Octavo A Collection of Letters of Gallantry Twelves Leonard's Reports in Four Parts The Second Edition Folio The Compleat Child containing the best Forms of all sorts of Presidents for Conveyanees and Assurances and other Instruments now in Use and Practice Quarto Sir Simon Degges Parsons Counsellor with the Law of Tithes and Tithing In Two Books The Fourth Edition Octavo An Answer to the Bishop of Condom now of Meaux his Exposition of the Catholick Faith c. wherein the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is Detected and thaâ— of the church of England Expressed from the Publick Acts of both Churches To which are added Reflections on his Pastoral Letter THE Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly Represented in Answer to a Book intituled A Papist Misrepresented and Represented c. Quarto Third Edition An Answer to a Discourse intituled Papists protesting against Protestant Popery being a Vindication of Papists not Misrepresented by Protestants And containing a particular Examination of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in the Articles of Invocation of Saints Worship of Images occasioned by that Discourse Quarto Second Edition An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Differences between the Representer and the Answerer Quarto A View of the whole Controversie between the Representer and the Answerer with an Answer to the Representer's last Reply in which are laid open some of the Methods by which Protestants are Misrepresented by Papists Quarto The Doctrine of the Trinity and Transubstantiation compared as to Scripture Reason and Tradition in a new Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist the first Part Wherein an Answer is given to the late Proofs of the Antiquity of Transubstantiation in the Books called Consensus Veterum and Nubes Testium c. Quarto The Doctrine of the Trinity and Transubstantiation compared as to Scripture Reason and Tradition in a new Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist the Second Part Wherein the Doctrine of the Trinity is shewed to be agreeable to Scripture and Reason and Transubstantiation repugnant to both Quarto An Answer to the Eighth Chapter of the Representer's Second Part in the first Dialogue between him and his Lay-Friend Of the Authority of Councils and the Rule of Faith. By a Person of Quality With an Answer to the Eight Theses laid down for the Tryal of the English Reformation in a Book that came lately from Oxford Sermons and Discourses some of which never before Printed The Third Volume By the Reverend Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury 8 o. A Manual for a Christian Souldier Written by Erasmus and Translated into English. Twelves A new and easie Method to learn to Sing by Book whereby one who hath a good Voice and Ear may without other help learn to Sing true by Notes Design'd chiefly for and applied to the promoting of Psalmody and furnished with Variety of Psalm-Tunes in Parts with Directions for that kind of Singing A Book of Cyphers or Letters Reverst being a Work very pleasant and useful as well for Gentlemen as all sorts of Artificers Engravers Painters Carvers Chacers Embroiderers c. Where you may find a Cypher for any Name whatsoever curiously composed after the newest Mode By Jeremiah Marlow Price Bound 5 s. A Perswasive to frequent Communion in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper By Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury In Octavo Price 3 d. A Discourse against Transubstantiation In Octavo Price 3 d. The State of the Church of Rome when the Reformation began as it appears by the Advices given to Paul III. and Julius III. by Creatures of their Own. With a Preface leading to the matter of the Book 4 o. A Letter to a Friend Reflecting on some Passages in a Letter to the D. of P. in Answer to the Arguing Part of his first Letter to Mr. G. The Reflecter's Defence of his Letter to a Friend against the Furious Assaults of Mr. I. S. in his second Catholic Letter In four Dialogues 4 o. A Discourse concerning the Nature of Idolatry in which the Bishop of Oxford's true and only Notion of Idolatry is Considered and Confuted 4 o. The Protestant Resolv'd or a Discourse shewing the Vnreasonableness of his Turning Roman Catholick for Salvation Second Edition 4 o. A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Reverend Benj. Calamy D. D. and late Minister of St. Lawrence-Jury Lond. Jan. 7th 1685 6. A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and Catholick-Communion from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome In Answer to a late Pamphlet Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and the Church of Rome evinced from the Concertation of some of her Sons with their Brethren the Dissenters 2d Edition A Preservative againâ—t Popery being some Plain Directions to Unlearned Protestants how to Dispute with Romish Priests The First Part. The Fourth Edition The Second Part of the Preservative against Popery shewing how contrary Popery is to the True Ends of the Christian Religion Fitted for the Instruction of Unlearned Protestants The Second Edition These Four last by William Sherlook D. D. Master of the Temple Johan Launoius Nicolao Gatinaeo Ep. 13. Vol. 8.
