stedfastly concluded with my self as soon as God would grant me an opportunity to associate my self in the Protestant Church and reject the Roman Idolatry Which I accordingly have done and having renounced the Popish Religion have adjoyned my self unto the body of our Saviour Christ Jesus that is unto the true Protestant Church Whose truth I am going to shew now as shortly as I can and that by this argument That Church which doth vindicate the authority of the Scriptures defends the proprieties of them and teacheth according to the Scriptures is a true Church but the Protestant Church doth so The Major is firm and without contradiction The Minor is to be proved which I am endeavouring to do Neither will I be so Scripturary as that I should reject the old Fathers and the Primitive Councils I will alledg them likewise as bearing witness unto truth which cannot be overthrown As to the first The Protestant Church doth vindicate the authority of Scriptures when she denieth the same to depend from the authority of the Church not so much as to us Robert Bellarmin seeing that these who affirmed without any limitation Bell. de V. D. l. 1. c. 46. the Divinity of Scriptures doth depend from the authority of the Church did not speak soberly enough he endeavoured to mollify the Proposition with this distinction viz. that the Scriptures must be considered either in themselves or in respect unto us As they are considered in the first manner they do not depend from the authority of the Church but as they are in the second But as the distinction is vain because every authority is Relative and is not so much to be considered in it self as in respect of the object so likewise the supposition is false viz. That the authority of Scriptures in respect or in relation unto us doth depend from the Church But before I come to the demolishing of this assertion we will consider the reason why Papists say and believe so And indeed I can find no other besides this that they seeing themselves unable for resisting the Arguments of the Protestants which are drawn out of the Scriptures endeavouring to pervert the sense of them asserting that the same dependeth from the interpretation of the Church and so consequently are constrained to affirm that also the authority of Scriptures dependeth from the Church of which Scriptures nor of the right meaning of them nothing can be certain without the Tradition of the Church And by this same they very handsomely tread in the footsteps of the old Hereticks of whom one thus speaks The Hereticks when they come to be argued by the Scriptures they presently fall to the accusing of them as if they could not be from or of a sufficient authority or not so to be understood and of which no certainty can be had without Tradition Here is the true Protraicture of our modern Papists But to the thing it self We deny the authority of Scriptures to depend any way from the authority of the Church but only from the holy Spirit speaking within the Scriptures 2 Pet. 1.21 2 Tim. 3.16 17. by reason he is the author of them and so he doth endue them with an irrefragable authority And as Christ desires no testimony from any besides from the Father so likewise his word which he hath been pleased to leave upon earth instead of his person And as it is very unreasonable that the Kings Proclamation should depend from a Crier or a Rule from a thing that is ruled or that the Sun should borrow its brightness from that Orb or Vortex which it is contained in so it is very disagreeable to affirm that the Scriptures should depend from the authority of the Church The Church is a Candlestick the Word of God is a Candle as our Saviour declareth Luke 8.16 Now as a Candlestick doth contribute nothing at all to the light of the Candle so neither doth the Church to the authority of Scriptures We do not reject the Ministerial Testimony of the Church in that case by reason the Church leads us unto the Gospel as the Samaritan Woman did lead her fellow-citizens to Christ as Austin saith yet for all that none of them can be call'd the cause of our faith but an instrument Yet the Papists do object against us viz. 1 Tim. 3.15 That the Church is call'd the pillar and ground of the truth and from thence they bring in this conclusion that she is the only cause from whom the authority of the Scriptures doth depend But very foolishly because first that I may pass by the Observation of Camero who affirmeth these words to belong unto the 16 verse by reason there is to be found in that verse a Copulative Particle which otherwise should be to no purpose c. the Apostle doth speak of the Church considered as a house and then sheweth which is the chiefest pillar or ground of the same and indeed if we speak reasonably a house cannot be a pillar but a pillar is in a house It is secondly to be observed that by this pillar is not to be understood an Architectonical but a Political one not one that should uphold by its strength the authority of Scriptures but one upon which the Proclamations and Constitutions of the Supreme King are affixed Neither is the exception of Bellarmin against this distinction of any value viz. That by this way the Church may be as well call'd