our Church for a certain Truth which hath been demonstrated by many of our Writers who have shewn that the ancient Doctors universally speak the language of St. Baul 1. Cor. 4. 7. Not to think above that which is written I will mention only these memorable words of Tertullian who is as earnest an Advocat as any for ritual Traditions but having to deal with Hermogenes in a question of Faith Whither all things in the beginning were made of nothing urges him in this manner I have no where yet read that all things were made out of a subject matter If it be written let those of Hermogenes his shop shew it if it be not written let them fear thâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is alloted to such â—â— adde or take away The very same Answer should our People make to those that would have them receive any thing as an Article of Faith which is not delivered to them by this truly Apostolical Church wherein we live If it he written let us see it if it be not take heed how you adde to the undoubted Word of GOD. We receive the holy Scriptures as able to make us wise to Salvation So they themselves tell us and so runs the true Tradition of the Church which you of the Romish perswasion have forsaken but we adhere unto 3 And we have this farther reason so to do because if part of God's Word had been written and part unwritten we cannot but believe there would have been some care taken in the written Word not onely to let us know so much but also inform us whither we should resort to find it and how we should know it if it be absolutely necessary for us to be acquainted with it But there is no such notice nor any such directions left us nor can any man give us any certain Rule to follow in this matter but onely this To examine all Traditions by the Scripture as the supreme Rule of Faith and to aâ—mit only such as are conâ—ormable thereunto 4. For which we have still this farther reason that no sooner were they that first delivered and received the holy Scriptures gone out of the world but we find men began to adde their own fancies unto the Catholick Truth which made it absolutely necessary to keep to the Tradition in the holy Scriptures all other growing uncertain This is observed by Hegesippus himself in Euseb l. 3. c. 32 that the Church remained a chast Virgin and the spouse of Christ till the Sacred Quire of the Apostles and the next Generation of them who had had the honour to be their Auditonrs were extinct and then there began a plain Conspiracie of impious atheistical errour by the fraud of Teachers who delivered other Doctrine Which was a thing Saint Paul feared even in his own life time about the Church of Corinth 2 Cor 1. 3. lest the Devil like a wily Serpent should beguil them and corrupt their minds from the original simplicity of the Christian Doctrine wherein they were first instructed And if it were attempted then it was less difficult and therefore more endeavoured afterward as shall appear anone by plain History which tells how several persons pretended they received this and that from an Apostle Some of which Traditions were presently rejected others received and afterwards found to be impostures Which shews there was so much false dealing in the case that it was hard for men to know what was truely Apostolical in those dayes if it came to them this way onely and therefore impossible to be discerned by us now at this great distance of time from the Apostles who we know delivered the true Faith but we have no reason to rely upon mere Tradition without Scripture for any part of that Faith when we see what Cheats were put upon men by that means even then when they had better helps to detect them then we have It is true the Fathers sometime urge Tradition a as proof of what they say But we must know that the Scriptures were not presently communicated among some barbarous Nations and there were some Hereticks also who either denied the Scriptures or some part of them and in these cases it was necessary to appeal to the Tradition that was in the Church and to convince them by the Doctrine taught every where by all the Bishops But that mark this I pray you of which they convinced them by this Argument was nothing but what is taught in the Scripture 5. With which we cannot suffer any thing to be equalled in authority unless we would see it confirmed by the same or equal Testimony This is the great reason of all why we cannot admit any unwritten Traditions to be a part of the Word of GOD which we are bound to believe because we cannot find any truths so delivered to us as those in the holy Scriptures They come to us with as full a Testimony as can be desired of their Divine Original but so do none of those things which are now obtruded on us by the Romish Church under the name of Tradition or unwritten Word of God For the Primitive Church had the very first Copies and authentick Writings of those Books called the New Testament delivered by the Apostles own hands to them And those Book confirm the Scriptures of the Old Testament and they were both delivered to Posterity by that Primitive Church witnessing from whom they received them who carefully kept them as the most precious Treasure so that this written Word hath had the general approbation and testimony of the whole Church of Christ in every Age untill this day witnessing that it is Divine And it hath been the constant business of Doctors of the Church to expound this Word of GOD to the People and their Books are full of Citations out of the Scripture all agreeing in substance with what we now read in them Nay the very Enemies of christianity such as Celsus Porphyry Julian never questioned but these are the Writings of which the Apostles were the Authors and which they delivered Besides the Marks they have in themselves of a Divine Spirit which indited them they all tending to breed and preserve in men a sense of GOD and to make them truly vertuous Not one word of which can be said for any of those unwritten Traditions which the Roman Church pretend to be a part of GOD's Word For we have no testimony of them in the holy Scriptures Nor doth the Primitive church affirm she received them from the Apostles as she did the written Word Nor have they the perpetual consent and general approbation of the whole church ever since Nor are they frequently quoted as the words of Scripture are upon all occasions by the Doctors of the Church Nor do we find them to be the Doctrine which was constantly taught the People Nor is there any notice taken of them by the enemies of our Faith whose Assaults are all against the Scriptures In short they are
