Selected quad for the lemma: book_n
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A66432
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A vindication of the answer to the popish address presented to the ministers of the Church of England in reply to a pamphlet abusively intituled, A clear proof of the certainty and usefulness of the Protestant rule of faith, &c.
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Williams, John, 1636?-1709.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing W2739; ESTC R10348
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38,271
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45
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finding out a particular person and that he that would find him out knows not the man but for his better direction applies himself to one that knows somewhat of this matter and asks him Sir How shall I find out such a Man or where may I seek the Marks by which he may be discover'd Would it not force a Smile to have this Answer Do you ask that Why Friend the Marks and the Man are found at once for they are to be seen in his Face Would he not be made much the Wiser by this grave Reply and forthwith be able to find out the Man he seeks for by this goodly Direction Or would he not say Sir I came not to be informed of that which every one that is not a stark Fool understands as well as your Worship but I would know what are those Marks which are to be seen in his Face and by which I may know him from your self or any other and where are they describ'd And will not the other if he be able and willing to inform him then tell him the Marks are in the Gazette and there you may find them Now which is to be found out first the Marks or the Man And what are those Marks and where must I seek them Surely it needs no Application As for his Triumphant Marks of the Church he may find them answered to purpose in the Book not long since published upon that Argument 'T is also observable at what a distance these men are from the true Church who conceive it so hard to find her out All holy Fathers ever judged it a most easy thing to each Person insomuch that the Holy Doctor St. Augustin thus delivers his Sense of it I tell you with truth Brethren the Prophets have spoken more obscurely of Christ than of the Church I believe because they saw in Spirit that men would make Sects against the Church but would not be so much divided about Christ But 't is natural for a Crimnal to question the Power of his Judge and these men know it hath ever been the Sense of all Christians which St. Augustin exprest in the following Words There is no Salvation out of the Church who doubts of it Therefore whatever you have from the Church Seripture Creed Sacraments c help you not to Salvation out of the Church whether you believe contrary to the Truth or being divided from the Vnity gather not with Christ whence St. Paul says to Heretics Those who do such things shall not possess the Kingdom of Heaven He saith 'T is observable at what a distance Men are from the true Church who conceive it so hard to find it out But our distance from the true Church is not the more because we conceive it so hard to find her out in their way and by such Marks which if there are no other it 's impossible to find her out by But now if we go in St. Austins way then it 's not difficult for thus he determines it The weak seeks for the Church The wandring seeks for the Church I inquire after the Voice of the Pastor Read this to me out of the Prophet and read it out of the Psalms recite it from the Law the Gospel the Apostle Look for it in the Scripture and there you will find it Here the Prover cites a Passage out of St. Austin which I am confident he did not read there For 1. he quotes the 4 th Book of St. Austin de Vnitate whereas there is but one Book in all 2. There are several mistakes in the Quotation it self As he saith There is no Salvation out of the Church who doubts of it Whereas the Words of St. Austin are Qui autem super arenam aedificant i. e. qui audiunt Verba non faciunt as just before quis dubitaverit quod regnum Dei non possidebunt That is But those who build upon the sand who doubts that they shall not possess the Kingdom of Heaven Again the Prover reads it Whatever you have from the Church Scripture Creed Sacraments c. help you not to Salvation out of the Church Whereas there is nothing of this but it follows after what was said of the builders on the sand Nihil utique prodest Baptismi Sacramentum that is So that the Sacrament of Baptism profits not such And then he quotes that of St. Paul Those which do such things c. without that other Insertion of his Whether you believe contrary to the Truth c. The matters are not much material but by this the Reader may judg what a careless injudicious or confident to say no worse Adversary I have to deal with His other Queries have no difficulty and withal so little of Sense that I shall not offer to force my Readers Attention on them Whether the other Queries had any Sense I shall leave to others to judg but however because they may not be so easie to others as to himself it is to be wished he had shewed a little more of his good Nature and Condescendency to have resolved them I shall try once again whether I can make sense of them and leave him to try whether he can answer them If they are not Sense they are not to be understood and so there can be no hurt to Propose them If they have no difficulty they are the easier and the sooner answered The Queries Propounded in the Answer and yet remaining to be resolved are these Q. 1. What those Necessaries to Salvation are that are not contained in Scripture and where each of them is to be found Q. 2. Whether the Articles of Pope Pius's Creed joined to the Nicene Creed are as clearly to be proved from Scripture as those of the Nicene Creed or that those of the Nicene Creed are no more to be proved from Scripture than those of Pope Pius Q. 3. Whether it 's as necessary to believe the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ and all the other Articles of that Creed of Pope Pius as it is to believe that our Lord Jesus was Incarnate and the rest of the Articles of the Nicene Creed Q. 4. Which has the first and Supreme Authority the Scripture or the Church Q. 5. Whether the Church can ordain new Articles of Faith and which when so ordained are as much to be received and believed as those which have their Authority immediately from Scripture Q. 6. Which is to be sought for first the Notes or the Church that is to be found out by these Notes If the Church then how shall I know it If the Notes where must I seek them Q. 7. If the Church be to be an Infallible Guide when it 's found out then what is the Guide that will infallibly lead to the Church And whether is that Guide to be sought for within the Church or without it Q. 8.
