is this difficulty in matters of no moment but in points necessary where Souls do perish through misbelief We find in the Acts of the Apostles that Philip the Deacon drawing near to the Chariot of the devout Eunuch and hearing him read Act 8. 30 31 c. the Prophet Isaias said Vnderstandest thou what thou readest And he said how can I except some man guide me He had not learn'd the Principle of their Rationalists to bid the Holy man spare his pains of Exposition or if he would be doing that he was not bound to believe one word he spoke for Truth 'till his own reason made it Authentick For this wild Doctrine frees every man in matters of Eternity from all Authority of humane Teachers though of Divine Institution so that be we Jews or Heathens or in what Church soever we have been Baptiz'd we must stand to no Creed believe no Catechism or abridgement of points necessary though confirm'd by the practice of the whole Christian World rely on no Instructors but believe and practice the quite contrary if our private reason judges it to be contain'd in Sacred Scripture Doubtless if his judgment had been preposess'd with this proud arrogant Principle Philip had preach'd in vain nor had he believ'd unto Salvation but would have dismiss'd the Evangelist with some such words as these I have a desire to save my Soul and therefore have given you a hearing but all this is nothing yet to me I will search the Scriptures farther to see what I must believe and when I have made my Creed I will send for You to Baptize me Which plainly contradicts the method of saving instruction deliver'd by the great Doctor of the Gentiles in that famous Climax How shall they call Rom. 10. 14 15. on him in whom they have not believ'd And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher A Preacher with Mission and Commission from Jesus Christ But no place is more convincing than that 1 Tim. 3. 15. to Timothy The Church is the Pillar and ground of Truth And if the Church how then must every one build upon his private Reason for the true sense of Scripture in all things necessary to Salvation St. Paul was an Apostle of Jesus Christ whose Missioners then are those who teach the contrary Lastly I desire them to reconcile this Article of our Ancient Creed I believe the Holy Catholick Church with their novel Doctrine The Caetholick Church hath nothing to do with my Faith I believe my own Reason and nothing else in giving the true sense of Scripture to me For my part it being clear to me from the written Word that the Church hath a promise of Infallibility in matters of Faith That there is a command from Christ laid upon every one to hear her voice under pain of damnation and that otherwise the above named Article would not have been inserted into the Apostles Creed as a fundamental point I could see no safety or certainty in matters of eternal Interest but by wholly renouncing my most weak deceitful self and delivering up my self entirely into the hands of the Catholick Church to be taught by her what I must Believe and Do to be saved Nor found I any thing more reasonable then to captivate my understanding to the obedience of Faith when the God of reason doth require it at our hands Secondly to make every one an Interpreter and Judge of the true sense of Holy Scripture for himself unappealably by Reason seems evidently to me to deprive us of the only rational and solid means which is required to produce a well grounded Faith of Supernatural Verities in the Soul of man Which thus I manifest Supernatural Faith being an assent of the understanding to things revealed meerly for the Authority of the Relator without any farther dispute when once we have an assurance that God hath revealed them two things must necessarily concurre in all mediate productions to beget this act firmly and rationally in any Soul namely Ist Divine Revelation of things to be believ'd which is the formal Object of Faith into which it is ultimately resolv'd And 2dly A certain knowledge or moral evidence that such are revealed by the mediation or intervention of which the understanding elevated by Grace proceeds to the foresaid assent Now suppose there were no Objects of Supernatural and Divine Faith but what are contain'd in the written Word 't is not the bare and naked Letter but Scripture rightly understood that is the Word of God and of Infallible verity except therefore we have some Medium or means to convey assuredly to our understanding the true sense of Scripture our Faith cannot but halt and totter when we cannot rationally afford a firm assent to such a thing as revealed and have just cause to suspect whither we rightly understand that Scripture which contains the Revelation And certainly this cause of suspition will be ever just while private reason is the Interpreter and Judge of Holy Writ when abundant experience tells us nothing is more Fallible nothing more deceitful nothing sooner bribed with pride or passion or prejudice or education or interest to make words speak what never the Author intended by them Insomuch