the Joh. 1. 29. 34. Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the World I bear record that this is the Son of God Secondly The Testimony of his Divine works and stupendious miracles in these words I have a greater Joh. 5. 36. witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath sent me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me Thirdly The Testimony of God the Father in the Verse following And the Father v. 37. himself who hath sent me hath born witness of me And that by an audible voice from Heaven at his Baptism in these words This is my beloved Mat. 3. 17. Son in whom I am well pleased As also at his Transfiguration where the same words were spoken with this addition Hear ye Him Which Mat 17. 5. first voice if none of the Jews there present heard as certainly they did not unless in the words following Joh. 5. 37. Neither have ye heard his voice hearing is to be taken for obeying yet to them the Testimony was Authentick who seeing his most Holy Life and many Miracles to attest his Mission could not rationally think he would deceive them with a Lye Now more they could not desire when the force of these invincible arguments or nothing could dint and mollify their rocky hearts to receive the impression of saving Faith However our Blessed Saviour to give them all possible satisfaction makes use of a fourth Topick from the Holy Scriptures ver 39. which he bids them search For in them saith he ye think ye have eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Which Paraphras'd is thus much If ye will not receive the three former Testimonies which are most proper and efficacious to work Faith in your hearts but shut your eyes against Light sufficient to turn the darkness of Sodom and Gomorrah into day yet the Scriptures which ye receive and acknowledge bear such witness of me that if ye did search into them with humble hearts ye could not but be convinc'd of the Truth I preach unto you In them indeed ye think ye have eternal Life but while malice and pride thus blind your eyes ye deceive your selves and make them a killing Letter to your Souls Now let who will apply it the Argument runs thus Our Blessed Saviour having made use of the most powerful means to convince the Jews of their Infidelity and they yet persisting in their Blasphemies at last for their greater confusion made use of an argument from Scripture which they received Therefore Scripture is the sole Judge of Controversies about Religion How this follows I understand not when our Blessed Saviour in the present contest sends them not only to the written Word but uses it as the last and perhaps least evidence of his Divinity and Mission It clearly makes indeed for us Catholicks who as our Blessed Saviour brought St. Johns Testimony against his Advetsaries so do we likewise against the Protestants produce the Ancient Fathers Martyrs and Confessors of all Ages to witness for us in the present Controversies as also the voice of God from Heaven by many Miracles speaking in defence of the Truths which we profess They in this like to obdurate Jews despise these unanswerable evidences which are Motives sufficient to work on Infidels and will admit no Rule nor Judge but the Holy Scriptures to decide the quarrel Thinking as the Jews did to have Eternal Life in them but with that incredulous people likewise deceive themselves do observe the Light of Divine Truth by drawing as it were a vail of private and perverse Interpretations over their Eyes to their eternal Perdition I add moreover that had our Blessed Saviour only appealed to the Prophesies of the Old Testament concerning himself as sufficient to convince the Jews that he was the true Messias so that nothing else was necessary or requisite for the cleaâ—ing of that point yet I see not how this conclusion will follow therefore all necessary points of Faith are so fully and plainly deliver'd to writing in the New Testament under the Law of Grace that there 's no other Rule nor Judge to know and determine how many and what they are when controverted among Christians Yet this must follow or this Text doth them no good for the end they use it as most certainly it does not Which answer likewise takes away all strength from that place in the Asts of the Apostles where the Bereans are commended for searching the Scriptures whether those things were so as St. Paul taught and they believed before they consulted the written Word upon the Authority of their Teacher confirming his Doctrine to be the Word of God by frequent Miracles Upon inquiry indeed it could not but be much satisfaction to them to find so much of the Light of the Gospels involv'd in the Shadows of the Law and the Predictions of the Prophets to be so exactly fulfill'd in the person of Christ and about these it was that St. Paul disputed out of Scripture and for which they search'd after their believing and and so comes not home to the question For that the whole Law of Christ or all Catholick Doctrines necessary to Salvation are plainly contain'd and may satisfactorily be prov'd from Moses and the Prophets I presume our