of against the Scriptures was never so much as thought of in those days or if it were was not thought worth answering for they diâ— not in the least desert the proofs of Scripture because their Adversaries made use of it too But they endeavouâ—ed to shew that their Adversaries Doctrine had no solid Foundation in Scripture but theirs had i.e. that the Arians perverted it because they did not examine and compare places as they ought to do but run away with a few words without considering the scope and design of them or comparing them with places plainer than those were which they brought Thus when the Arians objected that place My Father is greater than I Athanasius bids them compare that with other places such as My Father and I are one and who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equâ—â— with God and by him all things were made c. When Arius objected to us there is but one God of whom are all things he telâ—s him he ought to consider the following words and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things from whence when Arius argued that Christ was only Gods instrument in creating things Athanasius then bids him compare this place with another where it is said of whom the whole body c. Not barely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Arians objected Christs saying all things are delivered to me from my Father Athanasius opposes that place of St. Iohn to it By him all things were made Thus when they objected several other places he constantly hath recourse to Iohn 1. 1 2 3. to Phil. 2. 7. 1 Iohn 5. 20. and others which he thought the plainest places for Christs eternal Divinity and by these he proves that the other were to be interpreted with a respect to his humane nature and the State he was in upon Earth So that the greatest Defender of the Doctrine of the Trinity against the Arians saw no necessity at all of calling in the Assistance of any infalâ—ible Guides to give the certain sense of Scripture in these doubtful places but he thought the Scripture plain enough to all those who would impartially examine it and for others who wilfully shut their eyes no light could be great enough for them Indeed when the Arians called in the help of any of the Ancient Writers to justify their Doctrine then Athanasius thought himself concerneâ— to vindâ—cate them as particularly Dionysius of Alexandria But as he saith if they can produce Scripture or Reason for what they say let them do it but if not let them hold their peace Thereby implying that these were the only considerable things to be regarded yet he shews at large that they abused the Testimony of Dionysius who although in his letters against Sabellius he spake too much the other way yet in other of his writings he sufficiently cleared himself from being a savouâ—er of the Arian Heresie And although Athanasius doth else where say that the Faith which the Catholick Church then held was the faith of their Fore-fathers and descended from the Apostles yet he no where saith that without the help of that Tradition it had been impossible to have known the certain sense of Scripture much less without the infallible interpretation of the Guides of the present Church S. Hilary in his disputes against the same Hereticks professes in the beginning that his intention was to confound their rage and ignorance out of writings of the Prophets and Apostles and to that end desires of his Readers that they would conceive of God not according to the Laws of their own beings but according to the greatness of what he had declared of himself For he is the best Reader of Scripture who doth not bring his sense to the Scripture but takes it from it and doth not resolve before hand to find that there which he concluded must be the sence before he reads In things therefore which concern God we must allow him to know himself best and give due Reverence to his word For he is the best witness to himself who cannot be known but by himself In which words he plainly asserts that the Foundation of our Faith must be in the Scriptures and that a free and impartial mind is necessary to find out the true sense of Scripture And after he had said in the second Book that Heresies arise from misunderstanding the Scripture and charged in his fourth Book the Arians particularly with it he proceeds to answer all the places produced by them out of the old and new Testament by comparing several places together and the antecedents and consequents and by these means proving that they mistook the meaning of Scripture So in the beginning of his ninth Book rehearsing the Common places which were made use of by the Arians he saith they repeated the words alone without enquiring into the meaning or Contexture of them whereas the true sense of Scripture is to be taken from the antecedents and consequents their fundamental mistake being the applying those things to his Divine nature which were spoken of his humane which he makes good by a particular examination of the several places in Controversie The same course is taken by Epiphanius Phaebadius and others of the ancient Writers of the Church who asserted the Eternal Divinity of Christ against the Arians Epiphanius therefore charges them which mangling and perverting the sense of Scripture understanding figurative expressions literâ—â—ly and those which are intended in a plain sense figuratively So that it is observable in that great Controversie which disturbed the Church so many years which exercised the wits of all men in that time to find out a way to put an end to it after the Guides of the Church had in the Council of Nice declared what was the Catholick faith yet still the Controversie was managed about the sense of Scripture and no other ways made use of for finding it than such as we plead for at this day It is a most incredible thing that in a time of so violent contention so horrible confusion so scandalous divisions in the Christian Church none of the Catholick Bishops should once suggest this admirable Expedient of Infallibility But this Palladium was not then fallen down from heaven or if it were it was kept so secret that not one of the Writers of the Christian Church in that busie and disputing Age discovered the least knowledge of it Unless it be said that of all times it was then least fit to talk of Infallibility in the Guides of the Church when they so frequently in Councils contrâ—dicted each other The Synodical Book in the new Tomes of the Councils reckons up 31. several Councils of Bishops in the time of the Arian Controversie whereof near 20. were for the Arians and the rest against them If the sense of Scripture were in this time to be taken from the Guides of the
