in these things they have forsaken Traditions so in other cases they have perverted and abused them turning them into quite another thing As appears to all that understand any thing of ancient learning in the business of Purgatory which none of the most ancient Writers so much as dreamt to be such a place as they have now devised but onely asserted a Purgatory Fire through which all both good and bad even the blessed Virgin her self must pass at the great and dreadfull day of Judgment This was the old Tradition as we may call it which was among Christians which they have changed into such a Tradition as was among the Pagans 6. But it is time to have done with this else I should have insisted upon this a while which I touched before and is of great moment that the Tradition which now runs in that Church is contrary to the certain Tradition of the Apostles and the universal Church particularly in the Canon of Scripture In which no more Books have been numbred by the Catholick Church in all Ages since the Apostles time than are in the VI. Article of Religion in this Church of England till the late Council of Trent took the boldness to thrust the Apocryphal Books into the holy Canon as nothing inferiour to the acknowledged Divine Writings This hath been so evidently demonstrated by a late Reverend Prelate of our Church in his Scholastical History of the Canon of the Scriptures out of undoubted Records that no fair Answer can be made to it But I must leave a little room for other things that ought to be noted III. And the next is a consequence from what hath been now said That there being so little credit to be given to the Roman Church onely we cannot receive those Doctrines for Truth which that Church now presses upon our belief upon the account of Tradition For instance that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches that the Pope of Rome is the Monarch or Head of the universal visible Church that all Scriptures must be expounded according to the sense of this Church that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments neither more nor less instituted by our blessed Lord himself in the New Testament that there is a proper and propitiatory Sacrifice offered in the Mass for the quick and dead the same that Christ offered on the Cross in short the half Communion and all the rest of the Articles of their New Faith in the Creed published by Pope Pius IV. which are Traditions of the Roman Church alone not of the Vniversal and rely solely upon their own Authority And therefore we refuse them and in our disputes about Traditions we mean these things which we reject because they have no foundation either in the holy Scripture or in Universal Tradition but depend as I said upon the sole Authority of that Church which witnesses in its own behalf For whatsoever is pretended to make the better shew all resolves at last into that as I intimated in the beginning of this Discourse Scripture and Tradition can doe nothing at all for them without their Churches definition Though their whole infallible Rule of Faith seem to be made up of those three yet in truth the last of these alone the Churches definition is the whole Rule and the very bottom upon which their Faith stands For what is Tradition is no more apparent than what is Scripture according to their principles without the Authority of their Church which pretends to an unlimited power to supply the defect even of Tradition it self In short as Tradition among them is taken in to supply the defect of Scripture so the Authority of their Church is taken in to supply the defect of Tradition but this Authority undermines them both because neither Scripture nor Tradition signifie any thing without their Churches Authority Which therefore is the rule of their Faith that is they believe themselves To which absurdity they are driven because it is made evident by us that there have been great diversities of Traditions and many changes and alterations made even in things called Apostolical c. and therefore they have no other way but to fly to the judgment of the present Roman Church to determine what are Traditions Apostolical and what are not by which judgment all mankind must be governed that is we must believe them and they believe themselves which they would have done well to have said in one word without putting us to the trouble of seeking for Traditions in Books and in other Churches But they would willingly colour their pretences by as many fair words as is possible and so make mention of Scripture Tradition Antiquity which when we have examined they will not stand to them but take fanctuary in their own Authority saying they are the sole judges what is Scripture and what Tradition and what Antiquity nay have a power to declare any new point of Faith which the Church never heard of before This is the Doctrine of Salmeron and others of his fellows that the Doctrine of Faith admits of additions in essential things For all things were not taught by the Apostles but such as were then necessary and fit for the Salvation of Believers By which means we can never know when the Christian Religion will be perfected but their Church may bring in Traditions by its sole Authority without end Nay some among them have been contented to resolve all their Faith into the sole Authority of the present Roman Bishop according to that famous saying of Cornelius Mussus promoted by Paul III. to a Bishoprick upon the XIV Chapter to the Romans to confess the truth