it was in the Apostles time We have said enough to shew how Tradition which they so much commend and magnifie may fail and so prove no infallible Testimony And who were our Forefathers from whom we learnt our faith we have shewed already and now shall name some of them viz. The Reformers in the last ages and Jo. Hu and Hiâ—…rome of Prague and before them Wickliff and before him the Waldenses and all that protested against the Churches corruptions in all ages upward as might be shewed if it were pertinent Jo. Whites Way p. 336. § 45. 337. Digress 48. 2. Tradition being the Testimony of the Church let Papists first ascertain us which is the true Church whose Testimony we must believe For our parts we know none upon earth that pretend to Christianity that do not account themselves the true Church and that avow not themselves to have the true faith which the Apostles delivered Now there being so many pretenders we are at as great a loss wich Tradition as without it since all say they hold the Apostolick faith and yet extreamly differ one from another not in few matters or small at least some of them And it is said and granted on all hands that there are dissenters and of these some are ignorant and some obstinate and some Scepticks and we know too many professing Christians who are in their wayes and doings no better then Infidels Now may not any or all of these question Tradition as well as Scripture upon this pretence that they know not which is the Church whose Testimony they are obliged to believe If it be said as it hath been by some that there is no Christian but knows the Church It may be justly replyed that there is no Christian but knows the Scripture as well For all that own not Scripture we may justly disown them as being no Christians A man may be a Christian it is confessed though he never saw a Bible if he have heard the doctrine of Christ as many Gentiles yea all for ought I know did in the first times of the Church when the Gospel was first preached to them by the Apostles But to be a Christian and not know the doctrine of Christ is a pure contradiction Now how we shall know which Church gives the truest testimony to the doctrine of Christ if not by Scripture let Papists resolve us for we know not what to answer We think among so many pretenders there will be differences such as â—â—â—â—adition will no better reconcile then Scripture and that as Protestants cannot agree about the sense of Scripture but some interpret it one way and some another so they and others will agree no better about the Church and its Tradition For as I have said there are many Churches and those hugely differing in some things and yet all pretend to the Apostolick faith Therefore we have need of somewhat to ascertain us of that Church which hath preserved and delivered down all along the same faith which the Apostles taught For the true Catholick Church we believe it hath been faithfull in its testimony to the truth in all ages But we Protestants cannot own the Church of Rome as such though we know there was there one sound part of the Catholick Church in the Apostles times Papists indeed pretend and boast great things of their Church but what is that to us who can well distinguish between a Roman-Catholick and a Catholick Christian. Here then we Protestants resolve to believe the Church for the Scripture and not the Scripture for the Church And yet we allow what that ancient Father saith of himself That he had not believed Scripture but for the Church For we know that after he came once to learn the Scriptures he then believed it not upon account of the Churches authority but it s own only The Church we grant may at first perswade Infidels to attend and heed the Scripture as the Word of God even as the woman perswaded her neighbours to come and see Christ. But as they when they had heard him themselves believed not because of her saying but because of his own word even so is â—…in the case that now is in question The Church of Christ hath the office of ministry to hold out the light that others who are in darkeness may see it But this will never prove the Church to have such an authority as Papists plead for and much less that their Church is the Catholick Church which only holds the Apostolick faith And when they have said all they can they say no more then any Church never so corrupt will say for it self viz. That it hath the doctrine of Christ which the Apostles taught Hence we say again that Tradition leaves us at an irrecoverable loss and that we must have somewhat more certain then the Churches testimony which any company of never so corrupt principles may pretend unto as well as the Church of Rome 3. We desire to be satisfied whether the doctrine delivered down be true because the Church hath delivered it or that the Church hath delivered it because it is the truth For we think the Church ought to receive and believe the truth only and to deliver that and nothing else to be believed by others and if it received other then the truth it was deceived and if it delivered other it was not only deceived but deceived others also The Church can make nothing to be true but what is such before of it self and all it can do is to declare the truth