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
from themselves is consistent with their Nature and for all which if the Errors are not fundamental they are Churches still but to find Errors and Contradictions in an Infallible Church is to confound the nature of things to give the Infallible Church no advantage over the Fallible and to expose the Persons that betake themselves to that shelter to all the Disquietudes Uncertainties and Disappointments of Ignorance and Error For what is the usual Reason given for forsaking other Churches but because they are Fallible What is the Reason why they go over to the Church of Rome but because she is as they are made to believe Infallible But if with her Infallibility she has mistaken if with her Certainty she contradicts her self if she was one thing in one Age and another in another then there is the same Reason to quit the Church of Rome as there was to imbrace it and such persons must either be contented with a Church that is Fallible or be of none THE END Pag. 63. Marg. lin ult read in Apoc. 17. 5. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Fourth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ AMPLITUDE or Multitude and Variety of Believers Quarta Nota est Amplitudo sive Multitudo Varietas Credentium Bellarm. L. iv c. vii de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR Apr. 27. 1687. GVIL. NEEDHAM WE could very willingly appeal to our Adversaries themselves were they unconcerned whether a plainer Proof can be given of a Baffled Cause in a Controversy relating to any Point of revealed Religion than for the Assertors of it to decline maintaining it by those Books which alone can acquaint us with Divine Revelations But 't is Notorious that the Romanists are highly chargeable upon this Account in their Endeavours to persuade the World that theirs is the only true Church They need not be told that we are beholden to the Holy Scriptures for our having any Notion of such a thing as a Church and they and we are agreed that that only is the true Christian Church which professeth the true Christian an Faith and therefore how is it possible they should not be aware that the best way to be satisfied whether those who challenge to themselves the Title of the True and Catholick Church have it really belonging to them is to examine their Faith by the Holy Scriptures Which 't is hard to imagine they can think to be so imperfect a Rule of Faith as to believe it a justifiable thing to be so averse to this Method as we have ever found they are This we of the Reformation have always stuck to and we are desirous of nothing more than that it may be tryed by the Faith we profess whether we are sound Members of the Catholick Church and the soundness of our Faith may be tryed by the Scriptures But instead of taking this Course those of the Roman Communion have invented and do insist on a Company of Notes and Characters of the Church which are either not to be met with or are far from being plainly delivered in Scripture Had this been our practice I appeal to their own Consciences whether they could have imputed it to a better Cause than our being conscious to our selves of the disagreeableness of our Faith with the Doctrine of Scripture and our not daring to have it brought to this Touch-stone Of this sort of Notes Cardinal Bellarmine hath given us no fewer than Fifteen among which he could afford no Place to this Note of ours though 't is as evident as the Light that this one alone would have signified much more to his Purpose than all that long Bead-roul put together The Design of this Discourse is to examine his Fourth Note viz. Amplitudo sive Multitudo Varietas Credentium Amplitude or Multitude and Variety of Believers And how far he makes it to extend his next Words inform us viz. Ecclesia enim verè Catholica non solum debet amplecti omnia Tempora sed etiam omnia Loca omnes Nationes omnia Hominum Genera The truly Catholick Church ought not only to comprehend all Ages but also all Places all Nations and all Sorts of Men. And First He endeavours to prove this to be a true Note Secondly To make it to belong to the Church of Rome and to her alone Thirdly To perswade us that those particularly who call themselves the Reformed Churches can lay no claim to it And it shall be my Business First To shew that this cannot be a Note of the true Church And Secondly Supposing it to be so that the Church of Rome will however gain nothing by it as to her Pretension nor the Reformed Churches lose any thing Nay on the contrary that it will quite overthrow her Pretension of being the whole Catholick Church and do the Reformed Churches as great Service as Her Prejudice First I will briefly shew that this cannot be a Note of the true Church By a Note is understood a distinguishing Character but this is such a Character of the true Church as no one could less distinguish it And that whether we consider the Members thereof under either the notion of a great Multitude or a great Multitude of Believers Considering them under the Notion of a great Multitude the Church which is Christ's Kingdom is far from being distinguishable as such from the Kingdom of Satan which was always incomparably more numerous Or from that part of it which consisteth of Idolatrous Pagans What Romanist can boast of his Church in reference to this Note as Demetrius the Silver-Smith did of his Diana when he said That all Asia and the World worshipped her Nor can the Church of Christ by the Number of its Members be distinguished from the Worshippers of that great Impostor Mahomet which the Sons of the Roman Church must especially grant to be far exceeding the Members of Christ's true Church in Number since they make themselves the only Catholicks Again considering them under the Notion of a great Multitude of Believers there was an Age in which the Orthodox Christians could not be distinguished from Hereticks by the greatness of their Number whom the Romanists will not admit to be Members of the Church in any sense for in the Reign of Arrianism ingenuit Orbis mirabatur c. The World lamented and wondred to find it self turned Arrian saith St. Hierom. And it became a Proverb Athanasius against the whole World and the whole World against Athanasius And lastly the Church of Christ is not to be thus distinguished from the Kingdom of Antichrist I wish our Adversaries could impartially consider whose Note that of having Power given him over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations is most likely to be Apoc. 13.7 And who it is that is described by sitting as upon seven Hills so upon many Waters Chap. 17.1 Which Waters are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations Vers 15. and Tongues These
those Bishops who should so do without Exception Forerunners of Antichrist is as plain a Proof that the Bishops of Rome to his time did not look on themselves as having a Primacy over all Churches And 't is manifest that in the time of the Council of Nice the Church of Rome was not thought to include the Catholick Church or to be any more than one part thereof This I say is manifest from the Sixth Canon of that Council viz. Let the ancient Customs be preserved for the Bishop of Alexandria to have Jurisdiction over Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis because the Bishop of Rome hath a like Custom c. Which is as much as to say that the Bishop of Alexandria had then the same uncontroulable Power in his large Jurisdiction that the Bishop of Rome had in his And therefore that Council knew nothing of this Bishop's having any Power over the Alexandrian and much less over the whole Catholick Church Nor is any thing more certain than that the mere Superiority of Honour which the Roman Church had was founded on no Divine Right but only on that Cities being the Seat of the Empire For as the Second General Council viz. that of Constantinople decreed in its Third Canon That the Bishop of Constantinople should have the priviledg of Honour next to the Bishop of Rome upon the account of its being the Imperial City and therefore called New Rome So in the Twenty eighth Canon of the Fourth General Council viz. that of Chalcedon it was ordained that for the same Reason the