some would impute it to a hot head others to a weak Judgment and a third sort perhaps to discontent that you were not gratified according to your great merits Herein Sir I only plaid the part of a Rehearsal For my own part in imputing what I had heard of you to a fit of the Spleen I gave an evidence of my Charity in regard you had formerly complain'd of such a fit as had unhing'd your faculties and stifled your Pen into a long silence and sure I could never reckon that for a fault in you which I knew to be your infelicity and affliction Hitherto therefore my carriage was very innocent And when I long'd so much to hear from you if I were a little impatient at the disappointment yet a little ingenuity would have given it a better interpretation than the want of common prudence and a fast Friend would have taken it for an argument of a fincere affection However I must lament my own loss that what you intended for my information was by such an unfortunate misadventure cast into the common lot of waste Paper But whatever the conception was which those Letters miscarried with these give me an intimation of your present change And to question whether this were Mutatio dextrae Altissimi a change wrought by the right hand of the Most High were no doubt in your Judgment to make a breach upon Charity and Prudence both together Yet seeing you applaud your self as all such Proselytes use to do that you have changed Opinion into Faith and Doubtfulness into Infallibility give me leave for once to enquire into the real advantage you flatter your self to have purchased by your Separation from us In order hereto I pray resolve me where the Infallibility is lodged which you so much boast of I presume you will not say you have it in your own bosom for that would smell a little too rank of arrogance if you say 't is lodged in the person of the Pope that is rendred very improbable because it was not long since one of them professed that he was no Theologue and consequently not fit to determine a point of Faith and if we may believe some of the Roman Writers besides Schism Heresy Infidelity and Atheism have been found amongst them And this Doctrine is so false and scandalous that Mr. White makes it more criminal and dainnable than destouring of holy Virgins upon the Holy Altar †Vide T. bulae Suffragiales 2. If you place your Infallibility in the diffusive body of the Clergy or of Christians in general That will be of no more advantage to the determination of Controversies than the private Spirit that is utterly unprofitable and useless for why may we not find it then in Bishop Andrews as well as in Bellarmine in Bishop Sanderson as well as in Cajetan and in Dr. Hammond as well as in Stapleton 3. If you lodge it in General Councils there we are ready to joyn issue with you For those which are truly such we have the greater veneration for And I will give you one instance in matter of Faith that shall make it evident beyond contradiction for matter of Jurisdiction afterward In the Third general Council held at Ephesus Concil 3. Generale Ephes habit Can. 7. Justell Codex Canon Eccles Univers Can. 177. Decrevit Sauct a Synodus no◠licere cuiquam aliam fidem afferre vel scribere vel com ponere praeter cam quae à Sanctis Patribus Nicaeae Congregatis in Sancto Spiritu desinita est c. The Holy Synod hath decreed That it shall not be lawful for any one to bring in or alledge to write or compose any other Faith besides that which is defined by the Holy Fathers assembled at Nice with the assistance of the Holy Ghost This Canon which the Church of England observes inviolable the Church of Rome doth egregiously prevaricate witness the Faith composed after the Council of Trent by Pope Pius the Fourth which is solemnly sworn by all the Clergy in the Church of Rome at this day If you say this was not another Faith nor any addition to the Ancient Creed but only an explication of it the very letter of that Symbol will evince the contrary and to use your own expression that defence dwindles into more Evasion Let the Reader judge by the matter of Fact and the Observations following The Confession of Faith by Pope Pius according to the Council of Trent set forth 1564. 1 A. B. do stedfastly believe and profess all and singular the Contents of that Symbol of Faith which the holy Roman Church useth That is to say I believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God begotten of the Father before all worlds God of God light of light very God of very God The Council of Nice consisted of 318 Bishops from all parts of the World East and West and was held in the year 325. And of Constantine M. the Tenth The Council of Trent was not held till the year 1545. and ended not till 1563. wherein were in all with Legates Cardinals Abbots and Proctors but 255. and most of them Italians the Popes Creatures Lud. Bail Sum. Cōcil Tom 1. p. 600. B. 1. Edit Paris 1659. begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father and he shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead whose Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins and I look for the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the World to come Amen Thus far is the Faith of the Council of Nice to which the Pope adds these Articles following I do stedfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the rest of the Observations and Constitutions of the same Church I admit also of the holy Scripture according to that sense which hath been held and is held by the holy Mother the Church whose office it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures Nor will I ever receive or interpret the same but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I profess also that there are seven Sacraments of the
