stand seized of as good Authority to interpret Scripture as any they can justly pretend to And that we use it more duely and rightlâ— may appear hence That we not only diligently use all lawful Means to come to the Knowledge of Truth but Condemn all those ill Arts which obscure or corrupt it We have no Index Expurgatorius to Expunge or Alter any Passages in the primitive Fathers or any other honest Authors if they do not please us yet by this one base unpaidonable Aâ—tifice the Romanists whilst they have been undermining the sufficiency of the Scriptures have shaken the Authority and weakned the Evidence of Tradition and so difarmed the Church of her best Weapons of Defence for certainly a Tradition is best proved by those who lived in or near those times when it was delivered But how shall we believe their Testimony when their Writings are daily Curtail'd Changed and Falsified at pleasure And had not that God who takes Care of his Church caused the Chear to be discovered it would have done more Mischief then all the diligence and pains of all the Romanists in the World could ever have made a just satisfaction for But this it is for a particular Church to set up for Infallibility which is a point that can never be gained without putting out the Eyes of all at present living and stopping the Mouths of all that went before them For though I beleeve that God will never deâ—ert his Church in all parts of it in Matters necessary to Salvation yet he has not given her any Power over the Faith but She is Tied to that and that alone which was at first delivered to the Saints And if the Roman or any other Church or an Angel from Heaven should teach any other doctrine then what we have received they ought to be so far from being regarded that if we follow St. Paul they ought to be Accursed That we Adhere to the Scriptures thâ— Romanists cannot justly blame us because they themselves Acknowledge their divine Authority For see the Council of Trent doth Sess 4. decret de Can ' Script ' but they accuse us as too strict Scripturists upon two Accounts First because we Admit not Tradition to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures Secondly because we receive not several Books as Canonical or of unquestionable divine Authority which they have thrust into the Canon As for Tradition and its Authority I shall Treat of it more distinctly in the next Paragraph and there answer this Accusation As for the Canon of Scripture we own the very same and no other which the Church of God hath Handed down to us after the Canon of Scripture was Compleated As for those Books Called Apocrypha which the Council of Tâ—ent first made Canonical it is Apparent That we do not by that Title utterly Condemn them but rather Repute them of an Inferiour or Ecclesiastical Authority because we Read them in our Churches for Instruction of Manners and inciting to good Living And sometimes use them for the Illustration of Doctrine but never to Introduce or Found any Doctrine upon and this is as much as the Ancients allowed them The Jewish Church was the Keeper and Preserver of the Canon of the Old Testament as much as the Christian is of the Old and New now But they had none of those Books in their Canon And therefore if any Assert that those Books do belong to the Canon the Consequence will be That the Jewish Church did not preserve the Canon of Scripture entire and true and for the same Reason any one may suspect the Christian and so render the Authority of the whose dubious So injurious are the Romanists to the Faith it self whilâ—st they set up their own Authority against the whole Church of God Besides if they will not own that we received the entire Canon of the Old Testament from the Jewish Church they ought to tell us from whom â—e did receive it and to whose Custody it was Committed till the time of Christ and his Apostles But whoever will be at the pains to read the Scholastical History of the Canon of Scripture Written by our Learned Dr. Cosins Bishop of Duresâ—ne will be abundantly satisfied that the Tridentines under pretence of Tradition have Enlarged the Canon of Scripture contrary to the Tradition of the Church of God in all Ages even to their own time Thus when Modern Mens bare word must be allowed a sufficient Authority to Vouch a Tradition a Pretence of Tradition is set up against the truth of it and so Tradition it self rendred doubtful or useless And therefore I shall not trouble my self to pursue those many particular sâ—uffling pleas which they use to Justify themselves in offering violence to the Sacred Canon But if you would know the true Reason which it was their Business to Conceal I believe Spalato hath Hit on it Suas non poterant Nâ—nias ex Sacrâ Scripturâ verè Canonicâ probare ideoque noluerunt permittaere us 〈◊〉 aliae Scripturae etiam non Canonicae eriperentur quo suas qualescunque â—aberent â—â—â—retras unde spicula desumerent ac praeterea viderent ac praeterea ne viderentur â—ein aliquâ Protestantibus cedere aâ—t consentire maluerunt etiam falsa tueri 〈◊〉 de Repub. Ecc. lib. 7. cap. 1 Num. 28. XLIV He that doth believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God must of course believe their Sufficiency or that they contain all Matters necessary to Salvation for they give this Testimony to themselves And he that believes them to be the Word of God must believe the Testimony they give either of themselves or others St. Paul saith They are able to make Man wise to Salvaâ—ion 2 Tim. 3. 