as out of the Roman Church Is it come to this that Marcionists Ebionites Arians Nestorians Eutichians Donatists Novatians and the scumm of Heretics because rightly baptised shall be reputed Members of the Catholic Church This had been great news in the days of St. Austin who in his forty eighth Epistle makes this profession to Donatus You are with us in Baptism in the Creed in the rest of our Lord's Sacraments but in the Catholic Church you are not And St. Hierom against the Luciferans No Heretical Congregation can be called a Church of Christ. For though Baptism be the Gate by which whoever enters the Church must pass yet there is no Man though baptized if an Heretic can remain there His next Paragraph is made up by comparing the Church in her Infancy with her self in her fuller growth and from that different State he would conclude that in her beginnings 't was easy to find out that one visible Church by reason of the strait union of the Faithful in the Bonds of Faith and Charity when the Multitude of them who believed were of one Heart and of one Soul but not so in after Ages when the Concussion of the whole State of the Church by so many fractions and divisions in her Communion had so obscured her that they rendred her difficult to be discerned This is the sum of his discourse in gross which I answer by detail after the ascention of Christ there was no time wherein there was not divisions in the Church for even in those good days of the Apostles there went out from them either by Schism Heresy or Apostacy many heads of Factions who grew into Bodies and drew after them considerable Parties such as the Ebionits the Nicholaits the Marcionists and many more whereof some had been Jewish others had been Gentile Christians but all of them went out from the Body of the Church so that notwithstanding the Multitude of those who believed were of one Heart and Soul yet there were many who fell from their Belief I shall now take leave to ask whether the Church in the throng of these Divisions was easily visible or no He grants it was how then came it to pass that in after Ages she became so obscure and as it were invisible He replies by Divisions but if in both States of the Church there were divisions how happens it that the Cause remaining the same should not work the same Effect Was there any Mark Rule or Standard by which the Church was known amidst her first Divisions which afterwards disappeared If not the Church may be equally visible in both her States now if at the rise of any Heresie the Apostles and after them the Apostolick Men used all means to suppress it either by Preaching Catechizing writing against it and meeting in full Assemblies for the Comdemnation of it by stigmatizing both the Heresy and its Author cutting him off from the Body of the Church if I say by these means the infant Church was rendred as visible as a Town scituate on a Mountain or a Light upon a Candlestick then the same Methods continuing in the Church of after times do evidently evince that she was and now is as visible as ever and that there was a just Performance of this in every Age is made out by the records of all times where the time the place the Origin the Author of every Heresie the vigorous opposition that was made against it the Fathers that writ against it the Pastors that Preach'd it down the Councils that condemned it the Laws of Princes made against it are all so exactly noted that all the actions and motions of the Church in every Age were as visible as those of the first and best of times As to the remarkable difference he mentions in the nature of Schisms which happened in the Church and gave occasion of great misapplications and sayings of the Antients about the one Catholic Church I do not believe it material to observe it for let the Schism or Heresie be of what nature soever since the Church in a general Council is the last tribunal in all such Causes whoever separates or goes out from her is to be reputed as an Heathen or a Publican but because his way of writing merits that nothing be slighted I shall march with him through the following Passages Some did so break off Communion with other Parts of the Catholic Church as to challenge that Title wholly to themselves as was evident in the case of the Novations and Donatists If the Novatians and Donatists did break off Communion with other parts only of the Catholic Church I desire to know where the whole Church was at that time For unless he ranges these Hereticks in the Catholic Church and so reputes them parts of it the breach was from the whole not from parts as a rotten Branch is separated from the Trunck or the whole Tree Well how was the Breach By Challenging the Title of the Catholic Church wholly to themselves as was Evident for they re-baptized all that embraced their Communion not to insist upon other Enormities of these Novatians and Donatists by what means were these Monsters crushed were they not the same that were used in the first Ages did not the Pastors watch over their Flock to preserve it from the contagion did not St. Austin and other Fathers sharpen their Pens against them did not the Church by her Councils cut them off as rotten Limbs from her Body If nothing of this can be concealed then clearly she was as visible as ever The next instance is from the Bishops of Rome excommunicating the Bishops of Asia for not keeping Easter when they did and the Bishops both of Asia and Africa for not allowing the Baptism of Heretics This Breach I confess is of a different Nature from the former for here the whole Church was not by any of her Councils yet engaged but the contest was betwixt Parts tho' some more Eminent than others and in which 't is possible some transports of Passion might interyene Irenaeus 't is true expostulates with the Bishop of Rome not that he wanted Authority but that he exercised it with too much Severity over the Bishops of Asia upon a Subject he thought not to be of so great Moment The truth is both these customs had long obtain'd the one in the Western and the other in the Eastern Church and nothing less then a general Council did set a Period to the Dispute A Council was called the decision was made for the Bishop of Rome and Peace was restored to the whole Church can any Man at this time of day say that the Church was not as visible as ever the controversy betwixt Cornelius and Stephen Bishops of Rome on the one side and St. Cyprian with the Affrican Bishops of the other was much of the same Nature nothing was yet defin'd by a general Council Right stood for the Bishops of Rome the Council determined the
