but that Church which pretends to it hath thereby forfeited the Authority which otherwise it might have had As the Church of Rome hath done which in the conclusion of that Council contradicted what it asserted in the beginning For there in its entrance as I observed (d) Sess III. Decretum de Symbolo fidei they thinking it necessary according to the example of the Fathers to make in the very first place a confession of their Faith and pretending to arm themselves thereby as with a Shield against all Heresies they repeat the Creed quo Sancta Romana Ecclesia utitur which the holy Roman Church useth as that Principle in which all that profess the Faith of Christ necessarily agree and the firm and ONELY Foundation against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail And they think fit to express it totidem verbis in so many words as it is read in all Churches And then they say the Nicene Creed and not one word more Which is a plain Confession that this was the Faith of all Christians and no more till that time that it was the Only firm Foundation that which was read in all Churches in which all agree the Shield against all Heresies the whole Faith then used in the Roman Church And therefore with what Conscience could they make such a division and miserable destruction in the Christian World as they have done by a vast number of new Articles in which all Christians neither do nor can agree and which were not to be found in their own Creed before No reason can be given of this but the immense ambition of that Church to give Law to all others Unto which we cannot with a good Conscience submit especially when they impose such a heavy Yoke as this belief Which is the true Makebate between them and us the manifest cause of that fearful Schism which they not we have made by altering the true Catholique Faith and Church and Communion into a Roman This is the true distinction between them and us We are Catholiques they are Romans We believe the Catholique Faith of all Christians they as distinguisht from us believe the Roman Faith which none believe but themselves We believe that which hath been ever believed they believe that which was never believed till yesterday in comparison with the Ancient Faith. Ours is the belief of the whole Body of Christian People their 's the belief of a Sect. For the Truth I have shown which ought to be supported in the Church in nothing else but those uncontroverted mysteries of godliness contained in the Apostles Creed which I have proved to be the only Catholique Doctrines embraced by all Churches whatsoever They being not the Doctrines of a Sect meerly but in which we the Roman the Greek the Ethiopian the Syrian and all other Christians are perfectly agreed There are particular Men and some small companies of them here and there who understand some few of these Doctrines otherwise than they ought but there is no national Church of any Country but entertains all these intirely and sincerly as they have been expounded from the beginning according to the Nicene Creed which by the way is the only Creed the Abassines have that Creed called the Apostles being not found among them (e) Ludolph Histor Aethiop l. 3 c. 5. num 20. and therby are members of Christ's Body though they do not believe other Doctrines which are only boldly called Catholique by the Roman Church but are not truly so but only particular Doctrines of their own Church in which the Catholique Faith and Church is not concerned As they themselves confess by admitting persons into the Catholique Church which I noted before unto remission of sins and eternal life without any other belief but that which we profess Which makes us think that we might more safely swear they themselves believe this to be sufficient than they swear as they do that none can be saved without the new Faith which they have added to the ancient Creed I have been the larger in this second observation because it is of great moment for the setling of our minds in peace about right belief and this being setled I may sooner dispatch those that follow III. And the next is that these therefore and these alone are the fundamental Truths upon which our Religion and the very Church it self is built By fundamental Truths or Doctrines we mean such Catholique principles as are necessarily to be distinctly believed by every Christian whereby they being built as it were upon them become a Church Such truths no doubt there are for the Church being called here the House of God must have a Foundation Which Foundation is either Personal or Doctrinal The personal foundation is Christ the chief Corner-stone and the Apostles and Prophets as Ministers of his who laid this foundation Ephes II. 20. The Doctrinal are those grand Truths taught by them which make up our Faith in Christ That Common Faith as it is called Titus I. 4. that Faith which is alike precious in all 2 Pet. 1.1 the first principles of the Oracles of God Heb V. 12. or as it is literally in the Greek the Elements of the beginning of the Oracles of God the principles of the Doctrine of Christ or the word of the beginning of Christ Hebr. VI. 1. the form or draught the breviate or summary as it may be translated of sound words or doctrines 2 Tim. I. 13. the Faith once or at once delivered to the Saints Judge 3. and particularly committed to the trust 1 Tim. VI. 20. of those who were to instruct others in the common Salvation And what can those truths be but those great Doctrines contained in the Creed which it appears from what I have said the Apostles left in all the Churches which they planted For we find these were in every Church as Irenaeus assures us and these altogether one as Tertullian speaks and the immovable unreformable Rule of Faith and therefore may thence conclude they were that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Paul deposited with Timothy 1. VI. 20. that good or that fair most excellent thing deposited with him or commended as an ancient Writer translates it to his trust to be preserved by him the Creed as Cyril * Catech. IV. p. 24 edit Paris 1640. of Hierusalem pithily speaks being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a brief summ of necessary Doctrines In some sense it is true there is nothing revealed in Holy Scripture but it may be called fundamental if we respect only the divine Authority by which it comes unto us upon which account nothing there delivered may be denyed but ought to be believed with all humility when the knowledge of it is offered to us But if we respect the matter and moment of all things contained therein we cannot but see there is a great difference and that the knowledge of every thing there is not equally necessary but we may be truly pious