15. 16. But that cannot be so unIess they contain at least all things necessary thereto But though the Scriptures be thus sufficient and contain a certain Sense in themselves yet by reason of the distance of time when they were Wrote through Unskilfulness in Oriental Customes and Phrases where they were Wrote through Ignorance of some particular Tenets which some Argumentative part of Scripture is Levelled against and â—uch like Causes But above all through the Perverseness of evil Men and Seducers it so falls out That those Scriptures which are of a certain Sense yea plain in themselves are made obscure to us and we either become doubtful of their Meaning or follow a wrong Meaning For what is or can there be so plain and easie which some wiâ—ked Men have not or cannot render intricate and perplexed especially to weak Judgements and faciIe Tempers Now for the Discovery of the true Sense of Scripture in this Case true and genuine Tradition is possibly the best Help and surest Refuge and to Wrest the Scriptures out of the Hands of Hereticks and Restore the Rule to its true Force right Use and proper Meaning perhaps there is not a surer nor more effectual way for our Blessed Saviour Himself Wrote
all these Supereminent dignities whereby one Bishop was raised above another were Erected either for he better Management of Affaires in the Roman Empire or for the Grandeur of it Or else sprang up by degrees for the benefit of those Cities which were of greatest Power and Interest in which thing Rome had the most advantage as being the Imperial City and giving Denomination to the whole Empire But now that Empire being broken and Resolved into several absolute and independent Principalities other Measures ought to be taken and for the same Reason that such Authority was set up it ought now to be taken down or Restrained And the Limits of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Confined within the Extent of the Civil Power and Exercised for its Ease Safety and Benefit And it seems to Me to be a Matter not to be despised that though the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament were written under the Government of the Roman Empire and in the time of its greatest Height and Glory yet the word Emperour so far as I can Call to mind is no where to be found there Indeed there is a Precept Relating to Caesar by Reason of a particular Question which determined it to that Name and the word Augustus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Answers it are Historically mentioned But these what use soever After-times made of them were then Gentilitial or Honourary Titles But the Name Emperour was that by which they then Ruled and which Held all along whatever other Titles or Distinctions were devised And that I think is no where to be found in the New Testament at least not in that sense Perhaps the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which mostly Answers it was thought too presumptuous However it is the Security the New Testament gives them is only by Commanding Obedience to the Higher Powers or in the like Phrases never mentioning their distinct Title But though the Name of Kings was odious to the Romans yet most of the Evangelical Precepts which Require Obedience to the Civil Power expressly direct it to Kings so that they seem to be given not only with a Spirit of Prophesie that that great unweldy Body should fall in pieces and be divided into several Kingdomes but also with a special design to secure and oblige all Christians to Obedience and Submission to such Kings And if we further consider that our Blessed Saviour hath told us That his Kingdom is not of this World And that the Christian Religion teacheth Self denial and Renunciation of the World and Requires all Christians especially the Governours of the Church to be of a most Humble peaceable and exemplary Behaviour This kind of Proceedings in its Covernment will seem most agreeable and natural to it For the Business of Church-Governours is to promote the Interest and Power of the Gospel not pertinaciously to strive for Jurisdiction to its prejudice and dishonour If each Changes happen in Mundane Affairs that by Alteration of the Bounds of Temporal Principalitieâ— one Bishop gain and another lose yet the Church of God loseth nothing but hereby gains its Peace and a good opinion amongst the Princes of the Earth And Church-Governours have the greater freedom and more Advantage to do good But the insisting upon Jurisdiction in another Christian Princes Dominion is to take his Subjects from him It ever causeth Disturbances Creates Jealousies in Princes and makes them think those who should be the best