every man who has a mind to understand the truth may be certain of the true sense of the words But if I may arrive at a certain sense of these Scriptures without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter then why may I not be as certain of the sense of other Texts as plain as these without such an Interpreter It seems to me that our Saviour said Drink ye All of this and therefore that you of the Roman Church may as well take the Bread as the Cup from the Laity It seems to me that St. Paul calls the Communion of Christ's Body Bread The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ and your Church says 't is Bread no longer after Consecration It seems to me that the same St. Paul speaks for a whole Chapter against Praying in an unknown Tongue and yet your Church doth it It seems also to me that the Author to the Hebrews doth absolutely say That Christ was offered once for all and that he sat down thenceforth at the right hand of God but you pretend to fetch him down from Heaven and offer him a thousand times in a day It seems to me that God has forbidden the making of Images to worship them as absolutely and universally as words could do it and yet you Picture God and make Similitudes of the Blessed Trinity and Images of the Saints and worship them when you have done I demand now why I may not be certain of the true sense of these places upon as reasonable grounds as you suppose I may be of those which in your Judgment conclude for the Infallibility of your Church If I may then I am sure the Scripture condemns what you say and do in these Points but if I may not be reasonably assured that I understand these in my judgment plain places of Scripture because I want an Infallible Judge to interpret for me then I demand again Why do you urge me with those Scriptures that as you pretend prove the Infallibility of your Church For as yet I am not persuaded of the Infallibility thereof though I would gladly be persuaded of it If you say this is the Interpretation of the Church concerning them which is Infallible and therefore you are to believe it I think any body but a Child would reply That that is the very thing in question and therefore that you cannot convince any man of your Infallibility unless he will take your word for it because he cannot infallibly know the true Sense of Scripture giving Testimony to it before he believes it without any Testimony from Scripture at all So that it is to no purpose to go about to persuade any reasonable man that your Church is Infallible till he doth already believe it that is till it is a needless thing to do it because he does believe it already And therefore when all is done we must be content to understand the plain places of Scripture without an Infallible Judge and to find out the rest as well as we can and if the Scripture plainly condemns what you say and do we have more reason from thence to conclude that you have erred than to conclude that you cannot err because you say so of your selves And indeed I look upon this Pretence to Infallibility to be an Error of the most pernicious consequence because it seals them up under all the rest and adds incorrigibleness which is the highest degree of obstinacy to all their other Errors and it is so much the more shameless because the whole World that was in Communion with them groaned for a Reformation before the Council of Trent One of their own Popes said We confess many abominable Abuses and Grievances have been for these many years last past in the Holy See and we look upon our selves concerned to endeavour a Reformation the more because we see the whole World doth most earnestly desire it At the Council of Trent the Ambassadors of several Princes desired earnestly the Cup for the People the Marriage of the Clergy Service in a known Tongue and the Reformation of divers other matters in which Christendom would have reformed it self if Italy would have suffered it Italy I say who to hinder a general Reformation filled the Council of Trent with more Bishops than came from all parts of Christendom besides Secondly Upon this Supposition the Church of England might and ought to reform it self as it hath done for we find that the Church of Pergamos which was not over-run with so many false Doctrines and corrupt Practices as those of the Roman Church I have mentioned was required by our Lord Jesus himself to remove those Errors and Corruptions which had crept into her and if she did not presently return to her Primitive Purity she was threatned to be cut off Indeed it had been a much more desirable thing that the whole Western Church and more desirable still that the East and the West had both united in a Reformation it had been a blessed thing if by a Free and General Council of all the Bishops in the Christian World an Universal Reformation had been made but the latter perhaps was improbable by reason of the vast distances of some Christian Churches from one another and the former was made impossible by the over-ruling Power of Italy which therefore was to be done upon particular Churches by common consent and perhaps there must never be a farther Reformation till the Day of Judgment It was very reasonable and very necessary therefore that Christian Kingdoms should proceed in Provincial and National Councils to reform themselves as this Church hath done under her Kings and Bishops Parliaments and Convocations that is by all that Authority which could be desired to make a publick Reformation within the limits of this particular Church And this proceeding has been authorized by the Examples of the best Ages of the Church when it was thought fit not always to tarry for General Councils but very often for particular Churches to proceed out of hand to the rooting out of Error and Heresy and to the reforming of whatsoever they thought amiss amongst themselves And for this we are to appeal to the Councils of Laodicea Gangra Carthage and many others which are no General Councils To conclude Such Errors as had overspread the Church before the Reformation were in their own nature and in their consequences so pernicious that every Christian Man ought to reform himself from them inasmuch as it is better to obey GOD than man Much more might a publick Reformation be made by due Authority But we had no regard to the Bishop of Rome in this matter who was to be consider'd either as Head of the whole Church or the Patriarch of the West or as the Converter of the English Nation and we were not only in Communion with him but in subjection to him when the Reformation was made So that what Cause soever there might be for it the
many Ages afterwards till at length falling again into great Corruption of Doctrine and Manners she with all the other Six Churches of Asia written to by our Lord fell to be no Church at all and the Temples wherein the Name of Christ was called upon are now become Turkish Mosques and so the burden of Pergamos was fulfilled And now having given you this Account of the State of the Church of Pergamos as it was represented by our Lord himself I am much mistaken if from this Authority we may not be able to justify the Reformation of the Church of England against the most specious and popular Exceptions which they of Rome make against our Reformation And this I shall endeavour to do under these three Heads First That in this Church whilst it was in Communion with and Subjection to the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errors both in Doctrine and Worship added to the Profession of the Common Faith Secondly That upon this Supposition we might and ought to reform our selves as we have done Thirdly That the main Objections which they of the Roman Church do bring and whereby they seek to stagger those of our Communion and to fright them into their own may by this instance of the Message of Christ to the Church of Pergamos be demonstrated to be vain and fallacious and therefore by no means fit to remove us from our stedfastness First That in this Church as in all others that were in Communion with the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errors introduced into the Faith and Worship of Christians And First As in the Church of Pergamos so in these Churches there were Doctrines and Practices leading to Idolatry I wish that were all but it is not all for Idolatry it self if it be possible for us to know what it is was practised and that Practice not only connived at but encouraged and commanded and of this sort were the Practices of Adoring the Host Praying to Saints to dead Men and Women and Worshipping of Images contrary to the whole Tenor of the Scripture providing that we should worship the Lord our God and that him only we should serve And it is very observable that when we urge them with these things they defend themselves from Idolatry by the use of such distinctions as 't is impossible for the common People to save themselves by if indeed these distinctions would do the business As for Doctrines tending to licentiousness of Life and Manners what can be more evidently such than the easy terms upon which they promised forgiveness of Sins and security from Hell Confession to a Priest with Attrition being reckoned sufficient to receive a Pretorial Absolution which shall be valid in Heaven As also the Invention of Purgatory and the Power of the Church to shorten the Pains of it by Indulgences by applying the Treasure of the Churches Merits by Masses and Prayers with a great many Abuses of this nature And besides all these what shall we say to their Doctrine of Transubstantiation their Half-communion their Latin Service their Sacrifice of the Mass for which there is no President or Rule in the Scriptures or in Antiquity but plain and full consent there is both of the one and of the