Truth which when they find they will be induced to build upon them In this sense likewise though not in this alone Apostolical Men were called Lights and Pillars In the Book of the Revelation * this promise is made to â—iâ— who persevereth in his Christianity Rev. 3. 12. notwithstanding the cross which it brings upon him Him will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and I will write my name upon him and the name of his God and the name of the City of his God which is new Jerusalem or the Christian Church And St. Chrisostom †In 1 Cor. 9. 2. To phoâ—on Eccesion ho Themelios tes pisteos ho Stylos c gives St. Paul the Titles of the Light of the Churches the Foundation of the Faith the Pillar and Ground of Truth The Governours of the Church do ministerially exhibit Christian Truth they do not by mere Authority impose it Among the Places which are said to prove by good consequence that there is â— living Guide of Faith that in the eighteenth of St. Matthews Gospel * S. Mat. 18. 15 16 17. is the Principal There our Saviour requireth his Followers if their Brethren persisted in their offences to tell it to the Church and to esteem them no longer Members of their Society if they despised the Sentence of it From whence they conclude with strange Inadvertence that such a Decree is therefore infallible But our Lord speaks of their Brothers Trespasses against See Deut. 17. 6. them and not of his Heresie And of the Discipline and not of the Doctrine either of the Synagogue or the Church In which case if we submit even where there is error in the Sentence for Peace sake and because we are come to the last Appeal We worthily sacrifice private Good to publick Order And such Submission is sate in point of property though not in point of Doctrine for we may without Sin depart from our property but not from our Faith Now much of this that has been said in order to the explication of the foregoing places might have been well omitted if I had designed this little Discouâ—se for the use only of such Romanists as had been conversant with the writings of the Fathers For then I should have needed only to have cited those Ancients and shewed that their sense of these several places was plainly different from the modern interpretations of the Church Men of Rome And by this way of arguing they are self condemned For they fall * Launoy in Epist ad Carol magistruÌ„ ad Jacob. â—evil ad Guil. Voell ad Raeim Formentinum in S. par Epi. according to their own Rule of expounding Scripture by the unanimous consent of the Primitive Fathers who with one voice speak another sense Those who doubt of this may receive satisfaction from the Learned Letters of Monsieur Launoy If God had promised an infallible Guide or told us be had given one to his Church he would doubtless Consid III. have added some directions for the finding of him For to say in general you shall have a Star which will alwayes Guide you withâ—ut all dangerous error and not to inform us in what parâ— of the Firmament it is to be seen is to emuse rather then to promise Now God hath no where given us such direction He hath no where pointed us to this Church or that Council to this Person or that Local succession of Men. He hath not said the Guide is at Antioch or Hierusalem at Nice or Constantinople at Rome or Avignon You will say he hath directed us to St. Peter Answer no more than to the rest of the Apostles to whom he gave equal power in their Ordination * Joh. 20. 21. All of whom he made equally Shepherds of the Flock◠†S Mat. 9. 36. C. 10. 6. 2. Pet. 5. 2. to all of whom he gave equal Commission to make Proselytes of all Nations * S. Mat. 28. 16 17 â—8 19. And in this sense St. Chrysostom †S. Chrys in 1 Cor. 9. 2. Ten oikoymenen hapasan egkecheirismenos c. affirmed concerning St. Paul that the whole World or the World of the Roman Empire was his Diocese You will reply that he promised on him particularly upon this Rock or Stone this Kipha a Syriac Word of the Masculine Gender †See R. H. Guide in Controv. Dis 1. p. 5. and Socin in Loc. this Peter to build his Church I answer the Ancients took the Word as Feminine * S. Hil. de Trin. â— 6. dixit Petras Tu es filius Dei c. super hane igitur Confessionis Petram Ecclesiae edificatio est v. Launoy in Epist ad Voellum and understood it rather of his Confession then of his Person If it was spoken of his Person it was spoken by way of Emphasis not Exclusion for there were twelve Foundations †Revel 21. 14. Ephes 2. 20. of these he might be called the first having first preached the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles * Act. 2. 14. 41 47 IV. Consid the Eleven standing up with him and he speaking as the Mouth of the Apostolical Colledge We cannot by the strictest ennumeration find out any living infallible Guide existing in any Age after St. Peter in the Christian Church 1. This Guide could not be the Church diffusive of the first Ages For the suffrages of every Christian were never gathered And if we will have their sense they must rise from the dead and give it us 2. This Guide cannot be the Faith as such of all the Governours of all the Primitive Churches The sum of it was never collected There were anciently general Creeds but such as especially related to the Hereâ—ies then on foot and who can affirm upon grounds of certainty that each Bishop in the World consented to each Article or to each so expressed 3. This Guide is not a Council perfectly free and universal For a Guide which cannot be had is none If such a Council could assemble it would not erre in the necessaries of Faith or there cannot be a regular Flock without a Shepherd and if all the Spiritual Shepherds in the World should at once and by consent go so much astray the whole Flock of the Church Catholick would be scattered And that would contradict the promise of Christ the Supreme Faithful Infallible Pastor But there never was yet an universal Council properly so called Neither can we suppose the probability of it but by supposing the being of one Temporal Christian Monarch of the World who might call or suffer it In the Councils called General if we speak comparatively there were not many Southern or Western Bishops present at them It was thus at that first Occumenical Council the Council of Nice though in one sacred place as Eusebius †Euseb l. 3. vit const c. 7. 8. p. 487â— hath noted there were assembled Syrians and Cilicians Phoenicians and Arabians
plain a case as Heresie if our Church thinketh a private Man may without an infallible Guide on Earth judge aright of it it does but believe as Pope Adrian believed as he professed in a Synod of Rome of which profession report is made in the 2d Synod of Nice †Syn. Nic. 2. art 7 sec vers Anastasii Licet enim Honorio post mortem anathema sit dictum ab Orientalibus sciendum tamen est quia fuerat super haeresi accusatus propter quam solam licitum est minoribus majorum suorum moribus resistendi vel pravos sensus libere respuendi c. For speaking of the Sentence against Pope Honorius he excuseth it in point of good behaviour because it was given in the case of Heresie For in that case and that case alone he allowed Inferiors so he was pleased to call the Oriental Bishops to reject the corrupt sense of those who are superiour to them I will hasten to the next Proposition after I have added one thing more which relates to the guidance of Ecclesiastical Authority And it is this Those of the unlearned Laity who are Members of the Church of England have much more of the just guidance of Ecclesiastical Authority than the like order of Men in the Church of Rome For the Authentick Books of that Church being all written in the Latin Tongue the illiterate People resolve their Faith into the ability and honesty of their Confessor or Parish Priest They take it upon his word that this is the Doctrine this the Discipline this the Worship of their Church Whereas each Minister in our Church can direct the People to the Holy Bible to the Books of Homilies Articles Canons Common-Prayer Ordination as set forth in their native Tongue by publick Authority Of this they may be assured by