had that gift bestowed upon them as well as the Apostles these signs shall follow them that believe c. Mark 16.17 Nor did the Apostles work Miracles by virtue of their Authority but by Faith If ye have Faith as a grain of Mustard-seed c. Matt. 17.20 And though I have all Faith c. 1. Cor. 13.2 And when Peter saw it he answered unto the People Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though we by our own Power and Holiness had made this man to walk His name through Faith in his name hath made this man strong c. yea the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all Act. 3.12 16. And hence sure it is that in your Minor you leave out Authority mention neither Seal nor Gift but barely urge and assume Now the Roman Catholick Church hath done c. not now God hath set his hand and seal to the Authority of the Roman Catholick Church by bestowing upon it the gift of Miracles Nor is it any marvel that you do so for if that gift were bestowed upon that Authority the Pope and Council that are invested with it should work Miracles which yet they do not nor do you insist on any such a thing and yet if that gift be not bestowed upon that Authority it cannot bestow â—t upon inferiour Officers it wants Gods Hand and Seal and may according to the tenor of your own Argument be disbelieved be disobeyed without either committing sin or shewing hatred against God However 5. If a Church may properly be said to work Miracles when yet indeed it is not the Church but some particular believer that works them and that not in the name of the Church but in the name of Christ Other Christian Churches have done as great Works or Miracles in former Ages as the Roman Church ever did witness the Church of Corinth that came behind in no gift 1 Cor. 1.7 and yet were not they reputed thereupon either Judges of controversies or infallible nor does the present Roman Church do any greater Works or Miracles than other Christian Churches now on earth What does she what can she do here amongst us more than our Protestant Church doth amongst you save make louder lying boasts of what she has done elsewhere And therefore shall not we refuse to believe them or resolve to give credit unto her upon any such account and conclude our so doing to be warrantable and well enough consistent with the love we owe unto the Lord wishing you yet withal to remember That the Question is not solely or chiefly whether this or that Church ought to be believed or disbelieved in their Doctrinal teaching but whether the Roman Church be the infallible Rule Judge and Guide of Faith Doctrinal certainty will not infer Judicial Authority nor è contra Nay suppose your Church were Doctrinally infallible and had universal Jurisdiction yet would it not necessarily follow that she is the Rule of Faith The Prophets of old you will say were infallible and the High Priests had judicial power and yet to the Law and to the Testimony Isaiah 8.20 It was therefore prudently done of you to alter the Question First leave out Rule and undertake to prove no more by your Argument from Heaven but that the Roman Church was Judge and Guide and then finding after a while that that would not do neither you leave out Judge or Authority and tell us of believing and disbelieving as if it would follow The Roman Church ought to be believed in all that she says and therefore has she plainly said all that we ought to believe is a Rule of Faith compleat and evident howbeit indeed had she authoritatively and infallibly so said not she but her sayings in propriety of Speech were to be owned for the Rule Now that the Roman Church hath done these works or Miracles P. 76. is a thing so evident both by the testimonies of the Holy Fathers and authorities of approved Historians that those who deny it must shew themselves either not to be Men or Men who purposely shut their Eyes against the truth yea Heathens and Atheists will be as justifiable in their denial of the Miracles related in the Old and New Testament as those will be who deny these The Magdeburgenses who were all professed and known Lutherans do almost in every one of their Centuries recount multitudes of Miracles wrought by persons whom they affirm to have been infected with what they call Popery Namely S. Bernard S. Malachy S. Dominick S. Francis and the like as you may particularly see in Brerely if you examine the several places to which his Index at the word Miracles will refer you By which it will appear That most of those Miracles were done not in confirmation of those Points and Articles of Faith which you hold with us but even of those Points and Doctrines which you call Popish Superstitions and Idolatries as the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass the respect and veneration which is given to Saints Reliques Images c. Certainly there are few amongst you but have heard and read how and what Christian Faith was first brought into England amongst our Progenitors the Saxons and by whom brought in It was by S. Austin a Monk of S. Benets Order and his fellow Monks sent hither by S. Gregory the then Pope of Rome and it was the same Faith that Catholicks now teach which was then confirmed by wonderful Miracles from Heaven as is testified by our own Writers Venerable Bede and others yea and by our Protestant Chronologies Holingshead's Chronicle the last Edition Vol. 1. Book 5. Cap. 21. Page 100 102. Fox's Acts and Monuments Printed Anno 1576. Pag. 117. Stow's Annals Printed 