none of the ancient Doctors who have expounded the Creed and there are many of them have given any such sense of that Article of the Catholick Church Nay it was not in the most ancient forms of Faith nor doth the Church truly Catholick teach any thing as necessary to be believed to Salvation but what is contained in the Creed For we do in their own sense believe the Catholick Church but not the Roman Catholick Church which their Creed will have to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches because to omit many other absurdities which are in it there was a Catholick Church before there was a Roman and to say that they believe the Catholick Church meaning thereby the Roman is nothing more than to say they believe themselves SECT VII Their absurd Explication of the Unity of the Catholick Church NOTHING therefore can be further from the Truth than that Explication of the Vnity of the Catholick Church which is delivered in the Roman Catechism published by the Authority of the same Pope Pius IV. in pursuance of the Council of Trent Wherein the Catechumen is taught to believe and profess that the Catholick Church is one not only because of one Faith and other reasons mentioned by the Apostle Ephes iv and because it is subject to one invisible Governor which is Christ But because it is subject also to one visible Governor who holds the Roman Chair the legitimate Successor of St. Peter Concerning whom it is the unanimous opinion of all the Fathers that this visible Head is necessary to constitute and conserve the unity of the Church And to this Head or Pastor Christ hath given the authority of ruling and governing the whole Church as the Vicar and Minister of his Power Thus that Catechism teaches in the First Part the IX Article n. 11 12 13. Which besides that it is confuted by the plain demonstration now mentioned that Christ had a Catholick Church which had unity in it self when there was no Roman Church is directly contrary to the constant Doctrine not only of the Scripture but of all the Fathers whose consent they falsly boast of and of many Popes of Rome and of Councils also both General and particular even of the Councils of Lateran and Trent which by approving the Five First General Councils who condemn this Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome do in effect condemn it themselves SECT VIII Which forbids us to joyn in Communion with them upon such Terms TO that Church then we ought to adhere which hath kept the Rule of Faith once delivered to the Saints simple and unmixed with humane inventions Which if we admit as necessary to Salvation we betray the truth of Christ and are false and unjust to innumerable Christian Brethren who by Baptism are admitted into a state of Salvation but hereby unmercifully cut off from the Body of Christ though they have that Faith which makes them true Members of it This is the Great Crime of the Roman Church and may suffice instead of all other demonstrations to prove that they have corrupted themselves and departed from the simplicity that is in Christ For this very Article alone which is a part of their Faith that there is no Salvation but by union with the Roman Catholick Church and that by subjection to it thrusts out of Heaven not only the ancient Christian pious Emperors who refused such subjection But many of their ancient Popes who acknowledged their subjection was due to the Christian Emperors together with the ancient Patriarks and Fathers assembled in many Councils and the most famous Christian Churches the most glorious Martyrs and Saints of Christ that the best times of Christianity have known and to say nothing of after Ages the present Christians of Greece Russia Armenia Syria Ethiopia who by this Article of subjection to the Catholick Roman Church are all excluded from Christian communion and must perish everlastingly For Bellonius says that in his travels he met with Nine sorts of Christians at Jerusalem Eight of which Nine know nothing of this Universal Bishop or do not regard him and of the Ninth there is scarce half that acknowledges his Authority And yet there are Men among them of no mean note and number who have the confidence to tell us that by the Catholick Church which we are bound to believe is to be understood the Bishop of Rome whose Declarations when he will determine any thing to be of Faith we all ought to receive And though we are assured as much as are that there was such a Person as St. Peter that Christ never gave him much less his Successors any Authority at all over his whole Church Yet now to deny the Pope's Supremacy is such a Heresie that let a Man be never so Orthodox in all other points of the Catholick Faith this alone is sufficient to make him be excommunicated and cut off from the Body of Christ Witness our King Henry VIII who was excommunicated and his Kingdom given away for no other fault by a Bull of Paul the Third who affirms in the beginning of that Bull that herein he acted by Divine authority which according as God saith in the Prophet Jeremiah had set him over Nations and Kingdoms to root up and destroy as well as to build and plant having the supreme power over all Kings and People throughout the whole Earth Which certainly is such new Language never known in the Church for many Ages that they who are not convinced thereby of the corruption of Christian Religion in the Roman Church have their Eyes blinded with the Worldly Splendor of it SECT IX But on the other side not to slight Episcopal Authority YET on the other hand it must be acknowledged that this enormous power which they have usurped is a very strong proof of the high Authority of Christian Bishops in the Church and of the great reverence that was paid to them by