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 Omnes enim â—onfitentur in solâ verâ Ecclesia esse veram fidem veram peccatorum remissionem veram spem salutis aeternâ Bell. de Notis Eccl. cap. 1. 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 a true Church as Humane Nature is of a man for they are the Essential Principles of it By this every man may know whether he be a Member of a true Church or not for where this is there is a true Church where this is not there is no true Church whatever other marks of a Church there be And I know no other use of Notes but to find out what we seek for In answer to such Notes as these Cardinal Bellarmin objects Three things 1. That Notes whereby we will distinguish things must not be common to other things but proper and peculiar to that of which it is a Note As if you would describe a man to me whom I never saw so as that I may know him when I meet him it is not enough to say that he has two Hands or two Eyes c. because this is common to all Men. And this he says is the Fault of these Notes for as for the sincere Preaching of the Truth or the Profession of the true Christian Faith this is common to all Sects at least in their own Opinion and the same may be said of the Sacraments All Sects and Professions of Christians either have the true Faith and Sacraments or at least think that they have so and therefore these marks cannot visibly distinguish the true Church from any other Sect of
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 Church before we know what a particular Church is For all Bellarmin's Notes are intended only for the Catholick Church and therefore his first Note is the name Catholick whereas the Catholick Church is nothing else but all true Christian Churches in the World united together by one common Faith and Worship and such acts of Communion as distinct Churches are capable of and obliged to Every particular Church which professes the true Faith and Worship of Christ is a true Christian Church and the Catholick Church is all the true Christian Churches in the World which have all the same Nature and are in some sense of the same Communion So that it is impossible to know what the Catholick Church is before we know what a particular Church is as it is to know what the Sea is before we know what Water is Every true single particular Church has the whole and intire nature of a Church and would be a true Church though there were no other Church in the World as the Christian Church at Jerusalem was before any other Christian Churches were planted and therefore there can be no other Notes of a True Church but what belong to every true particular Church and that can be nothing but what is essential to a Church and what all true Christian Churches in the World agree in viz. The True Faith and Worship
from themselves is consistent with their Nature and for all which if the Errors are not fundamental they are Churches still but to find Errors and Contradictions in an Infallible Church is to confound the nature of things to give the Infallible Church no advantage over the Fallible and to expose the Persons that betake themselves to that shelter to all the Disquietudes Uncertainties and Disappointments of Ignorance and Error For what is the usual Reason given for forsaking other Churches but because they are Fallible What is the Reason why they go over to the Church of Rome but because she is as they are made to believe Infallible But if with her Infallibility she has mistaken if with her Certainty she contradicts her self if she was one thing in one Age and another in another then there is the same Reason to quit the Church of Rome as there was to imbrace it and such persons must either be contented with a Church that is Fallible or be of none THE END Pag. 63. Marg. lin ult read in Apoc. 17. 5. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Fourth Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ AMPLITUDE or Multitude and Variety of Believers Quarta Nota est Amplitudo sive Multitudo Varietas Credentium Bellarm. L. iv c. vii de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR Apr. 27. 1687. GVIL. NEEDHAM WE could very willingly appeal to our Adversaries themselves were they unconcerned whether a plainer Proof can be given of a Baffled Cause in a Controversy relating to any Point of revealed Religion than for the Assertors of it to decline maintaining it by those Books which alone can acquaint us with Divine Revelations But 't is Notorious that the Romanists are highly chargeable upon this Account in their Endeavours to persuade the World that theirs is the only true Church They need not be told that we are beholden to the Holy Scriptures for our having any Notion of such a thing as a Church and they and we are agreed that that only is the true Christian Church which professeth the true Christian an Faith and therefore how is it possible they should not be aware that the best way to be satisfied whether those who challenge to themselves the Title of the True and Catholick Church have it really belonging to them is to examine their Faith by the Holy Scriptures Which 't is hard to imagine they can think to be so imperfect a Rule of Faith as to believe it a justifiable thing to be so averse to this Method as we have ever found they are This we of the Reformation have always stuck to and we are desirous of nothing more than that it may be tryed by the Faith we profess whether we are sound Members of the Catholick Church and the soundness of our Faith may be tryed by the Scriptures But instead of taking this Course those of the Roman Communion have invented and do insist on a Company of Notes and Characters of the Church