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 Ierusalem 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 Ierusalem and in all Iudea 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 Iews 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 Iewish 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 comparison of the whole Number viz. in the Old Testament Psal. 22. 27 to 31. Isa. 2. 1 to 6. Chap. 11. throughout Ier. 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 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 4 th 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 Artic. 6.
of this Bishop's having any Power over the Alexandrian and much less over the whole Catholick Church Nor is any thing more certain than that the mere Superiority of Honour which the Roman Church had was founded on no Divine Right but only on that Cities being the Seat of the Empire For as the Second General Council viz. that of Constantinople decreed in its Third Canon That the Bishop of Constantinople should have the priviledg of Honour next to the Bishop of Rome upon the account of its being the Imperial City and therefore called New Rome So in the Twenty eighth Canon of the Fourth General Council viz. that of Chalcedon it was ordained that for the same Reason the Bishop of Constantinople should have equal priviledges with the Bishop of Rome So that 't is a plain Case that whosoever shall undertake to prove from any Sayings of the Ancients for the first 500 Years at least that the Church of Rome and the Catholick Church were reputed to be the same and consequently that whatsoever they said of the Amplitude of this is to be understood of that Church must necessarily make as sad work of it as Bellarmin hath here done And therefore it is apparent too that no Service can be done to the Church of Rome by this Note as to her pretension of being the true Catholick Church From whence it will likewise follow that no prejudice can from thence accrue to the Reformed Churches But this is not all For 2. This Note were it a true one would be Destructive to that her Pretence and do the Reformed Churches great Service viz. in demonstrating them to be true parts of the Catholick Church This also may be concluded from what hath been said but it will be made more evident by these following Considerations 1. If the Church of Rome had as Ample a Spread over the World for some of the first Ages as Bellarmin contends for this would far more redound to the Advantage of our Churches of the Reformation were Amplitude a distinguishing Property of the Church than to the Advantage of the present Church of Rome because that Church then was more ours than now it is the Romanists For there can scarcely be a greater Disagreement in Doctrine and Worship between any two Christian Churches than there hath for a long time been between the same Church as she was then and is now But the Agreement is as great between the Ancient Church of Rome and our Churches and especially between Her and the Church of England This our Adversaries could not but see would they impartially compare the Doctrine and Worship of each together And the only Quarrel they have with us is that we will not admit more into our Creed than the Christians of the First Ages did into theirs And that we worship God only by the alone Mediation of Jesus Christ as they did That our Laity partake of the Communion in both kinds as theirs did And in short that we believe the Holy Scriptures to be a compleat Rule of Faith as it was every where believed to be by the Primitive Catholicks and that we will not receive into our Worship the Roman Novelties those things which were utterly unknown to both the Roman and all other Churches in those Ages Now whereas the Cardinal would have it observed for the better explaining the meaning of this Note That if one Province alone should retain the true Faith it might properly be called the Catholick Church so long as its Faith is one and the same with that which at one time or other had prevailed in the whole World We desire no greater Advantage to our Church and all other in Communion with Her since these and those Churches which in the Primitive Times were extended all over the then known parts of the World are agreed in much more than all the Fundamental Points of Faith. 2. It hath been estimated upon Computation that the Churches subject to the Roman See exceed not much the Reformed Churches in Amplitude or Multitude of Members See the Preface to Brerewood's Enquiries Especially since Italy Spain and Portugal are detained in the Romish Religion not by Choice or Judgment but by Ignorance and the Tyranny of the Inquisition But who can be ignorant that the Church of Rome bears not the least proportion upon those Accounts with these Churches considered in Conjunction with that part of Christendom which agreeth with them as in all the main Points of Christianity so in refusing Subjection to that Church and in most of those Doctrines and Practices which we condemn in Her as contrary to Holy Scripture or as not founded thereon and yet made necessary to Salvation by Her and not taught by the Primitive Church So that should all the Churches which deny that of Rome to have any Authority over them deal with Her as she hath dealt with them and pronounce Her to have nothing more left Her than the mere Name of a Church this Her Note would be an unanswerable Objection against Her being A true Church as well as The true Church on supposition that as she holds of two Parties of Christians rejecting Communion with and unchurching each other but one of them can be a true Church That so large a part of Christendom I say agrees with the Reformed Churches in all the Grand Articles of Faith and in the Chief of those wherein they are at Varience with the Church of Rome as makes the whole an incomparably greater Body of Believers than all those together who own that Church for their Mother is so notorious that 't is impossible our Adversaries should dispute it The Cardinal indeed tells us on this Note That Besides all Italy and Spain and almost all France which the Church of Rome possesseth And besides Germany England Poland Bohemia Hungary Greece Syria Aethiopia Egypt in which many Catholicks are found even in the New World viz. America She hath Churches without the mixture of Hereticks And we can Reply That Besides England Scotland and Ireland in which Protestancy is the National Religion and in the two former of which the Number of Papists is very inconsiderable And besides Denmark Norway Sweden and the Vnited Provinces in all which 't is also the National Religion And besides Germany Switzerland Hungary Transilvania in which are abundance of Protestant Churches as there were lately in the Kingdom of France too and 't will never be forgot by what Methods they have been extirpated Besides all those Countries I say the Protestants have also their Churches in the New World no less without the mixture of Hereticks And these consist of other kind of Believers than those the Romanists boast of in that Quarter For whereas Surius and others have told prodigious Stories of incredible Numbers of them that have been baptized by particular Priests Acosta tho a Iesuit acknowledgeth that De Procur Ind. Sal. l. 6. c. 3. Ovied Hist. Ind. Occid l. 17. c. 4. Benzo Hist.
but what is contained in the holy Scriptures 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 3 d 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 Iudaeos 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. 108. 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 invested 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 Iohn 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 those Bishops who should so do without Exception Forerunners of Antichrist is as plain a Proof that the Bishops of Rome to his time did not look on themselves as having a Primacy over all Churches And 't is manifest that in the time of the Council of Nice the Church of Rome was not thought to include the Catholick Church or to be any more than one part thereof This I say is manifest from the Sixth Canon of that Council viz. Let the ancient Customs be preserved for the Bishop of Alexandria to have Iurisdiction over Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis because the Bishop of Rome hath a like Custom c. Which is as much as to say that the Bishop of Alexandria had then the same uncontroulable Power in his large Jurisdiction that the Bishop of Rome had in his And therefore that Council knew nothing