Bishop of Constantinople should have equal priviledges with the Bishop of Rome So that 't is a plain Case that whosoever shall undertake to prove from any Sayings of the Ancients for the first 500 Years at least that the Church of Rome and the Catholick Church were reputed to be the same and consequently that whatsoever they said of the Amplitude of this is to be understood of that Church must necessarily make as sad work of it as Bellarmin hath here done And therefore it is apparent too that no Service can be done to the Church of Rome by this Note as to her pretension of being the true Catholick Church From whence it will likewise follow that no prejudice can from thence accrue to the Reformed Churches But this is not all For 2. This Note were it a true one would be Destructive to that her Pretence and do the Reformed Churches great Service viz. in demonstrating them to be true parts of the Catholick Church This also may be concluded from what hath been said but it will be made more evident by these following Considerations 1. If the Church of Rome had as Ample a Spread over the World for some of the first Ages as Bellarmin contends for this would far more redound to the Advantage of our Churches of the Reformation were Amplitude a distinguishing Property of the Church than to the Advantage of the present Church of Rome because that Church then was more ours than now it is the Romanists For there can scarcely be a greater Disagreement in Doctrine and Worship between any two Christian Churches than there hath for a long time been between the same Church as she was then and is now But the Agreement is as great between the Ancient Church of Rome and our Churches and especially between Her and the Church of England This our Adversaries could not but see would they impartially compare the Doctrine and Worship of each together And the only Quarrel they have with us is that we will not admit more into our Creed than the Christians of the First Ages did into theirs And that we worship God only by the alone Mediation of Jesus Christ as they did That our Laity partake of the Communion in both kinds as theirs did And in short that we believe the Holy Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith as it was every where believed to be by the Primitive Catholicks and that we will not receive into our Worship the Roman Novelties those things which were utterly unknown to both the Roman and all other Churches in those Ages Now whereas the Cardinal would have it observed for the better explaining the meaning of this Note That if one Province alone should retain the true Faith it might properly be called the Catholick Church so long as its Faith is one and the same with that which at one time or other had prevailed in the whole World We desire no greater Advantage to our Church and all other in Communion with Her since these and those Churches which in the Primitive Times were extended all over the then known parts of the World are agreed in much more than all the Fundamental Points of Faith. 2. It hath been estimated upon Computation that the Churches subject to the Roman See exceed not much the Reformed Churches in Amplitude or Multitude of Members Especially since Italy Spain See the Preface to Brerewood's Enquiries and Portugal are detained in the Romish Religion not by Choice or Judgment but by Ignorance and the Tyranny of the Inquisition But who can be ignorant that the Church of Rome bears not the least proportion upon those Accounts with these Churches considered in Conjunction with that part of Christendom which agreeth with them as in all the main Points of Christianity so in refusing Subjection to that Church and in most of those Doctrines and Practices which we condemn in Her as contrary to Holy Scripture or as not founded thereon and yet made necessary to Salvation by Her and not taught by the Primitive Church So that should all the Churches which deny that of Rome to have any Authority over them deal with Her as she hath dealt with them and pronounce Her to have nothing more left Her than the mere Name of a Church this Her Note would be an unanswerable Objection against Her being A true Church as well as The true Church on supposition that as she holds of two Parties of Christians rejecting Communion with and unchurching each other but one of them can be a true Church That so large a part of Christendom I say agrees with the Reformed Churches in all the Grand Articles of Faith and in the Chief of those wherein they are at Varience with the Church of Rome as makes the whole an incomparably greater Body of Believers than all those together who own that Church for their Mother is so notorious that 't is impossible our Adversaries should dispute it The Cardinal indeed tells us on this Note That Besides all Italy and Spain and almost all France which the Church of Rome possesseth And besides Germany England Poland Bohemia Hungary Greece Syria Aethiopia Egypt in which many Catholicks are found even in the New World viz. America She hath Churches without the mixture of Hereticks And we can Reply That Besides England Scotland and Ireland in which Protestancy is the National Religion and in the two former of which the Number
that she imposes must be set by till it appears that she requires the same Doctrine and no other than what was taught and believed by the Primitive Church For according to this Note it does not appear which is the true Church till it first appears that it agrees with the Doctrine of the Primitive and till it appears that it is a true Church it cannot sure appear to be an Infallible one for it cannot he pretended that Infallibility belongs to any but the true Church and therefore it must be first known that the present Church agrees with the Primitive before it can be known that she is an Infallible Guide or Teacher So that we manifestly gain this first by this Note of the Church that all those big and blustering Claims to Infallibility must be postpon'd and laid aside till that of agreeing with the Doctrine of the Primitive Church be made out and when that is done we shall not have quite so much reason to question her Infallibility We desire nothing more than to have the matter brought to this Issue Whether the Doctrines of the Reformed or the Romish Church do agree best with the Primitive Since for Reasons well known to themselves and very much suspected by others they are so willing to goe off from Scripture and to decline the Judgment of that as incompetent and insufficient in most of the Controversies between us we are very ready to leave them to be decided by any other indifferent Arbitrator for we think it is a little odd and unreasonable they should make themselves the only Judges of what is in difference between us and therefore we are very ready to stand to the Award and Vmpirage of the Primitive Church and we are not in the least afraid to venture our whole Cause to the sentence and decision of That for tho the Scripture be our only Rule of Faith and Doctrine necessary to be believed by us because we know of no other Revelation but that and nothing but Revelation makes any Doctrine necessary to be believed yet we are very willing to take the sence and meaning of Scripture both from it self and from the Primitive Church too so according to Vincentius Lyrinensis to have the line of Scriptural Interpretation be directed by the Rule of Ecclesiastical and Catholick Judgment †Ut Propheticae Apostolicae interpretationis linea secundum Ecclesiastici Catholici sensus normam dirigatur Vincent Lyrinens contra haeres c. 2. that is to have the Primitive Church direct us in interpreting Scripture where it stands in need of it or there is any Controversy about its meaning Let the Scripture therefore as sensed by the Primitive Church and not by the private Judgment of any particular Man be allowed and agreed by us to be the Rule of our Faith and let that be accounted the true Church whose Faith and Doctrine is most conformable and agreeable with the Primitive We desire nothing more than to find out the true Church by the true Faith and we think this is the true way to find it out For Christian Faith is prior and antecedent to the Christian Church and that must be first known