which it hath received and perswade others to believe it Therefore when Papists press us as they do about our being assured of Scripture we say that we believe it upon account of its own authority because it speaks it self the Word of God For as when a place of trust and honor is conferred upon a person by his Prince and assured to him under the Great Seal though the messenger that brings the Patent may avow it to be the Princes act yet that which gives assurance to the person of his interest in that office and honour is the Patent it self and the Seal annext So we know the voice of God speaking to us in his Word and even so hath the true Church in all ages received Scripture as the true Word of God and commended it to others for such as a Patent sealed from Heaven 4. We desire to know when the Church first resolved the Case in Question and determined what is the doctrine of Christ. For the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Councils we count them of a latter date and but of yesterday in comparison For our part we think under correction of better judgments that the Canon was agreed upon very early because two eminent ones among the Ancients â—…counted upon the same number of Canonical Books which we now do and one of them saith that the Canonicall authority of the old and new Testament was confirmed in the Apostles times And that
shall we be sure of this or that Translation Sol. We grant that some have erred and any may unless there were an infallible Spirit to aâ—…st What is this to us who maintain not this or that Translation but the Scriptures well and faithfully translated to be the Rule of Faith True our Translations have been altered but this alteration hath been in words more then matter And one and the same sence may be expressed divers wayes So we may have different Translations without any error in the matter and Doctrine Nay further what if one Translation should differ from another in sence we are not therefore bound to quit our English Bibles unless it did appear that we have not in them the matter and substance of all Châ—…istian Doctrine And here we require it be shewed and proved that our various Translations do not all agree exactly so far as we have in them all the Articles of Christian Faith which are necessary to be known and believed in order to our happiness The differences in all our Translations are not such or so many as that we should need the Churches authority to assure and settle us For God openeth the hearts of his people to know his voice from others whiles the light of Divine truth gives testimony to it self and receives authority from no other as the Sun is seen by its own light and as we discern sweet from sowre by its own tast However as a learned man hath said we deny not that there are divers means whereby our consciences may be assured Some private as skill in tongues learning labour prayer conference c. Some publick as the ministry which act of the Church is not authority to secure but ministry to shew us that which shall secure us which ministry is founded on the Scripture it self in that from thence it fetcheth the Reasons that may pâ—…rswade us and shâ—…weth the light that doth infallibly assure us And the difference between these two is this That the Spirit is an inward means the teaching of the Church an outward The Spirit Secureth us by kis own authority the Church directeth us by her ministry The Spirit hath light in it self the Church borroweth hers from the Scripture For certain God never since his people had his Laws written to them hath left them without a ministry and this is the great work of that ministry to cause the people to understand the Laws of God And how this can be done amongst our vulgar unless by translating the Scripture let them shew that can for we cannot Whereas our Adversaries take occasion hence to quarrel Scripture as no competent Rule of faith because the unlearned vulgar want a Rule and can have no other then a Bible translated which is liable to many and great mistakes we may justly question them about their Translations For they know there is a Latine Translation not the Original for certain which is with them commended as authentical to say no more Only we desire them first to answer for themselves However we may justly marvel that they send us to Tradition for our assurance about Translations seeing our present English Translations are of no such antient date as we need to enquire much what our Fathers thought of them They are best known and discerned by those who best understand the Originals and have the most helps and means which God hath allowed for such a work as Translating the Scriptures And for these we may without ostentation say that we have as good and as many as they have and the Translations we have are approved of by our Church though not by theirs If the Papists would or could prove that the Scriptures ought not to be translated at all or else help us to a Translation absolutely answerable to the Originals and give us good security for it they should do both us and themselves a good piece of service But there is an absolute necessity of Translations unless we knew of any extraordinary and miraculous way of bringing our people to understand the will of God in his written Word And what then is to be done or what can we do in order to the salvation of poor souls There are some perhaps who can resolve this otherwise then we dare and say Let them alone to be as ignorant as may be and believe only as the Church believes right or wrong But for our part we are of the mind that our people will never grope out the way to Heaven while they are blindfolded nor can we be perswaded that ignorance is the mother of devotion though we know it is the mother of superstition God 〈◊〉 mâ—…n from darkness uâ—…to light when he turns them from the power of Satan 〈◊〉 himself Act. 26. 