Christian People Who otherways would never have thus submitted to their will and pleasure had not the obedience which they had been wont always to yield to their authority disposed them to be brought by little and little under an absolute subjection Nor would there have been reason for those Cautions which St. Peter gives to the Governors of God's Church not at Rome but elsewhere 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. not to Lord it over them if they had not been invested with a power which all Christians reverenced so much that it might more easily be abused than contemned and sooner perswade People to follow them with a blind obedience than to slight their judgment and refuse to conform to their Injunctions And therefore whosoever they are that now despise all Ecclesiastical Authority we may be sure they have swerved from the true Principles of Christianity and they also are altogether inexcusable who shake off the Episcopal Government and refuse to be subject to it under a pretence that there ought to be an equality among Christ's
or conspiring as we may call it of events to a certain end is a manifest token of a provident direction Like as at Dice if a Man now and then throw a lucky cast which wins all it may be no more than a chance but if he throw the very same an hundred times there is no body who will not conclude that this proceeds from some extraordinary Art SECT XII And by Miracles ANother most certain proof of God's providence may be taken from those miracles and prophecies which are recorded in Histories Where though many fabulous things be related in that kind yet those that are testified by sufficient Witnesses living in the time when they came to pass such I mean as were defective neither in judgment nor in honesty are not to be despised as altogether impossible For in as much as God is both omnipotent and omniscient what can hinder him from signifying what he knows or what he pleaseth to do and that even beyond the common course of nature which being made and ordained by him becomes subject unto him by the title of creation Now if any do object that such things might have been done by subordinate powers and minds inferiour to God to them we answer that so much may be granted indeed but yet this makes way that the same may the more easily be credited of God who is to be thought either to work by the mediation of those Agents or else out of his wisdom to permit them when they bring to pass any such thing For in well ordered Kingdoms there is nothing done against the Statutes and common Laws but by the arbitrement or permission of the Supreme Governours SECT XIII Specially among the Jews whereunto credit may be given by reason of the long continuance of their Religion NOW that there have indeed been some miracles seen though the credit of other Histories should be questionable yet it is manifest enough in the Jewish Religion which albeit it hath long been destitute of all humane helps yea exposed to contempt and scorn yet for all that hath still continued almost in all the climates and parts of the World even unto this day whereas all other Religions saving the Christian which is the perfection as it were of the Jewish have either vanished as soon as the Imperial Power and Authority was withdrawn whereby they were supported as all the Paganish or else are still perpetually upheld by the same power and authority as Mahometism Now if it be demanded why the Jewish Religion hath taken such deep root in the hearts of the Hebrews as that it cannot thence be eradicated no better reason can be given or conceived than this namely that those Jews that are now alive did from their Parents as those Parents from their Progenitors and so upward until the times of Moses and Joshua receive those miracles mentioned in Scripture by certain and constant Tradition which miracles were done chiefly at the departing out of Aegypt and in their journey through the Wilderness and entrance into the Land of Canaan whereof their Ancestors were then eye-witnesses Nor is it at all credible that it could otherwise have come to pass that a People who were sufficiently stiff-necked and of a stubborn disposition should take upon them a Law burdened with so many Rites or that wise Men out of the many marks of Religion which humane reason could have invented should chuse Circumcision which could not be received without very great pain nor retained without the derision of all strangers and had nothing in it to recommend it save only this that God was its Author SECT XIV Also by the truth and antiquity of Moses his story BEsides The writings of Moses wherein those miracles are recorded to posterity do gain the greatest credit thereunto not only because it was always a setled opinion and constant report amongst the Hebrews that this same Moses was commended by the Oracle of God to be a Leader of the People but also because it is manifest enough that he neither affected his own glory nor desired their riches forasmuch as himself reveals his own faults and delinquencies which he might have concealed and also he assigned the dignity of his Kingdom and Priesthood unto strangers whence his own Posterity was brought to the common condition of Levites By all which it appears that he had no reason to forge untruths Neither doth he use any dissembling or alluring language such as commonly colours over a lye but he speaks after a plain ingenuous manner according to the quality of the thing he treats of Add hereunto the undoubted antiquity of the Books of Moses to which no other writings are therein comparable An argument whereof is for that the Grecians from whom all kinds of learning were derived to other Heathens do confess they received their very Letters