other against them But now to all this they make one general Reply and tell us That the Church meaning the Roman Church hath not erred in these Points because she cannot err at all for she is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and the Standard of Catholick Unity and Faith she is that One Catholick Church which cannot fail to which Christ has promised his perpetual Presence and Assistance that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her and of which St. Paul said that she is the pillar and ground of the truth In a word that whatsoever is by her defined is infallibly true and therefore that these Doctrines and Practices are neither damnable Errors and Sins nor Errors and Sins at all Now if indeed such Promises were made to that Church we should be brought into a very great strait and not very well know whether we should believe the Scripture speaking against the Doctrines and Practices imposed by that Church or the Scripture speaking to us to believe and do as that Church requires But first of all we say That whatsoever Promises were made to the Catholick Church they do not belong only to the Church of Rome which is but a part of it and that these Promises That the gates of hell should not prevail against the Church and that Christ would be with his Church to the end of the world amounted to no more than this That she should be preserved from so much Error as would utterly destroy the Being of a Church not from all Error whatsoever but that no Promise in particular was made to the Church of Rome so much as to secure her from Fundamental Errors utterly destructive of the Being of a Church especially since St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome plainly supposes that it was possible for them to be quite cut off from the Body of Christ Rom. 11.21 22. where speaking of the Rejection of the Jews he hath these words For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Which had been vain words if it had been impossible by virtue of any Privilege conferred upon the See of Peter for the Church of Rome not to continue in God's goodness or it be an infallible Truth that she shall not be cut off We do what we can to find the Infallibility of the Roman Church in the Scriptures but if we cannot find it there is much more reason to conclude that she hath erred because some of her Doctrines and Practices do seem to us apparently to contradict the Scripture than to believe she is infallible because she says so of her self But to this they say That we mis-interpret those Scriptures which seem to condemn what they profess and practise and in short that we cannot arrive to certainty of the true sense of Scripture without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter which the Church is Well for the present I will suppose this but then this will be the consequence of the Supposition That 't is impossible for that Church ever to convince me or any reasonable man of her own Infallibility by the Scriptures For when she tells me that Christ hath said Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and that the church is the pillar and ground of truth and Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world she supposes that the Promise of Infallibility to her self is so plainly made that
Religion before Luther I would answer this Question with another That after the Angel of the Church of Pergamos had purged away the Corruptions of that Church Where was the Church of Pergamos before that Reformation Every one of common sense would answer It was where it is now and where it ever was since it was first a Church for the Reformation took away nothing that belonged to the Nature and Essence of a Church but only the Shame and the Corruption of it So I say still admitting what yet can never be proved That there was none for Five hundred Years together that declared against the Abuses and Errors that were crept into the Church admitting this I say that our Church before our Reformation or even before Luther was even amongst our selves where the Roman Corruptions had prevailed only it was then a Corrupted now it is a Reformed Church That which makes Rome a true Church is That she retains the Profession of the Creeds and the Administration of the Sacraments That which makes her a corrupt Church is That she has added as many more Articles of Faith as there were before and brought in Idolatrous Practices into her Worship Such a true Church and such a corrupted Church was this of England before the Reformation but the Truth we have reserved and the Corruption we have cast away and so have added Purity to the Truth of our Christian Communion we have kept that which is ancient thrown aside that which was lately introduced and so are a Church built upon the same Foundation that we were built upon before but have thrown away the Hay and Stubble that was laid upon it But if the Instance of the Church of Pergamos be not sufficient to answer this Question I shall add another to it and that is Hezekiah's Reformation who took away the High-places burnt the Images and cut down the Groves which had stood in all probability four or five hundred years for this was the abatement of the commendation of good Kings before him that nevertheless the high places were not taken away And moreover this Corruption had spread it self from one end of Judah to the other Here was Universality of Places and the Prescription of some Ages to give Authority to it notwithstanding which Hezekiah to his immortal Honour made a Reformation And now the Question Where our Church was before Luther is just such another as this Would have been Where was the Church of Judah before Hezekiah And indeed such a demand was made But by whom do you think Truly by none of God's Church but which is little for the credit of such Questions by Rabshakeh that great Blasphemer of the God of Israel For thus I find him speaking to the Jews But if ye say unto me We trust in the Lord our God Is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem 2 Kings 18.22 By which Question it is most apparent that the corruption amongst the People in this matter had been so general and ancient that their Neighbours took this false Worship of theirs for their Religion and therefore reckoned that Hezekiah had introduced a New Religion because he had but reformed the Old I need not make any Application of so plain an Instance 5. They sometimes say That since we confess them to be a true Church and consequently to hold no Fundamental Errors we ought to have tarried in a Church in which we granted a possibility of Salvation and we may now without danger return to their Communion But it is plain that not only those Errors which do unchurch a People but even those that make their Salvation hazardous are to be reformed Pergamos was still a Church notwithstanding her Errors but yet was obliged to reform them 6. And lastly Since we grant them to be a true Church and Christ can have but one Church upon earth and there is but one Church out of which there are no ordinary means of Salvation we must conclude our selves to be no true Church nor part of it because we are separated from them and consequently to be cut off from the hope of Salvation I answer That there is indeed but one Catholick Church as we confess in our Creed whereof the Church of Rome is one part and one of the worst in the world and the Church of England another and perhaps one of the best I do grant also that Salvation is not to be ordinarily had out of the Catholick Church but then I add that in that part of it which is best reformed it is to be obtained with great safety and assurance and in that part of it which is very corrupt and refuses to be reformed not without great difficulty and danger And though these parts of the Church are separated in Communion from one another it does not follow that either of them must be the Catholick Church and the other no part of it at all but that there is but one part which can free her self from the blame of the Separation and that it concerns every man as much as his Soul is worth to chuse that Communion which does not only afford him the Means that are absolutely necessary to Salvation but those also without the mixture of such false Doctrines and unlawful Practices which nothing but invincible Ignorance or Infirmity that is very pardonable can reconcile with the hope of any man's Salvation But if they will not receive this Answer but still contend that because we charge each other with Heresy and Schism 't is impossible both parts can be within the Unity of the Catholick Church and therefore that we granting them to be a true Church must confess our selves to be none I know not what they will get by this but that if this be true we must revoke all that charitable hopes of their Salvation which we would fain nourish If either they or we must needs be quite out of the Church and can have no benefit by the Promises of the Gospel and the Covenant of Grace doth it follow that therefore we must go over to their Communion No But it follows on the other side that we have greater reason than we thought we had to stay where we are because it seems as they say one part must needs be out of the Church and want all means of Salvation For we confess our selves to be much more sure that our Communion is a safe way to Salvation than we are that theirs is a way at all And if they will not let us believe both together instead of giving us a reason why we should be Papists they give us a new one why we should not This I say to shew only what Answer they may get by trying to make an unreasonable Advantage to themselves by our Charity and Moderation Not that I believe their Errors have made them cease from being a part of
