infallible yet how can any know infallibly which are lawful General Councils because of the many conditions required to make them such in some one of which he can never be infallibly certain that any one of them hat not failed § 114. Chap. 10. 15. Q. Lastly Catholicks pretending a Divine Faith of the Articles of Christian Religion to be necessary to Salvation and all Divine Faith necessarily to be grounded on Divine Revelation It is asked upon what ground a Christian by a Divine Faith believes all those Articles of his Faith that are defined by particular Councils Where if said from the Testimony of the present Church which is in the former manner i. e. by divine Revelation infallible The question returns whence this Testimony can be proved to be in such a manner infallible without making a Circle in proving this present Church to be so infallible from Gods Word written or unwritten and then again proving infallibly such to have been Gods Word from the infallible testimony of the present Church Nor can the testimony of the Church be proved to be infallible in such a manner as to ground divine Faith upon it from the Motives of credibility or from any thing else but only from a divine Revelation i. e. from Gods Word because divine Faith can never resolve it self into any ground that is not divine Revelation § 120. To which is answered 1. That the object of a divine Faith is alwayes in it self infallible § 123. 2. That divine Faith alwayes ultimatly resolveth it self into divine Revelation and that into some one wherein it ultimately resteth without a processe in infinitum or turning in a Circle § 124. n. 1. 132. 143 144. 3. That divine Faith is alwayes wrought in Christians by the operation of Gods Spirit § 124. n. 2. 4. That from the operation of this H. Spirit may be produced in Christians a sufficient certainty of divine Faith whatever uncertainty be in the extrinsecal proponent thereof § 125. 5. That Church-Tradition in delivering unto us the divine Revelation is only the Introductive not the object of a divine Faith § 126. 6. That there in no absolute need either of it or any other extrinsecal infallible Introductive or proponent for a Christian 's attaining a divine Faith § 127. 7. Yet that there are those morally-certain grounds produceable for this Faith and all the Articles thereof as they are believed in the Catholick Church which no other Religion besides the Christian nor in Christianity no other Sect or seducing private Spirit can pretend to § 135. That a rational certainty or morally-morally-infallible ground of a Christians Faith thus far at least that the Scriptures are the Word of God and consequently whatever is contained therein infallible is affirmed by all § 136. 8. But further that an infallibility in the Guides of the Church as perpetually assisted by the H. Ghost for all necessaries wherein the true sence of Scriptures or verity of Tradition Apostolical is questioned and disputed is believed by Catholicks From which infallibility of these Church-Guides clearly revealed to them in Scripture and by Tradition Apostolical they retain a firm Faith of all those points which are not in Scripture or Tradition as to all men so clearly revealed Whilst others denying the infallibility of these Church-Guides and only allowing that of Scripture miscarry in their Faith concerning some of the other points or can have no firm ground of their believing them § 140. Shewed from the Precedents That no Circle is made in the Roman Catholick's resolving either of a divine and infused or acquisit and humane Faith § 143. c. Chap. 11. A Supplement to the 4th Chap. 26th § Wherein is shewed a Consent of the Doctrine and practice of the modern Eastern Churches with the Occidental in the chief points of present Controversie 1. Transubstantiation § 158. n. 2. 177. 2. Adoration of the Eucharist § 159. 177. 3. Sacrifice of the Mass § 160. n. 1. 177. 4. Invocation of Saints § 161. 5. Prayer for the Souls of the Faithful departed as betterable thereby in their present Condition § 162. 6. Communion in one kinde or of the Symbol of our Lords Body onely intinct § 163.178 7. A Relative Veneration of Images or Pictures § Ibid. 8. Monastick Vows And Marriage denied the Clergy after the taking of Holy orders § 164. and § 179. n. 1. 9. Auricular or Sacramental Confession § 165.179 n. 2. The Replies made hereto by Protestants considered § 182. c. THE FOURTH DISCOURSE Containing the Socinians Apology for the be believing and teaching his Doctrine against former Church-Definitions and present Church-Authority upon the Protestant-Grounds Divided into Five Conferences The first Conf. OF his not holding any thing contrary to the Holy Scripture § 2. The second Conf. Of his not holding any thing contrary to the unanimous sence of the Catholick Church so far as this can justly oblige § 13 The third Conf. Nor contrary to the Definitions of lawful General Councils the just conditions thereof observed § 18. The fourth Conf. Of his not being guilty of Heresie § 23. The fifth Conf. Nor of Schism § 28. THE FIRST DISCOURSE Relating and Considering the Varying Judgments of Learned Protestants concerning the ECCLESIASTICAL GUIDE CHAP. I. The Church Catholick granted by all in some sence unerrable in Fundamentals for ever § 1. Of Protestant Divines I. Some granting the Church Catholick unerrable in Fundamentals or Necessaries but not as a Guide § 3. R. That-the Divine Promises of Indefectibility or not erring in Necessaries belongs to the Church Catholick as a Guide or to the Guides of the Church Catholick § 6. § 1 FIrst that the Church Catholick of any Age whatever is unerrable in Fundamentals The Church Catholick granted by all in some sence unerrable for ever in Fundamentals or absolute Necessaries to Salvation both by Roman-Catholicks and Protestants is granted for otherwise in some Age there would be no Church Catholick Errour in such Fundamentals destroying the very Being of a Church § 2 But when from the Church Catholick it is by Catholicks ascended to the Governours or Guides thereof to whom this Church is committed by our Lord departed hence That they are also by our Lords promise and assistance unerrable in their Decrees They at least in a lawful General Council of them such as the times wherein such Councils are assembled do permit unerrable § 3 at least so far as to Necessaries Here the Protestants make a stop 1. 1. Some Protestant-Divines granting the Church Catholick unerrable in Fundamentals or Necessaries but not as a Guide and seem to differ one from another in 12 their Judgments Mr. Ch llingworth in his Answer to F. Knot and after him Dr. Hammond in his Answer to the Exceptions made against the Lord Falklands Discourse of Infallibility with their followers in this point among whom I number the two late Repliers ‖ See Mr. Stillingf p. 154 251 252 514 517.55 Whitby c.
that they neither do nor can err in Fundamentals nor in declaring what is fundamental what is not fundamental and consequently to make any Church an infallible Guide in Fundamentals would be to make it infallible in all things which she proposes and requires to be believed i. e. that she may require our Assent and Belief of all things by the device of her proposing them as necessary § 9 6 ly When the Church-Guides are said to be infallible in Necessaries Prop. 6. Catholicks contend That Necessaries * ought not to be taken here in so strict a sence as to be restrained and limited only to those few points of Faith that are so indispensably required to be of all men explicitly believed as that Salvation is not possibly consistible with the disbelief or ignorance of any of them which are thought by the Learned to be only some few Articles of the Apostles Creed Of which see Dr. Potter § 7. p. 242. c. But * ought to be understood in a sence more enlarged comprehending at least * all such Points as are so requisite and beneficial to Salvation as that there is some danger of a miscarriage therein either in respect of Faith or Manners either to Particulars or to the whole Society either to all or at least to some persons and conditions of men by the ignorance or disbelief of them * all such Points as corroborate Fundamentals by their near connexion to them or as serve to repel the malignant Influence of some Error that either directly or by some consequence at least undermines and corrupts or to use the Archbishop's words ‖ § 35. n 5.6 grates upon or miss-expounds some Fundamental either in the Christian Faith or Manners § 10 The Reason 1st Because our Saviour's promised assistance of his Church is not expresly limited to Necessaries in the first sence by any of those Texts that mention it nor can upon any account of the superfluousness or non-necessity of such assistance be denied to the Church in respect of the second where-ever any Error in such points though they be not Principles or Fundamentals but Deductions and Superstructions appears to be gross dangerous damnable blasphemous idololatrical grating the Foundation which sort of Errors Protestants grant there may be in non-fundamentals and by them are such Errors charged upon the Church of Rome ‖ Arch-bishop Lawd § â—7 n 5.6 Art of Rel. 31. Chill p. 119 but it seems unsutable to our Lord's Love and everlasting protection of his dearest Spouse that they should be also incident to the Church Catholick or its supreme Guides 2 ly Because the Practice of the generally-allowed Primitive Councils defining and under Anathema imposing the belief of many several points of Faith which fall not under the first notion of Necessaries doth shew that Church-tradition hath always understood Christ's Promises made to the Church as extending to Necessaries in the second acception Neither will infallible assistance in necessaries as they are taken in the first sense extend to the Church-definitions made in the points delivered in the Athanasian Creed which points yet the Church hath defined as necessary and infallible Again since it is affirmed by Protestants that a Lawful General Council 〈◊〉 Stillingf p. 330. accepted by the whole Catholick Church diffusive may err in non-necessaries for so say they may the whole Catholick Church dissusive err ‖ See Arch-bishop Lawd p 139 140 141. if then the Church-definitions found in the Athanasian Creed are also to be reckoned such i. e. non-necessaries upon what account can Protestants firmly believe them for true except so many as are able to demonstrate them out of the Scripture seeing they are deprived of any confidence of the Church's not erring therein as being points reckoned non-necessaries And the Promises thus restrained to Necessaries of the first kind what an hurtful liberty is there left to all Sects to question the Church's Infallibility in many principal Articles of her faith as for example to the Socianians to question it in the point of Consubstantiality under this pretence of the Churches possibility of erring in non-necessaries 3 ly Because I see not how the title of Holy continued for ever to the Church-Catholick by the Promise of our Lord can consist with all those errors that yet do oppugne Necessaries only as taken in the second not first notion called gross dangerous damnable blasphemous if as these are imputed promises to the Catholick If her doctrines and consequently practice be somtimes damnable blasphemous c. how She always Holy Because by the same divine assistance the Catholick Church is affirmed by Protestants never to fall into Heresie which thing also infers a divine assistance thereof beyond Necessaries in the first notion unless they will affirm the contradictories of several of the Church-definitions that are delivered in the Athanasian Creed or the first allowed G. Councils not to be heresies § 11 5 ly Because One reason which Protestants give why our Lords Promise of these Guides non-erring is to be restrained only to some and not enlarged to all Truths is * because they are by and unnecessary Truths to which her curiosity or weaknesse may carry her beyond her Rule c. ‖ Arch-Bishop Lawd p. 141. * because they are such points as may be variously held and disputed without hurt or prejudice to faith * because they are unprofitable curiosities and unnecessary subtilties for which the Promise was not made * because Deus non abundâ—t in superfluis ‖ Dr. Poâ—ter p. 5. p. 150 c As natare so God is not lavish in superfluities therefore what points though not Necessaries in the first kind yet are as far removed from superfluous or curiosities and are though not absolutely yet very necessary still thus far in these we may suppose our Lords assistance continued to his Church and preserving her from failing in them ‖ A second reason which Protestants also give why the Church cannot err in fundamentals is the perspicuity of Scriptures in these Points This power of not erring saith the Arch-bishop ‖ p. 140. is in the Church partly by the vertue of this Promise of Christ and partly by the watter which it teacheth which is the unerring Word of God so plainly and manifestly delivered to her as that it is not possible she should universally fall from it or teach against it in things absolutely necessary to salvation But doubtless many more points there are as plainly delivered in Scripture as those Necessaries of the first rank and therefore no reason to confine her un-erring verdict only to these And if more points then the primary fundamentals were not clear in Scripture how come Protestants in several of them on this account of their clearnesse in Scriptures to oppose and contradict the Supreme Guides of the Church 7ly Concerning the Church-Governours their exact distinguishing of Fundamentals § 12 or Necessaries from non-Necessaries 1st There setms no
but now said that particular Churches or Provincial Synods may be certain of something as Truth where either Scripture saith it or a necessary deduction collecteth it or Tradition delivereth it such as are Generally undisputed and unquestioned and may require from their Subjects an absolute assent and that upon Excommunication or Anathema to all such Articles of Religion as are either defined or otherwise agreed on by the whole Catholick Church and that herein they have the same infallibility as the Catholick and their Subjects are or may be convinced that they are the tenents of the Church Catholick As the Church of England though otherwise fallible may require not a conditional but an absolute assent to the Articles of the Athanasian Creed because she in these is infallible if the Catholick Church be so Thus much said concerning the quality of the submission required of her Sons by the Church of England to her Articles of Religion I now proceed to the 2d thing proposed before § 66. The many Difficulties and Objections urged against an Infallible Church-Authority CHAP. VIII Solutions of several Questions concerning an infallible living Guide 1. Q. From what we can be assured that Councils are infallible since neither the Texts of Scripture the sense whereof is disputed nor the Decree of any Council whose erring is the thing questioned can give such assurance § 86. 2. Q. From whence General Councils receive their Infallibility such promise if made at all being made onely to the Church diffusive and not delegable by this Church to others Or if so no such Delegation from the Vniversal Church appearing to have been beforehand made at all or any General Council § 91. 3. Q. How the Infallibility of General Councils is necessary or serviceable to the Church without which Councils the Church subsisted for several ages most Orthodox § 98. 4. Q. How Lawfull General Councils which experience hath shewed to have contradicted one another can be all Infallible § 100. 5. Q. Lawfull General Councils being supposed to be liable to error in some things how Christians can be assured concerning any particular point that in it these Councils do not erre § 101. 6. Q. Whilst such Councils are supposed Infallible How if they should not be so can any error of theirs be rectified § 102. 7. Q. Whether such Councils onely when confirmed by the Pope or all when yet unconfirmed by Him are infallible § 104. 8. Q. How the Popes Confirmation can any way concurr to such Councils non-erring since if it erred before it doth so still though he approve it but if orthodox before it is so still he not approving it § 105. 9. Q. In which the Pope or the Council this Infallibility lies For if in one of them the other is needless if in Both then either of them sufficient such qualities being indivisible and without integral Parts § 106. § 86 AGainst a living infallible Ecclesiastical Judg of Controverfies in necessary matters of Religion Solutions of several Questions asserted above in this discourse by Catholicks and the Church Governors in a Lawfull General Council affirmed to be so many difficulties are urged and some with much subtilty which it seems to me may be with as much plainness satisfactorily removed 1st Then Q. 1. it is asked †See Mr. Stillings p. 409 539 558. whence can arise a sufficient certainty to Christians that lawfull General Councils are infallible Since it cannot arise * from the Decree of any Council because we know not whether Councils err in such a Decree till this thing first be stated to us whether they are infallible Nor 2ly * From the Scripture Because this were to make the Scripture the sole Judg of this great Controversie which Catholicks deny to be the sole Judg of any and if Scripture may decide this Controversie it may as well all others for that it is evident that there are no places of Scripture whose sense is more controverted than the sense of those urged concerning the Churches Infallibility If therefore these may be understood without a living and Infallible Judg so as that we may be certain of their true sense then why not all others which concern the rule of Faith and manners whose sense is far less disputed than of these § 87 To which I answer 1st That Scripture though it cannot properly be a Judge to decide any dispute about its sence yet may be a rule plain and free enough from obscurity in its sense there where some corrupt and interessed judgements may question it nor is it to be thought really ambiguous where ever disputed or controverted and that though the clearness of this Rule can never be pretended or such argument in reason made use of on that side where a few do oppose either the common traditional sense of former ages or of the much major part of the present age yet on the other side the sence thereof that is given by the common judgment either of former or present times may be rationally urged against these few and especially where a superior Authority requires their conformity they ought to yeild unto it And here see what he saith ‖ Still p. 58 59. who urgeth this both concerning Scripture wrested by some in its sence even in those places of it where it is a Rule of necessary faith and manners and concerning the Christians duty herein to follow the common sence and consent of the Church Now that these Scriptures here spoken of however by some of late controverted have been alwayes understood in the common sence of the Church to declare a promise of infallibility in its Governours for necessaries appears sufficiently by the proceedings of her Councils ancient and modern requiring upon Anathema assent to their decrees and inserting some of them in the Creeds Of which more by and by ‖ § 90. Here then it is denied that Scripture when ever controverted by a few in some age against the traditional and common sence of the Church both in the former and present age as the Texts concerning the Trinity are now of late by the Socinian is no Rule plain or free enough from obscurity in the traditional sence thereof to decide such controversie § 88 2ly I answer for so much as is affirmed of such Councils namely their infallibility in all their definitions made in necessary matters of faith That Protestants themselves grant a sufficient certainty both from Scripture and from universal tradition that the Church Catholick of all ages is unerring in necessaries and that this Church Catholick alwayes doth and shall consist as well of a guiding and ruling Clergy as a guided and subject Laity And that thus far there is no controversie concerning evidence of Scripture or Tradition And next from hence it certainly follows that there shall be a body of Clergy for ever not erring in necessaries And again from this that this Clergy when joyned in a general assembly or Council and unanimously
decrees yet it is not affirmed by Catholicks that either a non-possibly or a non-morally fallible certainty of these Councils or of their Decrees or Definitions is necessary to all persons for the attaining a divine and salvifical belief of all the necessary articles of their Faith Of which see below § 125.127 Provided that every one be rightly disposed to believe both concerning Councils and their Decrees what is or shall be by their Superiors sufficiently proposed to them without and before which proposal he may be not only not infallibly certain but without peril to salvation ignorant supposing the common Creeds professed by him to contain all articles that are necessary ratione Medii to be explicitâ—y believed both what Councils are lawfully General and what such General Councils have decreed CHAP. X. 15. Q. Lastly Catholicks pretending a Divine Faith of the Articles of Christian Religion to be necessary to salvation and all Divine faith necessarily to be grounded on Divine Revelation it is asked upon what ground a Christian by a Divine Faith believes all those Articles of his Faith that are defined by particular Councils Where if it be said from the testimony of the present Church which is declared by the divine Revelation infallible the question proceeds whence this testimony can be proved by divine Revelation infallible unless it be from God's Word written or unwritten But then such writings for effecting a Divine Faith cannot be proved to be God's Word but from some other Divine Revelation for a Divine Faith can never ground it self save on a Divine Revelation where also we cannot return again to the testimony of the Church I mean as this is by Divine Revelation infallible without making a Circle § 120. To which is answered 1. That the object of a Divine Faith is alwayes in it self infallible § 123. 2. That Divine Faith alwayes resolveth it self into Divine Revelation and that into some one wherein it ultimately resteth without a process in infinitum or wheeling about in a Circile § 129. n. 1 § 132 143 144. 3 4. That such Divine Faith is alwayes wrought in Christians by the operation of God's Spirit § 164. n. 2. 5 6. But attainable without any extrinsecal infallible Introductive or Proponent Neither that it is necessary that all men for the enjoying a Divine and saving Faith be first infallibly certain that the external proponent thereof is infallible § 127. c. 7. Yet that there are those morally-certain grounds producible for this Faith and all the Articles thereof as they are believed in the Catholick Church which no other Religion befides Christianity nor no other Sect or seducing private spirit in Christianity can pretend to § 135. 8. That a rational certainty or morally-morally-infallible ground of a Christians Faith for this at least that the Scriptures are the Word of God and consequently whatever is contained therein infallible is affirmed by all § 136. But further That an infallibility of the Church-Guides in necessaries as clearly revealed in Scripture and by Tradition Apostolical is believed by Catholickes From which infallibility of the Church thus cleared to them they retain a firm faith of all those other points that are not in Scripture or Tradition as to all men so evidently revealed as Church-infallibility is In many of which points those-others who believe only infallibility of Scripture are liable to miscarry § 140. Shewed from the precedents that no Circle is made in the Roman-Catholicks resolution either of a Divine or acquisite Faith § 143. c. The Conclusion Wherein of the many advantages of promoting their salvation lost by Protestants in persisting out of the Communion and rejecting the conduct of the spiritual Guides of the Roman-Catholick Church IN this Query which follows concerning the Resolution of Faith wherein several Catholicks do variously express themselves according to their liberty of opinion unrestrained by any former Church definition and many of the terms have such a latitude of signification as it is hard to speak so distinctly as not in something to be misunderstood I have purposely quoted several Catholick Authors of good note in confirmation of what is delivered to remove from you all jealousie that any thing is said here new Heterodox or formerly censured by the Roman Church § 120 15ly In the last place it is further pressed Q. 15. That a moral certainty or if you will a moral infallibility could it perhaps be shewed for many of those things mentioned in the former questions yet is not sufficient to afford a ground of that faith which Catholicks do require as necessary For that they say that a Christian cannot with a right and a divine faith believe the particular points of his faith to be divinely revealed unless he have an infallible or not possibly fallible assurance thereof nor can he have such infallible assurance unless the Church's definitions in her General Councils that deliver such doctrines to be divine Revelations be so infallible Nor can he infallibly believe the definitions of any Council in part cular to be so infallible unless he be infallibly certain that it is a lawful General Council for all other inferior Councils Catholicks grant may err in their Definitions nor can he be infallibly certain of this unless he be so of all those things too without which Catholicks grant it is no General Council And if an infallible certainty also of all these things so far as it is necessary should be pretended from the Tradition of the Church ever since the time of the sitting of such Councils delivering and declaring to posterity these Councils in gross for lawfully General because this Church-Tradition is held infallible It is asked again whence this Tradition is infallibly known to be so where if it be said from our Lord's promises to the Church declared in the Scriptures and so the infallibility of the Church-Tradition be resolved into Divine Revelation It is still urged whence can any know infallibly either in particular that those Texts which are urged to make good such a promise have such a sence as is-pretended or in General that the Scriptures containing such Texts are the infallible Word of God and here again if we return to prove an infallible certainty of the sence of these particular Scriptures or in general of the Scriptures being divine from the tradition and testimony of the Church then here again I must make this testimony of the Church infallible and the former question returns as unsatisfied by the former answer viz. whence I can prove its testimony or Tradition infallible of which infallibility for me here to resume an evidence from the Scriptures or from the former Texts will cast my reasoning into a vicious circle § 121 But if I proceed and say That the Tradition of the Church may be proved sufficiently to be infallible from the motives of credibility much dilated on by Catholick Writers As From the multitude of those who have affirmed their receiving of
these divine Revelations from those who were known by Miracles to be sent from God the multitude of them I say together with their wisdom their sanctity their unanimous consent throughout so many ages their affirming such truth much contrary to all their secular interests to the appetites of the flesh and ambitions of this world their delivering them both by word and writing to their children and posterity to be delivered again to theirs as matters of the highest moment and wherein it eternally concerneth them not to be deceived as also their strict charge to deliver nothing in these matters of faith to their children which they have not received from their Forefathers their suffering many times cruel deaths for the verity of their testimony the miracles in several ages done also by them which miracles when done for the testifying of their Faith such in those ages as have seen have had the like evidence of this Faith as those who saw the miracles of the Apostles and those who have not seen but believe the credible Relators of them have the like evidence of their Faith as those also had in the Apostles times who believed as doubtless many did not seeing but only hearing of their miracles If I say I proceed thâ—s to prove the Church-Tradition infallible from these motives of credibility Here again it is asked concerning these motives whether they also be pretended infallible and whether they carry a certainty in them equall to that infallible assent of divine faith that is given to Divine Revelations and particularly to this of the infallibility of the Church which assent of divine faith is pretended to be more firm than any humane knowledge can be because it doth ultimately rest upon divine authority and yet which divine faith at last to avoid a Circle is by Catholicks for its certainty made to rest upon these prudential motives It is asked therefore in the last place whether these motives be pretended not-possibly-fallible or no. If not how can an infallible or divine faith be grounded on motives only highly probable or only morally certain or the thing that is proved or Conclusion be rendred certain and not-possibly-fallible to me from a possibly-fallible proof or medium since the thing proving or the ground of my assent must be more credible evident and certain to me than the thing proved But if these motives also be affirmed infallible 1st How can that be since all men however taken divided or conjoyned single or a multitude vulgar or wise and learned are possibly liable both to deceive and to be deceived and 2ly Thus at least divine faith will at last be built upon and resolved into not divine but humane authority contrary to the Doctrine of Catholicks § 122 And if it should be said here that the resolution of divine faith into these prudential motives whether fallible or infallible is only as into extrinsecal prerequisites or introductives to it not as into the formal cause or ground of it for so I ground alwayes the divine and infallible assent I give to any Article of my faith upon Divine Revelation and the prime verity because God who I believe saith it cannot lye It will be asked still since some Divine Revelation is alwayes the final motive of a Divine Faith from what other Divine Revelation I do believe such a point to be a Divine Revelation in which proceeding if it go not in infinitum I must come at last to some Divine Revelation concerning which I can produce no other revelation divine and so no ground at all why or from which I can believe it with a Divine Faith to be such unless I will betake my self to a Circle So for example in proving the Churches infallibility from Divine Revelation contained in the Scriptures and again the Scriptures God's Word from Divine Revelation unwritten delivered by the Apostles I can produce no further Divine Revelation that testifies such Revelation or Tradition to be delivered by the Apostles if I return not back to the Church's infallibility which returning thither makes a Circle And the same thing will happen the other way also in proving Scripture from Apostolical Tradition and this Apostolical Tradition again from Church-infallibility § 123 To which intricate Question to answer as distinctly as I can 1st It is agreed by all That the faith by which we are saved must be in it self most true and infallible or that there must be a certitudo objecti and those be true Revelations which our faith apprehends to be so 2ly Agreed also That such divine §. 124. n. 1. and saving faith doth alwayes ground it self on God's Word or Divine Revelation of those things which are believed and upon the authority veracity and goodness of God revealing such things And that Christians however coming to the knowledge of these Divine Revelations from their Parents Pastors or the Church in her Councils yet resolve this divine faith no otherwise as to the ultimate ground and reason of their believing than the Apostles themselves did who received these Revevelations immediately from Christ and God himself namely into the veracity of God delivering such particular Articles of their Faith 3ly Again agreed §. 124. n. 2. That this Divine Faith is wrought no otherwise in the soul than by the operation of God's Spirit †See S. Thom. 22. q. 6. De causâ fides many times begetting so firm an adherence to the things believed not only that what is Divine Revelation cannot deceive but that such particular points are Divine Revelations as exceeds that adherence we have to any humane Science whatsoever wherein there is often a possibility of deceit though not as to the thing yet as to us i.e. that we may think we know what and when we do not For this see the Arch-Bp †p. 72. Faith he means the habit or act of a saving faith is the gift of God alone and an infused habit in respect whereof the soul is meerly recipient And therefore the sole infufer the Holy Ghost must not be excluded from that work which none can do but he Which virtue of faith of whatever Article though it receive a kind of preparation or occasion of beginning from the testimony of the Church as it proposeth and induceth to the faith yet iâ— ends in God's revealing within and teaching within that which the Church preached without And p. 75. Man do what he can is still apt to search and seek for a reason why he will believe though after he once believes his faith grows stronger than either his reason or his knowledge and great reason for this because it goes higher and so upon a safer Principle than either of the other reason or knowledge can in this life quoting in the margin S. Thom. †p. 1. q. 1. a. 5. Quia sâ—ientiae certitudinem habent ex naturali lumine rationis humanae quae potest errare Theologia antem quae dâ—cet objectum
notitiam fidei sicut fidem ipsam certitudinem habet ex lumine divinae scientiae quae decipi non potest And Biel †In 3. sent 23 d. q. 2. A. 1. Hoc autem ita intelligendum est ut scientia certior sit certitudine evidentiae Fides verò certior firmitate adhaesionis Majus lumen in scientiâ majus robur in fide Et hoc quia in fide ad fidem Actus imperatus voluntatis concurrit Credere enim est actus intellectus vero assentientis productus ex voluntatis imperio Again p. 86. Faith saith he is an evidence as well as knowledge and the belief is firmer than any knowledge can be because it rests upon divine authority which cannot deceive whereas knowledge or at least he that thinks he knows is not ever certain in deductions from Principles And if there be any that should deny such a Divine or infused faith wrought in Christians by God's Spirit besides and beyond the evidence which a moral certainty rationally affords let them declare how a Christians faith is necessarily a Grace of the Holy Spirit where there is no effect in it that is ascribed to the Spirit but all that they attribute to it is necessarily consequent to another humane and rational evidence and no other ground of their faith of the Divine truths alledged by them than of the being of a Julius Caesar viz. a credible and morally-certain Tradition § 125 4ly Therefore concerning any certainty or assurance that Christians are necessarily to have of this their faith that it is true and infallible which certitude all true believers have not alike †Mat. 14.31 S. Thom. 22. q. 5 a. 4. Here also I think all are agreed That such a certainty one may have from the inward light and operation of God's Holy Spirit though he should have neither any internal scientifical demonstration thereof which if he hath it is not faith nor extrinsecal infallible motive testimony or proponent thereof whatever but though only he hath that which is in it self truly a Divine Revelation for the object thereof § 126 5ly Since the Church may be considered either * as a Society already manifested by divine Testimony and Revelation whether this written the Scriptures or unwritten Apostolical Tradition to be by the holy Ghost for ever assisted and guided in all necessary truths Or before any such divine Testimony known * as a multitude of men famous in wisdom innocency of life sufferings c. things prudentially moving us to credit all their Traditions Both Churches here agree That humane Testimony or Church-Tradition taken in the later sence in its making known to us what are these Divine Revelations or this Word of God is only introductive to this divine faith which relies on and adheres to the Revelations hemselves as its formal object Scripture is the ground of our faith Tradition the Key that lets us in saith Arch-Bp Lawd †p. 86. Divine Revelation written or unwritten is the formal Object or ultimate divine motive into which we resolve our faith and the Churches Tradition testifying or manifesting to us these matters revealed is a condition and prerequisite or introductive for the application of our faith unto those Divine Revelations on which we exercise it say the Catholicks § 127 6ly Catholicks further affirm That as the Church is considered in the former of the two acceptions formentioned the infallible authority and testimony thereof is not only an introductive into but one of the Articles of this divine faith as being grounded on Divine Revelation and that so many as believe the Church's infallibility in this sence may safely resolve their divine Faith of other Articles of their belief into its delivering them as such But then they hold That the Church's infallibility thus believed is not necessarily the ultimate Principle into which this divine Faith of other Articles is resolved but that Word of God written or unwritten by which this Church-infallibility is manifested to them And again That whatever this infallible authority of the Church be it is not necessary that every one for attaining a divine authority and saving faith be infallibly certain of this infallible Church-authority Or it is not necessary That for attaining a divine faith of the Articles of the Christian belief he have some extrinsecal motive or proponent whether it be of the Church or any other save the prime verity of which he is infallibly certain that it is infallible Which thing is copiously proved by many learned Catholicks a few of whose testimonies I have here inserted which the Reader may pass over if in this matter satisfied § 128 Concerning this thus Cardinal Lugo a Spanish Jesuit speaking of divine faith †Tom. de virtute fideidisp 1. §. 12. p. 247. Probatur facilè quia hoc ipsum Ecclesiam habere authoritatem infallibilem ex assistentia Spiritus sancti creditur fid◠divinâ quae docet in Ecclesiâ esse hujusmodi authoritatem ergo ante ipsius fidei assensum non potest requiri cognitio hujus infallibilis authoritatis Et experientia docet non omnes pueros vel adultos qui de novo ad fidem accedunt concipere muchless infallibiliter scire in Ecclesiâ hanc infallibilem authoritatem assistentiam Spiritus sancti antequam ullum alium articulum credant Credunt enim Articulos in ordine quo proponuntur Hunc autem Articulum authoritatis Ecclesiasticae contingit credi postquam alios plures crediderunt Solum ergo potest ad summum praerequiri cognoscere res fidei proponi ab Ecclesia concipiendo in Ecclesiâ secundum se authoritatem maximam humanam quae reperitur in universâ fidelium congregatione n. 252. In lege naturae plures credebant ex solâ doctrinâ parentum fine aliâ Ecclesiae propositione Deinde in lege scriptô plures crediderunt Moysi aliis Prophetis antequam eorum Prophetiae ab Ecclesia reciperentur I add or before they saw their miracles or the fulfilling of their Prophecies § 129 Thus Estius †In. 3. sent 23. d. 13. §. speaking also of this divine and salvifical faith Fidei impertinens est quo medio Deus utatur ad conferendum homini donum fidei i. e. divinae quamvis enim nunc ordinarium medium sit Ecclesiae testificatio doctrina constat tamen aliis viis seu mediis fidem collatam fuisse aliquando adhuc conferri c. Nam antiqui multi ut Abraham Melchizedech Job ex speciali revelatione Apostoli ex Christi miraculis sermone yet these having no other formal or ultimate motive of their faith than we have rursus ex Apostolorum praedicatione miraculis I add and some without and before seeing their miracles and others by a credible relation only not sight of their miracles yet all these mens faith of the same nature and efficiency alii fidem conceperunt alii denique aliis modis crediderant cùm nondùm de
into the power or grace of the holy Spirit both illuminating the understanding that the prime verity cannot lye in whatever things it revea eth and that the particular Articles of our faith are its Revelations and perswading and operating in the will such a firm adherence of our faith thereto as many times far exceeds that of any humane Science or demonstrations § 133 Of which matter thus Canus †Loc. Theol. 2. l. c. 8. Si generaliter quaeratur unde fideâ—i constet ea quae fide tenet esse à Deo revelata non poterit Ecclesiae authoritatem inducere quia unum de revelatis est Ecclesiam errare non posse Non poterit i. e. as this Proposition Ecclesia non potest errare is the object of a divine faith from the Scriptures declaring it assisted with the holy Ghost and not the object of an acquisite saith from the prudential motives as the same Church is illustris congregatio hominum prudentum c. Again Ib. Vltima fidei nostrae resolutio fit in causam interiorem efficientem hoc est in Deum moventem ad credendum Itaque ex parte objecti ratio formalis movens est divina veritas revelans sed illa tamen non sufficît ad movendum nisi adsit causa interior hoc est Deus etiam movens per gratuitum specialemque concursum And quantumcunque competenter ea quae sunt fidei proponantur necessaria est insuper causa interior hoc est divinum quoddam lumen incitans ad credendum Where he urgeth 1 Cor. 12. c. Nemo potest dicere Dominus Jesus nisi in spiritu sancto And Gal. 1. c. The adherence of this faith not to be shaken by the contrary testimony of men and Angels and that our faith must be the very same with that of the Apostles who received the matter believed immediately from God in its essence and as to the formal object and internal efficient thereof however the external motives thereof do vary by which infused and divine faith also he saith we believe Deum esse trinum I add or Ecclesiam non posse errare much more firmly and certainly than we can believe them by any acquisite faith from the prudential motives which we have thereof And of the same matter thus Layman in the place before quoted Major imò maxima certissima animi adhaesio quam fides divina continet non ex viribus naturae aut humanis persuasionibus provenit sed ab auxilio Spiritus sancti succurrentis intellectui liberae voluntati nostrae And speaking of the understanding and the will 's accepting of the first Divine Revelation beyond which it can proceed no further discoursively to any former Revelation Acceptat saith he †2. l. tract 1. c. 4. intellectus primae veritatis testimonium 1o. Per-scientiam infusam quâ intellectus elevatus evidenter perspiciat revelationem à primâ veritate fieri c. 2o. Per actum fides immediatum ad quem eliciendum i. e. acceptandum seu credendum revelationem à primâ veritate esse extrinsecè praerequiruntur humana motiva quibus acquisita fides immititur e intrinsecè vero in genere causae efficientis requiritur Spiritus sancti gratia supplens quod humanae infirmitati ad supernaturalem infallibilem fidei assensum eliciendum deest I add per quam gratiam fides divina producitur Here scientia infusa and Spiritus sancti gratia are made the first Operators of divine faith or assent to the first Divine Revelation This for the internal efficient of divine faith as for the external first principle thereof Quod verâ— saith he †Ib ad formalem fidei resolutio nem attinet expeditus ac verus dicendi modus est iste apud Caietan 2.2 q. 1. a. 1. Quòd fides divina ex parte objecti ac motivi formalis resolvatur in authoritatem Dei revelantis Credo Deum esse incarnatum Ecclesiae defintentis authoritatem infallibilem esse quia prima summa veritas revelavit Deum autem veracem talia nobis revelasse ulterius resolvi vel per fidem i. e. divinam probari non potest nec debet Quandoquidem principia resolutionis non probantur sed supponuntur onely as he said before maxima certissima animi adhaesio to this ultimate Divine Revelation provenit ab auxilio Spiritus sancti succurrentis intellectui c. But now fides humana or acquâ—sita can go on and give a further ground or motire both why it believes Deum veracem talia revelasse and se fidem hanc Deum revelasse habere ex auxilio Spiritus sancti and this a motive too morally-infallible viz. the Consent of the Church or universal Tradition Of which he goes on thus Verùm in ordine ad nos revelatio divina credibilis acceptabilis fit per extrinseca motiva inter quae unum ex praecipuis meritò censetur authoritas consentus Ecclesiae as understood above § 126. tot saeculis tanto numero hominum clarissimorum florentis But then this evident or morally-infallible motive is not held alwayes necessary neither for an humane induction to divine faith For he proceeds Quamvis id non unicum nec simpliciter necessarium motivum est quandoquidem non omnes eodem modo sed alii aliter ad fidem Christi amplectendam moventur c. And thus Fa. Knot †p. 358. quoted before A man may exercise saith he an infallible act of faith though his immediate instructor or proposer be not infallible because he believes upon a ground which both is believed by him to be infallible and is such indeed to wit the Word of God Who therefore will not deny his supernatural concourse necessary to every act of divine faith Here he grounds the infallibility of this act of divine faith on the supernatural concourse or operation of God's Spirit Otherwise saith he in the ordinary course there would be no means left for the faith and salvation of unlearned persons And indeed § 134 from what is said formerly That a divine faith may be had by those who have had no extrinsecal even morally infallible motive thereof it follows that divine faith doth not resolve into such motives either as the formal cause or alwayes as the applicative introductive or condition of this divine faith And of whatever infallibility the immediate proponent of the matter of my faith or of Divine Revelation be yet divine faith ascends higher than it and fastneth it self still to the infallibility of him whose primarily is the Revelation So the Church which I give credit to declaring to me that the things contained in the Gospel of S. Matthew were divinely revealed I resolve my faith of the truth of those contents not into the Church's saying they are true though I believe all that true the Church sayeth but into Divine Revelation because God by his Evangelist delivereth them for truth Again when I believe
Tradition namely that both of Christians and Mahometans than this that the Bible is God's Word and yet this later carries with it a sufficient evidence and Protestants themselves †See Disc 2. §. 40. n. 2. do both allow and practise several Traditions as Apostolical which yet have not the same fulness of Tradition as the Scriptures nor indeed more than several of those points have whereof yet they deny a sufficient Tradition 2. Again the Tradition of a smaller number of persons if eminent in sanctity and miracles and other forenamed †§. 121. motives of credit may be as or more credible than that of a greater number not so qualified Of several other Traditions then what or how many in particular carry a sufficient fulness and evidence in them though all do not the same to beget a rational belief this after the Church's authority once established by Scripture and Tradition private men may safely learn from the same Church § 140 But 8ly This certainty of Tradition allowed by Protestants for Scripture's being God's Word and whatever is contained in it infallible seeming unsufficient to assure to Christians their faith in several Articles thereof because wherever the sence of these Scriptures is ambiguous it will still be uncertain whether such Articles of our faith be grounded on the true sence which only is God's Word or on the mistaken sence which is not so Next therefore Catholicks proceed farther yet And both from the same Scriptures thus established and from other constant Tradition descending from the Apostles for which see the proofs given before Disc 1. § 7. Disc 2. § 17. Disc 3. § 7. 87. c. do also gather and firmly believe an infallibility in the Church or its Governours for all necessaries from a promised perpetual assistance of the holy Ghost And this Article of the infallibility of the Church thus established becomes to them a new ground of their faith from which they do most firmly believe and adhere to all the rest of those Articles of their faith wherein the Divine Revelation either of Scriptures or Tradition is not so perspicuous and clear to them as it is in this other of the Churches infallibility And from this infallibility of the Church believed all the definitions of the same Church that are made in points where the true-sence of Scriptures is in controversie and that are delivered by her as infallible and Divine Revelations are straight believed as such and among others these points also when the Church defines them in any doubtful case what belongs to the Canon of Scriptures or what are Traditions Apostolical § 141 Thus if I first receive and believe the Church-infallibility from a clear Apostolical Tradition afterward from this Church-infallibility defining it I may become straight assured of the Canon of Scripture Or 2ly If I receive and believe some part of the Canon of Scripture from clear Apostolical Tradition and out of this received Canon become assured of Church-infallibility afterward from this infallibility defining it I may certainly come to know other parts of the same Canon that are more questioned Again when I have already learned the Church-infallibility from the Scriptures afterward I may become from its definitions setled in the belief of all those Articles of faith wherein the expressions of the same Scriptures though believed by me before the Churches infallibility yet being ambiguous in their sence which sence properly and not the words is the Divine Revelation can beget no certain and firm faith in me until they are expounded by the Church infallibly relating from God's Spirit assisting it the traditive sence of them to me So that though I believe the infallibility of Scripture's as well as the Church yet in so many points wherein the meaning of the Scriptures is not clear to me I receive the firmness of my faith in them not from the infallibility of the Scriptures expression of that which is God's Word but of the Church expounding them If then the Scripture or Tradition-Apostolick be clearer for this of Church-infallibility than for some other points of faith that person must necessarily be conceded to have a firmer ground of his faith for so many points who believes the Church infallible than another who believes only Scripture so and such person also is preserved in a right faith in these points when the other not only may err in his Faith but become heretical in his error by opposing the definition of the Church So had the Arrians and Nestorians believed the Church infallible this Article of their faith firm and stedfast had preserved them from Heresie in some others § 142 Here then appears a great firmness and stability of the Catholicks Faith by reason of this Church-infallibility for many points wherein the Protestants faith fluctuates and varies For whilst the Protestant only extends and makes use of the certitude of the Church Tradition as to one of these points the delivery of the Scriptures and acknowledgeth no further certitude of the same Church-Tradition written in the Scriptures or unwritten for the other point the infallibility of the Church divinely assisted in the exposition of the same Scriptures and in the discerning of true Traditions And again while the sence of these Scriptures in many weighty points as experience shews hath been and is controverted the Protestant here for so many of these points as are upon such misinterpretation of Scripture defined by the Church in the definition of which Church assisted as he believes by the holy Ghost the Catholick remains secure hath no rational Anchor nor ground of confidence in his faith but that which rests upon the certainty of his own judgment concerning the sence of God's Word and truth of Tradition and that judgment of his too for several points of his faith going against the judgment and exposition of the major part of the present Church and against his Superiors Where the last refuge Protestants betake themselves to ordinarily is this that they say In all things necessary the sence of Scripture is not ambiguous but clear enough to the unlearned and that in points not necessary there is no necessity of a right faith or of any decision of controversies and so no need of an infallible Church or any unerring Guide save Scripture which defence hath been examined in Disc 2. § 38. c. § 143 The sum of what hath been said here is this 1st I take it as a principle agreed on That a divine is such a faith as quatenus divine ultimately resolves it self into Divine Revelation § 144 2ly There must be some particular ultimate Divine Revelation assigned by every Christian which may be not to all the same but to some one to some another beyond which he can resolve his divine faith no further and for proving or confirming which Revelation he can produce no other divine Revelation but there must end unless a process be made in infinitum or a running
divine evidence I adhere to it I answer from the internal operation and testimony of the Holy Spirit which Spirit causeth a most firm fiducial assent in me that these Scriptures were delivered to the Church as God's Word by Apostolical Tradition for the Church pretends no new Revelation concerning the Canon of Scripture i. e. were delivered by those divinely preserved from any fallibility therein Neither doth here again in the matter of divine faith appear any Circle at all And if it be further asked what rational ground I have to think this is a perswasion of God's and not of some evil spirit or this indeed an Apostolical Tradition which I am told is so here I urge for these the prudential motives § 151 Again Suppose I be asked concerning some other Article of faith that is defined by the Church though the same Article doth not appear to me clearly delivered in the Scriptures why with a divine faith I do believe it to be divine Revelation I answer because the Church which is revealed by the Scriptures to be perpetually assisted by the holy Ghost and to be infallible for ever in matters of faith defined by her hath delivered it to me as such If again why with a divine faith I believe these Scriptures in general or such a sence of those Texts in particular which are pretended to reveal the Churches infallibility to be divine Revelation I answer as before because Apostolical Tradition hath delivered them to be so which Apostolical Tradition related or conveyed to me by the Church I believe with a divine faith by the internal operation of the Holy Spirit without having at all any further Divine Revelation from which I should believe this Revelation to be divine Or if any will go one step further and prove this Apostolical Tradition also divine from the divine works the Apostles did Miracles yet here he must conclude neither have we any further divine word or work to confirm to us their doing such divine works But then if I be asked further whether I do not believe with a divine faith the Church's relation concerning such Apostolical Tradition or Miracles to be infallible I excluding now this supposition which in the order of these questions is in this place to be excluded viz. that Scriptures are the Word of God and so excluding this answer that I believe the Churches relation infallible with a divine faith from the testimony which the Scriptures give to the Church Here I answer No I do not believe with divine faith this relation of the Church to be infallible for divine faith builds upon nothing but Divine Revelation and if I were to bring another Divine Revelation still to support my faith of the former so must I also bring yet a further Divine Revelation for this my believing the Church and here must needs be a process in infinitum But in this place I answer That I believe the Churches Tradition or testimony being taken here in the latter sence mentioned before § 126 infallible only with an humane and acquisite faith builded on the forenamed prudential motives and the ultimate resolution here of my divine faith is into Apostolical Tradition or their Miracles not the Church-Tradition or her Relation that conveys to me the Apostolical With a divine faith I do believe the Apostolical Tradition related by the Church but I do believe the Church her truly or infallibly I mean not as infallibly here relates to the divine Promise but to the prudential Motives relating this Apostolical Tradition with an acquired or rational faith § 152 The natural order of a Christians belief then seems to be this 1st The Divine Revelations are communicated to the world by certain persons chosen by God and for the confirmation of their mission from him doing Miracles which persons also are commanded by God to ordain others to divulge and perpetuate the knowledge of the same Revelations to mankind to the end of the world the chief body of which these persons also draw up and deliver in writing Of which Divine Revelations delivered by them this is one That these their Successors shall for ever be so far assisted by God's holy Spirit as never to err in teaching all truths or if you will in truly relating all Divine Revelations any way necessary to mens salvation which Divine Revelation also concerning themselves is as it ought to be delivered among the rest to all posterity by these very Successors of whom it is spoken These things thus conveyed those to whom these Revelations are made do 1. with a rational and acquisite faith believe the Tradition of these Successors of the Apostles who are rendred most credible to them by all those prudential motives mentioned before § 121. their multitude their sanctity their Martyrdoms in testimony thereof c. 2. But then applying themselves to the things related which are said to have been revealed and delivered first by God to persons assisted with most infallible Miracles they do believe these things related after the manner expressed before § 134. with yet an higher and a divine faith wrought in them by the holy Spirit and resting it self not on the veracity of these secondary Relators but on the veracity of God himself from whom these Revelations are said originally to come yet the rational introductive to all this faith being the veracity of those who immediately convey the Tradition of these things to them 3. Then further one of the Divine Revelations which the Church or these Successors do deliver to Christians as I said being this That these Successors of the Apostles who deliver their doctrine to us shall be for ever infallible in delivering all necessaries from this Revelation I say delivered by them Christians also believe the infallibility of this Church or of these Successors not by a rational faith only grounded on the former motives of credibility but by a divine faith because grounded on a divine Revelation and consequently believe also all things delivered by these persons as necessaries with a divine faith on the same account § 153 After all this to reflect now a little on the objection We see 1st That no Circle is made in a Catholicks ground or resolution of faith divine or acquisite but that there is an ultimate Revelation divine though this not necessary to be alwayes the same whereon divine faith resteth and into which and no humane motives it resolveth it self and an inward operation of God's Spirit whereby the firmness of adherence of this faith to such Revelation in particular as divine is effected And again that these are motives from humane authority sufficiently credible or also morally infallible or as some of late express themselves not-possibly-fallible which if they can prove whenas it is in the natural power of all men even taken collectively abstracting here from any divine superintendencies to tell a lye none have reason to envy any advancing of the evidences of Christian Religion or any part thereof
But here seems no necessity of pretending any other infallibility in these motives than Catholick writers have formerly maintained and the adversary also allows on which an acquired or humane faith securely resteth these motives carrying such an evidence with them as no other Religion differing from the Christian nor in Christianity any Sect divided from the Catholick Communion can upon any rational account equall 2ly That the infallibility of the Church grounded on divine Revelation and believed by a divine faith is a main ground and pillar of the Catholicks faith for any other Articles thereof that are established by the same Churches definitions where the Scriptures or Tradition Apostolick are to him but I say not the Church doubtful Of which ground and assurance of such points believed by Catholicks from the Church's infallible authority the Protestants faith is destitute 3ly That the faith of all such Articles grounded thus on the Church's infallible authority is by this grounded also on divine Revelation Where note That resolving faith into the Church's infallibility I mean as the Church is declared thus infallible in necessaries by God's Word or divine Revelation whether written the Scriptures or unwritten Tradition Apostolical or into Apostolical Tradition or into Scripture is in general all one and the same resolution i. e. into divine Revelation and ultimately is only believing a thing because God saith it saith it in the Scriptures or also out of them by his Apostles or by the Church succeeding the Apostles by it I say as declared by God's Word to be also infallibly assisted truly to relate and expound what the Apostles or Scripture have formerly said where still the resolution of faith is into the same infallible Word of God delivered by these and not into any proper authority or infallibility of the deliverer and when we say we resolve our faith into the infallibility of the present Church or of the Apostles we mean into Gods infallible Word delivered mediately by the one or immediately by the other And whilst to one that asketh me why I believe the Scriptures I answer because those who wrote them were assisted by God's Spirit to deliver to men those divine Revelations And again to one that asketh me why I believe the Church I answer because the Church is for ever assisted by the same Spirit of God faithfully to relate and expound these former divine Revelations delivered by those who wrote the Scriptures in all necessary matter of faith Here it is clear that if one of these resolutions be into divine Revelation imparted and communicated to man by God's Spirit so must the other though the manner of conveying them to us by the assistance of God's Spirit is different as is explained before § 109. And had the New Testament Scriptures not been writ as they might have been not written without nullifying the being of Christian Religion then all the resolution of the Articles of our faith would have been only into the unwritten testimony of the Apostles and from them of the Church following them to which Church for ever though without any testimony of Scripture the same promises must be supposed to have been made for the writing of these Scriptures surely was no cause of these promises And next these promises might also have been made known to Christians by Tradition Apostolical related only by the Church and consequently the same credence must have been given to this Tradition Apostolical related by the Church concerning such promises made to it as is now given to the Scriptures testifying it 4ly Yet that this Church-infallibility or that Divine Revelation which establisheth it is not necessarily the first or the ultimate divine Revelation into which every Catholick's faith concerning any particular point of his belief is necessarily resolved for the divine faith of several persons concerning particular points may have a various resolution as they come by divers wayes or from divers principles to believe it and one Article of faith may be savingly believed without the present knowledge or belief of another whereon it hath dependance as one may believe with a divine faith either the Scripture's or the Church's infallibility from Apostolical Tradition one before the other as they happen to be first proposed to them of which see what is said before § 128.145 and by the certainty of his Faith grounded thereon attain eternal salvation And blessed be his Divine Majesty for so firmly establishing Christianity one these two sure Bases the Scriptures and the Church For both are Pillars of Truth †1 Tim. 3.15 and both alwayes bear witness as to it so also to one another And what thou hast thus joyned O Lord let no man be able to separate nor the Gates of Hell ever so far prevail against them as that any should prosper in their indeavours to build the Authority of the one out of the ruines of the other Amen § Thus much be said concerning the necessary Resolution of a Catholick's Faith The Conclusion and in satisfaction to those other objections that are urged against a living Ecclesiastical infallible guide in all necessaries maintained in the former Discourses and affirmed also easily discernable from all other Pretenders After all which in the last place the Protestant Reader is humbly desired soberly to consider with himself whether if indeed there be such a Catholick unfailing Guide as is here pretended and that Church also whose conduct he hath renounced be It whom our Lord hath left amidst the distractions of so many Sects and Opinions to bring men by a sure way to Heaven whether I say notwithstanding all those reasons and arguments that have been here and are elsewhere by Catholicks frequently urged in demonstration thereof yet his ignorance thereof still remains so innocent and invincible that he dares rely on this Plea at the appearance of our Lord for his living and dying irreconciled unto Her because no sufficient evidence hath been left him to discern Her And next to consider whether if indeed she be what here she is pretended there can be any secular interest so valuable as any way to recompence the loss he sustains in his present separation from this Church by foregoing all that means of salvation and growth in grace and advantages of an holy life which he might with great spiritual content enjoy in her happy bosom Of which advantages because they are by few of those departed from this Church so well weighed as they ought for a conclusion of the whole I beg leave not to stay only in universals but to represent some particulars to the begetting in Him by the aid of the Divine Grace an holy emulation and longing for the re-fruition of them and a greater resentment of his present impediments and defects § 155 Let him then in the name and fear of God consider the great benefit as to the working of his salvation which he might happily enjoy in this Church by these particulars following * By
14.16 26. 16.15 Compared with Acts 15.28 Joh. 5.20 27. 1 Cor. 12.7 8. his promising them a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an Assista that should abide with them for ever to teach them all things and to bring all things to their remembrance For ever i. e. Not with the Apostles only For then what would become of the Nations that after their times were still to be instructed especially when any Controversies should arise concerning the understanding of the Apostles Writings which Writings are miss-understandable in things necessary and which S. Peter saith in his time the unlearned wrested to their own destruction ‖ 2 Pet. 3.16 but with their Successors also * See Mat. 18.20 compared with 17 18. his promising that when they were gathered together in his name to hear the Causes brought to the Church brought to her still daily notwithstanding the Scriptures he himself would be in the midst of them and would ratifie in heaven what they should upon earth which implieth also that he would assist them on earth at least when this is a supreme and unappealable Church-authority to do as to the main both what was meet to be submitted to by those whom he sent to their Tribunal and what was meet to be ratified by the heavenly Tribunal But if after the Rule of Scripture the necessity of such Tribunals ceased why are these afterward continued and in Controversies of Faith appealed repaired to * See Mat. 16.18 19. his promising that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against those to whom he gave the Keys i. e. against the Clergy nor against the Church built by and upon them And * see Luk. 23.31 the not failing of S. Peter's Faith prayed for by our Lord in order to establishing his Brethren * See 1 Tim. 3.15 the Church unlimited to the Apostles days said to be the Pillar and ground of Truth surely this from its Teachers being so For so the Apostle elsewhere using the same Metaphor frequently calls these Teachers Gal. 2.9 Pillars Eph. 2.20 Foundations and Grounds amongst which Teachers Timothy being admitted is warned here to be very circumspect and careful of his behaviour And * see 2 Tim. 2.19 compared with 16 17 20. the Foundation of God the Church standing sure notwithstanding that Hymeneus and some others as Vessels in this great house of God not of Gold and Honour but of Earth add Dishonour had erred from the Truth of God * See Eph. 4.11 13. his giving these Teachers that the world should not be tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine In whose Doctrine therefore in order to this end this Doner hath fixed some stability neither can it be applied only to the Apostles or their times seeing that the experience of so many various winds of Doctrines even since all their VVritings and concerning the sence of their VVritings see 2 Pet. 3.16 Blowing in the Church and carrying the unstable to and fro argues the same necessity of such Doctors still And * see Rev. 1.13 16. Where our Saviour to denote his perpetual presence to these succeeding Teachers and Governors of his Church after all the times of all the Apostles save St. John is described though in Glory yet walking in the midst of the seven Mother-Churches of Asia and holding their Bishops in his hands And therefore he hath commanded an Obedience to these Governors proportionable to his assistance that those who will not hear them should be reckoned as Heathens or Publicans he being in the midst of their Assemblies and ratifying in heaven what their Sentence binds or looseth on Earth * See Mat. 18.17 18 20. And hath said concerning them ‖ Luke 10.16 that he that heareth them heareth him From which may be gathered that that Clergy who have still the same mission from him may require the same audience in his stead CHAP. II. Several Limitations of Protestants concerning these Promises 1. That they were made only to the Apostles § 8. 2. Or made to all the succeeding Church-Guides but conditional § 12. R. That our Lord's Promise of Indeficiency in Necessaries was not made to the Apostles only but to their Successors § 9. And to their Successors not conditional but absolute § 14. And that this Indeficiency in Necessaries is most rationally placed by the Church § 8 in her General Councils or such accord and consent of the Clergy as is equivalent to such Councils § 15. IN Answer to these Texts some of the Reformed ‖ Chillingw p. 92. 115. 19. Stillingf p. 256 2 8 259 519. Several Limitations of Protestants concerning these Promises 1. That they were made only to the Apostles would restrain these absolute Promises only to the Apostles or first Promulgators of the Gospel for this reason because no need that they should be extended to any more For by these first for all succeeding times was a written Rule left clear and plain even to the unlearned and to all that use common reason in all necessary points of Faith and therefore that all Controversies which these plain and clear Scriptures intelligible to every one decide not are not Controversies in any point necessary and need not to be decided nor do Christians now having an infallible and plain Rule for Necessaries need afterwards besides this another living unerrable Guide in them But such an Answer 1st Seems neither any way sufficient to satisfie the Texts as hath been partly shewed already in the Explication of them § 9 which do promise to the world's end not a Rule only but Persons Reply 1. sent to preserve us from every wind of Doctrine and which command Obedience not to a Rule only but to Persons expounding it under pain of being ejected as Heathens and Publicans and under pain of being bound in Heaven when they bind us upon Earth an authority exercised not only by the Apostles but upon the strength of these and the like Texts extended beyond the former Limitation by their Successors also Only this Order is required to be observed in our Obedience that we perform it in the first place to the supreme Church-authority and then also to particular persons or Churches only as they are conformable to and united with the whole who otherwise as experience shews may err even in Fundamentals and so our obedience to them ruine us Nor 2ly seems such answer sufficient to satisfie the Necessities of the times following the Apostles wherein § 10 whether there have not risen controversies notwithstanding the clearness of the rule left us some of which have bin in matters necessary and wherein the people greatly needed the directions of their spiritual Guides I leave to your Judgment if you please to reflect on either the old Arrian Nestorian Pelagian or the new Socinian Solifidian Church-Anarchical both anti-episcopal and also anti-presbyteral errors all maintain'd by such who have presumed as much as any that they have common reason to understand plain Scriptures Nay who account these so clear
Extent of the Infallibility of this Church i. e. in defining p. 156. reacheth to all matters Essential and fundamental simply necessary for the Church to know and believe But not so to all her Doctrines and Definitions And p. 155. The Vniversal Church saith he hath not the like assurance from Christ that she shall not erre in unnecessary additions as she hath for her not erring in taking away from the Faith what is fundamental and necessary Where Defining Adding Taking away c. argue that he speaks here of the present Church Catholick which he affirms to be infallible in Fundamentals in relation to the main Body of her Governour 's being so § 34 Bishop Bramhall ‖ Vindic. 2 c. p. 9. speaks much what on the same manner If saith he of two particular Churches Of Bishop Bramhall the one retain a communion with the Vniversal Church and be ready to submit to the Determinations thereof the other renounce the communion of the Vniversal Church and contumaciously despise the Jurisdiction and Decrees thereof the former continues Catholick and the latter becomes Schismatical Or as he expresseth it in Schism-guarded p. 2. That Church which shall not outwardly acquiesce after a Legal Determination and cease to disturb the Christian Vnity though her Judgment may be sound yet her practice is schismatical And afterward We are most ready in all our differences to stand to the Judgment of the truly Catholick Church and its lawful Representative a free General Council Here the Bishops submitting and standing to the judgment and determinations of the Church Vniversal or a free General Council were it now called argues him to hold the present Church Catholick in such Councils as a Guide and Lawgiver infallible in Fundamentals or at least whose judgment in all points is finally to be stood to so far as not to contradict it and his pronouncing Schismaticks to be no Catholicks argues that this Church Universal may be also narrower than Christianity is Add to this what he saith below p. 26. That by disbelieving any Fundamental Article or necessary part of saving Faith in that sense in which it was evermore received and believed by the Vniversal Church a man renders himself guilty of Heresie Here he declares one an Heretick not only in his disbelieving a necessary point of Faith but in disbelieving in in that sense wherein the Church Catholick hath alwaies believed it which sense in the former quotation he holds is to be received and learned from her Councils Again In his Reply to the Bishop of Chalcedon speaking of the Catholick Church in present Being he saith ‖ p. 279. I do from my heart submit to all things which the true Catholick Church diffused over the world doth believe and practise And afterward Though I have no reason in the world to suspect my present judgment I do farther profess my readiness to submit to the right Catholick Church in present bein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whensoever God shall be pleased to reveal it to me and Ibid. in the Preface I submit saith he my self and my poor endeavours first to the judgment of the Catholick Oecumenical Essential Church And if I should mistake the right Catholick Church out of humane frailty or ignorance which for my part I have no reason to suspect yet it is not impossible c. therefore Catholick doth not necessarily include all Sects professing Christianity I do implicitly and in the preparation of my mind submit my self to the true Catholick Church the Spouse of Christ the Mother of the Saints the pillar of Truth And after this he professeth That his adherence is firmer to the infallible Rule of Faith the holy Scriptures interpreted by this Catholick Church i. e. firmer to its interpretation than to his own private judgment So in his Reply to S. W. p. 43. We acknowledge saith he the Representative Church that is a General Council and the Essential Church that is the multitude or multitudes of Believers either of all ages which make the Symbolical Church or of this age which makes the present Catholick Church And Ib. We are ready to believe and practise whatsoever the Catholick Church even of this present Age doth universally believe and practise ‖ See Schism guarded p. 398. Surely from these Protestations it followes * that he supposeth that such a Church there is in this present age that may deliver her judgment Else his promise to believe and to submit to it is utterly unsignificant and * that he holds this Church not errable in Fundamentals else her judgment in them could not by him be safely followed And if you would know also §. 35. n. 1. what present Body he understandeth by this present Catholick Church to which he will yield his submission and beliefe he tells the Bishop of Chalcedon ‖ p. 279. That it is not the Church of Rome alone with all its Dependents but the Church of the whole world Roman Grecian Armenian Abyssine Russian Protestant which Churches i. e. Grecian c. are three times greater than the Roman is But if you think the present Church Catholick in this vast amplitude a Judge not likely to resolve his doubts He in the Preface to his Reply to the Bishop of Chalcedon very conscientiously adds also I submit my self to the Representative Church a free General Council or so general as can be procured And in pursuance of the same Notion of General Schisme Guarded p. 350. he saith That the presence of the five Proto-Patriarchs and their Clergy either in their persons or by their Suffrages or in case of necessity the greater part of them do make a General Council And That we may well hope that God who hath promised that where two or three are gathered together in his Name there will he be in the midst of them will vouchsafe to give his assistance and his blessing to such a Council which is as general as may be although perhaps it be not so exactly general as hath been or might have been now if the Christian Empire had flourished still as it did anciently In summe That he shall ever be ready to acquiesce in the Determination of a Council so General as is possible to be had so it may be equal c. Naming several conditions thereof Equal Votes of Christian Nations Absents sending their Suffrages The place free wither all parties may have secure access and liberty to propose freely and define freely yet consenting ‖ p. 352. That none declared Hereticks by former true General Councils be admitted to any vote in them and ‖ p. 401. that all those be held for excluded from the communion of the Catholick Church whom undoubted General Councils have excluded He addes yet further reflecting on Dr. Hammond's words ‖ Answ to Catho Gentl. 3 c. §. 1. That Oecumenical or General Councils are now morally impossible to be had The Christian world being under so many Empires and
