in the dark Ages of the Western Church gave the Rise to her Errors We therefore do exhort them in the Words of Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cohort ad Graec. p. 15. Not without trial to assent to the Errors of their Fore-fathers nor presently to think that true which they mistaking delivered to them for Tradition Fourthly They retorted the Objection saying That if it were a Fault Arnob. p. 91. A veteribus institutis in alias res novas migrare to quit their ancient Institutions for things new it was as well their fault as ours That whereas they objected to the Christians Divortium ab institutis majorum Tert. ad Nation cap. 10. their departure from the Institutions of their Ancestors they communicated with them in the same Crime For Exclusa a vobis Antiquitas you though you plead Antiquity against us have your selves cast it off Totam Authoritatem majorum vestra Authoritas dejecit Your own Authority hath destroyed or overthrown the whole Authority of the Ancients and we see even whilst you urge it against us Per omnia corruptam imo deletam in vobis Antiquitatem Antiquity wholly corrupted and even extinguished amongst you which is the constant Plea of Protestants that they desert the Roman Church only as far as she hath palpably deserted the pure and Ancient Church of Christ they separate from her only in those things in which she hath most plainly separated from the Faith and Discipline of ancient Rome and the whole Church of Christ and this hath been so demonstratively proved in the Article of the true Canon of Scripture by Bishop Cousins of the Pope's Supremacy by Doctor Barrow in the Articles of Service in Latin Veneration of Images Communion in one Kind the Seven Sacraments in Three late Treatises designed to prove the Fallibility of Romish Councils by their actually false Decrees that none of the Disputers of the Church of Rome have dared yet to meddle with them and thereby give us good Assurance who know they want not will to do it that they cannot Answer them The like hath excellently been performed in all the other controverted Articles if not to the Conviction yet to the Silencing of our Adversaries Fifthly They constantly tell the Heathens That there was a time when their Religion was New and when their Gods began to be so that this being so Arnob. l. 2. p. 92 93. Cum de novitate loquimini Religionum nostrarum vestrae vobis in mentem non veniunt when they spake of the Novelty of the Christian Faith they forgat the Novelty of their own Religion our Religion say you P. 94. was not Four hundred Years ago and your Gods say we were not Two thousand Years ago Now is it not shameful and impudent in you Quod agere te videas in eo alterum reprehendere to reprehend another for what you do your selves and to object that as a Crime to others which may be retorted on your selves Since then we as constantly affirm and have as fully proved That there was a time when the Religion of the Church of Rome was new in the contested Articles That Christianity had gone through several Centuries before any of them were received as Articles of Christian Faith That many of them have been introduced since the Ninth Century may we not also add that therefore Romanists forget their own Religion when they Charge ours with Novelty and reprehend that in us which they themselves are truly guilty of Sixthly § 12 In defence of their Proceedings against this Objection they declare That it was the property of Wise Men Theodo Serm. 1. contr Graec p. 477. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be enslaved to their former Opinions nor to be bound to follow the Customs of their Fathers but to seek the Truth wheresoever they could find it That every Man ought in those things especially which concern the manner of his living to trust to his own judgment and rather to depend on his own Senses in seeking out the truth than as if he himself were bereft of Reason Lact. l. 2. c. 7. P. 273. Credentem alienis erroribus decipi to be deceived by giving credit to the Errors of others God having given reason to him sufficient to find out the Truth Athan. contr Gent. p. 32 33. And speaking of the way of Truth they tell them That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there needs no-nothing but our selves to come to an exact knowledge and comprehension of it If you ask them by what internal Principle we may arrive at this knowledge they Answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is every Mans Soul and the faculty of Reason in it If you enquire by what external Directions this Mind must be assisted Ibid. p. 1. they reply They must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 find the Truth from the Divine Oracles That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are of themselves sufficient for the Declaration of the Truth and that even an Heathen Macarius might learn it there Now this is plainly sending us to our private Reason and Apprehension of the Sense of Scriptures to find out the Truth and to assure us That it is an act of Wisdom in us not to be enslaved to our former Opinions nor bound up by the Customs of our Fore-fathers from searching after Truth wheresoever we can find it Seventhly They add That the Heathens ought not to prejudge and run them down with this Prescription or by objecting to them their revolt A Religione majorum from the Religion of their Ancestors but fairly ought to come unto the merits of the Cause Lib. 2. p. 90. Causam convenit ut inspiciatis non factum nec quid reliquimus opponere sed secuti quid simus potissimum contueri You are not saith Arnobius to condemn us for the Fact without enquiring whether we had not a just Cause for doing it nor object to us what we have left without considering what we have embraced in lieu of it for what hinders why as others who invented Falshoods delivered them to Posterity Sic nos qui verum invenimus posteris meliora tradamus so we who have found the Truth may deliver better things to Posterity Which Passages are a full Answer to all the French Rhetorick touching the Prejugez legitimes comre les Calvinistes Eighthly In particular against this manner of prejudging § 13 which is now become almost the only Refuge of the Romanists they say 1st That they ought not to be run down with multitude that Religion could not be proved true because it had many Followers or false because it had but few Assertors Arnob. l. 3. ab initio and that even the Christian Religion could neither be proved nor disproved upon this account and that this vain pretence of Heathens had already been answered by the Christians mille modis a thousand ways and refuted by most cogent Reasons And indeed among the Relicks
the Pride Haughtiness Perfidiousness Fraud Wickedness Luxury Avarice of the Clergy was not to be endured they being worse than Turks Saracens Tartars and Jews Apud Aventin l. 7. p. 720 721. and did more offend against Christian Simplicity than they saith Meinardus In the Fourteenth Century De planctu Eccl. l 2. c. 15. when Alvarus Pelagius complained of the Popes That many of them came into their Sees by Simony that they were exceedingly Covetous that they savoured of the things of the Flesh but were very careless of the good of Souls C. 16. Of the Cardinals That by their pernicious Examples they were commonly the Odor of Death unto Death that many of them were unworthily promoted and that they were insatiable Thirsters after Benefices C. 20. Of the Bishops That they were notoriously guilty of Simony Fraud Uncleanness Pride Envy Covetousness That the Prelates of the Church were an Army of Devils Companions of Thieves C. 5. and did nothing but for Gifts and Rewards Of the Priests C. 27. That they were commonly promoted by Simony lived incontinently and committed Fornication with the Women that came to Confession Of the Clergy in general C. 28. That they entered into Orders not out of Love to God but temporal Advantage that Drunkenness Gluttony and Incontineney were their common Vices that many of them were Sodomites that they gave ill Example to the Laity and commonly were worse than they In the Fifteenth Century when the Cup was taken away from the Laity by the Decrees of the Councils of Constance and Basil and Purgatory was established in the Council of Florence Ep. Synod de Con. Author Super Papam Bin. To. 8 p. 124. Bin. To. 9. p. 10. Since then all Ecclesiastical and Christian Discipline was in a manner extinguished in every Place saith the Council of Basil Then Oppression Rapine Adultery and Incest and all pestilent Vices did confound all sacred and prophane things saith Aegidius in the Fifth Council of Lateran to omit the Treatises written in this Age by Clemangis of the corrupt State of the Church by Gerson of the Defect of worthy Persons and by the Cardinal of Cambray of the Filthiness of the Church of Rome In the Sixteenth Century in which the Council of Trent was held when amongst the Primates of Religion there was either none or very little Service of God no good Life no Shame no Modesty Justice declined into Hatred or Favour Piety was turned into Superstition and by all Orders of Men Sin was openly committed and very often the Vertue of an honest Man was made his Crime Orat. ad Leon. 10. in Concil Lat. saith Picus Mirandula When all Flesh had corrupted their Ways and were become Citizens not of Rome but of Babylon saith Staphilaeus Orat. hab ad Auditores Rotae Concil To. 14. p. 993 994. When the Bishop of Bitonto in the Trent Council crys out with what Monsters of Filthiness what Sinks of Uncleanness what pestiferous Contagion is not both Priest and People defiled Begin at the Sanctuary of God and see if there be any Shamefacedness any Charity any Hope or Help of honest Life if there be not unbridled Lust notorious Boldness incredible Wickedness that the more powerful proceeded from the Worship of God to Impiety from the Defence of the Church to the Excision of it and fell with one Consent from Religion to Superstition from Faith to Infidelity from Christ to Antichrist from God to Epicurism I say in Ages and in times in which such Floods of all Impiety had overwhelmed the Clergy such Pride Ambition Covetousness and Luxury reigned uncontrolledly among them 't is easy to discern how Practices and Doctrines so well comporting with their vicious Inclinations might easily be introduced by them and difficult to believe it could be otherwise For if in the Fourth Century so great Defection was caused by the wicked Arians notwithstanding all the Opposition which the vertuous and learned Bishops made against them if then by reason of the abounding of Iniquity the Orthodox declared their Expectations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an entire Apostacy Theodoret Ep. 63. Epist 10. If St. Basil 's Complaint That the Office of the Bishop was sunk down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to miserable Men Servants of Servants who reproached the Name of Bishop was attended with another that concerned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the corruption of the Faith. If Isidore Peleusiota 's Epist l. 3. Epist 223 259 408 410. sad and manifold Complaints of the Tyranny Soul-Murther Luxury Covetousness the Ignorance the Enmity to Vertue which reigned in the Clergy of his Age concludes in this These are the Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom the Affairs of the Church are turned topsy turvey If when Theodoret Ep. 134 135 142. saith the Clergy did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour under a general Impiety he also speaks more fully of their Declension from the Faith and their establishing a new Heresy what might not be expected in these last and worst of Ages which were the very Sinks of Wickedness the non ultra of Impiety Sure if ever Religion was or can be made to trucle unto Interest and Faith to Faction and Government to degenerate into Empire and Tyranny it must be in those Ages when Men were so unworthy of the Assistance or Direction of the Holy Spirit and were so worthy to be given up unto the Spirit of Delusion Fifthly These novel Practices and Doctrines might easily prevail by reason of the gross Ignorance and Negligence of Christian Knowledge both in the Clergy and the People For who sees not that Ignorance in the Clergy must render them unable to discern betwixt Truth and Falshood to chuse the Good and refuse the Evil and make it easy to impose upon them in those Matters by any specious Pretences whatsoever Thus when the Prophets erred in Vision Esa 28.7 15. and stumbled in Judgment then was it that they made Lyes their Refuge and under Falshood hid themselves When the Watchmen of Israel were all blind and could not understand then did the People become a Seed of Adulterers Esa 56.10.57.3 4. inflaming themselves under every green Tree with Idols When the Priests said not where is the Lord and they that handled the Law knew him not Jer. 2.8 13. then did the People commit two Evils forsaking the Fountain of living Waters and hewing them out Cisterns which can hold no Waters When the Pastors were become brutish and knew not the Lord Jer. 10.21 then was it that their Flocks were scattered When the Scribes and Pharisees had got the Government of Religion and religious things into their Hands Matth. 15.14 our Saviour informs us that the blind led the Blind and both were in the greatest Danger of falling down into the Ditch That the Key of Knowledge was then taken away and the People left as Sheep without a Shepherd Luke
