they are we can never be certain whether any one Church in the World doth profess 'em or no for how can we know whether or no a Church professes we know not what And unless we certainly know that these Principles are true we can never be certain whether that be a true Church which professes 'em for seeing it is the profession of the true Principles of Religion that makes a true Church it is impossible for us to know whether any Church be a true Church till we know whether the Principles it professes are true So that before a Man can be secure that he hath found the true Church by this Note he must be certain either that every thing it professes is true or at least that the main and fundamental Principles of its Profession are true Neither of which he can be certain of according to the Principles of the Church of Rome For First She decries Mens private Judgment of Discretion as utterly insufficient to make any certain distinction of Truth from Falshood in matters of Religion Secondly She allows no sufficient Rule without the true Church to guide and direct our private Judgment of Discretion Thirdly She resolves all Certainty as to matters of Faith into the Authority of the true Church Fourthly She authorizes the true Church to impose upon us an absolute necessity of believing such Things as before were not necessary to be believed First The Church of Rome decries Men's private Judgment of Discretion as utterly insufficient to make any certain distinction of Truth from Falshood in matters of Religion Seeing we are to seek the true Church by Notes our certainty that we have found it must wholly depend upon our certainty that we have found in it the Notes of the true Church but tho there is no one thing in the World of which we are more concerned to be certain than that we have found the true Church and are in Communion with it because no less than our Eternal Salvation depends upon it yet it is only our own private Judgment of Discretion that by applying the Notes of the true Church can ascertain us in this Point For while we are in quest of the true Church we have no other way to find it but by carrying the Notes of it along with us and by examining and judging by our own private Discretion which Church these Notes do belong to either our private Discretion is sufficient to assertain us in this Matter or it is not if it be not we can never be certain which is the true Church if it be it must be sufficient to assertain us in all other necessary Points of Religion because one of the Notes by which we are to seek the true Church and that a principal one too is Sanctity of Doctrine or an unerring profession of the true Religion at least in all necessary points But before we can be certain which Church this Note belongs to we must be throughly satisfied in our own private Discretion what this unerring Profession is which we can never be till we are certain of the Truth of all the Particulars of it and when we are certain of this we are certain at least as to all necessary points of true Religion which must all be included in every unerring Profession of it So that before we can be certain of any Church that it is the true Church we must be certain that it doth not err in its profession and before we can be certain of this we must be certain of the Truth of all those particular Doctrines whereof its Profession is composed and of this we have as yet no other way to be certain but only by our own private Judgment of Discretion because till we have found the true Church its impossible we should conduct our selves by its Authority and in the absence of the true Churches Authority we have nothing to conduct us but our own private Discretion either this our private Discretion therefore is sufficient to assertain us of the Truth of all the particular Doctrines whereof an unerring Profession of Religion is composed or it is not if it be it must be sufficient to assertain us as to all necessary points of Religion if it be not as the Church of Rome affirms it is not it is impossible we should ever be certain that we have found the true Church again either therefore the Church of Rome must allow that certainty in all at least in all necessary Points of Religion is attainable by the free and honest use of our own private Judgment of Discretion which as I shall shew by and by she can never allow without undermining her own Foundations or she must leave Men hovering in eternal Uncertainty as to one of the most necessary Points of Religion viz. which is the true Church Secondly The Church of Rome allows no sufficient Rule without the true Church to guide and direct our private Judgment of Discretion Seeing the Constitution of the true Church is not natural but entirely founded upon Divine Institution this Question Which is the true Church is not to be resolved by Principles of Nature but by Principles of Revelation and therefore without some revealed Rule which is every way sufficient to guide and direct our private Discretion we shall never be able to find out which is the true Church because without such a Rule we have nothing but the Principles of Nature to go by which in this Enquiry are utterly insufficient to direct us But while we are out of the Church we have no other revealed Rule to direct us in our Enquiry after it but only that of Scripture for as for Tradition the Church of Rome teaches that the true Church is the sole Conservator of it and that tho it be a part of Divine Revelation yet no Man is obliged any farther to believe it than the true Church hath defined and declared it And seeing I can have ho certainty what is a true Tradition till such time as I am got into the true Church How can Tradition be a Rule of Faith to me while I am out of it Or How can that be the Rule of my Faith whilst I am in quest of the true Church which I have no other Obligation to believe but only the true Churches Authority Whilst therefore I am out of the true Church the only Rule I have to go by in my Enquiries after it is Scripture And this the Church of Rome tells me is insufficient both because it is not full enough and because it is not clear enough Which if true I can never be certain I have found the true Church by this Note of an unerring Profession 1st She teaches that the Scripture is not full enough as not containing in it all necessary Doctrines of Faith and Manners but that there are certain unwritten Traditions in the Church of equal Authority with it by which its defects are supplied And if so How is it possible I
should find the true Church by the direction of Scripture For since according to this Note that can be no true Church which doth not unerringly profess all necessary Doctrines of Faith and Manners when I have found a Church which professes all such necessary Doctrines as are in Scripture I cannot be secure that it is a true Church supposing there are other necessary Doctrines out of Scripture viz. in the unwritten Traditions because then the profession of these will be altogether as necessary to its being a true Church as the profession of those All that the Scripture can satisfy me in is only this whether such a Church profess all the necessary Doctrines in Scripture but if there are any necessary Doctrines out of Scripture it 's certain that the profession of them is as necessary to the being of the true Church as the profession of those that are in it And therefore before I can be certain that it is the true Church I must be fully satisfied that it professeth both which I can never be unless I have some other Rule to go by besides this of Scripture 2dly The Church of Rome teaches that the Scripture is no sufficient Rule in respect of clearness the Sense of it being so obscurely exprest that we can never be certain what it is without the Interpretation of the true Church Which if true it 's utterly impossible for one who is out of the true Church ever to find it by the direction of Scripture For according to this Note that only is the true Church which doth not err in its Profession at least in any necessary Point either as to Doctrines of Faith or Doctrines of Manners But before I can know whether any Church doth not err in its Profession I must be certainly informed what the true Profession is or what are those Doctrines of Faith and Manners of which this true Profession consists as to which the Scripture can never certainly inform me if it be not sufficiently clear For if I can never be certain what the true sense of Scripture is without the Interpretation of the true Church How is it possible that while I am out of the true Church I should ever be certain of its Sense as to all the particular Doctrines which the true Profession of Religion contains So that according to this Principle the Scripture is so far from being a sufficient Rule to one that is out of the true Church that it is perfectly useless to him in his Enquiry after it for either it can certainly direct him to the true Church or it cannot if it can it must be sufficiently clear to inform him of its own Sense without the Interpretation of the true Church concerning all those Doctrines of Faith and Manners whereof the unerring Profession of the true Church is composed and if so this Principle of the Roman Church is erroneous if it be not to what purpose doth it serve unless it be to lead him into an endless Maze of Uncertainties wherein the further he wanders the more he will lose himself So that if a Man hath had the misfortune to be born and bred out of the true Church in an Heretical or Schismatical Communion and is enquiring his way in by this Note of an unerring Profession he hath no other Rule to instruct and inform him what this unerring Profession is but only that of Scripture which according to the Principles of the Church of Rome is insufficient for his Purpose How then is it possible he should ever be certain that he hath found the true Church when the only Rule he hath whereby to enquire what that unerring Profession is whereby he is to seek it is utterly insufficient to resolve him Thirdly The Church of Rome resolves all Certainty as to matters of Faith into the Authority of the true Church and indeed this is the fundamental Principle of Popery viz. That the only ground of Certainty as to matters of Faith is the Authority of the present true Church teaching and proposing ' em Till such time therefore as we have found the true Church and do believe upon the Authority of its teaching we can never have any true Certainty of the matters which we are to believe And yet before we can be certain that we have found the true Church by this Note of an unerring Profession we must have very good certainty as to all matters of Faith for we can never be certain upon the Authority of any Church that what we believe is true till such time as we are certain that it is the true Church nor can we ever be certain that it is the true Church until we are certain that it doth not err in its Profession or which is the same thing that all the matters of Faith which it teaches and professes are true So that the certainty of our Faith after we have found the true Church and do believe upon its Authority must depend upon the certainty of our Faith while we were seeking it and did believe without its Authority Because before we can believe with any certainty upon the Authority of any Church we must be certain that it is the true Church but we can never be certain that it is the true Church till we are first certain that its Profession is true as to all the matters of Faith contained in it To make the matter more plain I will briefly represent it in a short Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist Protest You tell me I can never be certain as to matters of Faith unless I believe upon the Authority of the true Church Pap. I do so and upon the Truth of this Proposition all my Religion is founded Protest But I beseech you May I be certain as to matters of Faith if I believe upon the Authority of any Church tho I am not certain whether it be the true Church or no Pap. To what Purpose do you ask this Question Protest Because if I may then in believing upon the Authority of the Church of England which you say is a false Church I shall be as certain as to matters of Faith as you who believe on the Authority of the Church of Rome which you say is the only true Church Pap. Why then I tell you you can never be certain as to matters of Faith in believing upon the Authority of any Church unless you are certain it is the true Church upon whose Authority you believe ' em Protest Why so Pap. Because it is not the Authority of a Church merely that is the true ground of Certainty but the Authority of the true Church otherwise the Authority of all Churches true or false would be equally a true ground of Certainty And therefore you can never be certain that the Authority of that Church upon which you believe is a true ground of Certainty unless you are first certain that it is the true Church Protest I do allow your Reason But then pray
how shall I be certain that it is the true Church Pap. Why this you must examine by certain Notes of the true Church whereof one and that a principal one is Sanctity of Doctrine or an unerring Profession of the true Religion Protest But Good Sir can I not be certain that it is the true Church till I am first certain that it doth not err in its Profession Pap. No. Protest Why then I must be certain of the Truth of all those matters of Faith whereof its Profession consists before I can be certain that it is the true Church Pap. You must so Protest But pray how shall I If that be true which you told me just now viz. That there is no true ground of Certainty but the Authority of the true Church For how is it possible I should ever be truly certain when as yet I know no true ground of Certainty Pap. Why have you not the Authority of the true Church Protest But as yet I am not certain that the Church upon whose Authority you would have me believe is the true Church and till I am certain of this with what Certainty can I depend upon her Authority Would you have me be certain that whatsoever she professes is true upon her own bare Word and Authority before I am certain that she is the true Church If so why may I not as well believe any other Church to be the true Church seeing there is no other Church but what will pass its Word for the Truth of its own Profession as well as yours If not you must allow me to have some other ground of Certainty as to Matters of Faith besides the Authority of the true Church For before I can securely rely upon the Authority of any Church as the true ground of Certainty I must be certain that it is the true Church and my Certainty that she is the true Church must depend upon my Certainty of the Truth of all those Matters of Faith comprised in her Profession So that before I am certain of the Truth of her Profession it is too soon for me to rely upon her Authority as the only ground of Certainty and when I am certain of it it is too late because I am certain already Fourthly And Lastly The Church of Rome gives Authority to the true Church to impose upon Mens Minds a necessity of believing such things as before they were not obliged to believe For she makes the Church's Authority not only a concurrent motive of Faith but the very formal reason of it so that we are not only obliged to believe what the Church declares but we are