TAU that is the picture of the Crosse had signed Let us rejoice therefore most dear brethren and let us lift up holy hands to heaven in the form of a Crosse when the devils shall see us so armed they shall be vanquished And note I pray by the way that some English Bibles doe leave out the letter TAU in this place of Ezekiel but how justly let any indifferent reader judge In the second age heare S. Justin Martyr speaking of the parts of dead beasts thus arguing e Ad quaest 28. Gentilium How is it not most absurd to account these things cleane by reason of the profit which is reaped of them and that the Greeks do detest the bodies and sepulchres of holy Martyrs which have power both to defend men from the snares of the Devills and to cure diseases which cannot be cured by the art of the Physitian In the first age S. Ignatius speaks thus f Epist ad Phil. ante med For the Prince of the world rejoyceth when one shall deny the Crosse For he knowes the confession of the Crosse to be his overthrow For that is a trophie against his power which when he shall see he trembles and hearing he feares § 6. Fourthly concerning Confession and Priestly Absolution in the fift age S. Augustine thus exhorteth g Homil. 49. ante med Do penance such as is done in the Church Let no man say to himself I doe secretly I do to God God knowes who pardons me that I do in my heart Is it therefore without cause said what you shall loose in earth shall be loosed in heaven Mat. 18.18 Are therefore the keyes given to the Church of God to no purpose Do we frustrate the Gospell of God do we frustrate the words of Christ In the fourth age S. Basil the great speakes thus i Suis regulis brevioribus interr 288. Men ought necessarily to open sinnes to them who are intrusted with the dispensation of the mysteries of God For truly we see that even those antients did follow this order in penance after which manner it is written in the Gospell that they did confesse their sinnes to John Mat. 3.6 and in the Acts ch 18. v. 18. to the Apostles themselves by whom also all were baptized In the third age S. Cyprian beseecheth them saying m Serm. de lapsis Let every one confesse his fault I intreat you brethren while as yet he that hath offended is in this life while his confession can be admitted while satisfaction and remission given by the Priests is gratefull to the Lord. In the second age Tertullian speaking against mens concealing part of their sins in Confession thus reproves them n lib. de poenit c. 10. The hiding of a sin doth promise plainly a great profit of bashfulnesse To wit surely if we shall steale any thing from humane knowledge we shall then also hide it from God The esteem of men and the knowledge of God are they so compared Is it better to lie hid damned than to be openly absolved It is a miserable thing so to come to Confession And in the first age S. Clement adviseth thus a Clem. Ro. Epist 1 If peradventure envy or infidelity or some of these evills which we have remembred above shall privily steale into any bodies hearts he that hath a care of his soule let him not be ashamed to confesse these things to him that hath authority that he may be cured by him by the Word of God and wholesome Counsell whereby he may by found faith and good works avoid the pains of eternall fire and attain to the everlasting rewards of life Now concerning Purgatory and Prayer for the dead in the fift age S. Augustine saith b De civit Dei l. 20. c. 24. l. 21. c. â—3 Neither could it be truly said of some Matth. 22.32 That they are not forgiven neither in this life nor in the life to come unlesse there were some who though they are not forgiven in this life yet should be in the life to come And again e Serm 41. de Sanct. prope initium ' There are many who not rightly understanding this reading are deceived with false security whilst they believe that if they build capitall sinnes upon the foundation Christ those sinnes may be purged by transitory fire and they afterward come to life everlasting This understanding c. is to be corrected because they deceive themselves who so flatter themselves for with that transitory fire wherof the Apostle said 1. Cor. 3.15 He shal be saved yet so as by fire not capitall but little sins are purged And concerning Prayers for the dead he saith d Serm. 32. de verb. Apost It is not to be doubted that the dead are holpen by the prayers of the Church and the saving Sacrifice and by almes which are given for their soules that God would deale more mercifully with them than their sinnes have deserved In the fourth age S. Ambrose in his interpretation of the fore-mentioned place of S. Paul saith a Amb. in 1 Cor. 3. But whereas S. Paul saith yet so as by fire he sheweth indeed that he shall be saved but yet shall suffer the punishment of fire that being purged by fire he may be saved and not be tormented for ever as the Infidells are with everlasting fire And S. Hierome saith there are some b In Comment in cap 11. Prover who may be absolved after death of lighter sinnes of which they die guilty either being punished with paines or by the prayers and alms of their friends and the celebration of Masses In the third age we shall find S. Cyprian speaking thus c Epist 52. ad Anton. post med It is one thing to stay for pardon another to attain to glory one thing being cast into prison not to go out thence untill he do pay the uttermost farthing Mat. 5.27 another thing presently to receive the reward of faith and vertue one thing being afflicted with long pain for sinnes to be mended and purged long with fire another thing to have purged all sins by suffering to conclude it is one thing to depend upon the sentence of the Judge in the day of Judgement another thing to be presently crowned of the Lord. In the second age Tertullian in agreement with the rest saith d lib. de anima cap. 58. In sum seeing we understand that Prison which the Gospell doth demonstrate to bee places below and the last farthing wee interpret every small fault there to be punished by the delay of the Resurrection no man will doubt but that the soul doth recompence something in the places below saving the fulnesse of the Resurrection by the flesh also And in his book De corona militis he saith e cap. 3. ' we make yearly oblations for the dead And a little after f cap. 4. If you require a Law of Scripture for these and other the like
by the zealous complaints against sin on either side for zealous complaint is hyperbolicall even in holy Scripture But it is manifest that the Protestant Religion hath not that sanctity of life in it that the Catholique hath when neither the founders thereof had any at all nor the followers any more but much lesse than when they were Catholiques In fine compare the lives of Roman Catholiques and Protestants both Clergie and Laity and of the same Nation for that some Nations perhaps are addicted to vice in generall more than others and every Nation to some one or few particular vices more than another the best to the best and the major part to the major part we shall find so have I done and I have heard even Protestants themselves confesse that they are exceedingly overballanced by the Catholiques CHAP. XIX Of the tenth and last here mentioned Mark of the Church viz. That the true Church hath never been separated from any society of Christians more antient then her selfe § 1. THe last Mark of the Church which I will mention is her never going forth out of any visible society of Christians elder than her self of which going out as a note of error and falshood the Apostles say They went forth from us 1 Joh. 2.19 Certain that went forth from us Acts 15.14 Out of your selves shall arise men speaking perverse things Acts 20.30 These are they that separate themselves Jude vers 19. Certain it is that the true Church is most antient as truth it self is elder than falshood if therefore there have risen in the Church men of indifferent judgements or affections from the true Church they have presently made a separation gone out of the Church wherein they were and erected a new Church to themselves As S. Augustine saith Tract 3. in Ep. Joan. de Sym. ad cateth l. 1. c. 5. All Heretiques went out from us that is they go out of the Church and againe The Church Catholique fighting against all Heresies may be opposed but she cannot be overthrowne all heresies are come out from her as unprofitable branches out from the Vine but she remaines in her vine in her root in her charity A vain thing therefore it is for Protestants to charge the Church of Rome with departing from the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Apostles unlesse they can prove that she departed from some former Church that held other doctrine than she doth But certain it is that this cannot be proved seeing she was planted by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul and never separated her self from any precedent Church It is true indeed that there were Churches elder than she in time as she is a particular Church as the Church of Ierusalem where the Gospell was first preached and of Antioch where S. Peter was first Bishop with other Churches in Asia but these all agreed in the unity of Faith and were all subject to the Church of Rome after it was planted in union under the head thereof S. Peter and his successors as I shall shew by and by And the Church of Rome did never seperate from any of these but many of these from her in the Heresie of Arius and others as