their own Eyes as many as can but competently read They do not only take this from the mouth of a Priest but from the Church it self Where the Laws of the Church and the Statutes of the Civil Government are written in an unknown Tongue there the Unlearned depend more upon private than publick Authority for they receive the Law from particular Priests or Judges Though Ecclesiastical Authority be a help to our Prop. VI. Faith yet the Holy Scripture is the only infallible Rule of it and by this Rule and the Ministeral Aids of the Christian Church we have sufficient means without Submission to papal Infallability to attain to certainty in that Faith which is generally necessary to Salvation I do not mean that by believing the whole Canon of the Scripture in the gross we thereby believe all the necessary Articles of the Faith because they are therein contained That looks too like a fallacy and it giveth countenance to an useless Faith For he that believes on this manner hath as it were swallow'd a Creed in the lump only whereas it is necessary for a Christian to know each particular Article and the general Nature Tendency of it Otherwise his Faith will not have a distinct influence upon his Christian behaviour to which if it were not useful it were not necessary To believe in general as the Scripture believes is with the Blind and Flexible Faith of a Romanist to believe at adventure He believes as his Church believes but he knows not what is the belief of his Church and therefore is not instructed by that Faith to behave himself as a Member of it The Scripture is that rule of Faith which giveth us all the particular Articles which are necessary to eternal Life By this rule the Primitive Fathers govern'd themselves and this they commended to the Churches And Clemens Alexandrinus a Cl. Alex. Strom. 2. Kanon Ekklesiastikos he Synodia c. Strom. 7 Alethon kai pseudon kriterion does in terms call the Consent of the Old and New Testament the Ecclesiastical Canon and the Touch-stone of true and false I will not multiply Testimonies enough of them are already collected b V. Davenant de Judice normā fidei c. 12. p. 53. c. D. Till Rule of Faith part 4. sect 2. p. 320. c. I will rather pursue the Argument before me in these three Assertions First a Protestant without the submission of his Judgement to the Roman Church may be certainly directed to the Canonical Books of Holy Scripture Secondly He may without such submission sufficiently understand the Rule of Faith and find out the Sense of such places in those Canonical Books as is necessary to the belief of a true Christian Thirdly This rule of Faith is the principal means of Union in Faith in the Christian Church First a Protestant without the submission of his Assert I. Judgement to the Roman Church may be certainly directed to the Holy Scriptures It is commonly said by Men of the Roman perswasion but injudiciously enough that we may as well receive our Creed from them as we do our Bible The Scribes and Pharisees might have said the like to the People of the Jews But with the good Text they conveighed down to them a very false gloss and misinterpreted the Prophesies as meant of a pompous temporal Messiah But for the Reformed they have received neither Creed nor Bible from the Church of Rome The first enumeration of those Books they find in the Apostolical Canons and in those of the Council of Laodecea no Westren writings They have received the Scriptures from the Universal Church of all Ages and Places the Copies of them having been as widely dispersed as the Christians themselves And they receive them not from the infallibility of any particular Church but upon the validity of this sure principle that all the Christian World so widely dispersed could not possibly conspire in the imposing of false Books upon them For particular Churches we may of all others suspect the Roman in reference to the Scriptures For what sincerity of dealing may we hope for from such a Cabal of Men as has forged decrees of Councils and Popes obtruded upon the World Apocryphal Books as Books Canonical purged out of the writings of the Fathers such places as were contrary to their Innovations depressed the Originals under an imperfect Latin Copy and left on purpose in that Copy some places uncorrected for the serving of turns For example sake they have not either in the Bible of Sintus or in that of Clement both which though in War against each other are made their Canon changed the word She in the third of Genesis a Gen. 3. 15. for That or He. But contrary to the Hebrew Text to the Translation of the Seventy to the Readings of the Fathers They persist in rendring of it after this manner She shall break thy Head They believe this Reading tendeth most to the Honour of the blessed Virgin whom they are too much inclined to exalt in the Quality of a Mother above her Son The English Translation of Doway hath followed this plain
it is to no more purpose to shew us the word Tradition in other places of St. Paul's Writings particularly in the third Chapter of the same Epistle v. 6. where by Tradition St Chrysâ—ston understands the Apostles Example which he had given them and so it follows v. 7. For your selves know how you ought to follow us c or it may refer to the commandment he had given them in his former Epistle 4. 11. which the Reader may be pleased to compare with this but cannot with any colour be expounded to signifie any Doctrine of Faith about which the Roman Church now contends with us For it is plain it hath respect to their good manners and orderly living for the information of which we need go no where but to the holy Scriptures wherein we are taught full enough how we ought to walk and please GOD in all things The same may be said of that place 1 Cor. 11. 2. Now I praise you Brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the Traditions or Ordinances as we render it or Precepts as the vulgar Latine it self hath it as I have delivered them unto you For we are so observant of what he hath delivered that we are confident if Saint Paul were now alive and in this Church he would praise us as he doth the Corinthians for keeping the Traditions as be delivered them and on the contrary reprove and condemn the Roman Church for not keeping them as they were first delivered And we have good ground for this confidence there being an instance in that very Chapter which demonstrates our fidelity in preserving the very first Traditions and their unfaithfulness in letting them go For he tells us v. 23. that he had delivered to them what he had received of the Lord and that which he received and delivered was about the whole Communion as you may read there and in the following verses 24 25. in both kinds the Cup as well as the Bread Thus he saith the Lord appointed it and thus he delivered it and this Tradition we keep intire as he received it of the Lord and delivered it to his Church in this Epistle which is a part of the holy Scripture whereas they do not keep it but have broken this Divine Tradition and give the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood otherwise than St. Paul delivered keeping the Cup from the People By which I desire all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity to judge which Church keeps closest to the Apostolical Tradition foâ— so St. Paul calls this Doctrine of the Communion