Answer to a Popish Antichristian Catholic, Offer 8
The eight Offer.
Offerer.
Eight. Wheras the Apoſtle S. Paule teſtifieth, that Chriſt gaue vntounto his church, ſome Apoſtles, ſome Prophets, ſome Euangeliſts, ſome Paſtors and Doctors, ad conſummationem ſanctorum in opus ministerij: and ſo to continue to the edifiing of the bodie the Catholique Church, vntill his comming againe. Now if the Proteſtants ſhalbe able to prooue by eccleſiaſtical hiſtories of all ages, the continuance & vſe of the ſayd functions and degrees in theyr congregations, and that by ſome orderly ſucceſſion and plaine account made from Chriſt his tyme hetherto, they hauehave neuer lacked the ſayd appointed officers, or that any other Church of Chriſt, hath had at all times, and the continuance of the ſame: I ſhall then recant and relent and not before.
Crowley.
Ephe, 4,It is a ſtrang matter, to ſée how impudently this Offerer dare ſet downe the wordes of the Apoſtle Paule in the 4. Chapter of his Epiſtle to ye Eph. as teſtifying that for an in fallible trueth, which is as falſe as God himſelfe is true. That is: that our Sauiour Chriſt hath appointed that hys Church ſhall hauehave Apoſtles, Prophets, Euangeliſts, Paſtors, and Doctors, continually tyll his comming againe, and that in a continuall and orderly ſucceſſion. Amongeſt the learned interpreters, there is not one, that hath noted anie ſuch meaning in thoſe wordes of the Apoſtle.
It is verie true, that our Sauiour Chriſt made choyſe of ſuch men as he had made méete to be his meſſengers, and ſent them foorth, firſt into thoſe Citties that belonged to the Kingdome of Iſrael: and after his reſurrection he ſent them into al the world, commaunding them to teach all nations, Baptiſing the beléeuers, in the name of the father, of the ſonne, and of the holie Ghoſt. And by the miniſterie of thoſe and a fewe others, whome he dyd afterward ſtirre vp and ioyne in commiſſion with thoſe: hée planted hys Church in all quarters of the world.
Thoſe were the Apoſtles, of whome Saint Paule wrote to the Epheſian, 4. ſaying: Hée gaue ſome Apoſtles. Theſe contynued in executing theyr offyce fathfully, and painefullie, tyll they had runne out the raſe of theyr naturall lyfe. Which courſe God dyd not ſuffer to bée ended béefore the ſounde of them had béene hearde all the world ouer, as appeareth by the wordes of Saynt Paule. Rom, 10,Rom, 10,
When theſe had executed theyr office, and were taken out of this lyfe: it was not néedefull that other ſhould bée ſent from God to doo that worke which theſe men had alreadie finiſhed, and ſo it was altogeather vnneceſſarie, that there ſhould bée an orderly ſucceſſion of Apoſtles in the Church. But when God ſhall ſée cauſe, hee may at hys pleaſure, ſtirre vp and ſende foorth ſuch meſſengers as hée ſhall make méete to doo hys meſſage. And ſuch hée hath ſtyrred vp ſence the tyme of thoſe fyrſt Apoſtles: and ſuch hee dooth and wyll ſtyr vp & ſend foorth at his …leaſure, and ſuch may bée called Apoſtles of Chriſt, béecauſe they be ſtyrred vp by hys ſpirit, and are ſent of hym. But this can not bée called a continuall and orderly ſucceſſion.
Such Apoſtles our Church did not lacke in ye time of the firſt, 600, yéeres next after the aſcention of our Sauiour Chriſt: as by your owne hiſtories it dooth moſt plainely appeare. And euer ſince you fell from vsus, we hauehave had, (and hauehave ſtyll) as many as our good God knoweth to be needeful for vsus: as by the regeſters kept in your conſiſtories may bée ſéene, for therein are written the horrible ſentenſes of excommunication that you hauehave pronounced againſt them, becauſe they would not worſhip the image of the Beaſte, nor take hys marcke in theyr handes nor forehead.