Protestants will not deny If then she did never separate from any elder Church so that men might say here is a Church and there is the Church of Rome once the same with her and now separated from her she must still be the first and true Church or there is none upon earth But certain it is on the contrary side that all the former Churches which Protestants themselves will call Heretiques as Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Entychians Donatists with many others did separate from the Church of Rome and she can tell when and why and no lesse certain is it that all that are now called Protestants and all the pedigree of their fore-fathers Waldo Wickliffe Husse Luther Calvin and all the Kingdomes wherein their followers are were once and first of the Roman Catholique Church and have forsaken her Communion and departed from her and have not joyned to any other Church more antient and subsistent apart from her by which shee was condemned of novelty and separation nor are they able to shew any such Church therefore the Roman must needs be the true Church Or else which is a most absurd and impossible imagination the true Church hath been utterly extinguished and revived againe and that not by the service of such men as proved their calling by miracles or sanctity of life as Roman Catholiques have done to all the nations they have converted but were men notable only for their wickednesse And these amongst many others which might be added and of which much more might be said are those infallible Markes that prove the Church of Rome and those that communicate with her to bee the one true holy Catholique and Apostolique Church That Church of whose infallible and never-erring Judgement the Scripture assures us calling it The ground and pillar of truth which hath the Spirit of God to lead it into all truth which is built upon a rock against which the gates of hell shal not prevaile wherein Christ placed Apostles Prophets Doctors and Pastors to the consummation and ful perfection of the whole body that in the mean time we be not carryed away with every blast of doctrine 1 Tim. 3.15 John 16.13 Mat. 16.18 Ephes 4.11.12 That Church which whatsoever it says God commands us to doe and he that will not is an heathen and a Publican which whatsoever shee shall bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatsoever shee shall loose one earth is loosed in heaven which is the spouse of Christ his body his lot Kingdome and inheritance given him in this world Math. 23.3 and 18.17.18 Of which S. Cyprian Epist 55. saith To S. Peters chaire and the principall Church infidelity or false faith cannot have accesse And S. Hierome Apol. advers Ruff. l. 3. c. 4. That the Roman faith commanded by the Apostles cannot be changed And S. Gregory Nazianzen Carm. de vita sua 'Old Rome from antient times hath the right faith and alwaies keepeth it as it becomes the city which over-rules the world Which being so what remaines to every man but laying aside endlesse dispute about particulars to cast himself into the armes of this Holy mother Church and wholly rely upon her infallible judgement wherein Christ Jesus her husband hath promised and hath reason to preserve her And to submit themselves to the visible head thereof the Pope of Rome of whose authority as I did my self particularly enquire and was moved thereby so I will briefly propound it to others CHAP. XX. That the Pope is the head of the Church § 1. THe Protestants doe usually blaspheme the Pope and Sea of Rome with the title of Antichrist of the Whore of Babylon of the Mother of Abominations of the Beast with seven heads and ten hornes and many other like courteous compellations
and it is the maine designe of some of the Clergie to perswade the people into a belief that he is Antichrist which conceipt when it hath once strongly seized them as it doth yet by very weake and silly arguments they care not to enquire any further but conclude from thence and that justly if it were true that neither he nor his adherents are either Head or members of the Church But the contrary I found most evident by the testimony of all antiquity First that our Saviour appointed S. Peter his Vicar Head of his Church here on earth and after him his successors in the Sea of Rome nor do we read either in Scriptures Councells Fathers or histories that any other of the Apostles but Peter was thought or pretended by any to be the chiefest over the rest and over the whole Church and that it is necessary that some one be Head both reason and authority doe convince Nor is it a denyall of Christ to be the Head while we say that S. Peter was and the Pope is so For Christ we confesse is the Head originally and immediately the Pope derivatively from and by him Christ is the principall the Pope but his deputy and representer and these two headships doe not contradict as some Protestants imagine but are subordinate the one to the other And with as much reason they may deny a King to be head of his Kingdome because the Scripture saith Psal 46.8 God is King over all the earth as deny the Pope to be head of the Church because Christ is so S. Basil Concione de poenit shewes us the difference of their headships Though Peter be a rock saith he he is not a rock as Christ is for Christ is the true immovable rock of himselfe Peter is immoveable by Christ the rock for Jesus doth communicate and impart his dignities not voiding himselfe of them but holding them to himselfe bestowes them also on others He is the light and yet you are the lights He is the Priest and yet he makes Priests He is the Rock and he made a rock Therefore our Saviour saith to Peter Math. 16.18.19 Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Nor is it contrary to this as Protestants imagine to say as the Fathers sometimes doe that the Church was built upon the confession of Peter these two expositions not excluding but including one another For they intend that the Church was built causally on the confession of Peter and formally on the ministry of the Person of Peter that is to say the confession of Peter was the cause wherefore Christ chose him to constitute him the foundation of the ministry of the Church and that the person of S. Peter was that on which our Lord did properly build his Church as S. Hilary in Mat. c. 16. saith The confession of S. Peter hath received a worthy reward So that to say the Church is built upon the confession of Peter is not to deny that it is built on the person of Peter but it is to expresse the cause wherefore it is built upon him as when S. Hierome ad Pammach advers error Joan. Hierosol Ep. 91. said that Peter walked not on the waters but faith it is not to deny that S. Peter walked truly on the water but it is to expresse that the cause that made him walk there was not the naturall activity of his body but the faith that he had given to the words of Christ So that these two propositions are both true Peters faith walked on the water and Peters person walked on the water so likewise these the Church is built on the faith of Peter and the Church is built on the person of Peter the confession of Peters faith being the cause why Christ built his Church upon Peters person Againe our Saviour said to Peter Simon sonne of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee He said unto him feed my lambs John 21.15 And thus the second and the third time Which speed was directed to Peter alone as appeares by these words more than these whereby he is separated from the rest and by these words is given to him the Ecclesiasticall power to feed and also to governe as the word in the originall doth signifie and that not some alone but all the whole flock of Christ Of which the Fathers give abundant testimony S. Aug. saith Serm. 5. in fest Pet. Pauli speaking of S. Peter that he only amongst the Apostles deserved to hear verily I say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church worthy truly who to the people who were to be builded in the house of God might be a stone for their foundation a pillar for their stay a key to open the gates of the Kingdome of heaven And againe Quaestion vet nov Test q. 7◠'Our Saviour when he commands to pay for himself and Peter seemes to have payed for all because as in our Saviour were all the causes of superiority so after him all are contained in Peter for he ordained him the head of them that he might be the head of our Lords flock S. Gregory also lib. 4. Ep. 32. saith ' It is cleer to all that know the Gospell that by our Lords mouth the care of the whole Church is committed to Holy Peter the Prince of all the Apostles for to him it is said Peter lovest thou me feed my sheep and further he applies the places of Scripture spoken to S. Peter above mentioned to this end And S. Chrysostome Hom. 87. in Joan. 21. saith that Peter was the mouth of the Apostles and the Prince and top of the company and therefore Paul went to see him above others As for S. Pauls reproving of S. Peter it was for an error of conversation not of doctrine as Tertullian saith nor doth it any way diminish his Primacy but only shews that an inferiour may reprove his superiour if the matter require it and the manner be not unseemly which no man will deny Therefore this instance is nothing to the purpose being thus also answered by S. Augustine lib. 2. de Bapt. c. 1. § 2. And as Christ ordained S. Peter to be the supreme Pastor and Head of the Church so it was his will that that office should continue in S. Peters successors in the Sea of Rome That there should be one chiefe Pastor alwaies in the Church for the government thereof and deciding of controversies Gods practise in the Church of the Jewes Numb 20.28 Exod. 18.15 c. Deut. 17.8 c. gives us reason to believe who appointed the High Priests therein to succeed