in both kinds that which he delivered or left as a Tradition with them they that stick to what is unquestionably the Apostolical Doctrine or they that leave it to follow those Doctrines or Presumptions rather which at the best are very dubious and uncertain And farther I desire all that read this Paper to consider whither it be reasonable to think that those Riâ—es which have no Authority in the holy Scripture but were instituted perhaps by the Apostles have been kept pure and uncorrupâ—ed according to their first intention when these sacred Rites for instance the holy Eâ—charist are not preserved intire which are manifestly ordained in the holy Writings And so much may serve for the first thing for it would be too long to explain all the rest of the places of holy Scripâ—ure which they are wont to alledge though the word Tradition be not mentioned in them to give a colour to their present pretences how pertinently may be judged by these places now considered II. Secondly then That Word of God which was once unwritten being now written we acknowledge our selves to be much indebted to the Church of God in all foregoing Ages which hath preserved the Scriptures and delivered them down to us as his Word which we ought to do unto those that shall succeed us as our Church teacheth us in its Twentieth Article where the Church is affirmed to be a Witness and a keeper of holy Writ This Tradition we own it being universal continued uninterrupted and undenied Though in truth this is Tradition in another sense of the word not signifying the Doctrine delivered unto us but the manner and means of its delivery And therefore if any Member of our Church be pressed by those of the Romish Perswasion with this Argument for their present Traditions that Scripture it self is come to us by Tradition let them answer thus Very right it is so and we thank God for it therefore let this be no part of our dispute it being a thing presupposed in all Discourses about Religion a thing agreed among all Christian people that we read the Word of GOD when we read the holy Scriptures Which being delivered to us and accepted by us as his Word we see no necessity of any other Tradition or Doctrine which is not to be found there or cannot be proved from thence for they tell us they are able to make even the men of God wise unto Salvation And if they press you again and say How do you know that some Books are Canonical and others not is it not by a constant Tradition Answer them again in this manner Yes this is true also and would to GOD you would stand to this universal Tradition and receive no other Books but what have been so delivered But know withal that this universal Tradition of the Books of Scripture unto which you have added several Apocryphal Writings which have not been constantly delivered as tâ—â—se we receive is no part of the Tradition or Doctrine delivered That is no Doctrine distinct from the Scriptures but only the instrument or means of conveying that Doctrine unto us In short it is the fidelity of the Church with whom the Canon of Scripture was deposed but is no more a Doctrine not written in the Scripture then the Tradition or delivery of the Code or Book of the Civil Law is any Opinion or Law not written in that Code And we are more assured of the fidelity of the Church herein then the Civilians can be assured of the Faithfulness of their Predecessours in preserving and delivering the Books of their Law to them because these holy Books were alwayes kept with a greater care then any other Books whatsoever and in the acceptance of them also we find there was a great caution used that they might not be deceived all Christians looking upon them to be of such importance that all Religion they thought was concerned in them Of which this is an Argument that they who sought to destroy the Christian Religion in the Primitive times sought nothing more then to destroy the Bible Which they were wont to demand of those who were suspected to be Christians to be delivered up to them that they might burn it And according as men behaved themselves in this trial so they were reputed to be Christians or not Christians And the Traditours as they were called that is they who delivered
the holy Scriptures into the hands of the Pagans were look'd upon by Christians as men that were content to part with their Religion For which there could be no reason but that they thought Christian Religion to be therein contained and to be betrayed by those who delivered them to be burnt By which I have proved more then I intended in this part of my Discourse that in the holy Scriptures the whole Will of God concerning our Salvation is contained Which is the true Question between us and the Church of Romeâ— Not whither the Scripture be delivered to us as the Word of GOD or no in this our People ought to tell them we are all agreed but whither they have been delivered to us as the whole Will of GOD. And from that Argument now mentioned and many more we conclude that Universal Tradition having directed us unto these Books and no other they direct us sufficiently without any other Doctrines unto GOD and to our everlasting rest And if they urge you farther and say that the very Credit of the Scripture depends upon Tradition tell them that it is a Speech not to be endured if they mean thereby that it gives the Scripture its authority and if they mean less we are agreed as hath been already said for it is to say that Man gives authority to GOD's Word Whereas in truth the holy Scriptures are not therefore of Divine Authority because the Church hath delivered them so to be but the Church hath delivered them so to be because it knew them to be of such authority And if the Church should have conceived or taught otherwise of these Writings then as of the undoubted Oracles of GOD she would have erred damnably in such a Tradition I shall sum up what hath been said in this second particular in a few words Christ and his Apostles at first taught the Church by word of mouth but afterward that which they preach'd was by the commandment of GOD commited to writing and delivered unto the Church to be the ground of our Faith Which is no more then Irenaeus hath said in express words L. 3. C. 1. speaking of them by whom the Gospel came unto all Nations Which they then preached but afterward by the Will of GOD delivered unto us in the Scriptures to be in time to come the Foundation and Pillar of our Faith III. And farther we likewise acknowledge that the sum and substance of the Christian Religion contained in the Scriptures hath been delivered down to us even from the Apostles dayes in other wayes or forms besides the Scriptures For instance in the Baptismal Vow in the Creed in the Prayers and Hymns of the Church Which we may call Traditions if we please but they bring down to us no new Doctrine but only deliver in an abridgment the same Christianity which we find in the Scriptures Upon this there is no need that I should enlarge but I proceed farther to affirm IV. That we reverently receive also the unanimous Tradition or Doctrine of the Church in all Ages which determines the meaning of the holy Scripture and makes it more clear and unquestionable in any point of Faith wherein we can find it hath declared its sense For we look upon this Tradition as nothing else but the Scripture unfolded not a new thing