the Divine Care in that tho' he believed the Septuagint Translation widely to differ from the Original Hebrew Text and had no Opinion of it as a ground even of (b) Haec mea sententia perpetua fuit Ex quibusdam veterum interpretationibus excerpi aliquas posse variantes teâ—tus Hebraici lectiones ex vulgatâ Graecâ versione nullas Idem Ibid. various Reaings yet there is no such material difference between the Hebrew Text and even that version as may injure the Faith necessary to Salvation Our Adversaries tho' they know of those numerous as they say variae lectiones yet notwithstanding scruple not to profess to have the Genuine Scriptures as was said before or if they have not if they have been careless in a matter of so grand moment as the Conservation of Holy Writ entire how should we trust to their fidelity in other things of less Consequence who yet claim to be the most credible Traditioners in the world SECT II. Ob. 2. If it should be thought a Ground to suspect the care of the Church and of Providence over Scripture that (d) The Epistle to the Hebrews Of St. Jam. 2. Ep. of St. Peter 2d and 3d. Ep. of John the Ep. Ju. the Revelation 1. some Books of the New Testament are accounted now Canonical which Anciently were not reputed so 2. That some Books commonly called the Apocrypha are controverted whether they belong to the Canon of the Old Testament or not it is answered 1. That it is no wonder if all the Books of the New Testament were not presently generally received by all Christians who in especially after the Apostles days had multiplied into very great numbers and liv'd dispers'd in divers places and very remote from each other Time was required for all Christendom truly to inform themselves of a business of so great weight but the reception of these Books never doubted of by all Christians rather doubted of than rejected by some was early enough to satisfy any sober expectation The Council of Laodicea which was had in so much reverence and esteem by those of elder ages that the Canons of it were received into the Code of the Universal Church was held Anno Dom. 364. The Bishops then assembled together (e) Apud Caranzam declare in the last Canon what Books of the Old and New Testament were to be read publickly and to be held as Canonical and they only And among those of the New Testament are reckoned the Epistles before mentioned in the Margent The Apocalypse indeed is omitted but it was omitted only not rejected it was forborn to be named because their Custom was not usually to read it in publick for the special Mysteriousness of it (a) More may be seen of this in the learned Dr. Cosins late Bishop of Duresme in his Scholastic l History of the Canon of Scripture pag. 60. 61. (a) De Verbo Dei Lib. 1. c. 17 18 19. also Cap. 16. concerning some little portions of Holy Writ formerly controverted Bellarmine giv's a large account of the Attestations yielded to all these Books and to each of them not alone by the Laodicean Council but some others also and by several Fathers likewise both before and after that Council Indeed after some Debates about them by some in the early days of Christianity they were entertain'd by the Church without contradiction 2. The Controversy between us and the Romanists about the Canon of the Old Testament has in it no great difficulty it seems to be a plain case Those Arguments by which (b) De Verbo Dei L. 2. c. 2. Bellarmine proves that the Jews did not corrupt the Hebrew Text do as strongly conclude that they did not shorten the Hebrew Canon for this latter would have been as great a fault in them as the former rather a greater and would have been more difficult for them to have effected Also (c) De Verbo Dei Lib. 1. c. 8 9 10. Bellarmine acknowledges that the Book of Baruch is not found in the Hebrew Bibles that the fragments of Daniel i. e. The Hymn of the three Children the History of Susanna and of Bell and the Dragon that the Books of Tobit Judith the Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus and of the Macchabees are not own'd by the Jews Or if he had not confessed so much there is evidence sufficient from the (a) Josephus contra Apion Lib. 1. p. 1036. 1037. Jews themselves that (b) Primis Ordinis Canonica Volumina quae sola apud Hebraeos in authoritate hahentur Judaei c. Sixt. Senens Bibl. Sanct. pag. 2. Certum est Libros hosce Apocryphos sc ab Ecclesià sive Synagogâ Judaicà nunquam in Canonem censitos fuisse tam ante Christi tempora quà m post in hunc usque diem Sim. Episcopii Inst Theolog. 226. P. Ricaut Of the Greek Church they never owned more Books as Divine and Canonical than the Protestants do and likewise the Greek Church agree with the Protestants in rejecting the Apocrypha How then the Roman great Propugnators of Tradition consistently even with that very Principle adopt more Books into the Canon than the Jews ever own'd is not by me conceiveable For to the Jews were committed the Oracles of God they above all in the world best knew what was committed to them they did carefully preserve as is seen before and deliver to Posterity and Posterity could honestly come by no more than what was delivered to them I do not foresee what exception can justly lie against this procedure Therefore that Bellarmine should say tho' the Jews rejected these Books yet the (a) Ecclesia Catholica Libros istos ut caet ros pro Sacris Canonicis habet De verbo Dei Lib. 1. C. 10. Catholick Church he means the Christian and particularly the Trent Council received them as part of the Canon of the Old Testament is exceeding strange and a Riddle to me Seeing that they have no countenance from the most Primitive general and long-liv'd Tradition of the Jewish Church And this is enough to satisfie a rational Christian and to refute our Adversaries even by their own Principle But yet nor is it true that there has been a truly Catholick reception of those Books as Canonical even by the Christian Church It is (a) This deduction of Testimonies is largly and satisfactorily made by the late Reverend Bishop of Duresme Dr. Cosins in his Scholastical History of the Canon of Scripture evinc'd by a continued series of sufficient Testimonies from the first Ages of the Christian Church thro' the several Centuries unto the Council of Trent that the Books which the Protestants call Apocryphal were judg'd to be such by Christians Now that the Council of Trent above 1500 years after Christ and a fragment of Christendom should vote the Apocryphal Books to be entertain'd with a veneration equal to what Christians have for the unquestionable Scriptures was a boldness which
was great enough but can lay no Obligation upon Christians The result of the Discourse foregoing concerning the Books of the Old and New Testament is this 1. Seeing the Books of the New Testament were never doubted of much less rejected by all were so early receiv'd by all 2ly Seeing the Jewish Church never for so many hundred years admitted more Books into the Canon than Protestants do likewise that the Christian Church did from the beginning distinguish between the Canonical and Apocryphal Books as has been the concurrent Testimony of the most considerable Members of it in its several Ages Forasmuch I say that so it is there can lie no rational Objection against the sufficient care of the Divine Providence or the Churches diligence in the preservation of the Holy Scriptures upon supposal of which it can justly be pretended that Christians must be uncertain about the Integrity of the Scripture Canon I might add that supposâ— there were a much more considerable uncertainty concerning the truly Canonical Books of Scripture both of the Old and New Testament than there is yet there would be a fair Salvo for the care of Divine Providence and for the security of Christians necessary Belief and Practice For I humbly conceive that if 1. The Books of the New Testament at the first not generally receiv'd were still as controversible yet we should not be at a loss for any Article of Faith there being in the Books never disputed of enough to establish it Or 2ly Were it so that it were altogether doubtful whether the Books call'd Apocryphal were not as truly the word of God as those styl'd Canonical perhaps yet there is no Doctrine which can be prov'd from those Apocryphal Books contrary to what we maintain