being just that either of these should be the Judge therefore that the Divines on one part and on the other arguing for their own Tenents there might be Judges i. e. Laicks indifferently chosen on both sides that is in an equal number to take knowledge of the Controversies And see Mr. Stillingfleet motioning some such thing p. 479. And this indeed was the only way they had in referring themselves to judgment not to be cast if the Judges of their own side at least would be true to them But to let these things pass As to a due proportion of National Votes this Council of Trent is not to be thought deficient therein whilst those Nations who by their own if by any ones fault had fewer Votes in the Council in passing the Decrees yet were as plenary and numerous as the rest in the acceptation of them after it And were now anew these things put to an equal Vote of the Western Nations I see not from what the Protestants may reasonably expect supposing the greatest liberty in these Votes that is possible an issue diverse from the former For have they any new thing to propose in their Orations and Speeches before such a Meeting that they have not already said in their Writings And notwithstanding are not the major part of the Occidental Clergy and the Learned that peruse them of a different judgment And why should not the others have as great presumptions upon an equal hearing to pcevail for reducing some of the Protestant party by Scriptures explicated by Apostolical Tradition Councils and Fathers as the Protestants of gaining some of the others by Scriptures alone Or if any will say that ancient Tradition Councils or Fathers are on the Protestant side how comes this to be one of their Articles proposed to the Council that all Humane Authority being excluded the Holy Scriptures might be judge in the Council And the Trent safe-Conauct running thus Quod causae controversae secundum Sanctam Scripturam Apostolorum Traditiones probata Concilia Sanctorum Patrum Authoritates Catholicae Ecclesiae Consensum tractentur VVhy desired they a freer Safe conduct after the form of that of Basil to the Bohemians Which if it had been granted saith Soave ‖ p. 344. they had obtained one great point that is that the Controversies should be decided by the Holy Scripture This from § 36. n. 1. I have said occasionally to Bishop Bramhal's so frequent free offers of Submission to the judgment of the present Catholick Church or of free General or also Occidental Councils § 37 Next come we to Arch-Bishop Lawd He § 31. p. 318. affirms That Of Archbish Lawd the Visible Church hath in all Ages taught that unchanged Faith of Christ in all points Fundamental Doctor White saith he had reason to say this And § 21. p. 140. It is not possible the Catholick Church i. e. of any one Age should teach He speaks therefore of the Governors of it in such Age against the Word of God in things absolutely necessary to Salvation And § 25. n. 4. If we speak of plain and easie Scripture the whole Church cannot at any time be without the knowledge of it If A. C. means no more than that the whole universal Church of Christ cannot universally erre in any one point of Faith simply necessary to all mens Salvation he fights against no Adversary that I know but his own fiction For the most learned Protestants grant it VVhere he speaks of the Church as teaching such points as appeareth by the Context Ibid. p. 139. Because the whole Church cannot universally erre in absolutely fundamental Doctrines therefore 't is true also that there can be no just cause of making a Schism from the whole Church That she may err indeed in Superstructions and Deductions and other by-and unnecessary Truths from her Curiosity or other weakness But if she can err either by falling away from the foundation i. e. by Infidelity or by heretical Errour in it she can be no longer holy for no Assemblies of Hereticks can be holy and so that Article of the Creed I believe the Holy Catholick Church is gone Now this Holiness saith he Errors of a meaner allay take not away from the Church Likewise § 33. n. 4. p. 256. the same Archbishop saith yet more clearly That the whole Catholick Church Militant having an absolute Infallibility in the prime Foundations of Faith absolutely necessary to Salvation if any thing sway and wrench the General Council he must mean here in non-necessaries such Council as is not universally accepted for a General Council universally accepted by the Church Catholick is unerrable in necessaries because the Church Catholick he saith is so upon evidence found in express Scripture or demonstration of this miscarriage hath power to represent her self in another body or General Council and to take order for what is amiss either practised or concluded in the former and to define against it p. 257. And afterward p. 258. That thus though the Mother-Church Provincial or National may err yet if the Grandmother the whole Universal Church He means in a general Council universally accepted cannot err in these necessary things all remains safe and all occasions of disobedience taken from the possibility of the Church's erring are quite taken away Again § 38. n. 14. he saith That a General Council de post facto after it is ended and admitted by the whole Church is then infallible And for this admittance or confirmation of it by the Church he granteth ‖ §. 26. p. 165. That no confirmation is needful to a General Council lawfully called and so proceeding but only that after it is ended the whole Church admit it though never so tacitly The sum of all in brief is this 1st That a General Council or indeed any Council whatever less than General accepted or admitted by the whole Church is infallible in Necessaries the reason is plain because he holds the whole Church is so 2ly Consequently that Obedience and this of Assent is due to such Council or to the judgment of the Church Catholick that is delivered by this Council as to necessaries Of Assent I say to it because infallible 3ly That all are to acquiesce none presume to urge or credit any pretence of Scripture or Demonstration against such a judgment because infallible 4ly That it is Schism to depart from the judgment of such a Council because the Archbishop holds all departure of any Member from the whole Church Catholick to be so ‖ §. 21. p. 139. § 38 Now thus much being professed by the Archbishop if he will also allow the Church Reply Where or her Councils and not private men to judge what Definitions are made in matters necessary and 2ly will grant an acceptation of such Council by a much major part of the Church Catholick diffusive I mean Concerning what acceptation of Councils by the Church diffusive is only necessary of those
23. in the which the pure Word of God is preached preached I suppose by its Ministers in all those things that of Necessity are requisite to the same Church or Congregation of the faithful And indeed otherwise either the first Proposition a part of our Creed would be false because since the people are obliged to the faith of these their Governors Heb. 13.7 Eph. 4.11 compared 14. the whole Church would thus err in Necessaries and so would cease to be Catholick Or at least the Catholick Church in such deficiency of the Clergy would be constituted wholly of Laicks and of Christs Sheep without Pastors save those whose Sacraments and Communion as falling away from the Catholick Church in Fundamentals are unlawful which seems very absurd and contrary to the Promises of our Lord. Concerning this visible Church or Society of Orthodox-Guides thereof never deficient See the Concessions of Dr. Field ‖ See 1 Disc §. 3. Dr. Ferne Mr. Hooker and other learned Protestants in 1. Disc § 25 c. And Mr. Chillingworth though by reason of the plainnesse of Scripture in all Necessaries he acknowledgeth no need of any such Guide and therefore denies it ‖ p. 59. yet thus he freely speaks of the necessity of the Infallibility of such Guide supposed ' In Civil Controversies saith he we are obliged only to external passive obedience and not to an internal and active We are bound to obey the sentence of the Judge or not to resist it but not always to believe it just But in matters of Religion such a Judge is required whom we should be obliged to believe to have judged right So that in Civil Controversies every honest understanding man is fit to be a Judge But in Religion none but he that is infallible Thus he And the reason seems plain because these are Guides of our souls and consciences in matters of belief for attaining our salvation but not so the secular whether our natural or civil Governors so that the usual arguing of some Protestants from the fallible authority of the one its being sufficient to that of the other seems very faulty since we have to these no obligation as concerning divine matters either to assent to what they propose or to practise what they command further than we believe the thing true they propose and lawful they command but are in case of any doubt in these matters to repair to these our spiritual Guides to be directed what is truth and error lawful and unlawful The judgment and decision of which things so often as the true meaning and sense of the divine law falls into controversie those who do not give to these Church-Guides do much more dangerously both for their own souls and the state they live in take to themselves for neither do these give the decision of such things to the Civil Magistrates § 5 4. Again It follows likewise from the present being of the Catholick Church of every age Prop. 4. supposed to consist as well of Clergy as People That the present Governors or Guides thereof who or where-ever they be cannot in any age be Heretical or Schismatical for all Heretical or Schismatical Congregations are contra-distinct both to Holy Church and Catholick Charch mentioned in our Creed This is a thing conceded by Archbishop Lawd Dr Field Bishop Bramhall and others See Disc 1. § 37 44. CHAP. II. 4. Catholicks further affirming 5. That these Pastors being infallible in Necessaries the people are to learn from them what is necessary § 6. 6. That this their Infallibility in Necessaries must extend not only to some few points absolutely necessary but all others very beneficial to Salvation § 9. 7. That it is no way requisite That these Church-Guides should exactly distinguish all such Necessaries from other points not so § 12. Which they may infallibly guide in though not infallibly separate § 14. And no distinct on being made ought to be believed in all they propose § 15. Yet thae they do both distinguish and propose as such all those more necessary points which it is requisite for all Christians more particularly and explicitly to believe § 17. 8. That Christians submitting to their Judgment in deciding Necessaries ought also to submit to the same in their declaring the sence of Fathers Definitions of Councils c. touching the same matters § 19. 9. That supposing these Guides tr err in some of their Decisions yet their Subjects by the Concession of Learned Protestants ought to yield Obedience either of Silence or also of Assent to them in all such points whereof they cannot demonstratively prove the contrary § 20. 10. Whence it follows That none may adhere to any new Guides save only those who can demonstrase the Errors of the former § 21. § 6 THese things agreed on 5 ly Catholicks proceed That if there shall be alwaies such ae Body of Church-Governors Prop. 5. as shall direct the people unerringly in Necessaries it is meet also that Christians learn from them what or how many points they be that are necessary if this thing be at all necessary to be known § 7 The Reason 1. Because if the Church-Guides be infallible in Necessaries and the distinct knowledge of Necessaries be held also a Point necessary then the Church-Guides must also be infallible in this point the discerning of Necessaries 2 ly Because though Divine assistance be set aside these Guides from their Learning are fitter Judges of Necessaries than the People 3 ly Because the People in their judging of Necessaries if they should ignorantly or passionately mistake somthing that is necessary not to be so and so withdraw their Obedience or assent may thus become deficient in necessary Faith and so miscarry in their Salvation Whereas on the other side in their reliance for these points on the judgment of their Guides that are infallible in necessaries in necessaries they cannot miscarry and in their believing somthing more as necessary which is not their miscarriage is no way dangerous For as Dr. Potter well observes ‖ p. 155. There is not so much danger in adding superfluities as in detracting Necessaries and though these Church-Guides should be supposed liable to miscarry somtimes in the first yet Christians are secured that they cannot in the second § 8 Of the Duty of the Christian's learning from their Guides supposed infallible in Necessaries what points are necessary thus Mr. Chillingworth ‖ p. 150. If the Church be an infallible director in Fundamentals then must we not only learn Fundamentals of her but also learn of her what is Fundamental i. e. if this be a thing necessary to be learn'd and take all for fundamental which she delivers to be such i. e. lest in doing otherwise we should mistake and miscarry in some Fundamental And p. 105. To say the Church is an infallible Guide en Fundamentals were to oblige our selves to find some certain Society of men of whom we might be certain
greater necessity * that these Church-Governors should be enabled exactly to distinguish these Prop. 7. as to all particulars Or * that Catholicks should learn such distinction from their Governours than that Protestants should learn it from the Scriptures And the Answer which Protestant give for a non-necessity of this latter viz. Because who believes all the Scripture believes all Necessaries revealed in it they may take for a non-necessity of the other because who believeth all that the Church defineth believeth all Necessaries defined by it neither again can the Protestants justly require any certainty explicitness or distinction of faith concerning the Proposals of the Church which distinction c. themselves do not maintain or think necessary concerning the Proposals and sence of Scripture So if the Protestant Divines grant a sufficient certainty as they do ‖ See Mr. Chillingw p. 160. in a Christian's faith who believes all Fundamentals from the Authority of Scriptures * tho mean-while he knows not from the same Scriptures which or how many they are nor either the Protestant-Guides or their followers out of these Scriptures can make any certain catalogue of them and * though they also may in the sense of many Texts of Scripture err and mistake so that they only build a sufficiency of their faith upon this hypothetical certainty that if the point be necessary they using a due industry cannot err in the sense of such Scriptures because all necessaries God hath in these Scriptures clearly revealed Then they cannot deny the same sufficient certaînty of a Catholicks faith that believes all fundamentals from the Proposal of his Ecclesiastical Guides if these Guides be granted in these infallible tho' neither he nor these Guides should certainly know for all points which or how many these fundamentals be § 13 Very vain therefore seems that discourse of Mr. Chillingworth c. 3. § 57. so far as it is made use of to this purpose to shew upon the non-distinction of fundamentals or the supposed liability of Church-Guides to err in non-fundamentals the uncertainty or unsufficiency of a Catholicks faith As also ridiculous that arguing of his where when Catholicks say they are certain concerning every particular point proposed by the Church that if it be a fundamental she errs not in it i.e. errs not in what she determines concerning it or errs not in determining any thing against it He faith They say that they are certain that if it be a fundamental truth the Church doth not err in it i. e. in holding it which faith he is in plain English to say you are certain it is true if it be both true and necessary § 14 2ly Neither doth it follow from these Church-Guide's supposed inability exactly to distinguish Necessaries from non Necessaries that therefore they are or can be no infallible Guide in all Necessaries that is in teaching and prescribing them though they should not be so in distinguishing them and in their teaching nothing besides togesher with them Nor is that consequence of Mr. Chillingworth's ‖ p. 105 150 true That if there be a Society of men infallible in Fundamentals they must be so also in declaring what is Fundamental or necessary what not unlesse upon this supposition that the declaring thereof is also a thing Necessary as I suppose he meant it For I may be certainly by the divine goodness preserved from error in many truths which yet I do not certainly know that they are truths And again further may certainly know somthing to be a truth and teach it to others and yet not further know it to be a truth so absolutely necessary as perhaps it is To use Mr. Chillingworths simile ‖ p. 159. A Physicians in his using of a medicine consisting of twenty Ingredients of which medicine he is certain that the whole receit hath in it all things necessary to the cure of such a disease yet may not exactly know whether all the Ingredients thereof are absolutely necessary or only some of them necessary the rest only profitable and requisite ad melius esse or some only necessary some profitable and the rest superfluous yet not hurtful As also the Protestants grant that the Church in delivering the Scriptures delivers all necessary truths therein yet without punctually knowing what or how many they are § 15 3ly It seems most reasonable that a Guide of whose not erring in Necessaries 3. I am secure But neither I nor it can exactly distinguish such from non-Necessaries should be believed by me in all it proposeth though in some Proposals it should be liable to error I must add one exception indeed If that in no particular which it proposeth I am infallibly certain of the contrary for then in such I am sure that the Tenent of this Guide can be no fundamental Truth because not truth But first this Exception is unserviceable to all those which are the most as can plead no such infallible certainty for so many stand obliged still to the former belief 2ly such exception can rationally be made use of by none in the matters we speak of for who can presume himself thus certain in a matter of faith or in his own sense of Scripture though the literal expression be never so clear where so many learned and his Superiors comparing other texts c. understand it otherwise and are of a contrary judgment For it is the same as if in a matter of sense a dim-sighted person should professe himself certain that an object is white when a multitude of others the most clear-sighted that can be found having all the same means with him of a right sensation pronounce it black or of another colour § 16 Now this case only excepted I say such Guide ought to be believed by me in all it proposeth And this upon a triple account 1st because otherwise I expose my self to error in something necessary to which error in not following this Guide I am very liable for though I have besides this Guide a Rule infallible yet my sence thereof is not so in points that are controverted 2ly because this is such a Guide as learned Protestants grant that Gods Command doth oblige me to obey its judgment where I have no certain evidence of the contrary of its decrees ‖ See below §. 20. And also common reason obligeth me to follow a better judgment than my own especially when I do it as with due humility so with sufficient safety because thus it must be only a non-Necessary that I can err in and as I am certain if a fundamental that it is true what it delivers so not certain if it be no fundamental that then it is not true 3ly because though somthing superfluous may possibly be determined by this Guide yet considering the former notion of Necessaries ‖ §. 9. to which there seems good cause that the infallibility of this Guide be extended who will undertake to exclude any particular Church-definition
from being in some of the fore-named respects necessary especially when he must do this against better Judgments whilst these Guides consulted about any particular decrees of theirs will never professe or grant to him to have passed it but as thought in respect of some times places or persons christian-Christian-faith or manners edification of particulars or Government of the Church necessary This concerning the reasonablenesse of believing in all points those who are infallible in all Necessaries § 17 4ly Though these Church-Guides should be granted not to be enabled by the divine assistance so far as to distinguish exactly Necessaries 4. from non-Necessaries in all points so that nothing should be redundant in their definitions or proposals Yet it seems rationally concluded That they are always so far divinely assisted not only in their decisions not to err in Necessaries but also in their judgment to discern and distinguish them from others not necessary to be so much pressed and in their diligence to propose them as that they shall never fail in the discerning or proposing in their Creeds Catechisms and other publike teaching all more absolute necessaries or all points requisite to be explicitly believed for all things defined are not necessary to be by all known or to all taught never fail in proposing these I say so clearly and entirely to all the subjects of the Church even the unlearned as that none can be ignorant thereof without his neglect to hearken to such a sufficient Proposal which is in all times made by the Church § 18 The Reason of this Indeficiency of Church-Guides in the Proposal of such Necessaries is Because it seems most just and is on all sides accorded that all Necessaries wherein an explicite faith is required of all Christians should be to them by some means or other sufficiently proposed And then the dispute concerning this sufficient Proponent lying between the Scriptures and the Church for what other external Proponent can be devised of these two as to several of these Points the latter must be it 1st Because experience shews the sense of Scripture not evident to all in many great Articles of faith which Articles yet are cleared by the Church-Guides ‖ Stillingf p. 58 59. So that tho' it be true which Mr. Chillingworth saith ‖ p. 18. 160 â—6 That he who believes all that is Scripture believes all Necessaries yet so it is that in many places of Scripture and that about points thought necessary when variously interpreted many unlearned especially know not what to believe for the Scripture-sence in such places and thus fail in the explicit belief * of some part of Scrirture and so perhaps * of some Necessaries in it 2ly Because before the penning of the New-Testament-Scriptures this office of the Proposal of all divine necessary truths to the people belonged to the Church-Guides to Timothy Titus and others Nor seems their authority by the writing of the Christian faith diminished by which Writings also they are still more enabled compleatly to perform their former duty 3ly Because these Scriptures also refer us in controversies and in learning our faith to the direction of these Guides See § 3. 4ly Because the illiterate within the Church-Catholick to whom also God is not deficient in the revelation of all necessary faith cannot have this from Writings but must receive it from their Guides and Pastors as also they did in all those times before Christ when the Holy Scriptures remained only in the hands of the learned or also before any of them were penned § 19 18. If we ought to submit our judgments to these present guides in their deciding what are necessary matters of Faith Prop. 8. according to the fifth Proposition preceding ‖ See §. 6. it seems reasonable that so we ought also to submit * in their expounding all former Writings concerning the same matters that are pretended any way ambiguous and so cannot end the Controversie made about their sense whether these be the Writings of the Scriptures or Fathers or former Councils of the Church And also * in their declaring which of former Councils are Legal and Obligatory So that the ultimate determination of doubts * concerning all former Determinations and Definitions of former Church in such matters of necessary Faith as well as * concerning new questions when Controversie is raised in them ought to be referred to these present Judges and their determinations hereupon so far as we can have them to be peaceably acquiesced in For if we ought to receive all that they deliver to us as matters of necessary Faith we ought also and may as securely credit them when declaring what in these Necessaries was the Faith of their Predecessors § 20 9ly Protestants also agree that though these Guides may erre in some Points not necessary yet their Subjects ought to yield their silence and by no means to contradict them Prop. 9. or as some more judicious Protestants do yield yet further ought to submit their Judgments also and yield their Assent to them even in those Definitions wherein these Guides are liable to Error whenever not these Guides do prove to them their Conclusions so much is thought unreasonably exacted but when their Subjects cannot demonstratively prove the contrary In this matter thus Dr. Jackson in stating the Question whether the Injunction of publick Ecclesiastical authority may oversway any degree of our private perswasion concerning the unlawfulness of any Opinion or action ‖ On the Creed l. 2. § 1. c. 5. It is most evident saith he ‖ Ibid. c. 6. from the former places alledged ‖ Eph 4.11 Heb. 13.17 Luk. 10.16 Ioh. 20.23 Ib. concerning the Commission of Priests and Ministers that the lawful Pastor or Spiritual Overseer hath as absolute authority to demand Belief or Obedience in Christ's as any Civil Magistrate hath to demand Temporal Obedience in the State or Prince's Name And Our Disobedience i. e. Dissent or non-submission of Judgme is unwarrantable unlesse we can truly derive some formal contradiction or opposition between the injunction of Superiors and express Law of the most High Every Doubt or Scruple that the Church's Edicts are directly or formally contrary to God's Law is not sufficient to deny Obedience Again We may not put the Superior to prove what he commands but he is to be obeyed till we can prove the contrary If Pastors are only to be obeyed when bringing evidence out of Scripture what Obedience perform we to them more than to any other man whatsoever For whosoever shews the express undoubted Command of God it must be obeyed of all If we thus only bound to obey then I am not more bound to obey any other man than he bound to obey or believe me The Flock no more bound to obey the Pastor than the Pastor them And so the donation of spiritual Authority when Christ ascended on high were a donation of meer Titles This he this others ‖
separation at all This concerning some Protestants restraining Schism to culpable or causeless separation § 57 Again some of them there are who straiten Schism yet farther ‖ See Stillingf p. 331.357.359 251 290. compar p. 54.56 Whitby p. 424. and making it a separation only from other Christians or Churches in such things wherein it is absolutely necessary to be united with them which is thus far true then state this necâ—ssary union to consist only in the belief of those Fundamental Articles of Faith or Doctrine which are absolutely necessary to Salvation or essential to the being of a Church § 58 Where they hold it not Schism to separate from all particular Churches of the present age for a Doctrine universally held and imposed as a condition of their Communion because they say an error may be so imposed But only Schism to separate from the Primitive and Vniversal Church for Doctrine 1 st That can be made appear to have been Catholick and universally received in the manner expressed before § 52. by the Church of all ages successively from the Apostles to the time of such separation And 2 ly That can also be proved a Doctrine necessary to Salvation and essential to the being of a Church * For the first of these Mr. Stillingfleets words ‖ P. 371. to this purpose in answer to the unlawfulness of reforming former Catholick Doctrines are It is not enough saith he to prove any Doctrine to be Catholick that it was generally received by Christian Churches in any one age but it must be made appear to have been so received from the Apostles time not to say that A. D. 1517. such and such Doctrines were looked on as Catholick and therefore they were so But that for 1517. years successively from the Apostles to that time they were judged to be so and then saith he we shall more easily believe you And p. 357. he saith That we are not to measure the Communion of the Catholick Church by the judgement of all or most of the particular Churches of such an age And * for the 2 d. In the 2 d. Part c. 2. proving Protestants not guilty of Schism p. 331. he saith Whoso separates from any particular Church much more from all for such things without which that can be no Church separates from the Communion of the Catholick Church but he that separates only from particular Churches any or all as to such things which concern not their being is only separated from the Communion of those Churches not the Catholick And therefore saith he supposing that all particular Churches have some errors and corruptions in them though I should separate from them all for such errors but what if for some truth though this not Fundamental I do not separate from the Communion of the whole Church unless it be for something without which those could be no Churches And p. 358. No Church can be charged with a separation from the true Catholick Church but what may be proved to separate it self in something necessary to the being of the Catholick Church and so long as it doth not separate as to these essentials it cannot cease to be a true Member of the Catholick Church This is freely granted But what are these Essentials to the being of the Church-Catholick p. 357. he saith That the Communion of the Church-Catholick lies open to all such who own the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith And p. 251. he saith All that is meant by saying that the present Church he means Catholick is infallible in Fundamentals is that there shall always be a Church for that which makes them a Church is the belief of Fundamentals and if they believe not them they cease to be so That therefore which being supposed a Church is and being destroyed it ceaseth to be is the formal constitution of it but thus it is as to the Church the belief of Fundamentals makes it a Church and the not belief of them makes them cease to be a Christian Church Well But what are these necessaries or Fundamentals of the Christian Faith that we may know how long a person or Church retaineth the Communion of the Catholick See then concerning this p. 53. 54 55. These are such points saith he as are required by God as necessary to be explicitly believed by all in order to attain salvation And which are they p. 56. Nothing ought to be required as a necessary Article of Faith but what hath been believed and received for such by the Catholick Church of all ages And afterward What hath been admitted into the ancient Creeds Here then I take his Tenent to be That no more is necessary to render any person or Church free from Schism and a true Member of the Catholick Church and continuing in its Communion than the true belief of all Fundamentals or points absolutely necessary to be believed for attaining Salvation § 59 But here also 1 st These leave us uncertain how particularly to know and distinguish these Fundamentals and Essentials wherein only is Schism from other points that are not so or they do infold them all within the compass of the Creeds where also they contend that they must not be extended to all the Articles thereof whence it will follow that one departing from the Churches Communion for requiring his assent as a condition thereof in respect of some of these Articles yet will be no Schismatick as they state Schism Nor none a Schismatick that is not even in a Fundamental an Heretick Again since several Doctrines there are that are delivered by all former ages which yet are not Fundamental or Essential to Salvation or to the being of a Church thus the separating from all particular Churches or from our spiritual Superiours for any doctrine taken for such will not be Schism So one that separates from the Communion of his Superiors for their requiring his assent and conformity to the Episcopal Government of the Church though he is a Schismatick in Dr. Hammonds account ‖ Schism p. 163. yet must be none in Mr. Stillingfleets unless he will make Espiscopacy essential to the being of a Church concerning which I refer you to his Irenicum and so pronounce the Presbyterian and Transmarine reformed Congregations no Churches of Christ The same may be said of any separating from the external Communion of his Superiors requiring of him consent and conformity to the Definitions of the first four allowed General Councils and the constitutions of the universal Church of the first and purest Ages whether in Government or other the like observances and practises which separation is by Dr. Hammond ‖ Schim p. 156. 160. declared Schism but cannot be so upon Mr. Stillingfleets theses unless all these will be maintained by him Fundamentals and Essentials to the being of the Catholick Church I mean as to faith necessary for her attaining Salvation Lastly Mr. Stillingfleet saith ‖ P. 356. a Church enjoyning some dangerons errors as
* A Government constituted by God founded and compacted in a due subordination to keep all its members in the unity of Faith from being tossed too and fro with several Doctrines Eph. 4.11 13 14 16. And * perpetually to the worlds end assisted with the Paraclet sent from our ascended Lord to give them into all truth Jo. 14.16 26. * which Governors who so resisteth is in this rendred self-condemned Tit. 3.11 Lastly * S. Peter entitled to some special presidence over this whole Church by those Texts Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram Mat. 16. and Rogavi pro te ut non deficiat fides tua Tu confirma fratres Luk. 12.2.32 and Passe oves meas Jo. 21.10 compared with Gal. 2.7 Where thus S. Paul The Gospel of the Vncircumcision was committed to me as to Peter saith he relating to the Pasce in S. John was committed the Gospel of the Circumcision where it is observable also that then was the Circumcision the whole flock of Christ when it was committed to Peter St. Peters Commission over Christs sheep being ordinary given by our Lord here on Earth who also had the honour of the first converting and admitting of the Gentiles into this fold ‖ Act. 10 34-11 2-15 7 St. Paul's over the Gentiles extraordinary given by our Lord from Heaven ‖ Act. 9 6.-22.17.21 And this Commission manifested to the Apostles by a supereminent Grace of converting Soules and of Miracles that was bestowed upon him Gal. 2.8.9 Like to that more eminently given to St. Peter as may be seen in Act. 9.40 and 20.10 Act. 5.15 and 19.12 5.5 and 13 11-2.41.4.4 and Rom. 15 17 18 19. compared And that which is said Gal. 2. That the Apostles saw the Gospel of the Circumcision committed to Peter argues they saw it committed to Peter in some such special or superintendent manner as not also to them § 68 Again If we look upon the constitution and temper and manner of practice of this Church in the primitive times From the very first we find it acting as St. Paul directed Arch-bishop Titus c. 2.15 Cum omni imperio ut nemo contemnat Severely ejecting and delivering to Satan after some admonition those that were heterodox and heretical ‖ 1 Tim. 1.20 Th. 3 11.-1.11 In matter of controversy a Council called and the stile of it Visum est Spiritui Sancto nobis and Nobis collectis in unum ‖ Act. 15.25.28 And if here it be said that the infallible Apostles had some hand therein yet if we look lower we find still the same authority maintained and exercised by the Catholick Church of latter ages and espâ—cially by that of the 4 th age when flour shing under the patronage of the secular power now become Christian if fully enjoyed as also the present doth in these Western parts the free exercise of its Laws and Discipline § 69 In all these times then 1 st We find the unquestioned Church Catholick of those dayes firmly joyned with and adhering to that which was then ordinarily stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the See Apostolick and St. Peters chaire and with the Bishop called his Successor as if Matt. 16.18 and Luke 22.23 were a prophecy thereof though some other of the greatest Patriarchs stood not so firm but that the Catholick Church in those dayes relinquished and cut them off We find the same Church when any opposition of its Doctrines happened as it was then exercised with the highest controversies that ever troubled the Church taking very much authority upon it self assembling it self in a General Body making new definitions as necessity required anathematizing all dissenters inserting as it saw meet for the more explicit knowledge of them by all its subjects some of its decisions in the Churches Creeds which were by it much enlarged from what they were formerly We find it declaring this also in the Creed concerning it self and enjoyning it to be believed by all Christians that the Catholick Church continues always Holy Apostolical preserving their Rules Traditions and Doctrines and One indivisa in se united in its saith and Communion and divisa ab omnibus aliis distinct from all others whom she declares Hereticall or Schismatical § 70 2. Again we find it by such definitions put in the Creed and Belief of them exacted sufficiently declaring also 2. that it held it self to be I say not proving that it was against which only peâ—haps misunderstanding his adversary Mr. Stillingfleet disputes ‖ p. 558. infallible or actually unerring in them Thus much is clear I say concerning the Catholick Church and her General Councills of those times that they held themselves infallible in the things they defined and if the testimony and veracity of the Catholick Church or her united Governours in what she then professed as of other things so of herself can obtain no belief with some protestants either from the witness that Church-Tradition grounded at first on miracles or that the Scriptures or some other sufficient evidence in point of reason ‖ See before §. 8. which Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ p. 559. is contented with gives to it of which see below § 87. c. Yet Protestants must grant that the present Catholick Church which or where ever it is should it profess it self infallible errs now only the same errour which the ancient Church-Catholick did before it And if here it be thought that this may qualify some thing concerning the former Church that by this way it declared not it self infallible universally but only in those things it defined so I say neither doth the Church-Catholick of the present age profess her self infallible save in her Definitions Nor requires she of her definitions any other belief than the ancient Church did of hers Nor matters it whether this certainty of the truth of her definitions ariseth from the evidence of the former Revelation and Tradition of such points defined or from our Lords promise that in her definitions she shall not err See before § 10. To proceed § 71 3. We find it * declaring those Hereticks who opposed any of those definitions and expelling them from the Catholick Communion most strict by Synodical and Communicatory Letters in preserving in all points once defined the Vnity of the Catholick Faith and most carefully separating from any person suspected of any Heterodoxness or division from it * Proceeding in its censures not only against some private persons but against Churches against Bishops against Patriarchs themselves yet such as then also failed not to pretend a dutiful continuance in the Faith of former ages and appealed to the former short Creeds and Confessions of Faith Such authority the Church Fallible or infallible then presumed to use cum omni imperio and punishing all contempt § 72 If we look next on the two present Bodies or combinations of Churches that flourish at this day in that part of the world 2. The Face of
that all contained in S. Matthew's Gospel is true because the Church tells me it is so and then believe that the Church telleth me true because God hath revealed in some one part of his Word that the Church in this shall not err here my faith is ultimately resolved again not into the Church's authority but the Divine Revelation concerning the Church But if 3ly I believe S. Matthew's Gospel true because the Church tells me so and again believe the Church's veracity in what it saith only from the forementioned prudential motives †§. 121. inducing me to believe so here I resolve my faith into these credible motives and this is no infused or divine but an humane and acquisite faith and the assent to the thing believed can rationally be no firmer or stronger then it is to these credible proofs thereof Thus then when the authority of the Relator is the same yet the things related are diversly believed by me according to the varying of those Grounds or that authority which the Relator urgeth to make them credible When a very credible person relates to me several things which he hath heard of two other persons of whom I have a very different esteem the one accounted by me very skilful and learned in his Art the other not so here I give an assent or belief to the words of these two persons though both related to me with the same fidelity very different much stronger to the related words of him whom I esteem as it were infallible in his skill much weaker to the others and I give a third assent different from both these to the veracity of the Relator or to the credibility of the person relating these things to me concerning them This being said of a divine faith in the several assertions precedent § 135 That it is produced in us by the operation of the Holy Ghost and grounded still on divine Revelation But that it is not necessary †§. 127 c. that such faith alwayes should have an external rationally-rationally-infallible ground or motive thereto whether Church-authority or any other on his part that so believes Yet 7ly It is also affirmed That there are morally-certain or infallible grounds or motives producible both for the Christian Religion and faith in General and for all the Articles thereof as they are believed in the Catholick Church which grounds or any equal to them no other Religion besides Christianity nor in Christianity no other Sect or seducing private Spirit out of the Catholick Church can possibly plead or pretend to So that though many seducing spirits as it were in emulation of the Holy One do use to pretend and set up themselves for assurers of a divine Faith and many times do effect so firm an adherence to most false Revelations as that from this persuasion many have exposed themselves even to suffer death in defence of their errors yet this ever remains a constant way of distinguishing to the world and to all mens reason a true divine faith wrought by God's holy Spirit from these counterfeit ones wrought by the evil Spirit that Catholicks for this divine faith which the Holy Ghost only works in them as to such a supernatural powerful and vivifical efficacy thereof yet alwayes have besides this many extrinsecal motives and assurances to render it I say not Divine which such motives cannot do but in reason credible and acceptable to themselves and others which no false Religion no false faith can produce or lay claim to I mean still the former Motives which whenas the internal plerophory of this faith wrought by the Spirit is not publickly conspicuous or manifestive abroad are a standing rational evidence of the verity of Christianity against all other Sects of Religion and against all Hereticks c. Only of these motives it is affirmed That without the operation of God's Spirit they are never able to found a divine faith And. That by the holy Spirit many times a divine faith is produced without the concurrence of them Concerning this see the former quotations § 133. And here first a rational certainty or morally infallible ground of a Christians faith for this point § 136 that the Scriptures I mean as to the main body of them those few books set aside which the Protestants call Apocryphal are the Word of God and consequently whatever is contained therein and all the Articles of the Christian faith that are grounded thereon infallible is affirmed by Protestants as well as Catholicks And 1st This certainty Protestants do affirm to arise from that plenary Church-Tradition which is found to have delivered these to be God's Word and Divine Revelation throughout all ages from the Apostles times which Apostles confirmed them with miracles Of which thus the Arch-Bp †p. 124. If you speak saith he to A. C. of assurance only in general and not of that by divine faith I must then make bold to tell you and it is the greatest advantage which the Church of Christ hath against Infidels a man may be assured nay infallibly assured by Ecclesiastical and humane proof Men that never saw Rome may be sure and infallibly believe that such a City there is by Historical and acquired faith And if consent of humane story can assure me this why should not consent of Church story assure me the other That Christ and his Apostles delivered this Body of Scripture as the Oracles of God And again Certain it is saith he that by humane authority consent and proof a man may be assured infallibly that the Scripture is the Word of God by an acquired habit of faith out non subest falsum i. e. speaking of an usual and constant moral certainty and non-falsity of things but he cannot be assured infallibly by Divine faith cui subesse non potest falsum i.e. speaking of an absolute possibility of falsity or mistake of things especially by the divine power interposing in which sence nothing is free from deception save Divine Revelation but by a divine testimony § 137 And Mr. Stillingfleet saith of the same tradition †p. 205 211 That the moral certainty that is therein ‖ p. 207. yields us a sufficient assurance that the matter delivered to us to be believed is infallibly true and considering the nature of moral things is a certainty as great and begetting as firm an assent as any certainty Mathematical or Physical the greatest Physical certainty saith he being as liable to question as moral there being as great a possibility of deception in that as a suspicion of doubt in this and oftentimes greater Though his discourse there †p. 207. That where God obligeth us to believe we have the greatest assurance that the matter to be believed is infallibly true because God cannot oblige men to believe a lye from whence he would prove that we have a sufficient assurance that Christian Religion is infallibly true only from a moral certainty thereof If he
whole I mean either by a General or any other Superior Council wherewith also the belief or practice of the whole consenteth such Church cannot be freed from Schism Now that several of those points wherein the Protestants have left the Greek and Roman when agreeing in them are such See Disc 1. § 50. n. 2. But not such those wherein the Roman and Western Churches adhering to it do differ from the East and Protestants § 186 To γ. The first of those instances wherein he urgeth the consent of the Eastern Churches with Protestants To γ. viz. their opposing the Pope's Supremacy I answer that though there are several branches of the Pope's Supremacy which the modern Greeks allow not but so there are also some that the French Church doth not admit yet it is well known that thus much the Representatives of the Greek Church in the Council of Florence subscribed That the Bishop of Rome was Successor Petri. Principis Apostolorum totiusque Ecclesiae Caput cui in Beato Petro gubernandi universalem Ecclesiam plena potestas tradita est and the Greek Church never denyed his Primacy and Presidency in General Councils as appears * by the fifth Canon of the second General Council at Constantinople consisting only of Eastern Bishops Constantinopolitanae Civitatis Episcopum habere oportet Primatus honorem post Episcopum Romanum * By the Eastern Bishops in the fourth General Council the most numerous of any that hath been allowing the Presidency to the Roman Bishops Legats witness Arch-Bp Lawd †p. 214. * By Cyril an Eastern Bishop his presiding in the third General Council Vt Celestini Episcopatum antiquae Romae gerentis locum obtinens witness Evagrius †Evagrius 1. c 4. whose Deputy or Legate also he was made for the Excommunication of Nestorius by the authority of the Apostolick See witness the Pope's Letter to Cyril †Act. Conc. Ephes tom 1. Nostrâ vice loco cum potestate usus ejusmodi sententiam exequeris c. and Mr. Stillingfleet †p. 487. * by the Roman Legates also subscribing the first general Council of Nice before all the Patriarches and I know not why it is that Protestants granting this Bishop the Primacy among the Patriarchs and why should he being the Bishop of the chief See saith Mr. Stillingfeet †p. 488. in case of general concernment of the Church as that of Chalcedon I add and of other General Councils not be allowed by his Legates to have the prime place yet should take so much pains †See Stillings from p. 482. to 489 to shew de facto that in some Councils He or his Legats had it not or did dot preside therein § 187 To the second δ. I answer had Mr. Stillingfleet not thrust in the term Roman the infallibility of which To δ. taken singly is no Article of Faith in the Western Church †See Bellarm de Concil l. 2. c. 4. that as for the infallibility of the Church Catholick or of her lawful General Councils in their definitions concerning matter of Faith I suppose he knew the Greek Church to ascribe therein no less to It or Them than the Roman doth Of which thus Jeremy the Constantinopolitan Patriarch in his first answer to the Lutheran Divines Quod i.e. ut legi divinae adversentur de his quae à nobis dicta sunt nullo modo vere intelligi potest Ea enim quae Synodicè constituta sunt omnes Christi fideles tanquam divinitùs inspiratae Scripturae consentanea recipiunt atque amplectuntur semper To which Synodical decrees therefore this Patriarch requires a most strict submission of judgment and constitutes them the ultimate establishers of the Christian Faith in all matters controverted seriously advising the Lutherans to a final acquiescence therein Neque enim nobis licet saith he †Respons 1. Epilog prâ—vatâ confisis interpretatione aliquid divinitùs inspiratae Scripturae aut ipsos intelligere aut aliis tradere nisi quantum cum scopo sanctorum Synodorum Ecclesiaeque sancta Theologorum illud ipsum convenit why so Ne semel ex recto Evangelicae doctrinae tramite abrepti praecipites feramur neve sensus deinceps noster more Protei in hanc illam formam fidei transferatur Again At forte dicet quis vestrum of the Lutherans quae igitur earum rerum quae suo loco dimotae sunt correctionis spes Quae ratio Haec inquam si nihil praeter ea quae nobis à sanctis Apostolis including the Canones Apostolici sanctisque Synodis divinitùs ordinata sunt ordiemur nihil aliud sequemur And Vna sola rerum recuperandarum ratio superest idem semper cum sanctis Conciliis sentire Canonibusque Apostolicis per omnia inhaerere sic in omnibus Christum Dominum Magistrum sequi Thus you see East and West excepting the Protestants do agree in the same language concerning the infallibility of and duty of adherence to the Church and her Councils for matters of Faith And even those Eastern Sects who refuse submission to the third or fourth General Council do it not on this account that lawful and free General Councils may err but that these over-powered by the Emperor were not free thence calling their followers Melchites To the third To ε. ε. I answer That their difference is only about Purgatory-fire a thing never defined in the Roman Church But for the agreement and practice of both Churches in prayer for the dead with the same intentions See before § 162. To the fourth To ζ. ζ. See what is said before § 163. For the fifth To eegr. eegr. I refer you to § 164. And for the sixth To θ. θ. to § 161. leaving to the equal Readers judgment whether in any of those here named there be any considerable difference save in the first This in answer to Mr. Stillingfleet § 188 The Arch-Bp saith As for Jeremias 't is true his censure is in many things against the Protestants but I find not that that censure of his is warranted by any authority of the Greek Church To satisfie this see their modern Liturgies and Rituals and the other authorities that are quoted before for several points § 158. n. 2 c. 〈◊〉 165. concurring with what Jeremias hath delivered § 189 Bishop Bramhal opposeth to this testimony of Jeremias the contrary testimony of Cyril a late Patriarch there in the Confession of his Faith which had not the new set up press at Constantinople been disturbed he intended to have printed there and to have dedicated to the King of England See Knowles Tur. Hist A. D. 1628. c. having sent also some who had relation to him to be educated in Divinity in one of our Universities To which I answer 1st That to shew that the Protestants Reformation was not made from the whole Church Catholick but only the Roman we are to prove not what the
Epiphan Haer. 69 Theodoret. l. 1. c. 5. numbers on his side Hilarius †De Synodis relates no less than eighty Bishops before that Council to have disallowed the reception of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the Council also seventeen some of note at first to have dissented from the rest § 14 Prot. Not yielding what you say for truth but for the present supposing it yet the judgment of so small a party may by no means be adhered to by you it being inconsiderable in respect of the whole Body of the Catholick Church declaring against you Soc. If the consent of the much major part is to be taken for the whole then the reformed cannot maintain their dissent from the much more numerous body of Christianity that opposed their opinions and sence of Scriptures at the beginning of the Reformation and do still oppose them But not to stand upon this I would willingly conform to the unanimous or most general judgement of the Church Catholick if I were secure that she could not be mistaken in it But †Stillingf p. 59. The sence of the Church Catholick is no infallible rule of interpreting Scripture in all things which concern the rule of faith †Stillingf p. 133. Nor may she usurp that royal prerogative of heaven in prescribing infallibly in matters questioned Prot. You may be secure that she never erreth in any point necessary Soc. But you tell me that though she never err in necessaries yet it follows not that she is an unerring Guid or witness therein †Stillingf p. 154 252. Chilling p. 150. Dr. Hammond Defence of the L. Falkl. p. 23. §. 15. or that she must unerringly declare what points are necessary and what not and I must first learn whether this point of Consubstantiality is to be numbred among necessaries before I can be assured that the sence of the Church Catholick errs not therein Prot. But †Stillingf p 58. It is a sufficient prescription against any thing which can be alledged out of Scripture that it ought not to be looked on as the true meaning of Scripture if it appear contrary to the sence of the Church Catholick from the beginning and therefore such doctrines may well be judged destructive to the rule of faith which have been so unanimously condemued by the Church Catholick Soc. Why so Prot. †Stillingf ib. Because nothing contrary to the necessary Articles of faith can be held by the Catholick Church for it s very Being depends on its belief of necessaries to salvation Soc. This last is most true but then if you mean to make your discourse cohere you must say it is a sufficient prescription c. if it appear contrary to the sence of the Catholick Church viz. in a point necessary for the reason you give carries and secures you no further and then that which you say is no great matter For here we are still to seek whether the point we discourse of is in the affirmative such a necessary § 16 Prot. But this is ranked among those points which the Church hath put in her Creeds Soc. From the beginning this Article was not in the Creed and though it should be granted that all points necessary are contained in the Creeds yet all in the Creeds are not thought points necessary †Stillingf p. 70. 71. Necessary so as to be believed by any before a clear conviction of the divine Revelation thereof which conviction I yet want § 17 Prot. But yet though first the Catholick Church may err in non-necessaries and 2ly in what points are necessary what not her judgment be not infallible yet you have still great reason to submit your judgment to hers because if it happen to be a point necessary she is from the divine Promise infallible and unerring in it not so you And 2ly If not necessary and so both she and you therein liable to error yet you much the more and she also in these things is appointed by God for your Teacher and Guide Soc. Therefore I use the help and direction of my spiritual Guides consider their reasons do not rashly depart from their judgement but yet †Dr. Ferne Considerations p. 19. The due submission of my assent and belief to them is only to be conditional with reservation of evidence in God's Word For in matter of faith as Dr. Ferne saith I cannot submit to any company of men by resignation of my judgment and belief to receive for faith all that they shall define for such resignation stands excluded by the condition of the authority which is not infallible and by the condition of the matter faith of high concernment to our own souls and to be accounted for by our selves who therefore stand bound to make present and diligent search for that evidence and demonstration from God's Word upon which we may finally and securely stay our belief And †The Case between the Churches p. 40. The Church determining matter of faith saith he ought to manifest it out of God's Word and we may expect such proof before we yield absolute assent of belief And so Mr. Stillingfleet saith †p. 133. All men ought to be left to judge according to the Pandects of the divine Laws because each member of this Society is bound to take care of his soul and of all things that tend thereto Now I for my part see no solid ground out of the Scripture for Consubstantiality but rather for the contrary which several of our Writers have made appear to the world And therefore unless the Church were either infallible in all she determined or at least in distinguishing those necessaries wherein she cannot err from the rest it seems no way justifiable that she puts this her definition into the Creed she as I conceive thus requiring from all an absolute consent thereto and not only as some †Still p. 70. would perswade me a conditional for some of them viz. whenever I shall be clearly convinced that such point is of divine Revelation CONFERENCE III. 3. Or contrary to the Definitions of lawful General Councils the just conditions thereof being observed § 18 3. PRot. But do you not consider by what persons this Article was long ago inserted into the Creed Namely by the first General and the most venerable assembly of the Fathers of the Church that hath been convened since the Apostles times celebrated under the first Christian Emperor by a perfect representative of the Catholick Church and by such persons as came very much purified out of the newly-quenched fire of the greatest persecution that the Church hath suffered that under Dioclesian will not you then at last submit your judgment to the Decree of this great and holy Council one and the first of those four which S. Gregory said he received with the same reverence as the four Gospels Soc. No And for this I shall give you in brief many reasons
THE GUIDE IN CONTROVERSIES Or A Rational Account Of the Doctrine of ROMAN-CATHOLICKS Concerning the Ecclesiastical Guide in Controversies of Religion Reflecting on the later Writings of Protestants particularly of Archbishop Lawd and Mr. Stillingfleet on this Subject By R. H. 1. Pet. 3.15 Parati semper ad satisfactionem omni poscenti vos rationem 2. Cor. 6.8 Per Infamiam bonam Famam ut Seductores Veraces Printed in the Year MDCLXVII The Preface to the Reader AFter the sad effects of discord and quarrels in Religion so long experienced and End of such Controversies cannot but be by all pious Christians most passionately desired And an end of them if it may be by an Infallible or unerring decision of those necessary That a Writing also if clear and free from any ambiguity in its sence may decide these is confessed by all For if words written cannot neither can words spoken since nothing can be said but what may be recorded and granted also that such Writing doth decide them infallibly if it be the Holy Scripture But it appears that the sence of Holy Scripture is not in all Controversies that are thought necessary to be determined so clear but that it is called in question and disputed by considerable Parties For the ending of which therefore that God hath left another living Guide his Church or the Ecclesiastical Governors thereof which is in all Ages in the exposition of Holy Scripture and the decision of these Controversies as to Necessaries Infallible from other Sects easily discerned in its sentence easily Vnderstood is in these Discourses pretended to be proved And learned Protestants also shewed to maintain those Principles from which it seems rationally consequent Any such living Infallible Guide Protestants strongly deny and oppose And hereby if indeed there be such a Guide 1st incurr great peril as to their Salvation By denying a due obedience and Submission of Judgment to its Authority and Definitions And by deserting its Communion as not to be enjoyed on other termes And 2ly become unsettled and of a various judgment in several points of Religion of great concernment and daily subdividing into more Sects Their many objections therefore and difficulties urged against the Being of any such Guid are here considered and replyed to Especially those occurring in the writings of their later Divines Arch Bp. Lawd Bp. Bramhall Dr. Hammond Dr Ferne Mr. Chillingworth Mr. Stillingfleet and others Whose Art and diligence hath been so great in fighting against their own Happiness if I may so say and in hindring Themselves and others with all imaginable arguments from returning into the Unity of the Catholick Church and Faith that there seemes nothing left out or neglected by them that can hereafter be said new in their in their Defence Of which objections whether any of moment and pertinent to the matter in hand are here concealed or of those mentioned any not fully satisfied is left to the equal Reader 's Judgment The Author though conscious of his weaknes yet confident of the Cause and presuming so necessary a Truth to have so much advantage over Error as that it needeth not the very sharpest wit and exactest Judgment to vindicate and maintain it hath taken in hand this task in the long silence of many other more able Workmen that he might give satisfaction to some persons who seem with great indifferency to desire it and that the Adversary in having the last Word might not also to some weaker judgments seem to have the best Cause And to this end He hath also wholly applyed himself herein to the language and expressions of Protestants used in this Controversie and indeavored to follow their Motion to the smalest Particulars and last Retraits and hath built a good part of his discourse on their own Concessions as more prevalent with such Readers and those materials which their own writings afford advantagious to Truth and the present design Recommending this most important affair to the Protestant Readers most serious consideration As which if what is promised here be made good will possess Him of a much more true and solid Satisfaction and Tranquility of minde than his former Principles could possibly afford Him 1 * Whilst now he discernes himself contrary to what he before imagined guarded in his way to heaven with a double Guide unfailable The Holy Scriptures as what points they are clear And next the Holy Church in what they seem obscure into whose judgment and sentence he safely resolves all his former Scruples and anxieties concerning such Texts wherein a mistake is any way dangerous * Whilst now by a new and holier way of mortifying his own judgment instead of confuting another's and especially that of Superiors and of subduing his passions †St. August De Serm. Dom. in Monte 1. l. 3 c. On Beati pauoeres spiritu Oportet animam se mitem praebere pietate ne id quod imperitis videtur absurdum vituperare audeat pervicacibus concertationibus effiâ—iatur indocilis instead of enriching his intellect and seeking the possession of Truth by humility and obedience instead of Science and Argument he becomes fixed and setled in most of those Controversies as already stated by this Guide which still entangle and perplex others The light of his own Reason first serving him so far as to the discovery of that Guide a discovery wherein the divine providence hath left so clear and evident that a sincere and unbiased quest cannot miscarry to whom once found out he is afterward for all other things I mean that are prescribed by this Guide to subject and resigne it * Whilst now he renders himself one of those Babes to whom God by these Spiritual Fathers in all simplicity believed by him reveales what things are hid from the self-wise and prudent who are still standing upon their Guard with Pythagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Jewe's Quomodo Jo. 6.52 in their mouths missing of Truth where Authority and Tradition teach it out of too much wariness to be deceived * Whilst now as Mary at our Lord's so he meekly sits at his Church's feet and heareth her words when as those others whom he hath left full of learned cares from their youth like St. Austine when a Manichee how and where to finde Truth taught to believe no side to search and rifle all are stating all their life long every Controversie a new to themselves one on this manner another on that examining all pretended Foundations whether solidly laid For where say they may not an Humane Testimony deceive them even from the more principal The essential Vnity of the Trinity The Divinity and Eternity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost the Vhiquity of Gods essence and his Absolute Praescience the number and right use of the Sacraments The Commission of the Churches Hierarchy and Bishops their just authority and from whom they hold it for in all these they finde acute Divines calling on their impartiall
and unresigned judgment for a review to those lower points yet these also of no small debate among persons straied once from this Guide of the lawfullness of bowing at the Communion Table of being uncovered in Churches of making the signe of the Cross in Baptism of Baptising one yet an Infant of wearing a Surplice c. Things high or low that trouble none who hath once undergone the mortification of dethroning his own judgment and captivated it to the unity of the Churches Faith 2. * Whilst now also after such an humble obedience and conformity first yielded he passeth further and comes to understand the doctrines of this Guide to be much other than they were formerly represented unto him and to be assented-to on good reason as well as submitted-to on just Authority saying with those new Converts in St. Austin †Ep. 48. Nos falsis rumoribus terrebamur intrare quos falsos este nesciremus nifi intraremus Gratias Deo qui expertos docuit quam vana inania de Ecclesiâ suâ mendax fama jactaverit For the Churches Doctrines are seldom by her adversaries delivered favourably and either the Sense of her Divines not given with their words or those Writers quoted who affect extreames and do afford more advantage to the Gain-sayer and the most of men whilst aliens from the Church and obliged by their secular interest to dislike and oppose her Tenents taking no great care to inform themselves what these are save only from those who disguise and misrelate them 3. But now thus undeceived in the last place he receives yet more contentment to see that Church spread over all Nations and once the Spouse of Christ not since to be as he formerly fancied for many Generations miserably apostatized from her primitive faith and purity and stained with a manifold Idolatry whilst the Great Antichrist sitteth in her cheif Chair and giveth her lawes poisoning the Nations with her gross errors and daily making more of them to drink of the wine of her Abominations and herself also drunk with the blood of the Saints for such things his Teachers once made him believe 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Tim. 3.15 Apocal. 2.1 But this Church to be a Foundation abiding sure and the Pillar of Truth for ever Our Lord walking still amongst her Candlesticks and holding her Stars in his hand and by them from age to age enlightening the dark places of the world Internal and External Sanctity Corporal and Spiritual mortifications accompanying one another and growing together to an Angel-like purity in her Saints and those who order their actions according to her most excellent Doctrines and Councils of Perfection In the lives of which Persons found in all later ages a most exact pattern of the former he now examines the Holiness of this Church and not in those others whose crimes in every age are by the Church's Adversaries curiously sought out and divulged to shew that most scandalous persons have professed the Roman Faith as who was ever so wicked as one of our Lord's Disciples Whom he now discernes to have departed no further from Goodness than they also did from her Rules and Lessons and well perceives that a continued purity of the Church's doctrine is more rationally collected from the Sanctity of the one than a Corruption therein from the viciousness of the other because it may rather be presumed that the wicked should transgress the Churches lawes than the virtuous transcend them and because both of Persons and Ages some may be observed to have been much more impious than others as perhaps the 9th or 10th age than the 11th or 12th where yet the Churches Doctrines or Lawes are confessed to have suffered no mutation and therefore such wickedness not to have proceeded from their influence and where those holy men of the same times who are produced to reprehend the faulty yet are known to have continued still with them in the same Communion and Faith * Whilst now he also discernes an uniform descent of the Church's faith and a true concatenation between the doctrines of the former Fathers and latter Schoolmen and the sentences of the one constituting the Theology of the other these later ascending indeed by pursuing the necessary consequents of former Principles into the highest subtleties of this divine Science but without pretending a Reformation of any thing formerly delivered or imposing their new discoveries on any one 's Faith And therefore no more now doth he look into them only as a Spy into the Camp of the Enemy to discover the specious fallacies of these great Wits against truth and to give intelligence to his own party to beware of their Sophisms Or at best turnes ore their Volumes only to pick here and there a flower as it were out of a Garden overrun with weeds But now reads them as a dutiful Son or docible Schollar doth the lessons of his Master or prescriptions of his Ancestors to transcribe and follow their Institutions and rules and propagate to posterity what he learnes from them Neither on another hand takes he now any more disgust and scandal at her Moral Divines and Casuists considering them according to their proper imployment not as persons conversing with Saints and drawing up Rules of perfection but applying themselves to the Confessions of Sinners and with as equal a ballance as Theology affords them weighing the culpableness of such actions as are brought before them in order to exciting a due and proportionable Penitence and Contrition Where he easily sees that it were an equal injustice in them to aggravate as to lessen faults and to put mens Souls into false scruples and terrors as to leave them in false securities Hence are they mostwhat busied in setting forth the utmost bounds which an action not to be perfect or praise-worthy but lawful or sinless is capable of or also not this but only what bounds it must not pass to be not sinning mortally or not mortally in such a particular species thereof though perhaps in some other it is so * Which Casuists he now discerns to be greatly wronged when some sentences of theirs commonly stript also of some of the necessary circumstances are produced as recommending or encouraging an action that is only by them declared no sin or as countenancing or excusing a sin that is only declared by them no such crime as excludes from Grace and the state of of Regeneration or as calling Evil good when as that Circumstance is concealed by the Accuser upon which supposed only and not absolutely they pronounce such action Good or lawful Again * Whilst now being thus established in a right understanding of the Church and of her Doctors He proceeds to look upon those Heterodox persons who from time to time have gone out of this Church not as departing out of Babylon but out of the City of God and that have all till Luthers last defect on after a short blaze come to nothing And again looks
