say the contrary Tenet is ridiculous as what 's most nay that it is sottishness to hold it and to deprive Mankind of this Priviledge of judging thus is to debar him of the Light and Vse of his Reason when it is most useful for him Is not all this very obliging But where now lies the difference Why truly if his Discretion leads him to the Infallible Rule of Tradition all is well but if not it is no longer Discretion What has he been Judge of all the Controversies between Us already and is he to seek for his Rule still What Discretion had he all that time to judge without a Rule What a Judge of Controversies have we found at last Methinks the Sober Enquirer far exceeds him in point of common Discretion for he never pretended to judge without a Rule much less all the Controversies between Us. But this discreet Judge of all Controversies first determins all the Points and when he hath done this he finds out his Rule Of all the Judges of Controversies that have been yet talked of commend me to this set up by J. S. For how is it possible for him to judge amiss who had no Rule to judge by You see saith he how we allow them the Vse of their Reason and Judgment of Discretion till it brings them to find a certain Authority and when they have once found that the same Judgment of Discretion which shewed them that Authority was Absolutely Certain obliges them to trust it when it tells them what is Christ's Faith without using their private Judgments any longer about the particular Points themselves thus ascertained to them but submitting to it To which I Answer I. The same reason which enabled Men to find out this Infallible Guide or Certain Authority will help them to judge concerning this Authority and the Matters proposed by it For either he hath a Rule to find out this Authority or he hath none if he hath a Rule it must be either Scripture or pure Natural Reason If Scripture that only affords Fallible Certainty he saith over and over and so a Man can never come certainly to this Authority And if the Foundation be uncertain what can the Rule do But Mr. S. doth not pretend Scripture but Reason for his Infallible Rule Then I demand whether Reason doth afford an Infallible Ground of Certainty as to this Certain Authority or not If it doth we are yet but Fallibly Certain if it doth not then what need this Certain Authority for in the Opinion of all Reasonable Men certain Reason is better than certain Authority And he cannot deny the Certainty of Reason who builds the Certainty of Authority upon it II. Suppose the particular Points proposed by this Certain Authority be repugnant to that Certainty of Reason by which I am required to believe it As suppose this Authority tells me I am no longer to rely upon my Reason but barely to submit although the Matter proposed be never so much against it What is to be done in this Case I am to believe this Certain Authority on the Account of Reason and that requires me to believe such things as overthrow the Certainty of Reason How is it possible for me to rely on this Certain Authority on the Certainty of Reason when that Authority tells me there is no Certainty in Reason III. Must I believe Reason to be Certain just so far and no further But who sets the bounds Hath God Almighty done it When and where I may and ought to use my Reason in searching after this Certain Authority and judge all Controversies in order to the finding it out all this is allowed but as soon as ever this Certain Authority is discover'd then Goodnight Reason I have now no more Use for you But who bid you be so ungrateful to that Certain Reason which conducted you so far It is very possible it may be as Useful still why then do you turn Reason off so unkindly after so good Service IV. Are all People capable of this Certain Reason or not It requires it seems a great deal of Logick to prove this Certain Authority or this Infallible Guide by Reason and I am one of those that think it can never be done Suppose then some of us duller People can never comprehend the force of this Reason which is to lead us to an Infallible Guide What is like to become of us Uncapable People Are we all to be damned for Dunces and Blockheads No not so neither This is really some Comfort For then it is to be hoped we may go to Heaven without finding out this Certain Authority and then we may have True Faith without it This is still better and better And then I pray what need have I to find out this Certain Authority at all if I may have True Faith and be Saved without it V. I have greater Certainty by Reason of the Certain Authority of Scripture than you can have of the Certain Authority of Tradition Here is Reason on both sides and Authority on both sides but I say there is no Comparison between either the Reason or the Authority The Reason to believe the Scripture is so incomparably beyond the Reason to believe Oral Tradition And the Authority of Scripture hath so much greater Force on the Consciences of Men