The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 1 · Chapter 45
CHAP. 45. Of Antiquity, whether it be a mark of the true Church.
VVHen we ſpeak of the Antiquity of the Church, we mean not the antiquity of the Temples; for in an old building one may teach a new Doctrine. Nor the antiquity of the Chairs; for they that ſit in them may change the Doctrine of their Predeceſſors; but the antiquity of the Doctrine. Which antiquity is good, and of great authority if it be the firſt, before which nothing is more antient: For all that which is inſtituted ſince Chriſt and his Apoſtles, is new; and the multitude of years cannot authorize a falſe Doctrine. We judge not of the true Church by the years, but by the rules. Jeſus Chriſt is not the Cuſtom, but the Truth. Yea, as unchaſt women grow worſe by age; the more an Error is old, the more it is pernicious, becauſe it is deeper rooted. If time and multitude of years could make an evil Doctrine to become good, we would have the abettors of that opinion to ſet us down preciſely, how many years are requiſite to make that alteration, and to give authority to a falſe Doctrine. As then in the queſtion of divorce, without cauſe of adultery, granted by Moſes to the Iſraelites becauſe of the hardneſs of their heart, Jeſus Chriſt brings them back to the ſource, and to the firſt antiquity, ſaying, In the beginning it was not ſo, Matth. 19. We alſo, in all Controverſies about the Faith, let us endeavour to bring mens minds back to the firſt inſtitution, and to the doctrine of the antient of days, and of our Lord Jeſus, who correcteth the Errors of the Antient by his authority, ſaying, Matth. 5. It hath been ſaid by them of old time, &c. But I ſay unto you, &c. For the Truth of God is Eternal, and there is no preſcription againſt his authority. If in things civil and mutable one cannot preſcribe againſt the right of Kings, much leſs againſt the Law of the King of Kings; and in things ſpiritual and eternal. A time was when theſe Doctors which are called antient were new. And before that thoſe that are called Fathers did write, Scripture had already a full authority.
The Roman Church in this point is intolerable: For ſhe boaſteth of Antiquity, but will not ſuffer the truth of her Doctrine to be examined, though it be the only way to diſcern true Antiquity. She will have us to judge of the Truth by antiquity, whereas we ought to judge of antiquity by the Truth, and by the conformity to the Word of God, which is the firſt antiquity. She boaſteth to be antient, and yet every age brings additions or alterations to her Doctrine; ſo that the form of the old building is no more ſeen, and yet that building keeps the ſame Name. She boaſteth of antiquity, and yet brings new things every day. She makes a ſhew of ſome old patched clothes, to make the world believe that ſhe comes from far, as the Gibeonites did: But when one comes to examine her Doctrine by pieces, one finds that ſhe comes not from very far, and that almoſt all is new. And indeed there was need of great alteration to make a Biſhop of the City of Rome to become the Monarch of the Univerſal Church, and to make the Doctrine of the Goſpel to ſerve for building an earthly Kingdom. We are ready to undergo any puniſhment, if it be found that the antient Church many ages after the Apoſtles excluded the people from the Cup, or kept them from reading the holy Scripture; or made pictures of the Trinity; or yeilded Veneration to the Images of the Saints; or called the Virgin Mary the Queen of Heaven; …or made mention of the Roman Indulgences; or of the power of the Pope to depoſe Kings, and fetch ſouls out of Purgatory, &c. In a word, as it is now another Doctrine, ſo it is another Church, becauſe it is another Religion. And we have proved before by a multitude of very expreſs paſſages, that the Roman Church boaſteth that ſhe hath power to add to the Symbole, and diſpenſe againſt the Apoſtle, and to alter that which God hath commanded in his Word. M. du Perron hath beſtowed a Chapter purpoſely upon that ſubject in the 674. page. Yet after that, theſe men ſpeak of nothing but Antiquity and Fathers, hoping thereby to confound mens underſtandings, and avoid the Examination of their Doctrine by the Word of God. But of that we ſhall ſpeak hereafter.
Now if it be demanded, whether Antiquity muſt be placed among the marks of the true Church; I anſwer, that although the firſt and true antiquity belong to the true Church, yet antiquity cannot be a mark of the true Church.