peace if Controversies were referred to an infallible Judge we must therefore allow every one that pretends to it to be such an infallible Guide And we must on the same ground allow every one if we must not first be satisfied of the grounds on which it is challenged by any one And withal since Christ is the best Judge of what is fittest for his Church we must see by his Laws whether he hath made it necessary for all Controversies to be ended by a standing Judge that should arise about the sense of Scripture If he hath not done it it is to no puâ—pose to say it is fit he should have done it for that is to upbraid Christ with weakness and not to end differences in his Church 2. Supposing it necessary that Controversies should be ended it may as well be done without an infallible Judge of the sense of Scripture as with one for all that is pretended to be done by an infallible Judge is to give a certain sense of controverted places so that men are either bound to look on that which they give as the certain sense on the account of the infallibility of the Interpreter or that such an infallible interpretation being set aside there is no way to know the certain sense of Scripture If the first then no man can be more certain of the sense of any doubtful place than he is of the infallibility of his Interpreter I desire therefore to be resolved in this case I am told I can arrive at no certainty of the sense of doubtful places of Scripture without an infallible Interpreter I say the places of Scripture which are alledged for such an infallible Judge are the most doubtful and controverted of any I would fain understand by what means I may come to be certain of the meaning of these places and to find out the sense of them Must I do it only by an infallible Guide but that is the thing I am now seeking for and I must not suppose that which I am to prove If I may be certain without supposing such an infallible Guide of the meaning of these very doubtful and controverted places than why may I not by the same way of proceeding arrive at the certainty of any other less doubtful and obscure places unless there be some private way to come at the sense of those places which will hold for none else besides them which is not so easy to understand 2. I come theâ—efore to the second enquiry which is about the means of attaining the certain sense of Scripture in doubtful places without the supposition of an infallible Guide It will not I hope be denyed that the Primitive Christian Church had a certain way of understanding the sense of doubtful places as far as it was necessary to be understood and that they wanted no means which Christ had appointed for the ending of Controversies But I shall now shew that they proceeded by no other means than what we use so that if they had any means to come to a certain sense of Scripture we have the same and it would be a veâ—y hard case if by the use of the same means we cannot attain the same end I shall therefore give an account of the proceeding of the Primitive Church in this weighty Controversy concerning the sense of Scripture in doubtful places and if no such thing was then heard off as an infallible Judge it is a plain demonstration they thought there was none appointed because the disputes that happened then required as much the Authority of such a Judge as any that are at this day in the Christian Church In the first Ages of Christianity there were two sorts of Controversies which disturbed the Church one was concerning the Authority of the Books of the new Testament and the other concerning the sense of them For there was no one Book of the New Testament whose Authority was not called in Question by some Hereticks in those first Ages The Gnosticks by whom I understand the followers of Simon Magus Menander Saturninus and Basilides haâ— framed a new Religion of their own under the name of Christian and had no regard to the Writings either of the old or new Testament but had a Book of their own which they called the Gospel of Perfection But as Epiphanius well observes no man that hath understanding needs Scripture to refute such a Religion as theirs was for right reason alone was sufficient to discover the folly and filthyness of it The followers of Cerinthus and Ebion acknowledged no other Gospel but that of St. Matthew and that not entire but with diverse corruptions and interpolations according to their several fancies Cerdon and Marcion allowed no Gospel but that of St. Luke which they altered according to their pleasure cutting off the Genealogy and other places and inserting many things as it served most to their purpose as may be seen at large in Epiphanius Some say the Valentinians received no other Gospel but that of St. Iohn as the Alogi in Epiphanius rejected that alone but I do not find that Valentinus did reject any but added more for Irenaeus chargeth the Valentinians only with adding another Gospel which they called the Gospel of Truth and Tertullian expresly saith that Valentinus therein differed from Marcion that Marcion cut off what he pleased with his sword but Valentinus corrupted it with his pen for although he allowed all the Books of the New Testament yet he perverted the meaning of them Eusebius tells us that the followers of Severus rejected the Epistles of S. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles and interpreted the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels after a peculiar sense of their own So that we see those who undertook to confute these Hereticks were not only to vindicate the true sense of Scripture but to dispute with such who did not own the same Books which they did and therefore were forced to use such ways of arguing as were proper to them as may be seen at large by the proceedings of Irenaeus and Tertullian against them But because the Valentinians and Marcionites did endeavour to suit their extravagant fancies to the Scriptures allowed by them it will be necessary for us to enquire by what means they went about to clear the true sense of Scripture from their false Glosses and Interpretations Irenaeus in the beginning of his Book relating at large the Doctrines of the Valâ—ntinians saith that by the perverse interpretations and corrupt expositions of the Scripture they drew away unstable minds from the true faith for they pretended to find out deeper and more mysterious things in the Scripture than others were acquainted with viz. That Christ intimated the 30. Aeöns by not appearing till the 30. year of his Age. That the parable of men called at the first the third the sixth the ninth the eleventh hour referred to the same thing for those hours make up
Imprimatur Sam. Parker R. in Christo Patri ac D no. D no. Gilberto Arch. Episc. Cantuar. à sac Dom. April 15. 1673. AN ANSWER To several late TREATISES Occasioned by a Book entituled a DISCOURSE Concerning the IDOLATRY Practised in the CHURCH of ROME AND The Hazard of Salvation in the Communion of it By Edward Stillingfleet D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty The First Part. LONDON Printed by R. W. for Henry Mortlock and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1673. THE General Preface IT is not for any pleasure I take in Controversie nor out of a Resolution to maintain what I have once written that I expose my self again to the Censures of Some and the Rage of others in Defence of our Church against the Church of Rome But out of a just sense of the Weight and goodness of the Cause I have undertaken which if my affection to it hath not strangely blinded my judgement doth highly concern us as Men as English Men and as Christians For it is the Cause of Sense and Reason against the absurd Doctrines they impose on both it is the Cause of our Nation against the Usurpation and Tyranny of a Forrain Power it is the Cause of the true Faith and Christianity against the Errors and Corruptions of the Roman Church To abandon such a Cause as this were to betray the things which ought to be most dear to us for we cannot be reconciled to that Church on any easier terms than renouncing our Sense and Reason enslaving our Country and hazarding our Salvation And what can they give us in exchange for these It was the last of those three Heads