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
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
of this for all those Articles which are before the Holy Catholick Church must in order of Nature be known before it That there is a God who made the World that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and descended into Hell that he rose again the third day from the dead and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the Right-hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence shall come to judg the Quick and the Dead I believe in the Holy Ghost and then we may add the Holy Catholick Church and not till then For the Church is a Society of Men for the Worship of God through the Faith of Jesus Christ by the Sanctification of the Holy Spirit which unites them into one Mystical Body So that we must know Father Son and Holy Ghost before we can know what the Catholick Church means And is it not strange then that our Faith must be founded on the Authority of the Church when we must first know all the great Articles of our Faith before we can know any thing about a Church This inverts the order of our Creed which according to the Principles of the Church of Rome should begin thus I believe in the Holy Catholick Church and upon the Authority of that Church I believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost and no doubt but the Apostles or those Apostolical Men who framed the Creed would have put it so had they thought the whole Christian Faith must be resolved into the Authority of the Church This short Discourse I think is enough in general concerning the Notes of the Church and I shall leave the particular Examination of Cardinal Bellarmin's Notes to other Hands which the Reader may expect to follow in their order The End. BELLARMIN'S First Note of the Church concerning the name of Catholick EXAMINED Prima Nota est ipsum Catholicae Ecclesiae Christianorum nomen Bellar. cap. 4. de notis Ecclesiae p. 1477. IMPRIMATUR Apr. 8. 1687. Guil. Needham RR. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Domest THat the sincere Preaching of the Faith or Doctrine of Christ as it 's laid down in the Scripture is the only sure Infallible Mark of the Church of Christ is a Truth so clear in it self so often and fully prov'd by Learned Men of the Reformation that it may justly seem a Wonder that any Church which is not conscious to her self of any Errors and Deviations from it should refuse to put her self upon that Tryal This gave Being to the Church of Christ at first makes it One and makes it Catholick According as this fares in any Part or Member of it is that Church distinguish'd and denominated it will be True or False Pure or Corrupt Sound or Heretical according as the Faith it holds bears a conformity or repugnance to the written Doctrine of our Saviour An Orthodox Faith makes an Orthodox Church but if her Faith becomes Tainted and Heterodox the Church will be so too and should it happen wholly to Apostatize from the Faith of Christ it would wholly cease to be a Christian Church This may seem to be the Reason that the present Church of Rome being notoriously warp'd from Truth declines the being examined and measur'd by this Rule having indeed some reason to be against the Scripture that is so evidently against her and endeavours to support her self with great Names and Swelling Titles Hence it is that we so often hear of the Name of Catholick Antiquity Amplitude Vnity Succession Miracles Prophecy and several others that their great Cardinal sets down as so many perpetual and never-failing Marks and Characters to find out the True Church and to Assert his own I shall in this short Tract examine the first of these and that I may give it all the fair play imaginable endeavour to represent it in its full force and to its best advantage Bellarmin makes it thus to speak for it self The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3.4 makes it the Sign and Mark of Scismaticks to be called after the Name of particular Men tho' of the Apostles themselves whether of Paul or Apollos or Cephas And in the Writings of the ancient Fathers the Orthodox Churches were known and distinguish'd by the name of Catholick and the Conventicles of Scismaticks and Hereticks by the Names of their first Authors And therefore since the Church of Rome is by all even her bitterest Adversaries called Catholick and the several Sects of the Reform'd after the Names of their particular Doctors as Luther Calvin Zuinglius and the like it follows that the Name of Catholick is not only a sure undoubted Mark of the true Church but also that this Church of Rome is that Church This is his Argument and as much as he values his Church upon it I can see no more in it but this that because Churches professing the true Orthodox Faith were anciently styl'd Catholick therefore all that have been styled Catholick since be their Faith what it will must be True and Orthodox Churches And because the Apostle forbids Christians to be call'd after the Name of particular Men tho of never so great Eminency in the Church And those mentioned in the Works of the Ancients were really Scismaticks and Hereticks that were so call'd as the Valentinians Marcionites Montanists and others Therefore all that in after-Ages shall be so nick-nam'd tho out of Malice and Ill-will by their Enemies whilst they disown it themselves must go for Scismaticks and Hereticks This is so weak a Topick that I might justly break off here having expos'd it sufficiently by a bare Representing of it Yet for the Reader 's farther Information and Satisfaction in this matter I shall proceed to shew these three Things I. In what Respect the name of Catholick was esteemed