Rome and those in her communion and the Church of England are but severall members of the One Catholick Church That I conceive cannot be 1. For the reasons inferred from the Articles of your Church as above 2. For that the Articles of Faith of both Churches are directly contradictory as appears by many your negative Articles And Mr. Hooker sayes li. 3. fo 84. That the Children of the visible Church are signed with this marke One Lord ONE FAITH One Baptisme 3. Your self Sect. 24. charges the Church of Rome with errors in matters of Faith no lesse then in 4. points viz. Transubstantiation Communion in one kind Invocation of Saints and Adoration of Images and how you do distinguish between errors in matter of Faith pertinaciously as you will say held and Heresie I would willingly hear and if guilty of Heresie then by your sayings out of St. August Haeresis enim Sponsa Christi non est And Haeretici non pertinent ad Ecclesiam Catholicam she is no part of the Catholick Church And in Sect. 11. you charge the Church of Rome That she hath most sacrilegiously robbed the Laity of Christs blood 4. Christs mysticall body is but one and although that body is made up of many members yet all those members must cōmunicate one w th another for if a member be separated but by schism it is like an arm cut off from the body or a branch from the vine your owne similies which makes that arm or branch no part of the body or vine VIII And that the Church of Rome and England are separated by schisme I think none will deny for they doe abhorre mutuall communion in divine worship Sacraments Prayers and holy Rites and no Protestant will frequent Catholick service especially in the holy Sacrifice of Masse Moreover Catholicks excommunicate Protestants every year and Protestants did frequently Catholicks in England And by publick Statutes and Laws of the Land any one who should reconcile one of the Church of England to the Church of Rome is guilty of death but a Priest that shall celebrate Masse is made guilty of high Treason How therefore can One Church Christs mysticall body grow up together of such different members And your self say Sect. 19. that since the Reformation you have not communicated with the Church of Rome IX The Church of Rome and England being thus separated both in Faith and Communion and so not one And the Church of Rome and those in communion with her by your saying not being the Catholick Church my desire to be shewed the Catholick Church or the Church of England distinct from the Church of Rome and those in her communion for the last 1100 years or for so long as you please to say the Church of Rome hath so grievously erred that you dare not communicate with her is not nor by your Papers can be satisfied Thus beseeching Almighty God to look favourably into the souls deceived by devillish deceits that all hereticall impieties removed the hearts of them that erre may relent and returne to the unity of his truth I humbly take leave and rest Your most unworthy Servant T. B. For Mr. T. B. An Answer to his second Letter SIR I. I Have heretofore manifested that (a) § 2. there were Churches in Judea in Galilee and Samaria before ever there was a Church at Rome 2 ly That (b) Ib. there was a Catholick Church when the Apostles Creed was compiled and beleeved and yet no Church at Rome 3 ly After Rome became a Church she ceased to be Orthodoxe in so much that (c) § 23. in the time of St. Hilary of Poicteurs there was at Rome no Church no Communion of Saints She and those in communion with her were Hereticall and complyed with Arius And yet in France at that very instant there was a Catholick an Orthodox Church as also (d) § 29. at Alexandria and in Sardinia 4 ly (e) § 18.27.29 No Church at Rome under Zepherinus a Montanist Marcellinus an Idolater Liberius an Arian Vigilius an Eutychian and under John the 22. that Monster of Hereticks And yet in those dayes the Church was in Asia Alexandria Sardinia Cappadocia France and other places And all these I hope before Luther and after Rome had been Catholick And yet the effect of all this is a resolution in you that (f) n. 1. there can be no Church shewed through the whole world for many hundred yeers before Luther but the Church of Rome and those in her communion For some hundred yeers then it seems there may and if for some perchance for more 2. All this is to imply as if no Church without Rome as if all these were no Churches because they did not communicate with Rome in her damnable heresies If no Church but Rome and those in her communion then was there no Church at all for many hundred yeers since Rome was no Church while Arian or Eutychian or worse From whence then borrow you these grounds and take up this resolution Because Rome sometimes embraced Montanism sometimes Eutychianism Arianism Apostatism therefore no Church but Rome Or as if Asia Alexandria