as all those must do who consider that they are Fallible and therefore may be Mistaken in their Interpretations There is also another supposed Irreverence towards the Holy Scripture that the Catholics are accused of which consists in this that they make the Tradition of the Church to be of equal credit with it On this Point I shall only ask this short Question viz. Whether it be not as much to be believed that St. Matthews Gospel is the word of God which is the Tradition of the Church as it is that our Saviour Fasted Forty Days and Forty Nights which is part of that Gospel If it be as I presume none will deny then it must follow that Tradition which is the unwritten Word of God must oblige us to believe as much as Scripture which is his written Word And indeed who is there that can doubt but that heretofore the Apostles Sermons and Verbal directions and that which the Faithful remembred of them were of equal Authority with their Epistles and other Writings Shall we not think that what was laid up in their Memories was as Obligatory as that which was committed to Paper Especially whilst we hear St. Paul Commanding the * 2 Thes c. 2. v. 15. Thessalonians to hold fast those Traditions which they had learnt whether it had been by word of Mouth or by Epistle On the whole matter I dare boldly affirm that there is none who shall impartially consider what hath been said here but will perceive that the Catholics have a greater respect for the Holy Scripture than the Protestants and this with relation both to it's Authority and Vsefulness First As to it's Authority I mean it 's Authentickness the Catholics Declare that it hath been handed from the time of the Apostles down to ours by a True and Uncorrupted Church Whereas the Protestants do not allow that they received it from any Society of Christians but such as according to their own sentiments were Corrupted The Inference of this and of what follows is too plain to need the making Secondly As to it 's Usefulness The Catholics affirm that God hath left us some sure means of understanding it a-right so far forth as it shall be necessary for our Salvation whereas the Protestants assign no other way of understanding the Scripture but what they acknowledge to be Uncertain And here I cannot but take notice that a Bible in an unknown Tongue which is capable of being rightly Interpreted and is daily so Interpreted to the Common People is incomparably of more use to them than one in the Vulgar Tongue which can be understood no otherwise than fallibly That is as I have said * See above Pag. 56. above cannot be * And consequently indeed can be of no use but rather hurtful understood An unknown Tongue which may be Interpreted being certainly less inconvenient than an unknown Sense which may not be Found out Wherefore if Scripture appear both more Authentic and more Vseful by Catholic Tenets than it doth by Protestant can it be thought to have less Respect amongst us than it has amongst them There is yet another plausible Pretence which serves rather to Amuse than Argumentatively to deceive the Common People whenever this Point viz. the Testimony on which Holy Scripture is to be received comes into Debate They say that the Holy Scripture hath a sufficient Authority from it self that it is discerned by it's own Light and that it's Style Contexture and Precepts are such as necessarily speak it to be Divine insomuch that it stands not in any need of being recommended to us by any Extrinsic Testimony whatsoever Certainly if this were so the Apostles would have had an easier task in the Conversion of the World than it proved to them They needed only to have Translated their Gospels into the Languages of all Nations and so by Ordinary Messengers to have dispersed them from one end of the World to the other And by this means they might have been in those days as sparing of their Journeys as their pretended Successors of the Church of England are in these And forasmuch as concerns those Miraculous Gifts which were Communicated to them for the propagation of the Faith all of them had been Superfluous excepting only that of Tongues Their Scripture would have discovered it self by it's own Light to be the word of God and what was Plain in it according to our Modern Doctrin would be sufficient for Salvation But since this was quite otherwise and that the Word of God was heretofore recommended to Mankind by the great Labors Holy Lives and frequent Miracles of those who Preached it and even with all these helps found not that Credit with the greatest part which it ought we must conclude that this Holy word stands in need of some Extrinsic Testimony since at the beginning it pleased God who does no unnecessary thing to accompany it with * But they the Apostles going forth Preached every where our Lord working withal and Confirming the Word with Signs that followed Mark c. 16. v. 20. such and that even when it came from the Blessed Mouth of his own * The Works that I do in the name of my Father they give Testimony of me John c. 10. v. 25. And again ver 38. Believe the Works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me c. Son. And yet tho' we should grant that there is somewhat so admirable in these Writings that forasmuch as concerns the whole frame of them it must necessarily appear at least