Christians to be the worst Subjects And for that cause to have the meaner opinion of Religion it self It would therefore certainly be best with the Church of God and most conduce to its happy Government if this Rule were observed in all Christian Kingdoms that the Jurisdictions of Bishops should Comply with and Conform to the Divisions Boundaries of the Civil Power This was the true primitive Practice and this the Bishops have ever been inclinable to when they have been able to withstand that everlasting Encroacher the Bishop of Rome Of which take this one Instance Immediately after the Synod at Constantinople against Photius a Controversie arose to whose Diocess the Bulgarians then newly Converted to the Faith should belong The Bishop of Rome who never lost any thing for want of demanding it made strong Claim by his Legats Upon this Account there Meets before the Emperour in his Palace Ignatius Patriarch of Constantinople then newly Restored the Vicars of the Eastern Patriarchs i. e. of Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem the Legats of the Bishop of Rome and the Legats of the Bulgarians But upon debate in spite of all the Endeavours of the Roman Legats it is unanimously given to the Constantinopolitan and such a Reason along with it as might have satisfied any Persons except Messengers from Rome who are never to be satisfied with any thing but with what shall be acceptable to their Masters insatiable Covetousness and boundless Ambition For their joynt Answer is this Satis indecens est ut Vos qui Graecorum Imperium detrectantes Francorum faderibus inhaeretis in regno nostri Principis ordinando jura servetis So that though no sort of Men were more given to Encroachments then the Patriarchs yet of Five and those if I mistake not all that were then in being we have sour to one who are for the old Rule That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should be Suited to the Limits of the Civil Power XXXIII What hath been said upon Supposition of the Patriarchship extended over these Isles hath been Argued purely ex Abundanti For having before proved that it did not extend to them we could not be bound to submit to it And though the Pope did by degrees thrust in and possess himself of a Jurisdiction here for a long time yet from the foregoing Arguments it will Appear that he was only Possessor Malae Fidei whom neither the Ecclesiastick nor Civil Laws will suffer by any length of time to prescribe And therefore he was Canonically thrust ouâ— again Hence it follows That the Churches of these Isles are Accountable to no other Church or Church-man as Superiour but remain only in the dependance of Co-ordinate or Sister-Churches to all Others who all are mutually bound to each other what in them lies to uphold Communion and Acquit themselves of doing any thing that may be detrimental or injurious to the whole But for the Matter of Government Order Reforming Abuses and the like the Power is in themselves Others may Advise but cannot Controul unless the Universal Church of God oâ— damnifiâ—d by their Actions And thus having found our Churches invested with a power of Governing and Reforming themselves We now have only to enquire how it hath been made use of which directly leads Me to the Actual Separation and Reformation XXXIV If any Man will set Himself to Examine a great Action which involves variety of Matter is Carried on thorough Multitudes of difficulties Managed by divers Hands and necessarily requires no small time for its Accomplishment And then expects
Christo Christus à Deo suscepit Roliquam vero omnem doctrinam de 〈◊〉 praejudicandum quae sapiat contra Veritatem Ecclesiarum Apostolorum Câ—risti Dei. And again speaking of Hereticks in general Ipsa enim 〈◊〉 corum cum Apostolicà comparata ex diversitate contrâ—rietate sua Pronunâ—â—â—it neque Apostoli alicujus Aâ—toris esse neque Apostolici And then shewing how 〈◊〉 Churches or such which should at any time after be Constituted â—ight defend themselves against Hereticks He saith thus Ad hanc itaque 〈◊〉 Provocabuntur ab illis Ecclesiis quae livâ—â—â—â—ullum ex Apostolis vel Apostolicis 〈◊〉 suam proferant ut multò Posteriores quae denique quotidie instituuntur 〈◊〉 in eâdem fide Conspirantos non minùs Apostolicae deputantur pro Consanâ—â—â—itate doctrinae de Praescrip Now let this be the Test and in our Deâ—â—nce we say with Tertullian Posterior nostrares non est immò omnibus Prior est Hoc erit Testimonium Veritatis ubique occupantis Principatum de Praescrip Now let them Charge us if they can with Maintaining any Doctrine as of necessity to Salvation which came not from Christ or his Apostles and when they can prove that all these did they shall make Me believe any thing Only by the Way I cannot but take Notice of the difference between this good Old Father and the present Romanists in their Resolution of Faith or in the last Result Standaâ—d and Trial of Faith The One Refers us to what our Saviour taught by Commission from the Father and the Apostles by Authority from Him and to Examine Matters by their Agreement herewith