represented as such by our Historian The third Proposition therefore carries something of prevarication in it So those Advocates which would betray the causes of their Clients propose a wrong state of the Case the vanity whereof being once discovered renders the Plaintiff contemptible in the sight of all men and reduces him to a necessity of complying with the injured Defendant There is a great deal of ignorance and intricateness the Consequent thereof in the Proposition of our Author as it is by him worded for Infallibility and a sovereign Dominion over our Faith are not equipollent Termes nor termes indifferently used No Papist did ever ascribe unto the Bishop of Rome except some Parasitical Canonist whose Credit is little in that Church a sovereign dominion over our Faith He that is Sovereign knows not any Superior nor any coercive Law but his will the objects about which his power is conversant are liable to what alterations he pleaseth and he rules by the Lex Regia but what Divine did ever ascribe such a power to the Pope in matter of Faith Place the Chair where and how you will none of that Church ever assumed so much nor did that Church ever attribute so much to the Bishop of Rome There have been those that have taught that if by way of supposal it could be imagined that all the Pastors of the Church Catholick should erre in a Decree of Faith the Laiety were bound to submit thereunto but such a Sovereignty in matters of faith none except some Iesuits and Parasites ascribe unto the Pope's person his Briefs and Decretals have not that credit amongst the Romanists as to authenticate such Assertions nor is the belief thereof a necessary condition to communicate with that Church upon If we look upon the contests in Germany that introduced Protestancy at first we find the erroneous doctrine about Indulgences to be the primary occasion there In Switzerland and in France and Holland abuses and Idolatrous practises or false Doctrines are the first subjects of Disputes and occasion the Reformation there Transubstantiation Communion in one kind the propitiatory sacrifice of the Masse Image-worship praying to Saints and such like Controversies are the first and most fiercely debated In England under Henry the VIII the Pope's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and appeals to Rome c. give the the first occasions of discontent and that change which was afterwards carried on to a total Reformation of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England then came in question the power of the Bishop of Rome the nature of his Primacy the Authority and Fallibility of General Councels the power of National and provincial Churches to reforme themselves during the interval of Councels or without dependance thereon whether the Scripture were the sole rule of faith how obligatory were Traditions the interest and influence of the Civil Magistrate in ruling Ecclesiastical Affairs these came next into agitation The usurpation of Infallibility and a pretended Sovereignty in matters of faith to be lodged in the Pope was neither the occasion of the Protestant separation nor a material part of the first controversies though perhaps some Italianated persons and Canonists might assert some such thing and since the growth of the Iesuites tenets of that nature have been much advanced thereby to justifie their Vow of blind obedience to the Papal commands The memory of the Councils of Basil and Constance was fresh in the minds of men and the superiority of a Council above the Pope a common and authorized tenet in that Church The personal infallibility and the supremacy of the Bishops of Rome had of old received too great a check in the cases of Vigilius and Honorius and in the declared sentences of the Councils of Pisa Constance Basil and of the Universities of Paris Loven Colen Vienna and Cracovia not to mention particular Writers to be the occasion of that rupture The Sorbone to this day continues its former judgment and even the present King of France hath asserted the liberties of the Gallick Church in that point See Arrest de la Cour de Parliament portant que les propositions contenues en la declaration de la Faculte de Theologie de Paris c. Da. 30. May. 1663. And Declaration du Roy pour l' Enregistrement des six propositions de la Faculte de Sorbonne c. A Paris 4. d' Aoust 1663. What the Popish Church now holds and requires amounts not to any such Authority as our Author asserts if you will believe Cardinal Perron before our Virtuoso Scribis de Romano Pontifice nolle te verba facere quum vel mediocriter in Historiâ Ecclesiasticâ versatis compertum sit primorum seculorum Patres Concilia Imperatores Christianos primas illi semper detulisse praecellentis dignitatis praerogativam in omnibus negotiis ad religionem aut Ecclesiam spectantibus atque hoc solum exigere Ecclesiam vestram pro articulo fidei credendum ab iis qui communioni suae se adjungunt If this Cardinal understand any thing the Romish Church demands no more of her Members then that they own the Pope's primacy not Supremacy or Infallibility nor have the the books of such as derogate from the excessive greatnesse of the Papal power been ever called in or censured in that Church or communion denied to the Assertors of the infallibility of Oral Tradition or of General Councils