which is not in the Scripture but the Scripture explained and made more evident And thus some part of the Nicene Creed may be called a Tradition as it hath expresly delivered unto us the sense of the Church of GOD concerning that great Article of our Faith That JESUS CHRIST is the Son of GOD. Which they teach us was alwayes thus understood the Son of GOD begotten of his Father before all worlds and of the same substance with the Father But this Tradition supposes the Scripture for its ground and delivers nothing but what the Fathers assembled at Nice believed to be contained there and was first fetch'd from thence For we find in Theodoret L. 1. C. 6. that the famous Emperour Constantine admonished those Fathers in all their Questions and Debates to consult only with these heavenly inspired Writings Because the Evangelical and Apostolical Books and the Oracles of the old Prophets do evidently instruct us what to thiâ—k in Divine matters This is so clear a Testimony that in those dayes they made this compleat Rule of their Faith whereby they ended Controversies which was the reason that in several other Synods we find they were wont to lay the Bible before them and that there is nothing in the Nicene Creed but what is to be found in the Bible that Cardinal Bellarmine hath nothing to reply to it but this Constantine was indeed a great Emperour but no great Doctor Which is rather a Scoff than an Answer and casts a scorn not only upon him but upon the great Council who as the same Theodoret witnesseth assented unto that speech of Constantine So it there follows in these words That most of the Synod were obedient to what he had discoursed and embraced both mutual Concord and sound Doctrine And accordingly St. Hilary a little after extols his Son Constantius for this that he adhered to the Scriptures and blames him only for not attending to the true Catholick sense of them His words are these in his little Book which he delivered to Constantius I truly admire thee O Lord Constantius the Emperour who desirest a Faith according to what is writen They pretended to no other in those dayes but as he speaks a little after look'd upon him that refused this as Antichrist It was only required that they should receive their Faith out of God's Books not merely according to the words of them but according to their true meaning because many spake Scripture without Scripture and pretended to Faith without Faith as his words are and herein Catholick and constant Tradition was to guide them For whatsoever was contrary to what the whole Church had received and held from the beginning could not in reason be thought to be the meaning of that Scripture which was alledged to prove it And on the other side the Church pretended to no more then to be a Witness of the received sense of the Scriptures which were the bottom upon which they built this Faith Thus I observe Hegesippus saith in Euseb his History L. 4. C. 22. that when he was at Rome he met with a great many Bishops and that he received the very same Doctrine from them all And then a little after tells us what that was and whence they derived it saying That in every succession of Bishops and iâ— every City so they held as the Law preached and as the Prophets and as the Lord. That is according to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament I shall conclude this particular with a pregnant passage which I remember in a famous Divine of our Church Dr. Jacksons in his Treatise of the Catholick Church Chap. 22. who writes
a Church in its constant Service to take suppose the Lord's Prayer in pieces and first pronounce it in Latin and then in English But as they do not permit their Offices Extract ex regist Facult Par. an 1525. Collectio p 8. Censurae An. 1655 p. 18. Procez contr Vâ—isin An. 1660. p. 53. c. Epist Cleri An 1660. p. 62. Orat. c. p. 63 not the Horae B. Virginis Breviary or Mass book to be translated into a Vulgar Tongue So the verbal translation of it during the celebration of Mass was never thought of by the Council but was thereby condemned as the cause and seedplot of many errours as we are informed in a Lettâ—â— wrote upon the occasion of Voisin's translation by the whole Clergy of France to Pope Alexander the Seventh And whatsoever the Exposition did refer to let it be what it will yet it was not to the devotional Part as Sanders declares who after he had pleaded that an Unknown Tongue with interpretation was the perfect fulfilling of S. Pauls advice perceiving a difficulty behind throws all off with this If the Interpretation of Prayers he laid aside for a seasion it is however not to be thought that it is to he ommited for ever c. So that at most no more was intended then a short exposition of some doctrinal Point or ceremony which might as well be called an Exposition of the Breviary or any other Book containing much the same things as the Missal And it is probable that so much as this also was never intended which if ever is very rarely practised amongst them Insomuch as Ledesma saith That the sense of the council was That the people should be instructed only by Sermons Indeed they would rather have this go for an Argument then Cap. 15. Sect. decret Con. Trid. n. 2. dispute it They do as the Irish by their bogs run over it lightly for fear if they tread too hard it will not supoort their cause but stifle it And therefore they wheel off again and then tell us That it S. C. Answ p. 176. being a known set Form in one set Language those that are ignorant of it at first need not continue so but by due attention and diligence may arrive to a sufficient knowledge As if the poor people are inexcusable if they do not arrrive to a sufficient knowledge of the Tongue which must be learned before the things without other helps then their own attention and diligence when the Priests and others are trained up to the knowledge and understanding of Latin by Rules Masters and frequent exercise Surely they had the Mass in Latin when the learned themselves did not understand it as Valla saith They had the Elegant Praes Mass in Latin when the greatest part of the people did not understand it as Faber relates They had In 1 Cor. 14. Cassand Liturg c. 36. Sixt. Senens Bibliâ—th 6. Annot. 263. the Mass in Latine when not only the people but the Priest and Deacons rarely understood what they prayed for as Billet c. confess And where ' was then their attention and diligence that to their lives end either daily rehearsed it or often heard it and yet never understood it And is is not so still when notwithstanding all the noise of S. c. p. 176. Exposition Manuals and Primers c. for the use of the Vulgar yet setting aside some little Forms and Ceremonies of it they are so ignorant of the Contents of the Missal or Mass Book that as to the matter of it they know it not from the Breviary nor would know it from the Alcoranâ— if read in the same Tongue alike pronounced and the same falls and postures were used in the reading of it So that what more plain then the means they have provided is not sufficient for to instruct and edifie the people and that after all they do hold this instruction unnecessary and that the people are safe without it And this is the case for it is generally resolved by their Casuists both for Preist and People that â—â— they do their duty and merit when they say their Prayers though they do