by some of the Fathers in their Time a Note of a Catholick Church and in what Respects 't will ever be a standing Note of it II. That from the bare name of Catholick no Argument can be drawn to prove a Church to be Catholick III. That the Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the true Catholick Faith neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church I. In what Respect the Name of Catholick was esteemed by some of the Fathers in their Time a Note of the Catholick Church and c. And this as evidently appears from their Writings and even from those Testimonies cited by Bellarmine was upon the Account of the Catholick Faith that in their Time was generally and for the most part in conjunction with the Name of Catholick and when ever it is so 't will be an Infallible Note of a Catholick Church The Catholick Faith is that which was deliver'd by Christ himself to his Apostles and by them to the Church contain'd in those Writings which they by
Reform'd They call us the Reformed therefore we are Reformed is as good an Argument as we call them Catholicks therefore they are Catholicks In this Sense are those Words of St. Austin cited by Bellarmine Contr. Epist Fundam c. 4. to be understood That should a Stranger happen in any City to enquire even of an Heretick where he might go to a Catholick Church the Heretick would not dare to send him to his own House or Oratory Not that that Heretick did believe that those that there were call'd Catholicks did hold the true Catholick Doctrine for then he could not have believ'd his own but looking upon it as a bare name of Distinction he directed him to that Assembly of Christians that were so called St. Austin seems here to suppose a Case as if a Traveller entring into a City where both Popish and Reform'd Churches were allowed and should chance to meet a Protestant and of him enquire the way to a Catholick Church and he direct him to a Popish one or a Papist and of him enquire the way to a Reform'd Church and he direct him to a Protestant one It would not therefore follow that either the one or the other did believe either Church to answer and correspond with its Name that the Popish was Catholick or the Protestant Reformed but that they were Words of vulgar use whereby they might be known from one another but not the true Church from the false IIII. It does not follow that because the Name of Catholick in that time when it was for the most part in conjunction with the Catholick Faith was a sure Note of a true Church it must always be so even when the Name and Thing are parted It was not long before the Christian Church became miserably torn and rent asunder divided into many and some very great Bodies all pretending to Catholicism By what Mark now is the Catholick Church to be known Not by the Name surely when all Parties laid claim to it and the grossest Hereticks such as the Manichaeans themselves as St. Austin tells us who had the least to shew for it coveted and gloried in it Have never any Hereticks or Scismaticks been styled Catholicks Nor ever any Orthodox styl'd Hereticks The Greek Church is call'd Catholick and yet the Church of Rome will have her an Heretical one The Donatists appropriated to themselves that ample Title and yet St. Austin thought them no better than Shcismaticks The Arrians call'd themselves Catholicks and the Orthodox Homousians and Athanasians but neither the one was the more nor the other the less Catholick for what they were call'd Truth is always the same and the Nature of things remains unalterable let Men fix on them what Names they please By this Rule then is the true Church to be known not because it bears the Name of Catholick for that a Church may do and yet be guilty of Schism and Heresie but because it professes the true Faith and then tho it be in name Heretick it is in reality Catholick This is Lactantius's Rule to discern the true Church by the true Religion That Church alone Instir lib. 4. c. ult Sola Catholica est quae verum cultum retinet says he is Catholick that retains the true Worship of God. And St. Austin in his Disputes with the Donatists where the true Church was appeals to the Scripture as the only Infallible Judg Non audiamus haec dico haec dicis sed audiamus haec dicit Dominus c. Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam Epist 166. de unit Eccl. c. 2. Amongst many others to this purpose he hath these Words I say this and thou sayest that but thus saith the Lord. 5. Again does it follow that because the being called after the Names of particular Men in that Age when all so call'd were for the most part corrupt in the Faith was a sure Brand of Schismaticks and Hereticks it must ever be so May not Names and Titles be unjustly and maliciously impos'd If the Churches of the Reformed must go for Hereticks and Scismaticks meerly because they are distinguish'd by the Names of those Men that were the first and most eminent Instruments in that blessed Work as of Lutherans Calvinists Zuinglians the like Is there not the same Reason that the several Orders in the Church of Rome that go under the Names of their particular Founders as the Benedictines Franciscans Dominicans Jansenists and Molinists and others be esteemed so too If there be any Difference the advantage of Reason is on our Side since the Reformed assume not those Names to themselves and tho they deservedly honour the Memories of those Men and with thankful Hearts embrace the Reformation God was pleas'd by their Ministry to make in the Church yet do they by no means affect to be call'd after their Names They own no Name but Christian or Catholick when it signifies Persons adhering to the true Catholick Faith The others are Nick-names fasten'd