Grace to the outward Circumcision nor yet to the Water of Baptism The use of these Sacraments was not to work that Grace which they had before but to be a solemn Engagement to them to perform their part of the Covenant and to confirm the Promise of God to them And therefore we find also Faith required before Baptism can be administred Acts 8. 36 37. What doth hinder me says the Eunuch to be baptized And Philip said If thou believest with all thine Heart thou mayest Faith is pre-required before Baptism and therefore is not wrought by the Sacrament of Baptism We find indeed that upon the solemn profession of their Faith by their admission of the Sacrament of Baptism there were sometimes greater measures of the Spirit poured out upon some Acts 19. 5 6. But it was in consideration of their Faith which went before Baptism that these Measures of the Spirit were given to them Their Baptism was only a testification of their Faith Ephes 1. 13. After ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise So when Baptism is called the Baptism of Repentance it is not because Repentance was wrought by it but because it was a Sign and Testification of it and farther engaged to it We therefore also find that Justification and Salvation are every-where in the Scripture ascribed to Mens Faith and Repentance and not to the Sacraments as they would be if the Sacraments were the proper and immediate Causes of that Grace by which we are justified and saved Thus Rom. 1. 17. The Just shall live by Faith. And so Gal. 2. 20. I live by the Faith of the Son of God. And this Faith and so all Grace and Holiness is wrought by the Spirit by means of the Word Rom. 10. 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God And John 3. 8. As the Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit God oftentimes in an imperceptible manner conferring his Grace and not confining it to the Sacraments So that the Sacraments do not give but only seal to us the Promise of Grace and Life 1 Pet. 3. 20 21. In the Ark of Noah a few that is eight Persons were saved by Water The like Figure whereunto even Baptism doth now save us But by Baptism I mean not the putting away the filth of the Flesh or that the outward Act of washing the Body serveth to this Salvation which God doth not lay on any outward Ceremony otherwise than as it is an Act or Exercise of our Faith and Obedience But the Answer of a good Conscience towards God in the Covenant of Baptism when a Person being ask'd doth really and faithfully engage and promise to believe in and give up himself to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil Baptism is but the celebration of this saving Covenant and it is covenanting sincerely that is the Condition of Salvation and washing is but the Sign As Rom. 2. 25. Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keepest the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Vncircumcision So it may be said of Baptism with respect to the Gospel It is not any Sacrament in it self that gives Grace or Justification or acceptance with God but thereby the Benefits promised are sealed to them that perform the Conditions Thus vers 28 29. He is not a Jew whom God will accept and justify who is one outwardly only in the Ceremony Neither is that Circumcision acceptable which is only outward in the Flesh and therefore 't is not the external Sacrament which gives the Grace but he is a Jew justified and accepted of God that is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter or Ceremony whose Praise is not of Men but of God. The like may be said of the Christian and his Baptism So Gal. 5. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision nor the outward washing of Baptism neither but Faith which worketh by Love. 'T is this and nothing else that avails to the Christian's Salvation But if the Sacraments themselves did work Saving-Grace the same might be as well affirmed of them It is said indeed Rom. 6. 4. We are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we should also walk in Newness of Life The meaning of which is this that we by our Baptism enter into a Profession Engagement or Undertaking to give over all Sin and to live a new regenerate Life in conformity to the Death and Life of Christ This Profession was represented and signified by their going down into the Water and being as it were buried in it and then rising out of it again It is not Baptism which works this Grace of Mortification but that proceeds from our believing Reception and hearty submitting our selves to the form of Doctrine delivered to us by the Spirit of Grace in the Gospel vers 17. And it is by the Spirit that we are enabled to mortify the Deed of the Body Rom. 8. But Baptism testifies and represents our Profession and Engagement to do it It is said also Gal. 3. 27. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ his Spirit and Nature and are become his Members There being baptized into Christ signifies those that have sincerely consented to that baptismal Covenant of which the outward Baptism was a Badg and Profession It was not by virtue of their Baptism but by 〈◊〉 of their Faith which they professed in their Baptism that they became Members of Christ Vers 26. Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus According to John 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believed in his Name So John 3. 5. Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit c. It is the Spirit 's Regeneration which is asserted and which is only mentioned vers 8. But this spiritual Regeneration was represented by the Water of Baptism So Tit. 3 5. The washing of Regeneration that is Regeneration signified and sealed in Baptism or which is to the Soul as a laver or washing is to the Body to cleanse it from Sin. So Ephes 5. 25 26. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctif◠it and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word It is the Regeneration it self which is there intended by the washing of Water which is said to be wrought by the Word because by the means of the Word we are cleansed from the filth of Sin as the filth of the Body is cleansed by the washing of Water But yet this Regeneration is signified and represented in Baptism and there all do make a profession of it ERRATA PAge 52. line 5. read Judiciously P. 67. l. 19. r. is directly P. 81. l. 3. r. what words P. 84. l. 3. r. beneficial P. 104. l. 30. r. God is said P. 118. l. 20. r. yet He. P. 123. l. 9. r. with them P. 140. l. 24. r. in to the understanding P. 145. l. 23. r. from these words P. 147. l. 21. r. rite P. 152. l. 16. r. even after P. 168. l. 32. r. throw on Advertisement of some Books lately printed against Popery 1. A Modest Enquiry Whether St. Peter were ever at Rome and Bishop of that Church 2. The Fallibility of the Roman Church demonstrated from the manifest Error of the Second Nicene and Trent Councils which assert That the Veneration and honorary Worship of Images is a Tradition Primitive and Apostolical 3. A Demonstration that the Church of Rome and her Councils have erred by shewing that the Councils of Constance Basil and Trent have in all their Decrees touching Communion in one kind contradicted the received Doctrine of the Church of Christ 4. A Treatise of Traditions Wherein is proved That we have Evidence sufficient from Tradition 1. That the Scriptures are the Word of God. 2. That the Church of England owns the true Canon of the Books of the Old Testament 3. That the Copies of the Scripture have not been corrupted 4. That the Romanists have no such Evidence for their Traditions 5. That the Testimony of the present Church of Rome can be no sure Evidence of Apostolical Tradition 6. What Traditions may securely be relied upon and what not The Second Part.
XXVIII That those Masses are to be approved and commended where the Priest communicates alone 172 XXIX That the Sacrament is to be administred in one kind only and the use of the Cup kept from the People 175 Some Prejudices of the Church of Rome answered Sect. 1. They accuse our Doctrine of Novelty 181 2. They say we had no Call 184 3. They Object to us the Divisions that are amongst the Reformed 188 That there are some Places more Holy than others and that it is a Work of Piety to go in Pilgrimage to them 192 That the Sacraments do confer Grace by the Work done 196 Of the Holy Scripture and Traditions CHAP. I. That all saving-Truth is not contained in the Holy Scripture but partly in the Scripture and partly in unwritten Traditions which whosoever doth not receive with the like Piety and Reverence as he does the Scriptures is accursed Concil Trident. Sess 4. Decret de Can. Script COntrary to that which is written in the second Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. vers 15. The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus That which is able to make us wise unto Salvation contains in it all saving Truth that is all that is necessary to be known in order to Salvation For how else can it make us wise to Salvation How can the Holy Scripture make us wise unto Salvation if it doth not contain all saving Truth or all that is necessary to be known in order to Salvation Vers 16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works Mow if the Man of God who is to instruct others and to declare to them the whole Counsel of God so far as is necessary for their attainment of Salvation be perfectly instructed for the discharge of his Duty from the Scripture then the Scripture must needs contain all saving Truth or all that is necessary to be known both by him and every particular Christian in order to Salvation And note that it is not our part to show what those Scriptures then were which the Apostle here intends they being confessedly the same which are still contained in the Canon of it But whatever they were it is plain from the Apostle that there is no saving Truth but what is contained in them which yet doth not derogate from the usefulness of those Books which were added to the Canon afterwards whatever they were they being useful however as Comments upon the former to clear up what was before less clearly delivered or to declare some Truths of less necessary importance though all that was necessary to Salvation was delivered before So that we must needs apprehend the Scripture as it is now to be a compleat Rule of Faith without taking in any thing of unwritten Tradition to piece it up or compleat it Before Divine Doctrine was committed to writing Men had no other Rule but natural Light or immediate Revelation or Tradition of what was before made known And when the Lives of Men were long Divine Doctrine might better be conveighed this way than it can be now And in our Saviour's the Apostles Time this might