by the Catholick Church is their whole Rule of Faith. Is it asked again Whether there are no new Revelations no new Articles received as of Catholick Faith He answers These Truths are only received which the Church proposes as delivered to her by the Apostles The meaning of which Phrases the Gospel rightly understood and preserved by the Church and the Truths which the Church proposes as delivered is that which is thus preserved proposed delivered and interpreted by the Church is as much the Rule as the Scripture and that without this Tradition and Exposition of the Church the Scripture is in Bellarmine's Phrase but a partial Rule Scripture thus interpreted is a Catholick Rule of Faith the Addresser therefore meant nothing less than to diminish its Divine Authority his design was to preserve it and that each mans private sense might not sacrilegiously pretend to be that Word of God which as St. Peter minds us is not of private Interpretation 'T is not against the Authority or Use of Scripture he writ but against the Protestants unjust and insignificant method of using it I will here make good the Charge hoping that when he thinks fit he will much more fully perform it by the very answers given to his Questions which I shall set down in that Order and Sense in which the Answerer construed them Here he tells us 'T is not against the Authority or use of Scripture the Addresser writ The Divine Authority of Scripture consists in its being of Divine Revelation and the reason for which it was revealed is for the use instruction and salvation of mankind But if it be insufficient for attaining that end and either is wanting in what is neeessary or is writ in a way so obscure and dubious that it 's not to be understood by those for whom it was written it 's certainly a Revelation unworthy of God and a considerable argument against its Divine Authority And therefore he that undertakes to prove this must if he be in earnest have a very mean opinion of that Divine Book and designs to bring others to the like opinion of it But this is the apparent design of the Addresser who argues all along against the sufficiency and perspicuity of Scripture even in those points which our Author owns to be the two principal Articles of Christian Belief the Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ clearly giving away the Cause to the Arians and Nestorians and frankly acknowledging nay venturing in his way to prove that the Texts usually insisted on by the Orthodox in proof of those Articles are not sufficient for it So that in conclusion if the Scripture be so perplex'd and obscure so doubtful and ambiguous so unintelligible and insufficient a Rule they may as well lay aside the Scripture as that Father did the obscure Poet with an If thou art not to be understood thou art not fit to be read And yet after all this charge insinuated all along in the Address against the Scripture 'T is not yet against the Authority or Vse of it he writ What then did he write against It was against the Protestants unjust and insignificant method of using it and that each mans private sense might not sacrilegiously pretend to be that word of God which as St. Peter minds us is not of private Interpretation I must confess if each or any mans private sense be pretended to be the Word of God it 's both Vnjust and Sacrilegious since nothing can be the Word of God but what is by his immediate Inspiration But where are they that thus pretend What reason is there for this charge These are things he takes for granted but insinuates that this is done by the Protestants who interpret Scripture by their own private sense But why will this any more prove that because they interpret Scripture by their own sense they pretend their sense to be the Word of God than it follows that those that resolve all into a deciding Church-Authority do therefore pretend that the sense given by that Authority is the Word of God For I presume after all that they will not dare to say such their Interpretations are as much the Word of God as the Word is which they are the Interpretations of However he intimates it 's Sacrilegious to interpret Scripture by each mans private sense when St. Peter minds us the Word of God is not of private Interpretation But surely the Apostle doth not therein include the using and understanding of Scripture by private persons as if that was forbidden when he tells them they did well to give heed to it ver 19. Neither did he suppose they were uncapable of understanding it when he calls it a light and unto which they were to give heed till the day dawn c. Nor farther will the Apostles Argument admit of any such Exposition which is thus Ye ought to give heed to the Scripture for it 's not of private Interpretation for holy men of God spake as they were moved that is Scripture is the Interpretation of God's will the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost and though wrote by men is not of humane invention nor was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their own motion nor an explication of their own mind but of God's Of this see a late Book called Texts of Scripture cited by Papists c. Pag. 35. The Prover now falls on in earnest and with great resolution saith he will make good the charge of the Protestants unjust and insignificant Interpretation of Scripture by the very Answers given to the Addresser's Questions and that he will set them down in that order and sense in which the Answerer construed them I wish he had added too in his own words as the Answerer did by him For I find no great reason to trust him either as to order or sense Qu. 1. Whether all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture Ans Scripture must contain these Necessaries All Catholics ever owned what St. Augustin teaches That all things which concern Faith and Manners of Life are found in those things which are plainly contained in Scripture So that as St. Gregory expresses it God needs speak to us no more by any new Revelation For as the same St. Augustin observes in the Question betwixt Him and the Donatists about true Baptism which he held absolutely necessary to Salvation Tho we have no proof in this case from holy Scripture yet we follow the truth of holy Scripture even in this case when we do what the Vniversal present Church approves of which Church is commended by the Authority of the very Scripture All true Catholics without doubt ever owned what St. Austin teaches and that not so much because St. Austin teaches it as that what he herein taught is true But to use our Authors words pag. 7. I wonder how this man was so confident as to name St. Austin and quote this place after the Answerer and