this sober warning of De consecr dist 2. c 42. ego Bereng them Haec verba nisi sane intelligas in majorem incides Haeresin quam ipse Berengarius habuit i. e. Unless you understand these words in a sound sense you will fall into a greater Heresie than Berengarius was guilty of And upon the account of this pretended Infallibility I might add some Reflections upon those horrid Murthers Treasons and Rebellions which have been encouraged and carried on out of a belief of the Popes Supremacy and Power over Princes at least in ordine ad Spiritualia in order to Church-matters which must needs make a great flaw in their Allegiance What think you of the Popes Nnncio at the head of the Irish Army Sir if you will give your self the freedom impartially to consider the Answers that are made by the Romish Writers to excuse what is charged upon them for these and some other loose Doctrines and practices you will find it no Fable That their defences dwindle into mere evasions I shall now conclude your trouble and my own with a few Animadversions upon the whole matter First That how hot soever your Zeal may grow for the Church of Rome you might have done much better service for the Church Catholick if you had continued in the Communion of that part of it which is established in this Kingdom Secondly To use the word of the Ingenious Author of The Notion of Schisme that for any to desert the Church of England to communicate with that of Rome is such a frantick humor as for a man to quit the neatest appartment and exchange for the most sluttish Rooms in the same House Thirdly That you have given a scandal to your Brethren of the Church of England contrary to that Caveat and Admonition of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 32. And he Estius ad locum that gives offence to his Brother sins against God whose handy-work he destroys Rom. 14. 20. He sins also against Christ in destroying him for whom Christ died Rom. 14. 15. Fourthly and Lastly That by withdrawing your self from that subjection and obedience which by the Laws of the Catholick Church you owe to your own Bishop Primate or Metropolitan you run desperately into Schisme while you are superstitiously solicitous to avoid it For Schisma est contumax adversus Episcopum rebellio quâ quis ejus communionem deserit c. Schisme is a plain Rebellion against the Bishop whereby a man forsakes his Communion and endures no fellowship with him in Divine matters as Christian Lupus hath it upon Tertullian †Schol. ad cap. 6. de praescript Epist 65. And St. Cyprian in an Epistle ad Rogatianum Novensem who had been affronted by his Deacon saith thus Haec sunt initia Haereticorum c. By these means Hereticks are hatched and the endeavours of ill-minded Schismaticks promoted who that they may gratifie their humorsome whymsies do supercilionsly contemn him that is set over them thus men depart from the Church and set up a prophane Altar that is a Conventicle without the Communion of it Thus they make war upon the Peace left by Christ and rebel against Unity and the Ordinance of God And Epist 69. ad Florentium Pupianum writing in reference to himself he saith thus Inde Schismata Haereses abortae sunt oriuntur c. Hence Heresies and Schismes have their rise when as the Bishop who is but one and presides over the Church is most presumptuously contemned and the man dignified with a vocation from God is thought unworthy thereof by men That St. Cyprian writes thus not in reference to the Bishop of Rome but to himself and other Bishops of particular Churches is evinced by Goulartius in his Annotations ad Epist 55. n. 27. against Pamelius With great reason therefore did the Council of Nice decree Can. 6. Antiqui mores serventur c Let the Ancient customes and priviledges be preserved That the Bishop of Alexandria may have the Jurisdiction and power of them who are in Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis for so the Bishop of Rome hath customarily had over his Province Likewise also in Antiochia and other Provinces let their Priviledges be preserved inviolable to their respective Churches The Epitome of which Canon runs thus Super Aegyptum Lybiam Pentapolim Alexandrinus Episcopus potestatem habeat Romanus super Romae subditos Item Antiochenus aliique super suos i. e. Let the Bishop of Alexandria have V. Pandect à Guil. Beverege Edit in 1. Concil Nice Cā 6. Authority over Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis and the Bishop of Rome over the Subjects of Rome In like manner the Bishop of Antioch and all other Bishops over their Subjects in their respective Provinces And Alex. Aristenus hath this Gloss upon it Unumqnemque Patriarcharum Ibid. c. Every