds d Erasm Epist ded ad Arch. Warhamum Praefat. 2. Tomo Epift. S. Hieron speaking of the Apostles Creed faith Nunquam suit sincer or castiorque Christiana fides quà m cùm vnoillo eoque breuissiino Symbolo contentus esset Orbis Vide eundem in Praefat. ad Hilar. in Paracles ad Lector ante Edit N. T. an 1519. Bafil the wofull Schismes and ruptures of Christendome worthy to be lamented with teares of bloud might the more easily bee healed and all the Disciples of the Prince of peace blessedly vnited in an holy linke of Faith and Charity of Loue and Communion The piety and wisdome of Antiquity did thinke fittest to walke in this latitude and cleerely rested satisfied with the simplicity of such a Catholique confession But no bounds of reason could ever limit the vnbounded extravagancies and excesses of the Court of Rome That body of faith which the Ancients thought complete enough to them seemes defectiue Therefore they haue adjoyned to that old Body many new Articles And to those twelue which the Apostles in their Creed esteemed a sufficient summary of wholsome doctrine they haue added many more in their new Romane Creed Such are for instance their Apocryphall Scriptures and vnwritten dogmaticall Traditions their Transubstantiation and dry Communion their Purgatory Invocation of Saints Worship of Images Latine Service traffique of Indulgences and shortly all the other new Doctrines and Decrees canonized in their late Synod of Trent These and the like very vaine imaginations our Mistaker calls the prime and maine points of Christian Religion Let him but change Christian Religion as his faction hath done into the Romane faith and he saies true hee is not mistaken Vpon these and the like new Articles is all the contestation betweene the Romanists and Protestants while they are obtruded on the one side as vndoubted verities and on the other side reiected as humane inventions cunningly devised to advance ambition and avarice without any solid ground or countenance of Scripture Reason or Antiquitie The most necessary and fundamentall truths which constitute a Church are on both sides vnquestioned and for that reason e Iunius lib. de Eccl. cap. 17. Falluntur qui Ecclesiam negant quia Papatus in eâ est D. Rain Thes 5. negat tantùm esse Catholicam vel sanum ejus membrum See the iudgment of many other of our writers in the Advertisement annexed to the Old Religion by the Reverend Bishop of Exeter The very Anabaptists grant it Fr. Johnson in his Christian plea pag. 123. learned Protestants yeeld them the name and substance of a Christian Church though extreamely f August de Donatistis Nonideo se putent sanos quia dicimus eos habere aliquid sanum De Bapt. contra Donat. lib. 1. cap. 8. defiled with horrible errors and corruptions And if they had fairely propounded their new opinions to bee discussed by the learned with reservation of liberty in iudgement conscience to themselues and others they had erred much more tolerably and much lesse disturbed the peace of the Church But they are farre from this modesty and moderation With vnsufferable tyranny the prevailing faction amongst them presses them vpon all Christians as matters of faith not only of opinion not as disputable problemes but as necessary truths hauing both canonized them in their Councell of Trent with a curse against all gaine-sayers and put them in their Creed by Pope Pius the fourth who hath obliged the whole Clergy of Rome to affirme that Creed by their subscription and solemne oath obliging also all Christians to beleeue it vnder paine of damnation In the latter ages before the Reformation though the Court of Rome by cunning and violence had subdued many noble parts of Christendome vnder her yoake yet the servitude of the Church and her misery was somewhat more supportable because these base and pernicious adjections were not yet the publique decisions or tenets of any Church but only the private conceits of the domineering faction Yet still the best learned and g Notissimae sunt querelae Bernardi Occhami Marsilis Clemangis Alvari Gersonis c. de corrupto Ecclesiae statu vide Espenc in Tit. 1. Digress â— conscientious of Europe called as loud as they could or durst for a Reformation Rome heard their complaints and h Adrian 6. PP Instruct pro Franc Cheregato in Fascic ror exper pag. 173. Sciâ—nus in hac sanctá sede aliquot jam annis multa abominanda fuisse abusus in spiritualibus excessus in mandatis omnia denique in perversum mutata Nec miâ—um si aegritudo à capite in membra à summis Pontificibus in alios iuferiores Praelatos descenderit Omnes nos id est Praelati Ecclesiastici declinavimus vnusquisque in vias suns nec fuit iam diu qui faceret-bonum non fuit vsque ad vnum Subiecimus colla summae dignitati ad deformatam eius sponsam Ecclesiam Catholicam reformandam c. Staplet Relect. Contr. 1. q. 5.