1592. Pag. 66. Goodwin in his Catalogue of the Bishops of England Pag. 4. Also Fox in his aforesaid Book at the Word Miracles in the Index To this I shall add the Authorities of our own late Protestant Writers for proof of undoubted Miracles wrought in this latter Age. In the Book entituled A report of the Kingdom of Congo a Region of Africa Printed Anno 1597. Published by Mr. Abraham Hartwel Servant to the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury mention is made Lib. 1. Cap. 1. of the discovery of that Kingdom 1587. by Odoardo Lopez and of the conversion thereof to the Christian Faith Lib. 2. Cap. 2. and of the great and undoubted Miracles shewed by God in the presence of a whole Army Lib. 2. Cap. 3. Insomuch that the said Hartwell in his Epistle there to the Reader confesseth That this conversion of Congo was accomplished by Massing Priests after the Romish manner and saith he this action which tendeth to the glory of God shall it be concealed and not committed to memory because it was performed by Popish Priests and Popish means God forbid In like manner Mr. John Pory of Gonvile and Cajus Colledge in
Scripture is not the Judge Rule and Guide and therefore the Church is be of any force for never to take notice that it founds an affirmative conclusion upon negative premisses it supposes that some Presbyterians Independents c. should hold the Spirit alone some Reason some the Scripture each exclusive of the Ministry of the Church to be the Rule Judge and Guide of Faith whenas all they joyntly in this business joyn all these together and look up unto God according to his command and promise for his Holy spirit in the Churches Ministery throughly to direct their understandings in judging of things according to the written Rule Fourthly The man never perceives that his own vain ratiocinations and needless concessions are the sole ground that is given for him to bottom his belief upon a strong fancy he has and need on for his Faith 's no stronger To evince this I shall instance in these six positions laid down and supposed as the Basis of his whole discourse First Faith is an infallible assent of the understanding submitting it self obediently to believe the Revelations of God Secondly There must be some means appointed of God by which we may know this one true Faith from all false opinions Thirdly These means must be infallible Fourthly The understanding must submit to these means under pain of Damnation Fifthly Two men of two different faiths or beliefs cannot be saved Sixthly Ignorant people by such reasonable diligence as is very tolerable to Humane frailty and yet possible for them may come to the knowledge wisely done to leave out certain of these means And now if you ask what foundation he has whereupon to ground his belief of these assertions he 'll tell you I gathered them from the true interpretation of certain Texts of Scripture Pag. 16. And if you ask further how he knows that interpretation to be true Has he Divine Revelation for it According to the tenour of his own first position Has he the unanimous consent of the Fathers for it Or does he certainly know beyond all possibility of being mistaken that the Church in all Ages hath and the present Church now doth give that interpretation accordingly as 't is decreed by the Council of Trent No but from hence I thought says he it did very naturally follow Firstly 17. Secondly and Thirdly c. And yet that it may appear he only says could not possibly think any such a thing observe from that exhortation Heb. 10.23 Let us hold fast the profession of our Hope so in their own Authentick Translation undeclining does he inferr Faith is an infallible assent of our understanding and because the latter part of the verse for he is faithful that hath promised founded the confidence there spoken of upon the promise of Grace and the former Verse fixed faith with its full assurance upon the High Priest Jesus alone The man slily passeth over both and leaves the other part of his proposition obediently submitting c. destitute of any proof From 2 Cor. 10.5 bringing into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ he infers the understanding must submit not dispute all be Damned that disobey the Authority of the Church and adds withal that saving faith is seated in the understanding as if Paul had been mistaken when he said with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness Rom. 10.10 or as if he himself knew not what he had done in putting obediently submitting into the definition of faith sith all conclude obedience and disobedience to be subjected in the will From Eph. 4.5 there is but one Faith respect had to the personal object in whom the Lord Jesus He concludes that two men of differing faiths Dogmatical or that believe two contrary opinions cannot be saved nor is he ashamed from Isaiah 35.8 plainly pointing at Christ the new and living way first to take out and the unclean shall not pass over it as incoherent because their unholy Mother admits of such for her children and then inferrs that ignorant people by reasonable diligence may come to the knowledge of those means about which yet their learned men to this very day could never be agreed Nor can he himself tell when it comes to the pinch how those means should be certainly manifest save by miracles of which we ignorant folk may often hear but never come to the knowledge of however that I most admire at is That the man designing