Mr. Nicole that Jesus Christ came into this World we must examine according to the Cartesiaen method whether the Gospel be a feigned Book or no and hear all that is said by the Wicked upon this Subject and examine all the moral demonstrations whereon the certainty of things done is grounded Moreover we must be assured by Philosophical reasons and by good answers to Spinoza's Systeme that Man acts freely that he has an immortal Soul and that God prepares pains and recompences Where are Tradesmen or Peasants who are capable of so long a dispute pushed to a contradictory decree So that this cannot be the way to answer well for if we did but retain one or two Articles of our Creed we should have enough to do to render our selves certain of them according to des Cartes method And all this shews that Mr. Nicoles principle ought not to be applyed to matters of Religion And he is shewn several other very inconvenient consequences of this principle and it is concluded that Faith does not depend upon an examen of discussion but upon an examen of attention the effects whereof are Learnedly explained in shewing the manner how Divine Truths are imprinted in our understanding this is very fine and gives us a second example of Mr. Iurieu's sincerity for without troubling himself whether Mr. Nicole will brag of having obliged the Ministers to quit their ground he leaves him wholly to the examin of discussion and maintains that this was not what he ought to have disputed against and he answers an objection of Mr. de Meaux whether there be a time wherein a Christian may doubt of the Truths of Scripture and that according to the Principles of the reformed Church Let us say a word upon the last Book of this answer the Author has not so much indifference for Mr. Nicole but he has taken care to hinder his too great brags of the full victory that he has had in several cases upon the examen of discussion and says that this victory is but of little use to Papists but that it furnisheth Weapons to Libertines and Pagans to combate the Christian Religion Moreover he is not of Opinion that all the Arguments that were thundered against the examen of discussion are good and as to what concerns the way of feeling and this ray that he has so much laught at he is shewn that there is no reason to be so merry upon that word that there are really things in Scripture which are known by the way of feeling and that it is no sufficient Argument against it to say that it deceives Hereticks daily for the Author says if it deceives them it is because it is not assisted by an interiour Grace from the Holy Ghost as when we feel the light of Truth besides this he maintains that the most simple were able to know what was requisite to make them quit the Roman Communion In fine he shews the analysis of Faith according to St. Augustine and he answers Mr. Nicole in several things concerning the calling of the first Reformers and the Schism whereof some would fain have convinced them he answers him I say in all this and accuseth him of a thousand frivolous quibbles unworthy both of a Man of Honour and a witty Man I do not doubt but many of my readers may not understand what the analysis of Faith is Let us then say that we understand by these words the reducing of Faith to its first principles that it is a Metaphor borrow'd from Chymists who call Analysis the Operation that disunites the parts of a compound body setting apart the ingredients until they come to the most simple parts so to make the Analysis of Faith is nothing else but to mount by degrees to its beginning and to the first reasons whereon it is grounded and in this the Religions of the West are very different for tho' it is very true that the Protestants and Catholicks being questioned why they believe the Trinity agree in answering that it is because God has revealed it in Scripture but if you ask them this other question how they do know that God has revealed it in Scripture their answer will be very different the Catholick will answer that it is because he is told that the Roman Church finds the meaning of Trinity in certain passages of Scripture but the Protestant will say it is because he finds that these passages signify the Trinity whence it follows that the Faith of a R. C. is grounded on the Authority of the Church that of a Protestant upon the very Light which he finds in the Object proposed by Scripture There are but few who trouble themselves with this Analysis they content themselves well enough with believing what they have a feeling of Moreover it is a great question with Roman Catholicks whether in the Analysis of Faith they must stop at the Pope or go on to the Council Gregory of Valence in his Analysis Fidei Catholicae maintains firmly that they are to stop at the Pope But Mr. Holden an English Man by Nation and a famous Doctor of Sorbonne holâ—s for the Council in his Divinae fidei Analysis seu de fidei Christianae resolutione which has been re-printed lately at Paris with some additions A Lutheran Professor called Hannekenius refutes the Jesuite in the year 1683 by publishing paralysis fidei Papaeae I do not know whether he will publish such another Paralysis against the Doctor of Sorbonne Mr. Iurieu put at the end of his Book a short answer to what Mr. Ferrand published against the Parallel of Papism and Calvinism if this Article had not passed the bounds already we could give a short extract of this short answer it is admirable and discomforts this Author who to speak the truth has not answered the hopes that the Catholicks of this Country conceived of his Work they were a little surprized with the stroke they received from the parallel and they expected that Mr. Ferrand that was chosen to revenge their common Mother would acquit himself well of the Office but they experienced that he did not hold to what the Church promised it self of him Non illum nobis genetrix pulcherrima talem promisit The Accomplishment of Prophesies or the Deliverance of the Church near at hand c. Corrected and Augmented almost a third part with the Explication of all the Visions of the Apocalypse By the S P. J. PEPETH A. R. at Rotterdam by Abraham Achers 1686. 2. Vol. in 12. THis Work has made such a noise that there are two thousand Copies disposed of in four or five Months and yet there are but a very few gone into France which would have taken off a great many if it were suffered that it might be disposed of there this considerable part of Europe being almost nothing by report in respect of the Booksellers Trade one would think that the first Edition should have sufficed nevertheless there was soon occasion
exactly ordered and helps to resolve a thousand great difficulties the submission Christians owe unto Councils and upon the infallibility that M. Meaux maintains that Protestants attribute to Councils M. Nicole goes farther for he affirms that they attribute the gift of infallibility to each faithful person to refute him he is given to understand by several examples that it is not necessary to think ones self infallible to be convinced of any Opinion and because the knot of the difficulty lies in this that they which are deceived are no less convinced than the Orthodox the Author acknowledges that the Characters cannot be precisely shewn which distinguish the false and true perswasions and at the same time says that these differences are real and make themselves apparent It is good faith that can convince the publick that Mr. Iurieu is none of those Controvertists whereof M. Simon gives us such ugly Ideas I would say of those that wou'd rather dye than acknowledge that they cannot clear precisely this or that difficulty He gives us at the same time many instructions upon the manner how hearing and reading the Word of God conducts infallibly into the Truth those in whom the Holy Ghost works by an efficacious Grace but lest people may confound the infallibility that is produced by this Grace with the privileged infallibility which was belonging to the Apostles he teaches us the marks whereby to distinguish them after which he fully answers two objections that were proposed to make the Protestant Church seem to become to the highest pitch of impertinence For it was objected that a private Person how ignorant soever he could be should be assured according to their principles that he can understand the true sense of Scripture better than all the Church besides and that he owes no submission to Church or Council unless he sees by his own proper light that their decision is good all these difficulties are solidly answered and made to disappear The reader sees that hitherto M. Iurieu has met with several difficulties in his way but they are but trifles to what he must encounter now for he is going to answer objections that relate to the way of examen and that are without any dispute the main strength of M. Nicole He answers them first indirectly and argues almost thus We must go to the knowledge of Scripture either by Authority or by way of examen but it is impossible that Authority should conduct us to it therefore we must make use of the way of examen He proves the minor in shewing that upon Earth there is no infallible and speaking Authority and tho' there were it would be impossible to have recourse to it because it cannot be known by any certain sign of necessary truth It is the bravest Field in the World wherein the Enemy is led without having any place to retreat to so that if there were able and disinterested Judges as the Platonists and Aristoteleans were to observe the strokes given there are no People in the World they would despise so much as the Christians whereof they would see the greatest part brag of a Doctrine that cannot keep the Field one Moment in sight of the Enemy and which nevertheless subdues every day some of the other party upon this may be well said the absurdity which Sandaicat published concerning the Battle of Cerisoles les Spagnales victoriosos serinder however it be let us mark in a few words what the Author does here He shews that if Faith did not enter the Soul but by the way of Authority M. Nicole would have it the Iewish Church should never have had any good assurance of the Will of God as well because there was not in a long time any Prophet or other infallible Tribunal that declared it as that the Authority of the Prophets themselves might have been suspected to be false that amidst the most famous Miracles because there was none that could infallibly assure them that these Miracles came from God or from the Devil These dreadful difficulties are pushed to the time of Jesus Christ himself and his Apostles and it 's shewn that according to the Roman Church the Iews would have had no reason to be converted to it The same thing is shewn in respect of following ages in a word it is maintained against M. Nicole that his principle is the great road to Pyrrhonisme and Atheism because for to trust well the way of Authority we must know it well but very few could be able to come to the requisite assurance by the way of examen upon this subject and to the end that the difficulty should come to be more inexplicable the Author has invincibly refuted all that M. Nicole brought to prove that the Authority of the Church makes it self easily known so that here is the way of Authority quite shut up by what way then will people enter into the Faith must it be by examen if that be the way M. Iurieu must take away the Obstacles that M. Nicole has put in it and he must answer directly for to answer by retortions as was observ'd by a Modern Author is to furnish Deists with the best Arms that they ever yet made use of and is to compleat what M. Nicole has begun for the dullest amongst them would say after he had seen Mr. Nicoles book and what we have mentioned of Mr. Iurieu that seeing God has not made Man capable of choosing without rashness the only Religion that is Good it is evident that he has Revealed us nothing of it but has left it to our Education and Natural light therefore of necessity to disarm these Libertines he must answer directly to what Mr. Nicole says and let us see how he will behave himself He accuses his adversaries argument against the way of examen of two great faults one that it supposeth no help from the Holy Ghost to them who meditate upon Scripture the other that he supposes a Cartesian principle that would entirely ruine all Religions if it were applyed to Moral knowledge this principle is that we must believe nothing but what we understand clearly distinctly and to be lawfully assured that we have attained this evidence we must first have examined a thing all manner of ways and must have known that it could not have been other ways Our Author says that this condition being impossible in regard of most People and yet all men being obliged to be firmly satisfied of their Religion it follows that Religion is not subject to these preliminary conditions which Des Cartes only requires for the objects of speculation The Remonstrants believe they can draw great Advantages from M. Nicoles objections because they believe that for to answer him the points of Faith must be reduced to a very little number of Articles clearly contained in the Word of God but the Author says that this answer would cure no evil because to be assured to that degree of certainty which is required by