Patriarch ought to be content with his own priviledges and not to usurp upon any other Province which was not heretofore and from the beginning under his power and Jurisdiction for this is the pride of an unjust secular Dominion And in the Second General Council held at Constantinople Can. 2. it is decreed thus The Bishop shall not pass the bounds of their own Diocesses nor confound the priviledges of the Churches but govern themselves according to the Canons And if we observe the Canon prescribed concerning Diocesses it is clear that each Province shall be governed by the particular Synod of the same Province as it is decreed by the Council of Nice And Leo the Great had so great a veneration and zeal for the Authority and hononr of that Synod that in an Epistle to Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople blaming him highly amongst other miscarriages for invading the priviledges of the Churches of Alexandria and Antioch he writes thus I grieve not a little that you are fallen into so great an Error as to attempt the violation of the most sacred Constitutions of the Canons of Nice viz. In attempting to invade after Alexandria and Antioch the dignities and priviledges of all other Metropolitans And blaming him for endeavouring to wheadle the most Christian Emperour and the holy Synod called by his Authority for the extinguishing of Heresie and the Confirmation of the Catholick Faith to serve his ambitious designs he tells him That the Synod of Nice consisting of three hundred and eighteen Bishops was so Sacred and consecrated * Tanto divinitùs privilegio Consecrata Leo Mag. Epist 53. inter opera Paris 1623. with so great a priviledge from God that whatsoever was done by any of their Councils be they never so numerous who assembled in them it should be utterly void and of no Authority if it were differing from what was Ordained by those Holy Fathers †Quicquid ab iliorum fuerit Constitutione diversum Let the Pope of Rome consider well these weighty Letters of his great Predecessors And in his Epistle to Martianus the Emperour blaming the Ambition of Anatolius
as aforesaid he condemns him for this reason Privilegia enim Ecclesiarum c. For the priviledges of the Churches being established by the Canons of the Holy Fathers and fixed by the Decrees of the venerable Synod of Nice are not to be changed or shaken by any wicked attempts of Novelty but to be preserved inviolable In which business with Christs help it is necessary that I exert my utmost endeavours as one instructed with a Dispensation And it would become my guilt if the Sacred Constitutions of the Fathers established by the Holy Ghost in the Synod of Nice for the Government of the whole Church of God should through my neglect or connivence ‖ which * Lud. Bail reads it Te quod absit connivente and so applies it to the Emperour In Sum. Concil Tom. 1. m. p. 141. B. 2. God forbid be violated or infringed and the gratifying of one Brothers humor should be of more concern to me than the common benefit of the whole Church of God And in an Epistle to Juvenalis Bishop of Jerusalem and the rest of the Bishops assembled in the holy Synod of Chalcedon he writes thus concerning the keeping of the Ordinances of the holy Fathers which are fixed by inviolable Decrees in the Synod of Nice I advise That the rights of the Church may remain as they were ordained by those three hundred and eighteen Fathers divinely inspired Let not wicked Ambition covet anothers Right nor let any man seek to augment himself by the lessening of another For by what assentations soever a vain elation may arm it self and think to strengthen its inordinate desires by the name of Councils whatsoever shall be disagreeable to the Canons of the foresaid Fathers shall be void and of no validity Thus Leo the Great And if there were any such thing as Infallibility or Authority either in this Pope Leo the Great or in that first General and most sacred Council of Nice that Canon of theirs concerning the Jurisdiction and Priviledges of the Churches is of full force and ought to be observed inviolably at this day Now to apply this to our own case It is evident out of several Records * See Bedes Histor and the berty of the Britannick Ch. by Dr. Basier Lond. printed for John Mileson 1661. That the Britannick Church was ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Independent subject to no foreign Bishop but under her own Metropolitan having her Primacy and Headship with all priviledges Ecclesiastical within her self for six hundred years after Christ till Austin the Monk transgressing that Canon of Nice did by force of Arms subdue and captivate her to the See of Rome