in vain without these is Salvation promised to Children sure he means not metaphorically but properly likewise Else his discourse would not be homogeneous the Inference would not be suitable to the Premisses From what has been said it is plain that St. Augustine's words are to be understood in the most obvious sense and unstrain'd by a Trope And I am perswaded St. Augustine does not contradict Himself disagree in other places from what he clearly means in this and several others I shall add that the necessity of Communicating of Infants continued to be maintained in the Greek Church in the days of (a) Notandum quòd ex hoâ— quod dicitur hic Nisi manducaveritis c. Dicunt Graeci quòd hoc Sacramentum est tantae necessitatis quod pueris debet dari sicut Baptismus In Johan Cap. 6. p. 53. Liranus and much later in the time of (b) Graeci Eucharistiam parvulis etiam infantibus praebâ—nt Instit Mor. parte 1. L. 5 C. 11. Azorius and 't is in use with the (c) Ricaut of the Armenian Church Armenian Church to this Age. And of this usage among the Christians in Habassia in Egypt and some others (d) Enquiries touching c. Cap. 22 23 25. Brerewood may be seen 3ly That the Souls of the Saints departed enjoy not the beatifique Vision of God till after the Resurrection was a belief of the Church for some ages (e) Bib. Stae Lib 6. Annot 345. Sixtus Senensts gives us a long Catalogue of Persons of Note who enclin'd this way as James the Apostle Irenaeus Justin Martyr Tertullian Clemens Romanus Origen Lactantius Victorinus Prudentius St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome St. Augustin Theodoret Arethas Oecumenius Theophylact Euthymius Bernard and Pope John the 22d Of all these he says that They seem'd to give Authority to the Opinion by their Testimony Tho afterwards he endeavours to interpret some of them to a commodious sense and excuses Others of them by this that the Church had not then determined any thing certainly in this Article (f) M. Daille of the right use of the Fathers Lib. 2. Cap 4. Vossii Theses Histâ—rico-Ecclesiasticae de slatu Animae Separatae Luc. 2. Th s 1.2.3 Authors have observed the stream of Antiquity to have run much this way and that if it be not now it was believed (g) Daille Ibid. propiùs finem Brerewood Enquiries Cap. 15. and defended by the whole Greek Church till of later years But the contrary to this was defined by a (h) Definimus Illorum etiam animas qui in caelum mex recipi intueri clarè ipsum Deum trinum Vnum sicuti est Conc. Flor. apud Caran Council call'd first at Ferrara but afterwards removed to Florence not yet 250 years ago And (i) De Beatit Canon Sanctorum Lib. 1â— Cap. 1. In initio Bellarmine calls the Denying to Souls who need no purifying by a Purgatory Fire the clear sight of God immediately upon their departure an Opinion of Ancient and Modern Heretiques and he names with much reverence to the Fathers Tertullian as Primum ex Haereticis the first of the Heretiques who maintain'd it That which made the Cardinal so fierce it may be was because he conceiv'd the (k) Haec quaestio fundamentum est omnium altarum nam idcirco aute Christi adventum non ita colebantur neque invocabantur Spiritus Patriarcharum Prophetarum quemadmodum nunc Apostolos Martyres colimus invocamus quòd Illi adhuc inferni carceribus clausi detiner entur Ordo disputationis subnexas Praefationi ad septimam Controversiam generalem de Ecclesiâ triumphante Beatifical vision of God by the Saints departed before the day of Judgment to be a Foundation of the present Worship and Invocation of them But howsoever he was more civil to John 22d because a Pope whom he brings off thus (l) Respondeo imprimis ad Adrianum Joannem hunc reverâ sensisse animas non visuras Deum nisi post resurrectionem â—aeterùm hoc sensisse quando adhuc sentire licebat sine periculo Haeresis nulla enim adhâ—c praecesserat Ecclesiae definitio Bellarm. de Romano Pontifice Lib. 4. Cap. 14. John he says was really and might be of this Opinion without danger of Heresie because there had been no determination as yet by the Church concerning it This necessarily implies that if the point had been determined before John's time his Tenent would have been Heretical therefore an Error in Faith and that it must so fare with those whosoever have denyed or shall deny it since the Definition of it and so a Tenent may be in one Age an Article of Faith which was not so in a former Age. But I cannot conceive how this should be how an Opinion should be coin'd an Article of Faith in the Mint of Oral Tradition which yet is affirm'd to be the sole Rule of Faith and which is the thing I have undertaken to disprove For 1. Neither can an Opinion advance into an