of Baptism are so far joined with the Catholick Church and the Catholick Church in and by them bringeth forth children to God so the present Roman Church is still in some sort a part of the visible Church of God but no otherwise than other societies of Hereticks are in that it retaineth the profession of some parts of heavenly truth and ministreth the true Sacrament of Baptism to the Salvation of the Souls of many thousand Infants We must acknowledg even Hereticks themselves to be though a maimed part yet a part of the Church visible saith the judicious Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. if the Fathers do any where saith he as oftentimes they do make the true Church of Christ and her companies opposite they are to be construed as separating Hereticks not altogether from the company of Believers but from the fellowship of sound Believers Lastly They also do assert that an Idolatrous Church may yet continue to be a true Church visible Lo say the Romanists Reconcil p. 64 65. we are of the true visible Church why then forsaken Ans Alass poor souls saith Bishop Hall do they not know that Hypocrites leud persons Reprobates are no less members of the visible Church what gain they by this but a deeper damnation to what purpose did the Jews cry the temple of the Lord whilst they despighted the Lord of that Temple They are of the viâ—â—â—le Church but shamefully Idolatrous in practice Our Saviour saith Mr. Hooker ubi Supra compareth the Kingdom of Heaven to a Net which gathereth together good Fish and bad and to a Field where Tares manifestly known and seen of all men do grow intermingled with good Corn and even so shall continue to the consummation of the world When the people of God worshipped the Calf in the Wilderness when they adored the Brazen Serpent when they bowed the knee to Baal and served the Gods of the Nations when they burnt Incense and offered Sacrifice to Idols true it is the wrath of God was most fiercely inflamed against them and they were forsaken of God in respect of that singular mercy wherewith he kindly embraceth his faithful children howbeit retaining the Law of God and the holy Seal of his Covenant the sheep of his visible flock they continued even in the depth of their disobedience and rebellion wherefore among them od always had a Church not only because be had thousands who never bowed the knee to baal but even they whose knees were bowed to Baal were also of the visible Church of God Of the same judgment are Bishop Davenant Dr. Primrose Zanchy and Episcopius in the fore-cited places § VII Now to admit the Church of Rome to be in the large sense a true visible Church of Christ serves no designs of Popery and is sufficient to justifie the Ordinations and succession of the Clergy of the Church of England For I. admit the first Reformers of our Church received their Ordination from those Bishops which were themselves guilty of Heresie or Schism or both and therefore no true living Members of Christs body nor any other ways to be reputed Members of the Church visible than Schismaticks and Hereticks may be This is abundantly sufficient to justifie our Ordination and Succession and our entrance into the visible Church by Baptism conferred by them For of the Baptism of Hereticks without exception and therefore of those Hereticks who by the judgment of the Universal Church have been esteemed Idolaters Sess 7. cap. de Bapt. Can. 4. the Church of Rome in her Trent Council hath determined that it is valid and hath pronounced an Anathema on those who say the contrary Jews Hereticks Part 2. Cap. II. Sect. 24. and Infidels may confer true Baptism saith the Roman Catechism as many Antient Fathers and Decrees of Council teach particularly the General Council of Constantinople and the sixth General Council held in Trullo the Council held at Florence and the Lateran Council Moreover that the Ordination of Hereticks is valid Preface to his Answer to several Treat Sess 7. Can. 9.23 Can. 4. Cap. 68. Act. 1. the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet hath largely proved from the definition of the Trent Council from the Code of Canons of the African Church from the judgment of the second Nicene Council from the General reception of this Doctrine in the Roman Church for as Morinus witnesseth De Sacris Ord. Part 3. Exercit 5. c. 1. n. 12. the opinion of the validity of Orders conferred by Hereticks hath only obtained in the Roman Church during the last four Centuries to which I add the definition of the first Nicene Council in the Case of the Cathari Can. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. Nicen. 2. Act. 1. p. 68. or the Novatian Hereticks that they returning to the Catholick and Apostolick Church should remain in that Order of Clergy in which they were only receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the imposition of hands for benediction and reconciliation and that if any of them were found either in Villages or Cities to be the only Bishops that were there Ordained they should continue in that same rank Whereas concerning the Pauliani who as St. Austin thinks De Haeres Cap. 44. did not observe the essentials of true Baptism the Council doth determine that if any of them should be found among the Clergy they should be Rebaptized and then receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ordination by some Bishop of the Catholick Church Can. 19. so that the Ordination of the Novatian Hereticks who were very numerous and whose Bishops had continued in a long Succession at Constantinople Ephesus Socrat. Hist Eccles l. 2. cap. 38. p. 114. l. 7. cap. 11. at Cyzicum and in most other places is by this great and holy Synod here pronounced valid and they who were Ordained by their Bishops were not received into the Church as Greeks or degraded into the rank of Lay-men whereas by reason of some fundamentla error in the case of Baptism it is determined that the Pauliani who were of their Clergy should be by Baptism admitted first into the Church and then by Ordination of the Bishop into the number of the Clergy The judgment of St. Austin is so clear in this point that we need nothing more to evidence the Faith and practice which then obtained in the Church For that the Ordination of Hereticks is valid he both asserts against the Donatists and proves by these two mediums 1. That their Baptism being valid according to the determination of the Church their Ordination must be deemed so there is no reason Lib 2. Contra Epist Parm. c. 13. saith he that they who cannot lose their Baptism should lose the power of giving Baptism to others for they both of them are Sacraments both of them are given by Consecration one when the person is Baptized the other when he is Ordained and therefore in the Catholick Church it is not lawful
