th year of Nero's Region who first of the Roman Emperours began open Persecution against Christians and put to death St. Peter and St. Paul In this time I say of Toleration under the Roman Empire which continued the space of 36 years the blessed Apostles and Disciples had preached one uniform Gospel and Faith throughout all the World as may appear by their Acts recorded and by the peculiar Testimony of St. Paul to the Romans Rom. 1. which thing being most miraculously done by the Divine Power and Virtue of Christ Bishops Pastors and Governours being ordained in every Country and Church for guiding and directing the same by themselves and their Successors in perpetuum this I say being once brought to pass then the blessed Apostles for preventing of new false Doctrines that might afterward arise most earnestly exhorted and with all vehemency called upon the people to stand fast in the Doctrine Documents and Traditions then received to hold firmly the Faith and Doctrine already delivered as a Depositum or Treasure committed to them to be safely kept till the last day And above all other things they forewarned them to beware of new fangled Teachers whom they called Hereticks who should break from the Unity of the Universal Body already made and knit together and should devise new Glosses Expositions and Interpretations of Scripture bringing in new Sences Doctrines Opinions and damnable Divisions to the utter renting of Christ's Church Kingdom City already builded and all this to the perdition of infinite Souls Hence it is that St. Paul Tim. 1. pronounceth peremptorily of a contentious and heretical Man that he is damned by the testimony of his own Judgment or Conscience for that he abandoned the common direct publick way which all Men might see devising particular Paths and pernicious Turnings to himself and the ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church disputing against the same kind of People defended always that their Error was of Malice and wilful Blindness and not at all of Ignorance for they will not behold the plain direct sure safe unerring and infallible way among Christians wherein no man can err tho' never so simple but only of blind wilful and obstinate malice Yet by promises of Christ himself in the Gospel we are absolutely ascertained that the same visible Congegation Body Common-wealth Church Kingdom and Government which was established by Christ and propagated by the blessed Apostles shall endure and continue by Succession of Followers in perpetuum and that no new Teacher of later Doctrines dissenting from the first shall ever prevail against it albeit divers Errors and Heresies have sprung up and made great blustering and disturbance for a time yet have they been repress'd and condemn'd by the same Church and her visible Pastors and Doctors in the end For Example-sake in the first Age there arose up certain seditious fellows among the Iews as Simon Magus Nicolaus Cerinthus Ebion Meander c. that were Hereticks against these stood in defence St. Peter who broke the Neck and Black Art of Simon Magus even by his Prayer And after him St. Martialis St. Dionysius Areopagita St. Ignatius Policarpus and others In the second Age rose up Basilides Cerdon Marchion Valentinus Tacianus Apelles Montanus and divers others against these stood in battel Iustin Martyr Dionysius Bishop of Corinth St. Ireneus Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian with many others their equals And so all along downward from Age to Age unto cursed Luther's days whatsoever Heresie or new false Opinions hath been raised contrary to the general consent of Christ's universal Church it hath been check'd controul'd silenc'd and condemn'd by vigilant Pastors and Doctors chief Governours of the same Body by general Assemblies and Councils gathered from time to time as occasion serv'd in all Parts of the World Whereby it 's evidently most manifest that he who relieth upon this general consent of Christ's Church and the judgment thereof cannot err in matters of Belief but walketh in that sure secure and infallible Path wherein 't is said in Isaiah 35.8 That a very Fool cannot go amiss Hence one may be persuaded of the Churches perspicuity and infallibility in her Traditions and Doctrines through God's Divine Providence which did and will always preserve it from corruption having a warrant for it out of Scripture Isa. 59.21 My Spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seed's Seed from henceforth for ever And St. Austin said Ep. 118. That to dispute against a living multitude of the whole Church is insolent madness And to say she may err through ignorance wilfulness or negligence is most absurd and blasphemous she having Christ for her Head and the holy Ghost for her Guide and Spirit who was sent by our Saviour to teach it all Truth wherefore to tax that heavenly Government with errors