have a power to unlock the Mysteries of the Gospel and open a passage into the true importance of them If we consider them as congregated in Synods so their Authority is more illustrious As the Sun of righteousness immediately rules us in the day that is in all perspicuous places of Scripture So these Luminaries are fit to govern us in the night in all the dark and controversal passages This we may learn from the holy Apostles who when the Controversie whether God was to be Worshipped according to the Order of the Ceremonial Law did menace the Church with vexation were gathered together with the Elders and in a solemn Convention did determine the difference This was no extraordinary Act but that which they did design to commend to the imitation of the Church as is evident by the method of their procedure They did not appeal to any peculiar revelation but by rational discussions which are common to all men prepare their way to a decision There are Two Opinions of no good consistency with what has been asserted The First is That every man ought to be guided by the Church of Rome in the concerns of Religion The Second is That every one ought to rely upon the conduct of his own Reason Both which we will now examine 1. The Church of Rome is to be our Guide If we ask the membes of it about a Guide they presently name the Catholick Church If we interrogate them what they mean by the Catholick Church they answer That Community which submits to the Papal Power If we object the notorious corruptions which stain her reputation and discourage us from putting confidence in her conduct they reply That her directions are not capable of errour Her rule is the Word of God This Word is either written or unwritten for the knowledge of this Word which it is and what is the Sence of it we must depend upon her attestation She is an unerring Judge an authorized Guide and therefore when she propounds her dictates we have nothing to do but assent We must not chew but like Pills swallow them whole and for our encouragement to give them an easie passage they are gilded over with the specious pretence of Infallibility If it be so That the Church of Rome is Infallible by the Church must be meant either the Pope or a Council or the body of the people which adhere to them or all these together If the Pope how can Zepherinus's compliance with the errour of Montanus Foelix the 2d his Arianism Honorius's being a Monothelite John the 23d his denial of the resurrection and life to come be reconciled with the presence and influence of an unerring Spirit If a Council How comes it to pass That one Council has contradicted another The Council of Francford rescinded the Decrees of the second Council of Nice Why are some General Councils approved some disallowed some partly approved partly disallowed some neither approved nor disallowed Bellar. tâ—â— 2. c. 4. de Concil What is the reason of all the sinister methods which the Pope used to obtain his designs in the Council of Trent The divine Spirit doth not use to frequent such crooked and oblique paths The devices used in that Convention represent rather the windings of the Serpent than the motions of the Dove They are thus expressed by one who was present in the Council in his Letter to Maximilian the Second We daily saw hungry and needy Bishops come to Trent Coun. of Tren p. 841. Youths for the most part given to luxury and riot hired only to give their voice as the Pope pleased They were both unlearned and simple yet fit for the purpose in regard of their impudent boldness When these were added to the Pope's old slatterers iniquity triumphed it was impossible to determine of any thing but as they pleased who thought it to be the highest point of Religion to maintain the Authority and luxury of the Pope There was a grave and learned Man who was not able to endure so great an indignity He was presently traduced as no good Catholick and was terrified threatned and persecuted that he might approve of things against his will In sum Matters were brought to that pass by the iniquity of those that came fitted and prepared that the Council seemed not to consist of Bishops but of disguised Maskers not of Men but of Images such as Dedalus made moved by Nerves none of their own They were hireling-Bishops which as country Bagpipes could not speak but as breath was put into them The Holy Ghost had nothing to do in the Assembly All the Counsels given there proceeded from humane policy and tended only to maintain the Popes immoderate and shameful domination c. He who considers the chief inducements to the determinations made in that Council will not find himself under any propensity to disbelieve what has been represented Priests must not be allowed to marry because having Wives and Children their dependence would not be so much upon the Pope as the secular Prince under whom they live Their love to their Progeny would make them yield to any thing never so prejudicial to the Church Besides This would be a temptation to them to seek to make Benefices hereditary and so in a short time the Authority of the Pope would be confined within Rome The Mass in the Vulgar Tongue must not be permitted because then all would think themselves Divines The Authority of the Prelates would be disesteemed This resembles the policy of those who to keep up the reputation of their Profession Pen their instructions in a Language unknown to the common people The Communion of the Chalice must not be granted because then a gap would be opened to demand an abrogation of all positive Constitutions by which only the Authority of the Church of Rome is preserved A Determination must not pass That the Institution of a Bishop is from Christ for then it would follow That the Keys were not given to Peter only and that the Bishops were equal to the Pope and a Council above him The dignity of Cardinals would cease Residence would be jure divino and the Court of Rome come to nothing and therefore special order was given to Laynez General of the Jesuits to form an exact discourse to prove that Bishops are not jure divino but Pontificio Tho' the Pope did in a compliment so far humble himself to Heresie as to invite Protestant Princes to the Council yet there were such conditions made as in particular That nothing should be discussed but what the Pope's Legates thought fit to propound and so many ambiguities in the conduct that was promised them that their journey could neither be safe nor significant to any good purpose To these intrigues may be added The Oath of Fidelity to the Pope who was a party imposed upon all the Members of the Convention the continual directions by the mail from Rome the vast number of
no evidence in Courts of Justice sufficient to ground a condemnatory Sentence upon Eye-witnesses tho' of the greatest integrity will be of no signification all will be left in a perfect state of Scepticism The grand pillars which support Religion will be utterly overthrown and demolished How can we be assured that there is a God but by his Word and Works And how can we perceive the Contents of his Word or be acquainted with his Works without using our Senses We cannot be sure that The Heavens declare the Glory of God or that this Proposition This is my Body is contained in the New Testament if we may not conside in our eyes Miracles the great Seals of Evangelical Verity are rendered insignificant if the Senses of those who were present when they were wrought may not be trusted to their attestation will be of no value Indeed we are told that the Sense is not deceived in the Sacrament The accidents of the Bread and Wine are its proper objects and they remain there according as they appear but as for the Substance that is miraculously changed and Sense is no competent Judg about it To which the reply is easie Accidents alone are not the proper objects of Sense but Accidents together with those material subjects in which they inhere It is matter which properly makes the impression upon our Nerves the Particles of it are under diverse modes and figures commonly stiled Accidents The Essence of these consists in inhesion Accidentis esse est inesse So that if they be separated they presently cease to be and by consequence have no power to make any impulse upon Sense They can have no more a solitary existence than the height breadth and length of a house with all the colours and modes of every room may remain after the whole fabrick is demolished If there be any miraculous change in the substance of the Bread and Wine nothing can be more sit to discern it than our Senses The essential effect of a Miracle is to work wonder and admiration and nothing can produce this but that which is manifest to our faculties Tho' the mode of doing is latent yet the thing done is clear and accommodated to the apprehension of every Spectator These four Topicks Scripture Antiquity Reason Sense standing in an irreconcileable opposition to the doctrin of Transubstantiation nothing is left to support it except these two pretences the Declaration of the present Church and an impossibility that what she declares should be an Innovation As for the first If by the Church we understand the Universal no such thing is done by her The Eastern Churches declare the contrary The Greeks in their Liturgies have nothing of this nature expressed They adhere to the seven first General Councils only which are wholly silent in this matter Tho' they have a proper word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express Transubstantiation by yet they never use it when they speak of the Eucharist When they call the Bread the Body of Christ it is with an extenuating term as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi or the like After Consecration they give no adoration to it They deny that an unworthy Communicant receives the Body and Blood of Christ Cyril Patriarch of Constantinople says in the name of the Greek Church Vid. Hotting An. Appen p. 422. We confess and believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true and firm Presence of our Lord Jesus to wit that which Faith offers and gives us and not that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the invented Transubstantiation doth inconsiderately teach These are his words in his Oriental Confession of the Christian Faith To say notwithstanding all this that Transubstantiation is the declared belief of the Universal Church is to cut off the Greeks from being any part of it altho' they receive the Holy Scriptures embrace the ancient Creeds submit to the seven first General Councils have an uninterrupted succession of Bishops If it be said That Schism and Heresie has deprived them and all other Churches of this priviledge and dignity who do not submit to the Papal Supremacy this may be as easily denied as asserted The Universality of jurisdiction contended for is a perfect usurpation which can never be legitimated by length of time against the institution of our blessed