nor feet And even such imperfect things are all hereticall and deformed Churches which want faith for their head charity for their heart firmnesse and perseverance for their feet Holding such monstrous and absurd opinions that they make up a bundle of Heathenisme Turcisme Heresie and contradictions to common-sense Can then any indifferent and prudent man who knowes that God made the world with wisdome in number weight and measure can he think that they are the Church of God the deare Spouse of Christ for whose sake he descended from his heavenly Throne and took and lost humane life Or will he not rather say that they are mad 1 Cor. 14.26 Who are framed neither in number weight nor measure their societies and Churches being or being possible to be according to their principles as many as their persons their opinions vaine and foolish and their government confused and mis-shapen seeming rather a chaos than a creation In summe there is nothing that can be said for a true Catholique Church but may be truly said for the Roman there is â—othing that the Protestant Churches have said or can say for themselves but have been or may be said by Heretiques and are said by those who subdivide and separate from them which pretences if they be good in them against the Church of Rome they are good in others against them which yet they will not admit So that the Church of Rome is the true Church or there never was any true Church and all Protestants are Heretiques or there never were any that deserved that name § 9. What remaines then for all Protestants of what sort or title soever but to listen to the voice which sayeth Goe out of her my people that yee be not partakers of her sinnes and that ye receive not of her plagues Revel 18.4 To redeem their soules from forfeiture that have been thus long morgag'd to eternall death and with the Prodigall son to returne home to the Catholique Church their mother and thereby to God their Father in whose house there is plenty of celestiall Manna while they perish for want of food or become fellow commoners with the hogs and feed upon huskes and draught and thereby to give joy both to earth and heaven in their conversion seeing that as the elements never rest contentedly but in their proper placeâ— so they will find no rest but in the bosome of the true Church which is the proper place of every Christian To listen to the voice which crieth Return return ô Sunamite return return Cant 6.13 And the Spirit and the Bride say come And let him that heareth say come and let him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Revel 22.17 by coming to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angells to the generall assembly and Church of the first borne which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant Heb. 12.22.23.24 before he come to them as a terrible Judge revealed from heaven with his mighty Angells in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Thess 1.7.8 And that they may all doe so especially the Kingdome of England and most especially the most excellent King thereof Strike ô strike their and his soule O Lord with thy omnipotent grace whose magnetique vertue may draw his Royall heart to thee and make him a glorious and happy instrument of drawing others till they all meet in the unity of the faith so to continue untill their mortality shall put on immortality and his temporall crown of thornes be exchanged for an eternall crown of glory Amen FINIS S. Ambr. Ep. 31. ad Valent. Imp. Non erubesco cum toto orbe longaevo converti verum certè est quia nulla aetas ad perdiscendum sera est Erubescat senectus quae emendare se non potest Non annorum canities est laudanda sed morum Nullus pudor est ad meliora transire A Table of the Contents of the severall Chapters contained in this Book Chap. 1. THe Introduction And that the knowledge of the meanes to arrive unto eternall life is not otherwise attaineable then by faith grounded on the Word of God pag. 1. Chap. 2. Of the means to know which is the Word of God And that all the arguments imployed by Protestants to prove that the Scripture and it only is the Word of God are insufficient And that the Generall Tradition of the Catholique Church is the only assured proof thereof p. 6. Chap. 3. Of the insufficiency of means used by Protestants to find out the true sense of Scripture The absurdity of that assertion of theirs That all points necessary to salvation are clear and manifest p. 26. Chap. 4. Of the vanity and impiety of those who affirm that each mans particular reason is the last Judge and interpreter of Scripture and his guide in all things which he is obliged to believe and know And that the Catholique Church is the only Judge p. 36. Chap. 5. Of the meaning of those words Church and Catholique and that neither of them belong to Protestants p. 49. Chap. 6. Of the Infallibility of the Church p. 54. Chap. 7. That Catholique Tradition is the only firme foundation and motive to induce us to believe that the Apostles received their Doctrine from Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ from God the Father And what are the means by which this Doctrine is derived down to us p. 66. Chap. 8. That the Church is infallible in whatsoever she proposeth as the Word of God written or unwritten whether of great or small consequence That to doubt of any one point is to destroy the foundation of Faith And that Protestants distinction between points fundamentall and non-fundamentall is ridiculous and deceitfull p. 78. Chap ' 9. That there is and ever shall be a visible Church upon earth And that this Church is one holy Catholique and Apostolique p. 94. Chap. 10. That the Roman is that one holy Catholique and Apostolique Church p. 105. Chap. 11. That the true Church may be knowne by evident marks and that such marks agree only to the Roman Church And first of Universality the first mark of the Church p. 137. Chap. 12. Of the second mark of the Church viz. Antiquity both of persons and Doctrine p. 151. Chap. 13. Of Visibility the third mark of the Church And of the vanity of Protestants supposition that the true Church is sometimes invisible That Protestant Churches have not alwaies been visible p. 188. Chap. 14. Of the fourth mark of the true Church viz. a lawfull succession and ordinary vocation and mission of Pastors And that it is ridiculous to affirme that Catholiques and Protestants are the same Church p. 208. Chap. 15. Of the fifth Mark of the true Church viz. Unity in Doctrine and of the horrible dissentions among Pretestants p. 216. Chap. 16. Of the sixth Mark of the true Church viz. Miracles And that there are no true Miracles among Protestants p. 240. Chap. 17. Of the seventh Mark of the true Church viz. Conversion of Kingdomes and Monarchs p. 254 Chap. 18. Of the eighth and ninth Marks of the true Church viz. Sanctity of Doctrine and life p. 260. Chap. 19. Of the tenth and last here mentioned Mark of the Church viz. That the true Church hath never been separated from any society of Christians more antient then her felf p. 276. Chap. 20. That the Pope is the head of the Church p. 281. Chap. 21. That English Protestants do much mistake Catholike Doctrine being abused by the malice or ignorance of many of their Ministers And that upon their owne grounds they are obliged to inform themselves more exactly of the truth p. 297. Chap. 22. Of Communion in one kind p. 331. Chap. 23. Of the Liturgie and private prayers for the ignorant in an unknowne tongue p. 351. Chap. 22. Of the foolish deceitfull and absurd proceedings and behaviour of Protestants in matter of Religion And of the vanity and injustice of their pretext of conscience for their separation from the Roman Church p. 336 Chap. 23. The Conclusion wherein is represented on the one side the splendor and orderly composure of the Roman Catholique Church And on the other side the deformity and confusion of Protestant Congregations p. 362. The faults made by the Printer I desire the Reader thus to correct Page 21. line 1. dele § 5. p. 37. l. 2. r. tittle p. 47. l. 25 r. faith p. 61. l. 18. dele come p. 71. l 19. r. dangerous p. 85. l. 14. 15. r. ununiversall p. 140. l. 24. r. Psal 2.8 p. 147 l. 3. r. became l. 17. r. man p. 165. l. 9. r. intermingled p. 168. l. 11. r. unexpressible p. 188. l. 23. r. to a City p. 199. l. 9. r. tittle p. 201. l. 21. r. one p. 208. l. 22. r. all meet p. 210. l. 4. dele ought r. accusing p. 221. l. 13. r. call p. 261. l. 17. r. of hell l. 25. r. in our p. 276. l. 23. r. different p. 290. l. 2. r. say of l. 12. r. pillar of p. 293. l. 8. r. denying them p. 292. l. 18. r. Bishop p. 307. l. 12. r. as his p. 341. l. 15. r. consequentiae p. 358. l. 12. r. done in p. 358. l. 14. r. to this p. 367. l. 15. dele in p. 368. l. 5. r. Vnion Postscript The French Printer to the English Reader WHilst this piece so generally and deservedly lik'd and applauded both in the English Originall and in the French Version was reprinting here at Paris the learned Author returning hither from Rome in the very nick of time hath thought fit to add a Preface and two new Chapters to it the first Of Communion in one kind the other Of praying in an unknowne tongue both no lesse requisite then abundantly satisfactory So that I make no question but the contentment and benefit you will receive thereby will easily reconcile you aswell to the misnumbring of some Chapters pages occasioned by the Addition as to some other Errata's for which my ignorance in your language craves the benefit of a pardon Adieu
