Supremacy over the rest of the Apostles and yet it would not at all help the Popes case to claim that power over the rest of the Churches for if Peter had any such power it was to him as an Apostle neither was he the surviver of the Apostles so that this superiority in him as an Apostle either died with him or els survived in John who was an Apostle and survived Peter and Christ had promised to be with them unto the end of the world so that as long as any of them were living they were to be preferred before any that succeeded the deceased Apostles in their severall Sees and Plantations in respect that S. Paul reckoning the degrees of orders in the Church 1 Cor. 12.28 God ordained some in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers c. Baronius writes that Peter died the 69. year after Christ and that Iohn the Bishop of Ephesus survived him long Rome uncertain in her succession Now if Linus succeeded Peter in the See of Rome or Anacletus or Clemens of which their own stories differ I hope they will not deny that S. John whilest he lived was Superiour to Linus or Clemens otherwise they give the world occasion to laugh at them to think that the Successors of Peter should be above John who was an Apostle that the subordinate should be set above the Superiour the derivative above the Primitive I wonder that the Papists should think the world so stupid and void of Christianity that they should preferre one of her pretended Bishops and if a Bishop there it was by humane Institution before John who was an Apostle by divine right and called by Jesus Christ the only Son of the living God and one on whom the Holy Ghost had vouchsafed to descend and sit upon his head and therefore certainly was to be preferred before any Linus or Anacletus of humane ordination and if at any time after Peter any other was to be preferred before the Bishop of Rome then her succession from Peter by which she claimed her Universall Jurisdiction is quite destroyed Bellarmine lib. 2. de Pontif. cap. 12. and Caâ—â—tan de Jnstitut Pontif. cap. 13. to evade this Argument will have their succession from the fact of Peter inasmuch as Peter was Bishop there and not from the Institution of Christ and so they make their Catholique Church matter of fact not Faith And the better to colour this their assertion they stick not to add that it was by the speciall appointment of Christ that Peter placed his See at Rome and died there and for this they fly to their never failing starting hole the Magazine of Romish Traditions and from thence borrow a story how Christ met Peter as he was flying out of Rome for fear of persecution and admonisht him to return that he might die at Rome and that the very print of their feet as they two talked together is at this day to be seen without the Gates of Rome The first founder of this story is Linus a foolish counterfeit writer as Baronius termes him and should any Christian give up himself to believe this story it were to forfeit his faith he hath in S. Peter and the Catholique Church which believed the profession of Peter to be the Dictates of the Holy Ghost by which is expressely declared that the heavens shall contain him till he come Acts 3.21 Now that he should be so corporeally there as to leave the print of his feet behind him is so much against the Scripture and the tenents of the Primitive Church as I shall shew in the sixteenth chapter that for my part I dare not admit it into my belief Yet suppose that Peter was at Rome and by a Vision was warned to go back to Rome I know not what this can make for the late Successors of Popes in that See to claim their Universall Jurisdiction they have no rule by divine Writ nor Revelation or vision to confirm it to them any further then by humane consent as by consent of Councells grant of Princes and by election of Cardinalls therefore whatsoever is of late acquisition if it be contrary to the rules of Christ given to his Apostles it is not for other Churches to believe and follow it nor to give their obedience to it as matter of Faith for they are built upon Christ the chief Corner-stone and have Apostolicall Foundations as S. John calls the Doctrine of the Apostles and if Christ by Vision warned Peter to go to Rome it cannot be construed that that Vision shall be a warrant for the succeeding Popes to claim the same Prerogatives Peter had in that it appeared to Peter it was to teach him to follow Christ to lay down his life for the profession of the faith in him who spared not his own bloud for the redemption of mankind and is from heaven but these succeeding Bishops are elected by men claim more then ever Peter had giving rules of obedience to others and lording it over Gods Heritage do thereby manifest their calling to be earthly and not true Successors of Peter Peter if he planted his See there it was by Vision from heaven but the late Bishops of Rome they consult with flesh and bloud and by sinister means by strivings contentions and plottings of aspiring and covetous men is the Chair continually furnished with a Patron in so much that a Cicilian Cardinall coming to the Election of a new Pope and finding such a change from the old way which was wont to be with supplications to God for the directions and assistance of his holy Spirit in so great a work and not by the then present practises to wit menaces promises of rewards perfas aut nefas to climbe the Chair ad hunc modum saith he fiunt Romani Pontifices and so departed and retired himself from that Scarlet tribe for ever after And here by the way I beg leave of the Reader to speak a word or two concerning the Cardinalls of Rome though I must confesse it be a little digression from the point but I will be brief and return to the subject matter of this chapter again I could wish to be satisfied by what Authority Paschalls did create the Parish Priests of Rome Cardinalls Of the Order of Cardinals for it is no spirituall order as is confessed in sum Sacrament Rom. Eccles Sect. 154. Cardidalis non est Sacerdos nec habet de jure potestatem absolvendi and it is no honor temporall because not derived from any King or Prince from whom all true titles of honor are derived 'T is true Carolus Magnus had then lately endowed the See of Rome with a Donation of the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Dukedome of Spoletto with some other territories which he annexed to the See for the support of hospitality and to promote the charity of the succeeding Popes of Rome not giving them thereby any Iura regalia as I shall shew anon in the
