Cardinal Bellarmin's Fourth Note of the Church were as true as we have proved it false And that it would then overthrow instead of establishing the Church of Rome's marvellous Pretence of being The True or Catholick Church THE END Pag. 80. lin 18. read ab omnibus LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Fifth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ The Succession of Bishop Quinta Nota est Successio Episcoporum in Romanâ Ecclesiacirc ab Apostolis deducta usque ad nos Bellar. L. iv c. viii de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR May 9. 1687. JO. BATTELY THE Disputers of the Roman Communion boasting in nothing so much as in the venerable Name of the Catholick Church using all means to appropriate it to themselves exclusivly to any others And it being the most popular Argument they flee to and with which they commonly begin and end all Debates We are concerned faithfully and plainly to examine their Title or Claim to so honourable a Denomination and the many vast Priviledges founded thereupon Among the Notes of the Church in Bellarmin their chief Champion the Fifth in order and it may be not the least Plausible in all his Number is this of the Succession of Bishops the Subject of this short Essay in which three Inquiries may be made 1. How far this Note may be necessary to any Church 2. How far this may be granted to the Roman Church 3. How insufficient a Proof it affords to them of any great Advantage by it In answer to the former Iniquiry 1. Concess 1. it may I presume be generally yielded That to the compleat Constitution of the Church it will be always needful that there be in it True and Lawful Pastors not only for the rightful Administration of God's Word and Sacraments but also for the due and orderly Government thereof and the Dispensation of wholsom Discipline to the Flock committed to their charge requiring all tender Care vigilant Inspection and indulgent Provision from Them And all cheerful and humble Submission and ready Subjection from These Requisites to any Society confirmed by many Precepts and Examples in Scripture We yield this Pastoral Power originally to be from Christ Concess 2. the Head of his Church the chief Bishop and Pastor of his Flock and by him immediately conveyed to the Apostles and from them derived by Imposition of Hands or Ordination to their Successors in the several Churches which they planted and so to be continued by a Regular Succession to the End of the World As may be proved by the several Directions in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus and Examples in the Acts of the Apostles and the following Practice of the Church in all Ages and Places of which we have any Records extant No Man taketh this Honour all himself Heb. 5.4 We grant farther Concess 3. that according to the best Evidence of Scripture-Rule or Example and the constant Practice of Christ's Church the Power of Ordination is entrusted with the Bishops the chief Governours thereof and ordinary Successors of the Apostles unto the End of the World. And we as readily embrace the Canonical Provision of the Constitutions under the name of the Apostles by St. Clemens or the Decree of the ever-renowned first Council of Nice That every Bishop be ordained by three Bishops or two at the least c. All most agreeable to the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England Such is our Government and Succession not at all interrupted in the Reformation whatever Difficulties it struggled with elsewhere A signal Happiness for which we have Reason ever to bless God and not peevishly to endeavour by wilful schismatical Separations to deprive our selves of that Priviledge which may be the chief Eye-sore to our Adversaries and thereby to furnish them with new and better Arguments than ever yet they found against us If their Succession be good so is ours for sure it is not tyed to one place whether we derive it through them by Augustin the Monk though ordained in France or from or by the British Bishops who had been here several Ages before his Coming and by as Regular a Succession from Apostolical Times without any dependance as they profess or as far as we can find on the See or Bishop of Rome However it may be noted Observ 1. that though this Succession of Bishops be necessary to the compleat Constitution of the Church yet it may well be doubted whether it is indispensable to the very Being of it so as to unchurch every Place that wants these For Baptism alone gives us Admission into the Church and a Title to the Heavenly Inheritance upon the Performance of our Part of the Covenant And although this obliges all Christians to endeavour to provide themselves with lawful Pastors for their constant Supply in all the means of Grace and so to seek them abroad as far as they can where they have them not at home Yet in a supposed case where these may not be had or but upon conditions out of their Power to yield or in the mean time they who suppose Baptism to be valid though in case of necessity administred by any Christian nay according to their Catechism by Jew Infidel or Heretick if he but intend to do what the Church designs hereby must not presently unchurch any Place or exclude all Persons that want this full Provision of all needful Helps and Advantages though some of most immediate Divine Institution What Allowances God may make for great Necessities or almost invincible Difficulties and Prejudices where Men are not wilfully and obstinately wanting to themselves we cannot or must not determine It is not necessary that every Church which may firmly presume upon this lawful and orderly Succession even from the Apostles Observ 2. should be able to produce the Records of its Conveyance through every Age and in every single Person by whom it hath past Few Churches of of long continuance have been so happy as to preserve Authentick Registers of all their Transactions from their first Plantation which must not weaken their Authority or make doubtful the Effect of their Ministrations where no positive Evidence is brought to the contrary The Antients content themselves in delivering down to us the Succession of Bishops in the greater Sees and Mother-Cities not of Rome only but of Alexandria Antioch Jerusalem and others though Bellarmin insinuates the contrary here as is most apparent in Eusebius c. Answ to 3d Object The Eminence of their Place and Power the frequent Resort of other neighbouring Churches to them from whom they were generally derived or as Dependant on their Cities in Civil Administrations which the Ecclesiastical usually followed these and such like Reasons made them more the notice of all about them and their Successions more carefully recorded in Church-Writers Which possibly they might have then done in many of the lesser
Whence hath it Tares They did not know that is how they came there no more than we may be able now to know how Errors came into the Church But that they were there they knew and were sure as we are sure there are false Doctrines in the Church of Rome that were not of our Saviour's planting 2. Nor do the Examples whereby they illustrate this Ratiocination serve to any purpose but to shew the Falseness of it They can name they say the Authors and Beginnings of all the ancient Heresies for instance the Heresy which affirmed there were two Persons in Christ was begun by Nestorius in the Year CDXXXI Which is not true for though then it took its Name from so great a Bishop who maintained it yet the Heresy had been before from an unknown Beginning it being mentioned by St. Ambrose in the foregoing Age in his Book of the Incarnation The like may be said of the Arian Heresy whose Beginning they date in the Year CCCXXIV but it was born long before among the Gnostick Hereticks and only got Reputation by so noted a Man as Arius Nay some of the learnedst Doctors in the present Roman Church have taken a great deal of pains to make the World believe that Tertullian and a Number of other ancient Fathers were infected with it So uncertain they are in their Discourses about these matters 3. Which if they were true would uphold the greatest Impieties For what will become of the Christian Religion if the Traditional Law of