Defense of the Protestant Christian Religion, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Some places of Scripture for the Inerrability of the Church of Rome, Anſwered.
DISCOURSE.
THe uſual colour of believing more or leſs, than the Church allows, is vain and erroneous; inaſmuch, as that very Chriſt, that ſtored her with knowledge of Gods revealed Truth, and with power to convey the ſame, hath alſo endued her with Inerrability to convey the ſame juſtly, without danger of miſcarrying, againſt Ignorance. To you it is given to know the myſteries of heaven, Matt. 13.11. Againſt darkneſs; Ye are the light of the world, Matt. 5.14. Againſt error and falſhood; I will ſend unto you the Spirit of truth, to remain with you for ever, John 14.16. Againſt weakneſs; She is the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. 3. Hell-gates ſhall not prevail againſt her, Matt. 16.18, &c.
ANSWER.
Now to examine the Contexture of this Diſcourſe, though ſomething might be ſaid, both to the Grammar, and Logick of it, nor the ſoundneſs and ſenſe of thoſe diſtinctions you ſeem to make between Ignorance and Darkneſs (for what is moral Darkneſs, but Ignorance?) and Error and Falſhood, &c. Your Scope is, to aſſert the Authority, and Inerrability of your Church, as the ſupreme Rule of Faith and Obedience. But what you mean by the Church, whether Popes, or General Councils, you ſay not, you know your Writers are divided about it. But to the Scriptures you alledge, we need not (as you ſay we muſt) but through the help of his grace, we will not impeach either the power or faithfulneſs of Chriſt; but there be three other things, which we may truly, and fitly ſay to you concerning thoſe Scriptures.
1. That you do not ſhew particularly, where their pertinency lies, or how you would apply them to the point you aim at, they being in their plain and genuine ſenſe, moſt remote from it.
2. That they do not prove Inerrability in thoſe, to whom they were ſpoken and intended; for they are as applicable to every other Church, yea, to every true Believer, as to the Church of Rome: For every true Believer hath the Spirit of Grace and Truth dwelling in him, and is inlightned thereby, to know the myſteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; but yet it doth not follow, nor will you affirm, That every true Believer, that every godly Man, and every godly Woman, is infallible.
3. We anſwer, further, That theſe Promiſes and Scriptures were not given to the Pope and Church of Rome, there is no pretence nor colour for it. How ill doth it become you, who do deny the perſeverance of true Believers, to claim to your ſelves an intereſt in ſuch promiſes, that the Spirit ſhall remain with you for ever? It was never ſaid to the Pope, Ye are the light of the world: For he is indeed the Angel of Death, the Meſſenger and Inſtrument of Darkneſs; a Star fallen from Heaven, who hath opened the bottomleſs pit, and overſpread the whole face of the viſible Church, with ſmoke and darkneſs, as was propheſied of him, in the fifth Trumpet, Revel. 9.1. It was not ſaid to the Pope, What ye bind on Earth, ſhall be bound in Heaven; and to you it is given to know the myſteries of Heaven: or that I will ſend the Spirit to you, to remain with you for ever. It was not ſaid to him, nor to the Roman Catholick viſible Church. You have been told ſo an Hundred times. You have been challenged an Hundred times over, to prove your intereſt in theſe promiſes, if you can: And now again, if you reply to this paper, what ever you paſs by in ſilence, yet I pray remember this, That you prove your intereſt in them, now once at laſt. And to provoke you, if poſſible, thereunto, give me leave to tell you, That howſoever you labour to put a good face upon the matter, yet there are not wanting appearances and grounds of diffidence, even among your ſelves about it; for Bellarmine numbers the alligation of the Apoſtolick See to Rome, in no higher rank, than that of pious, and very probable Opinions. B…ll. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 4.Quod non ſit omnino de fide à Romana Eccleſia non poſſe ſeparari Apoſtolicam ſedem patet, quia neque Scriptura, neque traditio habet ſedem Apoſtolicam ita fixam eſſe Romae, ut inde auferri non poſſit nibilominus tamen pia & probabiliſſima eſt ſententia. But if the Apoſtolick ſeat be removeable from Rome, then by your own principles ſhe may erre and periſh: Therefore, I ſay again, prove your intereſt in any Scripture-promiſe, if you can.
