Apostles unless it had been also delivered in writing and unless those writings had been brought down to our Hands And blessed be God! there was such a Delivery in the Books of the New Testament In which Books the Apostles bearing witness as they do to the Scriptures of the Old Testament that they were Written by Divine Inspiration and that they are able to make us wise to Salvation through Faith in Iesus Christ and delivering the Faith in Iesus Christ as they do in their own writings to the end that all men may believe on him to Eternal life Therefore in these Books of the Old and New Testament together we have a Standard of the Apostles Doctrine and we have not the like for any other than what is written in these Books Here is all that we can surely call the Doctrine of the Apostles unless we know more than the Fathers of the Primitive Church They through whose hands this Doctrine must pass before it could come into ours knew nothing but what they had in the Scriptures This was constantly their Standard and Rule of all things in the words of St. Chrysostom Who says again All things that are necessary are plain and manifest in the Scriptures So St. Austin says All things that belong to Faith or Life are to be found in plain places of Scripture St. Basil saith Believe those things that are written inquire not into things that are not written St. Ierom Non credimus quia non legimus we believe no more than we â—ead In like manner say many other of the Fathers And though they did sometimes quote the Apostles Traditions for Ritual things yet in matters of Faith if they prove any thing from Tradition it is either the Written Tradition of Scripture of if Unwritten 't is no other than the Creed as it were easie to shew in many Instances And withal they believed there was nothing in the Creed but what they could prove from the Scriptures and they did prove it from the Scriptures upon occasion in every Particular So that in their Judgment it is not only a sufficient but the only Measure of the Doctrin of the Apostles And by this we may judg as to matter of Doctrin who are and who are not Members of the Apostolical Church The next Character is this that they continued in the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fellowship a word that has diverse senses in Scripture In this place it seems to be the same as Society They were in the Apostles Society or Communion Now to continue in their Society considering what they were men deputed by Christ for the Government of his Church it could be no other than to continue as Members of that Body which Christ put under their Government But how can any be so now they being dead so many Ages since and their Government so long since expired with them No their Government is not expired though they are For it was to continue till the end of the World So that according to the common saying among the Jews Whosoever one sends being as himself So our Saviour having sent the Apostles saith Whosoever receives you receives me In like manner whosoever were sent by the Apostles were as themselves And whosoever continued in their Fellowship were in the Fellowship of the Apostles Now their Government is declared to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Bishopric And in this Office they were equal among themselves as our Saviour describes them sitting on twelve Thrones and judging the twelve Tribes of Israel It is observable that this was after his Promise to St. Peter Mat. xvi 16 c. Which Promise I consider by the way because 't is so much pressed by the Romanists to prove a Power which Christ had given St. Peter over the rest of the Apostles If Christ had truly given it we must then have considered whether St. Peter left any Successors in that Power And if so why not St. Iohn the Apostle by Survivance why not the Bishop of the undoubted Mother-Church at Ierusalem Why not the Bishop of some other City where the Scripture has assured us that St. Peter Preacht rather than of Rome where if he did preach we have not a word of it in Scripture These and sundry more such Questions would have risen upon that Hypothesis of such a Power given to S. Peter But it is out of Question that the Apostles never so understood those words of Christ. They knew of no Power that was promised to St. Peter more than to themselves in that Text. For after this they were at strife among themselves who should be chief After this they disputed it again and again and Christ chid them every time but never told them I have promised it to Peter Nay it appears that Christ did not intend it by his open Declarations to the contrary That it should not be among them as in Secular Kingdoms and Monarchies It appears more plainly in the fulfilling of his Promise For he both ordained the rest with S. Peter without any Difference