that it is very extraordinary among those who own Scripture to be the Word of God to find them compared in Point of Authority For we must deal plainly in this Matter the Scripture we look on as the Rule of our Faith because it is the Word of God. If you do not own it to be so but resolve all into Tradition we know what you are but if you do own the Scripture to be of Divine Revelation how can you pretend to set up any Certain Authority in Comparison with it VI. If this Certain Authority be only to lead us into the Certain Sense of Scripture then it must be either into the Sense of plain Places or of difficult and obscure If of plain Places then it is to kindle a Torch to behold the Sun if of obscure Places then who hath appointed this Certain Authority to Explain them Who is to appoint such a Certain Authority in the Church to Explain his Word but God Himself And we desire to see some plain Places that set up this Authority to Explain those which are obscure and doubtful We think it our Duty to read and search the Scripture and especially the New Testament where we find very great Occasion for this Certain Authority to be mentioned We find Churches newly settled and many Disputes and Controversies started among them and those of great and dangerous Consequence we find the Apostles giving frequent Advice to these Churches with respect to these Differences and with great earnestness giving Caution against Seducers and warning them of the danger of them but not one Word can we find in all their Epistles tending this way or mentioning
If there were Oral Tradition for it how came it to be condemned If not then notwithstanding Oral Tradition dangerous Doctrines may get in under a pretence of a more Sublime and Spiritual Way of Perfection than is to be attained in the Dull and Heavy Way of Tradition from Father to Son. III. By a Pretence to a more Secret Tradition And thus Christianity was at first corrupted by such as pretended that there was a Mystical Doctrine delivered by Christ of a more purifying Nature than the Plain and Common Doctrine taught to all People by the Apostles So Hegesippus in Eusebius affirms That the Christian Church was corrupted by this Means and to the same Purpose Irenaeus So that Tradition was so far from securing the Church from Error that it was the Means of bringing it in And the Publick Tradition could not hinder this coming in of Error because the Secret Tradition was pretended to be more Divine and Spiritual the other was only for Babes and this for grown Christians IV. By Differences among Church-Guides about the Sense of Scripture and Tradition Thus it was in the Samosatenian Arian Pelagian Nestorian and Eutychian Controversies Neither of the Parties disowned Scripture or Tradition and those who were justly condemned pretended still to adhere to both And if such Flames could not be prevented so much nearer the Apostles Times by the help of Tradition What Reason can there be to expect it so long after V. By too great a Veneration to some particular Teachers not far from the Apostolical Times in regard to their Learning or Piety which made their Disciples despise Tradition in Comparison of their Notions And thus Origens Opinions came to prevail so much in the Church and the Mixture of Platonism with Christianity proved the occasion of several Errors with Respect to the State of Souls after Death as well as in other Points VI. By Compliance with some Gentile Superstitions in Hopes to gain more easily upon the Minds of the People who having been long accustomed to the Worship of Images and Tutelar Deities it was thought no Imprudent Thing in some Guides of the Church when the main Doctrines of Paganism were renounced to humour the People in these things so they were Accommodated to Christianity but others vehemently opposed this Method as repugnant to the True Primitive Christianity But by Degrees those Superstitions prevailed and the Original Tradition of the Church thereby corrupted VII By Implicit Faith which puts it into the Power of the Church-Guides to introduce what Doctrines they thought fit When the best of the People were told it was against the Fundamental Rights of the Catholick Church for them to examine any Opinions which were proposed to them by their Guides That they neither did nor could nor ought to understand them and when once this Point was gained People never troubled themselves about Scripture or Tradition for all they had to do was only to know what was decreed by the Church though with a Non-obstante to a Divine Institution as is plain in the Council of Constance notwithstanding all the Tricks to avoid it If then Errours might come into the Church all these ways what a vain thing is it to pretend That Oral Tradition will keep from any possibility of Error And so I need give no other Answer to his last Proposition That if Men did innovate in Faith it must be either through Forgetfulness or Malice for I have shewed many other