the World The Bishops of Rome then lineally descending from St. Peter have the same Pastoral Authority devolv'd on them by Divine Sanction which St. Peter had over the Church they succeeding him in all those prerogatives which are ordinary and belonging to him as Supreme Bishop for the Government of the Church for eadem Antecessoris Successoris ratio in alicujus maneris obeundi ratione so that Pastoral Praefecture which St. Peter was invested in after his Death passed to his Successor by him handed to the next from him transmitted to the following c. and so by a perpetual descendency embalm'd and convey'd to this present Bishop as being Ordinary successive and indefectible and correspondently I find Eusebius in his Catalogue of Roman Bishops having ranked St. Peter in the Van under the Title of Christianorum Pontifex Primus to reckon Linus for the Second and the rest in their order to Sylvester his Synchronist the one and thirtieth Pope from St. Peter this Catalogue was continued by St. Hierom to Damasus the thirty fifth from St. Peter The Popes of Rome then succeeding St. Peter in the Pontificate are Jure Successionis Heirs to the Sacerdotal Power and Dignities which belonged to St. Peter's Sacred Function as he was Pontifex Christianorum it being but rational that those Supreme Pontificial Royalties which St. Peter for the good of the Universal Church was inrob'd in should still reside in his Successors for the keeping all subordinate Pastors in their duty and for the prevention of Schism which will of necessity arise where there is no Coercive Compulsory Power to quash it Thus in the Old Law there was a Sacerdotal Succession of High-Priests and Aaron who was the Head of the Levitical as St. Peter was the Head of the Christian Hierarchy was succeeded by Eleazer and he by Phineas c. and the Authority which Aaron and his Children was invested with died not with 'em but was propagated to the succeding High-Priests CHAP. II. Concerning Schism and whether the Roman or English Church be guilty of it THE next thing you observe and seem to mislike is my skipping over that part of your Papers which treated of Schism I must confess I did decline handling it being unwilling to enter into so large a Field of Matter and so I am still but because you urge and remind me and seem so fond of what you wrote on that Point as to take it ill that I made a Preterition of it I shall now supply what I omitted then for I perceive it is your temper to imagine what I did not answer to be unanswerable It cannot but be as pleasant to hear you declaim against Schism as to have heard Verres inveighing against Theft or the Gracchi against Sedition You are pleas'd to call it Damnable Schism the Epithet was very proper and now look about you and strictly examine whether like David in his Parly with Nathan you have not through anothers side imprudently transfix'd your self by being found guilty of that Crime you have so severely condemn'd in another I perceive you make use of all your Artifice for your compurgation but all is but fucous and elusive your actual Separation having too much evidence to be deny'd and too much atrocity to be defended I shall now as summarily as I can contract what you write on this Subject and then shape my Reply to it Having defin'd Schism to be a voluntary departure from the Catholick Church you divide it into Paternal and Fraternal the former you say is a renuntiation of Obedience and Communion to and with our Ecclesiastick Governors the latter you term to be a Causless Division of one particular true Church from another then you say your Church is not guilty of Paternal Schism because you perform Obedience to Christ and his Apostles observing all their Rules and Ordinances left in the Scripture then you pay Reverence to the Fathers of the Church and own the Four first General Councils and are willing the differences 'twixt your and other Churches should be decided by their Umperage This you judge sufficient to clear you from Paternal Schism As for Fraternal you very fairly clear your Church of that because you give the Right-hand of Fellowship to so many Churches and Christians in the World Having as you fancy acquitted your Church you bring in your Indictment against the Church of Rome accusing her as notoriously guilty of Schism in both respects First of Paternal by many Doctrines and Practices contrary to the commands of Christ and his Apostles and of the Antient Church such as are Image-worship Transubstantiation c. Then you say she is guilty of Fraternal Schism by her renouncing Communion with all Churches not in subjecton to her denouncing all damn'd who submit not to her by sending Emissaries into all the World labouring to make a Spiritual Conquest of all other Churches c. These things prove the Church of Rome you say guilty of Schism in both acceptations This is a short abridgment of what you write about Schism which I design to answer as soon as I shall have premis'd something concerning the Nature and Danger of that Sin Schism do's essentially consist in deserting the External Communion of Christs