made to the Church do not belong to the Bishops of the Church as that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it which certainly proves that the Church shall never totally fail but does not prove that the Bishops or any Bishop of the Church shall be Infallible For the Bishops are not the Church there are distinct Promises to the Church and to the Pastors and Ministers of it and they ought to be kept distinct which will put an end to a great many Controversies between us and the Church of Rome Thus if St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy 1 Tim. 3. 15. calls the Church the Pillar and Ground of Truth whatever that signifies it belongs to the Church or to the company of the Faithful not meerly to the Pastors and Bishops of it and therefore the Infallibility of the Pope or General Council can never be proved from it though the Pillar and Ground of Truth should signifie Infallibility Thus whatever Authority Popes or General Councils may challenge in matters of Faith yet if they decree any thing contrary to the common Faith of Christians their Decrees are not the Faith of the Church but the Faith of Popes and General Councils who are not the Church though they are the Governours of it and yet under this venerable Name of the Catholick Church every packt Conventicle challenges an indisputable Authority to its Decrees 2. Nay as Bishops are not the Catholick Church so neither are they the Representatives of the Catholick Church much less is any one Bishop the whole Catholick Church virtual The Office of a Bishop is not to represent but to govern the Church and therefore Bishops are not the Churches Representatives by Institution no more than the King is the Representative of his Kingdom How then do they come to be the Churches Representatives Did all the Christians in the World who are the Catholick Church ever intrust them with this Power Did they ever resign up their Faith into the hands of their Bishops This never was done and yet no man has a Representative but by his own consent and if it could be done Bishops then must sit in Council not only as Bishops but as Lay Representatives if two such different capacities are not inconsistent and yet Bishops have challenged this Authority only as Bishops and excluded the Laity nay Presbyters themselves from any Votes and therefore such Councils of Bishops who acted only as Bishops could not be the Representatives of the Catholick Church In matters of Discipline and Government Bishops act not as Representatives but Governours of the Church by that Authority which they have received not from the People but from Christ and their Decrees and Constitutions about such matters have a sacred and venerable Authority when they do not contradict any divine Laws and Institutions But Bishops have no Authority over the Faith of the Church nay the Church herself has no Authority to alter the Faith and therefore can give no such Authority to her Bishops however if she could she never did and therefore no Council of Bishops can be the Church-representative in defining Articles of Faith. As Bishops are the Supreme Pastors and Teachers of the Church they may declare what the Faith is and agree what Doctrines shall be taught in their Churches and consent to censure and excommunicate those who will not profess to believe as they do but if they make any Decrees contrary to the common Faith of Christians no Christian is bound to believe them nor is ever the worse for their Anathema's and Excommunications and it is a ridiculous thing for them to call this the Faith of the Catholick Church which is only the Decrees and Definitions of some Bishops in it who are far enough from being the Catholick Church And this I think sufficiently proves that the most general Council that ever was may err and yet the Catholick Church not err for Bishops are not the Catholick Church nor so much as the Representatives of it and therefore could it be proved that the Catholick Church could not err this would not prove the Infallibility of a General Council which is not the Church for the Faith may still be preserved pure and uncorrupt among private Christians even when General Councils err 3ly I observe farther that the whole Catholick Church on Earth is not one organized Body for it is only the whole company of the faithful and no Ecclesiastical Ministers or Pastors belong to the definition of it and yet unless some Oecumenical Pastor be essential to the Notion and Definition of the Catholick Church it cannot be one organized Body The Catholick Church indeed is organized by parts that is the whole Company of the Faithful are distributed into particular Bodies under the government of particular Bishops which makes a particular Church and is essential to the definition of it of which more presently but the Catholick Church itself is the whole Company of the Faithful who are united in one Body to Christ only who is the only Head of his Church