on those Nations who from time to time even from the furthest East and West have entred into this Church not as thus reduced only from one Idolatry to another which he formerly imagined from the Heathen Idolatry to the Râ—man but from Gentilism to that Faith to which our Lord foretold and promised a conversion of all Nations Matth. 24.14 before the last times and that not the Kingdome of Antichrist but of Heaven hath been truly preached unto them the same Kingdome to other Heathen People by her indefatigable missioners now which was heretofore to our Ancestors by St. Austin that holy Monk All these illuminations and consolations will he receive and all these Divine Providences will he rejoyce in and praise God for in this Church if it shall once be discovered to him to be his true Guide and if that which is asserted in these Discourses shall by the Grace and Benediction of God appear to him Truth In the proof and evâ—dencing of which the Author likewise hath reason to expect from him the more favourable audience because those who most vehemently dispute against any such infallible Director yet cease not to wish that there were such a one as a thing acknowledged most highly beneficiall to Christianâ—ty and they maintain the Controversie not without a professing that they would most willingly be confuted in it If there be such an infallible Judge of Contraversies saith Mr. Chillingworth †c 2. §. 136. it would have been infinitely beneficial to the Church and perhaps as much as all the rest of the Bible if in some Book of Scripture which was to be undoubtedly received this one proposition had been set down in terms c. Now if it be not necessary that there should be such an infallible Judge what great necessity certainly to know him in case there were one yet this a thing he saith infinitly beneficial to the Church and perhaps as much as all the rest of the Bible And elsewhere If I knew saith he any one Church to be infallible I would quickly be of that Church Behold this by Protestants so earnestly wished for R. Catholicks shew unto them with proofs sufficient to satisfie the rational but not force the obstinate It faring no better with this Church than with its Lord Of whom many of the Pharisees and self-wise though desiring nothing so much as the happiness once to see their Messias or live in his daies yet even whilst they conversed familiarly with him and received all Salutary doctrine from him confirmed with Miracles being blinded with many other prejudices and mistaken fancies concerning Him and also wanting that humility of the Common people to Learn this Truth amongst others from Him that He was their Messias could never perswade themselves that He was indeed such a Person and so perished in their unbelief But Blessed be our Lord who mean while both then clearly manifested Himself to those who were Babes i. e. humble Matt. 11.25 Rom. 12.16 and not wise in themselves And since upon his necessary departure hath not left his Children here Orphanes and destitute either of Spiritual Fathers of whom he hath said that He that heareth them Luk. 10.16 heareth Him therefore these not misguiding in necessaries or of a Spiritual Mother of whom he hath said that He that Heareth Her not shall be esteemed as an Heathen Nor yet left his Little ones destitute of sufficient Evidences and markes by which for ever to discern true Parents and Guides from other Pretenders and Impostors so that they know their Voice and do not follow the voice of strangers Jo. 10.4 5. Which Evidences the Author presents to the serious Inquirer in these following Discourses and commits him to the powerful Teacher of hearts and the illuminations of his Holy Spirit Errata Disc 1. Page 1. lin 12 read belong Page 6. l. 15. r. 3. And. Page 10. l. 32 dele If. Page 11. l. 14. r. are Page 20. l. 27. r. render Page 25. l. 1. r. Bishops Page 26. marg r. 398. Page 29. l. 22. r. 176. Page 30. l. 14. r. which Councils marg r. 10. and 14. Page 33. l. 21. r. Contrasts Page 36. l. r. them Page 38. 21. r. Consequently Page 39. l. 33. r. Melchites l. 42. r. is necessary Page 42. l. 10. r. 1st These Page 44. 19. r. 37. Page 45. l. 7. r. men professing Page 50. 23. r. and Transubstantiation in five l. 41. r. Nice Page 56. 3. r. religion for so none would be Schsmaticks but Arch Hereticks Page 73. ult r command Disc 2. Page 79. 4. r. these Page 80. 33. r. sufficient for deciding Controversies Page 83. 8 r. there is considering the times Page 87. l. 15. r. colour see 4 Disc § 11.12 Page 96. 22. r. rendring Page 103. 15. r. Sabellianism Page 104 27. r wherein Ib. Dele 28. r. But Page 105. 29. r. Valens 33 r. Essence Page 122. marg r. 104.172 Stillingf p. 241. Page 123. 19. r. Quonam Disc 3. Page 143. 33. marg r. Chillingw p. 140. 118. 166 Page 145. 8. r. that part Page 17. r. subordinate Page 150 9. r. oppose or deny the truth of Page 153. 14. r. follows Page 156. 3. r. clearing Page 157. 7. r. limitation Page 169. 14. r. Corporal presence in the Eucharist Page 170. 11. r. to be generally condemned Page 186. 10. r. to Page 194. 27. r. thereof under one Page 199. marg r. Churches Page 203. 30. r. Monachi Page 204. 10. r. probate Page 205. 22. r. confession 26. r. veterum Page 213. 9. r. Testimony 21. r. plures an paucos 22. dele paucos Page 223. 1. r. is so evident 17. r. hoped Page 224. 3. r. reflections 10. r. quos 15. r. Faith only 32. r. the contrary doctrines Page 234. 6. r. Anathema Page 247. 26. subjacete Page 254. 40. r. the last Page 259. 19. r. upon Page 267. 21. dele authority Page 269. 8. r. fide Page 271. 23. r. fidei Page 275. 38. marg r. †p. 137 Page 286. 38. r. on Page 301. 36. r. honoratis Page 305 Chrisma Page 307. 3. r. regimine Page 311. marg Aethiopum Page 321. 3. r. Church Disc 4 Page 332. 23. r. Carpocratos Page 338. 13. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 342. 39. dele as Page 365. 30. r. fides Preface p. 4. l. 1. r. 2. THE FIRST DISCOURSE Relating and considering the varying Judgements of learned Protestants concerning the Ecclesiastical Guide The CONTENTS Chap. 1. THE Church Catholick granted by all in some sence unerrable in Fundamentals for ever § 1. I. Some Protestant Divines granting the Church Catholick unerrable in Fundamentals or Necessaries but not as a Guide § 3. Reply § 6. That the divine promises of indefectibility or not erring in Necessaries belong to the Church Catholick as a Guide or to the Guides of the Church Catholick § 6. Chap. 2. Several limitations of Protestants concerning these promises 1. That they were made only to the Apostles
former Councils such as the Church of preceding Ages hath received as General or obliging as well those Councils since as those before the Sixth or Seventh Century which later the other Party rejects § 37. Chap. 5. The pretended Security of those Protestants who deny any certain living or Personal Guide infallible in Necessaries affirming 1. That all necessary Matters of Faith are even to the unlearned clear in the Scriptures and the Controversies in non-necessaries needless to be decided § 38. 2. That all Necessaries are clear in Scripture because God hath left no other certain Means Rule or Guide for the knowledge of them save the Scriptures § 39. n. 1. Not any certain living Guide 1. Which is infallible as their Guide the Scriptures are § 39. n. 2. 2. Which the unlearned in any Division can discern from the false Guides or know their Decrees better than the Scriptures 3. From whom the Scriptures direct them to learn Necessaries or tell them what Church or Party they are to adhere to in any Schism made In which infallible Guide if there were any such as being a thing of the greatest concernment the Scriptures would not have been silent Ibid. Reply 1. That Evidence of the Scriptures hath been the usual Plea of former Hereticks in their dissenting from the Church § 40. n. 1. 2. That as to the main and principal Articles of the Christian Faith the sufficiency of the Rule of Scripture is not denied by Roman Catholicks but only the clearness thereof as to all mens capacities questioned And another Guid held necessary § 40. n. 2. It is replyed then 1. Concerning the clearness of Scripture 1 That some Controversies in Religion since the writing of the Scriptures have been concerning points necessary As those Controversies concerning the Trinity the Deity and Humanity of our Lord the necessity of God's Grace c. § 41. 2. That the more clear all necessaries are in Scripture still with the more security may Christians rely for them on the Church's judgment from which also they receive these Scriptures § 42. 3. That there is no necessity that all Necessaries should be revealed in Scriptures as to all men clearly 1. Because it is sufficient if God hath left this one Point clear in Scriptures that we should in all difficulties and Obscurities of them follow the Directions and adhere to the Expositions and Doctrins of these Guides § 43. 2. Sufficient if God hath by other Apostolical Tradition at least clearly revealed to these Church-Guides all such necessary Truths to be successively communicated by them to his people § 44. 3. Sufficient if God hath by Tradition at least clearly revealed to these Church-Guides the sence of such Scriptures as are in points necessary any way obscure Ibid. 4. Sufficient if God in the Scripture hath clearly enough revealed all necessary Truths to the capacity of these Church-Guides using due means though he hath not to the capacity of the unlearned for from those these may learn them § 45. II. Concerning a living Guide 1. That where the Scripture especially several Texts compared is ambiguous and in Controversie the Christians Guide to know the true sence cannot be the Scripture but either the Church's or their own judgment § 46. n. 1. 2. That it is not necessary that God in the Scriptures should direct Christians to what Guide they are to repair § 46. n. 2. Or to what Church Prelates or Party in any Schism Christians for ever ought to adhere § 47. n. 2. 3. Yet that God hath given Christians a sufficient direction herein in his leaving a due subordination among these Governours whereby the Inferiors are subjected to the Superior and a par◠unto the whole § 47. n. 3. And that Christians may more clearly know the sence of their Definitions in matters controverted than the sence of the Scriptures § 48. THE THIRD DISCOURSE Examining What measure of obedience is due to these Guides and to the Supreme Ecclesiastical Judge of Controversies The CONTENTS Chap. 1. ROman Catholicks and Protestants do agree 1. That the Scriptures speaking of those books by the Protestants stiled Canonical are the Word of God § 1. 2. That in these Scriptures agreed on it is clearly declared that the Church Catholick of no age shall err in Necessaries § 2. 3. That the Church Catholick is contradistinct to Heretical and Schismatical Churches § 4. 4. That Christ hath left in his Church Pastors and Teachers to keep it from being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine § 5. Chap. 2. Catholicks go on and affirm 5. That the Church Guides at least assembled in Lawful General Councils shall never err in their determining things of necessary Faith § 6. 6. Shall never err in necessaries not taken for those that are absolutely required but for all that are very beneficial to Salvation § 9. 7. Shall never err in them not as infalliblly inspired to teach any new but as divinely assisted in delivering of the former revelations and Traditions wherein they affirm that the Church of all ages since the Apostles is for ever preserved equally infallible § 10. 8. That for knowing what or how many of former Councils have been lawfully General and obliging a Christian may safely rely on the General judgment of the Church since the sitting of such Councils § 11. 9. That in the absence of a considerable part of the Church-Governors from some Councils yet their acceptance of its decrees or concurrence with its doctrines renders it equivalent to a Council General § 13. 10. That particular persons or Churches parts of the whole are obliged to submit their judgment and yield their assent to the Definitions of the whole § 14. Chap. 3 11. That whatever particular person or Church holds the contrary to any known definition passed in a matter of Faith of any lawful General Council is Heretical § 16. 12. That any particular person or Church which for any cause whatever doth actually relinquish and separate from the external communion of the present Church Catholick is Schismatical § 20. 13. But yet That several persons or Churches coordinate may without Schism differ in any thing opinion or practise wherein they are not obliged to accord by their Common Superiors or by the whole § 23. Chap. 4. But Protestants after the four first propositions conceded in some sence do thus indeavour to qualify and restrain them 5. In granting the Catholick Church in all ages unerrable in necessaries they understand only such few Necessaries without the explicit belief of which Salvation cannot be attained § 24. 6. Therefore also they affirm that though the Church Catholick cannot err in such points absolutely necessary to Salvation yet it or all particular Churches in som one age or ages may in others the errors wherein are dangerous to salvation gross damnable c. § 25. Because it appears that many of the chief points from which Protestants dissent were General Tenents and practices
at the comming of Luther § 36. 7. They affirm That though the Church Catholick cannot yet General Councils such as are not universally accepted by the Church diffusive may err in absolute necessaries to Salvation and that the Councils also universally accepted may err in non-fundamentals or non-necessaries § 34. 8. Yet that they allow all such Councils as are generally accepted by the Church diffusive to be either lawfully General or equivalent thereto and also to be infallible in necessaries § 35. Where That necessaries in their sence restrained only to a very few points of the Faith and universal acceptation extended to all sects of Christians do free them from any obligation to all or most Councils formerly held in the Church § 36. 9. And that they grant an obedience due to the Definitions and Decrees of such Councels from all inferior persons or Churches § 38. 10. But this obedience not necessarily that of assent to their decrees unless such decrees be in and known to be in necessaries but only of silence and non-publick contradiction § 39. Where Concerning the quality of the obedience that is yeilded by the Church of England to the decrees of the first General Councils § 40. 11. Nor this silence or non-contradiction generally due to all the decrees of such Councils but only to such decrees wherein the error of the Council is not manifest or intolerable § 43. Nor this breach of silence or contradiction of such decrees allowed only so far as to make complaint to Superiors who not allowing their complaint they are to acquiesce but allowed so far as that they may proceed upon the Superiors by them-conceived neglect of a redress to a reformation § 44. 12. And the Judgment when such errors are manifest and intolerable and to be reformed left to every particular person or Church for themselves § 47. Chap. 5. 13. Accordingly they declare and confine Heresie to be an error obstinately maintained not against some Church-Definition but some fundamental Article of the Faith without allowing any certain Judge what or how many Articles are fundamental and so what is Heresie § 51. 14. Concerning Schism 1st In respect of inferiors they declare it to be not any separation whatever but a separation causless § 55. or also as some more straiten it a separation in essentials § 57. from the Communion of other Churches or of the Church Catholick here again without leaving us any certain Judge what points are essentials or when the separation causless and consequently when Schism unless perhaps the separatist be this Judge 2. Again In respect of Superiors they enlarge Schism and declare them also guilty of it so often as by requiring unjust conditions of their Communion from Inferiors they give the cause of separation whereby the chief and governing Body of the Clergy of the whole Catholick Church at Luthers appearance seems by them charged with Schism and that from the Catholick Church § 61. Whether the Ecclesiastical Superiors when departing from no other their Superiors can become in respect of their subjects guilty of Schism § 63. n. 1. Chap. 6. A Reflection on the former different Theses of these two parties concerning Church-authority and the obedience due thereto § 64. And A Review of the two present opposite Churches which of them most resembles the ancient Catholick Church § 67. The face * of the ancient Catholick Church Ib. * Of the present Roman Church § 72. * Of the present Protestant Churches § 76. An Enquiry Chap. 7. Whether the Church of England doth not require obedience of Assent or Belief to her Articles of Religion Several Canons in her Synonds seeming to require it § 83. n. 1 The complaint of the Presbyterians conc it § 83. n. 4. The Doctrin of her Divines conc it § 84. n. 1. Where Conc. the just importance of Negative Articles § 84. n. 1. and 85. n. 2. And Conc. conditional assent § 84. n. 4. and 85. n. 10. That to some of the 39 Articles assent is due and ought to be required by the Church of England from her subjects § 85. n. 1. That the Roman Church doth not require assent to all the Canons of her Councils as to points Fundamental i. e. of any of which a Christian nescient cannot be saved § 85. n. 4. That the requiring of obedience either of Assent or Non-contradiction by the Church of England to all the 39 Articles seems contrary to the laws of the Church and to the Protestant Principles § 85. n. 11. Chap. 8. Solutions of several Protestant Questions concerning the Supreme Ecclesiastical Guide or Judge of Controversies § 86. 1. Q. From what we can be assured That Councils are infallible since neither the Texts of Scripture the sence whereof is disputed nor the decree of any Council whose erring is the thing questioned can give such assurance Ib. 2. Q. Whence General Councils have their infallibility such promise if made being made only to the Church diffusive and not delegable by this Church to others or if so no such delegation from the universal Church appearing before hand to have been made to all or any General Council § 91. 3. Q. How the infallibility of General Councils is necessary or serviceable to the Church without which Councils the Church subsisted for several ages most Orthodox § 98. 4. Q. How lawful General Councils which experience hath shewed to have contradicted one another can be all infallible § 100. 5. Q. Lawfull General Councils being supposed to be liable to error in some things How Christians can be assured concerning any particular point that these Councils do not err § 101. 6. Q. Whilst such Councils are supposed infallible How if they should not be so can any error of theirs be rectified § 102. 7. Q. Whether such Councils only when confirmed by the Pope or also unconfirmed by him be infallible § 104. 8. Q. How the Popes confirmation can any way concur to such Council's non-erring since if It erred it doth so still though he approve it if orthodox it is so still he not approving it § 105. 9. Q. In which the Pope or the Council this infallibility lies if in one of them the other needless If in both then either of them sufficient such qualities being where they are indivisible and without integral parts § 106. Chap. 9. 10. Q. If general Councils infallible whether they are so in their conclusions only which will infer Enthusiasm or new Revelation or also in their premises and proofs upon which assent will be due also to all their arguments § 107. 11. Q. Why being infallible in their Conclusions or Definitions They do not end all Controversies but leave so many unresolved § 108. 12. Q. How such infallibility of theirs differs from that of the Apostles and that of their decrees from that of Scripture § 109. 13. Q. How many persons or guides all fallible can make one infallible § 112. 14. Q. Supposing all lawful General Councils
and the sense thereof where evident and not controverted as in many points it is clear by both sides as holding it infallible equally acquiesced in And 2ly Where the true sense of this common Rule happens to be disputed and brought into question and so there is need of some other guide to shew which sense is the right here the guide which Protestants direct men to is not the certain and infallible Scripture but indeed in the last place every mans own judgment or Reason and the guide which the Roman doctrine directs men to is their Spiritual Superiours and in the last place the most supream Council of them Where also 1st that supreme Guide whom the particular Guides of Catholicks hold themselves obliged to follow is affirmed in all their Definitions concerning necessaries to be infallible and 2ly Since such their Definitions are only in things in which the sense of the Scriptures is controverted it may be presumed that the sense of the same Definitions is to private persons much more intelligible and plain than those Scriptures that are explained by them And 3ly this living Guide from time to time as any doubt ariseth can render it self still more intelligible which the Rule of Scriptures cannot § 24 This from § 3. is spoken to those Protestant-Divines who though they make a Promise of Indefectibility or Infallibility in Necessaries absolute to the Church-Catholick yet affirm it to be to the Churches Clergy even taken in the Supremest Consultations and meetings of it only conditional which Promise of absolute Indefectibility being thus extended to the Church but withheld from the Clergy though it implies still an infinite benefit and favour to some particulars yet seems to afford very litle consolation to Christianity in General being a promising no more than this That in all Ages to the end of the World there shall be some men in it that shall not teach but only retain so much faith or divine truth as thereby to be saved which thing may be where is no preaching no Administration of the Sacraments and indeed no external visible Church at all which thing may be though all the Clergy do Apostatize if at least some few Laicks continue Orthodox CHAP. IV. II. Other Protestant Divines granting the Clergy some or other of them alwayes unerring in Necessaries but this not necessarily the Superiour or major part of them § 25. That the subordinate Clergy can be no Guide to Christians when opposing the Superiour nor a few opposing a much major part § 30. § 25 II OTher Reformed Divines there are who allow not a conditional but absolute Promise made to the Clergy some or other II. in a greater or in a smaller number in all times Nay yet further Other Protestant Divines granting the Clergy and Church-Guides some or other of them always unerring in Necessaries but not necessarily the Superiour or major part of them made also to some visible distinct Body and Society or external Communion of them together with the Congregation of faithful adhering to them so that all the Clergy shall never in no Age universally apostatize but some of them still remain Orthodox or also some body of them and there shall always be a visible Orthodox Church or Churches such as hath a right publick profession of Christianity and a true Ministry in it of the Word and Sacraments so that according to these Divines the fore-mentioned Promises ‖ §. 12. advance somwhat higher * That Promise Mat. 28. signifying That Christ will be with some or other of his Clergy in some place or other for ever so as that they shall certainly teach what he hath commanded them And * that Jo. 14. That they shall so love him keep his Commandments as that his Spirit shall abide with them for ever lead them into all Truth Necessary And * that Luk 10. That they shall so faithfully recite the Truths he committed to them as that those who hear them hear him § 26 Of this Church and Clergy so assisted thus Dr. Ferne ‖ Division of Engl and Rome It cannot be imagined saith he that God who promised to be with them and guide them should take away his Truth from all the Guides and Pastors of his Church and preserve it by the Judgment and Conscience of Lay-people but that some Guides and Pastors though of less number and place still be they that shall detect prevailing Errours and preserve the Truth § 27 To the same purpose is that Testimony of Mr. Hooker ‖ 3 l. p. 124 That Gods Clergy are a state which have been and will be as long as there is a Church upon Earth necessary by the plain Word of God Himself a State whereunto the rest of Gods people must be subject as touching things that appertain to their Souls health For where Policy is it cannot but approve some to be leaders of others and some to be led by others This Clergy then to have thus a perpetual Being must never err in Fundamentals and therefore it will be irrational to deny them in these to be a perpetual secure and unerring Guide § 28 To the same purpose speaks Arch-Bishop Lawd ‖ §. 37. p. 318 There must be saith he some one Church or other continually visible For if this be not so then there may be a time in which there shall not any where be a visible Profession of the Name of Christ which is contrary to the whole scope and profession of the Gospel And this saith he such a visible Church as hath in all Ages taught the unchanged Faith of Christ in all Points fundamental ‖ Numb 3 5 And thus Dr. Field also ‖ 1 l. 10. c. p. 14. 15. affirmes That the Church is alwayes visible in respect of the Order of Ministery and due obedience yielded thereunto and them discernable that do communicate therein and below That always an open known and constant Profession of saving Truth is preserved and found among Men and the Ministery of Salvation continued and known in the World for how saith he should there be a Church gathered without a Ministery ‖ See 2 l. 6 c. And in the Preface to his whole Book of the Church he discourseth on this manner Seeing the Controversies of Religion in our times are grown in number so many and in matter so intricate that few have time and leisure fewer strength of understanding to examine them what remaineth for men desirous of satisfaction in things of such consequence but diligently to search out which amongst all the Societies of the World is that blessed Company of Holy ones that Houshold of Faith that Spouse of Christ and Church of the living God which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth that so he may embrace her Communion follow her Directions and rest in her Judgment Thus he § 29 And thus far went Mr. Calvin long ago holding that there is a visible Society consisting of Clergy and
another and so a just fear of less integrity Lastly if these against the whole can have any authority the proceedings of General Councils in condemning and exercising Ecclesiastical Censures against them as subjects to those Courts have bin unjust which yet those General Councils universally allowed have used not only against Bishops but Patriarchs and the Clergy joined with them And the Churches Decrees thus will be necessarily obligatory never but when the Governours thereof to a man or to every particular Church or Society of Church-men are all of a mind Neither can the people when the Ecclesiastical Court which consists of many Judges is any way divided tell which to obey if our Saviours Promise be only to some certain Guides we know not in how small a number because they know not whether our Saviours promise of Indefectibility even in necessaries belongs not to the more inconsiderable part thereof He that appoints us to follow a Guide in what it shall enjoin us and then leaves us no way when our Guide consists not of one but many persons and particular Churches and when two parties of them contradict one another and guide us contrary wayes to know which of them is to be our Guide it is all one as if he left us no Guide and he that ties us besides our own judgment in doubtful matters to obey and follow only some Ecclesiastical person or other not obliging us to the most or major part to the Superiour rather than an inferior person or Court revolves our obedience in any division of our Governours only to our own Judgment i. e. to chuse that side which we judge is most conformable to Scripture as we follow the Counsel of that friend who we think speaks most reason But can this be called any obebedience to his authority and then left to this choice what opinion can our selves take up that is so absurd in which we cannot finde some Clergy or other for our Leaders This concerning these Protestant-Divines allowing an absolute Promise of Indefectibility as to Necessaries made to and always verified in some Persons or also some Body and Society or other of the Clergy i.e. of the Church-Guides but not to these always in such a capacity as that they are in the Churches constitutions and traditions to be our Guides these Orthodox-Guides as they suppose being perhaps in some Ages a very small number nor those of the highest rank in comparison of the rest CHAP. V. III. Other Expressions of Protestant-Divines granting the Churches Prelacie as defining her Doctrines Or the General Councils of them to be unerrable in Necessaries § 32 when accepted by the Church Vniversal § 32. The Expressions of * Dr. Potter § 33. * Of Bishop Bramhall § 34. Where III. 3. Other expressions of Protestant-Divines granting the Churches Clergy as defining her doctrines Or the General Councils of them to be unerrable in necessaries But then only when universally accepted no considerable persons or at least Churches dissenting concerning what Judgment of the Church sufficiently obligeth her subjects in respect 1st of the Church-Catholick diffusive § 36. n. 1. 2ly of Councils General § 36. n. 3. 3ly of Councils Occidental § 36. n. 8. Where particularly of the Freedom of the Council of Trent § 36. n. 9. * Of Bishop Lawd § 37. Where concerning what acceptation of Councils by the Church-diffusive is only necessary § 38. * Of Dr. Field § 40. III. BUt thirdly several other Expressions may be found in some of them wherein they would seem to go further yet and to allow That the Church-Catholick taken in general or in her greatest Body of Clergy as she is a Canonical Guide and as she teacheth and defineth doctrines can never err in Necessaries or Fundamentals But whether all their expressions cohere one with another or whether their opinion when strongly assaulted will not retreat and resolve it self into the first or second already explained I conclude nothing § 33 For this see first that of Dr. Potter § 2. p. 28. Where he saith Expressions Of Dr. Potter The Church Catholick is confessed in some sence i. e. in Fundamentals as he explaineth it afterward § 5. p. 148 c. to be unerring and he is litle better than a Pagan that despiseth her judgment For she follows her Guides the Prophets and Apostles and is not very free and forward in her Definitions Here we hear of Definitions and Iudgment of the Church Catholick that are to be followed Therefore I infer that such judgment may be known So § 4. p. 97. The Catholick Church saith he is careful to ground all her Declarations in matters of Faith upon the Divine authority of Gods written Word and therefore whosoever wilfully opposeth a judgment so well grounded is justly esteemed an Heretick Then he addeth not properly because he disobeys the Church but because he yields not to Scripture sufficiently propounded or cleared unto him Where I do not see but that whoso believeth this in general as all ought that the Church Catholick alwaies groundeth her Declarations in matters of Faith on Divine Authority though every particular Declaration of hers is not cleared to him that it is so well grounded yet must needs wilfully and self-convicted oppose her judgment and so incur Heresie But however he is or is not an Heretick who dissents from such Decrees yet by the Doctor all those it seems are secured as for necessary Truth that do obey and adhere to them And § 5. p. 169. If in any thing saith he General Councils erre and mistake the Vniversal Church hath means of remedy either by antiquating those Errors with a general and tacit consent General Consent therefore such Decree of a General Council to tender it non-obligatory must be at least tacitly reversed by a major part of the Church Catholick else if any single Church's reversion serves the turn to annull the Obligation thereof no Churches are obliged to such Decrees further than they please Or by representing her self again in another General Council which may view and correct the Defects of the former Here are two ways of the Church Catholick's correcting the Errors of her Representative the Council 1. Either by generally not observing or practising their Decrees 2. Or by condemning them by another Representative therefore I gather where the Church Catholick neither by another general Council contradicts such assembly nor in her most general practice or Doctrines varies from its Decrees the definitions and judgment of such a General Council are admitted as the definitions and judgment of the Church Catholick Or else there is no way of knowing what or which are so Ib. After that p. 141. he hath spoken of the present Church-Catholick her being as a Candlestick to present and hold out the light to us and p. 143. of her being a witness and an Instrument for working Faith in us he p. 148 149 156. accords as he saith with some moderate Roman Writers That the
many matters occurred not in condemning the Lutheran opinions where all did agree with an exquisite Unity And see him p. 324 326. Concerning the Fathers unanimous Votes of the 2. and 6. Canons of the 13. Sess touching Transubstantiation and Adoration See p. 799. 803 their General Agreement and Consent touching Purgatory Invocation of Saints Veneration of Images p. 544 554 738. ' Touching the Masse its being a propitiatory sacrifice c. p. 324 325 519. touching the lawfulness and sufficiency of communicating only in one kind p. 348. Touching the necessity of Sacramental Confession for mortal sin p. 783 747 678 679. ' touching the lawfulness of the Vow of Continency an universal capacity of the Gift of Chastity and injunction of Priests Celibacy It were easie to add more The 3d that without such a testimony if any consider that the things defined §. 36. n. 10. of which here is question were most of them common practices then used by all these Prelates before they were assembled in Trent in their several Dioceses and so for many hundred years formerly and that the question in the Council to be decided was whether such practices lawful As for instance whether Communion only in one kind sufficient and lawful whether Adoration of Christs Body in the Eucharist as corporally present lawful whether offering the sacrifice of the Masse the Body and Blood of Christ corporally present for the living and the dead lawful whether a Relative-Veneration of Images Prayer to Saints Prayer for the dead as betterable thereby in their present condition before the day of Judgment be lawful I omit the speculative controversies concerning Justification Faith Works Merit Worke of supererogation Grace and Free-will Certainty of salvation Now by the Moderate as it were compounded and laid aside the Catholick-doctrine being of late better understood by the reformed Whether the three Monastick Vows as also the injunction of Celibacy to the Priest lawful whether Sacramental confession to the Priest by those falling into mortal sin after their regeneration not only lawful but necessary I say seeing that the question in the Council in opposition to the new Lutheran doctrines was whether these things lawful which were then and in many former Generations daily practised Protestants not denying it what need of force of new mandates from Rome of hiring Suffrages creating more titular Bishops Oaths of obedience to the Pope which is only of Canonical obedience ‖ See Bell. de Concil 1. l. 21. and this Oath administred at their Consecration without any relation to the Council to procure a prevalent Vote or that the Prelats should in the Council establish those things several of which are found in their Missals and Breviaries as the Sacrifice of the Masse Adoration of Christs Corporal Presence in the Eucharist Invocation of Saints Prayer for the dead in the sence above-named But yet if these Fathers of the Council decided these things in such a manner by compulsion how came the many more absent Fathers of the Western Churches and of France with the rest so freely and voluntarily to accept them But if it be said that though such things were generally believed and practised before yet now the Fathers by Art and violence were brought to advance them into matters of Faith I ask concerning many of these points what faith required save that they are lawful beneficial c which lawfulness all those that practised them before who were the most if not all must also believe before or else practised them against Conscience and which Lawfulness Protestants denying had by this fallen under the condemnation of this Council had it voted nothing more or besides it Lastly What former Council had there been in the Church though never so free that for the matters called in question and decided in it had not in like manner required Assent from the Church's Subjects to their Definitions The 4th That though the Protestant Bishops trespassing in some points of their Reformation §. 36. n. 11. against former free Occidental Councils of which see below § 50. n. 2. therefore either upon the account of Heresie or of Schism forfeiting their Right needed not to be admitted into this Council yet had they been received and that not only to plead their cause but also to a decisive Vote in the Council yet the small number of them some Protestant Churches also having no Bishops had been inconsiderable in respect of the rest and so the determination of things would still have gone the same way And indeed they were admitted to plead their Cause both by a safe Conduct granted and when they came no violence offered But I cannot say on the other side that no violence was offered to the Council and that within three weeks after their coming by the very Princes that sent them who on a sudden appeared in Arms against the Emperor and by their near approach dispersed this Assembly at Trent after they had secretly withdrawn from thence their Divines But had their coming been serious and their stay longer what could they have said here that they had not formerly written and that the Council in these Writings had not perused Or by what Arts could they have disswaded as they desired ‖ Soave p. 642. this Venerable Assembly from taking for their Rule and Guides in the Exposition of Scriptures the Apostolical Traditions former Councils and Fathers by which they were cast Further Suppose all things had been regulated in this Council not by Personal Consent but by the Equal Votes of the Western Nations though this is contrary to the usual manner and never practised save only in two late Councils after Anno Dom. 1400. Constance and Basil and liable to many Inconveniences of which see Considerations on the Council of Trent § 72. yet if these Votes were truly adjusted and proportioned according to the several Magnitude of the Countries and the Multitude of the Bishops in them the Protestants also would by this way have been as much over-numbred and over-born which they well saw and therefore never motioned it ‖ But motioned this That after their party first allowed with the rest a decisive Vote Soave p. 642. yet the Decisions in the Council should not be made by plurality of voices but that the more sound Opinions should be preferred i. e. those Opinions that were regulated by the Word of God they are Soave's words ‖ Ibid. not mine And motioned yet a second thing ‖ Soave Ibid That if a Concord in Religion could not be concluded in the Council then the Conditions of Passau and Ausburge might remain inviolable Now these were a Toleration of all Sects that every one might follow what Religion pleased him best See Soave 378 393. And after this motioned a third ‖ See Soave p. 369. That the body of the whole Western Clergy being now divided into Plaintiffes the Protestant Clergy and Defendants the Catholick Clergy and it not
Church-Governours in it whose judgments can be had to be sufficient though some lesser party continue to contradict I think several Controversies that are yet agitated will appear formerly decided and the Church's Peace not so difficult to be setled For in the Church Catholick within this last thousand years have been assembled many Councils so General as the times permitted and as the Callers thereof could procure and these her Councils have made many Definitions contrary to the Protestant Doctrines and yet she hath not hitherto though importuned by several pretending Demonstrators of the contrary to these Definitions assembled her self in any other Synod equal to the former to recall such Councils or their acts such a tacit admission being all that the Archbishop requires ‖ See before §. 327. Nay when later Councils have been called from time to time yet in these she hath altered nothing concerning those Definitions in the former Nay a much major part at least of the Church Catholick have also out of Councils in their publick VVritings Doctrines and Practises not only not contradicted but owned the Legality of these Councils and the truth of their Decrees Now may we not hence conclude that the whole Church Catholick I mean whose judgment we can procure hath in such a sence as is necessary admitted and accepted them And that nothing hath been or is brought in that she takes for a demonstration to the contrary to what she hath defined And here may we not conclude that according to the Archbishop's sence these fore-past and so long unquestioned Councils are to be esteemed infallible Or if this we may not presume what hopes have we left of ever knowing the Church Catholick's mind her acceptation or non-acceptation of any thing or of enjoying at all as to Necessaries this her infallible Guidance promised us by Protestants in stead of that of her Council's VVe have waited now above 400 years since the Conciliar determination of Transubstantiation no Council equal to those which passed it hath been assembled by the Church Catholick to retract it I ask Hath not the Church then already sufficiently accepted it though some in some times have offered to her their seeming demonstrations against it In the expectation of new domonstrations of a new Assembly such as shall be called by the whole Church Catholick and not by the Pope and of a Council more full and compleat than any former for a thousand years have been wherein the Cophtites Melahites Armenians Abyssines Russians c are to have a part I ask what shall poor Christians do for a Guide that may secure them at least in Fundamentals If first The most supream Guides that they have and have had and such acceptation of their Acts as hath been may not be securely relied on and then such an infallible Guide as is promised them instead thereof can never be had Unless these Divines also will here retreat and make use of the Answer that is mentioned before § 8. viz. that nothing at all that is or can come into controversie is necessary to be decided § 39 But If the past Councils need an acceptation of the whole Catholick Church to render them infallible more than the acceptation that is fore-mentioned what must it be 1st Must it be that of another Council assembled by the Church For such thing the Archbishop mentions But how shall we know again of this Council whether the Church Catholick sufficiently accepts it And what if it accepts this no more amply than the former Or are there any such new Evidences or Demonstrations now discoverable in matter of Faith that are not as liable to be mistaken in one Council as in another in a later as in a former If you say Yes Because a Demonstration in the Archbishop's sence ‖ is such as being proposed to any man and understood the mind cannot chuse but inwardly assent unto it I answer Such a Definition suits not with Theological but Mathematical Demonstrations such as this that twice two makes four for what or how few Theological Truths are they that all in their right wits and understanding the Terms immediatly assent to when proposed Or what Judge in these matters can promise such Evidence as that none having the use of Reason shall deny his Sentence Lastly As to one Council's accepting of another where can we stay if we may not in the first For will not this second Council be rendred as uncertain to us for it's Definitions and as liable to Appeals upon other new Evidences and Demonstrations pretended against it as the former was For when in it's Definition against these false ones that are already examined it corroborates the former yet this hinders not but that some other Evidences may be produced against it and against the same Definition that may be true Or 2ly Must it be such an acceptation of the whole Catholick Church out of Council that no person or at least Church contradicts such former Council This also is unreasonable For some not only Persons but Churches and these very considerable I mean in comparison of some other Churches though not in respect of the main Body of the Catholick Profession may stand condemned of Heresie and Schism by some former Council and therefore do become uncapable of any right now either of Voting in or accepting of a future Council I mean in such a manner as that their Vote and acceptation are any way necessary to the validity thereof Or such Persons or Churches if not condemned of former Heresie yet may be by the much greater and more considerable part of the present Council for some new Doctrine of theirs against the former traditive Faith of the Church either suspended from sitting and voting with them or admitted to vote as in a thing perhaps not so clear in former tradition yet when they are in the number of Suffrages much inferior in this case neither their contrary Vote in the Council nor their non-acceptation of it afterward are of any effect as to the annulling of the Acts of such Councils Otherwise no new Tenent can be condemned by the Church if those who hold it being a considerable number will not concur to vote or to accept the condemnation thereof Some Arrian Bishops never accepted the Council of Nice nor now the Socinians Unless therefore the former acceptation of the Church Catholick though perhaps deficient in some persons or also Churches may suffice to render or declare the judgment of that Council infallible who can be assured but that this Nicen Council erred in a point Fundamental if the Deity of our Saviour may be thought such The Church Catholick's acknowledged Infallibility in Fundamentals and her acceptation of Councils may not be obstructed with such unactuable Circumstances as that these can never in any particular come to be known This for the Archbishop § 40 Again thus Dr. Field ‖ l. 4. c. 2. concerning the present Catholick Church in any one Age As
we hold it impossible the Church should ever by Apostacy Of Dr. Field and miss-belief wholly depart from God in proving whereof Bellarmine confesseth his Fellows have taken much needless pains seeing no man of our profession thinketh any such thing Bellarmin's words are Notandum multos ex nostris tempus terere dum probant absolutè Ecclesiam non posse deficere Nam Calvinus caeteri Haeretici id concedunt sed dicunt intelligi debere de Ecclesiâ invisibili So we hold that it never falleth into any Heresie So that he is as much to be blamed for idle and needless busying himself in proving that the visible Church never falleth into Heresie which we most willingly grant Bellarmin's words are Probare igitur volumus Ecclesiam visibilem non posse deficere nomine Ecclesiae non intelligimus unum aut alterum hominem Christianum sed multitudinem congregatam in quâ sunt Praelati Subditi urging also afterward out of Eph. 4.11 the Ministries of Pastors Doctors c. never to fail in the Church quae Ministeria saith he non possunt exerceri nisi se Pastores Oves agnoscant From all which I collect that of such a visible Church-Government consisting of Prelates and Subjects it must be that Dr. Field affirms Ibid. That in things necessary to be known and believed expresly and distinctly it can never be ignorant much less err nor never fall into any Heresie As also afterward c. 4. In all Ages he acknowledgeth a Church that not as a Chest preserves only the Truth as a hidden Treasure but as a Pillar by publick Profession notwithstanding all Forces endeavouring to shake it publisheth it to the world and stayeth the weakness of others c. CHAP. VI. IV. Learned Protestants conceding the former Church's Clergy preceding the Reformation never so to have erred in defining Necessaries as that the Church governed by them did not remain still True Holy and Catholick § 41. § 41 IV. SUitably to their Concessions set down in the last Chapter these Learned Protestants do not assume the confidence to pronounce IV. 4. Learned Protestants conceding the former Churches Clergy preceding the Reformation never to have so erred in defining Necessaries as that the Church governed by them did not still remain True Holy Catholick The joint Body of the Governors of any precedent Age of the Church how corrupt soever they have been in their Conciliary Definitions to have erred or to have misled the people in Necessaries Essentials or Fundamentals of Religion whether in respect of Faith or Holiness notwithstanding that they have placed in these very times the Reign of Antichrist Whence it may be presumed that the Church shall not see nor suffer hereafter worse times than those past And that all these Governors in any succeeding Age shall not miss-guide the people in Necessaries or Fundamentals whom in the times of Antichrist they have not misled so Therefore Bishop Bramhall ‖ Vindic. 2 c. p. 8. Reply to Chalcedon p. 345. holds the present Roman a true part of the present Church Catholick and frequently affirms the Reformed as to Essentitials in Faith not to have separated from it And Dr. Potter speaks thus of the present Roman Church ‖ §. 3. p. 63. The most necessary and Fundamental Truths which constitute a Church are on both sides unquestioned and for that reason learned Protestants yield them the Roman the Naeme and Substance of a true Church Dr. Field also ‖ Des 3. pt p. 880. thus apologizeth for this Tenent at least for the times before Luther Because some men perhaps will think that we yield more unto our Adversaries now than formerly we did in that we acknowledge the Latine or Western Churches subject to Romish Tyranny before God raised up Luther to have been the true Churches of God in which a saving Profession of the Truth of Christ was found I will 1st shew that all our best and most renowned Divines did ever acknowledge as much as I have written And so he proceeds to urge several Authorities to confirm it And thus Mr. Thorndike ‖ Epilog Conclusion p. 416. saith Though I sincerely blame the imposing new Articles upon the Faith of Christians and that of Positions § 42 which I maintain not to be true yet I must and do freely profess that I find no position necessary to salvation prohibited none destructive to salvation enjoined to be believed by it the Roman Church And therefore I must necessarily accept it for a true Church as in the Church of England I have always known it accepted seeing there can no question be made that it continueth the same visible Body by the succession of Pastors and Laws that first were founded by the Apostles the present Customes that are in force being visibly the corruptions of those Customs which the Church had from the beginning I suppose he means being the same Customs which the Church had from the beginning though in some manner corrupted For the Idolatries which I grant to be possible though not necessary to be found in it by the Ignorance and carnal Affections of Particulars not by command of the Church or the Laws of it I do not admit to destroy the salvation of those who living in the Communion of this Church are not guilty of the like There remaines therefore in the present Church of Rome the Profession of all the Truth which it is necessary to the Salvation of all Christians to believe either in point of Faith or Manners So he saith concerning Prayer to Saints That those who admit the Church of Rome to commit Idolatry therein can by no means grant it to be a Church the very being whereof supposeth the Worship of one God exclusive to any thing else And l. 3. c. 23 Concerning Communion in one kind he saith That they in the Church of Rome who thirst after the Eucharist in both kinds do receive the whole Grace of this Sacrament in the one kind is necessary to be believed by all who believe that the Church of Rome remains a Church though corrupt and that Salvation is to be had in it and by it 2. Again For the Essentials or Necessary Doctrines in order to Holiness these learned Protestants grant § 43 that Holy is an Attribute unseparable from Catholick Credo Sanctam Catholicam Ecclesiam And that the Church cannot be the one unless it be the other and as in the whole so in the parts that no particular Church is a part of the Catholick that hath not the Holiness of the Catholick Of which thus the Archbishop ‖ p. 14◠If we will keep our Faith the whole Militant Church must be still Holy For if it be not so still then there may be a time that a falshood may be the Subject of the Catholick Faith which were no less than Blasphemy to affirm For we must still believe the Holy Catholick Church And if she be not still Holy
then at the time that she is not so we believe a falshood under the Article of the Christian Faith Of this more needs not be said § 44 3. Again If under such Governors the visible Church preceding the Reformation is allowed to have been Catholick and Holy from these it must needs be granted also not to have been Heretical or Schismatical Which Churches Protestants contra-distinguish to the Catholick Church and all the Members of it and in which Churches dividing from the Vnity of the Catholick no salvation can be had by those who if either knowing or culpably ignorant of these sins of such a Church do not actually desert such a Communion For this likewise see the Quotations out of the Archbishop before § 367. and out of Dr. Field before § 40. Bellarmine saith he is to be blamed for idle and needless busying himself in proving that the visible Church never falleth into Heresie which we most willingly grant And l. 1. c. 7. he saith That the name of Catholick Church distinguisheth men holding the Faith in Unity from Schismaticks whom as also Hereticks though he there affirms to be in some sort of the Church taken more generally as it distinguisheth men of the Christian Profession from Infidels yet not of the Church Catholick or fully and perfectly of the Church with hope of Salvation ‖ l. 1. c. 14. p. 21 c. 7 p. 13. The Common Prayers also used both in the Roman and Protestant Churches on Good Friday shew the same Oremus saith the one pro Haereticis Schismaticis ut Deus eos ad Sanctam Matrem Ecclesiam Catholicam atque Apostolicam revocare dignetur Have Mercy Lord saith the other upon all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks and so fetch them home to thy Flock that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites and be made one Fold under one Shepherd But in the trans-ferring these Good Friday Collects out of the former Missal into their new Common-Prayer-Book 't is observable that though the Reformed retained Hereticks yet they omitted Schismaticks and 2 ly changed the former Expression of revoca ad Sanctam Matrem Ecclesiam Catholicam Apostolicam into Fetch home to thy Flock c. As if the mention of our Holy Mother the Catholick Apostolick Church might occasion in the people some Mistakes See also Bishop Bramhal's Vindication of the Church of England c. 2. p. 9 27 28 before § 34. And thus Mr. Thorndike in his Letter concerning the present state of Religion ‖ 208. ' When we say we believe the Catholick Church as part of that faith whereby we hope to be saved we do not profess to believe that there is such a company of men as professing Christianity but that there is a Corporation of true Christians excluding Hereticks and Schismaticks and that we hope to be saved by this faith as being members of it of that Corporation And this is that which the stile of the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church signifies as distinguishing the Body of true Christians to wit so far as Profession goes from the Conventicles of Hereticks and Schismaticks For this title of Catholick would signifie nothing if Hereticks and Schismaticks were not barred the Communion of the Church Thus he § 45 In the former passages you may observe that the Authors fore-quoted speak not of some or other in the Church before Luther to have bin Catholick and consequently holy c. but of the visible Church consisting of the ruling Clergy and the subject and conforming Laity according to the publick doctrines and Definitions thereof as these being not deficient in the Essentials of the Church Catholick either as to Faith or Holiness for such a Church Catholick they believe always to be whose doctrine and definitions discipline and external visible profession maintained by the Governors thereof is Catholick And if in any other sense we call it a Catholick-Church when we hold its Governours and Doctrines mean-while Heretical and Schismatical viz. by reason of some that may be found herein Catholickly perswaded we may as well call that an heretical Church the Doctrines and Doctors of which are Catholick if perhaps some only in it be heretically affected To go on Therefore Dr. Field proceeds also so far as to own the Western Church that was before Luther § 46 for the Protestants true Mother for indeed where could he find at that time a Church any whit better to call Mother and to confesse ‖ l. 3. c. 6. ' That she continued the true Church of God until our time And To those saith he that demand of us where our Church was before Luther began We answer it was the known and apparent Church in the world wherein all our Fathers lived and died wherein Luther and the rest were baptized and ‖ 3 Part p. 880. wherein a saving profession of the truth in Christ was found In order to which he so far justifies the publick service also of those dayes which our Fathers frequented even the Canon of the Mass it self as to say ‖ Append. 3 l. p. 224. ' That the using therof no other was used in those days than is now is no proof that the Church that then was was not a Protestant Church and that both the Liturgie it self and the profession of such as used it shew plainly that the Church that then was never allowed any Romish errour And again so far justifies he the doctrine of that Church which he owns as Catholick and the Protestants Mother as to affirm ‖ 3 l. p. 81. That none of those points of false doctrine and errour which the Roman Church now maintaineth and the Protestants condemn were the doctrines of that Church before Luther constantly delivered He must mean constantly for the present Age before Luther for in that Age he acknowledgeth it Catholick or generally received by all them that were of it but doubtfully broached and devised without all certain resolution or factiously defended by some certain only c. It seems therefore that look how many Doctrines of those now condemned by Protestants may appear to have bin in the Church §. 47. n. 1. I say not here the Catholick but the Latin Church for of this he speaks before Luther not doubtfully broached but in her Councils resolved in her publick Liturgies conformed to and generally received Generally not as including every single person for so perhaps were not the doctrine of the Trinity or of Christs Incarnation received but so generally received by the then Western Church-Governors as is necessary for the ratification of the Decrees of their Representatives met in Councils for more than this cannot rationally be required so many he will acknowledge for Catholick and in obedience thereto shew a filial Duty to this his Mother And therefore after this to defend the discession of the Reformed from and their present non-communion with the present Western Church he seeks to relieve
himself in saying ‖ Apol. 3 par p. 880. Append 3 l. p. 187 224. That this Roman Church is not the same now as it was when Luther began Nor the external face of Religion then the now professed Roman Religion And further ‖ p. 880. That the errors of the present Roman Church are Fundamental Where it is observable 1st That the discession of Protestants in Luthers time or of Luther himself from that Church which was not the same as he saith then as now nor the Errors which Protestants now condemn then the doctrines of it but of a faction in it remains by this still culpable For none may desert the Communion of a Church because of the corrupt doctrines or practices of a faction in it But if he make the Clergy and Ecclesiastical Governours of such Church imposing such doctrines and requiring unjust conditions of their Communion to be that Faction then the Doctrins and the Faction to be charged on the very Church it self and not on a party in it as a Church all the ruling Clergy of which holds and imposeth Arrianism is rightly stiled an Arrian Church if any can be so But this expression Dr. Field saw he had reason to forbear §. 47. n. 2. And therefore Bishop Bramhall ‖ Reply to Chalced. p. 263. thought fit to take another course and for the defence of the lawfulness of this first discession of Protestants which discession the Bishop of Chalcedon urged to have preceded those grievances and impediments of Communion that Protestants of later times chiefly complain of namely the many new Definitions and Anathema's of the Council of Trent and new Articles and Creeds of Pius the fourth seems to make a contrary plea to Dr. Field For those very points saith he which Pius the fourth comprehended in a new Symbol or Creed were obtruded upon us before by his Predecessors and therefore before the ratification or obliging authority of the Council of Trent as necessary Articles of the Roman Faith and required as necessary Articles of their Communion so as we must either receive these or utterly lose them This is the only difference that Pius the fourth dealt in gross his Predecessors by retail They fashioned the several rods and he bound them up into a bundle But if the Bishop understands this of the Council of Trent that sate under the Predecessors of Pius the Query still remains concerning the lawful Grounds of the first Protestant discession from the former Church which discession precedes the beginning of that Council above twenty years §. 47. n. 3. 2 ly It is observable that the discession made since from the former publick service of the Church and the Canon of the Masse affirmed by Dr. Field to contain in it no Romish Errors must be also culpable in which nothing since Luthers time hath been altered 3ly That the present Church of Rome in being said by him since that time to err in Fundamentals is hereby ceased to be any part of the Church Catholick and further no salvation to be had in her at all even to the invincibly ignorant if Dr. Field holds no truth to be fundamental to salvation but such without which salvation cannot possibly be had Concerning which see what he saith 3 l. 4 c. p. 79. CHAP. VII V. That according to the former Concession made in the precedent Chapter § 41. there seems to be * a great security to those continuing in the ancient Communion § 48. As to avoiding Heresie or Schism Ib. As to other grosser Errors § 51. And * danger to those deserting it § 54. Where is drawn up in brief the Protestant's Defence for such Discession § 55. n. 1. And the Catholick's Remonstrance § 55. n. 9. § 48 Now to reflect on the former Discourse as to the two Principal Concessions made by Protestants therein The 1st Their conceding the Catholickness The security that hence seems to be to those continuing in the ancient Communion and Indeficiency of the former Western Church as to all Necessaries before and at the coming of Luther ‖ §. 41 c. The 2d. Their conceding the general Councils of the Church in any age to be unerrable in Necessaries when they are universally accepted by the Church Catholick diffusive ‖ §. 32 c. From the first of these the Catholickness of the Roman Church before Luther in Necessaries As to Heresie or Schism being granted methinks appears a great secnrity for their salvation as to their Faith who are not deficient in a holy life to all those who persevere to live and die in the external Communion of the present Roman and other Western Churches unreformed and then the like hazard to those who relinquish that Communion For 1st I think it is clear that none who lived and died in the Faith I mean that declared in her Councils and in the Communion of the Western or Roman Church that was before Luther's Appearance could endanger his Salvation upon the account of his incurring either Heresie or Schism because then the Western or Roman Church before Luther must be held Heretical or Schismatical and so non-Catholick for these two Heretical and Catholick are contra-distinct See the Archbishop § 21. n. 5. p. 141. and what is said before § 44. And then seeing there was an Holy Catholick Church some where or other in that immediately before Luther as in every Age which and where was it The Eastern Churches using much-what the same publick Liturgy and being guilty of as gross Errors and Practises and also they excluding Non-Conformists from their Communion § 49 Add to this Mr. Stillingfleet's Position ‖ Rat. account p. 58. That if we enquire what was positively believed as necessary to Salvation by the Catholick Church we shall hardly find any better way than by the Articles of the ancient Creeds and the universal opposition of any new Doctrine on its first appearing and the condemning the Broachers of it for Heresie in Oecumenical Councils with the continual disapprobation of those Doctrines by the Christian Churches of all Ages As is clear in the Cases of Arrius and Pelagius For it seems very reasonable saith he to judge that since the necessary Articles of Faith were all delivered by the Apostles to the Catholick Church since the foundation of that Church lies in the belief of those things which are necessary that nothing should be delivered contrary to any necessary Article of Faith but the Church by some evident Act must declare its dislike of it and its resolution thereby to adhere to that necessary Doctrine which was once delivered to the Saints Thus he From which thought so reasonable is gathered the security in adhering to those Tenents received in the Church before Luther which Protestants now oppose as being not contrary to any necessary Article of Faith delivered by the Apostles to the Catholick Church because Protestants cannot shew to repeat here the former words the
Broachers of these Tenents suppose of a Substantial Conversion in the Eucharist Saint-Invocation Veneration of Images a Purgatory of Souls after this life Monastick Vows Sacrifice of the Mass c. condemned for Heresie in Oecumenical Councils or a continual disapprobation of those Doctrines by the Christian Churches of all ages as is clear in the cases of Arrius and Pelagius or the Church by any evident Act declaring her dislike of them as may on the other side be shewed many evident Acts of her Approbation of them And 2ly If no danger of perishing for Heresie or Schisme to those living and dying in this Communion before §. 50. n. 1. then neither to any since Luther's times For if since these times this Communion be become Heretical or Schismatical I demand in respect of what Council or what Definitions made since Luther's days which it opposeth is it becom Heretical or in respect of what Church in deserting or departing from its Communion Schismatical Or in the Protestant's Notions of Heresie and Schism in respect of what new Tenent or Practise against some Fundamental point of Faith since Luther's time is it become Heretical when guilty of none such before And in its requiring of Conformity to what new points of Faith since Luther's time is it become Schismatical so that one that could lawfully yield obedience to all those required before Luther's appearance yet cannot to all the present or so that the Church before Luther might lawfully require without hazard of Schism Conformity to its whole Faith then and not so the present Church to the whole present Faith For I hope none here will have the face to deny Conformity required by the Western Churches before Luther's coming to many of the chiefest of those points wherein Protestants now refuse it See those mentioned Disc 3. § 26. And you may observe §. 50. n. 2. that the most or chiefest of the Protestant Controversies defined or made de fide in the Council of Trent were made so By former Councils of equal obligation or also were contained in the publick Liturgies of the Church Catholick As The Lawfulness of Communion in one kind declared in the Council of Constance Canon of Scripture Purgatory seven Sacraments the Pope's Supremacy in the Council of Florence Auricular Confession Transubstantiation in the Council of Florence the Lateran and five others before it wherein Berengarius his Doctrines were condemned Veneration of Images in the 2d Nicene Council Monastick Vows and Celibacy of the Clergy sufficiently authorized in the four first General Councils And to these I may add the Council of Frankfort if the Capitulare Caroli which indeed was written before may be taken to deliver the sence of the Council * For Adoration of Christ's Body and Bloud in the Eucharist the Council applying the Psalmist's Adorate Scabellum thereto as it is expounded by S. Ambrose * Ibid. 4.15 l. 3. c. 24 and S. Austin ‖ De Spiritu Sancto l. 3. c. 12. And for Veneration of the Cross ‖ Capitulare l. 2. c. 5. c. 27. l. 4. c. 17 and of Relicks ‖ Only the Adoration of Images allowed by the second Nicene Council indeed is condemned but this upon a Mistake of the Doctrine of that Council as is confessed by Dr. Hammond Treatise of Idolatry § 57. And by Mr Thorndâ—ke Epil l. 3. p. 363. And as any one may easily discern if he will view in the Preface of this Capitulare what opinion was imputed by the Fathers of Franckfort to those of Nice Besides these Councils Invocation of Saints Prayers for the Dead Sacrifice of the Masse and several other are apparent in the Publick Liturgies of the Church â—naltered Protestants being Judges for many ages preceding the Council of Trent Now the Church obligeth her Subjects to believe all those things lawful which in her Liturgies she obligeth them to practice And why was there made a departure from the Church for these points before the Council of Trent if the Church before had not made them de fide or required Obedience and Conformity to them or if the Council of Trent or Pius the Fourth were first faulty herein ‖ See Bishop Bramhal's Concession before §. 47. Suppose then a belief of some more Points is since added yet I ask will the decreeing or imposing of these infer upon the present Church the guilt of Schism and not the like decreeing or imposing the former infer the same guilt upon the former Church that preceding Luther Now from this Identity in Faith and practice in the present Church with that preceding Luther excepting if our Gratitude may be allowed to speak the truth that the Council held since Luther's time hath reformed several practises in some persons of it which were before justly blamed it seems clear that whoso is a member of the present Western or Roman Church is secure that he is a Member of the Church Catholick For it is impossible that the Church which is the same with what was the Church Catholick 150 years ago should meerly by the difference and decurrence of time become non-Catholick Now if this be denied that the present Roman Church is the fame for it's Doctrines and Practices with that Church which was at Luther's appearing let the issue of the Contention be placed here and let search only be made concerning this Not to ask mean-while why Luther reformed then why exclaimed so vehemently on the Babylonish Captivity and sounded an Exite de illâ Populus meus if the Deformation of this Church it 's non-holinesse it 's non-Catholicknesse is since the Council of Trent and so not till after his time 3ly As I think here is shewed no danger of perishing in the present external Communion of these Churches upon the account of Heresie or Schism ‖ §. 51. so neither is there As to other gross Errors on the account of any grosse or grievous Errors For 1st How are they grievous Errors that are not against any necassary Point of Faith But if they be such with Protestants are Heresies For Example to name some chief ones How are Adoration of the Eucharist or Invocation of Saints grievous Errors if also they be not against any necessary point of Faith viz. this That Divine Worship and Divine Supplication which they say is presented to Saints may be given only to God But them they are Heresies Or what so grievous Error in the present Communion that was not it or as bad in the same Communion before Luther's time When yet Christians in this Communion were secure because it was then the Catholick and the Catholick being always Holy may err indeed in superstructions and deductions and other by and unnecessary Truths from curiosity c. but cannot err from the Foundation saith the Archbishop I add ‖ §. 21. p. 141. as of Faith so also of Good Manners These Errors then which are now charged to render the Church of Rome guilty of
a manifold Idolatry in her worshipping the Eucharistical Bread the Relicks and Images of Saints and making Prayers to them were they not the same in the Church before Luther and the same their effect Or if the same Errors then light are now become grievous Upon what account Is it upon a more evident Conviction Christians may have now than heretofore that such are Errors But what ground can we have to say that they now culpably and convincibly err in these who no more than those before Luther can be accused for holding any Errors save such as are the Publick Faith of the Church now authorized as much as that before Luther and who to preserve themselves from erring make use of the securest way that Reason can imagine or that Christians are prescribed whilst for the sence of the Scriptures controverted in such Points they chuse not to rely on their own judgment but on that of the supremest Guides of the Church and Judges of divine Truth that are afforded them here on earth and so if they err yet take the wisest course to miss erring that Religion or Reason can dictate To which Guides also all the Subjects of this former Communion believe submission of their private judgment to be due and to be commanded which is a very plausible one if an Error From whence also it follows that till they are convinced of Error in this one Point of Submission not to be due they are not capable of being convinced in any other where it is required Nay yet further to the Obedience of which Guides at least for silence and non-contradiction they are obliged even by the Doctrine of Learned Protestants ‖ See Disc 3. § 44. where-ever they cannot demonstrate the contrary which demonstration is a degree of Conviction surely very few can pretend to § 52 1. It is said indeed by Protestants ‖ Stillingf P. 330. Archbishop Lawd § 21. n. 5. That all Particular Churches or the whole Catholick Church in some age or ages may universally hold some Tenent that is an Error but then granted by them That any such universally held Error can never destroy the Essence or Being of the Church Catholick or render it non Catholick because thus in such age the Church Catholick would fail Now from this I collect my security ni holding any Tenents though they should happen to be Errors which were universally held in the Church before Luther that as they destroy not the Church it's being still Catholick so neither do they expell me from still continuing in the bosom of the Church Catholick And hence for example I am secured that I am no Idolater if not swerving from the Church's Doctrines because the Church whilst Catholick as she is affirmed to be is not such But in joining with a Church that pretending to reform holds the contradictories of these former universal Tenents I am not here secure but that some of these Tenents may be such Errors as exclude this new Church from being a part of the Catholick and me if adhering to it from being a Member thereof as the maintaining by the Arrians and others of some Tenents contrary to the universal Doctrines of the former Church hath separated them from the Church Catholick I say for any Tenent I can shew to have been spread over the whole Catholick Church at Luther's appearance I am secured by Protestants that in holding this I am free from Heresie or being rendred thereby extra-Catholick But then I am not so in my entring into a new Society that contradicts this Church and such Tenents except in such Points of the truth of which I am infallibly certain 2. Again it is affirmed by Protestants ‖ That a Separation may be made without Schism § 52 from the external communion of all particular Churches some of which or all which I say See Stillingf p. 331. Chillingw c. 5. §. 52 55 56 59. must be the Catholick of some age for some Points if held and imposed by them viz. Those Points wherein the Essence and Union of the Church Catholick consisteth not because in such the Church Catholick may err but cannot without Schism for other Points viz. such as constitute the necessary Faith of the Church Catholick wherein she erreth not for so she would cease to be Catholick Now from hence also I gather that I continuing in the external communion of all those particular Churches can never be non-Catholick or guilty in concurring in any Schism for my holding and conforming to any of the Church's universal Tenents because none such can destroy the Church from being Catholick still ‖ But in my separation from all these Churches imposing such Tenents I am not secure because some of these Tenents as Protestants grant may possibly be such as are some part of the necessary Catholick Faith and so my separation if made on such account is Schism § 54 This security then they seem to enjoy who live and die in the Communion of the unreformed And danger to those deserting it Western or Roman Church before or since Luthers times they being acquitted thereby from Heresie and Schism or any other error damnative to them who therein follow their spiritual Guides not against Conscience But the like I see not how any may promise to himself in living and dying in a new-raised Communion and in deserting the former especially if deserting it for any former general doctrines and practises thereof which if not enjoin'd he here left to his free liberty hath no reason for these to withdraw himself from the Communion of the whole but if enjoyned ought in these to submit to the judgment of the whole especially so many as cannot demonstrate against it ‖ See 2 Disc §. 20. to submit at least so far as if not to assent yet not to contradict All which are transgressed in following the Reformation where such a person for the sence of the Scriptures controverted and for his denying conformity to the doctrines delivered by the Church as matter of Faith either relies on his own judgment or in submitting to a Guide follows inferior against Superior Governors or Synods or a Minor against a much major part Lastly follows those who have refused conformity to the external Communion even to the Liturgies and publick service of the whole former Catholick Church whether Eastern or Western and have set up a new one against them of their own which are all manifest breaches of the unity of the whole I say I see no security any can have in such a new Communion excepting that which invincible ignorance affords which in such an apparent decession from former Churches and Councils God knows how few especially of the Learned that peruse the Writings of former times it may shelter The most moderate §. 55. n. 1. and plausible defence which Protestants or to speak more particularly which the Church of England makes for her discession Where A brief Relation of the