to a well-disposed mind that they can have no other Author than God himself Will it therefore follow that every Verse is such every Historical passage or that some Syllable or Word may not be added or taken away in some Mystery of Faith without breaking in upon the Majesty of the Style or whatever else bespeaks our veneration for this Book May not I say somewhat of this Nature be done which may change the Meaning of a Sentence and yet thence no evidence arise that this Sentence so changed is not from God For further Illustration and Proof of what I say let us suppose that there were two Editions of the Bible delivered to us by an Extrinsick Testimony or Authority so equal that we could not discern which Testimony were best and that in one of these Editions our Saviour's words in the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament should be THIS is a Sign of my Body and in the other what they now are THIS is my Body Would it appear from the sound or any thing else which of these two Sentences was spoken by Christ I presume that considering the various opinions which are now in the World concerning this Mystery you are ready to say that it would not Suppose then that I or any other private person should put forth an Edition of the Bible which should have the former Sentence This is a Sign of my Body instead of the
or not The Scripture does not tell us of a Church which is to continue only to the end of the Fifth Age. It tells us indeed of one which is to continue to the End of the World And this Church I hope may be found as well in the Fourteenth Age as in the Fifth For if all the Christians of the Fourteenth were Erroneous and Corrupted and stood in need of Reformation those of the Fifth might have been so too for any thing which the Scriptures can assure us to the contrary This Rock then of my Protestant Faith being shaken I mean a Belief that the Church of England had Model'd it self according to the Doctrins of the first Five Hundred Years it will not be wonder'd at if at least I gave way to some doubts I found no better footing in that way which was taken by those Church of England-men who conversed more with Roman Catholics than with Protestant Dissenters viz. Scripture as it is understood by every private Man. First Because those who took that way differed from one another in most material things and also Such as were esteemed Heretics by the Church of England followed the same Rule Secondly Because according to my own Judgment who were by this Rule to judge for my self the Church of England was beholding to Tradition for some Parts of her Doctrin and Practice as Infant-Baptism the Observation of the first Day of the Week and the like having no clear Scripture for them and therefore could not hold them and require them to be held by the Rule of Scripture Interpreted without the help of Tradition Thirdly Because it was sincerely my own Judgment that the Scripture was much clearer for the Catholics than for the Protestants particularly in Transubstantiation Sacramental Confession Extreme Vnction Purgatory St. Peters Supremacy and lastly and chiefly being that which includes all other Points the Decisive Authority of the Church wherefore if I must follow Scripture Interpreted by my self I must at the same time necessarily cease to follow the Church of England These certainly were Motives if not for an absolute departure from the Church of England yet still at least as I have already hinted for the doubting of her Truth About this time I remember that I had two notions concerning Faith. First That Faith was not that which must necessarily suit with the Fancies of particular Men since then it ought to be as various as those Fancies were but it was that which God would have us believe whether we fancied it or not viz. That which he would have us * Bringing into Captivity all understanding into the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor. c. 10. v. 5. submit our Fancies and Judgments to meerly because it was revealed by him And in this submission as I thought consisted both the Difficulty and Merit of Faith. And consequently that I ought not so much to consider the nature of the things proposed to be believed as the Authority by which they were proposed Secondly That this Faith was the * Ephes c. 2. v. 8. Gift of God and for that reason that more confidence was to be put in humbe Prayer for the obtaining it than in any Human Skill or Industry Wherefore as far as God Almighties Grace assisted my weakness I endeavored to obtain this Gift by that means making it my earnest Prayer to his Divine Goodness that I might know the Truth and firmly purposing to embrace that which I should be convinced of tho' it should be ever so contrary to my Worldly Interest as the Roman Catholic Religion at that time most apparently was To Prayer I judged it necessary to add a serious endeavor of amending my Life lest otherwise I should be found to sue Hypocritically for more light from Almighty God whilst I made no use of that which I had received from him by complying with what I already knew to be his Will. This is a Point which all those who are in search of the True Faith ought to examin their Consciences upon and therefore I would not omit the mention of it in this place Amidst these doubts I confess ingenuously