Lord who constituted all the Apostles in a parity No Man can with justice be charged with Schism or Heresie for not owning of that which bears an opposition to the appointment of the Supreme Head of the Church If we must believe the declaration of the present Church in the point under consideration what were those obliged to do who lived in the time of Pope Gelasius when there was a declaration diametrically opposite The present Pope declares That the Bread and Wine do not remain in the Sacrament Gelasius a person of equal Authority and every jot as Infallible declares That they do Both these we cannot be obliged to believe they being contrary one to the other If the present Church of Rome must be credited whensoever she thinks sit to declare her self How is this to be known She has no peculiar promise made to her That to the Universal is nothing to the purpose she being but a part and a very corrupt one too All that the promise imports is that there shall be always a people with their Pastors in the World retaining all the points which are fundamental and of peremptory necessity to Salvation which may be tho' the Community of Rome utterly cease As for any Universal Tradition about this matter it is but a futilous and vain pretence as is evident by the contests betwixt the Roman and African Bishops If the last had known of any such Tradition and believed the first to be infallible a sudden stop would have been put to all contradiction No man will dare to oppose a Church which he believes cannot err Neither are there any motives of Infallibility efficacious enough to induce us to receive this doctrin Bellarmine has reckoned up fifteen but they are so far from evincing that the Church of Rome is Infallible in her declarations that they will not amount to prove her a True Church as will be manifest in the Fourth Section As for the Second pretence the impossibility of Innovation it is in vain to alledge it against so much evidence as may be produced for the matter of fact The antient Church for many Centuries did assert That the substance of the Bread and Wine remains after Consecration as I have already proved The doctrin of the present Church of Rome is That it doth not remain Here is an undeniable change To set up an imaginary demonstration against so clear a matter of fact and to commend it to our belief with all the advantages of Art is a method not unlike to that of Pericles who when he had received a fair fall by his Antagonist attempted to impose upon his Spectators with his Rhetorical flourishes and
Armenia Aegypt Aethiopia will be under no temptation to believe That the Romanists have any such great cause to value themselves upon the account of the amplitude of their Community I know that it will be said That all these are cut off from the Church by Heresie But the best way to try whether it be so or no will be to examine the Confessions of their Faith and compare them with the unerring rule of Scripture Upon an impartial inquiry it will be found That the worst of them has a much better consistency with the Primitive Standard than the Creed of the Romanists has The greatest fault which is found with the Protestants is their compliance with the advice of S. John Little children keep your selves from Idols with the Greeks The believing the words of our Saviour which evidently import an equality among the Apostles and their refusing to stoop to the imaginary Supremacy of S. Peter Indeed the denial of the procession from the Son is pretended which altho' it be an errour yet was never accounted fundamental The Pope has done with the Church of Christ as the Jews say Herod did with the Temple of Solomon enlarge the foundation If the errour of the Greeks be fundamental it is not because it is opposite to the foundation which a greater than Solomon laid but the additional laid by the Bishop of Rome Filióque in the Nicene Creed is believed to be inserted by Nicolaus the first about eight hundred and fifty years after Christ when the animosities betwixt him and Photius Patriarch of Constantinople were very high Sguropulus has given assurance enough That what was done in the Council of Florence was brought to pass by the collusion of the Roman party The Greeks being forced by their necessities and tempted by the most alluring promises into such concessions as their whole Church was highly dissatisfied with As for the Nestâ—rians it is evident by their Confessions that they have abandoned that errour which was condemned by the Council of Ephesus the Jacobites Breerw Iâ—quâ— p. 15.4 altho' they retain their denomination from Jacobus Sanzalus a defender of the Eutychian Heresie yet they renounce his doctrin Leonard Legate of Pope Gregory the Thirteenth in those parts of the World where the Jacobites live hath recorded that their Patriarch professed to him That tho' indeed they held but one personate nature in Christ resulting of the unity of the two natures not personated yet they acknowledge those two natures to be united in his person without any mixtion and confusion and that they themselves differ not in understanding but in terms from the Latin Church From all this it is evident That the Romanists have no reason to insist upon their amplitude as a character of the Truth or Infallibility of their Church the next Motive is the uninterrupted succession of Bishops by which is meant the coming of one Bishop into the place of another from S. Peter to the present Bishop of Rome without the interposition of any unduly qualified Such a Succession they are never able to demonstrate For those who are rightly qualified according to their own Principles must be no Symonists no Schisinaticks no Hereticks Men and not Women And yet it is confessed That some of them have obtained their dignities by Symoniacal contracts as Alexander the Sixth Sextus the First Others have been under the guilt of Schism The Council of Pisa deposed Benedict the Thirteenth and Gregory the Thirteenth under that notion and elected Alexander the Fifth who continued in the place without deposition the Council of Basil deposed Eugenius upon the like account And yet after the Council was ended he recovered his dignity without any Conciliary Act And from him all to the present Bishop of Rome are descended So that whether the Pope be above a Council or the Council above the Pope the Succession is interrupted Some of them have been under the imputation of Heresie Liberius was an Arrian Anastasius a Nestorian Vigilius an Eutychian and it is believed by some That one of them was a Woman For this we have the unanimous consent of all the Romanists till Luther's time They were so ingenuous as to confess the thing till the Protestants began to urge it to their prejudice To all this I may add That those Churches which have as good a Succession as they contend for are notwithstanding branded with the infamy of Heresie as our own and the Greek Church Therefore their Succession which is only personal and not doctrinal can be no motive to induce us to believe That they are a True much less an Infallible Church As for their agreement in Doctrin with the ancient Primitive Church This would be a motive indeed could they demonstrate any such harmony Till they have reconciled their Doctrin of withholding the Cup from the Disciples of Christ with the words of our Saviour drink ye all of it Concerning Prayer in an unknown Tongue with the words of the Apostle If I pray in an unknown tongue my understanding is unfruitful Concerning the Worshipping of Images with the Second Command and the Primitive Christians not allowing so much as the making of them we shall not easily believe that there is a consent in all things betwixt their doctrin and the doctrin of the ancient Apostolical Church The next Motive is the Union of the Members amongst themselves He who well considers the Schisms betwixt the Anti-Popes as Novatianus and Cornelius Foelix and Liberius Vrsinus and Damasus Eusebius and Bonifacius the second Vigilius and Sylverius c. with many others Six and Twenty in Bellarmine's account Thirty according to Onuphrius and thinks fit to enlarge his Meditations with the consideration of the divisions betwixt the Emperours and Popes the last pretending a power from Christ to devest the former of their Authority and with the differences betwixt the Popes and the Bishops about their Power Whether it be derived immediately from the Pope or from Christ the Bishops and Regulars these pleading an exemption from their jurisdiction the Regulars and the Parochial Priests with all the diversities betwixt the Jansenists and Molinists Franciscans and Dominicans the Sorbonists and the followers of the doctrin of Lombard and Anquinas together with the grand contest about the fundamental Article Infallibility some making it Canonical some absolute some saying it is in the Pope some in a Council will not find himself under any strong inclination to believe That the Concord so much boasted of is so perfect as is pretended Indeed they say Tho' they be not actually agreed yet they have the most ready way that leads to it They all acknowledge one visible Head in whose judgment all are to acquiesce So that when differences arise they have nothing to do but to speak with him But this is nothing to the purpose For the Motive is not potential but actual Union not what may be but what is It is no good consequence that they are United because they