serve the turn for the present Age in which there was a continuation of extraordinary Gifts and especially to the immediate Auditors of these inspired Persons But in the shorter Age of Men this was not thought a safe or sufficient means to conveigh down Divine Doctrine to the following Ages And therefore it was thought more expedient to put down in writing what was to be made known to after-Ages for the more sure preservation of all such Truths from Corruption and to be a standing Rule to which they might have recourse upon all occasions Thus God himself wrote the Ten Commandments in Tables of Stone And Moses by God's direction wrote the Law as the Prophets afterwards did their several Prophecies or a brief Summary of them For it is said 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given b◠inspiration of God. And sometimes we find express direction for the writing of some things which were to be transmitted to future Ages As Exod. 17. 14. Write this for a Memorial in a Book And Isa 30. 8. Now go write it before them in a Table and note it in a Book that it may be for the Time to come for ever and ever And Psal 102. 18. This shall be written for the Generation to come Whereby is intimated the great need of writing then to conveigh a certain notice of things to future Ages and which implies the Incompetency and Insufficiency of Tradition for that purpose And when once it had pleased God to commit the Holy Rule to writing we find the Scripture commended for a perfect Direction Psal 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul. And Tradition is no where commended or any order given to have recourse to it in any case but to the Holy Scripture alone Thus Isa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them Thus Joshua was directed to govern himself in all his Actions by the same Holy Rule and therein should prosper and do wisely Josh 1. 7. That thou mayst observe to do according to all the Law which Moses my Servant commanded thee Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left And vers 8. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein The same also did Joshua prescribe to his Successors Chap. 23. 6. And the King when he sat upon the Throns of his Kingdom was to write him a Copy of this Law in a Book and read therein all the days of his life Deut. 17. 18 19. And this was the way to have him prosperous and to prolong his days Here is nothing at all left to Tradition nor any recourse to be had to it but to the written Law alone intimated as perfect to all the intents and purposes of a good and holy Life There were no other Ordinances to be observed but what were contained in the Law which forbad all Additions Deut. 4. 2. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you neither shall you diminish from it So again Chap. 12. 32. so Prov. 30. 6. Add thou not unto his Words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a 〈◊〉 For this the Children of Israel were condemned Jer. 32. 35. that they built the high Places of Baal to consecrate their Sons and their Daughters unto Molech which I commanded them not The Reformation of the Church therefore under Jehoshaphat that good King was made by the Scripture That was their Rule alone 2 Chron.
And vers 15. Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance Which seems to be done by his putting St. Mark to write this Gospel from his Mouth Thus St. Jude says That he gave all diligence to write unto them of the common Salvation and that it was needful for him to write unto them vers 3. And if it was needful for that Age it was much more needful for After-ages We may be sure our Saviour and his Apostles would have that done which was needful in their own Judgments for Mens Salvation And we are likewise assured by St. John that it is done fully as it was needful it should be done that nothing might be left to the uncertainty of Tradition John 20. 31. These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life through his Name He shows that the writing of these Things is needful to be a Foundation of right Faith to Men and that enough was written then in his own and the other Gospels and Writings which it is said he had seen to be a Foundation of that Faith in Men which is needful to their eternal Salvation So that no saving Truth was left to be conveyed by Tradition at all which yet does not argue the uselessness of what Books were after added as was said before 1 John 1. 4. These things write we unto you that you may rejoice and that your Joy may be full So that the Scripture giving us sufficient knowledg as to what concerns our Faith and Comfort in order to Eternal Salvation how can we imagine any deficiency in it but must needs suppose that it contains in it all the material Objects of Faith and Matters of saving Practice Or how can we depend upon Tradition as distinct from the Scripture which was ever so decried for uncertain mischievous and 〈◊〉 Therefore we conclude with our Church That Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation 〈…〉 whatsoâ—ver is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Artic. 6. It is a sufficient evidence of the vanity and uncertainty of Tradition unwritten that amongst all the Sayings and Works of our blessed Saviour which St. John tells us were so many John 21. 