Sardinia France and Cappadocia were no part of the world For in those places there were Catholick Churches when none at Rome Or else that Church because the Romane was Catholick though never so hereticall Thus the Faith shall be tryed by Rome and not Rome by the Faith Communicate with Rome and all 's well 3. Next therefore you scoffingly adde (g) Ib. for if there could I presume your learning is such you would have known it and your charity such that being desired you would have shewed it me Sir my learning is such I blesse God that I doe know it and my charity such that upon your desire I have shewed it you But your eyes and resolution are such that you will not see it Thus with (h) Senec. ep 51. Harpaste Seneca's wives fool the house is dark when you are blind not casually but wilfully 4. In your former Letter your desire was that I would shew you the Catholick Church distinct from the Church of Rome and those in communion with her This I did in my former Answer plainly and fully § 1.22 23 29. That in this you might receive satisfaction I grant that The Catholick Church was alwayes visible from the Apostles times to this present day even then when there was no Church at Rome § 5. c. Next I have therein proved that (i) § 10. The Church of Rome and those in communion with her are not cannot be the Catholick Church A member indeed of the Catholick Church sometimes she was and sometimes she was not When Orthodox she was a member of the Catholick but while Hereticall or Schismatical she was no Church much lesse the one Catholick That the Romane Church hath been dangerously Hereticall is manifested § 16 17 18 23. That she hath been miserably Schismaticall is acknowledged by your
own men § 3. Thus that Church hath grievously erred and in more then one fundamentall And yet the Catholick hath been alwayes visible though oft-times invisible at Rome unlesse errors and heresies prove Catholick because professed at Rome 5. All this your Tutors reply not to nor hardly take notice of but have directed you to fall from your former desires upon new questions tempting me as the Pharisees did our Saviour but resolving to receive no answer Thus you put me to more trouble not with a mind to be satisfied but meerly to cavill and to slide over those arguments and testimonies which they are not able to answer or disprove Is not this to speak nothing lest you should seem to be silent Are these things which I have delivered true or false If true (k) A quâ—cunque verum dicitur illo inspirante dicitur qui ipse veritas est Aug. ep 28. let truth prevaile If false disprove them if impertinent manifest it Otherwise if you thus seek evasions you will enforce me to acquaint the world with your shifts and shufflings by publishing these papers that every eye may discern what is the weaknesse of your cause and what your obstinacy 6. Your intent being to decline what you cannot answer you divert me from the former businesse thus (l) n. 2. My originall doubt was say you that sith the Catholick Church must be alway visible and that I could not by my best inquiry finde that a succession of men professing the doctrine of the Church of England had been alway visible that that Church was not the nor any part of the Catholick Church What have I to doe with your originall doubt Your Letter and the expression of your desire I looked upon I endeavoured to satisfie your request and I presume a satisfactory answer was given to your demands that so I might win a soul not so much to our Church as to the Communion of Saints and to lead you out of error into the way of truth That the Catholick Church is hath been and must be alway visible is agreed on both hands But by your best enquiry you could not finde that a succession of men professing the doctrine of the Church of England had been alway visible No more could the Pharisees see the Prophesies that concerned our Saviour though never so visible Alas poore Gentleman little Learning are you troubled with you are not able to search the Scriptures Councels and Fathers as you ought and your enquiry hath been of such as are either ignorant or wilfully blinde and bent to misguide you 7. The doctrine of the Church of England is cleare in our Book of Common-prayer that is the rule for the Laity and such as the true Catholick Church hath alwayes imbraced and continued All therein is positive The Book of Articles is a rule for the Clergy to preserve them from error and much therein is negative He that means sincerely to instruct you so in the right way that you may be a guide to others must give you directions to avoyd the by-paths The positive doctrine of this Church was ever professed and is visible in all Catholick writers But you insist upon no particulars and guile lurks under generalls But I beseech you before you turned over to the Church of Rome why did not you make the like enquiry to