The Popes Usurpation began here in blood with the slaughter of Twelve hundred innocent and holy Monks at Bangor and all attempts to reinforce that Usurpation are carried on by W. Beverege Anno. ad Can. 6. Concil Nicae p. 58 59. methods of the like nature i. e. practices of fraud and violence Nevertheless as the Learned Beverege hath observed the unjust violation of that Canon cannot prejudice the high and perpetual Authority of it Wherefore though the Bishop of Rome ever since he sent the aforesaid Austin hither hath exercised the chief Authority in this Nation yet at last having shaken off his Tyrannical yoak our Church through Gods blessing doth most deservedly enjoy her Ancient priviledges by that most worthy Ordinance and Canon prescribed by the Universal Church in this matter It is manifest then that the Bishop of Rome can afford you no good Sanctuary against the Authority of that Bishop and Metropolitan whose Communion you have forsaken What therefore St. Hierome saith against John of Jerusalem I may fitly apply to the Pope of Rome Tu qui regulas quaeris Ecclesiasticas Nicaeni Concilii Canonibus uteris alienos Clericos cum suis Episcopis commorantes tibi niteris usurpare Responde mihi Ad Alexandrinum Episcopum Palestinam quid pertinet Thou who seekest for Ecclesiastical Canons and usest the Constitutions of the Council of Nice and notwithstanding pretendest to usurp the Government over the Clergy of other Bishops tell me what hath the Bishop of Rome to do with Great Britain Sir from what hath been suggested it is evident that the Bishop and Church of Rome have shamefully prevaricated both the Doctrine and Government of the Catholick Church as it was declared and fix'd by the most Ancient and sacred General Councils The Doctrine as well in matters of Faith as Manners And the Government by usurping the Jurisdiction and priviledges of other Churches And if as you prosess you have not changed your Loyalty I am very apt to believe the wicked Plot now under Examination with many of the like nature may be sufficient to make you abhor the Communion of that Church whose Morals can hatch such Monsters and whose Governours do make it their business to Lowbel their pliant Creatures into designs of Treason and Assassination by the help of false Lights Bulls and Dispensations and encourage them in the attempts by the fond applause of Merit and a Crown of Red Letters In short the scandal hereof is so foul it may very well become your ingenuity and without doubt it will rend much to your reputation and inward peace to take your leave of such Company with good old Jacobs imprecation Gen. 49. 6. O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly my Honour be not thou united And this is the Advice which proceeds though but from the common prudence yet from the highest Charity of SIR Your most affectionate Friend and faithful Servant L. W. FINIS
Edit Leodii 1668. p. 387 c. Quid magis ad mores c. What does more concern manners and the strictness of the Law of Nature than that the worship due to God be not bestowed upon a Creature and yet it is lawful many times out of a probable Opinion only to bestow Divine worship upon the Eucharist and to adore God when he is but probably latent there For there is no true certainty but only a Probability that this numerical Host is rightly consecrated First It is not certain that he who did consecrate was a Priest both because it is not certain that he was baptized as also because it is not certain that he was lawfully or validly Ordained by a true Bishop having an intention requisite to that effect c. Secondly It is nor certain that he did pronounce the words of Consecration If he did duly pronounce them yet Thirdly perhaps he had not a due intention If all these things were observed as they should be It is not certain in the Fourth place that a due matter was made use of for the Bread might not be made of Wheat Fifthly Although all these things proceeded well and rightly yet it is not indubitable that the Officer to whom the custody of the venerable Sacrament belongs did not expose an Host that was not consecrated instead of one that was truly consecrated to be adored All these are generals to which we may add the malice of mans heart which is too vigorous in some persons Upon these heads saith he we have known many Cheats too frequently practised in this matter and they know it much better who are employed as Judges upon the Tribunal of the Sacred Inquisition Thus far Father Terill Now if they of the Church of Rome have no certainty in their Sacraments no certainty in their Sacrifice of the Altar no certainty in their Priesthood no certainty but they may commit