it self for the sake of it Neither is this meerly the Ecclesiastical Language but the Holy Scripture it self gives those this honourable title who constantly indured tribulation for the Gospel sake though it did not cost them their lives Thus our blessed Lord speaks to the Church of Philadelphia III. Revel 12. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the temple of my God. Which signifies partly that he should be an eminent Instrument of upholding the Church and preserving many in the profession of Christianity by his constancy and firmness in it and partly that he should be so established himself by the grace and power of God that he should never fall according to that of S. Peter 1 V. 10. But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you and partly that he should be made in the highest sense a PILLAR that is an Apostolical Man who should be advanced to the most eminent imployment in the Church of teaching and instructing of Governing and Ruling as a principal Pastor in the Temple of God. In one word be an Angel of the Church as he speaks in the beginning of this Letter v. 7. and in all the rest an illustrious Minister and Messenger of God to publish the glad tidings of Salvation to the World. Such the Apostles were whom Theodoret calls the Pillars of the Truth with peculiar respect to their sufferings Behold saith he †Orat. de providentia Tom. IV. p. 441. Peter and John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Towers or Bulwarks of Godliness the Pillars of Truth supporting the Structure of the Church being scourged by the Jews but rejoycing and glorying V. Act. 41. that they were counted worthy to suffer shame or to be disgraced for his Name And such like were these victorious Souls as Arethas * Comment in III. Rev. 12. expounds our Saviour's words to this Church For he that conquers saith he the adverse powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is constituted a Pillar and Ground of the Truth rejoycing himself immutably so he interprets in the temple of my God and establishing others in goodness that they may not fall from their stedfastness IV. Any eminent person also in the Church though not a Martyr is sometime called by this name in Ecclesiastical Writers For instance Jo. Damascen thus addresses himself to Jordanes the Archimandrite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (b) Epist ad euâ—n de Triâ—agio O most Divine Father the Pillar and Ground or stay of Truth Nay thus zealous persons in the Laity especially if they were of great quality contributed to the support of the Faith by supporting these Pillars of it So S. Basil in one of the forenamed Epistles having bewailed the banishment of their Bishops whom he calls the Pillars and Ground of Truth prays Terentius a Count of the Empire to preserve himself safe that they might have some to rest upon God having graciously made him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (c) Epist 345. a support and a prop in all things to us But they of the Clergy more particularly though of the Order below Bishops were lookt upon as having no small share in this Office. For S. Cyril of Alexandria (d) Lib. V. in Esaiam Tom. 2. p. 768. having mentioned Christ as the foundation and believers in him as pretious Stones built upon him unto a holy Temple compares their instructors in the Mysteries of Religion to the most pretious Stones such as those mentioned LIV. Isa 11 12. which God uses some in laying the foundation others as buttresses some for the Gates others for the Walls of the holy City that is the Church that all her Children may be taught of God. V. Nay one of the forenamed great Doctors of the Church warrants me to add that every pious member of the Church in his place and calling hath his share in this great trust For whosoever saith S. Gregory Nyssen (e) Hom. XIV in Cant. Canticorum p 684. is perfected in these two great Commandments to love God and to love his Neighbour he is framed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pillar and Ground of Truth according to the language of the Apostle By both these we may become such Pillars as Peter and James and John or if there be any other since them that hath been or shall be worthy of this name And he doth in effect say the same in the place before named (f) De vita Mosis where he observes the Apostle requires others to be Pillars as well as himself when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. XV. 58. be ye stedfast or stable unmoveable abounding always in the work of the Lord. For he that is thus firmly fixed and setled as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and diligent in well doing whatsoever trials he hath to shake him he supports Religion he maintains the credit of it in the World he doth great service to the Truth by shewing how good how useful how laborious it makes those that embrace it And I am sure it lies upon every one of us as an indispensable duty to hold fast the Truth and to profess it and practise it and notwithstanding any danger or trouble unto which it may expose us to testifie unto it if need be by constant patient peaceable suffering for Christs sake And he that doth thus is according to his measure though never so mean a person in the Church a Pillar and Ground of Truth And thus Theodoret expounds these words he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the assembly or congregation of those that believe the House of God and the Church and these he saith are the Pillar and support of Truth For being founded upon the Rook they both remain unshaken and preach by their deeds the truth of their Doctrine And Theophylast also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Church is a constitution or an assembly of truth For all things that are done in it are true nothing shadowy as under the Law c. VI. I have but one thing further to add That the more and the better they are who joyn in this work the greater support they give to the Truth First I say the more the greater number there are of those who maintain the truth by preaching writing suffering or well doing and the greater credit they have in the World the stronger Pillars they are and the surer doth the truth seem to be in the eyes of those to whom they represent it Upon which account the Doctrine of S. Paul and Barnabas which he had received by revelation as well as other Apostles yet being communicated to James and Cephas and John who were eminent Pillars and been approved by them received the more strength by their concurrent testimony II. Gal. 2 5 9. And it was still more confirmed by the whole Council of Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem
discourses in that very Book against Manichaeus (q) Cap. XIV contra Epist quam vocant Fundamenti his Letter from whence the fore-named saying I had not believed the Gospel unless the Churches Authority had moved me to it is wont at every turn to be objected to us by those of the Romish perswasion Thou dost nothing but praise what thou believest and deride what I believe Now since I can be even with thee and do the very same praise what I believe and deride what thou believest what is to be done but that we leave and relinquish those who invite us to know things certain and afterwards require us to believe things uncertain let those of the Roman Church mark this and that we follow them who invite us first to believe that which we cannot yet see into that being made stronger in the Faith it self we may come to understand what we believe NOT MEN NOW BUT GOD HIMSELF INWARDLY ESTABLISHING AND ILLUMINATING OUR MIND It is impossible to read this passage and not see that this Father thought our Faith is not ultimately resolved into the Testimony of the Church but by that being invited to believe the Holy Scriptures we are established upon the serious reading of them in the Christian Faith and Knowledge of the Truth by God himself Upon whose Word in the Holy Scripture and not upon Men we bottom our Faith. Upon the Testimony and Authority of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and the Testimony of divine Men inspired by them who by Miracles and Signs and mighty Deeds and a prophetical Spirit proved themselves to be sent of God and have left his Mind and Will upon Record in the Scriptures of Truth Which the Church indeed in all parts of the World hath kept and preserved and faithfully transmitted down to us and now propounds to our Faith but it is not merely what the Church saith that makes us believe but what God himself saith in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ saith