from others which Letters of theirs have no other order or name or ancient form than that of the Syriac or Hebrew Tongue as also for that the most ancient Grecian Laws whence the Romans collected theirs had their Original from the Laws of Moses SECT XV. And by the Testimony of many Gentiles MOREOVER besides these there are many testimonies of such as were aliens from the Jewish Religion which declare that the most ancient reports which passed for truth among all Nations were agreeable to what Moses hath related in his Writings Thus what things he related concerning the beginning of the World the same are found also recorded in the most ancient Histories of the Phoenicians which are collected by Sancuniathon and translated by Philo Byblius and partly also found amongst the Indians and Aegyptians Hence it is that in Linus Hesiod and many of the Grecians mention is made of a Chaos which some have intimated by the name of an Egg also of the making of living creatures and last of all of Man according to a Divine Image and of Man's dominion over other creatures all which may be read in sundry Authors and at last in Ovid who transcribed them out of the Greek Writers That all things were made by the Word of God was confessed even by Epicharmus and the Platonicks and before them by a most ancient Writer not of those Hymns which now go under that name but of those Verses which antiquity called Orphean verses not because they had Orpheus for their Author but because they summarily comprised his Doctrine Empedocles acknowledged that the Sun was not the primitive light but a fit receptacle of light Aratus and Catullus think that above the sphere or orb of the stars there is a Divine habitation wherein Homer imagined there was perpetual light THAT of all things God was the most ancient because not begotten the World most beautiful because the work of GOD and that darkness was before the light were all the doctrines of Thales out of the ancient Learning The last point whereof is found in Orpheus and Hesiod whereupon the Gentiles that are commonly superstitious in following
Thus is there one way in Mathematicks another in Physicks a third in matters of advice and counsel and lastly another kind when a matter of fact is in question wherein verily we must rest content when the testimonies are free from all suspicion of untruth Otherwise down goes not only all the use of history and a great part of the art of Physick but all the piety also that ought to be between Parents and Children which cannot be known other ways And indeed it is the pleasure of Almighty God that those things which he would have us to believe so that the very belief thereof may be imputed to us for obedience should not so evidently appear as those things which are apprehended by sense and plain demonstration but only be so far forth revealed as may beget faith and a perswasion thereof in the hearts and minds of such as are not obstinate That so the Word of the Gospel may be as a touchstone whereby Mens dispositions may be tried whether they be curable or not For seeing these arguments whereof we have spoken have induced so many honest godly and wise Men to approve of this Religion it is thereby plain enough that the fault of other Mens infidelity is not for want of sufficient testimony but because they would not have that to be had and embraced for truth which is contrary to their affections and desires It being that is an hard matter for them to make no great account of honours and other worldly advantages which they must do if they receive what Christ hath taught and so become ingaged to observe his Precepts Which is discovered to be true by this very thing that they take many other Historical Narrations to be true which notwithstanding appear to be so meerly by authority and not by any such foot-steps of them remaining at this day as the History of Christ hath partly in the confession of the Jews who are now in being and partly in those things which are every where found in the Assemblies of Christian People of which it must needs be granted there was some cause Lastly seeing the long duration or continuance of Christian Religion and the large extent thereof can be ascribed to no humane power therefore it must be attributed to miracles or if any deny that it came to pass through a miraculous manner this very getting so great strength and power without a miracle may be justly thought to surpass any miracle The THIRD Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. To prove the authority of the Books of the New Covenant AFTER that a Man is once perswaded by the reasons abovesaid or is induced by any other arguments to believe that this Religion which Christians profess is the truest and absolutely the best if he desire to learn all the parts thereof then must he have recourse unto the most ancient writings that contain the same Religion which commonly we call the Books of the New Testament or rather new covenant For he is very unreasonable who denies this Religion to be contained in those Books as all Christians affirm Since it is but equity to believe every Sect be it good or be it bad when it says its opinions are to be found in such or such a Book as we believe the Mahometans that the Religion of Mahomet is contained in the Alcoran Forasmuch then as we have before proved that the Christian Religion is most true and it is manifest withal that it is contained in these Books if there were no other ground yet this alone is sufficient to prove and avouch the authority of those Books But if any body requires a more particular demonstration of it I must first lay down this Rule which all indifferent Judges will allow that it is incumbent upon him who will impugne the authority of any