a Library as a Pillar by reason we do affirm that the office of the Church is not only to keep the books as it is of a Library but to expose the Contents of the same to the view of people and to under-teach them in the way of their Superiors will which belongs to a pillar The Church then can be an external Motive unto us that the Scriptures are of divine authority but cannot perswade us unto it by reason it is only the propriety and the business of the holy Ghost whom the Lord joyneth with his word Ps 59.21 when he saith My spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth c. Austin speaketh very handsomely to that purpose Lib. de Confess speaking of the authority of Scripture But how shall I be perswaded to believe this Moses indeed did say so it is true he said but he is gone and although he should be present and talk Hebrew to me I should not understand what he meant but if he should speak Latin I should understand But by what means should I know that he speaketh truth Therefore inwardly inwardly I say in the Cabinet of my heart not the Greek nor the Hebrew nor the Latin neither the Barbarian truth but he that without the sound of lips or the noise of syllables should tell me he speaketh truth and I should say to this this man You speak truth You may see Christian and impartial Reader how Austin did
upon the person but considers the person as believing so or otherwise and so condemneth him And how a man that cannot err as they say in matters of Law should err in matters of Fact cannot be conceived by reason he having ones Book and being an infallible searcher and interpreter of ones meaning can fall into the question of Fact out of the question of Law and so pronounce that this and no other was the meaning of the Author 2. Because Law maketh a prescription unto a Fact it is not likely that he who cannot err in matters of Law should do so in matters of Fact. 3. Because sometimes out of a Fact ariseth a Law therefore the same question which was before a question of Fact after it is become by long continuance a question of Law may be handled and decided by the Pope infallibly 4. By this way the Pope shall never be able to condemn a Heretick or strike him with a thunder of an Anathema as one that hath a fallible judgment in matters of Fact which shall not be admitted by the Papists 5. That the Pope may err in matters of Law and that most horribly we have shortly shewn the same a little higher So that hence we may perceive how sallibly they believe that place the infallibility in the Pope For the last followeth the third meaning of the Papists viz. That the infallibility of the Church resides in the Pope and Council together But Incidit in scyllam qui vult vitare charybdin Because the same difficulties which were proposed before arise again Besides it will be dubious which of them parties viz. if the Pope unto the Council or the Council unto the Pope doth communicate the infallibility Afterwards if the Pope be absent and be there by his Messengers if they have the same authority he should have if he was present The same they could not have because it is his own formally or else he could grant it as well to all the Bishops of the Council as to his Messengers Moreover it will be very doubtful if those Decretals which were framed in the Popes absence will be infallible and binding the Conscience for if all the Decretals are of no value without the Pope's confirmation it cannot be conceived how that these Constitution made in and by the Council of Trent can be ratified extraconciliariter or without it by reason the Popes infallibility doth not consist as he is separated from the Council but as he is joyned with it Hence then every one that hath not a face of a Wizell may see how the Papists make their business to catch a shadow and affirming their Church to be Infallible doth not know nor cannot agree amongst themselves wherein this Church doth consist and so they do not know how to satisfie their own selves nor others neither although they brag very much of it Projiciunt ampullas sesquipedalia verba I my self remaining yet in the Popish Religion did perceive my self to be entangled by these difficulties and therefore I often considered how to be extricated out of them that so I might praise God in purity and holiness with the freedom of my Conscience And although being in Spain which is my native Country I did hear very much of the Protestant Churches nevertheless I could never meet with any Books written by the Divines of that Communion by reason we are severely forbidden to read them But because I did hear that they found all their Doctrine upon the Scriptures I took a great desire to read the same and to search after the Truth in order to my Salvation Neither do they forbid in Spain as a Countrey religious above the rest of the Papists to read the Holy Bible And after I had made it my business to read the Holy Word of God I met with those words of the Apostle Paul 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished with all good works Here it seemed unto me that the Apostle had drawn a portraicture of a Minister and proposed not only the method of Preaching but also the matter and the off spring of