against our Adversaries But this is Supernumerary After the Author had confuted by several Testimonies of the Antients the Canonicalness of the Books called Apocryphal he adds Etsi in hac re longè superior est causa nostra nullam tamen satis gravem causam video cur acriter de numero Canonicorum librorum cum Pontificiis digladiemur Apocryphos quos illi in Canonem referre volunt usque adeò aver semmr quasi Fides Religio Christiana propterea vacillatura sit si illi in Canonem admittantur Eisi enim non nego esse in iis quaedam quae vel contradictionem vel falsitatem vel absurditatem manifestariam prae se ferant difficulter aut cum iis quos Canonicos esse utrinque in confesse est conciliari aut cum historiae veritate aut cum recta ratione in gratiam reduci possunt tamen non modò nulla esse in t is credo per quae dogmatis alicujus ad salutem necessarii veritas labefactari possit sed non pauciora esse in iis mihi persuadeo quae convellendis Pontificiorum erroribus faciunt quam quae iis aut fulciendis aut stabiliendis servire possunt Sim. Episcopii Instit Theol. p. 227. Afterwards speaking of the Books of the New Testament antiently questioned says he Sive admittantur sive non admittantur Certissimum nihilominus manet caeteris qui extra controversiam omnem positi sunt abundè satis contineri universam doctrinam religionem istam quam Revelationem tertiam intelligit Religionem Christianam esse dicimus Nullus enim in istis omnibus controversiis est apiculus qui singulare aliquid habet inse quod in aliis indubitatis desideratur imò non abundè iis continetur ad Religionis doctrinae Jesu Christi tum perfectionem tum integritatem pertinens Idem Ibid. pag. 229. and might be untrue without any prejudice to what I have discours'd in this Section SECT III. Obj. 3. Whereas I have said that the safe descent of Divine Truths is so greatly provided for because they are treasur'd up in the Holy Writings it may be perhaps reply'd that Oral Tradition is not destitute of this 〈◊〉 Advantage also For one means which Bellarmine alledges of the preservation of Oral Traditions is Scriptura writing them in the antient Records of the Church Therefore he says that (a) De Verbo Dei non Scripto L. 4. C. 12. a Doctrine is called unwritten (b) Idâ—m Ibid Ch. 2. not because it is no where written because it was not written by the first Author but Ans 1. The Adversaries I have to deal with talk of Oral Tradition as a Plenipotent thing which is a support to itself and needs not the prop of a Pen is it self a spring of perpetuity to itself and therefore that the being written must be an accidental and no necessary Preservative of it This sure is the importance of several passages concerning it viz. (a) Sure Foot pag. 115. Christian Tradition rightly understood is nothing but the Living voice of the Catholick Church essential as Delivering (b) Ibid. pag 101. None can in reason oppose the Authority of Fathers or Councils against Tradition (c) Ibid. pag. 103. No Authority from any History or Testimonial writing is valid against the force of Tradition So that Oral Tradition is it seems so far from a want of assistance from any writings whatsoever that it is their strength and over-rules them There is yet more said (d) Ibid. pag. 56. Oral Tradition is a Rule not to the learned only but also to the unlearned to any vuloar enquirer therefore it must not rest on Books for its Authentickness for the unlearned and vulgar enquirers have not ability to read to examine to understand Books accordingly 't is said that the Tradition of the (a) Ibid. pag. 203 204. present Church is to be believ'd There is something to the same purpose in another (b) Enchirid of Faith pag. 14 15. Author who has form'd his Book Dialogue-wise After the Master had read his Scholar a Lecture about Tradition the Scholar asks him Sir It seems a matter of great study not easily to be overcome except by very learned men to know or to find out a constant Tradition as to read all the Fathers Liturgies or Councils Is it not therefore sufficient Testimony of this if the present Catholick Church universally witnesses it to be so To this the Master after some premises answers It must by necessary consequence be concluded the Testimony of any age he means any present age to be sufficient And after a while he closes thus This surely convinces the Testimony of any age to be sufficient Thus whatsoever just exception this Divinity is expos'd unto yet it appears by the Authors quoted that there are some such as I have to do with in this work who maintain a self-sufficiency in Oral Tradition and that though it may have yet it can sustain it self without the aid of Books 2. Let it be that Oral Tradition has help from Scripture from writing yet upon a Scrutiny it will be found that in the last issue this relief will be insufficient so far at
the least as to priviledge Oral Tradition to be the Rule of Faith For 1. Were their writings the Conservatories of Tradition written by persons mov'd by the Holy Ghost or not If not and I suppose our adversaries will not affirm they were then these writings have a great disadvantage of the Holy Scriptures which we profess to be the Canon of our Faith as great a disadvantage as must be between Books written by them who could not err and those written by them who might err from whence it would follow that what is contain'd in the one must be true that the Contents of the other may be true yet too they may be false there may be that reported in them as deliver'd by Christ and his Apostles which yet was not delivered by them But 2. Were there Ecclesiastical Monuments of unquestionable credit and which did from Christ and his Apostles through each age exacty and fully declare to us the consentient Doctrines and Practices of the universal Church it would be very material and we should much rejoice in it but the case is otherwise For some while there were very few if any writings save the Holy Scripture which come to our hands Justin Martyr is said to be the first Father About 150 years after Christ whose works have survived to this day There are some Books which pretend to an early date which yet are judg'd to be supposititious some of them judged to be so by the Romanists themselves others proved to be such by the (a) Cook in censu â quorundum Scriptorum D. James's Bastardie of false Fathers Daille Protestants For the first 300 years as there was no compleat Ecclesiastical History so the Fathers now extant were but few and their Works too being calculated for the times in which they lived reach not the controversies which for many years past and at this day exercise and trouble Christendom This paucity of the Records of the first ages (a) Id autem esse tempus quo quatuor prima Concilia Oecumenica includantur a Constantino Imp. ad Marcianum Atque hoc vel propterea aequissimum esse quia primorum seculorum paucissima extant monumenta illius vero temporis quo Ecclesia praecipuè florebat longe plurima ut facile ex ejus aetatis Patribus eorum scriptis fides ac disciplina veteris Catholicoe possit agnosci Ita Perron Sequitur Responsio Regis Hoc postulatum parùm illis aequum videbitur c. Apud Is Casaubonum in Responsione ad Cardinalis Perronii Epistolam pag. 38 39 40 41 42. Card. Perron acknowledges and does imply their insufficiency for setling Catholick Faith when as he would have recourse made for this purpose unto the 4th and 5th Centuries because then there were most writers Tho against this the learned Is Casaubon excepts and justly forasmuch as it must be presum'd that the stream of Tradition ran purest nearest to its Fountain The Fathers after the first 300 years did often mix their own private sentiments with the Doctrines of the Church Nor do the Fathers express themselves so as that we may clearly distinguish when they writ as Doctors and when as Witnesses when they deliver their own private Sense and when the Sense of the Church and if of the Church whether it be of the Church universal or of some particular Church some who have diligently perus'd their Writings judge it not easy to find any such constant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is confess'd by (a) Rushworth Dial 3d. Sect. 13. a Romanist that the Fathers speak sometimes as Witnesses of what the Church held in their days and sometimes as Doctors and so