Visible Church 't is a most heinous sin as tending to the destruction of Christ's Mystical Body whose Essence consists in the Union of all its substantial parts its ruine in their Division 't is a cutting Christ's Seamless Garment into Shreds as St. Chrysost affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What the bold Souldiers dar'd not to do the Audacious Schismatick performs This sin is of that Malignancy that neither rectitude of Faith nor a Vertuous Life nor Good Works can attone nay Martyrdom it self according to St. Cyprian cannot expiate it Macula ista nec Sanguine abluitur inexpiabilis gravis culpa discordiae nec passione purgatur St. Chrysost says of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing is worse August cont Parmen Lib. 2. says Non esse quicquam gravius Sacrilegio Schismatis The Devil seeing his Idols demolish'd and his Temples deserted by the planting of Christianity found out this Sin out of black Revenge Excogitavit novam fraudem ut sub ipso nominis Christiani titulo fallat incautos haereses invenit Schismata quibus fidem subverteret veritatem corrumperet scinderet unitatem rapit de ecclesia homines says Cyprian in his Book De Vnit Eccles How lucky this Stratagem has been to him the many Rents and Fractions amongst Christians can attest I shall now examine whether the Roman or the Protestant Church be guilty of this damnable Crime and herein I shall regulate my Discourse according to the Definition you have made of it namely That it is a voluntary departure from the Catholick Church and this being an evident Matter of Fact it will be easie to determine which forsook the External Commuion of the Visible Church That the Church of England in the beginning of the Reign of Henry the Eighth agreed with the Church of Rome and all other Churches in her Communion concerning Faith and Doctrine is undeniable That at his coming to the Crown there was an Actual Church Government
Baptism and the Creed c. In ipsa Ecclesiâ Catholicâ non estis They believ'd more than what you esteem as Fundamental yet were out of the Pale of the Catholick Church In this Church is Unity of Faith Harmony in Doctrine Conformity in Administration of the Sacraments Uniformity in her Liturgy and Ceremonies all the World over To distinguish this Church from all Heretical Sects the Apostles in their Creed the Antient Fathers in their Writings gave her the Sir-name of Catholick This very name seem'd so emphatical to St. Austin that he reckons it as a principal reason next to the Succession of Popes from St. Peter that kept him in the true Church Cont. Epist Manichaei Tenet ipsum Catholicae nomen quod non sine causa inter tam multas Haereses sic ipsa Ecclesia sola obtinuit ut cum omnes Haeretici se Catholicos dici velint Quaerenti tamen peregrino alicui ubi ad Catholicam conveniatur nullus Haereticorum vel Basilicam suam vel domum audeat ostendere From this place you may evidently see That it was the humor of the Hereticks of those Days as well as it is now to affect the Title of Catholick but this was but an usurpation in them and so 't is with you He says the Greeks call'd this Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod per torum orbem terrarum diffunditur And according to this sense it is true Hereticks may be called Catholicks for they are disseminated all over the World But in his Fourth Book against Cresconius he makes this distinction betwixt a Real Catholick and an Heretical one Catholicks says he are the same every where and Hereticks are different Hence 't is that a Lutheran will not Communicate with a Greek nor a Greek with a Lutheran nor a Calvinist with a Muscovite nor an Anabaptist with an Armenian or an Hugonot with a Georgian vice versa whereas a Catholick Communicates with a Catholick in any part of the World as Members of the same Body and as having the same Unity of Faith as Irenaeus affirms in his first Book C. 3. The Church spread over the whole World having receiv'd the true belief keeps it and practiseth it as if it dwelt but in one House and had but one Soul and Heart Neque hae quae in Germania sunt fundatae Ecclesiae aliter credunt neque hae quae in Iberis sunt neque hae quae in Celtis neque hae quae in Oriente Aegypto Lybia Thus it was at first when Christian Churches were united and untainted with Heresie for the Apostles taught the self same Doctrine wherever they went and all those various Churches seated in divers Kingdoms and Regions differed only in Situation not in Doctrine Hence from their Unity of Faith they may be called One Church as St. Chrysost in his Comments on first Corinth affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There ought to be but one Church in the World although it be divided into many places Now 't is evident that of all Orthodox Churches an Union of which constitutes the Catholick Rome as being the See of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles was the chief and upon that account though Hierusalem and Antioch were somewhat before her in time she was before them in Dignity Hence by Irenaeus she is called the Greatest