of this case they would not conclude the cause specially before a Iudge not acquainted with the mystery of the Creation For he that hath a wife and a wife hath a wife and shee that hath a husband and a husband hath a husband But if that precept of our Sauiour Whosoeuer putteth away his wife vnlesse it bee for adulterie and marieth another committeth adultery and hee that marieth her being so put away committeth adultery were once produced any Heathen Ciuilian might giue this absolute and infallible sentence If yee Christians will admit this Law for true and iust or for a rule of conscience then Polygamy certainly is a naturall part of Adultery and hee that hath a wife and marieth another is to bee punished as an Adulterer For what is the reason why he that putteth away his wife though by legall diuorce and marieth another commits adultery with the second or why he that marieth the first being so put away is likewise an Adulterer Is not the reason because the bond of matrimonie betwixt the husband and the first wife according to this your Christian law is not dissolued by a legall sentence of diuorce extra casum adulterij vnlesse in case of adultery Yet as a sentence of diuorce gotten vpon suspicion of adultery or subornation or vpon other causes which humane Lawes and Gods Law vnto the Iew did permit cannot by the Evangelicall Law altogether dissolue the bond of matrimony so out of all question it doth rather loosen or weaken it than corroborate or knit it faster Wherefore if hee that hauing gotten a sentence of diuorce by formall course of Law against his wife become guilty of Adultery in the Court of conscience and by the Euangelicall Law if hee marry another then much more shall he be an Adulterer who hauing a wife whose chastity was neuer called in question against whom no sentence of Law hath beene obtained if he shall presume to marry another Thus farre an Heathen by light of naturall reason without the assistance of Gods Spirit may goe in this and many other controuersies amongst Christians 3 Were not most Recusants throughout this Kingdome worse affected I will not say towards vs and our Religion but towards truth it selfe euen towards the light of the Gospell than any ciuill Heathen either are or can be they might as clearly discerne the vsurped authority of the Romish Church ouer their faith and ouer Scriptures the rule of faith to be as true a branch of Apostasie from Christ as Polygamy is of Adultery and that it doth more euidently dissolue the bonds of matrimony betwixt Christ and his Spouse the Church than Polygamy or adulterie doth the bond of matrimonie betwixt man and wife First they make the Scriptures as was said before not onely an imperfect rule in respect of its quantity but this defect being in their opinion supplyed by associating vnwritten Traditions vnto it in the second place they make both Scriptures and vnwritten Traditions to bee an vnsufficient rule in respect of their quality For it is their doctrine that we cannot know which be Canonicall Scriptures which are not which be authenticke traditions which not but by relying vpon the authority of the visible Church Againe admitting the Church could determine which were Authenticke Traditions which were not and that no Traditions should hereafter be receiued besides those which shee had determined yet if any controuersie should arise concerning the meaning of those Scriptures which she hath determined to be Canonicall or concerning the meaning limitation or vse of these Traditions which shee hath acknowledged to be authentike no priuate man may take vpon him absolutely to beleeue this or that to be the meaning of either but with submission of his iudgment to the Churches sentence And this as I haue elswhere shewed at large is not onely to make the authority of the Church to bee aboue the authority of the Scriptures but vtterly to nullifie the authority of the Scriptures saue onely so farre as they may serue as a stale or footstoole to support or hold vp the authority of the Church or Pope So that the last resolution of the Romanists beliefe as out of their owne comparisons of the Scriptures to colours and the authority of the Church vnto the light by which colours become visible to vs as is elsewhere demonstrated must be this That he absolutely beleeues onely the infallible authority of the Church concerning the truth of Scriptures and their true meaning their truth or meaning he neither absolutely nor infallibly beleeues So that if he beleeue any diuine truth it is onely ex accidenti that is in as much as the Church doth not erre in that point of faith which she proposeth vnto him howbeit to beleeue that which is true vpon no better motiue or condition then this is much worse then the ignorance of truth or meer vnbeliefe of the same truth How many seuerall diuine truths or articles of faith soeuer he thus beleeueth hee can be no true Catholike because he beleeues no diuine truth but as it is mixt with hellish antichristian falshood If wee shall proue that this supposed infallibilitie of the Romish Church doth in diuers points induce not onely heresie but infidelity and that infidelity of a worse sort then can be incident to any Heathen I hope our intended conclusion will bee sufficiently euicted that whosoeuer holds this absolute infallibility of the present visible Romish Church whatsoeuer he holds besides can bee no Catholike To giue you an instance for proofe of this 4 If one being a Christian shall steale hee doth commit a grieuous sinne yet a sinne of one kinde or species that is theft he doth not thereby cease to be a Christian he doth not thereby become an Infidell or Antichristian The like wee may say of fornication adultery murder incest or the like all which are grieuous sinnes and without repentance exclude men from the Kingdome of Heauen Yet can wee not say that they make a man an Infidell though worthy to be cast out of the Church vntill hee giue full proofe of his humble submission and hearty repentance for his fact But if any man that hath beene baptized and made a partaker of the word which in many points hee beleeues shall by couetousnesse malice intemperancie or the like haue so farre corrupted the feeds of Christianity or Law of God written in his heart as he shall thinke that which indeed and truth is theft fornication adultery murder or incest to be no sinne he is by the generall verdict of the Schooles not onely an hereticke but an Infidell Now Infidelitie is of two sorts either infidelitas purae negationis priuatiue infidelity such as is in the Heathen which haue not knowne God or his Lawes as hauing no commerce with his people or infidelitas prauae dispositionis depraued infidelity of which there bee more degrees as first it may bee in the Heathen to whom the truth of the
