The Pillar and Ground of Truth, Title page – To the reader
The Pillar and Ground of Truth.
A TREATISE SHEWING That the ROMAN CHƲRCH falſly claims to be That CHURCH, and the PILLAR of That TRUTH, mentioned by S. Paul in his Firſt Epiſtle to Timothy, Chap. III. Verſ. 15.
Which is explained in THREE PARTS.
Imprimatur.
JO. BATTELY. May 9. 1687.
LONDON, Printed for Richard Chiſwell, at the Roſe and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCLXXXVII.
TO THE READER.
AMONG all the places of Scripture, which they of the Church of Rome are wont to alledge for a proof of their pretended Infallibility, I find none whereon they more rely, than that of S. Paul to Timothy 1 III. 15. That thou may'ſt know how thou oughteſt to behave thy ſelf in the houſe of God, which is the CHURCH of the living God, the PILLAR AND GROUND OF THE TRUTH. Which place, ſay the Rhemiſts, pincheth the Hereticks wonderfully, and ſo it ever did: and therefore they oppoſe themſelves directly againſt the very letter and confeſſed ſenſe of the ſame.
I have thought it therefore worth my pains, to ſhow how unjuſt this accuſation is; by opening the plain and evident meaning, the literal and confeſſed ſenſe of thoſe words: whereby it will appear that we are far from being Hereticks; and that they, not we, are pinched by this place; and that there is no ground at all in it for their Infallibility; nor for their vain flouriſhes, that the very Name of CHURCH terrifies us, and makes us pale with fear (as Campian inſolently vapoured(a)Ratio III.,) and that we not only fear, but altogether abhor the word CATHOLIQUE, ſo as to leave it clean out of our Bibles, as the fore-named Rhemiſts (b)Preface to Epiſtle of S. James.moſt ſenſleſly miſrepreſent us.
For as I have proved, in the following Book, that we, not they are the true CATHOLIQƲES, ſo there is nothing further from truth, (I have likewiſe ſhown) than that the Apoſtle here ſpeaks, with any particular reſpect, to the Church of Rome. Which is ſo far from ſtriking any terror into us, when it appropriates to it ſelf the name of CHƲRCH; that we look upon the pretence to be as ridiculous, as the proof is, they give us of it. Which is the ſole Authority of a falſe S. Ambroſe his Commentaries upon this place; who thus gloſſes: All the World being God's, yet the Church only is his Houſe: the Rector (or Ruler) whereof at this time is DAMASUS. Where the Rhemiſts (c)Annot. in 1 Tim. III. 15.deſire us to note, How clear a caſe it was then, that the Pope of Rome, was not the Governor only of one particular See, but of Chriſt's whole Houſe, which is the Univerſal Church, &c. And further improve this conceit, in theſe words, The Church which is the Houſe of God, whoſe Rector (ſaith S. Ambroſe) in his time was Damaſus, and now Gregory the thirteenth; and in the Apoſtles time S. Peter, is the Pillar of Truth, the eſtabliſhment of Verity: and therefore it cannot err.
And truly it is worth our noting how clear a Caſe it is, that they were ſorely pinched (to uſe their own word again) for want of proofs; when they betook themſelves to ſuch as this. For it is hard to think that Men of their education (whom we will not deſpiſe, as they do the Hereticks, a little before(d)Annot. in 1 Tim. I. 7., as moſt ignorant of the Word of God, not knowing the very Principles of Divinity) ſhould not know that S. Ambroſe was not the Author of thoſe Commentaries: they being acknowledged by the greateſt Men in their Church to be ſpurious Brats of ſome other Writer. Baronius (e)Annal. Tom. V. ad an. 397. n. 38.for inſtance ſaith, The Expoſition of Ambroſe, upon all Paul's Epiſtles, began to be wanting in the time of Caſſiodorus: but being plainly loſt, it is apparent, the work of another Author, was foiſted in its room. And their other great Cardinal, Bellarmine, confeſſes as much in ſeveral places; but in one more fully(f)L. I. de Mitrimonio, cap. 17., where he aſſoils an Objection of Chemnitius (who following the rule of the Civil Law(g)Tiſtem quem quis inducit proſe, tenetar recipere contra ſe., [the witneſs which any Man produces for himſelf, he is bound to receive againſt himſelf] quotes this Book, as Bellarmine oft had done, in a Caſe of Marriage) by this Anſwer, That the Author of theſe Commentaries is not S. Ambroſe, as learned Men know: and more than that, whoſoever was the Author, he was none, ex celebratis patribus, of the famous or eminent Fathers. And indeed there is great reaſon for what theſe, and many others of that Church, ſay; as I might ſhow out of the Commentaries themſelves, which contradict the very words of the true S. Ambroſe.
