of Faith And hath he found out the Churches Authority too without the Churches Help and yet doth he want some necessary Points of Faith Then it follows that after the submitting to the Churches Authority there are still necessary Points of Faith which may be wanting and then an absolute Submission is not all that is required of one that hath found out the Churches Authority But my whole Argument there proceeds upon a Supposition viz. that if one may without the Churches Help find out the Churches Authority in Scripture then why not all necessary Points of Faith So that it goes upon a Parity of Reason and I see no Answer at all given or pretended but only he endeavours to stop my Mouth with a handful of Dirt. Thus I have dispatched this long Argument about the Judgment of Discretion And I shall now sum up my Answer in these particulars I. Every Christian as such is bound to enquire after the true Way to Salvation and hath a Capacity of Judging concerning it II. Every Christian proceeding according to the best Rules of judging hath Reason to receive the Scripture as the Rule of his Faith. III. The Scripture is so plain in all Necessaries and God hath promised such Assistance to them that sincerely seek it that none who do so shall want the knowledge of such things as are necessary to their Salvation IV. When any thing is offer'd as necessary to be believed in order to Salvation every Christian hath a Right and Liberty of Judging whether it can be proved by the Scripture to be so necessary or not V. We do not allow to particular Persons the same Faculty of Judging in doubtful Points of Controversie which we do as to Matters that immediately concern their Salvation VI. No pretence of Infallibility or Authority can take away that Right of Judging which was allowed them by the Apostles whose Authority was Infallible VII This Right of Judging doth not exclude the Churches due Authority as to Matters of Faith and Controversies of Religion as it is declared Art. 20. of our Church but all that we now plead for is not any Authority as to others but a Right of Judging as to themselves in Matters that concern their Salvation VIII The Certainty of Faith as to them depends upon two Things 1. The clearness of Scripture about them which implies the Certainty of Reason 2. The Promise of Divine Assistance which makes their Faith Divine both as to its Principle its Ground and its Effect But I have not yet ended his Objections about our Rule of Faith For VI. He objects That we cannot necessarily resolve our Faith into the Writings of the Apostles only What is the meaning that we cannot necessarily resolve it I think we must Resolve it into a Written Rule till we see another proved Did the Apostles when they went to convert the World go with Books in their Hands or Words in their Mouths Doubtless with Words in their Mouths Or were those Words a jot less Sacred when they came from their Mouths than when they put them in a Book Not one jot Or lastly doth any Command from Christ appear to write the Book of Scripture or any Revelation before hand that it was to be a Rule of Faith to the future Church No such matter and the Accidental Occasions of its writing at first and its Acceptation afterwards bar any such pretences On the other side their grand Commission was not scribite but only praedicate Evangelium I have given an Account so lately of the Reasons and Occasions of writing the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament that I need only here to give these general Answers I. Whatsoever was done as to the Writing the Books of the New Testament was done by the immediate Direction and Appointment of the Holy Ghost II. The Reason given by the Writers of the Gospels themselves is that Matters of Faith might be delivered with the greatest Certainty III. Those Writings were not intended only for the Benefit of the Church then being but for future Ages and thence the Books of Scripture were so received and esteemed in the Primitive Churches IV. The most Antient Writers of the Christian Church assure us that the Apostles wrote the same Doctrine they taught and for that purpose that they might be a Pillar and Foundation of Faith. V. The most certain way we now have to know what Doctrine the Apostles taught is by their Writings since they taught and wrote the same Doctrine and we are certain we have the Doctrine they wrote but we have no other Way to be certain what Doctrine they taught VII He objects That the Question being put concerning the New Testament's containing all Divine Revelations of Christ and his Apostles I gave no direct Answer but shuffled it off to Matters necessary to Salvation The setting out of this is the Subject of some pages To which I give an easie Answer The Question concerning the New Testament containing all the Divine Revelations of Christ and his Apostles may be taken in two Senses 1. As relating to the entire Object of Faith and so the Answer was most direct and plain to the second Question That the Rule whereby we hold all the same Doctrine that was taught by Christ and his Apostles is by the Divine Revelations contained in the Writings of the New Testament For since we believe all that is there and nothing but what is there that must contain the Entire Object of our Faith. And the word All must relate to that 2. As to all those