condemn as such viz. as false and destructive unto Souls and dangerously intrenching upon the very Vitals and Fundamentals of Religion And if it be demanded of us What are the Heresies of the Church of Rome in this last sense This is a large Field Popery saith Dr. Ames Ames Cas l. 5. c. 4. de Haeres Non est una aliqua singularis Haeresis sed quasi corpus quoddam ex variis Haeresibus conflatum productum Sicut enim Mahumetismus est antecedentium Haeresâ—â—n mixtura in Oriente Meridie sic Papismus quamvis aliâ specie variarum Haereseâ—n sentina est in Occidente Septentrione Popery is not one single Heresie but a Sink of many Heresies a dead Sea a Sodomitick Lake of many poysonous and erroneous Opinions Look as Mahometism is a mixture of former Heresies in the Eastern and Southern Countries so is Papism though under different pretensions a Sink of many Heresies in the Western and Northern parts of the old Roman Empire Take at present for I would not leave things at random these few Instances of the Heresies your Church hath fallen into It is easie seeing you call us to it it is easie in the strength of Christ in the evidence of his Word and Spirit to make good the Charge against Her CHAP. IV. Of the Heresies of the Church of Rome eight particulars instanced THe first grand Error of your Church is this Your Dethroning and Unlording the Scripture It is Christs own phrase Matth. 15.6 and Mark 7.13 by way of Reproof to your Predecessors those ancient Papists the Pharisees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unlording the Word of God through your Tradition But to this written Word did Jesus Christ appeal John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me We are commanded to try the spirits 1 John 4.1 even by the Rule laid down in that Scripture ver 2. The Bereans are commended by the Holy Ghost as Christians of the right breed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they would not take the Apostles Doctrine upon trust but searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so Therefore many of them believed Acts 17 11 12. But with you it is a Nose of Wax attramentary Divinity of no more Authority in it self than Aesop's Fables or Titus Livius but that your Church hath christened it for Scripture but yet She tells us withall That we must receive Her Traditions Pari pietatis affectu reverentia Concil Trident S ss 4. Decret 1. with as much pious affection and reverence as we receive the Scripture So your Tridentine Council It is lamentable to consider how many Bibles you have burnt and how many Christians you have burnt alive for having Bibles and labouring to acquaint themselves therewith In King Henry the Eighth's time those of you who then had the conduct of Affairs in England did cause to be put forth a publick and authentick Instrument for the abolishing and inhibiting of the Scriptures wherein ye thus express your selves Daâ—ed May 24. 1531. That foras much as there is ingendered an Opinion in divers of his Subjects that it is his Graces duty to cause the Scripture of God to be Translated into the English Tongue to be communicated unto the people It appeareth That the having of the whole Scripture in English is not necessary to christen men Fox Acts and Mon. Vor. 2. Eâ—it 1641. the divulging of the Scripture at this time in the English Tongue to be committed to the people considering such pestilent Books and so evil Opinions as be now spread among them should rather be to their further confusion and destruction than to the edification of their Souls Thus you said and did your worst but you could not hinder the Sun from rising at its appointed hour nor frustrate the Oath of him who sware that your time should be no longer and he gave the book to his servants to prophesie again Rev. 10. ver 6 9 11. This wretched neglect and contempt of the Scripture is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very corner stone of the Tower of Babel We look upon it as the first and chief of all your Heresies and the source and fountain of all the rest Ye do erre not knowing the Scripture Matt. 22.29 For there is a self-evidencing light and majesty in the Scripture it bears the stamp and impress of the Divine Attributes upon it which he that sees not must needs be blind as to other Truths also As he that cannot see the Sun when it shines at Noon-day can see nothing else he that cannot hear the voyce of Thunder is not like to be awakened by a silent whisper 2. The Authority and Infallibility of your Church and Pope as if they were not men but gods for humanum est errare Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3.4 This is the great Idol that you set up against the Scripture and consequently against God himself for the Scripture is God speaking to Mankind Hence it is written of Antichrist that he exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God 2 Theff 2.4 He takes upon him to dispense even with