writing received for many Ages to produce Arguments which prove that Writing to be false which if he cannot do that Book is to be defended as in possession of its Authority SECT II. Here is shown that such Books were written by the Authors whose names they have prefixed WE say then that those Books which are not in question amongst Christians and carry before them a certain Name are the very Works of those Authors whose names they bear Because those primitive Fathers Justin Irenaeus Clemens and others after them do quote those Books under these very names As also because Tertullian witnesseth that there were Original Copies of some of those Books extant in his time And besides all the Churches received those Books for authentical before there were any common publick Meetings Neither did ever the Pagans or Jews raise any controversie about this as if these were not the works of those Men whose they were said to be but Julian himself plainly confesseth that those were the writings of Peter and Paul Matthew Mark and Luke which Christians under those names have read and received For as no Man in his wits can doubt that those Writings which go under the names of Homer and Virgil are truly theirs because the one hath been so long time received among the Latine and the other among the Greek Authors in like manner it were more absurd to bring the Authors of those Books in question which are granted almost by all the Nations in the World SECT III. Some Books were anciently doubted of IN the Volume of the new Covenant there are some Books indeed now received which were not so received from the beginning as the second Epistle of St. Peter that of St. James and Jude two of St. John the Elder the Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews Yet this is certain that they were acknowledged by many Churches which appears sufficiently from hence that the ancient Christians use their Testimonies as Sacred Which makes it credible that such Churches as from the beginning had not those Books either were ignorant of them or doubtful Yet afterward when they were better informed touching the same they admitted them into the Canon as we now see according to the example of other Churches Neither can any good reason be given why any Man should counterfeit those Books since there is nothing comprised in them neither can ought thence be collected which is not abundantly expressed in other Books unquestioned SECT IV. The Authority of such Books as have no Titles is proved from the quality of the Writers AND here let no Man mistrust the verity of the Epistle to the Hebrews because the Writer of it is unknown nor doubt of the two Epistles of St. John and the Revelation because some Men do question whether the Author of them was John the Apostle or some other of that name For the name is not so much to be regarded as the quality or condition of Writers Hence it is that we receive many Books of History whose Authors are to us unknown As that concerning the Alexandrian War by Caesar because we may perceive that whosoever writ the same
during the space of One Thousand Years and more but afterward stolen away by Jesus For there is no mention made of those Lyons though it be a thing most remarkable and wonderful either in the Books of Kings and Chronicles or by Josephus nor was there any such thing found by the Romans who accompanying Pompey entred into that Temple before the times of Jesus SECT V. The Miracles of Jesus were divine because he taught the worship of one God the Maker of the World IT being then granted as the Jews cannot deny that Wonders were wrought by Christ it will follow from the very Law of Moses that he must be believed For God saith Deuteron xviii 15 c. that other Prophets after the time of Moses should be raised up of God to whom the People should be obedient or otherwise become liable to grievous punishments Now miracles are the most infallible marks of the Prophets Nor can any more illustrious be so much as conceived But in Deuteron xiii it is said that if any professing himself to be a Prophet doth work wonders yet He must not be believed if he go about to entice the People to a new worship of the Gods For though such miracles be done yet this is only by God's permission for trial whether the People would persist constantly in the worship of the true God From which places compared together the Hebrew Interpreters do rightly collect that every one must be believed that worketh miracles unless thereby he intice Men from the worship of the true God and in that case only miracles are not to be credited though in shew most glorious Now Jesus did not only not teach the worshipping of false Gods but also expresly condemned it as a most grievous crime and taught us to reverence the writings both of Moses and the Prophets that succeeded him Wherefore there is nothing that can be objected against the miracles that were wrought by Christ SECT VI. Answer to the Objection taken from the difference between the Law of Moses and of Christ where is shown that a more perfect Law than that of Moses might be given AS touching that which some alledge concerning the difference between the law of Moses and the law of Christ it is but of small moment For the Hebrew Doctors themselves make this rule that by the authority of a Prophet who worketh miracles any precept whatsoever may be boldly violated and transgressed except that only which concerns the worship of the true God And surely that power of making laws which belonged unto God when he gave the commandments by the hand of Moses went not from him afterward Neither can any Man that of his own right makes laws be thereby hindred from making the contrary That which they object that God then would be mutable is