one Body was perverted into an occasion of dividing them from one another Upon which observation St. Paul inserted this memorable saying There must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest There must be Heresies i. e. Parties that will contend for false Doctrines and unlawful Practices that will either take away from the Faith or add to the Faith that will either dispense with the Commandments of God or teach for Doctrines the Commandments of men There must be Heresies among you that is this must happen in the Church it self Men should arise from among themselves speaking perverse things And thus also St. Peter foretold There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 But it was impossible they should do it privily or slily if they were not of the Church and had not thereby an opportunity under a pretence of Piety and care of Christian Truth to slip their Innovations into the Church by degrees Whereas it is added That they which are approved may be made manifest the meaning is that honest Men may more and more appear to be what they are So that in the words of the Text there are these Two things observable I. The unavoidableness of Heresies in the Church There must be Heresies among you II. The reason why God is pleased to permit Heresies That they who are approved may be made manifest 1. The unavoidableness of Heresies in the Church There must be Heresies among you By which we are not to understand an absolute necessity that Heresies should arise For this is inconsistent with that liberty of Human Nature which Religion and God's dealing with Mankind in giving us Laws and making us to expect a Day of Judgment do necessarily suppose But the meaning is this That all things considered it was in it self highly probable that Heresies would be brought into the Church and that God certainly foresaw that they would come in Men being left to that liberty which is capable of being abused and under that Grace that may be resisted All therefore that is needful to be considered under this head will be this What are the grounds of that probability of the coming in of Heresies which the Text supposes of Heresies I say which God saw would certainly come to pass if he interposed not his irresistible power to prevent it Now it was not to be expected but that Heresies would be if we consider on the one side the revelation of Christian Truth and on the other the Temper and Circumstances of Mankind 1. As to the Revelation of Christian Truth we are to consider the tendency and design of the Doctrine it self and the evidence we have that God hath Revealed it 1. The spirit and design of the Doctrine of Christianity which is plainly to rectify the ill Manners and the corrupt Affections of Mankind to restrain them from Liberties which most Men desire how unreasonable and hurtful soever they are and to tie them up to Rules that are not grateful to flesh and blood Moreover the Doctrine of Christianity truly represented is equally for the interest of all Mankind and is by no means framed to serve the designs of Ambition and to advance one part of the Church to the prejudice and slavery of all the rest Lastly It teaches a Worship of great simplicity that has but very few Mysteries and nothing of that Pomp and Ceremony which is so pleasing to the Senses and the Fancies of Men and will not suffer them to place the weight of Religion in any outward Shows and Performances but in loving the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbours as our selves And to such a course of life and temper of mind it obligeth us by all that it teaches concerning God and Christ and a Life to come our Creed serving no other turn but to make it necessary for us to live a sober righteous and godly life But then 2. The evidence we have for the truth of this Doctrine and that God hath revealed it is not so irresistible as to over-rule all contradiction and perverseness though it be sufficient to satisfy a wise and honest Man nor is the manner wherein these things are testified and declared to us so enlightning as to make it absolutely impossible for a Man to mistake about them or for those that wilfully pervert them to delude others with putting false colours upon them although it is so plain that we must be extraordinarily to blame if we run into any Error against sound Faith or good Life One would think the Doctrine of the Resurrection had been plainly enough delivered first by our Saviour then by his Apostles and that the Institution of the Lord's Supper and the Order which the Apostles observed in the Administration of it was also plain enough and yet in this very Church of Corinth there were divers foully mistaken as to the one and still wanted instruction as to the other One would think that those words This is my body were sufficiently plain and that there were not the least need for our Lord to have added presently after that saying But take notice that I mean This is my body by deputation or representation or in a figurative sense any more than to have so explained himself when he said I am the door I am the vine c. But yet because he did not think fit to leave an express caution against the literal sense of these words we know it has been insisted upon against plain evidence of Scripture Sense and Reason Again let a Man consider the Institution of the Holy Communion and have no prejudice upon his mind and he will never desire that it should have been more plainly expressed that the Cup be administred to all than it is especially since it is said of the Cup Drink ye All of this and they All drank of it But yet because these words were not added or the like And let no man ever presume to administer the Bread without administring the Cup to the same Person the Cup hath been taken away from the People for the greater reverence of Administration When St. Paul said that he that understands not the Language in which Prayer or giving of Thanks is made is not edified it could hardly have been thought necessary to have added this Let therefore all Forms of Publick Prayer and Administration of Sacraments in all Ages of the Church be made in the Tongue that the People understand And yet for want of some such conclusion Publick Prayers have been made in a Language that the People understand not and the Practice maintained as confidently as if the Fourth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians were it self in a Language that we could not understand There is no question but God could have added such explications and cautions in the Scripture as would have made it a great deal more difficult and troublesome to bring
in those Errors than it hath been and perhaps utterly impossible to maintain them amongst Christians without destroying the Bible out of the World But then by the same reason that such cautions had been necessary a thousand times as many more had been necessary too For so many Additions by way of caution must have been made as there are ways of eluding and perverting a Rule which are so many that to have provided expresly against them all would have made the Bible a more voluminous Book than any is in the World not to say the most odd and uncouth Book that ever was seen For whoever wrote or spoke in that manner as to provide against all possible ways of being mistaken or having his words perverted According to this rate a man must not expect to make an end of a sentence in an hour and when he has done all he can his explications may be perverted too And therefore we are not to wonder if God has not provided express Cautions against all possible Mistakes and Abuses of this nature but thought good to leave a Rule of Faith and Manners and Worship which would be sufficient to guide all honest Persons and lovers of Truth though not sufficient to exclude all Cavil and Abuse For this reason it was that our Saviour did not pretend that all who saw his Works and heard his Doctrines must necessarily believe in him but he required constantly a certain temper of mind consisting of Humility Sincerity love of the Truth and in a word A good and honest Heart in order to a Man's being his true Disciple Common Sense and Reason was not sufficient for this purpose but there must be also a peculiar Probity or teachable Spirit a Mind ready to believe all Truth and to do all Duty These were the Sheep that would hear his voice and the Ground that would receive his Seed and bring forth Fruit Such were the Men that would hear and understand and know of the Doctrine whether it were of God But as for others they would make a shift to reject it with some colour for so doing or to pervert it if they once admitted it This was the first things to be considered the temper and design of the Gospel which delivers Truth that does by no means gratify the Lusts of Men or please their Imaginations or serve the interest of particular persons to the disadvantage of all others and then that this Truth was delivered in that way which though it be apt to instruct and convince all honest Men yet will not infallibly bear down a spirit of Contradiction Now to this we must add 2. The consideration of the general temper of Mankind for whose sake the Gospel was made known viz. that it is very corrupt and exceedingly prone to Sin and therefore to Error impatient of true Virtue and Piety and therefore of true Doctrine Human Nature does affect a lawless Liberty and cannot well bear to be confined and it is so diseased that it doth not take it well to be healed it is therefore no wonder if the Remedy which God hath provided hath been so tampered withal by Men as to make it ineffectual for that purpose for which he hath sent it to us and Doctrines have been taught which give that liberty that Truth denies It was not to be expected but that if the Doctrine of Christianity should not effectually