Article of Faith ex parte sui in its own Nature which was not so before by virtue of Oral Tradition because that is but a Witness does not enact Articles anew but only conveys down to us such as were stampt Articles of Faith by Divine Authority and deliver'd to the first Churches Custody Nor 2ly Can an Opinion improve into an Article of Faith ex parte nostri come to be known to us as such if it were not known to be such in times past Because every later Age depends for Intelligence on the Age foregoing and can know no more than what that Age informs of and the foregoing Age could not teach the following one more than it self knew So that the Opinion of Pope John must have always been the same as much an Heresie if at all an Heresie before the Church's Determination as after it or as little an Heresie after the Church's Determination as it was before And here by the way Sure Footing p. 116. it may be observ'd that tho' it is boasted that the chief Pastor of the See of Rome has a particular Title to Infallibility built on Oral Tradition above any See or Pastor whatsoever Yet the chief Pastor John did err in a material and consequential point of Faith a very Learned Adversary being Judge And this is but one Instance among many To draw toward an end of this Section By a view of the two or three Opinions which had once no small countenance from the antient Church yet have been since turn'd out of favour and two of them been vtigmatizâ—d we may perceive that Oral Tradition has not been so even and regular in its Conveyance as is asserted And if the Antient Church so much nearer to the Apostles days nearer by so many hundreds of years than we are now or our Fathers were at the first secession from the Roman Communion did mistake as is yielded by the Romanists and Oral Tradition
alter in the administrations of the Sacraments as should be judg'd expedient for the Communicants profit and the Veneration of the Sacraments according to the variety of Circumstances Before this the Council of (b) Hoc generale Concilium declarat decernit definit quòd licèt Christus post caenam instituerit suis discipulis administraverit sub utraque specie panis vini hoc venerabile Sacramentum tamen hoc non obstante sacrorum Canonum Authoritas approbata comuetudo Ecclesiae servavit servat Et similiter quòd licet in primitivâ Ecclesià hâ—jusmodi Sacramentum reciperetur a fidelibus sub utâ—â—âque specie tamen haec consuetudo ad evitandum aliqua pericula scandala est rationabiliter introducta quòd a conficientibus sub utrâque specie a laicis tantummodo sub specie panis suscipiatur Sess 3. Apud Eundem Constance had acknowledg'd That Christ after Supper Instituted and Administred the Venerable Sacrament to his Disciples under both kinds of Bread and Wine and likewise that in the Primitive Church this Sacrament was received by the faithful under both kinds Yet licet although this was so and hoc non obstante notwithstanding this the Council declar'd decreed and defin'd that the Bread only should be received by the Laiety And this Council thus defin'd by virtue of certain Canons and because of a Custom rationally introduc'd for the avoiding certain dangers and scandals We have had a clear and express acknowledgment of the Institution and Primitive use of the Eucharist in both kinds of the generality and very long continuance of the Practice We have this granted by two Councils and by others who were of the Roman Communion How came it to pass then that a Primitive Institution and Usage and that so long perpetuated should be laid aside nay decreed against by those very Councils and that they who should say that the Communicating under one kind only were Sacrilegious and Vnlawful should be dealt with as (a) Concil Constan lbid Hereticks VVhy we may observe two Reasons given in those Councils 1. The Church's Authority 2ly Expediency Both these shall be considered of 1. Of the Authority of the Church in the Case I confess that the Church has Authority in determining and altering things indifferent as Edification Decency and Order shall require But Governours of the Church must beware how they deal with That which was so remarkably honoured with our great Lord's and good Saviours solemn Institution and first Administration of it in his own Sacred Person and that in Commemoration of no less than of the breaking his holy Body and of the shedding his pretious Blood and for to shew the Lord's death till he come In this August Ordinance Times Place and Gesture are Circumstances but surely Bread and Wine are Substantials For to the substance and integrity of a Sacrament do concurr the (d) Sacramentum est sacrae rei signum ut Sacramentum sit sacrum signans sacrum