faith were delivered to them by the Apostles to the Apostles by Christ to Christ by God the fountain of all truth CHAP. IX That there is and ever shall be a visible Church upon earth And that this Church is one holy Catholique and Apostolique § 1. NOw considering all that hath been said before the summe whereof is this That we have no meanes to know certainly the doctrines of the Apostles but only the Tradition of the Church and that that Tradition is and ought to be infallible hence I conceived that this consequence was necessary that there should be and is alwaies a visible Church in the world to whose Traditions men might cleave and that this Church is one universall Apostolicall Holy First there is alwaies a true Church of Christ in the world for if there be no meanes for men to know that Scriptures and all other Articles came from Christ and his Apostles and so consequently from God but the Tradition of the Church then there must needs be in all ages a Church receiving and delivering these Traditions else men in some age since Christ should have been destitute of the ordinary meanes of salvation because they had no meanes to know assuredly the doctrines of Christianity without assured faith whereof no man can be saved And although a false Church may deliver the true Word of God as it is contained in the Scripture and the Creed yea even a Jew or Heathen may do so for this is but casuall yet none but a true Church can deliver the Word of God with assurance to the receiver that the text is incorrupt thereby binding him to the belief thereof Now it is necessary that men have the true Scripture not only casually but they must be sure the Text thereof be uncorrupt therefore there must be a true unerring Church whose authority is so aut hentique that it is a sufficient warrant for men to believe the doctrine shee delivers to come from the Apostles Secondly this Church must be alwaies visible and conspicuous For the Traditions of the Church must ever be famous and most notoriously known in the world that a Christian may truly say with S. Augustine De utilit Cred. c. 14. I believe nothing but the consent of Nations and Countries and most celebrious fame Now if the Church were at any time invisible or very secret and hidden then could not her Traditions be famously known nor could men that were willing to submit themselves to her directions know where to find her out of whose communion they cannot attain salvation Thirdly this Church is Apostolicall that is derived from the Apostolicall Sea by the succession of Bishops and Pastors for else how can we be assured that we have the Apostles doctrine It must be one generation that must certifie another and if there should be any interruption in that time all might be lost and changed And how could the Tradition of Christian Doctrine be notoriously Apostolicall if the Church delivering the same hath not a manifest and conspicuous pedigree and derivation from the Apostles Which is a convincing argument used by S. Augustine Epist 48. circa med How doe we trust out of the divine writings that we have manifestly received Christ if we have not also from thence manifestly received his Church The Church that hath a lineall succession of Bishops from the Apostles famous and illustrious whereof not one hath been opposite in Religion to his immediate predecessor proves evidently that this Church hath the Doctrine of the Apostles For as in the rank of three hundred stones ranged in order if no two stones be found in that line of different colour then if the first be white the second is white and so the rest unto the last even so if there be a succession of three hundred Bishops all of the same Religion if the first have the Religion of the Apostles and S. Peter the second hath and so the rest even unto the last Fourthly this Church is one that is all the Pastors and Preachers deliver and consequently all her Disciples and children believe one and the same Faith For if the Preachers and Pastors of the Church disagree about matters which they preach as necessary points of Faith they lose all their credit and authority for who will believe witnesses on their own words if they disagree in their testimony Fifthly I infer that this Church is universall spread over all Nations that she may be said to be every where morally speaking that is according to common humane account by which a thing diffused over a great part of the world and famously knowne is said to be every where In this manner the Apostle said that the faith of the Romans was renowned in the whole world Rom. 1.12 that so the whole world may take notice of her as of a worthy and credible witnesse of Christian Tradition howsoever her outward glory and splendour peace and tranquillity in some places and at some times be more or lesse eclipsed and shee be not alwaies in all places at once And the reason of this perpetuall visible universality is because the Tradition of the Church is the sole ordinary meanes of faith toward the Word of God This Tradition therefore must be so delivered as that it may be known to all men seeing God will have all men without exception of any nation to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1. Tim. 2.4 which they cannot do unlesse the Church be so diffused in the world that all known nations may take notice of her And Gods will that all men should be saved though it be but an antecedent will as Schoolemen call it yet it inferreth two things which some Protestants deny first the salvation of all men secondly the meanes of their salvation In respect of the meanes the will of God is absolute that all men in some sort or other have sufficient meanes of salvation In respect of the end to wit the salvation of all men the will of God is not absolute but as Schoolemen say virtually conditionall that is God hath a will that all men be saved as much as lies in him if the course of his providence be not intercepted and men will cooperate with his grace And the reason why some Nations hear not the Gospell and Word of God is not the defect of his Church but the want of working in the naturall causes to discover such Countries which defect God will not ever miraculously supply But if the Church were invisible to the world and hoarded up her Religion to her selfe either not daring or not willing to professe and preach the same unto others Nations may be knowne and yet the Word of God not known to them If therefore this Church should be hidden for a long time mens souls should perish not through defect in the naturall causes but only through the hiddennesse obscurity and wretchednesse of the supernaturall meanes to wit of the Church not
for many hundred years an universall Apostacy over-spread the whole face of the earth so that our Protestant Church was not then visible to the world Fulk saith * Treatise ag Stapleton Martiall p. 25. the Pope hath blinded the world these many hundred years some say 900. some 1000. some 1200. And * On the Revelat. p 64. Napier saith The Antichristian and Papisticall reign began about the year three hundred and sixteen after Christ which is now above 1300. years ago raigning universally without debateable contradiction Gods true Church abiding certainly hidden and latent Secondly Protestants cannot tell the time when the Church of Rome began to change and swerve from the Apostolicall doctrine therefore doubtlesse she hath never changed her faith Now that doctrines universally received although they be not written are Doctrines derived from the Apostles is affirmed by * De Baptis lib. 5. c. 23. S. Augustine and allowed by * D. sence p. 351. 352. D. Whitguift Archbishop of Canterbury who in his book against Puritanes citing divers Protestants as concurring in opinion with him saith whatsoever opinions are not knowne to have begun since the Apostles time the same are not new or secundary but received their originall from the Apostles But because this principle of Christian divinity brings in as Cartwright the Puritan there alledged speaks all Popery in the judgement of all men I will further demonstrate it though of it selfe it be cleer enough Christ by his Spirit being still present with his Church cannot permit errors in Faith so to creep into the Church as that by the very principles of Christianity they become unreformable but if errors so creep into the Church as that their beginning cannot be knowne and their progresse become universall then do they so enter and prevaile that by the principles of Christianity they are past reformation and that because whosoever undertakes to reform them is to be condemned as an Heretique for he that will undertake to reform Doctrines universally received by the Church opposeth himself against the whole Church and is therefore by a knowne and received Principle of Christianity and Christs owne precept to be accounted as a Heathen and a Publican Mat. 18.17 Epist 118. And as S. Augustine saith To dispute against the whole Church is insolent madnesse For the Church by Christ is appointed the Judge and corrector of all others as our Saviour saith Tell the Church and