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A64702 The church-papist (so-called), his religion and tenets fully discovered in a serious dispute ... whereby the common ... arguments of pretended visibility, succession, universality, &c., of the Roman Church ... are briefly confuted : whereunto is added, a short discourse proving episcopacy to be of divine institution, kingly government of Gods setting up, and the religion of the Church of England, to be the best in the world / by one of the children of the late captivity, 1680. Underwood, John, fl. 1680. 1680 (1680) Wing U46; ESTC R7367 28,086 42

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all Hereticks converted Nations deprived and restored Bishops called Councils c. that is the true Church But only the Roman is such Ergo only the Roman is the true Church The Major you say is plain because these Privileges belong to the Authority of the Mother-Church which is Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum I answer you should first have proved her to be the Mother-Church Radix c. before you exercise or can claim the Authority of a Mother I would fain know what Church is the Mother of the Roman or is Rome it self Motherless for I deny her to be the Mother of the universal Church of God yet do agree that those Privileges you mention do belong to the Authority of the Catholick Church but 't is an insolent and intolerable usurpation of the Rights and Privileges of the Universal Church for any particular Church to confine all the Catholick Privileges to her particular self I am sure she hath not this power from Christ to judge and condemn her Sisters for she is not Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum as you say there were elder than she therefore she at best but a Daughter Church and Sister to others Jerusalem if any particular was it as was prophesied of old Mic. 4.2 and fulfilled Luke 24.47 and so Theodoret lib. 5. Hist Eccl. cap. 9. tells us Ecclesia Hierosolymitana quae aliarum omnium Mater And Men were first called Christians not at Rome but at Antioch Acts. 11.26 St. Gregory Nazian saith The Church of Caesaria was Mater prope omnium Ecclesiarum meaning of neighbouring Churches not of the whole Catholick Church Et Constantinopolitana Ecclesia dicitur omnium aliarum caput so in that sense and no other Rome may be called Head of those Churches in her Patriarchat Every particular Church that teacheth the Catholick Doctrine may be called Catholick as a Member of the universal and so was the particular Roman whilst it held all things true concerning the Faith but never was she Mater Radix omnium Ecclesiarum for the Universal Church hath no particular or locall Root of its being Jerusalem as I said before if any was it Or if you will have a particular Root of the Catholick Church 't is in the East not in the West at Rome se praecisam esse a Radice orientalium Ecclesiurum c. St. August Epist 170 But the Head Root Matrix Fountaine c. of Rome and all other particular Churches is the Catholick Church and her Unity and to break her Uunity by usurping a Power or Priority which Christ never gave is at the least abominable if not certainly damnable 't is against a command too The Text is clear There was a strife among the Apostles which should be greatest St. Luke 22.14 Christ answered them The Princes and Rulers exercise Dominion c. but it shall not be so with you He that will be greatest c. St Matt. 20.26 There is no Priority much less Superiority given to Churches National Tertullian tells us Omnes Primae omnes Apostolicae dum unam omnes probant unitatem de praescript advers Haeret. cap. 20. Porro unam esse primam Apostolicam ex qua reliquae hanc nulli loco affigit B. Rhenanus therefore not at Rome And it is to be observed that Tertullian long since numbering the then Apostolical Churches reckons Rome last of them Tertull. ibid. cap. 32. and Pamelius lately puts Rome after others cap. 21. num 129. what you speak out of St. Augustin In Ecclesia Romana semper viguit Apostolicae Cathedrae Principatus that in Rome there did always flourish the Principality of an Apostolick Chair in relation to the West and South parts of the Church all the other four Apostolical Chairs being in the East doth not give Rome nor the Pope thereof power to exercise this Principality beyond his Limits out of his own Patriarchate over the whole Church of Christ for in the same Epistle of St. August Epist 162. Melciades then Bishop of Rome had leave granted him to hear a matter of the Donatists adjudged by the African Bishops and other Bishops by the Emperour were sent Judges to determine with him for if he had done it without leave the Epistle tells us it had been an usurpation seeing ad cujus curam c. ibid. it belonged to the Emperours care and charge and that he is to give an account to God for it Yea a Pope himself saith 'tis Antichristian to be stiled universal Bishop St. Greg. l. 4. Epist 78 monstrous and blasphemous Absit a cordibus Christianorum Nomen illud Blasphemiae ibid. Epist 76 and further St. Greg. Epist 83. In isto scelesto vocabulo consentire