Adversaries will not maintain and so their Argument from hence is at an end To that in the 20th of St. John I answer that the true sense and meaning of those words is this That St. John testifies to the World he hath written a Book of the Life and Death of our Blessed Saviour when the Miracles wrought by him and therein deliver'd did sufficiently evidence him to be the Son of God and the true Messias according to his Doctrine without belief in whose Name they could not be saved And not that all necessary points of Faith were so deliver'd in this Gospel as to be intended by him for a compleat Rule of Belief and Judge of all Controversies in Fundamentalls to the Christian World Neither can any rational man except blinded with Passion or bribed with Interest but perceive this latter Exposition to be forced and the other natural To believe in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the World is a fundamental of fundamentals without which Salvation is not to be had But to believe this only is not sufficient nor can be the scope of this Text when 't is certain many necessary points of Christian belief are not contain'd in this Evangelist Who as 't is usual with other Sacred Pen-men of Gods Word ascribes the vertue of that effect to some principal or special causes though but partial which proceeds also from other by a necessary concatenation or connexion to make up the whole and adequate cause of such a product We are said in Scripture to be saved by Hope Rom. 8 24 is it therefore of it self sufficient for
that what she teaches as of Faith she so received from the Age immediately foregoing and so from Age to Age from Millions of Sons to their Fathers up to the Apostles and the Sacred Mouth of Christ himself From Church-Tradition thus explain'd briefly may be drawn those Positions First that the Doctrine taught by Christ and his Apostles comprises all points necessary to salvation Secondly That all such points taught by Christ and his Apostles have been continued in the Church from believing Fathers to their Children by an un-interrupted succession without Diminution or Addition and shall so continue for ever Which involves these two Propositions that nothing comes to us upon the tenure of Faith but what is of Tradition Yea though contain'd in Scripture seing we only are ascertain'd what Books the Apostles wrote and what is the true sense of them by Tradition And that there are no new points of Faith in the Christian Church quoad Substantiam as to the substance of what is reveal'd the present Church only believing what it received from precedent Ages Which assertion whosoever opposes contradicts not me but the Sublime Angelical Doctor St. Thomas expresly teaching that in Doctrina Christi Apostolorum c. 22ae 1 q. ar 10. ad 1am 2am Et in 1a par q. 32. ar 4. corp In the Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles the Truth of Faith is sufficiently unfolded but because perverse men pervert the Doctrin of the Apostles and other Doctrines and Scriptures to their own Destruction as is said in the 2 Ep. of St. Peter and the last Chap. Therefore the explication of Faith was necessary against arising Errors in after-times not containing another Faith but the same more clear'd Thirdly That this universal Tradition or handing of Christian Doctrin by oral Teaching and visible practice of the Christian World is and was the constant Rule of Faith as well after as before the Scriptures were written and received by the Church The first Thesis or Position though it hath been deny'd by some Hereticks as namely the Montanists yet is not controverted between us and Protestants The proof lies upon the second which being demonstrated the third will follow of it self and cannot be deny'd with show of Reason SECT III. The clearness and certainty of Tradition in delivering Matters of Faith NO other externe prudential evidence or assurance in matters of Divine Faith whose efficient Cause is Divine Grace is necessarily requir'd then a Moral certainty that what is propos'd to be believ'd as of Faith is the very same Doctrin which was taught by Christ and his Apostles Which assurance neither is nor can be had among Protestants who build their new Church upon their own confused and unsteady Interpretations of Scripture But is manifestly to be found in that Communion of Christians viz. the Church of Rome which grounds its Faith as to such evidence upon Universal Tradition a Principle not well lyable to Error and therefore cannot rationally be expected to fail those who relie upon it As I shall endeavour to demonstrate thus Christian Religion is supernatural descending from Heaven to us by Revelation that is such a one as is not to be learn'd but from Almighty God and his Missioners namely from Christ and his Apostles and so successively from them brought down to us by Church-Profession Wherefore the Apostles being Commissionated by him to whom was given all Power in Heaven and Earth to this end and purpose deliver'd to the World wholly and entirely the Law of Jesus Christ making so long stay in those places principally in