The Notes of the church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted : with a table of contents.

The Third Note of the CHURCH EXAMINED, VIZ DURATION.

Tertia Nota est Duratio diuturna, nec unquam interrupta.

Bellarm L. iv. c. vi.

IMPRIMATUR.

Apr. 30. 1687.

GƲIL. NEEDHAM.

HOW far the Church of God is beholden to the Industry of some Learned Men in the Church of Rome, for the Notes they give of a Church, is not my Business at present to examine: But those of the Reformed Religion must ac∣knowledg themselves obliged to them, for so frankly quitting those Characters which are essential to every true Church, and for taking up with such as either ap∣parently belong not to their Church, or belong to other Churches as well as theirs; or, lastly, such as may be found in a false Church as well as a true. This might easily be proved against them through the fifteen Notes which are offered by them to the World: But I shall content my self to give an Instance of it, in the Note of Duration, which is made by them a necessary Mark of the true Church.

In Prosecution of which, I shall consider;

• I. What is to be understood by the Term, Duration.
• II. How far Duration may be said to be a Note of the true Church.
• III. Whether the Church of Rome hath a sufficient Title to this Character.

§ I. Duration, according to Bellarmin, is the conti∣nuance of a Church throughout all Times without In∣terruption; and he adds, that the Catholick Church is so called, not only because it always hath been, but also be∣cause it always will be. So that this Duration doth include in it these three Things:

• 1. The Being of a Church from the Beginning.
• 2. The Continuance of that Church to the End.
• 3. The Continuance of that Church from the Begin∣ning to the End without Interruption.

Let us now see how he applies it to the Case. It's evident, saith he, that our Church hath continued from the beginning of the World hitherto: Or, if we speak of the State of the New Testament, it hath endured from Christ to this Year 1557. (The Year when he wrote this.) But for all his Beginning, its evident, there is no Proof of what he affirms, and his Assertion is very insufficient.

1. That he takes it for granted that his Church and the Christian Church are one and the same, and that there is no other true Church but his. It's evident our Church, &c.

2. That he has omitted two main Branches of his Duration, viz. That part of it which was to the end of the World, which is as necessary a part as that which was from the Beginning: For the Church shall not

continue to be as well as it hath been, it's not that Church which Duration is a Note of.

Again, He hath passed by that other Property of his Duration, viz. That it has been without Interruption. For if the Church of Rome was from the Beginning, and hath continued, but not without Interruption, it wants another Property of Duration; which always was, is, and always will be, and was, and will, and must be such without Interruption, according to him.

§ II. How far is Duration a Note of the true Church. We grant that there shall always be a Church of Christ upon the Earth, and that the Gates of Hell shall never finally prevail against it, so as utterly to extinguish and destroy it: And this we firmly believe, because Christ hath promised and undertaken for it. But though this is a Promise, and may support the Church under the most doleful Circumstances, yet it's no Note by which the true Church is to be found out and distinguished from the false. For besides that this Promise doth be∣long to the Existence of a Church, and not to this or that Church;

1. The Nature of the Thing will not permit, that it should be a Note. For a Promise respects the Time to come, but a Note respects the Time present. The Thing promised may become a Note, when it is actual∣ly fulfill'd, but till it be fulfill'd, it can no more be a Note, than the future Time is the present. For what a Promise is to the future, that is a Note to the present, and doth suppose the actual existence of the Thing it is the Note of. And thus it is in the present Case: God hath promised that he will be with his Church and pre∣serve it to the end of the World, but being the period of that Duration is not to be accomplished till the end

〈1 page duplicate〉〈1 page duplicate〉

〈1 page duplicate〉〈1 page duplicate〉

of the World, the World must come to an end before we can know whether the Church pretending to Dura∣tion be the true Church. Suppose we for once Bellar∣min's Church to have continued (as he saith) for the Space of 1577 Years after our Saviour, and that it could be proved to a Demonstration that it so long continued to be the same without Interruption; yet the time past is no proof for the time to come; and if the World should continue 1577 Years after his time, and the Church nevertheless should expire before that Term; the Term of 1577 Years past would no more answer this Character of perpetual Duration, than if it had endured but seven; for as he saith, Duration doth contain in it all Times, and excludes none. And conse∣quently if there was a Time or Case when that Durati∣on was interrupted (as I shall shew it was) and a Time in which that Church shall cease to be before Time it self shall cease (as it may for ought they can say against it) then either their Church would not be the true Church, or Duration not be the Note of the true Church. For that Duration including all Times, the future Time can be no more excluded than the Time past or present; but since the future is uncapable of Proof, the true Church cannot be proved by it, nor can Duration be a Note of it.

