Christians Now I must confess these Notes as he well observes are common to all Christian Churches and were intended to be so and if this does not answer his Design we cannot help it The Protestant Churches do not desire to confine the Notes of the Church to their own private Communions but are very glad if all the Churches in the World be as true Churches as themselves The whole Catholick Church which consists of a great many particular Diocesan or National Churches has the same Nature And when the whole consists of univocal parts every part must have the same Nature with the whole And therefore as he who would describe a man must describe him by such Characters as fit all Mankind so he who gives the Essential Characters of a Church must give such Notes as fit all true Churches in the World. This indeed does not fit the Church of Rome to make it the only Catholick and the only true Church nor do we intend it should but it fits all true Churches wherever they are and that is much better To answer then his Argument when we give Notes which belong to a whole Species as we must do when we give the Notes of a true Christian Church there being a great many true Churches in the World which make up the Catholick or Universal Church we must give such Notes as belong to the whole kind that is to all true Christian Churches And though these Notes are common indeed to all true Christian Churches yet they are proper and peculiar to a true Christian Church as the Essential Properties of a man are common to all men but proper to mankind And this is necessary to make them true Notes For such Notes of a true Church as do not fit all true Churches cannot be true Notes As for what the Cardinal urges That all Sects of Christians think themselves to have the true Faith and true Sacraments I am apt to think they do but what then If they have not the true Faith and true Sacraments they are not true Churches whatever they think of it and yet the true Faith and true Sacraments are certain Notes of a true Church A Purchase upon a bad Title which a man thinks a good one is not a good Estate but yet a Purchase upon a Title which is not only thought to be but is a good one is a good Estate All that can be said in this case is That men can be no more certain that they have a true Church than they are that they have a true Faith and true Sacraments and this I readily grant But as mens mistakes in this matter does not prove that there is no true Faith nor true Sacraments so neither does it prove that a true Faith and true Sacraments are not Notes of the true Church 2. The Cardinal 's second Objection is That the Notes of any thing must be more known than the thing it self which we readily grant Now says he which is the true Church is more knowable than which is the true Faith and this we deny and that for a very plain reason because the true Church cannot be known without knowing the true Faith for no Church is a true Church which does not profess the true Faith. We may as well say that we can know a Horse without knowing what the shape and figure of a Horse is which distinguishes it from all other Creatures as that we can know a Christian Church without knowing what the Christian Faith is which distinguishes it from all other Churches or we may as well say that we can know any thing without knowing what it is since the very Essence of a true Church consists in the true Faith which therefore must be first known before we can know the true Church But the Cardinal urges that we cannot know what true Scripture is nor what is the true interpretation of Scripture but from the Church and therefore we must know the Church before we can koow the true Faith. As for the first I readily grant that at this distance from the writing the Books of the New Testament there is no way to assure us that they were written by the Apostles or Apostolical men and owned for inspired Writings but the Testimony of the Church in all Ages But herein we do not consider them as a Church but as credible Witnesses Whether there be any such thing as a Church or not we can know only by the Scriptures But without knowing whether there be a Church or not if we know that for so many Hundred years these Books have been owned to be written by such men and have been received from the Apostles days till now by all who call themselves Christians this is as good an Historical Proof as we can have for any thing and it is the Authority of an uninterrupted Tradition not the Authority of the Church considered as a Church which moves us to believe them For setting aside the Authority of Tradition how can the Authority of a Company of men who call themselves the Church before I know whether there be any Church move me to believe any thing which was done 1600. years a-go But there is a Company of men in the World and have been successively for 1600. years whether they be a Church or not is nothing to this question who assure me that these Books which we call the Scriptures were written by such inspired men and contain a faithful account of what Christ did and taught and suffered and therefore I believe such Books and from them I learn what that true Faith is which makes a true Christian Church As for the true interpretation of Scripture that we cannot understand what it is without the Church this I also deny The Scriptures are very intelligible to honest and diligent Readers in all things necessary to salvation and if they be not I desire to know how we shall find out the Church for certainly the Church has no Character but what is in the Scripture and then if we must believe the Church before we can believe or understand the Scriptures we must believe the Church before we can possibly know whether there be a Church or not If we prove the Church by the Scripture we must believe and understand the Scripture before we can know the Church If we believe and understand the Scriptures upon the Authority and Interpretation of the Church considered as a Church then we must know the Church before the Scripture The Scripture cannot be known without the Church nor the Church without the Scripture and yet one of them must be known first and yet neither of them can be known first according to these Principles which is such an absurdity as all the Art of the World can never palliate 3. The Cardinal 's third Objection is That the true Notes of the Church must be inseparable from it whereas the Churches of Corinth and Galatia did not always teach true Doctrine some of the Church
seven Sacraments truly and properly so and whosoever saith there are more or fewer instituted by Christ is accursed Trid. Sess 7. Can. 1. Transubstantiation 13. Bread and Wine after Consecration are turn'd into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood without changing the Species Conc. Trid. Communion in one kind 14. The People are forbidden to receive the Sacrament in both kinds Trid. Sess 21. c. 1. Solitary Masses 15. Solitary Masses wherein the Priest communicates alone are approved and commended and whosoever saith they are unlawful and to be abrogated is accursed Trid. Sess 22. Can. 8. Auricular Confession 16. Without particular Confession of Sins to a Priest is neither Forgiveness nor Salvation to be obtained Trid. Sess 14. c. 5. Can. 6 7. Extreme Vnction 17. Extreme Unction is a Sacrament and to be administred when Persons are in imminent danger and last of all to be applied Trid. Sess 14. c. 13. Priest's Marriage 18. Those that are in Orders may not Marry and those that are married may not be admitted to Orders Conc. Later 1. Can. 21. Later 2. Can. 6. What the Church of Rome hath held 1. Before the time of the Nicene Council little regard was had to the Church of Rome So Pope Pius 2. Epist p. 802. and the Church of Rome call'd others Apostolical and Sister-Churches 2. For one Bishop to set himself over the rest and to have all the rest in Subjection to him is the Pride Lucifer and the fore-running of Antichrist Pope Gregor 1. Epist 36. 3. St. Jerom who was a Member of the Latin Church saith That tho Tobias Judith and Maccabees c. were read yet they were not received as Canonical Scriptures Prolog Proverb And Pope Gregory 1. quoting the Maccabees excuses himself for producing a Testimony out of a Book not Canonical We do not amiss c. Moral in Job l. 19. c. 13. 4. Gregory 1. saith All things which edifie and instruct are contained in the Scriptures and that from thence the Teachers may presently teach whatsoever is needful In Ezek. Hom. l. 1. c. 8. de Cur. Past l. 2. c. 11. 5. Pope Gregory the 9th An. 1227. declared the not knowing the Scriptures by the Testimony of Truth it self is the occasion of Errours and therefore it 's expedient for all Men to read or hear them Epist ad Germ. Archiep Constant apud M. Paris Hen. 3. 6. Gregory 1. saith that the best of Men will find no Merit in their best Actions And that if he should attain to the highest Vertue he should obtain eternal Life not by Merits but by Pardon Moral l. 9. c. 11. And elsewhere he saith I pray to be saved not trusting to my Merits but presuming to obtain that by thy Mercy alone which I hope not for by my Merit in 1 Psal poenit 7. Fisher Bp of Rochester in Hen. 8th's time saith the use of Indulgences seems to be late in the Church and upon the recital of this Testimony Polydore Virgil adds which being things of so great moment you might expect them more certainly from the Mouth of God De Invent. l. 8. c. 1. Cardinal Cajetan saith there is no Authority of Scripture or ancient Fathers Greek or Latin that brings them to our Knowledg Opusc 15. c. 1. 8. Bp. Fisher saith There is none or very rare mention of Purgatory in the ancient Fathers Roff. contr Luther Art. 18. And Pope Gregory 1. saith that at the time of Death either the good or evil Spirit seizeth upon the Soul and keeps it for ever with it without any change Moral in Job l. 8. c. 8. Vid. Vindication of the Answer to some late Papers pag. 76. 9. Bellarmine acknowledges that long after the Apostles both in the Eastern and Western Churches the People were wont to answer in Divine Offices De Verb. l. 2. cap. 16. § sed neque Vid. Discourse concerning Celebration of Divine Service in an unknown Tongue p. 46 47 48. 10. Irenaeus Bp of Lyons saith Throughout the whole World the Church doth nothing by Invocations of Angels but directeth her Prayers to God which hath made all and calls upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ And it seems not to have been an Article of Faith in the times of Lombard and Scotus as it is now the one of which saith It 's not incredible the Saints do hear what we say And the latter It 's probable God doth reveal our Prayers Lomb. Sent. lib. 4. Dist 45. Scot. in 4 Dist Q. 45. 11. Pope Gregory I after he hath allowed Images in Temples for information of the Ignorant doth professedly forbid the worship of them Lib. 7. Epist 109. ad Serenum Registr Epist l. 9. Ep. 9. c. 12. Cassander a Member of the Church of Rome saith we shall not likely find any before Pet. Lombard who lived about 1130 that did define the number of the Sacraments Art. 13. § de num Sacr. And particularly Alex. Hales the famous Schoolman saith that Confirmation was ordained to be a Sacrament by the Meldensian Council Par. 4. Q. 9. M. 1. 13. Pope Gelasius saith That in the Sacrament the Substance or Nature of Bread ceaseth not or perisheth not Gelas cont Eutych Gregory I. saith That our Bodies as well as our Souls are nourished by the Eucharist Sacram. 16. Kal. Mar. in 6. Psal poenit 14. Pope Gelasius declares Either let them receive the whole Sacrament or let them be driven from the whole for the dividing of one and the same Sacrament cannot be done without great Sacriledg De Consecr Dist 2. Comperimus And Pope Gregory I. affirms it to be the constant practice for the People to receive in both kinds Sacram. in Quadrag Tr. 3. Vid. Vindication of the Answer to some Papers p. 75. 15. Anacletus Bishop of Rome did decree That all present should communicate or else should be turn'd out of the Church for so the Apostles did order and the Holy Church or Rome observeth Par. 3. Dist 1. Episcop 2. peracta Gregory I. forbids the Priest to celebrate the Eucharist alone Greg. lib. Capital cap. 7. apud Cassand Liturg. c. 33. 16. This was neither in the Time of Pope Gelasius or Pope Gregory I. Vid. Vindication of the Answer p. 73. 17. In Gregory the First 's time it was used in order to Recovery and the Eucharist was to be given after it Sacram. p. 253. Vid. Vindicat. of the Answ p. 77. 18. To marry was a priviledg belonging to the Clergy as well as others So Cassander Consult Art. 23. Polyd. Virg. Invent. l. 5. c. 4. By this Parallel thus far drawn betwixt the Ancient and Present Doctrine of the Church of Rome we may be able to judg of the Immutability and Duration of the Church which can no more be consistent with it than one part of a Contradiction can be reconciled to another or than Infallibility can be consistent with the having actually err'd To find fallible Churches mistaken and at some times to vary