Creed we whilst we say we believe the holy Catholique Church mean thereby the whole Elect of God as well Saints in heaven as the Church upon earth which is the full body of Christ Ephes 4. and Rom. 12. but they thereby will have Rome understood which as I said was not in being before the Creed was composed and it seems strange to some that the Church of Rome should admit of the following Article to wit the Communion of Saints to extend to the Saints in heaven and will exclude them from the Catholique Church but the reason 's plain for it stands not with the Majesty of the Pope for in admitting the first he loses his headship we being all members of the Catholike Church but by the other his honor is not diminished in respect none are to be reputed Saints but such as are of his own making But if the Doctor will not admit of our definition I hope he will not be against our embracing of his which is this A Church is a Society of those whom God hath called to salvation by the profession of the true Faith and sincere administration of the Sacraments and the adherence to lawful Pastors I wonder what the Doctor means by the society of those that God hath called to salvation by the profession of the true Faith sure he will not deny but that those Societies which were gathered by other Apostles were true Churches as well as those which were gathered by Peter He himself fol. 192. confesses the true Church visible in Ethiopia where the Eunuch which Philip baptized preached the Faith and it is hard he should dâ—ny this to his own mother County which he allowes to Ethiopians especially considering wee as is believed by some received the Faith by the same Apostle Philip. But 't is no great matter we need not stand to the Doctors courtesie herein we have a better warrant then his Concession Act. 20.28 the flocks whereof the holy Ghost made the Elders over-seers is called the Church of Gâ—d Paul ordained Elders and committed charge of Flocks unto them A Christian Society makes a Church c. That the distinct Societies of Christians are called Churches is likewise manifest by severall other places of Scripture 1 Cor. 1. Paul writ to the Church that was at Corinth and to all that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Gal. 1. to the Churches at Galatia Grace c. 1 Thes to the Church of the Thessalonians Col. 1.4 salute the brethren which are of Laodicea and Nymphas and the Church which is in his house Rev. 1.11 there were seven Churches in Asia Ephesus Smyrna Pergamos c. In the same manner Rome may be called a Church if she have a Sociâ—ty of the faithful calling upon the name of Christ Jesus wherefore Peter writing his Epistle from Babylon which the Papists interpret Rome sâ—â—es The Church that is at Bâ—bylon elected together with you saluteth you that is the Saints which dwell here and there dispersed through Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bythinia the society of the Saints of Babylon saluteth the several societies of the Saints of those parts which were severall respective Churches members of the Catholike Church elected together in Christ Jesus So that from these places it is evident that the name of Church is applicable to all Christian Societies whether they be of Peters or any other of the Apostles gathering For the Apostles had equal commission from Christ for the gathering together of the Saints for the work of the Ministry and for the edification of the Body of Christ though in the Church were men of different Gifts as Apostles Teachers Evangelists c. yet the Apostles amongst themselves were equall and their severall plantations coordinate and equal as to any power or Jurisdiction If then we be in the faith of Jesus and have Societies of Christian believers in him we may properly be called a Church and that especially because we are of Apostolical plantation and are not beholding to Rome for that Plantation as coming from Eleutherius successour as they pretend to Peter But if we had our Faith from Rome it came by the means of Paul and certainly we had that Faith long before Eleutherius time as I have already proved in the precedent chapter wherefore we may properly both according to our own and the Doctors definition of a Church assume that title to our selves we being a Society of Christians calling upon the name of Jesus which is called a Church 1 Cor. 1.2 Rome a particular Church and for Rome or any other Church to arrogate more then to be a particular member of the Catholike Church whereof Christ is the Head and Hierusalem which is above free and the mother of us all is Antichristian and abominable especially for Rome that she should stile her self the onely Catholike Church when as Ephesus the See of John and John the surviving Apostle in whom alone survived the Apostleship calls that Church but one of the seven in Asia Rev. 1. Were John Peter or any of the Apostles alive to see to what a lofty pitch ambition has hurried the aspiring Prelates of Rome they would blush to behold such iniquity and reprove any that should call Rome the Catholike Church For alas The Pride of Rome how little doth she resemble Christs Spouse his Church Christs Church was planted in humility Romes Church lords it in Soveraignty Christs Church had her White vest of Innocency Romes Church is clad in her purple of bloud and cruelty how little doth the Scarlet tribe resemble the train of Christ were Peter or any of Christs disciples now at Rome and should see the Pope they would rather take him for Pilate an Officer or Judge of Cesars then for Peter a fisher-man and servant of Jesus and would think his Cardinalls to be rather the Embassadors of Bozra then the Messengers of the Gospel and servants of Christ and should any but assume that Christian boldnes to tel them that their Scarlet Robes did cover and make invisible the Seamlesse coat of Jesus he were in danger of a Councell To such a height of Majesty are they of late aspired that they exercise dominion without restraint little regarding Christs precept to his Apostles the Kings of the Gentiles bear Rule and exercise dominion Vos autem non sic And here by the way I will insert a story of Peter and Simon Magus incertainty of Peter being at Rome Aegesippus lib. 2. de excidio Hierusal cap. 2. reports that Peter came to Rome to withstand Simon Magus 44 Christi Eusebius says he was crucified 36 Christi others that Paul and he together others that Paul was crucified a yeer after and on the same day Prudentius that Paul followed Peter to Rome from which contradictions no certainty of his being there is to be concluded but I return to my story It is said that Simon Magus taking some offence with the Citizens threatned to leave
Council at Ravenna and sentenced the Acts of Pope Steph. which were in a Synod by him decreed to be burned The Council of Constantinople took away the cup which another Council restored and which decree of the Council of Constantinople and the now present practice of Rom's Church in that point is utterly against the doctrine of Christ and the practice of the Apostles and the Primitive Church as I shall shew in the sixteenth Chap. The Council of Nice declared Angels to be circumscriptible and the souls of men and that they have bodies and are visible and circumscriptible which is against the rules of our faith for we believe that God is the Creator of all things visible and invisible and if Angels and Spirits be visible then are there no invisible things as one argues upon this point But I do not much urge this in regard some hold that spirits may assume visible shapes nor doth my argument much rely upon this mistake in that Council I need not rifle much into Councels to pick out contradictory Canons sith the Councils themselves declare they are not infallible insomuch that the whole Council prayeth at the end of every Council in a set form of prayer that God would pardon their ignorance and errors quia conscientia remordente fabescimus c. and because our own conscience accusing us we do faint lest either ignorance hath drawn us into error and hasty will driven us to decline from thy will and pleasure of heavenly Father c. In which it appears that they confess the frailty of that Assembly that it may not onely err in matter of fact through ignorance but in faith also by declining from justice Lame and frivolous therefore are those distinctions Alledged that the contrary decrees of later are but the