The By-Way, Treatise · Section 1
SECT. I. The ſafeſt, and onelyonly infallible way to finde out the true Church, is by the Scripture.
WHen the Donatiſts, in the moſt flouriſhing times of Chriſtian Religion, arrogantly and preſumptuouſly appropriated the Catholique and Vniuerſall Church, to their haereticall and particular faction: St. Auſten encountring them,Quaeſtio eſt vbi ſit Eccleſia: quid ergo facturi ſumus? an inverbis noſtris eā qua ſituri, an in verbis capitis ſui Dom. noſtri Ieſu Chriſti? Puto quod in illius potius verbis eam quaerere debemus, quia veritas eſt, & nouit corpus ſuū. Aug. de vnit. Eccleſ. cap. 2. ſtates the poynt of Controuerſie in this maner. The queſtion is where the Church ſhould bee, what then ſhall we doe? ſhall wee ſeeke it in our owne wordes, or in the words of our Lord Ieſus? In my iudgement we ought rather to ſeeke the Church in his owne words, for that he is the truth, and knoweth his owne body.
You hauehave heard the queſtion propounded, and anſwered by the Oracle of that age. Such is the difference at this day, betwixt the Church of Rome and vsus; and I heartily wiſh, wee might ioine iſſue with them vponupon the like tearmes, and both agree with one vnanimous conſent to ſeeke the Church of God in the word of God; then ſhould wee be gathered, as ſheep to one ſheep-fold, and the weake in faith ſhould be receiued, not to doubtfull diſputations, but to the reading of the Scriptures: and they that now queſtion the Viſibilitie of our Church before Luther, would firſt examine the infallibilitie of their owne, by the Touchſtone of the Goſpell; and the rather, becauſe it is agreed on both ſides, that whatſoeuer Church profeſſeth, that faith and doctrine, which Chriſt and his Apoſtles taught in the firſt age, the ſame Church and doctrine hath continued more or leſſe viſible in all ages. But to returne to the Donatists.
Cant. 1.7.When Chriſt in the Canticles, demanded of his Spouſe where ſhe reſted Meridie, at Noone-day, the Donatists concluded Chriſts queſtion with their owne anſwere, that the Church did reſt Meridie, and that was in the South: & from this ground, excluded all other Churches, but their owne in the South of Africk: The Donatiſts claime, was ſeemingly deriued from the authoritie of the Scriptures (for Donatus, and Auſten, heretique and Catholique, both vrge the Scriptures;) but obſerue the difference; Saint Austen puts the whole iſſue of his cauſe vponupon the Scripture: the Donatiſts claimed their doctrine by the publique voyces of the Africans, they aſſumed to themſelues the title of the Catholike Church: they magnified the Councels of their Biſhops; they gloried in their frequent, though fained miracles: theſe were the principall grounds of their Church,Remotis ergo omnibus talibus, Eccleſiam ſuā demonſtrant ſi poſſunt, non in ſermonibus & rumoribus Afrorum, nō in Conciliis Epiſcoporū, nō in literis quorum libet diſputatorum, non in ſignis & prodigiis fallacibus, quia etiam contra iſta verbo Dom. praeparati et cautired diti ſumus ſed in praeſcripto Legis, in Prophetarum praedictis, in Pſalmorum cantibus, in ipſius Paſtoris vocibus, in Euangeliſtarū praedicationibus et laboribus (hoc eſt) in omnibus Canonicis Sanctorū librorum authoritatibus. Aug. de vnit. Eccleſ. cap. 16. and vponupon theſe they challenged that great Champion: but heare what anſwere hee makes them. Let the Donatiſts, if they can, ſhew their Church, not in rumors and ſpeeches of the men of Africa, not in the Councels of their Biſhops, not in diſcourſes of any Writers whatſoeuer, not in ſignes and miracles that may bee forged, for we are forewarned by Gods word, and therefore fore-armed against thoſe things: but in the preſcript of the Law, in the prediction of the Prophets, in the verſes of the Pſalmes, in the voices of the Shepheard himſelfe, in the preaching and workes of the Euangeliſtes, that is in all the Canonicall authorities of the ſacred Scriptures.
If Saint Auſten had been liuing in theſe dayes, either he muſt hauehave retracted this Proteſtant doctrine, or hee would hauehave beene reputed for an heretique; for all theſe marks, which were anciently maintained by the Donatiſts, are proclaimed by our aduerſaries to be viſible characters of the true Church: neither did this learned father require more of the Donatiſt, then the Catholiques of thoſe times were willing to performe on their parts; and therfore hee bindes himſelfe to the ſame conditions which hee required of his aduerſaries, and withall renders the reaſon of his demand.Nec nos proptareà dicimus nobis credere oportere ad in Eccleſia Chriſti ſumꝰ quia ipſam quā tenemꝰ, commendauit Mileuitanus Optatus, vel Mediolanenſis Ambroſius, vel alii innumerabilis noſtra communionis Epiſcopi, aut quia noſtrorum Collegarum Conciliis praedicata eſt aut quia per totum orbem in locis ſanctis qua frequentat noſtra communi…tant… mirabilia fiunt. Aug. de vnit. Eccleſ. cap. 16. Quia nec nos propterea dicimus, &c. Becauſe wee our ſelues doe not ſay wee muſt therefore be beleeued, for that wee are in the Church of Chriſt, or elſe for that Optatus and Ambroſe, and infinite other Biſhops of our Communion, hauehave commended the Church which wee hold, or becauſe our Church hath bin publiſhed in the Councells of our Colleagues, or becauſe in all places of the world where our Communion is frequented, there are ſo many miracles wrought. This was the doctrine of Saint Auſten, and the ancient Fathers, and this is ours; they required no more of the Donatiſts, but to lay apart all pretended titles, and relie onelyonly vponupon the word of God, we offer to the Romanists, no leſſe then to accept the ſame conditions vponupon triall of that title, and relie only vponupon that word.