in opposition to the personal Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome It was and is still a common opinion amongst the Papists that the Pope may be an Heretick I learn'd it from Franciscus Victoria in his Relections Haereticus potest esse non solum Presbiter sed Pontifex etiam summus ergo caput Ecclesiae And Bellarmine himself doth not assert the Infallibility of the Pope no not though He be assisted with a provincial Council In libr. 2. de concil c. 5. fatetur hanc propositionem scilicet Concilia particularia à summo Pontifice confirmata in fide moribus errare possunt non esse fide Catholicâ tenendam ejus tamen contradictoriam temerariam erroneam pronunciat Nay the same Writer in his solemn Lectures at Rome teacheth that it is true the Pope maybe an Heretick But it is probable and godly to be thought that he cannot be an Heretick In the conference betwixt Dr. Raynolds and Hart I find this passage Raynolds The Pope may not onely erre in doctrine but also be an Heretick which I hope you will not say that Peter might Hart. Neither by my good will that the Pope may Raynolds But you must no remedy It is a ruled case Your Schoolmen and Canonists Ockam Hostiensis Turrecremata Zabarella Cusanus Antoninus Alphonsus Canus Sanders Bellarmine and others yea the Canon Law it self yea a Council a Roman Council confirm'd by the Pope
ad prophana quaeque convertantur torquentur verba sententiae sacrae Scripturae ad scurrilia scilicet fabulosa vana adulationes detractiones superstitiones impias diabolicas incantationes divinationes sortes libellos etiam famosos mandat praecipit ad tollendam hujusmodi irreverentiam contemptum ne de caetero quisquam quomodolibet verba sacrae Scripturae ad haec aut similia audeat usurpare ut omnes ejus generis homines temeratores violatores verbi Dei juris arbitrii paenis per Episcopos coerceantur What there is amongst the ancient Canons what in the Fathers prohibiting this usage I do not now remember after so great a discontinuance of those studies but that Dionysius Areopagita or whosoever Writ those works is as severe in some places as if he had continued the Court amongst Christians and that the mystery of Christian Godliness were as much to be reverenced as the Eleusinia Sacra this I am sure of Whether there be any prohibition amongst the rules of our Church I know not perhaps it may be in this case the Church of England is silent and with as much of Prudence as that State was which made no law against Parricides being not willing to think any humane creature capable of such barbarity or by inhibition to put them in mind of such an horrid fact But since the Railleurs have met at last with an Advocate who teacheth them that they may boldly take the sacred Word of God into their mouths though they hate to be reformed and that they may innocently apply it to their civil entertainments discourses though it be notorious that it is a vain talking neither for the glory of God nor edification nor decency nor without great scandal and yet the precaution of the latter and a constant regard to the former is an indispensable Command and at all times obligatory though it be manifest that whosoever useth the utmost extent of his Liberty approacheth very near to a vitiousness of acting that this Holy Raillery hath given occasion to most prophane Burlesque and that 't is the subject matter not words which hallow a conversation Oh! that any Divine should be ignorant of this or expect a contrary issue It is time that publick Authority interpose and that our Church concern her self seeing that our concern for the sacredness of Scripture ought to be much greater in point of Prudence then that of the Papists with whom the Canonical Books are but a part of Sacred Tradition and no further a Rule of Faith and Authenticate then their Church delivereth and expoundeth them so that if the repute thereof were extinguished yet would not their Church fall we have no foundation but the Apostles and Prophets upon this we are built this is our hope in this we doubt not to find Eternal Life And how this foundation will be sapped and undermined by the project of our Virtuoso I do submit unto the serious consideration of the Church of England If any one would understand what is particularly meant by this application of Sacred Writ to vulgar discourse and the manner of this Holy Raillery deduced from Scripture let him read Mr. Cowley's Poems especially his Mistresse such as this where he detests long life without enjoying his Mistress Th' old Patriarchs age and not their hapiness too Why does hard fate to us restore Why does Love's fire thus to Mankind renew What the Flood wash'd away before Resolv'd to be Beloved Thou shalt my Canaan be the fatal soyle That ends my wandrings and my toyle I 'le settle there and happy grow The Country does with milk and hony flow The Welcome Go let the fatted Calf be kill'd My Prodigal's come home at last With noble resolutions fill'd And fill'd with sorrow for the past No more will burn with Love or Wine But quite has left his Women and his Swine My Fate Me mine example let the Stoicks use Their sad and cruel doctrine to maintain Let all Praedestinators me produce Who struggle with eternal bonds in vain This Fire I 'm born to but 't is she must tell Whether 't be the Beams of Heaven or Flames of Hell These and such like Instances as they frequently occurre in those Poems so they are to be allowed by our Virtuoso for a Treasury of magnificent sober innocent Wit for when Mr. Cowly died he desired him to revise his Works and to blot out whatever might seem the least offence to Religion or good manners FINIS Hist. of the R. S. p. 47. Socrates Histor. Eccles. l. 6. c. 3. M. Fr. Wendelin Chr. Theolog System Mai. l. 1. c. 24. Council of Trent l. 1. pag. 52. Communio inter fideles in publicis maximè pietatis exercitiis est posita atque hoc est optatae bonis unionis vel praecipuum coaguluÌ„ Casaubon resp ad Card. Perâ—on 5. 