on them by their Adversaries out of Scorn or Malice to represent them to the World as far as they are able as so many Schismaticks from the Catholick Church and as having other Leaders than Christ and his Apostles But those in the Church of Rome that are denominated from their particular Founders give themselves those Appellations seem to prefer them before that truly Catholick one of Christian which while with some neglect they leave to the Common People they glory and pride themselves in the other so that if this Note of an Heretick is valid it turns with great Force against themselves who are really guilty of it and not against us whom they will make guilty of it but are not III. The Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the Catholick Faith or Religion neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church Whether she is guilty of this or no will be best seen by comparing her Doctrine in several Points with that delivered by Christ and left upon Record by his holy Apostles for tho the Church of Rome will not allow the Scriptures to be the whole and a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners yet they acknowledg them to be the Word of God and granting that they must acknowledg that all those Doctrines and Practices that are forbidden by them are Corruptions and Depravations of it Let us then bring their Faith to the Touchstone How readest thou The Scripture says See Discourse of the Object of Religious Worship 1685. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 Which Words evidently appropriate all kinds and all degrees of Religious Worship unto God they being an answer to the Devil's Temptation who requir'd but the lowest Degree the Devil acknowledging that the right he had of disposing of the Kingdoms of the World to be only derivative not natural they were delivered to me At the same time confessed himself not to be the Supream God and consequently cannot be suppos'd
Doctrine Which I doubt not to make appear performs as little as either of the former In order to which I shall endeavour to shew I. What the Cardinal means by Sanctity of Doctrine II. That according to his Notion of it Sanctity of Doctrine is no certain Note of the true Church III. In what Sense it is a certain Note by which any honest Enquirer may distinguish a true Church from a false one IV. That neither in this nor the Cardinal's Notion of it the true Church can be found by any honest Enquirer according to the Principles of the Church of Rome I. What it is that the Cardinal here means by Sanctity of Doctrine To which in short I answer That which he means by it is the Profession of the true Religion both as to Doctrine of Faith and Doctrine of Manners without any mixture of Error For so he explains himself The true Church is not only Catholick and Apostolick and One but also Holy according to the Constantinopolitan Creed but its evident the Church is said to be Holy because its Profession is Holy containing nothing false as to Doctrine of Faith nothing unjust as to Doctrine of Manners And a little after By this Note saith he it 's evident that no Church but ours is a true Church because there is no Sect either of Pagans or Philosophers or Jews or Turks or Hereticks which doth not contain some Errors that have been exploded and are manifestly contrary to right Reason By which it 's evident that he excludes all sorts of Errors from that Profession of Religion which he here sets up as a Mark of the true Church And therefore after he had given a brief Enumeration of the Errors of all other Sects as well of Pagans and Jews and Mahometans as of Christians He thus concludes But as for our Catholick Church it teaches no Error no Turpitude nothing against Reason no not excepting Transubstantiation though many things above Reason therefore she alone is absolutely Holy and to her alone appertains what we say in our Creed I believe the Holy Church In which Words he expresly points and directs us to his Catholick Church by this Mark or Note That it teaches no Error c. By which it is evident that Sanctity of Doctrine in the Cardinal's Sense consists in an unerring profession of the true Religion without any so much as the least intermixture of Error Now tho it is certain that that is the best and purest Church which hath the least of Error and Corruption in its Doctrine and Discipline yet it is as certain that that which is the best Church is not the only true Church For the only true Church is the Catholick Church which consists of a great many particular Churches whereof some are more and some less pure from Error and Corruption and yet all of 'em true Churches For all particular Bodies and Societies of Christians that are true parts of the Catholick Church are true Churches as being Homogenious Parts of the Catholick Church and consequently partaking of the same common Nature with it But when we are discoursing of the Notes of the true Church that which we mean by 'em is such certain Marks and Characters by which an honest Enquirer may distinguish such Societies of Christians as are the true Churches of which the true Catholick Church consists from such as are not and therefore that can be no true Note of the true Church which doth not distinguish it from all false Churches and whose contrary is consistent with the being of a true Church I proceed therefore II. To shew that Sanctity of Doctrine according to Bellarmin's Sense of it that is a pure profession of true Religion without any intermixture of Error is no true Note or Mark or Character by which any honest Enquirer can certainly distinguish the true Church from all false Churches And this I doubt not will evidently appear if we consider what are the necessary Properties of all true Notes by which things are to be known and distinguished and they are these four 1. Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies 2. It ought to be proper and peculiar to that kind of Thing of which it is a Note and not common to Things of another kind 3. It ought to be more known than the Thing which it notifies 4. It ought to be inseparable to it The three last of which Bellarmin himself owns to be necessary Properties of every true Note Cap. 2. though the first he did not think meet to take notice of for a Reason best known to himself if therefore this Note according to Bellarmine's sense of it hath neither of these Properties belonging to it it can be no true Note of the true Church and that none of 'em do belong to it I doubt not but I shall make it evidently appear 1. First Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies Thus every true Note of a true Man for instance ought to be common to all human kind and so every true Note of every wise Man ought to be common to all wise Men and by the same Rule every true Note of the true Church ought to be common to all true Churches For seeing the true Church is nothing else but only a Collection of all true Churches whatsoever is a certain Note of the true Church must necessarily belong to all true Churches in the World. And indeed since the end of our enquiry after the true Church is that we may communicate with it and since we can no otherwise communicate with the true Church but by communicating with some particular Church that is a true part of it the proper use of the Notes of the true Church is to direct our Enquirers whether this or that Church be a true part of it or which is the same thing whether by communicating with this or that particular Church we do communicate with the true Catholick Church And therefore unless the Notes of the true Catholick Church are such as do appertain to all true Churches they can never give us any certain direction in what Church we may communicate with the true Catholick Church for seeing we can communicate with the true Catholick Church in none but a true Church no Note can give us any certain direction where to communicate with the Catholick Church but what directs us to a true Church and no Note can certainly direct us to a true Church but what belongs to all true Churches If therefore not to err in its Profession be a certain Note whereby to find the true Catholick Church it must necessarily belong to all true Churches and consequently that can be no true Church which in any instance whatsoever errs in its Profession and indeed seeing all the true Churches in the World are only so many simular parts of the true Catholick Church and the
Obadiah hid an hundred of them There were some False Prophets amongst the Jews were all the Jewish Prophets therefore deceived when they pretended to foretell any thing We find that God charged the Prophets of Hierusalem no less than those of Samaria with Imposture with running before they were sent Jerem. xxiii 14 21 25 c. and prophesying when God had not spoken to them and with prophesying Lyes in his Name and a great deal more to this purpose Therefore by the Cardinal's Logick it appears by the False Prophets in the Old Testament that Catholicks are deceived as often as they would foretell any thing To conclude this Matter since the Cardinal seemed to take a particular delight in proving his Notes of the Church out of the Old Testament I shall leave this one Argument out of the Old Testament against his present Note of Prophetick Light. To make it a Note of the Church it is necessary that there should have been no True Prophecy but in the Church which is notoriously False because Balaam who was but a Heathen Diviner prophesied truly of Christ It is necessary also that this Gift should always have continued in the Church which is alike False because there was no Prophet amongst the Jews between Malachi and Zachary the Father of John the Baptist that is for about 400 Years together And thus much concerning the first Inquiry Whether Prophetick Light be a Note of the Church I come now to the Second II. If it be such a Note Whether the Cardinal hath sufficiently proved that they of the Roman Church have it and no others He pretends to prove that there have been Prophets in the Catholick Church which no Body denies But you must know that the Catholick Church is a Term of Art which these Masters to the Abuse of Names and Words as well as of Things and Persons are resolved shall signify the Roman Church Well let the Roman Church be their Catholick Church with us 't is but the Roman And now that we understand one another How does he prove that there have been Prophets amongst them Why he produces the Prophets of the Old Testament and those that prophesied for 500 Years after Christ Agabus for Instance who is mentioned in the Acts chap. 11 c. Now by this I perceive that it was warily done of the Cardinal and not in course to call his Church the Catholick Church for if he had produced the Prophets of the Old Testament and Agabus with the Prophets of the New to prove that the Roman Church has had Prophets it had look'd so simply that the Cardinal himself could not have born it But this is one of their old Fetches that when they would get any Credit by the Prophets and the Apostles they call themselves the Catholick Church and then because the Prophets and Apostles belonged to the Catholick Church they must belong to them and to no Christians of any Communion but theirs But how I pray comes it to pass that we have less Interest in the Prophets the Apostles and the Primitive Christians than the Roman Church has nay that we have none and they have all One thing I