nothing for we speak not here of Gods nature and essence but of his works Light is changed into darkness youth into old age summer into winter and all by the work of God Thus God at the beginning gave Adam leave in Paradise to eat of other apples but he forbad him to eat of the fruit of one tree Why even because it so pleased him Generally he prohibited Men to kill others yet he commanded Abraham to kill his Son One while he forbad to offer sacrifices apart from the Tabernacle another while he admitted of them Neither will it follow because the Law which was given by Moses was good therefore no better could be given Parents are wont to speak half words and stutter with Infants to wink at the vices of their childhood and entice them to learn with a piece of Cake But so soon as they come to riper age their speech is corrected the precepts of vertue are instilled into them by degrees and they are taught what is the beauty of vertue what its rewards Now it is plain that the precepts of that law of Moses were not exactly perfect because many holy Men of those times led a more excellent life than those commandments required Thus Moses who suffered the revenge of a wrong to be exacted partly by blowes and partly by sentence of the Judges himself being vexed with most bitter injuries became an Intercessor for his enemies So David willing to have his rebellious Son to be spared did patiently endure reproachful speeches cast upon himself We no where read that any good Men put away their Wives which notwithstanding was permitted by the law The reason of which is that Laws are accommodated to the greater part of a People therefore in the state and condition they were in it was meet something should be winked at to be reduced to a more perfect Rule when God by a greater efficacy of the Spirit was to chuse unto himself a new peculiar people out of all Nations Yea all the rewards which are expresly promised by the law of Moses belong only to this mortal life wherefore it must be granted that there might some better law be given whereby the reward of eternal happiness should be promised not under any shadows but in plain and express terms which we see is done by the law of Christ SECT VII The Law of Moses was observed by Jesus who abolished no Commandments that were essentially good AND here by the way for the conviction of the Jews iniquity it must be noted that they who lived in Christ's time used him most basely and punished him most unjustly when as there could no just accusation be laid against him for transgressing the Law He was circumcised he used the same food and apparel that the Jews used those that were healed of Leprosie he sent unto the Priests The Passeover and other Festival days he religiously observed Though he did cure some upon the Sabbath day yet he shewed both by the Law and by the common received opinions that such works were not forbidden to be done upon the Sabbath-day Then it was that he first began to publish the abrogation of some Laws when after his triumph over Death he ascended into Heaven adorning his Disciples upon Earth with illustrious gifts of the holy Spirit whereby he made it evident that he had obtained a regal power which includes in it the authority of making a Law And that according to Daniel's prophecie ch 3. 7. compared with chap. 8. 11. where he foretold how that a little after the destruction of the Kingdoms of Syria and Aegypt the latter whereof happened in the Reign of Augustus GOD would give the Kingdom to a man who should seem but a vulgar Person over all Nations and Languages which Kingdom should never have an end Now that part of the Law the necessity whereof was taken away by Christ contained nothing that was honest in its own nature but consisted of things that were indifferent in themselves and consequently not immutable For if those things had had in them any thing of themselves why they should be done then would God have prescribed them not to one
should mistake in the sense of the Scriptures yet they secure us that if we with honest and upright hearts continue to inquire after the truth designing nothing else that error shall not prejudice us But God will either discover to us his mind or not condemn us for our error of weakness not of wilfulness SECT XX. The Vanity of their appeal to Traditions AS for Interpretations of Scripture by Tradition they may be pretended and talkt of but cannot be produced in most places where we are desirous of that help which we gladly receive when we can have it by a truly Universal consent But as for particular interpretations of the ancient Fathers they do not absolutely agree with each other in their Expositions of those Texts upon which controversies of greatest moment are now grounded Nay they oft times propound divers interpretations alike probable And sometimes plainly intimate their doubtfulness and make but imperfect conjectures in such a manner as if they intended to excite Posterity to seek for further resolution Therefore we shall not dissent from them though we do not assent to all their particular interpretations Nay we cannot more dissent from them than by following their interpretations on such strict terms as the Romanists would bind us all to do when they seem to make for their advantage For then there is not the least surmise or conjecture of any one Father but must suffice against the joynt Authority of all the rest To which Rule of serving their interest they are so true that they stick not to reject any interpretation of the Fathers when they think good and which is more to prefer their own expositions before theirs And so they do in the matter of all other Traditions though called Apostolical For instance the threefold immersion in Baptism which