nihil aliud est quam fidem perdere So the Roman was not then universal Bishop had no power over Patriarchs and National Bishops no Monarch over the whole militant Church for near six hundred years after Christ and Britain in those times was never subject to the See of Rome for it had a Primate of its own Et a Patriarcha non datur Appellatio saith the Civil Law from whom lies no Appeal Now then the general power of anathematizing Hereticks depriving Schismaticks restoring Orthodox Bishops c belong to the Catholick Church Militant and her Authority in general Councils lawfully by her called and constituted and that the Catholick Church is our Mother no man will deny that accounts God to be his Father But this Holy Catholick Church mentioned in the Apostle's Creed is not the Church of Rome nor any other particular Church on Earth The Holy Catholick Church there spoken of contains not only the whole militant Church on Earth but the whole Triumphant alive in Heaven for so St. August Euch. cap. 56. Ecclesia hic tota accipienda est non solum ex parte quae peregrinatur in terris c. verùm etiam ex illa quae in Caelis And who converted Nations originally Did not Christ send out his Apostles and seventy Disciples at another time and then after sent many more were not then Apostles Apostolick men and the general Church they that converted and confuted Nations and planted the Church of Christ in the World Now this Holy Catholick Church before ever Rome was a Church is Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum of Rome as well as other The Catholick Church was ever one and the same Church viz. the Church of God spread over the whole World and as before described by St. August Rome could never be it for if Rome a particular Church can be now the Catholick Church then by the same Rule if it be not out of Rule some other particular Church before it was the Catholick Church and how came that to lose it and Rome to get it that it is now as you say translated to Rome and doth it not follow by the same rule that Rome also may transire in non Ecclesiam pass way in no Church for what Patent or holy Charter
from Heaven hath Rome above the former and above other particular Churches that it shall there remain to the end of the World Nay they that most stand for it even the greatest Champion Rome hath can only say 'T is a pious and probable Opinion to think Cathedram Petri non posse seperari a Roma proinde Romanam Ecclesiam non posse errare vel deficere Bellar. de Ro. Pont. cap. 4. so 't is but pretended probality and that is no proof able to convince However he that thinks the contrary viz. that the particular Church of Rome can err and fall away from the Faith which the true Church can never do I mean the Catholick Church before described can never fall away from the Faith and St. Peters Chair be severed from Rome is by Bellarmines own confession no Heretick for he adds Contraria sententia nec est Haeretica nec manifesta erronia Bellarm. ibid. And if the Apostolick Chair can be removed from Rome and the Roman Church fall away from the Faith then it is so far being the only Catholick that it ceaseth to be a part of the Catholick Church where it appeareth that Rome never was is or can be The only Catholick Church of Christ Your fourth Argument from Universality of the Roman Church hath its Answer already in a great measure But something more I shall particularly answer to the same which you propound thus Arg. 4. That Church is only Catholick which is dispersed through all Nations But only the Roman is dispersed through all Nations Ergo the Roman only is the Catholick Church And how comes the denomination of the Church to be changed from Christian to Roman certainly 't is no small fellony to rob the Church of the more honourable Appellation and give it your own name Men were first called Christians at Antioch and yet the Universal Church was never stiled Antiochian If you make a difference between the Christian Faith and the Roman speak out and confess it If you mean the Christian Faith why do you not say so alter your Minor Proposition and the conclusion will follow for the Church of Christ and I 'le assent to it without more ado for then your Proposition will be true and you will contend without an Adversary But have you any other Doctrine can parallel this Sacriledge in taking away the Christian Name from the universal Church of Christ As though the Spouse of Christ could become Anabaptist forget her Virgin Name and change her Beloved Is Christ and Rome convertible Is the Gospel of Christ become the Gospel of the Pope or hath the Pope a Gospel of his own that is spread over the World was there not a true Church that had Radix Essentiae and is the Root Essence and Being to Rome and other particular Churches before Rome received the Faith And what was that Church called not Roman surely And why did you not say the Church of Jerusalem or the Church of Antioch c. where the first Plantation was is dispersed through all Nations Ergo the Church of Jerusalem Antioch c. only is the Catholick Church it had been more tollerable though