the Laws of God therefore it is made the brand of a Reprobate to worship the Beast Revel 13.8 And the Lord denounces and thunders forth damnation to them Reve 14.9 10 11. The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and their doom is just for they make a god of him for put case the Pope should erre and go to Hell Bell. De summo Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 5. Bellarmine would fain make us believe that we are bound in conscience to go with him for thus he speaketh Si Papa exraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare If the Pope should erre in commanding Vices and forbidding Vertues the Church were bound to believe that Vice is good and that Virtue is evil unless she would fin against her Conscience Here is sweet Catholick Doctrine is it not yet such stuffe as this is of such value with you that the same Bellarmine saith Bell. Praefatin liâ—res â—e Fortif Quâ de re agitur cum de primatu Pontificis agitur brevissime dicam de summa rei Christianae The Primacy of the Pope sayes he is the sum of Christian Religion he means Antichristian 3. Your arrogant Attributions to corrupted Free-will in derogation to the sovereignty and efficacy of converting and electing Grace yea to the utter corrupting and undermining of sundry great Gospel-truths as Election Regeneration Assurance Perseverance your Free-will is an Error that draws a soul tail after it But the Scripture saith We are not born again of the will of man
Ecclesia Ann. 1538. See the Appendix cap. 8. who did privately advise the Pope to Reform things amiss in a Paper they presented to him he having asked their Advice wherein they do attaque the very Popes themselves as the Heads of the Apostasie and Fountains of Corruption to the whole Church Principium horum malorum vide fuisse quod nonnulli Pontifices tui Praedecessores prurientes auribus c. Wherein they do their Popes no wrong for they speak no worse of them then your own Historians represent them nor then Pope Adrian the Sixth did acknowledge them to be In his Instructions to his Legate Cheregatus and in his Letter to the Princes of Germany Assembled in the Imperial Dyet at Norimberge 1523. He saith Sâ—imus in hac sede aliquot jam annis multa abominanda fuisse Fox's Acts and Mon. Vol. 2. pag. 78. Lampad Mellif Histor Part. 3. pag. 425. abusus in spiritualibus excessus in mandatis omnia denique in perversum mutata Se quidem non ignorare quid Scriptura docet nempe à Sacerdotibus populi iniquitatis originem scaturire ab ipsocapite Pontificio malum diffiuere in membra inferiora There have been saith he many years many Abominations in this See Abuses in Spirituals Excesses in Commands and all things perversly ordered The Fountain of Iniquity hath flowed from the Priests to the people as the Scripture saith and from the Pontificial Head the evil hath flowed into the inferiour members Thus he who as you say could not erre in judgment If a man would choose a Religion on purpose for the gratifying of his lusts Sir Walter Raleigh saith He knows none like Popery You have so many wayes to dispense with your Consciences and to indulge Sinners a licentious liberty to take their swinge in their lusts Your last swarm of Locusts the Jesuites have made it their business to corrupt all Morality as is to be seen at large in the Book called The Mystery of Jesuitism Moreover there is yet a third oversight in your Enumeration over and above both the former for as a Church which was once true and pure may cease to be so by such backslidings as have been instanced on her part so she may cease to be at all by righteous and destroying Judgments on Gods part which is also the case of the Old Church of Rome Providence having cut them off by the Sword of the Goths and Vandals and other Northern Nations about 400 years after Christ as he did the ten Tribes by the Assyrians of old and he hath substituted another people and language in their Land and place viz. those we call Italians as he did the Samaritans in the Land of Israel And as then so now the Successors are worse and further off from God than their degenerate Predecessors whom they saw the Lord destroy and cut off before their eyes Now suppose the Samaritans of old had pleaded a Plea not unlike yours viz. thus The Israelites were a true famous flourishing Church in the dayes of Moses and Joshuah and in the dayes of David and Solomon therefore we Samaritans are so now The Answer is easie You are neither of the same Religion no nor yet so much as the same people for they were Israelites but ye Samaritans So here What though there was in the dayes of Paul a Gospel Church of Romans at Rome though so far as appears not very great or numerous in those dayes but that ever there was such a Church of Samaritans or Italians there a pure Church there since the Roman people were cut off and their Language ceased to be a Mother-tongue and the Italian came in place Hoe tibi