Ordination and that it belongs to the Bishop only to confer it and she allows the Distinction of Orders And tho' there is none under a Deacon because the Scripture makes mention of none yet she acknowledges that they are very antient Sixthly As for the Real Presence tho' Dr. Wake treats of it at length we will omit speaking of it until we come to the XII Article where there are many Books seen that concern this Subject Seventhly We receive says the English Expositor with equal Veneration all that comes from the Apostles let it be by Scripture or Tradition provided we be assured that they are the true Authors of the Doctrine or Practice attributed to them so that when we are shewn that a Tradition was received in all Ages and by all Churches then we are ready to receive it as having the Character of an Apostolical Institution So our Church does not reject Tradition but only the Tenets and Superperstitions which Rome pretends to justify after this way Eighthly And as for the Authority of the Vniversal Church of all Ages the English acknowledges 1. That they have received Scripture from their Hands and it is chiefly for this Authority that they look upon Solomon's Song to be Canonical and reject other Books Apocryphal which perhaps they would have received with as much ease These Books have our respect even before we know by reading whether they be worthy of the Spirit of God but this Reading confirms us in the respect which the Authority of the Church gives unto them as to the Holy Writings II. If there had been an Vniversal Tradition not contested that had come from the Apostles to us concerning the meaning of the Holy Books as concerning their number the Church of England would receive it also but she does not believe that a particular Church such as that of Rome should usurp this Priviledge nor that it ought to force others to follow the Interpretations which she gives of the Passages of Scripture III. When any Disputes arise concerning Faith the best way to appease them is to assemble a Council but it does not follow that such an Assembly can say as the Assembly of the Apostles at Ierusalem It seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to us nor that it is Infallible or that it's Canons are not subject to Correction IV. Dr. Wake goes on and says When we say I believe in the Holy Catholick Church we do not only understand that Iesus Christ has planted a Christian Church which is to last to the end of the World but also that the Son of God will conserve either among the Christians or in the Vniversal Church Truth enough to denominate it such a Church that is he will never suffer that Truths requisite for Salvation should be unknown in any place So that tho' the Vniversal Church can err it does not follow that it can sink altogether nor become wholly erroneous because then it would cease to be but such a particular Church as that of Rome can err and fall into utter Apostacy And tho' the Fundamental Points be clearly contained in Scripture and that it is very hard that one Man alone should gain-say the Opinion of all the Church nevertheless if this Man was certainly convinced that his Opinion was grounded upon the undoubted Authority of the Word of God we would be so far being afraid to bear with him that we all agree that the most glorious Action that St. Athanasius ever did was that he alone maintained Christ's Divinity against the Pope the Councils and all the Church V. And so tho we acknowledge that God has subjected Christians to the Government of the Church for Peaces sake and to preserve Vnity and Order and that she has power to prescribe to her Children what Doctrines are and are not to be publickly taught in her Communion yet we believe that the Holy Scripture is the only Support of our Faith and the last and infallible Rule by which the Church and we are to govern our selves Ninthly That there are some that think that the Church of England makes the Fathers of the three First Ages Idols and equals them in Authority to the Holy Scripture But Mr. Wake will undeceive them for says he Tho' we have appealed to the Churches of the first Ages for new Proofs of the truth of our Doctrine it is not that we think that the Doctors of those times had more right to judge of our Faith than those had that followed them but it is because that after a serious examination we have found that as for what concerns the common Belief that is among us they have believed and practised the same things without adding other Opinions or Superstitions that destroy them wherein they have acted conformably to their and our Rule the Word of God notwithstanding it cannot be denyed but that they effectually fell into some wrong Opinions as that of the Millenaries and Infant Communion which are rejected by both Parties Tenthly Whether one may be saved in the Roman Church the English think that as she yet conserves the Fundamental Doctrines those that live in her Bosom with a disposition to learn and leave off their pernicious Errors and profess all the truth that they will discover may be saved thro' the grace of God and Faith in Jesus Christ and by a general Repentance that puts their Errors in the number of the Sins they do not know of But that ill use may not be made of this charitable Grant the Expositor limits it as followeth I. That it is harder to be saved in the Communion of this Church since the Reformation than it was before because its Errors were not so well known nor so solidly refuted which rendred the ignorance excusable II. That they that live among Protestants and in a Country wherein they may learn and make publick and open profession of the Truth are more condemnable than the other III. That Priests are yet more than Laicks In a word the Protestants hope that the good Men of the Roman Church will be saved but they have no assurance that they are to be saved Whereas they are assured That they will be saved that live Christian-like in their own Communion They do not know whether God will condemn Roman Catholicks for the Errors they professed taking them for truth but they are assured that the Crime of those that being convinced of Popish Superstitions leave the Protestants thro' motives of Interest and Ambition and maintain Tyrannical and Superstitious Tenets against their Consciences deserve no pardon Eleventhly As for Idolatry the Homilies of the Church of England accuse that of Rome as well as the English Doctors who lived under Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth The Catholicks object that the Learned of this Kingdom changed Opinion in the Reign of King Iames the First and begun to maintain that the Church of Rome was not Idolatrous but these Gentlemen are so unlucky in Proofs that of six Authors
suspected places viz. the Roman Libraries in quorum MSS. certum est pleraque eorum quae Curiae Romanae placitis adversabantur esse erasa aut omissa It is certain that almost every thing which was contrary to the Maxims of the Roman Court was either taken away or omitted in the Manuscripts of their Libraries I shall speak more fully to the last Dissertation of Mr. Du Pin where he pretends to prove that neither Pope nor Church have any power either direct or indirect over the Temporalties of Kings 1. Because our Lord exercised no Temporal Jurisdiction 2. That all the power that he gave to his Apostles was only to publish the Gospel'Baptize to Bind and Unbind Sinners to Celebrate the Eucharist to separate the Wicked from the Church and Establish a Discipline 3. Because Christ and his Apostles forbid the Church to exercise any Temporal Authority 4. That according to the opinions of the Ancient Popes and Holy Fathers the power of the Church extended no farther than Spiritual Affairs 5. Because the Primitive Church exercised over its Members only the pain of Deposition and Excommunication for when She desired to put an end to her Rebellions by Penalties and Exiles She had recourse to a Secular power Mr. Du Pin adds that if in the following Ages the Church had the power of Condemning to Temporal punishments it was by the Concession of Princes To prove this first he shews that Jesus Christ suffered not his Apostles to make use of the Sword or to wish for fire from Heaven upon those that resisted them Secondly he relates a hundred fine passages of the Fathers who say very positively that Religion ought to constrain no one These are the same passages that the Refugees alledge to the French Converters to shew them the great difference between the Maxims of the first Ages and these Dragooning Missioners who compell'd the Protestants to Sign another Confession of Faith But what use wou'd Mr. Du Pin make of this Does not he see that M. Schelstrate will answer him 't is a mocking of the World to refer 'em to such Maxims as the Fathers themselves laughed at when instead of suffering Persecution they were in a Condition of making others suffer Does not he see that if these Maxims were good the Clergy of France cou'd not justify the Approbation which he has given of the Conduct he maintains In a word these Maxims are perfect Burlesk if the Church can have recourse to a Secular power forcibly to constrain Hereticks to enter into its Communion Common sense plainly says that if Jesus Christ forbid his Church to use Violence he has also forbidden their desiring such Assistance from Kings and if he had permitted them to compel Persons by the Intervening of Kings he has not command them in case of Necessity to make use of all the power they can furnish themselves with I mean by the credit they may have with the Multitude But all this is inconclusive Thus Mr. Schelstrate ruins his Adversaries if we come to Arguments ad hominem But it s true the proofs of Mr. Du Pin considered abstractedly are very solid I mean those which I have already spoken of and those that he founds upon the Nature of the Royal Power for he plainly shews by Scripture and the Fathers that it depends upon God Almighty that its