The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 12
CHAP. 12. Anſwer to that Queſtion made to us; Shew us where your Church was before Luther, remounting from Luther to the Apoſtles?
OUr ears are even tired with that ſtale Objection: Shew us where your Religion was, and your Church before Luther and Calvin?
This is not a queſtion of Divinity, but of Hiſtory: A queſtion not to be reſolved but by the ſearch of all the Books of Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtory for they ſpace of fifteen hundred years: which Books being Greek and Latin, and of an endleſs prolixity; if by that ſearch we muſt attain to ſalvation, I know not who can be ſaved; ſeeing that even among the Doctors, ſcarce one of an hundred hath a mediocrity in that knowledge, and ſuch as think themſelves learned in it, do not agree among themſelves.
In that Objection, mockery and fraudulent injuſtice are evident. Mockery, in that they will have us to anſwer preſently, and in few words, a queſtion that needs above twenty years to frame an anſwer to it. And truly our Adverſaries might with good reaſon laugh at us, if we would have them to prove to us in few words, that their Religion was believed in ſeveral countries, and in all ages from the Apoſtles till now.
Fraud alſo and injuſtice is evident in this, that to take us off from examining their doctrine by Scripture, they will caſt us upon endleſs hiſtories, where they know that the people can ſee nothing, and into a dark labyrinth that hath no way to come out.
And how unjuſt are they to exact that of our people, which God doth not require of us? and to which themſelves do not oblige the people of the Roman Church? For God doth not oblige us to be learned in hiſtories, that we may be ſaved; but he obligeth us to know, and to follow the rules of faith and manners contained in his Word. He will not ask us in the day of Judgement, whether we have believed as the Roman Church, or the French, or the German believed before Luther? But we ſhall be judged according to the Goſpel; as Saint Paul ſaith, Rom. 2.16.
Neither do they oblige their people to know the whole ſucceſſion of chairs, and the whole thred of Hiſtories of ſeveral countries ſince the Apoſtles. And there is none, I ſay not only of the people of the Roman Church, but even of the Doctors, that can affirm without raſhneſs and untruth, that in the liſt of the Biſhops of Rome, or of Milan, or of Lyons, &c. none of them hath changed any thing in the doctrine of his predeceſſor. All that is meer darkneſs unto the people, and the Doctors of the Roman Church never examine their people upon that.
In our reſpect eſpecially that queſtion is both abſurd and unjuſt; for it preſuppoſeth that the Orthodox Church muſt be viſible to us in all ages. Now we have proved that the Church ſometimes ſeems to be extinct, and hath not alwayes a viſible eminency.
And to make the injuſtice of their dealing ſuperlative, they preſent that queſtion to us by the wrong end: For common ſenſe teacheth us, that in the ſearch of Hiſtories one muſt begin with the moſt antient, but they would have us to begin by Luther, and ſo remount to the Apoſtles, as if one began the Hiſtory of the Jews at Herod, and from thence ſhould come to the Maccabees, from thence to David, and from David to Abraham: For they avoid ſpeaking of the time of the Apoſtles, becauſe they know that their ReligiOn was not then in being. Alſo becauſe they know that the example of the Apoſtles is a rule and a law for the following ages. And ſeeing that our Religion is conformable unto that of the Apoſtles, the perceive that if one began that way, the ſearch of the Hiſtory of the following ages would be ſuperfluous, ſince all the following ages ought to be ruled by that firſt age.
There then we muſt ſtop them, and ſince they will handle Controverſies in the Hiſtorical way, let us begin by the firſt and the moſt antient, and let us ſee which of the two Churches is moſt conformable to that of the Apoſtles; Whether it be that Church which calls upon the Saints; that worſhippeth Images and Relicks; that pretends really to Sacrifice the Body of Jeſus Chriſt in the Maſs; that calls the Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven; that celebrates the Service in a tongue unknown to the people; that believeth a fire of Purgatory; that depriveth the people from the Cup in the Communion; that ſaith the Biſhop of Rome is Succeſſor to St. Peter, not only in the Biſhoprick of the City of Rome, but alſo in the Apoſtleſhip, and in the Primacy over the Univerſal Church, having the power of Canonizing Saints; releaſing of Vows and Oaths; diſpenſing againſt the Apoſtle; giving Indulgences to the dead, and drawing ſouls out of Purgatory; gathering the over-plus of the Satisfactions of Saints into the treaſure of the Church, and converting it into a payment for others; and having the power to diſpoſe of the Life and Crown of Kings, &c.