more evidently proved to be no true Catholicks than those of the Roman Communion may in all those Articles of Faith which are peculiar to themselves For as to Points of mere Belief how much more than the Apostles Creed can they shew us to have been received always every where and by all Christians But as for that large Addition of Tridentine Articles annexed to that Creed by P. Pius the 4th no unbiassed Person can believe they have ever done any thing like proving that any of them have been received always and much less every where and by all those whom themselves own for Catholick Christians 4. By this Note of a Catholick no Society of Christians can bid so fair for Catholicism as the Reformed Churches but especially the Church of England whose avowed Principle it is to receive nothing as an Article of Faith but what is contained in the holy Scriptures Artic. 6. or may be proved thereby Nor doth she embrace any one Doctrine as an Article of Faith but what is clearly expressed in those Books of whose Canonicalness there never was the least Dispute in the Primitive Church Secondly I proceed to shew that if we should acknowledg this to be a true Note of the Catholick Church instead of enabling the Church of Rome to make good her Pretension of so being it will destroy it And instead of doing Disservice to the Reformed Churches it will do them excellent Service and be a certain Argument of their being true Parts of the Catholick Church And 1. I will shew that it will not at all Advantage the Church of Rome as to that her Pretension and therefore can do us no Prejudice The Cardinal proves 1. That his Church began to fructify throughout the World in the Days of the Apostles from these Words of St. Paul Col. 1.6 The Truth of the Gospel is come unto you as it is in all the World and bringeth forth Fruit as it doth also in you c. But what is this to his Church Is the Gospel's bringing forth Fruit in all the World the same thing with the Church of Rome's so doing 2. He adds the Authority of several Fathers for this Church's being spread in their Time all over the then known World but gives us none of their Sayings except St. Prosper's The first Father he cites is St. Irenaeus in the 3d Chapter of his Book Edit Paris p. 53. But the Father here only saith That this Faith which he sums up immediately before and is but the chief part of the Apostle's Creed the Church disseminated throughout the World diligently preserves as if it were confined but to one House But how doth this concern the Church of Rome Which is not once mentioned with others here particularly named except we could be made to believe that wheresoever the Word Church is found that Church is still to be understood Next he cites Tertullian adversùs Judaeos Edit Rig. p. 189. and having search'd that Book these or none are the Words he means viz. Those Words of David are to be understood of the Apostle's their Sound is gone forth in all the Earth and their Words unto the End of the World For in whom have all Nations believed but in Christ who is now come The Parthians Medes Elamites and those that inhabit Mesopotamia Armenia Phrygia Cappadocia Pontus Asia and Pamphilia Egypt Africa and beyond Cyrene the Romans and Jews now in Jerusalem and other Nations as now of the Getuli and Moors all Spain divers Countries of the Gauls and those of the Britains which the Romans could never conquer are subject to Christ c. But I again ask What is all this to the Church of Rome more than to any other particular Church belonging to any one of the many Nations of which that of the Romans is one and two whole Quarters of the World here mentioned His third Father is St. Cyprian Edit Oxon. p. 10◠in his Book de Vnitate Ecclesiae But here is nothing he could fancy to be for his purpose except these Words The Church is one which by its Fruitfulness is extended into a Multitude As there are many Rays of the Sun and but one Light c. So the Church of our Lord which being filled with Light sends forth her Beams through the whole World is but one Light which is diffused every-where But though this be said of the Catholick Church is here the least Intimation that the Church of Rome is this Catholick Church After St. Cyprian follow several of the later Fathers their Books being only directed to But the narrow room I am confined to will not permit me to examine them nor need we look any farther to be satisfied how this greatest Man of the Roman Church condescended to the most shameful impertinence in citing Scripture and Fathers for the doing her Service But we must not overlook St. Prosper's Verses in his Book de Ingratis viz. Sedes Roma Petri quae Pastoralis Honoris Facta Caput Mundo quicquid non possidet Armis Relligione tenet i. e. Rome the Seat of Peter being made the Head of Pastoral Honour in the World whatsoever Country she possesseth not by her Arms she holds by her Religion But considering how early this Father lived viz. about the beginning of the Fifth Century he could mean no more than this That the Church of Rome the most Honourable of all other by means of that Cities being the ancient Seat of the Emperors keeps still possession of those places by the Religion they received from Her over which she hath lost Her Old Dominion And what is this but another plain Instance of most idle quoting of Ancient Authors Not to reflect upon Fetching Arguments from Poetical Flourishes But not to stand to consider how Ample the Roman Church was in the times of those Fathers nothing is more evident than that that part of Christendom she took up was but a small Spot of Ground compared with the Space those Churches filled which tho they held Communion with Her were distinct Churches from Her and owned no Subjection to Her. And it was about or above an Hundred Years after the youngest of those Fathers that the Pope was inverted by that Execrable Wretch Phocas a Blessed Title in the mean time with the Primacy over all Churches And Gregory the Great who died in the Beginning of the Sixth Century not only sharply inveighed against John Patriarch of Constantinople and his Successor Cyriacus for assuming to themselves the Title of Vniversal Bishops though there was no appearance of their designing any thing more thereby than an Addition of Honour not of Power to that Patriarchate but also called those who should affect such a Haughty Title Greg. Epist 37. 70. lib. 11. Ep. 30. l. 4. the Forerunners of Antichrist And as these Bishops taking this Title was a Demonstration that they acknowledged not the least Subjection to the Bishops of Rome so Pope Gregory's calling
this Testimony of Pliny Tertullian tells us that the Heathens would not hear the Cause of Christians whom they knew to be guiltless but condemned it at all Adventures and that the best Emperors favoured Christianity and that 't was persecuted by the worst All this however it may serve the common Christianity does not make for the purpose for which the Cardinal does produce it The same may be said as to what he mentions of the Efficacy of the Prayers of the Christian Souldiers from the Epistle of M. Aurelius and if St. Antony St. Hilarion and St. Martin were reverenced by the Pagans I do not so much as imagine what Service this will be to the Cause the Cardinal hath undertaken to defend or what Prejudice 't will be to ours So that hitherto here is nothing said to the purpose in hand nothing said but what the Protestants may as well apply to themselves as the Church of Rome His next Set of Witnesses are Jews if we examine them we shall only find that he hath wisely made choice of two great Names but that neither of them speak one Word to the purpose His Authors are Josephus the Historian and Philo Judaeus two incomparable Authors they are and by no means to be excepted against Here 's the Mischief that neither of them have a Syllable that makes for the Defence of the Church of Rome or the Prejudice of the Reformed However let us hear them speak And first let us hear what Josephus the elder of the two hath to say It is this that Jesus was a wise Man Jofeph Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 6. if it be lawful to call him a Man that he was the Effector of wondrous Works c. and that he was the Christ or Messias By the way the Cardinal makes Josephus speak Non-sense as he reports his Testimony For he says not only that Josephus does affirm Christ to be more than a Man but that he was truly the Messias Now Josephus would never speak at this rate to affirm that Christ is the Messias is to affirm that Christ is Christ for the Messias and Christ are the same Josephus affirms that Jesus lived at that time which he mentions and that Jesus was the Christ or Messias But to let this pass I grant that Josephus affirms that Jesus was the Christ what is this to the Church of Rome any farther than it concerns our common Christianity I would fain know why the Cardinal produceth this in behalf of his Church or what reason can be assigned why Protestants may not as well apply it to their own The common Christianity is concerned in such a Testimony and so far the Roman Church is also But set aside that Consideration and take the Church of Rome as the Cardinal does as distinct from and opposed to other Christians that are not of her Communion and I dare say I will produce Testimonies as pertinent as this of Josephus out of any Page of Homer's Iliads or the Commentaries of Julius Caesar For what Coherence is there between these two Propositions Josephus confesseth that Jesus was the Christ Therefore the Church of Rome is the Catholick Church And yet this is in truth the Cardinal's way of arguing Let us hear next what Philo Judaeus hath to say in behalf of the Christians of the Church of Rome Now it would be to me a wonderful thing to find Philo say any thing in behalf of those Christians when he never once mentions the Name of Christian in all his Works Yet the Cardinal hath the Confidence to affirm that Philo hath written a famous Book of the Praises of those Christians who lived in Egypt under St. Mark the Evangelist After this his positive Affirmation that Philo had written such a Book as being sensible that Philo hath no Book that bears any such Title he adds the Testimony of some of the Ancients that Philo meant the Christians and not any Sect of the Jews as the Centuriators would have I do not think it worth my while to examin his Antient Writers which he quotes for his Opinion Philo Judae de vitâ Contemplativâ I will for once take it for granted that Philo means the Christians of whom he gives so good a Character under the Title of Therapeutae Let it be so What is this to the Business Because those Christians in Egypt were good Men and such as Philo describes them must therefore the Church of Rome be the Catholick Church The next Witnesses which the Cardinal produceth are Turks He tells us that in the Alcoran 't is said that Christans are saved that Christ was the greatest of Prophets and had the Soul of God and that the Sultan of Egypt reverenced St. Francis whom he knew to be a Christian and a Catholick To what purpose all this is produced I do not understand I am sure it cannot serve that of the Church of Rome as she stands separated from other Christians And if it be a Testimony in behalf of our common Christianity then all Christians are concerned in it as well as that of the Church of Rome The Alcoran will do the Cardinal no Service unless he could have produced some Testimony peculiar to the Roman Church or that might have justified the Worship of Images Adoration of the Host the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or some of those Doctrines and Practices peculiar to that Church The last Set of Witnesses produced by the Cardinal he calls Hereticks A Man would think the case very desperate that needs such Witnesses But yet I find the Church of Rome does not disdain such as these when they speak of her side But in the present Question we shall find they do that Church no Service The Substance of what the Cardinal alledgeth is what follows viz. That an Arian King honoured St. Benedict a Catholick That Luther when an Heretick owned that in the Papacy were many good Things nay all that was good e. g. The true Scripture Baptism c. That Calvin calls Bernard a pious Writer and yet he was a Papist That another Protestant acknowledgeth Bernard Dominic and Francis to be Holy Men To which he adds a Passage of Cochlaeus who reports an Article of Agreement wherein the Protestant Helvetians write that they would dismiss their Confederates Quiet as to their true undoubted and their Catholick Faith. From all which I see not what he can collect for the Interest of the Church of Rome We do honour every Man that is good in the Church of Rome but this does not infer that we justify all her Doctrines We own that they have the true Scripture and Sacraments but this does not justify their addition of Apocryphal Books to the Canon of the Scriptures nor of more Sacraments than were owned to be strictly so in the Antient Church We will allow that there have been pious and holy Men of that Church and are not scrupulous in calling them by the Name by which they are commonly