only justifiable in him and that the Church is only obliged to suffer with patience where Princes abuse their Power These Maxims were so evident to the Holy Fathers that St. Ambrose who durst not abandon them in retaining a Church contrary to the Orders of the Emperour nevertheless he set a great value upon himself because he practised no other Resistance than that of Sighs and Tears See how Witty Men are mistaken if they are not Orthodox in their Actions they are at least so in their Words The Answering these Objections it seems Mr. Du Pin has found much difficulty in for altho' he proves very evidently the opinion that he wou'd refute is New yet he cannot Demonstrate it to his Antagonists because they may maintain that they are Truths that have continued a long time undiscovered and now are made manifest to the Church The Mystery of Transubstantiation is of this Number since M. Allix has shewn us that before the Council of Trent it was strongly rejected This is therefore indeed what was never revealed as an Article of Faith till the 16 th Age. Why may not they also say that the Power of the Church over the Temporalties of Kings is another Truth that lay undiscovered till Gregory the Seventh This is a little perplexing but the Council of Constance the Terrible Shield of the French Church is yet more difficult I shall only speak a little to that of all the Learned Disputes of the Author against Cardinal Bellarmin who to prove that the Temporalties of Moriarchs ought to submit to the Tribunals of the Church has Collected in one Piece all matter of Fact that he has found in Ecclesiastick History and the Old Testament with all the Reasons that his great Wit and Learning cou'd furnish him with From whence it appears that we may learn a thousand curious things in the answer of Mr. Du Pin to this Famous Cardinal We find many places in the Acts of the Council of Constance where it attributes to the Church the Right of Deposing Princes but we shall content our selves with relating the words of the 14 th Session where 't is Decreed that all those who observe not its determinations shall be eternally Infamous and deprived of all Dignity Estate Honour Charge and Benefice Ecclesiastical and Civil altho it should even be a King an Emperor a Cardinal or a Pope The Council of Basil Decreed the same thing Mr. Du Pin answers to that 1. That 't is a Menace without effect 2. That we may understand it shou'd be done only with the consent of Princes and by their Voluntary Submission 3. That as it was done in a time when the general Opinion attributed to the Church any power over Kings so these Decrees were rash 4. That these Councils determined it not in Form since they did not examin it but spoke only according to the General Style of the Prelates of that time so that this cannot be a Decision made Conciliariter It wou'd be needless to tell the Reader that these Answers neither taken together nor separately can any way injure this Decree from whence it follows either that the Church has a Right to depose Soveraigns or that it has made a very false Decision I say Decision fâ—r 't is as impossible to make a Decree without defining the the Doctrin which is the Insparable foundation of this Decree as it is to declare this particular Proposition for an Article of Faith We ought to believe St. Peter because he was inspired of God without declaring this General Proâ—osition as an Article of Faith we must believe all those that speak by the
rest of the People till they were visited by the Priests and declared Lepers And this Inspection was neither made upon the Sabbath nor Holy-day that Devotion and Publick Rejoycings might not be hindered It is not likely that People should tarry so long a time to separate the Pestiferous 4. The Gentiles who were not Proselytes and who lived in Canaan were not obliged to shew themselves to the Priests though they were Leprous and yet they were not hindered to converse with all the World 5. Those who were suspected to be Lepers were shut up in the Field or even in the Town and there were only those who were judged Lepers that were obliged to go out which if they recovered were not suffered to enter till after many washings and other Ceremonies which they were to observe 6. According to the Judgment which the Priest pronounced a Man was looked upon to be clean or unclean and so he was conversed with or his company shunned But it is not likely that this Sentence rendered a Man more or less Contagious 7. The general Leprosie which covered the whole Body did not render a Man unclean because they were declared clean who had all their Body covered with White Leprosie and in whom there was not a bit of Live flesh to be seen Naaman the Leper had several to serve him and he himself was Minister to the King of Assyria which could not be if his Distemper was Contagious Also the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tame which is spoken of polluted and unclean People marks only a legal impurity and is not applyed to them who are Infected with a Contagion The Heptades are followed by a small Treatise entituled Sciagraphia Biblica seu specimen Oeconomiae Patriarcharum It is as it were a Historical Abridgment of Divinity disposed according to the order that is contained in Holy Writ This Treatise is not ended because it begins at the Creation and ends at the Punishment of Sodom The Letters of Mr. Alting are one of the most considerable Pieces of this Volume being all full of Moderation and Learning In the Second he proposes some difficulties to Mr. Wetstein Professor at Basil who said in one of his Dissertations that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Synonyms in St. Iohn The Author on the contrary will have the terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew not only That the Word was in the beginning of all things but supposeth also that he was in being before whereas the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew that this word is destined to the Office of Mediator which was done since or at the beginning God having Promised the Messia who was to bring Life to Men and that immediately after the first Sin In the Third Letter which is Written to Buxtorf the Son Mr. Alting to shew that the Sabbath was a Ceremonial Institution which Figured Iesus Christ and the Gospel thus Translates a passage in Isaiah 58.13 If thou call the Sabbath a delight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likdosâ—h Iehova mecubbad the Holy of the Lord. He pretends that this Holy of the Lord is the Messia who is called the Holy One of God Mark 1.24 Luke 4.34 And that the Father hath sanctified and sent him into the World John 10.36 The Author Answers in the 4 5 and 6th Letters some difficulties which were made upon the Explication of this passage and upon Iob 11.7 In the Ninth is sought the Origine of this Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basar vedam Flesh and Blood which is common in the Rabbins and Writings of the new Testament The Author believes that the Iews did not begin to make use of it until after the Prophets times when Philosophy began to be brought in amongst them They saw some Pagan Philosophers define a man a compound of Body and Soul and searching in their own Tongue for familiar Terms which would answer this Definition they added to the word Basar Flesh by which the Scripture commonly marks Man that of Dam Blood Besides the passages of Genesis 9. and Levit 17. where it is said That the Blood is the Soul of Beasts there are many others by which it appears that the Soul and Blood are Synonymous with the sacred Writers so they say in some places the Messia has given his Blood and in other places he has given his Soul to ransom many There is in the 16.50 a Judgment which deserves our observation but to know the importance of it we must know the dispute upon which it was delivered about the end of the Year 1655. There arose a dispute amongst the Mennonite Ministers of Amsterdam about the external State of the present Christian Church from Conferences they came to Writings whereof there were several Copies soon made and as soon printed The first which appeared upon this Subject was signed by Gallenus and David Spruit who put it into the hands of their Brethren The 11 th of Ianuary 1657. it was digested in Nineteen Articles wherein these two Ministers expounded their Opinion touching the Church which is to this purpose 1. That there is but one Church which is called the Spouse and Body of Iesus Christ and that it was to that alone that the promises of Iesus Christ were made 2. That Iesus Christ has established in this Church Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Doctors and hath given them the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which guide them infallibly so that they and their Hearers might be assured they did not err 3. That not only the Apostles but even the inferiour Ministers of the Apostolical Church and even the Deans and Antients after receiving the imposition of hands were endowed with miraculous Gifts which were necessary for the Exercise of their Charge 4. That so the first Ministers had a Right to call themselves Embassadors of Iesus Christ and that the People were obliged to receive them in that Quality 5. That the Church should fall into an entire Apostacy that this Prediction should be accomplished soon after the Death of the Apostles seeing that from the time of St. Paul and St. Iohn the mystery of Iniquity began to increase since there were already several Antichrists One must have but a small insight of Ecclesiastical History to know that the Zeal of Christians cooled a little after and that they fell from a Remissness into a corruption of Manners from a corruption of Manners into that of Doctrine and that instead of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost there was nothing seen to Reign in the Church but the Spirit of Superstition of Tyranny over Consciences of Schism and Excommunication 6. That those who undertook in these late Ages to reform the Church had neither miraculous Gifts nor an Express not extraordinary Vocation from Iesus Christ. 7. That to prove that the Assemblies which were held are the true Church they have only some Arguments drawn from passages of Scripture explained according to the weak Lights of their own reason or