concerning his rising from the Dead and sending the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles Which being fulfilled evidently proved him to be the Son of God the Saviour of the World and them to be his Apostles and Ministers who declared to Men the true way of Salvation So the Church directs and guides us to the Scriptures of Truth but they resolve and assure our Faith being the very Word of God. The authority of God's Church is the first motive which leads us to esteem the Scriptures but being led thither we find in the matter of them that which gives us full satisfaction by bestowing our pains in reading or hearing and considering the Mysteries contained therein The Church holds out this light to us but it is by this light that we see what is the mind and will of God. To this the Church points us and bids us attend to it for this it disposes and prepares us it leads us by the hand to this as the only sure foundation of our Faith because herein we find God himself speaking to us and moreover by the Ministery of the Church we are assisted in understanding the sence of the Holy Scriptures but they contain in themselves that Divine Authority and Truth whereby we come to a certain Faith. The Church tells us such and such things are true and we find them to be so by examining the Scriptures Which the Beraeans searched daily whether those things were so which the Apostles preached and therefore many of them believed not merely because the Apostles told them they ought so to do but because they found what they said in the Holy Scriptures XVII Act. 11 12. And so far as any Church speaks according to the truth contained therein it is to be believed and followed But if it bring no Divine word for its warrant if it propound other Doctrines which are not there it hath no authority to make such Doctrines the matter of our Faith much less to set up its own authority above the Scriptures as they do who say The Scriptures receive their authority from the Church Which is the Doctrine of no less Men than Baronius and Bellarmine to name no more The former of (r) Ad Annum 53 〈◊〉 X XI which argues that because we receive these Holy Books to be writings of the Apostles and Evangelists and not forged under their Names upon the testimony of the Church therefore all the writings of the New Testament received their authority from the Churches tradition which is fundamentum Scripturarum as he ventures to say the foundation of the Scriptures The other (s) L. 2. de Sacrament C. 25. Tertium is no less positive that if we take away the authority of the present Church and the present Council we call in doubt the whole Christian Faith. For the firmness of all ancient Councils and of all Doctrines depends upon the authority of the present Church This is very presumptuous talk for by the Church they mean themselves and then by the testimony of the Church that is their own testimony they mean such a Divine witness as assures us by its own authority without any other proof Which are the great points of difference between us in this matter For we assert first that the office of leading Men to the Holy Scriptures and so to Faith belongs to every Church as much as to them and secondly that no Church can bring People to Faith by its own testimony and authority but by the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures nor is any Church whatsoever to be heard in matters of Divine Truth further than it can prove its Doctrines by the authority of God's Word and teaches things agreeable thereunto II. Which leads to the Second thing briefly to shew what power and authority the Church cannot pretend unto in matters of Faith. 1. And first it appears by what hath been said that it hath not a Soveraign Absolute Prophetical authority independent upon the Rule of the Holy Scriptures so that we must take whatsoever it saith for true without consulting them This is the ambitious pretence of the great Doctors of the Roman Church who give the Church meaning thereby the present Roman Church an authority over all things not depending on the Scriptures but upon which the Scriptures themselves depend So that without the authority of this Church all truth is doubtful Which is a manifest principle of Infidelity making all Religion stand to the courtesie of a company of Men who in such matters are the least to be trusted of all other Christians that we are acquainted withall 2. The Church hath no authority to propound any Doctrine as necessary to Salvation which is not delivered in the Holy Scriptures but depends solely on the authority of its own Tradition This is another of their ambitious attempts who having arrogated to themselves alone the whole power of the Church make that power so unlimited that it can supply the
exalted himself when he got it declared in the Lateran Council that he was above a General Council and the Universal Church (z) Sess XI being blasphemously called by his flatterers the Spouse of the Church the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah From which very Phrase of Spouse no less Man than Bellarmine (a) L. II. de Concil Auctor c. 17. himself labours to prove the Pope to be absolutely above the Vniversal Church and above a General Council because it is contrary to the Apostle and to the order of Nature that the Wife should be above the Husband This is sufficient to show what we ought to think of the present Roman Church which is so far from being Infallible that it hath erred more than any other Church 6. But though there be no promise either to that or any other particular Church of being preserved from Error yet the Universal Church in some part or other of it we are sure will always be a Pillar and Ground of the whole Truth necessary to Salvation because our Saviour hath promised the gates of hell shall not prevail against it That is the Church shall be perpetual which it cannot be unless it hold the Truth intirely it is joyned to Christ its Head. And thus one of their own Cardinals (b) 〈…〉 de 〈◊〉 L. II. c. 〈◊〉 L. III. 〈◊〉 understood the Infallibility of the Church with which they now make so much noise When we say The Church cannot err in Faith or Manners it must be thus taken according to the Doctrine of the Fathers that God doth so assist his Church to the end of the World that the true Faith shall never fail out of the same For to the World's end there shall be no time wherein some though all shall not have true Faith working by Love. Unto this exposition we heartily submit but that the present Church of Rome or indeed any other particular Church cannot degenerate and depart from the right Faith we can by no means allow but think our selves bound by the most sacred tyes to oppose these arrogant pretences that the Church is Infallible and that they are the Church They are no more the Church than any other company of Men professing the Christian Faith nor so much neither for there are truer Believers than they I have proved also that other Churches have erred and therefore so may they nay they have erred and that so grosly as to be able by no other means to maintain their errors but by pretending they cannot err And therefore let no Man be so forgetful of these things as to trust them to be his Guides fancying they cannot mislead him They have misled those that rely upon them and have led them into a maze or labyrinth in which it is impossible for them to find their way and know what is the Truth For if we should grant them their Church cannot err they are not agreed nor ever will what they mean by the Church Whether the whole body of Christian People which is the new Heresie among them as some of themselves call it or