therefore obliged to believe it because she declares it 'T is true some of the Roman Doctors tell us that the Church hath no power to make new Articles of Faith but only that seeing there some old Truths in Scripture and the unwritten Tradition of the Church which the Church hath not yet declared and which therefore Men are not yet obliged to believe the Church hath Authority when ever she thinks meet to declare 'em and thereby to oblige Men under pain of Damnation to believe 'em but others of 'em and particularly Cardinal Bellarmin de Potest Sum. Pontif. tell us That the Church of later Time not only hath power to explain and declare but also to Constitute and Command those Things which belong to Faith. And indeed the difference between declaring and constituting or making an Article of Faith is only Verbal For an Article of Faith is a Truth that is necessary to be believed And therefore if the Church by declaring a Truth which was not necessary to be believed makes it necessary to be believed it thereby makes that Truth an Article of Faith which was not an Article of Faith. And so to declare and to make is the very same thing But in this they are all agreed that the true Church hath power to make those things necessary to be believed which were not so before And if this be true no Man can ever be certain by this Note of an unerring Profession that he hath found the true Church For before I can be certain of any Church as for instance the Roman that it is the true Church I must be certain that that Church's Profession is true but when I proceed to examine the particular Articles of it as I must do before I can be certain of the Truth of the whole I shall find there are several of them of the Truth of which in the opinion of several even of her own Doctors I have no sufficient ground to be certain either in Scripture or Tradition which while I am seeking the true Church are the only Rule I have whereby to examine them as particularly Transubstantiation Seven Sacraments Necessity of Auricular Confession Roman Purgatory and Indulgences Vid. Note the Sixth pag. 125. c. And if these Roman Doctors pretend to be certain of them upon no other Reason but because their Church which they are sure is the true Church hath declared them How shall I be certain of them who am but an Enquirer whether it be the true Church or no And therefore as yet cannot be supposed to be sure that it is for without her Declaration they themselves confess I have no sufficient ground to be certain of the Truth of them And till I am sure she is the true Church her Declarations are no ground of Certainty to me And as I cannot be certain that these Articles are true till I am sure that the Church which declare them is the true Church so supposing that the true Church hath power to impose upon me a necessity of believing such Things as before I was not obliged to believe I cannot be certain that they are false because no Authority can be supposed to have a right to impose upon Men such a necessity of believing but what is infallible and cannot impose what is false on them unless it be supposed that Men may be rightfully obliged to believe what is false If therefore the Roman Church be the true Church as for all I yet know it may then for all I yet know it hath Authority from God to impose upon me a necessity of believing whatever she declares and consequently for all I yet know she is Infallible But as for my self I know that I am a fallible Creature and therefore whatsoever Infallibility declares to me must certainly be true whatsoever Probabilities yea or seeming Demonstrations I may have against it how then can I be certain that any Article is false which is declared to me by a Church that for all I yet know is Infallible if it be Infallible I am sure that whatever it declares is true And if it be the true Church it must be Infallible Supposing that the true Church hath Authority to impose new Necessities of believing but whether it be the true Church or no is the Thing I am now enquiring by this Note of
THE NOTES OF The Church As Laid down By Cardinal BELLARMIN Examined and Confuted With a Table of the Contents IMPRIMATUR Apr. 6. 1687. Guil. Needham LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVIII THE SEVERAL TRACTS Contained IN THIS VOLUME 1. A Brief Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church with some Reflections on Cardinal BELLARMIN's Notes 2. An Examination of Note concerning BELLARMIN's First The Name of Catholick 3. His Second Note Antiquity 4. His Third Note Duration 5. His Fourth Note Amplitude or Multitude and Variety of Believers 6. His Fifth Note The Succession of Bishops 7. His Sixth Note Agreement in Doctrine with the Primitive Church 8. His Seventh Note Vnion of the Members among themselves and with the Head. 9. His Eighth Note Sanctity of Doctrine 10. His Ninth Note Efficacy of the Doctrine 11. His Tenth Note Holiness of Life 12. His Eleventh Note The Glory of Miracles 13. His Twelfth Note The Light of Prophecy 14. His Thirteenth Note Confession of Adversaries 15. His Fourteenth Note The Vnhappy End of the Church's Enemies 16. His Fifteenth Note Temporal Felicity 17. A Vindication of the Brief Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Vse and great Moment of the Notes of the Church as delivered by Cardinal Bellarmin de Notis Ecclesiae Justified 18. A Defence of the Confuter of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church Antiquity against the Cavils of the Adviser 19. A TABLE of the Contents THE CONTENTS Of the following NOTES The INTRODUCTION to the Notes of the Church THE Visibility of the Catholick Church takes away the Necessity of finding out Notes to distinguish it by especially of such Notes as are matter of Dispute themselves p. 3. The Vse of Notes of find out an Infallible Church and these appropriated by the Cardinal to the Church of Rome only p. 4. What Protestants intend in those Notes they give of the true Church and what the Papists by their Notes of a Church p. 5. The Protestant Way of finding out the Church by the essential Properties of a true Church p. 6. Three things objected to this by the Cardinal and Answers returned p. 7 8 9 10 11 12. The Cardinal's Way considered and examined 1st To find out which is the True Church before we know what a True Church is p. 13. Two Enquiries in order of Nature before which is the True Church whether there be a True Church or not and what it is ibid. No Notes of these but such as they dare not give viz. the Authority of the Scriptures and every Man 's private Judgment of the Sense and Interpretation of them p. 14. 2ly She gives us Notes whereby to find out the True Catholick Church before we know what a particular Church is p. 15. Impossible to know what the Catholick Church is before we know what a particular Church is ibid. No other Notes of a True Church but what belongs to every True particular Church and that can be nothing but what is essential to a Church and what all Churches do agree in viz the true Faith and Worship of Christ p. 16. The 6th which is the same with the 2d and the 8th are the chief if not the only Notes of this Nature and here our Claim is as good if not better than theirs ibid. His 9th 10th 11th and 12th not properly Notes of a True Church any otherwise than as they are Testimonies of the common Christianity which is professed by all true Churches ibid. The 13th 14th 15th no Notes at all because they are not always true ibid. His 3d and 4th Notes are not Notes of a Church but only God's Promises made to his Church p. 17. His 1st Note doth not declare what a Church is but in what Communion it is and is no Note of a true Church unless it be frrst proved that they are true Churches which are in Communion with each other ibid. His 5th common to the Greek and any other Church who have Bishops in Succession from the Apostles or Apostolical Bishops p. 18. The 7th Note serves to purpose the Cardinal's Design and doth his Business without any other Note ibid. 3dly Another Mystery in forming these Notes is to pick out of all the Christian Churches in the World one Church which we must own for the Catholick Church and reject all others as Heretical or Schismatical or Vncatholick Churches who refuse Obedience and Subjection to this one Catholick Church p. 19. That there is but one True Church in the World and that the Catholick Church doth not signify all the particular True Churches but some one Church which all others are bound to submit to and communicate with if they will be Members of the Catholick Church this necessary to be proved before the Cardinal had given us these Notes of a Church p. 20 21. 4thly Another Design in making these Notes is to find out such a Church on whose Authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith even for the Holy Scriptures themselves p. 22. But here we must first be satisfied that the True Church is Infallible this can never be proved but by Scripture which a Man must first believe before it can be proved to him that there is an Infallible Church p. 23. The Church is not the first Object of our Faith in Religion since we ought to know and believe most of the Articles of the Christian Faith before we can know whether there be any Church or no. p. 23 24. The Contents of the First NOTE CATHOLICK THE sincere Preaching of the Faith or Doctrine of Christ as it is laid down in the Scripture is the only sure and infallible Mark of the Church of Christ p. 25. The Church of Rome declines being examined by this Rule p. 26. Bellarmin's Argument for the Name Catholick being an undoubted true Mark of a True Church p. 26. The Weakness of the Cardinal's Argument exposed in three Particulars I. In what respect the Name Catholick was esteemed by some of the Fathers in their Time a Note of a Catholick Church and in what respects 't will ever be a standing Note of it p. 27. This shewn to be upon the account of the Catholick Faith and therefore in their time is joined with the Word Catholick p. 28. What the Catholick Faith and why called Catholick ibid. None in the first Ages of Christianity went by the Name of Catholick but those who profest the true Catholick Faith. p. 29. II. No Argument can be drawn from the bare Name of Catholick to prove a Church to be Catholick p. 29. I. The Christian Church was not known by the Name Catholick at the Beginning though of an antient and early Date and therefore no essential Note of it p. 30. 2. Names are oft times arbitrary and at random and falsly imposed on things and therefore nothing can be concluded from them ibid. 3. Names are oft times imposed on
of Corinth denying the Resurrection and the Galatians warping towards Judaism and the Church of Corinth being guilty of great miscarriages in receiving the Lords-Supper and yet were owned for true Churches by the Apostles An argument which much became the Cardinal to use it being the best evidence I know of for the Church of Rome being a true Church that every corruption in Faith and Sacraments do not Unchurch but how this proves that true Faith and true Sacraments are not an essential note and character of a true Church I cannot guess I would desire any one to tell me for him whether a corrupt Faith and false Sacraments be the Notes of a true Church or whether it be no matter as to the nature of a Church what our Faith and Sacraments are Secondly Let us now consider the Cardinal's way by some certain marks and notes to find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is To pick out of all the Churches in the World one Church which we must own for the only true Church and reject all other Churches which do not subject themselves to this one Church To find out such a Church on whose authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith and in whose Communion only pardon of sin is to be had That this is the use of Notes in the Church of Rome I have already shewn you and truly they are very pretty things to be proved by Notes as to consider them particularly 1. To find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is This methinks is not a natural way of inquiry but is like seeking for we know not what There are two inquiries in order of nature before which is the true Church viz. Whether there be a true Church or not and what it is The first of these the Cardinal takes for granted that there is a Church but I wont take it for granted but desire these Note-makers to give me some Notes to prove that there is a Church There is indeed a great deal of talk and noise in the World about a Church but that is no proof that there is a Church and yet it is not a self-evident proposition that there is a Church and therefore it must be proved Now that there is a Church must be proved by Notes as well as which is this true Church or else the whole design of Notes is lost and I would gladly see those Notes which prove that there is a Church before we know what a Church is To understand the mystery of this we must briefly consider the reason and use of Notes in the Church of Rome according to the Popish resolution of Faith into the authority of the Church the first thing we must know is which is the True Church for we must receive the Scriptures and the Interpretation of them and the whole Christian Faith and Worship from the Church and therefore can know nothing of Religion till we have found the Church The use then of Notes is to find out the Church before and without the Scriptures for if they admit of a Scripture-proof they must allow that we can know and understand the Scriptures without the authority or interpretation of the Church which undermines the very foundation of Popery Now I first desire to know how they will prove That there is a Church without the Scripture That you 'l say is visible it self for we see a Christian Church in the World but what is it I see I see a company of men who call themselves a Church and this is all that I can see and is this seeing a Church A Church must have a Divine Original and Institution and therefore there is no seeing a Church without seeing its Character for there can be no other Note or Mark of the being of a Church but the Institution of it And this proves that we cannot know that there is a Church without knowing in some measure what this Church is for the Charter which founds the Church must declare the Nature and Constitution of it what its Faith and Worship and Laws and Priviledges are But now these essential Characters of a Church must not be reckoned by the Romanists among the Notes of a Church for then we must find out the true Church by the true Faith and the true Worship not the true Faith by the true Church which destroys Popery Hence it is that these Note-makers never attempt to give us any Notes whereby we shall know that there is a Church or what this Church is for there are no Notes of these but such as they dare not give viz. The Authority of the Scriptures and every mans private judgment of the Sense and Interpretation of them for at least till we have found a Church we must judg for our selves and then the Authority of the Church comes too late for we must first judg upon the whole of Religion if we must find out a true Church by the true Faith before we can know the true Church and we cannot rely on her Authority before we know her and therefore they take it for granted that there is a Church which they can never prove in their way and attempt to give some Notes whereby to know which is the Church and then learn what the Church is from the Church her self which is like giving marks whereby to know an Unicorn before I know whether there be an Unicorn or not or what it is 2. Another blunder in this Dispute about Notes is That they give us Notes whereby to find out the true Catholick Church before we know what a particular Church is For all Bellarmin's Notes are intended only for the Catholick Church and therefore his first Note is the name Catholick whereas the Catholick Church is nothing else but all true Christian Churches in the World united together by one common Faith and Worship and such acts of Communion as distinct Churches are capable of and obliged to Every particular Church which professes the true Faith and Worship of Christ is a true Christian Church and the Catholick Church is all the true Christian Churches in the World which have all the same Nature and are in some sense of the same Communion So that it is impossible to know what the Catholick Church is before we know what a particular Church is as it is to know what the Sea is before we know what Water is Every true single particular Church has the whole and intire nature of a Church and would be a true Church though there were no other Church in the World as the Christian Church at Jerusalem was before any other Christian Churches were planted and therefore there can be no other Notes of a True Church but what belong to every true particular Church and that can be nothing but what is essential to a Church and what all true Christian Churches in the World agree in viz. The True Faith and Worship
