which is the life and soule of the Holy Apostolike Church shall bee no part of our inquirie It sufficeth that the name Catholike it selfe is vniuocall in respect both of Church and faith True faith is therefore Catholike faith because it is the onely doore or way vnto saluation alike common vnto all without nationall or topicall respect Whosoeuer of any Nation haue beene saued haue beene saued by this one and the same faith and whosoeuer will be saued as Athanasius speakes must hold this Catholike faith and hee must hold it pure and vndefiled The maine question then is who they be that hold this Catholike faith and whether they hold it vndefiled or no. Were Vincentius his rules as artificiall as they are orthodoxall and honest the issue betwixt vs and the Romanist would be very easie and triable But let vs take them as they are Id catholicum est quod ab omnibus vbique et semper c. That is Catholike which is held by all in all places and at all times The three speciall notes of the catholike faith or Church by him required are vniuersalitie antiquity and consent Whether these three members be different or subordinate and ofttimes coincident I leaue it to be scanned by Logicians According to the Authors limitation all three markes agree to vs not to the Romanist 2 First concerning vniuersality the question is not Whether at this present houre or in any former age for these thousand yeeres past there are or haue been more which professe the present Romish Religion established in the Church of Rome then the Religion established in the reformed Churches since the separation was made If wee should come to calculate voyces after this manner Whether will you bee a Romane Catholike or a protestant They might perhaps haue three for one amongst such as professe themselues Christians ready to cry I am not for the protestants but for the Roman Catholikes will I bee But it was farre from Vincentius his meaning that vniuersality should bee measured after this fashion for hee very well knew that the Arian faction had preuailed especially by this tumultuary kind of canvase or calculation The multitude of voices thus taken for them may proue their faction to be stronger and greater than our Church it cannot proue their faith to be so vniuersall as our faith is The fallacie by which the Romanists deceiue poore simple people is in making them beleeue that our Religion and their Religion our faith and their faith are duo prima diuersa or so totally distinct that part of the one could not be included in the other But for the vniuersalitie of our faith wee haue euery member of the Romish Church a suffragant or witnesse for vs. First nothing is held as a point of faith in our Church but the present Romish Church doth hold the same and confesse the same to haue beene held by all orthodoxall Antiquity So that for the forme of faith established in our Church we haue the consent of the Primitiue Church of the foure first generall Councels of all succeding ages vnto this present day the consent likewise of the present Romish Church and of our selues Now as France is a great deale bigger than Normandy if we compare them as distinct and opposite and yet France and Normandy is bigger then France without Normandy so likewise though the present visible Romish Church be much greater then the Church of England yet seeing the Romish Church how great soeuer doth hold all the points of faith which our Church doth for Catholike and orthodoxall our consent and their consent our confession and their confession is more vniuersall then their consent without ours But if their consent vnto the points of faith beleeued by vs proue our faith to be vniuersall and our Church by consequence to bee Catholike why should not our consent vnto the points of faith beleeued by them proue their faith to bee vniuersall or their Church to be Catholike Because it is not enough to hold all points of Catholike faith vnlesse the same points bee kept holy and vndefiled The Romish Church we grant doth hold all points of Catholike faith and so farre as she holds these points wee dissent not from her yet dissent from her wee doe in that she hath defiled and polluted the catholike faith with new and poysonous doctrines for which shee neither hath the consent of Antiquity nor of reformed Churches And in respect of these doctrines she stands conuicted of schisme and heresie by Vencentius his rules For it is with him a fundamentall rule That no present visible Church hath any authority to commend any thing as a point of faith to posterity which hath not beene commended to the said Church by Antiquity deriued from the Apostles times A proficiency or growth in faith hee allowes and granteth modò sit in eodem genere so it be in the same kinde or proceed from the same root but for additions or new inuentions he takes them for the markes of schisme and heresie 3 So then we hold the Catholike faith and they hold the Catholike faith And seeing they hold the Catholike faith in the same measure that we doe is it not reason they should bee termed Catholikes as well as we though not so good Chatholikes as wee No reason they should be termed Catholikes at all Where is the difference In this Wee hold it pure and vndefiled they haue defiled and polluted it for many generations and doe still defile it with many loathsome additions and inuentions Now in this case the denomination followeth the worser part that is they are not so much to bee reputed Catholikes for that they hold the Catholike faith as to be adiudged Heretikes and Schismatiks because they haue defiled and polluted it with many new inuentions and being admonished hereof and reproued will not purifie their faith will not reforme their religion according to the rule of faith and the practice of Antiquity Their faith not purified from the additions of the second Nicene and Trent Councell can be no Catholike faith Their Religion not reformed can be no true Religion saue onely in reference to Paganisme Iudaisme or Mahumetisme For as Dionysius saith Bonum non est nisi ex integra causa malum ex quolibet defectu Nothing is good which is not intire and sound evill ariseth from euery defect Euery new addition or inuention in matters of faith or doctrine is enough to make that church schismaticall which before was Catholike and orthodoxall Catholike and orthodoxall no Church can be vnlesse it hold all points of faith without admixture of humane inuentions or of new articles The admixture of a great deale of mans meat with a little swines meat makes the whole dish to bee no mans meat but swines meat Our Church according to Vincentius his rule admits a growth or proficiencie in faith in that it holds not only those propositions which are expresly contained in Scripture but such as
