they indifferently pay to all Men for that which is due to God only whereby they obey God rather than Man so this Obedience was embraced by them before the other For 't is indeed an argument of no little discretion but of a quick and most piercing Judgment if we can discern what Opinion is to be followed and what is rather to be rejected In a word our Lord himself in the Gospel says Beware of them which come to you in sheeps cloathing but inwardly are devouring wolves Therefore a watchful Soul and setled Mind are required in order to our discovering the plain simplicity of Sheep or the more hidden malice and greediness of Wolves Whence we may learn what great danger they are in who neglect the study of the Holy Scriptures from which only they can be furnished with such a knowledge and discretion St. Austin has an Expression which makes a great bluster in the World I would not believe the Gospel says he if the Authority of the Catholick Church did not move me to it Upon this the Authority of the Church is magnified above the Authority of the Scriptures But if St. Austin did not intend any such thing where are we then He express'd himself once to this purpose Thou O God hast assur'd me that not they who Aug. Conf. l. 6. c. 5. believ'd thy Books which with so great Authority thou hast establish'd in almost all the World but they who did not were culpable Neither are they to be heard who shall ask me how I know that those Books are given to Men by the Spirit of One most true God. Which shews that he did not altogether rely on the Testimony of the Church which was only outward but chiefly the inward Witness of the Holy Ghost in his Conscience But we may know more of his Mind by more of his Words We says he do not bring a false Ballance that we may make things Idem cont Donat. l. 2. c. 6. weigh what we please and how we please and so give judgment what is light and what heavy But we give you the divine Ballance of the Holy Scriptures the Treasures of the Lord and by that we tell you what is heavy yet not we but the Lord himself who having weighed all things already we tell you from him what is heavy c. And can we think that Great Father ever intended to set up the Authority of the Church above the Scriptures He does not say We tell you from the Church what is light and what heavy but we tell you from the Scriptures And thus again There are says he certain Books of the Id. de unit Eccl. c. 3. Lord to whose Authority we wholly assent which we firmly believe and in all things obey In them let us seek the Church by them let us discuss our Cause Now if St. Austin did really believe the Scriptures on no other account than barely the Churches Testimony why does he say He must find the Church in the Scriptures This would be to run round in an indeterminate circle first to look for the Church in the Scriptures and then to search for the Scriptures in the Church I don't see how these can stand together But let it be as it will we may with more safety give credit to what a Man is constant in than to what he says but once or it may be never at all and so we may assure our selves of the concession of this Holy Father to what we assert That the Scriptures are the supreme Decider of Controversies The only thing needful to be added to what has been already produc'd is That nothing ought to be put to or taken from the Word of God. Bellarmin acknowledges the Scriptures to be a Rule but says 't is only partly so for the Scriptures joyn'd with Traditions make one perfect Rule But we have seen that the Scriptures alone are a perfect Rule and An Infallible Rule says St. Basil ought to be so without addition or diminution And Basil cont Eunom l. 1. Id. Conf. Fid. further That it is a manifest departing from the Faith and an evidence of Pride either to take away any thing from what is written or to add any thing that is not written for our Lord has said My sheep hear my voice And says St. Jerom Whatever does not come from the Jerom. in Matth. 23. Holy Scriptures is as easily condemn'd as approv'd Eusebius tells us That after the Death of the Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 32. Apostles though the Scriptures were extant yet the Church did not long continue an unspotted Virgin but Heresies and Corruptions of the Gospel encreased apace And then I would fain know what method the Orthodox Doctors took to purge and refine the Church again I suppose it may be answer'd that A General Council was to represent the whole Church and to determine the Points in Controversie Granting this the next Question will be which way the Doctors assembled in Council proceeded in this great Affair Did they appeal to the Church The most impious Hereticks would confidently affirm That only they were of the True Church Wou'd they appeal to the Fathers There were many Learned Men who in their Writings maintain'd the worst of Heresies Wou'd they appeal to Apostolical Traditions The Founders of many of the greatest Heresies lived in the Times of the Apostles and on that score had as good a plea for their knowing their Sentiments as any of the Orthodox Fathers could have I am certain the first Nicene Council took no such way but on all occasions urg'd the Scriptures against the Opinions of those Hereticks they were to deal with as might be shewn at large if it was absolutely necessary to our purpose At present let us content our selves with a few Testimonies of the Fathers against such proceedings And first against Appealing to the Churches Custome St Cyprian says a Custome which some have taken up Cypr. ad Pomp. cont Steph. Pap. ought not to prevail against the Truth for Custome without the Truth is but the Ornament of an Error For which Reason let us forsake the Error of such a Custome and follow the Truth And when S. Austin bids us seek the Church in the Scriptures he cannot intend in my Opinion That we should follow the Church in any thing repugnant to the Scriptures But besides A Rule of Faith ought to be Perfect But Origen tells us That as Orig. in Ezech. hom 1. on every Floor there is Chaff as well as Wheat so is the Church on Earth some part Wheat and the rest Chaff And upon Matth. 21. 14. where it is said Id. in Matth. hom 15. That the blind and the lame came into the Temple to Christ and he healed them The Moral Construction of this says he is That in the Church all cannot see neither can all walk Upright but some are Blind and others Lame To which he immediately applies this Remedy as