of Christ Now so far as Bellarmin's Notes belong to every true particular Church so far we allow them and let the Church of Rome make the best of them She can for we doubt not to make our claim to them as good and much better than hers but he has named very few such the 6th the Agreement and Consent in Doctrine with the Ancient and Apostolick Church and the 8th the Holiness of its Doctrine are the cheif if not the only Notes of this nature and these we will stand and fall by many of his other are not properly the Notes of a true Church any otherwise than as they are Testimonies of the truth of common Christianity which is professed by all true Churches and if they are Notes of the Church so every true particular Church has a share in them Such as his 9th the efficacy of Doctrine The 10th the Holiness of the lives of the first Authors and Fathers of our Religion and I suppose the Holiness of Christ and his Apostles give Testimony to the truth of common Christianity and therefore to all Churches who profess the common Faith once delivered to the Saints The 11th the Glory of Miracles which also proves the truth of Christian Religion and I hope a little better than Popish Miracles do Transubstantiation The 12th is the Spirit of Prophesy which as far as it is a good Note belongs to the Religion not to the Church Other Notes he assigns which I doubt will prove no Notes at all as 13 14 15. because they are not always true and at best uncertain His third and fourth Notes are not Notes of a Church but God's Promises made to his Church as of a long Duration that it shall never fail and Amplitude or Extent and multitude of Believers These Promises we believe God will fulfil to his Church but they can be no Notes which is the true Church For the first of these can never be a Note till the day of Judgment That Church which shall never be destroyed is the true Church but a bare long continuance is no Mark of a true Church for an Apostatical Church may continue by the patience and forbearance of God many hundred Years and be destroyed at last and then this Argument of a long Duration is confuted And as for Amplitude and Extent that is not to distinguish one Christian Church from another that the most numerous Church should be the truest but to distinguish the Christian Church from all other Religions and then I doubt this Prophecy has not received its just Accomplishment yet for tho we take in all the Christian Churches in the World and not exclude the greatest part of them as the Church of Rome does yet they bear but a small proportion to the rest of the World. And now there are but three of his fifteen Notes of the Church left The first concerning the Name Catholick which makes every Church a Catholick Church which will call it self so Tho Catholick does not declare what a Church is but in what Communion it is and is no Note of a true Church unless it be first proved that they are true Churches which are in Communion with each other For if three parts in four of all the Churches in the World were very corrupt and degenerate in Faith and Worship and were in one Communion this would be the most Catholick Communion as Catholick signifies the most general and universal but yet the fourth part which is sincere would be the best and truest Church and the Catholick Church as that signifies the Communion of all Orthodox and Pure Churches His first Note is the Succession of Bishops in the Church of Rome from the Apostles till now This is a Note of the Roman Church and the Succession of Bishops in the Greek Church is as good a Note of the Greek Church And any Churches which have been later planted who have Bishops in Succession from any of the Apostles or Apostolical Bishops by this Note are as good Churches as they So that this is a Note common to all true Churches and therefore can do the Church of Rome no Service His seventh Note indeed is home to his purpose That that is the only true Church which is united to the Bishop of Rome as to its Head. If he could prove this it must do his business without any other Notes but that will be examined hereafter But it is like the Confidence of a Jesuit to make that the Note of the Church which is the chief Subject of the Dispute The Sum is this There can be no Notes of a true Church but what belong to all true Churches for tho there is but one Catholick Church yet there are a great many true particular Churches which make up this Catholick Church as homogeneal Parts which have all the same Nature But now very few of the Cardinal's Notes belong to all true Churches and those which do so signifie nothing to his purpose because they are common to more Churches than the Church of Rome And as for the Catholick Church that is known only by particular Churches for it is nothing else but the Union of all true Churches in Faith and Worship and one Communion as far as distinct Churches at a great distance from each other are capable of it And therefore there is no other way to know which is the Catholick Church but by knowing all the true Churches in the World which either are in actual Communion with one another or are in a Disposition for it whenever occasion is offered For it is impossible that all true Christian Churches all the World over should ever joyn in any visible and external Acts of Communion and therefore tho we know and believe that there is a Catholick Church because we are assured that all true Churches in the World are but one Church the one Body and Spouse of Christ yet it is next to impossible to know all the Parts of the Catholick Church without which we cannot know the whole Catholick Church because we cannot know all the particular true Churches all the World over Nor indeed is there any need we should For we may certainly know which is a truly Catholick Church without knowing the whole Catholick Church For every Church which professes the true Catholick Faith and imposes only Catholick Terms of Communion and is ready out of the Principles of Brotherly Love and Charity that cement of Catholick Communion to communicate with all Churches and to receive all Churches to her Communion upon these Terms is a truly Catholick Church which shews how ridiculous it is to make the Catholick Church our first Inquiry and to pretend to give Notes to find out the true Catholick Church by before we know what a true Particular Church is But the Mystery of this will appear more in what follows 3dly For another Mystery of finding the true Church by Notes is to pick out of all the Christian Churches in the World
one Church which we must own for the only Catholick Church and reject all other Churches as Heretical or Schismatical or Un-catholick Churches who refuse Obedience and Subjection to this One Catholick Church For if this be not the Intent of it what will all the Notes of the Church signify to prove that the Church of Rome is the only true Catholick Church And if they do not prove this the Cardinal has lost his labour For tho the Notes he assigns were the Notes of a true Church yet they may and must belong to all other true Churches as well as to the Church of Rome unless he can prove that there is but One true Church or but One Church which is the Mistress of all other Churches and the only Principle and Center of Catholick Unity And this ought to have been proved first before he had thought of the Notes of the Church So that there are many things to be proved here before we are ready for the Notes of the Church They must first prove that there is but one true Church in the World for tho we all grant that there is but One Catholick Church yet we say there may be and hope nay more than so know that there are many true Churches which make up the Catholick Church Yet before the Notes of a true Church can do any Service to the Church of Rome they must prove that there is but one true Church in the World and then it will signify something to prove the Church of Rome to be that true Church They must prove also that the Catholick Church does not signify all the particular true Churches that are in the World but some one Church which is the Fountain of Catholick Unity which all other Churches are bound to submit to and communicate with if they will be Members of the Catholick Church For tho all the Churches in the World were in Subjection to that Church yet they receive their Catholicism from their Communion with that Church and therefore that only is the Catholick Church It is not meerly the Communion of all Churches together which makes the Catholick Church but it is the Subjection of all Churches to that one Catholick Church which makes them Catholick So that they must prove that there is one particular Church which is the Catholick Church that is that a part is the whole that one particular Church is all the Churches of the World for so the Catholick Church signifies in Ancient Writers This is so absurd that some of our Modern Advocates for the Catholick Church of Rome tell us that they do not mean the particular Diocess of Rome by the Catholick Church but all those Churches which are in Communion with the Church of Rome But suppose this yet it is only the Church of Rome which makes all the other Churches Catholick and therefore she only is the Catholick Church And I will presently make them confess it to be so For let us suppose that no other Churches should submit themselves to the Church of Rome by the Church of Rome understanding the particular Diocess of Rome would she be the Catholick Church or not If notwithstanding this she would be the Catholick Church then it is evident that they make the particular Church of Rome the Catholick Church if she would not then I cannot see how Communion with the Church of Rome is essential to the Catholick Church These things I say ought to have been proved before the Cardinal had given us the Notes of the Church for it is a hard thing to prove by Notes that the particular Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church till it be proved that a particular Church may be the Catholick Church or that there is one particular Church which is the Catholick Church This he knew we all deny and it is a ridiculous thing to think to convince us by Notes that the Church of Rome is the particular Catholick Church when we deny that there is any such Church and affirm that it is a Contradiction to own it as great a Contradiction as it is to say that a Particular Church is the Universal Church 4thly But when I consider the farther Design of these Note-Makers to find out such a Church on whose Authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith even for the holy Scriptures themselves it makes me now admire that they should think this could be done by some Notes of a Church especially by such Notes as the Cardinal gives us For suppose he had given us the Notes of a true Church which is the utmost he can pretend to before we can hence conclude that this Church is the Infallible Guide and uncontroulable Judg of Controversies we must be satisfied that the true Church is Infallible This indeed Bellarmin attempts to prove in his third Book of the Church and it is not my Concern at present to inquire how he proves it But I am sure this can never be proved but by Scripture for unless Christ have bestowed Infallibility on the Church I know not how we can prove she has it and whether Christ have done it or not can never be known but by the Scriptures So that a Man must believe the Scriptures and use his own Judgment to understand them before it can be proved to him that there is an Infallible Church and therefore those who resolve the belief of the Scriptures into the Authority of the Church cannot without great Impudence urge the Authority of the Scriptures to prove the Church's Infallibility and yet thus they all do nay prove their very Notes of the Church from Scripture as the Cardinal does and think this is no Circle neither because we Hereticks believe the Scriptures without the Authority of their Church and therefore are willing to dispute with them out of the Scriptures But this is a fault on our side and when we dispute with them whatever we do at other times we should not believe the Scriptures till they had proved them to us their way by the Authority or their Church and then we should quickly see what blessed Work they would make of it How they would prove their Church's Infallibility and what fine Notes we should have of a Church when we had rejected all their Scripture-proofs as we ought to do till they have first satisfied us that theirs is the only true Infallible Church upon whose Authority we must believe the Scriptures and every thing else I confess I would gladly hear what Notes they would give a Pagan to find out the true Infallible Church by It is certainly a most sensless thing to resolve all our Faith into the Authority of the Church as if the Church were the first Object or our Faith in Religion whereas it is demonstrable that we must know and believe most of the Articles of the Christian Faith before we can know whether there be any Church or not The order observed in the Apostles Creed is a plain Evidence