The other without more ado Resolves all into the Authority of the present Roman Church The One saith It is the Way of Truth because the same that Christ and his Apostles Taught The Other saith We cannot be deceived because the Present Roman Church Voucheth it to be Right Now though for my own part I Adhere to the Opinion of the Father and therein of the Ancient Church yet I must Confess that the Romanists whether right or wrong have laid their Plot well for if they can once bring a Man to swallow this Proposition That the Roman Church is the only certain Rule and Judge of Truth Or That all thinge must give Way to their Determinations Then as for Particulars his Work is done and he is bound with an implicit Faith to swallow them all without aâ—y scruple or the least Examination Now this is sure and quick Work but too quick for Me who as a Christian lying under an Obligation upon occasion to Render a Reason of the Faith that is in Me would be willing to know a Reason that I may be able to dâ— so That the Roman Church saith so will be no Reason till she produce a better Charter for her Authority then she hath yet done And till I and Others can be satisfied by good Reason or Evidence of such Authority For if a Reason be Required of Me my Answer that Others say so will be none unless I can convince them by good Evidence that their Say-so is of sufficient Authority and indubitable the Plea indeed of Indefectibility were good if it were true But they rather urge that because it serves their Turns then that they have any good Evidence of it And the Father who directs us to trace Truth to the Apostolical Churches supposes that particular Churches may fall from it Sicut saith he Apostoli non diversa inter se dâ—cuiffent ita Apostolicâ— non contrarià Apostolis edidissent nisi illi qui ab Apostolis desciâ—erant aliter praedicaverunt de Praescrip The Pomanists indeed lay their 〈◊〉 wisely they understand well enough what would do their Business and accordingly fail not to plead what must do it with those who Admit theiâ— Plea without proof The Consequence or Building would be good if thâ— Antecedent or Foundation were sound But you must not narrowly Examine that lest a Rotten Bottom tumâ—â—e all the stately Pageant down again If the Roman Church be indefectible by Vertue of any Promise made tâ— St. Peter then other Churches may use the same Arguments and lay Claiâ—â— to the same Privileges as well as they And our own Church as much aâ— any For their own Authors and particularly our Sworn Enemy Fatheâ— Parsons say that St. Peter Preached the Gospel in Britany so that here we are equal unless it make any thing for their Advantage that he was so well used here as to Go off safely hence But after his Return was Martyred there And so Rome may Value her self for that which our Blessed Saviour â—pbraids Jerusalem for Killing the Prophets and Stoning those that were sent unto â—er Matt. 23. 37. XLI This Matter will fall hereafter under a more particular Consideâ—ation And therefore to Return to Doctrine it may be Considered either as Positive or Negative It is true that all Doctrine Resolves it self into positive Truth That we Maintain any thing in the Negative is Accidental and Ariseth from the Difference and Quarrels amongst Men for when Parties cannot Agree if One Affirm the Other of course denies In this Case the Matter in Controversie being either Falshood or Wrong if any Man Aâ—â—ert that which is contrary either to Truth or Justice we are forced to go somthing the further about in defending them by first denying and rejesting what is either false or unjust but then this will terminate in something positive which is the Foundation and Summary of all As for Example if in Opposition to the Practices or Affirmations of Others I deny That Divine Worship can be Given either to Angels or Saints The Reason â—nd Ground of that Denial must be this or the like positive Assertion That Divine Worship is Gods Propriety and to Him only to be directed And therefore that we Maintain some things in the Negative is not our but their fault in Asserting that which is either false or unlawful And whether they do so or not must be Tried by Particulars which I shall come to â—â—reafter XLII As to positive Doctrines perhaps the Difference is not very great the Quarrel lies more in what we do not hold then in what we do It is â—ot to be denied that we have much Truth but not enough as they think And we are afraid of more lest it should make us have less for many Matters which they would thrust upon us for Truth are far remote from it And should we receive them it were the way to corrupt the Truth we have There was a time when some of their Priests set themselves to Reconcile and without Allowance and Encouragement they durst not have Attempted such a thing the very Articles of our Religion to a Catholick Sense as they call it though many of â—hem were purposely framed in opposition to several of their Opinions and Practices The Author of Church-Government Part 5. page 206. hath discovered a Sense wherein that great Grievance