A LETTER TO A LADY Furnishing her with Scripture Testimonies Against the Principal Points and Doctrines OF POPERY All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is Profitable for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be Perfect throughly furnished unto all Good Works 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. The Law of the Lord is Perfect converting the Soul c. Psal 19. 7 8 9 10 11. Search the Scriptures c. John 5. 39. Blessed is he that readeth c. Rev. 1. 3. Licensed July 6. 1688. LONDON Printed for John Taylor at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC LXXX VIII Admonition to the Reader concerning the Authority and Vse of the Holy Scriptures THe following Papers being intended only for a private Satisfaction and not for the publick View are writ in a Stile agreeable to the Sex to which they are dedicated and the few Arguments here and there added either to explain or Illustrate a Text of Scripture are such as are more obvious to a Female Capacity than perhaps the common way of Arguing used by one great Disputant against another is For it was no more my intent than it was my Business in writing to Women who by Reason of their general want of Learning understand nothing of Logical Reasoning and as little of Syllogismal Inferences to endeavour to make a thing plain by rendring it more unintelligible But to make every thing as obvious and plain to the most ordinary Understanding as I might tho' my Words were never so homely And though it is confest The Lady to whom these Papers were especially directed is a Person endued with better Parts and more Learning than others of her Sex generally are yet I considered That many more of her Society or Acquaintance might be concerned in the Reading of them And therefore I thought as a plain Method would not be unpleasant to the Lady her self so it would certainly be both more Acceptable and Profitable to others not loaden with so much Sagacity and Understanding But since in this Undertaking I have wholly relyed on the Testimony of the Scriptures and have drawn all my Arguments from them I think it proper to vindicate my Proceeding that way by giving the Reader a cursory Account of the Supreme Authority of the Sacred Writings consisting in two Particulars The First is Their containing fully all things needful for our Salvation And the Second Their being sufficient to determine Points of Doubt and Controversie In both which I shall still make my Appeal to the Scriptures themselves and likewise intermix a few Testimones of the Fathers not for Confirmation of the Scriptures Authority for that is evident enough in it self but to shew the Opinion of those great Pillars of the Church in a Matter about which there is so great a Disagreement betwixt us and the Church of Rome I begin therefore with the first Evidence of the Supreme Authority of the Scriptures Their containing fully all things needful for our Salvation The Evangelist Joh. 20. 30. tells us That Jesus did many signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book But these says he are written That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And Cyril in Praef. in Johan this Gospel by S. John may without Injury be thought to excel the other three says S. Cyril and he gives no weak Reasons for it One of which is That it contains all things pertaining to Truth which the other do also but not in so high a Strain For whereas the rest do most Exquisitely describe the Genealogy of our Saviour either descending from Abraham to Joseph or ascending from Joseph to Adam S. John has not much laboured in these Matters but with an aspiring Mind seems to soar beyond Human Possibility and is not afraid in express Words to set down his Ineffable Generation In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God And so aspires directly to the Foundation of Divine Truth Where by the way it will not be amiss to observe That this Evangelist was the beloved Disciple of our Lord and therefore it cannot reasonably be supposed he would conceal any thing from him that was necessary to be known But on the contrary he revealed more to him than was needful to be set down in some Particulars whereof he was commanded to be Silent as may be seen Rev. 10. 4. But when any thing might be known he is to declare it Chap. 22. 10. and Chap. 1. 3. They are blessed who read and hear the words of this prophecy with an intent to keep those things which are written therein So then though we are ignorant of some things yet by what is written we may sufficiently be acquainted with whatever is necessary for us to know S. Paul Acts 20. after he had told the Ephesians Verse 30 That of their own selves should arise men speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them At the 32 Verse he commends them to God and to the Word of his Grace which he tells them is able to build them up and to give them an inheritance among all them which are sanctified And lest it should be thought that he had broached some unwritten Traditions of his own he professes Chap. 26. 22. That having obtained help of God he still continued witnessing both to small and great but saying no other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come Accordingly he tells the Romans in his Epistle to them Chap. 1. 16. That he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth And Chap. 15. 4. Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And says S. Chrysostom Wherefore are these things written but that we should In Rom. hom 9. In 2 Cor. hom 13. In synop Athan. learn them For says he The Scriptures are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all the most exact Ballance Guide and Rule And according to S. Athanasius they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Anchors and Support of our Faith. And Irenaeus calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iren. l. 3. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the immoveable Canon of Truth and the Pillar and Foundation of our Faith. And we being sure of what the Apostle says 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. That all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrin for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto Canonem fidei in Prophetarum Apostolorum libris figi atque terminari Aug de C. D. l. 11. c. 41. all good Works may safely conclude with S. Austin
