The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 29
CHAP. 29. That the word Catholick cannot be a mark of the true Church.
AMong the marks of the Church, the word Catholick, that is, Ʋniverſal, is ſet in the firſt rank of our Adverſaries. In that title the Roman Church doth eſpecially triumph: Being a particular Church, and a corrupt one, ſhe aſſumes the name of Univerſal Church; as if a rotten finger were called a man.
That the word Catholick cannot be the mark of the true Church, it is evident: For the natural and infallible marks of a thing are not words, but things. The marks of a good Horſe are not words, but natural things: For men will often give falſe titles, and contrary names, and the ſame title may be uſurped by diſſenting Churches. The names proper to a thing ariſe from the eſſential form thereof, but words and titles are given by the will of men.
Alſo it is neceſſary that the names and titles attributed unto the Church be given to her, either by her ſelf, or by her enemies. If by her ſelf, that hath no force; for ſhe is not a competent Judge in her own cauſe, and every one will take titles to his own advantage. But if thoſe titles be given her by her enemies, there is yet leſs reaſon to ſtand upon them, whether the enemies diſhonour the Church with odious titles, or extol her in deriſion. It is not juſt that the marks of the true Church be left to the diſcretion of her Adverſaries.
Beſides, the marks of the right and good Church muſt ſhew her goodneſs; but that word Catholick or Ʋniverſal imports no goodneſs, and deſigns no vertue, but only ſignifies her extent.
The ſame appears, in that the moſt falſe and corrupt Churches will put on alſo the title of Catholick, and will be called ſo. Lactantius in the laſt chapter of the 4. Book, ſpeaks thus;(a)Singuli quique coetus haereticorum ſe potiſſimum Chriſtianos & ſuam eſſe Catholicam Eccleſiam putat. Each Congregation of Hereticks holds her ſelf above all to be Chriſtian, and her Church Catholick. Salvianus in the 5. Book of Providence;(b)In tantum ſe Catholicos eſſe judicant ut nos ipſos titulo haereticae appellationis infament. So much they hold themſelves Catholicks, that they defame us with the title of Hereticks. Cyprian to Jubaian; (c)Cypr. Ep. 37. Novatianus ſibi vult Eccleſiae Catholicae authoritatem & veritatem vindicare.Novatianus will attribute unto himſelf the authority and the truth of the Catholick Church. Auſtin in the Book of the utility of believing, chap. 7. ſaith, that(d)Chriſtianorum cum ſint haereſes plures atque omnes ſe Catholicos videri velint. all the Hereticks affect the name of Catholicks. Even the Donatiſts againſt whom the name of Catholicks hath been eſpecially uſed, and the Rogatiſts which were but a branch of the Donatiſts, would be ſo called, as Auſtin ſaith in the 48. Epiſtle to Vincentius. And the Greek Church, which is an enemy to the Roman, retains that name ſtill, and her Patriarch is ſtill called Oecumenical Biſhop, as if he governed the whole habitable earth. In one point chiefly it is evident how that mark of Ʋniverſal or Catholick is wide of all likelyhood of reaſon; that the diſpute between divers particular Churches is, which of them muſt be called Ʋniverſal, as if Africk and Europe were contending which of them two muſt be called the whole earth.
Here truth is ſo evident, that a diſtinction between the Catholick Church, and the Roman will ſlip ſometimes from our Adverſaries, as acknowledging that they are different things. Bellarmine in the 2. Book of the Sacraments in general, chap. 27. goeth about to perſwade that Baptiſm doth not leave to be a true Baptiſm, although he that baptizeth have no intention to do that which the Roman Church doth. It is enough (ſaith he) to have intention to do that which the Ʋniverſal or Catholick Church doth. It is ordinary with our Adverſaries to call the Roman Church the Mother of all the Churches; ſpeaking ſo, is, ſaying, that the Roman Church is not the Univerſal or Catholick Church: For the Mother and the Daughters are not the ſame thing. Themſelves would not ſay, that the Roman Church is univerſally everywhere, ſeeing that there are ſo many great Churches more antient then the Roman, which are ſeparate in Communion from the Roman. Could the Univerſal Chriſtian Church be called Roman, when Chriſtianity had not yet reacht to Rome?