it is often hard to distinguish how they deliver their Opinions because sometimes they press Scripture or Reason as Doctors and sometimes to confirm a known Truth So that he who seeks Tradition in the Fathers and to convince it by their Testimony takes an hard task upon him if he go rigorously to work and have a cunning Critick to his Adversary So then Tradition must in a good measure be at a loss for succour from the Fathers Writings I conclude then that Books Writings have not given such advantages to Oral Tradition as to render it the safest and most certain Conveyance of Divine Truths but this Dignity and Trust is due to Holy Scriptures only which having been at the first penn'd by Persons assisted by the Divine infallible Spirit are stamp'd with an Authority transcendent to all humane Authority Oral or Written which have been witness'd to by the concurrent Testimony of the Church in each intermediate Age since the Primitive Times and which are at this day generally agreed upon as the true Word of God by Christians tho' in other things it may be some of their Heads may stand as oppositely as those of Sampson's Foxes SECT IV. There remains a Cavil or two rather than Objections which shall have a dispatch also 1. We are told that by desertion of Oral Tradition and adherence to Scripture we do cast our selves upon a remediless ignorance even of Scripture (a) Sure Footing P. 117. Tradition establish'd the Church is provided of a certain and infallible Rule to interpret Scripture's Letter by so as to arrive certainly at Christ's Sense c. And e contrà (b) Ibid. p. 98. without Tradition both Letter and Sense of Scripture is uncertain and subject to dispute Again (c) Ibid. p. 38. As for the certainty of the Scriptures signisicancy nothing is more evident than that this is quite lost to all in the uncertainty of the Letter 2ly It is suggested that the course we take is an Enemy to the Churches Peace (d) Ibid. p. 40. The many Sects into which our miserable Country is distracted issue from this Principle viz. The making Scriptures Letter the Rule of our Faith By these passages it is evident that this Author will have it that Protestants have nothing but the Letter of Scriptures dead Characters to live upon and that upon this he charges their utter uncertainty in the interpretation of Scriptures and their distractions Answ But Protestants when they affirm That Scripture is the safest and most certain Conveyance of Divine Truths and that consequently it is the only Rule of Faith do mean Scriptures Letter and Sense both or the Sense notified by the Words and Letter And therefore the Author might have spar'd his Proof of this conclusion i. e. That Scriptures Letter wants all the properties belonging to a Rule of Faith It was needless I say to prove this to Protestants Well but let Protestants mean and affirm what they will have only the Letter of Scripture and not the Sense of it because they admit not of Oral Tradition to Sense it Scripture it seems is such a Riddle that there is no understanding it except we plough with their Heifer and likewise without Tradition's caement we shall always be a pieces and at variance amongst our selves But 1.
Vntrustiness I shall proceed next to consider Tradition Oral Tradition more particularly and distinctly and as apply'd to Religion CHAP. II. Of Oral Tradition as it is apply'd to Religion and there what is allow'd to it what deny'd SECT I. I Come now nearer to the Question which being mov'd both of Oral Traditions and of the Sacred Writings Trustiness and Certainty of Conveyance of Divine Truths c. I shall give them a distinct Consideration And first I shall enquire How sure and safe an immediate Conservatory and Conveyance Oral Tradition is of Divine Truths more speculative or more immediately practical fundamental or others down from their first delivery to the Church through succeeding Ages And before further procedure it is granted that Oral Tradition is of use in Religion yet not so much solitary and by it self as in conjunction with Tradition Written 1. It is yielded that tho' there be many (a) Dr. Cosins the late Reverend Lord Bishop of Duresme in his Scholast History of the Canon of Scripture pag. 4 5. Ecclesia Testis est custos sacrarum Literarum Ecclesiae Officium est ut ver as germanas ac genuinas Scripturas a falsis supposititiis ac adulterinis dijudicet ac discernat D. Whitak de S. Script Controv. 1. Quest 3. Cap. 2. Article of Religion 20. internal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Arguments clear in the Scriptures themselves whereby we may be sufficiently assur'd that they were breath'd from a Divine Spirit and are truly the Word of God Yet as to the particular and just number of those Sacred Books every Verse and Sentence in them whether they be more or fewer we have no better External and Ministerial assurance than the Constant and Recorded Testimony of the Catholick Church from one Generation to another which is a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ 2ly It is confess'd that there are many particular Truths which have had the universal continued Profession and Oral Attestation of the Christian Church from the Primitive to the present Times 3ly It is not deny'd but that if there had been no Scriptures yet Oral Tradition might have derived some Truths to Posterity 4ly Let any Points be recommended to us by so large an Approbation and Certificate from Tradition as Sacred Scriptures have and we shall receive them with all beseeming regard But then 1. We deny that Oral Tradition is sufficient to preserve to us and to ascertain us of the several particular Truths which concern Christian Belief and Practice together with the Sense of the Sacred Books 2ly Tho' there are several Divine Truths which have had the universal and continued Profession of the Church yet we deny it would have been so happy if there had been no Scriptures 3ly Though there had been no Scriptures Oral Tradition might have sent down some Truths to Posterity But they would have been but few and those too blinded with erroneous Appendages most would have been lost as in Hurricanes and among Rocks and Sands some Vessels may weather it out yet shatter'd but how many Perish 4ly As to the last thing sure our Adversaries can't justly charge us with the contrary there being no Point maintained by them and deny'd by us which has so ample a Recommendation But I shall resume the first Concession and the annex'd Denyal and shall add That there is a great difference between Tradition's Testification concerning the Scriptures and Tradition's conserving the many Divine Truths and Sense of them and the safe transmitting them to all succeeding times We may rely upon Tradition for the former which is a more general thing and in which Tradition was less obnoxious to Error and yet not trust it for the latter which abounds in such a variety of Particulars in which there is the greater liableness to mistake and failance The difference I urge may be illustrated thus Suppose one informs me of a Guide in my Journey I credit and accept of that Information and thank the Informant But I rest no farther on him but follow the Guide in the several Stages of my Journey Or suppose one directs me to a very Honest Man and a very knowing Witness in my Cause When he has done so it is not He but the Witness on whom I must depend for a success in my Suit Nay if the Witness should chance to depose against him I may rationally believe him and he can't refuse the Evidence because he himself recommended him to me as a very credible Deponent The Application is obvious The Church's Tradition testifies 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. Isa 8.20 that the Scriptures are the Oracles of God These Oracles of God are a Guide a Witness in the things of God and which belong to Man's Salvation They affirm so much of themselves and because they are Divine Oracles and testified by the Church so to be they must be believed by us in that Claim Why now tho' we owe and pay Thanks to the Church's Tradition for the Preservation of Holy Scriptures and Direction of Us to Them yet we are not therefore bound to resign our Faith universally to the Tradition of the Church but we may trust our selves with Scriptures Guidance and Testimony in all particular Matters of Faith