Reform'd They call us the Reformed therefore we are Reformed is as good an Argument as we call them Catholicks therefore they are Catholicks In this Sense are those Words of St. Austin cited by Bellarmine Contr. Epist Fundam c. 4. to be understood That should a Stranger happen in any City to enquire even of an Heretick where he might go to a Catholick Church the Heretick would not dare to send him to his own House or Oratory Not that that Heretick did believe that those that there were call'd Catholicks did hold the true Catholick Doctrine for then he could not have believ'd his own but looking upon it as a bare name of Distinction he directed him to that Assembly of Christians that were so called St. Austin seems here to suppose a Case as if a Traveller entring into a City where both Popish and Reform'd Churches were allowed and should chance to meet a Protestant and of him enquire the way to a Catholick Church and he direct him to a Popish one or a Papist and of him enquire the way to a Reform'd Church and he direct him to a Protestant one It would not therefore follow that either the one or the other did believe either Church to answer and correspond with its Name that the Popish was Catholick or the Protestant Reformed but that they were Words of vulgar use whereby they might be known from one another but not the true Church from the false IIII. It does not follow that because the Name of Catholick in that time when it was for the most part in conjunction with the Catholick Faith was a sure Note of a true Church it must always be so even when the Name and Thing are parted It was not long before the Christian Church became miserably torn and rent asunder divided into many and some very great Bodies all pretending to Catholicism By what Mark now is the Catholick Church to be known Not by the Name surely when all Parties laid claim to it and the grossest Hereticks such as the Manichaeans themselves as St. Austin tells us who had the least to shew for it coveted and gloried in it Have never any Hereticks or Scismaticks been styled Catholicks Nor ever any Orthodox styl'd Hereticks The Greek Church is call'd Catholick and yet the Church of Rome will have her an Heretical one The Donatists appropriated to themselves that ample Title and yet St. Austin thought them no better than Shcismaticks The Arrians call'd themselves Catholicks and the Orthodox Homousians and Athanasians but neither the one was the more nor the other the less Catholick for what they were call'd Truth is always the same and the Nature of things remains unalterable let Men fix on them what Names they please By this Rule then is the true Church to be known not because it bears the Name of Catholick for that a Church may do and yet be guilty of Schism and Heresie but because it professes the true Faith and then tho it be in name Heretick it is in reality Catholick This is Lactantius's Rule to discern the true Church by the true Religion That Church alone Instir lib. 4. c. ult Sola Catholica est quae verum cultum retinet says he is Catholick that retains the true Worship of God. And St. Austin in his Disputes with the Donatists where the true Church was appeals to the Scripture as the only Infallible Judg Non audiamus haec dico haec dicis sed audiamus haec dicit Dominus c. Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam Epist 166. de unit Eccl. c. 2. Amongst many others to this purpose he hath these Words I say this and thou sayest that but thus saith the Lord. 5. Again does it follow that because the being called after the Names of particular Men in that Age when all so call'd were for the most part corrupt in the Faith was a sure Brand of Schismaticks and Hereticks it must ever be so May not Names and Titles be unjustly and maliciously impos'd If the Churches of the Reformed must go for Hereticks and Scismaticks meerly because they are distinguish'd by the Names of those Men that were the first and most eminent Instruments in that blessed Work as of Lutherans Calvinists Zuinglians the like Is there not the same Reason that the several Orders in the Church of Rome that go under the Names of their particular Founders as the Benedictines Franciscans Dominicans Jansenists and Molinists and others be esteemed so too If there be any Difference the advantage of Reason is on our Side since the Reformed assume not those Names to themselves and tho they deservedly honour the Memories of those Men and with thankful Hearts embrace the Reformation God was pleas'd by their Ministry to make in the Church yet do they by no means affect to be call'd after their Names They own no Name but Christian or Catholick when it signifies Persons adhering to the true Catholick Faith The others are Nick-names fasten'd on them by their Adversaries out of Scorn or Malice to represent them to the World as far as they are able as so many Schismaticks from the Catholick Church and as having other Leaders than Christ and his Apostles But those in the Church of Rome that are denominated from their particular Founders give themselves those Appellations seem to prefer them before that truly Catholick one of Christian which while with some neglect they leave to the Common People they glory and pride themselves in the other so that if this Note of an Heretick is valid it turns with great Force against themselves who are really guilty of it and not against us whom they will make guilty of it but are not III. The Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the Catholick Faith or Religion neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church Whether she is guilty of this or no will be best seen by comparing her Doctrine in several Points with that delivered by Christ and left upon Record by his holy Apostles for tho the Church of Rome will not allow the Scriptures to be the whole and a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners yet they acknowledg them to be the Word of God and granting that they must acknowledg that all those Doctrines and Practices that are forbidden by them are Corruptions and Depravations of it Let us then bring their Faith to the Touchstone How readest thou The Scripture says See Discourse of the Object of Religious Worship 1685. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 Which Words evidently appropriate all kinds and all degrees of Religious Worship unto God they being an answer to the Devil's Temptation who requir'd but the lowest Degree the Devil acknowledging that the right he had of disposing of the Kingdoms of the World to be only derivative not natural they were delivered to me At the same time confessed himself not to be the Supream God and consequently cannot be suppos'd
Whence hath it Tares They did not know that is how they came there no more than we may be able now to know how Errors came into the Church But that they were there they knew and were sure as we are sure there are false Doctrines in the Church of Rome that were not of our Saviour's planting 2. Nor do the Examples whereby they illustrate this Ratiocination serve to any purpose but to shew the Falseness of it They can name they say the Authors and Beginnings of all the ancient Heresies for instance the Heresy which affirmed there were two Persons in Christ was begun by Nestorius in the Year CDXXXI Which is not true for though then it took its Name from so great a Bishop who maintained it yet the Heresy had been before from an unknown Beginning it being mentioned by St. Ambrose in the foregoing Age in his Book of the Incarnation The like may be said of the Arian Heresy whose Beginning they date in the Year CCCXXIV but it was born long before among the Gnostick Hereticks and only got Reputation by so noted a Man as Arius Nay some of the learnedst Doctors in the present Roman Church have taken a great deal of pains to make the World believe that Tertullian and a Number of other ancient Fathers were infected with it So uncertain they are in their Discourses about these matters 3. Which if they were true would uphold the greatest Impieties For what will become of the Christian Religion if the Traditional Law of the Jews be true And according to this way of Reasoning it must pass for Truth that it came from Mount Sinai by word of Mouth as the written Law did for none can shew its Original much less name the Authors of the several Tradions and who opposed them c. Nay the Worship of the Heathen Gods was supported by this Argument as is excellently observed by Clemens Alexandrinus who tells the Gentiles Admon ad Gentes p. 36 37. That Fables and Time had advanced dead Men into the Number of the Gods. For though things present being familiar to us are neglected yet those which are past and gone being out of the reach of Confutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obscurity and uncertainty of Times have honour invented for them By which means those that are dead long ago glorying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a long time of Error are accounted Gods by Posterity The same may be said for the lying Oracles among them the Beginnings and first Authors of which cannot be traced 4. But we have an Instance of this in the Roman Church it self where there is an acknowledged Change and yet they themselves are not able to tell who first began it because it crept in by insensible Degrees The Communion I mean in one kind was not used for above a thousand years but being begun in some Churches they themselves cannot tell which nor when grew to be a general Custom not long before the Council of Constance in these Western Parts of the World and there was established as a Law. But it did not begin by the Decree of any Bishop nor was carried on by any publick Order and if you ask them who first set it on foot they will tell you that doth not appear Therefore the Second alone of those Six things being proved that new Doctrines and Practices have been brought in of which we are very certain there needs none of the rest But we are sure there was a time and Authors of them and People that embraced them though we should not be able for want of ancient Records that are lost or because things that come in insensibly cannot in every Age be noted and recorded to tell the very time and Place and Persons when and where and by whom they were introduced All which is not said by us because we are not able to give an account of the other parts of that Ratiocination but only to shew the Frivolousness of such Discourses as these in which they of the Church of Rome place their main Retreat For we can tell nay their own Authors have told us when and by whom many things were brought into their Church which were not there in the Beginning Polydore Virgil if I had room to insert his Words would furnish us with several Instances But I shall content my self with Two which were at no great distance the one from the other The First is their grand Article of Faith about the Papal Authority We know and have often told them by what steps it grew to the height wherein now it is or would be when the Bishops of Rome began to exceed their Bounds how they were opposed and snub'd who and by whom was first declared the Universal Bishop and Head of the Church Victor began the Dance Zozimus after some others followed it Boniface continued it Celestine carried it on Who met with so sharp a Rebuke from the African Bishops for his intrusion into their Affairs upon the pretence of a forged Canon of the Nicene Council as is sufficient to shew his Ambition and Craft was greater than his Authority The Attempts of the rest are as notorious and so is the Opposition they met withall till at last Boniface the 3d procured to himself from Phocas the Title of Vniversal Bishop and to his Church the Title of Head of all Churches All this we can justify out of Authentick Records but it is not in their Power to name so much as one Man that owned the Universal Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop over the whole Church till that time that is till above six hundred years after our Saviour's Birth For though Bellarmin alledges an Epistle of Justinians wherein he calls the Church of Rome the Head of all Churches yet is signifies nothing but that they are at a loss for want of Proofs because as it is with great Reason suspected to be spurious so it can intend no more than Head of the Churches of the West because in an undoubted Edict of his he calls the Church of Constantinople by the same Name the Head of all other Churches i.e. Chief of those in the East Which is so certain that their own Pope Gregory not much above a year before this arrogant Title was assumed most vehemently disdained it or rather thundred against it Nor can they name one Man in the whole Church for so long a time that believed their present Definition of the Catholick Church much less the Power of the Pope to depose Kings which none challenged till Gregory VII that is till above a thousand years after our blessed Saviour Insomuch that their fore-named Champion †C. Bellarm. Tract de potestate Summ. Pontif. p. 27. being to prove this deposing Power out of ancient Authors is able to say no more than this I have alledged above LXX famous Writers some of which flourish'd more than 500 Years ago A goodly Business a glorious Shew of Antiquity instead of the
Doctrine Which I doubt not to make appear performs as little as either of the former In order to which I shall endeavour to shew I. What the Cardinal means by Sanctity of Doctrine II. That according to his Notion of it Sanctity of Doctrine is no certain Note of the true Church III. In what Sense it is a certain Note by which any honest Enquirer may distinguish a true Church from a false one IV. That neither in this nor the Cardinal's Notion of it the true Church can be found by any honest Enquirer according to the Principles of the Church of Rome I. What it is that the Cardinal here means by Sanctity of Doctrine To which in short I answer That which he means by it is the Profession of the true Religion both as to Doctrine of Faith and Doctrine of Manners without any mixture of Error For so he explains himself The true Church is not only Catholick and Apostolick and One but also Holy according to the Constantinopolitan Creed but its evident the Church is said to be Holy because its Profession is Holy containing nothing false as to Doctrine of Faith nothing unjust as to Doctrine of Manners And a little after By this Note saith he it 's evident that no Church but ours is a true Church because there is no Sect either of Pagans or Philosophers or Jews or Turks or Hereticks which doth not contain some Errors that have been exploded and are manifestly contrary to right Reason By which it 's evident that he excludes all sorts of Errors from that Profession of Religion which he here sets up as a Mark of the true Church And therefore after he had given a brief Enumeration of the Errors of all other Sects as well of Pagans and Jews and Mahometans as of Christians He thus concludes But as for our Catholick Church it teaches no Error no Turpitude nothing against Reason no not excepting Transubstantiation though many things above Reason therefore she alone is absolutely Holy and to her alone appertains what we say in our Creed I believe the Holy Church In which Words he expresly points and directs us to his Catholick Church by this Mark or Note That it teaches no Error c. By which it is evident that Sanctity of Doctrine in the Cardinal's Sense consists in an unerring profession of the true Religion without any so much as the least intermixture of Error Now tho it is certain that that is the best and purest Church which hath the least of Error and Corruption in its Doctrine and Discipline yet it is as certain that that which is the best Church is not the only true Church For the only true Church is the Catholick Church which consists of a great many particular Churches whereof some are more and some less pure from Error and Corruption and yet all of 'em true Churches For all particular Bodies and Societies of Christians that are true parts of the Catholick Church are true Churches as being Homogenious Parts of the Catholick Church and consequently partaking of the same common Nature with it But when we are discoursing of the Notes of the true Church that which we mean by 'em is such certain Marks and Characters by which an honest Enquirer may distinguish such Societies of Christians as are the true Churches of which the true Catholick Church consists from such as are not and therefore that can be no true Note of the true Church which doth not distinguish it from all false Churches and whose contrary is consistent with the being of a true Church I proceed therefore II. To shew that Sanctity of Doctrine according to Bellarmin's Sense of it that is a pure profession of true Religion without any intermixture of Error is no true Note or Mark or Character by which any honest Enquirer can certainly distinguish the true Church from all false Churches And this I doubt not will evidently appear if we consider what are the necessary Properties of all true Notes by which things are to be known and distinguished and they are these four 1. Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies 2. It ought to be proper and peculiar to that kind of Thing of which it is a Note and not common to Things of another kind 3. It ought to be more known than the Thing which it notifies 4. It ought to be inseparable to it The three last of which Bellarmin himself owns to be necessary Properties of every true Note Cap. 2. though the first he did not think meet to take notice of for a Reason best known to himself if therefore this Note according to Bellarmine's sense of it hath neither of these Properties belonging to it it can be no true Note of the true Church and that none of 'em do belong to it I doubt not but I shall make it evidently appear 1. First Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies Thus every true Note of a true Man for instance ought to be common to all human kind and so every true Note of every wise Man ought to be common to all wise Men and by the same Rule every true Note of the true Church ought to be common to all true Churches For seeing the true Church is nothing else but only a Collection of all true Churches whatsoever is a certain Note of the true Church must necessarily belong to all true Churches in the World. And indeed since the end of our enquiry after the true Church is that we may communicate with it and since we can no otherwise communicate with the true Church but by communicating with some particular Church that is a true part of it the proper use of the Notes of the true Church is to direct our Enquirers whether this or that Church be a true part of it or which is the same thing whether by communicating with this or that particular Church we do communicate with the true Catholick Church And therefore unless the Notes of the true Catholick Church are such as do appertain to all true Churches they can never give us any certain direction in what Church we may communicate with the true Catholick Church for seeing we can communicate with the true Catholick Church in none but a true Church no Note can give us any certain direction where to communicate with the Catholick Church but what directs us to a true Church and no Note can certainly direct us to a true Church but what belongs to all true Churches If therefore not to err in its Profession be a certain Note whereby to find the true Catholick Church it must necessarily belong to all true Churches and consequently that can be no true Church which in any instance whatsoever errs in its Profession and indeed seeing all the true Churches in the World are only so many simular parts of the true Catholick Church and the
true Catholick Church is only the whole of all those simuular parts or all true Churches together whatsoever the Catholick Church is besides its being the whole all the true Churches must be of which it doth consist and consequently if that be unerring these must be so also for how is it possible that the whole which consists of all the parts should be unerring unless all the parts are unerring if therefore not to err in its Profession be a true Note of the true Church all true Churches must necessarily partake of it and consequently all those must be false Churches which profess any Error than which there is scarce any Proposition in Religion more notoriously false 'T is true whatsoever Church errs in any Fundamental Article of Religion doth thereby cease from being a true Church because those Articles are the very Foundations upon which every true Church stands and therefore when any Church removes them or any of them it must necessarily sink from the very being of a true Church into a false and heretical Communion but there are many Errors which do not at all touch or in the least affect the Fundamentals of Religion and these a true Church may possibly profess and yet maintain her Foundations firm and unshaken and so long as a Church professes all those Truths which are necessary to the being of a true Church it is so far a true Church tho together with that it should profess contrary to some other Truths which are not necessary to the being of a true Church for how can its professing any Error which doth not contradict any Truth which is necessary to the being of a true Church make it cease to be a true Church or how can that be a false Church upon the account of its Profession which professes all those Truths which are necessary to the founding and constituting a true Church If the profession of every Error in Religion be sufficient to destroy the verity of a Church then the profession of every Truth must be necessary to found it because every true Church being founded upon Truth there is no Error can destroy it but what takes away the Truth which founds and therefore unless it be founded upon the Profession of every Truth it cannot be destroyed by the Profession of every Error and consequently none can be true Churches but such as profess every true Proposition in Religion which being admitted the Profession of every true Church must contain almost as many Articles as it self doth contain Communicants And indeed if none can be true Churches but such as profess no Errors no two Churches whatsoever can differ in any Opinion tho never so inconsiderable but one of the two must be a false Church because where-ever there is a difference in Opinion there must be an Error on one side or other as for instance There was a very early difference in Opinion between the Eastern and Western Churches about the time of the Celebration of Easter in which if either of them were in the right to be sure the other must be erroneous and if neither both Did then the erring Church continue a true Church or no notwithstanding its Error if it did then a true Church may err in its Profession and yet be a true Church still if it did not then both were false Churches because tho each believed that the other err'd yet for a great while they mutually owned each other for true Churches in which if every Error destroys the verity of a Church they both of 'em err'd and thereupon both cease to be true Churches And if we enquire into the Church of Rome which now pretends to be the only true Church in the World we shall find that in several instances it professes now quite contrary to what it profest heretofore Vid. Note 3d p. 65. Either therefore the Profession of some Errors is consistent with the being of a true Church or the Roman Church must either have been a false Church heretofore or be a false Church now and seeing the Roman Church now consists of several Churches some of which profess contrary to one another as particularly in that celebrated Question Whether the Pope be Superiour to a General Council or a General Council to the Pope it 's certain that if either of 'em are in the right there must be an erroneous Profession on one side or other And if the Roman Church err in any of its parts how can it be unerring in the whole which is nothing but all the parts together for if she allow any Church to be a true Church or part of the true Church which professes any Error she errs herself supposing an unerring Profession to be a true Note of the true Church and consequently is herself a false Church if she doth not then in receiving Churches which differ in their Profession she receives into her Communion some that are no true Churches which I doubt will go as far towards the unchurching her as the Profession of most Errors whatsoever In short therefore if not to err in its Profession in any matter be a Note of the true Church all true Churches must necessarily partake of it and consequently none can be true Churches which in any point whatsoever profess erroneously which as I have proved is utterly false and which if it were true would perhaps as much damnify the Church of Rome in the Opinion of any sober and honest Enquirer as any one Church now extant in the World. 2. Secondly Every true Note ought to be proper and peculiar to that kind of things of which it is a Note and not common to things of another kind otherwise it is impossible that it should truly distinguish the one from the other But this Note of not erring in its Profession is not peculiar to true Churches for seeing there may be a Schism without any Error in Faith or Heresy we must either allow Schismatical Societies of Christians to be true Churches which the Church of Rome to be sure will never admit or that it is by no means peculiar to true Churches not to err in their Faith. That which may be common to Schismatical Communions with the true Church cannot be peculiar to the true Church supposing Schismatical Communions not to be the true Church or the true parts of the true Church but the Cardinal himself owns that there have been Schisms which did not err in their Faith and yet were without the true Church for so in his forecited Cap. 2. There may be Doctrine pure saith he from all Error in a false Church for so pure Schismaticks as heretofore the Luciferians and Donatists had in the beginning very sound Doctrine among 'em and yet were without the true Church Where by the way it 's evident the good Man had quite forgot that Sanctity of Doctrine was hereafter to be one of his Notes of the true Church for if as he tells us in this very Chapter the Notes of
others has to pretend that it is the Character of its being a true Church I desire in the second place that these following Particulars may be considered 1. That altho we charge the Church of Rome with many Errors and Mistakes yet we allow it to contain in it a mixture of Truth Now this very mixture of Truth may perhaps be of sufficient force to make Proselytes but then it does not follow but that such Proselytes may likewise have embraced the Errors which are mixed with it as well as the Truth it self The Indians whose Conversion to the Romish Faith I shall speak of afterwards were not so void of Reason but that if they compared the Religion of their Conquerors with their own Worship they might be perswaded to embrace the former rather than adhere still to the latter And altho by this means they were but half converted to the Truth yet it was better that it should be thus than that they should not have been converted at all for by this means they were much nearer the reception of the whole Truth than they were formerly which was a great advantage and therefore we reckon those but an ill sort of Protestants who would rather have Men Turks and Infidels than of the Romish Church But at the same time the Conversion of never so many to Church of Rome is no Argument of its not being a corrupted Church as long as we can prove it to maintain such gross Errors as it does altho accompanied with such a mixture of Truth as may be of great force to bring over such as had before little or no knowledg thereof 2. That the Prevalency of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome can be no Note of its being a true Church because it is so much alter'd from what it formerly was The Doctrine of the Church of Rome was in the beginning of Christianity the same with that which was deliver'd by Christ and his Apostles to the Saints Afterwards new Doctrines insensibly crept into and were received by that Church and at last Matters came to be settled as we now find them in the Council of Trent This has been often cleared by Learned Men and in some of those Discourses which have of late been writ Barrow of the Pope's Suprem Discourse of Transubst Disc concerning the Worship of the blessed Virgin and the Saints Disc of Commun in one kind Vindicat. of the Answ to some late Papers c. some of the new Doctrines have been traced step by step and the manner now they came to be receiv'd set down and in others the Church of Rome has been compared with her self and what was determin'd by the Council of Trent has been shown to be quite another thing from what was held some Ages ago Now it is impossible that things that are different should be the distinguishing Character of that which is always the same Since then I suppose it will be readily granted that the Church of Rome has always been the true Church the Efficacy of its Doctrine can be no Note thereof since in some Ages those Doctrines have prevailed in it which are directly contrary to those which have prevailed in other 3. That the Prevalency of any Doctrine can be no Note of a true Church where those who embrace it are hindred from thoroughly examining it For without a thorough Examination it never can be rightly understood and what Efficacy can it have upon his Mind who does not rightly understand it Now the Church of Rome exacts of the Members of her Communion a tame Submission to and Compliance with whatever she proposeth to their Belief and Practice and by forbidding them the use of the Scriptures she takes from them the use of that Rule whereby they are to judg of the Reasonableness of her Proposals How then can the reception of her Doctrine be a Note of her being a true Church when perhaps not one amongst a thousand of her Members who receeive it is capable of understanding what he is bound to believe 4. That the Prevalency of any Doctrine can be no Note of a true Church where Art and Force are made use of to make it prevail For it is no difficult matter for cunning Deceivers to impose upon unstable Souls and it must be a great courage and constancy of Mind which can make Men for-go Father and Mother Houses and Land c. for the sake of Truth Now that the Church of Rome has taken this course to propagate her Doctrines we may be assured by some of her own Members There are saith Erasmus Erasmus in Annot. in Mat. 23. those who after a new Example make Christians by force but whilst they pretend the Propagation of Religion they do in reality study the Inlargement of Riches and Power Not unlike these are those Monks who inveigle others to take upon them their Order and do use a great deal of cunning to insnare such as are young and unskilful and who neither understand Themselves nor the Nature of true Religion And Stapleton declares very freely Stapleton Epist Dedic de oper Justific Edit Paris 1582. Eo sane loco haereses sunt c. Heresies are come to that pass that their Gordian Knots are not to be dissolved by Art and Industry but by the Sword of Alexander and the Club of Hercules is more fit to subdue them than the Harp of Apollo I might quote several others to the same purpose but the constant Practices of the Inquisition in those places where it is received and the extraordinary Methods which have of late been made use of in a Neighbouring Nation to gain Proselytes do sufficiently shew that the Church of Rome does more depend upon something else than upon the Efficacy of her Doctrine for the making of Converts Which will more fully appear if in the third place we consider the insufficiency of the Cardinal's Arguments which are fetched First From the Scriptures Secondly From what happened in the beginning of the Christian Church Thirdly From the particular Instances which he gives of Conversions wrought by those of the Church of Rome First As to the Scriptures which are quoted Ps 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul and Heb. 4.12 For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart It may be answer'd 1. That the latter of these is by several Expositors interpreted of the Son of God and not of his Doctrine 2. That if they are both interpreted of the Efficacy of any Doctrine yet that the Efficacy which is spoken of is wholly internal as we before observ'd and consequently such as cannot be accounted a Note of the true Church For the Note of a Church must be what any one can come to the knowledg of 3. Suppose by these words