I grant indeed, that if Duration be a necessary Note of the true Church, this may be a Note by which those Churches that once were, but are now utterly ex∣tinguished, may be concluded not the true Church: but this Negative Argument will neither be able to shew which is the true Church, when there are seve∣ral pretend to the like Duration: nor can be a Note of the true Church, for the Reason before given, viz. that it respecting the future Succession as well as the

past, it can be no Note till the time to come becomes present, and the whole Period of it be accomplished.

2. That cannot be a Note of the true Church, which doth not inseparably belong to the Church in all Sea∣sons and Cases; for what is an essential Character of a thing belongs to that thing when-ever and where-ever it is: And if there be any Season or Case in which that Note belongs not to it, that can be no true Note of the thing. As for instance, the Church in one House or City immediately after our Saviour's Ascension, was as much a Church from the first day it was so gathered, and had all the Qualifications of a Church, as it could have, had it been the Church of Bellarmin, and been ex∣istent 1577. And yet that Primitive Church so con∣stituted wanted this Note of Duration; for it then but began to be. And if a Person had been to enquire for the true Church by this Character and Token, and had been taught that that could be no Church which wan∣ted it, he must have gone from the Ʋpper Room to the Temple, and have been not a Christian, but a Jew. So that we must conclude, that either the Church at that time had not all the Marks necessarily belonging to the true Church, and so indeed was no Church; or else that Duration is not an inseparable Note of the true Church. The former Inference is good; because that which has not all the Marks essentially belonging to the thing, cannot be the thing which they are the Marks of; but if that Apostolical Church had all the Marks essentially belonging to a true Church, and yet wanted at that time this Mark of Duration, then Duration cannot be an essential Note of the true Church, which was the se∣cond thing inferr'd.

3. That which is a Note, must be proper to the thing which it is the Note of, and not common to other

things as well as that (so Bellarmin saith cap. 2.) But now this Note of Duration is common to other things as well as the Church, to false Churches as well as the true, and so cannot be an essential Mark of the true Church, or a Note by which it's distinguished and to be certainly known from the false. Suppose we that a Person that has imbibed this Principle, is in quest of the true Church; and had been living when Luther ap∣pear'd, and had before him the Nestorians and Eutychi∣ans, the Armenians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians in the East, the numerous Church of Greece, &c. which pre∣tend to a Duration as good and sufficient as that of Rome, and the last of which is acknowledged by the Bishop of Bitonto in the Council of Trent, to be the Mother of the Latin, and to which the Latin Church owes what it hath. How shall he be able to determine where he shall fix? For to say (as Bellarmine doth) that they are Hereticks or Schismaticks, and that the Greek Church for Example, was lawfully convicted of Heresie and Schism in three full Councils (that is, Councils of the Church of Rome) will not make them not to have been, or that the Note of Duration belongs not to them. Ei∣ther then they must disprove the Duration of those Churches, or discharge it from being the distinguishing Note of the true Church.

Lastly, I may add; If Duration be the standing Note or the true Church, Then those could be no true Churches which have not had that Duration; and so they must un-Church the seven Churches of Asia, &c. which have now no Existence, but are utterly extin∣guished. For if they had been true Churches, they would have had Duration, but having not Duration they could not, according to this Doctrine, have ever

been true Churches. But I am not willing thus to leave the Subject; and shall therefore,

§. III. Consider whether the Church of Rome, after all its pretence to Duration, and its establishment of this Note of the true Church, has a just and sufficient claim to it.

When we would know whether a Church has this Note of Duration belonging to it, we must consider what there is in a Church that is capable of being tried by this Character, and that is either as to Place, Per∣sons, Order or Doctrine: for by these is it that the Church doth exist, and is made visible; and so the Church that puts in a Claim to Duration, must be able to shew some Evidence for it from hence, as far as she admits them for Instances of that Duration she pleads for.

1. As to Place. When we hear so much of the Church of Rome, it's to be supposed that Rome is the principal Seat of that Church, as well as the Pope of Rome is the Head of it. But this they cannot pretend to Duration in: for if we look backward, we find not only the City of Rome frequently sack'd and destroyed, and wholly depopulated, as it was by Alaricus, Gense∣ricus and Totylas, but even deserted by the Popes them∣selves, who, with their whole Court, resided at Avig∣non for 70 Years together, as is acknowledged. If we look forward, all that Bellarmine dares to offer upon the Point, that the Chair of St. Peter shall not be separated from Rome, is, that it's a pious and the most probable O∣pinion. But if we consult others, they say positively, that Rome shall depart from the Faith, and shall be an Ha∣bitation of Devils, by reason of its Wickedness and Idola∣try, and be the Seat of Antichrist.