which are either not to be met with or are far from being plainly delivered in Scripture Had this been our practice I appeal to their own Consciences whether they could have imputed it to a better Cause than our being conscious to our selves of the disagreeableness of our Faith with the Doctrine of Scripture and our not daring to have it brought to this Touch-stone Of this sort of Notes Cardinal Bellarmine hath given us no fewer than Fifteen among which he could afford no Place to this Note of ours though 't is as evident as the Light that this one alone would have signified much more to his Purpose than all that long Bead-roul put together The Design of this Discourse is to examine his Fourth Note viz. Amplitudo sive Multitudo Varietas Credentium Amplitude or Multitude and Variety of Believers And how far he makes it to extend his next Words inform us viz. Ecclesia enim verè Catholica non solum debet amplecti omnia Tempora sed etiam omnia Loca omnes Nationes omnia Hominum Genera The truly Catholick Church ought not only to comprehend all Ages but also all Places all Nations and all Sorts of Men. And First He endeavours to prove this to be a true Note Secondly To make it to belong to the Church of Rome and to her alone Thirdly To perswade us that those particularly who call themselves the Reformed Churches can lay no claim to it And it shall be my Business First To shew that this cannot be a Note of the true Church And Secondly Supposing it to be so that the Church of Rome will however gain nothing by it as to her Pretension nor the Reformed Churches lose any thing Nay on the contrary that it will quite overthrow her Pretension of being the whole Catholick Church and do the Reformed Churches as great Service as Her Prejudice First I will briefly shew that this cannot be a Note of the true Church By a Note is understood a distinguishing Character but this is such a Character of the true Church as no one could less distinguish it And that whether we consider the Members thereof under either the notion of a great Multitude or a great Multitude of Believers Considering them under the Notion of a great Multitude the Church which is Christ's Kingdom is far from being distinguishable as such from the Kingdom of Satan which was always incomparably more numerous Or from that part of it which consisteth of Idolatrous Pagans What Romanist can boast of his Church in reference to this Note as Demetrius the Silver-Smith did of his Diana when he said That all Asia and the World worshipped her Nor can the Church of Christ by the Number of its Members be distinguished from the Worshippers of that great Impostor Mahomet which the Sons of the Roman Church must especially grant to be far exceeding the Members of Christ's true Church in Number since they make themselves the only Catholicks Again considering them under the Notion of a great Multitude of Believers there was an Age in which the Orthodox Christians could not be distinguished from Hereticks by the greatness of their Number whom the Romanists will not admit to be Members of the Church in any sense for in the Reign of Arrianism ingenuit Orbis mirabatur c. The World lamented and wondred to find it self turned Arrian saith St. Hierom. And it became a Proverb Athanasius against the whole World and the whole World against Athanasius And lastly the Church of Christ is not to be thus distinguished from the Kingdom of Antichrist I wish our Adversaries could impartially consider whose Note that of having Power given him over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations is most likely to be Apoc. 13.7 And who it is that is described by sitting as upon seven Hills so upon many Waters Chap. 17.1 Which Waters are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations Vers 15. and Tongues These
into the Doctrines of the Primitive Church which will have as many Inconveniences in it I fear as they are apt to object against searching to this end into the Scriptures so he must examine all the particular Doctrines that are controverted between both Churches to see which are most agreeable to the Faith of the Primitive for he cannot know this in the Lump and by the Gross and to tell him as they sometimes do that 't is impossible for their Church to have departed from the Faith of the Primitive and that the present Age could not alter from the Doctrine of the foregoing and so upward this is not to make the Primitive Faith a Note of the present Church but to prevent all enquiry about this Note and to make it wholly useless and insignificant He that will therefore make use of this Mark to know the true Church by must be supposed and allowed to inquire into the Doctrine of the Primitive Church about all those particular Controversies and Matters of Faith that are in difference between us and must not have his Enquiry stopt and precluded by any general Pretences of the Infallibility either of Oral Tradition or of the present Church but must freely and impartially examin the particular Doctrines that are controverted that so he may bring every one of them to the Touchstone of the Primitive Faith and try whether they are agreable to the same or no and according as he finds this that is whatsoever Church he finds to hold the same Doctrine with the Primitive in all the particular Points of difference That he must conclude to be the true Church from this Note given of it Our Adversaries do not usually care to enter into particular Points of Controversy wherein they are very sensible they shall be sooner foiled and bafled and therefore they generally wave those which are capable of being made more plain and evident to most Mens Capacities and they chuse rather to