visible p. 63 64. Rome not always the principal Seat of the Church p. 63. Avignon was for 70 Years where the Pope and the whole Court recided ibid. Several Popes Hereticks p. 64. Two Popes at once contending for the Chair and this for above 40 Years together and at one time 3 Popes p. 64. The Church of Rome compared with it self in reference to several Doctrines p. 65. What the Church of Rome now holds and what the Church of Rome hath held ibid. Her being the mother-Mother-Church and the Pope being Christ's Vicar ibid. Concerning the Apocryphal Books ibid. Scripture and Tradition p. 66. Scripture in unknown Tongues ibid. Merit p. 67. Indulgences ibid. Purgatory p. 68. Prayers in an unknown Tongue ibid. Praying to Saints p. 68 69. Image-worship p. 69. Sacraments the Number of them ibid. Transubstantiation p. 70. Communion in one kind ibid. Solitary Masses p. 70 71. Auricular Confession p. 71. Extream Vnction ibid. Priests Marriage ibid. In all these Particulars Rome is not now what it hath been The Fourth Note Amplitude or Multitude and Variety of Believers THE Scriptures first gave us the Notion of a Church p. 73. A true Christian Church professes the true Christian Faith. p. 74. Instead of this the Church of Rome have invented several Notes and Characters of a Church which are not to be met with or are not plainly delivered in Scripture ibid. Of which this Amplitude or Multitude c. is one ibid. What Bellarmine understands by this Note p. 75. In Answer to him I. It is shewed this cannot be a Note of the true Church ibid. 1. Whether you consider the Members thereof under either the Notion of a great Multitude or 2. a great Multitude of Believers ibid. Satan's Kingdom more numerous than the Kingdom of Christ. ibid. The Worshippers of Mahomet exceed the Members of Christ's true Church in number since the Romanists make themselves the only Catholicks p. 76. The Kingdom of Christ not to be distinguished from the Kingdom of Antichrist by this Note ibid. This Note therefore no true Character of a Church p. 77. The several Places of Scripture whence Bellarmine pretends he fetches this Note of his ibid. This is so far from being a Note of the Church that it is no more than the variable State and Condition of it p. 78. This acknowledged by the Cardinal himself in his Explication of this Note ibid. The present State of the Church not to be compared with what it shall be before the End of the World. p. 79. Many plain Prophecies brought for the Proof of this ibid. The Cardinal's Citation of Vincentius Lirinensis for the confirming this Note considered p. 80 81. II. Supposing this to be a true Note of the Catholick Church it doth not advantage the Church of Rome as to that her pretention of being the true Catholick Church ibid. 82 to 85. III. Supposing again this Note to be true it doth the Reformed Churches a very great Service in demonstrating them to be true Parts of the Catholick Church p. 85. This demonstrated by two Arguments p. 86 87. 1. That in the first Ages of Christianity the Catholick Church then was more ours than now it is the Romanists p. 86. That there is a great Agreement between the antient Church of Rome and the present Church of England ibid. This is evident by comparing the Doctrine and Worship of each together ibid. 2. That upon computation the Churches subject to the Roman See exceed not the Reformed Churches in Amplitude or Multitude of Members p. 87 to 91. The Conclusion p. 92. The Fifth Note Succession of BISHOPS IN Examination of this Note Three Things are inquired into I. How far this Note may be necessary to any Church p. 94. True and Lawful Pastors necessary to the Constitution of the Church and this Pastoral Power Originally from Christ ibid. Power of Ordination entrusted with Bishops the chief Governors of the Church and ordinary Successors of the Apostles p. 94 95. The Government of the Church of England by Bishops and its Succession not interrupted in the Reformation ibid. 1. Obs Tho Succession of Bishops be necessary to the compleat constitution of a Church yet it may be doubted whether it is indispensable to the very being of it so as to unchurch every place that wants these 2. Obs It is not necessary for every Church which firmly presumes upon this Lawful and Orderly Succession even from the Apostles should be able to produce the Records of its conveyance thro' every Age and in every single Person by whom it hath past p. 95. The Antients contented themselves in delivering down to us the Succession of Bishops in the greater Sees and Mother-Cities As of Rome Alexandria Antioch Jerusalem c. ibid. 3. Obs Some irregularities and uncanonical proceedings in times of great Schisms or publick Disturbance have been interpreted for no interruption of this Authentical Succession p. 97. II. How far the Succession of Bishops may be granted to the Church of Rome p. 98. Little left upon Record of many of the first Bishops in the Church of Rome excepting their bare Names ibid. If Heresie breaks the Succession this is chargeable upon the Church of Rome p. 99. If Schismatical Intrusions can dissolve the order of Succession this chargeable likewise on the Bishops of that Church viz. Felix the 2. and Vigilius ibid. 1. The Case of the Roman Succession extreamly changed since the first time p. 101. No Supremacy to be found in the Church of Rome for more than the first 500 Years p. 101 102. 2. The Church of Rome not very favourable to the Order of Bishops ibid. The Divine Right of Episcopacy disputed in the Council of Trent ibid. 3. Their Catechism makes this no distinct Order but only a different degree of the same Priesthood p. 103. III. How insufficient a proof this will afford them of any great advantage ibid. 1. Succession is no sufficient evidence of the Truth of the Doctrine of any Church p. 104 105. 2. An unintterrupted Succession of Bishops is no warrantable ground of the Claim of Superiority over another Church which hath not so clear evidences thereof p. 105 106. The Cardinals Testimonies out of St. Augustine Irenaeus Tertullian and Epiphanius examined p. 107 108. His Inference from these citations about Succession considered p. 109 110. The Conclusion The Sixth Note Agreement in Doctrine with the Primitive Church THis is acknowledged a True Mark of a Church p. 113. The Infallibility of the present Church is to be laid aside till it be first known whether it agrees with the Primitive Church or not p. 114. The True Chuch only to be discovered by the True Faith. p. 115. Those matters of Faith in Controversie betwixt us are to be determined by the Doctrines and Practices of the Primitive Church p. 116. The Church of Rome waving Particular Controversies that may be made plain and evident to most capacities delights rather to run out into General Controversies
whole Work. p. 390. FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Richard Chiswell Dr. CAve's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2 Vol. Folio Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time. fol. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity fol. Sir John Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion fol. The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Judges with other Observations thereupon By William CawleyEsq fol. Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed the Commandments and Lord's Prayer in 3 Vol. fol. Bishop Nicholson on the Church-Catechism 40. Mr. John Cave's seven occasional Sermons 40. Bishop Wilkin's Natural Religion 80. His Fifteen Sermons 80. Mr. Tanner's Primordia Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described 80. Spaniards Conspiracy against the State of Venice 80. Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity in three parts 80. Certain genuine Remains of the Lord Bacon in Arguments Civil Moral Natural c. with a large account of all his Works By Dr. Tho. Tenison 80. Dr. Henry Bagshaw's Discourses on select Texts 80. Mr. Seller's State of the Church in the three first Centuries Dr. Burnet's Account of the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester 80. Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England 80. History of the Rights of Princes in the Disposing of Ecclesiastical Benefices and Church-lands 80. Relation of the present state of the difference between the French King and the Court of Rome to which is added the Pope's Brief to the Assembly of the Clergy and their Protestation published by Dr. Burnet 80. Dr. Cumber's Companion to the Altar 80. Dr. Sherlock's Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies 80. Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation 80. A Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet in answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lob about Catholick Communion 80. Sir Rob. Filmer's Patriarcha or natural Power of Kings 80. Bishop Wettenball's Method and Order for private Devotion 125. Valentine's Private Devotions 40. Dr. Spencer de Legibus Hebraeorum Ritualibus earum Rationibus fol. Dr. John Lightsoot's Works in English in 2 Vol. fol. Sir Tho. Brown's Vulgar Errors with all the rest of his Works fol. Patris Simonii Disquisitiones Criticae de Variis per diversa Loca Tempora Bibliorum Editionibus Accedunt Castigat Opusc Is Vossii de Sibyllinis Oraculis 40. The Case of Lay-Communion with the Church of England considered 40. Two Letters betwixt Mr. R. Smith and Dr. Hen. Hammond about Christ's Descent into Hell. 80. Dean Stratford's Disswasive from Revenge 80. Dr. Hez Burton's first Volume of Discourses of Purity and Charity of Repentance and of seeking the Kingdom of God. Published by Dean Tillotson 80. Sir Thomas More 's Vtopia newly made English by Dr. Burnet 80. Mr. Seller's Devout Communicant assisted with Rules Meditations Prayers and Anthems 12â— Dr. Towerson of the Sacraments in General Of the Sacrament of Baptism in particular 80. The History of the COVNCIL of TRENT in which besides the Ordinary Acts of the Council are declared many notable Occurrences which hapned in Christendom for 40 Years and particularly the Practices of the COVRT of ROME to hinder the Reformation of Their Errors and to maintain Their Greatness Written by Father Paul of the SERVI To which is added the Life of the Author and the History of the Inquisition Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell Dr. Burnets History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2 Vol. Fol. A Collection of Sixteen several Tracts and Discourses Written in the Years from 1678 to 1685. inclusive by Gilbert Burnet D. D. To which are added A Letter written to Dr. Burnet giving an Account of Cardinal Pool's Secret Powers The History of the Powder-Treason with a Vindication of the Proceedings thereupon An Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuits dying Speeches who were Executed for the Popish Plot 1679. 40. A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sees By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. Octavo An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure Footing in Christianity concerning the Rule of Faith With some other Discourses By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. 40. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Answer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. Octavo An Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILB BVRNET D. D. Octavo The APOLOGY of the Church of England and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio a Venetian Gentleman concerning the Council of Trent Written both in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN JEWEL Lord Bishop of Salisbury Made English by a Person of Quality To which is added The Life of the said Bishop Collected and written by the same Hand Octavo The Life of WILLIAM BEDEL D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with Certain Letters which passed betwixt him and James Waddefworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition of Sevil in Matters of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience Octavo The Decree made at ROME the Second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Jesuits and other Casuists Quarto A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Quarto First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 40. A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 80. A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented being an Answer to the First Second Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Papist Misrepresented and Represented and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM truly representing the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome Quarto The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures Quarto The Plain Man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 240. An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in Matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Answer to THREE PAPERS concerning the Unity and Authority of the Catholick Church and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto Mr. Chillingworth's Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation made more generally useful by