and most Glorious by St. Cyprian the Principle Church and St. Austin says 't is Arrogancy to deny her the Primacy and that she had obtain'd the Primacy frustra Haereticis latrantibus Hence it is that by way of Eminency she is call'd the Catholick Church including all the latitude of her Communion of which she is the Center the Mother the Mistress the Radix Matrix Hence 't is that the Fathers promiscuously use Catholick and Roman as Synonima's as I shall hereafter demonstrate out of them CHAP. III. Concerning the Respect which Catholicks pay to Images I Shall next employ my self in taking a Prospect of those Points for maintaining which you would prove Rome notoriously guilty of Paternal Schism and this I do the more willingly because you stand highly guilty of a false Representing them The First is Image-Worship as you phrase it which you have improv'd and sublimated to that height as to make it pass for Idolatry This is done to render your selves acceptable and us odious to the Populace as Violators of the first Commandment 'T is but rendring Pesel which properly signifies Sculptile to be an Image and then boldly affirming us Idolators to bring all the places in Scripture and Fathers against the Idolatry of the Gentiles and the business is done But those places are indeed nothing to your purpose they only importing a Prohibition of giving Soveraign Honor due to God to an Idol whereas you are to prove out of Scripture That 't is unlawful to give a Relative Honor to the Picture of Christ for his sake But by this Action you do not only shew your self defamatory but ungrateful to the Roman Church which when this Nation lay really in the Pollutions of Idolatry took compassion of us and by planting the Gospel here rescu'd us from that Calamitous Condition This confounding Image-worship with Idolatry is certainly a most fraudulent and malitious Method they being quite different things the one is an Honorary Relative Respect to the thing represented which is Sacred But the other is a Worshipping a Creature an Idol a Devil or false God in some dark Representation giving it Divine Incommunicable Attributes and in the Imagination exercising supreme Devotion to it for to those Idols by Magical Conjuration they annexed an Evil Spirit to do Wonders and thereby to extort Divine Worship from the cheated People hence they are often call'd Gods as in the Fifth of Daniel they pray'd their Gods of Silver Brass Iron Wood Stone Now to ascribe this heinous Sin to the Catholick Church is highly injurious Idolatry being the blackest Sin a Church can be spotted with for it doth not only thereby cease to be a true Christian Church but it becomes worse than a Jewish Synagogue and I had rather turn Jew or Turk than Idolater There is no Question but that Idolatry is a sufficient excuse for any one to fall off from a Church that is tainted with it But if this were the reason of your falling off from Rome the pretence was malicious and forg'd and Mr. Thorndike who well knew what Idolatry was will tell you in his Just weight Cap. primo his Opinion herein whose words are these Should the Church of England declare that the change which we call Reformation is grounded upon this supposition I must then acknowledge that we are Schismaticks But I shall now make a short Discussion of this Point according to the Definition of the Council of Trent which I find to take all care imaginable to obviate any accusation herein the Words being as so many Characters to distinguish the respect paid to an Image from Idolatry First the
World c. But instead of accusing her for this had you not been of an ungrateful temper you might have taken a fair opportunity of thanking her for sending her Apostles to convert this Nation to Christianity when we lay in the impure Arms of Heathenism But why should you take offence at her sending persons to propagate the Gospel even to the Remotest and most Barbarous Countreys as long as you whilst they are in the midst of Persecutions and Martyrdoms enjoy the soft Embraces of a Wife and the affluence of United Livings CHAP. VII Concerning Protestants objecting Errors to the Church of Rome The Authors Apologie for himself His Advice to the Protestant Parson with some other Particulars HAving hitherto followed you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tracing the print of your Footsteps and in as succinct a manner as I could examin'd your Reasons to clear your Church of Schism and to derive that crime on Rome they have appear'd to me too infirm either to justifie the one or to cast the other As for your accusing her of Errors that being but suppos'd and not prov'd it imports nothing Your Proofs to evince her Doctrines erroneous must be as manifest as your Actual Schism and your Arguments to justify your Schism must not be conjectural or Probable but they must be as Ostensive and as Irresistable as that you made it Nay you must prove her guilty of Damnable Doctrines and that Salvation was not attainable in her Communion or else you can expect none out of it For to accuse the Church of Error and upon that account to