and supposed before we can know any such thing as a Church for 't is the Faith makes the Church and not the Church the Faith and therefore the true Church is to be known by the true Doctrine and not the true Doctrine by the Church as is some Folks way If a Church then has never so many other glorious Marks yet if it has not the true Faith according to the Rule before laid down it cannot be the true Church and if it have never so true a Succession of Pastors deriving their Power in an uninterrupted Line from the Apostles yet if it have not a true Succession of Doctrine too from them it is not a true Church So far indeed as it holds and professes the common Christian Faith so far for that very Reason it is a true Church and so far we allow the Roman to be a true Church and so far they cannot deny us to be one neither as the same Faith Fundamentals of Christianity are received and believed by both of us for this Faith being the same to both of us makes us both so far to be true Churches upon the same grounds but so far as we differ in Matters of Faith whether we or they be the true Church is the question between us and we are willing to have this determined by the Primitive Church If the Faith then and Doctrine of the Roman Church wherein it differs from us be the same with the Faith and Doctrine of the Primitive Church then that is the true Church If it be contrary and unagreeable to the Faith and Doctrine of the Primitive then it is not the true Church but a false and erroneous one And here we ought to make a particular enquiry and examination of all those Matters of Faith which are in controversie between us and bring each of them to the Test and Trial and see which Church does most agree in all those disputed Doctrines with the Doctrine of the Primitive Church for here we must be allowed to examine particular Doctrines that are in difference between us and every private Christian who is seeking for the true Church must if he would find it by this Mark of Bellarmine be allowed to inquire into and examine the Doctrines of the present Church and see whether they are agreeable to those of the Primitive or no and this he must do by his private Judgment and by the best means and helps he can use to this purpose for he is not yet supposed to have found out the true Church but to be finding it out by this Mark given of it and till he has found it out by this Mark and Direction he cannot be under its guidance and conduct so that he must make use of his own Reason and Judgment at least till he has thus found it that is he must have the Liberty to search and inquire into the Faith and Doctrines of the Primitive Church and to judg for himself as well as he can by his own best Discretion and the best helps he can use which Church does best agree in its Faith and Doctrines with the Primitive and according as he shall upon his own enquiry and examination find so he must choose that Church which he thinks is the truest but he must not give himself up to the absolute guidance and direction of any Church at least till he has by this way found out the true which is another manifest Advantage that we have by this Note against our Adversaries who are rather for bearing Men down with the bold pretence of Infallibility and the terrible fright of Damnation out of the true Church rather than suffering them according to this true Method to find it out And as he must thus use his own Judgment in an impartial search
venture their Cause to any other Sentence but that of Scripture which had so plainly decided for them and was indeed the most proper to be appealed to yet the greatest number and the most learned of the Protestant Writers have never declined the Judgment of the Primitive Church but next to the inspired Writings of the Apostles have always esteemed and been willing to be determined by it And we are well assured that the Ancient Church even the Roman it self as well as the whole Christian besides is in all material Points on the Protestant side and a perfect Stranger if not an utter Enemy to those new Articles of Faith and Corruptions of Doctrine which have been since brought into the Western Church and which we have for that Reason protested against because they were unknown and contrary to the Faith and Doctrine of the Primitive Church It would too much exceed the set Limits of this Paper to make this out so fully as might easily be done by going through the chiefest Points of Difference between us Bellarmine in his Discourse upon this Note goes wholly off from it and chuses rather to pursue Luther and Calvin and some other worthy Reformers through all the Paths of Calumny and Slander but I shall not follow him to take him off from those false and injurious Representations he hath made of their Doctrines If any Body has the curiosity to see the Art of Misrepresenting in its greatest perfection let him but read that Chapter but if he will see it as perfectly shamed and exposed let him read Bishop Morton's long and learned Answer to it * Apologia Catholica p. 61. to p. 278. We are examining the Doctrines and finding out the Marks of the Church and not of particular Men and had Calvin or others taught any such Doctrines as are very falsly there laid to their Charge I know none had been concerned in them but themselves and no Church could have been prejudiced by them any farther than it had received them I shall therefore keep more close to Bellarmine's Note tho not to his Method upon it and I assure a late Adviser †Advice to the â—onfuter of Belâ—â—mine 't is not the design of confuting him but setting Men right in the way to the True Religion and the True Church when others are so busy to draw them off by false Marks and Pretences which is the cause of this Vndertaking I confess it would be too prolix as Bellarmine says to produce all the Testimonies of the Ancients thereby to shew what was the Doctrine of the Primitive Church in every particular Point controverted between us I shall therefore offer only some plain and brief Remarks by which the sense of the Primitive Church may be undeniably known in most of the Controversies and by which it will appear what was the Doctrine of the Church then and how contrary that of the Church of Rome is now to it And here I should first begin with the most Primitive that is with the Apostolick Church which truly and only deserves the Title of being Mother and Mistress of all Christian Churches that ever were or shall be in the World it is as vain as arrogant for any later and particular Church to assume that to it self which is but a Sister-Church at most and younger than some of the rest and tho more fine and proud yet not half so honest and uncorrupt This Apostolick Church which was founded and governed by the Apostles over all the World is the true Standard of the Christian Church and as in revealed Religion That which is first is true according to Tertullian's * Id verum quod prius id prius quod ab initio ab initio quod ab Apostolis Tertul. de praescript l. 4. Axiom because it comes nearest to the first pure Fountain of Revelation so as he adds That is first which is from the Beginning and from the Apostles We should first then examine what was the Faith and Doctrine of the Apostolick Church the greatest and almost only account of which we have in their own Canonical Writings which are received and allowed as such by the whole Christian Church and in these our Adversaries find so little of their own late and new Doctrines that they cannot but own that these are insufficient to authorise and establish most of them without the Authority of the present Church and without the help of unwritten Traditions When we produce Scripture against our Adversaries we then produce the only Authentick Records of the Apostolick Church and the only certain account we have of the Faith and Doctrine of the most Primitive Church let them object therefore never so much against Scripture as a Rule of Faith yet whilst it contains the only sure Testimony of what was taught and believed by the first Christian Church so far as any of these Doctrines are not in Scripture so far they cannot appear to be the Doctrine of the Apostolick Church and whilst we hold all that Faith and all those