superstition and palpable darkenesse which had ouerspread the visible Romish Church there were within it though not of it many visible members of the Holy Catholike Church men by so much more true and liuely members of the Holy Catholike Church or Body of Christ by how much they were lesse true and actuall members of the visible Romish Church that is by how much their adherence vnto the Romish Church representatiue or to the authority of the Court of Rome was lesse firme or none as in a generall plague when euery city and towne throughout the whole Kingdome is infected they are most safe which haue solitarie dwellings in the country and haue least commerce with port townes or markets Such adherence to the visible or representatiue Church of Rome as the Iesuites and others now challenge doth as we haue often said induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Church and is more deadly to the soule then to be bed-fellow to one sicke of the pestilence is to the body CHAP. XVII That men may be visible members of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church and yet no actuall members of any present visible Church 1 THe two principall points whereon we pitch may bee comprised in these two propositions the first A man may be a true liue-member of the holy Catholike Church albeit he hath no vnion or commerce with any member of the Churches visible And this proposition is cleere from that point formerly discussed how farre it was true of the visible Church extra ecclesiam non est salus Out of the Church there is no saluation The second A man may be a true and visible member of the Holy Catholike Church and yet be no actual member of any visible Church The truth of this later proposition may be proued by many instances of most ages since the Church whether vnder the Law or Gospell became visible For this present it shall suffice to explicate the meaning of it according to my former promise and to confirme the truth of it so explicated by one or two pregnant instances Albeit most of the termes in this proposition or distinction contained haue beene explicated before in two inquiries the one what was required to the constitution of the Holy Catholike Church The other what was required to the constitution of a visible Church To what was then said I will adde onely thus much That the Church may bee termed Catholike either in the prime sense or as we then sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in a secondary analogicall sense The Catholike Church in the prime sense consists only of such men as are actuall and indissoluble members of Christs mysticall body or of such as haue the Catholike Faith not onely sowne in their braines or vnderstanding but throughly rooted in their hearts In a secondary Analogicall sense Euery present visible Church which holdeth the Holy Catholike faith without which no man can bee saued pure and vndefiled with the traditions or inuentions of men may bee termed an Holy Catholike Church When we say a man may be a visible mēber of the holy Catholike Church and yet no actuall member of any present visible Church we take the catholike Church in the later or secondary sense that is for a Church wherein no point of faith or doctrine is maintained or allowed which is not consonant and homogeneall to the Catholike primitiue faith deliuered by Christ his Apostles Who are indissoluble members of Christs bodie is onely visible or known to him Many thousands are and haue been true mēbers of it which are haue been altogether inuisible to vs. But who they be which professe the vnity of that faith which the Apostles taught and without which no man can bee saued is visible and knowne to all such as either heare them professe it viua voce or can read and vnderstand their profession of it giuen in writing 2 The truth of the second proposition may easily be manifested hence in as much as the vnion betweene the members of any Church as visible consists in the vnity of discipline or iurisdictiō or of lawes iudiciall or ceremoniall whereas the vnion of the Church as holy and Catholike formally consists in the vnitie of faith or doctrine or of Lawes and Mysteries internally spirituall and morall It is cleare that the former vnion may be dissolued without the dissolution of the latter as the latter likewise in some cases may be dissolued without dissolution of the former As for example a man may be cut off by excōmunication or exile from all commerce with the present visible Church wherein hee was bred and borne and yet not thereby cut off from the Holy Catholike orthodoxall Church Againe a man by heresie or impious opinions whether voluntarily and secretly imbraced by him or thrust vpon him by the visible Church which hath authority of Iurisdiction ouer him may separate himselfe from the Holy Catholike Church and yet still remaine an actuall member a deare sonne of the visible Church in whose bosome he is willing to liue Euery visible Church whose Lawes are ratified by Soueraigne Authority and whose Gouernours are armed with power coactiue may cut off any particular member besides the head from which all power coactiue is deriued Suppose one or two or more be actually cut off by excommunication exile or the like censure not onely from publike communion in the Church but from all ciuill commerce with his neighbours yet if I know that hee was so cut off either vpon mis-information or mistake of his Iudges as if he had held some grieuous heresies which as appeares to mee hee did not or that the Church Gouernors out of ignorance spleene or faction or other sinister respects which I may not in particular examine did condemne these opinions held by him for hereticall or schismaticall which are in themselues and to my knowledge orthodoxall and truly Catholike hee is to mee and to others which know his meaning a visible member of the Holy Catholike Church though no more a member of the visible Church wherein he did and we yet remaine And albeit I haue no power to rescind the visible Churches decree or authoritatiuely to pronounce him a Catholike whom they to whom the cognizance of such causes belongs haue condemned for an hereticke and albeit I may not admit him to publike prayers or to communion at the Sacraments as being interdicted by authoritie yet I may and ought still to retaine that communion with him which in this Creed we beleeue to be betwixt all true members of Christs body or professors of the Holy Catholike faith that is the Communion of Saints such a Communion as is betwixt the members of the Church triumphant and the liuing members of Christs body militant or rather such as is betweene the orthodoxall professors of the English or other reformed Churches I am bound to pray for him and he for me that we may continue stedfast in the faith which we haue receiued
A TREATISE OF THE HOLY CATHOLIKE FAITH and CHVRCH Diuided into three Bookes By THOMAS IACKSON Dr. in Diuinitie Chaplaine to his Maiestie in Ordinarie and Vicar of Saint Nicolas Church in the Towne of Newcastle vpon Tyne The first Booke LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Clarke and are to be sold at his Shop vnder St. Peters Church in Cornehill 1627. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL and truly worthy Knight Sir RICHARD ANDERSON of Pendley in Hartfordshire the blessings of this life and of that to come bee multiplied RIGHT WORTHIE SIR YOur vnfaigned Loue to Learning and true Religion well knowne by reall testimonies to all true Louers of them which haue the happines as my selfe for long time haue had to be acquainted with you drew this short Treatise vpon its first returne vnto mee to whom it hath beene from its first birth a stranger to take you for its Foster-Father Could it speake for it selfe it would I am perswaded complaine of wrong if I should direct it to seeke another Patron being not acquainted with any Family which beares a more liuely image of a well-ordered Church than your Family doth Nor is there any other to whom I more heartily wish all furtherance in good beginnings and proceedings then I doe to yours and to that Honorable Family vnto which you are happily vnited Of this my desire of my best respect vnto your selfe and to your Noble Lady I haue no better token for the present then this Treatise of the holy Catholike Faith and Church Thus commending both of you with all yours and it vnto the blessing of him who is the sole Fountaine of Faith and Head of the Holy Catholike Church I take my leaue and rest Yours euer in the surest bonds of sincere loue and obseruance THOMAS IACKSON From my Vicarage in Newcastle vpon Tine this first of Ianuary 1626. Courteous and Christian Reader THe summe of this Treatise was deliuered in Catechisme Lectures for the benefit of yonger Students in Pembrook Colledge in Oxon at the request of the Master of that Societie my Reuerend and Worthy Friend and of some other good friends to whose religious desires my hope was to haue giuen better satisfaction if my continuance in that ancient and sweet Nurserie of Learning had been longer or my studies there lesse interrupted with other occasions But God be praysed that Colledge hath beene furnished since with one of their owne body of whose learned and polite Labours I hope one day to be with others a partaker This Treatise as now it is hath beene for the most part since in the hands of others being committed by me to the perusall of that great light of the Northerne parts my then Reuerend and dearest Friend Doctor Birkhead from whose iudicious censure I hoped then this and other of my Labours should haue receiued some perfection and I much comfort from his company But it pleased the Lord whose good pleasure we must obey not question to call him from vs no doubt to his greater good though to the great losse and sorrow of euery true member of the English Church which knew him before it was my hap being then absent from these parts to heare from him or speake with him Since his death it hath past through many hands but all as it seemes good friends in that it returnes vnto me intire And from it as it is I hope no orthodoxall Reader shall receiue any discontent nor any Aduersaries of the truth much aduantage Wherein it is for the matter deficient or not so fully exprest