depart from her is Inevitable Perdition without a return I know it was always customary with her Enemies to object unto her the want of Truth but this was done by Schismaticks as St. Austin well observ'd Hoc dicunt qui in Ecclesiâ non sunt Upon this false surmise they audaciously attempt the reforming of her Doctrines broaching new ones in opposition to them which is done to authenticate and justify their Secession This was antiently observ'd by St. Hierom. Nullum Schisma non sibi aliquam fingit Haeresim ut recte ab Ecclesiâ recessisse videatur First they separate and so become Schismaticks then they mint new Articles of Belief and so turn Hereticks one follows upon the Neck of the other for they never continue long disjoin'd Schism being a very fair step to Heresie and Generally a Harbinger to it Quis unquam Haereses instituit nisi qui se prius ab Ecclesiae Catholicae universitate antiquitatis consensione discreverit says Vinc. Lyrinensis I know that in this case Truth is the pretence tho' indeed it is Pride and Arrogance which makes Men give the preference to their own Private Opinions and which keeps them from submitting to the Decisions of the Church for had they really with a pure ardour affected Truth they had never gone out of her who is the Pillar of Truth out of which when once departed they must not expect a Pillar of Fire to Pilote them but foolish Fires and Spirits of Delusion to misguide them through all the Serpentine windings and Mazes of falsehood In ventre Ecclesiae veritas manet quisquis ab hoc ventre Ecclesiae fuerit separatus necesse est ut falso loquatur says St. August on Psalm 57. I am apt to believe that if you would but once disenchant your self from the Spells of your unhappy Education and with an Impartial Judgment take a serious view of the Doctrines of the Church as propos'd and explicated by her not as wrongfully represented by her Adversaries that all those little Mormo's and Spectres rais'd by an injurious description of her Articles which have hitherto frighted you would disappear and that you then would be so captivated as not to be able to resist the charms of her naked Truths The force of Education is certainly great and lays violent anticipations on the Judgment which misleads us in our Elections disposing us to reject or embrace things rather as they suit or jar with our first receptions and prepossessions than by their conformity to Truth Till these false Ideas be dislodg'd Truth can expect no Introduction but must stand excluded by Preconceptions When this difficulty is conquer'd you would do well to question the Integrity of those Authors who have wrote in defence of your New Religion who first imbued your undiscerning Minority with adulterate Tinctures and then you are to apply your self with an unprejudicate Mind to those Authors who have oppos'd them After this you must lay aside all thoughts of Secular Advantage No Sophister can be more fallacious than Interest This imposes on our yielding Temper bribes our Judgments and by secret Attractions draws us to the wrong This made Alexander so violently stand up for his Ephesian Goddess tho' a false Deity and accordingly the Pythonissa was a long time maintain'd tho' possess'd with an impure Spirit for the lucre that she acquir'd for her owners In the last place you are to divest your self of your Conceitedness and high Opinion of your self assuming Humble Thoughts Fancy not your self unfallible in your Explications of Scripture look on it as unbecoming and arrogant in you to censure the Doctrines of the Church and to oppose the Definitions of General Councils When you shall have conquered all these Impedimental Obstacles you will soon descry those Mists which have hitherto benighted your Understanding to retire then through a serene and disclouded Medium you will clearly see the verity of Catholick Doctrines and by Gods assistance implor'd embrace them Nullus pudor ad meliora transire Amb. Epist 31. But now finding you to plant your Artillery to play on me I must take some care to defend my self which I do not at all despond of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both Shields and Spears are in my Armory To guard my self and gall my Enemy First You profess your self heartily sorry that I own my self revolted from my Mother Church But your sorrow being grounded upon a mistake I beg of you to supersede it Quam pro me curam geris hanc precor optime pro me deponas for I have not forsaken the Mother Church but the Schismatical Daughter But pray how can your Church be the Mother Church which began but in Luthers days and consequently so young that she resembles an Infant rather than a grave Matron I must confess I cannot see her reckon'd either by Irenaeus amongst those Churches which he calls Maximae Antiquissimae or by Tertullian amongst those which he terms Matrices Originales whereas the Roman Church is of that Antiquity and Renown that the very Holy Ghost by the Pen of St. Paul celebrates her Faith and Fame Henry the Eighth before he had violated the pure Faith he first imbib'd in his Book against Luther will tell you which the World acknowledged for the Mother Church Negare non potest Lutherus quin omnis Ecclesia fidelium sacrosanctam sedem Romanam velut