therefore is not to be judged nor corrected by any he that hath the high presumption to doe so presently pulls on himself the censure of a Heathen And justly too for like the Giants amongst the Poets who waged war against the Gods he doth not only oppose the present Church but the Church of all ages even the Apostles themselves and who is sufficient for these things And he begins a new course of Christianity seeking to overthrow that Doctrine which is universally received and cannot be proved by any Tradition of Ancestors to be otherwise planted in the world than by the Apostles themselves through the power of innumerable miracles Wherefore these Doctrines if they be errors are errors whose reformation no man by the principles of Christianity ought to attempt And seeing it is impossible there should be any such errors the Principle of S. Augustine stands firm That Doctrines received universally in the Church without any known beginning are truly Apostolicall and of this kind are the Roman Doctrines from which Protestants have revolted But some Protestants object that the errors of the Pharisees were universally received in the Jewish Church yet reformed by our Saviour To which may be answered that Protestants out of their desire to make Catholiques seem like the Pharisees make themselves seem as if they did not any whit understand the Gospell For the Traditions of the Pharisees were not universall Traditions but certaine practises of piety invented by themselves and deducted by their skill from Scripture whereby they would seem singularly religions and not as other men Secondly Christ Jesus proving himselfe to be true God might reforme errors universally received and the Church of the Jewes falling erect a new Church of Christians as he did which is not lawfull for any one else to doe For Christian Religion must continue to the worlds end by vertue of the first Tradition thereof and must never be interrupted without extraordinary and propheticall beginning by immediate revelation and Miracles If therefore errors be delivered by the full consent of Christian Tradition they are irreformable Again some Protestants say that one may oppose the whole Church and confute her errors by Scripture not be as an Heathen or Heretique for not every one that opposeth the Church is to be accounted an Heathen Whites Reply p. 136. but only such as inordinately and without just cause oppose it And who I pray shall judge of the justnesse of the cause By this doctrine every man is made an examiner and judge of the whole Church hellish confusion brought in thereby For if against the sentence of perpetual universal Tradition a private man may without the guilt of heresie pretend Scripture and stand obstinately therein though the Church do give seeming and appearing answers as some of them confesse to his Scripture yet condemne her answers saying they are sophisticall as some of them do what can be more disorderly or what is Hereticall obstinacy if this be not Wherefore S. Augustine saith absolutely Epist 48. it is impossible men should have just cause to depart from impugn the whole Christian Church And why but because it is a ruled case in Christianity he that heareth not the Church is an Heretike Yet notwithstanding this the Protestants doe charge the Church of Rome DE FACTO to have falne into errors and to have changed her faith and that because points of doctrine undefined about which Doctors have disputed and held different opinions have been afterwards defined by the Church so that it was not lawfull for any after that to make doubt thereof the Church by this meanes hath held in later ages that to be DE FIDE a matter of faith which the former ages did not and so say they hath changed the faith and believes and delivers more than shee received from the Apostles But this I found to be no change of faith but only a declaration of some point explicitly which was implicitly and involvedly believed before For all the Articles of faith were immediately re-revealed by Christ to his Apostles and by them againe delivered to their posterity so that since there have been no new and particular revelations but the first being laid up in the treasury of the Church for which cause S. Paul calls it a depositum a stock or pawn other truths have been deduced from thence as occasion hath required For when any one endeavours to corrupt the doctrine delivered by the Apostles the Church calls her Pastors and Doctors to
have been eye-witnesses of the severall Countreys thereof wherein though the publike profession thereof be Hereticall Mahometicall or Heathenish yet even there hath the Romane Catholique Church both Fathers and children Pastors and people And like the Sea what she loseth in one place she wins in another what she hath lost by the falling away of the Protestants in Europe she hath gained with increase by the propagation of her faith in the East and West Indies where whole Kingdomes are converted thereunto as a Protestant Author confesseth saying Simon Lythus in respons altera ad alteram Gretseri Apologiam p. 333. The Jesuites within the compasse of a few years not content with the bounds of Europe have filled Asia Africa and America with their Idols And thus shee was Catholique by Napier a Protestant Writers confession forementioned and others for 12. or 1300. yeares ago and ever since And whereas Protestants say that this universality is no true mark of the Church because it is appliable to Turkes and Pagans it is doubtlesse a very poor objection for the markes of the Church are not given her by God to distinguish her from all sorts of Religions but only from those that are contained equivocally under the same next kind and may be supposed and taken for Churches that is to say from other Christian societies to wit from Hereticall and Shismaticall Sects which challenge by false markes the title of the true Church To which purpose S. Augustine saith disputing with the Donatists Thou askest of a stranger whether he be a Pagan or a Christian he answers thee a Christian thou askest him whether he be a catechumene Aug de Pastor c. 13. or one of the faithfull he answers thee one of the faithfull thou askest him of what communion he is he answers thee a Christian Catholique Besides the Roman Church hath this forme of universality beyond all Religions of the world even Turkes or Heathens That there is no place of the known world where there are not Roman Catholiques propagating their Religion by converting the people of the land whosoever they are which is manifestly wanting to all other Religions and is therefore in this regard also more universally spread over the face of the earth than any other Others say that this universall spreading of the Church is antidated by Roman Catholiques with application to themselves for that it was not to take beginning but from the time of Luther because some places of Scripture which speak of the largenesse of the Church say it shall be in the later daies But it is manifest that by later daies is meant all the space of time from Chirst to the end of the world as S. Peter interpreting a prophecie of Joel which saith that it shall come to passe in the last daies that God will powre his Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2.17 by which is intended the amplitude of the Church applies it to that present time when the holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles Nor can any reasonable man imagine that it can sort with the goodnesse of God and his tender love to mankind to suffer the light of his truth in the not spreading of his Church to be eclipsed for 14. or 1500. years seeing that according to the opinion of some learned men grounded upon fair probabilities the world is likely to last but 2000. yeares after Christ. Howsoever this universality of the Protestant Religion is but begun it is not perfected for the Roman Church is yet actually exceeding larger and Protestants that allow this for a mark of the true Church now begin hopefully to apply it to themselves are bound to be of the Roman till they see their expectation satisfied in the Protestant Churches exceeding her in latitude which I dare boldly say will not be as long as they live and therefore they ought to die in the Roman Faith § 3. But if we examine the matter a little more strictly we shall find that the Protestants plea for universality wil be cut very short when we consider that though they make themselves all of one Church when they would vie for multitude with the Roman Church yet compared with one another we shall find that they are very many Churches not distinguished by nation only but by doctrine and points of faith and that there are many Churches in one Nation as in England for example and will be many more if the desired Independency be advanced Now it is not sufficient that the Protestant Religion in generall be enlarged but it must be the true Protestant Religion which every particular Sect thinking it self to be of and denying it the most of them to the rest the universality of the Religion wil be mightily abated Indeed when they muster their strengths together and make boast of their greatnesse then they rake all into the title of Protestantisme who have revolted from the Roman Church count them on their side as if the definition of a Protestant were one that is opposite to the Church of Rome So that if there were a thousand sorts of Heretiques in the world they would in this case account them but