to reiterate either of them 2. Because saith he a person who after his Ordination in the Church Catholick Non sunt rursus ordinandi sed sicut Baptismus in eis ita Ordinatio mansit integra qua in praecisione erat vitium non in Sacramentis quae ubicunque sunt ipsa vera sunt Ibid. becomes an Heretick must not at his return to the Church be Re-ordained and therefore neither must he be Re-ordained who hath received Ordination out of the Church Catholick and hence it is saith he that if any Bishops of the Donatists are won over to the Church and it doth seem convenient that they should bear the same Offices which formerly they did they are not by the Church Ordained but as their Baptism so their Ordination remains intire By this determination the Doctors of the Roman Church are generally swaied so that there is saith Bellarmine Bell. 1.4 de Rom. Pâ—ntif C. 10. § at emtra scarce any Catholick who knows not that they who are Baptized by Hereticks are Baptized truly and they that are Ordained by Hereticks are Ordained truly when the Heretick that Ordains is truly a Bishop at least as to his Character § VIII 2. That the Ordination made by those Hereticks who really were or by the Church have been condemned as Idolaters or persons guilty of more hainous crimes when these Ordainers were true Bishops was esteemed valid by the Church the same Learned Person hath demonstrated Desence of his Discourse part 2. Chap. 4. p. 795 798. 1. From the judgment of the second Nicene Council in the Case of Meletius who was ordained by Arian Bishops and whose Ordinations were accounted valid by an Alexandrian Synod in their Synodal Epistle Eccles Hier. l. 2. cap. 10. § 9 which saith Petavius contains the faith received in the whole Church Catholick and in the Synodal Epistle of the first Nicene Synod which saith Petavius Idem App. To. 3. Eccl. Hier. l. 2. c. 3 § 4. determined that they who were constituted and confirmed by mystical imposition of hands should be received into the Communion of the Church and enjoy their functions with these provisions that they should be in every Church and Parish after those Bishops and Presbyters which were ordained by Alexander Bishop of Alexandria that they should have no power of electing whom they pleased nor of propounding of the names of those whom they thought fit to be chosen into the body of the Clergy 2. This he doth prove from a fuller testimony of the general sense of the Church of that age Hist Eccles l. 1. c. 28. recorded by Ruffinus concerning the admission of those who had received orders from the Arian Bishops to the exercise of their Priestly Office with which decree of the Alexandrian Council about the receiving the Arian Bishiops and Priests upon disowning their Heresie Adv. Lucifer init though Lucifer did quarrel yet Jerom saith that it was universally received by the Church This will be farther evident from the 7. Canon of the second General Council of Constantinople and from the 95. Canon of the Synod held at Trullo in both which Canons it is determined that the Arian Baptism should be esteemed valid Contra Epist Parmen lib. 2. c. 13. Sess 23. c. 4. Synod Ephes Epist ad Theod. Vale t Imperat Act. Synod cap. 7. Audemus Anathematizare Nestorii Idololatriam in homine 2 Nic. Concil Act. 7. Epist ad Constantinum Iren. Act. 1. p. 68. E. Haer. 80. n. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10 Act. 1. p. 72. E. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1. p. 77. E. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 4. p. 236. A Act 6. p. 357. B. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1. p. 77. C. Act. 3. p. 160. D.E. and not to be reiterated and therefore as S. Austin doth infer they must esteem their Ordination also valid and not to be reiterated Because in the Sacrament of Orders as well as Baptism saith the Tret Council an indelible Character is impressed Moreover That the Nestorians were Idolaters hath been declared by the Church and yet their Ordination by the same Church hath been accounted valid saith the second Nicene Council That the Massaliani or Euchytae were worshippers of the Devil Epiphanius doth inform us and yet their Ordinations were allowed by the third General Council of Ephesus and it was there decreed saith the Second Nicene Council that as many of their Clergy as would renounce their Heresie and return to the Church should remain in the number of the Clergy Concerning the Heresie of the Iconoclasts it is determined by the members of the Second Nicene Council that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worst of evils and of vHeresies What shall we esteem them saith Tarusius who sitbvert Sacred Images They must be counted saith the Synod as Atheists Jews and enemies of the truth They who reject them are like to Jews and Samaritans faith the same Synod and again if the making of Images be likened to Idols the mystery of our redemption is made void saith the same Council and yet this very Council doth determine that even these very persons who confessed that they were born and bred up in this worst of Heresies should be admitted into the Order of Priesthood which they had formerly received and doth accordingly admit them Moreover from the Trent Council I thus argue that power which is not Temporary and therefore never can be taken away continues with Idolatrous Priests and Bishops as well as with other Hereticks but according to the definition of the Trent Council that power which is given in the Sacrament of Orders impressing on the receiver an indelible Character never can be taken away For so they do expresly testifie in these words Because in the Sacrament of Order as well as Confirmation and Baptism a Character is impressed In Sacramento ordinis Character imprimitur nec delert auferri po Sess 23. 4. which neitehr can be blotted out nor taken away N.B. This holy Syned justly condemneth their opinion who hold that Priests of the New Testament have only a temporary power Lastly agreeable to this determination of the Trent Council is the determination of the Schools for that every Bishop is a Minister of Scred Orders is so true saith Estius In Sent. l. 4. dist 25. § 3. that no Crime how enormous soever as Heresie Schism Apostacy nor any censure how weighty soever as V.G. that of Excommunication can hinder the validity of any Ordination made by such a person even out of his own Jurisdiction provided he observe the due rites of Ordination in things essential to that Sacrament This doctrine saith he is sufficiently confirmed by the continual practice of the Church which never reordained any who returned from any Heresie or Schisin whatsoever in which they were ordained Men saith Petavius De Eccl. Hier. l. 2. Cap. 9. § â— may be deprived of the Communion of the Church of
