to presse vs to shew not onely our affirmatiues as before but also our negatiues iust in so many vowells and consonants in the Bible as we expresse them whereas not onely consequences drawn from thence are sufficient for that purpose but also this one thing not to bee contayned in the Scriptures either directly or by consequence is in effect all one as to bee no article of faith In a word if to these and the like mountebanke affronts wee answer them not according to their minde they furnish their Schollers with premeditated speeches and scoffes to say that they brought vs to that plunge as to vse these wordes that is to say and it is so by consequence and to say that a Coach is also a consequence because it followeth the Horses This method of disputing was inuented first by Gontier a French Iesuite polisht by Veronus sometimes one of the same Order practised by Arnoldus the Confessor in most of his late bickerings approued by the Prelates of France assembled at Burdeaux An. 1621. as also at Rome and by sundrie Vniuersities commended by the Pope and the Societie newly erected at Rome by the Bull of Gregorie the fifteenth for the Conuersion of Heretikes intituled The holy congregation of the propagation of the faith and so farre admired that this Veronus hath in imitation of that Roman societie procured letters Patents for the establishing of a French Congregation of Missionaries as hee termes them cull'd out of all Orders and Vniuersities who dispersing themselues throughout the Kingdome shall after the Sermon ended by this method alone so blanke the Ministers of the Reformed side that within foure or fiue yeeres he doubts not but to conuert all within that Kingdome to the Roman faith To bee short this method hath trauailed most parts of Christendome being translated into seuerall languages and as out-landish toyes cannot long want a Merchant to transport them hither so this hath beene lately taught to speake English and applyed to the articles of our Church as before it was to the Articles of the French reformed wherein such confidence is put that Veronus vnder-takes to make a Cobler able thereby to put the learnedst Minister of France to a non plus though he deale so fauourably with him as to allow him the Geneua Bible or what translation else hee best likes to boote It seemes a Coblers disputations are thought good enough to beget a Colliars faith which to effect in the cōmon people is the Iesuites greatest ambition It needes not bee doubted but that this method may as easily if not with more aduantage to vs be retorted vpon our aduersaries and that it is no difficult taske to beate them with their owne weapons But it shall not be amisse to obserue from these new inuented shifts of the Iesuites into what a straight they are brought that they dare not enter the lists but vpon most vniust and vnreasonable conditions They bid vs to demonstrate that by sensible euidence and reason which themselues confesse cannot bee rightly apprehended without faith which is as much as if one should bid his fellow to see with his Nose or smell with his Eyes They require the meanest of our side to proue that which is not absolutely requisite for euery man to know They challenge vs to shew and threaten their pupils with thunder-bolts if they see In a word they are contented to venture a disputation prouided wee forbeare therein the vse of Consequences or Reason as if Poperie could no longer subsist vnlesse the reasonable soule should resigne her office and men could bee perswaded to turne either beasts mad-men or fooles And hitherto haue I treated of the act of faith implyed in this article which at the first appearing no bigger then a mans hand grew at length like Elias clowd so great that it well-nigh ouer-shadowed my whole text and I was drench'd therein ere I could arriue at Iesrael But now I hope the threatning storme is ouer-past and the obiect of this faith the holy Catholike Church like the Citie of God discouers it selfe to your view vpon whose description I purpose God willing to aduenture in that which followeth Credo Ecclesiam Sanctam Catholicam I beleeue the holy Catholike Church The second Part. SECT I. The first way whereby one may know the Church to bee Catholike or Vniuersall HAuing in the former part treated of that act of Faith which is implyed and intimated in this present Article the course and order of the wordes leade me vnto the obiect of that act the Church whose definitions being many and those not a little controuersed I shall content my selfe with that description of it which is insinuated in the Creed that it is a societie of men professing the Faith called out of the world for so doth the word Ecclesia imply and qualified with two attributes or properties Holinesse and Vniuersalitie Concerning the first of these which is Holinesse I purpose not to insist long vpon it at this present sufficient it is that it is called Holy in three respects Viz. 1. First in respect of the Righteousnesse and Holinesse of Christ imputed which may be termed sanctitas imputata an imputed sanctitie 