Now hence it evidently follows 1. That no organized Church can be the Catholick Church nor the Bishop of it an Oecumenical Pastor because the Catholick Church is not organiz'd but every organized Church is a particular Church Which shews how vain the Pretences of the Church of Rome are to be the Catholick Church and of the Pope of Rome to be the Universal Bishop 2. It as evidently follows that there neither is nor can be any visible Tribunal of the Catholick Church which shall be the Center of Catholick Communion and have Authority over all particular Churches in Matters of Faith and Worship and Government For the Catholick Church being no organized Body it has no Authority and can have no Tribunal 1. It has no Authority For the whole Company of the Faithful which is the true Notion of the Catholick Church are the Mystical Body of Christ and in subjection to him as a Wife is subject to her Husband The Catholick Church is made up of particular and individual Christians who are all immediately united to Christ their Head and are made one in him and though Bishops as the Ministers of Christ have received Authority from him to govern the Church which they exercise in particular Churches over which they are placed yet as Members of the Catholick Church they are not considered as Bishops but as private Christians for it is not their Authority in the Church but their Union to Christ which makes them Members of his Body and thus they are united to Christ no otherwise then all other private Christians are Now if the Chatholick Church be only a company of private and particular Christians united immediately to Christ and made one Body in him the Catholick Church has no more Authority than particular Christians have which is none at all The Catholick Church is united to Christ by a belief of his Gospel obedience to his Laws and a participation of his
Spirit which is a state of perfect and absolute subjection to him and therefore can have no Authority to alter the Faith to make a new Creed or a new Gospel which would be to have power over Christ not to be subject to him To be sure unless we will grant this Authority to every particular Christian the Catholick Church cannot have it which is only the whole multitude of particular Christians who are united singly to Christ and made One Body in him and therefore are not such a Body as can make a new Faith and new Laws but are made One Body by embracing the same Faith which they must receive from Christ but have no Authority to make because their receiving this Faith unites them into One Body in Christ and they continue One Body in Christ no longer than they profess this Faith and therefore never can have Authority to change it where a multitude of Men unite themselves into One Body or Civil Society to form and model their own Government and to make Laws for themselves there the whole Authority is in the Community and they may make and alter and repeal Laws as they please but where a Society is formed by a voluntary submission of single and particular Persons to known and stated Laws and no man can be of this Society without submission to these Laws nor continue longer in it than he does submit to them it is a contradiction to say that such a Body of Men have any power over the Laws because it is only their submission to such Laws which make them such a Society The whole Society in this case have no more Authority than a single Man for they are not a Society for Government but for Obedience and Subjection Christ indeed has placed an Authority in his Church for the Instruction and Government of it but an Authority in the Church and the Authority of the Church are two very different things The first signifies the Authority of Christ who is the Head the second is the Authority of the Body which is the Church the Head has Authority over his Church and may appoint what Ministers he pleases to exercise this Authority but the Church has no Authority at all no more than the Body has which is subject to the Head. This may be thought a very nice distinction between the Authority in the Church and the Authority of the Church but it is as useful as it is true For thô the Authority of Christ must be much more sacred and venerable than the Authority of the Church whatever Authority it were supposed to have yet the name of the Catholick Church is thought much more venerable than the name of Bishops thô they are the Ministers of Christ and therefore those who would impose upon the Faith of Christians talk of nothing less than the Authority of the Catholick Church which sounds very big and frights people into a submission While they pretend only the Authority of Christ's Ministers private Christians make bold to examine their Commission and how far their Authority reaches â—d whether they do not prevaricate in the exercise of this Authority as it is possible Ministers may do but the name of the Catholick Church strikes all dead for who dare oppose the Decrees of the Catholick Church which is to condemn the whole Catholick Church of Error or Heresie who dares separate from the Catholick Church which must