and Practice Yes and if these Scriptures Witness against the Church's Tradition against some Opinions and Practices of it for which Tradition is pretended we ought to believe the Scriptures and Tradition can't fairly decline the Testimony tho' against it self SECT II. But against this it is urg'd That there can be no Arguing against Tradition out of Scripture The reason is Sure Footing in Christianity p. 10◠because there can be no certainty of Scripture without Tradition This must first be supposed certain before the Scripture can be held such Therefore to argue against Tradition out of Scripture is to discourse from what is Tradition being disallow'd uncertain which can't be a solid way of Argumentation To this I reply Omiting that Tradition is not the only means of our Certitude about Scripture That the Exception does not invalidate what I have said for thus it is We do confess to receive the Scriptures upon the Church's universal Tradition and we allow this Testimony to be in it's kind very useful and sufficiently certain and this certainty of Tradition quoad hoc for the Intelligencing us concerning Scripture is supposed by us But then we do and may argue from Scripture thus supposed certain against Tradition i. e. against what is uncertain or false in it viz. Any such Points of Faith or Practice or such Senses of Scripture as it would obtrude upon us when as yet they are perhaps contrary to Scripture and the Tradition is far short of being Vniversal it may be is very narrow or feigned rather than real So that we do not proceed upon an Vncertainty but upon what is certain by Vniversal Tradition i.e. That the Books of the Old and New Testament in the Number that we have them
Deòrum cultu adversus Christianos Every People have their custome each their Rites Now if long time can give authority to Religions belief is to be given to so many ages and we ought to follow our Fathers who have happily follow'd Theirs Unto which the Christian Poet Prudentius replyes to this Sense If there be such a studiousness and care of Antique Custome and it pleases not to depart from old Rites There is extant in antient Books He means the Scriptures a Noble Instance that even in the time of the Deluge or before the Family or People who first inhabited the new Earth and dwelt in the empty World serv'd but one God whence our continued Race derives its pedigree and reforms the Laws of the Piety of the Native Country Si tantum sludium est cura vetusti Moris a prisco placet haud descedere ritu Extat in antiquis exemplum Nobile libris Jam tunc diluvii sub temporae vel priùs Vni Insâ—rvisse Deo gentem quae prima recentes Incoluit terras vacuoque habitavit in Orbe Vnde genus ducit nostrae porrecta propago Stirpis indigenae pietatis jura reformatis Aurel Prudentius contra Symmachum Lib. 2. SECT III. The State of Religion being so craz'd the world being so corrupt in Opinion and Practice God vouchsafed to reveal Himself to Abraham and the other Patriarchs and at the last singled out the posterity of Abraham for his peculiar People Ps 78.5.6.7 8. Deut. 6.6 17. and established a Testimony in Jacob appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded the Fathers that they should make them known to their Children That the Generation to come might know them even the Children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children that they might set c. Among these Laws God commanded the owning and Worship of himself exclusively of all pretended Deities whatsoever He prescribed in the greatest accuracy the Substance and very punctilio's of his worship And to fence these sacred Injunctions the better to preserve them from violation at the first delivery of them God strook an holy dread into the People by Thundrings and Lightnings and a thick Cloud so that all in the Camp trembled Exod. 19.16 nay so terrible was the sight that Moses himself said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.21 And to make all the more sure there was superadded an explicite and formal Covenant between God and the people solemniz'd with the sprinkling of Blood part of it on the Altar Exod. 24.3 4.5 and part on the People and all the People answered with one Voice and said All the words which the Lord hath said will we doe What a large and exact Provision was here made for the safe descending of what God had committed to the People unto all Generations and for the making them trusty Traditioners yet how strangely were they ever and anon declining from the purity of what had been delivered to them Fathers and Children prophaning the Divine Worship and dishonouring God by the mixtures of Heathenish Rites and Idolatrous Abominations In the Chain of Tradition the first Link broke That very People who had so lately trembled at Mount Sinai yet tho' still so near that Mount danced before a Golden Calf saying These be thy Gods Exod. 32.4 O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt If this fall out so early how much more likely was it that the conveyance of Religion in its purity to after Ages should fail And the event was answerable The Books of Judges Kings and Chronicles and of several of the Prophets so abound in examples of almost perpetual and general defections from the Ancient Faith and Practice that many quotations are needless two will be enough 1. In the Reign of Ahab Elijah mourn'd to God that he only was left of the true Worshippers in Israel at the least of the true Prophets 1 Kings 19.10.18 and that even his life was in danger And tho' the All-seeing God comforted him by the account of seven thousand who had not bow'd the knee to Baal Yet as it seems this was to Elijah an invisible Church so what were these seven thousand to the multitudes of the rest of Israel 2ly In Judah so great and criminous was the Falling off from what God had antiently ordain'd that good Josiah rent his Clothes when he heard the words of the Books of the Law read 2 Kings 22.11 and compar'd former and present Practice with what was there commanded Such were the Apostasies of the Jewish Church from Primitive Doctrine and instituted Worship and for a long time and without any relief and restitution from Oral Tradition the intervening Reformation in Josiah's Reign was ow'd to the Holy Scriptures 2 Kings 23.2 3. Till God reveng'd those miscarriages sharply but very righteously first upon the ten Tribes and afterwards upon the remaining two The two Tribes after seventy years Correction return'd home re-built their City and Temple But in time they split into several Sects which were so many degeneracies from the first Purity of their Religion Our Blessed Lord reprov'd them for their corrupt Traditions as being a vain Worship Math. 15.3.9 and Evacuations of the Commandments of God The Jews have amongst them an Oral Tradition expository of the Law Written and given as is said by them by God to Moses intrusted by Moses with Joshua and the seventy Elders and by them transmitted down from one Generation to another This that People have in (a) Video Hebraeos omnes Legem quae per os tradita est tanti facere ut eam non modò aequent Legi Scriptae sed longe anteferant tanquam animam corpori quò sine eâ impossibile sit ut ipsis videtur Legem Scriptam intelligere aut observare adeoque sine eâ Lex tota non sit nisi corpus â—ine Spiritu c. Episcopii Instit Theol. L. 3. C. 4. very high estimation preferring it to the very Scriptures and honouring it with room in their Creed of which one Article is (a) Leo Modena History of the present Jews c. Translated by Mr. Chilmead p. 248. I believe that the Law which was given by Moses was wholly dictated by God and that Moses put not in one Syllable of himself And so likewise that that which we have by Tradition by way of Explication of the Precepts of the other hath all of it proceeded from the Mouth of God delivering it to Moses Yet Learned Men judge this fardle of Traditions to be a very (b) Episcop Ibid. Cap. 6. per toâ— Figment and that in some Age or other Ancestors have impos'd on the Credulity of their Posterity that Tradition has recommended to them That as deriving from God which never had so sacred and infallible an Author After the foregoing Observation of the Church and how little agreeingly with it's first Model Tradition preserv'd it for two
