Caihedrâ when he declared ex Authoritate sedis Apostolicae in his Constitutum which was exhibited to Justin the Emperor and to the fifth General Council the Epistle written by Ibas Bishop of Edessa against Cyril and against the Ephesine Council to be Orthodox which was found by the fifth Gen. Council to contain most impious heretical and Nestorian Principles Is it not a ludibrious evasion of others to say The Pope as Pope cannot be a Heretick because how soon he turns Heretick be ceases to be Pope Alphonsus à Castro says they who answer thus Jocantur in re seria and in effect attribute no more infallibility to the Pope than to the meanest believing Colliar every Believer in this sense is in fallible namely in sensu composito for how soon he turns Heretick he ceases to be a true Believer if every private Heresie degrade a Pope how then shall we know who is Pope or graced with infallible assistance seeing we cannot be certain but he entertains some private Heresie Among all the Subtersuges of Romanists I know none more ludibrious than that of Greg. de Val. Tom. 3. Disp 1. q. 1. punct 7. col 233. wherein yet they chiefly confide viz that the Pope may be smitten with a manifest errour or with an errour against which the Church hath given a prior definition and may endeavour to obtrude it upon others by his definitive Sentence but that he cannot give Sentence for an errour not manifest or for an errour against which the Church hath passed no former definition I am sure there is no Vestige either in Scripture or Antiquity for such a distinction nor yet is it agreeable to sound Reason it being much more easie to fall into an errour not manifest than into a manifest errour there being more means to preserve from manifest than from not manifest errours if therefore the Popes infallibility doth not secure him against manifest errours much less against not manifest errours if the Scriptures alledged for infallibility prove not his immunity from manifest errours how shall his immunity from not manifest errours from them to be concluded The Pope as a private person may be smitten with a not manifest errour by the confession of Valentia if then the exigence of the Church require a decision of that Controversie must not the Pope discern according to his private errour It 's a piteous off come of the Jesuit that God will take away the Pope by death lest he should pass sentence for such an errour A goodly pass indeed to which his Infallibility is brought M. Demster and this Pamphleter spake of Infallibility as a special assistance of the Holy Ghost guiding their Judge unto all truth but now it 's turned to an act of severity in killing the Pope lest he should give out an erronious sentence But seeing God in the depth of his Judgment hath spared Popes to confirm manifest errours by their sentences who shall assure us that he will not permit them also to confirm not manifest errours To this it 's answered That there is more hazard to the Church by a not manifest errour than by a manifest one for when the Pope defines contrary to a prior definition then he is known to be a Wolf and not a Pastor but when he defines a not manifest errour then there is no mean left to know him to be an Impostor and so the Church were bound to assent to his erronious Sentence But this Reply takes for granted two manifest untruths First that there is no ground by which to discern Truth from Errour but the definition of the Church whereas when the Church is first to define a Truth she must have some sure ground why she gives Sentence for this rather than for the contradictory thereof consequently there must be a ground by which to discern Truth from Errour antecedent to the Churches Sentence Secondly that the Church is bound to assent to the erronious Sentence of a Pope But where ever did God so far inslave the Consciences of his people to erronious Teachers Moreover the hazard to the Romish Church appears to be much the same whether the Errour for which the Pope defines be manifest or not for by his definition it becomes not manifest to them he having a multitude of Parasites to devise distinctions and glosses to elude prior definitions as either not being definitions of the Church or not contrary to this As fell out when Leo the 10. passed his Sentence in the Lateran Council for the Popes Supremacy contrary to the definitions of the Church in the Councils of Constance and Basil how many Advocates were set on work to maintain that these definitions of Constance and Basil were no definitions of the Church or of Oecumenick Councils In a word so manifest it is that Popes may err in Cathedrâ concerning matters of Faith that the same is asserted by eminent Romish Doctors as Gerson Almaynus Pope Adrian 6. Alphonsus à Castro c. cited by Melchior Canus lib. 6. loc com cap. 1. and by Azorius Part. 2. Moral lib. 5. cap. 4. Yea the Jesuited Doctrine of Papal Infallibility is pronounced by Thomas Ab Albiis in Sone Buecinae tract 2. Sect. 22. not only Haeretica but Archibaeretica mater spurcissimorum errorum that is superlatively Heretical and the source of pestilent errours What need I more Doth not Pope Innocent the 3. confess the fallibility of Popes Serm. 2. de Consec propter solum peccatum quod in fide committitur possune ab Ecclesia Judicari if Pope Innocent truly assert the fallibility of Popes then surely they are fallible and if falsly by his false Assertion he demonstrated that Infallibility was not tyed to his Chair Next as to Councils Protestants have much more respect for real Oecumenick Synods consisting of Pastors from all true Churches of Jesus Christ than any Jesuited Papists Protestants acknowledge that real Oecumenick Synods are the Supreme visible Ecclesiastick Judge of Controversies of Religion and that they have choice promises of God for their assistance if they sincerely seek his glory and the discovery of truth Yet there not being promises that all the members of an Oecumenick Synod or greater part of them shall infallibly observe the conditions upon which that asfistance of the Spirit may be expected Nay on the contrary seeing in these Meetings much may be done through faction or interest and those who come thither in simplicity may be byassed by the influence of others therefore we cannot assert an absolute infallibility of Councils But Jesuited Papists are so far injurious to Councils that they will not have Councils to be acknowledged except they be called by the Pope and swear subjection to him Yea and they suspend all their infallibility upon the ratification of the Pope Bell. lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 1. deals plainly Conciliorum Judicium tum firmum ratum est quum accesserit summi Pontificis confirmatio proinde ultimum judicium est
been Who can read what their own Bartholomaeus de la Casa hath written of the proceeding of the Spaniards in the West-Indies without horrour Did not a Great Person when a dying hearing that Catholick Spaniards went to Heaven profess he would never go there if Spaniards went thither judging it could be no good place where such bloody men went Yea Granado as cited by Gerard loc de Eccles cap. 10. Sect. 4. § 188. confesses Ea crudelitatis immanitate Hispanos erga illos usos ut Sanctissimum Christiani nomen non Pietatis Religionis sed crudelitatis immanitatis nomen habitum sit that is through their Barbarity the holy name of Christians became an Epithete of cruelty As for the East-Indies it's supposed there were some remainders of the Christian Faith among them lest by the conversions of these people in ancient times and the truth of Popish relations concerning conversions there are justly to be questioned finding how unfaithful they are in Relations nearer home whereof I gave a hint cap. 3. Sect. 4. And besides their design is to convert them rather to the Pope and Papal Superstition than to Jesus Christ But if any Real Conversion be wrought by them it 's wholly to be attributed to the common Principles of Christianity yet retained among Papists but not to any of their Popish errours Let the Pamphleter notice these particulars and then frame an Argument if he can without Rhetorical declamations to prove their Church to be the true Catholick and Infallible Church But I invert also this his second Note and from it prove the truth of the Protestant Religion thus That Religion by which alone Nations have been converted to the true Christian Faith is the only true Religion but by the Religion which Protestants hold Nations have only been converted Ergo. I prove the Assumption by the Apostolick Religion Nations have only been converted to the true Faith but the Religion of Protestants is the Apostolick Religion and we own none else Let theirs and ours be compared if they be not the same Ergo by the Religion of Protestants Nations have only been converted If any again say that a Quaker or other Heretick may make the same Argument it hath been answered already Let matters be brought to tryal by Scriptures which contain the Apostolick Religion and it shall be found our Religion and not theirs is the true Apostolick Religion And we have this strong presumption for us against both Papists and Quakers neither of them dare refer the Controversie to the decision of Scripture the one running to an infallible visible Judge the other to an infallible Light within But we remit all to the decision of Scriptures which Christians of all perswasions acknowledge to be of Divine Inspiration yet it 's not by presumptions we would deal but by a particular examination of Controversies let their Cause only prevail who have real conformity with Scriptures ARTICLE III. Of Sanctity of Life THe third Note of the Church brought by this Jesuit is taken from the pretended Sanctity of Romanists Lives But besides that Sanctity of Life is no solid Note of the true visible Church there is nothing to which Romanists have less ground to pretend I say first it 's no solid Note of the visible Church For either they speak of real internal Sanctity and Heart-Renovation or of external and apparent Sanctity If of the first though undoubtedly the Church has always a Remnant of truly Holy Ones yet internal holiness cannot be infallibly discerned by others and so much Bell. himself acknowledges lib. 3. de Eccles cap. 10. yea Romanists deny that a man can be infallibly certain of his own Sanctity If therefore he speak only of external and apparent Sanctity it 's not peculiar to the Church Hypocrites and pernicious Hereticks may have it are we not told that false Teachers may come in Sheeps cloathing Matth. 7.15 that they speak lyes in hypocrisie 1 Tim. 4.2 that they have a form of godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 that the Ministers of Satan transform themselves into Ministers of Righteousness 2 Cor. 11.12 Did not Pharisees make long prayers Mat. 23.24 Are they not on this account resembled to painted Sepulchres vers 22. Did not Bell. lib. 5. de lib. arb cap. 10. confess that by the works of Teachers we cannot pass a sure judgment on their Doctrine because their inward works are not seen and the external works are common both to sound and unsound Teachers Did not the Novatians pretend to so much Sanctity that they would appropriate to themselves the Name of Cathari as testifies Austin de Heres cap. 38. Who pretended more external Sanctity than the Pelagians See Hierom. lib. 3. advers Pelag. Were not Douatists such pretenders to Sanctity that they denied a Church to be where there were any wicked See Alphonsus à Castro advers Haeres tit Eccles Doth not Austin testifie lib. 1. de moribus Eccles cap. 1. that the very Manichees deceived many by the seeming Sanctity of their lives Do not Socinians who hardly deserve the Name of Christians pretend to much Sanctity as also our deluded Quakers Will Antichrist himself want his pretensions to Sanctity Hath not the Beast two Horns like the Lamb Revel 12.11 Hath not the Whore a Golden Cup in her hand that is she guilds over her Abominations with the specious pretences of Piety It were indeed to be wished that all the Lords People were holy yet alas how oft hath the Real Church of God been overgrown with scandals Are not the complaints of the Prophets on this account known Micah 7.1 c. Ezek. cap. 16. cap. 22. and cap. 36. Doth not the Apostle complain also of Gospel Churches as 2 Cor. 12.20 21. Doth not Eusebius lib. 8. Hist cap. 1. hold out the wicked lives of Christians yea and of Ministers to be the cause of the grievous persecution under Dioclesian Hereupon Ancients would not have the truth of Doctrine examined by mens lives Hierom lib. 3. cont Ruffin Quis unquam Catholicorum in disputatione Sectarum turpitudinem ei objecit adversus quem disputat And Austin lib. 1. de mor. Eccles cap. 34. Nunc vos illud admoneo ut aliquando Ecclesiae Catholica male dicere desinatis vituperando mores hominum quos ipsa condemnat quos quotidie tanquam malos filios corrigere studet What need I more to compesce this Pamphleter seeing Stapleton himself lib. 1. de Princip Doct. cap. 19. confesses Sanctam esse Ecclesiam sed per suam Sanctitatem non innotescere Did not Tertull. de praescript long ago teach that we must measure persons by Doctrines non ex personis fidem It were the wisdom of Romanists to be silent as to this matter were I disposed to write a Satyr I might fill a Volumn with complaints of the impiety of the Romish Church and that out of their own Authors Did not their own Pope Hadrian the Sixth in his instructions to Cheregat his Nuncio
Logical trespass in the structure of Jesuit Dempster's Syllogism was my least Exception against it The main thing I ever demanded was a probation of that minor whether it be formally or only objectively negative and a Solution of the retorsion of that same Syllogism against the Popish Religion but neither of these could ever M. Demster be induced to undertake Had this Pamphleter supplied M. Demster's defects in these he had done M. Demster a better office and given more satisfaction to his Reader Yet seeing they will be making a business about the form of that Syllogism the Pamphleter would consider how he reconciles himself with M. Demster who in Paper 6. pag. 7. says all the three Propositions of his Syllogism are affirmatives but this Pamphleter only says that the second is affirmative which of these shall I believe May not a Bajon put such infinitant Glosses upon the rest of the Propositions as the Pamphleter hath put on the second Consequently not the Minor only but the Conclusion also should be affirmative viz. Ergo the Protestant Religion cannot be the true Religion which whether it be an affirmative or negative I remit to the decision of the disinterested It seems the Pamphleter must take a Journey down to the Infernal Regions if the Author of Ignatius Conclave be not mistaken concerning the receptacle of Jesuits to consult with M. Demster whether only the second Proposition or all were affirmatives yet I have the kindness to premonish him that Fecilis descensus averni Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad aurat Hoc opus hic labor est Pag. 29 30 31. The Pamphleter endeavours to cast a blind before the eyes of his Reader by a gross representation of the state of the debaâ—e betwixt M. Demster and me To clear the truth herein it would be remembred that M. Demster Paper 1. pag. 2. asserted the Protestant Religion had no grounds to prâ—ve it self a true Religion To which it was answered in my Pap. 1 pag 7. that it were as easie by way of retorsion to assert that the Popish Religion had no grounds to prove it self to be the true Religion and therefore if he intended to satisfie Consciences he ought to pitch upon the reciprocal grounds of the true Religion and to demonstrate that these did agree to the Popish Religion and not to ours This Jesuit Demster altogether declined only at length Pap. 4. pag. 38. he undertook if I would produce the grounds of our Religion that he should impugn them Hereupon in my Paper 4. I did produce two grounds sufficiently distinctive of the true and false Religion viz. the perspicuity of the Scripture in all things necessary to Salvation and conformity in all Fundamentals with the Ancient Christian Church and from these in that Pap. 4. I did demonstrate both the truth of our Religion and the falshood of the Romish Religion But the scope of all M. Demster's Papers thereafter was to shun the Tryal of Religion by Scripture or Antiquity yet could bring no reason why these assigned grounds should not be admitted as distinctive Tests of the true and false Religion Nor did he once attempt to answer the Arguments by which from these grounds I proved the truth of the Reformed and falshood of the Popish Religion I appeal to the Papers themselves whereof the ipsa corpora are exhibited in Papismus Lucifugus if this be not the true state of the debate By this the unfaithful dealing of this Pamphleter may appear who pag. 31. is bâ—ld to say that still I declined to bring any popositive proof that these grounds were peculiar to Protestants and that M. Dâ—mster was not bound to prove the contrary Did I not Paper 4. pag. 46 47 53 54 55. prove from these grounds both the truth of the Protestant Religion and falshood of the Romish Did I not more particularly give a Specimen of the peculiar interest of Protestants in these grounds Pap. 7. pag. 126 127. by demonstrating the conformity of our Doctrine with that Scripture Hoc est corpus meum and of the dissonancy of the Romish Transubstantiation and Pap. 8. pag. 169. c. gave seven instances of the conformity of our Religion with Antiquity and the disagreement of theirs Did I not offer to do the like in other points of difference betwixt us would Jesuit Demster examine these But their old Fabius durst never come to an open Field for M. Demster's Obligation to impugne these grounds assigned by me I need say no more but that Paper 4. pag. 38. he undertook to do it and acknowledged it was incumbent to him as the Opponent unless it be said that Jesuits are so nimble that promises do not bind them Is it not a Noble simile whereby the Pamphleter would put a face upon so foul a business pag. 15. Tautologizing M. Demster as the Creditor frequently lemands payâ—ent of his debt and I as Debtor am said to answer his dewands only with stoâ—ies of late Wars and Forreign Leagues I pray by what Law do reâ—terated demands of payment by a pretended Creditor make another to be his Debtor Whom would not affronted Jesuits make their Debtors if by the importunity of their demands they could impose Obligations upon others Are Romanists no more concerned when their Transubstantiation half Communions Adoration of Images the Popes Infallibility Supremacy over the â—atholick Church and Secular Princes Purgatory Apocryphal Scriptures are confuted for these and such like were the points my Replics did run upon then in Exotick stories May not this Simile with more reason be inverted thus When Jesuit Demster alledged I was his Debtor I not only told the Allegation was false and therefore required him as he would not be held a Caviller to prove the Debt by Bond or otherwise which he could never do but also I charged him as being my Debtor for which I produced such Evidence as he could not control only as if Jesuits had an Art of paying their Debt by bold Assertions the had the confidence oft to say I was owing him and this procedure is justified by the Pamphleter Now whether M. Demster as Debtor or the Pamphleter as Procutor have discovered least sincerity others may judge It is further to be noted that the Pamphleter in that pag. 34. maintains that without an Infallible Judge of Controversies we cannot be assured either of the incorrupt writings or sincere Doctrine of Fathers or of the incorrupt Letter or genuine sense of Scripture by which with one dash he hath destroyed the whole Plagiary heap of Testimonies from Scripture and Antiquity which are raked together in his Pamphlet to which there can be no Faith given without the sentence of his Infallible visible Judge that is of the Pope for I know none else they have at present pretending to Infallibility there being no General Council at the time And Greg. de Valentia lib. 8. de Annal. fid cap. 7. puts the matter out of doubt Eadem saith he
est Authoritas Infallibilis quae Pontifici Romano quae Ecclesiae sive Conciliis tribuitur nam illa ipsa Authoritas quae in uno Pontifice residet Authoritas dicitur Ecclesiae Conciliorum that is it is the same Infallible Authority which is ascribed to the Pope and to the Church or Councils for the same Authority which resides in the Pope alone is said to be the Authority of the Church and of Councils So that hither the state of the Controversie betwixt us and Romanists is reduced whether the Popish Religion is to be believed to be the only true Religion because their Infallible Judge that is the Pope says so Is not this a goodly case to which Jesuits would reduce Christianity to make all Religion hang at the sleeve of an Usurping Pope Is not the Popish Cause desperate when they have no way to prove themselves to be in the right or us in the wrong but because their Pope a Party and Head of their Faction says so The Hinge then of all Controversies betwixt Romanists and us at least as managed by the Jesuited Party returns hither whether by the Verdict of the Pope as infallible visible Judge or by the holy Scriptures and conformity with the Faith of the Ancient Church we are to judge of the truth of Religion Protestants hold the latter our Romish Missionaries the former let Christians through the world consider whether what they or we say be more rational I am challenged pag. 24. as not having candour for saying that Quakerism is but Popery disguized But there is less candour in the Accuser for I only said if it were otherwise Learned and Judicious men were mistaken His frivolous Apologies are like to confirm these men in their Opinion for many of the Quakers Notions are undoubtedly Popish Doctrines such as that the Scriptures are not the principal and compleat Rule of Faith that a sinless perfection is attainable in time that men are justified by a righteousness wrought within them that good works are meritorious that Apocryphal Books are of equal dignity with other Scriptures that the efficacy of Grace depends on mans free will that real Saints may totally Apostatize that in dwelling concupiscence is not our sin until we consent to the lusts thereof c. If Quakerism were Puritanism in puris naturalibus as this Scribler doth rant how comes it that Quakers have so much indignation at these who go under the name of Puritans and so much correspondence with Romanists with whom before they could not converse Do not Non-Conformists abhor these fore-mentioned Quaker Tenets The differences at which he hints betwixt professed Papists and Quakers do at most prove that Quakerism is disguized Popery if there were no seeming difference there would be no disguize in the business Cannot Romanists chiefly Jesuits transform themselves into all shapes for their own ends Have not persons gone under the character of Quakers in Britain who have been known to be professed Priests Monks or Jesuits in France and Italy My self did hear a chief Quaker confess before famous Witnesses that one giving himself out for a Quaker in Kinnebers Family near Montross was discovered to be a Popish Priest and some Romanists in this place have confessed the same to me Yet the differences assigned by the Pamphleter betwixt Papists and Quakers signifie not very much when they are narrowly examined And first as to Women Preachers do not Papists hold Hildegardys Katherine of Sens and Brigit c. for Prophetesses Not to mention their Papess Joan or how they allow Women to Baptize as is defined in Concil Florent Instruct Armen As for their private Spirit I pray what other grounds hath the Romish infallible Judge to walk upon but Enthusiasms and pretended inspirations For Fathers and Scriptures according to them have not Authority antecedently to his Sentence As for Reformation by private persons the whole work of Quakers is to break the Reformed Churches which is a real deformation and a promoting of the Popish Interest and if there be secret Warrants from the Pope for that end for which there want not presumptions they have as great Authority as trafficking Popish Missionaries Quakers do not say as he alledges that they build on the naked Word if by the Word he mean the Scripture nay in this as in many other things they Romanize by denying the Scripture to be the compleat and principal Rule of Faith I am jealous both Papists and Quakers could wish there were not Scripture in the World Though Quakers seem to make light of Fathers and Councils yet they maintain these Tenets which Papists say are Authorized by Fathers and Councils At least a knack of Jesuitical equivocation will salve all By this time it may appear all he hath said doth not prove that Quakers are not carrying on a Popish design But of these things enough I now proceed to the more important Controversies CHAP. II. There is no necessity of an Infallible visible Judge of Controversies in the Church and consequently the Basis of the Pamphleters whole Discourse is overthrown IT is hard to say whether in handling this Question the Pamphleter in his Sect. 3. bewray more disingenuiâ—y or ignorance For pag. 33 34 35 36 37. more like a Histrionical declaimer than a Disputant He breaths out a most calumorous iâ—vectâ—ve against the Reformed Churches as if they robbed the Cathalick Church of all Judiciary Authority and set up a Law without a Judge Because forsooth they cannot subscribe to this erroneous Assertion of the necessity of an Infallible visible Judge whereby the Jesuited Party endeavour to justifie the Tyrannical Usurpation of the Pope of Rome Neither is this Assertion for which he pleads as the Doctrine of the whole Romish Church approved by all Romanists Nor do they who seem to approve of it agree among themselves who is that pretended Infallible Judge Moreover instead of bringing Arguments to confirm his Assertion from pag. 37. to 43. he rifles out of late Pamphlets a Farrago of Testimonies to prove that the Church cannot erre which as may anone also appear is a different conclusion from that now under debate And though none of these Testimonies when rightly understood do militate against the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches as Protestants have often demonstrated yet he does not examine what Protestants have replied concerning them Lastly Whereas he should have answered the Arguments propounded in the debate with M. Demster against the necessiâ—y of this Infallible visible Judge he frames to himself pag. 43 44 45 46 47. some other Objections which he endeavours to canvase So that I may say he combats throughout that Sect. 3. with a man of Straw of his own making and this is that imaginary Triumph in which our Romish Missionaries and their implicit Proselites have so vainly gloried For satisfaction therefore of the ingenuous lovers of Truth I shall first premise some things for unfolding the true state of the Question 2. Disprove
Council the same judgment is to be passed on them Arg. 9. If Popish Arguments be valid why the Scriptures cannot be the ground of Faith and terminate controversies of Religion then neither can the Sentences of Pope or Council whether taken separately or conjunctly For they may be retorted with equal force upon the definitions of Popes and Councils as shall God willing appear in the next Chapter It were easie to accumulate more arguments from Scripture Reason and Antiquity against this absurd position of Romanists concerning the necessity of an infallible visible Judge but I hope these may suffice who desiderate more I remit them to Whittaker controv 3. de concil q. 6. oâ—ntrov 4. de Pontif. q. 6. to Rivet Isagog cap. 20. to D. Barron Apodex cap. tract 5. cap. 5 6. c. to Chillingworth cap. 2 3. to the L. Falkland his Discourse together with H. H. Review of the Apology to D. Shirman again F. Johnson to D. Stillingfleet's Rational Account of the grounds of the Protestant Religion Part. 1. cap. 8. to M. Pool's nullity of the Romish Faith cap. 4. to Tomb's Romanism discussed in Answer to H. T. his Manual of Controversies Art 9. c. As for the arguments which the Pamphleter attributes to us from pag. 44. to 48. albeit he gives piteous Answers to divers of them yet because they are of his own framing and he adheres not to the Arguments propounded by me against M. Demster I thought not fit to blot Paper at the time in canvasing his Answers thereunto Infallibility is a specious notion but under pretence of an infallible Judge to draw Souls off from building their Faith upon the infallible Rule of holy Scripture to rest on the dictates of fallible and fallacious men is to overturn the very Basis of Christian Religion insomuch that Reverend Joseph Hall in his No Peace with Rome Sect. 5. on this very account asserts Reconciliation with Rome to be impossible I shut up this part of the Debate with the confession of M. Cressy a late Apostate to Popery Exomel cap. 46. Sect. 3. where he acknowledges the unfortunateness of the word Infallibility and professes he could find no such word in any Council that no necessity appeared to him that he or any Protestant should ever have heard that word named much less pressed with so much earnestness as of late it hath been generally in Disputations and in Books of Controversie and that M. Chillingworth combates this word with too much success and therefore he wishes that Protestants may never be invited to combate the Authority of the Church under that notion I know M. Cressy finding that the Jesuited Party were offended at this freedom made a kind of Retractation for this but how disingenuously and unfortunately is shewed by D. Tillotson in the Rule of Faith Part. 2. Sect. 4. pag. 131. SECT III. The Pamphleters Objections for the necessity of an Infallible visible Judge discussed IT now remains that I consider what seems to be of any moment in the Pamphleters Objections They may be reduced to two Heads 1. Scripture mistaken 2. Abused Authority of Fathers I shall take a little notice of both First then from Scripture in his Sect. 3. pag. 38. he scrapes together these testimonies Deut. 17.8 Mat. 18.17 Mat. 16.19 he should have said Mat. 18.28 20. 1 Tim. 3.13 he should have said 15. the Pillar and ground of Truth And to make his Progress seem compleat Was not saith he the Church Judge in Religion for the first two thousand years before any Scriptures were written To which I reply 1. That the Pamphleter seems to have forgot his Thesis Is he not to prove that there is an infallible visible Judge Ought he not then to make use of a medium the Faith whereof doth not depend upon the testimony of this infallible Judge Is not the Faith of the Scriptures their Divine Original the sincerity of the Translation and sense of the words grounded according to this Romanist upon the testimony of the infallible Judge What a jugling circulation then is this to prove the infallibility of the Judge by Scripture which according to them I cannot believe till first I subscribe to the infallibility of the Judge How have Becan Gretser Turnbul c. toiled to sweating to extricate themselves yet still they remain shut up in a circle believing the Scripture for the testimony of their infallible Judge and the infallibility of the Judge for the Scriptures as may appear by the arguing of this Circulator But secondly Doth not this miserable Pamphleter cut the throat of his own cause For pag. 39. he asserts That the Supreme Judicatory whose Infallibility is proved by these Scriptures is a General Council composed of all the Bishops and Pastors of the Church Now sure it is that there is no such General Council in the Church at present nor do Romanists alledge there hath been any these hundred years How impertinently then were these Scriptures brought to prove the actual existence of the infallible visible Judge or if the General Council be that Judge then it evidently follows that the Church may be without that Judge else General Councils should sit without intermission Thirdly The utmost that can be collected from these Scriptures is that Councils have Judiciary Authority that proper General Councils have Supreme Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction for decision of controversies of Religion and have peculiar promises of Divine Assistance for hitting on the right sense of Scripture especially in things that are necessary to Salvation providing they sincerely use the means appointed by God which Protestants do not deny If this were all intended by these Scriptures non infertur elenchus For hence it does not follow that Councils shall always be or that the major part in General Councils shall sincerely use the means appointed by God for finding out truth or that in their decisions they never shall deviate from truth far less that an Assembly of the Popes sworn Vassals such as were those that assembled at Trent are a lawful General Council or have either Jurisdiction over the whole Catholick Church or infallibility in their decisions Let all the Jesuits in Europe try if they can hammer out this conclusion out of any or all those Scriptures Fourthly Have not Learned Protestants a thousand times vindicated those Scriptures from the corrupt glosses of Romanists Ought not this Pamphleter had he intended to satisfie any judicious Reader have confuted the exceptions of Protestants against their Popish glosses But it seems our Missionaries do so brutifie the reason of their Profelites that they swallow down all their Dictates how irrational soever as infallible and unanswerable Oracles I will not trouble this Pamphleter to read large Volums rifling of Pamphlets appears to have been his greatest study I shall only remit him to M. Pool's short but judicious Tractate of the nullity of the Romish Faith where he will find all those Scriptures and many more to this purpose solidly
9 10. Thou shal observe to do according to all that they inform thee according to the sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee Learned Rivet in Cathol Orthod tract 1. q. 8. observes the place to be thus sensed by famous Authors in the Romish Church by Cajetan the Author of the Glossa Ordinaria Lyranus and Hierom Oleastrius and that Lyranus from the restriction according to the Law refutes that absurd gloss of the Jewish Rabbins that if the Judge should say that the right hand were the left and the left hand the right talis sententia est tenenda like to which is that forecited saying of Bell. lib. 4. de Pontif cap. 5. If the Pope command Vice and prohibit Vertue the Church were bound to believe Vice to be good and Vertue evil But we have not so learned Christ the Judge was to give sentence according to the Law or as Ezek 44.24 According to the Judgments of the Lord. I am not ignorant of the ordinary Cavil of Romanists that then the people were to judge of the sentence of the Sanedrim whether it were according to the Law I distinguish They were to judge of the sentence of the Sanedrim by an Authoritative Judgment it does not follow by a judgment of discretion in order to their own practise I grant This Romanists cannot deny unless they would devest the people of Reason and turn them into Bruits When Romish Missionaries labour to Proselite people to the Romish perswasion do they not labour to convince them that it 's more rational to believe their Church than to adhere to the Religion of Protestants Is not this to grant them a judgment of discretion How then can they condemn us for that which themselves allow Excellently said Clemens Alex. Stromat lib. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confess the Learned Grotius in loc will not have these words according to the Law to be restrictive yet he denies that from the place the infallibility of the Sanedrim can be concluded the scope of the Statute being not to enjoyn all to believe what the Sanedrim did Decree but only non contra agere non contra docere not to act or teach contrary to the sentence of the Sanedrim How warrantably he thus glosses is not my concern now to examine only it overturns the notion of infallibility But are we not commanded to hear the Church Mat. 18.17 Yes But does it therefore follow that the Church that is her Pastors assembled in a General Council cannot err in matters of Faith who would not smile at such an inference Are we not also commanded to hear not only the Catholick Church in her Oecumenick Councils but also in National or Provincial Assemblies yea and particular Pastors Luke 10.17 He that heareth you heareth me Yet Romanists I hope will not thence conclude either Provincial or National Assemblies let be particular Pastors infallible Can any Romanist prove that the Church Mat. 18.17 is only taken for a Pope or General Council Is there a Text in all the Bible where the Church signifies the Pope of Rome I appeal all the Order of Jesuits to instance it if they can Doth not the word Church in this Scripture comprehend all those Churches which cognosce of effences if therefore that Scripture furnish one argument for infallibility then the particular Churches of Scotland and England might claim infallibility as well as Rome Is it not evident from that context Mat. 18.17 that there we are commanded to hear and obey the Church in her Censures and yet Romanists cannot deny but in her Censures she may err and proceed clave errante because in her decisions of that kind she depends on humane testimony See Lombard lib. 4. sent dist 18. it 's manifest therefore nothing can be concluded thence as to infallibility But how then are we commanded to hear the Church Answ In so far as she adheres to her Commission the Rule of Gods Word and thus she cannot deceive us if she or an Angel from Heaven go beyond that Rule they are not to be heard Gal. 1.8 Yet lastly Giving and not granting that a General Council could not err what 's that to the Pope and his Schismatical Conventicles which have no more of a General Council praeter nomen inane But Matth. 16.18 The Gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Church I ask what Church if the invisible of the Elect then it touches not the question in hand concerning a visible Judge if the Catholick visible Church in her diffusive capacity then it 's yet from the purpose for as such she exercises no Juridical Power if the Catholick visible in her Representatives then he might as well conclude her impeccability as her inerrability for the Devil prevails over Souls by sins of practise as well as by errours in judgment But it 's confessed by all that impeccability of Councils cannot be concluded therefore neither inerrability I must remember him that his Fellow Jesuit Tirin as cited by Maresius controv 5. num 3. says it 's uncertain whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against which should be construed with the Rock or with the Church if it relate to the Rock then the words only affirm that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Rock upon which the Church is built which as Austin and many other Fathers expound is Christ himself yet granting that it were here said that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against the Church how can it be proved that when the Pope or the major part of a General Council is smitten with a lesser Doctrinal errour that the Gates of Hell prevails against the Church Hath he not heard the distinction that albeit in such a case the Gates of Hell valent yet non prevalent they hurt the Church but do not wholly overthrow the Church To conclude all that I suppose can be inferred from that Scripture is that the whole Catholick visible Church shall not err in Fundamentals Indeed if the whole diffusive did err in Fundamentals the Gates of Hell should prevail then the Church should be extinguished But to prove the inerrability of the Pope and his Council from this Scripture the Pamphleter may improve all the assistance Rome can give him in his next Reply But hath not Christ promised to his Church Mat. 28.20 Loe I am with you to the end of the world Answ If every one be infallible who have a promise that God will be with them then every Believer may claim infallibility because of the promise Joh. 14.23 Is the presence and assistance of Christ with every one in the same measure and degree wherein it was to be with the Apostles Is not the promise of the presence of Christ Mat. 28.20 conditionel Doth he not say Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and then Loe in so doing I am with you to the end of the world Hath not then the Church of Rome forfeited her
est via haec sed ruina si via tua est non illius Did not Christ by collating the Scripture cited by the Devil with another Deut. 6.16 demonstrate that the Devil did pervert the Scripture contrary to its sense and thereby did confirm the truth which the Jesuit here impugnes viz. that collation of Scripture with Scripture is one solid mean to find out the true sense of Scripture What though Hereticks for their Heresies do alledge Scriptures as would seem clear Is there not as great odds betwixt a Scripture seemingly clear and really clear as betwixt a Jesuits Sophism and a real demonstration May not all those perverfions of Scripture by Marcion tes Manichees c. be sufficiently cleared without the sentence of an infallible visible Judge Is it not apparent that it was an impious inference from Joh. 10.8 that Moses was a Thief or Robber seeing he was faithful in all the House of God as a servant Heb. 3.6 That place Joh. 10.8 pronounces them only Thieves and Robbers who run without a Mission from God as Austin expounds lib. 16. contra Faustum cap. 12. or that gave themselves out for the Messias such as Judas of Galilee and Theudas c. So Chrysost Cyril Theophil Enthym cited by à Lapide on the place none of which did Moses Is not the fancy of the Manicheans from Joh. 8.12 as impious and ludibrious Is not Christ God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 therefore as Austin said excellently Tract 34. in Joh. Est Lux quae faecit hanc lucem he is not the Sun but the Light which made the Sun As for that Tenet he charges upon the Waldenses they are vindicated from it by Learned Vsher de Christian Eccles success stat cap. 6. Edit 2. pag. 198. and by Perrin Hist of Walden lib. 1. cap. 4. Yea Alphonsus à Castro albeit he following the Drove accuse them of it yet confesses that Aeneas Sylvius in lib. de orig Bohemorum cap. 35. in reckoning out the errours of the Waldenses charges them with no such thing However surely that Position has no Foundation in that Text Exod. 20.13 For the Magistrate Rom. 13. bears not the Sword in vain and Scripture expresly injoyns the punishing of sundry Criminals capitally particularly Murtherers Numb 35.31 So that those impious glosses which Hereticks have put upon Scripture may be clearly confuted by Scripture if it were not so what could the Romish infallible Judge do What ground should he have upon which to pronounce this to be the sense of the place and not that which Hereticks pretend if the Popes definition be the only way to vindicate Scriptures from glosses of Hereticks why has he not given us a clear Commentary upon the whole Scripture As Hereticks wrest sentences of Scripture may they not wrest sentences of Popes or Councils They can bring no Objection against us which recoils not upon their own head He clamours pag. 61. that there may be many seeming contradictions in Scripture What then Ergo all things necessary to salvation are not clearly set down in Scripture or by firm consequence deducible from it Non sequitur There are not only seeming but real contradictions betwixt the definitions of their Popes and Canons of their Councils one Council decreeing that the General Council is above the Pope another decreeing that the Pope is above the Council and both approved by Popes for as the Lateran which did subject the Council to the Pope was approved by Leo the 10. so also was the Council of Constance which subjected the Pope to the Council approved and confirmed by Pope Martyn 5. Sess 45. but the holy Scripture is not Yea and Nay He objects ibid. That many things are believed by Protestants which are not in Scripture at all as Persons in the Trinity Sacraments in the Church the Command of keeping the Sunday Answ I would have apprehended the Pamphleter would have heard of Nazianzen's distinction Orat. 37. that quedam sunt in Scripturis quae non dicuntur quadam sunt dicuntur There are Points of Faith materially contained in Scripture though the words which the Catholick Church uses to explain these Mysteries be not there found Thus the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ are found in Scripture and luculently demonstrated thence against the Socinian though those words be not found in Scripture Did not the ancient Fathers demonstrate from Scripture the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father although the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not in Scripture It 's enough that the thing meant by the word Persons and Sacraments and a sufficient Warrant to keep the Lords day be found there Yea have we not the word Person Heb. 1.3 Who is the express Image of his Person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Albeit I be not ignorant of the Logomachies which were among Ancients concerning the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for the Command concerning the Lords Day besides other Warrants to observe it from the Scripture such as the practice of the Apostles the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revel 1.10 the Apostolick Injunction 1 Cor. 16.1 2. Has not Learned M. Caudrey demonstrated a preceptive Authority for it from the fourth Command in his Sabbatum Redivivum Part. 2. cap. 7. Part. 3. cap. 3. Part. 4. cap. 1. As for the Sacraments I hope the Inssitution of Baptism and the Lords Supper is clear in Scripture and other Sacraments we know none As for the definition of a Sacrament given by me in my tenth Paper against M. Demster at which here he snarles when he gets confidence to examine it he shall find it will abide the Test In fine could any Romanist solidly prove that any of the Articles of our Religion are not contained in Scripture I should ingenuously disown them It 's further objected pag. 6◠that many places of Scripture are flatly against Protestants and for Papists as Matth. 26.26 Jam. 2.24 2. Thes 2.13 yea he is bold to say that Protestants can never be able to bring one clear Scripture against any of their Tenets These be big words but splendid untruths Can we bring no clear Scripture against any Tenet of Popery Is not that Scripture clear against their Dry Communions Matth. 26.27 Drink ye all of it Is not that Scripture express against Purgatory Revel 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours If they rest from their labours then they labour not in the flames of Purgatory Is not that a clear Scripture against Image-worship Exod. 20.4 5. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing Thou shalt not bow down to them c. I know the Pamphleter says that this is a corrupt Version and that it should be rendred Idol not Image it being Pesel in the Hebrew But that is a corrupt evasion say I doth not the
