was said out of Austin formerly that whosoever contradicted that which was there delivered Aut haereticus aut a Christi fide alienus was either an Heretick or an Infidel If none of these particulars may be justly quarrelled it must be then that the Apostles thought not fit to commit it to writing but left it to depend on tradition only And yet St. Augustine saith the same Catholica fides in Symbolo nota fidelibus memoriaeque mandata c. The Catholick faith contained in the Creed saith he so well known to all faithful people and by them committed unto memory is comprehended in as narrow a compass as the nature of it will bear St. Hierome no great friend of Ruffines as I said before is more plain then he who tels us that the Symbolum of our faith and hope delivered by Tradition from the Apostles Non scribitur in charta atramento sed in tabulis cordis was not committed in those times to ink and paper but writ in the tables of mens hearts Irenaeus cals it in plain tearms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Greek word for Tradition and Tertullian fetcheth it as high as from the first creating of the Gospel Hanc regulam ab initio Evangelii decurrisse as expressely he Compare these passages of Irenaeus and Tertullian whereof the first conversed with Polycarpus the Apostles Scholar with that which is told us by Ruffinus of Majores nostri that the relation which he makes came from the Tradition of their forefathers and we shall finde as strong as constant and as universal a Tradition for the antiquity and authority of the Creed in question as for the keeping of the Lords-Day or the baptizing of Infants and it may be also for the names and number of the Books of Canonical Scripture And yet behold two witnesses of more antiquity then Irenaeus and Tertullian The first Ignatius one of the Apostles scholars and successour unto St. Peter in the See of Antioch who summeth up those Articles which concern the knowledge of CHRIST IESVS in his incarnation birth and sufferings under Pontius Pilate his death and descending into Hell his rising on the third day c. as they stand in order in the Creed The second is Thaddeus whom St. Thomas the Apostle sent to Abgarus the King or Toparch of Edessa within few years after the death of our Redeemer who being to instruct that people in the Christian faith gives them the sum and abstract of it in the same words and method as concerning CHRIST in which we finde them in the Creed at this very day Nor shall I fear to fare the worse amongst knowing men for relying so far upon Traditions as if a gap were hereby opened for increase of Popery For there are many sorts of Traditions allowed of and received by the Protestant Doctors such as have laboured learnedly for the beating down of Popery and all Popish superstitions of what kinde soever Chemnitius that learned and laborious Canvasser of the Councel of Trent alloweth of six kindes of Tradition to be held in the Church with whom agreeth our learned Field in his fourth book of the Church and 20. chapter Of these he maketh the first kinde to be the Gospel it self delivered first by the Apostles viva voce by preaching conference and such ways of lively expressions Et postea literis consignata and after committed unto writing as they saw occasion The second is of such things as at first depend on the authority and approbation of the Church but after win credit of themselves and yeild sufficient satisfaction unto all men of their divine infallible truths contained in them and of this kinde is that Tradition which hath transmitted to us from time to time the names and number of the Books of Canonical Scripture The third is that which Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of and that saith he is the transmission of those Articles of the Christian faith quos Symbolum Apostolicum complectitur which are contained in the Apostles Creed or Symbol The fourth touching the Catholick sense and interpretation of the Word of God derived to us by the works and studies of the FATHERS by them received from the Apostles and recommended to posterity The fifth kinde is of such things as have been in continual practise whereof there is neither precept nor example in the holy Scripture though the grounds reasons and causes of such practise be therein contained of which sort is the Baptism of Infants and the keeping of the Lords-Day or first day of the week for which there is no manifest command in the Book of God but by way of probable deduction only The sixt and last sort is de quibusdam vetustis ritibus of many antient rites and customs which in regard of their Antiquity are usually referred unto the Apostles of which kind there were many in the Primitive times but alterable and dispensable according to the circumstances of times and persons And of this kinde are those Traditions spoken of in our Book of Articles where it is said that it is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly like in that at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversity of countreys times and mens manners so that nothing be ordained against Gods Word So that the question between us and the Church of Rome is not in this as many ignorant men are made believe wheâ—her there be or not any such Traditions as justly can derive themselves from the Apostles or whether such Traditions be to be admitted in a Church well constituted I know no moderate understanding Protestant who makes doubt of either The question briefly stated is no more but this that is to say whether the Traditions which the Church of Rome doth pretend unto be Apostolical or not Now for the finding out of such Traditions