three yeeres after the persecution by him begun Howeuer the Councell of Millain of Sirmium c. was the then visible Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I hope they wil not say that it was the true Church of God For though almost all the Bishops and most Christians throughout the Romane Empire did subscribe vnto these Councels yet was not the true Church of God during these three yeeres inuisible but more remarkably visible in some few which did contradict the then visible Church content to suffer exile or other martyrdome in maintenance of the Holy Catholike faith which is the life and soule of the Church of God In few ages after wherein worse beasts then Valens was were chiefe Gouernours of the visible Church that is after the succession of Romish Bishops was growne vp vnto a perfect beast according to the measure of Antichrist the true Church of God was remarkeably visible in such as that visible Church did condemne for heretikes Instances to this purpose are plentifull in vnpartiall Writers And when the doctrine of Antichrist was come to his full growth as in the Councell of Trent although the whole bodie of Germany besides Chemnitius and some few others although the whole visible Church of France besides Caluin and some such had subscribed vnto that Councell yet the true Church of God had beene visible in France and Germanie in these worthies Enough there was in their writings against that Councell to condemne all such as followed it that is the visible or representatiue Church of Rome of palpable Antichristian heresie Yet when we say that the true Church of God was visible in these men in their writings or in Iohn Hus c. wee doe not tye our selues to embrace what soeuer they wrote for truth Wee may say of the true visible Church or of the truth by which we become visible members of the true Catholike Church as one said of Truth philosophicall That it could not be sound intire in the writings of any one Sect of Philosophers in the writings of all of them it might This aduantage we haue of all the Philosophers that we haue a surer and more perfect rule for examining the writings or doctrines of seuerall visible Churches than they had any for examining truths philosophicall Absolutely to assent in each particular to any writers or teachers since the first constitution of the Apostolike Church or accomplishment of the written rule of faith were to dissent from them in the maine and fundamentall point of Catholicke Faith For vnlesse there bee an vnfayned and hearty desire a spirit of watchfulnesse and of willingnesse to limit our adherence vnto whatsoeeuer other writings according to the greater or lesse evidence of their consonancy with the written rule neither Scholar nor Master nor Church visible or representatiue can be any other then equiuocall or dead members of the true Church The Catholike faith it selfe could it possibly be planted in any mans heart without the spirit or Genius to direct or informe it would quickly either putrifie or grow crooked 3 Amongst other glorious titles wherwith the same Author seekes to adorne the Church of Rome this which is the title of his fift chapter is one that the true Church cannot erre A proposition I must confesse as hard for vs to disproue if hee take it in sensu composito as it is for him to proue in sensu diuiso That no Church as it is true and whilest it is true or in respect of those points with reference to which it is denominated true can possibly erre is a truth that cannot be denied But if by the true Church he mean a visible or the visible Romish Church there neither is nor hath been any visible Church though planted by the Apostles themselues which since their times hath not either ceased to bee a visible Church or else continued for a long time as palpably erroneous and false as truely visible Whatsoeuer this Author deeme or write his Fellowes and Masters with one mouth confesse that every priuate man in their Church may erre that the Bishops assembled in Councell without the Popes direction or confirmation of their sentence may erre that the Pope himselfe vnlesse he speake ex cathedra may erre And by this confession either the Romish church is no true Church saue onely whilest the Pope speakes è Cathedra or else the whole bodie of the true Church if the Romish church be the true Church may sometimes erre For at all times else both head and members of this Church may erre In this inference I take it as granted that the Pope doth not alwaies speake ex cathedra Now if in these interims of his cathedrall silence any Bishop Priest or Iesuit shal take vpon them to instruct their Auditors out of the Pulpit or otherwise in points of faith or controuersie their poore flocke by this mans collections against vs cannot be made partakers of that true and infallible faith without which no man can be saued because their Preachers or ministers are not infallible nor to vse his words vndoubtedly fenced from all danger of errour His collections against vs are these Finally to what end doe Protestants striue so much for the Churches erring but onely to depriue themselues thereby of Church Faith and Religion For wheras neither religiō nor Church can stād without supernaturall faith nor supernaturall faith be attained without infallible certainty of the things beleeued if their Preachers their Ministers their Church be not vndoubtedly fenced frō all danger of error the Articles they beleeue haue not that inerrable warrant which is necessarie to faith Did this man may wee thinke beleeue that hee himselfe was vndoubtedly fenced from all danger of errour If he did so beleeue the Cardinalls of Rome shall doe him much wrong if they chuse him not Pope the next Election or appoint him not as coadiutor to the present Pope If it be replyed that the Romish instructers bee they Bishops or Priests cannot erre because they neither beleeue nor teach others to beleeue any points of faith but with absolute submission of their instructions to what the Pope already hath spoken or shall hereafter speake ex cathedra concerning the same points the medicine will be a great deale worse then the disease For this perswasion or resolution is altother incompatible with the first grounds of faith and is flat Apostacie from Christ as hath beene discussed at large in the second booke vpon the Creed and shall be further manifested if occasion require in the second booke of this Treatise To the former obiection the answer on our part is easie For true faith receiues its infallibilitie not from any infallibilitie in our immediate and ordinary teachers but from the infallibility of the truths themselues which they propose vnto vs out of the rule of truth and from the infallibilitie of that internall and secret Teacher without whose impressions of truths infallible in mens hearts no true faith