to prove that true acceptable faith consists in believing as the Church believes a believing that the Roman Church is infallible should quote Heb. 11.6 that holds out the faith without which it is impossible to please God to be a believing not that the Church but that God himself is so he that comes to God must believe that he is c. And further that he should stand hafling and pafling and proving by halfs there must be some means appointed by God by which men may know c. those means must be infallible the understanding must submit to those means under pain of damnation when the very Text quoted Mark 16.16 shews plainly that there be means infallible means and which be the means appointed whereby true faith both is begotten and may be known from all false opinions and unto which all that heartily submit shall be saved and those that do not shall be damned and lest you should mistake in reading the means be the word of truth the Gospel Preached though by the mouth of never so weak a Minister Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel unto every Creature He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned A Genere ad speciem affirmat non valet Argumentum nor yet is it unworthy of remark 1. That means in general is here all along found in the premisses and Authority in speciall put after into the conclusion there must be there is an infallible Means and therefore there is there must be an infallible Authority And 2. That the man seriously endeavours to found the very foundation of his own faith upon Scriptures dark Scriptures privately interpreted howbeit the main scope of his Book is to evince that faith true faith neither first nor last can or ought to be founded thereupon That self-interest had a hand in the Captains overturning seems more than probable Pag. 4. because First The Captain in the late Wars as his Book relates had run through the several forms of Religion Presbyterian Independent Anabaptist c. and yet never that we read of lost his preferment upon any Turn nor missed of it for want of timely turning and sith so the man might easily foresee that such a notorious Jugler was never like to be trusted at the Kings Court Best for him now at last to turn Papist do the Jesuits some signal service declare against his old friends and their old enemies the Nonconformists and perhaps by that wile he might in the
Gospel to perswade me to believe Manichaeus because it was from the Preachings of the Catholicks that I believe the Gospel it self If you tell me I did well when I believed the Catholicks praising the Gospel but I do ill when I believe the same persons decrying Manichaeus do you take me to be so stupid as without any reason given unto me I should believe or disbelieve what you please c. But if you have any Reason to offer unto me lay aside the Gospel if you hold your self to the Gospel I shall adhere to those upon whose commands I believe the Gospel and so long as I obey them I shall not believe you But if by accident you should find any thing in the Gospel most evidently touching the Apostleship of Manichaeus you will weaken the Authority of the Catholicks in my esteem who require me not to believe you but that being weakened I shall not believe the Gospel because I believe that by them so that whatsoever you bring from the Gospel will be of no force with me Wherefore if nothing be found in the Gospel for the manifestation of Manichaeus his Apostleship I shall rather give credit to Catholicks than you But if any thing shall be there found manifest on the behalf of Manichaeus I shall neither believe them nor you Not them because they told me a lie of you nor shall I believe you because you urge that Scripture to me which I believe upon their Authority who told me a lie in relation to you c. 1. S. Augustine may be considered either as a Witness acquainting us what the Church then held or as a Doctour rationally deducing and proving of conclusions had you quoted him under the former notion I should not have questioned the truth of any thing that Great Augustine had said without undeniable evidence to the contrary But sith you cite him as Doctor I shall value S. Austins Authority as S. Austin had learned to value the Authority of other pious learned Doctors of or before his time not credit what he saith because he saith it but because he proves it true either by Canonical Authorities or probable Reasons Howbeit 2. You observe the Rule and Method not of Saint Austin but Mr. Knot substituting John Calvin for Manichaeus and I might by the same Rule observe the Method of Mr. Chillingworth substitute Arians as great pretenders then as the Papists are now for the Catholick Church put Goth or Vandal converted by them for S. Austin for Manichaeus write Homousians and then try whether the Argument if but first fitted to your purpose be not as he says like a buskin that will fit any leg but I shall wave this and in a just parallel let you see plainly how far different your proceedings are from those of the great S. Austin First then S. Austin speaks of an Infidel that did not as yet believe the Gospel you direct your speech to Christians Protestants that do already believe it and that upon the account of Universal Tradition the Scriptures and the Divine Attestations of Miracles far better grounds than your Popish principles can or will allow Secondly S. Austin supposes such a one to come and say I do not believe and thereupon seeks to bring