it and so declared by what means a Man of God that is a Minister of Christ might come to a full perfection of learning in order to the Instruction of their souls that should be committed to his care Namely he meant the Holy Scriptures of which he thought they did contain the treasure of the Divine Wisdom when he pronounces them to be able to make one wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 and expresseth the four fountains of Christian Morality to be contained in them and chargeth not only himself but an Angel likewise with an Anathema Gal. 1.8 Gal. 6.16 Isa 8.20 if he should preach any other Gospel unto us than that he hath preached and pronounceth his blessing upon them that walk according to this rule God himself is willing to reduce his People from them that have familiar spirits and from wizards unto his will and counsel sendeth them to the law and to the testimony and addeth That for them that do not walk according to this word there is no morning that is no life everlasting according to the phrase of the Psalmist when he saith Psal 46.5 God shall help Jerusalem when the morning appeareth that is when the day of our salvation will be approaching This was the reason that John on his Revelation declareth If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy Apoc. 22.19 God shall take away his part out of the book of life Seeing then that the Apostle Paul did speak so highly in the commendation of Scriptures as a man that hath not shunned to declare all the counsel of God Act. 20.27 Act. 26.22 saying no other things than those which Moses and the Prophets did say should come I concluded presently that there was no other fountain out of which we could derive the true Church but only out of Scriptures by reason we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2.2 Jesus Christ being himself the chief corner-stone And I saw likewise that the Ancient Father Austin L. 3. cont Ma. Arian did not disagree with my opinion when he saith Neither will I alledg the Nicene nor do you alledg the Council of Arimine unto my prejudice Let matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason decert by the authority of the Scriptures which are not belonging only to one party but impartial witnesses of both Contra Donat. There that is in the holy Scriptures as he saith somewhere else Let us search after the true Church and handle our questions But searching more narrowly after the Purity of particular Churches I found none answering so exactly the Scriptures as the Protestant Churches Therefore I
by all surely the Catholick Church it self must be this which was everywhere always and was or will be found amongst all Nations of the World by reason the thing ruled cannot be narrower than the Rule nor Faith cannot be found but in Believers I cannot but confess that there are many particular Congregations many Provincial or National Churches amongst which one may be and is sounder than the other yet notwithstanding this none of these Churches can be call'd Catholick if we take this word in a strict signification Being they are only parts or members making up one general body none of which can be call'd without a contradiction Universal except one would grant unto a hand or a foot the name of a whole body From hence we may see that the Roman Church being it is a particular one albeit it should be sound and Orthodox as it is not cannot appropriate unto it self exclusively to other Churches professing Christ the name of a Catholick or Universal Church I confess I am not so rigid as to cut off the Roman Church it self from the latitude of the Universal Church because besides that people living in that same Communion yet not formally Papists which in the simplicity of their hearts do profess God and our Saviour and believe in him and in order to that do work out their salvation as well as they can although many of them neither understand the matter nor the circumstances of it by reason of their unavoidable or invincible ignorance can arrive to eternal salvation being it is truth That God is no respecter of persons Act. 10.34 35. But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him We do likewise yield that the Roman Church may be called a Church although not in the moral yet in the physical sense just as an Adultress doth not lose the name of a Wife albeit she loseth the name of an honest Wife But now because the Court of Rome will have their Church to consist either in the Pope or in the Council or else in them both therefore we will speak of it as it is considered in that kind and consequently shew and declare the same to be false and erroneous It is true that the Church taken in that kind cannot be but as they say in Schools a representative one nevertheless because the rest of that communion are bound to obey it as an infallible one therefore we take the denomination a potiori and so affirm the same to be false and non-Catholick yea none at all It was not enough for the Papists to pronounce all those Churches that hold no communion with them Hereticks and so to shut up the Gates of Heaven before them but they were and are so bold as to affirm their Church to be infallible and without error It is