which by mutual consent they had chosen to plant the Gospel 'till by often inculcation it was written in their hearts and by practice so confirm'd and clear'd to their Judgments that rationally they could not mistake or doubt concerning any points so deliver'd all things being by this means sufficiently provided for the constituting and governing of the Church Now though the Apostles were many yet being all taught by the same Master impowered by the same Commission and guided by the same Spirit in all parts of the World did bring up their Disciples in the belief and practice of the same Doctrin and Discipline to continue for ever so that all particulaâ— Churches though of different Nationâ— and Languages founded by several Instructers and so far distant from one another yet did harmoniously meet in the unity of Faith in all points Traditionary whatsoever Neither could it be otherwise they only believing what was taught them by the Apostles and these only teaching them what they receiv'd from Christ and were Infallibly directed in by the extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost Amongst which Apostolical Doctrines one main Article was That there should be in all Ages to the Worlds end an Vniversal Visible Body of Pastors and People term'd a Catholick Church Divinely assisted and authoriz'd to preserve teach and hand down to Posterity without Error all Truths necessary to Salvation This Catholick Church thus founded practis'd and taught their Children what they received from the Apostles condemning by her Authorative Rule of Tradition all such for Hereticks and Shismaticks who taught any contrary Doctrines and divided from them By this easie method all Critical Disputations about points of Faith were cut off having only to inquire what had been taught and practis'd from the beginning and to receive all Doctrines witnessed for such by the voice of the 1 Tim. 3. 15. present Church The Pillar and ground of Truth and consequently Infallible in her Attestation Who leave this Rule must needs be obnoxious to Error but how those who stick close to so safe a Principle should fail is morally inconceivable For such Traditionary Doctrines abstracting from Authority cannot loose but gather strength by time because the multitude of Believers increafing and delivering to their Children all points of Faith as they received them the Tradition becomes more famous and universal carrying along with it a greater evidence of Truth and moral Impossibility to be deceiv'd Unless we will say that the Mystical Body of Christ so diffus'd and numerous can forget to day what they believ'd and acted yesterday and so ignorantly mistake or knowingly conspire together to teach their Children to receive any Doctrines as originally proceeding from Christ and his Apostles which yet they never had from their immediate Fore-fathers upon that tenure Questionless that such a Body of Christians should be wrought upon wilfully to damn their own and others Souls by attempting to gull the World to their faces in a business of no less then Eternal Interest or that in things of so high a nature so visible so easily contradicted they should prevail to introduce the belief of a noon-day Lye is surely to be rank'd in a high degree of Impossibility And whososever sees it not as such I know not whether all the Hellibore in Anticyra will cure him For where can one pick a hole in the everlasting coat of universal
perspicuum est c. 'T is apparent from this place that he St. Paul and the other Apostles delivered many things not committed to writing Which Epiphanius also applyes to the same Haere 61. purpose teaching us Oportet autem Traditione uti c. That we must make use of Tradition seing all things cannot be taken out of sacred Writ The Apostles have delivered some things in Writing and others by Tradition Even as St. Paul says Sicut tradidi vobis As I have delivered to you And no less St. Lib. de spir◠S. Basil It is an Apostolique thing to persist constantly in Tradition not written for saith the Apostle I praise you in that you are mindful of whatsoever thing came from me and observe the Traditions which I have given you And affirms them to be so many that the day would fail him should he enumerate them Moreover That no man will contradict Ibid. it who hath the least experience in Ibid. Church Laws And as potent Patrons of the same Doctrine are St. Iraeneus l. 3 cont Haer. ca. 3 4. Tertullian de corona militis cap. 3. lib. de Praescrip S. Aug. Ep. 118. ad Januarium lib. 5. de bapt cap. 23. The second famous Nicene Council in the 7th Act c. by whom Traditionary points are invincibly vindicated And teach otherwise they could not except their words should contradict their Faith and practice though Protestants who are of a contrary belief are also of a contrary Doctrine and have invented several evasions to darken the evident light of these Texts whereby they alas deceive poor Souls To the native lustre of Scripture if we add the unanimous consent of the Fathers expounding them for us they more manifestly make good against the Protestants that the