seems to have flowed from an Apostolical Canon is long ago abolished saith their Canus by a contrary custome And so is the custome of giving the communion to Infants which prevailed says their Maldonate for 600. Years in the Church not only antiquated by them but decreed to be unlawful Which clearly shows that they might if they pleased make an end of all the controversies that trouble the Church without any disparagement but rather with the increase of its Authority For challenging a power to alter even the Institutions of Jesus Christ as they have done in taking away the Cup from the People in the Holy Communion and much more those of the Apostles what need all this stir about Apostolical Traditions or the Decrees of the Church which they may lay aside at their pleasure and have laid aside as appears by many other instances besides those now named that may be given of it But it is sufficient for the direction of every honest hearted Man to know which is as certain as any thing of that nature can be and may be undoubtedly relyed on that nothing is clearer in the Tradition of the Church than this that the Doctors of it declare the Scriptures to be full and perspicuous in all needful matters And therefore there needs no other Tradition but the Tradition of the Scriptures which satisfie us abundantly in the Truth of all those things which are universally received SECT XXI And their guilt in what they say about the holy Scriptures THERE cannot therefore be a greater demonstration of their guilt than this that notwithstanding such evident testimonies from the Scriptures themselves and the concurrent stream of the ancient Doctors of Christ's Church they have been forced to avoid this trial by the Scriptures to say so many scandalous things as they have done in disparagement of the Sacred Writings Many of them are commonly known and I am not willing to repeat the rest but only say this great truth that whether they will or no their Church such as it is receives all its Authority from the Scriptures and not the Scriptures from it For we can have no notion as was said before of a Church or of its authority but from the Scriptures Which therefore must be of greater authority than that which receives authority from them and be first supposed to be infallible before they can make us believe any thing else is so For we must be secure of the proof before we can be sure of the thing proved by it otherwise it is no proof but leaves us as much in doubt as we were before it was alledged If they say and what else can be said with any colour of reason that we must indeed learn their Churches infallibility from the Scriptures but then learn the rest from their Church mark I beseech you what follows Then it is manifest First that they themselves make the Scriptures the Rule of Faith in this one Article at least concerning the Catholick Churches infallibility Which we must therefore believe and for no other reason because the Scriptures which we first infallibly believe do teach and prove it Whence it plainly follows that private Men may and must be assured of the Truth of Scriptures without the help of their Churches Authority before they can believe any thing else because it is the ground for their belief of that infallibility which their Church pretends which to them is the General Rule of Faith And from thence it follows further that the Scriptures which to us are the only Rule of Faith ought to be acknowledged by them to be more than so even the Rule of their Rule of Faith And if it be so what reason can any Man alledge why it should not be the immediate Rule of Faith without sending us elsewhere to seek it in all other Articles of the Creed as well as in that of their pretended infallible Church We may appeal to all the World and call Heaven and Earth Angels and Men to witness between us and the Roman Church as a worthy Champion of our Cause did long ago whether the Articles of Christ's Incarnation his Death Passion Burial Resurrection Ascension Intercession the Resurrection of the Dead and life everlasting c. be not much more plainly set down in the Scriptures to any Mans apprehension whatsoever than the infallibility of the present Roman Church is in such words as these Thou art Peter c. Feed my Sheep or any other from whence they challenge it And therefore why should we be required to learn these or any other part of Christian Faith meerly from their Church when we learn them so easily by the Scriptures in which they are to be found more clearly delivered than any thing we read about their Church Let no Man doubt but if the Holy Ghost will teach us that Article of the Churches Infallibility immediately by the Scriptures without the help of the Churches infallible Authority as they themselves are forced to confess because else the Church can have no authority then He will immediately teach us by the same Scriptures any other Article of our Creed and whatsoever is necessary to Salvation