explications of former Councils by which the Papists would deceive the world that Councils do but declare and explain the meaning of former Councils but do never gainesay any by a contrary decree for the contrary is absolutely proved to you already in that they are diametrically opposite one to another and besides the four first Councils were reputed and taken to be so holy that Gregor the Gr. in regist primo libr. 24. and Masilius def pac dict 2. fol. 229. affirm they are to be believed sacred tanquam quatuor Evangelia and if a later council shall decree any thing contrary to them it shall not be received into the Church How then can the Church of Rome for shame claim universality to her self and supream jurisdiction the Church of Rome being but equal with Alexandria and declared to those Councils sicut Alexandria as I have proved in the second chapter But the Church of Rome by vertue of her new-acquired attributes of universality infallibility and supremacy may declare as she please and none to question her for it and she has her champions with Sophistry to make good whatsoever she proposes and therefore whereas those first councils were accounted sacred by the ancient Fathers even as the four Evangelists and therefore none might add to or diminish from them notwithstanding Rome may by her new prerogatives being declared above Councils do what she please and so upon the matter all Religion is by her made arbitrary we having neither Scripture Fathers nor Councels but must be interpreted by her after her own fancy and no other sence to be received of any thing though never so plaine but what she gives and whatsoever interpretation she makes through never so repugnant to the plaine text words and sense of Scripture Councils and Fathers must not be denyed but understood to be growings and explanations of the first faith spun out of the stock or depositum Ecclesiae with which delusive pretences of her strange contexture drawn from her own Spiders womb she entangles the lesser and small flies but the more sollid break the net of her artificial cunning and leave her in the snare she prepares for others and hereupon she has in the Council of Milan added a new Symbole of faith to the Nicene Creed which she cals new rules of faith which indeed are new articles of faith Explanations of Councils as common under one kind worshiping images supremacy c. which cannot be as they would have them understood explanations for explanations are declarative illustrations of a truth involved in some former article and not additions of a doctrine newly conceived for truth I allow that out of the depositum Ecclesiae Depositum Ecclesiae as the Doctor says fol. 123. there may be growings in faith and knowledge and new articles imposed upon the people by representatives in collective or Provincial Councels which upon new questions and disputes may resolve being the proper interpreter and reconciler of differences and by the authority of Scriptures frame new articles which before were not thought of as occasion to that purpose may be administred and having framed such articles by authority of the Church may deliver them to be received as matters of faith by which the people by the approbation of the civil magistrate of the respective jurisdictions are bound But if those be contrary to what former Councils have resolved it proves their decrees peccant as Romes supremacy by the Laterne and Trent Councils as against the first Councils of Nice and Constontinople or if those new rules or articles of faith be not warranted by Scripture they are not binding to absent provincials as I shall shew in the twelfth Chapter for it is cleer and evident that the Scripture is above the authority of any Council that ever was since the Apostles Council at Jerusalem and it self doth in matters of points necessary judge it self Infra 102.112 as is in that Chapter plainly proved though all those points were not at first digested into a Symbole of faith Scriptures above Councils For if by authority of explanation the Church represented in ordinary councils shall not be bound by Scripture so that she shall not frame new rules contrary to the plaine letter of those points of our salvation the Holy Ghost has set down in the Scriptures we do then submit the whole matter of our salvation unto the power of humane judgements and so make void the dictates of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures at the wils and discretions of mortal men which though they were Angels sent from heaven in that case are not to be believed shall they teach contrary to that the Apostles here delivered therefore I say because all points of salvation may not be methodized into a certaine Symbole and rule of faith the Church as occasion may require may out of the treasure of the Scriptures take new rules but those rules must not impugne the plain letter of Scripture which because such a Council is fallible must be made the square and rule to judge that Council by Now because God has promised his Spirit to his Church and Councils are the representation of
Churches and for that it is more probable that they shall decree according to the rule of Scripture which every private man in charity ought to think and therefore to incline himself to follow the rules she shall prepose I will shew how far a Council is Binding It doth not destroy the Church of Christ universally to say that a General Council may err For concerning the true faith of Christ it is already made known by the preaching of the Apostles to most parts of the known world which faith God will have in some part of the world till the dissolution thereof for as I have already said at one instant of time Christs Church shall not be universally invisible The Councils of Laterane By the erring of the General Councils the universal Church doth not err Trent Milan and Nice may err from the faith they had formerly received But this doth not prove a universal falling away and any other Councel that of latter times hath been cannot assure it self upon the promise of Christ's Spirit that it is infallible because not collective of all parts where the faith of Christ is preached which if it were so collective it argued infidelity of any private Church to distrust their rules For in such a condion as they are representive of the universal Church they have the same Spirit with them the Apostles had and though but men yet by vertue of that Spirit became infallible in their judicial decrees of Articles and Rules of faith But such a Council was never gathered since the Council of Jerusalem therefore the later Councils being but representive of particular Churches as those particular Churches may err so these Councils may err For as much as since the Apostles Councils Who shall tax the Councils of errors there was never any Council which was collective of the universal Church and so had the assurance of Christs Spirit It is requisite that every provincial who by suffragan vote is not represented there shall examine within his own jurisdiction how the rules of such Council agree to the Scriptures which he is already assured are of the Holy Ghost and in themselves prime verities and to walk according as Gods Spirit shal give him to understand those Scriptures he being within his own charge and territory made a dispensor of those sacred oracles and as for any private man he is to be guided by the rules of the particular Church of which he is a member without openly taxing his