a General Council which the learnedst and best Men among them maintain or the Pope who hath a great many on his side but they cannot agree about the manner of his definition whether alone or in a General Council nor about the time whether at any time or only when he resolves to publish Doctrines as matter of Faith nor about the matter whether all things even matters of fact or only matters of Faith and after all no body can tell when there is a true Pope So that all their Faith falls to the Ground and they cannot be certain of any thing they believe because they cannot be certain of the very Ground and Foundation of their Faith which is their Church These things I have only briefly toucht which are more largely handled in other Books that the Readers may be sensible how happy they are who are freed from these Impostures And that our People may know their duty in this Church of England whereof by the Grace of God they are Members I shall conclude this Treatise with Six Considerations more whereby the whole I hope will be made more useful I. First I desire every one to consider from what I have said that this Church in which we are is certainly as much a Pillar and Ground of Truth as any other nay more than many other Churches For we openly profess and recite twice a day in our own Language that every one may understand it the whole Christian Faith comprised in the Apostles Creed with the explication of some part of this Faith by the Nicene Fathers once every week or more and a more distinct Explication of the same Articles by Athanasius once a month That is we hold and assert and maintain all those things which have always been and are confessed by all Christians the True Ancient Catholique and Apostolique Faith and the Holy Scriptures wherein this Faith is Originally contained And if we knew any thing else to be the mind of God delivered to us from Christ and his Apostles by the Universal Church we are prepared to receive it and did it appear would immediately embrace and propagate it But the Vniversal Church as I have shown hath declared this to be sufficient nay full and perfect and moreover forbidden any other Faith to be either composed or offered to those who would become Christians To all which that I have said in the First Part this memorable saying of Pope Leo (c) Epist ad Pulcheriam Augustam the Great may be added The short and perfect Confession of the Catholique Symbol or Creed it self which is sealed in as many sentences as there were Apostles i. e. XII Articles is so instructed with Caelestial munition or defence that all the opinions of Hereticks with this Sword alone may be cut in pieces II. And therefore Secondly every one of us is bound â—nless we will betray our trust and as we will answer it to our Lord Christ the Author of our Faith to hold fast this Faith to preserve it intire and to defend it not suffering any of it to be lost or any addition to be made to it as if this were not sufficient to Salvation Take fast hold of instruction of those great substantial unquestionable Truths mentioned in the beginning let them not go keep them for they are your life as Solomon speaks of Wisdom IV. Prov. 13. They are the Wisdom of God our Saviour the Rule which the Apostles preached equally among all Nations as Venantius Fortunatus (d) Praefat. in Symbol speaks the comprehension and perfection of our Faith as S. Austin (e) Sâ—rm CXV de Teâ—p or an Ancient Author under his name the Test as I have shown and Mark whereby the Faithful are distinguisht from Unbelievers and Hereticks And having this Note of a Christian you ought neither to seek for nor to admit of any other being indued
shows that the Ancient Christians lookt upon the Church as the Pillar and Ground of Truth no other ways but as it professes preaches establishes and keeps up the Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles recorded in the Holy Scriptures unto all which they indifferently apply these words of S. Paul which are thought immediately to speak of the Church which supports the Truth delivered in the Holy Scriptures from Christ and from his Apostles Upon which account the Creed also which is a comprehensive breviary of the great Scripture Doctrines is wont to have the same attribute given to it Particularly by Epiphanius (m) In Exposit fidei Cathol n. 19. who calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pillar as the Greek word signifies in good Authors or prop of Truth c. our life our hope and the assurance of immortality And by S. Austin (n) De Symbolo ad Catechum L. III. C. 1. who tells the Catechumens in his Exposition of the Creed to them that it is fidei Catholicae fundamentum c. the Foundation of the Catholique Faith upon which the edifice of the Church arose built by the hands of the Apostles and Prophets Which hath made some learned Men (o) Jo. Camer Jac. Capellus refer these words of S. Paul not to what goes before but to the words following making a full stop at God and then beginning a new sentence in this manner The Pillar and Ground of the Truth and without Controversie great is the mystery of godliness c. which reading is countenanced by a Greek Edition of the New Testament at Basil 1540. where the words are so pointed as if the sence were this God incarnate and the great Truths depending thereupon ought to be the very Foundation of the Doctrine thou preachest The Doctrines of the Creed that is are the very Foundation and Pillars of the Christian Faith as the Jews it is known call the great principle of their Religion the Foundation of the Foundation the Pillar of Wisdom as Maimon speaks when he treats of this matter Stick close therefore to the Holy Scriptures and to these Articles of the Faith in the Apostles Creed which are the fundamental truths of Christianity it appears by what I have now said by which the Church maintains and defends the Truth and the Truth upholds the Church and we defend both Hold this fast as the ground of all and likewise lay up the word of God in your heart that it may setle there and take root and bring forth fruit unto Holiness that your end may be everlasting Life Make the Holy Scriptures your Rule and trust to them according to what the Son of Sirach saith of its ancient Books Ecclus XXXIII 3. A Man of understanding trusts in the Law and the Law is faithful to him as an Oracle or as the asking of Vrim That is here he may enquire and have a certain answer which will not deceive him Show your selves such Men of understanding as to enquire no where else And if any Church or Person would have you enquire of them only take that for an undoubted proof they are not to be trusted If they would not guide you by the Holy Scriptures that is by Christ the way as you have seen who hath shown us no where else that we know of what we ought to believe if they would have you follow their ungrounded Traditions whereby they would inlarge your Creed beyond the ancient bounds know that you ought not to follow them nor be led by them For such may soon cease to be the pillars and supporters of the Truth because they leave that whereby they should support it and place themselves whom they call the Church in the stead of it An evident sign they are not what they pretend for the Church it self ought to be demonstrated by the Scriptures So S. Austin (p) L. de Vnitate Ecclesiae cap. XVI tells the Donatists in those known words which are worthy to be preserved in remembrance Setting aside all such things as these which he had said they could likewise alledge let them demonstrate their Church if they can not in the discourses and rumours of the Africans not in the Councils of their Bishops not in the Letters