him to and establish him in the faith you deal with such as say they do believe and seek to overturn their faith established as aforesaid averring it 's no better than fancy and an humour thus did not Austin Thirdly S. Austin speaks in the singular number and preter Tense Neither had I believed the Gospel unless I had been thereunto moved by the Authority of the Catholick Church You speak in the plural and present Tense we must not do not believe the Gospel unless our Faith be founded upon the Authority and infallibility of that society of Christians which is in Communion with and in subjection to the Bishop of Rome Fourthly those to whom Austin submitted required him to believe the Gospel and disbelieve Manichaeus who held two first Principles and consequently two Gods and maintained several other errous apparently repugnant thereunto those to whom you have submitted require you to believe the Real presence Purgatory Image-worship with other such like Humane inventions and disbelieve Calvin who teacheth the Gospel and declares against all such Doctrins as do not accord therewith Fifthly We do not advise you to believe the Romanists nor did you at the first believe the Gospel by the Romanists Preaching but by the preaching of the Protestants And therefore if you 'l adhere to those upon whose grounds you did at first believe the Gospel so long as you obey them you shall not believe the Romanists and if they say what one would think they should you did well when you believed the Protestants preaching of the Gospel but do ill when you believe the same persons decrying the Romanists are you so stupid as without any reason given unto you to believe or disbelieve what they please c. Had you indeed been bred a Papist and then could have proved the Papists the only Catholicks and Protestants as gross Hereticks as the Manichees there might have been some ground for your parallel with S. Austin as it is you proceed upon a threefold disadvantage and disparity FINIS
reason comes to argue against the Churches Infallibility then must it Vassal-like submit not dispute not wait for an effectual conviction according to Christs promise and procedure And when he is come he shall convince c. but yield forthwith to what the Church says nay to whatsoever an ignorant English Romish Priest can have the confidence to say their Church hath sufficiently proposed or if Reason offer to produce arguments to prove the truth of Christianity and evince the Scripture to be the word of God urge Miracles Universal-Tradition conclude from Topicks internal external in other cases cogent and demonstrative yet then Reason is fallible subject to error a private spirit a fancy can make things at best appear no more than probable Jews Turks and Pagans may be as fully perswaded and upon as good rational grounds of the truth of their Religion as we can of ours But now if reason will be corrupted become an Advocate for Rome her very sophisms shall be cryed up as sufficient grounds for us to found our faith upon God will not be defective in necessaries and therefore there must be an infallible visible Judge Christ is the only absolute independent head of the Church but may and therefore hath appointed a dependent head derived from him It is most rational in business of civil concernment to rely on a Council of wise and learned men And therefore in things spiritual which God usually hides from the wise and prudent and the natural man receives not we ought to rely on a Council of Popish Prelates The Eunuch could not understand the Prophecy of Isaiah till ministerially expounded by Philip the Deacon And therefore cannot we understand that Text though already expounded no nor any other till Authoritatively interpreted by the Roman Church The Apostles Elders and Brethren when sent to sent out a Temporary Decree about things indifferent made then by circumstances in some places antecedently necessary binding only in those places and pressed with an if ye do these things ye do well And therefore the Cardinals Bishops and Abbots may and ought to frame an everlasting Law about points of Doctrine make that necessary for all men which God never made necessary for any and press it under the dread of an Anathema or pain of Eternal damnation Nay though God say to the Law and to the Testimony the Law of the Lord is perfect the Scripture able not only to make wise to Salvation but so far profitable that the man of God the Pastor may be throughly furnished unto every good work Hominem Dei vocat Doctorem Episcopum ut dixi Ep. 1. C. 6. ver 11. Cornel à Lapid yet it Reason can find any thing to say against the Scripture's being a Rule it shall be heard The Scripture then must not be a Rule and why Has God any where contradicted himself and said it must not Has he any where appointed another No but here 's a first reason and a second reason and a third reason c. and therefore it must be none and yet the sum of all no more than this Some Christians are dim-sighted some perverse many are carnal walk as men will not be ruled and therefore the Scripture is not the Rule Ruler sure he would have said some people are contentious Lawyers corrupt and differ in their opinions and therefore the Law of the Land is not what it is scilicet the Law of the Land according to which controversies may and ought to be decided and now The Church before under and since the Law will she nill she must always have been and for ever be this Rule when