all honour dignity function and power ecclesiastical as was the case of Anthimus the intruder into the See of Constantinople and may be censued as unfit to be accunted Christians which was the censure that Felix the Third and a Roman Synod past upon Acacius but when the Church by proscribing and condemning them hath taken from them all it can it cannot ake away the power of Baptism and Ordination and therefore the Church Catholick hath judged that they who were Baptised and Ordained by Hereticks and Schismaticks have both true Baptism and true Orders and hath rejected those that think otherwise as Hereticks which both innumerable Synods and Orthodox Fathers among whom Austin doth excel have proved against the Luciferians the Donatists the Arians and other Pests of the Church § IX There be some eminent Divines among us who are I hope not without reason more candid in their apprehensions of the Roman Church before the Reformation admitting it to have continued when Luther and his friends began their Reformation to have been a Church in which Salvation might be had not only for the ignorant but also for many others who did not openly renounce Communion with her That we yield no more to our Adversaries now than formerly we did Appendix part 3. p. 880. saith Dr. Field in that we acknowledge the Latine or Western Churches subject to Roman 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 and wherein Luther himself received his Christianity Ordination and power of Ministry I will first shew that all our best and most renowned Divines did ever acknowledg as much as I have written Now that which doth induce them thus to judg was the consideration of these things 1. That notwithstanding those very many and very grievous errors which then obtained too generally and which were too much countenanced by the most powerful members of the Roman Church there still remained a profession and acknowledgment of so much truth as being joyned with Piety might be sufficient to bring her members to eternal life If at this day saith Bishop Vsher Sermon before his Majesty at Wansled p. 28. we should take a survey of the several professions of Christianity that have any large spread in any part of the world as of the Religion of the Roman and the Resormed Churches in our quarters of the Aegyptians and Aethiopians in the South of the Graecians and other Churches in the Eastern parts and should put by the points wherein they differ one from another and gather into one body the rest of the Articles wherein they all do generally agree we should find that in those propositions which without all controversie are universally received in the whole Christian world so much truth is conteined as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man to everlasting Savlation neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as do walk according to this rule neither overthrowing that which they have builded up by super-inducing any damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise vitiating their holy Faith with a lewd and wicked conversation peace shall be upon them and mercy Which doctrine he confirms 1. from the constant practice of the Apostles in their first receiving men into the society of the Church For saith he in one of the Apostles ordinary Sermons we see there was so much matter delivered as was sufficient to convert men to the Faith and make them capable of Baptism and yet these Sermons treated only of the first principles of the Doctrine of Christ in these first principles therefore must the foundation be contained and that common unity of Faith Ibid. p. 20. which is required in all the members of the Church Again p. 16. As there is a common Salvation so is there a common Faith which is alike precious in the highest Apostle and the meanest believer for we may not think that Heaven was prepared for deep Clerks only and therefore besides that larger measure of knowledge whereof all are not capable there must be a rule of Faith common to small and great which as it must consist but of few propositions for simple men cannot bear away many so is it also requisite that these Articles should be of so much weight and moment that they may be sufficient to make a man wise unto salvation If then Salvation by believing these common principles may be had and to Salvation none can come who is not first a member of the Catholick Church of Christ it followeth that the unity of Faith generally requisite for the incorporating of Christians into that blessed Society P. 17. is not to be extended beyond these common principles Which may farther be made manifest unto us by the continual practice of the Catholick Church herself in the matriculation of her Children and first admittance of them into her Communion For when she prepared her Catechumeni for Baptism and by that door received them into the cougregation of Christs Flock we may not think her judgment to have been so weak as to omit any thing herein that was essentially necessary for the making of one a member of the Church Now the profession which she required of all that were to receive baptisin was for the Agenda or practical part an abrenuntiation of the Devil the World and the Flesh with all their sinful lusts and works and for the things to be believed an acknowledgment of of the Articles of the Creed which being performed solemnly she then baptized them in this faith intimating thereby sufficiently that this was that one faith commended to her by the Apostles Ibid. p. 17. as the other that one Baptisin which was appointed to be the Sacrament of it And that the creed of the Apostles as it is explained in the latter Creeds of the Catholick Church was esteemed by the general suffrage of the Greek and Latine Fathers and the whole Antient Church See P tters answer to Charity Mistaken § 7. from p. 216. to 233. Mr. Chill c. 4. § 83 8â— Bishop Tayor diss part 2. l. 1. § 4. a sufficient Summary or Catalogue of fundamentals that even by the Trent Council the Trent Catechism and the best learned Romanists it is acknowledged so to be is very largely and convincingly demonstrated by many eminent Writers of our Church 2. They add that those prevailing doctrinâ—s which thwarted the great fundamentals of our faith and made salvation more difficult were indeed docrines strongly then prevailing in but not received and owned as Articles of Faith by all themembers of the Church of Rome Answ to Charity Mistaken § 3. p. 64 65. In the latter Ages before the Reformation saith Dr. Potter though the Court of Rome by cunning and violence had subdued many noble parts of Christendom under her yoke yet the servitude of that Church and her misery was somewhat more supportable