mother-Church of error I do not infer hereby that because there has not lately been How provincials are bound by a collective Councel or because that it is very difficult if not impossible to have a general Council collective of all Christian Churches that therefore every provincial Council has the same efficacy of decreeing that a General Council collective of many provinces hath For according to the Council of Antioch 14. Can. and Carthage 19. Can. I approve of provincials appealing one to another to decide controversies and to bring the the neighbor provinces into unity of faith that they may support one another by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace Ephes 4. and that it is convenient that such provincicals as are represented in such a Council should acquiesce in the result of that council so convened but not to conclude that such councils are infallible for that because they proceed upon humane judgements not being assured of the Holy Ghost by Christs promise to his Church in respect they are not a perfect representation of that Catholique Church and as the Scripture is to be the guide to any Council so more especially shall it be a rule to others by which the absent provincials are to examine the rules of that Council As for the several provincials and Sees then by suffragan vote represented I hold it fit for them to acquiesce in the result of such a collective Council wherefore for the further illustration of this point I hold it necessary to add a Chapter of the constitutions of Councils thereby the better to lay open this point of Romes errors in her ascribing to her See infallibility CHAP. X. Wherefore general Councils are called of their power that they are above the Pope and how they are of later times by the abuses of the Pope made of none effect I Look upon a general Council with that respect and reverence The conveniency of Ceneral Councils that I account her the Bulwark of Christian Churches the Tower of defence against the enemies thereof the hill whereon Christs City is built in whose heavenly top ariseth a fountain of unity which sends forth such irresistible streams that with the advantage of that Rise from whence they descend they beat back any muddy inundations of error which Satan the prince of the aire sends down to trouble her channels and notwithstanding any rubbish which by his industry shall be cast in their ways to dam and straiten their course they with the supplies they receive from this inexhaustible source beat down those malicious obstructions and in spight of all opposition of evil angels smoothly glide away unto the pacifick sea I look upon her as a bundle of arrows not easily broke from whose quiver the particular Churches are compleatly armed to resist the fiery darts of Satan In brief I honor respect love and in all humility reverence her and when I consider her in her right constitution I hold my self obliged in a tye of indispensible obedience to conform and submit to whatsoever rules of faith she shall constitute and appoint I account her the mother of the particular Churches there represented betwixt whom there is an harmonious intercourse of reciprocal love and duty she to acquit her obligations provides for her daughters their portions food raiment Heavenly Manna Christ's seamless coate and her daughters to discharge their duty return her a tribute of honor and obedience Thus and no otherwise do I look upon her These are her just and proper attributes and who without regret can consider that this beauteous Lady the mistris and mother of us all should through adulteries and her late Apostacies have dethroned her self from this her so glorious and Celestial estate she to forsake her husband Christ and to go a whoring after her own inventions by which she has contracted such black spots of lepresie upon her ruddy cheeks that she is no more white and ruddy the fairest of ten thousand she is no more the beloved of Christ and the fairest amongst women she with the Jews has chosen Barabbas and cast off her husband Christ her inner roomes are the chambers of death into which Solomon enters and commits fornication with her She has taken the divels counsel and thrown her self from off the Pinacles of the Temple and forsaking the house of the Lord she has erected a house which is the way unto the Grave her house tendeth to death and her paths unto
or if the Popes genius cannot see far enough to advance the Papal Throne they will in his name and by his authority make Scriptures Infra 12 Chap. Councils and Fathers noses of wax make the dead Fathers speak things they never thought or uttered and put new faces upon the old Fathers and Councils As for example S. Fathers Councils a bused by the Popes Parasites Austin de civitate Dei lib. 15. cap. 23. speaking of Canonical Scripture says Those Scriptures are to be taken for Canonical which the most part of the Christian churches so take amongst which those Churches be that deserve to have Apostolike Sees and to receive Epistles from the Apostles the word Sees is turned into See as I have already alleadged Ante Ch. 2 The sixth canon of the first Council of Nice which made Rome equal with Alexandria is corrupted and fifty false canons are added to the twenty canons of the same Council and the Jesuites would hereby perswade the world that his Holiness supremacie which was shortened by the Fathers of the Nicene Council being alive is enlarged by his Holiness they being dead and contrary that Council his Holiness gives leave to Abbots to consecrate Bishops which Abbots are not quatenus Abbots infra sacros ordines and contrary to the fifth canon he absolveth those that are excommunicated by other Bishops Contrary to the sixth canon he invades the Diocesses of other Patriarchs which Eutiches condemned in the Council of Chalcedon He believeth that Christ hath a body neither solid nor palpable nor like to ours for such is that transubstantiated body he maintains to be in the Sacrament He has further abused the Fathers of the Chalcedon Council who being alive said Let the See of Constantinople be as well advanced as the See of Rome being the next unto it which words are filthily corrupted by a negative added to the last words Let her not be advanced in matters Ecclesiastical as she let her be the next unto it So in like manner he hath abused the eight and twentieth canon of the Council of Carthage speaking how the Churches of Africa should not appeal beyond seas he has added this clause Vnless it be to the See of Rome I might instance a thousand more of the like nature but these particulars may serve to give a light unto their dark proceedings Hercules is known by his foot and by this brief epitome of the Church of Rome's tricks and juglings for note Reader where thorowout the Book I name the Pope I thereby generally understand the Church of Rome with Fathers and Councils you may ghess what multitudes of errours and wrongs she daily commits not making conscience to abuse the dead Fathers which were they alive could not think much at it because the dictates of the holy Ghost the Scripture it self is not free from his abuses in points that contradict his new profitable tenents and to make the Rules of Councels stand upon new pantables which his Holiness has shod them with to make them tread Papal measures in To this pass are general Councels come those of old speak new language those of later times teach things contrary to the old nor are these modern Councels free in their