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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50252	A defence of the Protestant Christian religion against popery: in answer to A discourse of a Roman Catholick Wherein the manifold apostaties, heresies, and schisms of the chruch of Rome, as also, the weakness of her pretensions from the scriptures and the fathers, are briefly laid open: by an English Protestant.	Mather, Samuel, 1626-1671.	1672 (1672)	Wing M1278; ESTC R217670	45,074	64

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-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

overspread the whole face of the visible Church with smoke and darkness as was prophesied of him in the fifth Trumpet Revel 9.1 It was not said to the Pope What ye bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and to you it is given to know the mysteries of Heaven or that I will send the Spirit to you to remain with you for ever It was not said to him nor to the Roman Catholick visible Church You have been told so an Hundred times You have been challenged an Hundred times over to prove your interest in these promises if you can And now again if you reply to this paper what ever you pass by in silence yet I pray remember this That you prove your interest in them now once at last And to provoke you if possible thereunto give me leave to tell you That howsoever you labour to put a good face upon the matter yet there are not wanting appearances and grounds of diffidence even among your selves about it for Bellarmine numbers the alligation of the Apostolick See to Rome in no higher rank than that of pious and very probable Opinions B●ll de Rom. Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 4. Quod non sit omnino de fide à Romana Ecclesia non posse separari Apostolicam sedem patet quia neque Scriptura neque traditio habet sedem Apostolicam ita fixam esse Romae ut inde auferri non possit nibilominus tamen pia probabilissima est sententia But if the Apostolick seat be removeable from Rome then by your own principles she may erre and perish Therefore I say again prove your interest in any Scripture-promise if you can Do it if you can for instance concerning that famous Text upon which you found your claim Matt. 16.18 Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it This Text belongs as much to Mahomet as to the Pope you would fain give it to the Pope but how many postulata must you beg without proof before you can arrive at such a conclusion as 1. That Peter was at Rome 2. That he was there martyred and marthered by the Romans 3. That the murthering of an honest man doth give the Thief that did it a just right and title to all his Estates and Honours Cartwr on Matth. 16.18 or as Mr. Cartwright speaketh That innocent blood which polluteth other places should sanctifie Rome and that the Lord who in revenge threw down Jerusalem from her priviledges which she had above all the Cities in the world for spilling the blood of the Prophets should in reward lift up the head of Rome above all other Cities for shedding the blood of the Apostles Nay rather forasmuch as it was more drunken with the blood of Saints under the Government of the Emperors than ever was any and therein hath justified her elder sister Jerusalem therefore by the most just judgment of God it is become the Seat of Antichrist Yea by this Argument as he also observes Jerusalem that killed our Saviour Christ himself getteth the prize from her 4. That Peter was Bishop of Rome which was inconsistent with his Office of Apostleship 5. That he left a Successor in eodem gradu in his Apostolical power and office that whereas the Commission was personal to the rest to determine with themselves he onely of all the Twelve should hold the Apostleship as it were in fee-simple for himself and his Successors for ever 6. That the Bishop of Rome is this Successor though Peter taught at Jerusalem first Cartwr on Matth 16.18 afterwards at Lidda then at Joppa afterwards at Antioch and likewise at Caesarea lastly at Alexandria before he came to Rome And so the Apostolical Authority is holden by the tenure of Burrow English where the youngest enjoyeth all as Mr. Cartwright there observes Of all which suppositions the two first are meerly disputable and uncertain and can never be demonstrated but the four last are most certainly and indisputably salse But yet all these we must believe to the end we may believe the Popes concernment in this promise made to Peter And many a child of God have you offered in the fire to Molech for not believing these Romances But when will you go about to prove them You know in your own Consciences that there is as much footing in the Scripture for the old Pagan Theogonie their Pedigrees and Fables of their Canonized Ancestors and for the Jewish Thalmudick as for these Romantick Figments Learned men have observed That there may be some dark footsteps of the true Scripture History of Adam investigated and discerned in the old Heathenish Fable of Saturn some footsteps of the History of Cham and Cain in the Fables of Jupiter of Noah in Bacchus of Moses and Joseph in Mercurius Trismegistus of Joshuah and Sampson in Hercules c. And truly there is no more of Peter the Apostle in the Pope of Rome those being nothing else but depravations of and depraved Traditions and Additions to the Truths and Sacred Histories of the Old Testament and so is Popery to the New You reason from the promise made to Peter that the Church cannot fail being builded upon a Rock nor needs no new Masons to re-build her again But why do you not prove the Roman Synagogue to be a Church You know we deny it otherwise then as the dead carcass or picture of a man is called a man She is Ecclesia malignantium as Psal 26.5 A Church of evil doers but not a true Gospel Church not a Spouse of Christ Though if she were yet a true Church when declining or defective may need Instruments in the hand of Christ to Reform her call them new Masons or by what other name of honour or contempt you please Therefore after the renewed promulgation of the Gospel in the tenth Chapter of the Revelations Christ doth authorize and commissionate his servants to measure the Temple and to leave out the outer Court Revel 11.1 2. which importeth some further degree of Reformation but prove the Pope and Church of Rome to be at all concerned in what was said to Peter if you can Do it if you can concerning that other Scripture so much abused by you 1 Tim. 3.15 The Church is the pillar and ground of Truth because by the Ministry of the Church the Truth is published and propagated Mr. Bedle 's Letters to Wadsworth cap. 8. p. 118. as if a Law or Proclamation of the King be set up upon a pillar in the Market-place or in allusion as Mr. Bedle takes it to the bases or pillars that held up the Vail or Curtains in the Tabernacle And whether you refer it to Timothy as some or to the Church as others it comes much to one Evident it is that the Apostle speaks it directly either of Timothy or of the Church of Ephesus and that it holds by a parity of reason concerning all other