same Scriptures cannot be an un-errable and compleat Rule of Faith to Christians without Tradition And indeed Catholicks do not deny Scriptures to be a Rule but that they are not the compleat Rule of Faith nor can be a Rule of Faith at all as interpreted by private reason or particular fallibility Congregations which is their new way and practice but as expounded authoritatively by the Catholick Church according to the line of Ecclesiastical Tradition the constant custom of all Ages Now why Religion was setled in the Christian Church by Universal Tradition as a perpetual Rule of Faith rather then written Precepts will presently appear to any one well considering how that way of delivery is far more secure from mistakes and errours than Writings this being notoriously visible in actions common to all mankind in which all sorts of conditions do agree and can read the inward belief of their hearts in those outward well-understood expressions whereas written words are different and if understood by some few eminently Learned yet lyable to a thousand casualties and misapprehensions conveying erroneous Thoughts sometimes even where exactest diligence is observ'd And withall that it is more lasting then written Books which may perish totally by the fury of Persecution or be lost by some accident or other as most certainly some Scriptures are Whereas Christian Doctrine thus conveyed cannot perish but with the total ruine of all Believers But principally that sacred Scriptures themselves both for Canon Incorruptness and true sense of the Text are necessarily depending on Tradition not It on them being a self-evident Principle that needs no proof Which great and notable advantage will be more evident if we consider that the main end and principal errand of the Apostles being to deliver entirely to the World the Gospel or Law of Jesus Christ what they Preach'd throughout the whole World with their common and united endeavours inculcating it in season out of season and ingrafting it by daily and visible practice in the hearts of Believers must needs descend to us with more certainty and evidence of Truth because accompanied with a higher degree of Tradition than the Books of Scripture which were not any part of their Commission or by any joynt consent intended to comprize the whole Law of Christ but meerly an occasional work of their Apostleship according as the present circumstances did require writt by some single Apostle or Evangelist sent to some particular Church or Person as all the Apostolical Epistles upon whose Authority and Credit the whole Church originally must rely to believe it to be the true Writing of such an Evangelist or Apostle that is to be the undoubted Word of God And this is the genuine reason that while Traditionary Doctrines being on all hands acknowledg'd because founded in Universals which cannot easily fail The true Books of Scripture because at first of particular and unknown Authority agreeing therein with all errorus were cauceously rejected by some particular Churches and could not obtain due veneration and acceptance but by degrees as they were communicated to other Christians by those to whom they were at first delivered and so at last upon diligent inquisition received by the whole body of Believers for Canonical In which examination the Traditional Doctrine being universally Famous and first planted in their hearts and that of Scripture originally obscure and of an after Birth They neither did nor could rationally argue thus The Doctrine we have been taught is the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles because agreeable to this Book But thus this Book attested to us for Scripture may safely be received for the Writing of such an Apostle or Apostolical man as they witness who have already accepted it for such because we have no reason to think they are herein deceived or lye against their Conscience in that we find it conformable to the Doctrine we have been taught and have received by Tradition For to have proceeded è converso had been to prove I say not obscurum per obscurius but clarum per obscurum and contrary to all Rules of Logick and Reason Hence it is that we find the Ancient Fathers expounding some Texts of Scripture for Traditionary Doctrines of the Church which afford sometimes perhaps scarce probable Topicks for those points to which they are applyed Now this they do not as if they founded their belief of such Articles upon the Scriptures St Aug. de Civ Dei l. 20. c. 24. lib. de fide Oper. c. 15. S. Am in ca. 3. ad Cor. St. Jer. in ca. 5 Matt. Origen in eandem locum c. as might be specified in the 1st Corin. 3. from the 12 ver to the 16. and Matth. the 5th ver 25 26. for Purgatory The 15 of the foresaid Epist ver 29. For a state wherein the dead may be help'd by the living Luke the 1st ver 34. For the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of God c. But being in possession of the belief of such points with the present Church of their Age upon the tenure of Tradition they only bring such places for the further confirmation and explanation of their Faith that very probably such