Do it if you can (for inſtance) concerning that famous Text, upon which you found your claim, Matt. 16.18. Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church, and the gates of Hell ſhall not prevail againſt it. This Text belongs as much to Mahomet, as to the Pope; you would fain give it to the Pope, but how many poſtulata muſt you beg without proof, before you can arrive at ſuch a concluſion? as,
1. That Peter was at Rome.
2. That he was there martyred, and marthered by the Romans.
3. That the murthering of an honeſt man, doth give the Thief that did it, a juſt right and title to all his Eſtates and Honours; Cartwr. on Matth. 16.18.or, as Mr. Cartwright ſpeaketh, That innocent blood, which polluteth other places, ſhould ſanctifie Rome; and that the Lord, who in revenge threw down Jeruſalem from her priviledges, which ſhe had above all the Cities in the world, for ſpilling the blood of the Prophets, ſhould in reward lift up the head of Rome, above all other Cities, for ſhedding the blood of the Apoſtles: Nay, rather, foraſmuch as it was more drunken with the blood of Saints, under the Government of the Emperors, than ever was any, and therein hath juſtified, her elder ſiſter Jeruſalem, therefore by the moſt juſt judgment of God, it is become the Seat of Antichriſt. Yea, by this Argument, as he alſo obſerves, Jeruſalem that killed our Saviour Chriſt himſelf, getteth the prize from her.
4. That Peter was Biſhop of Rome, which was inconſiſtent with his Office of Apoſtleſhip.
5. That he left a Succeſſor in eodem gradu, in his Apoſtolical power and office; that whereas the Commiſſion was perſonal to the reſt to determine with themſelves, he onelyonly of all the Twelve ſhould hold the Apoſtleſhip, as it were, in fee-ſimple, for himſelf, and his Succeſſors for ever.
6. That the Biſhop of Rome is this Succeſſor, though Peter taught at Jeruſalem firſt, Cartwr. on Matth 16.18.afterwards at Lidda, then at Joppa, afterwards at Antioch, and likewiſe at Caeſarea, laſtly, at Alexandria, before he came to Rome: And ſo the Apoſtolical Authority is holden by the tenure of Burrow Engliſh, where the youngeſt enjoyeth all, as Mr. Cartwright there obſerves.
Of all which ſuppoſitions, the two firſt are meerly diſputable and uncertain, and can never be demonſtrated, but the four laſt are moſt certainly and indiſputably ſalſe. But yet all theſe we muſt believe, to the end we may believe the Popes concernment in this promiſe made to Peter. And many a child of God have you offered in the fire to Molech, for not believing theſe Romances: But when will you go about to prove them? You know in your own Conſciences, that there is as much footing in the Scripture for the old Pagan Theogonie, their Pedigrees and Fables of their Canonized Anceſtors, and for the Jewiſh Thalmudick, as for theſe Romantick Figments. Learned men have obſerved, That there may be ſome dark footſteps of the true Scripture Hiſtory of Adam, inveſtigated, and diſcerned in the old Heatheniſh Fable of Saturn; ſome footſteps of the Hiſtory of Cham and Cain in the Fables of Jupiter, of Noah in Bacchus, of Moſes and Joſeph in Mercurius Triſmegiſtus, of Joſhuah and Sampſon in Hercules, &c. And truly there is no more of Peter the Apoſtle, in the Pope of Rome; thoſe being nothing elſe, but depravations of, and depraved Traditions, and Additions to, the Truths and Sacred Hiſtories of the Old Teſtament, and ſo is Popery to the New. You reaſon from the promiſe made to Peter, that the Church cannot fail, being builded upon a Rock; nor, needs no new Maſons, to re-build her again: But why do you not prove the Roman Synagogue to be a Church? You know we deny it, otherwiſe then as the dead carcaſs, or picture of a man, is called a man; She is Eccleſia malignantium, as Pſal. 26.5. A Church of evil doers, but not a true Goſpel Church, not a Spouſe of Chriſt. Though if ſhe were, yet a true Church, when declining, or defective, may need Inſtruments in the hand of Chriſt to Reform her; call them new Maſons, or by what other name of honour or contempt you pleaſe. Therefore, after the renewed promulgation of the Goſpel, in the tenth Chapter of the Revelations, Chriſt doth authorize and commiſſionate his ſervants to meaſure the Temple, and to leave out the outer Court, Revel. 11.1, 2. which importeth ſome further degree of Reformation; but prove the Pope, and Church of Rome, to be at all concerned, in what was ſaid, to Peter, if you can.