18 and why came our Saviour a lighâ—… into the world if we may go to Heaven as blind as we are born what have we to do while we are here â—…pon earth more then to get grace and knowledge and grow in it more and more Heaven is called the inheritance of the Saints in light and Hell is called utter darkness To say no more of this we have the Scriptures translated into English because the greatest number of our people whose souls are as precious as others cannot otherwise understand them without a miracle And we use the best means we have left us to make our people know Gods mind and will in 〈◊〉 written Word And for Tradition we know no use of it unless iâ—… be fiâ—…st resolved beyond all exception that we must believe as the Church believes whatever the Scripture saith What hath been said already in answer to the former Queries may serve in part for the 〈◊〉 hand last Qâ—…ery about the sence and interpretation of Scripture However we shall say what we thâ—…nk about the letter of Scripture not senc'd and to be senc'd Now the sence of 〈◊〉 that Scripture hath words and 〈◊〉 is the Rule of faith and they read it as any mâ—…n reads his friends or correspondents letters to know his mind in them or as Factouâ—…s beyond sea come to know their Merchants orders given them in and by their letters Sometimes a difference arises amongst these and â—…hen what can a Factour do to clear himself more then to produce his Merchants leâ—…ters and say Here is the order you gave me and I have followed it so do we when we are questioned about our faith we know no other answer but this that we have orders given us in Scripture to believe so and so and not otherwise We cannot in this case abstract the leâ—…ter from the sence Scholars indeed in their contemplations may make such abstractions But what have we to do with them in practical use or about moral actions for in such cases we must as all sober men do take words and sence together Words and letters as far as we ever learnt serve only to signifiâ—… mens sence and meaning And so doth the letter of Scripture signifie Gods mind
and meaning in iâ—… And so we produce them in any matter of question as men do their written evidences in a trial at Law Would it be allowed in such a case that a Lawyer if any such could possibly be found should evade a full and clear evidence by abstracting the letter from the sence all men of common reason know that written evidences are intended to shew mens sence and meaning and that the letter and the sence cannot be separated though every puny Sophister can distinguish them In this distinguishing between the letter and sence of Scripture and saying that Protestants have only the letter of Scripture for their Rule we can guess at no design but this that 〈◊〉 would have us run as far as Rome to fetch the sence of Scripture thence And then we may have it senâ—…'d as it hath been heretofore by some of them For instance â—…ehold here are two swords Lâ—…ke 22. 38. that is the Pope hath the power of the spiâ—…itual and temporal sword Then â—…ast put all things under his fâ—…et 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and the beasts of the fi 〈◊〉 Pâ—…l 8. 6 7. and this is applied to Christ Heb. 2. but the Roman sense is that all things are subject to the Pope By catteâ—… they will have us understand men on Earth by the fishes in the sea the souls in Purgatory and the birds are the blessed souls in Heaven Or as they all seem to sence that command of Christ Drink ye all of this Drink ye not not all of this These seem foâ—… certain to make neither the letter nor the sence of Scripture to be the Rule bâ—…t someâ—…hat else But the letter cannot be a Rule say they seeing the letter speaks things otherwise then they ought to be understood For the letter attributes hands and seet 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 which must not be so much as imagined seeing he is a 〈◊〉 We need not for all this be beholden to Tradition oâ—… seek for the sence of Scripture from the Church of Rome Our reason if we had no other thing to help us will reach us that God hath no limbs nor sences as we men have and therefore we abhor to make any representations of God in any bodily shape as knowing it unreasonable to represent God by the similitude of any creature What reasonable man can be ignerant that Gods hands 〈◊〉 his power and his eyes his providence c. and that such expressions are made use of by the Holy Ghost in a way of condescention to our inâ—…rmity To say no more these reasonings are no better then 〈◊〉 and are best 〈◊〉 by taking least notice oâ—… them For giving the sence of Scripture we have the ministry which is an ordinance of God appointed for that end So 〈◊〉 el had a Law and Priests to give the sence of it Malac. 