that what our English Doctors have made so light of was of great moment with me viz. That the Church of England-men affirmed that Salvation might be had amongst the Roman Catholics but the Roman Catholics absolutely denyed that the like was to be had amongst them For Salvation in the Roman Communion both Churches concurr'd whereas for the latter we had only the bare word of Protestants in their own behalf Who likewise at the same time told us they were fallible and consequently for ought they knew might be mistaken And if they were actually mistaken I should be undone by rarrying with them whereas on the other side if they were not mistaken I could receive no damage by being amongst the Roman Catholics In a word I considered that if the Protestants were true I should be safe with the Roman Catholics but if the Roman Catholics were right I could not be so with the Protestants This Motive is so strong in it's own Nature that many Protestants confess that it must needs have great Power with those who as they say cannot throughly examin the differences betwixt us and these I take to be the greatest part of Mankind And if so I will venture to add that GOD Almighty having taken as much care of the Ignorant as of the Learned would never permit Falshood to be supported by such Arguments as must in common Prudence oblige all unlearned persons to be engaged in it But above all methinks this Argument should be of force with those Vniversal Gentlemen who pretend that their Religion is the Catholic because they believe nothing but that wherein all agree forgetting that such a Restraint of their Belief is peculiar to themselves and not common whereas here is an Agreement of all Parties at least such as have any Esteem with them on which they may safely rely viz. That Salvation may be had in the Roman Catholic Church which is all we do or at least ought to aim at by our Religion As for those other Points which perhaps they hold viz. A Deity a Saviour and the like tho' they have the universal consent of all Christians for their Truth yet they have it not for their sufficiency to Salvation especially so as to exclude the Necessity of believing other Articles when they are duly proposed and it will be of small Consequence to them that what they hold common with others proves True if their additional Article which holds this Truth to be sufficient should prove False What was urged in derogation of this Argument as if the Protestants shew'd a greater Charity by thinking well of Catholics than Catholics did by thinking ill of them was nothing to my purpose For I was then in search of True Faith and not of Charity and knew withal that how great appearance soever there might be of Charity it could not
Church is Infallible I say it is contrary to our supposition not deny'd by him and to her own Profession and if he understands less than that the Query remains viz. How that which is less than Infallible can be that which cannot fail And yet how frivolous and unsatisfactory soever these last Positions are I cannot but applaud the Contrivance of them For could any thing be better calculated for a Vulgar Capacity How says a Long-Acre-Artisan am I as sure that the Protestant Religion is true as I am that I have cast up a Sum right Why then I am safe enough I have cast up many a Bill and have never been mistaken yet especially when I have taken care And it seems this is done without that supernatural Infallibility which the Papists talk of And therefore what need is there of it This is a very pleasing Delusion with People who care for no more Security in Religion than what will barely suffice for the keeping their Consciences in some tolerable Quiet and the more it pleases them the greater hazzard I shall run of their ill will by endeavouring to lay it open However because I am more intent on doing Benefits to them than desirous of receiving any from them I will state the matter aright and by that means shew them truly how the Case stands They suppose already with the Doctor that the finding out of true Religion is like the casting up of a Sum and that Seekers in Faith are of the same quality with Accomptants in Arithmetic And now let them suppose with me that twenty several Accomptants were employ'd about casting up of the same Sum and that the Life of each of these in particular depended on his right Computation that these Accomptants were of equal capacity and that in outward appearance they all used the same diligence and application and lastly when their respective Computations were finished that their Totals were wholly different one from the other We will now suppose that the honest Artisan whom I mention above is one of these Accomptants What do you think would he hold his Life secure whil'st he differed in his Computation from Nineteen others who had every way as sufficient means of being in the right as himself The Application is easie There are Twenty several Computers in Religion I might say many Twenties of equal Skill and * I say of equal Industry that I may suppose most advantageously for the Protestants For in truth it cannot be allowed that their Industry in Religion is equal to ours Witness our Laborious and Dangerous Missions Penitential Retirements the general obligation of Confession and doing Penance with much more