Our Sauiour Chriſt gaue vntounto our Church, Prophets alſo: ſuch as he made able to foretell of thinges to come: as Agabus, Ac. 11.Acts, 11. ye daughters of Phillip ye Euangeliſt. Act. 21,Act, 21. S. Paule himſelfe. Act, 20, 1. Timoth, 4, 2, 3.Act, 20. 1. Timot. 4. 2, Timo, 3. And Iohn that wrote the Reuelations, with many moe. Yea when hys pleaſure is, he can and dooth foreſhewe vntounto men things to come, by the miniſterie of ſuch as it pleaſeth him to foreſhewe thoſe thinges vntounto. Yea and he hath alwayes furnyſhed, and dooth ſtyll furniſh our Church, with ſuch Prophets as S, Paule writeth of, 1. Cor. 14. to whom hee giueth the gifte of interpretation ſo that they are able to make plaine the darke ſpeaches that are ſome times vſed by the Prophets that ſpeak of things to come.1, Cor, 14, Of theſe Prophets our Church had many in the time of the firſt ſixe hundreth yéeres, that were next after the aſcention of our Sauiour: but not ſo many as ſince the time of your Apoſtacie, which was in the dayes of Bonifacius the third, about the ende of that 600. yéeres. They that were in the tyme of the firſt. 600, yéeres, were perſecuted by the dragan, that is by the eſtate of Roome vnderunder the tirrannous Emperours. And they that hauehave béene ſince, and are now, hauehave béene, and ſtyll are perſecuted by the beaſt that hath two hornes lyke a Lambe, that is, the eſtate of Roome vnderunder the Papacie, Apoc. 13.Apoc, 13
Theſe Prophets of booth ſortes, hauehave béene, and are ſtill, ſtyrred vp by him that is the giuer of all good giftes, at hys ple…ſure, to worke his wyll in ſuch tymes as he hath fore appoynted: But there hath not béene at any time, any continuall and orderly ſucceſſion of them, ſuch as you require the Proteſtants to prooue, neither dooth it help any thing at all for the proofe of true and right Religion, to hauehave any ſuch continuall and orderly ſucceſſion: except all the ſucceſſors, doo hold the ſame Religion, and doo walke in the ſame ſteps, that their firſt Predeceſſor held and walked in.
Amongſt your Popes, very few or none can bée founde, that hauehave held the religion of Peter, & walked in his ſteps. Your Boniface the third (which was the firſt of your Apoſtatat Popes) ſhewed him ſelfe to bée of a far other minde then Peter was: otherwiſe, hee would neuer hauehave ſought for, and with great contention hauehave obtained that name of vniuerſall Biſhop, which Gregorie the firſt refuſed as a prophane name, and a ſigne of ye fore runner of Antichriſt. This would hauehave bin a luſty lad, if hee might hauehave continued in the eſtate of a Pope, many yéeres: but hée was cut of by death, in the ninth monethmonth after hee was made Pope. The reſt that hauehave ſucceeded (euen vntill this day) hauehave in one point walked in the ſteps of this Bonifacius: for they all hauehave taken vponupon them and kept the title of vniuerſall Biſhop, and ſo dooth hee that dooth now enioy that place. And ſo (by good conſequence) it may bee ſaid, that they are all Antichriſtian,
But to returne to our purpoſe. That church whereof the Proteſtants bee members, hath had Apoſtles as longe time as th'office of an Apoſtle was neceſſary for hir. In like maner ſhee hath had Prophets of both ſortes. Euangeliſts alſo ſhee hath had, and hath ſtill, whoſe office is to water that which the Apoſtles hauehave planted. Of this ſorte was Timoth. and ſo was Apollos, and others that were when they were, and in the firſt 600. yeeres after Chriſts aſcention. And ſuch bee they in theſe dayes which are able to inſtruct, and doo labour to inſtruct Chriſtians how to leade a chriſtian life, and to bee aſſured of Saluation, onelyonly by the mediation of Chriſt Ieſus, that promiſed Seede, through whom, all the nations of the world are promiſed to be happy and bleſſed.
Paſtors and doctors alſo, our Church hath alwaies had, and now hath: The Popes catholiques neuer had the like. Theſe are they that God hath made able to breake ye breade of life, to the flocke of Chriſt, and to teach & inſtruct them in all neceſſary knowledge to ſaluation. And theſe (as the others) are made able & ſtirred vp to worke in ye Lords Harueſt, by him that (as oft as néede is) ſendeth forth laborers into his Harueſt. Hée is not bound to maintaine a cō tinuall & orderly ſucceſſion, but when it pleaſeth him to puniſh the vnthankfulnes of his people, by taking from them ſuch as hee hath made méete and able to execute theſe offices amongſt them, hee may, and in iuſtice hée dooth. That ſo his people may learne to vſe ſuch good gifts better, when they ſhall againe enioy them.
And as for that popiſh-Catholique church, which your ſort doo call the knowne Catholique church: neuer had ſuch Apoſtles, Prophets, Euangeliſts, Paſtors and Doctors, as S. Paule ment of in his writing to the Epheſ. For that Church was not hatched before the dayes of Boniface the third. And therefore that church neither had nor could hauehave any ſuch Apoſtles, Prophets, or Euangeliſts as our church had in the ſix hundreth yeeres next after the aſcention of our ſauiour.
I conclude therefore, that neither our Church (which is the right Catholique church) nor yours (which is ye right Antichriſtian church) hath had any ſuch continuall and orderly ſucceſſion, as you require the Proteſtant to prooue by the Eccleſiaſticall hyſtories. I ſee no cauſe therefore, why you ſhould not recant and relent, although you hauehave hitherto refuſed ſo to doo.