dispute and wrangle about more general and intricate Matters in which there is some more room to cavil and to amuse and perplex themselves and others with seeming Difficulties so that tho particular Controversies may be made very plain and it appears often in them as clear almost as the Light on which side the Truth is as Whether Prayers ought to be in a known Tongue Whether the Communion ought to be in both kinds Whether the Scriptures are to be read by the People and the like yet to avoid those and to prevent the Disadvantage of such manifest and particular Points they carry the Dispute off to other things and run into the general Controversies of Infallibility and Church-Authority and Resolution of Faith and a Judg in Controversies and the like and here they think there is more room for Cavil and Sophistry and they can hereby lead Men if not into Scepticism and Doubtfulness yet into a Maze and Labyrinth where they shall not so easily get out Which way of theirs seems to me just as if a Person in a plain Controversy about Weight or Measure which were otherwise easy to be determined should to avoid that think fit to run into the perplext Dispute What was the true Standard of Weights and Measures or everlastingly wrangle about that Question Whether Matter consisted of Divisible or Indivisible Parts and because he could raise Difficulties here and keep up a long and intricate Controversy about those Matters would not be brought to yield that a Pound was heavier than an Ounce or an Ell longer than an Inch. I cannot but think that some of our particular Controversies may be almost as clearly decided as those two and that the running into some general ones is as remote and sophistical as the other We must therefore according to this Note of the Church not be foreprized or prevented with any general and more perplext Dispute but we must fairly examine all the particular Doctrines of the Church and see whether they are agreeable with those of the Primitive Church or no before we can find out the true Church at present not that the true Church we are to look for is confined to any particular Place or Country but like a great Homogenial Body every Part of which is of the fame nature with the Whole wherever the true Primitive Faith is profest in all the Parts of it there is a True Church and all particular Churches being united together in the same Bond of Faith do make up the Catholick Church over all the World. If there were but one Particular Church upon the whole Earth that did profess this True Faith that alone might be called the Catholick Church because that alone had that Catholick Faith which did properly make and constitute the True Church But this Faith being common to a great many Particular Churches this makes them to be all true and all Catholick as to Faith but as to Place 't is ridiculous to call any one Catholick and as absurd as to call a Part the Whole in that sense no Church is Catholick in the other every Church is that holds the Whole Christian Faith We are not therefore to seek for any Particular Church that shall usurp to it self the Name of Catholick in exclusion to all others but for any Church that maintains the true Catholick Faith profest by the Primitive which upon that account is a True Church and acknowledged so by this Mark which is here given of it To find out such a one and to distinguish it from others we must very carefully enquire into all the particular Doctrines and Points of Faith which are held by it and see whether they are agreeable to the Faith and Doctrine of the Primitive Church and according to this Method and saving to our selves all the forementioned Advantages of it we are very willing to have the Difference adjusted between us and the Church of Rome and to have it decided by this Note whether we or they are the True Church that is whether we or they in all Matters of Controversy between us do most agree with the Doctrine of the Primitive Church And here is a very large scope offered to me and what has taken up a great many Volumes on both sides so that to most People Scripture one would think should be a shorter and an easier and therefore a better way to know the True Church by but since our Adversaries are not willing to leave the Case to that we are ready to accept of the Primitive Church to be Judg between us and as has been often offered before by Bishop Jewel and others we shall be very willing to stand to its award and decision for however some few Divines of the Reformation before they were so well acquainted with Antiquity and when they could not so well distinguish what was genuine from what was spurious and corrupted by your Church were at first especially more jealous and distrustful than they need to have been of it and unwilling to
and received as such when they were not to be so before and how then does that differ from making them Articles of Faith Bellarmine speaks plainly out tho against his own Note when he says The Church of latter time hath Power not only to explain and declare but constitute and command those things which belong to Faith †Tract de potest Sum. Pontif. If the present Church has a Power to make more Doctrines and Articles be believed as necessary to Salvation than were believed by the Primitive Church then it may make Additions to the Christian Faith and make that necessary to be believed at one time which was not at another if it has not this Power let them declare it and not count others Hereticks who receive all the ancient Creeds and hold the Faith of all the ancient Councils and believe all those Doctrines that the whole Primitive Church in all Places and at all times ever held Here with Lyrinensis we fix