Causes besides these especially since I intend to shew in a particular Discourse how the Errors and Corruptions we charge on the Church of Rome did come into it My design here being only to shew the Possibility of it There remain only two things which deserve any Consideration 1. About the Charge of Pelagianism 2. About the Council of Trents Proceeding on Tradition which will admit of an easie Dispatch I. As to the Charge of Pelagianism It doth not lie in this That he requires any Rational Inducements to Faith which we do assert as well as he But it lay in these Two things I. That a Divine Faith was to be resolved into a Natural Infallibility For we were told that Divine Faith must have Infallible Grounds and when we come to examine them we find nothing but what is Natural And now to avoid the Charge of Pelagianism this Divine Faith is declared to be meer Human Faith and so Human Faith is said to have Infallible Grounds but Divine Faith must shift for it self For saith J. S. 'T is confess'd and ever was that the Human Authority of the Church or Tradition begets only Human Faith as its Immediate Effect but by bringing it up to Christ it leads us to what 's Divine Well but what Infallible Ground is there for this Divine Faith Where doth that fix Is it on the Infallibibility of Tradition or not If not then we may have Divine Faith without it If it doth then Divine Faith is to be resolved into Natural Means And what is this but Pelagianism II. That he excludes the Pious Disposition of the Will from piecing out as he calls it the Defect of the Reasons why we Believe And in another place he excludes the Wills Assistance in these words That Faith or a Firm and Immoveable Assent upon Authority is not throughly Rational and by consequence partly Faulty if the Motives be not alone able to convince an Vnderstanding rightly disposed without the Wills Assistance How then can a pious Disposition of the Will be necessary in order to the Act of Faith And is it not Pelagianism to exclude it Therefore I was in the right when I said That this way of Oral Tradition resolves all into a meer Human Faith and that this is the unavoidable Consequence of it No he saith he resolves all into Christs and the Apostles teaching How ridiculous is this For did not Pelagius and Coelestius the very same And the thing I charged upon them was That they went no farther upon this Principle than they did Upon this he asks a very impertinent Question but if I do not Answer it I know what Clamours will follow Pray do you hold that Christ is a meer Man or that Believing him is a meer Human Faith or that the Doctrine taught by Him or Them is meerly Human What Occasion have I given for such a Question But I perceive there is a design among some to make me be believed to be no Christian. I pray God forgive the Malice of such Men. I thank God I have better Grounds for my Faith than Oral Tradition I do believe Christ to be more than meer Man even the Eternal Son of God and that his Doctrine is Divine and his Apostles had Infallible Assistance in delivering it But what is all this to the present Question I perceive some men when they are hard pinched cry out that their Adversaries are Atheists or Socinians c. and hope by this means to divert them
any Certain Authority they were to submit to for the putting an End to all Controversies This is really a Matter of so much Concernment to the whole Christian World that if any such thing had been in the Design of Christianity I can never believe that the Apostles would have omitted it in their several Epistles Had not they sufficient Care of the Certainty of Mens Minds and of the Peace of the Church Was it a Secret concealed then from them Or not thought fit to be communicated by them when it was most necessary to prevent the early Corruptions and Errours of the Christian Churches But they are so far from it that I cannot find any Intimation to that purpose in all their Writings although they had the fairest Occasions for it VII If Men by Certain Reason have found out this Certain Authority What are they to do with this Certain Reason afterwards Methinks it is a little hard for ever to discharge so useful a Servant immediately after so extraordinary a piece of Service as the finding out an Infallible Guide We do not find the Apostles directing the People not to make use of their Understandings because their Guides were Infallible I am apt to think the Apostles were as Infallible as Tradition or Church-Authority ever since and therefore what allowance was made by them to a Judgment of Discretion is still to continue What doth St. Paul mean to speak to the Corinthians in such a manner I speak as to Wise Men judge ye what I say How different is this from I speak by an Infallible Spirit and ye are not to judge what I say When he saith to the Thessalonians Prove all things Doth he mean Swallow all things and Prove nothing When St. John saith Try the Spirits whether they are of God Doth he