in Faith is either to tax the holy Ghost with them or to blaspheme against Christ our blessed Redeemer by saying He has not kept his word and promise in sending the holy Ghost to teach his Church all truth for ever King IAMES in a publick Speech made in his Parliament acknowledged the Church of Rome to be our Mother-Church saying I acknowledge the Church of Rome to be our Mother-Church This you may find in Stow pag. 840. Sure the Sacred Blood of his glorious Mother Queen Mary the ever blessed Martyr ran in the Veins of this her Royal Son King Iames who would do wonderful things in favour of the Roman Catholick Church if it were not for the black contriving of the Gun-powder Plot by the Matchevilian Policy of crooked Cicil only for to hinder King Iames from favouring the Church of Christ Sanguis mantirum semen Ecclesiae See Osburn Sure there is no other certain Testimony to any prudent considering Man no firm Ground or Motive to believe that the Primitive Church received her Doctrine from the blessed Apostles these from Christ Christ from God the Father nor any way to bring it down from those times to these our days but only the Tradition of the Church from hand to hand For we may observe three properties of the Doctrine of Divine Faith to be true to be revealed of God to be preached and delivered by the Apostles The highest ground by which a Man is perswaded that his Faith is true is the Authority of God speaking and revealing it the highest proof by which a Man is assured that his Faith is revealed is the Authority of Christ and his blessed Apostles who delivered the same as descending from God but the highest ground that moveth a Man to believe that his Faith was preached by the blessed Apostles is the perpetual constant Tradition of the Church succeeding the blessed Apostles unto this day assuring him so much according to the saying of Tertul. depraes c. 21. 37. who made his Ladder
infinite number of gross Errors representing them under the hideous Idea of a Society professing most impious Doctrine thus no wonder that Peoples minds under their conduct should be alienated as to feel Horror and Detestation of her Doctrine so as their breach has been all along grounded upon Lyes Calumnies and False Suppositions Not being able to alledge in the behalf of their Schism any thing that can bear weight assuredly such disingenuous proceedings cannot but bring a deserv'd disrepute shame and confusion on the Protestant decaying Sect even from the sober understanding men among them And it is observable that Incredulity is an immortal Disease which hath reign'd from the beginning of the World and which shall never end but with the Worlds Dissolution Dreams Lyes Illusions and Falshood are easily believ'd because they insinuate themselves into the Hearts of men by Charms but glorious Truth which can never bely her self hath much ado to make her self entertain'd and understood yet we must know that there are many things unknown to us wherein God doth exercise our Faith but not satisfie our vain curiosity It is said that heretofore in Smyrna a City in Greece there was a false Mirror kept in the Temple which did represent the most beautiful Faces with notable Deformity and on the contrary gave to ugly and mis-shapen a Lustre of borrow'd and wholly imaginary beauty It is most notorious that the Protestant Ministers in the false Glass of their Preachings and lying printed Panphlets represents the glorious Church of Christ the Spouse of Heaven ever Holy as a Monster composed of Idolatry and Abomination as the Horrid Beast Whore of Babylon c. and on the contrary a Protestant Sect which begun by a revolt from all Obedience to lawful Superiors and by an infinite number of Exorbitances Sacriledge and unparallel'd Cruelties is forsooth represented as celestial holy and beautiful and it is to be wondered to see even Dr. Stillingfleet that Hircules and prime Advocate for Schism and who undertakes like a Goliah to defie the whole Hoast of Israel in the false Glass of his Roman Idolatry p. 8. Velit nolit represents the Roman Catholick Church as Idolatrous and Superstitious and yet makes it out clearly that she is the true Church to whose Communion the purest of all Christians are bound to joyn and that those who in any time did not joyn with it acted against their Christianity and must be counted as Schismaticks Now noble Sirs you are intreated seriously to reflect and bear in mind that heavenly Virtue of ready and true filial Obedience to lawfully authorized Superiors as Guides of your Souls in this Valley of Misery and sink of Death this Virtue is of the first magnitude and deserves all imaginable Encomiums Opposita juxta se posita magis clucescunt said the most excellent Philosopher contraries are their best Illustrations Now Schism is Disobedience and a most horrid Vice considered in her own ugly shape being carnality