omitting Personal Contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common Cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworth's never before Printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his Confutation of the said Motives An Historical Treatise written by an AUTHOR of the Communion of the CHVRCH of ROME touching TRANSVBSTANTIATION Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of THAT CHVRCH This Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith. 40. The Protestant's Companion Or an Impartial Survey and Comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewed that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves 40. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. Vers 15. 4o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scripture Asserted 4o. A Short Summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs 4o. An Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one Special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4o. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is perfixed a Large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4o. With a Table of the Contents Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By W. W. 12o. The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A PRIVATE PRAYER to be used in Difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29 1687 between A. Pulton Jesuit and Tho. Tenison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its False Reasonings and Quotations There are added by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six Conferences A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Mons de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully Vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in Point of Image-worship more particularly considered 40. The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 40. Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto Published in his True Account his True and full Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he calls Dr. T 's Rule of Faith. By Tho. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Antient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of Transubstantiation Being a sufficient Confutation of CONSENSVS VETERVM NVBES TESTIVM and other Late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 40. A BRIEF DISCOURSE Concerning the NOTES OF THE CHURCH With some REFLECTIONS on Cardinal BELLARMIN's Notes LICENSED April 6. 1687. JO. BATTELY LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII PAge 11. l. 15. for Character r. Charter and p. 14. l. 8. r. Charter p. 16. l. 12. after Ancient and Apostolick Church add Which is the same with his second Note concerning Antiquity which must refer to the Antiquity of its Doctrine for an Ancient Church tho founded many years since if it have innovated in Doctrine cannot plead Antiquity and a Church founded but yesterday which professes the Ancient Faith may p. 18. l. 6. f. first r. fifth p. 22. l. 14. f. now r. more A BRIEF DISCOURSE Concerning the Notes of the CHURCH c. IF Cardinal Bellarmin had not told us That this is a most profitable Controversie Controv. T. 2. L. 4 de Notis Ecclesiae I should very much have wondered at that pains which he and so many other of their great Divines have taken to find out the Notes of the Church For is not the Catholick Church visible And if we can see which is this Church what need we guess at it by marks and signs and that by such marks and signs too as are matter of dispute themselves Cannot we distinguish between the Christian Church and a Turkish Mosque or Jewish Synagogue or Pagan Temple Cannot we without all this ado distinguish a Christian from a Turk or a Jew or a Pagan And it will be as easie to find out a Christian Church as it is to find out Christians for a Christian Church is nothing else but a Society of Christians united under Christian Pastors for the Worship of Christ and where ever we find such a Society as this there is a Christian Church and all such particular or National Churches all the World over make up the whole Christian Church or the Universal Church of Christ But this will not do the Cardinal's business Though the Christian Church is visible enough yet not such a Church as he
one Church which we must own for the only Catholick Church and reject all other Churches as Heretical or Schismatical or Un-catholick Churches who refuse Obedience and Subjection to this One Catholick Church For if this be not the Intent of it what will all the Notes of the Church signify to prove that the Church of Rome is the only true Catholick Church And if they do not prove this the Cardinal has lost his labour For tho the Notes he assigns were the Notes of a true Church yet they may and must belong to all other true Churches as well as to the Church of Rome unless he can prove that there is but One true Church or but One Church which is the Mistress of all other Churches and the only Principle and Center of Catholick Unity And this ought to have been proved first before he had thought of the Notes of the Church So that there are many things to be proved here before we are ready for the Notes of the Church They must first prove that there is but one true Church in the World for tho we all grant that there is but One Catholick Church yet we say there may be and hope nay more than so know that there are many true Churches which make up the Catholick Church Yet before the Notes of a true Church can do any Service to the Church of Rome they must prove that there is but one true Church in the World and then it will signify something to prove the Church of Rome to be that true Church They must prove also that the Catholick Church does not signify all the particular true Churches that are in the World but some one Church which is the Fountain of Catholick Unity which all other Churches are bound to submit to and communicate with if they will be Members of the Catholick Church For tho all the Churches in the World were in Subjection to that Church yet they receive their Catholicism from their Communion with that Church and therefore that only is the Catholick Church It is not meerly the Communion of all Churches together which makes the Catholick Church but it is the Subjection of all Churches to that one Catholick Church which makes them Catholick So that they must prove that there is one particular Church which is the Catholick Church that is that a part is the whole that one particular Church is all the Churches of the World for so the Catholick Church signifies in Ancient Writers This is so absurd that some of our Modern Advocates for the Catholick Church of Rome tell us that they do not mean the particular Diocess of Rome by the Catholick Church but all those Churches which are in Communion with the Church of Rome But suppose this yet it is only the Church of Rome which makes all the other Churches Catholick and therefore she only is the Catholick Church And I will presently make them confess it to be so For let us suppose that no other Churches should submit themselves to the Church of Rome by the Church of Rome understanding the particular Diocess of Rome would she be the Catholick Church or not If notwithstanding this she would be the Catholick Church then it is evident that they make the particular Church of Rome the Catholick Church if she would not then I cannot see how Communion with the Church of Rome is essential to the Catholick Church These things I say ought to have been proved before the Cardinal had given us the Notes of the Church for it is a hard thing to prove by Notes that the particular Church of Rome is the only Catholick Church till it be proved that a particular Church may be the Catholick Church or that there is one particular Church which is the Catholick Church This he knew we all deny and it is a ridiculous thing to think to convince us by Notes that the Church of Rome is the particular Catholick Church when we deny that there is any such Church and affirm that it is a Contradiction to own it as great a Contradiction as it is to say that a Particular Church is the Universal Church 4thly But when I consider the farther Design of these Note-Makers to find out such a Church on whose Authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith even for the holy Scriptures themselves it makes me now admire that they should think this could be done by some Notes of a Church especially by such Notes as the Cardinal gives us For suppose he had given us the Notes of a true Church which is the utmost he can pretend to before we can hence conclude that this Church is the Infallible Guide and uncontroulable Judg of Controversies we must be satisfied that the true Church is Infallible This indeed Bellarmin attempts to prove in his third Book of the Church and it is not my Concern at present to inquire how he proves it But I am sure this can never be proved but by Scripture for unless Christ have bestowed Infallibility on the Church I know not how we can prove she has it and whether Christ have done it or not can never be known but by the Scriptures So that a Man must believe the Scriptures and use his own Judgment to understand them before it can be proved to him that there is an Infallible Church and therefore those who resolve the belief of the Scriptures into the Authority of the Church cannot without great Impudence urge the Authority of the Scriptures to prove the Church's Infallibility and yet thus they all do nay prove their very Notes of the Church from Scripture as the Cardinal does and think this is no Circle neither because we Hereticks believe the Scriptures without the Authority of their Church and therefore are willing to dispute with them out of the Scriptures But this is a fault on our side and when we dispute with them whatever we do at other times we should not believe the Scriptures till they had proved them to us their way by the Authority or their Church and then we should quickly see what blessed Work they would make of it How they would prove their Church's Infallibility and what fine Notes we should have of a Church when we had rejected all their Scripture-proofs as we ought to do till they have first satisfied us that theirs is the only true Infallible Church upon whose Authority we must believe the Scriptures and every thing else I confess I would gladly hear what Notes they would give a Pagan to find out the true Infallible Church by It is certainly a most sensless thing to resolve all our Faith into the Authority of the Church as if the Church were the first Object or our Faith in Religion whereas it is demonstrable that we must know and believe most of the Articles of the Christian Faith before we can know whether there be any Church or not The order observed in the Apostles Creed is a plain Evidence
have been or that the Note of Duration belongs not to them Either then they must disprove the Duration of those Churches or discharge it from being the distinguishing Note of the true Church Lastly I may add If Duration be the standing Note or the true Church Then those could be no true Churches which have not had that Duration and so they must un-Church the seven Churches of Asia c. which have now no Existence but are utterly extinguished For if they had been true Churches they would have had Duration but having not Duration they could not according to this Doctrine have ever been true Churches But I am not willing thus to leave the Subject and shall therefore § III. Consider whether the Church of Rome after all its pretence to Duration and its establishment of this Note of the true Church has a just and sufficient claim to it When we would know whether a Church has this Note of Duration belonging to it we must consider what there is in a Church that is capable of being tried by this Character and that is either as to Place Persons Order or Doctrine for by these is it that the Church doth exist and is made visible and so the Church that puts in a Claim to Duration must be able to shew some Evidence for it from hence as far as she admits them for Instances of that Duration she pleads for 1. As to Place When we hear so much of the Church of Rome it 's to be supposed that Rome is the principal Seat of that Church as well as the Pope of Rome is the Head of it But this they cannot pretend to Duration in for if we look backward we find not only the City of Rome frequently sack'd and destroyed and wholly depopulated as it was by Alaricus Gensericus and Totylas but even deserted by the Popes themselves who with their whole Court resided at Avignon for 70 Years together as is acknowledged Bellarm. de Pontif. l. 4. c. 4. If we look forward all that Bellarmine dares to offer upon the Point that the Chair of St. Peter shall not be separated from Rome is that it 's a pious and the most probable Opinion But if we consult others they say positively Vega Jesuita in Apoc. 18. com 7. §. 4. Rhem. Annot. in Apoc. ◠17.5 that Rome shall depart from the Faith and shall be an Habitation of Devils by reason of its Wickedness and Idolatry and be the Seat of Antichrist 2. If we proceed to Duration as it respects Persons where shall we expect that to be intire and uninterrupted if not in the Popes And yet if we may judg of Popes as Bellarmine doth of a Church De Not. l. 4. c. 8. §. dico secundo and that Heresie doth nullify their Elections and Successions as it doth the Verity of a Church there is nothing more shattered For if we look into the Catalogue of them we shall find Zepherinus a Montanist Marcellinus sacrificing to Idols Liberius and Faelix Arrians Anastasius a Nestorian Honorius a Monothelite John 23. denying a future Life with many others Go we on and where shall we find more or greater Schisms one Pope cursing another and undoing what his Predecessor had done as was the Case of Formosus Romanus Stephanus and Sergius Often two Popes together contesting for the Chair as it was for above forty Years at once and at one time three Popes that had such pretences to the Papacy that each had Learned Men for their Patrons De Pontif. l. 4. c. 14. §. Tricesimus septimus and it could not be easily judged which of them was the true and lawful Pope as Bellarmine himself acknowledges But this belongs to Note five of which more in its due place 3. If we proceed to Order either in Worship or Discipline the Case is so notorious as to the several Formularies used heretofore in that Church that it needs not to be insisted upon and it 's impossible for them to deny it 4. Therefore I shall proceed to Doctrine which indeed is the great Character by which a Church is to be discovered and tried And here that I may not either intrench upon what has been said before concerning the Variation of the Church of Rome in this Point from the Scriptures Vid. Note first and second and Antiquity or prevent what may further be said upon Note nine I shall compare the Church of Rome with it self if I can therein prove that it is not now what it hath been in many main Points De Not. l. 4. c. 6. §. Quamvis autem it will follow that it has no pretence to this Note of Duration for upon this Point of Alteration doth Bellarmine put the Issue What the Church of Rome doth hold 1. The Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and to believe her so to be is necessary to Salvation Concil Trid. Sess 7. de Bapt. Can. 3. Bulla Pii 4. 