ingenuously I would give greater credit to one Pope in those things which touch the mysteries of Faith than to a thousand Hierom's Austin's Gregory's to say nothing of Richard's Scotus's c. for I believe and know that the Pope cannot err in matters of Faith Which contemptuous speech he would never have uttered to the discredit of those great men whom they pretend to reverence if he had not known more certainly that the Tradition which runs among the ancient Fathers is against them than he could know the Pope to be infallible There is no Tradition I am sure for that nor for abundance of other things which rest merely upon their own credit as is fairly acknowledged in two great Articles of their present Creed by our Country-man Bishop Fisher with whose words I conclude this particular Many perhaps have the less confidence in Indulgences because their use seems to have been newer in the Church and very lately found among Christians To whom I answer that it doth not appear certainly by whom they began to be first delivered For the ancients make no mention or very rare of Purgatory and the Greeks to this very day do not believe it nor was the belief either of Purgatory or of Indulgences so necessary in the Primitive Church as it
A DISCOURSE ABOUT TRADITION Shewing what is meant by it AND WHAT TRADITION Is to be received AND WHAT TRADITION Is to be rejected LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Robert Horne at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange and Fincham Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate Street 1683. A DISCOURSE ABOUT TRADITION AN obligation being laid upon us at our Baptism to believe and to doe the whole will of God revealed unto us by Christ Jesus it concerns every one that would be saved to enquire where that whole intire will of God is to be found where he may so certainly meet with it and be so informed about it that he may rest satisfied he hath it all And there would be no difficulty in this matter had not the worldly interests of some men raised controversies about it and made that intricate and perplexed which in it self is easie and plain For the Rehearsal of the Apostles Creed at Baptism and of that alone as a Summary of that Faith whose sincere profession intitles us to the Grace there conferred warrants the Doctrine of the Church of England in its VI. Article that the Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation But this strikes off so many of the Doctrines of the present Roman Church which are not to be found in the Scripture nor have any countenance there that they are forced to say the faith once delivered to the Saints mentioned by S. Jude is not intirely delivered in the Scripture but we must seek for the rest in the Traditions of the Church Which Traditions say they are to be received as a part of the Rule of Faith with the same Religious reverence that we do the Holy Scripture Now though this is not really the bottom of their hearts as will appear before I have done but they finally rest for their satisfaction in matters of Faith somewhere else yet this being plausibly pretended by them in their own justification that they follow Tradition and in their accusations of us that we forsake Tradition I shall briefly let all our people see who are not willing to be deceived what they are to judge and say in this business of Tradition About which a great noise is made as if we durst not stand to it and as if they of the Roman Church stedfastly kept it without any variation neither of which is true I shall plainly shew in this short Discourse The meaning of the word Which for clearness sake shall begin with the meaning of the word TRADITION which in English is no more than delivering unto another and by a Figure signifies the matter which is delivered and among Christians the Doctrine of our Religion delivered to us And there being two ways of delivering Doctrines to us either by writing or by word of mouth it signifies either of them indifferently the Scriptures as you shall see presently being Traditions But custome hath determined this word to the last of these ways and distinguished Tradition from Scriptures or writings at least from the Holy Writings and made it signifie that which is not delivered in the Holy Scriptures or writings For though the Scripture be Tradition also and the very first Tradition and the fountain of all true and legitimate Antiquity yet in common language Traditions now are such ancient Doctrines as are conveyed to us some other way whether by word of mouth as some will have it from one generation to another or by humane Writings which are not of the same authority with the Holy Scriptures How to judge of them Now there is no better way to judge aright of such Traditions than by considering these four things First The Authours of them whence they come Secondly The matter of them Thirdly Their Authority Fourthly The means by which we come to know they derive themselves from such Authours as they pretend unto and consequently have any authority to demand admission into our belief 1. For the First of these every body knows and confesses that all Traditions suppose some Authour from whom they originally come and who is the deliverer of those Doctrines to Christian people who being told by the present Church or any person in it that such and such Doctrines are to be received though not contained in the Holy Scriptures because they are Traditions ought in Conscience to inquire from whom