it self so as there is not any crime so hainous as Schism not Sacriledge Idolatry Paracide nor worshipping the Devil it 's an Abridgement of all the most damnable inexcusable unexpiable Vices imaginable it being impossible to receive such an injury or provocation from Church-Governours as may make a Separation excusable for according to St. Austin it is impossible that there should be any just cause for any to separate from the Catholick Roman Church Sirs such expressions as these cannot but strongly incite any understanding unbyass'd man whom a tender care of Eternity invites to seek satisfaction in this Point and seriously to consider that the Decision of no one Controversie is more neerly concerning Salvation than this being the hinge on which the Ocean of particular Disputes and Controversies do hang. This said let us see what Dr. Stillingfleet asserts in his Roman Idolatry p. 8. That a Christian by Virtue of his being so is bound to joyn in some Church or Congregations of Christians and that those who in any time did not joyn with it acted against their Christianity by virtue of which they were bound to do it he adds that a Christian by being so is bound to joyn in Communion of some Church and to chuse the Communion of the purest from this his Doctrine any understanding man must gather that he and his Protestant-pretended Church are guilty of Schism for separating themselves and remaining from joyning with the Communion of the Roman Catholick Church notwithstanding the said Stillingfleet strains all his Wits to palliate Schism painting their idle Reformation to advantage and not at all in its true colours proclaiming often Roman Catholicks Idolators superstitious c. which is the chief Rope whereupon he dances the Antick and triumphs O tempora o mores himself and his Proselites being in Schism over head and ears What then I pray are Protestants the better for all the Sermons they hear and Sacraments they receive Living in the cursed state of Schism for sure before Luther there was a glorious Church by the confession even of Adversaries this must be the Roman whose Communion was necessary to Salvation Therefore the Church of England separating and remaining obstinately from joining in Communion with It must be Schismaticks and something more to boot and it 's notoriously evident that the Roman Church hath the strongest warrantable promises prerogatives and motives even given to it by the sacred mouth of glorious Jesus then sure she could not err then sure she could not need any idle pretended Reformation So as that all Stilling fleet 's blind preaching of Reformation is vain his Faith is vain his Sacraments vain all his super-structures of daily printing lying new Books and scurrilous Pamphlets but all vain and by consequence himself no better than a sorry Schismatick So as any unbyass'd understanding man may plainly see all those Arrows which Dr. Still shoots against Roman Catholicks fall directly on his own head Muta fiant labia dolosa quia narraverunt iniqui fabulationes sed non ut lex tua His Objection is That Rome was an Harlot Superstitious the horned Beast c. It 's true that St. Ierome and other holy Fathers avers the same with reason but it was so called then when Rome was Gentile infected with Errours vain Superstitions of all Nations blaspheming God adoring Stocks and Stones and shedding in hatred of Christian Religion the Blood of Saints But after that Rome gave her name to Christ she can no more be stiled the Whore of Babylon but a glorious City faithful City replenished with all Grace and Righteousness which by receiving and confessing the Faith and Religion of Christ purely wip'd and wash'd off all Impurity all Blasphemies and superstitious Observances from that time it 's become the Tabernacle of God in the Sun true Pillar and Ground of Faith no blemish spot or wrinkle doth she carry When I pray is any able to say he saw her brave Sun go down or her fair Moon withdraw she always
divers prudent and religious Counsellors And even Nature gives us a Hieroglyphick hereof in the Bees whose sweet Commonwealth is ordered by one King See Georg. lib. 4. Quemadmodum mirantur omnes circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes They all follow and obey like little nimble Courtiers their little King c. All this considered will not a good Judgment see that to go about to oppose any of these two Powers is to do that which St. Austin said To suffer ones self to run into a folly which hasten'd into the height of Insolency and Madness and in the end find nothing but an Ocean of Disturbances and unavoidable Perdition and Ruin. God bless King IAMES our most gracious Pole-Star no sooner His Royal Brother King Charles the Second of ever glorious Memory died but he publickly went to hear Mass confiding in the mercy of ever blessed Jesus who for him doubtless will all Safety and Prosperity