and knows not what Church the Bishop means; but asks HER! what her doth he mean? Although all the Bifhop had to fay of him was, as he tells him, for the Service he had done the Church Catholick, yet this great Doctor is at a loss to know, what Her the Bishop means. Sir, fay you with great Eloquence, it is to that Her, to which the Bishop faid you had done Service, and which he ftiles L'Eglife Catholique, the Church Catholick. Why then will you ask what HER the Bishop means? Then, Sir, you proceed to fhew, that by the Catholick Church the Bishop of Meaux means not the fingle Church of Rome; but the fingle Church of Rome, and those which adhere to her: All which, fay you, united with the Roman Church, are the Catholick Univerfal Church of all Nations under one fupreme Vicar of Jefus Chrift. Such a Church of all Nations, and the Catholick Church are convertible Terms, and no other; and therefore the Bishop of Meaux in his Question, asked not whether the Roman fingly, but whether the Roman Church, and those that adhere to her, be the Catholick Church? Sir, I muft obferve here two great Impertinencies and one falfe Definition you are guilty of in these few Lines. First then you impertinently fuppofe that Bishop Bull, in faying Monfieur de Meaux feems to think the Roman and the Catholick Church to be convertible Terms; meant by the Roman Church the fingle Diocefan Church of Rome, which is very abfurd as well as falfe: First, Because by the Church of Rome in all controverfial Writings it is well known we mean the Church of Rome, with all the Churches, whether National Churches as you fpeak, or Churches opprefs'd in Nations, that adhere to her. And, Secondly, because Bishop Bull faith, that by the Catholick Church Monfieur de Meaux did doubtless mean the prefent Church of Rome, in the Communion whereof he himself liv'd: Which cannot be

understood of the Diocefan fingle Church of Rome, but of his own, and all other Churches of the Roman Communion; in the Communion of all which he lived, as well as in that of the fingle Church of Rome. The other great impertinence, Sir, of which I accufe you, is your fuppofing the Bishop of Rome to be the fupreme Vicar of Jefus Chrift; (for it is ftill begging the Question) which if you can prove with as much Clearnefs, as with Confidence you affert, and fuppofe to be true, then I will grant you that all the Churches united with the Roman Church under that fupreme Head, are the Catholick Universal Church; and that the Roman Church and Catholick Church are convertible Terms, and like the Definition and the thing defined, may be affirmed of one another. This falfe fuppofition invites me to obferve your Definition of the Catholick Church, which is this: The Catholick Church is the Universal Church of all Nations united under one fupreme Vicar of Jefus Chrift. But, Sir, the newnefs and falfnefs of this Definition, which you borrowed from Canifius and Bellarmin, is largely and most learnedly expofed by Dr. Launoy, a Divine of your own Communion, in his Epiftle to Nicolas Gatinaus; and to him in that elaborate Letter, I fend you for better Instruction, and with Canifius and Bellarmin to be chastised. If instead of this fictitious fupreme Vicar of Jefus Chrift, you had put in Jefus Chrift alone, it had been a tolerable definition of the Catholick Church; which indeed is nothing but Cœtus fidelium, the Congregation of all faithful Churches united into one Apoftolical Communion of Doctrine, Worship and Government, under one fupreme Head Jefus Chrift. How abfurd alfo it is in your Writers by the Ca

a

Johan.Launoii Epift. omnes. Edit. Cantabrigiæ. MDCLXXXIX. P. 762.