2. Secondly in respect of those degrees of sanctification wherewith it is endowed in this life which may be termed sanctitas inchoata an holinesse begun here and consummated in the world to come 3. Thirdly in respect of the rule and law by which it is directed to serue God with holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life which therefore may bee termed sanctitas imperata an holinesse commanded and inioyned The second propertie of the Church is Catholike concerning which two things may bee deduced out of the Creed modus essendi the manner of its so being and modus cognoscendi the manner of knowing it to bee so Modus essendi the manner of the Church Catholikes being cannot better bee exprest then by the word Catholike it selfe For Catholike implyes that the Christian Church is no peculiar copt and shut vp within the Land of Canaan or the Territories of Iacob no tenure intayled to the Heires of Abraham according to the flesh or Lease expiring with the death and funerall of our Sauiour such as was the Church and Synagogue of the Iewes but generall and vniuersall and that in three respects Viz. 1. First in respect of place because it is diffused and dispersed through all Lands and Countries as it is written Reuel 5. Thou hast redeemed vs with thy bloud out of euery kindred and tongue and people and nation Not that the Church is to be in all Prouinces of the world simul semel at one and the same time but as Bellarmin in his fourth booke de Ecclesia and seuenth chapter gathers out of Driedo it sufficeth that it haue beene or hereafter bee in all Lands and Nations at least successiuè successiuely one after another 2. Secondly in respect of the persons because it
Credo Ecclesiam Sanctam Catholicam I beleeue the holy Catholike Church THE Authoritie Vniuersalitie and Visibilitie of the CHVRCH handled and discussed By EDWARD CHALONER Dr. in Diuinitie and Principall of ALBAN Hall in OXFORD LONDON Printed by William Stansby and are to bee sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Gray-Hound 1625. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM Earle of PEMBROKE Lord HERBERT of Cardiffe Lord Par and Rosse of Kendall Lord Marmion and Saint Qâ—intin c. Lord Chamberlaine of his MAIESTIES Houshold Lord Warden of the Stanneries Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Chancellor of the Vniuersitie of Oxford And one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell MY LORD THe first assault which was euer made vpon mankind appeared in the shape of a question for in that manner did the Serpent sett vpon Eue and the victorie then purchased hath euer since animated the Viperous brood of that arch-enemie to encounter the Church of God with the same engin Aristotles positiue formes of disputing sute not so well with their distempered materials as those of Socrates which conclude in Questions As it was at the building of Babel so is it now in Babylon their confounded language serues onely to aske and demand not to reply For what are the cryes of Rome which more frequently walke the streets and fill them with lowder clamours then those of London other then these Whereupon doe you lastly ground your beliefe How doe you know the Scriptures to be the Word of God Where was your Church in all ages If the Church of Rome professe not the same faith which anciently it did when did it alter or varie from her first integritie Argumentations of other natures are forbidden the Laytie vnder paine of curse this kinde onely of disputing by Questions is dispensed vnto the rudest by the prouerb which saith An Ideot may propound more in an houre then the learnedst in a Kingdome can resolue in a yeere Hauing therefore discoursed vpon these subiects partly in some Lectures had in a famous Metropolitan Church of this Kingdome where for a time abiding I aduentured to thrust in my Sickle into the Haruest of more worthy Labourers partly in my seuerall attendances vpon our late Soueraigne of happy Memorie and his Gracious Maiestie now being I presume in humble acknowledgment of your noble fauours conferred vpon me to present these my poore endeauours to your honourable protection beseeching your Lordship to passe a fauourable construction vpon my boldnesse and to accept of them as from him who is and alwayes will remayne Your Lordships humbly deuoted ED. CHALONER The Contents of the first Part of this Booke SECT I. THe Preface and partition of the ensuing subiect pag. 1. SECT II. What act of Faith is implyed in this Article of the Church and the errours of Romish Interpreters touching the same pag. 3. SECT III. The Romanists distractions touching the Church set downe in eight Gradations SECT IIII. The palpable abuse offered the Laytie by obtruding the Church vnto them as their soueraigne Iudge displayed by the present practice of the Iesuites pag. 26. SECT V. The obiections out of the Scriptures touching the Churches infallibilitie answered pag. 30. SECT VI. The obiection drawne from the question how wee may know the authoritie sense puritie and perfection of the Scriptures handled and resolued