Tradition and Authority of the Church not they but this can only truly and rationally be asserted for a compleat and perfect Rule comprehending all things necessary to Salvation handing them down from the Apostles themselves to us now living as the revealed Truths of Jesus Christ and believed as such by all respective Ages upon that tenure Among which Truths so attested That such Writings are the undoubted Word os God is a Principal one and believed because so attested But all other Traditionary Doctrines of Faith having the same convincing proof that they came from Heaven whatever of them were occasionally committed to Writing afterwards by the Apostles are still to be believ'd upon the same account viz. Tradition and Church Authority the certainty of Scripture as well for the Sense as Letter depending thereon Again I demand of English Protestants by what Authority they condemn the Anabaptists to be Hereticks whether by Scripture or Tradition If they say by Scripture they must give me leave to tell that St. Austin with the primitive Christians were of another mind who tells them very plainly That Consuetudo Matris Ecclesiae c. The L. 4. cont Donat. custom of the Church our Mother in Baprizing Children is in no sort to be despis'd nor by any means thought superfluous nor at all to be believ'd except it was an Apostolical Tradition But if they value not Antiquity and presume the Fathers were but School-Boys to them in the understanding of Sacred Writ let them produce any one Text for Infant-Baptism so clearly proving it that the Contradictors must be unavoidably convinc'd and left confounded without any shadow of reply before thoroughly knowing and expert Judges in such Controversies and will confess the Fathers were but dull and heavy men compar'd to their quicker and more deep-sighted judgements in diving into the sense of Scripture and rest satisfy'd that upon the score of only Scripture Anabaptists may be condemned In his Reply Fisher for Hereticks I remember Bishop Land much presses that place in the Acts to be convincing for Infant Baptism Repent and be Baptiz'd Act. 2. 38 39. every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the promise is unto you and to your Children Yet not without the help of Tradition enlightning and exalting it to that force and efficacy But Dr. Hammond In his Ans to 6. Quaeres a great Scripturist and Defender of the Protestant Church confesses it is not at all concluding for it Without more ado the Truth is did not Church-Tradition shining bright in universal practice decide the controversy they could not satisfactorily answer those Texts of Scripture wherewith the Anabaptists confront those other produced by them nor justly enroll them in the black Book of Hereticks Does not this manifestly destroy their main foundation of Scripture to be the only and sufficient Rule of Faith Besides it is not an Heretical practice to Re-baptize those who have been Baptiz'd by Hereticks observing the true form of Baptism Can they evince it for such by any Scripture St. Austin tells them That custom which was opposed to Cyprian L. 2. de Bap. cont Donat. ca. 7 l. 5. c. 23. is to be believ'd to have taken its rise from the Tradition of the Apostles and that he believ'd it for such Moreover the form of Baptism is not expresly deliver'd in Holy Writ nor the number of the Sacraments nor yet the word Sacrament in the Scripture apply'd at all to those they acknowledge for such at least generally necessary to Salvation But for all these we are beholding to the practice and Tradition of the Church This is not all for farther yet let them show any precept in Scripture for the Abolishing of the Jewish Sabbath and observation of the Lords day in its stead A point doubtless necessary for Christians however as applyed to multitudes in Church-Communion Here also they are forc'd to leave Scripture and betake themselves to Tradition for the condemnation of the Sabbaterians Moreover would they willingly part with the Apostles Creed the Observation of Lent which their In his Sermon upon Lent Bishop Andrews contends to be Apostolical and see all Christian Festivals trampled under the prophane Feet of furious Fanaticks with most Ep. 118. ad Janua insolent madness as St. Austin calls it Yet they are all gone if Scripture must hold them up without Tradition In a word the greatest Champions of the English Protestant Church in these later years especially perceiving by sad experience the Vnder Sectaries who were Spawn'd from them to endanger and at last for a time wholly to destroy their new form of Belief and Worship by vertue of this Principle of Only-Scripture do now betake themselves to the Sword and Buckler of Tradition to defend and justify themselves against their Treacherous Brethren And thus although they fly to our Rule of Faith Vniversal Tradition for conviction of their Adversaries in some points by themselves accounted necessary yet they will needs have the Holy Scriptures to be the only and perfect Rule of Faith Doubtless it had been more safe and ingenuous to have