sufficient to salvation and giue direction sufficient to every good Christian both for his knowledge and for his practise teaching him what to beleeue and how to liue so as he may be saued For Knowledge first it is confessed a very small measure of explicite knowledge is of absolute necessity Some a Apud Greg. de Val. Tom. 3. in Aqu. disp 1. qu. 2. punct 4. v. 10. Bergomens Concordant Contrad dub 419 Schoolemen thinke it needfull to beleeue only so much of the Creed concerning Christ as the Church solemnizeth in her Holidaies his Incarnation Passion Resurrection c. Some require an explicite beliefe of the whole Apostles Creed And some which goe highest adde to that the Nicen and Athanasian to make a compleat belieuer The Iesuite b Vbi supr◠Valentia mislikes this last imposition as too rigorous and seemes most to encline to the first most moderate opinion And c De verb. Dei lib. 4. cap. 11. initio Bellarmine is confident that the Apostles never vsed to preach openly to the people other things then the Articles of the Apostles Creed the ten commandements and some of the Sacraments because saith he these are simply necessary and profitable for all men the rest besides such as that a man may bee saved without them Thus for matter of beliefe Now secondly for matter of practise they cannot except against any part of the publique service of God in our Leiturgy They will grant I suppose that God may be worshipped without an image nay that the interior and spirituall worship is most acceptable to him that a Christian may comfortably and with successe call vpon God alone by the only mediation of Christ seeing the d Sancti caeperunt coli in Ecclesià Vniversali non tam lege aliquâ quam consuetudine Bellarm. de SS Beat. lib. 1. cap. 8. §. vlt. worship and invocation of Saints was brought into the Church rather by custome then any precept that inward repentance and confession of sinnes to God is of absolute necessity not so their auricular * Secret confession abstracting from the abuses of it our Church allowes and inioynes in some cases as very convenient for the comfort of afflicted consciences confession and penall workes of satisfaction that it is necessary to bee really vnited to Christ by his spirit and our faith and very comfortable to receiue both parts of the Eucharist but no way necessary to eat the flesh of Christ carnally in the Sacrament or to want the Sacrament of his bloud that those praiers must needs be most fruitfull and effectuall which are done with vnderstanding and in a knowne language that when a man hath constantly endeavoured with all his forces to obey God in all the duties of Piety and Charity yet it is not amisse for him after all this to confesse himselfe Gods vnprofitable servant and his e Bellar. de Iustif lib. 5. c. 7. §. sit 3. Propositio-Tutissimum est fiduciam totam in sold Dei misericordia benignitate reponere safest course not to trust to his owne merits but wholly and solely to cast himselfe on the mercy of God in Iesus Christ So then by the precepts and conduct of our Religion a Christian is fully instructed in all necessary points of faith and manners and directed how to liue religiously how to dy comfortably and all this without any addition of Popery and all this by the confession of Papists Hence it followes that by their owne Confession the doctrines debated are vnnecessary 3. They are also confessed Nouelties Themselues yeeld that for aboue a thousand yeares after Christ a Bellar. de Rom. Pont. lib. 4. cap 2. §. Secunda opinio the Popes judgement was not esteemed infallible nor his authority b Bellarm. de Conc. lib. 2. cap. 13. aboue that of a generall Councell the contrary being decreed in the late Councels of Constance and Basil constantly defended by the ancient Sorbon and at this day by the c Reuision du Concile de Trent liur 4. best learned in the Gailicane Church d Bellar. de Indulg lib. 2. cap. 17. That Eugenius the 3. who began his Papacy 1145. was the first that granted Indulgences e Bellar. de Sanctorum Beat. lib. 1. cap. 8. §. Dices plur Leo the 3. who liued 800. yeares after Christ the first that euer canonized any Saint That not any f Greg. de Valent. in Thom. Tom. 4. disp 6. p 2. §. Tertio prob one ancient writer reckons precisely seuen Sacraments the first g Bellar. de Sacarm lib. 2. cap. 25. Author that mentions that number being Peter Lombard and the first Councell that of Florence That transubstantiation h Scotus apud Bellarm. lib. 3. de Euchar cap. 23. was neither named nor made an Article of faith before the Councell of Laterane That Antiquity euen till these i Lombard Sent. lib. 4. c. 12. Aqu. 3. p. qu 83. art 1. in corp latter times beleeued the sacrifice in the Eucharist