point and the whole Church came to an acquiescence Had this Gentleman been chosen advocate for the Catholic Church I know not how he could have render'd her more visible He proceeds but is it reasonable to suppose that upon these differences they shut out all those holy Bishops and Martyrs from the possibility of Salvation by excluding them from their Communion How far the heat of these disputes might have carried the Parties engaged or whether either or neither party was free from blame I shall not determine but this is a certain Maxime both in Church and State that a submission either active or passive is due to all Lawful Powers though the command be unjust and 't is the known principle of St. Austin with the Ancients that no cause can be given to separate from the whole Church either by Heresie or Schism now in this contest here was no separation from the whole Church by either of the Parties but a perfect submission to her Decrees when delivered by the mouth of her General Assembly so that here was not different Communions amongst Christians but only different sentiments in matters as yet undecided by the Church with which it consisted that both parties were members of the Catholic Church and consequently no one member of the contesting parties as this Gentleman well observes ought to assume to its self the Title and Authority of the one Catholic Church But when Sentence was passed by a General Council the dissenting party if any remained was cut off as a rotten Member from the Body of the Catholic Church and then the contest is no more betwixt party and party but betwixt a rebellious party and the whole Church to whom the stile of that one Catholic Church is justly due she being the whole as the Trunk of the Tree is the whole compared to any Limb and the Novatians and Donatists her putrified Members Amongst other calamities which have sprung from original corruption 't is not the least that being our selves Criminals we have an itch to find out confederates as if their number rendered us Innocent This assailant of the Royal Papers to justifie the late separation of the Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church brings upon the Stage the Eastern Churches cut off and separated from her Communion And adds that the Bishops of Rome would hear of no other terms of accommodation with the Eastern Church but by an intire submission as head of the Catholic Church which all the Churches of the East refus'd however different amongst themselves and to this day look on the Popes Supremacy as an innovation in the Church How well skill'd he is in the History of the Eastern Churches I shall not dispute But sure all is not Game that rises and I doubt the account given him is made up of false Musters This is certain the Eastern Churches were divided from the Roman-Catholic Church that is from all Churches in Communion with the Church of Rome by such Doctrines as are inconsistent even with the Church of England which professes to hold whatever was decreed by the first four general Councils and this breach of union continues with their descendents to this day The Egyptians Ethiopians and Abissines are by Sect Eutichians holding but one Nature Will and Operation in Christ and are condemned by the fourth general Council that is of Chalcedon with these side part of the Armenians the Jacobites Georgians and Cophties The Christians under the Turk and Persians in Asia are Nestorians branded by the General Council of Ephesus for maintaining two persons in Christ. The Grecians with the Muscovites and Russians by the Athanasian Creed so Sacred to the Church of England are excluded even from Salvation for refusing to believe the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son As to the first division of the Greek Church the true cause was from the contest betwixt Ignatius true Patriarch of Constantinople and Photius the intruder with the first stood the Pope and the Emperor with the last and in the end to make the breach the wider the procession of the Holy Ghost from Father and Son was denyed and so it rests till this day now that the Pope's Supremacy was and is look'd on as an innovation by any of these Churches I doubt is a story not so well grounded as this Gentleman could wish And if my Authors deceive me not some of these as the Egyptians and Ethiopians have often made overtures to the Pope for Peace and Communion owning him Supream Head of the Church provided only they might not be obliged to renounce Eutiches and Dioscorus After these fundamental Errours of Faith against the Holy Ghost and the person of Jesus Christ he put this question how then came they to be excluded from being parts of the one Catholic and Apostolic Church Since in all those Churches the two Creeds are professed true Baptism administred A Man would have thought that such blasphemies against the Divinity and Humanity of Christ had been cause enough to have Unchurched any number of Men but since he seems to opine that the denyal of the two first Creeds can do the work why should not the refusal of a third Creed or if the emergencies of new started Doctrines made it necessary a fourth and fifth Creed be as prevalent Is the power of the Church Catholic in deciding Faith less then it was in making the second Creed Again is it not as possible for Men who profess a Creed to err even against that Creed as it is for Men professing a Rule to deviate from that Rule Wherefore it being evident that nothing of all this hath been wanting to fill up the measure of Heresie in those Eastern Churches they cannot be reputed parts of the one Catholic and Apostolic Church consequently the Roman Church and the Churches in Communion with her must be that one Church or there was or is none upon Earth This principle then that the Roman Church is that one Catholic and Apostolic Church being as visible as was asserted by the king to enter into the Ocean of particular disputes would be to enter into the maze of everlasting jarring Pregnant evidence of this truth is had from the pretended Reformation of this last Age where the innumerable Sects that have swarm'd from the first Reformers in the divided World steering their course as they fancy by the Compass of Holy Scripture a president given them by their Leaders have improved controversie to that degree that 't is impossible by that method to reclaim them the Scholar still in that out-doing his Master And whereas it is believed by this Gentleman That the Church of Rome hath notoriously deviated from this infallible rule Scripture sensed by fancy for neither he concerns himself for Tradition nor Exposition of the Fathers and therefore is not willing to put her self upon that issue I answer that the Church of Rome cannot deviate from a rule she never professed to follow And if some