and reconcile Differences rather than by abusive Expressions and false Representations to exasperate and widen them Think how ingenuous it would be in you who are so influential and leading to the rest of your Flock candidly to acknowledge your Errors having been convinc'd of them disabuse them of their false pre-occupations rescue them from the Chains of their Erroneous Education dispose them to a right conception of Catholick Doctrine Shed no more Cockle amongst 'em as knowing your self responsible for the pernicious Principles you infuse into them Teach them sound Catholick Verities gratifie their distempered Stomachs with no more unwholsome viands humour their prurient itching Ears with no more empty gingling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deluding their dainty Ears with the Magick of the Tongue When you have exerted your best endeavours herein you may with some ground hope for Remission from Propitious Heaven otherwise you may justly fear that those Darts which you have thrown against the Catholick Church should beat back and reverberate upon your self for as St. Basil observes in his Hom. of Envy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those Darts which are flung with violence if they light on any firm and obdurate Matter recoil upon him that threw them But I shall now decline things of this nature and return you my Thanks for the long Bedroll of Authors which you have recommended to me Jewel is the First and indeed you did well to place him in the Front as being most bold and frontless after him comes Whitaker Abbot Hall White Laud Hammond c. these you desire me to peruse not questioning but by an impartial reading of them I may be reduc'd from the strangers Lap into the Bosom of my True Chast Mother I shall not go about to extenuate the Credit of these Men but shall pay a just Deference and Respect both to their Quality and Parts But I shall not so overvalue them as to grant them the Prelation to the Catholick Church Councils and Fathers nay I shall not equalize them with Cardinal Bellarmine Perròn Baronius or multitudes of others in the Roman Communion I will grant you that they have wrote as well as possibly could be in your behalf and had your Case been desensible they had maintain'd it but it was their misfortune to be engag'd in a wrong Quarrel which they presuming to be true have bent all their endeavours and distended every Nerve to support Error and obscure Truth 'T is pleasant to observe how these cunning Fencing-Masters shift their Weapons when they fight against Sectaries in defence of Episcopacy one would swear they were perfect Catholicks Brandishing Glittering Weapons drawn from the Armory of Antiquity Tradition Practice of the Church Councils and Fathers but when they grapple with Catholicks the Case is altered Then Scripture is the only Rule Councils may err and the Church Apostatize and the Fathers guilty of mistakes making use of all the shifting evading ways imaginable to avoid the dint of the Argument But as soon as I came to understand the vast difference amongst them in their Disputings with Catholicks I did conclude their Case very bad Whitaker in his Answer to Campians Reasons appeals to the first Six hundred Years after Christ which Jewel likewise did in his Ostentatious crack at St. Paul's Cross but Dr. Humphrey in the Life of him do's much reprehend him for his bold appealing to the Fathers as if he had thereby spoil'd himself and his Church in giving the Catholicks too large scope Bishop Laud being sensible of Jewels rashness lops off very fairly Two hundred Years contracting the time to a narrower compass to the Fathers of the first Four hundred Years as appears in his Forty eighth Sect. The Protestants offer says he to be try'd by all the Antient Councils and Fathers of the Church within the first Four hundred years and somewhat further Dr. Hammond who I conceive to be much more Learned than the two foregoing finding Bishop Laud's Four hundred Years not to hold Water abates One hundred of them in his Eighth Chapter of Schism For the particular Doctrins saith he wherein we are affirm'd by the Romanists to depart from the Vnity of the Faith we make no doubt to approve our selves to any that will judge of the Apostolical Doctrins and Traditions by the Scriptures and consent of the first Three hundred Years or the Four General Councils This pruning of Antiquity and shrinking it from the Sixth to the Fourth and so to the Third Century seem'd to me the most foul and unreasonable thing imaginable for by this means most of the chief Fathers whose Works are most Copious were excluded from attesting the truth of the Churches Doctrin and very few admitted only those who had wrote little or nothing of our differences but some small Treatises Epistles and Apologies against Heathens and Exhortations to Martyrdom the Church being then under perpetual Persecutions But to answer you concerning your