three yeeres after the persecution by him begun Howeuer the Councell of Millain of Sirmium c. was the then visible Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I hope they wil not say that it was the true Church of God For though almost all the Bishops and most Christians throughout the Romane Empire did subscribe vnto these Councels yet was not the true Church of God during these three yeeres inuisible but more remarkably visible in some few which did contradict the then visible Church content to suffer exile or other martyrdome in maintenance of the Holy Catholike faith which is the life and soule of the Church of God In few ages after wherein worse beasts then Valens was were chiefe Gouernours of the visible Church that is after the succession of Romish Bishops was growne vp vnto a perfect beast according to the measure of Antichrist the true Church of God was remarkeably visible in such as that visible Church did condemne for heretikes Instances to this purpose are plentifull in vnpartiall Writers And when the doctrine of Antichrist was come to his full growth as in the Councell of Trent although the whole bodie of Germany besides Chemnitius and some few others although the whole visible Church of France besides Caluin and some such had subscribed vnto that Councell yet the true Church of God had beene visible in France and Germanie in these worthies Enough there was in their writings against that Councell to condemne all such as followed it that is the visible or representatiue Church of Rome of palpable Antichristian heresie Yet when we say that the true Church of God was visible in these men in their writings or in Iohn Hus c. wee doe not tye our selues to embrace what soeuer they wrote for truth Wee may say of the true visible Church or of the truth by which we become visible members of the true Catholike Church as one said of Truth philosophicall That it could not be sound intire in the writings of any one Sect of Philosophers in the writings of all of them it might This aduantage we haue of all the Philosophers that we haue a surer and more perfect rule for examining the writings or doctrines of seuerall visible Churches than they had any for examining truths philosophicall Absolutely to assent in each particular to any writers or teachers since the first constitution of the Apostolike Church or accomplishment of the written rule of faith were to dissent from them in the maine and fundamentall point of Catholicke Faith For vnlesse there bee an vnfayned and hearty desire a spirit of watchfulnesse and of willingnesse to limit our adherence vnto whatsoeeuer other writings according to the greater or lesse evidence of their consonancy with the written rule neither Scholar nor Master nor Church visible or representatiue can be any other then equiuocall or dead members of the true Church The Catholike faith it selfe could it possibly be planted in any mans heart without the spirit or Genius to direct or informe it would quickly either putrifie or grow crooked 3 Amongst other glorious titles wherwith the same Author seekes to adorne the Church of Rome this which is the title of his fift chapter is one that the true Church cannot erre A proposition I must confesse as hard for vs to disproue if hee take it in sensu composito as it is for him to proue in sensu diuiso That no Church as it is true and whilest it is true or in respect of those points with reference to which it is denominated true can possibly erre is a truth that cannot be denied But if by the true Church he mean a visible or the visible Romish Church there neither is nor hath been any visible Church though planted by the Apostles themselues which since their times hath not either ceased to bee a visible Church or else continued for a long time as palpably erroneous and false as truely visible Whatsoeuer this Author deeme or write his Fellowes and Masters with one mouth confesse that every priuate man in their Church may erre that the Bishops assembled in Councell without the Popes direction or confirmation of their sentence may erre that the Pope himselfe vnlesse he speake ex cathedra may erre And by this confession either the Romish church is no true Church saue onely whilest the Pope speakes è Cathedra or else the whole bodie of the true Church if the Romish church be the true Church may sometimes erre For at all times else both head and members of this Church may erre In this inference I take it as granted that the Pope doth not alwaies speake ex cathedra Now if in these interims of his cathedrall silence any Bishop Priest or Iesuit shal take vpon them to instruct their Auditors out of the Pulpit or otherwise in points of faith or controuersie their poore flocke by this mans collections against vs cannot be made partakers of that true and infallible faith without which no man can be saued because their Preachers or ministers are not infallible nor to vse his words vndoubtedly fenced from all danger of errour His collections against vs are these Finally to what end doe Protestants striue so much for the Churches erring but onely to depriue themselues thereby of Church Faith and Religion For wheras neither religiō nor Church can stād without supernaturall faith nor supernaturall faith be attained without infallible certainty of the things beleeued if their Preachers their Ministers their Church be not vndoubtedly fenced frō all danger of error the Articles they beleeue haue not that inerrable warrant which is necessarie to faith Did this man may wee thinke beleeue that hee himselfe was vndoubtedly fenced from all danger of errour If he did so beleeue the Cardinalls of Rome shall doe him much wrong if they chuse him not Pope the next Election or appoint him not as coadiutor to the present Pope If it be replyed that the Romish instructers bee they Bishops or Priests cannot erre because they neither beleeue nor teach others to beleeue any points of faith but with absolute submission of their instructions to what the Pope already hath spoken or shall hereafter speake ex cathedra concerning the same points the medicine will be a great deale worse then the disease For this perswasion or resolution is altother incompatible with the first grounds of faith and is flat Apostacie from Christ as hath beene discussed at large in the second booke vpon the Creed and shall be further manifested if occasion require in the second booke of this Treatise To the former obiection the answer on our part is easie For true faith receiues its infallibilitie not from any infallibilitie in our immediate and ordinary teachers but from the infallibility of the truths themselues which they propose vnto vs out of the rule of truth and from the infallibilitie of that internall and secret Teacher without whose impressions of truths infallible in mens hearts no true faith
desperate a madnesse as for a passenger to leape into the Sea because hee knew the ship wherein he sayled and the company with whom he must necessarily conuerse were deepely infected with a deadly pestilence And thus to doe were a desperate pranke vnlesse the partie aduenturing had very great skill in swimming and were withall within ken of some comfortable shore or harbour All this may seeme to make for our Aduersaries or at least against our forefathers which were sometimes members of the visible Romish Church but did either voluntarily separate themselues from it or suffer themselues to be thrust out of it when as they might haue retained communion with it so they would haue imbraced their doctrine Besides the danger of separation from it both they and we haue felt the seuerest strokes of the spirituall sword of excommunication which the Gouernours of the Romish Church could reach vs. 5 The branches of the maine controversie betwixt that Church and ours are two The first whether the reasons which moued our forefathers to depart from that Church or not to imbrace her doctrines were iust and necessary The second Whether our forefathers being howsoeuer separated from it had commission full power and iust authority from God to vnite themselues into a true visible Church whether they did rightly pursue such warrant or commission as they had and whether they and we haue beene and are a true visible Church The iust and necessary reasons for which men whether few or many may and ought to separate themselues from any visible Church are in generall two The first because they are vrged or constrained to professe or beleeue some points of doctrine or to aduenture vpon some practices which are contrary to the rule of faith or Law of God and are either ex specie or ex gradu cumulo