Constitutions every member thereof must be engaged by Oath to maintain the Pope in his new-usurped priviledges and should they freely debate and decree any thing yet it is to no purpose being subject to alteration controlment or denial of his Holiness and therefore since they are brought to this pass who will give ear to their Edicts or honour them as a Representative of several Churches united in that body sith thus by the practice of the Church of Rome general Councels are brought into this servile condition and made subordito the Pope it behoves Provincials to reform themselves and to call Provincial councils to that purpose and no longer to expect the decision of Controversies from a General Council which is thus made servile to the Pope to decree to please the people but in no ways to displease the Pope Sith then General Councils are brought to this pass I say it behoves Provincials as they tender the purity of doctrine delivered by Christ and the dictates of the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Apostles to be preserved in the several Churches of Christ without being perverted to please the humours of men To cast off these wicked designers of the Churches slavery and introducers of errour and innovation and to desire the assistance of the holy Spirit of God to direct them in their own respective Provincial Councils which they may by the example of the Primitive Churches and by authority of the first Councils lawfully convene without any Rule or Order from the See of Rome for their so doing and no longer unless those things may be amended and that they have sufficient assurance thereof from the See of Rome to appeal to any General Councels called by the Pope CHAP. XI That there may be Provincial Councils called without the Popes approbation which councils have power to reform Schisms and Heresies and may enjoyn Rules of Faith which the people by the consent of the civil Magistrate are bound to obey and especially that the church of England hath this power THat the Metropolitanes of distinct Provinces have power to call Councils for reformation of any Schisms or decision of any Questions or Doubts in Religion it was the practice of the Primitive Churches and if the Pope of Rome have any preeminence of Jurisdiction in order to Councils it was but derived from the power of Councels as I have proved before and therefore the same power giving authority to other Provincials to call Councils they are not debarred of this priviledge by any Order or Decree of the Church of Rome they not being under her jurisdiction or power especially those Provincials which were not by Suffragans represented in the late Laterane and Trent-Councils which gave this supremacy over Councils to the Pope And that this was granted to all Metropolitanes of distinct Provinces may appear by these ensuing presidents and warrants so to do By the General Councils of Chalcedon the 19 Canon it is decreed Quod oporteat per Provinciales bis in anno Concilia celebrare and this is likewise agreed by the Council of Antioch can 20. and by the first Council of Nice and by the the 18 Canon of the Council of Antioch that one Bishop should not meddle in the Diocess of another and herewith agrees the first Council of Constantinople Can. 2. Provincial Councils and several Provincials to meet in one with out the Popes approbation By the Council of Carthage Can. 19. if any difference arose it was to be referred to the Metropolitan of the Province who should call the Bishops of his Province together and if they could not resolve the doubt it was to be transmitted to a General Council and if any party thought himself agrieved at
if it be hid it is hid unto them that are lost whom the God of this world hath blinded â—hat the light of the Gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ should not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. For it is plain by the Scripture that Jesus was the Christ Acts 18.28 And Joh. 5. The Father hath sent the Son and his works bear witness of him and the Scriptures testifie of him God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost the Comforter his Passion Resurrection Ascension and the coming of the holy Ghost being so plainly preached and set down that a man may read them running and this Word endureth for ever and this Word is preached unto us 1 Pet. 1.25 And Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life and what need we any more This is eternal life to know the Father and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 He is the Way the Truth and the Life We believe that thou art Christ the Son of the ever-living God and thou hast the words of eeternal life Joh. 5.68 Hence S. Austin lib. de doctr Christianae cap. 9. did affirm that all things pertaining to mans salvation are plain and easie to be understood And Chrysostome upon 2 Thessal 2. Hom. 3. Omnia plana sunt sunt eÌ„x divinis Scripturis quaecunque necessaria sunt manifesta sunt It is not therefore an idle and presumptuous doctrine in the Church of England to maintain this since we have both authority of Scripture and the Fathers for the same Nor do we hereby rob the Church of her authority to judge of and determine controversies and those things that are doubtful in the Scriptures There are some things of Discipline and pertaining to Manners in which the Scriptures may be doubtful or not easie for every capacity to understand and for those it is fit the Church should determine them and having determined them to impose them by the Princes authority as Rules of faith upon the people and so teaches the Church of England in the twentieth Article Lay-men to read Scripture But the main things necessary to our salvation concerning our faith to be grounded upon Jesus the Son of the ever-living God the author and finisher of our faith those as I said before are clear and manifest and though Angels from heaven should teach any other doctrine they are to be accursed Gal. 1. Wherefore sith this is plain and manifest in Scripture that Jesus gave himself for our sins and whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life and for that this faith is given by the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 12. Phil. 1.29 2 Pet. 1.3 and Matth. 16.17 and is the gift of God and no man hath it of himself for flesh and blood doth not reveal it and for that Christ has prescribed the way how and by what means we shall obtain this gift even by searching the Scriptures Rom. 10 It must needs be a grievous and intolerable sin in the Church of Rome to debar the people of this means to attain this precious jewel the salvation of their souls Upon these grounds do we allow the Laytie to read the Scripture but we do not hereby give them liberty to interpret it according to their will and humour They may in them finde Jesus to be the life everlasting the Spirit giving them faith and therefore must not be debarred the means But they are not allowed in points of difficulties to be their own interpreter but to repair to the Fathers of the Church to declare the meaning of those Oracles of God to whom it is given by the power of the holy Ghost to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God Matth. 