their Allegiance What think you of the Popes Nnncio at the head of the Irish Army Sir if you will give your self the freedom impartially to consider the Answers that are made by the Romish Writers to excuse what is charged upon them for these and some other loose Doctrines and practices you will find it no Fable That their defences dwindle into mere evasions I shall now conclude your trouble and my own with a few Animadversions upon the whole matter First That how hot soever your Zeal may grow for the Church of Rome you might have done much better service for the Church Catholick if you had continued in the Communion of that part of it which is established in this Kingdom Secondly To use the word of the Ingenious Author of The Notion of Schisme that for any to desert the Church of England to communicate with that of Rome is such a framick humor as for a man to quit the neatest appartment and exchange for the most sluttish Rooms in the same House Thirdly That you have given a scandal to your Brethren of the Church of England contrary to that Caveat and Admonition of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.32 Estius ad locum And he that gives offence to his Brother sins against God whose handy-work he destroys Rom. 14.20 He sins also against Christ in destroying him for whom Christ died Rom. 14.15 Fourthly and Lastly That by withdrawing your self from that subjection and obedience which by the Laws of the Catholick Church you owe to your own Bishop Primate or Metropolitan you run desperately into Schisme while you are superstitiously solicitous to avoid it For Schisma est contumax adversus Episcopum rebehio quâ quis ejus communionem deserit c. Schisme is a plain Rebellion against the Bishop whereby a man forsakes his Communion and endures no fellowship with him in Divine matters as Christian Lupus hath it upon Tertullian †Schol. ad cap 6. de praescript Epist 65. And St. Cyprian in an Epistle ad Rogatianum Novensem who had been affronted by his Deacon saith thus Haec sunt initia Haereticorum c. By these means Hereticks are hatched and the endeavours of ill-minded Schismaticks promoted who that they may gratifie their humorsome whymfies do supercilionsly contemn him that is set over them thus men depart from the Church and set up a prophane Altar that is a Conventicle without the Communion of it Thus they make war upon the Peace left by Christ and rebel against Unity and the Ordinance of God And Epist 69. ad Florentium Pupianum writing in reference to himself he saith thus Inde Schismata Haereses abortae sunt oriuntur c. Hence Heresies and Schismes have their rise when as the Bishop who is but one and presides over the Church is most presumptuously contemned and the man dignified with a vocation from God is thought unworthy thereof by men That St. Cyprian writes thus not in reference to the Bishop of Rome but to himself and other Bishops of particular Churches is evinced by Goulartius in his Annotations ad Epist 55. n. 27. against Pamelius With great reason therefore did the Council of Nice decree Can. 6. Antiqui mores serventur c. Let the Ancient customes and priviledges be preserved That the Bishop of Alexandria may have the Junisdiction and power of them who are in Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis for so the Bishop of Rome hath customarily had over his Province Likewise also in Antiochia and other Provinces let their Priviledges be preserved inviolable to their respective Churches The Epitome of which Canon runs thus Super Aegyptum Lybiam Pentapolim Alexandrinus Episcopus potestatem habeat Romanus super Romae subditos Item Antiochenus aliique supêr suos i. e. V. Pandect à Guil. Beverege Edit in 1. Concil Nice Cā 6. Let the Bishop of Alexandria have Authority over Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis and the Bishop of Rome over the Subjects of Rome In like manner the Bishop of Antioch and all other Bishops over their Subjects in their respective Provinces And Alex. Aristenus hath this Gloss upon it Ibid. Unumquemque Patriarcharum c. Every Patriarch ought to be content with his own priviledges and not to usurp upon any other Province which was not heretofore and from the beginning under his power and Jurisdiction for this is the pride of an unjust secular Dominion And in the Second General Council held at Constantinople Can. 2. it is decreed thus The Bishop shall not pass the bounds of their own Diocesses nor confound the priviledges of the Churches but govern themselves according to the Canons And if we observe the Canon prescribed concerning Diocesses it is clear that each Province shall be governed by the particular Synod of the same Province as it is decreed by the Council of Nice And Leo the Great had so great a veneration and zeal for the Authority and honour of that Synod that in an Epistle to Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople blaming him highly amongst other miscarriages for invading the priviledges of the Churches of Alexandria and Antioch he writes thus I grieve not a little that you are fallen into so great an Error as to attempt the violation of the most sacred Constitutions of the Canons of Nice viz. In attempting to invade