And when they all together had received the Holy Ghost in this Chapter St. Peter stood up with the eleven ver 14. And upon him and them Christ built his Church even all these who continued not only in his but in the Fellowship of all the Apostles Now if all the Apostles were equal in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Government then it is certain that their Successors must be so in like manner Though one must have Precedence before other for Order's sake as St. Peter had usually among the Apostles when they were together And though one may be above others in the same National Church as all Primats are by Human Laws Yet none by the Law of God hath Authority over others I say none among their Successors any more than among the Apostles themselves So St. Cyprian declares oftentimes in his Writings Not to mention the like as I might from many other of the Fathers Now the Bishops in after times in their several Churches were undoubtedly held to be the Successors of the Apostles We have as great a consent among the Antients for this as we have for the Observation of the Lord's Day And it is evident from the Primitive Writers that they lookt upon Communion with their Bishops as Communion with the very Apostles They held it the Duty of every Christian to obey them in Spiritual things They held it the Duty of every Bishop to govern and feed his own Flock To attend to that only and not to usurp upon his Brethren But all as occasion served to do all good Offices one for another and to join their endeavours for the common Concernments of the Church And for them so to govern the Church and for the People to live under their Government in Spiritual things This was to
pain according to the Degrees of their sins All the Fathers were of some or other of these Opinions which are all inconsistent with the Roman Doctrine of Purgatory b Aúg. de Fide Operibus c. 15. Tom. IV. p. 69. E. saith Some think men that die in sin may be purged with Fire and then be saved holding the Foundation For so they understand that Text. 1 Cor. iii. 13. They shall be saved as by Fire So Enchirid. ad Laurent c. 67â— Tom. III. p. 175. C. Ibid. de Fide Operibus p. 71. B. He saith that this is one of those places which St. Peter saith are hard to be understood which men ought not to wrest to their own Destruction Ibid. c. 16. p. 73. B. He saith for his own part he understandeth that Text to be meant of the Fire of Tribulation in this life So Enchir. ad Laur. Ib. c. 68. But for the Doctrine he saith that some such thing may be is not Incredible and whether it be so it may be enquired and it may be found or it may not So Enchir. ad Laur. c. 69. p. 176. D. All these Texts he repeats again in his answer to the first of the eight Questions of Dulâ—itius De Civitate Dei l. XXI c. 26. Tom. V. p. 1315. B. He again delivereth the same meaning of that Text. And as to the Doctrin he saith I do not find fault with it for Perhaps it is true Ibid. p. 1316. B. I suppose St. Austin would not have said this of the Doctrine of Christs Incarnation c Pope Gregory I. in his Dialogues where among many idle tales he hath some that are palpably false andd such as bewray both his Ingorance and Credulity together For Example that of St. Paulins being a Slave in Afric till the Death of the King of the Vandals who could be no other than Genseric that out-lived St. Paulin five and forty years And yet Gregory saith I heard this from our Elders and this I do as firmly believe as if I had seen it with my own Eyes lib. 1. Praef. c. 1. d Bishop Fisher against Luthers Assert Art 18. p. 132. saith it was a good while unknown and then it was believed by some pedetentim by little and little and so at last it came to be generally received by the Church e Platina who then lived in the life of Eugenius IV. Edit Colon. 1593. p. 310. saith After many meetings and much contention about it the Greeks at last being overcome with reasons did believe there was a place of Purgatory But he adds that not long after they returned to what they held before And in the life of Nicolas V. p. 323 324. he saith that he would fain have reduced them to the Catholic Faith but he could not Bishop Fisher ubi supra saith There is none or very seldom mention of it among the Ancients and it is not believed by the Greeks to this day Alphonsus de Castro adv Haeres l. 8. Tit. Indulg hath the same words and l. 12. Tit. Purgatorium saith That this is one of the most known Errors of the Greeks and Armenians Bzov. contin Baron Anno 1514. n. 19. saith The Muscovites and Russians believe no Purgatory Most of these believe a middle State as those Ancients did but that will not stand with this Doctrin a For the Age of it scarce any go higher than the Stations of Pope Gregory I. Who lived about the year Six hundred And