Two Treatises Against the Papists, Article rebutted 20
The 20. article hath 3. demandes.
1 Likewise, if any man can proue vntounto me, that either those be not true Christians, which by the consent of nations, and by olde prescription of so manye yeares as be sith their conuersion, be and euer hath bene called Catholikes.
YOu your selues, will not accompt the Grecians for true Christians, and yet by consent of nations, and prescription of as many yeares as you can prescribe, they be, and euer hauehave bene called Catholikes, if you say: they, are not called by you, I aunswere: no more are you so called by thē. And sence the time that you departed from them, as great a portion of the worlde, and as many nations, hauehave called them Catholikes, as you are able to shewe on your side. Therfore either you must compte them true Christians, or els you must graunt that they, which hauehave ben long called Catholikes, are not alwayes true Christians.
2 Or that those can be any true members, or children of the Catholike church, which do mislike and mistrust so farreforth these holy names, as wel of Church, as Catholike that they hauehave turned thē into Congregations, and Gospellers, and Protestants, and such like.
HE is a foolish sophister, that reasoneth from names to things, as you doe most vainely and childishly: we mislike the names of Church, & Catholike, because we do sometimes vse these names: Congregation, and Gospellers or Protestantes, and therefore be no true members of the Catholike church: we neither mislike nor mistrust those names as you sclaunder vsus, neither doe we boast and trust onelyonly in these names, without the thinges them selues, as you doe, and as your forefathers the wicked Iewes, crying: the Temple of the Lorde, the Temple of the Lorde, the Temple of the Lorde: when they had nothing lesse than the Temple of the Lord, but rather a denne of theues: So, you crie, the Catholike church, the Catholike church, the Catholike church, when you hauehave nothing in deede but the synagoge of Sathan. But because you make so much of these two names, Church, and Catholike, let vsus see what great mysteries are conteined in them. This worde, Church, commeth of the Greeke worde Kyriaka, in Latine Dominica, in English, the Lorde his house: for so were they wonte, in olde time to call their temples, or oratories, so that this worde, church, proprely signifieth a materiall temple, and can not signifie the fellowship and communion of Christian people, but by a figure. Therefore if we other whiles vse this worde, Congregation, which can not denie, but it is the English worde of this Greeke name Ecclesia, that the Scripture vseth, and signifieth without figure ye same thing that this word, Church, doth by a figure, you may be ashamed, if you were not impudent, to finde any fault with vsus for so doinge. Likewise this worde, Catholike, commeth of the Greeke worde, and signifieth Vniuersall, or ouer all, which worde the common people doth not vnderstande. Therefore we expounde it plainly and saye: that the Catholike Church, is the Congregation of Christ, dispersed ouer all the worlde. What reasonable man can reprehende this doinge, and not rather your folly, which thinke it inoughe, if the people can prate like parates: Catholike, Catholike, and vnderstande not what Catholike meaneth. Thus, as we doe not refuse these wordes: Catholike, and Church, because they are commonly receiued, so doe we interprete them, by Vniuersall, and Congregation, because they are not else, commonly vnderstanded.
3 If therefore any thing can proue our true Church better than the honorable name of Catholike, or more condemne them to be out of Christes church thā that not only the Christiā worlde geueth it not to them, but they in a name, do refuse the same them selues, then do I recant.