not understand so Eckius so Salmeron c. And if it were otherwise very few Saimeron in 1 cor 16. Disp 3 Instrnct Sacerd c. 13. n. 5 6. would do their duty when so very few do at all understand what they say as Cardinal Tolet doth determine So in â—ulgent are they and very reasonable is it that they should be so that when they have put out the peoples Eyes they should take good care to make the way broad and smooth for them But in good earnest can we think this way as safe as it is broad and that there is no Ditch into which both Priest and People if alike blind may fall and perish And if there be must not the case of that people be very lamentable that are wholly left to the ability and sincerity of their Priest who if he wants the former may through ignorance turn the most solemn part of their Service as it happens into Nonesense or Blasphemy And if he wants the latter may use a Spell for Prayer and the ancient charm D. Stilling steet Answ to T. G. c. 3 sect 3. of Abracadabrae for Ave Maria as a learned person hath observed Nay insteed of baptizing in the sacred Name of the Father c. â—he may do by the person as a Jew under the profession of a Priest is said to have done by a certain Prince in the last Age and baptize him in the horrid name of the Devil There is then nothing so absurd or wicked which according to the case may not be praâ—â—ised And neither Prayers be Prayers nor Sacraments Sacraments nor persons Christians as long as the Priest doth alone know neither Priest nor People understand But supposing that there be no defect in either of these and that the whole Service is faithfully and understandingly performed yet if the Tongue in which it is performed be not understood of the people there can be no understanding of the sense contained in it and where the sense and matter is not understood there cannot be as I have shewed these dispositions of Soul that attention of Mind that Faith which gives the Amen to our Prayers c and which renders the Service acceptable to God and beneficial to our selves and consequently a service so contrived as shall defeat these ends is one of the greatest mischiefs that can befal a Church and must render the Romish Church inexcusable in the injunction of it and Justifie those that have reformed it SECT V. We are come to enquire Whether upon the whole the Service of God ought not to be celebrated in a Tongue vulgarly understood THe Church of Rome doth anathematize and Bellarm. c. 16 sub sin T. G. against D. Stilingfleet Sect â— n. 3. p. 28. Ledesma c 33. â— 1. doom to Hell those that
Vials full of Odours which are the Prayers of Saints By the prayers of Saints they mean of those Saints that arâ— living upon the Earth and by the Four Beasts and Twenty Four Elders the Saints that are in Heaven and from thence draw their Argument that Saints in Heaven do offer up the Prayers of Holy Men living upon the Earth But now if they are mistaken in the â—ense of this Text and by the Four Beasts and Twenty four Elders are not mean'd the Memberâ— of the Church triumphant but the Bishops and Elders of the Church Miliâ—ant Whose Office it is to represent the Prayers and Praises of the Church to God then this cannot afford them the least shew of a reason for their Invocation Dr. Hamonâ— and many other Learned Expositors are of opinion that either this whole Text is nothing but a representation of the Church below offering up prayers by their Pastors who are the Mouths of the Congregation to God through the Lamb and it 's said veâ—se 10. That they shall Reâ—gn upon the Earth or else a representation of the whole Church of Christ boâ—h in Heaven and Earth joyning together in their Doxâ—logies and Praises to God for the Victâ—ries of the Lamb and the Redemption of the World by his blood and for this sense the next veâ—sâ— seems to give it where they are said to Sing a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and for thou wast sâ—ain and redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation Another place to be explained which they sometimes mention as on their side is Revel â— 10. Where the Souls of the Martyrs under the Altar are said to cry How long Oh Lord Holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth Now say they if the Souls of Martyrs pray for Vengance upon their Persecutors and Murderers much more may we suppose them to pray for Mercy and Deliverances for their Fellow-Members and Sufferers To this may be replied That these words cannot signify a formal Prayer of the Martyrs to God for Revenge on their Persecutors they who after their Lord's example Prayed God to forgive their Murderers when they were on Earth cannot be supposed now they are in a more perfect State to Pray for Vengeance upon them but the words are only an Emblem and representation of the certainty of Dr. Ham. God's judgments and Vengeance overtaking them by the Souls of them that were stain and cry under the Altar is mean'd their blood and the Sin of Murthering them and as we are wont to say Murther is a crying Sin and as it 's said that Abel's blood cryed for Vengance so the Sin of shedding their blood cryed ' that is would certainly awake and provoke the justice of God to take Vengeance on them for it This is well explained Esdr 2. 15. by a passage in the book of Esdras Behold the Innocent and Righteous blood cryeth unto me and the Souls of the just complain continually and therefore saith the Lord I will surely Avenge them c. But Let their inference be granted that the Souls of Martyrs in the future State do Pray for their Fellow Sufferes that are left behind it does not follow that their Fellow-Sufferers Pray to them or that they offer up their Prayers made to them unto God Lastly they cite Gen. 48. 16. When Jacob blessing the two Sons of Joseph thus prayes The Angel that redeemed me from all Evil bless the Lads this will require no long answer God being pleased often to make use of the Ministry of Angels in sending succour and relief to good Men Jacob Prayed not unto the Angel but to God that he would appoint the same bessed Angel that administred unto him in all his streights to be the instrument of his good providence to those two Sons of Joseph whom he had now made his own and caused them to be called after his name Or else If the Patriarch must be thought here to have Prayed to the Angel we must suppose with Athanasius and others of the Fathers that Angel to be Christ the Son of God And the same answer is to be given to Revel 8 4. Where it 's said That the smoke of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand that is Christ's the Angel of the Covenant and therefore this Angel that offered up the Prayers of the Saints is called verse 3. Another Angel intimating that it was a special Angel one different both in Nature and Office from the other seven mentioned verse 2. and described there as Ministring Spirits And I saw the seven Angels which stood before God c. verse 2. and then â— 3. And another Angel came c. IV. That there is no proof for it from the Fathers of the first three hundred years and more THe Trent Fathers and the Catechism put out by Concili Trident. sess 25. Catech. Rom. par 3. c. 2. their Authority having declared invocation of Saints to be a custom received and continued in the Church ever since the Apostles time the Romish Authors have not been wanting to turn every Stone to