am sure of that if our Doctrines and theirs be severally compared with the Writings of those Renowned Antients it will not be hard to say who are their Children they or we and that they are our Predecessors and Parents and not theirs in all those Points wherein we differ from them And therefore since 't is in behalf of those particulars wherein we have left the Church of Rome that the Prophetic Light of the Old and New Testament is produced as an Argument that the Roman Church has had Prophets we have some reason to think that the Cardinal by producing the Prophets of both Testaments in this Cause has given us a terrible Weapon against himself and by their Prophetick Light discovered that if the Roman Church and ours cannot be parts of the same Church then we who have the Prophets and Apostles with us in the Doctrine we maintain are a True Church exclusively to them and not they to us In the next place we are told of Gregory Thaumaturgus and Anthony and John the Anchoret whose Predictions are related by St. Basil Athanasius and Austin Now Gregory was Bishop of Caesarea Anthony an Aegyptian Monk and John an Anchoret in a certain Wilderness of Aegypt But how all this proves that there have been Prophets in the Roman Church is never to be made out otherwise than by supposing the Greek and the Aegyptian Churches to signify the Roman Church by the same Figure that the Catholick Church and that of Rome are all one The express Testimonies he brings are concerning St. Benedict St. Bernard and St. Francis. St. Benedict told Totila that he should reign nine Years and dye the Tenth which as Gregory saith happened accordingly St. Bernard foretold the Conversion of four unlikely Persons And which was very admirable as Bellarmin affirms when he was desired to pray for the Conversion of a certain Nobleman Fear not says he I shall bury him a perfect Monk in this very place of Claravall Upon which the Cardinal cries out How many Prophecies are there in this one Sentence For that he should one Day be a Monk and persevere therein to the Death and end his Days in a holy sort and that before St. Bernard 's Death and this in Claravall and that he should be buried by St. Bernard 's own Hands are six distinct Prophecies and all of them not without God's singular Providence fulfilled As for St. Francis He admonished the Generals of the Christian Army not to fight upon such a Day with the Saracens for God had revealed to him that upon that Day they would be beaten But they contemning the Admonition of Blessed Francis fought and were overthrown with a miserable Slaughter And many more things of the same kind the Cardinal assures us might be added And if he had none of a better kind than these he ought to have produced his many more and at least given us Number for Weight Now tho I could very willingly give him all his three Stories yet I am loth to be thought so silly as to take every thing of this kind for Gospel which we are told by Bonaventure that wrote the Life of St. Francis or by Gofrid that wrote that part of St. Bernard's Life where the Cardinal finds him a Prophet no nor by Gregory himself in the second Book of his Dialogues concerning the Life and Miracles of Benedict the Abbot The Story of the Blackbird that went off with the Sign of the Cross Dial. lib. 2. cap. 2.4 and that other of the little Black-Boy invisible to all till Benedict saw him that drew away the idle Monk from his Prayers with many more such rank Fables as these are do plainly shew that Pope Gregory had Credulity enough to have lived in the Age of Gofrid or in that which next
things considered nothing is more apparent than that the true Church is neither to be distinguished from other Bodies of Men or of Professors of Christianity by the largeness of its Extent or the Numerousness of its Members and therefore that a true Note thereof cannot result from these And besides a true Note of the Church must be Essential to it must belong thereto as the true Church and therefore is inseparable from it But how could Amplitude or Multitude be ascribed to the true Church in the Time of our Saviour when he called it a little Flock and said Strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it c. But Bellarmin pretends to fetch this Note of his out of the Bible and not only to be beholden to Vincensius Lyrinensis for it whom he first cites in favour of it tho little to his Purpose as will be seen anon The Texts he produceth are four two in the Old Testament and two in the New. Those in the Old Testament are Psal 2.8 Where God the Father promiseth his Son That He will give him the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession And Psal 72.8 Where 't is prophesied That Christ shall have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the Ends of the Earth Those in the New Testament are Luke 24.47 Where our Lord declareth That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem And Acts 1.8 Where he tells his Apostles That they shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon them and they shall be Witnesses unto him both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth And it cannot be doubted but that these Texts do prove that the Members of Christ's Church shall be a very vast Multitude and that its Amplitude should even extend over all the World. But nevertheless 1. It doth not from hence follow that the Conjunction of Amplitude and Multitude doth make a Note or distinguishing Character of Christ's true Church It is one thing to say it belongs thereto as an Attribute and another that 't is appropriated to it as a Note That may be even Essential to a Thing which yet is not a Note of Distinction or peculiar Property whereby it may be known