hearing of the word of Christ or in the administration of the Sacraments bound she is to withdraw from him all benefits or comfort of Christs death and passion which are committed to her dispensation vntill he repent and bee reconciled againe vnto Christ 4 From this truth some excellent writers against the vsurped power of the Romish Church in the vse or exercise of Peters keyes some I say aswell before Luthers time as since haue gathered this generall doctrine That the visible Church hath only power to declare who are separated or excommunicated ipso facto from the holy Catholike Church she hath no power so to separate or excommunicate any excommunicatione majori by the greater excommunication vnlesse they haue first excommunicated themselues or voided their hopes or interests in the holy Catholike Church by hereticall positions or opinions or by lewd and scandalous misdemeanours Of this opinion was that famous Weselius which was intituled lux mundi before Luther arose or the light of the Gospell which we now enioy did break forth But though the doctrine be true yet he and such as follow him extend the truth of it a little too farre and beyond its proper subiect There is a meane betweene this opinion and the contrary extreame of the Romanist which cannot be found out without some diuision of such errours or other causes as either iustly deserue or at least may be pretended to deserue excommunication or vtter separation from the visible Church Some errors in Diuinitie as we say are heresies ex specie of so deadly a nature that they induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Faith euen in their very first degree Of this ranke are all such errours in Religion as are directly opposite or contrary to those fundamentall points whose positiue beliefe is necessary to saluation which he that beleeues not is infidelis secundùm infidelitatem purae negationis that is such an Infidell as they are which cannot say the Lords Prayer the Creed or ten Commandements by heart or know not the generall contēts of them and which peremptorily to deny or contradict doth argue infidelitatem prauae dispositionis an infidelitie of contradiction We say in Logicke Euery contrarietie if it be direct and full doth necessarily include a contradiction as he that saith nix est alba Snow is white doth as fully contradict him that saith nix est nigra Snow is blacke as hee that should say nix non est nigra Snow is not blacke For album esse to be white is somewhat more then non esse nigrum not to be blacke The rule is applyable in Diuinity and of good vse in this present argument If not to beleeue there is one God if not to beleeue that this one God is the Author of goodnesse and the rewarder of such as seeke him be infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelitie and argue an absolute priuation of life spirituall then to beleeue there bee more Gods then one or that God is not the Author of goodnesse but it is all one whether we serue him or serue him not is an errour ex specie in its kind hereticall and deadly If it be infidelitas purae negationis an infidelitie priuatiue not to beleeue the incarnation of Christ as certainly it is for all such as doe not beleeue it are Infidells then to bee but positiuely perswaded that Christ is not truly man is an errour ex specie hereticall a deadly heresie infidelitas prauae dispositionis an infidelity of cōtradiction or contrariety Againe if not to beleeue the Sonne of God is truly God or if not to beleeue that this true Son of God was incarnate for vs necessarily argue a priuation of life spirituall and be as we say infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelity then if any man which acknowledgeth Christ bee of opinion that he is not as truly God as he is man this man by entertaining such an opinion doth vndoubtedly separate and disunite himselfe from the holy bond of Catholike faith and by consequence stands excommunicated ipso facto from the Holy Catholike Church and depriued of the communion of Saints whether the visible Church doth her duty or no in depriuing him of all communion with her selfe or with her members yea though the Pastors or Gouernors of the visible Church could by bribery or other sinister respects be mis-swayed if not to abett or maintaine him in it yet to vse conniuence towards him Now of all such errours as are ex specie hereticall and necessarily induce a separation or disunion from the holy Catholike Faith or Church the former assertion of Weselius is true to wit That the visible Church doth not by her authoritie cut them off from being members of the holy catholike Church but onely declare them to be no members of that Church And of all persons excommunicated by the visible Church or that separate themselues from the visible Church for feare of being censured vpon these causes or occasions the former Maximes are vniuersally true There is no hope of saluation for them vntill they returne againe into the bosome of the visible Church by vnfaigned sorrow and by true submission and repentance Yet suppose they neuer returne againe to the visible Church they are not therefore depriued of saluation because they are extra Ecclesiam visibilem out of the visible Church but because they were cast or went out of it vpon such causes or occasions as did first make them to be extra Ecclesiam sanctam catholicam out of the Holy and Catholike Church Or in case by repentance they returne againe into the visible Church whence they were cast out and obtaine saluation yet are they not therefore saued because they are in the visible Church saue onely as it is the meane or an instrument of reuniting them vnto the Holy Catholike Church or of ingraffing them into Christ Other opinions or errors in religion there be that be ex specie very dangerous yet not deadly vnlesse they be in a high degree or perhaps in the highest degree not deadly in themselues vnlesse they be mingled with some spice of some other pertinacie or disobedient humor more then ariseth meerly from the strength or habit of the errour or from the nature of the obiect about which the errour is To be perswaded that the blessed Virgin did not continue so pure a virgin all her life time after our Sauiours birth as she was before is certainly an errour ex specie very dangerous yet nothing so deadly as the errour of Eutyches which held that our Sauiour Christ did not after his resurrection and glorification continue as truly man as he was before So long as a man holds errours of this second ranke onely to himselfe being not sufficiently enlightned by the messengers of truth to discern their danger nor admonished by pastorall authority to abandon them as it cannot bee denyed that hee is soule-sicke so it is not safe to affirme that hee is