indeed a great postulatum which is not only false in it self but also a great cause why the rest of the Churches will not nor can hold communion with them And that I may pass it by that no particular Church as the Roman is can be call'd infallible likewise it is as sure that they according to the way of the Athenians do not know whom they worship and so erect an Altar To the unknown God. Act. 17.23 In vain do any dispute about the propriety or priviledg of a thing when they can have no certain knowledg about the subject it self In vain do they affirm their Church to be Infallible when they cannot tell where and which this Church may be because in this matter we may see Pares aquilas pila minantia pilis one contradicting another Some of them as namely the Sorbonists do place it in the Council others as Jesuits only in the Pope some again say that it doth consist in them both jointly that is in the Pope and Council Chuse any side you please and take hold either of one or of the other sentiment you will find your self to stagger and being set in the midst of doubtfulness with Masius of Sylvaducis you shall not know where to turn you May be you will perceive from whence you have declined but not whither you should go because after you have made choice of either of their meanings you will find your self intangled with many difficulties out of which you shall not be able to free your self and so you will find your self to offer a sacrifice unto an unknown god This I will endeavour to shew briefly Suppose now you should yield that the Church doth consist in the Council only there you shall find presently some of that same Communion contradicting that But having past over this I may ask such a man Who can know this Council to be infallible Because first Ex partibus homogeneis nihil heterogeneum potest constari out of things which are of that same nature nothing can be made of a diverse nature All the members making up the Council were fallible How can it be then that they should become infallible when they are gathered into one Synodical body And if this infallibility came but then to the Council when it came to be a Council I pray Where was it before in what part of the World did it uphold it self By what Tubus opticus or by what insensible transpiration did this good infallibility come down upon the Fathers of the Council or what shall become of that infallibility after the Council is dissolved into what place shall it betake it self to rest None can give an account Then how shall you know that all they that were gathered in the Council have been lawfully baptized or baptized at all because you are not certain of the Ministers or the Priests intention upon which hangeth the efficacy of the Sacraments how that they are canonically ordained and not per saltum how that they have not intruded themselves by Simony all which thou must believe with a Divine Faith before thou canst embrace the decrees of the Council for infallible ones Moreover if the infallibility of the Church do consist in the Council then of necessity there should be always extant a general Council so that the diffident parts might have a free entrance in order to make a disquisition of their quarrel and likewise a determination and so live in peace But where is there such a one And suppose there should be always a Council in esse which nevertheless is impossible yet how should you know this Council not to be partial and not such a one as the Council of Ariminum neither subject to correction by reason many former Councils have been mended by the later as Austin tells us May be you will make this exception Christ promiseth unto his Disciples Joh. 16.13 and so consequently unto his Church That the spirit of truth shall guide them into all truth and that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 Well said Christ did promise the holy Spirit unto his Disciples but
as the things extraordinary must not be compared with the things ordinary because the Disciples had not only the matter but also the words from the indictment of the Holy Ghost so the Churches of our later times Gal. 1.8 and 6.21 2 Tim. 3.16 are bound to the Doctrine of Scriptures which are given by Inspiration of God and are not only profitable but sufficient also for all kind of holy instructions which if the Council doth follow there is no doubt but it shall have the assistance of the Holy Ghost 2. When Christ saith the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church he doth not understand any particular Church or their Bishops but the Militant Church dispersed through all the World and that this cannot err in matters fundamental we willingly allow 3. Whence do you know that the Holy Spirit acts a praeses in every Council by reason the Ariminum Synod may have the name of a Council as well as the Nicene 4. Who can satisfie you that the members of a Council do speak according to truth and by the inspiration of God rather than partially or that their Decrees are framed more by the weight of Reason and Scriptures than by the multitude of Votes or that it is not such a Council as the Tridentine was where the Holy Ghost as the Bishop of Fifechurches Episcopus quinque Eccles a