Doctrines that are contained in Scripture we hold all that can be known to be so in the most pure and most Primitive Church and whatsoever they have added to Scripture which they will needs have to be but an imperfect Rule of Faith they have added so far as can be known to the Doctrine of the Apostolick Church for if Scripture be not the only Rule of that yet it is the only Historical Account we have of it But I shall not at present deal with them out of Scripture tho as it is only a Record and Evidence of the Apostolical Faith they will count this but a Trick I know to draw them into a Scripture Dispute which they are mighty averse to and which they design to avoid by an Appeal from that to the Primitive Church we will go on therefore with our Note as they I suppose mean and understand it and that we may not be too troublesom to them with Scripture and the Apostolick Writings we will go several Ages lower even down to those Times wherein the Church was in its glorious State under the first Christian Emperors and whether their Doctrines or ours were most agreable to those of this Primitive Church Let us now come briefly to enquire in some particular Instances and by some few short Remarks and Observations And First Was any such thing as their pretended Supremacy then allowed of when in the first general Council at Nice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Nicen. Can. 6. There was a limited Power assigned to the Bishop of Rome as there was to the other Metropolitans of Alexandria and Antioch who were to keep their Bounds set them by antient Custom which is utterly inconsistent with an Universal Supremacy over the whole Church by a Divine Right as is since pretended and claimed contrary to all Antiquity For the next General Council appoints the Bishop of Constantinople to have Prerogatives of Honour
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
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
Christians Now I must confess these Notes as he well observes are common to all Christian Churches and were intended to be so and if this does not answer his Design we cannot help it The Protestant Churches do not desire to confine the Notes of the Church to their own private Communions but are very glad if all the Churches in the World be as true Churches as themselves The whole Catholick Church which consists of a great many particular Diocesan or National Churches has the same Nature And when the whole consists of univocal parts every part must have the same Nature with the whole And therefore as he who would describe a man must describe him by such Characters as fit all Mankind so he who gives the Essential Characters of a Church must give such Notes as fit all true Churches in the World. This indeed does not fit the Church of Rome to make it the only Catholick and the only true Church nor do we intend it should but it fits all true Churches wherever they are and that is much better To answer then his Argument when we give Notes which belong to a whole Species as we must do when we give the Notes of a true Christian Church there being a great many true Churches in the World which make up the Catholick or Universal Church we must give such Notes as belong to the whole kind that is to all true Christian Churches And though these Notes are common indeed to all true Christian Churches yet they are proper and peculiar to a true Christian Church as the Essential Properties of a man are common to all men but proper to mankind And this is necessary to make them true Notes For such Notes of a true Church as do not fit all true Churches cannot be true Notes As for what the Cardinal urges That all Sects of Christians think themselves to have the true Faith and true Sacraments I am apt to think they do but what then If they have not the true Faith and true Sacraments they are not true Churches whatever they think of it and yet the true Faith and true Sacraments are certain Notes of a true Church A Purchase upon a bad Title which a man thinks a good one is not a good Estate but yet a Purchase upon a Title which is not only thought to be but is a good one is a good Estate All that can be said in this case is That men can be no more certain that they have a true Church than they are that they have a true Faith and true Sacraments and this I readily grant But as mens mistakes in this matter does not prove that there is no true Faith nor true Sacraments so neither does it prove that a true Faith and true Sacraments are not Notes of the true Church 2. The Cardinal 's second Objection is That the Notes of any thing must be more known than the thing it self which we readily grant Now says he which is the true Church is more knowable than which is the true Faith and this we deny and that for a very plain reason because the true Church cannot be known without knowing the true Faith for no Church is a true Church which does not profess the true Faith. We may as well say that we can know a Horse without knowing what the shape and figure of a Horse is which distinguishes it from all other Creatures as that we can know a Christian Church without knowing what the Christian Faith is which distinguishes it from all other Churches or we may as well say that we can know any thing without knowing what it is since the very Essence of a true Church consists in the true Faith which therefore must be first known before we can know the true Church But the Cardinal urges that we cannot know what true Scripture is nor what is the true interpretation of Scripture but from the Church and therefore we must know the Church before we can koow the true Faith. As for the first I readily grant that at this distance from the writing the Books of the New Testament there is no way to assure us that they were written by the Apostles or Apostolical men and owned for inspired Writings but the Testimony of the Church in all Ages But herein we do not consider them as a Church but as credible Witnesses Whether there be any such thing as a Church or not we can know only by the Scriptures But without knowing whether there be a Church or not if we know that for so many Hundred years these Books have been owned to be written by such men and have been received from the Apostles days till now by all who call themselves Christians this is as good an Historical Proof as we can have for any thing and it is the Authority of an uninterrupted Tradition not the Authority of the Church considered as a Church which moves us to believe them For setting aside the Authority of Tradition how can the Authority of a Company of men who call themselves the Church before I know whether there be any Church move me to believe any thing which was done 1600. years a-go But there is a Company of men in the World and have been successively for 1600. years whether they be a Church or not is nothing to this question who assure me that these Books which we call the Scriptures were written by such inspired men and contain a faithful account of what Christ did and taught and suffered and therefore I believe such Books and from them I learn what that true Faith is which makes a true Christian Church As for the true interpretation of Scripture that we cannot understand what it is without the Church this I also deny The Scriptures are very intelligible to honest and diligent Readers in all things necessary to salvation and if they be not I desire to know how we shall find out the Church for certainly the Church has no Character but what is in the Scripture and then if we must believe the Church before we can believe or understand the Scriptures we must believe the Church before we can possibly know whether there be a Church or not If we prove the Church by the Scripture we must believe and understand the Scripture before we can know the Church If we believe and understand the Scriptures upon the Authority and Interpretation of the Church considered as a Church then we must know the Church before the Scripture The Scripture cannot be known without the Church nor the Church without the Scripture and yet one of them must be known first and yet neither of them can be known first according to these Principles which is such an absurdity as all the Art of the World can never palliate 3. The Cardinal 's third Objection is That the true Notes of the Church must be inseparable from it whereas the Churches of Corinth and Galatia did not always teach true Doctrine some of the Church