which gave occasion to the late so much railed at and so little confuted Book which no sooner appeared but as if some dreadful Monster had risen out of the earth some crossed themselves and kept as far out of the sight of it as they could others made hideous out-crys and grievous complaints and the more fearful sort were forbidden either looking on it or entertaining any discourse about it Upon which I pleased my self that I had not added another Chapter to the Book for if that number had agreed with the ten particulars it had passed among them for the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns and they would have been glad their City upon seven Hills could have been so excused But this unusual noise and clamour awakened the curiosity of many who love to see strange sights and that which otherwise might have been wholly neglected as a Book was enquired after and looked into being represented as a Monster But when they found that this evil Spirit as they accounted it which themselves had raised was not to be laid again by hard words and ill language they began to consider what other course was to be taken to suppress it And forthwith there starts up a Young Sophister among them and bids them be of good heart for by letting flie at him some Squibs and Crackers he did not question but he should put this Monster into such a Rage as to make him fall upon himself which design being highly approved in a short time came forth that dapper piece called Doct. Stillingfleet against Doct. Stillingfleet It was a notable plot and cunningly managed as the Reader may see by the following Answer to it After him a Graver Person undertakes the service but as Hasenmullerus tells us when Ignatius Loyola sent one of his Brethren at Rome to dispossess a Person he gave him this instruction that he should be sure to come behind the Devil if he would drive him out accordingly this N. O. steals quite behind my Book and began to confute it at the wrong end hoping by that means to drive out the evil Spirit which he supposed to lodge in the Body of it Which he hath performed with great dexterity and success as the Reader may be fully satisfied in the Reply here following These two I undertook before any other appeared and intended to have published these two Answers by themselves but finding others that had written against me on the same argument I was willing to bring as much as I could together to prevent confusion or repetition All which relating to the Principles of Faith and the Rosolution and Rule of it I made account to have dispatched at once but finding the Book begin to swell into too great a bulk I have respited some parts of it to another opportunity When those two men had done their Feats an ancient and experienced Exorcist and yet for all that no Conjurer saw plainly this Spirit must be conjured down and thefore knowing the great efficacy of Charms he gives his Book the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stillingfleeton Which words put me almost in as great a fright as the Holy Chair would have done I began to consider whether Mengus or any other of their skilful men had ever used those Emphatical words before but I am willing to believe it was the sole invention of J. V. C. And I doubt not but they will do well hereafter in Exorcisms especially after the holy Potion when the person to be dispossessed is made sufficiently sick with Rue and Sallet-oyl and other excellent Physick for Devils I find by some of their Authors it is a great matter to get the right name of the Spirit this J. V. C. hath hit unluckily in calling this Monster the Leviathan sporting in the waters since they have thrown out so many empty vessels for him to play with And his three books of Charms have been no unpleasant entertainment But he is gone and I love not to tread hard on the graves of my enemies What there appears material in him if anything do so I shall consider it in its proper place chiefly for the sake of my Iudicious Adversary Dr. T. G. who was the first and I think the only person that hath discovered his Book to be a Learned Treatise But my generous Adversaries finding so little success in single attempts they next fall upon me with Chain-shot viz. A Collection of several Treatises against Doct. Stillingfleet To make up the number they bring in one before published to try an experiment what force that can have in conjunction which had none of it self The first undertaker therein is the very calm and according to his new Christian Name Serene Mr. Cressy the man that hath learnt to mortifie passions by Mystical Divinity but is so far from being sublimed and rectified by that Chymical way of devotion that he seems yet to remain in the very dregs of them the man that hath so accustomed him-self to Legends that he cannot write against an Adversary without making one of him And although there be many very pleasant ones in his Church-History yet I hardly think there are many more wonderful than if his insinuations had any colour of truth in them the first part of
will suffer the people to try nothing but do teach them wholly to depend on them and to that purpose they have indeed three notable sleights First they forbid them the reading of the Scriptures And the better to be obeyed therein they will not permit the Scriptures to be Translated into the Vulgar Tongue Whereof it came to pass that the people were so easily seduced and drawn from Christ to the Pope from his merits to the Saints and their own merits from his bloody sacrifice whereby only sins are remitted to their most dry and fruitless sacrifice from the spiritual food of his Body and Blood unto a carnal and Capernaitical Transubstantiation from the calling upon his name to an Invocation of Saints and from their sure trust and confidence in his death to a vain imagination of the vertue of their Masses Pilgrimages Pardons and I know not what intolerable Superstition and Idolatry I hope Arch-Bishop Bancroft may for once pass for no Puritan with T. G. But what will he say if the only persons he produces as most partial of his side do give in evidence against him Bishop Mountague is the first whose words are these in the Book cited by him Our predecessors and Fathers coming late out of Popery living near unto Papists and Popish times conversing with them having been nuzzled and brought up amongst them and knowing that Images used to be crept unto incensed worshipped and adored among them c. What thinks he is not this all one as to charge them with Idolatry And more plainly in his former Book But whatsoever you say however you qualify the thing with gentle words we say in your practice you far exceed and give them that honour which is Latria a part of Divine respect and worship And afterwards saith the people go to it with downright adoration and your new Schools defend that the same respect is due to the representer as must be given to the representee So that the Crucifix is to be reverenced with the the self-same honour that Christ Jesus is Ablasphemy not heard of till Thomas Aquinas set it on foot Clear these enormities and others like these then come and we may talk and soon agree concerning honour and respect unto Reliques or Images of Saints or Christ till then we cannot answer it unto our Maker to give his honour unto a Creature His next is Pet. Heylin And now I hope we have at last hit upon a man far enough from being a Puritan yet this very Person gives plain evidence against him For i◠his 4th Sermon on the Tares preached a◠White-Hall Ianuary 27. 