afficiebam contumeliis cum eos esse credebam ligna lapides aut in hujusmodi rerum habitare materia Arnob l. 1. p. 23. Non prima maxima contumelia est habitationibus deos habere districtos tuguriold his dare Arnob l 6. p. 191 we say mactus hoc vino inferio esto adding inferio lest we should Consecrate that Wine which is contained in the Vintners Cellars When any Roman Priest can with four words and an intention so to do turn all the Wine in any Merchants Cellar into a Christian God Do you think it so absurd that what Wine shall be Sacred to the Gods should thus depend upon the will and words of Heathen priests when it depends upon the words and the intention of a Roman Priest what Wafer and what Wine shall be transubstantiated into the Christians God Do you ask why we perceive not with the eyes both of our senses and our minds that what is partly burnt cannot be God when you yourselves do not perceive that what is partly baked and partly drunk in Taverns is no God Do you admire at their blindness who being Heathens thought their Gods might dwell in wood or stone or such like matter when being Christians you are obliged to believe your God doth dwell in Pyxes Chalices and Bottles and in the belly of a beast Do you affirm that we are contumelious to our Gods by shutting of them up in little houses and making for them little Cottages and Cells and Conclaves and are not you more contumelious to your Jesus by making for and cooping of him up in a small Pix and Tabernacle bernacle Is it ridiculous in us to light up Candles in the day time to our Gods Lucernas meridie vanas prostituere Tert. Apol. C. 46. p. 35. Lact. l. 2. C. 4. p. 157. and must it not be so in Christians to do the like to their supposed God Do you deride our Jove because he hat a golden cloth upon him or is adorned with pretious Garments and shall not we esteem your God more worthy of our laughter who hath more Cloths and Trappings than a Lord Mayors horse Do you ask the Heathen Ab aestibus sese frigorihusque tutari Arnob. l. 3. p. 1 8. In Alitem taurum quod omnia Genera contumeliarum transiliat in formiculam parvulam Arnob. l. 4. p. 145. ib. L. 7. p. 249 250. whether by clothing of his Gods he seeketh to defend them from the wind and cold and heat and other inuries of the weather when t is so casie to retort on you the same enquiry Is it so prodigious that our Jupiter should turn himself into a Bird a Bull a little Ant that Saturn should be turned into a beast and Aesculapius appear in the more ghastly Visage of a Serpent and it is not as great a prodigy that your own Jesus should be converted into the shape of a thin Wafer or a drop of Wine Is it so ridiculous to conceive our Jupiter should be contracted into the lineaments of an Ant Dare ambiguls contradictionibus locum essetne veras deus an nescio quid aliud longéque ab supera sublimitate sejuctum Arnob. 16. p. 250. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 33. In Matth. xv Tertul. in Apol. C. 13. and is it less ridiculous to see your Jesus shrink his whole Great self into the smallest crum of Bread or drop of Wine If such things gave men reason to suspect that they whom we adored as Gods were at the greatest distance from that sublimity as your Arnobius saith permit us to suspect the same of your own Jesus In fine is it so great an infamy to our God Fortune that the Romans brought her to a Dunghil to be dedicated thinking the draught a proper Temple for that God and is it not a greater infamy to your own Sacramental Jesus that as your Origen declares from his own words he goeth down into the draught Is it so horrid to conceive our Saturn should be turned in Cacabulum and is it not exceedingly more horrid to conceive your God should be converted in illud quod dicere nolo Let me then speak unto your Fathers Cujus est pudoris c. l. 2. p. 93. Erroris alios stultitiae condemnare in erroris ejusdem vitio deprehendi l. 3. p. 109. and Apologists in their own language I mean the words of your Arnobius How impudent and shameless is it to reprehend that in another which you do yourselves to condemn others of stupidity and error when you yourselves are guilty of like crimes and object that to the reproch of others which may be presently retorted and will reflect on you with greater infamy § X Hence we may be assured that the portentous Doctrine of Transubstantiation Corol. I. and of the Adoration of the Host as God was not acknowledged or received by these Antient Fathers who spake so many things which are most plainly inconsistent with and perfectly destructive both to that Doctrine and that worship For 1. Let any man of reason judg from what hath been discoursed whether all these considerations which have been offered from Scripture and from the Fathers to expose Heathen Gods to the derision and reproch of all men and to reclaim the Heathen from his Superstitious follies do not equally concern the Roman Host For that this Host is Sacrified and eaten that it is carried on mens shoulders or in their arms and hand and standeth in the place where it is set that care is taken by them that he may not fall that he already hath been stoln out of St. Sulpitius Church at Paris out of the Church at Boloyn and out of other Churches that this God hath been carryed Captive hath been purloyned by Thieves Magicians and Wizards that he is under Lock and Key under the custody of men and is defended by Human Laws and vindicated by Human Power that he is often hid and hath been often buried in the earth that he hath been exposed to the flames and to the injuries of wind and weather that he is sometimes gnawed upon by things creeping out of the earth that he hath not the use of eyes to see or ears to hear or hands to handle or feet to go that he doth dwell and hath been oft inclosed in Pixes Tabernacles in Chalices and Bottles that he hath Candles lighted to him of which he sees not one that he is clothed with costly Rayment is strangely metamorphosed and lastly that by confession of some Roman Doctors he goes down into the draught all this hath been already shewed and cannot rationally be denyed and yet all these are things objected by the Fathers to the reproach of Heathen Deities these were the chief considerations which they offered to prove that Heathen Gods were but dumb Idols or inferior Creatures on these accounts they did continually charge the Heathens with Superstition and Idolatry and did endeavor to dissuade them from the owning of these