things which particular Persons are bound to believe as contained therein and so the Question being put about the Vniversal Testimony to assure us i. e. all particular Christians That the New Testament contained all the Divine Revelations of Christ and his Apostles My Answer was direct and apposite to this Sense viz. that the Universal Testimony of the Christian Church as to the Book of Scripture and the Doctrine therein contained is a sufficient Ground to make us certain i. e. all particular Persons of all Matters necessary to our Salvation So that the Substance of my Answer lies in these three things I. That all our Faith is contained in Scripture and thereby we hold all the Doctrine taught by Christ and his Apostles II. That although all particular Persons may not reach to the entire Object of Faith contained in Scripture yet they had thereby a Certainty as to all Matters necessary to their Salvation III. That the Ground of Certainty as to both these was the Universal Testimony of the Christian Church concerning the Books of Scripture and the Doctrine contained therein The Words of my Letter are We are to consider that the Scripture being our sole and entire Rule of Faith all Matters necessary to Salvation must be supposed to be contained therein and therefore the same Testimony which delivers the Scripture to us doth deliver all the necessary Articles as contained therein
esteemed so dispersed so constantly read could be suffer'd to be lost among Christians If it be Objected That they were not all so esteemed at first as appears by the Epistle to the Hebrews and therefore might more easily be lost I Answer That however they were not universally received at first yet they were by those Churches to whom they were written and among them they were not kept up but mightily dispersed so that there was no way to lose them from the first spreading of them abroad unless we can suppose such multitudes of Christians to conspire together to suppress a Book of so great Concernment to themselves As if Persons who claim an Estate by virtue of some Deeds should all agree to imbezel them or any material part of them Here was no pretence for Registers and Abridgments which some make use of to lessen the Authority of the Books of the Old Testament for here we have the very Authentick Writings of the Apostles and their own Epistles in their own style and Expressions And supposing the Churches to whom they were sent to have received them as their Writings and to have communicated them to others as they did I do not see under these Circumstances how a Book containing Divine Revelations could be lost II. He Objects That the Canon of Scripture was not entire but deficient for some hundreds of years till the whole Canon was collected and acknowledged and therefore so long the Church had no Perfect Rule of Faith. I Answer I. I distinguish between a Compleat Rule of Faith and a Compleat Canon of Scripture For if the Books owned and universally received contain in them all Matters of Faith then the Rule of Faith is Compleat although some particular Books may be still in Dispute As for Instance it is certain that in St. Jerom's Time the Church of Rome did not receive as Canonical the Epistle to the Hebrews Had not that Church therefore a Compleat Rule of Faith If God hath so abundantly provided for his Church that there may be a full Revelation of all Points of Faith in the rest then the disputing the Authority of such an Epistle doth not derogate from the Compleatness of the Rule of Faith. For if they have all Points of Faith they must have a Compleat Rule of Faith. II. It is no Prejudice to the true Canon of Scripture that some particular Books of the New Testament were for some time disputed by some particular Churches For if it were done without Ground it doth reflect more on those Churches than on those Books especially when those very Churches afterwards received them And this was the Case of the Church of Rome as to the Epistle to the Hebrews St. Jerom affirms That not only the Greek Churches all received it but that all the Ancient Writers did so and not meerly as an Ecclesiastical but as a Canonical Epistle Therefore this must be a late thing in the Church of Rome and in probability began upon the Novatian Controversie which Epistle was thought too much to favour the Novatian Doctrine and when that Controversie did abate that Epistle recovered its Authority in the Church of Rome But Mr. S. is angry with me for reflecting on the Church of Rome for not receiving the Epistle to the Hebrews in St. Jerom 's Time which he thinks was an Act of Prudence antecedent to the Judgment or Determination of any Church whether Greek or Latin. One may see by this how well versed he is in the Canon of Scripture when St. Jerom declares that not only all the Greek Writers received it but all the Ancient and that as Canonical Was here no antecedent Judgment of the Church in this Matter Doth not the Consent of all Ancient Writers even in St. Jerom's Time make a Judgment of the Church But he adds That what I make a heinous Crime in the Church of Rome was a commendable Caution in it That which I said was That it hence appear'd that the Church of Rome was far from being believed then to have the Authority of making the Canon of Scripture or being Infallible in Faith. And what saith J. S. in