to speak better according to their conjectures 8. That there is no Text in the Bible which priviledges a Man who is not inspired to form an Assembly which should call it self the true and only Church of Iesus Christ and should appropriate to it self it's Priviledges by excluding all others 9. That nevertheless Christians divided themselves into innumerable Sects whereof the most part excommunicates and condemns the other 10. From all this it 's concluded That one cannot look upon any of these Churches nor the Ministers thereof nor the Tenets nor the Ceremonies of them with the same respect which one was obliged to have for the Church and Apostolical Pastors 11. Consequently that these Assemblies have no Right to impose their Doctrine or Worship as a necessary Yoak upon Consciences nor to condemn and excommunicate such as do not the same with them 12. That Baptism and the Supper of the Lord are Sacraments ordained by Iesus Christ whose use is very profitable that the Assemblies of Piety are so likewise provided their Government be not Tyrannical that they are looked upon as the work of some godly Persons who have endeavoured to imitate the model of the Church which they found in Scripture and they confess these Institutors were not infallible and that they left faults in their Works which they are willing to correct when they are better instructed This was the occasion of a Dispute that then made much noise One of Mr. Galenus's Brothers answered these Articles which Mr. Galenus had printed in the Year 1659. with a Reply to his Adversary In 1660. Mr. Pontanus Minister of the Remonstrants at Amsterdam undertook to examine this Opinion in a Treatise which he made of the visible Church of Iesus Christ of it's Office and Worship Without doubt this dispute was spoken of in 1664. seeing one of Mr. Alting's Friends ask'd him his Opinion upon it to which this Professor answered I do not see that the Opinion of Galenus such as you mention it in your Letter is so condemnable it would be in vain now to search the form of the Apostolical Church and the Gifts which the Apostles conferred by imposition of hands I remember I told you that we have a Faith which makes us uncapable of receiving Gifts As we believe that the Signs which according to the Promise of Iesus Christ Mark 16.17 18. should accompany the Faithful viz. the gift of Miracles the gift of Tongues and of Prophecy have ceased in the Church then it is not strange that they descend not to us In the Opinion of some Men this Faith and it's Efficacy lasted not as long as the first Age It wou'd distract us to find out the Signs of it in such distant times after this I do not admire that most Doctors have taken so different ways and that like Painters they have drawn more or less near after the model of the Apostles according as their Pencil was fine or gross Thence sprung so many different Churches to which were given the names of their Doctors as commonly the names of Painters are given to their most excellent pieces It 's true that there are some far better than others but there are none but please some people so much that they despise and condemn sometimes all other Churches how little soever they differ from theirs It 's an evil that could only be deplored hitherto and God only knoweth when it will be remedied When he is pleased to give us this Faith which we have lost he will give us it's Fruits and 't is then we shall be the Image of the Primitive Church In the mean time we must preserve and endeavour to preserve and increase the Faith we have which is that of Tenets and which may conduct us to Salvation notwithstanding the faults of the exteriour form and Government of the Church In answering to the same who asked him his Opinion upon the Visions of Drabicius he saith I know nothing certain upon that business now I cannot approve them and I dare not condemn them I suspend my Iudgment in the design to meditate upon this Subject and perhaps at another time I will write to you at large of it l. 17. In the Twenty first Letter are a great many helps for the History of David and upon the Persecutions which Saul makes against him In answering a Divine of Herborn who exhorted him to make a Translation of Scripture but without swerving from the received Versions and the common Tradition I cannot saith he make that two Councils agree for one ruineth the other to what purpose is it to spoil Paper to say the same things a hundred times over I take notice of another fault which has taken roo◠amongst the Reformed that is that we are very Orthodox upon the Theory or Speculation of Scripture but as to Practice we are altogether Papists Puri puti Pontificii You will acknowledge it if you reflect upon the Actions of both the one and the other You advise me to be silent upon the question of the Sabbath tho' you acknowledge it is of great importance and you will not have me to oppose my self to the received Hypothesis I know full well that it is an Axiom of the prudence of this Age not to touch an evil which is strongly rooted but the Reformers of the past Age had far more Christian Thoughts They had the courage to attack the Errors which were in the peaceable possession of Mens understandings tho' they foresaw the troubles which they would cause throughout all Europe It is in vain to expect to gain time till Men were silent or did agree all to maintain a false Hypothesis this silence and this consent would not render it true I do not take the Testimonies of Men saith Jesus Christ nor would he have St. John Baptist himself to be believed if his words were not conformable to the Writings of Moses 50.27 Upon the famous passage of the Romans 3.25 the Author hath an opinion altogether different not only from the common Interpretation but also from that of Bezae and of Cocceius the first Translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dissimulatio and the second Prateritio But Mr. Alting will have it Transmissio or Translatio a Transposition He founds it upon this That there is a Pleonasmus in the Version of these two learned Interpreters because the terms of Dissimulation Praeterition and Non-imputation give no other Idea but the Patience of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which mention is made in the following vers 2. He adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers here to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hegnebbir which is spoken of Sins 2 Sam. 12.13 and Iob 7.21 and that so Paresis mark'd in this place that Action of God considered as a Debtor who transports the Debt or the Crimes of Sinners upon Iesus Christ who is made their Pledge or Surety So the sense of this Passage is according to our Author that God has transported upon Iesus
we shall translate a full Testimony out of his Book entituled Mozenee haleshon hakkodesh towards the beginning of it as it is delivered by Buxtorf De Punct Origine pag. 13. The words are these or to this effect viz. The words of the Lord are pure Words or Sayings preserved by the hands of holy Men one Generation after another For they were sanctified from the Womb they heard the holy words at the Mouth of him who is most excellent in Holiness and they were Interpeters between him viz. the Lord and between Iacob The holy People and these were before the building of that holy House viz. the Temple and when it stood upon its Basis or Foundation and after it until the Vision and Prophecy was sealed up But after a few years about the time of the building of the holy House the second time at that time the Spirit of the Lord the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding rested upon the Men of that House that were called Anashee keneset haggedolah The Men of the great Synagogue or Sanhedrim to explain all that was sealed up in the Command And the words that are translated by the Mouth of the Just Men from the Mouth of the former and latter Prophets that is delivered by Oral Tradition from hand to hand Also they were rendring a Reason or restoring the Accent Meshebe taam Prov. 26.16 and taught their Posterity Chephets Colinian the sence of every word or thing al jad taamee hamikra by the hand or means of the Accents of the Scripture And the Kings and the Ministers they taught their Posterity and the closed Sections and the open Sections And what continues carries on the sence in opposition to the Pause and the Verses or Pauses that stop the sence and they were Eyes to the Blind therefore we go in their steps and follow after them and lean upon them in all the Expositions of Scripture And after the Captivity of our Fathers from the Holy City the Lord stirred up the Spirit of his Saints and the Chief of them was our holy Rabbi viz. Iudah to compose what was noted in loose Writings of the Commands of our God and that is the Mishna whereunto nothing may be added nor may any thing be taken away from it Also after them came other holy Princes and pious Hero's and they are the Men of the Talmud viz. the Gemarists and they went on in their paths viz. of the Masters of the Mishna and they took up the Stones out of the High-ways of the Testimony and they removed every Stumbling-stone out of the paths of the Lord. And after this stood up in Israel according to the good Hand of our God upon us two great Rows or Orders Neh. 12.31 the one keeping the Walls of the Sanctuary of Strength Dan. 11.31 founded by the Hand of our God that no Stranger may be able to destroy it Now this Sanctuary is the Holy Books of Scripture and the Men of this Row or Order are the Men of the Masora or the Masorites who separated all the mixed Multitude from the holy People alluding to Nehem. 13.3 and meaning what is Humane from what is Divine in Correcting the Copy And they numbred the Men of the Sanctuary from Two or Eleven to the end that no Stranger might draw near to the Gates of Righteousness Blessed be the Lord our God who hath put such a thing as this in the heart of the rest of the Kingdom of his Priests to beautifie his House which is a House of Wisdom as Solomon saith Wisdom hath built her House And the second Row that goeth over against it And I go after it Neh. 12.38 are those that are expert in War alluding unto Cant. 3.8 in the Law or about the Law and they are the Grammarians Thus far Aben Ezra In this place saith Buxtorf Aben Ezra doth elegantly and discreetly Expound in what manner and by whom the holy Word of God was preserved from the Beginning quite down to the Time of the Grammarians and what was done in every Age about the Preservation thereof and by whom it was done For First he saith The true and genuine Sence of the Word of God was preserved without Points by holy Men such as Moses and the Prophets unto the time of the Second Temple and the time wherein Vision and Prophecy were sealed up Secondly After the building of the Second House about the ending of Prophecy or the Prophetick Gift and Ministry God raised up other holy Men to wit the Men of the Great Synagogue that is to say Ezra with his Councel who preserved the Word of God which was brought to them by Oral Tradition This Holy Scripture they did by other means than Tradition with great care and study deliver down to Posterity But how they did this and what in particular it was that the Men of the Great Synagogue did about the Preservation of the Scripture this he doth teach particularly and by Parts For First he saith That this was done Al jad taamee hamikra By the means of the Accents of the Scripture Secondly By the Kings and Ministers that is the Vowels The Kings he calls afterwards seven viz. Holem Shurek Chirek Pathak Segol Kamets Tsere And the Ministers Sheva Mute Mobile and Compound And he doth not mean the Accents which the Grammarians divided into Kings and Ministers Vid. Balmes cap. 3. of the Points more of this Thirdly By the Doctrine concerning the Sections that are close open or continued Hasetumim Vpetuchim Vdebikim Fourthly By Hapesukim the Verses or the Distinction of the Scripture into Verses by these helps he saith they are like Eyes to the Blind and in their Steps we go in Reading and Expounding the Scripture at this time He saith we every where lean on their Exposition of the Scripture and therefore not of the Tiberian Masorites Thirdly In the Third place after the Men of the Great Synagogue he proceeds to the Masters of the Mishna and to them he chiefly ascribes the true Explication of the Precepts of God Fourthly He makes the Talmudists or Gemarists succeed the Masters of the Mishna and to these he ascribeth the Illustration and Explication of the Doctrine of the Mishna and their Disputations Fifthly He saith By the good Hand of God to Israel he raised up Two other Orders of Men labouring profitably for the Preservation of the Scripture The First Order he ascribeth to the Masorites but unto these he ascribeth no Invention either of the Points or of the Accents or of the Distinctions But he principally commends these for Two things First That they did separate every thing that was strange that is Foreign or Humane from the Books of Scripture if any thing had by hap crept into it Secondly That they numbred the Words and Letters of the Books of Scripture that so there might be no way left whereby the Text could be corrupted in time to come And agreeing to this is what he writes of the Masorites in his Book