A TREATISE OF THE HOLY CATHOLIKE FAITH and CHVRCH Diuided into three Bookes By THOMAS IACKSON Dr. in Diuinitie Chaplaine to his Maiestie in Ordinarie and Vicar of Saint Nicolas Church in the Towne of Newcastle vpon Tyne The first Booke LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Clarke and are to be sold at his Shop vnder St. Peters Church in Cornehill 1627. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL and truly worthy Knight Sir RICHARD ANDERSON of Pendley in Hartfordshire the blessings of this life and of that to come bee multiplied RIGHT WORTHIE SIR YOur vnfaigned Loue to Learning and true Religion well knowne by reall testimonies to all true Louers of them which haue the happines as my selfe for long time haue had to be acquainted with you drew this short Treatise vpon its first returne vnto mee to whom it hath beene from its first birth a stranger to take you for its Foster-Father Could it speake for it selfe it would I am perswaded complaine of wrong if I should direct it to seeke another Patron being not acquainted with any Family which beares a more liuely image of a well-ordered Church than your Family doth Nor is there any other to whom I more heartily wish all furtherance in good beginnings and proceedings then I doe to yours and to that Honorable Family vnto which you are happily vnited Of this my desire of my best respect vnto your selfe and to your Noble Lady I haue no better token for the present then this Treatise of the holy Catholike Faith and Church Thus commending both of you with all yours and it vnto the blessing of him who is the sole Fountaine of Faith and Head of the Holy Catholike Church I take my leaue and rest Yours euer in the surest bonds of sincere loue and obseruance THOMAS IACKSON From my Vicarage in Newcastle vpon Tine this first of Ianuary 1626. Courteous and Christian Reader THe summe of this Treatise was deliuered in Catechisme Lectures for the benefit of yonger Students in Pembrook Colledge in Oxon at the request of the Master of that Societie my Reuerend and Worthy Friend and of some other good friends to whose religious desires my hope was to haue giuen better satisfaction if my continuance in that ancient and sweet Nurserie of Learning had been longer or my studies there lesse interrupted with other occasions But God be praysed that Colledge hath beene furnished since with one of their owne body of whose learned and polite Labours I hope one day to be with others a partaker This Treatise as now it is hath beene for the most part since in the hands of others being committed by me to the perusall of that great light of the Northerne parts my then Reuerend and dearest Friend Doctor Birkhead from whose iudicious censure I hoped then this and other of my Labours should haue receiued some perfection and I much comfort from his company But it pleased the Lord whose good pleasure we must obey not question to call him from vs no doubt to his greater good though to the great losse and sorrow of euery true member of the English Church which knew him before it was my hap being then absent from these parts to heare from him or speake with him Since his death it hath past through many hands but all as it seemes good friends in that it returnes vnto me intire And from it as it is I hope no orthodoxall Reader shall receiue any discontent nor any Aduersaries of the truth much aduantage Wherein it is for the matter deficient or not so fully exprest I shall haue opportunitie whether by the aduise of Friends or exceptions of the Aduersarie to amend or inlarge in other Treatises of the same Argument which by Gods assistance shall shortly be communicated to thee And for this reason in part I haue beene the more willing to haue it published at this time Thine in Christ Iesus THOMAS IACKSON ⧠The Contents of the seuerall Chapters handled in this Treatise SECTION I. Containing the description definition and properties of the Holy Catholike Church taken in the prime and principall sense in the sixe first Chapters Chapters Folio 1. That it is easier to oppose than to answer a Romanist in this Argument of the Church The Authors method for meeting with wrangling Sophismes 3 2. The definition of the Church in generall gathered from the diuers sorts of vnion betweene bodies naturall artificiall or ciuill 5 3. Of the nature and properties of the Church taken in its principall sense How it is differenced from other Bodies ciuill Of the peculiar vnity which it hath 13 4. Of the preeminences which the Church hath of other Bodies or Corporations in respect of the Gouernour of it and the Lawes by which it is gouerned Of the two Attributes Holy and Catholike 21 5. Containing the friuolous exceptions of Cardinall Bellarmine and some other Romanists against the former or like description of the true Church or that Church which is principally meant in the Apostles Creed 29 6. Containing the speciall points to bee beleeued concerning this Article of the One Holy Catholike Church How euery one is so to moderate his assent or beliefe concerning it that hee neither incline vnto presumption nor fall into despaire 35 SECTION II. Of the visible Church in generall Of its principall Attributes or Priuiledges vnto the sixteenth Chapter 7. Of the Church Militant and Triumphant In what sense it is said that the true Church is inuisible 43 8. What is required to the constitution of a visible Church Whence the vnitie or pluralitie of visible Churches ariseth What vnity may bee had or expected betweene visible Churches independent one of another for Iurisdiction The diuers acceptions or degrees of the visible Church 52 9. That albeit the true Church be alwaies visible yet it is a grosse sophisme hence to inferre that the visible Church is alwayes the true Church or that one visible Church is more priuiledged from erring than another The strange blasphemy by which the Author of the Antidote seekes to support the infallibilitie of the visible Romish Church 66 10. In what cases Arguments of proportion may bee drawne from Allegories A full explication of the Allegory vsed by S. Paul Gal. 4. and of the Argument or concludent proofe in the same Allegorie contained 75 11 Of the consonancie betweene the promulgation of the old Testament and the New Of the opposition betweene the Law and the Gospell or betweene the old Testament and the New The explication of the Apostles argument Heb. 9. ver 13 14. 86 12. The Allegorie or Argument of proportion drawn from Noahs Arke explicated according to the former rules and retorted vpon the Romanist 92 13. How farre and in what cases that Maxime vsed by the Fathers Extra Ecclesiam non est salus Out of the Church there is no saluation is true of the visible Church or Churches visible 97 14. Declaring by one speciall instance the particular manner and opportunities by which the
