them To conclude this consideration It is sufficient for my purpose which is acknowledged by the greatest and most considerable part of the Romish Church at this day That generall Councels in themselves are not Infallible and consequently are no solid Foundation for a Papists Faith which is all this Proposition pretended to make good though you see I have given them an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 22. A third consideration is this If the Infallibility of general Councels rightly called constituted and ordered were granted yet this would give no Advantage to the Romish cause nor security to their Faith and that for such reasons as diverse of the most Learned Papists themselves do stamp with their approbation And here I might insist upon sundry particulars but I shall confine my selfe to a few and for the rest refer you only to one of their own Authours White in the oft mentioned Treatise who thus breaks out his doubts concerning this Doctrine of the Infallibility of Councels If you assert an unknown and invisible influence of Gods Spirit it is so uncertaine and doubtfull that it is fruitlesse to contend about it Seeing it is matter of strife rather then evidence to what Councels and when this assistance is given whilest some quarrell with the calling others the absence of nations or Patriarchs and others dispute about thâ— praesidency and others about the method and circumstances in the handling of questions others about the number weight or degree of suffrages others about Confirmation and others require the Churches consent ere it can be known whether this Assistance belong to the Councell or no Where you may observe no lesse then ten severall causes of doubting and yet all these uncertainties they will rather run upon then acknowledge the Authority and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures which are called a more sure word 2 Pet. 1.19 then that which had another kind and far higher degree of certainty then the decrees of Councels can ever arrive at but I must not rest in generals I shall particularly acquaint you with some of the Intrigues of the Romish Church and their own requisites to the legitimation of Councels I shall pick out three 1. They confesse the Councell which is Infallible must be oecumenicall 2. And its decrees must be ratified by the consent and approbation of the whole Church 3. They must proceed sincerely and faithfully and piously in it Now in all these things there are notorious defects in the Church and Councels of Rome § 23. 1. Most Papists grant that that Councell to which Infallibility is promised must be generall or oecumenicall and they that pretend to assert the Infallibility of Provinciall Councels when confirmed by the Pope do indeed utterly reject the Infallibility of all Councels and ascribe it wholly to the Pope and to Councels onely by participation from him and in dependence upon him If then any Councels be Infallible they must be generall to which purpose they alledge the saying of St Austin That those onely are Concilia plenaria full and general Councels which are collected out of all the Christian World Hence the seaventh Synod disowned the Constantinopolitan Councell and their decrees against Images because they were not a generall Councell and had not all the Patriarchs there And S. Clara calls it The most received Doctrine of their Church and cites severall Authors of great note to that purpose Now to assume The Councels pretended by the Romanists were no generall councels To say nothing of former Councels which in their greatest plenitude were onely conventions of the Churches in the Romane Empire The later Councels on whom the weight of the Popish cause principally depends were not oecumenicall Councels There is one acknowledged defect in them all to wit the absence of the Greek Church Cardinal Cusanus complaines At present Alas the Catholick Church and the Parochial Church of Rome have but one Councell seeing the whole Church is now reduced to one Patriarchate And as the Objection is really unanswerable so that which is offered in stead of an Answer is very considerable which S. Clara. represents out of Cusanus and Barlaam That it matters not that onely the Romane Patriarch and those united to him are there and that the Schismaticall Patriarcks are absent for generall Councels are not to be collected out of Hereticks and Schismaticks but out of the Orthodox and such as are united to the Church From whence I gather two things 1. That if the Church of Rome cannot assoile her self from the imputation of Heresy which by the leanenesse of their replies to the inditements of Protestant Authors sufficiently appeares they are not able to do their Councels are constituted ex Indebitâ materiâ of undue materials and therefore cannot pretend to Infallibility if there were any such thing in rerum natur â. 2. That we are not to believe the Orthodoxy and much lesse the Infallibility of Councels upon the credit of their naked assertion and absolute Authority as the Papists affirme seeing the most Hereticall and Schismaticall Councels have ever asserted themselves to be Orthodox but it is the right and priviledge of Subjects to examine and judge of the legitimatenesse of Councels and consequently of the validity of their decrees § 24. The second particular is this That Councels are not infallible nor their decrees unquestionable unlesse they have the tacit consent and approbation of the whole Church This position is laid down by S. Clara in the forementioned Treatise There is required a tacit or interpretative ratification of the whole Church to compleat the definition of a Councell Nor is this his private opinion but he there confirmes it from the words of Panormitanes Turnball Pope Leo Petrus â Soto Castillo Mirandula Gersonius and others And afterwards he quotes these words out of Petrus D' Aliaco That generall Councells may erre unlesse when they are accepted by the Vniversall Church and then they are Infallible And in another place himselfe expressely tels us We are not presently to pronounce a thing de fide by reason of some expressions of Councels or their Canons but we must diligently inquire the constant judgment of the Church else we shall finde many Canons of Faith which doe not agree with the truth according to the opinion of many And Coltius hath these words As wee have seen before the common dâ—ssent of the Church hath rendred the decrees of Popes and Councels invalid I mention this the more fully because it is a pretty devise It must be confessed the Religion of Rome cannot easily be mistaken for a piece of Piety but he that shall denie it to be an Art of Policy will quickly be confuted and here is an instance will put him to silence There is a double discovery of the Romish subtilty in this businesse 1. You see how handsomely they make a vertue of necessity now they manage it as a Principle taken up
