To voii'j yiv oaa, oil, i^-h (^uXuma-fa.! o a 1{i.
S01< A VINDICATION OF THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON FIAT LUX.
This is flat folly, — namely, for a man to live in rebellion unto his own light. But you add, —
III. " That yourselves, — that is, the pope, with those who in mat- ters of religion adhere unto him, and live m subjection unto him, — are this church, in an assent unto whose infallible teachings and de- terminations the unity of faith doth consist." Could you prove this assertion, I confess it would stand you in good stead. But before we inquire after that, we shall endeavour a little to come unto a right understanding of what you say. When you affirm that the Roman church is the church of Christ, you intend either that it is the only church of Christ,— all the church of Christ, — and so, consequently, the catholic church ; or you mean that it is a church of Christ, which hath an especial prerogative, enabling it to require obedience of all the disciples of Christ.
1. If you say the former, we desire to know, First, When it became so to be. It was not so when all the church was together at Jeru- salem, and no foundation of any church at all laid at Rome, Acts i. 1—5. It was not so when the first church of the Gentiles was ga- thered at Antioch, and the disciples first began to be called Christians ; for as yet we have no tidings of any church at Rome. It was not so when Paul wrote his epistles, for he makes express mention of many other churches in other places, which had no relation unto any church at Rome more than they had one to another, in their common profes- sion of the same faith, and therein enjoyed equal gifts and privileges with it. It was not so in the days of the primitive fathers of the first three hundred years, who all of them, not one excepted, took the Roman to be a local particular church, and the bishop of Rome to be such a bishop as they esteemed of all other churches and bishops. Their persuasion in this matter is expressed in the beginning of the Epistle of Clemens, or church of Rome, unto the church of Corinth : 'H szxy.rjff/'a roD Qiov rj irapoixouSa Pw/ajji*, rfi IxxX'/jff/a rov QioTi TaporAovCp Kbpiv&ov — " The church [of God] that is at Rome to the church [of God] that is at Corinth;" both local churches, both equal. And such is the language of all the writers of those times. It was not so in the days of the fathers and councils of the next three centuries, who still accounted it a particular church, — diocesan or patriarchal, but all of them particular; never calling it catholic but upon the account of its holding the catholic faith, as they called all other churches that did so, in opposition to the errors, heresies, and schisms of any in their days. We desu'e, then, to know ^uhen it became the only or absolutely ca- tholic church of Christ; as also, secondly, by ivliat means it became so to be. It did not do so by virtue of any institution, warrant, or command of Christ. You were never able to produce the least inti- mation of any such warrant out of any writing of divine inspiration,
PRINCIPLES OF PAPISTS ON THE UNITY OF FAITH. 305
nor approved catholic writer of the first ages after Christ, though it hugely concern you so to do, if it were possible to be done ; but they all expressly teach that which is inconsistent with such pretences. It did not do so by any decree of the first general councils, which are all of them silent as to any such thing; and some of them, as those of Nice, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, expressly declare and determine the contrary, — at least that which is contrary thereunto. We can find no other way or means whereby it can pretend unto this vast privilege, unless it be the gi'ant of Phocas unto Boniface that he should be called the Universal Bishop; who, to serve his own ends, was very liberal of that which was not at all in his power to bestow. And yet neither is this, though it be a means that you have more reason to be ashamed than to boast of, sufficient to found your present claim, considering how that name was in those da3^s no more than a name, — a mere airy, ambitious title, — that carried along with it no real power, and " stet magni nominis umbra."
Secondly, We cannot give our assent imto this claim of j^ours, because we should thereby be necessitated to cut off from the chiu'ch, and consequently all hope of salvation, far the greatest number of men in the world who in this and all foregoing ages have called and do " call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." This we dare not do, especially considering that many of them have spent, and do spend, their days in great affliction, for their tes- timony unto Christ and his gospel ; and many of them every day seal their testimony with then blood, — so belonging, as we believe, nnto that " holy army of martyrs" which continually praiseth God. Now, as herein we dare not concur with you, considering the charge given unto Timothy by Paul, Mn zoivuvsi a/j.af'Tiaig dX7.orplaig, — " Be not partaker of otlier men's sins;" so indeed we are persuaded that your opinion, or rather presumption,, in this matter, is extremely injurious to the grace of Christ, the love and goodness of God, as also to the truth of the gospel. And therefore, —