only mean till they had found a Certain Authority Did not they believe St. John's Authority to be Certain If not to what purpose did he write this Epistle to them If he did he supposed them still to have a liberty of Judging even those who pretended to Inspiration For many false Prophets are gone out into the world And there are certain Rules and Marks to judge of the Pretences to an Infallible Spirit which were in vain assigned if they were not to judge by them VIII Suppose Men differ about this Certain Authority wherein it lies and how far it extends Are not they to exercise their Reason still about this Suppose some pretend that it lies in an Infallible Assistance which Christ hath promised to his Church in all Ages and Others say this is impossible to be a Ground of Faith because it is it self an Article of Faith Must not a Man exercise his Reason about this Here is Certain Authority pleaded but Others say there is Certain Reason against this Pretence of Certain Authority and they must grant I must follow Certain Reason though against Certain Authority Again Others say the Certain Authority of Oral Tradition is a Novel vain and dangerous Opinion destructive of Faith and leading to Heresie and Atheism What is to be done in this Case Must our Reason be quitted and Men not be allowed to judge of this Authority by it Yes till they come to own it and then they are to judge no longer i. e. put out your Eyes once and ye need never think of opening them after Be very circumspect in the Choice of your Way till you come to a Precipice and when you are come there be sure to throw your self from it headlong and there is an End of Controversies But we do not judge this a very Reasonable Method but think he had much better keep upon plain Ground and use the best Method he can to find the true Way and if his Judgment will serve him to find the Way to a Precipice we think it will much better serve him to keep him from it And that he had better bear with some imperfection of his Sight than put out his Eyes that he may be the more quietly led he knows not whither There is only one thing more which deserves to be taken notice of about this Argument viz. that J. S. saith I expresly exclude the Churches Help which is as he triumphantly concludes his Third Letter The First Principle nay the Quintessence of all Heresie Fanaticism in the Egg perfect Enthusiasm when hatcht and downright Atheism when fledg'd This is a parting Blow indeed It is the bite of an Angry Viper at its last Gasp when it puts its utmost force into the Venom and hopes even dying to destroy Others love to conclude gently but J. S. is a Man by himself and as though he were writing Epigrams would reserve his Sting for the last But what Ground is there for all this venemous Froth Even just as much as there was for the Author of Pax vobis to say that I am for introducing Paganism or for another to make me the Founder of Anti-Catholick and Anti Christian Doctrines whereas I profess to own no other than what have been received in this Church ever since the Reformation But some Mens Spleen and Gall must have a Vent lest it destroy them It is some satisfaction to me to think that none but such who either Oppose or Betray our Church set themselves thus to defame me and it is a great comfort to find such feeble Reasoning where so much Spite and Malice is discover'd Thus it is here with J. S. he could merit nothing without giving me hard words and because many look on the Beginning and End of a Book who mind nothing else in it therefore he hath here put together as the Consequence of my Doctrine no less than Heresie Fanaticism Enthusiasm and downright Atheism He thought he could not make my Case Equal with his own unless I were charged with Heresie and Principles leading to Atheism But he is charged by the most Zealous Catholicks and in respect to his avowed Principles but my charge here is by an enraged Adversary and for such a Doctrine which is owned by all Men of Understanding in both Churches and if I may name him among them even by J. S. himself My words are If it be said that the Churches Power will become explicit to any sober Enquirer then every such Person may without the Churches help find out all necessary Points of Faith. And where lies the Heresie the Enthusiasm the Atheism of this Doctrine which I have already shewed was asserted both by Fathers and School-men And J. S. himself grants that every Man is to judge for his own Salvation and of the best way to his Salvation and of all the Controversies between them and us and especially of the true Grounds of Faith and all this without the Churches help And if he can do all this I desire to know whether he cannot find out all Necessary Points of Faith Hath he indeed resolved all Controversies and yet wants some necessary Points
