he says generally and without exception He supposes That if they be allow'd to the Vulgar not generally but with an Exception they to whom they are so allow'd will not make them so many different Bibles From whence it plainly follows That if they should be allow'd to all without exception yet many of that all will understand them in the same sense which overthrows his universal Conclusion viz. That there will be as many different Bibles as Heads But I pass this Nor shall I stay to shew First That the Antecedent is notoriously untrue Secondly That if it were true yet the same Mischief will follow if the Vulgar be taught the Bible by their Pastors as he says they are in the Church of Rome because they may put as many different Interpretations upon their words as upon the words of the Bible But shall content my self to return these three things in answer to the Argument which will sufficiently expose its absurdity First That it is of equal force against the reading of the Bible by the Learned yea of much greater The Reason is plain because the Learned are those especially who expound the Bible to different Senses The most zealous Papist if he please to follow the Representer's Direction shall find this as evident as Demonstration Let him first ask twenty Lay-men what is the meaning of such a Text and write down each Man's sense at length as he delivers it in one Column Then let him consult twenty of the most learned Popish Commentators upon the same Text and write down what each of them says in another then let him compare all the Lay-men senses together and observe all the differences that are between them Let him then compare all the Learned Commentators senses together and observe likewise all the Differences between them then let him compare the Differences between the Vulgar with those between the Learned and if he find not the former fewer and less material than the later I shall own that I am mistaken I add That if the Understanding some places of Scripture in a different sense makes different Bibles then St. Cyprian and St. Stephen St. Austin and St. Jerome St. Cyril and Theodoret yea all the Learned Fathers of the Primitive Church had different Bibles and therefore if this Argument signify any thing ought not to have been suffered to read the Scripture The absurdity of which will yet be more manifest because Secondly Where the Vulgar are not permitted to read the Bible there are as many different Bibles in the Representer's sense as where they are Even in the Church of Rome there are as many I may truly say many more than among the Protestants The Thomists have one Bible the Scotists another the Franciscans one the Dominicans another the Jesuits one the Jansenists another The Scotists Bible teaches that Original Sin is nothing but the Privation of Original Righteousness the Thomists Bible teaches it is more The Franciscans find in their Bible the immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin the Dominicans find no such Matter in theirs The Jansenists Bible gives to God alone the praise of Converting Grace the Jesuits Bible gives it to God and themselves too In many of their Bibles Transubstantiation is as legible as these words This is my Body in many others no such Doctrine appears Yea the very Popes themselves in spite of their Infallibility have Bibles not only different but plainly contradictory Pope Gregory's I. Bible taught him that the Emperor was his Lord Pope Gregory's VII that the Emperor was his Vassal Yea some of their Bibles have taught them to be downright Hereticks so did Pope Honorius's and John's XXIII And which is yet worse not only their Popes but their Councils too have had different Bibles as might be shew'd at large if it were needful Yea if that be true which a great Cardinal has affirmed That the Precepts of Christ may be changed by the Church and at one time be interpreted to this sense and at another time to that i Card. Cusan Epist 2. de usu Communionis ad Bohem. Then the Church of Rome may every Age or every year have a different Bible And whereas the Representer grants that the Protestants have all the same Bible in their hands tho it be different in their Heads Those of the Church of Rome have in their Hands in one Age one Bible in another Age another In this and the Age next foregoing the Books of the Maccabees have been part of the Bible in their Hands which certainly were not so in the Age of Gregory the Great k Greg. Moral Expos in Job l. 19. c. 17. I further add That their agreement about the sense of the Council of Trent is as little as about the sense of the Scripture Soto's Council of Trent and Catharinus's Council of Trent Bellarmin's Council of Trent and the Bishop of Meaux's Council of Trent are so far from being the same that they are in many things directly opposite And therefore 3. To retort the Argument How shamefully does the Representer delude the poor Vulgar in perswading them that tho they do not read the Bible yet the very same Word of God is delivered to them by their Teachers whereas when it comes to be examined it is not the Word of God but their Teachers Imaginations they are guided by To convince him of this by his own experiment Let him take all the different senses their Teachers put upon the Scripture and carry them to any Licenser of his own Church in order to be printed and published as the Word of God and Rule of Faith and see if he can find any who will set them forward with an Imprimatur What an Vnchristian Imposture is it then to let so many poor Souls go on with a secure confidence of following the Word of God when what they follow is nothing better than the Imaginations and Dreams of their Priests Let now the Representer judg to whose shame the Droll is exposed and if he please let him still go on to upbraid the Protestants with their different Bibles III. But the Representer will go farther with us For Mischief III. 't is not only thus says he in several People but even the same Person many times has the faculty of multiplying the Word of God. For how many are there to be found among the Vulgar who according to their different humours as their Interest changes according to the different Impressions they receive from Confidents especially such as have gained their good Opinion espouse different Doctrines and Perswasions and run thorough as many Sects as there are Divisions in the Nation And yet in all their windings they follow as they imagine the Scripture Don't you see how to these same Persons the Word of God is not always the same It alters according to Seasons and Times and it was one Word of God directed them the last year another this c. Now suppose all this to