after Alexandria and Antioch the dignities and priviledges of all other Metropolitans And blaming him for endeavouring to wheadle the most Christian Emperour and the holy Synod called by his Authority for the extinguishing of Heresie and the Confirmation of the Catholick Faith to serve his ambitious designs he tells him That the Synod of Nice consisting of three hundred and eighteen Bishops was so Sacred and consecrated * Tanto divinitùs privilegio Consecrata with so great a priviledge from God that whatsoever was done by any of their Councils be they never so numerous who assembled in them it should be utterly void and of no Authority Leo Mag. Epist 53. inter opera Paris 1623. if it were differing from what was Ordained by those Holy Fathers †Quicquid abiliorum fuerit Constitutione diversum And in his Epistle to Martianus the Emperour blaming the Ambition of Anatolius as aforesaid he condemns him for this reason Privilegia enim Ecclesiarum c. For the priviledges of the Churches being established by the Canons of the Holy Fathers and fixed by the Decrees of the venerable Synod of Nice Let the Pope of Rome consider well these weighty Letters of his great Predecessors are not to be changed or shaken by any wicked attempts of Novelty but to be preserved inviolable In which business with Christs help it is necessary that I exert my utmost endeavours as one instructed with a Dispensation And it would become my guilt if the Sacred Constitutions of the Fathers established by the Holy Ghost in the Synod of Nice for the Government of the whole Church of God should through my
neglect or connivence ‖ Lud. Bail reads it Te quod absit connivente and so applies it to the Emperour In Sum. Concil Tom. 1. m. p. 141. B. 2. which God forbid be violated or infringed and the gratifying of one Brothers humor should be of more concern to me than the common benefit of the whole Church of God And in an Epistle to Juvenalis Bishop of Jerusalem and the rest of the Bishops assembled in the holy Synod of Chalcedon he writes thus concerning the keeping of the Ordinances of the holy Fathers which are fixed by inviolable Decrees in the Synod of Nice I advise That the rights of the Church may remain as they were ordained by those three hundred and eighteen Fathers divinely inspirēd Let not wicked Ambition covet anothers Right nor let any man seek to augment himself by the lessening of another For by what assentations soever a vain elation may arm it self and think to strengthen its inordinate desires by the name of Councils whatsoever shall be disagreeable to the Canons of the foresaid Fathers shall be void and of no validity Thus Leo the Great And if there were any such thing as Infallibility or Authority either in this Pope Leo the Great or in that first General and most sacred Council of Nice that Canon of theirs concerning the Jurisdiction and Priviledges of the Churches is of full force and ought to be observed inviolably at this day Now to apply this to our own case It is evident out of several Records * See Bedes Histor and the berty of the Brïtannick Ch. by Dr. Basier Lond. printed for John Mileson 1661. That the Britannick Church was ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Independent subject to no foreign Bishop but under her own Metropolitan having her Primacy and Headship with all priviledge Ecclesiastical within her self for six hundred years after Christ till Austin the Monk transgressing that Canon of Nice did by force of Arms subdue and captivate her to the See of Rome The Popes Usurpation began here in blood with the slaughter of Twelve hundred innocent and holy Monks at Bangor and all attempts to reinforce that Usurpation are carried on by methods of the like nature i. e. practices of fraud and violence W. Beverege Anno. ad Can. 6. Concil Nicae p. 58 59. Nevertheless as the Learned Beverege hath observed the unjust violation of that Canon cannot prejudice the high and perpetual Authority of it Wherefore though the Bishop of Rome ever since he sent the aforesaid Austin hither hath exercised the chief Authority in this Nation yet at last having shaken off his Tyrannical yoak our Church through Gods blessing doth most deservedly enjoy her Ancient priviledges by that most worthy Ordinance and Canon prescribed by the Universal Church in this matter It is manifest then that the Bishop of Rome can afford you no good Sanctuary against the Authority of that Bishop and Metropolitan whose Communion you have forsaken What therefore St. Hierome saith against John of Jerusalem I may fitly apply to the Pope of Rome Tu qui regulas quaeris Ecclesiasticas Nicaeni Concilii Canonibus uteris alienos Clericos cum suis Episcopis commorantes tibi niteris usurpare Responde mihi Ad Alexandrinum Episcopum Palestinam quid pertinet Thou who seekest for Ecclesiastical Canons and usest the Constitutions of the Council of Nice and notwithstanding pretendest to usurp the Government over the Clergy of other Bishops tell me what hath the Bishop of Rome to do with Great Britain Sir from what hath been suggested it is evident that the Bishop and Church of Rome have shamefully prevaricated both the Doctrine and Government of the Catholick Church as it was declared and fix'd by the most Ancient and sacred General Councils The Doctrine as well in matters of Faith as Manners And the Government by usurping the Jurisdiction and priviledges of other Churches And if as you profess you have not changed your Loyalty I am very