member of that Synod saith was brought over from Rome into Trident in the Bags of the Roman Veredary and he staid out longer when the Waters did rise but came sooner after they were fallen so the Holy Spirit was afraid either to be wet or to be drowned 5. At last a Papist should proceed very disorderly if he being asked about the infallibility of a Council from whence he could prove it should betake him to Scripture because we ask them antecedently to the Word of God of this infallibility of the Church by reason it is her Office as well to make a Canon as to give authority to the Scriptures being their assertion is this That the authority of Scripture as to us doth depend on the authority of the Church But that which giveth authority to another thing cannot mutuate his own from it Hence you may see with what difficulties they intricate themselves that place the Church and its infallibility in the Council But neither those have lesser ones that settle the same in the Pope alone Although this sentiment is very foolish and consutes its own self by reason of its absurdity being it places the Church which is a congregation of many in one man yet we shall proceed in our proposition will run on our race For the most part of the Jesuits do hold this sentence and affirm That the Pope like the Pythia of Delphos only by himself may and can frame Decrees and expose them to the belief of the people Be it so that this Infallibility doth reside with the Pope the same difficulties will come again For how will you be perswaded that the Pope hath been Popable because he could be not Baptized He could have occupied the See by force by Simony he could be a Woman as Johanna was and not a man all which if it be present the Pope is no more a Pope Then how can you know that the Pope when he was going to frame his Decretals did use the usual and necessary preparations as Prayers and Fasting for seven days c How that he made them Motu proprio as the Roman Court saith that is by his own Will and not by the perswasion of the Chamber all which if it be deficient the Decretals and Constitutions are of no value nor pronounced out of the Cathedra or Pulpit and so neither binding the Consciences nor Infallible Further By what Argument will you be perswaded that this Infallibility doth not belong as well to the Bishop of Paris or Mantua as to the Bishop of Rome and so that this infallibility is not auferible from the Roman Bishop Gerson de auferibilitatae Pape of whose Auferibility Gerson did write a Treatise all which you must believe if you will take his Decretals for infallible At last how one single man can be infallible in matters of Faith cannot be understood because he hath neither any promise of it nor hath proved himself to be such an one as is clear and manifest by many examples May be you will betake your self to that vulgar distinction of the Pope pronouncing in his Chair or in his Hall out of the Pulpit and without the Pulpit so that he may be call'd Infallible as to the first but not as to the second But you 'll find very little comfort in that same distinction because besides that it cannot be defined how one and the same man should contradict himself without fear or coaction in the same matters likewise the Pope who can deceive being out of the Pulpit should take advice from himself as sitting in it that he might not be mistaken or else the Cardinals if they would have the holy Father to be without blame should bind fast this good old man to the Pulpit with chains as another Prometheus to a Caucasus that he should not stir from this Cathedra and so speak always truth But it is over-true that the holy Popes did err most abominably as pronouncing out of the Pulpit as it is shewn both by Papists and Protestants Platina de vitis Pontificum Romanorum and is to be seen in John in Stephanus in Formosus and others which are to be read of in Platina of the lives of the Roman Popes 2. They cannot tell us what they do understand by this Cathedra or Pulpit for as to a material Pulpit it can contribute nothing to the infallibility of the Pope or else it could flow in as well upon a Herdsman as the Pope if it should work by its Physical and internal virtue And as to a moral Pulpit of which Christ makes mention when he speaketh of the Fulpit of Moses nothing else can be understood by it besides the Holy Scriptures and if the Pope pronounce accordingly to them we will freely obey him 3. The Holy Spirit upon whom as they say the infallibility of the Pope dependeth is not bound to any place but bloweth where he pleaseth Others seeing no security to be found in the former distinction did commence another viz. That the Pope cannot err in matters of Law but he can be deceived in matters of fact But this likewise is a broken Cane and whosoever leaneth his hand upon it will be deceived This distinction was found out by those that are call'd in the Popish Church Jansenists for to heal that wound that was inflicted on them by Alexand the VII by reason of the famous five Articles of Janseniusâ— the Bishop of Ypres but nevertheless it hath nothing of truth in it self For 1. when the Pope pronounceth any thing as to the matters of Faith he doth not only look