so slippery so weak various wavering changeable inconstant as you see the private Reason of the Learned is to be rely'd on by them as their Guide in expounding of Scripture How can you imagine it possible for all Christians to concur in the same Belief while the Learned who read and expound the Scripture give differing and contrary interpretations of it For as long as the Scripture is no otherwise in their Heads and Hearts than by the interpretation they make of it their Faith must necessarily be as various as their Interpretation And is not the Story of the Manna which follows as applicable to the Learned For was not the taste of the Manna as different to the Priests as it was to the People Did it not relish according to that kind of Meat that was most grateful to every Priest's Palate Now if the Priests in Canaan had receiv'd a Command of bringing forth that sort of Meat whose taste should be like that of the Manna they ate in the Desert was it possible they should all agree in their Dish Since tho the Manna was the same they all fed on yet the Relish was as different as their Tempers and Palats Don't you therefore see that Men will never be of one Spirit and one Mind until the reading of the Scripture be prohibited to the Learned and not to some but to all his Holiness as Infallible only excepted For if it be allow'd to the Cardinals notwithstanding their Eminences above others together with his Holiness they will never agree in the sense of it For I can tell you of many Cardinals who have differ'd from his Holiness and among themselves too about the sense of it Is it not then as plain as Demonstration that there will be no end of Controversies as long as the Scriptures are read by any Man in the World besides the Pope And perhaps not then neither for since he is not infallible but when he speaks from his Chair which seldom happens at other times he may chance to contradict himself and give one sense of Scripture this Year another the next It were therefore most advisable could it possibly be effected that the Book it self were utterly abolished Let not any Man interpret this to the disparagement of Learning since nothing can be more evident than that the Learned have vast Advantages above the rest of Mankind for attaining to the true meaning of the more obscure Texts of Scripture provided they sincerely search after Truth and are so humble so sensible of their own liableness to mistake that they daily implore the Divine Assistance But if they be destitute of these Qualifications they are not only as subject to err but to err more dangerously than others In the beginning of the 10th Chapter the Representer talks again at the same impertinent rate so agreeable to him is this way of reasoning that he naturally falls into it in every Chapter But the Vanity of it lies so open that it need not be further exposed If any Man please to consult the place I shall leave it to himself to judg whether it be not every whit as applicable against permitting the Scripture to the Learned as the Vulgar But the Representer may say The Church of Rome does not allow the Learned to interpret Scripture according to their own private Reason For the Council of Trent has decreed That no Man presume to interpret Scripture contrary to the sense of the Church or the unanimous consent of the Fathers And has not the Church of England her Confession of Faith contrary to which she allows none of her Members to interpret Scripture Does she not admit all such Traditional Interpretations as can be derived from the Fountain And for all such Texts as are obscure and doubtful does she not direct the Vulgar to consult their Guides Tho it is true she does not command them to believe that White is Black or that Vice is Vertue if the Priest says that it is But however the Church of Rome denies them the liberty of interpreting the Scripture in their own sense it is certain that they commonly take it else how comes it that they give such different senses of the same Scripture How comes it that many of the Learned expound the sixth Chapter of St. John of the sacramental eating of Christ's Flesh and many as learned as they say that no such matter is there intended How comes it when so many tell us that these words This is my Body are so plain for Transubstantiation that he must be quite blind who does not see it that others whose sight is as good as theirs tell us they are not able to see this in them Do these Learned Men in their Exposition of the Scripture give us the sense of the Roman Church or do they not If not they follow their own private Reason if they do their Church gives contrary senses of Scripture and is as far from being one in this respect as it is from being Catholic He confesses p. 63. That some of the Protestants to keep up the Face of the Church do speculatively contend for Authority and Guides But then he says In Fact they defeat all these their Pretensions How do they in Fact defeat them Because they own no Authority so great or safe but it is to be subjected to the controul of every private Examiner They own an Authority so great as to Matters of External Government as to be subject to the controul of no Man who lives in Communion with the Church But he means an Authority so great that whatsoever the Church commands and prescribes to be receiv'd as the Truth and Faith of Christ it ought to be received But can the Church have no Authority unless Men are bound to believe without examination whatsoever she prescribes to be believed If so then had she no Authority in our Saviour's and his Apostles days no nor for several Ages after them For if any such Authority had been own'd in the fourth Century how came it to pass that after the Nicene Council the Arian Heresy spread more than it had done before If this be to open a Gate to all the Fanaticisms and Quakerisms in the World 't is certain the Protestants did not first open it but it was long before open'd by our Blessed Saviour when he gave this Command to his Disciples Call no Man Father upon the Earth for one is Your Father which is in Heaven neither be ye called Masters for one is Your Master even Christ (h) Mat. 23. 9 10. As much as to say There is none upon Earth by whose sense a Christian is to be absolutely determin'd his Faith is not to be resolv'd into any Man's Authority But by the Creed all Christians are bound to believe the Holy Catholic Church Yes That there is such a Church and that this Church teaches all Truths necessary to be known But it is one thing to believe this another thing to believe as