either for their specificall quality or for their burthen or number so hereticall and deadly that they necessarily induce a separation from the holy and Catholike faith without which the Church can neither be holy nor Catholike The second in case they are vtterly depriued of freedome of conscience in professing what they inwardly beleeue or bee bereft of some other meanes either altogether necessarie or most expedient to saluation both which may be had in some other visible Church In this later case that rule of our Apostle giuen vnto seruants is true Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called Art thou called being a seruant Care not for it but if thou mayest be made free vse it rather For hee that is called in the Lord being a seruant is the Lords freeman Likewise also he that is called being free is Christs seruant Ye are bought with a price bee not ye the seruants of men 1 Cor. 7.20 21 22 23. Although we were perswaded that wee could communicate with such a Church without evident danger of damnation yet in as much as we cannot so communicate with it vpon any better termes then legall seruants or bondslaues doe with their Masters we are bound in conscience and religious discretion when lawfull occasions and opportunities are offred to vse our libertie and to seeke our freedome rather then to liue in bondage CHAP. XV. That our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church was most lawfull and iust both in respect of Prince and State and in respect of euery priuate person which feared God or sought to retaine the holy Catholike and Apostolike Faith 1 WHen we debate the lawfulnesse of our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church we meane the then Romish Church as visible Now vnto the constitution of an entire and compleat visible Church there is required First an vnity of faith and doctrine Secondly an vnitie of discipline or coactiue Lawes but especially an vnitie of subordination to one independent Iudicature Vnity in points of faith and doctrine is more essentiall to the Church as it is holy and Catholike that is as it is Orthodoxall Vnity of Lawes or discipline or of independent Iudicature is more essentiall and more necessary to the Church as visible Hence as wee said before there be as many distinct visible Churches as there be independent Iudicatures or supreame Tribunalls Ecclesiasticke Vnto a Catholike Church or vnto a Church visibly Catholike such as the Romanists beleeue their Church to be both kinds of vnity are necessary Whether this vnitie of discipline full power of Iurisdiction or independent Iudicature be seated in one person or more that is whether the forme of ecclesiasticall gouernment be Aristocraticall or Monarchicall is in our Diuinity all one The vnitie or conformitie may be as compleat and perfect the one way as the other But the Romanists the English Priests and Iesuits doe not onely hold this vnity of independent Iudicature to be necessary to the constitution of the visible Catholike Church but that it must of necessity be radically in one person to wit in the Pope on whom as vpon the head and fountaine the vnity of the Holy Catholike visible Church doth depend and for this reason they put his Holinesse in the definition of the Holy Catholike Church as you heard before out of Cardinall Bellarmine and the Author of the Antidote So that the Popes supremacie hath the same place in the whole visible Church as euery summum genus in his proper predicament As nothing can bee truly said to be in the predicament vnlesse it participate the nature or definition of the summum genus so none by this doctrine can be a true member of the holy Church vnlesse he be subordinate to the Pope Or as no man can come to the Father but by the Sonne so none can come vnto the sonne but by this Holy Father the Pope Euery one must be visibly vnited vnto him and to his Lawes before he can be mystically or spiritually vnited vnto Christ Howbeit by putting the Pope in the definition of the Holy Catholike Church with intention thereby to exclude vs from it who denie his authority they intangle and fetter themselues in another point of great consequence betwixt vs them of which aduantage we shall make some better vse hereafter The summe of our present dispute is this As professing of vnitie with the Romish Church in all points of faith which that Church teacheth doth necessarily induce a disunion or separation from the holy Catholike Faith and Church so the acknowledgment of such subordination as is required vnto the head of it in matters of discipline or iurisdiction induceth flat rebellion or high treason against all free States or Kingdomes Christian 2 The reasons which moued our forefathers to forsake the visible Romish church or to suffer themselues to be forsaken by it and withhold vs from returning to iâ— were and are in two respects most necessarie and iust Iust they were and are necessary First on the behalfe of euery priuate man that had or hath a care of conscience and Religion Secondly on behalfe of Prince and
of the Churches or the Popes absolute infallibility in matters of faith and manners is an errour in it selfe ex specie hereticall and more deadly then heathenisme and includeth infidelitatem prauae dispositionis infidelity of contradiction as malignant as the infidelity of the Iewes and the consequent of it is an entire Apostasie from the Apostolike faith This I haue elsewhere endeauoured to shew at large the summe of which worke shall by Gods assistance bee recollected in this Treatise I now meddle onely with this transcendent heresie as it is diffused through other errours The very participation of it is as the Pharisaicâ—ll leauen by which all other erroneous opinions or coniectures which that Church hath suâ—ked either from Heretikes of old or from some mistakings or misreadings of ancient Fathers are malignified and made much worse then they were in their first Authors Our first instance shall be in the manifold and daily transgressions of that rule of faith giuen by our Apostle Rom. 14. verse 5. into all which transgressions this doctrine doth leade and draw them blindfold as the Philistines did Sampson after they had put out his eyes The Apostles rule is Let euery man be fully perswaded in his owne minde And this full perswasion or assurance of faith is in the cases there mentioned necessary because whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne verse 23. This last Maxime is most vndoubtedly true and the former precept most exactly to be obserued in such cases as the Apostle there speakes of that is where the positiue practice vnlesse our warrant bee authentique in it selfe and euident to vs is very dangerous or deadly whereas on the contrary the forbearance of such practice is either safe or not preiudiciall to our soules but to our bodies onely or estate temporall But in what cases doth the authoritie of the Romish Church where it beares sway draw men to transgresse the former rules of faith or conscience In many 10 To rob God of his honour or doe him preiudice in his glorious titles of mercy bounty and the like is vnquestionably a grieuous sinne and being such no doctrine or practice ought to bee admitted or imposed vpon vs which with probabilitie may induce or inferre it especially if the end or benefit for whose attainement the suspected doctrine or practice is imagined behoofefull or vsefull may as certainely be obtained by some other more safe and no lesse effectuall or conuenient meanes If from these grounds wee should enter friendly conference with an ingenuous Papist and tell him as the truth is that we Protestants doe teach That good workes are most necessarie to saluation and that the more such