apt to believe the wicked Plot now under Examination with many of the like nature may be sufficient to make you abhor the Communion of that Church whose Morals can hatch such Monsters and whose Governours do make it their business to Lowbel their pliant Creatures into designs of Treason and Assassination by the help of false Lights Bulls and Dispensations and encourage them in the attempts by the fond applause of Merit and a Crown of Red Letters In short the scandal hereof is so foul it may very well become your ingenuity and without doubt it will tend much to your reputation and inward peace to take your leave of such Company with good old Jacobs imprecation Gen. 49.6 O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly my Honour be not thou united And this is the Advice which proceeds though but from the common prudence yet from the highest Charity of SIR Your most affectionate Friend and faithful Servant L. W. FINIS
new Law truly and properly so called instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord and necessary to the Salvation of Mankind though all of them be not necessary for every man That is to say Baptism Confirmation the Eucharist Penance Extreme Unction Orders and Matrimony and that they do confer Grace and amongst these that Baptism Confirmation and Orders cannot be repeated without Sacriledge I do also receive and admit all the received and approved Rites of the Catholick Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid Sacraments I do receive and embrace all and singular the things which were defined by the holy Synod of Trent concerning Original Sin and Justification I profess likewise that in the Sacrifice of the Mass there is offer'd unto God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and dead and that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there is verily really and substantially the Body and Bloud together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that there is made therein a change of the whole substance of the Bread into his body and of the whole substance of the Wine into his bloud which change the Catholick Church calls Transubstantiation I do also confess that Christ whole and entire and the true Sacrament is received in either kind alone I do stedfastly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the Souls detained therein are relieved by the Suffrages of the Faithful Likewise also that the Saints reigning together with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed unto and that they do offer up prayers unto God for us And that their Reliques are to be had in veneration I do most stedfastly affirm that the Images of Christ of the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God and of other Saints are to be had and kept and a due honour and veneration to be given unto them Also that the power of Indulgences was left by Christ unto his Church and I affirm that the use of them is very salutary and beneficial to Christian people I acknowledge the holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And I promise and swear true obedience to the Pope of Rome successor to B. Peter Prince of the Apostles and the Vicar of Christ I do also undoubtedly receive and profess all things else which are delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and general Councils and especially by the most holy Synod of Trent And I do likewise condemn reject and anathematize all things that are contrary and all Heresies whatsoever which are condemned rejected and anathematized by the Church This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved which at this present I do freely profess and truly hold by Gods help I will most constantly to the very last breath of my life intirely and inviolably hold and confess the same and take care as much as in me lies that the same shall be held taught and preached by all my Subjects or all those under my care and charge in respect of my Function This I A. B. do promise vow and swear So God be my help and these his holy Gospels This is the Creed of Pope Pius according to the Council of Trent Now betwixt these Articles and those of the Church of England there is a vast difference both 1. In the matter and 2. In the imposition and 3. In the end of them 1. For the Matter of these Articles Those of the Church of England are not to be believed as Articles of Faith no further than they can approve themselves to be contained in the holy Scriptures for thus we are taught in the Sixth of these Articles Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby * Licet interdum à fidelibus ut pium conducibibile ad ordinem decorum admittatur In the Margin of that Article is not to be required of any man that it should be belived as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation But amongst the Articles of Faith enjoyed by Pope Pius some are quite beside the Holy Scripture some against it some are mere speculations of the Schools and others but probable and matters of doubtful disputation For instance 1 The multiplication of Advocates and Ghostly Patrons 2 The Sacrifice of the Mass 3 The Adoration of the Host 4 The power of Indulgences as they are maintained and practised in the Church of Rome These are at least besides the Holy Scripture 1 The Invocation of Saints and veneration of Images as practised generally by the Common people according to their Books 2 The publick Service of the Church in an unknown Tongue The administration of the Lords Supper