as are truly and undoubtedly Apostolical there are but these two rules to be considered the first St. Austins and is this Quod universa tenet Ecclesia that whatsoever the Church holdeth and hath alwayes held from time to time not being decreed in any Councel may justly be believed to proceed from no other ground then Apostolical authority The second rule is this and that 's a late learned Protestants that whatsoever all or the most famous and renowned in all Ages or at the least in divers ages have constantly delivered as from them that went before them no man gainsaying or doubting of it without check or censure that also is to be believed to be an Apostolical Tradition By which two rules if we do measure the Traditions of the Church of Rome such as they did ordain in the Councel of Trent to be imbraced and entertained pari pietatis affectu with the like ardor of affection as the written Word What will become of prayer for the dead and Purgatory the Invocation of the Saints departed the worshipping of Images adoration
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad vitam eternam so saith Scharp a Scotchman Ecclesia Catholica coetus est hominum sanctorum quos ab aeterno Deus in Christo elegit so saith Dr. Whitakers Ecclesia Catholica coetus est universus electorum so the famous Raynolds The like might be produced from others of the Doctors of the Reformation were not these few sufficient to speak out for all Names great enough I must confess but not to be preferred before Sacred Truth in the defence whereof it behoves a man not wedded to mens names and dictates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words of Aristotle to sacrifice his private interesses and most dear Relations That the Elect are of the Church yea and the chief ingredients of the whole compositum it were impiety to deny And that it is for their sakes chiefly that the Word of God is preached the Sacraments of Christ administred the promises of life eternal offered to the Sons of Men is a thing which I shall easily grant And so I understand the words of Clemens of Alexandria saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Church of the first-born it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text whence the Father had it whose names are written in the Heavens as St. Paul informs us But in a great house there are more people than the children though all they co-heirs and in a Royal Court there are many Retainers whose names are not registred in the Check Though the Elect are of the Church yet neither all they nor yet they alone Not all the Elect for when Saul breathed out slaughter against the Saints and Mary Magdalen was possessed with seven devils at once whether with so many wicked spirits or the seven deadly sins we dispute not now who can affirm them to be Members of the Church of Christ And yet who can or dare deny that they were vessels of election elect according to the fore-knowledge of Almighty God Secundum praescientiam praedestinationem quam multi oves foris quam multi lupi intus as St. Augustine hath it According to Gods prescience and predestination How many of the Sheep saith he are without the Church how many Wolves contained in it And in another place Electorum quidam in haeresibus aut Gentilium superstitionibus sunt tamen illic novit Dominus qui sunt ejus Many of the Elect. saith he are yet involved in Heresie or Heathenish Superstitions whom yet God knoweth to appertain unto the number of his people Nor they alone For there are Wolves within the fold as the Father telleth us and many which partake of the heavenly calling who by impurity of life and unfoundness of Doctrine exclude themselves from having place in the Heavenly Kingdom Out of the many which are called but few are chosen because they do not chearfully obey that calling and hearken not with due obedience to the voice of God which calls them in the Church unto newness of life Were it not so and that even wicked men and ungodly sinners did appertain unto the Church and that the Heretick and Schismatick were not members of it The Church had no authority to proceed against them or to endeavor their reclaim by Ecclesiastial censures Though God both may and will judge them when he sees his time yet the Church cannot do it For what have I to do to judge them also that are without saith the great Apostle And what were this but to make the Church of God which is pure and holy to be a stable of unclean beasts and a sink of filthiness To which all scandalous sinners would repair in swarms in confidence of enjoying there their desired impunity Gods field hath Tares as well as Wheat and both permitted to grow up till the general harvest when he shall give his Angels charge to sever the wicked from the just and righteous persons to binde the one in bundles for eternal fire but gather the other for his barn for the joyes of Heaven Now as these opposite parties have extreamly erred in the right constitution of the Members of the Church of Christ so have they failed as grosly in their Doctrine of the Churches Head Which the one side have made too great for that Sacred Body the other all Body in a manner but no Head at all I speak not here of Christ understand not so whom both sides do acknowledge for the Head of the Body Mystical but of the Supream Head on Earth to whom the Government of the Church is by him committed Our Masters in the Church of Rome first make the Government of the Church to be Monarchical and lay the burden on the shoulders of one man alone and then this more than man this Monarch to be the Pope of Rome and none else but he For the first part of this Assertion