should arise Or 2. True Rules misapplied and misconstrued and therefore actually false to them who thus mistake the Purpose of them 3. The Admiration of the Persons and the Reverence of the Authority of Men subject to like Mistakes and Errors with us 4. The Advantages we may obtain by the promoting of some Doctrines the Tendency they have to the gratifications of our Avarice our Pride and love of Empire and other sinful lusts 5. The Corruptions in our Manners which dispose and fit us for Delusions 6. That Ignorance and Negligence in reference to Sacred things which rendereth us an easy prey to the Deluders subtilty 7. Lastly The Force and Terror and Torments and Punishments which may be used to affright us into an outward and Hypocritical profession of what we do not from our hearts believe or a concealment of our inward Sentiments I Say these being the chief inducements to a change in Doctrine or in Practice and all these things so palpably and frequently concurring to the establishment of the New Doctrines and the supposed Traditions of the Church of Rome what wonder is it that they should so mightily obtain in the dark Ages of the World and by those methods carry all before them And truly 't is so evident that upon the concurrence of those circumstances the true Faith might decay and Error might be introduced in the Western Churches that the Historians Carol. Mag. Cent. 8. and Writers of those dark and evil Ages do confess it actually was so That the Priests brought into the Church such Doctrines as were never known to Christ and his Apostles Rolwink ad A. Christi 884. That this was tempus pessimum in quo defecit sanctus veritates diminutae sunt a filiis hominum the worst of times in which the Holy man failed and Truth was diminished from the sons of men Baron A. D. 912. Carthus fasciculo temporum ad A. 1000. That the Ancient Traditions were then proscribed That the Christian Faith extreamly did begin to fail and decline from its former vigor neither the Sacraments nor Ecclesiastical Rites being observed Apol. Clerus Leod. A.D. 1066 Matth. Paris in Hen. 3. ad A.D. 1237. p. 438. Alvar. Pelag. de planctu Eccl. l. 2. c. 5. Cent. 14. That the Holy Philosophy by the subtile interpretation of Sycophants began to be corrupted poluted violated with human Inventions and old wives Fables That the spark of Faith began to wax exceeding cold and was almost reduced to ashes so that it scarce did sparkle That the Church was eclipsed with the black mist of Ignorance Iniquity and Error That they did not only not receive sound Doctrine but bitterly persecuted all that resisted the madness of their wills Clemang de Egressu ex Bab. p. 177. Cent. 15. And that following the erring herd men willingly embraced false things for true That the variety of Pictures and Images occasioned Idolatry in the Simple That Apocryphal Scriptures Gerson de defect Eccles Virorum 30. idem de direct Cordis Consid 16. Hymns and Prayers were brought into the Church to the great hurt of Christian faith That there was much Superstition in the Worship of Saints and many Observations without all ground or reason Credulity in believing things concerning the Saints reported in the uncertain Legends of their Lives Ibid. Consid 29 30. dubious opinions of obtaining Pardon and Remission of Sins by saying so many Pater Nosters in such a Church before such an Image as if in the Scripture and Authentick Writings of Holy Men there were not sufficient directions for all Acts of Piety and Devotion without these fabulous and frivolous additaments That sundry lewd assertions Dial. Apol. Judicium de Can. Const prejudicial to the States of Kings and Princes could not be condemned in the Council of Constance though many great ones much urged their condemnation by reason of a mighty Faction which prevailed in it Ibid. That exorbitant Abuses and Errors which were crept into the Church found no amendment nor was a Reformation in things concerning Faith Card. Camer de Squal Ecoles p. 34. and Religion Doctrine and Manners to be expected till the Secular Powers took it in hand That Pagan Abuses and Diabolical Superstitions were so many at Rome that they could not well be imagined Cent. 16. That they were fallen with one consent from Religion to Superstition Bishop of Bitonto and Espencaeus Vide Supra from Faith to Infidelity from Christ to Antichrist That there was such a neglect of the Word as made it necessary that Faith should perish That the Faith and Religion Preached by Christ and settled afterwards by his Apostles and cultivated by their Epistles is so different a thing from that Christianity that is now professed and taught at Rome that if these Holy Men should be sent again by God into the world they would take more pains to confute this Gallimaufry than ever they did to preach down the Traditions of the Pharisees Machiavil Epist ad Zanob Buon Delmont before his works in English or the Fables and Idolatry of the Gentiles and would in probability suffer a New Martyrdom under the Vicar of Christ for the same Doctrine which once animated the Heathen Tyrants against them He that desires to read more of the Confessions made by the few comparatively learned of these Ages of the corruptions both in doctrine and manners and the prodigious ignorance which then obtained may find more than enough in a book Styled Catalogus testium veritatis and Morney 's Mystery of Iniquity OF TRADITION The State of the Question CHAP. I. 1. It is acknowledged that a Doctrine is neither more or less the Word of God for being written or unwritten § 1. 2dly It is proved That the assurance which we have that Scripture is the Word of God is greater than can be produced for any pretended Traditions of the Church of Rome The Grounds of this assurance are 1. The necessity that the Word of God should be preserved in some Records and the certainty we have that actually it was so 2. That the Records of the New Testament averr That they were written by the Servants and Apostles of our Lord whose Names they by a general and uncontrouled Tradition bear and so by Men assisted with the Holy Ghost and writing the Commandments of the Lord. 3. That the matter of them is worthy of the God of Heaven to reveal 4. That they were owned read and appealed to as such by all Christians 5. The Jews and Heathens made their Objections against Christianity out of them and attempted the ruine of the Christian Faith by destroying them and that none of these particulars agree to the Traditions of the Church of Rome rejected by us § 2. For farther Explication of the Question observe 2dly That our Dispute with the Church of Rome is chiefly about doctrinal and not historical Traditions § 3. The uncertainty of
gathered out of them and that he would Catech. 4. p. 44 45. Pag. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Holy Scriptures give them the proof of every Article of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For saith he we must not deliver one tittle of the Mysteries of Faith without proof from the holy Scriptures nor would I have you to believe me barely saying these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if you receive not a demonstration of them from the Holy Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the safety or security of our Faith is not to be had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from the demonstrations of the holy Scriptures Athanasius saith It is a vain thing for men to run about pretending to desire Synods for the Faith De Syn. Arim. Seleuc. p. 873. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the holy Scripture is more sufficient than all Synods but if they must have Synods that of Nice is sufficient so that he who sincerely reads their Writings may by them learn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Religion towards Christ which is declared in the holy Scriptures And elsewhere he adds That the Faith of Nice was confessed Ep. ad Epictet p. 582. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the holy Scriptures Ruffinus confesseth That the Articles of the Creed ought to be proved Apud Hieron To. 4. f. 48. b. Hom. 1. de Symb. evidentibus divinae Scripturae testimoniis by evident Texts of Scripture Eucherius Lugdunensis saith That the Apostles Creed was gathered ex diversis voluminibus Scripturarum out of divers Volumes of the Scripture Isidore Hispalensis De Eccl. Off. l. 2. c. 22. De instit Cler. l. 2. c. 56. and Rabanus Maurus That the Apostles briefly did collect it from the holy Scriptures That they who could not read the Scriptures retaining these things in their Hearts might have knowledge sufficient to Salvation And Lastly It is observable § 10 That although they conspired to declare that this Creed and Rule of Faith was entirely contained in and gathered from the Scriptures yet did they as unanimously concurr to call it a Tradition delivered viva voce or by word of Mouth and written not in Paper but on the Tables of the Christian's heart because they generally required all that were to be Baptized to commit it to their Memory The Barbarians saith Irenaeus keeping diligently this Old Tradition Lib. 3. cap. 4. have this Doctrine written without Paper and Ink by the Spirit in their Hearts This the Apostles preached saith Tertullian De praescript c. 21. tam vivâ voce quam per Epistolas postea as well by oral Tradition as afterwards by their Epistles It is the Rule saith Cyril Catech. 4 p 44. which you must studiously keep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not writing it in Paper but keeping the remembrance of it in your Heart Symb apud Hieron To 4. p 46 vide Crysol Serm. 62. and in your Meditation Our Fathers left it by Tradition saith Ruffinus that these things were required to be written not in Paper sed in credentium cordibus but in the Hearts of Believers It is the Symbol saith the Ordo Romanus which is not to be written in any matter subject to corruption Orig. l. 6. c. 19. sed paginis vestri cordis but in the pages of your Hearts in tabulis cordis carnalibus in the fleshly Tables of the heart says Isidore Hispalensis Rabanus Maurus and innumerable others Concil Brac. 2. can 1. Hence as the Councils of Laodicea Trullo and of Braga have determined it was to be learnt by all that came to be Baptized before the great Solemnity of Easter and they required a publick Repetition of it by the People as oft as they received the Holy Sacrament Concil Mo. gunt c. 45. Catech 5. p. 45. 2 Thess ij 14. And lastly hence St. Cyril doth press upon his Catechist the keeping of it in his Memory from that of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hold the Traditions which you have been taught CHAP. VIII The Corollaries from these propositions touching the Creed are these 1. That these Symbols must contain all that the Apostles delivered as simply necessary to be believed of all Christians and all that the whole Catholick Church judged needful to be held in point of Faith § 1. 2ly That these Creeds must be a perfect digest of all things necessary to be believed now and throughout all succeeding Ages of the World § 2. 3ly That no Man who doth heartily believe these Creeds and the immediate Doctrines plainly contained in them or evidently deduced from them can deserve to be Anathematized or to be excluded from the Communion of Christians for not believing any other simple Article of Faith § 3. 4ly That all those Councils which have Anathematized their fellow Christians for such Doctrines as are not in these Creeds nor can be evidently inferr'd from any thing contained in them have actually erred § 4. 