workes we doe the greater certainely shall be our reward so wee doe them in sinceritie and acknowledgement of our bounden dutie towards God humbly confessing our selues after we haue done all euen our very best to bee vnprofitable seruants It from these allegations we shall thus inferre that glory honour immortality and eternall happinesse in the life to come being all that hee seekes after by wel-doing seeing wee seeke for the very selfe same things by a safer and lesse suspitious way why should hee not be content to abandon all conceit of merit and to renounce the tearme as an offensiue and suspicious title for a poore suppliant to vse before the Almighty Maiesty of God To this and like Quaeries all the answer you shall get is this and this you shall haue from the more iudicious and ingenuous secular Papists that for their owne parts they could be wel content to relinquish the opinion or terme of Merit so they were left vnto themselues but they must vse the one and maintaine the other in obedience to the Church So strong a hand hath the Church his mother ouer his faith and conscience that hee had rather aduenture to stand vpon reall termes of meum and tuum or come to iuridicall contestation with God his Creator and Redeemer than disobey or dissent from her in the vse of words or in matters of conceit or opinion onely 11 Again no Christian denies that our Sauiour is able to heare our prayers at all times in all places that he is more fauourable and compassionate vnto vs then any Saint in Heauen or earth can be that his Father alwaies heareth him It is likewise a fundamentall article of our beliefe that wee ought at all times to pray vnto him that he would pray vnto his Father for vs that it is our duty to offer vp our praiers and the best sacrifice of our soules and spirits in honour of his great and glorious name that to come vnto the Father by his mediation is to worship him in truth and spirit All these positions are ex fide de fide points of necessity to be beleeued And if we were alwayes imployed in some of these practices happy were we although we did nothing else No Saint we may bee sure would bee offended with vs for praying continually vnto Christ vnto whom they contiuall pray or giue thanks But whether in praying vnto Saints as the Romanists doe wee doe not offend both Christ and them is not so clear and vnquestionable 12 To request the Saints deceased to pray for vs without expresse warrant or assurance that they can hear our praiers is superstitious to offer vp our praiers vnto them by way of Honour or tribute without assurance of faith is flat Idolatry Yet admitting it were lawfull not onely to pray but to offer our praiers vnto their Images yet to fall down before them and worship them is certainly a practice so quite contrary to the rule of faith and Gods holy commandements that he which feareth God who hath expressed himselfe in this point aboue others to be a iealous God would in ordinary discretion and reason before hee durst aduenture vpon so dangerous a practice demand as expresse a dispensation or countermand to the former precept as Abraham had to assure him he should not commit murder by sacrificing his only sonne Lastly admitting the invocation of true and vnquestionable Saints as for example the Apostles and the adoration of their Images to be no sacrilege or wrong to God yet to honor euery one whoÌ„ the Pope shall canonize for a Saint with all the former points of honour which they exhibit to S. Peter S. Paul c is a great wrong vnto those glorious Saints an heresie or rather an Idolatry ex specie deadly And yet for aduenturing vpon all these dangerous practices they haue no other assurance of faith or warrant of scripture besides their vnwarrantable and blind beleife of the Chruch and Popes infallibility Nor can the ingenuous Papists giue vs any other answer to such reasonable demands as were now proposed in this point of Inuocation of Saints or adoration of Images then was giuen before That Hee doth all this in obedience to his mother the Church I should proceed to the like faithlesse and desperate practices in the
superstition and palpable darkenesse which had ouerspread the visible Romish Church there were within it though not of it many visible members of the Holy Catholike Church men by so much more true and liuely members of the Holy Catholike Church or Body of Christ by how much they were lesse true and actuall members of the visible Romish Church that is by how much their adherence vnto the Romish Church representatiue or to the authority of the Court of Rome was lesse firme or none as in a generall plague when euery city and towne throughout the whole Kingdome is infected they are most safe which haue solitarie dwellings in the country and haue least commerce with port townes or markets Such adherence to the visible or representatiue Church of Rome as the Iesuites and others now challenge doth as we haue often said induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Church and is more deadly to the soule then to be bed-fellow to one sicke of the pestilence is to the body CHAP. XVII That men may be visible members of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church and yet no actuall members of any present visible Church 1 THe two principall points whereon we pitch may bee comprised in these two propositions the first A man may be a true liue-member of the holy Catholike Church albeit he hath no vnion or commerce with any member of the Churches visible And this proposition is cleere from that point formerly discussed how farre it was true of the visible Church extra ecclesiam non est salus Out of the Church there is no saluation The second A man may be a true and visible member of the Holy Catholike Church and yet be no actual member of any visible Church The truth of this later proposition may be proued by many instances of most ages since the Church whether vnder the Law or Gospell became visible For this present it shall suffice to explicate the meaning of it according to my former promise and to confirme the truth of it so explicated by one or two pregnant instances Albeit most of the termes in this proposition or distinction contained haue beene explicated before in two inquiries the one what was required to the constitution of the Holy Catholike Church The other what was required to the constitution of a visible Church To what was then said I will adde onely thus much That the Church may bee termed Catholike either in the prime sense or as we then sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in a secondary analogicall sense The Catholike Church in the prime sense consists only of such men as are actuall and indissoluble members of Christs mysticall body or of such as haue the Catholike Faith not onely sowne in their braines or vnderstanding but throughly rooted in their hearts In a secondary Analogicall sense Euery present visible Church which holdeth the Holy Catholike faith without which no man can bee saued pure and vndefiled with the traditions or inuentions of men may bee termed an Holy Catholike Church When we say a man may be a visible mēber of the holy Catholike Church and yet no actuall member of any present visible Church we take the catholike Church in the later or secondary sense that is for a Church wherein no point of faith or doctrine is maintained or allowed which is not consonant and homogeneall to the Catholike primitiue faith deliuered by Christ his Apostles Who are indissoluble members of Christs bodie is onely visible or known to him Many thousands are and haue been true mēbers of it which are haue been altogether inuisible to vs. But who they be which professe the vnity of that faith which