sorts First Such Reasons which the Jews have first used and the Christians from them And Secondly Such as the Christians only have invented and used We shall begin with the First sort viz. Such the Jews first made The First Reason for the Antiquity of the Points is that which R. Azarias in Meor Enaim cap. 59. bringeth to prove his Opinion That the Points were coaevous with the Letters And that is this Because the Sounds of the Vowels which are often expressed in the Bible by the Points only are so essential to Speech that all Languages have them in one shape or other either in Letters or Lines or Points either in or between or above or below the Letters And 't is not to be imagined that the Hebrew Tongue which is the First and the Mother of all the rest should want that Essential part which all others enjoy And indeed for this Reason Letters are called Consonants because they can sound with but they cannot found without Vowels And as R. Azarias ibid. gives Instances of the Occidental Languages as the Latin Italian Grecian c. having Vowel-Letters so he mentions the Oriental Languages also and in particular he caught R. Elias in his Story about the Men of the Countrey of Prester Iohn reading without Points by shewing that they had Letters to express their Vowels § 2. Now 't is granted us that Vowels are coaevous with the Letters Vid. Dr. Walton afterwards Bishop of Chester in his Considerate Considered cap. 10. pag. 201. But then 't is said that they are expressed by the Vowel Letters Evi a b u i in the Bible which may be read without Points as well as the Rabbinical Commentaries the Talmuds the other Eastern Languages and as the Greek is read without Accents and where they are wanting there the scope of the place may help the Skillful ibid. c. 10. pag. 215 216 217. Resp. Here 's no Proportion in the Comparisons the Rabbins the Eastern Languages the Talmud the Greek Testament c. express their Vowels by Letters But the Hebrew Bible in innumerable places doth not but by Points only They grant us the Vowels of the Bible were expressed coaevous with the Consonants And we 'll prove this was done only by the Points in innumerable places and thence conclude the Points were coaevous with the Letters at least of Divine Antiquity and Authority And as to the scope of the place the Matter is too Sublime Divine and Mysterious the Language too Elyptical and Abstruce in many places to yield that relief And as to the Argument That the Bible was of old without Points because the Eastern Languages were of old without Points We reply They always used Vowel Letters and so do the Syriack Chaldee and Arabick Translations where our Bible useth Points only and not Vowel Letters which manifesteth that our Bible had Points from the beginning as theirs had Vowel Letters To make this plain we could produce innumerable Instances out of the Rabbins and all the Oriental Tongues had we room to place them but one or two at present taken out of the Rabbins may suffice to shew that the Bible expresseth those Vowels by Points only which the Rabbins the Chaldee Paraphrase the Syriac and the rest of the Oriental Languages express by the Vowel Letters As for Example R. David Kimchi when he repeateth these Bible words Hos. ◠8 And Loruhamah was weaned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he thus expresseth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the short o and the short u are expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vowel Letter by Kimchi but by the Points only by the Bible so ver 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kimchi reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so cap. 2. ver 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kimchi reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And cap. 3. ver 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And ver 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum multis aliis Now though the Hebrew Tongue expresseth their Vowels either by Vowel Letters only or by Points and Vowel Letters together or else by the Points only yet 't is essential to that Tongue and all others to express the Vowels one way or other And seeing the Vowels in the Bible are expressed by the Punctation only in innumerable places where they are essentially necessary to Speech that they be expressed some way or other We may conclude that the Points are an essential part of the Text and thereby of Divine Authority and Antiquity Because the Vowels which are an Essential part of Speech are expressed only by them in innumerable places as hath been already in part and shall be more fully under the next Argument made to appear And so much for the First Reason which leads us to the Second And that is The Argument of Semadar to prove that the Vowels were as ancient as the time of Moses CHAP. V. §. 1. The Second Reason for the Antiquity of the Points stated That the Scripture was written very plain but without Points 't would be very obscure §. 2. This is evinced by a Collection of divers places where the Vowels are expressed by the Punctation only and that in such places as would be unintelligible without the Points §. 3. The Objection of Capellus That 't is not Impossible though it be Difficult to read without Points Answered The Objection That 't is the Office of the Ministry to Read as well as to Expound Answered §. 4. The Argument from the whole proved § 1. THe Opinion and Argument of Samadar for the Divine Original of the Points is related by R. Samuel Arcuvolti who agrees with him in his Arugath Habbosem cap. 26. And by R. Azarias in Meor Enaim cap. 59. And also by Elias Levita himself Masoret Hammasoret Pref. 3. fol. 78. and 't is to this effect If saith he it be asked Whence shall we know that the Punctation was from God 'T is answered From hence we know it because 't is said by the Lord in the Scripture very fully Deut. 27.8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of the Law VERY PLAINLY Now saith he unless it were for the help of the Points and Accents whereby the words are made plain no Man could be able to understand the meaning of them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus far Samadar as Elias reports his words and all he saith to it is only this See if it be fit to lean upon Which we shall
other Resp. If it be obscure when Pointed why then would they reject the Points but that the Bible might thereby be rejected for its Obscurity 2. We must know the reading of the Text our selves because thereby we must try the Exposition of it by the Ministry but to commit the Reading as peculiarly as the Expounding the Text to the Ministry is plain Popery § 4. But to conclude this Chapter we have proved that the Text was written very plain and that without Points 't would be very obscure as they are constrained to Confess and therefore we say the Text was written with Points and so much for the second Reason CHAP. VI. §. 1. The third Reason stated the Points evidence their own Antiquity and Divine Authority §. 2. The Objection that there are superfluities in the Punctaâ—ion Answered §. 3. The Objection about the Keri and Ketib being only about the Letters and never about Points Answer'd §. 4. The Objection of the insignificancy of the Musical Accents Answered §. 5. The Objection of the Chaldee Names of the Points Vowels and Accents Answer'd §. 6. The summe of the Arguments of the Iews for the Antiquity of the Points Declared § 1. A Third Reason for the Divine Authority of the Points is taken from what the Author of Cosri saith part 3. sect 32. as to the Nature of the Punctation it self being Divine Now we say that for the same Reason why we believe the Text to be God's Word for the same do we believe the Points to be from God We believe the Scripture to be God's Word because it evidenceth its self to be from God by certain Tekmeria or Proofs of the Power Light Purity and Majesty that appears in it manifesting its self to proceed from a Holy Wise Glorious Gracicious God But this it doth only as it is Pointed for without Points the Text speaketh either nothing or else contrary and divers things of which no judgment can be made whether they are good or bad Now saith the Author of Cosri part 3. sect 32. There appears in the fixing of the Points and Accents to be such an Order as cannot be made without Divine Aid which is far beyond the reach of humane Skill Nor had it otherwise been so universally received in all times by all the People of God without alteration because as wise men as they could have Pointed otherwise had it been done by humane Art only and so say we Now to fix and ascertain the sence of the Text universally infallibly right which is the Work of the Punctation requires no less ability than the infallible guidance of the same Spirit of God that first gave forth the Scriptures Men may know the things of men and may rectifie any litteral mistakes in Writings about Arts and Sciences the Matter and Subject whereof they treat being first well known and understood by them but no Man knows the things of God nor can know them but the Spirit of God and he to whom the Spirit reveals them 1 Cor. 2.11 The matter of the Scripture consists of such Misteries that were hid from all Men 'till revealed by the Scripture only The Prophesies of future Events as Isaiah c. are delivered in such cloudy and figurative Expressions and in such Elyptical Sentences as posed the very Pen-men of Scripture themselves to interpret it must needs therefore be impossible for any infallibly to fix and ascertain the right sense of the words of Scripture without Divine Assistance But in all the most deep and dark places of Scripture the Punctation is as compleat and perfect as in the plainest and every where shews it self and the Striptures thereby to be from God by the Divine and Heavenly Subjects that are delivered by the Text as it is at present Pointed We say then that we believe the Bible is God's Word with Faith Divine because of the Authority and Veracity of God who hath declared it so to be therein And we believe that God did indeed declare it so to be as is therein affirmed because the Bible evidenceth its self to our Consciences by infallible Tekmeria or Characters that it did proceed from no other but God himself All God's Works wear his Name and bear some mark upon them of God their Author but his Word is herein exalted above all other Works that bear his Name Psal. 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy Word above all they Name for there no where remains so many and so great prints of the immediate Finger of God as is on the Scripture none but God can make that Revelation of the invisible Nature and Being of God as is in the Scripture nor declare those Counsels which before were hid in God that are plainly expressed in the Scriptures which things the Angels desire to look into Nothing in Heaven or Earth doth bear so much of the Image of God as doth the Scriptures but God himself by nothing hath the great God revealed his Will and given forth to the Sons of Men a Law of Obedience but only by the Scripture nothing evidenceth it self so to be in the least degree but the Scriptures and all this the Bible doth in and by the Punctation only without which it would be nothing at all but whatever wicked men have a mind it should be sect 2. 'T is Objected 1 st There are multitudes of impertinent superfluities in the Punctation very unfit to ascribe to a Divine Original Resp. The Jews best know the usefulness of all parts of the Punctation and as much as they know they highly value buâ— they lament that they are ignorant of a great deal of it as the Musical Use of the Accents which hath been lost and the like but for every one to Condemn every thing he doth not understand would put a final end to Knowledge Mathias Wasmuth in his Vindicia doth at large shew the great usefulness of the most minute parts of the Punctation and in particular of the Accents and so doth Buxtorf de Orig. Punct par 1. cap. 14. from pag. 200. to pag. 262. and others And if some are ignorant of them and yet will not learn who can help it the Punctation is never the worse in it self because some do not or will not understand it all § 3. Obj. 2. 'T is said the Keri u Ketib are only about Letters never about Vowels and Points therefore saith Elias the Points were not when they were first made Resp. 1. Many Jews say Ezra made them and the Points after them and so they agree 2. 'T is Objected the Anomalous pointing of the Ketib with the Points that are proper to the Keri could not be of Ezra Resp. But Kimchi's Preface on Ioshâ—ah says it was done by Ezra for as he there saith they set one word in the Margen and did not Point it Now all the Jews own the Keri and Kerib to be as antient as Ezra and they likewise own that the Ketib is to be always pointed with the Points