5ly That all the necessary Articles of Christian Faith are fully and perspicuously contained in Scripture according to the Doctrine of the whole Church of Christ § 5. Mr. M. 's Objection from Tertullian answered and retorted Ibid. 6ly That the Faith of Protestants in all their necessary Articles is most certain § 6. 7ly That in this Sence the Faith was handed down to us by Tradition viz. That this Creed which contains all the Essentials of it hath been thus handed down by it though by the same Tradition it was declared to be also fully contained in the Scripture § 7. 8ly That the Romanists impose upon us when they argue for Traditions neither contained in Scripture nor the Creed from the Sayings of Irenaeus and Tertullian and other Fathers which evidently relate to the Tradition of the Creed § 8. 9ly That here is a full Answer to the Catalogue of Fundamental Articles of Faith so oft demanded § 9. And to that other Question Where was your Religion before Luther § 10. The Reason why we still judge the Church of Rome a true Church § 11. NOW the Consequences which naturally result from this Tradition are sufficient to confirm the most important Arncles of the Faith of Protestants to clear up the most considerable Objections which are made against it and to confute and wholly over throw the Doctrines of the Romish Church For First If according to the Second Observation § 1 the Apostles delivered that which we call the Apostles Creed or something like it to all Churches if all the Christian Churches received such standing Rule of Faith from the Apostles and their Successors if according to the Third Observation all Christians were received into the Church by Baptism upon profession of this Faith and were admitted to the participation of the Eucharist upon the like profession if according to the Fourth Observation the Fathers of the Church have always owned these Creeds as perfect digests of all the necessary Articles
to Cardinal Campejus he speaks thus Videham ut quisque esset integerrimis moribus Evangelicae puritati proximus ita minime infensum Luthero Lib. 14. p. 446. I heard excellent Men of approved Doctrine and Religion rejoice that they met with that Man's Books and I saw that as any man was more upright in his Life or nearer to Evangelical purity he was the less offended with Luther And in the same Epistle he adds Pag. 448. that he conceived it not convenient presently to be incensed against a Man with whose Writings so many excellent Governors so many Learned and pious Men were delighted L. 15. p. 492. In his Epistle to Godeschallus he saith That he did not defend him even then cum non decessent maximi Theologi qui non vererentur affirmare nihil esse in Luthero quin per probatos Authores posset defendi when the greatest Divines were not afraid to affirm that there was nothing in Luther which might not be defended by approved Authors And lastly he himself declares Hausit pleraque ex veteribus Epist l. 14. p. 447. That Luther gathered most of his Tenets from the Ancients and that had he named the Ancients from whom he had them he would have avoided much of that envy which then lay upon him To proceed to the particular Controversies in the Order in which they are mentioned in the Articles of Religion subscribed by our Clergy Holy Scripture saith our Sixth Article § 2 containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation So that besides the same Art. 21. the Church ought not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation Agreeably to this Article the Bishop of Rhodes disputing with the Greeks in the Council of Florence speaks thus in the behalf of the Western Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bin. Tom. 8. Concil Florent Sess 7. p. 609. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. I desire you Greeks to satisfie me in this Question Doth not the Gospel perfectly contain the Doctrine of Christian Faith Surely saith he the Reverence you bear to it will not permit you to affirm that the Faith is not perfectly contained there And that is true and not denied by us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. which the Bishop of Ephesus said That the Fathers had inclosed the Gospel and the Holy Scripture so that it should by no means be lawful to add to them And whereas the the Bishop of Ephesus had said That the Evangelists did not forbid that any thing should be added to what they had written This saith he with his leave cannot be said of Holy Scripture for the Apostle Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. i. 9. If any Man preach any thing besides what you have received let him be Anathema And St. John in the end of his Revelations saith If any one add to these things God shall add to him the Plagues which are written in this Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Sess 8. p. 630. Nicenus also on the part of the Greeks saith We draw all divine Doctrines from the Fountains of the Holy Scriptures which are the principles and the foundations of our Faith to which nothing ever was or ever shall be added by us or any other Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Flor. Sess 25. p. 783. Time was saith the Archbishop of Nice in his Oration made at that time and place when the Church the Spouse of God was without spot or wrinkle viz. when we made more account of the simple and not curious Faith delivered as it lay in the Gospel and regarding that superfluous and talkative Divinity which is the fruit of our own Reasonings less than the Sacred Oracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we attend only to what was written delighting in the things spoken by the Holy Spirit and being compacted in one by them So that it seems by these plain words that both the East and West were then of the same Judgment with the Church of England in this Article It is declared saith John Gerson by the Authority of Dionysius Declaratur ex Authoritate Dionysii dicentis nihil audendum dicere de divinis nisi quae nobis a Scriptura S. tradita sunt quoniam Scriptura nobis tradita est tanquam Regula sufficiens infallibilis pro regimine totius Ecclesiastici corporis Lib. de Exam. Doctr. secunda parte princip consid 1. That we must not dare to say any thing of Divine Things but that which is delivered to us from the Holy Scriptures of which the Reason is That the Scripture is delivered to us as a Rule sufficient and infallible for the Government of the whole Ecclesiastical Body and Members of it to the End of the World. The Holy Scripture saith Gabriel Biel is according to B. Gregory In Can. Miss Lect. 71. f. 200. Edit 1510. as the Mouth of God quia per eam loquitur Deus omnia quae vult a nobis fieri because by it God speaketh all things which he would have done by us Gregory the Great saith Molinaeus asserts Asserit Haereseos labe inquinatos qui extra S. Scripturas aliquid docent aut proferunt c. Lib. de Concil Trid. §. 17. That they are infected with the filth of Heresie who teach or produce any thing beyond the Holy Scriptures I mean in those things which appertain to the Substance of Faith and Doctrine The Sorbon Doctor who set forth the French Testament printed at Mons A. D. 1672. informs us Praeface 1 2. That St. Austin considered the Holy Scripture as the Treasure of Divinity and as the Source of all those Truths which a Man ought to know for the Edification of himself or the Instruction of others And speaking of the mixture of profound places with those which are proportioned to the capacity of the most simple he saith That which ought to comfort us in this obscurity is that according to St. Augustin the Holy Scripture proposeth to us all that is necessary for the conduct of our Life in a manner easie and intelligible that it explicates and clears up it self by speaking that clearly in some places which it saith obscurely in others The Guide of Controversies saith Guid. Disc 2. §. 40. n. 2. That as for the sufficiency or the entireness of the Scriptures for the containing of all those Points of Faith which are simply necessary of all Persons to be believed for attaining Salvation Catholicks deny it not And for this he cites among many other R. Doctors this saying of Aquinas In doctrina Christi 22. qu. 1. Art. 9. Apostolorum he means Scripta veritas fidei est sufficienter explicata In the written Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the
not their Priests well paid for saying private Masses Do they not get well by the Shrines the Images the Relicks of the Saints they keep and shew to others and the Oblations offered by the People And must not therefore all these Doctrines be very grateful to Men of covetous and greedy Minds Must not such Persons strongly be inclined to broach abet and to promote them Do not the Doctrines of the Pope's Supremacy of the Priest's Power to make his God of the necessity of Priestly Absolution and Confession to him and of entire Obedience due to their Injunctions plainly tend to advance their Power and Reputation and to engage all Men to have them in the greatest Reverence Do not the Doctrines of the Necessity of the Priest's Intention to the Validity of a Sacrament of auricular Confession in order to Absolution and of the Power of this Absolution to procure Pardon for the Person who is only attrite tend most apparently to make the People think that their Salvation doth entirely depend on them and so create as great an Awe within them of such Priests as either the Hopes of their Salvation or the fear of everlasting Misery is able to produce Lastly Doth not the Doctrine of Infallibility give them full Opportunity to lord it over all Mens Consciences and keep them in an absolute Subjection to their Wills And can they not upon the pretence of being the sole Judges of the Sence of Scripture and of authentical Traditions obtrude upon the World whatsoever Doctrines will best suit with their Designs and Interests And must not Men be forced to submit to their Decisions and blindly follow their Directions as agreeable to Sacred Writ whilst it is kept with so great Care from their Perusal He must be blind who sees not that all those Doctrines must be very acceptable to Men of Pride and covetous Desires and who affect Dominion and Empire over the Consciences of others Let us see then whether from the Eighth Century when the Veneration of Images was first established to the Sixteen in which the Trent Council confirmed all these Doctrines we have not too much Reason to suspect the generality or the prevailing part of their Church Guides were Men strongly addicted to those corrupt Affections which render them unworthy of the Assistance of the Holy Spirit worthy to be given up to Delusions and very much disposed to broach maintain and to establish such Doctrines as directly tend to gratify their Ambition and their Avarice Whether such Changes might not reasonably be expected in the Eighth Century Carol. Magn. Praefat. ad libr. de imag when the Second Nicene Council met seeing the Priests then had laid aside all sound and wholesom Doctrine transgressed the Commandments of the Fathers and brought into the Church such Doctrines as were never known to Christ or his Apostles In the Ninth Century when Paschasius began to vent the Doctrine of Transubstantiation seeing then they buried in Contempt and Oblivion the Word of God Paulus Diac. made the Temple a Den of Thieves and instead of sweet Melody Luitpert Arch. Mogunt Epist ad Ludov. Regem Germ. sounded forth Blasphemy against God himself and the Captains and Rulers of the People endeavoured to preferr humane to divine things and the Governours of the Church having left the way of Salvation ran headlong opening the Pit of Perdition to those that followed them In the Tenth Century when as Baronius complains Ad A. D. 912. Art. 8. the Canons were silent the Decrees of Popes suppressed the ancient Traditions proscribed Lust armed with the secular Power challenged all things to it self when Christ was fast asleep in the Ship and which seemed worse all snorted with him and there were no Disciples to awaken their sleepy Lord with their Cries In the Eleventh Century when the Councils held at Rome Varseilles and Tours condemned Berengarius Ad An. 1001. Art. 1. 