of Faith And hath he found out the Churches Authority too without the Churches Help and yet doth he want some necessary Points of Faith Then it follows that after the submitting to the Churches Authority there are still necessary Points of Faith which may be wanting and then an absolute Submission is not all that is required of one that hath found out the Churches Authority But my whole Argument there proceeds upon a Supposition viz. that if one may without the Churches Help find out the Churches Authority in Scripture then why not all necessary Points of Faith So that it goes upon a Parity of Reason and I see no Answer at all given or pretended but only he endeavours to stop my Mouth with a handful of Dirt. Thus I have dispatched this long Argument about the Judgment of Discretion And I shall now sum up my Answer in these particulars I. Every Christian as such is bound to enquire after the true Way to Salvation and hath a Capacity of Judging concerning it II. Every Christian proceeding according to the best Rules of judging hath Reason to receive the Scripture as the Rule of his Faith. III. The Scripture is so plain in all Necessaries and God hath promised such Assistance to them that sincerely seek it that none who do so shall want the knowledge of such things as are necessary to their Salvation IV. When any thing is offer'd as necessary to be believed in order to Salvation every Christian hath a Right and Liberty of Judging whether it can be proved by the Scripture to be so necessary or not V. We do not allow to particular Persons the same Faculty of Judging in doubtful Points of Controversie which we do as to Matters that immediately concern their Salvation VI. No pretence of Infallibility or Authority can take away that Right of Judging which was allowed them by the Apostles whose Authority was Infallible VII This Right of Judging doth not exclude the Churches due Authority as to Matters of Faith and Controversies of Religion as it is declared Art. 20. of our Church but all that we now plead for is not any Authority as to others but a Right of Judging as to themselves in Matters that concern their Salvation VIII The Certainty of Faith as to them depends upon two Things 1. The clearness of Scripture about them which implies the Certainty of Reason 2. The Promise of Divine Assistance which makes their Faith Divine both as to its Principle its Ground and its Effect But I have not yet ended his Objections about our Rule of Faith For VI. He objects That we cannot necessarily resolve our Faith into the Writings of the Apostles only What is the meaning that we cannot necessarily resolve it I think we must Resolve it into a Written Rule till we see another proved Did the Apostles when they went to convert the World go with Books in their Hands or Words in their Mouths Doubtless with Words in their Mouths Or were those Words a jot less Sacred when they came from their Mouths than when they put them in a Book Not one jot Or lastly doth any Command from Christ appear to write the Book of Scripture or any Revelation before hand that it was to be a Rule of Faith to the future Church No such matter and the Accidental Occasions of its writing at first and its Acceptation afterwards bar any such pretences On the other side their grand Commission was not scribite but only praedicate Evangelium I have given an Account so lately of the Reasons and Occasions of writing the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament that I need only here to give these general Answers I. Whatsoever was done as to the Writing the Books of the New Testament was done by the immediate Direction and Appointment of the Holy Ghost II. The Reason given by the Writers of the Gospels themselves is that Matters of Faith might be delivered with the greatest Certainty III. Those Writings were not intended only for the Benefit of the Church then being but for future Ages and thence the Books of Scripture were so received and esteemed in the Primitive Churches IV. The most Antient Writers of the Christian Church assure us that the Apostles wrote the same Doctrine they taught and for that purpose that they might be a Pillar and Foundation of Faith. V. The most certain way we now have to know what Doctrine the Apostles taught is by their Writings since they taught and wrote the same Doctrine and we are certain we have the Doctrine they wrote but we have no other Way to be certain what Doctrine they taught VII He objects That the Question being put concerning the New Testament's containing all Divine Revelations of Christ and his Apostles I gave no direct Answer but shuffled it off to Matters necessary to Salvation The setting out of this is the Subject of some pages To which I give an easie Answer The Question concerning the New Testament containing all the Divine Revelations of Christ and his Apostles may be taken in two Senses 1. As relating to the entire Object of Faith and so the Answer was most direct and plain to the second Question That the Rule whereby we hold all the same Doctrine that was taught by Christ and his Apostles is by the Divine Revelations