Term Consubstantial when as they freely acknowledg'd the Divinity of the Son of God He approved not of the Disputes at that time upon the Subject of the Hypostasis because he look'd upon those that received Three into the Trinity and those that admitted but of one to be of the same Opinion and only to differ in the manner of Expressing St. Basil was not so moderate for accoding to his Opinion those were Sabellians that said the Father and Son were two in Thought and one in Substance The Demi-Arians or Homoiousians that was those that would not acknowledge that the Son was Consubstantial with the Father and that said nevertheless that he was like him in all things c. the same in Substance were no more Hereticks than those that maintan'd the Three Hypostases in the Judgment of St. Basil St. Hilary of Poictiers of Philaster and even of Saint Athanasius who confesses in his Book of the Synods that Basil of Ancyra and those of his Party differed from those who made a Profession of Consubstantiality as to the name only Some of these Demi Arians are placed in the number of Saints in divers Martyrologies as Euseb. of Caesarea and Euseb. of Emissa and Pope Liberius also being a Catholick receiv'd them into his Communion St. Hilary of Poictiers although a great Defender of the Nicene Faith was not free from Error for to Answer to the Objections that the Arians drew from such passages of Scripture as proved that Jesus Christ was subject to fear sorrow and grief he fell into such an Opinion as made the Humanity of our Saviour a Fantom he maintained that Jesus Christ sustained not really either Fear or Grief but that these Passions were only represented in him To explain what the Son of God says of himself That he was ignorant of the day of Iudgment Mark 13. He says it ought not to be understood in the Letter as if Jesus Christ had been effectively ignorant of this Day but in this Sense that he knew it not to discover it to Man He had an other very very particular Error that he advanced in the Twentieth Canon upon St. Matthew that Moses and Elias should come with Jesus Christ near the time of Iudgment and that they should be put to death by Antichrist contrary to the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews for he says that Jesus Christ being rais'd from death shall dye no more He was of the Opinion also that Predestination was subsequent to Merit and that the Divinity of Jesus Christ was separated from his Humanity in the time of his death As to the rest the Roman Catholicks which complain that some Protestant Refugees have spoken too freely of those that have deprived them of their Goods and reduced them to the utmost Misery may read what St. Hilary says of Constantius That neither he nor the Bishops of his time received the thousandth part of the evil Treatments that the Reformed have suffered Mr. du Pin thinks the Errors of Optatus of Milan small and pardonable although he believed that Hereticks ought to be Rebaptized and seems to give Free-Will the Power not only of willing and beginning a good Action but also of advancing in the way of Salvation without the Assistance of the Grace of Jesus Christ. He approves not however of the Allegorical manner whereby this Bishop explains many Passages of Scripture giving them a very distant sense from what they naturally have and applying them to such things as they have no Relation to This defect says our Author that might be suffered in a Sermon appears intolerable in a Treatise of Controversie where all the Proofs ought to be strong and convincing But Optatus had to do with Enemies that did the same and who abused Passages of Scripture to injure the Church and give Praises to their own Sect. After having complain'd of the loss of Apollinarius's Works the most Learned of all the Christians Authors in Humanity this Loss is attributed to his Errors or rather the Zeal of the Catholicks which have had such an Horror to the Books of Hereticks that they have not even preserv'd those that regarded not their Heresie and that might have been useful to the Church Wherefore continues du Pin we have almost no Books of the Ancient Hereticks remaining Many Men believe that the Disputes with the Heterodox have been the Cause of the Catholicks inventing Solutions which have afterwards pass'd into Opinions such is the Doctrin of the Infallibility of the Church which was not regarded till towards Luther's time Some in this Rank place Original Sin which begun in the Seventh Age to be more acknowledg'd than before according to Mr. du Pin. They speak also more of Grace than they did in the preceding Ages and notwithstanding much was always attributed to Free Will It 's surprising that Titus of Bostres whose Arguments are solid and subtil had not recourse in his Treatise against the Manicheans to Original Sin which he might have made use of as a general Solution to almost all their Difficulties For we may easily apprehend why Man is inclined to evil why he suffers why he is subject to hunger to grief sickness miseries and to death it self where once we have admitted Original Sin Neither doth this Author speak of the Grace of Iesus Christ and he seems to have supposed that Man can of himself as well do good as evil The Disciples of St. Augustin will not find Dydimuss of Alexandria much more Orthodox since he maintains that Predestination is nothing else but the Choice which God hath made of those that he foresaw would believe in Jesus Christ and would Act according to it He likewise believed with his Master Origen that the Incarnation of the Son of God was beneficial to Angels as well as to Men and that it took away the Guilt of their Transgressions As to the Sentiment of the Eternity of Spirits he speaks on 't without condemning or approving it In Truth it would be absurd and impious to fix Eternity to any other Being than God if by this word was understood an Absolute Eternity or Existence by it self but if we suppose that the Souls of Men were Spirits created a long time since which have offended God and which he sends into mortal Bodies there to do Penance for their Faults this Hypothesis perhaps would be instrumental to discover many Difficulties in Divinity which have hitherto appeared Unexplicable All the World hath heard of the Catechumens of the Ancient Church that few well know what they were 1. When an Infidel presented himself to be admitted into the number of Christians they begun to instruct him in private but he was not suffered to enter into the Church nor to assist at publick Exhortations 2. Afterward when he was believed to be well undeceived of his old Errors he was permitted to go to the Church but only to hear Sermons
and not to assist at any Prayer Therefore this second kind of Catechumens were called Hearers 3. But those to whom leave was given to assist at publick Prayers until the Consecration of the Eucharist and to Kneel to receive the Benediction of the Bishop bear the name of Prostrates 4. When they were found sufficiently instructed to receive Baptism they were permitted to demand it and to give their names to be admitted thereto and they were then called Competents or if their demand was accepted of Chosen and Enlightned These are all the Degrees that can be distinguished amongst the Catechumens But commonly the Fathers without stopping at these Distinctions call'd them the Hearers and the Prostrated when as they give the name of Competents and Enlightned to those that were in a Condito receive Baptism Which relate well enough to the Mystes and Epoptes of the Mysteries of Ceres As Tradition was not so clear against the Arians as against the Hereticks of the first Ages the Fathers who lived after the Council of Nice studied Scripture more than before because the strength of the the Dispute run upon the Sense of divers Passages for the Exposition of which they had recourse to the Greek of the New Testament as to the Original The holy Books were then the only Rule of Faith and the Writings of Doctors that were dead before the Contestations of Arianism were considered only as Human Testimonies where the Doctrin of their time might be learned The least thing ought not to be taught saith Cyril of Ierusalem according to the Relation of Mr. du Pin touching Divine Mysteries that cannot be established by Testimonies of Scripture Even believe not what I say to you if I do not prove it by Holy Scripture The Letters of St. Basil which may be of very great help to those that would know throughly the Ecclesiastical History of that time are placed without any order as well as the Epistles of Cicero and the most part of the ancient Works of this Nature The Author promises us a Translation thereof in French and Latin with Notes in the mean time he gives here divers Extracts of these Letters disposed according to the order of times There are several of them that bear evident Characters of being Supposititious as the 203 with this Title to Iulian the Apostate Would St. Basil saith Mr. du Pin have directed him a Letter with this Epithet This Letter besides is not like the Style of this Father it is only a Profession of Faith to which is added the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images whoever heard that this was put in the Professions of the first Ages The Author of this Letter saith that he Honours and Adores the Images of Saints because it 's an Apostolical Tradition Did St. Basil speak thus and is it not visible that this Letter is the Work of some Greek who lived since the seventh Council For the same reason he rejects a Work which is attributed to St. Athanasius and Entituled The Narration of the Passion of the Image of Iesus Christ in the City of Berytus In the CCCXCI Letter answering to divers Questions that Amphilocus Bishop of Iconium had put to him he Expounds this Passage That no Body knows the Day of Iudgment but the Father after this manner that the Father knows it by himself because he is the Source and Principle of this Knowledge whereas the Son receives it from the Father as it is said in the same Sense That there is only God who is Good p. 517. In the CCCCX Letter he saith that