which the Protestants have discarded Industry Salvation depends on their being in the right They all differ in their Computations The Church of England is one of these Computers and it is Nineteen to One that she is in the wrong and this is all her Security Let the L. A. Trades-men consider whether they would trust Five Pounds on the like And yet what is That or indeed their whole Worldly Interest compared to HEAVEN And now what is become of this Famous Answer which wanted a Reply Was it not truly Froth which looks like something but vanishes whil'st it is look'd on These Gentlemen deal with their Clients as Nurses do with little Children bid them hold fast when they put nothing into their hands and the poor Infants are so long deceived 'till their Curiosity or some other Appetite prevails with them to pry into their Treasure This was just such another * Dr. St. 's second Letter to Mr. G. p. 17. Purse as Dr. St. put into Mr. T.'s hand Mr. T. desired to know Whether the Protestants were absolutely certain that they held all the same Doctrin that was taught by Christ and his Apostles Dr. St. undertook to shew that they were and for proof says that there was an absolute Certainty for the New Testament from the concurrent Testimony of all Christian Churches as well Heretical as Orthodox which is all he either said at the Conference or published since in his Letters to Mr. G. to prove that Protestants held all the same Doctrin that was taught by Christ and his Apostles and consequently the Absolute Certainty which he delivered to Mr. T. was no more than what at the same time he bestow'd on the * Note that the Arians other Heretics take the Scripture for their Rule of Faith as well as Protestants Arians who deny the Godhead of our Savior and all other Heretics both Ancient and Modern Of the Arians you may say That they are Absolutely Certain they hold the same Doctrin that was taught by Christ and his Apostles because there is an Absolute Certainty for the New Testament and so of the rest Wherefore had Dr. St. when he made a Present of this Absolute Certainty to Mr. T. been so ingenuous as to confess that what he then gave him was no more than what Heretics possessed as well as he viz. a Certainty of the New Testament I suppose he would not have been so well pleased with it as he seem'd to be And therefore I would advise him to open his * Mr. T. hath the Paper he took at the Conference and may peruse it at leisure Purse once more and try what he can discern in it And if upon a second Computation he finds himself no richer than an Arian or any other Heretic I suppose he will return back to the Doctor for a better Legacy For if we are not as careful in laying up Spiritual Treasures as we are in gathering Temporal Ones we may be Rich for a Moment but we shall be Poor for a whole Eternity And here tho' Mr. T. hath great Reason to look about him from what hath been said viz. that for any thing he learnt at the forementioned Conference he is no surer that he is in the right than an Arian yet I must tell him That this is not the worst of his Case because whil'st Dr. St. gives him an Absolute Certainty for a part of Scripture from the Universal Testimony or Tradition of Christians with one Hand he takes it away with the Other by telling him that Tradition is no Infallible Conveyance of Matters of Faith. For tho' the Doctor endeavors to reconcile this Contradiction in his Second Letter to * Page 33. Where the Dr. raises a Mist by telling us what his Adversaries hold that he may keep his own Contradiction out of sight In his next let him speak plainly and tell us how he himself comes to hold That Tradition is a Ground of Absolute Ceâ—â—ainty for the Scripture and yet no Infallible Conveyance in Matters of Faith or let him deny that he holds these two Propositions or either of them Mr. G. yet I will leave it to Mr. T. to consider provided he promise me to take time for it how well he hath succeeded in his Undertaking THE CLOSE I Have now
a Favor by it tho' his not dealing so by his most worthy Friends might make one think otherwise and since whilst I am contented to yield to him in Contumely and Abuse I am resolved not to come one jot behind him in Point of Courtesie I have desired the Printer to pay him the same Respect as often as he can do it conveniently That his NAME may rumble as much in my Pamphlet as mine doth in his And altho' this should prove to be a sign of ill Will for I know not what to make of it our Spleen would not be mis-placed upon the Doctors Name since it is That which has done us Ten times more harm than his Arguments tho' indeed ever since his late Book we have some reason to hope that it's Authority is much lessened with all Those whose minds are at liberty to Consider There is one thing which with my Readers Licence I desire to take notice of before I pass on to the remainder of the Doctors Relation which is the gross fallacy wherewith some Protestant Divines are wont to delude the Common People whensoever they are called upon by Catholics to shew on what Authority they receive the Holy Scripture The Papists say they question the Authority of Scripture Again when it is alledged that the Scripture left to the Interpretation of each private person can decide no Point of Controversie since doubtlesly every one