acknowledg'd with the Ancient Fathers Traditionary Doctrines as well as the Holy Scriptures to compleat the Rule of Christian belief but contradicting Antiquity by contracting the Rule of Faith into Scripture alone they have likewise contradicted themselves the inevitable Fate of all Truthopposers Secondly The Holy Scriptures are not clearly evident without dispute in all points necessary contain'd in them and consequently no compleat nor certain Rule of themselves as the common experience of all Ages makes good Can any say the Consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father is in evident or express terms in Sacred Scripture Yea or so contained in it by inevitable consequence as to destroy all probability in the Texts brought for the contrary by Contradictors Then certainly the Arians who had as subtil Heads and able Brains as any Protestants to understand the Logick of their Adversaries were mad men to appeal from Councils and Tradition to the written Word They knew very well that without the Tradition and practice of the Church delivering the sense of Scripture they could handsomly enough evade the force of all Arguments might be rais'd from the bare and dead words of Scripture though stretch'd upon the Tenters of most rigorous Criticism Yea they doubted not but there were Texts for them more evidently asserting the Inferiority of the Son and appropriating the Divine nature to the Father only which was the ground of their confidence in appealing to the written Word to be tryed thereby without Tradition And yet the Protestants condemn the Arians for Hereticks and justly too But how they can do it rationally upon their own Principles I confess surpasses my understanding True it is add to Scripture the Tradition of the Church and the Authoritative Sentence of an approved General Council so interpreting it and the case is clear but these
Salvation Is therefore Faith excluded No doubtless For without Heb. 11. 6 Faith 't is impossible to please God Or because The Just shall live by Rom. 1. 17. Faith are not good works necessary What means then St. Paul to tell us That though we have all Faith 1 Cor 13. 1 2 c. without Charity tt profiteth us nothing He also teaches us That whosoever Rom. 10. 9 c. calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Is it therefore enough of it self to bring a man to Heaven The Truth is Prayer saves us good Works save us Faith saves us Hope saves us and therefore properly enough they are said to do it severally though only conjointly they are sufficient And when St. John tells us He writ the Life and Death of Jesus Christ that thorough Faith in his Name we might be saved He little dream'd that in after Ages a Generation of men would arise that should affirm he taught That his Gospel did comprise in particular all fundamental points of Faith sufficient for the Salvation of mankind To that in Timothy I answer First 't is evident by the Gontext that the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament being such as Timothy had learn'd from his Childhood when little if any of the New could be written and divulg'd out of which I am confident our Adversaries will not pretend to determine all points of Catholick Doctrine acknowledg'd by themselves necessary to Salvation which quite overthrows their Argument from this place Secondly suppose we should grant it to be understood of the Scriptures of the New Covenant yet it will not follow from hence that therefore they are a compleat and perfect Rule of Faith whereby to judge all Doctrines whether they be revealed verities or not when from the 4th Verse 't is clear to any understanding eye that St. Paul exhorts Timothy to hold constant to the Faith received principally upon the tenure of Tradition Which is our Catholick Rule and to which we must stick close as he elsewhere teaches us Though an Angel Gal. 1. from Heaven should preach the contrary This Timothy was to do this Traditionary Depositum he was to keep whether ne had been ver'd or no in the Old Scriptures or any New written and deposited in the Church Yet withall he puts in mind of a peculiar advantage to confirm his Faith received by Oral Tradition And make him a perfect man of God or Bishop throughly furnish'd unto all good works proper to his Pastoral Office in that from his Infancy he had been brought up in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures which are able to make men wise unto Salvation through Faith in Jesus Christ and are profitable for Teaching for Arguing for Reproving for Instructing in Righteousness the Flock committed to his Charge And thus indeed it makes against themselves and for us highly who makes use of Scripture for a Rule of Faith as regulated and expounded by Tradition But to force the words to speak what they would prove from hence cannot be without manifest absurdity and contradiction As if the Apostle should say Timothy continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them And yet do not trust Oral Tradition though from the mouth of an Apostle but the Scriptures only for your Religion Thirdly weigh well the