incumbit demonstrandum prove this if you can Alas the True Church is dead and gone from thence above 1000 years ago and a monstrons Beast with Ten crowned Horns is risen up instead thereof But you proceed to the first Head of your Distribution thus DISCOURSE Apostasie is not only a Renouncing of the Faith of Christ but of the very Name and Title of Christianity No man will say That the Church of Rome bad ever such a fall or fell thus ANSWER You thus restrain the word Apostasie to the grossest and deepest degree thereof that so you may the better defend your Church from the guilt of this sin But there is no necessity so to restrain it for there may be deep Apostasie from God under a name and outside profession of Religion It is written of the Church of Sardis Revel 3.1 Thou hast a name that thou livest but art dead Neither the Scripture nor the original signification of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a falling away nor the common and ordinary use of it requires that there be in it a Renouncing of the very Name and Title of Christianity It is used in sundry places of Scripture where no such Restraint is intimated as Acts. 21.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou teachest the Jews to forsake Moses And concerning Antichrist 1 Tim. 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some shall apostatize or depart from the faith And again 2 Thess 2.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except there come a falling away first And ver 7. This Apostasie is called A Mystery of Iniquity Therefore it shall not be an open total professed Apostasie but partial and palliated over with fair umbrages and plausible pretensions else why is it called A Mystery of Iniquity and Mystical Babylon Nor do you indeed your own selves alwayes use the word Apostasie onely in that gross sense for you scruple not to bestow the title of Apostate as well as Heretick upon Luther and the Protestant Churches though neither he nor we ever did nor through grace ever will Renounce the Name and Title of Christianity Cyprian warning the Saints and people of God in his time to take heed of spiritual and sitbtile Delusions Cypr. De Vnitate Ecclefia open and professed persecution being not their only danger He sheweth how Sathan perceiving that by the large diffusion and spreading of Gospel-light Pagan Idolatry and their Temples were much forsaken Excogitavit novam fraudem ut sub ipso Christiani nominis titulo fallat Incautos He hath bethought himself of a new deceit whereby to mislead unwary Souls under the very Name and Title of Christianity Sathan saith he transforming himself into an Angel of light and suborning his Ministers as Ministers of righteousness bringing night for day Antichristum sub vocabulo Christi Antichrist under the name of Christ The Church of Israel in the time of her Apostasie did not Renounce the very Name and Title of Jehovah but they did worship and swear by the Lord and by Malcham too Zephan 1.5 So those mungrel Samaritans 2 Kings 17.33 41. They professed Ezra 4.2 We seek your God as you do as fair a pretension as any your Church can make And in Christs time they had some confused notions and expectations of the Messiah John 4.29
you all dayes to the end of the world Therefore if they charge the Catholick Roman Church with Error they must say that either Christ was not of power to keep his Church from straying or that he wanted fidelity to make good his word Mat. 5.14 You are the light of the world A City that is set on an hill cannot be hid Mat. 16.19 Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven I pray name me the Church that was commonly counted the true Christian Church in which you remained and from which you are not departed Mat. 16.18 The Church cannot fail being builded upon a Rock nor needs no new Masons to rebuild her again 1 Tim. 4.1 St. Paul saith Certain will depart from the faith They went from us Whether did the Roman Church go from any other known Church or did any other go from her Satisfie your self and me in this I pray you Testimonies of the Fathers for the See of Rome THe Names of the Twelve Apostles are these the first Simon who is called Peter c. In which place Divine Epiphanius saith De Epiph. in Ancoratu That God knew the thoughts of hearts knoweth also who is worthy to be placed in the first place he hath chosen Peter that he might be the Head of his Diseiples St. Augustine saith of Peters Successors De Aug. contra Epist Parmenioni L. 1. c. 2. to the sitting in the Chair of the Roman Church the whole Christian world is subject Also Augustine elsewhere Aug. Epist 162. In the Roman Church alwayes flourished the Sovereignty of the Apostolical Chair The same in another place Number saith he the Priests of that same seat of St. Peter and see which of the Fathers succeed him for he is the Rock which the proud gates of Hell do not overcome St. Ambrose Rome saith he hath the