the Apostles taught and without which no man can bee saued is visible and knowne to all such as either heare them professe it viua voce or can read and vnderstand their profession of it giuen in writing 2 The truth of the second proposition may easily be manifested hence in as much as the vnion betweene the members of any Church as visible consists in the vnity of discipline or iurisdictiō or of lawes iudiciall or ceremoniall whereas the vnion of the Church as holy and Catholike formally consists in the vnitie of faith or doctrine or of Lawes and Mysteries internally spirituall and morall It is cleare that the former vnion may be dissolued without the dissolution of the latter as the latter likewise in some cases may be dissolued without dissolution of the former As for example a man may be cut off by excōmunication or exile from all commerce with the present visible Church wherein hee was bred and borne and yet not thereby cut off from the Holy Catholike orthodoxall Church Againe a man by heresie or impious opinions whether voluntarily and secretly imbraced by him or thrust vpon him by the visible Church which hath authority of Iurisdiction ouer him may separate himselfe from the Holy Catholike Church and yet still remaine an actuall member a deare sonne of the visible Church in whose bosome he is willing to liue Euery visible Church whose Lawes are ratified by Soueraigne Authority and whose Gouernours are armed with power coactiue may cut off any particular member besides the head from which all power coactiue is deriued Suppose one or two or more be actually cut off by excommunication exile or the like censure not onely from publike communion in the Church but from all ciuill commerce with his neighbours yet if I know that hee was so cut off either vpon mis-information or mistake of his Iudges as if he had held some grieuous heresies which as appeares to mee hee did not or that the Church Gouernors out of ignorance spleene or faction or other sinister respects which I may not in particular examine did condemne these opinions held by him for hereticall or schismaticall which are in themselues and to my knowledge orthodoxall and truly Catholike hee is to mee and to others which know his meaning a visible member of the Holy Catholike Church though no more a member of the visible Church wherein he did and we yet remaine And albeit I haue no power to rescind the visible Churches decree or authoritatiuely to pronounce him a Catholike whom they to whom the cognizance of such causes belongs haue condemned for an hereticke and albeit I may not admit him to publike prayers or to communion at the Sacraments as being interdicted by authoritie yet I may and ought still to retaine that communion with him which in this Creed we beleeue to be betwixt all true members of Christs body or professors of the Holy Catholike faith that is the Communion of Saints such a Communion as is betwixt the members of the Church triumphant and the liuing members of Christs body militant or rather such as is betweene the orthodoxall professors of the English or other reformed Churches I am bound to pray for him and he for me that we may continue stedfast in the faith which we haue receiued
the chiefe Priests and Elders in matters of faith and practice as wee are from communicating with the Romish Church or members of the Trent Councell But if this mans meaning be that neither the Prophets nor our Sauiours Disciples before his death did take vpon them to erect a new visible Church altogether distinct from the erring Synagogue the obiection is true but no way preiudiciall to vs. For they liued in that Church or common weale as our forefathers before Luthers time which feared God did in the Romish Church or common weale which had not by publike consent abandoned the Romish Religion that is neither as absolute members of the Synagogue nor yet a visible Church distinct from it but as visible members of that primitiue Church from which the Synagogue had degenerated As for the Prophets and other godly men which liued before our Sauiours death they wanted rather power than willing minds to reforme the corruptions of the visible Church in which they liued And the true reason why that Church continued so corrupt from Iosias his death vntill the destruction of the Temple and grew so wicked againe in the age before our Sauiours time was because during these times there were either naughty Kings or no Kings at all in Israel Had Iehosophat Ezekiah Iosiah or any like vnto them of Dauids line beene Kings of Iudah in Herods stead there is no question but they would haue brought the Scribes and Pharisees to better order or haue deposed them either haue reduced the then visible Church to its primitiue purity or haue erected a new visible Church according to the paterne prescribed by Moses That the Priests and Prophets did so ouerbeare the true Prophets of God Ieremiah Ezekiel c. to the ruine of the City and Kingdome was the fault of Iehoiakim and Zedekiah As at this day againe it is the fault and folly of Christian Kings that the Church of Rome is not either reduced to better conformity with the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church or else demolished as the Iewish Synagogue was But what should moue this man I meane the Author of the blind Guide of Faith to make the former obiection against vs I cannot conceiue vnlesse it were to giue vs and the Christian world to vnderstand That the visible Romish Church his mother could bee very well content to continue till Christs second comming as erroneous and antichristian as the Iewish Synagogue was before his first comming in the flesh vpon condition she may retaine her wonted power and authority to tyrannize ouer vs and other Saints of God as the visible Iewish Church or Synagogue did oft-times ouer the true Prophets and Christs disciples 2 For conclusion of this point In as much as Christian Princes and free States did second Luther in his intended reformation of so much of the visible Romish-Church as was seated in their Soueraignties or Dominions this warrants our separation to haue beene iust and lawfull and free from all suspition of rebellion or schisme whereunto the like attempts in Iury though vndertaken by Gods Prophets had beene obnoxious vnlesse the Princes or chiefe Magistrates had giuen them countenance and authority Howbeit neither Prince nor people ioyntly or seuerally either now haue or at any time had power to make a new church altogether distinct from the Catholike Church militant on earth which hath beene one by continuation of the same faith since the Apostles time But in case any part of the Church militant or visible be infected with heresie or ouerswaid by faction to approue such impious and vngodly practices as are incompatible with the Holy Catholike faith which hath beene professed in pure and vncorrupt times euery free Prince or State haue in this case power and authority sufficient to dislinke themselues from the factious combination of the visible Church or Churches seated in forraigne States or Kingdomes and to vnite themselues into renewed formes of visible Churches distinct from others Yet thus to doe so they doe no more is not to make a new Church neuer heard of before but rather to recollect the scattered members of the Holy Catholike Church in whom the life and substance of the true Church of God consists and to put a new accidentall forme vpon them 3 The case is altogether the same as if an Army consisting of threescore thousand English French and Italians appointed by ioynt consent of these Nations to inuade the Turke should bee misled by the Italian Generall to reuenge his priuate quarrels vpon the Christians If the English