contained in the Writings of the New Testament For since we believe all that is there and nothing but what is there that must contain the Entire Object of our Faith. And the word All must relate to that 2. As to all those things which particular Persons are bound to believe as contained therein and so the Question being put about the Vniversal Testimony to assure us i. e. all particular Christians That the New Testament contained all the Divine Revelations of Christ and his Apostles My Answer was direct and apposite to this Sense viz. that the Universal Testimony of the Christian Church as to the Book of Scripture and the Doctrine therein contained is a sufficient Ground to make us certain i. e. all particular Persons of all Matters necessary to our Salvation So that the Substance of my Answer lies in these three things I. That all our Faith is contained in Scripture and thereby we hold all the Doctrine taught by Christ and his Apostles II. That although all particular Persons may not reach to the entire Object of Faith contained in Scripture yet they had thereby a Certainty as to all Matters necessary to their Salvation III. That the Ground of Certainty as to both these was the Universal Testimony of the Christian Church concerning the Books of Scripture and the Doctrine contained therein The Words of my Letter are We are to consider that the Scripture being our sole and entire Rule of Faith all Matters necessary to Salvation must be supposed to be contained therein and therefore the same Testimony which delivers the Scripture to us doth deliver all the necessary Articles as contained therein
in Matters of Opinion or in doubtful or obscure Places they make use of the Skill and Assistance of their Teachers wherein are they to blame The Scripture is still their Rule but the help of their Teachers is for the better understanding it And cannot our Logician distinguish between the Rule of Faith and the Helps to understand it Suppose now a Mother or a Nurse should quit honest Tradition as J. S. here calls it and be so ill inclined as to teach Children to spell and to read in the New Testament and by that means they come by degrees to understand the Doctrine which Christ preached and the Miracles which he wrought and from thence to believe in Christ and to obey his Commands I desire to know into what these Persons do Resolve their Faith. Is it indeed into those who taught them to read or into the New Testament as the Ground of their Faith When they have been all along told that the Scripture alone is the Word of God and whatever they are to believe it is because it is contained therein And so by whatever means they come to understand the Scripture it is that alone they take for the Rule and Foundation of their Faith. If a Man were resolved to observe Hippocrates his Rules but finds himself uncapable of understanding him and therefore desires a Physicians Help I would fain know whether he relies upon the Skill of his Interpreter or the Authority of Hippocrates It is possible his Interpreter may in some doubtful and obscure Places have mistaken Hippocrates his Meaning but however the Reason of his keeping to the Rules is not upon the Account of the Interpreter but of Hippocrates But suppose a College of Physicians interpret Hippocrates otherwise is he bound then to believe his own Interpreter against the Sense of the College I answer If a College of Physicians should translate Bread for Cheese or by Phlebotomy should declare was meant cutting of Arteries or of a Mans Throat let them presume to be never so Infallible I would trust any single Interpreter with the help of Lexicons and Common Sense against them all but especially if I can produce Galen and the old Physicians who understood Hippocrates best on my side This is our Case as to the People about disputable Points we do not set up our own Authority against a Church pretending to be Infallible we never require them to trust wholly to our Judgments but we give them our best Assistance and call in the old Interpreters of the Church and we desire them to use their own Reason and Judgment with Divine Assistance for settling their Minds If People be negligent and careless and will not take necessary pains to inform themselves which Mr. S. suggests we are not bound to give an Account of those who do not observe our Directions And I never yet knew the Negligent and Careless brought into a Dispute of Religion for in this Case we must suppose People to act according to the Principles of the Religion they own otherwise their Examples signifie no more against our Doctrine than Debauchery doth against the Rules of Hippocrates But suppose saith Mr. S. that one of my own Flock should tell me that I have erred in interpreting Scripture he desires to know what I would say to him This is a very easie Question and soon answer'd I would endeavour to Convince him as well as I could And is that all And what would J. S. do more Would he tell him he was