desolating Wars and the sudden ruine of millions of Men who are taken off in the heighth of their fury before they have time to settle their thoughts in relation to eternity How are the innocent stript of their enjoyments and have nothing left them but a deplorable state of Misery All this by inevitable necessity tends to the eclipsing the honour of the Supreme Monarch the glory of his regiment being much more conspicuous in a peaceable order than a polemical confusion The image of the Sun cannot be distinctly seen in troubled waters For this important reason we are under the strictest obligations to follow peace with all men and mutually to exchange acts of kindness and humanity Altho' Peace betwixt distinct Nations be of such great moment yet it is not the pleasure of the Supreme Rector to constitute one visible infallible Guide for the conservation of it If this was a means of peremptory necessity in order to the maintaining Unity and Concord there is as much reason why it should be appointed for the securing Unity in the several Kingdoms of the World as the several Churches No such constitution being made in relation to the preserving their amicable correspondencies no argument can be drawn from the nature and necessity of the thing that it must be established in the Church 9. If the Church has one suprme Guide vested in an authority to decide all controversies it will not be easie to reconcile this appointment to the constitution of Civil Empires The Militant Church cannot have an existence but within the territories of some secular Sovereign Power The Prince is undoubtedly invested by God with authority to preserve the Peace of his Community This Peace is often disturbed by Ecclesiastical discords If he has not a power within his Dominion without addressing to foreign authority to compose them He has an end appointed to him and yet is not allowed the use of the means which immediately conduceth to it All things may break out into a combustion and the Community be entombed in its own ashes before the decision of a Foreign Power can be obtained It would not be accounted any discretion when a Prince's Palace is on Fire to refuse the use of the River which runs by it and send into Italy for water in order to the quenching of it Every Sovereign within his own Dominions is the Supreme Moderator and Governour in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil which cannot be if there be one authorized Guide for all the Churches in the World to whose determination they are bound to submit let it be never so contrary to the Will of their own Sovereign Tho' Secular Princes have not a Power in Sacris that is to Ordain Preach Administer the Sacraments Excommunicate c. yet they have an undoubted Authority circa Sacra that is to defend the Church in the doing of these things and see that the Governours rightly proceed in their administrations and when controversies arise which have a tendency to trouble the State to convocate them and ratifie such resolutions as conduce to the securing the concord of the Community Tho' the Church is immediately constituted by Christ yet it cannot be denied That Secular Princes within whose Territories it is planted are designed as Nursing Fathers to it which must necessarily import their duty to see That Poison be not administred instead of Milk to cherish it and put a period to those molestations which will hinder the growth of it If this power be vested in every Prince there can be no foreign authorized Guide who has right to command within his Dominions These two constitutions are contrary one to the other and instead of Peace must necessarily produce War Subjects would not know to whom to pay their Allegiance whether to submit to the Sword or the Keys Whereas if there be a power within every Nation to reform it self and to put a period to all differences without the interposals of a foreign authority the publick Peace is secured as much as can be expected in this sublunary state 10. There is a plain prediction in the holy Scripture concerning one who will pretend to be such an infallible Guide as we speak of He is described as sitting in the Temple of God shewing himself 2 Thess 2.4 That he is God God is undoubtedly infallible and therefore he who sitteth in his Temple namely the Christian Church 1 Cor. 3.14 and carrieth himself as God doth make a manifest claim to that indefectibility that is peculiar to the Deity This Pretender to infallibility is represented to be a great Impostor He is stiled the man of sin the son of perdition whose coming is after the working of Satan with all deceivableness of unrighteousness The Character which is given of this Impostor exactly agrees to him who now pretends to be such an Authorized Oecumenical Guide He is described as one professing the Christian Religion as making a great defection from the reality of it as arising out of a low condition as having his growth in greatness impeded for a time by the Roman Empire as exalting himself by degrees as that obstruction was removed above Kings and Emperours and all that is called God as being invested with outward pomp and splendor as having his Seat in the City upon seven Hills as treating those with the greatest severity who refuse a submission to his Sentiments as comeing with all power signs and lying wonders How agreeable this Character is to him who now pretends to be an infallible Guide in the concerns of Religion is undeniably evident He is in profession a Christian pretending to maintain the whole Doctrine which was delivered by our Blessed Lord. He is guilty of a great defection from it by mixing many injurious additions with it and declaring all to lye under the guilt of Heresie who refuse to comply with them He was in a low condition so long as the Roman Empire stood in its full force and power He sometime stiled himself indignum famulum Imperatoris As the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decayed so he encreased and at last grew to such a heighth as he challenged an authority over Princes and all that is called God He made bold to depose them to absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance to dispence with the Laws of Heaven and make them subservient to his worldly interest He is attended with all outward splendor and glory He is not contented with a single Crown but assumes a Triple He expects the most solemn adoration from those who apply themselves to him When the Embassadors of Sicily prostrated themselves at his feet using these words three times Molin vates O Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world he was not displeased with the civility of the address The place of his residence is in the City built upon seven Hills He useth those which dissent from him in the most savage and cruel manner Miracles are one of the signs
Properties and Attributes of the most high God 66 c. This truth acknowledged by all sorts of men the Primitive Christians 69. the Jews 71. the Heathen 72. Our not comprehending the difficulties of it no reason against it 73. Some considerations added to lead us thro' 'em ib. 4. Proposition This One God is to be Worshipped For First consider'd as essentially his nature and perfections justly challenge the deepest veneration 75. Then Secondly considered personally the Scriptures require him to be Worshipped 76. 5. Proposition This God only is to be Worshipped This shewn First from Scripture 78. Secondly from Reason 79. Thirdly from Antiquity 81. What the Papists say in opposition to this considered with respect to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Invocation of Saints and Images 84. 1. As to the Eucharist That the Papists pay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it ib. and thereby put the greatest affront upon Scripture 91. upon the analogy of Faith 94. upon Antiquity 97. upon Reason 106. and upon Sense 108. The declaration of their Church in this matter and the impossibility of an innovation considered 110. 2. As to Invocation of Saints This injurious to the peculiar honour of God 115. and of Jesus Christ the only Mediator 116. and has not the same grounds and reasons as our praying to each other here below For First the Saints and Angels are at a distance 117. And then Secondly 't is the prerogative of Jesus Christ only to be our Mediator in Heaven 118. as the Primitive Christians thought 119. The Origine of Invocation c. 122. 3. As to Images 123. They who use them are of three sorts First such as say they use them only as memorials to quicken their devotions which has no kindly influence on Religion 124. Secondly such as say they give only inferiour worship to 'em which yet is either vain or sinful 125. Thirdly such as profess to give the same worship to the Image as to the Prototype in kind thô not in degree i.e. relative or respective worship only ib. the vanity of this distinction shewn 126. and that 't is Idolatry 128. contrary to the Second Commandment 132. and unknown to the Primitive Church 135. SECT III. Concerning the True Worshippers of God THE whole reduced to Three Inquiries 142. I. Enquiry Who they are that are obliged to Worship ib. And they are in general all rational Beings as Angels 142. and Men whether secular 143 or more especially Ecclesiastical and consecrated to the performance of Religious Offices 145. the necessity of these shewn ib. such have been in all ages 147. before the floud ib. between that and the Law 150. that the First-born then were Priests 151. such also there were from the giving the Law till Christ 154. as appears from the Priests and Levites ib. from the Schools of the Prophets 155. from their studies there 156 from their Ordination by imposition of hands 157 from the place where they exercised their function 159. such lastly there were under the Gospel ib. II. Enquiry How men are to Worship God 163. This shown in several Propositions 1. Prop. We are to Worship him with all our Soul and heart and strength ib. and 2. Prop. Outwardly with our Bodies 165. 3. Prop. All the modes of external Worship must be decent orderly and to edification ib. 4. Prop. Different deductions from this general rule are no just grounds for distinct Churches to differ among each other and so violate the Vnity of the Vniversal 166. 5. Prop. Yet in the same Church 't is very expedient and desirable That there should be the same external mode of Religion 167 but yet 6. Prop. If contests arise in the same Church about external modes a ready way to compose them is to appeal to Primitive Order and give the preference to those that come nighest to it 169. And 7. Prop. If it cannot be known what the Primitive Order therein was the next step to Peace is to make prudent condescensions on each side before Authority has made any determinations 171. Then 8. Prop. If condescensions cannot be had and yet a determination is necessary all both weak and strong are obliged to acquiesce in such a determination 173. which is neither against nor inconsistent with the perfection of Scripture as a rule 174. nor prejudicial to our Christian Liberty 175. nor yet induces any necessity of violating the Law about scandal 176. III. Enquiry What ends we are to propose in the acts of Religious Worship ib. This shewn in three particulars First and chiefly The Glory of God 177. Secondly The Salvation of our Souls 178. Thirdly The good of the Community 179. The tendency of Religious Worship to all these shewn under each SECT IV. Concerning Assistance relating to Divine Worship THE Introduction from the general and acknowledged depravation of our Natures whereby we want Light to direct and Strength to enable us in the Worshipping God a-right and Merits to render our Services acceptable 185. Against all these God has provided sufficient helps and remedies in that 1. We have the holy Scriptures to direct us 186 2. The Holy Spirit to communicate strength 186 3. The Merits of our Saviour to procure acceptance 186 All which are treated more largely of And 1. Of the holy Scriptures to direct us which that we have grounds to depend on shewn in several Propositions as First The Worshipping God is absolutely necessary to Salvation 187. Secondly Moses and the Prophets Christ and the Apostles did by Oral Tradition reveal all things necessary to this purpose ib. Thirdly What they spoke was evidenced to be the real mind of God by inward characters of Divinity and external miraculous operations ib. Fourthly This word of God thus evidenced was faithfully committed to writing 192. Fifthly This Writing is digested into 24 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New 193. Sixthly These Books have been transmitted to us without corruption 194. Two opinions inconsistent with what has been said considered 1. That the Church of Rome as being infallible is to be our guide in matters of Religion 206. 2. That every one ought to rely upon the conduct of his own reason ib. As to the First Proved that the Pope is not infallible 207. nor a Council ib. nor the body of the People 210. nor all these together ib. nor are the reasons they urge here sufficient such as first The peremptory necessity of such a Guide 211. nor secondly their having all reasonable evidence that the Church of Rome is such a Guide 216. For they have not first The evidence of Scripture ib. shewn as to the chief places they urge 221. nor secondly Vniversal Tradition 228. nor yet thirdly the motives of credibility 232. shewn particularly as to Antiquity Diuturnity Amplitude ib. uninterrupted Succession of Bishops 235. Agreement in doctrine with the Primitive Church 236. Vnion among themselves 237. holiness of doctrine 239. efficacy of it 240. holiness of life 242. Lastly the