Catalogue of Authors I have perus'd those parts of their Works which relate to the Catholicks but they are so far from removing me out of the Strangers Lap that they have much contributed to my fixing my self there But pray what makes you call the Roman Church a Stranger don't you know that she is the Origin and Center of Unity and that all true Christians are oblig'd to Communicate with her Don't Irenaeus to whom I shall give more credit than to all your List of Authors affirm That all the Faithful are oblig'd to have recourse to this Church for its more powerful Principality Do's not St. Hierom say That he is profane who Eats the Lamb out of this House This is the place where God planted his only Altar and here is fix'd that Cathedra against which whoever erects another is as Optatus affirms Schismaticus peccator 'T is clear that St. Hierom tho' in reference to local distance he was much remote from Rome as he acknowledges in his Fifty seventh Epistle to Damasus Neque vero tanta vastitas elementi liquentis interjacens longitudo terrarum me à pretiosae margaritae potuit inquisitione prohibere yet notwithstanding this in the same Epistle he says Cathedrae Petri Communione consocior The same happy state I heartily wish you and all other Schismaticks well knowing how deplorable a thing it is to die out of that Communion I shall therefore conclude this Point with St Cyprian's Advice Ad Matrem revertimini unde prodistis The End of the First Part. THE SECOND PART CHAP. I. The Preface to St. Peter 's Supremacy and whether St. Andrew knew Christ's Divinity before St. Peter WHAT I have hitherto wrote may resemble a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a light Skirmish it being but Prefatory and Introductive to that main design I am at which is the Vindication of St. Peter's Supremacy a Point of so high Import being the Common Center and Origin both of Catholick Unity of Sacerdotal Dignity and Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction but withal so strangely snarl'd
Lib. 4. Dist 18. And now it will seem a very fit time for you to look about you for your Case is very dubious and I must confess I cannot see what Title you have to the Keys You who who are no Priest of the Catholick Church but only a Minister of a Particular one fallen off from her You who Write and Preach against Catholick Doctrin and Unity in Justification of your Schismatical Defection You who have so much distended your Nerves in injuring not only Peter whom our Savior entrusted with the Keys but likewise in abusing his Successors who possess them after him You who by Excommunication are sever'd from the Body of the Catholick Church as Sarmentum Ramale emortuum how you should have them I cannot imagin And I may ask you as Optatus did the Donatists Lib. 2. Cont. Parm. Vnde est quod Claves Regni vobis usurpare contenditis qui contra Cathedram Petri vestris praesumptionibus audaciis militatis St. Cyprian will tell you in his Epist 73. Foris nec ligari aliquid posse nec solvi And in his 6th Epistle Dicimus omnes omnino Haereticos atque Schismaticos nihil habere potestatis ac juris But on the other side Theophyl says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have power to loose and bind who are honor'd with Episcopal Grace according to Peter But before I quit this Point I shall very seriously recommend to you the Saying of St. Hierom in his Comments on Matt. 16. where speaking of the Power of the Keys he acknowledges Peter to have receiv'd it Speciatim especially particularly Quod quicunque ab unitate fidei Societate Ecclesiae se separaverit nec a peccatis solvi nec Caelum possit ingredi By this you may apprehend your deplorable condition being separated from the Unity of the Catholick Faith and from the Society of the Catholick Church Be so indulgent to your self as not to use any Sophistry in gulling your self Permit this Saying of St. Hierom not to float like a Buoy on the Surface of your Brain but to subside to your interior and deepest consideration Be so kind likewise to your Flock whose Opinion of your Learning and Orthodoxy has made them ductile to your Guidance and recipient of your Impresses as to impose no more false Tenets on their obvious credulity 'T is your Duty to instill into them saving Truths and not to infect them with pernicious Doctrin Pliny makes mention of a Poisonous Fountain in Arabia where the Shepherds pay the price of the Sheep that drink thereof and perish what punishment would that Shepherd deserve that should poison his Flock himself and how far more he who having the care of Rational Sheep committed to him should in lieu of feeding them with the sincere Milk taint them with destructive Principles You know very well how often you have preach'd over those Papers you sent me and how unsuspectedly they were imbib'd by your greedy Auditory Having now laid open those many Errors contain'd in them you would shew your self an ingenuous Person if you would uncurtain to them those many falshoods you have vented under the fallacious Mantle of sound Truths By such candid an Action as by a piacular