they pretend the Scriptures mustering up all the Privileges which Christ gave to Peter which were they such as are pretended were but personal onely no more annexed to his Successors in the Chair of Rome than in that of Antioch But for the second part thereof they confess ingenuously that there is no Scripture to be found For Bellarmine who had canvased this point as thoroughly as any man what ever of all that party is fain to shut it up with this close at last That though some Headship or Supremacy may seem to be conferred on Peter in the Book of God Tamen Pontificem Romanum Petro succedere expresse in Scripturis non haberi yet that the Pope succeeded Peter is not found in Scripture but grounded on Tradition onely as before was said And if it be not found in Scripture as he saith it is not we shall as little build our Faith upon their Traditions though now we see what makes them rank Traditions equal with the written Word as upon those similitudes and ill-grounded consequences which for want of better proof he is fain to flie to And yet this point thus weakly grounded is by them made an Article of the Catholick Faith and that not onely in the new Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth who might be partial in his own cause where it brings up the Rere but in the general esteem of the Court of Rome where it chargeth in the very Front For when the Princes of those times applauded the piety and courage of King Henry the Eighth in that without any alteration in Religion he had suppressed the Popes Authority in all his Dominions The Papal faction thought the censure to be very unjust Primo praecipuo Romanensium fidei Articulo de Pontificis Primatu immutato considering that the first and chiefest Article of the Faith that of the Popes Supremacy was so changed and abrogated But on what ground soever they have raised this building and placed the Headship of the Church on such rotten shoulders as are not able to support it yet is this Head
everlasting and after preached by the Apostles both to Iew and Gentile was finally committed unto writing to this end and purpose that by reading it or hearing it read and declared by others we may believe that IESVS is the CHRIST the Son of God and that believing we may have life through his name as St. Iohn assures us And though this be affirmed by him of his Gospel only I mean that written by himself yet we may safely say the same of all the rest of the Apostolical and Evangelical writings as being dictated by the same Spirit writ by men equally inspired and all conducing to this end to teach us to know IESVS CHRIST and him crucifyed and to enable us to give a reason to all that aske of the faith that is in us But being the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles were of too great a bulk to be committed unto memory and that there were some things in them so obscure and difficult that many ignorant and unstable but well meaning men both might and did wrest them to their own destruction other things which related rather unto moral duties then to points faith it was thought fit by the Apostles to draw the points of saving faith such as were necessarily to be believed of all Christian people into a briefe and narrower compasse It was not for the ordinary sort of men to trouble themselves with doubtful disputations as St. Paul calleth them whereof many do occurre in his Epistles disputes of too great difficulty and sublime a nature for every man especially the weak in faith either to understand or conceive aright Nor was it possible that men of mean parts and laborious callings of which the Church consisted for the most part in the first beginning should either have so much leasure as to read over their writings or so much judgment as to gather and collect from thence what of necessity was to be believed that they might be saved what not or so much memory as to treasure up and repeat by heart the infinite treasures of divine knowledge which are comprehended in the same And if it were so as no doubt it was when the Apostles and Evangelists had left those excellent Monuments of themselves in writing which the Church hath ever since enjoyed to which men might resort as occasion was for their information and instruction how necessary then must we think it was for some such Summarie and Abstract of the Christian faith to be resolved upon amongst them which men of weak memories might repeat by heart and men of shallow comprehensions righly understand Those blessed souls knew well none better how to apply themselves to the capacities of the weakest men that there were many Babes in Christ who were to be fed with milk and not with meats and that if they became not all things unto all men they must resolve amongst themselves to save but few Upon this ground then which what juster could there be to induce them to it it is conceived they drew up that brief abstract of the Christian faith which we call the CREED and couched therein whatever point was necessary for all sorts of men in all times and all places of the world both to believe in their hearts as also to professe and confesse upon all occasions though to the apparent hazard of their lives and fortunes And why this might not be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that form of sound words whereof St. Paul saith to Timothy Hold fast that form of sound words thou hast heard of me I must confesse that I could never yet see a convincing reason Certain I am that Irenaeus who lived very near the Apostles times hath said of this confession of the faith this Creed which hath so generally and unanimously been received over all the world