to bee no other but the image or commemoration of our Sauiours sacrifice on the Crosse That in k Lindan Panopl lib. 4. cap. 25. Albaspin Obseru lib 1. cap. 4. former ages for 1300. yeares the holy Cup was administred to the Lairy And diuine seruice celebrated l Nic. de Lyra. in 1. ad Cor. cap. 14. Cassand in Liturgicis cap. 28. for many ages in a knowne and vulgar Language vnderstood by the people That m Polyd. Virgil. de Inuent lib. 6. cap. 13. the Fathers generally condemned the worship of Images for feare of Idolatrie and n Azor. Moral lib. 8. cap. 26. part 1. §. Respondeo allowed yea exhorted the People with diligence to read the Scriptures Many more confessions of this kinde might be produced If now the Mistaker will suppose his Romane Church and Religion purged from these and the like confessed excesses and nouelties hee shall finde in that which remaines little difference of importance betweene vs. But by this discourse the Mistaker happily may beleeue his cause to be aduantaged and may reply If Rome want nothing essentiall to Religion or to a Church how then can the Reformers justifie their separation from that Church or free themselues from damnable Schisme For surely to separate from the communion of the Church without just and necessary cause is a Schisme very damnable All this in effect is formerly answered Yet to satisfie our Mistaker if it may be we will here further say somewhat to the point more plainly and distinctly There neither was nor can be any just cause to depart from the Church of Christ no more then from Christ himselfe But to depart from a Particular Church and namely from the Church of Rome in some doctrines and practises there might be just and necessary cause though the Church of Rome wanted nothing necessary to saluation I said signantèr in some doctrines and practises For there is great
praesumunt Hoâ—â—â— Dei apud nos est sed illi hoc arbitrantur honorem diuinitatis esse quod credunt Inofficiosi sunt sed illis hoc est summum Religionis officum Impij sunt sed hoc putant veram esse pretatem Errant ergo sed boâ—â— animo errant non odio sed affectu Dei honorare se Dominum atqâ—â— aâ—are credentes Quanmuis non habeant rectam fidem illi tamen 〈◊〉 perfectam aestimant Dei Charitatem Qualiter pro hoc ipso falsae opnionis errore in die judicij puniendi sunt nullus potest scire nisi Index Saluian an ancient Bishop of Marseilles are very remarkeable concerning some Arrian Heretiques of whom he speakes thus The tradition of their Teachers and the doctrine which they haue learned is to them as it were a Law they beleeue as they haue beene instructed They are Heretiques then but not wittingly Briefly they are Heretiques in our judgement but not in their owne For they esteeme themselues so good Catholiques that they defame vs with the title of Heresie Such therefore as They are to vs such are Wee to them We know assuredly that they are iniurious to the Diuine Generation of the Sonne of God because they say He is inferiour to his Father They contrarily thinke vs iniurious to the Father because we beleeue the Sonne to be equall to Him The truth is on our side but they presume it is on theirs Our opinion truly honours God but they suppose their opinion to be more honourable to Him They are indeed vndutifull to God but this they esteeme a great dutie of Religion They are impious but this they thinke to be true piety They erre then but they erre with a good minde not out of any hatred to God but with affection to him thinking to honour hereby and loue the Lord. Although they haue not the right Faith yet they imagine their opinion to be perfect Charitie towards God How they shall bee punished in the last day of judgement for this error of their false opinion the Iudge alone knowes 3. In the Society of such Professors there is at least there may be true Baptisme administred and rightly for the substance of it And where true Baptisme may be rightly administred there is the Couenant of Saluation in Christ setled and established because the Seale of the Couenant is there allowed And euery Society in which is the Couenant of Grace is a Church of Christ Againe where true Baptisme is there by the Confession of the Romanists euery one by Vertue of that Baptisme if himselfe doe not ponere obieem is made a member of the Church and of Christ an Heyre of heauen And hence it followeth that Children baptized in that Church are regenerated because they doe not ponere obicem And hence againe that that Societie is a Church of Christ and his Spouse which bringeth forth Children vnto God 4. The people of the ten Tribes after their defection notwithstanding their grosse corruptions and Idolatrie yet because they professed by Circumcision and otherwise to honour the true Iehouah they remained still a true Church though a very imperfect and impure Church and were therefore called the i Rom. 9. 