Where Our Church Was Before Luther and Zwingli
Ubinam Ecclesia Nostra Fuerit Ante Lutherum et Zuinglium
Francis TurretinQuaestio X.
Ubinam Ecclesia nostra fuerit ante Lutherum & Zuinglium, & quibus mediis sit conservata?
X. Nec tamen videbamur declinare Quaestionem, quasi nobis esset διαφόρον, directe respondere possumus; Quaestionem quadruplicem respectum induere, vel quatuor spectare. Primo doctrinam & fidem Electorum, qui Ecclesiam constituunt. 2. Eorum personas & conditionem. 3. Locum ubi fuerunt. 4. Formam regiminis sub qua vixerunt, & cultum externum quem habuerunt. Quoad primum, si agitur de fide Christiana, dicimus substantiam rerum credendarum & faciendarum ad salutem fuisse semper in Scriptura, in Symbolo Apostolorum, in Lege Dei, & oratione Dominica obsignatam Sacramentis, quam per
singularem providentiam conservare voluit semper in Ecclesia ad sustentandum Electos, licet variis erroribus doctrina illa subinde permixta fuerit. Ut hic distinguenda sit accurate substantia fidei, ab accidentibus corruptele, tam in doctrina, quam in cultu, in quibus Deus novit Electos conservare in ea puritate, quae necessaria erat ad salutem, usque ad Reformationis seculum.
Question X.
Where was our Church before Luther and Zwingli, and by what means was it preserved?
X. Nor do we appear to be evading the Question, as though it were a matter of indifference to us — we are able to answer it directly. The Question admits of a fourfold aspect, or looks to four things. First, the doctrine and faith of the Elect, who constitute the Church. Second, their persons and condition. Third, the place where they were. Fourth, the form of government under which they lived, and the external worship they observed. As to the first, if the question concerns the Christian faith, we say that the substance of the things to be believed and done for salvation has always been sealed in Scripture, in the Apostles’ Creed, in the Law of God, and in the Lord’s Prayer, and confirmed by the Sacraments — which [substance]
by his singular providence he willed always to preserve in the Church for the sustaining of the Elect, even though that doctrine was from time to time mingled with various errors. So that here the substance of faith must be carefully distinguished from the accidents of corruption, both in doctrine and in worship — in which things God knew how to preserve the Elect in that purity which was necessary for salvation, down to the age of the Reformation.