search every Author to produce and strain every sentence and expression that looks that way to the height in order to the making it good but how short their proofs fall of it will be made evident by these following particulars 1. Those that have taken the most pains to seek for Testimonies have not been able to produce any tolerable one out of the Genuin Writings of the Fathers within the first three hundred years after Christ they cite indeed the Hierarchy of Dionisius Areopagita Origeâ—s comments on the second Chapter of Job and the twenty first of Numbers the works of St. Ephroem and Athanasius's of the most Holy Mother of God but these have been sufficiently proved by many of our Learned Men and acknowledged by some of no obscure fame amongst them to be spurious Mons Dal. Coc. Censur Patr. in D. Areâ—p Rivet in Crit Sac. Bellar. de Scrip. Eccl. and falsly father'd on them and then for their proofs out of Irenaeus Eusebius and St. Ambrose it 's easy to shew that the first is grosly misunderstood the second corrupted and third retracted by that Father Irenoeus indeed is an Ancient Father and of sufficient Authority but his words are little to their Irenoeus Adver Haer. l. 15. c. 10. purpose they are these Sicut Eva seducta est ut effugeret Deum sic Maria suasa est obedire Deo ut Virginis Evoe Virgo Maria fieret Advocata Wherein the blessed Virgin Mary is termed the Advocate of Eve Now to make this a pat proof for their Invocation they must put this sense upon it that the blessed Virgin being a Glorified Saint in Heaven did at the request and desires of Eve living upon Earth represent her
case to God and interceed with him on their behalf but how could Eve alive request this of the Virgin Mary and Eve dâ—ed above three thousand years before Mary was born Or how could Irenoeus think the blessed Virgin in a capacity to do this whose opinion it was with the Iren. l. 5. c. 31. generality of the Fathers in that Age that her Soul as all others of departed Saints were yet in an invisible place and not admitted to the Beatiâ—ick Vision Or how could Eve stand in need of her Advocatship who if it were true as the Romanists hold that our Saviour at his Resurrection Aquin. Durand freed the Saints of the Old Testament from their Limbus and carried them up with him into heaven and the presence of God was a Glorified Saint in Heaven whilst she was living upon the Earth and so was in a better State to be an Advocate for the Virgin Mary then the Virgin Mary for her Thus you see as clear a proof as Bellarmin Bellar. de Sanct. beat l. c. 19. thinks this to be nothing can be more ridiculously and impertinently quoted some other meaning then of the words must be found out and the most obvious and natural is this that the Virgin Mary is here by a figure put for Christ her Son according to the Flesh and said to do that as she was the happy Mother of a Son who did it and thus indeed she is Advocate for Eve and all Eves Posterity instrumentally not by her self personally but by her Son she being that vessel made choice of by the Holy Ghost to bear him in her Womb who by taking Flesh of her became the Saviour of Eve and all Mankind For the Testimony of Eusebius it as Bellarmine Bellar. de Sanct. beat l. 1. c. 19. reports it runs thus We Honour those Heavenly Souldiers â—s God's Friends we approach unto their Moâ—â—ments and Pray unto them as unto Holy Men by whose intercession we profess to receive much help and assistance but it is apparent as many Learned Men have shewn that Bellarmine took this allegation not out of Euseâ—ins's Original but a corrupt translation made by Trapezuntius and afterwards followed by Dadrâ—â—uâ— a Doctor of Paris who set forth Eâ—sebius there being no such words as Praying to them as unto Holy Men to be found in him speaking his own Language his words are these hâ—then kai ept tas thekas aut on ethos Evang praep l 13 c. 7. hemin parienai kai tas euchas para tautais poiesthai c. It is our custom to come to their Tombs and Monuments and to make our Prayers not autois to them those Martyrs as the Translaâ—or and Bellarmine would have it buâ— para tautais i e thekais at or before their â—ombs and Monuments and to Honour those blessed â—ouls I might now pass over St. Ambrose he living beyond the time I undertook to answer for Anno 374. but whatsoever he said of this nature was said when he was but a young Christian and recalled and contradicted by him afterwards Speculatores vitae actuùmque nostrorum in his book of Widows he exhorts them to pray to the Angels and Martyrs whom he calls beholders of our Lives and Actions â—ut Baronius himself Confesses as Bishop Andrews proves â—â—out oâ— the life of St. Ambrose that this Book was written presently after his Conversion when he was but a raw Divine and had not thâ—â—ughly Learned the Christian Doctrine and this appears by some other mistakes he was guilty of besides this that are of as dangerous a Nature when in the same Book he asserts that the Martyrs either had no Sin at all or what they had they did themselves wash away with their own Blood But that St. Ambrose changed his opinion concerning this Proprio Sanguine point of Invocation we are as sure as that once he held it since we find him afterwards plainly asserting the Contrary in such words as these That to procure God's favour we need no Amb. in Rom. c. 1. tom 5. Tu tamen Domine solus es invocandus De â—bitu Theâ—d tom 3. Advocate but a devout Mind and again speaking with relation to the two young Sons of Theodosius Thou only Oh Lord art to be Invocated and Prayed unto namely for a blessing and protection upon them 2. They make the Rhetorical Flourishes and Apostrophes of the Fathers in their Panegyricks of the Martyrs to be folemn forms of Invocation of them The Fathers about the laâ—ter end of the Fourth Century observing Piety and Devotion to decay and wax cold as the Church encreafed in Riches and Prosperity thought themselves obliged by all the Wit and Art and Rhetorick they had to retrieve if it was possible the pristine heat of Devotion that was formerly in it to that purpose they spake hâ—gh and large in commendation of their Martyrs and sometimes in their Oâ—ations directed their words to them as though they had been there present not with an intent to teach the People to Pray unto them or to rely upon their merits but to signify the mighty favour they were in with God and the more effectually to excite them to an imitation of their vertues Many such strains of Rhetorick occur in the Writings of St. Hierom St. Basil St. Gregory Nyssen St. Grâ—gory Nazianzen and others Orat. in Sanâ—â— Theod. So St. Gregory Nyssen speaks to â—heodore the Martyr in his Oration Gather together the Troops of thy Brethren Martyrs and thou with them beseech God to stay the Inâ—â—sâ—on of the Barbarians So St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Oration calls unto Orat. in Athan. St. Cyprian St. Basil St. Athanasius to each after this manner Do thou favourably look upon us from on high After the same manner does St. Hierom conclude his Funeral Oration on Paula Farewel Oh Paul and help the Old Age of thy Honourer with thy Prayers Now what is there in all this but what 's usual in all Authors both Sacred and Profane The design of the Faâ—â—â—â—s was to raise the People to as hâ—gh an opinion as they could boâ—â— of the Persons of the Martyrs and their vertues that made them so illustrious and might they not make useof their best Art and Rhetorick to do it What is more in this then those Apostrophes frequently found in the Sacred Writings even to insensate Creatures Hear ye Oh Mountains the Lord's Controâ—ersy Praise the Lord ye Dragons and all Deepâ— And who will infer from hence that the inâ—ensate Creatures were hereby invock'd and addrest unto 3. A great part of the Testimonies they produce out of the Fathers are to prove the Intercession of Saints in Heaven for us and not our Invocating of them and so they change the Question and are at a great deal of pains to prove that which no body denies such sayings as assert the Saints Praying for us are frequent among the ancient Fathers and that not only for the Church