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
to claim the highest degree of Worship The Scripture says See Discourse concerning Invocation of Saints 1684. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed Making God alone the Object of Prayer who is the only Object of Mens Faith and Confidence Rom. 10.14 The Scripture says Two others in 1686. There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.5 6. The Scripture says See particular examination of Monsieur de Meaux in the Articies of Invoc of Saints and Worship of Images 1686. as it is in Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing c. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them Exod. 20.4 Where we see all use of Images in the worship of God whether Carved or Painted are expresly forbidden without any Exception or Distinction See Treatise on Search the Scriptures 1685. As also the Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Scriptures 1687. The Scripture commands all Persons indifferently to read to search to meditate on the Scriptures that the Word of God dwell in them richly in all Wisdom Luk. 16.29 John 5.39 Psal 1.2 Col. 3.16 See Disc of Divine Service in an unknown Tongue 1685. The Scripture expresly forbids Prayers in an unknown Tongue as altogether unprofitable and unedifying in the Church 1 Cor. 14.2 He that speaks in an unknown Tongue speaketh not unto Men ver 11. If I know not the meaning of the Voice he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me ver 16. If thou shalt bless with the Spirit by the gift of an unknown Tongue how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks since he understands not what thou sayest The Scripture says Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord they rest from their Labours Rev. 14.13 To Day said our Saviour to the repenting Thief on the Cross shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23.43 And Paradise is acknowledged by them to be a place of Peace and Joy. Bellar. de Sanct. Beat. l. 1. c. 3. Test 4. The Scripture says that the Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth us from all Sin. 1 Joh. 1.7 And that God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us all our Trespasses Eph. 4.32 Col. 2.13 See Discourse of the Communion in one kind in answer to Monsieur de Meaux 1687. The Scripture says that when our Saviour instituted the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood he commanded it to be administred and receiv'd in both kinds the Cup as well as the Bread saying Drink ye all of this Mat. 26.27 Neither were the Disciples any more Priests when they took the Cup than when they received the Bread for if they were made Priests by our Saviour's pronouncing these Words Do this in Remembrance of me they became so before they had taken at least before they had eaten the Bread as well as before they had received the Cup It not appearing that Christ made any Pause betwixt his saying Take eat This is my Body and his saying Do this in Remembrance of me but spake them as it were in a Breath as one continued Sentence and then upon this account the whole Sacrament the Bread as well as the Wine must belong only to the Priests See Discourse of Transubstantiation 1685. The Scripture says that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament even after Consecration is Bread and Wine still 1 Cor. 11.26 27. And it is very evident that when our Saviour said Another of the Real Presence c. in Answer to two Discourses from Oxford 1687. This is my Body he meant it only as the Representation of his Body a manner of Speech well understood by the Jews who commonly said the same thing of the Paschal Lamb They call'd it the Body of the Passover whenas it was but the Memorial a Figure usual in Sacraments and indeed essential to them Adeò potenter efficaciter ut si Christus necdum esset incarnatus per haec verba hoc est Corpus meum incarnaretur Corpusque humanum assumeret Cornel. a Lapid Com. in Esa c. 7. The Scripture says that Christ needed not daily as those High Priests to offer up Sacrifice c. for this he did once when he offer'd up himself Heb. 7.27 And that without Blood there is no Remission of Sin Heb. 9.22 The Church of Rome says that Angels and Saints are to be worship'd and pray'd unto Catech. Rom. par 3. c. 2. n. 8 9. Tho with an inferiour kind of worship not the same that 's given to God. Ibid. The Church of Rome says It 's good and profitable to pray to Saints and Angels Concil Trid. Sess 25. de Invocat The Church of Rome prays to Saints as Intercessors and teaches that God bestows many Favours upon Men by their Merit Grace and Intercession Catech. Rom. par 3. c. 2. n. 12. The Church of Rome requires that due worship and veneration be given to them such as kissing uncovering the Head and falling down before them and denounces a Curse against those that think otherwise Concil Trid. Sess 25. Catech. Rom par 3. c. 2. n. 24. And then to cover the Shame and Guilt of this claps the Second Commandment to the First and by making it of the same sense with that makes it to have none of its own nor of any signification The Church of Rome allows not this liberty to the Laity but upon Licence that is not easily to be obtained and says that more hurt than good comes by the reading of them Reg. Ind. libr. Prohib Reg. 4. Nay a liberty to read them under such a Restriction was thought too much and therefore the Faculty of granting such Licences was by the order of Pope Clement the 8th quite taken away Reg. Ind. libr. Prohib Auct Sexti 5. Clem. 8. Obser circa 4. regul The Church of Rome strictly enjoins such and no other viz. in the Latin Tongue and denounces a Curse against those who say that Divine Service ought to be administred only in the vulgar Tongue Concil Trident. Sess 22. c. 8. Can. 9. Hereby making the People perform to God an unreasonable Service whilst it takes from them the knowledg of the Prayers offered in their Name and suffers them not to understand their own Desires The Church of Rome says that Souls who die in a state of Grace but are not sufficiently purg'd from their Sins go first into Purgatory a place of Torment bordering near upon Hell from which yet their deliverance may be expedited by the Suffrages that is Prayers Alms and Masses said and done by the Faithful that are alive in their behalf Bellar. de Purgat l. 2. c. 6. Catech. Rom. par 1. c. 6. n. 3. Concil Trid. Sess 25. Decret de Purgat Now how this resting from their Labours and being in Paradise can be
consistent with the Pains and Fire of Purgatory which Bellarmin tells us is hotter than Hell it self is past my Apprehension The Chuch of Rome says that Souls are to continue in Purgatory till they have made full satisfaction for their Sins and are throughly purged from them and that whoever says that there is no Debt of temporal Punishment to be pay'd either in this World or in Purgatory before they can be admitted into Heaven is accursed Concil Trid. Sess 6. Can. 30. The Church of Rome says the Cup is not to be administred to the Laity and gives many reasons for it lest the Blood of Christ should be spilt lest the Wine kept for the Sick should fret lest Wine may not always be had or lest some may not be able to bear the smell or taste of it Whether these are sufficient Reasons or no the Council of Trent enjoyns all to believe them so under an Anathema Concil Trid. Sess 21. Can. 1. 