Protestants defence and reformation is this 1st That they have a most certain Rule of their Faith common to them with the rest of the Church Catholick the Holy Scriptures and besides these a summary thereof drawn up in the Apostles Creed and explicated by the first three Ages i. e. the writings we have thereof and the first four-General Councils And that in the sincere belief of this primitive Rule they rest secure of believing all that is necessary for salvation and likewise of their retaining a firm-Communion as to the essentials of Faith with the whole Catholick Church and even with that of Rome 2ly That the Roman Church is acknowledged by them a Catholick but not the whole Catholick Church one part only of the Catholick Church as also the Church of England is another 3ly That this Roman or any other part of the Church Catholick may err whilst it still remains a part of the Catholick in non-fundamentals or non-essentials and necessaries 4 ly That this part did err in such non-fundamentals and that grievously and that the Protestants or Church of England discovered these to be such grievous errors by the light of Scripture and testimony of Antiquity 5 ly That this Roman Church added this also to her erring that she exercised an unlawful dominion or jurisdiction over the Church of England and required an assent from this Church to such her grievous errors upon pain of losing her Communion 6 ly That the Church of England refused such assent to what by clear Scripture she had discovered to be Errors as in conscience she was bound though these had bin never so small ones nay though some of them were no Errors yet if she were perswaded they were so how much more when so great 7 ly Proceeded after mature consideration to reform these Errors but in her self only not imposing them upon or condemning by reason of them any other Church for non-Catholick 8 ly Whereas this her defence proceeds upon supposing the Romane Church that she left a part only and not the whole Catholick Church yet that were it supposed to have bin the whole or their departure to have bin from the whole also as well as from it that the whole though granted in Fundamentals infallible yet may err in non-fundamentals or non-essentially necessaries and that grievously and consequently if it should require assent from its members to such points in which it is fallible that they ought not to assent thereto nor to conceal if of consequence when they any way discover such Error nay further also that if the General Church neglect it they may and ought for themselves to reform such Error But this Plea seems easily overthrown §. 55. n. 2. in many of its particulars by this following Remonstrance made by the other side And of the Catholicks Remonstrance 1 To the first It is replied 1 That there is a faith of Agends or Practicals concerning what is lawful and unlawful and what is our duty to do or forbear as well as of speculative credends which faith is necessary and fundamental for attaining salvation and in which practical points also may be and have bin Heresies and Schisms I say the faith of them necessary because the practice of them is so which must be grounded on this faith that they are lawful or ought to be practised 2 That these points are of a much larger extent then the speculatives and that of these we have no Collection or Summary drawn up by the Apostles as we have of the other 3 That as these Protestants say they do not for the speculative Credends rely barely on the words of the Apostles Creed or any private sence of Scriptures but profess to believe them according to the Explications made of them by the Church in her first four General Councils and do place the security of their Faith in them not on their own judgment but on their conformity to the judgment of these Councils so it is all reason that for the practicalls also they should rely on the Scriptures only so as they are explicated by the Church in her General Councils 4 That for both these speculatives or practicals as they do or ought to rely on the Explications of the first four General Councils so * that they cannot rationally confine their submissions to these alone but do owe it also to any Councils of the Church following in any age whatsoever provided that these be of equal authority To which later Councils new Heresies may give like occasion of further explicating the Articles of our Faith either in speculatives or practicals as new Heresies did after three ot four hundred years time to the Explications made by those first Councils and * that for the speculative Articles of the Apostles Creed particularly that of the Procession of the Holy Ghost à filio the Protestants have submitted to the Explications of Councils after the four first and these too Western Councils only when the Greek Churches refused to consent to them and that as the Greeks say upon not a verbal but real diversity in their faith concerning this procession yet it seems the Protestants here preferr'd and thought fit to adhere rather to the authority of the Western Churches From all which it follows that if the Protestants dissent from the Explications of such Councils held in any Age in either of these speculative or practical Articles of their faith that are necessary of which necessity it is fit also the Council not they should judge they cannot be secure of their retaining all necessary faith so as no way to have fallen from it into Heresie or Schism no more then they will acknowledge Arrians and Socinians secure in their belief of the Apostles Creed when departing from the Explications of the four first Councils And thus is the Protestants security of their faith if any way built or dependent on the first Councils so also devolved on the perpetual conformity to the Decrees of other lawful General Councils of what Ages soever in all their Definitions Again 6 since Schismaticks I mean those that are so in respect of their spiritual Superiours by whom in a line of subordination they are joyned to the Head as well as Hereticks are no members of the Catholick Church and since all Schism doth not necessarily spring from some difference in the essentials of Religion but may arise upon smaller matters and occasions ‖ See Bishop Bramhall Reply to Chalced p. 8. Dr. Field l. 1. c. 13. l. 2. c. 2. Dr Hammond Schism 3 c. 3. and §. 9. §. 55. n. 3. any wherein obedience is due and the lesser the occasion of it the more criminal many times the Schism therefore there is no security to Protestants in this first Branch of their Defence that becaus they agree with the whole Catholick Church in the Essentials of faith hence they do still remain in its Communion This said to the first 2 ly To what follows it
is replied That the whole Catholick Church of Christ is but one body compacted with a due subordination of its members as well Churches as persons for the preservation of truth and peace among them and the avoiding of Schism 3ly That the Church of England is a member of the Western Church and subordinate to the Patriarch thereof the Bishop of the prime Apostolick See joyned with a Council composed of this Body 4 ly That being a part of this Body this Church together with the rest of the Protestants dissented and departed from the consenting judgment not only of one particular Church the Roman but of all the other Occidental Churches in several points of faith that are necessary as the other say but as themselves confess that are of moment and the failings in which are by them charged on the other side as grievous errors which will infer the contrary to be needful truths disceded likewise from their consenting judgments concerning the testimony of Scriptures rightly understood and of the Fathers affirmed by these not to be for but against them 5 ly Departed both from them and the most General Councils that have bin held therein for near this thousand years 6 ly And departed from them in several points wherin the Eastern Churches also consented and do so still with these Occidental Churches and their Councils 7 ly And for submission required to these doctrines §. 55. n. 4. departed also from the external communion not only of all the Western but of the Eastern Churches even of the whole visible Catholick Church of that Age of which in every Age is said Credo unam Sanctam Catholicam Apostolicam Ecclesiam wherein this discession was made From the external Communion I say so as they neither could nor yet can communicate with any Church Eastern or Western in their publick worship and service of God nor in the participation of the blessed Sacrament and Communion of the Altar And the necessity of such their universal discession both sufficiently appeareth from the modern Eastern and Roman Missals compared the Masses of S. Chrysostom S. Basil which admitting som small variations ‖ See Cassand liturg c. p. 24 c. are the present service of all the Eastern Southern Churches not much differing from the Roman and being as well as the Roman disallowed by Protestants And also the Discession it self is confessed both long ago by Calvin lamenting the Protestant's want of Union amongst so many Adversaries ‖ Epist P. Melancthoni p. 145. A toto mundo discessionem facere coacti sumus And by Mr. Chillingworth l. 5. § 55. As for the external Communion of the visible Church saith he we have without scruple formerly granted that Protestants did forsake it i. e. renounce the practise of some Observances in which the whole visible Church before them did communicate See likewise § 56.89 Forsake the external Communion of the whole visible Church i. e. as he expounds himself § 32 by refusing to communicate with any Church in her Liturgies and publick Worship of God Thus he And this surely was done for some Errors extant in this publick Worship else why did Protestants also reform this publick Service And these again such Errors as were not only held and used in but justified and allowed by this Church Catholick and Obedience and Conformity from her Subjects required thereto since if any thing after the holy Scriptures be held by this Church Catholick sacred and authentick and by all her Subjects to be embraced and frequented her publick Liturgy and the most August Sacrifice of the Altar must be so What ground therefore of Discession and what just complaint the Protestants have against the Western Church excluding them from her Communion because requiring something in it they cannot conform to the same ground of complaint they have also against the Eastern Churches as requiring somthing in their Communion to which they cannot assent nor in which join with them This for the external Communion of the Oriental as well as Occidental Church as to God's Publick Worship partaking of their Sacraments forsaken by them And next as to any other Communion internal mean-while professed with these Eastern Churches in the Fundamental Faith and Essentials of Religion they can pretend none but that they have and confess they have the same Communion with the Western Churches too In what sence therefore they stand separated from the Roman Church viz. in external Communion of their publick service of God and receiving with that Church the blessed Sacrament they stand separated from the Eastern also and in what sence they still retain the Communion of the East viz. in the Essential and Fundamental Articles of Faith they still retain this with Rome as much as them How is it then that they say often in the Reformation they left the Roman Church only not the whole Catholick numbring the Greek Russian Abyssine and other Churches as three parts of four and all these as on their side and joined with them And to what purpose is the calculating what proportion the Western Church hath to the whole Catholick when as their separation for communion external is as much from the rest as it and both Churches if any for this their separation equally culpable and when as for the internal Communion i. e. in all the Essentials of Faith they maintain this no more with the rest of the great body of the Catholick Church than they do with the Roman or Western Church But here again if they alledg their further Union with the Eastern Churches not in Fundamentals only but also in some other Points not Fundamental which are but few and none of them on the Greek side defined by any former Superior Council wherein these Churches oppose the Roman among which is named the Pope's Supremacy and Infallibility of the Roman Church the later a thing the Roman Church taken singly pretendeth not to yet what will this help ‖ See Disc 3. §. 185. as to those many other points defined by Superior Couneils ‖ See before § 50. n. 2. and wherein both East and VVest consent as those mentioned in the third Discourse § 26. c. In which Points chiefly Protestants are questioned for having made in the Reformation not a secession from their Western Mother to another part of the Catholick Church but a discession from the consenting judgment of the whole Catholick 8. Departed from the whole in these points which were §. 55. n. 5. at that time of a general belief and practice not only so far as to dissent but also as to contradict and reform against them 9. And all this in several of these Controversies upon pretence of the clearness of those Scriptures the sence whereof by a much major part of the West and by the greatest Councils that could for those times be assembled there where these Controversies arose the sence also of the Eastern Church concurring in the
acknowledge as much as C. G. or any man the authority of a General Council against the dissent of a Nation much more of a particular Bishop And The Belief and Practises we forsook were not Doctrines defined by the Church saith Dr. Ferne ‖ Divis Eng. and Rom. Ch. p. 59. Upon such Concession concerning Councils universally accepted and upon these appeals made to them here are referred to the examination of all disinteressed §. 56. n. 3. and conscientious Christians these Considerables following the design of this discourse 1. The first Considerable is Whether the necessary points wherein our Lord is supposed perpetually so to assist his Church or her general Councils universally accepted as that she is infallible and doth not err in the decision of them and consequently whereto all her subjects are obliged to yield their assent ought not to be extended so far as to comprehend some at least of those points I mean either the Negative or Affirmative of them the disputes about which as things of the highest moment have so miserably afflicted the western Churches now for so long a time The necessary consequence of the doctrine of Transubstantiation as many Protestants maintain is the committing of Idolatry in worshipping a piece of bread for our Lord Christ Is not this point then necessary and Fundamental to Christian Religion that in a Council meeting to decide it the contrary to Transubstantiation should be therein determined For the Affirmative can never be determined in such a Council where the Negative is necessary to be believed If the belief of Gods essential Attributes is a necessary and fundamental point of faith is not the defining the contrary and giving some of them to a creature in allowing Saint-Invocation a thing with which Protestants charge the Roman Church erring in a Fundamental and if it be then cannot a General Council universally accepted so define The same may perhaps be said of many other points Merit of works VVorship of Images Communion in one kind according to what esteem many Protestants have of these errors aggravated also by their fancy that the Pope is Antichrist But suppose none of them to be in necessaries yet they being affirmed by the more moderate Reformed to be-errors very grievous damnable c. then may not a right belief of them be thought necessary so far as that the Catholick Church and such a Council may be presumed to receive from our Lord a continual preservation in a right Faith of them if the Error in them be pretended so grievous And I desire that for this Dr. Hammond's words quoted below § 59. may be well weighed As likewise this to be considered ‖ Of Heresie §. 13. whether it is not all reason that the Church or these Councils not private men or Inferiors should judge of this Necessity 2ly If this may not be granted §. 56. n. 4. that any of these modern Controversies are about Necessaries or the points such that the Church Catholick or her General Councils universally accepted in their Definitions cannot err in them and so an assent to such Definitions be due from her Subjects The Second Considerable is VVhether at least when such Councils define them all particular Persons and Churches ought not to yield the external Obedience to them of Silence and not any further opposing or contradiction without these private men's or also Church's reserving still to themselves lest some Truth should be thus oppressed new Remonstrances and Demonstrations and a Liberty if upon these Remonstrances the Church Catholick neglect to assemble another Council or it called err again in the result a Liberty I say especially if it be a Church National to reform for themselves such Errors of Councils For with such Reservations what signifie their former appeals to or to what purpose any Meeting of such Councils when as 1st The present Controversies are not allowed to be in Necessaries in all which the Roman Church and Reformed are said by them to be already fully agreed 2 And then they will yield neither any internal nor external Obedience to any such Conciliary Decrees in the stating of non-necessaries But if such an external submission of non-contradiction be thought fit to be allowed though that internal of assent cannot be obtained yet this seems to secure the Church's peace for thus a Controversie once defined cannot be revived to the disturbance thereof and if they say some Truth somtime may happen thus to suffer yet being in a non-necessary as they say it is it may be spared Neither had this Duty been duly performed by our Ancestors do I see how the past Reformation as to many points could have found any entrance And therefore though some of the formerly recited appeals of Protestants promise fairly for such an absolute submission to Councils yet the Archbishop seems to allow no more than a conditional one and with an If or Vnless still annexed I pray you look in him § 32. p. 227. Far better saith he is that Inconvenience viz. of tolerating an Error till another General Council meet than this other that any authority less than a General Council should rescind the Decrees of it unless it err manifestly and intolerably And again Ibid. No way must lie open to private men to refuse Obedience till the Council be heard and weighed as well as that which they say against it yet with Bellarmine's Exception still here misse-applied ‖ De Concil l. 2. c 8. Bellarmine constantly denying that a General Council lawfully proceeding and confirmed by the Pope can err in any matter of Faith the Bishop here affirming it so the Error be not manifestly intollerable Nor is it fit for private men in such cases as this upon which the whole Peace of Christendom depends to argue thus The Error appears Therefore the Determination of the Council is ipso jure invalid But this is far the safer way I say still when the Error is neither-fundamental nor in it self manifest to argue thus The Determination is by equal authority and that secundum jus according to Law declared to be invalid Therefore the Error appears 3ly If this submission of non-gainsaying at least §. 56. n. 5. may be once granted the third thing recommended to a diligent Examination is Whether not only the Roman but all the Occidental Churches joined with the Western and Prime Patriarch the Exordium Vnitatis as S. Cyprian ‖ Cyprian de Vnit Ecclesiae with Bishop Bramhall's approbation stiles him ‖ Schism Guarded p. 4 25. and the Councils that have been heretofore assembled in the West be not for the Doctrines wherein we find the Greek Churches also consenting with them in such a sence the whole as that any Christian especially a Member of the VVestern Church ought to take these for their supream Guide in defect of any greater Meeting and ought to yield obedience of Assent to them in defining Necessaries or in not Necessaries of non-contradiction
An obedience which themselves though subjects do deny to the decree of all those preceding Councils wherein the judgment of all the Bishops and Metropolitans of the then western world concurred and amongst the rest those of these two Provinces also yet doth their Synod require it § 61 And their requiring this thought to be rationally thus defended Because Though it is not impossible but that such Synod may err yet it may be certain that in somthing it doth not err ‖ Mr. Stilling-fleet p 542. And so to such point may enjoyn assent becaus the thing determined is so evident in Scripture as that all denying of it must be wilful ‖ Mr. Whitby p. 100. But mean-while you see all these Councils have denied what this Synod of twenty six Bishops is certain of and certain from evidence of Scripture an evidence the perusal of which all those Councils had as well as these Here let a sober Christian judge if assent be held due to this London-Synod upon such a pretended certainty of theirs is it not to those other much rather to those others I say incomparably more numerous accepted by the whole West for many Ages and adhered-to still by the greatest part thereof having before them the Scriptures and the traditive Exposition of them weighing the Arguments that are still on foot meeting so often and concluding still in the same Judgment But if these other Councils are justified by the practice of this English Synod either in their requiring assent or at least silence thus is the Reformation rendred unlawful as likewise their appeal to future Councils which can afford us no more just satisfaction than the forepast As for that refuge usually sought in flying to the contrary judgment or non-acceptance of the Eastern Churches in this point it helps not For 1st besides a considerable presence of Grecian Bishops that there was in some of these Councils as to a tacit-approbation or non-opposition in this point the Greek Churches have never bin found to have made the least anti-declaration And 2ly You may see below Disc 3. § 158. the Testimonies both of their own Writers and also of several Protestants shewing their accord herein with the Western Churches § 62 As for the Appeal that is made by many to our sences that they may be consulted rather than the Church or the Fathers who yet had as perfect an information from their sences as we from ours for the decision of this point and as for the many contradictions that are mustered up by them ‖ See Mr. Tillorsons Rule of faith p. 271. Dr. Tailor Real price p. 207 c. 251. c. Stillingf Rat. account p. 117 567. out of Philosophy and from natural reason against it 1st I think all are here agreed that the contrary testimony of sence or the seeming contradictions of Reason are not to be regarded where Divine Revelation declares any thing to be Truth That which I am now upon saith Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ p. 567. in the place where he urgeth such contradictions of sence and reason to Transubstantiation is not how far reason I add or sence is to be submitted to divine Authority in case of certainty that there is a divine Revelation for what I am to believe This saith enough But give me leave to add the judgment of two or three Protestants more in this matter here a little to check the forwardnesse of those who so peremptorily admit the arbitrement of sence and natural reason in mysteries of Religion The 1st is that submission of Dr. Tailours in Real Presence p. 240. after he had numbred up many apparent contradictions not only in respect of a natural but as he saith of an absolute possibility of Transubstantiation from p. 207. to 237. Yet saith he Let it appear that God hath affirmed Transubstantiation and I for my part will burn all my Arguments against it and make publick amends All my Arguments i. of apparent contradictions and absolute impossibilities And p. 237. To this objection that we believe the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation of our Saviours being born of a pure Virgin c. clauso utero and of the Resurrection with identity of bodies in which the Socinians find absurdities and contradictions notwithstanding seeming impossibilities and therfore why not Transubstantiation He answers That if there were as plain Revelation of Transubstantiation as of the other then this Argument were good and if it were possible for a thousand times more Arguments to be brought against Transubstantiation yet saith he we are to believe the Revelation in despight of them all Now I pray you observe that none can believe a thing true upon what motive soever which he first knows certainly to be false or which is all one certainly to contradict or to be not naturally but absolutely impossible which therefore it is strange that Dr. Tailour affirms himself to know concerning Transubstantiation ‖ p 107 236. For these we say are not verifiable by a divine power and therefore here I may say should divine power declare a Truth it would transcend it self Again in Liberty of Prophecy § 20. n. 16. he saith ' Those who believe the Trinity in all those Niceties of Explications which are in the School and which now adays pass for the Doctrine of the Church believe them with as much violence to the Principles of Natural and Supernatural Philosophy as can be imagined to be in the point of Transubstantiation Yet I suppose himself denies no doctrine about the Trinity that is commonly delivered in the Schools The next is that grave admonition of that learned and moderate Prelate Bishop Forbes Admodum periculosè saith he nimis audacter negant multi Protestantes Deum posse panem substantialiter in Corpus Domini convertere Multa enim potest Deus omnipotens facere supra captum omnium hominum imo Angelorum Id quidem quod implicat contradictionem non posse fieri concedunt omnes sed quia in particulari nemini evidenter constat quae sit uniuscujusque rei essentia ac perinde quid implicet quid non implicet contradictionem magnae profectò temeritatis est propter caecae mentis nostrae imbecillitatem Deo limites praescribere praefractè negare omnipotentia sua illum hoc vel illud facere posse And p 395. Certè haud pauca saith he credimus omnes quae si ratio humana consulatur non minus impossibilia esse contradictionem manifestam implicare videntur quam ipsa Transubstantiatio instancing there in the doctrine of the Resurrection of the same numerical Body And he goes on p. 388. ' Placet nobis judicium Theologorum Wirtembergicorum in confessione suâ Anno 1552. Consilio Tridentino proposita Vid. Harmonia Confess cap. de Eucharistiâ Credimus inquiunt Omnipotentiam Dei tantam esse ut possit in Eucharistiâ substantiam panis vini vel annihilare vel in Corpus
accordingly both in Councils their defining Matters of Religion and in the Church's acceptation of their Decrees the much Major part must conclude the whole and the opposing of their Definitions also be Heresie and separation from their Communion Schism if an Opposition to or separation from the whole be so § 27. n. 4 14. As for the Protestant Marks whereby in any Division to know these true Guides viz. A right teaching of God's Word and a right Administration of the Sacraments that these are things to be learned from these true Guides first known § 28 Chap. 4. An Application of the former Propositions in a search which of the opposite present Churches or of the dissenting Ecclesiastical Governors thereof is our true Guide § 30. Motives perswading that the Roman and the other Western Churches united with it and with the Head thereof S. Peter's Successor are this true Guide 1st Their being the very same Body with that which Protestants grant was 150 years ago the Christian 's true Guide and the other Body confessing themselves in external Communion departed from it § 33. 2ly Their being that Body to which if we follow the former Rule recited Prop. 12. we ought to submit § 35. 3ly Their being that Body that owns and adheres to the Definitions and Decrees of all the former Councils such as the Church of preceding Ages hath received as General or obliging as well those Councils since as those before the Sixth or Seventh Century which later the other Party rejects § 37. Chap. 5. The pretended Security of those Protestants who deny any certain living or Personal Guide infallible in Necessaries affirming 1. That all necessary Matters of Faith are even to the unlearned clear in the Scriptures and the Controversies in non-necessaries needlesse to be decided § 38. 2. That all Necessaries are clear in Scripture because God hath left no other certain Means Rule or Guide of the knowledge of them save the Scriptures § 39. n 1. Not any certain living Guide 1st Which is infallible as their Guide the Scriptures are § 39. n. 2. 2ly Which the unlearned in any Division can discern from the false Guides or know their Deerees better than the Scriptures 3ly From whom the Scriptures direct them to learn Necessaries or tell them what Church or Party they are to adhere to in any Schisme made In which infallible Guide if there were any such as being a thing of the greatest concernment the Scriptures would not have been silent Ibid. Reply 1. That Evidence of the Scriptures hath been the usual Plea of former Hereticks in their dissenting from the Church 2. That as to the main and principal Articles of the Christian Faith the sufficiency of the Rule of Scripture is not denied by Roman Catholicks but only the clearness thereof as to all mens capacities questioned And another Guide held necessary It is replied then I. Concerning the Clearnesse of Scripture 1. That some Controversies in Religion since the writing of the Scriptures have been concerning points necessary As those Controversies concerning the Trinity the Deity and Humanity of our Lord the necessity of God's Grace c. § 43. 2. That the more clear all Necessaries are in Scripture still with the more securitie may Christians relie for them on the Church's judgment from which also they receive these Scriptures § 41. 3. That there is no necessity that all Necessaries should be revealed in Scriptures as to all men clearly § 41. 1. Because it is sufficient if God hath left this one Point clear in Scriptures that we should in all difficulties and Obscurities of them follow the Directions and adhere to the Expositions and Doctrines of these Guides § 41. 2. Sufficient if God hath by other Apostolical Tradition at least clearly revealed to these Church-Guides all such necessary Truths to be successively communicated by them to his people § 44. 3. Sufficient if God hath by Tradition at least clearly revealed to these Church-Guides the sence of such Scriptures as are in points necessary any way obscure Ibid. 4. Sufficient if God in the Scripture hath clearly enough revealed all necessary Truths to the capacity of these Church Guides using due means though he hath not to the capacity of the unlearned for from those these may learn them § 45. II. Concerning a living Guide 1. That where the Scripture especially several Texts compared is ambiguous and in Controversy the Christians Guide to know the true sence cannot be the Scripture but either the Church's or their own judgment § 46. n. 1. 2. That it is not necessary that God in the Scriptures should direct Christians to what Guide they are to repair § 46. n. 2. Or to what Church-Prelates or Party in any Schism Christians for ever ought to adhere § 47. n. 2. 3. Yet that God hath given Christians a sufficient direction herein in his leaving a due subordination among these Governors whereby the Inferiors are subjected to the Superior and a part unto the whole § 47. n. 3. And that Christians may more clearly know the sence of their Definitions in matters controverted than the sence of the Scriptures § 48. THE SECOND DISCOURSE CHAP. I. Protestants assenting 1. That there is at this present an One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church § 1. 2. That the present Pastors and Governours thereof have Authority to decide Controversies § 2. 3. And that their Governors shall never err or mis-guide Christians at least in absolute Necessaries § 3. 4. And that they with the Church governed by them do stand always distinct from Heretical and Schismatical Congregations § 5. § 1 1st THat there is an One Holy Catholick Apostolick Church in this Age and at this present time All Proposition 1 I suppose grant § 2 2ly That this present Church that is in its Pastors Prop. 2. and Governors is appointed for a Guide to Christians and hath Authority to decide Controversies is unquestioned also among several learned Protestants ‖ See Disc 1. §. 3◠c. And I think is a part of the 20 th Article of the Church of England which Article saith The Church hath Authority in Controversies of Faith And what can it mean but for deciding them or who decide them but the Ecclesiastical Governors § 3 3ly That these present Governors in this present Age either * collectively taken as they are assembled in a Council Prop. 3. the Decrees whereof are universally accepted by those Governors of the Church diffusive that are absent from it or * disjunctively taken for some visible Society or other of them at least somtimes lesser somtimes greater shall never misguide Christians at least in absolute Necessaries to salvation is also acknowledged by learned Protestants ‖ See Disc 1. §. 25. c. And seems to be the clear sence of the 19 th Article of the Church of England which affirms ' The visible Church of Christ to be a Congregation of faithful men ‖ See Art
he a Synod consisted of the Metropolitans ‖ l. 5. c. 30. p. 513. and Bishops of one Kingdom or State only the chief Primate was Moderator 2 If of many Kingdoms one of the Patriarchs and chief Bishops of the whole World was Moderator Every Church and therefore this of England as to Ecclesiastical Governme being subordinate to some one of the Patriarchal Churches and incorporate into the unity of it 3. Thirdly the Actions of a whole Patriarchship were subject to a Synod Oecumenical And elsewhere he saith ‖ l. 5. c. 52. p. 668. That the Patriarch of the West may call a Council of the Western Bishops lawfully punishing those who obey not his summons and he and ihe Council so assembled may make Decrees which shall be obligatory to all the Western Church And thus Bishop Bramhall ‖ Vindic. of the Ch. of England p. 257. What power the Metropolitan had over the Bishop of his own Province the same had a Patriarch over the Metropolitans and Bishops of sundry Provinces within his own Patriarchate And afterward Wherein then consisted Patriarchal Authority in ordaining their Metropolitans for with inferior Bishops they might not meddle or confirming them in imposing of hands or giving the Pall in convocating Patriarchal Synods and presiding in them c when Metropolitical Synods did not suffice to determine some emergent differences or difficulties So in Schism-guarded p. 349. he saith That the Ecclesiastical Head of the Church is a General Council and under that each Patriarch in his Patriarchate and among the Patriarchs the Bishop of Rome by a Priority of Order And see Ibid. p. 4. his allowing this Bishop to be Exordium Vnitatis This of the subordination of the Bishops of several Nations to a Council Patriarchal taken out of others because omitted by Dr. Hammond Above which the next and highest subordination is that of all the Bishops in Christianity to a Council General To which General Council this Doctor thus professeth elsewhere ‖ Of Heresie §. 11. p. 149. the due subjection of the Church of England Vpon the strength of this perswasion saith he that God will never permit any such universal testimony concerning the faith to conspire in conveying error to us as we have never yet opposed never opposed that implies obedience of Silence but upon the former perswasion I see not why he should not say never dissented from any universal Council nor other voice of the whole Church such as by the Catholick Rules can be contested to be such so for the future we professe never to do And on 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church is the Pillar and Ground of truth he comments thus According to this it is that Christ is said Eph. 4.11 to have given not only Apostles c. but also Pastors and Teachers i.e. the Bishops in the Church for the compacting of the Saints into a Church for the continuing them in all truth that we should be no longer like children carried about with every wind of doctrine And so again when heresies came into the Church in the first Ages it is every where apparent by Ignatius's Epistles That the only way of avoiding error and danger was to adhere to the Bishop in communion and doctrine and whosoever departed from him and that forme of wholesom words kept by him was supposed to be corrupted And the same also to S. W. objecting ‖ Schism disarm p. 255. That it availed not for freedom from Schism to adhere to the Authority of our Bishop as the Arrians did if such Bishop hath rejected the authority of his Superiors and taught contrary to them He grants ‖ Answ to Schism disarm p. 261. concerning any Bishops and those adhering to them if departing from their Superiors That retaining the Authority of their Bishops is not being taken alone any certain Argument or Evidence of not being schismaticks c. This he for establishing such Church-authority and the due subordinations thereof from any of which whether person or Council a voluntary departure of those who are subordinate ‖ Of Schism c 3. Answ to C. Gentlem. p. 30 or also a wilful continuance under their censures laid upon them ‖ is by him declared Schism Of which Schism he speaks thus ‖ Answ to C. Gent. p. 9. First saith he those Brethren or People which reject the Ministry of the Deacons or Presbyters in any thing §. 4. wherein they are ordained and appointed by the Bishop §. 24. n. 2. and as long as they continue in obedience to him and of their own accord do break off and separate from them ‖ Of Schism p. 34. refuse to live regularly under them they are by the ancient Church of Christ adjudged and looked on as Schismaticks Here then are many late Sects among Protestants rejecting the Clergy I know not well by what name to call them confessed guilty of Schism In like manner saith he ‖ P. 37.41 if we ascend to the next higher link that of the Bishop to whom both Presbyters and Deacons as well as theBrethren or People are obliged to live in obedience the withdrawing or denying this obedience in any of these will certainly fall under this guilt And as this obedience may be of two sorts either of a lower or of a higher kind the denying obedience in any particular lawful command of the Superior or the casting off all obedience together de throning them or setting up our selves either in their steads or in opposition to them so will the Schism be also a lighter and a grosser separation And here are all Protestant Presbyterial whether Persons or Churches for any thing I can understand opposing Episcopacy or setling instead of it a Presbyterial Church-Government confessed also by him guilty of Schism of Schism I mean from their spiritual Superiors wherby also they becom no members of the Church-Catholick which Church-Catholick stands always contradistinct to Heretical and Schismatical Churches nor are any such Schismaticks known to be so and not recanting such their Schism to be admitted to enjoy the communion of the Presbytery of any Church that professeth it self a member of the Catholick Which thing will 1st cut off no small body of the Protestants from the Catholick Church And 2ly will render in some manner partaker of their guilt any other Protestant-Clergy that shall communicate knowingly with them The same sentence upon the Presbyterians deserting their Bishops that is their spiritual Superiors pronounceth Dr. Ferne They have incurred saith he by leaving us ‖ The Case between Eng. and Rome p. 46 48. and I wish they would sadly consider it no less then the guilt of Schism which lies heavily on as many as have of what perswasion or sect soever wilfully divided themselves from the Communion of the Church of England whether they do this by a bare separation or by adding violence and sacriledge to it For making good saith he this charge of Schism against them we
only the Patriarch of Alexandria in the fourth Session came in and submitted not only for their silence that would not serve the turn but assent But after these there were 11 Egyptian Bishops i. e. all that were present from the Patriarchy of Alexandria how Orthodox I cannot say that refused still to subscribe to the Councils decrees alledging the fear of a persecution upon their return into Egypt from their brethren at home these at home it seems being also of a contrary judgment to the Council yet the Council both established their decree without them and required upon excommunication their submission to it and to it put into the Confession of their Faith After this Council ended Timotheus the usurping Patriarch of Alexandria after Proterius who was placed there by the Council slain and his adherents continuing still to professe Dioscorism or a mitigated Eutychianism condemned the Acts of Chalcedon and much sollicited the Emperour by Letters to call a new Council and besides these a very great faction in Palestine did the same whose followers also continue the same division to this day not only the Egyptians but the Ethiopians or Abyssins Armenians Jacobites of Syria giving to the Adherents of the Council in those parts the name of Melchites or Royalists because they pretended the corruption of this Council by the Emperors faction yet the owning of this Council by S. Peters Chair and the acceptation thereof by much the greatest part of the Church Catholick was and still is not doubted to be a sufficient ratification of its Acts notwithstanding this storm in the Patriarchy of Alexandria against this fourth General Council much worse than that of Antioch against the third Before the seventh General Council the second Nicene §. 25. n. 5 a question being on foot concerning the lawful use and also relative veneration of Images a Council assembled of above a hundred Bishops under Constantinus Copronymus though indeed none of the Patriarchs joyned with them defined it negatively and for making good their Tradition for this produced several places out of the Fathers particularly out of Epiphanius Naziaâ—z Chrysostom Athanasius Eusebius Caesariensis and others See 2. Conc. Nic. Act. 6. Tom. 5. yet so soon as the Ghurch recovered her liberty by the death of this Emperour It in a fuller body the Patriarchs also present notwithstanding such a party preventing them declared their Faith contrary with an Anathema to all dissenters from their decree In the Council of Sardica the Oriental Arrian Bishops §. 26. n. 6. about 70. withdrew themselves from the Council to Philippopolis because it consisting of above 300 Western Bishops besides them they saw their number too small to invalidate the Acts of a party so much greater though indeed being condemned already for Hereticks by the Nicene Council they could have no just vote in any following Before all these Councils a great question arose in the Church about the validity of Hereticks baptism and whether the Tradition commonly practised of non-rebaptizing those converted from Heresie though Firmilian seems to plead also a contrary Tradition in those parts where he lived ‖ Ep 73. ad Cypr. Caeterum nos saith he veritati consuetudinem jungimus consuetudini Romanorum consuetudinem sed veritatis opponimus ab inìtio hoc tenentes quod à Christo ab Apostolo traditum est were Apostolical or no A part of the Church Catholick questioning it because another more certain Apostolical Tradition viz. the Scriptures seemed to them to declare plainly the contrary A difficult controversie this was accounted several Provincial Councils in divers parts were held about it above 80 Affrican Bishops assembled with their Primate S. Cyprian and likewise Firmilian and some fifty other Eastern Bishops with him judged it not Apostolical ‖ See Dionysii Alex. Ep. ad Xystum Euseb l. 7. c. 4. Yet afterward a General Council proceeded to decide it and their definition was esteemed valid and obliging and those who continued in their former opinion which in Affrick was no small number in S. Austins time above 150 Bishops ‖ See the Conference with the Donatists Baron A.D. 411. were from that time accounted Hereticks 'T is true that this General Council ‖ Are latense 1. was held some 50 years after the other Provincial ones and that before this several of the Affrican Bishops had corrected their former opinion But I suppose none will say that a General Council if assembled at the same time with those Provincial could not justly have defined it against them as Stephanus his Council at the same time did and justly have required their Obedience as being though a considerable number yet a much smaller part compared with the rest of the Bishops of the Christian world and their Suffrage invalid Contra tot millia Episcoporum quibus tunc error in toto Orbe displicuit to use S. Austin's words contra Cresconium l 3. c. 3. Who elsewhere also ‖ De Baptismo l. 1. c. 7. speaks thus on this matter Quaestionis hujus Obscuritas prioribus Ecclesiae temporibus ante Schisma Donati magnos viros magnâ charitate praedites Patres Episcopos ita inter se compulit salvâ pace disceptare atque fluctuare ut diù Conciliorum in suis quibuscunque Regionibus diversa statuta nutaverint So contra Cresconium l. 1. c. 33. he saith Similiter inter Apostolos de Circumcisione quaestio sicut postea de Baptismo inter Episcopos non parva difficultate nutabat donec plenario totius orbis concilio quod saluberrimè sentiebatur etiam remotis dubitationibus firmaretur By the Acts of these Councils I think it appears §. 25. n. 7. that Points of former dispute and such where the contrary to some of them have been defended by a numerous Party in the Church yet have been afterward defined and declared as matter of Faith and that such opposition of a number though in it self considerable yet in respect of the whole much smaller hath been thought insufficient to debilitate the authority and decisions of the rest confirmed by the judgment of the Bishop of Rome and the Chair of S. Peter and that the Church may cut off from her Body for the safety of the whole if such part happen to be gangred or putrified not only a little Finger or Toe but an Arm or a Leg. But yet I would not have this so understood as if that the Church's Councils in this matter of the very greatest concernment do at any time proceed to declare as matter of Faith any Propositions save * such as to disengaged judgments carry great evidence in them flowing either from express former Tradition or the present clear deduction and * such as are admitted and allowed by much the greatest part of the Church Catholick And in particular the late Council of Trent very prudently considering the great distraction and dissatisfaction of those times and their proneness to Schism is said
if we may believe Soave ‖ Hist l. 6 p 576. to have entertained this Maxim That to establish a Decree of Reformation a major part of Voices was sufficient but that a Decree of Faith could not be made if a considerable part did contradict But this considerable part must always be understood of such as are Catholick i. e. by no formerly condemned Heresie rendered uncapable of voting in the Church's Councils And lastly if a Contest arises what a part may be called considerable to whom the judgment of this can be left save to the same major part whether in or out of the Council where-ever all are not agreed I see not This concerning the necessity and the ancient practice of a much major part at least we keeping still within the bounds of the Church Catholick its concluding the whole Where it is also worth the noting concerning times past §. 26. n. 1. that though we set aside here how necessary the Confirmation of Councils is by the always-esteemed most supream Authority Ecclesiastical on Earth the Bishop of Rome yet never any Heresie now universally so accounted hitherto can be shewed in any age to have been confirmed in any Council or accepted after it by the Major part of Christianity or of the Church-Governors thereof such especially as have Right to vote in Councils because guilty of no Heresie that hath been declared such by a former Council And for the Future likewise Before that any grievous and pernicious Error should spread so far as to infect a major part of the Ecclesiastical Governors and so be past all cure from this supream Court the Church's Vigilancy from our Lord 's promised perpetual assistance and favour may be presumed to be such as that her Councils either distributed in several Provincial ones or united in a General will condemn it And then after such censure though its Patrons should grow to a major part of Christianity yet do they now to all clearly appear I say not a less but no part of the Church Catholick But yet all those Texts of Scripture Prophecies and Promises there pressed by S. Austin against the Donatists and the many Arguments he drew from them seem to evince the contrary that never any such Sect shall be I mean of one Denomination or conspiring in any one Heresie at any time that shall for the multitude of its Followers and Latitude of its Extent exceed or match the Catholick As for Hereticks or Schismaticks of many different Tenents and Communions dissenting from one another what Magnitude or Bulk the whole Mass of them put together may amount to or whether not transcend the Catholick it much matters not For the Catholick Church being according to our Creed always but One and a Body united in a due subordination of its Governors in its Service Doctrine Discipline c. so far as these model them it is sufficiently for its magnitude and extent discerned from all the rest if of any one Society or Church that hath the former coherence in its Members the Catholick is the greatest and the most diffused Of which thus S. Austin observes ‖ De Pastoribus c. 8. Non omnes Haeretici per totam faciem terrae sed tamen Haeretici per totam faciem terrae alii hîc alii ibi Alia Secta in Africâ alia Haeresis in Oriente alia in Egypto alia in Mesopotamiâ Diversis locis sunt diversae sed una Mater Superbia genuit sicut una mater nostra Catholica omnes Christianos fideles toto Orbe diffusos Est in Africâ pars Donati Eunomiani non sunt in Africa sed cum parte Donati est hî Catholica Sunt in Oriente Eunomiani ibi autem non est pars Donati sed cum Eunomianis ibi est Catholica The summe is the Catholick Church is every where and every where Heresie but the Catholick every where one the other diverse the Greatest but many may be Heresies the Greatest that is one must be the Catholick There are two General Councils by Protestants frequently urged for decreeing §. 25. n. 2. or confirming Heresie the second of Ephesus and that of Ariminum But 1st For that of Ephesus Both the whole West out of the Council then the greater and more dignified part of the Church Catholick and the Pope's Legates and likewise many eminent Eastern Bishops in the Council suffering much persecution for it from the present secular power dissented from the Acts thereof and the main Body of Bishops also that in the Council subscribed to them complained in the following Council of Chalcedon of force used And 2 For that of Ariminum 1st Though the major part of it had been Arrians yet these having been declared Hereticks already by the Council of Nice and so now no true Members of the Church Catholick ‖ See before Prop. 4. could rightly have no Vote therein though the then Arrian Emperor forced upon the Council an admittance of them So that if the major part of the Church-Governors generally taken of that age had maintained an Heretical Tenent yet this was after that the major part of Christianity in a former Council and in a General acceptation thereof had condemned this Tenent for Heretical and so thence Christians might clearly discern the Maintainers of it to be no more Members of the Church Catholick nor their present Guâ—des Especially the rest preserving a Communion separated from them But 2ly He §. 26. n. 3 that pleaseth to examine the History of this Council and of these times I think will find no ground to affirm Arrianisme at any time to have infected or possessed a major part of Christianity Which because it is a thing much insisted on by Protestants labouring thereby to prove for some time a defection of the major part of the Church Catholick from one of the greatest Articles of the Christian Faith I suppose it worth my pains though stepping aside a little from my present Design to give you a brief Narrative thereof In which if already satisfied you may omitting it pass on to § 27. n 4. If we review the Changes that were made in the Church before the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 1st For the East Though several eminent Catholick Bishops by Constantius his power favouring the Semi-Arrians were expelled from their Seats upon several particular false Criminations and among others the pretence of their maintaining Sobellianisme or confounding the Persons of Trinity yet was nothing then declared against the Nicene Creed And after this Expulsion there were in a Council held under him at Antioch A. D. 341 of 99 Bishops assembled only 36 Arrian the rest Orthodox ‖ See Baron A. D. 341. though the Arrian party indeed more powerful with the Emperor and the substance of the Form of Faith drawn up there was though diminutive to the Nicene yet Catholick and such saith Sozomen ‖ l. 3. c. 5. ut neque Arriani neque Concilii Niceni
and suspicious the Catholick Bishops at Ariminum refused to subscribe it save upon some Additions to be annexed so to secure the Church's Faith from Arrianism and other missconstructions after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was now left out In which Additions to give you Severus his words ‖ Hist l. 2. Primùm damnatus est Arrius totaque ejus perfidia deinde Filius Deo Patri aequalis sine initio sine tempore pronuntiatur which things infer the Son's Eternity and either Consubstantiality with the Father or Polytheisme denied by the Arrians Tum valens saith he tanquam nostros adjuvans subjecit Sententiam Filium Dei non esse Creaturam sicut caeteras Creaturas i. e. as he was understood by the Council sicut caetera omnia sunt Creaturae To these S. Jerom adds as he saith out of the Records of the Council it self several Anathema's pronounced and consented to by the Arrians amongst which this is one Si quis Filium Dei non dixerit aeternum cum Patre Anathema sit These things then being so submitted to be the Arrian Party and the Catholick Faith now thought secure the Council was dismissed These things you may see related more at large by S. Jerom ‖ Dialog advers Luciferian in defence of the Catholick Bishops in this Council for the satisfaction of the Luciferians a Sect that after the reflourishing of the Catholick Religion would not admit those Bishops who voted at Ariminum or had afterward communicated with the Arrians into their Communion who likewise urged then as well as the Donatists afterward and the Reformed now of the times before Luther that Christ had no Church except generally corrupted And the Text ‖ Luk 18.8 Cum venerit Filius hominis non inveniet Fidem super terram to which see S. Jerom's Answer in the same place This for Ariminum At the same time and upon the same Motive the concluding a firm Peace in the Church Vniversal was another Council held in the East §. 27. n. 1. at Seleucia Where by the Divine Providence S. Hilary then an Exile for the Catholick Doctrine in the East was present informed the Council of the constancy of the Western Bishops in the Nicene Belief and in the Council himself earnestly contended for it being also assisted by the Egyptian Bishops except Georgius the Alexandrian Usurper as himself saith in his Book contra Constantium This Council supposed in a great part Semi-Arrian proceeded no further than only to the confirming of the forementioned Antiochian Creed in which I said nothing was contained not Catholick and afterward to the excommunicating of the Arrians But after this Council dissolved the subscription made at Ariminum by the Occidentals being brought into the East and the like for a general union with great importunity required by the Emperor many of these Seleucian Bishops at last yielded to it the Arrian Agents first pretending but falsely to the West that the Eastern Bishops would by no means admit of Substantia to be mentioned in the Creed and then urging to these Eastern Bishops professing it the prescription of the West for omitting of it Mean-while by the same deception and fraud was this subscription procured in the East from the Bishops most of them Orthodox or at most but semi-arrians as at Ariminum Of which Seleucian Bishops Sozomen saith ‖ l. 4.18 that omnes paucis exceptis in eo uno dissederunt quod pars filium Patri Consubstantialem pars autem substantia similem esse dicerent And of the fraud used there toward the Orthodox see much-what the same complaint made by Nazianzen his father a Catholick Bishop amongst others being involved in it as is by S. Ierom for the West Impietati saith he ‖ Orat. in land Athana◠per script◠dogmatis ambiguitatem fenestram aperuit Concilium Constantinopolitanum hoc quidem praetextu quasi Scripturam vereretur ac vocum probatissirnarum usum amplecteretur And Eares permultos è nobis invictos alioqui viros in fraudem impulit qui quamvis mente nequaquam prolapsi fuerint subscriptione tamen transversi acti sunt c. See also Liberius his Letter to the Eastern Bishops in Socrates l. 4. c. 11. Yet was not this subscription any more then the VVestern at Ariminum so universal but that besides Athanasius and most of the Egyptian Bishops there were several others of note that fully and openly professed the Nicene faith as Cyril Bishop of Ierusalem Meletius who made that valiant confession thereof not only with his mouth but when that stopped with his hands before the people of Antioch Ensebius Samosatenus and others Nor yet was it so grateful to the Arrians but that in a meeting of them shortly after at Antioch ‖ Sozozem l. 4. c. 23. they grew bold to alter it and at last to put in the Creed not only what was general or ambiguous but false i.e. their own Anti-Nicene Tenent Thus passed Constantius his times For some three years §. 27. n. 2. after the Ariminum subsicription very severe But he dying the face of the Church was suddenly altered and Iulian succeeding him equal to all or rather less disaffected to the Catholicks though a friend to none the Nicene faith flourished as formerly nor so much by a new Conversion of the Arrian Bishops to the truth as by a restorement of the formerly deprived Catholick Bishops to their honours and the possession of their Churches Of which thus S. Jerom ‖ Adversus Lucifer l. 2. Periclitabatur navicula Apostolorum Dominus excitatur imperat tempestati Bestia Constantius moritur tranquillitas rediit Manifestius dicam Omnes Episcopi qui de propriis sedibus fuerant exterminati per indulgentiam novi Principis Iulian who favoured at first the Catholicks ad Ecclesias redeunt Julian slain after some years under Valens ruling the East and siding with the Arrians a new storm arose there against the Nicene faith and a persecution and expulsion of many of the Catholick Bishops and these times it is that S. Basil in his Epistles so sadly deplores But 1st This persecution extended not to the West where Valentinian a Catholick Emperour ruled and where was only a toleration of the Arrians and so some of them by seeming Catholick as Auxentius Bishop of Millan before S. Ambrose did some hurt But then by Gratian his Son and Successor this Toleration was revoked and also in the East upon Valens his Uncle's death were the Catholick Bishops restored again to their seats and the Arrians crushed 2ly In the East it never swelled so high but that the Body of its Prelats also though suffering much from the other favoured Party remained Catholick as may appear more particularly by Liberius his Letter to the Oriental Bishops ‖ Apud Socr. l. 4. c. 11. and the 75 and 293. Epistles of S. Basil written in the same time of Valens his persecution In which 75th Epistle thus S. Basil Fuerat autem
justius res nostras aestimare non ex uno aut altero eorum qui ad veritatem baud recto pede ingrediuntur sedex multitudine totius orbis Episcoporum qui gratiâ Christi conjuncti nobis sùnt Vnamines omnes eodemque sensu praediti sumus Itaque si quisque Communionem nostram fugit ne prudentiam vestram lateat ab universâ illum Ecclesiâsese divulsisse §. 27. n. 3. And now by this Relation may be understood the true sence of those places of the Fathers that are urged for a defection of the greatest part of the Church in these times from the true faith which as they are now pressed by many Protestants against the Roman Church so some of them were anciently by the Donatists against S. Austin to whose 48. Epistle I refer you to peruse his Answer When therefore S. Hierom saith ‖ Dialog-adv Luciferianos Tunc after the Council of Ariminum usiae nomâ—â— abolitum est tunc Nicaenae fidei damnatio conclamata est And Nomine unitatis fidei infidelitas soripta est he meaneth Iâ—fidelitâ—s c. according to that sence and glosse as the Emperor and Arrian party made of the decree after the Council ended Saying also Ingemuit totus Orbis totus Orbis because the Eastern Bishops at Constantinople as well as the West before them at Ariminum by the same fraud made the same subscription miratus est se esse Arianum see the like Comment in Galat. 5.9 Arianum i. e. quite contrary to their intention and sence and by an Interpretation of some part of the decree so as it contradicted another therefore also ibid he saith how afterward Concurrebant Episcopi qui Ariminensibus do lis irretiti sine conscientiâ Haeretici ferebantur contestantes Corpus Domini quicquid in Ecclesia sanctum est se nihil mali in suâ fide suspicatos Whence he expostulates with the Luciferians Cur damnassent eos qui Ariani non erant Cur Ecclesiam scinderent in concordiâ fidei permanentem c. From which may be gathered the meaning of several passages urged ‖ See Tillot Rule of faith p. 167 c. out of his Chronicon declaring the establishment of Arrianism in the Arimine or Sirmian Council and out of his Dialogue against the Luciferians of the Confessors but a few admitting all the rest to their Communion which he saith there expresly was done Non quod Episcopi possent esse qui Haeretici fuerant sed quod constaret eos qui reciperentur haereticos non fuisse So Liberius his words ‖ apud Socrâ— l. 4. c. 11. Omnes illi ferè Episcopi qui Arimini convenerant quique vel fallacibus inescati illecebris vel vi compulsi à fide tum quidem desciveraut c. with whom he also joines the Oriental Orthodox Bishops to whom he writ Quibus item vos per versutas blanditias c are to be understood only of their failing from such a plenary confession of their faith as their Christian duty obliged them to whom I do not go about here to excuse from all fault but from heresie and such expressions as these subscriptionem pristinam damnabant fidei formulae Ariminensi Anathema denunciârunt to be understood that they condemned it not as in their own former sence false but as by the later Arrian sence perverted In the same sence are those things said by Vincentius Lirinensis ‖ Severus ‖ and others to be expounded and those passages of Nazianzen ‖ Hist l. 2. c 6. where he speaks of the complying lapse of many of the too-credulous Eastern Bishops and among the rest of his father yet always constantly Catholick As for S. Bâ—sils sad complaints ‖ In Orat. de laud. than dâ— sunere Patris of the overflow of Arrianism to which may be added several in Nazianzen ‖ Epist 71. c. they were made concerning the times of Valens and then concerning the East subjected to his power * Orat. in Arrian when can be no question as to the Church universal of the major part of its Prelats their professing the Catholick faith Of which see his forequoted Epistles ‖ Epist 75.293 As neither can there be of the times before Ariminum as to the West the persecution then being in the cause of Athanasius not of the Nicene faith so that how long soever the Arrian errour may be said to have continued as it hath to this day in the Mahometans and of late the Socinians yet the great eclipse which the Nicene Faith may be thought to have suffered thereby was only from Ariminum to the restorement of the Catholick Bishops made by Inlian i.e. for the space of three years though then also the Lights of the Church were not extinguished but only obscured because removed out of their Candlesticks And what hath bin said here of the Catholick's subscription to the Arrian forme of faith may be said of their communion also with them which lasted only for that small time that they imagined them from the additions made to the forme at Ariminum and before the manifesting of their equivocation good Catholicks Lastly one thing more in this Arrian defection is very considerable that the Anti-Nicene faction divided presently into two Sects as is usual to those who leave the unity of the Church the Arrians and the semi-Arrians Which Sects persecuted excommunicated ejected out of their Chairs one another Now one of the properties of the Church-Catholick in the Creed being its unity Credo unam c. for the discerning of it always from other Societies by its more eminent magnitude and extent it is sufficient if of all those Bodies or Churches that can any way pretend to this property and that are any way united within themselves and contradistinct to others it be the greatest still and most diffused as if of the two divided parties neither the Arrian nor semi-Arrian equalled the Catholick though by the whole masse of all these Bodies that fight with one another cast up together it should be exceeded Of which see what is said before § 26. n. 1. I have contrary to my first intention related this matter more at large as well knowing this defection of the Church in the time of Arrianism to be the main or only instance wherewith Protestants seek to countenance that later and more universal defection which many of them charge upon it since the times of Antichrist from A.D. 600. or sooner till the coming of Luther a defection as some say of above a thousand years durance Now to return to the matter in hand 13. From these things Catholicks infer §. 27. n. 4. Prop. 13. That both the Decrees in a Council and acceptation of them out of it made by a much major part of the Church-Governours especially this major part also being joyned to the supreme Pastor of the Church ought undeniably to conclude the whole and that all the obedience forementioned is
due to this much greater though some smaller part dissenting and that an Opposition of their definitions in matter of faith becomes heresie and a separation from their Communion upon their requiring an approbation of and conformity to such their decrees becomes Schism if an opposition to or separation from the whole be so § 28 14. As for that way or those marks that are given usually by Protestants ‖ See Calv. Instit l. 4 c. 1. §. 9. by which Christians are to discern Prop. 14. in any division of them the Society of the true Church Guides whether these happen to be more or fewer of a higher or lower rank than the other as they say somtimes they may be the One somtimes the other from the false namely these two 1 The right teaching of the Christian doctrine 2 And right Administration of the Sacraments 1st If any are directed to finde out by these marks those Guides not only whose Communion they ought to joyn with but from whose judgment they ought to learn which is the same true Christian doctrine and which the right administration of the Sacraments i.e. are by those marks first known to find out those persons by whom they may come to know these marks as for example if one that seeks a Guide to direct him what he is to believe in the Controversie of the Consubstantiality of God the Son with the Father is first to try if Consubstantiality be true and then to chuse him for his Guide in this point that holds it The very Proposal of this way seems a sufficient confutation of it For what is this but to decide that first themselves for the decision of which they seek to anothers judgment And there is no question but after this they will in a search pitch on a Judge that decides as they do but then this is seeking for a Confederate for a Companion not seeking for a Guide for a Governour When they can state the true doctrine themselves their search for a Guide to state it is at an end and they may then search rather to whom to teach it than of whom to learn it T is granted indeed §. 29. n. 1. supposing the marks above-named were only to be found among the right Church-Guides which is not so ‖ See §. 29 n. 2. that these right Guides may be discerned from false by this mark i.e. by the truth of that doctrine which they reach by so many as can attain the certain knowledge of this true doctrine by some other means or way as by the Holy Scriptures Fathers c. Nor is private mens trying the truth of the Doctrine of these differing Guides by these denied here to be lawful nor denied that the Proposal of such a trial to the People may by the true Guides even by the Apostles be made use of with good success because the Scriptures c. may evidence to some persons intelligent in some Controversies less difficult the truth of those Doctrines which some of the learned out of great passion or interest may gainsay But then for all such points wherein a private man's trial by Scripture is very liable to mistake and the sense thereof not clear unto him as no private person hath reason to think it clear in such points of Controversie wherein the Church-Guides examining the same Scriptures yet do differ among themselves and perhaps the major part of them from him here he must necessarily attain the knowledge of his right Guide by some other Marks prescribed him for that purpose and not by the truth of that doctrine or clearness of those Scriptures for instruction in the truth or sence of which he seeks such a Guide Unsound therefore is that Position of Mr. Stillingfleet's Rat. Account p. 7. That of necessity the Rule I suppose he means and by it the Truth of Faith and Doctrine must be certainly known before ever any one can with safety depend upon the judgment of any Church And very infirm that arguing of his and so all that he afterward builds upon it where he deduceth from this Proposition conceded That a Church which hath erred cannot be relied on in matter of Religion therefore men must be satisfied whâ—ther a Church hath erred or no before they can judge whether she may be relied oâ— or no for though this be allowed here that such Church as may be relied on hath amongst other properties or sure marks this for one that she doth not or cannot err yet many other Mark or Properties she may have by which men may be assured she may be relied on who are not first able to discern or prove all her Doctrines for truth or demonstrate her not erring Such arguing is much-what like to this That Body which casts no light cannot be fire therefore a man must first be satisfied whether such a body gives light before he can judge whether it be fire Not so because one blind and not seeing the light at all yet may certainly know it is fire by another property by its scorching Heat Or like this No Book than contains any false Proposition in it can be the Book of Holy Scripture therefore men must be satisfied whether such Book contain any false Proposition in it or no before they can judge whether it be the Book of Holy Scripture or no. Not so for men ordinarily by another way viz. universal Tradition become assured that such Book is Holy Scripture and thence collect that it contains nothing in it contradictory or false and so it is for the true Church or our true Guide that though she always conserveth Truth yet men come to know her by another way and of her first known afterward learn that truth which she conserveth But 2ly These Protestant Marks viz. Truth of Christian doctrine and right Administration of Sacraments §. 29. n. 2. if we could attain a certain knowledge of them another way and needed not to learn them from the Church yet are no infallible Mark of that Catholick Body and Society to which Christians may securely adhere and rank themselves in its Communion because such Body when entirely professing the Christian Faith yet still may be Schismatical and some way guilty of dissolving the Christian Vnity as Dr. Field amongst others freely concedes Who ‖ Of the Ch. l 2. c. 2. p. 31. 33. therefore to make up as he saith the Notes of the true Catholick Church absolute full and perfect and generally diginguishing this Church from all other Societies adds to these two the entire profession of saving Faith and the right use of Sacraments a third Mark viz. an Union or connexion of men in this Profession and use of these Sacraments Under lawful Pastors and Guides appointed and authorized to direct and lead them in the happy ways of eternal Salvation Which Pastors lawfully authorized he ‖ l. 1. c. 14. grants those not to be who though they have power of Order yet have no power of
the priviledges of an undisturbed Ecclesiastical Government and which seems by reason of its numerous Clergy and populacy and extent of the arms of this body propagation of its faith into all the other quarters of the world to be the greatest part of Christianity that which hath bin alwais the most dignified by reason of S. Peters Chair From which for any of the Western Body to make an appeal out of these bounds to the present Eastern Churches now hindred by the great oppressor of Christianity there disturbed in the Exercise of any such Judicature and also much divided among themselves and who have not met in any Council for this eight hundred years save by sending at several times their delegates into the West For any I say to make an appeal from a Church flourishing in Government and discipline in learning and records of Antiquity the City still on a Hill and Candle on a Candlestick to seek for Votes among the Jacobites Maronites Caphtites Armenians Abyssines or Greek Churches c. several of them being suspected of ancient Heresies and if Hereticks no members of the Catholick Church appears nothing else but the refusal of a trial and avoiding the sentence of any such Guide and judge as Gods Providence hath afforded us and besides this is an Appeal where could those Churches now freely deliver their sentence and were now set on the Bench as this present Judge the Appealants can have no hopes of any success to their cause For that these Churches or at least the greatest Body of them as is shewed elsewhere ‖ Disc 3. §. 158. appear to keep as great a distance from the reformed as the major part of the Western Body doth § 37 3ly If the Councils that are extant and reputed for General since the first six or seven hundred years to the times of Luther's reformation shall be by any acknowledged either for General 3. or for the most universal that could well be convened or at least that are found actually to have bin convened a thing which I think though the testimony the present Church gives to them be made no use of the common veracity of History will clear to us besides that none hath any other Councils of an equal authority in these times to nominate and set up against them and those who demolish them do it without erecting or discovering to us any better or any besides I say if any think meet to relie on the judgment of these past Councils in the present matter these also will sufficiently evidence to us that the first of these Bodies fore-named is our present rightful Guide and Judge For since the Acts and Laws of such Councils are not only of force and obligatory to those present times wherein they sit but to all future Ages with the execution of which Acts and Decrees the succeeding Pastors and chief Governors of the Church in their several stations and residences in all following times stand charged till these are by an equal authority reversed It seems clear that in any division hapning afterward of these Pastors those are to be acknowledged our right Guides who own adhere to and propagate the Definitions and Laws of these former Councils Now this we see the first of these two Bodies doth as the latter renounceth them yet renounceth them without the producing of the patronage of any Councils at all in their stead pulling down as it were all the Church's Castles and Forts if I may call her Councils so against the incursions of errours and heresies that have bin built in several Ages for near a thousand years and yet shewing none other at all for Christians in the many points that have been disputed to repair to but leaving the sad Spectators of these their demolitions quite disheartned as diffiding in the Churches judgment so much decried for error and having yet more reason to distrust their own and so not knowing in this case whither to betake themselves for the setling of their Religion and conscience For surely this unerringness which the late Reformers have denied to those great Bodies of the Church they cannot in reason assume to those lesser Conventions of their own CHAP. V. The Pretended security of those Protestants who deny any certain living or personal Guide infallible in Necessaries Affirming That all necessary matters of Faith are even to the unlearned clear in Scripture and the Controversies in non Necessaries needless to be decided § 38. Necessaries clear in Scripture Because God hath left no other certain means or Guides for the knowledge of them § 39. n. 1. 1 No Guide which is infallible 2 Which the unlearned in any Division can discern from false or know and understand their decrees better than the Scriptures 3 Or which the Scriptures direct them to for learning Necessaries § 39. n. 2. The Reply 2. That Evidence of the Scriptures hath been the usual Plea of former Hereticks in their dâ—ssenting from the Church § 40. n. 1. 2. That as to the main and principal Articles of the Christian Faith the sufficiency of the Rule of Scripture is not denied by Roman Catholicks But only the clearness thereof as to all mens capacities questioned and another Guide held necessary § 40. n. 2. It is replied then 1. * Concerning the clearnesse of Scripture 1 That some of the Controversies in Religion since the Scriptures written have bin concerning Points necessary § 41. 2 That the more clear all Necessaries are in Scripture the more security Christians have in the Churches judgement § 42. 3 That there is no necessity that all Necessaries be revealed in Scripture clearly to all 1 Because it is sufficient If the Scriptures for the things doubtful therein direct to these Guides § 43. 2 Sufficient if such things be cleared to these Guides by other Apostolical Tradition § 44. 3 Or if the true sence of the Scriptures touching these matters be cleared to them by Tradition § ib. 4 Or if such sence be clear in the Scriptures themselves well examined and compared to them though not to all § 45. 2 y Concerning the Guide 1 That Scripture in what it is ambiguous cannot be a Guide § 49. n. 1. 2 That it is not necessary that Christians be in or by the Scriptures directed to another Guide ib. n. 2. 3 Yet that thâ—y are in the Scriptures so directed § 47. n. 3. 4 And may in many points more easily understand the sence of their decisions than of the Scriptures § 48. § 38 THe usual security that some of them give their followers α. is this α That all Controversies that arise in matters of Faith or in matters very profitable ‖ Chillingw p. 54. are so clearly decided or determined in Scripture that none learned or unlearned using that industry which humane prudence and ordinary discretion his condition considered adviseth him to can err in them ‖ See Chiling p 115.92 19.58 59. Pref. §. 30. c.