things as Marks of Distinction only without any further Design of lessening their Natures and Qualities by them p. 31. 4. It does not follow that because the Name Catholick in that time when it was for the most part conjoined with the Catholick Faith was a sure Note of a true Church it must always be so even when the Name and the Thing are parted p. 32. The worst of Hereticks laid claim to it p. 33. The Rule to know the True Church by proved from Lactantius and St. Austin ibid. 5. It doth not follow that because the being called after the Names of particular Men in that Age when all so called were for the most part corrupt in the Faith was a sure Hand of Schismaticks and Hereticks that it must always be so p. 33 34. III. The Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the Catholick Faith or Religion neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church p. 34. This justified by comparing her Doctrine in several Points with that delivered by Christ and his Apostles p. 35. For Instance that Angels and Saints are to be prayed unto and worshipped this contrary to Scripture ibid. The worshipping of Images contrary to the second Commandment which they make the same with the first p. 36. The Scripture commands all Persons indifferently to read the Scriptures the Church of Rome allows not this Liberty to the Laity but upon License ibid The Scriptures forbid Prayers in an unknown Tongue and the Church of Rome enjoins such and no other p. 37. Purgatory contrary to Scripture ibid. The denying the Cup to the Laity contrary to the express Instistitution of our Saviour p. 38. The Scripture saith that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament even after Consecration is Bread and Wine the Church of Rome says the Bread and Wine is Transubstantiated into the natural Body and Blood of Christ. p. 39. The Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Scripture derogatory to Christ's own Priestly Oblation whereby he once offered himself a compleat Sacrifice of Expiation p. 40. In all these Particulars the Church of Rome a Corrupter of the Christian Faith and Doctrine and consequently deserves not the name of Catholick ibid The Second Note ANTIQUITY THis Mark and Character of a true Church is not proper to the Church of Rome alone nor in truth doth it belong to it To prove this three things are here offered I. That the Plea of bare Antiquity is not proper to the Church but common to it with other Societies of false Religion p. 41. The Notes of a thing must be proper to that of which they are a Note and not common to it with other things p. 42. 1. Because what is proper to a thing is inseparable from it and did ever belong to it since it had a being and can at no time be absent from it ibid. 2. Other Societies have laid claim to this Note and it could not be denied them and therefore no proper Note of a Church ibid. This shews that bare Antiquity cannot be a Note of Truth p. 44. Antiquity and Priority widely different p. 45. A twofold Antiquity one in respect of us the other absolute and in it self ibid. The Church of Rome will not be tried only by the Scriptures which is the true Antiquity p. 46. Error almost as ancient as Truth for which reason several wicked Doctrines running down to Posterity have made use of the plea of Antiquity to give them countenance and support p. 47. II. The present Church of Rome vainly pretends to true Antiquity i.e. to ancient Truth p. 48. Wherein true Antiquity doth consist ibid. The present Church of Rome not ancient by reason of that alteration they have made in the ancient Creed p. 49. Cardinal Bellarmin's Ratiocination against this charge consisting of 6 things to be observed in all Changes of Religion none of which he says can be shewn in the Church of Rome since the Apostles time ibid. His reasoning built upon very false grounds this considered and largely answered in four Particulars p. 50. 1. As being contrary to all History and Experience there having been great Changes in Religion the Authors and the beginnings c. of which cannot be known p. 50. 2. Neither do the Examples they alledg for this their reasoning serve to no other purpose but to shew the falseness of it as in the case of the Nestorian and Arrian Heresies p. 51. 3. Supposing them true they would uphold the greatest Impieties ibid. The Heathen Gods and their Oracles supported by this Argument p. 52. 4. The Roman Church it self an instance of this there being an acknowledg'd change in it and yet they cannot tell who first began it viz. Communion in one kind ibid. Two instances out of Polydore Virgil when and by whom they were brought into the Church of Rome p. 53. 1. Their grand Article of Faith the Papal Authority brought in by Victor and carried on by the following Bishops ibid. The present Definitions of the Catholick Church and the Power of the Pope to depose Kings not challenged till Gregory VII i.e. 1000 Years after Christ ibid. 2. It is known when Images crept into the Church p. 55. A little more than 100 Years since unwritten Traditions were decreed to be a part of the Rule of Faith i. e. of the Word of God. ibid. III. That the Religion of the Church of England by Law established is the true Primitive Christianity p. 56. The Third Note DURATION THree things are here considered I. What is to be understood by the term Duration p. 58. Duration includes 3 things 1. A Being of a Church from the beginning p. 58 2. The continuance of that Church to the end p. 58 3. The continuance of that Church from the beginning to the end without interruption p. 58 Bellarmine's Application of the first of these to the Church of Rome yet deficient in the latter Branches p. 59. II. How far Duration is a Note of the true Church p. 59. This is no Note by which a true Church is to be found out or distinguished from the false ib. For four Reasons 1. The nature of the thing will not permit that it should be a Note p. 60. 2. That cannot be a Note of the true Church which doth not inseparably belong to the Church in all seasons and cases p. 61. 3. That which is a Note must be proper to the thing which it is the Note of and not common to other things as well as that p. 61 62. Common to false Churches as well as true ibid. 4. If it be a Note of a true Church then those could not be true Churches which have not not had that Duration ib. This unchurches the 7 Churches of Asia p. 62 63. III. The Church of Rome hath no just and sufficient title to this Character p. 63. This proved as to 1. Place 2. Persons 3. Order 4. Doctrine these being the things by which a Church doth exist and is made
whole Work. p. 390. FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Richard Chiswell Dr. CAve's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2 Vol. Folio Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time. fol. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity fol. Sir John Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion fol. The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Judges with other Observations thereupon By William CawleyEsq fol. Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed the Commandments and Lord's Prayer in 3 Vol. fol. Bishop Nicholson on the Church-Catechism 40. Mr. John Cave's seven occasional Sermons 40. Bishop Wilkin's Natural Religion 80. His Fifteen Sermons 80. Mr. Tanner's Primordia Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described 80. Spaniards Conspiracy against the State of Venice 80. Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity in three parts 80. Certain genuine Remains of the Lord Bacon in Arguments Civil Moral Natural c. with a large account of all his Works By Dr. Tho. Tenison 80. Dr. Henry Bagshaw's Discourses on select Texts 80. Mr. Seller's State of the Church in the three first Centuries Dr. Burnet's Account of the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester 80. Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England 80. History of the Rights of Princes in the Disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church-lands 80. Relation of the present state of the difference between the French King and the Court of Rome to which is added the Pope's Brief to the Assembly of the Clergy and their Protestation published by Dr. Burnet 80. Dr. Cumber's Companion to the Altar 80. Dr. Sherlock's Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies 80. Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation 80. A Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet in answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lob about Catholick Communion 80. Sir Rob. 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Mr. Seller's Devout Communicant assisted with Rules Meditations Prayers and Anthems 12â— Dr. Towerson of the Sacraments in General Of the Sacrament of Baptism in particular 80. The History of the COVNCIL of TRENT in which besides the Ordinary Acts of the Council are declared many notable Occurrences which hapned in Christendom for 40 Years and particularly the Practices of the COVRT of ROME to hinder the Reformation of Their Errors and to maintain Their Greatness Written by Father Paul of the SERVI To which is added the Life of the Author and the History of the Inquisition Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell Dr. Burnets History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2 Vol. Fol. A Collection of Sixteen several Tracts and Discourses Written in the Years from 1678 to 1685. inclusive by Gilbert Burnet D. D. To which are added A Letter written to Dr. Burnet giving an Account of Cardinal Pool's Secret Powers The History of the Powder-Treason with a Vindication of the Proceedings thereupon An Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuits dying Speeches who were Executed for the Popish Plot 1679. 40. A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sees By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. Octavo An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure Footing in Christianity concerning the Rule of Faith With some other Discourses By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. 40. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Answer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. Octavo An Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILB BVRNET D. D. Octavo The APOLOGY of the Church of England and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio a Venetian Gentleman concerning the Council of Trent Written both in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN JEWEL Lord Bishop of Salisbury Made English by a Person of Quality To which is added The Life of the said Bishop Collected and written by the same Hand Octavo The Life of WILLIAM BEDEL D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with Certain Letters which passed betwixt him and James Waddefworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition of Sevil in Matters of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience Octavo The Decree made at ROME the Second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Jesuits and other Casuists Quarto A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Quarto First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 40. A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 80. A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented being an Answer to the First Second Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Papist Misrepresented and Represented and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM truly representing the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome Quarto The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures Quarto The Plain Man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 240. An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in Matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Answer to THREE PAPERS concerning the Unity and Authority of the Catholick Church and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto Mr. Chillingworth's Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation made more generally useful by