from all other Things The power of Sensation is essential to a Man yet for all that he is not distinguishable thereby from a Beast But it is evident from what hath been discoursed that the true Church is not to be distinguish'd from the Kingdom of Satan nor of Antichrist nor from Erroneous Sects by Amplitude and Multitude And that these together or apart are not so much as Essential to the Church of Christ since there was a time when as hath been said it was without them both 2. This is so far from being a Note of the Church that 't is no more than a variable State and Condition thereof since it hath had from time to time its Ebbs and Flows and hath had sometimes larger and other times straiter and narrower Bounds This the Cardinal was aware of and therefore among other things he would have to be observed for the right understanding of this his Note he saith That Although the Church ought not necessarily to be in all places at the same time yet now it ought necessarily to be or to have been in the greater part of the World For 't is acknowledged by all even the Hereticks themselves meaning the Protestants that the Church is now in her old Age and therefore must be past growing By the way though all his Hereticks no doubt do believe that the Church hath daily grown elder and elder yet I know not how many he hath found asserting that she is now arrived at old Age. But it will by no means be granted him that the Church is yet grown so old as to be past growing or to have a period put to its time of Encreasing And therefore I add 3. That we have great Assurance that the Church hitherto hath not deserved to be compared with what it shall be before the end of the World both in respect of its Amplitude and the number of Believers For there are very many plain Prophecies from whence this may certainly be concluded which all that without prejudice consider them must needs be satisfied have not hitherto been accomplished Namely those which have reference to the Calling of the Jews and the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles and the most plentiful Effusion of the Spirit and perfect rest from Persecution and universal Peace with the most wonderful outward Prosperity of the Church There are I say abundance of the plainest Predictions and Promises of this Nature which the Church hath not as yet experimented the performance of and they are expressed in such Words as that it may reasonably be believed that those great things which God hath heretofore done for his Church either Jewish or Christian are no better than Types and Emblems of what he intends to do in His appointed time Among those Predictions and Promises the Reader may consult these following which are but a few in companion of the whole Number viz. in the Old Testament Psal 22.27 to 31. Isa 2.1 to 6. Chap. 11. throughout Jer. 32.37 to 43. Chap. 33.7 to the end Dan. 7.13 14. And in the New Testament Mat. 24.14 Rom. 11.12 and ver 25 to 33.2 Cor. 3.15 16. Apoc. 20.1 to 7. Though the fulfilling of these Scriptures hath been deferred for so many Ages yet He is Faithful that hath promised so glorious an encrease of His Church with the other unspeakable Blessings now mentioned and will fulfil them when the Time is come which His infinite Wisdom knows to be the fittest for that Purpose And thus much may suffice to be said in reference to the Cardinal 's proving this Note by Scripture As to those Words in the next place of Vincensius Lyrinensis in his Commonitorium which he produceth for the confirming thereof viz. Eos propriè esse Catholicos qui tenent id quod semper quod ubique quod ab omnibus creditum est Those are properly Catholicks who hold that which hath been always every where and by all believed I answer 1. That Vincensius doth not pretend to give us in these Words a Note of the Catholick Church but of such a Christian This is evident at first sight And so is this 2. Whereas he makes it the Character of a true Catholick to hold what hath been believed semper ubique omnibus it cannot be hence inferred that he believed Amplitude or a Multitude of Believers to be so much as an Attribute of the Catholick Church and therefore much less a Note 3. If these Words lay down a true Note of a Catholick Christian then no Body of Christians can be
Ignorance our Adversaries know by some Experience And we may say without need of blushing for the matter that they have felt some Learning from this Church which their Union to the Pope hath of late helped very few of them to And if we may conclude any thing from the Examples of those within their own Communion we shall find that the more closely any of them are united to this supposed Head their Piety and Learning does not flourish one jot the more for it Let the Learning of the Gallican Church be compared with that of Spain or Italy Let the Piety of the Regulars especially of the Jesuits be weighed with that of the Secular Clergy and I believe it will appear that this Union is no such excellent advantage either towards Piety or Learning that they should appeal to Experience to shew the Necessity thereof either to the one or the other And thus much for their Union to the Pope 2. Neither is the Union which they pretend to among themselves as Members any certain Note of the Church The Cardinal was not content to describe their Union by thinking the same concerning all Doctrines of Faith but will have it to exclude also Discord and Dissension and falling into Sects and Parties For since he denies such Union to be found amongst Pagans and Hereticks he must be supposed to affirm it of the Members of his Church if he talks to any purpose Now admitting it were so 1. This is no more than what any Society may have as well as the