extare unde ea quatenus omnino ad salutem est necessarium cognosci indubitatò possit At nihil tale extare praeter sacras literas Nam si dicas Ecclesiam esse unde ea cognitio semper peti possit primum statuendum tibi erit Deum etiam decrevisse ut Ecclesia vera falsa enim ad eam rem inepta est semper usque ad mundi finem extet Sed ut Ecclesia vera extet à quâ omnes salutaris vâ—ritâ—tis notitiam indubitatè pevere queant requiritur ut homines complures coetum aliquem qui in omnium â—oulos incurrat constituant At non est quod quis certam aliquam Ecclesiam hoc privilegio a Deo donatam esse contendat ut fide excidere nequeat Deinde non posse Ecclesiam veram certo cognosci nisi prius cognoscatur quae sit salutaris Christi doctrina praeterea indipsum saltem debuisse alicubi in sacris literis clarè ac perspicuè scriptum extaâ—e debere ab Ecclesia peti omnia quae ad salutem scitu sunt necessaria quaenam ea sit Ecclesia ac unde debeat cognosci clare describi ne quis in câ cognoscenda facile errare posset Nam si quippiam scriptu fuisset necessarium hoc sane fuisset sine quo reliqua omnia quae cripta sunt nihil aut parum admodum prodessent Denique eam Ecclesiam quam isti Pontificii perpetuo extitisse volunt constare multis in rebus atque adeo in iis quoquâ— quâ— ad salutem sunt necessariae gravissime errare Things usually pleaded by Mr. Chillingw and his followers but whether borrowed from these I can say nothing ‖ See below § 47. n. Thus the Socinians lay the platform of their Religion and when the Protestants for confuting their errour urge Fathers and Church-authority against them they reply That they have learnt this from them to receive nothing besides Scripture and to neglect the Fathers ‖ See Simlerus de Filio Dei S. Spiritu Prafat Mean-while Appeals of the Fathers in Controversies of Religion to the trial of the Holy Scriptures I acknowledge frequent and that also somtimes waving Church-authority ‖ See S. Austin contra Maximinum l. 3. c. 14. but never made in opposition to it former or present Their great humility which also kept them Orthodox hindred them from presuming this and had any of them done it posterity would not have stiled him a Father The second thing is §. 40. n. 2. that as to the sufficiency or intirenesse of the Scriptures 2 for the containing all those points of faith that are simply necessary of all persons to be believed for attaining salvation Roman Catholicks deny it not but only deny such a clearness of Scripture in some of those as Christians cannot mistake or pervert Catholicks contend indeed that there are several things necessary to be believed by Christians according as the Church out of Apostolical Tradition hath or shall declare and propose them as touching the Government of the Church several Functions of the Clergy Administration of the Sacraments and some other sacred Ceremonies and particularly concerning the Canon of the Scriptures which are not contained in the Scriptures at least as to the clear mention therein of all those appertinents which yet have bin ever observed in the Church And touching the obligation of believing and due observing of several of these Traditions as descending from the Apostles learned Protestants also agree with them ‖ See Dr. Field of the Church l. 4. c. 20. Dr. Tailor Episcopacy asserted § 19. Reasons of the University of Oxford against the Covenant 1647. p. 9. and in particular concerning the believing of the Canon of Scripture though it be a thing not contained in Scripture See Mr. Chillingworths Concession p. 55. ‖ See also p. 114 where he saith That when Protestants affirm against Papists that Scripture is a perfect Rule of faith their meaning is not that by Scripture all things absolutely may be proved which are to be believed For it can never be proved by Scripture to a Gain-sayer that there is a God or that the Book called Scripture is the Word of God For he that will deny these Assertions when they are spoken will believe them never a whit the more because you can shew them written But their meaning is that the Scripture to them that presuppose it divine and a Rule of faith as Papists and Protestants do containes all the material objects of faith is a compleat and total and not only an imperfect and a partial Rule Where in saying all material objects of faith he means only all other after these he names presupposed and pre-believed But though I say Catholicks maintain several Credends that are not expressed in Scriptures necessary to be believed and observed by Christians after the Churches Proposal of them as Tradition Apostolical amongst which the Canon of Scripture Yet they willingly concede that all such points of faith as are simply necessary for attaining salvation and as ought explicitly by all men to be known in order thereto either raâ—ione medii or pracepti as the doctrines collected in the three Creeds the common Precepts of manners and of the more necessary Sacraments c. are contained in the Scriptures contained therein either in the Conclusion it self or in the principles from whence it is necessarily deduced ‖ Bellarmin de verbo Dei non scripto lib 4. cap. 11. Illa omnia scippta sunt ab Apostolis quae sunt omnibus simpliciter necessaria ad salutem Stapleton Relect Princip Doctrinae fidei Controver 5. q. 5. art 1 Doctrinam fidei ab omnibus fingulis explicitè credendam omnem aut ferè omnem scripto commendarunt Apostoli The main and substantial Points of our faith saith F. Fisher in Bishop White pag 12. are believed to be â—postolical because they are written in cripture S. Thom 22. q. 1. art 9. primus ad primum art 10. ad primum In Doctrina Christi Apostolorum he means câ—pâ—a weritas fidei est sufficienter explicata sed quia pervesi homines Scripturas peâ—vertunt ideo necessaria fuit temporibus proceâ—encibus explicatio fides contra insurgentes errores Therefore the Church from time to time defining any thing concerning such points defines it out of the Revelations made in Scripture And the chief Tradition the necessity and benefit of which is pretended by the Church is not the delivering of any additional doctrines descended from the Apostles times extra Scripturas i. e. such as have not their foundation at least in Scripture but is the preserving and delivering of the primitive sence and Church-explication of that which is written in the Scriptures but many times not there written so clearly which traditive sence of the Church you may find made use of against Arianisme in the first Council of Nice ‖ See Theod. Hist l. 1 c. 8. Or
as Dr. Field It is that forme of Christian doctrine and Explication of the several parts thereof ‖ Of the Ch. P. 375. which the first Christians receiving of the same Apostles that delivered to them the Scriptures commended to posterity Thus he This then being the Tradition that is chiefly vindicated by the Roman Church it is not the deficiency of Scripture as to all the main and prime and universally necessary-to-be-known Articles of faith as if there were any necessity that these be supplied and compleated with other not written traditional Doctrines of Faith that Catholicks do question but the non-clearness of Scriptures for several of these points such as that they may be miss-understood which non-câ—earness of them infers a necessity of making use of the Church's tradition for a true exposition and sence is the thing that they assert and wonder that after the appearance of so many grievous Heresies and should deny For as to the Scriptures containing all the chief and material Points of a Christian's belief what Article of Faith is there except that concerning the Canon of Scripture which Protestants also grant cannot be learnt out of Scripture and excepting those Practicals wherein the Church only requiring a Belief of the Lawfulness of them it is enough if they cannot be shewed to be against Scripture I say what Speculative Article of Faith is there for which Catholicks rest meerly on unwritten Tradition and do not for it alledge Scripture I mean even that Canon of Scripture which Protestants allow A thing observed also by Dr. Field ‖ l. 4. c. 20. but too much extended This is so clear saith he That there is no matter of Faith 't is granted no principal point thereof delivered by bare and only Tradition that therein the Romanists contrary themselves endeavouring to prove by Scripture the same things they pretend to hold by Tradition as we shall find if we run through the things questioned between them and us they contrary not themselves in their holding several things to be delivered clearly by Tradition which are also but obscurely or more evadably contained in the words of Scripture Again ‖ Ib. p. 377. So that for matters of Faith saith he we may conclude according to the judgment of the best and most learned of our Adversaries themselves that there is nothing to be believed which is not either expresly contained in Scripture or at least by necessary consequence from thence and by other things evident in the light of Nature or in the matter of Fact to be concluded Thus he I say then not this whether the main or if you will the entire body of the Christian Faith as to all points necessary by all to be explicitly believed be contained there but this whether so clearly that the unlearned using a right diligence cannot therein mistake or do not need therein another Guide is the thing here contested § 41 For a particular Reply then to what is here said To α 1st I ask if all Necessaries be clearly revealed R. to α and all necessary Controversies clearly decided in Scripture even to the unlearned how have Controversies in Necessaries as concerning the Trinity our Lord's Deity and Humanity c. in several Ages arose and gained many Followers Here will they say that such Controversies are not in Necessaries How then came the first General Councils extolled by Protestants to put them in the Creed or to exact Assent to them upon Anathema which Councils they affirm in non-necessaries fallible and in what they are fallible unjustly imposing Assent Or will they say that they are in Necessaries and that the unlearned may easily discern and decide them and that not by Tradition but only Scripture How happened it then that heretofore so many learned unlearned when forsaking the Church's guidance erred in them But if they say this hapned for want of a due diligence in the search of the Scriptures thus they leave men in great perplexity when the Scripture is plain and only obscure to them through their negligent search and so when the point perhaps may be necessary Thus an illiterate Christian not discerning from clear Scripture whether Sociniansme or Anti-Socinianisme be the Catholick Faith which he is very sollicitous to live and die in and consulting them concerning it they tell him there is no other director left him besides Scripture whose Judgment he may securely follow the judgment of the Church or Councils here being waved by them because this judgment allowed or authorized will infer the Belief of some other points which they approve not Only this satisfaction they seem to leave him that if neither side be clear to him in Scripture neither much matters it which side he holds for truth For God say they hath there clearly revealed all necessaries But he enquiring further whether they do not firmly believe Anti-Socinianism and also ground their Faith of this upon the Clearness of Scripture in it And then it appearing to them clear in Scripture how they know but that it may be a necessary truth and so his salvation ruined if he believe the contrary Here what they can answer that will not more perplex him I see not Since so long as he may possibly fail in a due diligence though only required according to his condition he cannot be satisfied whether the point to every due Searcher be not clear in Scripture and also be not a Necessary Nor yet will they allow him any other certain Director in it but the same Scripture which appears to him ambiguous Hear what Mr. Stillingfleet interposeth in this matter It seems reasonable saith he ‖ Ration account p. 58. that because Art and Subtilty may be used by such who seek to pervert the Catholick Doctrine and to wrest the plain places of Scripture which deliver it so far from their proper meaning that very few ordinary capacities may be able to clear themselves to such Mists as are cast before their eyes the sence of the Catholick Church in succeeding ages may be a very useful way But why not a necessary way I pray upon the former supposa for us to embrace the true sence of Scripture especially in the great Articles of the Christian Faith As for instance in the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ or the Trinity Therefore you see in the greatest Articles Scriptures confessed not so plain especially to the unlearned and ordinary capacities § 42 2 ly If all Necessaries so clearly revealed in Scripture may we not so much the more securely and certainly rely on the judgment of our Ecclesiastical Guides and Teachers in them to whom they must needs be as or more plain than to us especially on their Judgment when assembled in a General Council on it for these Necessaries at least It seems no and that the case is now altered Even now Necessaries were so plain in Scripture as the unlearned using ordinary diligence could not mistake in them Now Necessaries are
these doctrines sufficiently revealed to the then-appointed Ecclesiastical Guides from whom both the present people and the future successors of these Guides both were and might rationally know they were to learn them and so had there bin no Scriptures might by meer Tradition have learned them sufficiently to this day for their Salvation This is a second way then of sufficient Revelation besides or without that in Scripture viz. All necessary Truth since the penning of the Scriptures only so manifested clearly to and so delivered clearly by the Church-Guides as they were manifested to them before Scripture 3ly Because as all the Christian Doctrines might before so the true meaning of some part of the same Scripture might after the writing allo of the New-Testament-Scriptures have bin clearly enough delivered by Tradition and by the first Scripture-Expositors to the Christian people that were then and so to Posterity though mean-while the Letter of such Scripture doth not so necessarily enforce this traditive sence as not to be possibly or somtimes probably capable of another This is a third way of sufficient Revelation viz. by the clear descending Tradition of the sence of those Scriptures which are in their Letter ambiguous § 45 But 4 ly Supposing it needful that all such Necessaries must be clearly revealed in the Letter of Scripture yet is this sufficient to save God's proceedings from tyranny if that they be with sufficient clearness revealed therein to the Church Guides alone and to the Learned that diligently read and compare the Scriptures together and use the helps of the comparings and comments of others and if that the illiterate people be remitted by God in all ages to learn these Necessaries from their Guides This is a fourth way of sufficient Revelation of Necessaries i. e. a revelation of them in Scripture such as must be clear to the Church-Guides in stead of that other revelation there of Mr. Chillingworth's such as must be clear to all To I answer §. 46. n. 1. that where the sence of the Scripture is ambiguous R. to β. and in Controversie which sence and not the Letter only is God's Word here their Guide to know this true sence of Scripture cannot be this by all allowed infallible Scripture which Protestants pretend but must be either the Church's judgment which they say is fallible or their own which all reasonable men I should think will say is more fallible To γ. See many of their Questions solved R. to γ. Disc 3. § 86. and concerning our understanding the sence of the Church's Definition better than the sence of Scriptures See below § 48. c. To δ. 1st It is not necessary §. 46. n. 2. R. to δ. that God should direct Christians in this matter by the Scriptures since they were sufficiently directed herein also before the Scriptures I mean before the writing of those of the New-Testament and since they might be sufficiently assured from those who were sent by our Lord to teach them Christianity in this point also that they were sent to teach them But 2ly It is maintained that God in the Scriptures hath done this §. 46. n. 3. and * hath told us ‖ Eph. 4.11 c. That he hath set these Guides in the Church for the edifying and perfecting thereof and for this in particular that the Church should not be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine with which Winds of contrary Doctrines the Subjects of the Church as Experience shews from age to age would have bin grievously shaken and dissipated but that these Governors from time to time by stating her Doctrines have preserved her Children from it And * hath told us again ‖ 2 Pet. 3.16 That the unlearned wrest some of the Scriptures that are plain it seems to the Learned in that these wresters are the unlearned to their own damnation therefore these are such Scriptures also as speak concerning Necessaries And * hath therefore given us a charge to obey these guides to whom is committed the Care of our Souls and to follow their faith ‖ Heb. 13.7 17. * And declared that he that heareth them heareth him ‖ Luke 10. add that he will be with them to the end of the world especicially when gaehered together ‖ Mat. 18.17 20. and would have the refractory to them excommunicated ‖ Mat. 18.17 And accordingly to this Warrant in Scripture and out of it in primitive Tradition the Church-Guides from age to age have met together setled the Churchches Doctrines exacted Conformity excommunicated Dissenters c Next to ε. Where they say That God foreseeing §. 47. n. 1. that Divisions would happen among these Guides R. to ε. would have told us in the Scriptures which in such case among the several Parties of them we ought always to follow and adhere to As that we should adhere to the Church of Rome to the Vicar of Christ to the most General Councils and in dissenting Votes to the Major part thereof c. To which purpose are those words of Mr. Chillingworth ‖ p. 61. If our Saviour the King of Heaven had intended that all Controversies in Religion should be by some visible Judge finally determined who can doubt but in plain terms he would have expressed himself about this matter He would have said plainly The Bishop of Rome I have appointed to decide all emergent Controversies For that our Saviour designed the Bishop of Rome I add or a General Counci to this Office and yet would not say so nor cause it to be written ad rei memoriam by any of the Evangelists or Apostles so much as once but leave it to be drawn out of uncertain Principles by 13 or 14. more uncertain Consequences He that can believe it let him And p. 104. He saith It would have been infinitely beneficial to the Church perhaps as much as all the rest of the Bible that in some Book of Scripture which was to be undoubtedly received this one Proposition had been set down in terms The Bishops of Rome with their Adherents shall always be the Guides of Faith c. And p. 171. he argues thus Seeing God doth nothing in vain and seeing it had been in vain to appoint a Judge of Controversies and not to tell us so plainly who it is and seeing lastly he hath not told us plainly no not at all who it is is it not evident he hath appointed none See the same thing urged by Mr. Stillingfleet Rat. Account p. 465. And see all this as it were translated only out of the Socinian Books before § 40. n. 1. To this 1st I answer §. 47. n. 2. That negative argning from Scripture 1. such as this a thing of so great concernment to all Christians if it were true would have bin clearly expressed in the Scripture but this is not found clearly expressed rherein therefore it is not true as
again he using the ordinary care of persons desiring instruction cannot but come to know its Councils and their definitions its doctrines and Laws which we find as the Leaders of all Sects do theirs so those of the Church Catholick are studious to divulge and publish so far as they are by him considering his condition necessary to be known and the profession or practice thereof required of him For Example In the Church of England who is there using the ordinary care necessary in matters of his salvation that first cannot easily discern this Church from the several other later and unheaded sects that are in this Kingdom and this Church known who may not easily attain therein to a knowledg also of its Articles of Religion and Canons its Synods or Convocations delivered by the common Tradition and by the Church-Guides and publick Writings daily inculcated so far as the understanding of them is to him necessary The same evidence therefore in these things must be allowed not to be wanting to those who have once found among the many Societies of Christians that Church which is their right Guide § 49 And litle reason have the reformed to affirm a necessity that all Necessaries should be made most evident even to the unlearned in the Scriptures if asserted on this account because such people have no means of attaining any certain knowledge of them from the Ministry of the Church And with litle reareason seem Mr. Stillingfleet and others to affirm which yet is used by many late Protestant-Writers as a main ground of evacuating the authority of the Church * that it is no easier a thing to know what the Church defines than what Scripture determines and That the same Arts that can evade the texts of Scripture will equally elude the Definitions of Councils Tillots Rule of saith p. 21. as if all writings were equally plain or equally obscure or if none free from therefore all equally liable to cavils Again * That the Argument of the willingness of all Protestants to submit their judgments to Scripture will hold as well or better for their unity as that of the readiness of all those of the Church of Rome to submit their judgments to the sence and determination of the Church will hold for their unity And this unity to be effected by the Scriptures he speaks of as to those matters wherein the sence of the same Scriptures is controverted amongst Christians for in such only it is that Christians for their unity seek to the decisions of the Church As if they undertook to defend this That a living Judge set up for the expounding of the dubious places of the Law to the sentence of which Judg all are agreed to assent yet is no more effective for ending controversies about the sense of the Laws and for uniting parties than the Laws themselves are without such Judge Mr. Stillingfleets words are ‖ p 101. Your great Argument for the unity of your party because whatever the private opinions of men are they are ready to submit their judgments to the censure and determination of the Church if it be good will hold as well or better for our unity as yours because all men are willing to submit their judgments to Scripture which is agreed on all sides to be infallible If you say that it cannot be known what Scripture determines but it may be easily what the Church defines It is easily answered that the event shews it to be far otherwise for how many disputes are there concerning the power of determining matters of faith c concluding thus so that upon the whole it appears setting aside force and fraud which are excellent principles of Christian unity we are upon as fair termes of union as you are among your selves Where doth he not say this in effect that the true Church being known and its authority granted infallible as that of the Roman Church is by its subjects Yet we can no more know what this Church defines suppose what the Church of Rome or of England defines concerning Transubstantiation St-Invocation Sacrifice of the Mass c. than what Scripture determines concerning these points and that Canons Catechisms c. authorized by a Church can no further clear any point to us than Scripture did formerly and that only the Church is so unfortunate in her publick interpretations of Scriptures that her Expositions are no plainer than the Texts and that only force or fraud unites her subjects in their opinions And if so what fault hath the Council of Trent made in its new definitions if after these it seems ‖ Stillingf p. 102. there is as much division and then liberty also of opinions as was before them Why do they accuse its decrees as plain enough but erroneous and not invalidate them rather as dubious and uncertain Why dispute they not whether these we have now extant be its genuine Acts Would it not be advantageous to the reformed to shew that this Council makes nothing against them In such unreasonable Contests hath Mr. Chillingworth by inventing many captious questions to weaken Church-authority engaged his followers As if though Catholicks allow several things in Councils obscurely delivered some proceedings in some things unjust the legality of some Councils disputed c yet there could not remain still enough clear and unquestionable both of Councils and their Canons both * to establish the most illiterate subjects of the Catholick Church in all such as is thought necessary faith whose obligation is not to believe all things defined but all things sufficiently proposed to them to be so and * to overthrow the past Reformation THE THIRD DISCOURSE CHAP. I. Roman-Catholicks and Protestants agreed 1. That the Scriptures are God's Word § 1. 2. That in these Scriptures agreed on it is clearly declared that the Church in no age shall err in Necessaries § 2. 3. That the Church-Catholick is contra-distinct to Heretical and Schismatical Churches § 4. 4. That Christ hath left in this Church Pastors and Teachers to keep it from being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine § 5. § 1 1st BOth Roman Catholicks and Protestants are agreed That there is sufficient certainty in the General Tradition of the Catholick Church descending to the present Age that the Bible or Holy Scriptures are the Word of God 2ly They are agreed That it is clearly declared in these Scriptures that the Catholick Church § 2 in no age shall err in Credends or Practicals necessary for obtaining Salvation From which Christians seem to be secured That in their approving § 3 and conforming to what is granted generally to be held by the Church-Catholick of any age whatsoever they shall incur no Error or Practice destructive of Salvation Whereas a hazard herein may be in their departing from the Doctrine or Practice of the Church-Catholick or of all the particular Churches of any age all or some of which must be the Catholick § 4 3ly
Promise that they shall not err or misguide the Churches subjects in Necessaries § 6 7 I mean Necessaries taken in the sence above explained 2 Disc § 9. And next because what or how much is to be accounted thus necessary the judgement of this belongs also to these Church-Governors not their subjects as is shewed before 2. Disc § 6 7. CHAP. III. R. Catholicks proceeding to affirm 11. That all persons dissenting from and opposing any known Definition of the Church in a matter of Faith are Hereticks § 16. 12. All persons separating on what pretence soever from the external Communion of the Church-Catholick Schismaticks § 20. But yet that difference of Opinions or Practices between co-ordinate Churches may be without Heresie or Schisme on any side where no obligation to these lying on both from their common Superiors or from the whole § 23. § 16 11ly TOuching the two great Crimes of Heresie and Schisme dividing such persons or Churches as are guilty thereof from the Catholick Church and Communion See before Prop. 3. § 4. 1st For Heresie the Catholicks affirm That any particular Person or Church that maintains or holds the contrary to any to him made-known Definition passed in a matter of faith of any lawful General Council i. e. of those Councils that are accepted by the Church-Catholick in the sence mentioned before ‖ See §. 12. as such is Heretical Not medling here whether some others also besides these for the opposing some Doctrines clearly contained in Scripture or generally received by the Church and such as are by all explicitly to be belived may be called so 2ly They affirm That those may become Hereticks in holding an error in the faith after the Churches Definition of such a Point who were not so before § 17 Where The Reason why the certain judgement of Heresie is made not from the testimony of Scripture but of the Church and why all holding of the contrary to such definition known is pronounced Heresie though sometimes the same error before it was not so is because no Error in Faith can be judged Heresie but where there appears some Obstinacy and Contumacy joyned thereto Neither can such Obstinacy and Contumacy appear especially as to some Points of Faith from the Scriptures because the sence of Scripture as to some matter of Faith may be as to some persons ambiguous and not clear But the sence of the Church or her General Councils which is appointed by God the Supreme Expositor and Interpreter of the sence of the Scriptures that are any way doubtful and disputed is so clear as that any rational or disinteressed person to whom it and the authority delivering it and the divine assistance of that authority are proposed according to the evidence producible for them can neither deny her just authority over him nor her veracity and her Exposition of Scripture clearly against him who yet cannot see or at least hath not the same cogent evidence to acknowledge the Scripture in such point to be so and so such person will thenceforth become in this sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and self-convinced and if others happen by their contracted fault not to be so their guilt in general at least is not lessened but aggravated thereby Tit. 3.10 Therefore the Apostle writes to Bishop Titus that after a second Admonition he should reject a man Heretical or still adhering to his own Opinion knowing that such a one sinneth being self-condemned viz. that he disobeyeth the doctrine of the Church concerning which Church he either hath or might have sufficient evidence that he ought to believe Her And our Lord commands that he who in matters controverted refuseth to hear the Church should be withdrawn from by the Christian as a Heathen or Publican was by the Jew Thus it seems by these Texts is Heresie known and Hereticks to be rejected § 18 And the Fathers also are frequent in declaring those to be Hereticks who after the Church Definition continue to retain an opinion contrary thereto whereas themselves or others in holding the same Opinion before such Definition were not so Thus St. Austin ‖ De Civ Dei l. 18. c. 51. Qui in Ecclesiâ Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque sapiunt si correpti i by the Church ut sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter suaque mortifera pestifera dogmata emendare nolunt sed defensare persistunt haeretici fiunt It seems one holding dogma pestiferum mortiferum before the Churches corrâ—ption may be no Heretick who yet is so after it And elsewhere of the Donatists he saith ‖ De Haeresibus Post causam cum eo Caeciliano dictam atque finitam falsitatis rei deprehensi pertinaci dissentione firmatâ in haeresim schisma verterunt tanquam Ecclesia Christi propter crimina Caeciliani detoto terrarum orbe perierit Audent etiam rebaptizare Catholicos ubi se amplius Haereticos esse firmarunt cum Ecclesiae Catholicae universae placuerit nec in ipsis haereticis baptisma commune rescindere Where observe that they are charged by this Father for Heresie which Hereticalness of theirs Protestants would fain divert to other matters in the point of rebaptization and that because this point now setled by the Church And so Vincent Lirinen ‖ c. 11. O rerum mira conversio Auctores ejusdem opinionis Catholici consectatores vero haeretici judicantur absolvuntur magistri condemnantur discipuli c. the wonder here is that in holding the self same opinion the one are not Hereticks the other are i. e. after a General Council had condemned the Tenent Again St. Austin ‖ D. Haeresibus gives Quod-vult-Deus for avoiding Heresies this General Rule Scire sufficit Ecclesiam contra aliquid sentire ut illud non recipiamus in fidem It seems this was a Principle with the Father Nihil recipiendum in fidem or credendam contra quod sentit Ecclesia And we know what follows Credendum quod sentit Where the contraries are immediate sublato uno ponitur alterum But this latter also is expresly said by him ‖ Epist 118. Si quid horum per orbem frequentat Ecclesia hoc quin ita faciendum sit disputare insolentissimae insaniae est This concerning doing and then it holds also for believing the Church's Faith being if either more sure than her practise But for believing too he saith ‖ De Bapt. l. 1. c. 18. Restat ut hoc credamus quod universa Ecclesia a Sacrilegio schismatis remota custodit And Quod in hac re sentiendum est plenioris Concilii sententiâ totius Ecclesiae consensio confirmat Therefore after the Churches definition he saith One in holding the contrary then first becomes an Heretick when he knows or by his fault is ignorant that the Church hath defined it See de Baptism contra Donat. l. 4. c. 16. Constituamus ergo saith he duos aliquos isto modo unum eorum
verbi gratiâ id sentire de Christo quod Photinus opinatus est i. e. in modern language to be a Socinian no small errour in ejus haeresi baptizari extra Ecclesiae Catholicae Communionem alium vero hoc idem sentire sed in Catholicâ baptizari existimantem ipsam esse Catholicam fidem Illum nondum Haereticum dico nisi manifestatâ sibi doctrinâ Catholicae fidei resistere maluerit illud quod tenebat elegerit c. § 19 And this is Dr. Hammonds Comment on the fore-quoted place of Titus how consonant to his own or other Protestants doctrines I know not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ P. 761. self-condemned signifies not a man's publick accusing or condemning his own doctrines or practices for that self-condemnation being an effect and part of repentance would rather be a motive to free any from the censures of the Church who were already under them then aggravate their crime or bring that punishment upon them Nor yet 2ly can it denote him that offends and yet still continues to offend against conscience and though he be in the wrong yet holds out in opposition to the Church For besides that there are very few that do so and these known to none but God and if that were the Character of an Heretick then none but Hypocrites would be Hereticks and he that through pride and opinion of his own judgement stood out against the doctrine of Christ and his Church in the purest times should not be an Heretick this inconvenience would further be incurred that no Heretick could possibly be admonished or censured by the Church for no man would acknowledge of himself that what he did was by him done against his own conscience nor could any testimony be produced against him before any humane Tribunal no man being able to search the heart It is rather an expression of his separation from and disobedience to the Church and so an evidence of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being perverted and sinning wilfully and without excuse For he that thus disobeys and breaks off from the unity of the Church doth in effect inflict that punishment on himself which the Church useth to Malefactors that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 13.10 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cutting off from the Church which when he being an Heretick and therein a Schismatick also doth voluntarily without the Judges sentence his very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a spontaneous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or excision And that this Doctor may not go alone see Dr. Fernes Comment on the same place ‖ The Case between the Ch. of Engl. and Rome p. 53. when he writ against Presbyterians accusing them of Schism from the Church of England The word Heretick saith he according to the use of it then implied one that obstinately stood out against the Church or that led any Sect After the strictest Sect or Heresie of the Pharisees Acts 26.5 After that which they call Heresie Acts 24.14 a factious Company divided from the Church so they called or accounted of Christians and Gal. 5.20 we have it reckoned among the works of the flesh Debates Contentions Heresie So here Heretick that leads a faction a sect or that wilfully follows or abets it A man therefore that is a Heretick contentious disobedient to the Order and authority of the Church reject for he is self condemned having both past the sentence upon himself by professing against or dividing from the Church and also done execution like that of the Church's censure and excommunication upon himself by actual separation or going out of the Church A fearful condition Thus he And something to the same purpose saith Dr. Hammond ‖ Of Fundamentals c. 9. §. 4. concerning the guilt of those who afterward deny or oppose the things defined and added to the Apostles Creed by the first Councils Though the Creed saith he in the ancient Apostolick form were sufficient for any man to believe and profess yet when the Church hath thought meet to erect that additional Bulwark against Hereticks the rejecting or denying the truth of those their additions may justly be deemed an interpretative siding with those ancient or a desire to introduce some new Heresies And the pride or singularity or heretical design of opposing or questioning them now they are framed being irreconcileable with Christian charity and humility is justly deemed criminous and liable to censures Again § 6. Though those who believed c. the matter of the Apostles Creed had all those Branches of Christian Faith which were required to qualifie mankind to submit to Christs Reformation yet he grants the wilful opposing these more explicit Articles added by Councils and the resisting of them when they are competently proposed from the Definition of the Church will bring danger of ruine on such persons Again § 8. This i of one Baptism and all the former additions in the Nicene Creed being thus setled by the universal Church were and still are in all reason without disputing to be received and embraced by the present Church and every meek member thereof Here then it seems that Heresie it is or something criminous equivalent thereto to oppose the Church's definitions and additions though the former Creed was sufficient to have been believed and professed in all times before them Lastly King James in his Answer to Card. Perron penned by Casaubon seems to have the same Notion of Heresie as also of Schism with the Roman Church and the Fathers making Heresie any departing from the Faith Schism from the Communion of the Church Catholick Credit vero Rex saith Casaubon ‖ Letter to Perron simpliciter sine fuco fallaciis unicam esse Ecclesiam Dei re nomine Catholicam sive Vniversalem toto diffusam mundo extra quam ipse quoque nullam Salutem debere sperari affirmat damnat detestatur eos qui vel jam olim vel postea aut a fide recesserunt Ecclesiae Catholicae facti sunt Haeretici aut à Communione facti sunt Schismatici Difference here about the Extent of the Catholick Church there is some but none that all opposition of its Faith is Heresie Again Nullam spem Salutis superesse iis qui à fide Ecclesiae Catholicae aut ab ejusdem Communione discesserint Rex ultro concedit I suppose here is meant the present Catholick Church and in any difference the main Body thereof its whole and integral Faith or any part thereof and its external Communion Otherwise if this meant of the Catholick Church collectively of all ages when in some ages several points of Faith were not yet defined and of every member thereof in those ages when in most points may be found some dissenters and of Points of Faith necessary inferiors being Judges a term applyed as any one pleaseth to more points or fewer Lastly of Communion internal which may be said now to be deserted now retained as any
no agreement or union from the Common Superiors of them both and so long as one part divides not from the other in any thing wherein the other agrees with the whole against it or which the whole enjoyns both to the other and it But in such case the division of this part is as from the other part so from the whose and so becomes for its division from the whole and not from the other part Schismatical 2 ly They grant also that one part may lawfully and without Schism separate or rather absent it self from the external Communion of another so often as either the Communion of the other part suspected of Heresiae or Schism before any evidence of the contrary is thought unlawful or as this part requires some condition of its external Communion to which the other is not by the whole or by the Superiors of both any way obliged Thus the Catholicks CHAP. IV. On the other side the Protestants after the four first Propositions conceded thus proceeding to qualifie them 5. In their granting the Catholick Church unerrable in Necessaries understanding thereby only such few Points without which Salvation no way attainable § 24. 6. Affirming the Church Catholick or all particular Churches of some one age or ages errable in several other doctrines dangerous to Salvation gross damnable c. § 25. Because it appears that many of the chief Points from which Protestants dissent were the General Tenents and Practices at the coming of Luther § 26. 7.8 Affirming * the Church's General Councils also when universally accepted to be unerring in Necessaries but not so in other and that is in the most Points And in the former 1 Extending universal acceptation to all particular Churches and 2 Restraining Necessaries as before to those absolutely so Again * The Councils not so accepted to be errable also in Necessaries § 34.35 36. 9.10 Allowing Obedience also due to the Definitions and Decrees of such Councils But not that of Assent but only of Non-contradiction § 39. Where of the Quality of the Obedience yeilded by the Church of England to the four first Councils § 40. 11. Of Non contradiction not generally but where the Error of the Council not manifest and intolerable § 43. Claiming also where the Errour manifest a power against such Council to reform it for themselves § 44. 12. The judgement also as for themselves when there is or is not such Error in Councils left to particular Persons or Churches § 47. § 24 BUt the Protestants after conceding the four first Propositions labour to pull down these superstructures of the Catholicks which they see else would ruine their cause and thus proceed After the first four Propositions above agreed on 5 ly They explain themselves That by the Necessaries wherein Prop. 2 they grant the Catholick Church of all ages unerrable they understand only those few Points spoken of before Disc 2. Prop. 6. without the explicit Belief of which Salvation is not at all attainable For in their saying that she is so unerrable they thus declare themselves That there alwayes shall be a number of men professing Christianity in the world So Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ Stillingf p. 251. A company of men that profess at least so much Truth as is absolutely necessary for their Salvation So Mr. Chillingworth ‖ P. 15. That Christ doth and will so defend his Church that there shall be forever till the end of the world a Church Christian on the earth So Dr. Hammond ‖ Defence of Lord Fulkland c. 1. §. 5.6 p. 23. No more inerrability in Faith you see here affirmed than that without which Salvation is absolutely on what terms soever in the Profession of Christianity not attainable wherein they straiten Christs promises as the Catholicks enlarge them by which they gain the liberty of reforming as they think fit from the universal Church of God as to some age or ages in most of her Doctrines as they granting her not save in some few necessaries unerrable that may as it were still preserve life in Her neither will they concerning this Question what are points necessary wherein our Lord hath promised an indefectibility to his Church what not by any means stand to her judgement § 25 6 ly They say ‖ that though the Church-Catholick is preserved always from errors in absolute necessaries taken in their sence § 24 for otherwise there would cease to be a Church of Christ upon earth yet the same Church or at least any or all particular Churches of some age or ages some one or many or all which particular Churches must be the visible universal Church-Catholick of that age or ages may generally hold and the Governors thereof impose upon their Subjects such errors and corruptions as are dangerous to Salvation gross damnable c. and therefore which upon a general Reformation neglected are corrigible and reformable by any particular Church for it self See what Arch-bishop Laud § 26 § 37. n. 5.6 Mr. Stillingfleet Part 2. c. 2. p. 330. and c. 4. p. 370.371 and c. 8. p. 478 479. Mr. Chillingworth c. 5. § 64.49 45 27. and the 31 st Article of the Church of England have said to this purpose § 27 And the Reason of this Assertion seems to be because these great points of modern controversie § 28 1. A Corporal Presence and a Transubstantiation or substantial Conversion of the Elements into Christs Body § 29 2. Adoration of the Eucharist i. e. of Christs Body and Blood as present in it which followes from the former § 30 3. The Sacrifice of the Mass not onely that of Prayers Praise and Thanksgivings nor only of the Mysteries in the consecrating of them offered as a Commemorative of the Passion a thing conceded also by learned Protestants but also of the very Body and Blood of Christ in these Mysteries which thing follows from the first Point offered in this Service pro vivis Defunctis c. 4. Invocation of the Blessed Virgin and Saints § 31 And 5. Such Prayer for the dead as infers their present condition before the day of Judgement whatever their restraint or sufferings be to be conceived better able by the Intercessions of the Living Do appear to have been universally held and practised and the approbation and conformity to them imposed by the Ecclesiastical Governors both of the Greek and Latine Church at the coming of Luther § 32 The clearning of which because it is a consideration of great importance and not meet to be omitted nor can be here inserted without making too great a Parenthesis and distracting your thoughts from the matter in hand I have rather chosen to annex it at the end of this discourse Cap. 11. § 158. referring you to that place for the perusal thereof if not in this matter already satisfied § 33 This then concerning the 6 th Proposition The Protestants affirming that the Catholick Church of some age may incurr and maintain dangerous
is so great and considerable as to invalidate the ratification of the rest when not Nor see I how it can be reasonably defided yet a thing of greatest consequence unless herein the minor will be content to follow the judgment of the much major part concerning what Councils stand thus admitted or rejected which rule were it observed then both in a valid acceptance of the Councils held in the Western Church in latter ages Protestants will be cast and by the determinations of those Councils several of their Disputes ended Mean while upon these and other pretences so it is that of 16. Councils or thereabouts reckoned up by the Cardinal ‖ De Council l. 1. c 5. whose Decrees all the Western Churches wherein several of these Councils the most General that those times could afford were called for ending of some Controversies that both a rose in and troubled only the West of 16. Councils I say which the Western Parts generally accepted when Luther appeared and which all the rest of the Western Churches except these Reformers continue still to approve they allow none of them that have handled matters of Controversie wherein the present times are concerned after the four first or the 5 th and 6 th but then cutting off here the Canons made in Trullo even those wherein both East and West consented and so do allow none of any note that have been held in the Church for near this 1000 years there being none of the more famous of them and the acts whereof are exstant wherein something hath not been passed that is contrary to the present Protestant Tenents ‖ See 1 Disc §. 50. n. 2. § 38 9ly To the Decrees of these General Council also when universally acknowledged such which yet when so they say may err in non necessaries they grant indeed an obedience due by all Inferiors Persons or Churches And consequently to those Decrees in which they hold such Councils unerrable i. e. in necessaries if all these necessaries were certainly distinguishable from all other points that are not so they must allow due an obedience of assent § 39 But 10ly They allow not absolutely This obedience of assent to their decrees ‖ Stillingf p. 506. but onely where inferiors see just cause of dissenting as sometimes they say they may since all these Councils are liable to error in non-fundamentals which also it is not known how far they do extend that of silence and non-publick contradiction § 40 The Church of England indeed professeth her Assent to the Definitions of the first four General Councils and Mr. Stillingfleet I know not on what Protestant ground saith ‖ P. 375. It is her duty to keep their Decrees and be guided by the sence of Scripture as interpreted by them But you may observe that this assent is not yeilded to those Councils because lawfully general and so presumed to be assisted by our Lord in the right defining and delivery of all necessary Faith for they say lawful General Councils not universally accepted in their sence may err in Fundamentals and those Councils that are universally accepted may err in Non-fundamentals but because the matter defined by them the Church of England being for Her self judge hereof ought to be assented to as being agreeable to the Scriptures and the Assent * is not yeilded for the Authority defining as infallibly assisted in necessaries but for the seeming evidence of the thing defined or at least for the non-appearing evidence of the contrary * is not yeilded because that particular persons or Churches are to take that for the true sence of Scripture which these Councils may possibly give of it but because those Councils gave in their Definitions that sence of Scripture which such particular Persons or Churches judge the true so that the reason which they give for their Assent to these General Councils obligeth as much their Assent to them had they been Provincial And upon the same terms as one person or Church assents to these Councils because they judge their Decrees consonant to Gods Word another without withdrawing any due obedience may dissent who judgeth the contrary and the authority or decision laies on Christians no ground of obligation as to belief save the reasonableness or non-appearing unreasonableness of the Councils Doctrines and submission of judgement is held not lawfully yeilded by any to whom the contrary seems evident and by all others is to be only conditional viz. until the contrary shall appear evident To this purpose §. 41. n. 1. see the 21 Article of the Church of England General Councils may err wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to Salvation have neither strength nor authority unless it may be declared that they were taken out of holy Scripture See the Act of Parliament 1 Elizabethae c. 1. wherein the determing or adjudging any thing Heresie by any Council is thus limited If in such Council the same is declared Heresie by the express and plain words of the Canonical Scriptures The words are Provided that such persons c. shall not have authority to determine any matters to be Heresie but only such as heretofore have been determined ordered or adjudged to be Heresie by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four General Councils or any of them or by any other General Councils wherein the same was declared Heresie by the Express and plain words of the said Canonical Scriptures And see in Soave p. 344. 366. the exceptions taken by Protestants at the safe-conduct of the Council of Trent for not adding to the authority of Councils and Fathers fundantesse veraciter in Scriptura as it run formerly in the safe-conduct of Basil That the Councils Fathers c. conformable to the Scripture should be Judges by which means the Protestants reserved this retreat when Councils appeared against them that yet they were not obliged by them because these Councils went also against the Scriptures See Dr. Fern Consid p. 19. To all the determinations of the Church we owe submission by Assent and belief conditional with reservation for evidence out of Gods Word and In matters of Faith saith he we cannot submit to any company of men by resignation of our judgement and belief or standing bound to receive for faith and worship all that they shall define and impose for such for such resignation gives to man what is due to God See Arch-bishop Laud p. 245. General Councils lawfully called c. cannot err keeping themselves to Gods Rule And p. 239. In all truth necessary to Salvation saith he I shall easily grant a General Council cannot err if suffering it self to be led by the Spirit of Truth in the Scripture and not taking upon it to lead both the Scripture and the Spirit See Dr. Field p. 666. It is not necessary for us expresly to believe whatsoever the Council hath concluded though it be true unless by some other means it appear unto us
to be true and we be convinced of it in some other sort than by the bare determination of the Council only But it sufficeth that we be ready expresly to believe it if it shall be made to appear unto us See Dr. Hammond of Heresie p. 96. ' It is hence manifest also what is the ground of that reverence that is by all sober Christians deemed due and paid to the first four General Councils Because 1st They set down and convinced the Truth of their Doctrine out of the Scripture 2ly Because they were so near the Apostles times when the sence of the Apostles might more easily be fetched from those Men and Churches to whom they had committed it Thus he though besides that the first of these Councils was almost at 300. years distance the reason of obedience to Church Governors given by Doctor Hammond elsewhere ‖ Of Fundamentals p. 903. viz. ' Because Christ speaks to us in those Governors as his immediate successors in the Prophetick Pastoral Episcopal office infers that the Churches authority in all ages is equally valid and so voids this reason He goes on 3dly Because the great Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity were the matter of their definitions yet he saith see Disc 1. § 6. that General Councils are no infallible Guide in Fundamentals and ‖ Of Heresy p. 115. that it is the matter of the Decrees and the Apostolicalness of them and the force of the testification whereby they are approved and acknowledged to be such which gives the authority to the Council and nothing else is sufficient where that is not to be found See Mr. Chillingw p. 118. Dr. Potter §. 41. n. 2. together with the Article of the Church of England attributeth to the Church nay to particular Churches and I subscribe to his opinion an authority of determining Controversies of faith according to plain and evident Scripture and universal Tradition and infallibility whilst they proceed according to this Rule And p. 200. The Fathers of the Church saith he in after-times i. e. after the Apostles might have just cause to declare their judgment touching the sence of some General Article of the Creed but to oblige others to receive their Declarations under pain of damnation what warrant they had I know not He that can shew either that the Church of all Ages was to have this authority or that it continued in the Church for some Ages and then expired He that can shew either of these things let him for my part I cannot Yet I willingly confess the judgement of a Council though not infallible is yet so far directive and obliging that without apparent reason to the contrary it may be sin to reject it at least not to afford it an outward submission for publick peace sake See Mr. Whitby p. 92. We do appeal to the four first General Councils not because we believe them infallible but because we conceive them to agree with Scripture which is infallible so that we make them secondary not primary Guides we resolve not our belief of their decrees into their authority but into their agreement with Scripture we do not say we must believe this or that because any one of the first four General Councils hath defined it but because what the Council hath defined is evident in Scripture therefore do we believe it And if we should finde that in any Article they dissented from Scripture we should in that as much oppose them as we do you and p. 451. I answer with Dr Taylor that either these Councils are tyed to the Rule of Gods Word or not if the first then are they to be examined by it and to be followed no further than they adhere to this vnerring rule examined He means by those persons whom yet these Councils are to teach the sence of Scripture and p. 15. We generally acknowledge that no authority on earth obligeth to internal Assent This the firm ground i. e. his own judgement what Conciliary Decrees agree or disagree with Scripture that this young man builds on for the confuting of Mr. Cressies book See Mr. Stillingfleet p. 58. 59 133 154 252. and 375.517 compared There he saith on one side p. 375. That the Church of England looks on it as her duty to keep to the Decrees of the four General Councils And We profess saith he to be guided by the sence of Scripture as interpreted by the unanimous consent of the Fathers and the four first General Councils And p. 56. he saith That the Church of England admits not any thing to be delivered as the sence of Scripture which is contrary to the consent of the Catholick Church in the four first ages Here he seems to acknowledge a submission of Protestants to the consent of the Catholick Church in the four first ages and to the four first General Councils as their Guide for what is the sence of Scripture which seems to me no way to consist with a profession of submitting to the same Church or her Councils only when or as far as they agree in their Decrees with the sence of Scripture which last implies that I learn the sence of Scripture not from them but another and assent to them where they conform to that judgement of which I learn it Ibid He hath these two Propositions 2 That it is a sufficient prescription against any thing that can be alledged out of Scripture that it ought not to be looked on as the true meaning of the Scripture if it appears contrary to the sence of the Catholick Church from the beginning And this 2 That such Doctrines may well be judged destructive to the Rule of Faith which were so unanimously condemned by the Catholick Church within that time Where he allows not Christians to try and so assent to or dissent from the Decrees of Councils by what appears to them the sence of Scripture but refers them to learn the sence of Scripture from the Decrees of these first Councils But yet on the other side he contends how consistently I leave to the Readers judgement That the sence of the Catholick Church is not pretended to be any infallible Rule of interpreting Scripture in all things which concern the Rule of Faith And p. 17. concerning the necessity of believing the Articles of the Athanasian Creed he saith It is very unreasonable to imagine that the Chcurch of England doth own that necessity purely on the account of the Church's Definition of those things therein which are not Fundamental it being Directly contrary to her sence in her 19th and 20th Articles And that hence the supposed necessity of the belief of the Articles of this Creed must acccording to the sence of the Church of England be resolved either into the necessity of the matters or into that necessity which supposeth clear convictions that the things therein contained are of Divine Revelation And p. 133. He describes the Catholick Church a society of such persons who all
firmly believe that Doctrine infallible which Christ delivered but yet judge themselves all fallible and dare not usurp that royal prerogative of Heaven in prescribing infallibly in matters questioned but leave all men to judge according to the Pandects of the divine Laws because each member of this Society is bound to take care of his soul and of all things that tend thereto Thus he And generally Protestants hold that the Church-Catholick diffusive of all ages and therefore the Catholick Church of the four first and therefore also the General Councils of the four first ages though universally accepted may err in non necessaries which is as much as to say may give a wrong sence of Scripture in them notwithstanding that the Church of England obligeth Her self to the sence of this ancient Church and this also whilst she doth not know the necessaries from the other points that are not so and so neither knoweth in what this ancient Church is not liable to errour § 42 From these Quotations I think it appears that whatever fair professions are made yet no Assent is given by them to the first four Councils on this account that they could not err in their Definitions Nor yet because they are their Soveraign Judge from whose sentence they may not dissent if they be perswaded that it is repugnant to the Scriptures And yet of this repugnancy how they should come to any certain knowledge I see no means Certain I grant they may be that the Scriptures are the Word of God and again certain of that which the Scripture delivers where the sence thereof is by all pronounced clear and not ambiguous But then In a matter where Scripture by several and these in great numbers and on both sides learned is taken in a several sence and the true sence thereof is the thing in question as it is granted by Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ P. 58. to have been even in some of the greatest Articles of the Christian Faith and yet further ‖ See Stillingf p. 59. where it seems the Scripture may be so doubtful that the sence of the Catholick Church or its lawful General Councils they say ‖ Ib. can be to them no certain or infallible Interpreter of it and lastly where the judgment or common Reason of a lawful General Council thinks it self so certain of the contrary as to anathematize dissenters On what grounds here any particular Person or Church can assure themselves of their own sence of Scripture to be the true they having left that of the Church's Councils and of a major part of Christianity who also judge their sence false I understand not Surely they will not say they have this certainty from the Scripture because the true sence thereof is the thing so mainly questioned the certainty or infallibility of the traditive sence of the Church they renounce and then which only is left their own judgement or their own which I see not how they rightly call common Reason when that of a General Council or major part of Christianity differs from it one would think should be a more fallible ground to them than the judgment or common Reason of the Church This of the Obedience of Assent denied and that of silence or non-contradiction only allowed by them to the Definitions of Councils § 43 But 11ly This obedience also of silence and non contradiction they allow not 1 as due to be yeilded absolutely to all Decrees of such Councils For if they would but stand to this the Church's peace were kept safe enough for so there could never be any reformation or publick teaching of the contrary of such Decrees as are once concluded by a General Council but by a following General Council 2 Nor yet as due to be yeilded to all Decrees of such Councils that do not err manifestly against some Fundamental verity The Arch-bishop ‖ P. 226. said this once repeated by Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ P. 534. in these words When private men know it if the errour of a lawful General Council be not manifestly against Fundamental verity in which case a General Council cannot easily err I would have A.C. and all wise men consider whether external obedience be not then to be yeilded For if Controversies arise in the Church some end they must have or they will tear all asunder This he said once but did not hold constant to it for after in the same Section ‖ P. 227. he saith Vnless it err manifestly and intollerably and if the errour be neither Fundamental then he adds nor in it self manifest it is safer to agree c. For were non-contradiction thus far yeilded seeing that neither the Catholick Church before Luther nor her Councils have been held to have erred manifestly against any Fundamental verity for so it would have lost the very essence of a Church therefore all her subjects whatever would have stood obliged to her and to her Councils in the external obedience of silence at least and thus her peace been always secure and undisturbed But only this silence to be yeilded to such Decrees wherein the errour of the Council is not manifest or intolerable Or as Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ Still p. 560. expresseth it where the errour is not such as overweighs the peace of the Church Now they affirm that many errours that are not in Fundamentals or necessaries strictly taken may be such For the Catholick or if you will the Roman Church that was immediately before Luther they hold erred not in Fundamentals and yet they made a Reformation from it as mean while erring many errors manifest and intolerable and they see it necessary to add these manifest errors to the other Fundamental errors so to justifie the Protestant's former proceeding § 44 But here again if a contradiction and breach of external obedience or of silence in respect of such imagined manifest and intolerable errors were only allowed so far as to the making a peaceable complaint and representation thereof to their Ecclesiastical Superiors in present Being for the assembling of another Council of equal authority to reverse it which is also mentioned by the Archbishop ‖ P. 227. and Mr. Stillingfleet †537. and then that if these Superiors see no force in their Reasons these Plaintiffs should here acquiesce and return to their obedience of silence thus also the peace of the Church would be still continued And this seems still the more equitable because the Protestant Writers ‖ A p. Lawd p. 245. Hooker prefat p. 29. For preventing the exorbitances as they say and capricious humours of fantastical Spirits †Still p. 540. and for the shutting out the whirl-winds of private Spirits from ruffling the Church ‖ A p Lawd p. 245. do oblige those who thus break silence to bring demonstration against such errours and then for the shutting out pretended demonstrations also of which the world is full define this demonstration to
even in necessaries if it be not universally accepted or in non-necessaries though it be so it followes that such errours may be by private men discovered and new evidences out of the Scripture or new demonstration may appear against them and so upon the former terms must be admitted a new complaint and a new appeal to another future Council For such resting of a former person in the conclusion of the Council after his evidences heard and disallowed inferrs not an acquiescence of all other persons whatever or yet of the same person whenever any other evidence or demonstration may appear to them either against any other Definition of that Council or even against that which others upon mistaken grounds questioned causlesly for why may not one bring a true evidence or demonstration against a point and so ought to be heard after that another or the same person hath brought a false and so is silenced Thus is the freeing men from the Laws of their Superiors like the breaking out of waters by no device afterward to be stopped where or when we please So many evidences and demonstrations against a corporeal Presence being long ago presented to several Councils rejected as false yet still new ones or indeed the same are pretended to keep the controversie on foot and bring it to another trial where the Judge may be better informed § 48 After the Arch-bishop Mr. Stillingfleet speaks to the same matter on this manner If you ask saith he ‖ p. 539. how it should be known when errors are manifest and intolerable and when not We here appeal to Scripture interpreted by the concurrent sence of the Primitive Church the common reason of mankind supposing the Scripture to be the Rule of Faith the consent of wise and learned men which certainly will prevent the exorbitances and capricious humours of fantastical spirits which may cry out That the most received Truths ever since Christianity was in the world are intolerable errors If you are resolved farther to ask Who shall be judge what necessary reason or demonstration is His Lordship tells you I think plain enough from Hooker what is understood by it viz. such as being proposed to any man and understood the mind cannot chuse but inwardly assent unto it And do you require any other Judge but a mans own judgement and reason in this case But you say Others call their Arguments Demonstrations But let them submit to this way of tryal and they may soon be convinced that they are not Still you say They will not be convinced but will break the peace of the Church supposing they have sufficient evidence for what they do But if men will be unreasonble who can help it Thus Mr. Stillingfleet I have set the place down at large that you may better consider what it amounts to Here then you see he restrains this particular person's or Church's judgment of the intolerableness of such Councils error so That this judgment be guided or made 1 According to the interpretation of Scripture by the concurrent sence of the Primitive Church 2 According to the common Reason of mankind supposing Scripture the rule of Faith 3 According to the consent of Wise and learned men But first methinks it is a very presumptuous thing for Inferiors to judge by any of these three ways against a General Council As if for the first these Councils did not Guide themselves by the concurrent sence of the Primitive Churches several of which Councils are reprehended by Protestants for joyning Church-Tradition with Scripture it self as a Rule of their Proceeding And again as if the concurrent sence of the Primitive Church did either for what is found to be generally held by it or what is found not to be so condemned by it according to the Protestants or Mr. Stillingfleet's Principles certainly clear any thing from being an intolerable error when as they hold such concurrent sence may err in Non-fundamentals and again hold that amongst these not Fundamentals may be intolerable-errors See before § 25. Next as if for the 2 d. General Councils did not use the same common Reason of mankind and the same Rule of Faith as a private man doth for discerning errors Or as if he by his common Reason Paramount could discern where their common Reason mistakes and that manifestly and intolerably Or as if for the 3 d. in these Councils were not a consent of wise and learned men Or he knew other men more learned than they or knew learned men better than they § 49 But to let these things pass Yet since the exorbitant and capricious humours of some phantastical men may pretend any of these Antiquity common Reason of Mankind grounded on Scripture or the Learned on his side against a General Council most falsely and sillily of which who seeth not many Examples Therefore here it will not be enough for any to say this but they are in all reason to shew some Evidence or Demonstration that these 3. or any of them are for them And then the same Question returns again on Mr. Stillingfleet who shall judge of this pretended Evidence or Demonstration of theirs And he both takes notice of it here and answers it if I understand Him aright thus That that man 's own Reason that pretends them is also to be judge of them For if a Demonstration be such as being proposed to any man and understood the mind cannot chuse but inwardly assent to it then his mind also that proposeth it is thus convinced by it and so knows it to be a Demonstration And Do you require saith he any other Judge but a Man 's own Judgment and Reason in this case But such collection is very faulty Because if it be true that Demonstrations such as can be made in Divine matters do always convince the mind or effect its full assent Yet it is not so that Demonstrations only do this but so also do many other false though specious Arguments I mean so convince the mind of some as to produce a full assent free from doubting though not from erring But to warrant any thing a right Demonstration according to the former Definition of it not one but all mens Reasons that hear it must assent to it and then amongst these the reason also of our Superiors and then any one mans reason as to a Demonstration is sufficiently disproved whenever all other reasonable men to whom it is related judge not the same with him But if some mens reason when at any time opposing the more common may be pretended a sufficient judge of Demonstrations Then we stick still at our former Question How will this prevent the exorbitances and capricious humours of phantastical Spirits And how will not some break the peace of the Church still supposing that they have sufficient evidence for what they say when they have not Therefore after many windings his utmost answer is If men will be unreasonable who can help it And so Mr.