of any disputers whatsoever not in signs and fallacious wonders for we are prepared and rendred cautious against these by the word of the Lord but in the prescript of the Law in the predictions of the Prophets in the Songs of the Psalms in the words of the SHEPHERD himself i. e. Christ in the preachings and labours of the Evangelists that is in all the Canonical authorities of the holy Books Let this be done so as not to gather and relate those things which are obscurely or ambiguously or figuratively spoken there which every one may interpret as he pleases according to his own sense For such things cannot be rightly understood and expounded unless those things which are most clearly spoken be first held by a firm Faith. This is the very sense of the Church of England which teaches all her members first to hold by a firm Faith those things which are clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures and by them to understand and expound those things that are more obscurely delivered believing nothing to be necessary which is not read therein nor may be proved thereby nor receiving the Doctrines and Decrees of any Church unless it may be declared that they be taken from thence For haec sunt causae nostrae documenta haec fundamenta haec firmamenta as he there speaks you heard before These are the proofs of our Cause these are its foundations these are its supports And therefore as he also speaks in another Chapter of the same Book (q) Cap. III. de Vnitate Ecclesiae which he begins thus Let us not hear such speeches as these These things say I Those things sayest thou but let us hear These things saith the LORD These are certainly Books of the Lord to whose authority we both consent we both believe we both obey There let us seek the Church there let us discuss our Cause And let us not so much as think of looking after any other Articles of Faith but those which were from the beginning which our Church firmly believes in the three Creeds Nice-Creed Athanasius and that commonly called the Apostles (r) Article VIII because they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture For after the Faith confessed and sworn in Baptism as S. Hilary (ſ) Ad Constantium August speaks we ought not quicquam aliud vel ambigere vel innovare either to doubt or innovate any other thing It is absurd that is to doubt whether this be sufficient or to add any other to it as if this were not enough So he interprets it a little after Faith is still inquired after as if there were no Faith already Faith is to be written as if it were not in the
of them to nurse Men up securely in their sins such as the Doctrines of Purgatory of Indulgences of Penances and to name to more of Infallibility which being presumed as an unquestionable Principle is apt to lead Men in the most dangerous errors and the foulest sins without any remedy or possibility of recovery whensoever the Infallible Guide shall propound them This pernicious Doctrine I may add seems also to be deeply rooted in all their minds that an Orthodox Belief will save them For this they make the great business of Christianity to bring Men as they think to such a Faith as appears by this that let Men be never so bad their labour is not bestowed to make them quit their Sins but to bring them to their Belief where for any thing I can see or hear they may quietly enjoy them Nay there are a number of little devices to put them in hope of Heaven without reforming their lives provided they Believe as the Church Believes And in this let me beseech all that read these Papers to take a special care that they do not imitate them Let us be watchful that we do not put a greater Cheat upon our selves than they would do by imagining our selves good Christians meerly because we Zealously oppose the Errors of Popery That we ought to do but not leave the great Thing the amending of our Lives undone For may we not destroy and pull down by a wicked life as much as we build up by contending for the Faith How can others think that we are so much concerned as we seem to be for Truth when we make no use of it but let it lie dead in our minds What pitty is it that their hearts should not love that which is good whose minds are inlightned to discern that which is true That their understandings being convinced their wills should not also be converted It is a lamentable thing to profess that we know God but in our Works deny him This makes us look as if we were of a Faction rather than of the Faithful who oppose others rather as our Enemies than as Christ's as those that differ from us rather than as those that differ from the Truth For if it be the Truth that we Reverence why do we not let it Rule and Govern us Why do we not love to have it nearer to us than in our Brains even in our Hearts and Affections For there is no greater Truth than this that Vngodliness is the worst of Heresies a wicked life the most opposite of all other things to the Christian Faith. Let us never forget therefore that Admonition of the Apostle in the First Chapter of this Epistle to Timothy v. 19. Hold faith and a good conscience which he repeats again in the Third Chapter to the Deacons whom he exhorts to hold the mystery of saith in a pure conscience v. 9. For if we put away a good conscience we may easily make Shipwrack even of our faith Which we have just cause to think is the reason why some have fallen from this truly Apostolick Church of ours Concerning which and concerning whom I may say as Epiphanius (t) Haeres XI 〈◊〉 8. putting this place I have been expounding and some others together makes the Apostle speak to Timothy It is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth which many forsaking are turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fables and foolish bablings neither understanding what they say nor whereof they affirm FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswell THE History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. in two Volumes Folio The Moderation of the Church of England in her Reformation in avoiding all undue Compliances with Popery and other sorts of Phanaticism c. by TIMOTHY PVLLER D. D. Octavo A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sers By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. Octavo An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure Footing in Christianity concerning the Rule of Faith With some other Discourses By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. 4o. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Answer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders By GILBERT BVRNET D. D. Octavo An Abridgment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILB BVRNET D. D. Octavo The APOLOGY of the Church of England and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio a Venetian Gentleman concerning the Council of Trent Written both in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN JEWEL Lord Bishop of Salisbury Made English by a Person of Quality To which is added The Life of the said Bishop Collected and written by the same Hand Octavo A LETTER writ by the last Assembly General of the Clergy of France to the Protestants inviting them to return to their Communion Together with the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction Translated into English and Examined by GILB BVRNET D. D. Octavo The Life of WILLIAM BEDEL D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with Certain Letters which passed betwixt him and James Waddesworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition of Sevil in Matter of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience Octavo The