things should be changed that had obtained in the Church to hazard their own lives by speaking their minds freely when they could do but little good and being more desirous it should be done by others than themselves Who knows not that when the reformation was begun by Zuinglius and Luther they were encouraged and approved of by the best and the most learned of that Age And that innumerable persons did presently embrace and testifie their approbation of their Doctrine which is an evidence beyond exception of their good inclinations to it Doth not Elias complain that all besides himself in Israel had shamefully revolted to Idolatry and yet we are assured by God himself that the was certainly deceived And if such a great Prophet erred in his judgment touching his own time and his own Country why may not you mistakein thinking that in the former Ages of the Church all the professed members of it did bow the knee to your Baal 2. There is no necessity there should be Histories or Records of all those persons who disliked any of the practices which commonly obtained in the Church Apud Hott Hist Ecc. Sec. 16. Part. 2. p. or were possessed with that hatred of the false worship generally received Cat. test ver l. 19. p. 867. as Wesselus was or said as did Domitius Calderinus when by his friends constrained to go to Mass Eamus sanè ad communes errores Nor 3. Is it necessary that all the Histories and Records of this kind which have been written should remain and much less that they should continue perfect and uncorrupted especially considering your Church which had lately all the power in her hand hath been so wickedly industrious by her Indices expurgatorii to corrupt all Histories Records and Monuments of Antiquity which make against her But to omit all these advantages I shall ex abundanti shew the falshood of this suggestion in all those three particulars out of those Records which yet remain and have escaped her destructive hands And § III 1. Idolatry as it imports 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The worship or religious service of an Idol or the similitude of any thing in heaven or earth made to be worshipped in the service of Religion I say Idolatry in this which is the prime and natural import of the word was not the practice of the whole Church of Christ for many Ages before Luther For 1. The German and the French Churches saith Cassander Consult Cap. de Imag. p. 201. after the Council held at Frankfort most constantly continued for some Ages in that sentence which they first received from the Church of Rome viz. That Images were neither to be broken nor yet to be worshipped If then the German and French Churches continued firm in this opinion for some Ages after the Council held at Frankford A. D. 794. they must have constantly maintained it in the VIII and the IX Centuries And that they held the same opinion in the IX Century is evident from Agobardus Bishop of Lyons who was make Bishop by consent of the whole Clergy of that Nation For he wrote a Book against this Image-Worship Sect. 30. wherein he hath declared that it is contrary both to Scripture and Tradition and the Doctrine of the Old Roman Church Sect. 35. and also that whosoever worships any molten or graven Image doth not honor God Quod omnes tum in Gallia ut etiam Sirmondo observatum est consentiebant Balhuz Not. in Agobar p. 88. or Angles or holy men but Idols and in which he doth fully Answer the exceptions and evasions of the Roman party And yet Balbuzius and Sirmondus do ingenuously confess that Agobardus hath writ only that which the whole Church of France did then acknowledge Moreover in this IX Century the Second Nicene Synod was declared to be a Pseudo Synod or falsly to retain the name of Synod L. Contra Hincmar Laudun Cap. 20. Ad. A. D. 792. A. D. 794. Chrot A. D. 794. because it Decreed for Image-worship by Hincmarus Rhemensis and Ado Viennesis In the X. Century it is so stiled by Regino Abbas Prumiensis In the XI by Hermannus Contractus an Author of great Credit and Reputation in the world And that the Germans continued of the same mind in the XII Century Lib. 2. de Imp. Isaachi Angel F. 199. is evident from the plain words of Nicetas Choniates who saith that then among the Germans and Armenians the worship of Holy Images was equally forbidden And that the French Church then believed the Doctrine of the Second Nicene Council to be against the definition of the Orthodox and Antient Fathers is evident from the Continuator of Aimoinas De Gestis Francorum l. 5. c. 28. who plainly tells us that the Fathers of the Nicene Synod otherwise decreed concerning Image = worship than the Orthodox Doctors had before defined And Ivo Bishop of Chartres then declared this to be the judgment of the Council of Eliberis Nos illas non adoramus l. 1. c. 3. Num. 1. that Pictures ought not to be worshipped but that they only should be memorials of what is worshipped Was it then received by the French Church in the XIII Century No Durandus a French Bishop in his Rationale doth expresly say we do not worship Images and he moreover gives this admonition to them that do so L. 4. C. 39. N. 3. If neither men nor Angels are to be worshipped let them consider what they do who under pretence of Piety do worship divers Images for it is not Lawful to worship that which is made with hands Was it then received in the XV. Comp. Theol. in explic praecepti primi Ed. Paris 1606. Century No Gerson Chancellor of Paris who flourished Anno Domini 1420. saith we do not worship Images and that they are forbidden to be worshipped and that the words of the commandment Thou shall not bow down to them nor worship them must be thus interpreted Thou shall not bow thy body or thy knees unto them thou shall not worship them with the affection of thy mind When therefore was it that this Image-worship obtained in the Gallican Church Answ Pithoeus doth ingenuously confess that it is but of yesterday If we be willing saith he Praes in Hist P. Diaconi seriously to confess the truth it is but very lately that our people began to be in love with Images Moreover in the VII Century it was condemned by a Karolus Rex Franciae misit Synodalem librum ad Britaniam sibi à Constantinopoli directum in quo proh dolor multa inmconvenientia verae fidei contraria reperichantur maximè quod poene omnium Orientalium doctorum unanimi assartione confirmatum fuerit Imagines adorari debere quod omnino Ecclesia Dei execratur contra quod scripsit Albinus Epistolam ex authoritate divinarum Scripturarum mirabiliter dictatam illamque cum eodem Synodali libro in