Chillingw ‖ P. 59. If through his own default any man judge amiss he alone shall suffer for it And Such person endangers both his temporal and eternal happiness ‖ P. 100. Well for such persons at their peril be it § 50 But meanwhile how is the Church's peace or her wholesome or also necessary and Fundamental Doctrines to be preserved among her Subjects How these poor Sheep delivered from harkning to and being seduced by these new Demonstrators if such publick Contradictors may not justly be punished and restrained by her Or how may they justly be restrained if all ought to be left to judge according to the Pandects of the Divine Laws because each Member of the Christian Society is bound take care of his Soul and of all things that tend thereto as Mr. Stillingfleet tells us ‖ P. 133. How restrained I mean even as to external obedience or silence if the judgement when or in what things her Councils intolerably err is rightly left to them and if so often as they judge them to err and perswade themselves they have demonstration for it they may lawfully contradict Could the Church-Governors justly punish Luther and He justly do that for which he was punished Well To give some satisfaction also to this the preserving of the Church's peace thus goes on Mr. Stillingfleet We appeal saith he ‖ P. 340. to the common Reason of Mankind whether it be not a far probabler way to end Controversies to perswade them in disputable matters to yeild external obedience to a lawful General Council than to tell them they are bound to believe whatever they decree to be infallibly true But here he hides and nimbly passeth over one half and the more scandalous part of his Doctrine and that which usher'd in the Reformation that where a Doctrine of a General Council is intolerable where it seems to any not a matter disputable but error manifest of which he knows who must judge and how many of the common Doctrines of the Church before the times of Luther are by Protestants charged to be so so that such errors are not to be numbred amongst the raro contigentia ‖ See Mr. Stillingfl p. 535. so often private men or particular Churches instead of yeilding the external obedience he here makes shew of may publickly contradict such Councils and reform I say not without them for that Protestants ‖ Ap. Laud p. 153. do bring several proofs or Examples in Antiquity but against them for which they bring none CHAP. V. 13. Suitably to the Precedents Protestants declaring Heresie to be an error obstinately maintained against some Fundamental Article of the Faith without allowing any certain Judge what Articles are Fundamental and consequently what is Heresie § 51. 14. Declaring Schism in respect of inferiors to be a separation causeless § 55. Or also as some more straiten it a separation in Essentials § 57. from the Communion of other Churches or of the Church-Catholick But leaving us no certain Judge what points are Essentials or when the separation causeless and consequently when Schism Vnless perhaps he that separates be made by them this Judge Again inlarging Schism to Superiors also so often as by requiring unjust conditions of their Communion they give their Subjects just cause of a separation § 61. Where is examined Whether the Ecclesiastical Superiors when departing from no other their Superiors can become in respect of their Subjects guilty of Schism § 63. n. 1. § 51 13. LAstly concerning their stating of Heresie and Schism 1 st For Heresie They do not enlarge it so far as Catholicks do ‖ See before §. 16. to all errors knowingly or obstinately maintained against any Church Definitions made in matters of Faith But which helps to remove the charge thereof the farther from themselves restrain it ‖ Chill 271.332 Stillingf p. 11. only to those errors that are against some essential part of the Gospel or some Fundamental Article of Faith or such as is plainly revealed by God with a command that all should believe it †Chill p. 332. §. 12. or is absolutely necessary to the Salvation of a Christian and essential to the being of a Church § 52 Which Fundamentals or necessaries they will not allow to extend so far as to all the Articles contained in some of the Creeds ‖ See before § 41. n. 2. and some fetter them with so many conditions of an universal attestation from the Church of all times as that scarce any former universally accounted Heresie can be found to oppose a Divine Truth that is in every circumstance so qualified viz. such conditions as these ‖ See Still p. 57. That all Catholick writers agree in such a Doctrine and none of them opppose it and agree in the necessity of it also to all Christians and that no later Writers and Fathers in heats of contention and opposition of Hereticks judge it then an Article more necessary than it was judged before That all Writers that give an account of the Faith of Christians deliver it not as necessary to be believed by such as might be convinced that it is divine Revelation but as necessary also to be by all explicitly believed That what all these Writers consent in be also undoubtedly the consent of the Church of those ages wherein they write Lastly that it be made appear to be universally embraced at all times and all places by the Members of the Catholick Church and the opposers thereof to have been presently disowned as any Members of it Somewhat a like Caution Bishop Taylor hath put in the beginning of his Disswasive ‖ c. 1. §. 1. p. 7. to secure Protestants from receiving any detriment to their cause from the Fathers and Antiquity where after he hath first collected That the Roman Tenents were not believed or practised in the three first ages because the Writers of those ages few and compendious are silent therein which is a faulty Negative arguing though the antecedent were granted for true and then thus prejudice't the fourth age i.e. the time of Athanasius Basil the three Gregories Chrysostom Jerome Ambrose Austine the first General Councils and the first free exercise of Religion and copious Records thereof prejudiced it I say and the ages succeeding That in those times secular interests did more prevail and the writings of the Fathers were vast and voluminous full of controversie and ambiguous sences fitted to their own times and questions full of proper opinions and such variety of Sayings that both sides eternally and inconfutably shall bring sayings for themselves respectively After such prejudices I say he adds that it is impossible for those of the Roman Church to conclude from the sayings of a number of the Fathers that their Doctrine which they would prove thence was the Catholick Doctrine of the Church Because saith he any number that is less than all does not prove a Catholick consent and the
clear sayings of one or two of these Fathers truly alledged by us to the contrary will certainly prove that what many of them suppose it do affirm and which but two or three as good Catholicks as the other do deny was not then matter of Faith or Doctrine of the Church for if it had these had been Hereticks accounted and would not have remained in the Communion of the Church Thus with him if one or two of the Ancients that are not therefore at that time accounted Hereticks for it can be shewed to dissent the concurrence of all the rest is held not sufficient to prove a Catholick Doctrine in a matter of Faith nor such an accord of them sufficient to be called a Catholick consent or such as that all maintaining the contrary thereof after it is declared by a Council to be such a Catholick Doctrine will be Heresie Whereas contrary it is manifest both that some Dissenters from a Catholick Doctrine of Faith especially if not so universally evident as some others are or a consequential that is in those times not so much considered are not therefore guilty of Heresie before a more publick declaration and clearing of such points by a Council witness S. Cyprian in the Point of Non rebaptization and yet that the Doctrine may be truly called Catholick before the Council and the Dissenters also perhaps not free from a culpable ignorance therein For if the dissent of some few Fathers in the Council as in that of Nice or Chalcedon hinders not that a Point may be declared then a Catholick Doctrine neither doth the dissent of some few Fathers before the Council hinder that then it was not a Catholick Doctrine But to return to Mr. Stillingfleet Such conditions they say must the Point have in which the Church-Catholick is unerring and the obligation to believe and conform to which is universal and the opposite whereof is Heresie which conditions if you please to apply to the Articles of Faith opposing the Arrian Nestorian or Pelagian Hereticks you shall finde scarce any of them but that the Opposers thereof upon a deficiency in some of these requisites may withdraw his obedience thereto without any guilt of Heresie But 2 ly They leave us also still uncertain which or how many these Fundamentals or necessaries are Or who shall judge what points have or have not such an universal attestation as they require from the Church and therefore they leave us also uncertain what is or is not Heresie leave us also uncertain by whose sentence and judgment such Hereticks may be restrained proceeded against and punished since they hold Councils no certain Judge concerning these Points what are necessary and Fundamentals or universally attefted what not and likewise since they hold these Fundamentals as to private men varying according to a sufficient proposal of them more Points being Fundamental to one than to another ‖ Chill p. 137. Still P. 98.99 and consequently Heresie in opposing them varying accordingly they having cast off also that of the Church from being a sufficient proposal of any ones conviction therein § 53 And indeed if 1 st Protestants maintain that no Councils or Church without tyranny may require belief or internal assent from their Subjects to their Definitions or Articles of Religion a practice much exclaimed against in the Church of Rome and if I misunderstand them not denied to be lawful by several reformed And 2 ly this be granted that the holding of a Tenent contrary to some Fundamental Point and not only the outward profession and publick maintaining of such a Tenent is Heresie I see not how the reformed Churches though they should declare a particular Tenent to be an Heresie yet can discover any Heretick whatever unless he voluntarily publish his Heresie nor how they can or do remove any such out of their Communion or also sacred Orders if 1 neither those who hold such Heretical opinions stand anathematized by their Canons nor there may be the exacting from such entring into Orders a confession of their belief or an acknowledgement of any internal assent to their Articles of Religion Both which for such Points are the practise of the Catholick Church But if it be maintained that this also is the practise of the reformed Churches or at least this of England why is the requiring of such assent to and belief of the contrary of that which she deems Heresie blamed in the Roman § 54 Lastly the description which is made by Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ p. 153. of that Catholick Church which our Blessed Saviour instituted in the world mentioned before § 41. seems to take away all such Judge upon the earth by whom Heresie can be discovered or made known for if the Church-Governors cannot prescribe infallibly i.e. infallibly without mistake for there is no need that infallibly here signifie any thing more in any Controversie on which side is Divine Truth but That men are to be left herein to judge for themselves according to Scripture that is what seems to them out of Scripture to be truth because saith he overy one is bound to take care of his soul and of all things that tend thereto Then neither could the Fathers of Nice Judge concerning the Consubstantiality of the Son a thing strongly questioned and put it into the Creed Nor those of Ephesus and Chalcedon judge so concerning one person of our Lord and 2. natures and put these in the Creed Judge I say so as that others can be obliged to hold that to be Heresie in these points which they pronounce so Nor was there then any way to convince the Arrians infallibly of Heresie but that they are still to be left to judge for themselves as bound to take care for their own souls and of all things that tend thereto The same may be said much more concerning Pelagianism and other errors formerly condemned for Heresie which do expresly oppose no Articles in our Creeds By this way then an Ecclesiastical restraint of external profession there may be but none of belief or opinions nor obstinacy in holding them where no Obligation acknowledged to hold otherwise This of those who express Heresie as an obstinate error against some Fundamental or necessary article of faith universally attested such by the Church in the manner before mentioned But Dr. Hammond ‖ Of Heresie §. 2.11 n p. 70. somewhat more condescending and enlarging the compass of Heresie though he makes it indeed to be an opposition of the Faith in any one or more branches of it by way of Emphasis and excellence that was once delivered to the Saeints and that was set out by Christ or his Apostles from him to be by all Men belâ—eved to their Righteousness and confest to their Salvation And an opposition of such faith saith he ‖ §. 5. n. 2. as descends to us from the Apostles by a Catholick Testimony truly such i. e. universally in all respects 1 of place 2
time and 3 persons Yet 1 doth he so expound this universal Testimony ‖ See ib. n. 2.8.10 as to signifie only the consent of the most in most places in all or most times For else saith he †§. 5. n. 2. there would be no Hereticks at any time in the World Viz. If those only should be held such necessary Articles of our saith which all none excepted in all times do hold And again 2 he makes use of the Churches Councils for convincing Heresies against this faith Viz. of the four 1st General Councils saying That all the parts of this faith are compleatly comprehended in the Scriptures as explained by the Writers of the three first ages and definitions of the â—our first Councils so that in sum he who imbraceth all the Traditional Doctrines proposed by them embraceth all the necessary faith thus universally delivered which cannot come to the fifth age c. but through the fourth and third and so can be no Heretick See 7. § 6 7 8. n. His words there n. 7. are Of the Scriptures of the Creed and of those four Councils as the Repositories of all true Apostolical Tradition I suppose it very regular to affirm that the intire Body of the Catholick Faith is to be established and all Heresies convinced or else that there is no just reason that any Doctrine should be condemned as such And see what is cited out of him concerning these Councils before § 19. and of Heresie § 14. n. 10. But here since he admits Councils for convincing Heresie why rests he in the four first and why admits he not all Councils in whatever age that are of equal authority for the same discovery since many new errors against tradicive Faith may arise after the four first and the Church's later Councils accordingly may testifie and declare the same Faith as occasions are administred against them If it be said that what is traditive in any latter age wherein some later Council is held was so in the third or fourth and so all Heresie is sufficiently convinced by those ages then so were the Definitions of the four first Councils traditive in the first second or third age And therefore what need hath Dr. Hammond to add for conviction of Heresie these four first Councils which were held after the three first Centuries The sum is For convincing Heresie either the testification of all lawful General Councils is authentical or not that of the four first But if the Doctor allow all lawful General Councils to be so as something seems said by him to this purpose Here 's § 14. n. 1.2 Catholicks are at accord with him herein concerning the Nature and Trial of Heresie and the dispute only remains whether any of those Councils that have heretofore defined or testified any such Point of Faith traditive which is opposed by Protestants be such a lawful General Council Concerning which see in 1 Disc § 36. n. 3. c. § 50. n. 2. § 57. c. Thus Dr. Hammond restraining conviction of all Heresie within the time of the first Councils But Bishop Branhall ‖ In Reply to Bp. Chalced. c. 2. p. 102. seems to be yet more free I acknowledge saith he that a General Council may make that revealed Truth necessary to be believed by a Christian as a point of Faith which formerly was not necessary to be believed that is whensoever the Reasons and grounds produced by the Council or the authority of the Council which is and always ought to be very great with all sober discreet Christians do convince a man in his conscience of the truth of the Council's definition And in vindication of the Church of England p. 26. When inferiour Questions not Fundamental are once defined by a lawful General Council all Christians though they cannot assent in their judgements are obliged to passive obedience to possess their souls in Patience And they who shall oppose the authority and disturbe the peace of the Church deserve to be punished as Hereticks Here though the Bishop makes not the opposers of the Councills definition for the reason of opposing it Hereticks because he holds that no error but that which some way overthrowes a fundamental Truth can be Heretical and though in his holding that Councils may not prescribe what things are fundamental nor oblige any to assent to their judgment in what they do define further than their reasons convince them He as the rest leaves Hereticks undiscoverable yet he grants that all are to submit for non-contradiction to the determinations of L. G. Councils even in all inferiour points not fundamental and that the opposers deserve to be punished as Hereticks which if observed by Protestants would sufficiently keep the Churches peace and then concerning the past definitions of such Councils see what is argued with him in 1 Disc § 36. n. 3. c. This for Heresie § 55 12ly For Schism Neither do they enlarge it so far as Catholicks That any separation upon what cause soever from the external Communion of all particular former Churches or of our lawful Ecclesiastical Superiors or of the whole Church Catholick is schism but restrain it to a separation culpable or causless ‖ Chillingw p. 271. holding that some separation from them may not be so § 56 But they leave us here again in uncertainty between these Superiors and Inferiors which of them shall judge when such separation is causeless when otherwise and so uncertain of Schism or also they affirm that the Inferiors are to judge when their Superiors require unjust things as conditions of their Communion and so when a separation from them is lawful or culpable Of which thus Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ p. 292. Nothing can be more unreasonable than that the society imposing certain conditions of Communion should be judge whether those conditions be just and equitable or no And the same thing may thus be produced from other Protestant-Tenents For they hold that the whole Church is infallible only in absolute Necessaries or Fundamentals errable in other matters of faith that its Governors collected in their supâ—emest Councils may also enjoyne such errors as conditions of their Communion that these errors at least some of them may be certainly and demonstratively discernable by Inferiors and these complained of and not amended by Superiors that they may lawfully separate in the sence explained before § 20. from such Communion wherein these are imposed Here therefore inferiors judge when the separation is just when causless and upon this account surely no separation will ever be I do not say Schism but discovered to be Schism if the separatist is to Judge when it is so But if the Superiors are to Judge when a separation from them and from their definitions imposed is culpable or causeless it will either be always judged such which is the Catholicks Doctrine or such a granted-just cause will be removed by these Superiours and so there will be no
necessary conditions of her Communion upon Excommunication to those who do not submit by this becomes divided from the Communion of the Church-Catholick but then it is so without its denying any Fundamental point of Faith its crimes only being the imposing of some Non-fundamental errors to be believed upon pain of Excommunication 2 ly By their restriction of Catholick Doctrines to those only which can be made appear to have been so received §. 60. n. 1. not only by the Catholick Church of the present but also of all former ages from the Apostles they may separate from a lawful General Council of the present age universally accepted without any guilt of Schism or opposing by this any Catholick Doctrine in their sence unless they will say such Councils can define or the present age universally accept no Doctrine but what hath been the explicite Faith of all former ages And by such restriction they seem to require most unequal conditions of their obedience and conformity to the present Church-Catholick when they will allow a necessity of such conformity to no Doctrine of hers upon any cheaper terms than the producing a written evidence and that I suppose they mean not of some principles thereof but of the Conclusion it self for it in all ages for 1600 years A large field chosen wherein to continue the dispute Now all Church-Tradition is not necessarily written all former writings not necessarily descending to the present age and so many Doctrines may be universal that cannot be made appear in the Church-Records of every age to be so and it seems enough to infer the obedience of Inferiours if the Inferiours cannot shew in the former Church-Records the contrary doctrine held in any age to that maintained in the present 3 ly If the Catholick Doctrine of the present age be in a matter necessary §. 60. n. 2. the Church of the present age must be unerrable in it and its Testimony sufficient to enforce a conformity upon pain of Schism without farther search into former ages For the Catholick Church of every age is unerring in necessaries If in some matter not necessary the testimony of the Church of all ages excepting the Apostles only with them is not sufficient which as they say may mistake in it and therefore the retiring to these former ages will not be sufficient to prove it a Truth or a departure from it Schism But if they say in the testimony of former ages they include the testimony of the Apostles also then that alone will be sufficient to authorize a Catholick Doctrine without the Churches witness given thereto in any age or without that the Church's witness is nothing worth and then why press they this universal Testimony of the Church 4. But lastly §. 60. n. 3. this their affirming the Constitution and Essence of the Catholick Church to be only a right belief in Fundamentals and allowing the Communion of this Church and a security from Schism to all such persons and Churches as are in these Fundamentals no way deficient is very faulty and contrary to the ordinary notion which both the ancient Fathers and Learned Protestants have of the Catholick Communion and of Schism It is true that as the Catholick Church is a company of right Believers as to Faith absolutely required for attaining Salvation no more is necessary to its constitution or being than the Faith only of some points which for this reason are called Fundamentals but as it is also One Society or Body wherein the several Members are united in the Bond of Peace under lawful Pastors and Guides and subjected to certain Laws of Government and Discipline So many more things both in respect of the Plenitude of Faith and Sanctity of Manners according to the divine Revelations and Commands made known by these his Ministers are necessary to the Being and Constitution thereof all which being put any particular Person or Church is a true Member of the Church-Catholick But any of them wanting though the rest be present it ceaseth to be Catholick And such a Church-Catholick is affirmed to be always extant not only as shall believe aright in all Fundamentals but the Members of which shall always be united also in all other points of Faith and practice of holiness conducing to Salvation and the subjects therein obedient to their Superiors in all their lawful decrees and injunctions So that a person or Church most fully Orthodox as to all Fundamental Faith yet may want some Essentials of Unity necessary to the being a Member of the Catholick Church if such person or Church shall divide from the Communion thereof for any lawful Definition made or practice enjoyned by his Superiors even in Non-fundamentals So the Novatian and Donatist-Churches perfectly agreeing with the Catholick as to all Fundamental Faith yet became non-Catholick and Schismaticks for relinquishing the Communion of the whole in opposition to some matters not Fundamental when once defined and stated by it the one for the reception into the Church of great sinners after Baptism penitent the other for non-rebaptizing of Hereticks converted Therefore of these later S. Austine saith ‖ Ep. 48. Nobiscum estis in baptismo in Symbolo in caeteris Dominicis Sacramentis In spiritu autem unitatis in vinculo pacis in ipsâ denique Catholicâ Ecclesiâ nobiscum non estis In Symbolo Sacramentis they agreed but yet not in Catholicâ Ecclesiâ because not in Spiritu unitatis Vinculo pacis i. e. not in a due subordination and subjection as to some other universal decrees of their Mother the Catholick Church in which they were Heretical and Schismatical of which see before § 18. To the compleat Being and Essence of the Church qua Catholick then there is required not only that there be unafides but unum corpus Eph. 4.4 5. under subordinate Governors verse 11. not only unitas in Symbolo Sacramentis but it in vinculo patis as it extends to all obedience and subjection of Inferiours to their Superiours of the parts to the Laws and constitutions of the whole for want of which later the Donatists Orthodox as to all Fundamentals yet are said not to be in Ecclesiâ Catholicâ And these other necessary properties of a true Member of the Church-Catholick §. 60. n. 4. besides that of a right belief in Fundamentals are freely also confessed by learned Protestants which thus Dr. Field ‖ L. 2. c. 2. This intire profession of the truth revealed in Christ though it distinguish right Believers from Hereticks yet it is not proper quarto modo to the happy number and blessed company of Catholick Christians because Schismaticks may and sometimes do hold an intire profession of the truth of God revealed in Christ And afterwards The notes saith he that perpetually distinguish the true Catholick Church from all other Societies of men and professions of Religions in the world are these First The entire Profession of those
the present Roman Church where Christian Religion now as anciently enjoys its freedom to see which of them resembles the constitution aspect and manners of the ancient Catholick Church we find them of a very different temper proportion and pretentions One of them by much the greatest and through the Universe most dilated Body and Communion that is in Christianity I mean such as is united in the same Government Laws Faith and Discipline with a certain subordination of all the Members and Officers thereof one under Ecclesiasticall Head So that if we suppose the Church-Catholick where are many divided Christian Societies or confederacies separated from one another in their Communion to be but one unanimous Body of them concerning which see 2 Disc § 26. n. 1. § 27. n. 3. and it again to be for universality the greatest of those bodies this must be it And again if we suppose a General Council assembled of all these its votes would have the predominancy over any of the rest taken a part and in any conjunction of them all in such a meeting it may reasonably be imagined from the agreement which the most considerable of the other Churches have with it in most of the Western Controversies that in voting them its party would be increased sooner than any other § 73 Again This great Body also we find hath continued to this day united to and joyned with the See Apostolick and Chair of S. Peter like that Church-Catholick in the Primitive times And we find it using its authority still after the same manner as then did the true Catholick Church still pretending it self upon our Saviours promises in its supreme Councils joyned with the authority of the same Chair a certain and infallible Guide in the determination of all necessary Faith to whom all its Subjects owe not only silence but submission of judgement and belief We find it from time to time as the ancient Church when any new Controversies Opinions and Sects arise any way dangerous making new definitions and more explications of the Catholick Faith and enlarging from age to age for which also its adversaries complain of it the particular and explicite knowledge and profession thereof amongst her Children as the Heterodox grow more particular and multiplicious in those errors that would any way undermine it as also anciently the Nicene Creed was thought a necessary supply to the Apostolick and again the larger Athanasian to the Nicene Creed And these her definitions now as then she passeth under Anathema to opposers or dissenters declares Hereticks still as they were esteemed anciently such as oppose them because such after them judged to be now wilfully and contumaciously erring and Schismaticks such as depart on what cause soever from her Communion as vindicating to her self compounded in her supreme representative of all those particular Churches that remain undivided from S. Peters Chair the true Title and right of the Catholick Church § 74 Again upon the same grounds and as authorized immediately by our Lord we find her holding her self obliged and taking upon her to give and promulgate her Laws in matters clearly Spiritual and Divine secular powers whether favouring or frowning to all her Subjects however dispersed in several temporal Dominions presuming still and thinking great reason for it to use as much spiritual authority in their States when Princes a e become Christian and her Sons as all grant her lawfully to have done when they were yet heathen and her Enemies We find her also pressing this obedience to her Decrees on her Children not * from promising as S. Austin ‖ De utilit Credendi c. 1. saith the Manichees anciently did which was the occasion of his writing his book De utilitate Credendi Ecclesiae before that the things we believe are proved to us evident proofs or demonstrations though these are not wanting but * from her authority and commission received from our Lord to decide all controversies she thinks necessary and * from the traditive sence of holy Scripture delivered to her from her Fore-fathers And so also it is in this Church that her subjects as soon as any thing is cleared to them to be the Church's doctrine dispute it no farther but presently resign their judgment thereto And §. 75. n. 1. as we find it publishing with great authority its Laws to all its Subjects and Members where ever residing So also by our Lords order Mat 28.19 diligently sending forth its Missions into all quarters of the world amongst strangers and those out of its fold whether Infidels or Hereticks for converting or reducing them to the Christian and Catholick Faith And to this Body and that since the time of Gregory the First when also it was much-what the same as it is now do most of the Northern Nations owe their Conversion to Christianity and at that time our Ancestors among the rest under Ethelbert and his Successors received that Roman Profession of Religion which 900. years after under Edward the Sixth they cast off And by the same indefatigable Zeal Labours and Sufferings of its Missioners are still those great conversions of Mahometans and Heathens made both in the West and East-Indies and Southern parts of Affrick not to insist here on the late reduction of some of the Christian Sects also of the Northern and Eastern parts to the Roman Communion Where in calling to mind Gods gracious promises of the Gospel to be preached to all Nations ‖ Mat. 24.14 Mark 13.10 and the fulness of the Gentiles to be brought into his Fold †Rom. 11. which we see both heretofore and at the present to be effected solely or principally by this Body through great hazards and much expence of its blood I desire all sober persons to consider whether the good God having thus promised to the Nations Bread * would give them instead thereof but a Stone and having promised them the Revelation of his Truth yet * would not send it to them but abased and mixed with a manifold Idolatry as Protestants imagine the worshiping of dead men and of a breaden God and these brought in amongst them by Antichrist himself if the Head of these Missioners the Pope be so thus only Satan fighting against Satan and Popery against Heathenism * would not I say communicate unto them these waters of life to drink of unless mortified as it were 1 st with several errors as the Protestants say gross damnable and perilous to their Salvation and from which the external Communion of all true Believers ought to separate And again the end of the world and as the Protestants say of the reign of Antichrist whom they count now above 1000. years old his full age being foretold to be 1260. being now not far off I desire him next to consider * whether that which is said to be instead of the Roman the most pure and Orthodox Religion recovered by Luther and to which therfore these Nations if not already must be
at last converted whether it I say now after a 150 years continuance hath made any progress sutable to such an effect as is the reducing of all Nations to its Profession or rather whether after it had made a sudden increase at 1 st as new things take most and infancy grows fastest it doth not seem already long ago to be past its full growth and now rather declining and withering and loosing ground in many places where it was formerly well rooted whilst that Antichrist which it promiseth to destroy acquires more strength and daily enlargeth his Dominions to which I may add * whether since protestancy is divided into so many Sects severed under so many differing secular Heads the Nations at length converted by them if they should be brought by some to the purity yet would not still in general want the Vnity of the Christian Faith But to return All this authority we find one present Body using now as the Catholick Church did anciently and among other things this Body also entitling it self the present Catholick Church So that if there be a Catholick Church still which stands invested with that authority that our Lord bestowed on it and which the former Church practised then seeing that all other Christian societies do renounce and not pretend at all to such an authority I mean the requiring from their Subjects an assent and submission of judgment to their decrees as infallible in all necessary faith declaring Hereticks those that oppose their Doctrines and Schismaticks that relinquish their Communion and question this other Church also for using it it follows that either this must be the sole Church-Catholick that thus bears witness to it self that it is so or that what ever Church besides pretends it self Catholick doth not exercise or own that just power and those priviledges with which our Lord hath endowed it We find further this present Church very vigilant and zealous in vindicating the honour and authority the customs the decrees of former Church and pretending what ever in truth it doth most strictly to follow its footsteps extolling the Fathers numbring allowing and challenging the Councils as if it thought them most advantagious on its side and carrying its self to this old Mother with such expressions of affection as if it only were her true daughter Therefore conjoyning the tradition of former Church interpreting Scripture together with the Text thereof for the steady guide of its proceedings in establishing truth and convincing Heresies And professing to handle things controverted ‖ Concil Trident Sess 18. Salv. Conduct Secundum sacram Scripturam Apostolorum traditiones probata Concilia Ecclesiae Catholicae consensum sanctorum Patrum authoritates We find it with the same Zeal celebrating an honourable Memory of the Fathers ancient Martyrs Confessors and Doctors in its publick Liturgies inserting therein both their Traditionary Comments on the Text of Scripture and an abridgement of their holy Lives there praising God for their pious Examples and provoking her present children to an emulation of their vertues whilst another Party in its pretending a Reformation to the Doctrine and Manners of the Primitive Church yet in its new Service expunged both the Lections taken out of these Fathers and the Narrative of their Lives We find it * retaining the same publick service of the Mass with the Catholick Church of former ages as its adversaries confess ‖ D◠Field p. 188. Chemnit Exam. Conc. Trid. part 2. de Canone Missae for this 1000. years i.e. from the times of S. Gregory if not without some small additions of something new yet without change of what was the former And * much resembling the visage of the ancient Church especially that after Constantine when by the more copious Writings of those flourishing times we come better to discern that Churches complexion in its Altars and a quotidian Sacrifice in its frequency of publick Assemblies and Devotions Solemn observance of Feasts Vigils and Fasts Gravity and Magnificence of its Ceremonies In its pretention of Miracles and extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Spirit in several of its Members in its high Veneration of the Celestial Favourites who stand in the presence of God and daily Communication by Commemorating the Saints departed with the Church triumphant and in the honour done to their Holy Relicks in its charitable Offices performed for those other more imperfect faithful Souls whose condition in the next world it conceives betterable by its prayers and oblations In its distinction of sins and use of its keys toward greater offenders In retirements from the world for a nearer converse with God and the freer exercise of Meditation and Devotion In its variety of Religious Orders Votaries and Fraternities In its advancing the observance of the Evangelical Councils its high esteem * of voluntary poverty i. e. relinquishing all particular propriety and enjoying only necessaries in Common * of virginity and continency and * of yeilding an undisputing obedience in licitis to all the Laws and commands of a Superiour In the single lives and sequestration from worldly incombrances of its Clergy obliged to a daily task of long Devotions and purity of conscience and corporal abstinence suitable to their attendance on the Altar and there daily or very frequently offering the Commemorative Sacrifice of our Lords all satisfactory Passion and comunicating his most precious Body and Blood In the like relations with those of all past ages concerning the eminent vertue shining in and divine favours bestowed on those holy persons who have lived in its Communion their great austerities and mortifications Exstafies Visions Predictions Miracles c. Which stories if they be all supposed lies and fictions and hypocrisies all I say or most of them for that some counterfeits will mingle themselves among truth there is no question yet such lyes are also found in all ages even from the Apostolical Times nor is the present age more guilty of them than the precedent as may be seen by comparing the Stories related by S. Austin ‖ De Civ Dei l. 22. c. 8. the Saints lives written by S. Jerome Gregory Nyssen Theodoret Severus Paulinus Palladius Gregory the Great Gregory of Tours Bede Bonaventure Bernard and other ancient Authors with the modern whilst all other Religions meanwhile have such a disparity to antiquity that in them no such things are at least fained But indeed did not many of these Stories contain a certain truth it cannot be imagined that so many persons reputed of great Sanctity and Devotion and several of them contemporary to those whose lives they recorded should have written them with so full a testimony to many things not as heard of others but seen by themselves Of the Roman Church and its adherents So persevering in the steps of Antiquity thus Grotius in the Preface to his Votum pro Pace giving account there of his studies in reading the Fathers Collegi saith he quae essent illa quae veterum testimonio
manentibus in hunc diem vestigiis semper ubique perseveranter essent tradita Videbam ea manere in illâ Ecclesiâ quae Romanae connectitur Lastly we find it a Body generally professing against any Reformation of the Doctrines of the former Church-Catholick of any age whatsoever and claiming no priviledge of Infallibility to it self for the present which it allows not also to the Church in all former times This is the general Character of one Combination of the Churches in present being The other present Combination of Churches in the Western World §. 76. The Face of the present Protestant Church we find to be a Body of much different Constitution and Complection * Much of its Doctrin Publick Service and Discipline confessed varying from the times immediately preceding It consisting of those who acknowledg themselves or their Ancestors once members of the former and that have as they say upon an unjust submission required of them yet this no more than their forefathers paid departed from it * This new Church only one person at the first afterward growing to a number and protected against the Spiritual by a secular power and so we find it subsisting and acting at this day under many several Secular Heads Independent of one another without whose consent and approbation first obtained what if such head should be an Heretick It stands obliged not at any time to make or promulgate and enforce upon its Subjects any definitions or decrees what ever in Spiritual matters ‖ See 25. Hent 8. c. 19. As to its Ecclesiastical Governours we find it taking away the higher subordinations therein that were formerly and affirming an Independent Coordination as to incurring guilt of Schism some of all Primates others of all Bishops very prejudical to the Vnity of Faith We find it standing also disunited from St. Peters Chair yet this a much smaller Body still than that which is joyned thereto and therefore in a General Council supposing all the members thereof to continue in and to deliver there their present judgments touching points in dispute such as must needs be out voted by the other and hence by the Laws of Councills in duty obliged to submit and conform to it Neither seems there any relief to this party to be expected from the accession to their side of any votes from the Churches more remote I mean the Greek or other Eastern Churches if we will suppose these also to persist in their present judgment whose Doctrine in the chief controversies is shewed ‖ §. 158. c. to conspire yet without any late consederacy with that of this greater Body which these reformed Churches have deserted § 77 We find also this new Combination of Churches in stead of pretending to assume to it self Whatsoever de facto it doth of which see more in the following Chap. § 83. c. in its Synods the same authority in stating matters of Faith which the ancient Councills have used 1. zealously contending that Councills are fallible in their determinations for so it supports the priviledg of using its own judgment against superiour Synods 2. and accordingly teaching its Subjects that it self also is fallible in what it proposeth 3 and engaging them that they may not be deceaved by its authority upon triall of its Doctrines and search of the Truth and examining with the judgment of discretion every one for him self and then relying finally on that sentence which their own reason gives 4. allowing also their dissent to what it teacheth till it proves to them its Doctrine out of the Scripture or at least when ever they are perswaded that themselves from thence can evidence the contrary Therefore it is also more sparing or pretends to be so of which see more below § 85. c. in the articles of its faith and Religion especially positive many of its Divines holding an union of Faith requisite only in some necessaries and then contracting necessaries again in a narrower compass than the Creeds and because it allows of no judge sufficient to clear what is to be held in controversies ‖ See 2. Disc §. 38. therefore holding most controversies in Religion not necessary at all to be determined and much recommending an Union of Charity there where cannot be had an Vnion of Belief We find them also restraining Heresy to points fundamental and then leaving fundamentals uncertain and varying as to several persons fewer points fundamental to some more to others and this no way knowable by the Church Again making Schism only such a departure from the Church as is causeless and then this thing when causeless to be judged for any thing that appears by those who depart by such notions leaving Hereticks and Schismaticks undiscernable by the Catholick Church and unseparable from it and therefore many seeming to understand the One Holy Catholick Apostolick Church in the Creed to signifie nothing else than the totall complex of all Churches whatever professing Christianity unless those persons be shut out who by imposing some restraint of opinion for enjoying their Communion are said to give just cause of a separation Accordingly we find this Body spreading its lap wide to several Sects by which it acquires the more considerable magnitude and receiving or tolerating in its communion many opposite parties of very different Principles and hence as it grows elder so daily branching more and more into diversity of Opinions and multiplying into more and more subdivisions of Sects being destitute of any cure thereof both by its necessary indulgement of that called Christian liberty and allowance of private judgment and also by the absolute Independency one on another of so many several supream Governours both the Secular and the Ecclesiastical who model and order diversly the several parts thereof As the other Church in her growing elder grows more and more particular in her Faith and with new definitions and Canons fenceth it round about according as new errors would break in upon it Further we find several amongst its Leaders much offended §. 78. n. 1. that Church-Tradition should be brought in together with Scripture as an authentick witness or Arbitrator in trying Controversies See the Protestants Conditions proposed to the Council of Trent ‖ Soave p. 642-344 366 that the Holy Scripture might be Judge in the Council and all humane authority excluded or admitted with a condition Fundantes se in S. Scripturis taking great pains to * discover the errors of the Fathers and their contradicting of one another See Daille's vray usage de Peres and * to shew several of the works imputed to them and admitted by R. Catholicks supposititious and forged See Cooks and Perkins and Rivets Censures Taking no less pains to shew the non necessity of Councils in General to number the many difficulties how to be assured which of them are legal and obliging what their Decrees and what the sence of them to discover the flaws deficiencies in
own understanding and industry to find out his own way to Heaven because he can securely trust no living guide on Earth besides through all the thorny controversies of the present age grown as Dr. Field saith in number so many and in matter so intricate which require vast pains throughly to examine and an excellent judgment aright to determine and which much eloquence and long smoothing of them the interposing of humane reason in divine matters and the varying records of former ages have rendred on all sides so far plausible and resembling truth that a little interest serves the turne to blind a man in his choice and make him embrace an errour for truth let him I say humbly resigne his wearied and distracted judgment wholly to her direction § 80 For as Sir Edwyn Sandys in his Relation of the Western Religions ‖ p 29. speaks methinks very pertinently though in the person of a Romanist pleading his own cause Seeing Christianity is a Doctrine of Faith a Doctrine whereof all men even children are capable as being gross and to be believed in general by all Seeing the high vertue of Faith is in the humility of the understanding and the merit thereof in the readiness of Obedience to embrace it and seeing the outward proofs thereof are no other than probable and of all probable proofs the Church-testimony is most probable So he which I propose rather thus Seeing of outward proofs of our Faith where the true sense of Scripture is the thing disputed the Church's testimony whether for declaring to us the sense of Scripture or judgment of the Ancients is a proof of most weight What madness were it for any man to tire out his soul and to wast away his spirits in tracing out all the thorny paths of the controversies of these days wherein to err is no less easy than dangerous what through forgery of authors abusing him what through sophistry transporting him and not rather to betake himself to the right path of truth whereunto God and nature reason and experience do all give witness and that is to associate himself to that Church whereunto the custody of this heavenly and supernatural truth hath been from heaven it self committed to weigh discreetly which is the true Church and that being once found to receive faithfully and obediently without doubt or discussion whatsoever it delivereth § 81 And then further If in this disquisition of his to make use here of that plea which the same Author in the following words hath very fairly drawn up ‖ Relation of Western Religious p. 30. for the Church of Rome and her adherents without giving us any counter-defence or shewing any more powerful attractives of the Churches reformed what ever he intended If besides the Roman and those Churches unitted with it he finds all other Churches to have had their end or decay long since I mean the Sects and Religions that have been formerly in the Western World Hussites Lollards Waldenses Albigenses Berengarians which some Protestants make much pretence to or their beginning but of late if This being founded by the Prince of the Apostles with promise to him by Christ that Hell gates should not prevaile against it but that himself will be assistant to it till the Consummation of the World hath continued on now till the end of a 1600. years with an honourable and certain line of near 240. Popes Successors of St. Peter both tyrants and traytors pagans and hereticks in vain wresting raging and undermining If all the lawful General Councils that ever were in the world have from time to time approved and honoured it if God hath so miraculously blessed it from above as that so many sage Doctors should enrich it with their writings such armies of Saints with their holiness of Martyrs with their Blood of Virgins with their purity should sanstifie and embellish it If even at this day in such difficulties of unjust rebellions and unnatural revolts of her nearest children yet she stretcheth out her arms to the utmost corners of the world newly embracing whole Nations into her bosome If Lastly in all other opposite Churches there be found inward dissentions and contrariety change of opinions uncertainty of resolutions with robbing of Churches rebelling against governours things much more experienced since this authors death in the late Presbiterian wars confusion of order invading of Episcopacy yea and Presbytery too whereas contrariwise in this Church the unity undivided the resolutions unalterable the most heavenly order reaching from the height of all power to the lowest of all subjection all with admirable harmony and undefective correspondence bending the same way to the effecting of the same work do promise no other than continual increase and victory let no man doubt to submit himself to this glorious spouse of God c. This then being accorded to be the true Church of God it follows that she be reverently obeyed in all things without further inquisition she having the warrant that he that heareth her heareth Christ and whosoever heareth her not hath no better place with God than a publican or a pagan And what folly were it to receive the Scriptures upon credit of her authority the authority of the Church that was before Luthers time and not to receive the interpretation of them upon her authority also and credit And if God should not alway protect his Church from errour i. e. dangerous to or distructive of Salvation and yet peremptorily commanded men always to obey her then had he made but very slender provision for the salvation of Mankind which conceit concerning God whose care of us even in all things touching this transitory life is so plain and eminent were ungrateful and impious And hard were the case and mean had his regard been of the vulgar people whose wants and difficulties in this life will not permit whose capacity will not suffice to sound the deep and hidden mysteries of Divinity and to search out the truth of intricate controversies if there were not others whose authority they might safely rely on Blessed are they who believe and have not seen Though they do not see reason always for that they believe save only that reason of their Belief drawn from authority the merit of whose Religious humility and obedience doth exceed perhaps in honour and acceptation before God the subtil and profound knowledge of many others Thus that Author pleads the cause of the Roman and its adherent Churches without a Reply To which perhaps it will not be amiss to joyn the like Plea §. 82. n. 1. for this Church drawn up by another eminent person ‖ Dr. Taylor liberty of prophecying §. 20. p. 249. in a treatise writ concerning the unreasonableness of prescribing to other mens Faith wherein he indeavoured to represent several Sects of Christianity in their fairest colours in order to a charitable toleration These considerations then he there proposeth concerning the Roman Church Which saith he may very
easily perswade persons of much reason and more piety to retain that which they know to have been the Religion of their Fore-fathers which had actual possession and seizure of mens understandings before the opposite profession had a name These are first It s Doctrine's having had a long continuance and possession of the Church which therefore cannot easily be supposed in the present Professors to be a design for covetous ambitious and other unlawful ends of which yet Protestants frequently accuse them since they have received it from so many ages and it is not likely that all ages should have the same purposes or that the same doctrine should serve the several ends of diverse ages It s long prescription which is such a prejudice as cannot with many arguments be retrench'd as relying upon these grounds that truth is more ancient than falshood that God would not for so many ages forsake his Church and leave her in an error I add not in such gross errors as are imputed especially not in Idolatry so manifold in respect of the Eucharist of the Cross of Angels and Saints of Relicks of Images c. Again The beauty and splendour of that Church their pompous service in a friendlier expression their service full of religious Ceremony and external Veneration The stateliness and solemnity of the Hierarchy their name of Catholick which they suppose and claim as their own due and to concern no other Sect of Christians The Antiquity of many of their Doctrines the continual succession of their Bishops their immediate derivation from the Apostles their title to succeed St. Peter and in this regard chiefly honoured and submitted to by Antiquity the supposal and pretence of his personal prerogatives much spoken of by the Fathers the flattering expressions of minor Bishops in modester language the honourable expressions concerning this Church from many eminent Bishops of other inferior Sees which by being old Records have obtained Credibility The multitude and variety of people which are of their perswasion apparent consent with some elder Ages in many matters doctrinal the advantage which is derived to them by entertaining some personal opinions of Fathers which they with infinite clamours cry up to be a doctrine of the Church of that time or trulier thus entertaining the Doctrine of the Church of the ancient times which Protestants cry down as only the personal opinions of the Fathers The great consent of one part with another in that which most of them affirm to be de fide the great differences which are commenced among their adversaries abusing the liberty of prophecying unto a very great licentiousness their happiness of being instruments in converting diverse Nations the advantage of Monarchical Goverment the benefit of which they daily do enjoy the piety and the austerity of their Religious Orders of men and women the single life of their Priests and Bishops the Riches of their Church the severity of their fasts and their exteriour observances the great Reputation of their Bishops for Faith and Sanctity the known holiness of some of those persons whose Institutes the Religious persons pretend to imitate their Miracles false or true substantial or imaginary or trulier several of which though none affirms all or perhaps the most of those pretended are confirmed by such clear Testimonies as if any Faith may be had to any humane Testimony or to any History they cannot be false or imaginary The casualties and accidents that have hapned to their adversaries the oblique acts and indirect proceedings of some of those who departed from them and among many other things the names of Heretick and Schismatick which they with infinit pertinacy fasten upon all that disagree from them or trulier which this Church with a venerable and paternal authority and correction as the Catholick Church in all ages hath done and none other Church in this age except this presumeth to do pronounceth on all others who depart from her Faith or Communion as also in former ages the same names have been fastned on all those who have so departed On Berengarius Wicliff Waldeneses c. These Persuasives Dr. Taylor hath there collected As inducing persons of much reason and more piety to retain the Religion of â—heir Fore-fathers Now let any if they can gather out of him â—he counter-perswasives that over-poise these and may induce â—ersons of much reason and equal piety to renounce the Religion of their Fore-fathers and harkning to some Negative Arguments â—rom Scripture or for some points perhaps also from the Writers of the three first ages commit themselves to the conduct of the new Reformers at the first a few of the lowest ranck of Clergy lying under the Ecclesiastical censures assisted against their spiritual Superiours by some secular powers when both they and these were Subjects as to the judgement of all Spiritual matters to that Ecclesiastical Hierarchy which they opposed Now to confirm what hath been said above §. 82. n. 2. In the last place I will set you down some passages of S. Austine representing the Catholick Church 1. as an united and distinct Body 2. easily discernable from Sects 3. and where Scriptures are controverted to be obeyed and adhered to 4. though this not always for any other present reason or proof given us of what she holds save only that of her Authority which passages of this the most eminent Father of the Church I also seriously commend to his Meditation who is in an humble quest after this Guide 1st Concerning the Catholick Church That it where any division is made from Superiours as was made by the Donatists from a General Council is only one of these Churches and not both St. Austine ‖ De Baptismo l. 1 c. 10. mentions this proposition as agreed on both by the Donatists and Catholicks Vnam oportet esse Ecclesâ—am †Cap 10. and Vna est Ecclesia quaeeunque illa sit de quâ dictum est ‖ Cantic 6. c. Vna est columba mea una est matri suae nec possunt tot esse Ecclesiae quot Schismata ‖ De Baptismo 1. 1. c. 11. And so he allows the Donatists arguing Si nostra est Ecclesia Christi non est Ecclesia Christi vestra Communio This Tenent of theirs he passeth for truth and only opposeth this other that theirs and not that from which they separated was it and there proveth the contrary viz. That the Anti-Donatist was that una Ecclesia quae sola Catholica nominatur and that the Donatist was Communio a suâ unitate separata ‖ Ib. Cap. 10. 2. Again Concerning this one Catholick Church that it is easie to be known and discerned from others §. 82. n. 3. he saith in his book De unitate Ecclesiae against the same Donatists ‖ Cap. 20. Non est obscura quaestio in quâ vos fallunt quos ipse Dominus praedixit futuros atque dicturos Ecce hic est Christus
ecce illic ecce in deserto quasi ubi non est frequentia multitudinis ecce in cubiculis quasi in secretis traditionibus atque doctrinis Habetis Ecclesiam ubique diffundi crescere usque ad messem Habetis Civitatem de quâ ipse qui eam condidit ait non potest Civitas abscondi super montem posita Ipsa est ergo quae non in aliquâ parte terrarum sed ubique notissima est And Contra Cresconium l. 1. c. 33. He iterates the same Si autem dubitas quod Ecclesiam quae per omnes gentes numero sitate copiocissimâ dilatatur haec S. Scriptura commendat multis manifestissimis testimoniis ex eâdem authoritate the Scriptures prolatis onerabo where he that will say this Father speaks of the Church Catholicks only as it was in his not as it is to be in all times must also interpret those Scriptures from which he proves it to speak of his or some times only not of all which is absurd and would have voided S. Austine's arguing used against the Donatists then as well as any others now who might have replyed to him that these Texts were verified of some but not of their times And indeed they did urge that S. Austine's sence of them in application to the Church failed in the Arrian times and upon this See in his 48 Epistle his vindicating them to be verified of it in all times And it seems all reason that in the Scripture's describing that Church to whose bosome and Communion all people were for ever to resort the marks to know it by should be Universal and no more demonstrate to Christians the Church of one age than of another no more that in S. Austines times than that in ours to whose Faith and Communion Christians have in all times a like duty to conform and whose judgement a like necessity to consult Though it is willingly granted that such Properties admit of several degrees nor is it necessary either for its multitude extent or eminency that the Church should alway enjoy them in an equal proportion 3 ly Concerning our duty of crediting §. 82. n. 4. and adhering to the Church's testimony and judgement in matters controverted and obscure he thus discourseth ‖ Contra Cresconium l. 1. c. 33. against the Donatists who pleaded nothing in Scriptures could be shewed clear against them Proinde quamvis hujus rei certe de Scripturis Canonicis non proferatur exemplum earundem tamen Scripturarum etiam in hac re a nobis tenetur veritas cum hoc facimus quod universae placuit Ecclesiae quam ipsarum Scripturarum commendat authoritas ut quoniam Sancta Scriptura fallere non potest quisquis falli metuit hujus obscuritate quaestionis eandem Ecclesiam de illâ consulat quam sine ullâ ambiguitate Sancta Scriptura demonstrat Again De Vnitate Ecclesiae c. 19. Hoc saith he aperte atque evidenter i.e. in the Scripture nec ego lego nec tu Nunc vero cum in Scripturis non inveniamus c puto si aliquis sapiens extitisset cui Dominus Jesus Christus testimonium perhibet that we should be directed by his judgment Et de hac quaestione consuleretur a nobis nullo modo dubitare deberemus id facere quod ille dixisset ne non tam ipsi quam Domino Jesu Christo cujus testimonio condemnatur repugnare judicaremur Perhibet autem testimonium Christus Ecclesiae suae 4. Lastly Concerning the benefit in adhering to §. 82. n. 5. and relying on the Church authority or testimony before that proved to us which yet she delivers to us he discourseth thus in his Book De utilitate Crerendi i.e. credendi Ecclesiae ‖ cap. 13. written not long after his Conversion to a former acquaintance ' qui irridebat as he saith ‖ Retract 1. l. c. 14. Catholicae fidei disciplinam qua juberentur credere homines non autem quid esset verum certissima ratione docerentur Recte saith he Catholicae disciplinae majestate institutum est ut accedentibus ad Religionem fides i.e. adhibenda anthoritati ecclesiae persuadiatur ante omnia and c. 10. Sed inquis nonne erat melius rationem mihi reddere ut quocunque ea me duceret sine ulla sequerer temeritate Erat fortasse sed cum res tantasit ut Deus tibi ratione cognoscendus sit omnesne putas idoneos esse percipiendis rationbus quibus ad divinam intelligentiam mens ducitur humana an plures an paucos ais existimo Quid Paucos caeteris ergo hominibus qui ingenio tam sereno praediti non sunt negandam Religionem putas If not such must receive this their Religion not from Reason but authority And c. 16. Authoritate decipi miserum est miserius non moveri Si Dei providentia non praesidet rebus humanis nihil est de Religione satagendum Non est desperandum ab eodem ipso Deo authoritatem aliquam constitutam qua velut gradu incerto innitentes attolamur in Deum Haec autem authoritas seposita ratione qua sincerâ intelligere it diximo difficilimum stultis est dupliciter nos movet partim miraculis paâ—â—â—â—â—quentium multitudine And c. 8. He thus exhorts his scepties Friend Honoratus seduced by the Manicheans Si jam satis jactatus videris sequere viam Catholicae Disciplinae quae ab ipso Christo per Apostolos ad nos usque manavit abhinc ad posteros manatura est Those who can humble their reason so far as to embrace this holy Counsil through the abundant providence of God will find no great difficulty in discerning their right Guides and chusing the true Religion CHAP. VII Whether the Church of England doth not require assent to her Articles of Religion Several Canons in her Synods seeming to require it § 83. n. 1. The complaint of the Presbyterians concerning it § 83. n. 4. The Doctrine of her Divines § 84. n. 1. Where concerning the just importance of Negative Articles § 84. n. 1. and 85. n. 2. and concerning conditional assent § 84. n. 4. and 85. n. 10. That to some of the 39 Articles assent is due and ought to be required § 85. n. 1. That the Roman Church doth not require assent to all the Canons of her Councills as to points Fundamental i. e. of any of which a Christian nescient cannot be saved § 85. n. 4. That obedience either of assent or non-contradiction if required by the Church of England to all the 39. Articles seems contrary to the Laws of the Church and to the Protestant Principles § 85. n. 11. AFter this view of the 2. present opposit Churches §. 83. n. 1. which of them more resembles the ancient Catholick the latter whereof the Protestant Churches seem to build the defence of the Reformation and the Vindication of their liberty from former Church-laws upon the denial of any such obedience
of assent or belief due thereto as was exacted by the former Church and her Councils of which matter see what is said before § 39. c. I think fit before I proceed to the 2 d. thing proposed ‖ §. 66. the answering the many difficulties and objections urged against any Infallible Church Authority to search here first more particularly whether this liberty which Protestants claime in respect of an authority superiour the Councils and former Church yet be not denyed by them to their Subjects at least by the Church of England if we may informe our selves out of the most obvious sence of several of those Canons made in the late National Synods thereof 1. That then the National Synods of the Church of England notwithstanding their heavy accusations of the Council of Trent for the like practices do exact the Obedience of Assent to their Decrees and that under pain of Excommunication or of such persons being out off from the Unity of the Church and so if the Excommunication be just of such person if impenitent being cut off from the Body of Christ and taken of the whole multitude of the Faithful as an Heathen and Publican ‖ Ar. of Church of England 33. See 1 st the Synod held under K. James 1603. the 4 th anon whereof runs thus Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that the forme of Gods Worship established by Law and contained in the Book of Common Prayer containeth any thing in it that is repugnant to the Scriptures let him be Excommunicated ipso facto and not restored but after his Repentance and publick Revocation of such his wicked Errors Again thus Can. 5. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that any of the 39. Articles agreed upon by the whole Clergy in the Convocation held 1562. for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent touching true Religion are in any part erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience subscribe unto let him be Excommunicated ipso facto and not restored but after his Repentance and publick revocation of such his wicked errours To which may be added * the title Prefixed to the 39. Articles which saith that these Articles were drawn up for the avoiding diversities of opinions for the establishing of consent touching true Religion And * those words in the Preface to the same Articles Requiring all the Subjects of this Church to continue in the uniforme profession thereof and prohibiting the lest difference from the said Articles Here then 1 st the Church of England in the Title and the 5 th Canon declares that these Articles were drawn up for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of Consent But how doth the drawing-up or also the imposing of these Articles effect the avoiding diversities of opinions if the Church by this act layes no restraint at all upon opinions nor the Subscription required to them imply any assent to or belief of them or how effect the establishing of consent if all the obedience the Church requires to them be only a non-contradiction 2. Again here in the preface to the Articles not only silence and non-renouncing but professing of them is required but none are tied to profess any thing but what they also are tied either to believe or to profess though against their Conscience 3. Again In the 5 th Canon the words Erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience subscribe do imply that he cannot with a good Conscience subscribe to them who thinks them erroneous but any may subscribe to them with a good conscience though they be erroneous if the subscription only oblige to non-contradiction for none are bound in conscience to contradict every thing that they hold an errour 4 ly Here in the 4 th and 5 th Canon the Church of England Excommunicates them that affirme such and such things not till they repent of and publickly revoke their unpeaceful or turbulent contradiction of her decree but till they repent of and revoke their wicked errours and see Can 12 revoke their Anabaptistical errours where Annabaptisticall joyned to Errour clearly applies the word Errour not to the act of contradicting but to the matter wherein such a one contradicts Now Excommunication here till one revokes his Errours is till one changeth or at least professeth that he changeth his opinion for one may revoke or Repent of his Contradiction who doth not at all of his Errours which contradiction is not an Errour of the understanding but a fault of manners which also we easily rectifie without repenting of or revoking any former opinion and consequently without revoking our Errour But here the Excommunication extends to this latter Where if by any ones publickly revoking his wicked Errours be meant only the revoking of the divulging of his wicked Errour then would such a recantation as this be sufficient to restore such an excommunicated person to the Churche 's Communion I hold indeed my former tenent still but heartily repend and am sorry that I have divulged it nor will I for the future do the like But such reconciliative recantations we know are never accepted amongst the Reformed unless such persons condemn also their former Doctrines as false and acknowledge for true and Orthodox those of the Church Again In this matter I aske If any one when required by the Church to declare his opinion doth affirm such a wicked Errour to the affirmers whereof the Church hath denounced Excommunication for Example affirms the King not to be Supreme in Ecclesiastical matters against the 2d Canon whether is he not in such a case by that Canon liable to Excommunication If he be them it is not because he declareth what he holdeth for how can the Church Excommunicate him for doing that which she requireth of him i. e. for declaring what he holdeth upon her interrogation but because he holdeth that which he ought not i. e. for his opinion for his wicked Errour as she there calls it And doth not the Church of England likewise allow of the King 's requiring in the Oath of Supremacy touching this point not only a non-affirmation of the contrary or a non-contradicting of such a truth but a sincere acknowledgment in his conscience and a believing of it I do utterly testify and declare in my conscience c. So also the Parliament 13 Elizab. 12. requireth That every one that hath an Ecclesiastical living declare his assent and subscribe to the 39. Articles of Religion And that no person be admitted to any Benefice with cure except he shall first have subscribed the same Articles with declaration of his unfeigned assent in the same Here you see the subscription interpreted assent Now will the Church deny the lawfulness of the Act of the State passed by the Lords Spiritual as well as Temporal Or may not a Church though fallible enjoyn or require as much acknowledgement as much assent in a matter of Faith as the said Church
the days of Edward the Sixth Expedit quidem saith he prospicere desultoriis Ingeniis quae sibi nimium licere volunt claudenda est etiam janua curiosis doctrinis Ratio autem expedita ad eam rem una est Si exstet nempe summa quaedam doctriâ—ae ab omnibus recepta quam inter praedicandum sequantur omnes ad quam etiam observandam omnes Episcopi Parochi jurejurando adstringantur ut nemo ad munus Ecclaesiasticum admittatur nisi spondeat sibi illum doctrinae consensum inviolatum futurum Quod ad formulam precum rituum Ecclaesiasticorum valde probo ut certa illa extet a qua Pastoribus discedere in functione sua non liceat ut obviam eatur desultoriae quorundam levitati qui novationes quasdam affectant Here I understand him to require the Clergy to be obliged by Oath to receive and Preach such a certain forme of Doctrine and to practice such Ecclesiastical Rites as shall be agreed upon by their Governours In which thing if He speaks reason what can more justify the proceedings of the Church-Catholick in restraining not only her Subjects tongues but tenents and opinions in matters which she judgeth of necessary belief Notwithstanding these evidences cited above §. 84. n. 1. implying assent required to the Articles of the Church of England yet her Divines when charged therewith by Roman Catholicks do return many answers and Apologies whereby they seem either to deny any such thing or at least do pretend a moderation therein very different from the Roman Tiranny 1 rst Then they say α That they require not any oath but a Subscription only to these their Articles ‖ Bishop Bramhal Reply to Chal. p. 264. 2. β Require subscription only from their own not from strangers See Bishop Bramhall vindic p. 155. And This Church prescribes only to her own Children whereas the Church of Rome severely imposeth her Doctrine upon the whole World saith Bishop Lawd ‖ P. 52. 3. γ Nor yet require it of all their own but only of those who seek to be initiated into holy Orders or are to be admitted to some Ecclesiastical preferment ‖ Bishop Brambal vind p. 156. 4. δ These Articles not penned with Anathemas or curses against all those even of their own who do not receive them 5 ly ε Subscription not required to them as Articles of their Faith or at least as all of them Articles Fundamental of their Faith as belief is required to all hers as such by the Church of Rome but only required to them as Theo ogical veritie ‖ Bâ—amh Reply p. 350. and Inferiour truths †Stillingfleet p. 54. To this purpose Bishop Bramhall Reply p. 350. We do use to subscribe unto them indeed not as Articles of Faith but as Thelogical verities for the preservation of unity among our selves Again ‖ Ib. p. 277. Though perhaps some of our negatives were reveald truths and consequently were as necessary to be believed when they are known as affirmatives yet they do not therefore become such necessary truths or Articles of Religion as make up the rule of Faith which rule of Faith he saith there consists of such supernatural truths as are necessary to be known of every Christian not only necessitate praecepti because God hath commanded us to believe them ‖ See Schism guarded p. 396 but also necessitate medii because without the knowledge of them in some tolerable degree according to the measure of our capacities we cannot in an ordinary way attain to Salvation And ‖ Reply p. 264. We do not saith he hold our 39. Articles to be such necessary truths extra quas non est â—alus nor enjoyn Ecclesiastick persons to swear unto them but only to subscribe them as Theological truths And thus the Arch Bishop ‖ p. 51. All points are made Fundamental and that to all mens belief if that Church the Roman hath once determined them whereas the Church of England never declared that every one of her Articles are Fundamental in the Faith To which they add ζ That as for those of these Articles that are positive doctrines and Articles of their Faith they are such as are grounded in Scripture and General Truths about which there is no controversy ‖ Bramh. vindic p. 159. and such saith Mr. Stillingfleet †p. 54. as have the testimony and approbation of the whole Christian World of all ages and are acknowledged to be such by Rome it self η And then as for the rest of those Articles they are only negative as the Arch Bishop ‖ p. 52. refuting there where the thing affirmed by the Roman-Church is not affirmed by Scripture nor directly to be concluded out of it Or as Bishop Bramhall ‖ Vindic. p. 159 They are no new articles or innovations obtruded upon any but negations only of humane controverted Traditions †Reply p. 279. and Refutations of the Roman suppositious principles ‖ Ib. p. 277. And though some of them were revealed truths c. as before yet do they not therfore make up the rule of Faith ‖ i. e. as this Rule is before explained θ 6 ly That such subscription whether of positives or negatives is required by the Church of England to a few in comparison of that multitude of Articles made on the other side Though the Church of England saith the Aâ—chb ‖ p. 51. denounce Excommunication as is before expressed yet she comes far shoâ—t of the Church of Romes severity whos 's Anathema's are not only for 39. Articles but fer very many more about one hundred in matter of Doctrine 7 ly ξ Concerning the just importance and extent of such subscription several expressions I find that the Subscribers do not stand obliged thereby * to believe these Articles § 84. n. 2 and the reason given because the Church is fallible but only * not to oppose not to contradict them To this purpose We do not look saith Bishop Bramhall ‖ Bishop Bramh. Schism garded p. 190 Stillingf p. 55. upon the Articles of the Church of England as Essentials of saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and his Apostles but in a mean as pious opinions fitted for the preservation of unity neither do we oblige any man to believe them but only not to contradict them And Si quis diversum dixerit we question him Si quis diversum senserit if any man think otherwise in his private opinion and trouble not the peace of the Church we question him not ‖ Vindic. p. 156. Again λ Never any son of the Church of England was punished for dissenting from the Articles in his judgement so he did not publish it by word or writing After the same manner speaks Mr. Stillingfleet ‖ P. 104. The Church of England excommunicates such as openly oppose her Doctrine supposing her fallible the Roman Church excommunicates all who will not believe
whatever she defines to be infallibly true And The Church of England bindeth men to peace to the Churches Determinations reserving to men the liberty of their judgements on pain of Excommunication if they violate that peace And Mr. Chillingworth saith ‖ P. 375. That Protestants cannot with coherence to their own grounds require of others the belief of any thing besides Scripture and the plain irrefragable indubitable consequences of it without most high and most Schismatical presumption plain irrefragable indubitable consequences such therefore cannot be the most of the 39. Articles we know by how great a part of Christianity controverted denied Lastly thus the Arch-bishop answering to the fifth Canon of the Church of England objected by A. C. ‖ P. 51. It's one thing for a man to hold an opinion privately within himself and another thing boldly and publickly to affirm it as if that Canon prohibited only the latter of these This then seems of late the commoner exposition of subscription and most suitable to the Protestant Principles 8. But 8 ly Some other expressions also fall from the same Writers §. 84. n. 3. and others intimating assent required For 1 st The Arch-bishop saith concerning the fifth Article that perhaps only publick affirmation is the sence of it but speaks nothing clearly against assent required by it and I suppose he saw good reason for it I pray you view the place in him So in the precedent page he saith The Church of England is not such a shrew to her Children as to deny her blessing or denounce and Anathema against them if some peaceably dissent in some particulars remoter from the Foundation Where this restriction remoter from the Foundation seems so to indulge dissent in respect of some of the 39. Articles as that she doth not allow it generally in respect of them all unless any will say all the Articles are such So Mr. Whitby ‖ P. 100. in his Answer to Mr. Cressy amongst other ifs puts in this for one If they the English Church-Governours require a positive assent it is because the thing determined is to be evident in Scripture c. We do use saith Bishop Bramball ‖ Reply p. 349. to subscribe unto them indeed not as Articles of Faith but as Theological verities is not this a subscribing that they assent to or hold them for Theological verities So p. 264. We do require Ecclesiastical persons only to subscribe them as Theological Truths for the preservation of unity among us and the extirpation of some growing errors and Mr. Stillingfleet useth the same expression from him To subscribe them as Theological Truths meaneth he not here to subscribe that they are Theological Truths For the preservation of unity means he not unity of Opinion and of the Profession of such Truths As the title also prefixed to the Articles mentioned before ‖ §. 83. n. 1. imports saying That the Articles were drawn up for the avoiding diversities of Opinions and establishing consent Else where diversity of Opinion is allowed in all things what extirpation of errours which follows in the next words can be hoped 9. μ Lastly §. 84. n. 4. I find frequent mention in these Authors of a conditional assent or belief required in general as due to the Churches proposals whether concerning matters of Faith or other constitutions yet without any particular application thereof to the 39. Articles Conditional viz. Then * when a person is not competent to search her grounds or * where the Church adheres to and forsakes no part of the Apostles depofitum or * when she proveth and evidenceth to them the truth of what she proposeth or * so long as they cannot evidence and prove to her the contrary But then they leave the judgement of this condition when she sufficiently proves such a thing or they the contrary when the party is not competent to search grounds or when the Church adheres not to the Apostles Depositum to themselves and not to the Church reserving to every private person the ultimate judgement a judgement of discretion as they call it See Dr. Ferne's Case between the two Churches p. 40.48 49. Division of Churches p. 45.47 61. Considerations p. 19. Dr. Feild p. 666. Dr. Jackson on the Creed l. 2. § 1. c. 5. 6. out of which see some Quotations before § 20. Dr. Hammond's answer to a Catholick Gentleman p. 16.17 Dispatcher dispatched c. 5. p. 358. Having seen this defence of Learned Protestants for the Church of England her composing new Articles of Religion §. 85. n. 1. and exacting of her Subjects subscription and conformity to them wherein they endeavour to represent the Yoke of these her Articles and her Excommunications very light though the Presbyterians groan under the weight thereof in comparison of that of the Roman Canons and their Anathemas Now give me leave to make some reflection on what they have said and out of these to return answers to the precedents so far as it seems necessary Obs 1 1 st Then this is clear that they confining their Rule of Faith within as narrow a compass as they please yet some of their 39. Articles will be found to be a part of it and to be such supernatural truths as are necessary to be known of every Christian necessitate medii and such as extra quo◠non est salus as well as some of those in Pius's Bull or in the Council of Trent are Of this sort must several of the 1 st 8. Articles be concerning the Trinity Son of God c. And I ask whether they are not willing that some other of them as 8. The fall of Adam 18. Salvation only by Christ 15. Christ only without sin 11 Justification by Faith 25.27 Two Sacraments ordained by Christ and these not only bare signs but effectual Instruments of Grace 6. Sufficiency of the holy Scripture for Salvation be admitted into the Rule of the Protestants Faith but thrown amongst Theological and inferior verities Since then it is most certain that some of their Articles are part of their Rule and of the most necessary and fundamental Faith Next I ask concerning these whether in the liberty they profess in their Church and the want of it they accuse in the Roman they require no assent from their Subjects or at least from those of them whom they admit to H. Orders and Ecclesiastical Preferments to these Articles or whether they do not require them to profess and teach all or some of them at least which they cannot do unless they also oblige them to hold them for none may profess against what he thinks and therefore who is tyed by them to profess so is by them tyed to think so But if they do not require such assent then may one that holds against them the 〈◊〉 Doctrines in several of the prime Articles of their Faith not only enjoy their Communion but sit down among their Doctors only if as he believeth professeth