pag. 36. SECT VII The new sleights and deuices which the Iesuites vse in enforcing these arguments touching the Church and the Scriptures pag. 51. The Contents of the second Part. SECT I. THe first way whereby one may know the Church to bee Catholike or Vniuersall pag. 71. SECT II. The second way whereby one may know the Church to be Catholike or Vniuersall Together with an Application of the same to the present question of these times touching the existency of our Church in all Ages pag. 83. Errata Page 58. The â— which is in lin 7. ought to be in lin 14. ibid. lin 12. for obligation r. Religion ibid. lin 14. for but search r. but by search pag. 91. lin 19. for The fift r. The sixt Credo Ecclesiam Sanctam Catholicam I beleeue the holy Catholike Church SECT I. The Preface and partition of the ensuing subject THis parcell of the Creed how compendious soeuer it seems in wordes yet is it in signification so ample that if the Iesuites Comment exceedes not the Text this alone is an abridgement of Diuinitie this a Catechisme sufficient to engrosse the Layties whole studie and beliefe It is not a matter of small consequence to them which oppose names to things and triumph in the naked sounds of Church and Catholike whether you apparell the sense in any other furniture of Language then this they cannot reply as Demosthenes did to Aeschines wheÌ„ being vpbrayded with the improper vse of a word hee answered that the fortunes of Greece consisted not therein No in hoc sit a sum fortunae Romae in these Sillables the fortunes of Rome are entrench'd not the seuen Hils whereon shee is seated not her extended Wals whose auncient Tracts are almost enâ—omb'd with Age not her Castle of Saint Angelo are halfe so relied vpon by her as this single Article For why Shee hopes the Church will serue her for a Cittadle or Towre of defence Holynesse will colour her title and Catholicke will from all quarters furnish her with a voluminous Armie of ancient and experienced souldiers Howsoeuer therefore I am not able to vndertake this subiect either with that power or skill as those which haue preceded me in the same yet because as Rome was not built in a day so neither can shee bee surueied in an houre or as shee is the Beast with seuen heads and ten hornes resembling Hydra which as soone as Hercules had smitten off one head maintained the fight with another so there may remaine after those greater labours of others something for vs of succeeding times and ages to meete withall Be it as it will I shall not thinke my paines mispent if whilest others haue pared off an head my weaker strookes force her but so far as to shrinke in a horne But to leaue Prefaces and come to the handling of the point The words now read vnto you containing in them a matter of Faith and Beliefe doe present two thinges to our consideration Viz. 1. First the act of Faith in these words tacitely implied I beleeue 2. Secondly the obiect of this Faith the Church pourtraited and described by two properties Viz. 1. Sanctitie in that it is called Holy 2. Vnjuersalitie in that it is stiled Catholicke SECT II. What act of Faith is implied in this Article of the Church and the errours of Romish interpreters touching the same COncerning the acte of this faith I beleeue though it be not prefixed to the beginning of this Article as neither to the rest which follow it yet is it to be vnderstood the former I beleeue which precedes the Article of
a beliefe of the Churches saying Stapleton notwithstanding would faine find an cuasion from this argument saying that to yeeld beliefe to the affirmations of the Church is the Theologicall sense of the Creede though it bee not the Grammaticall much like as Bellarmine who endeauouring to proue Purgatorie from these words of Christ Matth. 12. It shall not be forgiuen him neither in this world nor in the world to come Confesseth in the end that it followes not indeed according to the rules of Logicke but onely according to the rule of Prudence as if forsooth the Arts were contradictorie to Diuinitie and not subordinate vnto it and that one might not iustly suspect something to bee amisse in that house where the Mistresse and her hand maides are at variance Secondly I argue from the word Catholicke in the Creede which by the Tridentine Catechismes owne confession signifying the Flocke as well as the Pastors and excluding no time no persons nor any condition of men is not possible to be seene nor capable to be heard nor able to bee consulted with and therefore according to the sense which the Church beleeues in this place it is absurd to conceiue that these words Credo Ecclesiam I beleeue that there is a Church should bee equiualent to these Credo Ecclesiae I yeeld faith and beliefe to the Church But for breuities sake omitting other proofes as more behoofull for those which write large Tracts than for my selfe who desire to obserue as neere as I can the lawes of Catechising my third reason shall bee drawen from the word Church which being by the Papists inuolued with so many contrarieties and contradictions from it I thus