and set our Feet and here we resolve to stand and keep our Ground and not be moved with every Wind of Doctrine that shall blow out of a new Quarter and that a small part of the present Church shall declare to be an Article of Faith when It was never so declared by the Primitive To say that they have made no new Articles of Faith in their Church but only the same Articles made Explicit which were Implicit before in the Primitive Church is as if they should say there are no new Men in the World since Adam or Noah but only the same Men that were before Implicit in their Loyns are now explicitly born into the World. Thus the Church tho it be never so fruitful in producing Doctrines and Articles of Faith that never were before in the Church yet makes nothing new and however spurious its Doctrines may be and however degenerating from the Faith of our Forefathers yet it must be said to be of the same Kind and Species Faith it seems in the Primitive Church was but an Embrio or like a small Seed or Kernel implicitly containing all the Parts entire but in little but when it is grown up and enlarged by the explicit Declaration of the Church then it may swell into a mighty bigness and increase even into the largest Tridentine Bulk and be it never so unlike the former yet it must be called the same still But if this implicit Faith was sufficient for the Primitive Church why may it not be so for the present and what need have we of a more explicit Faith to save us now than they had to save them then All the essential Articles of Christian Faith are to be explicitly believed at all times and 't is strange that we must be now obliged to a more explicit Faith and a more implicit Obedience than the Primitive Church was ever acquainted with But after all I hope those Doctrines that are contrary to the Doctrines of the Primitive Church were not then implicitly believed by it and if they were not I am sure most of the Doctrines of the Roman Church as different from the Reformed were not her implicit Doctrines but unless Error may be folded up with Truth and one part of a Contradiction may be involved in the other the late Corruptions and Decrees of the Roman Church in her Trent Articles were no way contained in the quite different Doctrines of the Primitive Church And thus because I have gone too far with this Discourse I must abruptly take leave of Bellarmin and his Church tho I resolve by God's Grace to keep always to this his true Note of the Church and therefore to that Church in which I am which is the most agreeable to the Primitive of any in the World both as to Doctrine and every thing else THE END LONDON Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. The Seventh Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED VIZ The Vnion of the Members among themselves and with the Head. Septima Nota est Vnio membrorum 〈…〉 inter se cum Capite Bellar. L. iv c. 10. de Notis Ecclesiae IMPRIMATUR May 26. 1687. Guil. Needham THE Church as the Cardinal observes is called in the Scriptures one Body one Spouse one Sheepfold But he that infers from hence that Unity is a proper Mark of the True Church ought to be very well assured that the Head and Members are united no-where but in the Body of Christ and that the Harlot cannot be One as well as the Spouse c. But the World has hitherto been persuaded that bare Unity is a Character to be found upon Societies of different Natures and contrary Designs that of it self it infers neither Good nor Evil and may belong to a Body of Rebels no less than to an Army of Loyal Subjects Unity is then indeed a good Mark when 't is a Duty as 't is a Duty when the Terms of Union are so For which Reason the Union of the Church is of all others the most excellent because all Men ought to follow that Truth and Goodness which are necessary to Salvation and these are best preserved and maintained by Union among those who follow them For which Reasons also 't is celebrated in the Gospel with variety of Expressions But to argue from hence that the Union of Members among Themselves and with their Head is a proper Note of the true Church is just as if I should conclude upon seeing a thousand Men marching in good Order and with equal Pace after their Leader that therefore of necessity they must be going to York Notwithstanding therefore this Argument from Vnity being attributed to the Church the Cardinal did not think fit to leave his Mark so very loose and common but slips into the mention of those things wherein the Unity of the Church consists as he pretends He tells us that the Head with which the Members are united is the Pope And as for their Union among themselves he afterwards proves that all Catholicks must needs agree in all Points of Faith since they all submit their own Sense to the Sense of one and the same chief Pastor guiding the Church from the Chair of Peter with the advice of other Pastors So that now we know what he means by the Union of the Members to their Head and among themselves that is to say the Union of the Members of the Roman Church to the Pope as to their Head and their Union among themselves in believing all that he teaches from the Chair of St. Peter c. Which Note does for its part make good what was observed at first concerning the general Design of these Notes which is not so much to describe to us the proper Characters of a true Christian Church as to prove that the Church of Rome is the only True Church Whatever the Cardinal insinuated at first he seemed to be very sensible that the Union of the Members