Infallible I think not but only as honest Tradition makes him so and how far that goes towards it I shall examine afterwards Well but suppose John Biddle against the Minister of his Parish and the whole Church of England to boot understands Scripture to be plainly against a Trinity and Christ's Divinity And it is but fair for me to suppose him maintaining his Heresie against J. S. and let any one judge whether of us be more likely to Convince him He owns the Scripture and confesses if we can prove our Doctrine from thence he will yield but he laughs at Oral Tradition and thinks it a Jest for any one to prove such a Doctrine by it And truly if it were not for the Proofs from Scripture I do much Question whether any Argument from meer Tradition could ever confute such a one as John Biddle But when we offer such Proofs as are acknowledged to be sufficient in themselves we take the only proper way to give him Reasonable Satisfaction Suppose he will not be convinced Who can help that Christ himself met with Wilful and Obstinate Unbelievers And was this any disparagement to his Doctrine God himself hath never promised to cure those who shut their Eyes against the Light. Shall the Believing Church then have the Liberty to interpret Scripture against the Teaching Church Who ever asserted any such thing We only say that the People are to understand the Grounds of their Faith and to judge by the best Helps they can what Doctrine is agreeable to Scripture and to embrace what is so and to reject what is not But among those Helps we take in not barely the personal Assistance of their own Guide but the Evidence he brings as to the Sense of the Teaching Church in the best and purest Ages It is very strange that after this it should presently follow 'T is evident hence that Tradition of our Fathers and Teachers and not Scriptures Letter is indeed our Rule and by it we interpret Scripture If this be so evident then how is it possible we should set up the Ecclesia Credens against the Ecclesia Docens as he charged us just before If Tradition be our Rule and we interpret Scripture by it what fault then are we guilty of if Tradition be such an Infallible Rule But methinks this Hence looks a little Illogically upon the Premises and if this be his Conclusive Evidence he must excuse me as to the making it a Ground of my Faith. But he allows That we set up Scripture as our Rule when we Dispute against them but when that is done we set up our own Authority over the People and do not allow them that Priviledge against us which we take against the Church of Rome This is all the strength of what I can make out of that Paragraph For if all Writing were like his it would be the best Argument for Oral Tradition his Sense is so intricate and his Conclusions so remote from his Premises Just before he said 'T is evident hence that we follow Tradition And presently 'T is as evident we do not follow it and set up our own Authority against it We do interpret Scripture by Tradition and yet immediately we set up Scripture against Tradition We plead for the Peoples Right to a Judgment of Discretion and yet we do not allow them a Judgment of Discretion What invisible links hath Oral Tradition to connect things that seem so far asunder
esteemed so dispersed so constantly read could be suffer'd to be lost among Christians If it be Objected That they were not all so esteemed at first as appears by the Epistle to the Hebrews and therefore might more easily be lost I Answer That however they were not universally received at first yet they were by those Churches to whom they were written and among them they were not kept up but mightily dispersed so that there was no way to lose them from the first spreading of them abroad unless we can suppose such multitudes of Christians to conspire together to suppress a Book of so great Concernment to themselves As if Persons who claim an Estate by virtue of some Deeds should all agree to imbezel them or any material part of them Here was no pretence for Registers and Abridgments which some make use of to lessen the Authority of the Books of the Old Testament for here we have the very Authentick Writings of the Apostles and their own Epistles in their own style and Expressions And supposing the Churches to whom they were sent to have received them as their Writings and to have communicated them to others as they did I do not see under these Circumstances how a Book containing Divine Revelations could be lost II. He Objects That the Canon of Scripture was not entire but deficient for some hundreds of years till the whole Canon was collected and acknowledged and therefore so long the Church had no Perfect Rule of Faith. I Answer I. I distinguish between a Compleat Rule of Faith and a Compleat Canon of Scripture For if the Books owned and universally received contain in them all Matters of Faith then the Rule of Faith is Compleat although some particular Books may be still in Dispute As for