be an unpardonable Schism and a state of Damnation since it is universally agreed that there is no salvation to be had out of the Catholick Church and thus when a packt Conventicle of Schismaticks and Hereticks usurp to themselves the name of the Catholick Church they impose upon Christians under so venerable a disguise and enslave them to their own Dictates but now all these Amusements vanish when we remember that the Catholick Church has no Authority that whatever the Authority of Bishops in or out of Council be it is not the Authority of the Church but the Authority of Christ and it is not his Authority neither when they exceed their Commission and teach such things as he has given them no Authority to teach and therefore we may reject such a Council of Bishops without condemning the Catholick Church and renounce their communion without separating from the Catholick Church And this very consideration that the Catholick Church has no Authority and therefore cannot innovate in Matters of Faith nor alter the Laws and Institutions of our Saviour is little less than a demonstration that there is no Authority in the Church neither to do it For the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ's Ministers so they are themselves Members of the Catholick Church now as they are Members of the Catholick Church they must receive nothing but what Christ has taught for the Church is founded on the Faith of Christ and has no Authority to alter it Now is it imaginable that Bishops as private Christians and Members of the Catholick Church are obliged to believe nothing but what Christ has taught and yet as Bishops or Christ's Ministers have Authority to teach what Christ has not taught that is that as Bishops they have Authority to teach that which as private Christians they themselves must not believe if they will continue Members of the Catholick Church nay can we imagine that Christ has given Authority to his Ministers to teach that which the Catholick Church must not receive for if the Catholick Church has no Authority it must no more receive new Doctrines than make them I know indeed no body will pretend to an Authority of making new Articles of Faith but only of declaring what the Faith is but this is the very same thing if this Authority of Declaring be such as to oblige all people to believe such Declarations without any Dispute or Examination for then they may make a new Faith under a pretence of declaring the old as we see the Council of Trent has done which has declared such Doctrines as the Christian Church was a stranger to before and there is no difference that I know of between declaring and making an Article of Faith which was neither declared nor made before And therefore Christian Bishops and Pastors have no such Authority either to make or to declare Articles of Faith as can oblige all Christians to believe it meerly upon their Definitions and Declarations It is their Office to Preach the Gospel to convince and perswade gainsayers by Scripture and Reason which obliges all Christians diligently and impartially to attend to their Instructions but yet leaves every man at liberty to judge whether they Preach the Gospel of Christ or their own Inventions 2ly That the Catholick Church has no Authority is evident from this also that it has no visible Tribunal wherein to exercise this Authority For the Catholick Church is nothing else but the whole company or multitude of individual Christians who are all singly united to Christ
sure that Church which at that time is visible is not the indefectible Church and thus I am sure it may be whether it has been or not but if it may be the Argument is naught 2. And so is that Argument to prove the Church to be infallible because it is indefectible That it cannot err because it never shall so grievously err as to cease to be a Church The indefectibilty of the Church as you have already heard does not necessarily prove that there shall be any one visible organized Church which shall never fail for the Church does not fail while there are any true Christians in the World it may be preserved in a number of single and concealed Christians who are neither known to one another nor much less to the World. And therefore if indefectibility proves infallibility it proves only that there shall be some private infallible Christians not that there is any visible infallible Church For it can prove only those to be infallible who are indefectible and therefore since it does not necessarily prove that any visible organized Church shall be indefectible it cannot prove any such Church to be infallible neither The infallibility of private Christians the Church of Rome will not allow and yet if indefectibility prove infallibility this is all the infallibility which the indefectibility of the Church can prove that there shall always in the greatest degeneracy of the Church be a number of private infallible Christians who shall continue in the true Faith and Worship of Christ. When our Saviour says that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church we may consider it either as a