Doctrine Which I doubt not to make appear performs as little as either of the former In order to which I shall endeavour to shew I. What the Cardinal means by Sanctity of Doctrine II. That according to his Notion of it Sanctity of Doctrine is no certain Note of the true Church III. In what Sense it is a certain Note by which any honest Enquirer may distinguish a true Church from a false one IV. That neither in this nor the Cardinal's Notion of it the true Church can be found by any honest Enquirer according to the Principles of the Church of Rome I. What it is that the Cardinal here means by Sanctity of Doctrine To which in short I answer That which he means by it is the Profession of the true Religion both as to Doctrine of Faith and Doctrine of Manners without any mixture of Error For so he explains himself The true Church is not only Catholick and Apostolick and One but also Holy according to the Constantinopolitan Creed but its evident the Church is said to be Holy because its Profession is Holy containing nothing false as to Doctrine of Faith nothing unjust as to Doctrine of Manners And a little after By this Note saith he it 's evident that no Church but ours is a true Church because there is no Sect either of Pagans or Philosophers or Jews or Turks or Hereticks which doth not contain some Errors that have been exploded and are manifestly contrary to right Reason By which it 's evident that he excludes all sorts of Errors from that Profession of Religion which he here sets up as a Mark of the true Church And therefore after he had given a brief Enumeration of the Errors of all other Sects as well of Pagans and Jews and Mahometans as of Christians He thus concludes But as for our Catholick Church it teaches no Error no Turpitude nothing against Reason no not excepting Transubstantiation though many things above Reason therefore she alone is absolutely Holy and to her alone appertains what we say in our Creed I believe the Holy Church In which Words he expresly points and directs us to his Catholick Church by this Mark or Note That it teaches no Error c. By which it is evident that Sanctity of Doctrine in the Cardinal's Sense consists in an unerring profession of the true Religion without any so much as the least intermixture of Error Now tho it is certain that that is the best and purest Church which hath the least of Error and Corruption in its Doctrine and Discipline yet it is as certain that that which is the best Church is not the only true Church For the only true Church is the Catholick Church which consists of a great many particular Churches whereof some are more and some less pure from Error and Corruption and yet all of 'em true Churches For all particular Bodies and Societies of Christians that are true parts of the Catholick Church are true Churches as being Homogenious Parts of the Catholick Church and consequently partaking of the same common Nature with it But when we are discoursing of the Notes of the true Church that which we mean by 'em is such certain Marks and Characters by which an honest Enquirer may distinguish such Societies of Christians as are the true Churches of which the true Catholick Church consists from such as are not and therefore that can be no true Note of the true Church which doth not distinguish it from all false Churches and whose contrary is consistent with the being of a true Church I proceed therefore II. To shew that Sanctity of Doctrine according to Bellarmin's Sense of it that is a pure profession of true Religion without any intermixture of Error is no true Note or Mark or Character by which any honest Enquirer can certainly distinguish the true Church from all false Churches And this I doubt not will evidently appear if we consider what are the necessary Properties of all true Notes by which things are to be known and distinguished and they are these four 1. Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies 2. It ought to be proper and peculiar to that kind of Thing of which it is a Note and not common to Things of another kind 3. It ought to be more known than the Thing which it notifies 4. It ought to be inseparable to it The three last of which Bellarmin himself owns to be necessary Properties of every true Note Cap. 2. though the first he did not think meet to take notice of for a Reason best known to himself if therefore this Note according to Bellarmine's sense of it hath neither of these Properties belonging to it it can be no true Note of the true Church and that none of 'em do belong to it I doubt not but I shall make it evidently appear 1. First Every true Note ought to be common to all of the same kind with the thing which it notifies Thus every true Note of a true Man for instance ought to be common to all human kind and so every true Note of every wise Man ought to be common to all wise Men and by the same Rule every true Note of the true Church ought to be common to all true Churches For seeing the true Church is nothing else but only a Collection of all true Churches whatsoever is a certain Note of the true Church must necessarily belong to all true Churches in the World. And indeed since the end of our enquiry after the true Church is that we may communicate with it and since we can no otherwise communicate with the true Church but by communicating with some particular Church that is a true part of it the proper use of the Notes of the true Church is to direct our Enquirers whether this or that Church be a true part of it or which is the same thing whether by communicating with this or that particular Church we do communicate with the true Catholick Church And therefore unless the Notes of the true Catholick Church are such as do appertain to all true Churches they can never give us any certain direction in what Church we may communicate with the true Catholick Church for seeing we can communicate with the true Catholick Church in none but a true Church no Note can give us any certain direction where to communicate with the Catholick Church but what directs us to a true Church and no Note can certainly direct us to a true Church but what belongs to all true Churches If therefore not to err in its Profession be a certain Note whereby to find the true Catholick Church it must necessarily belong to all true Churches and consequently that can be no true Church which in any instance whatsoever errs in its Profession and indeed seeing all the true Churches in the World are only so many simular parts of the true Catholick Church and the