6. Edw. 6. c. 1. 3. as also the Act of Qu. Eliz. for Uniformity See also the Act for Uniformity premised to the English Liturgy Chillingworth ch 5. §. 45. Causabon ' resp ad Card. Perron I grant that Papal Infallibility were there such a thing would oblige us to an assent but not inforce us Sovereignty imâ—lies power but Infallibility doth not so Let a man but inquire into the Papal power to nature and management in Cajetan Victor a Panormitan Turâ—ecremata Gerson and others that write about the power of the Pope's briefs in France or Spain c. and he will find that the Papacy is no Sovereignty either in matters of faith or of lesser importance It is true that long before the Reformation when the Guelphs and Gibellines contested there were some especially Canonists that did attribute to the Pope and some Popes challenged a Sovereignty over the Christian faith to make new Creeds and Articles of faith even such as might contradict the old but these were not agitated at the Reformation and are no more to be imputed indefinitely to the Bishops of Rome then the extravagant claims of some Princes are to the Monarchies they hold See the conference betwixt Raynolds and Hart. c. 9. divis 4. pag. 582. where you will find that before the Reformation the consent of the Doctors and Pastors throughout all Christendom except the Italian faction had condemned the usurped Monarchy of the Pope The Lateran Council never gave it him and whatever for his Supremacy not Infallibility were defined or acted at Trent yet it was opposed there and the Authority of that Council together with the tenet rejected in France at this day without a Schisme Casaubon resp ad Cardin. Perron Fr Victoria relect 5. de pot Eccles. sect 1. §. 6. Davenant de judice norma fidei cap. 21. a Opinio verae est posse esse Haereticum b Probabile est piè credi potest haereticum esse non posse See the Conference ch 7. divis 2. pag. 236. a In dialogo part 1. lib. 6. cap. 1.
do grant it Hart. They grant that the Pope may be an Heretick perhaps by a supposal as many things may be which never were nor are nor shall be For you cannot prove that any Pope ever was an Heretick actually though possibly they may be whereof I will not strive This point of the fallibility of the Pope and his subjection to a Council is so notorious with every man that is acquainted with the more ancient and modern Writers so known to any one that hath either read the determinations of Bishop Davenant qu. 5. or the defense of the Dissuasive of Bishop Taylour pag. 40. or the Review of the Council of Trent written by a French Catholick from whom the Disswader borrowed his allegations or that hath so much as read over the History of the Council of Trent that I need not insist on it any longer Notwithstanding the earnestnesse of the Iesuits under Laynez in the Council of Trent yet neither was the Pope's superiority over a Council nor the Infallibility of the Bishops of Rome defined there directly as appears out of the Review of that Council lib. 4. c. 1. and out of the English History pag. 721 722. Neither is there to this day amongst the Papists any thing enacted or determined in that Church which obligeth a man under pain of Excommunication to hold any such thing as the personal Infallibility of the Bishops of Rome the contrary being daily maintained there by more than the Iansenists much lesse is there any Sovereignty in matters of Faith ascribed unto them at this day All books of the Papists are subjected to the judgment of the Church not to the Arbitrement of the Pope The fides Carbonaria or Colliers faith so famed amongst the Papists was not established upon the infallibility or sovereignty of the Bishops of Rome no he told the Devil that He believed as the Church believed and the Church as He. And how necessary soever they make the communion with the particular Church of Rome how great influence soever they ascribe to the Pope over Councils yet the Decrees of the Council of Trent run in the name of the Holy Synod not Pope and there it is determined sess 4. that none dare interpret Holy Scripturs against the sense which our Holy Mother the Church hath held or does hold If you enquire in-the doctrines of M r White D r Holden Serenus Cressy and such others as endeavour at present and that with great shew of wit and artifices to seduce the English to that Apostaticall Church there is not one of them that I knowe of who attributes any infallibility to the Pope or submitteth his faith to the Sovereigne decisions of the Bishop of Rome As for Serenus Cressy he very judiciously deserts the School-terme of Infallibility for that of the Churches Authority and saith that the exceptions and advantages which the