so much which is nothing else but a wilfull suffering of themselves to be led blind-fold by one man who commonly is more blind than many of themselves is no fruit of the spirit but of meere carnall policie and may serve peradventure for a bond of peace betwixt themselues and their owne partie such as the Priests of Antichrist were to have and as many as would be content to yeeld themselves to the conduct of such a Commander but hath proved the greatest block that ever stood in the way for giving impediment to the peace and unity of the universall Church which here we looke after And therefore Nilus Archbishop of Thessalonica entring into the consideration of the original ground of that long cōtinued schisme whereby the West standeth as yet divided from the East and the Latin Churches from the Greeke wrote a whole booke purposely of this argument wherein he sheweth that there is no other cause to be assigned of this distraction but that the Pope will not permit the cognisance of the controversie unto a generall Councell but will needs sit himselfe as the alone Teacher of the point in question and have others hearken unto him as if they were his Scholars and that this is contrary both to the ordinances and the practice of the Apostles and the Fathers Neither indeed is there any hope that ever wee shall see a generall peace for matters of Religion setled in the Christian world as long as this supercilious Master shall be suffered to keepe this rule in Gods house how much soever he be magnified by his owne Disciples and made the onely foundation upon which the unitie of the Catholick Church dependeth Now in the next place for the further opening of the unitie of the faith wee are to call unto minde the distinction which the Apostle maketh betwixt the foundation and that which is builded thereupon betwixt the principles of the doctrine of Christ and that which he calleth perfection The unitie of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God here spoken of hath reference as we heard to the foundation as that which followeth of a perfect man and the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ to the superstruction and perfection In the former there is a generall unitie among all true beleevers in the latter a great deale of varietie there being severall degrees of perfection to be found in severall persons according to the measure of the gift of Christ. So we see in a materiall Building that still there is but one foundation though great disparitie be observed in sundry parts of the superstruction some rooms are high some lowe some darke some lightsome some more substantially some more slightly builded and in tract of time some prove more ruinous than others yet all of them belong to one building as long as they hold together and stand upon the same foundation And even thus is it in the spirituall Building also whether we respect the practicall part of Christianitie or the intellectuall In the practicall we see wonderfull great difference betwixt Christian and Christian some by Gods mercy attaine to a higher measure of perfection and keepe themselves unspotted from the cōmon corruptions of the world others watch not so carefully over their wayes and lead not such strict lives but are oftentimes overtaken and fall fowly that he who looketh upon the one and the other would hardly thinke that one Heaven should receive them both But although the one doth so farre outstrip the other in the practice of new Obedience which is the Christian mans race yet are there certaine fundamentall principles in which they both concurre as a desire to feare Gods name repentance for sinnes past and a sincere purpose of heart for the time to come to cleave unto the LORD Which whosoever hath is under mercie and may not be excluded from the Communion of Saints In like manner for the intellectuall part the first principles of the Oracles of God as the Apostle calleth them hold the place of the common foundation in which all Christians must be grounded although some be babes and for further knowledge are unskilfull in the word of righteousnesse other some are of perfect age who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discerne both good and evill The Oracles of God containe aboundance of matter in them and whatsoever is found in them is a fit object for faith to apprehend but that all Christians should uniformely agree in the profession of all those truthes that are revealed there is a thing that rather may be wished than ever hoped for Yet the varietie of mens judgements in those manie points that belong to Theologicall faith doth not dissolve the unitie which they hold together in the fundamentall principles of the Catholick faith The unitie of the faith commended here is a Catholick unitie and such as every true Christian attaineth unto Till wee ALL come in the unitie of the faith saith the Apostle As there is a common salvation so is there a common faith which is alike precious in the highest Apostle and the meanest beleever For we may not thinke that Heaven was prepared for deepe Clerkes onely and therefore beside that larger measure of knowledge whereof all are not capable there must be a Rule of faith common to small and great which as it must consist but of few propositions for simple men cannot beare away many so is it also requisite that those articles should be of such weight and moment that they may be sufficient to make a man wise unto saluation that howsoever in other points learned men may goe beyond common Christians and exceed one another likewise by many degrees yet in respect of these radicall truthes which is the necessarie and common food of all the children of the Church there is not an unitie onely but such a kinde of equalitie also brought in among all sorts of Christians as was heretofore among the Congregation of the Israelites in the collection of their Manna where he that gathered much had nothing over and hee that gathered little had no lacke If then salvation by beleeving these common principles may be had and to salvation none can come that is not first a member of the Catholick Church of Christ it followeth thereupon that the unitie of the faith generally requisite for the incorporating of Christians into that blessed societie is not to be extended beyond those common principles Which may further be made manifest unto us by the continuall practice of the Catholick Church her selfe in the matriculation of her children and the first admittance of them into her communion For when shee prepared her Catechumeni for Baptisme and by that dore received them into the congregation of Christs flock we may not think her iudgement to have beene so weake that shee would omit any thing herein that was