I shall haue opportunitie whether by the aduise of Friends or exceptions of the Aduersarie to amend or inlarge in other Treatises of the same Argument which by Gods assistance shall shortly be communicated to thee And for this reason in part I haue beene the more willing to haue it published at this time Thine in Christ Iesus THOMAS IACKSON ⧠The Contents of the seuerall Chapters handled in this Treatise SECTION I. Containing the description definition and properties of the Holy Catholike Church taken in the prime and principall sense in the sixe first Chapters Chapters Folio 1. That it is easier to oppose than to answer a Romanist in this Argument of the Church The Authors method for meeting with wrangling Sophismes 3 2. The definition of the Church in generall gathered from the diuers sorts of vnion betweene bodies naturall artificiall or ciuill 5 3. Of the nature and properties of the Church taken in its principall sense How it is differenced from other Bodies ciuill Of the peculiar vnity which it hath 13 4. Of the preeminences which the Church hath of other Bodies or Corporations in respect of the Gouernour of it and the Lawes by which it is gouerned Of the two Attributes Holy and Catholike 21 5. Containing the friuolous exceptions of Cardinall Bellarmine and some other Romanists against the former or like description of the true Church or that Church which is principally meant in the Apostles Creed 29 6. Containing the speciall points to bee beleeued concerning this Article of the One Holy Catholike Church How euery one is so to moderate his assent or beliefe concerning it that hee neither incline vnto presumption nor fall into despaire 35 SECTION II. Of the visible Church in generall Of its principall Attributes or Priuiledges vnto the sixteenth Chapter 7. Of the Church Militant and Triumphant In what sense it is said that the true Church is inuisible 43 8. What is required to the constitution of a visible Church Whence the vnitie or pluralitie of visible Churches ariseth What vnity may bee had or expected betweene visible Churches independent one of another for Iurisdiction The diuers acceptions or degrees of the visible Church 52 9. That albeit the true Church be alwaies visible yet it is a grosse sophisme hence to inferre that the visible Church is alwayes the true Church or that one visible Church is more priuiledged from erring than another The strange blasphemy by which the Author of the Antidote seekes to support the infallibilitie of the visible Romish Church 66 10. In what cases Arguments of proportion may bee drawne from Allegories A full explication of the Allegory vsed by S. Paul Gal. 4. and of the Argument or concludent proofe in the same Allegorie contained 75 11 Of the consonancie betweene the promulgation of the old Testament and the New Of the opposition betweene the Law and the Gospell or betweene the old Testament and the New The explication of the Apostles argument Heb. 9. ver 13 14. 86 12. The Allegorie or Argument of proportion drawn from Noahs Arke explicated according to the former rules and retorted vpon the Romanist 92 13. How farre and in what cases that Maxime vsed by the Fathers Extra Ecclesiam non est salus Out of the Church there is no saluation is true of the visible Church or Churches visible 97 14. Declaring by one speciall instance the particular manner and opportunities by which the
Church visible or representatiue did first incroach vpon the royall Attributes of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church For what causes Christians may separate thewselues or suffer themselues to be separated from any visible Church whereof they were sometimes members 111 15. That our Forefathers separation from the Romish Church was most lawfull and iust both in respect of Prince and State and in respect of euery priuate person which feared God or sought to retaine the holy Catholike and Apostolike Faith 118 SECTION III. The visible Church of England retaines the holy Catholike faith which the Romish Church hath defiled 16. That our Chvrch was in the Romish Church before Luthers time and yet in it neither as a visible Church altogether distinct from it nor as any natiue member of it 139 17. That men may be visible members of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church and yet no actuall members of any present visible Church 149 18. In what sense it may bee granted that the visible Romish Church at the time of our forefathers separation from it was a true Church and yet withall the Synagogue of Sathan the seate of Antichrist and common sinke of heresies 160 19 Whether our Forefathers in separating themselues or suffering themselues to be separated from the Romish Church did any otherwise then Gods Prophets or our Sauiours Disciples had their case and opportunity beene the same would haue done 170 20. Whether the name Catholike can in good earnest bee pleaded or pretended for an vnseparable marke of the true visible Church 21. That the title of Catholike is proper and essentiall vnto the faith professed by the present visible Church of England but cannot truely be attributed to the Faith or Creede of the moderne visible Romish Church 180 22. Of the adinuentions or new Articles added to the Creede by the Romish Church by which shee hath defiled the Holy Catholike and Apostolike faith Of the difference betwixt the Church of Rome and the Church of England concerning the rule of faith What that ecclesiasticke tradition was which Vincentius Lirâ—nensis so much commendeth to what vse it serued in the ancient Councels 185 23. Of the agreement betweene the Enthusiast or some non-conformitants to the Church of England and the Romish Church concerning the manner how the Spirit of truth as they suppose doth lead men into all truth That the true sense of scripture is as determinable by light of reason and rules of art as the conclusions of any other sciences or faculties are A generall suruey of the depraued or more then hereticall or heathenish infidelity of the moderne Romish Church 195 Errata Page 80 lin penult for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A TREATISE of the Holy Catholique Faith and CHVRCH IN the Exposition of the Apostles Creed a worke vndertaken by me long agoe I did sequester foure points from the body of that intended worke now almost finished The first was the doctrine of the holy blessed Trinitie which I reserued for the last part of my labours to be set downe by way of prayer or Soliloquies as being an argument in my iudgement both then and now more fit for meditation then for controuersie or Scholasticke discourse The second point was the Article of the holy Catholike Church The Third the Communion of Saints The fourth the Forgiuenesse of sinnes Points which I knew not how to handle in that ranke and order as they are propounded vnto vs in the Creede without manifest interruption of my intended method which I indeauoured should be continuate each latter part immediately issuing out of the former Nor could I finde a commodious entrance into the Article of Christs comming to iudge as well the dead as the liuing before I had treated of the resurrection of the dead Nor could I finish what I had to say or what was to bee said concerning the last Iudgement it selfe without some explication of the sentence to be awarded and that is life euerlasting to all true beleeuers and euerlasting death to the disobedient and vnbeleeuers So then the articles of the holy Catholique Church of the Communion of Saints of the forgiuenesse of sinnes haue beene out of choice and intended method left altogether vntouched reserued for peculiar Treatises CHAP. I. That it is easier to oppose than to answer a Romanist in this Argument of the Church The Authors method for meeting with wrangling Sophismes FIrst then of the Holy Catholique Church An Argument fitting for these times being specially insisted vpon and inlarged by Priests and Iesuites to our preiudice they well perceiuing their intricate disputes and sophisticall discourses in this point to bee the only net which Peters pretended successors haue left them for catching silly vncatechized soules or for intangling men of deepe vnderstanding but of deeper discontent or dislike with their present Gouernours or Dispensers of preferment For vnto men either not misled by discontented passion or otherwise not vncapable of sound reason it might easily appear that there is no heresie at this day maintained in Christendome at least so generally which doth either so highly offend God and his Christ or so grieuousty disturb the publike peace of Christs Church or so desperately indaÌ„ger the soul of euery one that subscribes vnto it as this heresie concerning the transcendent Authoritie of the visible Romish Church Howbeit I must confesse it is a great deale easier to discouer their blasphemies refute their heresies to pittie the stupiditie of some or to deride the petulancie or rashnesse of others then to auoide the contrary errors into which some reformed Writers of good note haue fallen some through meere eagernesse of opposition others through weakenesse and want of Arts. And no maruell for there is nothing which sooner or faster leades Artists themselues into errour than identitie of names or words including in them diuersitie of significations or importances The diuers significations of one and the same word may be either equiuocall or analogicall or a medly of both Be the diuersitie of this or that kinde or of what kinde it may bee vntill the difference betwixt them be exactly notified or vnfolded by some commodious distinction or artificiall explication they are apt to bring forth seeds of such endlesse quarrels betwixt controuersie-writers as grounds and tenements not well bounded or suruaide alwaies breede betwixt greedy and wrangling neighbours As in the one case each man is prone to trespasse vpon his neighbours possession so in the other each seuerall signification or importance is alwaies incroaching vpon the attributes or prerogatiues which most properly appertaine to some other more prime and principall Now there is no word or terme vsed either in any scientificall morall or popular discourse which hath so many so much different significations or importances as the word Church hath whether we take it in the Greeke Latine or English For preuenting the inconueniences whereunto the multiplicity and diuersitie of its significations or