the true Church are such as are proper and peculiar to it it 's plain that his Memory fail'd him either when he made Sanctity of Doctrine to be one of these Notes or when he allowed this Note to be common to false Churches with the true Seeing therefore there have been Communities of Christians in the World which have not err'd in their Faith and yet were neither the true Church nor any true parts of it and seeing what hath been may be again how is it possible for any honest Enquirer after the true Church to find any one Church in the World to which this Note of not erring is proper and peculiar The Catholicks did not err in their Faith the Donatists and Luciferians did not err in theirs how then is it possible to discover by this Note of not erring in Faith which of the three were the true Church seeing that that can be no true Note of the true Church which is not peculiar to it and that not erring in Faith was common to 'em both 3. Thirdly Every true Note ought to be more known than the thing which it notifies for how can we know a thing by that which is as unknown to us as the thing it self If therefore not to err in any point whatsoever be a true Note of the true Church the truth of every Article comprized in the Profession of that which is the true Church must be more known than that it is the true Church which considering how very large and extensive the publick Professions of Churches now are cannot be supposed without making the true Church to be one of the darkest and obscurest things in the World. For besides that according to the Principle of the Cardinal and his Church it is the true Church only can fully instruct a Man in the truth of all those Points of which the unerring Profession of the true Church consists and therefore a Man must have found the true Church and been instructed by it before he can be certain that those Points are all true of which more hereafter Besides which I say it is to be considered that there are sundry Doctrines now professed by most Churches of which ordinary Capacities can make no certain Judgment I confess if the publick Professions of the Churches now in being were confined to the Fundamental Articles of Religion it were an easy matter for an ordinary Enquirer to satisfy himself concerning the truth of 'em because whatsoever is fundamental is so plainly revealed that probity of Mind together with sound Intellectuals are the only Accomplishments that are requisite to Mens attainment of the knowledg of it but seeing the generality of the publick Professions of Churches do together with such Doctrines as are fundamental comprehend such as are not yea and sometimes such as are very remote from Fundamentals and seeing many of these are not so plainly revealed but that pro and con they are involved with such difficulties as have perplexed even the most learned and judicious Enquirers to satisfy one's self fully that such Professions as these are in all points true without the least intermixture of Error requires great Sagacity as well as Probity of Mind For there is scarce any one Church now extant in the World but what professes some Doctrines which in some other Churches are hotly controverted and opposed and seeing there are sundry Churches in the World which in sundry Points profess contrary to one another and there are scarce any two Churches which in all Points are agreed it is certain that a great part of 'em must in one Point or other be erroneous and seeing the Church of Rome doth in several Articles differ from all other Churches in the World either she by this Note must be a false Church or there is no true Church in the World but her self Now in the midst of such a vast multiplicity of Professions how is it possible for an ordinary Enquirer to conclude with any certainty which of 'em is true and which false especially considering that as to some of the Points in which they differ there are such fair probabilities pro and con as are sufficient to suspend any modest Judgment from determining it self one way or other And that others of 'em depend upon such Scholastical Niceties and are defended and opposed by such subtile and metaphysical Reasonings such critical Senses of Texts and ambiguous Accounts of Ecclesiastical Antiquity as that scarce one Man in a thousand is capable of making any certain judgment concerning them If therefore before I can conclude that this or that is a true Church it must be more known and evident to me that it doth not err in any Point whatsoever than that it is a true Church doubtless to determine which is the true Church is one of the most obscure and difficult Points in the World and I must be a very learned and judicious Divine before I can modestly pretend to have found it To what a miserable uncertainty then are Mankind abandoned when 't is as much as their Souls are worth to be in the true Church and yet are left to seek it by such an intricate Note as this whereby scarce one Man in a thousand is capable of finding it 4. And Lastly Every true Note ought to be inseparable to the Thing which it notifies for there is nothing can notify or make known a Thing without which the Thing may be what it is and if that which is the Note of it may be separated from it it may be the very same Thing which it is tho it hath not that Note If therefore this Note of an unerring Profession be not inseparable from the true Church it may be the true Church tho it be not unerring in its Profession Wherefore before I can be certain that any Church which pretends to be the true Church is the true Church I must be certain that this Note of not erring is inseparable to it But before I can be certain that this Note is inseparable to any one Church now extant I must be certain not only that it doth not err now which as I have shewed above the generality of Men can never be but also that it never hath erred nor ever will for as the Cardinal hath stated the matter the thing of which we are to enquire is not which of the Churches now extant are true Churches or parts of the Catholick Church but which of 'em are the true Catholick Church If we were only to enquire which of 'em are true parts of the Catholick Church all that we had to do was to satisfy our selves which of 'em at present have the true Notes of a true part of the Catholick Church but as for particular Churches it is agreed of all hands that they may be true parts of the Catholick Church at one time and yet not be so at another so that as to particular Churches all that I need to enquire is only this Whether at
no doubt to be made but that it would generally obtain But when Mens Inclinations and Circumstances are so various nothing is more manifest than that the receiving or rejecting Truth is a thing too uncertain to be made an infallible Note of it When it is argued on behalf of Christianity that so many thousands were on the suddain converted to the Faith the force of such an Argument does not lie in the bare prevalency of the Doctrine but in its prevalency when placed in such Circumstances as it at the first preaching of the Gospel was and when Men of mean birth and education as has already been observed did without force or fraud on the suddain make so many proselytes to a Religion which was so directly contrary to those Opinions to which the World had been so long accustomed a Religion which was likely to bring such great Inconveniences upon those who embraced it This indeed was very remarkable and could be ascribed to nothing but the Power of Truth which was only able to bring about so wonderful an Effect In a word Men being oftner guided by Fancy Prejudice and Interest than by Reason makes them more capable of Error than of Truth and when they have once received it not only unwilling to part with it but zealous to propagate it as much as they can The Agreeableness of any Doctrine to their wicked Lusts and Affections is most likely to win upon them The craft and cunning of those who lie in wait to deceive may 〈◊〉 easily mislead unstable Minds into gross Mistakes before they are aware 〈…〉 Force the enjoyment of present Preferment or the hopes of it may make them profess what they do not believe to be true and then seek for Reasons to defend it Since then there are so many things beside Truth which may induce Men to admit any Doctrine the bare admitting of it tho never so universally can be no Note of the Truth of that or of the Church that teaches it God has endued us with a capacity of finding out Truth but at the same time he has made us fallible Creatures and liable to be imposed upon so that it stands us in hand to be aware how we are deceived and the more care we take in a concern of this Nature the more we discover our own Sincerity and Zeal for Truth But let there be never such clear Discoveries thereof it is in our power wilfully to shut our Eyes against them nay when we have adhered to Truth for some time we may be tempted either wholly to forsake it or to intermingle gross Errors with it So that it is as improper to conclude the prevalency of any Doctrine to be an Argument of the Truth of it or of the Church that professeth it as that any Cause is just because successful Such is God's infinite Wisdom and Goodness that as he does oftentimes bless with unexpected Success an honest and just Design and they who are sagacious in tracing the Footsteps of Providence do easily discover it so does he likewise frequently exert his Power after an extraordinary manner for the propagation of Truth But on the other hand as he often permits an unjust Design to prevail and prosper so likewise does he suffer Error to multiply and increase And when he does at any time exert his Power after an extraordinary manner for the propagation of Truth he still deals with Men as with Rational Creatures so that such his Power may be resisted nay may be so far resisted as may make him punish with Infatuation such their Resistance as he served the Pharisees upon the account of their Obstinacy whose Eyes he blinded and whose Heart he hardned John 12.40 41. that they should not see with their Eyes nor understand with their Heart and be converted And as happened to those whom the Apostle makes mention of whom because they received not the love of Truth that they might be saved 2 Thess 2.10 11. God sent strong Delusions that they might believe a Lie. Since therefore such is the Temper and Constitution of Mankind as to be daily subject to Errors and to be liable by the just Judgment of God to be at last hardened in them nothing can with any certainty be determined concerning the Truth of any Church from the Prevalency of any Doctrine professed in it 3. Plain Matter of Fact shews the Insufficiency of this Note For the Histories of all Ages make it evident what an influence Error has often had upon Mens Minds and that altho Truth may have happened sometimes to have prevailed yet that it has been as often refused and gross and most impious Opinions preferr'd before it How soon were our first Parents when their Minds were in their greatest strength and vigor and not as yet biassed by any Misapprehensions of things Gen. 3.5 6. by the cunning Artifices of Satan tempted to believe a Lie After which first and grand Mistake how did their whole Stock degenerate when every Imagination of Man's Heart being evil Gen. 6.5 6. it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the Earth Afterward God chose to himself out of the rest of the World a peculiar People and to secure them against the Idolatry and Superstition of those who dwelt near them he gave them particular Statutes which by Threats and Promises and mighty Wonders which he wrought for them he obliged them to observe Yet how soon did they forget God and turned after Idols So that in the time of Ahab according to God's own account there were but 7000 who had not bowed unto Baal If the Efficacy of the Doctrine had been a Note of the true Church I do not see why the Priests of Baal had not as much reason at that time to have insisted upon it as the Romish Priests can have now At our Saviour's coming the Pharisees had infected the whole Nation with their Traditions and so obstinately did they adhere to them that notwithstanding the many Miracles which our Saviour had wrought for them notwithstanding the Holiness of his Life and Conversation few believed on him according to the Prophesy of Isaiah made mention Joh. 12.38 Lord who hath believed our Report of which our Saviour himself complains John 5.43 I am come in my Father's Name And ye receive me not if another shall come in his own Name him ye will receive And in the 11th of St. Matthew ver 20 c. he does most severely upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty Works were done because they repented not And does openly declare that it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment than for them If any Doctrine was likely to have been efficacious one would have thought the Doctrine of our Saviour when taught by himself had been so and yet we find that no Prophet was ever less respected than he was even among his own Country-men The same thing happened likewise to St.
Lives in a very barbarous manner The Consciences of those People having mov'd them to bear testimony against the Corruptions of Rome (e) V. Thuan Hist l. 6. ad An. 1550. p. 186 187. Aemil. 1.6 de Reb. Gest Franc. For some other Orders every Eye cannot see that contempt of the World which is so much talked of and so seldom found The readiest way in the Ecclesiastical State to grow considerable in the World is first to enter into some of the Orders And for Example sake it was some while ago the boast of some Men that there had been of St. Benedict's Order (f) Valaterani Anthrop l. 21. p. 753. 24 Popes 183 Cardinals and 1570 Abbots The Austerities and Mortifications of such Orders are generally mention'd as Proofs of their extraordinary Holiness Yet you will find even among the Heathens as great Rigours as amongst the severest in their Cloysters The Jesuits in their late Voyage to Siam have furnish'd us with an Instance in the Talopins of that Country who in such strictnesses seem not inferiour to S. Bruno himself They have an Estate of Life not much unlike to his call'd Vipasana g Voyage de Siam l. 6. p. 412. on nepent rien wir de plus austere c. in which they keep perpetual silence and give themselves up to the Contemplation of Holy Things The Jesuits assure us that they reproach'd the Romans for want of sufficient veneration of Sacred Images Holy Writings and Priests (h) Ib. p. 410. They tell us that for that which concerns their Manners and Conduct of Life a Christian can teach nothing more perfect than that which their Religion prescribes That it forbids the Impiety of every Thought That what are Counsels among Christians are with Talopins indispensable Precepts That they forbid the use of any Liquor which may intoxicate That they drink no Wine upon any occasion That they are extreamly scandaliz'd at Christian Priests for drinking it That they are charitable to Beasts and relieve them in their needs (i) P. 414 415 416. That they take great pains in preaching and educating Youth in their Monasteries shaving them putting them on a Habit causing them to fast forbidding them to sing or play or hear Singers or see publick Spectacles or use Perfumes or love or touch Money or delight in what they eat but to mix something unpleasant with it (k) P. 418. They report further concerning the Talopins themselves that they observe many Rules of Strictness besides those by which their Scholars and the Laity are obliged That they frequent their Pagods look not on Women speak not to them live on Alms but go not into the Houses expose themselves to the open Heavens several Nights in February in the midst of the Fields keep a solemn Fast of three Months preach every day of that season recite a kind of Chapelet preach sometimes from morning to night each in his turn for six hours together without wearying the Hearers (l) Ib. p. 418 419 420. 