to fetch it from those Times they have no antienter Author than Thomas Aquinas for neither Gratian nor Peter Lombard have so much as one word of this matter So Cardinal Cajetan Opusc. Tom. I. tract 15. c. 1. saith This only has been written within these three hundred years as concerning the Antient Fathers that Pope Gregory instituted the Indulgences of Stations as Aquinas hath it So likewise Bishop Fisher and Alphonsus a Castro both ubi Supra Cardinal Bellarmin de Indulg l. 3. offers some kind of proof from Elder Times in such a manner as if he would not oblige us to believe it But for the Instance of Pope Gregory I. he saith we are Impudent if we deny it But with Bellarmins leave a French Oratoire Morinus de Poenit. l. 10. â— 20. does deny it and convicts this and all his other Proofs of Indulgences before Gregory VII to be nothing but Forgery and Imposture It seems probable indeed that Gregory VII commonly known by his former name Hildebrand was the first that granted any Indulgences and that was above a thousand years after Christ. Cardinal Tolet. casuum l. VII c. 21. 1. saith that Paschal II. was the first that granted Indulgences for the Dead That must be about the year eleven hundred And Ibid. lib. VI. c. 24. 3. he saith that the first that granted Plenary Indulgences was Pope Boniface VIII who lived about the year thirteen hundred So antient is this new Catholic Faith b The Ground of this Faith according to Bellarmin de Indulg l. 2 3. is made up of a number of School Opinions put together about which Opinions as he there saith the School-men have differed among themselves But all his comfort is that they that did not hold his way were ready to acquiess in the Iudgment of the Church if she held otherwise He might as well have said that the Church when they lived was so far from having declared her Judgment of this Doctrine that she had not yet declared her sense of those Opinions which were to be the Ground of it in after-times c The design of Hildeâ—ands Indulgences was to engage men to fight in his quarrel and to do other Services to the Papacy Greg. VII Epist. II. 54. and VI. 10 15. and VII 13. and VIII 6. The design of Pope Boniface in his farther Improvement of this Invention was to get Mony Chron. Citiz. Anno 1289. He was greedy of Mony and to gather it he sent his Legates into divers parts of the world to trade with Indulgences And with these he raised very great sums enough to have maintained a Holy War But what became of it we shall know at Doomsday a Transubstantiation for the Honour of the Clergy Confession for their Power and Authority Image Worship to bring in Oblations to the Church Purgatory for the Profit of Masses to the Lower Clergy Indulgences for the Profit of the Superior Plenary Indulgences for the Popes own Coffers a For Transubstantiation the first that wrote was Paschas Rathertus about the year 820. And he tells us of sundry Persons that had seen instead of the Host one a Lamb another a Child another flesh and blood Paschas de corp sang Dom. c. 14. And after the year 1200 when it was defined to be of Faith Caesarius of Heisterbach wrote a whole Volume of Miracles that were wrought in that Age to confirm the Truth of it more in number than are Recorded in Scripture to confirm the whole Divine Revelation
For Auricular Confession Bellarmin produces sundry Revelations and Miracles by which he saith God witnest that the Churches Faith concerning it was true de Poenit. l. III. c. 12. Quarta Among the rest he hath that of St. Francis who raised one from the Dead to be Confessed which I take to be no less than the fetching of Trajans Soul from Hell according to their Doctrine For Image-Worship the Fathers in that second Nicene Council set it up in contemplation of the Miracles that were wrought by the Images Concil Edit Labb Tom. VII p. 252. C. So Bellarmin de Imagin Sanct. l. II. c. 12. Miracula saith The Miracles which were done by the Images were therefore done that they might prove and establish the Doctrin of Images For Purgatory Pope Gregory in his before-mentioned Dialogues l. IV. c. 55. c. declares upon what ground it was that he believed it namely from the Relation of the poor Souls themselves that were confined to the Hot Baths and kept there at hard work Swelterd as Tenders use to be From which miserable Bondage they were redeemed by Prayers and Masses as he tells us So Bishop Fisher ubi Supra p. 132. saith Purgatory was found out partly by Revelations and partly by Scriptures but Scriptures he confesseth so understood as they never were in former times And for Indulgences he tells us that they came not in use till after men had quaked a while at the flames of Purgatory The belief of that Doctrine fitted men for this And yet this had Miracles to support it So Lintur App. ad Fascic temp