The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 16
CHAP. 16. Reaſons why Cardinal du Perron, making little account of the three firſt ages, confines himſelf to the time of the four firſt Councils. And that he ſets down unjuſt rules, and ſuch as himſelf obſerveth not.
OVer all the book of Cardinal du Perron, againſt his Majeſty of great Britaine, he makes very little uſe of Gods Word, as of a tool which doth not fit his hand. But he(a)In the 4. chap. of the 4. obſervation of the 2. book, p. 726 and in many other places. takes the Fathers of the time of the four firſt Councils for his Judges; The firſt whereof, which is the Council of Nice, was held in the year of our Lord, 325. and the laſt, which is that of Chalcedon, was held 126. after. Within theſe limits he confines himſelf, making little account of the time before. He brings for his reaſons, the rarity of the writers of that time, and that they had no occaſion to write of ſuch matters, or that the books were loſt. Yet have we many Authors more antient then the Council of Nice; Juſtin Martyr, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Cyprian, Arnobius, Lactantius; To which I adde Euſebius and Athanaſius, who were preſent at the firſt Council. From whoſe writings we may learn, what was the belief of the Church of their time, as much as from any elſe that lived ſince. But the true cauſe is, that in the antienter Authors no mention is found of thoſe chief points, about which we diſpute againſt the Roman Church, as the Primacy of the Pope over all the world, the invocation of Saints, the ſervice of images, and many the like things, the ſeeds whereof were ſown, and the occaſions did riſe many years after.
The Cardinal alledgeth another reaſon why he reſtrains himſelf to the time of the four firſt Councils; That his Majeſty of Great Britaine, hath taken the Fathers of that age for his Judges: Which is an untruth, for the King never choſe other Judges then the Word of God; And in his ſearch of Antiquity, he never meant to exclude or undervalue the Fathers, that writ before the ſitting of theſe four Councils.So the Kings words are related by the Cardinal, in the 4. obſervation of the ſecond book. For theſe are his words, The King with the Anglican Church admitting the firſt four Oecumenical Councils, ſheweth enough that he includes not the State of the true and lawful Church within one age or two, but goes much beyond that. By theſe words, his Majeſty ſhews evidently, that he confines not himſelf within the ſpace of 126. years, which is the time of the four firſt Councils, reckoning from the firſt to the laſt.
For example, we find that the firſt Father that called upon the Saints departed, was Gregory Nazianzen, about the year of our Lord 370. Before him, no mention is found of the invocation of Saints; But all the Fathers antienter then he, ſay unanimouſly, that none but God alone muſt be invocated. Shall we think that the Cardinal hath ſufficiently proved, that the ancient Church hath prayed to the Saints, becauſe in the fourth age (in which thoſe four Councils began) ſome examples are found of that invocation? Yet to that the Cardinal, in the fore-alledged place, declareth himſelf not to be obliged; And ſaith, that to offer to bind him to ſearch the ages before, is harſh and unjuſt dealing; For he holds, that if ſomething be found to have been univerſally obſerved by the Church, in one of the four firſt ages, it muſt be preſuppoſed, that the ſame thing was obſervend in all the other ages, ſo that there be no proof to the contrary.
The Reader may here obſerve, that M. du Perron not only acknowledgeth that ſome doctrines are held by the Roman Church, which have no precedent in the three firſt ages; but alſo that he ſets Laws which he breaks all over his book, fixing bounds to himſelf, within which he doth not keep. For he maintains many doctrines, of which not only no mention is made in the Doctors of the firſt ages, but which alſo are condemned by thoſe Doctors; Such is the excluſion of the people from the cup, the ſervice of images, the invocation of Saints, the fire of Purgatory immediately after death, the Popes power over the temporal of Kings, and over their crowns, praying to God when one underſtands not himſelf, and many other things.
Beſides, to ſhew that a doctrine hath been received in the ancient Church, The Cardinal will have no more required, but to ſhew that it was univerſally received in one of the four firſt ages. Now this he doth not ſhew; for all the proofs which he brings about the principal controverſies, and chiefly about the dignity of the Roman Church, and the power of the Pope, are incloſed within the compaſs of the Roman Empire; and ſerve only to ſhew that the Roman Church and her Biſhop, had ſome preheminence above the Churches & Biſhops of the Roman Empire, but not over thoſe Churches that were without the Roman Empire; for with them the Biſhop of Rome had no communication, neither did he for many ages pretend any preheminence over them. And truly the Cardinal, as nimble as he is to invent things that are not, and magnifie ſmall things, could never in all his book produce any one appeal from the Church of Perſia, or Ethiopia, or Aſſyria to Rome, nor any law given in that time by the Church of Rome to the Churches of all the world.