13.11 For which end Christ has commended the Scriptures to the Church that she may discern keep and publish them Christ opened the Scriptures to his disciples Luke 24. and they preached it to all nations The Apostle Paul 1 Tim. 3. calls the Truth the fountain of the Church and the Church the pillar of Truth as Solomon made his Chariots to have a golden axletree and pillars of silver understanding by the axletree says one sound doctrine by the pillars the faithful teachers of the same The Scripture is the truth of God and the Church the house of God the Scripture the foundation the Church the pillar and the foundation is not sustained by the pillar but the pillar supported of the foundation Truth makes the Church not the Church the Truth We are to observe the Scripture as it were the Candle the Church as the Candlestick according as S. Austin upon Gal. 1. says Church how to interpret The Scriptures are not true because the Church says they are the Word of God but the testimony of the Church is true because they are the Word of God Now as we ascribe to our Church this priviledge of interpretation of difficult and obscure places Scriptures above Councels â—nte Chap. 9. we do not either deprive Rome of her right or too much extol our own Church Nor do we hereby make void the Laytie's reading of Scripture The Laytie may read it because the main points are easie and it is the means to obtain faith as well as by hearing the Church in those points that are easie and it is the way enjoyned by God to attain faith as well as by preaching and he has promised his Spirit to those that seek him earnestly and with unfeigned lips And when it shall please God by their reading to give them of his holy Spirit that Spirit will guide them to come to the Church to be informed in those things they understand not or shall the Church understand that through weakness they misunderstand any point in those Scriptures and she shall reprove them the same Spirit guiding them into the way of Truth will lead them to hearken to the dispensers of the sacred Oracles And if the Church shall deliver any thing which to other Churches may seem strange and not satisfactory she as I said before in the precedent Chapter will call a Synod and if there the business receive not an absolute and satisfactory resolution to submit the business to a General Council rightly constituted and free in it self And in the mean time if our Church offend the Church of Rome for that she differs from her in any particular let her make her self capable to reform by a General Councel by taking off the slavery that lies upon it by the Popes Canonical Law and we shall submit our Church to the free debate in a perfect Council to decide the points wherein we differ otherwise the Church of Rome might seem to have just cause to accuse us for that we cast off the discipline of the Primitive Churches as to that particular but in the mean time upon the former recited texts of Scripture upon the authority of
after Christ and hereupon he has quite spoyled the Doctor for by this means he has hudwinkt his marks of Romes truth to wit Antiquity Universality Unity in Doctrine c. But my Cardinal thinks to salve up this errour by another trick and that almost as gross as this onely this reflects upon the Divinity that upon the Apostles personally He takes upon him to make known to us what was the secret opinion of Peter and Paul c. which have suffered for Religion to wit that they suffered because they wanted power to resist not that it was the will of God they should do so and so he makes the blessed Apostles and holy Martyrs dissemblers speaking one thing and thinking another For saith he as soon as a Prince begins to appear heretical ipso facto though Excommunication be not denounced he shall be put from his Kingdom for as Fame so Heresie gathers strength by going forward Which Axiome of his is verified in this for that since he wrote Bellarmine plows with his heifer and perswades the same Doctrine So that hereby S. Paul is accused of dissimulation That he should bid the Romanes obey for fashion-sake to please the times and so he makes the blessed Apostle an object of scorn not pity That he should be a time-server and yet play his cards so badly that he could not humour Domitius Nero better Is it likely that the Apostles would have commanded others to pray for them if they would have taken their blood if they could Unless these Cardinals would have them like the Presbyters of England who prayed for King Charles whilst their Armies kept him in prison or like Charles the fifth who commanded prayers to be made for Clement the seventh his deliverance and suffered his own Bands to confine him Is it likely S. Peter preaching the Word would bid them submit which Word he said should endure for ever 1 Pet. 1.25 even that Word which was preached amongst them if he knew that it was lawful for them to resist if they had power This were to ascribe want of faith to Peter that God would never deliver his Church out of the hands of Persecutors but suffer her to be always under Tyrants or else that Peter taught one thing and thought another And why should both Peter and Paul press this duty of obedience and submission and that not for wrath but for conscience sake were it lawful to resist This affertion of the Cardinal is therefore gross and impious It is plain by the Scripture that this duty of submission to the Civil power was a precept enjoyned by God not proceeding from any fear the production of a base nature And whenas Paul and Peter did practise and recommend this duty to others it was to give a testimony of their faith in Jesus who as he had laid down his life for them who wanted no power to have withstood the Jews he might have commanded legions of Angels to have come and rescued him out of their hands in obedience to the will of the Father so they as obedient sons of Christ Jesus whom he had in his blood adopted would according to his precepts and example lay down their lives for the testimony of the Gospel Solomon forbade that any should curse the King secretly in his conscience which sure he never would have done if it had been lawful having power to cast him off Saint Jude calls them filthy dreamers that speak evil of Government and despise such as be in Authority I wonder what he would think of those two Cardinals were he alive who would have the Pope drive Kings out of their Kingdomes if he can There are some Roman Catholicks who being with Agrippa half perswaded to be Christians and being touched in Conscience decline these gross absudities of Allen and Bellarmine as being pernitious and tending to the injury of Christ and his A postles and the holy Scripture and in that injurious to the holy Ghost Scripture being nothing else but the dictates of that holy Spirit But yet for all that they are so bewitched to the Roman Faith out of a blind conceit of its Antiquity and therefore of its truth that they will not leave her but strive to justifie her in all things and to excuse this point for that it is a point controverted by some of their owne Church and not yet decreed by any publique Councel nor ever must it be decided may the Pope chuse Besides should it be referred to a Councel there is no credit to be given to the result of that Councel for that none must sit there but such as first must swear to maintain the Pope in the very point to be controverted and so it would be coram non judice or if it should be decreed against his holiness yet by the prerogatives Spiritual of his late Laterane and Trent-assemblies he might notwithstanding repeal that Decree or chuse to obey it for that he is by them declared to be above Councels And till this be rectified this error can receive no reformation from a Councel nor can any satisfaction from thence redound to clear the scruples of any mans conscience in this particular In the mean time Popery is like the Religion of the Pharisees Councels declare one thing de fide the Pope is found contrary de facto so that as our Saviour said of the Pharisees Matth. 