2. The Council of Constance acknowledges that our Saviour instituted the Sacrament in both kinds and that it so continued in the Church of Rome many Centuries and yet with a Notwithstanding to both these it sacrilegiously robs the People of the Cup. Concil Const Sess 13. The Church of Rome says that the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist by the Priests pronouncing these Words Hoc est corpus meum is transubstantiated into the natural Body and Blood of Christ the Species or Accidents only of the Bread and Wine remaining and hath made it an Article to be believed by all under an Anathema Concil Trid. Sess 13. de Real Praes c. 1. Cornel. a Lapide tells us that it was the Opinion of some of their grave Divines that this Change is made after so powerful and effectual manner that if Christ had not been incarnated before the force of this Charm would have incarnated him and cloath'd him with Human Nature The Church of Rome says that in the Sacrifice of the Mass Christ is offered as often as that is celebrated and that tho' therein he be unbloodily offer'd yet is it a true propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins both of the Living and Dead Concil Trid. Sess 22. Cap. 1. And declares the Person accursed that denies any part of this Ibid. In all these Particulars you see and several other might be instanc'd in the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of Rome bears a manifest repugnance to the Gospel of Christ Now if the Holy Scripture may be allow'd so much as to be a Rule of Faith and Manners in those things it particularly treats of the Church of Rome contradicting that Rule in those things must be condemned for a Corrupter of the Christian Faith or Doctrine And having thus made it evident that she holds not the true Catholick Faith 't is as evident that she is not and consequently deserves not to be called a Catholick Church THE END LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1687. The Second Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ. ANTIQUITY Secunda Nota est ANTIQVITAS Bellar. L. iv c. v. de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR Apr. 5. 1687. JO. BATTELY IT is a shrewd sign that a Church is in an ill Case when the most learned and witty Defenders of it commend it to the World by such Marks and Characters whereby they say it may be known as are neither proper to it alone nor in Truth belong to it But more truly and evidently belong to them whom they oppose That this is the Case of the present Church of Rome in that Famous Note of ANTIQUITY which Bellarmin and others make a Mark of the true Church I will clearly and distinctly demonstrate by shewing these three Things I. That the Plea of bare Antiquity is not proper to the Church but common to it with other Societies of false Religion II. That true Antiquity is not on the side of the present Roman Church But III. That it is truly on Ours I. It is confessed by all even by them who make Antiquity a Mark of the Church that the Notes of a Thing must be proper to that of which they are a Note and not common to it with other Things Which quite destroys this Note of Antiquity upon a double Account First Because that which 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 without the destruction of its Being be absent from it This every Fresh-Man in Learning knows and by that may know that Antiquity is not a Note proper to the Church because it did not always belong to the Church For there was a Time when the Church was New. Which was objected to it by the Adversaries of our Religion and the Defenders of the Church answered the very same to them then that we do to the Romanists now as will appear in the second Thing I have to observe Secondly That other Societies have laid claim to this Note and it could not be denied them and therefore 't is not a proper Note whereby the true Church may be certainly known being common to it with others that are not of the Church 1. For first the Samaritans claimed it against the Jews as appears from the Womans Discourse with our Saviour Joh. iv 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain c. They had done so for many Ages before they worshipped in Jerusalem For here God appeared unto Abraham who here also built an Altar when he came first out of Chaldea Gen. xii 6 7. Here Jacob likewise built an Altar when he came out of Mesopotamia Gen. xxxiii 20. Here there was a Sanctuary in the Days of Joshua who gave his last Charge to Israel and made a Covenant with them in this Place Chap. xxiv 25 26. Here the Patriarchs were buried v. 32. Nay here-abouts was Shiloh Judg. xxi 19. where by the order of Joshua the Tabernacle and the Ark of God were setled long before it was brought to Jerusalem Josh xviii 1 2. which was all this time in the Hands of the Jebusites To which Plea the Jews could not make an Answer but by maintaining this Principle That not the Antiquity of Place but the Authority of God's Precept was to be their direction in this Case And God it appeared by the Holy Books had chosen Jerusalem to place his Name there 2. Thus the Jews themselves argued against Christ that he did not follow the Tradition of the Elders which had been derived to them from ancient times Mark vii 1 c. and against Christians whom they called the Sect of the Nazarens Acts xxiv 5. as much as to say Hereticks newly sprung up from Jesus of Nazareth 3. And thus the Pagans argued against them both particularly against the Christians saying to St. Paul at Athens May we know what this New Doctrine whereof thou speakest is Acts xvii 19. And in after-times calling it a Novel Religion a
have been or that the Note of Duration belongs not to them Either then they must disprove the Duration of those Churches or discharge it from being the distinguishing Note of the true Church Lastly I may add If Duration be the standing Note or the true Church Then those could be no true Churches which have not had that Duration and so they must un-Church the seven Churches of Asia c. which have now no Existence but are utterly extinguished For if they had been true Churches they would have had Duration but having not Duration they could not according to this Doctrine have ever been true Churches But I am not willing thus to leave the Subject and shall therefore § III. Consider whether the Church of Rome after all its pretence to Duration and its establishment of this Note of the true Church has a just and sufficient claim to it When we would know whether a Church has this Note of Duration belonging to it we must consider what there is in a Church that is capable of being tried by this Character and that is either as to Place Persons Order or Doctrine for by these is it that the Church doth exist and is made visible and so the Church that puts in a Claim to Duration must be able to shew some Evidence for it from hence as far as she admits them for Instances of that Duration she pleads for 1. As to Place When we hear so much of the Church of Rome it 's to be supposed that Rome is the principal Seat of that Church as well as the Pope of Rome is the Head of it But this they cannot pretend to Duration in for if we look backward we find not only the City of Rome frequently sack'd and destroyed and wholly depopulated as it was by Alaricus Gensericus and Totylas but even deserted by the Popes themselves who with their whole Court resided at Avignon for 70 Years together as is acknowledged Bellarm. de Pontif. l. 4. c. 4. If we look forward all that Bellarmine dares to offer upon the Point that the Chair of St. Peter shall not be separated from Rome is that it 's a pious and the most probable Opinion But if we consult others they say positively Vega Jesuita in Apoc. 18. com 7. §. 