denied to the Vulgar yet when they are charged with it by Protestants they either take the confidence plainly to deny it or if they own the Charge as the Representer doth they endeavour to put such glosses upon it as to make their denial of the Scripture to be in effect but a better way of granting it For since it is not the words of the Bible but the sense and meaning of the words that is properly the Word of God while they withhold from them the Letter they provide means to acquaint them with the Spirit or the true sense of Scripture and so deliver it to them with much more advantage than People of any other Perswasion have it What others have formerly written for their Vindication in this Matter it is needless now to examine since it is not to be supposed but that the Representer hath said as much to the purpose as any of those who have gone before him I shall therefore confine the ensuing Discourse to what he hath said in his 6th 7th 8th 9th and 10th Chapters And that it may be the more clear and satisfactory I shall shew these four Things I. What is the Practice of the Church of Rome in this Matter II. That this Practice is plainly contrary to the Will of God to the Reason of the Thing and to the Practice of the Christian Church for more than a thousand Years after Christ III. The insufficiency of those Reasons by which the Representer endeavours to justify it IV. Vindicate those Inferences the Protestants draw from it All that is said by the Representer may I think be reduced to one or other of these Heads CHAP. I. THough some may think it needless to insist upon the first of these since what the Protestants charge the Church of Rome with in this Matter is freely enough owned by the Representer himself * Chap. 6. p. 45 46. Chap. 7. p. 52. Chap. 9. p. 57. yet because some of that Communion here in England who for prudential Reasons are not so straitly tied up do confidently deny it it may not be amiss for their information to give some short account of it from better Authority than that of the Representer For which we need go no further than the fourth Rule of the Trent Expurgatory Index which is this Since it is manifest by experience that if the Holy Bible be promiscuously permitted in the vulgar Tongue by reason of the rashness of Men more Loss than Profit will thence arise In this Matter let the Judgment of the Bishop or Inquisitor be stood to that with the advice of the Parish Priest or Confessor they may grant the reading of the Bible in the vulgar Tongue translated by Catholick Authors to such as they shall understand can receive no hurt by such reading but increase of Faith and Piety Which Faculty let them have in writing But he that without such Faculty shall presume to read or to have the Bible he may not receive Absolution of his Sins except he first deliver up his Bible to the Ordinary If any Man shall say That this Rule hath not the force of a Law Monsieur de Maire Counsellor Almoner and Preacher to the King of France in a Book published by Authority shall give him an Answer This Rule saith he is founded in Ecclesiastical Right and no Man can transgress it without contradicting that Obedience which he owes to the Church and the Holy See from which it hath received its Confirmation Forasmuch as this Rule was not made but in prosecution of the Decree of the Council of Trent c. no Man can deny but that it hath been approved by the Holy Sea and authorized by the Bulls of Pius IV and Clement VIII who after they had view'd and diligently examin'd it publish'd it to the World with Order that it should be obey'd (b) Enfin je maintiens que cette Regle est fondeé en droict Ecclesiastique et qu' on ne la peut violer sans choquer l'obeïssance qu' l'on doit à l'Eglise c. Le Sanctuaire serme aux Profanes part 3. c. 1. p. 335 336. If says he there be any thing that can hinder this Rule from having the Force of a Law it must be either because it hath not been published or being published hath not been received but neither the one nor the other can be said since it is evident that this is the old Quarrel we have with our Hereticks that this is that which our Church hath always been upbraided with by the Enemies of the Faith this is that which is the Subject of their most outragious Calumnies this is that which hath been acknowledged by 〈◊〉 wise Men that which hath been earnestly maintained by all the Defenders of Catholick Truths c Ce que personne n' ignore ce que tout le monde publie n' y aiant point de creance plus commune ny plus generale parmy les fidels c. Ibid. that which no Person is ignorant of that which the whole World publishes there being no Point of Belief more common nor more general among the Faithful than this of the Prohibition to read the Bible without permission And this Belief so common is says he a certain Proof not only of the publication but of the reception of this Rule It cannot be denied but that it hath been received by all those Nations by which the Decrees of Trent were universally received And so they were as Pallavicino tells us d Pallav. l. 24. c. 9 11 12 13. in Italy Spain Sicily Portugal Poland the greater part of Germany and many other Countries But suppose this Rule were not received as imposed by the Council of Trent yet in all Popish Countries they have made it a Law to themselves It is not indeed observed in France upon the Authority of the Council but they have set it up and established it as a Law by their own Authority as is manifest by the Mandates of their Archbishops and Bishops the Decrees of their Provincial Councils and the Edicts and Arrests of their Kings and Parliaments e La Bible Deffendue au Vulgaire Part. 3. c. 1 4. Collectio Auctor Versiones Vulg. damnant It is true there is a little more latitude in France for granting a Licence for not only the Bishop and his Vicar-General but the Penitentiary or a Man 's own Parish Priest may grant it f Mandeuent de Monseigneur L' Archevesque de Paris portant defense de lire la Bible en Langue Vulgaire sans permission Fait le 2 Septembre 1650. But then to make an amends for this in other Countries the Rule is made stricter than it was at first by the Trent Fathers for that does not forbid the Vulgar Bible but only the reading it without a Licence whereas the 5th Rule of the Spanish Index prohibits the Bibles themselves in the Vulgar Tongue and all Parts of them too and that not