sicke of them vnto death no not after the second or third monition vnlesse his monitions be seasoned or tempered with a large measure of fatherly and louing instructions grounded vpon perspicuitie of truth Frequent contempt or neglect of such admonitions though it be in matters not altogether deadly may induce a separation from the holy Catholike faith vnto which nothing is more opposite then disobedience in cases wherein obedience by the Law of God is due 5 Euery one that is not rooted in faith and not truly ingraffed in Christ although for speculatiue opinions he be an Orthodoxe yet is he in respect of saluation but as an Embryon or as the seed or homogeneall Element from which vegetables or liuing bodies spring Now among such seeds or modells of vegetables or sensitiue bodies as are not yet organized or being organized are not truly informed or quickned some may bee so inwardly or deepely tainted that no benignity of natiue soile no comfort of Sunne no refreshing of wholsome winds or dew of Heauen can quicken or giue them specificall perfection Oâ—her seedes there are of the same kinde which though tainted yet they are not so deeply tainted but that they might bee organized or quickned by such comforts or cherishments as could not reuiue the former albeit euen the latter also are certaine shortly to perish if they be transplanted from a good soile to a bad or be exposed to noisome winds or other vncomfortable occurrences or contagious adherents Now every errour as was intimated before in matters of Religion is a tainting or an infection or sicknesse of the soule and of errors some are so deadly that neither the bosome of the Church nor all the benefits of Christs death committed to her custodies though imparted in as ample manner as she can distribute can reuiue or quicken the parties tainted with them Other errors againe there be not so dangerous in their kind or not so ful grown but that the parties tainted with them may retaine or recouer life so they may continue in the visible Church and enioy the communion of Saints and participate with them in the word of life in deuout prayers and in the ordinary vse of Sacraments Howbeit even these errours also become deadly if the parties in whom they settle bee with Hagar and Ismael cast out of Abrahams family into the wildernesse or be constrained to dwell in Mesech or to haue their habitation amongst the Tents of Kedar Now in respect of such as are cast out of the visible Church because they will not abandon or cast out such naughty though not deadly opinions out of their soules the former rule of Weselius concerning excommunication failes if it bee extended as farre as some haue done it For some haue taught or by their speeches giuen others iust occasion to conceiue their meaning to bee That the visible Church hath onely a declaratiue sentence in all excommunications whereas this rule is to be restrained vnto excommunications onely of the former ranke that is such as are directed against manifest heresies ex specie hereticall and deadly To kill a man already dead in heresie the Church cannot but onely declare him to be dead The visible Church notwithstanding hath power simply and absolutely to excommunicate some of her members albeit it doth not fully appeare vnto her whether the opinions wherewith their soules are tainted doe either necessarily induce or argue a schisme or separation from the holy Catholike faith Yea though this point be doubtfull or though it be more probable that the opinions as held by them doe not induce a separation from the holy Catholike Church or Faith yet may the visible Church vse her authoritie of binding them before they haue bound themselues and depriue them of all communion with the sound and orthodoxe members of the Church lest happily they might by their vicinitie infect others It would argue more folly then pitty or at least more pitty then discretion or wholesome discipline if the Church should be indulgent to such as are ouer indulgent to their naughty opinions or lewd affections especially if they hurt others either by misperswasion or ill example 6 Now of all and euery party that is cast out of the Church vpon these occasions the former Maxime extra Ecclesiam non est salus out of the Church is no saluation is most true The most wholesome and most effectuall medicine that can bee applyed vnto soules sicke of this sicknesse is to bee instant in denouncing vnto them that albeit they be not as yet spiritually dead yet there is small hope of life vnlesse they seeke re-admission with sighes and teares into the bosome of the visible Church And though it be true that such as doe not in time seeke their re-admission by repentance doe therefore perish because rhey are separated from the visible Church yet doe they not perish quatenus separantur à visibili Ecclesia sed quatenus separantur ab Ecclesia sancta Catholica that is their separation from the visible Church is a praeuiall disposition to the spiritual death or such a cause of it as the Pilots absence is to the passengers whose company hee hath for their misdemeanours abandoned yet doth not their spirituall death properly consist in this separation nor immediately and instantly result from it but it consists in or immediately results from their separation from the Holy Catholike Faith and Church vnto both which the visible Church wherein they liued so they had still remained in the bosome of it might haue vnited or wedded their soules or yet may reunite them so they will with submissiue or heartie repentance returne vnto it CHAP. XIV Declaring by one speciall instance the particular manner and opportunities by which the Church visible or representatiue did first incroach vpon the royall Attributes of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church For what causes Christians may separate themselues or suffer themselues to bee separated from any visible Church whereof they were sometimes members 1 FRom this distinction of errours in Religion which either deserue or may bee pretended to deserue the sentence of excommunication wee may discouer the manner how the great monster with seuen heads and tenne hornes the grand mysterie of iniquitie was brought forth out of the wombe of the visible and as the Romanists call it the Catholike Church The manner was thus seeing the ancient and orthodoxe Fathers had in the name and power of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church as they were in dutie bound excommunicated the Encratists Eutychians Arians Nestorians c. which had manifestly excommunicated or diuorced themselues from the holy Catholike Faith by adherence to their wicked opinions the Successors of these holy Bishops in place of authority but not in holinesse and vnderstanding in matters spirituall tooke vpon them to pronounce the like censure vpon euery opinion which they disliked and expected the whole visible Church should hold the persons of men whom they excommunicated