ordinarily to the people but in one kind And that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches These are against Scripture 3 Transubstantiation whatsoever it signifies more than a Real presence and the benefits which flow from it with the unaccountable hypotheses which depend upon it And Purgatory as it is blown up into Climaerical flames by the Schoolmen with the means and manner of deliverance out of it are no better than Scholastical speculations And many of the rest valued but as probabilities or matters of doubtful disputation 2. For the imposition of these respective Articles the difference is vast For those of Pope Pius we have not only I receive admit and embrace this Faith not only I do affirm and aknowledge constantly hold and most stedfastly assert it not only I do with a stedfast Faith believe and profess it but under the high and solemn obligation I do promise vow and swear to hold teach and preach the same to the very last breath of my life and to procure all others under my charge to do the like But to the Articles of Religion in the Church of England subscription is only required without any obligation to teach profess or assert them further than they are contained in the Holy Scripture or may be proved thereby to be Articles of the Faith or admitted for discipline and good order And it is moreover to be observed That his Majesty in his Declaration before these Articles printed 1630 though he forbids the offering violence to the liberal and Grammatical sense of these Articles yet he seems to allow a modest liberty without contention in putting the most favourable construction upon them The words are these Though some differences have been ill raised yet we take comfort in this that all Clergy-men within our Realm have always most willingly subscribed to the Articles established which is an Argument to Us that they all agree in the true literal meaning of the said Articles and that even in those curious points in which the present differences lie Men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England to be for them which is an Argument
that none of them intend any desertion of the Articles established Where we see his Majesty took notice that men of all sorts took these Articles to be for them and he declares that he took comfort therein Which argues that the imposition was not strict and rigid as to the sense and meaning of the Articles And though in the Synod 1640. Can. 6. an Oath was enjoyned yet it was with as much modesty and tenderness as any sober and peaceable Subject can desire for thus it runs I A. B. do swear that I do approve the Doctrine and Discipline or Government in the Church of England as containing all things necessary to salvation Where two things are very observable 1 The assertion is only this That I do approve the Doctrine c. the 2 Only as containing all things necessary to salvation for which we are referred to the authority of the Holy Scripture by the Sixth Article as was observed before 3. As to the end of these respective Articles Those of Pope Pius are declared to be necessary to salvation not only Necessitate praecepti sed Medii necessary as well upon the account of a Means as of a Precept for the Pope declares Hanc esse veram Catholicam fidem Extra quam nemo salvus esse potest That this is the true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved But the Articles of the Church of England generally are intended for a decorum and order matters of necessary Faith being herein restrained to the Holy Scriptures to keep out disputes and vain jangling and to preserve peace and concord in her Communion Thus much is intimated in the very Title prefix'd to those Articles but much more clearly in his Majesties Declaration before mentioned where he saith We hold it most agreeable to our Kingly Office and our own Religious Zeal to conserve and maintain the Church committed to our charge in the unity of the true Religion and in the bond of peace and not to suffer unnecessary Disputations Alterations or Questions to be raised which may nourish Faction both in the Church and Commonwealth We have therefore thought fit to make this Declaration That the Articles c. do contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to Gods word which we do therefore ratifie and confirm c. But this is more clear in a Book set forth 1571. called Liber quorundam Canonum Disciplinae Ecclesiae Anglicanae SS de Concionatoribus Where it is ordered thus Imprimis vero videbunt c. Let the Preachers take care that they teach nothing in their Sermons which they would have the People hold and believe as a matter of Religion but what is consonant to the Doctrine of the Old or New Testament and what the Catholick Fathers and Ancient Bishops have gathered out of the same And because those Articles of Christian Religion which were agreed upon by the Bishops c. are without doubt collected out of the Sacred Books of the Old and New Testament and do in all things agree with the heavenly Doctrine contained therein Also because the Book of Common Prayers and the Book of the Inauguration of Archbishops Bishops Priests and Deacons do contain nothing that is contrary to that Doctrine whosoever shall be sent out to teach the People shall confirm the authority and belief of those Articles as well by their subscription as in their Sermons Qui secus fecerit contrariâ doctrinâ Populum turbaverit excommunicabitur Whosoever shall do otherwise and disturb the People with