Promise or a Prophecy or both that there always shall be some sound and orthodox Believers in the world who in the greatest degeneracy of the Church shall be the Seeds of a Reformation and a new visible resurrection of it now I hope Christ can make good such a Promise if we consider it as a Promise without bestowing infallibility upon any Christians for men may be orthodox Christians without being infallible and if we consider it as a Prophecy I hope Christ can certainly foretel things which have no necessary causes and then he can foretel that there shall never want true Believers tho' it is possible there might be none that all Christians shall not err tho' they are all fallible and therefore may err and then neither the Promise nor the Prophecy can prove the infallibility of any Christians and this is all that Protestants can mean when they say that the Catholick Church cannot err in Fundamentals not that there is any visible Society of Christians which is infallible in its definitions of fundamental Doctrines but that the Catholick Church or the whole number of Christians shall never err fundamentally that is that there shall always be some true and orthodox Believers in the Church 3. Nor is it a good Argument to prove any Church to be a new upstart Church because after some time of concealment it reassumes its visibility and appears openly in the World. The stabbing Question as the Church of Rome thinks to the Reformed Churches is Where was your Church before Luther Those who own the Church of Rome with all her Corruptions to be a true Church have a plain and easie Answer to this That the Church was before Luther where it was afterwards for they did not make a new Church but only reformed that part of the old which consented to such a reformation they profess the same Faith still have the same Sacraments and the same Christian Worship but purged from those Innovations and Corruptions which had deformed the visible Communion of the Roman Church which can no more make a new Church than a man's washing off the dirt makes a new-Face And I confess I think those who deny the visible organized Church of Rome to be a True Church do not want a good Answer neither For during the degeneracy of that Church the Church might subsist in those private Christians who preserved themselves in a great measure from the corruption of that Church which might more easily be done before the Reformation than since for many of their Doctrines and Practices were not then so peremptorily decreed by their Councils nor so strictly imposed upon the consciences of men as the Council of Trent has since done And there are Evidences enough that there never wanted some in all Ages who have condemned their Innovations and that profound Ignorance wherein that Church brought up honest and devout men was the true reason why there were not more now all these men may be reckoned the Seeds of the Reformation out of which a visible Church would spring as soon as a new light broke in upon the World. There was no failure of the Church tho' it was obscured and concealed we may as well say that it is a new Sun which rises every Morning not that which set at Night as make a new Church of the visible Resurrection of old and primitive Christianity the Profession of which was never lost thô the Professors of it were not so visible If the true Church be indefectible and never fails it can never be new again and if the indefectibility of the Church may be preserved in some private and unknown Christians the want of a visible Society of such pure and orthodox Christians cannot prove that the Church has failed and then when the old Christian Church appears again with a new glory it is ridiculous to call it new only because for some years it has been concealed Thus I have considered the true Notion of the Catholick Church on Earth which there is so much talk of in our Disputes with the Church of Rome and I hope have made it appear how little Service this can do them FINIS Books Printed for and are to be sold by W. Roger. Bp Wilkins his Fifteen Sermons Octavo Dr. Wallis of the Necessity of Regeneration In Two Sermons to the University of Oxford Quarto His Defence of the Royal Society and the Philosophical Transactions particularly those of July 1670. In Answer to the Cavils of Dr. William Holder Quarto The Necessity Dignity and Duty of Gospel-Ministers discoursed of before the University of Cambridge By Tho. Hodges B. D. Quarto The Peaceable Christian. A Sermon Quarto Price 3 d. A Treatise of Marriage with a Defence of the 32d Article of the Church of England viz. Bishops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by God's Law either to Vow the State of Single Life or to Abstain from Marriage c. By Tho Hodges B. D. Octavs History of the Affairs of Europe in this present Age but more particularly of the Republick of Venice By Battista Nani Cavalier of St. Mark. Fol. Sterry's Freedom of the Will. Folio Light in the Way to Paradise with other Occasionals By Dudley the 2d late Lord North. Octavo Molins of the Muscles with Sir Charles Scarborough ' s Syllabus Musculorum