For to know that mark, there is need of another mark, even of the truth of the Doctrine, it being impoſſible to judge, whether the Church that profeſſeth that Doctrine be antient, but by examining it upon the Rule of Truth, which is the Word of God.
Beſides, the marks of the Church muſt be proper to her at all times: Now a time hath been when the Chriſtian Church was new. The Church of Iſrael had her beginning, and the Church could not be antient when the world was new.
Alſo the eſſential marks of a thing muſt proceed from the form and eſſence of that thing: But time and years are not of the eſſence, and proceed not from the form of things that are meaſured by the time. Old age is not the mark of a true man, or of a good Common-wealth.
If Antiquity were the mark of a good Church, the Church ſhould alwayes grow better with the time; and with the antiquity the goodneſs and the truth of a Church ſhould alſo grow: And the Church ſhould be better in our dayes then in the dayes of the Apoſtles, becauſe it is more antient.
By that means alſo the Roman Church ſhould loſe her cauſe, for the Greek Church is her Mother; and Chriſtian Religion hath paſt from the Eaſt to Rome, and to the Weſt, as the Hiſtory of the Acts of the Apoſtles ſhews it evidently, and there is no Church ſo corrupt but boaſteth of Antiquity: The Jews boaſted themſelves to be children of Abraham, even when they reviled Chriſt,Joh. 8. and ſaid that he had a Devil. And the Samaritans called Jacob their Father, and by the authority of their Fathers who had worſhipped God in their Mountain,Joh. 4. they defended their Religion.
As the antiquity of a building is the cauſe that there is alwayes to mend in it; ſo it is ſo far from truth, that the antiquity of a particular Church ſhould be a mark of her purity, that on the contrary it gives juſt reaſon to preſume that the multitude of ages had made it worſe.
Wherefore St. Auſtin made no difficulty from to depart from his predeceſſors in the points of Nature and Grace, and Predeſtination; the Pelagians having ſharpned his wit upon thoſe points, which were not debated before, and obliged him to ſearch the Scriptures with more diligence; whereby he hath got much praiſe, and was followed by them that came after, as Fulgentius, Proſper, Hilarius Arel…tenſis, &c.
Upon that it is good to ſee Symmachus, a Pagan, Epiſt. 54. of the 10. Book, where writing to the Chriſtian Emperors, Valens, Theodoſius, and Arcadius, he deſireth them to have a reverence for the Pagan Religion, by reaſon of her antiquity,(a)Jam ſi longa aetas authoritatem religionis faciat, ſervanda eſt tot ſeculis fides, & ſequendi nobis parentes qui feliciter ſecuti ſunt ſuos, &c. Optimis Principes, Patres patriae, reveremini annos meos in quos me pius ritus adduxit ut utar Ceremonijs avitis, &c. Hic cultus in leges meas orbem redegit, haec ſacra Annibalem à moenibus, à Capitolio Senones repulerunt. Ad hoc ergo ſervata ſum ut longaeva reprehendar? ſera & contumelioſa eſt emendatio ſenectutis. If (ſaith he) the length of time gives authority to Religion, we muſt keep faith to ſo many ages, and follow our Fathers who have ſo happily followed theirs. Then he perſonates the old Pagan Rome, thus ſpeaking to the Emperors; Good Princes, Fathers of your Countrey, reſpect my years, unto which the pious Ceremonies have brought me; permit me to uſe the Ceremonies of my Anceſtors. This Religion hath ſubjected the world unto my laws: Theſe holy ſervices have beaten back Hannibal from the walls, and the Senones from the Capitol. Have I been preſerved till this time that I ſhould be rebuked in my old age? The correction of old age comes too late and is injurious. What could Ambroſe and Prudentius anſwer, who confuted that Epiſtle, but that the Law of God is more antient then Numa Pompilius, the Author of theſe Ceremonies? And that all is new which is not from the beginning? and that Error cannot be authorized by the number of years?
See Lactantius in the 5. Book of Juſtice, c. 10. where he ſaith, that the Pagans diſputing againſt the Chriſtians,(b)A quibus ſi perſuaſionis ejus rationem requiras, nullum poſſunt reddere; ſed ad majorum judicia confugiunt, quod illi ſapientes fuerint. when one asketh them a reaſon of their belief, they cannot give any, but have a recourſe to the judgement of their anceſtors who were wiſe.