2. If we proceed to Duration, as it respects Persons, where shall we expect that to be intire and uninter∣rupted, if not in the Popes? And yet if we may judg of Popes as Bellarmine doth of a Church, and that He∣resie doth nullify their Elections and Successions as it doth the Verity of a Church, there is nothing more shattered. For if we look into the Catalogue of them, we shall find Zepherinus a Montanist, Marcellinus sa∣crificing to Idols, Liberius and Faelix, Arrians, Anasta∣sius a Nestorian, Honorius a Monothelite, John 23. de∣nying a future Life, with many others.

Go we on, and where shall we find more or greater Schisms, one Pope cursing another, and undoing what his Predecessor had done, as was the Case of Formosus, Romanus, Stephanus, and Sergius. Often two Popes toge∣ther contesting for the Chair (as it was for above forty Years at once) and at one time three Popes that had such pretences to the Papacy, that each had Learned Men for their Patrons, and it could not be easily judged which of them was the true and lawful Pope, as Bellar∣mine himself acknowledges.

But this belongs to Note five, of which more in its due place.

3. If we proceed to Order, either in Worship or Discipline, the Case is so notorious as to the several For∣mularies used heretofore in that Church, that it needs not to be insisted upon, and it's impossible for them to deny it.

4. Therefore I shall proceed to Doctrine, which in∣deed is the great Character by which a Church is to be discovered and tried. And here that I may not either intrench upon what has been said before concerning the Variation of the Church of Rome in this Point from the Scriptures, and Antiquity, or prevent what may

further be said upon Note nine. I shall compare the Church of Rome with it self, & if I can therein prove that it is not now what it hath been in many main Points, it will follow that it has no pretence to this Note of Duration, for upon this Point of Alteration doth Bel∣larmine put the Issue.

What the Church of Rome doth hold.

1. The Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches, and to be∣lieve her so to be is necessa∣ry to Salvation. Concil. Trid. Sess. 7. de Bapt. Can. 3. & Bulla Pii 4.

2. The Pope of Rome is Christ's Vicar, and hath the Supream Power over the whole Church, and without Subjection to him as such, is no Salvation. Concil. Trid. Sess. 6. Decret. de Reform. c. 1. & Bulla Pii 4.

Apocrypha.

3. The Apocryphal Books are Canonical, and Tobit and Judith, &c. are as much the Holy Scripture as Ge∣nesis,

&c. and whosoever re∣jects these as not Canoni∣cal, is accursed. Council. Trid. Sess. 4.

Scripture and Tradition.

4. Scripture alone is not a Rule of Faith without Tradition; and Traditions are to be received with the like Regard and Venerati∣on as the Scriptures. Trid. Sess. 4.

Scripture in unknown Tongues.

5. The Scriptures are not to be read in the vul∣gar Tongue without Li∣cence, because more Preju∣dice than Profit will re∣dound from it. Reg. Ind. Libr. prohib. R. 4.

Merit.

6. Good Works do truly deserve Eternal Life, and whoever holds the contra∣ry, is accursed. Trid. Sess. 6. c. 16. & Can. 32.

Indulgences.

7. By Indulgences gran∣ted by the Popes and Pre∣lates of the Church, Per∣sons are discharged from Temporal Punishment here, and in Purgatory. Trid. Sess. 25. Bull. Pii 4.

Purgatory.

8. There is a Purgatory after this Life, where the Souls of those that are not purged, nor have satisfied for their Sins here, are there to be purged and to give Satisfaction, unless their Time be shortned by the Prayers, Alms, and Masses of the Living. Trid. Sess. 25. & Sess. 22. Can. 3.

Service in an unknown Tongue.

9. It's required that Di∣vine Service be performed in the Latin Tongue, and whosoever saith it ought to be administred in a vul∣gar Tongue, is accursed.

10. In the Church of Rome they pray to Saints

and Angels as their Inter∣cessors. Trid. Sess. 25. Catech. Rom. par. 4. c. 9.

Images.

11. Images are not only to be placed in Temples, but also to be worshipped; as if the Persons thereby re∣presented were present. Trid. Sess. 25. Catech. Rom. par. 4. c. 6. n. 4.

Sacraments.