those Traditions come or who first delivered them By which means they will be able to judge what credit is to be given to them when it is once cleared to them from what Authours they really come Now whatsoever is delivered to us in Christianity comes either from Christ or from his Apostles or from the Church either in General or in part or from private Doctours in the Church There is nothing now called a Tradition in the Christian World but proceeds from one or from all of these four Originals 2. And the matter which they deliver to us which is next to be considered is either concerning that Faith and godly life which is necessary to Salvation or concerning Opinions Rites Ceremonies Customs and things belonging to Order Both which as I said may be conveyed either by writing or without writing by the Divine writings or by humane writings though these two ways are not alike certain 3. Now it is evident to every understanding that things of both sorts which are delivered to us have their Authority from the Credit of the Authour from whence they first come If that be Divine their Authority is Divine if it be onely Humane their Authority can be no more And among Humane Authours if their credit be great the authority of what they deliver is great if it be little its authority is little and accordingly must be accepted with greater or lesser reverence Upon which score whatsoever can be made to appear to come from Christ it hath the highest authority and ought to be received with absolute submission to it because he is the Son of God And likewise whatsoever appears to have been delivered by the Apostles in his name hath the same Authority they being his Ministers sent by Him as He was by God the Father and indued with a Divine Power which attested unto them In like manner whatsoever is delivered by the Church hath the same Authority which the Church hath which though it be not equal to the foregoing the Church having no such Divine Power nor infallible judgment as the Apostles had yet is of such weight and moment that it ought to be reverenced next to theirs I mean the sense of the whole Church which must be acknowledged also to be of greater or lesser Authority as it was nearer or farther off from the times of the Apostles What was delivered by their immediate followers ought
to weigh so much with us as to have the greatest humane Authority and to be look'd upon as little less than Divine The Universal consent of the next Generation is an Authority approaching as near to the former as the Ages do one to another But what is delivered in latter times hath less humane Authority though pretending to come but without proof from more early days and hath no Authority at all if it contradict the sense of the Church when it was capable to be better acquainted with the mind of Christ and of his Apostles As for particular Churches their Authority ought to be reverenced by every member of them when they profess to deliver sincerely the sense of the Church Universal and when they determine as they have power to do Controversies of Faith or decree Rites and Ceremonies not contrary to God's word in which enery one ought to acquiesce But we cannot say the same of that which comes from any private Doctour in the Church modern or Ancient which can have no greater Authority than he himself was of but is more or less credible according as he was more or less diligent knowing and strictly religious 4. But to all this it is necessary that it do sufficiently appear that such Doctrines do really come from those Authours whose Traditions they pretend to be This is the great and the onely thing about which there is any question among sober and judicious persons How to be sufficiently assured that any thing which is not delivered unto us in the Scriptures doth certainly come for instance from Christ or his holy Apostles For in this all Christians are agreed that whatsoever was delivered by Christ from God the Father or by the Apostles from Christ is to be embraced and firmly retained whether it be written or not written that makes no difference at all if we can be certain it came from Him or them For what is contained in the Holy Scripture hath not its Authority because it is written but because it came from God If Christ said a thing it is enough we ought to submit unto it but we must first know that he said it and let the means of knowing it be what they will if we can certainly know He said it we yield to it But how we can be certain at this distance of time from his being in the world that any thing now pretending to it was said by Christ which is not recorded in the Holy Scriptures there is the business And it is a matter of such importance that it cannot be expected any man should be satisfied without very good evidence of it but he may very reasonably question whether many things be not falsly ascribed unto Him and unto his Apostles which never came from them Nay whether those things which are affirmed to be the Doctrines of the Primitive Church and of the whole Church be not of some later Original and of some particular Church or private Doctours in the Church unto whose Authority that reverence is not due which ought to be paid and which we willingly give unto the former Now according to this state of the matter any good Christian among us who is desirous to know the Truth and to preserve himself from Errour may easily discern what Traditions ought to be received and held fast and what we are not bound unto without any