him make what he will of D. Field's testimony dare Romanists own all the Assertions of Gerson Cajetan Cassander Clemanges Picherell Espencaeus c. who were famous men in the Latin Church if they dare they must condemn the present System of the Romish Faith if they dare not why then press they me with singular Assertions of D. Field or D. Taylor ought they not to deal as they would be dealt with Pag. 79. He cites a Relation of Rescius de Atheismo that in the space of 60 years there were 60 Synods all agreeing on the Scripture as the. Rule yet parted without concordance Answ If this be that Stanislaus Rescius mentioned by Possevin in apparat he appears by his Book entituled Ministro-Machia to be a malevolous person and consequently not worthy of credit But though the truth of the relation were admitted yet it derogates nothing from the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith it only speaks forth either the weakness of mens judgments or the strength of their passions Does not Nazianzen complain that in his time he had never seen the good issue of any Synod yet then the Controversie was not of the Rule of Faith but of material objects of Faith Though Romanists pretend to have advantages for terminating Controversies by their infallible visible Judge yet have they not been able to terminate the debates of Jesuits and Dominicans de gratia or of Franciscans and Dominicans concerning the Conception of the Virgin Mary or betwixt Molinists and Jansenists How many debates have been at the Court of Rome about these things and yet the dissentions are as wide as ever Themselves therefore must confess that the continuance of debates doth not always reflect upon the Rule of Faith but often flow from mens interests or prejudicate Opinions Towards the close of that page he cites a passage from Tertullian lib. de praescript which sounds very harshly That in disputing out of Texts of Scripture there is no good got but either to make a man sick or mad What if I should do as Bell. lib. 1. de Christo cap. 9. lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 8. and lib. 1. de Beat. Sanct. cap. 5. who rejects Tertullians testimony when it makes against him as of an Heretick and Montanist yet I will not be so brisk That Golden Book of Prescriptions was written by him before he turned Montanist And as Davenant says de Jud. controvers cap. 8. totus noster est is wholly for us for in it he overturns the Foundation of Popish unwritten Traditions namely that though the Apostles preached unto all things that are necessary to be believed yet there were some secret mysteries which they delivered only to some that were more perfect This Tenet now owned by Papists Tertullian charges upon Hereticks cap. 25 Confitentur Apostolos nihil ignorasse nec diversa inter se praedicasse sed non omnia volunt illis omnibus revelasse quaedam palam universis quaedam secreto paucis demandasse And in confutation of them cap. 27. he subjoyns Incredibile est vel ignorasse Apostolos plenitudinem praedicationis vel non omnem ordinem Regulae omnibus edidisse If you then ask what meant Tertullian by the words cited in the Objection Answ He is speaking of Hereticks who either did reject the Scriptures or did mutilate and corrupt them or did recur to unwritten Traditions and therefore immediately after the words cited by the Pamphleter Tertullian adds cap. 17. Ista Haeresis non recipit quasdam Scripturas si quas recipit adjectionibus detractimibus ad dispasitionem instituti sui invertit I confess there is little profit in arguing against such from Scripture We do not argue from Scripture against Infidels who deny Scripture Tertullian therefore is speaking of such Hereticks who are not to be admitted to Disputation which lib. 1. cont Marcion cap. 1. he calls Retractatur but with whom prescription is to be used Now Prescription signifies a Legal Exception whereby an Adversary is kept off from Litis-contestation Had Tertullian universally condemned arguing against Hereticks from Scripture as folly and madness he had convicted himself of this evil who argues so frequently from Scripture Yea lib. de carne Christi cap. 7. he is so peremptory as to say Non recipio quod extra Scripturam de tuo infers and lib. de Resur car nis cap. 3. Aufer Haereticis quae cum Etbnicis sapiunt ut de Scripturis solis quaestiones snas statuant stare non possunt Well might Tertullian who lived a little after the Apostles Appeal to the Doctrine of Apostolick Churches the Doctrine having been till that time preserved pure in them But now the case is greatly altered after the succession of so many Ages all these Apostolick Churches have been stained with Errours by the acknowledgment of the Roman except her self and others are ready to affirm no less of her and perhaps upon as solid ground Yet when Tertullian appeals to Apostolick Churches he enumerates cap. 36. the Churches of Corinth Philippi Thessalonica and Ephesus no less than the Roman so that he attributes no more Authority to her than to others Lastly pag. 80. after he had repeated what had been examined in the former Section that Religion was before Scripture He asks if Protestants be assured by Scriptures of what they believe why may not Romanists also seeing they likewise read Scripture pray and confer places are more numerous acute learned want Wives work Miracles and convert Nations Here be very big words Sesqui-pedalia verba But may not I first use retorsion thus Are Romanists perswaded from Fathers Councils or Traditions of what they believe Why then may not Protestants who read Fathers and Councils as well as they and search after those things which are conveyed by Universal Tradition and I hope Protestants are not contemptible either for number or learning though we do not restrict the Catholick Church to those who go under the denomination of Protestants and besides our Doctrinal principles have an eminent tendency to Holiness May not Jansenists and Dominicans say they submit their Doctrine to an infallible Judge as well as Jesuits that they read and consider the Bulls and Definitions of Popes as well as Jesuits why then should not they be as capable to find the true sense of these Bulls and Definitions as Jesuits Yea might not Heathens have used this Argument against the Ancient Apostolick Churches for the number of Henthens were greater and their Learning not inferiour nor wanted they pretended Miracles Doth not this retorsion discover the frothiness of these Topical Rhetorications But secondly these vain Clamours may be sufficiently confuted with that word of our Saviour Maith 11.25 and that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.20 Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this World And ver 26 27. Ye see your Calling Brethren how that not many wise men
have these men a face to challenge others of their divisions about the number of Fundamentals Had the Pamphleter considered the distinction betwixt credenda facienda petenda he would have seen these forementioned seeming difficulties among Protestants were not so hard to be reconciled If one said the Creed contains summum credendorum the Decalogue faciendorum and the Lords Prayer petendorum If some have reduced the Sacraments to an Article of the Creed inter credenda others to a Precept of the Decalogue inter facienda the contrariety is not so great as the Pamphleter would insinuate Neither do all Persons take the word Fundamental in the same restristive sense Hence Paraeus in Irenico cap. 29. after he had branched forth the Fundamentals into four heads the Decalogue the Creed Lords Prayer and Sacraments subjoyns in his ipsis tamen Capiâ—ibus ciserimen aliquod esse posse libenter etiam concesserimus nam alia aliis magis vel minus ad salutem sunt necessaria To reduce the Pamphleters disorderly discourse of Fundamentals into some method I shall briefly enquire into these eight things 1. Whether there be ground for the distinction of Fundamentals or Non Fundamentals or of Essentials and Integrals in Religion 2. Whether all Fundamentals be clearly contained in Scripture 3. Whether every thing which the Church imposes to be believed as an Article of Faith become on that very account a Fundamental 4. Whether there was a necessity of determining the precise number of Fundamentals for decision of the controversie betwixt Mr. Dempster and the Author 5. Whether the Popish Religion be injurious to the Fundamentals of Christianity 6. Whether the Waldensez Wicklevists and Hussites were of the same Religion as to Fundamentals with Protestants 7. Whether do the Greek Churches agree with Protestants as to Fundamentals 8. Whether the Religion of Protestants be openly against Gods Word and contrary to the Fundamentals of Christianity as the Pamphleter does alledge SECT I. Whether there be ground for the distinction of Fundamentals and Non-Fundamentals or of Essentials and Integrals in Religion THat there be no logomachy concerning the subject of the present Dispute I shall seek no other description of a Fundamental Verity in Religion than that which the Pamphleter gives page 90. It is saith he either that which makes us believe all the rest or without the express knowledge and beliefe thereof none can be saved Now this being the notion of Fundamental Truth I conceive it cannot be asserted rationally that all Truths of the Christian Religion are Fundamental If by Fundamental be understood that for which other Articles are to be believed then sure we must suppose there be other particulars which are believed for that As there is a formal Object and Rule of Faith so there are distinct material Objects of Faith If therefore a Fundamental and the formal Object or Rule of Faith which is the reason for which the rest are believed be one and the same then as many material Objects as there be in Christianity there be as many Non-Fundamentals If you take a Fundamental for that without the explicite belief whereof none can be saved I am sure likewise there be many Non-Fundamentals in Religion Else the Romish implicite Colliar and all who walk in his Footsteps as do the plurality of their Communion must be damned eternally If all Truths of the Christian Religion were of absolute necessity to Salvation and Fundamentals what meant the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.11 12. to distinguish betwixt the Foundation and Gold Silver and Precious Stones built thereupon There be then precious Truths built upon the Foundation which yet are not the Foundation Or what meant the Author to the Hebrewes cap. 6. v. 1. by that foundation of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith toward God when he is quickening them to pursue after other Truths If all Articles of Faith be Fundamental and the explicite belief thereof absolutely necessary to Salvation than who ever did live or die in any error of Religion were damned eternally What then should become of the believing multitude of whom said S. Austin lib. cont Epist Fundam cap. 4. Turbam non intelligendi vivacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit and so may be obnexious to many â—â—ours in Religion But what speak I of the Multitude What did become of all the Fathers who were leavened with the Millenary error of whom an account may be received from Sixtus Senensis lib. 5. Bibl. annot 233. and lib. 6. annot 347. or of the Fathers who denyed that the Souls of Just men are admitted to the beatifique Vission before the day of Judgement of whom a List may be had from Senensis lib. 6. Bibl. Annot. 345. What did become of Tertullian Cyprian Firmilian Deny's of Alsxandria who maintained rebaptization What became of Austine Innocent the 1. and others who as Maldonat witnesses in John 6.53 affirmed the Eucharist was necessary to the salvation of Infants Were all these Fathers damned eternally Surely either the points about which they erred were not Fundamental or these Errors have damned the Fathers of the Church eternally Do we not know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 Who can understand his Errors Psal 19.12 If every Error did plunge men into Damnation who then could be saved I know the ordinary reply That the Church then had not explicitely declared against these Errors and therefore though the Errors concerning the Millenium the exclusion of Saints from the Beatifique Vision Rebaptization the necessity of the Eucharist be Heresies now in regard of of the declaration of the Church yet were not in the dayes of the Fathers This supposes another absurd Error which I hope Sect. 3. to confute viz. That the declaration of the Church makes points to be Fundamental and consequently the basis falling the Superstructure cannot stand At present I onely argue thus if these points be Fundamental now which were not in the dayes of the Fathers than the Christian Religion is not the same now which it was nor make we up one Catholick Church with them Their Religion and ours differing in Essentials If the Roman Church be that Catholique Church whose declaration makes Articles Fundamental did not she and Stephen the Bishop of Rome declare explicitely against S. Cyprian in the point of Rebaptization It should therefore follow that St. Cyprian and the rest who joyned with him had erred Fundamentally Yet the Catholick Church holds them for Saints for Firmilian is Sainted in the Calendary of the Greek Church and Cyprian in the Diptychs both of the Eastern and Western Church And therefore these errours notwithstanding of the Church of Romes Declaration were not Fundamental It 's a disingenuous evasion of Bell. lib. 4. de Pont. cap. 7. to say that Pope Stephen though he witnessed his dislike with Cyprians Opinion of Rebaptization yet never declared it an errour contrary to Faith How then did Stephen not only threaten them who persisted in it with Excommunication
there be a daily propriatory sacrifice in the Mass if there be a Purgatory for expiating sins of just men if there be merit of good works then Christ has not fully satisfied for all the fins of the elect nor fully merited eternal life to us Thus as Romanists do in directly overturn the soveraignity of princes by ascribing to the Pope a dominion over them in ordine ad spiritualia so also they overturn indirectly the Fundamentals of Religion by a super-addition of new Fundamentals SECT VI. Were the Waldenses Wicklevists and Hussits of the same religion as to Fundamentals and Essentials with Protestants BEcause I maintained the affirmative the Pamphleter pag. 94.95 c. writs one invective against me But he might have known that this is no singular notion of mine the same being asserted by the learned Vsser de success eccles Cap. 6. Voet. desper caus Pap. lib. 3. Sect 2. Cap. 9. Morney myster iniqui pag. 730. edit 2. Flaccus Illiric catal test Verit. col 1498. c. edit Salmurien anno 1608 Dr. Francis Whyt in his reply to Jesuit Fisher pag. 105.130.139 Prideaux praelect de visib eccles Sect. 11. printed anno 1624. Hottinger hist eccles saeculo 12 Sect. 5. Cade Justif of Church of England lib. 2. Cap. 1. Sect. 3. Birbeck Protestants evidence Cent. 12. Paul Perrin in his History of the Waldenses Samuel Morland in his history of the evangelical Churches in the valleys of Piemont and by many others which were here tedious to relate The harmony as to substantials of Religion betwixt these witnesses of truth and the Protestant Churches the author mentioned have copiously confirmed both by the confessions and by the Apologies of the Waldenses and Bohemians and by the testimonies of learned Romanists particularly of Thuan Guicciardin Surius yea of Cochlaeus Bell. Gretser c. Hath not Voetius loc cit Sect. 4. shewed that the confession of Faith set forth by the Bohemians and Hussits was approved by Luther Melanchton Bucer Musculus and the University of Wittenberg that Wendelstin one of Luthers first adversaries pronounced the Lutherans novos Germanos Waldenses and that Jesuit Gretser called the Waldenses And Albigenses Calvinianorum atavos the Calvinists Progenitors Yea Pope Leo. 10. in his letter to Frederick Duke of Saxony recorded by Sleidan Comment lib. 2. sayes expresly of Luther quod Wickleffi Hussi Bohemorum haereses antea damnatas resuscitet That he revived the old condemned heresies of Whickleff Huss and of the Bohemians Certain it is that the remains of the Waldenses in France are incorporated to the protestant Churches But why should I resume what the forcited Authors have so largely demonstrated viz. that Lutherans derived their doctrin from Hussits and Hussits from Wicklevists and Wicklevists from Waldenses Mr. Perrin and Morland make mention of many of the ancient writings of the Waldenses which hold forth the conformity of their Doctrins with the Doctrins of Protestants particularly one written anno 1120. entituled What thing is Antichrist another about the same time entituled The dream of Purgatory and a third as ancient as the other two entituled The cause of our separation from the Church of Rome I shall only desire thee Reader to ponder the Articles of doctrine which were charged on the Waldenses either as related by the Magdeburgians cent 12. Cap. 8. Col. 1206.1207 or by Reginaldus in Calvino Turcismo lib. 2. Cap. 5. So virulent an adversary that modest Vsher calls him Turco-papista or as they are rehersed out of Aeneas Sylvius afterward Pope Pius 2. by Bishop Vsser and Voetius and than Judge whether in substantialls they agree with Protestants I exhibit only a few of them 1. That the Scripture is the compleat rule of Faith 2. That the reading of the holy Scriptures ought to be granted to all ranks of persons 3. That there is no purgatory but that departed Souls go immâ—diately either to Eternal torments or Eternal joyes 4. That it s in vain to pray for the dead that being but one artifice to satisfie the avarice of Priests 5. That the Pope of Rome hath no supremacy over the Churches of Christ 6. That Messes are impious yea that its a fury to celebrate them for the dead 7. That the Sacrament of the supper ought to be given in both kinds 8. That its Idolatry to invocate and religiously adore departed Saints 9. That the Images of God and Saints ought to be destroyed 10. That confirmation and extream unction are not to be held among the Sacraments of the Church 11. That auricular confession is not necessary 12. That oyle ought not to be mingled with water in the administration of Baptism 13. That the consecration of holy water and palm crosses are ludibrous 14. That its improfitable to implore the necessity and suffrages of departed Saints 15. That saying of Canonick hours is but a trifling of time 16. That the order of begging Friers were invented by the devil 17. That the Romish Synagogue is the whore of Babylon these and diverse other Articles of their doctrin are collected out of the forcited authors by Vsser Cap. 6. Sect. 17.18 Now whether they who believed the ancient Creeds and assented to the decrees of the first 4. general Councils and maintained these particulars did not agree with Protestants in the substaâ—â—tials of Faith Let those judge who know the doctrine of Protestants But sayes the Pamphleter pag. 94. If I look upon them as being of the same religion as to substantials with us then I should justifie the erroneous and unchristian epinions which the Authentick records of those times testifie they did maintain Answer the contradictions of those records to one another in the particulars charged on the Waldenses have given just occasion to learned Protestants to convict those records of falshood and to vindicate the Innocency of the Waldenses see this prolixly done by Vsher-lib cit cap. 6. from â— 19. to the end Voet. disp causa papatus lib. 3. Sect. 2. cap. 9. at also Hottinger and Birbeek in the places forcited did I not in my tenth paper against Mr. Dempster pag. 130. bring in Paradius in hiâ— Annals of Burgundy and Gerrard in his french History testifying that impious opinions were maliciously imposed on them quod vitia corruptelas principum liberius repraehenderent should I then justifie what themselves did not justifie Neither does my assertion oblige me to maintain any of their real errors Is it any wonder that they living in so dark a time did not discover so clearly as we all the errors of Popery Have I not often told there may be unity in fundamentals where there are differences as to integrals But sayes the Pamphleter I should prove that those Sects were the Catholick Church spread through the whole World and that their doctrine had succession from the Apostles times It may be answer sufficient to remember my adversary that Protestants never affirmed that they who went under the name of the Waldenses were the whole
lib. 3. Sect. 2. Cap. 8. observes that the more knowledge the Oriental Churches and those in the Western part of Europe have of the estate of one anosher the more the alienation of the Greek Church from the Roman and their affection to Protestants doth appear and particularly in that they do yearly excommunicate the Roman Church but not the Protestant Churches D. Hornbeck insumma contrev lib. 11. de Graecis pag. 977. regates passionately that there is no more correspondence betwixt Protestant Churches and the Greek Church by which these afflicted Christians might be strengthened under their tentations and we better understand the state of the Oriental Churches But this I hope at the time shall suffice for the agreement of our Church with the Grecian in substantials of Religion SECT VIII Whether the doctrine of Protestants in all points of Controverste be openly against God and his written word as the Pamphleter affirms and so contrary to the Fundamentals of Religion THis the Pamphleter boldly asserts and undertakes to prove pag. 106. but his bold undertaking is seconded with weak and Childish performances If Scripture be so clear to determine all points of controversie betwixt us to what purpose were all his Cavills Concerning an infallible visible Judge the corruption of originals the unfaithfulness of translations the obscurity and ambignity of the sense of Scripture the insufficiency of means of interpretation c. Is a Jesuit so nimble that he can transform himself into all shapes that he can fight against Scripture at his pleasure Is not this an usual fate that attends error to be inconsistent with it own self Sorex suo Judicio In the general I say as to all the Scriptures he perverts there is not one of them but Protestants have a thousand times vindicated from the detorsion of Romanists Many of them are most foolishly applyed and questions betwixt Papists and us are either perversly or ignorantly misrepresented I Nauseat to examine such childish stuff yet lest I should only confute him with contempt I overly touch particulars 1. Then he sayes pag 106. we protest against the goodness of God in saying God created some for Hell independently from their works contrary to 1 Tim. 2. 2 Pet. 3. If he mean that Protestants do say that God appointed to Damn any to Hell though they should never be guilty of sin he calumniates us egregiously Never Protestant taught that any should be damned to Hell but for sin Did not the Council of Dort art 1. can 7. make the object of predestination hominem lapsum i. e. Man in his fallen estate How then could he say that Protestants affirm that God creats men for Hell independently from sin Did ever Protestants say more then that Scripture Prov. 16.4 God has Created the Wicked for the day of evil As for that text 1 Tim. 2. knew he not that Austin in Enchirid Cap. 103. expounded it de generibus singulorum of men of all ranks not of all individuals of mankind And the other place 2 Pet. 3.9 not willing that any should perish is restricted in the very Text to the Elect the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a reference to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus he is long suffering towards us not willing that any namely of us the Elect should perish But do not Jesuits Pelagianize while they make the decree of Election to be founded on the prescience of our good works which Scripture makes a fruit of Electing love Ephes 1.4 Do they not overthrow the omnipotency of God by attributing to him inefficacious wills How is it that all are not saved if he willed all to be saved Does he not in Heaven and Earth whatever pleases him Psal 135.3 2. He sayes ibid we protest against the mercy of God saying Christ dyed not for all contrary to 1 Cor. 13. He should have said 15. The Pamphleter might have known that Protestants do not exclude from the Reformed Churches the learned Camero Amyrald Capellus Dallaeus who with many others especially in the French Church assert universal redemption But if it were fair to load an adversary with all the consequents which follow from his principles though he do not see the connexion betwixt them It might perhaps with more reason be said that Jesuited Romanists do impeach both the Justice and mercy of God affirming the most of them to be damned Eternally for whom Christ dyed contrary to lucâ—lent Scripture Rom 8.34 who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed Is it not the work of Jansenius lib. 3. de gr Chr. serv cap. 20. to evict the opinion of universal Redemption to be repugnant to the doctrine of the Ancient Church particularly of St. Augustin will it not be hard to reconcile the opinion of Univerâ—alists with that saying of S. Austin epist 102 ad Evod. Non perit â—nus ex illis pro quibus Christus est mortuus i. e. Not one doth perish for whom Christ dyed The Scripture cited by the Pamphleter is most impertinently alledged 1 Cor. 15.22 As in Adam all dyed so in Christ shall all be made alive If the all there were universally to be understood for every one of mankind it would follow that all mankind should have eternal Life and be saved eternally which none but an Origenist can affirm Therefore that all is to be understood only of all them whom Christ the second Adam did represent viz. the elect not of all mankind 3. pag. 107. he sayes we protest against the Justice of God saying that God punishes us for what me cannot do contrary to Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget their work A pertinent disputant indeed That Scripture speaks of Gods rewarding good works which Protestants deny not but of Gods punishing the want of good works which we could not do it speakes not at all A Sophister ought at least to have a shew of pertinency As to the thing it self never Protestant affirmed that God damned any for meer inability but such is the pravity of our Nature that with our inability to do good oftentimes we joyn a voluntary neglect of good works Joh. 5.40 ye will not come to me that ye may have Life and for this it is that the sinner is damned ought he not to know what his adversary maintaines who undertakes so confidently to oppugne him 4. Ibid. He sayes we protest against the wisdome of God saying that God obliges us to things impossible whereas 1 Joh. 5.3 his commands are not heavy We do not say that God commands any things simply impossible Any impossibility that is we have contracted it sinfully in the loyns of our first Parents and so God is not to be blamed for it This accidental impossibility to keep the Law perfectly Scripture frequently holds out Rom. 8.3 that which the Law could not doe in that it was weak through the flesh ver 8. they that are in the flesh cannot please God Joh. 12.39 they could not believe Matth. 7.8
Thes 2.7 and the mystery of the whore Babylon Revel 17.5.7 must also be Sacraments but doth not the Apostle Signify what it is he means by that mystery Ephes 5.32 when he Subjoyns I Speake of Christ and the Church what need I more Seing I brought in my last against Mr. Dempster there own great Cardinall Cajetan confessing that from this place it doth not follow that Matrimony is a Sacrament But if he had not been smitten with Mr. Dempsters tergiversing Disease he had never wholly overleaped what I objected against this and the rest of their five spurious Sacraments if he have any Candor it s expected in his next he will reply not only to these hints but also to what was objected in my last By all this I hope it appears that the Doctrine of the Protestant Churches concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and concerning the number of Sacraments remains unshaken what unity Romanists can pretend to in this question of the number of Sacraments I leave to be gathered from these two Testimonies The first shall be of Greg. de Val. the Jesuite lib. de num Sacr. cap. 3. 7. Some Catholicks saith he denies Matrimony others Confirmation and others extream Vnstion to be univocally a Sacrament The other of Cassander Consult art 13. apud authores saith he Paulo vetustiores inter Sacramenta proprie dista nunc duo ponuntur nunc tria Baptismus Ewharistia Confirmatio non temere quenquam reperies ante Lembardum qui certum aliquem definitum nunierum statuerit de his septem non omnes quidem Scholastici aeque proprie Sacramentum vocabant CHAP. VI. Whether Protestant Churches do grant that the Visible Church was not always preserved and that for 1400. years before Luther Popery was the only prevailing Religion IT may seem strange that I should be put to Debate this question having so often appealed Mr. Dempster to try the Truth of Religion not only by its conformity with the holy Scriptures but also with the Faith of the ancient Church But so evil natur'd is this Ghost of Mr. Dempster that as if I were too narrow a Mark for his reviling genius he spends one entire Section from pag. 125. to 129. in a calumnious representation of the Protestant Churches as if the more ancient Protestants had affirmed that the Visible Church had perished from the days of the Apostles and that the only prevailing Religion for 1400. years before Luther had been Popery For this end he has scraped together out of his common Place-Books a multitude of broken shreds from Protestant Authors from which he deduces sundry absurd inferences of which the Authors never once dreamed how desperate must the Romish Cause be when they cannot impugne us but by misrepresenting us and charging upon us Tenets which they know we condemn Yea though we disown them yet they will still impose them upon us When they thus sport with their own Shadows do they not gallantly confute the Protestant Religion To assoyle therefore the Protestant Churches in this matter and to demonstrate that our Adversaries play but the Sycophants these ensuing observations may be noticed And first the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches is not to be measured by the sentiments of private Doctors of what fame soever but by their solemn Confessions of Faith long ago published to the world purposely to prevent such misrepresentations The harmony whereof in the substantials of Faith penned by men of so many different Nations under no common jurisdiction and of so different complexions as to other things is next to a miracle and may be sufficient to confute the pretended necessity of an infallible visible judge But in this present debate the Adversary brings not one Sentence out of these Confessions but only from the writings of private Doctors yea some of them not only of small account but also disowned by the more judicious as being no Protestants at all Would Romanists be content that we hold the Sentiments of their most famous Doctors such as Cajetan Durandus Gerson Ferus c. much more of these who have apostatized from them for the Doctrine of their Church Why then deal they with us by other measures then they would be dealt with themselves Secondly much less are broken shreds from Protestant authors violently detorted contrary to their known judgment in other their writings to be taken for the standard of the Reformed Religion Yet such are most of the Testimonies which Breerly Knot H. T. c. and this filching Pamphleter who licks up their excrements doe make use of in this question Did Dr. John White Whitaker Chillingworth Calvin Jewel Chemnitius the Centurists c. maintain that there were none that professed the Religion of Protestants from the days of the Apostles until Luther or that Popery was the only Prevailing Religion for 1400. Years before Luther Nay on the contrary doth not Dr. John White in his way to the Church sect 17. Peremptorily affirm that this faith which we professe hath successively continued in all ages since Christ and was never interrupted not so much as one year moneth or day Doth not Chillingworth c. 5. sect 9. when he is pondering such Testimonies of Jewel Naper Brocard c. as are cited by the Pamphleter declare they never meant that the visible Church had totally failed but only from its purity Doth not Whitaker Controv. 2. c. 5. q. 7. expresly affirm That we can prove out of the Fathers our Doctrine to have been in the Church in all these ancient ages Doth he not a little after charge Bellarmine as belying Calvin and the Centurists as if when they charged the Fathers with these errors mentioned by this Pamphleter viz. Limbo freewill and merit of good works as if I say they had charged these on all the Fathers and on all the Church none of which they ever meant saith Whitaker Sure I am Chemnitius pag. 200. at least in that Edit I have Genev. 1641. says not as the Pamphleter alleadges viz. that most of the Fathers did avouch Invocation of Saints But on the countrary affirms pag. 634. that for 350. years after Christ there was no Invocation of Saints in publica praxi Ecclesiae and that the first rise of it was about the year 370. in Nazianzen in Basils Panegyricks by Rhetorical Apostrophes and that also with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far were they from maintaining it to be an article of Faith It were tedious to go through all amongst all these testimonies cited by the Pamphleter there will not one be found who affirm that Popery was the prevalent Religion for 1400 years before Luther except Sebastian Frank whom Dr. Francis Whyte in the defence of Dr. John White against T. W. pag. 324. declares to be an Anabaptist an unlearned malapert hot spur Chemnitius as the same Author testifies calls him hominem petulantem indoctum Did ever Protestants acknowledge that the body of the
dayly Sacrifice omne aliud publicum officium cultus divini So Tirin the Jesuit and before him Bell lib. 3. de Pont. cap. 7. If then Scripture Fathers Papists use as broad expressions concerning the prevailing of error why are the expressions of Protestants so Rated Consider sixthly that though it be granted that there were errors in the Church yet it doth not follow that the whole body of Popery as now it is was acknowledged to be always there as this impudent Pamphleter would infer Pag. 136. that all the Articles in Pope Pius confession of Faith were owned by Councils and Fathers of the first three ages Yea and he is bold to say that heerupon I am bound to turn Papist Let any man squeez his whole Book and if he have evicted that noe Father or ancient Council maintained the whole Systeme of the present Romish Faith I will be a Romanist I cannot but have their Religion in greater abhorrency when I see that they have no other way to support it but by manifest calumnies and such inconsequential discourses some Fathers erred in some things as is acknowledged both by Romanists and Protestants therefore the whole present Romish Religion was owned by Councils and Fathers in the first three ages a most ludibrious inconsequence The mistery of iniquity wrought but by degrees the Papacy came never to its full subsistency till the Council of Trent there be particulars there enacted as Articles of Faith which never were so before Verily Popery is nothing but a complex of innovations brought in by peece meal What is the scope of Flaccus Illiricus his Catalogus testium veritatis but to give an account of the witnesses of truth in all ages since Christ as any Popish error did creep in and appear in the Church What is the scope of Vsser his tractat de success Eâ—lefiarum in occidente but to shew the continuance of the Religion which Protestants profess in all ages though Popish errors in progress of time were still abroaching What should I speak of Morney's Mysterium iniquitatis of Voetius his desperata causa papatus of Mortons appeal Prideaux de visibilitate Ecclesiae Moulin de novitate Papismi c. All which and many more have made it their work to demonstrate the perpetuity of that Religion which Protestants profess notwithstanding what ever corruptions in the Church and have convicted the Romish Church of manifold innovations And therefore in my tenth Paper against Mr. Demster I desired him to shew me where the present Romish Religion was before the Council of Trent But this the Phamphleter never touches as if he were deaf upon that Eare. He only brings some broken testimonies from this or that ancient to give some plausible colour sometime to one and sometime to another of their Popish tenets and therein he often prevaricats also but he never shews that the whole complex of their Religion as now it stands was before the Council of Trent far less always From these six considerations I suppose it may evidently appear how sophistically this Pamphleter and others of his Fellows do misrepresent Protestants as to this matter I shall shut up this discourse with two testimonies one from learned Mr. Hooker another from Bellarmin The judgment of Protestants as to this case is excellently delivered by Mr. Hooker lib. 3. of Eccles pol. pag. 86. Papists saith he aske us where our Religion did lurk before Mr. Luther as if saith he we were of opinion that Luther did erect a new Church Now the Church of Christ which was from the beginning continueth to the end of which Church all parts have not been equally sincere and sound The other shall be of their own Bellarmin lib. 3. de Eccles milit cap. 13. It s to be noted saith he that many of ours do but loss time when they labour to prove that the Church cannot absolutely fail for Calvin and the rest of the Hereticks so he is pleased to design us do grant it Page 130. He has two reflexions upon my appeal to the Fathers of the first three Centuries wherein he imagins he has discovered some acutness But they are but spongious bulrushes and already confuted yet I shall mention them 1. he enquires why I appeal to the Faith of the Church in the first three ages more then in after times Was her Doctrin then purer her condition more Flourishing or her Authority then greater He may find the same objection answered in my Paper 7. against Mr. Dempster from pag. 130. to 135. and paper 10th pag. 215.216 It seems this man is not acquainted with the writings of the more Learned Jesuits for Greg. de Val. in 3. part disp 1. q. 1. punct 6. disputes this question at length Whither they who lived next to the Apostles did not eo plenius divina mysteria nosse understand more fully Divine Mysteries then others of after-times and concludes the affimative tracing the foot steps of Aquinas their Angelike Doctor Now therefore only in a word I say that though the Churches Authority was not then greater nor her condition as to outward prosperity so flourishing yet then her Doctrin was more pure and she flourished more in Holiness then had she aureos Sacerdotes though ligneos calices Is it any wonder that a stream run purer the nearer to the Fountain When hath the truth of Doctrin the beauty of holiness shined more then when the Church has been labouring in the Furnance of fiery presecution Told I not expresly paper 10. pag. 216. that I never intended to restrict this enquiry to those ages alone only pleading to begin at them but this Romanists would willingly decline All their seeming advantages are from the more corrupt times of the Church They aske where our Church was before Luther which has been often sufficiently cleared But we aske at them where their Religion was in the first three ages and much lower also which never was yea never will be sufficiently cleared Take their Religion as it is set forth by Pius quartus confession of Faith and in the Council of Trent and let all the Jesuits upon the face of the earth find it out in the first three ages of Christianity if they can How far the broken fragments which this Pamphleter filches from his Fellows are from performing this work shall I hope be seen in Gap 7. The second reflexion is If I appeal to the Faith of the Church of the first three ages then I must acknowledge one infallible visible Judge Answer I deny the sequel was it to any representative of the first three ages which I did appeal Is it not acknowledged that in the first three ages from that Council at Jerusalem Act. 15. there was no general Council which together with a Pope is made by this Pamphleter the infallible Judge Was it not to the Faith of the diffusive Catholike Church to which I did appeal to which neither Papist nor Protestant ascribes a juridical
power But the diffusive Church has a promise of perpetuity and Consequently that the essentialls of Faith shall be preserved in her If therefore the Faith of the ancient Catholike Church may be known by it the Faith of the present Church may be tryed Yet I ever made it but a secundary rule the holy Scriptures being the chief test but of this I treated more at large Paper 7. Pag. 231 232.233.234 Page 136. he says that I affirm that papists agree with us in all our positive tenets it seems Romish missionaries are so habituated in lying that they can hardly speak truth I never either spoke or thought so Papists are injurious to the truth not only by addition but also by substraction Do they not substract the cup in the Sacrament Do they not substract the substance both of Bread and Wine leaving only a specter of accidents to remain in the Sacramental Symbols Do they not deny the perspicuity of Scriptures and that all sins of their own nature merit eternal damnation c. in all which they hold the negative and we the affirmative The observe which he subjoyns that all cheif Heresies for most part consisted in negatives Is ludibrious all for the most part is all and not all But have not gross Hereticks maintained positive errors as Manichees duo principia Tritheits three Gods the Nestorians two persons in Christ John of Constantinople that himself was universal Bishop c. Is he not so ridiculous in reckoning the negatives of Hereticks that as would seem he could not distinguish betwixt an affirmative and a negative Among negative Hereticks he reckons the Nostorians whose Heresy consisted in a positive ascribing two persons to Christ and the Marcionits for maintaining that Baptism should be reiterated Is not rebaptization a positive Papists maintain seven Sacraments should others maintain twice seven were they not Heretical Papists add Apocrypha Books to the Old Testament If others added the evangells of Thomas and Nicodemus to the New Testament were they not Hereticks Papists say dulia should be given to Saints should others assert the lawfullness of Latria to them were they not Hereticks There may therefore be Heresy in positives But what though all Hereticks maintained negatives which yet is false doth it therefore follow that all who maintain negatives are Hereticks Is a Syllogism in 2da figura ex omnibus affirmantibus good Though it were so the Papists could not clear themselves from Heresy for they also differ from us in negatives This only in passing to shew the ludibrious quibling of Sophisticating Jesuits CHAP. VII The Truth of the Religion of Protestants evicted by the Conformity thereof with the faith of the Primitive Church in the first three Ages and the falshood of the present Romish Religion from the disagreement thereof with the Faith of these Ages THere being but one Faith Ephes 4.5 or one true Christian Religion which undoubtedly was conserved in as great purity by the Church in the first three Ages as in any other time consequently among the many pretenders to Religion in these days their Religion must only be true which agreeth in essentials with the Faith of the Catholick Church in those Ages and that surely must be a false Religion which is discrepant in Essentials from that primitive Faith Whereupon I subsume but so it is that the Religion of Protestants doth agree in Essentials with the Faith of the Catholick Church in those times and the present Romish Religion doth certainly disagree Therefore the Religion of Protestants is the true Christian Religion and the Popish Religion is false and impious The evidence of the first proposition is so clear that the Pamphleter in a peculiar Section from pag. 139. labours to justifie the present Romish Faith by some abusive Pretexts of Antiquity as if the Fathers of those Ages did clearly speak for them and against Protestants in all the chief controverted points It remains therefore that I prove the Assumption In order to which I only premise that a Religion may differ from that ancient Faith in Essentials or in points necessary to Salvation two ways viz. Either by denying some Articles of faith which she held as necessary or by coyning others as necessary which she held not This premised For evicting the conformity of our Religion as to all Essentials with the Faith of the Catholick Church in the first ages it be sufficient to renew to all Romanists my appeal made to Mr. Dempster pag. 4. pag. 54. to instance one Essential of Faith wherein we differ from the Christian Church in those Ages that is to pitch upon one Article held as absolutely necessary by the Catholick Church of those times and denied by the Reformed Churches or one Article which the Reformed Churches hold as absolutely necessary and those ancient Churches held not If we may judge of what other Romanists can say as to this matter by the ten Instances which the Pamphleter from pag. 139. has scraped together from their common Place Books I hope the ensuing examination of them shall discover more the consonancy of our Religion with the ancient Christian Religion and the dissonancy of the Romish Religion Or if we measure the Essentials of the ancient Christian Faith by the ancient Creeds and Confession of Faith these being drawn up as tests to distinguish them of the Church from others which as is supposed by learned Divines would not answer their end if they did not contain the Articles which the Church in those days held as necessary Then surely the Protestant Churches do agree with the ancient Church in all Essentials of Faith For all the Reformed Churches do cordially own all the ancient Creeds and Confessions of the Primitive Churches not only in the first three ages but also much lower such as the Apostolick the Antiochian Nicen Constantinopolitan Athanasian as also these of Ephesus and Chalcedon neither have the Protestant Churches made a super-addition of new essential Articles unknown to the Primitive Church in those times Nay so clear are Reformed Churches in this matter that we appeal all the Enemies of the Reformed Religion to try our conformity to the ancient Christian Church in all Essentials with the most rigid discuss that is imaginable But on the other hand the disconformity of the present Romish Faith with that ancient Catholick Faith may be obvious to any by comparing those ancient Creeds with the present Popish Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth in which a multitude of Articles are super-added such as the Septenary number of Sacraments the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass Transubstantiation Purgatory Innovation of Saints Adoration of Images and Reliques the power of Indulgences the Magisterial Supremacy of the Church and Pope of Rome over the whole Catholick Church yea and all the Articles of the Council of Trent are concluded as necessary to Salvation Which certainly are not to be found in any of the ancient Creeds Nay the Roman Creed subjoyns these to the
woman is said to have crected at Caesarea Philippi It s true Euseb speaks thereof â—â—b 7. cap. 14. But it is true that its long since the faith of that Relation was questioned by the authour of the work which goes under the name of Charles the great lib. 4. cap. 15. and not withprobable reasons Is it not strange that none of the Evangelists nor Irenaeus nor Justin Martyr nor Tertul. nor Origen should make mention of that statue or that miraculous herb How could that woman who spent all her living on Physicians be able to erect these brazen statues is it probable that Heathens would suffer such monuments of Christ to stand 300. years undemollished That there were statues at Caesarea cannot rationally be doubted seeing Euseb does testify he saw them but there is cause to question whether they were built by that woman or that one of them was Christs and the rather seeing Euseb brings no certain author for it but a rumour Finally granting she had erected that statue to Christ yet Euseb says not that it was worshiped nay he affirms it was erected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an heathenish custome Protestants doe not deny but there were portraitures of Christ and Apostles in those dayes as Euseb there doth witnes but Euseb is so clear from asserting that they wer used in Churches as objects of Religion adoration that in the Second Nicen Councell Act. 6. he is brought in testifying to Constantia the Empress against the making of the Image of Christ had it not then been the Pamphleters wisdom to have held his peace of Eusebius He is as unadvised in mentioning Austin l. 1. de consensu evangel cap. 10. for there he condemns them who study Christ non in Sanctis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus His story of the Image made by Nicodemus is an evident fiction and the book out of which it is taken de passione imaginis Christi attributed to Athanasius is supposititious as is proved by Cocus Pag. 93.95 and seems to be forged by Image worshippers about the time of that Idolatrous Second Nicen Council yea Bell. de scripâ— Ecel in Athan. confesses it not to be written by Athanasius but in the eight Century when the controversy about Image worship was in agitation That Image of the Virgin Mary said to be drawn by Luke appears likewise to be fabulous there being no authour making mention thereof until Euagrius about the end of the sixt Century the Apostle Paul calls Luke a Phisician but not a Painter Nor is it probable if he were a Jew they not using such artists if we may believe Origen lib. 4. cont Celsum As little faith is to be given to what is alleadged out of Damasus Pontificall of the Images of Christ and of the Baptist erected by Constantin for that Pontificall is not only proven to be Supposititious by Cocus Pag. 139. but also acknowledged by Baronius Binius Possevin yea Bell. lib. de script Eccles ascribes it to Anastasius the bibliothecary who lived in the 9th Century a grosse Image worshipper at least it seems interpolated by him Neither is it likely that this would have been omitted by Eusebius who is so accurate in describing what was done by Constantin By this it appears that most of the stories which Romanists alleadge concerning their Images are meer Fables But grant they were real Histories they speak not at all of adoration which is the only thing in controversy Yet I shall help my adversary to some presidents of great Antiquity for the adoration of Images but it s from Hereticks such as the Gnosticks in Iren. lib. 1. cap. 24. and Carpocratians in Epiphan in Haeres Carpocratianorum and Austin Haeres 7. such presidents we do not envy them But as to the Catholick Church they may hear their own Clemanges in lib. de novis celebritatibus non instituendis who saith sratuit olim universalis Ecclesiae ut nullae in templis imagines ponerentur Hence might be deduced another demonstration of the Novelty of the present Romish Religion seeing it approves the Religious adoration of crosses and Images whereof no vestige can be found in the Catholick Church of the first three ages SECT VIII An eight instance of Novelty concerning Free-will examined and Repelled THe Pamphleter in his eight Instance saith that Protestants deny Free-will since the fall of Adam Behold another Jesuitism that is an arrant Cheat. Do not our Authors as Learned Vsher in his answer to the Jesuits challenge Pag. 464. Chamier Panstrat tom 3. lib. 3. cap. 1. Sect. 10. Paraeus contra praefat Bell. ad lib. de grat de lib. arb positively protest that they do not deny free-will We do abominate the madd Sects of Manichees Valentinians c. Who either by fatal or simply natural necessity do quite overthrow the liberty of human wills which of us ever doubted whether Popes Cardinals and Jesuits do practise their impieties freely We cordially subscribe to that of Austin lib. 1. ad Bonifac. cap. 2. quis nostrum dicat quod primi hominie peccato perierit liberum arbitrium de humano genere Libertas quidem perijt sed illa quae in paradyso fuit Well did the same Austin say lib. de nat gra cap. 66 quod sit quaedam peccandi necessitas that unregenerate persons have brought upon themselves a kind of necessity of sinning yet that necessity is well consistent with liberty Hence Austin lib. 1. ad Bonifac. cap. 2. liberum arbitrium usque adeo in Peccatore non periit ut perillud peccent maxime qui cum dilectatione peceant free-will is so far from being lost in sinners that by it they who sin with greatest delight sin most egregiously Devils cannot but sin and yet sin most freely Protestants grant no less indifferency to the will of the sinner then Austin of old in his debates against the Pelagians yea as much as Dominicans and Thomists do require to the nature of Liberty Will he say that all these do dogmatize concerning free-will contrary to the Faith of the Church in the first three ages Indeed we cannot adorn mans free-will with such elogies as did the Pelagians or Semipelagians of old or as their Jesuited and Arminian of-spring which do exceedingly derogate from the necessity and efficacy of free grace I will not take up time in mentioning all the heads of controversy betwixt the Catholick Church and the Pelagians or Semipelagians Only two things I pitch upon 1. We assert the necessity of supernatural grace to every good work This Learned Vossius lib. 3. Hist Pelag. Part. 2. copiously demonstrates not only to have been the Doctrin of August Prosper Fulgentius to the Councils of Diospolis Arausica Carthage and of the whole Catholick Church after that the Pelagian heresy was broached but also Part. 1. confirms it to be the perpetual Doctrin of the Fathers and Church before the appearing of Pelagius Of the Latin Fathers he brings Tertul. Cyp. Arnobius Lactantius Ambrose Of the Greeks