the Jews be true And according to this way of Reasoning it must pass for Truth that it came from Mount Sinai by word of Mouth as the written Law did for none can shew its Original much less name the Authors of the several Tradions and who opposed them c. Nay the Worship of the Heathen Gods was supported by this Argument as is excellently observed by Clemens Alexandrinus who tells the Gentiles Admon ad Gentes p. 36 37. That Fables and Time had advanced dead Men into the Number of the Gods. For though things present being familiar to us are neglected yet those which are past and gone being out of the reach of Confutation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obscurity and uncertainty of Times have honour invented for them By which means those that are dead long ago glorying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a long time of Error are accounted Gods by Posterity The same may be said for the lying Oracles among them the Beginnings and first Authors of which cannot be traced 4. But we have an Instance of this in the Roman Church it self where there is an acknowledged Change and yet they themselves are not able to tell who first began it because it crept in by insensible Degrees The Communion I mean in one kind was not used for above a thousand years but being begun in some Churches they themselves cannot tell which nor when grew to be a general Custom not long before the Council of Constance in these Western Parts of the World and there was established as a Law. But it did not begin by the Decree of any Bishop nor was carried on by any publick Order and if you ask them who first set it on foot they will tell you that doth not appear Therefore the Second alone of those Six things being proved that new Doctrines and Practices have been brought in of which we are very certain there needs none of the rest But we are sure there was a time and Authors of them and People that embraced them though we should not be able for want of ancient Records that are lost or because things that come in insensibly cannot in every Age be noted and recorded to tell the very time and Place and Persons when and where and by whom they were introduced All which is not said by us because we are not able to give an account of the other parts of that Ratiocination but only to shew the Frivolousness of such Discourses as these in which they of the Church of Rome place their main Retreat For we can tell nay their own Authors have told us when and by whom many things were brought into their Church which were not there in the Beginning Polydore Virgil if I had room to insert his Words would furnish us with several Instances But I shall content my self with Two which were at no great distance the one from the other The First is their grand Article of Faith about the Papal Authority We know and have often told them by what steps it grew to the height wherein now it is or would be when the Bishops of Rome began to exceed their Bounds how they were opposed and snub'd who and by whom was first declared the Universal Bishop and Head of the Church Victor began the Dance Zozimus after some others followed it Boniface continued it Celestine carried it on Who met with so sharp a Rebuke from the African Bishops for his intrusion into their Affairs upon the pretence of a forged Canon of the Nicene Council as is sufficient to shew his Ambition and Craft was greater than his Authority The Attempts of the rest are as notorious and so is the Opposition they met withall till at last Boniface the 3d procured to himself from Phocas the Title of Vniversal Bishop and to his Church the Title of Head of all Churches All this we can justify out of Authentick Records but it is not in their Power to name so much as one Man that owned the Universal Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop over the whole Church till that time that is till above six hundred years after our Saviour's Birth For though Bellarmin alledges an Epistle of Justinians wherein he calls the Church of Rome the Head of all Churches yet is signifies nothing but that they are at a loss for want of Proofs because as it is with great Reason suspected to be spurious so it can intend no more than Head of the Churches of the West because in an undoubted Edict of his he calls the Church of Constantinople by the same Name the Head of all other Churches i.e. Chief of those in the East Which is so certain that their own Pope Gregory not much above a year before this arrogant Title was assumed most vehemently disdained it or rather thundred against it Nor can they name one Man in the whole Church for so long a time that believed their present Definition of the Catholick Church much less the Power of the Pope to depose Kings which none challenged till Gregory VII that is till above a thousand years after our blessed Saviour Insomuch that their fore-named Champion †C. Bellarm. Tract de potestate Summ. Pontif. p. 27. being to prove this deposing Power out of ancient Authors is able to say no more than this I have alledged above LXX famous Writers some of which flourish'd more than 500 Years ago A goodly Business a glorious Shew of Antiquity instead of the
172. The Eighth Note Sanctity of Doctrine THat this Note as well as the others is far from performing what is promised for it by the Cardinal is sufficiently made evident by four Particulars p. 173. I. What is here meant by Sanctity of Doctrine p. 174. Tho' that is the best and purest Church which hath the least of Error and Corruption in its Doctrine and Discipline yet that which is the best is not the only true Church p. 157. II. That Sanctity of Doctrine i.e. a pure profession of true Religion without any mixture of Error is no true Note or Character whereby a man may distinguish the true Church from all false Churches p. 176. That this can be no true Note of the true Church made evidently appear from the consideration of those necessary Properties of all true Notes by which Things are to be known and distinguished p. 177. These are Four. 1. Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies p. 177 to 180. 2. Every true Note ought to be proper and peculiar to that kind of things of which it is a Note and not common to Things of another kind p. 181. 3. Every true Note ought to be more known than the Thing which it notifies p. 182 183. 4. Every true Note ought to be inseparable to the Thing which it notifies p. 184 to 188. III. In what sense this may be a Note of the true Church p. 189. That is a true Church which professes all the Essential Articles of Christian Faith and receives all the Essential parts of Christian Worship and Discipline p. 190. The Church of England willing to be tried by this p. 192. IV. According to the Principles of the Church of Rome the true Church is not to be found by this Note in which soever of the two Senses we understand it ibid. This clearly made out in Four Particulars 1. The Church of Rome decryes mens private judgment of Discretion as utterly insufficient to make any certain distinction of Truth from Falshood in matters of Religion p. 194. 2. Shee allows no sufficient Rule without the true Church to guide and direct our private Judgment of Discretion p. 195. Which is the true Church not to be resolved by Principles of Nature but those of Revelation p. 196. No other Rule while we are out of the Church to direct us in this Enquiry but only that of Scripture ibid. This the Church of Rome tells us is insufficient and that for two Reasons 1. Because the Scripture is not full enough as to all Doctrines of Faith and Manners And therefore there are certain unwritten Traditions in the Church of equal Authority with it by which its defects are supplied p. 197. 2. Because it is not clear enough the Sense of it being so obscurely expressed that we can never be certain what it is without the interpretation of the true Church p. 198. These considered and answered 3. The Church of Rome resolves all certainty as to matters of Faith into the Authority of the true Church which indeed is the Fundamental Principle of Popery p. 199. A short Dialogue upon this Argument between a Papist and Protestant p. 200 to 202. 