1638. H◠hath these words So it is also in the point of Images first introduced into the Church for ornament History and imitation Had they staid there it had been well and no faul◠found with them But when the Schools began to State it that the same Veneration was to be afforded to the Type and Prototype then came the Doctrine to the growth When and by whom and where it was first so stated is not easie to determine and indeed not necessary It is enough that we behold it in the fruits And what fruits think you could it bear but most gross Idolatry greater than which was never known among the Gentils Witness their praying not before but to the Crucifix and calling on the very Cross the wooden and material Cross both to increase their righteousness and remit their sins And for the Images of the Saints they that observe with what laborious Pilgrimages magnificent processions solemn offerings and in a word with what affections prayers and humble bendings of the body they have been and are worshipped in the Church of Rome might very easily conceive that She was once again relapsed into her ancient Paganism With much more to the same purpose His only person remaining is Mr. Thorndike a man of excellent Learning and great piety but if we should grant that he held some thing singular in this matter what is that to the constant opinion of our Church and yet even Mr. Thorndike himself in a paper sent by him 〈◊〉 some whom T. G. know's not long before his death saith That to pray to Saints for those things which only God can give as all Papist do is by the proper sense of the word◠down-right Idolatry If they say their meaning is by a figure only to desire them to procure their requests of God How dare any Christian trust his soul with that Church which teaches that which must needs be Idolatry in all that understand not the figure So that upon the whole matter T. G. cannot produce any on◠Person of our Church that hath clearly an◠wholly acquitted the Church of Rome from the charge of Idolatry It seems then 〈◊〉 Church hath been made up of Puritans i◠T. G's sense of them But if these do no◠satisfy him what doth he think of the Arch-Bishop and Bishops and Clergy of the Convocation A. D. 1640. Were 〈◊〉 these Puritans too And yet in the sevent◠Canon they have these words And albeit at the time or Reforming this Church from that gross Superstition of Popery it was carefully provided that all means should be used to root out of the minds of the people both the inclination thereto and memory thereof especially of the Idolatry committed in the Mass for which cause all Popish Altars were demolished c. What can more express the sense of our Church than the concurrent opinion of Arch-Bishops Bishops and Clergy of both Provinces met in Convocation When we see they so lately charged the Church of Rome with Idolatry Let us now consider what exceptions he takes against the other witnesses produced by me Jewel Bilson Davenant all eminent Bishops of our Church and of great learning are cast away at once as incompetent Persons But why so Why saith T. G. they were all excepted against by our late Soveraign K. Charcles I. in his third paper to Henderson That is a shrewd prejudice indeed to their Authority to be rejected by a Prince of so excellent a judgement and so Cordial a friend to the Church of England But it is good to be sure whether it be so or no. All that he saith of Bishop Iewel is this and though I much reverence Bishop Iewel ' s memory I never thought him infallible So then he must he Puritanically inclined but whence does that follow not surely from the Kings reverencing his memory for that were to reflect upon the King himself not from his not thinking him Infallible For I dare say the King never thought the Pope infallible must be needs therefore think him a Puritan Surely never man was such a Friend to the Puritans as this T. G. who without any ground gives them away some of the greatest honours of our Church and if the Testimony last cited be of any force to prove one a Puritan all mankind and himself too for I plainly perceive by this
the argument from parity of Reason p. 137. Of the Authority of the Guides of the Church in ten Propositions p. 142. The case of Vigilius and Honorius at large discussed p. 154 159. The different case of the separation of dissenters from our Church and our separation from the Church of Rome p. 180. Of the means to attain the sense of Scripture without an infallible Guide p. 186. Of the necessity of a Iudge in controversies p. 191. The way used in the Primitive Church for finding the sense of Scripture through several Ages of the Christian Church from the most authentick Writers of them p. 198. Church Authority not destroyed by my principles p. 260. What Authority we allow to Governors of the Church p. 267. The Roman Churches way of suppressing Sects compared with ours p. 286. ERRATA PAge 20. line 13. read the Church p. 26. l. 14 for and r. that p. 49. l. â— for here r. whâ—re p 176 l 23. r. Eutychianism p. 177. l. 8. r. followed p. 17. l. 5. r. Patriarchal p. 182. l. 14. for by r. â—e p. 189. l. 22. r. Apocalypticâ— p. 209. l. 30. for Boo r. Book p. 225. marg r. Vales. not ad Eusch. p. 273. 〈◊〉 r. Euclid p. 271. l. 7. for he makes this r. this is made p. 280. l. 5. blot â— one the. The Preface WHen I Published the late Book which hath so much enraged those of the Church of Rome against me I thought I had reason to expect that a just Answer should be made to it but they have taken an effectual course to undeceive me for by this new way I perceive their utmost ambition is to have something abroad which among themselves may pass for an Answer Which put me in mind of what I have heard a great Person said when he had undertaken to manage an ill cause before a publick Audience and one of his Friends asked him what he meant by it trouble not your self said he our own side will be sure to believe me It was surely some such presumption as this which made the learned Authors of these two elaborate Pamphlets to appear in such a manner in Print as if it were no great matter what they said so their people might have this to say and if they can believe it too that my book is answered If this be all their cause will afford it deserves rather to be pittied than confuted if it will bear more they are as bad managers of it as their enemies could wish For however I was threatned before hand that such answers were coming abroad every line of which would fetch blood yet as cruel as they are when we are under their lash I found that which they designed for my punishment to give me no small pleasure and I never had so good an opinion of the mercifulness of their Church as when I saw with what feeble hands they chastised me I had heard so much of their rage that I expected their greatest strength would be employ'd upon me and I could not tell what Zamzummims they might hitherto keep in the dark whose arms were not to be made use of but upon some special occasion when an Adversary was to be dispatch'd all at once and so perfectly subdued as never to appear more While I was preparing my self for this kind of Martyrdome out come these mighty men of valour who have beaten nothing that I know of but the air and themselves for they have neither tyed my tongue nor broke my heart nor fetched one drop of blood that I can yet find all which were things I was told would be done when