Reform'd They call us the Reformed therefore we are Reformed is as good an Argument as we call them Catholicks therefore they are Catholicks In this Sense are those Words of St. Austin cited by Bellarmine Contr. Epist Fundam c. 4. to be understood That should a Stranger happen in any City to enquire even of an Heretick where he might go to a Catholick Church the Heretick would not dare to send him to his own House or Oratory Not that that Heretick did believe that those that there were call'd Catholicks did hold the true Catholick Doctrine for then he could not have believ'd his own but looking upon it as a bare name of Distinction he directed him to that Assembly of Christians that were so called St. Austin seems here to suppose a Case as if a Traveller entring into a City where both Popish and Reform'd Churches were allowed and should chance to meet a Protestant and of him enquire the way to a Catholick Church and he direct him to a Popish one or a Papist and of him enquire the way to a Reform'd Church and he direct him to a Protestant one It would not therefore follow that either the one or the other did believe either Church to answer and correspond with its Name that the Popish was Catholick or the Protestant Reformed but that they were Words of vulgar use whereby they might be known from one another but not the true Church from the false IIII. It does not follow that because the Name of Catholick in that time when it was for the most part in conjunction with the Catholick Faith was a sure Note of a true Church it must always be so even when the Name and Thing are parted It was not long before the Christian Church became miserably torn and rent asunder divided into many and some very great Bodies all pretending to Catholicism By what Mark now is the Catholick Church to be known Not by the Name surely when all Parties laid claim to it and the grossest Hereticks such as the Manichaeans themselves as St. Austin tells us who had the least to shew for it coveted and gloried in it Have never any Hereticks or Scismaticks been styled Catholicks Nor ever any Orthodox styl'd Hereticks The Greek Church is call'd Catholick and yet the Church of Rome will have her an Heretical one The Donatists appropriated to themselves that ample Title and yet St. Austin thought them no better than Shcismaticks The Arrians call'd themselves Catholicks and the Orthodox Homousians and Athanasians but neither the one was the more nor the other the less Catholick for what they were call'd Truth is always the same and the Nature of things remains unalterable let Men fix on them what Names they please By this Rule then is the true Church to be known not because it bears the Name of Catholick for that a Church may do and yet be guilty of Schism and Heresie but because it professes the true Faith and then tho it be in name Heretick it is in reality Catholick This is Lactantius's Rule to discern the true Church by the true Religion That Church alone Instir lib. 4. c. ult Sola Catholica est quae verum cultum retinet says he is Catholick that retains the true Worship of God. And St. Austin in his Disputes with the Donatists where the true Church was appeals to the Scripture as the only Infallible Judg Non audiamus haec dico haec dicis sed audiamus haec dicit Dominus c. Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam Epist 166. de unit Eccl. c. 2. Amongst many others to this purpose he hath these Words I say this and thou sayest that but thus saith the Lord. 5. Again does it follow that because the being called after the Names of particular Men in that Age when all so call'd were for the most part corrupt in the Faith was a sure Brand of Schismaticks and Hereticks it must ever be so May not Names and Titles be unjustly and maliciously impos'd If the Churches of the Reformed must go for Hereticks and Scismaticks meerly because they are distinguish'd by the Names of those Men that were the first and most eminent Instruments in that blessed Work as of Lutherans Calvinists Zuinglians the like Is there not the same Reason that the several Orders in the Church of Rome that go under the Names of their particular Founders as the Benedictines Franciscans Dominicans Jansenists and Molinists and others be esteemed so too If there be any Difference the advantage of Reason is on our Side since the Reformed assume not those Names to themselves and tho they deservedly honour the Memories of those Men and with thankful Hearts embrace the Reformation God was pleas'd by their Ministry to make in the Church yet do they by no means affect to be call'd after their Names They own no Name but Christian or Catholick when it signifies Persons adhering to the true Catholick Faith The others are Nick-names fasten'd on them by their Adversaries out of Scorn or Malice to represent them to the World as far as they are able as so many Schismaticks from the Catholick Church and as having other Leaders than Christ and his Apostles But those in the Church of Rome that are denominated from their