that which tended both to the perfecting of the Saints and to the edifying of his owne body For as it hath pleased the Father that in him all fulnesse should dwell so the Son is also pleased not to hold it any disparagement that his Body the Church should be accounted the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all That howsoever in himselfe he be most absolutely and perfectly complete yet is his Church so neerely conjoyned unto him that he holdeth not himselfe full without it but as long as any one member remaineth yet ungathered and unknit unto this mysticall body of his he accounteth in the meane time somewhat to be deficient in himselfe And therefore our Apostle having in the words immediately going before this Text declared that the Ministery was instituted for the edifying of the bodie of Christ addeth presently Till wee all come in the unitie of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of GOD unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ. In which words we may obserue aswell the Matter of this Building Wee all as the Structure of it and further also consider in the Structure first the laying of the foundation In the unitie of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God secondly the bringing of the worke to perfection and the raising of it to his just height unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ The Matter then of this spirituall edifice that wee may begin with that are Wee our selves Yee also as lively stones are built up a spirituall house saith Saint Peter To this Saint Paul doth here adde a note of Vniversalitie WE ALL as suting best with the nature of the Catholick or Vniversall Church which is that body of Christ of the edifying whereof he here treateth of which therefore he telleth us more plainly in another place that by one spirit we are all baptized into one bodie whether wee be Iewes or Gentiles whether we be bond or free For the Catholick Church is not to be sought for in any one angle or quarter of the world but among all that in every place call upon the Name of Iesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours 1 Corinthians 1.2 Therefore to their Lord and ours was it said Aske of mee and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession and to his mysticall body the Catholique Church accordingly I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North give up and to the South Keepe not backe bring my sonnes from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth even every one that is called by my name Thus must we conceiue of the Catholick Church as of one entire body made up by the collection and aggregation of all the Faithfull unto the unitie thereof from which union there ariseth unto every one of them such a relation to and a dependance upon the Church Catholique as parts use to haue in respect of their whole Whereupon it followeth that neyther particular persons nor particular Churches are to worke as severall divided bodyes by themselues which is the ground of all Schisme but are to teach and to be taught and to doe all other Christian duties as parts conjoyned unto the whole and members of the same Common-wealth or corporation and therefore the Bishops of the ancient Church though they had the governmēt of particular Congregations onely committed unto them yet in regard of this communion which they held with the Vniversall did usually take to themselves the title of Bishops of the Catholick Church Which maketh strongly aswell against the new Separatists as the old Donatists who either hold it a thing not much materiall so they professe the faith of Christ whether they doe it in the Catholick Communion or out of it or else which is worse dote so much upon the perfectiō of their own part that they refuse to joyn in fellowship with the rest of the body of Christians as if they themselues were the onely people of God and all wisedome must live and die with them and their generation And herein of all others doe our Romanists most fearefully offend as being the authors of the most cruell schisme that ever hath been seene in the Church of God Those infamous schismes of the Novatians and Donatists were but petty rents in comparison of this huge rupture which hath pulled asunder East and West North South and growne to such a head at home that in our Western parts where this faction was so prevalent it hath for diverse ages past been esteemed Catholicke In the 17 th of the Revelation wee haue a Woman described unto us sitting upon seven mountaines and upon many waters The Woman is there expounded to be that great Citie which reigneth over the Kings of the earth The seven mountains upon which that City sate needed not to be expounded every childe knew what was meant thereby The waters are interpreted peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues Which is that very Vniversalitie and Catholicisme that the Romanists are wont so much to brag of For this Woman is the particular Church of Rome the City-Church which they call the Mother-Church the holy Ghost stileth the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth Those peoples and multitudes nations and tongues are such as this proud Citie reigneth over the Catholick-Roman Church they are commonly called by themselves but by the holy Ghost the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth This Woman is the Head of the faction and the very Mother of this schism the Beast that is to say they that suffer themselues to be thus ridden by her are her abbettors and supporters in it For the particular Church of Rome not being content to be a fellow-member with the rest of the Churches of Christ and to haue a joynt dependance with them upō the whole body of the Church Catholick which is the Mother of us all will needs goe out of her rank and scorning any longer to be accounted one of the branches of the Catholick Church would faine be acknowledged to be the root of it so that now all other Churches must hold their dependance upon it or otherwise be cast forth as withered branches which are fit onely to be throwne into the fire and burned The wisedome of God foresaw this insolency long before-hand and therfore caused a Caveat to be entred against it even in that Epistle which was specially directed to the Church of Rome it selfe The words are plaine enough Rom. 11.18 If thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee The Church of Rome therefore must know that shee is no more a root to beare up other Churches than other Churches are to beare up her she may not goe