2. The Pope of Rome is Christ's Vicar and hath the Supream Power over the whole Church and without Subjection to him as such is no Salvation Concil Trid. Sess 6. Decret de Reform c. 1. Bulla Pii 4. Apocrypha 3. The Apocryphal Books are Canonical and Tobit and Judith c. are as much the Holy Scripture as Genesis c. and whosoever rejects these as not Canonical is accursed Council Trid. Sess 4. Scripture and Tradition 4. Scripture alone is not a Rule of Faith without Tradition and Traditions are to be received with the like Regard and Veneration as the Scriptures Trid. Sess 4. Scripture in unknown Tongues 5. The Scriptures are not to be read in the vulgar Tongue without Licence because more Prejudice than Profit will redound from it Reg. Ind. Libr. prohib R. 4. Merit 6. Good Works do truly deserve Eternal Life and whoever holds the contrary is accursed Trid. Sess 6. c. 16. Can. 32. Indulgences 7. By Indulgences granted by the Popes and Prelates of the Church Persons are discharged from Temporal Punishment here and in Purgatory Trid. Sess 25. Bull. Pii 4. Purgatory 8. There is a Purgatory after this Life where the Souls of those that are not purged nor have satisfied for their Sins here are there to be purged and to give Satisfaction unless their Time be shortned by the Prayers Alms and Masses of the Living Trid. Sess 25. Sess 22. Can. 3. Service in an unknown Tongue 9. It 's required that Divine Service be performed in the Latin Tongue and whosoever saith it ought to be administred in a vulgar Tongue is accursed 10. In the Church of Rome they pray to Saints and Angels as their Intercessors Trid. Sess 25. Catech. Rom. par 4. c. 9. Images 11. Images are not only to be placed in Temples but also to be worshipped as if the Persons thereby represented were present Trid. Sess 25. Catech. Rom. par 4. c. 6. n. 4. Sacraments 12. There are
plain Evidence of the want of true Antiquity This is like suborning of Witnesses which is enough to make all the World suspect that what they are brought for and what they depose is not true it is no other than forging of old Writings and Instruments to help out the known Weakness of a crackt Title Thus the Decretal Epistles were counterfeited to prop up the Pope's Spiritual Power and Constatine's Donation to establish his Temporal The Cheat of the first was so evident from the Style being so sordid and so unlike those Ages and yet being so like it self in all parts as shew'd it to have throughout but one Author that tho they were formerly made use of and did great Service yet they are now laid by as too gross to be owned by most of the Learned Men of that Church and the other tho it be still defended by some of them yet has such marks of Forgery as makes most of them confess it but great numbers are there of forged and spurious Authors whole Testimonies are still produced by these Writers for those Doctrines and Opinions which are destitute of true Antiquity a Collection of which is given us by our James in his Bastardy of the false Fathers and all those Criticks who have wrote Censures upon the Fathers Works cannot but own it I cannot charge this upon any publick Act of the Church as that of purging and correcting the Fathers but most of their Writers who bring such large and false Musters of the Fathers are guilty of it and particularly some of their late Books amongst us * Consensus Veterum Nubes Testium We have a very great and early Instance of this notorious way of Forgery in the very Head and Governours of that Church and that was in falsifying the Nicene Canons and thrusting in a Canon of a particular Synod among those of a General Council thereby to claim a Power of Appeals to themselves which was such an Imposture as shows what some Men will do to gain Power and Authority over other Churches and what an unfaithful Preserver a Church may be that pretends to be infallible not only of Oral Tradition but even of Writings too for they had Copies without question of the Council of Nice and if the other great Churches of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria had not had authentick and agreeing Copies to the contrary the Churches of Africa had been run down by one of the most palpable Forgeries in the World and the Church of Rome would no doubt have made a great deal more use of it afterwards than upon that particular occasion But 3. Tho Antiquity is to be sometimes supprest and stifled that it may say nothing against them and sometimes suborned and counterfeited that it may bear false Witness for them and tho they generally make a fair show and a great noise with the pretence of it yet they cannot but often betray the little Esteem and Regard which they have of it thus to give an Instance or two In the famous Question of the Virgin 's immaculate Conception tho the Fathers are acknowledged to be generally against it and their own Bishop Canus †De Sanctorum Auctoritate l. 7. loc Theolog. c. 1. Lovan reckons up St. Ambrose St. Austin St. Chrysostom and a great many more who expresly assert her being conceived in Original Sin and says that this is the unanimous Opinion of all the Fathers who happen to make mention of it (a) Sancti namque omnes qui in ejus rei mentionem incidere uno ore asseuerarunt beatam Virginem in Peccato originali conceptam hoc vid. Ambig hoc August hoc Chrysost c. Ib. yet he declares this to be a very weak and infirm Argument which is drawn from the Authority of all the Fathers and that notwithstanding that the contrary Opinion is piously and probably maintained and defended in the Church (b) Infirmum tamen exomnium authoritate argumentum ducitur quin potius contraria sententia probabilitèr piè in Ecclesiâ defenditur Ib. and Bellarmine says (c) Inter Catholicos non sunt numerandi Bellarm. de Amis grat l. 4. c. 15. they are not to be reckoned among Catholicks who are of another Opinion tho it be contrary it seems to all Antiquity Thus at other times Bellarmine shifts off the Authority of St. Cyprian when he plainly opposes that of the Pope and says that he mortally erred and offended in so doing (d) Videtur mortalitèr peccasse Bellarm l. 4. de Romano Pontifico c. 7. and concerning Justin Martyr Irenaeus and others their Opinion he says cannot be defended from great Error (e) Eorum sententiam non video quo pacto ab errore possumus defendere Bellarm. de beat §. l. 1. c. 6. when it is against his own thus also of St. Hierom he was of that Opinion but it is false and it shall be refuted (f) Videtur Hieronymus inâ—eâ sententiâ fuiâ—se sed falsa est c suo loco râ—fâ—llenda Bellarm. de Pontif. Rom. l. 1. c. 8. And to mention no more tho they stick not upon all occasions to slight and contemn Antiquity when it will not make for them Baronius one of their greatest Searchers into Antiquity but as great a Corrupter of it who had taken that Oath I suppose prescribed by Pope Pius 4th not to receive or expound Scripture but according to the uniform Consent of the Fathers yet doth unwarily but ingenuously confess that the holy Fathers whom for their great Learning we justly call the Doctors of the Church yet the Catholick that is Roman Church doth not always follow nor in all things the Interpretation of Scripture * Nam sanctissimos Patres quos Doctores Ecclesiae ob illorum sublimem eruditionem merito nominamus in Interpretatione Scripturarum non semper ac in omnibus Catholica Ecclesia sequitur Baron Annal. Eccles an 34. n. 213. p. 238. Colon. They can go off it seems from their Oath and from the Fathers too when they think fit and they are not always bound to keep so close to Antiquity as they give out at other times and pretend they do But in the last place 4. The Determinations and Decrees of the present Church are the only things they stick to and 't is the Authority and Infallibility of that which they relie more upon and a thousand times more regard than all Antiquity or the whole Sense of the Primitive Church They pretend indeed not to determine any thing contrary either to Scripture or to the Primitive Church but they make themselves the only Judges of both they tells us they make no new Doctrines nor no Innovations in Faith but they keep to themselves the Power of declaring what Doctrines are new and what are not and then I can see little difference between their making and their declaring new Articles of Faith since 't is their declaring makes them to be believed
in their own Tongue to have it in Latin they stoutly resisted him So that the Pope that he might keep up his usurped Authority was forced to pretend that he gave them leave to have it in their own Language But amongst all his Instances the Cardinal had least reason to have mention'd the Conversion of the Indians and Jews For as for the Indians the unheard-of Cruelties which even the Popish Historians relate to have been used towards them and their gross Ignorance after their Conversion are a sufficient Evidence how little they were beholden for it to the Doctrine which was taught them One would wonder how it were possible for Mankind to be guilty of such inhuman Barbarities as Bartolomaeus Casas who was a Bishop and lived in India relates the Spaniards to have committed In abhorrence whereof Acosta has a Discourse on purpose to shew the Unreasonableness of making War against the Barbarians L. 2. c. 2 c. De Ind. salut procur upon the account of Religion He afterwards discourses of the Capacity of the Indians asserting that they ought to have better Instructors sent them That those which they then had had been of such little use to them that after the space of forty Years there were scarce any found amongst so great a number of Converts who understood two Articles of the Creed L. 4. c. 3. p. 358. or had any apprehension what Christ Eternal Life or the Eucharist meant But this concerning the Conversion of the Indians has already been mentioned in Note the fourth As for the manner of converting the Jews I shall only make mention of one Instance which happened in the time of Heraclius the Emperour who writ to Dagobert the King of France that he would command all the Jews in his Dominions to turn Christians Aimoin iv 22. and either to banish or slay those who would not who accordingly did so banishing as many as would not be baptized Since Erasmus who knew these matters well enough has so freely declared that altho their Conversion be a thing much to be wished for yet that such Courses were taken by some to effect it that of a wicked Jew Erasm Annoâ— in Mat. 23. it often happened there was made a Christian much more wicked than he was before his Conversion Having thus shewn the weakness of the Cardinal's Arguments all that I shall add upon this Subject shall be only this That the mean Account some of our new Converts have given of Themselves and the Motives of their Change looks not very favourable upon this Ninth Note and makes it suspicious that the Efficacy of Doctrine was not the only thing that did the work But that on the other hand since the chiefest Patrons of the Romish Cause do at this time endeavour to disguise their Religion with so much Artifice and to represent it as like ours as they can they do really think their Doctrine by its own Worth and Excellency then most likely to prevail when it is made appear to be most akin to that of the Reformed Churches THE END ERRATA PAge 212. line 26. read sets it in Page 223. line 22. r. the Church LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Tenth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ HOLINESS of LIFE Decima Nota est Sanctitas Vitae Auctorum sive primorum Patrum nostrae Religionis Bellarm. L. iv c. 13. de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR June 22. 1687. Jo. Battely IN this Argument it may suffice if it be shown I. What the Notion of Holiness is II. That Holiness is not properly a Note of the true Church III. That if it were a Note of the true Church yet it would not so belong to the Roman as to distinguish it from all other Churches and to appear upon it as the Infallible Character of the only Fold of Christ I. For Holiness it is of two kinds Holiness of Calling and Dedication of Mind and Manners By Holiness of Calling and Dedication I mean the Separation of Persons from the unbelieving and wicked World and the incorporating of them by Baptism into the Spiritual Society of the Christian Church And by such means the dedicating of them to the Service of Christ according to the tenour of the Evangelical Covenant In this Sense St. Paul told the Members of the Church of Corinth (a) 1 Cor. 6.11 that they were wash'd and sanctify'd or by their Christian Calling or Dedication made Sacred and Holy. By Holiness of Mind and Manners to which Bellarmin here gives the Name of Probity a Vertue commended by him but coldly obey'd I understand the habitual private and publick Practice of Christian Religion as it proceeds from the true Principle of it the Love of God as it is measur'd by the True Rule of it Right Reason in Conjunction with the Revealed Will of God And as it is directed to its proper Ends the Glory of God and the Good of all reasonable Creatures For this kind of Holiness St. Paul (b) 1 Thess 5.23 makes pious Application to God in behalf of the Thessalonians saying The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Now II. Neither of these kinds of Holiness can be properly called a Note of the true Church For the first Kind It is confess'd that the Christian Church is Holy and it was called Holy in the Creed before the Epithet of Catholick was inserted into that Sum of Faith (c) S. Cypr. Epist 70. p. 190. cum dicimus h. e. Baptizandis credis in vitam aeternam remissionem Peccatorum per Sanctan Ecclesiam And the Supream Pastor of the Church lov'd it in such extraordinary manner that (d) Ephes 5.25 26 27. He gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word by Baptism and Assent to the Doctrine and Conditions of the Gospel That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing any thing which may seem uncomely to Christ to whom she as Supream Head is united That it should be Holy and without blemish This Holiness of Dedication is elegantly set forth after the manner of the Oriental Poesy in the Book of the Canticles in which is represented the Spiritual Marriage of Christ and his chaste and unblemish'd Church Though some Romanists have wrested these and other places which speak of her Dove-like and undefiled Nature and apply them to that which they please to call the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin (e) V. Coron preuves par l' Escriture du contenu en la foy Catholique p. 1. So ready are they who upbraid the Reformed with Interpreting Scripture out of their own Heads to do the same thing themselves and with a much greater mixture of