writing things especially Religious Doctrines and Practices should be preferr'd to the hazarding them under the Custody of Oral Tradition That rather than This being the surest means of their preservation For 1. It is much less difficult because there is much less requir'd to keep a Book safe and to hand it from one Generation to another than to preserve a great many of Opinions and Senses of that Book and to transmit them from Age to Age unalter'd To the former meer plain honesty and an easie care are sufficient Here 's no need of much Apprehension and Memory and of a constant Care and Diligence to teach Posterity here 's no necessity of Posterities scrupulous attention to teaching Fathers and of an happy docility or promptness to learn and all this through a long series of Ages But these Punctilios as has been shew'd before are necessary to a faithful and unerring communicating of Truths to after-Ages in the way of Oral Tradition therefore there is the more of difficulty and consequently the more likelihood of miscarriage 2ly Books if kept safe do faithfully preserve what is deposited with them Their Memory if I may so speak never fails them there 's no need of an operous care to teach them or rather to remember them what their Authors once told them committed to them They warp not with the Times in which they are extant tho' through several Generations They are not subject to levity and wantonness of Judgment nor to rebound from one extremity to another not to a sequaciousness after Men whose Parts render them remarkable They are not temptable by Hopes or Fears To be read and to be accepted of is their worst Avarice or Ambition Nor does the Paper or Parchment look the paler at a Rack or a Gibbet or the Characters fly thence upon Persecution A Prison can't scare them they are us'd to confinement to a Chain it may be in a Library Thus it is with Books But Oral Traditioners are expos'd to all those inconveniences as has been before manifested whence their Traditions are infected with an answerable craziness Therefore for this second together with the first reason Writings Books are the far less obnoxious the more safe Conveyance And what has been said of Writings in general is much more true particularly of the Sacred Scriptures Object Against what has been delivered there may lye some seeming prejudice It may be objected that Writings have their fates as well as their Authors They are not exempt from either a total perishing by the oscitancy and carelesness of the Owners or by violence from Enemies Or at least they are liable to corruption and that either wilful and out of design as speaking of Holy Scriptures by Hereticks or through the ignorance or negligence of Transcribers Whence it will follow that notwithstanding the comparative easiness of transmitting Writings and the Fidelity of them if preserv'd yet they may be ravish'd by violence from their Possessors how honest soever they be or they may be lost by them if they should prove careless or they may be adulterated upon one account or another And so Writings may not be preserv'd or not preserv'd sincere and entire Answ That losses and decays alterations and suppositiousness have been incident to Writings is confess'd Yet how many have escap'd injury through long tracts of time have arrived safe with us some plenty of them in Libraries does manifest for there have been more or less Lovers of Learning and Antiquity who have been Guardians to these Orphans And Learned Men have Methods as Trial by Chronology and the Customs and Modes of each Age insight into the Style and Genius of an Author Collation of Copies with others by which to distinguish the Spurious from the Genuine Works and to right the Genuine by requisite Emendations And of such kind of reliefs Scriptures are capable as well as other Writings But we shall see that they have a much greater advantage and are secur'd above all Writings else by peculiar Protections and have been blessed with a special safety SECT II. Sacred Scriptures may be suppos'd to have been in danger from 1. Malice and Design 2ly From Casualty and Neglect And to have been in danger 1. From Malice and Design of profest and publick Enemies 2ly Of pretended Friends I mean Heticks 1. The open and profess'd Enemies of the Holy Scripture design'd and labour'd for their extinction As no Professors of any Religion were ever so persecuted by the opposition and fury of the World as Jews first and then the Christians so the Scriptures in Sympathy with them have been expos'd to great hazards but yet have survived them When the Chaldeans had over-run Judea wasted and plunder'd the Towns ransack'd and destroy'd the Metropolis Jerusalem had rifled and ruined the Temple when they who had escap'd Slaughter were carried away Captive into a strange Land and the Captivity there lasted 70 years Whenas amidst all these hurries Vrim and Thummim the Ark the Pot of Manna the Rod of Aaron whenas these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy and choice Rarities of that People and all their Glory sunk in the Deluge of an universal devastation Yet the Holy Scriptures which then were triumph'd over all these Calamities tho' the Copies were then but few in comparison of what they were afterwards For soon after the return from Captivity and reedification of the Temple (a) Nehem. 8.6 7 8. Ezra also Joshua and Bani caus'd the People to understand the Law and the People stood in their place So they read in the Book of the Law of God distinctly and. Some time after this under the Tyranny of Antiochus The (b) 1 Mac. 1.56 57 58. Books of the Law which were found were rent in pieces and burnt with fire And wheresoever was found with any the Book of the Testament or if any consented to the Law the King's Commandement was that they should put him to Death Notwithstanding this Persecution the Holy Book out-liv'd this Scrutiny and Cruelty In the Times of Christianity in the Reign of (c) Petav. Ration p. 241 242. Dioclesian there was an Imperial Edict that the Churches should be demolish'd and the Holy Scripture should be burn'd and tho' some were so base as to betray the Divine Books to the Enemy who thence were call'd Traditores yet they weathered out this Storm also Next to an invisible Divine Hand defending them so many were the Copies of the Sacred Books especially after the Jews return from Babylon and more after the Gospel had been Preached and entertain'd in the World and likewise so zealously did both Jews and Christians concern themselves in them that the Enemies might as soon have rooted out of the World the whole Generations of Jews and Christians as the Bibles 2ly For the same reasons that there should be a Depravation of of Holy Scripture by Additions Substractions or Alterations in any thing material as to Faith and Life that there should be any
design'd and successful Adulteration of them by Hereticks is not well conceivable For so many were the Scriptures in their Originals so very numerous were their (a) Qui Script in Graecam linguam verterunt numerari possunt Latini autem Interpretes nullo modo c. August De Doctrinâ Christianâ L. 2. C. 11.5 Translations diffus'd throughout the World where there were Christians that if Hereticks did raze out some passages or foist in others in any way corrupt the Text they could do so but in some Copies and in the Places where they came But that they should succeed in a corruption of all the Books or of the greater part of them is not imaginable Especially whenas the Scriptures were so continually and diligently read by all Christians So that such Impostures must needs have been soon discover'd and warning been giuen to Christians to beware of the Cozenage For this purpose we have the Suffrages of Card. Bellarmine and of Sixtus Senensis Although says the (a) Eisi multa depravare conati sunt haeretici tamen nunquam defuerunt Catholici qui eorum corruptelas deteâ—erint non permiserint Libros sacrâ—s corrumpi c. De verbo Dei Lib. 2. Cap. 75. Et verò Cardinal the Hereticks have endeavoured to deprave many things he means in the Scriptures yet there were never wanting Catholicks who detected those Adulterations and permitted not the Sacred Books to be corrupted (b) Quoniam ut Augst inquâ—t licèt omnes Fatres in hoc conspirâssent ut seipsos atque alios Scripturarum veritate privarent qâ—od imaginari non