which the Prince resides and to Worship the Prince residing in that Palace To say that no Catholick is bound to believe more than that Christ in the Sacrament is to be Worshipped because this is enjoyned under a particular Anathema the other of Worshipping the Sacrament not is nothing to the purpose The intent of the Decrees is veritatâ—m dicere to set forth the true doctrin of the Church as the Council has declared Every jot of this doctrin is to be received whether there be a particular Curse denounced against the Refusers of it or no. The Curse doth not make the obligation to comply with the doctrin but shews only the danger which those incur who refuse it If the Church of Rome does not think fit always to set before us the danger in a particular Anathema upon some prudential considerations best known to her self yet the obligation to entertain her doctrin doth not cease but remain in full force Her Authority is as much in a Decree without an Anathema as in a Canon with one and it is her authority which creates the obligation To say that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Council speaks of falls upon the Accidents of the Bread and Wine in an inferiour manner cannot be reconciled with any good reason For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is either internal or external Internal imports a superlative esteem in the mind of infinite Excellency External the doing some action or speaking such words as are appropriated to signifie this internal veneration Neither of these can be terminated upon the Bread and Wine in an inferiour manner For what is outwardly done or spoken being but an expression or indication of internal veneration and the inward veneration being of the highest nature if it falleth upon any thing in an inferiour manner or degree it ceaseth to be what it was the superlative degree being essential to it and not separable from it Neither do they mend the matter who assert that Latria as it is terminated upon the outward Elements is not absolute but relative Christ only under the Elements is adored per se or absolutely the Symbols by virtue of their relation to Christ as the garments with which he was cloathed when he was upon the Earth were worshipped when adoration was given to his person When the Council says that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is due to the Sacrament absolute and not relative Latria is intended It is in express words such a Latria quae debetur vero Deo and that is undoubtedly absolute Tho' there may be relative honour yet if we speak properly there can be no such thing as relative Latria For it is agreed that the word signifies that Veneration which is peculiar to the Supreme Being and if this be divided into two species Absolute and Relative then it may be predicated of both for every Genus is predicated of its species and if so then either equally or unequally not equally for then the relative species will participate as much of the nature of the Genus as the absolute not unequally because Latria as I have before intimated consists in a point of which there can be no unequal participations An inferiour Latria is as much as an inferiour Superiority I grant an honour due to many things upon the account of their relation to God but to make this honour equal to that which is due immediately to God is highly injurious For the relation which the Creature has to the Creator is but a finite mode or accident And a finite mode cannot merit the same species of Worship or Honour which the infinite perfection of the Divine Nature does When our blessed Lord was upon the Earth 〈◊〉 garments were not worshipped by the same individual act with which his person was For Worship is an acknowledgment of excellency and none will assert that the same acknowledgment of excellency can without a palpable injury be terminated upon his Person and his Garment As the Accidents are worshipped so likewise is the substance of the Bread and Wine The Church of Rome believes that by the Priest's pronouncing the words of Consecration the Body and Blood of Christ become corporally present upon the Altar that by the same words in the same moment the substance of the Bread and Wine is changed into them that what the substance of the Bread and Wine is converted into must have the same worship terminated upon it which is peculiar to the person of Christ God-man Now if there be no such change as is pretended but the Bread and Wine retain their pristine nature it must necessarily follow that the substance of the Bread is Worshipped in the place of Christ If it be said that this cannot with justice be charged upon a Romanist because he believes that the substance of the Bread and Wine do not remain and we must not impute the Worshipping of that to him which he believes not to be in the Sacrament I answer that tho' this excuse at the first sight may appear plausible yet upon a due examination it will be found to be of no validity By the same method of Reasoning it may be concluded that a Jew reflects no dishonour upon the True Messias when in the Synagogue thrice a day he curseth Jesus of Nazareth because he believes that Jesus of Nazareth is not the True Messias or that the Persians do not Worship a creature when they make their religious Addresses to the Sun because they apprehend he is the first Being and maker of all things or that the Heathens did not sacrifice to Devils as they are accused in the holy Scripture because they were far from believing that their Idols were animated by infernal Spirits It must be confessed that an error springing from the nature of the object may contribute something to an excuse Suppose there had been a Man when our blessed Lord was upon the Earth every way like him in the features of his face and all the lineaments of his Body and another induced by that similitude had given to him the veneration which is due only to Jesus Christ it had been tolerable in him to have pleaded his error it deriving its original from that which it was not in his power to help But whâ—â— the error springs from a voluntary distemper in the Subject it can have no propitious influence upon his justification And this we have too much reason to believe is the case of those who adhere to the Community of Rome who when they assert the Body of Christ to be corporally present in the Eucharist and the substance of the Bread and Wine not put the highest affront upon those Topicks from which we usually derive our assurance in all other points of Divinity namely the Scripture Antiquity Reason Sence 1. Scripture They affirm that which is contrary to the Words of the institution when Christ says This is my Body he means This is a sign or memorial of it To this interpretation we
which the ingredients of a humane body are exposed unto To what is received in the Eucharist the primitive Church in relation to the body attributes the power of Nutrition The Analogy of Faith obligeth us to believe that God will not command inhumanity But if the sence of the Church of Rome be true the greatest inhumanity is practised according to his Will What is more savage than to eat the body of a living man much more must it be to champ with our Teeth and swallow down the living Body of our blessed Lord to whom supreme Veneration is due This made a Pagan to say Who dost thou think Cott. in Cicer. de nat Decr. l. 3. can be so mad as to believe that to be his God which he eats It was an abomination to the Aegyptians to eat with the Hebrews Gen. 43.32 The Chaldee paraphrast gives the reason because the Hebrews eat those Cattle which the Aegyptians use to worship Those words except ye eat the flesh of the son of man c. Joh. 6.55 give no countenance to what is asserted by the Church of Rome By Flesh is meant the bread spoken of v. 51. The bread that I will give you is my flesh and by the Bread we are to understand our blessed Lord himself I am the bread of life v. 35. and by eating believing on him as is evident by the consequent words he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst As eating and drinking satisfie our natural appetite so believing in Christ our spiritual By faith we draw out of his fulness and plenitude a supply of our necessities This spiritual Sence is pointed at v. 56. and very agreeable to the manner of speaking amongst the Jews with whom Christ conversed when he spoke the words under consideration Maimon More Nevoâ— par 1. c. 30. The Hebrews use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comedere not only to express the feeding upon that which conduceth to the nourishment of the body but likewise the acquisition of Learning and Wisdom such as faith imports which tends to the nutrition of the Soul Psal 33. or 34 v. 2. S. Basil says that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an intellectual mouth of the inward Man With this we receive the impressions made by external objects and ruminate upon and digest them by meditation All this being considered it is evident that Transubstantiation is contrary to the Holy Scripture 2. Antiquity Those who assert the Body of Christ to be corporally present in the Sacrament and the substance of the Bread and Wine not speak contrary to the sence of all the primitive Fathers Ignatius who lived in the first Century 〈…〉 calls that which is broken and given in the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr in the second Century Apol. 2. stiles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and attributes to it a nutritive power in relation to the body Tertullian in the third Century asserts L. 4 cont Marc. that Christ made the bread which he took to be his body that is a figure of his body Origen says L. 8. cont Celsum we have a symbol of thanksgiving to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bread