Decree made at ROME the Second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Jesuits and other Casuists Quarto A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Quarto First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Desence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the CHVRCH of ENGLAND against the EXCEPTIONS of Monsieur de MEAVK late Bishop of Condom and his VINDICATOR Quarto An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in Matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Answer to SOME LATE PAPERS concerning the Unity and Authority of the Catholick Church and Reformation of the Church of England Quarto An Historical Treatise written by an AUTHOR of the Communion of the CHVRCH of ROME touching TRANSVBSTANTIATION Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of THAT CHVRCH This Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith. Quarto A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome with an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England Octavo A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented Being an Answer to the First Second Firth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Popish Representer and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM truly reprsenting the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome Quarto In 3. Discourses The Lay-Christian's Obligations to read the Holy Scriptures Quarto The Plain Man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 24o. The Protestant's Companion Or an Impartial Survey and Comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewn that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that Proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves Quarto A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host In Answer to the two Discourses lately printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is prefixed a large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Quarto The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his First Epistle to Timothy Chap. III. Vers 15. Quarto A Brief Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church with some reflections on Cardinal Bellarmin's Fifteen Notes Quarto An Examination of the Cardinal's First Note concerning The Name of Catholick His Second Note Antiquity His Third Note Duration His Fourth Note Amplitude or Multitude and variety of Believers His Fifth Note The Succession of Bishops His Sixth Note Agreement in Doctrine with the Primitive Church His Seventh Note Vnion of the Members among themselves and with the Head The rest will be published Weekly in their Order A Defence of the Confuter of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church Antiquity against the Cavills of the Adviser Quarto In the Press THE Peoples Right to read the Holy Scriptures asserted In Answer to the 6th 7th 8th 9th and 10th Chapters of the Popish Representer Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead Quarto A Short Summary of the Principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome Being a Vindication or several Prâ—testant Doctrines in Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs FINIS
de Trin. I beseech thee preserve this undefiled Religion of my Faith and grant me this voyce of my Conscience to the last breath that what I professed in the Symbol of my Regeneration being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost I may always obtain viz. I may adore thee our Father and thy Son together with thee and do honour to thy Holy Spirit who is of thee by thine only begotten For he is a sufficient witness to Faith who said Father all mine are thine and thine are mine my Lord Jesus Christ who remains in thee and from thee and with thee always God who is blessed for ever and ever Which I the rather mention because it serves to illustrate the prudence and charity of S. Austin and the rest of the Christian Bishops of those days who though they looked upon the Donatists as Hereticks in denying the Church to be Catholique by confining it to themselves yet distinguished them from such Hereticks as erred in the prime and most Fundamental truths of our Religion about the Divinity and the Incarnation of our Christ and such like That is they made a difference even in the Articles of Faith and lookt upon some as more Fundamental than others being of more importance and of greater weight and moment and therefore judged more mildly of them than they did of such as denyed the Holy Trinity or held any Doctrines which impeached the glory of the Father or of the Son or of the Holy Ghost And therefore they still called these Donatists Brethren they pitied them as Men seduced by their Guides and professed sincere love and affection to them whether they accepted it or no. Though such was the peevishness of that Sect that they abused this charity of good Catholique Christians towards them just as they of the Church of Rome do our charity now For from thence they took occasion to argue that they were in the right even by the Concessions of their Adversaries which justified both them and their heretical Schism For you said they (m) August L. 2. contra lit Petiliavi cap. ult can find no faults in our baptism nor consequently in our Faith into which we baptize for if you could you would baptize those over again who come from us to you as we baptize those again who come from you to us Which is as much as to say you allow there is a Church and Salvation among us but we allow no Church no Salvation among you therefore it is safest for all to joyn with us not with you Which is the very Charm whereby they of the Church of Rome endeavour now to work upon the spirits of simple people among us though no wiser than this argument of a company of mad men would be if they had so much cunningremaining as to say to us we deny you to be Men but you allow us to be Men therefore we are fit for all Mens society not you who are but a herd of Beasts And what S. Austin answers to the Donatists is a full answer to the present Romanists which is this in short (n) L. 1. de Baptisino contraâ— Donatistas C. X. for it is besides my business to do more than mention these things when we speak favourably of you it is for the sake of What you have of ours not for what you have of your own let that which you have of ours be set aside and we approve of nothing at all among you But I will not further enlarge upon this nor say much of the next which is very plain V. They therefore who condemn those as Hereticks who Excommunicate them and pronounce Anathema's against them that believe the whole Catholique Faith are the great disturbers of the Christian World and the true cause of the Divisions and breaches that are in the Body of Christ And who they are that do thus is visible to every eye the Church of Rome having thought fit not to rest satisfied with the simplicity of those often mentioned Catholique fundamental Truths which are without Controversie and unquestionable but as if that Faith which the old Christians thought compleat they take to be defective have adjoyned as many more nâ—w Articles to the old body and that under the pain of damnation if we do not believe them I have told you what they are and if you look them over again you will find that upon those have all the Contests risen between us and them The necessary fundamental Truths which constitute the Church which was built upon no other for many Ages are on both sides unquestioned but because we question or rather deny those which they would impose which we are certain are no part of the Christian Doctrine they call us Hereticks That is because we will not yield