beginning the Christians at Rome were famous both for their Faith and Manners And no Man that I know of asperseth Linus the first Bishop there who as Platina saith had a mighty Reputation for Sanctity and dy'd a glorious Martyr under Saturninus the Consul But the like may be alledged in favour of the Mother-Church of Hierusalem and of St. James the Bishop of it In the mean while it may be noted that in Rome it being the Imperial City there was a very early affectation of such Superiority as Christ forbad in his Kingdom And St. Hierom at the same time (i) S. Hieron Epist ad Marcellan p. 127. that he takes notice of the right Faith of Rome for then it was contain'd within the limits of the Apostles Creed he reproves that Ambition which had seated it self in Purple on the Seven Hills And this Leaven had before that time swell'd the Contentious Popes Victor and Stephen Secondly It must be further acknowledged that in the later Ages there have been Men of that Communion devoutly inclin'd and of good Morals But this Effect has not had Popery for its Cause but has been derived from Principles common to all Christians And it is from the influence of the first twelve Articles and not of the Additional ones of Trent that such Men have been so pious and so free from blemish In this number are usually put Thaulerus and Savanarola And it appears by their Words that mere Romanism was not the Spring from which their Devotions flow'd There (k) Thauler in Fest de uno aliquo Confess Luc. 11. be many saith Thaulerus who go under the Name of Religious who take great pains in Set-Fasts Vigils Orizons and frequent Confessions For they believe they may be justify'd and sav'd merely by such external Works For Savanarola his Spirit may be discerned by such Discourse as this (l) Compend Revelat. Savan p. 272 273. I never was delighted with such Books as the Revelations of St. Brigid or Abbot Joachim I never read the former and the latter very sparingly The reading of the Old and New Testament pleaseth me so much that for many Years I have used no other Book disgusting as I may say other Writings Not that I despise them but that in comparison of the Scriptures all such sweet things taste to me as bitter Neither Thirdly Have the Reformed so much of the Pharisee as to justify themselves and say that in all their Field there has not been a Tare But the Men have been in fault and not the Cause God be merciful to us Sinners greater Sinners than some others upon one account inasmuch as we offend against clearer Light. Yet it may be here noted that Bellarmin has put into his Catalogue of Sinners Simon Magus Valentine Marcion Montanus and such others as do not at all belong to us and that He and other Romanists mis-represent Luther blackning of him with slanderous Art and then exposing him as a perfect Aethiopian He was indeed a Man of warm Temper and uncourtly Language But besides that he had his Education among Those who so vehemently revil'd him it may be consider'd whether in passing through so very rough a Sea it was not next to impossible for him not to beat the insulting Waves till they foam'd again He had his Infirmities but his are taken notice of whilst more Candour is shew'd to Men of great Name and well nigh equal Heat To omit the fierce Words which pass'd betwixt St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius St. Hierom and Ruffinus it is manifest that Lucifer Bishop of Calaris in Sardinia who was much esteem'd by Pope Liberius and who is called Holy Lucifer according to the style of the time in which he lived wrote Books against his own Emperor Constantius which were one entire Invective And when for instance sake he pleas'd to call him Most Impudent Emperor (m) Luc. Calar Ad Constant pro S. Athan. p. 25. l. 1. Responde Imperator Impudentissime p. 39. Filius Pestilentiae c. p. 102. Qui sis non solum mendax sed Homicida I suppose he had not a better Talent than Luther in the Address of Courts There was therefore something else which sharpned the Tongues and Pens of many against Luther Erasmus tells us That (n) Erasm Ep. ad Albert. Episc Princ. Mogunt Cardin. p. 584 585. he perceiv'd the better any Man was the more he relish'd the Writings of Luther That his very Enemies allow'd him to be a Man of good Life That he seem'd to him to have in his Breast certain eminent Evangelical Sparks That 't was plain that some condemn'd those things in Luther's Writings which in St. Austin's and St. Bernard's Works pass'd for Orthodox and Pious The same Erasmus pointed to the true reasons of this usage of Luther (o) Carion in Cron. Auct a Peuc l. 5. He said he had two Faults He touch'd the Monks Bellies and the Popes Crown There have been much worse Men than Luther in all Parties and particularly in the Roman Church which if Inquisition were made for a Society by the Marks of Holy Life would not above all others be taken hold of And First Thus much may appear from the Complaints of Corruption in the Latin Church made in so many places by so many considerable Persons and with such deep Resentment Many Books have been professedly written upon that Subject such as those of Clemangis of the corrupt state of the Church of Alvarez Pelagius of the Plainct of the Church of Picus Mirandula concerning the Reformation of the Church offer'd to the Fathers of the Council of Lateran and of Petrus de Aliaco Cardinal of Cambray presented by him in the Council of Constance Others have in particular places tho not in an entire work given vent to their Grievances upon the like occasion How black are the Characters which are given of the State of the Latin Church by Baronius (p) Baron Annal. ad Ann. 900. p. 650. ad Ann. 912. N. 8. p. 685. N. 14. p. 689. Ed. Col. by Bellarmin (q) Bellarm. Chronol Ad Ann. 1026. p. 93. de Sacram. l. 1. c. 8. de Gemit Columbae p. 192 208. 209 392. by Genebrard (r) Genebr Chronol Ad Ann. 901. About the Year 900 and so forwards for more than an hundred Years Baronius speaks of Monsters intruded into the Holy See and by the help of Monsters For such were John the Tenth and Theodora who advanc'd him Bellarmin represents the Popes of those Times as degenerating from the Piety of their Predecessors of which some had no very great share And he says that in the West and almost all the World over and especially amongst those who were called the Faithful Faith had failed and that there was no fear of God among them He mentions the Vision of Pachomius the Abbot who it seems saw Monasteries increasing and Piety decreasing And he applys the Vision to his Age and upon that
virtutes magnas in terris facere sublimis utique admirabilis res est non tamen regnum coeleste consequitur quisquis in his omnibus invenitur nisi recti justi itineris observatione gradiatur Cypr. de Unitat. Eccles St. Cyprian discoursing of some that had broken off from the Church and yet supposing it possible for them to signalize themselves by Miracles quoting that Passage of St. John Ep. 1. ch 2. They went out from us but they were not of us tells us that though the doing such Miracles is an high and admirable thing yet if they take not heed to go in the just and right way it gives them no Title to the Kingdom of Heaven where it is observable that the recti justi itineris observatio is not to be understood meerly a good and vertuous Life for that is acknowledged on all hands that some Persons inwardly wicked but outwardly holding Communion with the true Church might work Miracles as probably Judas did amongst the other Disciples But St. Cyprian means it of those that had turn'd out of the right way and thrô Schism had broken off from the true Church as the tenor of that Discourse carries it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Irenae advers Haeres l. 1. c. 9. Irenaeus tells us of the prodigious Errors of Marcus the Heretick and yet two of the Wonders he did viz. When he was consecrating or giving of Thanks over the Cup mixt with Wine drawing out his Invocations to a mighty length he made the Cup appear of a Purple or Red Colour and that it should seem that that Grace that comes from the place which is above all things did by the power of his Invocation distil its own Blood into the Cup that those that were present should vehemently desire to taste of the same draught that so that very Grace boasted of by the Magician might actually flow into them too He further instances in a Magic Trick he had of filling a greater Cup with a much less and to the view of others inspiring some of the seduc'd Women with the gift of Prophesying and the like This passage of Irenaeus is quoted verbatim by Epiphanius who also calls this Marcus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one perfectly skill'd in the Magic Art. * Epiphan in Haeres 34. Marcosii (b) August Exposit in Evang Johann Tractat. 13. versus finem St. Austin directs thus Let no Man saith he vend Fables amongst you Both Pontius wrought a Miracle and Donatus pray'd and God answer'd him from Heaven First either they are deceived themselves or else they deceive others However suppose he could remove Mountains yet saith the Apostle If I have not Charity I am nothing Let us see whether he hath not Charity I should have believed it if he had not divided the Unity of the Church for God hath warned me against such Wonder-Mongers if I may so call them * Istos mirabiliarios In the latter Days there shall arise false Prophets doing Signs and Wonders c. Mark xiii Ergo cautos nos fecit sponsus quia miraculis decipi non debemus Therefore hath our Lord warned us because we should not be deceived by Miracles And so he goes on with that which we find in Decret part 2. Caus 1. Quaest 1. cap. 56. Teneamus ergo unitatem fratres mei praeter Vnitatem qui facit miracula nihil est Let us hold fast the Vnity out of this Vnity even he that works Miracles is nothing Peter the Apostle saith he rais'd the Dead Simon Magus did many things there were many Christians that could do none of these things neither what Peter nor what Simon did but what did they rejoice in That their Names were waitten in Heaven This Father hath many other Passages of this kind in his Book de Vnitate Ecclesiae but they are already so largely quoted in that excellent Preface before the School of the Eucharist lately made English that I refer the Reader thither not only for that but also for the whole Argument about Miracles which might justly have superseded this Discourse upon the Note of Miracles had it been so ordered in its due Place So that Miracles meerly we see in the Judgment of the Fathers were never accounted a full and adaequate Note of any true Church Which in Truth the Cardinal himself after the great Foundation he seem'd to have laid as to the sufficiency of Miracles does in some measure yield when he tells us in this very same Chapter Ex miraculis demonstratur Ecclesia non quoad evidentiam vel certitudinem rei sed quoad evidentiam certitudinem credibilitatis Bel. l. iv c. 14. That the Church is demonstrated by Miracles not as to the evidence and certainty of the thing but only as to the evidence and certainty of Credibility Which is as much as to say that Miracles may be a Note of the Church and they may not be so that is such a kind of Note by which we may give a good guess at the true Church but cannot be certain For as one of their own Writers expresseth it Miracula Deo Diabolo Christo Antichristo sunt communia * Espencaeus in 2 ad Tim. Miracles are common to God and the Devil to Christ and Antichrist II. If Miracles in general are no sufficient Note or Proof of any Church whatever much less are those Miracles alledg'd in the Church of Rome in Confirmation of those particular Doctrines and Practices wherein we of the Reform'd Church differ from them much less I say are they any just Note of their Church or Evidence of the Truth of those Doctrines There are a Variety of Miracles offer'd to us in their Histories or in their Legends in Confirmation of the several Doctrines of Sacramental Confession Adoration of Images and Reliques Invocation of Saints Purgatory the bodily Presence in the Eucharist and the Holiness of particular Persons that have flourish'd in their Church Now as to this we are to consider these things First That we do not observe any ground throughout the whole Scriptures either of the Old or New Testament to expect any Miracle for the Confirmation of any particular Doctrine whatever Secondly That many of those Doctrines which these Miracles are alledg'd in Confirmation of are so far from being expresly asserted or warranted in the Holy Scriptures that they rather bear a direct Contrariety Thirdly That there is no tolerable ground for Certainty as to the truth of most of those Miracles which the Romanists do make the Glory of their Church First That we do not observe any ground throughout the whole Scriptures either of the Old or New Testament to expect any Miracle for the Confirmation of any particular Doctrine whatever The Miracles under the Mosaick Dispensation were to confirm and establish that And the Miracles perform'd by Christ and his Apostles as I have already intimated were to bring in and establish