any contrary Doctrine shall be excommunicated Here indeed the Clergy are implicitly enjoyned to preach up the belief and authority of these Articles But withal 1 The belief and authority of them is required not as grounded upon the Declaration and Sanction of the Ecclesiastical Governours though a hearty submission and obedience is due thereto in matters of Religion Discipline and Order upon the account of a Divine precept but upon their Congruity with the Holy Scriptures according to the sense of the Ancient Fathers 2 That such as transgress these Articles are punish'd for want of good manners as disturbers of the publick Peace Wherefore though the Author of the Guide in Controversies* * Disc 3. cap. 7. hath made it his business to strain every Sentence Phrase and word in the Canons as well as the Articles of the Church of England to make those Articles seem to run parallel in the Charge of a new Imposition of Faith with those in the Creed of Pope Pius the Fourth aforementioned yet by what hath been observed it is evident that the Articles of the Church of England were not intended as those of that Pope clearly were for an Addition to the Faith declared by the Fathers at Nice which with all Christian Churches we profess as Catholicks but for information to direct our publick discourses generally as occasion serves in matters of Religion as we are united in the Communion of the particular Church of England after a deliberate and sober Reformation which to attempt and perform as far as in them lies no doubt all Bishops are as well obliged in duty by Christ's Command Apoc. 2 3 Cap. as prescribed to do it orderly by the 34. of the Apostles Canons †Episcopos uniuscujusque gentis nosse oportet eum qui in eis est primus existimare eum ut caput nihil facere magni momenti praeter illius sententiam illa autem sola facere unumquemque quae ad suam paroeciam pertinent pagos qui ei subfunt To leave this long though not unnecessary digression This Infallibility in the latitude the Roman party pleads for is so very improbable that Mr. Cressey in his Neophytism was not able to swallow it till he had shrunk it up into an Indefectibility wherein we can heartily close with him And for all that great priviledge which make so much noise in the world I do very well observe that in many cases they are glad to rest satisfied with a probable Conscience And in spight of that Infallibility They must stand to the courtesie or hazard of a probable Opinion to secure themselves according to their practice from the peril of Idolatry And this is acknowledged by the Jesuite Ant. Terill our Countryman in his Tractate de Conscientia Probabili Edit Leodii 1668. p. 387 c. His words are these Quid magis ad mores c. What does more concern manners and the strictness of the Law of Nature than that the worship due to God be not bestowed upon a Creature and yet it is lawful many times out of a probable Opinion only to bestow Divine worship upon the Eucharist and to adore God when he is but probably latent there For there is no true certainty but only a Probability that this numerical Host is rightly consecrated First It is not certain that he who did consecrate was a Priest both because it is not certain that
he was baptized as also because it is not certain that he was lawfully or validly Ordained by a true Bishop having an intention requisite to that effect c. Secondly It is not certain that he did pronounce the words of Consecration If he did duly pronounce them yet Thirdly perhaps he had not a due intention If all these things were observed as they should be It is not certain in the Fourth place that a due matter was made use of for the Bread might not be made of Wheat Fifthly Although all these things proceeded well and rightly yet it is not indubitable that the Officer to whom the custody of the venerable Sacrament belongs did not expose an Host that was not consecrated instead of one that was truly consecrated to be adored All these are generals to which we may add the malice of mans heart which is too vigorous in some persons Upon these heads saith he we have known many Cheats too frequently practised in this matter and they know it much better who are employed as Judges upon the Tribunal of the Sacred Inquisition Thus far Father Terill Now if they of the Church of Rome have no certainty in their Sacraments no certainty in their Sacrifice of the Altar no certainty in their Priesthood no certainty but they may commit Idolatry every day if they cannot be certain but the malice of their Priests may frustrate all the sacred Ordinances of God to them and make them absolutely null though they be never so worthily disposed to receive the benefit of them And this is the Doctrine and Belief commonly maintained in the Church of Rome They should rather blush at such an Infallibility than boast of any great advantage to be reaped from it For grant further that that Infallibility were such as they would have it yet they can have no security in it for salvation 'T is such as a man may carry into Hell with him if it proves not a means to lead him thither where for ought I know the Devils have it as much as he And Gregory the Seventh was of the same mind Nam ut Jacobus frater Domini testatur fides sine operibus mortua est qualem Daemones habere fatetur Non Ergo minùs est resistendum pertinacibus authenticarum institutionum impugnatoribus quam Sacrae fidei violatoribus cùm Daemonibus assimilentur quicunque institutionem SS Patrum in