provide O Prodigie never to be duly pondered for which he is through all the World praised and admired Magna est Veritas praevalet We must not meddle with things Sacred but with due reverence we must not confound the true Churches Spiritual Authority with the Regal Civil and Temporal both being distinct in Office and severally given and appointed by the Almighty they are like the two Arms of his Divine Power employed by him and distributed to their several Uses the one exercising the meer Spiritual and Persuasive Power the other the Corporal and Coercive Power the one holding the Pastoral-directing and Soul-corrective Staff the other swaying the Royal and All-subjecting Scepter the one unsheathing the Spiritual Sword cutting off by Authority Disobedient Schismatical or Heretical Sinners from the communion of the faithful Flock and from eternal Life the other brandishing the Kingly Sword cutting off the Lives of the Offenders of established just Laws and even as God holds this World in his hands that the vast Sea and firm Land may not mix together but observe their just bounds lest they should come to another Chaos So he will not have those two sovereign distinct Dignities be blinded into one least Confusion and inevitable Ruine should follow Sure since King Henry the Eighth revolted from the Monarchical Spiritual Power of Christ's Church nothing to this day followed but confusion misery disasters in this brave Kingdom of England by degrees ascending to height of unheard-of Iniquity and Tyranny as to cut off the best of Kings Charles the First assuredly those miscreant Hell-hounds that murdered him would not stick to murder even Divinity This is the woful Catastrophe of disjoyning the Spiritual from Kingly and Monarchical Government Now I must say this much of the Roman Catholick Church that according to St. Paul Rom. 1. was and is yet and will continue in perpetuum famous for Faith Religion Sacrifice and Sacraments throughout the Universe for the sound of her Doctrine hath been heard every where and her Fame to the utmost Parts of the World so as it is the same to say Roman as Catholick or Vniversal whereas there where the Roman Eagles Wings did never spread the Roman Faith did reaching down to all Ages and spreading over all Kingdoms for who can view Christianity in its extent but must consider how all Kingdoms and Nations were by Roman Emissaries converted to the true ancient Faith of Iesus we need not make any further Enquiries but embrace and walk confidently in those plain Paths in which Fools cannot err following the foot-steps of the true Flock and the heavenly good Pastor where alone Sanctity Verity and all Virtues inerrability infallibility and perpetuity are found for when where or how she ever err'd or fail'd no Authentick Author have yet related no faithful candid Writer recorded nor have any of those watchful Luminaries and Sentinels whom God hath placed in his Church ever given the least alarm of Innovations gotten into the same only Schismaticks and Hereticks combining conspiring and reviling and in vain CHAP. II. Of the CHURCH THe Church of Christ is one Society or Company of Men link'd and combin'd together in one and the same profession of Christian Faith Religion Sacrifice and use of Sacraments under lawful Pastors and under one supreme visible Head Pastor or conservator of Peace Union and Verity This is a true notion or definition of the Church established by Christ and propagated by the blessed Apostles here the true nature essence and constitution of a Church is manifested and doth truly distinguish it from all Hereticks and Schismaticks vain Pretences whatsoever for they are apparently excluded from Christ's Church and she appears glorious without spot wrinkle or any such thing she is described in holy Writ by the Emblems of a City orderly govern'd by one chief supreme Governour or of an Army govern'd by that Military Discipline that requires subjection to one Generalissimo the King had placed over it of the Body each Member in due subjection to its visible Head on Earth and the Pope in point of Government rul'd by his invisible Head in the highest Heaven Hence it followeth by order of good consequence that Divine Faith and Belief wherein consisteth as well the ground and foundation of our eternal welfare as also the Fruit and entire Utility of Christ's coming into this World is to be had in the Church made plain by the Prophet Esay 45. he foreshewed the wonderful Providence of God in providing for Christians so manifest a way of Direction for their Faith and Religion as that the most simple and unlearned Man in the World should not be able but out of wilfulness to go astray therein his words directed to the Gentiles are these Take comfort and fear not behold your God shall come and save you then shall the Eyes of the Blind be opened and the Ears of the Deaf shall be