finde out a succession of men professing the doctrine of the Church of Rome in those particulars wherein we dissent from them of that Communion If thus you had done you might easily have discerned that that Church is not the nor any part of the Catholick Church if wee goe by your line For the most skilfull of your party are not able to shew such a succession of men in the first 700 years of Christianity 8. But you are pleased to adde that (m) n. 2. to this doubt at our conference I endeavoured your satisfaction by attempting to prove that though the Church of England had not been alway visible at least not seen yet seeing she is but a member of the Catholick Church of which the Church of Rome is another it was sufficient that the Catholick Church had been alway visible in the Church of Rome and other particular Churches though not in the Church of England Good God what foreheads have men Is this could this possibly be my answer Who alwayes justifie that this Church hath been visible since the first or second Conversion though not alwayes under Reformation And for Rome I have demonstrated that the Catholick Church was not alway visible in that City or Diocese § 22 23 29. As also what kind of Church yee had for 450 yeers together § 33. when hardly the form either of Religion or a Church was there to be seen Yet visible it was here when invisible at Rome For you can never shew that this Church was overrun with Montanism Arianism or Eutychianism Yea this was a learned and pious Church when yours was miserably possest with ignorance and impiety Look upon your owne Mr. Pits his Catalogue of our Writers and this will manifestly appeare 9. However then (n) n. 3. that discourse which I sent unto you gave you no satisfaction yet it abundantly clears the questions proposed in your Letter Neither can I possibly expect to withdraw you from that faction who are resolved to receive no satisfaction unlesse we grant that the Church of Rome and those in communion with her are the onely Catholick Church And yet I never reade in Fathers or Councels that to communicate with Rome is either a sure or any token of a good Catholick St. Austine assures us that (o) Aug. quaest Evangel secund Mat. c. 12. they are good Catholicks qui fidem integram sequuntur bonos more 's who hold the undefiled Faith full and whole and observe good manners and those that endevour not to doe this are much to blame While then thus we doe we are good Catholicks But that Faith which we have received from the Apostles and Councels and Fathers we keep whole and undefiled without alteration addition or diminution While they are right we are so If they be out of the way we are content to erre with them Catholicks we are true right Catholicks by Lirinensis rule (p) Vincent Lirin c. 25. Gods truth the Church the body of Christ we love We prefer no mans no Churches authority no affection no wit no eloquence no philosophie nothing whatsoever before Divine Religion and the Catholick Faith These things we set light by and being fixed firme in faith we have determined by Gods grace to hold and beleeve that and that onely which we know to have been held by the Catholick Church universally of old from the beginning of Christianity And whatever new or unheard of doctrine we shall perceive to have been induced by any particular man or Church besides or against all the holy men of God this we understand to proceed from
perchance in all parts of the habitable world at the same time (n) 1. Cor. 12.12 One it is but many members As the body is one and hath many members so is Christ (o) Chrysost in loc Pro Ecclesia posuit Christum for the Church he sets down Christ since the Church is his body (p) 1. Cor. 12.13 into which we are all baptized This body hath many members these members are diffused from sea to sea over the whole earth So the Church is in Greece Italy Spain France England Polonia and * Unus spiritus inesse omnibus infusus membris una anima meritò dicitur quia una in omnibus fides unus ab omnibus colitur Deus atque ex uno ore hymnos omnes concinunt Deo Ruffin hist l. 9. c. 10. whereever the Catholick faith and Apostolicall government are continued Thus we acknowledge Rome to be a Church as St. Paul did Corinth though an erroneous and superstitious Church You see now where you may communicate with the Catholick but it is left to your discretion to choose whether you will communicate with a reformed or a superstitious Church 24. Now to the second where I say That the Church of Rome and those in her communion and the Church of England are but severall members of the one Catholick Church You reply thus (q) n. 7. That I conceive cannot be 1. For the reasons inferred from the Articles of your Church as above 2. For that the Articles of faith of both Churches are directly contradictory as appears by many your negative Articles I look not upon your