alteration and what are not to be received at all but to be rejected and how far those things are from being credible which the Roman Church now would obtrude upon us under the name of Apostolical or ancient Traditions without any Authority from the Holy Scriptures or in truth any Authority but their own and some private Doctours whose opinions cannot challenge an absolute submission to them But to give every one that would be rightly informed fuller satisfaction in this business I shall not content my self with this General Discourse but shall particularly and distinctly shew what Traditions we own and heartily receive and then what Traditions we cannot own but with good reason refuse These shall be the two Parts of this short Treatise wherein I shall endeavour that our people may be instructed not merely to reject Errours but also to affirm the Truth PART I. What Traditions we receive I. AND in the first place we acknowledge that what is now holy Scripture was once onely Tradition properly so called that is Doctrine by word of mouth In this we all agree I say that the whole Gospel or Doctrine of Christ which is now upon record in those Books we call the Scriptures was once unwritten when it was first preached by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles Which must be noted to remove that small Objection with which they of the Roman Church are wont to trouble some peoples minds merely from the Name of Traditions which Saint Paul in his Epistles requires those to whom he writes carefully to observe Particularly in that famous place 1 Thess II. 15. where we find this exhortation Therefore Brethren stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle Behold say they here are things not written but delivered by word of mouth which the Thessalonians are commanded to hold Very true should the people of our Church say to those that insist upon this but behold also we beseech you what the Traditions are of which the Apostle here writes and mark also when it was that they were partly unwritten For the first of these it is manifest that he means by Traditions the Doctrines which we now reade in the holy Scriptures For the very first word therefore is an indication that this verse is an inference from what he had said in the foregoing Now the things he before treated of are the grand Doctrines of the Gospel or the way of Salvation revealed unto us by Christ Jesus from God the Father who hath from the beginning saith he v. 13. 14. chosen you to Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he hath called you c. This is the sum of the Gospel and whatsoever he had delivered unto them about these matters of their sanctification or of their faith or of their salvation by obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to which they were chosen and called through their sanctification and faith this he exhorts them to hold fast whether it was contained in this Epistle or in his former preaching for he had not occasion now to write all that he had formerly delivered by word of mouth Which afterward was put in writing for mark which is the second thing the time when some things remained unwritten which was when this Epistle was sent to the Thessalonians Then some things concerning their salvation were not contained in this Letter but as yet delivered onely by word of mouth unto this Church I say to this Church for it doth not follow that all Churches whatsoever were at the time
are imposed upon us by the sole authority of one particular Church assuming a power over all the rest And so I come to the Second Part. PART II. What Traditions we do not receive I. AND in the first place we do not believe that there is any Tradition which contains another word of God which is not in the Scripture or cannot be proved from thence In this consists the main difference between us and them of the Romish persuasion who affirm that Divine Truth which we are all bound to receive to be partly written partly delivered by word of mouth without writing Which is not onely the affirmation of the Council of Trent but delivered in more express terms in the Preface to the Roman Catechism drawn up by their order where we find these words towards the conclusion of it the whole Doctrine to be delivered to the faithfull is contained in the word of God which word of God is distributed into Scripture and Tradition This is a full and plain declaration of their mind with which we can by no means agree for divers unanswerable reasons 1. Not onely because the Scriptures testifie to their own perfection which they affirm to be so great as to be able to complete the divinest men in the Church of Christ in all points of heavenly wisedom 2 Tim. III. 15 16 17. but Secondly Because the constant Tradition of the Church even of the Roman Church anciently is that in the Scriptures we may find all that is necessary to be known and believed to Salvation I must not fill up this Paper with Authorities to this purpose but we avow this unto the people of our Church for a certain Truth which hath been demonstrated by many of our Writers who have shewn that the ancient Doctours universally speak the language of Saint Paul 1 Cor. IV. 7. not to think above that which is written I will mention onely these memorable words of Tertullian who is as earnest an Advocate as any for ritual Traditions but having to deal with Hermogenes in a question of Faith whether all things in the beginning were made of nothing urges him in this manner I