one Church But the word Catholique being a note of Communion as I have shewed already as the Roman Church calls none a Catholique that doth not communicate with her so cannot the Protestant Church of Engl. count any to be of her Religion thereby by inlarging of her bounds to prove her selfe Catholique unlesse they will communicate with her which the Grecian Churches wil not the Lutheran Churhes will not many of the Sects within the Kingdom will not as Presbyterians Antinomians Anabaptists Brownists Familists Erastians Socinians Arminians Seekers Adamites Shakers Independents with many others These I say will not communicate with the Protestant Church of England nor will they communicate each with other but have at least most frequently their Congregations as they call them separate and apart so that these are all to be accounted severall Churches and Religions and no one is further universall than the communion thereof doth spread which is so litle a way that none of them is nay though they were al united together would they be able to stand in competition with the Roman Church under whose Communion are many entire Kingdoms and in all known parts of the world an infinity of people even in Asia Africa and America where the name of Protestant much more any particular Sect thereof is altogether unknowne Besides all the Christian Churches which are now separated from the Roman were once united to her both in faith and communion and then either she was the Catholique Church or there was none in the world which is impossible therefore they that departed from her departing from the Catholique Church became Schismatiques and departing from the faith they received from her become Heretiques § 4 Lastly the very possession of the name Catholique is a proof that it doth belong to her seeing no sort of Christians
but that it is necessary and fundamentall to believe God in all that he saith whether the matter be great or small now Protestants professing to believe nothing necessarily but what may be proved by the Scripture and their differences being in the things which they believe it followes that their differences are in things which are proved by Scripture that are the pure Word of God and the meaning of the Holy Ghost as they use to speak and therefore must needs be in the severall opinions of them that hold them fundamentall and necessary to salvation To instance in some particulars of their disagreement for to speak of all were to enter into a Labyrinth First concerning Scripture it selfe I think they will grant it is a fundamentall point I am sure their learned Hooker doth so Eccles Pol. lib. 1. sect 14. who saith Of things necessary the very chief is to know what books we are bound to esteem holy and as sure I am that in this there is great disagreement for the Lutherans do deny besides those books of the Old Testament which the Calvinists also deny * Châ—mnit exam conc Trid. part 1. pag. 55. also Enchyrid p. 63. the second Epistle of S. Peter the second and third Epistle of S. John the Epistle to the Hebrewes of S. James of S. Jude and the Revelation all which the Calvinists and the Church of England do undoubtedly believe to be the Word of God And if they disagree about their prime Principle how can agreement be expected in the things that they derive from thence Secondly concerning their translation of Scriptures in the truth whereof consists the truth of Gods Word to those that understand it not but as it is translated very great are the disagreements and bitter the reprehensions between Luther and Zuinglius between Calvin and Molineus between Beza and Castalio between legall Protestants and Puritans of England each party condemning the others translation I will instance chiefly in the English The Ministers of Lincoln Diocesse in a book delivered to King James being an abridgement of their grievances say pag. 11.13.14 that the English translation of the Bible is a translation that takes away from the text that addes to the text and that sometimes to the changing or obscuring the meaning of the holy Ghost And Broughton the great Linguist in his Advertisement of Corruptions tels the Bishops that their publique translations of Scripture into English is such as that it perverts the text of the old Testament in 848 places and that it causeth millions of millions to reject the new Testament and to run into eternall flames And yet the translators of the Bible and the Bishops were of another mind or else surely they would not have commended it to the use of the people And what a wofull condition were the people in who must be guided by such a Bible in which either there was certaine falshood or they were not certaine that it was the truth Secondly the Reall presence of Christs body in the Eucharist by consubstantiation and to the bodily mouth of the receiver is affirmed by the Lutherans but denyed by the Calvinists Thirdly that Christ descended into Hell which is an article of the Creed is affirmed by Hill in a Treatise of that subject by Nowell and by many Protestants but is denyed by Carleil in a book written to that purpose and commonly by all Puritans Fourthly Evangelicall Councells are affirmed by Hooker Eccles Pol. l. 3. sect 8. p. 140. but are denyed by Perkins Reformed Cath. p. 241. and most of the Church of England Fiftly concerning the head of the Church or the supreame governour in causes Ecclesiasticall which one would think a fundamentall matter the Church of England holds that the King or Queen when the Kingdome is governed by a Woman is the head thereof but the Church of Helvetia saith f Harmony of Consess p. 308. forward we acknowledge no other head of the Church but Christ and that he hath no deputy on earth and many there are in England of the same opinion who are not afraid to say so now though it be by law a capitall offence Sixtly the government of the Church by Bishops one would think were a fundamentall point for it is affirmed to be jure divino by divine law by many Protestants in England and particularly Bishop Hall wrote a book a few yeares since to that purpose and yet this is denyed by a great party in England as the Bishops by woefull experience do know A hundred other differences might be named in the maintenance whereof books have been written one against another one side holding with the Catholiques so that there is scarce any point of Catholique doctrine but is maintained by some or other Protestants amongst them all almost the whole Catholique doctrine If therefore they differ from the Church of Rome they differ from one another And that their differences are not light but about most important matters in their own opinions being about matters as they conceive revealed in the word of God to which all men are bound to adhere even their persuit of those differences doth plainly demonstrate which stretcheth to the g Luth. con art Louan Thes 27. condemning of one another for Heretiques h Osiander â—pit Eccl. hist cont 16 par altera p. 805. and banishing each other from their severall territories i Hospi hist Sacrament par alt fol. 393. 395. 397. 398. forbidding the reading of each others books imprisoning of their persons and finally breaking into open Arms one against another are not al these tragical particulars to our infinite grief now acted on the stage of England the chief pretence is Religion And surely they are guilty of extreme folly that will fight to the fundamentall overthrow of themselves families for ought they know of the whole Kingdome for matters which they hold not-fundamentall § 4. But the Protestants think to wipe off this staine of disagreement by retorting it upon the Catholiques accusing them of as great disagreement as is amongst themselves which when I considered I found altogether impertinent For amongst Catholiques there are two sorts of points some defined by the Church in a Generall Councell and so infallibly certain others not defined In the former they all exactly agree in the later each man follows the direction of his particular reason Like to this there are amongst Protestants certaine Articles as they call them which are agreed upon in each severall dominion of Protestants which are set down in their Harmony of confessions concerning which first it is to be noted that there is great disagreement in generall betwixt their Churches they never meeting all together in any one Councell to determine any one thing so that they are not united in any one point by consent Then in particular dominions the decrees that they publish are not firmely believed by all under those dominions but are accounted as