your selves Your very Council of Trent though approved by the Pope yet is rejected by the French Papists unto this day This is your peace and unity amongst your selves whereof you use to boast so much Nothing forsooth but Mufick and Harmony made up of Discords Secondly As to other Churches There be Churches both elder and younger and contemporary with the Roman and some of her own sounder Members with all which she hath broke communion And they are not fugitivi but fugati it is not they but she that hath made the breach because she doth impose such conditions of communion upon them as they cannot lawfully submit unto viz. To receive all her Errors and submit their Consciences to her and her Head as Infallible and Supreme If we look back to the first times of your Apostasie there were first all the Churches and Christians without the bounds of the Roman Empire as in India Perfia c. Secondly the Grecian Churches which were one half of that Empire one Leg of Daniels Image Dan. 2. which took the Alarum very early and refused the primacy of Rome and stood upon their guard against her Thirdly the African Churches did the same Fourthly All those suffering Churches and Christians that were oppressed under and by the Papacy as living within the reach of the Popes power Or if we consider the present state of things at this day and in this Age wherein we live there be very many with whom the Church of Rome hath broke communion As for instance All the Christians in Asia and Africa except some late Colonies of Papists All the Grecian Churches in Europe All those that are under the Patriarchs of Constantinople Antioch Alexandria Jerusalem Russia and Muscovia Also the Protesant Churches and Kingdoms and many that lie hid under the Dominions of Popish Princes who sigh and mourn and groan under the Abominations of the Papacy Sir Edwin Sands Sir E S. Europae Speculum or view of the state of Religion in Western parts pag. 76. 187. who was a great Traveller and a very intelligent person his computation in Q. Elizabeths time was That about one half of the Popes Dominions were fallen from him and become Protestants five of the Ten horns have begun to hate the Whore And you know how that since those dayes you have not been gaining but rather losing ground insomuch that when all Accompts are cast up both of those who were never subject to the Pope and those who have shaken off his yoke it will be found That the Church of Rome is not a third part of the Christian world All these Companies she hath left and gone out from all these Bodies and Societies of Christians hence therefore 1. It is a strange Question for you to ask Whose Company she hath left For you cannot but know if you know any thing at all of these matters that there is a far greater number of Christians out of her Communion and Jurisdiction than are within it 2. This renders her assuming and monopolizing to her self the name and title of the Catholick Church in opposition to all other Churches out of her Communion not only false but extreamly vain and in plain terms ridiculous For is she the whole Catholick Church who is not a third part of it Or rather is not this a piece of Schismatical pride and arrogance in her the very same with the Donatists of old who did unchurch all others but themselves and so do you which is not the Spirit of the Gospel but rather an evidence against you that you have neither part nor lot in this matter and that your hearts are not right in the fight of God which are so full of the gall of bitterness and sharp censoriousness Ravn 6. Concluso Concl 5. pa. 687. It further confirms that which hath been long ago demonstrated unto you by that Learned Raynolds That the Church of Rome is not the Catholick Church nor yet a sound Member of the Catholick Church And so much for the Apostasies Heresies and Schisms of your Church The next thing in your paper is this CHAP. VI. Some places of Scripture for the Inerrability of the Church of Rome Answered DISCOURSE THe usual colour of believing more or less than the Church allows is vain and erroneous inasmuch as that very Christ that stored her with knowledge of Gods revealed Truth and with power to convey the same hath also endued her with Inerrability to convey the same justly without danger of miscarrying against Ignorance To you it is given to know the mysteries of heaven Matt. 13.11 Against darkness Ye are the light of the world Matt. 5.14 Against error and falshood I will send unto you the Spirit of truth to remain with you for ever John 14.16 Against weakness She is the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim. 3. Hell-gates shall not prevail against her Matt. 16.18 c. ANSWER Now to examine the Contexture of this Discourse though something might be said both to the Grammar and Logick of it nor the soundness and sense of those distinctions you seem to make between Ignorance and Darkness for what is moral Darkness but Ignorance and Error and Falshood c. Your Scope is to assert the Authority and Inerrability of your Church as the supreme Rule of Faith and Obedience But what you mean by the Church whether Popes or General Councils you say not you know your Writers are divided about it But to the Scriptures you alledge we need not as you say we must but through the help of his grace we will not impeach either the power or faithfulness of Christ but there be three other things which we may truly and fitly say to you concerning those Scriptures 1. That you do not shew particularly where their pertinency lies or how you would apply them to the point you aim at they being in their plain and genuine sense most remote from it 2. That they do not prove Inerrability in those to whom they were spoken and intended for they are as applicable to every other Church yea to every true Believer as to the Church of Rome For every true Believer hath the Spirit of Grace and Truth dwelling in him and is inlightned thereby to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but yet it doth not follow nor will you affirm That every true Believer that every godly Man and every godly Woman is infallible 3. We answer further That these Promises and Scriptures were not given to the Pope and Church of Rome there is no pretence nor colour for it How ill doth it become you who do deny the perseverance of true Believers to claim to your selves an interest in such promises that the Spirit shall remain with you for ever It was never said to the Pope Ye are the light of the world For he is indeed the Angel of Death the Messenger and Instrument of Darkness a Star fallen from Heaven who hath opened the bottomless pit and