and the Papists have these arrowes out of their quiver and to say truth it is but reasonable that they that have borrowed so much of their Religion and Worship from the Pagans should also borrow their Arguments for you know the accessary followes the principâ—ll the onely wonder is how those Arguments which were weak and absurd in the Pagans and so judged and rejected by the Antient Fathers are become strong in the Papists But I know a reason for that too The Pope pretends to a Divinity upon Earth and consequently he can make weake things strong and as the Authority of the Romish Church is Infallible so their Arguments are without all doubt irresistible VVho knowes not that the Arrian Heresy overspread the World That the mistery of iniquity which began to work in St Pauls dayes was not to be finished and destroyed untill Christs second comming 2 Thes. 2. That there was a time when the whole World wonder'd after the beast And for the latter branch who knowes not that the Christian Church was a true Church when it wanted those Characters or at least diverse of them when it was in its infancy and therefore could not have Duration when confined to a narrow roome Act. 1. and therefore had no amplitude and consequently these are no necessary marks nor certain discoveries of the true Church as the Popish Doctors make their simple Proselytes believe So succession of Pastors signifies nothing unlesse you presuppose the truth of the Church whereof they are Pastors which forceth their own Authors to confesse that without true doctrine there is no true succession and that a local succession alone without a profession of sound doctrine is no certain note so Stapleton And Bellarmine ingenuously acknowledgeth that this argument of Succession is brought by them chiefly to prove that there is no Church where there is no succession from whence it doth not follow saith he necessarily that the Church is there where succession is So if this argument should possibly disprove our Church yet it doth not prove theirs § 10. So for Unity it is a shoe will fit every foot and hath been urged by Pagans whose great argument against Christianity was taken from the divisions of Christians and the unity of Pagans in their Religion and the Fathers answered the Pagans as we do the Papists that as the Church of God is one so the Devil 's Babylon is one as S. Austin expresseth it and that Unity without Verity is not to be regarded It was no argument of the verity and infallibility of the Jewish Church that they were united against Christ nor was it an evidence that the Church of Corinth Galatia and others mentioned in the New Testament were not the true Churches of Christ because they were peste'rd with fearful divisions and worse opinions then those which are owned by any Divines of the Protestant confession But if this test were allowed if things be weighed they would have little benefit by it I know there is nothing more familiar with the Romanists then to possesse silly seduced creatures with an opinion of their unity and our divisions I wish the latter were not more evident then the former God open the eyes and humble and forgive those who by causing divisions and offences among us have laid this stumbling block in their way It is no wonder they that cannot examine things are deceived with words But if any discreet person look within the vaile and compare their condition and ours he will find Clodius accus at moechos and that they do as if a man infected with a leprosy should reproach one who was troubled with the itch or as if a man whose hand was cut off should quarrel with another for having a scratch on his finger As for our Churches I know it is usual for the Papists to charge us with the frantick opinions of Quakers the desperate heresies of Socinus and the like but they would take it ill if we should charge their Religion with all the Blasphemous atheistical heretical opinions of some that have liveed amongst them Their own consciences tell them that these though they are among us yet they are not of us He that would judge righteous judgment must take his aestimate from the publick confessions of the Protestant Churches whose Harmony is published and proved to all the world and such of our learned Doctors as adhere to it and there he shall find the diversities of opinion amongst us are onely in some lesser points happily about government or other circumstantiall things but it is most certain and undeniable that all of them do hold the head agree in all the fundamental points of ReligioÌ„ But on the other side what if there be cloven Tongues in Protestant Churches Is Rome a City at unity within it self How come we then to hear the noise of axes and hammers among the builders of their Temple 300 differences have been collected out of Bellarmine's words and works and several of them of greater importance then any of our divisions It is true they have a pretty knack when we tell them of their divisions they say they are not in things de fide I see Duo cùm faciunt idem non est idem It is a woful division among us between Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants but the same difference among them between Jesuits and Dominicans that is of no moment Oh ye foolish Papists how long will you be bewitched by such silly impostures how long will you love simplicity So for that great division among them about the very foundation of their faith which is ten times more weighty then all the Protestant differences put together the Pope's Infallibility they tell you it is not de fide although indeed it be their fundamentum fundamentorum and their whole Religion hangs upon it at least in the judgment of all the Jesuits and the far greatest number of the learned Doctors and eminent writers of the Church of Rome of this age It is confessed by themselves that they are divided in this great point so Bellarmine tells you The second opinion is that the Pope as Pope may teach heresy this opinion saith he is defended by Nilus some Parisians as Gerson and Almaine and Alphonsus de Castro and Adrian the sixth a Pope in his question of Confirmation So we have the infallibility of the Pope to assure us that the Pope hath not Infallibility And this opinion saith he is not properly heretical for we see the Church doth still tolerate it yet it is erroneous and very near heresy I will tell you how near it is when the Jesuits have throughly leaven'd the world with that opinion and perfectly destroyed the liberties of the Gallican Churches and the Pope can do it without raising a commotion in his own kingdome then you shall find this Embryo perfected and it is become a compleat heresie In like manner saith Dr. Holden speaking of the Pope's Infallibility We
a parallel place to his consideration It is said particularly concerning Jerusalem which never was said concerning Rome I have hallowed this house to put my name therein for ever and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually 1 Kings 9.3 And it is again repeated concerning that house that the Lord had said In Ierusalem shall my Name be for ever 2 Chron. 33.4 Then if he have a conscience let him Answer whether there be not as much warrant from these Texts to prove this promise to Ierusalem to be infallible and unconditional which they grant it was not as from the other Texts to prove them to be so to the Church of Rome He need not take day to answer it His second Answer is wholly ad hominem and the other you will say was little ad rem That Mr. Chillingworth applies this to future times onely not to past or present and therefore it concernes not the dispute in hand about the Romane Catholick Church which all English Protestants acknowledg to be a true Church of Christ. Just so they would perswade their Proselytes that all Protestants grant that theirs is a safe way and Salvation to be had ordinarily in the communion of their Church whereas neither the one nor the other are true But what if Protestants do and Mr. Chillingworth did grant their Church to be a true Church doth it therefore follow these Texts were pertinently alledged to prove it or did Mr. Chillingworth say these promises were absolute for time past or present and conditional onely for the future no such matter but these are onely his own dreams and shufflings who pro more when he