4. Rhem. Annot. in Apoc. ◠17.5 that Rome shall depart from the Faith and shall be an Habitation of Devils by reason of its Wickedness and Idolatry and be the Seat of Antichrist 2. If we proceed to Duration as it respects Persons where shall we expect that to be intire and uninterrupted if not in the Popes And yet if we may judg of Popes as Bellarmine doth of a Church De Not. l. 4. c. 8. §. dico secundo and that Heresie doth nullify their Elections and Successions as it doth the Verity of a Church there is nothing more shattered For if we look into the Catalogue of them we shall find Zepherinus a Montanist Marcellinus sacrificing to Idols Liberius and Faelix Arrians Anastasius a Nestorian Honorius a Monothelite John 23. denying a future Life with many others Go we on and where shall we find more or greater Schisms one Pope cursing another and undoing what his Predecessor had done as was the Case of Formosus Romanus Stephanus and Sergius Often two Popes together contesting for the Chair as it was for above forty Years at once and at one time three Popes that had such pretences to the Papacy that each had Learned Men for their Patrons De Pontif. l. 4. c. 14. §. Tricesimus septimus and it could not be easily judged which of them was the true and lawful Pope as Bellarmine himself acknowledges But this belongs to Note five of which more in its due place 3. If we proceed to Order either in Worship or Discipline the Case is so notorious as to the several Formularies used heretofore in that Church that it needs not to be insisted upon and it 's impossible for them to deny it 4. Therefore I shall proceed to Doctrine which indeed is the great Character by which a Church is to be discovered and tried And here that I may not either intrench upon what has been said before concerning the Variation of the Church of Rome in this Point from the Scriptures Vid. Note first and second and Antiquity or prevent what may further be said upon Note nine I shall compare the Church of Rome with it self if I can therein prove that it is not now what it hath been in many main Points De Not. l. 4. c. 6. §. Quamvis autem it will follow that it has no pretence to this Note of Duration for upon this Point of Alteration doth Bellarmine put the Issue What the Church of Rome doth hold 1. The Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and to believe her so to be is necessary to Salvation Concil Trid. Sess 7. de Bapt. Can. 3. Bulla Pii 4. 2. The Pope of Rome is Christ's Vicar and hath the Supream Power over the whole Church and without Subjection to him as such is no Salvation Concil Trid. Sess 6. Decret de Reform c. 1. Bulla Pii 4. Apocrypha 3. The Apocryphal Books are Canonical and Tobit and Judith c. are as much the Holy Scripture as Genesis c. and whosoever rejects these as not Canonical is accursed Council Trid. Sess 4. Scripture and Tradition 4. Scripture alone is not a Rule of Faith without Tradition and Traditions are to be received with the like Regard and Veneration as the Scriptures Trid. Sess 4. Scripture in unknown Tongues 5. The Scriptures are not to be read in the vulgar Tongue without Licence because more Prejudice than Profit will redound from it Reg. Ind. Libr. prohib R. 4. Merit 6. Good Works do truly deserve Eternal Life and whoever holds the contrary is accursed Trid. Sess 6. c. 16. Can. 32. Indulgences 7. By Indulgences granted by the Popes and Prelates of the Church Persons are discharged from Temporal Punishment here and in Purgatory Trid. Sess 25. Bull. Pii 4. Purgatory 8. There is a Purgatory after this Life where the Souls of those that are not purged nor have satisfied for their Sins here are there to be purged and to give Satisfaction unless their Time be shortned by the Prayers Alms and Masses of the Living Trid. Sess 25. Sess 22. Can. 3. Service in an unknown Tongue 9. It 's required that Divine Service be performed in the Latin Tongue and whosoever saith it ought to be administred in a vulgar Tongue is accursed 10. In the Church of Rome they pray to Saints and Angels as their Intercessors Trid. Sess 25. Catech. Rom. par 4. c. 9. Images 11. Images are not only to be placed in Temples but also to be worshipped as if the Persons thereby represented were present Trid. Sess 25. Catech. Rom. par 4. c. 6. n. 4. Sacraments 12. There are
more evidently proved to be no true Catholicks than those of the Roman Communion may in all those Articles of Faith which are peculiar to themselves For as to Points of mere Belief how much more than the Apostles Creed can they shew us to have been received always every where and by all Christians But as for that large Addition of Tridentine Articles annexed to that Creed by P. Pius the 4th no unbiassed Person can believe they have ever done any thing like proving that any of them have been received always and much less every where and by all those whom themselves own for Catholick Christians 4. By this Note of a Catholick no Society of Christians can bid so fair for Catholicism as the Reformed Churches but especially the Church of England whose avowed Principle it is to receive nothing as an Article of Faith but what is contained in the holy Scriptures Artic. 6. or may be proved thereby Nor doth she embrace any one Doctrine as an Article of Faith but what is clearly expressed in those Books of whose Canonicalness there never was the least Dispute in the Primitive Church Secondly I proceed to shew that if we should acknowledg this to be a true Note of the Catholick Church instead of enabling the Church of Rome to make good her Pretension of so being it will destroy it And instead of doing Disservice to the Reformed Churches it will do them excellent Service and be a certain Argument of their being true Parts of the Catholick Church And 1. I will shew that it will not at all Advantage the Church of Rome as to that her Pretension and therefore can do us no Prejudice The Cardinal proves 1. That his Church began to fructify throughout the World in the Days of the Apostles from these Words of St. Paul Col. 1.6 The Truth of the Gospel is come unto you as it is in all the World and bringeth forth Fruit as it doth also in you c. But what is this to his Church Is the Gospel's bringing forth Fruit in all the World the same thing with the Church of Rome's so doing 2. He adds the Authority of several Fathers for this Church's being spread in their Time all over the then known World but gives us none of their Sayings except St. Prosper's The first Father he cites is St. Irenaeus in the 3d Chapter of his Book Edit Paris p. 53. But the Father here only saith That this Faith which he sums up immediately before and is but the chief part of the Apostle's Creed the Church disseminated throughout the World diligently preserves as if it were confined but to one House But how doth this concern the Church of Rome Which is not once mentioned with others here particularly named except we could be made to believe that wheresoever the Word Church is found that Church is still to be understood Next he cites Tertullian adversùs Judaeos Edit Rig. p. 189. and having search'd that Book these or none are the Words he means viz. Those Words of David are to be understood of the Apostle's their Sound is gone forth in all the Earth and their Words unto the End of the World For in whom have all Nations believed but in Christ who is now come The Parthians Medes Elamites and those that inhabit Mesopotamia Armenia Phrygia Cappadocia Pontus Asia and Pamphilia Egypt Africa and beyond Cyrene the Romans and Jews now in Jerusalem and other Nations as now of the Getuli and Moors all Spain divers Countries of the Gauls and those of the Britains which the Romans could never conquer are subject to Christ c. But I again ask What is all this to the Church of Rome more than to any other particular Church belonging to any one of the many Nations of which that of the Romans is one and two whole Quarters of the World here mentioned His third Father is St. Cyprian Edit Oxon. p. 10◠in his Book de Vnitate Ecclesiae But here is nothing he could fancy to be for his purpose except these Words The Church is one which by its Fruitfulness is extended into a Multitude As there are many Rays of the Sun and but one Light c. So the Church of our Lord which being filled with Light sends forth her Beams through the whole World is but one Light which is diffused every-where But though this be said of the Catholick Church is here the least Intimation that the Church of Rome is this Catholick Church After St. Cyprian follow several of the later Fathers their Books being only directed to But the narrow room I am confined to will not permit me to examine them nor need we look any farther to be satisfied how this greatest Man of the Roman Church condescended to the most shameful impertinence in citing Scripture and Fathers for the doing her Service But we must not overlook St. Prosper's Verses in his Book de Ingratis viz. Sedes Roma Petri quae Pastoralis Honoris Facta Caput Mundo quicquid non possidet Armis Relligione tenet i. e. Rome the Seat of Peter being made the Head of Pastoral Honour in the World whatsoever Country she possesseth not by her Arms she holds by her Religion But considering how early this Father lived viz. about the beginning of the Fifth Century he could mean no more than this That the Church of Rome the most Honourable