words themselves in the ballance of right Reason and they will easily be found too light to carry the cause on their side All Scripture divinely inspired is profitable for teaching for arguing for reproving for instructing in Righteousness c. True 't is so taken collectively yea distributively every verse of Scripture is profitable for some such end and purpose as is here specified And what then Therefore it is sufficient to regulate our Faith in all points necessary to Salvation and to determine all Controversies in Religion Good God! As if what is profitable for our Salvation must presently be sufficient for all things required to it Speak ingenuously is there such a word as sufficient or compleat Rule of Faith or sole Judge of Controversies or words equivalent contained in this Text Or doth St. Paul say that Scripture is all-sufficient of it self to perform these Offices without the Churches Interpretation Because 't is profitable in the hand of a Learned Bishop to Teach to Dispute to Correct to Instruct the Souls for whom he must give an account to God Is it therefore a sufficient Rule for every learner and ignorant Christian to square and cut out his own Faith by to interpret and judge of according to his own private Reason and to compose himself a Creed though contrary to Fathers Councils and the whole Christian World Does St. Paul say this Will this Text justify such an inference Yet this he must say or this place concludes nothing against Catholicks To the last out of the Apocalypse and not the least they rely upon in this Controversy I shall give a brief answer as seeming to me of all other most impertinent and non-concluding For the true meaning thereof is plainly this Whosoever shall presume to add to these Divine Revelations any other than what I have already described in this Book and endeavour to obtrude them upon the Church with the stamp of my Authority to gain credit to them or shall deny any Prophesies herein contain'd to be written by me let such a wretch expect the Vials of Gods Vengeance to be pour'd on his accursed head for so wicked an Imposture and Infidelity Which being evident thus must run their Argument God will severely punish those who shall add deceitfully or substract maliciously from St. John ' s Prophesies therefore the Bible ' s a compleat Rule of Faith and the sole Judge of Controversies about Religion An inference too gross to be confuted Yet from particular premises they draw an universal conclusion and on such weak and absurd reasonings from Scripture build their Church But how English Protostants will defend their Brethren the Lutherans from the wrath of God I say not for diminishing but even taking away this whole Book of St. John's Revelations from Sacred Canon I know not Thus therefore it appears there is nothing here produced by our Adversaries that proves evidently the all-sufficiency of Scripture for a Rule and Judge to decide all Controversies in Religion that the above-cited Texts but being throughly examin'd either conclude not for them or for us So much we are beholding to our Antagonists To conclude after an impartial and full examination to the best of my Abilities I finding the foundation of Protestanism to be really groundless and built upon meer uncertainties I forsook it and my own self to rely on the Catholick Church for my Salvation I renounced my own deceitful and weak reasonings upon Scripture to believe what the Fathers have plainly and unanimously taught what hath been declared in approved Oeneral Councils and what hath
And forthwith from the roof descended a monstruous Spider to his Blaspemous Lips which the standers by could hardly keep from running into his mouth which had spit worse Venom against our Saviour Who desire further satisfaction in this particular let them consult Paschasius de corp Sang. Christi Algerus de Sacramentis Among the more Ancient St. Cyprian de lapsis Prosper de praedict part 4. cap. 6. S. Greg. l. 2. Dialog Petrus Diaconus in vita S. Gregorii As for the Catholick practice in having recourse to the intercession of Saints glorified and veneration of their Sacred Reliques Antiquity and all Ages abound with unquestionable Miracles as so many Seals set upon them by the hand of God for their approbation St. Austin relates De Civit. dei l. 22. c. 8. Epist 103. Ser. 31 32 33. many the certain knowledge of some of them being conveyed to his Soul through the windows of his own eyes the rest famous and of undoubted verity See also Greg. Turon l. 1. de gloria Martyr Barotom 5. an 416. Niceph. l. 4. Hist Eccl. ca. 9. Theod. Ser. de donis collatis intercessione Martyrum One or two will not tire the Reader There was one Martial a chief man his rank Aged and much abominating S. Aug. l. 22. de Civ c. 8. the Christian Faith Who being dangerously sick and much importun'd with the Prayers and Tears of his Daughter and Son in Law who were Christians to be Baptiz'd refus'd and in sullen indignation thrust them from him His Son in Law thought good to go to St. Stephen ' s Memory or Shrine and Pray there earnestly for his Conversion Which