that hardly any fundamental point delivered in Scripture but hath been called in question and still is by too many protesting withall their sincerity and endeavours to attain to the true sense of Scripture by the light of their own Reason to which they appeal as their Judge and Protector in those wilful and irrational proceedings Neither indeed have Heresies arose in the Church but from Scripture misinterpreted by private reason as the * Non aliunde natae sunt haeredes nisi quod Scripturae bene intelliguntur non benè St. Aug. Tract 18 in Jeab Er de Gen. ad Lit. l. 7 ca. 9. Non ob aliud siunt haeretici nisi quod Scripturas non recte intelligentes suas Falsas opiniones contra earum veritatem pertinaciter asserunt alii passiom S. Ambr. in Titi. Vincentius Lyrin ca. 36. S. Irenaeus l. 1. c. 1. S. Hier. ad ca. 23. Isaiae S. Hilar. in lib. ad Constantinum Origenes Hom. 31. in Exodum c. Fathers and Church-history sufficiently testify Alas poor Souls that have such a guide to carry the Light which must direct them to eternal Happiness If they make their Light Darkness how great is that Darkness When their guide misleads them what remedy is there left to recall them into the path which leads to Heaven The Catholick Church indeed is inriched with so great a priviledge by Christ our Saviour that she cannot err in things necessary to Salvation as hath been manifested in the precedent Motive by Reason Fathers Councils Scripture Tradition and practice of the Christian World Whom we may as undoubtedly believe in delivering to us the true sense of Scripture as the Letter and upon whom
perspicuum est c. 'T is apparent from this place that he St. Paul and the other Apostles delivered many things not committed to writing Which Epiphanius also applyes to the same Haere 61. purpose teaching us Oportet autem Traditione uti c. That we must make use of Tradition seing all things cannot be taken out of sacred Writ The Apostles have delivered some things in Writing and others by Tradition Even as St. Paul says Sicut tradidi vobis As I have delivered to you And no less St. Lib. de spir◠S. Basil It is an Apostolique thing to persist constantly in Tradition not written for saith the Apostle I praise you in that you are mindful of whatsoever thing came from me and observe the Traditions which I have given you And affirms them to be so many that the day would fail him should he enumerate them Moreover That no man will contradict Ibid. it who hath the least experience in Ibid. Church Laws And as potent Patrons of the same Doctrine are St. Iraeneus l. 3 cont Haer. ca. 3 4. Tertullian de corona militis cap. 3. lib. de Praescrip S. Aug. Ep. 118. ad Januarium lib. 5. de bapt cap. 23. The second famous Nicene Council in the 7th Act c. by whom Traditionary points are invincibly vindicated And teach otherwise they could not except their words should contradict their Faith and practice though Protestants who are of a contrary belief are also of a contrary Doctrine and have invented several evasions to darken the evident light of these Texts whereby they alas deceive poor Souls To the native lustre of Scripture if we add the unanimous consent of the Fathers expounding them for us they more manifestly make good against the Protestants that the same Scriptures cannot be an un-errable and compleat Rule of Faith to Christians without Tradition And indeed Catholicks do not deny Scriptures to be a Rule but that they are not the compleat Rule of Faith nor can be a Rule of Faith at all as interpreted by private reason or particular fallibility Congregations which is their new way and practice but as expounded authoritatively by the Catholick Church according to the line of Ecclesiastical Tradition the constant custom of all Ages Now why Religion was setled in the Christian Church by Universal Tradition as a perpetual Rule of Faith rather then written Precepts will presently appear to any one well considering how that way of delivery is far more secure from mistakes and errours than Writings this being notoriously visible in actions common to all mankind in which all sorts of conditions do agree and can read the inward belief of their hearts in those outward well-understood expressions whereas written words are different and if understood by some few eminently Learned yet lyable to a thousand casualties and misapprehensions conveying erroneous Thoughts sometimes even where exactest diligence is observ'd And withall that it is more lasting then written Books which may perish totally by the fury of Persecution or be lost by some accident or other as most certainly some Scriptures are Whereas Christian Doctrine thus conveyed cannot perish but with the total ruine of all Believers But principally that sacred Scriptures themselves both for Canon Incorruptness and true sense of the Text are necessarily depending on Tradition not It on them being a self-evident Principle that needs no proof Which great and notable advantage will be more evident if we consider that the main end and principal errand of the Apostles