Protestants have against the Roman Church proceed only from their mis-understanding of her necessary doctrines or at most that all the efficacy they have is onely against particular opinions inferences made by particular Catholique writers He shews that D r Stapleton asserts that the infallible voyce and determination of the Church is included in the decree of the Church speaking in a Generall Council representatively In which the Church is infallible with this restriction viz in delivering the substance of faith in publique doctrines and things necessary to salvation Other Catholiques and namely Panormitan teach that the decrees of Generall Council are not absolutely and necessarily to be acknowledged infallible till they be received by all particular Catholique Churches because till then they cannot properly be called the faith of the universall Church or of the body of all faithfull Christians to which body the promise of infallibility is made And this was the Doctrine of Thomas Waldensis and some other Scholmen c. An opinion this is which though not commonly received yet I do not saith S. C. find it deeply censured by any yea the Gallican Churches reckoned this among their chiefest priviledges and liberties that they were not obliged to the decisions of a Generall Council till the whole body of the Gallican Clergy had by a speciall agreement consented to them and so proposed them to the severall Churches there And to this last opinion doth S. C. incline and his book was approved at Paris as consonant to the Catholique faith He guides himselfe by the Authority of received Councils he acknowledges that to be onely necessarily accounted an Article of Catholique faith which is actually acknowledged and received by Catholiques and since contradictions cannot be actually assented unto it will follow that whatsoever decisions of Councils may seem to oppose such articles are not necessarily to be accounted Catholique doctrines and by consequence not obligatory He denies that Generall Councils can make new articles of faith they are witnesses of what hath been delivered not Sovereigns to determine of new truths either by way of addition to the former or in opposition thereunto Their Infallibility is limited to Tradition and spiritually assisted in the faithfull reporting of what hath been delivered what ever reports or decrees they make of another nature they are to be received with a different assent from what is Catholique faith There is a double obligation from decisions of Generall Councils the first an obligation of Christian beliefe in respect of doctrines delivered by Generall Councils as of universall Tradition the second onely of Canonicall obedience to orders and constitutions for practice by which men are not bound to believe those are inforced as from Divine authority but onely to submit unto them as acts of a lawfull Ecclesiasticall power however not to censure them as unjust much lesse to oppose and contradict them Much more doth the same Author adde which give little countenance to that state of the controversie which our Author forms unto us No Soveraigne dominion over our faith is by him ascribed to the Bishop of Rome or Nationall or Generall Counâ—ills and as to Infailibility which Mr Chillingworth had impugned he thus acquits himselfe I may in generall say of all his Objections that since they proceed only against the word Infallibility and that word extended to the utmost heighth and latitude that it possibly can beare Catholiques as such are not at all concerned in them seeing neither is that expression to be found in any received Council nor did ever the Church enlarge her authority to so vast a widenesse as Mr Chillingworth either conceived or at least for his particular advantage against his adversary thought good to make show as if he conceived so As to the subject wherein Infallibility or Authority is to be placed since Catholiques vary as to that point he sayes 't is evident thereby that they are not obliged to any one part of the Question only they are to agree in this Tridentine decision Ecclesiae est judicare de vero sensu Sacrae
be used in Baptisme but onely water whereunto when the word is joyned it is made as S. Augustine saith a full and perfect Sacrament They being wiser in their own conceit than Christ think it not well nor orderly done unlesse they use Conjuration unlesse they hallow the water unlesse there be Oyl Salt Spittle Tapers and such other dumb Ceremonies serving to no use contrary to the plain rule of St. Paul who willeth all things to be done in the Church to Edification Christ ordained the Authority of the Keyes to excommunicate notorious Sinners and to absolve them which are truly penitent They abuse this power at pleasure as well in cursing the Godly with Bell Book and Candle as also absolving the Reprobate which are known to be unworthy of any Christian Society whereof they that lust to see Examples le them search their Lifes To be short look what our Saviour Christ pronounced of the Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel the same may be boldly and with a safe conscience pronounced of the Bishops of Rome namely they have forsaken and daily do forsake the Commandements of God to erect and set up their own Constitutions Which thing being true as all they which have any light