Ecclesia per universum orbem usque ad fines terrae c. The Church saith he throughout the world even to the ends of the earth received from the Apostles and their Disciples that faith which believeth in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth c. and in IESVS CHRIST the Son of God incarnate for our salvation and in the holy Spirit which preached by the Prophets the dispensation and coming of God and the birth of CHRIST our Lord by the Virgin his passion resurrection and ascension with his flesh into heaven and his coming from heaven in the glory of his Father to raise up all flesh and to give just judgement unto all Which words lest possibly we might interpret of the doctrine of faith which questionlesse was alwayes one and the same over all the world and not of any summary or abstract which they had digested for the use and benefit of Gods people or think that they relate rather to the substance of faith then to any set and determinate form of words in which that substance was delivered let us behold what the same Father hath delivered in another place This faith saith he which the Church though dispersed through the world received from the Apostles and their Disciples yet notwithstanding doth it keep it as safe as if it dwelt within the wals of one house and as uniformly hold N. B. as if it had but one only heart and soul and this as consonantly it preacheth teacheth and delivereth as if but one tongue did speak for all He addes which makes the point more plain that though there be different languages in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the effect and summe of the tradition i. e. the faith delivered in that forme is one and the same and I presume he means not by tradition those doctrines of faith which are delivered in the books and writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Finally he concludes with this expression and it is worthily worth our marking in the present case that he amongst the Governours of the Church who is best able to speak saith no more then this and no lesse then this the simplest and the most ignorant person which certainly he had not said but that there was one uniforme and determinate order of words which every one was bound to learn and adhere unto Tertullian he speaks plainer yet and affirmes expresly regulam fidei unam omnino esse solam immobilem et irreformabilem that there is but one rule of faith at all and that unmoveable and unalterable How could he say that there was but one rule of faith in the Church if every several Church had a several rule or that it was unmoveable and unalterable as he saith it was if there were no certain form of words prescribed which men were to keep to but every one might change and alter as he saw occasion So that I take it for a truth unquestionable that in the first ages nay the first beginnings of the Church of CHRIST there was a certain form of words prescribed for the ease and benefit of the Church a summarie or abstract of the Articles
first of the Evangelical Scriptures was the Epistle Decretory which we finde in the fifteenth of the Acts and that was countenanced by a visum est spiritui sancto i. e. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost And when St. Paul writ his Epistle unto those of Corinth for fear he might be thought by that factious people to injoyn any thing upon them without very good warrant he vouched the Spirit of God for his Author in it They preached the Gospel first to others as Christ did to them by word of mouth that being the more speedy way to promote the Work But being they could not live to the end of the world and that the purest waters will corrupt at last by passing through muddy or polluted Chanels they thought it best to leave so much thereof in writing as might serve in all succeeding Ages for the Rule of Faith Postea vero per voluntatem Dei in Scripturis nobis Evangelium tradiderunt firmamentum columnam fidei nostrae futuram as in Irenaeus A man might marvel why St. Iohn should give that testimony to the Gospel which was writ by him that it was written to the end That men might believe that JESUS is the CHRIST the Son of God and that believing they might have Faith through his Name considering that none of the rest of the Evangelists say the like of theirs or why he thundred at the end of his Revelation that most fearful curse against all those who should presume to adde anything to the words of that Book or take any thing from it being a course that none of all the sacred Pen-men had took but he But when I call to minde the Spirit by which Iohn was guided and the time in which those Books of his were first put in writing methinks the marvel is took off without more ado For seeing that his Gospel was writ after all the rest as is generally affirmed by all the Antients those words relate not as I guess to his own Book onely but to the whole Body of the Evangelical History now perfectly composed and finished for otherwise how impertinent had it been for him to say That IESVS did many other signs in the presence of his Disciples which were not written in that Book if he had spoken those words of his own Book onely Considering that he had neither written of the signs done in the way to Emaus mentioned by St. Luke or his appearing to the eleven in a Mountain of Galilee which St. Matthew speaks of or his Ascension into Heaven which St. Mark relateth which every vulgar Reader could not chuse but know The like I do conceive of those words of his in the Revelation viz. That they relate not to that Book alone but to the whole body of the Bible St. Iohn being the Survivor of that glorious company