4. The Church of Rome gives Authority to the true Church to impose upon us a necessity of believing such Things as before they were not obliged to believe p. 203. to the End. The Ninth Note Efficacy of Doctrine BY Efficacy of Doctrine Two Things understood Either 1. The power which the Word of God hath in the hearts of particular men to dispose them to believe aright and to live well Or 2 That Success which it hath in drawing Multitudes outwardly to profess and embrace it p. 209. The first too inward and the second which is that which the Cardinal understands by it too uncertain a thing to be a Note of a True Church ibid. Many other things besides Efficacy of Doctrine which have and may convert whole Nations to the Christian Religion such as hopes and fears outward force necessity p. 210. An Instance hereof in the Conversions wrought by Charles the Great p. 211. The difference between such Conversions and those which were made in the first Ages of the Church p. 212. In answer to the Cardinal upon this Note Three things laid down I. That the prevalency of any Doctrine can be no Note of a True Church p. 213. This appears 1. From what our Saviour hath said in this matter ibid. 214. 2. From the Consideration of the Temper and Constitution of Mankind p. 215. to 217. 3. From plain matter of Fact. p. 218 219. Error hath such an influence often up n mens minds that they have rejected Truth and preferred the most gross and impious Opinions before it ibid. This apparent from the Histories of all Ages ibid. More particularly in the Case of Arianism p. 219. And in that of Mahomitanism p. 220. The Conversions wrought by those if the Greek Church whom the Church of Rome accounts Hereti ks p. 221. The Efficacy of the Reformed Doctrine ibid. II. That the Prevalency of the Doctrine professed in the Church of Rome is no Note of its being a True Church p. 222. And that for these reasons 1. Because of that great mixture of Errors which there is with the Truth which it professes p. 223. 2. Because the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is so much altered from what it formerly was ibid. 3. Because it hinders those who embrace it from throughly examining it p. 224. 4. Because Art and Force have sometimes been made use of to make it prevail p. 225. III. The Arguments the Cardinal makes use of to prove this to be a Note of the True Church proved to be Insufficient p. 226. 1. His Arguments from the Scriptures considered ibid. 2. His Arguments from the prevalency of the Christian Doctrine in the beginning of the Church examined p. 227. 3. His Arguments from the particular Instances which he gives of Conversions wrought by those of the Church of Rome reflected on p. 227. I. The Conversion of the English by Austin the Monk considered p. 228. Four Things alledged in answer to it ibid. 2. The Conversion of the People of Franconia by Kilianus replied to p. 228 229. 3. The Conversion of a great part of Germany by Vinofrid otherwise called Boniface considered ibid. The Conversion of the Vandals of the Danes of the Bulgarians Slavonians c. Ascribed to other Causes than the naked Efficacy of the Christian Doctrine ibid. The Barbarous Cruelties that were used by the Spaniards in the Conversion of the Indians p. 230. The Instance of Heraclius the Emperors Letter to Dagobert King of France concerning the method he made use of for the Conversion of the Jews p. 231. The Conclusion The Tenth Note Holiness of LIFE IN this Argument it is shewn I. What the Notion of Holiness is p. 233. Holiness is of Two kinds 1. Holiness of Calling and Dedication What
of Corinth denying the Resurrection and the Galatians warping towards Judaism and the Church of Corinth being guilty of great miscarriages in receiving the Lords-Supper and yet were owned for true Churches by the Apostles An argument which much became the Cardinal to use it being the best evidence I know of for the Church of Rome being a true Church that every corruption in Faith and Sacraments do not Unchurch but how this proves that true Faith and true Sacraments are not an essential note and character of a true Church I cannot guess I would desire any one to tell me for him whether a corrupt Faith and false Sacraments be the Notes of a true Church or whether it be no matter as to the nature of a Church what our Faith and Sacraments are Secondly Let us now consider the Cardinal's way by some certain marks and notes to find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is To pick out of all the Churches in the World one Church which we must own for the only true Church and reject all other Churches which do not subject themselves to this one Church To find out such a Church on whose authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith and in whose Communion only pardon of sin is to be had That this is the use of Notes in the Church of Rome I have already shewn you and truly they are very pretty things to be proved by Notes as to consider them particularly 1. To find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is This methinks is not a natural way of inquiry but is like seeking for we know not what There are two inquiries in order of nature before which is the true Church viz. Whether there be a true Church or not and what it is The first of these the Cardinal takes for granted that there is a Church but I wont take it for granted but desire these Note-makers to give me some Notes to prove that there is a Church There is indeed a great deal of talk and noise in the World about a Church but that is no proof that there is a Church and yet it is not a self-evident proposition that there is a Church and therefore it must be proved Now that there is a Church must be proved by Notes as well as which is this true Church or else the whole design of Notes is lost and I would gladly see those Notes which prove that there is a Church before we know what a Church is To understand the mystery of this we must briefly consider the reason and use of Notes in the Church of Rome according to the Popish resolution of Faith into the authority of the Church the first thing we must know is which is the True Church for we must receive the Scriptures and the Interpretation of them and the whole Christian Faith and Worship from the Church and therefore can know nothing of Religion till we have found the Church The use then of Notes is to find out the Church before and without the Scriptures for if they admit of a Scripture-proof they must allow that we can know and understand the Scriptures without the authority or interpretation of the Church which undermines the very foundation of Popery Now I first desire to know how they will prove That there is a Church without the Scripture That you 'l say is visible it self for we see a Christian Church in the World but what is it I see I see a company of men who call themselves a Church and this is all that I can see and is this seeing a Church A Church must have a Divine Original and Institution and therefore there is no seeing a Church without seeing its Character for there can be no other Note or Mark of the being of a Church but the Institution of it And this proves that we cannot know that there is a Church without knowing in some measure what this Church is for the Charter which founds the Church must declare the Nature and Constitution of it what its Faith and Worship and Laws and Priviledges are But now these essential Characters of a Church must not be reckoned by the Romanists among the Notes of a Church for then we must find out the true Church by the true Faith and the true Worship not the true Faith by the true Church which destroys Popery Hence it is that these Note-makers never attempt to give us any Notes whereby we shall know that there is a Church or what this Church is for there are no Notes of these but such as they dare not give viz. The Authority of the Scriptures and every mans private judgment of the Sense and Interpretation of them for at least till we have found a Church we must judg for our selves and then the Authority of the Church comes too late for we must first judg upon the whole of Religion if we must find out a true Church by the true Faith before we can know the true Church and we cannot rely on her Authority before we know her and therefore they