But ſuppoſe he had been the Author, or theſe the Work of ſome celebrated Writer, it is a clear caſe (and I deſire it may be noted) that theſe Rhemiſt Annotators were not ſo knowing as they would be eſteemed, or not ſo conſcientious as they ought to have been; when they gather from theſe words that Damaſus was Ruler over more than his own See, even over the Univerſal Church, as S. Peter, they ſay, was in the Apoſtles times. For S. Ambroſe himſelf ſaith, in his Book of the Prieſtly Dignity (h)Tom. IV. de Sacerdotali dignitate, cap. 2., (which Prieſts one would think ſhould read) that when Chriſt ſaid, Feed my Sheep; thoſe Sheep, and that Flock, not only bleſſed Peter then received; but both he received them with us, and with him we all have received them. And it is an unuſual thing in Ancient Writers, to ſay the ſame of other Biſhops, that this Writer doth of Damaſus, when they mean no more, but that they were Rulers of that part of the Catholique Church, which was committed to their charge.
Thus Arſenius, for inſtance, writes to Athanaſius, as he himſelf hath ſet down his Letter, which begins thus, We loving Peace and Unity with the Catholique Church, over which thou, by the Grace of God doſt preſide or rule,(i)Athan. Tom. 1. Apolog. 2. p. 786. foreign. &c. And more than this, ſuch great Clerks as they ſhould not have been ignorant, being alſo ſuch lofty Cenſurers of the Hereticks, that Gregory Nazianzene (called the Divine, whom they read, it is to be ſuppoſed, to learn the principles of Divinity) ſaith, S. Cyprian was made not only a Paſtor, but a Paſtor that had the largeſt dominion: (k)foreign, &c. Orat. XVIII. p. 281.being ſet over not the Church of Carthage only, or Africa, but all the Weſt, and almoſt all the Eaſt it ſelf, and the North and South, unto whom his fame reached. But if theſe things eſcaped their obſervation, or they ſtudiouſly concealed them, they muſt have been moſt ignorant of the word of God, as they ſay the Hereticks are, if they did not know, that S. Paul ſaith the ſame of the Elders of Epheſus, that this Writer doth of Damaſus, XX. Act. 28. that the Holy Ghoſt had made them overſeers, to feed, that is, to rule and govern, the Church of God, which he hath purchaſed with his own Blood. And if they knew this, why were they not ſo honeſt as to interpret the later by the former? for there is no difference between S. Paul's words, and the counterfeit S. Ambroſe's. S. Paul ſaith, the Elders of Epheſus were appointed to rule the Church of God (for that's the office of a Shepherd, that feeds the Flock) the other ſaith, Damaſus was the ruler of God's Church. If the Ʋniverſal Church be thereby meant, and not his part of it only, why ſhould it not be ſo expounded in the words of S. Paul? and then Damaſus his title to this office is crackt; for there were Rulers then ſet over the Church Ʋniverſal by the Holy Ghoſt, before he (or his Church of Rome, perhaps) was in being. But if S. Paul's words muſt have a more limited meaning; then with what conſcience do they give their S. Ambroſe's words, an unlimited; and not reſtrain them, as they muſt do S. Paul's, to the particular See, committed to his Government?
And it was not eaſie for them to be ignorant that S. Paul, in theſe words to Timothy, ſpeaks of the Church of Epheſus, and not of Rome, and was ſo far from having any thought of S. Peter (whom theſe Annotators make the Ruler at that time of this Houſe of God) that it is evident, Timothy was the perſon who preſided in it, and was the chief Pillar and Ground of Truth here ſpoken of; as I doubt not I have proved in the inſuing Diſcourſe. Wherein I have alſo ſhewn, that other ſucceeding Biſhops, in other Churches, had the ſame title; nay, many perſons in the Church, that were no Biſhops: who were far from thinking themſelves, or being thought by others, infallible; as theſe Annotators imagine they muſt needs be, who are the Pillar and eſtabliſhment of the Truth. That's an inference from theſe words, for which they had no more warrant; than they had to intitle S. Ambroſe to thoſe Commentaries.
The Author of which alſo did ſo little dream of the Infallibility of the Church, when he gloſſed upon theſe words; that he doth not ſo much as make the Church, the Ground or eſtabliſhment of the Truth: But ſaith in plain terms, Firmamentum (as the Vulgar Latine tranſlates foreign) hujus veritatis ſigna ſunt & prodigia; the eſtabliſhment of this Truth (left in the Church) are ſigns and wonders which the Apoſtles, that is, wrought to bring Men to the firm belief of that truth which they preached. Which doth not rely, therefore, upon the credit of the Church; but upon the credit of the Apoſtles, and of thoſe Divine Works, whereby God bare Witneſs to them: which are recorded in the Holy Scriptures.