I muſt confeſſe, I thinke a more ſpeedy way might hauehave been found to hauehave giuen an anſwere to the Controuerſies of that age: for Saint Auſten might hauehave poynted at the Church in the Weſt, which was then as conſpicuous as the Sun at Noone day; hee might hauehave anſwered them, it was a Citie vponupon a hill, which was viſible to all. He might hauehave produced the Apoſtle for a witneſſe, that her faith was publiſhed throughout the whole world: he might hauehave confuted them with ſacred Councells, and Doctrine of the ancient Fathers, and confirmed his trueth with the death of conſtant Martyrs, which ſealed their doctrine with their blood in the teſtimonie of the true faith. Certainely, all theſe proofes were pregnant in his time, and he might eaſily hauehave produced them in behalfe of his Church (as our aduerſaries in theſe dayes doe for theirs:) but hee left theſe brags to theſe latter times, and ſends them to the Law, to the Teſtimonies, to the word of Chriſt, that ſpeaketh better things then was poſſible for man to vtter;Ne in Eccleſia errares, ne quis tibi diceret Chriſtus eſt qui non eſt Chriſtꝰ, aut Eccleſia eſt quae non eſt Eccleſia, audi vocem Paſtoris — oſtendit Eccleſiam ne quis te fallat in nomine Eccleſiae. Aug. Pſal. 69. and to that end (ſaith hee) thou mighteſt not erre in the Church, and leſt any man ſhould ſay this is Chriſt, who is not Chriſt, or this is the Church which is not the Church, heare the voyce of the Shepheard, hee hath ſhewed thee the Church, that the name of the Church may not deceiue thee. The ſumme and ſubſtance therefore of St. Auſtens doctrine was this, that neither Biſhops, nor Councels, nor Miracles, nor rumors of the Catholique name, doe demonſtrate the Church of God to be Catholique (for all theſe are common to heretiques, as well as Catholiques;) but the holy Scriptures which beare the teſtimony of Ieſus, they onelyonly carry the infallible markes of his trueth,In Scripturis didicimꝰ Chriſtum, in Scripturis didicimus eccleſiam. Aug. ep. 166 and in them (faith hee) wee hauehave knowen Chriſt, in them we hauehave knowen the Church.
Neither was this the opinion of Saint Auſten only; for Saint Hierom tels vsus, that in his dayes the Church was not gone out of her limits of the holy Scriptures, Non eſt egreſſa de finibus ſuis, id eſt de Scripturis ſanctis. Hier. lib. 1. c. 1. in Mich.and from thence the timber and materialls muſt bee taken, with which the houſe of wiſedome is to bee built. And Saint Chryſoſtome as a wiſe Maſter-Builder in this houſe, gaue this Caueat to the worke-men in after ages;Chryſ. in opere imperfecto. Hom. 49. It can no way be knowen which is the true Church (niſi tantummodó per Scripturas) but onelyonly by the Scriptures; Non enim per alios diſpoſitionem ſalutis noſtra cognouimꝰ, quam per ees per quos euangelium peruenit ad nos quod quidē tūc praeconiauerunt, poſteà verò per Dei voluntatē in ſcripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum et Columnā fidei noſtrae futurum. I…en. adverſ. haereſ. l. 3. c. 1.otherwiſe if they had regard to other things, they ſhould bee offended and periſh, and not vnderſtand which is the true Church. And laſtly, the learned Father Irenaeus aſſures vsus; Non per alios, &c. by no other hauehave wee knowne the way of our ſaluation, but by them, by whom the Goſpel came to vsus, which verily they then preached, and afterwards by the will of God deliuered the ſame to vsus in the Scriptures, to bee the Foundation, and Pillar of our Faith.
Tell me then in this latter age and time of Controuerſie, wherein it is commonly voyced in our eares, Loe heere is Chriſt, and there is Christ, this is the true Church, and that is the true Church; how ſhall the religious man, which loueth trueth, and ſeeketh comfort, reſolue himſelfe? to which Church ſhal he ſafely ioine himſelfe, when perhaps he wants the learning, perhaps the leaſure to looke backeward for 1600 yeeres, and rightly examine the doctrine of both Churches? If hee ſeeke the Proteſtant Church, behold ſhee being poore, & deſpiſed for want of continued eminencie, is become a ſtumbling blocke to the ignorant. If he looke on the Roman Church, behold,Reu. 17.2, &c. Shee is arayed in purple and ſcarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious ſtones, and the inhabitants of the earth hauehave beene made drunke with the wine of her fornications, and they that follow her, wonder with great admiration. And without doubt the Popes triple Crownes, the golden croſſes, the Legend of Saints, the multitude of profeſſed Orders, their pompe in Proceſſions, their rich cloathing of Images, their pretended power of their Prieſthood, the great rumour of their Catholique cauſe, their Iubilies, and Pardons, their Merits and Miracles doe ſo dazle the eyes of the ignorant and common people, that they thinke there is no Church true and viſible but the Romane Church: and certenly the caſe thus ſtanding, wee hauehave no better plea for our Church,Vtrum nos ſchiſmatici ſumꝰ an vos, nec ego, nec tu ſed Chriſtus interrogetur vt indicet eccleſiam ſuam. Aug. cont. lit Pet lib. 2. c. 85. then the holy Father Saint Auſten, ſometimes made to Petilian the Donatian heretique; Whether of vsus be Schiſmatiques, we or you, aske you not me, I will not aske you; let Christ bee asked, that hee may ſhew vsus his owne Church.