's making Jesus Christ the Head of the Church never made it one So far was he from making this a Note of the true Church that he rather makes it a Sign of the contrary Luk. 6.26 Wo unto you says he when all Men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathers to the false Prophets Mat. 5.11 Our Lord calls them Blessed and certainly he speaks not of them that were out of the true Church that are reviled and have all manner of Evil said against them Luk. 6.22 23. He pronounceth them Blessed who are reproached and whose Name is cast out as Evil he bids them rejoyce in that day and be exceeding glad St. Peter reckons the Reproaches for the Name of Christ a Glory and Happiness 1 Pet. 4.14 And Simeon foretold of Jesus that he was set for a Sign which shall be spoken against Luk. 2.34 And we preach Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1.23 unto the Jews a Stumbling-block and unto the Greeks Foolishness says the great Apostle of the Gentiles So far is this Confession of Adversaries from being a Note of a true Church as the Cardinal would make it that the Reproaches and Scoffs of Enemies is no Reflection upon the true Church of Christ The worst of Men do not use to treat the best things well and when these bad Men are Enemies they do no Prejudice with wise Men by their Invectives and Reproaches Qui enim scit illum intelligere potest non nisi aliquid bonum grande à Nerone damnatum Tertull. Apol. Tertullian concludes the Christian Religion good because Nero one of the worst of Men bent his Force against it The Church will want nothing that is required though Jews and Pagans should with one Consent perpetually declaim against her In a word this Confession of Adversaries of what use soever it may be can be no Note for it is contingent and arbitrary and lies at the pleasure of those who are not only out of the Church but Enemies to it and in the Infancy of Christianity the Church was without this Note and if that be allowed to be a true Church this can be no true Note of it II. But if it should be granted that this is a true Note the next Enquiry will be whether or not the Particulars produced by the Cardinal do evince that this Note is peculiar to the Roman Church exclusively to other Christians that are not of her Communion 'T is certain that by the true Church the Notes whereof the Cardinal attempts to give us he means only the Church of Rome V. C. vi C. ix C. xi And what in the Beginning of his Book he calls the true Church he calls afterwards our Church and makes them both one and the same At last it comes to our Catholick Church with him So that this Note of his which he calls the Confession of Enemies must belong peculiarly to the Roman Church or else 't will do him no Service For this is a Rule which the Cardinal hath laid down C. II. that Notes must be proper and not common For says he if I would describe a certain Man to one who knows him not I must not say he is one that hath two Eyes and Hands c. because these are common things and he will never find him by such common Descriptions as these According to this Account we may justly expect that when the Cardinal produceth the Confession of Adversaries in behalf of the Church he should produce Witnesses who speak of that very Church of which he makes this Confession a Note else these Witnesses prove nothing to his purpose If they should chance only to speak some favourable words of Christianity or of some few Christians this will be short of what they are produced for in this Place And what ever good use may be made of their Confession yet 't will not belong peculiarly to the Church of Rome They must speak to the Church of Rome and in her behalf or else the Cardinal had better have spared them They 'l do him no service if they do not make good his Note and that cannot be done if they witness not in behalf of the Roman Church 'T is time now to call the Witnesses and hear what they have to say in behalf of the Church of Rome And here not to invert that Order which the Cardinal hath taken we will begin with the Pagans and see what they have to say in behalf of the Church of Rome The Cardinal begins with Pliny the Second He in his Epistle to the Emperor Trajan gives this Testimony in behalf of Christians viz. that they detested all Vices lived most holily and were blamable on this account only that they were too forward to part with their Lives for their God and they rose up before day to sing praises to Christ But what is all this to the Church of Rome especially as it is now constituted and distinguished from other Christians which are not of her Communion and do not own themselves subject to the Bishop of that Church He speaks well of Christians and we allow that those of the Church of Rome at that time were such We have no quarrel with the Christians of the Roman Church who lived in the days of Trajan Pliny speaks well of them He does so indeed But what does he say Does he say that they worshipped Images or that they adored the Host That they prayed to Saints and made use of several Intercessors That they deserved Favour because they came so near the Pagans in these things He says no such thing He tells us that they lived well and detested Vices that they sang praises to Jesus and were willing to die for God. Did we ever find fault with any of the Church of Rome for their good Lives or the Hymns of Praise which they sing to Christ Have we ever quarrelled with them for detesting Vices or exposing their Lives for the Honour of the true God He commends the Christians that lived then but not for any thing which they either believed or practised which is now a matter of Controversy between us and the present Church of Rome Pliny commends the ancient Christians Be it so Why must this be restrained to the Church of Rome Were there no Christians but what were in Communion with and were subject to the Roman Church He commends the Christians of that Time But will this justify them who afterwards shall call themselves by that Name He commends them for their good Lives their Love to God and Gratitude to their Saviour Will this justify the present Church of Rome Will it serve to defend the Worship of Images or Prayers to the Blessed Virgin and Invocation of Saints Does it appear that there were no Christians in the World but those of the Church of Rome and that that Church was then what it is now What the Cardinal produceth afterwards hath no greater Force than
Constance and Trent that 't was the ancient Practice For the Doctrine of Transubstantiation See a Treatise of Transubstantiation by one in the Communion of the Church of Rome Printed 1687. one of the Communion of the Church of Rome hath given us an Account lately he proves from many Doctors of the Church of Rome that it is not ancient viz. from Peter Lombard from Suarez Scotus the Bishop of Cambray Cardinal Cusanus Erasmus Alphonsus à Castro Tonstall and Cassander And that 't is not taught in the holy Scriptures he proves from the Testimonies of Scotus Ockam Gabriel Biel and Cardinal Cajetan and after all that it was not the Doctrine of the Fathers of the Church It would have been very fit I should here have made an end having considered every thing which the Cardinal hath offered as to this Note of the Church But there is a late Writer I will not call him Author hath taken the Confidence to produce the Testimony of the Jewish Writers in behalf of the Church of Rome Mr. Sclater's Consenf Vet. and which is most surprising of all he quotes the Rabbins in Defence of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which they are as far from asserting as he is from understanding them The Cardinal was too learned and modest to attempt any thing of this Nature but this Gentleman advanceth higher than he thought fit to do What he offers speaks nothing so lowdly as the Writers Effrontery and Ignorance not to say something worse Tho he thought fit to desert his Mother the Church of England yet it little became him to fly in her Face and suborn a Rout of Jews against her His Discourse is so weak that I shall bestow very little time and pains about it I shall however say something to it that he may not think any Part of his Pamphlet unanswered and do heartily wish him Repentance for his Folly and that he may learn Modesty for the future And for my better proceeding in this matter I shall do these things First I will briefly shew the true use and value of the Testimony of Jews as to the Christian Religion Secondly I shall shew the gross Ignorance not to say Dishonesty of this Writer in this Matter Thirdly I shall prove that the Jewish Writers are so far from serving the Church of Rome that they bear witness against it and that also in this very matter of Transubstantiation First I shall consider how far the Testimony of the Jews is useful to Christianity And several such there are that serve the common Christianity 1. The Jews as to matter of Fact confess that there was such a Man as Jesus that he wrought wonderful Works They do in their Talmud and elsewhere mention several of those Names which are mentioned in the New Testament and are there mentioned to have been at the same time in which they are placed there This is an useful Testimony and serves the common Christianity and saves us the labour in our Books against the Jews of proving these Matters of Fact. 2. They are also good Witnesses as to the Number of the Canonical Books of the Old Testament which were deposited in their Hands This is owned by Cardinal Cajetan who affirms that this is one Advantage we receive from the Obstinacy of the Jews Cajetan in Rom. xi v. 11. that tho they believe not in Christ themselves yet they approve the Books of the Old Testament and therefore those Books cannot be supposed to have been invented by the Christians to have served their turn This Testimony of theirs serves indeed the common Christianity but is so far from serving the Church of Rome that it is a good Evidence against the Council of Trent who have receiv'd those Books for Canonical which the Jews never received into the Canon of Scripture 3. They are good Witnesses of the Promise of a Messias which is reckoned among the Fundamental Articles of the Jewish Faith. And this is an other Advantage that Christians receive as Cajetan well observes in the Place mentioned before from the Obstinacy of the Jews Abravenel C. Fidei c. 1. They agree that such a Promise was made and that therefore it cannot be supposed either a Forgery of the Christians or a vain Belief peculiar only to them 4. They are good Witnesses where they interpret those Texts of the Old Testament of the Messias which belong to that matter and which are by the Writers of the New Testament applied to that purpose And the more ancient Jews do thus The Chaldee Paraphrasts and other of the more ancient Jewish Doctors do apply those Texts to him which the Christians also understand to be spoken of him Of which were it not too great a Digression it would be easy to produce very many Proofs This serves the common Christianity greatly and in our Disputes against the Jews affords us very great Advantages 5. Nor do I deny but that some of the Catholick Doctrines of the Christian Religion I mean such as have been always believed from the first Beginning of Christianity may receive some Confirmation from the Writings of the most antient Jewish Doctors But to produce them as Witnesses as this Writer does to a Doctrine never received by the antient Church is the most extravagant thing imaginable Secondly I shall shew the gross Ignorance not to say Dishonesty of this Writer in this matter His Author from whom he borrows all his Rabbinical Learning is Galatinus He tells if we will believe him that he was always accounted a very learned Man Preface to Consens Veterum It would have been more to his purpose to have vouched for his Honesty After this he falls into a Fit of Devotion he is of a sudden transported with Admiration that the Hebrew Writers long before Christ's time take Mr. Sclater's word for that should have such Notions But the Wind bloweth were it listeth c. He might have staid till he had been sure of the matter of Fact and then 't would have been time enough to admire at it But the Reader is to know that Mr. Sclater was mightily inclined to believe in this matter with the Church of Rome or else Galatinus could never by his Arguments have prevailed upon him This appears from his own Words after he had drawn up his Evidence from Galatinus P. 27. he tells his Reader that Galatinus thought and I 'le assure you 't is hard to say what a Jew that professeth himself a Convert to the Church of Rome does really think these Prophecies and Interpretations he might have called them Dreams and Figments argumentative not only against the Jews but a Confirmation also of the Christian Religion against all Hereticks c. But if you ask Mr. Sclater what confirms him in this Belief you 'le find him not hard to believe I am confirmed says he by the Title-page of his Book Of so great force is the Title-page of Galatinus his Book with Mr. Sclater of