one another to this end That the office of a Pastor is alwaies needfull our Saviour implies in calling his people his sheep and sheep without a shepherd are like to be but il provided for and as they are alwaies sheep so they ought alwaies to have a shepherd which office in ordinary being given to S. Peter first ought to continue out of the necessity of the cause thereof so long as the sheep continue which will be to the end of the world Which S. Peter not being now able to doe in person reason requires that it should be done by his Successors The Apostle 1 Cor. 12.21 compares the Church to a body and saith The head cannot say to the feet I have no need of you which cannot be understood of Christ our head for he may truly say to us all that he hath no need of us it must therefore be meant of some Head here on earth which must continue as long as the Church continues a body and that is to the worlds end And that the successors of S. Peter are this Head S. Chrysostome doubts not to affirm who demanding why Christ shed his blood De Saterdot l. 2. initio Leo Serm. 2. de Annivers assump sua ad Pontific answers It was to gaine that flock the care whereof he committed to Peter to Peters successors And S. Leo Peter continues and lives in his Successors And that his successors are the Bishops of Rome is out of doubt none but they ever assuming it to themselves or having it granted by others For the Bishop of Antioch succeeded not S. Peter in the government of the whole Church but of that diocesse for succession to any in his whole right is not but to him that leaves his place either by naturall death deposition or voluntary resignation now S. Peter living and ruling left the Church of Antioch and placed his Sea at Rome where he also died so that he that succeeds him in that Sea must succeed him both as he was Bishop thereof and likewise as he was Head of the whole Church as for the Bishop of Antioch he did never either possesse or pretend to higher than the third place amongst the Patriarchs Cone Nic. Can. 6. Gelasius In decret cum 70. Episcopis affirmes that the Roman Church is preferred before other Churches not by any constitutions of Councells but she obtained Primacy by the Evangelicall voice of our Lord saying thou art 〈◊〉 upon this rock I will build mâ—… 〈◊〉 And S. Hierome in his 59. Epistle 〈…〉 to Pope Damâ—sus saith To 〈◊〉 she 〈◊〉 require from the Priest the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—â—tion and from the Pastor 〈…〉 I speak with the successor of th◠〈◊〉 shoâ—â— c. I following none but Christ in 〈◊〉 joyned in Communion to your holyn sse that is to the chaire of Peter upon that rock I know the Church to be builded 3. whosoever out of this house eates the lamb is prophane whosoever shall not be in the Ark of Noe shall perish in the deluge And S. Aug. writing to Pope Innocentius Epist 92. saith wee think that by the Authority of your Holynesse derived from the authority of Holy Scriptures they will more easily yeeld who believe such perverse and pernicious things Wherein he derives the Popes authority from the Scriptures And S Bernard writing to Pope Eugenius saith thus Thou alone art not only the Pastor of sheep De consider l. 3 cap. 8. Epist 190. ad Innoc. PP but also of Pastors Thou demandest how I prove this Out of the word of our Lord. For to whom I do not say Bishops but also of the Apostles were all the sheep so absolutely and indeterminately committed Peter if thou lovest me feed my sheep which the people of this or that city country or Kingdome Hee saith my sheep To whom is it not plain that hee did not assigne some but all Nothing is excepted where nothing is distinguished c. To conclude James who seemed a pillar for the Church was content with Jerusalem onely yeelding the universality to Peter And with the Fathers apart doe concur the Fathers united in Councell by whom in many Councells this truth hath been declared as in the Councell of a Sess 14. c. 7. Trent the Councell of Florence b Sess ult the Councell of c Respons Synod de authoritat Conc. general Basil the Councell of d Part. 2. Act. 3. Ephesus the Councell of e Sub. Innoc. 3. e. 5. Lateran the second Councell of f Act. 2. Nice the Councell of g Conc. Chal. Act. 1. Act. 3. tom 2. p. 252 edit Venet. Chalcedon as is easy to shew at large if need required § 3. As for the attempt of the Bishop of Constantinople against the Pope it was not for the Primacy and headship of the Church Catholique but only of the Churches of the East And the title of universall Bishop which he claimed was not with intent of superiority over the Pope but over the other Patriarchs who were all of the Easterne Empire and in association with the Pope for those parts yet with subjection to the Pope acknowledging him the root and stock of the universality even as Menas Patriarch of Constantinople in the time of this contention acknowledges saying Concil Constant sub Men. Act. 4. we will in all things follow and obey the sea Apostolique And as the Emperour and Patriarch both acknowledge as S. Gregory lib. 7. indict 2. ep 93. reports in these words Who is it that doubts but that the Church of Constantinople is subject to the Sea Apostolique which the most religious Lord the Emperour and our brother Bishop of the same city continually protest And if it were true as Protestants imagine that the Bishop of Constantinople contended with the Pope for the absolute Primacy over the Christian world this doth no more prove his right than Perkin Warbecks pretention in the daies of King Henry the seventh did prove his right to the crown of England And certain it is that neither the one nor the other did obtain that which he aspired to but were rejected by the voice of mankind which is an argument that their claim was unjust § 4. Another great objection of Protestants against the Popes Primacy is fetched from S. Gregory who was Pope himselfe and is this That he that intitled himselfe universall Bishop exalted himselfe like Lucifer above his brethren and was a forerunner of Antichrist To the understanding of which words I found that the word universall hath two meanings the one proper literall and grammaticall whereby it signifies Only Bishops excluding all others the other transferred and Metaphoricall whereby it signifies the supreme over all Bishops and S. Gregory censured this title in the first sense because that from hence it would have ensued that there had been but one Bishop only and that all the rest had been but his Deputies and not true Bishops and true Officers of Christ as
of her Communion than of any other yea many times there have been when shee hath enfolded all Christians in her armes and not one to be found out of her Communion her doctrines then in reason are to be received as most probable And as some Philosophers say naturall bodies doe neglect the lawes and rules of of their particular motions to serve and follow the lawes of universall nature of which one is That there must be no Vacuum or place utterly empty which law to observe we see that heavie bodies will rise upward which otherwise would fall downward So the particular rules of reason in particular men if they will shew themselves the dutifull children of reason must give place to this generall and universall rule of reason implanted in mankind and when they are inclined one way to an opinion by their own private and domestique reason they must suspend that inclination and conquer the provocations thereof and readily yeeld unto the fundamentall and universall law of reason which is that in matters of whose truth there is no infallible certainty that is most likely to be true and hath the most reason on its side wherein the most and the most reasonable of reasonable creatures doe agree Which if they doe they shall not run upon the rock of believing contradictions as some of them imagine but shall find themselves obliged by the train of their owne principles to become Roman Catholiques These considerations together with the great assistance of Gods grace have caused me to forsake the Communion of all Protestant Churches who like those mentioned in S. John say they are Jewes the true Church and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Revel 2.9 And not to content my selfe to be a Catholique in opinion only keeping it private to my selfe to save my temporall interest nor with the two Tribes and halfe forbear to enter into the land of Canaan but stay on the other side of Jordan tempted thereunto by the pleasantnesse of the land but disdaining to match my love so low as of this creeping world with the renouncing of all I possessed or that my hopes could reach at to the pulling on my selfe the displeasure of my friends and kindred the reproach and hatred of the Protestant party to the abandoning of my selfe my wife and children to all the calamities which are all that beggery and perpetuall banishment could throw upon us lanching forth into the deepe of this wide world without rudder anchor sailes or tackling to humble our selves at the feet of our Holy Mother the Church of Rome which is the one true holy Catholique and Apostolique Church and will be so and will be accounted so when these like their predecessors revolters from the Church of Rome shall be no more And to choose to perish for want if it be the will of God in communion with the Catholique Church rather than to have the Empire of the world stoop under my command and be a Protestant And to say as Themistocles did to his wife and children though in a different sense PERIISSEMUS NISI PERIISSEMUS we had perished if we had not perished if we had not perished temporally we had perish'd eternally nor would I sell the inward peace and consolation I here find though at such a rate as would undo the world to buy it for he that purchaseth worldly prosperity with the losse of the true faith out-buyes it and will prove a bankrupt with which the tendries of the whole world being counterpoized prove too light as our Saviour saith What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his owne soule Math. 16.20 And all this because they that are out of the true Church are out-lawes against God are without Christ and without God in the world as the Apostle speakes Ephes 2.12 and because as all antiquity testifies that b Concil Cart. 4. c. 1. out of the Catholique Church there is no salvation c Aug. Ep. 152. That whosoeuer is not in the Catholique Church cannot have life d Aug. de Sym ad Catech lib. 4. That he shall not have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his Mother e Cyp. de unit Eccl That Christ is not with those that assemble out of the Church f Ibidem That though they should be slaine for the confession of Christ this spot is not washed away even with blood g Ibidem That he cannot be a Martyr that is not in the Church h Aug de gest cum Emerito That out of the Catholique Church one may have Faith Sacraments and in sum every thing except salvation i Prosp promis praedic Dei par 4. c. 5. That he that communicates not with the Catholique Church is an Heretique and Antichrist k Fulgent de fide ad Pet. c. 19. That no Heretique nor Schismatique that is not restored to the Catholique Church before the end of his life can be saved And this Catholique Church is the Roman Church because the Bishop of Rome is the head thereof appointed so by God and received by the Christian world in all ages as I have proved before and that not only for a time but at this time and for ever And this being the Rock on which the Church is built surely it shall never be removed nor he that like the wise-man builds thereon as our Saviour saith the raine fell the floods came the winds blew and rushed upon the house and it fell not for it was founded on a rock Matth. 