as little to sence The first Appellation before ever Rome was a Church viz. Christian shall stand with me for ever I dare not change from Christian to Roman in as much as Christian Religion is elder and was before ever Rome was converted therefore Christian not Roman is the primitive and right term and name of the universal Church Besides How the Roman or any particular Church can be the Catholick for at best she was but a Catholick Church is no ways apparent St. Cyril tells us Catholica est illa quae diffusa est per universum Orbem Rome is not the universal but the Christian Church is so not Catholick in extent Romana Ecclesia particularis confesseth Bellarmin lib. 4. de R. Pont. c. 4. so not the Catholick Church Rome it self must be judged by Scripture and the Catholick Church and is right no further than it agrees with the Catholick and not the Catholick Church by it Our fierce Adversary Stapleton pours out his Reason why Roman is esteemed Catholick Quia ejus Communio erat evidenter certissimè cum tota Catholica So you see the Communion of the Roman was with the Catholick not of the Catholick with it And St. Cyprian in the rent and open Schism between Cornelius and Novatian employed his Legates c. Elaborarent ut ad Catholicae Ecclesiae unitatem scissi sorpor is membra componerent Now the members of this torn Body were they of Rome then in open Schism between Cornelius and Novatian St. Cypr. li. 2. Ep. 10. And St. Cyprian endeavoured to bring Rome to the Unity of the Catholick so Rome then was not The Catholick nor is the Radix c. or can she be her own Original There is a double Root as one learnedly observes Radix Essentiae which gives Essence and Being to Rome and all other particular Churches and there is Radix Existentiae as Rome with all other particular Churches and no more than other Patriarchal Churches which was and is the Root of the Churches Existence agreeable to that known and received Rule in Art that Universals give Essence to their Particulars and Particulars supply their Universals with Existence But to shut up and confine the Universal Church of Christ as it is now spread in the narrow compass of Rome only is ridiculous Nonsence Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit saith St. Jerom in Psal 133. The Church is every where ubi fides vera c. You bring in St. Paul to say Rom. 1.8 that the Roman Faith was preached in all the World But you abuse St. Paul for 't is not said preached nor is it said Roman Faith Their Faith was spoken of as his course was to commend and encourage the faithful in every place St. Paul intending to impart to them some spiritual gift for they were not then established He only commended then the Faith of the Saints then in Rome which they had newly received viz. the Christian Faith never called it the Roman Faith and so much he spake and more of the Faith of other Nations and Persons to whom he wrote and yet never any Nation or Person usurped a Stile was never given them St. Paul Thess 1.8 witnesseth that From the Church of Thessalonica sounded out the Word of the Lord and in every place the Faith of the Thessalonians was spread abroad and were ensamples to all that believe c. ver 7. ibid. which was a true Faith and yet they never nick-named the Universal Christian Church Thessalonian nor did they ever arrogantly and audaciously adopt the Universal Church of Christ as their own Off-spring and Issue or that they only were the Catholick as Rome doth in your Position St. Paul did commend the Faith then in Rome but now 't is changed and not worthy commendation You say that is
Succession Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa Petri sede in illo ordine Patrum quis cui successit videte as saith St. August In hoc ordine successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur And our English Bishops had no succession from Roman Catholick for immediately after their Consecration Stapleton Harding c. told them to their faces they were no Bishops Ergo only the Roman Church have lawful Succession The Third Argument from pretended peculiar Privileges belonging to the Roman Church viz. 3. That Church only that have confuted and anathematiz'd all Hereticks converted Nations deprived Schismatical Bishops restored Orthodox Bishops called Councils c. that is the True Church But only the Roman is such Ergo only the Roman is the True Church The Proof THe Major is plain because these Privileges belong to the Authority of the Mother Church which is Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum The Minor is proved for In Ecclesia Romana semper viguit Apostolicae Cathedrae Principatus therefore in the Oriental Councils when some Bishops would not agree divers cryed out Romam ambulent Let them go to Rome Nam a Petro inquit August ipse Episcopatus tota Authoritas nominis hujus emersit and 't is manifest no Protestant Church ever confuted Hereticks converted Nations deprived Schismaticks restored Orthodox Bishops but slept Endimion's Sleep for above a thousand years or like a Didopper dived in the Apostles time and never rose again until Squire Luther