cannot answer his Adversary indeavours to blind his Reader I have onely one thing more to observe upon that which he tels us Mr. Chillingworth saw it That if there were such promises of Indefectibility none could challenge them but the Romane Church since she onely claims them all others lay down their claime But that also is no more solid then the rest for since this promise of Indefectibility is general and indefinite it no more belongs to Rome then to any other particular Church neither have they any more interest in the promise because they boldly claime the Monopoly of it since an Usurpers claime gives him no just Title to the thing Nor have other Churches the lesse interest in it because their conscience and modesty will not suffer them to appropriate it to themselves for though they extend this promise of Indefectibility to the whole Church yet they reap the comfort and benefit of it in as much as they are true members of that Church and not upon any local or particular consideration There is a fourth argument behind taken from the Tradition or testimony of the present Church but this I have discoursed at large and I hope discovered the folly of that new device thither I refer the Reader A fifth argument there is and that is all I find in Mr. Cressy for I have diligently searched him and God is my witnesse I have indeavoured to single out the strongest and most plausible passages in him which I had not answered before and that is taken from the Churches Unity One Church thâ—re cannot be without one faith nor one faith where differences are irreconcileable and no reconciling of differences but by an Authority and that infallible Append. ch 6. n. 3. And again The Sun shines not more clear I suppose he means in the Cloysters of his Convent then that there is no possible Vnity without Authority nor no Christian Vnity without an Infallible Authority ch 7. n. 2. Ans. Very well it being premised That their onely infallible Authority is as Mr. Cressy states it the Church speaking by a general Councel confirmed by the Pope Appen chap. 4. num 9. then if this argument be solid let Mr. Cressy take what follows Then there was neither one Church nor one Faith for the first 300 years when there was no general Councel then when the Pope dies or his Sea is vacant other wayes as it oft hath been and when there is no Councel as now there is none there is no Unity in the Church of Rome what thinks this man of the Gallican Church which unlesse they be throughly Jesuited do still hold as they used to do that the Pope personally considered is not infallible but onely with a general Councel will he justify it in the Assembly of the French Clergy that they have at this day no unity among them and no way to reconcile their differences because they have no infallible Authority But I shall not wast my time any longer with these impertinent and miscalled arguments I shall leave the point with this short Memorandum That it is a plain evidence of the desperatnesse of their cause that all the great wit and vast learning and deep cunning of the Romish Doctors can furnish them with no better arguments then these And since this is all that Mr. Cressy can pretend for his Apostacy I would intreat him in his next to furnish me with some Answers to those that suspect his Change was not from Conscience but Discontent or Passion or Worldly Interest as affairs then stood for I confesse I am at a losse and know not what to say for him and the rather because the pretended motives of his Conversion are so ridiculously absurd and incredible among which I find two that deserve a special remark One is the scandalous personal qualities of Luther and Calvin which if all that he saith of them were true and material as it is either notoriously false or inconsiderable yet it amounts to nothing against the Protestant cause since though we own them for eminent persons and worthy instruments yet we readily acknowledge they were lyable to error and subject to passions and infirmities no lesse then other men nor did we ever make them the pillars and grounds of the Gospel or the foundation and rule of our Faith But that this should occasion his Change I confesse is beyond the faith of Miracles to believe This is prodigious That the supposed mistakes or miscarriages of two particular Protestant Doctors should really have greater influence to turn him from the Protestant Religion then the real Blasphemies and abominable filthinesses of their Masters and Pillars of their Faith and Church viz. the Popes should have to alienate him from the Popish Religion and these things not feigned by Adversaries as most of their Calumnies against Luther and Calvin are but acknowledged by their own Authors who have left us a particular account of the several sorts of their villanies so many Blasphemers as Iohn 13. Iulius 3. c. so many Hereticks as Boniface 8. Iohn 23. so many Conjurers as Sylvester the second and his Successors for many successions so many Whoremongers so many Sodomites Poysoners Incestuous and what not 150 Popes saith Genebrard rahter Apostatical then Apostolical persons And yet this tender-conscienced man who knew all
Apostles times to ours The argument is this Scriptures were not the onely rule when there were several governours of the Church acknowledged on all hands to be infallible both singly and joyntly Ergo it is not the onely rule now when there is no person nor persons in the Church but who is proved to be fallible For this is the case at this day unlesse the Captain and Mr. Cressy and the rest will change their notes and in stead of the Pope and Councel combined say that the Pope alone is infallible wherein I desire to understand their minds 2. The other Consequence hath not a Dram more of Truth in it for if the Scripture were the sole rule yet did not the Apostolical Authority cease It is no diminution to their Authority to say they had not a power superior to the Scripture or the word of God i. e. That the Servant was not above his Master the Apostles never pretended to such a power but rather carried themselves in all things as became those who professed their subjection to the word of their God and Lord. Observe the manner of their proceeding in that great Councel Act. 15. still you shall find the Scripture is the rule by which they guide the whole debate and from which they draw their conclusion as none that read that chapter can deny You may observe that an Apostle and he too of so great Authority that he durst reprove St Peter to his face Gal. 2. makes no scruple of circumscribing his own Authority within the limits of Gods Word and he repeats it in reimemoriam Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospell unto you then that which we have Preached unto you let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 I know it is said by M r White in his Apology for Tradition that this place makes for Tradition rather then for Scripture and for what the Apostles delivered by word of mouth not what they left in Writing To which the reply is most easy that since the Doctrine delivered by the Apostles either by word or Writing is and must be confessed to be of equall Avthority the Councell of Trent goes no higher while they assert that Scripture and Tradition are to be received pari pietatis affâ—ctu ac reverentia with equall piety and reverence it consequently followes that he who renounceth all pretensions of Authority Superior or not subordinate to the one cannot be said with any colour of sence to challenge a Supremacy over the other The Apostles had not so learned Christ as they who arrogate the name of their Successors have The power they claimed was not Autocratoricall and despoticall having dominion over the peoples Faith and being Lords over Gods Heritage but onely Ministeriall not for destruction but for edification not coordinate but subject unto their Master and his Word The last reason he urgeth is that this opinion of sole Scripture makes every man Judge who take upon them to read and understand the Scripture Answ. 1. If it be meant a private Judge so farre as it concernes his own actions It is true and that Judgment as I have shewed the Scripture allowes and enjoynes to private Christians and informes us of the sad condition of those that neglecting their own judgment give up themselves to a blind obedience to their rulers an errour common to the Jewes of old and the Papists now assuring us this is no excuse nor security to them but if the blind lead the blind both will fall into the Ditch Matth. 