25 26. 1 King 16. 2. people of God the beloued of God the Children of the liuing God and God was called the k 1 Kin. 18. 36. c. 20. 28. God of Israel and said to be among them being also euer readie to direct and counsell them by his true l 2 Kin. 5. 8. 1. 16. 1 Kin. 22. 5 7. Prophets and lastly the Kings of Israel are often said to doe euill in the eyes of God that is as it may bee probably expounded in that place whereupon God did as yet looke with the eyes of his mercy as vpon his Church Though in regard of their halting betweene God and Baal they were said to be without m 2 Chron 15. 3. the true God without Priests and Law that is without that pure and comfortable worship of God which his Priests according to his Law ought to haue performed And it seemes by S. Paul that a Christian seruing the true God after a false and deuised manner may be at once both 1 Cor. 5. 11. a Brother and an Idolater And forignorances yea or errours of the vnderstanding though very grosse and perhaps by some thought to be fundamentall it seemes true Faith may be lodged in the same minde together with them The Faith of Rahab in o Heb. 11. 31. commended who surely had no great knowledge of the Messiah to commend her After our Lord had long conuersed with his Disciples and instructed them yet did they not beleeue p Matth. 20. 21. Act. 1. 6. his Kingdome to be spirituall nor q Matth. 16. 22. S. Peter the necessitie of his Passion though immediately before he had made that goodly Confession on which the Church is founded The Christians of Ephesus knew not r Act. 19. 2. whether then were an Holy Ghost or no and many thousand Christian Iewes s Act. 21. 20. did both beleeue the Gospell yet were zealous for the old legall Ceremonies which were by Christ fulfilled and abolished A learned t Synesius apud Phot. Myriobibl cod 26. man anciently was made a Bishop of the Catholique Church though he did professedly doubt of the last Resurrection of our Bodies The Authors of this opinion are oâ— age and abilitie enough to speake for it and themselues The Reader may be pleased to approue or reiect it as he shall finde cause No doubt the errors of Poperie and those other of Vbiquitie Consubstantiation and the like are errours grosse and palpable yet not such as presently and absolutely cut off all that professe and beleeue them from the Catholique Church and all hope of Saluation especially if withall they professe resolutely and heartily to beleeue in Iesus Christ and to obey him according to his word so farre as they can vnderstand it or can be taught it For howsoeuer some skilfull Disputant by Logicall deduction may from those opinions inferre some consequences damnable and destructiue to the Faith yet the erring persons many times doe not see or beleeue that any such consequences follow clearly from their opinions nay they doe happily so farre abhorre them and are so well disposed towards truth that rather then admit any such dangerous consequents they would readily renounce and rectifie their opinions But I finde my selfe digressing I returne and proceed By all this it is manifest that S. Cyprian agreed with the Donatists onely in a part of their errour but not wholly nor in their chiefest errours nor in their faction and obstinacy which made them guiltie of Schisme and Heresie S. Cyprian was a peaceable and modest man dissented from others in his judgement but without any breach of Charity condemned no man much lesse any Church for the contrary Opinion He beleeued his owne Opinion to be true
literam agree with that and was so curious as with his owne hand to correct many errors escaped in the Presse because he would have it more compleat This Bible was published with the Popes Declaration before it the yeare 1590. a Copy wherof is extant though they have consumed as many as they could in the publique Library of Oxford Clement 8. shortly after observing many defects and corruptions in that Edition published another with the very like Declaration wherein he authorises onely his owne Bible revoking all others These two Bibles infinitely differ not onely in words phrases and entire verses but in very many absolute and direct contradictions yet are they both equally justified and equally injoyned under the penalty of a curse to them that obey not So as hereby all Roman Catholiques are involved in a miserable necessity either to use no Bible at all or to undergoe the curse of Pope Sixtus if they use that of Clement or of Pope Clement if they use the other of Sixtus Nothing can be said with truth or reason to salve this contradiction Now I suppose our Mistaker will yeeld that the authenticall Edition of the Bible and the Popes