fide tantum non etiam in conversatione pro viribus assectatur For as James the Brother of our Lord doth testisie Faith without Works is dead which kind of Faith he doth acknowledge to be in the Devils We ought therefore no less to resist such as are obstinate impugners of Authentick Institutions viz. of Piety than such as do violate the Sacred Faith seeing they that do earnestly follow the instruction of the Holy Fathers in matter of Faith only and not in a holy conversation are like unto the Devils For this Infallibility is restrained to matters of Faith and that Faith is but historical as they call it and not sufficient to salvation To the Essence of a Church right Doctrines in Practicals are as necessary as in Speculatives if mortal Sin excludes from salvation as well as an erroneous Faith †R. H. Disc of the Necessity of Church Guides p. 82. as the Author of the Guide in Controversies does acknowledge And this is the Doctrine of the Council of Trent Sess 6. de Justificatione Si quis dixerit solâ fide justificari ita ut intelligat nihil aliud requiri quod ad Justificationis gratiam consequendam cooperetur nulla ex parte necesse esse cum suae voluntatis motu praeparari atque disponi Anathema sit Can. 9. If any man shall say that Faith alone does Justifie so that nothing else is required to cooperate towards the attainment of the Grace of Justification and that it is in no wise necessary that he should be prepared and disposed to it by any motion of his own will let him be accursed Et Can. 19. Siquis dixerit nihil praeceptum esse in Evangelio praeter fidem caetera esse indifferentia neque praecepta neque prohibita sed libera aut Decem Praecepta nihil pertinere ad Christianos Anathema sit If any man shall say there is nothing commanded in the Gospel but Faith that all other matters are indifferent neither commanded nor forbidden but left free or that the Ten Commandements do not concern Christians let him be accursed Et Can. 21. Si quis diâ—erit Christum Jesum à Deo hominibus datum fuisse ut Redemptorem cui fidant non etiam ut Legislatorem cui obediant Anathema sit that is If any man shall say that Christ Jesus was given unto man of God as a Redeemer in whom they should trust and not also as a Lawgiver whom they should obey let him be accursed Which Canons we can readily subscribe to From which it appears beyond exception that the Infallibility pretended by the Church of Rome is not to be relied on as sufficient for salvation The Creeds chiefly comprehending Speculatives there must be a great body of Articles also of necessary Faith relating to Practicals as R. H. C. 1. §. 3. p 4. maintains in his Discourse of the Necessity of Church Guides But doth this Infallibility extend to all matters of Practical belief as well as Speculative Yes saith R. H. Christ hath left an Infallible Guide for Manners as well as Faith †Id. p. 176 and a little after God hath provided by the same Church Authority to preserve his Church in truth and to restrain it from sin giving an equal Commission to teach the ignorant and to correct the vicious And that since their Doctrine directs our Manners as well as Faith their Infallibility is as necessary for things of Practice as of Speculation But if there be such an Infallibility in the Guides of the Church not oâ—ly in reference to points of Faith but to Doctrines of Practice also 1 Sam. 15.14 What meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep in mine ears and this lowing of the Oxen which I hear Of the degeneracy of the Church in his time V. Bede writes thus Apud Meisner de Ecclesia p. 681 682 684. Videt quisque non sine lachrymis c. Every one sees not without tears into what a weak and infirm condition the state of the Church does daily dwindle And St. Bernard in his time Hodie serpit putida tabes c. Now-a-days an infectious and spreading Consumption hath seized the body of the Church which the further it is dilated the more desperate it grows and it is so much the more dangerous by how much the more inward And after him the Cardinal Petrus de Aliaco in a publick Sermon at the Council of Constans Manifestum esse saith he c. 'T is apparent that the Church hath of a long time been in several respects deformed and not only
hath in time past but doth now extreamly want a reformation as well in Faith as Manners The like complaints are made in these our days not against the corrupt Manners of wicked men only but against the New Extravagant and pernicious Doctrines which do lead to and incourage such ill Manners witness what was lately written by Macarius Havermans Canon of the Church of St. Michael Ordinis praemonstratensis in his Tyrocinium Christianae Moralis Theologiae †Printed at Antwerp An. 1674. Where in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Abbot writing of the unhappily fertile Age into which we are fallen he saith thus Quot Theologias Morales non edidit c. How many Systems of Moral Divinity hath this Age brought forth which are as so many whimsical fictions and opinions of Divines grounded upon philosophical Arguments swelling with curious and exquisite probabilities and big with humane inventions And in his Preface to the Reader he complains of the Arrogance of these new Doctors in preferring their own Sentiments before the Doctrine of the Ancient Fathers Councils and Holy Scriptures Hinc vix ullum saith he c. Whence it comes to paâ—â— that in their Writings you shall scarce find any place of Sacred Scripture or the Ancient