desperate a madnesse as for a passenger to leape into the Sea because hee knew the ship wherein he sayled and the company with whom he must necessarily conuerse were deepely infected with a deadly pestilence And thus to doe were a desperate pranke vnlesse the partie aduenturing had very great skill in swimming and were withall within ken of some comfortable shore or harbour All this may seeme to make for our Aduersaries or at least against our forefathers which were sometimes members of the visible Romish Church but did either voluntarily separate themselues from it or suffer themselues to be thrust out of it when as they might haue retained communion with it so they would haue imbraced their doctrine Besides the danger of separation from it both they and we haue felt the seuerest strokes of the spirituall sword of excommunication which the Gouernours of the Romish Church could reach vs. 5 The branches of the maine controversie betwixt that Church and ours are two The first whether the reasons which moued our forefathers to depart from that Church or not to imbrace her doctrines were iust and necessary The second Whether our forefathers being howsoeuer separated from it had commission full power and iust authority from God to vnite themselues into a true visible Church whether they did rightly pursue such warrant or commission as they had and whether they and we haue beene and are a true visible Church The iust and necessary reasons for which men whether few or many may and ought to separate themselues from any visible Church are in generall two The first because they are vrged or constrained to professe or beleeue some points of doctrine or to aduenture vpon some practices which are contrary to the rule of faith or Law of God and are either ex specie or ex gradu cumulo either for their specificall quality or for their burthen or number so hereticall and deadly that they necessarily induce a separation from the holy and Catholike faith without which the Church can neither be holy nor Catholike The second in case they are vtterly depriued of freedome of conscience in professing what they inwardly beleeue or bee bereft of some other meanes either altogether necessarie or most expedient to saluation both which may be had in some other visible Church In this later case that rule of our Apostle giuen vnto seruants is true Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called Art thou called being a seruant Care not for it but if thou mayest be made free vse it rather For hee that is called in the Lord being a seruant is the Lords freeman Likewise also he that is called being free is Christs seruant Ye are bought with a price bee not ye the seruants of men 1 Cor. 7.20 21 22 23. Although we were perswaded that wee could communicate with such a Church without evident danger of damnation yet in as much as we cannot so communicate with it vpon any better termes then legall seruants or bondslaues doe with their Masters we are bound in conscience and religious discretion when lawfull occasions and opportunities are offred to vse our libertie and to seeke our freedome rather then to liue in bondage CHAP. XV. That our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church was most lawfull and iust both in respect of Prince and State and in respect of euery priuate person which feared God or sought to retaine the holy Catholike and Apostolike Faith 1 WHen we debate the lawfulnesse of our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church we meane the then Romish Church as visible Now vnto the constitution of an entire and compleat visible Church there is required First an vnity of faith and doctrine Secondly an vnitie of discipline or coactiue Lawes but especially an vnitie of subordination to one independent Iudicature Vnity in points of faith and doctrine is more essentiall to the Church as it is holy and Catholike that is as it is Orthodoxall Vnity of Lawes or discipline or of independent Iudicature is more essentiall and more necessary to the Church as visible Hence as wee said before there be as many distinct visible Churches as there be independent Iudicatures or supreame Tribunalls Ecclesiasticke Vnto a Catholike Church or vnto a Church visibly Catholike such as the Romanists beleeue their Church to be both kinds of vnity are necessary Whether this vnitie of discipline full power of Iurisdiction or independent Iudicature be seated in one person or more that is whether the forme of ecclesiasticall gouernment be Aristocraticall or Monarchicall is in our Diuinity all one The vnitie or conformitie may be as compleat and perfect the one way as the other But the Romanists the English Priests and Iesuits doe not onely hold this vnity of independent Iudicature to be necessary to the constitution of the visible Catholike Church but that it must of necessity be radically in one person to wit in the Pope on whom as vpon the head and fountaine the vnity of the Holy Catholike visible Church doth depend and for this reason they put his Holinesse in the definition of the Holy Catholike Church as you heard before out of Cardinall Bellarmine and the Author of the Antidote So that the Popes supremacie hath the same place in the whole visible Church as euery summum genus in his proper predicament As nothing can bee truly said to be in the predicament vnlesse it participate the nature or definition of the summum genus so none by this doctrine can be a true member of the holy Church vnlesse he be subordinate to the Pope Or as no man can come to the Father but by the Sonne so none can come vnto the sonne but by this Holy Father the Pope Euery one must be visibly vnited vnto him and to his Lawes before he can be mystically or spiritually vnited vnto Christ Howbeit by putting the Pope in the definition of the Holy Catholike Church with intention thereby to exclude vs from it who denie his authority they intangle and fetter themselues in another point of great consequence betwixt vs them of which aduantage we shall make some better vse hereafter The summe of our present dispute is this As professing of vnitie with the Romish Church in all points of faith which that Church teacheth doth necessarily induce a disunion or separation from the holy Catholike Faith and Church so the acknowledgment of such subordination as is required vnto the head of it in matters of discipline or iurisdiction induceth flat rebellion or high treason against all free States or Kingdomes Christian 2 The reasons which moued our forefathers to forsake the visible Romish church or to suffer themselues to be forsaken by it and withhold vs from returning to iâ— were and are in two respects most necessarie and iust Iust they were and are necessary First on the behalfe of euery priuate man that had or hath a care of conscience and Religion Secondly on behalfe of Prince and