which is called the Eucharist S. Cyprian affirms 〈…〉 that the Lord calls the bread compounded of many grains his Body Eusebius in the fourth Century terms L. 1 â—emon Evan. c. ult what is received in the Sacrament symbols of the Body and blood of Christ Cyril of Jerusalem stiles it Bread and Wine Catech. Mystagog 1.3 and compares the change which is made by consecration to that in consecrated Oil which doth not lose its old Nature but is dedicated and set apart to a higher use and purpose S. Ambrose affirms L. 4. de Saâ— c. 4. that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament sunt a â—â—â—e panis vinum altho changed into the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ Gregory Nissen owns that which he calls the Body of Christ by the name of Bread Orat. de San. Bapr and expresseth at large that the Bread and Wine being Consecrated retain their pristine nature even as Baptismal Water an Altar a Priest do after Consecration has passed upon them Gaudentius represents the Sacrament as an image of the passion and figure of the Body and Blood of Christ Tract 2. in Exo. S. Chrysostome in the fifth Century useth these words Epist ad Casâ—arium Monashum Before the Bread is sanctified we call it Bread when the Divine Grace hath sanctified it by means of the Priest it loseth the name of Bread and is held worthy to be called the Lord's Body altho the nature of the Bread doth remain in it and is not called two bodies but the body of the Son S. Austin says Ad Adamantum â— 12. That the Lord doubted not to say This is my Body when he gave the sign of his Body Cyril of Alexandria asserts L. 4. c. 14. in Evang. Joan. that our Lord gave fragments of Bread saying Take eat This is my Body Theodoret affirms 1. Dial. cont Eutyc that our Saviour honoured the visible Symbols with the name of his Body and Blood not changing the nature but adding grace to nature Gelasius is of the same mind De duabus Christi naturis The Sacraments which we receive of the Body and Blood of Christ are a divine thing by means whereof we are made partakers of the Divine Nature and yet the substance of the Bread and Wine doth not cease to be Bellarmine in his Polemical Discourse concerning the Eucharist useth most of the names which I have mentioned to a contrary purpose and brings them into the field with a great deal of pomp His policy seems to resemble that of a great Commander When he had drawn up his Souldiers into a military order and was ready to engage the enemy a great part of them declared they would not fight He being not in a capacity to retreat with honour or security told them that the only kindness which he desired of them was to march to a Hill a little way of and there be Spectators of the courage and fate of their fellow Souldiers hoping they might appear to the enemy as a Reserve and prove as great a discouragement to them as if they had actually engaged them I cannot imagine why these antient Fathers who have so positively declared in the Testimonies above-cited that they will not fight should be continued in view except it be with the like design to impose upon the Faith of those who are strangers to their intentions To the Authorities already produced I might add many more which do evidently manifest that the Church was a stranger to the doctrin of Transubstantiation for many hundred years What might be alledged I will sum up in the following particulars 1. They all agree in an imitation of the stile of Scripture and
is usually more violent than that which ariseth from a diversity in Civil The pretence of a Sacred Institution communicates an edge to the Spirits of those who are concerned for them They are easily induced to believe That they are engaged in the quarrel of the Deity and that their zeal for them will render the Divine Power propitious to them This consideration pushes them forward and makes them as fierce as the Poet represents the Combites to be against the Tentyrites An old grudge to immortal hatred turn'd Juv. Sat. 15. Betwixt the Tentyrites and Combites burn'd A wound in those adjacent towns past cure Because that neither people could endure Their neighbours Deities or would have more Held to be Gods than they themselves adore Such heats are frequently attended with very direful consequences Rev. 8.5 They produce strong Convulsion-fits in the Community Thundrings Lightnings and an Earthquake are represented as proceeding from the Fire of the Altar The Fire which consumed the Senate-House in Constantinople began in the Church Socr. p. 727. Nothing can be safe when Men are inflamed with a zeal for their own private Sentiments They think every one is under an obligation to submit to them The want of power is the only thing which gives a temper to their deportment So soon as they are numerous and prevalent enough nothing will satisfie but a complete Conquest all must stoop to their perswasions They account it an evidence of weakness if they cannot and of irreligion if they will not settle that which they conceive to be best And they believe they are not secure in the enjoyment of their power except they suppress others and bend them into a compliance with them 6. If Contests arise in the same Church about external modes a ready way to compose them is to appeal to Primitive Order and give the preference to those who come nearest to it If we view it as it lies in the Holy Scriptures and those undoubted Records which are next in Antiquity we shall find it to be not pompous and theatrical but grave and comely not calculated for the gratification of the Sensitive but Intellectual part not apt to divert the Intention from the import of Worship and yet sufficient to secure it against the assaults of Rudeness and Contempt The Ministerial part was appropriated to Three Orders of Men Apostles Elders and Deacons persons sound in Doctrin Sober and unspotted in their Conversation Presbyters were ordained in every Church and City The solemn time for Sacred Conventions was the first of the week In the Assemblies The Men were uncovered the Women veiled The Minister began with Prayer This he directed to God with the most important expressions of Devotion without the help of such a Prompter as the Ethnick Priests use to have lest they might forget the names of any of their Gods which were very numerous After this were read the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets And because some things are hard to be understood and those which are easie ought not only to be entertained in the Head but the Heart in the next place followed Preaching with the most pathetical Exhortations to Practice When the Sermon was finished all did rise from their seat and joyn in Prayer After this succeeded the celebration of the Holy Communion in which the President poured forth Thanksgiving and Supplication with all his might the People expressing their concurrence by saying Amen All was concluded with a contribution for the relief of the Poor Besides these circumstances There were some Symbolical Rites in use namely The Love-Feasts the Holy Kiss As the laying of these aside in some time doth plainly express That the Church did not believe they were grounded upon a perpetual institution but taken up upon Prudential Considerations in a Conformity to the general rules of Scripture So the Practice of them in the purest Age when Christian Simplicity was in its greatest vigour doth manifestly teach us That we have no just grounds to condemn our own Church because she retains some Rites not burdensome in their number and as innocent in their meaning as They were 7. If by reason of paucity of records or any obscurity in those which are extant it cannot be agreed what was the Primitive Order The ready way to Peace before Authority has made any determination is for the several Members of the Church to make prudent Condescensions one to another so as none may be nourished in their errour nor any have any just reason of offence administred to them This was the condition of the Romans when S. Paul did address his Epistle to them Their contests were violent Authority had not yet interposed The Counsel of the Apostle has an entire aspect upon this purpose Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him who eateth not judge him who eateth One man esteemeth one day above another another man esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Matters were not then ripe enough in that Church for a decision The converted Jews had not a full insight into the liberty which Christ purchased for them Therefore S. Paul doth not determine the case on either side but adviseth every member to a prudent demeanour and To follow the things which make for peace and things with which one may edisie another The Apostle suspending the exercise of his authority in these circumstances cannot be brought into an argument against all determinations about things which are adiaphorous for he in other Churches did decide this matter as appears by his Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ye observe days months times and years Gal. 4.9 10. Let no man therefore judge ye in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the New Moon or Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Col. 2.16 17. Certainly if the Apostle had believed That all Churches are to enjoy a freedom equal to that in which he left the Romans he would not have been so positive as he is with these eminent Churches 8. If Condescensions cannot be procured and circumstances become such That Rulers believe it prudential to make a determination both weak and strong are bound to acquiesce in the decision Such a determination is within the Sphere of humane authority God has commanded all that is Good and interdicted all Evil. The only things which are left to be the immediate object of Sublunary Power are those which are neither They may become useful or not useful as circumstances happen but in their own nature they are neither good or evil If any apply themselves to the doing of them for the sake of some intrinsick bonity which they fansie to be in them and others stand at a distance from them upon the account of some