particular Founders give themselves those Appellations seem to prefer them before that truly Catholick one of Christian which while with some neglect they leave to the Common People they glory and pride themselves in the other so that if this Note of an Heretick is valid it turns with great Force against themselves who are really guilty of it and not against us whom they will make guilty of it but are not III. The Church of Rome having egregiously corrupted the Catholick Faith or Religion neither is nor deserves the Name of a Catholick Church Whether she is guilty of this or no will be best seen by comparing her Doctrine in several Points with that delivered by Christ and left upon Record by his holy Apostles for tho the Church of Rome will not allow the Scriptures to be the whole and a perfect Rule of Faith and Manners yet they acknowledg them to be the Word of God and granting that they must acknowledg that all those Doctrines and Practices that are forbidden by them are Corruptions and Depravations of it Let us then bring their Faith to the Touchstone How readest thou The Scripture says See Discourse of the Object of Religious Worship 1685. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Mat. 4.10 Which Words evidently appropriate all kinds and all degrees of Religious Worship unto God they being an answer to the Devil's Temptation who requir'd but the lowest Degree the Devil acknowledging that the right he had of disposing of the Kingdoms of the World to be only derivative not natural they were delivered to me At the same time confessed himself not to be the Supream God and consequently cannot be suppos'd
omitting Personal Contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common Cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworth's never before Printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his Confutation of the said Motives An Historical Treatise written by an AUTHOR of the Communion of the CHVRCH of ROME touching TRANSVBSTANTIATION Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of THAT CHVRCH This Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith. 40. The Protestant's Companion Or an Impartial Survey and Comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewed that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves 40. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. Vers 15. 4o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scripture Asserted 4o. A Short Summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs 4o. An Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one Special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4o. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is perfixed a Large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4o. With a Table of the Contents Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By W. W. 12o. The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A PRIVATE PRAYER to be used in Difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29 1687 between A. Pulton Jesuit and Tho. Tenison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its False Reasonings and Quotations There are added by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six Conferences A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Mons de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully Vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in Point of Image-worship more particularly considered 40. The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 40. Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto Published in his True Account his True and full Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he calls Dr. T 's Rule of Faith. By Tho. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Antient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of Transubstantiation Being a sufficient Confutation of CONSENSVS VETERVM NVBES TESTIVM and other Late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 40. 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 PAge 11. l. 15. for Character r. Charter and p. 14. l. 8. r. Charter p. 16. l. 12. after Ancient and Apostolick Church add Which is the same with his second Note concerning Antiquity which must refer to the Antiquity of its Doctrine for an Ancient Church tho founded many years since if it have innovated in Doctrine cannot plead Antiquity and a Church founded but yesterday which professes the Ancient Faith may p. 18. l. 6. f. first r. fifth p. 22. l. 14. f. now r. more A BRIEF DISCOURSE Concerning the Notes of the CHURCH c. IF Cardinal Bellarmin had not told us That this is a most profitable Controversie Controv. T. 2. L. 4 de Notis Ecclesiae 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
the extraordinary Direction and Assistance of the Holy Ghost indited and commended to the Care and keeping of all the Churches planted by them as a sure unerring Rule of Faith and Manners Call'd Catholick both as it contains all things in it necessary to Salvation and as it was to be preach'd and publish'd in all times and successively in all places According to Vincent Lirin Rule quod semper quod ubique quod ab omnibus creditum est It set out at Jerusalem but was not to stop there but from thence to spread it self into all parts of the World. The Apostles were first to preach to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel but not to them only Go teach all Nations was our Saviour's Commission to the Apostles and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and c. was God's promise to our Saviour The Christian Church was not to be confin'd within the Limits of one Nation like that of the Jews within the