7.25 26 27. On the other side all other Churches are built upon the sandy foundation of humane invention and must expect the fate of the fooles house on which the the raine fell the floods came the winds blew and rushed thereon and it fell and the ruine thereof was great CHAP. XXIII The Conclusion wherein is represented on the one side the splendor and orderly composure of the Roman Catholique Church And on the other side the deformity and confusion of Protestant Congregations § 1. NOw for a Conclusion let me invite the Reader to stand as it were upon mount Nebo as Moses did and take a view of the Land of Canaan the Roman Catholique Church on the one side and the wildernesse of the Protestant Churches on the other Here amongst Catholiques you shall see a Church like the cloud that appeared to Elisha as big as a mans hand which by and by spread over the face of the earth a Church which hath incircled in her armes at least in their predecessors all that ever wore the name of Christians which hath stretched her dominions as far as the Sun his beames and wheresoever he hath bestowed his corporall she hath bestowed her spirituall light There amongst Protestants you shall see Churches that have got possession only of the most obscure places and that by patches like a poor mans land and those too usurped by fraud and violence
from the just owners thereof not purchased but stolne Here you shall see a Church that hath continued without interruption since the first planting thereof that hath kept perpetuall Term without Vacation that in all the rough tempests of this worlds persecution hath still rid out the storme and though by the tyranny of heathen and heretiques millions of her children did fall it was but like the morning deaw watering thereby the seeds of grace which themselves had sowne and when they calmly bled it was but oyle to the Apostles lamps whose bright flames may yet serve to light posterity to heaven And as the enemies of the city of Rome were wont to weep to see it on fire because it would afterwards be fairer built so the devill though he caused it yet did mourne to see the Church of Rome on fire in her Martyrs which was ever repaired by a greater encrease of converts who constantly kept the faith till they lost themselves in keeping it like Naboth who kept his possession with the losse of his blood There you shall see Churches like Castor and Pollux rising and setting by turnes sometimes alive sometimes dead with such huge great gaps between the times of their subsisting that for any succour they could have from them millions of soules might in the interim have dropt into hell And as the Moabites when they saw the waters look ruddy thought they had been mingled with blood when it was but the reflexion of the morning sun beames on them so when they suffered any thing they called it persecution for their obedience to God when it was indeed but the effect of justice on them for their Rebellion against Gods deputies Ecclesiasticall and civill the high Priest and the Prince and instead of giving them increase as persecution hath alwaies done to the Church it did with the aid of their inward discords utterly extingnish them Who have had none but have made many Martyrs reviving even in these later present times the antient copies of cruelty against Catholikes blindly believing that by killing Gods servants they do God service Whose meek spirits have paid as large a tribute of patience unto heaven and sufferance to the world as any that went before them and have proved in themselves the truth of the Spouses saying in the Canticles ch 5. v. 10. My beloved is white and ruddy being blanch'd with the whitenesse of innocence guled with the blood of martyrdom the fury of whose malice and persecution hath pursued many even through the gates of death adding prophanation to their cruelty by disturbing the dead bodies and silent urnes of Saints departed A poor revenge and foolish which doth more expresse their hatred than satisfie it and shewes that their malice doth more afflict their owne minds before it is executed than it can doe their enemies bodies in the execution So eager so importunate is sinne ever to its owne shame § 2. Here you shall see a Church that hath alwaies been in view whom neither fear nor coynesse hath made to hide her head and whose admired beauty hath invited all men to her chast embraces and like Medusaes head hath turned them to stones of this living building by the admiration of her surpassing beauty There you shall see Churches such which is very strange as were never seen or very seldome keeping such unkind and retired state that men like Diogenes who went about Athens with a candle and a lanterne at noone day to seek an honest man must doe so about the world to find them out and in the mean time perish for want of spirituall aid who never had any beauty riches or rarity amongst them but only Giges his ring whereby they did for the most part walk invisible The English Proverb saith that where God hath his Church the devill hath his Chappell and so he hath alwaies had in Heretiques who in regard of place have been mingled with Catholiques but that the devill should have all the Church and God not so much as the Chappell as they pretend is most incredible § 3. Here you shall see a Church like the city of Jerusalem that is at unity within it selfe and like the wals of Byzantium so closely united that they seem to be all but one entire stone And as God spake of old By the mouth of his Prophets Luc. 1.70 intimating that though they were many Prophets yet they had all but one mouth in regard of the unity and agreement of their sayings so speakes he now by the mouth of the Priests in the Catholique Church A body having Christ for the head from whom as the Apostle saith the whole body being fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplies according to the effectuall working in the measure of every part makes encrease of the body to the edifying of it selfe in love Whose powerfull union like the Bundle of Arrowes presented by the Emperour Saladine to his sonnes as the Embleme of united strength cannot be broken by the assault of any force which like the floating Ilands or the stone Tyrrhenus being unbroken floats still aloft and keepes her head above the main when others like clods of earth rent from the Jland or broken in pieces of that stone sink to the bottom and perish There you shall see Churches stand like the stones in some high waies to measure their length a mile asunder from each other And as the Cameleon changes it self into all colours except white So they wander through all the forms of opinions that fancy can imagine saving only truth Which need no externall disasters to try their strength no forraine enemies to attempt their destruction For like the Serpents teeth sown by Cadmus or the eternally-hating brethren Eteocles and Polynices they with mutuall cruelties destroy each other Here a Church that for the admirable effects of her unity deserves the name of that pretious stone which for the rarity thereof is called Vnity There such as for the variety and deformity wherewith they are possessed may be termed Legion § 4. Here you shall see a Church that religiously triumphs over all Christian Kings and Kingdomes of the world making them the Trophees of her spirituall victories and conversions whose powerfull influence hath cast a charme upon the fierce and lionly natures of barbarous Princes and hath not only made the Lion and the lamb to live together as was foretold by the Prophet but hath turned the Lions into Lambs Alexander the great being asked if hee would run at the Olympick games said I could be content so I might run with Kings Here then may be exercised a vertuous ambition and truly worthy of the majesty of the most excellent King of England who if he will honour the Church and himselfe to run this way shall run with almost all Kings of the Christian world both his owne and other Kings predecessors and that at the true Olympick exercises the exercises of heaven There you shall see