potest non tamen potuissent omnes undique codices falsare c. Biblioth Sanct. p. 727. And Sixtus Senensis quoting St. August tells us that though all Fathers had conspir'd to deprive themselves and others of the Truth of the Scriptures which none can imagine yet they could not have corrupted all the Books every where How hard it was to corrupt the Holy Scripture without detection and an Alarm to the Christian world perhaps some guess may be made by the unsuccessfulness of such an Attempt on Books much inferior to them For when the Papists had set a design on foot and proceeded some way in it of Purging the Writings of the antient Fathers and of some moderate Authors the Dishonesty soon appeared and was complain'd of SECT III. It can't be thought that through Casualty or supine negligence the Scriptures should expire should be suffered to be a Prey to Moths Mould and Worms to linger away in a Consumption or to be embezeled in Vulgar and Sordid uses such as (a) Ne thuris piperisve sis cucullus Lib. 3. Epig. 2. Martial warns his Book against For that which doth most envigor Mens Care and Industry for the preservation of a thing is their high value especially Religious Veneration for it and such Jews and Christians have had for the Scriptures because known by them to be Sacred to be the Divine Oracles and the Contents of them to be of Eternal Consequence to them The Jews to whom pertaineth the giving of the Law were most accurately diligent in keeping the Revelations given to them most entire (b) De verbo Dei L. 2. C. 2. Hi Sigitur omissis Card. Bellarmine quotes Philo affirming That for above 2000 years even to his Time not one word had been chang'd in the Law and that any Jew would dye an hundred times rather than consent to any such change He adds out of Johannes Isaac that the latter Jews adore the Law ut Numen as a Deity and if it chanc'd to fall on the ground bid a Fast for expiation of the mischance This Bellarm. relates and this is one of his five Arguments why it is not to be conceiv'd that ever the Jews should have corrupted the Old Testament out of Malice to the Christians as the mistake of some is The admirable and stupendious Care and Industry as Heinsius calls it of the Masorites is known who numbred every Verse Word and Letter In Proleg ad exercit in novum Testam And this they intended as Sepimentum Legis a Mound or Fence of the Law against Alterations The Jews had not a greater and more Sacred Estimation of the Law than the Christians had for both Law and Gospel particularly the Fathers 1. Their great laboriousness in the Study and Explication of the Sacred Writings in their many Comments and Homilies is an indication of their incomparable Honour for them In which work they did so abound that suppose the Bibles should be lost which is suppos'd only not granted far the greater part rather the whole might be recovered out of their Comments Homilies and occasional Citations in their other Writings As this is an Argument of their singular Honour for the Scriptures so it is a providential relief and supernumerary way of retrieve of them supposing the loss of them 2ly The Fathers high estimation and reverence for the Scriptures are legible in Expressions concerning them and Deferences to them Irenaeus thus begins his third Book We have not known the disposition of our Salvation by others than those by whom the Gospel came unto us which indeed they then preach'd but afterwards by the Will of God delivered it to us in the Scriptures as the future Foundation and Pillar of our Faith Afterwards in the end of the 66th Chap. of his 4th Book He bids all Hereticks and principally the Marcionitâ—â— and those who were like them saying That the Prophecies came from another God read diligently the Gospel which was delivered by the Apostles to us and read diligently the Prophets and you will find every Action every Doctrine and every Suffering of our Lord delivered in them Tertullian against Hermogenes C. 23. I adore the fulness of the Scripture Let Hermogenes and his shew that it is written If it be not written let him dread the Woe which pertains to them who add or detract Athanasius in his Oration against the Gentiles says That the Scriptures are enough for manifestation of the Truth St. Jerom. on Ps 98. Every thing that we assert we must shew from the Holy Scripture All things which concern Faith and Manners are found in the plain places of Scripture according to St. Augustine in the 9th Chap. of his 2d Book of Christian Doctrine These are some amongst others of the Father's reverential acknowledgments their full and clear depositions for Holy Scriptures sufficiency for and Prerogative of being the sole Rule of Faith and in this Point they speak like as very Protestants as those who form'd the (a) The words of the Article are these Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be prov'd therby is not to be requir'd of any Man that it should be believ'd as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Evangel nigrum Atram Theol. 6th Article of the Church of England And
(a) Ioh. 20. uit written that we might believe and believing have life and which were (b) Rom. 15.4 written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope but how could they attain those ends if they should perish if this light were extinguish'd how much in the dark and forlorne would Man be This peculiar watchfulness of God over the Scriptures is acknowledged by the Romanists (c) Ita velente Deo ut verae lectionis â—ntegrâ—tas quam hominum velmalitia vel negligentia corâ—uperent in partibus in totâ saltem Ecclesiasticorum codi um universitate servâ—retur ne Ecclesia Christi per aliquod tempus divinarum Scripturaâ—um integritate careret Bibl. Sanct. p. 727. Sixtus Senensis attributes the preserved incorruptness of the sacred Text to the Will of God And Bellarmine (d) De verbo Dei L. 2. C. 2. Quintum ultimum argumentum argues from the Divine Providence for the preservation of the Old Testament from any injury by the Jews Indeed he entitles Tradition likewise to Gods special care as the (a) Cura ista non incumbit praecipue hominibus sed Deo Praeter-providentiam Dei quae est praecipua causa De verbo Dei non Scripto Lib. 4. C. 12. principal cause of its pretended safety And this is a Confession that God is in a particular manner the Guardian of that by which he communicates his Mind and Pleasure to Man for such a thing i. e. The unwritten word of God he held Tradition to be But certainly Tradition can't lay a just claim to such an interest in Divine Providence as the Scripture 1. For first besides what I have before prov'd to the just diminution of Oral Tradition there was a providential dismission of it and choice of Scripture to be the Conveyance of Gods revealed Will to his Church through successive Ages For whenas Oral Tradition had been in use for that purpose before the Flood and some while after it and great had been the untrustiness of it at the length God writ his Law Himself and commanded what was written to be kept with a great religious care Afterwards as Moses the Prophets and Hagiographers were inspir'd their Revelations were written so far as was necessary to the Church's Edification And when the People were in danger of seduction and it behoved them to seek to their God for instruction they were sent not Children to their Traditioning Fathers Is S. 19 20. but to the Law and to the Testimony and they were told that those who spoke not according to that word it was because there was no light in them Yes and when the Church was generally corrupted and therefore Tradition had not done its Duty the Churches relief was not from the living voice of testifying Fathers but from the Scripture according to whose Canon abuses were reformed And for this Reformation and because in it he perform'd the words of the Law which were written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the house of the Lord Josiah stands renowned in Sacred Story with this Character Like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might 2 Kin. 23 24 25. according to all the Law of Moses c. This way of securing Revelations by writing was continued under the Gospel as we have them in the Evangelists the Epistles the Acts and the Revelation And this course was as needful under the Gospel as under the legal