with truth cast it in the Teeth of the Church of England that she disobey'd her Mother Church whether she were Infallible or not the Church of England can never justly charge them with any disobedience to her But some Heads of the Roman Church have been not barely suspected of Heresie for one of them stands condemned for it in three General Councils But what 's this to the King's Reason who in neither of his Papers as I can see defends any Man from the possibility of falling into Heresie Not to multiply Disputes nor to recede from the King's Papers I shall not dive deeper into the Question Whether the Church of England be a true Church or no since the King did not Yet I could reply to this brisk Gentleman as St. Austin by me already cited did to the Donatists That all that he has raked together if it should be allowed to be in the Church of England yet something would be wanting to make her a true Church Well then what is the Church of England charged with 'T is thus says the King She would fain have it thought that they are Judges in matters spiritual yet dare not say positively there is no Appeal from them His Reply is from a Parity Betwixt Inferiour and Superiour Courts where both are truly Judges yet there lyes an Appeal from an Inferiour to a Superiour Court and he instances in Courts both Spiritual and Temporal But the Parity is very lame for the Church of England supposes her self nor inferiour to any other Church nor will she submit to any others Dictamen as things stand consequently as things stand she is the last Tribunal of Spiritual Doctrine In the next Paragraph the King argues thus What Country can subsist in quiet where there is not a Supreme Judge from whence there can be no Appeal From hence this Gentleman infers that every National Church ought to have the Supreme Power within its self This is no good Illation unless it be in reference to the Church of England which will have no such Superiour to it for the King speaks of a Country over which there is no Jurisdiction out of its self consequently there must be in that Country a Supreme Judge in all Temporal Causes but one Church which is subordinate to another Church and owns her self but a Member of an universal Church in Being cannot be said to be the last Tribunal from whence there can be no Appeal The rest of this Paragraph is a running division upon certain Abuses complain'd of by some Saints which because they may happen in the best of Ages and to the best of Men without prejudice to the lawful Authority of the Church I pass them by and shall make my Observation upon the next Paragraph that whereas the King's Expostulation is We have had these Hundred Years past the sad Effects of denying to the Church that Power in matters Spiritual without Appeal By which Expression as also by the antecedent and consequent Discourses is meant an Appeal to the Universal Church in matters Spiritual as Interpretation of Scripture Delivery of Doctrine Decisions of Faith c. He applies the Context against Personal Appeals to the Pope and then declaims against abuses of those Appeals of which both our own and neighbour Princes have complained and have been forced for the preserving of their own Dignity to set Bounds and Limits to Appeal to Rome But admit the king had intended Appeals to Rome does not this Gentleman by this reply That Princes have limited or bounded these Appeals to Rome own that Princes have believed that Appeals do of Right belong to Rome provided that Power be not abused And if the King himself was likely to suffer the most by them the more was his Integrity in preferring his Conscience before his Interest This Paragraph then is a Counterfeit of the Royal Stamp and so is the next by which the king is also misrepresented for which Reason I shall make no remark upon it Here begins the Kings application of his former Discourse by which this Gentleman may see his Error This is our Case here in England in matters Spiritual for the Protestants are not of the Church of England as it is the true Church from whence there can be no Appeal but because the Discipline of that Church is conformable at the present to their fancies c. He returns thus What Security can be greater than that of our Judgments For he will not have it to be Fancy I Answer That to submit our Judgments to that of the Catholic Church which God has appointed to direct us is the greatest Security we can have and in competition with this all is but Fancy And since he appeals to the whole World whether we have not made it appear that 't is not Fancy but Judgment which hath made us firm to the Church of England He is already cast by as many Votes as there are Men out of the Church of England Their adherence to the Crown of which he speaks is so principal a part of the Church of England as it is established by Law that without it that Church cannot subsist but when the Fancy shall move to change that Religion into Presbytery or any thing else Loyalty is out of Doors Now against those of the Church of Rome the Argument will not have that force for they and their Ancestors ever professing that Church to be their Infallible Mistress and that upon such Motives that nothing would be found more powerful their Judgment is fix't upon such a Basis that for want of it all other Churches which own themselves Fallible that is both apt to deceive and be deceived are but in a Tottering state What follows in this Paragraph is a Recrimination barely censuring without proving some Tenets of the Catholic Church as pure Fancy The Thread of the king's Discourse being still the same He concludes So that according to this Doctrine there is no other Church nor Interpreter of Scripture but which lies in every mans giddy Brain By which he may be assured the king calls that only a giddy Brain which stands in opposition to the great Authority of the Church interpreting Scripture But says the Answerer Let mens Brains be as giddy as they are said to be they are the best Faculties they can make use of for the understanding of Scriptures or any thing else Undoubtedly they are with that Assistance of an infallible Church which God has given them since many things to be understood there are out of the reach of Man's private Reason which he makes use of to find out his Guide being as visible as a City upon a Hill or a Light on a Candlestick and then submits to her Interpretation of Scriptures so that the infallible Church lies not in every Man 's giddy Brain but is as visible as the Sun Upon the winding up of this Discourse the king desires to know of every Serious Considerer of these things whether