take it for granted that there is a Church which they can never prove in their way and attempt to give some Notes whereby to know which is the Church and then learn what the Church is from the Church her self which is like giving marks whereby to know an Unicorn before I know whether there be an Unicorn or not or what it is 2. Another blunder in this Dispute about Notes is That they give us Notes whereby to find out the true Catholick Church before we know what a particular Church is For all Bellarmin's Notes are intended only for the Catholick Church and therefore his first Note is the name Catholick whereas the Catholick Church is nothing else but all true Christian Churches in the World united together by one common Faith and Worship and such acts of Communion as distinct Churches are capable of and obliged to Every particular Church which professes the true Faith and Worship of Christ is a true Christian Church and the Catholick Church is all the true Christian Churches in the World which have all the same Nature and are in some sense of the same Communion So that it is impossible to know what the Catholick Church is before we know what a particular Church is as it is to know what the Sea is before we know what Water is Every true single particular Church has the whole and intire nature of a Church and would be a true Church though there were no other Church in the World as the Christian Church at Jerusalem was before any other Christian Churches were planted and therefore there can be no other Notes of a True Church but what belong to every true particular Church and that can be nothing but what is essential to a Church and what all true Christian Churches in the World agree in viz. The True Faith and Worship
of this for all those Articles which are before the Holy Catholick Church must in order of Nature be known before it That there is a God who made the World that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and descended into Hell that he rose again the third day from the dead and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence shall come to judg the Quick and the Dead I believe in the Holy Ghost and then we may add the Holy Catholick Church and not till then For the Church is a Society of Men for the Worship of God through the Faith of Jesus Christ by the Sanctification of the Holy Spirit which unites them into one Mystical Body So that we must know Father Son and Holy Ghost before we can know what the Catholick Church means And is it not strange then that our Faith must be founded on the Authority of the Church when we must first know all the great Articles of our Faith before we can know any thing about a Church This inverts the order of our Creed which according to the Principles of the Church of Rome should begin thus I believe in the Holy Catholick Church and upon the Authority of that Church I believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost and no doubt but the Apostles or those Apostolical Men who framed the Creed would have put it so had they thought the whole Christian Faith must be resolved into the Authority of the Church This short Discourse I think is enough in general concerning the Notes of the Church and I shall leave the particular Examination of Cardinal Bellarmin's Notes to other Hands which the Reader may expect to follow in their order The End. BELLARMIN'S First Note of the Church concerning the name of Catholick EXAMINED Prima Nota est ipsum Catholicae Ecclesiae Christianorum nomen Bellar. cap. 4. de notis Ecclesiae p. 1477. IMPRIMATUR Apr. 8. 1687. Guil. Needham RR. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Domest THat the sincere Preaching of the Faith or Doctrine of Christ as it 's laid down in the Scripture is the only sure Infallible Mark of the Church of Christ is a Truth so clear in it self so often and fully prov'd by Learned Men of the Reformation that it may justly seem a Wonder that any Church which is not conscious to her self of any Errors and Deviations from it should refuse to put her self upon that Tryal This gave Being to the Church of Christ at first makes it One and makes it Catholick According as this fares in any Part or Member of it is that Church distinguish'd and denominated it will be True or False Pure or Corrupt Sound or Heretical according as the Faith it holds bears a conformity or repugnance to the written Doctrine of our Saviour An Orthodox Faith makes an Orthodox Church but if her Faith becomes Tainted and Heterodox the Church will be so too and should it happen wholly to Apostatize from the Faith of Christ it would wholly cease to be a Christian Church This may seem to be the Reason that the present Church of Rome being notoriously warp'd from Truth declines the being examined and measur'd by this Rule having indeed some reason to be against the Scripture that is so evidently against her and endeavours to support her self with great Names and Swelling Titles Hence it is that we so often hear of the Name of Catholick Antiquity Amplitude Vnity Succession Miracles Prophecy and several others that their great Cardinal sets down as so many perpetual and never-failing Marks and Characters to find out the True Church and to Assert his own I shall in this short Tract examine the first of these and that I may give it all the fair play imaginable endeavour to represent it in its full force and to its best advantage Bellarmin makes it thus to speak for it self The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3.4 makes it the Sign and Mark of Scismaticks to be called after the Name of particular Men tho' of the Apostles themselves whether of Paul or Apollos or Cephas And in the Writings of the ancient Fathers the Orthodox Churches were known and distinguish'd by the name of Catholick and the Conventicles of Scismaticks and Hereticks by the Names of their first Authors And therefore since the Church of Rome is by all even her bitterest Adversaries called Catholick and the several Sects of the Reform'd after the Names of their particular Doctors as Luther Calvin Zuinglius and the like it follows that the Name of Catholick is not only a sure undoubted Mark of the true Church but also that this Church of Rome is that Church This is his Argument and as much as he values his Church upon it I can see no more in it but this that because Churches professing the true Orthodox Faith were anciently styl'd Catholick therefore all that have been styled Catholick since be their Faith what it will must be True and Orthodox Churches And because the Apostle forbids Christians to be call'd after the Name of particular Men tho of never so great Eminency in the Church And those mentioned in the Works of the Ancients were really Scismaticks and Hereticks that were so call'd as the Valentinians Marcionites Montanists and others Therefore all that in after-Ages shall be so nick-nam'd tho out of Malice and Ill-will by their Enemies whilst they disown it themselves must go for Scismaticks and Hereticks This is so weak a Topick that I might justly break off here having expos'd it sufficiently by a bare Representing of it Yet for the Reader 's farther Information and Satisfaction in this matter I shall proceed to shew these three Things I. In what Respect the name of 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 II. That from the bare name of Catholick no Argument can be drawn to prove a Church to be Catholick III. That the Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the true Catholick Faith neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church I. In what Respect the Name of Catholick was esteemed by some of the Fathers in their Time a Note of the Catholick Church and c. And this as evidently appears from their Writings and even from those Testimonies cited by Bellarmine was upon the Account of the Catholick Faith that in their Time was generally and for the most part in conjunction with the Name of Catholick and when ever it is so 't will be an Infallible Note of a Catholick Church The Catholick Faith is that which was deliver'd by Christ himself to his Apostles and by them to the Church contain'd in those Writings which they by
