to be Holy when it teaches Truth and Holiness So is the Universal Church Holy and so is every Member in its Communion Since that which makes it a Member in its Communion is its agreement with the whole in Doctrines taught by it both regarding Faith and Manners And from hence it follows that to ascribe Error and Corruption to any Church which is acknowledged a Member of the Catholic Church and for such pretended Errors to break off Communion with it is to do the same to the Universal Church and consequently to contradict an Article of Faith Now that this is the condition of the English-Church is manifest For since all Christians are under pain of damnation obliged to live in Communion with the Universal Church by being obedient to it's Laws and Governors as also to believe that this Universal Church is at this day extant where can an English Protestant hope to find this Church if not in the Roman Communion In the Greek-Church he will find the same Doctrine which in the Roman he calls dangerous Errours as besides the confession hereof by several Protestant Authors formerly hath been of late beyond all gainsaying evidenced by the indefatigable industry of Monsieur Arnaud in his two late Replies to Claude a Calvinist Minister from the Authentick Testimonials and Declarations both of several late Synods and of many Ecclesiastical Persons of eminency both in the present Greek and other Eastern Churches And besides these he will find other Doctrins which we all condemn as Heresies Then for pretended Corruptions in practice the same practices which he stiles Superstitious and Idolatrous principally touching the Blessed Sacrament he will find in the Greek Church far more distastful to him And as for other Eastern Sects besides the same Practises he will find himself obliged if in Communion with any of them to assent to Ancient Universally condemned Heresies Nestorianism Eutychianism Monothelitism c. §. 26. Prot. But no doubt God hath his Elect Servants among them all who are truly Orthodox as we are with whom we may be said to be united in Spirit Cath. Truly Sir this is a meer pittiful dream to talk of Communion in spirit with hidden Christians to you invisible as you are also to them This renders all the Discourses of the Holy Fathers touching the Churches Visibility and Unity utterly impertinent Yea this evacuates the Predictions of all Gods ancient Prophets foretelling the Extent Glory and Victories of the Kingdom of the Messias and it makes void the Promises of our Saviour touching his Church What meaning therefore can you frame to your self when you say You acknowledg a perpetually existent Catholic Church and a necessity imposed on all Christians to live in her Communion §. 27. Pr. We acknowledg our selves in Communion with all Christian Societies as far as they teach Truth and practise according to Christs Law Cath. So you may be said to communicate with Iews Turks and Insidels for some Truths are taught by all these and some of their practises are lawful But is this such a Communion as the Church Catholic anciently or as the First four General Councils required It is manifest that at the time of your first Separation there was not one Society of Christians in the world to whose Profession of Faith you would subscribe in whose Religious Worship you would joyn and by whose Laws you would be governed So that all Christians then living and visible in the World were to you as Heathens and Publicans and you the very same to them Were your first Reformers in Communion with them Certainly you will not say that the Roman Grecian and Oriental Churches though they will not deny but you teach some Truths and sometimes practise virtues do live in your Communion that is That Persons mutually excommunicating one another do at the same time live in one Communion or that Pastors live in Communion with those who renounce Obedience to them and abhorr the Faith taught by them §. 28. P. Why Sir would you have us allow such a way of Communion as you seem to understand to Societies which we firmly believe do teach damnable Errours and enjoyn Idolatrous or Superstitious Practises Cath. No Sir by no means But since there is on earth a visibly holy Catholic Church placed as a City upon a Hill with which you must under pain of damnation communicate in such a manner as Christians did in the time of the first four General Councils I adjure you not to rest where you now are in Schism from all visible Churches preceding your Separation but to find Her out and having found her out to depose an overweening conceit of your own abilities to censure and condemn her Doctrines and with Christian Humility to submit your self entirely to her Guidance by which means you will be sure to find rest of mind §. 