vpon discouery of their Generals trecherie should abandon him and adioyne themselues vnto the Hungarians or other Christians oppressed by the Turke they could not iustly be blamed either for defection or reuolt or for leuying an Armie or vndertaking a warre altogether new without any warrant or commission Well might they presume their Prince would approue their proceedings specially if their seruice had successe answerable to the godly intentions of their first Commission 4 As many of our forefathers as did submit themselues vnto the Iurisdiction of the church of Rome and vndertook such seruices as the Pope or Romane Prelacie did appoint them vnto they did thus onely vpon presumption that the Pope did faithfully execute his Commission as the Apostles successor or that he did command in chiefe for Christ But when the contrary was notoriously knowne vnto this people that hee did but counterfeit the visage of the Lambe that he might the more plausibly effect the designes of the Dragon Our Prince and people in abandoning his yoke and breaking off their confederacie with the church of Rome did well And this being done they remaine the same church they were for life and substance but the same Church better purified and purged from rebellious Antichristian humours the same Church so much more homogeneall to the ancient Primitiue catholike Church by how much they remained the freer from seruitude to Romish tyranny whose vsurped authority ouer other Churches is but Antichristianisme or Apostasie from Christ CHAP. XX. Whether the name Catholike can in good earnest be pleaded or pretended for an vnseparable marke of the true visible Church 1 BVt in all these Illustrations it will be excepted that wee take something for granted which the Romish Church will vtterly disclaime This for one That our forefathers at the time of their departure from the Romish Church were true Catholikes or in the interim betweene the abandoning of the Prelacie of Rome and the establishing a Prelacie or forme of Gouernment of their owne more refined were visible members of the holy Catholike Church For so destitute is the Romane Church of all true solid properties of the true Church of God that she is faine to plead the name and title of Catholike to be her proper note or Ensigne which no other Church may more presume to challenge then a Seruingman may presume to weare his Masters coate or cognizance after hee be discharged of his
which is the life and soule of the Holy Apostolike Church shall bee no part of our inquirie It sufficeth that the name Catholike it selfe is vniuocall in respect both of Church and faith True faith is therefore Catholike faith because it is the onely doore or way vnto saluation alike common vnto all without nationall or topicall respect Whosoeuer of any Nation haue beene saued haue beene saued by this one and the same faith and whosoeuer will be saued as Athanasius speakes must hold this Catholike faith and hee must hold it pure and vndefiled The maine question then is who they be that hold this Catholike faith and whether they hold it vndefiled or no. Were Vincentius his rules as artificiall as they are orthodoxall and honest the issue betwixt vs and the Romanist would be very easie and triable But let vs take them as they are Id catholicum est quod ab omnibus vbique et semper c. That is Catholike which is held by all in all places and at all times The three speciall notes of the catholike faith or Church by him required are vniuersalitie antiquity and consent Whether these three members be different or subordinate and ofttimes coincident I leaue it to be scanned by Logicians According to the Authors limitation all three markes agree to vs not to the Romanist 2 First concerning vniuersality the question is not Whether at this present houre or in any former age for these thousand yeeres past there are or haue been more which professe the present Romish Religion established in the Church of Rome then the Religion established in the reformed Churches since the separation was made If wee should come to calculate voyces after this manner Whether will you bee a Romane Catholike or a protestant They might perhaps haue three for one amongst such as professe themselues Christians ready to cry I am not for the protestants but for the Roman Catholikes will I bee But it was farre from Vincentius his meaning that vniuersality should bee measured after this fashion for hee very well knew that the Arian faction had preuailed especially by this tumultuary kind of canvase or calculation The multitude of voices thus taken for them may proue their faction to be stronger and greater than our Church it cannot proue their faith to be so vniuersall as our faith is The fallacie by which the Romanists deceiue poore simple people is in making them beleeue that our Religion and their Religion our faith and their faith are duo prima diuersa or so totally distinct that part of the one could not be included in the other But for the vniuersalitie of our faith wee haue euery member of the Romish Church a suffragant or witnesse for vs. First nothing is held as a point of faith in our Church but the present Romish Church doth hold the same and confesse the same to haue beene held by all orthodoxall Antiquity So that for the forme of faith established in our Church we haue the consent of the Primitiue Church of the foure first generall Councels of all succeding ages vnto this present day the consent likewise of the present Romish Church and of our selues Now as France is a great deale bigger than Normandy if we compare them as distinct and opposite and yet France and Normandy is bigger then France without Normandy so likewise though the present visible Romish Church be much greater then the Church of England yet seeing the Romish Church how great soeuer doth hold all the points of faith which our Church doth for Catholike and orthodoxall our consent and their consent our confession and their confession is more vniuersall then their consent without ours But if their consent vnto the points of faith beleeued by vs proue our faith to be vniuersall and our Church by consequence to bee Catholike why should not our consent vnto the points of faith beleeued by them proue their faith to bee vniuersall or their Church to be Catholike Because it is not enough to hold all points of Catholike faith vnlesse the same points bee kept holy and vndefiled The Romish Church we grant doth hold all points of Catholike faith and so farre as she holds these points wee dissent not from her yet dissent from her wee doe in that she hath defiled and polluted the catholike faith with new and poysonous doctrines for which shee neither hath the consent of Antiquity nor of reformed Churches And in respect of these doctrines she stands conuicted of schisme and heresie by Vencentius his rules For it is with him a fundamentall rule That no present visible Church hath any authority to commend any thing as a point of faith to posterity which hath not beene commended to the said Church by Antiquity deriued from the Apostles times A proficiency or growth in faith hee allowes and granteth modò sit in eodem genere so it be in the same kinde or proceed from the same root but for additions or new inuentions he takes them for the markes of schisme and heresie 3 So then we hold the Catholike faith and they hold the Catholike faith And seeing they hold the Catholike faith in the same measure that we doe is it not reason they should bee termed Catholikes as well as we though not so good Chatholikes as wee No reason they should be termed Catholikes at all Where is the difference In this Wee hold it pure and vndefiled they haue defiled and polluted it for many