these answers came abroad which threatnings made so loud a noise that I heard the report of them not only nearer home but from very distant persons and places But lest I should be thought only to despise my Adversaries which I confess they have given me no small occasion to do I shall bestow a particular examination upon what they have offered by way of Answer to my Book Only I think it reasonable in the first place to take notice of their present way and method of Answering wherein they make use of as many artifices as they do in gaining Proselytes When we set our selves to Answer their Books we endeavour to state the Controversie plainly to examine their proofs to apply distinct Answers to their Arguments fairly represented in their own words and to render the whole Discourse as clear and perspicuous as may be that all persons may be capable of judging on which side the greatest strength and evidence lyes This is the mighty advantage which a good cause gives us we make use of no tricks to deceive men nor Sophistical cavils to confound and perplex things we dare appeal to the judgement of any impartial person who will take the pains to examin the matters in difference between us But in their late dealings with us they seek to avoid the main things in dispute and abhor any methodical proceeding one man picks out a sentence here and there to answer another a page or two together a third leaps from one thing to another as if resolv'd to pass by the greatest difficulties but he is a man of courage indeed that dares fall upon the reer and begin to confute a Book at the end of it so that if he lives long enough and get heart he may in time come to the beginning And if we observe them all they look for nothing so much as some cleanly way of escape and if they can but raise such a dust as to fly away without being openly discerned to do so this they hope those of their own side will be so kind and partial as to call a Victory These are no general accusations but such as are easie to observe in their dealings with me as to my former Book and that lately published But to judicious men all these little arts and shifts are either plain acknowledgements of a baffled Cause or an Argument of a weak and unskilful management If the Book it self be a little too troublesome to be medled with it is best to fall upon the Author and it is a hard case if by false and ridiculous stories or open calumnies or at least base and ugly insinuations they cannot diminish his reputation and then they hope the Book will sink with its Author But we are not Ignorant whose cause is wont to be managed by such devices as these are and from whom they have learnt this method of confuting Adversaries As for all their railing accusations against me I shall not so much as desire God to rebuke them but only pray that he would pardon them and if I must thank them for any thing it is for giving me the occasion for exercising so great a charity I have learnt of him who when he was reviled reviled not again not only to forbear reproaching them in the same manner but to return them good for evil
very mean one of the Books of Scripture and the Divine Revelations therein contained I could here earnestly intreat the wiser men of that Church for the honour of God and the Christian Religion not to suffer such inconsiderate persons to vindicate their cause who to defend the extravagant infirmities of some Enthusiastical women among them are so forward to cast dirt and reproach upon our common Religion and those Revelations from whence we derive it But I forbear only it is a shrewd sign if this way be allowed of a wretched cause that cannot be maintained without plunging those who rely upon their word into the depths of Atheism But these are not things to be so slightly passed over they deserve a fuller and severer chastisement For the present this is enough to shew what monstrous absurdities this way of vindicating their Church from Fanaticism hath brought I. W. to Yet in one respect he deserves some pardon for they are wont to write their answers upon the common Themes out of some staunch Authors who considered a little better what they writ But this was a new charge and neither Bellarmin Becanus nor any of their old beaten souldiers could give them any assistance they found not the Title of the Fanaticism of the Roman Church in any of their common-place-common-place-Books therefore plain Mother-wit must help them and so it hath bravely But before they again attempt this matter I desire them to consider these things least they should in a desperate humour utterly give up the cause of Religion finding themselves unable to defend that of their Church 1. Whether there can be any greater Fanaticism than a false pretence to immediate divine Revelation For what can more expose men to all the follies and delusions imaginable than this will do what actions can be so wild and extravagant but men may do under such a pretence of immediate Revelation from God what bounds of order and Government can be preserved some may pretend a Revelation to take up Arms against their Prince or to destroy all they meet which is no unheard of thing others may not go so far but may have revelations of the unlawfulness of Kingly Government others may pretend revelations of a new Gospel and a more spiritual dispensation than hath been yet in the World as the Mendicant Friers did 2. Whether we are bound to believe all such who say They have divine revelations or whether persons may not be deceived in thinking they have revelations when they are only delusions of their own Fancies or the Devil if not then every one is to be believed who pretends to these things and then all follies and contradictions must be fwallowed which men say they have by immediate revelation and every Fanatick must be believed to have divine revelation who believes himself though he be only deluded by his own Imagination or become Enthusiastical by the power of a disease in his head or some great heat in his blood 3. Whether there must not be some certain rules established whereby all persons and even competent authority it self must proceed in judging these pretences to revelation whether they be true or false for if they proceed without rule they must either be inspired too or else must receive all who pretend to divine revelations if there be any certain rules whereby the revelation is to be judged then if any persons receive any revelation against those rules whether are other persons bound to follow their judgement against those rules 4. Whether there can be any more certain rule of judging than that two things evidently contradictory to each other cannot both come from divine revelation For then God must contradict himself which is impossible to be supposed and would overthrow the faith of any divine revelation And this is the plain case of the revelations made to two famous Saints in the Roman Church S. Brigitt and S. Catharine to one it was revealed that the B. Virgin was conceived with Original sin to the other that she was not both these have competent Authority for they were both Canonized for Saints by the Roman Church and their Revelations approved and therefore according to I. W. neither of them were Fanaticks though it is certain that one of their Revelations was false For either God must contradict himself or one of these must be deceived or go about to deceive and what greater Fanaticism can there be than that is if one of these