Or whether that Church which believeth none of theſe things, and rejecting thoſe Traditions, keeps her ſelf to Scripture only, be the Church conformable unto that of the Apoſtles? The Sun is not more clear then it is evident, that not only no trace of thoſe things is found in the writings of the Apoſtles, but that even many ages after the Apoſtles, one man ſhall not be found that had a Religion any whit like the Religion of the Roman Church of our dayes. Which our Adverſaries do ſufficiently acknowledge, when they ſay, That the Pope and the Roman Church can change that which the Apoſtles have conſtituted, as Cardinal du Perron maintaineth, and with him all the Romiſh Doctors of our age, as we have proved, and will hereafter prove more accurately.
The Reader may obſerve in that queſtion another evident mockery, full of inſultation: For a thief that hath robbed a man of his cloak, ſhould add mockery to his theft, if he asked him, Where is your cloak now? So the Pope who hath for many ages uſed his utmoſt endeavour to aboliſh the Church in the Weſt by bloody perſecutions, is now asking, where that Church was, which he thought he had extinguiſhed?
It were eaſie for us to ſhew, that before Luther, there was in France, in Germany, and in other places, divers Churches of our belief, which our Adverſaries charged with odious names, calling them Waldenſes, Albigenſes, Picards, and the like; (in the ſame manner as they call us now Hugonots,) and calumniouſly aſcribing impious doctrines unto them. The ſudden change hapned in Luthers time, ſhewed that Europe was full of people that knew the Truth, and ſighed for Reformation, groaning under their captivity.
At this time alſo the Church of Ethiopia, containing ſeventeen great Provinces, agreeth with us in the Fundamental points of the Faith, although ſhe obſerve many ſmall ſuperſtitions: For ſhe is not ſubject unto the Pope, knoweth neither his Indulgences, for his Laws; believeth neither Purgatory nor Tranſubſtantiation, maketh no Adoration of the Hoſt in the Holy Communion, nor any elevation for worſhip: Celebrates the divine Service in the native language; Communicates under both kinds; worſhippeth no Images: Hath no private Communion; hath but one Table or Altar in every Church; hath married Prieſts; Baptizeth men-children forty dayes after they are born, and women-children threeſcore dayes after, thereby ſhewing, that they believe not Baptiſm to be abſolutely neceſſary unto ſalvation: as may be ſeen in the Hiſtory of Francis Alvarez a Portugheſe Monk, who hath lived there ſix years. For M. du Perrons imputation to thoſe Churches, that they are Eutychian, is a calumny. It is true, that they are ſubject unto the Patriarch of Alexandria who is an Eutychian, but that ſubjection is not in the Doctrine, but only in that the ſaid Patriarch hath the right of the nomination of the Abuna, or firſt Prelate of the Ethiopians, when the See is vacant.
It is certain, that the Greek Church, more antient then the Roman, and from whom the Roman Church hath received Chriſtianity, draws much neerer to our Religion then the Roman; ſeeing that ſhe doth not acknowledge the Biſhop of Rome; deſpiſeth both his Laws and indulgences; believeth no Purgatory, and no Tranſubſtantion; giveth the cup to the people; hath the Divine Service in the antient Greek tongue; and hath married Prieſts.
But the ſearch of Hiſtories decideth no Controverſies. We are ruled by no Hiſtory but by that of the Apoſtles time; for they have given Laws for the following ages. Wherefore whenſoever our Adverſaries ask us where our Religion was before Luther? Note.we muſt ask them, where their Religion was in the time of the Apoſtles? for there both they and we ought to begin.