è contra Yet sometime it may fall out by the interposition of ciuill iuridicall sentence that a man may bee no member of the Common-weale and yet remaine a member of the Church therein contained As a man condemned to dye is disinabled to doe any ciuill act yet not prohibited to receiue the Sacraments Others againe cut off from the Church as persons excommunicated in some sort are may bee members of the Common-weale That which differenceth the Church properly so called from a societie or bodie meerely ciuill is the diuersitie of Lawes and ordinances and the different manner of vnion betwixt the members of it Howbeit a Church a Common-weale or body ciuill are not as the Romanists often dreame or presuppose in their arguments brought for the prerogatiue of the Romish Church two bodies contra-distinct or opposite but rather one body endowed with seuerall powers or perfections When a Kingdome or common-weale becomes a Church it loseth nothing of what it had but rather acquires a new perfection or accomplishment The growth or progresse is but such as the Philosopher notes in men which fiâ—st liue anima plantae like meere vegetables then the life of sense and lastly the life of reason or vnderstanding But of this elsewhere To finde out the nature and properties of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the principall Analogatum and prime subiect of this our discourse the branches of method are but two The former is to finde out the qualification or condition of the parties or members vnited The latter is to finde out the nature and manner of their vnion With the Church as it consists of men Angels we are not to meddle It suffices vs to know that wee are called as our Apostle teacheth vs Heb. 12. verse 22. vnto the citie of the liuing God the heauenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels What manner of vnion is betweene holy men and Angels let it be defined by Angels themselues or at least by men that are their consorts in the blissefull vision of God and of his Christ The subiect of our inquirie was and must be That Church which consists onely of men and of men considered in that estate which they now haue by God being made man Now albeit such men and Angels may bee in some respect truely said one Societie and though both may be comprehended vnder some generall notion whether vniuocall or Analogicall yet without all question they doe not vniuocally agree in those attributes by which the Church in its prime and principall sense is vsually set forth in Scriptures Wee cannot say that the Angels are of Christs flesh and of his bones as euery one is that is a liue member of his true Church Yea though Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses and the Prophets and all such as had perfect vnion with them in holinesse of doctrine life or discipline were after death as well as liuing liue members of the holy Catholique Church yet had they not whilest they liued on earth no not alwaies since they liued in blisse such perfect vnion for the manner at least with Christ as the S t s haue which haue liued since Christs Incarnation Passion and Resurrection since which time the Patriarches and Prophets vnion with Christ hath beene perfected For it is a point not of opinion but of beliefe that the Sonne of God did take our nature vpon him not onely to the end that he might lay it downe for our ransome or suffer for vs in the flesh but to the end withall that hauing suffered for vs according to his humanitie he might by it vnite vs vnto himselfe as hee is God in a more peculiar manner then our humane nature without such vnion to his humane nature was capable of As we become righteous by the righteousnesse which was and is in him as he is man so must we expect the accomplishment of our future blisse and glory by participation of the fulnesse of that blisse and glory whereof his humanitie is now possest By this it is apparent that euery actuall member of a Christian common-wealth or visible Church therein contained is not a true actuall member of that Church whose nature and definition wee now seeke and whereof euery one of vs desires and must endeauour to be such a member For hee that would make the Church thus Catholique or vniuersall as to comprehend euery member of a Christian Common-weale seekes to make it not to be holy Now wee must beleeue it to be as truely holy as it is Catholique Some there be who define this Church to be coetus praedestinatorum to be the societie or companie of the predestinate but this definition is vnperfect for though it be most true that euery liue member of the one truely holy and Catholique Church is predestinated to this life of grace which he now liues and to the life of glory which he hopes for yet euery one which is already predestinated to the one or to the other life or rather to both is not as yet a liue member of the one holy and Catholique Church Saul was a person predestinated from the wombe but yet no ciuill member of the militant or visible Church much lesse any true member of the one holy Catholique Church whilest he remained a persecutor of it and a zealous member or furious instrument of the malignant Sinagogue Others define it to be Coetus euocatorum the societie or company of such as God hath called out of the world but because many are called and few are chosen some others define it to be coetus electorum the societie or company of the elect Against which definition or description this exception may bee taken that the Authors and Maintainers of it haue intangled this article or point of Beliefe necessary to all that hope to be saued with intricate and vnnecessary questions concerning Predestination or Election with which I doe not meane to trouble the Reader in the explication of this Article It shall suffice vs for the present to consider that such as God hath predestinated or elected before the foundations of the world must bee wrought and squared by the powerfull hand of God and the effectuall working of his spirit before they can bee fit materials for that aedifice or structure which wee call the Church There must be an alteration in euery particular member before it obtaine perfect vnion with the whole body or aedifice from which it receiueth the sweet influence and nutriment of neuer-fading life Now what manner of alteration this is or wherin this qualification of materials fitting for this aedifice which we call the Church doth consist is a Quaere not so necessary in this place 4 The second generall thing proposed to wit the manner or vnion of the members or parts of that societie which is the truly holy Catholique Church will sufficiently determine the former question concerning the qualification of them The questions concerning the vnion are in generall
proposition is indefinite although it beare in front a goodly show of an vniuersall note But how large soeuer the note of vniuersality be vnlesse it do plene afficere medium terminum it leaues the proposition as indefinite as it found it Now the medius terminus in the former syllogisme is animal generosum And to make the former proposition vniuersall the note of vniuersality should haue beene added to animal generosum as thus Quicunque dicit Alexandrum fuisse animal quoduis generosum is verum dicit At qui dicit Alexandrum fuisse Bucephalum dicit Alexandrum fuisse animal quoddam generosum Here had beene dictum de omni quodvis animal de quodam animali the Syllogisme for its forme had been true but the major proposition had beene apparantly false for Alexander was not euery generous creature or a generous creature of euery kind The fallacie is the same though not so easily discerned in these two syllogismes following Whosoeuer mortifies the deedes of the body by the spirit is certaine of life But I mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit Therefore I am an actuall and liue-member of the holy Catholike Church assured of salvation The vniuersall note whosoeuer doth not plene afficere medium terminum which is mortification which is in it selfe a terme indifinite and hath many degrees or parts To make the proposition vniuersall or concludent we should say thus Whosoeuer doth in any sort mortifie the deeds of the bodie is a liue member of the Catholike Church But I doe in some sort mortifie the deeds of the bodie Ergo I am a liue-member of the Catholike Church The forme of this syllogisme is true but now the Major is apparantly false otherwise hee that would admit of this proposition or conclusion in time of prosperitie or in speculations abstracted from cogitation of sins past or presēt the same party in consciousnes of actuall sin or grieuous temptations would yeeld to the premisses and conclusion following Whosoeuer liues after the flesh shall dye and is vtterly excluded from being a liue-member of the holy and Catholike Church But I haue liued and doe liue after the flesh Ergo I am but dead and lost I shall neuer be a liue-member of the holy and Catholike Church These two propositions Whosoeuer lines after the flesh shall dye whosoeuer doth mortifie the deedes of the body by the spirit shall liue if we resolue them rightly are in value thus much 1 There is a degree or measure of mortification whervnto whosoever doth attaine is forthwith translated from death to life and becomes a liue-member of the holy Catholike Church a perpetuall Citizen of the Ierusalem which is aboue without all danger of disinfranchisement 2 There is a degree or measure of fleshly or carnall liuing which who so doth in this life reach vnto doth thereby without Gods extraordinarie mercy exclude himselfe from the Communion of Saints or society of the holy Church So that both propositions are vniuersall in respect of the persons both indefinite in respect of the thing it selfe to wit mortification or carnall liuing This degree or measure of mortification may be accomplished in this life But who they bee that haue attained to this perfect mortification or when they attaine thereunto must bee left to the iudgement of God and information of their owne consciences The safest rule for rectification of our consciences