I mean the Arguments by which the People were stirred up to rebel were transcribed from Popish Writers particularly from Mariana and Parsons out of whom he may see in some Books then published whole leaves together translated And therefore 5. The Divisions among the Vulgar are very rarely in comparison owing to themselves they are not to be imputed to the different Senses which they themselves in their private reading put upon the Bible but for the most part to the different Senses they receive of it from their Teachers For the truth of which I appeal to History and to the common Observation of Mankind If the Representer be not satisfied with this I desire him to answer but this one Question Whence came it to pass that so many of the Vulgar in England France Germany the Netherlands c. divided themselves from the Church of Rome before they had the Bible in a Language they understood That Division could not proceed from their reading of the Bible which was made before they had ever read it I cannot imagine what Answer he can give but that they followed their Leaders Wickliff Luther Zuinglius c. who first dividing from the Church of Rome drew the People after them The Division therefore took its Rise from the Learned and from them descended to the Ignorant The Trent Fathers therefore were miserably mistaken in denying the Bible to the Laity only they should have decreed in the first place that no Clergy-man should be suffer'd to read it that there might be like People like Priest And this the more prudent Bishops at Bononia were aware of when they advised Julius III not to permit any Mortal to read more of the Gospel than that little which is contained in the Mass (e) Consil de Rom. Eccles stabiliend apud Vergerium Tom. 1. I need say no more to expose the Falshood of this Assertion That the Divisions among Christians proceed solely or chiefly from permitting the Bible among the Vulgar But 2. If this were true yet it would not be a sufficient Reason for denying the reading of the Bible to the Vulgar For if it were so now it would have been so heretofore it would have been so in the early Ages of the Christian Church when there were as many Sects and Heresies as there are now It would have been so in the Time of the Apostles for in almost every Church planted by them Divisions presently sprang up It would have been so in the Jewish Church for they had their Sects as well as the Christians yea it would have been so from the very beginning when the Scripture was first publish'd But when the Bible was first written had this been a sufficient Reason would God have caused it to be written in the Vulgar Language of that People to whom it was given and laid his Command upon all without distinction to apply themselves to the study of it And in the succeeding Ages of the Jewish Church yea after the Babylonian Captivity tho some new Sects then sprang up among them so far was it from being thought a Reason why they should not read the Law that by the Laws of that Nation every Man was obliged to write a Copy of the Law for himself with his own hand And if the Case had been alter'd in the days of our Saviour would he not have told us Would he never have reproved the prying Multitude as the Representer is pleased to complement the People for reading the Law and the Prophets Nay would he have put them upon the reading of them as he plainly does as oft as in his Discourses to the People he quotes them for the proof of what he says And had his Apostles after him thought this a fit Expedient either for the Prevention or Cure of Divisions when they wrote their Epistles to those Churches in which Divisions were already sown as the Churches of Corinth and Colosse would they have addressed them to all without exception and exhorted all that the Word of God dwell in them richly And when in succeeding Ages the Church was miserably rent with Schisms do any of the Fathers prescribe this Remedy Nay tho St. Jerome St. Austin St. Chrysostom c. sadly complain of the abuse of Scripture by Hereticks yet do they not exhort all sorts of Persons to read it In a word The Church of Rome it self did not think this a fit Expedient till it was so changed from what it was in the beginning that if St. Peter and St. Paul should have been raised again from the Dead they would not have owned it for that Church which they at first planted I have I think said more than enough to the first Mischief II. The second which he gives as the main Reason Mischief II. why the Holy Scripture is not allow'd to the Vulgar of his Church without exception is this That if this be allow'd there will be as many different Bibles among them as there are Heads (f) Chap. 8. p. 54. that is The words of the Bible will be understood by them in as many different senses as there are Men For he thus explains himself Tho the Book of the Scriptures does certainly contain the Word of God yet to every Christian that reads it 't is the Sense and Meaning and not the Letter is more properly the Word of God. Now do You but reflect in how many different Senses the Letter of the Bible is understood and so many different Bibles will you find multiply'd by your Followers And tell me upon examination whether this be much fewer than Heads g P. 54. So wonderfully pleased is he with this Conceit that he presently falls into a fit of Raillery Don't you think there would be a pretty variety of Bibles there would be this Man's Bible and that Man's Bible such an one's Bible and such an one's Bible infinite number of Bibles But I fear I shall quickly spoil his mirth I shall not insist upon it That every difference in sense makes not a difference of Bibles as long as there is an agreement in all things material in those Points which by all the differing Parties are acknowledged sufficient to Salvation I need not beg this because they themselves are forc'd to assert it in their own defence For they acknowledg that the Vulgar Latin Translation of the Bible differs in many places from the Original That before Pope Clement's Edition there were many various Readings That the Bibles set forth by Sixtus and Clement are different each from other in many Places and yet they say they are not to be reckoned different Bibles because they do not differ in any thing material to the Faith. This being premised I return to his Argument which in short is this If the Holy Scriptures should be generally allow'd to the Vulgar without exception they will every one understand them in a different sense h Ibid. Therefore they ought not to be thus allow'd Now in that