overcome those Lusts that reign in the World those Lusts would corrupt and pervert that Doctrine and bring in Heresies Ambition and Covetousness would bring in Heresies for the establishing of a worldly Power and Dominion in the Name of Christ Licentiousness would bring in Heresies for making void the Commandments of God Pride would bring in Heresies though for nothing else but a Man's satisfaction and glory in drawing many People into a Party and becoming the Head of it and when they were brought in the natural inconstancy and wavering of some would carry them away from the Truth the natural stiffness and inflexibility of others would detain them in Error the very desire and love of Novelty would at first help to bring in some and in process of time the pretence of Antiquity would be every day more and more able to gain others Finally the unwillingness of most Men to take pains in the search of Truth and the greater ease of depending upon the absolute Authority of others would give a farther advantage to Error which fears nothing more than an Examination and therefore discourages all Persons from giving themselves so needless a trouble since they have the word of those for their security who cannot possibly mislead them considering the diseases of Human Nature which the Doctrine of Christ doth not cure miraculously and irresistibly it could not be expected but there would be Factions and Heresies against the Truth If therefore it be thought strange that the Apostle should say there must be Heresies let us consider that this is no more than if he had said after all the care that God hath taken to restore Mankind there will be Pride and Ambition there will be Covetousness and Injustice and the Love of this World there will be Luxury and Licenciousness there will be both Inconstancy and Stiffneckedness there will be Laziness and Slothfulness and Unaptness for Instruction and therefore there must be Heresies for God hath provided no infallible Remedies against Sin and Wickedness and as certainly as the Vices of the World would break out in the Church so certainly would Errors get into it by degrees and usurp the Name and Authority of Truth 'T is true that God if he pleased could absolutely have hindred it by his over-ruling Power But in this saying it is implied that he would not do so and Experience has shewn that he has not done so and we have no reason to wonder at it since he is not pleased to make all Men good by an irresistible Grace and there was less reason to expect that he should make all Men Orthodox by an irresistible Illumination And so I come to the second point Which concerns the reason assigned why God is pleased to permit Heresies That they which are approved may be made manifest i. e. that it may most evidently appear who are sincere and honest and who are not so for opposition to the Truth and the ways that are taken to advance Error do prove what Men are at the bottom and distinguish between those that would appear all alike if the same Truth were equally professed by all The great difference that breaks out is that between the probity of some Men on the one side and the falseness and hypocrisy of others on the other side which appears in these instances 1. In a more diligent search after Truth which is the effect Heresies have upon honest and godly Men while they give occasion to Hypocrites to consider what is most for their ease their safety their advantage in this World whilst the several parties
Bible and yet they modestly attended upon their Spiritual Guides for farther Instruction out of the Bible And therefore if some Men in later Ages have grosly Misinterpreted the Scriptures and would not be set right by those that had more skill to interpret them this doth not prove that the reading of the Scriptures makes the People ungovernable for then it must always have been so which is notoriously false and whereas it is said that almost all Heresies have come of Mis-interpreting Scripture this doth not prove that Christian People must not Read the Scriptures for it cannot be denied that those Heresies which have given any considerable disturbance to the Church of God were begun not by Laicks or illeterate Persons but by such Men as the objectors do allow to have a right of reading and studying the Scriptures i. e. by Bishops or Priests Wherefore In the last place The Arguing of these Men against the common use of the Bible concludes against the Priest as strongly as against the People For if to prevent Heresie the Scriptures are to be kept from Lay-men who may bring Heresie into the Church by misinterpreting the Scriptures then for the same reason Men in Orders should not be suffered to read them since they have actually been the Founders of Heresie nay the reason is something stronger since the wresting of the holy Text by Men of Office or Learning will be of greater Authority and do more mischief than the mistakes of private and unlearned Persons But if the danger of perverting difficult places be a good reason to deprive Men of all use of the Bible this reason hath a particular force upon some Men that they should never look upon a Bible more For the best way to judge how the Scriptures are likely to be used by any sort of Men is to consider how they have constantly used them heretofore and let any indifferent Man judge of them by these following instances because God said Let us make man after our own Image therefore it is lawful to fall down before an Image of Wood or Stone Because Christ said to Peter Feed my Sheep Therefore his pretended Successors have power to depose Heretical Princes Because Peter said to Christ Lord here are two Swords therefore they have a Temporal as well as a Spiritual Jurisdiction Because Jacob in Blessing Ephraim and Manasses prayed that his Name might be named on them therefore it is lawful to pray to Saints Because it is said the Disciples met together to break Bread therefore the Laity may be depriv'd of the Cup. Because St. Paul saith of him that prayeth in a Tongue not understood by others Thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified therefore it is in it self good to appoint publick Prayers in a Language unknown to the people that is because he that understands what himself says doth well for himself because he understands therefore he doth well for others that understands not a word and are therefore not edified Because the Apostle saith we must glorifie God with one mouth therefore in all publick Offices of Liturgy there is to be but one and that the Latin Tongue in all places of Christendom Because that many Languages at Babel caused confusion therefore for God to be served in the many vulgar Tongues of Christian Nations would breed Schisms in the Church Because the Beast that touched the mountain was to die and because Christ said Give not that which is Holy to Dogs therefore ordinary People are not to have the Bible These Expositions are not invented but there are good Authorities for them and for a great many more of the like sort I know not what can farther be objected but this That if Priests and Learned Men have been so foully mistaken in the Interpretation of Scripture how much more are the Unlearned in danger of falling into Mistakes which tho' perhaps will never come to be Heresies in the Church may yet prove damnable to themselves as St. Peter plainly saith To which I answer That St. Peter's unlearned Men were such as had not yet attained to the knowledge of the necessary Doctrine of Faith and good Life as appears by his calling them unstable not yet fixt in the Perswasion of the plain Truths and great Ends of the Gospel and such as those whether they were Men of good Parts or not were likely enough to interpret the hard places of St. Paul's Epistles to a sense contrary to the plain and open Truths of the Gospel But if a Man be instructed in the necessary and plain Doctrine of Christianity and moreover furnished with Modesty and a sincere Love of the Truth and willingness to learn Qualities that ought to be common to all he shall be as far from wresting the difficult Scriptures to his own destruction as one that hath vastly greater Abilities Nay I will add one thing which if it be true there is no force at all in the Objection and that is this That the service of a Cause and espousing the Interest of a By-party doth more fatally lead to Misinterpretation of the Scripture than bear weakness of Understanding and there is this plain reason for it because Modesty and love of the Truth will secure a Man of no great Abilities from rash concluding upon the difficult Places of Scripture but Partiality and the Service of a By-cause shall engage a Man of Parts and Learning to trouble the clearest and to pervert the plainest Texts as the forementioned Instances evidently shew so that either the danger of Misinterpreting Scripture is no sufficient reason to prohibit the Laity from reading it or else it were better that no Order of Men were trusted with it at all and if that be true I think it will follow that it had better never have been written at all which no Man will say whatever he thinks But to speak to the thing the Scriptures were written for an universal good and in order thereunto for common use Here are all Divine Truths and Reasons of Christian Faith and Practice that are necessary to be known of every Man plainly exprest for the use of the meanest Capacities Here are also Difficulties and Mysteries of several sizes fit to employ the Industry of the Learned according to the several degrees of their Abilities and to exercise the Modesty the Humility and the Reverence of all But still we confess that they may be perverted and abused and if this be a sufficient Reason to interdict the general use of them then farewel at once to all the Comforts of this Life and to all the Means of Grace in order to a better with every one of which Men in their folly and wickedness may and very often have hurt themselves and others St. Peter was aware of this that some Men wrested those hard things in S. Paul's Epistles and in other Scriptures to their own destruction but did he therefore disswade the Faithful from reading them No but in the