rising Is not Ciceros phrase known facere non potui ut nihil tibi literarum darem yea and St. Cyprian himself in Concil Carthag sent 1. nullus Episcopus potest alium judicare yet the present usurpation of the Romish Bishop shews their is no impossibility in the thing As to the last testimony which is from the Council of Chalced. act 16. Where all primacy and chief Honour is said to be kept to the Bishop of Rome he should have remembred that presently it is subjoyned That the same Honours are due to the Bishop of Constantinople The Council of Chalcedon was so far from acknowledging the absolute supremacy of the Bishop of Rome that upon that account it s disallowed by the Popes of Rome as testifies Bell. lib. 2. de pont cap. 18 Is it not superlative effrontedness to Triumph on the testimony of those Fathers which themselves are constrained do disallow for opposing the primacy of their Pope Must not these men be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self condemned CHAP. VIII A Confutation of the Pamphleters Last Section wherein beside other things his three Notes of the Catholick Church viz. Miracles Conversion of Infidels and Sanctity of Life are examined and by them also the Truth of the reformed Religion and falshood of the Popish Religion is Demonstrated THe Pamphleter in his last Section shuts up all with an empty Triumph as if in the former Sections he had demolished the reformed Religion and in this did establish the Romish Church as the truly Catholick Church and the present Romish Religion as the only true Christian Religion But I hope it shall shortly appear he feeds himself with a fancy for to say the Truth Popery is but a Leprosie superinduced upon the Christian Religion SECT I. A bundle of the Pamphleters most impudent Slanders against Protestants Rejected FOr raising this his Babylonish Pyramid from Pag. 161. to 164. he charges Protestants with impious tenents most falsly as that they change faiths certainty into probability mock at the motives of credibility affirm errors in integrals to be indifferent to our beleefe that in penning Scripture the Apostles themselves were not infallible of this last blasphemy he accuses Raynolds and Whittaker but like one who had Learned the art of Slandering he tells not where that Protestants set forth a new Gospel of their own finding no true Scripture before that they abandon the Ancient Church as the Synagogue that they allow no fasting but for temporal ends that best actions are sins and hold beleeving an easie task that we acknowledge no Authority of Councils and Fathers yeeld to no evidence of reason submit to no judge c. All and every one of which Protestant Churches execrate as abominable positions Are not such arrant lyes a noble basis for his Babylonish super structure SECT II. The Pamphleters equivocation in propounding the grounds of the Romish Religion AS he belies us so he equivocates Jesuitically in propounding the grounds of the Romish Religion Pag. 165. which he thus expresses Scripture and Apostolical Tradition conserved in the Church as delivered and expounded by her as infallible propounder and judge Though this Sophister seem to magnify Scripture and Tradition yet least the simple Reader be imposed upon it would be adverted 1. That Romanists dare not adventure their cause upon Scripture alone therefore Tradition must be joyned with it yea nor secondly on both joyntly their innovations would find no patrociny in Traditions truly Apostolical more then in Scripture therefore neither Scripture nor Tradition is further to be beleeved by them then as expounded by the Church that is surely by the Romish Church Thirdly least the Church should be called to an account for her proposals she must be held for an infallible propounder and Judge yet Fourthly that none of the divided parties of the Romish Communion be offended this priviledge must be ascribed to the Church in General terms not defining whither Pope or Council be that infallible Judge In a word though Scripture and Tradition be complemented as if they were held as grounds of Religion yet neither of them are really their grounds but the decision of the present Church that is according to Jesuits what the Pope and his Jesuited conclave please and therefore Pag. 168. he undertakes to prove as his grand Thesis That the Churches Authority as an infallible propounder is necessary to make the Divine truths contained in Scripture or delivered by Apostolical Tradition both solid and infallible grounds to us If you abstract then from the Vatican Oracle you can have no solidity or infallibility either in Scripture or Apostolical Tradition A noble basis of Faith forsooth SECT III. Three Propositions of the Pamphleter on which all the interest of the Papacy doth hang Canvased TO support this tottering Pillar on which all their fortunes doe hang Pag. 170. Three things he undertakes to prove 1. That there is an infallible propounder 2. That the true Church is this infallible propounder 3. That the Roman Church is the only true Church If he fail in proving any of these the Romish interest perishes infallibly much more if he succumb in them all let us therefore trace him a little SUBSECT I. The Pamphleters Sophisms for his first Proposition viz. That their is an infallible Propounder briefly Discussed FOr the infallibility of a Propounder which I hope was sufficiently confuted cap. 2. he argues first thus Pag. 170. if their be no infallible propounder then holy Scripture is propounded by fallible means and so there can be no infallible certainty of Faith Answ 1. This argument might more forcibly be retorted ad hominem The Scriptures according to this Pamphleter are corrupted both in originals and Translations Ergo there has been no infallible propounder else the Scriptures had been better looked to But secondly I answer by denying his last consequence for to the certainty of Faith it s enough that we have a certain and infallible rule of Faith though it be conveyed to us by fallible Hands Even as though Euolids elements be conveyed to me by a fallible Hand yet the evidences of his demonstrations may breed in me an infallible assent to his propositions So the infallible certainty of the Scriptures as the rule of Faith may beget an infallible assent to Divine truths though the Hands by which it is conveyed were not infallible It s true it might have miscarried in the conveyance had not the watchful providence of a gracious God preserved his holy word from perishing or being corrupted Yea the fallibility of the means and Hands by which it is transmitted to us demonstrates the special care that God has of his Church that notwithstanding the means were so fallible in themselves yet God preserved the Scriptures infallibly Nor can it rationally be denyed that the means of conveyance are of themselves fallible seeing he made use of infidel Jews to preserve the Scriptures of the Old Testament as well as of the Christian Church
furely nor will the imagination of infallibility found a truly Divine and infallible Faith But the infallible rule of Scripture can be a ground of infallible Faith and thereon the Faith of Protestants doth rest Pag. 180.181 he shuts up these his sophistical arguments for his second proposition with a scenical discourse by which he labours to hold our that Protestants according to their principles could never convince an Heathen of the truth of Christian Religion He brings in the Protestant producing his Bible written 1700. years ago in which there be many contradictions but no infallible witness at present to testify that this Bible was written by such men or confirmed by such miracles Only the Protestant alleadges that if the Infidel would turn Protestant he would see a self evidencing Light in Scripture but if prejudice and interest had not blinded this Pamphleters eyes he would have found that a Protestant could deal with a Heathen upon more solid ground then a Papist for a Papist cannot produce a Bible for his Religion so many Articles thereof having no vestige there such as the adoration of Images invocation of Saints worshipping of Crosses and Reliques and the monstruous figment of Transubstantiation their unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass Doctrine of merits the Popes universal Supremacy c. When the Infidel therefore demands a reason upon which these things should believed the Papist would reply they had an infallible judge and when the Infidel inquired whom he meant by that infallible judge and what evidences he had for his infallibility he neither can resolve who he is it not being determined whether Pope or Council nor give evidence for his infallibility but that he must be believed as being infallible because he saith it which if it do not expose Christianity to ludibry unprejudiced persons may judge But Protestants have the same grounds that ever the Christian Church had in confirmation of the Articles of the Christian Religion and of the holy Scriptures which doth fully contain them viz innumerable miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles which have been attested both by Christians and Infidels as also that these Books have been written by Prophets and Apostles hath been acknowledged by Famous persons within and without the Church in all ages and sealed by the deaths of so many Martyrs That these are the same Books appears by comparing our Books with Ancient Copies by Citations in the Writings of Ancient Fathers what contrarieties do seem to be in Scripture are but apparent Let all Religions be compared together there is none whose precepts are so Holy no Religion which can satisfie a troubled conscience so as the Christian Religion Though therein be sublime mysteries Yet all are admirably fitted for bringing about the Salvation of sinners by these and such like Arguments a Protestant could so deal with the conscience of any Infidel that he could have nothing rationally to reply and all this without having a recourse to the infallibility of Pope or Gouncils In a word the Divine Original of the Scriptures being once evicted against an Infidel from the motives of Credibility he may then be convinced of the material objects of Faith from the Scriptures SUBSECT III. The Pamphleters third Proposition viz that the Roman Church is the only true Catholick Church Considered IT remains now that we consider what he has to say for this third Proposition viz that the Roman Church that is the Church acknowledging the headship and supremacy of the Pope of Rome is the only true Gatholick Church To verify this he resumes from Pag. 186. three of Bellermines notes of the Church viz. First Miracles Secondly Conversion of Infidels and Thirdly Sanctity of Life Though all the improvement which Romanists can make of these hath been often examined by Protestants yet the importunity of this Caviller constrains me to make a short review of them ARTICLE I. Of Miracles FIrst then as Bell. lib. de notis Ecclesiae cap. 14. so also this Famphleter from Pag. 187. presents us with a muster of Miracles in every age much to the like purpose is to be found in Breerly Apol. tract 2. cap. 3. Sect. 7. Lessius consult de vera relig consid 4. H. T 's Manual art 6. c. Yet shall he not from them all or from all the Romish Legendaries be able to pitch upon one true Miracle to prove that the present Romish Church is the true Catholick Church or that the present Popish Religion is the only true Christian Religion It were of more advantage for their cause to pitch upon one true Miracle to this purpose if they could then to heap up such a rapsody of Miracles which are either fabulous and fallacious impostures or if real wholly impertinent to the point in controversy But because such a noise is made about Miracles I will subjoyn some considerations for the satisfaction of the Reader as to this thing It may therefore in the first place be taken notice of that great Authors of the Romish perswasion affirm that real and proper Miracles may be wrought by Hereticks to confirm Heresies so Maldonat in cap. 7. Math. Who cites for the same opinion of the Fathers St. Chrysost St. Hierom Enthym and Theophilat and therefore he concludes the argument from Miracles to be but topical To the like purpose many more Authors of the Romish Communion are cited by Dr. Barron Apodex Cathol tract 4. Punct 7. as Gerson Durand Stapleton and Ferus to whom Card. de Lugo tract de fid disp 2. Sect. 1. Num. 15. and 19. addes Hurtado Bannez and Medina to whom also Valentia and Oviedo are adjoyned by Bonaespei tom 2. theol scholast tract 2. de fide disp 2. dub 2. If this opinion hold Miracles cannot be a demonstrative evidence of the truth either of Church or Religion I am not to own Maldonats opinion lest I should seem to derogate from the glorious Miracles of our Saviour or to charge the God of truth as setting his Seal to a lye But I confidently affirm that Popish Cavils against the self evidencing Light of Holy Scripture militate as strongly against the self evidence of Miracles As Jesuits ask how we know Scriptures to be the word of God So we may justly enquire how they know these things which are attributed to Francis Dominick Xavier c. To be proper Miracles As there are Apocryphal Gospels under the names of St. Thomas and Nicodemus so there have been false Miracles wrought by Satan and his Ministers Doth not the Apostle say 2 Thes 2.9 that Antichrist shall come with lying signs and wonders Josephus a Costa lib. 2. de Christo revelato cap. 8. as I find him cited by Rivet on Exod. 7. Pag. 178. for I have not that peece of a costa by me confesses that it shall be in the time of the Antichrist magnae sapientiae rarique Divini muneris a rare gift of God to distinguish betwixt a true Miracle and a wonder wrought by an
have no interest in the Church who submit not to the Government of that Church and thus I let the major pass But then the minor is notoriously false viz. that in the present Romish Church true Miracles are wrought to confirm the soundness of her Faith and her Catholicism or Universal Jurisdiction over all Churches I appeal all the Jesuits in Europe to make good this Assumption which till they do all their discourse about Miracles is but a flourish I confess in the Ancient Roman Church there were miracles wrought to confirm the truth of her Faith but not her Catholicism as if she only had been the Christian Church for she was but a particular Church at best the present Romish Church hath foully Apostatized from the Faith of the Ancient Church search your Records and Legends to find one true Miracle to confirm the Faith and Catholicism of the present Romish Church this you will find impossible for her Faith is unsound and Catholicism in the sense spoken of she never had But from this Head of Miracles I demonstrate the truth of the Protestant Religion thus That Religion which is confirmed by the most real indubitate and glorious Miracles which ever the world had is surely the true christian-Christian-Religion But the Religion of Protestants is confirmed by the most real indubitate and glorious Miracles which ever the world had Ergo The Religion of Protestants is the true Christian Religion The Assumption concerning which only the doubt can be is proved thus The Apostolick Religion is confirmed by the most glorious Miracles that ever the world saw but the Religion of Protestants is the Apostolick Religion Ergo the Religion of Protestants is confirmed by the most real indubitate Miracles that ever the world saw The major none can deny but an Infidel for evidencing the minor let the Religion of Protestants be examined by the Scriptures which contain the Apostolick Religion and if one Article be found in our Religion dissonant there-from we shall instantly disown it The Reader here may observe the difference betwixt the Romish procedure and ours we confirm our Religion by the indubitate Miracles which prove Christianity it self they by some fabulous at best uncertain Legendary stories the truth whereof is questioned by their own Authors and the falshood of many detected to the world If it be said that any Heretick may argue as we do to confirm their Heresie I shall not now stand to retort how Hereticks have argued for their Heresie from pretended Miracles as do Romanists to day Only to shew the disparity betwixt us and Hereticks I undertake against all the Enemies of Truth in the world to prove the real conformity of the Reformed Religion with the Apostolick revealed in Scripture and the disconformity of all Heresies whatsoever It 's a real conformity with Apostolick Doctrine not pretended only which proves it to be confirmed by Apostolick Miracles ARTICLE II. Of the Conversion of Infidels THe second Note whereby this Pamphleter would prove the Catholicism of their Romish Church is that by her all Christian Nations have been converted to the Faith of Jesus Christ And to confirm this he following Bell. Breerly and the Drove hints at a multitude of stories which upon examination will be found of no-significancy to the point in hand For first it 's a most notorious falshood that all Christian people have been converted by the Romish Church was the Church of Jerusalem converted by her or the Church of Caesarea or of Antioch or the Greek Churches in general As Eve was the Mother of all Living so not the Roman but the Church of Hierusalem may be termed the Mother of all Churches And so she is designed by the second General Council at Constantinople as witnesses Theod. Hist lib. 5. cap. 9. The Bishop of Bitontum in the Council of Trent acknowledged Greece to be the Mother of all that the Latin Church had Doth not Theod. lib. 1. Hist cap. 22. report that the Indians were converted by Lay-men Edesius and Frumentius and that for carrying on the work Frumentius received Ordination from Athanasius then Patriarch of Alexandria and not from the Bishop of Rome The Pamphleter but plays the Cheat when he alledges that our Church of Scotland owes her first Conversion to Pope Victor his Legats and Envoys The Reader may see the falshood of this proved by Bishop Spotswood Hist pag. 21. edit 3. These Preachers sent hither by Victor were sent upon the entreaty of King Donald the First which the King would not have sought had he not been Christian before If our Conversion had been wrought by Pope Victor how came it that our Church was not fashioned to the Roman in outward rites especially in the observance of Easter whereof Victor was but preposterously zealous Much more probable looks the conjecture of Bishop Spotswood that some of John's Disciples under the persecution of Domitian have had their refuge hither and were instruments of planting Christianity among us and the rather because this Church was very tenacious of the Oriental Customs alledging for it the Authority of John However Scotland was very anciently enlightned with the Gospel hence is that of Tertul. adversus Judaeos cap. 7. Britannorum Romanis inaccessa loca Christo vero subdita and their conformity in rites with the Greek Church and not with the Latin shew their Original was not from Rome It is a manifest falshood then that the Roman Church is the Mother of all or of our Church of Scotland But secondly this Pamphleter deceitfully confounds and joyns together the endeavours of the Ancient Romish Church for converting of Nations with the practises of the present Romish Church for Proseliting Countries to the Popish perswasion We acknowledge the Roman Church was instrumental in converting many Nations to Jesus Christ but it was not to the present Romish Faith that not being then hatched but to the Christian Faith The like also was done by other Churches particularly by the Greek Church Hence Ephraim Pagit in his Christianography Edit 3. pag. 21. renders this as one reason of the large Jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople the conversion of many Nations to the Christian Faith by his Suffragans Therefore though it were true that Scotland did owe her conversion to Victor and England to Eleutherius both which are false yea the Gospel was planted in Britain some years before it came to Rome it self if Baronius story concerning Joseph of Arimathea ad annum 35. or Gildas testimony that Britain received the Gospel in the end of Tiberius Caesar's Reign deserve credit this makes nothing for the truth of the present Romish Faith or Catholicism of the present Romish Church for the Ancient Romish Church declined from the Faith of the present Popish Church as well as we Thirdly Particular Churches though not altogether sound in the Faith but stained with some errours in the integrals of Religion may be instrumental in converting Nations As a Leprous man may
sits in the Roman Chair unto Vibius Ruffus of whom Xiphilinus in the Life of Dion reports that because he sat in Julius Caesar's Chair therefore he gloried as if he had been Caesar The chief Cavils moved by Romanists against our Succession relate to the Call and Mission of our Reformers and succeeding Pastors which though this Pamphleter hath not touched yet seeing others lay so much stress upon them and they may appear somewhat specious to less discerning persons I judged it might not be unfit briefly to resolve the more important of them First then they object this The Call and Mission of our first Reformers was neither extraordinary and immediate nor ordinary and mediate and consequently null not extraordinary and immediate else it had been confirmed by Miracles and extraordinary Credentials nor mediate and ordinary there being none by whom they could have a mediate Mission but by the Ministers of the Church of Rome whom the most of Protestants hold to be Antichristian But the Ministers of the true Church of Christ cannot receive their Mission from the Ministers of Antichrist supposing by this Argument the nullity of the Call of our Reformers to be evicted the nullity of succeeding Pastors is also concluded as deriving their Mission from the first Reformers and so a non habentibus potestatem Yea lastly hence the nullity of all Protetestant Churches is inferred because as Jerom contra Lucifer pronounces Ecclesia non est quae non habet Sacerdotem It can be no Church that hath no Ministry I know no Sophism wherein Romanists do more triumph or the not penetrating the fallacy whereof hath driven weak and less considerate Protestants upon more Precipices This one Cavil is more specious than all our Pamphleter said But I shall not decline to grapple with them where their chief strength doth lye In discovery therefore of the fallacy of this Sophism I shall begin at the last and chief inference of the nullity of the Church from the nullity of the Ministry concerning which I propose these two distinctions First where there is no Ministry there is no Organical Church compleatly furnished with her Officers it 's granted no Entitative Church or no Society professing the Catholick Faith it 's denied else when the Ministers and Officers of a Church are removed by death the Church should perish but Act. 14.23 it 's said the Apostles ordained Elders in every Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where it seems to be supposed they were Churches for a time without Pastors that is they were Societies of visible Professors of the Faith of Jesus Christ But take this other distinction there is no Catholick Church without a Ministry it 's granted no particular Church is denied It 's true Ephes 4.11 12 13. there is a promise of perpetuity of a Ministry in the Catholick Church for the edifying of the body but it 's no where promised that partâ—cular Churches should never be deprived of their Pastors for a time And so though these Churches Act. 14. for a time wanted Pastors to take particular inspection of them yet even then there were Pastors in the Catholick Church as the Apostles and others and this is all which either Jerom in the place cited or Cyprian Epist 69. in a like testimony intended From which I infer though it were granted which yet is splendidly false that there were no lawful Pastors in the Reformed Churches yet the nullity of these Churches could not be concluded but only a defect of needful Organs and Office-bearers yea though there were neither Pastors in Reformed Churches nor in the Roman yet would it not follow that the Catholick Church had no Pastors for the Catholick Church extends it self far beyond them both But in the next place I examine their first medium and so overthrow all it 's a splendid falshood that the call of our Reformers was null for it had the Essentials requisite to the call of Pastors consequently succeeding Pastors are ordained ab habentibus potestatem as to that Dilemma which hath been so often canvased and confuted I answer the Call of Reformers was mediate and ordinary and so needed not extraordinary Credentials They were not called to any new Function or to preach any new truths whereas some have said their Call was extraordinary It is to be understood only quoad modum non quoad substantiam or in regard of Heroick and in some sort extraordinary endowments wherewith they were fitted for reviving collapsed truths as is largely expounded by Voetius lib. 2. desper caus Pap. Sect. 2. cap. 24. and D. Prideaux de vocat Minist § 7. But it 's urged that then they have had their Mission from Ministers of the Church of Rome whom many Protestants hold as Antichristian It 's readily granted and that without the least advantage to the Romish Interest or detriment to the Reformed Religion For satisfying those that are judicious herein let these few things be considered And first Though all Protestants be not agreed that the latter Popes of Rome are the grand Antichrist yet they who speak most mildly in the thing cannot but acknowledge that Romanists hold many Antichristian Doctrines and that the spirit of Antichrist hath long wrought in the chief Rulers of the Church of Rome both in regard of their Heretical Doctrines especially that of Papal Infallibility then which not one can better serve the turn of Antichrist and of the exorbitant power usurped by Popes not only over all Bishops but also over Kings and whatsoever is called God See of this D. Feru in his considerations of the Church of England Reformed cap. 4. Secondly according to the principles of both these not only of them who hold the Pope to be a Petit Antichrist and a Fore-runner of the Great One but also of them who affirm him to be the Grand Antichrist our Lord under the Papal Tyranny preserved a Church in these Western parts and consequently many great truths such as the Trinity and Incarnation and the substantials of many Ordinances particularly of Baptism and of Ordination albeit both of them were clogged with additional corruptions yet in evidence that the Reformed Churches held their Baptism and Ordination valid they did not rebaptize or reordain those who had been baptized or ordained by the Church of Rome Neither need any think strange at this who remember that it 's predicted of the Great Antichrist 2 Thes 2.4 that he shall sit in the Temple of God From which it follows that though Popes be the Great Antichrist yet Orders being one of these remains which God had preserved under Antichrists Usurpation Ordination conferred by Antichristian Ministers not in so far as Antichristian but as retaining some of Christs goods might be valid Thirdly I add that in this the Wisdom and Goodness of God doth greatly appear that under the prevalency of the Tyranny of the Papal Faction he would preserve a Church and thereby transmit to Posterity the Holy Scriptures which did luculently
Primitive Christian Church did ever own In a word they set up a Religion built upon no Divine Authority but upon Humane Traditions and definitions of their Church repugnant to Scripture to Antiouity to Reason and to the senses of all the world teaching impious Idolatry against God and perfidiousness to men receiving addition or alteration as the Grandees of the Romish Faction find most to conduce for the Grandeur of the Pope and Interest of the Court of Rome But lest I should seem to say nothing to his Knacks I answer first we have both Faith and Vnity Faith grounded on holy Scripture and not only Unity in Fundamentals which is necessary to the being of the Church Militant but also in most of the Integrals of Religion as may appear by the harmony of Confessions whereas they have neither true Faith nor Unity for hardly do they disagree from us in any thing wherein they are not subdivided among themselves Secondly we have both a Law and a Judge a Law better nor the Canon Law the Divine Law of holy Scriptures a Judge both Celestial the Lord Jesus Christ and Terrestrial the Synods of the Church But Romanists to shoulder up their pretended infallible Judge whom yet they cannot agree upon throw intollerable indignities upon the Law of God as hath been demonstrated cap. 3. Thirdly we have an Altar and Sacrifices an Altar not like their Altars of Damascus but an Altar which sanctifies our Oblations the Lord Jesus Christ And thus Aquinas himself expounds that of the Apostle Heb. 13.10 we have an Altar We have also a Sacrifice â—ot only Eucharistick of prayers and praises but also certainly Propitiatory viz. of Christ on the Cross Fourthly our Sacraments are not bare signs as Romanists slander us but exhibitive of Grace which cannot be truly said of all theirs Fifthly Though the Worship of God with us be not clogged as in the Romish Church with a heap of Ceremonies partly Heathenish partly Judaical yet we have Religious Ceremonies viz. Sacramental Rites and these also of Divine Institution Sixthly the Mission of our Preachers hath been sustained against the cavils of Romanists but a Divine Warrant cannot be shewed for their Popes Universal Vicarship or the Princely Dignity of their Cardinals Seventhly Our Doctrine is infallible and the ground of our Faith sure unless Romanists like Infidels will question the Infallibility of the Scripture Eighthly Though we pretend not to a Pharisaical perfection with Romanists yet we acknowledge the Commandments of God so far as is absolutely necessary to Salvation through Grace may be kept Ninthly Eternal Life being a reward of Grace not of Debt does not presuppose any proper Merit of ours but Romanists by their Doctrine of Merit make Heaven Venial and derogate from the sufficiency of the sole Merits of Christ Tenthly Reprobation being an eternal and immanent Act of God and consequently God himself cannot properly be demerited but there is no damnation without the previous demerit of sin yea also the Eternal Decree of Reprobation in the judgment of the Council of Dort presupposes the Prescience of Mans Fall Eleventhly though lapsed man without Regenerating Grace cannot do that which is spiritually good yet be may freely sin none of us do question but the Jesuits Garnet Oldcorn c. acted freely in their accession to the Powder-Plot Twelfthly we pretend not to any new Apostles nor is there necessity of new Miracles our Doctrine having been fully confirmed by the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles Thirteenthly It 's more than Romanists can prove that particular Churches have not Authority to reform themselves when General Councils cannot be had to undertake the work Fourteenthly we leave private Spirits and new Lights against old revealed Verities to Quakers and Papists Fifteenthly Single mens Opinious against the common consent of Fathers have more affinity with Jesuits Probables than Protestants To justifie their boldness in broaching new Opinions Poza the Jesuit as cited in the Jesuits Morals Part. 1. Cap. 1. Art 1. pag. 167. brings a Testimony from a Council of Constantinople Beatus qui profert verbum inanditum as if the Council had said blessed is he that produces a word unheard of or some new thing whereas like a Jesuit he mutilates and perverts the words of the Council which are Beatus qui profert verbum in auditum obedientium blessed is he who utters a word to obedient â—ars Sixteenthly We are not ashamed to maintain that the Apocryphal Books are no part of the Old Testament because the Jewish Church did never receive them being told Rom. 3.2 that to them were committed the Oracles of God Seventeenthly there have been stedfast Pastors and Martyrs in the Protestant Churches who have sealed the Truth we profess with their blood Our Doctrine and the Substantials of Government being founded on Scriptural Authority must consequently be unalterable whereas Rome's changes as to dogmaticals Worship and Government from Ancient Rome are so many that we may take up that regrate of her Hei mihi qualis eras quantum mutaris ab illâ Româ The Author designed a peculiar Cap. in the close of this Treatise for his own vindication from the Criminations of the Pamphleter together with a plain Reparty to the Jesuit Tribe But finding that these Papers had swelled beyond his expectation he hath at this time superseded much of that labour and the rather seeing these things touch not the Cause and Jesuits are known to be persons of such malignity that their Invectives find little credit with those that are ingenuous yea there be who reckon it an honour to be maligned by them Argumentum recti est displicere pessimis Let therefore these few hints of the chief of his Accusations at this time suffice And first Who would not smile that I should be accused by this Pamphleter as a man of uncertain Religion especially seeing himself acknowledges pag. 24. that the Thesis maintained by me is that the Religion of Protestants is the true Christian Religion If therefore the Religion of Protestants be known mine cannot be uncertain In that Faith was I Educated from my Infancy and hitherto thorough mercy have continued and therein I trust to die But who can be sure of a Jesuits Religion whose Principle it is to equivocate and by the help of his Mental Reservations to affirm and swear one thing and to think another What Sceptick and Infidel Glosses which would make Christian ears to tingle Jesuits have put upon the Apostolick Creed Alphonsus de Vargas relates de Stratagem Jesuit cap. 18 19. yea so customary is it with them to change themselves into all shapes and as was roundly told them by a Gentleman of the Long Robe in the Parliament of Paris to have one Coâ—science in one place and another in another that the world passes this Character on them Jesuita omnis homo Must not secondly Jesuits be men of â—are confidence who can accuse me of Disloyalty for Preaching a Sermon
on such a Text of Scripture upwards of twenty years ago â—hen I was a very young man wherein I do sincerely profess I had not a disloyal thought Are not the seditious Lectures of Jesuit Hay and Jesuit Cammolet known who openly taught execrable Regicide both in School and Pulpit Were not the Treasonable writings of Mariana Suarez Santarell and of other Jesuits asserting the lawfulness of deposing and murthering of Kings set forth permissu Superiorum Hath the world forgot the barbarous Paracides acted upon Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth two French Kings or the Powder-Plot designed against King James and the two Houses of the English Parliament and of the deep accession of Jesuits to all these What Sticklers Jesuits were in the late Commotions of Britain D. Moulin in his Answer to Philanax from pag. 58. to 64. hath given an account How doth an Accusation of Disloyalty savour out of these mens mouths May not here the words of the Satyrist have place Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes Quis Caelum terrae non misceat mare Caelo Si fur displiceat Verri homicida Miloni Clodius accuset maechos Catilina Cethegum As for me the Heart-searching God knows I abominate whatever hath a tincture of Disloyalty and therefore to cut off such Cavils as I have asserted in this Tractate the Ancient Christian Faith against Romish Novelty so do I avouch before the world Primitive Christian Loyalty I do cordially subscribe to that of Optat. lib. 3. contra Parmen Super Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem and to that of Tertull. Apol. cap. 30. Imperatores in solius Dei sunt potestate à quo sunt secundi post quem primi ante omnes super omnes Deos homines Whatever is or hath been repugnant to this I do for ever disown If notwithstanding all this Jesuits will renew the same Accusations they will do but like themselves reacting against me Cockleus Bolsecus their game against Luther Calvin and Beza charging them again and again with Calumnies the falshood whereof hath times without number been evicted but this I hope will satisfie persons of discretion and ingenuity When thirdly the Pamphleter did accuse me of Disciplinary Vacillations he would perhaps have been more sober had he reflected on the atrocious Vacillation of Pope Liberius who professed the Orthodox Faith the one day and subscribed the Arrian Confession and the damnation of Athanasius the other or of Pope Marcellinus who professed Christianity to day and sacrificed to Idols to morrow or of Claudius Aquaviva General of the Jesuits who first did approve Mariana's Treasonable Book and then for fear of the French King condemned it Nor know I what Apology can be made for any of these unless it be said Mutarunt linguam non mentem that they changed their Tongue but not their Mind which leaves no less stain upon their ingenuity than the change of their mind would have done upon their Intellectuals Here I must advertise the Pamphleter that he and his Fellows discover either ignorance or malice when they upbraid Protestants with their Disciplinary differences as if they made different Religions If these of the Episcopal perswasion resolved their Faith on the Bishops Authority as Jesuits do on the Popes or if Presbyterians resolved their Faith on the Authority of the Classis as the French and Venetian Papists do on the General Council they would indeed make different Religions as Papists certainly have different Religions notwithstanding their vain pretences of Infallibility and Unity But the Faith of all Protestants under these various denominations is resolved upon the Authority of God speaking in the Scriptures and besides they do agree in Dogmaticals and so cannot make different Religions I heartily wish there were more Pacificatories written and more pains taken for accommodating our Disciplinary Controversies that all sound Protestants might unanimously concur against Jesuits and the common Adversaries of the truly Catholick Faith I detest Schisms however I be reproached by Jesuits remembring that of Cyprian de Vnit Eccles Qui pacem Christi concordiam rumpit adversus Christum facit quisquis à matrice discesserit scorsum vivere spirare non potest substantiam Salutis amittit And I would humbly obtest all dissident Brethren about these Disciplinary Questions if I could with tears of blood to consider if the Lord be not signally calling us all to study the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Ah! shall we by these our Rents open a door to the common Adversary who would swallow us all up Were the Unity of the Catholick Church studied as it ought it would not only allay the heat of our Disciplinary Debates but also pull down the supercilious Crest of the Schismatical Court of Rome I am fourthly charged as being of an unpeaceable nature The knack of this Jest would be lost if my Accusers were not the known Boutefeu's and Incendiaries of the world Since I was 16 years of Age to this day I have lived in a Collegiate life as a Regent of Philosophy Minister and Professor of Divinity and in these capacities have had many Collegues with whom I have lived very comfortably This together with the peaceable Society which my Reverend Collegues at present and I have together may sufficiently confute the Pamphleters accusation I confess there was once a piece of Debate betwixt a Reverend Person now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and me concerning a Disciplinary Question wherein perhaps both of us did bewray somewhat of humane infirmity but if therefore either of us should be concluded contentious hardly could Hierom Austin Ruffin Chrysostom Epiphanius yea Paul and Barnabas escape the like character I ever had an high respect for that Reverend and Worthy Person and do honour his memory as for other eminent Gifts and Graces so in special for his faithfulness and zeal against Romish Idolaty and I hope e're long to live in Eternal Concord and Bliss with him I judge it indeed duty to contend cum vitiis against errour and ungodliness against Popery Quakerism Prophaness and Atheism Yet I have such affection to persons smitten with these diseases that even for this Railing Jesuit I can pray that his spite against the Truth and against me for the Truths sake may not be laid to his charge I would trespass too much on the Readers patience should I insist to resume the rest of his ludibrious Raillery Perhaps to compense the softness of his Arguments he hath designed to stone me with reproaches but he would remember that Gratian Caus 5. q. 1. from the Council of Eliberis Can. 52. thunders out an Anathema upon Pasquillers And a greater than these the Royal Prophet Psal 31.18 Let lying lips be put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and presumptuously against the righteous To conclude the Reader may know that the reason why this Reply was so slow in coming abroad was
not that it was not soo eâ— ready as could be attested by divers credible persons who did peruse it shortly after the publishing of the Popish Pamphlet but because the Author was little concerned whether it should be committed to the Press at all in regard his Adversaries Book contained nothing which had not been confuted with an Antidate save only the Personal Invectives the chief significancy whereof was to demonstrate the spleenish humour of Jesuits But since Providence is bringing these Papers to publick view the God of Truth make them subservient for the good of his Church Amen FINIS A TABLE Of the chief heads contained in this Treatise THe Preface pag. 1 Cap. 1. A brief survey of the Pamphleters empty and unfaithful Apologies for Jesuit Dempster pag. 6 Cap. 2. There is no necessity of an infallible visible Judge of controversies in the Church and consequently the basis of the Pamphleters whole discourse is overthrown pag. 22 Sect. 1. The true state of the question propounded pag. 23 Sect. 2. Arguments proving there is no necessity of an infallible visible Judge in the Church pag. 26 Sect. 3. The Pamphleters objections for the necessity of an infallible visible Judge discussed pag. 53 Chap. 3. That the Scriptures are the compleat infallible and principal rule of Faith pag 71 Sect. 1 Some hints of indignities put upon the holy Scriptures by Romanists pag 71 Sect 2. the state of the question concerning the rule of Faith opened and the Scriptures briefly proved to be the rule of Faith pag. 75 Sect. 3. The Pamphleters four principal objections against the Scriptures being the compleat rule of Faith discussed pag. 89 Sect. 4. Some reflections on the rest of the Pamphleters napsodik discourse concerning the rule of Faith pag. 117 Cap. 4. A discourse of fundamentals with some reflections on the contradictions impertinences and falsehoods of the Romish Pamphleter in his Sect. 5. pag. 141 Sect. 1. Whether there be ground for the distinction of Fundamentals and non-Fundamentals or of essentials and integrals in religion pag. 143 Sect. 2. Whether do the Scriptures contain clearly all the Fundamentals of Faith pag. 151 Sect. 3. Whether all be Fundamentals which the Church imposes as Fundamentals pag. 168 Sect. 4. Whether was it necessary for the dicision of the question betwixt Mr. Dempster and the author to determine the precise number of Fundamentals pag. 174 Sect. 5. Whether is the Popish religion injurious to the fundamentals of Christianity pag. 178 Sect. 6. Whether the Waldenses Wicklevists and Hussites be of the same religion as to fundamentals and essentials with Protestants pag. 180 Sect. 7. Whether do the Greek Churches agree with Protestants as to fundamentals pag. 186 Sect. 8. Whether the doctrine of Protestants in all points of Controversie be openly against God and his written word as the Pamphleter affirms and so contrary to the fundamentals of religion pag. 189 Cap. 5. Concerning Transubstantiation and the number of Sacraments pag. 433 Sect. 1 The Popish figment of Transubstantiation briefly confuted and the Authors argument against it vindicated from the exceptions of the Pamphleter pag. 433 Sect. 3. The Pamphleters superficial reflections on the number and nature of Sacraments examined pag. 440 Cap. 6. VVhether Protestant Churches do grant that the visible Church was not alwayes preserved and that for 1400 years before Luther Popery was the only prevailing religion p. 452 Cap. 7. The truth of the Protestant Religion evicted by the comformity thereof with the faith of the primitive Church in the first three ages and the falshood of the Present Romish Religion from the disagreement thereof with the faith of these ages pag. 467 Sect. 1. the Pamphleters first instance of novelty touching the Popes supremacy briefly canvased and retorted upon Romanists pag. 469 Sect. 2. The second instance of novelty concerning unwritten traditions examined retorted upon Romanists pag. 476 Sect. 3. The third instance of novelty concerning the sacrifice of the mass considered and retorted upon Romanists pag. 479 Sect 4. A fourth instance of novelty concerning Transubstantiation discussed and retorted upon Romanists pag. 267 Sect. 5. A fifth instance of novelty concerning purgatory examined and retorted upon Romanists pag. 270 Sect. 6. A sixt instance of novelty concerning invocation of Saints examined and retorted upon Romanists pag. 276 Sect. 7. A seventh instance of novelty concerning Crosses and images examined and retorted upon Romanists pag. 281 Sect. 8. An eight instance of novelty concerning free-will examined and repelled pag. 286 Sect. 9. A ninth instance of novelty concerning merits examined and retorted pag. 290 Sect. 10. A tenth instance of novelty concerning a perfect keeping of the commands examined and retorted pag. 292 Appendix 1. Containing another Decad of Romish novelties in Religion pag. 294 Appendix 2. The Pamphleters impertinent citations from Justin Martyr together with a new Catalogue of heresies falsly charged on Protestants briefly discussed pag 314 Cap. 8. A confutation of the Pamphleters last section wherein beside other things his three notes of the Catholick Church viz. Miracles Conversion of Infidels and Sanctity of life are examined and by them also the truth of the reformed and falshood of the Popish religion demonstrated pag. 321 Sect. 1. A bundel of the Pamphleters most impudent slanders against Protestants rejected pag. 321. Sect. 2. The Pamphleters equivocation in propounding the grounds of the Romish Religion pag. 322. Sect. 3. Three propositions of the Pamphleter on which all the interest of the Papacy doth hang Canvased pag. 323 Subject 1. The Pamphleters sophisms for his first proposition viz. that there is an infallible propounder briefly discussed pag. 323 Subject 2. The Pamphleters second proposition viz. that the true Church is the Infallible propounder considered pag. 327 Subject 3. The pamphleters third proposition viz. that the Roman Church is the only true Catholick Church considered pag. 332 Article 1. Of Miracles pag. 332 Article 2. Of the Conversion of Infidels pag. 349 Article 3. Of sanctity of life pag. 355 Sect. 4. A touch of the Pamphleters hints at other notes of the Church viz. the title of Catholick and Succession pag. 374 Sect. 5. A brief reparty to his conclusory knacks pag. 382 A postscript vindicating the Author from the Criminations of the Pamphleter pag. 385 An Advertisment concerning the Errata THe Author living in another Kingdom and not being able to revise the Press and the Copy which came hither having been written by a young Scholar not so correctly as might have been wished many errors have crept into the work some of which do greatly wrest the sense yea sometimes do destroy it May it therefore please the serious Reader when any thing occurrs which seems incongruous to turn over to the Errata where readily he may find that cleared which in the work appeared intricate or perhaps absurd As for instance p. 318. l. 2. It may justly seem strange that the epithet Saint is prefixed to Ambrose Catharinus a moderne Romanist