being to deliver entirely to the World the Gospel or Law of Jesus Christ what they Preach'd throughout the whole World with their common and united endeavours inculcating it in season out of season and ingrafting it by daily and visible practice in the hearts of Believers must needs descend to us with more certainty and evidence of Truth because accompanied with a higher degree of Tradition than the Books of Scripture which were not any part of their Commission or by any joynt consent intended to comprize the whole Law of Christ but meerly an occasional work of their Apostleship according as the present circumstances did require writt by some single Apostle or Evangelist sent to some particular Church or Person as all the Apostolical Epistles upon whose Authority and Credit the whole Church originally must rely to believe it to be the true Writing of such an Evangelist or Apostle that is to be the undoubted Word of God And this is the genuine reason that while Traditionary Doctrines being on all hands acknowledg'd because founded in Universals which cannot easily fail The true Books of Scripture because at first of particular and unknown Authority agreeing therein with all errorus were cauceously rejected by some particular Churches and could not obtain due veneration and acceptance but by degrees as they were communicated to other Christians by those to whom they were at first delivered and so at last upon diligent inquisition received by the whole body of Believers for Canonical In which examination the Traditional Doctrine being universally Famous and first planted in their hearts and that of Scripture originally obscure and of an after Birth They neither did nor could rationally argue thus The Doctrine we have been taught is the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles because agreeable to this Book But thus this Book attested to us for Scripture may safely be received for the Writing of such an Apostle or Apostolical man as they witness who have already accepted it for such because we have no reason to think they are herein deceived or lye against their Conscience in that we find it conformable to the Doctrine we have been taught and have received by Tradition For to have proceeded è converso had been to prove I say not obscurum per obscurius but clarum per obscurum and contrary to all Rules of Logick and Reason Hence it is that we find the Ancient Fathers expounding some Texts of Scripture for Traditionary Doctrines of the Church which afford sometimes perhaps scarce probable Topicks for those points to which they are applyed Now this they do not as if they founded their belief of such Articles upon the Scriptures St Aug. de Civ Dei l. 20. c. 24. lib. de fide Oper. c. 15. S. Am in ca. 3. ad Cor. St. Jer. in ca. 5 Matt. Origen in eandem locum c. as might be specified in the 1st Corin. 3. from the 12 ver to the 16. and Matth. the 5th ver 25 26. for Purgatory The 15 of the foresaid Epist ver 29. For a state wherein the dead may be help'd by the living Luke the 1st ver 34. For the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of God c. But being in possession of the belief of such points with the present Church of their Age upon the tenure of Tradition they only bring such places for the further confirmation and explanation of their Faith that very probably such
the Apostle of the Saxons and his Converts in some few External Rites which afterward in tract of time they generally receiv'd and in the interim acknowledg'd to be worthy of acceptation while the fresh wounds of deeply-resented injuries were the greatest cause of non-conformity One more I cannot pass over in silence because I conceive it such as may much conduce to the conviction and conversion of our Adversaries 'T is to be found in the Life of St. Bernard to this effect In the part of France about Thoulouze L. 3. c. 5. one Henry an Apostate Monk by deceitful words perverting the Souls of many with Heretical Doctrines prevail'd so far that every where thereabouts the Grace of Baptism was denyed Prayers and Oblations for the dead were mock'd at Invocation of Saints derided Excommunications of Priests Pilgrimages of the Faithful building of Churches Consecration of Oyl and Chrisme and all Ecclesiastical Constitutions were despis'd Our cause in England St. Bernard being intreated by the Catholicks sadly lamenting to see so many poor Souls seduced to follow an Apostate as if he had been an Apostle was conquer'd by their Prayers and came thither to hinder the further spreading of so contagious an evil and to try his skill on the infected Where Preaching with wonderful demonstration of Spirit as well as admirable Eloquence he in a short time instructed the Ignorant strengthned the Weak recall'd the Wanderers restored the Subverted put to sil nce the Perverters God confirming his Doctrine with signs following I shall relate but one so home and evident that Cap. 6. l. 3. praed 't is enough to convert and confound all Contradictors During these his travails in the work of an Evangelist