on whom the Holy Ghost descended in the Feast of Pentecost and the Apocalypse the last of those Sacred Volumes which were dictated by the Spirit of God for the use of his Church and now make up the Body of the holy Scriptures God had now said as much by the mouths and pens of the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles as he conceived sufficient for our salvation and so closed up the Canon of the Scriptures as St. Augustine telleth Deus quantum satis esse judicavit locutus Scripturam condidit as his own words are which certainly God had not done nor the Evangelist declared nor St. Augustine said had not the Scripture been a sufficient rule able to make us wise unto salvation and thoroughly furnished unto all good works Which being so it cannot but be a great dishonor to the Scripture and consequently to the Spirit of God who is Author of it to have it called as many of the Papists do Atramentariam Scripturam Plumbeam Regulam Literam Mortuam that is to say An Ink-horn Text a Leaden Rule and a Dead Letter Pighius for one as I remember gives it all these Titles or to affirm That it hath no authority in the Church of Christ but what it borroweth from the Pope without whose approbation it were scarce more estimable than the Fables of Aesop which was one of the blasphemous speeches of Wolf Hermannus or that is not a sufficient means to gain Souls to Christ or to instruct the Church in all duties necessary to salvation without the adding of Traditional Doctrines neither in terminis extant in the Book of God nor yet derived from thence by good Logical inference which is the general Tenet of the Church of Rome or that to make the Canon of the Scripture compleat and absolute the Church as it hath added to it already the Apocryphal Writings so may it adde and authorize for the Word of God the Decretals of the Antient Popes and their own Canon Law as some of the Professors of it have not sticked to say So strongly are they byassed with their private interess and a desire of carrying on their faction in the Church of Christ as to place the holy Spirit where he doth not move in their Traditions in Apochryphal and meer Humane writings and not to see and honor him where indeed he is in the holy Scriptures Of the Authority Sufficiency and Perspicuity of which holy Scriptures I do not purpose at the present any debate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a work more fit for another place and such as of it self would require a Volume onely I say that if the written Word be no rule at all but as it hath authority from the Church which it is to direct and then not an entire but a partial rule like a Noune Adjective in Grammar which cannot stand by it self but requireth somewhat else to be joyned with it in Construction and that too so obscure and difficult that men of ordinary wits cannot profit by it and therefore must not be permitted to consult the same the Holy Ghost might very well have spared his pains of speaking by the Prophets in the time of the Law or guiding the pens of the Apostles in the time of the Gospel and the great Body of the Scripture had been the most impertinent and imperfect peece the most unable to attain to the end it aims at that was ever writ in any Science since the world began Which what an horrid blasphemy it must needs be thought against the majesty and wisdom of the holy Spirit let any sober Christian judge And yet as horrid as those blasphemies may be thought to be some of the most profest enemies of the Church of Rome and such as think that the further they depart from Rome they are the nearer to Christ have faln upon the like if not worse extravagancies For to say nothing of the Anabaptists and that new brood of Sectaries which now swarms amongst us whom I look on onely as a company of Fanatical Spirits did not Cartwright and the rest of our new
Reformers in Queen Elizabeths time say as much as this The Scriptures say the Papists in their Council of Trent for I regard not the unsavory Speeches of particular men Is not sufficient to Salvation without Traditions that is to say without such unwritten Doctrinals as have from hand to hand been delivered to us Said not the Puritans the same when they affirmed That Preaching onely viva voce which is verbum traditum is able to convert the sinner That the Word sermonized not written is alone the food which nourisheth to life eternal that reading of the Word of God is of no greater power to bring men to Heaven than studying of the Book of Nature that the Word written was written to no other end but to afford some Texts and Topicks for the Preachers descant If so as so they say it is then is the written word no better than an Ink-horn Scripture a Dead Letter or a Leaden Rule and whatsoever else the Papists in the height of scorn have been pleased to call it Nay of the two these last have more detracted from the perfection and sufficiency of the holy Scripture than the others did They onely did decree in the Council of Trent That Traditions were to be received Paripietatis affectu with equal Reverence and Affection to the written Word and proceed no further These magnifie their verbum traditum so much above it that in comparison thereof the Scripture is Gods Word in name but not in efficacy They onely adde Traditions in the way of Supplement where they conceive the Scriptures to be defective These make the Scriptures every where deficient to the work intended unless the Preacher do inspire them with a better Spirit than that which they received from the Holy Ghost Good God that the same breath should blow so hot upon the Papists and yet so cold upon the Scriptures