any personal interest I have therefore judged fit to invert a little of the Jesuits method he places his invectives in the front of his Book as iâ— seems that the Patience of the Reader might be outwearied with that nauseating stuffe before he came to examine the weakness of the argumentative part but my design being to give a testimony to the truth and to contribute my poor endeavours for establishing Souls therein and if it may please God to recover those that are gone astray I will first canvase the Controversies of Religion and then take his spleenish invectives to consideration in the mean while I only say didicit ille maledicere ego contemnere CHAP. I. A brief Survey of the Pamphleters empty and unfaithful Apologies for Jesuit Demster THe title of Papismus Lucifugus is of hard concoction with the Pamphleter yet he is not altogether unhappy in his conjecture concerning it He says Pag. 8. I gave a strong Thief a strange Name I do indeed look on trafficking Jesuits as pernicious Thieves they rob men of their dearest interests of their Religion and consequently of their Souls and Salvation Perhaps this may be one reason why Romish Babylon Revel 18.13 Is said to make merchandice of the Souls of men The consumptive estates of many families in which these men do nest are a shrewd presumption they pick purses as well as consciences The Epithet Lucifugus had not appeared so strange had he considered that Tertul. lib. de resur Carnis cap. 47. Long ago branded Hereticks as Lucifugas Scripturarum and it may seem suitable enough to Jesuit Dempsters tergiversing humour The Pamphleter pag. 9. takes the boldness to say That Jesuit Dempster declined not the trial of religion by Scripture and antiquity What will not an effronted Jesuit affirm I remit him for his conviction to one place in stead of many Mr. Dempsters Paper 5. pag. 60. 61. Why I pray you did he never answer to any testimony either of Scripture or Antiquity brought against him What means the Rapsody of citations in this Pamphlet but to make a seeming supplement of M. Dempsters defects Why contend Romanists so eagerly for the necessity of an infallible visible judge but because they dare not adventure to have the controversies betwixt them and us dicided either by Scripture or Antiquity This Pamphleter thinks to salve the matter with a knack of Jesuitical equivocation we decline not Scripture and Antiquity saith he ibid. as carried by Popes Bishops and Priests in communion with him that is they can be judged by Scripture and Antiquity provided they be taken in no other sense then the Pope and Court of Rome are pleased As if a company of robbers would submit to a jury but with this Proviso that their Ring leader were Chancellour of the Assize and had a negative upon the rest Is not this a goodly Apology that Romanists are not Lucifugi To help all he adds That the Question betwixt Mr. Dempster and me was onely of the grounds of the Protestant Religion and not at all of the grounds of Popery Grant it had been so yet had he not been a Lucifugus would he not have examined the instances of Scripture and Antiquity which were brought to confirm the Doctrine of Protestants But it would be remembred that Mr. Dempster's Syllogism gave occasion for an enquiry of a greater Latitude viz. What the reciprocal grounds of the true Religion are and what the Religion is to which alone these grounds do agree whether Popery or the Religion of Protestants I pitched on Scripture and Antiquity as the peculiar grounds of the true Religion which do exactly quadrate with the Reformed Religion and not at all with Popish superstition But Jesuit Dempster could never be induced either to give a ground of the true Religion or to confute that assigned by me If this be not a Lucifugus who ever was Whether I in giving this Title to these Papers or the Pamphleter in quarrelling at it do stumble at the threshold others may judge I am not disposed to quarrel at the Title of his Book Scolding no Scholarship I suppose all will give him this testimony neither do I envy it that he hath behaved himself as an abler Scold than a Scholar Albeit Jesuit Dempster at the time of our Encounter was extolled by Romanists as a Non-such yet his feebleness being discovered to the world by the publishing of his insignificant Papers This Pamphleter pag. 9.10 exercises his wit to devise some lying shifts to Apologize both for him and the Popish Interest as if 1. I had been the Aggressor and Provoker 2. He seems to take it ill that the verbal conference with Mr. Dempster is said to have been the fruit of Popish Consultations 3. He sayes that Mr. Dempster was a man of confiscate health a noble Rhetorication forsooth fit enough for a civil Conference but most unable for a clamorous Dispute 4. That he was pitched upon onely as being next at hand This bundle of forged lyes discovers the Pamphleter to use his own phrase to be a person of confiscate honesty The true account of that affair I gave in the Dedicatory Epistle before Papismus Lucifugus which could be attested by persons of unquestionable credit Knows he not that I can design by name the persons of the Romish Profession though upon personal respect I have for them I do forbear who did solemnly provoke my Reverend Colleague M.G.M. and me to that Debate Is it imaginable that such a solemn Challenge should be given without previous consultation Are there so few Birds of that Feather about this place that M. Dempster was onely pitched upon as next at hand Was he not brought from the Country upon design from a Gentlemans house where he did ordinarily reside Was there not another ordinary Resident in the Family where the Debate was What M. Demster's fitness was to manage a modest debate may be judged by the perusal of his Tautologizing Papers a very anomolous motion in an Arguer not a Steering to the same point as this Pamphleter would excuse it pag. 15. but a tossing in one place very near of Kin to that trespass of Arguing which by Logicians is called Petitio principii Had he been a person of such eminent modesty and so averse from clamorous disputes would he in Anno 1658. as I take it so arrogantly have appealed all the ministery of Scotland to a Vocal Despute boasting that if he did not convince them he should be hanged up presently demanding onely if they lost the Cause that they should be hanged up in effigie Doth not such a brawling Challenge bewray a petulent humour and a complacency in clamorous Cavils But what was the Achilles wherewith this insolent Thraso thought to have conquered the whole Church of Scotland That goodly Syllogism forsooth in his first Paper against me as appears by comparing it with his foresaid Paper or Defiance So that this has been a long studied Lesson wherein
by some Arguments I hope convincing the necessity of this Infallible visible Judge 3. Examine the Cavils and Objections of the Adversary SECT I. The true state of the Question propounded FOr opening the true state of the Controversie it is first to be noted that this Question is not entirely the same with that Whether the Church can erre for there be great Doctors in the Roman Church who hold the Church cannot erre and yet deny the necessity of an infallible visible Judge There are who make the subject of Infallibility to be the defensive multitude of Believers and not the Collective of Pastors far less any Representative cloathed with a Judiciary Authority and least of all the Pope whom some abusively call the Church Virtual as shall appear in Argument 2. Consequently whatever testimonies do only prove that the Collective Body either of Believers or Pastors neither of which do assemble in Councils Judicially to determine Controversies of Religion cannot erre are impertinently alledged It would secondly be observed that Infallibility and Judiciary Authority are things different and separable Princes have Judiciary Authority over their Subjects and Provincial Synods within their respective bounds yet neither do pretend to Infallibility Is it not too gross ignorance in a Jesuit to take a Judge and an Infallible Judge for terms reciprocal Thirdly it is one thing to assert that persons or Judges have an assistance of the Holy Ghost guiding them infallibly bic nunc into the way of truth and a quite other thing to say that there is a Judge to whom a perpetual and infallible assistance is entailed so as the knowledge of his infallible assistance is a necessary prerequisite be 〈◊〉 we an assent of Faith can be given to any Divine Truth The first Protestants grant to Councils whether greater or lesser defining Divine Truths The latter is that which M. Demster asserted often and this his Fidus Achates ought to have proved His Arguments therefore not inferring this conclusion they all trespass ab ignoratione elenchi Fourthly It is granted on all hands that particular Churches and their Representatives may erre Now the Roman Church is but one particular Patriarchate and in her greatest Latitude of which the Pamphleter talks pag. 46. as comprehending all these who live in communion with the Bishop of Rome acknowledging his Headship and Supremacy She is but a part yea and the lesser part of Christendom Whatever Infallibility therefore may be claimed by the Catholick Church yet the Roman Church in whatsoever capacity whether defensive or representative can have no just Title thereunto Was there any Roman Church known in the Apostles days but that to which the Apostle Paul wrote But he writes to Her as one subject to Errour yea and to total Apostacy Rom. 11.20 21. Be not high minded but fear for if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spâ—re not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Would the Apostle have written at this rate to the Infallible Chair Fifthly Protestants freely grant that the truly Catholick Church hath immunity from Errours opposite to Fundamental Articles or to these Truths the misbelief whereof is absolutely and in all cases inconsistent with Salvation were it otherwise the Catholick Church should totally perish from the earth which cannot be as Protestants firmly believe according to the Scriptures But Romanists not satisfied with this plead for an absolute Infallibility to their pretended Catholick Judgeâ— or an immunity from all Doctrinal Errours in Religion greater and lesser Whatsoever Arguments therefore prove not an absolute immunity of this Judge from the least Doctrinal Errour fall short of the mark Of this distinction of Truths Fundamental and Non Fundamental and consequently of the Errours opposite to these Truths that there is not such absolute necessity in order to Salvation of immunity from the one as from the other there will be occasion to speak at more length Cap. 4. Sixthly Therefore to wrap up all In the Romanists Assertion of the necessity of an Infallible visible Judge these five things are included 1. That this supposed Judge hath an Universal Supremacy or a Juridical Authority over the whole Catholick Church to bind the Consciences of all Christians with his Sentences else he would not serve the necessity of the whole Catholick Church 2. That the priviledge wherewith this Catholick Judge is cloathed is absolute Infallibility or immunity from all Errour greater or lesser in all his Doctrinal decisions 3. That the knowledge of the Infallibility of this Judge is necessarily pre-required to every assent of Divine Faith For this cause do they contend so hard for this priviledge that all Christian Faith may hang at the Girdle of their Infallible Judge 4. That this Judge is visible that is a present Member of the visible Church actually existing upon Earth There is no question but the Lord Christ is Infallible Judge of all Controversies of Religion and that he is visible in his Humane Nature but he is not now visible upon Earth as a present Member of the Church Militant therefore it is another Judge actually existing upon Earth for which they plead 5. That there is a necessity of the existence of this infallible visible Judge upon earth It is beyond doubt that there was an infallible visible Judge in the Church Militant when Christ and his Apostles did converse on earth Now the Jesuited party affirms it must be always so From all these the state of the Question emerges clearly viz. Whether in the Militant visible Church there be always a necessity of a person or persons endued with a Juridical Authority over the whole Catholick Church and with infallible assistance for deciding all Doctrinal Controversies of Religion of whose Catholick Jurisdiction and Infallibility every one must be perswaded before he can give an assent of Faith to any Divine Truth Jesuited Romanists maintain the affirmative we the negative Where it 's to be noted that their affirmative being a copulative consisting of many branches if any one of them fail their whole Cause is gone The proof of this affirmative in all its branches was that which the Adversary should have hammered out had he really intended to satisfie Consciences But any intelligent Reader upon a slender review of his Sect. 3. will see that this he never once endeavours but only with some frothy flourishes to abuse unwary Souls SECT II. Arguments proving that there is no necessity of an Infallible visible Judge in the Church I Might perhaps sufficiently acquit my self-against my Adversary by discovering the emptiness of his Objections yet the supposed necessity of this infallible visible Judge being the Basis of his whole discourse and our Jesuited Romanists laying the whole stress of their Religion on this Hypothesis I judged fit for the satisfaction of those who are not
vindicated Deut. 17.8 in his cap. 2. Sect. 12. Mat. 18.17 in his cap. 4. Sect. 15. Mat. 16.19 in his cap. 2. Sect. 7 8 9. Mat. 28.20 in his cap. 4. Sect. 18. 1 Tim. 3.15 in his cap. 4. Sect. 14. Yet fifthly lest I should dismiss the Reader with any dissatisfaction I will give a touch of all the particulars mentioned in the Objection I begin with the 2000 years wherein he says the Church was Judge before the Scriptures were written But what then is the case then and now alike then the Church had no written Scripture Does it therefore follow that now it hath none either Was the Church Judge in questions of Religion Quid hoc ad rhombum Is that the question whether the Church that is the Rulers or Pastors convened in a Synod have a Juridical power is not the question whether these Representatives be absolutely infallible in their decisions of Faith is a Judicial Authority and Infallibility terms reciprocal Would he pull down the Thrones of Princes because they arrogate not Infallibility If he would have concluded any thing he should have said in the Church in those days there was a standing ordinary infallible visible Judge with Jurisdiction over the whole Church If this he go about to prove he will endeavour to derive the Pedigree of their Popes and Councils higher than I thought they pretended I imagined Peter had been the first of the Series but now it 's like they will ascend to Adam I have lookt upon Platina and Onuphrius Catalogues of Popes but there I find not the Catalogue of Antediluvian and Antescriptural Popes from the Creation until Moses time which if the Pamphleter look over his Chronologick Tables again will be found to exceed 2000 years In these times the Church had the same Doctrine for substance which now is written in the Scriptures taught by Patriarchs and Prophets and conveyed by Oral Tradition from Parents to Posterity But because Tradition in it self was not so safe a way for preserving Religion in its purity therefore the Lord was pleased to prorogate the lives of Patriarchs to many Centuries Adam lived till Methuselah was above 200 years old Methuselah lived till Sem was near an 100 and Sem out-lived Abraham So that this Tradition needed not pass through more than two hands betwixt Adam and Abraham for the space of more than 2000 years and withal he raised extraordinary Prophets as Enoch and others Yet notwithstanding all these extraordinary Adminicles how soon was Religion corrupted and the World over-spread with Idolatry and Polytheism But laying aside extraordinary Prophets which the Lord then and in after times raised up it 's more than all the combination of Jesuits can prove that in that interstice of time there was an ordinary standing infallible visible Judge with Jurisdiction over the whole Church which if he prove not he must let me tell him peccat ignoratione elenchi I shut up my Reply to this branch of the Objection with two remarks The first is that Romanists do not agree among themselves concerning their inferences from the state of the Church before the writing of Scripture M. Serjeant and those of the Traditionary way do only conclude from it that Oral Tradition is an infallible mean of conveying truth down to Posterity But the Jesuited party as appears by this Pamphleter would conclude from it the necessity of an infallible visible Judge Their disagreement in this and other matters are a shrewd presumption that they neither have an infallible Judge nor yet infallible Tradition But secondly Learned Tillotson in his Rule of Faith Part. 1. Sect. 4. acutely inverts this whole argument for in that the Lord committed the Doctrine of Religion to writing after that the World had experienced the unsuccessfulness of the former way it seems to be a good evidence that this way by Scripture is the better and more secure It being the way of Divine Dispensations to proceed from that which is less perfect to that which is more and he conceives the Apostles reasoning concerning the two Covenants Heb. 8.7 to be very applicable to these two methods of conveying Religion If the first had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second But perhaps he is happier in his next Allegation from Deut. 17.8 c. where there is a Judge in the Church of the Jews to be obeyed in matters of Law and Religion under pain of death Who sees not how inconsequential the argument is from the Jewish Church to the Christian The Jewish High-Priests did marry neither were any capable of the Priesthood among them but the children of Priests Will Romanists grant this parallel to hold in the Christian Church Though one man could be competent to govern an National Church such as the Jewish was shut up in one little spot of the earth doth it follow that one man is as capable of an Universal Monarchy over the Catholick Church dispersed through the whole earth Yet neither from this place can be proved the infallibility of the Jewish High Priest or Sanedrim else they should have been infallible not only in matters of Faith but also of Fact For there is expresly mention made of questions of Fact v. 8. between blood and blood plea and plea stroke and stroke all which are to be decided by the testimonies of men and in such Romanists acknowledge both Popes and Councils to be fallible In that Commission Deut. 17.8 9. the Judge or Civil Magistrate is joyned with the Priests and the people are commanded equally to acquiesce in the sentence of both under pain of death I suppose he will not because of this grant infallibility to the Magistrate how then can he infer from it the infallibility of the Church Representative But were the Jewish High-Priests and Sanedrim infallible I shall not stand to enquire how Aaron the High-Priest was stained with Idolatry Exod. 33.4 5. how Vriah the High Priest did make an idolatrous Altar after the Altar of Damascus 2 King 16.11 or what meant these general complaints Isai 56.10 Jer. 6.13 Jer. 14.14 Hos 9.8 Ezek. 22.25 26. c. all which he will find vindicated from the exceptions of Romanists by Learned Whittaker de Concil q. 6. cap. 3. I only enquire whether the High-Priest and Sanedrim did err when they condemned Christ as an Impostor and Blasphemer if they did as none but Infidels can deny then the Jewish Sanedrim was not infallible only it may be asked how did God command obedience to the Sanedrim under pain of death if they were not infallible This Query might be answered by another Do the Penal Statutes of Princes under pain of death prove them to be infallible Was it not said to Joshua Whosoever will not hearken to thee let him be put to death But I answer absolutely that the active obedience to be given to the Jewish Sanedrim was only when they gave sentence according to the Law This is clear from the Text v.
Claim to this Promise by enjoyning many things directly contrary to the Command of Jesus Christ such as the Communion under one kind worshipping Images invocaring Saints c. Lastly remains that place 1 Tim. 3.15 Where the Church is called the Pillar and Ground of Truth to which on all occasions they flee as the chief support of their infallibility but in vain For first were I disposed to Criticise I might remember him that their own Esthius on the place observes that the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies not only a Pillar but also a writing Pensil so as the Church may be termed Stylus veritatis or the Pensil of Truth because by her the Lord writes in the hearts of men the Doctrines of Truth which may be done by the Ministry of the Word though she have no infallible visible Judge I might likewise advertise him that Heinsius as is noted by M. Leigh in his Critica Sacra affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifies a Station or place wherein a person doth stand or sit and that the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Seat may be much of the same importance and then the sense will be the Church is the Seat of Divine Truth So as all truths necessary to Salvation are always to be found in her and in no other Society Yet hence it no more follows that in her is a visible Judge exempted from all Doctrinal Errour than because she is the Seat of true Holiness it can be concluded that there is in her a Judge exempted from all sin Perhaps secondly the Adversary will have difficulty to disprove them among whom is the Learned Camero in Myroth who joyn these words The Pillar and Ground of Truth not with the Church but with that which follows and so the meaning will be that the great Mystery of Godliness mentioned vers 16. is the Pillar and ground of Truth that is a chief Article of Faith and Religion as the Jews term the points of their Religion Fundamenta Radices Hence that famed Rabbin Maimonides as Camero observes begins his Book Fundamentum Fundamentorum columna sapientiae est eagn secre esse primum ens c. Does it not appear a little harsh to use the arguings of Mares controv 5. cont Tirin num 3 that the Church be called the House of God and also a Pillar in one sentence A House may have Pillars but the House and the Pillar are not the same Seems it not probable that the Apostle having described the Church as the House of God should then point at these Foundation-Truths which he enumerates in v. 16. as the Pillar which supports the House Some I confess of our own Divines seem not so well pleased with that construction of Camero among whom are Gul. Rivet Son to the Famous Andreas Rivetus and Ravanel But with Reverence to these Learned men I must crave leave to say their Arguments against it seem at best but topical Thirdly May not Chillingworth's notion Part. 1. cap. 3. Sect. 76. have it's probability who by the Pillar and ground of Truth understands not the Church but Timothy and so there is an elepsis of the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is frequent in Scripture as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the meaning will be that thou mightest behâ—ve thy self in the Church which is the House of God as a Pillar And thus not only Apostles as Peter James and John Gal. 2.9 but also faithful zealous Ministers may be termed Pillars Naziauzen gives the like Titles Orat. 19. to Basil and Orat. 21. to Athanasius So Basil Epist 62. honours the Bishop of Neo-Caesarea with this very Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore either Nazianzen and Basil judged all these persons infallible which I suppose none will affirm or if they did not then they did not think these words to import infallibility But fourthly Granting it be said of the Church yet it makes nothing for the Romish Interest many probably supposing that to be spoken of the particular Ephesine Church Now particular Churches by the acknowledgment of all may err If it should be extended to the Catholick Church what is that to the Roman she being at the best but a particular Church But whether universal or particular Church be here meant yet if it be not the Church Representative it makes nothing to the purpose in hand concerning the visible Judge But the very Series of the context seem to favour them who understand the place rather of the Church governed than governing that thou says he to Timothy mightest know how thou ought to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church that is how Timothy as a Pastor should carry among those under his charge Was not the Church in the first 300 years the Pillar and ground of Truth as well as now yet all that time after the first Council at Jerusalem she never assembled in a General Council ergo her being Pillar and ground of Truth is not by Conciliary infallibility But fifthly Giving and not granting that it were spoken of the Representative of the Catholick Church yet infallibility will never be infallibly deduced from it Why may not she be called the Pillar and ground of Truth in a politick sense because Ministerially she holds forth the Truth as a Programme affixed to a Pillar is exposed to publick view of others but not in an Architectonick sense as if the Church did Authoritatively and infallibly support the Truth especially seeing as Irenaeus saith lib. 3. cap. 11. eolumna firmamentum Ecclesiae est Evangelicum The written Gospel for of that he there speaks is the ground and Pillar of the Church yea and Hierom as cited by a Lapide on the place writeth thus Ecclesia est columna firmamentum veritatis quia in ea sola stat veritas firmata quae sola sustinet aedificium Ecclesiae If the truth alone as Hierom says doth sustain the Church then doth not the Church in an Architectonick sense sustain the Truth yet do we not deny but the Church is a Keeper Witness Propounder and Defender of the Truth Why may not this phrase the Church is the Pillar and ground of Truth hold forth the Churches duty what de jure she ought to do and not what always de facto is her practise infallibly Though Rom. 13.3 it be said that Rulers are not a terrour to good works but to evil yet the Romanists will not grant that Magistrates do always and infallibly countenance Godliness and Truth because there he speaks what 's their duty not what always is their practise Why may not the Church be called a Pillar in regard of solidity though not in regard of infallibility to signifie the difficulty of her removal from truth though not the impossibility But sixthly as Chillingworth loc cit Sect. 78. does further acutely observe
City of Edinburgh arrogate the Legislative Power over all the Shires and Cities of this Kingdom would it not overturn the Authority of the Kingdom of Scotland when the Roman Church which at her best was but a member of the Catholick does now usurp Jurisdiction over the whole and imperiously would obtrude Heretical Doctrines and Idolatrous Superstitions by a pretended Infallible Authority is not this to overturn the Authority of the Catholick Church And therefore I know none who may fear that threatning of Austin more than the Court of Rome Contra hunc inexpugnabilem murum quisquis arietat Confringetur CAP. III. That the Scriptures are the Principal Compleat and Infallible Rule of Faith the Atheistical Cavils of the Pamphleter notwithstanding THough Protestants do not cheat the World with a pretence of an infallible visible Judge yet with the truly Catholick Church they acknowledge there is an infallible Rule of Faith namely the holy Scriptures of God which are sufficient through the assistance of the Holy Ghost to guide Souls in the way of Salvation But among the manifold impieties of the Papal Religion the indignities put upon the holy Scriptures by Romanists are not the least I shall therefore first give an hint of some of these indignities then briefly open the state of this Question concerning the Rule of Faith and confirm our Assertion that Scripture is the Rule Thirdly examine the Pamphleters four principal Objections And lastly reflect a little on the rest of his Rapsodick Discourse touching this Subject SECT I. Some hints of Indignities put upon the Holy Scripture by Romanists IN the first place They are not afraid to speak most contumeliously of the Scriptures calling them A Nose of Wax a Lesbian Rule inkie unsensed Characters a dead Letter c. It is from Melchior Canus Allertus Pighius Coster the Jesuit and other Romanists that the Quakers have learned these or such like Blasphemies Secondly They make the Authority of the Scriptures as to us to depend upon the testimony of their Church So Gordon of Huntly controv 2. de Eccles cap. 15. and Gretser Append ad lib. 1. Bell. de verb. Dei col 39. Whose ears would not tingle at that saying of Hermannus that the Scriptures should be of no more value than Aesops Fables without the Churches testimony Yet Gretser the Jesuit is displeased with Rullus for charging it with Blasphemy yea Cardinal Hosius in Consutatione Brentii lib. 3. de Author Sacrae Scripturae pag. 148. edit 2. Antwerp 1561. spares not to say Illud pio sensie potuisse dici that it might have been spoken in a pious sense and withal adds this reason Nam revera nisi Ecclesiae nos doceret Authoritas hanc Scripturam esse Canonicam perexiguum apud nos pondus haberet that is for truly if the Authority of the Church he means the Roman did not teach us this to be Canonick Scripture it would have exceeding litle weight with us From that Romish Atheistical Piety good Lord deliver us Learned Rivet in Isagog ad script cap. 3. giveth an account of many such Blasphemies belched out by Jesuit Baylie Coster Petrus Simonis de Toledo and other Romanists Thirdly Romanists have confidence to affirm that the Original Scriptures are corrupted So Gordon of Huntly controv 1. cap. 8 9 11 12. Melchior Canus loc com lib. 2. cap. 13. Leo Castrius Morinus Tirin c. Yea this Pamphleter Sect. 4. makes it a great part of his work to prove that the Scriptures are corrupted both in the Originals and in the Translations Is not this to accuse the Providence of God as suffering the Scriptures which he had given to lead us to Salvation to be corrupted Is it not to charge the Catholick Church of unfaithfulness that she was not more careful of so rich a depositum How desperate must the cause of their infallible Judge be when his Infallibility cannot be maintained unless the holy Scriptures be discredited as corrupt the Catholick Church accused of unfaithfulness and God robbed of the praises due to him for preserving the Scriptures Fourthly Neither is it a small indignity to the Scriptures that they preser the muddy stream of the Vulgar Latine before the Originals of the Old and New Testament Yet that Latine Version was not made by a person acted by a Prophetical and infallible Spirit What confusion and uncertainty they labour under as to the Author of it may be gathered from Ludov. de Tena Isagog Sac. script lib. 1. difficult 5. Sect. 2. yea it hath often been convicted of many errours and therefore that which was extant in the time of the Council of Trent was corrected by Sixtus Quintus that of Sixtus by Clement the 8. and that of Clement the 8. accused by Isidore Clarius of many errours nor can Clement himself absolutly assert its freedom from errour And yet the Council of Trent passing by the Originals pronounces the Vulgar Latin to be the Authentick Scripture Yea Ludov de Tena lib. cit difficult 2. Sect. 4. Says that the Hebrew Text is to be corrected by the Vulgar Latin Such folly is wittily checked by Hicrom Epist 102. ad Marcelldm Si displicet fontis nunda purissimi â—â—nosos bibant rivulos Fifthly Romanists accuse the Scripture of Imperfection as not emtaining all the material Objects of Faith So Eckrius in Enchirid. cap. 4. Coster in Enchirid. lib. 2. cap. 5. Bell. lib. 4. de verb. Dei cap. 3 4. Greg. de Valen. de Analys fidei lib. 8. cap. 6. Gordon of Huntly controv 1. de verb. Dei cap. 28. num 4. says that it is the least part of the Word of God which is contained in Scripture Nay D Beard in Retract Mat. 6. reports that Hosius should have dared to say Melius actum fuisse cum Ecclesia si nullum extaret scriptum Evangelium it had been for the Churches advantage that there had been no written Gospel I tremble to transcribe such Blasphemy doth not the Council of Trent Sess 4. define that unwritten Traditions are to be received paâ—i pietatis affectu with the same reverence and devotion as the Scripture it self Yea they magnifie Tradition above the holy Scripture Hence Spondanus the Epitomator of Baronius spares not to affirm ad annum 53. num 4. Traditiones excellere supra Scripturas that Traditions have an Excellency above the Scriptures and confirms it by this reason Quod Scripturae non subsisterent nisi Traditionibus firmarentur Traditiones vero sine Scripturis suam obtinent firmitatem Sixthly Romanists accuse the Scriptures in their greatest purity with such obscurity ambiguity and multitude of desperate senses that they cannot instruct us in the way of Salvation but as they are sensed by the Romish infallible Judge Hence are many of those ignominious expressions which Coster Melchior Canus Pighius and others belch out against the Scripture as suffering themselves to be wire-drawn by any interpretation Greg. de Valen. lib. 5. de Analys fidei cap. 2. is bold
to say that the collation of Scriptures is so far from terminating Controversies ut magis augeat that it rather encreases them Yea D. Beard relates of Pelargus the Jesuit that we read in Scripture that an Ass did speak but never that the Scripture it self speaks So that this Romanist makes the Scriptures more mute than Balaams Ass than which as saith the Doctor what could be brayed more like the Beast he spake of Seventhly They prohibit the Version of the Scriptures into Vulgar Languages and the people to read the Scripture Hence Cardinal Tolet lib. 1. de instruct Sacerd. cap. 10. Sect. 9. reckons the Bible among prohibited Books and Iâ—â—dov de Tena in Isagog sac script lib. 1. difficul 3. Sect. 1. acknowledges that in the Catalogue of prohibited Books set forth by Cardinal Quivoga Reg. 6. omnia Biblia in Lingua vulgari prohibentur all Bibles whatsoever in a Vulgar Tongue are prohibited And that they are as peremptorily prohibited in a late Catalogue published at the Command of Cardinal Bernard de Roias and Sandoval Reg. 4. Alphonsus à Castro lib. 4. de haeres cap. 13. pronounces the reading of Bibles to be the cause of Errours in Religion and therefore commends Ferdinand King of Spain for prohibiting under highest pains the Translations of Bibles into Vulgar Languages or the importing of such Bibles or having them in ones custody Sixtus Senensis is of the same Opinion lib. 6. Bib. Annot. 152 and Jesuit Azorins Tom. 1. Instit Moral lib. 8. cap. 26. q. 3. affirms it to be an Heresie in Lutherans and Calvinists to assert that the Scriptures ought to be translated into Vulgar Languages It 's true Bell. lib. 2. de verb Dei cap. 15. speaks of a power to give Licenses to read the Scripture in Vulgar Languages granted by Pius the 4. to Bishops Inquisitors and Confessors but it is as true that that power was either given only by a Cheat or recalled by after-Popes as is evicted by Rivet in Isagog cap. 13. Sect. 14. from the Index of prohibited Books as recognized by Clement 8. in observat circa Reg. 4. The same observe of Pope Clement the 8. his annulling the power of giving Licenses is improved by Jesuit Azorius loc cit whereupon at length he concludes that the Bible or any part thereof in any Vulgar Tongue is prohibited which says he inviolate praecipitur servandum i. e. is commanded to be inviolably observed Neither do their Prohibitions reach only Versions made by Hereticks but also made by Catholicks Yea Reginald in Calvino-Turcismo lib. 4. cap. 7. is bold to conclude Translationes penitus supprimendas etiamsi divina Apostelica niterentur authoritate that Translations of Scripture are utterly to be suppressed though they were warranted by Divine and Apostolick Authority is not this more like the conclusion of a Turk than of a Christian And when they grant Licenses it 's meerly out of necessity when they see people would not be restrained from reading Versions as Gretser acknowledges in defens Bell. lib. 2. de verb. Dei cap. 15. How contrary is this to the Institution of God who caused writ the Scripture in vulgar or commonly understood Tongues and commanded all to search the Scriptures neither can themselves deny but it is against the practise of the Primitive Church as may be seen in Alphonsus à Castro and Sixtus Senensis loc cit Were the people to be secluded from reading the Scripture Would the Apostle John have written one of his Epistles to a Woman Would Hierom Epist 16. or Paulinus give this advice to Celantia sint Divinae Scripturae semper in manibus tuis let the Divine Scriptures be always in thy hands Or would that same Hierom Epist 22. recommend to Eustoebium not to desist from reading the Scriptures until being overcome with sleep her head fell down as it were to salute the leafs of the Book tenenti codicem somnus obrepat cadentem faciem Pagina sancta suscipiat Do not therefore our Romish Adversaries draw on themselves the Curse Luke 11.52 Woe unto you Lawyers ye have taken away the Key of Knowledge ye enter not in your selves and them that were entering in ye hindred Eighthly and lastly Not to mention more at this time do not their Canonists give the Pope power to dispence with Scripture Commands and Prohibitions and though their Divines seem not to go the full length of the Canonists yet they can reconcile themselves by a distinction as may be seen in Azor. Part. 2. Instit Moral lib. 4. cap. 18. where he positively affirms that Canonists commonly assert Posse Romanum Pontificem jus divinum declarare interpretari restringere remittere amplificare augere mutare i. e. that the Pope of Rome may declare interpret restrict remit amplifie inlarge and change the Divine Law And though he bring in the Divines Opinion somewhat otherwise yet he grants they also maintain that the Pope may hunc vel illum a Juris Divini rigore eximere exempt this or that person from the rigour of the Divine Law And by virtue of this distinction betwixt abrogation of Divine Law and exemption of a man from the rigour of Divine Law he says Canonists and Divines may be fully reconciled I will rake no further in this Dunghill I only leave it to be considered whether that forged Coat of Arms of which the Pamphleter talks viz. a reversed Bible for it 's no wonder that Jesuits adventure on false Herauldry who are so bold in preaching Heresies would not better suit with Jesuited Romanists who are so many ways injurious to the holy Scriptures than with a Protestant SECT II. The state of the Question concerning the Rule of Faith opened and the Scriptures briefly proved to be the Rule SHould I insist to prove the absurdity of each of the indignities done by Romanists to the holy Scriptures this Tractate would swell to a nimious bigness I shall therefore at the time pitch upon that one particular mentioned in the Title of this Chapter viz. whether the Scriptures be the principal and compleat Rule of Faith Excellently did Varinus describe a Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an infallible measure which neither admits addition nor diminution And therefore by the principal and compleat Rule of Faith I understand the chief and adequate Standard or measure by which we are to judge of all the Articles of Religion or material objects of our Faith So that whatever is not warranted by and agreeable to that Standard and measure is to be rejected as no point of our Faith In this sense we affirm the Scriptures to be the compleat and principal Rule of Faith and of all true Religion I call the Scripture the principal Rule of Faith to distinguish it from other subordinate Rules For Learned Protestants have granted that Tradition and the Doctrine of the Ancient Church may in a large sense be termed Rules of Faith but so as they are to be reduced to
believe the material objects or particular Articles of Faith There be great School-men for both these Opinions without censure of Heresie on either hand as may be seen in Carleton Theol. Schol. Tom. 2. disp 4. Sect. 2. 3. Would Romanists therefore grant that Scriptural Revelation is the principal mean by which the Veracity of God is applied to all the material objects of Faith so as this were the Standard by which we are to judge of all Articles of Faith I should not much contend with them whether they looked on Scriptural Revelation as a part of the formal object of Faith or only as a requisite condition to our believing upon the Veracity of God but how far they are from this may appear by the account I have given of their Opinions in the foregoing Paragraph it not being my concern at the time to debate that Question of the formal object of Faith I shall abstract from it and keep close to this of the Rule of Faith in which all Reformed Divines are agreed against Papists and Quakers that Scripture is the principal compleat and infallible Rule of Faith I shall not dilate upon Arguments to confirm the Orthodox Assertion this hath been done copiously by Whittaker against Stapleton lib. 3. de Author Script Chamler Tom. 1. Panstrat lib. 1. and very lately by Tillotson against J. S. much less can it be expected that I should enter upon a particular refutation of all those errours concerning the Rule of Faith into which Romanists and Quakers are subdivided I hope it shall suffice by some brief hints to evict the Scriptures to be the principal and compleat Rule of Faith whereby the contrary notions of Adversaries in all hands will vanish into smoak Only this I must not omit that though Papists talk bigly of Universal Tradition and consent of Fathers yet if either of these were made the Test Popery would be found not to be the true Christian Religion So fearful are Romanists of these discriminating Tests that sometimes they spare not to say as Melchior Canus lib. 7. cap. 1. that though all the Fathers with one mouth own a Doctrine yet the contrary may be piously defended and of Traditions the Fratres Valenburgii in examin princip examin 3. Num. 64. affirm ut Traditio aliqua sit Apostolica nihil detrimenti eam accipere licet aliquando in Ecclesia de ea dubitatum sit yea this Pamphleter confesses pag. 75. that such doubts may be moved concerning Fathers and Traditions that at length all must be resolved into the definition of the present visible Judge My work therefore shall be to hold out the Scripture to be the principal and compleat Rule of Faith whereby it will appear that other pretended Rules either are not true Rules or but subordinate to the Scriptures Did not our Lord Jesus in all his Debates with Devils or Hereticks appeal to the Scriptures and never to the Decretals of High-Priests or unwritten Tradition But it 's written Ye err not knowing the Scriptures Are we not remitted for decision of all Controversies to the Rule of the Scripture Isai 8 20. Joh. 5.39 Are not Scripture-Saints commended for improving this Rule Act. 17.11 Are we not commanded so to cleave to Scripture as not to decline from it either to the right hand or to the left Deut. 5.32 Deut. 17.18.20 Deut. 28.13.14 Josh 1.7.8 Is there not an Anathema pronounced upon all who broach any Doctrine not only contrary to but beside the Scripture whether Apostle or Angel Gal. 1 8 9. Which Scripture is expounded by Chrysost in locum Basil in Moral Reg. 72. and Augustine lib. 3. cont lit Petil. cap. 6. of the written Word who then shall secure the Pope when he obtrudes his Praeter anti-scriptural Oracles Is not the Scripture given for this end that we may believe and believing have eternal life Joh. 20.31 Is it not called the Canon or Rule Gal. 6.16 Is not the Scripture the Rule by which all within the Church and to whom the Gospel is preached are to be judged at the Great Day Rom. 2.16 Joh. 12.48 Jam. 2.12 Must it not then be the Rule according to which we are to believe and walk Can there be any more Noble or infallible Rule thought of than the Scriptures of the Living God Is it not said to be more sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.19 Was it not so evident of old that the Scriptures were the Rule of the Christian Religion that the Adversaries of Christianity made it their great design to destroy the Bible thinking thereby to extirpate Christianity out of the world But this should have been as M. Tillotson observes Sect. 3. pag. 20. malice without wit according to Romish Principles For had all the Bibles in the world been burnt Christian Religion would nevertheless been entirely preserved by Tradition and the definitions of the infallible visible Judge nay the Church had been a gainer thereby for the occasion and Parent of all Heresie the Scripture being out of the way she should have had all in her own hands which Romanists are still grasping after But suppose the Enemies of Christianity mistook their design how came the Christians in those days to be so tenacious of this Book that rather then deliver it they would yield up themselves to torments and death why did they look upon those that delivered up the Scriptures as Renouncers of Christianity whom therefore they called Traditores if they had not looked on this Book as the Rule of their Faith and chief mean of their Salvation Were not those who suffered for not delivering up the Scriptures Confessors and Martyrs for this great Article of the Religion of Protestants that the Scripture is the Rule of Faith Is there any thing in the world to which the properties of the principal Rule of Faith do so quadrate as to the holy Scriptures Must the Rule of Faith be 1. Certain both in it self and as to us 2. Intelligible 3. Comprehensive of all the material objects of Faith 4. Independent as to its Authority from any prior Rule of Faith And 5. A publick Standard by which the Church may convince gain sayers Is there any thing to which all these are so exactly competent as to the Scriptures And 1. For Certainty how uncertain the infallibility of the Romish visible Judge is we have already cleared But the testimonies of the Lord are sure Psal 19.7 yea more sure than a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.19 If the motives of credibility firmly demonstrate any thing it is this Can any writing in the Earth compare with the Scriptures as to Antiquity Have they not been miraculously preserved thouâ—h Antiochus Epiphanes and the Roman Emperours c. so industriously endeavoured their utter abolition whereas many other Books of excellent use have really perished upon whose ruine men had no such design Hath not the truth of the Scriptures been solemnly attested by the Heroick constancy of