true Church and any other Church as well as the Roman The Members of every Church are thus far united that they all agree in professing the common Belief of the Society to which they belong But about other Doctrine they either fall into Dissension or not as it happens And for some considerable time they may agree very well and at length fall out In which case according to Bellarmin's Note they would be the true Church while they agreed whatever their Faith should be which is most absurd It is not whether Men are united among themselves in what they believe but whether that wherein they are united be the right Faith that is to be considered Union in a false way is a confederacy in Error and the more that Men are united in it the more wise or prudent they may shew themselves to be but never the more Orthodox And though the Cardinal produces that Saying of our Saviour Every Kingdom divided against it self Matth. xii is brought to desolation to shew that Discord is a Sign of the Kingdom of the Devil yet he has manifestly perverted the Place inasmuch as our Saviour's Discourse there proceeds upon the contrary supposition viz. that Satan is not divided against himself 2. As there may be this Union out of the true Church so it may not be within it which makes it plain that this is no certain Note of the Church It is undeniable that there were Divisions in the first Apostolical Churches and consequently that to be Members of the Catholick Church it is sufficient that in those things wherein the Unity of the Faith consists all speak the same thing And if the Cardinal meant that the breaking of a Church into Parties and the Rise of Heresies and Schisms out of it is a certain Note of a false Church he might as well have said that there never was a true Church in the World no not in the Apostles times And if for this Reason he would unchurch the Protestants he did in effect put as good an Argument as this against the Reformation into the Mouth of a Turk or a Jew against Christianity that there is no Truth in it at all and because Christians are so divided one against another therefore none of them are in the right For a more particular Consideration of this Argument I refer the Reader to the Apologetical Vindication of the Church of England lately published Thus much for the first part of this Discourse which was to shew that the Unity here offered is not a Note of the Church I proceed to shew II. That if it were yet the Roman Church has it not Which is probably true of the First and most certainly true of the second Branch of the Cardinal's Unity 1. It is probable that the Roman Church wants the First and that there is now no true Pope nor has been for many Ages for that Church to be united to For by their own Confession a Pope Simoniacally chosen a Pope intruded by Violence a Heretick and therefore sure an Atheist or an Infidel is no true Pope And many such there have been of one sort or other whose Acts therefore in creating Cardinals c. being invalid it is exceeding probable that the whole Succession has upon this account failed long ago Besides there have been about 25 Schisms in the Church of Rome the last of which continued no less than 50 Years wherein two and sometimes three Popes pretended to St. Peter's Chair created Cardinals had their several Parties and Abettors c. During which Schisms it would be a madness to say that the Roman Church was united to the Pope as Head when they were all together by the Ears which of the Anti-Popes was the true one Now while there was no certain Pope there could be no certainty of the validity of any Acts necessary to continue a Succession of true Popes But this Case having happen'd so often and sometimes continued for many years the uncertainty must have at last grown into an utter improbability that they have a Pope and therefore according to the Cardinal that they are a Church unless it be all one whether the Church be united with a Nominal Pope or a Real Pope with a True Head or a False Head or any Head whatsoever But 2. It is undoubtedly true That the Roman Church has not the second Branch of Unity viz. that Union of the Members to one another which the Cardinal pretends Whether by it he means an Union in all points of Doctrine of great Consequence amongst those who remain in the Communion of his pretended Catholick Church or such an Union of their Members as shall prevent the breaking away of some from the Communion of the rest She has not the former Unity For if Philosophers Hereticks c. have had their Sects and Parties and been at great Dissensions among themselves so have the Members of the Roman Church too He pretends that all the Sacred Writers of their Church do wonderfully agree Now to let pass his Presumption in supposing the ancient Doctors of the Church to be one part of these their Writers we will for the present admit it and only ask If they agreed so wonderfully with the Fathers what need there was of an Index Expurgatorius upon the Fathers to make them and the Fathers of Trent agree something better He pretends that the Decrees of their Lawful Councils agree in *
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