generations and doe still defile it with many loathsome additions and inuentions Now in this case the denomination followeth the worser part that is they are not so much to bee reputed Catholikes for that they hold the Catholike faith as to be adiudged Heretikes and Schismatiks because they haue defiled and polluted it with many new inuentions and being admonished hereof and reproued will not purifie their faith will not reforme their religion according to the rule of faith and the practice of Antiquity Their faith not purified from the additions of the second Nicene and Trent Councell can be no Catholike faith Their Religion not reformed can be no true Religion saue onely in reference to Paganisme Iudaisme or Mahumetisme For as Dionysius saith Bonum non est nisi ex integra causa malum ex quolibet defectu Nothing is good which is not intire and sound evill ariseth from euery defect Euery new addition or inuention in matters of faith or doctrine is enough to make that church schismaticall which before was Catholike and orthodoxall Catholike and orthodoxall no Church can be vnlesse it hold all points of faith without admixture of humane inuentions or of new articles The admixture of a great deale of mans meat with a little swines meat makes the whole dish to bee no mans meat but swines meat Our Church according to Vincentius his rule admits a growth or proficiencie in faith in that it holds not only those propositions which are expresly contained in Scripture but such as
may by necessary consequence bee deduced out of them for points of faith and this growth is still in eodem genere from the same root Other points of faith besides these our Church admitteth none but tyes euen her Prelates and Gouernours to obtrude no other doctrines as points of faith vpon their Auditors than such as are either expresly contained in Scriptures or may infallibly bee deduced from them And this is the fundamentall and radicall difference between our Church and the Romish Church which admitteth such an illimited increase or growth of faith as is in heapes or congests of Heterogenealls CHAP. 22. Of the adinuentions or new Articles added to the Creed by the Romish Church by which she hath defiled the Holy Catholike and Apostolike faith Of the difference betwixt the Church of Rome and the Church of England concerning the rule of faith What that ecclesiasticke tradition was which Vincentius Liâ—inensis so much commendeth to what vse it serued in the ancient Councels 1 THe paine-worthiest enquiry in this argument were first to make search what additions or adinuentions vnto the ancient or primitiue Canon of Catholike faith haue beene made receiued or authorized by the Romish Church since the Councel of Ephesus which was some 3. yeers before Vincentius Lirinensis wrote his admonitions concerning this point and in what age and vpon what occasions such additions haue beene made or receiued Secondly to make proofe or demonstration how farre and in what manner such additions do corrupt or contaminate the Holy Catholike faith and how farre each or all of them ioyntly or seuerally doe vndermine or overthrow the holy Catholike faith The first addition or adinuention of moment which comes into my memorie is the Inuocation of Saints and veneration of Images Both which points were added as articles of faith or parts of the creed which all were bound to beleeue and professe by Tharasius Patriarke of Constantinople and President of that illiterate parasiticall and factious Assembly which hath bin coÌ„monly enstyled the seuenth generall or second Nicene Councell In these the like abominable decrees the then Bishop of Rome was Tharasius his complice his instigator and abettor as may appeare from the speeches of his Legates in that Councell and by his owne Epistles although part of the Epistle may bee iustly suspected to haue beene framed since But by what spirit this Councell was managed or in whose name they met together I referre the Reader vnto that learned Treatise in the booke of Homilies whereunto wee haue all subscribed concerning the perill of Idolatry especially the third part What ingenuous minds of this Kingdome thought of that Councell before either the Author of these Homilies or Luther was borne may in part bee gathered from an ancient English Historiographer who saith the Church of God did hold this decree in execration 2 The selfe same points with a great many more of like or worse nature all whatsoeuer any Councell which the Romish Church accounteth generall or oecumenicall or any Canons which the same Church accounteth Catholike euen all the decrees whereto the Trent Councell hath affixt their Anathemaes haue beene annext by Pius Quartus to the Nicene Creed and are inserted as principall points of that oath which euery Roman Bishop at his consecration is to take one part of which oath or solemne vow it likewise is that euery Bishop shall exact the like confession of his inferiors to bee ratified by oath or solemne vow Caetera omnia à sacris oecumenicis concilijs ac praecipuè à sacrosancta Tridentina Synodo tradita definita declarata indubitanter recipio atque profiteor fimulque contraria omnia atque haereses quascunque ab ecclesia damnatas rejectas anathematizatas ego pariter damno reijcio anathematizo Hanc veram catholicam fidem extra quam nemo salvus esse potest quam in praesenti sponte profiteor veraciter teneo eandem integram inviolatam vsque ad extremum vitae spiritum constantissimè Deo adiuvante retinere confiteri atque à meis subditis vel illis quorum cura ad me in munere meo spectabit teneri doceri praedicari quantum in me erit curaturum Ego idem N. spondeo voveo ac iuro sic me Deus adiuuet haec sancta Dei Evangelia Onup de vita pont pag. 472. The particular decree concerning Inuocation of Saints and adoration of Images is much inlarged by the Trent Councell and by Pius Quartus But of the equivalency of Idolatry in Rome Heathen and Rome Christian elsewhere at large In this one point to omit others the present Romish Church farre exceeds the Easterne Church in the time of the second Nicene Councell in that it ratifies the worshipping of all such Saints as are canonized by the Pope 3 The second addition made by the Romane Church vnto the ancient canon of faith is a transcendent one and illimited and that is the making of Ecclesiasticall Tradition to be an integrall part of the canon of faith This doth not onely pollute but vndermine the whole fabricke of the holy primitiue and Catholike faith That there is a certaine rule or authentick canon of faith is a principle wherein the ancient primitiue Church the moderne Roman and all reformed Churches agree The first point of difference betwixt vs is about the extent of the written canon specially of the old Testament The maine points of difference are these First we affirme with antiquity and in particular with Vincentius Lirinensis that the canon of Scripture is a rule of faith perfect for quantity and sufficient for qualitie that is it containes all things in it that are necessary to saluation or requisite to be contained in any rule so containes them as they may be beleeued and vnderstood wthout relying on any other rule or authority equivalent to them in certainty or more authentick in respect of vs then the Scriptures are The moderne Romish Church denies the canon of Scripture to bee perfect and compleat in respect of its quantity or sufficient for its quality or efficacy To supply the defect of its quantity they adde Tradition as another part of the same rule homogeneall and equiualent to it for quality To supply the vnsufficiency aswell of canonicall Scriptures as of Tradition in respect of their quality or efficacy towards vs they adde the infallible authority of the present visible Church The former addition of vnwritten Traditions as part of the infallible rule doth vndermine this latter addition of the Churches infallible absolute authority aswell in determining the extent as in declaring the true sense and meaning of the whole rule vtterly puls downe the structure of faith yet when we reiect Ecclesiasticall Tradition from being any part of the rule of faith we doe not altogether deny the authority or vse of it Howbeit that Ecclesiasticall Tradition wherof there was such excellent vse in the Primitiue Church was not