Victim you might efface that guilt you have contracted by your slanderous reviling the Catholick Church and injurious Representations of her Doctrins I cannot imagin but that you must needs be conscious to your self of your great miscarriages herein and that a Person of your Reading must know better things and can teach too if you please but whether a long Habit or Interest retards you herein I 'll not pretend to define I shall only tell you what the Shepherds in Hesiods Theogonia say of themselves and so conclude this Point leaving it to you to make Application 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lies that resemble Truth we know to teach And if we please the ancient Faith can preach CHAP. IV. Of St. Peter 's being call'd Satan And of his Denial IT will not now seem incongruous to say something of Christs calling St. Peter Satan not long after he had told him that he would build his Church on him and had promis'd him the Keys For this I find objected by several as if by calling him so Christ had evacuated what he promis'd him before But it is to be consider'd that this happen'd betwixt the time of the Promise and Performance which was not exhibited till after Christs Resurrection St. Hierom on his Comments on Matt. 16. seems with this solution to satisfie the Objection Prudens lector inquirat quomodo post tantam beatitudinem c. nunc audiat Vade retro me Satana aut quae sit tam repentina conversio ut post tanta praemia Satanas appelletur Sed si consideret qui hoc quaerit Petro illam beatitudinem potestatem aedificationem super eum Ecclesiae in futuro promissam non in praesenti datam intelliget Aedificabo inquit super te Ecclesiam meam Portae Inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam dabo tibi Claves Regni Coelorum omnia de futuro quae si statim dedisset ei nunquam in eo pravae confessionis error invenisset locum And accordingly Theophyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word Dabo signifies the time to come to wit after his Resurrection But if that for which he is check'd be well inspected you will find two things which much extenuate his fault the one is his great Love and Tenderness to Christ declar'd in these words Propitius esto tibi Domine the other is his ignorance of Christs design in coming into the World Now he is called Satan not as if he willingly or malitiously did go about to hinder the Salvation of Mankind but because he out of ignorance of Gods Eternal Decree gave Christ that Advice of favouring himself which had it been follow'd would have obstructed our Redemption which was design'd us by the Bloody Sacrifice of the Cross St. Austin on his 49th Tract Johan do's acquit him of any Crime herein Nec Petro tamen humana ignorantia proficit ad crimen non enim ei Pater adhuc omne passionis Mysterium revelaverat voluerunt consilium dare Domino ne moriretur qui venerat mori ne ipsi morerentur The next thing of this nature which I shall insist on is his Denyal which by several is highly exaggerated as if all his Dignities had thereby been forfeited and lost but in this his fault it is likewise to be consider'd that it was committed before his installment in his Supreme Power which was not solemniz'd till Christ return'd Victorious from the Grave It was before he was virtute indutus ex alto it was before he had receiv'd the Holy Ghost by Christs Insufflation Timore Petrus ter negavit nondum enim acceperat Spiritum Sanctum accepto postea Spiritu Sancto cum fiduciâ caepit praedicare qui ad vocem ancillae ter negaverat accepto
Matrem Primatemque recognoscat veneretur King James the First was not ignorant of this Truth when in his Speech to the Parliament he acknowledged the Church of Rome to be our Mother And well she may be call'd our Mother not only in point of Dignity but Kindness having twice planted the Gospel in this ungrateful Nation Next you seem dissatisfied that I should take so much pains to answer those Papers you sent my Brother hazarding the Shipwrack of his Faith in my Paper-boat under the notion of St. Peters Bark As to the first part you could not possibly imagine that a Person of his green and verdant Years should be qualified to answer your Composures But this I must needs say of him That having perused them he did much question their Truth and your Honesty in framing them looking on them as beset with Adulterous Gems The truth on 't is you had made them very plausible and winning their Superficies being sprinkled with Scripture and Fathers but Deceit and Cosenage lay at the bottom and they may well be compared to those Vessels with which Hannibal cheated the Gortynians Amphoras complures complet plumbo Summas operit auro argentoque this made me endeavour to rescue my Brother from being a Prey to these Nets you had spread for him and to answer your Papers as Nodus vindice dignus not intending hastily to cut it as Alexander did the Gordian knot but leisurably to unty it As for my being accus'd by you for hazarding the Shipwrack of his Faith in my Paper-boat under the notion of St. Peters Bark I must tell you that by my keeping him in