imaginary obliquity and by this means the Tranquillity of the Community is endangered Rulers are undoubtedly concerned to keep the Peace and prevent those mischiefs which they cannot but have a prospect of if such different practices continue And this they cannot do without making a determination If things be let alone and every one enjoys a freedom to do that which seems best to him the prevailing party will at last carry all and force others to be vassals to their pleasure Certainly If God has invested Governours with a right to preserve the Peace of the Community he does by the same grant entitle them to the use of such means as have the most direct aspect upon this purpose and nothing looks fuller this way than a prudent determination What can be more expedient to prevent the spreading of Fire than to remove the fuel which foments it And if those who are over us have a power to make a decision it must necessarily be a duty in us to submit to it Otherwise their Authority will be in vain and of no signification What is objected against the Legality of such a determination That it accuseth the Scripture of imperfection takes away our Christian Liberty necessitates us to violate the Law concerning scandal will be found to be of no moment if duly considered 1. The perfection of the Written Word is to be estimated by its sufficiency to accomplish those ends for which it was given The end of the Penning of it is to acquaint us in particular rules with all the essential parts of Worship and whatsoever is of peremptory necessity in relation to our Eternal Beatitude in a Future State As for the modes of Religious Veneration nothing more is intended for our direction than General Precepts from which we may by the aid of that Reason with which God has endued us collect what is expedient in particular cases And when that Wisdom which presides over the Community makes an inference from the General Rule and tenders it to our observation the dishonour of imperfection is not reflected upon the Bible because nothing is done but that which is agreeable to its intention Of this We have a manifest demonstration in the Old Testament When the Law was so punctual as to name the very Pins belonging to the Tabernacle the Liberty which we contend for was allowed There were many constitutions in the Synagogues which had nothing to countenance them from the Scripture but General Commands 2. The determination of Authority is no prejudice to Christian Liberty 1 Ep. 2.14 16. S. Peter doth advise us to a submission to Governours as free which assures us That freedom is consistent with a subjection to their determinations Christian Liberty consists in a Manumission from that which our blessed Lord has abolished That which he did annul was the Typical Law It being designed as a signification That He was to come into the World and transact the desired Work of Atonement and Reconciliation when this great affair was accomplished the shadows became useless and none were obliged to believe that they were tied up unto them any longer by a Divine Appointment This is that which the Apostle has his eye upon when he exhorts the Galatians To stand fast in the liberty Gal. 5. ◠with which Jesus Christ had made them free There were some amongst them which did attempt to influence them with this perswasion That the Typical Precepts were still in force and none could be justified without a compliance with them Governours now may determine some particular modes relating to Divine Worship and yet deprive us of none of this Liberty provided that they impress no such signification upon them That the Messias is yet to come and that they impose them without any necessity of believing That they are of Divine Institution And that the number of them be so small as not to make them burthensome to us and prejudicial to Religion External Rites may be so multiplied that altho' singly considered They are innocuous yet conjunctively They may be hurtful in darkning the spirituality of Divine Worship and diverting the mind from the true import of it A multitude of leaves is a frequent impediment to the maturation of fruits Christ did put a period not only to the Ceremonial but the Judicial Law and by consequence our freedom from the obligation of it is a branch of Christian Liberty and yet none will presume to assert That this Liberty is lost when Christians in every Countrey where they inhabit submit to the judicial appointments of their Lawful Prince 3. The determination we speak of puts no necessity upon us to violate the Law concerning scandal The true meaning of that Law is That we must comply with the infirmity of our weak Brother in adiaphorous matters so long as we are left to our own freedom But in case we come to be limited in the exercise of our freedom by the Authority which presides over us That obligation in these circumstances is superseded It is a greater duty to conform to Authority in lawful Things than to comport with the weakness of these who are in a private capacity and when two obligations meet and both cannot be satisfied the lesser always gives place and yields to the greater III. Now I proceed to the Third Particular The End we are to propose to our selves in the acts of Religious Worship To render our performances acceptable Two Things are of peremptory necessity The Act must be good which we are ingaged in and our Intentions right in the doing of it As to the present case namely The Worship of God none doubt of the goodness of the Act. The most compendious way to discover how we are to direct our Intention in the performance of it is to consider what it has a a tendency to The finis operis will lead us to the finis operantis He who duely ponders the nature of it will discover that it has a tendency to these Three Things The Glory of God The Salvation of the Soul The Preservation of the Community The Glory of God This is Twofold either Internal or External Internal consists in the resplendent and peerless perfection of his Nature and this can admit of no increase It is boundless and infinite already External imports a similitude to and a declaration of this intrinsick excellency and to this an addition may be made several ways as in our Thoughts Words and Works We do this in our Thoughts When we entertain honourable apprehensions of the Divine Majesty and form Ideas agreeable to the glorious Attributes he is invested with In our Words When we make such articulate sounds as are appropriated to the signification of a sincere Confession and humble acknowledgment of his Superlative Perfection The Psalmist calls the Tongue his Glory because it is an Instrument adapted to this purpose Ps 10.31 Ps 110.3 Ps 148.13 and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Glory the
there can be no difficulty in discerning when they are exceeded and by consequence when a true Miracle is produced 4. The Word of God with its Internal Characters together with a perfect relation of the miraculous External effects whereby it was evidenced are faithfully committed to Writing Supernal direction was given not only about the matter but the manner S. Paul stiles the letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saies that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of Divine Inspiration The Men imployed about this Work were perfectly acquainted with all circumstances Their information was so exact That had they been lest to the conduct of their own private Spirits they could not have been mistaken thro' ignorance in setting down matters of fact Neither have they made any misrepresentation out of design If Moses had been instigated by private regards to compose the Pentateuch he would not have recorded the infamy of his own family If any fraud had been used in the Penning the New Testament no doubt many enemies as well as friends who were Spectators of the Miracles and Auditors of the Doctrin living to see the relation in Writing would have discovered it Yet we never read of any attempt of this nature but on the contrary Porphyry Celsus and Julian in their cavils against Christian Religion suppose the matter of fact That such Doctrin was Preached and such Miracles done 5. This Writing in the Old Testament is digested into four and twenty Books In the New into twenty seven five Historical one and twenty Epistolical one Prophetical For this number we have the most clear Tradition Ezra having consigned the Canon of the Old Testament S. John of the New both of them persons inspired by the Spirit of God and of great Authority amongst Men The Tradition came in so full a stream from their hands that in every age it has born down all the opposition which has been made against it This Tradition we have just reason to embrace altho' we reject others because it adds nothing to the doctrin of the Bible as the Pipe adds nothing to the Water which is conveyed by it It is virtually contained in the Scripture It owes much of its universality to the intrinsick excellency of the Sacred Oracles which upon the first consulting commend themselves to the good opinion of every intelligent Reader It is of greater latitude than any other Tradition which is not formally contained in the Scripture As for others the Romanists are able to produce only the testimony of their party but for this we have not only the Testimony of all which adhere to the Community of Rome but that vast body of Christians which appertain to the Greek Protestant and all the Oriental Churches It must be acknowledged That there was for a time some hesitancy in some persons about some part of the New Testament The Christians concerned being dispersed and kept by persecution from holding correspondencies one with another could not possibly have an information equally early about those Books which were last written Upon this account when they first arrived at their hands they made some demur as the Apostles did at Christ when they believed him to be a Phantasin but upon a deliberate view consulting with those who had a more perfect intelligence they corrected the errour of their apprehension Insomuch That there is no instance which can be produced of any Church or Council which in any Decree or Canon has disallowed their Authority 6. These Books of the Old and New Testament have been transmitted to us without corruption We have the attestation of all sorts of men in every age for their passage thro' it Councils have made them the foundation of their Theological divisions The Fathers appeal to them in their Concertations as the most equal Arbitrators Divines before their Homilies prefix a Text taken out of them The Hereticks in every age have drawn from them whatsoever they conceive may favour their Sentiments Porphyrie's cavils at the Old Testament Hierocles comparing the Life of Christ in the New with the Life of Apollonius Julian's spending his Winter-nights in the refutation of it the Jews calling of it a volume of iniquity argue That they were extant and passed by them in those ages in which they lived Shimei's cursing and throwing stones at David at Bahurim make it evident that he went that way As these Books of the Old and New Testament have passed thro' every age down to us So in their passage they have escaped depravation What is spoken concerning the Essential Word may be applied to the Written Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption If the Old Testament in any point material to Religion has been depraved it must be by the common fate which all humane Writings are exposed unto or else out of design by the Jews or by some unadvised neglect in those who copied it out Not the first way It is notorious what a signal discrimination Divine Providence has made betwixt the Scripture and other Writings in point of conservation When the book of the Law was given forth