had only some Fanatick Enthusiasm and the other divine Revelation then competent authority and submission to the judgement of the Church is not a rule to judge Fanaticism by for those were equal in both of them 5. Whether there be an equal reason to look for revelations now as in the time of the Prophets and our Saviour and his Apostles or whether God communicates revelations to no other end but to please and gratifie some Enthusiastical tempers and what should be the reason he should do it more now than in the age wherein revelations were more necessary In those times God revealed his mind to men but it was for the benefit of others when he sent them upon particular messages as the Prophets or made known some future events to them of great importance to the Church as the coming of the Messias c. or Inspired them to deliver weighty doctrines to the world as he did both the Prophets and Apostles why should we think that God now when the revelations of these holy and inspired persons are upon record and all things necessary to his Church are contained therein should vary this method of his and entertain some melancholy and retired women or other Enthusiastical persons with visions and revelations of no use to his Church 6. Whether God doth ever Inspire persons with immediate revelations without giving sufficient evidence of such Inspiration For if he did it were to leave men under a temptation to Infidelity without means to withstand it if he doth not then we have reason to examine the evidence before we believe the revelation The evidence God gave of old was either the Prophecy of a succession of Prophets by one whose commission was attested by great miracles as Moses who told the Israelites they were to expect Prophets and laid down rules to judge of them by or else by miracles wrought by themselves as by the Apostles whom our Lord sent abroad to declare his will to the world And where these are not what reason is there to receive any new Revelations as from God especially when the main predictions of the New Testament are of false Prophets and false Miracles 7. Whether the Revelations of their pretended Saints being countenanced by the Authority of their Church be equally received among them with the Revelations contained in Scripture if they be then they ought to have equal reverence paid to them and they ought to read them as Scripture to cite their Authority as divine and to believe them as infallible
there must be orders and Constitutions whereby all must be kept within their due bounds and there must be persons appointed to instruct the Ignorant to satisfy the doubting to direct the unskilful and to help the weak It belongs to such a Society not barely to provide for necessity but safety and not meerly the safety of particular persons but of it self which cannot be done without prudent orders fixing the bounds of mens imployments and not suffering every pretender to visions and Revelations to set up for a new Sect or which is all one a new Order of Religious men How comes it now to pass that by saying that men considered barely as Christians may understand all that is necessary to their Salvation I do overthrow all Authority of a Church and make all men Prophets Do I in the least mention mens teaching others or being able themselves to put a difference between what is so necessary and what not or doth S. C. suppose that all that understand what is necessary to Salvation have no need to be ruled and governed If he thinks so I assure him I am quite of another opinion and do make no question but that Government ought to be preserved in a Church though the necessaries to Salvation be known to all in it and so I suppose doth any one else that in the least considers what he says By this we see that S. C ' s. recrimination of Fanaticism on our Church by vertue of this principle is as feeble as the Defence he hath made for his own of which he may hear in due time But if there be any Fanaticism in this principle we have the concurrence of the greatest and wisest persons of the Christian Church in it Two of them especially have in terms said as much as I have done St. Augustin in his Books of Christian Doctrine already mentioned and St. Chrysostome in as plain words as may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are plain and right in the holy Scriptures all necessary things are manifest Let S. C. now charge all the dreadful consequences of this principle on St. Chrysostome and tell him that he destroyed all Church-Authority and laid the Foundation for the height of Fanaticism Nay S. Chrysâ—stome goes much higher than I do for he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If I had made the Guides of the Church so useless as St. Chrysostome seems to do in these words what passionate and hideous out-crys would S. C. have made And by this let the skill or ingenuity of S. C. be tryed who says that I cannot find out one single short sentence in Antiquity to support the main pillar of my Religion which he supposes this principle to be and for the finding out the sense of Scripture without the help of Infallibility I have produced more out of Antiquity in this discourse than either he or his whole partie will be able to Answer 3. Not the denying the Authority of the Church of Rome Which I must do till I see some better proofs for it than I have ever yet done But how doth this destroy all Authority in a Church can there be none but what is derived from Rome I do not think I do in the least diminish the Kings Authority by denying that he derives it from the Cham of Tartary or the Great Mogol although they may challenge the Lordship of the whole Earth to themselves and may pretend very plausible reasons that it would be much more for the quiet and conveniency of mankind to be all under one universal Monarch and that none have so fair a pretence to it as they that have challenged the Right of it to themselves and yet for all this I do verily believe the King hath an unquestionable right to his Kingdom and a just Authority over all his subjects The time was when the first of Genesis would serve to prove the Popes title and the Suns ruling by day was thought a clear argument for his supremacy but the world is now altered and all the wit and subtility that hath been since used hath not been able to make good that crackt title of Universal Pastorship which the Bishops of Rome have taken to themselves But although we disown the Popes Authority as an unjust usurpation we assert and plead for the Authority of the Church and the Bishops who are placed therein who derive their power to Govern the Church from Christ and not from the Pope And I dare appeal to any Person whether the asserting the Bishops deriving their Authority from Christ or from the Pope be the better way of defending their Power We are not now disputing what Authority were fit to be entrusted in the Popes hands supposing all other differences composed and that things were in the same State wherein they were in the times of the 4. General Councils in which case it ought to be considered how far it might be convenient to give way to such an Authority so apt to grow extravagant and which hath been stretched so very far beyond what the Canons allowed that it hath challenged Infallibility to it self but the thing at present under debate is whether the disallowing the Papal Hierarchy doth overthrow all Authority in the Episcopal which is in effect to ask whether there be