2. saith that the Apostle seems to speak of a departure from the Catholick Faith not that all shall recede from it but that the major part shall do so Bellarmin adds that it is certain that it will be so L. 13. Doct. Prin. c. 2. L. 2. de temp nov c. 15. To the same purpose speak Stapleton Acosta with divers others And all this they ground upon those passages of the Revelation which seem very concluding to this sense and clearly to intend it as the slaughter of the two witnesses by whom the Orthodex members of the Church is understood the flight of the woman that is the Church into the Desert and the worship which the whole world will then pay to the Beast Where note that these Witnesses which represent the Church are but two and they at last are slain Rev. xiii 7 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aret. in locum and that the Dominion of Antichrist is over all Kingdoms Tongues and Nations and he is said to cause the earth and him that dwelleth therein to worship him and both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive his mark All which seemeth to signifie as much as the testiinonies forecited Now seeing it is Prophesied concerning Antichrist that he should exalt himself above all that is called God Rev. ix 20. and of the people of those Antichristian times that they should worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and of Brass and Stone and of Wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk Rev. xiii 12. and that the earth and they that dwell therein should become worshippers of the Beast and of his Image therefore it must be also Prophesied that Idolatry should reign and spread it self over the Christian World CHAP. IV. The Contents Ob. 3. That if the Church be guilty of Idolatry the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against her Answered by shewing that by this phrase the Gates of Hell errors in Doctrine or Corruption in manners cannot be understood but only the state of death § I. Ob. 4. That if the Church be Idolatrous she cannot be Holy Answered by shewing what is the Holiness of the Church visible § II. Ob. 5. We grant the Papists may be saved and consequently must grant they are not guilty of Idolatry Answered I. by shewing that moderate Papists grant that Protestants may be saved whom yet they charge with Heresie and Schism and such like damning sins § III. 2. That their Repentance for their unknown sins and consequently their unknown Idolatries may obtain mercy for those who wanted means of better information § IV. 3. That in the same circumstances we believe that Idolaters may be saved ibid. Ob. 6. The Church of Rome cannot be guilty of Idolatry because we do acknowledg her to be a true Church Answered I. By shewing that true Church may still continue so to be when it is guilty of Idolatry § V. 2. That the Church of Rome may be a true Church in that large sense in which the Protestants confess she is so and yet be guilty of Idolatry they only saying that she is a true visible Church in that sensein which Heretical and Idolatrous Churches may be so § VI. To admit the Church of Rome to be in this sense a true visible Church is sufficient to justifie the Ordination and Succession of our Clergy I. Because the Ordination of Hereticks is valid § VII And so is also the Ordination of Idolaters § VIII Some of our Divines acknowledg that in the Church of Rome when Luther first begun his Reformation there was a saving profession of the truth of Christ § IX This acknowledgment is explained and the inference thence made that the Church of Rome was not then Idolatrous though Idolatry prevailed much in it ibid. Ob. 7. That if the Church of Rome be truly charged with this crime she must be guilty of Heathenish Idolatry answered by shewing that she is so only in that sense in which all Idolatry may be stiled Heathenish § X. And 2. by divers instances of such Idolatry which in the judgment of the Romanists themselves is not exclusive of salvation ibid. § I Ob. 3 AND this is all that is needful to be said in answer to this Argument p. 125. But yet ex abundanti I will add some remarks upon those Arguments which T. G. and R. H. do further offer to demonstrate 1. That the whole Church of Christ cannot be guilty of Idolatry which is the minor proposition of this objection And first T. G. thus Argues that if the Church which is Christs Kingdom could Apostatize so far as to enjoyn and allow the belief and practice of Idolatry the Gates of Hell would have prevailed against it but the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against it Ergo. Answ These words the Gates of Hell do not contain a promise of preservation of the Church from sin or error of what kind soever but only signifie that all true Christians who die in the Lord shall be delivered from death and shall obtain a joyful Resurrection For the Gates of Hell in Scripture phrase do never signifie the power of Heresie or Satan sin or error but both in the Old Testament the Jewish writers and the Antient Heathens it constantly is used to signifie the state of death as will be evident to any person who consults the places cited in the Synopsis and doth with them compare the passages in which this phrase is used in the Old Testament and in the Jewish writers I said Es xxxviii 10. saith Hazekiah in the cutting off of my days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall go to the Gates of Hell I am deprived of the residue of my years and what is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gates of death is by the Septuagint Translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gates of Hell Chap. xvi 13. Mac. v. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praepar Ev. l. 1. c. 3. p. 7. D. Job xxxviii 17. Thou hast the power of life and death saith the Author of the Book of Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou bringest down to the Gates of Hell and raisest up again They cryed to the Lord to have mercy on them now being even at the point of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Gates of Hell Nor did Eusebius doubt the truth of this exposition of the words for he declares that God had hereby promised that the Church should not be overcome by death and that by virtue of this one voice Vpon this rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her the Church continues not subdued by her enemies nor yielding to the Gates of death 2 This Scripture may concern the Church considered as invisible Ecclesia in iis est qui aedificant supra petram i. e. qui audiunt verba Christi faciunt Aug. de unit Eccl. c. 16. c. 18. De Bapt.