signatum Pet. Lumb Lib. 4 Distinct 1. B. outward sensible Signs as well as the inward retired things signified and the Eucharist consists as (e) Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrenâ caelesti Adversus haereses Lib. 4. Cap. 34. Irenaeus says of something earthly and of somthing heavenly And 't is the Trent Fathers caution that (f) Salvâ illorum substantiâ Conc. Trid. suprà the substance of the Sacraments be preserv'd safe Now I desire to know of our Adversaries whether they think that the Church has power to lay aside the Wine and Bread both I believe they would answer negatively Then with what reason and by what Authority do they dismiss One of them i. e. the Wine and afford the whole Laiety but a dry Communion Did the Soveraign Ordainer permit any such halving and mutilation of his Sacrament There is no such Permission to be found in the first Institution and Administration of it by Him nor in the Doctrine and Practice of his Apostles afterwards How then should the Subjects and Councils and Popes too are no bigger dare to make any distinction where the Supreme Lawgiver Himself has made none Let things be scan'd and it will be plain that the Sacramental Bread and Wine in the Administration of them to the Faithful have the same bottom and that there is no reason why if the One be alterable the other may not be so likewise For 1. There is the same express command of Christ for the One as for the Other 'T is said (a) 1 Cor. 11.24 25. Do this in the administration of the Wine as well as of the Bread And that it may not be catch'd at that it is said (b) As for the words of our Saviour do this in remembrance of me they do no ways inser a precept of receiving in both kinds First because our Saviour said these words absolutely onely of the Sacrament in the form of Bread but in the form of Wine onely conditionally do this as oâ—t as y shall drink in remembrance of me not commanding them to drink but in case they did drink that then they should do it in memory of Christ Dr. Vane's lost sherp c. pag. 311 312. of the Body Simply Do this but of the Cup Do this as oft as ye drink it as if there were a tacit intimation of a greater necessity of communicating of the Bread than of the Cup and that therefore it were sufficient if the Bread be received tho' the Wine be not to preclude I say any such Evasion St. Paul presently applys the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Bread as well as to the Cup (c) 1 Cor. 11.26 For as oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew c. 2ly Both these were administred to the same Persons 3ly There is the same end expresly and distinctly assign'd to both Do this in remembrance of me 4ly There 's as much spiritual benefit and comfort which redound to the Communicants by the participation of the One as of the Other The Wine appears to have the advantage rather of the other sacred Element For the Substance colour and manner of the delivering the Wine separately from the Bread have a peculiar Aptness to represent Blood and Bloodshed and consequently to impress the quicker apprehensions and spiritual sense of our blessed Jesus's bloody death upon and to excite the smarter affections in the Communicants By what has been said there is evident an Equal necessity of the use of both the Sacramental Elements and therefore the Wine is as little mutable and dispensable with in the Eucharistical Administration by the Churches and Canons Authority as the Bread As for Expediency of withholding the Cup from the Laity and the Inexpediency of the contrary it is not safe or consequential upon such grounds to discourse against what is divinely instituted and commanded But let us attend to what is pleaded The Council of
Vnity and Welfare of all the Churches and States in Christendom But Card. Bellarmine himself speaks high enough Says he (a) De quâ re agitur cùn de primâ—â—u pâ—ntificis agitur bâ—e issime dâ—cam de summà rei Christianâ—e Id enim quâ—eritur debeatne Fâ—â—lesia diutiùs consistâ—â—e 〈…〉 dâ—ssolâ—i con 〈◊〉 â—â—d eniâ— alâ—ud est 〈◊〉 an eporteat ab â—dificio fuâ—◠〈◊〉 nâ—uâ—nâ—r moâ—ere a greâ—e pasterem â—b exercitu imperatorem solâ—mâ—ab astris caput a corpore quà m an oporteat aedifictum ruere gâ—egem dissipari eâ—â—câ—um sued◠〈◊〉 obsâ—uâ—ari corpus iâ—cere Bellarm. In Praefatiâ—ne ad Libros de suâ—nmo pontifice habitâ in Gymnâ—sio Romano Anno. 1577. clica initium What Subject is treated of whilest the Primacy of the Roman Pontife is treated of I will tell you very briefly It is discours'd of the sum of Christianity For it is discuss'd whether the Church must longer remain entire or fall asunder and perish He goes on as in the Margent Why now if the Pope have a