that the same men who so much blame the Church of Rome for derogating from the dignity and perfection of the Holy Scriptures should yet prefer their own indigested crudities in the way of Salvation before the most divine dictates of the Word of God But such are men when they leave off the conduct of the Holy Ghost to follow the delusions of a private Spirit Articuli IX Pars Secunda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam i. e. The Holy Catholick Church CHAP. II. Of the name and definition of the Church Of the Title of Catholick The Church in what respects called Holy Touching the Head and Members of it The Government thereof Aristocratical IN the same Article in which we testifie our Faith in the Holy Ghost do we acknowledge That there is a Body or Society of faithful people which being animated by the power of that Blessed Spirit hath gained unto it self the name of the Church and with that name the attribute or title of Catholick in regard of the extent thereof over all the World of Holy in relation to that piety of life and manners which is or ought to be in each several Member And not unfitly are they joyned together in the self same Article the Holy Ghost being given to the Apostles for the use of the Church and the Church nothing but a dead and lifeless carcass without the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost As is the Soul in the Body of Man so is the Holy Ghost in the Church of Christ that which first gives it life that it may have a Being and afterward preserves it from the danger of putrefaction into which it would otherwise fall in small tract of time Having therefore spoken in the former Chapter of the Nature Property and Office of the Holy Ghost and therein also of the Volume of the Book of God dictated by that Blessed Spirit for that constant Rule by which the Church was to be guided both in Life and Doctrine We now proceed in order to the Church it self so guided and directed by it And first for the Quid nominis to begin with that it is a name not found in all the writings of the Old Testament in which the body of Gods people the Spiritual body is represented to us after a figurative manner of Speech in the names of Sion and Ierusalem as Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Psal. 121. And the Lord loveth the gates of Sion Psal. 87. The name of Church occurreth not till the time of the Gospel and then it was imposed by him who had power to call it what he pleased and to entitle it by a name which was fittest for it The Disciples gave themselves the name of Christians the name of Church was given them by our Saviour Christ. No sooner had St. Peter made this confession for himself and the rest of the Apostles Thou art Christ the Son of the living God but presently our Saviour added Upon this Rock that is to say The Rock of this Confession as most of the Antients and some Writers also of the darker times do expound the same will I build my Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek The word used by our Lord and Saviour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence the Latines borrowed their Ecclesia the French their Eglise and signifieth Coetum evocatum a chosen or selected company a company chosen out of others derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as evocare to call out or segregate In that sense as the word is used to signifie a company of men called by the special Grace to the Faith in Christ and to the hopes of life eternal by his death and passion is the word Ecclesia taken in the writings of the holy Apostles and in most Christian Authors since the times they lived in though with some difference or variety rather in the application to their purposes But antiently it was of a larger extent by far and signified any Publick meeting of Citizens for the dispatch of business and affairs of State For so Thucidides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That the Assembly being formed the different parties fell upon their disputes and so doth Aristophanes use it in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That the people should now give the Thracians a Publick meeting in their Guild-hal or Common forum of the City St. Luke who understood the true propriety as well as the best Critick of them all gives it in this sense also Acts 19.32 where speaking of the tumult which was raised at Ephesus he telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Assembly was confused And in the 26. Psal. Ecclesia malignantium is used for the Congregation of ungodly men APPLICATION BUt after Christ had given this name unto the Body of the Faithful which confessed his Name and the Apostles in their writings had applied it so as to make it a word of Ecclesiastical use and notion the Fathers in the following Ages did so appropriate the same to the state of