From whence alone we ought to derive our knowledge of the Truth, the Apoſtle here ſpeaks of: as is moſt clearly reſolved by S. Cyril of Hieruſalem, in theſe memorable words.(l)Catech. IV. Sect. de Spirito Saycto. Concerning the Divine and Holy Myſteries of the Faith, we ought not to deliver any thing, though never ſo ſmall, without the Divine Scriptures, &c. neither ſhouldſt thou believe me barely ſaying theſe things to thee; unleſs thou receiveſt the demonſtration of the things, publiſhed, out of the Divine Scriptures. For this is the ſafety, or ſecurity of our Faith, which depends not upon words that we invent, but upon the demonſtration of the Divine Scriptures.
In which we hear our Lord Chriſt himſelf ſpeaking to us: who is more to be believed than the Church. For the Church, as S. Paul ſpeaks, is ſubject unto Chriſt (they are the words of S. Auguſtine (m)Tom. VII. Coura Criſconium Gram. l. 2. c. 21.) and therefore the Church ought not to ſet her ſelf above Chriſt: ſo as to think that they who are condemned by him may be baptized, but they that are condemned by the Church, may not be baptized: when he always judges truly; but Eccleſiaſtical Judges, being Men, are oft-times deceived.
From them therefore, who are fallible, we appeal to Him, who is infallible; and hath delivered his ſentence in the Holy Scriptures: or from a Church particular, we appeal to the Church Catholique: nay, from the New Church of Rome, to the Old. For we are not, as they would make the World believe, affrighted with the Name of the Church; whoſe judgment we truly honour, as will appear in this Treatiſe: while they diſhonour it, by confining the Church to themſelves; and then exalting it above the Scriptures of Truth; and making its mere Name ſerve to dazzle the eyes of their own People, and to keep them in profound ignorance: teaching them(n)…. in. XII. Luke 11. to oppoſe the Name of a Catholique Man, and the Catholique Church, as a ſufficient anſwer to all that we moſt reaſonably object againſt them. Thus in their own conceit, it is a kind of Gorgon's head, which they fanſie will immediately ſtupify us, when it is oppoſed to us: but, bleſſed be God, we are ſtill in our Wits, and underſtand very well, that this is no better than his old Artifice, who invented this cheat (as S. Cyprian (o)L. de Ʋnitate Eccleſie.ſpeaks) of deceiving unwary Souls by the very Title of the Chriſtian Name. For juſt ſo they now abuſe the Name of Church, and the name of Catholique; and by good words, and fine ſpeeches, (as S. Paul writes XVI. Rom. 18.) deceive the hearts of the ſimple.
Whom I have endeavoured in this ſmall Treatiſe, to undeceive, and direct in the way of that TRƲTH, of which every Church ought to be the Pillar and Ground. If any one be not, but in ſtead of the certain, conſtant, univerſally received Chriſtian Truth, ſet up uncertain, nay falſe, lately invented, and particular conceits of its own; it is not to be relied on, but rejected: though it hath been formerly a Church of never ſo great Authority. Such the Church of Rome once was; but now ceaſes ſo to be: having by taking upon her too much, loſt that regard, which otherwiſe it might have had in the Chriſtian World. It is not the ſame Church it was in the Apoſtles times, no nor in the days of Gregory the Great: as hath been unanſwerably demonſtrated by Bp. Morton heretofore(p)Catholique Appeal, L. 1. cap. 2.; and lately by the Author of the Vindication of the Anſwer of ſome late Papers; to which there will never be an ingenuous Reply. Great and many alterations have been made therein, to the manifeſt prejudice of the Chriſtian Faith: of which that Church ſhould have been, as well as others, a Pillar and Eſtabliſhment; but hath notoriouſly failed in her duty, by inventing another Faith, which undermines and endangers that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints.
Of this I have given ſo full and ſo clear an account in theſe Papers, that I fear not to expoſe them to the examination of them that are of a contrary mind: hoping, though they do not convince them of their errors yet, they will help to eſtabliſh the People of our Church, in the preſent Truth. Which, I doubt not, they will ſee to be the truly Catholique, Apoſtolique Faith; which they ought not to part withal, but preſerve as carefully as they do their life.
And ſo the cannot fail to do, if they add to Faith, Vertue. In order to which, I have endeavoured to make this Treatiſe as practical as I could: that we may not fall into that grand error, of thinking it enough to hold the Truth, though we hold it in unrighteouſneſs.
God of his infinite mercy, deliver us all from that damnable deluſion, and eſtabliſh our hearts unblameable in Holineſs, before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, with all his Saints. 1 Theſſ. III. 13.