Power given him by Christ of Governing the Vniversal Church of Christ as was the definition of the Council of Florence apud Caranzam and the Christian Church be so infinitely concern'd in the Pope and his Government as is affirm'd then it can't be rationally questioned but that our Blessed Saviour and Lord the Head of the Church did declare his Pleasure concerning the true state of the Papal Office and Power to his Apostles and charg'd them to Communicate it to the Church to be preserved through all Ages The reason is because it can't be conceiv'd consistent with our Lord's Wisdom and Goodness to have established an universal Empire over Christians in Peter and his Successors and yet not to have determined and given a punctual Scheme of that Power and Jurisdiction and consequently of Christians due obedience and dependance seeing that as is pretended such a Power was design'd for the guidance and preservation of all Christians in Truth Holiness and Peace For the Papal Power without such a clear stating of it would be utterly insufficient for attaining such glorious Ends. That which was intended to prevent and to compose differences would be it self an unhappy occasion of the greatest ruptures as it proves to be at this day Forasmuch then as the Papacy is so transcendent an Interest of the Christian Church in the claim of our Adversaries and that in plain reason the fixation and certainty of the Pope's Inerrability and of the just latitude of his Power is so necessary to a fit discharge of the Papal Office for the behoof of the Church and that therefore Christ was not wanting in the Revelation and Communication of it to his Apostles and Church Hence it follows that because the Romanists are so uncertain disagree so much about it therefore they differ among themselves not in Theological Quodlibets or meer speculative niceties but in very grave and substantial Points let them call them Points of Faith or by what other names they please and which the Church was at the first instructed in 4ly Between the infallibility of the Church which the (a) Suprà Trent Catechism affirms in which are contain'd the (b) Sacrae Synodi decreto Catechismus consâ—ribitur certaque formula ratio Christiani populi ab ipsis fidei rudimentis instituendi In Epist dedicat grounds and principles of the Roman Faith and which (c) Bellarm. suprà all Catholicks teach and the Authority of the Church only which was (d) Suprà Cressie's belief in which he was confirm'd (e) Exomol Cap. 41. by very Learned Catholicks there is a very wide difference and there are consequent very divers obligations and effects For if the Church cannot err then what it proposes ought to be believ'd as soon as it is made known and understood But if the Church may err and have an Authority only then its Articles and Canons may be soberly examin'd by some standard which is infallible and accordingly as they shall be found to agree with it or to contrariate it to yield or to suspend Belief quietly and without more noise than what a meek submission to the Church's censure makes or also Obedience to the Church's Authority may be a disobedience to the higher and supreme Authority of God who commands Christians Orthodoxy of Belief as well as holiness of Life I must not omit that even about this so weighty Subject which we are now upon viz. Oral Traditions being the only Rule of Faith the Romanists are not at accord among themselves as I touch'd in the Preface (a) De verbo Dei non scripto Lib. 4. Cap. 12. Sect. Dico Secundò Bellarmine held that the Word of God or Revelation made by God was the whole and entire Rule of Faith And this he says is divided into two partial Rules Scripture and Tradition If Scripture be in Part a Rule and Tradition a Rule but in Part then in the judgment of Bellarmine Tradition is not the onely Rule of Faith And no question but still there are those who are of Bellarmines mind There 's a Confession of (b) The Title of the 9th Par. of the 3d Dialo is that the dissention of the Catholique Doctors concerning the Rule of Faith doth not hurt the certainty of Tradition Rushworth that there is a Dissension of the Catholique Doctors concerning the Rule of Faith but he says that this does not hurt the certainty of Traditions To clear which and to satisfy the Nephews Scruple grounded on this Dissension the Vncle says Truly Cousin your Objection is strong yet I hope to content you For I see no great matter in the variety of Opinions amongst our Divines c. See what follows in the Margent (c) For you see they seek out the Decider of Points of Doctrine i. e. by whose mouth we are to know upon occasion of dispute what and which be our Points and Articles of our Fà ith