7. and decreed for the corporeal Presence of our Lord's Body in the Sacrament This being saith Baronius styled that Iron Age in which Iniquity abounded and many discoursed and believed that Antichrist was come and the Corruption of Manners which then was very great especially among the Ecclesiastics might easily perswade Men that it would be so When saith the same Baronius unhappy Brambles Thorns and Nettles which grew out of the Stench of the Flesh and the Dung of Corruption had wonderfully filled the Field of the Church Ad An. 1049. Art. 10. for all Flesh had corrupted their Ways so that not only the Flood seemed unsufficient to wash away this Filth but those horrid Wickednesses seem'd to call for that Fire which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha When saith Hugo Flaviniacensis almost all the Clergy rather sought their own than the Things of Jesus Christ Concil T. 10. p. 375. and chose rather to adhere to the Discipleship of Simon than keep the Poverty of Christ Apol. An. 1066. apud Morn Myst iniq pag. 245. in the Unity of the Faith. When say the Clergy of Liege corrupt Manners through Ambition and Avarice prevailed Religion was dissembled and a Shew of Piety brought in When the Traffick of Holy Things crept in and the Holy Philosophy by the subtile Interpretation of Sycophants began to be corrupted polluted violated with humane Inventions and old Wives Fables In the Twelfth Century when first we hear of the fixed Number of Seven Sacraments which in another Sence were till then Mysteries Since then the Popes Cardinals and Prelates were all the Day intent on Evil and ever occupied without Satiety in the Works of Iniquity they made Port-sale of things sacred and laboured with all their Might that they might not descend to Hell alone The Clergy neglected God's Service were Slaves to filthy Lucre defiled their Priesthood by Uncleanness De praedest lib. Arbitr l. 2. versus finem Serm. 6. in Ps 90. p. 73. c. seduced the People by Hypocrisy and laid Snares by all manner of ways to ruin them saith Honorius Augustodunensis then the Offices of Ecclesiastical Dignity were turned into filthy Lucre and a Work of Darkness nor was the Welfare of Souls but the Luxury of Riches sought after in performance of them and the whole Race of Christians from the least to the greatest seemed to have conspired against God so that from the Sole of the Foot to the Crown of the Head there was no Soundness in them nor could Men say As is the People so is the Priest Serm. 1. de conv B. Pauli F. 2. d. for the People were not so bad as the Priest Saith St. Bernard In the Thirteenth Century when Transubstantiation was established in the Fourth Council of Lateran Since then Simony was committed without Shame In Hen. 3. A. 1237. p. 438. the Churches Liberty decay'd Charity expired Religion was trod under Foot and the Daughter of Sion was made like a brazen faced Whore that hath no Shame saith Matthew Paris Then
she actually hath imposed false Doctrines and Practices as Apostolical Tradition 2. Because she hath no better Right to testifie in this Matter than the Eastern Churches § 2.3 Because her present Testimony contradicts the Testimony of the whole Church in general and of the Roman Church in particular in former Ages § 3. 1. Touching the number of the Canonical Books of the Old Testament 2. Of the Authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews 3. Of the number of the Sacraments 4. Of Concomitance 5. Of pronouncing part of the Mass in a low Voice 6. Of the Veneration of Images 7. Of Communion in one Kind 8. Of her Twelve new Articles 9. Of the no necessity of giving the Eucharist to Infants Ibid. 4. Because this Doctrine makes Scripture Reason and Antiquity not only useless but pernicious to us § 4. More Instances of the Contradiction betwixt the Decrees of the Ancient Catholick Church and of the present Church of Rome 1st In the Decree of the Trent Council touching the Freedom of the Blessed Virgin from Actual Sin § 5. 2dly In the permission that Church gives to eat things Strangled and Blood § 6. In punishing Men with Death for their Religion § 7. In not breaking the Bread they distribute not permitting the Communicants to carry it home not Consecrating it with a loud Voice § 8. In the Matter of the Immaculate Conception though not conciliarly defined § 9. Seven Corollaries from this Instance § 10. MOreover § 1 for farther Explication of this Question let it be noted Dist 4. That by the word Tradition when we allow what can be proved by it to be in Matters of Faith a Doctrine or a Revelation derived from the Apostles in matters of Government of Discipline or practice an Apostolical Ordinance or Institution we mean not the Tradition of the present Church and much less the Tradition of the Church of Rome and her Adherents Charity Maint ch 2. §. 14. but we mean with Mr. Knot Such a Tradition which involves an evidence of Fact and from Hand to Hand from Age to Age bringing us up to the Times and Persons of the Apostles Id quod in Ecclesia Universa omnibus retro temporibus servatum est merito ab Apostolis creditur institutum De verbo Dei non scripto l. 4 c. 9. and our Saviour himself cometh to be confirmed by all those Miracles and other Arguments by which they proved their Doctrine to be true or such a Practice as the Church hath observed in all past Ages according to the Third Rule of Bellarmine for the discerning Apostolical Traditions and such an Article of Faith as all the Doctors of the Church by common consent have always testified to have descended from Apostolical Tradition Such is the Tradition which St. Basil insists upon for the use of the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Spirit in the Doxology of the Church viz. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. de Spiritu Sancto c. 29. which was customarily used in the Churches from the first Preaching of the Gospel to that very time and of such Traditions we say with him Ibid. That it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suitable to the Apostles Doctrine to continue in them Praefat. in libr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is the Tradition of which Origen speaks when he saith That only is to be believed as Truth which in nothing disagreeth from the Tradition Ecclesiastical that is The praedicatio per successionis ordinem ab Apostolis tradita usque ad praesens in Ecclesiis permanens preaching delivered down by order of Succession from the Apostles and to this present time continued in the Churches This is the Tradition of which St. Cap. 8. Austin speaks in his Book De utilitate credendi viz. of the Tradition quae ab ipso Christo per Apostolos ad nos usque manavit Cap. 10. which came down from Christ by his Apostles to that present time which à Majoribus nostris tradita ad nos usque servata est being delivered by our Ancestors hath been preserved to our times and which is Cap. 14. celebritate consensione vetustate roborata strengthened with a general Fame Consent and Antiquity And this is also the Authority he meaneth when he saith I should not have believed the Gospel nisi me Catholicae Ecclesiae moveret Authoritas unless the Authority of the Catholick Church had moved me For he informs us That he speaks of that Authority which was Contr. Epist Man. quam vocant Fundament c. 4. Miraculis inchoata vetustate firmata begun by Miracles and confirmed by Antiquity And this must of necessity be meant by that Tradition which is the Foundation of an Article of Faith for Faith must be a matter of Divine Revelation and therefore must proceed from Christ or his Apostles from whom alone all Revelations of the Christian Faith have issued the Churches Business being to Believe to Preach and Testifie not to enlarge or shorten to alter or diversisie the Faith by them delivered to her and what they taught her as a thing necessary to be believed or practised by all Christians must consequently be so believed taught and practised through all future Ages provided that they walk according to their Rule Common c. ◠Hence saith Vincentius Lirinensis Hoc est vere proprieque Catholicum quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus That is truly Catholick Doctrine which was held in all places all times and by all Persons Sess 4. And accordingly the Trent Council and the Roman Doctors pretend to have received those Doctrines in which they differ from us partly from Scripture and partly from Tradition derived from the Apostles to their days But here begins the difference betwixt us § 2 1. That they will have the Testimony of the present Church to be an Evidence sufficient of the Tradition of the Church of former Ages and will maintain this way of Arguing to be good The present Church of Rome and they who hold Communion with her deliver such and such Doctrines as Traditions received from the Apostles and handed down from them thoughout all Ages and by all true Christian Churches to this present Age and therefore they undoubtedly are such We on the contrary say That we have clear unquestionable Evidence from Scripture and Church-History that many of the Doctrines imposed upon us by the Church of Rome as Apostolick Doctrines and Traditions were not received but rather were condemned and abhorred by the former Ages of the Church of Christ in general and in particular by that of Rome and this hath been already proved in the instance of their Latin Service the Veneration of Images and Communion in one Kind whence it demonstratively follows that this proposition is contrary to plain matter of Fact. Again What better reason can be given for this Consequence viz. The present Church of Rome with her Adherents deliver
Chalcedon Can 1. Can. 2. and afterwards by that in Trullo and therefore was allowed by the whole Church of God. St. Cyril of Jerusalem instructs his Catecumen That the Apostles and James the Bishop of Jerusalem had writ a Catholick Epistle to the Gentiles to teach them to abstain from things offered to Idols things strangled and from Blood and then he adds Catech. 4. p. 34. c. de cibis That they who licked up the Blood of Beast and spared not to eat things strangled were like to wild Beasts and Dogs these saith he are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Institutions touching Meats which it behoves you to observe In the Fifth Century St. Jerom declares In Ezek. 45. p. 245. That according to the Letter the Decree contained in the Fifteenth of the Acts obligeth every Christian not to eat the Flesh of any dead Sheep or Cattle quorum nequaquam sanguis effusus est whose Blood is not poured forth And Chrysostom on the place saith These Constitutions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though they concern the Body yet are they necessary to be kept In the Sixth Century the Second Council of Orleans declares A. D. 536. can 20. That they who eat of that which is choaked by any Disease or Chance or killed by the bitings of Beasts shall be excluded from the Communion of the Church and if any person after this diligent Sanction Can. 22. doth not observe these things reos se divinitatis pariter fraternitatis judicio futuros esse cognoscant let them know they shall be guilty both in the Judgment of God and of the Brotherhood In the Seventh Century this was Decreed by the Sixth General Council held in Trullo in these words Can. 67. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Scripture hath commanded us to abstain from Blood things strangled and from Fornication he therefore who attempts to eat the Blood of any Creature any way if he be a Clerk let him be deposed Cap. 18 19. if he be a Lay-man let him be Excommunicated In the Penitential of Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury we have this Rule prescribed Hast thou eaten that which died of it self or was torn by Beasts thou must do penance Forty Days if thou hast eaten Blood thou must do likewise Now of this Theodorus Rabanus doth inform us Ep. ad Humbert apud Regin de discip Eccl. l. 2. c. 200. That he was fully instructed in the Customs both of the Eastern and the Western Churches and that he could be ignorant of nothing which was then observed by the Greeks or Romans and therefore we may rationally conclude that what he thus prescribed was only that which was observed both in the East and Western Churches In the Eigth Century Gregory the Third who was made Pope A. Can. poenit c. 30. D. 731. puts this among his penitential Canons That he who hath eaten that which died of it self if he did this ignorantly shall do Penance Twenty Days if knowingly Forty Days And Bede informs us That he who comes to penance must be asked Can. de diversis causis c. 14. Whether he had eaten that which died of it self or was torn by Beasts and if so he must do Penance Forty Days and the like must be done by him who hath eaten Blood. Novel 58. Bals in Syn. Trull can 67. Leo the Emperor made a Law to punish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who did eat any kind of Blood. In the Ninth Century Regino doth not only produce out of the Penitentials the same Canons against eating things strangled and Blood De discipl Eccles l. 2. c. 369 373. De discipl Eccles l. 2. c. 374. but adds moreover that admonendi sunt fideles ut nullus praesumat sanguinem manducare the Faithful are to be admonished that none of them do presume to eat Blood for this was forbidden in the beginning when first God gave Men liberty to eat Flesh and it is also forbidden in the New Testament where things strangled and Blood are compared with Fornication and Idolatry to teach us quantum piaculum sit sanguinem comedere what an heinous thing it is to eat Blood. In the Eleventh Century Humbertus plainly shews that this was then esteemed unlawful both in the Eastern and the Western Churches Apud Baron Tom. 11. p. 986. For we saith he of the West do not defend against you Greeks the eating of things strangled and Blood Antiquam enim consuetudinem seu traditionem Majorum retinentes nos quoque haec abominamur For retaining the ancient Custom or Tradition of our Ancestors we also do abominate these things imposing grievous Penance upon them who do this without great peril of Life and this we do especially quia antiquas consuetudines traditiones Majorum quae non sunt contra fidem leges Apostolicas arbitramur because we judge the Ancient Customs and Traditions of our Ancestors which are not opposite to the Faith to be Apostolical Laws And yet when Transubstantiation was once fully established in the West as it was in the Twelfth and the beginning of the Thirteenth Centuries then they perceived they could no longer with any truth assert as did the Ancient Fathers that they did ab humano sanguine cavere abstain from eating humane Blood but believing they did eat Blood with the Flesh in the Sacrament they gave all Men liberty to do it elsewhere Whence Balsamon in the Twelfth Century speaks thus In Can. 67. Concil Trull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Latins do indifferently eat things strangled and if in this instance that which in the Eleventh Century was by the Western Churches held in abomination and worthy of most grievous Penances as being opposite both to the Laws of the Apostles and the Traditions of the Ancients might in the next Century be generally allowed and practised as a thing indifferent why might not a like change happen in the same Church in a like space of time touching the Doctrine of the corporeal Presence or any other Article of Christian Faith. Thirdly § 7 The Ancient Church unanimously and constantly declared it was a thing plainly repugnant to Scripture and to true Religion and proper unto Hereticks to punish any man with death for his Religion or his Heresie and she refused Communion with them that did so And 1. They declared this practice opposite to our Lord's precept Not to gather up the Tares by themselves Matth. xiij 29 30. but let them both grow together till the Harvest He introduceth his Servants saying Wilt thou that we pluck up the Tares that he might tell them saith St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Locum that it was unlawful to cut them off He forbids Wars and Blood and Slaughters to be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is not lawful to cut off the Heretick Christ here forbids not to stop their Mouths restrain and hinder their boldness of Discourse dissolve
their Synods and Confederacies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quaest ex Mat. lib. un cap. 12. Tom. 4. p. 366 367. but he forbids us to kill and cut them off Truth it self Answers to them saith St. Austin non esse tales auferendos de hac vita that such Men are not to be taken out of the World least whilst Men endeavour to kill the bad they also kill the good or such as perhaps would be such 2. They declared this practice was contrary to the true Religion and to the Judgment of the Doctors of the Catholick Church For our Religion saith Lactantius is to be defended L. 5. c. 20. non occidendo sed moriendo non saevitiâ sed patientiâ not by killing others but by dying for it so good men do defend it but wicked Men by Cruelty and Murther Apud Athanas Tom. 1. p. 724. The Synod of Alexandria declares That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bands and Slaughters were things alien from their Church Contra Crescon l. 3. cap. 50. When Cresconius had objected to the Orthodox that they were instrumental to procure the Death of the Three Donatists St. Austin answers That nullis tamen bonis in Ecclesiâ Catholicâ hoc placet si usque ad mortem in quenquam licet Haereticum saeviatur No good Man in the Catholick Church allowed of the punishment of Hereticks with Death haec omnia displicent nobis all these things displease us De fide oper cap. 4. we judge them not laudable but damnable And again They who being blinded with this Error endeavour before the time to separate the Tares ipsi potiùs a Christi unitate separantur are themselves rather separated from the unity of the Church He hath Four several Epistles writ to the Magistrates or Ministers of Justice on this Subject Ep. 107 158 159 160. Ep. 127 158 160. in which he earnestly requests ne occidantur that they might not be killed that the Sword of Justice might not spill their Blood beseeching them for the Name and for the Mercy of Christ Jesus ut hoc nec faciant nec sieri omnino permittant that they would neither do this thing nor permit it to be done by others Ep. 127. and telling them the Orthodox had rather die themselves than bring them to their Judicatories to be killed And this he doth intreat with so great importunity Ibib. 1. Because of the command of Christ which did oblige them to love their Enemies Ep. 158 159. 2. Because it was suitable to that meekness which Christianity required them to make known to all 3. Ep. 158 160. Ep. 127. Because it was against their Conscience to allow of such proceedings against Hereticks 4. Because this harsh proceeding would deterr the Catholicks from seeking the protection of the Magistrate against Hereticks 5. Because the Person who inflicts and the Church who permits these Punishments to be inflicted would both have cause to fear the Judgment of God for this Cruelty quod enim tu facis Ep. 160. Ep. 50. p. 220. Ecclesia facit propter quam facis cujus silius facis for what the Magistrate who was a Son of the Church did for her Sake that the Church did And this he tells us was the Judgment of a whole Council of his Brethren 3. This say they is alien from Catholicks and proper unto Hereticks and Heathens The Synod of Alexandria consisting of the Bishops of Aegypt Thebes Lybia and Pentapolis lament the practice of the Arians Apud Athanas Apol. ad Imperat p. 723. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who in their Epistle to the Emperors stirred them up to kill and inflict death on Athanasius and others For say they we conceive the Conscience of you Christians see that these things are not the works of the meanest Christians much less of them who seem to be Bishops and to teach others what is just We must fight against them saith Nazianzen with Reasons not with Arms Orat. 3. pro pace p. 220 221. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for to lift up our Hands against them is wholly contrary to our Profession and must be left to them that hate us 4. When this was done by Instigation of any of the Clergy the Orthodox not only did condemn it but refused Communion with them that moved the Magistrate to do it Thus when Idacius and Ithacius two Bishops Sulpit. Hist 1. 2. §. 64. moved Maximus the Emperor to this severity against the Priscillians St. Martin not only reproved Ithacius but intreated Maximus ut sanguine infoelicium abstineret to abstain from their Blood and obtained a Promise from him nihil cruentum in reos constituendum that nothing Bloody should be decreed against them though afterwards saith Sulpitius this was done pessimo exemplo Dial. 3. §. 15. by a most vile Example The same Sulpitius informs us That this good Man was piously sollicitous to preserve the Hereticks from Death that for accomplishing this Work having for a while consented to hold Communion with Ithacius and his Party he afterwards was troubled at it and was by an Angel admonished that he had just Cause to be so and that he should reassume his Constancy ne jam non periculum gloriae sed salutis incurreret least he incurred the loss not only of his Honour but Salvation and that from that time he never would Communicate with the Ithacian Party 1 Baron ad A. 386. §. 27. Pope Syricius also and St. 2 Ep. 27. Ambrose refused Communion with them and the 3 Concil Taurin cap. 5. French Bishops refused Communion with Foelix as being made a Bishop by them 4 Bin. Not. in Concil Trevir A. D. 386. Theognostus also and other Bishops of the Catholick Communion did excommunicate Ithacius and his Companions on this account as sanguinary bloody and unworthy of the Priesthood And yet after so many 1 Concil Lat. 3um cap. 27. 4tum can 3. Constan Sess 45. Senon c. 2 3. Decrees of General Councils for the Extirpation of Hereticks the calling in of the Secular Arm against them and the animating of Princes and their Subjects 2 Concil Lat. 3. c. 27. 4tum Conc. Tom. 11. p. 149. Senon Tom. 12. p 368 369. app ad Con. Basil apud Bin. Tom. 8. p 200. p 267. to make War against them under the Banner of the Cross after Examples of burning Hereticks by their Authority and Instigation during their sitting after so many Constitutions of 3 Concil Tom. 11. p. 619 621. p. 423. part 2. p. 2101. Decretal l. 5. Tit. 7. c. 13. Kings and Emperors confirmed by so many Popes to take them away by a damnable Death after so many Inquisitions set up for the destruction of them after so many Thousands of them burnt in Roman Catholick Dominions by virtue of the Sentence past upon them in Ecclesiastical Courts after so many great Massacres of them by Men of that Communion without
by Jew and Gentile Heretick and Orthodox even in those times in which and in those places where they first appeared and by those Persons who immediately before received others as the true and genuine Copies of the Word of God. Lastly § 14 That these Records of the Will of God have not been so corrupted as to cease to be a certain Rule of Faith and Manners we argue from the Providence of God inducing us to judge that the Books thus delivered to us by the Church as genuine are truly so for nothing seems more inconsistent with divine Wisdom and Goodness than to inspire his Servants to write the Scripture as a Rule of Faith and Manners for all future Ages and to require the Belief of the Doctrines the practice of the Rules of Life plainly contained in it and yet to suffer this divinely inspired Rule to be insensibly corrupted in things necessary to Faith or Practice who can imagine that God who sent his Son out of his Bosom to declare this Doctrine and his Apostles by the Assistance of the Holy Spirit to indite and preach it and by so many Miracles confirm it to the World should suffer any wicked Persons to corrupt and alter any of those terms on which the Happiness and Welfare of Mankind depended This sure can be conceived Rational by none but such as think it not absurd to say That God repented of his good Will and Kindness to Mankind in the vouchsafing of the Gospel to them That he so far maligned the good of future Generations that he suffered wicked Men to rob them of all the benefit intended to them by this Declaration of his Will. For since those very Scriptures which have been received for the Word of God and used by the Church as such from the first Ages of it pretend to be the terms of our Salvation Scriptures indited by Men commissionated from Christ and such as did avouch themselves Apostles by the Will of God and his Command for the delivery of the Faith of Gods Elect and for the knowledge of the Truth which is after Godliness in hopes of Life eternal they must be what they do pretend to be the Word of God or Providence must have permitted such a Forgery as rendereth it impossible for us to perform our Duty in order to Salvation for if the Scripture of the New Testament should be corrupted in any essential requisite of Faith or Manners it must cease to make us wise unto