Answer to Book by Romish Priests, Doctrine 9
V. We maintain, he ſaith, That the Church was not always to remain Catholick, or Ʋniverſal; and that the Church of Rome is not ſuch a Church.
Anſwer.
WE maintain the quite contrary to the firſt Part of his Propoſition; aſſerting that the Church is always to remain Catholick, or Ʋniverſal; not confined to one Country as the Jewiſh was, but ſpread all the World over. The ſecond Part indeed we do maintain, That the Church of Rome is not ſuch a Church; that is (which is the thing they contend for) is not the Univerſal Church, but hath its limits, and was anciently bounded within certain Regions, beyond which it did not extend.
The firſt Scripture he alledges againſt us, is a promiſe to Chriſt, which we believe hath been fulfilled in part,II. Pſalm 8. and will be more and more fulfilled before the end of the World; but hath nothing in it peculiar to the Church of Rome; which at the beſt, is but a piece of his Inheritance.
The ſecond ſpeaks expreſly, not of the Ʋniverſality of Chriſt's Kingdom,I. Luke 33. but of its Perpetuity; and is as much verified in other Churches, as in the Roman; which is ſo far from being the only Univerſal Church, that in this ſenſe, it is not Univerſal at all.
The third is directly againſt him. For it ſhows that the Faith of the Goſpel (unto which he now skips,I. Coloſ. 3, &c. when he ſhould have ſaid the Church, of which he was ſpeaking) was planted at Coloſs, (which was never under the Juriſdiction of Rome) and there fructified and grew, as much as in other places.
Nor will the next place help him; where St. Paul doth not call the Faith of the whole World, the Faith of the Romans, but only ſaith,I. Rom. 8. their faith was ſpoken of throughout the whole world, I. Rom. 8. that is, the fame of it was ſpread all the world over; as Menochius, one of their own, honeſtly interprets it. For what was done at Rome, could not be concealed from the reſt of the World, ſaith Theodoret, becauſe the Roman Emperors having their Palace there, from whence all ſort of Officers were ſent, and whither all People reſorted who had any boon to beg; by whom it was ſignified every where, That the City of Rome had received the Faith of Chriſt. Thus he; which ſhows the Goſpel was ſpread in the World, before it came to the City of Rome; it not coming from thence, but from Jeruſalem; and not coming thither till many other places had received it, who were not beholden to Rome for it. With what face then, againſt ſuch a clear ſenſe of the words, could this Man ſay that St. Paul in expreſs terms, calls, The Faith of the whole World, the Faith of the Romans, or the Church of Rome? When the words rather import, that he calls the Faith of the Romans, the Faith received in the whole World. But he ſaith neither the one, nor the other; tho if he had, it would prove nothing, but that there was one and the ſame Faith then at Rome, which was in other places. The truly Catholick Faith, from whence Churches were named Catholick, (not from their extending all the World over, which was impoſſible) and Jeruſalem, and other Churches were as much ſo, as Rome it ſelf, and were ſo before there was a Church at Rome. In ſhort, a Catholick Church ſignified no more than an Orthodox Church.
It is a matter of ſerious Lamentation, that men ſhould go about to pervert ſuch plain and eaſy Truths, as this; and ſhould heap up Scriptures to prove mere Nonſence: For all the Scriptures which he bids us further look into, he ſaith, are not to be underſtood, That the whole World ſhould be Catholick at one and the ſame time. Let the Reader conſider what it is, for the whole World to be Catholick, as he hath explained it, but for the whole World to be the whole World.
And he will have an hard task, to make Senſe of the next words; that the whole World being converted unto Chriſt at ſundry times, it ſhall comprehend a greater part of the World, than any Sect of Hereticks ſhall ever do. I thought the whole World would certainly comprehended the whole World, and not only the greater part of the World. It is impoſſible, by ſuch Jargon as this, to underſtand the true Senſe of being Catholick or Ʋniverſal. Which the Church is, either with reſpect to Faith; becauſe there is the ſame Faith in all parts of the true Church; or with reſpect to Place, becauſe no Country is excluded from it, which will receive this Faith; or with reſpect to Time, becauſe it continues throughout all Ages, tho not always in ſuch an extent, as to be actually in all Nations. For thoſe Countries which were once Parts of the Catholick Church, are not ſo now: And if thoſe that are now ſo, ſhould loſe the Faith, ſtill the Church might be Catholick, if others embraced it, as Bellarmine *L. IV. De Eccleſ… c. 7.himſelf confeſſes, If only one Province ſhould retain the true Faith, the Church might truly and properly be called Catholick; as long as it might be clearly ſhown, that it was one and the ſame with that, which had been at ſometime, or in divers throughout the World.