Authority are not matters of opinion onely Their differences therefore are not onely in matters of opinion The second part of his Answer for his Doctors is that their differences are all fairely and peaceably carried without any breach of charity Happy were the poore Church of Christ if all Controversies in Religion might be so handled but it hath beene and is her misery that it is far otherwise And here againe the Roman Part is as guilty at least as the Reformed I love not to be raking in dunghills Yet to shew the Mistaker that Lutherans alone are not troubled with passions of the Spleene I will give him some few examples of Papists railing as unmercifully at their owne Brethren as they are wont to doe at us Alex. Carerius is so zealous for the Popes direct temporall Monarchie that all who deny it are in his language i Carerius in tit libri sui lib. 2. cap. 12. § Quorum impious polititians and heretiques and their reasons all false hereticall dotages Now it is denyed by the Cardinalls k Bell. lib. 5. de R. Pont. cap. 1. §. Tertia Bellarmin Turrecremata Cajetan and a great number of other learned Romanists In that bitter contention betweene the Seculars Iesuites of this Kingdome in the yeare 1600 and after about the authority of Blackwell the Archpriest the two Factions are notably deciphered each by other The Seculars by the l Parsons his Apol. for Subord ch 4. 8. c. and the Table prefixed Iesuites to be mad heads seditious libellers notorious calumniators factious turbulent obstinate brawlers tumultuous of scandalous life writing evident egregious malitious untruths impudent fictions and wicked slanders rebels betrayers of the Catholique cause c. On the other side the Iesuites by the m Watsons Quodlibet pag. 61. 151. passim Seculars to be Schismatiques Donatists Anabaptists Arrians Vipers men that runne such a desperate course as if Religion were but a meere politicall and Atheall devise living by the principles of Machiavell taught by their Arch-rabbies how to maintaine with equivocations dissimulation detraction ambition sedition surfeiting sorer then ever did Heliogabalus busied in setting division breeding of jealousie and making of hostile strife by opposition of King against King State against State Priest against Priest Peere against Peere Parents against Children raising of rebellions murthering of Princes making uprores every where Men unworthy to be called Religious or Catholiques or Christians For howsoever they boast of their perfections holines meditations and exercises yet their plots are heathenish tyrannicall satanicall and able to set Aretine Lucian Machiavell yea and Don Lucifer to schoole Wicked Iesuites who would have all Catholiques to depend on the Archpriest when as the Archpriest depended upon father Garnet Garnet on Parsons and Parsons upon the Devill c. These are our Mistakers friends whom he commends so much for unitie and charity But sure if this be charity it is such as he calls in the title of his booke Charity mistaken This very contention is now againe of late revived amongst them on the like occasion and pursued with the like intemperate bitternes both in * See the Treatise of Paul Harris Priest against the Excommunication published against him and D. Caddell by the Archbishop of Dublin Th. Flemming alias Barnewell a Franciscane Frier Printed Anno 1632. Ireland and especially in this Kingdome The present Pope Vrban hath given to one Richard Smith the title of Bishop of Chalcedon and hath sent him not to reside upon his See for that had beene to punish him and send him a begging but hither into England appointing unto him for his Diocesse the two Kingdomes of England and Scotland and investing him with the power and jurisdiction of Ordinary over all his Catholiques in these Kingdomes without any exception of Laitie or Clergie Secular or Regular The Jesuites cannot brook any subordination but where some of their owne command in chiefe Therefore being questioned by this Bishop for their Faculties they straightway question him for his Authority and publish to the world in divers n Discussio assertionum D. Kellisoni Autore Nichol. Smithaeo Apologia pro processione sedis Apostolicae Autore Daniele à Jesu Declatatio Catholicorū Laicorum Angliae Declarations that his power is meerly usurped and pretended that there is no necessity either of particular Bishops for the government of particular Churches or of the Sacrament of Confirmation especially in times and places of persecution for so these men speake of the most milde goverment of our most religious Soveraigne that the Regulars as such are proper and principall members of the Ecclesiasticall Hierachie that their state is a state of greater perfection then that of Bishops or Presbyters that their exemption