23.3 so say I of these Roman Catholicks All that such a Councel should so decree observe and keep but after their works do not for they say and do not The last shift that the Jesuites have to maintain this point of Papal prerogative is The Pope 〈◊〉 a temporal Prince that the Pope is more then the Apostles having acquired a Principality on earth and so by Jus belli he may pull downe one Prince and set up another for say they the Apostles had no charge but onely to preach the Gospel but his holiness the Pope has other fish to fry then what Saint Peter left him he is a temporal Prince he weares a triple Crown he disposes of Kingdomes Crowns Emperours Grants Dispensations sends Indulgences receives Appeals answers Ambassadours takes Homages releases Oaths dissolves Leagues interposes in the Election of Princes has an Emperour to hold his stirrop bring up his first dish a King to serve him at Dinner and many a glorious matter more which Saint Peter never dreamed on so that for him to depose Kings he being more then ever Peter was is no such a strange thing To which I answer 'T is strange so great a Potentate should be thrust up into so little a Corner of the Earth as the Territories of the Papacie are and yet that his Jurisdiction over other Princes should be of such vast latitude I perswade my self that as our Saviour said a Prophet is nothing worth in his owne Country so the Popes power is made more glorious afar off then it is in Italy taken to be whence it is that
significantly there present then they agree with us but if really in the bread then we do not concur in opinion with them for the reasons afore in pare rehearsed and for other reasons hereafter following I might instance many particular reasons against this Romish errour of Transubstantiation as that 1. Nothing was broken eaten drunken and chawed but the accidents of the body because they deny the bread and wine to be the visible elements which is against Reason and all authority or else if they will have a body there That it is without accidents and so they must either make accidents without substances or substances without accidents 2. When the bread mouldeth and turneth into worms or the wine sowreth or turneth into vinegar it is the bread mouldeth and the wine that sowreth Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever Therefore are the bread and wine substantially there and if they were but accidents then no body could be made thereof as worms or material vinegar 3. Let a dog or cat c. eat of that bread and he is nourished thereby which could not be if the substance remained not 4. The Scripture calleth them bread and wine after consecration which are names of substance not of accidents which if substance remained not it were a meer illusion of our senses and so we with the Jews make Christ a Jugler making things appear to our outward senses which are not 5. The Sacrament had a beginning and hath an end put to it it is to be received in remembrance of Christs death till he come and then to cease Wherefore there can be no real transubstantiated presence of Christ for he is from eternity to eternity 6. If there be a transubstantiated body of Christ then is Christ every day new made and as many Wafers as many Christs which is impossible for his substantial body to be in several places either in the several Wafers or the several places of consecration at one and the same instant of time 7. This doctrine doth impugn the consent of the ancient Catholike Church which de fide professeth and believeth Christ to be made of the nature and substance of his blessed mother and therefore not every day to be made anew of the substance of bread and wine for if it were so then the same body that was crucified is not eaten or else that body which was crucified was made of bread and wine which is flat blasphemy against the holy Ghost by whose operation Christ was made and born of the flesh of his mother and suffered upon the Cross for the salvation of all believers Which Christ is no otherwise joyned to the elements in this Sacrament but Sacramentally as the holy Ghost in Baptism is joyned to the water not that the holy Spirit is made of the substance of the water or the water turned into the holy Ghost 8. It is against the express Scripture and Symbole of Faith grounded upon that Scripture which teaches that Christ concerning his body and humane nature is in heaven We believe that he was conceived of the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead buried that he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father from whence he shall come to judge both quick and dead Christ said to his disciples I leave the world Joh. 16. and Mat. 26. Ye shall ever have poor folks with you but me ye shall not have always Mark 16. He was taken up into heaven and sits at the right hand of his Father Col. 1.3 Heb. 8. and Heb. 10. He sits continually at the right hand of God And Saint Peter Act. 3. faith that the heavens shall contain him until the time that all things shall be restored And Christ himself gave warning of this errour aforehand in Matth. 24. saying The time will come when there shall be many deceivers in the world which shall say Here is Christ and there is Christ but believe them not Thus the whole current of the Scripture makes against this Romish errour of Transubstantiation And because the Papists may not object against us that it is a novel interpretation or our mis-understanding of Scripture in this point I will make it manifest that the Primitive Church never taught this doctrine of Transubstantiation but were utterly against it as may appear by the testimony of these ancient Fathers Origen upon Matthew Tract 33. The Fathers against Transubstantiation saith Christ hath two natures God and Man as God he is with us always unto the end of the world as man he is not He is gone hence and absent in his Humanity but is always present in his Divinity S. Austin in his Epist 55. ad Dardanium Christ as concerning his Manhood is now there from whence he shall come to judge both quick and dead and as he ascended so shall he come in the self-same form and substance to the which he gave immortality but thereby did not change the nature Now saith he after this form we must not say that he is everywhere for we must take heed saith he that we do not so stablish his Divinity that we take away the verity of his body Cyril upon S. John lib. 6. cap. 14. Christ took away from hence the presence of his body but in the majesty of his Godhead he is everywhere he according to his promise is with his disciples even unto the end of the world S. Ambrose upon Luke lib. 10. cap. 24. We must not seek Christ upon earth but in heaven where he sits at the right hand of God And S. Gregory in Hom. Pasch saith Christ is not here in the presence of his flesh and yet as he is God he is absent nowhere by the presence of his majestie all unanimously and Apostolike being of one consent in this that Christ as touching his humanity is onely in heaven at the right hand of God And particularly these Fathers following are absolutely against this very point of Transubstantiation Justinus The Fathers against Transubstantiation an ancient Writer and holy Martyr who wrote about an hundred yeers after Christ in his second Apologie saith that the bread and wine in the Sacrament are not to be taken as other meats and drinks be they being purposely ordained to give thanks to God in and therefore be called Eucharistia and be called the body and blood of Christ and yet the same meat and drink be changed into our flesh and blood and nourish our bodies By which it is plain that the substance of the elements remain because saith he they are changed into flesh and blood and nourish our bodies Irenaeus contr Valent. lib. 1. c. 4. who wrote about 150 yeers after Christ and was a disciple of Polycarpus who was a disciple of John the Evangelist says The bread wherein we give thanks to God hath two things