Idolatry every day if they cannot be certain but the malice of their Priests may frustrate all the sacred Ordinances of God to them and make them absolutely null though they be never so worthily disposed to receive the benefit of them And this is the Doctrine and Belief commonly maintained in the Church of Rome They should rather blush at such an Infallibility than boast of any great advantage to be reaped from it For grant further that that Infallibility were such as they would have it yet they can have no security in it for salvation 'T is such as a man may carry into Hell with him if it proves not a means to lead him thither where for ought I know the Devils have it as much as he And Gregory the Seventh was of the same mind Nam ut Jacobus frater Domini testatur fides sine operibus mortua est qualem Daemones habere fatetur Non Ergo minùs est resistendum pertinacibus authenticarum institutionum impugnatoribus quam Sacrae fidei violatoribus cùm Daemonibus assimilentur quicunque institutionem SS Patrum in fide tantum non etiam in conversatione pro viribus assectatur For as James the Brother of our Lord doth testifie Faith without Works is dead which kind of Faith he doth acknowledge to be in the Devils We ought therefore no less to resist such as are obstinate impugners of Authentick Institutions viz. of Piety than such as do violate the Sacred Faith seeing they that do earnestly follow the instruction of the Holy Fathers in matter of Faith only and not in a holy conversation are like unto the Devils For this Infallibility is restrained to matters of Faith and that Faith is but historical as they call it and not sufficient to salvation To the Essence of a Church right Doctrines in Practicals are as necessary as in Speculatives if mortal Sin excludes from salvation as well as an erroneous Faith †R. H. Disc of the Neeessity of Church Guides p. 82. as the Author of the Guide in Controversies does acknowledge And this is the Doctrine of the Council of Trent Sess 6. de Justificatione Si quis dixerit solâ fide justificari ita ut intelligat nihil aliud requiri quod ad Justificationis gratiam consequendam cooperetur nulla ex parte necesse esse eum suae voluntatis motu praeparari atque disponi Anathema sit Can. 9. If any man shall say that Faith alone does Justifie so that nothing else is required to cooperate towards the attainment of the Grace of Justification and that it is in no wise necessary that he should be prepared and disposed to it by any motion of his own will let him be accursed Et Can. 19. Si quis dixerit nihil praeceptum esse in Evangelio praeter fidem caetera esse indifferentia neque praecepta neque prohibita sed libera aut Decem Praecepta nihil pertinere ad Christianos Anathema sit If any man shall say there is nothing commanded in the Gospel but Faith that all other matters are indifferent neither commanded nor forbidden but left free or that the Ten Commandements do not concern Christians let him be accursed Et Can. 21. Si quis dixerit Christum Jesum à Deo hominibus datum fuisse ut Redemptorem cui fidant non etiam ut Legistatorem cui obediant Anathema sit that is If any man shall say that Christ Jesus was given unto man of God as a Redeemer in whom they should trust and not also as a Lawgiver whom they should obey let him be accursed Which Canons we can readily subscribe to From which it appears beyond exception that the Infallibility pretended by the Church of Rome is not to be relied on as sufficient for salvation The Creeds chiefly comprehending Speculatives there must be a great body of Articles also of necessary Faith relating to Practicals as R. H. maintains C. 1. §. 3. p 4. in his Discourse of the Necessity of Church Guides But doth this Infallibility extend to all matters of Practical belief as well as Speculative Yes saith R. H. Christ hath left an Infallible Guide for Manners as well as Faith †Id p. 176 and a little after God hath provided by the same Church Authority to preserve his Church in truth and to restrain it from sin giving an equal Commission to teach the ignorant and to correct the vicious And that since their Doctrine directs our Manners as well as Faith their Infallibility is as necessary for things of Practice as of Speculation But if there be such an Infallibility in the Guides of the Church not only in reference to points of Faith but to Doctrines of Practice also What meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep 1 Sam. 15. 14. in mine ears and this lowing of the Oxen which I hear Of the degeneracy of the Church in his time V. Bede writes thus Videt quisque non sine lachrymis c. Every one Apud Meisner de Ecclesia p. 681 682 684. sees not without