12. There are seven Sa∣craments truly and proper∣ly so, and whosoever saith there are more or fewer in∣stituted by Christ, is accur∣sed. Trid. Sess. 7. Can. 1.

Transubstantiation.

13. Bread and Wine af∣ter Consecration are turn'd into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood, without changing the Spe∣cies. Conc. Trid.

Communion in one kind.

14. The People are for∣bidden to receive the Sacra∣ment in both kinds. Trid. Sess. 21. c. 1.

Solitary Masses.

15. Solitary Masses,

wherein the Priest commu∣nicates alone, are approved and commended; and who∣soever saith they are un∣lawful and to be abrogated, is accursed. Trid. Sess. 22. Can. 8.

Auricular Confession.

16. Without particular Confession of Sins to a Priest, is neither Forgive∣ness nor Salvation to be ob∣tained. Trid. Sess. 14. c. 5. Can. 6, 7.

Extreme Ʋnction.

17. Extreme Unction is a Sacrament, and to be ad∣ministred when Persons are in imminent danger, and last of all to be appli∣ed. Trid. Sess. 14. c. 13.

Priest's Marriage.

18. Those that are in Orders may not Marry, and those that are married may not be admitted to Orders. Conc. Later. 1. Can. 21. & Later. 2. Can. 6.

What the Church of Rome hath held.

1. Before the time of the Nicene Council, little re∣gard was had to the Church of Rome. So Pope Pius 2. Epist. p. 802. and the Church of Rome call'd o∣thers Apostolical and Si∣ster-Churches.

2. For one Bishop to set himself over the rest, and to have all the rest in Sub∣jection to him is the Pride Lucifer, and the fore∣running of Antichrist. Pope Gregor. 1. Epist. 36.

3. St. Jerom (who was a Member of the Latin Church) saith, That tho Tobias, Judith, and Macca∣bees,

&c. were read, yet they were not received as Canonical Scriptures. Pro∣log. Proverb. And Pope Gregory 1. quoting the Mac∣cabees, excuses himself for producing a Testimony out of a Book not Canoni∣cal. We do not amiss, &c. Moral. in Job l. 19. c. 13.

4. Gregory 1. saith, All things which edifie and in∣struct are contained in the Scriptures; and that from thence the Teachers may pre∣sently teach whatsoever is needful. In Ezek. Hom. l. 1. c. 8. de Cur. Past. l. 2. c. 11.

5. Pope Gregory the 9th, An. 1227. declared, the not knowing the Scriptures by the Testimony of Truth it self, is the occasion of Errours; and therefore it's expedient for all Men to read or hear them. Epist. ad Germ. Ar∣chiep. Constant. apud. M. Paris. Hen. 3.

6. Gregory 1. saith, that the best of Men will find no Merit in their best Actions: And that if he should at∣tain to the highest Vertue, he should obtain eternal Life, not by Merits, but by Pardon. Moral. l. 9. c. 11. And elsewhere he saith, I pray to be saved, not trusting to my Merits, but presuming to ob∣tain that by thy Mercy alone, which I hope not for by my Merit. in 1 Psal. poenit.

7. Fisher Bp of Rochester in Hen. 8th's time, saith, the use of Indulgences seems to be late in the Church: and upon the recital of this Testimony Polydore Virgil adds, which being things of so great moment, you might expect them more certainly from the Mouth of God, De Invent. l. 8. c. 1. Car∣dinal Cajetan saith, there is no Authority of Scripture, or ancient Fathers, Greek or Latin, that brings them to our Knowledg. Opusc. 15. c. 1.

8. Bp. Fisher saith, There is none, or very rare mention of Purgatory in the ancient Fathers. Roff. contr. Lu∣ther, Art. 18. And Pope Gregory 1. saith, that at the time of Death, either the good or evil Spirit seizeth upon the Soul, and keeps it for ever with it, without any change. Moral. in Job l. 8. c. 8. Vid. Vindication of the Answer to some late Papers, pag. 76.

9. Bellarmine acknow∣ledges, that long after the Apostles both in the Ea∣stern and Western Chur∣ches, the People were wont to answer in Divine Offi∣ces. De Verb. l. 2. cap. 16. §. sed neque. Vid. Discourse concerning Celebration of Di∣vine Service in an unknown Tongue, p. 46, 47, 48.