from the power of Bishops is essentially annexed to their condition that their priviledges cannot be revoked no not by the Pope c. These Maximes and the like passe for Catholique doctrine among the Jesuited partie But on the other side they are condemned and censured not only by their owne secular Clergy here but in France by the Archbishop of Paris by 34 of their other Bishops in a full assembly and by the Sorbon to be o Censura quarundam propositionum per Facult Parisiensem Parisiis 1631. propositions rash presumptuous false absurd scandalous profane injurious to Episcopall dignity destructive to the Church and hereticall This Censure was quickly well washed with the bitter Sponge of Iohn Floyd a Jesuite p Aurelius in vindiciis pag. 385. lurking under the name of Hermannus Loemelius who charges the Sorbonists with malice ignorance stupidity schisme and heresie and with great scorne insults upon them But against him the Censure and Censors are defended by two Doctors of that Societie
troisiesme iour le sens de ces mots il est assis à la dextre de son Pere il ne scroit damné pour cela Le simple se peut sauuer auec moindre cognoissance que celuy qui ne peut estre tenu pour tel C'est assez au simple de voir comme nous anons dit vne cognoissance du Symbole suffisante pour la diriger ◠sa derniere fin Au lieu que le Curé le Prelat qui ont charge d'instruite les autres sontobligez desçauoir distinctement tous les Articles du Symbole qui plus est de le pouuoir expliquer au peuple Learned judge may suffice For conclusion of this discourse concerning Fundamentalls I will propound to the consideration and censure of the judicious these thoughts following It seemes fundamentall to the faith and for the salvation of every member of the Church that he acknowledge beleeue all such points of faith as wherof he may be sufficiently convinced that they belong to the doctrine of Jesus Christ For he that being sufficiently convinced doth oppose is obstinate an Heretique and finally such a one as excludes himselfe out of heaven whereinto no wilfull sinner can enter Now that a man may be sufficiently convinced there are three things required 1. Cleare revelation 2. Sufficient proposition 3. Capacity and understanding to apprehend what is reveiled and propounded 1 Revelation from God is required for we are not bound to beleeue any thing as Gods word which God hath not declared to be his word and that in such cleare manner as may convince a reasonable man that it is from God For want of this not onely the Church before Christ but even Christs owne Disciples are excused from being guilty of any damnable errour though they beleeved not the death resurrection or ascension of our Lord as it is plaine they did not Marc. 16. 11. 13. Luk. 24. 11. Ioh. 20. 9. Marc. 9. 10. But now that these things are so clearely reveiled in Scripture he were no Christian that should deny them 2. Sufficient proposition of reveiled truths is required before a man can be convinced For if they be not propounded to me in respect of me it is all one as if they were not reveiled This proposition includeth 2 things 1. that the points be perspicuously laid open in themselves for want of this Apollos beleeved not some points of the faith till he was further informed Acts 18. 25. 2. that the said points be so fully and forcibly laid open as may serve to remove reasonable doubts to the contrary and to satisfie a teachable minde against the principles in which he hath beene bred to the contrary For want of this the Apostles believed not the resurrection when yet they were plainely told of it See Luke 9. 44. 45. and Mar. 9. 10. compared with Marc. 8. 31. 32. Note here 1 This proposition of reveiled truths is not as the Mistaker saith by the infallible determination of Pope or Church but by whatsoever meanes a man may be convinced in conscience of divine revelation If a Preacher doe cleare any point of faith to his Hearers if a private Christian doe make it appeare to his neighbour that any conclusion or point of faith is delivered by divine revelation of Gods word if a man himselfe without any other teacher by reading the Scriptures or hearing them read be convinced of the truth of any such conclusion this is a sufficient proposition to prove him that gain sayeth any such truth to be an Heretique and obstinate opposer of the faith Such a one may be truly said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned by his owne conscience v. g. He that should read in Scriptures Now is Christ risen from the dead 1. Cor. 15. 