or teacheth none of these Articles so he do not teach or profess the contrary but spend his discourses on other subjects See now whether there may not be some reason for that which is observed before § 84. n. 3. concerning the Arch-bishop Obs 2 2 ly Concerning those other Articles of which it is said that they are no new positive Articles of the Protestant Faith but only negations §. 85. n. 2. and refurations of new Roman assertions and additions You may note concerning them 1 st In General that Negatives may be Scripture-truths revealed therein matter of our Faith and as necessary to be believed as Bishop Bramhall granteth ‖ Reply to Chalced p. 227. when known to be revealed as any affirmative and possitive Articles are and the most Fundamental Articles may be as well negatively as affirmatively proposed and seeing that the one necessarily implies and inferrs the other as one is ratione medii necessary to Salvation so is the other So the negative Articles in the Nicen or Athanasian Creed Pater non creatus a nullo genitus non tres â—atres Filius non factus Filius unus non conversione divinitatis in carnem aut confusione Substantiarum are Articles of as necessary belief as the positives and indeed the same with them the same with Pater unus Pater eternus Filius genitus Filius ex duabus naturis consistens And they as much Hereticks that affirm any of these negatives as that deny the affirmative 2 ly Concerning the Negatives in the 39. Articles of the Church of England if they be well considered you may find that they are both in the Articles pretended to be Scripture and revealed truths and that all or most of them are equivalent to affirmatives and as new and positive on the one side as the Roman Articles which they contradict are pretended on the other and the Protestants Confession of Faith supposing him obliged to believe these Negatives as large and as particular on the one side as the Roman or Tridentine is on the other as to the maine Controversies that are bandied between the two Churches and these not only privatively but positively opposite For no difference can be made in the thing but only in the expression between a negative and positive Article where the negative implies and is equivalent to the affirmative of its contrary as it is where the contraries are immediate and the one of them is necessarily put wherever the other denied As God being granted a substance He that denies him to be a corporeal substance in this he affirmes him to be a Spiritual and so those that deny here something which others affirme in this must needs affirme somthing which the others deny and the negative may be as we please changed into another positive and he who had before the positive shall have now the negative side He that denies any Soules after this life to go into any temporal purgatory affirms them to go into Bliss or Pain Eternal and he that affirms Purgatory denies this So he that denies a Transubstantiation in the Eucharist affirmes the Substance of the Symboles to remain there and so e contra Hence he that hath 39. Articles of his Faith whereof 30. are in the expression negative 9. positive hath in matters wherein the one contrary being excluded the other is admitted as it is in most of these Articles of Religion that are in debate no fewer positive Articles of his Faith than he who hath 39. expresly positive and again he who hath 39 positive cannot but have 39. Negative also and e contra only a negative confession argues a former contest And as Faith so Heresie is conversant in either And here also note that it is one thing for a Church meerly to exclude from or omit in her Articles or confessions of Faith those points which another Church defineth i. e not to tye her Subjects to believe them and another thing to tye her Subjects to believe the Negatives of them or not to believe them Which is indeed a defining one way as much as the other Church doth the other way For Example 'T is one thing not to tye her subjects to believe or hold the Roman Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons Images Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints c. and another thing to tye her subjects to believe or hold that the Romish Doctrines concerning Purgatory c. are vainly invented or grounded on no warrant of Scripture but rather repugnant to the Word of God as it is in the 22. Article Ecclesiae Anglic. Neither can the Church of Rome be here more justly questioned in her not leaving points in Universals only and their former indifferency but new-stating Purgatory Transubstantiation c. than the Reformed for their new-stating the contrary to these Which to make more perspicuous §. 85. n. 3. It is to be noted that of those who seem in their Theological Positions to affirm lesâ— and so to make fewer Articles of their Faith than some others do there are two sorts 1. Either such as peremptorily deny the truth of those additionals which the other affirm 2. Or such as do suspend their judgement concerning such additionals neither affirming nor denying them for truths only denying that the others as yet do prove or evidence them to be so Now though it may be said of these later that indeed they do not make so many Articles of Faith or new definitions as the other do and so also that they seem much more safe and modest in the paucity of their Credends because they who neither affirm nor deny a Tenent cannot err in it yet the former who deny as far and as peremptorily every new point as the other affirm it these can free themselves from no curiosity tyranny liableness to errour c. wherein they pretend the other to transgress nor can plead any safety in their Doctrine viz. in their not erring because not determining but do ingage every whit as far in such points as their adversaries do one in holding and endeavouring to prove such a thing a truth the other in holding and endeavouring to prove it an error And this is the case of the Church of England which suspends not her judgment in those new points which the Roman defines nor denies them onely to be proved or clear in the Scripture but denies them as Errors and things contrary to Scripture So Purgatory Adoration of Images and Reliques Invocation of Saints Indulgences are declared repugnant to Gods Word Art 22. Works of Supereorgation Art 14. Publick Prayer or Ministery of the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood by the People Art 24. Denying of the Cup to the People Art 30. Sacrifice of the Mass Art 31. Transubstantiation Art 28. Now he that believes Transubstantiation for Example to be contrary to Scripture makes the contrary to Transubstantiation to be Scripture and so to be also a point of his Faith if Scripture be so and hence the
English Church in obliging her Subjects to believe these points Errors which the Roman Church doth hers to believe Truths hath in his as large a Creed as the other if the other hath Twelve new Articles so in her stating the contrary to them hath she and is equally tyrannical or more because the Articles of the other are the elder of the two the Subjects of the one having no liberty left to affirm them as of the other to deny them For Example A Subject of the Church of England supposing him obliged to believe her Articles true hath no more liberty left to hold Transubstantiation a Truth than a Romanist hath to hold it an Error Or to instance in the implyed affirmative that is maintained in opposition to Transubstantiation on the Church of Englands side a Subject of this Church hath no more liberty left to hold the remaining of the Substance of the Symbols in the Eucharist an Error than those of the Roman have to hold it a Truth This of the first sort those who as peremptorily deny a thing as the others affirm it But next you may observe that neither are the later sort who suspend their judgment because such point seems not proved to them in this always the most secure and safe If the proposers to them of that point be such persons as they are commanded to believe unless themselves can prove the contrary to it which is the case of all those who have Spiritual Superiors and if the knowledge of such a Truth be any way profitable to their Salvation which Truths I suppose these Superiors never define without foreseeing First such Doctrines defined beneficial to be known This from § 85. n. 2. is my 2d. Observation concerning the Church of Englands negative Articles 3ly You may observe §. 85. n. 4. that when these Protestant Writers say Obs 3 that these 39 Articles that is the most of them or the negatives see Observation 1. ‖ §. 85. n. 1. are not made by them Articles of their Faith they explain themselves to mean not made fundamental Articles of their Faith or such the belief of which is necessary ratione medii for attaining salvation and such as extra quas creditas non est salus ‖ § 84. n. 1. they meanwhile not denying that whatever is Scripture and a revealed Divine Truth is an Article of our Faith i. e. as Bp. Bramhall Necessary to be believed and assented to by us when it is known to be revealed Now as they do not make the most of their 39 Articles the rule or articles of their Faith in the forenamed sense so neither doth the Roman Church or Council of Trent her Canons whatever Protestants tell the World so often to the contrary Fundamental indeed they call sometimes all points defined by the Churches Councils and hold them necessary to be believed for attaining salvation but not necessary in such a sense as ratione medii necessary or absolutely extra quas creditas non est salus but onely necessary to be believed upon supposition of a sufficient proposal of them to any person that they have been so defined Again necessarily to be believed also for attaining Salvation not because that no person can be saved and that after the Churches definition of them in his not believing them But because if after such proposal and sufficient notice given him of their being defined he believe them not he now stands guilty in this his disobedience to his supreme spiritual Guides of a mortal sin unrepented of destructive of his Salvation A thing spoken plainly enough by the answerer of the Archbishops Book §. 85. n. 5. and yet misrepresented by the Replier ‖ p 48 49. who imposeth these propositions as maintained by the Roman Church That what the Church determines as matter of Faith is as necessary to be believed in order to Salvation as that which is necessary from the matter i. e. necessary ratione medii And that an equal explicit faith is required to the definitions of the Church as to the Articles of the Creed and that there is an equal necessity in order to Salvation of believing both of them Whenas he might easily have informed himself that there is not an equal necessity required by the Roman Church of the very Articles of the Creed in order to Salvation and whenas not onely this one condition of the Churche's having defined them for none are obliged necessarily to believe explicitly whatsoever the Church hath defined but a second also of a sufficient proposal to us of what the Church hath defined renders her Definitions necessary to be believed and then necessary to be believed indeed as to the doing of our duty in order to our Salvation but not all of them necessary to be believed as if the knowledg of them were so necessary to our Salvation as that without this it could not be had as that of some of the Articles of the Creed is Neither is the Greek Church one ground of this authors mistake by F. Fisher or others of the Roman Church charged as guilty of Heresie in any other manner save this that supposing a lawful General Council accepted by the Church Catholick to have defined The procession of the H. Ghost à Filio so many of the Greek Church as have received a sufficient proposal that such a Council hath so defined it if they continue to deny or disbelieve it are guilty of Heresie leaving the rest free unless it can be proved that à Filio is a Fundamental in the other sense i. e. ratione medii free I say so many amongst them as happen to be either by natural defect and incapacity or external want of instruction invincibly and inculpably ignorant either of the just authority of such a Council or of its Divinely assisted inerrability in all necessaries or of such its Decree or of the true sense thereof which persons indeed by reason of the evidence of all these things cannot be the most or the learned but yet may be some for all in an Heretical Church are not affirmed Hereticks though the Churches censures according to the reasonable grounds of conviction concerning any such point generally published are passed upon all that are involved in such a Society whilst God who knows all capacities absolves from them whom he seeth innocent and preserves his Wheat from the fire though by the Church bound in the same bundle with the Tares As for the other ground of the Replyers mistake ‖ Stillin p 48. That famous passage of Pius Hanc veram Catholicam Fidem extra quam c. he might have learn'd to have made a more moderate and qualified construction of it from his own descant on the like clause in the Athanasian Creed Haec est Fides Catholica quam nisi quisque c. where he ‖ p. 70 71. could well discover a conditional necessity as to some of the Articles thereof viz. A necessity
of believing them upon conviction that they were of Divine Revelation why not then allow such a one here extra quam nulla salus i. e. to such as receive a sufficient proposal of their being so defined and therefore do or might receive a sufficient conviction that they must also be Divine Truth Though for a fuller answer to that clause of Pius I must refer you to the considerations on the Council of Trent § 80. n. 2. Now to proceed in our Discourse Fundamental therefore the Church of Rome affirms many of her Canons for I speak not of all not so to be §. 85. n. 6. but that 1st A Christian may be ignorant of them without loss of his salvation and indeed amongst the vulgar who is there that is not ignorant of several of them Onely in time of need and where danger of seducement as any Canon is of greater moment or the truth thereof particularly invaded the Pastors are vigilant to inform their Sheep of the Churches former definitions of them 2ly Nay further may hold the contrary to some of them though defined yet if not sufficiently proposed to him that they are so without loss of salvation 3ly In ones holding the contrary to them after sufficiently proposed I mean both the decree manifested to him and the just authority that made it and the divine assistance thereof the loss of salvation doth not ensue nor the Churche's censures take hold on such a person for the simple non-believing the matter of such Canon or for the holding of the contrary For if this the meer non-believing or the holding of the contrary to any Church-definition whatever abstracting from a sufficient proposal that such thing hath been defined by the Church were enough to destroy any ones salvation then so this would be before the Churches determination of such Point or so would be to the invincibly ignorant after it a thing which no Catholick affirms and see S. Austins stating of this matter de Baptis 4.16 before § 18. Though it is freely granted here that the ignorance of such a truth as is beneficial for our salvation which all definitions of Councils are supposed to be to some or other both after and also before the Councils defining thereof may confer something in its degree according to the benefit of the truth one miscarries in to the loss of his salvation The Churche's censures therefore I say as to many of her Canons are incurr'd and salvation ruin'd not for the meer disbelieving such Point defined but for obstinately doing this after sufficient ground of conviction that such an authority hath so defin'd it Posiquam ea quae ad fidem pertinent authoritate Vniversalis Ecclesiae determinata sunt si quis tali ordinationi pertinaciter repugnat haereticus censetur ‖ S Thom. 22.11 q. 2. Qui autem ex ignorantiâ crassâ vel etiam affectatâ saith Layman out of the common Doctrine of the Casuists †Theol moral â—2 Tract 1 13. c. propter inquirendi taedium c. errorem aliquem contra fidem tenet eum statim derelicturus si intelligat Catholicae Ecclesiae repugnantem esse talis non est pertinax nec Haereticus So that the Churches Anathema in many of her Canons seizeth on a person not so much for the matter of his error though this not denied to some degree hurtful to him and diminishing his perfection in the Faith as the pertinasy of his erring and the contumacie and perverseness of his will disobeying the Church and his Spiritual Superiors sufficiently manifesting the contrary truth to be her Doctrine and a portion of the Christian Faith and manifesting it always for some good ends of preserving her Sons orthodox in such parts thereof as she sees to be invaded by some contrary error of perilous consequence Now let it be considered whether the Church of England if the sense of the 5. Canon related above ‖ § 83. n. 1. stand good doth not make her 39 Articles Fundamental and exclude from Salvation those who affirm or hold any of them erroneous on the same manner whilst she excommunicates i. e. cuts off from the Body of Christ if the Excommunication be just as she thinks it is such persons as remain in this wicked error till such time as they repent and publickly revoke it For I ask what is this wicked error for which unrepented of he is so cut off from Christ and consequently his Salvation destroyed but his holding or if you will his not repenting upon her Admonition but persisting to hold the contrary to some one or more of her Articles or Definitions if she declare then his Salvation lost in his holding the contrary to such Article is not the Article then after her proposal made in the sense we are speaking of fundamental to him Or suppose his wicked error be not holding but saying the contrary to such Article when he holds otherwise which I cannot apprehend to be sense i. e. that any one can be said to erre in a thing when he saith onely that he holds it but really doth not hold it at least thus far then as to non-contradiction the Article still is made fundamental for here whoever contradicts unrepenting thereof is damned 4ly For the application of Haec est Fides extra quam non est salus which is so often said by Protestants to be made to all the Definitions of the Council of Trent and the confession thereof necessary to the enjoying of the Communion of this Church 1st No such Sentence is applied to the definitions by the Council it self except onely to the Nicene Creed of which they say it is Fundamentum firmum unicum Sess 3. but onely by a Pope after it And 2ly If we should also grant the sense of this clause to be that which Protestants put upon it whereas it is capable of another sense which they cannot disallow of which see Consid Conc. Trid. § 80. namely this That an explicit belief of every one of the Definitions and Canons of all the lawful General Councils that have ever been or made any such for Pius speaks of all Canons of Councils as well as those of Trent is necessary to every one and that ratione medii for attaining Salvation For thus the Protestants will needs understand it a thing so irrational that any one may see that a Church that holds this must damn all or most of her children for who is there especially among the laity or vulgar that hath an actual knowledg or explicit faith of every Canon of every lawful General Council that hath been in the Church Yet is it not required by Pius of all men that they assent to this truth for their enjoying the Roman Communion but onely of those who enter into Sacred Orders or Religions But 5ly It may be noted also concerning this Bull of Pius which seems of a long time the main grievance of Protestants the main Apology for their
relinquishing the Roman communion and that in which she is chiefly charged to have violated the Unity of the Catholick Church ‖ Sâ—â—llin p. 55. that it came forth many years after the Protestants discession from this Church whether we look at Luther's or that under King Edward or the last under Queen Elisabeth and many years too after the birth of their XXXIX Articles made against the Roman Faith both after those composed under Edward VI. A. D. 1549 and reconfirmed under Queen Elisabeth 1562. This Bull not being made till 1564. So that herein they seem to take their chiefest excuse for their discession from that Church from a thing that hapned long after it as if they departed from it out of the foresight of an offense which though it then was not yet would be given them by it The 4th thing I have to observe to you touched before is §. 85. n. 7. Obs 4 that though the Church of England in her Synod affixeth not particular Anathemaes to her Articles as the Roman-Catholick doth in that of Trent with a Si quis dixerit c. Anathema sit yet the forementioned 5th Canon of this Church pronounceth in general an Excommunication to a Si quis affirmaverit that any of these Articles is in any part erroneous The weighty value of which Excommunication also you may learn out of their Art 33. These things premised §. 85. n. 8. now to speak briefly to the former Protestant-Defence made Resp to α. § 84. n. 1. c. To α I answer that by the instances in the Canons c. produced before § 83. n. 1. and some of the expressions § 84. n. 3. the Church-Governours intention in requiring this Subscription seems to be Assent To β That as the Church of England requires submission to her Articles onely from her own Children or Subjects So doth the Council of Trent whose Subjects if it be a general one ‖ Or which see Consid on Coun of Trent § 15 c. is all Christianity if a Patriarchal ‖ Of which see Ib § 43. all the Western Churches and amongst the rest that of England To γ That as subscription to the Articles in the Church of England is only required from those who are to be initiated into holy Orders or admitted to Ecclesiastical Preferments so is Pius's oath to the Canons only exacted from those who enter into sacred Orders or Religions But as the Anathemaes in the Council of Trent extend to all persons so doth the Excommunication of the Church of England Can. 5. To δ That though these are not penned with a particular Anathema yet they are with a general Excommunication Can. 5. To ε That as not by them to their Articles so neither by the Church of Rome to her Canons is subscription required as to Articles of her Faith or Articles Fundamental if Faith or Fundamental be understood in such a sense as the Protestant quotations above explain them This hath been shewed § 85. n. 5 6. To ξ By this it is confessed that of the 39 Articles no more are Articles of the Church of England's Faith than those only wherein Rome doth agree with her and then if to the rest of her Articles no assent be exacted of any as is contended above § 84. one in all things believing and being of the same perswasion with the Church of Rome is freely admitted into the Church of Englands Communion nay may without violation of her constitutions lawfully enter into her holy Orders and Ecclesiastical preferments and there remain without any engagement to defend the Church of England's Doctrine or teach and instruct the people against the Roman Errors To n That her Negative Articles involve Affirmatives and those too pretended divine Revelations see before § 85. n. 3. which are the objects of Faith and do bind so strictly on one side as the Roman Canons do on the other and supposing assent required to them do admit as little latitude of opinion and at Luther's appearance the matter of these Roman Canons being in possession as to the common belief and practice of the Church these Negatives of them of the two will prove the Innovations Lastly In what sense Protestants say these Negatives are no Articles of their Faith i. e. faith necessary ratione medii to salvation in the same sense the Roman Church saith neither are her Positives that contradict them To θ Of the many Canons in the Council of Trent made in opposition to them Luthers many errors and innovations of Doctrine which were daily collected and brought into the Council were the cause And as to the main Points that are in debate between the Church of Rome and of England the Negatives in the English Articles equal the Affirmatives in the Canons of Trent To χ Whether assent to the Articles be required in subscription or only non contradiction as to any uniform accord in their later Writers I see nothing clear and the later seems more agreeable with their Principles but in the former instances out of some Canons c. assent seems as strictly required in this Church and that upon Excommunication as in the Roman upon Anathemaes and the Act of Parliament Elisabeth 13. recited before § 83. n. 1. an Act passed not only by the Lords Temporal but Spiritual i. e. the Governours of this Church is most express for it Review it ‖ § 83. n 1. To λ § 85. n. 9. It is true also in the Roman Church that thought is free and Ecclesia non judicat de occultis or peccatis merè internis i. e. no way discovered but true also that the Ecclesiastical Magistrate may lawfully inquire into mens thoughts and beliefs and question a person herein for this is done in Baptism and that not only words are punishable as faults by this Magistrate but thoughts if any one shall reveal that he thinks so i. e. thoughts when they are any way discovered as any one upon examination manifesting any blasphemous thoughts or tenents of his may be lawfully excommunicated and in such a case is excommunicated not for the revealing them in word but for the holding them so who defignes a treason and afterward reveals it is justly punished not for the revealing but designing thereof and this the Church of Rome doth and if the Church of England extend not her Inquisition or censures thus far especially as to those persons she admits into the Clergy she may expect a Babel of Religions and dissenting judgements in points of greatest consequence under the mask of one external Communion To μ §. 85. n. 10. Only a conditional Assent required seems to signifie little for establishing unity of Faith or consent in Religion which tyes none so but that of two Subscribers one may absolutely assent another dissent the same person assent to day dissent to morrow And a Socinian confident of his opinion as freely subscribe as any other of the Reformed a Presbyterian
consenting shall never err in necessaries And then in the last place if perhaps some smaller number of them do dissent from the rest since the Catholick Church is alwayes but one and is a Government at peace within it self and constituted in a due subordination of its members in respect of one another and also in respect of the whole here also it rationally follows that the greater and more dignified body of this Clergy in any division of some members from it must be of these two that Guide whom Christians are obliged to follow and the lesser and inferior part obliged to conform to and therefore this of the two the Guide unerring See before Disc 2. § 23. c. Disc 1. § 18. Here then ariseth a sufficient certainty in reason from the principles conceded by Protestants of the unerring of a lawfully general Council in necessaries without shewing the Decree of any Council for it § 89 3ly Setting aside any declaration of Scripture in this matter of infallibility and supposing the Gospel had not been writ yet both the Teachers of the Gospel for ever in their general Council at least must have been infallible in necessaries else from whom or by what other means no Scriptures being exstant could people have learnt the way to salvation And also this their infallible guidance must have been made sufficiently credible to the world by the tradition constantly descending from the testimony of our Lord and his Apostles who confirmed this their first testimony by Miracles else the Christian would have been no rational Religion By which testimony also it was that those first Teachers substituted by the Apostles had full credit with and did beget infallible and saving faith in their Gentile-Auditors before that the Holy Scriptures were delivered unto these Gentiles and therefore it appears that these Teachers might have been also to this day with sufficient certainty relyed on in their propagating and preserving the Christian faith among their Converts had there been no Scriptures at all to have taught the same things with them and to have born witness to their Doctrine Neither may it rationally be said that the Church's possession of these Scriptures hath disinherited them of any part of that Authority and belief which it is agreed that they might have challenged had there been no Scripture but that the present Church ought still in the same manner to be believed by her children to be infallible in all necessary truth as the Apostles were believed to be so by those who heard them and only from sufficiently credible witnesses had heard of but had not seen any of their miracles And then supposing first this their infallibility in necessaries to be thus made credible to us by sufficient evidence in point of reason †See Stillingf p. 559. we are to believe them also when in their Councils they tell us that they are infallible in all necessaries if this be a truth necessary to be known upon this account because they tell us so As he that once believes that whatever is said in Gods Word is true is to believe also that Gods Word is true because this Word saith so Here then you see that there would have been a sufficient certainty or assurance to Christians descending by Tradition of their being truly and infallibly guided by the Substitutes of our Lord to the end of the world without the decree of any Council presupposed and had there been no holy Scriptures extant The same infallible guidance therefore is now had and known sufficiently from them though we putting also the Scriptures § 90 4ly By primitive Tradition the Catholick Church in her General Councils hath alwayes thought her self authorized to define matters of faith upon Anathema to dissenters and to put them as thought fit in the Church's Creeds with an obligation laid on all to believe them Now either this will imply the infallibility of these Councils as they conceived in such points or if this be thought to argue something less let but the same priviledge still be continued to the present Church Catholick in her Councils and the same obedience yielded by her subjects to her present definitions and a sufficient certainty hereof granted viz. that such authority she hath and such duty they owe and any further extent of infallibility I suppose will not be claimed Here again we see that tradition in the practice of Councils without any their Decree shews a sufficient certainty of such an infallibility of Councils as is challenged Thus much in answer to this first Query Where the taking this for a Principle of Catholicks that none can have a sufficient certainty of any thing either from Scripture or Church-Tradition grounded at first on Miracles antecedent to the Church's authority defining it in a general Council causeth in some Protestants much misarguing in this and several other points But now if we return a like Query upon themselves who profess also a sufficient certainty in their faith even of those points that are in controversie or it sufficeth if they profess so much concerning any one such point and ask whence they have such certainty I see not what rationally they can reply For 1st They cannot build such a certainty on any Church-authority since they deny any infallibility or sufficient certainty as to such points in the Declarations or Doctrines of this Authority even in the supremest Collection thereof the Councils General present or past Nor yet 2ly on the Scriptures because the true sence of them in these points is not only disputed which is here urged by them as sufficient to null a certainty but by the much major part of Christendom and that after the Protestants manifesting to the world all the grounds of their persuasion said to be clear against their new pretensions But 3ly Since the Gospel was dispersed in the world by Christs Substitutes and Ministers and a multitude of souls saved thereby before the penning or publishing of the New Testament or Gospel-Scriptures and therefore possibly might in the same manner have continued to have been dispersed to the end of the world or for a much longer time then it was so this Query will still sorer press them what certainty in such a case they I mean the world learning their faith from Teachers without Scripture could have had of their faith Or whence Or whether no certainty in such case to be had § 91 2ly Again it is asked ‖ See Archb Lawd p. 228 239 Stillingf p. 515 516 513. from whence General Councils should derive this their infallibility Because 1st The divine promises of infallibility if made to any are made only to the diffusive Body of the Catholick Church Neither can she bequeath or delegate this infallibility to her assignes in a General Council if no such power of devolution be contained in the original Grant nor it can be shewed that the maker of the promises did either appoint a General Council to represent the
vanish those fancies ◠Of every General Council's receiving a Commission to make its meeting authentick from some formal act or tacit consent of the Church diffusive of the assistance of infallibility if any had to be made over to it by assignment from the Church diffusive of its acting not by any divine right but only humane delegation and of the several parts of the Church being obliged to its decrees by their choice and consent only not upon necessity 3ly Again It is asked how such an Ecclesiastical infallibility as is placed in a General Council Q. 3. can be said to be serviceable or at least necessary to the Church which subsisted § 98 for the first 300. years without any such infallible Guide And it is asked also by what infallible Guide in the long intervals of these Councils Christians are secured § 99 To the first I answer That this infallibility is to be supposed to accompany this Body of the Clergy taken collectively not only when met in a General Council but out of it whenever and however they shall manifest a concurrence in their judgment and agreement in their doctrines whether by several Provincial Councils assembled or some one Provincial Council assembled confirmed by the See Apostolick and allowed by other co-ordinate Churches or by communicatory letters of Churches to one another in the intervals of greater meetings and thus was infallibility resident and preserved in the Guides of the Church for the first 300. years Of this matter thus Mr. Thorndike †Epilog 1 l c. 8 p. 54. speaking of the times before Constantine The daily intercourse intelligence and correspondence between Churches without those Assemblies of Representatives we call Councils was a thing so visibly practised by the Catholick Church from the beginning that thereupon I conceive it may be called a standing Council in regard of the continual setling of troubles arising in some part and tending to question the peace of the whole by the consent of other Churches concerned which setlement was had and obtained by means of this mutual intelligence and correspondence The holding of Councils being a way of far greater dispatch but the express consent of Churches obtained upon the place being a more certain foundation of peace c. Thus he And see what is said before Disc 1. § 18. To the second That in the intervals of Councils if any new error dangerous to the faith and condemned by no former General Council doth molest the Church she by some of the forenamed wayes wherein she is unerrable if there be no convenience of assembling a General Council suppresseth it but if an error formerly condemned and crushed by a general Council begin to exalt it self and grow again that there needeth no more to quiet it than that the present Church Governours do put in execution the former unerring decrees of those Councils 4ly Again it is asked Q. 4. How lawful General Councils can be maintained all unerring § 100 which Councils experience hath shewed to have contradicted one another To which I answer That he who saith so either takes some Council to be a lawful General one that is not so in the judgment of the present Church Catholick as stated before § 11 12. 2. Disc § 23. c. Or takes some of their definitions to contradict which do not so in the judgment of the present Church Catholick Or urgeth things in some ages commonly received or practised in which there is a great latitude as things then defined But if the judgment of the Church in these ought to be preferred before some private members thereof she denies such contradiction in matters of faith to be in any of the General Councils that she receives 5ly Again it is asked Q. 5. If a General Council should err in the defining of something not necessary and again § 101 if it can be proved that no exact distinction can be made of such from necessaries how any Christian can be secure for any particular point of his faith that both such Council and himself do not err in it I answer 1st That if what is supposed should be granted yet still is such Christian as believes all the Council proposeth secure that his faith is deficient in nothing necessary And that Protestants think the like security sufficient in their own faith For they holding the sence of Scripture clear even to the unlearned in all necessaries and believing all the Scripture saith though they cannot exactly distinguish necessary points therein from others yet affirm their faith to be secure because actually not erring in any point clear and so also not in any point necessary 2ly That as to the Principal points of faith called necessary they are both by Councils sufficiently discerned from non-necessaries and proposed as necessaries and so by Christians believed as such In these particulars therefore they are certain of their not erring and as to other points of their faith that it is sufficient for Christians to know that if necesiary they do not err in them though which in particular are necessary and so certainly not erred in they know not But meanwhile do those who urge thus an uncertainty in the faith of Catholicks in attaching their judgment to Councils which in not necessaries are supyosed liable to error make themselves any better provision for the Protestants faith in remitting them from Councils unto their own judgments which in necessaries also they grant are liable to error at least upon their not using due industry their being swayed by passion interest c. which every humble man surely will suspect himself of sooner than a Council 6ly Again It is much pressed That upon the pretence Q. 6. that a General Council is infallible § 102 no error of such Council can ever be corrected or remedied neither by a particular person or Church or yet by another Council General I answer If the Council be as it is pretended infallible no need of correcting an error where is none If it be fallible yet if so only in non-necessaries no great harm if Christians in such a point be misled but great if private men throwing off the Guide upon such pretence they should so come in some necessary point to miscarry But indeed for General Councils to be fallible in necessaries also this I grant would be a thing most mischeivous to the Church but that they shall never thus err see what is said before § 6. Disc 1. § 7.14 And indeed the objection here i. e. the ruine which such error would bring upon Christianity considering the obedience commanded to these Councils is a sufficient Argument that thus they never err nor consequently need reformation § 103 But meanwhile those who urge this that the error of a General Council in an universal obligation of belief to it can never be rectified or reformed consider not That on the other side in admitting a reformation of any its supposed errors no truth
can be established and that before one error will so be amended many truths whilst its definitions are exposed to the trial of every private fancy will be perverted and that it is much the better of the two that some error in non-necessaries remain unremedied than that no truth in necessaries stand fixed and confirmed Again since all persons for the truth of such things wherein the sence of Scripture is controverted if they will not profess themselves Scepticks ought to acquiesce in some ultimate Judge or other though liable to error let those then who reject a General Council name what other ultimate Judge they will chuse rather I suppose here they will blush to name themselves for that Judge neither can they have shew of reason to name either any other single person or yet inferior Council to be that Judge against a General Lastly The same difficulty and hazard may be charged upon the Protestant's ground of the certainty of his faith †See Disc 2. § 38. viz. That the sence of holy Scripture is clear to all using ordinary industry to understand it in all necessaries For now supposing that indeed the sence of Scripture should not be clear and so such Protestant solely guided by it using his industry yet should err in some such point such error of his is no way to be rectified so long as he maintains this ground A thing observed by Mr. Thorndike Just Weights c. 21. p. 137. 7ly Again it is asked whether a lawful General Council be affirmed infallible only with Q. 7. or also without the concurrence and confirmation of its decrees by the Bishop of Rome § 104 To which waving here what testimony may be produced from Scripture and the Exposition of Antiquity concerning St. Peters supremacy and the Bishop of Rome's succeeding in it 1st I answer in the words of the Apostle †1 Cor. 11.16 standing upon the Church's custom in another matter That the Churches of God alwayes have had such a custom to define nothing in faith without or against the consent of this Successor of Saint Peter and Bishop of the prime Apostolick See and that this hath been constantly delivered by their Tradition See the ancient Canon concerning this Sine Romano Pontifice nihil finiendum * urged by Julius not long after the Council of Nice in his Epistle recited by Athanasius Apol. 2. against the Oriental Arrian Bishops slighting his authority * urged by Innocentius apud August Ep. 91. * mentioned by Socrates l. 2. c. 13 by Sozomen l. 3. c. 9. And it is remarkable that in the times that those acknowledged by all capital errors suppressed in the Athanasian Creed troubled the Church though all the other chief Patriarchs were tainted with one or other of them yet the Bishop of Rome alwayes stood firm and the Church in her vote alwayes joyned with his Chair though divided from some of the other If the Act of Liberius be here objected see what is answered to it Disc 2. § 26. n. 4. And seeing this Prime Patriarch of the Church Catholick presides in General Councils †See before §. 33. as the Metropolitan doth in Provincial therefore as the Canons ordered concerning Provincial Councils Vt nihil praeter Metropolitani conscientiam gerant c. sic enim unanimitas erit †Apostol can 35. Concil Antioch can 9. so there seems the same equity that neither the General Councils should pass any acts without the consent of the Roman Bishop their President and Head But 2ly So long as no Councils are pressed upon Protestants as lawfully general or infallible save only such which this Prime Patriarch hath alwayes consented to and confirmed this question whether the Acts of such Councils may stand good or their authority be infallible without his consent may be superseded 8. Again it is asked Q. 8. How the Pope's Confirmation of its decrees can concur to the not erring of such a Council since his Confirmation follows its final decision For now if it hath erred it is erroneous though he approves it if not it is Orthodox and so may be safely accepted though he rejects it †Dr. Pierce Answ to Cressy p. 17. Stillingf p. 509. I answer his Confirmation secures us that the Council errs not or the Council never errs when he confirms it because supposing that the rest of the Council should decree an error the Grace of God or the Holy Ghost assists this holy Father and Prime Patriarch of the Church Catholick President of these Councils so as that it effectually hinders him after what manner or by what means it pleaseth that he doth never confirm it least so the whole Church should be misguided in something necessary Or again when he perhaps would left to himself confirm an error the same Holy Spirit assists the Council so by what wayes of the divine wisdom it matters not that they do not define it And thus the Council never erreth being confirmed by him either because its decree is Orthodox or his consent with-held Hence then if the decrees be erroneous he never approves if Orthodox he safely approves them 9. Again it is asked Q. 9. if the Council not secure from erring without the Pope's approbation § 106 nor again the Pope without the assistance of a Council in which of the two the infallibility or not erring resides For in which soever we shall place it it renders the other needless I answer where is supposed the consent of both in a truth the actual non-erring lies in both But the Original cause of this not erring may be sometimes in the one and sometimes in the other as also erring may be in either separated as they are by the holy Ghost more effectually illuminated or guided so as in the last question is explained CHAP. IX 10. Q. If General Councils infallible whether they are so in their conclusions only which infers Enthusiasm or new Revelation Or also in their premises and proofs upon which assent will be due to all their Arguments § 107. 11 Q. Why being infallible at least in their conclusions they do not end all controversie but leave so many unresolved § 108. 12. Q. How such infallibility of theirs differs from that of the Apostles And the infallibility of their Decrees from that of Scripture 109. 13. Q. How many persons or Guides all fallible can make up one infallible § 112. 14. Q. Supposing all lawful General Councils infallible yet how can any know infallibly which are lawful General Councils Because of the many conditions required to make them such in some one of which he can never be infallibly certain of any Council that it hath not failed § 114. 10. A Gain it is asked If a lawful General Council be not liable to error whether it is so in its Definitions and Conclusions only or in the Premises also and its right deduction of the Conclusion from them I answer That it is not necessary that it
should be free from error save in the Definition or conclusion only which I say not as denying sufficient former Revelation and Tradition whereon to ground every conclusion that hath been passed in any Council nor that such Revelation and Tradition is unknown to the Council but only that for the Councils not erring in the Conclusion this is not necessary that all the Principles or all the reasoning it useth be infallible and certain If it be asked how it is possible that the Council should be infallible or actually unerring for this is all that is meant in the Conclusion when fallible or erring in the making Premises or deduction I answer Because the Holy Ghost assists them that they should alwayes conclude right and that from some principles never failing Though some other such a conclusion be not solid I say some principle for since the same conclusion is provable by many several Mediums or Arguments or the Conclusion or Definition it self may descend by express Tradition and not be extracted only out of some former traditive Principle by deduction it cannot be shewed that any Council hitherto hath failed in either of these the delivering a proposition as express Tradition that was not so or the deducting it from principles none of which are true or Traditional Nor are we certain that more Arguments or Reasons were not used by any such Council than those only that are transmitted to posterity Nor do I see who are sufficient Judges of the misarguings of Councils unless it be some following Council of the same Authority It cannot be denied also that the Holy Ghost may preserve the Church in all necessary Truth by inspiring and illuminating their understandings in and exciting the adherence of their will to such Truth when they are mistaken in some of the rational evidence they think they have for it By illuminating them I say after the same ordinary manner in the Council as them or others out of it only this assistance here is constant to a competent number and they are disposed rightly for it in this supreme Ecclesiastical Court for the necessities of the Church whereas out of the Council the same persons when some way indisposed thereto often fail of it But in the last place if it be asked how they or others can know that that they do not err in the Conclusion where their premises or their deduction is supposed erroneous I answer 1st That they may know they do not err either from Tradition of the Conclusion or the certainty of other premises or evident deduction used 2ly That indeed they cannot truly be certain of their conclusion by this way viz. from their arguing if it be not right or from the Principle they use if this uncertain or false but yet they may be certain of their Conclusion still by another way from Christs promises if he hath ingaged to them a not erring therein and the confidence of their infallibility lies in this latter not alwayes the former which perhaps may be discovered sometimes to fail In the first Council Act. 15. there was much reasoning pro and con v. 15. and some reasoning that was amiss and yet to their Conclusion was prefixt a Visum est Spiritui Sancto 11. Again it is asked Q. 11. Why if these Councils secure of not erring § 108 at least in their Conclusions they do not straightwayes determine all Controversies some of which seem necessary to be so determined because of the great trouble they give the Church and particularly why the Council of Trent left so many unresolved that were agitated not only before but also in that Council by its own members I answer Because they have a promise of divine assistance not in deciding any point controverted but only those necessary And again they judge necessary to be decided only those points whereof they have a former Revelation and Tradition descended to them for in all necessaries by the divine providence these two fail them not a Revelation and Tradition thereof either in the formal Conclusion it self or in its necessary Principles In the considering of which Principles and deductions though the Guides are sometimes liable to mistakes yet the divine promise and superintendency * never suffers them to err in the matter that is concluded from them or also never suffers them to err in all those principles when they attempt by these to prove some tradition from which it may be concluded as is mentioned in the last Query whilst they pass not beyond the setling of those doctrines which are necessary for the edification of this Church * nor yet 2ly suffers them to pass these bounds of resolving necessaries so far as to burden the Church's faith with curiosities And this union of the divine direction together with humane reasoning may be observed in the very first Council held Act. 15. but now mentioned Where the assistance of the Holy Ghost is applyed to all or major part that sate in Council and concurred in making the decree not only to the Apostles and is found well to consist with the great reasoning disputing used there before the laâ—â— resolution Cum autem magna conquisitio fieret Vers. 7. And yet Visum est Spiritui Sancto nobis Vers. 28. There are therefore two sorts of Controversies which these supreme Courts ordinarily dismiss unresolved the one sort out of necessity namely those whereof they find no certain former Revelation or Tradition whence with good reason they conclude also the knowledge of them not necessary the other voluntarily such as appear to them of sufficient evidence but small consequence 12. Again it is asked Q. 12. How such infallibility of lawful General Councils doth any way differ from that of the Apostles § 109 or that of their decrees from the holy Scriptures I answer That whatever decrees of Councils are true they are as true as the Scriptures and in whatever the Church-Guides are infallible or unerring they are as infallible in it as the Apostles for one truth is no truer than another but that this their infallibility as to several circumstances thereof compared with the Apostles is much inferior 1st In that it is not extended so far for its matter as that of the Apostles they being infallible in all they delivered these only in their Conclusions or Definitions § 110 2ly In that though sometimes the reason why these do not err in such a Definition may be not their necessary deduction of it from an infallible Principle but the inspiration illumination immediate assent of faith or some other way of operation of God's Spirit at that time upon them in such manner as it works on other Christians when ever it opens their minds and makes them understand a truth beyond the rational arguments they have or humane industry they use to attain it yet such inspiration in this differs from that of the Apostles that as the Council collects not this their infallibility from any unfailable
argumentations alwayes made by them concerning such particular Conclusion so neither do they collect it from any such inspiration which they sensibly pâ—rreive nor from any express testimony that the Spirit gives to such its operation as the Apostles did but only in general from the Divine Promise that in all such Conclusions they shall not miscarry § 111 3ly The Church's infallibility differs from the Apostolical in that it is an inspiration or revelation if you will not of any new Doctrine but of such as was in its principles at least formerly revealed and delivered by Christ or his Apostles and therefore the knowledge thereof if at any time it was not might be attained by deduction from those Principles without any new inspiration and is actually had in the Church still either from such true Principle or by Tradition of the Conclusion it self And to end this question let them who ask it consider in what manner the Church Catholick diffusive is for ever preserved infallible in necessaries a thing they affirm without its equalling infallibility Apostolical And I answer her General Councils are so too To the other part of the Query I answer In what sort their infallibility equals not the Apostles so neither that of their decrees that of Scripture § 112 13. Again Q. 13. it is asked †Dr. Pierce Answ to Cressy p. 9. How many persons or Guides all fallible can make up one infallible any more than many Planets one Sun or many acts of finite knowledge one truly infinite I answer 1st with another question How the whole diffusive Body of the Church consisting of many members all fallible or failable in necessaries yet is affirmed by Protestants that it shall be for ever infallible or unfailable in necessaries 2ly Infallible being understood as it is meant i. e. for the Church actually never erring at such time in such a meeting and treating on such matters the question is no more than this How several persons erring in one thing may be non-erring in any or in another thing Or how the same persons when met together and divinely assisted in the matters they consult about do not or shall not err when the same persons in the same things at some other time when not consulting together and having no certain divine assistance promised to them may and ordinarily do err And it is answered that this is effected by the good pleasure of God divinely assisting and preserving them in such meeting in such matters from error It is also urged †Dr. Pierce Ib. p. 11. That Councils indeed may actually not err as single persons also may not yet that hence none can rightly stile Councils infallible or unerrable and that there is a great difference between the Participle suppose non fallens or non falsus and the Adjective in bilis non fallibilis I answer whatever difference there be between Participles and Adjectives no more is here meant by the second that by the first only with a semper added to it viz. Ecclesia infallibilis i. e. semper non falsa if I may use this word in errabilis i e. semper non errans or de facto nunquam errans Now though particular members of the Church are also unerring in several things yet not alwayes and though this that God may preserve single persons unerring alwayes is true yet that he doth so is denied of them but affirmed of the Church or lawful General Council as to all necessaries Is it not strange that grave Divines rather than be found without a reply should raise mâ—sts and make great difficulties and fall on vindicating the divine Attributes in such a matter as this intelligible to children who one day must give account hereof § 113 After all these objections and difficulties made concerning the infallibility or not erring of lawful General Councils Next supposing that all such are as to all necessary faith an infallible Guide and all the former difficulties concerning this point clearly removed yet a new roll of objections and interrogations is brought in against our discerning or knowing certainly what or how many of past Councils have been lawfully General 14. Next then it is urged That Q. 14. lawful General Councils only being pretended infallible Any § 114 to be certain of any particular Councâ—l it s not erring and so to yeild his assent to its decrees as such must know first whether it is a lawful General Council And for this again must know who are justly the constitutive members of such a body * whether Bishops only or also Presbyters or also the Laity as Act. 15.22 23. the Brethren also are admitted * whether the votes therein ought to be numbred according to the persons or rather to the several Churches and Nations the greater Churches having many times in the Synod the fewer representatives and so the fewer personal votes * whether the Bishops sitting therein were lawful Bishops and in order to this whether 1st truly Priests and truly baptized and whether that some of these Sacraments had no miscarriage for want of the Priests due intention in administring them * whether a sufficient number of Bishops residing in it and those equally from all parts so to make it a full and entire representative of the Church Catholick and * whether the Pope's summons be sufficient thereto though this question seems needlesly asked for all those Councils in the convening of which both the Pope Christian Princes have concurred * 1. whether the Bishops appearing in Council were sufficiently commissioned from those Churches they pretend to represent and 2. * whether sufficiently instructed as to the points to be decided concerning the fence therein of the absent Bishops first declared in their Provincial or other Synods or meetings and 3. * whether those in the Council did truly speak and render this their fence * whether being lawfully assembled they have also lawfully proceeded * whether they came to the Council without prejudice and sought nothing but the truth otherwise they are not gathered together in Christ's name and then neither is he in the midst of them whether a faction or some few more powerful have not out-witted or over-awed the rest and * whether some not corrupted or bribed to give their vote against conscience * whether being lawfully assembled and lawfully proceeding they made indeed such decrees as are pretended theirs * what of these decrees are de fide what not * whether these decrees have that meaning really which the peruser of them apprehends for Scriptures in deciding of Controversies being doubtful and liable to wrong interpretations why may not the decrees of Councils be so too †Stillingf p. 512. Nay much more for we have many other places to compare the help of original tongues and the help of the primitive Church to understand Scripture by when the decrees of Councils are many times purposely framed in general termes and with ambiguous expressions to give satisfaction
infallibilitate doctrinae Ecclesiasticae quicquam eis esset annunciatum Sic ergo fieri potest ut aliquis non adhaerens doctrinae Ecclesiasticae tanquam regulae infallibili quaedam ad fidem pertinentia pro Dei verbo recipiat quia vel nunc vel olim miraculis confirmata sunt vel etiam quia veterem Ecclesiam sic docuisse manifestè videt vel aliâ quacunque ratione inductus licet alia quaedam credere recuset § 130 Thus Paul Layman a Jesuit †Theol. moral 2. l. tract 1.5 c. Fierisaepè solet ut alii Articuli fidei nostrae puta quae sunt de Deo uno trino explicitè credantur ante hunc quae est de infallibili Ecclesiae authoritate Quinimò haec Ecclesiae infallibilitas Spiritus sancti promissione nititur ergo prius oportet credere spiritum sanctum adeoque Trinitatem in divinis esse Praeterea constat primos Christianos fide divinâ credidisse non ob authoritatem Ecclesiae quae vel fundata non erat v. g. cum Sanctus Petrus credidit Christum esse Filium Dei vivi Mat. 16. vel nondum fidei dogmata definierat Again His adde non tantùm variis motivis homines ad fidem amplectendam moveri sed etiam alios aliis facilius partim propter majorem internam Spiritus sancti illustrationem impulsionem sicuti notavit Valentia q. 1. part 4. arg 8. partìm pro animi sui simplicitate quia de opposito errore persuasionem nullam conceperunt quâ ratione pueri apud Catholicos cum ad usum rationis pervenerunt acceptant fidei mysteria tanquam divinitus revelata quia natu majores prudentes quos ipsi norunt it a credere animadvertunt Again Formale assentiendi principium seu motivum non est Ecclesiae authoritas Si enim ex te quaeram cur credas Deum esse incarnatum Respondeasque Quia Ecclesia Catholica quae errare non potest ob sancti spiritus assistentiam ita testatur iterum ex se quaeram unde id scias vel cur credas Ecclesiam errare non posse vel sanctum spiritum ei assistere Quare recte dixit Canus †Loc. Theol. l. 2. c. 8. Si generaliter quaeratur unde fideli constet ea quae fide tenet esse à Deo revelata non poterit infallibilem Ecclesiae authoritatem adducere quia unum ex revelatis est quòd Ecclesia errare non possit Interim non negamus saith he quin resolutio fidei in authoritatem Ecclesiae quatenus spiritu sancto regitur fieri possit communiter soleat à fidelibus ipsis qui infallibilem spiritus sancti assistentiam ac directionem Ecclesiae promissam certâ fidei tenent his enim ejus testimonium ac definitio certa regula est ad alios articulos amplectendos Thus he of the Church as it is a Society manifested by Divine Revelation to be infallibly assisted in all necessaries by the holy Ghost But then as it appears to us before such revelation only as an illustris congregatio tot hominum excellentium c. he speaks of it on this manner Fidei divinae assensus in hanc authoritatem Ecclesiae non resolvitur tanquam in principium sed tanquam in extrinsecum adjumentum conditionem sine qua non Etenim authoritas illa Ecclesia non quatenus consideratur ut organum Spiritus sancti sed ut illustris congregatio hominum prudentum c. est quidem formale principtum credendi fide humanâ sed non fide divina Quia fides divina est quâ Deo dicenti credimus ob authoritatem veritatem ejus consequenter qui credit propter authoritatem hominum vel simile motivum humanum is fide solum humanâ credit Accedit quòd sicuti ipsimet Scotus Gabriel argumentantur assensus cognoscitivus non possit excedere certitudinem principii quo nititâ—r assensus autem fidei divinae certitudinem infallibilem habet quo fieri non potest ut assensus fidei divinae tanquam principio nitatur authoritati hominum vel simili motivo humano quippe quod secundum se absolute fallibile est § 131 Thus Fa. Knott †p. 358. in his Reply to Mr. Chillingworth affirming Christians may have a true infallible divine faith of which faith they have only a fallible proponent nor are infallibly certain thereof i. e. as to the proponent From the unlearned saith he God exacts no more but that they proceed prudently according to the measure of their several capacities and use such diligence as men ought in a matter of highest moment All Christians of the primitive Church were not present when the Apostles spoke or wrote yea it is not certain that every one of those thousands whom S. Peter converted did hear every sentence he spake but might believe some by relation of others who stood near And c. 1. p. 64. the same author saith That a Preacher or Pastor whose testimonies are humane and fallible when they declare to their hearers or subjects that some truth is witnessed by God's Word are an occasion that those people may produce a true infallible act of faith depending immediately upon Divine Revelation applyed by the said means And If you object saith he that perhaps that humane authority is false and proposeth to my understanding divine Revelation when God doth not reveal therefore I cannot upon humane testimony representing or applying Divine Revelation exercise an infallible act of faith I answer it is one thing whether by a reflex act I am absolutely certain that I exercise an infallible act of faith and another whether indeed and in actu exercito I produce such an act Of the former I have said nothing neither makes it to our present purpose Of the latter I affirm that when indeed humane testimony is true though not certainly known to me to be so and so applies a Divine Revelation which really exists in such a case I may believe by a true infallible assent of Christian faith viz. from the divine supernatural concourse which he affirms †p. 358. necessary to every act of divine faith § 132 Therefore here it is much to be noted that divine faith quatenus divine which is therefore so called because we believe God that saith it for his own authority and veracity whose certainty or infallibility or unliableness to deceive infinitely exceeds all created certainties moral or natural all which are liable to a possibility of deception even that of our senses cannot be resolved into any thing further than 1st As to any external motive ground reason or principle thereof that is of equal certainty into that particular Divine Revelation which is first made known to me or from which in building of my faith I proceed to the rest which revelation is not to all alwayes the same but to some Christians one to some another in which ultimate Revelation this divine faith terminates 2ly As to the inward efficient thereof
means infallibly true to us and applies infallibly not to the object but act of faith seems faulty Because God may oblige us to believe either a thing to be infallibly true i. e. as to us so as that there can be no possibility of our error in it or only most credibly so according to the proof or ground we have of such belief Therefore though it is true which he saith That God never obligeth us to believe i.e. to be absolutely true what is really a lye or false and true also that if we know that God obligeth us to believe a thing to be infallibly true we have the greatest assurance that such thing is infallibly true Yet so 1. Is this true that God obligeth us to believe nor for infallibly but only for most credibly true what is from those principles which right reason can attain of it only most credibly so And 2. So is this also true that God hath not obliged us to believe Christianity as infallibly true from the moral certainty we have thereof supposing that this moral certainty is not absolutely infallible I mean as to a possibility of the contrary Upon this supposition therefore that our moral certainty or assurance on which we ground the verity of Christian Religion involves a possibility of falshood God doth not oblige us to believe Christian Religion with an acquisite or rational faith from this evidence as freed from all possibility of falshood or as absolutely infallible but to believe in the same degree the one to be credible as we do the other in the same degree Christian Religion true as we do the ground thereof and no further And here Mr. Stillingfleet seems to incur the fault he imputes to others †Ibid. of making the conclusion surer than the premises if he would make Christian Religion by this way any whit more infallible than moral certainty is So also in the next page †p. 208. if he pretends to prove from that text of Scripture Joh. 16.13 any infallible assurance and not only a moral certainty to us of the Apostle's infallibility in the conveyance of Scripture himself must incur the Circle he objects to Catholicks For since we have this Text of Scripture only from their conveyance I cannot be infallibly assured of the truth of it till first so assured of their infallibility in conveying it 3ly It is true also That when reason is not rightly used by us and when that seems to us from false reasoning most credible which in right reason is not yet that here also God obligeth us to believe this the most credible but then he obligeth us to believe this most credible hypothetically only and upon supposition that our reasons and reasonings are good and therefore we are obliged by him herein only to believe a truth namely this thing to be most credible hypothetically c. though the thing which we believe thus hypothetically most credible is absolutely not true As also God obligeth us to follow an erroneous conscience Neither do we sin in this following it to which God obligeth us and which we do only upon supposition that it is not erroneous for if we knew it erroneous we might not follow it but we sin in not better informing it where God also obligeth us to the contrary But to let these things pass I grant what Protestants affirm That the moral evidence we have from Tradition is sufficient to produce such an assurance of Christian Religion as God requires us to have of it by an acquisite and rational faith and that both this evidence of the truth of Christian Religion and our faith built on it are morally infallible This of the sufficient certainty of Church-Tradition concerning Scripture and so concerning all the Articles of Christian Faith that are built thereon affirmed by Protestants Upon which ground also they freely grant †See Chillingw p. 114. Stillingf p. 216. That if any other point wherein they dissent from Catholicks can be proved by as universal a Tradition as that of the Scriptures they will subscribe to it § 138 2. Again the same sufficient certainty Catholicks also affirm to be in Church Tradition for what it delivers but withall they urge many motives of credibility concurring in it †See before §. 121. which are not so much insisted on by Protestants some of which motives may add to a Tradition of a less latitude a moral certainty as great or greater from the dignity of the persons as a more universal Tradition may have from the multitude of Testators amongst which motives also are the miracles done in several ages by such persons And by these motives also Catholicks affirm * that the true Religion may be rationally evident and discerned from all false ones whether they be within or without the pale of Christianity none of which Sects can produce like evidence for their faith and * that by these our faith is demonstrated a rational service Rom. 12.1 1 Pet. 3.15 These motives likewise are acknowledged by them to be the ultimate resolution of an humane faith which is begotten by them and that in respect of such a faith they are the formal principle of believing nor that such faith doth exceed the certitude of this principle and that the assent we yeild to the Articles which we believe only on this account is no stronger or certainer than these motives be on which it is grounded All which things as Protestants earnestly contend for †See Stillingf p. 137. 140. Arch-Bishop Lawd p. 61. so there seems no reason why they should be denied them Of this matter thus the fore-quoted Author Layman out of Scotus and others ‖ Theol. moral p. 183. Qui credit propter authoritatem hominum vel simile motivum humanum is fide solumodò humanâ credit And Authoritas illa Ecclesiae non quatenus consideratur ut organum Spiritus sancti which we learn from Divine Revelation the Scripture's being the Word of God first supposed sed ut illustris congregatio hominum prudentum c. est quidem formale principium credendi fide humanâ And Accedit quòd assensus cognoscitivus non potest excedere certitudinem principii quo nititur § 139 This is said concerning a sufficiently certain evidence in Church-Tradition c. agreed on both by Catholicks and Protestants That the Scriptures at least the books of it called by Protestants Canonical are the Word of God But then 2ly The Protestant's declining the admission of Church-Traditions that are less universal than that of Scripture is thought unreasonable 1. Because of two Traditions whereof one appears more universal than the other yet the lesser also may have a sufficient certainty in it whereon to build a rational belief and hence Protestants may have reason enough to admit several other Traditions though not all equally universal or any so universal as that of the Scriptures For the wars of Caesar and Pompey descend by a more universal
round Fides divina discursiva esse non potest circa omnia objecta sua quia alioquin sequeretur processus in infinitum Layman p. 181. quoting Caietan in 22. q. 1. art 1. Si dicas assentio huic revelato ex fide acquisitâ tunc fides infusa dependeret in esse infaciendo adhaerere alicui articulo à fide acquisit â sicut à principio Scotus l. 1.23 d. § contra fid § 145 3ly Concerning such ultimate particular Divine Revelation whether it be authority and veracity of Scripture or authority and veracity of the Church or of Apostolical Tradition or of miracles If we say further that we ground our divine faith of it upon God's veracity or because God is true and cannot lye an undisputable prime principle Yet note that God's veracity alone is not a sufficient ground of such faith of any particular Revelation since on this veracity of God in general many false Religions also are pretended to be grounded i. e. many false Religions believe that whatever God saith is true and further believe but falsely that God hath said what they are taught unless another proposition be joyned with it viz. that God who is thus True and cannot lye in whatever he saith hath also said this particular thing which we believe namely that the testimony of the Church or Apostles or Scriptures our particular ultimate ground named before is true Of which thus Card. Lugo †De virtute fidei divin Disp 1. §. 7. Duplex est ratio formalis partialis cui ultimò fides divina nititur 1. Deus est prima veritas Et 2. Deus it a dixit and we know the certitude of any Conclusion must alwayes be built on two premises or principles And then letting the first pass unquestioned Deus est prima veritas the second that God hath said this or that must either be grounded that it may be the foundation of a divine faith on some other Divine Revelation from which we collect that he hath said it which still will proceed to the inquiry after another divine Revelation on which to ground that or else I must rest there with an immediate assent to it and acknowledge that I have no divine faith that he hath said it which relyes on any other Divine Revelation and then why might I not have rested as well in the forenamed Revelations Lastly concerning that Divine Revelation which by due consequences seems to be the ultimate resolvent of a Christian faith those who disallow that which others assign let them assign another such as is truly a Divine Revelation and not mistaken only by them to be so as assigning the letter of Scripture taken by them in a wrong sence c. and it sufficeth § 146 4ly I take this also for agreed on by all that the internal efficient of all faith divine is the power or grace of the Holy Spirit both * illuminating the understanding that the prime verity cannot lye in whatever thing it reveals if perhaps the understanding herein needeth any light and also that the particular Articles of our faith are its Revelations * And perswading and operating in the will such a firm adherence unto these Articles as many times far exceeds that of any humane science or demonstrations § 147 5ly Now then If any Christian be asked concerning the ultimate Resolution of his divine faith as to the extrinsecal prime motive ground reason or principle thereof that equals in certainty the faith built on it he can alledge none other than that particular divine Revelation which is first made known to him by what means it matters not since this varies as to several persons or from which in building of his faith he proceeds to the rest Again if any ask concerning the internal efficient of such faith as is divine the answer must alwayes be one and the same for the divine faith of all Christians That it is wrought in the faithful by the grace of the holy Spirit § 148 6ly The Motives forementioned which are such a rational evidence of the verity of Christianity and of the several Articles thereof believed in the Catholick Church as no other forreign Religion or Sâ—ct in Christianity can produce do serve indeed antecedently for an introductive to or after it introduced for a confirmative of this divine faith i. e. to make it credible or acceptable to humane reason my own or others that this faith is true and no way liable to error that I am assured in it by the Holy and no seducing spirit But not to constitute it in the notion of faith divine because the faith so stiled is supposed to rest alwayes on an higher ground viz. Revelation Divine § 149 And by what hath been here said I think you may perceive the circle clearly avoided which is still so hotly charged on Catholicks though not for the resolution of their faith in general which resteth in the last place on the prudential motives yet for the resolution at least of the divine faith they pretend to For if a Protestant ask at large why I believe without inserting with a divine faith the Scriptures to be the Word of God It is answered because Apostolical Tradition which is the unwritten Word of God or Divine Revelation a thing conceded by the Arch-Bp †p. 81. testifies it to be so Again if asked why I believe there was any such Apostolical Tradition I answer because the Church which I believe in this matter infallible or not erring delivers such Tradition to me And if it be asked again why I believe the Church infallible in this It is answered I believe her but this is by an acquisite faith to be so from the motives of credibility forementioned †§. 121. which do so perswade me But note that this acquisite faith is not a necessary prerequisite to every one that believes with a divine faith for as Layman †Theol. moral l. 2. tract 1. c. 5. Non omnes eodem modo sed alii aliter ad fidem Christi amplectendam moventur And as Estius before †See §. 129. Fidei impertinens est quo medio Deus utatur ad conferendum homini donum fidei and in all this Protestants confess there is no Circle †See Stillingf p. 126. § 150 But if now putting in the word Divine the Protestant †Id p. 127. ask me again the two former questions why with a divine faith I believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and then upon the former answer returned ask me why 2ly with a divine faith i. e. with such a firm assent as I give thereto transcending that of an acquisite faith I do believe that which the Church relates as Apostolical Tradition to be so indeed I answer now that I finally rest on this Revelation without having any other whereon to ground it But if asked why so firmly and if I may so say divinely without any further
Greek in the doctrine concerning the unity of the person plurality of the natures of our Lord. Of these Christians §. 176. n. 2. then inhabiting the more Eastern Countries Armenia Mesopotamia Assyria Persia India or the more Southern Egypt and Ethiopia those called Aegosti or Cophti these Abyssines Of these I say the Armenians have set up two later Patriarchs of their own the one for Armenia the greater the other for the lesser The Assyrians Persians and Mesopotamians are ranged also under a new Patriarch of Musal or Babylon only the Egyptians and Abyssines are subject still to the Patriarch of Alexandria now removed to Grand-Caire and living in a Monastery at some distance from it Again of these those Christians that are dispersed in Assyria Persia and the more Eastern parts except such as are reduced by the Roman Missions are generally said to profess Nestorianism though this as Dr. Field observes †See Dr. Field of the Church p. 62 Thom. a Jesu de Conversion gentium l. 7. c. 2. c. somewhat qualified they not denying Christ the son of Mary from his first conception to be personally God as Nestorius did but affirming his humane nature so perfect also as not to be separated from its personality On the other side the Armenians and Jacobites in Mesepotamia and the Egyptians or Cophthites and Ethiopians or Abyssines in Affrick are held guilty of Eutychianism or rather of Dioscorism †Dr. Field p. 64 66 Thomas a Jesu l. 7. c. 14. who was Patriarch of Alexandria and condemned in the Council of Chalcedon they being said to hold Christ 〈◊〉 consist of two natures indeed and that they are not one by coâ—â—â—tion contrary to Eutyches but not to consist in two natures after the union of them but these two natures then to become one by coadunation according to Dioscorus who held these two natures so united that one personated nature arose out of two not personated quoting for it some expressions of Cyril his predecessor If this then be true that Dr. Field out of Thom. a Jesu delivers of these two Eastern Sects that stand distinct from the Greek Churches though they be not perfect Eutychians and Nestorians in their opinion yet such they are as do still transgress and offend against the faith and definitions of the third and fourth General Council the later of which the greatest body of them expresly declares against See Dr. Field c. 1. p. 70 71. And if so there seems no reason that they should be reckoned as by some Protestants they are not only a part which some of them Hereticis credentes or invincibly ignorant may be internally as to attaining salvation but if the Greek Church be added the main body of the Catholick Church nor any reason why her Councils should be esteemed defective without their concurrence 2. But next these considerations omitted yet as to the nine forementioned modern controversies of most note all or the most of these Eastern bodies do seem for as much as may be gathered from their publick Liturgies and Missals which they have either the same with those of the Greek Church viz. S. Chrysostom's and S. Basil's or very little varying from them †See Cassand Liturg. c. 9. c. concerning the Syrian Armenian Egyptian or Abyssine Liturgies See Garetius his collections out of them Centur. 16. p. 191. and from the relations made by Travellors they seem I say much what of the same profession with the Greek Church § 177 1st Concerning a substantial Conversion of the Symboles or the corporal presence of our Lord's Body and blood in the Eucharist these all retain the same expressions in the Consecration with the Latine and Greek Churches from which we may presume that they understand them in the same sence which sence when the Reformers varied from they did think fit also in their new Liturgies to alter these expressions The same corporal presence is confirmed * from their offering in the same service this Body and blood as a Sacrifice pro vivis defunctis a part of the Mass which is also reformed in the new Protestant-Liturgies and * from the like reverence performed by them as by the Greek and Latine Church in the handling and receiving of these stupendious Mysteries these Churches for fear of the least indecencies either receiving after the manner of the Greeks in a spoon the Body of our Lord intinct in the Blood or else some little portion of the blood only in a spoon if they receive the Body and Blood apart and some of these Nations as the Abyssines out of the great reverence to what they have received are not permitted to spit the same day that they communicate and if such thing happen it is scraped off the ground and disposed of by the Priest and if a dog should lick it up he is presently killed †See Eugen Roger Terre Saincte l. 2. p. 361. Lastly Brerewood ‖ Inquiries c. 15. c. who hath collected out of several Histories and Relations in what points these Eastern Churches are said to differ from the Roman for several Protestants do not so freely give account wherein they consent yet mentions nothing of their difference in the corporal presence or Transubstantiation save only of the Armenians out of Guido Carmel But S. Thomas and Richardus Armachanus who have formerly written against their errors not questioning them for this and their Mass in this matter not varying from the rest Saee Cassander's Liturgica c. 12. do argue their congruence with the rest in this opinion and an error in Guido This of the corporal presence For the other points following 2 Adoration 3 Offering the Eucharist or the very Body and Blood of our Lord therein as a Sacrifice for the living and the dead c. 4 Invocation of the blessed Virgin and the Saints 5 Praying for the Dead as betterable by their intercessions and oblations in their present condition before the day of judgement these also appear in the same Liturgies and the second and third necessarily follow from the first †See before §. 160. n. 2. And see Thomas a Jesu l. 7. c. 8. p. 370-383 as to the practice of the Abyssine Churches concerning the two last § 178 To proceed to the other four points remaining 1 Vsing Communion in one kind 2 A relative veneration of the Cross and sacred Images or Pictures 3 Monastick Vows and Celibacy of the Clergy and 4 Auricular or Sacramental Confession and injunction of penances Concerning the first it is granted that a Communion in both kinds is ordinarily used though the Abyssines are said sometimes to receive only our Lords Body and so do now the Maronites †Roger p. 361 432. but either after the manner of the Greek Church § 163. not distinct * See Dr. Field p. 63. used in Egypt in the fourth age and then prohibited there by Pope Julius the First †De Consecrat 2.