to wâ—t whether the Pope or a Council or both Which is not much Material to our purpose whatever the truth be supposing we acknowledge no Articles of Faith but such as have descended to us by Tradition from Christ and his Apostles Rushworth Ibid. But under savour this variety of Opinions is very Material For tho' suppose all Romanists should agree to acknowledge no Articles of Faith but such as have descended to them by Tradition from Christ and his Apostles should agree to acknowledge this in general yet if they are still to seek if it be still unresolved among them who is the decider of Points of Doctrine i. e. by whose mouth they are to know upon occasions of dispute what and which determinately be their Points and Articles of Faith then there must be an uncertainty among them about the Points and Articles of Faith For the belief of Articles of Faith can be no more certain no more fix'd and uniform than the Deciders and Mouths are by which
Deòrum cultu adversus Christianos Every People have their custome each their Rites Now if long time can give authority to Religions belief is to be given to so many ages and we ought to follow our Fathers who have happily follow'd Theirs Unto which the Christian Poet Prudentius replyes to this Sense If there be such a studiousness and care of Antique Custome and it pleases not to depart from old Rites There is extant in antient Books He means the Scriptures a Noble Instance that even in the time of the Deluge or before the Family or People who first inhabited the new Earth and dwelt in the empty World serv'd but one God whence our continued Race derives its pedigree and reforms the Laws of the Piety of the Native Country Si tantum sludium est cura vetusti Moris a prisco placet haud descedere ritu Extat in antiquis exemplum Nobile libris Jam tunc diluvii sub temporae vel priùs Vni Insâ—rvisse Deo gentem quae prima recentes Incoluit terras vacuoque habitavit in Orbe Vnde genus ducit nostrae porrecta propago Stirpis indigenae pietatis jura reformatis Aurel Prudentius contra Symmachum Lib. 2. SECT III. The State of Religion being so craz'd the world being so corrupt in Opinion and Practice God vouchsafed to reveal Himself to Abraham and the other Patriarchs and at the last singled out the posterity of Abraham for his peculiar People Ps 78.5.6.7 8. Deut. 6.6 17. and established a Testimony in Jacob appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded the Fathers that they should make them known to their Children That the Generation to come might know them even the Children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children that they might set c. Among these Laws God commanded the owning and Worship of himself exclusively of all pretended Deities whatsoever He prescribed in the greatest accuracy the Substance and very punctilio's of his worship And to fence these sacred Injunctions the better to preserve them from violation at the first delivery of them God strook an holy dread into the People by Thundrings and Lightnings and a thick Cloud so that all in the Camp trembled Exod. 19.16 nay so terrible was the sight that Moses himself said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.21 And to make all the more sure there was superadded an explicite and formal Covenant between God and the people solemniz'd with the sprinkling of Blood part of it on the Altar Exod. 24.3 4.5 and part on the People and all the People answered with one Voice and said All the words which the Lord hath said will we doe What a large and exact Provision was here made for the safe descending of what God had committed to the People unto all Generations and for the making them trusty Traditioners yet how strangely were they ever and anon declining from the purity of what had been delivered to them Fathers and Children prophaning the Divine Worship and dishonouring God by the mixtures of Heathenish Rites and Idolatrous Abominations In the Chain of Tradition the first Link broke That very People who had so lately trembled at Mount Sinai yet tho' still so near that Mount danced before a Golden Calf saying These be thy Gods Exod. 32.4 O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt If this fall out so early how much more likely was it that the conveyance of Religion in its purity to after Ages should fail And the event was answerable The Books of Judges Kings and Chronicles and of several of the Prophets so abound in examples of almost perpetual and general defections from the Ancient Faith and Practice that many quotations are needless two will be enough 1. In the Reign of Ahab Elijah mourn'd to God that he only was left of the true Worshippers in Israel at the least of the true