Scripture if they say from Oral Tradition then Oral Tradition should rather be the Rule of Faith than the sentence of the infallible Judge which I doubt if the Jesuited party will admit I appeal to all the Romanists in the world to instance one Article of Faith conveyed down by Universal Tradition and not contained in the Scripture Is there any dogmatical Controversie betwixt Romanists and us for which they pretend not Scripture Is not this a practical testimony to the fulness of Scripture as comprehending all material objects of Faith which at other times they dispute against The chief difficulty that here can be moved is that Scripture cannot prove its own Original to be Divine or define the number of Canonical Books Not to insist upon many things which may be replied this alone at this time may suffice that though what is objected were true yet Scripture would not cease to be the Rule of Faith it being sufficient that the Rule of Faith doth determine all questions about the material objects of Faith whereas the Books of holy Scripture are either a part of the formal object of Faith or at least a condition belonging thereto or to speak more plainly they are the Rule of Faith it self Nay this is such a Pedantick Sophism as if to use M. Chillingworth's example in his safe way to salvation cap. 2. Sect. 27. When a Merchant shewing his own ship containing all his stock says all his substance is in such a ship one should infer that either the ship were no part of his substance or that the ship were in her self whereas the Merchants expression imports no more but that all his goods distinct from the ship were contained therein So if Scripture be able to determine all questions of Religion concerning the material objects of Faith though those which relate to its being the Rule receive Evidence another way it loses nothing of this property of the Rule of Faith And to shew that Romanists are no less concerned in this objection than we I ask if they can assign any Rule of Faith that can resolve all questions which may be moved concerning it self as whether Oral Tradition or the definition of the visible Judge be the Rule or which soever of these be pitched upon can it prove its own infallibility can it resolve what Articles of Faith are only to be learned by unwritten Tradition and not at all by Scripture or who is the subject of Infallibility whether the Pope or Council or both conjunctly Is it not like that before they produce a Rule of Faith to resolve these and such like questions they will betake themselves to our Answer that it 's not requisite that the questions which concern the being of the Rule of Faith be resolved by the Rule it self only I must mind them that these things must at least have evidence from some other head which I doubt will hardly be found concerning the questions last mentioned But the questions which they move to us concerning the Divine Original of the Scriptures and the number of Canonick Books receive a clear determination partly from the motives of Credibility as Romanists themselves confess concerning all the Books which we hold as Canonical The like cannot be said of their Apocrypha Books as shall appear Sect. 3. and Append. 1. to cap. 7. and partly by the intrinsick Characters of a Divine Original for those are inherent to all the Books of Scripture and to no other writing consequently those give evidence of their Divine Extract though not by a formal testimony I shall not here insist upon the reflex testimony which Scripture gives to its own Divine Original 2 Tim. 3.16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God or of the ground which is given Rom. 3.2 to disprove the Apocrypha Books as no part of the sacred Canon of the Old Testament in as much as the Scripture of the Old Testament was delivered to the Jewish Church which certainly never owned the Apocrypha Books as part of the Scriptures as is clear from Josephus lib. 1. against Appion Yet because we must first suppose the Divine Original of those testimonies before we argue from them therefore I rest on what I have said What need I more so full are the Scriptures that Basil Serm. de vera fide concludes it a manifest falling from the Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a certain proof of pride 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either to reject any thing thing that is written or to introduce any thing that is not written Fourthly Doth the Authority of the Scriptures depend upon any prior Rule if there were any should it not be either Tradition or the definition of the Church not Tradition The most that the Council of Trent dared to say for Traditions was to equal them with the Scripture to be received pari pietatis affectu but if they were a Prior Rule upon whose Authority the Authority of Scripture did depend they should be preferred to the Scripture I acknowledge Tradition to have a chief place among the motives of Credibility preparing us to believe the Scripture Tradition I say not of the Church only but also of Infidels Yea the testimony of Infidels in this case may perhaps be more convincing than the testimony of the Church for Enemies cannot be supposed to be corrupted by interest to give testimony against their own selves Nor will I hope Romanists be so impudent as to say that the testimony of Infidels is the Rule of Faith If Tradition of the Church were to be the Rule either it must be the Tradition of the Church under this Reduplication as being the Church or as the Tradition and testimony of such prudent men Not the first for the Church cannot be known as a Church but by the proper notes of the Church and these cannot be had but by the Rule of Faith this being a part of our Faith that these are the proper notes of the true Church and consequently I must first know the Rule of Faith before I know the Church under the reduplication of a Church This I suppose will be found to be demonstratively conclusive If therefore the Tradition of the Church only as the testimony of prudent men be said to be the Rule a meerly humane thing should be the principal Rule of the Christian Faith and Religion which I believe no Christian unless he be of a Socinian impression will admit I confess the concurring testimony and Tradition of so many prudent men who cannot be supposed to have colluded together upon any base design to cheat the World may be so far convincing as to shew that there is no rational ground of doubting the Divine Original of the Scriptures and so may remove those prejudices which might have impeded our discovery of those intrinsick Rays of Majesty resplendent in the holy Scriptures which are the chief Evidence of their Divine Original But besides giving and not granting that our â—ssent to the Divine
Original of the Scriptures were only founded upon the Churches Tradition yet it doth not follow that the Churches Tradition should be the principal Rule of Faith Which I illustrate by two examples It 's granted by all that the Veracity of God is the formal object of Faith if not in whole yet in part but the first assent that is given to the Veracity of God is surely founded upon Natural Reason Yet School-men themselves will not admit that those Natural Reasons which prove the Veracity of God are the formal object of Faith as may be seen in Lugo de fide disp 1. Sect. 6. and Carleton Tom. 2. Theol Schol. disp 3. Sect. 2. 3. Who would be further satisfied how Natural Reason is not the Rule of Faith and Religion albeit Religion and Faith do presuppose Reason I most remit them to the Debates of our Divines against Socinians and to those betwixt the Paradoxal Author of Philâ—sphia Scripture Interpres and Vagelsangius c. Only now I conclude à pari though Tradition alone should prove the Divine Original of the Scriptures yet would it not necessarily follow that Tradition were the principal Rule of Faith I add another example suppose the King sent a Letter to his Subjects containing his pleasure as to sundry particulars of moment although the testimony of a Trusty Bearer might give Evidence that the Letter were truly the Kings yet would it be the Kings Letter and not the Bearers testimony that would be the rule of the Subjects obedience The Application is obvious The same reasons demonstrate that neither can the definitions of the Church be the first Rule of Faith for we must know the Rule of Faith before we know the Church as a Church it being by the Rule of Faith that we have the knowledge of the notes of the Church Nay further the Church is built upon the Foundation of Prophets and Apostles Ephes 2.20 that is upon the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament for as Esthius well observes Prophets and Apostles are said to be the Foundation of the Church ratione Doctrinae in respect of their Doctrine but the Doctrine of the old Prophets was only preserved entirely and incorruptly in the Scriptures for that the Traditions of those times were vitiated Christ witnesses oftner than once Shall the Law of the most High God receive Authority from his Creatures Did Moses when he received the Law from the mouth of the Lord wait for the suffrages of the Church or their Representatives to make it Authentick Whence have we the knowledge of the infallible and reciprocal notes of the Church but from the Scripture Then surely the belief of the Scripture must be presupposed to the distinct knowledge of the true Church consequently our Faith cannot ultimately be resolved into the definitions of the Church Fifthly and lastly Is not the Scripture a publick Standard of Divine Truth whereby the Church may convince Gain-sayers Doth not the Apostle 2 Tim. 3.16 say that the Scripture is profitable for reproof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for evident conviction Did not Apollos Act. 18.28 mightily convince the Jews by the Scriptures Hence Athanasius Orat. cont gentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the sacred and divinely inspired Scriptures are abundantly sufficient for the Declaration of the truth Nor do I doubt but the arguings of Protestants from the Scripture leave Convictions upon Jesuited Romanists albeit through interest and prejudice they stifle them and study Cavils against the clear light of Scripture Can either the secret Enthusiasms of a Quaker be such a publick Standard and mean to convince others or yet the Enthusiastick decisions of the Romish pretended infallible Judge seeing he neither can give Evidence of his Infallibility nor infallible grounds upon which he pronounces his sentences else upon those grounds without his sentence people might be convinced of the truth By these hints I hope it may appear that the properties of the Rule of Faith do exactly agree to the Scriptures but no more to the decisions of the Romish infallible visible Judge then to the Enthusiastick fancies of Quakers I may not now digress to confute Quaker whimsies concerning the light within which they make the Rule of Faith which I hope e're long shall be accurately done by the Pen of a Learned and Judicious person in this place If the judgment of Antiquity as to this matter be required it were easie to fill a Volum Take only a few touches Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 1. calls the Scripture the Pillar and Ground of Truth Chrysost in 2 Epist ad Cor. Hâ—m 13. calls the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exact Ballance Rule and Canon or all things Greg Nyssen lib. 〈◊〉 câ—nt Eunom in Append. operum Basilii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Jesuiâ— Gretser being Interpreter In omni dâ—gmate optima judicandi ratio est divinitus inspirata scriptura the divinely inspired Scripture is the best Rule by which we can judge of every Article of Faith Basil Epist 80. ad Eustath calls the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law and Rule of that which is right Athanalius in Synopsi anchoras sustentacula fidei the Anchors and Pillars of Faith Austin lib. 2. de bapt cont Donat. cap. 6. Stateras divinas Divine Ballances Tertull. lib. 4. cont Marcion cap. 3. the Christian digests alluding to the Civil Law which is a Rule in Law cases and Cassied lib. 1. Instit cap. 12. and 15. by a like allusion the Pandects Bede is very express as cited by Gratian caus 8. quesi 1. cap. 28. that the Scripture is unica credendi vitendi regula the only Rule of Faith and Life These things being so clear I will now examine the Objections of the Pamphleter which if they conclude any thing make as strongly against themselves or any Rule of Faith they can pretend to yea serve as well to prove that the Scriptures are no ground of Faith at all as that they are not a ground of the Religion of Protestants In truth they are Cavils more beseeming an Atheist that would overturn all Religion than a Christian yet least he should say his Arguments were not answered I shall take them to consideration SECT III. The Pamphleters four principal Objections against the Scriptures being the compleat Rule of Faith discussed OBjection first He enquires pag. 50. whether I make the Scriptures as translated or at in the Original Tongues the Rule of Faith and ground of our Religion Not as translated because Chamier lib. 1. cap. 2. Sect. 15. D. Fearly whom he calls D. Daniel in his Treatise the Dippers dipped pag. 1. and D. Barron tract 1. cap. 2. pag. 46. say that Translations only are Authentick in so far as they agree with Originals Now those Original Tongues of Hebrew Greek and Syriack not one of a thousand understand And further saith he our Translations are censured by Protestants Zuinglius accuses Luthers Version of Errours Luther himself confesses
that he puts in the word sola in the Text which was not in the Original Car. Molinaeus says Calvin in his Harmony makes the Text trip up and down Castalio accuses Beza 's Translation of many errours M. Parkes taxes the Geneva Translation of many errours and so doth M. Burges and Hugh Broughton our English Version yea Broughton says that it causes millions of Souls to run to eternal flames and in the Versions made under Q. Elizabeth and K. James there be many diversities sometimes that put in the Text which was in the Margin and that in the Margin which was in the Text. To this first Atheistical invective against the holy Scriptures which for most part is stoln from Breerly Apol. tract 1. Sect. 10. subdivis 4. and tract 2. cap. 2. Sect. 10. subdivis 2. I answer first by retortion This Objection militates as strongly against Romanists as against us For after the same manner it may be enquired whether the definitions of their Church or infallible visible Judge namely the Decretals of Popes and Canons of Councils be the ground of their Faith and Religion in the Languages wherein they were first given out viz. in Greek or Latin or as Translated Not as Translated because the Translations are not Authentical but in so far as they agree with the Principals and the Principals by many are not understood But besides what assurance can they have that those Originals are not corrupted in the conveyance by fallible men Have not Learned Criticks discovered that many supposititious Decretals and Canonâ— of Councils are obtruded on the Christian world by Romanists Hath not Isidore Clarius a Popish Writer noted as many Errours in the Vulgar Latin Version as any of those mentioned in the Objection have alledged in the Versions of Protestants consequently Romanists themselves must confess this Argument of the Pamphleter to be a Sophism seeing it overturns also the ground of their Religion Nay the same Cavil might have been moved against the Ancient Christian Church for in her also there were many who understood not the Hebrew Text yea some of the Fathers had little understanding of that Language then also there were innumerable Latin Translations made by fallible persons witness Austin lib. 2. de doct Christi cap. 10. 11. though he do prefer cap. 15. the Italian Translation to the rest yet so far was the Ancient Church from esteeming it perfect that Hierom judged it needful to make a new Translation of the Old Testament out of the Hebrew as himself reports lib. de viris illustribus cap. ult and to correct the errours of the Vulgar Version of the New Testament out of the Greek which work he undertook and performed at the request of Damasus Bishop of Rome as appears by Hierom Epist 123. Praefat. ad Evangad Damas and by Cassiod Instit lib. 1. cap. 12. Doth not the Pamphleter behave himself like an Atheist seeing his Objections against us militate against Christianity it self Is not this a strong demonstration that our Religion is the true Christian Religion that the Arguments of Papists against us are the Cavils which Infidels might use against Christianity it self Secondly Therefore leaving retorsion I answer absolutely that Scripture both in the Originals and when faithfully translated is the Rule of Faith If an Ambassadour deliver his mind by an Interpreter are not the words of the Interpreter the words of the Ambassadour Was not the Faith of the Ephesians built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Ephes 2.20 But it cannot be supposed with any probability that all the Ephesians did understand the Originals of the Prophets writings for they were not Jews therefore surely their Faith has been built on translated Scripture Neither can Christs Command of searching the Scriptures Joh. 5 39. be restricted to the Originals only seeing himself and the Apostles did frequently cite the Scriptures according to the Version of the 70. Neither say Chamier Featly or D. Barron any thing contrary to this for they only deny Versions to be the Rule of Faith in so far as they disagree from the Originals yea then to speak properly they are not Translations at all I notice not much the wrong Citation of Chamier in whose lib. 1. cap. 2. there is not a Sect. 15. for the Pamphleter shews himself to be as implicite in his Citations as in his Faith Only it may be replied How can illiterate persons resolve their Faith upon a translated Bible seeing they cannot examine its conformity or disconformity with the Original they being ignorant of the Language But it may as easily be retorted How can an illiterate man resolve his Faith upon the definition of the Council of Trent or upon the Doway or Rhemist Translations or upon a Bull or Decretal of the Pope seeing he cannot examine if these be faithfully translated from the Latin What answer Romanists give we can give the same Had not the Pamphleter been disposed to quarrel he might have found this difficulty copiously cleared in that Cap. of D. Barrons Apodex which himself cited viz. tract 1 cap. 2. Shortly then for satisfaction of the Reader I answer that a person unskilled in the Original Language may not only have a humane moral certainty of the conformity of his English Bible with the Original upon the testimony of a Protestant Church and Learned Pastors but also as Camero in his excellent tractat de notis quibus verbum Dei in specie dignoscitur Not. 3. observes there is a special Divine Character in the Scriptures which is not to be restricted to the Original Languages but individually inherent to the Doctrine of Scripture in whatsoever Language if it be faithfully translated which the Author doth there copiously illustrate Among other things he uses this example pag. 32. Some of Averroes writings are translated into very barbarous Latin yet there is no judicious Reader saith he but will discern Averroes to have been a most Eloquent man the Tropes Figures and Metaphors being kept in the Version He compares a faithful Translation to a Picture drawn with Ink by which we may discern the lineaments and comeliness of the person represented thereby though not the colour So albeit there be some things accidental in the Original Language which a Translation cannot express yet still there is as much as may manifest the Divine Original of the Scriptures For further satisfaction in this thing I shall commend to the sincere Lover of Truth the perusal both of that Tractate of Camero and of an excellent little Treatise of D. Owen of the Divine Original Authority and self-evidencing light and power of the Scriptures Neither ought it seem strange to any that there should be such a self-evidencing light in the Doctrines of salvation contained in holy Scripture yea there is a kind of necessity it must be so considering the posture of humane affairs For seeing the World is divided into so many various Languages whether the Lord thought fit to reveal
or feigned Gospels Traditions or fancied Revelations The testimonies of Authors for proving this I remit to be gathered from D. Morton Have not some Hereticks denied many of the Books of the holy Scripture whereof a large Catalogue may be had from Bell. lib. 1. de verb. Dei cap. 5. 6. yea doth not Bell. loc cit charge the Manichees as denying the whole Scriptures both of Old and New Testament did ever Protestant Churches so Doth not the same Bell. lib. 1. cap. 1. charge Gaspar Swenkfeldius and the Libertines as declining the Scriptures and only flying to the inward dictates of the Spirit Were there ingenuity among Romanists would they be so impudent in their accusations of Protestants In appealing to Scripture we imitate the ancient Fathers Hence Austin de Gra. lib. arb cap. 18. Sedeat inter nos judex Apostolus Joannes lib. 2. de nupt concupisc cap 33. ista controversia judicem requirit judicet ergo Christus judicet cum illo Apostolus quia in Apostolo ipse loquitur Christus And to the like purpose Optatus lib. 5. cont Parmen de caelo quaerendus est judex sed quid pulsamus caelum quâ—m habemus in Evangeliâ— testamentum I deny not but Hereticks have perverted Scriptures for the Patrociny of their errours But excellently did one describe the nature of Hereticks in this Si videant petitis è Scriptura demonstrationibus stultitiam suam constringi tum Scripturae recusant scopum usum srquando vero putant sibi favere nudum aliquod effatum à genuina recisum orationis serie ad suum propâ—situm accommodant suis confirmandis And this is all which Vincentius Gennadius and Austin in the places cited by the Pamphleter and other Romanists do insinuate Excellently said the old Jewish Rabbins In quocuaque Scripturae loco invenis objectionem pro Haereticis invenis quoque medicamentum in latere ejus 2. Therefore I deny the sequel Though Hereticks do appeal to Scripture yet it doth not follow that the Scriptures are not the Rule of Faith and Ground of the Religion of Protestants Do not the most Paradoxal Philosophers appeal to the Principles of Reason in confirmation of their absurd Theorems Shall therefore Principles of Reason not be the Rule by which to discern betwixt true and false Conclusions in Philosophy Will not a Litigious Caviller appeal to the Law for justifying his most injurious actions shall therefore the Law cease to be the Rule to distinguish betwixt just and unjust This Pamphleter argues against us as if I should argue thus against him Jansenists whom he holds for Hereticks appeal to the sentence of an infallible visible Judge as well as Jesuits therefore the sentence of the infallible visible Judge cannot be the Rule of Faith Or thus Quakers pretend to an infallible direction of the Spirit as well as the Pope or General Council therefore they are deceivers as well as those To shut up this Answer it 's not the claiming of conformity with Scriptures that proves a true Religion but the having of it and in evidence that we do not barely claim it but have it we are content to undergo the most accurate scrutiny The more Romanifls have contended with us these 150 years the more the truth of the Protestant Religion hath shined forth SECT IV. Some Reflections on the rest of the Pamphleters Rapsodick Discourse concerning the Rule of Faith FRom Pag. 61. to the end of his Sect. 4. he hath a long Rapsodick and incoherent Discourse wherein he endeavours to abuse an unwary Reader by bold Assertions empty Rhetorications and mis-stating of Questions Were these frothy flourishes reduced to an accurate way of arguing they would vanish into smoak and nonsence yet I shall touch what may seem most material therein First then he brings me in asserting that Scriptures are either clearin terminis or are made clear by conferring of places But he cites no place where I affirm this nor I believe will he find such an Assertion in so many words in all my Papers against M Demster However I acknowledge I have said that Articles of Faith are contained either in terminis in Scripture or else that by firm consequences they may be deduced from that which is there expresly revealed Nor do I deny but Protestants hold that conferring of Scripture with Scripture is an useful mean for finding out the true meaning of Scripture I shall therefore examine what this Scribler can bring against it And first he says Though a place of Scripture be clear in it self yet when divers Sects take it diversly a man may justly suspect his own judgment seeing so many of a contrary mind I know not what can be inferred from this irrational Assertion but either Scepticism in Religion or down-right Atheism For when a Scripture is clear in it self it carries with it sufficient evidence that this is the Mind of God therein If then notwithstanding this clearness one may justly suspect that this is not the Mind of God then he may have just ground to question what God says when he speaks clearly And if the sense of clear Scripture may be suspected may not the sense of the definitions of any visible Judge be questioned much more I confess the contradictions of rational persons ought to make us seriously consider what Scripture says but if it speak clearly no contradiction of Hereticks gives just ground to question the true sense thereof Did Athanasius question the Truth when it was contradicted by a World of Arrians though Pope Liberius also did subscribe the sentence against him Doth not the Apostle teach that the Faith of Divine Truths should be so firm that if an Angel would contradict it we should not believe him Gal. 1.8 Next he objects That Hereticks for their Herâ—sie alledge places of Scripture as would seem clear as Marcion justified his despising Moses by these words Joh. 10.8 All that ever came before me are Thieves and Robbers The Manichees they fancy that Christ is the Sun by that Joh. 8.12 I am the Light of the World The Waldenses that the Magistrate ought not to put a Criminal to death because it s said Exod. 20. Thou shalt not kill Yea says he the Devil cited clear Scripture against Christ and the Jews against his Death Did ever Beelzebub blaspheme more grosly than this Jesuit if the Devil cited clear Scripture why did not Christ hearken to him Do not their own Interpreters Jansen in concord Evang. cap. 15. Maldonat and à Lopide in Matth. 4.6 shew that the Devil grosly perverted that Scripture Did not the Devil mutilate the Text which he cited out of Psal 91.11 leaving out In all thy ways as is excellently noted by Bernard Serm. 14. in Psalmum qui habitat Quid mandavit nempe quod in Psalmo sequitur ut custodi aut custodiant te in viis tuis Nunquid in praecipitiis Qualis via haec de pinnaculo Templi mittere te deorsum Non
Câ—ntroversies as M. Menzies will have Let all the Papers betwixt M. Denster and me be read and it shall not be found that ever I asserted the Scripture to be Judge of Controversies Indeed I do assert the Scripture to be the Ground and Rule of Faith and I suppose when Protestants affirm the Scripture to be Judge of Controversies they mean no more But because I knew how apt Papists are to cavil upon the term Judge I did ever purposely wave it But this is the Jesuitical Candour he hath used in all his Criminations against me The Genius of this Scribler will yet more appear by his stating of this Question betwixt Romanists and us pag. 75. which he propounds thus Catholick Romans saith he build their belief upon Scripture not taken as they fancy but as explained by Apostolical Tradition conserved in the Church and the unanimous consent of the Fathers and if any doubt arise of both these on the general definition and decision of the present Catholick Church But Protestants says he as M. Menzies holds ground their Faith on Scripture which they have corrected or rather corrupted as clear in it self or made cleaâ— by diligent reading and conferring of places with prayers and as they imagine a well-disposed mind that is a prejudicate Opinion It is hard to say whether he discover more perverseness of folly in representing the state of this question Take these few observes upon it And first if Romanists build their Faith upon the Scriptures as expounded by Traditions c. then Scripture contains all Doctrines of Faith and Traditions serve only to expound the Scripture And yet he affirms pag. 62. There be Articles of Faith such as Persons in the Trinity Sacraments in the Church c. which he denies to be found in Scripture Either then in this state of the question he does not declare the adequate ground of the Popish Faith and so sophisticates with his Reader when he would make him believe that they build all their Faith on Scripture or else contradicts both himself and the current of Romish Doctors who maintain unwritten Traditions not only for expounding Scriptures but also for confirming Articles of Faith not contained in the Scripture Secondly He dare not commit the explication of Scripture either to Tradition or the unanimous consent of Fathers and therefore he keep the definition of the present Church as a Reserve in case of doubts concerning these and of doubts which may be mâ—ved concerning the sense of Traditions and of the testimonies of Fathers And therefore all must be ultimately resolved on the definition of the present Church they mean the Popish Church So that when all comes to all their Faith is built upon the word of their Pope or Council for nothing else can he mean by their present Church But thirdly seeing the decisions of Faith are remitted unto the present Church that is Pope or Council when the case is dubious concerning the sense of Scriptures Traditions and Fathers what is now left to be a ground for the Churches definition but either Enthusiasm or a Fancy So that by this very state of the question when it s well pondered the ground of the belief of the present Romish Church is because she fancies so Fourthly In this state of the question he speaks as if Romanists were all agreed concerning the Rule of Faith or Judge of Controversies the contrary whereof is apparent from what we spake both in the former question concerning the infallible visible Judge and also here concerning the Rule of Faith Are M. White M. Serjeant M. Holden Rushworth and other Patrons of the Traditionary way of the same Opinion touching the Rule of Faith and Judge of Controversies with Jesuits Fifthly Doth he not represent us as building our Faith on corrupted Scriptures Is not this an evidence of a most desperate Cause when we must be so perfidiously represented So far are Protestants from building on corrupted Scriptures that we appeal to the pure Originals and decline no mean for finding out the sense of Scripture ever acknowledged by the Catholick Church Yea to cut off their Cavils of this kind Learned Protestants as M. Baxter Key for Catholicks Part. 1. cap. 31. have offered to dispute the Controversies of Religion out of the Vulgar Latin or out of the Rhemists Translation Sixthly He would imply that we had no regard to Tradition or to the consent of Fathers In this he belyes us egregiously We are so far from excluding them from the means of expounding Scripture that we have a Venerable esteem of them when a Tradition is truly found to have been received by the whole Catholick Church in all Ages and when Fathers do unanimously consent in Doctrines of Faith But we must have further Evidence for an universally and perpetually received Tradition or Doctrine unanimously approved by Fathers then the partial testimony of the present particular and Apostate Church of Rome Dare Romanists remit the Controversies betwixt them and us to those Tests of Apostolick Tradition or unanimous consent of Fathers Have they Apostolick Tradition for their Adoration of Images Invocation of departed Saints substraction of the Cup from the people Purgatory Fire their Divine Authority of Apocryphal Book the Supremacy of the Pope above Councils and Princes c. none but either an Ignorant or he whose Conscience is Venal and Mercenary can affirm it But I may give a more particular account of these hereafter I add but a seventh Note When he mentions the means which we affirm ought to be used for finding out the true sense of Scripture such as the conferring of places of Scripture and prayer which I suppose none but an Infidel can disallow he reckons forth a well-disposed mind which he interprets a prejudicate Opinion What Candour I have met with or am to expect from them let any judge by this their Commentary upon my words when I require a well-disposed mind to the right understanding of the Scriptures that is saith my Adversary a prejudicate Opinion Doth he not discover himself to be a person to which his own Apocrypha Text Sap. 1.4 In animam malevolam non introibit Sapientia may most fitly be applyed Pag. 73. He flourishes with an old Argument against the Scriptures being Judge of Controversies The Judge of Controversie saith he ought to give a clear sentence which the learned and unlearned may equally understand but thus doth not the Scripture and to this purpose He alledges some testimonies from S. Ambrose S. Austin that there be wonderful depths in Scripture and from Vincentius Lyrinensis that Hereticks such as Novatus Sabellius Arrius c. have put various interpretations upon Scripture To this I answer first Non infertur Elenchus though all this were granted it only proves that Scripture is not the Judge of Controversies which is not asserted by me neither is it otherwise asserted by Protestants then as the Law is said tâ— be a Judge Hence was that of Aristotle
Polit. lib. 4. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scripture is only termed Judge because its the Law of the Supreme Judge having an Authoritative Power binding upon the Conscience and it 's honoured with the Title of a Judge both in Scripture and in the writings of Fathers Joh. 8.48 The word that I have spoken shall judge him Joh. 7.59 Doth our Law judge any man said Nicodemus before it hear him Hence S. Basil Epist 80. ad Eustach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and S. Austin de gr lib. arb cap. 18. Sedeat inter nos Judex Apostolus Joannes But all this is only so to be understood that it 's the Law and sentence of the Supreme Judge I answer secondly by retorfion As many Hereticks put divers senses upon Scripture neither will they acknowledge themselves to be condemned thereby so are there divers and contrary senses put by Romanists upon the definitions of their pretended infallible Judge neither will any of them acknowledg that their sentiments are condemned by the Pope or Council I could make a Volum of instances of this nature I only pitch on two And first the Council of Trent has defined Sess 4. cap. 2. that the Vulgar Latin Version of the Bible be held as Authentick and that none presume to reject it upon whatsoever pretext Habeatur pro Authentica quâ—d eam nemo rejicere quovis praetextu audeat vel praesumat Is this definition of the Council clear either to learned or unlearned Knows he not the interminable debates of Romanâ—sts concerning the sense of this definition Doth not Azorius the Jesuit Tom. 1. Moral lib. 8. cap. 3. testifie that Andreas Vega Andradius Sixtus Senensis Melchior Canus and Lindanus maintain that the Council of Trent intended not to vindicate the Vulgar Version from all errours either of Transcribers or of the Interpreter himself but only from gross errours relating to Faith and Manners To these Calovius crit sac de Vulgatae Versionis Authoritate minime Authentica Sect. 143. adds Driedo Mariana Isidore Clarius Brugensis Jodocus Ravenstein but others as Azorius himself loc cit Lud de Tena in Isagog ad script lâ—b 1. Difficul 6. cap. 1. 3. Pine ad praefat in Ecclesiast cap. 13. Sect. 2. Greiser defens Bell. lib. 2. de verb. Dei cap. 11. and many others hold that the Vulgar Version is not tainted with the least errour and this Debate was prosecuted with such animosity that as Calovius reports Sect. 143. out of Mariana they impeached one another before Judicatories with mutual Criminations and a Congregation of Cardinals was delegated to explain the sense of the Council yet neither to this day is that Debate finished Take another instance from the Bull of Pope Innocent the Tenth against the five Propositions of Jansenius which the Jesuits apprehend to be wholly in their favours and yet what various senses are imposed thereon by the Jansenists may appear from the Disquisitions of Paulus Irenaeus subjoyned to the Notes of Wendrokius upon the Provincial Letters at Helmâ—stad Anno 1664. Hence it follows that if various senses imposed upon the sentence of a Judge conclude that the giver of those sentences is not the Judge of Controversies then both Pope and Council are alike to be degraded from being Judges I answer therefore thirdly That it s enough that the Supreme Judge give out Law so clear that all Subjects might understand his sentences if the disability be not from themselves And such are the Scriptures of God though the prejudices of Infidel Jews will not let them understand that Jesus is the Messiah doth it therefore follow that the Scriptures have not clearly declared him to be the Messiah or if Ebionites and Arrians will not acknowledge Christ to be God doth it follow he is not there revealed to be the true God or if Socinians will not acknowledge him to have satisfied Divine Justice is it not therefore clearly enough revealed in Scripture The Pamphleter spends Paper in vain to prove the consistency of the Law with a Judge for that is not denied by Protestants we acknowledge that Councils have a Judiciary Power and that the general sentences of Scripture may be applyed by them for determining particular Controversies But that which is in question is whether Pope or Council have an infallible assistance whereof we must antecedently be ascertained before we believe any Divine Truth This the Pamphleter should have proved but that here he doth not once touch Page 77. The Pamphleter raises no little dust with some Citations of D. Field especially in his lib. 4. cap. 14 18 19. as if he asserted the consenting judgment of them that went before us to be the Rule of Faith and not the conferring of places nor looking to the Originals and that never any Protestant taught otherwise for which the Pamphleter would excommunicate me from the Protestant Churches But who authorized him to declare who be Protestants and who not Ne sutor ultra crepidam Is there a syllable in all my Papers derogating from the due esteem of Fathers Did I not still offer to debate the truth of our Religion from Antiquity as well as Scripture Did I not conclude their Religion spurious because it differs in its Essentials from the Ancient Church I appeal all the Order of Jesuits to let me have an account of Universal Tradition for Adoration of Images half Communions Apocryphal Scriptures the Popes Supremacy the necessity of an infallible visible Judge c. How scurvily is D. Field dealt with by these men Does not the Doctor complain Append. ad lib. 5. Part. 2. Sect. 5. that for what he had written concerning the Rule of Faith he was censured by Romanists as framing a new Religion for Sir Thomas Mores Vtopia yet this Pamphleter on the other hand makes these Assertions of D. Field to be the Standard of the Protestant Religion It is a falshood that D. Field makes consent with those who went before us to be the only Rule of Faith or the sine quo non for interpreting of Scripture for lib. 4. cap. 14. he reckons forth seven Rules of Faith and that comes but in towards the Rear Again in cap. 19. he enumerates seven means for finding out the sense of Scripture among which the knowledge of Original Tongues and conferring Texts are not omitted Yea cap. 17. he positively asserts with Cajetan Andradius Jansenius Maldonat that in interpretation of Scripture we may go contrary to the torrent of Antiquity and he concludes them highly unthankful to God who will deny that in this last Age the true sense of sundry Texts of Scripture is found out It 's too gross a Cheat which the Pamphleter would put upon his Reader wherewith the passages cited concerning the Rule of Faith the conferring of Scripture and consulting the Originals he adds these words that never did any Protestant teach otherwise whereas D. Field subjoyns them in another Sect. to a sentence of Illiricus But let
as Bell. does confess but also actually seclude from his Communion on the same account Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadoeia and many other Asiatick Bishops as testifies Denys of Alexandria in Euseb lib. 7. cap. 4 or how did he call Cyprian himself Pseudo Christum Pseudo Apostolum dolosum operarium a false Christ false Apostle and deceitful worker as Firmilian records in Epist ad Cyp. which is the 75 among Cyprians Epistles or how did Cyprian Epist 74. ad Pompeiam accuse Stephen as taking the defence of Hereticks against the Church of God had not the matter in controversie betwixt them been looked on as an Article of Faith Ought not Romanists at least give the world sute Characteristicks by which to know when the Bishops of Rome define a point to be an Article of Faith unless they design to hold all in suspence that they may improve their Delphick Oracles as definitions of Faith or otherwise as they find their interest require But as to Cyprian however he did err in the matter of Rebaptization yet he well perceived the point not to be Fundamental but such as good men may differ in salvo pacis câ—ncordiae vinculo as he expresses himself Epist 72. ad Stephanum And therefore adds qua in re nee nos vim cuiquam facimus aut legem damus And for this his moderation he is commended by S. Augustine Ep. 48. and by S. Hierome in Dial. adversus Lueifer though they were of a contrary perswasion in the thing Excellently said Austin lib. 1. cont Julian cap. 6. Alia sunt in quibus inter se etiam doctissimi atque optimi regulae Catholicae defenseres salvâ fidei compage non consonant alius alio de una re melius aliquid dicit verius bâ—e autem unde nune agimus ad ipsa pertinet fidei fundamenta Perhaps a Romanist may run to that subterfuge of the Valenburgii in examin princip fidei exam 3. Sect. 8. That therefore they who held these errours were of the same Religion with them who now believe the contrary because though they differ in the material objects of their Faith yet the same ratio formalis fidel or Rule of Faith was acknowledged by both namely that whatever God proposes by his Church is to be believed and by the same reason these Authors would be reconciling the Faith of Romanists before and after the Council of Trent They cannot deny but there be things now held as Articles of Faith which were not so held before the Council of Trent yet they would have us to believe that the Religion of both is the same because the ratio formalis credendi or the Rule of Faith is the same in both namely what God proposes clearly by his Church But here many falshoods are sophistically insinuated For first though it be true that whatever God proposes whether by the Church or by a private Pastor ought to be believed yet the Valenburgians sophistically insinuate that whatever the Church proposes God also proposes and that as necessary to Salvation though it were not so before but that this is a notorious falshood shall be cleared Sect. 3. neither can all the Clergy of Rome prove that this was the Faith of the Ancient Church The Pamphleter made some Essays to this purpose by some broken shreds of Antiquity in his Sect. 3. which we have examined cap. 2. and shewed that they make nothing for his purpose Nay the Ancient Fathers as we have evicted cap. 3. hold that the Scriptures were the Rule of Faith and the ratio formalis credendi for in this matter they seem to be taken for one consequently they differing from Romanists in the Rule of Faith were not of the same Religion with them Secondly it is as notorious a falshood that Romanists before and after the Council of Trent are agreed upon the same ratio formalis credendi or the same Rule of Faith Did I not shew the diversities of Opinions among themselves touching this thing in the stating of the question concerning the Rule of Faith If this be the prevalent Doctrine of the Romish Church which this Pamphleter holds out that the definition of an Infallible Judge is the principal Rule of Faith assuredly there were eminent persons in the Romish Church of another perswasion before the Council of Trent namely those who maintained that Pope and Council were fallible such as Occam Panormitan Petrus de Alliaco Antoninus Cardinal Cusan Nicolaus lemanges of whom I gave an account cap. 2. Sect. 2. Yea nor can Romanists to this day agree among themselves concerning the Rule of Faith some holding Oral Tradition some the definition of a Gâ—neral Council and others the definition of a Pope to be it though to hide their differences from simple ones they endeavour to wrap up all in some general terms such as the Proposition of the Church yet in enpounding these terms they go by the 〈◊〉 among themselves Thirdly there is more requisite to the Unity of Religion thâ—n a meer agreement in the formaliâ— ratio credendi or the Rule of Faith there be some material objects of Faith the explicite belief whereof is of absolute necessity to Salvation Can any be saved who do not believe an Heaven and an Hell Doth not Scripture hold forth Jesus Christ to be a Foundation in Religion 1 Cor. 3.11 Hence D. Vane in his lost Sheep cap. 8. pag. 87. though he cavil against the distinction of Fundamentals and Non-Fundamentals yet he is constrained to confess that in regard of the material object or thing to be believed some points are Fundamentals others not that is some points are to be believed explicitely and distinctly others not Consequently it s not a sufficient reason to say such held one ratio formalis credendi therefore were of the same Religion especially when it s confessed there be material objects which are of necessity to salvation to be believed by the one which were not by the other Fourthly the true reason therefore why the Fathers notwithstanding their errours were not heretical but of the same Religion with us because their errours were only against integrals of Religion but not against Fundamentals neither did they pertinaciously maintain them but were willing to have renounced them had they been convinced that they were contrary to the Scripture which to them was the Rule of Faith as well as to us So that to them might have been said as Austin to Vincentius Victor lib. 3. de orig animae cap. 15. Iste animus etiam in dictis per ignorantiam non Catholicus ipsa est correctionis praemeditatione Catholicus a Soul maintaining errours contrary to Catholick Doctrine yet willing to submit upon conviction upon that virtual repentance or premeditation of correction to use S. Austins word is truly Catholick namely when the Errours strike not at the Foundation as the same Father spoke in the forecited testimony lib. 3. contra Julian cap. 6. Against this the Pamphleter objects