performing with great devotion in sighs and tears and so departing from the Altar took some Flowers and at night laid them at his Fathers Head He took his rest and behold before morning cryes out to send for the Bishop who then by chance was with me at Hippo and understanding he was absent desired his Priests to come to him They came he confesses his Faith in Christ and was Baptiz'd among the wonders and joy of them all And afterwards as long as he liv'd for he liv'd not long after he still had in his mouth Christ receive my Spirit which were the last words of Blessed Stephen when Martyr'd by the Jews God was pleased to reveal by a Vision to St. Ambrose where the Bodies of the Holy Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius lay buried and 'till then uncorrupted in a place not well befitting those Sacred Reliques Their Graves are open'd their Bodies taken up and while they are carried in solemn Procession to be honourably Inter'd in the Cathedral of that City many possess'd with unclean Spirits were perfectly cured and a certain Citizen well known to all the Inhabitants who had been blind many years hearing the noise ask'd the cause of their present Jubilee Being told it he leap'd for joy and desired to be led to the Bodies whither being come he begg'd to be admitted to touch with his Handkerchief the Bier made Holy with those Sacred Reliques He did so and applyed it to his Eyes and forthwith recover'd his sight to his exceeding great joy and admiration of them all giving glory to God for vouchsafing such Honour to his Saints St. Austin mentions this also in his 9th Book of Confess chap. 7. and de Vnit Eccl. c. 10. St. Ambr. Epist. 85. ad Sororem Ser. 91. Whole Volumes might be writ of undoubted Relations of this nature and yet Protestants will not believe but follow prophane Vigilantius says St. Austin and the Catholick Church what they can to the contrary For the confirmation of Purgatory I shall insert one or two Miraculous Relations out of Venerable Bede whom I have made choice of because our Countryman and as of great Learning so of singular Integrity which other circumstances concurring in him render his History most unquestinable I give you not all nor always his words but am Faithful to his sense and meaning A noble young man by name Imma L. 4. Hist ca. 22. in a battel between Ecgfrid King of North-humber and Edilred King of Mercia being left for dead among the slà in at last reviv'd and seeking help was taken by the Enemy and carried to their Governour before whom counterfeiting himself a Countrey Fellow that brought Provision to the Army care was taken for him and beginning to gather strength command was given to fetter him with Chains that he might not escape by night but by no means could he be bound seeing no sooner were they gone who bound him but the Chains loosed of themselves For he had a Brother by Name Tunna a Priest and Abbot who hearing he was slain in the battel came to seek his Body and finding one very like it carryed that away for the Body of his Brother to his Monastery where he honourably interr'd it and took care that many Masses should be said for the Absolution of his Soul By reason whereof none could bind him but forthwith he was loosed The noble man whose Prisoner he was began to wonder and suspecting Magick demanded of him the cause thereof Who answered I have a Brother who is a Priest and I know he supposing me to be dead says Mass often for me as if I was in another life where my Soul might be loosed from pains by his intercessions This pass'd on and being perfectly recover'd he sold him to another but what kind of bonds soever were put upon him they were all loosed but most commonly after the third hour when Masses are usually celebrated All which he relating to his Brother after his Redemption his conjectures were found to be real Truths And many hearing these things from the foresaid man were inflamed with Faith and Devotion to Pray to give Alms or offer to our Lord Sacrifices of the Oblation for the deliverauce of their deceased Friends For they understood that the saving Sacrifice was prevalent for the everlasting redemption of Soul and Body This History I had from some who heard it from the person himself on whom this Miracle was wrought and therefore have inserted it for an undoubted Truth The other is in the 13th chap. of his 5th Book of the foresaid History whereof I shall only take so much as I conceive opposite to our present purpose In these days a notable Miracle to be equall'd to those of old happ'ned For to stir up the living from a Spiritual death a certain man by name Drithelm dead for some time was raised again to his Natural life and related many things which he had seen worthy to be remembred An Housholder he was in the County of North-humber living Religiously with his Family Whom sickness seising on and encreasing dayly at last agonizing died in the beginning of the night But reviving about break of day and sitting up suddenly the weeping Watchers fled away for fear his Wife only whom love had fixed though trembling and quaking stay'd behind Whom