as yet it is evident that the Word was a rule both to Adam and Eve before the Church had Being it shall bruise thy head Genes 3.15 God said to Abraham so shall thy seed be and he believed in the Lord c. Gen. 15.5 6. Nor was it written for his sake alone but for us also Rom. 4.23 24. Ye shall not add to the word I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it was given in charge to the Church of the Jews Deut. 4.2 And if any man says the Apostle Preach unto you any other Gospel than that ye have received let him be accursed Gal. 1.9 These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 Nor yet is it the question whether the Scripture accidentally taken or the Word as written but whether the Scripture taken Essentially or the mind of God communicated at sundry times and in divers manners to and by the Prophets Preached by the Apostles Non enim per alios dispositionem salutis cognovimus quà m per eos per quos Evangelium pervenit ad nos quod quidem tunc praeconiaverunt postremò verò per Dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrae futurum nobis Iren. I. 3. c. 1. and now committed and conveyed down to us by Sacred writing always hath is ought to be owned for the rule of Faith or whether indeed because it seems you long to have the question stated with that advantage even in Abrahams and the Apostles times others as well as Sarah Gen. 21.10 and the Beraeans Act. 17.11 might not have urged demanded and without the just controul of any then visible authority have believed and acted according to the prescript of that Rule your own instances Page 53. of extraordinary actions done and Commands given by Gods directions by the mouths of several particular Prophets submitted to as you say without further enquiry do plainly evince as much and also intimate that the will or word of God which way soever it be made known whether immediately or mediately whether by Prophecy Tradition or Writing is and always has been the supream Rule both of Faith and Practice and its adequation as to matters of Faith as now contained in and expressed by the Scripture Sure footing for Christianity page 18. 20. shall be after cleared However the Church as your own J. S. well observes being a Congregation of the faithful must needs presuppose the notion of faithful faithful the notion of Faith Faith of the rule of Faith an evident argument that the Church is and ought to be regulated in believing and consequently she her self cannot be the rule of belief nor any more save as the same man says of Fathers Doctors and great Scholars and might as well have said the same of Tradition too a means to bring others to the knowledge of it But Secondly The man will needs seat authority in the Holy Catholick Church notwithstanding that authority Supream Magisterial formally as well as radically is seated in Christ All authority is given to me Matt. 28.18 Nor is the Church the subject but the object of the Ministerial Power He gave some Apostles some Pastors for the perfecting of the Saints
to be instituted by Christ and no more and sure then the man may count two and need not complain for want of the number numbring Secondly It 's necessary to Salvation to believe all the Books of Holy Scripture to be the word of God and to believe nothing written to be the word of God which is Apocryphal but by the Scripture it cannot be made out plainly and clearly which Books are the word of God and which are Apocryphal First Your own Doctors distinguish betwixt an affirmative believing and a negative disbelief and though they make it damnable to disbelieve any one point when sufficiently represented to the understanding as revealed by God yet do they not make it necessary positively and expresly to believe all or any of the Books of Holy Scriptures to be so revealed and suppose they did it matters not sith it 's evident that the Scriptures themselves make believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and not believing all the Books of Holy Scripture to be the word of God to be that Vnum necessarium that one thing necessary to Salvation And the Fathers in the Primitive times had differences and doubts about several Books of Scripture now commonly received for Canonical and yet were saved by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ even as we 2. Christians convinced by any means whatsoever that such and such Books in themselves Apocryphal be the word of God ought during that conviction believe them to be so and it is so far from being necessary to Salvation for them rebus sic stantibus to believ otherwise that it were obstinacy and interpretatively a denying of Gods veracity for them not so to believe formally as Chillingworth though not materially an Heresie 3. True it is that it cannot be made out by Scripture as by a Testimony or Argumentum inartificiale which Books are the Word of God and which be Apocryphal yet may this be made out plainly and clearly by Scripture Tanquam per Argumentum artificiale scilicet The Divine Characters that God himself hath imprinted on those Books that be indeed the Word of God nor need we trouble your Churches Authority though we confess our selves much beholding to the Churches ministry for the finding of them out Thirdly It is necessary to believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God but there is no Text or Texts of Scripture to prove that the Scriptures which we have are Gods Word 1. It is necessary for you and me to believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God because we are perswaded though upon several grounds that they be so but that it is necessary for all persons so to believe will not be granted till you further explain your necessary and add proof for the evincing of it And yet however 2. There is a Text of Scripture to prove that the Scriptures which we have are Gods Word For if there be a Text that expresly declares that the Scriptures which the Jews and Christians had in the Primitive times were the Word of God there is a Text to prove that the Scriptures which we have are Gods Word But there is a Text which expresly declares that the Scriptures which the Jews and Christians had in the Primitive times were the Word of God ergo There is a Text to prove that the Scriptures which we have are Gods Word The major is evident from universal Tradition assuring us that the Scriptures we now have be the same that the Jews and Christians had then The minor is evinced from that of Paul to Timothy whose Mother was a Jewess and Father a Greek all Scripture is divinely inspired 2 Tim. 3. Fourthly It is necessary to know that the Scriptures are not corrupted for if they be corrupted they cease to be the Word of God and then they cannot be any rule or sure guide to us But of this we have no assurance in Scripture 1. It is not necessary as hath been said to know the Scriptures to be the Word of God and therefore not necessary sure to know they are not corrupted Scripture or Writing is no more than one special means whereby God is pleased to make known and preserve in the World the knowledge of his Will if he do it any where by another Medium that will suffice Nay suppose as the man seems to do all along that the Scriptures be corrupted it cannot be necessary to know that they are not corrupted unless it be necessary to know that which is not possible to be known and so all men be necessarily damned 2. When we say the Scripture is the Rule whereby to judge of Controversies it is usually restrained to such controversies as do not concern the Scripture You will not allow us to argue the Church is no infallible Judge or Rule because the Church is forced to seek for other and higher proof than her own words to prove her self to be Infallible and if so why should we argue the Scripture to be no Rule because we cannot have assurance in Scripture that it is not corrupted it will be sufficient that we have assurance some other way 3. Scripture may be said to be corrupted in Essentials or Accidentals in whole or in part It may be corrupted in Accidentals the Words mis-spelled Sentences misplaced Words or Letters inserted or omitted and yet the mind and meaning of God what it is all that notwithstanding be evident from thence Every Book almost after its most perfect Edition hath Errata's and yet the Authors meaning may be plain enough Nay further Scripture may be corrupted in some parts and yet remaining pure in others Scriptura per Scripturam Scripture may be corrected by Scripture as a Jesuit of your own hath well observed Fifthly It is necessary in order to the knowing of the true mind meaning and will of God and what he intended by such and such a Text that we know when a Text is to be understood literally when figuratively when mystically but this cannot be understood from Scripture as daily experience informs us 1. The Scripture supposes men to have the use of sense and reason and if so they may easily conclude as sure as God is truth the Spirit spake by the Prophets and Apostles accordingly as he meant the Prophets and Apostles writ according as the Spirit spake and writ for that end that the true mind meaning and will of God might be known and understood which could not be without perpetuated new Revelation except we might and ought to take that for his mind and meaning which the words in their literal construction hold out unto us Eum sensum qui ex verbis immediate colligitur De verbo Dei l. 3. c. 3 certum est esse sensum Spiritus Sancti That says Bellarmin which is immediately gathered from the words is certain to be the sense of the Holy Ghost And therefore 2. vainly does he enquire and fondly distinguish of several senses of this or that Text whenas it is
apparent from the very writing of it in letters and the confession of our adversaries that each Text is to be understood literally Nor is that he calls figurative Literalis est duplex alius simplex alius figuratuâ— Bellar. ibid. any other than a species of the literal sense The mystical an uncertain remote intendment of the things and not the immediate argumentative meaning of the written Words or Text which we are now enquiring after Augustin 〈◊〉 Doctrina Christiana l. 2. c. 9. However 3. In iis quae aperte in Scripturis posita sunt inveniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem morésque vivendi In those things which are laid down plainly in the Scriptures all those things are found which appertain to Faith and Direction of Life Dark figurative Texts and mystical meaning of things may in some sense be useful yet it is not necessary in order to the knowing of the mind of God so far as is requisite for us to know that we should be able to unfold them Exponat si cui Deus concesserit As Cajetan of the Revelation And yet further 4. There is a difference betwixt being ignorant of such and such a Text and wresting or wilfully perverting it to a wrong sense This even in Scriptures not materially