conceits but upon your reasons inferred from the Articles of our Church which are already satisfied § 12 13. And whereas you adde that the Articles of faith of both Churches are directly contradictory I hope it is not so If it be I am certaine one of these is no Church For then (r) 1. Cor. 3.11 we build not both upon the same foundation (s) Colos 2.19 we hold not the head from which all the body receives nourishment and is knit compacted together by joynts and bands Quid itaque relicto capite membris adhaeres Why then do you leave the head to cleave to the members corrupt putrified members He that builds upon the rock builds upon sure grounds (t) Aug. de verb. Domini Ser. 45. c. 7. Veni ergo mecum si vis superpetram noli mihi velle esse pro petra if then you befor the rock go along with me and seek not to be the rock to me Behold we build upon the rock we beleeve in God the Father in God the Son and God the holy Ghost I hope ye doe so too We also beleeve the Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity And do not ye so too Hitherto we are both upon the Rock We beleeve the * We devoutly professe and in all points follow the faith which is contained in the three Creeds that is to say of the Apostles of the Councel of Nice and of Athanasius The Protest of Bishop Scory c. Book of Mart. p. 2119. three Creeds and in the same sense the Primitive Church received them which ye doe not but give some of the Articles a new another sense Here then ye are beside the Rock 25. Thus we agree and yet not agree we agree in the foundation not in the superstruction in the letter not in the exposition And we are sorry to see you forget your selves so much as to infringe so memorable so necessary a Canon as that of the Councel of Ephesus which decrees that (u) Conc. Ephes Can. 7. It is not lawfull for any one to bring to write or compose any other Creed besides that which was agreed upon by those holy Fathers assembled in the holy Ghost at Nice He that offends in this kind against this Canon is deeply censured If a Bishop he is to be deprived of his Cure if a Clergy-man of his function but if a Lay-man he is to be turned out of the Churches communion But ye have imposed a new another Creed of Pius Quartus upon the Church which whosoever will not subscribe to he is at least no good Catholick w th you 26. Say not that these are expositions they are dangerous additions and though I cannot say ye have altered the letter yet I dare be bold to say ye have strangely alter'd the sense (x) Tertul. de Praescrip c. 38. auferendo proprietates singulorum verborum adjiciendo dispositiones non comparentium rerum by taking away the proper sense of severall words and by inserting imaginations of such things as have no footing in holy Writ Whereas we as we ought take the rule of Faith in the literall sense (y) Quae nullas habet apad nos quaesliones nisi quas haereses inferunt quae Haereticos faciunt Ib. c. 14. and that raiseth no controversies with us but such as heresies bring in and such as make Hereticks Your selves your own Church ye may charge with contradictions this Church ye cannot This is the plea we stand upon (z) Ib. c. 21. Communicamus cum Ecclestis Apostolicis quod nulla vel in nullo doctrina diversa hoc est testimonium veritatis we cannot but communicate with the Primitive the Apostolick Churches whose doctrine is in nothing different from theirs This is such a testimony of the truth that it is above all exception And resolved I am with Gods blessing to be no longer of this communion then I shall be able to make this good 27. And whereas (a) n. 7. Mr. Hooker sayes That the Children of the visible Church are signed with this mark One Lord ONE FAITH one Baptisme I presume you make no doubt of this Neither can I think but that you are resolved whoever denies the Lord of life or renounceth the Catholick faith or is baptized into any other Baptism then that one which our Saviour instituted or is a second time baptized he is no childe of the visible Church since that hath taught us to beleeve one Baptism for the remission of sins He then that forsakes this faith forsakes the Church 28. Thirdly you adde that (b) Ib. I my selfe charge the Church of Rome with errors in matters of faith no lesse then in foure points viz. Transubstantiation Communion in one kinde Invocation of Saints and Adoration of images As if I were the first or the onely man that charged you with these errors whereas (c) Art 22 28 30. this is done by our whole Church and the Inditement is made good by that learned Archbishop of B. memory The Church saith that these doctrines are (d) Art 22. fond things grounded upon no warranty of Scripture but rather repugnant to the Word of God The Archbishop hath charged it home and you know not how to shift it off It would well therefore become a Christian Church to redress these and your other