whither they be contrite or attrite or neither at least when they can give no Evidence of â—â—her If they intended this only for absolution from the Censures of the Church it might be called Charity and look something like the practice of the Primitive Church which released those upon their Death-beds whom it would not discharge all their lives before tho' not then neither without signs of Attrition and contrition too but these pretend to quite another thing namely to release men in foro Conscientiae and to give them a Pass-port to Heaven without Repentance which is a very strange thing to say no worse of it Or to instance one thing more what is the meaning of their practice of giving Absolution before the Penance is performed as is usual with them unless this be it that whither the Man make any Conscience at all how he lives hereafter yet he is pardoned as much as the Priest can do it for him and is not this a likely way of Reformation I conclude therefore now upon the whole matter that Auricular Confession as it is used in the Church of Rome is only ane Artifice of greatning the Priest and pleasing the People a trick of gratifying the undevout and impious as well as the Devout and Religious the latter it imposes upon by its outward appearance of Humility and Piety to the former it serves for a palliative Cure of the Gripes of Conscience which they are now and then troubled with in reality it tends to make sin easie and tolerable by the cheapness of its Pardon and in a word it is nothing but the Old Discipline of the Church in Dust and Ashes And therefore though the Church of England in her Liturgy piously wishes for the Restauration of the Ancient Discipline of the Church it can be no defect in her that she troubles not her self with this Rubbish FINIS A POST-SCRIPT AFter I had finished the foregoing Papers and most part of them had also past the Press I happened to have notice that there was a Book just then come over from France written by a Divine of the Sorbone which with great appearance of Learning maintained the just contrary to what I had asserted esepecially in the Historical part of this Question and pretended to prove from the most Ancient Monuments of the Holy Scriptures Fathers Popes and Councils that Auricular Confession had been the constant Doctrine and Universal and Uninterrupted usage of the Christian Church for near 1300 years from the Times of our Saviour to the Laterane council So soon as I heard this I heartily wished that either the said Book had come out a little sooner or at least that my Papers had been yet in my hands to the intent that it might have been in my Power to have corrected what might be amise or supplied what was defective in that short Discourse or indeed if occasion were to have wholly supprest it For as soon as I entered upon the said Book and found from no less a Man then the Author himself that he had diligently read over all that had been written on both sides of this controversy and that this work of his was the product of Eighteen years study and that in the prime of his years and most flourishing time of his parts that it was published upon the maturest deliberation on his part and with the greatest applause and approbation of the Faculty I thought I had reason to suspect whither a small Tract written in hast by a Man of no Name and full enough of other Business could be fit to be seen on the same Day with so elâ—borate a work But by that time I had read a little further I took Heart and permitted the Press to go on and now that I have gone over the whole I do here profess sincerely that in all that learned Discourse I scarcely found any thing which I had not foreseen and as I think in some measure prevented But certain I am nothing occurred that staggered my Judgment or which did not rather confirm me in what I had written for though I met with abundance of Citations and a great deal of Wit and Dexterity in the management of them yet I found none of them come home to the point for whereas they sometimes recommend and press Confession of Sin in general sometimes to the Church sometimes to the Priest or Bishop as well as to God Almighty Again sometimes they speak great things of the Dignity of the Priest-hood and the gâ—â—at Honour that Order hath in being wonderfully useful to the relief of Guilty or Afflicted Consciences other while they treat of the Power of the Keys and the Authority of the Church the danger of her Censures the Comfort of her Absolution and the severity of her Discipline c. But all these things are acknowledged by us without laborious proof as well as by our Adversaries That which we demand and expect therefore is where shall we find in any of the Ancient Fathers Auricular Confession said to be a Sacrament or any part of one Or where is the Universal necessity of it asserted Or that secret sins committed after Baptism are by no other means or upon no other terms pardoned with God then upon their being confessed to men In these things lies the hinge of our dispute and of these particulars one ought in Reason to expect the most direct and plain proof imaginable if the matter was of such Consequence of such Universal practice and notoriety as they pretend but nothing of all this appears in this Writter more then in those that have gone before him In contemplation of which I now adventure this little Tract into the World with somewhat more of Confidence then I should have done had it not been for this occasion But lest I should seem to be too partial in the Case or to give too slight an account of this Learned Man's performance the Reader who pleases shall be judge by a specimen or two which I will here briefly represent to him The former of them shall be the very first argument or Testimony he produces for his Assertion which I the rather make my choice to give instance in because no Man can be said ingenuously to seek for faults to pick and choose for matter of exception that takes the first thing that comes to hand The business is this Chap. 2. Page 11. of his Book he cites the Council of Illiberis with a great deal of circumstance as the first Witness for his Cause and the Testimony is taken from the Seventy Sixth Canon the words are these St. quâ—s Diaconum c. i e. If any Man shall suffer himself to be ordained Deacon and shall afterwards be convicted to have formerly committed some Mortal or Capital Crime if the said Crime come to light by his own voluntary Confession he shall for the space of Three Years be debarred the Holy Communion but in case his sin be discovered and made known