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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	authority_n	church_n	infallible_a	2,008	5	9.8493	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59792	A brief discourse concerning the notes of the church with some reflections on Cardinal Bellarmin's Notes.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing S3266; ESTC R17733	13,593	26

A BRIEF DISCOURSE Concerning the NOTES OF THE CHURCH With some REFLECTIONS on Cardinal BELLARMIN's Notes LICENSED April 6. 1687. JO. BATTELY LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII A BRIEF DISCOURSE Concerning the Notes of the CHURCH c. IF Cardinal Bellarmin had not told us That this is a most profitable Controversie I should very much have wondered at that pains which he and so many other of their great Divines have taken to find out the Notes of the Church For is not the Catholick Church visible And if we can see which is this Church what need we guess at it by marks and signs and that by such marks and signs too as are matter of dispute themselves Cannot we distinguish between the Christian Church and a Turkish Mosque or Jewish Synagogue or Pagan Temple Cannot we without all this ado distinguish a Christian from a Turk or a Jew or a Pagan And it will be as easie to find out a Christian Church as it is to find out Christians for a Christian Church is nothing else but a Society of Christians united under Christian Pastors for the Worship of Christ and where ever we find such a Society as this there is a Christian Church and all such particular or National Churches all the World over make up the whole Christian Church or the Universal Church of Christ. But this will not do the Cardinal's business Though the Christian Church is visible enough yet not such a Church as he wants For since there are a great many Christian Churches in the World as the Greek the Armenian the Abyssine the Roman Church he would find out which of these Churches is the Catholick Church which after all their shuffles they can never make any better sense of than which of the Parts is the Whole Since there are many unhappy disputes among Christians the use of Notes is to find out an Infallible Church which must by an indisputable authority dictate to all other Churches what they must believe and what they must practise and to bring all other Churches into subjection they must find out a Church out of whose Communion there is no pardon of sin no Eternal life to be had That is in short the use of Notes is to prove the Church of Rome to be the only Catholick Church the only Infallible Oracle of Faith and final Judg of Controversies and that the promises of Pardon of Sin and Eternal Life are made only to the Church of Rome and to those other Churches which are in subjection to her Thus Bellarmine unriddles this matter that the usefulness of this Inquiry after the Notes of the true Church is because in the true Church only there is the true Faith the true remission of sins the true hope of eternal salvation which is certainly true that all this is to be had only in the true Church of Christ. For there can be no true Church without the true Faith and no remission of sins nor hope of salvation out of the true Church But then all the Churches in the World which profess the true faith of Christ are such true Churches But this will not do the business neither for it is not enough to know that every true Church professes the true Faith but we must find out such a Church as cannot err in the Faith and has authority to correct the Faith of all other Churches and we must allow the pardon of sin and eternal life to be had in no other Church but this which is the only thing which can make such a Church the Mistress of all other Churches and this Church must be the Church of Rome or else the Cardinal is undone with all his Notes and Marks of the Church The observing this gives us the true state of this Controversie which is not what it is which makes a Church a true Church which is necessary for all Christians to know that they may take care that nothing be wanting in their Communion which is essential to a true Church which is the only use of Notes that I know of but the dispute is how among all the divisions of Christendom we may find out that only true Church which is the Mistress of all other Churches the only Infallible Guide in Matters of Faith and to which alone the promises of pardon and salvation are made and by some Notes and Characters of such a Church to prove that the Church of Rome is that Church The first of these is what the Protestants intend in those Notes they give of the true Church to show what it is which is essential to the being and constitution of a Christian Church for that and none else is a true Church which has all things essential to a true Church The second is what the Papists intend by their Notes of a Church to prove that the Church of Rome is the only true Church and some brief remarks upon both these ways will abundantly serve for an Introduction to a more particular examination of Cardinal Bellarmin's Notes of the Church which is the only design of these Papers It is no wonder that Papists and Protestants differ so much about the Notes of the true Church since the questions which each of them intend to answer by their several Notes so vastly differ When you ask a Protestant What are the Notes of a true Church He answers to that question What it is which is essential to a true Church or what it is which makes a Church a true Church that is What a true Church is And examines the truth of his Church by the essential marks and properties of a Church When you ask a Papist for Notes of a true Church he answers to that question Which is a true Church and thinks to point you out to a true Church by some external marks and signs without ever inquiring what it is which is essential to a Church and this he must of necessity do according to his principles for he can know nothing of Religion till he has found the Church from which he must learn every thing else Let us consider then which of these is most reasonable First To begin with the Protestant way of finding out the Church by the essential properties of a true Church Such as the profession of the true Christian Faith and the Christian Sacraments rightly and duly administred by persons rightly ordained according to the Institution of our Saviour and the Apostolical practise This is essential to a true Church for there can be no true Christian Church without the true Christian Faith and Christian Sacraments which cannot be rightly administred but by Church-Officers rightly and duly Ordained The Regular Exercise of Discipline is not necessary to the being of the Church but to the purity and good government of it This is the sum of what the Protestants alledg for the Notes of the true Church and these are as infallible Notes of