in this point is that of Saint Peter Brethren giue diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. chap. 1. vers 10. The meanes to make our election sure are there at large prescribed by him The briefe or abstract of it is this to follow those practices which our conscience enlightned by the light of Gods Word shall approue For a good conscience is the mouth of the Spirit and will one time or other speake words of comfort to euery one that hath it and seekes to keepe it And one voluntarie testimonie of it grounded vpon experience or constancie of good thoughts good deeds or resolutions is worth a thousand testimonies or confessions rackt from the speculatiue vnderstanding by force of Syllogisme SECT 2. Of the visible Church in generall Of its principall Attributes or priuiledges CHAP. VII Of the Church militant and Triumphant In what sense it is said that the true Church is inuisible SEeing our purpose in the former treatise was onely to find out the formall difference by which the One Holy Catholike and Apostolike Church is essentially constituted and distinguished from all other Congregations or Corporations there was no difference at all to be obserued betweene the significations of the Latine Concio and the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoeuer formall difference fits the one doth as properly fit the other If wee looke vpon them as they lye in predicamentall line they haue the selfe same aspect or situation Their formall significations are as Synonymall as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and Homo in Latine But being now to search out not the formall differences whereby the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or principally so named is distinguished from all other Societies but the secondarie acceptions or seuerall branches of analogie contained vnder the word Church or Ecclesia We are in the first place to note that the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a connotatiue signification or importance which the latine concio or English Church hath not It is as much in effect as euocata concio a societie selected or called out This evocation or selection is of diuers sorts and each sort admits diuers degrees The whole latitude aswell of the diuers sorts as of their degrees may best be taken partly by surueying the terminum à quo terminum ad quem that is the estate or condition of life whence men are called and the estate or condition of life vnto which such men are called as make the Church and partly from the nature qualitie or degrees of the evocation or motion it selfe Some are called from profession of Paganisme or from Infidelitie vnto the profession of Christianitie vocatione merâ externâ by externall vocation onely as by preaching of the word by exhibition of the Sacraments or other like visible or sensible invitations to become members of Christ And if they admit of the invitation profession of Christianity they become visible members of the Church indefinitely taken But proceeding no further the former calling through their owne default not in respect of Gods intention or purpose in calling them takes no reall effect We may say of them as our Sauiour saith in the parable Matth. 22. vers 8. The wedding is ready but they which were bidden were not worthy And men thus far called onely are meere grammaticall passiues and may be paralleld by the high way vpon which good seed was bestowed though not receiued 2 Others are called from Paganisme or Infidelitie vocatione internâ by internall touches or attractions which in some produceth no
9 10 11. ver I wrote vnto you in an Epistle not to companie with Fornicators The Corinthians had extended this precept too farre so farre as it was not possible for them exactly to obserue it And vpon this occasion it seemes they did as it vsually fals out in like cases vtterly neglect to practise it within its proper bounds or limits The Apostle therefore expresseth his meaning not to be that they should not keepe company with the Fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with Idolaters for then must ye needs goe out of the world But now I haue written vnto you not to keepe company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a railer or a Drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no not to eate For what haue I to doe to iudge them also that are without doe not yee iudge them that are within But them that are without God iudgeth 3 Thus it is true in blessings or priuiledges ecclesiasticall as well as ciuill Omnis commoditas sua fert incommoda secum Euery commodity or conveniēce is charged with some or other incommodious conditions Such of the Corinthians as were foris extra matriculam Ecclesiae visibilis out of the visible Church in Corinth were not subiect vnto this extraordinarie Iudicature or the inconveniences that did accompanie it Vnto all which euery visible member of the Chuch there planted was subiect But this subiection was like the seruice of God a great part of their perfect freedome and a chastisement not sweet for the present but grieuous yet yeelding the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them that were exercised by it All the Corinthians that were foris that is out of the visible Church there planted were more then lyable and more then obnoxious to a more dreadfull iudgement from God which one time or other must ineuitably fall vpon euery one that is not found in Christ or that is not a liue-member of the holy Catholike Church The onely meanes at least the ordinarie meanes then possible to be exempted from this fearefull iudgement was by associating themselues vnto the present visible Church and by submission of their soules to this peculiar Iudicature of Gods Apostles Christs Embassadours For this power as the Apostle elsewhere speakes was not giuen them for destruction but for edification The members of the Church that were thus iudged by them were chastened by the Lord that they should not bee condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. vers 32. Every Apostle of Christ had the same authoritie which S. Paul here practised namely full authoritie to set downe orders for governing the Chruches planted by them and for excommunicating all such persons as either contemptuously violated their orders or did otherwise scandalously trespasse against the morall Law of God 4 Was it then lawfull for any visible member of the Church planted by Saint Paul at Corinth in case of controuersies which were to be arbitrated according to the tenor of his prescript before rehearsed to appeale from the sentence of Saint Paul or other domesticke arbitrators vnto S. Peter or vnto any forraine Church or See planted or gouerned by him Or contrariwise was it lawfull for the Churches planted by Saint Peter to appeale vnto S. Paul If thus to doe it were not lawfull then questionlesse the Churches visible of Saint Pauls planting were as truely distinct from the Chruches planted or governed by Saint Peter as one free State or Common weale is from another vnto which it is not in iurisdiction or matter of appeale subordinate Now it is not the vnitie or identitie of lawes or customes that makes a Common weale or Kingdome to be one and the same vnlesse the persons which are subiect vnto the same Lawes be likewise subiect to the same Supreame Tribunall For albeit aswell the temporall Lawes as the Ecclesiasticall constitutions of Sweden or Russia were as like to our English Lawes Ecclesiasticall or temporall as one apple is like to another yet could not Russia Sweden and England bee so properly termed one Kingdome and Common weale as England and Scotland are although the Lawes by which those Kingdomes are gouerned be much different 5 In like manner admitting the Lawes discipline of all the Churches planted by Saint Peter by Saint Paul and other Apostles had beene the selfe same yet could they not in this respect bee so truly and properly said one visible Church as the particular Churches planted by Saint Paul especially in one and the same prouince were one Church albeit their Lawes or ordinances had been more different It is probable then that there were as many seuerall distinct visible Churches as there were Apostles or other Ambassadors of Christ immediately indued with this extraordinary iudicature which is immediately deriued from Christ and independent vpon any earthly power or any power whatsoever on earth whether spirituall or temporall Their opinion is very probable who thinke that euery Apostle had his peculiar circuit allotted him by Christ and that they did disperse themselues into twelue seuerall parts of the world According to this tradition of the Ancients a learned Criticke of our times in matters sacred doth point and interpret the 25. v. of the first of the Acts after another manner then any known Interpreter to my remembrance doth And they prayed saying Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew whether of these two thou hast chosen that he may take the roome of this ministration Apostleship frō which Iudas by transgression fell that he to wit Iudas might goe vnto his owne place Forso this place is ordinarily expounded but the Greek may bear another sense to wit that he that tooke part of the ministration and Apostleship from which Iudas had falne might bee sent that circuit which Iudas had he not falne should haue gone I It is then profession of the same faith participation of the Sacraments and subiection to the same Lawes and Ordinances ecclesiasticke which makes the visible Chruch to be one II It is the diuersitie of independent Iudicature or supreame tribunalls ecclesiasticke which makes pluralitie of visible Churches or distinguisheth one from the other III That which makes euery visible Church to be more or lesse the true Church of God is the greater or lesse efficacie or conformity of its publike doctrine and discipline for enapting or fashioning the visible members of it that they may become liue-members of the Holy Catholike Church or living stones of the new Ierusalem Euery true visible Church is as an inferiour Free-Schoole or Nurserie for trayning vp Scholars that they may be fit to be admitted into the celestiall Academie 6 There be two questions yet remaining of very good vse which if God permit shall bee more particularly discussed hereafter First Whether there be any Iudicature ecclesiasticke for independencie or otherwise altogether the same with that which the Apostles in