his Church and People and he was still their God according to his promise Lev. xxvi 11 12. I will set my Tabernacle amongst you and will walk among you and you shall be my people and I will be your God And indeed God in Scripture is said to walk among them by his gracious presence in his Tabernacle 2 Sam. vii 6. 1 Chron. xvii 5. Psal ix 11. cxxxv 21. Es xviii 4. Joel iii. 21.2 Chr. vi 2. xxxvi 15. Psal lxxiv. 7. lxxvi 2. lxxix 7. Es xviii 4. Joel iii 17.2 King xiii 23. Hos xi 9. he dwelt among them by dwelling at Jerusalem in that Temple and that City or by continuing his special presence there and upon this account in Scripture the Temple is oft stiled his dwelling place Now even in the times of the Idolatry of Israel and Judah God still was present with them he walked and dwelt among them and was their God in Covenant he I say was still graciously preent with he walked and dwelt among them for yet he had not cast them from his presence he was still the holy one in the midst of Ephraim he was not yet departed from them for he by way of commination saith Wo unto them Hos ix 12. when I shall depart from them After that they had even broken God with their whorish hearts which had departed from him and with their eyes which went a whoring after their Idols yet the glory of the Lord was not departed from the Sanctuary but still appeared in the Temple Ezek. vi 9 13. Ezek. ix 3 4. x. 3 4. xviii 19. Ezek. xvi 20. and between the Cherubims they after this bare sons and daughters unto God Moreover that he was still their God in Covenant appears from those expressions of the Prophets when pleading in behalf of this backsliding people they speak thus Break not thy Covenant with us thou art our Father Jer. xiv 21. Es lxiv. 8 9. Jer. iii. 14. we are all thy people turn O backsliding Children for I am married to you and from innumerable places in which he owns them for his people still and is not yet ashamed to be called their God This will be farther evident from the New Testament for in the Church of Corinth there were many of the strongest Christians who being in thier Consciences convinced that an Idol was nothing and so could have no power to defile the meat which had been offered to it did upon this presumption sit down with others in the Idol Temples and eat and drink that which they knew was offered to the Idol This the Apostle plainly tells them was Idolatry that it was in effect to have communion with Devils 1 Cor. x. 7 11 â—0 21 to drink he cup of Devils and to be partakers of the table of Devils and yet he clearly doth insinuate that they who through that error or mistake were guilty of this Idol worship might still remain his Christian brethren and beloved Moreover that Babylon was the Mother of Harlots and Abominations that she commanded all her subjects to commit spiritual Fornication or Idolatry St. John doth frequently inform us Rev. xviii 4. and yet that even here God had his Church and People is evident from that voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people for how could God have said Come out of her my people had he not then preserved alive within this Throne of Satan a people to himself Lastly the Jewish Synagog in the days of our Saviour Christ had taken away the Key of knowledg Luke xi 52 Matt. xxiii 13. they neither entered themselves into his Kingdom who were the keepers of that key nor suffered others so to do That little knowledg which remained among them was damnably corrupted not only with the Saducean Heresie which mightily prevailed amongst the wealthiest of them but also with the leaven of the Scribes and Phraisees who had by their Traditions made void the Law of God Matth. xv 6 9. and rendered his worship vain these Scribes and Pharisees are by the Baptist styled a Generation of Vipers Matth. iii. 7. Matth. xxiii by Christ Blind foolish Hypocrites persons that coald not scape the damnation of Hell Of the whole people Christ pronounceth that they were of their father the Devil Joh. viii 44. and his works they would do and yet God had his Church even then among them in which both Zacharias Elizabeth the Virgin Mary and our Lord was born of which both he and his Apostles were then members and into which they were admitted by Circumcision Their Priests were owned by our Saviour who sent the Lepers to them Matth. viii 4. Matth. xxiii 2 3. he acknowledged that these Scribes and Pharisees still sat in Moses Chair and that obedience was therefore due unto them in all lawful matters Nor could it possibly be otherwise seeing Christs Church and Kingdom was not begun till after his own Resurrection nor do we read of any that were added to the Church till then Answ § VI 3. Tha the Church of Rome may be a true visible Church in that sense in which our English Protestants confess she is so i. e. as having truth of visible existence though not truth of doctrine and yet be guilty of Idolatry will be apparent from these considerations 1. That the notion of a visible Church which they lay down as the true ground of this their Charitable judgment containeth in it nothing inconsistent with the practice or allowance of Idolatry For to the visibility of a Church say they is only requisite an outward profession of those things which supernaturally appertain to the very essence of Christianity Eccl. Pol. l. 3. §. 1. p. 126. and are necessarily required in every Christian man So the judicious Mr. Hooker Now among the things which supernaturally appertain to the essence of Christianity they do not reckon Moral Righteousness and Honesty of life because although the want of these excludeth from Salvation yet are they not of supernatural Revelation but are discovered to us by the light of Nature they are the duties as well of Heathens as of Christians and so concern us saith Mr. Hooker not as Christians only but as men Hence they infer that every thing which excludeth from Salvation excludes not from the visible Church this therefore cannot be say they essential to the being of a Church visible that it doth hold or practise nothing which excludeth from Salvation For instance Despair want of Charity secret Infidelity the proud and envious spirit are all exclusive from Salvation but none of them exclude a person who outwardly professeth all the essentials of Christian Faith from being a true member of a Chuch visible Should we then grant that the Idolatry now practised in the Church of Rome was totally exclusive of Salvation it would not follow that she did not continue a true visible Church in the forementioned sense Agreeable to this we