15.14 2. The Papists themselves however they renounce this principle of every mans being Judge in words and shew yet they receive it in truth and practise upon it and whatever noise they make of Fathers and Councels and the Pope and Church yet in truth they make particular men the Judges for their own actions For instance if we examine the grounds and manner of the Conversion as they miscall it of any man to the Romish Religion take Cressy and the Captaine for instances we shall find the Papists that dealt with them made them Judges And when the Captain yields to that great Argument viz. That if he did not turne Catholick he had no infallible assurance that Christian Religion was true was not he himselfe Judge of the validity of this Argument And when Cressy or others are perverted by that great Title of the Churches Authority to which they think all should be subject what do they but make themselves Judges of this question upon which all depends whether the Churches Authority be a sufficient and safe foundation for a mans faith to rest upon So if I come to any Papist who is capable of Discourse I would aske him whether he continues in the Popish communion and beliefe with reason or without it If he say without reason I shall forbear discoursing with bruit creatures If with reason I demand what it is and here he will enter into a large harangue concerning the necessity of a living and infallible judge for the ending of Controversies and that the Pope or Councell is this Judge In this case I say the Romanist makes himself the Judge of the first and principall question upon which all the rest depend viz. whether such a Judge be necessary and whether the Pope or Councell be this Judge And certainly as St Paul argues 1 Cor. 6. They that are fit to judge the greater and weightier causes cannot be unfit to judge the smaller matters Thus I have gone over all the Arguments or appearances of reason which the Captaine or others for him have collected and what M r Cressy hath pleaded for any of them I shall in the next place proceed to answer what farther Arguments I meet with either in M r Cressy or in that famous or rather infamous piece called Rushworths Dialogues or in M r Whites Apology for Tradition For doubtlesse si Pergama dextrâ Defâ—ndi possent dextrâ hac defensa fuissent And if men of their parts and learning and study in the Controversy can say nothing to purpose against the Scriptures being a perfect rule I shall with greater security aâ—quiesce in the Truth of the Protestant Doctrine Another Argument therefore against the Scriptures is taken from the occasion of VVriting the Books of the New-Testament of which Cressy Treats Sect. 2. chap. 10. And it is observable that his Argument however it regularly ought to reach the whole Scripture yet is onely upon the matter levied against the Epistles in the New-Testament which saith he were never intended to be Written as Institutions or Catechismes containing an Abridgment of the whole Body of Christian Faith for the whole Church for they were Written onely to particular Persons or Congregations without order to communicate them to the whole Church and they were written meâ—rly occasionally because of some false Doctrines which if those Hereticks had not chanced to have broached they had never been Written And therefore surely are very improper for a
Iuly 20. 1665. Imprimatur ROBERT SAY VICECAN The Nullity of the Romish Faith OR A BLOW At the Root of the Romish Church BEING An Examination of that Fundamentall Doctrine of the CHURCH of ROME concerning the Churches INFALLIBILITY and of all those severall Methods which their most famous and approved Writers have used for the defence thereof TOGETHER WITH An APPENDIX tending to the Demonstration of the Solidity of the PROTESTANT FAITH wherein the Reader will find all the materiall Objections and Cavils of their most considerable Writers viz. Richworth alias Rushworth in his Dialogues White in his Treatise De fide and his Apology for Tradition Cressy in his Exomologesis S. Clara in his Systema fidei and Captaine Everard in his late account of his pretended Conversion to the Church of Rome discussed and Answered By MATTHEVV POOLE late Minister of the Gospell in London OXFORD Printed by Hen Hall Printer to the UNIVERSITY for Ric Davis 1666. To the Right Honourable ARTHUR Earle of DONEGAL Lord Viscount Chichester of Carickfergus Baron of Belfast one of his MAJESTIES most Honourable Privy Councellors for his Kingdome of Ireland My LORD HOw much it concernes every man to be rightly informed in the Controversies between Rome and Us is sufficiently evident from the great importance they have in reference to our everlasting state The Papists think the Protestant Doctrine is dangerous to Salvation and the Protestants know the Popish Doctrine to be so For although they use confidently to give it out to their Partisans that their Religion is a safe way in the judgment of Protestants themselves and though in former times of ignorance God might wink at some members of the Church of Rome that held the Foundation although they built a great deale of Hay and Stubble upon it Yet since the late Edition of severall new Articles of their creed and since the contempt of that clear and glorious light of Gospell discoveries shining in the discourses and Writings of Protestant Authors I cannot and I fear God will not excuse them from that hainous crime of rebelling against the light or with holding it in unrighteousnesse and as Christ said to the Jewes they have now no cloake for their Sinnes What the portion is of the followers of Antichrist we may more safely understand from the Testimony of God then from the conjectures of men of them we read that they shall be damned 2 Thes. 2.12 That their names are not written in the Book of Life Rev. 13.8 That they shall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God and shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone and the smoke of their Torment shall ascend evermore and they shall have no rest day nor night which worship the beast and his image Rev. 14.9 10 11. The onely doubt is whether the Papists be followers of Antichrist or which comes to one whether the Pope be Antichrist which seemed so probable to the famous Lord Bacon that being asked by King JAMES whether he thought him so to be it was no lesse truly then wittily answered by him That if an hue and cry should come after Antichrist which should describe him by those Characters by which he is deciphered in the Bible he should certainly apprehend the Pope for him and I desire all Papists who would not venture their Eternall Salvation upon uncertainties to doe our cause and their own Soules that justice as to peruse the Author 's of both sides viz. Whitaker and Downham on the one and Bellarmine and Lessius on the other and then I doubt not but they will conclude the notorious weaknesse of their cavils or pretended Answers to our Allegations to be at least an high presumption of the truth of our Assertion if not sufficient to put an end to all further doubtings My Lord It is no small evidence of a good cause and felicity of our Protestant people that they are permitted to see with their own Eyes and are both allowed and warned by their teachers not to take matters of Salvation upon trust but to enquire and search the Scriptures and other Authors whether those things be true or no whil'st unhappy Papists like the Andabatae of old must winke and fight and are obliged with an implicit Faith to follow their guides in spight of Christs caution used upon the like occasion If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the Ditch Matth. 