often fallacious way of arguing however popular and that needs less Trouble in Examination from Persons to things whereas these will continue the same but they are changeable 1. But then it may be observed of the Roman Succession that the case seems so extremely chang'd since the first Times So great an Alteration there is in the Persons and in the Office to which the Succession is now come that it can hardly be look'd on as the continuation of the same The Episcopal Power is all that we can find for some hundred of years laid claim to and our Note is only concerned in it tho in some few single Acts it began by degrees to be stretch'd so as to put other Bishops upon their Guard and Protestations as in the case of Appeals by the Africans Yet were all Bishops owned to have an equal share in that all to be of like Power and Authority all alike Successors of the Apostles whether at Rome or in the meanest City as in the known Testimonies in St. Cyprian and St. Jerom c. But the Papal Power now challenged and exercised is so vastly and widely different from Episcopacy that scarce any Propriety of Speech can bring them under the same Name But to come to matter of Fact. Notwithstanding the high Elogiums given by the Antients on particular occasions to the Roman Church or Bishops and the very bold Efforts and very lofty Aspirings of some of these yet he must have other Eyes or other Spectacles than we can procure who can espy any thing like the Supremacy and Authority claim'd by the present Papacy in the Principles or Practice of the Church for more than five hundred Years which as hath been observed could not but have been as discernable in all the Histories of those Times as the Reference to the power of our Kings and manner of our Government must be in our own History 2. Farther indeed there seems no great Reason for them to be much concerned at the Succession of Bishops that are not very favourable to the very Order We know what great Opposition in their Council of Trent the Divine Right of Episcopacy met with from the chief Favourites of that See when the Determination was so strongly pressed by others De Pont. Rom. l. 1. c. 8 9. l. 4. c. 24. And the Author of these Notes is pleated to determine the Government of the Church not to be chiefly in the Bishops but properly and intirely Monarchical in the Pope only and that he derives his Power immediately from Christ But the Bishops have theirs from him as to Jurisdiction which is Government 3. Moreover they have the less reason to except against any Churches for the want of this Apostolical Order when their very Catechism that multiplies Orders with much less Distinction of Office makes this no distinct Order but only a different Degree of the same Priesthood the supreme Order in their Church ascending only gradually from that of a common Presbyter to that of Bishops Arch-Bishops Patriarchs and the Pope himself Some of the intermediate we know admit no distinct Ordination Nay the pretended plenary Power of the Pope hath sometimes by particular Delegation empowered mitred Abbots but meer Presbyters to supply the Place of two of the Bishops if but one be present even in Ordination it self and that of a Bishop as Bellarmine in this very Note yields Many other Instances might be given of their endeavours to advance the first as it were on purpose to fence off the danger of a Rival To what use else should serve so many Priviledges and Exemptions long complained of Their chief Rise hath been upon the Depression of Bishops and robbing them of their ordinary Power So quite opposite is the true case from the Jelousies of some about this Primitive Order 4. Also they will have little cause to glory much in this pretended uninterrupted Succession when they consider how many Nullities according to their own Principles may dissolve and separate the closest Connexion thereof For besides confused Tumultuary and Simoniacal Promotions from which their own Writers will scarce free some of them That one Principle of the Intention of the Priest being necessary to the Effect of any Sacrament had need make them fearful of relying too much upon it For in case this were once wanting in some of the principal Sources through so long a Tract of time variety of Circumstances and different Temper of Persons which many will think no hard matter to suppose however can never be certainly proved otherwise by this Rule they cannot be secure of any Order yea scarce of any true Christian among them So I proceed to the Third Inquiry How insufficient a Proof this will afford them of any Great Advantage Inquiry 3. Indeed Bellarmin himself seems so Just as in part to yield this in his Answer to the Fourth Objection about this Note He says an Argument may be brought that there the Church is not where there is not this Succession but it cannot thence necessarily be gathered that there the Church is wheresoever this Succession is So that it seems no positive Proof with him Wherefore he thinks fit to exclude the Eastern Churches or break their Succession upon pretences of Heresy 1. For First This Succession is no sufficient Evividence of the Truth of the Doctrine of any Church Indeed were Tradition so infallible a Conveyance of Truth as some Men that talk of nothing below Demonstration would vouch Were it impossible for any new Opinion to creep into the Church Were it necessary that Men must believe to Day as they did Yesterday and so in short as it were at one Leap up to the very Apostles and that the passage of sixteen hundred years were able to make as little Alterations in the Memorials or Evidences of what Doctrines or Rules of Practice were first delivered by word of Mouth as the last Nights sleep does of what pass'd the Day before Then every Church of Apostolical Foundation and such were all then Planted had been and would still continue as Infallible as the Church of Rome thinks her self and we should not have had any dispute about their Tenets nor any such Exceptions against their Succession What Security theirs hath from the Defections which others are charged with or have been found liable to what Evidence may be produc'd that any Church or Company of Men in the Church may not add in process of Time some Doctrines and Usages very prejudicial to the Common Faith once delivered to the Saints And that the Resolution of our Faith is only with safety to be made into the Perpetuity and Infallibility of the Roman Church alone by it self or its Dependants we are yet to seek And much wonder that the Ancients in all their Disputes with Hereticks and Schismaticks should take so great a compass to confute their Adversaries from Scripture Reason and other Authorities beside what the See of Rome afforded and not with our
they are we can never be certain whether any one Church in the World doth profess 'em or no for how can we know whether or no a Church professes we know not what And unless we certainly know that these Principles are true we can never be certain whether that be a true Church which professes 'em for seeing it is the profession of the true Principles of Religion that makes a true Church it is impossible for us to know whether any Church be a true Church till we know whether the Principles it professes are true So that before a Man can be secure that he hath found the true Church by this Note he must be certain either that every thing it professes is true or at least that the main and fundamental Principles of its Profession are true Neither of which he can be certain of according to the Principles of the Church of Rome For First She decries Mens private Judgment of Discretion as utterly insufficient to make any certain distinction of Truth from Falshood in matters of Religion Secondly She allows no sufficient Rule without the true Church to guide and direct our private Judgment of Discretion Thirdly She resolves all Certainty as to matters of Faith into the Authority of the true Church Fourthly She authorizes the true Church to impose upon us an absolute necessity of believing such Things as before were not necessary to be believed First The Church of Rome decries Men's private Judgment of Discretion as utterly insufficient to make any certain distinction of Truth from Falshood in matters of Religion Seeing we are to seek the