because these base and pernicious adjections were not yet the publick decisions or tenets of any Church but only the private conceits of the domineering Faction Of the Church l. 3. chap. 8. p. 85. We most firmly believe saith Dr. Field all the Churches of the world wherein our Fathers lived and dyed to have been the true Churches of God in which undoutedly Salvation was to be found and that they which taught embraced and believed those damnable errors which the Romanists now defend against us were a faction only in the Church as were they that denyed the Resurrection urged Circumcision and despised the Apostles of Christ in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia So Bishop Brambal frequently Dr. Potter § 3. p. 76. Others do charge these things not on the Church but Court of Rome betwixt which two there might be some considerable distinction then though now there is no difference betwixt them in any of those Doctrines which concern the objects of their worship 3. Dr. Field Append part 3. p. 881. They add that the Roman Church that then was though it had in it all the abuses and superftitious observations it now hath yet it had also others who desired the removal of all those abuses and superstitious observations which we have removed the Roman Church which then was was the whole number of Christians subject to Papal Tyranny whereof a great part desired nothing more than to shake off that yoke which as soon as he began to oppose himself they presently did but the Roman Church that now is is the multitude of such only as do magnifie admire and adore the plenitude of Papal power or at least are contented to be under the yoke of it still The gross corruption of the service of the Church was then complained of by all good men Idem Append. to his third Book of the Church p. 190. and amongst other Articles of Reformation they desired that the Breviaries and Missals might be purged Now in respect of those persons who were the prevailing faction of the Church maintaining these corrupt Doctrines as Articles of Christian Faith and upholding these superstitious abuses and pertinaciously persisting in their errors the Roman Church saith Dr. Field was verè Ecclesia truly a Church Append. 3. part p. 882. that is a multitude of men professing Christ and Baptized but not vera Ecclesia a true Church that is a multitude of men holding a saving profession of the truth in Christ But in respect of those who groaned under the yoke who secretly disliked and disowned her corrupt Doctrines and earnestly desired and wished the Reformation of her superstitious abuses and of those also who submitted to them only for want of better information in those obscure times the Roman Church was vera Ecelesia a true Church that is a multitude of men holding a saving profession of the truth in Christ So the Church of the Jews at the coming of Christ had in it the Scribes Pharisees and Saduces as well as Zachary Elizabeth Simeon and Anna in respect of the former it was truly a Church but not a true Church in respect of the latter it was a true Church Ob. But why then did not these persons if they were of any considerable number more publickly oppose what they so much disliked Answ If you look into Father Pauls History of the Council of Trent you will find them censuring most of their determinations you will find there the German Bishops determining against the adoration of Images in a Provincial Council and delcaring that the Saints departed are to be honored but with the worship of society and love P. 278 279. as also gadly men may be honored in this Life Which Explications saith Father Paul being well considered do shew how much the opinions of the Catholick Prelates of Germany do differ fromt hose of the Court of Rome youwill there also find sthem quarrelling with that saying of the Synod that Divine worship was due to the Sacrament as improper and saying it was well corrected in the sixth Canon which said that the Son of God was to be worshipt in the Sacrament 2. There was no reason to expect more open opposition of these Doctrines and abuses there being no probability of success against the Court of Rome which was then very powerful and had not only worsted mighty Princes but used extreme severity against such dissenters destroying them without all mercy V. Mr. Dodwel Answer to Qu. 2. p. 59 67. which had all the Bishops engaged to them by their oaths and worldly interests which lastly declared all things Heresie in which men differed from them and prosecuted them upon that account with the extremest infamy and highest punishments here then we have a true Western Church not Idolatrous before the Reformation in which Salvation might be had Ob. 7 § X But saith R.H. if the Church of Rome be guilty of that Idolatry with which the Writers of the Church of England charge her Discourse p. 76 77. she must be guilty of Heathenish Idolatry for according to Dr. Stillingfleet and others her Idolatry is the same with that of Heathens and surely that excludeth from Salvation and must be inconsistent with a true Church Answ When we say the Idolatry of the Church of Rome is the same with that of Heathens we do not mean that it is so either in reference to the object viz. those evil spirits which the Heathens worshiped or in respect of the rites with which they worshipped their Deacons viz. human sacrifices and unclean performances but only in this respect that both of them do worship the creature for the Creator or give that worship to the creature which belongs to God alone 2. Although the Papists be in some single actions guilty of Idolatry yet do they in the general service of their lives give God the honor due to him they pray to God trust in him they praise and love him and perform to him all the positive duties of the first Table though they do not perform them all to him alone whereas the Heathens paid their whole worship to their Demons and gave no worship to the God of Israel they were without God in the world Ephes ii 12. saith B. Paul and God was without service from them Rom. i. 21. and even they that knew God yet did not glorifie him as God Now that Idolatry which robs God of his whole service performing it intirely to evil spirits or in an undue manner may very well be damnable and inconsistent with the being of a Church whilst that which is consistent with the performance of all those positive duties which we ow to God and doth not wholly rob him of any part of our Religious worship may not deserve so hard a censure This is apparent 1. From the instance of St. Leo Sermon 7. in Nativ Dom. who speaks of some foolish persons who from some eminent places did