Putney This Galatinus was born a Jew he was afterwards a Convert to the Church of Rome and a Fryar and pretends to discover something in the Hebrew Doctors to justify the Doctrines of the Roman Church to which he had betaken himself 'T is certain that learned Men have represented him as a Man of no Sincerity and have taken notice of his Falsity and the Forgeries of his Book Johannes Mercerus a Man of singular Learning J. Mercer in Job ii 11. and Scaliger a great Judg give this Account of him And so also many others Scalig. Epist ad Casaubon and some of the more learned Men of the Church of Rome have done Sixtus Senensis reprehends him for belying Pope Clement 5. Joseph de Voisin Biblioth St. l. 2. a Priest of the Church of Rome J. Voisin Theolog Judaeorum p. 237. taxeth him of Ignorance of the Doctrine of the Jews The best Character I find of him is that he was a Plagiary or Thief He stole what is good out of the Pugio Fidei of Raimundus Jac. Maussaci Prolegom in Pug. Fid. For other things in his Book they are Figments and Forgeries Trifles and ridiculous things His Testimonies out of Gale Razeiah and Zohar are of no credit Jac. Mausacus and the above-named Jos de Voisin Authors against whom Mr. Sclater cannot except J. de Vois observat in Proaem will give the Reader this Account of him In a word he was a Converted Jew and what kind of Men they have proved I need not tell nor can I think of that matter without sorrow he is one that Cardinal Bellarmin thought not fit to quote in behalf of their Church one that is condemned and stigmatized by the learned Men of the Church of Rome But yet this Author hath so great force with Mr. Sclater of Putney that he is confirmed by the very Title-page of his Book I should be vain if after this I should be operose in examining the Testimonies produced and yet I cannot but reflect a little farther upon the stupid Ignorance or Insincerity of this Writer R. Sol. in 72.16 He quotes R. Solomon for the Proof of Transubstantiation All that R. Solomon says to his purpose is that the LXXII Psalm is wholly meant of the Messias and that many of their Rabbins interpreted that which we render Handful of Corn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a modern Word probably from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of certain Sweet-meats or Dainties in the Days of Messias It is very well known that the Jews fondly expect great feasting in the Days of the Messias and no wonder that many of the Rabbins should interpret these Words of those Dainties After all this R. Solomon gives another Interpretation of the Place V. Buxtorf Synagog Jud. l. 36. But what is all this to Transubstantiation But be all that as it will With what Face can he affirm that he produces several Jewish Masters when he produces not one Conssens Vet. p 21. And yet he confidently attempts to name them tho he bewray his great Ignorance in it He says he produceth the Book Siphre R. Ira Midras Coheleth where he reckons Midras Coheleth which is but the Title of one Book viz. a Commentary of Ecclesiastes for two Rabbins This I dare say is Mr. Sclater's own he could not borrow it from the learned Galatinus Mr. Sclater adds that he says that by the Tops of the Mountains in that Psalm nothing can be more rightly designed than the Prelates and Priests of the Church in whom this Scripture is then fulfilled and verified when the Body of Christ is elevated Now there is not one Syllable in R. Solomon of Siphre R. Ira Midras Coheleth not a word of the Priests and Prelats All this is Mr. Sclater's Galatinus himself affirms no such thing of R. Solomon and therefore if by he produces Pag. 21. l. 37. Mr. Sclater mean R. Solomon as any Reader will be apt to think he wrongs him for in truth he quotes none of those Authors tho Galatinus do For his first Quotation out of R. Moses Haddurshan or the Preacher if we should allow it to be truly cited yet any indifferent Reader will find it nothing to the purpose For what follows is too transparent to gain belief Besides that a learned Society of Hebricians were many Years ago consulted about a Quotation of Galatinus Dr. Morton's Catholick Appeal P. 394. out of that R. Moses who gave it under their Hands that they found in the place quoted nothing to the purpose For his Citation out of Mechilta tho there be nothing in it to the purpose yet if there had P. 22. he ought to have referred to the Page or Leaf of that Book if he had done sincerely For R. Cahanah who he says was born before Christ P. 23. we have so little evidence of that that it does not appear that there ever was any such Writer And for R. Johai there is no such Author found P. 24. nor mentioned by any but Galatinus For the Fable of Elias his being present at Circumcision 't is a Jewish Dream the use he makes of it is ridiculous P. 24. and the Testimony of R. Judas a mere Figment For the Gale Razia cited by him and what he cites from Rabbenu Hak-kodesh by whom he should mean the Compiler of the Jewish Misna they are mere Counterfeits And Mr. Sclater is something unlucky P. 25. for he in his Book instead of Gale hath Gate and in his Errata he hath it Gaize III. I shall prove that the Jewish Writers are so far from serving the Church of Rome by their Confession that they bear witness against it and that also in this very business of Transubstantiation And here it were easy to enlarge and to bring abundant Proofs from Authors known and easily to be procured and from such as have the greatest Reputation among the Jews The ancient Jews are on our side as to the number of Canonical Books of the Old Testament Joseph Antiq. Jud. l. iii. c. 4. Philo Jud. de Decalogo I could easily prove both from Josepus and Philo the Jew that they are against that distribution of the Precepts of the Decalogue which obtains in the Church of Rome and with us do reckon the Commandment against Images to be a distinct Precept and the second in Number The Doctrine and Practice of praying to Saints and worshipping of Images Nizach Vet. p. 128. the Jews except against R. Isaac p. 383. Lipman p. 16. the latter of which is against the very Letter of their Law. The Doctrine of Purgatory Lipman 's Nizachon p. 25. Nizach Vet. p. 23 42 43 196. the Practice among Christians of Crossing themselves when it Thunders the Christening of Bells the Doctrine of the necessity of the Caelibacy of Priests the vowed Caelibacy of Monks and Nuns R. Isaac Chizuk Emuna p. 345. as well as
of Caesaria of Anthony an Aegyptian Monk of John an Anchorite are nothing at all to his purpose p. 296. Neither are the Testimonies concerning St. Benedict St. Bernard and St. Francis. p. 297 298. The Nature of the Predictions Prophecies brought to prove the Truth of the Gospel The Church of Rome can pretend to few such p. 299 to 302. The Predictions of Philip Nereus and of St. Rose p. 303. Of Hieronimus Savanorola p. 304. Of Johannes de Rupe Scissa p. 305. Of Luther and Melancthon and John Huss p. 306 307. The Thirteenth Note The Confession of Adversaries THE Cardinal roundly affirms the force of their Truth is so great that the Enemies of it are constrained to bear Witness to it p. 309. I. Whether such a Testimony be indeed a Note of the Church It is not because the Church may be and was without it in its Infancy the Christian Religion being called Heresy by its Adversaries p. 310 311. Our Saviour rather makes it a signe of the contrary so doth Tertullian and others p. 312. II. If it was a true Note whether peculiar to the Church of Rome exclusively to other Christians that are not of her Communion p. 313. The Witnesses he produces nothing to the Purpose Pliny's Testimony is in behalf of the Christians in general and the same may be said as to what he mentions of the Efficacy of the Prayers of the Christian Souldiers p. 314 315. Josephus his Testimony makes as little for him or his Church p. 316. Neither is there any advantage arising to them from that of Philo the Jew p. 317. His other Witnesses both Turks and Hereticks trifling and insignificant p. 318. The Cardinal affirms that whereas the Catholicks neither praise or approve the Doctrine or Life of Heathens or Hereticks yet these speak well of them p. 319. Vncharitableness a true Character of the Church of Rome ibid. Catholicks have commended the Lives both of Heathens and Hereticks p. 320. And also our Doctrines p. 321 to 324. Slater's Consensus Veterum reflected on ibid. The Testimony of the Jews how far useful to Christianity p. 324. The Jews as to matter of Fact confess there was such a man as JESVS who wrought wonderful Works ibid. Their Testimony as to the Canonical Books of the Old Testament as to the promise of the Messias and as to the Interpretation of those Texts appropriated to the Messias p. 325. Mr. Slaters Ignorance of the Jewish Writers discovered from p. 326 to 330. The Jewish Writers great Enemies to the New Doctrines of the Roman Church p. 133. The Fourteenth Note The unhappy End of the Churches Enemies WHat Bellamine means by an unhappy end p. 335. This intended by him not barely as a Note of a Church but of that which is the only true Church p. 336. The Instances he produces of unhappy Deaths are for the greater part of them Impertinent ibid. The unhappy end of those who defend it must be a Note of a false Church if the unhappy end of those who oppose it be a Note of the True. p. 337. From God's Judgments against particular Persons nothing can be concluded against that Church of which they are Members ibid. This therefore no Note of the True Church as being contrary 1. To Scripture p. 338 339. 2. To Daily Observation and the History of the foregoing Ages p. 340 341. 3. To the Principles of Reason p. 342. This proved in five particulars p. 342 343 344. Supposing it to be a Note of the true Church the Protestant will be found to be the True Church rather than the Church of Rome p. 344. This will be evident by comparing the Deaths of their prime Members and Zealous Champions and then considering on which side we find the greater number of such as are unnatural and not common to men p. 345. Protestant Bishops and other Eminent Pastors amongst them without number have died the most happy Deaths ibid. The number of those who have met with unhappy ends very few p. 346. Five only mentioned by our Adversary Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Carolostadius and Calvin ibid. The Death of Luther misrepresented by them p. 347. Sleidans Account of it and Father Pauls Thuanus quite different from that of his bitter Enemies p. 348 349. Zuinglius his Death another Instance of Bellarmines p. 350. Oecolampadius his Death falsly related by the Cardinal ibid. And Carolostadius his being killed by the Devil exposed as a notorious Forgery by Petrus Roquinus p. 351. The Story of Calvin's Death largely considered and proved to be so lewd a Calumny that any man but an Advocate for their Church might be ashamed to own it p. 351 to 359. No mention made by the Cardinal of any unhappy Ends of those Princes and Secular Powers who have been great Defenders of the Protestant Faith. p. 360. Several dismal Ends of Cardinals in the Church of Rome but especially of their Popes p. 360 361 362. The unhappy Deaths of several of their Princes particularly five Successively together in France p. 363. The Advantage therefore on this account on the Protestant side ibid. Conclusion The Fifteenth Note Temporal Felicity THis Note even in the Cardinal's Opinion liable to many exceptions and therefore at once to prevent them all he tells us roundly that Catholick Princes never adhered unto God heartily but that they most easily triumphed over their Enemies p. 368. I. This cannot be esteemed a Note of the Church 1. Because God hath no where promised it in all the Holy Gospel p. 369. 2. Because for several Ages together the Church could not pretend to any such thing as Temporal Felicity p. 370. 3. Because of those miseries which the Church of God must endure in the Dayes of Antichrist p. 371. II. The Historical Passages which the Cardinal produces for this Note do not prove what he intends p. 372. Great Partiality made use of in the choice of these Instances p. 373. The Story of Rhadagaisus and his Son's Death the defeat of the numerous Army of the Goths by Honorius considered ibid. The various Successes of the Holy-War did at last conclude to the Advantages of the Infidels p. 374. The Story of the Albigenses and the successes of both sides impartially related wherein these Hereticks seem clearly to have the advantage p. 375 376 377. The Victory of Charles the V. no such mighty Miracle as pretended p. 378. Many Examples of Infidels and Hereticks alledged who have been as prosperous and succesful in the World as any Catholicks can pretend to p. 379. The History of Uladislaus King of Poland and Hungary upon his rupture of the Peace with Amurath the Second p. 380. The Vnfortunate Battel of Mohatz related p. 381. The Prosperous Reign of Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all the attempts both of Forreign and Domestick Enemies p. 381. to 387. The Author of the use and great moment of the Notes of the Church reflected upon p. 388. 389. The Recapitulation and Conclusion to the