29. Prot. This seems to me a task too hard to be undertaken Cath. That which makes it seem so hard to you is perhaps a secret whisper of Nature and self-love telling you that this may expose you to many worldly disadvantages or if not this a strong prejudice by education deeply imprinted in your mind against the Roman Church the condemning and reviling of which is the subject of most Books you read and of most of the discourses and Sermons you hear I name the Roman Church because I am perswaded that if you should happen to entertain any Doubts of the security of the Grounds of Protestant Religion it would not be the Grecian nor any of the other Oriental Churches whose Religion you would put in the scales against it but only the Roman from whence you had your Christianity your Church her subsistence and within the Limits and Iurisdiction of whose Patriarch you live Do I not judg aright Prot. Yes §. 30. Cath. Then Sir though at present you should have no doubts of any Doctrines taught by your Church or rather in it for your self will not allow her the Title of an authentic Teacher neither does she challenge it yet since you have voluntarily fixed your self in such a Church which not pretending to an infallible direction from God cannot with any shew of reason tell you that you are bound in conscience to believe any one of her Doctrines nor that it is a sin for you to leave her Communion and to chuse that of any other Society which you may like better for then all Christians should as well as you be obliged to joyn themselves to the English Church only Endeavour I beseech you with a mind as disinteressed as may be to hearken to what may be alledged for the Right which the Roman Church has to challeng your Obedience so as that the refusal of such Obedience would be an heinous Sin For this Right indeed She challenges and She alone No other ancient Church hath and no par ticular Sect doth or can pretend to it Prot. I am content §. 31. Cath. First then consider that
abilities or blind passion against all Guides establish'd in Gods Church if Divine Revelation consent of Antiquity manifest Reason and even experience by outward Sensation may be fit to guide me I must not be a Protestant I must of necessity be a Roman Catholic For Divine Revelation interpreted also by consent of Fathers and Councils informs me that Christ hath established on Earth a visible Church which is one holy and Catholic the common Mother and only authentick Teacher of all Christians that this Church shall remain such to the end of the World and that whosoever is not a true faithful Member of this Church is thereby cut off from the Mystical Body of Christ and shall be eternally separated from Him Again evident Reason shews that no Person or Society can be esteemed a Member of any Church any other way than by believing its Doctrines and being subject to its Laws and Government In the third place the testimony of our Senses assures us that not any of our Modern Sects do assent to the Doctrines or are governed by the Laws of any Church at all and consequently not of the Catholic Church which had a being at their first pretended Reformation therefore upon these grounds it evidently follows that all the said Sects are manifestly guilty of Schism Moreover since the Roman is that Church of which the first Reformers once were Members and by reforming made a separation from it and since the same Church does constantly profess the same Doctrines which were once held by the Universal Body of Orthodox Christians and again since there is not any visible Church upon earth to which all marks of the true Church assigned in Scripture and by the Holy Fathers can be so applied and whereto the Antient Prophecies and the Promises of Christ have been so perfectly accomplished as the Roman it will evidently follow that the present Roman Catholic Church ought to be acknowledged that one Holy Catholic Church which we confess in the Apostles Creed and by consequence whatsoever Doctrines in opposition to the Faith professed in this Church are taught by Protestants they are thereby without any particular discussion legitimately prejudged to be formal Heresies Now Heresie and Schism being by all even by Hereticks and Schismaticks themselves acknowledged most dreadfully wasting Crimes of which I cannot possibly be guilty whilst I adhere to the Roman Catholic Church nor avoid the guilt of them by forsaking its Communion I conceive I have without any necessity of engaging in particular Disputes given you rational Grounds enabling me to afford a sufficient Answer to the Question first proposed by you viz. Why are you a Catholic §. 40. And for a conclusion Sir give me leave to tell you that it will be utterly in vain for you to atempt the avoiding of the stigmata brands of Heresie and Schism by entring into an endless Dispute about particular Controversies to be stated out of Books For till you be able to shew a present Visible Orthodox Church the Governors and Teachers whereof are derived by a continual Succession from the Apostles which Church in all those Points for which you have separated from the Roman teaches as you do and either governs you or is governed by you Till this I say be done your busying your self about particular Disputes will never produce to you Peace of mind but rather encrease in you Pride and Malice against others Your first most necessary Care therefore must be to establish your self in such a Church as can oblige you to believe her for by no other way can you nor your Teachers avoid Self-condemnation as manifest Innovators There are certain illustrious marks assigned by the holy Scriptures and Fathers to distinguish the true Catholic Church from Congregations of Hereticks and Schismaticks such are Unity Succession Universality Converting of Nations Miracles c. And these are such marks as are perceptible by the meanest capacities to the end that none should be excused if they mistake the Church Now not one of these so visible marks belongs to you and not one but belongs to the Roman Catholic Church §. 