Prophets 1 Kings 19.10.18 and that even his life was in danger And tho' the All-seeing God comforted him by the account of seven thousand who had not bow'd the knee to Baal Yet as it seems this was to Elijah an invisible Church so what were these seven thousand to the multitudes of the rest of Israel 2ly In Judah so great and criminous was the Falling off from what God had antiently ordain'd that good Josiah rent his Clothes when he heard the words of the Books of the Law read 2 Kings 22.11 and compar'd former and present Practice with what was there commanded Such were the Apostasies of the Jewish Church from Primitive Doctrine and instituted Worship and for a long time and without any relief and restitution from Oral Tradition the intervening Reformation in Josiah's Reign was ow'd to the Holy Scriptures 2 Kings 23.2 3. Till God reveng'd those miscarriages sharply but very righteously first upon the ten Tribes and afterwards upon the remaining two The two Tribes after seventy years Correction return'd home re-built their City and Temple But in time they split into several Sects which were so many degeneracies from the first Purity of their Religion Our Blessed Lord reprov'd them for their corrupt Traditions as being a vain Worship Math. 15.3.9 and Evacuations of the Commandments of God The Jews have amongst them an Oral Tradition expository of the Law Written and given as is said by them by God to Moses intrusted by Moses with Joshua and the seventy Elders and by them transmitted down from one Generation to another This that People have in (a) Video Hebraeos omnes Legem quae per os tradita est tanti facere ut eam non modò aequent Legi Scriptae sed longe anteferant tanquam animam corpori quò sine eâ impossibile sit ut ipsis videtur Legem Scriptam intelligere aut observare adeoque sine eâ Lex tota non sit nisi corpus â—ine Spiritu c. Episcopii Instit Theol. L. 3. C. 4. very high estimation preferring it to the very Scriptures and honouring it with room in their Creed of which one Article is (a) Leo Modena History of the present Jews c. Translated by Mr. Chilmead p. 248. I believe that the Law which was given by Moses was wholly dictated by God and that Moses put not in one Syllable of himself And so likewise that that which we have by Tradition by way of Explication of the Precepts of the other hath all of it proceeded from the Mouth of God delivering it to Moses Yet Learned Men judge this fardle of Traditions to be a very (b) Episcop Ibid. Cap. 6. per toâ— Figment and that in some Age or other Ancestors have impos'd on the Credulity of their Posterity that Tradition has recommended to them That as deriving from God which never had so sacred and infallible an Author After the foregoing Observation of the Church and how little agreeingly with it's first Model Tradition preserv'd it for two
was great enough but can lay no Obligation upon Christians The result of the Discourse foregoing concerning the Books of the Old and New Testament is this 1. Seeing the Books of the New Testament were never doubted of much less rejected by all were so early receiv'd by all 2ly Seeing the Jewish Church never for so many hundred years admitted more Books into the Canon than Protestants do likewise that the Christian Church did from the beginning distinguish between the Canonical and Apocryphal Books as has been the concurrent Testimony of the most considerable Members of it in its several Ages Forasmuch I say that so it is there can lie no rational Objection against the sufficient care of the Divine Providence or the Churches diligence in the preservation of the Holy Scriptures upon supposal of which it can justly be pretended that Christians must be uncertain about the Integrity of the Scripture Canon I might add that supposâ— there were a much more considerable uncertainty concerning the truly Canonical Books of Scripture both of the Old and New Testament than there is yet there would be a fair Salvo for the care of Divine Providence and for the security of Christians necessary Belief and Practice For I humbly conceive that if 1. The Books of the New Testament at the first not generally receiv'd were still as controversible yet we should not be at a loss for any Article of Faith there being in the Books never disputed of enough to establish it Or 2ly Were it so that it were altogether doubtful whether the Books call'd Apocryphal were not as truly the word of God as those styl'd Canonical perhaps yet there is no Doctrine which can be prov'd from those Apocryphal Books contrary to what we maintain against our Adversaries But this is Supernumerary After the Author had confuted by several Testimonies of the Antients the Canonicalness