necessary to be known must of necessity be avoided It is Heretical it is Soul-destructive 2 Peter 3.19 that anent Texts holding out points commonly called Fundamental may consist with saving knowledge for it is the knowing the true mind meaning and will of God as to such a particular that is necessary and not just the knowing it by such and such a Text you may perhaps know it by one Text and I by another or you by oral practical tradition and I by writing Sixthly It is necessary to know that the very Copies and Translations of the Scriptures which we have and upon which we ground our selves are certainly true for if they are not we build upon uncertainties and consequently have no sure foundation for our Faith yet we cannot be assured nor have so much as any information as to this particular from the Scriptures First The Man does not deny either the being or possibility of knowing That there be Copies and Translations certainly true only he asserts That we have not so much as any information as to this particular from the Scriptures which we might as hath been said easily grant and yet upon just Grounds maintain that the Scripture is a rule both plain and perfect howbeit In hac germani textuâ—s pervestigatione salis perspicuè inter omnes constat nullum argumentum esse certius ac firmius quam antiquorum probatorum codicum latinorum fidem c. in praefat we need not do it for in the pervestigation of the true genuine Text says Sixtus Quintus There was no Argument more firm and certain to be relyed on than the Faith of the antient Books Nor is there a better way says a great Rationalist for the ordinary sort whether of Papists or Protestants than to compare their and our Translations together and where there is no real difference there to be confident they are right where they differ there to be prudent in the choice of their Guide 2. There is a certainty Mathematical Moral and Spiritual Mathematical either touching Copies or Translations of Scripture is not now to be had Certainty Moral such as the nature of the thing will bear and as much as humane Testimony and industry can afford us we have Nor is the building thereupon a founding our Faith upon uncertainties but upon most strong probabilities such as especially in a matter of Fact and Skill it were extream imprudence and obstinacy not to rest satisfied withal Certainty Spiritual whether of Science or adherence beyond that which the best rational Evidence can give ground for is to be had and sometimes by but not from us you must by Prayer seek unto God for it every good Gift and every perfect Gift is from above And if God vouchsafe to give it you as to this particular touching the whole or part well if not for ought I know or you are able to evince you must be content to be without it However 3. You do ill to call the Scripture quà Scriptura as copied and translated the foundation of Faith and worse to conclude from its uncertainty as such that our Faith has no sure foundation For Scripture under that notion is not the Material much less either the Formal or Salvifical object of Faith nor any more save choicely instrumental in the producing thereof and I think we may safely affirm That an Instrument in it self fallible may be mainly subservient to the supreme Cause in bringing us both to believe Divine Truths because Divine and to acquiesce in him who is the Foundation indeed and Truth it self Jesus Christ Your English Priests are fallible yet instrumental sure by Preaching Translating Writing to bring persons certainly to believe those Proposals and to fix upon that Authority which is supposed in it self to be infallible How shall they believe in him on whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher Rom. 10. Not how without an infallible Proposer But 4. I much admire the Man should hold it necessary to know c. sith it is evident that in Austin's time the Latin Translations of the Scripture were innumerable nor could any man have said this or that is certainly true The Septuagint said to be used by the Apostles is confessedly faulty and though some of the present Romanists may be arrived at that height of impudence as peremptorily to affirm yet none can rationally make it out that they know any one Translation that is perfect or Copy that is uncorrupt The Council of Trent indeed did decree That the Vulgar Translation should be received for Authentick but which she meant by Vulgar or what by Authentick no body can yet tell there was bellum Papale after about the Editions Sixtus against Clemens and Clemens against Sixtus Nor can their Doctors yet conclude whether it is better say the Translation is free from all errours or only such as relate to Faith and Manners Seventhly It is necessary that the many manifest controversies about the true sense of Scripture should be decided because where two contrary senses are imposed and urged and both affirmed to be the meaning of God and his Revelation one only can be true and he who refuseth that which is true shall be damned yet these controversies cannot be decided by Scripture 1. If it be necessary that the many manifest controversies about the true sense of Scripture should be decided sure your Supream Infallible Judge is far to blame that hath not yet decided them but suffers your own Doctors to controvert the sense of almost every Text of Scripture 2. We urge it 's true by Arguments but it is you alone that Magisterially impose your own meanings as Divine