Oeconomy if not more For it being intended by God that the Gospel should be propagated beyond the narrow Confines of Judaea where the Scriptures of the Old Testament had lodg'd for hundreds of years throughout the World and among so many Nations of such different Complexions Customs and Interests there was the more danger it should be disguis'd if it had been committed to the frailty of an Oral Tradition as we know that the more Mouths Relations pass through the more subject they are to alterations from their primitive truth through the ignorance mistakes prejudices prepossessions or wilfulness of the Relators Whereas a Writing being preserved is a perpetual standard by which to correct any such changes for in these Truth would be most likely still to appear in its first Integrity Thus I have shew'd how that after an experienc'd unsuccessfulness of Oral Conveyance God appointed another way and so ordered it that Law and Gospel should be written Now if after and notwithstanding such a Provision yet it should be God's intent that Oral Tradition only should have the prerogative to sense Scripture and that Faith should be lastly resolved into Oral Tradition and therefore that This not Scripture should be the only Rule of Faith it must needs seem strange and unaccountable to a-any rational Christian how it should come to pass that in the Sacred Scriptures there should be so many and such high (a) Ps 19.7 8 9 10 11. Ps 119. passim 2 Pet. 1.19 20 21. Eph. 6.17 Heb. 4.12 Encomiums of them that our Saviour should bid the Jews (b) Ioh. 5.39 search the Scriptures should tell them they (c) Matth. 22.29 err'd not knowing the Scriptures (d) Matth. 22.42 Ioh. 10.34 35 36. should dispute with and baffle them out of the Scriptures and by them (e) Luke 24.25 26 27. confirm his Disciples in the Truth that his Apostles should proceed in the same manner with the Jews That the (f) Act. 17.11 12. Beraeans should be commended for searching the Scriptures daily whereupon many of them believed that St. Paul should mention it to Timothy (g) 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. as an encouragement or engagement of him to continue in the things he had learned that he from a Child had known the holy Scriptures and that he should presently add a description of Scripture than which a more full one sure can't be us'd of the Rule of Faith viz. That it is able to make wise unto Salvation through the Faith which is in Christ Jesus that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnish'd unto all good works I say it is mighty strange that Scripture should be thus magnified and yet none of all this should be said there of Tradition Nay that either Tradition should be mentioned with disgrace as when our Saviour (a) Matth. 15.2 3. condemns the Jew's Traditions of their Elders and St. Paul (b) Col. 2.8 warns the Colossians to beware lest any Man spoile them after the Tradition of Men or where the word is found yet that the sense of it should not be useful to our Adversaries purpose which that it might be it must be sufficient to prove that there was more delivered by the Apostles than was written and that
what was so delivered was a necessary Point of Faith But when St. Paul praises the Corinthians that they (c) 1 Cor. 11.3.23 kept the Ordinances or Traditions as he delivered them when he tells them he had received that which also he delivered to them when he exhorts the Thessalonians (d) 2 Thes 2.15 to hold the Traditions which they had been taught whether by word or says he our Epistle when he commands them (a) 2 Thes 3.6 to withdraw themselves from every Brother that walks disorderly and not after the Tradition which he received from the Apostle there is nothing I say in these places which will necessarily infer that more was delivered by the Apostles than was or is written and that what was so delivered was a necessary Point of Faith through all Ages Why now it is a wonder that if God tho' he provided his Church with the Holy Scriptures yet pleas'd to enstate Oral humane Tradition in the great Office of sensing Scripture and of being the only Rule of Faith He did not so order it that Scripture should modestly acknowledge its Superior but rather let Scripture carry away all the honour from it 2ly A second reason why Oral Tradition can't plead so strong a Title to a protection by the Divine Providence as Scripture is this God's Providence does ordinarily co-operate with and prosper means answerably to their comportment with and likelihood to reach the end intended Now it has been before demonstrated how weak and uncertain Tradition is how fix'd and able Writings are to conserve Truths once delivered and therefore 't is rational to believe that the Divine Aid does much rather assist to the preservation of Divine Truths by the Holy Scriptures than by Oral Tradition the former being much more servicable to the promoting such an end than the latter Hitherto I have prov'd the continued preservation of Holy Scripture from proper Causes of such an Effect causes ministerial and supreme humane care and vigilancy and Divine special Providence SECT V. 4ly Scripture's Preservation is manifest from the Event Such have been the happy success of Divine Providence's watchfulness and of humane Care and Diligence that Christians do generally consent in this that the Holy Scriptures are de facto continued safe and pure to us in all things which are necessary to be believed and to be practised for the obtainment of Everlasting Happiness The Church of Rome professes to have the Scriptures and the Trent Council has defin'd the Vulgar Latin to be those Genuine Authentick Scriptures How true that Determination was for the Authentickness of the Vulgar Latin Bibles is not necessary for me to enquire 't is enough for me that they acknowledge a preserved Integrity of the present Scriptures So that there is not a Tenent which we have more strong inducement to believe upon the account even of Tradition than that the Divine Books the Scriptures which we have are indeed the Word of God and have been faithfully derived to us from the beginning there being no Tradition more universal for any Point than for this great important Truth tho' Christians may run wide from each other in other matters yet they close in this Center I conclude then seeing that the Holy Scriptures are much more fit to keep the Truths committed to them safe than Oral Tradition if they be preserved as has been prov'd and likewise that the Holy Scriptures are preserv'd as is generally confess'd and even by our Adversaries it must follow that not Oral Tradition but the sacred Scriptures are the surest and safest way of Conveyance of Divine Truths down from their Original delivery unto us which to demonstrate was the scope of this Undertaking CHAP. II. Objections answer'd SECT I. THere remain some things which perhaps may be apprehended to reflect on the Prelation I have given to Scripture above Oral Tradition in the point of preservation which next shall be considered Obj. 1. The (a) Almost innumerable variae lectiones in it still controverted Sure Foâ—ting p. 32. many variae lectiones divers Readings may seem to some a reason to question Scripture's descent to us in a sufficient Purity But Answ 1. 