must we admit that they taught any thing contrary to what they writ they had the Holy Ghost that never-erring Spirit that did lead them into all truth and could not at one time write one thing and after teach another We allow that they did deliver traditions to the people but Saint Peter in his 1 Epist 1.25 tells us it was the word of the Lord that was preached amongst them for nothing contrary to that was preached and delivered and that the people were bound to observe all things they did teach by the commandment of God Mat. 28.20 and therefore Saint Paul enjoynes the Thessalonians 2 Thess 2.15 to hold fast the traditions they had learned whether by word or Epistle The old Testament was delivered by the Jews and confirmed by Christ and his Apostles and therefore the Church of Rome did embrace that and reject the other traditional books of the Jews which were not by Moses written or by Christ approved of Now we make bold in this to follow her example if the Church of Rome have any traditions which are not repugnant to the written word we shall not disallow of them but if they make against that with the Evangelists and the Apostles have delivered to us in writing which writing we approve in our Judgement as the infallible oracles of God we by her own eâ—ample as rejecting those traditions of the Jews which were not consonant to the written law of Moses or approved of by Christ and likewise by warrant of Christ not to leane to the traditions of men and to cast off the commandments of God desire to be excused for not embracing every tradition the Church of Rome would obtrude upon us and we perswade our selves that sith she hath rejected the traditions of the Jews because not warranted by the written word she cannot be so impartial to deny us the same liberty to reject her traditions upon the same score and that the rather because she hath not so good a ground for her traditions as the Jews had in respect Moses talked with God face to face Exod. 33. Besides the Jews traditions were certaine and reduced into writing by the late Rabbins and therefore the Church of Rome might better have embraced them then think that we shall follow hers which are daily of new invention After the destruction of Jerusalem and scattering of the Jews Papist traditions uncertaine one Rabbi Juda Hannasi got leave of Antoninus to assemble the people and because the books of their old traditions were utterly lost and perished they then being met writ all that they could remember The Jews Talmud calling it Mischna that is Deuteronomy or a Law reiterated which was a memorial of their Cabala or traditional law which collections of theirs were afterward Anno Christi 219. by Rabbi Jochanan enlarged and called the Talmud which Talmud was after Anno Christi 500. perfected and received as a Rule in all cases Ecclesiastical and civil So that the Jews having thus reduced their traditions into certainty it were more reasonable for the Church of Rome to embrace them then to think that we shall hand over head accept of her ever-growing traditional rules which are not held forth in any certainty to us but every day upon colour of Church-traditions she plays an Affrican trick and brings out new monsters so that I may say it is as easie to make a gown for the Moon as for any man to think he can keep and observe her traditional rules The variety of her strange production in this particular might serve to cloy the appetite of any that should desire to render himself obedient to her rules but the vanity of them and their contrariety to Gods word doth more especially and justly detaine every good Christian for being her superstitions proselyte to embrace them and eâ—pecially those Christians which are not within her jurisdictions nor belonging unto his charge Amongst whom I may rank our English Church which being of Apostolical foundation and in power and Church-authority equal with the Church of Rome and for that the Law of God was as well extended to other Churches and particularly to her as to Rome as I have proved in the second and fourth Chapters may in that respect as well prescribe traditional law to the Church of Rome as she should send forth her historical edicts to England Yet lest some may think that if uppon this score we cast off her traditions we do but thereby evade the question of validity and authority of her traditions in themselves as they are by her held forth unto the world I will therefore make it evident that neither those of her own Church and province nor the Romane Catholicks of other Kingdomes are bound or ought to receive and embrace whatsoever traditions the Church of Rome shall hold forth to them as being so imposed upon them to be received for matter of faith I have in some measure in the former Chapter treated upon the authoâ—ity and excellency of Scriptures wherein I have shewed that she is the ground and foundation of the Church and if so then it follows that whatsoever tradition the Church shall deliver as matter of Doctrine must either stand upon this ground-work or else â—t is a paper-building an airey peece a black cloud of humane condensing hurried to and fro by contrary winds â—ill the loosly-contracted vapour dash â—t self upon this rock of Christ and â—â—ke smoak vanish into nothing She â—s the touchstone must distinguish the gold from the drossy and courser peeces of Rom's treasure she is the Fan must winnow and purge the floor of the Churches granary from all chaff and light corn and from those Tares which being cast into her field by Satan sprung together with her better graine And hereupon the good Emperor Constantine as it is recorded in the Ecclesiastical History lib. 1. cap. 7. did say That seeing the Evangelical and Apostolical books and the Oracles of the Old Testament do plainly teach us any thing that we ought to know or learn concerning God whether concerning his Divine Nature as Saint Luke useth the words Acts 17.25 Or his attributes and qualities as Saint Peter applies it 2 Pet. 1.5 Or his Law and Religion as the penner of Maccabees takes it 2 Mac. 4.7 Away therefore with all strife and seek for the solution of these matters out of the Scriptures inspired by God himself And herewith agreeth Bellarmine Tom. 1. Col. 2. saying That the books of the Prophets and Apostles are the true word of God and the sure and true rule of our faith And as I said before in the precedent Chapter All things necessary to our salvation are contained in the Scriptures It is true indeed that in the Scriptures we do not finde any mention of Peter being Bishop of Rome or of the Assumption of Mary the mother of Jesus nor can we finde by Scriptures that Saint Luke was a Painter or that Nicodemus had so much