true Church by Notes our certainty that we have found it must wholly depend upon our certainty that we have found in it the Notes of the true Church but tho there is no one thing in the World of which we are more concerned to be certain than that we have found the true Church and are in Communion with it because no less than our Eternal Salvation depends upon it yet it is only our own private Judgment of Discretion that by applying the Notes of the true Church can ascertain us in this Point For while we are in quest of the true Church we have no other way to find it but by carrying the Notes of it along with us and by examining and judging by our own private Discretion which Church these Notes do belong to either our private Discretion is sufficient to assertain us in this Matter or it is not if it be not we can never be certain which is the true Church if it be it must be sufficient to assertain us in all other necessary Points of Religion because one of the Notes by which we are to seek the true Church and that a principal one too is Sanctity of Doctrine or an unerring profession of the true Religion at least in all necessary points But before we can be certain which Church this Note belongs to we must be throughly satisfied in our own private Discretion what this unerring Profession is which we can never be till we are certain of the Truth of all the Particulars of it and when we are certain of this we are certain at least as to all necessary points of true Religion which must all be included in every unerring Profession of it So that before we can be certain of any Church that it is the true Church we must be certain that it doth not err in its profession and before we can be certain of this we must be certain of the Truth of all those particular Doctrines whereof its Profession is composed and of this we have as yet no other way to be certain but only by our own private Judgment of Discretion because till we have found the true Church its impossible we should conduct our selves by its Authority and in the absence of the true Churches Authority we have nothing to conduct us but our own private Discretion either this our private Discretion therefore is sufficient to assertain us of the Truth of all the particular Doctrines whereof an unerring Profession of Religion is composed or it is not if it be it must be sufficient to assertain us as to all necessary points of Religion if it be not as the Church of Rome affirms it is not it is impossible we should ever be certain that we have found the true Church again either therefore the Church of Rome must allow that certainty in all at least in all necessary Points of Religion is attainable by the free and honest use of our own private Judgment of Discretion which as I shall shew by and by she can never allow without undermining her own Foundations or she must leave Men hovering in eternal Uncertainty as to one of the most necessary Points of Religion viz. which is the true Church Secondly The Church of Rome allows no sufficient Rule without the true Church to guide and direct our private Judgment of Discretion Seeing the Constitution of the true Church is not natural but entirely founded upon Divine Institution this Question Which is the true Church is not to be resolved by Principles of Nature but by Principles of Revelation and therefore without some revealed Rule which is every way sufficient to guide and direct our private Discretion we shall never be able to find out which is the true Church because without such a Rule we have nothing but the Principles of Nature to go by which in this Enquiry are utterly insufficient to direct us But while we are out of the Church we have no other revealed Rule to direct us in our Enquiry after it but only that of Scripture for as for Tradition the Church of Rome teaches that the true Church is the sole Conservator of it and that tho it be a part of Divine Revelation yet no Man is obliged any farther to believe it than the true Church hath defined and declared it And seeing I can have ho certainty what is a true Tradition till such time as I am got into the true Church How can Tradition be a Rule of Faith to me while I am out of it Or How can that be the Rule of my Faith whilst I am in quest of the true Church which I have no other Obligation to believe but only the true Churches Authority Whilst therefore I am out of the true Church the only Rule I have to go by in my Enquiries after it is Scripture And this the Church of Rome tells me is insufficient both because it is not full enough and because it is not clear enough Which if true I can never be certain I have found the true Church by this Note of an unerring Profession 1st She teaches that the Scripture is not full enough as not containing in it all necessary Doctrines of Faith and Manners but that there are certain unwritten Traditions in the Church of equal Authority with it by which its defects are supplied And if so How is it possible I
should find the true Church by the direction of Scripture For since according to this Note that can be no true Church which doth not unerringly profess all necessary Doctrines of Faith and Manners when I have found a Church which professes all such necessary Doctrines as are in Scripture I cannot be secure that it is a true Church supposing there are other necessary Doctrines out of Scripture viz. in the unwritten Traditions because then the profession of these will be altogether as necessary to its being a true Church as the profession of those All that the Scripture can satisfy me in is only this whether such a Church profess all the necessary Doctrines in Scripture but if there are any necessary Doctrines out of Scripture it 's certain that the profession of them is as necessary to the being of the true Church as the profession of those that are in it And therefore before I can be certain that it is the true Church I must be fully satisfied that it professeth both which I can never be unless I have some other Rule to go by besides this of Scripture 2dly The Church of Rome teaches that the Scripture is no sufficient Rule in respect of clearness the Sense of it being so obscurely exprest that we can never be certain what it is without the Interpretation of the true Church Which if true it 's utterly impossible for one who is out of the true Church ever to find it by the direction of Scripture For according to this Note that only is the true Church which doth not err in its Profession at least in any necessary Point either as to Doctrines of Faith or Doctrines of Manners But before I can know whether any Church doth not err in its Profession I must be certainly informed what the true Profession is or what are those Doctrines of Faith and Manners of which this true Profession consists as to which the Scripture can never certainly inform me if it be not sufficiently clear For if I can never be certain what the true sense of Scripture is without the Interpretation of the true Church How is it possible that while I am out of the true Church I should ever be certain of its Sense as to all the particular Doctrines which the true Profession of Religion contains So that according to this Principle the Scripture is so far from being a sufficient Rule to one that is out of the true Church that it is perfectly useless to him in his Enquiry after it for either it can certainly direct him to the true Church or it cannot if it can it must be sufficiently clear to inform him of its own Sense without the Interpretation of the true Church concerning all those Doctrines of Faith and Manners whereof the unerring Profession of the true Church is composed and if so this Principle of the Roman Church is erroneous if it be not to what purpose doth it serve unless it be to lead him into an endless Maze of Uncertainties wherein the further he wanders the more he will lose himself So that if a Man hath had the misfortune to be born and bred out of the true Church in an Heretical or Schismatical Communion and is enquiring his way in by this Note of an unerring Profession he hath no other Rule to instruct and inform him what this unerring Profession is but only that of Scripture which according to the Principles of the Church of Rome