we ought to be contented with the Faith we have made Profession of in our Baptism to keep to the Terms of the Holy Scripture and shun all new Expressions because our Faith depends not upon these Terms but the Orthodox Doctrin Of all the Fathers of the Fourth Age there was none more moderate nor perhaps a Man of more Worth than Gregory of Nazianze In the Apology he made for his Retreat into Pontus when he was going to be made Bishop he pathetically describes the Disorders of his time Where the Priests were like the People After that he deplores the Unhappiness of the Catholicks who were divided upon unprofitable Questions or such as were of small Consequence He says that in the same time when Faith is in dispute we are oblig'd to separate our selves from those that teach Impiety and to suffer any thing rather than approve on 't but that it 's a Folly to break Union and excite troubles for Questions that are not of Faith In his Oration against the Emperor Iulian this same Father makes a Digression upon the Mildness that the Christians have kept when they were Potent and opposes it to the Cruelties the Pagans have exercised There was a time say he to the Heathens that we have had the Authority as well as you but what have we done to those of your Religion that comes near what you have made the Christians suffer Have we taken away your Liberty Have we perswaded Governors to condemn you to Torments Have we attempted the Life of any Have we even put any from the Magistracy and Employments In a word have we done against you any thing that has given you Cause to make us suffer I do not conceive saith Mr. du Pin hereupon how St. Gregory of Nazianze can reconcile all these Maxims with what he hath just now said that Constantius had done very ill to leave the Empire to Iulian because he was an Enemy to the Christian Religion and that he would persecute it maintaining that in that Constantius had made a very ill use of his Mildness and Bounty As to the purpose of Constantius whilst Hilary of Poictiers calls him Antichrist and speaks a thousand other injuries against him Gregory of Nazianzen excuseth this Emperor upon the Subject of Arianism He casts the whole Fault upon the Great Men of the Court and even pretends that after his death Angelical Voices were heard that celebrated his Praises In the Funeral Speech of his Brother Cesarius he saith That he was informed by the Discourses of Learned Men that Souls that are Holy and acceptable to God being delivered from the Bonds of the Body feel an ineffable Joy and Pleasure in considering the Beatitude they are one day to receive that they go strait to God and that they already know as 't were in a Representation and Image the Beatitude they will receive after the Resurrection of the Body In his fifty third Poem he numbers holy Books exactly as the Protestants do only he doth not put the Apocalypse in the Canon of the New Testament otherwise this Bishop had a very ill Opinion of the Councils for in his LV Letter he declares that he fears all the Ecclesiastical Assemblies because he never saw the End of any Council which had been happy and which had not rather encreased their Misfortunes than diminished them
contains the Canons of a Council held by an Arch-Bishop of Mentz nam'd Arribon the year 1023. concerning some abuses of that time as against Priests who imagined themselves to be able to extinguish a fire by casting into it a consecrated Host. 10. There are afterwards two Writings which contain the Examination of Iohn de Wesel Doctor of Divinity accused of Heresie he was brought before two Dominicans Gerard Elten and Iames Springer the first being an Inquisitor of Faith in 1479. Some Thomists had remark'd in his Sermons Propositions they judge Heretical There are some Opinions suppos'd to be faithfully reported which agree to those of the Protestants touching the Scripture the Authority of the Ecclesiasticks and fasting He says for example that the holy Scripture must be expounded by its self and that we are not obliged to comply with Expositions or other Writings of Doctors There are also some particular Propositions very remarkable as this Raro reperio vel duas unanimes literatos etiam in fide Nullus tenet mecum dempto Evangelio ubi omnes sumus concordes I rarely find two Learned Persons of the same Opinion even in matters of Faith but no Body is of my Opinion except in regard to the Evangelists in which we all agree He also says Quod Papa Episcopi Sacerdotes nihil sint ad salutem sed sola concordia sufficit pacificeè vi vere that the Pope Bishops and Priests are nothing to our Salvation but Unity alone suffices to live happily He believed also that one ought rather to give Faith to St. Iohn who says that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father than to that Article of Athanasius's Creed that these Doctors cite under the name of the Council of Nice which Article says the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and the Son In the Assembly where the Inquisitor Elten was President he demands of the accused Doctor if those Propositions of which we spoke were his The Doctor would have explain'd himself more at length and said that he did not know that he had writ any thing against the decisions of the Church but if it was so he was there to retract it Magister noster Gerardus immediately interrupted him and told him after having heard that he was ready to retract the Errors that he had committed Petis nunc gratiam Do you beg pardon The Divine answered him that he could not for errors unknown to him And upon that the Inquisitor said that he shou'd be put in mind of 'em by examining ' em He came to this Examen which they read in the Original where they might mark the Spirit of the Inquisition or those who imitated it Magister noster Gerardus did all he cou'd to manage this poor Doctor so that he might not justifie himself or draw him from his pretended Errors without a noise by good reasons But to render him infamous and guilty in malignantly explaining all his words 't was this made him say with sufficient reason to this misfortune After the manner you have used me if Iesus Christ were here you might condemn him as a Heretick to whom it was answered laughing That if he were he wou'd overcome him by subtilty In fine Whether convinced or no of his errors Mr. Wesel was obliged to make a publick Retraction and so submit to what pennance they pleas'd to impose on him He that writ the relation of this Examination ends with considerable Remarks upon the understanding of the Divines of that time except says he the Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost which imports very little it seems not to have deserv'd so deep a censure as the others If they had given him time and liberty to consult persons about 'em he might have clear'd himself if the most part of the Judges had not been Realists or if the Religious had not had a mind to insult over a secular Priest who had no esteem for St. Thomas he might have been proceeded against with more humanity I can take God to witness that their manner of dealing with him until he had retracted and burn'd his Books hath extreamly displeased Mr. Engelin de Brunswick and Mr. Iohn Keisersberg who were Men of Learning and Integrity Mr. Engelin in particular thought they acted with too much Precipitation against so great a Man as Iohn de VVesel he confesses freely that the most part of his Articles may be maintain'd He dissembled not the hatred that the Thomists had against the Moderns he observes some amongst the Divines of that age who did not believe St. Thomas to be infallible and the satisfaction the-Monks took in triumphing over Seculars This can be nothing but the Devil who sow'd this Division amongst the Divines which causeth so much Inveteracy amongst 'em and diversity of Opinions as those who follow Thomas Ascot and if any should deny the Universals to be Realists they judge him guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost which they think to be a most culpable sin against God the Christian Religion Justice and all Policy from whence comes this but from the Devil who deludes our Imaginations and draws us to the search of useless things and cold Speculations which make us neither devout nor charitable lest we should oblige our selves to what is more honest and learn how to regulate our Manners and to procure Salvation to our Souls This is the reason that none is edified and that the Zeal of Christians diminishes daily 11. The greatest part of the rest of the Writings which compose this Volume are Complaints that the Germans and French made some Ages past against many Abuses whereof they demanded a Reformation at the Court of Rome who troubl'd themselves not much with it Most of these Pieces are very well known therefore we shall mention 'em in a few words There are divers Grievances that the Dyets of the Empire made known to the Pope's Legat which was sent to 'em and the Answers of these Legats to evade the Complaints Nicholas de Clemengi's Writings upon a General Council and Abuses that ought to be reform'd The Harangues of Iohn Francis and of Anthony Cornelius Linnecau upon the Depravation of Manners and Discipline with the Book of Erasmus of the manner whereby their Controversies which divided the Western Churches are sufficient to put a Period to all these Animosities 12. In fine there is some Discourse upon the Original and Power of the Turks with the manner of its Abatement and Reasons that introduce Christian Princes not to despair of their overthrow Orthuinus Gratius who hath often placed unuseful Prefaces and Advertisements both at the beginning and ending of his Works of which I have treated ends his Collection with a Discourse where he protests the Innocency of his design in publishing so many Heresies and Complaints against the Roman Church he makes it appear by his Declamations against the Hereticks which were spread through the whole Work and Advertisements that he was