find out or afterward to comprehend And if this be to make private Reason the Rule of Scripture we need not be ashamed to own it For this is no more than what our Blessed Saviour allowed to private Persons He frequently appealed to the Scriptures of the Old Testament but he left it to every man's Reason to judge whether they were for him or against him Yea did he not severely reprove the promiscuous Multitude for not judging even of themselves what was right (b) Luk. 12. 57. For to the Multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 54. these words were directed This is no more than what the Apostles of our Lord have laid as a Duty upon private Christians St. Paul commands them to prove all things (c) 1 Thes 5. 21. and thought the common Christians of the Church of Corinth wise enough to judg what he said (d) 1 Cor. 10. 15. St. John requires them to try the Spirits whether they be of God (e) 1 Joh. 4. 1. And can they do this if they may not judg of the sense of the Scripture This is no more than what St. Chrysostom frequently exhorted the People to and sharply reproved their neglect of it Yea notwithstanding the loud cry they make against private Reason and the private Spirit the Roman Clergy themselves are forced to appeal to it For when to draw Men over from us to them they produce so many Scriptures and so many Reasons such as they are fetch'd from Scripture Do they not make every Man's Reason Judg whether these Scriptures and these Reasons are to the purpose If they say a Man must use his Reason to judg which is the true Church but having once found it he must then take the sense of Scripture upon the Church's word nothing can be said more absurd Because a Man must judg of thesense of the Scripture before he can discern which is the true Church since that can no otherwise be known than by those Characters the Scripture gives of it Besides one of their own Marks of the true Church is the Holiness of its Doctirne (f) Bell. de Notis Eccles l. 4. c. 11. A Man therefore must know what the Doctrine of a Church is before he can know it to be a true Church and how shall a Man know this but by first examining her Doctrine by Scripture A Man must therefore know the sense of Scripture before he can know the true Church But if it should be granted that when a Man once knows the true Church he must then understand the Scripture as the Church does yet tell me why he must do so Is it because he hath Reason or no Reason so to do You will not say because he hath no Reason for you your self give Reasons why he must And if it be because he hath Reason he then makes his Reason Judg of the sense of Scripture as well as the Protestant But Christian Faith he says is but one that 's granted And all Christians are directed to meet in this ONE Faith to be of ONE SPIRIT and ONE MIND to say all the same thing This is also granted Now can you imagine it possible says he for all Christians to concur in the same Belief while the Scripture being but ONE which they read their private Judgments give differing and contrary Interpretations of it and carry them several ways (g) Chap. 9. P. 58. And will it be possible for all Christians to concur in the same Belief if the Scriptures be denied to the Vulgar For do not the private Judgments of the Clergy give as differing and contrary Interpretations of it and carry them as many several ways And therefore are there not as many Divisions among your selves as has been shew'd as there are among Protestants And is it not ridiculous so often to insist upon that as a sovereign Remedy of Divisions which is so ineffectual that the Disease is as prevalent where it is used as where it is not The Representer may perhaps say That their Differences are not in matters of Faith If not then neither are ours since theirs are in matters as considerable as ours are But the best on 't is if notwithstanding their Differences among themselves they are still of one Faith then the Protestants also may be of one Faith not only among themselves but with them too and therefore are no Hereticks since Protestants differ no more from them than many of them do one from another Tho therefore it be the Duty of Christians to be all of one Mind and to speak the same things and tho I see no reason to question but God hath afforded such helps in order thereunto which if they were not wanting to themselves in the use of they might attain to this Vnity Yet we have already seen that the withholding the Scripture from the Vulgar is none of those means and tho some who will be wiser than God have thought fit to make trial of it yet they have hitherto found it unsuccesful And for those means which God hath vouchsafed as little Reason have we to expect that they should by all Christians be faithfully used and applied and they thereby be brought to this perfect Unity as to expect that all Men should become sober and just and charitable and devout which God has made no less their Duty and for the effecting of which he hath vouchsafedas powerful means But now let us again try whether this long Harangue be not of equal force against the reading of the Scripture by the Learned as by the Vulgar If the different Sects in Religion proceed from the reading of the Scripture by the Vulgar how comes it that there are so many different and contrary Divisions Sects and Perswasions among you Romanists How comes it that even in those things that by the differing Parties are reckon'd Matters of Faith there hath been and at present is so great Diversity The business is you suffer every Learned Man's private Reason to be Judg of Scripture which when put to the test proves in thousands and thousands to be no better than Passion Prejudice Interest Imagination Guessing or Fancy Don't you find by experience that there 's no Proposal made but presently the Learned are divided about it as they were in almost every Question in the Council of Trent nor could the Controversies be decided by the Fathers but they were forc'd to make many of their Decrees in such general Terms for the gratifying of the contending Parties as might be interpreted to contrary Senses Don't you see again That almost every Scholar's Reason is different as their Capacity Parts Education Temper Inclinations Impressions are different That as every one has a Head of his own so he has generally a Reason or way of reasoning of his own Nay are not the Learned so inconstant even to themselves too that what is Reason to them at one time is unreasonable at another How then can you permit a thing