hearing of the word of Christ or in the administration of the Sacraments bound she is to withdraw from him all benefits or comfort of Christs death and passion which are committed to her dispensation vntill he repent and bee reconciled againe vnto Christ 4 From this truth some excellent writers against the vsurped power of the Romish Church in the vse or exercise of Peters keyes some I say aswell before Luthers time as since haue gathered this generall doctrine That the visible Church hath only power to declare who are separated or excommunicated ipso facto from the holy Catholike Church she hath no power so to separate or excommunicate any excommunicatione majori by the greater excommunication vnlesse they haue first excommunicated themselues or voided their hopes or interests in the holy Catholike Church by hereticall positions or opinions or by lewd and scandalous misdemeanours Of this opinion was that famous Weselius which was intituled lux mundi before Luther arose or the light of the Gospell which we now enioy did break forth But though the doctrine be true yet he and such as follow him extend the truth of it a little too farre and beyond its proper subiect There is a meane betweene this opinion and the contrary extreame of the Romanist which cannot be found out without some diuision of such errours or other causes as either iustly deserue or at least may be pretended to deserue excommunication or vtter separation from the visible Church Some errors in Diuinitie as we say are heresies ex specie of so deadly a nature that they induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Faith euen in their very first degree Of this ranke are all such errours in Religion as are directly opposite or contrary to those fundamentall points whose positiue beliefe is necessary to saluation which he that beleeues not is infidelis secundùm infidelitatem purae negationis that is such an Infidell as they are which cannot say the Lords Prayer the Creed or ten Commandements by heart or know not the generall contēts of them and which peremptorily to deny or contradict doth argue infidelitatem prauae dispositionis an infidelitie of contradiction We say in Logicke Euery contrarietie if it be direct and full doth necessarily include a contradiction as he that saith nix est alba Snow is white doth as fully contradict him that saith nix est nigra Snow is blacke as hee that should say nix non est nigra Snow is not blacke For album esse to be white is somewhat more then non esse nigrum not to be blacke The rule is applyable in Diuinity and of good vse in this present argument If not to beleeue there is one God if not to beleeue that this one God is the Author of goodnesse and the rewarder of such as seeke him be infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelitie and argue an absolute priuation of life spirituall then to beleeue there bee more Gods then one or that God is not the Author of goodnesse but it is all one whether we serue him or serue him not is an errour ex specie in its kind hereticall and deadly If it be infidelitas purae negationis an infidelitie priuatiue not to beleeue the incarnation of Christ as certainly it is for all such as doe not beleeue it are Infidells then to bee but positiuely perswaded that Christ is not truly man is an errour ex specie hereticall a deadly heresie infidelitas prauae dispositionis an infidelity of cōtradiction or contrariety Againe if not to beleeue the Sonne of God is truly God or if not to beleeue that this true Son of God was incarnate for vs necessarily argue a priuation of life spirituall and be as we say infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelity then if any man which acknowledgeth Christ bee of opinion that he is not as truly God as he is man this man by entertaining such an opinion doth vndoubtedly separate and disunite himselfe from the holy bond of Catholike faith and by consequence stands excommunicated ipso facto from the Holy Catholike Church and depriued of the communion of Saints whether the visible Church doth her duty or no in depriuing him of all communion with her selfe or with her members yea though the Pastors or Gouernors of the visible Church could by bribery or other sinister respects be mis-swayed if not to abett or maintaine him in it yet to vse conniuence towards him Now of all such errours as are ex specie hereticall and necessarily induce a separation or disunion from the holy Catholike Faith or Church the former assertion of Weselius is true to wit That the visible Church doth not by her authoritie cut them off from being members of the holy catholike Church but onely declare them to be no members of that Church And of all persons excommunicated by the visible Church or that separate themselues from the visible Church for feare of being censured vpon these causes or occasions the former Maximes are vniuersally true There is no hope of saluation for them vntill they returne againe into the bosome of the visible Church by vnfaigned sorrow and by true submission and repentance Yet suppose they neuer returne againe to the visible Church they are not therefore depriued of saluation because they are extra Ecclesiam visibilem out of the visible Church but because they were cast or went out of it vpon such causes or occasions as did first make them to be extra Ecclesiam sanctam catholicam out of the Holy and Catholike Church Or in case by repentance they returne againe into the visible Church whence they were cast out and obtaine saluation yet are they not therefore saued because they are in the visible Church saue onely as it is the meane or an instrument of reuniting them vnto the Holy Catholike Church or of ingraffing them into Christ Other opinions or errors in religion there be that be ex specie very dangerous yet not deadly vnlesse they be in a high degree or perhaps in the highest degree not deadly in themselues vnlesse they be mingled with some spice of some other pertinacie or disobedient humor more then ariseth meerly from the strength or habit of the errour or from the nature of the obiect about which the errour is To be perswaded that the blessed Virgin did not continue so pure a virgin all her life time after our Sauiours birth as she was before is certainly an errour ex specie very dangerous yet nothing so deadly as the errour of Eutyches which held that our Sauiour Christ did not after his resurrection and glorification continue as truly man as he was before So long as a man holds errours of this second ranke onely to himselfe being not sufficiently enlightned by the messengers of truth to discern their danger nor admonished by pastorall authority to abandon them as it cannot bee denyed that hee is soule-sicke so it is not safe to affirme that hee is
sicke of them vnto death no not after the second or third monition vnlesse his monitions be seasoned or tempered with a large measure of fatherly and louing instructions grounded vpon perspicuitie of truth Frequent contempt or neglect of such admonitions though it be in matters not altogether deadly may induce a separation from the holy Catholike faith vnto which nothing is more opposite then disobedience in cases wherein obedience by the Law of God is due 5 Euery one that is not rooted in faith and not truly ingraffed in Christ although for speculatiue opinions he be an Orthodoxe yet is he in respect of saluation but as an Embryon or as the seed or homogeneall Element from which vegetables or liuing bodies spring Now among such seeds or modells of vegetables or sensitiue bodies as are not yet organized or being organized are not truly informed or quickned some may bee so inwardly or deepely tainted that no benignity of natiue soile no comfort of Sunne no refreshing of wholsome winds or dew of Heauen can quicken or giue them specificall perfection Oâ—her seedes there are of the same kinde which though tainted yet they are not so deeply tainted but that they might bee organized or quickned by such comforts or cherishments as could not reuiue the former albeit euen the latter also are certaine shortly to perish if they be transplanted from a good soile to a bad or be exposed to noisome winds or other vncomfortable occurrences or contagious adherents Now every errour as was intimated before in matters of Religion is a tainting or an infection or sicknesse of the soule and of errors some are so deadly that neither the bosome of the Church nor all the benefits of Christs death committed to her custodies though imparted in as ample manner as she can distribute can reuiue or quicken the parties tainted with them Other errors againe there be not so dangerous in their kind or not so ful grown but that the parties tainted with them may retaine or recouer life so they may continue in the visible Church and enioy the communion of Saints and participate with them in the word of life in deuout prayers and in the ordinary vse of Sacraments Howbeit even these errours also become deadly if the parties in whom they settle bee with Hagar and Ismael cast out of Abrahams family into the wildernesse or be constrained to dwell in Mesech or to haue their habitation amongst the Tents of Kedar Now in respect of such as are cast out of the visible Church because they will not abandon or cast out such naughty though not deadly opinions out of their soules the former rule of Weselius concerning excommunication failes if it bee extended as farre as some haue done it For some haue taught or by their speeches giuen others iust occasion to conceiue their meaning to bee That the visible Church hath onely a declaratiue sentence in all excommunications whereas this rule is to be restrained vnto excommunications onely of the former ranke that is such as are directed against manifest heresies ex specie hereticall and deadly To kill a man already dead in heresie the Church cannot but onely declare him to be dead The visible Church notwithstanding hath power simply and absolutely to excommunicate some of her members albeit it doth not fully appeare vnto her whether the