restored and there shall be a Path and way and it shall be called The holy way and it shall be to you a direct way as Fools shall not be able to err therein Sure the plain and direct way mentioned by Esay wherein no simple or ignorant Men can err is the general Body of Christ's visible Church upon Earth planted by his Apostles throughout all Nations and Countries and continuing by Succession unto the World's end in which Church who remaineth and believeth all things taught therein cannot at all fall into any Error of Faith for that this Church is guided by Christ's Spirit and therefore in no ways subject or within the compass of Error For which cause St. Paul ultimo calls it The Pillar and Firmament of Truth And the same Church is so conspicuous and evidently manifest that it is more easie to find it out than it is to see the Sun or Moon when it shineth brightest at Noon or to behold the greatest Hill or Mountain in the World and for more declaration of this it 's to be noted That in the time from Christ's ascension until the 13
hidden sences furnished with variety of Parables Examples Histories Revelations Figures Allegories so as it cannot be proved directly to be the word of God but by Tradition The Christians of the Primitive Age on pain of Damnation held nothing of Faith but what they received from Christ and his blessed Apostles for Moral and Apostolical Tradition without written Scripture or written Books was the means of planting and conserving Christian Religion see St. Paul Galat. 21.8 Altho' we or an Angel from Heaven preach to you besides that which we have preached to you he be Anathema And again 2 Thes. 15. Therefore Brethren stand ye fast and hold ye the Traditions which ye have learned whether by Word or by our Epistle Sure Apostolical Tradition is the sure Guide by which we may infallibly be assur'd what Doctrin for Salvation Christ and his blessed Apostles left many years before any thing was written or printed CHAP. IV. The Scripture of Protestants decry'd FIrst I say that all Sectaries tho' never so many and opposite one to another have ever risen and have still pretended to Scripture nay the Devil urged his Temptation with a scriptum est Matth. 4. And so many frequently deprave the Scriptures to their own perdition 2 Pet. 3. I decline not Scripture but allow admit and embrace it as containing that irrefragable Doctrine which eminent Persons in the Church of God penn'd even a thousand years before Printing was invented Scripture is a good Instrument to draw Men from Paganism to Chistianity but not Protestants to the Catholick Faith. When the Christian explicit Articles of Faith prepared and delivered to us by our Primitive Pastors according as they had received them from Christ the prime Inventor were rashly annull'd taken away and rejected by Sectaries and the Bible put into all hands for to search and find out by our own skill the Results and Principles of Religion implicitly couch'd in the Bible is not this extream Madness and Tyranny to Souls Is it not a tyrannous Cheat and an Abuse hardly to be parallell'd to put Men to seek for a thing with a fore-imprinted prejudice of that they go about to find and seek for Faith with a prejudice against Faith With such-like prejudice do the English People read the Bible being afore-hand advised by their Reformers fully to believe that the Catholick Mass is abomination the Real Presence a late invention the Merit of Good Works a Dream fasting and mortification of sensual Appetites folly and madness the indifferency of Man's Free Will to Good or Evil an Error the making a Vow a Chimera restitution or satisfaction of Injuries done a prejudicial Mistake all Expiation of our Sins an inexpiable Crime honour to blessed Saints Idolatry Sacrifice Altars and the whole Priesthood of Christ Prophaneness the conscionable practice of Sobriety Justice and Piety necessary to Eternal Life detestable Popery for God's sake what good can accrew to the drooping Soul of an Heretick by reading of Scripture with these Prejudices these Diabolical Anticipations these Antichristian Preconceptions these meer Obstructions to all Faith Grace and Salvation Yet thus forewarn'd and prepossess'd all Sectaries read the Scripture no sound or solid Fruit arising thence to their Souls but hardness of Heart Pride Schism sencelesness of God's Judgments desperateness in all Sin and Injustice Sure the Scripture do little or no good but as it is presented by the Church and received with her Interpretation and practised in her Bosom The Ark of God so long as it was upheld by the Priests comforted and sanctified them but look'd into or touch'd by others destroy'd them nor was it to them an Ark of Salvation but an Offence and occasion of Fall Therefore it was a heavenly Caution that which we received by a Voice from Heaven Act. 10. Things that God hath sanctified do not make common