41. When you are urged to shew some signs or marks which might invite any to joyn with you all you can say is That you teach truth and that you duly administer the Sacraments that is you would prove your selves to be a true Church because you say you are a true Church for not the marks but the essence of a Church consists in teaching Truth c. But marks of his Church easily observable by all men were appointed by God to lead the Simple as well as the Learned to discover that Church which only teacheth Truth and duly administers his Sacraments Not any such marks do you pretend to shew And as for this your miscalled single Mark the Unlearned cannot possibly judg whether you do indeed teach Truth c. and the Learned must have spent their whole lives before they can be in a capacity to judg And though they should be so unhappy as to suffer themselves to be convinced that you do teach Truth c. yet till you can further demonstrate that you are not guilty of Schism but that you communicate with that one holy Catholic Church which you believe in the Creed it would notwithstanding all the truth pretended to be taught by you be a damnable sin in them to communicate with you These things considered since I am confident it is impossible for you to clear this point I believe you will find an insuperable difficulty to prepare according to the method observed here a tolerable general answer sufficient to vindicate your Church in case I should by way of exchange propose to you this Question Why are you a Protestant Prot. Judg not Sir too hastily Perhaps at our next meeting you will hear more than you now expect In the mean time I thank you for your Charity And God willing I will seriously reflect on what hath been said Cath. Farewel Sir and if you think good cast your eyes upon this little bundel of Citations out of several ancient Holy Fathers of the Church who will tell you that upon the very same grounds which have been here discoursed on they were good Christians and Catholics Prot. If they tell me so I shall not easily contemn what they tell me Farewel ✚ ¶ TESTIMONIES of HOLY FATHERS regarding The Substance of the foregoing DISCOURSE §. 1. Of the Churches prepetual Existence Visibility c. OBscurius dixerunt Prophetaeâ—de Christo quam de Ecclesia Puto propterea The Prophets have spoken more obscurely concerning Christ than concerning the Church The reason hereof I conceive to be because they foresaw in Spirit that men would make divisions and parties and that they would not much dispute about Christ himself but that they would raise great contentions about the Church Therefore that was more plainly foretold and more openly prophecyed concerning which greater contentions would in succeeding times
✚ I. Question WHY ARE YOU A CATHOLIC The ANSWER follows II. Question BUT WHY ARE YOU A PROTESTANT An ANSWER Attempted in vain 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be ready always to give an Answer to every man that asketh you a Reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and reverence Writen by the Reverend Father S. C. Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congregation LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXVI ✚ TO THE Christian Reader IT was in Obedience to the desire of an Honourable Friend that this following Discourse was written that it was confined to such narrow lounds and that it is now Published He thought it requisite that such Catholics as are not at leasure to read Volums of Controversies should be instructed how to give a rational Account to Modern Sectaries why they are Catholics and he thought also that to justifie such their Profession a long Discourse would not be necessary This occasioned the following Answer to the Question proposed in the Title which Answer if rational and satisfactory will prevent or rather determine all other particular Questions about Religion the debating of which furnishes the world with Books to fill great Libraries But what fate soever shall befal this Answer in the esteem of Readers certain it is that the method of it is unquestionably useful by which is shewed that the Controversie about the Church is first of all to be seriously debated because what Party soever shall be able to give convincing Proofs that their Church is the same or a true Member of the same Church which we believe in the Creed shall thereby evince that all accusations laid against her are false and groundless and all separation from her damnable And on the other side it will be to no purpose to examine the Tenets of a