causa etiam ad hodiernum diem Purgatorium non est à Graecis creditum In which besides a plain acknowledgement that the Greek Fathers knew not of it there is a very shreud intimation that there is little mention in the antien◠Latines Some other ground there must be for the fire of Purgatory than prayers and offerings for the dead but what that is is not so easily agreed upon amongst themselves Some relie wholly on Tradition and others as they build on that for the main foundation so they bring Texts of Scripture as a second help for their collateral security onely and no more than so But Frier Iohn Bacon hath declared That there be others who think that Purgatory cannot be proved by authority of Scripture that the Books of Maccabees which commonly are alleged for proof thereof are not Canonical that the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. speaks of that fire that shall purge the elements of the world in the last day and that touching those words of Christ it shall never be remitted in this world nor in that to come they prove not that there is a remission of sins in the other world Nor is Iohn Bacon onely of this opinion For they who carefully consult the writings of our Romish Adversaries will easily perceive how little confidence they have in those Texts of Scripture which commonly are alleged in defence hereof there being not so much as one Text hitherto produced and insisted on by some of that party but what by others is denied to be meant of Purgatory And to say truth their differences are so many and irreeoncilable in all the points and circumstances which concern this doctrine that the disagreements which they have amongst themselves may serve sufficiently instead of all other Arguments to confute the Tenet First for the place which Eckius will have to be in the bottom of the Sea some in Mount Aetna others in the Centre of the Earth and Bernard de Busses in an Hill of Ireland next for the Torments which Sir Thomas Moor will have to be onely by fire Fisher his fellow-sufferer by Fire and Water Lorichius neither by Fire nor Water but by the violent convulsions of Hope and Fear then for the Executioners which Bishop Fisher will have to be holy Angels Sir Thomas Moor to be very Devils So for the sins that are to be expiated in those flames which some will have to be onely venial others to be the venial ones and the mortal too And for the time of their continuing in that state which Dennis the Carthusian extends to the end of the world Dominicus à Soto limits but to ten years onely others have shortned that time too if either their friends will hire some Priest to say Mass for their souls or the Pope do but speak the word And last of all for the extremity of the pain which Aquinas makes as violent as those of Hell and yet the Rhemists say that they which are in Purgatory are in a more happy and blessed condition than any man living Durandus betwixt these extreams gives them some intermission from these terrible pains upon Sundays and Holidays By which uncertainty or contrariety rather of opinions we may clearly see upon what weak foundations they have raised this building which probably had faln to the ground long since if the profit which ariseth by it to their Monks and Friers had not kept it up But I forbear to meddle further in this point of Purgatory which for my part I do conceive to be rather a Platonical and Poetical fiction than to have any ground in Scripture or true Antiquity The Fathers for the first 600 years after Christs Nativity making no resolution in it either publick or private save that St. Augustine to avoide a worse inconvenience may seem to some to patronize it And yet he doth it with such doubtingness and so much uncertainty that any man not blinded with his own opinion may see he knew not what to determine of it For sometimes it is no more then quantum arbitror for as much as he thinks and other whiles incredibile non est that it is not incredible But then he leaves it off with a quaeri potest as a matter disputable At other times he goes as far as a forsitan verum that peradventure it is true and yet at last utterly rejects it with an ignoramus Heaven we do know saith he and we know Hell also Tertium locum ignoramus a third place between both we can tell of none He that can ground a point of faith upon such uncertainties must have more skill in Architecture than I dare pretend to But this is onely on the by to shew how little the Communion of the Saints hath to do with Purgatory which neither is a consequent nor concomitant of it The Saints may pray for one another we for their consummation in the state of glory and they for our wel-doing in our passage thither and no such thing as Purgatory be inferred from either It is now time that I proceed to such other benefits as do redound unto the Church from her Head CHRIST IESUS Articuli X. Pars Secunda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Remissionem Peccatorum i. e. The forgiveness of Sins CHAP. V. Of the first Introduction of sin God not the Author of it Of the nature and contagion of Original sin No Actual sin so great but it in capable of forgiveness In what respect some sins may be counted Venial and others Mortal IT is a saying of St. Augustines in no point so uncertain as in that of Purgatory that possibly God could not have bestowed a greater blessing on his Church than making his onely begotten Son Christ Iesus to be head thereof By means whereof it cometh to pass that one and the same person Et orat pro nobis orat in nobis oratur à nobis doth both pray for us and pray with us and yet is also prayed to by us How so That he resolves immediately in the words next following Orat pro nobis ut sacerdos noster orat in nobis ut caput nostrum oratur à nobis ut deu◠noster that is to say He prayeth for us as our Priest he prayeth with us as our Head and is prayed to by us as our God Himself is both the Suter and the Mediator yea and the party sued unto and therefore doubt we not when we call upon him but he will grant us those Petitions which himself makes for us As Priest he represents continually to Almighty God the benefit and effect of that perfect Sacrifice which he once offered on the Cross for the sins of the world As Head unto the Church he recommends our prayers to the Throne of Grace and joyneth with his Members in their sutes to God for the more speedy and effectual obtaining of them As God he hath his eye still over