We see Scripture takes up Figures Allegories Parables c. wherein are inclosed Truths of a differing strain to what the Letter relates which will cause an obscurity almost invincible even to Church-men singularly assisted and inspired It is therefore but madness to undertake Labour and Hazard for naught The Law and Government of the Messias differs from the Law of Moses in this That one was committed to Paper but the Doctrine of Jesus should be written in the Heart and Entrails of his Church He is a God that writes on the Paper of the Heart unto Eternity indelible Tenets The Law of Christ is written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the Living God not in Tables of Stone but in fleshly Tables of the Heart promising to animate the Body of his Church with his own Spirit which should lead them into all Truth so as in very truth Scripture of the New Testament was drawn by the Rule of our traditional Doctrine and explicit Faith and not our explicit Faith gathered out of them neither was ever any General Council called together to teach the Church her Doctrine but upon the rising of Heresies judging by the Rule of Tradition declared against Heretical Innovations Here I infer how they are bereaved of Human Understanding that do not see palpably that a pretended Church which begun by breach of Promises to God by Sacrileges and Impurities of Apostates by general Revolt against Kings against Divine and Human Laws by the filth and ordure of the Carrion and caitive Flesh by the dissolution of good Manners by Blood Furies and Confusion could not come and take its source from the Divine Spirit yet they boldly say they find Scripture of their side Ah lamentable Illusion To whom did the Scripture send them but to the Priests and lawful Pastors What said the Scripture unto them but that they ought to keep the Traditions and obey Prelates That they must not trust to their own judgment but captivate it in matters of Faith and that it was better to believe with holy Simplicity than question with a proud Curiosity And it 's observable how the poor deluded People in England after using their Bible now above a hundred years how they have a Church without Apostolical Preachers these without Character Mission Priesthood or Divine Jurisdiction Sheep without true Pastors faithful without Churches Christians without Sacraments Temples without Altars Altars without Sacrifices Religion without form or fashion a Law without Obedience a Faith without Works and Grace yet they all peruse Scripture and all is but that they overthrow themselves by these Scripture ways by which they seek to establish themselves for if we ought not to believe any thing but that which is written in what place of their Bible will they find that the revealed positive and affirmative Principles of our Church must be denied and abrogated In what place will they shew that these words Hoc est Corpus meum must be understood figuratively not really In what place will they find that Sunday must be kept holy and not Saturday Where will they find that there are but two
is Divine unerring revealed Faith. Now the Master and Author of that Doctrine we must believe the Instructor of the Actions we must perform and the promiser and performer of the final Happiness we may hope for is God himself who cannot deceive or be deceiv'd he being the prime Verity Via veritas vita So as Faith is not grounded upon our weak natural Judgment or Ratiocination but upon obedience to the Church Faith is a gift of God a supernatural Quality infused by God into our Souls by which we firmly believe all things revealed to us Without Faith its impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 And He that believed not shall be damned Mark ult v. 16. So as every one ought to know that there is a sovereign and blessed end viz. Eternal Glory then every one ought to love and heartily wish to attain to the same and earnestly seek out for those means and helps prescrib'd and ordain'd by God for the compassing it Then in the first place we must find out Divine Faith which partly proceeds from God as the source and Author thereof as Prima veritas And altho' those things we believe by Faith cannot be known by evident Demonstration yet because they are taught us by supernatural means we are more certain of their truth than of all other things because those things are deliver'd over to us by a more certainly infallible Teacher the Spirit of Truth the Holy Ghost Therefore enter I pray into a serious consideration of the End for which you and all were created viz. The Glory of God and your eternal Happiness and for the knowledge of the means to attain thereunto you may find by the consent of all Christians this cannot be gotten by clear and evident sight nor by human Discourse founded on the Principles of Reason nor by reliance upon Authority meerly human but only by Faith grounded on the Word of God revealing to Men things that are otherwise only known to his infinite Wisdom Now God sure revealed all these things to Jesus Christ and he to his blessed Apostles as he saith Iohn 15.15 All things which I have heard from my Father I have made known to you This partly by word of mouth but principally by the immediate teaching of the Holy Ghost to the end that they should deliver them after to Mankind to be received believed and obeyed over the whole World in perpetuum as it is said Matth. 