very same Epistle he commends them all for taking heed to the words of Prophecy of the Old Testament in which there were some things as hard to be sure as any are in St Paul's Writings and I hope St. Peter was as wise a Man in this point as any that have come after him And now I beseech you let us not say That we are Believers already and therefore we need not trouble our selves with constant reading of the Bible Were not they so to whom St. Peter wrote Nay the Apostles were then alive to instruct them by Word as well as by Writing and moreover daily Miracles were wrought for confirmation of the Faith yet they did well in taking diligent heed to the Scriptures and shall not we do so too who can find Apostles and Miracles no where but there We believe already but have we all of us that stedfast Faith which the Gospel requires which is not grounded meerly upon Education and the Custom of our Country but upon the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power Have we that Faith which will bear examination and encounter opposition If we have a very little Exhortation will serve the turn to make us persevere in reading God's Book whereby we shall be yet more strongly built up in our most holy Faith But if not our want of Faith will not be admitted at the last Day for an excuse of the badness of our Lives when we had the Scriptures laid before us the Holy Scriptures I say which if they had been diligently and honestly read by us would have furnished us with such an immovable ground of our Christian Belief as would have supported us in the Day of Temptation Nay if our Faith was grown never so strong yet the reading of the Scriptures would be necessary for us to make the Precepts and Rules of the Christian Life and the Motives and Reasons of practising them daily present in our Minds For the Temptations to sin are always present the Snares of Hell are still round about us we are ever in some danger and therefore we ought always to be strong in the Lord by having a constant sense of those Divine Truths upon our Minds which are our great defence and security And I see not how this can be if we neglect to have recourse unto that ever necessary Treasure of Divine Truth the Holy Word of God St. Chrysistom therefore doubted not to say and I wish we may all well consider that earnest saying of so wise and holy a Man as he was It cannot be says he It cannot possibly be that a Man should attain Salvation unless he be diligently conversant in Spiritual Reading Himself was so excellent and constant a Preacher that if any one Man not extraordinarily inspired could have made it needless for his Hearers to read the Scriptures at home he I should reckon was the Man and yet I observe he often complains to them that the reason why most of them gained little profit by what he said either as to improvement of Knowledge or good Practice was because they did not read the Scriptures he explained to them either before or after his Sermons And says he it is the neglect of this Reading that causeth all Heresie and corrupt Life Now I beseech you how much time do we spend in other things of little concern to us either as to our Health or Wealth or our wordly Callings And what a shame and a sin is it for us to find so little time as generally we do to furnish our selves with the knowledge of God's Truth and with pious Affections towards the doing of his Will out of God's Holy Book What a great matter were it if we borrowed some time for this purpose from our Recreations or even from our ordinary Business For what is this Life to Life Everlasting What is the Wealth and Pleasure of this World to our Salvation in the World to come And therefore the forementioned excellent Person argued with his Hearers in this manner Perhaps some may say That they are otherwise employed in their worldly Callings and others that they have not Money to spare to buy the Scriptures but says he what a ridiculous thing would it be for a Man of a Secular Employment to neglect it upon pretence that he has not time for it or that he has not wherewithal to purchase the necessary Tools of his Calling These things are seldom or never pleaded but by idle Persons And do you not all know that you are professed Christians and called to the hope of Eternal Life and that diligent reading and hearing the Holy Scriptures is as necessary to your Christian Calling as any thing can be to the successful management of your Secular Professions I shall add this one thing That besides that improvement in Knowledge and Vertue which is naturally consequent upon much conversing with God's Book they that do so have a peculiar Title to GOD's supernatural Blessing who is wont to reward a Pious and Reverend Use of Holy Things with greater Measures of his Grace In one word by other studies we may grow wise for this World but if we add this to the rest we shall yet grow wiser for this World by taking heed to those incomparable Instructions that the Holy Bible abounds with and which is something more we shall grow wise unto Salvation The Tenth Sermon 1 COR. XII 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit AFter the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles there was a continual Communication of Supernatural and extraordinary Gifts to other Believers for a long time To one was given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom To another the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit To another Faith by the same Spirit To another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit To another working of Miracles To another Discerning of Spirits To another Divers kinds of Tongues To another the Interpretation of Tongues But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will And this manifestation of the Spirit was given to every man to profit withal i. e. to profit the whole Body whereof himself was a Member For though that one Spirit which distributed his wonderful gifts amongst the Faithful could have given them all to the same Man so as that one and the same Person should have had the Word of Wisdom and the Gifts of Healing and the working of Miracles and a Prophetick Power and discerning of Spirits and divers kinds of Tongues yet to maintain a mutual dependance and a charitable serviceableness of the Members one amongst another he gave to one one Gift to another another dividing severally to every Man for by this means one would stand in need of another and each Member would be obliged to take care of the rest
be taken do suppose that when Men suffer for their sins they are not to be accounted greater Sinners meerly for that reason than those who at the same time escape and suffer nothing for when he said that neither should they escape that heard him unless they repented it was implied or at least not denyed that those things happened to the aforesaid Galileans and Jews as a Punishment of their Sins and a plain case it is that in this Life where the Tares and the Wheat grow together that by the same Afflictions God punishes the Sins of some while he manifests the Sincerity of others And in this Case it remains true that those who are punished are not to be accounted greater Sinners than all those that escape of which we need not desire any other Proof than our Saviour's Word for it But in some Cases we have very evident and sensible demonstration of it For sometimes God punishes the Sins of some Men by the Hands of others that are worse than they whom he reserves for far greater Punishments in this Life as the Histories of the Church do abundantly testifie Now by the same reason that it must not be concluded of those that suffer under the Oppressions of others that they are worse than those that oppress them it ought not neither to be concluded of those that do not suffer by them that they are worse than those that do for the former observation is an evident Proof that they do not suffer first who deserve it most Which is a Doctrine that our Saviour thought fit to deliver in his days and will be of constant use while the World lasts to keep Christians at the greatest distance from that Jewish Error That Men may discern God's Love and Hatred by what befals them in this World I will therefore never suffer my self to be run into an ill opinion of any Man or any People by any adversity how great soever it be which happens to them before my Eyes much less will I enter into comparisons I will not conclude from the Affliction I see that there must needs be some great Sin at the bottom which Vengeance has found out And when I see the Sin and cannot forbear acknowledging the Justice of God I will not go on to suppose there is something more than I do see and make him to be a worse Man than he seems to be nor will I conclude that he is worse than those that do not suffer such things And what construction I will forbear to make of a single Person I will much more forbear to make of Multitudes Because I know the Reasons of God's Proceedings with Peoples and Nations and great bodies of Men are by me unsearchable and that time discovers that Wisdom of his Counsels which my Reason cannot fathom In a word I will conclude ill of none because they suffer but rather well of them if I know no cause to the contrary because it is often God's method to afflict his own best Servants and when he punishes for Sin to begin with those that do not most