20. or The word was made flesh Ioh. 1. and yet should deny Christs Resurrection or Incarnation he were an Heretique without any determination or sentence of the Church And such Heretiques there were many in the Primitiue Church fore any Councell was celebrated and long before any Pope pretended to Infallibility 2 Note A man may be truly thought thus convicted not onely when his Conscience doth expressely beare witnesse to the truth but when virtually it doth so and would expressely doe it if it were not choked or blinded by some unruly and unmortified lust in the will For if a man make himselfe a slave to ambition covetousnesse vaineglory prejudice c. these untamed passions will not onely draw the man to professe what he thinketh not but to thinke what he would dis-avow if in synceritie he sought the truth And in this case the difference is not great betweene him that is wilfully blinde 24. qu. 3. §. 28. Haereticus est and him that knowingly gainsayeth the truth 3 Note A man may be sufficiently convinced either in foro exteriori or in foro interiori In the former he is convinced who by an orderly proceeding of the Church is censured and condemned and such a one ad omnem effectum juris and in the esteeme of the said Church is to be reputed an heretique though perhaps the Censure be erroneous He that is convicted in the later kinde is an Heretique before God though no authority of the Church have detected or proceeded against him And this conviction onely is necessary to prove one an Heretique excluded from Heaven 3. There is required capacity or ability of wit and reason to apprehend that which is cleerly revealed and sufficiently proposed For want of this not onely fooles and mad men are excused but those who are of weaker capacity or lesse knowledge may be excused from beleiving of those things which they cannot apprehend as the Apostles are by Christ Ioh. 16. 12. But where there is no such impediment as hath been said the revealed will or word of God is sufficiently propounded there he that opposeth is cōvinced of error he who is thus convinced is an Heretique and Heresie is a worke of the flesh which excludeth from heaven Gal. 5. 20. 21. And hence it followeth that it is fundamentall to a Christians faith and necessary for his salvation that he beleive all reveiled truths of God whereof he may be convinced that they are from God The cavills of the Mistaker against the Church of England and her Articles in this matter are easily answered When the Church of England had orderly reformed her selfe she was loudly accused by the Romane faction of Heresie and Schisme as it hath been in later ages the cunning custome of Rome to blast and disgrace all them that dared to oppose any of her corrupt opinions or usages Wherefore to cleare her innocency Shee published to the world a Declaration of her judgement in matters of Religion which we call her Confession Wherin her aime was not in any curious method to deliver a Systeme of Divinity but plainly without fraud or artifice to set downe first the positive
principles of her faith or the fundamentalls of it wherein she hath sufficiently declared her selfe both in a Aro 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 8. most particulars and in summe by b Art 8. avowing the Catholique Creeds and then a rejection of such errors especially Popish as She judged to be without ground of Scripture reason or Antiquity Now Popery is not any univocall part or member in the body of Divinity it is onely an Aposteme gathered of corrupt and heterogeneous matter All the Logick in the world cannot possibly range such a confused lumpe of falsities into any certaine or distinct method And therefore if the Declaration of our Church against these errors be extremely confused as our Mistaker pretends the cause is in the errors thēselves wherein there is nothing but extreme confusion By the other part of his charge that our Church in divers points speaks obscurely and not home to the question it is evident that he doth not well understand himselfe or those points wherein he gives instance That particular Churches and particularly his have erred our Church beleives and c Art 19. professes and we beleive further that if any particular Church presume She cannot fall by error She is fallen already by pride That the Catholique Church can erre in the foundation our Church beleives not and therefore 1. Cor. 1. 