be true of many of the Vulgar is it not also as true of many of the Learned yea of many of the most Learned in the Church of Rome May it not as truly be said how many may be found among your Bishops Cardinals and Popes who according to their different humours as their Interest changes espouse different Doctrines and Perswasions Witness in elder times Pope Liberius and Vigilius who were either Hereticks or Catholicks as their Interest changed And for later times witness the Cardinal of Cusa who one while more zealous than he for the Authority of a General Council above the Pope But when he expected to be made a Cardinal who more zealous for the contrary Doctrine Upon which Richerius his Words are observable By this saith he we are given to know that very many who have defended the Truth in a state of Poverty have deserted the same out of hope of Dignities and a more plentiful Fortune and especially out of an ambition of being made Cardinals (l) Hist Concil general l. 3. p. 479. Witness Aeneas Sylvius who vehemently opposed that Doctrine when he was Pope which he had before as vehemently maintained when he was Clerk to the Council of Basil And that it was interest that gave him this new Light not I but Richerius and Maimbourg plainly assert (m) Richer Hist Concil general l. 4. parte 1. c. 6. Maimb Prerog Of the Church of Rome c. 25. p. 338. Yea the Pope himself in his Bull of Retractation says in effect as much for speaking of the Disputes between him and Juliano Cardinal of St. Angelo he confesses the Doctrine he forsook was the ancient and that he embraced was new (n) Tuebamur antiquam sententiam ille novam defendebat Witness the Cardinal of Lorrain Does not he he himself confess that his Interest being turn'd he turned with it (o) Hist of the Counc of Trent l. 8. p. 767. Was not his Perswasion different according to the different Impressions he received from the Pope and the Queen of France When he first came to Trent how contrary his Sentiments in several Points were to those he had afterward when the State of affairs in France was altered and he had been caressed by the Pope and his Holiness had gain'd his good Opinion may sufficiently appear by comparing the places quoted in the Margin (p) Hist of the Counc of Trent ps 659 692 703 704 712 733 743 744 767 782 813. It 's too well known to need to be mentioned how that Gardiner Bonner and all the Popish Bishops Fisher only excepted espoused different Doctrines and Perswasions as their Interests changed and according to the different Impressions they received either from the King or the Pope And don't you now see how to these same Bishops Cardinals and Popes the Word of God was not always the same but alter'd according to Seasons and Times That it was one Word of God that directed Aeneas Sylvius while he was Secretary to the Council of Basil another while he was Pope That in King Henry VIII's and King Edward VI's Reigns the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs was in Gardiner's and Bonner's Bibles in Queen Marie's Reign the Pope's was found instead of the King 's The Conclusion hence is unavoidable That if all Men are to be denied the reading of the holy Scriptures who according to their different Humours as their Interest changes espouse different Doctrines and Persuasions they must be denied to many more than the Vulgar unless their Bishops Cardinals and Popes are to be placed in that rank SECT III. In the next place the Representer gives us his Reasons why the Vulgar so differ in the sense of the Bible which are two one of them imply'd the other expressed That which is imply'd is the Obscurity of the Scripture That which is express'd is the setting up every Man 's private Reason to be Judg of Scripture (q) Chap. 9. p. 58. Reason I. I. The Obscurity of the Scripture For if it be so plain and easy says he how comes it there is so little agreement in the understanding it When the Protestants affirm that the Scripture is plain and easie they mean it is so to those only who read it with honest Hearts who sincerely desire to know the Truth and to direct their Lives answerable to it and they mean that it 's so not simply in all things but in all things necessary to Salvation And when they affirm this they affirm no more than St. Austin did Believe me saith he whatsoever is in those Scriptures speaking of the Scriptures of the old Testament which are more obscure than those of the new it is high and Divine they contain nothing but what is true and that Doctrine which is most fit for the repairing and restoring of Souls and so disposed that there is no Man but may draw thence that which is sufficient for him provided he comes devoutly and piously affected as true Religion requires (r) Quicquid est mihi crede in Scripturis illis altum divinum est inest omnino veritas reficiendis instaurandisque animis accommodatissima disciplina plane ita modificata ut nemo inde haurire non possit quod sibi satis est si modo ad hauriendum devotè ac piè ut vera Religio poscit accedat De utilitate credendi c. 6. They affirm no more than what St. Chrysostom did for he says That all things necessary are manifest (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 3. in 2. ad Thess They affirm no more than what the Bishop of Rome did formerly For the Holy Scripture saith Pope Gregory as I find him quoted by the Authors of the Preface of the Mons Testament is as a great River which runs always and which will run to the end of the World. The little Children and the Men of full Stature the strong and the weak do there find that living Water that springs up even to Heaven It offers it self to all and it suits it self to all It hath a simplicity that abases it self to the most simple Souls and a height that exercises and raises the most lofty †P. 9. Nay they say no more than what many learned Romanists of this present Age have said The Bishop of Vence speaking of the new Testament says The Son of God hath in it taken care to teach us CLEARLY and DISTINCTLY our whole Duty to him as well as our whole Duty to our Neighbour and our selves This is that which the Gospels contain The Epistles of the Apostles are a Comment upon it and an Explication more enlarged and distinct which leave not any thing in the Christian Life we ought to live upon Earth unexplain'd (t) Preface of Mr. Arnaud And Mr. Arnaud says That the holy Fathers have noted that one of those things which shew the Divinity of the holy Scriptures and in which they excel all the Writings of Men