of all other by means of that Cities being the ancient Seat of the Emperors keeps still possession of those places by the Religion they received from Her over which she hath lost Her Old Dominion And what is this but another plain Instance of most idle quoting of Ancient Authors Not to reflect upon Fetching Arguments from Poetical Flourishes But not to stand to consider how Ample the Roman Church was in the times of those Fathers nothing is more evident than that that part of Christendom she took up was but a small Spot of Ground compared with the Space those Churches filled which tho they held Communion with Her were distinct Churches from Her and owned no Subjection to Her. And it was about or above an Hundred Years after the youngest of those Fathers that the Pope was inverted by that Execrable Wretch Phocas a Blessed Title in the mean time with the Primacy over all Churches And Gregory the Great who died in the Beginning of the Sixth Century not only sharply inveighed against John Patriarch of Constantinople and his Successor Cyriacus for assuming to themselves the Title of Vniversal Bishops though there was no appearance of their designing any thing more thereby than an Addition of Honour not of Power to that Patriarchate but also called those who should affect such a Haughty Title Greg. Epist 37. 70. lib. 11. Ep. 30. l. 4. the Forerunners of Antichrist And as these Bishops taking this Title was a Demonstration that they acknowledged not the least Subjection to the Bishops of Rome so Pope Gregory's calling
69. which I presume is the best that his Friend Bellarmine could direct him to and which hath nothing further in it than a pretty high Flight which several of the Fathers would take when they mention the Holy Sacrament and what may be well enough defended by those that reject Transubstantiation to the uttermost The Cardinal gives us another Miracle from Paschasius de Corpore Dom. c. 14. which our late learned Reasoner is very fond of too ‖ Consens Veterum p. 97. The Story is of a certain Godly Priest that was in great dis-tress to see with his bodily Eyes the Shape of him whom he certainly believ'd actually present under the Species of Bread and Wine At length he obtain'd what he so long desir'd and beheld the Body of Christ in Human Shape but in the Figure of a Child which he had also most vehemently desired Now as to this beside the Authority of the Book out of which this is taken let us consider to what purpose this Miracle was wrought or the Story of it told in this place The Cardinal is upon the Proof of Christ's Bodily Presence in the Sacrament and this Bodily Presence is so receiv'd by those of the Roman Communion that they believe that very Body which was slain upon the Cross was buried was rais'd again and went up into Heaven that that very numerical Body is substantially and intirely under the Species of Bread and Wine the Substance of which is perfectly vanish'd Let me therefore ask Mr. Sclater of Putney because his Friend the Cardinal cannot now answer for himself Did our Blessed Saviour die an Infant and rise again an Infant and does he now sit at the Right Hand of God in the Figure of a Child or in his Infant-state If not and I hope he will say it is blasphemous to think so how then did this Godly Presbyter see the Body of Christ as he supposed it transubstantiated under the Species of Bread and Wine The Substance of the Bread and Wine was gone into that Body that had been crucified What! was there Transubstantiation upon Transubstantiation and the proper Body of our Saviour gone into the Substance of a Child's Body It may be this made him in love with those Liturgies he quotes †Consens Veterum p. 28. wherein the Priest is blessing God for vouchsafing by him to change the immaculate Body of Christ and his precious Blood c. To change it into what perhaps from that of a grown Man to that of a Child or Infant Well but the Cardinal is something more wary in the Story than the venturesom Gentleman of Putney For he tells us the Priest had desir'd to see him in this Shape If so and if he was thus far indulg'd what kind of Argument is this for Transubstantiation What Conviction is this that the very self-same Body that hung upon the Cross and is at the right Hand of God is brought down under the Species of Bread and Wine But the Author adds in Bellarmin That it pleaseth God to work Miracles upon a twofold account sometimes to confirm the doubting and sometimes for the Consolation of those that fervently love him * Bellarm. de Saer Euchar. ubi supr This we are to suppose then was not to confirm the Godly Priest in his Faith he needed not that but to give him great Consolation But what Are we to suppose so Godly a Presbyter as this was to be more ravish'd in the view of his Saviour under the shape of a smiling playing Babe than in that very Form wherein he finish'd the great work of our Salvation upon the Cross and wherein he is now triumphing Above in the Accomplishment of what he undertook Let him believe it that can make the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the Reason of his Conversion from the Church of England to that of Rome and can strengthen his Faith in it more firmly from some Rabbinical Prophecies and such a Story as this is †Consensus Veter p. 21 22. and so on and p. 97. I would have examined a Third Story of St. Anthony of Padua but I find this done so learnedly and so effectually to my Hands by a most ingenious Pen (a) Reflections on the Rom. Devotions p. 326 327 c. that I had rather refer the Reader thither than needlesly swell the bulk of this Note Considering therefore how little likelihood of Truth there is in many Stories of this kind or where as to matter of Fact some of them may have been possibly true yet how reasonably they may be accounted the Tricks and Impostures of Evil Spirits I cannot but close this Head with an Expression of St. Austin to the Donatists upon the same Pretensions they had to Miracles August de Vnitate Eccles c. 16. Removentur ista vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum Away with these either Fictions of Lying Men or Illusions of deceiving Spirits For certainly they are neither the Note nor can be the Glory of any true Church And therefore III. Lastly We of the Reform'd Religion as we do not pretend to the working of Miracles in our Age so if we did we could pretend to prove nothing by them but what hath been already sufficiently prov'd by the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles We most humbly and thankfully adore the great Condescentions of Divine Grace that hath been pleas'd in his first planting of Christianity so fully and so unquestionably to confirm all the necessary Articles of our Belief with such strong and convincing Miracles The Report of these Miracles we most firmly believe We do without the least haesitancy own the Almighty Power of God in them and entirely embrace all that Faith which they were design'd to confirm and establish We know of no other Doctrines that we have any Obligation to receive than what are deliver'd to us in the Holy Scriptures and so effectually seal'd to us We have nothing new to put off or back with the pretence of Miracles but are always ready to reject both the Doctrines when they are propos'd and the Miracles when they are offer'd in Defence of them We have no need to follow cunningly devis'd Fables since we have a more sure Word of Prophecy to which by God's Grace we will take heed And therefore all Miracles at this time of the Day are superfluous to us for if the Doctrine be not propos'd to us before-hand in the written Word ten thousand Miracles could not warrant it if it be to be found there they may save the trouble of a Miracle because that Word of God hath been sufficiently confirm'd in that Way already This Word of God is the sure Rule of our Faith the great Character of our Hopes and if the hearty Belief of this and humble Conformity of Life to it will not secure us at last we are contented to lose all the Rewards which this Gospel hath made us to expect And therefore
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
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
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