small Territories of Judaea but to be made up of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation Now in the first Ages of Christianity before the main Body of the Church was divided only some few misled and seduc'd People separating from it it being generally true that they that bore the Name of Catholick profest the true Catholick Faith and those that were called after the name of particular Men had deprav'd and corrupted it the very name Catholick became a distinguishing Note of a true Church and to be call'd after the Name of the Author of any Sect the Mark of an Heretical and Scismatical one but yet this was not so much for the Sake of the bare Names as for the things the Tenets and Doctrines signified by them In this Sense are all those Fathers to be understood quoted by Bellarmine and others who seem to lay any stress upon the Name 'T was upon the Account of the true Catholick Faith that in those times did for the most part if not every where accompany and go along with the Name Thus when St. Cyril of Jerusalem advis'd his Catechumens when they should go into any City Cap. 18. Catech. to enquire for the Catholick Church he gave this Reason for it because there the true Catholick Faith is taught and in the same place adds The Church is therefore call'd Catholick because it teaches all those Truths all Men are bound to know in order to Salvation and upon the same Account Pacianus not unfitly said Christian is my Name and Catholick my Sirname Epist ad Sym. pron de nom Cath. by the one I am distinguished from Heathens by the other from Hereticks and Scismaticks because in that Age few or none went by the Name of Catholick but those that were so indeed and profest the true Catholick Faith. And as this is a true Account of the Original of the Name Catholick and the weight that was laid upon it in those early Times so will the Name ever continue to be a sure unerring Note of the Catholick Church whilst it is inseparably conjoyn'd with the Profession of the Catholick Faith Where this is taught and profest there 's a true Church where this fails in part or in whole the Church decays or is lost II. No Argument can be drawn from the bare Name of Catholick to prove a Church to be Catholick This is so clear and evident in it self that it neither needs nor is scarce capable of a proof The Church of Rome is call'd Catholick therefore she is Catholick The Papists are call'd Catholicks therefore they are Catholicks This is such a way of Reasoning that every Man must be asham'd to own but those who have the confidence to say any thing when they are not able to say any thing to the Purpose For 1. The Christian Church was not known by the Name of Catholick at the beginning and therefore it can be no Essential Note of it We find no mention of this Name in the Writings of the New Testament We read That the Disciples were called Christians at Antioch but the name Catholick principally respecting the diffusive Nature of the Church the Church could not properly be so called till the Christian Faith had been more generally and universally preach'd in the World Therefore Pacianus in the fore-quoted Place confesses that the Name Catholick was not us'd in the Church in the Days of the Apostles and from thence some have concluded that the Creed which goes under the Apostles Name having this Denomination of the Church inserted in it Catholick Church was not compos'd by them but by some Holy Bishops of a later standing in the Church yet must it be confess'd that the Name is very ancient and of an early Date it being found in the Oriental Creeds particularly those of Jerusalem and Alexandria and in the Inscriptions of St. James St. Peter St. John and St. Jude's Epistles which are all styl'd General or Catholick Epistles 2. Names are oftentimes arbitrarily and at random and falsly impos'd on Things and therefore nothing can be concluded from them The Church of Sardis had a Name to live but was dead the Church of Laodicea gloried that she was rich but was poor many on Earth are call'd Gods who are but mortal Men Simon Magus was call'd the great Power of God but was a Child of the Devil Mahomet a great Prophet but was an Impostor Diana the great Goddess of the Ephesians but was an Idol our Blessed Saviour foretold that many should come in his Name each saying I am Christ but were Deceivers Thus you see Things and Persons are not always as they are call'd nor do I believe the Papists are willing that their Church should be thought in reality to be according to the signification of some Names that are too liberally bestow'd upon her the Bishop of Rome calls himself Christ's Vicar but others Antichrist the Church of Rome styles her self the Catholick Church but others the Whore of Babylon I do as little justify the fastening such odious Names upon them as approve their arrogating to themselves the other glorious Titles yet this I am pretty well assur'd of that a Man of ordinary Abilities may say as much to prove the Pope Antichrist and the Romish Church an Harlot as the whole Colledg can to justify the pretence of the one to be Christ's Vicar or of the other to be his undefiled Spouse 3. Names are oftentimes impos'd on things and so us'd as Marks of distinction only without any farther design of representing their Natures and Qualities by them thus we call the Romanists Catholicks not that we think they are truly so but in Complement or Irony in complyance with common use or by way of Discrimination from other Christians and in the same respects it may be suppos'd that they call us the Reform'd And if they think this is a good Argument to prove them Catholicks we have the same and 't will hold as strong to prove us