that second Elias that fift Evangelist The Fourth Argument from Universality of the Roman Church viz. 4. That Church is only Catholick which is dispersed through all Nations But only the Roman is dispersed through all Nations Ergo the Roman Church only is the Catholick Church The Proof THe Major is proved for Universality is an evident mark of the Catholick Church Si vestra Ecclesia saith St. August sit Catholica ostendite per universam terram ramos suos copia ubertatis extendere for no Heresie can be Universal no Heretick can be Catholick Protestants are so far from Universality that 't is as hard a matter to find a Protestant in fifteen hundred as motum in vacuo The Minor is as evident that the Roman Church was dispersed through all Nations by St. Paul to the Romans 3.8 where he faith that the Roman Faith was Preached in all the World that is Peter's Faith and what Faith the Romans had then the very same they have at this present for the Roman Church is not to be new bottom'd neither to be reformed of new Calciners Fidei enim Regula una omnino est sola immobilis irreformabilis as Tertullian the Doctrine of Faith once delivered to the Apostles by the prime verity Jesus Christ and assisted by the Holy Ghost for ever cannot be altered and the Church being built upon a Rock need no repairing of new Masons Soliditas illius Petrae quae Apostolorum Principe est laudata perpetua est sicut Petra permanet quod in Christo Petrus credidit ita permanet quod PetrO Christus instituit Here St. Leo saith the Church is Perpetual and cannot fail so long as Christ is the Son of the Living God And although the Protestant Church be fallible yet the Roman is infallible therefore Vivat Fides Catholica Vivat Ecclesia Romana quae fuit tempore Apostolorum est eritque per secula sempiterna THE ANSWER SIR I Derive not my Faith from Luther or Calvin as Beginners of it yet do confess with St. Paul Acts 24.14 that aften the way which they call Heresie so worship I the Lord God of my Fathers I mean as those Fathers did whom Justin Martyr calls Patres Patrûm professing the Ancient Catholick Faith all the Articles of my Faith being grounded on Scripture and the constant belief of Fathers and Couneils in the Church of Christ the first four hundred years Antiqua Ecclesia primisquingentis Aunis vera Reclssia fuit Bell. lib. 4. de not Eccl. c. 9. The Opinions of any Posterior Fathers where they vary from the Doctrine of the First I think it unsafe to follow For St. Hierom teacheth me well Nec Parentum nec majorum Error sequendus est sed Authoritas Scripturarum Dei docentis imperium nam Judaei post Baalim abierunt quos didicerunt a Patribus In Jerem. ca. 9. We are not to take error by Tradition from our Fathers or Ancestors but the true sence of holy Scriptures is to be followed and the Power of God instructing us in them for the Jews went after Baal by the example of their Fathers As your Fathers did so do ye Acts 7.51 I am of the Apostles belief and I am sure they were no Papists rather Protestants protesting the Truth and sincerity of Faith against Error and Schism So we by receiving the true Sacraments which are called Visible Signs protesting the Faith protest against those which are corrupted and against all Doctrines contrary to Scripture and the Apostolick Faith c. and so in that sence you may call me Protestant Now to prove only the Roman Church to be the True Church you say That Church only that is Visible in all Ages is the True Church but only the Roman Church is Visible in all Ages Ergo only the Roman Church is the True Church And to prove the Major you instance the words of St. Mathew Dic Ecclesiae To which I answer that 't is not said Dic Romanae Ecclesiae Tell it to the Roman Church therefore makes no more for Rome than for Greece or any other place where the Church is hath been or shall be And to prove the Minor you only say 't is cleer by Church Histories Councils and Fathers that the Roman Church only is Visible but bring not one particular proof from any of them to make it evident and evince that the Church was no where else Visible for History also tells us that the East or Greek Church though often in great misery and persecution was and is a Church from the Apostles time So that Argument which is common to others you cannot appropriate only to the Roman seeing it makes as much for the Greek Church in whose Language the Oracles of the Son of Ged were written as for it The Greek Church was first honoured with the Original written Gospel and the Latin Church had it only by Franslation from it That there was and is a Church constant in all Ages though not apparently flourishing and visible at all times to all the world I not deny but that there is no Church where 't is not Splendid and Visible to all eyes you have not yet made any ways apparent Certainly the Ark of God was not less an Ark in being in Dagon's Tent and the Hands of the Philistines Persecution the fare of the Church Militant obscured the Churches Rays in many Nations and sometimes so totally Eclipsed her as she was not visible to Humane Eyes Besides your Position that