principality of Apostolical Priesthood The Contents CHAP. I. Proving That a true visible Church may fall away CHAP. II. Of the Nature and kinds of Apostasie and of the Apostasies of the Church of Rome CHAP. III. Of the Nature of Heresie CHAP. IV. Of the Heresies of the Church of Rome eight particulars instanced CHAP. V. Of the Nature of Schism and of the Schisous of the Church of Rome both within her self and from other Churches CHAP. VI. Some places of Scripture for the inerrability of the Church of Rome answered CHAP. VII Of humane Testimonies for and against the Church of Rome CHAP. VIII An Appendix for the further illustration of some things which are but briefly hinted in the former Chapters A DEFENCE Of the Protestant Christian Religion against POPERY In Answer to a Discourse Intituled Of the one onely and singular onely one Catholick and Roman Faith CHAP. I. Proving That a true visible Church may fall away TO pass by the Rhetorick of the Title and the aptness of the phrase of singular onely one as an emphatical addition to the one onely and the consistence between Roman and Catholick and between singular and Catholick or universal How and in what respects of reason and what senses may be thought upon wherein the same thing may be called both Roman and Catholick both singular and universal The Discourse it self begins with unconuected Quotations of several choice portions of Holy Scripture And indeed so far as there is a cordial adherence and subjection of heart unto that rule among different parties and persuasions it will through the grace of Christ produce either union of Judgement or at least union of Brotherly affection and forbearance of love but what esteem the Church of Rome hath for the Holy Scriptures is well known She doth not subject her 〈◊〉 unto them And though you in this Discourse de Quote them as your Writers sometimes do yet if you be a true Roman Catholick it is not with any intent to subject your Church upto the Scripture and to advance the Scriptures above your Church but onely to deal with Hereticks as you call them at their own Weapons and to use the Scripture as a stepping-stone whereby to mount up your Church into the Throne of her pretended Supremacy and Inerrability as one would use a stirrup to get into the saddle wherein nevertheless your means hath an inconsistency with your end as will further appear before we come to a close of this Debate Your Argumentation from the Scriptures you recite begins thus DISCOURSE Now I hope it will not be deemed but that the Church of Rome was once a most pure excellent flourishing and mother-Mother-Church ut supra Rom. 1. ANSWER It will not be denyed but is readily granted by us That there was once a True Church in Rome that is a Congregation of saithful men wherein the pure Word of God was Preached and the Sacraments duly ministred according to the Ordinance of Christ which is the description of the visible Church in the Thirty nine Articles Artic. 19. And that this Church which was in Rome might be instrumental as Churches in populous Cities often are to propagate the Faith and plant Churches in other places is not improbable But that she had any superlative Purity or any motherly Power and Authority over and above other Churches is part of the thing in Question between her and us The Church of Corinth the Church of Ephesus of Thessalenica of Smyrna of Philadelphia were once pure flourishing Churches as well as the Church of Rome What may be truly said of her may be truly said of all other Gospel Churches in their first plantation and constitution by the Apostles yet it doth not follow That ever they were Mother-Churches in your sense or that because they were pure at first that therefore they are so still for visible Churches may degenerate and apostatize though the Mystical Church that is such as are in Christ by the spirit of saving Faith cannot wholly fall off from him yet such as are in him onely by external and visible profession may Jer. 2.21 I had planted thee a noble vine wholly a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me How is the faithful City become an Harlot It was full of judgment righteousness lodged in it but now murtherers Isa 1. 21. Whereupon a Church thus forsaking God God may forsake them He may discovenant and un-church a people and give them a Bill of Divorce and withdraw the signs and tokens of his love and presence He may break the staffe of beauty and cut it asunder that he may break the Covenant he hath made with all the people He may also break the other staffe of bands and brotherhood between Judah and Israel Zach. 11.10 14. He may give them a Bill of Divorce Jer. 3.8 When for all the causes whereby back-sliding Israel committed Adultery I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not God may say unto a people Le-ruhamab and Lo-ammi I