pag. 92 93. many Fathers S. Athanasius in his Creed S. Hierome lib. 3. cont Russiu Nazianzen tract de fide S. Basil in Theod. lib. 4. Hist cap. 6. and Tertull. lib. de praescript as if they all had held that an errour in Faith would damn a Soul and consequently every point of Faith to be Fundamental He would do well to look better to his citations hereafter for Theod. lib. 4. hist cap. 6. makes no mention at all of S. Basil but only relates the Ordination of S. Ambrose But to pass this escape I answer that Fathers indeed held an errour in Fundamentals of Faith to damn a Soul but not one in integrals especially when it 's maintained without pertinacy That Fathers admitted such a distinction in points of Faith may be apparent because they did accuse one auother sometimes of errours in Religion as S. Cyprian was accused by the Bishops of Rome for maintaining Rebaptization as an errour in Religion and yet him the Catholick Church ever held for a Saint and Martyr S. Austin lib. 3. de orig animae cap. 15. charges Victor with eleven errours contrary to the Catholick Faith yet had so much charity to him that he said Absit ut arbitreris te haec opinando à Catholica fide recessisse quamvis ea fidei adversa sunt Catholica therefore they held not every point of Faith Fundamental The severe sentence pronounced in the Athanasian Creed which yet I must advertise the Pamphleter to be doubted whether it were drawn by the Great Athanasius is only against those who deny any Article of that Creed Now Creeds of the Ancient Church are supposed by Judicious Divines to contain Fundamentals as contra-distinguished from integrals That of Nazianzen tract de fide Orat 49. relates to Arrians against whom he there disputes who certainly erred fundamentally at whom also S. Hierom Apol. 3. contra Ruffinum seems to hint for their denying the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Pamphleter himself grants that Tertull. is speaking against Valentinus whom all know to have erred fundamentally so that from none of these testimonies can any thing be inferred against this distinction yet I freely grant that sometime opposition to an integral of Faith may also damn a soul namely when it is joyned with pertinacy but then it is not the simple not believing of the truth which condemns the man but his pertinacy But says the Pamphleter the English Church Excommunicates them who hold any thing contrary to the 39 Articles ergo they hold all the 39. Articles to be Fundamentals Answ Is it not more safe to judge of the thoughts of the English Church concerning the 39 Articles by the writings of eminent Divines in that Church approved by the Church of England then by the topical discourses of a nameless Romanist Now Learned Stilling fleet in his Vindication of the Bishop of Canterbury against T. C. Part. 1. cap. 2. Sect. 6. says that the Church of England never pressed the subscription of the 39 Articles as being all Fundamentals of Faith and for this also cites luculent testimonies of Bishop Bramhall Primate of Ireland She excommunicates them for their pertinacy and for their breaking of the Peace of the Church not that she supposes them all Essentials of Religion To the like purpose speaks D. Fern in his Preface against D. Champny We acknowledge saith he that he who shall pertinaciously and turbulently speak and teach against the Doctrine of the Church in points of less moment may deserve to be Anathematized or put out of the Church for such a one though he deny not the Faith yet makes a breach of Charity whereby he goes out of the Church against which he so sets himself What the Pamphleter cites of the Athenian Laws savours of Draco's severity who wrote all his Sanctions in blood and made every trespass Capital a fit President for the sanguinary proceedings of the Romish Inquisition Jesephus lib. 2. cont Appion doth only say that the punishment allotted to the Violaters of the Jewish Law for most part was death If this Romanist be so bloody that he would have the Gospel Church in this to Judaize his preposterous Zeal deserves such a rebuke as those who would have commanded fire to come down from Heaven on the Samaritans Luke 9.54.55 As for the angry expressions of Luther against them he callâ—d Sacramentarians it 's true of him what was said of Elias Jam. 5.17 that he was a man subject to the like passions with others Yet that Luther before his death was convinced of the truth of our Doctrine concerning the Sacrament Boxhornlius lib. 3. de harm Eucharist proves by many testimonies from Melancihon Cruciger Alefius yea and out of Luthers own writings As for that heavy sentence Revel 22.19 it holds forth what de Jure is due to all who derogate any thing from the sacred Canon of Scripture And the like sentence is pronounced upon them who add ought thereto v. 18. which speaks sad things against Romanists who have added all the Apocryphal Books But it doth not say that all who are not convinced of the Canonical Authority of every Book of Scripture shall de facto be damned if otherwise pious and penitent and ready to acknowledge the Divine Authority thereof were they satisfied in their Consciences thereannent Do Romanists conclude their samous Cardinal Cajetan a damned Heretick who questioned the Canonical Authority of sundry parts of Scripture To conclude this Section E. W. the Author of Protestancy without Principles that is Edward Worsley an English Jesuit at Antwerp discourse 3. cap. 4. c. hath much spongious talk to confute the Protestants distinction of Fundamentals and Non Fundamentals as unreasonable and false I should but beat the Air to examine all Himself comprizes the substance of what he has said in this one argument Every revealed Article is asserted by an Infinite Verity but an Infinite Verity delivers all it speaks with one and the same infinite certainty Ergo all Articles of Faith have one and the same like infinite assurance consequently one is as ponderous as another and equally Fundamental To this I briefly answer forbearing to reflect again upon the formality of a Jesuits Syllogism granting as uncontroverted the whole Syllogism viz. that there is an equal objective certainty in all divinely revealed Articles in a compounded sense with divine Revelation it being absolutely impossible that divine Revelation should be false but withal peremptorily denying the Corallary which he inferâ— from his Syllogism viz. that therefore all Articles of Faith are equally ponderous and Fundamental that is unless he intend to equivocate that there is an equal necessity of the explicit belief of every one of them to the eternal salvation of souls This consequent I deny because though all revealed Articles be revealed by an infinite Verity and with an infinite certainty yet not with equal perspicuity and so are not with equal facility penetrable by our weak understandings nor is the
to which all solid Christians ever assented is that through the weakness of our understanding we not being able to penetrate all truths divinely revealed we may sometimes suppose that not to be revealed by God which is revealed by him or that to be revealed by him which is not revealed In this case which was Cyprians in the matter of Rebaptization if a man believe firmly not only the Veracity of God and be ready to assent to the particular truth whereof now he doubts if he knew it were revealed by God but also believes the most weighty Articles of the Christian Faith we say in that case our Lord doth graciously pardon the misbelief of smaller material objects of Faith which through infirmity are misbelieved This we have already confirmed by Scripture and Antiquity Sect. 1. Laying aside therefore his false state of the question the true state of the question is whether whatever the Church proposes as an Article of Faith must be believed under pain of damnation and consequently is to be held as a Fundamental so as without the belief thereof no salvation can be had in this indeed we maintain the Negative and my Adversary and Jesuited Romanists the Affirmative That this is the true state of the question may be evicted from the Pamphleter himself For after his deceitful misrepresentations of the question at length he comes above board pag. 92. thus The Church saith he in her publick Decrees of General Councils strikes with the Thunder-bolt of Gods Curse and Excommunication all such as refuse to believe any one point decided to be of Faith which she could not justly do if every Article she declares were not necessarily to be believed when known to be decided by her It 's therefore the decision by her that lays the necessity of believing upon souls Yet it would be further noted that by the Church Romanists understand the Roman Church or Church in Communion with the Pope acknowledging his Headship and Universal Supremacy And because the diffusive Body of thee Roman Church cannot all assemble to define Controversies of Religion ther for it must be understood of her representatives seeing Conciliary representatives are very rare and the sense of their Canons are obnoxious to various debates therefore this power of determining and imposing Fundamentals though the Pamphleter in the words cited seem only to speak of Councils must at length be resolved into the Pope I wrong them not Here Jesuit Gretser speaking in name of the rest in defens Bell. lib. 3. de verb. Dei cap. 10. Colum. 1450. When we affirm saith he the Church to be the Judge of all Controversies of Faith by the Church we understand the Bishop of Rome who for the time being governs the Ship of the Militant Church The question is then whether all that the Bishop of Rome injoyns ex Cathedra and as matters of Faith must be believed because he injoyns it and that under pain of Everlasting Damnation the Jesuited Party affirm we deny It 's not the misbelieving what Scripture says but what the Roman Church or Pope saith that according to these men does condemn Souls I shall not insist upon a large confutation of this absurd Doctrine which cannot but ruine with its own weight not being supported with any solid ground only take these brief hints 1. The Catholick Church in all her Representatives since the Apostolick Age is fallible as I demonstrated by many arguments Cap. 2. Sect. 2. and may injoyn Errours for Articles of Faith Ergo all that the Representatives of the Catholick Church injoyn as Articles of Faith are not to be held as Fundamentals This one argument is sufficient to overturn that Romish Structure But 2. It 's an intollerable Catachresis to affirm the Romish Church much more the Pope to be the Catholick Church or to attribute the peculiar priviledges of the Catholick Church to the Roman or to the Pope by as good reason they might affirm Italy or Rome to be the whole World and predicate that of Rome which is peculiar to the whole World Ergo though it were granted that the Catholick Church or her Representatives had power infallibly to determine Fundamentals of Faith it does not follow that this is the priviledge of the Roman Church or Pope of Rome as our Adversaries affirm 3. Every thing that God himself reveals in Scripture is not a Fundamental of Faith Ergo far less every thing that the Church proposes The sequel is evident for if there be any reason why every thing proposed by the Church should be Fundamental this must needs be it because as Romanists affirm what the Church says God himself says But this reason cannot be cogent for beyond all peradventure what is revealed in Scripture is revealed by God himself and yet both Protestants and Papists acknowledge that all revealed in Scripture is not Fundamental therefore neither can all proposed by the Church be Fundamental This argument concludes that though she were infallible as Scripture truly is yet would it not follow that all her definitions were Fundamentals of Faith It may be here objected that he who knows a truth to be contained in Scripture and yet misbelieves it erres Fundamentally therefore also if the Church be infallible he who misbelieves any point which he knows to be propounded by her erreth likewise Fundamentally Not to mention that this objection proceeds upon the supposition of the Infallibility of the Church the falshood whereof I hope has already been evicted I answer that he indeed erreth Fundamentally who misbelieves the least truth which he knows to be contained in Scripture provided he know the Divine Original of that Scripture yet not so much for misbelieving that particular truth for in other circumstances it may be misbelieved without a Fundamental errour as for his explicite misbelief of the Veracity of God which renders the man an Infidel But I hope Romanists themselves will not say that if Cardinal Cajetan who questioned the Divine Authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews had thereupon misbelieved some particular Proposition which he acknowledged to be contained in that Epistle had erred Fundamentally and consequently though the Church were infallible as she is not yet if he who questioned her Insallibility should also misbelieve what he knew to be propounded by her he should not err Fundamentally For in so doing he would not explicitly question the Veracity of God as in the first case 4. If the Proposals of the Church made Articles Fundamental ergo after the Churches definition the Christian Religion should be essentially different from what it was before contrary to Ephes 4. there is but one Faith The sequel is evident because after that definition of the Church there should be Fundamentals or Essentials in Religion which were not before And from this it follows the now Roman Religion is essentially different from the old Christian Religion For by the new definitions of their Church they have made many Essentials which the
Ancient Church never knew as I demonstrated against M. Demster Paper 4.5 I argue with Learned M. Stillingfleet thus The Church is a Church before she past out her definition ergo by her definition she makes no Fundamentals The sequel is proved because the Church cannot be a Church without the belief of all Fundamentals ergo whatever definition she passes posteriour to her being a Church is none of the Fundamentals E.W. the Author of Protestancy without Principles Discourse 3. cap. 6. Sect. 19. superciliously undervalues this argument of D. Stillingfleet supposing he hath evicted the nullity thereof by this simile As in a Kingdom or Commonwealth after the settlement of some great matters I suppose he means the Fundamental Laws they may thereafter proceed to make new Laws so he conceives it to be in the Church But the faculty of that Jesuit lies in throwing a Feather to the ground with high confidence Two things if I mistake not may discover the lameness and impertinency of the Jesuits simile And first it's beyond doubt that after the settlement of the Fundamental Laws of a Kingdom the King and Parliament have a Legislative Power to create new Laws not only to declare what Laws formerly were in being but to give a being to Laws which formerly had none But the more Judicious Romanists deny that the Representatives of the Catholick Church far less of the Roman or a Pope have power to make Articles of Faith which were not but that their power is only declarative of Articles of Faith which formerly were So Alphonsut à Castro de haeres lib. 1. cap. 8. Valentia in Part. 3. disp 1. quest 1. punct 6. and Azor. Part. 2. Moral lib. 5. cap. 3. quest 2. yea so much is acknowledged by E. W. himself Sect. 22. Hence when lately D. Taylor in his Disswasive cap. 1. Sect. 2. concluded the impiety of the Romish Religion because it did attribute to the Romish Church i. e. the Pope power to make Articles of Faith contrary both to Scripture Gal. 1.8 and to the third Oecumenick Council at Ephesus It was replyed to him by a Romanist that they only give to the Church a declarative power to declare what be Articles of Faith If the Church have only a declarative power then she has not such power to make Articles of Faith as the King and Parliament have to make Laws to the Kingdom or if she have power to make Articles of Faith then D. Taylor 's Charge of impiety stands in force against Romanists They may chuse which of the two absurdities they will run upon But secondly if the King and Parliament should add to the Fundamental Laws of a Kingdom when addition were made to them thereafter the Constitution of the Kingdom should in so far be altered and different from what it was consequently if the Church should add to the Fundamentals of Faith the Christian Religion should essentially vary from what it was before Nay if the Church may add to Fundamentals and make that Fundamental which was not Fundamental why might she not pair from them also and make those things cease to be Fundamentals which were Fundamentals and so overturn all Christianity and make it a quite different thing from what it was But the Unity of the Christian Religion and of the Catholick Church prove convincingly that the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion are always the same and unalterable Sixthly and lastly The absurdities of this Romish Doctrine may appear by the impious consequences which flow from it As 1. The imperious Usurpation of one part of the Catholick Church namely of the Church of Rome her Popes or Councils over the whole Catholick by this she assumes a mighty Soveraignty over the Consciences of all the World to impose on them Fundamental Articles of Faith which Christ never authorized her to do 2. It establishes a most grievous Schism thus she cuts off from the Catholick Church as Hereticks or persens erring fundamentally all who cannot submit to her heretical Decrees 3. It makes Romanists unchristianly uncharitable and to conclude that all shall be damned which do not with Issachar couch down under the burdens which she imposeth 4. Hence also it is that they abuse the World with an implicite Faith if they be in a readiness to believe what is imposed by their Church it 's enough though they know little in particular what she has imposed yea some say though explicitly they believe nothing Nay Tolet lib. 4. de instruct Sacerd. cap. 3. If a Country man saith he believe his Bishop propounding some Heretical Doctrine about the Articles of Faith he meriteth by believing though it be an errour because he is bound to believe until it manifestly appear that it is against the Church O dreadful impiety Shall it be not only not sinful but meritorious to believe Lyes when it but seems to be the Doctrine of the Romish Church The absurdity of the Romish Assertion being now sufficiently evicted our Doctrine upon the other hand may be clear viz. that those Articles are only to be held for Fundamentals on which Scripture hath put a character of necessity for the appointment of Fundamental Articles or the prescribing of the necessary conditions for obtaining Eternal Life dependeth wholly upon the good pleasure of God and therefore are to be gathered from the Scripture which are the compleat Rule of Faith and deliver to us the whole Counsel of God concerning our Salvation But this Jesuit must needs be still prevaricating and therefore pag. 86. he brings in this as a character given by me of a Fundamental if it be commanded to be believed by all But never did I assert any such thing nor did I ever think that a meer necessity of Precept does infer a point to be Fundamental we are commanded to believe Articles of Faith whether integral or Fundamental But in this is the difference that Fundamentals are also necessary necessitate medii finis by necessity of the means and of the end so as Salvation cannot be attained without the belief thereof neither is any thing to be held as such unless the Scripture which is the adequate Rule of Faith put a character of necessity thereupon From what has been said I deduce this Corollary that the unity of the Catholick Church stands in the unity of Fundamentals and consequently though there be diversity of integrals betwixt Churches yet if the Fundamentals be preserved they all make up one Catholick Church the Greek Church Waldenses Wicklevists and Hussites may differ from us in integrals yet if the Fundamentals be held by all we make up one Catholick Church Hence also it may be judged whether Romanists or we be the true Catholick Church We own all for Members of the Catholick Church who own the Fundamentals and superadd nothing destructive thereunto But they exclude all who are not of the present Roman Faith expressed in the formula fidei of Pius the Fourth or in that English confession of
Faith annexed to H. T. his Manual of Controversies reprinted at Doway 1671 many copies whereof were lately apprehended at Leith and consequently they rend themselves from the greater part of the Christian Church SECT IV. Whether was it necessary for the decision of the question betwixt Mr. Dempster and the Author to determine the precise number of Fundamentals ANswer negatively for 1. the particular question betwixt him and me when he turned to that usual to pick and subterfuge of Romanists concerning the precise number of Fundamentals was whether the Scriptures do clearly contain all things necessary to Salvation But this general as I told in my sixth paper pag. 92. may be proved without an induction and precise enumeration of all Fundamentals and this I made out by clear Scriptures which he never once examined But 2. take the controversie betwixt Mr. Dempster and me in the greatest latitude It was concerning the religion of Protestants and not of the particular sentiments of this or that Protestant Author seeing therefore as I told in my tenth Paper pag. 219. that the Reformed Churches in their harmony of Confessions had not determined that precise Catalogue should I have pitched upon it I had left my work to follow a tergiversing Vagrant 3. As it was not necessary so neither was it expedient that I being a private person should take on me to define the precise Catalogue of Fundamentals and the rather seeing the Romish Church extending the number of Fundamentals too farr hath Schismatically separated her self from the body of the Catholick Church Nor do I know any thing more destructive to the publick peace of the Church then the rash and unadvised determination of Fundamentals for by that means who ever acknowledge not all these are in the judgement of such persons excluded from the Catholick Church and Salvation excellently said Luther as cited by Mr. Baxter Saints rest part 1. pag. 138. Edit 4. nihil pestilentius in ecclesia doceri potest quam siea que necessaria non sunt necessaria fiant hac enim tirannide conscientiae illaqueantnr libertas fidei extinguitur 4. If a man believe all Fundamentals though he cannot precisely distinguish them from integrals he may be saved Can Romanists for all the noise they make about Fundamentals define the precise number of them why then being so often required particularly by learned Chillingworth and Tillotson as I instanced paper 7. pag. 122. have they never done it yea Dr. Holden in Anal fid lib. 1. cap. 4. affirms it to be unreasonable to demand it and impossible to perform it But 5. It s an impudent fals-hood which this Pamphleter often repeats in his 5. Section that I had affirmed that the number of Fundamentals cannot be determined let him instance the place without varying my words when I did affirm this Nay I was so far from it that I challenged Mr. Dempster of the same untruth paper 7. pag. 122. But Jesuits will not blush though deprehended in such Peccadillo's All his pretext for this is from a testimony of Mr. Chillingworth part 1. cap. 3. Sect. 13. cited by me wherein that Author affirms that more may be necessary to the Salvation of some then of others and therefore to call for a precise Catalogue of points necessary to the Salvation of every one were as if one should call for a diall to serve all meridians or for a coat to serve the Moon in all her changes Concerning which testimony I desire these things to be noted 1. This Pamphleter as if he had been left to divine concerning the Author of that testimony speakes as one that gave a specimen of his great reading saying Mr Chillingworth is the Man as I conceive and yet I had in my tenth paper pag. 219. not only named Chillingworth but pointed at Cap and Sect where this testimony was to be found 2. This was Mr. Chillingworths assertion not mine The most I said of it was paper 6. pag. 92. What if it should be added that more is requisite to the Salvation of one then another whereupon a great Divine whom I by name expressed paper 10. pag. 219. spared not to say c. But I did not positivly own his assertion Yet 3. it may safely be said that more may be required to the Salvation of one then of another and that it s as impossible to determine a Catalogue of truths necessary to the Salvation of every one as to find out a dial to serve all Meridians or a coat to serve the Moon in all her changes and yet not be impossible to determine Fundamentals properly and strictly so called For clearing of this it would be considered that there be two kinds of truths necessary to Salvation some primarly simply and absolutely without the explicite belief whereof no adult person can be saved and these are strictly taken Fundamentals others are onely necessary secundum quid and Secundarily as when a point of truth is discovered to be revealed by God though in it self it be not absolutely necessary yet in these circumstances a man cannot disbelieve it or impugn it and continue therein without throwing himself upon damnation For to oppugn known truth is a sin which without repentance necessarily infers damnation On this account Mr. Chillingworth said that the precise number of necessary truths could not be determined because one may see more of the material objects of Faith to be revealed than another and so more may be necessary to the Salvation of one than of another and consequently its impossible that a certain number for all should be determined and so much also is acknowledged by Dr. Vane Lost Sheep cap. 8. pag. 88. Yet this concludes no impossibility of determining the number of the first kind of necessary truths without the explicite belief whereof no adult person may be saved though I neither judge it necessary nor expedient to be done by me a the present perhaps also an Article of religion may be more clearly revealed then the Fundamentaly of it for though it be absolutly necessary to Salvation that Fundamentals be believed yet it s not absolutely necessary that every Fundamental be believed under this reduplication as a Fundamental Among other reasons why it hath pleased the Lord not to reveal the Fundamentality of all Fundamentals as clearly as the Articles themselves this may be one lest people resting on the knowledg of Fundamentals should be less solicitous in searching after other divine truths which though not of absolute necessity yet are very precious It will be time to answer his squibs and raillery from the changes of the Moon when he has vindicated not only their own Missionaries who are known for most part to be a company of Apostate Runnagado's but also the body of their religion and missal from multifarious changes which some have not unfitly resembled to a beggars coat patched up at sundry times of clouts of many colours But how shall it be known saith the Pamphleter pag
Catholick Church yet seeing a testimony which I cited from Frier Reyner in confutation of that same objection is so grosly represented by the Pamphleter I must resume it again and a little more largely then before Reyner therefore professes there was never a more dangerous Sect then that of the Waldenses and that for three Causes 1. quia dinturnior because it s of longer continuance some saying that it hath continued from the time of Sylvester others from the time of the Apostles 2. quia generalior it s more universal for there is hardly any countrey into which this Sect doth not spread 3. because other Sects are joyned with atrocious blasphemies but this of Leonists or Waldenses hath a great shew of piety they live justly before men they believe all things well concerning God and all the articles of the Creed Onely the Roman Church they hate and blaspheme and the mulâ—itude are easily indueed to believe them This testimony to the Antiquity universality and sanctifie of the religion of the Waldenses is given by a Romish inquisitour Hereupon saith the Pamphleter pag. 94. Mr. Menzies with his ordinary ingenuity will have Fryer Reyner to say absolutely the Waldenses were from the Apostles days Reader behold the ingenuity of a Jesuit When I read this bold accusation I thought perhaps my pen had given me the slip for I do abhor it as diabolical and Jesuitical to prevaricate purposely but when I turned over to my ninth paper pag. 194. where the testimony is cited I found the Jesuit to be as voyd of shame as of honesty for thus I cite that part of Reyners words yea some say saith Reyner from the Apostles dayes Is this to cite Reyner as affirming absolutely that the Waldenses continued from the dayes of the Apostles if this person dare so prevaricate in a matter of fact where there be so many standing witnesses against him as there be printed copies of my papers Against Mr. Dempster what Faith is to be given to his other criminations let those who have not forfeited their own honesty judge But what advantage have Romanists by that some say of Reyners O sayes the Pamphleter those who said were Leonists or Waldenses themselves as witnesses Pilichdorphius this same evasion was used long ago by Jesuit Greâ—ser and solidly answered by the learned Vsher de success cap. 8. â—s 1. for Frier Reyner affirmes himself that the Sect of the Waldenses was of longer continuance then any other sect which could not be unless it had continued from the days of the Apostles Surely he could not think that it had its rise from Poter Waldns auno 1160. For Reyner himself lived as is testified by Jusuit Possevin in appar Sac. aune 1254. so that there should only have interveened 94. years betwixt the rise of this Sect and Reyner But many sects were of greater antiquity and duration then that therefore that cannot be the Friers meaning Mr. Merland in his forcited hist lib. 1. cap. 3. proves that the inhabitants of the vallies of Piemont professed the same doctrine sunday ages before Peter Waldus among the rest he pitches upon Claudius Archbishop of Turin who about the year 820. ceased not to teach his people in this place as his adversary Jonas Aurelianensis confesses that they ought not to run to Rome for the pardon of their sins nor have recourse to Saints or their relicks that the Church is not founded on Saint Peter much less upon the Pope but upon the doctrine of the Apostles and that they ought not to worship Images Pag. 95. The pamphleter is so civil as to say that I have a more justclaim to John Huss name then to his religion I am not of such anserin stupidity but that I could make as ignominions at reorsion upon my adversary But I choose to walk in the footsteps of holy Jesus who when he was reviled reviled not again Did not John Huss before the Council of Constance maintain that there is one one-head of the Catholick Church the Lord Jesus Christ Did he not ly oppugne the supremacy of the Pope of Rome over the Catholick Church Did he not maintain that the Sacrament of the Supper ought to be celebrated under both kinds Do not Protestants agree with Hussits in many articles charged upon them by Aeneas Sylvius in hist Bohem. cap. 35. how then sayes the pamphleter I may lay more claim to his name then to his Religion May not Roma nists be ashamed to make mention of this Martyr John Huss whom their fathers at the council of Constance murdered perfidiously contrary to the letters of safe conduct am I not honoured with a peece of further conformity with John Huss then in name onely viz. to be an object of Romanists malice and that it has not proceeded further I owe to the mercy of God not to their good will But sayes he John Huss was for invocation of saints prayer for the dead seven Sacraments transubstantiation yea and the Popes supremacy and this he would confirm as from others so from holy Mr. John Fox who according to his usual modesty pag. 69. He terms a fiery protestant because in his Acts and monuments he records the fiery and bloody persecution of that scarlet coloured whore of Rome The like he affirms of Herome of Prague But besides that all these are fetched from Breerlies Apology tract 2. cap. 2. Sect. 5. and that when I mentioned John Huss it was not so much his particular sentments that I meant as the doctrine of those people who were termed Hussits I ask the Pampheleter whether he gives most credit to the Counsell of Constance and Pope pius the 2. or to Mr. Fox John Huss and Hierome of Pragne now surely the Council of Constance chargeth John Huss as maintaining that after the consecration the bread remains And whatever Apologies he made for himself in this matter this is sustained by the Council as an article of his enditement so also Mr. John Fox in his Acts and Monuments pag. 1799. Edit Lond. anno 1632 testifies Is he not accused as maintaining the errors of Wickleff And is not this the first error condemned by the Council in Wickleff sesâ— 8. substantia panis materialis vini materialis manet in Sacramente Is not this one of the Interrogatures prescribed by the Council at Constance sess 45. as Caranza relates in Summa Concil for discovery of Wicklevists and Hussits utrum credat quod post consecrationem sacerdotis in Sacramento altaris sub velamento panis vini non sit panis materialis vinum materiale sed idem per omnia Christus qui fuit in earne passus Doth not Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pius the 2d charge the Hussits as affirming the equality of the Bishop of Rome with other Bishops as disallowing prayers to and invocation of Saints departed as condemning the necessity of atricular confession and excluding confirmation from the number of Sacraments either then the Pamphleter must derogate
the Magdeburgians Cent. 3. Cap. 4. pag. 42. Expresly affirm that no Sacrifice was acknowledged either in the second or third Century but of Christ on the Cross except eucharistike Sacrifices of prayer and praise c. and confirm their assertion not only from other Fathers but also from Cyprian It 's true Cyprian and other Fathers called the eucharist a Sacrifice but they meant only a commemorative Sacrifice as is largly demonstrated by Dr. Morton lib. 6. of the institution of the Sacrament Concerning invocation the Centurists do not say that the Fathers of the third age did witness invocation of Saints but only that vestiges of it were to be found in their Writings and herein perhaps they have discovered a little of their unadvisedness for the chief ground of this their assertion they take from some supposititious writings of Origen particularly his commentaries on Job which not only our Critiks Cocus pag. 68. Rivet Crit. sac lib. 2. cap. 13. Scultet medul pat lib. 6. cap. 2. pag. 124. but also Erasmus Genebrard Sixtus Senensis lib. 4. bibl and Pessevin the Jesuit appar verbo Origenes have declared to be spurious But yet the Pamphleter objects that the Centurists affirm that Irenaeus Clement and all the Doctors of the second age did admit free will even in spiritual actions to whom both they and Abraham Scultet says he adds Cyprian Theophilus Tertul Origen Clemens of Alexandria Justin Athenagoras Tatianus c. But this Pamphleter discovers that either he has never read the Centurists and Scultet or that he is most perfidious in his citations For the Centurists Cent. 2. cap. 46. col 46. after that they had said somthing to that purpose of the Fathers of the second Century presently subjoyn videmus interdum hos liberi arbitrij assertores sibi ipsis contracia dicere ac paulo alicubi commodius sentire so that when all is put together the Centurists say these Doctors were inconstant to themselves in that matter and Scultet in his Medul pat edit sranco-furt 1634. charges with inconstancy in this thing pag. 83. Irenaeus pag. 38. Iustin Martyr pag. 119. Clemens of Alexandria pag. 245. Cyprian pag. 52 he pronounces Tatianus an heretick and in particular that he mantained that the Soul dyed with the Body pag. 135. he charges Theophilus Antiochenus with Arrianism and Origen with contradictions in many chief poynts of Religion of Tertullian pag. 243. he says that he wrot more grosly of free-will then Pelagius himself if Jesuits will take him for their Patron in this matter they may But what is all this to the point do Protestants deny free-will in regenerat persons about supernatural actions No verily we abominat Manicheism and Stoicism That which we deny is free-will in unregenerat persons about actions spiritual and acceptable before God Did not Austin with the Catholick Church affirm as much hence Enchirid cap. 30. man abusing his free-will lost both himself and it And again cum libero arbitrio peccaret homo victore peccato amissum est liberum arbitrium and lib. de corrupt gra cap. 11. liberum arbitrium ad malum sufficit ad bonum nihil sufficit nisi adjuvetur ab omnipotente Deo More to the like purpose may be seen de Spir. lit cap. 3. and lib. 3. contra duas epist pelag cap. 6. c. We also deny that the efficacy of grace in conversion depends upon the beck of mans free-will and so did Austin with the Catholick Church before us lib. de corrupt gra cap. 12. subventum est igitur infirmitati voluntatis humanae ut divina gratia indeclinabiliter insuperabiliter ageretur and cap. 14. volenti salvum facere nullum hominum resistit arbitrium So likewise lib. 1. ad Simplic quest 2 lib. cont duas Epist Pelag. cap. 19. I know Bellarmin has made a far greater muster of Fathers for the Jesuits Pelagian Doctrin of free-will lib. 5. de gra lib. arb cap. 25.26 But the Fathers are judiciously vindicated in that point by the learned David Paraeus in his animadversions on these capp In a word what ever were the opinions of these Fathers as to the matter of free-will it doth not follow that they or all the Fathers in these Centuries did embrace the whole System of the present Tridentin Faith Do not both the Centurists and Scultet make it their work to demonstrat that the Fathers in these Centuries had no kindness for the present Romish Religion Not to wast time and paper upon all the impertinent allegations of the Pamphleter on little touch I must give concerning Mr. Luther I am not concerned to justify all his harsh expressions of the Fathers Did not Moses himself speak somtimes unadvisedly with his lips Yet this I must advertise the Reader that the colloquia mensalia out of which most of these expressions are taken which Romanists usually object in their rants are called by Dr. Francis Whyte in his Orthodox Faith against T. W. a counterfit Treatise only going under the name of Luther though I am not ignorant that Mr. Bell who lately Translated them into English would have them accounted genuine At best they were but extemporary discourses collected from his mouth at table or such like seasons wherewith Luther himself is said to have witnessed much dissatisfaction and therefore such stress ought not to be laid on them as upon written and deliberat tractats Were the Colloquia Mensalia of Popes and Cardinals collected I believe we should have much worse stuff What Language was that of the Pope who said he would have his cold Peacock al despeto de dio What an unsavory dialogue was that betwixt Leo the tenth and Cardinal Bembus wherein the Pope said to the Cardinal quantum nobis profuit fabula de Christo As for Luthers judgment of the Fathers I cannot express it better then in the words of Dr. Francis Whyte canvasing the same objection pag. 261. concerning Luther says he even as in Sacred Scripture the Prophet Isai cap. 1.11 and cap. 65.3 And the Apostles having to do with hypocrits who placed Righteousness in outward ceremonies utter diverse speaches in disgrace of legal rites not depressing the same in themselves but shewing they were unprofitable to such as abused them So Luther being opposed by adversaries who preferred the Fathers before the Scriptures correcting that abuse useth some broad speeches such as our adversary nameth against the errors of some Fathers not generally of all but otherwise when Fathers are lawfully used as witnesses and interpreters of truth he esteemeth them according to their worth and yeelds as much to them as themselves require and to verify this he cites two testimonies of Luther which to stop the mouths of rayling adversaries I here thought fit to insert The first is periculosum horrendum est audire vel credere quod adversatur unanimi testimonio fidei Doctrinae Sanctae Catholicae ecclesiae quam indejusque ab initio unanimiter servavit
So Luther ad March Brandeburg tom 2. germ pag. 243. again patres evangelium fidem in Christum absque ulla bypocrisi pure simpliciter tradiderunt ecelesiam ab junumeris erroribus expurgarunt So the same Luther Comment in cap. 5. ad Gal. by this it may appear that Luther had a great honour for ancient Fathers and believed that the ancient Church was a true Church of Christ Consider fourthly the granting of Protestant Authors that the Church was overspread with error doth not conclude that they held the Church to have utterly perished Every error in Religion destroys not the being of the Church a maimed man is a man though not a whole man a leprous or paralitick man is a man though not a sound man so one erring Church if the error be not in the essentials and fundamentals of Religion is truly a Church of Christ though not usque quaque pura throughly pure and sound yea in as much as the Church is said to be erroneous her existence is supposed doth not the inexistence of an accident in a subject suppose the existence of the Subject After that the worship of God was grosly corrupted by Idolatry in Israel and Judah they remained visible Churches and begat Sons and Daughters unto God Ezeck 16.20 So Learned Protestants acknowledg that after the Roman Church was polluted with Idolatry and other absurd errors yet she remained a visible Church though a very impure one So Calvin epist 103.104 and lib. 4. instit cap. 2. Sect. 11.12 Zanch. in Epist ad Comitem Barch and lib. de relig Christ cap. 24. Sect. 19. Iun. lib. sing de eccles cap. 17. Mornaeus de eccles cap. 2. Sect. ecclesia Latina cap. 9. Sect. Secundo quemadmodum Dr. Feild in append ad lib. 5. part 3. cap. 2. where also he shews the same to be the judgment of Luther Bucer Melanctiton and Beza Neither is this for the advantage of the Popish interest for most of these Authors acknowledg the Romish Church in these latter and corrupt times only so to be a visible Church as the Apostle predicts the visible Church to be the seat of the Antichrist When he says 2 Thes 2.4 that he shall sit in the Temple of God Yea all of them look upon Apostat Rome as a Church so impure that the reformed Churches did but their duty and were not schismatical in making secession from her for she was the Author of the Schism not only by adhering so pertinaciously to her corruptions but also by imposing on others the owning of them as grounds of communion with her and by driving Protestants from her by Bulls and Excommunications because they could not own these corruptions in so much that as King James in resp ad Epist. Card. Perronij saith Non fugimus sed fugamur How ever by this it may appear that the prevailing of errors over the face of the visible Church doth not totally destroy the being of the visible Church Yea Jesuit Valentia in 3. part disp 1. q. 1. punct 6 confesseth quasdam veritates fidei quandoque ob hominum negligentiam vel proterviam ingenij perversitatem demersas latuisse forsan adhuc latere that some Doctrins of Faith and not only probable opinions once delivered by the Apostles thorow the ignorance or perversness of men were for a time drouned and lay as it were buried until afterwards by the diligence and faithfulness of the Church they were revived And perhaps saith he some truths may be in that case at this very day Hence to the clamorous cavil where was our Religion before Luther may solidly be replyed It was as to essentialls at least where ever God had a visible Church and consequently not only in the Greek Syrian Aegyptian and Aethiopian Churches which remain visible Churches and more pure then the Roman but also our Religion was preserved in the Roman Church she likewise being a visible Church though a most impure one I say our Religion was preserved in her as the true Religion was preserved in the Jewish Church when she was defaced with gross Idolatry Neither should this seem strange especially seeing many thousands in the Roman Church then groaned for reformation as appeared by the conjunction of so many with Luther upon his first appearance I further add that we are not obliged to grant the same of the Roman Church at this time which we grant of her before the reformation For surely since the reformation the Church of Rome is greatly changed to the worse as Dr. Feild in the place last cited and Voetius in desper causa papatus lib. 3. Sect. 3. cap. 3. have evicted by many Instances and particularly many things being now defined by her as Articles of Faith which formerly were only debated as School-opinions And yet perhaps notwithstanding all these alterations to the worse she may be in a large sense allowed the name of a Church vere ecclesia though not vera ecclesia as Learned men distinguish Consider fifthly though the phrases of some Protestants concerning the prevailing of error in the Church in these last times especially may seem broad yet Scripture Fathers yea and Romanists themselves speak as broadly in reference to times of Apostacy And. 1. for Scripture what expression would seem broader concerning the time of Antichrist then that Revel 13.4 That all the world wondred after the beast and worshipped the beast and the dragon what would seem wider then the World Revel 18.3 all Nations have drunk of the Wine of the wrath of her fornication and the Kings of the Earth committed fornication with her Did ever Protestants speake broader Language concerning the apostacy under the Romish Antichrist then is there spoken by the Spirit of God 2. as for Fathers how lamentably do they bewaile the general overspreading of the Arrian heresy ingemult orbis miratus so factum Arrianum said Jerom. dial advers Lucif Remarkable is the discourse in Theod. lib. 2. Hist cap. 16. betwixt Constantius the Arrian Emperor and Liberius Bishop of Rome who then zealously owned the truth Quota pars es tu said the Emperor orbis terrarum qui solus facis cum homine scelerato How small a part art thou of the whole World that thou alone should joyn with that wicked man so he designed the good Athanasius To whom Liberius replyed non diminuitur solitudine mea verbum fidei Nam tres solum inventi fuere qui edicto resisterent that is the price of truth is not diminished by my solitude for three only were found to resist Nebuchadnezzars impious edict And Austin Epist 80. ad Hesych expresly says when the sun shall be darkned and the moon not give her light all which he interprets allegorically Ecclesia non apparebit impijs tunc persequutoribus ultra modum saevientibus The Church then shall not appear thorow the extream violence of wicked persecuters Yea and thirdly Popish writers themselves confess that Antichrist shall take away the
Constantinopolitan Creed as superadded thereto as is to be seen in vitâ Pij 4ti set forth by Onuphrius and in the Confession annexed to H. T. his Manual as a test of the Romish Religion therefore the present Romish Religion is not the true ancient Christian Religion but a bundle of innovations tyrannically imposed upon Consciences of People Yet because this impostor pitches upon ten Articles controverted betwixt us and Romanists wherein he affirms that the Fathers of the first three ages speake clearly against Protestants it may contribute both for the further clearing of the truth and discovering of Roman perfidy to trace him throw these particulars SECT I. The Pamphleters first Instance of Novelty touching the Popes Supremacy briefly canvased and retorted upon Romanists HIs first instance Pag. 139. is concerning the Popes Supremacy as being says he the most principal thing It s indeed the most principal thing with the Popes Parasits hence Bell. lib. 2. de concil cap. 17. Greg. de Val. lib. 8. de anal fid cap. 7. and other Jesuits give the Pope a supremacy over the whole Catholick Church yea and over general Councils as Pope Boniface the 8. extrav commun unam Sanctam had defined that subjection to the Pope is of necessity to Salvation to every Creature But this is as opposit to the faith of the ancient Church as East to West Had this been the faith of the Church in those times then it had been defined according to the Pamphleters Principle by the infallible visible judge of those times Why then does he not produce such a definition among his citations Doth not the world know that in those three ages there was not one Oecumenick Council except that at Jerusalem Act. 15. unless with Binius and the Ordinary gloss those other three Conventions of the Apostles Act. cap. 1.6.21 be also held for Oecumenick Councils But sure it is that none of all these made any definition for the Popes supremacy Consequently there was no infallible visible judge in those times to make such a definition I did always apprehend that the seat of the pretended Romish infallibility had been the seat of their supremacy How then is it that though Pope and Council were insinuated by this Pamphleter Sect. 3. to be the seat of infallibility joyntly Yet now the Pope alone is made the seat of supremacy Is he alone supream but not infallible Is their Church bound to obey and believe a fallible Pope teaching lyes and blasphemies as having supremacy over them though not infallibility Had the Churches in those three ages believed the Popes supremacy as necessary to Salvation would Polycrates and the holy Asiatick Fathers in the second Century have withstood the Pope so resolutly in the matter of Easter as is witnessed by Euseb lib. 5. cap. 22 Would Cyprian so holy a Father and Martyr with the Affrican Fathers in the third Century so vehemently have opposed Pope Stephanus in the matter of rebaptization as is acknowledged by Bell. lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 7 Would he have so zealously opposed appeals to Rome as he does Epist. 55. or censured Popes so sharply for admitting them which is to strike at the root of this pretended supremacy Would the fourth Oecumenick Council at Chalcedon Act. 15. can 28. and Act. 16. in which were 630. Fathers have defined in foro contradictorio after debate with the legats of Rome that the Bishop of Constantinople should have equal priviledges with the Bishop of Rome Would the second Council of Milevis can 22. have ordained them to be excommunicated who should make transmarin appeals Would the same African Fathers among whom Austin was one in the sixth Council of Carthage have so stoutly opposed appeals to Rome as Barron ad annum 419. cannot deny though both he and Bell. lib. 2. de Pontif. cap. 25. endeavour by some slight evasions to palliat the matter the falshood whereof is luculently evicted by Chamier Panstrat tom 2. lib. 14. cap. 3.4 yea the case is so clear that Stapleton relect princip controv 3. quest 7. Is not ashamed to condemn the proceedings of that ancient African Council against the Popes of Rome Such is the respect of Romanists to Antiquity when it crosses their interest Had the Popes supremacy been an essential of the Christian Faith Would Greg. 600. Yeares after Christ lib. 4. Epist 32.34.38.39 have condemned the Title of universal Bishop as a Title of Novelty error blasphemy the universal poyson of the Church contrary to the Ancient Canons contrary to Peter and to God himself a Title which none of his predecessors assumed and who ever did presume to challenge it was a forrunner of the Antichrist It s a manifest forgery contrary to all truth which Bellarmin lib. 2. de Pontif. cap. 31. and other Romanists use to elude those luculent testimonies of Greg. as if he had only condemned the title of universal Bishop in that sense wherein John of Constantinople did claim it Namely so as he alone should be Bishop and other Bishops should not at all be Bishops but his Vicars Whereas John of Constantinople never claimed that Title in any other sense then it is this day used by the Bishops of Rome for 1. the oriental Bishops consented with John of Constantinople that he should be termed universal Bishop but it s hardly credible that they would all have consented that themselves should be degraded But secondly Romish Authors particularlarly Platina in the Life of Boniface the third doth testify that the same dignity which John did effect Boniface obtained from that bloody Murtherer Phocas not without much ado magna tamen contentione says Platina Doth not the opposition which the Ancient Brittish and Scottish Churches made to Austin the Monk to Laurentius and Mellitus sent over to England by Greg. the first in the matter of Easter and celebration of Baptism of which see Bede Hist lib. 2. cap. 2. and 4. and Barronius ad annum 604. demonstrat that the Popes supremacy was not an essential Article of their Faith Yea so far was it from being an Article of the Faith of the Ancient Catholick Church that in late Councils such as that of Constance sess 4. 5. and of Basil sess 2. It s statuted that Popes be subject to the decrees of general Councils and sess 39. who ever contradict this is stigmatized as an Heretick Behold then the stupendious impudency of those men Though many such luculent demonstrations of the contrariety betwixt the now Romish Faith and the Ancient Catholick Faith in this their principal point of the Popes supremacy have been often proposed yet they have confidence still to alleadge that the Church in the three first yea in all ages was of the same Faith with them They might as well say that within those first three ages Ignatius Loyola founded the order of Jesuits which all know to be but of Yesterdays erection But hath he not some pretences for his assertion Yes but those which times