being come to the City of Sarlet the Sermon ended they brought to the Servant of God Bread to be blest and distributed among the Faithful as is the custom in Catholick Churches Which he blessing in the Name of God with his hand elevated making the sign of the Cross said By this ye shall know that the Doctrine which we Preach is true and the things which Hereticks would perswade you to are false if your Sick tasting this Bread shall be recover'd A venerable Bishop present fearing the tryal said They shall be healed if they take it believing To whom the Holy man replyed in a full belief of the event I say not so but such as tast it shall be healed and thereby know us to be truly sent of God Whereupon a great company of Diseased persons tasting of the said Bread forthwith recover'd Praying God for such singular manifestations of his Truth and Goodness And the Fame thereof spread round about Now what more express Testimony by Deeds can be given from Heaven for Prayer for the Dead and Mosses for them Invocation of Saints Consecration of Chrisme c. which were then opposed by those Hereticks and now denyed by the Protestants their Successors in false Doctrine against the conviction of Miracles from Heaven And now I have done with this Motive only give me leave to say that if Protestants could produce the like Miracles to attest their Faith and practice they would make the World ring with the noise of them in every place and crying Victory set up their triumphant Banners with this or some such like Inscription or Motto God with us against the Roman Church And then add some such Invective as this in their Popular Sermons See what hard-hearted Wretches the Papists are who wholly given over to a reprobate sense will not acknowledge our Doctrines to be glorious and revealed Truths of Jesus Christ which he hath witnessed for such to the whole World by the thundring voice of Divine Miracles The fifth Motive That the eminent Sanctity taught and practis'd in the Roman Catholick Church not to be found in any Heretical Communions divided from her is a manifest mark that she only is the true Church of Christ SECT I. An Introduction FRom works of Wonder we pass to works of Piety to point out to us the true Church of God which though less admired yet are far more precious as being that Divine Seed the Fruit whereof is eternal Glory For we Spiritual Travellers cannot come to rest our selves in the Heavenly Jerusalem but by walking perseverantly in the path of Holiness Now this Holiness is not to be had but in the true Church whose attribute is not only Catholick but also Holy as we profess in the Creed and distinguishable by it in the Effects from all different Communions whatsoever who though they may cloak their deformity with Angelical appearances yet in reality are Synagogues of Satan having a form of Godliness and denying the power thereof And the truth is though by sad experience I found that the Protestant Church especially that part of it which I judg'd more pure in Doctrine could not lay claim to much Sanctity still crying down the Puritans for meer Hypocrites whose zeal in their way did shine far brighter to dazle vulgar eyes yet such prejudice I had conceiv'd against the Church of Rome by my education in a contrary Religion that I thought her really Antichristian and Holiness to have no more agreement with Her then light with darkness or Christ with Belial So that after the Divine Goodness by strowing Thorns in my indirect ways had made me sensible what a bitter thing it is to forsake Him the Fountain of living Waters for broken Cisterns and had put me upon a serious Inquisition to find out Truth and Holiness to follow Them it was no less wonder then satisfaction to me to meet with such heavenly Doctrine and such holiness of Life in the Roman Catholick Church and no other Communion divided from Her And I plainly discover'd that Protestant Leaders could not detain their followers in Schism and Heresie but by keeping them in ignorance of the right Faith and Worship of the Roman Church and laying to her charge such Doctrines and Practices which are not justly imputable unto Her Yet this Motive was set more home to my heart when my eyes were made happy spectators of some of that innumerable Company of her Members who in the continual exercise of most sublime Spirituality live more like Angels then men though in mortal Bodies But most of all when our Lord was pleased so to shine upon me with the extraordinary light of his countenance as to bless my weak endeavours in following though afar off those Stars of the first Magnitude beautisying his Heaven on Earth in their glorious courses And truly I have from hence such a strong persuasion of Truth to be in the Church of Rome wrought in my Soul that was there no other Motive to confirm me in the Catholick Religion my heart very much deceives me if I should not upon this score rather forgo my life then forsake my present Faith to become a Protestant Thus by the grace of God this wrought on me and that it may work on others I thus