will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel for ye are not my people and I will not be your God Hos 1.6 Plead with your mother plead for she is not my wife neither am I her husband Hos 2.2 God may remove the candlestick out of its place Rev. 2.5 You see in all these Scriptures what the Lord hath threatned and done to other Churches in dayes of old which as it utterly overthrows any such imagination That a True Church cannot fall away so it shews That your Church claims such a priviledge as never any Church enjoyed Go to Shiloh where I set my name at first Jer. 7.12 14. Go to Jerusalem and see what God hath done unto it for the wickedness of his people Israel Never any Church enjoyed such a priviledge as yours pretendeth to of Indefectibility and Impossibility of losing their Church estate and priviledges It was Christs own threatning to the Jewes The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Matth. 21.43 Yea the Lord hath denounced the like Threatnings and brandished the same flaming Sword against the Church of Rome in particular and that from this very instance and example of the Jewish Church before mentioned Kem. 11.17 18 19 20 21 22. And if some of the branches were broken off and thou being a wild Olive tree wert grassed in among them Boast not against the branches which your Church doth against all the Churches in the World pretending to such transcendent priviledges and prerogatives above all other Sister-Churches But if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee Thou wilt say the branches were broken off that I might be graffed in Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith Be not high-minded but fear This is written to Her that saith She cannot erre For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest be also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be out off You see he threatneth Her with cutting off And he hath executed these his righteous Threatnings because She hath not continued in his goodness therefore he hath cut Her off and given Her a bill of Divorce having declared Her in the Scriptures of Truth to be Babylon and Her Head Antichrist even Babylan the Great the Mother of Harlots a monstrous Beast the principal object of all the vyals of his wrath And her Head a false Prophet a Star fullen from Heaven a persecuting Horn wearing out the Saints of the most High as it is written in these and the like Scriptures Daniel 7. and Dan. cap. 11. vers 36 c. 2 Thess 2. 1 Tim. 4.1 c. And it is the chief scope of the Book of the Revelation to discover and reveal Antichrist in every Chapter from the sixth to the twentieth This is something that doth some way concern this great Apostasie in all which Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament She may read as it were the Letters of her Divorce The Lord who was Her Husband having published them and left them upon Record to all the Churches that they may take notice that She is not his Wife nor he Her husband and that they may do as is written Revel 18 4. Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of bet plagues And accordingly we for our parts in obedience to this command have protested against Her and are come out from Her and our defence must be without shifts and subterfuges by making good the charge against Her What can She say for Her self How will She clear and vindicate Her self from all this fin and shame You attempt it under three Heads of Apostasic Haresie and Schism and I must follow you in your own method though it be none of the best But whether you took your Discourses hereof out of Fiat Lux for there they are verbatim there is more than a meer coincidence of matter or that Fiat Lux had learned them privately from you and then published them in Print suppressing your name I leave it to him and you to dispute that point and to your infallible Judge to determine it and judge between you Both he and you speak thus CHAP. II. Of the Nature and Kinds of Apostasie and of the Apostasies of the Church of Rome DISCOURSE This Church could not cease to be so but She must fall either by Apostasie Heresie or Schism ANSWER THis Enumeration is very defective and confused in that it makes Apostasie one particular species or kind of falling away whereas Apostasie and falling away is the same thing the one being a Greek word and the other English for Apostasie is contrary to the True Christian Religion which is the tying of man to God again from re and ligo after his fall in the bonds of Faith and Love or obedience of Love The Scripture everywhere makes these the two parts of True Religion 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 3.9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience Hence therefore there be two wayes of Apostasie viz. either from the Faith of the Gospel by fundamental ignorance and heresie and unbelief or from Gospel-obedience which is as large as the rule thereof of which David saith Thy Commandments are exceeding broad Psal 119.96 Therefore under