St. Peters Ship I preserv'd him unspotted of two dangerous Sins Heresie and Schism and I question not but whatever your Opinion be through the Infinite Mercies of his Redeemer he is safely arriv'd at the Haven of Eternal Bliss for as St. Ambrose Serm. 11. affirms Hanc solam Ecclesiae Navim adscendit Dominus in quâ Petrus Magister est constitutus dicente Domino super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Sicut enim Arca Noe mundo naufragante cunctos quos susceperat illaesos reservavit ita Petri Ecclesia conflagrante saeculo omnes quos amplectitur repraesentabit illaesos 'T is usual with the Fathers to assimulate the true Church to a Ship Epiphanius in his Second Heresie says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Church of God is like to a Ship And St. Ambrose Lib. 3. de Virg. Navis Ecclesia est quae pleno Dominicae crucis velo Spiritus Sancti flatu in hoc bene navigat Mundo And again Hi igitur de Synagogâ ad Navim Petri hoc est ad Ecclesiam convenerunt But in Serm. 15. he may be said to come nigh your Fancy styling it a Bark Nautellam istam fratres cogitate Ecclesiam turbulentum mare hoc saeculum This Bark I question not will ride Admiral in spight of any Fleet you shall be able to set out against her and if you dare to embarque your self in such an Enterprize as to board her I question not but that she is strongly enough Mann'd to defend her self Your following Accusation rear'd against me is of rashness and you tell me That a Matter of this Nature ought to have been deliberately manag'd But how you should know what Authors I have perus'd or what time I have impended in Matters of Religion I cannot conjecture This I am sure of that I have not credulously surrendred my self into the Hands of any Opinion neither have I omitted a competent ventilation of my Religion otherwise I had never been able to throw off the prejudice I once had against it by a contrary Education but have fully satisfied my Curiosity Judgment and Conscience and do no more foster any doubts concerning the truth of Catholick Doctrines than I question the certitude of Christianity After all this you seem to take it amiss that I did not consult with your Oracular Tripus But if you will promise me not to be offended at my open and free discovery I will acquaint you why I look'd on you as an unfit Person to advise with in this case 'T is too evident to all that know you that you have all along been appassion'd prejudic'd and scurrilous against Catholicks endeavouring to blast their Repute by defamatory Aspersions and slanderous Obloquy taking all occasions to injure them in the Pulpit and out of it both in their Morals and Religion both in reference to their God and King continually reviling and barking at them as if you had been related to those sorts of Indians which Pliny mentions in his Seventh Book to be Genus hominum capitibus caninis pro voce latratum edere And how peccant you have been in your perverse disfiguring of Catholick Doctrine and what purulent stuff you have rais'd from your exulcerated Lungs against the Bishop and See of Rome can be attested by multitudes So I could not but look on you as an unfit Oracle to give Responsals herein Had you not been so much tinctur'd with prejudice and so strongly overbiass'd 't is likely I might have resorted to your Infallible Cortina You may be so good an Oculist as to know that the Christalline Humor wherein the visive Power sways is not colour'd I leave the Application to you whose Function renders you most qualified for it I would not have you fancy that I rip up these past things with a design to accuse you my only intent herein is if possible to stir you up to consult with your Second Thoughts and to make Sedate and Calm Reflections on what you have passionately and unadvisedly committed By this Method you may be induc'd to repent of them and for the future to suppress such Ebullitions of Gall and Rancorous Defluxions which tho' like a pleasant Potion may be imbib'd by the uninquisitive and prophane Herd Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus yet to the Politer sort they must needs be nauseous and like the drops that fall nigh the Line leave a putrid and corrupt steam behind them I am the more free and affectionate to you herein because you were so kind as to afford me your wholsome Advice I fancied I could not better correspond with your favours than to prompt your Memory to ruminate on your past transactions and to shew you how grateful I am for your good Counsel I return you mine in its lieu that if ever you hope to obtain pardon for your miscarriages against the Catholick Church you would endeavour Ad Ecclesiae Catholicae unitatem scissi Corporis membra componere Christianae Charitatis vinculo copulare and effect as much as in you lies a Redintegration of the Primary Union a Re-piecing the unwoven Garment of Christ miserably torn asunder by your Schism Consider what a generous Action it would be to leap into this Gulph and thereby close the unhappy Clefts and Breaches of Separation Perpend how much more Christian-like it would be to moderate