Was it possible such Bishops should reforme abroad what they practised and countenanced at home In those drowsie illiterate and Apostaticall times John 22. broached his damnable heresies And in those times in all probability were those strange doctrines hatched and many of those abuses induced we now protest against Somewhere then the Church was visible when invisible at Rome And occasion is given us to presume that in this very Island it was visible since Erasmus professeth that in all his travels he found learned Bishops in England onely And for many yeers we know the Greek Church had small correspondence or communion with the Latines and yet a visible Church for all this Neither can I doubt but in other countries even in Italy there were some learned Bishops that knew the Canons of the Church and full well understood that (a) Conc. Ephes can 1. heresie discharges not onely the Bishop from his Metropolitan but (b) Ib. can 3. the Clark from subjection to his Bishop The Church of Rome then must pardon us if we withdrew our selves from her Bishops when they fell into Apostasie or heresie And all good men will acquit us for reforming abuses at home according to our duty We have good warrant for what we doe even the authority of the whole Church representative Sir I have done If you be offended that I have stirred too much in these loathsome puddles consider I beseech you that you set me upon this unpleasing â—ask What I have done was at your desire and according to your directions Christ knows I have no private or by end in these my writings it is your satisfaction and salvation which I desire and endeavour God of his mercy give a blessing to these my labours and to you an humble and discerning spirit that you may see the truth and embrace it So prayes Your unworthy friend Edward Boughen Ab adversario mota quaestio discendi existit occasio Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 16. c. 2. Where was our Church before Luther It was just there where yours is now One and the same Church still no doubt of that One in substance but not one in condition of state and purity your part of the same Church remaining in corruption and our part of the same Church under reformation The same Naaman and he a Syrian still but leprous with you and cleansed with us The same man still Archbishop Lawd Ep. Ded. § Now one thing For Edward Boughen Doctor in Divinity These are SIR I. YOur papers I received some moneths since and for your great pains therein I humbly thank you The effect of them is this viz. a Resolution that there can be no Church shewed through the whole world for many hundred years before Luther but the Church of Rome and those in her communion for if there could I presume your learning is such you would have known it and your charity such that being desired you would have shewed it me II. My originall doubt was that sith the Catholick Church must be alway visible and that I could not by my best enquiry finde that a succession of men professing the doctrine of the Church of England had been alway visible that that Church was not the nor any part of the Catholick Church To this doubt at our conference you endevoured my satisfaction by attempting to prove that though the Church of England had not been alway visible at least not seen yet seeing she is but a member of the Catholick Church of which the Church of Rome is another it was sufficient that the Catholick Church had been alway visible in the Church of Rome and other particular Churches though not in the Church of England III. That discourse then did give me no satisfaction because although you said that the Church of Rome was a member of the Catholick yet the 19 th Article of your Church sayes That the visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithfull men in the which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duly administred according to Christs ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same And in divers other your Articles your Church condemnes the Church of Rome for not preaching the pure Word of God As in the 22 th concerning Purgatory Pardons Worshipping of Images and Reliques and Invocation of Saints And in the 24 th concerning the Publick prayers in the Church and the ministring of the Sacraments in a tongue not understood of the people In the 31 th concerning the Sacrifice of the Masse for quick and dead which that your Article calls blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits IV. And for not duly administring the Sacraments In the 30 th Article you say The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to Lay-people For both the parts of the Lords Sacraments by Christs ordinance and commandement ought to be administred to all Christian men alike So then by the Articles of your Church the Church of Rome doth neither preach the pure Word of God nor duly administer the