without number have been confuted The chief of his citatious are manifestly spurious such as that from Denys de divinis nominibus cap. 3. Clement epist 1. and the decretals of Pope Zepherinus The decretals of Clement Zepherinus and of many more Bishops of Rome are not only demonstrated to be Spurious by Whittaker Cocus and Blondel but also are acknowledged to be such by learned Romanists Turrecremata Possevin Barronius as is observed by Rivet Crit. Sac. l. 1. c. 8. particular reasons may be seen in Cocus against each of them Bellarmin himself de Script Eccles Pag. 51. edit paris 1630. questions the epistles which now pass under the name of Clement As for the Books attributed to Deny's learned and modest Causabon exercit in Barron 16. Sect. 43. affirms none can look on them as the writings of the Areopagit but he that is grosly ignorant and a stranger to antiquity Rivet lib. cit cap. 9. brings 13 arguments to prove them Spurious and that they wer not so much as writen within the first three ages It 's noted by Cocus in Censur Vet Script Pag. 50.51 not only that Valla Erasmus Grocinus and Photius hold these writings to be Supposititious but that also they are questioned by Cajetan yea and as seems likewise by Bell. lib. 2. de confirm cap. 7. and the like is noted by Strang. lib. 2. de Script cap. 21. concerning Ribera the Iesuit But grant they wer genuin yet in lib. de devinis nom cap. 3. there is nothing for the Pope of Romes Supremacy yea not so much as mention of Rome or of the Pope thereof only of the Apostle Peter it 's said that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which only imports the primacy of order which Peter had among the Apostles but no jurisdiction over them and though he had it what is that to the Pope of Rome unless it could be proved that the Pope succeeded to Peter in the latitude of his Apostolicall function which will be found an hard taske Concerning Ignatius whose Epistle to the Romans the Pamphleter cites I will not remit him to Rob. Parker de Polit. Eccles lib. 2. cap. 13. who also musters up a Multitude of arguments to prove these epistles attributed to Ignatius to be Spurious Nor will I altogether condemm as Supposititious the Seven Epistles mentioned as his by Euseb and Hierom yet Revet in crit Sac. lib. 2. cap 1. et 2. following learned Vsher makes it very probable that they are interpolated and vitiated yea Bell. himself lib. 4. de Eucharist cap. 26. confesses that there be many errors crept into them How can a firm argument be taken from vitiated Epistles But grant them to be entire and the rather seeing I find reformed Criticks divided especially concerning the Latin Edition of Ignatius set forth by Bishop Vsher and the Greek published by Isaac Vossius yet all this Pamphleter can alleadge from Ignatus is only a transient word in the inscription of the Epistle to the Romans which also he misrepresents though I blame not him so much as them from whom he borrowed the citation The words in the Greek concerning the Church of Rome are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which if rendered passively quae praesidetur which is presided over or which is governed by her own pastours give no shadow of a Countenance to Romish supremacy but take them actively which presides yet the presidency of that Church is restricted to the Religion of the Romans so that no universal jurisdiction is there ascribed to her The Testimonies of Ireneus Cyprian and Origen are sufficiently vindicated by Learned Chamier Whittaker Dr. Morton Dr. Stillingfleet c. to whom it were enough for me to remit him He had done well to have left out Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 3. for he is there disputing against unwritten Traditions maintained by the Valentinian Hereticks and confutes them by this argument because if there were such Traditions left the Churches founded by the Apostles could not be ignorant of them And because it had been long to have recited all he mentions the Church of Rome to which the faithful resorted from all places she being seated in the imperial City which is that he meant by the more powerful principality that resort to her from all quarters was not from the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome but from peoples necessary affaires in the imperial City as is largly cleared by Chamier tom 2. lib. 13. cap. 22. and Stillingfleet Part. 2. cap. 6. Sect. 12.13 Yea Irenaeus is so far from acknowledging the Popes supremacy that he reprehended Victor for his carriage to Polycrates and the Asiaticks and as seems retained communion with them notwithstanding the Popes Excommunication as may be gathered from Euseb lib. 5. Hist cap. 23. I proceed to Cyprian whom the Pamphleter cites Epist ad Jul. calling Peter the head and root of the Church and Epist. 55. the Church of Rome Peters Chair But there is none who withstood Popes of Rome more resolutely then Cyprian Notice but that one Character which in Epist 74. ad Pompeium he gives to Stephanus Bishop of Rome viz. that he defends the cause of Hereticks against Christians and the Church of Christ Sure therefore Cyprian neither acknowledged the supremacy nor the infallibility of the Pope It may be time enough to answer the first of those citations when he finds out Cyprians Epist ad Jul. for I cannot find such an Epistle among all Cyprians Works But poor Soul he could say no better then his Manual of controversies for H. T. Art 7. cites it thus Epist ad Julian I find indeed Cyprian Epist 45. ad Cornel. exhorting them who sayled from Africk to Rome in the time that Novatianus was schismatically chosen Bishop of Rome to adhere to the root and Matrix of the Catholick Church not that he so called the Roman Church but as Chamier judiciously observes tom 2. de Oecum Pontif. lib. 13. cap. 23. the Catholick Church advising them not to joyn with any schismatical party but to adhere to those who did keep the unity of the Catholick Church The same is the importance of that which Cyprian says Epist 73. ad Jubajanum which perhaps this Pamphleter in his Collection from others has taken for Epist ad Jul. Nos unius Ecclesiae caput radicem tenemus We keep the head and the root of the only Church but there he makes no mention of Peter at all So that the meaning is we keep the unity of the Catholick Church whereof particular Churches are members and branches What though the Church of Rome be termed the Chair of Peter Is it not usual with Fathers to mention the Chairs of other Apostles as may be seen in Tertul. de praescript cap. 36 or had Peter himself jurisdiction over the rest of the Apostles No verily Yea the Apostolick function being supream if the rest had been subordinate to Peter they had been supream as being Apostles and not supream as being subordinate to
Peter Hence Cyprian de unit eccles says hoc erant utique caeteri Apostoli quod erat Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis That which he cites out of Origen on the cap. 6. ad Rom. besides that Jerome in his time took notice that those Books of Origen on the Romans were interpolated imports nothing but Peters Apostolical function which was common to him with the rest of the Apostles and so makes nothing for the pretended Supremacy of the Pope of Rome Lastly the Pamphleter saith that Polanus and Whittaker confess that Victor did cary himself like a Pope Answer It s long since to this allegiance of Breerly from whom the Pamphleter filches it Dr. Morton replyed in his appeal lib. 2. cap. 22. Sect. 2. that indeed they censured Victor for his arrogancy and as a troubler of Christendom For which also he was reprehended by Ancient Fathers of that age and these are but too ordinary endowments of Popes But no Protestant did charge Victor for assuming an absolute power over Oecumenick Councils or infallibility of Judgment to himself as Popes do at this day So that however he resembled them in some sinful practises yet differed from them in Faith Neither did his Excommunicating of some eastern Bishops imply his assuming a jurisdiction over them as is judiciously demonstrated both by Dr. Morton ibid. and since by Dr. Stilling fleet Part. 2. cap. 6. Sect. 11. for some Bishops in the east did Excommunicate Pope Julius as testifies Sozom. lib. 3. cap. 11. and Monas the patriarch of Constantinople did excommunicate Pope Vigilius as witnesses Niceph. Hist lib. 17. cap. 26. and Photius Anno 863. did Excommunicate Pope Nicolas the first by the confession of Barronius therefore their Excommunication did only import they were not to admit such to their communion I shall shut up this discourse of supremacy with that testimony of Cyprian and of 87. Bishops in Concil Carthag de baptizandis haeret Non of us say they is called Bishop of Bishops and furthermore they call it a Tyrannical terrour for any one Bishop to impose upon his fellow Bishops a necessity of obedience May not I therefore conclude this first instance of Novelty with a retorsion The Popes supremacy was no essential of the Christian Faith in the first three Centuries But the Popes supremacy is an essential of the present Romish Religion Ergo there is an essential in the present Romish Religion which was not in the Christian Religion of the first three Centuries quod erat demonstrandum SECT II. Tâ—â— second instance of Novelty concerning unwritten Traditions examined and retorted upon Romanists THe Pamphleters second Instance is concerning unwritten Traditions Protestants saith he deny that we should believe any thing not contained in Scripture upon Apostolical Tradition conserved in the Church where fallaciously he insinuats 1. that Protestants deny credit to Traditions really Apostolical 2. that in the Roman Church are conserved Traditions truly Apostolical of Articles of Faith not contained in Scripture Both which are Splendidly false we do indeed maintain against Romanists a compleat sufficiency of the holy Scriptures as containing all Articles of Faith and herein we have the unanimous consent of the Ancient Church Doth not Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 2. call the Gospel the pillar and ground of Faith Does he not ibid. reprove Hereticks for accusing Scriptures as if the truth could not be found by them who are ignorant of Tradition Is not Tertullian luculent for us lib. contra Hermog cap. 22. adoro scripturarum plenitudinem and thereupon pronounced a woe upon them that teach any point of Faith not justifiable by the Scriptures Saith not Origen hom 1. in Jerem Necesse est Scripturas sanctas in testimonium vocare sensus quippe nostri fine his testibus non habent fidem Is not Cyprian as express Epist 74. ad Pompeium unde ista traditio an ex dominica Authoritate veniens an de Apostolorum mandatis atque Epistolis veniens ea enim facienda quae scripta sunt testatur Deus Hence that Religious Emperour Constantine in Theod. lib. 1. cap. 7. advised the Nicen Fathers that they should consult with the divinely inspired Scriptures because they do fully instruct us what to believe in divine things Did not Bell. bewray his desperate cause when lib. 1. de verb. Dei cap. 11. he answered that Constantin was indeed a great Emperour but no great Doctor Is not this to condemn the judgment of the Nicen Fathers who did approve the Emperors advice It were easie to confirm the same truth from Athanasius Chrysost Basil Epiph. Hierom Austin let it be judged in the fear of God whither our Religion be the safer which acknowledges the Holy Scripture as a compleat Canon adequately commensurated to the end for which it was appointed or Popery which as Dr. Morton fitly useth the resemblance in his appeal lib. 2. cap. 25. makes Gods word like a sick mans broken and imperfect will half nuncupative and half written As for the Pamphleters citations he might have known what is answered to them by our controversists in their replies to Bell. they all being taken from him And 1. to Denys de Eccles Hierarch cap. 1. It s answered that not only is the Book spurious but also he only affirms that the Apostles did deliver the Doctrin of Salvation two ways viz. by word and by writ which none denies But the present question is whither all that 's necessary be not contained in the written word To that of Ignatius apud Euseb lib. 3. cap. 4. I answer he indeed exhorts all to stick to the Traditions of Apostles but they are strangers in Antiquity who know not that by Traditions Ancients do also understand the Doctrin of Faith recorded in the holy Scriptures see Cyprian Epist 74. ad Pomp. and Basil lib. 3. conta Eunom Neither is there a vestige in the place objected to signify that it is a Doctrin not contained in Scripture To that from Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 4. He speaks I confess of barbarous nations who believed in Christ sine charactere atramento But he does not say that they believed Articles of Faith not contained in the Scripture nay all the Articles which there he reckons out are Scripture Truths Nor do we deny if a Preacher not having a Bible with him should come to some American Countrys and Preach the Gospel that they were bound to believe yet it would not follow that the truths which they believed were not contained in Scripture To Origen Hom. 5. in Num. and in cap. 6. ad Rom. It s answered some of the Traditions mentioned by Origen are written Traditions such as that in Rom. cap. 6. of the baptism of infants which Bell. himself proves by Scripture others of them as concerning peoples posture in prayer are only ritual and so do not touch the present question which is of Articles of Faith To Tertullian its answered that after he turned Montanist he did
speak too much for Traditions yea and for Traditions which Romanists themselves reject such as a threefold immersion giving honey and milk to persons babtized c. Either therefore Romanists must Montanize and condemn themselves for rejecting many Traditions approve by Tertullian or lay aside his Testimonies His Book de coron militis is supposed by some Learned men to be written in his Montanism yea and by Pamelius himself in vitâ Tertull. yet most of the Traditions mentioned there are about rituals and disciplinary matters But in his writtings against Hereticks such as that against Hermogenes and his prescriptions he is full for us It had been therefore the Pamphleters prudence not to have touched his Book de praescriptionibus for there expresly he condemns Hereticks for maintaining Traditions which were alleadged to be communicated in a clanculary way by the Apostles only to some few And whereas he said Hereticks were to be convicted by Tradition he speaks not of Traditions altogether unwritten but of Scriptural Doctrins which had been transmitted done in the Apostolick Churches to that time And it is in opposition to Hereticks who either did deny the Scriptures or mutilate them or acknowledged not their perfection Though against such Traditions be improven It follows not that all Articles of Faith are not contained in Scripture And besides it was easier then to dispute from Tradition being so near to the Apostolick age then now after so many reelings and vicissitudes To Cyprian who lib. 1. Epist. 12. says that the Babtized ought to be anoynted and lib. 2. Epist 3. that water should be mixed with wine in the Eucharist It s answered that these are only rituals no Articles of Faith yea the Trent Catechism de Baptismo Act. 7. defins that water is the only matter of Baptism and consequently Baptism may be without unction So certainly it was in the Baptism of the Eunuch Act. 8.38 39. of Cornelius Act. 10.47 48. and of the Jaylour Act. 16.33 The same Roman Catechism de Euch. Act. 10. defins bread and wine to be the only matter of the Eucharist and expresly Act. 17. si aqua desit sacramentum Eucharistiae constare posset But all our question is of Articles of Faith There remains nothing as to the matter of Tradition but that he charges the Fathers as receiving the Scripture only upon Tradition Yet for this he alleadges no proof and therefore it may be rejected as a Jesuitism Did not the Fathers see as clear evidence for the Divine Authority of Scriptures as Jesuits Yet both Valentia lib. 1. de anal fidei per totum and Bell. de verb. Dei lib. 1. cap. 2. do produce many arguments beside Tradition for the Divine Original of Scripture And which is more not only Fathers did acknowledge the self evidencing Light of Holy Scripture as Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 4. cap. 1. but also Romanists themselves in their lucid intervalls as Val. lib. cit cap. 20. and Melchior Canus lib. 2. cap. 8. and Dr. Strang descript lib. 1. cap. 17. Pag. 128. brings in Mantuan speaking most expresly to this purpose We are perswaded saith he that Scripture flowed from the first truth sed unde sumus ita persuasi nisi a seipsa But besides this Romanists must be remembred that the Traditions attesting the Scriptures to be the word of God is not to be reckoned among unwritten Traditions the same being written 2 Tim. 3.15 There be also many Learned Divines who defer very much to that Tradition in the resolution of the belief of the Scripturs who yet hold the Scriptures to be the compleat rule of Faith and that all the Articles or material objects of our Faith are contained in Scripture What need I more against the necessity of unwritten Traditions in the present Romish sense Seeing Austin lib. 3. contra Lit. Petilian cap. 6. Pronounces an Anathema upon all them who shall teach any thing either of Christ or his Church or any matter of Faith beside that which is received from legal and evangelical Scriptures hence another demonstration of the falshood and Novelty of the Romish Religion That unwritten Traditions of Articles of Faith are to be received with equal devotion as the Scriptures of God was no essential of the Faith of the Catholick Church in the first three ages But this is an essential of the present Romish Faith Ergo c. SECT III. The third instance of Novelty concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass considered and retorted upon Romanists THe Pamphleter in his third Instance saith that Protestants deny the unbloody Sacrifice of Christs body and blood offered up to God in the Mass Here it will be needful to hint at the true state of the question betwixt Romanists and us which the adversary deceitfully shuns to unfold We then confess that in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a lively representation and a thankfull commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ offered upon the Cross so that this Sacrament may be termed an improper Eucharistick and commemorative Sacrifice or as others speak latreutical and objective Nor did the Fathers of the ancient Church ever intend any more as not only your divines have demonstrated but also among Romanists the learned Picherell dissert de Missa cap. 2. but we deny that the ancient Church in those three first ages held the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be a proper propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the living and dead as is now defined by the Council of Trent Sess 22. Can. 1.2.3.4.5 Yea hardly will the name Mass be found in the undoubted writings of the Fathers of the first three Ages albeit Baronius in his Annals is bold to say that it is the most ancient name of this Sacrament and was delivered to the Church at Jerusalem by the Apostle James Had it been so Is it credible that neither Ignatius nor Irenaeus nor Justin Martyr nor Tertul. nor Origen nor Cyprian would once have made mention of the word Mass but for this impudent falshood the Cardinal is sufficiently chastised by Causabon Exercit. 16. an 34. Num. 39. The first notice that the same learned Causabon and after him D. Will. Forbes lib. 3. de Sacrif Missae cap. 1. do observe of it was about 250 years after Christ in an Epistle of Cornelius Bishop of Rome to Lupicinus and yet both of them doubt if this Epistle be genuine and therefore I said that hardly will the name Mass be found in the undoubted writings of Ancients of these Ages But it s not names we stand upon and therfore I affirm that though Fathers did offen use the word Sacrifice concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper yet they meant only an eucharistick and commemorable Sacrifice not proper and expiatory This has been largly demonstrated by many I will hint at a few considerations which I hope may Satisfie those that are not obstinately wilfull to adhere to a preconceived opinion And 1. the Fathers said that they did
Sacrifice to God bread and win in the Eucharist so Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 32. Cyprian Serm. de opere Fleemosyuis and epist 63. and Austin epist 122. yea and the compyler of a part of the Missal for it s like a beggars cloak patched up at Severall times Seems to have been of the same opinion for before the Consecration it s said suscipe pater hanc Immaculatam hostium but then by the Romanists own confession there is nothing but bread and wine Now sure it is bread and wine can be no propitiatory Sacrifice to expiate the sins of the Elect Ergo all these must be understood to speak of an improper Eucharistick and commemorative Sacrifice Secondly the Fathers doe clearly expound themselves to mean nothing else Chrysostom who as often terms the Sacrament of the Supper a Sacrifice as any expounds his meaning most clearly Hom. 17. in Heb. we offer up saith he The same Sacrifice which Christ offered then he Subjoyns by way of Exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather the remembrance thereof So Euseb lib. 1. de demonstrat cap. 10. he has commanded us to offer-unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Memoriall instead of a Sacrifice and Austin lib. 20. Cond Faust Manich. cals it Sacramentum memoriae a Sacrament of remembrance Theoret Clemens Basil and Greg. Nazianzen call the eucharist Simbols and tips of the Sacrifice of Christ on the crosse The Chuch Theodoret in Ps 109. offers to God the Simbols of Christs body and blood These Fathers indeed excepting Clemens are posterior to the 3d Century but their faith is consonant to the faith of the Church in former ages Hence Iustin Martir in dial cum Triph. Pap. 101. edit Comelin Christ commanded us to offer the bread of the Eucharist in recordationem passionis in remembrance of his Passion and Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 34. makes this disparity betwixt the Jewish and Christian Sacrifice Species tantum mutata est the change is only in the out ward formes but sure the Jewish Sacrifices were not the real Sacrifice of Christ but representations thereof consequently Irenaeus looked on the eucharist only as a representative Sacrifice Thirdly as the Eucharist so also Baptism was called by the Fathers a Sacrifice the most of the Fathers plerique antiquorum if we may credit Melchior Canu lib. 12. loc com c. 13. p. 680. expound that of the Apostle Heb. 10. There remains no more Sacrifice for sin of Baptism But Romanists will confess Baptism is no proper Sacrifice why then do they not say the same of the Eucharist Fourthly as fathers say that Christ is Sacrificed in the eucharist so are they found saying that he dyes and Suffers in that Sacrament Hence Greg. is cited in the Canon law by Gratian de consecrat dist 2. cap. 73. quid sit affirming that Jesus dyes in the mistery of the eucharist Will any Romanist say Christ properly dies or Suffers either in Baptism or in the Eucharist Nay says the Gloss upon the last cited place he is said to die quia mors ejus passio repraesentantur why then do they not say the same concerning his Sacrifice And indeed if he be properly Sacrificed then must he also properly die and Suffer Fiftly when Julian the Apostate did object that Christians had no proper Sacrifices Cyril lib. 9. cont Jul. did admit they had only Spiritual Sacrifices which he would never have yielded if he had been of the Tridentin faith that there is a proper propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass Sixly this truth is so luculent that it hath extorted confessions from eminent Doctors of the Romish Church that the Sacrament of the Supper is called a Sacrifice because in it the Sacrifice of Christ on the crosse is commemorated so Lombard lib. 4. sent dist 12. Aquinas part 3. quest 83. art 1. Liranus in heb 10. Pichenel dissert de Missa Barnesius in Catholico Romano Pontif. sect 7. to whom D. William Forbes de Missa cap. 1. adds Wicelius Ferus and divers others Seventhly and lastly Romanists are so divided among themselves touching this matter that Malderus Bishop of Antwerp as cited by D. Will. Forbes pag. 452. relates nine several opinions of Romanists all which Malderus refutes not excepting the opinion of Bellarmin himself And yet says mine Author who is known to have been no rigid Adversary of Romanists his own opinion was nihilo melior no whit sounder then the rest By these considerations I hope the discreet Reader may be satisfied that though Fathers used the word Sacrifice yet they meant only an Eucharistick and commemorative Sacrifice To the Testimonies therefore objected by the Pamphleter I answer in two words viz. That the first three namely from the Liturgy of James Andrews Book of the Passion Clements Epistle 3. as also that from Hippolitus de Antichristo are censured as spurious see Cocus in Censur pag. 9. 21. 53. and 65. And Rivet Crit. Sac. lib. 1. cap. 3.4 and 8. lib. 2. cap. 11. Yea the faith of James Liturgie is questioned by Bell. de script Eccles an 34. and lib. 4. de Euch. cap. 3. Andrews Book by Barronius Tom. 1. an 44. Num. 42.43 and an 69. Num. 34. And Clements Epistles both by Bell. de script Eccles an 92. and Barron Tom. 2. an 102. Num. 6.7 Secondly that the rest of the testimonies from Ignatius Irenaeus Tertul. c. are only to be understood of Eucharistick commemorative and Symbolick Sacrifices which might be confirmed by particular arguments from the several Authors but I hope the premised considerations may suffice Only lest any should imagine that the word Mass was known in the days of Ignatius that which the Pamphleter renders out of him to celebrate a Mass in Ignatius Greek Epist ad Smyrn is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies only to celebrate a banquet I may therefore here shut up with a new demonstration of Popish Novelty That there is a proper propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass was no essential of the Ancient Catholick Religion But that there is a proper propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass is an assential in the present Romish Religion Ergo. There is an other essential in the present Romish Religion which was not in the Ancient Catholick Religion SECT IV. A fourth Instance of Novelty concerning Transubstantiation discussed and retorted upon Romanists THe Pamphleter in his fourth Instance saith that Protestants deny the real presence and Transubstantiation And toward the close of this fourth Instance Pag. 145. he would sneakingly insinuate that their half Communions which are so palpable an innovation that their own Authors cannot deny it had been approven by the Ancient Church To this last I shall have a more fit occasion to speak in the first appendix to this Sect. 7. And therefore at the time shall only examin that of Transubstantiation We deny not the real presence nay we affirm that Christ is really exhibited to believers in the use of the Sacrament That which we deny is a
the commemoration of the sufferings of Martyrs but Cyprian has nothing to that purpose in that Epistle Only he vindicates himself from some calumnies to Florentius Pupianus indeed lib. 3. Epist 6. he speaks of the memories of the Martyrs but what is that to invocation The sufferings of Martyrs were commemorated to excite the living to follow their footsteps but not for invocation Might he not have Learned from Austin lib. 22. de civ dei cap. 10. Martyres nominari non invocari that Honourable mention is made of them in the publick service of the Church but not invocated None of the testimonies alleadged for invocation or adoration of Saints have a shaddow of Pertinency but that of Justin Martyr apol 2. and that is an egregious imposture and so long agoe discovered that Cardinal du Perron in his large dispute concerning invocation of Saints with King James the sixth is ashamed to alleadge any thing out of Justin Martyr But this Simpleton scrapes out any thing he finds in Bell. It s objected therefore by Bell. lib. de beat Sanci cap. 13. that Justin Martyr Apol. 2. taught that Christians did worship God the Father and the Son and the whole hoste of good Angels and the holy Ghost could there be a greater indignity done to this holy Father and Martyr then to make him ascribe the same Religious worship to Angels which is given to the Father Son and holy Ghost Are not Papists themselves ashamed to be so gross and shall we beleeve that in enumerating the objects of worship Justin would have put Angels before the holy Ghost Doth not the same Justin expresly affirm a little after Pag. 150. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherefore we worship God alone If then it be asked what Justin Martyr says in the place objected Answer Justin says only that we worship the Father and the Son who teaches the whole hoste of good Angels and the holy Ghost so Justin makes only God the Father Son and holy Ghost the object of adoration and Angels only are said to be taught by the Son of God Yet the Cardinal is not ashamed to impose that blasphemy on Justin Martyr as if he had asserted Angels should be adored with the Father Son and holy Ghost whom this Pedantick Pamphleter follows That this is the genuine sense of Justin any may see by looking on the Text of Justin Pag. 45. edit Comelin and the version of Langus a Popish Author who has rendred the words of Justin in Latin as I have Englished them and yet further this may be confirmed seeing Pag. 47. where Justin is again discribing the object of adoration we worship says he first the Father secondly the Son and thirdly the holy Ghost without any mention of Angels at all How much Romanists have wrangled with their own consciences in this matter of invocation of Saints may appear when their Jesuit Suarez in defens fid cathol lib. 2. cap. 9. n. 21. acknowledges that Christians may be saved though they do not invocate Saints and Cardinal Perron declared to Isaac Casaubon he had never all his time invocated Saints except he had fallen to be at a procession then he had said with the multitude ora pro nobis and Wecel in methodo concordiae as cited by Dr. Will. Forbes Pag. 285. wished that invocation of Saints might not be held as an Article of Faith Yea Rivet in his animadversions upon Grotius Notes on Cassanders Consultation art 21. brings in Wicolius utterly condemning invocation of departed Saints as injurious to God and our Saviour Christ Jesus And many of their Doctors have denyed invocation to be an Act of Religion as Thomas 2.2 q. 81. art 1. Vasq in 3. part tom 1. disp 98. cap. 1. and Valent. lib. 3 de Idol cap. 7. Yet Bell. lib. 1. de beat Sanct in ord disp will have it eximium adorationis genus How in the Roman Church the adoration of Christ is obscured by the invocation of the Virgin Mary and of other Saints may be seen in Cassander in defens libelli de officio viri pii Pag. 849. and 850. edit paris 1616. and in consult de merit intercess Sanct. seeing they are invocated with more confidence then Christ himself neque id à vulgo tantum imperito factitatum est saith he sed Doctorum etiam scriptis concionibus comprobatum do they not thus pray ora patrem jube filio c. O faelix puerpera pians scelera jure matris impera Redemptori Yea not only do they invocate and adore Saints recorded in Scripture but also Saints of their own canonization Doth not Bell. lib. de beat Sanct. cap. 8. affirm it to be the common opinion that this power of canonization does appertain to the Pope and cap. 9. that those whom he Canonizes without doubt are to be worshipped Yet have they neither Scripture nor Antiquity for this Yea this being a matter of fact according to their own principles the Pope may surely erre therein And Consequently they may pray to damned reprobats in stead of Saints as Cassaud in Consult de Ven. Relig. tells how the bones of a robber were adored in stead of the reliques of a Saint This might afford us a sixth demonstration of the Novelty of the present Romish Religion That Saints are to be invocated being an Article of the present Romish Religion But not of the Ancient Christian Religion in the first three ages SECT VII A Seventh Instance of Novelty concerning Crosses and Images examined and retorted THe Pamphleter in his seventh Instance saith Protestants deny the use of the Cross and Images Have Jesuits lost all shame with their ingenuity How grosly is this question mis-stated Do Protestants deny the use of Images and crosses May not Images be seen dayly adorning the walls of their houses I had thought that Campian the Jesuit and Garnet Provincial of their order in England found the Protestants do not altogether disallow the use of Crosses Know therefore its the Religious adoration of Images and Crosses which we condemn In this we have the full consent of Scriptures and of Antiquity Nay I appeal all the generation of Jesuits to produce one Instance of the Religious adoration either of Images or Crosses within 300. Years after Christ for this Pamphleter has brought none Did not all the Fathers of these times particularly Irenaeus lib. 5. cap. 3. Pag. 478. 479. edit Paris 1545. Justin Martyr apol 2. Pag. 49. 50. edit Comelin 1593. the Church of Smyrua in Euseb lib. 4. cap. 15. Theoph. Antioch lib. 2. lib. 3. ad Autol. tom 1. bib pat edit 2. Clemens Alex. lib. 6. Strom. Tertul. apol cap. 17. in Scorp cap. 4 Origen Contra Celsum lib. 4. homil 30. in Luc. Cyp. Epist 56. ad Pleb Thib. assert that God alone is to be worshipped and Consequently neither Cross nor Image Are not Romish inquisitors so offended with such like assertions in Fathers that Bernard de Sandoval Spanish inquisitor as is
done by the ancient Catholick Church SECT IX A Ninth Instance of Novelty concerning Merits examined and Retorted THe Pamphleter in his Ninth Instance saith That Protestants deny the Merit of good Works But first ought not he to have told what he meant by Merit of good Works whither with Vasquez in 1.2 Disp 214. cap. 5. That good works are condignly meritorious of Eternal life Tantum ratione operis without any regard to the promise or divine acceptation or whither with Bell. lib. 5. de justif cap. 17. he hold them meritorious ratione operis pacti both in regard of Gods Promise and of the work it self conjunctly yet so as the work be equal to the reward or whither they be meritorious Tantum ratione pacti in regard of the free promise of God only for which Bell. cites Scotus and Vega In this last sense The Protestant Churches have been so far from condemning merit that the Augustan confession Art 20. de bonis operibus and confess of Wittenberg tit de bonis operibus have not abhorred from the word merit If he meant in either of the two former senses he could not condemn us as Hereticks without condeming Scotus and Vega yea many more Romish Doctors cited by Will. Forbes lib. 5. justif cap. 4. and besides he should have proved that Fathers used the word Merit in that sense But why should I blame this Pamphleter for not stating this question more clearly when their Infallible judge durst not doe it Though the Council of Trent Sess 6. Can. 32. have anathematized them that deny good works vere mereri truly to merit life eternall yet by reason of the differences of opinion among themselves durst not define wherein the nature of that merit stood O goodly Oracles which every one may expound to his own sense But Secondly the Phamphleter cites three Fathers Ignatius Justin and Cyprian yet none of them favour merit in a Popish sense that is either in Vasq or Bellarmines sense Excellently doth Cassander in Hymnis Eccles ad verba Hymni nocte surgentes expound the sense of this word Merit in ancient Fathers Vocabulum merendi saith he apud veteres Ecclesiasticos Scriptores fere idem valet quod consequi seu aptum idoneumque fieri ad consequendum id quod inter caetera ex uno Cypriani loco apparet Nam quod Paulus inquit 1 Tim. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod vulgo legitur misericordiam consequutus sum id Cyprianus ad jubajanum legit misericordiam merui Though this might suffice to vindicate all the Testimonies of Ancients alleadged by Romanists in this matter yet I must add that they are especially injurious to Greek Fathers such as Ignatius and Justin Martyr c. for in all their writings there is no word exactly correspondent to the word Merit in the strict notion thereof The word in Ignatius which Romanists render to merit or win God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to attain That of Justin Martyr Apol. 2. That men by their Merits shall live with God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is are accounted worthy of his conversation or to live with him How we are accounted worthy is excellently expressed by Bernard de Dedic Eccles Serm. 5. Illius dignatione non nostra dignitate Cyprian indeed useth the word Merit as do many of the Latin Fathers but in that innocent sense which Cassander proves out of Cyprian and so Bell. lib. 1. de lib. arb c. 14. confesses that every good work is Meritum But Thirdly on the contrary Popish Merit in Vasq or Bell. sense might be disproved by infinite Testimonies of Antiquity as from Origen in Rom. 4. The attaining of the inheritance is gratiae non debiti yea as Austin Psal 94. Si vellet pro meritis agere non inveniret nisi quos damnaret that is if he would deal with us according to our Merits he should find none but those whom he would condemn In so much that the Author of the Tractat de praedest gratiae cap. 10. which is added to the close of Au us â—om 7. says Beatitudo alterius vitae nullis humaâ—â—s merâ—is redd tur sed Dei donantis gratia largiente donatur Yea many Schoolmen have been ashamed of that presumptuous Doctrine of Merit of whom a large Catalogue may he had in Davenant de iutif actual bab cap. 59. and in Dr. Will. Forbes lib. 5. de justâ—f cap. 4. So that this Ninth Instance of Novelty may likewise be inverted against Romanists for the present Romish Religion maintains the proper Meris of good works which the ancient Catholick Church did not SECT X. A Tenth Instance of Novelty concerning a perfect keeping of the Commands Examined and Retorted THe Pamphleter in his Tenth and last Instance saith That Protestants deny a possibility of keeping the Commandments As he begins so he closes still hudling up questions in general and ambiguous terms We do not absoâ—utely deny a possibility of keeping the Commandments It was possible for Adam to keep them perfectly and should have been possible for us had he persevered in a state of Integrity Yea Believers through Grace may and do keep the Commandments of God with an Evangelical perfection The supervenient impossibility to keep the Law perfectly without all sin under which we now labour is accidental through our corruption and posterior to the obligation of the Law And this is clearly asserted in the Scriptures Rom. 8.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh And verse 8. That they are in the flesh cannot please God John 12.39 They could not Believe Nay the Pamphleter by this Instance convicts himself of the old Pelagian Heresie this was one of the Errors of the Pelagians that men in this life might keep the Law perfectly without sin as is held out by Hierom in his Dialogue betwixt Aâ—ticus â—nd Critobulus Cont. Pelag. lib. 1. and lib. 3. and is expresly condemned by Fathers both before and after Pelagius by Justin Martyr dial cum Tryph. ed t. comm pag. 252. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Cyprian de Orat. Dom. we are taught that we sin daily being commanded daily to pray for forgiveness of Sin Should I transcribe all which might be brought from Hâ—erom Autin c. after the stating of the â—elagian Controversy I might fill a Volumn Hence Hiâ—r in lib. 1. adver Pelag. haec 〈◊〉 hominis vera sapientia se nosse imperfeâ—â—um and in cap. 4. ad Calat nemo potest explere legem cunctâ— facâ—re quae justa sâ—nt And August Epiâ—t 200. ad Ased cum lex dâ—cendâ— non concupâ—sâ—es hoc posuit non quod hic valeamus sed ad quod proficâ—â—nd tendamus As for that old Pâ—â—ag an obiection That God commands nothing which is Impâ—ssible Answer nothing which is in it self and simply impossible it s granted Nothing which we accidentally render impossible to our selves it s denyed
confuted by our controversists When I consider the deceitful pretexts of Antiquity whereby Romanists do Varnish over their inventions my heart cannot but bleed for the people who are implicitely given up to such notorious Cheats It s pure compassion to misled Souls which drawes this freedom from me and not any choler or prejudice against persons A Second APPENDIX to CHAP. VII The Pamphleters impertinent Citations from Justin Martyr together with a new Catalogue of Heresies falsly charged on Protestants briefly discused THe Pamphleter Pag. 156. pitches on Justin Martyr as if from him he could prove the present Romish Religion yet cannot find a vestige in him of their infallible visible Judge of their Popes supremacy of their adoration of Images or Relicts of the half communion of their Purgatory canonical Authority of Apocryphal Books c. Indeed Justin gives an account of the Christian Religion in his days in opposition both to Heathens and Jews Seeing therefore the Pamphleter hath pitched upon him particularly I appeale not only such an ignorant Plagiary as this person but all the industrious Antiquaries of the Romish Party to try if in Justin Martyr the complex of the present Tridentin Faith can be found If they can demonstrate it I faith fully promise to turn a Herauld of their Religion If not which themselves know to be impossible for them to do let them cease to abuse simple Souls as if their Religion were the Religion of Justin Martyr and of Ancient Fathers But hath the Pamphleter made any new discoveries from Justin Martyr Not at all Only he has filched four trivial objections from Bell. which conclude nothing against Protestants The First is concerning free-will All that Justin Martyr says as to this we do admit for he neither asserts that man does that which is spiritually good without grace nor that the efficacy of grace does depend on mans will Of this I have spoken sufficiently cap. 7. in the examination of the Pamphleters eighth Instance The second is concerning merit but Justin only asserts their is a reward for the Righteous from which an argment to proper merit is wholly inconsequent seeing their is a reward of grace as well as of debt Concerning this also see what hath been said cap. 7. Instance 9. The third is of the efficacy of Baptism concerning which we likewise grant Sacraments to be exhibitive signs and seals but Justin hath nothing of the Popish opus operatum The fourth is of the Eucharist concerning which we likewise admit all that Justin Martyr says viz. that the bread and wine in the Eucharist are not common bread and wine being consecrated by Divine institution and so may be truly called the body and blood of Christ as signs usually receive the denomination of the thing signified But does Justin Martyr say as Romanists that the substance of bread and wine is destroyed and the physical body and blood of Christ substituted under those accidents of bread and wine The fiction of Transubstantiation was not hatched in Justin Martyrs days Thus the Pamphleters boasts concerning Justin Martyr have soon evanished into Froath Yet though Justin had dogmatized in all these particulars as do Romanists it would not follow that he had approven the whole System of the present Romish Faith In which many more errors are engrossed Pag. 158.159 he patches up again a Catalogue of Heresies which he charges on Protestants wherein he discovers so much ignorance unfaithfullness and indiscretion that I shall pass them with an overly touch And first he charges us with the error of Simon Magus saying that men are not saved by good works apud Iren. lib. 1. cap. 20. Answer Simon Magus denyed the necessity of good works which we constantly affirm only we deny good works to be properly meritorious of eternal Life which was never condemned as Heresy by any but late Romanists Secondly he charges us as saying with Cerimhus that Children may be saved without Baptism apud Epiph. haeres 8. But Epiph. in haeres 8. hath no such thing for there he treats de Epicur Indeed haeres 28. he treats of the Cerinthians but is so far from imputing that error to them that when any of their number dyed they Baptized a living person for the dead Justifying that practise from 1 Cor. 15.29 There be other Hereticks who deny Baptism to be a standing ordinance of Christ as Manichees Seleucians and Henricians apud Aug. haeres 16. haeres 59. with whom Socinians and Quakers joyn issue who are all condemned by Protestants as may be seen in Voss de Bapt. disp 7. Thes 4. 5. Had the Ancient Church held Baptism absolutely necessary to Salvation would they have delayed it so long would they in many places limited it to Easter and Pentecost could it be but in the intervals many behoved to dye without Baptism See Socrates Hist Eccles lib. 5.21 Would the Church have exposed them to such necessity of perishing Eternally yea many Popish Authors deny the absolute necessity of it of whom Dr. Morton giveth a large account appeal lib. 2. cap. 13. Sect. 5. Thirdly says he with Plotinians we affirm that God hath commanded somethings impossible apud Epiph. But tells not where I find one Plotinus noted by a Castro de haeres lib. 14. tit virginitas for Heterodoxy concerning the state of virginity but as to a possibility of keeping the commands of God he speaks nothing of him In what sense God commands things impossible I have expounded cap. 7. in the examination of the Pamphleters Instance 10. and shew the conformity of our Doctrine herein with the Ancient Church and the oposite Doctrine of Romanists to be Pelagianism Fourthly he says with Manichees apud Aug. lib. 2. cont Faustum Manichaeum we pull down Altars Answ the Altars against which Fauâ—us exclaimes are Communion Tables which we allow But St. Austin takes occasion thereby to clear two truths which Romanists oppose one that they in the Holy Communion celebrate no proper Sacrifice sed memoriam peracti Sacrificii Another that they worship departed Saints only with that worship of Love and Society quo coluntur in hoc vita sancti Homines wherewith Saints in this Life are Honoured Fifthly he says with Donatists we hold the Baptism of Christ and John were the same in Aug. lib. 2. cont lit Petil. cap. 32. and 34. Answ Petilian said John only gave water Christ the Spirit and the Holy Ghost fire he denyed that by Johns Baptism the Holy Ghost was given at all the contrary whereof is maintained by Protestants It was really exhibitive of grace though the grace was not Originally from John What sixthly he objects of our denying with the Aerians the Fasts of the Church and Prayers for the dead he had said before Sect. 5. Pag. 99. and accordingly was confuted cap. 4. Sect. 2. Sevently he says we with Julian forbid the use of Images and sign of the cross apud Sozom. lib. 5. cap. 20. and Euseb lib. 7. cap.