opinions wherewith their soules are tainted doe either necessarily induce or argue a schisme or separation from the holy Catholike faith Yea though this point be doubtfull or though it be more probable that the opinions as held by them doe not induce a separation from the holy Catholike Church or Faith yet may the visible Church vse her authoritie of binding them before they haue bound themselues and depriue them of all communion with the sound and orthodoxe members of the Church lest happily they might by their vicinitie infect others It would argue more folly then pitty or at least more pitty then discretion or wholesome discipline if the Church should be indulgent to such as are ouer indulgent to their naughty opinions or lewd affections especially if they hurt others either by misperswasion or ill example 6 Now of all and euery party that is cast out of the Church vpon these occasions the former Maxime extra Ecclesiam non est salus out of the Church is no saluation is most true The most wholesome and most effectuall medicine that can bee applyed vnto soules sicke of this sicknesse is to bee instant in denouncing vnto them that albeit they be not as yet spiritually dead yet there is small hope of life vnlesse they seeke re-admission with sighes and teares into the bosome of the visible Church And though it be true that such as doe not in time seeke their re-admission by repentance doe therefore perish because rhey are separated from the visible Church yet doe they not perish quatenus separantur à visibili Ecclesia sed quatenus separantur ab Ecclesia sancta Catholica that is their separation from the visible Church is a praeuiall disposition to the spiritual death or such a cause of it as the Pilots absence is to the passengers whose company hee hath for their misdemeanours abandoned yet doth not their spirituall death properly consist in this separation nor immediately and instantly result from it but it consists in or immediately results from their separation from the Holy Catholike Faith and Church vnto both which the visible Church wherein they liued so they had still remained in the bosome of it might haue vnited or wedded their soules or yet may reunite them so they will with submissiue or heartie repentance returne vnto it CHAP. XIV Declaring by one speciall instance the particular manner and opportunities by which the Church visible or representatiue did first incroach vpon the royall Attributes of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church For what causes Christians may separate themselues or suffer themselues to bee separated from any visible Church whereof they were sometimes members 1 FRom this distinction of errours in Religion which either deserue or may bee pretended to deserue the sentence of excommunication wee may discouer the manner how the great monster with seuen heads and tenne hornes the grand mysterie of iniquitie was brought forth out of the wombe of the visible and as the Romanists call it the Catholike Church The manner was thus seeing the ancient and orthodoxe Fathers had in the name and power of the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church as they were in dutie bound excommunicated the Encratists Eutychians Arians Nestorians c. which had manifestly excommunicated or diuorced themselues from the holy Catholike Faith by adherence to their wicked opinions the Successors of these holy Bishops in place of authority but not in holinesse and vnderstanding in matters spirituall tooke vpon them to pronounce the like censure vpon euery opinion which they disliked and expected the whole visible Church should hold the persons of men whom they excommunicated
of the Churches or the Popes absolute infallibility in matters of faith and manners is an errour in it selfe ex specie hereticall and more deadly then heathenisme and includeth infidelitatem prauae dispositionis infidelity of contradiction as malignant as the infidelity of the Iewes and the consequent of it is an entire Apostasie from the Apostolike faith This I haue elsewhere endeauoured to shew at large the summe of which worke shall by Gods assistance bee recollected in this Treatise I now meddle onely with this transcendent heresie as it is diffused through other errours The very participation of it is as the Pharisaicâ—ll leauen by which all other erroneous opinions or coniectures which that Church hath suâ—ked either from Heretikes of old or from some mistakings or misreadings of ancient Fathers are malignified and made much worse then they were in their first Authors Our first instance shall be in the manifold and daily transgressions of that rule of faith giuen by our Apostle Rom. 14. verse 5. into all which transgressions this doctrine doth leade and draw them blindfold as the Philistines did Sampson after they had put out his eyes The Apostles rule is Let euery man be fully perswaded in his owne minde And this full perswasion or assurance of faith is in the cases there mentioned necessary because whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne verse 23. This last Maxime is most vndoubtedly true and the former precept most exactly to be obserued in such cases as the Apostle there speakes of that is where the positiue practice vnlesse our warrant bee authentique in it selfe and euident to vs is very dangerous or deadly whereas on the contrary the forbearance of such practice is either safe or not preiudiciall to our soules but to our bodies onely or estate temporall But in what cases doth the authoritie of the Romish Church where it beares sway draw men to transgresse the former rules of faith or conscience In many 10 To rob God of his honour or doe him preiudice in his glorious titles of mercy bounty and the like is vnquestionably a grieuous sinne and being such no doctrine or practice ought to bee admitted or imposed vpon vs which with probabilitie may induce or inferre it especially if the end or benefit for whose attainement the suspected doctrine or practice is imagined behoofefull or vsefull may as certainely be obtained by some other more safe and no lesse effectuall or conuenient meanes If from these grounds wee should enter friendly conference with an ingenuous Papist and tell him as the truth is that we Protestants doe teach That good workes are most necessarie to saluation and that the more such workes we doe the greater certainely shall be our reward so wee doe them in sinceritie and acknowledgement of our bounden dutie towards God humbly confessing our selues after we haue done all euen our very best to bee vnprofitable seruants It from these allegations we shall thus inferre that glory honour immortality and eternall happinesse in the life to come being all that hee seekes after by wel-doing seeing wee seeke for the very selfe same things by a safer and lesse suspitious way why should hee not be content to abandon all conceit of merit and to renounce the tearme as an offensiue and suspicious title for a poore suppliant to vse before the Almighty Maiesty of God To this and like Quaeries all the answer you shall get is this and this you shall haue from the more iudicious and ingenuous secular Papists that for their owne parts they could be wel content to relinquish the opinion or terme of Merit so they were left vnto themselues but they must vse the one and maintaine the other in obedience to the Church So strong a hand hath the Church his mother ouer his faith and conscience that hee had rather aduenture to stand vpon reall termes of meum and tuum or come to iuridicall contestation with God his Creator and Redeemer than disobey or dissent from her in the vse of words or in matters of conceit or opinion onely 11 Again no Christian denies that our Sauiour is able to heare our prayers at all times in all places that he is more fauourable and compassionate vnto vs then any Saint in Heauen or earth can be that his Father alwaies heareth him It is likewise a fundamentall article of our beliefe that wee ought at all times to pray vnto him that he would pray vnto his Father for vs that it is our duty to offer vp our praiers and the best sacrifice of our soules and spirits in honour of his great and glorious name that to come vnto the Father by his mediation is to worship him in truth and spirit All these positions are ex fide de fide points of necessity to be beleeued And if we were alwayes imployed in some of these practices happy were we although we did nothing else No Saint we may bee sure would bee offended with vs for praying continually vnto Christ vnto whom they contiuall pray or giue thanks But whether in praying vnto Saints as the Romanists doe wee doe not offend both Christ and them is not so clear and vnquestionable 12 To request the Saints deceased to pray for vs without expresse warrant or assurance that they can hear our praiers is superstitious to offer vp our praiers vnto them by way of Honour or tribute without assurance of faith is flat Idolatry Yet admitting it were lawfull not onely to pray but to offer our praiers vnto their Images yet to fall down before them and worship them is certainly a practice so quite contrary to the rule of faith and Gods holy commandements that he which feareth God who hath expressed himselfe in this point aboue others to be a iealous God would in ordinary discretion and reason before hee durst aduenture vpon so dangerous a practice demand as expresse a dispensation or countermand to the former precept as Abraham had to assure him he should not commit murder by sacrificing his only sonne Lastly admitting the invocation of true and vnquestionable Saints as for example the Apostles and the adoration of their Images to be no sacrilege or wrong to God yet to honor euery one whoÌ„ the Pope shall canonize for a Saint with all the former points of honour which they exhibit to S. Peter S. Paul c is a great wrong vnto those glorious Saints an heresie or rather an Idolatry ex specie deadly And yet for aduenturing vpon all these dangerous practices they haue no other assurance of faith or warrant of scripture besides their vnwarrantable and blind beleife of the Chruch and Popes infallibility Nor can the ingenuous Papists giue vs any other answer to such reasonable demands as were now proposed in this point of Inuocation of Saints or adoration of Images then was giuen before That Hee doth all this in obedience to his mother the Church I should proceed to the like faithlesse and desperate practices in the