of all deserve it Shall I conclude for instance that the French Protestants have been the greatest Sinners of all the Protestants in Europe or greater than our selves because they have suffered such things God forbid I speak not of those who to their Glory in this World but alas that is little worth it becomes me to say and you to hear it who to their Praise with God and to the encrease of their Reward hereafter in a better Life have suffered the loss of all things to keep a good Conscience but of those whom the Terrors of this World have prevailed with more than the Terrors of the Lord in whom the desire of ease here hath been too hard for the desire of Salvation hereafter I will not say and we must not say that even these were greater Sinners than our selves who have not fallen into their Temptations Such instances as these Brethren do best explain the intention of our Saviour in these words and will affect us with the true sense of them and the more that we look abroad into the World and consider the unsearchableness of God's Judgments and that his ways are past finding out as we cannot but do if we ask our selves the reason why this and that happens the more sensibly we shall acknowledge the Truth of our Saviour's Doctrine in this place and shall forbear passing Judgment upon the unhappy meerly because they are so But yet to take notice of what God doth of this kind in the World is not an unprofitable observation and that because the second point of the three which I have mentioned is as true as the first and that is this 2. That one reason why the Evils of this Life do not befal all Persons at the same time who are equally Sinners is That while some are visited with the Rod of God others may take warning by it This Proposition I lay down with great confidence not only of the Truth of it in general but also of the pertinence of it to the Text For you may observe that our Saviour upon mention made of the former of the two tragical Stories observes the latter himself and takes occasion from thence to divert his Hearers from censuring those miserable persons as they were ready to do and to imploy them in reflecting upon themselves I tell you nay but except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish He imployed them in reflecting upon their own sins for says he except ye repent and upon their own danger except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And now I am sure it will be granted that our Saviour did not wander from the true intent of God's Providence in the things that happened to those Persons nor make an application of them which was not to the purpose and therefore since he gave warning by their examples it remains true as I said that one reason why the Evils of this Life do not befal all Persons at the same time who equally deserve them and I will add who equally need them is this That while some are corrected others may be instructed I rather keep to the case of punishing Sin than trying Virtue because that is the case of the Text tho' I might say too that the reason why all that can bear a tryal are not tryed at the same time is because the tryals of some righteous Men are not only profitable to themselves but the examples of them also are profitable to other good Men to encourage and fortifie them But when God punishes he doth not at one and the same time punish all that deserve it equally but he punishes some that the rest may take warning for if the Sufferings of a few in comparison would instruct all the rest God's end is gained which is that we should learn righteousness when his judgments are abroad in the earth And this is one of those arguments
of the Jewish State and Religion which was to be accompanied with manifest Tokens of God's Favour to the Christians and of his indignation at their Enemies And thus we are to understand that passage in St. Peter The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer 1 Pet. 4.7 Not that this was in a strict and proper sense the Coming of Christ because he did not come in Person as he will do at the last day but in some sense it might be so called because he appeared by his Power and Providence to do the same work in part which will with incomparably greater perfection be done at the last i.e. to take Vengeance of the ungodly and to save his own People for the Incorrigibleness of the Jewish Nation and their incurable hatred of the Truth and obstinate Persecution of it was dreadfully punished in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Christians had not only all escaped out of it before the Roman Army came against it but by the destruction of it they gained also a very considerable rest from Persecution for some time after And now the reason why this wonderful Providence was called the Coming of Christ seems plainly to be this That after his Ascension into Heaven he set down at the right hand of God and had all Power put into his hands and therefore because it is he that governs the World as well as the Church such remarkable Revolutions as that was for the destruction of his enemies and the saving of his Servants are called the coming of Christ God hath given him to be head over all things to the Church and therefore such Passages as that was are called his coming to signifie that they are the effects of his Providence and Government for the good of his Church no less than if he had come in Person to order them as he will do at the end of the World to order all things then And for this reason then though in the proper sense of his coming he will come but once at the end of the World yet in this improper sense of it his appearance to destroy his Enemies and to save his People that trust in him nothing hinders but that he may be said to come often before the end of the World i. e. as often as his Providence doth signally and remarkably appear for this purpose And thus we are to understand the coming of the Lord in 2 Thes 2.8 where it is said of the Man of sin that wicked one That the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming which being to be done before the personal coming of Christ to Judgment the meaning must be that his destruction shall be so remarkably the Work of a Divine Providence that all shall confess it was not the effect of worldly Policy but no less the doing of the Lord than if himself had come in Person to destroy him And whenever the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of the Lord when the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea When those magnificent Predictions are fulfilled concerning the universal prevalence of Truth and Goodness amongst Men with which the Old and New Testament are plentifully furnished and which are to be fulfilled before the coming of Christ to the last Judgment then also is it true that the Lord comes i.e. by the Power of his Spirit and Providence to renew and reform a degenerate World that was running headlong into perdition And thus much concerning the sense of these Words when the son of man cometh which I have shewn do principally signifie that great and amazing revolution when he shall come by coming in his own Person at the last day to judge the World but in a secondary sense do also signifie the remarkable Works of his Providence in punishing some and saving others even in this Life Now 2. How are we to understand that other clause will he find Faith upon the Eartb The meaning of the Question is plainly this That he will not find Faith on the Earth or very little in comparison But what is here meant by Faith I answer that is easily discerned by the Parable and the Application of it that went before The design of both which was to infer the conclusion in the foregoing verse And shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily That is to say God would hear the Prayers of righteous Men and in a little time take their cause into his own hand and then says our Saviour Nevertheless when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth i. e. notwithstanding the Promises of God to hear the Prayers of good Men and to interpose for them that depend upon him there will be but little Faith in these Promises found up-upon the Earth even when the Son of Man comes to fulfil them The greatest part will not be found to believe any thing at all of them and so will be surprized with that day without any preparation for it or expectation of it Many will yield to the Temptations of this present World and throwing off their dependance upon God will think to secure themselves by Flattery and Hypocrisie from the Violence of wicked Men others will despair of any better state of things and very few will lay to heart the promises which God hath made to hear the Prayers of his Servants and to save them Few will strengthen themselves in God by crying to him day and night and by putting their whole trust and confidence in him and this notwithstanding the clear and strong reasons they have from his Word so to do Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth And thus we may from other places of Scripture observe that immediately before the Day of Judgment there will be a great falling away from Christian Piety and Charity nay and the World should begin once more to depart from the Purity of Faith many false Prophets shall arise and shall deceive many and because Iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold But says our Saviour he that endures to the end shall be saved thereby intimating that it would be some matter of difficulty to endure to the end Thus also St. Peter tells us that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming which is plainly meant of the Day of Judgment before which according to the Revelation of St. John Satan was to be loosed for a little time and to go out and to deceive the nations and to gather them together against the City of God And therefore it will be remarkably true at the day of Judgment that when the Son of Man cometh he will find but