every Master of a family was obliged to have a Copy of it in his house The Prince was bound as is conceived to Write it out with his own hand Every Sabbath it was read in the Synagogues in the audience of the people Peculiar Persons were appointed to prevent any mutation in Words or Letters The Massorites who began in Ezra's time did reckon up all the Verses in every Verse the Words in every Word the Letters and have punctually expressed how many times every Word is used and which is the middle Verse Word and Letter in every Book It does not appear That the like care has been used by Divine Providence for the securing any other Book from depravation The event has been answerable to the care The Writings of the Penmen of the Scripture which they composed by the aid and conduct of their own Spirits have been corrupted and at last are utterly perished as Solomon's natural History But what they composed by the help of the Divine Spirit is preserved in its purity In all Copies of the best account there is a miraculous harmony in all material points The burning of the Book of the Law by Antiochus is very reconcileable with the vigilancy of Providence which has been asserted Tho' he was permitted to destroy some Copies yet his rage was not suffered to reach to all After this The Israelites in Maspha are said to lay open the book of the Law 1 Macc. 3.47 This fire made the Jews more warm in the defence of the Scripture against injurious attempts It is observed That from this time they began to be more Critical about the Text. That which was designed for the ruine of it was by the propitious influence of Heaven improved into a security The burning the sacred Oracles like the burning the Sibyll's books did make the Copies which remained have the greater value set
who by a Divine appointment notwithstanding his notorious miscarriage was to joyn with the rest of the Apostles in teaching all Nations he is commanded by Christ as many times to feed his flock as he had denyed him All this will make it evident That the Church of Rome has no promise made to her in the Scripture of Infallibility As for Universal Tradition That will be as hard to be found as a Scripture-promise It imports the delivery of this doctrin from one age to another ever since the Apostles times and an acknowledgment and reception of it in all places by all true Christians The following particulars cannot be reconciled with such a Tradition Many Heresies did emerge in the first Ages by which the Church was exceedingly disquieted Yet we never read in any authentick Record that the Bishop of Rome did summon those which adhered to them to appear in his infallible Consistory If any such Judicatory had been then known it is incredible he should so far neglect his duty as not to attempt the reducing of them to a sober and orthodox mind by his unerring Authority The Bishops of that Church lived so near the Apostolical Age that they could not be ignorant of the power which Christ had left with them and they were so pious and good that it would be a manifest injury to their memory to think that they would not exert it in matter of such importance If these Hereticks were summoned altho' no such thing is rècorded and did refuse to submit to the Authority which is pretended it is unaccountable how it comes to pass that Irenaeus Epiphanius Theodoret who have composed Catalogues of Heresies with which the Church was then infested should be so forgetful as not to reckon That in the number which those were guilty of who would not acquiesce in the supposed Authority This is now reputed an errour of the first magnitude All others are esteemed but trifles in comparison If it had been so accounted then it would not have been passed by in so profound a silence The African Bishop's denial of a compliance with Sozimus Boniface and Celestine Cyprian's refusal of a submission to Stephanus Irenaeus's opposing the decree of Victor do manifestly declare That they knew nothing of the Tradition which is pretended Had they been acquainted with it their integrity would not have suffered them to be engaged in so much disrespect towards the Church of Rome When Tertullian and Vincentius Lirinensis apply themselves to prescribe the best method how to prevent the spreading of Heresie they speak not one syllable of an infallible Judicatory at Rome If it had been known in their days no doubt they would not have failed to mention it as the most sovereign expedient If a Man sets himself to write a Book concerning the best way how to cure the Plague and knows of one infallible remedy it is not consistent with the rule of common honestly to pass it by in silence and to entertain his Reader with some uncertain conjectures It was anciently decreed That Controversies should be determined in the Province where they did arise If it had been believed That there was then such an Oracular Judge as is now asserted this had been a very unjust decree What can be more injurious than to oblige men to acquiesce in the decision of those who may impose upon them when they might if left to their liberty have had recourse to one in whom there is no possibility of deception A belief of this infallibility would have drawn such respects upon the Bishop of Rome That no other would have dared to account himself his equal and yet S. Cyprian treats him in such terms as plainly import a parity He stiles him Frater Collega Co-episcopus S. Jerome says That all Bishops are of an equal merit and the same Priesthood wheresoever they are whether at Rome Eugubium Constantinople Rhegium c. In the Communicatory Letters no more respect is expressed to him than to others The primacy which is some times spoken is not of jurisdiction but order He living in the City where the seat of the Emperour was when he did convene with other Bishops some regard was signified upon the account of his relation to that place but none upon the account of any Infallibility and Oecumenical jurisdiction which he was believed to be invested with When applications were made to him by those who were in distress it was not done with an opinion That he was inspired with an unnerring Spirit to determine their case but because he was of the same Sentiment with them and had great advantages by reason of his residence in the Imperial City to procure their relief What he did in favour of such persons as S. Athanasius and Chrysostome was not done juridically but declaratively He did not act as an authorized Judge but a sincere and resolved Friend to that Truth for which they were oppressed The infirmity of these pleas for Infallibility makes the Defenders at last'to fly to the Motives to Credibility as the securest Sanctuary The chief of them are Antiquity Diuturnity Amplitude uninterrupted succession of Bishops agreement in Doctrin with the ancient Church union of Members holiness of Doctrin efficacy of Doctrin holiness of Life the glory of Miracles If we should enter upon a particular examination of these they would be so far from proving the Church of Rome infallible that they will not amount to prove her a True Church The Church of Rome in those points which are peculiar to her is not so ancient as is pretended The novelty of those things in which she differs from the reformed Church is notoriously manifest as Supremacy the Worship of Images Transubstantiation c. When she has screw'd every thing to the highest pin it will not appear That any point of difference was before the Mystery of Iniquity began to work Diuturnity may with as much efficacy induce us to believe That the Mahometans are a True Church for they have been a thousand years in the world much longer than some Articles in the Roman Creed Amplitude may as well prove the Community of Rome Apostatical as Apostolical Antichristian as Christian Antichrist is described as sitting upon many waters and those Waters are interpreted people and multitudes Rev. 17.1 15. Those who have taken the greatest care to survey the World assert That if it be divided into thirty parts nineteen are inhabited by Polytheists Of the eleven that remain six be Jews and Mahometans Of the space which is left the greatest part is possessed by those who refuse a submission to the Bishop of Rome as Protestants Greeks Nestorians Jacobites He who takes a deliberate view of the vast body of the first in Poland Transylvania Hungary Germany Sweden Denmark Britany France and Ireland Of the second in Achaia Epirus Macedon Thrace Bugaria Walachia Podolia Moscovia Russia Natolia Syria Of the third in Assyria Mesopotamia Parthia Media India Tartaria Of the fourth in
cannot be denied to him in this case which if it happens to be contrary to the sentence of the Judge he must bear without a tumultuous deportment the consequences of it 6. All the Testimony we have That such a Guide is intended is from the Church of Rome which is the party concerned and lays claim to this Dignity If we ask how it comes to be known that the is vested in this immunity Scripture-promises are presently alledged If we further demand How we shall know that this is the sence of the promise We are told That we must adhere to the interpretation of the Church which understands it so From which it evidently appears That the ultimate ground and reason of our belief in this particular is the Testimony of the Church of Rome For no Community is permitted to have the denomination of a true Church besides that which submits to the Papal Authority If our Blessed Lord the supreme Head of the Church says If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true Joh. 5.31 Much more may this be applied to the Body if it has no other evidence for this fundamental point but what is derived from her self The bare testimony of a party is not a sufficient foundation to build a legal determination upon in any Court of Law 7. The Primitive Constitution of the Church plainly intimates That no one Guide was designed to be Supreme over all the Churches in the World Our blessed Lord left the Apostles in a parity Nothing was spoken to S. Peter concerning any Ecclesiastical Power but what the others were equally concerned in These constituted Bishops over particular Churches in the same equality they themselves were left in Tho' in every Church there is a subordination of the Clergy and People to their own Bishop yet there is none to any which is foreign It is true There is one Catholick Church but the unity of it consists in having one Lord one Faith and one Baptism and not one Bishop and Head to interpret for all and impose what dictates he pleaseth upon them The antient Churches did maintain correspondencies by Communicatory Letters and when extraordinary cases did emerge send their prudential Expedients as the effects of their Charity But we no where read of the exercise of any pretended authority one over the other If there had been any one authorised Guide in controversie for all Churches known in those early times when Heresies and Schisms did arise