will declare that the Scripture is for him and in effect he does declare it by holding his particular Tenet whatsoever it be as grounded on Scripture I say when this is urged They cry The Scripture is undervalued by the Papists And this makes such deep Impression on the unthinking Multitude or shall I say strikes such a damp on their Spirits that many times it surpasses the skill of the ablest and plainest Logician to undeceive them And yet it is not because they cannot think Rationally enough to discern the Fallacy but because they will not since there is no understanding amongst them so dull or short-sighted but if it be made use of must see through it None can have a greater respect for the Holy Scripture than Catholics have I my self have known several of them beyond-Sea who amongst their other Devotions Reading some part of the Holy Scripture every day to shew their profound Veneration for it were always wont to Read it on their Knees which whosoever observes and compares with that very indifferent behaviour wherewith it is ordinarily handled here in England will not say that Catholics have a less regard for the Holy Scripture than Protestants And consequently they do as little question it 's Authority Why then do the Catholics urge the Protestants to shew on what Authority or Testimony they receive the Bible since it's Authority is undoubted on both sides It is because the Catholics would take this occasion of shewing their Adversaries that of necessity a True and Uncorrupted Church must be allowed to have been in the World when they began their pretended Reformation viz. about a hundred and fifty years ago For since they received their Bible from some Church then in the World in case there were at that time no true nor uncorrupted Church it must follow that they had no good Authority for their Bible And on the contrary if the Protestants will own that they received their Bible from good hands they must acknowledge that they had it from a True Church and consequently that there was such a one in the World when they began to Reform And from hence it will immediately follow that the first Reformers separating from the whole World as hath been said did also separate from the True Church which as we here suppose them to confess was then in it And therefore must be accounted Schismatics unless they can give us some better Definition of Schism than that which hitherto we have had viz. of it's being a Separation from the Obedience and Communion of the True Church There is yet another Reason why we ask the Protestants on what Authority they receive the Scriptures And it is because we would likewise put them in mind of what I hinted above viz. that they ought to admit other things and indeed the meaning of the Scripture upon the same Authority on which they admit the letter And therefore when they say that they had the Scripture from the Roman Catholics we tell them that if the Roman Catholics may be relyed on for the reception of the Scripture they may be credited for other Doctrins If they are bad Witnesses no part of their Testimony can be valid Wherefore if any part of it be so they must be look'd on as Good Witnesses and consequently their whole Testimony ought to be embraced And this is another cause of this Question But why do the Catholics derogate so much from the most abundant Perfection of Holy Scripture as to affirm that it is insufficient of it self to decide our Controversies in Faith It is because the daily and palpable experience of Mankind Teaches it to be so Neither is it any derogation to a Law to say that it stands in need of what never yet any Law was without viz. A Judge or Interpreter of it And I wonder that the Protestants who confess that every Man is fallible and as such may be mistaken in the Sense of Scripture and that to his Damnation should look on it as a Derogation to the same Scripture to think that God whose Mercy is over all his Works hath appointed some means to keep us from being so mistaken Especially when this help is not so much for the Scripture as for our understandings It arguing no more a defect in those sacred Volums that our narrow Intellects are not able to comprehend their meaning without an Interpreter as it fared with the * And Philip ran thither to him the Eunuch and heard him Read the Prophet Esaias and said understandest thou what thou Readest And he said how can I except some Man should guide me c. Act. c. 8. v. 30.31 Eunuch spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles than it doth a fault in a good Print that it cannot be Read by weak Eyes without the assistance of a Glass To conclude if it be a Derogation to the Scripture to say that it stands in need of somewhat besides it self for it's being understood by us How will those Protestants defend themselves who affirm that Prayer Humility and * See Pa. 18. Ministerial Guides are necessary for this purpose What greater affront is it to the Scripture to declare that it cannot be understood without the Authority of the Church than it is to say that it cannot be understood without Ministerial Guides Nor even with them according to Protestants any more than fallibly which is in truth not to be understood at all for how can a Man be said to know the meaning of a thing whilst he doubts whether he know it or not