the Temptation Men of Probity and Lovers of Truth should upon diligent examination hold it faster than otherwise they would have done This is one of the great advantages to which that opposition tends which Truth has met with in the World And therefore the more lofty those Pretences are by which the other Church would bring us to an intire submission to her Authority in every point of Religion so much greater reason there is to examine every one of her particulars and if I find that she is mistaken in any of them I am very sure that she is not infallible in all And if she will not allow me to make a Judgment of the Particulars 't is just as if a Man should try to hinder me from casting up my own Accounts by going about to prove that he cannot possibly mistake in doing it he might indeed shew some Wit in working his Demonstration but I should shew a great deal more folly in trusting him To conclude We have a Rule whereby to try the Doctrine I will not only say of a Church or a Pope or a Council but even of an Angel from Heaven if an Angel should come and preach to us and that Rule is the Holy Scripture especially the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles These are by all Christians acknowledged to be the undoubted and the most ancient Records of our Holy Religion and they have had a Tradition so uncontroulable as no Books in the World ever had the like Whoever therefore is our Guide it is very reasonable that this should be our Rule And of all Churches in the World I will never trust my self to her discretion that will not trust me with the Knowledge and Study of this Rule Here we may if we please make our selves very sure that we are of those whom God will justifie for here we may discern what kind of Persons St. Paul and the Christians of whom he speaks in this place and what all the Apostles and Primitive Disciples of our Lord were For those Books which acquaint us with their Names and which were written by some of themselves do also discover to us what Faith they professed what Doctrine they taught and what Lives they led Now if we profess that very Faith and teach no other Doctrine and frame our practice by their Rules and good Examples then without all question we are such kind of Christians as they were and then altho' we should be used by the World as they were too yet the encouragement and comfort which they had will also belong to us and we too may say Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Having therefore the infallible Rule of God's Word whereby to guide our selves We beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more that while evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived ye may continue in the things which ye have learned knowing of whom ye have learned them even from the Sayings of our Lord Jesus and his holy Apostles delivered to us in the Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus Let us remember that it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us not forgetting by any means that 't is a way of righteousness we have been made to know and an holy Commandment that hath been delivered to us from which therefore we may depart as damnably by an impure Conversation as by leting go our pure Profession in which case we are so far from being justified that we shall be the more condemned by our Faith We have no false Principles to save our Hearts from condemning us if we allow our selves in any way of wickedness and God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Whoever else condemns us that is more than recompence enough if God justifieth But who is he that shall justifie us if God condemns FINIS THE SUMM OF A CONFERENCE On Feb. 21. 1686. BETWEEN Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden About the Point of TRANSUBSTANTIATION The Third Edition LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1698. The SUM of a CONFERENCE On Feb. 21. 1686. BETWEEN Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden About the POINT of TRANSUBSTANTIATION Introduction IT will perhaps appear to some a little strange that I do not say almost Incredible that there should have pass'd a Conference above two years since in which Mr. Gooden was concern'd and the World yet to learn the Substance of it The Vanity of that Gentleman to thrust himself upon all Occasions into Disputes with the most Learned Men of our Church first and then to boast of his own Performances in them was so great that there is scarce a Coffee-house in the Town that has not been filled with the Noise of his impertinent Vapours And if those of the other Communion have been always remarkable for an Assurance becoming the pretended Infallibility of their Church I may venture to say that next to Father P the Jesuit and his Friend Mr. M I scarce know any among them that have ever talk'd so loud or made such Heroical Defiances of the Champions and Armies of our Israel in all Places and upon all Occasions as Mr. Gooden these late Years has done among us But thus shallow Waters always run with the greatest Noise and Violence and little Sophisters who either want Capacity to see into their own Fallacies or think they have forehead enough to carry that off with Clamour and Confidence which they cannot do by Reason and Argument delight to expose themselves and their Religion to the most dangerous Tryals whilst Men of Learning and Judgment are modest and ingenuous and know it to be neither for the Honour of their Church nor their own Reputation to challenge all Mankind to answer Paradoxes and to shew that not to be Demonstration which when brought to the tryal is hardly sense See Mr. G's Pap. I hope this will not be thought too severe a Reflection on the late Pretenders of this kind among us which I speak out of a just respect to the more learned and charitable Persons of the Church of Rome who have been no less scandalized at these forward Zealots than our selves and to whom I ought to give this Testimony That during a long acquaintance with many of them I never met with any thing of the Vanity of those I have before-mentioned Our Differences in matters of Religion made no Disturbance either in our Friendship or Conversation with one another If the discourse at anytime led to a Controversie of
Accidents of Bread it might be broken as to the substance of Christ's body which is mentioned in St. John it is not broken unless you mean as Christ's body was broken upon the Cross And if the bread which is broken be really that which is spoken of in St. John as aforesaid both as to the Accidents and nature of bread I grant that the Accidents of bread would be the Body of Christ and if it be not the same both as to the Nature and Accidents I deny it This I profess not to understand Fath. As to the Doctor 's Argument it includes a Sophism as will appear when brought into form because it involves four Terms because he supposes in one Proposition for the Accidents of Bread and in the other for the Nature Dr. In the Argument I used I went upon this Supposition That the Accidents of Bread were only to be understood as the Answerer supposes and therefore I have not confounded the Nature and the Accidents of Bread together Besides the Distinction between the Nature of Bread and the Accidents of Bread was not to be remembred any more by the Answerer because I proceed upon his Supposition that the Accidents only are broken Now if St. Paul speaks of nothing but what is broken and Accidents only are broken and yet if he speaks of the very Flesh of Christ too then the Accidents of the Bread are the very Flesh of Christ And whereas the Answerer by his last Answer means the nature of Christ's body as he says I understood him of the Nature of Bread And now once more I desire him to shew me where the four Terms are Fath. The Text of St. Paul the Dr. takes for his Medium and argues from a double Supposition as first taking it for the Accidents of Bread which were broken and afterwards for the substance of Christ's Body under the Accidents in which latter sense it signifies the same that is meant by our Saviour in St. John Dr. I observe the Answerer will allow nothing to be broken but Accidents I observe also that nothing is said to be the Body of Christ or the Communion of the Body of Christ but what is broken If therefore nothing is broken but Accidents then Accidents are either according to the Answerer's long proof the very Body of Christ or according to the Apostle the Communion of the Body of Christ But neither are the Accidents of Bread the Body of Christ nor the Communion of the Body of Christ And this I say is not answered and believe will not be answered by any Man that maintains that St. Paul does not here speak properly of Bread Fath. All along in my Discourse I have supposed that when St. Paul speaks of this Bread he spoke of the H. Eucharist in which were contained both the Accidents of Bread and the true body of Christ How the Doctor has disproved this Doctrine so clearly as to justifie the Reformation I understand not Because I conceive no private Persons or particular Church ought to pretend a Reformation without clear Evidence whether the Doctor has given such I leave to the consideration of the Readers And whether having broken off from the great Body of the Vniversal Church and its Testimony he can possibly have any certain Rule to arrive at Christian Faith If Scripture be pretended interpreted by a fallible Authority how Certainty can be obtained or why a Socinian following Scripture for his Rule of Faith is not to be believed as well as any other Reformer following the same Rule I see not Signed W. Clagett Peter Gooden Dr. CLAGETT's Answer TO A PAPER Delivered to Him By Father GOODEN The Paper ARticles of Christian Faith are Truths Truths are impossible to be False Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are impossible to be False Therefore those who obtain Articles of the Christian Faith must have some Rule to acquire them by which cannot deceive them To a Parliamentary Protestant the ancient Fathers cannot be such a Rule because they are accounted Fallible Nor Councils because they also are accounted Fallible Nor Scriptures sensed by a Fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be False And therefore Faith cannot be obtained by any such means For that which is doubtful can only create Opinion which is also doubtful And he that doubts in Faith the Apostle says is Infidelis And a Company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a Society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Signed Peter Gooden The ANSWER Pap. Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Ans The Design of the Disputer is to prove that we are Doubters and therefore Infidels But never did any Man begin a Business more unluckily for at the very first dash he takes it for granted that we do undoubtedly believe Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths for otherwise he ought to have proved that they are so But there is another Misfortune he is faln into no less than that For his Argument to prove that we must needs be Doubters is that we want an Infallible Rule Now if he is sure that we want an Infallible Rule and that without such a Rule there can be no Faith I am sure he does notoriously contradict himself by supposing that we believe all Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths though we have no such Rule This is a very hopeful Paper and like to make wise Converts which ends in making us Infidels and begins to prove it by an Argument that manifestly supposes us to be Believers which also pretends that we have no infallible Rule and therefore can be sure of no Point of Faith but yet manifestly supposes us to be assured of some without it which shews the Paper to be a trifling Paper and worth no more Consideration But because the Disputer is said to boast so much of the Argument contained in it I will go on with every Clause of it to convince him if he does not already know it that there is not a Line in it but is either false or nothing to the purpose Pap. Truths are impossible to be False Ans By Truths the Disputer means the Truth of Things or of Propositions and therefore this is a vain and fulsome saying which does not advance his Reasoning one jot farther than it was before For this is no more than to say That which is true is true and it cannot possibly be but Truths must be Truths I think he applies himself to us as if we wanted not only Christian Faith but common Sense Pap. Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are impossible to be false Ans There is no doubt of this supposing that they are Truths So that the Argument he begins with being put into the right order and into other Words is this It is impossible but Truths must be Truths but Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Therefore it is impossible but they must be Truths The ancient Fathers had made wise work with Christianity if they
Authority of Interpretation as I will shew this Disputer when he pleases If nothing less than Infallibility will serve to understand or as he says to sense Words why does this Disputer put into my Hands this Paper of his which is none of the plainest neither I am sure he does not take me to be Infallible and yet I am confident he would be angry if I should say his Paper was not to be understood without an infallible Interpreter let him answer this if he can The Reason he gives why Scripture sensed by a fallible Authority cannot be the Rule of Faith is because all such Interpretations may be false That is to say because there is a bare Possibility of any fallible Man's mistaking the sense of plain Texts Which kind of Reasoning makes impossible that every Man should come to be a Believer unless himself be first Infallible And this I shall demonstrate so plainly that no Man who has any share of Understanding and Modesty shall be able to deny it There is no possible way for any sort of Christians to make known either the Articles or Reasons of Faith to those that are yet ignorant of them but by Words or Sentences written or spoken He who hears or reads the words and sentences cannot tell either what is to believe or why he should believe till he understands or in the Disputers Phrase till he senses those Words and Sentences but as yet his Authority is but fallible and Words sensed by a fallible Authority can never give a Man certainty either of the Rule or of the Reason of his Faith if this Disputer be in the Right therefore 't is impossible to make him a Believer unless you can make him Infallible first that it may not be possible for him to be mistaken in sensing the Words which he hears or reads And thus farewel to all Advantage that any Man can have by the Infallibility of Popes and Councils or Oral Tradition as well as by the Scriptures nay and to all possible means of arriving to certainty in any matter of Faith unless every body be Infallible first so that upon supposition that God would have all Men to be sav'd and therefore to believe it inavoidably follows from the wild reasoning of this Man that God has made every Man Infallible But if it be evident that Men are fallible Creatures then this Disputer has advanced a Principle the most destructive to all certainty of Faith that ever was heard of in the World But the comfort is that 't is so very absurd that no body well in his Wits can be misled by it Pap. And therefore Faith cannot be obtain'd by any such means Ans Which is as much as to say that Faith cannot be obtain'd till a Man have the Gift of Infallibility And if every Man has it before he can be taught to any purpose what need can there be of an infallible Interpreter to teach him But as I observed before 't is impossible to make Believers of those that are not Infallible unless the Disputer or his Church has a way to make known the Doctrines and Reasons of Christian Faith without Words Pap. For that which is doubtful can only create opinion which is also doubtful Ans Therefore since all Words are doubtful to him that has but a fallible Authority to sense them as no Man has more before he believes 't is impossible for the Disputers Church to create any thing more than opinion which is also doubtful in those whom she teaches unless as I have already said she can make them Infallible first and teach them afterwards And even then there would be no need of teaching them at all because they are now Infallible themselves Of all the Papers that ever I read I never met with any thing more absurd and contradictious than the reasoning of this In which the Disputer out of a vehement desire to overthrow our Faith and the Grounds of it has laid down Principles that do effectually overthrow all ways of making Men sure of any thing and in particular the use of those very Methods by which his own Church pretends to lead Men to Faith Pap. And he that doubts in Faith the Apostle saith is Infidelis and a company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Ans What Apostle says this if the Disputer refers to Rom. 14.23 as I think he does he has shewn his skill in the Interpretation of Scripture to be equal to his mastery in Reasoning If in the Infallible Church they can Interpret Scripture no better than thus give me the honesty and industry of a Fallible Church before it The Conclusion AND now after all this Paper is as absurd in the design as it is in the management for the business of it is to prove That Protestants have no Faith but are Infidels and that by this Argument they are and must be Doubters Now whether I doubt or do not doubt is a Question concerning a matter of Fact that I have more reason to know the Truth of than the Disputer can possibly have and if I know that I do not doubt and he can yet prove that I do doubt he is an extraordinary Man indeed For then I am sure he can prove That Truth not only may be but is false which perhaps such a Man as he can reconcile with what he said at first That truths are impossible to be false And this alone had been a sufficient Answer to his Paper for nothing can be more frivolous than to go about to prove to a Man by fine Reasoning that he does doubt of a thing when hâ— is as sure that he does not doubt of it as he caâ— be of any thing in the World But the design of this Paper seems to be as impious as 't is absurd And that is to bring weak Persons to Infidelity first that they may afterwards be setled upon Romish Grounds I do acknowledge 't is a very proper way to bring us over to the Church of Rome to make us Infidels first But this they will not find so easie a mattter for we trust that we are not of those who draw back to Perdition but of those that believe to the saving of the soul I have omitted nothing in the whole Paper but to take notice of that little and mean Reflection in calling the Protestant a Parliamentary Protestant I have told this Disputer the Reason and Ground of our Faith If we moreover are protected in the Profession of it by the Laws of the Land I suppose 't is no more than what he would desire for the Profession of Popery and he would think never the worse of himself for being a Parliamentary Papist Thus I have answered this Paper through every Clause of it And I am confident destroy'd all that little Appearance of Reasoning that it made Let the Disputer build it up again if he can I promise him by God's Grace that I 'll pull it down again FINIS