Sacraments and that in those things that are of necessity requisite for the same as appeares by your separation for your beloved * fo 195. or 7. against Fâ—sher Archbish Lawd says it is not lawfull to make a separation for points not necessary And if you say you did not make the separation but the Church of Rome then Luther Tindall c. did not goe out of the Church of Rome but the Church of Rome out of them V. Therefore I had reason still as in my Letter to demand a Church distinct from the Church of Rome and those in her communion of which no man that reads your answer can thereby I think receive satisfaction For the whole drift and scope of your papers is either to prove First that the Church of Rome and those in her communion is not the Catholick Church or else Secondly that the Church of Rome and those in communion with her and the Church of England are but one that is severall members of one Church VI. For the first that the Church of Rome and those in communion with her was not the Catholick Church for that time I required you shew no proof that I doe finde but that some of the Popes have been either Hereticks or Schismaticks which if admitted though it is not to be so in some of them for that time yet it doth not make that whole Church to be Hereticall or Schismaticall For I beleeve you will yeeld that the King of England or Archbishop of Canterbury may be an Heretick or Schismatick and yet the Church of England be still part of the Catholick Church But if it were granted that the Popes of Rome being Schismaticks or Hereticks should annihilate that Church yet that could give me no satisfaction who required not where is not the Catholick Church but where it is that I might communicate with it 2. For the second that the Church of
be so in some of them for that time yet it doth not make that whole Church to be Hereticall or Schismaticall Sir though not admitted by you and your Masters yet it is acknowledged by your own learned men Lyra Stella Almain Platina Onuphrius and others that some of your Bishops have been Hereticall and some Schismaticall And that not for a small time as you seem to imply but for many generations (r) Aventin Annal. Boior l. 5. p. 447. for 450 yeers together they were an infamie to their Order as Aventinus testifies God forbid that I should passe sentence upon every particular person but as a City is rebellious when the Governour and the party prevalent withstand and affront the Prince though many loyall subjects be in that City so when the Bishop and the prevailing part with him fall into heresie that Church is adjudged Hereticall and the denomination is taken from the more eminent and potent faction Thus (s) Socrat. l. 3. c. 29. Sozom. l. 4. c. 10. Rome it selfe was accounted Arian while Bishop Felix communicated with Arians and ordained divers of that persuasion Ministers of that Church And yet blessed be God (t) Theodoret. l. 2. c. 17. Rome at that time had many good people that would not communicate with that Bishop 21. But in the words following it is little lesse then confessed that your Bishops were such as I have related (u) n. 6. For as your next words speak I beleeve you will yeeld that the King of England or Archbishop of Canterbury may be an Heretick or Schismatick and yet the Church of England be still part of the Church Catholick Sir we must distinguish between a professed and close Heretick Those that communicate with a professed Heretick are as he is Hence is it that (x) Theodoret. l. 2. c. 17. Sozom l. 4. c. 10. Felix Bishop of Rome though inwardly Orthodox was adjudged Hereticall for holding communion with the Arians But with a close a concealed Heretick we may communicate and be guiltlesse Thus (y) Act. 8.13 St. Philip communicated a while with Simon Magus (z) 1 Tim. 1.20 St. Paul with Hymeneus and the rest of the Apostles with Nicolaus and were blamelesse But this is to perswade us that your Church was Catholick when your Bishop an Heretick Thus the Popes infallibility is shrunk into heresie it is fallen out of the chaire into the body of the Church and the head shall receive health from the members not the members from the head Whereas anciently the Saints of God judged of the Church by the Bishop not of the Bishop by the Church Yea (a) Concil Nic. Can. 5. the communion of the Church is estimated by communicating with the Bishop and (b) Cod. Eccles Univers can 169 if any whether Priest or other shall sever themselves from their Canonicall Bishop and shall call a Congregation against him or without his directions they are censured to be Hereticks The reason is because (c) Concil Nic. Diatyp 2. the Bishop is as it were the head the life of his Church and (d) Concil Nic. Can. 4. ought not to be ordained without the approbation of all the Bishops of that Province And I know Liberius was ordained with this circumspection Thus the Bishop elected