Romes Ruin(1), Answer · Paragraph 3 – Paragraph 4
PAR. III. Concerning the immutability of divine faith.
CHALLINGE.
This one true faith, generally preached through the world, was not to cease with the Apostles and their immediate hearers, but was by Christs promise to continue unchanged to the worlds end. For so it is said, Mat. 28. 20. I am with you alway unto the end of the world. Joh. 14. 26. the comforter whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.
Answer.
Neither of these places commeth home to prove that which you intend, viz. that the christian faith is to continue unchanged, and may not by any addition or detraction be altered. Why did you not produce to that purpose, Rev. 22. 18, 19. I testifie to every man that heareth the words of the prophesic of this book if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book? and Gal. 1. 8, 9. but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you then that which you have received, let him be accursed? Upon which words S. Austin thus paraphraseth; whether it be (saith he) concerning Christor the Church, or any thing else which belongeth to faith and our life, Aug. cont. lit. Pet…l l. 3. c 6. Sive de Christo sive de ecclesia, sive quacunque alia re, quae pertinet ad fidem vitamque nostram, non di cam, si nos (nequaquam comparandi ei qui di…it) sed si angelus de coelo vobis annunciaverit praeterquam quod in scripturis, legalibus & evangelic is accepistis, Anathema sit. Hillar. ad Costant. …iror te, domine Constantine imperator. fidem tantum secundu… ea quae scripta sunt desiderantem. Cyril Hierosol ca…ec. …. nihil, ne minutum quidem sine scripturarum authoritate statuendum. Theoph. Alex. ser. 1. de Pasch. daemoniaci spiritus esset instinctus sop… tium sequi, aut aliquid extra scripturarum authoritatem p…are divinum. …as. l de …, manifestus est a side lapsus aliquid non scriptum inducere.I will not say, if w…, who are not to be compared to him that said it; but if an angel from heaven preach unto you any thing besides that which you have received in the scriptures of the law and the gospel, let him be accursed. With whom accord St. Hilary, St. Cyrill, St. Theophilus of Alexandria, St. Basil, and S. Athanasius. St. Hilary, I admire thee in this, my lord Constantine, that thou requirest of us, that our faith be restrained to scriptures only. S. Cyril of Jerusalem, we may not determin or appoint any thing, no not the least, without the authority of scriptures. St. Theophilus of Alexandria, it comes from a di…ellish instinct, to follow the sophisms of me…s wits, and to conceive any thing to be divine without the authority of scriptures. St. Basil the great, it is a manifest falling away from faith to bring in (to our christian beleef) any thing that it not written. And S. Athanasius, what exceeding folly is it in you, to speak things that are not written? It is the manner of Marcion and other hereticks, not to walk within the bounds of the gospel, but to speak out of their private fancies; and you Sabellians, walking in their steps, go about to pervert the unstable, by speaking things that are not written. But you thought fit to balk those texts of scripture with the fathers glosses upon them, and deductions from them, though very pertinent to prove the immutability of our christian faith, because they have no good meaning to your unwritten traditions. As for the two texts you here alledge of Saint Matthew and Saint Iohn; they are to singular purpose, but not to yours; they are two deep wells of salvation, out of which we may draw abundance of water of comfort; for if Christ be always with us, we are always sure of protection; if his spirit will reach us all things, we shall be sure of instruction. But what is this to the imimmutability of our faith, or unvariablenesse of the doctrine and sacraments De in…t. Christi. foreign; Idem de salutari Christi adventu, foreign. Et contra Sabell. foreign.of the church? God was always with the chosen of Israel under the law, and his spirit taught them all things needfull to salvation; yet was the priesthood thereof changed, and the law also, and a new covenant made upon new conditions, and with new promises, & so it might be also under the gospel, if God in his word revealed in scripture had not declared the contrary, namely, Psal. 1104. the Lord sware, and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck: whence the apostle inferreth, Heb. 7. 24. this man because he continueth over, bath an unchangeable priesthood: and 1 Cor. 11. 26. as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye shall shew the death of the lord till he come; that is, the second time, to wit, to judge the quick & the dead, the lords supper therefore shall continue till we are bid to the marriage supper of the lamb in heaven: and Apoc. 14. 