Answer to this Not one Syllable but runs it off to another thing But why do I not as well blame the Greek Churches for not receiving the Apocalypse They do not pretend to such Authority and Infallibility in this Matter as the Church of Rome doth I do not deny that there were some Greeks then to blame in rejecting the Apocalypse but Bellarmin saith they were but few and obscure Persons and he produces the Testimonies of Justin Martyr Irenaeus Theophilus Antiochenus Melito Sardensis Dionysius Alexandrinus Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and Athanasius all approving it And the Occasion of disputing it arose from the Millenary Opinion which some thought they could not confute as long as the Apocalypse had such Authority in the Church And such Disputes as these which wore off by degrees are no real Prejudice to the Canon of the New Testament which was at first generally received and although some few Books were contested for a time yet they recover'd their Authority and have ever since been received by the Universal Consent of all Christian Churches III. He Objects against this Universal Consent the Testimonies of Marcion Ebion Valentinus Cerinthus and Epiphanius his other Hereticks who rejected the Canon of the New Testament Could any Man but J. S. make such an Objection as this But he had a mind to bring me in as a Favourer of all Hereticks and as such another Man of Integrity hath done of all Anti-Catholick and Anti-Christian Doctrines But where have I given any Occasion for such spiteful Reflections All that I said was We have the Universal Consent of all Christian Churches for the Canon of the New Testament i. e. Of all since the time that the Epistle to the Hebrews was receiv'd in the Latin and the Apocalypse in the Greek Churches notwithstanding all the Divisions they have since fallen into yet they had no Difference as to the Canon of the New Testament And this I insisted on as the Ground of our Certainty viz. The Unanimous Consent of all the great Bodies of Christians that have continued under different Denominations to this day To this he gives no other Answer but that my Answer to the Fifth Question is co-incident with that to the Fourth I thought J. S. in the Self-evident way would have liked my Answer the better for it But he doth not comprehend the design of it I had said before That we relied on the Universal Testimony of the Christian Church upon that the Question was asked What I meant by the Christian Church My Answer was That it was that which was made up of all Christian Churches i. e. saith J. S. That all the Parts make the Whole and what Incongruity is there When Mr. G. said That the Christian Church may be taken in several Latitudes he desired to know in
is I. To shew how unfit J. S. of all Men is to undertake this Cause II. To settle the true State of the Controversie between us III. To examine the Reasons he produces against our Grounds of Certainty IV. To lay open the weakness of his Arguments on behalf of the Infallibility of Oral and Practical Tradition I. As to J. S. his appearing in this Cause again we are to consider that in his Catholick Letters he frequently owns Faith vindicated Reason against Raillery and Errour nonplust and even Sure Footing it self But I shall now shew that he disowned the main Principles in those Books when he was in great danger of being Censured at Rome for them and therefore is not to be allow'd to produce them again The Account of this Matter will give great Light into the state of the present Controversie and is therefore necessary to be premised to it Out of those Books of J. S. a considerable Person in the Church of Rome selected three Propositions about the Grounds of his Infallible Certainty which were these I. That he who is obliged to profess Faith propositions true must see the Connexion between their Terms and consequently that they cannot be unconnected or false II. If the two Terms be not seen to be connected these Propositions may nay ought to be denyed by the Respondent whose Office and Right it is to grant nothing but what is evident lest he ensnare himself III. 'T is requisite and necessary that the Assent of Faith in divers particular Believers be formally Infallible or that those Persons be infallibly certain by evident Reasons that the Authority or Rule of Faith they rely on cannot herein deceive them Else great Wits and acute Reflecters whose piercing Vnderstandings require convictive Grounds for their Faith would remain for ever unsatisfied nor would the wisest Christians sincerely and heartily assent to nor with honesty profess the Truth of their Faith nor could any prove it true or establish rational doubters in it or convert Men of exact knowledge to it or convince Hereticks calling the Truth of it in question Nor could Governors and leading Persons with any Conscience or Credit propose and preach the Truth of Faith to the Generality These Propositions were tender'd to two Doctors of the Sorbon who declared The First could not be explained in a Catholick Sense and therefore very unfit for Catholick Letters For if say they a Person sees the Connexion between the Terms it would be Science and not Faith it is enough to see them not to be contradictory or that the Connexion is not repugnant to Reason Divine Faith is above not contrary to Reason As to