Church As for the true interpretation of Scripture that we cannot understand what it is without the Church this I also deny The Scriptures are very intelligible to honest and diligent Readers in all things necessary to salvation and if they be not I desire to know how we shall find out the Church for certainly the Church has no Character but what is in the Scripture and then if we must believe the Church before we can believe or understand the Scriptures we must believe the Church before we can possibly know whether there be a Church or not If we prove the Church by the Scripture we must believe and understand the Scripture before we can know the Church If we believe and understand the Scriptures upon the Authority and Interpretation of the Church considered as a Church then we must know the Church before the Scripture The Scripture cannot be known without the Church nor the Church without the Scripture and yet one of them must be known first and yet neither of them can be known first according to these Principles which is such an absurdity as all the Art of the World can never palliate 3. The Cardinal 's third Objection is That the true Notes of the Church must be inseparable from it whereas the Churches of Corinth and Galatia did not always teach true Doctrine some of the Church of Corinth denying the Resurrection and the Galatians warping towards Judaism and the Church of Corinth being guilty of great miscarriages in receiving the Lords-Supper and yet were owned for true Churches by the Apostles An argument which much became the Cardinal to use it being the best evidence I know of for the Church of Rome being a true Church that every corruption in Faith and Sacraments do not Unchurch but how this proves that true Faith and true Sacraments are not an essential note and character of a true Church I cannot guess I would desire any one to tell me for him whether a corrupt Faith and false Sacraments be the Notes of a true Church or whether it be no matter as to the nature of a Church what our Faith and Sacraments are Secondly Let us now consider the Cardinal's way by some certain marks and notes to find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is To pick out of all the Churches in the World one Church which we must own for the only true Church and reject all other Churches which do not subject themselves to this one Church To find out such a Church on whose authority we must rely for the whole Christian Faith and in whose Communion only pardon of sin is to be had That this is the use of Notes in the Church of Rome I have already shewn you and truly they are very pretty things to be proved by Notes as to consider them particularly 1. To find out which is the true Church before we know what a true Church is This methinks is not a natural way of inquiry but is like seeking for we know not what There are two inquiries in order of nature before which is the true Church viz. Whether there be a true Church or not and what it is The first of these the Cardinal takes for granted that there is a Church but I wont take it for granted but desire these Note-makers to give me some Notes to prove that there is a Church There is indeed a great deal of talk and noise in the World about a Church but that is no proof that there is a Church and yet it is not a self-evident proposition that there is a Church and therefore it must be proved Now that there is a Church must be proved by Notes as well as which is this true Church or else the whole design of Notes is lost and I would gladly see those Notes which prove that there is a Church before we know what a Church is To understand the mystery of this we must briefly consider the reason and use of Notes in the Church of Rome according to the Popish resolution of Faith into the authority of the Church the first thing we must know is which is the True Church for we must receive the Scriptures and the Interpretation of them and the whole Christian Faith and Worship from the Church and therefore can know nothing of Religion till we have found the Church The use then of Notes is to find out the Church before and without the Scriptures for if they admit of a Scripture-proof they must allow that we can know and understand the Scriptures without the authority or interpretation of the Church which undermines the very foundation of Popery Now I first desire to know how they will prove That there is a Church without the Scripture That you 'l say is visible it self for we see a Christian Church in the World but what is it I see I see a company of men who call themselves a Church and this is all that I can see and is this seeing a Church A Church must have a Divine Original and Institution and therefore there is no seeing a Church without seeing its Character for there can be no other Note or Mark of the being of a Church but the Institution of it And this proves that we cannot know that there is a Church without knowing in some measure what this Church is for the Charter which founds the Church must declare the Nature and Constitution of it what its Faith and Worship and Laws and Priviledges are But now these essential Characters of a Church must not be reckoned by the Romanists among the Notes of a Church for then we must find out the true Church by the true Faith and the true Worship not the true Faith by the true Church which destroys Popery Hence it is that these Note-makers never attempt to give us any Notes whereby we shall know that there is a Church or what this Church is for there are no Notes of these but such as they dare not give viz. The Authority of the Scriptures and every mans private judgment of the Sense and Interpretation of them for at least till we have found a Church we must judg for our selves and then the Authority of the Church comes too late for we must first judg upon the whole of Religion if we must find out a true Church by the true Faith before we can know the true Church and we cannot rely on her Authority before we know her and therefore they take it for granted that there is a Church which they can never prove in their way and attempt to give some Notes whereby to know which is the Church and then learn what the Church is from the Church her self which is like giving marks whereby to know an Unicorn before I know whether there be an Unicorn or not or what it is 2. Another blunder in this Dispute about Notes is That they give us Notes whereby to find out the true Catholick