Imposter Yea Bell. affirms lib. de notis Ecclesiae cap. 14. that there can be no infallible certainty whether such a thing be a true Miracle or an illusion of the Devil ante approbationem Ecclesiae before the approbation of the Church Behold then how these Romish impostors run in a circle proving the truth of their Church by Miracles and the truth of Miracles by the testimony of their Church One of the two they must acknowledge either that Scripture hath a self evidencing Light which will ruin their whole interest or that Miracles cary not with them a self evidence and consequently are impertinently brought as the first and most evident note of the true Church I leave it to the deliberation of our adversaries which of the two they will chuse In the second place it would be considered that there were indeed glorious miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles nor do we deny that there were Miracles there after in the primitive Church also yet all these are Impertinently alleadged by Romish Authors as to this present Debate For certainly none of the real Miracles done by Christ or his Apostles or afterwards in the days of Irenaeus Justin Martyr Cyprian Gregory Thaumaturg were wrought to prove that the Roman Church in these last days is the only Catholick Church or that the present System of Romish Faith as defined in the Council of Trent or expressed in Pope Pius the Fourth his Creed is the only true Christian Faith Have I not shewed Popery as now it stands was not known in these days These Miracles prove the Truth of the Christian Religion in those days which I have shewed to differ in Essentials from the Trent Religion but to agree with the reformed Religion How miserably the Pamphleter comes off as to Miracles in ancient times may be apparent to any that takes notice of his citations pag. 187.188 His first citation from Justin Martyr q. 28. is out of a Book acknowledged to be spurious by their own Authors Bell. Possevin Sixtus Senensis and Azorius yea nor was it written within the first three Centuries as is evicted by learned Criticks And besides the Author of these questions mentions not a Miracle wrought for any Popish Tenet far less for the complex of all Only that at the Sepulchres of Martyres Miracles were done to confirm the truth of the Christian Faith not the worship of Reliques That of Irenaeus lib. 2. cap. 58. speaks only of Miracles wrought by living Saints for conversion of Infidels What is that to the Romish interest As for the Miracles of Greg. of Neocaesarea commonly called Thaumaturgus there is no mention of them for a hundred years after his time until Greg. Nyssen If they were all real is it not strange that Eusebius who uses to be very punctual in these things has not a touch of them That Orat. of Nyssen de vita Greg. is called by Scultetus Somnium Somniorum surely there be very fabulous things therein as that the Virgin Mary and John came down from Heaven to teach him his Creed which Dr. Beard retract cap. 12. compares to the Poetical Fiction of Apollo teaching Esculapius the Rules of Physick and to the Rabinick Fable of the Angel Sanballets being Adams School-master and Nyssen himself is charged by his Brother Basil as a simple and credulous man But what Did Greg. Thaumaturg work any Miracle to prove the whole System of the present Romish Religion to be true No such thing can be alleadged only in some of his Miracles he is said to have used the Sign of the Cross What then Do not Protestants particularly Hospinian lib. 2. de templis cap. 20. acknowledge the sign of the Cross as used by Ancients to testifie that they were not ashamed of a Crucified Saviour to have been lawful though now it be superstitiously abused Romanists now give Religious adoration yea that of Latria to Crosses But no ancient Author testifies that ever Greg. Thaumaturg did so What is cited from S. Cyprian Serm. de lapsis as relating Miracles to prove the Corporal presence of Christ under the Accidents of Bread and Wine is a Jesuitical falshood these Miracles did prove the Divine Institution of the Sacrament of the Supper the mystery of the Incarnation and the reality of Christs human Nature represented by the Sacramental Symbols but no more of the figment of Transubstantiation then of Mahomets Alcoran These are all the citations he has for the first three Ages of Christianity if there be one Miracle here to prove the present Trent Religion to the only true Christian Faith let any who are not willing to be deceived judge The like impertinency may be discovered in the next three succeeding Ages for the whole Story of the Invention of the Cross by Helena the Empress and Mother of Constantine and the Miracle reported by Russin and Nicephorus to be wrought at that time appears to be fabulous Is it probable that Eusebius who wrote four Books of the life of Constantine would have omitted it Dellaeus is large in confuting it lib. 5. de object Cultus Relig. c. 1. But suppose it were true was that Miracle wrought to confirm any point of Popery far less all No verily the only design of it if real was to show that Jesus who was Crucified on that Tree was the Saviour of the World Helena and the Christians of those days had not learnt to adore the Cross Hence S. Ambrose de Obitum Theodosâ—i says Regem aderavis non lignum she adored Christ but not the Tree That of Epiphanins Heres 30. looks also to be fabulous and that you think not strange of this Epiphanius credulity is censured by Melchior Canus lib. 2. cap. 5. pag. 477. and in many places by Barronius as Rivet hath observed in Crit. Sac. lib. 3. cap. 28. But make all real that Epiphanius there reports yet the design of that Miracle was not to confirm any point of Popery far less all but only the Christian Religion It s true Epiphanius reports that Josephus who formerly had been a Jew made use of water in working that Miracle but not any of the four kinds of Popish Holy-Water mentioned by Durand in rationali lib. 4. cap. 4. and though he used the sign of the Cross yet he was far from the adoration of the Cross That from Nazianzen Orat. 11. of a Virgins Invocating the Virgin Mary to defeat Cyprians Enchantments is acknowledged by Barronius himself to be a Fable ad annum 250. Pontius a Deacon under Cyprian who wrote his life knew no such thing Austin indeed relates many Miracles lib. 22. de Civ cap. 8. But not to prove that this present Church of Rome is the Catholick Church or the present System of Romish Faith the true Christian Faith the most is that at the Sepulchre of S. Stephen and other Saints Miracles were wrought but not in Veneration of his or other Reliques The Dialogues attributed to Greg. are concluded upon important Reasons
beget Children he is a man though not a sound man In this case it 's by vertue of the sound Principles of Christianity retained in these Churches that they beget Children unto God and not of their errors nay their errors do oft-times deface the work for with the truths of the Gospel they transmit their errours Such were these conversions of Nations wherein the Roman Church had a hand in the intermedial Ages as those of Germany by Boniface For sure it is that in Germany the Gospel had been preached long before the time of that Boniface sent thither by Greg. 2. in the eigth Century as Baronius ad annum 690. doth acknowledge and Boxbornias in Hist Vniversali pag. 198. doth prove from Irenaeus and Tertullian that the seeds of the Christian Religion were sown in Germany in the second Century and therefore pag. 101. he exhibits Ancient Versions of the Apostolick Creed both in the Aleman and Saxon Languages I shall not say but by Boniface the Gospel hath been propagated in Germany yet surely with many corruptions wherewith at that time the Roman Church was tainted and therefore he was zealously opposed by holy men particularly by Adelberius Clemens Sampson Sydonius Virgilius as is shewed by the Author of Catal. test verit lib. 8. pag. 755. and Hottinger Saec. 8. pag. 527. The like was the case of Austin his Conversion of England the Gospel was in England long before he came over and more pure than he preached it yet it cannot be denied but he was instrumental to convert many who till that time had retained their Heathenism but with the Gospel he did also introduce many Superstitions which were zealously opposed by British Christians for a long time The converting of Souls to Christ therefore proves not a Church to be found far less the Catholick Church Did not the Jewish Church beget Sons and Daughters to God when she was defiled with Superstition and Idolatry yea have not private persons been instrumental in converting Souls to God as some Exiled Slaves converted the Moors in Africk See Baron ad annum 456. N. 4. But fourthly It 's more evident than can be denied that Hereticks and Infidels have prevailed with Nations to be of their perswasion Doth not HEresie spread as a Gangrene 2 Tim. 2.17 Did not Pharisees compass Sea and Land to make Proselites Mat. 23.15 though they made them the Children of the Devil more than themselves How many Nations have been leavened by Mahumetanism Neither was that done only by force of Arms as Bell. alledges but also by corrupting the judgments of men Mahumetans believing their Alcoran as firmly as Papists do their Tridentine Articles Is it not told that Antichrist should come with strong delusion 2 Thes 2.10 11. yea and with such success that the World should wonder after the Beast Revel 13.3 How many Nations were corrupted by Arrianism Do we not find the Leaven of Socinianism Quakerism c. prevailing with many So that the Argument from bringing multitudes to the same perswasion is very fallacious unless the Faith to which persons are brought be sound And if it must be supposed that the Faith be sound before an Argument be forcible from that ground there must be another Evidence for the soundness of the Faith than this Pamphleter hath brought Yea Freculphus in Chronico Tom. 2. lib. 4. cap. 20. by the confession of Bellarmine lib. 4. de notis Eccles cap. 14. affirms the whole Nation of the Goths to have been converted by the Arrians to the Christian Profession from Heathenism in the time of Valens the Emperour Only the Cardinal to enervate this testimony of Freculphus alledges from Socrates lib. 4. cap. 27. Sozom. lib. 6. cap. 37. and Theod. lib. 4. cap. ult that the greater part of the Goths were first converted to the Orthodox Faith and only afterward perverted by the Arrians to their Heresie But on the contrary Socrates declares this to be the ground on which the Goths were willing to accept the Christian Religion because of the aid which Valens had given to Phritigerues against Athalaricus so as he seems to agree with Freculphus The outmost that the other two Theodoret and Sozomen have is that Vlphilas the first Bishop of the Goths while Orthodox had converted some of them to the Orthodox Faith not the greater part as Bellarmine affirms So that at least this seems clear that after Vlphilas turned Arrian he not only drew the Christians to the Arrian perswasion but many Heathens also to the profession of Christ wherein they were so constant that under Athalaricus not a few of them suffered death on that account If therefore Romanists ascribe the Conversion of Germany to Boniface of England to Austin the Monk and of Scotland to Pope Victor because by them the Gospel was propagated in these Countries though not first planted how can they deny but on the like account the Conversion of the Goths ought to be ascribed to the Arrians Were not the Russians or Muscovians converted to the Christian Religion by the Grecians as testifieth Barron ad annum 867. N. 10. when Photius was Patriarch of Constantinople whom Romanists hold for a grievous Schismatick Fifthly It 's a falshood that no Nations have been converted by Protestants How many Nations have imbraced the Truth and forsaken the Idolatry of Popery as Scotland England Ireland the Vnited Provinces in the Netherlands Denmark Norway Swedeland many people in Germany France Poland Hungary Transylvania c. neither ought this to be despised though these Countries did formerly profess Christianity seeing the power of the Gospel is no lest resplendant in the Conversion of Hereticks than of Infidels But besides Gerard de Eccles cap. 10. Sect. 9. § 258. testifies that by Protestants many thousands have been converted from Heathenism in Island Greenland Lapland Livonia c. Not to mention the many Indians converted in New-England and other parts of America But though it were granted that Heathen Nations had not been converted by them this would only charge Protestants of a sinful negligence but not prove their Religion to be false Methinks this clamour of Romanists against our Churches for not bestirring themselves more zealously for the Conversion of Infidel Nations should awake Protestant Princes and Churches seriously to consider what may be done for the Conversion of Infidels both for the advantage of the Gospel and to stop the mouths of our cavilling Adversaries Sixthly Any Conversions made by Romanists have been very unlike the Primitive Conversions made by the Apostles these have generally been by force even these made in the intermedial Ages wanted not force that of Boniface among the Thuringians was done terrore armorum as Gerard observes ex Chronico Isenacensi Cent. 8. Eccles Hist cap. 10. Charles the Great brought the Saxons to imbrace the Christian Faith by bloody Wars But as for the late Romish Conversions which only can be attributed to the present Romish Church how bloody have many of them
is the part of a godly-minded man to attribute nothing to himself but all to Gods Grace c. There be many other Popish Doctrines injurious to our Redeemer as that of Supererogation Intercession of Saints in the strength of their Merits c. Instance 5. Popery especially Jesuitism openly teaches and justifies many impious practices destructive to humane nature I hint only at three of them viz. 1. Equivocation 2. Perfidiousness and 3. Rebellion against Princes I say first Equivocation To let Instruct Sacerd. lib. 4. cap. 21. Num. 5 6. saith that a man may not only affirm but also swear a known untruth provided he have but the wit to have a secret Mental Reservation to compound a true Proposition of what is spoken and what he thinks As for example an Adulteress may without sin not only affirm to her Husband but also swear she never knew her Paramour with this secret reservation to make it known to her Husband The same is taught by many more of their approved Authors Zanches Parsons Lessius Valentia Becan the Jesuit with the long name Andreas Endemon Joannes c. when Garnet the Provincial of the Jesuits was convicted by the Judges of manifold prevarications upon Oath he justified what he had done because he had made use of his Mental Reservations of which see Hospin lib. 3. Hist. Jesuit cap. 4. fol. 168 169. What converse can be with men of such a Principle Though this Doctrine of Equivocations be not yet formed into a Decree yet when it is so publickly and frequently taught by the most famed Doctors of the Romish Communion and no censure put upon it whether it may not be charged on the Church those that are unbyassed may judge Secondly Perfidiousness especially in their dealings with those they hold for Hereticks John Huss whom they Martyred at the Council of Constance contrary to a promise of safe Conduct given by the Emperour Sigismund had experience hereof Hence Simauca Instit. Cathol Tit. 56. Num. 52. as cited by Crakanthorp Defens Eccles Anglic. Cap. 83. § 5. not only afferts ad paenam Haereticorum pertinere quod fides illis data servanda non fit but also confirms it by the Authority of the Council of Constance and by Aquinas Crakanthorp ibid. reports from Cocklaeus Lib. 5. Hist Hussit of a Letter of Pope Martin the Fifth to Alexander Duke of Lituania wherein the Pope thus writes Scito to dare fidem Haereticis non potuisse peccare te mortaliter si servabis that is know that Faith cannot be given to Hereticks and that it 's a mortal sin to keep it And Vrban the Sixth proclaimed as much in a publick Bull which Crakanthorp cap. cit Sect. 6. transcribes from an Authentick Manuscript thereof out of Sir Robert Cotton's Bibliothec perhaps it 's on this account that some Romanists say they do not maintain that Faith is not to be kept to Hereticks because according to them Faith cannot be given to them I added thirdly that Popery teaches Rebellion against Princes I shall not blot Paper here with the Positions of private Doctors as Bell. lib. 5. de Pontif. cap. 7. Non licet Christianis tolerare it is not lawful for Christians to tolerate a King that is an Infidel or an Heretick if he endeavour to draw his Subjects to Heresie or Infidelity or that of Tolet. Instruct Sacerd. lib. 1. cap. 13. as long as the Prince continueth Excommunicate the Subjects are freed from the Oath of Subjection But to leave particular Authors did not Greg. the Seventh stir up Rudolph of Suevia to rebel against Henry the Fourth the Emperour Did not Paul the Third Excommunicate Henry the Eighth of England and command his Subjects to take Arms against him Did not Pius the Fifth excommunicate Queen Elizabeth and absolve her Subjects from their Allegiance Pope Paul the Fifth did no less to the State of Venice by the Fulminations of his Interdict pronouncing all excommunicate who should obey them The Commonwealth of Lucca suffered the like from Vrban the Eighth as also Odoardo Farnese Duke of Parma Whereupon the Author of the Hist of Card. Part. 1. Lib. 1. Pag. 18. affirms that Nero Heliogabulus Tarquin Caligula and Dionysius arrived never at that height of Tyranny which the Popes of Rome have come to in dividing Princes and their Subjects If it be asked whether Popish Councils have owned such Principles yea in their first General Council at Lyons Anno 1245. under Pope Innocent 4. Frederick the Second is deprived by Pope and Council of his Empire and his Subjects absolved from their Allegiance The Latoran Council Anno 1215. under Pope Innocent 3. cap. 3. decrees If a Temporal Lord neglect to purge his Territories of those whom the Church declares Hereticks he shall be excommunicated by the Metropolitan and if he do not amend the Pope may absolve his Subjects from their Allegiance and expose his Land to be seized upon by Catholicks And the Council of Constance Sess 45. ordains all Hereticks of whatsoever Dignity Patriarchal Archiepiscopal Regal Reginal to be interdited and deprived When Siâ—tus the Fifth thundered out his Bulls against the King of Navar afterwards called Henry the Fourth of France and the Prince of Conde depriving them not only of their Lands and Dignities but also of the right of succession to the French Crown absolving Subjects from their obedience he declares he did this to them according to the Canons Consequently these rebellious Principles are not only the sentiments of private Doctors but authorized by the Romish Church Yet I will not fix this imputation upon all Romanists for all have not Learned these depths of Satan But because I added in the Assumption that more especially the Popish Religion as maintained by Jesuits teaches most impious things against both the Tables of the Law of God hereof abundant examples may be had from the Provincial Letters of Montalt and the Jesuits Morals collected by a Doctor of Sarbon and Pyrotechnica Loyolana cap. 3. Sect. 2. pag. 38. c. I only collect from them a few particulars As 1. That Jesuits hold that it 's sufficient that men love God once before they die that we are not so much commanded to love God as not to hate him yea that a man may be saved without ever loving God That this is taught by Jesuits especially by Sirmondus is shewed Provinc Epist 10. and in notis Wendroke ad Epist 10. and by the Author of the Jesuits Morals Lib. 2. Part. 2. Cap. 2. Art 1. Secondly that a man may be saved without Contrition that attrition or sorrow for sin out of fear of Hell though only general without reflexion on particular sins though slender without intention of degrees and though of short continuance but for one instant yet if joyned with Sacerdotal Absolution may be sufficient for the pardon of sin And this Escobar holds out not only as one of their probable Doctrines but as a certain truth Tom. 2. Theoq
Preheminence of the Civil Magistrate and the subjection of the Apostles and of all Ecclesiasticks to his Jurisdiction This third and last Note of the Church taken from Sanctity might be inverted as the former hath been not only from the Identity of our Religion with the Apostolick Religion which is the only truly holy Religion but also by appealing our Adversaries to pitch upon one Article agreed on in the Harmony of Confessions which hath not a tendency to Holiness And lastly by putting all to it who have but so much indifferency as to be ingenuous if the Reformed Churches have not always afforded multitude of serious unblameable and devour persons By this time I hope it may appear that the Pamphleters three Notes of the Church Miracles Conversion of Infidels and Sanctity of Life make nothing for the Catholicism of the Romish Church but prove convincingly the truth of the Reformed Church Had he brought the rest of Bellarmin's Notes he should have found them to be as little for his advantage SECT IV. A touch of the Pamphleters hints at two other Notes of their Church viz. the Title of Catholick and Succession HE snarles passingly pag. 201 202. at the Name of Catholick as if the Argument held from names to things Do not false Prophets false Apostles and false gods assume the names of true Prophets Apostles and of the true God Was not Simon Magus Act. 8.10 called the Power of God Did not Mahomet call himself the Great Prophet and his Disciples Musselmans that is sound believers and Abdullam or the servants of God Hath not the Title of Catholick been assumed by Novatians as witnesseth Cyprian Epist 73. by Donatists as testifies Austin in Brovic collat col 3. diei cap. 2. yea by all Hereticks if we believe Lactant. Instit lib. 4. cap. 30. and Austin contra Epist. Fundamenti cap. 4. The Orthodox also are ready sometimes to indulge Hereticks with the splendid names which they vainly assume to themselves as some were called Apostolici some Angelici others Gnostici c. besides it 's questioned whether the Christian Church was always adorned with the Title of Catholick the contrary seems to be yielded by Pacianus Epist 1. ad Sempron and D. Pearson on the Creed Art 9. brings great Authorities to prove that in ancient Editions of the Apostolick Creed especially in the Roman and Western Church this Epithete Catholick was not added to the Church However sure I am the Title of Catholick without the true Catholick Faith is but magni nominis umbra Certainly the Roman Church is not the Catholick if either the Catholick Church be taken for the Orthodox Church in which sense the Fathers termed particular Churches Catholick as that of Smyâ—na in Euseb Hist lib. 4. cap. 15. that of Nazianzum and many others in Greg. Nazianzens latter will But the Roman being grosly Heterodox as hath been proved is not Catholick in this sense nor is she Catholick if the Catholick and Universal be the same the Roman being but a part and lesser part of Christendom the greater and sounder part at this day renouncing Communion with her yea Papists call themselves Catholicks with a term diminuent Catholick Romans i. e. Catholicks not Catholicks or Schismatical Catholicks who being but a part of the Catholick Church would Monopolize Catholicism to themselves alone When therefore Protestants call Romanists Catholicks they do as when they call the Turks Musselmans because they assume these Titles though undeservedly to themselves That of Pacianus in the forecited Epistle is very remarkable Novatianos audio de Novato aut Novatiano vocari Sectam tamen in his non nomen incuso Nec Montano aliquis aut Phrygibus nomen objecit As insignificant is his other hint pag. 202. at the pretended perpetual Succession of Pastors in the Roman Church from the Apostles For Succession meerly personal and local if it be not also Doctrinal cannot prove a true Church Hence Iren. lib. 4. cap. 43. joyns Cum Episcopatus Successione charisma veritatis i. e. the gift of Truth with succession and Epiphan Haeres 55. teaches that now we are chiefly to enquire after successiones Doctrinae i.e. the succession of Doctrine and Tertull. de Praescript contra Haeret cap. 32. saith Though Hereticks should pretend a Succession of Bishops yet the diversity of their Doctrine from the Doctrine of Apostles will prove them not to be of Apostolical descent And again albeit some Churches could instance no Apostles or Apostolick persons from whom they are descended tamen in eadem fide conspirantes yet being sound to have the same Faith Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate Doctrinae they are accounted Apostolick because of the consanguinity of Doctrine Excellently said Nazlanzen Orat. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. He who professed the same Doctrine of Faith hath an interest in the same Throne or See but he that defends contrary Doctrine is Adversary to the See for this latter hath but the name of Succession but the other the truth and reality thereof What need I more seeing their own Learned Stapleton Controv. 1. q. 4. art 2. Netab 5. confesseth that bare personal and local Succession is not a sure Note of the true and Orthodox Church And surely we cannot conclude from it the being of the Church either affirmatively or negatively not affirmatively by Bell. his confession lib. 4. de Eccles cap. 8. for when Arrianism overspread the Oriental Churches they had a personal and local succession of Bishops nor yet negatively as if they were no Churches where personal succession is wanting else the first Apostolick Church which succeeded to none had been no true Church yea there should hardly be a Church to day upon the Face of the Earth there hardly being a Church founded by the Apostles in which alas for pity the Lyn of Succession hath not some time or other been perturbed with the intervention of Heresie the Roman not excepted Greg. de Valentia Tom. 3. Disp 1. q. 1. punct 6. acknowledges some Doctrines of Faith either thorough negligence errour or wickedness of men may for a time be as buried which afterward thorough the Churches diligence may be revived But as for the Roman Church she hath neither Doctrinal nor Personal Succession not Doctrinal as I have proved cap. 7. yea it will be hard to prove that the Complex of their present Religion is elder than the Council of Trent Nor Personal Is it not evident from History that some have taken the Papal Chair by Force some by Fraud some by Simony some by Magical Arts yea and some of them have been openly Heretical as Romanists themselves reckon Heresie if Arrians Nestorians Montanists Eutychians Monothelites be Hereticks Hereof we gave a touch Cap. 2. Sect. 2. Arg. 3. Sure I am the rest of the Patriarchs of Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem can instruct a personal Succession no less than Rome Excellently did one compare the Pope of Rome pretending to succeed Peter because he
discover the corruptions of that Apostatized Church and convey down orders to Ministers who by vertue of their Ordination were authorized and obliged to endeavour the Reformation of the Church Fourthly that our Reformers did not set up a new Church but did reform the old Apostatized Church so that there needed no new Ordination or immediate Call but only faithfully to improve the power given them in their Ordination to shake off and witness against the corruptions of that lapsed Church And fifthly and lastly this must be added though Ordination was clogged with corruptions at the time when our Reformers received Ordination in the Church of Rome yet was not Ordination in the Romish Church by far so corrupt as now it is for then Pope Pius the Fourth his impious Oath which he imposed upon all persons to be Ordained was not contrived By all this I hope it may appear that our Reformers Ordination was valid though received by Romish Ministers and yet the Romish Party not vindicated from Antichristianism It 's further objected that Protestants look upon Romanists as Hereticks and consequently ought to look upon Ordination from them as null Answ That sequel is null Do not Romanists maintain that Orders imprint an indeleble character on the Soul which neither Schism nor Heresie can extinguish and that Sacraments conferred by Hereticks are valid and particularly of this Sacrament of Orders Jesuit Connick Tom. 2. de Sacram. disp 20. dub 9. Num. 84. concludes Certum omnino est Episcopum Excommunicatum Haereticum degradatum validè conferre ordines i. e. It is altogether certain that Orders conferred by a Bishop Excommunicated Heretical and degraded are valid And though Protestants acknowledge no such Sacramental character impressed on the Soul yet they affirm that by Ordination a power is conferred which is not utterly made void by every Schism or Heresie so that though Schismaticks or Hereticks act irregularly in ordaining yet Orders conferred by them are not null and void Neither are they whom Schismaticks or Hereticks ordain bound in conscience to propagate the Schism or Heresies of those who ordained them yea by relinquishing the Schism and Heresies of their Ordainers what irregularity was in their Ordination is supplied and they come into a capacity of conferring Orders regularly which their Ordainers abiding in Schism or Heresie could not do Hence it apparently follows that though Romanists be both Schismatical and Heretical and act irregularly in conferring Orders yet the Orders conferred by them to our Reformers were not only valid but also the Reformers by relinquishing the Heretical Doctrines and Schismatical principles and practices of the Church of Rome and by owning the Catholick Truths oppugned by Romanists had the defects and irregularity of their Ordination supplied Thus Romanists themselves answer concerning the Bishops whom they own who had been ordained by Cranmer in the time of Schism as they call it saying they attained the regular use of their Orders by returning from Schism and Heresie in Queen Mary's time when they were reconciled to the Church of Rome they ought not then offend at us for making use of the same Reply to them I shut up this Answer to this Objection with that saying of S. Austin Epist 165. Et si quisquam traditor subrepsisset albeit some Traytor had crept into the Church he means the Roman in which too too many Judasses have been seen since that time nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae aut Innocentibus Christianis it should nothing prejudice the Church or Innocent Christians From pag. 203. to 207. he breaks forth into a Flood of Thrasonick Clamours as void of truth as of sobriety as if Protestants acknowledged the Popish Church to be the most Ancient Church and ever to have possessed the greatest part of the Christian World converting Nations working Miracles and that the Church before Luther should have been destitute of the true Letter and sense of Scripture and thereupon vainly misapplys to the Romish Church that word of Tertull. Olim possideo prior possideo The falshood of all these hath been already as copiously demonstrated as the nature of this Tractate would permit And particularly it hath been shewed that one of our great Exceptions against the Popish Church is her Novelty under a Mask of falsly pretended Antiquity That the Complex of their Trent Religion is latter than Luther and that the truly Catholick Church continued in all Ages having both the Letter and sense of holy Scripture and Substantials of Faith maintaining the same Religion which the Reformed Churches do to this day consequently the Reformed Churches are truly a part of that Catholick Church from which Romanists do Schismatically separate themselves Though Romanists had more Antiquity than they have yet that of Tertull. lib. de Veland Virg. Cap. 1. might stop their mouths Nec veritati praescribere potest Spatium temporum vel patrocinia personarum vel privilegia Regionum Neither length of time nor Patrociny of persons nor priviledges of Countries can prescribe against Truth SECT V. A Brief Reparty to his Conclusory Knacks THe vain Knacks where with he shuts up his Treatise pag. 207 208. are solidly confuted to my hand by Learned and Judicious Mr. Rait in his Vindication of the Protestant Religion pag. 268. for with the same froathy talk his Adversary also had concluded his Scriblings It shall be enough therefore to me to make this Retorsion on Romanists They have Faith without Verity Unity of Interest without Unity of Judgment a Catholick Church without Catholicism excluding the greatest part of Christendom an Infallible Judge defining contradictions and make the Divine Law a Nose of Wax a Church with many Heads Altars and Sacrifices without Divine Institution a Propitiatory Sacrifice without shedding of blood yea without a sacrificing act Image-worship Bread-worship Cross-worship Relick-worship Saint-worship if they may be believed without Idolatry Sacraments without visible Elements Sacraments so far from sanctifying that their most Religious persons are obliged to vow abstinence from them Specters of accidents without a subject they eat and devour their God they have devotion without understanding performing holy things in an unknown Language they have Pastors without Preaching Communion without Communicants they maintain a sinless perfection yet teach manifest violations of the Law of God they cannot only merit Heaven by their works but also supererrogate yet in many things they offend all the Satisfaction of Christ according to them needs a supply of penal satisfactions either in this life or in Purgatory the Efficacy of Grace depends on the beck of Free-will and Eternal Election must be founded on the prescience of mens good works Popes have Apostolical Function but no immediate Mission nor speak they with Tongues c. they obtrude lying signs and wonders yea ridiculous Fables for real Miracles the Enthusiasms of their Popes for Divine Oracles and bundles of Novelties under the Vizour of Antiquity many Books they hold for Canonical Scripture which neither the Jewish nor
85. that Protestants do a gree in Fundamentals if the precise number thereof cannot be known It might be reply sufficient to appeal the adversary to give one instance of a Fundamental wherein Protestants do not agree Sure there is no Fundamental which is not owned by some Society of Christians else there should be no true Christian Church in the World but let the dogmaticalls of all the Christian Churches in the world be searched there shall not one be found about which Protestants are not agreed but upon accurat triall it may be made appear that its either false or at least not simply Necessary to Salvation Consequently it may be made evident that Protestants do agree in Fundamentals without determining the precise number of them Nay the violent opposition made to the Reformed Churches by Papists and other adversaries are no small confirmation that we hold all the Fundamentals for surely if we did deny any Fundamental our enemies who wait for our halting and love to grate upon our sores would have laid it forth convincingly before the World which none of them having been able to do it is more then probable that the Reformed Churches hold all the Fundamentals But who said that the number of absolute Fundamentals cannot be pitched upon Surely never I learned Protestants such as Crakanthorp Stillingfleet and D Taylor spare not to say that they are contained in the Apostolick Creed they judge it very probable that the ancient Church supposed the Fundamentals to be contained in their Creeds the Apostolick Nicene Athanasian and that of Constantinople If it be so then surely Protestants agree in Fundamentals for to all these Protestant do subscribe and that in the very sense wherein the ancient Church took them But Romanists have added many Fundamentals not contained in these Creeds and altogether unknown to the ancient Church therefore they disagree from the ancient Church in Fundamentals yea and among themselves also Can they so much as agree what is that Church into whose sentence faith is to resolved I add further if there be solidity in that rule laid down by Edward Fouler in his design of Christianity Sect. 3. Cap. 21. viz. that he believed all Fundamentals who upon accurat search can say that he is sincerely willing to obey his Creator and Redeemer in all things commanded by him that he entertains and harbours no lust in his breast that he heartily endeavours to have a right understanding of the Scriptures to know what doctrins are delivered therein for bettering of his soul and the direction of his life and actions I say if this be a solid rule then certainly we hold all fundamentals of religion there being thorow mercy many thousands of such serious persons in the Reformed Churches who have such a testimony in their consciences Yet I deny not but this rule has need to be well cautioned else I am afraid that Arrians Socinians and other blasphemous Hereticks will be ready to conclude hereupon that they also maintain all Fundamentals and therefore I speak of it only in conjunction with these things which went before To shut up all in a word let all the solid rules Imaginable be taken for trying who have all the Fundamentals of Faith and we decline to be tried by none of them Whereas the Popish Church dare not adventure to be tryed but by that one rule the falsehood whereof has in Sect. 3. been clearly proved and is manifestly partial viz. that all and only these things are to be held for Fundamental which she defines to be such SECT V. Whether is the Popish Religion injurious to the Fundamentals of Christianity ANswer Affirmatively and that many wayes for 1. If a Fundamental be taken for the rule of Faith or the principal and adequate standard according to which all the material objects of Faith are to be measured which is the Holy Scripture as was proved Cap. 3. Then sure Romanists erre Fundamentally for they have set up another Foundation and rule of Faith viz. the sentence of their infallible visible Judge or to speak in the language of most renowned Jesuits the sentence of the Pope hence Bell. lib. 4. de Pontif. Cap. 3. Sect. Secundo Probatur Petrus quilibet ejus successor est Petra fundamentum ecclesiae i. e. Peter and any succeeding Pope is the Rock and Foundation of the Church and again a little after ejus praedicatio confessio est radix mundi si ille erraret totus mundus erraret and Grezter defens lib. 1. Cap. 1. de verb. Dei pag 16. pro verbo Dei veneramur suscipimus quod nobis pontifex ex Cathedra Petri tanquam supremus Christianorum magister omniumque controversiarum judex definiendo proponit i. e. we worship as the word of God what the Pope definitively propounds out of the Chair of Peter as the supreme master of all Christians and Judge of all controversies Though they verbally acknowledge the Apostolick Creed which is supposed by many ancient and modern authors to comprize the Fundamentals of religion yet they pervert the sense thereof as particularly of that Article of the Catholick Church as if there were held out the Catholicism Infallibility and supremacy c. of the Roman Church none of which were ever believed by the ancient Church so that to them may be applyed that of Austin Tom. 3. lib. de fid Symb. cap. 1. sub ipsis paucis in Symbolo constitutis plerumque Haeretici venena sua occultare conati sunt 3. Romanists have added many Fundamentals neither contained in Scripture nor in the ancient Creeds by which indirectly and consequentially they overthrow the true Fundamentals of Religion and the belief of these spurious Fundamentals are imposed by them upon all who would have communion with the Roman Church whereby all that would not be involved in that atrocious trespass of theirs are constrained to separate from them Many of these superinduced Fundamentals might be enumerated It s indeed a fundamental that Christ is the head of the Catholik Church but who warranted to add the Pope as another head It s a Fundamental that Christ once offered himself a sacrifice for sin on the cross but who warranted them to add a daily unbloody expiatory sacrifice in the Mass It s a Fundamental that God is Religiously to be adored but who warranted them to add that Images also are religiously to be adored It s a Fundamental that God is to be invocated but who warranted them to invocate Angels or departed Saints It s a Fundamental that there is an Hell and Heaven but who warranted them to add a Purgatory for expiation of venial sins and the temporal punishment due to mortals sins It s a Fundamental that God is pleased to reward good works with eternal life but who warranted them to add that good works are meritorious of eternal life Many more of this kind may be added by which consequently they destroy the true Fundamentals As for Instance if