vnwritten tradition or customes commended or ratified by the supposed infallibility of any visible Church That Ecclesiastical Tradition which Vincentius Lirinensis so much commends did especially consist in the Confessions or registers of particular Churches Now the vnanimous consent of so many seuerall Churches as exhibited their Confessions to the Nicene Councell being not dependent one of another not ouerswayed by authority nor misled by faction to frame the Confessions of their faith by imitation or according to some patterne set them but voluntarily and freely exhibiting such Confessions as had beene framed and taught before these controuersies arose was a pregnant argument to any vnpartiall vnderstanding man that this faith wherein they all agreed had beene deliuered vnto them by the Apostles and their followers by the first planters of the Churches thus agreeing a pregnant argument likewise that these first planters had beene inspired and taught by one and the same Spirit Each particular Church was a competent or authentike witnesse of euery other Churches integrity and fidelity in seruando depositum in carefull preseruing the truth committed to their speciall trust On the contrary in that Arius Eutyches Nestorius and other heretikes did obtrude such constructions of scriptures vpon their Auditors as had no where beene heard of before but sprung vp with themselues or from the places wherein they liued this was an argument more then probable that if the Apostles had deliuered the whole forme of wholesome doctrine vnto posteritie a point questioned by no Church in those times these men or the particular Churches which abetted them had not kept the doctrine deliuered vnto them by our Sauiour and his Apostles but had corrupted or defiled it with the idle fancies of their owne braines or with the muddy conceit of their discontented passions To speake more briefly though perhaps more fully The vnanimous consent of so many distinct visible Churches as exhibited their seuerall Confessions Catechismes or Testimonies of their owne and their forefathers faith vnto the foure first oecumenicall Councels was an argument of the same force and efficacie against Arius and other heretikes for whose conuiction these Councels were called as the generall consent and practice of all Nations in worshipping some Diuine power or other hath beene in all ages against the Atheists Nothing besides the ingraffed notion of a Deitie or diuine power could haue inclined so many seuerall Nations so much different in naturall disposition in ciuill discipline and education to affect or practice the dutie of adoration Nothing besides the euidence of truth deliuered vnto the Christian world by Christ and his Apostles could haue kept so many seueral Churches as communicated their Confessions vnto the Councell of Nice and Ephesus c. in the vnitie of the same faith 4 Howbeit this vnanimous Tradition Ecclesiasticke was not in these times held for any proper part of the Rule of faith but alleadged onely as an inducement to incline the hearts of such as before acknowledged the written word for the onely Rule of faith to beleeue that the interpretations or decisions of those Councels did containe the true sense and meaning of the Rule acknowledged by all So that the written Tradition which Vincentius so much commends was not by the Nicene Councell vsed to any such purpose as the Romanist now vse vnwritten Traditions The onely vse of it was to direct the present Church in her examination of the Catholike truth or points of faith The chiefe authority which the visible Church then challenged did consist in the vnanimous consent of Ecclesiasticke Tradition and that as was said before but an inducement to imbrace the interpretations of the present Church and reiect the interpretations of vpstart heretikes 5 But was it a receiued truth in these Primitiue times or a truth acknowledged by Vicentius the pretended patron of Roman Catholike Tradition that the ioynt consent of so many Bishops as were assembled in the first Councell of Nice or the ioynt Confessions of so many seuerall Diocesses as were then deliuered to that Councell should vnto the worlds end continue an argument or inducement of like force or validitie as it then was either for establishment of the Canons which succeeding Councels should make or for condemning such opinions as with the consent of as many or more Bishops as were there assembled should be condemned for heresies No the same Vincentius hath giuen posteritie a Caueat as full of wisedome as of religion in some cases not to admit of his former admonition concerning the triall of Catholike faith either for refelling heresies or for establishing of the truth The limitation of his former admonition is in his owne words thus As for ancient and inueterate heresies they are not in any wise to bee refuted by the former method because continuance of time after heresies be once set on foot may afford Heretikes many opportunities of stealing Truth out of the writings of the Ancient or for exchanging orthodoxall antiquity with prophane nouelties Now what opportunities of falsification did these 800. yeeres last past affoord which the Romane church was not alwaies ready to take The opportunities afforded by dissolution of the Romane Empire and variance of christian Kings first made the Romane Cleargie such sacrilegious Thieues as Vincentius supposeth any opportunitie may make heretikes to be And the Romane church being flesht with the spoile of Christs flocke and christian churches through the West haue not beene wanting vnto themselues in deuising new opportunities in coyning a new art of falsifying Antiquitie of stealing the consent and suffrages of the christian world from orthodoxall and primitiue truth So that if this controuersie may be examined and discussed by Vincentius his rules since the first acknowledgment of the Popes supremacie since the making of Edicts for the acknowledging of it since the exemption of Clarkes from royall or ciuill iurisdiction all the written testimonies or vnwritten traditions which the children of the Romish church doe or can rake together are voyd in law and voyd in conscience there is not so much as one legall single Testimony but all are as a multitude of false and illegall witnesses of parties or conspirators in their owne cause 6 But although heresies of long standing continuance cannot be refuted nor may not be assaulted in Vincentius his iudgement by the former method that is by multitude of suffragants or ioynt consent of seuerall Prouinces is there therefore no other meanes left to conuince them no way left to eschew them yes we may eschew them saith he as already condemned by ancient and orthodoxall Councels or we may conuince them so it be needfull or expedient by the sole authority of Scriptures Now if the Scriptures be sufficient to conuince heresies of long continuance or long standing and to confute such heretikes as want neither wit will nor opportunitie to falsifie ancient records and imprint traditions of their owne coyning with inscriptions of Antiquity I hope the same Scripture was