them and Gods anger So that where these things did thus concurre in any as wee doubt not but they did in many thousands the knowledge of the common principles of the faith the ignorance of such maine errours as did endanger the foundation a godly life and a faithfull death there we have no cause to make any question but that God had fitted a subject for his mercy to worke upon And yet in saying thus wee doe nothing lesse than say that such as these were Papists either in their life or in their death members of the Romane Church perhaps they were but such as by God's goodnes were preserved from the mortalitie of Popery that raigned there For Popery it selfe is nothing else but the botch or the plague of that Church which hazardeth the soules of those it seizeth upon as much as any infection can doe the body And therefore if any one will needs be so foole-hardy as to take up his lodging in such a Pest-house after warning given of the present danger wee in our charitie may well say Lord have mercy upon him but he in the meane time hath great cause to feare that God in his justice will inflict that judgement upon him which in this case he hath threatned against such as will not beleeve the truth but take pleasure in vnrighteousnesse And so much may suffice for that question The second question so rise in the mouthes of our Adversaries is Where was your Church before Luther Whereunto an answere may bee returned from the grounds of the solution of the former question that our Church was even there where now it is In all places of the world where the ancient foundations were retained and those common principles of faith upon the profession whereof men have ever beene wont to be admitted by Baptisme into the Church of Christ there we doubt not but our Lord had his subjects and wee our fellow-servants For wee bring-in no new Faith nor no new Church That which in the time of the ancient Fathers was accounted to be truely and properly Catholick namely that which was beleeved every where alwayes and by all that in the succeeding ages hath evermore beene preserved and is at this day entirely professed in our Church And it is well observed by a learned man who hath written a full discourse of this argument that whatsoever the Father of lies either hath attempted or shall attempt yet neither hath he hitherto effected nor shall ever bring it to passe hereafter that this Catholick doctrine ratified by the common consent of Christians alwayes and every where should be abolished but that in the thickest mist rather of the most perplexed troubles it still obtained victorie both in the mindes and in the open confession of all Christians no wayes overturned in the foundation thereof and that in this veritie that one Church of Christ was preserved in the midst of the tempests of the most cruell winter or in the thickest darknes of her waynings Thus if at this day we should take a survay of the severall professions of Christianitie that have any large spread in any part of the world as of the Religion of the Romane and the Reformed Churches in our Quarters of the Aegyptians and Aethiopians in the South of the Grecians and other Christians in the Easterne parts and should put-by the points wherein they did differ one from another and gather into one body the rest of the Articles wherein they all did generally agree wee should finde that in those propositions which without all controversie are universally received in the whole Christian world so much truth is contained as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man unto everlasting salvation Neither have wee cause to doubt but that as many as doe walke according to this rule neither overthrowing that which they have builded by superinducing any damnable heresies thereupon nor otherwise vitiating their holie faith with a lewd and wicked conversation peace shall bee upon them and mercie and upon the Israel of GOD. Now these common principles of the Christian faith which we call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or things generally beleeved of all as they have Vniversalitie and Antiquity and Consent concurring with them which by Vincentius his rule are the speciall characters of that which is truely and properly Catholick so for their Duration wee are sure that they have still held out and beene kept as the Seminarie of the Catholique Church in the darkest and difficultest times that ever have beene where if the Lord of Hostes had not in his mercy reserved this seed unto us we should long since have beene as Sodom and should have beene like unto Gomorrah It cannot be denied indeed that Sathan and his instruments have used their utmost endeavour either to hide this light from mens eyes by keeping them in grosse ignorance or to deprave it by bringing-in pernicious heresies and that in these latter ages they have much prevailed both wayes aswell in the West and North as in the East and South Yet farre be it for all this from any man to thinke that God should so cast away his people that in those times there should not be left a remnant according to the election of grace The Christian Church was never brought unto a lower ebbe than was the Iewish Synagogue in the dayes of our Saviour Christ when the Interpreters of the Law had taken away the key of knowledge and that little knowledge that remained was miserably corrupted not onely with the leaven of the Pharisees but also with the damnable heresie of the Sadduces And yet a man at that time might have seene the true servants of GOD standing together with these men in the selfe-same Temple which might well be accounted as the House of the Saints in regard of the one so a Denne of theeves in respect of the other When the pestilent heresie of the Arrians had polluted the whole world the people of Christ were not to bee found among them onely who made an open secession from that wicked company but among those also who held externall communion with them and lived under their Ministery Where they so learned the other truthes of GOD from them that they were yet ignorant of their maine errour God in his providence so ordering matters that as it is noted by S. Hilary the people of Christ should not perish under the Priests of Antichrist If you demand then Where was Gods Temple all this while the answer is at hand There where Antichrist sate Where was Christs people Even under Antichrists Priests and yet this is no justification at all either of Antichrist or of his Priests but a manifestation of God's great power who is able to uphold his Church even there where Satans throne is Babylon was an infectious place and the infection thereof was mortall and yet God had his people there whom hee preserved from the