have no where yet read that all things were made out of a subject matter If it be written let those of Hermogenes his shop shew it if it be not written let them fear that woe which is allotted to such as add or take away The very same answer should our people make to those that would have them receive any thing as an Article of Faith which is not delivered to them by this truly Apostolical Church wherein we live If it be written let us see it if it be not take heed how you add to the undoubted word of God We receive the holy Scriptures as able to make us wise to Salvation So they themselves tell us and so runs the True Tradition of the Church which you of the Romish persuasion have forsaken but we adhere unto 3. And we have this farther reason so to doe because if part of God's word had been written and part unwritten we cannot but believe there would have been some care taken in the written Word not onely to let us know so much but also inform us whither we should resort to find it and how we should know it if it be absolutely necessary for us to be acquainted with it But there is no such notice nor any such directions left us nor can any man give us any certain rule to follow in this matter but onely this to examine all Traditions by the Scripture as the supreme Rule of Faith and to admit onely such as are conformable thereunto 4. For which we have still this farther reason that no sooner were they that first delivered and received the holy Scriptures gone out of the world but we find men began to add their own fancies unto the Catholick Truth which made it absolutely necessary to keep to the Tradition in the holy Scriptures all other growing uncertain This is observed by Hegesippus himself in Eusebius L. III. C. 32. that the Church remained a chast Virgin and the Spouse of Christ till the sacred Quire of the Apostles and the next generation of them who had had the honour to be their Auditours were extinct and then there began a plain conspiracy of impious atheistical errour by the fraud of teachers who delivered other doctrine Which was a thing Saint Paul feared even in his own life-time about the Church of Corinth 2 Cor. XI 3. lest the Devil like a wily Serpent should beguile them and corrupt their minds from the original simplicity of the Christian Doctrine wherein they were first instructed And if it were attempted then it was less difficult and therefore more endeavoured afterward as shall appear anon by plain History which tells how several persons pretended they received this and that from an Apostle Some of which Traditions were presently rejected others received and afterwards found to be impostures Which shews there was so much false dealing in the case that it was hard for men to know what was truly Apostolical in those days if it came to them this way onely and therefore impossible to be discerned by us now at this great distance of time from the Apostles who we know delivered the true Faith but we have no reason to rely upon mere Tradition without Scripture for any part of that Faith when we see what cheats were put upon men by that means even then when they had better helps to detect them than we have It is true the Fathers sometime urge Tradition as a proof of what they say But we must know that the Scriptures were not presently communicated among some Barbarous Nations and there were some Hereticks also who either denied the Scriptures or some part of them and in these cases it was necessary to appeal to the Tradition that was in the Church and to convince them by the Doctrine taught every where by all the Bishops But that mark this I pray you of which they convinced them by this argument was nothing but what is taught in the Scripture 5. With which we cannot suffer any thing to be equalled in authority unless we would see it confirmed by the same or equal Testimony This is the great reason of all why we cannot admit any unwritten Traditions to be a part of the word of God which we are bound to believe because we cannot find any truths so delivered to us as those in the holy Scriptures They come to us with as full a testimony as can be desired of their Divine Original but so do none of those things which are now obtruded on us by the Romish Church under the name of Traditions or unwritten word of God For the primitive Church had the very first Copies and authentick Writings of those Books called the New Testament delivered by the Apostles own hands to them And those Books confirm the Scriptures of the Old Testament and they were both
to imagine when he reads this that by admitting Tradition to be of such use and force as I have mentioned we yield too much to the Popish Cause which supports it self by this pretence But if any one shall suggest this to any of our people let them reply that it is but the pretence and onely by the Name of Tradition that the Romish Church supports it self For true Tradition is as great a proof against Popery as it is for Episcopacy The very foundation of the Pope's Empire which is his succession in Saint Peter's Supremacy is utterly subverted by this the constant Tradition of the Church being evidently against it And therefore let us not lose this Advantage we have against them by ignorantly refusing to receive true and constant Tradition which will be so far from leading us into their Church that it will never suffer us to think of being of it while it remains so opposite to that which is truly Apostolical I conclude this with the direction which