this head comes Idolatry Superstition Schism Witchcraft Perjury Persecution Sedition Murther Whoredom Theft Equivocation c. Men may Apostatize and fa'l away from God by making shipwrack of the faith and by putting away a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 The Apostle speaks of some who profess they know God but in werks they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Titus 1.16 But this kind of Apostasie by evil works and scandalous sins is omitted and forgotten which is another Error in your distribution though it is that which your Church and Popes are deeply guilty of notwithstanding all your boastings of your good works and merits and supererogations with God The sixth Trumpet instanceth in Idolatries Murthers Sorceries Fornications Thefts as Sins that do abound among you Revel 9. ult And all Histories bear witness to it The corruption of Life as well as Doctrine was so great before the Protestant Reformation so many the offences abuses and scandals and such the degenerated notoriety of them that as it was the common desire of Sober men in Luthers time that there might be a free and general Council in order to a general Reformation of the Church which all men observed to be wofully degenerated So there were Nine Select Cardinals and Prelates of your own Church Câ—sil Delect Card. Praed De Emendanda
They had learned to say our father Jacob as well as you can say Saint Peter John 4.12 So in like manner the Church of Rome though She hath not Renounced the very Name and Title of Christianity yet She is deeply guilty of Apostasie from God divers other wayes both in her Head and Members She is and may be called an Apostate Church as having fallen away from the Faith and Doctrine of the Gospel by fundamental Unbelief Ignorance and Herefie and from Gospel obedience by the most abominable profaneness of life by the grossest kind of sins and scandals against all the Ten Commandments concerning which you prudently forbear to say any thing but concerning the former head viz. Apostasie from the Faith Your Defence is this CHAP. III. Of the Nature of Heresie DISCOURSE Heresie is an adbesion to some private and singular Opinion or Error in Faith contrary to the general and approved Doctrine of the Church If Rome did ever adhere to any such Opinion c. By what General Council was it ever condemned Which of the Fathers ever wrote against Her Or by what Authority was She ever Reproved ANSWER This Description of Heresie and the Queries grounded thereupon as they are not agreeable either to the Scriptural or Ecclesiastical sense and use of the Word so they are indeed no better than a begging of the thing in question between you and us For you know we hold That the Rule whereby to judge of Heresie is the Scripture and not the Opinions of Churches of Fathers Mr. Gales Idea of Jansenism Histor dogmat Part. 2. Sect. 28. p. 157. or Councils Tertullian makes it the Badge of an Heretick to decline the Scriptures he saith They are Noctue Lucifugae Scripturarum Night Owls that do not love the light of that Sun yea some of your own Church who are the pars sanion thereof if yet they be of you have said That it is an Herefie to judge of Heresies without the Word of God So the Jansenists And the Reason why the generality of Papists are so desirous to derline the Scripture is because they are conscious to themselves that it is against them as Mr. White hath well observed 〈◊〉 of Brisom White 's way to the Church Sect. 7. Numb 8. Bristow Motiv ult Canus loc lib. 3. cap. 3. Confil. Episc Bononi Congreg Anno 1553. De stabilienda Roman Eccles Fol. 5. who teaching his Scholar how to deal with a Protestant 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proud Heretick out of his weak and false Castle of unely Scripturs into the plain field of Traditions Miracles Councils and Fathers and then like Cowards They shall not stand Another Papist saith There is more strength is confine Hereticks in Traditions than in the Scriptures yea all Disputations with them must be determined by Traditions Those Reverend Fathers of your Church that met at Bononia by the Popes appointment to consult of the means for establishing of the Church of Rome or healing the Wound of the Daughter of Babel in the counsel they gave to Pope Julius the Third They do confess Certè vix umbram quandam retinemus in nostris Ecclesus ejus Doctrinae Disciplinae quae Apostolorum temporibus floruerunt prorsùs aliam accersivimus The truth is we searce retain a shadow in our Churches of that Doctrine and Discipline which flourished in the Apostles times but we have brought in altogether another There was no mention Fol. 2. say they for we may confess the Truth to your Holiness but it must he kept close either of Popes or Cardinals in the Apostles times nor of some years after There were no Monasteries nor Priors nor Abbots much less were there these Doctrines these Laws these Customs no