the New Law of Faith. We read nothing throughout the whole Jewish State that may make us suppose that any of the Prophets after the Death of Moses tho they were sometimes endu'd with the Power of doing this or that Miracle that they ever taught any new Doctrine which had not been deliver'd by Moses or which they undertook to confirm by any Miracle It is true they sometimes wrought a Miracle as a Credential for themselves and their own Character to shew that they were Prophets sent from God. But then the whole Errand of their Commission was to explain Moses's Law to awaken Men to a stricter Conformity to what they had so provokingly violated to denounce heavy Judgments upon their Disobedience to speak encouraging things to a distress'd and persecuted Church and in a Word to fore-tell the Events of future Ages and particularly point out the Days of the Messiah and Revolutions of Christianity Again we find that under the Dispensation of the Gospel the Miracles which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought were to warrant the whole new Oeconomy And tho one main thing the Apostles were empowr'd for was to bear Testimony to the Resurrection of their Master yet was this chiefly as the whole frame of the Gospel depended wholly upon the Truth and Evidence of this great Event because if it were not as fully made out that he rose again as that he dy'd their Preaching had been vain and their Attempts to abolish the Law and Constitution of Moses had been an unwarrantable Usurpation Nor do we find that tho in a following Age or two the Church was probably bless'd with those miraculous Powers till the Gospel was diffusively enough propagated yet do we not find that they wrought any one Miracle for the establishment of any one particular Doctrine much less any Doctrine that had not been delivered by the Apostles before them nor enter'd into the Substance and Fundamentals of the Gospel Which leads to the next thing viz. 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 E. g. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon which is superstructed the Adoration of the Host which Adoration supposing the Doctrine of Transubstantiation not to be fundamentally true is by the Confession of several of their own Authors down-right Idolatry Again the Doctrine of worshipping Images we cannot but think to be against the express Law of God. The Doctrine of praying to Saints departed seems immediately to intrench upon the Office of the Holy Jesus as he is our alone Mediator and gives to the Creature incommunicable Attributes of the Creator as Omniscience and Omnipresence And to name no more the Doctrine of Purgatory with its appendent Doctrines about Indulgences Satisfaction and the like they seem to alter the whole Scheme of the Gospel-Institution by taking off from the infiniteness of Divine Mercy and sufficiency of Christ's Satisfaction Now these are the Doctrines wherein the Glory of the Roman Miracles have been generally concern'd So long therefore as we think we have so much in the Holy Scriptures in bar against the Doctrines themselves we cannot but think we have most just prejudices against the Miracles by which the truth of these Doctrines are advanced or supported We are directed by the Apostle to prove all things and to hold fast that which is good 1 Thess v. 21. And not to believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they be of God 1 Joh. iv 1. By the Spirits doubtless must be meant no other than those that pretended to Prophesying to Revelations and to the Power of some Miracles Now it is very true in that first Age wherein this Apostle wrote among the diversity of Gifts there was this of discerning of Spirits that adorn'd some Men 1 Cor. xii 10. It is not probable that the Apostle caution'd these against false Spirits for they were empowr'd to discern them But the Warning belongs to the whole Rank of Christians as appears by the plain Rule he gives to try them by Ver. 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God c. This seems to point at a sort of Gnosticks in that Age that would be allegorizing the whole History of our Saviour's Life and Death and Resurrection and make it no real thing but purely Mystical and Figurative Whoever therefore would pretend to the Gift of Prophecy or Miracle and yet deliver this kind of Divinity he must be rejected notwithstanding all the shew he might make So in proportion still are we warranted to try the Sprits to judge of any Powers of Miracle that are produc'd in Confirmation of a Doctrine that may intrench upon the great Offices of the Blessed Jesus or look new and forreign to those Revelations which himself and his Apostles have deliver'd to us as the sum and upshot of Christianity Tho we saith the Apostle or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed Gal. i. 8. Tho we the Apostles that are vested with so visible a Power of Miracles nay tho an Angel from Heaven and certainly if an Angel should come he might be capable of doing things beyond the order or course of Nature as to us at least as hath been often seen by what Devils have perform'd tho such an one should be propagating other Doctrines and that by all the most powerful Methods that such spiritual Beings are capable of using they are to be held accursed Our Saviour gives the Caution to all his Followers in every Age That there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great Signs and Wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. Behold I have told you before Matth. xxiv 24 25. I shall only add the great Criterion of Miracles in the old Testament Deut. xiii 1 2 3. If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a Sign or Wonder and the Sign or the Wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them thou shalt not hearken to the Words of that Prophet or that Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soul. So long therefore as the Doctrines which these sort of Miracles are brought to confirm are in dispute betwixt us and after all the impartial Enquiry we can make we think that several of them do war directly against the received Doctrines of our Faith this Glory of Miracles is vainly urg'd to us as a Note of the true Church when we are warn'd even against Miracles themselves where they