it As it was foretold that false Teachers should arise so every Age since hath seen that Prediction verified and for this Reason St. John exhorts Vulgar Christians as well as others to bring their Teachers Doctrines to the Trial (l) 1 Joh. 4. 1. Is it necessary that every one that is commission'd to teach should be so sincere as to deliver nothing but what he believes to be the Faith of Christ The Bishop of Minori in the Council of Trent thought otherwise he was afraid there might be many Priests who were real Infidels (m) Hist of the Counc of Trent l. 2. p. 241. And if the Representer be not satisfied with this we can produce those in this very Age who have taught that as a necessary Article of Faith which they were so far from believing necessary that they could not perswade themselves it was true But if the Priest be honest is he also infallible This the Representer must suppose or else he reasons at an absurd rate For thus he argues Was Mary Magdalen deprived of the Word of God who placed at her Saviour's Feet heard it from his own most sacred Mouth Were those People deprived of the Word of God to whom the Apostles were sent to preach for those several Years before any of the Gospel was in writing It is not writing we know that makes it the Word of God for all that Word of God that is now written was once unwritten But pray Sir tell me Is every thing taught by a Priest of the Church of Rome as certainly the Word of God as that which was taught by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles Is every Parish Priest at length become Infallible If so what a shame is it that any Controversies are left among your selves when every Parish affords an infallible Interpreter of Scripture If not then they may teach that for the Word of God which is nothing less However all that we contend for is That the Vulgar may be suffer'd to read that Word which Mary heard for that she heard was the same that is now written and had it been then written from Christ's Mouth can any Man be so sensless as to imagine that after he had done speaking he would have forbidden her under severe Penalties to read it But let us now suppose That every Roman Teacher is both able and sincere will it hence follow that the People may not read the Scriptures Had St. Luke thought so he would never have commended the Bereans for searching the Scriptures whether those things that were spoken by St. Paul were so (n) Act. 17. 11. Had St. Paul himself thought so would he have proved what he said by Scripture for in doing so he put his Hearers upon the searching it and thereby taught all succeeding Pastors what they ought to do To which purpose the words of Origen are observable (o) In cap. 3. Epist ad Rom. If such and so great an Apostle did not suppose his Authority sufficient Warrant to his Sayings unless he made it appear that what he says is written in the Law and the Prophets how much more ought we little Ones observe this that we do not bring forth ours but the Sentences of the Holy Spirit Now I presume it will not be denied but St. Paul was as faithful and able a Teacher as any in the Church of Rome If it should yet doubtless it will be granted that our Saviour may compare with the best of them and he as we have heard before frequently sent his Hearers to the Scriptures And if we consult the Ancient Fathers especially St. Chrysostom who was as diligent a Pastor as any the Church can now boast of we shall find that notwithstanding his abundant pains in teaching he vehemently exhorted the People to read the Scriptures themselves and enforc'd his Exhortation by many powerful Arguments Omitting many others I shall reciet one Passage in his 10th Homily on the first Chapter of the Gospel of St. John Before I proued saith he to his Hearers to explain the words I will ask one favour of you which I beseech you not to deny me for it is nothing burdensom nothing hard to be done which I ask and much more profitable to you than to me What is it then which I desire That one Day in the Week at least on Saturday you take care to read that part of the Gospel which I am to explain to you that every one take it into his Hands repeat it often at Home consider the Scope of it mark what is clear and what obscure and what seems repugnant in it and weighing all things beforehand do you thus present your selves to hear This will bring no small profit both to you and to me For it will be no great labour to me to make you understand the force of the Gospel when you have before render'd it as to the words at least familiar to your selves at Home And you will be not only more quick and ready to hear and learn but also to teach others There are many here present who hear and endeavour to retain the words and what I say upon them who would receive no great benefit tho I should spend a whole Year in preaching upon them Why Because by the bye and only for a little time here they apply their minds to them c. I grant It was Preaching Teaching and Instructing by word of Mouth was the means appointed by Christ for planting his Gospel But what then doth it follow that when the Gospel was written it might not be read by the Vulgar No more doubtless than that it might not be read by the Learned for that was the Means used for planting it among both Nor can we well imagine how it could at first be otherwise planted because it was then to be confirm'd by Miracles And suppose it were true that the Apostles who were thus commanded to preach had never any Command to write Is not this as good a Reason why the Priests may not read the Gospel as why the People may not In the words following the Representer sums up his Argument viz. Since then the Papists are taught and instructed in the Word of God the very same way that Christ himself taught all those that followed him since they are instructed in it the same way the Apostles themselves observed and commanded by submitting to and obeying those that are over them Why do you say they are deprived of the Word of God I answer For these Reasons 1. Because that which they have of the Word of God is but very little in comparison of what they are deprived of 2. Because much of that little if taken with those glosses and understood in that sense which they put upon it is not the Word of God. 3. Because much of that little which in popular Discourse is delivered to them as the Word of God is nothing less This the Representer must be forc'd to grant unless he