nor that Empire which now we enjoy over several people and Nations They say further That the not studying the Canon Law and Sophistry and Metaphysicks c. Fol 5. But learning the Greek and Hebrew Tongues and examining Translations by the Greek and Hebrew verity hath been the cause and fountain of the late decay of the Church of Rome and of the deplorable state and condition of her Affairs at this day And finally which they reserve to the last place as the weightiest of all their ghostly counsels They advise That as little as may be of the Gospel Fol. penult be read amongst the people in their vulgar Tongue For hic ille in summa est liber qui praeter caeteros hasce nobis tempestates acturbines conciliavit quibus prope abrepti sumus For this is in brief That Book which above all others hath raised and brought upon us these storms and whirlewinds by which we are almost carried away headlong Thus speak they It appears by all this wherefore it is that you love not the Scripture even because it restifies against you For he that doth evil hateth the light and cometh not to the light lest his deeds should be reproved John 3.16 20. As to the word Heresie for your mistakes call upon me to open it a little if we look at the notation of it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 capio eligo so it signifies any thing of choice or option as Galen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Methodical and the Empirical way of Physick when applyed to matters of Religion it imports in the largest signification any Sect or way of Religion that a man makes choice of whether true or false So the Sect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Sadduces Acts 5.17 the Sect of the Pharisees Acts 15.5 called the most exquisite Sect of our Religion Acts 26.5 the Sect of the Nazarens Acts 24.5 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herefie in all these places But it is frequently restrained by a Synecdothe to signifie a false Religion as some other words ex gr Tyrannus magnus c. which are commonly taken in deteriorem partem Thus Epiphanius seemeth to take it in his Book of Eighty Heresies where he numbers Barbarism Seythism Stoicism Platonism c. amongst Heresies But it is commonly restrained yet more by a further Synecdoche to such Errors as overthrow the Foundation and are obstinately maintained against Conviction by persons pretending in part to the True Religion and so we do not call Pagans Hereticks but Infidels This sense of the word seems to be grounded on 1 Cor. 3.10 11. and 2 Pet. 2.1 and Titus 3.10 11. where the Apostles do distinguish of Doctrines comparing some to Hay and Stubble yet retaining the true foundation But there is another sort which they call damnable Heresies or Heresies of perdition Soul-destroying Heresies the Assertors whereof are subverted or overturned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from off the true foundation and self-condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as sinning against their own light Now the written Word of God being the onely Rule of True Religion hence nothing ought to be rejected under the Notion of Heresie but what the Scripture doth
First Whose company did she leave Secondly From what body did she go forth Where was the true Church which she forsook And the same thing is repeated again a second and a third time in your Paper ANSWER You do here again as before in your description of Apostasie and Heresie describe the thing amiss that you may the better ward off the blow and deâ—â—â—â— your Church Not that we desire to strive with you about words but as they do involve erroneous and undue apprehensions of things Be it granted That Schism is a rent or a breach of that Unity that Christ hath appointed in his Church and so as Heresie denies the Faith Schism destroyes 〈…〉 of the Gospel but your description of it fails in 〈◊〉 I. There may be Schism in a Church within it self The Apostle several times useth this word in this Epistle to the Corinthians as 1 Cor. 1.10 and cap. 11.18 and cap. 12.25 I hear saith he that when you come together in the Church there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divisions or schisms among you Though that any of them did break off from the communion of the Church doth not appear but there were carnal contendings and strivings within and among themselves rending and tearing one another which the Apostle there calls Rents or Schisms II. There may be Schism from another Church contemporary and coexistent as well as from a Church praeexistent There is no necessity that it must be only from a former Elder Church yea an Elder Church may be guilty of Schism from a younger and from those that were her own Members if she break the bond of love and order with them by her own corruptions and persecutions It is the apostatizing persecuting Church that makes the rent and is guilty of the Schism and not the Reforming