our Church gives to Preachers in the Book of Canons 1571. in the Title Concionatores that no man shall teach the people any thing to be held and believed by them religiously but what is consentaneous to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament and what the Catholick Fathers and ancient Bishops have gathered out of that very Doctrine This is our Rule whereby we are to guide our selves which was set us on purpose to preserve our Preachers from broaching any idle novel or popish Doctrines as appears by the Conclusion of that Injunction Vain and old Wives opinions and heresies and popish errours abhorring from the Doctrine and Faith of Christ they shall not teach nor any thing at all whereby the unskilfull multitude may be inflamed either to the study of novelty or to contention VI. But though nothing may be taught as a piece of Religion which hath not the forenamed Original yet I must add that those things which have been universally believed and not contrary to Scripture though not written at all there nor to be proved from thence we do receive as pious opinions For instance the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of God our Saviour which is so likely a thing and so universally received that I do not see why we should not look upon it as a genuine Apostolical Tradition VII I have but one thing more to add which is that we allow also the Traditions of the Church about matters of Order Rites and Ceremonies Onely we do not take them to be parts of God's Worship and if they be not appointed in the holy Scriptures we believe they may be altered by the same or the like authority with that which ordained them So our Church hath excellently and fully resolved us concerning such matters in the XXXIV Article of Religion where there are three things asserted concerning such Traditions as these First It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies they are the very first words of the Article be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversities of Countries times and mens manners so that nothing be ordained against God's word But then to prevent all disorders and confusions that men might make in the Church by following their own private fancies and humours the next thing which is decreed is this Secondly that whosoever through his own private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the word of God and be ordained and approved by common authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to doe the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Lastly it is there declared that every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by man's authority so that all things be done to edifying This is sufficient to shew what we believe concerning Traditions about matters of Order and Decency VIII As for what is delivered in matters of Doctrine or Order by any private Doctour in the Church or by any particular Church it appears by what hath been said that it cannot be taken to be more than the private opinion of that man or the particular decree of that Church and can have no more authority than they have that is cannot oblige all Christians unless it be conteined in the holy Scripture Now such are the Traditions which the Roman Church would impose upon us and impose upon us after a strange fashion as you shall see in the Second Part of this Discourse unto which I shall proceed presently when I have left with you this brief reflexion on what hath been said in this First Part. Our people may hereby be admonished not to suffer themselves to be deceived and abused by words and empty names without their sense and meaning Nothing is more common than this especially in the business of Traditions About which a great stir is raised and it is commonly given out that we refuse all Traditions Than which nothing is more false for we refuse none truly so called that is Doctrines delivered by Christ or his Apostles No we refuse nothing at all because it is unwritten but merely because we are not sure it is delivered by that Authority towhich we ought to submit Whatsoever is delivered to us by our Lord and his Apostles we receive as the very word of God which we think is sufficiently declared in the holy Scriptures But if any can certainly prove by any Authority equal to that which brings the Scriptures to us that there is any thing else delivered by them we receive that also The Controversie will soon be at an end for we are ready to embrace it when any such thing can be produced Nay we have that reverence for those who succeeded the Apostles that what they have unanimously delivered to us as the sense of any doubtfull place we receive it and seek no farther There is no dispute whether or no we should entertain it To the Decrees of the Church also we submit in matters of Decency and Order yea and acquiesce in its authority when it determines doubtfull opinions But we cannot receive that as a Doctrine of Christ which we know is but the Tradition of man nor keep the Ordinances of the ancient Church in matters of Decency so unalterably as never to vary from them because they themselves did not intend them to be of everlasting obligation As appears by the changes that have been made in several times and places even in some things which are mentioned in the holy Scriptures being but customes suted to those Ages and Countries In short Traditions we do receive but not all that are called by that name Those which have sufficient Authority but not those which