Masse for which they can haue no true assurance or warrant from God or his Lawes but onely rely vpon the supposed infallibilitie of this Church which notwithstanding may be manifestly conuinced of grosse and stupid heresie in the doctrine of â—ransubstantiation But because the doctrine is ex specie hereticall and the practice deadly I shall reserue the refutation of both the explication of the ancient and orthodoxall opinions concerning the manner of Christs presence in the Sacrament or communication of his body and blood vnto a peculiar Treatise 13 Generally the more dangerous or deadly any practice doth seeme to bee whilest wee compare it with the ordinary common rule of mans actions the more euidently it ought to appeare vnto him that vndertakes it by what speciall rule or warrant it is exempted from the common rule or generall prohibition of other facts and practices in nature and appearance like it If a Iudge should charge the Sheriffe or other inferiour officer to see execution done vpon some malefactor it were no wisedome for the inferior Officer to aduenture vpon the Iudges command vnlesse hee knew that the Iudge had speciall commission and warrant from the King to sentence him to death and that hee had legally so sentenced him Yet would it be a point of ill manners and indiscretion for an inferior Iustice or officer to require the like speciall warrant or expresse rule of Law for whipping a vagrant person or putting some idle fellow in the stocks The Iudges word or command might in this case be a suffâ—cient warrant especially to one not skilfull in the Lawes nor too scrupulous in yeelding obedience to such as are skilfull in them It is nicitie ill manners and indiscretion to exact an expresse rule of scripture or faith for standing at the Creed for kneeling at the Lords board for vsing the Cap and Surplice In these cases consent of the Church or tradition will suffice so there be not any expresse Law or commandement to the contrary He that exacts in these points as expresse rules of faith or warrant of scripture for his obedieÌ„ce to ecclesiasticall authority as hee would or as euery man ought to doe for aduenturing vpon worshipping of Images inuocation of Saints or the like hath made his braine or fancy the chiefe seat or mansion of his Religion which should bee seated in the heart To runne thus farre in seeming opposition to the Romanist is not truly to oppose him but to meet with him in the point of disobedience to Gods Lawes The one by disobeying the Church in these cases wherein it hath authority to command obedience disobeyes those Lawes or mandates of God which giue the Church authority to make Lawes in things indifferent neither expresly forbidden nor commanded by the Law of God The other by vowing absolute blinde obedience to the Church disobey Gods particular and expresse Lawes euen the most fundamentall Lawes of pâ—ety and religion the lawes of nature and of Nations 14 To kill a priuate man without warrant of authority is a heynous and fearefull sinne but farre more hainous to kill a Prince or to raise tumults in a State or incense the multitude to take armes against their soueraigne Lord yet vpon these and worse practices will any well catechized Romanist aduenture without any further warrant then the Churches command or approbation which hee beleeues to bee infallible But that the Church hath absolute infallibility and full power to command his conscience or authorize his action in these cases what speciall warrant hath hee from God or his Lawes The best they bring is this Tu es Petrus super hanc petraÌ„ aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my Church But doth this place either proue Peter to be the Rocke on which the church is built or the Popes to be Peters perpetual successors in that confession which Peter then vttered which was the rocke indeed on which Christs Church is built and which did make Peter to be such a rocke or liuing stone as hee was in the house of God I could bee content to try this issue with any Iesuit whether he could by better probabilitie from this Text inferre that the Pope is Peters successor in the infallibility of holy doctrine then I shall inferre from another Text following in the same Chapter that the Pope is the first borne of Sathan perpetually obnoxious to the check which our Sauiour gaue vnto Peter Get thee behind me Sathan thou art an offence vnto me for thou sauourest not the things that bee of God but those that bee of men Matt. 16.23 This was but a friendly checke of Peter but will proue the iudiciall censure of the Pope and his Disciples vnlesse they recant this wicked doctrine Our Sauiour bestowed the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Rocke vpon the sonne of Iona as the Iesuits will haue it in the former place whilest hee vttered that worthy confession Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God By faithfull adherence to this confession hee became a liuing stone a part of the foundation of Christs Church the first in order of twelue But nominis omen habuit hee did best brooke this name after our Sauiours resurrection A little after the vttering of the former confession when out of his kind nature as wee would tearme it but certainly our of a carnall imagination as the Spirit would censure it he sought to disswade his master from suffering death and so to hinder him from dissoluing the works of Sathan and ouerthrowing his Kingdome our Sauiour calls him Sathan as if he had said Peter thou counsellest me to that very thing whereunto Satan himselfe so I would giue him audience would perswade me with more Rhetorick then thou hast What if I should say That all the Popes are Peters successors and that so much may bee proued out of this 16 chapter of S. Matthew will it therefore follow that none of them are Antichrists or Sonnes of Satan No distingue tempora concordabunt scripturae distinction of times is the reconciliation of scriptures The first and ancient Popes were Peters successors in the former confession all or most of them liuing stones in the house of God The later Popes are Peters successors in counselling Christs Church to vndertake those practices in Christs name wherunto the Deuill doth alwayes counsell men by internall suggestions of the flesh Peters temporary infirmity is become their hereditary heresie Certainly their succession in Peters chaire doth no more argue theÌ„ to be his successours in the stability of faith than succession in Moses chaire proues the Scribes and Pharises to haue beene Moses true Disciples or theÌ„ the Iewes lineall descent from Abraham proues then to be Abrahams childreÌ„ The Analogie of faith will warrant this doctrine for conclusion That these later Popes and their followers are of their father the Deuill for they goe about to murther Kings and Princes which