'T is a question whether all those which go under the name of Divers Readings do truly deserve that Title For I conceive that not every Translation of the Bible in whole or in part by whomsoever and from whencesoever as suppose by some very uncertain or justly suspected Author or not from the Originals but from some Versions of them no nor that every Copy of the Bible in the Original Languages found any where or whether of convenient Antiquity or not are sitting to Minister matter for various Readings of the Sacred Text i. e. are such as merit to be considered by Learned Men and may put them to the stand sometimes which is the truest Certainly none if any Translations at all but such as are immediately from the Originals have been perform'd by Authors of repute or if their Persons are not known who give in the work no jealousie of their Integrity none but Copies of sufficient Antiquity are considerable for such a purpose And if such a course and some other cations were us'd it may be a great part of the Army of almost innumerable variae Lectiones would be disbanded 2ly But let them stand as they are mustred by some they are not so formidable as to (a) Nay so many variae lectiones in the New Testament alone observed by one man my Lord Usher that he durst not print them for fear of bringing the whole Book into doubt Sure Footing Ibid. bring the whole Book into doubt and doubtless the excellent Lord Primate (b) Supposing he said so as the Author of Sâ—re Footing reports Vsher was more Good and Learned than to think so tho' perhaps he might judge the Printing of them to be less convenient not as if they were rationally conclusive of any thing really disadvantageous to Scripture but lest the Atheistical or the weak might take an occasion from them to disparage the Scripture which care to avoid the ministring occasion of scandal to others in Religious matters has ever been the wariness of the good and prudent But as for these divers Readings (c) Dr. Br. Walton late Lord B. of Ch. in Proleg 7. ad Biblia Polyglort Qui etiam citat in eundem sensum Lud. Capellum in Proleg 6. some of the most curious Collecters of them have not discern'd any alteration made by them in the Scripture which may wrong Faith or Manners (a) In quâ tamen tam longâ latâ a textu criginario discessione divinam tecum providentiam agnoscimus suspicimus quòd nulla extiterit tam damnosa inter utrosque textus differentia ut rectam fidem quae ad salutem est necessaria labefactaret aut laederet Jacobi Vsserii Armach ad Ludov. Cappellum Epist And the Reverend Arch-Bishop Vsher before named confesses and venerates
are the Holy Scriptures and Oracles of God against what is affirm'd and can be prov'd by us to be uncertain or false in Tradition As in a like case Scholars argue from what is true and clear in Reason against what is false or dubious tho' it have Reason pretended for it Thus discoursing from Reason against Reason i. e. from what is really such against what is such but in name and appearance The sum and result of the Premises is this That as we do not take Tradition's Word for all the Doctrines or Practices and Senses of Scripture it would impose on us though we accept of Tradition's Evidence concerning the Scriptures as was in the beginning of this Chapter acknowledg'd So nor are we oblig'd to the former by acknowledgment of the latter Having stated what may be allow'd and what is denyed to Oral Tradition Next it shall be examin'd what Reason and Experience suggest against its sureness and safety of Conveyance and likewise after that what either can pretend on it's behalf CHAP. III. Reasons against the Certainty and Safety of Conveyance of Divine Truths by Oral Tradition SECT I. IT is asserted That the Body of the Faithful from Age to Age are the Traditioners of Divine Truths Sure Footing p. 60.100 101. that in reality Tradition rightly understood is the same thing materially with the living Voice and Practice of the whole Church essential consisting of Pastors and Laiety Now before Reason can acquiesce in a Tradition by Pastors and Laiety it must according to what has been premis'd be well satisfied in the fitness of the Testifiers The Qualifications of Persons for a due Testification especially in so weighty a matter as Religion are 1. Good knowingness of Fathers and Ancestors in Religion as also due care and diligence of Fathers in teaching their Children together with good Apprehensions Memory and Tractableness in the Children and Posterity 2ly Such a measure of Integrity through all descents as may secure the successive Testifiers against all temptations unto swerving from what they received from Fathers Let these Qualifications be farther considered of 1. The first Requisites are good Knowingness of Fathers together with Care and Diligence as also Apprehension Memory and Tractableness in Children let us examine how far these may be found in the Laiety I believe that the value and zeal for Religion in the first and golden Age of the Church made Fathers diligent to teach and Youth to learn But I doubt that this Temper as is incident to Religious Fervors might cool afterwards and that when Emperors became Christians Ease and Prosperity might beget a restiveness and neglect both in Ancestors and Posterity How well Fathers of Families did perform their part and how docile Children have been throughout the many hundred years before us is out of our Ken. But if we may guess at times past as there is often a likeness in some measure of the ways of Men in one Age to those in another by the times present and nearer to us it is to be wished I fear rather than it will be found that all or most Fathers and Governors of Families were such as Abraham Gen. 18.19 Josh 24.15 and Joshua Religion is too little minded in too many Families The use of a Catechisme is too rare and That when us'd is often little understood and less remembred Commonly Parents teach their Children the Lords Prayer Creed and Ten Commandments and that is well But these Rudiments are too slender a stock for Children to set up with as qualified Conveyers of the Body of the Christian Faith And if even these should pass down long by word of Mouth and not be Written they would be in danger of Maims or Corruptions But it may be thought Dr. James in his Manuduction to Divinity p. 108. Ex. Jo. Avent Conc. Bas M. S. that Spiritual Fathers instruct Young and Old both and capacitate them better for being Oral Traditioners Yet when the Priests were Fools Stocks and slothful Beasts when they had neither Scientiam nor Conscientiam neither Knowledge nor Conscience as it was complain'd in Old time it is not likely that then the Clergy were very careful to instruct the Laiety or that the Laiety should learn much from such a Clergy When of far later years some in Ireland (a) The reverend Arch-Bishop Usher in a Sermon Preached before the King June 20. 1624. on Eph. 4.13 who would be accounted Members of the Roman Church being demanded what they thought of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation not only rejected it with indignation but wondred also that it should be imagin'd any of their side should be so foolish as to give Credit to such a senseless thing When throughout a County in England (b) Dr. J. White in his Preface to The way to the true Church the Vulgar Papists were unable to render an account of their Faith or to understand the Points of the Catechism and utter'd their Creed in a Gibberish ridiculous to others and unintelligible by themselves Then the Priests fail'd in teaching the People or the People in teachableness But perhaps it has been otherwise since and was then in those Countries where the Publick and Authoriz'd Profession of the Roman Religion gave their Clergy more freedom of Access to and of Conversation with the Laiety Yet there 's an Opinion of the Romanists which will not much forward the diligent instructing of the Laiety in the Religion of Forefathers viz. That (a) The Author of Charity mistaken c. In Dr. Potter 's Answer to it pag. 183. 200 201. it suffices the Vulgar to believe implicitely what the Church teaches And that by virtue of such an implicite Faith a Cardinal Bellarmine and a Catholick Collier are of the same Belief This implicite Faith makes quick work and supersedes a distinct knowledge of Divine Truths and then what much need is there of a careful Teaching them They who speak not so broadly yet (a) Azor Instit Mor. Part 1. Lib. 8. Cap. 6. Sect. Tertiò quaeritur Et Sect. Sed mihi probabilius verius say it is the common Opinion of Divines that it is necessary to believe explicitely no more than the Apostles Creed or the fourteen Articles as they speak Nay some hold too that if this explicite Belief be only of the substance of the Articles confusedly and generally it is sufficient But by leave of these Authors such an explicite Belief of the Apostles Creed only much less a confus'd and general Belief cannot be sufficient howsoever sufficient it may be for other purposes to qualifie the Laiety for that great Purpose which in these Papers I am treating of But let the utmost be suppos'd viz. That the Clergy now do and formerly did discharge their Pastoral Duty as amply and faithfully as is requisite yet the Peoples usual immersion in secular business and distractions their oscitancy in Religious matters slowness of Understanding frailty of Memory in the