the Second they agreed That neither could that be explained in a Catholick Sense because it is destructive of Faith and a Proposition ought not cannot be denied although the Respondent hath not Evidence of the Terms of which it consists when he otherwise knows the Church which Faith not Demonstration teaches to be Infallible in Matters of Faith to propose as a Truth revealed by God. To the Third they say That it cannot be explained in a Catholick Sense Because it is sufficient that the Church be believed by Faith to be Infallible and it is not requisite that the Infallibility of the Church be proved by evident Reason See here the main Design of his Catholick Letters declared to be no Catholick Doctrine which is to prove that there must be Infallible Certainty by Conclusive Evidence of the Churches Infallibility And if this be not Catholick Doctrine I am infallibly certain his Letters are far from being Catholick in their Sense One of these Doctors writes to the A. B. of D. That the Natural Sense of the Propositions could not be Catholick and that all Bishops were bound to suppress this Doctrine lest it did mischief to the Flock of Christ. And that the A. B. of Paris would revoke his Licence if the Author did not retract them as he hoped he would What Retract the Substance of his Catholick Letters Is this possible And yet again publish the same Doctrine as Catholick This is indeed very surprising But so it was For the A. B. of D. averrs That J. S. confessed the Propositions to be Heretical yea very Heretical but he said they were not taken in his sense which the other said was a ridiculous Plea. He granted that J. S. might contradict himself but there was no colour for saying the Propositions were not taken in their true sense And Mr. S. being requir'd by the A. B. of Paris to Anathematize these Propositions and to subscribe to the Censure that they could not be explained in a Catholick Sense he did it And yet the sense of them is maintained by him in his Catholick Letters Is not such a Man fit to hold the Cards for Mr. G. who makes the same Doctrine to be Heretical and Catholick as his Circumstances require And in his own Language he goes backwards and forwards blows and sups declares for and against the same Principles This Doctrine of J. S. was complained of at Rome and a Congregation of Cardinals was appointed to Examine it and they sent their Instructions about it to the Popes Nuncio at Paris where J. S. then was And therein they took notice that in his Vindication sent to them he detested that Doctrine as Heretical viz. that the Evidence of the Connexion of Predicate and Subject and the Evidence of the Rule of Faith by which the Believer may be infallibly certain he cannot be deceived is necessary in order to Faith. I desire the Reader to mark this Declaration which J. S. sent to Rome and to compare it with the Doctrine of his Catholick Letters But of that hereafter But it is worth our while to shew with what a double Face I. S. appeared in his Vindication and Complaint sent to Rome and in his Books which he published here And by that the Reader may judge of the Catholick Sincerity of the Writer of these Letters I. About the Faith he designs to demonstrate Faith Vindicated Preface I declare then that my chief End in this Treatise is to settle Christian Faith or to demonstrate that it must be truly or absolutely certain and that my applying it now and then to my Opposers is only a Secondary Intention and meerly Occasional Querimonia advers Lominum p. 49. He saith He speaks not of Faith in itself but as it is controverted among us The same he affirms p. 145 146. that he meddles not with Faith but with respect to his Adversaries or as it is disputed between Catholicks and those he calls Hereticks p. 148. If it were his design to settle Christian Faith and to make it truely and absolutely certain and only secondarily applying it to his Opposers how is it possible that at the same time he should not meddle with Faith in itself but meerly with respect to his Opposers Is not this a
suspect any Fraud or Design in the Alterations that appear in the Manuscript Copies And as to Translations that have been made among us the People who are not able to examin them by the Originals have no Reason to suspect them as to any Matter of Faith. Not meerly from the Skill and Integrity of the Persons and the Care that hath been taken but because it was so much the Concernment of some Men to have lessen'd the Credit of our Translations as much as was possible and they have not been able to produce any thing that might shake the Faith of a considering Man. If it be said after all This is but Human Faith and not Divine I answer IV. We must be careful to distinguish the Certainty of Human and Divine Faith in this Matter We do not pretend that we have an Absolute Divine Certainty of things that are only capable of Human Certainty and we do not say that we have only Human Certainty of things capable of Divine Certainty If the Question be put concerning the Objects of Divine Faith then we do answer That we have a Divine Certainty of them from those things which are the proper Evidence of Divine Revelation We believe the Doctrine of Christ with a Divine Faith because it was confirmed by Miracles and Prophecies We believe the New Testament to be written by the Holy Spirit