party who are driven out by them Now to apply these things a little to the Church of Rome she may be charged with Schism upon all these Accounts The plain truth is she is the most Schismatical Church in the World both within her self and in reference to other Churches also a the evidence whereof is so notorious that if I were a Roman Catholick I would tell you That it was very unhappily and unadvisedly done of you to mention this business of Schism in a Paper of Dispute offered by you to the Hereticks For first within her self Her intestine Schisms and Divisions have been so many that it would make this Paper swell into a Volume Bell Praef. in Libr. de Pontif to number them all up unto you It is Bellarmines own concession though he labours also to cover this nakedness with a Fig leaf That there were Schismata gravissima plurima ipsorum interase Romanorum Pontificum Very grievous and very many Schisms Voet. Disp Vol. 2. Dis 43. p. even of the Popes of Rome amongst themselves Voetius refers you to Mayer's Book of the Six and twenty Schisms of the Church and See of Rome 689. Onuphr Roman Pontif. Cardinal ad Annum Christi 1378. but your own Onuphrius reckons up no less than Twenty nine Schisms in the Church of Rome And of the Twenty eighth in the time of Clement the seventh he saith it was Pessimum diuturnum Schisma omnisque Res-publica Christiana divisa A most wicked and long lasting Schism for it lasted as he saith no less than One and fifty years together and the whole Christian world was divided by it the French Spaniards and others following Clement the seventh but Germany Hungary England and part of Italy followed Urban the sixth Moreover Anno Christi circiter 897. c. to mention another instance among so many the Schisms were so violent between Pope Stephanus and Pope Formosus and their Successors That they did nothing but do and undo Ratifie and Rescind the Acts and Decrees of one another Stephanus for his part he Rescinds the Decrees of Formosus and like a quiet and peaceable man digs him up out of his Grave cuts off his Fingers c. But Pope Romanus and Theodorus and John the Tenth disannulled the Acts of Stephen and approved Formosus Yet after these comes Sergius the third who digs up Formosus his dead body once more cuts off his Head casts it into Tyber Rescinds his Decrees Now the Question is Which of them shall we believe for Bell. de Pontif. lib 4. cap. 12. they were all infallible Bellarmine determines That Stephanus and Sergius were in the Error and so like an Heretick he takes upon him to judge the Pope And as you have Popes and Antipopes so you have Councils against Councils for instance V. Calvis Chrâ—nol ad annum 1437. your Councils of Constanoe and Basil have defined That the Council is above the Pope Quod nisi est quis unquam Romano Pontifici quamvis improbissimo contradicerei Which if it be not so Who would ever gainsay the Pope though never so wicked say they of Basil in their Bull Jan. 17. 1438. But Pope Leo and the Council of Lateran have determined the contrary And here again Bell. de Conciliorum authoritate lib. 2. cap. 19. de Eceles militante lib. 3. cap. 16. Bellarmine takes upon him to determine between the dissenting Popes and Councils and plonounceth that of Basil as soon as Antichrist was angry with them to be but Conciliabulum c. But in the mean time your boastings of a Supreme Infallible Visible Judge amongst you to end your Controversies are to much purpose unless Bellarmine be he but he is dead and who succeeds him in the Office I cannot tell And I wonder What became of your uninterrupted Succession all this while during all these Broyles and Schisms And where is your Pâ—â—câ— and Unity among your selves When Bellarmine almost upon every Controversie reports the contrary Opinions of your own Doctors some of which he condemns very severely Voet. Disp part 2 inventar Eccles Roman p. 689. I have not told them how many they be but Voetius saith He mentions no less than Two hundred contrary Opinions amongst your own Writers which your Infallible Judge as it seemeth hath not determined to this day I might here mention as signal Instances thereof The sharp Contests and Digladiations between your Dominicans and Franciscans and Jesuites about the power and interests of Free-will and Free-grace and the influence thereof into mans Conversion and Predestination and about the immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary about which your Trent Council durst not give a clear definitive sentence but speaks ambiguously like the Delphick Oracles of old As also the Contests between your French Sorbonists and your Hildebrandine Parasites of the Court of Rome about the pragmatick Sanction of the Council of Basil the Liberties of the Gallican Church the power of Popes in reference to Councils and Magistrates c. Nor indeed do I know any one point wherein you differ from the Protestants wherein you are agreed amongst