is insufficient for his Purpose How then is it possible he should ever be certain that he hath found the true Church when the only Rule he hath whereby to enquire what that unerring Profession is whereby he is to seek it is utterly insufficient to resolve him Thirdly The Church of Rome resolves all Certainty as to matters of Faith into the Authority of the true Church and indeed this is the fundamental Principle of Popery viz. That the only ground of Certainty as to matters of Faith is the Authority of the present true Church teaching and proposing ' em Till such time therefore as we have found the true Church and do believe upon the Authority of its teaching we can never have any true Certainty of the matters which we are to believe And yet before we can be certain that we have found the true Church by this Note of an unerring Profession we must have very good certainty as to all matters of Faith for we can never be certain upon the Authority of any Church that what we believe is true till such time as we are certain that it is the true Church nor can we ever be certain that it is the true Church until we are certain that it doth not err in its Profession or which is the same thing that all the matters of Faith which it teaches and professes are true So that the certainty of our Faith after we have found the true Church and do believe upon its Authority must depend upon the certainty of our Faith while we were seeking it and did believe without its Authority Because before we can believe with any certainty upon the Authority of any Church we must be certain that it is the true Church but we can never be certain that it is the true Church till we are first certain that its Profession is true as to all the matters of Faith contained in it To make the matter more plain I will briefly represent it in a short Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist Protest You tell me I can never be certain as to matters of Faith unless I believe upon the Authority of the true Church Pap. I do so and upon the Truth of this Proposition all my Religion is founded Protest But I beseech you May I be certain as to matters of Faith if I believe upon the Authority of any Church tho I am not certain whether it be the true Church or no Pap. To what Purpose do you ask this Question Protest Because if I may then in believing upon the Authority of the Church of England which you say is a false Church I shall be as certain as to matters of Faith as you who believe on the Authority of the Church of Rome which you say is the only true Church Pap. Why then I tell you you can never be certain as to matters of Faith in believing upon the Authority of any Church unless you are certain it is the true Church upon whose Authority you believe ' em Protest Why so Pap. Because it is not the Authority of a Church merely that is the true ground of Certainty but the Authority of the true Church otherwise the Authority of all Churches true or false would be equally a true ground of Certainty And therefore you can never be certain that the Authority of that Church upon which you believe is a true ground of Certainty unless you are first certain that it is the true Church Protest I do allow your Reason But then pray
how shall I be certain that it is the true Church Pap. Why this you must examine by certain Notes of the true Church whereof one and that a principal one is Sanctity of Doctrine or an unerring Profession of the true Religion Protest But Good Sir can I not be certain that it is the true Church till I am first certain that it doth not err in its Profession Pap. No. Protest Why then I must be certain of the Truth of all those matters of Faith whereof its Profession consists before I can be certain that it is the true Church Pap. You must so Protest But pray how shall I If that be true which you told me just now viz. That there is no true ground of Certainty but the Authority of the true Church For how is it possible I should ever be truly certain when as yet I know no true ground of Certainty Pap. Why have you not the Authority of the true Church Protest But as yet I am not certain that the Church upon whose Authority you would have me believe is the true Church and till I am certain of this with what Certainty can I depend upon her Authority Would you have me be certain that whatsoever she professes is true upon her own bare Word and Authority before I am certain that she is the true Church If so why may I not as well believe any other Church to be the true Church seeing there is no other Church but what will pass its Word for the Truth of its own Profession as well as yours If not you must allow me to have some other ground of Certainty as to Matters of Faith besides the Authority of the true Church For before I can securely rely upon the Authority of any Church as the true ground of Certainty I must be certain that it is the true Church and my Certainty that she is the true Church must depend upon my Certainty of the Truth of all those Matters of Faith comprised in her Profession So that before I am certain of the Truth of her Profession it is too soon for me to rely upon her Authority as the only ground of Certainty and when I am certain of it it is too late because I am certain already Fourthly And Lastly The Church of Rome gives Authority to the true Church to impose upon Mens Minds a necessity of believing such things as before they were not obliged to believe For she makes the Church's Authority not only a concurrent motive of Faith but the very formal reason of it so that we are not only obliged to believe what the Church declares but we are therefore obliged to believe it because she declares it 'T is true some of the Roman Doctors tell us that the Church hath no power to make new Articles of Faith but only that seeing there some old Truths in Scripture and the unwritten Tradition of the Church which the Church hath not yet declared and which therefore Men are not yet obliged to believe the Church hath Authority when ever she thinks meet to declare 'em and thereby to oblige Men under pain of Damnation to believe 'em but others of 'em and particularly Cardinal Bellarmin de Potest Sum. Pontif. tell us That the Church of later Time not only hath power to explain and declare but also to Constitute and Command those Things which belong to Faith. And indeed the difference between declaring and constituting or making an Article of Faith is only Verbal For an Article of Faith is a Truth that is necessary to be believed And therefore if the Church by declaring a Truth which was not necessary to be believed makes it necessary to be believed it thereby makes that Truth an Article of Faith which was not an Article of Faith. And so to declare and to make is the very same thing But in this they are all agreed that the true Church hath power to make those things necessary to be believed which were not so before And if this be true no Man can ever be certain by this Note of an unerring Profession that he hath found the true Church For before I can be certain of any Church as for instance the Roman that it is the true Church I must be certain that that Church's Profession is true but when I proceed to examine the particular Articles of it as I must do before I can be certain of the Truth of the whole I shall find there are several of them of the Truth of which in the opinion of several even of her own Doctors I have no sufficient ground to be certain either in Scripture or Tradition which while I am seeking the true Church are the only Rule I have whereby to examine them as particularly Transubstantiation Seven Sacraments Necessity of Auricular Confession Roman Purgatory and Indulgences Vid. Note the Sixth pag. 125. c. And if these Roman Doctors pretend to be certain of them upon no other Reason but because their Church which they are sure is the true Church hath declared them How shall I be certain of them who am but an Enquirer whether it be the true Church or no And therefore as yet cannot be supposed to be sure that it is for without her Declaration they themselves confess I have no sufficient ground to be certain of the Truth of them And till I am sure she is the true Church her Declarations are no ground