of God's word must needs confess we may well conclude according to the Rule of St. Augustine That the BISHOPS OF ROME AND THEIR ADHERENTS ARE NOT THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST much lesse to be taken as chief Heads and Rulers of the same Whosoever saith he do dissent from the Scriptures concerning the Head although they be found in all places where the Church hath appointed yet are they not in the Church A plain place concluding directly against the Church of Rome These Homilies are of such Authority with us that the Clergy must subscribe unto them That they are a part of the Liturgy the Rubrique in the Common Prayer and the Preface to them shews and the Preface saith they were set forth for the expelling of erroneous and poysonous Doctrines More fully t is said in the Orders of K. Iames Ann. Dom. 1622. the Homilies are set forth by Authority in the Church of England not onely for the help of non-preaching but withall as it were a pattern for preaching Ministers Neither is Bishop Iewel in his Apology for the English Church any more favourable to the Pope and his Adherents Nam nos quidem discessimus ab illâ Ecclesiâ in qua nec verbum Dei purè audiri potuit nec Sacramenta administrari nec Dei nomen ut oportuit invocari quam ipsi fatentur multis in rebus esse vitiosam in qua nihil erat quod quenquam posset prudentem hominem de sua salute cogitantem retinere Postremò ab Ecclesia eâ discessimus quae nunc est non quae olim fuit atque ita discessimus ut Daniel è cavea Leonum ut tres illi pueri ex incendio nec tam discessimus quà m ab istis diris devotionibus ejecti sumus And in the conclusion that pious Bishop thus delivers himself again Diximus nos ab illâ Ecclesiâ quam isti speluncam latronum fecerant in qua nihil integrum aut Ecclesiae simile reliquerant quámque ipsi fatebantur multis in rebus erravisse ut Lothum olim è Sodoma aut Abrahamum è Chaldaeâ non contentionis studio sed Dei ipsius admonitu discessisle ex sacris libris quos scimus non posse fallere certam quandam Religionis formam quaesivisse ad veterum Patrum atque Apostolorum primitivam Ecclesiam hoc est ad primordia atque initia tanquam ad fontes rediisse I might prosecute this point with an infinity of Citations out of such Divines as were eminent Writers and Actors in the beginning and throughout the Reign of Qu. Elizabeth when the Church of England even in the judgment of Dr. Heylyn received her establishment and when her Sentiments were best known but I shall content my self with Dr. Whitaker alone Romanam Ecclesiam Catholicam quae nunc est quaeque recentioribus hisce temporibus floruit eam nos non solam Ecclesiam Catholicam sed ne omnino quidem Catholicam esse dicimus nec tantùm non Catholicam id est Vniversalem sed nè veram quidem Ecclesiam Christi particularem esse contendimus Quare deserendam esse dicimus ab omninibus qui servati volunt tanquam Antichristi Satanae Synagogam Nullam in ea salutem sperandam esse imò damnandam illam dicimus tanquam barathrum haereseos erroris Si quando ex animo de Ecclesia illa loquamur eam semper Romanam Papisticam Antichristianam Apostaticam Ecclesiam vocamus Other Elogies then these no true son of the Church of England did afford unto the Romish Church at first and they who afterwards began to speak more mildly of her in which number were Bishop Hall and Dr. Potter they allowed her the name of a Church but with those termini minuentes the additiō whereof renders all simple predications to be false those restrictions of a Schismatical Heretical idolatrous and superstitious Church They compar'd her to a man mortally wounded nothing can be argued from their Writings to condemn the Protestant separation of Schisme they make her so a Church as to interdict all communion and all peace with Her And if it be thus difficult to procure from any man that regulates his judgment according to the established doctrine of our Church any manner of grant that the Romanists are a Church I am sure it is impossible to extort from any such person a confession that the Church of Rome in that condition wherein our Reformers found it and wherein it still continues is either Antient or Famous The Homily aforerecited allowes it no greater antiquity than of about one thousand years and t is an avowed Truth that whatever is not primitive and Apostolick is an innovation The transactions betwixt the Emperour Phocas and the first of the Universal Bishops are too recent and too infamous to give unto the present Romanists any repute It hath alwaies been the profession of the Church of England and of all Protestants that they deserted the Church of Rome because she was apostatised from what was truely ancient and the Church of England is really what the Papists pretend to be this Iewell declares in his Apology more than once Nostra doctrina quam rectiùs possumus Christi Catholicam doctrinam appellare nova nemini videri potest nisi sicui aut Prophetarum fides aut Evangelium aut Christus ipse videatur novus The passage I mention'd formerly shews that we reformed our selves from their errours and impieties to conforme with the genuine Antiquity The Homily against peril of Idolatry allowes scarce of any Antiquity but within the first three hundred years Others extend a fair respect as far as the dayes of the Emperour Marcianus in whose time the