which are plainly and perspicuously enough set down in the Scriptures without the help and assistance of the Churches infallible authority which the Scriptures cannot be supposed to teach but by places far more doubtful SECT XXII It is our Wisdom therefore to adhere to the Scriptures TO this Rule then let us stick keeping those words of our Saviour always in mind iii. Joh. 21 22. He that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Let that be his Guide who would not go astray in dangerous Paths into which he cannot fall who keeps close to the directions of the Holy Books wherein all necessary Truth being set down as the most ancient and best Doctors unanimously agree we are certain every way by believing them to believe all necessary Truth and if our lives be accordingly without which they tell us our belief will be vain it is impossible we should fail of everlasting Salvation To these alone as St. Austin speaks for himself in his Book of Nature and Grace we owe an absolute consent without refusing any thing they propound to us Whatsoever it be as his words are in his CXII Epistle that is confirmed by the perspicuous authority of the divine Scriptures those viz. which are canonical in the Church it must be believed without any doubting But as for any other witnesses or testimonies to which thou art perswaded to give credit thou mayest believe them or not believe them according as thou perceivest them to deserve or not deserve to be relied on A great reverence is due to the Church and its testimony though less to the present Church of Rome than others because it hath so grosly abused the World by false records and forged Miracles and such like things yet only as to an humane Testimony which cannot equal that of the Holy Scriptures SECT XXIII Which have more manifest notes of certainty than the Church FOR if we take their own way and method to assure our minds that we follow an infallible Guide there is no note which they give of the true Church which they say ought to be our Guide but pleads far more strongly for the Holy Scriptures that we should rather follow them and give an undoubted credit to them I shall not run over all those Notes nor examine the certainty of them but only briefly name some of them and show that if they prove any thing it is the Authority of the Scriptures above the Church First they say the very name of the Catholick Church is venerable and ought to be regarded But as that Name is not proper to them alone so if there be any power in Names to make us respect any thing what more awful than the Name of the Word of God and the Sacred Scriptures which were always given to these Books to which we advise all Christians to adhere The next Note which is Antiquity is on the side of the Scriptures also which more justly claim to be ancienter than all other Books which pretend to any Divinity than the Catholick Church can claim to be ancienter than all other Societies which call themselves by the Name of a Church Nay the Doctrine contained therein must be supposed as I have shown to be before the Church which is made by belief and profession of that Doctrine and the Old Testament certainly written long before the Church was made Catholick As for unity in that the Church is not comparable to the Scriptures whose agreement and consent of parts is admirable And if we speak of the surest bond of true Catholick Vnity it is as manifest as the Sun that the Holy Scriptures lay the foundation of it and preserve us in it if we adhere to them by keeping us close to one Lord one Faith one Baptism but the Church of Rome which hath usurped the Name of Catholick makes this blessed Unity impossible For there being but two ways to it either that we all agree in our Opinions about Religion or that while we differ it be no hinderance to Communion they have made the latter as impossible as the former because they make it absolutely necessary to communion and salvation to believe in every thing as they do The like might be said of Holiness and efficacy of Doctrine which depends upon the Churches speaking according to the Scriptures sanctity of the authors of our Religion which cannot be known but out of the Scriptures the glory of Miracles the light of Prophecy and all the rest but I shall only touch upon one more the Amplitude and Universality of the Church in which they make their boast But herein the Scriptures most evidently excel their Authority being there sacred where the Church of Rome whose Notes these are is not known or not regarded For all Christians in the World of whatsoever Sect they be believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God whereas they alone say that they are the only true Church of God All Christians besides who know any thing of this pretence of theirs absolutely deny it and maintain the Divinity and Authority of the Scriptures against all their Cavils SECT XXIV The great incouragement we have to do so BY following the Scriptures then we follow the surest Guide by their own confession For first by following the Scriptures we are certainly led by God but by following the Church we are only led by Men. And consequently the Faith we build upon the Scriptures is a Divine Faith but the Faith we build upon the authority of the Church meerly can be no more than humane For the Scriptures are fully and amply proved to be of Divine Authority by all those Arguments which are alledged in the Third Book of this Work the like to which cannot be produced to prove the infallible authority of the Church Which cannot so much as pretend that God hath bid us believe it but by sending us to the Holy Scriptures from whence it derives all its Authority Which is the second thing to be considered and here I will take the liberty to transcribe part of the discourse of a great Man on this Subject with some Additions that by following the Scriptures we follow that which they themselves are forced to follow as was noted before and on which they intirely depend for the proof of their own authority on which they would have us intirely depend Who have reason rather to rely on that which they rely and in so doing tacitely confess the Scriptures are of greatest authority and that they are surer of their Truth than of the Churches Infallibility And Thirdly by following the Scriptures we follow that which must be true if their Church which they would have us follow have any truth in it for their Church cannot but give attestation to them whereas if we follow their Church we must follow that which