25. That if all the things which he did should be written every one I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books that should be written Yet there is not one of all these come certainly to our knowledg but what is written in the Holy Scriptures And we have fair warning also given us of Tradition now in the New Testament 2 Thess 2. 2. Be not soon shaken 〈…〉 or be troubled neither by Spirit nor by Words nor by Letter as from us as that the Day of Christ is at hand Let no Man deceive you by no means By which it appears that even in the Apostles Times there were forged Writings and feigned Traditions which some had the boldness to obtrude for Apostolical Doctrines This is a fair warning to us now much more in these later Ages to give but little heed to any thing however pretended to be never so much Apostolical that is not contained in the Sacred and Apostolical Writings which are owned to be undoubtedly such And indeed how can we believe that the Evangelists and Apostles in all the Writings that they wrote and it does not appear that they wrote any other besides those we have when they write many things that are not so absolutely necessary to be known in order to Salvation yet should omiâ— so many things that are so as the Church of Rome pretends And that when they speak so often of Baptism for Instance that they should never tell us of the Salt and the Spittle the Exâ—cisms and Wax-candles but speak only of being baptized in Water in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost or that they should never when they speak so much of Worship tell us of the worshipping of Saints and Images or of praying for the Dead when they give us so many directions about Prayer c. We must hold fast the Traditions say they which we have been taught by the Apostles 2 Thess 2. 15. But we cannot believe that these and such-like things were ever taught by them when we have nothing at all of any of them in all their Writings And that exhortation could be then meant only of those things which the Thessalonians had heard from them and were very sure of that they were Apostolical Doctrines And which we doubt not were no other but what were after set down in the holy Writings and in them conveyed to us It is impossible for the Church of Rome to shew that they were any other by Tradition only when the traditional conveyance of Points is evidently so uncertain and that which we have been so warned against Yet after all note that all this is nothing against the Tradition of the Universal Church as a means of delivering down to us the Holy Scriptures themselves the number of the Books and the Names of the Authors c. Nor against that which is concurrent with Scripture or corrolorative of it in any Point of Faith or Practice but against that which is urged as a Rule of saving Faith and Practice distinct and different from it and sometimes contrary to it and is pretended to be the Tradition of the Universal Church from the Apostles Age but can never be proved to be so There is no fear of falling into Error therefore either through Ignorance or Infidelity as to such Traditions But we must say as our Saviour Mark 12. 24. Do ye not therefore err because ye know not the Scriptures And as the ignorance of Scripture is the Source and Fountain of Error so on the contrary then to follow the guidance of the Scripture is the way to be preserved from Error CHAP. II. That the Holy Scripture is dark and obscure Bellarm. de Verbo Dei. lib. 3. cap. 5. UPon this ground it is that they withhold the Scripture from the common People pretending that they are not capable Judges of the Sense of it and if they should read it more prejudice than benefit would arise to them from it But this is contrary to that which is written Psal 19. 7 8. The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Commandment of the Lord is pure or clear enlightning the eyes Can Darkness enlighten Mens Eyes or can it make wise the Simple if it be not Intelligible by them Psal 119. 105. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path And vers 130. The entrance of thy Words giveth Light It giveth understanding unto the Simple When a Man hath but begun to
Confusions and therefore there is such an one This is to argue from our own Fancies what God should do and not what he has done And they might as well conclude the Being of an Universal Infallible Judg over all the World in Temporal Matters for the Peace of the World which yet we see is not appointed as such an one over the Church for the Peace of the Church But it is not to be expected that all Differences in Religion should cease in this World for there must be Heresies 1 Cor. 11. 