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
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
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
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