2. professes not But by the infallible Church I doubt not the man meanes that which they call the Romane Catholique for it is the perpetuall and palpable paralogisme of the Faction to confound the Romane and the Catholique and to argue from this to that as if all the priviledges of the Catholique Church belonged onely to the Roman quarter Likewise it is not denyed that the true Catholique Church is alwaies visible and cannot be hid And wheresoever there is a Congregation of men that professe and desire to honour the true God Calling upon the name of Iesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours and beleiving the Scriptures of the old and new Testament there as very * Vide supra pag. 111. Learned men are of opinion is a true Christian Church wherein salvation may be had and a visible member of the holy Catholique Church Innumerable such there ever have been since Christ and ever shall be scattered over the face of earth For d Joh. Serranus Appar ad fid Cathol Paris 1607. pag. 172. Quicquid vel molitus est vei moliturus mendacii Pater non tamen vel effecit hactenus vel effectures est posthac ut doctrina Catholica omnium Christianorum consensu semper ubique rata aboleatur Quin potius ' illa in densissimâ maximè involutarum perturbationum caligine victrix extitit in animis in apertâ confessione Christianorum omnium in suis fundamentis nullo modo labefactata In illa quoque veritate una illa Ecclesia fuit conservata in mediis saevissimae hyemis tempeftatibus vel densissimis tenebris suorum interluniorum Hanc successionis perpetuae vim esse illius usum omnes sobrii animadvertunt whatsoever the Father of lies either hath attempted or shall attempt yet neither hath he hither to effected nor shall ever bring it to passe hereafter that the true Catholique doctrine ratified by the Common consent of Christians alwaies every where should be abolished but that in the thickest mist rather of the most perplexed troubles it still obtained Victorie both in the minds and in the open confession of all Christians no waies overturned in the Foundations thereof And in this verity that One Church of Christ was preserved in the midst of the tempests of the most cruell winter or in the thickest darknes of her waynings Which true succession of the Faith Church all sober men observe acknowledg And as a most learned e Bp. Vsher Serm. of the unity of faith Prelate hath observed further if at this day we should take a survey of the severall professions of Christianity that have any large spread in any part of the world should put by the points wherein they differ one from another and gather into one body the rest of the Articles wherein they do all generally agree we should finde that in those Propositions which without all Controversie are universally received in the whole Christian world so much Truth is contained as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man unto everlasting salvation Neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as walke according Gal 6. 16. to this rule neither overthrowing that which they have builded by superinducing any damnable heresies thereupon nor otherwise vitiating their holy Faith with a leud and wicked conversation peace shall be upon them and mercie and upon the Israel of God In the point of Freewill our Church professes withall Catholique Antiquity Greeke and Latine before and after Pelagius that though the Will be naturally and essentially free from all constraint and necessiity yet it is not spiritually free from sinne or to any good untill it be freed by inward supernaturall and undeserved Grace which both prevets prepares excites the Will to every good act that it may be helped then helpes it when it is prepared That the Will of it selfe hath no power to any good act till it be thus quickned inabled and assisted by Grace which in all good workes and desires is the principall agent to which the Will is subordinate But that this grace corrects and perfects nature doth not abolish it Wherefore the Will being mooved by grace as aforesaid is not idle but freely moves it selfe to consent having still a naturall and corrupt liberty to sinne So as all the good we doe or have or hope for must be ascribed to God and his free grace and all the sinne we doe onely and wholly to our own will and freedome And by this doctrine we fully avoide and contradict the two contrary errors of the Manichees on the one side who deny the naturall liberty of the Will and of the Pelagians and their Reliques on the other side who give the will a spirituall liberty of it selfe and so deny the necessity of preventing grace If some Protestant Writers goe farther Piscator c. in this point so farre as to affirme that God determines and necessitates the Wills of men to every act good or bad naturall morall or spirituall so as the motion of Providence or grace leaves no power or possibility in the Will actually to dissent in sensu composito Answ 1. this is nothing to the Church of England which approves not this dangerous doctrine 2. The Mistaker cannot with reason or modesty upbraid them much lesse others with this opinion or the ill consequents of it since no Calvinist as he calls them herein speaks more harshly or rigorously then his own Dominicans Bannes Alvarez Zumel Ledesma Herrera Nugnus Navarrete many others for proofe whereof I referre him to a late