6. I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people; if the gospel preached unto us be everlasting, no new gospel shall succeed it; and if no new gospel, no new faith. The celestiall lights often turn their shadows, and give to the inhabitants of the earth divers denominations of per…scii, amphiscii and heteroscii; but with the father of light… there is no shadow of change. Jam. 1. 17. It was true before all time, and shall be after all time, when heaven and earth shall passe away, when the whole world shall be changed into a second chaos, and that chaos shall be re-changed into a new world, ego Deus non mutor, Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord, I change not. As God is, so it his essence; and as his essence is, so are his attributes; and as his attributes are, so is his word; and as his word, so is our faith grounded upon it, immutable. Nothing is more unsteady than the needle in a dyall or compasse, shaking and quivering continually; yet if it be touched with a loadstone, and set to the north, it resteth unmoveable; in like manner though nothing be more variable and unsteady than our assent to mysteries above reason and nature, yet if it be touched by the spirit, and fixed to the word of God, it remaineth unmoveable, and the church of Christ ever holding and embracing this faith, may truly use the motto of the Phoenix of her age, Queen Elizabeth, semper eadem, always the same.
PARAG. IV. Concerning the propagation of the christian faith to all ages, by pastors and teachers lawfully sent.
CHALLENGE.
This divine truth once established, to the cud it might continne, was to be derived to posteritie; not by angels sent to teach particular persons, nor by illuminated brethren of Amsterdam still pretending new light, but by a continued succession of known visible pastours, and bishops lawfully ordained and sent to preach it perpetually in desp…ght of all new sectaries and novellers whatsoever.
Answer.
Of angels sent to particular persons, since the time of the apostles, and the fathers of the primitive church, I read no where but in your golden Legend; and for fanatick and phantastick spirits at Amsterdam, if any of that mad brood still remain, you well know that we build our faith no more upon these illuminated brethren of Amsterdam pretending speciall revelation, than upon your inspired fathers of Rome pretending infallible direction, and a kind of appropriation of the holy Ghost. The differences of the two o…les (both bragging of infallible assistance) is this: they are lay-p…pes, yours are clergie enthusiasts. The propagation of the christian faith to al ages, even to the end of the world, we believe by the ministery of the word established by our Lord and Saviour, when he ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things; and he gave Ephes. 4. 10. 11. 12. 13.some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and s…e pastours, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministery, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till … all com… in the unitie of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God … a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ. We acknowledge also, that these ministers S. Paul speaketh of, and distinguisheth by the titles of evangelists, doctors, and pastours, &c. ought to be lawfully ordained, and be visible, and known to those who belong to the true church, though not always to their blood-thirstie enemies. When our blessed Lord and Saviour fled into Mat. 2. 14. Rev. 12, 6. Heb. 11. 38.AEgypt, and the woman into the wildernesse, and the primitive saints wandered in deserts, and in mountaines, and in dens and caves of the earth; when S. Hilarie complains against many in his time, Con. Aux. male vos par…tum amor cepit; mō tes mihi & filvae, & solit … dines & v… agines sunt tutiores; in ill i… enim prophet… aut de…er si, a… man…ntes de… spiritu prophetabant.who were carried away with the splendour and outward pomp of the Arrian clergie possessing the greatest cities and towns: you do ill (saith he) to be in love with wals: hils, and woods, and deserts, and gulfs are safer for me; for in these the prophets either drowned, or, remaining alive, prophesied by the spirit of God. In such perilous times as these, the visible pastours you speak of, kept out of the eye of the world and the walk of their enemies, and were not so known as you would seem to imply; yet did they preach the gospel in despight of antichristian opposits, (bending all their forces and banding against them) and there were added to the church daily such as should be saved.