any other power besides the Popes in the Church for if there be any other the denying the Popes Authority over us cannot in the least diminish the just Authority of Bishops The only considerable Question in this case is whether the rejecting that Hierarchy which was in being at the the time of the Reformation doth not make way for the peoples rejecting the Authority of our Bishops and consequently no Authority in the Church can be maintained unless we again yield to the Papal Authority This I suppose to be N. O. meaning when he tells us by Church-Authority he means that Superior and more comprehensive Body of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy which in any dissent and division of the Clergy according to the Church Canons ought to be obeyed And any particular Church divided from this more universal cannot with the least pretence of reason challenge submission from her subjects since she her self and particularly the Church of England refused the same to all the Authority extant in the world when she separated her self To this I answer That the Church of England in Reforming her self did not oppose any just Authority then extant in the World It is to no purpose to make sâ—ch loud clamours about our Churches refusing submission to all the Authority then extant in the World unless there be better Evidence produced for it than we have yet seen For it is very well known that the dispute was then concerning the Popes Supremacy over our Church which we have all along asserted to have been a notorious encroachment upon the liberties of our Church And the Popes usurpations were 〈◊〉 injurious both to the Ecclesiastical and Civil
in which time he would sin mortally by omitting contrition if he were obliged to it but this saith he is against the common opinion of Divines that a man contracts any new guilt by omitting contrition Nay he afterwards determins that a man that hath received the Sacrament of Penance with bare attrition is not bound under the guilt of mortal sin for omitting it to an act of contrition at the point of death which is he saith the commonly received opinion among them and he quotes Diana Coninch Becanus Layman Fagundez Faber Turrianus Salas and others for it The great argument he brings is because Confessors do not think themselves obliged to put men in mind of an act of contrition at that time as necessary as common experience shews And are not such Confessors excellent Guides to Heaven the mean while If they be they have found out a much broader way and wider gate than ever Christ intended What not one single act of contrition necessary No not at the point of death What pity it is for sinners you have not the keeping of Heaven-gates How do they want the Sacrament of Penance in Hell for no doubt there is attrition good store there But above all of them commend me to honest Gregor de Valentiâ who not only makes contrition unnecessary but saith it is rather a hindrance to the effect of the Sacraments From whence Morinus justly infers that a Confessor ought not to perswade the Penitent to Contrition nor the penitent to endeavour after it Nay Morinus shews that grave men and famous in their Church do assert that a Penitent having received the Sacrament of Penance is not bound to so much as one act of contrition or the Love of God in order to his reconciliation with God Yea although a man hath hated God to the last act of his life if he receives the Sacrament of Penance they deny that it is necessary for him to be contrite for his sins or to love God Nothing could go beyond this but what follows in him that the excellency of the Evangelical Sacraments above the legal consists in this that the Evangelical Sacraments have freed us from the most heavy yoke 〈◊〉 of contrition and the Love of God O admirable Guides of Conscience I do not at all question but Jews Turks and Heathens have a much better and truer notion of Repentance than these men the Pagan Philosophers were Christians to them And what injury have I done them now in charging such things upon them which obstruct devotion and overthrow the necessity of a good life For I hardly think it possible to contrive a Doctrine more effectual for that end than to tell men that the Sacraments of the Gospel do free men from that heavy yoke Contrition and the Love of God But supposing there were no such Foundation for this Doctrine in the Council of Trent as we see there is would there be no danger to mens Salvation if their Confessors generally told then these things and they knew it to be thâ— current opinion among them Is there 〈◊〉 danger of falling into the ditch wheâ— the Blind lead the Blind unless General Council expresly allow of it 〈◊〉 there no danger by Empericks aâ—â— Mountebanks unless the whole Coâ—ledge of Physicians approve them Anâ— of all sorts of Empericks the worst aâ—â— such Casuists and Confessors Is therâ— no way to magnify the Sacerdotal office unless they have a Power to Trepan Soul into eternal flames for want of true repentance by making them believe thâ— Priests absolution with bare attritioâ— will make all even with God Or 〈◊〉 this Doctrine only a Decoy to draw great sinners into your nets And all this while is your Church innocent which at least sees and will not reform these things In A. D. 1665. 24. of September and 18. May 1666. the Congregation of the Inquisition at Rome under Alexander 7. took upon them to censure 45. several Propositions of the late Casuists as scandalous and pernicious to the Souls of men but not one of them relates to this Doctrine of repentance although the Jansenists in France had complained of it Whence could this arise but from looking on it as the Doctrine of their Church Indeed I find that on May 5. 1667. The Pope caused a Decree to be published straitly forbidding all persons in their debates about Attrition to condemn each other but it is worth our while to understand what this controversie was viz. Whether bare attrition doth require an act of the love of God and although the Negative be there said to be the more common opinion yet the Pope would not have the others that affirmed it to be censured But not the least word against the sufficiency of bare attrition Are any of the Books censured which assert this Doctrine Nay they are published with great approbations Are any of the Defenders of it discountenanced Nay they are Persons in the highest esteem dignity and Authority among them Are any cautions given to Confessors to beware of these Doctrines Nay these very Books are purposely written and approved for their instruction and use And if their Church be innocent after all this so was the Iewish Church in our Saviours time for the corruptions that were then among them had no decree of the Sanhedrin that I find for them it was only their Schoolmen and Casuists the Scribes and Pharisees which introduced them And yet our Saviour thought mens Souls in danger when he bid them beware of the leaven of the Pharisees I confess when we debate the causes of Separation from their Communion we think it then reasonable to alledge no more than what they impose on all to believe and practice and we have enough of all Conscience in that kind without going farther but when we represent the hazard of Salvation to particular persons we may then justly charge them with the pernicious Doctrines and practices which are received and allowed among them although not decreed by the Church in Councils For otherwise it would be just as if one should say to a man that asked him whether he might safely travel through such a Country yes without doubt you may for although there be abundance of Thieves and High-waymen yet the Prince or the State never approved them or gave them licence to rob Travellers Do you think any man would venture his person or his purse on no better security Yet such security as this if it were true is all that such moderate men as O. N. or his Brethren can give as to the Roman Church for they dare not deny the bad consequence of the Doctrines and practices charged upon them but only say the Church hath not decreed them So much I thought necessary to say to this newest and most plausible pretence which is made use of by the best Advocates for the Roman Church And now farewel to Moderation for the two next which appeared on the Stage against me