tholick,

tholick, or Universal Church, or Holy Catholick Univerfal Church, always to understand the Church of Rome, and the Churches in Communion with it, I have fhew'd in the fifth Chapter of the Book of the feveral Letters which paffed between me and my Adverfary: And therefore, Sir, let me tell you it is affurance in you to the laft degree, to fuppofe your Church and the Catholick Church to be the fame in your Answer to my Challenge, who had prov'd the contrary; and fo often chaftifed him for his great abfurdity in begging this Question, and fuppofing what he could not prove. In that Chapter I have fhewed, that the Church of Rome in the ancient Times, was never confider'd but as a part of the Catholick Church, and that it was never understood by the Holy Catholick Church in the Creed; but the whole Cœtus fidelium, or the Congregation of all faithful Churches united into one Communion, under its one Head and High-Prieft, our common Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift. But it is the manner of your Writers to mifrepresent the Catholick Church, as depending, for her Catholicifm and Unity, upon the fingle Church of Rome and her Bishop; whom you affirm to be the univerfal Bishop, and fupreme Vicar of Jefus Chrift. She must, right or wrong, be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches, and he as her Head and Lord, fupreme Head, and Lord of them all. In fhort, he must be Head and Principle of Unity to the whole Epifcopal College: And as the Marquis of Worcester faid to King Charles I. fhe is caufally called Catholick because the infufeth Univerfality into the whole body of the Catholick Church. Wherefore being a center and beginning of Ecclefiaftical Communion, and infufing Unity, which is the Form of Univerfality into the

a

• Answer to Certamen Religofum. By C. C. p. 32.

Catholick

Catholick Church, she may be called Catholick. Thefe are the zealous Marquis's words borrowed from Cardinal Perron; to which he adds, That all other particular Churches are Catholick by participation, because they agree, and participate in Doctrine and Communion with the Catholick, meaning the caufally Catholick Church of Rome. To this the learned King reply'd, That in this fenfe of Catholick, other Churches might be called Catholick as well as the Roman; and particularly the Greek Church, Which, faith his Majefty, bath infufed as much Univerfality into the whole body of the Catholick Church, as the Church of Rome hath done, and was both Center and Circumference as much as ever she was. The truth, Sir, is, that in the more Primitive Times of Christianity, when all Churches were in mutual Communion with one another; and as fo many particular Members made up a Catholick or pure univerfal Church, it might be truly faid of every Mother Church, as well as of that of Rome: As for Example of the fingle Church of Antioch, that she and all the Churches that were in Communion with her, were the Catholick Church. Other Church

es then were no more, or in any other manner in Communion with the Church of Rome, than fhe was with them, and every one of them; nor was any one of them then efteemed the Center or Beginning of Ecclefiaftical Communion, that infused Unity into all the reft.

To draw to a Conclufion. Give me leave, Sir, to refolve all that you have faid, and all that I have cited to the fame purpose, relating to the Roman Catholick Church into Propofitions.

I. The fingle Church of Rome, and all Churches now adhering to her, are, exclufively of all others, the Holy Catholick Church.

II. The

2

II. The Union of the Holy Catholick Church is an Union of all Churches with the single Church of Rome, under one fupreme Vicar of Jefus Christ.

III. The Bishop of Rome is that fupreme Vicar. IV. The Roman Church confifting of the single Church of Rome, and all Churches now united with her under that fupreme Vicar, and the Holy Catholick Church are convertible Terms.

V. The fingle Church of Rome infuseth Unity and Univerfality into the whole Body of the Catholick Church.

VI. All other Churches are Catholick only by participation in Doctrine and Communion with the fingle Church of Rome.

Sir, my Challenge to my former Adversary, which you undertook to answer, was to fhew me Antiquity, Univerfality, and Succeffion for the Trent-Doctrines; and now I challenge you to fhew me the fame concurrent Evidence for these Popish Propofitions, and then I promife you I will be your Convert; and not only believe, but profefs the Church of Rome to be the one Holy, Catholick, Apoftolick and Univerfal Church. But then, Sir, as thefe Propofitions, if they are true, lay a mighty and ftrict Obligation on the Confciences of the Churches of the World, and all and every Chriftian in them: So they will require as clear and certain

This was such a firange Notion to the Chriftians of Malabar, that when the Portuguese asked them if the Pope was not the Head of the Church, they answered, That he was the Head of the Church of Rome, or of St. Peter's Church, but not the Head of the Church of St. Thomas; always afferting the Patriarch of Babylon to be Head of their Church: And that their Church, and that of Rome, were particular Churches independent one of the other. Monumens Authentiques de la Religion des Grecs. p. 84.

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