Obedience to their usurpt authority because we cannot believe their new inventions to be Catholique and fundamental Doctrines Here is the true reason of all the miserable ruptures that are in this part of the World nay this is the just grievance and complaint of all Christians who know any thing of these matters but themselves alone VI. And their guilt is herein the greater because the best learned among themselves have confessed these Additions to the Creed to be doubtful opinions unnecessary and superfluous Doctrines Novelties unknown to the ancient Church Concerning every one of which three things our Authors have given the clearest evidence 1. The first of them the doubtfulness of those Doctrines appears in this that there is not only variety but contrariety of judgment about them in their own Church which argues plainly great perplexity and uncertainty Of which there needs no other proof as Doctor Potter (o) Answer to Charity mistaken p. 69. observes but the famous Books of Bellarmine who in the entrance upon every Question there stated gives an account of the Contentions and Contradictions of those who have-written upon it among themselves And at this day they are not better agreed in the Explication of several Points in difference between us See the late Answer to the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition of Faith. particularly about the Worship given to Images and the Invocation of Saints which some of their greatest Doctors mollifie and sweeten as they do other points into downright Heresie as such Explications are accounted by others 2. The very same may be clearly shewn out of their own Authors and hath been demonstrated by our Divines concerning the Second thing that those Doctrines are not necessary but superfluous For the Roman Catechism (p) Praefat. Sâ—ct 12. it self having observed that their Ancestors had most wisely distributed all that belongs to saving Doctrine into these four heads for the help of the Peoples understanding and memory the Apostles Creed the Sacraments the Decalogue and the Lord's Prayer immediately confess concerning the first that all things which are to be held by the Discipline of the Christian Faith whether
Age wrote an Epistle to the Philippians wherein they that had a mind and took care of their salvation L. III. Cap. 3.4 Euseb Hist L. IV. c. 14. might learn the character of his Faith and the Doctrine of Truth which was the very same as Irenaeus relates in the forenamed Chapter with that set down by him which he calls that one and only Truth which he received from the Apostles and delivered to the Church And what they taught in Asia and Irenaeus in France that Tertullian in the latter end of the same Age taught in Africk that there is but one only immoveable irreformable Rule of Faith (h) L. de Velandis Virg. C. 1. that is there is no other form of believing but this as de la Cerda honestly interprets the word irreformabilis in one God Almighty the Creator of the World and in his Son Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary crucified under Pontius Pilate raised the third day from the dead received up into Heaven and sitting now at the right hand of the Father and shall come to judge the quick and the dead by the resurrection also of the Flesh This he calls in that place the Law of Faith which he sets down in more words in another Book where he Prefaces to it by this remarkable proposition as he calls it (i) L. de praescription c. 9. that there is one and the same certain Doctrine instituted by Christ which all people ought to believe and consequently to seek that when they have found it they may believe Now the inquisition of one certain appointment cannot be infinite which is an incouragement to seek till one find and believe when he hath found because there remains saith he Nothing more but to preserve and keep what thou hast believed For thou believest this also that there is nothing else to be believed And therefore no further inquiry to be made when thou hast found and believed that which was appointed by him who did not command thee to enquire after any thing but what he appointed Upon which principle having a little further enlarged he proceeds to lay down the (k) Ib. Chap. XIII Rule of Faith that one certain appointment which if one believe there is nothing else to be believed whereby we believe there is one God alone and no other but the Creator of the World who made all things of nothing by his Word emitted before all things That Word called his Son seen variously in the name of GOD by the Patriarchs heard in the Prophets and at last brought down by the Spirit and power of God the Father into the Virgin Mary made flesh in her Womb and born of her became Jesus Christ and thereupon preached the new Law and the new promise of the Kingdom of Heaven wrought miracles was crucified rose the third day was taken up into Heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father sent the vicarious power of the Holy Spirit who works in believers shall come in glory to take holy persons to the enjoyment of eternal Life and the celestial promises and to condemn the prophane to everlasting fire both parties being raised up again with the restoring of the flesh This is the Rule about which he there saith there are no questions the Rule in which Faith intirely consists that Faith which will save a Man unto which curiosity ought to yeild for to know nothing against the Rule is to know all things And beyond this Rule he there expresly argues (l) Ib. Cap. X. XIV Vbi enim erit finis quaerendi Vbi statio creaendi c. there is nothing to be believed for if we still be to seek for Faith where shall we rest Where shall we make an end of seeking Where shall we make a stand and stay our believing Or where shall a full st p be put to finding And that this was the constant Doctrine of those times and places it appears from hence that as Irenaeus often repeats this Rule and this alone so doth he a third time insist upon this even after he became a Montanist as the only Rule that had run down to their times from the beginning of the Gospel which he had always professed and now much more being more fully as he fancied instructed by the Paraclete the leader into all Truth Who durst not it seems though he pretended to Revelations adventure to alter this Rule which Tertullian recites again (m) Adv. Praxeam Cap. 2. in the same terms without any inlargements as he had done in his former Books And thereby satisfies us that he did not casually make this the Rule of Faith but that it was his constant sense which though he do not express in the very same words and syllables it only shows they had no other sense but this in their minds And as Vigilius (n) L. IV. adv Entychiâ—nos speaks about this very matter nec praejudicant verba ubi sensus incolumis permanet the words do not make a wrong opinion where the sense remains safe and sound Which may be applied to all the forms of belief which were in the Church of Rome of Aquileia and in the Churches of the East before the great Council of Nice none of which differ in sense though in some words they do nor have one Article of Faith more than the Creed now contains which Tertullian (o) Apolog. Cap. 47. once more calls the Rule of Truth which comes transmitted from Christ by his companions or Apostles and in another place most significantly that ONE EDICT of GOD which hangs up as the Edicts of the Emperor did in a Table to be read by all (p) De Resurrect Carnis Cap. 18. Nor was there any other Faith in the next Age to this in the third Century as we may be satisfied from Origen who in his Preface to his Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinking it necessary first to lay down a certain line and manifest rule by which to inquire concerning other things and having distinguished between things necessary to be believed and those which are not necessary he gives the summ of those things which were manifestly delivered by the Apostolical Preaching and it is nothing else but the present Creed about which he saith there is one sense of the whole Church And in his first Book against Celsus who said the Christian Religion was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a clancular Doctrine which they hid and concealed he avows that the Christian Doctrine was as well known in the World as the Opinions of Philosophers For who doth not know that we believe Jesus was born of a Virgin was crucified rose again from the Dead will come to Judgment and punish Sinners and reward the Righteous according to their Deeds Nay the Mystery of the future Resurrection is divulged though laught at by unbelievers These were the great things which were commonly taught and all obliged to believe as for others which were not