impossible for a Protestant to believe yet I doubt not but the Representer will grant that the belief of this is as easy to a Protestant as it is to a Papist And that since it is believed by Papists there is very good reason why Protestants should believe it 2. Since they allow the Vulgar the Ten Commandments in their own Tongue what probable Reason can be given why they leave out this part Thou shalt not Tho to stop their Adversaries Mouths they now put these words into the English Catechisms make to thy self any graven Image c. but this that they dare not let their Laity compare their Doctrine and their Practice with this Scripture It is I know commonly said that this is done in compliance with the weak Memories of the People But he must be of a weak understanding who is satisfied with this Reason especially considering how tedious some of their Offices of Devotion are which are composed for the use of the Laity 3. It is no Thanks to them that the Bible is not denied to the Learned because it is impossible it should be kept from them as long as it is suffer'd in any Language But it is plain they are afraid of them in that they do not allow them however learned and pious but at the Bishop's discretion to read any Versions of the Old Testament Nor do they give the Bishop leave to permit any Man how learned soever to read any Versions of the New made by those who are censured by their Church but confine them to the Vulgar Edition n Reg. 3. â— Trid. And to make as sure of them as they can they tie them up as close as they are able from giving any such Interpretation of it as may be prejudicial to their new Faith. And yet not trusting to this Security they endeavour as much as may be to conceal from them those Scriptures which are repugnant to their Doctrine Which is 4. A plain Argument That it is the Bible it self they take to be mischievous to them Why else 1. Did they blot those words out of the Margin and Index of Rob. Stephen's Bible which were the same with those in the Text For Example Abraham was justified by Faith. He that believeth in Christ shall not die for ever They that blotted these out of the Index that the Reader might not thereby be directed to find them would they not if they durst have blotted them out of the Text too 2. Why else have they purged not only out of the Ancient Fathers but many late Learned Writers of their own Church many Passages of the Scripture it self 3. Why was it commended as a most meritorious Act in John Della Cava Arch-bishop of Benevento That tho he had not openly and expresly condemn'd the Gospel yet obscurely and covertly he had because in his large Catalogue of Hereticks he had reprobated a great part of that Doctrine which is contain'd in the Gospel especially some certain Heads which were most opposite to the Church of Rome p Consil de Rom. Eccles Stab The Representer proceeds If their Religion be so contrary to Scripture as you pretend is it not more likely the Learned should make this discovery in their reading the Bible than the Vulgar if they had the like liberty c. To which I return these two Things 1. If the Learned are as free from Prejudice Pride Vain-glory Covetousness and other evil Affections which darken Mens Minds it is more likely they should make this Discovery than the Vulgar if not the Vulgar are better qualified to make it than they For tho Learning when joyn'd with a sincere love of Truth is a great advantage for the discovery of it yet when destitute of this it is as great a hinderance The Learned among the Jews in the days of our Saviour are a demonstrative Proof of this Tho Moses and all the Prophets bore Testimony to him yet the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to see it Why because they were prepossessed with the Prejudices of a Pompous Messias they sought Glory of Men they had carnal Affections and a worldly Interest to serve tho therefore all the Characters of the Messias were visible in him yet because he was not a Messias for their turn they could not discern them I say not only they did not but without first laying aside their corrupt Affections they could not And so our Saviour himself says Ye cannot hear my Word q Joh. 8. 43. And how can ye believe which receive Honour one of another r Joh. 5. 44. How wife and prudent soever they were in other Matters they were not capable of the Truths of the Gospel and therefore they were hid from them while they were revealed to Babes s Mat. 11. 25. Now how few in comparison of the Learned in the Church of Rome have not some carnal Interest to serve How few are not prepossess'd with some such false Principle that be the Scripture never so clear against them will so blind their eyes that they shall not be able to discern it Should the Church of Rome teach Murder and Adultery to be Vertues he who makes it a Fundamental Article of his Faith that she cannot err would not be able to see that they are Sins but would find out some other sense of these Commandments than the words plainly import In short this Argument the Learned Jews made use of against our Blessed Saviour Have any of the Pharisees believed on him But this People who know not the Law are curs'd t Joh. 7. 48 49. As much as to say Were he the true Messias the Learned Pharisees who study the Law would certainly know it since therefore they do not believe on him no heed is to be given to the ignorant Multitude Were therefore this Argument of force it would have justified the Vulgar Jews in rejecting of Christ But 2. Many of their Learned Men have made this Discovery How many such were the chief Instruments of the Reformation and they doubtless discover'd the Errors of their Church before they forsook it How many continually since have forsaken their Communion in spite of all worldly Motives to the contrary How many who have not left their Communion have given abundant Testimony by their Writings that they were convinced of their Errors some in one thing some in another Cardinal Cajetan and Cardinal Contarenus will be owned for as Learned Men as most of their Time and they discover'd the Error of Prayer and Service in an Unknown Tongue Erasmus in the last Age and Arnaud and his Brethren the Jansenists in this have exposed to all the World the Error I now write against The Learned Men of the Church of Rome who have rejected the Apocryphal Books from the Canon of Scripture are too many to be particularly mentioned for that they are no part of the Canon was Catholic Doctrine at Rome it self as a Learned Bishop of our own