HEre you bewraye your selfe euidently, and acknowledge, that we doe not sclaunder you, when we say: you boast onelyonly of the Catholike church: For you declare plainely, that you hauehave no better argument then the very name of the Catholike Church, to proue, that you be the Catholike Church: if this be the best argument, all the rest is litle worth. For if the onelyonly name of an honest man, is enough to proue an honest man, many a knaue may proue him selfe an honest man, and if the very name of learning, make a learned man, many an asse may proue him selfe to be a learned man, or if ye name of a good Christian, proue a man to be a good Christian, eueryevery hypocrite may proue him selfe a good Christian. Likewise if you hauehave no greater argument, that can more condemne vsus, then that we are not called the Catholike Church, then can you no more condemne vsus, then Christ and his Apostles, that were not onelyonly, not called the true Church, but also were called heretikes & deceiuers by the people of the Iewes, which were as rightly called God his people, as they that giuegive you the name of Catholike Church, are called the Christian world. It is well you hauehave nothing better to proue your Church, then the honorable name of Catholike, nor any thing more to condēne our Church, then that we are not called Catholike, and yet we hauehave as many nations, and more then you hauehave, that by publike authoritie, call vsus Catholikes, and you heretikes, although you most shamefully sclaunder vsus, that we doe refuse the name being offered vntounto vsus. Seeing you boast so much of the name, Catholike, you shall heare what some of the old writers iudged thereof. Chrysostome, in an homelie, that he writeth of Adam, and Eue, in the later ende hath these words, after he hath tolde them that he hath no neede to repeate such depe questions, as those men hauehave handled which hauehave fought against heretikes: Satis sufficere credimus quicquid secūdum praedictas regulas Apostolica scripta nos docuerunt, vt prorsus opinemur Catholicum, quod apparuerit praefixis sententijs esse contrarium, that is, we beleue that what so euer the Apostles hauehave taught vsus according to the foresayd rules is sufficient, in so much that in no wise, we thinke that to be Catholike which shall appeare to be contrary to the sentences before determined. By this you may see that Chrysostome thought it not sufficient to hauehave the name of Catholike, for he iudged nothing to be Catholike in deede, that was contrary to the rule groūded in the writings of the Apostles. Wherfore how so euer you boast of the honorable name of Catholike, except you can proue that your opinions agree with the Scripture, they are not Catholike in deede, by Chrysostomes iudgement. S. Augustine also, in his booke de Genese ad literam imperfecto cap. 1. speaking of the Catholike faith, sayth: This is an article thereof, that we should beleue. Constitutam ab eo matrem Ecclesiam quae Catholica dicitur, ex eo quia vniuersaliter perfecta est, & in nullo claudicat & per totum orbem diffusa est. That he hath appoynted a mother Church, which is called Catholike, of this, because it is vniuersally perfect, & halteth in nothing, and is dispersed ouer all the worlde. S. Augustine here, is not content that the Church be onelyonly called Catholike, but sheweth when it is that, which it is called, and therefore the popish Church, not being vniuersally perfect, as most Papists will confesse, that many thinges in their church hauehave neede of reformation, & halting in many thinges from the truth of God his worde, neither yet being dispersed ouer all the world but conteyned in a corner of Europa, is not by S. Augustines rule the Catholike Church. Furthermore S. Augustine, cōtra Epistolam Fundamēti cap. 4. against the Manichees plainely declareth, how farre forth, not onelyonly the name of Catholike, but also how farre vniuersally, consent, succession, antiquitie, are to be allowed: Vt ergo hanc omittam sapientiam, &c. Therefore to omitte this wisedom which you do beleue to be in the Catholike Church, there be many other things which may hold me most righteously in her bosome. The cō sent of people and nations holdeth me, the authoritie begun with miracles, nourished with hope, encreased with charitie, confirmed by antiquitie, doth hold me. The succession of Priestes from the very seate of Peter the Apostle, vntounto whom our Lord after his resurrection, committed his sheepe to be fedde euen vntounto this present bishopricke, doth hold me. Last of all that very name of Catholike doth hold me, which name, not without a cause, this Church alone hath so obteyned, among so many heresies, that wheras all heretiks would be called Catholikes, yet when a stranger shall aske: where men meete at the Catholike Church, none of the heretikes dare shew him, either their principall temple or house. All this, you will say maketh exceeding much for vsus: yea, but heare that which followeth: Apud vos autem, vbi nihil horum est quod me inuitet ac teneat, sola personat veritatis pollicitatio: quae quidem si tam manifesta monstratur, vt in dubium venire non possit: proponenda est omnibus illis rebus, quibus in Catholica teneor, that is: But among you where there is none of these thinges, that may prouoke or holde me, there soundeth the onelyonly promise of truth, which if it be shewed so manifest that it can not come in doubt, is to be preferred before all those thinges, by which I am holden in a Catholike Church. By this you may plainly see, that though consent, antiquitie, succession, and the name of Catholike, be good confirmation, when they are ioyned with the truth, yet when a truth is seuered from them,, it is more to be regarded then they all: & it is truth that maketh Catholike, to be estemed, and not Catholike, that giueth authoritie to truth: Wherefore, seeing it were better to proue your Church, to be Catholike, then to boast, that it is so called, & to disproue our Church so to be, then to say: it is not so called: The best way for you, is to recant.