15.14 Protestant Ministers bespeak their hearers in S t Pauls language I speak to wise men judge ye what I say 1 Cor. 10. 15. While Popish Priests if they would speak out must say I speak as to Fooles believe all that I say A plaine signe their Gold is adulterate because they dare not suffer it to come to the Touchstone My Lord In the handling of these Controversies I thought it most prudent and ingenuous to follow the Councell which Benhadad gave to his Souldiers to fight neither with small nor great but with the King of Israel and therefore I did not mind the branches but have indeavoured to strike at the Root For such is the Doctrine here discussed viz. The Doctrine of the Churches Authority and Infallibility and so it is acknowledged by all the Romanists and we are advised by them if we mean to do any good to attaque them in this point I like the Counsell and therefore have resolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arcem petere to attempt their strongest hold All the Controversies of the Church of Rome have what Caligula wished all the people of Rome had one work and that is this of the Churches Infallible Authority while this is safe we do but paire their Nailes and cut their Haire which will quickly grow againe but if this failes all falls wound them here and it goes to the heart Whether I have done this here or no I shall not be so absurd or arrogant as to give judgment in my own cause this onely I shall be bold to say that I have faithfully represented the strength of the Popish cause in this great point out of their most famous and approved Authors and such of whom it might be truly said Si moenia Romae Defendi possent dextrâ hac defensa fuissent and therefore if all the plausible pretences of their most considerable Writers be here removed and destroyed which I willingly referre to the judgment of the serious intelligent and impartiall Reader I may without injustice conclude that their Doctrine is indefensible and their cause desperate My Lord The reason why I devolve the patronage of this work upon your Lordship is not onely the consideration of your reall worth and those honourable qualities resplendent in you that true generosity sincere friendship obliging sweetnesse impartiall valuation of persons accâ—rding to their merit not their party or opinion in little things and other conspicuous vertues which they that have the happinesse of your acquaintance are witnesses of nor is it onely the known excellency and exemplary piety of your
at that door though Tradition hath made a true report of the words which it seldome doth I might multiply instances but these will suffice for a candid Adversary and others nothing will suffice § 16. 4. This will be made more probable if you consider the quality of some former ages which might and did give great advantage to error to creep in under the mask of Tradition and consequently evinceth how easy it was for one age to mistake the doctrines of the preceding age To this end consider with me the condition of the tenth age of which I shall desire you to judg according to the testimony of their own authors The words of Baronius are these In the nine hundredth year of Christ the third Indiction a new age begins which by reason of its asperity and barrennesse of good is wont to be called the Iron age from the deformity of abounding wickednesse the Leaden and from the scarcity of writers the obscure age And Genebrard though according to the manner of the Beast he chargeth it upon the Lutherans that they only call it saeculum infelix an unhappy age yet he elsewhere forgets himself therein the more inexcusable because he was one of them who ought to have good memories and in his Chronology plainly tels us This is called the unhappy age being barren of ingenuous and lâ—arned men and he tells you that the Popes of that age the principal conservators of Tradition and the subjects of Infallibility had altogether fallen from the vertue of their Ancestors and were rather Apostates then Apostles Can any man doubt of the power of Papists to make a Transubstantiation when we see with our eyes that they can turn every piece of wood into an infallible Doctor I think I need say nothing for the confutation of Mr. White 's argument but barely repeat it that the Reader may compare it with the state of this age It is this The whole Church or major part of it in every age were so knowing that they infallibly understood all the doctrines of the foregoing age and so carefull and pious that they would not deceive themselves nor their posterity Answer the argument I need not but only observe 3 things in this age which will prâ—ve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely the possibility but a great probability both of mistaking their ancestors and of deceiving themselves and their posterity 1. Ignorance 2. Carelesness and Profanenesse 3. Scarcity of Writers No man can adjudg Infallibility to such an age unlesse he will offer violence to all his rational powers § 17. 1. Here was grosse ignorance in the generality of the Clergy the Popes themselves not excepted The whole world was overspread with darkness as thick as that in AEgypt saith Baronius It is reported that at that time there were no publick Schools saith Carolus Sigonius And the Synodus Rhemensis cited by Baronius plainly say that at that time it was reported that there were scarce any learned men at Rome He that saith so ignorant an age could not mistake must needs be in a dream and when he awakes I shall give him further answer If any prudent man who will not suffer his eyes likes Sampsons to be put out that he may grind in the Pope's mill reflect upon the state of some ignorant Country-congregations among us if he please to examine them he shall find them so far from understanding infallibly the doctrines delivered by their Ancestors and former Ministers 20 or 30 years before that they do not understand the opinions of their own age no nor so much as those which their Minister though an able painful and plain Preacher such as were very few in that age hath been preaching upon for diverse years together And yet forsooth a company of such men as these by Mr. White 's argument are free from all possibilities of mistakes what were the doctrines delivered by the age before them § 18. 