Salvation and so God must have lost the end which he intended in inditing of it Again when we consider that in the Jewish Church the Scriptures were until the coming of Christ in very corrupt Times and amongst very corrupt Persons preserved so entire that Christ sends the Jews to them to learn Religion declares that they have Moses and the Prophets and both our Lord and his Disciples confuted and instructed the Scribes and Pharisees and Jews out of them without the least intimation of any corruption that had happened to them we have still greater reason to judge the New Testament sincere since we cannot rationally suppose Providence less careful of the New Testament than of the Old. If against this Argument it be Objected Object that we find by the Citations of the Ancients and by Old Manuscripts that there was a difference betwixt their Copies of the Scripture and those we now use I answer 1. That this is no certain Argument of any such difference seeing the Citation of the Ancients might differ thus by the failure of their Memory it being frequently their Custom to cite the Scriptures from their Memory without inspection of the Book moreover we find by Ocular Demonstration that these various Lectures make no considerable variation in matters of Faith or Manners or if one Text which asserts a substantial Doctrine be variously read so that the matter is thence dubious there are others which assert it without that Variety If then no Writing whilst the Apostles lived could pass for Apostolical and yet destroy or contradict the Faith they taught if their immediate Successors could not be ignorant of what the Apostles committed to them to be read and taught us the Records of their Faith and Doctrine nor would they be induced to deliver that for such which they believed not to be so if neither they could universally conspire to effect this thing nor can it rationally be thought that Providence would suffer them to do so 'T is morally impossible these Writings should be forged or corrupted in matters of Concern or Moment If therefore Mr. § 15 M. will make good his Assertion that they have the same means to shew that their Traditions are true that is truly descended from the Apostles that we have to shew the Copies of the Scripture which we use are not corrupted in substantials he must first own what we have proved of these Copies to be true of his Traditions viz. That they cannot be proved to be true from the Infallibility of the Church and that in any doubt concerning the Truth of them we must have recourse to the Original and Fountain of Tradition not to the Judgment of the present Age as in the proof of the true Copies all Parties are agreed that we must have recourse to Ancient Manuscripts And to the Fountains of the Greek and Hebrew Secondly He must shew what we have done touching the Scriptures concerning his pretended Traditions viz. That these Traditions were owned cited read and received as Apostolical Traditions from the Apostles Days that Jews and Heathens were acquainted with them that they were attested to by the Sufferings of the Primitive Martyrs that they were such as the Apostles desired to leave in writing and which they did so leave according to the Will of God and consequently were not oral Traditions that they were universally acknowledged and consented to by Men of different perswasions preserved in their Originals to succeeding Ages transcribed by Christians for their private and their publick use esteemed by them as their Digests and as deifying Traditions believed by all Christians to be divine and as the Records of their Hopes and Fears that they were carefully sought after and riveted in their minds and constantly rehearsed in their Assemblies by Men whose work it was to read and preach them and to exhort to the performance of those Duties they enjoined that they were frequent in the Writings and often cited in the Confessions and Apologies the Comments Homilies Discourses and Epistles of the Ancient Worthies as also in the Objections of their Adversaries to whose view they still lay open And lastly he must prove they were Traditions which the good Providence of God was as much concerned to keep entire and uncorrupt as to preserve those Scriptures so which by the Will of God were written to be the Pillar and Foundation of the Christian Faith and when we see this task performed we shall be more enclined to admit of the pretended Traditions
de Resurrect Tom. 2 p. 277. Ambros Ep. 83. Psalm 118.24 the Fathers generally apply that Passage of the Psalmist This is the Day which the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoice in it to the Lord's day as made or Instituted by the Lord and Consecrated or Sanctified by his Resurrection Others of them say That the Observation of the Lord's Day was an Apostolical Tradition and that they kept it as an Holy Day Hesuch in Levit c. 9. Leo. Ep. 11. Ed. Quesnel p. 436. Apostolorum sequentes traditionem following the Tradition of the Apostles The Apostles and Apostolical Men having decreed Dominicum diem religiosâ solennitate habendum That the Lord's day was Religiously to be celebrated And surely it is enough to satisfie all Conscientious Christians in the Observation of this Day that it was consecrated to the Service of our Lord either by Christ himself or his Apostles and as such hath been celebrated ever since by the perpetual practice of the whole Church Catholick especially if we consider what excellent Names these ancient Observers of it have ascribed unto it and what great Dignities they have put upon it calling it the Queen of Days the Princess and the Principal of Days a Royal Day higher than the highest the first Fruits of the Days whereas had they conceived it only an humane Ordinance it could not have deserved these Titles above other Daies ordained by the Church In fine how dangerous it is to say That the publick Exercise of Christian Religion should depend upon so weak a Foundation as humane Authority which may alter its own Constitutions and is subject to manifold Errors I leave to the prudent and judicious Reader to consider Let then the Romanists shew three Texts of Scripture expounded constantly in that sence by the whole Church § 6 which confirms any of their Doctrines let them shew us the Names of any of those Practices of theirs which we condemn in Scripture and the Fathers of the first Centuries let them give clear evidence from their Writings that such Practices were received in the Apostles daies throughout the Christian World no Church no Christian Writer ever excepting against them or mentioning them as newly introduced Customs let them shew us plain Expressions from them declaring that they were instituted either by Christ or his Apostles and that they practised them Illorum sequentes traditionem in compliance with their Tradition and then we shall no longer question or condemn them Having thus Answered Mr. M ' s. Argument against the sufficiency of the Scripture from this Head I retort it thus That is necessary to be done to Salvation § 7 which left undone Pag. 204. causeth Damnation but the observation of the Sunday commanding the abstaining from all servile Works if neglected or left undone brings Damnation therefore to observe in this manner the Sunday is a thing necessary to Salvation and yet this point is so far from being clearly put down in Tradition that standing meerly to the sole judgment of it we can clearly shew more Declarations for the lawfulness of working on the Sunday than for the unlawfulness thereof The Canon of the Council of Laodicea only saith Can. 29. That Christians shall rest on the Lord's Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they can well knowing that it was not possible for many of them so to do some of them being Servants to Pagan Masters some condemned to labour in the Mines and toil in Gallies when their Lords required them and yet we find not in all Ecclesiastical History those Christians ever then refused to labour upon this account and therefore Balsamon upon this Canon saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they did not enjoin this as a thing necessary but added If they could let them do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if any one work on the Lord's day out of Poverty or any other necessity he will not be condemned And Zonaras on the same Canon adds That the Civil Law commands all without excuse to rest upon the Lord's day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excepting Husbandmen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it permits them to work on the Lord's day provided that they find no other day so fit foâ— their work That which he saith touching the Civil Law Cod. Just l. 2. Cod. de feriis is evident from that Law of Constantine where commanding all men to rest on the Lord's day he excepts Rural Labours in which delay may be very prejudicial to them Enchirid Tit. 4. which Law Hermenopulus gives us thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the Lord's day and other Festivals let the Judges and others rest excepting only Husbandmen and none of the Fathers of the Church living in those daies or in the following Centuries reproved these Laws or spake any thing to signifie that they esteemed them Prophane Epitaph Paulae ad Eustoch f. 64. On the contrary Saint Jerom tells us That Paula with all the Virgins and Widows that lived at Bethlehem in a Cloyster with her repaired to the Church on the Lord's Day Aâ—que inde pariter revertentes instabant operi distributo and returning thence they all fell to their work and made Clothes for themselves or others And lastly § 8 let it be observed that though I verily believe this day to be of Divine Institution and jure positivo to be observed yet am I far from thinking that it is necessary to Salvation so to do and much less to abstain wholly from working that day or that if any Church should rather think it fit to keep another day in Honour of our Lord or that if any Christians should think as some of the Ancient Fathers seem to have done that under the Gospel Dispensation there was no difference of daies but that the Christian should observe every day as a Spiritual Sabbath they should be damned or even Unchurched for that Opinion And therefore this is like unto most other Instances urged by Mr. M. impertinent and such as reacheth not unto the Question viz. Whether the Scripture be deficient in any thing that 's necessary to be believed or practised to Salvation To proceed to the Second Question touching our Freedom from any Obligation to observe the Sabbath injoined in the Fourth Commandment I say that though Tradition seems not sufficiently to do it Scripture affords sufficient Evidence that the Observation of the Seventh day from the Creation was only a ceremonial Precept and therefore not obliging to the Christian that is the Observation of the Seventh day from the Creation as a day wholly to be set apart for rest from bodily Labour according to the Fourth Commandment was not enjoined by a Moral Law or by a Law commanding what is naturally good antecedently to the Command of the Lawgiver or which can be resolved into any Principle or Dictates of the Law of Nature imprinted in Mens Hearts at the Creation but that it was a Law which only