19. As there were Heresies even in the Apostles Times though they were Infallible which is an Argument that Infallibility in any if it were is no certain means to prevent Heresies or Divisions If Men be modest and humble and teachable God hath provided sufficient means for their direction in the plainness of the Rule which he has given in all things necessary and appointing Guides for their direction in doubtful things if they will follow their instruction But if Men be governed with Prejudice and Passion they would not hearken to an Infallible Judg if there were one And Christ the Judg of all will take an account of such Men in due time when the Great Judgment-Day shall come Then the Tares shall be gathered together and bound in bundles to be burnt and the Wheaâ— shall be gathered into the Barn Mat. 13. But this Judgment in the mean time is to be suspended till that Day shall come But that Men may judg for themselves in some things without an Infallible Judg our Adverâ—aries themselves are fain to allow For how else 〈◊〉 they judg in the Controversy about the Infallible Judg himself whether there be such an onâ— or 〈◊〉 and who it is and of the Scriptures and Reasons that are brought to prove it And if they may judg of this Controversy and of these Scriptures and Reasons without an Infallible Judg then why may they not also of others which are as necessary and of other Scriptures and Reasons in other Points which are as plain as they And then there is no need of an Infallible Judg at all As for the pretended Infallibility of the Church of Rome for the qualifying it to be such a Judg If the Church of Rome be infallible then it must be so either as it is a Christian Church and because it is so And then all Christian Churches would be Infallible likewise and not that only Or as it is an Apostolical Church planted by the Apostles if it were so and then all the Churches that were planted by the Apostles would be so likewise and this would give no particular priviledg to the Church of Rome Or as it hath continued down a succession of Pastors from the Apostles by whom there is a safe conveyance of Apostolical Doctrine and Tradition to the present Age But if this be so then all the Churches that have had such a Succession will be Infallible likewise as well as the Church of Rome as the Grecian Church which hath had the like Succession and upon this Principle the Church of England may come in for a share too But indeed this proves the Infallibility of no particular Church at all because of the uncertainty of Tradition therein notwithstanding such Succession which may arise from many Causes No more then it did the Infallibility of the Jewish Church notwithstanding that it had a continual Succession of the Priests and Pastors as much as the Church of Rome or any other Church whatsoever can pretend unto And therefore we are not to have respect to any Church Pastor or Pastors as Infallible nor to bind up our Judgments to them as such upon the account of any such Succession Aaron was called to the High Priesthood immediatly by God himself but was he therefore infallible or were the People bound to follow him when he made an Idol Exod. 32. Vriah was a Priest by an uninterrupted Succession from Aaron was he therefore Infallible or to be followed when he overturn'd the Service of God and Introduc'd Idolatry into the Temple Caiaphas the Chief Priest was so by an uninterrupted Succession for 1500 Years ought he therefore to be followed when he condemened Jesus Christ for a Blasphemer or were the Resolutions of the Council where he was President Infallible when Jesus Christ was declared worthy of Death The Pharisees sat in Moses Chair and the Disciples are bid observe and do whatso 〈◊〉 they said unto them ought one therefore with them to have rejected Jesus Christ By that word therefore whatsoever he doth not mean every thing without limitation but whatsoever was agreeable to the Law of Moses So that they were to judg for themselves what was or what was not so agreeable Mat. 16. 6. It is foretold that ravening Wolves should arise from among the Bishops of the Churches Doth their Succession of Orthodox Bishops oblige the Sheep of our Lord therefore to follow them as Infallible The Son of Perdition was to sit in the Temple of God but was he therefore Infallible or to be followed in his Revolt If the Church of Rome be then Infallible and yet not so upon the former Accounts Is it then by reason of its Relation to its first pretended Bishop St. Peter who was Infallible and by reason of his dying there and his leaving his Priviledges to his Successors of that See But though St. Peter was Infallible how doth it appear that this was more than a personal Priviledg and in which therefore he was to have no Successor As the Infallibility of the rest of the Apostles was a personal Priviledg and in which they were to have no Successors As for St. Peter's Headship over the Church and that of the Bishops of Rome as his Successors it is refuted in the foregoing Chapters But if the Church of Rome be Infallible none of these ways and yet is so then must it not be by virtue of some particular Promise by which Infallibility is annexed to the Church But where is that Promise As for the Apostles calling the Church The Pillar and Ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. If it proves any thing it proves the Infallibility of the Church of Ephesus and not that of Rome For the Apostle speaks of that Church in which Timothy was Bishop which was the Church of Ephesus But indeed it signifies the Churches Duty and not her Performance and may be likewise applied rather to Timothy himself than to the Church As for that saying Mat. 18. 17. Tell it unto the Church If that proves the Infallibility of a Church it proves the Infallibility of every Church And so the Church of Rome will get nothing particularly by it for the Direction is given to every particular Member in case of Scandal offered by him to his Brother And whither is such an one to make his Complaints but to the Church of which he is a Member And indeed it is only an Institution of Church-Discipline in every Church