is presumed to be of the same Religion with the rest of the Province and the Province with the Metropolitan Provided therefore it is that (e) Cod. Eccles Univers Can. 5.99.104 the Synod of that Province censure him if he faile of their expectation and depart from the Orthodoxe faith And (f) Ib. Can. 171 172. if they do not they are alike guilty and all that adhere to him or them 22. And for the parties instanced the King of England and Archbishop of Canterbury I beleeve that either or both of them may be Hereticks and this Church not so since it is not their being but our complying that makes us hereticall But if all our Bishops be of the same Religion with them this Church is in an ill case You or I may save our owne soules by not communicating with them by dissenting from them and by protesting against their unsound doctrine But the Church is not to be judged of by you or me but by those that sit in Moses chaire and are (g) 2. Cor. 2.16 either the savour of life unto life or the savour of death unto death For (h) St. Mat. 5.13 if the salt lose its savour wherewith shall it be salted how mended how recovered Surely (i) Ib. it is to be cast forth of the Church out of the dignity it is in and trampled upon as good for nothing This was spoken to the Apostles and with them to their successors But when the King and Priest joyne together it hath a strange influence upon the People for good or bad (k) 4. Reg. 16.10 c. When King Ahaz and Vrijah the Priest professed Idolatry with open face though many good men were resident among them yet was that City and People accounted Hereticall The power of the sword drawes some to sympathize and too many to temporize This is to be seen under the reign of (l) Ista edictorum Imperatoris vi quae in partes Occidentis miserat confecta sunt Socrat. l. 2. c. 29. Constantius Julian Valens and others where we see Religion much depend upon the Imperiall breath But if Prince and Bishop concurre in Religion they hardly meet with opposition Look upon Antioch under Constantius the Emperour and Leontius the Bishop upon Constantinople under Valens and Bishop Eudoxius and you shall see how suddenly they were overrun with heresie Now if it should fall out so unhappily with any or all the Cities of this Kingdome the Diocesan or Nationall Church so infected shall be deemed Hereticall Under K. Edward VI. and Queen Mary the Religion of this Church was judged of by the Governors and thus shall we deal with Rome 23. (n) 6. But if it were granted say you that the Popes of Rome being Schismaticks or Hereticks should annihilate that Church yet that could give me no satisfaction who required not where is not the Catholick Church but where it is that I might communicate with it And I say if the Church of Rome bee annihilated by the Popes Heresie or Apostasie she shall be no Church much lesse the Catholick What then shall become of those Churches in her communion surely they are all in an ill in the same case with her Grant but this and the controversie is at an end You have satisfaction and I ease But this will not serve your turn who now require not where is not but where is the Catholick Church Well if this will give you satisfaction I shall tell you this too The Catholick Church is where ever the Catholick faith is preserved and Apostolick government continued (m) Chrysost in 1. Cor. 12. It hath been dispersed through the whole world though not
Ordination 6. The Canonicall Books of the Old Testament and some other And yet for all these they grew up together comfortably and continued in the same body Seldome or never any that offer'd to make a breach or to censure other Churches for these or the like different observations and expressions but two or three Bishops of Rome Such were the humility and charity of those glorious Saints In those purer dayes (l) Neminem judicantes aut a jure communionis aliquem si diversum sensevit amoventes Cypr. in concil Carthag one Bishop was not so forward to censure or excommunicate another Bishop for being of a diverse persuasion No no saith St. Cyprian (m) Ib. Neque quisquam nostrum Episcopum se esse Episcoporum constituit aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adegit No man in those dayes took upon him to be Bishop of Bishops or to enforce any by tyrannicall terror to subscribe his dictates Then was it lawfull for every one to speak his minde freely when reason not power weight and not number bore the sway 41. But you object that (n) n. 8. I say Sect. 19. that since the Reformation we have not communicated with the Church of Rome Very right I doe so But withall I tell you that this is no fault of ours since ye will not suffer us to communicate with you unlesse we communicate with your errors Is not this to deal with us as the Jews did with the poor man that was born blinde (o) St. Jo. 9.34 while he was blinde the Pharisees