2. 7. and we have a precedent recorded Nâ—…hem 8. 8. and we think that Papists meaning is the people should seek the sence of Scripture at the Pâ—…iests lips seeing they allow theirs to have no Bibles But what need they make such ado about this are they or can they be ignorant that all the great necessary truths of the Gospel are set down so plainly in Scripture as no man can miss of the true sence if he do but read them with deliberation there is no Translation but hath all these and no man in his sences can be ignorant of them if he will but read the Bible And this is the love and kindness of God to us to give us a plain and an easie Rule What though some things are hard to exercise our diligence yet all the necessary saving doctrine of Christ is open and obvious to such as are willing to understand and to use means for that end Thus God hath written Laws as men do for such as are concerned and both the Laws of God and man may be understood by all if they will do what is their duty in order to it There are Records of mens Laws which we may call the Originals and there are Statute-B oks printed for men to read and know the Laws And therefore all that transgress these Laws are questioned and punished though there are many that cannot read them because they know not a letter For it is justly and reasonably presuâ—…ed that all that have a mind may come to know the Laws so much as concerns them And so may our people say we come to know the Laws of God in Scripture if they are willing to it Therefore such Queries about the sence of Scripture c. are no better then quibbles They that bâ—…sie themselves to trouble us with such captious Questions might do well to bestow their pains about some others who may give them more thanks then we can for their labour I mean our untowardly people who are some of them sometimes tryed for their lives being indicted upon the Laws and Statutes of our Land Let them prompt these poor wretches to plead that the Laws are no Rule for them to walk by seeing they never could read them nor perhaps ever saw a Statute-Book and they cannot be sure the printed Staâ—…utes are the same word for word with the original Records nor can they be sure what is the sence of the Laws for Lawyers are sometimes divided in their opinions about it O! what a brave piece of service this would be counted by some thus to make void all the Laws of the Land But the Laws of England must not be laid down upon such preâ—…ences and we hope the Lâ—…ws of God in Scâ—…ipture shall not be made void upon no better grounds For our vulgar they have as many advantages to know the Rule of â—…aith in Scripture as they have to know the Laws of the Land and no â—…ber man can say or think otherwise For as we have such as are studied and understanding in the Laws of England so we have such as are by office bound to cause others to know the Laws of God And thus hath God provided in all ages of the Church that his people may not perish for lack of knowledge True the Priests may as once they did Mâ—…l c. 2. 8. depart out of the war and cause mâ—…ny to stumbâ—…e at the Law And when it is thus no marvel if Tradition in the Church be not so 〈◊〉 a witness of the saith of Forefathers seeing mostly as is the Pâ—…iest so are the people However this hath been Gods ordinary way for teaching his people and Gods Ordinance is not the worse for mans abuse His Laws are plain and easie to be known by such as are willing and will use means to learn them because he hath appointed Officers to teach the good knowledge of his wayes and wills Hence we may justly say of these exceptions that they are to small purpose and whoever weighs the argument will find it to strike almost directly at the dealings of God in declaring and dispensing the knowledge of his will
wrought in us bâ—…t by the Word and Spirit of God And yet we do not yield to them that we can be no other way ascertained of the doctrine oâ—… Christ as true then by Tradition For we believe the Testimony of God speaking to us in Scripture and shall I hope while we live account of it more then Tradition or any Testimony of men I shall now add somewhat as an Answer in general to all and every one of the former Exceptions or any others of the same or like kind We sâ—…y that there is one onely Rule of Faith and manners and that is the Divine truth or the Doctrine of Christ which is summed up into these two general heads viz. Faith and Obedâ—…ence or faith and holiness according to what God hath declared as his mind and will What he promises we are to believe and when he commands we are to obey And in both we fulfill the will of God aâ—…d walk in the ways of eternal life This Divine truth we never found any where but in the Scripture and if our adversariâ—…s have made any other discovery we think it their duty to acquaint us with it That the Son of God was made man died and roâ—…e again c. for our redemption all Christians acknowledge as also that all who hope for salvation by Christ Jesus must deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly â—…ighteously and godly in this present world And this to know and do is eternal life and if our adversaries or any before theâ—… ever knew this doctrine otherwise then by Scripture we are willing to leaâ—…n For their Traditions as they signifie Râ—…straditas we have nothing to do with them For the question put to us is only this how we are or can be ascertained of Scripture that it hath delivered over to us the Doctrine of Christ and this question drawn out into many and several Queries we have answered already and now give this as an answer to all of them or any the like And this we do not for the sake of such as are more knowing and better grounded in the faith but only for the benefit of poor souls who through want and weakness of understanding may be puzzled with such questions Now to these we say again that we hold nothing for a Rule of faith but the Divine truth which teaches the way of salvation by Christ. For Originals or translations of Scripture we know there was a time when there was neither of them And yet there was ever since God had a Church upon earth a revelation of the doctrine of Christ. Hence this Doctrine must be the Rule unless we will say the people of God had no Rule of faith for two thousand years and more For whatever God reveals as his mind that we must heed to believe and obey There may be a difference and hath been in the manner of Revelation but the Divine truth revealed was alwaies the same viz. Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13. 8. There is no other name given under Heaven whereby men can be saved Act. 4. 12. This we believe as all Gods people have done from the beginning and this doctrine of Christ which we find no where but in the holy Scriptures is the Rule and Law and foundation of our faith So the Rule is and hath been always the same though the way and manner of revealing it hath been various according to the will and pleasure of God and that at first more obâ—…cure and after more and more clear till the Sun of righteousness arose And of this doctrine revealed no Christian we suppose hath ever made question What need is there then of such captious Queries about the Originals and Translations or about the letter and sence of Scripture We are sure that all Originals and Translations offer and hold forth the doctrine of Christ and whatever the letter be this is the sence that Christ is the only salvation of God And is there indeed no way of assuring this to us but Tradition or the Churches Testimony as it hath been given in all ages This â—…as hath been said is to confirm the Testimony of God by that of men And if our Faith be grounded only on the Translation English or other our foundation is the knowledge skill and faithfulness of men and they that cannot read as some we are sure cannot must have no foundation at all But he that hath the truth of God concerning the salvation of men by Jesus Christ whether in the Originals or Translations or whetesoever hath a sure foundation viz. the unchangeable counsel of God which never fails As for the Translations or the Originals though the truth of God contained in them be the Rule yet neither of them is any part of it For they are only means to conveigh and deliver over to men the Divine truth which is the only Rule And this we have I say again in all Originals and Translations and whatever sences have been made of scripture by any all agree unanimously in the doctrine of salvation by Christ. What need we then be questioned about that which no Christian ever made Question of If there be any such as doubt whether men are saved by Christ only or whether they who are saved by him must walk in love and shew their love by keeping his Commandments we desire to have nothing to do with them as not deserving the name of Christians And whether we can be assured of this doctrine in no other way then by Tradition I shall now leave to be judged by such as will impartially weigh what hath been said I have now done arguing and answering and shall only advise such as are by their profession Protestants that they would seriously bethink themselves how they may hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering unto the end The advice I offer them is 1. That they labour much and earnestly to understand the mind and meaning of God in his written Word And good reason there is for it Gods Word is his last Will and Testament by which alone we come to know what Inheritance there is laid up for us in Heaven and what Legacies he hath bequeath'd us for our livelihood and subsistence to all Eternity Scripture is as I may call it the Charter by which we have and hold all the Liberties and Priviledges which are freely conferr'd and bestowed on us by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as also all the Laws and Orders we are bound to observe as we are Citizens of the New and Heavenly Jerusalem What should Christians then do other then read over their Fathers Will and study exactly in every particular what concerns them in order to their everlasting happiness The Letter and the sence the History and the mysterie every part and particle should be in our heaâ—…ts and heads so as we may have them as we say at our fingers ends If any ask How