only have Men to ask the same things of God St. Augustin in his Work of Baptism against Donatists speaking of the words which they made use of in Baptizing saith Si non santificatur aqua cum aliqua erroris verba per imperitiam Precator effundit multi non solum mali sed etiam boni fratres in Ecclesia non sanctificant aquam If the Water is not Sanctified whilest he that Prayeth is mistaken thro' ignorance in some expressions there are not only several evil Persons but even good Christians who cann't Sanctifie the Water in the Church IV. Mr. Clarkson after having brought diverse proofs by which he pretends to shew that there was no Form in the First Ages for the Administration of the Sacraments cites divers places of the Fathers which seem against Forms in general 1. For example he Expounds at length the passage of Iustin Martyr which is already related He adds thereunto what Tertullian saith Apol. ch 30. of the manner how Christians Prayed sine monitore quia de pectore precantes sumus c. We pray without being advertised of the terms which we ought to make use of because we pray from the bottom of our heart In this place Tertullian opposes the Christians to the Heathens who rehearse their Prayers after a Person that Read them Qui praeibat de scripto Some thought that Tertullian meant that the Christians rehearsed their Prayers by heart but then instead of saying de pectore he should have said de memoria and it would be no small labour to learn by heart all the Prayers that the Christians then made In their meeting together which lasted 9 hours and sometimes 12. and which were done twice or thrice a week all the time was almost imployed in Prayers not mentioning the quantity of others that were done on Vigils Feasts Sundays in the Administration of Baptism in the Ordinations in the Reconciliations of Penitents c. 2. Besides that the Generality of the Christians being obliged to no Form in respect to the Hymns they Sung as appears by Tertullian there is no likelyhood that the Pastours were more confined in their Prayers Indeed in the time of Origen they Prayed according to their Capacity as is evident by some passages of this Father which may be readin the Author who makes use of divers other Reasons which we cannot stay to relate 3. We find these Terms in this Book of St. Augustin de Catechiz rudibus ch 9. where after having said that those who had some Learning and entred into the Church must be taught that God hath much more respect to the Heart than Words he adds Ita enim non irridebunt si aliquos Antistites Ministros Ecclesiae fortè animadverterint vel cum Barbarismis solecismis Deum invocare For thus saith he When it shall happen that they will hear both Bishops and Priests commit Solecisms and Barbarisms in their Prayers to God they will not laugh thereat Socrates who lived in the middle of the Fifth Age says that two Prayers could not be found which in every thing agreed with one another The Churches of Spain had no Liturgie in DCXXXIII and in France it was but in Charles Majus time that they were established there In the Diocess of Cologne there were divers sorts of 'em until the middle of the Tenth Age and the same was observed in Ireland with which the English and Scotch agreed until the Twelfth Age. V. The last thing that the Author does in this Work is to Refute the Reasons which are brought to prove the Antiquity of Liturgies 1. To that purpose is cited a passage of Clement Alexandrius who says That the Assembly of those who Pray'd had but one Voice in common and but one thought And the Author replies that that signifies nothing else but that the Pastour speaks in the name of the whole Assembly 2. As for the passages of Tertullian St. Cyprian and St. Basil where they say that the Christians asked certain things of God Mr. Clarkson maintains that hence can no other Consequence be drawn but that the matter of their Prayer was the same tho' the Terms might be different 3. Divers places of Origen are cited where he speaks of the Prayers of the Christians of which he relates some Words but if we believe the Author Origen by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meant in some places nothing else but the Psalms of David where these words are found and it appears not by other passages of this Father that they were obliged constantly to make use of the same expressions but only that sometimes those which he relates were made use of 4. Some Learned Men have believed that the words of Dominica Solennia in Tertullian c. 9. de Anima signifie the Liturgie which was read on Sunday Mr. Clarkson believes on the contrary that these Terms mark nothing else than the reading of Scripture the singing of Psalms Prayers and Homilies and that this is visible by the Sequel of Tertullians discourse which may be read in the Original or in the Author Solennia is also taken for the same thing in St. Cyprian and in the time of Iustin Martyr and Tertullian the care of remarking what was to be read was left to the Pastours After the Examination of these passages drawn from the Authors of the First Age Mr. Clarkson comes to later Testimonies amongst which the Liturgie of St. Iames ought to be read which is manifestly Supposititious and which according to the Author was unknown before the Seventh and Eighth Age. 5. The 18. Canon is cited of the Council of Laodicea where it is said That the Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Prayers ought every where to be the same at Evening and Morning To that the Author answers amongst other things that the word Liturgie signifies Originally a publick Function and is taken in the most ordinary signification for the Exercise of this Change and not for the manner of doing on 't Thus in Theodoret The Liturgy of Hymns not for a Form of Canticles but for the very Action of Singing them In Iustinian the Liturgy of the Scripture which was read is the very reading of Holy Writ and not a Rubrick which notes in what place it ought to be Read The same Emperour condemns to death those who shou'd undertake to trouble the Divine Liturgies to wit the Publick Service and not the Forms of Writings 6. The Author after that treats in a few words of the Liturgies Attributed to St. Basil and St. Chrysostom He believes that these two Bishops have been supposed as well as St. Ambrose Authors of new Liturgies because they introduced a new manner of Singing in their Churches Flavianus and Diodorus established at Antioch the Singing of the Antiphones when the Arians had forc'd them to meet together in a particular Assembly after having taken from them the Publick Churches They were followed in that by
Understanding wherefore to enlighten the Understanding its sufficient to encline the Passions and the Will That is to say before all things we must perswade the Understanding because a Man can't will or consent where he is not convinc'd whence it follows that the Understanding inclines the Will when it is perswaded there must not be an immediate Action of the Mind upon the Will because there must be only a Predication to enlighten and convince the Understanding by the Evidence of Truth Mr. Iurieu who hath studied much the heart of Man and knew all its foldings tells us quite contrary viz. That 't is the Passions and not the Understanding which determins the Will They prevent deliberation the violent Motions which they cause leave not the Understanding time to judge Video Mcliora Proboque Deteriora sequor This is the condition of all Men. They raise up an Eternal War in themselves and after much strugling they are carry'd away to sensible Objects and Charms in spight of the Light of the Understanding Man believes a thousand things only because he wou'd believe 'em and his Passions plead for an Interest even the Air of a Mans Face changes according to the Nature of the Passions so much is Passion the Mistress of the Judgment In fine according to Mr. Iurieu the Understanding is so little Master of the Will that we ought to look upon it as a Passive Faculty which receives Ideas as they are imprest upon it 't is an Ice which receives Images and reflects 'em more or less distinctly now as it acquiesces it determines not the Will ceases not to revolt and follow the Motions of the Passions If the Understanding resists it is only in those things wherein it hath not acquir'd a habitude of Sinning without remorse and which stay upon the brink of the Precipice being at a loss how to free themselves The Understanding is almost always subject to the Will which disposes of all its Reasonings whence we may conclude that 't is not necessary to pass through the Understanding in order to penetrate the Will and as it is this which determines so 't is this by which the Holy Ghost also Acts immediately upon the Mind Thus the Joy that the Souls of the Faithful possess is not a Reason'd Motion nor does it arise from reflection 't is inward Grace which gives it birth In fine it must be an immediate Action of the Holy Ghost upon the Will to overcome its inclination to Evil and draw it back from sensible things The other Proposition we have chosen is this That the Word of God contains Moral Demonstrations capable of themselves only to produce a full and intire certainty of the truth of it That is to say the Scripture has such Evident Characters of the Divinity of its Author that they are sufficient to form this certain perswasion viz. The Scripture is Divine I know not says Mr. Iurieu that ever man yet durst advance what these Gentlemen have done without having a design to lessen the Power and Light of these Holy Characters I dare affirm that there 's not one which can't be avoided by the profane not one that will amount to a proof or to which nothing can be objected But say these Gentlemen It is true there 's nothing which the Mind of Man can't turn into Darkness nevertheless if these Characters of Scripture are not sufficiently evident to produce this certainty will it be a fault in the Wisdom of God to make use of means which are incapable of producing the Effect which he proposed And will it be a lawful excuse for those who are chain'd in the Darkness of Paganism God will only reprove the malâ—ce of their heart and the source of their incredulity since he hath hid his Word under so great obscurity that the Characters of Divinity which it bears along with it cannot make one proof They add that if by the Assistance of the Holy Spirit there are not found in Scripture sufficient proofs to produce a certainty which excludes the fear that the Contrary can't be true as Mr. Iurieu says himself then there will be an eternal restlesness For a man can't be fully assur'd that the Scripture is Divine by the Scripture it self doubtless Grace can form a confidence which excludes all doubts that the Scripture is Divine But as Grace is not so prevalent that one can't sometimes be perswaded by the prejudices and darkness of Reason instead of that of Grace So that one shall be at a loss to be so much assured of the Divinity of the Scripture that there won't rest some doubt and some fear that the contrary will be true In fine can't the Scripture be said at least to produce a certain and humane Faith without the Assistance of the Holy Spirit and can't we convince a Heathen that it is Divine by the Light of Reason only Mr. Iurieu confesses that there is nothing appears more contrary to Reason than that these Character of themselves shou'd be able to produce an intire certainty For Man is full of Errors and prejudices which blind his Understanding and hinder him from discovering the Truth Besides the subtilty of Mysteries and their disproportion with the powers of the Soul distract the Reason and cause Insurrections in it Thus he pretends we can have only that certainty of the Divinity of the Scripture that he calls Adhesion which is produced from the Importance and not Evidence of the thing For Example I believe that such a one is my Father I have no demonstration of it says he but the importance of this Truth upon which the Obedience I owe him is founded and the right to his Succession makes my Will adhere thereto Thus as Sensible Advantages recur from this great Truth the Scripture is Divine so it is the visible interest of man to believe whatsover that Commands and that his Will shou'd be absolutely determined by it In a Word the Holy Spirit which acts in us produces with these Characters a greater certainty than naturally could be produced and creates an inward sense of the sweet Efficacy of the Word Without the Operation of Grace the Scripture wou'd continue like an unfruitful Seed upon the heart for it is that which strengthens and encourages the Mind against all its doubts and diffidence The last Proposition that we shall examine is that the Word of God Preacht under Proper External Circumstances manag'd by Providence may cause an Irresistible Grace and overcome all the wickedness of Mans Heart This is the Foundation of the Controversy in Question Mr. Iurieu makes no scruple of saying that this is a Pelagian Opinion and that it wou'd be to make use of the Hereticks Arms which have disturb'd the Church God said Pelagiuâ— works in us the Will to do what is Holy and Good by Inflaming us with the Prospect and Recompence of future Glory to draw us back from Earthly Concupisence in which we are overwhelm'd Now the Scripture is