Instance it is certain that in St. Jerom's Time the Church of Rome did not receive as Canonical the Epistle to the Hebrews Had not that Church therefore a Compleat Rule of Faith If God hath so abundantly provided for his Church that there may be a full Revelation of all Points of Faith in the rest then the disputing the Authority of such an Epistle doth not derogate from the Compleatness of the Rule of Faith. For if they have all Points of Faith they must have a Compleat Rule of Faith. II. It is no Prejudice to the true Canon of Scripture that some particular Books of the New Testament were for some time disputed by some particular Churches For if it were done without Ground it doth reflect more on those Churches than on those Books especially when those very Churches afterwards received them And this was the Case of the Church of Rome as to the Epistle to the Hebrews St. Jerom affirms That not only the Greek Churches all received it but that all the Ancient Writers did so and not meerly as an Ecclesiastical but as a Canonical Epistle Therefore this must be a late thing in the Church of Rome and in probability began upon the Novatian Controversie which Epistle was thought too much to favour the Novatian Doctrine and when that Controversie did abate that Epistle recovered its Authority in the Church of Rome But Mr. S. is angry with me for reflecting on the Church of Rome for not receiving the Epistle to the Hebrews in St. Jerom 's Time which he thinks was an Act of Prudence antecedent to the Judgment or Determination of any Church whether Greek or Latin. One may see by this how well versed he is in the Canon of Scripture when St. Jerom declares that not only all the Greek Writers received it but all the Ancient and that as Canonical Was here no antecedent Judgment of the Church in this Matter Doth not the Consent of all Ancient Writers even in St. Jerom's Time make a Judgment of the Church But he adds That what I make a heinous Crime in the Church of Rome was a commendable Caution in it That which I said was That it hence appear'd that the Church of Rome was far from being believed then to have the Authority of making the Canon of Scripture or being Infallible in Faith. And what saith J. S. in Answer to this Not one Syllable but runs it off to another thing But why do I not as well blame the Greek Churches for not receiving the Apocalypse They do not pretend to such Authority and Infallibility in this Matter as the Church of Rome doth I do not deny that there were some Greeks then to blame in rejecting the Apocalypse but Bellarmin saith they were but few and obscure Persons and he produces the Testimonies of Justin Martyr Irenaeus Theophilus Antiochenus Melito Sardensis Dionysius Alexandrinus Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and Athanasius all approving it And the Occasion of disputing it arose from the Millenary Opinion which some thought they could not confute as long as the Apocalypse had such Authority in the Church And such Disputes as these which wore off by degrees are no real Prejudice to the Canon of the New Testament which was at first generally received and although some few Books were contested for a time yet they recover'd their Authority and have ever since been received by the Universal Consent of all Christian Churches III. He Objects against this Universal Consent the Testimonies of Marcion Ebion Valentinus Cerinthus and Epiphanius his other Hereticks who rejected the Canon of the New Testament Could any Man but J. S. make such an Objection as this But he had a mind to bring me in as a Favourer of all Hereticks and as such another Man of Integrity hath done of all Anti-Catholick and Anti-Christian Doctrines But where have I given any Occasion for such spiteful Reflections All that I said was We have the Universal Consent of all Christian Churches for the Canon of the New Testament i. e. Of all since the time that the Epistle to the Hebrews was receiv'd in the Latin and the Apocalypse in the Greek Churches notwithstanding all the Divisions they have since fallen into yet they had no Difference as to the Canon of the New Testament And this I insisted on as the Ground of our Certainty viz. The Unanimous Consent of all the great Bodies of Christians that have continued under different Denominations to this day To this he gives no other Answer but that my Answer to the Fifth Question is co-incident with that to the Fourth I thought J. S. in the Self-evident way would have liked my Answer the better for it But he doth not comprehend the design of it I had said before That we relied on the Universal Testimony of the Christian Church upon that the Question was asked What I meant by the Christian Church My Answer was That it was that which was made up of all Christian Churches i. e. saith J. S. That all the Parts make the Whole and what Incongruity is there When Mr. G. said That the Christian Church may be taken in several Latitudes he desired to know in