2. There was an universal carelesness and profanesse upon mens spirits Neither Ministers nor people did much busy their heads about such matters but minded only the advancement of their secular interest and the pampering of their bellies say their own Historians the Clergy then were universally negligent in teaching and instructing the people whose ignorance they saw most serviceable to their designes and the people were as carelesse to understand the concernments of religion And if this very carelesnesse and profanesse did utterly lose and extinguish all the sentiments and doctrines of true religion delivered by Adam and Noah in their posterity why might it not be so after Christ's time Mr. White and his Partisans venture their salvation upon the truth of this absurd Proposition That it was impossible the same cause should produce the same effects Nor is it to any purpose that Rushworth alledgeth to prove the disparity viz. That onely one man and one woman were witnesses of those high wondâ—rs whereas the Gospel had innumerable miracleâ— witnessed to multitudes of people in diverse countries that the hearers could hardly bâ—lieve them that they had but a slâ—ight care of recommending God's service to their children and that they wâ—re taken up with the worlds plantation and other secular affairs and there was no set form and institutions of Priests and governours to joyne all nations in communion no chief Bishop c. Dialog 3. § 15. For 1. supposing that which Divines generally believe viz. that Adam truly repented of his sin it is contrary to common sense to believe that he who had such a fresh knowledg and lively sense of the difference between highest felicity and utmost misery should be carelesse in the concernments of religion that he that had been the unhappy instrument of ruining all his posterity should not use all possible diligences to heal the wound himself had made and with greatest instances and importunities indeavour the perpetuation of religion to his posterity 2. It is false to say there were then no Priests no chief Bishop to take care of religion for though there were none that had the names yet there were that had the office and did the work viz. the heads of families and especially the great and common Father and universal Bishop of all mankind And it is both against reason and experience and charity to think this natural Bishop would take less care of the conservation of Religion among his own natural children then the Bishop of Rome would do among his titular relations 3. As for the wonders of the Creation they were so great and glorious and innumerable and at that time so evident and unquestionable that it is the greatest wonder of all how they could disbelieve them or so soon wear out the memory of them especially when Adam lived above 900 years to demonstrate the verity and inculcate the story of them whereas the Apostles were dead and all the eye witnesses of their miracles in a fourth part of that time In a word
though it be easy in this and all other resemblances to devise several dissimilitudes and disproportions yet in the maine there is an agreement That the carelesnesse of posterity may blast the most powerful and important Traditions If it be further pretended that there is a disparity because God hath promised his Spirit to guide the Christians into truth and to preserve them from mistake I shall only say two things having fully answered this before 1. Whatever promise or priviledge of the Spirit is made to Christians surely it is a most absurd and unreasonable thing to pretend the donation of this priviledge and the performance of this promise unto such as we have now described concerning whom the Scripture expresly tels us that they are sensual not having the spirit Jud. v. 19. and they cannot receive the spirit of God Joh. 14.17 Where the Spirit of God is it brings light with it it turns men from darknesse into a marvelous light it rowseth men out of the sleep of carelesnesse and makes them give all diligence to make their calling and election sure And therefore where ignorance and profanesse are allowed and predominant as apparently they were in this age we may safely say such have not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them for where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty especially that which is the principal part of it a liberty from the bondage of sin and Satan by whom that age was so wofully captivated that we need not many arguments to shew that they were not influenced by God's Spirit but acted by the rulers of the darkness of this world the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience 2. This is impertinent to the present argument which is drawn not from the efficacy of a divine promise but from the nature of the thing and the common prudence of men and that natural principle of self-preservation as you will plainly see if you look back upon Mr. White 's words This argument proceeds as if it were morally impossible for men wilfully to deceive themselves and their posterity which is not from the influence of a divine promise but from an instinct of nature and so this evasion is insufficient To return therefore having removed this rub out of the way and to make good what I have said concerning the carelesnesse and wickednesse of the age that this disease had overspread the whole body Civil and Ecclesiastical the Pope himself not excepted you shall hear from the approved Authors of the Romish Church Platina cals several of those Pope's Monstra portenta hominū monsters of men Iohn the 11 th is called by Cardinal Baronius one who we may be sure would do the Popes no wrong and the Protestants no right rather a defiler then ruler of the Romane seat They were prodigious Popes saith Genebrardus Pope Sergius saith Baronius was a slave of all vices and the wickedest of men And of Iohn the 10 th he saith Then whom none was more filthy And such characters they give to diverse of the Popes of that age and these are the supreme Heads of the Church the prime subjects and fountains of Infallibility And conformable to the head were the generality of the members of that politick body the ministers and governours as well as the people of that age as you heard acknowledged by their own most approved Authors Now compare this with their argument for Tradition and you will be able to judg of the solidity of it The two Pillars upon which the infallibility of the argument from Tradition is built are these I shall give you them in the words of Rushworth in his applauded Dialogues 3. § 15.1 It was no hard matter for the Church to conserve the truth of her doctrine if she were carefull which histories plainly bear witnesse she was 2. That nature forceth men to have care of Religion and therefore it was impossible any error should creep into the Church And elsewhere saith he Nature permits not men to be sleepy in Religion § 8. To which discourse I reply three things which plainly evince the folly of this opinion 1. That the infallibility of Tradition by these arguments depends upon the faith of some few Historians whom all confesse to be fallible which is a contradiction 2. That the supposed carefulness upon which the infallibility of Tradition depends being the effect of thatnature which is equally in all men if it make any person or Councel infallible it must make every particular Church nay every Christian infallible at least such ashave common konwledge and prudence in them 3. Observe the impudence of this sort of men that dare avouch those Histories for witnesses of the Churches care which have so expresly and unanimously recorded her carelesnesse both in this and other ages See ch 4. § 19. 