derive some of these Malmon port Mosis p. 36 37 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Traditions down from Moses and their own Writers do expresly teach That they were Traditions received from the Mouth of Moses They therefore must be taught whilst these Church Guides and Rulers were infallible and the true Judges of Tradition if ever they were so and if the Jewish Doctors might so generally mistake in Fathering these Traditions upon Moses why may not others do the like in Fathering theirs on the Apostles Thirdly Observe that the Jewish Worship and Religion was then thought partly to consist in them and partly in the written Law Gal. 1.14 for St. Paul tells us That he profited much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Jews Religion being zealous for the Traditions received from his Forefathers And besides his being a strict observer of the Law he adds in the same place That he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that Sect of Pharisees which joined Traditions to the Law of Moses Antiq. Judaic l. 18. c. 2. of whom Josephus saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever was Divine whether respecting Prayers or the performance of things Sacred were done according to their Expositions or Traditions Moreover these Traditions were saith our Saviour taught for Doctrines they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belonging to their Laws saith Josephus the neglect of the Observance of them was look'd on as an high Transgression they being say their own Records equal to if not more weighty than the Law. The Jews were therefore in this Matter true Roman Catholicks receiving these Traditions as part of their Rule of Faith Pari pietatis affectu with like affection as the written Word And Lastly These Traditions were generally received by the Jewish Nation no Man gainsaying the Observance of them but some few Sadduces who in reality were Hereticks and by the Jews reputed Schismaticks Cap. 7. v. 3. Antiq. Judaic l. 13 c. 18. For the Pharisees and all the Jews held the Tradition of the Elders saith St. Mark Josephus informs us That the Pharisees had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude on their side That they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Persons which seemed to the People most worthy of Credit and the best Interpreters of their Laws They were the Men saith Christ who sate in Moses's Chair and their very Question Mark 7.5 Why walk not thy Disciples according to the Tradition of the Elders insinuates that it was a new and a strange thing among them to find any one of Reputation who transgressed their Traditions Let then the Roman Doctors tell us how vain and false Traditions might thus generally obtain among the Jews and pretend to be derived from Moses and even to be part of the Instructions he received from God when they were nothing less and we will tell them how the like Traditions might by them be receiv'd as Apostolical or let them say why we must be esteemed Hereticks and Schismaticks for rejecting such Traditions as our Dear Lord's Disciples with his own approbation did reject and which he taught even the Common People to contemn And now to Answer directly to his Instances First To that of Original Sin. We call upon him to prove 1. That they had any knowledge of the Imputation of it Dogm Theol. Tom. 4. part 2. l. 14. c. 2. and well we may when his own Petavius confesseth That the Greek Church hath spoke very rarely of it Secondly We desire him to prove that Circumcision was necessary for the Salvation of the Male and his Justification from Original Sin this is another School Notion with which the ancient Church of God was not acquainted yea which they most expresly do gainsay they having solemnly declared that Abraham received it for a Sign but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just M. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 241. not for Justification b Non in salutis praerogativam Tert. adv Judaeos c 2 3. not for Salvation c Non quasi consummatricem justiciae Iren. l. 4. c. 30. not for the Consummation of Righteousness d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Hom. 39. in Gen. p. 321 322. not for the Freedom of the Soul for it availeth nothing for the advantage of the Soul and that because it was administred to Children who could receive no Spiritual advantage and no Justification by it that it hath e Pseud Ambros in 4. ad Rom. nothing of Dignity in it but is barely a Sign And had it been prescribed as the School-men dream for a Remedy against Original Sin what Remedy had they for it before the Institution of the Ceremony of Circumcision Were all their Children damned in Aegypt or in the Wilderness because they were not Circumcised To his Second Instance of the Relation which their Sacrifices had to the Expiation to be made by the Death of Christ I Answer 1st That it appears not that they had any knowledge of this Mystery and 2dly That if this was a Tradition at any time made known to them it is a demonstration that Tradition is no sure preserver of things most needful to be known it being certain that before our Saviour's time they had quite lost this Notion for they believed not that their Messiah the Son of David was to die much less that he should shed his Blood as a propitiatory Sacrifice for their Sins they had learn'd out of the Law interpreted by the Scribes Joh. 12.34 Mark 9.32 Luk. 9.45.18.34 That Christ abided for ever and therefore wondered to hear our Saviour speak of his being lifted up and when his own Disciples heard him speak of his being delivered up to Death they understood not that Saying 3. § 8 Mr. M. farther adds That the Scriptures written by Moses were given only to the Church of Israel Obj. 3d. P. 337. all other Nations as they had then several true Believers among them when Abraham was separated from them so there is not the least mention of their Total decay of Belief after that separation All they then still believed upon Tradition and so true Faith might be preserved among many who never heard of Scripture till Christ's time P. 338. That Job and his Friends lived not among the Progeny of Abraham and yet Job was most eminent in Vertue and true Faith and his Friends believed in one God held the Resurrection of the Flesh and that God should judge all Men according to their Works and divers other Points relying still only upon Tradition Whereas Mr. M. declares Repl. 1. That there is not the least mention of the Total decay of the belief of other Nations when they were separated from Abraham and when the Scriptures were given by Moses to the Jews it it already proved that Abraham at his Separation left his Kindred under Idolatry And as for all the Nations round about the Jews and even under the whole Heavens Moses informs us Deut. 4.19 Ps
of Antiquity ascribed by some to Athanasius by others to Theodoret to Maximus to Etherius we have one brief but full Discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against them who judge of Truth only by multitude Athanas Tom. 2. p. 293. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Author first tells us that he is to combat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against a false Assertion that the Authors of it are Objects of Pity or Commiseration that they fled to this miserable Refuge only for want of Reason on their side and even confessed their being vanquished that multitude was proper to fright a Man but by no means to perswade him that in the concernments of this World we do not much regard it and much less should we be moved by it in heavenly Matters to recede from the Testimonies of the Scriptures and the agreeing Sentiments of the Ancients that our Lord had told us That many are called but few chosen That streight was the Gate which leadeth unto Life and few there be that find it And that every wise Man would rather be of the number of those few P. 291. than of that number which goes in the broad way For had any Man lived in the days of Stephen would he not rather have been of his side alone than of the side of the multitude which rose up against him Had not Phineas boldly opposed himself to the prevailing multitude the Plague had not ceased nor had the rest been saved Was it not better to fly with Noah to the Ark than with the multitude to perish in the deluge to go alone with Lot from Sodom than with the multitude to perish there We indeed venerate the multitude but then it is a multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which flies not examination but which affordeth demonstration 2dly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Athanas To. 2. p. 325. They add That they ought not to be called upon to yield a blind assent to the Dictates of other Men without using their own Judgments to consider and enquire What is possible what is suitable or unsuitable what acceptable to God what is congruous to Nature what consonant to Truth what accords with the Mystery what is agreeable to piety They have accordingly left us a Discourse in opposition to those Men who required them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply to believe their Dictates without considering what was fit or unfit to be embraced informing us That this was of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 326. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 horrible Doctrines the worst which Satan had invented to lead Men into dangerous Deceits That it was the Doctrine of Men who imperiously commanded all Men to follow their Dictates and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe without Reason and called that Faith which was an assent without trial to things unstable and undemonstrated That it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rise of Error and of all Evils the Doctrine of all Hereticks who declined the Examination that they might avoid the consutation of their Doctrines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That according to it no Man could find the way of Truth or avoid the precipice of Error That according to it we being asked to yield assent to the unproved Doctrines of Hereticks and Heathens should consent to do so P. 327. Whereas if we examine what we are required to believe we shall have full assurance of the Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither believing without reason nor speaking without Faith. Ninthly They say that it must be acknowledged that they had rationally cast off the Customs and Traditions of their Fore-fathers because they could discover wherein they had generally erred Praepar Evang l. 4. c. 4. For thus Eusebius speaks If we can shew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Heathens and Barbarians which were before our Saviours time did not know the true God but either worshipped those which were no Gods or evil Spirits it must be then confessed that we acted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a true and righteous Judgment when we became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revolters from the Superstition of our Fore-fathers If therefore we not only can but actually have shewed in the forementioned particulars that the Church of Rome hath generally erred then must it also be acknowledged that our Separation from her was the result of Truth and Righteousness Tenthly They lastly say Arnob. l. 2. P. 95. That their Religion must be Ancient because it consisted in the Worship of the Supream God Quo non est antiquius quicquam than whom nothing is more Ancient And in like manner we declare our positive Religion must be Ancient because it consists of the Articles delivered in the Scriptures of the New Testament and in the Symbol of the Apostles and taught by the Four first Centuries we therefore in like manner do conclude with them as to all the positive Articles of our Religion Non ergo quod sequimur novum est sed nos sero addicimus quidnam sequi oporteat That what we follow is not New though 't was but lately that we learned that it was that and that alone we ought to follow Now by impartial consideration of these particulars I leave any Man of Reason to judge whose Religion is most suitable in the general Grounds of it to the Sentiments of Antiquity whether we Protestants plead any thing against those of Rome which the ancient Christians did not also plead against the Heathens and whether the most plausible Objections of the Romanists against us be not fully answered by what these Fathers say in the defence of common Christianity against the Hereticks and Heathens 4thly Mr. M. adds Object 4 That all those who had been instructed by the Apostles before Scripture was written P. 322 340. converted and instructed Thousands who never had heard any Apostle preach and all these believed on the Authority of the then present Church P. 415. That from the preaching of Christ unto the finishing of the Canon and the divulging of the same in such Languages as all Nations understood very many Years passed and all the true Believers in Christ's Church were governed by Tradition only R. H. doth also tell us That God besides Guide of Controv Disc 2. ch 5. §. 44. and before the New Testament Scriptures left these Doctrines sufficiently revealed to the then appointed Ecclesiastical Guides from whom both the present People and the future Successors of those Guides both were and might rationally know they were to learn them and so had there been no Scriptures might to this Day by meer Tradition have learn'd them sufficiently for their Salvation First Reply 1 To this I answer That Mr. M. is much out when he talks of Seventy or Eighty Years before those Scriptures were written which were to be the future Rule of Christians for the Gospel of St.