communicated with him but when he had gained sight they cast him out they excommunicated him But (p) Ib. v. 35. our blessed Saviour took pity on him and received him into his communion Thus while we were blinde and saw not your errors we were your dear friends but when we discerned them and complained of them hell was good enough for us Yet we doubt not but (q) 1. St. Jo. 1.3 we have communion with Christ since we hold communion with the Apostles by their successors not onely in function but in faith and charity For we receive the two Testaments with the three Creeds in the same sense with the Primitive Church We pray for the whole Church for all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks yea for our enemies persecutors and slanderers We anathematize not Churches but errors nor any persons but such as are or ought to be members of this Church and Kingdome we presse not beyond our line If this be the right way to heaven surely we are in the right and ye in the wrong 42. Well (r) n. 9. the Church of Rome and England being thus separated both in faith and communion and so not one and the Church of Rome and those in communion with her by your saying not being the Catholick Church For the separation we must thank you for our faith we blesse Christ What that is the Book of Common-prayer manifests in plain terms and I have shewed that the Pope and his Conclave have incurred Canonicall censures by imposing a new Creed upon us and others That we communicate not with you the fault is yours and Catholicks we shall be able to prove our selves when ye will not be found Orthodoxe But such is that typhus Romanus the infinite pride of Rome that none shal be Catholicks none in communion of the Church nor in the way to heaven that will not stoop to their lure that will not erre with Pius Quartus and the Councel of Trent As if the Romanes were the onely at least had been the first Christians and that St. Peter's keyes were tyed to the Popes girdle to let in and to keep out whom he listed Whereas we know (s) St. Jo. 20.22 23. the keyes were given to all the Apostles alike to St. John for Ephesus as much as to St. Peter for Rome Yea (t) Hieron St. Peter himself provided for Antioch before Rome for he was first Bishop of Antioch The same keyes to all the Apostles for all Nations alike that so all might be admitted by the same keyes into the same (u) 1. Tim. 3.15 house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth And in this house by Gods grace we shall continue while (x) Col. 2.19 we hold the head and from thence receive nourishment by those joynts and bands which Christ hath ordained And * For the judgment of the whole controversie we refer unto the most holy Scriptures and the Catholick Church of Christ The Protest of Bish Scory c. Book of Mart. p. 2120 were your party contented to be ruled by antiquity we might be one as the house is one 43. That the Church of Rome and those in communion with her are not as you would fain have it the Catholick Church is fully manifested in my former answer § 2 c. 12 22 23 29. And yet there was the Catholick Church at all times since it was first constituted (y) Aug. de Gen. ad lit imperfect c. 1. Mater enim Ecclesia Catholica dicitur ex eo quia universaliter perfecta est in nullo claudicat per totum orbem diffusa est the Mother Church is hence called Catholick because she is universally perfect and halts in nothing and is diffused through the whole world She is not Catholick or sound because she communicates with Rome but Rome is Catholick if she communicate with her and so is every Church We shall therefore communicate with this our Mother that so we may continue Catholick We are sure the Mother halts not though some of the Daughters may That Rome hath halted downright in the prime Articles is too notorious as hath been shewed § 18 27 32 c. and then I am sure she was not Catholick (z) Vincent Lirin c. 14. Nemini enim licet praeter id quod Ecclesia Catholica usquequaque evangelizat accipere for it is not lawfull for her or any other to receive or broach any other doctrine then that which the Catholick Church preaches every where much lesse to enforce it as necessary to salvation Where then ye leave the Church Catholick it is our duty to leave you (a) Estnè aliquis tantae audaciae qui praeter id quod apud Ecclesiam adnunciatum est adnunciet vel tantae levitatis qui praeter id quod ab Ecclesiâ accipit accipiat Ib. This Church he speaks of is not the Romane but the Catholick Church As it is audaciousnesse in you to induce or impose any new Article so were it levity in us to embrace it 44. What we have we have received from our good Mother the Catholick Church and though by you yet not from you Christs legacies they are not yours If ye deliver us these legacies in base or counterfeit coin we shall not accept of it Gold ye received from the Testator and not