28.19 Go teach all Nations Sure they did accordingly preach to all Nations as it 's said by St. Mark 16.20 They going forth did preach every where and so planted an universal Christian Company charging them to keep inviolable and to deliver to their Posterity what they have received from them as the first Messengers of the Gospel as St. Paul said to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.2 The things that thou hast heard of many Witnesses the same commit thou to faithful Men who may instruct others Now tho' the blessed Apostles and their Hearers be departed out of this Life yet still there remains a means now in the World by which all men may assuredly know what the Apostles preached and the Primitive Church received of them seeing the Church to the end must be built on the Apostles and believe nothing as matter of Faith beside that which was delivered of them as St. Paul said Ephes. 2.20 Are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ being the chief Corner Stone Scripture is a Light only to the Faithful because known from the Church's Tradition to be from the Apostles by the Apostles Authority confirmed by Miracles to be of God by God's supreme Verity who cannot deceive nor be deceived to be the truth So Scripture is a Light which must be shewed by a Superiour Light before it become light The Church therefore must guide us to know the truth of Scripture as St. Austin said Contra Epist. fundamenti c. 5. I would not believe the Gospel it self unless the Authority of the Church Catholick did move me The Word that is written tells us that all is not written as St. Paul 2. Thes. 2.15 exhorts us to keep both the written and unwritten saying Stand fast and keep Traditions which you have learned by word or by our Epistle It is manifest that the first Church of God from the Creation until Moses which was about 2000 years had no Word of God but what was unwritten which we call Tradition from hand to hand And we do not read that the Apostles were sent to write but to preach And S. Iohn denies that he had expressed in Writing all that he had to say saying Having more things to write to you I would not by Paper or Ink for I hope that I shall be with you and speak mouth to mouth that your Ioy may be full By which it is evident that the blessed Apostles beside their Writings did preach other things which were wanting to their faith And it 's manifest that what the Apostles did write was but accidental and upon particular occasions See Hooker Eccles. Pol. Lib. 1. Sect. 15. P. 87. For instance the Epistles of St. Peter Iames Iohn and Iude were written against certain Hereticks who misunderstanding St. Paul did teach that Faith only without Works sufficed to Salvation See St. Aug. de fide operib c. 14. And St. Iohn did not preach his Gospel till his last Age which was very long without writing and took occasion to write as St. Ierom de Scriptor Eccles. affirms by reason of the Heresie of Ebionites then broke out The like may be shewed of the rest And take what is worth observation That all Epistles were written to such persons only as were already converted to the Christian Faith therefore were written not so much to instruct as to confirm this Zuinglius also confesseth Tom. 2. lib. de Eccl. fol. 43. By all which its evident that the Apostles and Evangelists did write their Books not by Command of Christ but upon some accidental occasion moving them thereunto and very many were saved before any Scripture and that only by Tradition which was before Scripture for the invention of Printing was not in the World till about 230 years ago and the Bibles that were written being but few by reason of the great labour of writing them and those that were written not purchaseable but by few because of their great price nor legible but by very few because they were not printed but written by hand and sure God by his Providence did and will always preserve his Church from extinction and corruption having warrant for it out of Scripture and no warrant for the preservation of the Text the Church being a thing more easily known than Scripture and consisting of a living Multitude can express it self more plainly by the Mouth and Tradition of the Church Tradition being plain and easie Doctrine concerning the common capital and practical Articles of Christianity but Scripture full of high mysterious and