the chiefe Priests and Elders in matters of faith and practice as wee are from communicating with the Romish Church or members of the Trent Councell But if this mans meaning be that neither the Prophets nor our Sauiours Disciples before his death did take vpon them to erect a new visible Church altogether distinct from the erring Synagogue the obiection is true but no way preiudiciall to vs. For they liued in that Church or common weale as our forefathers before Luthers time which feared God did in the Romish Church or common weale which had not by publike consent abandoned the Romish Religion that is neither as absolute members of the Synagogue nor yet a visible Church distinct from it but as visible members of that primitiue Church from which the Synagogue had degenerated As for the Prophets and other godly men which liued before our Sauiours death they wanted rather power than willing minds to reforme the corruptions of the visible Church in which they liued And the true reason why that Church continued so corrupt from Iosias his death vntill the destruction of the Temple and grew so wicked againe in the age before our Sauiours time was because during these times there were either naughty Kings or no Kings at all in Israel Had Iehosophat Ezekiah Iosiah or any like vnto them of Dauids line beene Kings of Iudah in Herods stead there is no question but they would haue brought the Scribes and Pharisees to better order or haue deposed them either haue reduced the then visible Church to its primitiue purity or haue erected a new visible Church according to the paterne prescribed by Moses That the Priests and Prophets did so ouerbeare the true Prophets of God Ieremiah Ezekiel c. to the ruine of the City and Kingdome was the fault of Iehoiakim and Zedekiah As at this day againe it is the fault and folly of Christian Kings that the Church of Rome is not either reduced to better conformity with the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church or else demolished as the Iewish Synagogue was But what should moue this man I meane the Author of the blind Guide of Faith to make the former obiection against vs I cannot conceiue vnlesse it were to giue vs and the Christian world to vnderstand That the visible Romish Church his mother could bee very well content to continue till Christs second comming as erroneous and antichristian as the Iewish Synagogue was before his first comming in the flesh vpon condition she may retaine her wonted power and authority to tyrannize ouer vs and other Saints of God as the visible Iewish Church or Synagogue did oft-times ouer the true Prophets and Christs disciples 2 For conclusion of this point In as much as Christian Princes and free States did second Luther in his intended reformation of so much of the visible Romish-Church as was seated in their Soueraignties or Dominions this warrants our separation to haue beene iust and lawfull and free from all suspition of rebellion or schisme whereunto the like attempts in Iury though vndertaken by Gods Prophets had beene obnoxious vnlesse the Princes or chiefe Magistrates had giuen them countenance and authority Howbeit neither Prince nor people ioyntly or seuerally either now haue or at any time had power to make a new church altogether distinct from the Catholike Church militant on earth which hath beene one by continuation of the same faith since the Apostles time But in case any part of the Church militant or visible be infected with heresie or ouerswaid by faction to approue such impious and vngodly practices as are incompatible with the Holy Catholike faith which hath beene professed in pure and vncorrupt times euery free Prince or State haue in this case power and authority sufficient to dislinke themselues from the factious combination of the visible Church or Churches seated in forraigne States or Kingdomes and to vnite themselues into renewed formes of visible Churches distinct from others Yet thus to doe so they doe no more is not to make a new Church neuer heard of before but rather to recollect the scattered members of the Holy Catholike Church in whom the life and substance of the true Church of God consists and to put a new accidentall forme vpon them 3 The case is altogether the same as if an Army consisting of threescore thousand English French and Italians appointed by ioynt consent of these Nations to inuade the Turke should bee misled by the Italian Generall to reuenge his priuate quarrels vpon the Christians If the English vpon discouery of their Generals trecherie should abandon him and adioyne themselues vnto the Hungarians or other Christians oppressed by the Turke they could not iustly be blamed either for defection or reuolt or for leuying an Armie or vndertaking a warre altogether new without any warrant or commission Well might they presume their Prince would approue their proceedings specially if their seruice had successe answerable to the godly intentions of their first Commission 4 As many of our forefathers as did submit themselues vnto the Iurisdiction of the church of Rome and vndertook such seruices as the Pope or Romane Prelacie did appoint them vnto they did thus onely vpon presumption that the Pope did faithfully execute his Commission as the Apostles successor or that he did command in chiefe for Christ But when the contrary was notoriously knowne vnto this people that hee did but counterfeit the visage of the Lambe that he might the more plausibly effect the designes of the Dragon Our Prince and people in abandoning his yoke and breaking off their confederacie with the church of Rome did well And this being done they remaine the same church they were for life and substance but the same Church better purified and purged from rebellious Antichristian humours the same Church so much more homogeneall to the ancient Primitiue catholike Church by how much they remained the freer from seruitude to Romish tyranny whose vsurped authority ouer other Churches is but Antichristianisme or Apostasie from Christ CHAP. XX. Whether the name Catholike can in good earnest be pleaded or pretended for an vnseparable marke of the true visible Church 1 BVt in all these Illustrations it will be excepted that wee take something for granted which the Romish Church will vtterly disclaime This for one That our forefathers at the time of their departure from the Romish Church were true Catholikes or in the interim betweene the abandoning of the Prelacie of Rome and the establishing a Prelacie or forme of Gouernment of their owne more refined were visible members of the holy Catholike Church For so destitute is the Romane Church of all true solid properties of the true Church of God that she is faine to plead the name and title of Catholike to be her proper note or Ensigne which no other Church may more presume to challenge then a Seruingman may presume to weare his Masters coate or cognizance after hee be discharged of his