Anno 1489. tells how at Friburg one Devil in the Shape of a Dog helpt one to rob the Pope of all the Mony that his Factors had taken in that City for which the Thief having confessed it was put to a mâ—st direful death b Bellarmin de Romano Pontifice Praef. saith When we speak of the Popes Power we speak of the Sum of Christianity a Rule 4th of the Index made by order of the Council of Trent that Whosoever shall presumè to read or have a Bible though of a Catholic Translation without a Faculty in writing from his Bishop such a one cannot receive Absolution till he has delivered up his Bible to the Ordinary For fear this should not be enough Pope Clement VIII has added this Note that by command and practice of the Holy Inâ—isition no Bishop has power to grant any such Faculty to read or keep a Bible any vulgar tongue * Cicero pro Archia Edit Grut. l. 292. 17. a St. Iohn saith at the end of the Gospel These things are written that ye might believe and that believing ye might have Life St. Paul directs his Epistles to all in general Rom. i. 7. To All that be in Rome beloved of God c. 1 Cor. i. 2. To the Church of God at Corinth with All that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. i. 1. To the Church at Corinth with All the Saints which are in all Achaia So in other Epistles b Chrysost. in Gen. Serm. 29. Tom. I. p. 225. 10. I beseech you to attend with diligence to the reading of the Scriptures and that not only while you are here but also at home to take the Bible in your hands and receive the profit of it with care Lin. 22. Let us not I beseech you neglect so great a profit but also in our houses let us diligently attend the reading of Scriptures Lin. 36. That we may not only have enough for our selves but be able to help others and instruct wife and children and neighbours c. Id. in Joh. Serm. 53. Tom. II. p. 776. 27. I beseech you get Bibles Id. in his Sermon of the profit of reading Scripture Tom. VIII p. 112. 43. Let us apply our selves to reading not only these two hours for this bare hearing is not enough to secure us but continually let every one when he is come home take his Bible and go over the sense of those things that have been said For the tree that was planted by the waters was by the waters not two or three hours but all day and all night therefore it bringeth forth leaves and fruit c. So he that is continually reading the Scriptures though he have none to interpret yet by continual reading he draws much profit Id. de Lazaro Serm. 3. Tom. V. p. 242. 30. This I alway beseech and will never leave beseeching you that you would not only attend to what is said in this place but also that when you are at home you would continually be reading the Scriptures This also at all times I have not ceased to beg of them with whom I speak in private c Chrys. in Coloss. Serm. 9. Tom. IV. p. 136. 18. On these words of the Apostle Let the word of God dwell in you richly Hear you people of the world you that have charge of wife and children how he exhorts you more than others to read the Scriptures and that not slightly or any how but with much diligence Again p. 137. 2. Hear I beseech you all you that work for your living and get your selves Bibles for the cure of your souls Lin. 7. This is the cause of All evils that men do not know the Scriptures Lin. 9. Do not throw all upon Vs of the Clergy You are Sheep but not brutes but rational creatures d Id. de Lazaro Serm. 3. Tom. V. p. 244. 43. Take the Bible in your hands Read all the History Hold fast the known things For the dark and unknown go often over them and if thou canst not by continual reading find out what is said Go to thy teacher If he shall not teach thee God will seeing thy diligence c. a Chrysost. de Lazaro S. 3. Tom. V. p. 245. 18. The reading of Scripture is a great security against sin The ignorance of Scripture is a great precipice and a deep pit It is a great Betraying of our Salvation to know nothing of the Laws of God It is this that hath brough forth Heresies this that has brought in corrupt life this hath turnd things upside down For it is impossible I say it is impossible for any one to depart without fruit that enjoys reading continually with observation a Bellarm. de verbo dei II. 15. Quid quod The people would not only receive no benefit but would also receive hurt by the Scriptures c. Peter Sutor tralat Bibliae c. 22. fol. 96. Will not the people be drawn away easily from observing the Churches Institutions when they shall find that they are not conteind in the Law of Christ a Luke xxiv 47. Gal. iv 26. The second General Council called the Church of Ierusalem the mother of all Churches Theodorit Eccl. Hist. V. 9. Edit Vales. p. 211. D. b Considerations against Popery p. 81 82 c. a Mat. x. 2. b Dâ—m a Sâ—to in Sent. IV. dist 46. q. 1. art