10. Irenaeus Bp of Lyons saith, Throughout the whole

World the Church doth no∣thing by Invocations of An∣gels—but directeth her Prayers to God which hath made all, and calls upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And it seems not to have been an Article of Faith in the times of Lombard and Scotus (as it is now) the one of which saith, It's not incredible the Saints do hear what we say. And the latter, It's probable God doth reveal our Prayers. Lomb. Sent. lib. 4. Dist. 45. Scot. in 4 Dist. Q. 45.

11. Pope Gregory I, af∣ter he hath allowed Images in Temples, for informa∣tion of the Ignorant, doth professedly forbid the wor∣ship of them. Lib. 7. Epist. 109. ad Serenum, & Registr. Epist. l. 9. Ep. 9. &c.

12. Cassander a Member of the Church of Rome, saith, we shall not likely find any before Pet. Lombard (who lived about 1130) that did define the number of the Sa∣craments. Art. 13. § de num. Sacr. And particular∣ly

Alex. Hales, the famous Schoolman saith, that Con∣firmation was ordained to be a Sacrament by the Mel∣densian Council. Par. 4. Q. 9. M. 1.

13. Pope Gelasius saith, That in the Sacrament the Substance or Nature of Bread ceaseth not, or perish∣eth not. Gelas. cont. Eutych.

Gregory I. saith, That our Bodies as well as our Souls are nourished by the Eucharist. Sacram. 16. Kal. Mar. & in 6. Psal. poenit.

14. Pope Gelasius de∣clares, Either let them re∣ceive the whole Sacrament, or let them be driven from the whole: for the dividing of one and the same Sacra∣ment, cannot be done with∣out great Sacriledg. De Consecr. Dist. 2. Comperi∣mus.

And Pope Gregory I. af∣firms it to be the constant practice for the People to receive in both kinds. Sacram. in Quadrag. Tr. 3. Vid. Vindication of the An∣swer to some Papers. p. 75.

15. Anacletus Bishop of

Rome did decree, That all present should communi∣cate, or else should be turn'd out of the Church, for so the Apostles did or∣der, and the Holy Church or Rome observeth. Par. 3. Dist. 1. Episcop. & 2. peracta.

Gregory I. forbids the Priest to celebrate the Eu∣charist alone. Greg. lib. Capital. cap. 7. apud Cassand. Liturg. c. 33.

16. This was neither in the Time of Pope Gelasius or Pope Gregory I. Vid. Vin∣dication of the Answer. p. 73.

17. In Gregory the First's time it was used in order to Recovery, and the Eu∣charist was to be given af∣ter it. Sacram. p. 253. Vid. Vindicat. of the Answ. p. 77.

18. To marry was a pri∣viledg belonging to the Clergy as well as others. So Cassander Consult. Art. 23. Polyd. Virg. Invent. l. 5. c. 4.

By this Parallel thus far drawn betwixt the Ancient and Present Doctrine of the Church of Rome, we may be able to judg of the Immutability and Duration of the Church; which can no more be consistent with it, than one part of a Contradiction can be reconciled to ano∣ther; or than Infallibility can be consistent with the having actually err'd. To find fallible Churches mis∣taken, and at some times to vary from themselves, is consistent with their Nature, and for all which (if the Errors are not fundamental) they are Churches still; but to find Errors and Contradictions in an Infallible Church, is to confound the nature of things, to give the Infallible Church no advantage over the Fallible, and to expose the Persons that betake themselves to that shel∣ter, to all the Disquietudes, Uncertainties, and Disap∣pointments of Ignorance and Error. For what is the usual Reason given for forsaking other Churches, but because they are Fallible? What is the Reason why they go over to the Church of Rome, but because she is (as they are made to believe) Infallible? But if with her Infallibility she has mistaken; if with her Certainty she contradicts her self; if she was one thing in one Age, and another in another; then there is the same Reason to quit the Church of Rome, as there was to im∣brace it; and such persons must either be contented with a Church that is Fallible, or be of none.

THE END.

Pag. 63. Marg. lin. ult. read, in Apoc. 17. 5.

LONDON, Printed by J. D. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1687.

Notes

• Orat. Concil. Trid.
• De Verb. Dei l. 2. c. ult.
• De Not. c. 9. §. dico 2do.
• Bellarm. de Pontif. l. 4. c. 4."
• Vega Jesuita. in Apoc. 18. com. 7. §. 4. Rhem. Annot. in Apoc. ••. 17.5.
• De Not. l. 4. c. 8. §. dico secundo.
• De Pontif. l. 4. c. 14. §. Tri∣cesimus septi∣mus.
• Vid. Note first and second.
• De Not. l. 4. c. 6. §. Quam∣vis autem.