3. There is another thing very considerable in this matter viz. There was a great scarcity of writers which cuts the sinews of that grand objection which they urge in all their Treatises That there could be no change in doctrine without schism and a notorious tumult as White saith and they prove there was no change because we cannot shew the Authors times and places of them As if one that had got the plague might say he is free from it because he knows not how nor where nor from whom he got it Now here appears the unreasonableness of their demand and the absurdity of their argument how can it be expected that we should give an account of all the occurrences and mutations of that age when they confesse so few books were written and those that were were written by such as were either wholly or in part leavened with the corruption of the time and therefore for their own honour obliged to conceal all such changes and defections as themselves had an hand in And if any reputed Heretick durst venture to betray any of the secrets of the mystery of Iniquity which was then working his book was presently suppressed and he and it both confuted by an argument fetched out of the fire or rather thrown into it So the Papists do by us as if a man should blow out all the Lights and then blame me for not finding what I was making inquest after or as if one should burn my principal evidences and then charge me that I cannot make out my Title And yet notwithstanding all the frauds and force of the Romish Sea God hath not left his Truth without witnesse nor us without notable testimonies even from among themselves of the successive depravations and corruptions in religion by them foisted into the Church but that hath been fully proved by others and therefore I shall say nothing of it I shall adde onely this that although I have instanced but in one age yet indeed there were several other ages overspread with the same deluge of ignorance and carelesnesse and loosnesse and consequently lyable to the same mistakes such
is to hear this Argument pleaded on the behalfe of the Alchoran I am sure it may upon as good grounds their religion being much of the same complexion and the Popish cause being managed most commonly by Mahumetan weapons But on the contrary let a man consider with himselfe the miraculous successe of the Protestant Religion in the late Reformation how strangely speedily generally it diffused it self in the very same manner as the Gospell did in its first Plantation in the World notwithstanding the great disadvantages it was to grapple with the horrible ignorance and perversenesse of the Age the mighty power of long custome and inveterate prejudice the craft of Polititians the learning of the whole World the might of Princes and Emperors the threats fires inquâ—siâ—ions of Persecutors the great offers and multiplied allurements to Apostacy I say he that shall review all these things as they are recorded by the Historians of both parties will quickly understand to whom this Character belongs § 5. For the purity and excellency of their Doctrine If their and our Doctrines were to be tried by that test the controversy would speedily be at an end The Word of God is the palace and rule of purity and that Doctrine which hath most of conformity therewith hath most of purity Howsoever it is too grosse a begging of the question to alledge that for a note and evidence of their Church which is more doubtfull then the Church it selfe And for the Sanctity of their Lives we are heartily glad to hear of it if the reports were as credible as the newes is good it would rejoyce our hearts because their own Authors in severall Ages have successively acknowledged and bewailed the horrible and universall wickednesse of their own Church Clergy Popes c. All stories are full of their monstrous filthinesse though ordinarily masked under the pretence of externall holinesse And for the holinesse of their Church of late times I shall onely say this Of all men they have least cause to dispute against faith alone for he that can believe their sanctity had need be a Solifidian and have neâ—ther sence nor reason But you must know the Church of Rome lives upon her old stock it is the holinesse of their Ancestors which they intend Bellarmine is forced to go farre back for his proofs for he alledgeth the Sanctity of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Antients Fathers as arguments of their Holinesse so the Church of Rome is all on a sudden grown Orthodox in the doctrine of imputation with this proviso that they allow the imputation of the righteousnesse of their Ancestors to the present Church but not of their wickednesse you may as farre as you please even to Adam nay if you will even to theFather of the Praeadamitae impute to them the Holinesse of their Ancestors but for the prodigious filthinesse the Sorceâ—ies Adulteries Murderers Heresies of their Fathers and former Bishops and Popes that ought not to be imputed to them § 6. And for the other grand Character of consent with Antiquity which they vaunt so much of among those that either have not learning to search into the Antients or wit to judg of what they read to say nothing of this that the hoary head of Antiquity is not to be respected if it be not found in the way of righteousnesse evill doctrines or habits the more Antient the worse and the inveteratenesse of a disease is no commendation to it He that shall please to look into the Fathers with his own eyes or peruse the Discourses of our Learned Authors upon this point such as Rainolds Iewell Whitaker Chamier Dallaeus Albertinus Vsher Morton Morney Rivet and multitudes more will soon discover the impudence of this plea and the fruit of their labours would quickly appeare in the World but for that piece of their imposture that as they deny the reading of the Scripture to lay-men so they forbid the reading of our Protestant Authors to their Scholars excepting such whose consciences they find to be of a Jesuiticall complexion and free from the heresy of tendernesse § 7. I know it will be said that we want diverse of those marks which they have as Duration Amplitude Visible succession Union among our selves and with the Pope But alâ—though the Papists have no colourable pretence to those Characters among such as will inquire into the verity of their Assertions and not greedily swallow down all of them though in point of duration divers of the most materiall Doctrines of the present Romish Church are so far from it that they stand convicted of Novellisme by the confession of their own Authors And for Amplitude notwithstanding all their intolerable boasting with the credulous vulgar the learned know the Church of Rome containeth not one third part of the Christian World And for Succession their own Authors have acknowledged frequent and long interruption yea even in the Papall See Yet if all that might be said upon those points were superseded If they grant us or we can prove the former viz. That the miracles confirme our Doctrine the Fathers profâ—sse our Faith that the efficacy purity and excellency of Doctrine belongs to us we do not much matter the rest nor will the Reader who is satisfied in the former be at all startled at the latter § 8. 3. Consider what rotten Pillars most of these are upon which the Church of Rome leanes and you will find they need no Sampson to pull them down one of them excepted which Bellarmine therefore puts in the first place and that is from the name of Catholick as being grounded upon that infallible Maxime Conveniunt râ—bus nomina saepe suis That therefore cannot be resisted onely I blame Bellarmines oversight that being so hard put to it to prove the Sanctity of his Church he did not prove it from the Title of Holinesse given to the head of it And then here had been a paire of Demonstrations not to be paralleld in all Euclid § 9. And for severall other marks there is this inexcusable errour in them that they alledge those notes to prove the Church which are altogether impertinent and ridiculous if you do not presuppose the Church so they wisely suppose what they see they cannot prove I instance in Duration Antiquity Unity Amplitude Succession against which I thus argue Either these do prove the being of the Church where ever they are and the want of a Church where they are absent or they do not if they do not then they are absurdly brought to prove their Church if you say they do then where those Characters are found there is a true Church and where they are wanting there is no Church But neither one nor the other is true not the first for there is not one of those now mentioned but have agreed to Pagans or Hereticks Who knowes not the Antiquity Duration Amplitude and Unity of the Pagan Religion All those were the Arguments of the Heathens against the Christians