of the Books called Apocryphal he adds Etsi in hac re longè superior est causa nostra nullam tamen satis gravem causam video cur acriter de numero Canonicorum librorum cum Pontificiis digladiemur Apocryphos quos illi in Canonem referre volunt usque adeò aver semmr quasi Fides Religio Christiana propterea vacillatura sit si illi in Canonem admittantur Eisi enim non nego esse in iis quaedam quae vel contradictionem vel falsitatem vel absurditatem manifestariam prae se ferant difficulter aut cum iis quos Canonicos esse utrinque in confesse est conciliari aut cum historiae veritate aut cum recta ratione in gratiam reduci possunt tamen non modò nulla esse in t is credo per quae dogmatis alicujus ad salutem necessarii veritas labefactari possit sed non pauciora esse in iis mihi persuadeo quae convellendis Pontificiorum erroribus faciunt quam quae iis aut fulciendis aut stabiliendis servire possunt Sim. Episcopii Instit Theol. p. 227. Afterwards speaking of the Books of the New Testament antiently questioned says he Sive admittantur sive non admittantur Certissimum nihilominus manet caeteris qui extra controversiam omnem positi sunt abundè satis contineri universam doctrinam religionem istam quam Revelationem tertiam intelligit Religionem Christianam esse dicimus Nullus enim in istis omnibus controversiis est apiculus qui singulare aliquid habet inse quod in aliis indubitatis desideratur imò non abundè iis continetur ad Religionis doctrinae Jesu Christi tum perfectionem tum integritatem pertinens Idem Ibid. pag. 229. and might be untrue without any prejudice to what I have discours'd in this Section SECT III. Obj. 3. Whereas I have said that the safe descent of Divine Truths is so greatly provided for because they are treasur'd up in the Holy Writings it may be perhaps reply'd that Oral Tradition is not destitute of this 〈◊〉 Advantage also For one means which Bellarmine alledges of the preservation of Oral Traditions is Scriptura writing them in the antient Records of the Church Therefore he says that (a) De Verbo Dei non Scripto L. 4. C. 12. a Doctrine is called unwritten (b) Idâ—m Ibid Ch. 2. not because it is no where written because it was not written by the first Author but Ans 1. The Adversaries I have to deal with talk of Oral Tradition as a Plenipotent thing which is a support to itself and needs not the prop of a Pen is it self a spring of perpetuity to itself and therefore that the being written must be an accidental and no necessary Preservative of it This sure is the importance of several passages concerning it viz. (a) Sure Foot pag. 115. Christian Tradition rightly understood is nothing but the Living voice of the Catholick Church essential as Delivering (b) Ibid. pag 101. None can in reason oppose the Authority of Fathers or Councils against Tradition (c) Ibid. pag. 103. No Authority from any History or Testimonial writing is valid against the force of Tradition So that Oral Tradition is it seems so far from a want of assistance from any writings whatsoever that it is their strength and over-rules them There is yet more said (d) Ibid. pag. 56. Oral Tradition is a Rule not to the learned only but also to the unlearned to any vuloar enquirer therefore it must not rest on Books for its Authentickness for the unlearned and vulgar enquirers have not ability to read to examine to understand Books accordingly 't is said that the Tradition of the (a) Ibid. pag. 203 204. present Church is to be believ'd There is something to the same purpose in another (b) Enchirid of Faith pag. 14 15. Author who has form'd his Book Dialogue-wise After the Master had read his Scholar a Lecture about Tradition the Scholar asks him Sir It seems a matter of great study not easily to be overcome except by very learned men to know or to find out a constant Tradition as to read all the Fathers Liturgies or Councils Is it not therefore sufficient Testimony of this if the present Catholick Church universally witnesses it to be so To this the Master after some premises answers It must by necessary consequence be concluded the Testimony of any age he means any present age to be sufficient And after a while he closes thus This surely convinces the Testimony of any age to be sufficient Thus whatsoever just exception this Divinity is expos'd unto yet it appears by the Authors quoted that there are some such as I have to do with in this work who maintain a self-sufficiency in Oral Tradition and that though it may have yet it can sustain it self without the aid of Books 2. Let it be that Oral Tradition has help from Scripture from writing yet upon a Scrutiny it will be found that in the last issue this relief will be insufficient so far at