were two Jesuits the one sent over a Book which if we look only at the bulk and thickness was a very substantial one called by an odd Antiphrasis Reason and Religion I have endeavoured to draw off all the Spirit I could find in it in the following discourses but I am forced to leave a vast quantity of Phlegm and Caput Mortuum behind I shall say no more of him here having occasion to speak so much of him in the Discourses about the Principles of faith which will in a little time be ready to appear The other is the stout Defender of lgnatius Loyola and the whole Order of Jesuits What one man undertake to defend the Jesuits as to their Principles and Practices and that in this Age which so well understands their Maxims and Conduct and in England too where those of other Orders and the Secular Priests love them so dearly But nothing is too brave or difficult for a Jesuit to attempt however he comes off in it As to Ignatius Loyola I will come to terms with him if what he confesses as to his ignorant zeal pious simplicity frequent visions and extasies extravagant preaching unmannerly contempt of Superiours do not prove him a Fanatick I am content to let him go But what if Ignatius himself being grown old did suspect such frequent extasies and visions for illusions I desire him to look Ribadineira in his larger life to that purpose But this matter of Fanaticism must be referred to another place I shall now only give a tast of the Jesuits excellent way of defending the principles destructive to Government which I charged his Order with The first was that Government was so originally in the People that they by their Representatives may call their Soveraign to an account and alter the form of Government Now mark this Answer This principle whatsoever truth it may have in speculation is by no means to be preached to the People who are apt enough of themselves to stretch cases and pick quarrels with their best Governours yet was it taught many Ages before the Jesuits were so much as thought of Welfare the man for his plain-dealing the Doctrine it seems is true enough but the people are not fit to be trusted with the management of it no not in their places and callings no no let the Jesuits alone with these things they know just the very nick of time when to be Iudges and Executioners too The next principle is the Popes power of deposing Princes to which he again answers roundly You are then to know Sir that the Doctrine was long ago taught by almost all Orders and Professions Seculars Regulars Divines Lawyers before the Jesuits were in Being A very Catholick Doctrine it seems it is What a stirr do other people make with mincing this matter I know not how give me a man that speaks out and lets Princes understand what their general Doctrine is in this matter lest they may possibly be deceived as though it were only the bold assertion of some few Persons among them What wonder then saith he if Bellarmin and 3. or 4. more Jesuits were carried away with such a Torrent of Doctors who went before them Nay in my opinion the only wonder is how any Persons among them dare think otherwise this Doctrin having as he tells us so Catholick a consent to the truth of it But in earnest Sir is the Doctrine true or false Nay Sir I beseech you to excuse me in that for as he saith afterwards about the Popes power 〈◊〉 absolving Subjects I beg leave to wave such curious controversieâ— What a Jesuit beg leave to wave curious controversies What is become 〈◊〉 all their vast Tomes of Scholastical anâ— Casuistical Divinity Are no curious controversies handled in them Anâ— were you bred up among them and yet haâ—â— controversies meerly because curious No no We understand you better than so That is only a curious controversies with you which endangers your safety if you speak out for it is a needless kind of curiosity for a man to betray himself Here in these practical Countries it is sometimes dangerous speaking Truth in their sense but at such a speculative place as Rome is there those may be wholesome and Catholick Truths which â—ere are but niceties and curiosities But doth he not say the Jesuits have solemnly renounced the Doctrine Yes but have a care how far you believe him we poor simple Islanders might understand by this that they had declared it to be false and pernicious There is no such matter I will assure you but upon the stirrs in France they renounced the publishing it they renounced it as they were in France but thought it good Doctrine at Rome they are forbidden to treat any more of it because of the odiousness of it to Princes and that is all the renouncing they ever meant The third Principle is the lawfulness of killing Kings as to which he saith he cannot name the person that ever taught it in those Terms a good reason for that because when they would have them killed they call them Tyrants And so grants Dominicus Soto and Marian have asserted it he might have namse more if he had pleased I could not desâ— a more pleasant task than to pursue 〈◊〉 through the remainder of his discourse wherein he undertakes to vindicate the Jesuits practices but these have been much exposed by men of their own Region that I may spare my pains in thâ— Preface and we may easily guess hâ— hard he was put to it when he makâ— the letter of the Bishop of Angelopol to be forged at Port-Royal by the Jaâ— senists And thus he hath shifted 〈◊〉 fault from the Indies to Europe 〈◊〉 to vindicate some Papists there freâ— Idolatry he charges others here with forgeâ— And â—et to this as a full Answer the 〈◊〉 Ansâ—erer of the Seasonable Discourâ— doth referr us And out of his admiral learning and skill in History desires 〈◊〉 Adversary for his satisfaction that the can be no danger of Resuming Abby Lanâ— of Popery should return to go into Germany where there are so many Papist and Protestant Princes Noble men and Gentlemen that have especially since the Treaty at Munster either Bishopricks Abbeys or the like confirmed to them by the Pope How confirmed to them by the Pope what will not these men dare to say I perceive Ignorance serves them for other purposes than meerly to be the Mother of Devotion If at least this worthy Author could be Ignorant of so notorious a thing as Pope Innocents Bull published on purpose to Null the Treaty at Munster as prejudicial to the Catholick Religion to the Apostolical See to Churches and other Holy Places and Persons and Ecclesiastical Rights In the body of the Bull he saith that his Nuncio there who was afterwards Pope Alexander the seveth did protest against these Articles as void null unjust and agreed upon by persons that had no