arguments taken from the thing it self 2. By bringing the object nearer to the eye which was at too great a distance whereby it appears in its due proportion 3. By curing the infirmity of the eye Thus the Physitian that removes the distemper of the eye and restores it to its native strength and vigor may be said to convince him Now to apply this The Spirit of God doth not convince a man of the Divinity of the Scriptures the first way as a Philosopher but the last way as a Physitian not by an elucidation of the object by arguments but by the elevation of the faculty or by anointing the eyes with eye-salve and curing its infirmity To which the second may be added viz That the Spirit of God brings his word and the characters of its Divinity impress'd upon it nearer unto us and writes it in the heart according to Gods promise to that purpose and so we see the object better by reason of its approximation to us Or as it is with a Philosopher when he reads a book written in the defence of some Position as suppose the doctrine of the circulation of the Bloud possibly his mind may be discomposed and his braines by reason of some peccant humor much distemper'd and in this case he reads the book but is not at all satisfied by it afterwards Physical means are applyed whereby the brain is restored to its native constitution and purged from those distempers whereby it was clouded now he returns to the book again and reads it over anew and yields himselve captive to the opinion You see here is no change of the old arguments nor any addition of new ones onely the impediments which were in the faculty or the organ are removed Just so it is in the matter now in controversy The Spirit of God doth not prove the Scripture to me by arguments which I never had before but by the illumination of my mind to apprehend the arguments which I did not apprehend before It is with men as it was with Hagar Gen. 21. there was a Well of water but she saw it not till God open'd her eyes vers 19. There is a self-evidencing light in the Scriptures onely the Spirit of God cures that blindness of mind whereby the Devil hindred the world from discerning it Thus the Spirit convinced the Jews of the Truth of the Gospel by removing the vaile which was upon their hearts in the reading of Moses 2 Cor. 3.15 16. And so God convinced his elect among the Heathens not by discovering any more arguments to them then he did to the reprobates among them for the same doctrine and arguments were preached to both alike but by opening their eyes to see what others saw not Act. 26.18 and by opening their hearts to receive what others would not receive as Act. 16.14 To conclude forasmuch as the testimony of the Spirit is not the Argument for which but onely the Instrument by which they believe and on the contrary the Testimony of Scripture is the proper argument for which they believe it is most evident that they work in several capacities and so we are fully discharged from that Circle which they causlesly charge us with and notwithstanding this objection the foundation of our Faith standeth sure This is the first particular § 13. The other particular concernes the Popish foundation for some of the Romanists finding themselves so wofully intangled in the business of Infallibility are grown sick of the notion Cressy the English Apostate in his Exomologesis confesseth That Infallibility is an unfortunate word combated by Mr. Chillingworth with too too great success that he could wish the word were forgotten or at least laid by these therefore tell us that if the Infallibility of the Church be denied yet a Papist hath sufficient ground for his Faith in the Churches authority in which he is obliged to acquiesce and whom he must hear in all things and this way some others go This I thought fit to mention that the world may see the complexion of a Romish conscience and the desperate shifts which the wretchednesse of their cause forceth them to But because the absurdity of this new fancy doth suâ luce constare I shall dismiss it with two remarks upon it 1. That it is disclaimed by the Romish Church and it were a frivolous thing to concern our selves in refuting all the wild fancies of their particular Doctors It is true Cressy saith No such word as Infallibility is to be found in â—ny Councel the good man had forgot the definition of the Councel of Basil wherein they call it a pernitious error to say that a Councel can erre the passage I cited before or else he meant to be witty for it is very true that non potest errare is not the same word with Infallibility though it be the same thing Nor do the Papists onely assert the Infallibility of their Church but generally acknowledge That without this their Faith would have no solid Foundation nor their Religion any certainty I shall not multiply instances in so known a thing you have many instances in one in that forementioned passage of the Councel of Basil That if once that pernitious error were admitted that general Councels may erre the whole Catholick Faith would tâ—tter And Bellarmine in a fore-quoted passage confesseth That it is a most unreasonable thing to require Christians to be finally subject to the judgment of that Church which is liable to error And therefore I need not cast away pretious time in confuting those particular fancies of some private Doctors which are directly repugnant unto the confessed opinion of the Pope and the Decree of a general Councel 2. This is so far from mending the matter that it makes it far worse for he that saith I am bound to believe the Church in all things because she is infallible in all things speaks that which is coherent in it self and the consequence is agreeable to reason the onely fault lies in the Antecedent But he that saith I am bound to believe the Church in all things though she may erre in many things and none knows how many throws himself and me upon such desperate Rocks as none but a mad-man would run upon When Bellarmine delivers that desperate doctrine That if the Pope should command us to sin we are bound to obey him and when others have said That if the Pope should lead thousands to Hell we must not reprove him their followers mollifie the harshnesse of those assertions with this favourable construction That the Propositions are onely Hypothetical depending upon such conditions as by reason of the promise of Infallibility can never be fulfilled for say they the Pope cannot command sin and cannot lead men to Hell and this if true were a plausible evasion But to tell me that if the Pope or Church may erre yet I am bound to believe obey them in all things this is to make that my