of Certainty to me And as I cannot be certain that these Articles are true till I am sure that the Church which declare them is the true Church so supposing that the true Church hath power to impose upon me a necessity of believing such Things as before I was not obliged to believe I cannot be certain that they are false because no Authority can be supposed to have a right to impose upon Men such a necessity of believing but what is infallible and cannot impose what is false on them unless it be supposed that Men may be rightfully obliged to believe what is false If therefore the Roman Church be the true Church as for all I yet know it may then for all I yet know it hath Authority from God to impose upon me a necessity of believing whatever she declares and consequently for all I yet know she is Infallible But as for my self I know that I am a fallible Creature and therefore whatsoever Infallibility declares to me must certainly be true whatsoever Probabilities yea or seeming Demonstrations I may have against it how then can I be certain that any Article is false which is declared to me by a Church that for all I yet know is Infallible if it be Infallible I am sure that whatever it declares is true And if it be the true Church it must be Infallible Supposing that the true Church hath Authority to impose new Necessities of believing but whether it be the true Church or no is the Thing I am now enquiring by this Note of
modern Controvertists make short work in appealing to this last only effectual way of Decision had it then been received and known for so fundamental a Principle of Christianity as is now pretended 2. As this uninterrupted Succession of Bishops where yielded is no sufficient Proof of the Truth of the Doctrine of any Church so neither is it a warrantable Ground of the claim of Superiority over another Church which hath not so clear evidences thereof And if these two fail those we have to deal with they will gain very little by this Note For as the Succession may yea ought to be supposed good when sufficient Proof appears not to the contrary So where there really appears Want of this Succession and need to to fly to other Churches for the Relief thereof yet this charitable Assistance which all ought most freely and willingly to offer or lend to each other does not presently give one the Power over the other for ever after The Apostles themselves seem not to derive their Power over the Churches by them planted so much from the Success of their Labours as from their immediate Divine Commission intimated in the Beginning of their Epistles though the one was a great Endearment and Enforcement to the others and so it ought to be We may suppose sometimes greater Churches converted by the Ministry of the less who were so happy as to receive the Faith before them Younger Churches have many times leapt over the Heads of much Elder and the Inferior having gained some considerable Advancement in a Civil Account have soon arrived at a proportionable Promotion in the Ecclesiastical as particularly the Church of Constantinople And somewhat like may be observed in the Changes of other Cities Superior Bishops are ordained by those over whom they after have some Authority For if not only Priority of Order but also Superiority of Jurisdiction be unalterably entailed upon the Eldest I doubt the Church of Jerusalem which was certainly the Mother-Church must be also the Mistress of all And if that Line be extinct I believe there are many other Branches it must descend to before it come to the Roman Some have disputed whether Britain it self had not a Church as soon And that they should ground a claim from what they will not yield to others sufficient for the same purpose seems very unequal But surely the Designs and Effects of this Spiritual Warfare are not like those usually of the Carnal meerly to inlarge the Dominions of their Leaders and advance the Power of their Governors The Churches conquests consist in the multitude of Souls gained to Christ in the new Plantations or farther Growth and Emprovements of all Christian Graces and Vertues in Mens Winds in fastning some Good and Benefit on them and not in gaining new outward Dependances to our selves any farther than the needful Preservation of Peace and Order in every distinct Dominion What is more smells too strong of Worldly Policy Temporal Gain or Secular Ambition to have any true Place here When Men are more industrious to promote and encourage every where sincere Piety and Probity and less concern'd in the claims of unlimited Soveraignty and Power then may we think true Religion and not other Interest to be the first Mover with them But to consider a little the Cardinal's Testimonies here The Second out of St. Augustin Psalmo contra partem Donati being the fullest and alone pertinent to their purpose I single out Numerate inquit Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa Sede Petri in ordine illa Patrum quis cui successerit videte Ipsa est Petriae quam non vincunt Superbae Inferorum Portae As to the latter part of it where the stress lies we have this Argument that it must be interpreted only as an occasional Allusion that in many places where he purposely expounds that Passage of the Gospel he makes Christ himself confessed by St. Peter to be the Rock on which he built his Church as Retract l. 1.21 Tom. 1. p. 30. and in cap. 21. Sti. Johan Tom. 9. p. 572. Super hanc Petram quam confessus se c. And indeed asserts no more but matter of Fact in a single case that the Seat of St. Peter to which the Donatists when condemned by the African Bishops upon their Appeal to the Emperour were referred was as a Rock which the proud Gates of Hell so he resembles their Presumptions doe not prevail against That is the cause was given against them by the Roman Bishop and others joyn'd with him Where though some Allusion may be made to the Place in the Gospel yet it is not fair to strain an Argument thence against the plain and expresly designed Exposition of if especially among such short Strictures of which that Tract is made up And for the other Testimonies in Irenaeus Tertullian and Epiphanius We acknowledg their Arguments good against upstart Teachers of new Doctrine But they expresly joyn Succession of Doctrine with that of Persons otherwise it had been of no Validity unless by referring their Adversaries who were not much moved by Authority to the evidences of the conveyance of the opposite Opinions to them from the first Originals The other two places in St. Aug. and that of Optatus against the Donatists imply no more to those presumptuous Inclosers of the whole Church within their own narrow Bounds and Beginners of it from themselves than a Challenge for them to shew any thing of the Apostolical Original thereof or after-conveyance like other Churches and particularly the Roman wherein St. Augustin Epist 165 after a Catalogue of the Bishops thereof thus closes In hoc ordine successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur And in all his Disputes with them lays the charge of the Guilt of their Schism upon the separation from all the Churches dispersed over the World according to Prophetical and Evangelical Declarations No Person or Place to prejudicate to all others it follows in the fore-mentioned ut certa sit spes fidelibus quae non in Homine sed in Domino collocata All which and more to any that consult the References throughout rather confirm our Claim We have as good Evidences and Conveyances as our Adversaries can challenge we pretend not to any new Doctrine But for the main ours are what themselves dare not but own What we reject among them are not only as Additions which none must make to the first Principles of Religion but over and above very dangerous and destructive to the common Faith of both For the Proof of such Doctrines or continuance of it we need no new Miracles or new Authority from Heaven but an orderly conveyance of the old and that we still Thanks be to God retain And truly Bellarmin's Inference from the mentioned Citations will carry in it little or no force but seems rather to incline the contrary way If they says he made so much of the continued Succession of 12 20 or 40 Bishops how much may