had deliuered this sentence ex cathedra It is expedient for vs that one man die for the people and that the whole nation perish not Iohn 11. ver 49. And vpon his authority or warrant they aduentured to put the Lord of glory to death Had not this false Apostaticall Priest beene in vero sacerdotio a chiefe officer in the house of God neither could so cleer a truth as he vttered haue beene inuerted to such a pernitious end as it was spoken by him apprehended by others nor could hee haue conceiued or vttered so cleare a truth of himselfe as S. Iohn instructs vs he did This he spake not of himselfe but being high Priest that same yeer he prophesied that Iesus should die for the Nation Ioh. 11.51 Other Acts of his priesthood tooke their validity from his office not from his person this speculatiue truth tooke its poysonous operation from his person not from his office although he could not haue borne so bitter enmity vnto Christ vnlesse he had beene in that office Now albeit we grant that Caiaphas did prophesie by vertue of his place or Priestly office yet no Romanists as I hope will deny that Caiaphas in the preposterous application of his propheticall sentence might well brooke the name of Antichrist at the least that hee was a type or shadow of the Antichrist to come who was to sit as Caiaphas did in the Temple of God or if so they will haue it in S. Peters chaire that hee may wrest diuine truths authoritatiuely to as wicked ends as Caiaphas did 5 But may it not hence bee inferred that as the Sanedrin was the onely visible Church which God had here on earth so the Romish Church from which Luther did separate himselfe was the onely true visible Church of Christ at the time of his separation This may be granted de facto but not de iure For there was an expresse Law of God that there should be no more visible Churches then one before our Sauiours death and resurrection after which there were to bee as many visible Churches de iure as there were seuerall independent Soueraignties I haue heard indeed of some French Catholikes as they would bee accounted which vse this as an argument whether intended by them ad homines to delude the obiecter onely or ad rem to the matter it selfe I know not But this argument they vse to proue that their Church as opposed to Reformed Churches is the true Church because the Pope is Antichrist Antichrist as the Apostle teacheth is to sit in the Temple of God and the Temple of God no question is the true Church whence seeing hee sits in their Church they inferre that theirs is the true Church not ours But as in most other arguments concerning the Church so in this they cozen themselues with the fallacy à dicto secundùm quid ad dictum simpliciter First both letter of Scripture and analogie of faith doe teach that Antichrist is to sit as Caiaphas did in a true Church yea to be a chiefe Officer of some Church otherwise he could not be a principal Rebell or notorious Traitor against Christ But in that he was to be such a rebell and such a Traitor it is not conceiuable that the Church which wholly submits herselfe to him as to her head should bee the true Church much lesse the onely Church of Christ The former argument will hold thus farre The Pope is Antichrist ergo the Church of Rome is a true Church secundùm quid that is in opposition to the Synagogue of Iewes of Turkes or other professed Infidels But if we speake absolutely or compare it with Churches truly Christian it is no true Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Satan Or as he said of his sordid Hosts entertainment that there was so much fire as a man could not haue truly said in strict propriety of logicke phrase there was no fire that is there was so much as if hee had beene bound by couenant of Lease neuer to haue suffered the fire to goe out hee might haue saued his lease from forfeiture and yet there was no fire but a mocke-fire to the entertaining of a stranger so much as was a greater eyesore to him that had sought comfort or refreshing from it then if there had been none at all In like manner there is so much of the true Church in the present Romish visible Church as a man cannot say it is no Church at all so much true doctrine in it as sufficeth to support the title of Antichrist and to make it the very seat of all abominations or impieties more then natural For as the mingling of the Traditions of men with Moses doctrine did make the leuen of Pharises to be so malignant and distastfull to God and all good men so is it the mixture or making vp of the doctrine of Christ and of Deuills in one and the same Liturgy which makes Antichristianisme in graine And as elswhere is obserued the Idolatry of the Romish Church is so much worse then the Idolatry of the Heathens by how much that Churches generall beliefe of one God of the glorious Trinity and of the redemption of mankind is better then the Heathens beliefe or knowledge of the same points 6 But when it is said that Antichrist is to sit in the Temple of God it is not meant onely that hee should sit in the present visible Church but that he should be an vsurper of that chaire which sometimes had beene the seat of Gods Saints and bee an intruder into that Church which had beene Holy and Catholike before his intrusion and which still retaines the rootes and stemmes of Catholike faith into which it shall be his and his followers continual care to ingraffe the doctrine of Deuills and to exercise their spirituall whoredomes in the Oratories of God CHAP. XIX Whether our Forefathers in separating themselues or suffering themselues to be separated from the Romish Church did any otherwise then Gods Prophets or our Sauiours Disciples had their case and opportunity beene the same would haue done 1 BVt here againe the Author of the Antidote or the blinde Guide of faith will obiect That neither the Prophets of old nor our Sauiours Disciples before his death did separate themselues from the present visible Church If not to beleeue as the Church visible and representatiue for the time present did if not to communicate with her in matters of fact or practice were to bee separated from the present visible Church as this Authors words elsewhere imply the Prophets out of all question did either separate themselues or suffer themselues to be separated from the visible Church wherein they liued Ezekiel and Daniel would neuer haue consented to the Priests and Rulers in their persecutions of Ieremie as a false Prophet or Traytor Our Sauiours Disciples before his death stood excommunicated by the visible Church of the Iewes they were as farre from communicating with
the chiefe Priests and Elders in matters of faith and practice as wee are from communicating with the Romish Church or members of the Trent Councell But if this mans meaning be that neither the Prophets nor our Sauiours Disciples before his death did take vpon them to erect a new visible Church altogether distinct from the erring Synagogue the obiection is true but no way preiudiciall to vs. For they liued in that Church or common weale as our forefathers before Luthers time which feared God did in the Romish Church or common weale which had not by publike consent abandoned the Romish Religion that is neither as absolute members of the Synagogue nor yet a visible Church distinct from it but as visible members of that primitiue Church from which the Synagogue had degenerated As for the Prophets and other godly men which liued before our Sauiours death they wanted rather power than willing minds to reforme the corruptions of the visible Church in which they liued And the true reason why that Church continued so corrupt from Iosias his death vntill the destruction of the Temple and grew so wicked againe in the age before our Sauiours time was because during these times there were either naughty Kings or no Kings at all in Israel Had Iehosophat Ezekiah Iosiah or any like vnto them of Dauids line beene Kings of Iudah in Herods stead there is no question but they would haue brought the Scribes and Pharisees to better order or haue deposed them either haue reduced the then visible Church to its primitiue purity or haue erected a new visible Church according to the paterne prescribed by Moses That the Priests and Prophets did so ouerbeare the true Prophets of God Ieremiah Ezekiel c. to the ruine of the City and Kingdome was the fault of Iehoiakim and Zedekiah As at this day againe it is the fault and folly of Christian Kings that the Church of Rome is not either reduced to better conformity with the holy Catholike and Apostolike Church or else demolished as the Iewish Synagogue was But what should moue this man I meane the Author of the blind Guide of Faith to make the former obiection against vs I cannot conceiue vnlesse it were to giue vs and the Christian world to vnderstand That the visible Romish Church his mother could bee very well content to continue till Christs second comming as erroneous and antichristian as the Iewish Synagogue was before his first comming in the flesh vpon condition she may retaine her wonted power and authority to tyrannize ouer vs and other Saints of God as the visible Iewish Church or Synagogue did oft-times ouer the true Prophets and Christs disciples 2 For conclusion of this point In as much as Christian Princes and free States did second Luther in his intended reformation of so much of the visible Romish-Church as was seated in their Soueraignties or Dominions this warrants our separation to haue beene iust and lawfull and free from all suspition of rebellion or schisme whereunto the like attempts in Iury though vndertaken by Gods Prophets had beene obnoxious vnlesse the Princes or chiefe Magistrates had giuen them countenance and authority Howbeit neither Prince nor people ioyntly or seuerally either now haue or at any time had power to make a new church altogether distinct from the Catholike Church militant on earth which hath beene one by continuation of the same faith since the Apostles time But in case any part of the Church militant or visible be infected with heresie