According to his former Method, he carries us now to the Fathers, and m…k…s them guilty of as much Nonſenſe as himſelf. For he makes St. Cyprian confeſs, that part is the whole. But the comfort is, he either did not underſtand, or elſe miſrepreſents St. Cyprian, who ſpeaks not there of the Authority, but of the Example of the Roman Church, and eſpecially of Cornelius their Biſhop; who remaining conſtant in time of Tryal, made all his Brethren every where rejoyce; particularly Cyprian himſelf, who in that very place ſtiles Cornelius and others, his Fellow-Prieſts or Biſhops. For what Prieſt, ſaith he, can chuſe but rejoyce in the praiſes of his Fellow-Prieſts, as if they were his own? It is not to be expreſſed with what Joy and Exultation he heard of his Fortitude, whereby he made himſelf a Captain and Leader of Confeſſion unto the Brethren, &c. And then follows, While there is among you (i. e. Cornelius and his Brethren) one Mind, Epiſt. LX. Edit. Oxon.and one Voice, all the Roman Church hath confeſſed, that is, their Faith which the Apoſtle praiſed, was be come famous, as it follows in the next words; and while they were thus Unanimous, thus Valiant, they gave great Examples of Ʋnanimity and Fortitude to the reſt of their Brethren. This is the meaning of Eccleſia omnis Romana confeſſa eſt: They were all ſtedfaſt in their Faith; which this poor man conſtrues, as if St. Cyprian owned Rome for the only Catholick Church. By tranſlating thoſe words thus, The whole Church is confeſſed to be the Roman Church. Which he vehemently denied, ordaining in a Council at Carthage according to Ancient Canons, That every mans Cauſe ſhould be heard there where the Crime was committed; and commanded thoſe to return home, who had appealed to Rome; which he ſhows was moſt juſt and reaſonable, unleſs the Authority of the Biſhops in Africk, ſeem leſs than the Authority of other Biſhops, to a few deſperate and profligate perſons, who had already been judged and condemned by them.Epiſt. LIX. This he writes in another Epiſtle to the ſame Cornelius; to which I could add a great deal more, if this were not ſufficient to make ſuch Writers as this bluſh, if they have any ſhame left, who make the whole Church to be the Roman Church.
St. Auſtin (of whom I muſt ſay ſomething, leſt they pretend we cannot anſwer what is allegded out of him) and the whole Church of Africk, in a Council of Two hundred Biſhops, made the ſame Oppoſition to the pretended Authority of the Roman Church; and therefore could mean no ſuch thing, as this man would have, in his Book of the Ʋnity of the Church. Where he ſaith, in the 3d Chapter, That he would not have the Holy Church to be ſhown him out of Humane Teachings, but out of the Divine Oracles; and if the Holy Scriptures have deſign'd it in Africa alone, &c. whatſoever other Writings may ſay, the Donatiſts he acknowledges will carry the Cauſe, and none be the Church but they. But he proceeds to ſhow the Doctrine of the Scriptures is quite otherwiſe, deſigning the Church to be ſpread throughout the World. And then he goes on to ſay, (Chap. 4.) that whoſoever they be who believe in Jeſus Chriſt the Head, but yet do ſo diſſent (thoſe are his words, which this man recites imperfectly and treacherouſly) from his Body, which is the Church, that their Communion is not with the whole Body, whereſoever it is diffuſed, but is found in ſome part ſeparated; it is manifeſt they are not in the Catholick Church. Now this ſpeaks no more of the Roman Church, than of any other part of the Catholick Church; and, in truth, makes them like the Donatiſts; ſince their Communion is not with the whole Body (which they abſolutely refuſe to admit to their Communion) but they are found in a part of it ſeperated by themſelves.
The reſt which he quotes out of Saint Auſtin, I aſſure the Reader, is as much beſides the matter, and therefore I will not trouble him with it. And I can find no ſuch ſaying of St. Hierom, in his Apology againſt Ruffinus. But this I find (L 3.) the Roman Faith praiſed by the voice of the Apoſtle (viz. I. Rom. 8.) admits not ſuch deceit and deluſion into it, &c. Where it is to be noted, That the Roman Faith commended by the Apoſtle, is one thing; and the Roman Church, another. And the Faith which they had in the Apoſtles time, was certainly moſt pure: but who ſhall ſecure us, it is ſo now? If we had the voice of an Angel from Heaven to tell us ſo, we ſhould not believe it; becauſe it is not what they then believed, nor what they believed in St. Hierom's time, but much altered in many Points. And ſuppoſe St. Hierom had told us, It is all one to ſay the Roman Faith, and the Catholick Faith; it muſt be meant of the then Roman Faith: and it is no more than might have been ſaid in the praiſe of any other Church which held the true Faith. No, nor more than is ſaid; for thus Nicephorus, Patriarch of Conſtantinople, writes in an Epiſtle*Council of Epheſ. p. 107. to Leo Biſhop of Rome, We alſo have obtained the name of New Rome, and being built upon one and the ſame foundation of Faith, the Prophets and Apoſtles, (mark that, he doth not ſay on the Roman Church) wh…re Chriſt our Saviour and God is the Corner-ſtone, are in the matter of faith, nothing behind the elder Romans. For in the Church of God, there is none to be reckoned or numbred before the reſt. †foreign.Wherefore let St. Paul glory and rejoice in us alſo, &c. (i. e. if he were alive, Nicephorus doubted not Saint Paul would have commended the Faith of that City, as he had theirs at Old Rome) for we as well as they, following his Doctrine and Inſtitutions, wherein we are rooted, are confirmed in the Confeſſion of our Faith, wherein we ſtand and rejoice, &c.