Answer to the Proud Challenge of a Counterset Catholic, Answer · Answer · Article 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 farre-forth 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.