common the Philosophers he tells him had their abstruse Doctrines as well as Christians To this purpose we meet with a notable passage in Epiphanius in the succeeding Age which shows that the substance of the Christian Faith concerning our Saviour was commonly known even by those who did not profess it and understood to be this which Origen mentions For a Jew coming to see an eminent Man of his Nation who was sick whispered this in his Ear when they despaired of his life * Hares XXX n. 9. Believe in Jesus who was crucified under Pontius Pilate the Governor being the Son of GOD and afterward born of Mary the Christ of GOD and raised from the dead and that He shall come to judge the quick and the dead S. Cyprian (o) Epist ad Magnum de bapt Novat edit Rig. p. 152. also plainly shows there was no other Faith in his Church when he answers those who said the Novatians held the same Law that the Catholick Church held and baptized into the same Creed believing the same God the Father the same Christ the Son the same Holy Ghost that this would not avail them for Chore and Dathan and Abiram believed the same God with Moses and Aaron and besides they did not believe remission of sins and eternal life by the holy Church since they had left the Church Lucianus also a famous Presbyter of the Church of Antioch and a Martyr for the Faith of Christ left a form of believing written with his own hand * Sozomen L. III. c. 5. if we may believe the Bishops assembled at Antioch who sent it about in the time of the Arian Controversie to prove they were none of his followers but held 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faith which had been set forth from the beginning and it is this as Socrates reports it (q) L. II. Eccles Hist c. 10. We have learnt from the beginning to believe in one God of the whole World the maker and preserver of all things intelligible and sensible and in one Only begotten Son of God subsisting before all Worlds and being together with the Father who begot him by whom all things were made whether visible or invisible who in the last days came down by the good pleasure of the Father and took flesh of the Holy Virgin and having fulfilled the whole Will of his Father suffered and rose again and returned to Heaven and sitteth at the right Hand of the Father and shall come to judge the quick and dead and remaineth King and God for ever And if it be needful to add it we believe the Resurrection of the flesh and life everlasting I will not trouble the Reader with a larger Creed of theirs which there follows more fully explaining the Doctrine of the Trinity because it belongs to the following Age Cent. IV. In which it is known the Nicene Fathers met to settle the Controversie about the Son of God but did not make any new Creed or add one Article to what had been believed before but only explain'd one Article the sense of which the Arians perverted No they were so far from inlarging the Christian Faith that when they met together they recited no other Creed but that of the Apostles as Laurentius Valla affirms he had read in some ancient Books of Isidore who collected the Canons of old Councils And accordingly when they had drawn up that Creed which they published they did not think they had made the least change in the matter of Faith but declared that this (r) Epiphanius in Anchorat was the Creed delivered by the Holy Apostles Which S. Ambrose (s) Serm. 38. Hieron Epist ad Pammach in that Age calls clavem the key S. Hierom indicium the mark or sign of Faith in which after the confession of the Trinity and of the Vnity of the Church the whole Mystery of the Christian Religion is concluded in the Resurrection of the flesh And which Greg. Nazianzen in his second Letter to Cledonius calls * Orat. L. II. beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a short boundary and rule of our sense or judgment i. e. of the Faith of Christians S. Austin especially in a great number of places declares that this is the only Faith required to make a Man a Christian Particularly in his (t) L. de Fid Symbolo Tom. III. Book he wrote on purpose about this matter which he begins thus Since the just live by Faith the greater care must be taken that Faith be not corrupted and then adds Now the Catholique Faith is made known to the faithful in the Creed Which having explained he concludes his Book in these words which few words are known to the faithful that believing they may be subdued to God and being brought under his Yoke may live aright and living aright may cleanse their Heart and their Heart being cleansed they may understand what they believe In like manner before he begins the Explication of the Book of Genesis (u) De Genesi ad literam L. imperfectius he sets down what the Catholique Faith is because Hereticks were wont to draw the Scriptures to their own sense against the Catholique Faith. And the Catholique Faith by which he considers all things is nothing else but that in the Nicene Creed beginning with the belief of God the Father Almighty and concluding with the belief of eternal Life and the promise of the heavenly Kingdom Which is agreeable to the direction he gives to others in his Book of Christian Doctrine (x) L. III. c. 2. that in all ambiguous things the rule of Faith be consulted lest any sense that is contrary thereunto be admitted Which he elsewhere saith * Epist LVII is the rule of Faith common to little and great in the Church It is needless to add any more out of that Father and I shall but briefly mention the Creed of Pope Damasus in the same Age among S. Hierom's Works †Tom. IV. which is only a confession of the blessed Trinity with the rest of the Articles concerning the Conception Birth Death Resurrection Ascension Exaltation and coming again of our blessed Saviour to raise us from the Dead and to give to every Man according to his works concluding with these observable words Read these things believe these things retain these things subjugate thy Soul to this belief and thou shalt obtain life and reward from Christ But the words of the great Athanasius alone are sufficient to this purpose in the Letter which he and the Bishops with him sent to the Emperor Jovinian (z) Tom. I. pag. 245. 〈…〉 where they tell him the Faith confessed by the Nicene Fathers is that which was preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the very beginning unto which all the Churches every where consent whether they be in Spain or Britain or France or all Italy with those in Dalmatia Dacia Mysia Macedonia and all Greece all Africk Sardinia