Do it, if you can; concerning that other Scripture, ſo much abuſed by you, 1 Tim. 3.15. The Church is the pillar and ground of Truth, becauſe by the Miniſtry of the Church, the Truth is publiſhed and propagated; Mr. Bedle's Letters to Wadſworth. cap. 8. p. 118.as if a Law, or Proclamation of the King be ſet up, upon a pillar in the Market-place; or in alluſion, as Mr. Bedle takes it, to the baſes or pillars that held up the Vail or Curtains in the Tabernacle: And whether you refer it to Timothy as ſome, or to the Church as others, it comes much to one. Evident it is, that the Apoſtle ſpeaks it directly, either of Timothy, or of the Church of Epheſus; and that it holds by a parity of reaſon, concerning all other Goſpel Miniſters, and Goſpel Churches, both the one, and the other, may be called in a ſafe ſenſe, the pillar and ground of truth. But what is this to the Church of Rome? How ridiculous a reaſon were it (ſaith Mr. Cartwright) for the Apoſtle to exhort Timothy to walk circumſpectly in the Church of Epheſus, Cartwr. in locum.becauſe the Church of Rome is thepillar and ſtablement of truth? The Papiſts (ſaith Calvin) dum ad ſe transferunt hoc encomium, improbe faciunt, alienis ſe plumis veſtiendo. Nam ut evehatur Eccleſia ſupra tertium Coelum, nego id totum ad eos ullomodo pertinere. Calvin in loc.Quinetiam locum preſentem adverſus eos retorqueo: nam ſi Eccleſia columna eſt veritatis, ſequitur non eſſe apud eos Eccleſiam, ubi non modo ſepulta jacet veritas, ſed horrendum in modum diruta & everſa ſub pedibus calcatur. When the Papiſts transfer this glory to themſelves, they do wickedly, cloathing themſelves with the feathers of other Birds: For, ſuppoſe the Church be extolled, and lifted up above the Third Heavens, I deny, that any thing of all this excellency belongs in the leaſt to them; yea, further, I retort this place againſt them: For, if the Church be the Pillar of Truth, then it follows, that the Church is not amongſt them, where the Truth doth not only, lie buried, but is torn down, and overthrown, and trampled under foot, in a fearful manner. An hoc eſt vel aeuigma, vel cavillum? Paulus Eccleſiam non vult agnoſci, niſi in qua excelſa & conſpicua ſtat Dei veritas in Papatu nihil tale apparet, ſed diſiectio tantùm & ruinae, ergo genuina Eccleſiae nota illic non extat. Is there any difficulty, or any cavilling in this! Paul will not have any Church acknowledged, but ſuch as wherein the Truth of God ſtands on high, conſpicuous to the view of all men. But there is no ſuch thing to be ſeen in the Papacy, but the overthrow and ruines of the Truth; therefore there is no true note, or mark of the Church to be found there.
The plain Truth is, That Apoſtate Church, and the Head thereof, that is Babylon, and Antichriſt, hath no right to any one promiſe in the Book of God, but ſtands directly under all the Threatnings and Curſes written therein, becauſe they have both added thereto, and taken from it, Revel. 22.18, 19. Indeed thoſe Churches, and thoſe Souls, have the beſt right to the promiſes, that prize them moſt: Therefore the Proteſtant Churches have a better right to them, than the Church of Rome. By the Proteſtant Churches, I intend, all that do ſubject themſelves to the Scripture, as the Rule of Faith and Life: And by the Church of Rome, all thoſe that ſuffer the Pope to have dominion over their Faith; for we do not judge every Individual in the external communion of that Church, but onelyonly ſuch of them as have drunk down her deadly poyſon; What have they to do with the promiſes? What have they to do with God, to take his Covenant into their mouths? Who do believe in a man that can lye? and in a Church of men, who may deceive, and be deceived? How much better and ſafer would it be for your eternal peace, to cleave to the Scriptures, which are the voyce of God, and ſo to bottom and ground your Faith upon the truth and faithfulneſs of him that cannot lye, then thus to ground it upon a man that ſhall dye, and upon the ſons of men, that ſhall be made as graſs: For all fleſh is as graſs, and all the glory of man, as the flower of graſs; The graſs withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the Goſpel is preached unto you.