422. They cast a Ring into the Sea and it is calm if we have Faith to believe it They have places to which great Numbers of Pilgrims travel upon the score of Devotion They have Images which they carry abroad for the procuring of good Weather They have they say a Relick of their God Sommonokhodom who is ascended a portion of his Hair (m) Ib. p. 412 413 415 410. So that if mere monastick Sanctity be a Note of a true Religious Society you may find out by it such a Society at Siam Last of all There are many Things in the Roman Church it self which by helping forward an ill Life do in part deface this Mark of her Sanctity Such as charming Consecrations Indulgences Dispensations and other abuses of the Seal of the Church Doctrines about Masses Attrition Purgatory and Papal Supremacy Which last is very prejudicial to the Quiet of the World especially in the Deposing Point concerning which I take leave to use the Words of another with Relation to Bellarmin He was (n) Postscript to Transl of Maimb Hift. of the League p. 15 16 17. himself a Preacher for the League in Paris during the Rebellion there of K. Henry the 4th Some of his Principles are these following In the Kingdoms of Men the Power of the King is from the People because the People make the King. Observing that he says in the Kingdoms of Men there is no doubt but he restrains this Principle to the Subordination of the Pope For his Holiness in that Rebellion as you have heard was declared Protector of the League So that the Pope first excommunicates which is the Outlawry of the Church and by virtue of this Excommunication the People are left to their own natural Liberty and may without further Process from Rome depose him Accordingly you see it practis'd in the same Instance Pope Sixtus first thunder-struck King Henry the 3d and the King of Navarr Then the Sorbon make Decrees that they have successively forfeited the Crown The Parliament verifies these Decrees and the Pope is petition'd to confirm the Sense of the Nation that is of the Rebels But I have related this too favourably for Bellarmin For we hear him in another place positively affirming it as Matter of Faith If any Christian Prince shall depart from the Catholick Religion and shall withdraw others from it He immediately forfeits all Power and Dignity even before the Pope has pronounc'd Sentence on him And his Subjects in case they have Power to do it may and ought to cast out such an Heretick from his Sovereignty over Christians If therefore the Faith of Bellarmin be Faction whatsoever his Church is in it self it is certain as he has made it it can never be found out either as The Church or as A sound Church so far as we are to look for it by the Note of Holiness THE END LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Eleventh Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ The GLORY of MIRACLES Vndecima Nota est Gloria Miraculorum Bellarm. de Notis Ecclesiae L. iv c. 14. IMPRIMATUR June 28. 1687. Guil. Needham HAD not the Cardinal either thought by the meer number of his Notes to have given the greater show to the Argument or wrote in pure Compliance to the Humour and Interests of the Age wherein he liv'd he would hardly have insisted upon this of Miracles especially in the method wherein he hath manag'd it For by instancing from the very First Age of the Church to the Fifteenth nay to the Sixteenth wherein Himself undertook the defence of it he hath interested himself in all the ridiculous Stories the Phantastick Legends which the Monkish Fabulous Ages have deliver'd the meer recital of which since he hath espous'd them might be a sufficient Exposure of his Argument And indeed had the Cardinal's Authors but us'd the same grave Care and Fidelity
Cardinal clearly distinguished between these two Notions his Reader might easily have seen how far the Light of Prophecy may be said to be a Mark by which to know the True Church viz. so far as to do Him and his Cause no manner of Service For in the latter Sense it may be admitted to be such a Mark inasmuch as the accomplishment of those Prophecies which concerned Christ shew'd that Jesus was He and that his Doctrine was of God. But then this Light of Prophecy comes no other way to be a Mark of the True Church than as 't is an Argument or if you will call it so a Mark of that Doctrine the Profession whereof makes the Church So that when we have made the best we can of this Note the Church is still to be known by the Religion it professeth tho that Religion is known to be Divine as by other Arguments and Testimonies so also by the accomplishment of Prophecies And yet even here we must be something cautious in laying down the fulfilling of Predictions as an Argument to prove the Truth of Christianity For there are some Prophecies both in the Old and New Testament that in part have been and will in time be fully accomplished by such Persons whose Doctrine we are by no means to follow For Antichrist was foretold as well as Christ and when he comes and fulfils all that has been said concerning him so long before the accomplishment of those Predictions is a Mark upon him not that we should receive but that we should reject him and his Doctrine So that 't is not barely the fulfilling of Prophecies but of such Prophecies only as described the Characters of that Person whom we were bound to hearken to and to obey in all Things that is an Argument of True Doctrine And in this Sense we are not unwilling to admit the Light of Prophecy to be a Mark of the True Church tho it be a very improper way of speaking Since the Doctrine it self which is demonstrated to be a Divine Doctrine comes to be the proper Note of the Church and the Light of Prophecy is left to be one of those Arguments by which the Doctrine is demonstrated to be Divine But this way of marking for the Church is very uncomfortable to the Cardinal's Friends because it will force them to acknowledg that 't is not the Church that makes the Religion but the Religion that makes the Church He therefore finding no advantage to his Cause by this Notion of Prophetick Light wholly insists upon the former and makes the Gift of foretelling things to come to be one Note of the Church and doubts not but to shew it in his own and will not allow it to be in any other So that these two Things must come under Examination I. Whether it be a Note of the Church II. If it be Whether he has sufficiently proved that they of the Roman Church have it and no others I. Whether it be a Note of the True Church The Cardinal offers to prove that it is by three Arguments huddled up together which being distinguished are these 1. That as Christ promised the Gift of Miracles so he also promised the Gift of Prophecy to the Church 2. That none knows Future Contingencies but God only 3. That it is a certain Note of False Doctrine if a Prophet foretells any thing and it does not come to pass Let us now see what all this will amount to 1. Christ promised the Gift of Prophecy to the Church no less than the Gift of Miracles To which it might be sufficient to say that as Miracles notwithstanding such a Promise are no Note of the Church so neither is Prophecy such a Note meerly because it was also promised And there is the same Reason for the one as there is for the other for neither the one nor the other was promised to last always in the Church And we have been told sufficiently that the Notes of the Church according to Bellarmin himself must be Characters that are inseparable from it Now the place by him produced is so far from proving that the Gift of Prophecy should flourish in every Age that there are pregnant Intimations in it of the contrary He refers us to the Prediction of Joel applied by St. Peter to the Church Joel ii 18. Acts ii 16. And because he refers us to it thither we will go and not as he does take Things for granted which ought to be discoursed but bring forth the Text and see what Argument it will afford The Apostles as the Chapter shews spake with Tongues to the amazement of all the Strangers that heard them But the Unbelieving Jews mocked and said they were Drunk Upon which Peter lightly passing by that absurd Reproach told them that this was that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last Days saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesy and your young Men shall see Visions and your old Men c. And again I will pour out in those Days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesy Now tho Prophecy in the strict Sense signifies foretelling Things to come yet it is here put for Supernatural Gifts in General and particularly for speaking Divine Things by Inspiration and likewise for speaking with new Tongues which is undeniably evident from hence that the Apostle's speaking of the wonderful Things of God in Tongues they had never learn'd was by St. Peter affirm'd to be foretold in this Prediction of Joel So that the Cardinal ought to have been very much afraid to make what was promised in Joel a Note of the Church for by this means he has made it unavoidably necessary for those of his Communion the Young Men and the Old Men c. to speak with Tongues by Inspiration which is in effect to unchurch his own Party And therefore I imagin his Followers will not follow him in this nor advance the Promise in Joel into a Note of the Church but will rather say that the fulfilling of it in the first Age of the Church was a Testimony to the Truth of Christianity and that the Prediction of Joel was accomplished tho the same extraordinary Gifts were not continued in every Age afterward 2. He says That none knows Future Contingencies but God only which if it should prove that a Church is there where the Gift of Prophecy is yet it does not prove that there is no Church where that Gift is not unless it be an inseparable Mark of the Church to have all those future Events made known to one or other in it which God only knows Our Saviour said of that Day and Hour when Himself should come to judg the World no Man knoweth but the Father only Does it therefore follow that God must have revealed it to one or other in the Church If because God only knows Future Contingencies
the receiving of Apocryphal Books into the Canon of Scripture and other Opinions and Practices in the Christian Church And for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation as it is against the common Sense of Mankind and destroys the certainty of every thing else so the Jews upon all occasions object against it We have a Witness beyond Exception even of the Roman Church who brings in the Jews objecting against this Doctrine Fortalitium Fidei Lugd. Anno 1525. and representing the unreasonableness and absurdity of it from fourteen several Heads of Argument which I may not here represent to the Reader because it would be too great a Digression Nor do I find this Learned Author who writes in Defence of the Roman Church and attempts to answer these Objections alledging that this was the Doctrine which was taught by the Hebrew Doctors The Jews have so far abhorred this Doctrine Decret Gregor l. v. Tit. vi cap. 13. Accepimus autem c. and so far detested Christians upon this account that they were wont when they made use of Christian Nurses to force them to throw away their Milk for three Days together before they gave suck when it happened that at Easter these Nurses had received the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ This Pope Gregory complains of and decrees upon it that Christians should not for the future be Servants to the Jews J. Albo Ikkarim And Josephus Albo disputes against this Doctrine of Transubstantiation very vigorously And so do many others V. Nizach vet p. 255. in their Books against Christians And many more Testimonies might be produced Lipman Nizachon p. 11. were not most of their Books printed in Italy where it is not safe for them to be too plain And Learned Men do very well know that the Passage in Joseph Albo against this Doctrine of the Roman Church hath been expunged in one Edition of that Author 'T is very well known that all the later Jews are against this Doctrine And that Trypho the Jew and the most ancient Writers have not objected it against Christians is only an Argument that this Doctrine was not so old as that time in which they lived This Doctrine the Jews are certain cannot be true because if they are not certain of the Falsity of this they have no Certainty of their own Religion nor can ever be convinced of the Truth of ours The Truth is this is one great occasion of hardening them against Christianity and we are never like to see them come into the Christian Church till this Doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Worship of Images be removed out of it But then the Practice annexed to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation of worshipping a Creature is so dangerous that even they who own the Doctrine confess if that be not true they cannot be excused from Idolatry God give us a just Sence of these things that we may not hereafter have besides our own Sins which will be load great enough the Obstinacy of the Jews in great measure to answer for THE END LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Fourteenth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ The unhappy End of the Church's Enemies Decima quarta Nota est Infelix exitus seu finis eorm qui Ecclesiam oppugnant Bellarm. L. iv c. 17. de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR July 27. 1687. Guil. Needham IF he be an unwise Builder who pulls down what he intends to build up then Cardinal Bellarmin tho one of the Master-Builders of the Church of Rome deserves not to be reckon'd one of the wisest For he must shut his Eyes close who does not plainly see that he frequently defeats his own Design by giving Notes which conclude that Church to be false which he design'd to prove was the only true one Such for instance is that which is now to be consider'd as shall in the Sequel of this Discourse be made appear The Confutation of which cannot be difficult since I find nothing in the whole Chapter that hath so much as the shew of an Argument Whereas some of his Notes are guarded with a pretence at least of Scripture Reason and Antiquity this is exposed naked to the Assaults of its Adversaries without so much as a Paper Shield to protect it He tells us indeed many Tragical Stories of unhappy Deaths some of which are true some doubtful and others false some of Persons who were deadly Enemies other of Persons who were zealous Defenders of the true Church But had the Stories been all certainly true and had the Persons who thus died been all of them implacable Enemies of the Church of Rome yet what does it signify unless he had also proved That when a Person dies an unnatural Death the meaning of it is That that Church of which he professed himself a Member is false and the Church he opposed the only true one But how unwise soever he was in the choice of his Note he was so wise as not to attempt the proof of this unless the Citation of this Scripture may pass for a Proof Praise his People O ye Nations for he will avenge the Blood of his Servants and will render Vengeance to his Enemies (a) Deut. 32.43 God will avenge the Blood of his Servants therefore if a Protestant die an uphappy Death the Church of Rome is the only true Church But why did the Cardinal send out this Note so forlorn For a good Reason because no Defence could be found for it But why did he then bring it into the Field Because he knew it was Popular and might serve the Cause better than another that was never so well fenc'd For will not he dread to oppose the Church of Rome who is persuaded that God will set a Note of Vengeance upon those that do so Will not he stedfastly adhere to it who believes that that is a certain way to an happy Death In short whosoever can be persuaded to believe that the Church of Rome is by this Note distinguish'd from all other Churches he will as much dread to turn Protestant as he does to die the most prodigious sort of Death But the Mischief is That however serviceable this pretended Note may be to them among weak and undiscerning Persons it will do there as much disservice among those who are judicious and able to examine it For when they shall once see what a palpable Cheat it is and in case that it were a Note of the true Church that the Church of Rome hath the least Reason of any Church in the World to pretend to it they will be thereby disposed to break off from the Communion of that Church which contradicts its own Marks and betake themselves to some other Church which hath a better Title to them For the effecting of which I shall proceed in this Method I. I shall premise some Things as preparatory to what follows II. Shew that this can