Councils or Holy Fathers alledged but they weight every thing in the ballance of their own understanding And thus for Christian Divinity whose conclusions concerning God and his Attributes c. ought to be deduced from the unerring and uncontrollable Doctrine of Gods word and from the most secure Decrees of the Holy Fathers they set up a Natural Theology or Philosophy grounded upon the Principles of Aristotle and his Followers whose Authority they alledge more frequently than that of St. Ambrose Jerome Austin or any other Holy Father not to say they do more value them nay so devoted are they to their own Inventions that a plausible Reason of their own shall be preferr'd before the gravest Sentiments and Maxims of the Holy Fathers Hereupon Caramuel breaks out into that ingenuous acknowledgment I spend not much time or rather lose it not in turning over the Writings of the Ancients And gives us his reason elsewhere Because saith he as to Manners the Opinions of the Moderns are to be preferr'd to those of the Ancients For as a late Writer hath it in novae libertatis explicatione the Modern Schoolmen had a greater insight into things than the former And have also thought fit to reject whatsoever they approved or looked upon as not improbable And saith he now who sees not at the first glance that those exorbitant Tenents are so abhorring from the Decrees of Antiquity that they need no consutation but that barely to mention them is to confute them So that to speak with St. Austin I think them fitter to be bewailed by Believers than disputed against by me Their clamours will sooner be drowned by Prayers and Tears than by the noise of Arguments And without doubt we shall do more advantage for such persons if with our Prayers we endeavour their reformation lest they perish with their great Wits or ruine others with their damnable presumption Moreover this slighting of the Holy Fathers is like to be very pernicious to the Church for if their Authority be so disesteemed and undervalued in matter of Manners and that by Roman Catholick Writers who can blame the Hereticks for not valuing their Authority in matters of Faith for why should they be valued in matters of Faith more than in matters of Manners Are not Manners to be directed by the Authority of Divine Tradition as well as Faith Are not the Faithful as well Trustees of the Tradition of Manners as of Faith And a little after he exhorts his Reader thus Pro paradoxo ergo reputamus c. Wherefore let us account that of a late Writer for a mere paradox viz. Tota Theologia Moralis est nova All Moral Divinity is wholly New For if it be New then it was not delivered by Christ nor by his Apostles nor by the Holy Fathers And consequently neither Christian nor Apostolical nor Orthodoxal and that which is more neither is it true nor genuine but spurious and adulterate and for that reason not to be applauded but condemned not to be embraced but banished not to be alledged but exploded Tantum enim à veteri simplicitate c. as it follows a little aftey For we have so far started from the Primitive simplicity and Obedience that there is scarce any Law but is rendred useless by the glosses of the Schoolmen as it may appear if we please to trace them in some particular Laws Of what great efficacy I pray will that Ecclesiastical Law be concerning Anniversary Confession and Communion if it may be satisfied by a bare external though sacrilegious Communion and Confession Nevertheless that a man may satisfie that Precept by such a sacrilegious Communion many Schoolmen de facto do still teach Again of what force is that Law about hearing the Sacred Offices on the Lords day and other Holy-days if that Command may be satisfied only by an external presence of the body although during the whole time of the Sacrifice a man suffers his mind voluntarily to wander and be distracted and taken up with impure and filthy Cogitations And yet many Schoolmen teach this Doctrine The Law for the observation of Fasting how unprofitable it is rendred is very notably set forth by Marchantius in the Complaint of his personated Sr. Jejunium * Querimonia S. Jejunii by Marchantius The like may be shewed in other Instances Thus for Havermans By all which we see the fruits of this great priviledge of Infallibility in the Church of Rome viz. by their own Confession they have entertain'd a new Moral †See Montaltius's Provincial Letters with Wendorchius's Notes upoÌ„ them Latinè Colon 1678. and not the Primitive for matters of Practice and in our observation they have done the like in matters of Faith and Speculation And when we find so great a variation we must needs conclude That either the Ancient Church was not then or else That the present Church which differs so much from it is not now Infallible And now the Question may be put Which particular Church is in the more safe condition In the Church of England we have The Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ as St. James calls it James 2.1 we have St. Peters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Peter 3.15 his Rationale of the Christian hope We have St. Paul's Depositum 1 Tim. 6.20 Quid est DeposituÌ„ id est quod tibi creditum est non quod à te inventum Quod acceptisti non quod excogitasti Rem non ingenii sed doctrinae Non usurpationis privatae sed publicae traditionis Rem ad te perductam non à te prólatam in qua non Author debes esse sed Custos non institutor sed sectator non ducens sed sequens Vincent Lirinensis and