because the Promise of the Spirit was fulfilled upon them and especially in a thing of so great Concernment to the whole Christian Church But if the Question be asked only concerning a Matter of Fact as whether the Books that bear such Names were written by the Persons whose Names they bear then I can have no greater Certainty than belongs to a Matter of Fact but then it is so circumstantiated that I have a greater and more absolute Certainty as to this then any other Matter of Fact which wants the Proofs that this hath And if as to Books and Copies and Translations we have as high a Certainty as the thing is capable of it is madness to expect and require more For where there is but a Human Testimony there cannot be the Certainty of Divine Faith which must not only have a Divine Object but must rest on a Divine Testimony but where the Testimony is Human the Certainty must be such as relates to the highest of that kind But still such a Faith may have Absolute Certainty of its kind and although in regard of its Testimony it be Human Faith yet in regard both of its Object its inward Cause and its Effects it may be truly called Divine IX The last Objection is concerning the Number of Canonical Books Pray satisfie us saith Mr. S. about this exact Number of Books and how many will just serve turn One would think by his Objections J. S. were preparing Matter for the Critical History of the New Testament he seems so concerned to lessen the Authority of it But I shall Answer the Objections he offers 1. There may have been Books lost that were written by Persons divinely inspir'd and we have no unanimous Consent of the Christian Church that there is none lost and those Books might contain Matters different from or to be superadded to the Canon we have now and without this we can have no Certainty that the Books we have now contained all the Divine Revelations I Answer I. If we have the unanimous Consent of the Christian Church that we have the Canon of the New Testament entire then we have their Consent that there is no Book written by Divine Inspiration lost And this appears by the Contest in the IV. Century about the just Number of the Canonical Books The Churches then differ'd about some Books not then Universally receiv'd as the Apocalypse in some and the Epistle to the Hebrews in others Which shews that the Churches were then so solicitous to preserve any Books that appear'd to be written by Persons Inspir'd that although these did then want Universal Consent yet they were still kept and read and dispers'd till upon further Examination they came to be Universally read It is not therefore in the least probable they should suffer any Apostolical Writings to be lost II. This is to charge the Christian Church with so gross a Neglect as overthrows the force of all his Arguments for Tradition For we must suppose an Apostolical Writing sent to some Church by Direction of the Holy Spirit and yet that Church be so notoriously careless as to lose a Book containing in it many Points of Faith now I appeal to any one of common Sense whether he could trust their Word for Matters of Faith who could be so negligent as to lose a great many Points of Faith at once And the more such a Book were dispersed the Argument is still stronger against Tradition Besides this shews the great Insufficiency of Oral Tradition if these Points of Faith are lost because such a Book was lost wherein they were contained If Tradition had been so effectual a Means of Conveying Matters of Faith it should have appear'd in such a Case viz. in preserving such Matters of Faith though the Books were lost But we find nothing like this so much as pretended Although it were much easier pretended than proved III. This is to suppose the Providence of God not to be immediately concerned in preserving Books written by Divine Inspiration Mr. S. doth really suppose that Books written by Divine Inspiration may have been lost or at least that we cannot prove that they are not But we think it a considerable Proof that they could not because the Divine Providence doth so immediately concern it self in preserving that which tends so much to the Good of his Church If a Hair doth not fall from our Heads nor a Sparrow fall on the Ground without the Providence of God as our Saviour affirms is it not very unreasonable to suppose that a Divine Book written for the Benefit of the Christian Church should be wholly lost Especially considering the extraordinary Care the first Christians took in Times of the greatest Persecutions to preserve the Scriptures and no force or violence could extort them out of their hands On Mr. S's Supposition it was no hard Matter for a Book of Scripture to be lost viz. if the several Books had been committed to the Custody of some Men in Trust for the whole Church but if we consider the things as they really were it will appear hardly possible For the Books were not kept up at first in a few hands but dispersed abroad in multitudes of Copies and received with mighty Veneration both on the Account of the Authors of them and the Matters contained in them They were read both in Publick and in Private they heard them in their Assemblies and they made them their constant Imployment at home they were their Rule of Life as well as of Faith. And how is it possible to suppose any Book so received so