no question a speedy application would have been made to him for the curing of what was amiss yet we read of no such matter But on the contrary Appeals were prohibited to any foreign Bishop and an express order established That differences should be decided within the Province where they did emerge S. Cyprian asserts so much in his Epistle to Cornelius Epist 55. Pamel Epist 59. Oxon. Nam cum statutum sit omnibus nobis aequum sit c. For when it is appointed to all of us and it is both equal and just That the cause of every one should be heard where the crime is committed and a portion of the Flock is assigned to particular Pastors which every one must rule and govern being under an obligation to give an account to the Lord of what he does It behoves those whom we are set over not to run up and down nor break the firm concord of Bishops by their subdolous and fallacious temerity but there to plead their cause where the Accusers may have witnesses of their crime c. The fifth Canon of the first Council of Nice is of the same importance and is so interpreted by the next General Council held at Constantinople in the second Canon As for the Canons of the Council of Sardica which seem to favour Appeals there is just reason to suspect that they are forged The Fathers of the sixth Council of Carthage knew nothing of them tho' about Forty African Bishops were present at that Convention as Athanasius testifies A matter of such moment could not have been concealed from them when so many of their own Countreymen were witnesses to what was transacted The attempt that was made to father them upon the Council of Nice argues That there was no fair dealing about them If the Canons are genuine it must be remembred That they were made not by a General but a Provincial Synod Tho' the Council was intended to be General yet it proved otherwise by the Oriental Bishops withdrawing themselves and refusing to act in it The decrees of such a Convention have not efficacy enough to rescind and annul what was done before in the Council of Nice An Inferiour Authority cannot abolish what is established by a Superiour If the Council had been General yet if we look well into the Canons pretended to be framed by it they will not amount to that which the Church of Rome thinks to make of them Three things are conceded to the Bishop of that See 1. A liberty in case of judgment already given to deliberate whether the matter ought not to be considered again 2. If he thought so whether he would send any to be present at the hearing of the Cause 3. A freedom to appoint Judges out of the neighbouring Provinces finally to determine Here is no bringing the cause to Rome but the judgment is to be ended where the difference did begin If all this was as real as it is pretended to be it cannot be looked upon as any more than a prudent Expedient in that present juncture The Arians very much prevailed The Orthodox were highly oppressed The Bishop of Rome favoured their cause And to put him into a greater capacity of succouring them such a determination might be condescended unto But the words of the Synod plainly represent it as a novel thing which the Church before was utterly unacquainted with Neither the Institution of Christ nor Primitive Tradition are alledged as the ground of it but an honorary respect to the memory of S. Peter the Bishop of Rome being at that time esteemed as his Successour and very stedfast in that faith which he sacrificed his life for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words of Hosius of Corduba who is represented as the person who did steer all matters under debate in that Convention 8. No provision is made of one infallible Guide in a case of like importance The whole World is one Community under God the Father as the Church is one under Christ All particular Kingdoms are united under some general Laws as the several Churches are in the same rules of Belief and Worship They have all the same light of Reason There is a jus Gentium to which all the Empires of the Universe are obliged to submit Peace is as desirable betwixt them as Unity amongst the several parts of the Church The records of every Nation give an account of the direful effects of Civil as well as Ecclesiastical discord From hence ariseth the most
Seal the Faith of the Gospel with his blood He asserts That Moses received the lively Oracles to give unto us Act. 7.38 The lively Oracles are the Ten Commandments They are stiled Oracles because they were laid up in the place from whence God used to give forth his Oracles and lively in opposition to the dead Oracles of the Heathens which were observed to languish and fail about the time of the manifestation of Jesus Christ whereas the Ten Commandments were then in their full vigour These Precepts Stephen a sincere Convert to the Faith of Christ says Moses received That he might deliver them to us In this number he includes himself as standing in the relation of a Christian the whole Chapter being intended as an Apology for that profession Therefore the Decalogue concerns us not only by virtue of the matter of it but the Tradition and delivery by Moses To this are very consonant the words of S. Paul Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with promise That it may be well with thee and thou mayst live long on the earth Eph. 6.2 3. This Promise is here mentioned with a design to quicken those who were Christians and no Israelites by birth to give a chearful obedience to the Fifth Command The Apostle endeavours That it may have this effect upon them by declaring their particular interest in it This is the first Commandment with promise as well to you Ephesians as those who are Jews If his meaning had been That this is the first Command which was given with promise to the Jews only therefore do you who are Ephesians conform to it the strength of the argument had been lost It is no good consequence That because length of days was promised to the Jews That therefore the Gentiles should enjoy the same priviledge Many temporal blessings were entailed upon that people which Christians can make no just claim to The Gospel is a more refined dispensation under the Law there was less of the Spirit and more of Temporal things While Christians are in the Sea of this world they cannot expect that the tide of external blessings should be as great as it was under the Judaical Oeconomy Now there is nothing in the whole Decalogue which in appearance is more appropriated to the Israelites than this Promise Those words That thy days may be long in the Land seem to have a particular aspect upon the land of Canaan and if that in the Decalogue which seems to be most appropriated is notwithstanding not so but common to Christians then that which seems to be less appropriated is likewise common to them and by consequence the whole Decalogue It is a known rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If that which has a greater appearance of being is not neither is that which has less Lastly The words of S. James are of the same importance For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill c. 2.11 These two Commands are perpetual and oblige all Christians The reason of their obligation is not taken from their intrinsick nature but the authority of him who published them in the time of Moses That that time and place is aimed at is evident from v. 8. Fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture that is The Scripture and Writings of Moses where the Law is laid down and the manner of its being spoken by God upon the Mount related This reason whereby these Two Commands become obligatory under the Gospel extends to every particular precept in the Decalogue He that said thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery said likewise Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy All these were spoken at the same time in the same manner immediately by the mouth of God unto the People which cannot be affirmed of any of the Laws which are not contained in that Combination And if there be the same reason for the obligation of the whole Decalogue amongst Christians as there is for the Sixth and Seventh Precepts then the whole doth oblige them and will continue so to do to the World's End Very consonant to this is the Testimony of Theophilus Antiochenus who speaking of these Two Laws which S. James mentions together with the other parts of the Decalogue which he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 useth these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses the servant of God was a Minister of this divine Law to all the world In this he asserts no more than what the Apostle had done before him Rom. 3.19 What things soever the Law saith it saith to them which are under the Law that all the world may become guilty before God By the World we must understand not only Jews but Gentiles as most evidently appears by the ninth verse It is impossible that the whole World should be obnoxious to guilt upon the account of disobedience to the Moral Law as it lyes in the Old Testament had it not been intentionally given to it The Constitutions which go under the name of Clemens Romanus Constit Apost l. 6. c. 19. represent the Decalogue as a compleat and perfect Law appertaining to Christians Irenaeus speaks of two sorts of Divine Precepts L. 4. c. 26. p. 344. particularia which are appropriated to the Old Testament and eminentiora summa which are common to the Old and New The Scholiast upon the place reckons the Decalogue amongst the last it being designed by God as a perpetual rule for his people in all ages For this Gloss he had authority enough from Irenaeus himself L. 4. c. 39. c. 31. who afterwards represents the Decalogue as the Law of Nature and at the coming of Christ to receive extension and enlargement but no dissolution To these Testimonies we may add the consent of our own Church which she has sufficiently discovered in her placing the Ten Commandments as delivered in the Twentieth chap. of Exodus in the very Catechism which Children are to learn and obliging the people in the Liturgy after the reading of every Precept to use such words as import That it is a Law obligatory to them To say That She by the word Law understands sometimes the Law only in the mystical and Spiritual sence is very incongruous for she makes no discrimination but enjoyns the continuation of the same form of Speech to the last Command A Precept without the Letter is no Law at all It is a known rule That when the literal sence of a Law is repeated the whole Law is abrogated For the Letter is the foundation whatsoever is besides is the superstructure The superstruction must necessarily fall when the foundation is removed Tho' the spiritual sence of a Law may be of use when the Letter is discharged yet it is not to be accounted as the sence of that which is now a Law but of that which was formerly so The spiritual sence of the Ceremonial Law is still of use yet