or ouerswaid by faction to approue such impious and vngodly practices as are incompatible with the Holy Catholike faith which hath beene professed in pure and vncorrupt times euery free Prince or State haue in this case power and authority sufficient to dislinke themselues from the factious combination of the visible Church or Churches seated in forraigne States or Kingdomes and to vnite themselues into renewed formes of visible Churches distinct from others Yet thus to doe so they doe no more is not to make a new Church neuer heard of before but rather to recollect the scattered members of the Holy Catholike Church in whom the life and substance of the true Church of God consists and to put a new accidentall forme vpon them 3 The case is altogether the same as if an Army consisting of threescore thousand English French and Italians appointed by ioynt consent of these Nations to inuade the Turke should bee misled by the Italian Generall to reuenge his priuate quarrels vpon the Christians If the English vpon discouery of their Generals trecherie should abandon him and adioyne themselues vnto the Hungarians or other Christians oppressed by the Turke they could not iustly be blamed either for defection or reuolt or for leuying an Armie or vndertaking a warre altogether new without any warrant or commission Well might they presume their Prince would approue their proceedings specially if their seruice had successe answerable to the godly intentions of their first Commission 4 As many of our forefathers as did submit themselues vnto the Iurisdiction of the church of Rome and vndertook such seruices as the Pope or Romane Prelacie did appoint them vnto they did thus onely vpon presumption that the Pope did faithfully execute his Commission as the Apostles successor or that he did command in chiefe for Christ But when the contrary was notoriously knowne vnto this people that hee did but counterfeit the visage of the Lambe that he might the more plausibly effect the designes of the Dragon Our Prince and people in abandoning his yoke and breaking off their confederacie with the church of Rome did well And this being done they remaine the same church they were for life and substance but the same Church better purified and purged from rebellious Antichristian humours the same Church so much more homogeneall to the ancient Primitiue catholike Church by how much they remained the freer from seruitude to Romish tyranny whose vsurped authority ouer other Churches is but Antichristianisme or Apostasie from Christ CHAP. XX. Whether the name Catholike can in good earnest be pleaded or pretended for an vnseparable marke of the true visible Church 1 BVt in all these Illustrations it will be excepted that wee take something for granted which the Romish Church will vtterly disclaime This for one That our forefathers at the time of their departure from the Romish Church were true Catholikes or in the interim betweene the abandoning of the Prelacie of Rome and the establishing a Prelacie or forme of Gouernment of their owne more refined were visible members of the holy Catholike Church For so destitute is the Romane Church of all true solid properties of the true Church of God that she is faine to plead the name and title of Catholike to be her proper note or Ensigne which no other Church may more presume to challenge then a Seruingman may presume to weare his Masters coate or cognizance after hee be discharged of his
may by necessary consequence bee deduced out of them for points of faith and this growth is still in eodem genere from the same root Other points of faith besides these our Church admitteth none but tyes euen her Prelates and Gouernours to obtrude no other doctrines as points of faith vpon their Auditors than such as are either expresly contained in Scriptures or may infallibly bee deduced from them And this is the fundamentall and radicall difference between our Church and the Romish Church which admitteth such an illimited increase or growth of faith as is in heapes or congests of Heterogenealls CHAP. 22. Of the adinuentions or new Articles added to the Creed by the Romish Church by which she hath defiled the Holy Catholike and Apostolike faith Of the difference betwixt the Church of Rome and the Church of England concerning the rule of faith What that ecclesiasticke tradition was which Vincentius Liâ—inensis so much commendeth to what vse it serued in the ancient Councels 1 THe paine-worthiest enquiry in this argument were first to make search what additions or adinuentions vnto the ancient or primitiue Canon of Catholike faith haue beene made receiued or authorized by the Romish Church since the Councel of Ephesus which was some 3. yeers before Vincentius Lirinensis wrote his admonitions concerning this point and in what age and vpon what occasions such additions haue beene made or receiued Secondly to make proofe or demonstration how farre and in what manner such additions do corrupt or contaminate the Holy Catholike faith and how farre each or all of them ioyntly or seuerally doe vndermine or overthrow the holy Catholike faith The first addition or adinuention of moment which comes into my memorie is the Inuocation of Saints and veneration of Images Both which points were added as articles of faith or parts of the creed which all were bound to beleeue and professe by Tharasius Patriarke of Constantinople and President of that illiterate parasiticall and factious Assembly which hath bin coÌ„monly enstyled the seuenth generall or second Nicene Councell In these the like abominable decrees the then Bishop of Rome was Tharasius his complice his instigator and abettor as may appeare from the speeches of his Legates in that Councell and by his owne Epistles although part of the Epistle may bee iustly suspected to haue beene framed since But by what spirit this Councell was managed or in whose name they met together I referre the Reader vnto that learned Treatise in the booke of Homilies whereunto wee haue all subscribed concerning the perill of Idolatry especially the third part What ingenuous minds of this Kingdome thought of that Councell before either the Author of these Homilies or Luther was borne may in part bee gathered from an ancient English Historiographer who saith the Church of God did hold this decree in execration 2 The selfe same points with a great many more of like or worse nature all whatsoeuer any Councell which the Romish Church accounteth generall or oecumenicall or any Canons which the same Church accounteth Catholike euen all the decrees whereto the Trent Councell hath affixt their Anathemaes haue beene annext by Pius Quartus to the Nicene Creed and are inserted as principall points of that oath which euery Roman Bishop at his consecration is to take one part of which oath or solemne vow it likewise is that euery Bishop shall exact the like confession of his inferiors to bee ratified by oath or solemne vow Caetera omnia à sacris oecumenicis concilijs ac praecipuè à sacrosancta Tridentina Synodo tradita definita declarata indubitanter recipio atque profiteor fimulque contraria omnia atque haereses quascunque ab ecclesia damnatas rejectas anathematizatas ego pariter damno reijcio anathematizo Hanc veram catholicam fidem extra quam nemo salvus esse potest quam in praesenti sponte profiteor veraciter teneo eandem integram inviolatam vsque ad extremum vitae spiritum constantissimè Deo adiuvante retinere confiteri atque à meis subditis vel illis quorum cura ad me in munere meo spectabit teneri doceri praedicari quantum in me erit curaturum Ego idem N. spondeo voveo ac iuro sic me Deus adiuuet haec sancta Dei Evangelia Onup de vita pont pag. 472. The particular decree concerning Inuocation of Saints and adoration of Images is much inlarged by the Trent Councell and by Pius Quartus But of the equivalency of Idolatry in Rome Heathen and Rome Christian elsewhere at large In this one point to omit others the present Romish Church farre exceeds the Easterne Church in the time of the second Nicene Councell in that it ratifies the worshipping of all such Saints as are canonized by the Pope 3 The second addition made by the Romane Church vnto the ancient canon of faith is a transcendent one and illimited and that is the making of Ecclesiasticall Tradition to be an integrall part of the canon of faith This doth not onely pollute but vndermine the whole fabricke of the holy primitiue and Catholike faith That there is a certaine rule or authentick canon of faith is a principle wherein the ancient primitiue Church the moderne Roman and all reformed Churches agree The first point of difference betwixt vs is about the extent of the written canon specially of the old Testament The maine points of difference are these First we affirme with antiquity and in particular with Vincentius Lirinensis that the canon of Scripture is a rule of faith perfect for quantity and sufficient for qualitie that is it containes all things in it that are necessary to saluation or requisite to be contained in any rule so containes them as they may be beleeued and vnderstood wthout relying on any other rule or authority equivalent to them in certainty or more authentick in respect of vs then the Scriptures are The moderne Romish Church denies the canon of Scripture to bee perfect and compleat in respect of its quantity or sufficient for its quality or efficacy To supply the defect of its quantity they adde Tradition as another part of the same rule homogeneall and equiualent to it for quality To supply the vnsufficiency aswell of canonicall Scriptures as of Tradition in respect of their quality or efficacy towards vs they adde the infallible authority of the present visible Church The former addition of vnwritten Traditions as part of the infallible rule doth vndermine this latter addition of the Churches infallible absolute authority aswell in determining the extent as in declaring the true sense and meaning of the whole rule vtterly puls downe the structure of faith yet when we reiect Ecclesiasticall Tradition from being any part of the rule of faith we doe not altogether deny the authority or vse of it Howbeit that Ecclesiasticall Tradition wherof there was such excellent vse in the Primitiue Church was not