Matthew was writ saith the Tradition of the Fathers Theoph. proem in Matth. Athan. Synops p. 155. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eight Years after our Lords Ascension Mark writ his Gospel whilst St. Peter lived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ten Years after our Lords Assumption saith Theophylact. St. Luke writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fifteen Years after our Lords Ascension Proem in Luc. say Dorotheus and Theophylact. St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirty two Years after our Lords Ascension saith the same Theophylact. Chap. 7. §. 2. Now these Gospels as I before have proved were by the General Tradition of the whole Church of Christ esteemed sufficiently to contain that Christian Doctrine which the Apostles taught and purposely to have been written to preserve it entire to Posterity Secondly This Argument is wholly overthrown by this one Observation That the Apostles in their Preaching declare that they spake only what was written in the Books of the Old Testament or might be clearly gathered thence When they undertook to prove any Article of Christian Faith they proved it from the Scriptures of the Old Testament When they reasoned with others to bring them to the Faith they did it from the same Scriptures Acts 26.22 1 Cor. 15.2 3 4. saying none other Things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come When they would have their Proselytes confirmed in the Christian Faith 2 Pet. 1.19 they send them to this more sure Word of Prophecy encouraging them to take heed to it as to a Light that shineth in a dark Place And declaring that those very Scriptures which Timothy had known from a Child 2 Tim. 3.15 that is before one Book of the New Testament was written were able through Faith in Christ or the Belief that Jesus is the Messiah promised in them to make him Wise unto Salvation 16 17. That they were profitable for Doctrine and Instruction in Righteousness for Reproof for Correction that the Man of God may be perfect both as to his own Practice Obadiah paraph in locum and his teaching others throughly furnished to every good Work. If then before the Scriptures of the New Testament were written these inspired Persons taught their Converts out of the Old Testament and sent them thither to learn the Truth of what they said and bad them have Recourse unto those Writings as being able to make them Wise unto Salvation and as being more certain and more to be heeded than that Voice from Heaven of which they themselves testified Doubtless when they themselves by the same Spirit had indited the New Testament they must be more concerned that they should be guided by that written Word then also it is evident that they did not invite Men to believe meerly on the Authority or Oral Tradition of the then present Church nor practised any thing whence it might be concluded that after Ages by meer Tradition might be sufficiently instructed in the things which concerned their eternal Welfare Nay they sufficiently declared the contrary by chusing to adhere themselves and call on others to adhere to what was taught concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament when Tradition was so fresh their Authority so fully was confirmed by Miracles and they to whom they spake had the inspired Apostles in any matter of Dispute or Controversy to repair unto Thirdly St. Luke informs us § 15 that he received his Gospel by Tradition Luke 1.2 4. and that he had committed it to Writing that his Theophilus might know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Certainty of those Doctrines in which he had been formerly instructed clearly insinuating that he conceived the written Word a means of adding certainty to what was only taught by Word of Mouth Accordingly Eusebius informs us that he was necessitated to write his Gospel that he might give us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist Eccl. l. 3. c. 24. a firm Account of those things which he had learned from his Conversation with St. Paul and with the rest of the Apostles Church History saith of St. Matthew Euseb ibid. That he was constrained to write his Gospel that by so doing he might supply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the want of his own Presence with them and that when he was by Persecution separated from them Opus imperf in Matth. praefat his Converts might not want the Doctrine of Faith but wheresoever they were might retain Totius fidei statum the entire form of Faith. The san Tradition doth inform us See Chap. 7. §. 1 2. That the First Christian Converts when they had heard the Apostles preach the Christian Faith would not be satisfied with receiving it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Oral Teaching but earnestly requested to have it left in Writing with them That the believing Jews Petierunt Matthaeum ut omnium verborum operum Christi conscriberet eis historiam To write the History of all Christ's Words and Works that they might have a compleat System of their Faith. That the Romans earnestly desired Mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to leave in Writing a Memorial of the Doctrine delivered to them by word of Mouth and never would desist till they had obtained it and that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light of Piety which would not suffer them to rest satisfied with the Oral Tradition of the Faith that by the same perswasion Hieron Prolog in Matth. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his familiar Acquaintance of all the Bishops of Asia and the Ambassies of many Churches St. John who before had spent all his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Oral Preaching was at last moved to write his Gospel The same Tradition adds That the Apostles having preached the Gospel committed it to Writing to be the Pillar and the Ground of Faith to future Ages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Anchors and Foundations of our Faith Athan. Synops p. 61. Theophylact. proem in Mat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That from these Scriptures being taught the truth we might not be drawn aside by the Falshoods of Heresies And lastly That if they had not left in Writing what they preached Orig. Dial. contr Marcion p. 59. they had preached Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only to them who heard them Preach and should have had no care of Posterity because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things only orally delivered would quickly vanish there being no demonstration of their Truth Which words as they expresly do confute the certainty of Doctrines only delivered to Posterity by word of Mouth so the forementioned Traditions do sufficiently inform us what was the Judgment of the ancient Church in this Affair viz. That to ascertain those Christians who were taught the principles of their Religion it was necessary that should be written which they had been taught that they could not well otherwise supply their absence or leave to their Disciples an
were all confirmed and even ascribed to the Holy Spirit by the general Council held in Trullo and by the Second Nicene Council or who now thinks himself obliged by that Text to do so Fifthly Who knows not that anciently it was esteemed § 10 by the whole Church a thing unlawful for a Bishop Presbyter or any of the Clergy to go from one Church or Diocess to another The first Nicene Council declares That some Can. 15. who before their sitting had done this did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Canon and decrees That for the future neither Bishop Priest or Deacon shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go from City to City Can 21. The Council of Antioch approved by the whole Church renews the same Decree The Council of Sardica represents the Attempt of such a Change as Can. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most pernicious Custom to be pulled up by the Roots and as a Wickedness which deserved Translationes ab Ecclesia ad Majores apud Hilar. Frag. p. 437. Can. 1. Apud Athanas Apol. p. 744. Ep. 84. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be severely punished and therefore they declare That they who made such Changes should be excluded even from Lay-Communion and they object these Translations to the Arians as their great Crime The General Council of Chalcedon confirms all the Canons made touching this Matter by these Councils Pope Julius not only condemns this Transmigration but saith That he who practiseth it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 despise the Station God hath given him Pope Leo adds That he who doth so shall not only be expell'd from the Chair he had invaded Sed carebit propria but shall be deprived of his own Pope Damasus declares That he will have no Communion with such Persons Moreover this Practice they condemn as Spiritual Adultery declaring That the Church to which the Bishop or the Priest is chosen is his Wife which therefore he cannot dismiss and take another without Adultery Thus the Synod of Alexandria accuse Eusebius of Nicomedia for going from Berytus to that City as having forfeited his Bishoprick and committed Adultery against the Import of that Precept Apud Athanas Apol. 2. p. 727. Art thou bound to Wife seek not to be loosed which if it be said of a Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much more of a Church of the same Bishoprick to which one being tied ought not to seek another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Binium Tom. 4. p. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 15. That he may not be found also an Adulterer according to the Holy Scriptures In the Synod under Mennas it was also laid to the Charge of Anthimus That having been Bishop of Trabisond he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adulterously snatch that of Constantinople against the Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons Apud Regin de Eccles discipl l. 1. c. 250. Pope Calixtus from the same Scripture determines That if a Bishop or Priest leave his Church or Parish which is his Wife bound to him whilst he lives he commits Spiritual Adultery And suitably to the Determinations of so many Councils they who refused to be thus promoted were highly commended as observing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vita Constant l. 3. c. 61. the Commands of God and the Canons of the Apostles and the Church Thus when upon the Deposition of Eustathius Bishop of Antioch they would have preferred Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea to that See he refused the Offer Sozom. Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 19. because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of the Church forbad it and this Fact Constantine commended as acceptable to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb ibid. and agreeable to the Tradition of the Church But they who did transgress this Canon were removed from that See they were translated to though never so well deserving of the Church Thus Gregory Nazianzen though removed from Sasima to Constantinople by the Emperor though he had laboured so much in that Church to convert the Heathens he found there and hinder the Endeavours of the Hereticks yet the General Council of Constantinople observing saith Sozomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 7. the Laws of the Fathers and the Ecclesiastical Order took his Bishoprick from him no ways regarding the great Merits of the Person But who now in the Church of Christ regards these Canons of so many General Councils or looks upon it as a Crime to admit of or even sue for a Translation from a less Bishoprick to a greater It were easy to shew the like Difference betwixt the Practice and Judgment of the present Church and that of former Ages touching the corporal and pecuniary Punishments of Men for difference in Religion which they of former Ages most plainly disapproved of touching the Suffrage of the People being requisite to the Election of their Bishop which they expresly did assert disowning such pretended Bishops as wanted the Consent and Suffrage of the People to omit many other Instances which might be easily produced to shew that Doctrines and Practices have passed for currant and even Apostolical in former Ages which are now utterly rejected and disapproved of in this present Age. But Lastly though when the whole Church is unanimous § 11 nd all her Members do agree in the asserting any Doctrine as an Article of Christian Faith necessary to be owned by all Christians the Plea from the concurring Judgment of the Church is highly plausible and never ought without the clearest Evidence of Reason or of Scripture to be gainsaid nor hath the Church of England ever disowned any such Doctrine yet when whole Churches or Nations are divided in their Sentiments concerning any Doctrine and Number may be pleaded by both Parties then say we with the Fathers That we must have Recourse unto the Scriptures This is at present visibly the State and the Condition of the Church of Christ she agrees now in nothing but the Apostles and the Nicene Creed there is East against West and West against East Protestant against Papist and Papist against Protestant Now in this case the ancient Fathers of the Church declare it is our only safe and prudent Course to fly as doth the Church of England to the Holy Scriptures and to primitive Antiquity and say That a Necessity is laid upon us so to do Thus Hippolytus or whosoever is the Author of that Book which bears his Name having given an Account of the Prevalence which Antichrist shall have clearly insinuates That the best Preservative against him is P. 60. Scripturas audire to hear the Scriptures and that Christ will pronounce them Blessed who have done so And that they who do not Diligenter legere Scriptures P. 13. diligently read the Scriptures shall run up and down saying Where is Christ and shall not find him The