Church already prejudged to be a false Church that is to want the inseparable Marks of a true Church signifyed by these words in our Creeds One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church denoting Unity of Faith Sanctity of Discipline Universality and uninterrupted Succession of Teachers and Governors from the Apostles to be necessary Signs of a true Church Now for as much as regards the following Discourse if any one shall think fit to undertake a Reply to it he may please to take notice that unless he intend to make quarrels useless and endless the only proper Reply will be his Answer to another like Question which he may suppose to be proposed to him by a Catholic viz. How can a Protestant think himself safe in a Congregation which never was incorporated in any Church whatsoever existent before the pretended Reformation This Question if seriously and rationally resolved and especially if the Resolution of it be justifyed by Authorities of by us all approved Antient Catholic Doctors it will then only be esteemed of considerable force against this following Answer to the Question Why are you a Catholic Now in this renewed Impression the Author thought expedient that such a Second Question should be proposed as by a Catholic to a Protestant demanding reciprocally of him Why are you a Protestant To which Question an Answer is framed the most suitable to Protestants grounds that the Author could devise He is not ignorant that this fashion of writing Controversies Dialogue-wise is oft obnoxious to exceptions and not unjust suspicions of partiality and prevarication For indeed we sometimes see Dialogues in which the Authors who may make their pretended Adversaries to speak as they themselves please do put foolish Answers into their mouths and then laugh at them presuming thereby to have gained a Victory But such a poor shift as this the Author protests against The allegations against the Roman Church brought in by the Protestant are in the Authors opinion the most considerable that are to be found among Protestant Controvertists which allegations he is permitted also to deliver in a Stile for its sharpness becoming a Protestant now a la Mode True it is the Author could not possibly make him answer pertinently and directly to the Question But whose fault is that No such Answer with tolerable satisfaction as far as the Author could inform himself could be found in rerum natura Now if any Protestant Reader shall dislike the Author's introducing his Protestant sometimes relenting or convinced that some Catholic Doctrines are too oft falsly and maliciously represented by Adversaries the Authours excuse must be that he having according to his conscience demonstrated so much his duty was to shew his Adversary a rational honest man that is such a one as will be satisfyed with reason and indeed with no other is he willing to treat However if this do not content the Reader he may do well to frame a better Protestant Answer to the general Question Why are you a Protestant But except such his Answer be indeed precisely pertinent and proper to the clearing his Church from the Charge of Schism either by shewing that she is indeed a true Member incorporated into the Body of the Catholic Church believed in our Common Creed Or that she is innocent and not chargeable with Schism though she be not yea abhors to be so incorporated he would do much better to save his labour No other Answer can be pertinent No excursions into Invectives against any other Church or Churches will be at all to the purpose Except therefore the pretended Answer be qualifyed as hath been said he must give the present Author leave to protest against it as no Answer at all notwithstanding which Protestation the Protestant may and probably will take leave to think and proclaim it unanswerable Now the rather to invite him to undertake such a just though unusual and hitherto unpractised a Task the Author does here freely acknowledg that was a principal end of his Writing and Publishing this Discourse for the truth is the World has been too long and too much abused with impertinencies and malicious Buffoâ—ries to the perverting of Souls encrease of Atheism and shame of our Nation Another considerable Motive also of composing this short Discourse was a desire in the Author to take occasion to deliver briefly the Catholic Church's Doctrines as they are in themselves and freed from the curious fancies of School-men and misprision of Sectaries to the Glory of God and the good of Souls ✚ Why are you a CATHOLIC A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PROTESTANT AND A CATHOLIC §. 1. Protestant WHY are you a Catholic Catholic Because I am a Christian and by the Rule of Christian Faith the Apostles Creed am obliged to believe the holy Catholic Church Prot. Did not you believe that Article before you was a Catholic Cath. I thought indeed at that time that I had believed it but I have found since that I only thought so Prot. It seems then you do not think that I believe this Article as well as you Cath. I am sure that by vertue of this Article you are not obliged to be