argue That which is to be the foundation of my faith and to which I am to yeeld assent in all things that must be a thing certainely knowne and determined what it is It is not sufficient to be acquainted with the word but wee must also vnderstand the thing for faith is not verball but reall neither are we conueied to heauen by bare sounds as by Magicke spels but by truths and verities which are couched vnder them But according to the Papists owne assertions this Church which they here would make to be the foundation of their faith and to which say they we are to yeeld assent in all things is not to them a thing as yet certainely knowne and determined what it is which by these Gradations following I shall demonstrate SECT III. The Romanists distractions touching the Church set downe in eight Gradations THe Church is deuided by some of the Popish Doctors into the Church 1. Essentially which they make to be the Conuocation of all that beleeue in Christ 2. Representatiue which they say are either the Bishops assembled in a generall Councell as most doe affirme or the Colledge of Cardinals as Siluester Prierias imagines 3. Virtually which they conceiue to be the Pope The first Gradation 1. NOw graunt the Church to be such a Pillar of truth that who so heares it cannot erre yet First it is not determined by Popish writers which is that Church to whose Oracles and definitiue sentence we are to listen 1. The Glosse vpon Gratians Decrees which containe the Popes owne lawes and constitutions asking the question what Church it is to be meant off when it is said that the Church cannot erre answeres that it is to be meant not of the Pope but of the Congregation of the faithful that is the Church Essentially 2. But this opinion of the Church is generally by almost all the Papists reiected for being the iudge of Controuersies and consequently the foundation of our faith the reasons are First because such a multitude dispersed farre and wide throughout the face of the earth cannot be so marshalled as to haue their opinions calculated Secondly because the greater part of these are Lay-people whose apprehensions oftentimes reach not vnto the matters controuerted Lastly because there is no promise made either to the flocke or to the Pastors and doctors of the Church that a greater part of them shal not erre but only that all of them shal not erre Wherefore though the whole Church in this sense cannot erre errore personali with a personall error yet Bellarmine in his fourth Booke De Rom. Pont. and fourth Chapter tels vs that we must seeke out for one that cannot erre errore iudicali with a iudiciall errour Some therefore of the Papists are of opinion that the Church in this sense as it is taken for the iudge of controuersies and foundation of faith is the Church representatiue in a generall Councell of Bishops no matter whether with the Pope or without him because the Pope say they though he be the head of all Christians and all Churches in seuerall yet is he not of all the Church assembled in a Councell togeather And of this opinion besides those which Bellarmine reckons vp as Cardinalis Cameracensis Ioh. Gerson Iacobus Almanus Nic. Cusanus Panormitanus Cardinalis Florentinus and Abulensis we may ioyne Ocham Driedo the Bishops assembled in the generall Councels of Constance and Basill and in a word the Vniuersitie of Paris as Coriolanus in his Preface to the Councels Praelud 5. doth confesse 3. But many of the later Papists and especially the Iesuites perceiuing that the former opinion touching the Authoritie of a generall Councell aboue the Pope howsoeuer the contrarie bee not yet determined doth indeed ouerthrow the verie faith of the Popes Primacie and finding as they say no promise made to a generall Councell without the Pope for that the Church is to be built vpon the rocke and not the rocke vpon the Church they doe concurre that the Church whose definitiue sentence wee are bound to beleeue is nothing else but the Church virtually that is the Pope whereby they delude and impose vpon the world more than euer for whilst they boast of the Church their Mother they meane and intend nothing else thereby but onely the Pope their father The second Gradation BVt secondly graunt for the Church at the Iesuites request that it be the Pope vpon which we are to relie yet is it not agreed vpon by them for the manner whether it bee the Pope alone or whether the Pope in an assembly of the Church representatiue and again whether this Church representatiue be the Colledge of Cardinals or whether a generall Councell 1. For no meane Writers amongst them doe hold that the Pope may erre if hee define without a generall Councell as besides many of the Parisiens Alphonsus a Castro and Pope Adrian the sixth doe auerre that we may see not onely priuate men but also Popes themselues to haue suspected the Papall authoritie in this point And here though Bellarmine vaunts that all Catholickes doe conspire in this that when the Pope defines any thing in a generall Councell hee is then out of danger of erring either in faith or generall