only heareth them and not the Saints God only is properly invocated as the only fountain and doner of all we petition for say also Roman Catholicks and the Saints only are sued to as Comprecators that what follows is misrelated see before § 161. This is opposed to Dr. Fields account how rightly is left to your judgment Meanwhile as in these points Dr. Field hath noted the Eastern and Western Churches to differ so we may conclude that in those other points of modern controversie that are omitted by him as Freewill Justification not by faith alone adoration of the Eucharist and offering it pro vivis defunctis Monastick life and vows Sacramental Confession and penances their publick service and the Ceremonies attending it they do agree or that this Doctor was somewhat overseen in his choice To this consent of the modern Greek Church with the Roman in many of the modern Controversies much urged by Roman Catholicks especially from Jeremias Patriarch of Constantinople his censure to prove the Protestant's departure not from the Roman only but the whole modern Catholick Church you may see if you please what answers have been returned by several other late Protestant Writers by Arch-Bp Lawd § 29. n. 4. by Bp Bramhal Reply to Chalced. c. 9. p. 356. by Dr. Gunning in a conference with some of the Roman party called Schism unmasked p. 605. by Mr. Stillingfleet Rational account part 2. c. 8. p. 500. c. And by the Wittenberg Divines against Socolovius in the preface before their Acts with the same Patriarch To give you some account of them and here to begin with these last who first apologiz'd These Tubing Divines in their Reply to Socolovius whilst they produced nothing wherein the Patriarchs doctrines suited with theirs save Communion in both kinds and the admitting married men to take Orders thought fit rather to justifie the lawfulness of a reformation though against the whole Catholick Church of that time on this manner Defectionem porrò à Romanâ pontificiâ Ecclesiâ immò ut Rhetor amplificat ab ipso terrarum orbe omnibusque Ecclesiis quòd nobis objicit sciat Polonus iste discat si ignorat non omnem defectionem vitio vertendam esse hominibus Quoties enim Deus populum suum per Prophetas suos hortatus est ut averterent se à viis suis pessimis quas à suis majoribus pessimis didicerant Johannes in suâ Apocalypsi hortatur Ecclesiam ut exeat à Babylone quam Hieronymus Romam intelligendam docet ne plagarum ejus fiat particeps And there also they declare the intention of their sending their confession into the East notwithstanding what is said before § 166. Si quo modo say they per gratiam Dei operatiâ—nem Spiritus sancti oculi caecutientium hoc modo medio aperi ntur erroribus usitatis aliquot saeculorum agnitis eisdem valedicentes adveritatis agnitionem pervenirent And afterwards Se Graecos non constituisse communis causae judices neque studiesè ab illis recipi petiisse sed hoc egisse studiosè quod bonos cordatos pios decet viros ut ad agnitionem syncerae doctrinae Religionis eos perducerent And they apologize for their not publishing the Patriarchs answer Quòd nullam admodum ex istâ editione ad Ecclesiam Christi utilitatem perventuram sperare possent cùm alia exstent plurima ac meliora scripta malorum alias plus satis sit Lastly make their appeal notwithstanding to the Catholick Church but this collective of all ages and including the Apostles De nostro cum Apostolicis Ecclesiis dissidio mentitur Nos certe non solùm ad has sed etiam omnium temporum universalem Patriarcharum Prophetarum Apostolorum Ecclesiam pâ—ovocare non dubitamus cum quibus nos conjunctissimos esse luculenter supra ex ipsâ Scripturâ Propheticâ Apostolicâ est demonstratum Such was the reply of these German Divines § 183 To come to our own men Mr. Stillingfleet α 1st endeavours to weaken the Patriarch's authority by saying †Rat. account p. 503. That it is well enough known how much Barbarism had crept into the Greek Church after their being subdued by the Turks the means of instruction being taken from them and that it is therefore more to be wondred they should preserve so much of the doctrine of faith entire as they have done than that any corrupt practises should prevail amongst them 2. Next β That as in some things he is opposite to the Protestants so in other things to the Church of Rome †p. 500. that it is sufficiently known how much the Greeks agree with the Protestants γ in the opposition to the great points of the Pope's Supremacy δ and the infallibility of the Church of Rome ε how far they are from the belief of Purgatory in the Roman sence That the Patriarch doth also profess his consent with Protestants †p. 502. ζ that the Sacrament was to be received in both kinds η that the use of Marriage was not absolutely to be forbidden the Clergy And θ that he opposed also invocation of Saints in such a sence as that they hear us Thus he and some of these are mentioned also in the forecited conference with Dr. Gunning § 184 To what he saith first α I answer that as Protestants urge this present illiterate and desolate condition of the Eastern Churches when their opinions or practice make against them so it is meet they should remember it when in their appealing to a General Council they seem to set so high a value on the judgment and sentence of these remote Churches therein resting no way satisfied with that of the West Next I say whatever corrupt practices have prevailed of late times in the East yet that as for those wherein both East and West that is the whole Catholick visible Church at Luther's coming agreed in especially when at such enmity between themselves these Churches in both of them having the like customs do bear mutual witness to one another that they could be no innovations in either of them § 185 To β. viz. the Greek Churches their agreeing in some things with Protestants against the Church of Rome To β. as in others with the Roman Church against Protestants from which it seems to follow that the Church of Rome must as well be culpable of Schism or any other crime in what the Greeks and Protestants differ from it as the Protestants in what the Greek and the Roman accord in against it I answer that any Churches co-ordinate may without Schism or fault differ from one another or one of them from all the rest in several doctrines and opinions if such opinions or doctrines be not defined or the practice of them not required by any theâ—r Superiors but any Church differing from the rest in any doctrine formerly defined or to which conformity is required by their Superiors or by the
Grecian opinions are since but what they were when first the Reformation was made Now Jeremias his declaration was not long after the beginning of the Reformation and Cyril's above 50. years after his 2ly Concerning the newness of Cyril's opinions the words of Knowles ibid are considerable who there saith That he was a reverent and learned man and that he desired to reform many errors and to enlighten much of the blindness of his Church So that it seems he was a Reformer in the Greek Church as these others were in the Western which also appears from the complaints and persecution against him more than against his Predecessors by the Agents of the Roman Church upon this pretence Knowles ibid. And he is said †Spondan A. D. 1638. Franc. à S. Clarâ system fidei p. 528. at last for certain crimes objected to him and among others charged with innovations in Religion by the Greeks to have been imprisoned and shortly after executed and another Cyril ab Iberia formerly rejected to have been repossessed of his Chair But 3ly How contrary soever Cyril's opinions are to those of Jeremias yet the same testimonies above-named †§. 158. n 2. 165 162. that shew Jeremias's to be the doctrines of the Greek Church shew Cyril's whoever had new reformed him not to be so But 4ly Indeed his declaration though it seems purposely moulded according to the Calvinists expressions is very short and sparing general and unclear extending to few points and waving the rest and forbearing there to mention any one point save that of the procession of the holy Gho t wherein the Greeks differ from the reformed as surely in some they do and again those points therein in which Cyril seems more clearly to contradict both Jeremias's and the Roman tenents namely the denying of Purgatory and of Transubstantiation if therein he intend to deny all sorts of Purgatory though not by five and all transmutation of the Elements in the Eucharist are unquestionably singular and not owned by the Greeks as is shewed before and as is witnessed also by some reformed †§. 167 169. c. out of the common relations of the Grecian opinions and practâ—ces 5ly If Cyril or any other Patriarch of Constantinople should entertain any reformed and new opinions diverse from his predecessors whilst such a one is not followed in them by the rest of the Church These are to be stiled not its doctrines but his own and it is not denied that Patriarchs as well as others may be heretical for in several ages some have been so But 6ly If the rest of the Greek Church should also have concurred with Cyril in such innovation then will this only follow that it is true of the Greek Church as of the Protestant that they also have reformed from the whole Catholick Church 1. from the former as well Greek Church as Latine and so this fact of theirs will prove no just plea for the Protestant practice if a departure from the Church Catholick bâ— Schism but only the enlargment of the same guilt to another Church THE FOURTH DISCOURSE Containing the SOCINIANS Apology for the believing and teaching his Doctrine against former Church-Definitions and present Church-Authority upon the Protestant's Grounds Divided into Five CONFERENCES The I. CONFERENCE The Socinian's Protestant-Plea for his not holding any thing contrary to the Holy Scriptures § 2. 1st THat he believes all contained in the Scriptures to be God's Word and therefore implicitely believes those truths against which he errs Ib. 2. That also he useth his best indeavours to find the true sence of Scriptures and that more is not required of him from God for his faith or salvation than doing his best endeavours for attaining it § 3. 3. That as for an explicite faith required of some points necessary he is sufficiently assured that this point concerning the Sons consubstantiality with the Father as to the affirmative is not so from the Protestant's affirming all necessaries to be clear in Scripture even to the unlearned which this in the affirmative is not to him § 4. 4. That several express and plain Scriptures do perswade him that the negative if either is necessary to be believed and that from the clearness of Scriptures he hath as much certainty in this point as Protestants can have from them in some other held against the common expressions of the former times of the Church § 6 8. 5. That for the right understanding of Scriptures either he may be certain of a just industry used or else that Protestants in asserting that the Scriptures are plain only to the industrious and then that none are certain when they have used a just industry thus must still remain also uncertain in their faith as not knowing whether some defect in this their industry causeth them not to mistake the Scriptures 6. Lastly That none have used more diligence in the search of Scripture than the Socinians as appears by their writings addicting themselves wholly to this Word of God and not suffering themselves to be any way by ass'd by any other humane either modern or ancient authority § 5. Digress Where the Protestant's and Socinian's pretended certainty of the sence of Scripture apprehended by them and made the ground of their faith against the sence of the same Scripture declared by the major part of the Church is examined § 9. The II. CONFERENCE His Plea for his not holding any thing contrary to the unanimous sence of the Catholick Church so far as this can justly oblige § 13. 1st THat an unanimous consent of the whole Catholick Church in all ages such as the Protestants require for the proving of a point of faith to be necessary can never be shewed concerning this point of Consubstantiality § 13. And that the consent to such a doctrine of the major part is no argument sufficient since the Protestants deny the like consent valid for several other points § 14. 2. That supposing an unanimous consent of the Church Catholick of all ages in this point yet from hence a Christian hath no security of the truth thereof according to Protestant Principles if this point whether way soever held be a non-necessary for that in such it is said the whole Church may err § 15. 3. That this Article's being in the affirmative put in the Creed proves it not as to the affirmative a necessary § 16. 1st Because not originally in the Creed but added by a Council to which Creed if one Council may add so may another of equal authority in any age and whatever restrain the made by a former Council 2. Because several Articles of the later Creeds are affirmed by Protestants not necessary to be believed but upon a previous conviction that they are divine revelation § 16. 4. Lastly That though the whole Church delivers for truth in any point the contrary to that he holds he is not obliged to resign his judgment to hers except conditionally and
with this reservation unless on the other side there appear evidence to him in God's Word Now of the evidence of Scripture in this point on his side that he hath no doubt § 17. The III. CONFERENCE His Plea for his not holding any thing contrary to the definitions of lawful General Councils the just conditions thereof observed § 18. THat he conceives he ows no obedience to the Council of Nice 1. Because this cannot be proved to have been a lawful General Council with so much certainty as is necessary for the ground of his faith as appears by those many questions mentioned by Mr. Chilling-worth Stillingfleet and other Protestants wherein he must first be satisfied concerning it which see Disc 3. § 86. c § 18. 2. Because though it were a General Council yet it might err even in necessaries if it were not universally accepted as he can shew it was not 3. That though yielded to be generally accepted it might err still in non-necessaries and that Protestants cannot prove this point to be otherwise 4. That the leaders of this Council were plainly a party contestingt his for many years before with the other side condemned and were Judges in their own cause 5. All these exceptions cancelled and obedience granted due to this Council yet that so there is due to it not that of assent but only of silence § 19. 6. But yet not that of silence neither from him considering his present persuasion that indeed the affirmative in this point is an error manifest and intolerable concerning which matter his party having long complained to their Superiors and produced sufficient evidence yet these have proceeded to no redress of it § 20. 7. But yet that he will submit to the judgement of a future Council if it rightly considering the reasons of his tenent decree that which is according to God's Word and he be convinced thereof § 22. The IV. CONFERENCE His Plea for his not being guilty of Heresie § 23. THat he cannot rightly according to Protestant Principles be accused as guilty of Heresie for several reasons 1. Because Protestants holding Heresie to be an obstinate defence of some error against a fundamental he thinks from hence his tenent freed from being an Heresie as long as in silence he retains it unless he engage further to a publick pertinacious maintaining thereof § 23. 2. Fundamentals varying according to particular persons and sufficient proposal none can conclude this point in the affirmative to be as to him a fundamental or of the truth which he hath had a sufficient proposal 3. That a lawful General Council's declaring some point Heresie doth not necessarily argue that it is so because they may err in Fundamentals or at least in distinguishing them from other points § 26. 4. That he can have no autocatacrisie or obstinacy in a dissenting from their Definitions till he is either actually convinced or at least hath had a sufficient proposal either of the truth of such point defined Or that such Councils have authority to require submission of judgement and assent to their Definitions of which conviction or sufficicient proposal that varies much according to the differing conditions of several persons as to himself none can judge save himself and consequently neither can they judge of his guilt of Heresie Ib. The V. CONFERENCE His Plea for his not being guilty of Schism § 28. 1. THat the Socinian Churches have not forsaken the whole Church Catholick or the external Communion of it but only left one part of it that was corrupted and reformed another part i. e. themselves Or that he and the Socinian Churches being a part of the Catholick they have not separated from the whole because not from themselves § 28. 2. That their separation being for an error unjustly imposed upon them as a condition of Communion the Schism is not theirs who made the separation but theirs who caused it § 29. Besides that what ever the truth of things be yet so long as they are required by any Church to profess they believe what they do not their separation cannot be said causless and so Schism § 32. 3. That though he and his party had forsaken the external Communion of all other Churches yet not the internal in which they remain still united to them both in that internal Communion of charity in not condemning all other Churches as non-Catholick and in that of Faith in all Essentials and Fundamentals and in all such points wherein the unity of the Church Catholick consists § 30. 4. That the doctrine of Consubstantiality for which they departed is denyed by them to be any Fundamental nor can the Churches from which they depart for it be a competent judge against them that it is so § 34. 5. That though they are separaters from the Roman yet not from the Reformed Churches which Churches leave men to the liberty of their own judgment nor require any internal assent to their doctrines in which thing these blame the tyranny of the Roman Church save only conditional if any be convinced of the truth thereof or not convinced of the contrary § 35. 6. In fine that for enjoying and continuing in the Protestant Communion he maketh as full a profession of conformity to her doctrines as Mr. Chillingworth hath done in several places of his book which yet was accepted as sufficient 〈◊〉 41. The Fourth DISCOURSE CONFERENCE I. The Socinian's Protestant Plea for his not holding any thing contrary to the holy Scriptures § 1 THat those things which have been delivered in the three former discourses concerning the invalidity of the Protestants Guide for preserving the true faith and suppressing Heresies may be clearlier seen and more seriously considered I have thought fit in this for an Example to shew what Apology a Socinian upon the forementioned Protestant-positions may return for himself to a Protestant indeavouring to reduce him to the true faith and using any of these five motives thereto the testimony 1. of Scriptures 2. Of Catholick Church 3. Of her Councils 4. The danger of Heresie 5. The danger of Schism In which would not be thought to go about to equal all other Protestant-opinions to the malignity of the Socinian errors but only to shew that several defences which in respect of the former motives Protestants use for retaining theirs if these are thought just and reasonable the Socinians may use the same for much grosser Tenents For suppose a Protestant first concerning the Scriptures question a Socinian in this manner Prot. Why do you to the great danger of your soul and salvation not believe God the Son to be of one and the same essence and substance with God the Father it being so principal an Article of the Christian faith delivered in the Holy Scriptures Soc. To give you a satisfactory account of this matter I do believe with other Christians that the Scriptures are the Word of God and with other Protestants that they are a perfect Rule of
Prot. And your answer 's new forced absurd as may clearly appear to any rational and indifferent person perusing Volkelius l. 5. from the 10. to the 14. Chapter But to omit this dispute as now beside my purpose If your sence of the Scriptures you have urged be so manifest and clear as you pretend how comes so great a part of the Christian world doubtless rational men in the sence of these very Scriptures so much to differ from you Therefore here I cannot but still suppose in you the defect of a due industry well comparing these Scriptures and void of pride passion and other interest Soc. And I return the like question to you If on the clearness of the express sence of these Scriptures I cannot infallibly ground my faith against many other rational men contradicting on what plainness of the sence of any other Scripture is it that Protestants can ground theirs against a contrary sence given by the learned by several Councils by the whole Church of some ages as they do not promising to the Councils even to the four first an absolute but conditional assent viz. only so far as their decrees agree with these clear Scriptures If neither the plain words of Scripture can afford a sufficient certainty to me in this matter which Scriptures you say in fundamentals are to all perspicuous and such do many deem this point nor I can have a sufficient assurance of using an unbâ—ast industry in the understanding of these Scriptures and also in the comparing them with others in which I am conscious to my self of no neglect I see no sufficient ground of my presuming to understand any other part of Scripture and then wherein can lye the assurance of a Protestant's faith for his not erring in Fundamentals at least Bishop Lany tells me †Serm. at Whitehall March 12.1664 p. 17. That when we have certain knowledge of a thing we may safely learn from the Schools viz. Vbi non est formido contrarii that after diligent search and inquiry when there remains no scruple doubt and fear of the contrary when the understanding is fixt we are said to be certain And that they who will say it and do think so too may safely be absolved from the guilt of disobedience Prot. †Dr. Ferne Division of Churches p. 47.61 Chillingw p. 57. You have a judgment of discretion I grant and may interpret Scripture for your self without the use of which judgement you cannot serve God with a reasonable service who are also to give account of your self and are to be saved by your own faith and do perish upon your own score †Stillingf p. 133. None may usurp that royal prerogative of heaven in prescribing infallibly in matters questioned but leave all to judge according to the pandects of the divine laws because each member of this Society is bound to take care of his soul and of all things that tend thereto †Chillingw p. 59 100. In matters of Religion when the question is whether any man be a fit judge and chooser for himself we suppose men honest and such as understand the difference between a moment and eternity And then I suppose that all the necessary points in Religion are plain and easie and consequently every man in this case to be a compleat judge for himself because it concerns himself to judge aright as much as eternal happiness is worth and if through his own default he judge amiss he alone shall suffer for it To God's righteous judgment therefore I must finally remit you At your own peril be it This of the Socinians plea concerning the Scripture on his side § 9 Where the self-clearness of the sence of Scriptures not mistakable in Fundamentals or necessaries upon a due industry used of which also rightly used men may be sufficiently assured being made the ground as you see of the Protestants and Socinians faith before these two proceed to any further conference give me leave to interpose a word between them concerning this certainty so much spoken of and presumed on § 10 And here first from this way lately taken by many Protestants there seems to be something necessarily consequent which I suppose they will by no means allow viz. That instead of the Roman Church her setting up some men the Church Governors as infallible in necessaries here is set up by them every Christian if he will both infallible in all necessaries and certain that he is so For the Scripture they affirm most clear in all necessaries to all using a due industry and of this due industry they also affirm men may be certain that they have used it it being not all possible endeavour but such a measure thereof as ordinary discretion c. adviseth to See Mr. Chillingworth p. 19. And next from this affirmed firmed that every one may be so certain in all Fundamentals it must be maintained also that their spiritual Guides in a conjunction of them nay more every single Prelate or Presbyter if they are not yet may be an infallible Guide to the people in all Points necessary And therefore Mr. Chillingworth freely thus vindicates it †p. 140. That these also may be both in Fundamentals and also in some points unfundamental both certain of the infallibility of their Rule and that they do manifestly proceed according to it and then in what they are certain that they cannot be mistaken they may saith he †p. 118 140. 166. lawfully decide the controversies about them and without rashness propose their decrees as certain divine Revelations and excommunicate anathematize also any man persisting in the contrary error And there seems reason in such Anathema because all others either do or may know the truth of the same decrees by the same certain means as these Governors do Now then what certainty the Guides of a particular Church may have I hope may also those of the Church Catholick and then obedience being yielded to these by all their inferiors this will restore all things to their right course All this follows upon certainty 1 That Scriptures are plain in Fundamentals And 2 that due industry is used to understand them But if you should deny that men can have a certainty of their industry rightly used then again is all the fair security these men promise their followers of their not erring in necessaries quite vanished But now to pass from this consequence to which I know not what can be said and to enquire a litle after the true grounds of our certainty in any thing which is here so much pretended 1st It cannot be denyed that he that doth err in one thing may be certain that he doth not err in some other because he may have sufficient ground and means for his not erring in one thing which he hath not in another Nor again denyed that he who possibly may err yet in the same thing may be certain that he doth not err if
not neglecting some means which he knows will certainly keep him from error § 11 2. But notwithstanding these This seems also necessary to be granted on the other side and is so by learned Protestants That in what kind of knowledge soever it be whether of our sence or reason in whatever Art or Science one can never rightly assure himself concerning his own knowledge that he is certain of any thing for a truth which all or most others of the same or better abilities for their cognoscitive faculties in all the same external means or grounds of the knowledge thereof do pronounce an error Not as if truth were not so though all the world oppose it nor had certain grounds to be proved so though all the world should deny them but because the true knowledge of it and them cannot possibly appear to one mans intellect and omnibus paribus not to others Now for any disparity as to defect whether in the instrument or in the means of knowledge there where all or most differ from me it seems a strange pride not to imagine this defect in my self rather than them especially * whenas all the grounds of my Science are communicated to them and * whenas for my own mistakes I cannot know exactly the extent of supernatural delusions I say be this in what knowledge we please in that of sence seeing hearing numbring or in any of Mr. Chillingworth's former instances mentioned § 7. So I can never rationally assure my self of what I see when men as well or better sighted and all external circumstances for any thing I know being the same see no such matter And this is the Rule also proposed by learned Protestants to keep every Phanatick from pleading certainty in his own conceit See Arch-Bp Lawd 〈◊〉 33. Consid 5. n. 1. and Hooker Preface § 6. their defining of a clear evidence or demonstrative argument viz. Such as proposed to any man and understood the mind cannot chuse but inwardly assent to it and therefore surely proposed to many men the mind of the most cannot dissent from it § 12 Consequently in the Scripture abstracting from the inward operations of God's holy Spirit and any external infallible Guide which infallible Guide Scripture it self cannot be to two men differing in the sence thereof I see not from whence any certainty can arise to particular persons for so many Texts or places thereof concerning the sence of which the most or the most learned or their Superiors to whom also all their motives or arguments are represented do differ from them From the plainness of the expression or Grammatical construction of the words such certainty cannot arise unless no term thereof can possibly be distinguished or taken in a diverse or unliteral sence but if it cannot be so taken then all Expositors must needs agree in one and the same sence For example For the literal and Grammatical sence what Text plainer than Hoc est corpus meum and yet Protestants understand it otherwise Very deficient therefore seemeth that answer of Mr. Chillingwoith's to Fr. Knot †Chill p. 307 urging That the first Reformers ought to have doubted whether their opinions were certain Which is to say answers he that they ought to have doubted of the certainty of Scripture which in formal and express terms contains many of their opinions whenas the greater world of Catholicks sees no such matter Besides as these is no term almost in any sentence but that is capable of several acceptions so since no falshood no discord is in the Scriptures there is no senrence in it however sounding for the expression but must be reconciled in its sence to all the rest and for this a diligent comparing of Texts is necessary to attain the true meaning of many places that seem at the first sight most clear in what they say but that there are also other places as clear that seem to say the contrary And some such places it was and that in very necessary points too of which S. Peter saith That some wrested them to their own damnation wrested them because they wanted not industry but learning which the unlearned saith he wrest And indeed commonly the most ignorant have the strongliest-conceited certainty for what they apprehend or believe †2 Pet. 3.16 because they know fewest reasons against it whilst by much study and comparing several Revelations one with another those come at last to doubt or deny that sence of some of them which at the first they took for most certainly and evidently true Pardon this long Parenthesis CONFERENCE II. 2. The Socinians Protestant-Plea For his not holding any thing contrary to the unanimous sence of the Catholick Church so far as this can justly oblige § 13 Now to resume the Conference The Protestant better thinking on it will not leave the Socinian thus at rest in this plerophory of his own sence of Scripture but thus proceeds Prot. Scriptures indeed are not so clear and perspicuous to every one †Stillingf p. 58 59. as that Art and subtilty may not be used to pervert the Catholick doctrine and to wrest the plain places of Scripture which deliver it so far from their proper meaning that very few ordinary capacities may be able to clear themselves of such mists as are cast before their eyes even in the great Articles of the Christian faith Therefore why do not you submit your judgment and assent to the sence of Scripture in this point unanimously delivered by the consent of the Catholick Church which also is believed alwayes unerrable in any necessary point of faith as this is Soc. First If you can shew me an unanimous consent of the Church Catholick of all ages in this point and that as held necessary I will willingly submit to it But this you can * never do according to such a proof thereof as is required viz †Stillingf p. 57. That all Catholick Writers agree in the belief of it and none of them oppose it and agree also in the belief of the necessity of it to all Christians * That no later Writers and Fathers in opposition of Hereticks or heats of contention judged then the Article so epposed to be more necessary than it was judged before the contention * That all Writers that give an account of the faith of Christians deliver it And deliver it not as necessary to be believed by such as might be convinced that it is of divine Revelation but with a necessiity of its being explicitely believed by all See before Disc 3. § 52. Now no such unanimous consent can be pretended for Consubstantiality For not to speak of the times next following the Council of Nice nor yet of several expressions in the ancients Justin Martyr Iraeneus Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus Origen that seem to favour our opinion †See Petavius in Epiphan Haer. 69 Nor of those Bastern Bishops which Arrius in his letter to Eusebius Nicomed ‖ Apud
p. 506. 537. No authority on earth can oblige to internal assent in matters of faith or to any farther obedience than that of silence Prot. Yes you stand obliged to yield a conditional assent at least to the Definitions of these highest Courts i. e. unless you can bring evident Scriptures or Demonstration against them Soc. I do not think Protestant Divines agree in this I find indeed the Arch-Bp †§. 32 n. 5. §. 33. Consid 5. n. 1. requiring evidence and demonstration for inferiors contradicting or publishing their dissent from the Councils decrees but not requiring thus much for their denial of assent and I am told ‖ Dr. Ferne Case between the Churches p. 48. 49. Division of Churches p. 45. That in matters proposed by my Superiors as God's Word and of faith I am not tyed to believe it such till they manifest it to me to be so and not that I am to believe it such unless I can manifest it to be contrary because my faith can rest on no humane authority but only on God's Word and divine Revelation And Dr. Field saith †p. 666. It is not necessary expresly to believe whatsoever the Council hath concluded though it be true unless by some other means it appear unto us to be true and we be convinced of it in some other sort than by the bare determination of the Council Till I am convinced then of my error the obedience of silence is the most that can be required of me § 20 But 6ly I conceive my self in this point not obliged to this neither considering my present perswasion that this Council manifestly erred and that in an error of such high consequence concerning the unity of the most high God as is no way to be tolerated and I want not evident Scriptures and many other unanswerable Demonstrations to shew it did so and therefore being admitted into the honourable function of the Ministery I conceive I have a lawful Commission from an higher authority to publish this great truth of God and to contradict the Councils decree § 21 Prot. But you may easily mistake that for evident Scripture and those for Demonstrations that are not Concerning which you know what the Arch-Bp and Mr. Hooker say †Ap. Lawd 245. That they are such as proposed to any man and understood the mind cannot chuse but inwardly assent to them †Id. p. 227. You ought therefore first to propose these to your Superiors or to the Church desiring a redress of such error by her calling another Council And if these Superiors acquainted therewith dislike your demonstrations which the definition saith if they be right ones they must be by all and therefore by them assented to methinks though this is not said by the Arch-Bp in humility you ought also to suspect these Demonstrations and remain in silence at least and no further trouble the Church Soc. May therefore no particular person or Church proeed to a Reformation of a forme doctrin if these Superiors first complained to declare the grounds of such persons or Churches for it not sufficient Prot. I must not say so But if they neglect as they may to consider their just reasons so diligently as they ought and to call a Council for the correcting of such error according to the weight of these reasons then here is place for inferiors to proceed to a reformation of such error without them Soc. And who then shall judge whether the reasons pretended are defective or rather the present Church negligent in considering them Prot. Here I confess to make the Superiors Judges of this is to cast the Plaintiff before that any Council shall hear his grievance these Superiors whose faith appears to adhere to the former Council being only Judges in their own cause and so the liberty of complaining will come to nothing †Still p 479.292 Soc. The inferiors then that complain I suppose are to judge of this To proceed then To these Superiors in many diligent writings we have proposed as we think many unanswerable Scriptures and reasons much advanced beyond those represented by our party to the former Nicen Council and therefore from which evidences of ours we have just cause to hope from a future Council a contrary sentence and finding no redress by their calling another Council for a reviewing this point we cannot but conceive it as lawful for a Socinian Church Pastor or Bishop for to reform for themselves and the souls committed to them in an error appearing to them manifest and intolerable as for the Protestants or for Dr. Luther to have done the same for Transubstantiation Sacrifice of the Mass and other points that have been concluded against the truth by several former Councils Prot. But such were not lawful General Councils as that of Nice was Soc. Whatever these Councils were this much matters not as to a reformation from them for had they been lawfully General yet Protestants hold †See before Disc 3. §. 34. c. these not universally accepted may err even in Fundamentals or when so accepted yet may err in non-fundamentals errors manifest and intolerable and so may be appealed from to future and those not called their error presently rectified by such parts of Christianity as discern it and also S. Austine †De Baptismo 2 l. 3 c. is frequently quoted by them saying That past General Councils erring may be corrected by other Councils following § 22 Prot. But I pray you consider if that famous Council of Nice hath so erred another Council called may it also not err notwithstanding your evidences proposed to it For though perhaps some new Demonstrative proofs you may pretend from several Texts more accurately compared and explained yet you will not deny this sufficient evidence to have been extant for that most learned Council to have seen the truth having then the same entire rule of faith as you now the Scriptures in which you say your clearest evidences lye for their direction When a future Council then is assembled and hath heard your plea will you assent to it and acquiesce in the judgment thereof Soc. Yes interposing the Protestant-conditions of assent if its decree be according to God's Word and we convinced thereof Prot. Why such a submission of judgement and assent I suppose you will presently yield to me in any thing whereof you are convinced by me may this future Council then challenge no further duty from you why then should the Church be troubled to call it Soc. †Stillingf p. 542. Though this future Council also should err yet it may afford remedy against inconveniences and one great inconvenience being breaking the Church's peace this is remedied by its authority if I only yield the obedience of silence thereto Prot. But if your obedience oblige not to silence converning Councils past because of your new evidences neither will it to a future if you think it also doth err
and either these evidences remain still unsatisfied Or these satisfied yet some other new ones appear to call for a new consideration Soc. †Stillingf ib. Because it may also err it follows not it must err and it is probable that it shall not err when the former error is thus discovered and if the Council proceed lawfully be not over-awed c. †Idem p. 526 But however if I ought upon this review to be restrained to silence yet I not convinced of the truth of its decree this silence is the uttermost that any future Council after its rejecting my reasons can justly exact of me and not belief or assent at all it may not oblige me that I should relinquish that you call Socinianism at all but that not divulge it whereas now by the Acts of former Councils I would gladly know upon what rational ground an Anathema is pronounced against me if I do not believe the contrary and I am declared to stand guilty of Heresie meerly for retaining this opinion which retaining it is called obstinacy and contumacy in me after the Councils contrary Definition CONFERENCE IV. 4. His Plea for not being guilty of Heresie § 23 4 PRot. You know that all Hereticks are most justly anathematized and cut off from being any longer members of the Catholick Church and so do remain excluded also from salvation Now this Tenent of yours hath alwayes been esteemed by the Church of God a most pernicious Heresie Soc. I confess Heresie a most grievous crime dread and abhor it and trust I am most free from such a guilt and from this I have many wayes of clearing my self For Heresie as Mr. Chillingworth defines it †p. 271. being not an erring but an obstinate defence of an error not of any error but of one against a necessary or fundamental Article of the Christian faith 1st Though this which I hold should be an error and that against a Fundamental yet my silence practiced therein can never be called an obstinate defence thereof and therefore not my tenent an Heresie 2ly Since Fundamentals vary according to particular persons and as Mr. Chillingworth saith †No Catalogue thereof p. 134. that can be given can universally serve for all men God requiring more of them to whom he gives more and less of them to whom he gives less And that may be sufficiently declared to one all things considered which all things considered is not to another sufficiently declared and variety of circumstances makes it as impossible to set down an exact Catalogue of Fundamentals as to make a Coat to fit the Moon in all her changes And as Mr. Stillingfleet follows him †p. 98 99 since the measure of Fundamentals depends on the sufficiency of the proposition and none can assigne what number of things are sufficiently propounded to the belief of all persons or set down the exact bounds as to all individuals when their ignorance is inexcusable and when not or tell what is the measure of their capacity what allowance God makes for the prejudices of Education c. Hence I conceive my self free from Heresie in this my opinion on this score also because though the contrary be to some others a Fundamental truth and to be explicitly believed by them yet to me as not having any sufficient proposal or conviction thereof but rather of the contrary it is no Fundamental and consequently my tenent opposing it if an error yet no Heresie Prot. Do not deceive your self for though according to different revelations § 24 to those that were without Law or those under the Law or those under the Gospel Fundamentals generally spoken of might be more to some than others yet to all those who know and embrace the Gospel we say †Chillingw p. 92. all Fundamentals are therein clearly proposed to all reasonable men even the unlearned and therefore the erring therein to all such cannot but be obstinate and Heretical Soc. Unless you mean onely this That all Fundamentals i. e. so many as are required of any one are clear to him in Scripture but not all the same Fundamentals there clear to every one but to some more of them to some fewer I see not how this last said accords with that said before by the same person But if you mean thus then consubstantiality the point we talk of may be a Fundamental to you and clear in Scripture but also not clear to me in Scripture and so no Fundamental and hence I think my self safe For †I believing all that is clear to me in Scripture must needs believe all fundamentals I cannot incur Heresie which is opposit to some fundamental †Chilling p. 367. The Scripture sufficiently informing me what is the Faith must of necessity also teach me what is Heresie That which is streight will plainly teach us what is crooked * Id. p. 101 and one contrary cannot but manifest the other Prot. I pray you consider a little better what you said last for since Heresie as you grant it is an obstinate defence of error only against some necessary point of Faith and all truth delivered in Scripture is not such unless you can also distinguish in Scripture these points of necessary Faith from others you can have no certain knowledge of Heresie and the believing all that is delivered in Scripture though it may preserve you from incurring Heresie yet cannot direct you at all for knowing or discerning Heresie or an error against a fundamentall or a necessary point of Faith from other simple and less dangerous errors that are not so nor by this can you ever know what errors are Heresies what not and so after all your confidence if by your neglect you happen not to believe some Scriptures in their true sence you can have no security in your Fundamentall or necessary Faith or of your not incurring Heresie Neither Secondly according to your discourse hath the Church any means to know any one to be an Heretick because she can never know the just latitude of his fundamentals And so Heresie will be a grievous sin indeed but walking under such a vizard of non-sufficient proposal as the Ecclesiastical Superiors cannot discover or punish it Therefore to avoid such confusion in the Christian Faith there hath been alwaies acknowledged in the Church some authority for declaring Heresie and it may seem conviction enough to you that her most general Councils have defined the contrary position to what you maintain and received it for a fundamentall Of which Ecclesiastical Authority for declaring Heresie thus Dr. Potter †p. 97 The Catholick Church is careful to ground all her declarations in matters of Faith upon the divine authority of Gods written word And therefore whosoever wilfully opposeth a judgement so well grounded is justly esteemed an Heretick not properly because he disobeyes the Church but because he yeilds not to Scripture sufficiently propounded or cleared unto him i. e. by the
Church Where the Dr. seems to grant these two things That all that the Catholick Church declares against Heresie is grounded upon the Scripture and that all such as oppose her judgement are Hereticks but only he adds that they are not Hereticks properly or formally for this opposing the Church but for opposing the Scriptures Whilst therefore the formalis ratio of Heresie is disputed that all such are Hereticks seems granted And the same Dr. else here concludes thus ‖ p. 132. The mistaker will never prove that we oppose any Declaration of the Catholick Church he means such a Church as makes Declarations and that must be in her Councils and therefore he doth unjustly charge us with Heresie And again he saith †p. 103. Whatsoever opinion these ancient writers St. Austin Epiphanius and others conceived to be contrary to the common or approved opinion of Christians that they called an Heresie because it differed from the received opinion not because it opposed any formal Definition of the Church where in saying not because it opposed any Definition he means not only because For whilst that which differed from the received opinion of the Church was accounted an Heresie by them that which differed from a formal definition of the Church was so much more Something I find also for your better information in the learned Dr. Hammond †Titus 3.11 commenting on that notable Text in Titus A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject a Text implying contrary to your discourse Heresie discoverable and censurable by the Church where he explains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self condemned not to signifie a mans publick accusing or condemning his own doctrines or practices for that condemnation would rather be a motive to free one from the Churche's censures Nor 2ly to denote one that offends against conscience and though he knows he be in the wrong yet holds out in opposition to the Church for so none but Hypocrites would be Hereticks and he that stood out against the Doctrin of Christ and his Church in the purest times you may guesse whom he means should not be an Heretick and so no Heretick could possibly be admonished or censured by the Church for no man would acknowledge of himself that what he did was by him done against his own conscience the plea which you also here make for your self But to be an expression of his separation from and disobedience to the Church and so an evidence of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his being perverted and sinning wilfully and without excuse †See more Protestants cited to this purpose Disc 3. §. 19. § 26. What say you to this Soc. What these Authors say as you give their sence seems to me contrary to the Protestant Principles †See Dr. Potter p. 165.167 Dr. Hammond of Heresie § 7 n. 3 §. 9. n. 8 Des of L. Faukl c. 1. p. 23. See before Disc 3. §. 41 n. 1. and their own positions elswhere neither surely will Protestants tye themselves to this measure and trial of autocatacrisy For since they say That lawfull General Councils may erre in Fundamentals these Councils may also define or declare something Heresie that is not against a Fundamental and if so I though in this self-convinced that such is their Definition yet am most free from Heresie in my not assenting to it or if they err intolâ—erably in opposing it Again since Protestants say Councels may erre in distinguishing Fundamentals these Councels may erre also in discerning Heresie which is an error against a Fundamental from other errors that are against non-Fundamentals Again Whilst I cannot distinguish Fundamentals in their Definitions thus no Definition of a General Councel may be receded from by me for fear of my incurring Heresie a consequence which Protestants allow not Again Since Protestants affirm all Fundamentals plain in Scripture why should they place autocatacrisy or self-conviction in respect of the Declaration of the Church rather than of the Scripture But to requite your former quotations I will shew in plainer language the stating of Protestant Divines concerning autocatacrisy as to the Definitions of the Church under which my opinion also findes sufficient shelter We have no assurance at all saith Bishop Bramball †Reply to Chalced. p. 105. that all General Councils were and alwayes shall be so prudently managed and their proceedings alwayes so orderly and upright that we dare make all their sentences a sufficient conviction of all Christians which they are bound to believe under pain of damnation I add or under pain of Heresie And Ib. p. 102. I acknowledge saith he that a General Council may make that revealed truth necessary to be believed by a Christian as a point of Faith which formerly was not necessary to be believed that is whensoever the reasons and grounds of truth produced by the Council or the authority of the Council which is and alwayes ought to be very great with all sober discreet Christians do convince a man in his conscience of the truth of the Councils Definitions which truth I am as yet not convinced of neither from the reasons nor authority of the Council of Nice Or if you had rather have it out of Dr. Potter It is not the resisting saith he †p. 128. the voice or definitive sentence which makes an Heretick but an obstinate standing out against evident Scripture sufficiently cleared unto him And the Scripture may then be said to be sufficiently cleared when it is so opened that a good and teachable mind loving and seeking truth my conscience convinceth me not but that such I am cannot gainsay it Again †p. 129. It is possible saith he that the sentence of a Council or Church may be erroneous either because the opinion condemned is no Heresie or error against the Faith in it self considered or because the party so condemned is not sufficiently convinced in his understanding not clouded with prejudice ambition vain-glory or the like passion that it is an error one of these I account my selfe Or out of Dr. Hammond †Heresie p. 114. It must be lawful for the Church of God any Church or any Christian upon the Drs. reason as well as for the Bishop of Rome to inquire whether the Decrees of an universal Council have been agreeable to Apostolical Tradition or no and if they be found otherwise to reject them out or not to receive them into their beliefe And then still it is the matter of the Decrees and the Apostolicalness of them and the force of the testification whereby they are approved and acknowledged to be such which gives the authority to the Council and nothing else is sufficient where that is not to be found And elsewhere he both denies in General an Infallibility of Councils †Se before Disc 1 §. 6. and grounds the Reverence due to the Four first Councils on their setting down and convincing the truth
of their Doctrine out of the Scripture words understood with piety and the fetching their Definitions regularly from the sense thereof which the General Churches had received down from the Apostles †Of Heresie p. 96. Upon which follows that in such case where a Lawful General Council doth not so as possibly it may and Inferiors are to consider for themselves whether it doth not there may be no Heretical autocatacrifie in a dâ—ssent from it nor this dissent an evidence of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his being perverted and sinning wilfully and without excuse Lastly thus Mr. Stillingfleet concerning Heresie †p. 73. The formal reason of Heresie is denying something supposed to be of divine Revelation and therefore 2ly None can reasonably be accused of Heresie but such as have sufficient reason to believe that that which they deny is revealed by God And therefore 3ly None can be guilty of Heresie for denying any thing declared by the Church unless they have sufficient reason to believe that whatever is declared by the Church is revealed by God and therefore the Churches Definition cannot make any Hereticks but such as have reason to believe that she cannot err in her Definitions From hence also he gathers That Protestants are in less danger of Heresie than Papists till these give them more sufficient reasons to prove that whatever the Church declares is certainly revealed by God Thus he Now such sufficient proving reasons as Protestants plead that Papists have not yet given them concerning this matter of Church-authority I alledge that neither have they nor others given me To be self-condemned therefore in my dissent from the definition of the Council of Nice I must first have sufficient reason proposed to me to believe and so to remain self-condemned and Heretical in disbelieving it this point viz. That the Church or her Council hath power to define matters of Faith in such manner as to require my assent thereto Which so long as I find no sufficient reason to believe I suppose I am freed without obstinacy or Heresie or being therein self-condemned from yeilding assent to any particular matter of Faith which the Church defines And had I sufficient reason proposed to me for believing this point yet so long as I am not actually convinced thereof I become only guilty of a fault of ignorance not obstinacy or autocatacrisie or Heresie for if I am self-condemned or guilty of obstinacy in disbelieving the foresaid points †See Mr. Stillingf p. 99. Then I become so either by the Churches definition of this point or without it By reason of the Churches definition of this it cannot be for this very power of defining is the thing in question and therefore cannot be cleared to me by the Churche's defining it †Still p. 74 and thus That thing is proposed to me in the definition to be believed which must be supposed to be believed by me already before such proposal or definition or else the definition is not necessary to be believed †Ib. p. 99. Nor without or before such definition can I have an autocatacrisie because this autocatacrisy you say with Dr. Hammond ariseth from my disobedience to the Church Prot. Methinks you make the same plea for your selfe in this matter as if one that is questioned for not obeying the divine precepts or not believing the divine revelations delivered in Scripture should think to excuse himself by this answer that indeed he doth not believe the Scripture to be Gods Word and therefore he conceives that he cannot reasonably be required to believe that which is contained therein And as such a person hath as much reason though this not from the Scripture yet from Apostolical Tradition to believe that Scripture is Gods Word as to believe what is written in it so have you though not from the Nicen Council defining it yet from Scripture and Tradition manifesting it as much reason to believe its authority of defining as what it defined It s true indeed that had you not sufficient proposal or sufficient reason to know this your duty of Assent to this definition of the Council of Nice you were faultless in it but herein lies your danger that from finding a non actual conviction of the truth within hindred there by I know not what supine negligence or strong self-conceit c. you gather a non sufficient proposal without § 37 Soc. It remains then to inquire who shall judge concerning this sufficient proposal or sufficient reason which I am said to have to believe what the Nicen Council or the Church hath declared in this point †Stillingf p. 73. Whether the Churches judgment is to be taken by me in this or my own made use of If her judgement the ground of my belief and of Heresie lies still in the Churches definition and thus it will be all one in effect whether I believe what she declares without sufficient reason or learn this of her when there is sufficient reason to believe so It must be then my own judgment I am to be directed by in this matter †See Stilling p. 479. and if so then it is to be presumed that God doth both afford me some means not to be mistaken therein and also some certain knowledg when I do use this means aright for without these two I can have no security in my own judgment in a matter of so high concernment as Heresie and fundamental faith is Now this means in this matter I presume I have daily used in that I finde my conscience after much examination therein to acquit me unless you can prescribe me some other surer evidence without sending me back again to the authority of the Church Prot. Whilst your discovery of your tenent to be an Heresie depends on your having sufficient reason to believe it is so And 2ly The judgment of your having or not having sufficient reason to believe this is left to your self the Church hath no means to know you or any other to be an Heretick till they declare themselves to be so And thus in striving to free your selfe from Heresie you have freed all mankind from it as to any external discovery and convincement thereof and cancelled such a sin unless we can finde one that will confess himself to maintain a thing against his own conscience Soc. If I so do the Protestants for they also hold none guilty of Heresie for denying any thing declared by the Church unless they have reason to believe that what ever is declared by the Church is revealed by God and of this sufficient reason they make not the Church or Superiors but themselves the Judge The V. CONFERENCE His Plea for not being guilty of Schism 5. PRot. I have yet one thing more about which to question you If you will not acknowledge your opinion Heresie in opposing the publike judgment § 28 and definition of the Catholick Church
in that most reverend Council of Nice upon pretence that you have not had a convincing Proposal that this Definition was therein made according to Gods Word or the Scriptures yet how will you clear your self or your Socinian Congregations of Schism avoidable upon no plea of adherence to Scripture if it shall appear that you have for this opinion deserted the Communion of the Catholick Church out of which Church is no Salvation Soc. †Dr. Potter p. 75. I grant there neither is nor can be any just cause to depart from the Church of Christ no more than from Christ himself therefore I utterly deny that our Churches have made any separation from the Church Catholick at all and this for many reasons For 1st †Chillingw p. 274. We have not forsaken the whole Church or the external Communion of it but only that part of it which is corrupted and still will be so and have not forsaken but onely reformed another part of it which part we our selves are and I suppose you will not go about to perswade us that we have forsaken our selves or our own Communion And if you urge that we joined our selves to no other part therefore we separated from the whole I say it follows not in as much as our selves were a part of it and still continued so and therefore can no more separate from the whole than from our selves Prot. So then it seemes wee need fear no Schism from the Church Catholick tilla part can divide from it self which can never be § 29 Soc. Next As for our separating from all other particular Churches the ground of our Separation being an error which hath crept into the Communion of these Churches and which is unjustly imposed upon us in order to this Communion we conceive in this case if any They not We are the Schismaticks for as the Arch. Bp. †Lawd p. 142. The Schism is theirs whose the cause of it is and he makes the separation who gives the first just cause of it not he that makes an actual separation upon a just cause preceding § 30 Again Though we have made an actual Separation from them as to the not-conforming to or also as to the reforming of an error yet 1st As to Charity we do still retain with the same Churches our former Communion †Dr. Ferne Division of Churches p. 105. and 31 32. Not dividing from them through the breach of Charity Or condemning all other Churches as no parts of the Catholick Church and drawing the Communion wholy to our selves as did those famous Schismaticks the Donatists § 31 Next as to matter of Faith We hold that all separation from all particular Churches in such a thing wherein the unity of the Catholick Church doth not consist is no separation from the whole Church nor any more than our suspension from the Communion of particular Churches till such their error is reformed For as Mr. Stillingf †p. 331. There can be no separation from the whole Church but in such things wherein the unity of the whole Church lies Whos 's therefore separates from any particular Church as to things not concerning their being is onely separated from the Communion of that Church and not the Catholick Now that for which we have separated from other Churches we conceive not such as is essential or concernes the being of a Church so that without it we or they cannot still retaâ—n the essence thereof we declare also our readiness to joyn with them again if this error be corrected or at least not imposed And †Stilling Ib. as Mr. Stillingf faith Where there is this readiness of Communion there is no absolute separation from the Church as such but onely suspending Communion till such abuses be reformed or not prâ—ssed upon us And as Bp. Bramhall †Vindic. of the Church of England p. 9. When one part of the universal Church separateth it self from another part not absolutely or in essentials but respectively in abuses and innovations not as it is a part of the universal Church but onely so far as it is corrupted and degenerated whether in doctrine or manners it doth still retain a Communion not onely with the Catholick Church and with all the Orthodox members of the Catholick Church but even with that corrupted Church from which it is separated except onely in such Corruptions § 32 Prot. Saving better Judgments methinks a separation if causeless from the Communion of all other Churches or from those who are our Superiours in a lesser matter than such a Fundamental or essential point of Christianity as destroyes the being of a Church should be Schism and the smaller the point for which we separate the greater the guilt of our separation Were not the Donatists Schismaticks in rejecting the Catholick Communion requiring their conformity in such a point in which St. Cyprian's error before the Churches definâ—ng thereof was very excusable and the Affrican Congregations in his time not un-churched thereby Soc. †Dr. Potter p. 76. But the Donatists did cut off from the Body of Christ and the hope of Salvation the Church from which they separated which is the property of Schismaticks And †Stillingf p. 359. Division of Churches p. 106. They were justly charged with Schism because they confined the Catholick Church within their own bounds But as Dr. Ferne saith †Had the Donatists only used their liberty and judgment in that practise of rebaptizing Hereticks leaving other Churches to their liberty and though thinking them in an error for admitting Hereticks without baptising them yet willing to have Communion with them as parts of the Catholick Church saving the practices wherein they differed then had they not been guilty of Schism In that which I hold I only follow my conscience condemn not the Churches holding otherwise On the other side †Chillingw p. 278. Christ hath forbid me under pain of damnation to profess what I believe not be it small or great and consequently under the same penalty hath obliged me to leave that Communion in which I cannot remain wothout the Hypocritical Profession of such a thing which I am convinced to be eroneous †Ib. 279. At least this I know that the Doctrine which I have chosen to me seemes true and the contrary which I have forsaken seemes false and therefore without remorse of conscience I may profess that but this I cannot and a separation for preserving my conscience I hope will never be judged causeless § 33 Prot. At this rate none will be a Schismatick but he who knowes he erreth i. e. not who holdeth but only who professeth an error or who knows that the point for the non-conformity to which required of him he deserts the Church is a Truth and the contrary which he maintaines an error But Dr. Hammond †Of Schism p. 23. 24. 25. tells you That he that doth communinate with those I suppose he means
superiors the condition of whose Communion containes nothing really erroneous or sinful though the doctrine so proposed as the condition of their Communion be apprehended by him to whom it is thus proposed to be false remaines in Schism Soc. And at this rate all those who separate from the Church requiring their assent to what is indeed a truth will be Schismaticks and that whether in a point fundamental or not Fundamental though they have used all the industry all the means they can except this the relying on their Superiors judgment not to err unless you will say that all truths even not Fundamental are in Scripture so clear that none using a right industry can neither err in them which no Chillingworth hath maintained hitherto § 34 Prot. But we may let this pass for your separation was in a point perspicuous enough in Scripture and so you void of such excuse was in a point Essential and Fundamental and in which a wrong belief destroyes any longer Communion of a particular Person or Church with the Catholick Soc. This I utterly deny nor see I by what way this can ever be proved against me for you can assigne no Ecclesiastical Judge that can distinguish Fundamentals Necessaries or Essentials from those points that are not so as hath been shewed already And as Mr. Stillingfleet †p. 73. urgeth concerning Heresie so may I concerning Schism What are the measures whereby we ought to judge what things are essential to the being of Christianity or of the Church Whether must the Churches judgment be taken or every mans own judgment if the former the Ground of Schism lies still in the Churches definition contrary to what Protestants affirm if the latter then no one can be a Schismatick but he that opposeth that of which he is or may be convinced that it is a Fundamental or essential matter of Faith If he be only a Schismatick that opposeth that of which he is convinced then no man is a Schismatick but he that goes against his present judgment and so there will be few Schismaticks in the world If he that opposeth that which he may be convinced of then again it is that which he may be convinced of either in the Churches judgment or in his own if in the Churches it comes to the same issue as in the former If in his own how I pray shall I know that I may be convinced of what using a due indeavour I am not convinced already or how shall I know when a due industry is used and if I cannot know this how should I ever settle my self unless it be upon Authority which you allow not Again I am taught that any particular whether person or Church may judge for themselves with the Judgment of Discretion And in the matter of Christian Communion †Stillingf p. 292. That nothing can be more unreasonable than that the Society Suppose it be a Council imposing conditions of its Communion Suppose the Council of Nice imposing Consubstantialiity so should be Judge whether those conditions be just and equitable or no And especially in this case where a considerable Body of Christians judg such things required to be unlawful conditions of communion what justice or reason is there that the party accused should sit judg in his own cause Prot. By this way no Separatist can ever be a Schismatick if he is constituted the judge whether the reason of his separation is just Soc. And in the other way there can never be any just cause of separation at all if the Church-Governors from whom I separate are to judge whether that be an error for which I separate § 35 Prot. It seems something that you say But yet though upon such consideration a free use of your own judgment as to providing for your own Salvation is granted you yet methinks in this matter you have some greater cause to suspect it since several Churches having of late taken liberty to examine by Gods Word more strictly the corrupt doctrins of former ages yet these reformed as well as the other unreformed stand opposit to you and neither those professing to follow the Scriptures nor those professing to follow Tradition and Church authority neither those requiring strict obedience and submission of judgment nor those indulging Christian liberty countenance your doctrin But you stand also reformers of the reformation and separated from all Soc. Soft a little Though I stand separated indeed from the present unreformed Churches or also if you will from the whole Church that was before Luther yet I both injoy the external Communion and think I have reason to account my self a true member of the Churches reformed and as I never condemned them or thought Salvation not attainable in them so neither am I that I know of excluded by or from them so long as I retain my opinion in silence and do not disturbe their peace and I take my selfe also on these termes to be a member in particular of the Church of England wherein I have been educated For all these Churches as confessing themselves fallible in their decrees do not require of their Subjects to yeeld any internal assent to their doctrines or to profess any thing against their conscience and in Hypocrisie and do forbear to use that tyranny upon any for injoying their Communion which they so much condemn in that Church from which for this very thing they were forced to part Communion and to reform Of this matter thus Mr. Whitby †p. 100. Whom did our Convocations ever damn for not internally receiving their decrees Do they not leave every man to the liberty of his judgment They do not require that we should in all things believe as they believe but that we should submit to their determination and not contradict them their decisions are not obtruded as infallible Oracles but only submitted to in order to peace and unity So that their work is rather to silence than to determine disputes c. and p. 438. We grant a necessity or at least a convenience of a Tribunal to decide controversies but how Not by causing any person to believe what he did not antecedently to these decrees upon the sole authority of the Council but by silencing our disputes and making us acquiesce in what is propounded without any publick opposition to it keeping our opinions to our selves A liberty of using private discretion in approving or rejecting any thing as delivered or not in Scripture we think ought to be allowed for faith cannot be compelled and by taking away this liberty from men we should force them to become Hypocrites and so profess outwardly what inwardly they disbelieve And see Mr. Stillingfleets rational account p. 104. where speaking of the obligation to the 39. Articles he saith That the Church of England excommunicates such as openly oppose her doctrin supposing her fallible the Roman Church excommunicates all who will not believe whatever she defines to be infallibly
true That the Church of England blindeth men to peace to her determinations reserving to men the liberty of their judgments on pain of excommunication if they violate that peace For it is plain on the one side where a Church pretends infallibility the excommunication is directed against the persons for refusing to give internal assent to what she defines But where a Church doth not pretend to that the excommunication respects wholly that overt Act whereby the Churches peace is broken And if a Church be bound to look to her own peace no doubt she hath power to excommunicate such as openly violate the bonds of it which is only an act of caution in a Church to preserve her selfe in unity but where it is given out that the Church is infallible the excommunication must be so much the more unreasonable because it is against those internal acts of the minde over which the Church as such hath no direct power And p. 55. he quotes these words out of Bp. Bramhall †Schism guarded p. 192. To the same sence We do not suffer any man to reject the 39. Articles of the Church of England at his pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as essentials of saving faith or legacies of Christ and his Apostles but in a mean as pious opinions fitted for the presâ—rvation of unity neither do we oblige any man to believe them but only not to contradict them By which we see what vast difference there is between those things which are required by the Church of England in order to peace and those which are imposed by the Church of Rome c. Lastly thus Mr. Chillingworth †p. 200. of the just authority of Councils and Synods beyond which the Protestant Synods or Convocations pretend not The Fathers of the Church saith he in after times i. e. after the Apostles might have just cause to declare their judgment touching the sence of some general Articles of the Creed but to oblige others to receive their declarations under pain of damnation what warrant they had I know not He that can shew either that the Church of all ages was to have this authority or that it continued in the Church for some ages and then expired He that can shew either of these things let him for my part I cannot Yet I willingly confess the judgment of a Council though not infallible is yet so far directive and obliging that without apparent reason to the contrary it may be sin to reject it at least not to afford it an outward submission for publick peace sake Thus much as the Protestant Synods seem contented with so I allow Again p. 375. He saith Any thing besides Scripture and the plain irrefragable indubitable consequences of it Well may Protestants hold it as matter of opinion but as matter of faith and religion neither can they with coherence to their own grounds believe it themselves nor require the belief of it of others without most high and most schismatical presumption Thus he now I suppose that either no Ptotestant Church or Synod will stile the Son 's coequall God-head with the Father a plain irrefragable indubitable Scripture or consequence thereof about which is and hath been so much contest or with as much reason they may call whatever points they please such however controverted and then what is said here signifies nothing § 36 Prot. Be not mistaken I pray especially concerning the Church of England For though she for several points imposed formerly by the tyranny of the Roman Church hath granted liberty of opinion or at least freed her subjects from obligation to believe so in them as the Church formerly required yet as to exclusion of your doctrin she professeth firmly to believe the 3. Creeds and concerning the additions made in the two latter Creeds to the first Dr. Hammond †Of Fundamentals p. 90. acknowledgeth That they being thus settled by the universal Church were and still are in all reason without disputing to be received and imbraced by the Protestant Church and every meek member thereof with that reverence that is due to Apostolick truthes with that thankfulness which is our meet tribute to those sacred Champions for their seasonable and provident propugning our faith with such timely and necessary application to practice that the Holy Ghost speaking to us now under the times of the New Testament by the Governors of the Christian Churches Christs mediate successors in the Prophetick Pastoral Episcopal Office as he had formerly spoken by the Prophets of the Old Testament sent immediately by him may finde a cheerfull audience and receive all uniform submission from us Thus Dr. Hammond of the Church of England's assent to the 3. Creeds She assenteth also to the definitions of the 4 first General Councils And the Act 1. Eliz. †cap. 1. declares Heresie that which hath been adjudged so by them now in the definitions of these first 4. General Counclls your tenent hath received a mortal wound †But lastly the 4th Canon in the English Synod held 1640. †Can. 4. particularly stiles Socinianism a most damnable and cursed Heresie and contrary to the Articles of Religion established in the Church of England and orders that any convicted of it be excommunicated and not absolved but upon his repentance and abjuration Now further than this namely excommunication upon conviction No other Church I suppose hath or can proceed against your Heresie It being received as a common axiom in the Canon Law that Ecclesia non judicat de occultis And cogitationis poenam nemo patitur And Ob peccatum mere internum Ecclesiastica censura ferri non potest And in all Churches every one of what internal perswasion soever continues externally at least a member thereof till the Churches censures do exclude him § 37 Soc. The Church of England alloweth assenteth to and teacheth what she judgeth evident in the Scripture for so she ought what she believes or assenteth to I look not after but what she enjoynes Now I yeeld all that obedience in this point that she requires from me and so I presume she will acknowledge me a dutiful Son Prot. what obedience when as you deny one of her chiefest and most fundamental doctrins Soc. If I mistake not her principles she requires of me no internal belief or assent to any of her doctrins but only 1st silence or non-contradiction †See Disc 3 § 84. n. 2. n. 4. or 2ly a conditional belief i. e. whenever I shall be convinced of the truth thereof Now in both these I most readily obey her For the 1st I have strictly observed it kept my opinion to my self unless this my discourse with you hath been a breach of it but then I was at least a dutiful subject of this Church at the beginning of our discourse and for the 2d whether actual conviction or sufficient proposal be made the condition of my assent or submission of
they removing it again with the Catholick Doctors quite out of the Pale of the Church and freeing the Reformed of their former Fears Which rectifying of so pernicious a Mistake of the first Reformers by a more sober posterity well considered may I hope in time much conduce to the Re-union of that Body which by this Great Engine of Satan chiefly hath been heretofore so unhappily divided § 33 In such a Division then to prosecute our Enquiry viz. who or where these Governors be that are our present Guide and that seem so much authorized by both sides in the former Propositions First If this Question had bin made by any 150 years ago there had bin no difficulty to resolve it For that Body here first named was then the whole or the only Catholick Church as to the VVest further than which he that would then have gone for choice of his Religion would have fared worse ‖ See Disc 3. §. 26. c That Body therefore then must have bin conformed to or the whole deserted as indeed it was ‖ See 1 Disc §. 55. n. 4. Now this Body is not changed in its Liturgies in its common Doctrines in its Rites since that time from what the whole was then VVitness the Reformation it self which was made against these very Doctrines and Practices that are now ‖ 1 Disc §. 47. 50. n. 2. 36 n. 5. as imposed on them before the being of the Council of Trent though some ‖ Stillingf p. 268 370 Field p. 880. 187 224. perhaps to lighten the charge of Schism would fain perswade the contrary and I wish the only contest between the two present Churches were put upon the trial of this § 34 It is here apparent then which of these two at that time when as yet one of them was not had bin our lawful Guide and Mother Church and easily cleared what then were its doctrines Of which Guide Protestants also testifie That then it erred not in Necessaries See before Prop. 3. § 3. c. Disc 1. § 41. And that also in all other points Christians were to believe it so many as could not demonstrate the contrary See Prop 9 10. § 20 21. We therefore may promise the same security to our selves in following this part of the Catholick Church as the Protestants call it though it calls it self the whole still now as our Forefathers had in following the whole then And this resting still in this Body remaining the same with what once was the whole seems security enough to all those who if this Body were now so entire and universal as it was then durst not now attempt a separation from the whole or to those who are not able to demonstrate the former separation that hath been made just and necessary the tie of Obedience to and acquiescence in the doctrines of these Guides Being dissolvable by none save demonstrators of their Errors ‖ See 3 Disc §. 44. which among the Church's Subjects can never be but a very small Number § 35 2ly But besides this main Motive of submission to the first Body as our right Judge and Guide because we find it the very same with the Church Catholick that was 150 years ago whereas the second Body confess themselves a Church that is since separated from the external Communion of that other and a body reformed from the pretended Errors and Corruptions found therein i. e. from the Errors which some of the Subjects and of the Flock for such I reckon a particular person or Church in respect of the whole found in their Guides and Judges when themselves also were inferior to them both in their paucity of number and quality of place I say besides this in the second place If we will follow the Principle laid down in the 12th Proposition ‖ §. 23. i. e. in any Contradiction happening to adhere to the Superior persons and Synods as our true Guide and amongst these to a major part as our Guide sooner than to a Minor By which Rule the Christian world hath been preserved hitherto from all those which both sides agree to have bin Heresies and which Rule unless we follow we dissolve all Government and all Vnity of this Body of Christ and introduce flat Anarchy and Confusion whilst for a Monarchical Government of the Church Protestants will not hear of it and in an Aristocratical or Government consisting of many it cannot be presumed but that there will be some Dissenters which if they may be followed against the others I ask by what Rule of Government was it that the Arrian Eutychian and Nestorian Bishops shops were forced to yield and were divested of their Pastoral authority or guiding any longer by the rest of the Bishops in the Council of Nice Ephesus and Chalcedon Lastly if we will be guided by the Church Catholick out of Council as we are in it Thus also we must needs acknowledg the first of these Bodies for our true and rightful Judge For it is apparent that this first is a much major part of the Church-Governors joyned also with the prime Patriarch of Christianity and so to be preferred by us before a minor separated If you would know then which of these two present Bodies of Ecclesiasticks you are to obey out of a Council First do you imagine them now met in a Council and next that in this Council every one delivers concerning things debated that which is his present judgment when called to the Council and this is but reasonable since there is no likelihood of new demonstrations to be made in the Council which already in so much writing on all sides these Bishops have not seen and since former tradition and not argument is the chief rule of their proceedings and no example is found in any Council past wherein its members have concluded any thing contrary to the preceding common faith of that Age wherein such Council was held Especially imagine what their sentence might be concerning this point whether the former Councils that have bin may have erred in their Definitions which one point stated negatively ruines Protestantism And then if your conscience weighing the present perswasions and practices of Christian Prelats doth convince you that the Votes of the one side would be very inconsiderable in it to the number of the other as likewise that S. Peters Chair concerning which Chair the Church's ancient Maxime hath bin Sine Pontifice Romano nihil finiendum ‖ See in Athan Apol. 2. Epist Julii Innocentii Ep. 91. apud August would join with this major part against the other what remains but that you here follow the same Body in the Interval of a Council which you must have followed in the time of a Council unless also you will reverse the common Laws of Councils § 36 Note that this is spoken of the Great Body of the Western Churches contained under the Roman Patriarch which do yet by Gods permission enjoy all