justly charge upon the Church of Rome and by that means a Refutation of most of those Tenets in one short Essay will be more profitable as I hope it will be more acceptable to an ordinary Understanding So that upon this account as you will hereby with more ease be furnish'd with what you may be sure is true being drawn from the Fountain of Truth you will I hope be the more easily induc'd to pardon my Undertaking as designing nothing but Honesty I have chosen this way of Writing to you Madam First because I know you delight in conversing with the Holy Writings and so I shall be more conformable to your Inclinations And Secondly though I reverence the Judgment of the Fathers of the Church and General Councils duly assembled and not sway'd by popular Insolence yet as I once objected to one by word of mouth without receiving a satisfactory Answer The Church of Rome says That we have False Copies of the Fathers and we answer That they have corrupted the True so that one of us must needs be in the wrong And how shall we be satisfied in this without comparing them to the Testimonies of the Scriptures And as for General Councils they have of late been purg'd or rather perverted by the Over-ruling Power of Popes and their Popular Factions insomuch that when they began to act against the Interest of the See of Rome though never so justly they were no longer allowed the liberty due to General Councils And then what dependence can we have from them And Lastly the Infallibility of the Church of Rome can be no better a Decider of Controversies than the other two because that must be prov'd if possible from the Scriptures So that when all other Instruments have been tried the Scriptures will prove the only Infallible Touch stone From these and the like Considerations this Piece was at first conceiv'd and is now produc'd for your Service and for such of your Female Companions or Acquaintance as you shall think fit to communicate it to and I hope it will give Satisfaction Be pleas'd therefore to consider that 't is the duty of every Christian to read and be acquainted with the Holy Scriptures And though the Council of Trent denied the reading of them to the Laity pretending that the Vulgation of them was the cause of so many Heresies abroad in the World yet by the leave of the Fathers assembled in that Particular General Council we cann't conceive how a Country Plough-Jobber should by reading the Scriptures be the Author of an Opinion either Orthodox or Erroneous But as might easily be prov'd if it were to the present purpose the Original of all Sects were Men who to shew their Parts and Learning took upon them to scrutinise and enquire into the Sense of Holy Writ and so spread the prime Infection I will trouble you with but an Instance or two to this purpose and so proceed Arius that known Heretick as well for his Learning as the many Proselites he gain'd to his Party meeting with that Text Joh. 17. 3. This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent thought of a trick by misplacing a Point to seclude Christ from being True God. In the Original 't is This is life eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To know thee only to be true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent But he puts the Comma after the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only and so corrupts the Sense by misplacing the Point a trick which certainly none but a Scholar could have thought on Thus we find Gregory the Great openly asserting That whoever should call himself Universal Bishop was Antichrist but the succeeding Bishops of Rome disputed the contrary and arrogated to themselves the Title I might likewise urge the Feuds of the Franciscans and Dominicans and other Orders of the Church of Rome to prove that all Quarrellings and jangling Disputes about Matters of Religion have in all Ages been broach'd by Men of Learning But to come nearer home would it not be very absurd to imagin that such a silly fancy as Quakerism could ever have been heard of or so long upheld among us if some such Man as Penn who is thought no great stranger in a College of Fame had not at first insinuated it into some poor ignorant People who were not able to resist his Logick or it may be were more taken up in their worldly Employments than the Study of Holy Scriptures And indeed it is not probable that one who is better skill'd in the management of a Plough than a Logical Argument should be able to define in Matters of Faith and Doctrin It may be sooner prov'd that the principal Authors and Abetters of most of our Divisions came from Rome than that they sprung from ignorant People reading the Scriptures And if you please to peruse these Papers you 'll find that the Chuch of Rome in that Council had other Ends in denying the Scriptures to the Common People than the Suppressing of Sectaries as they pretended I come therefore to the business I propos'd to your Consideration the Duty incumbent on every Christian to read and understand the Holy Scriptures This I present to your Meditation in the first place as Preparatory to that which is to follow It being my intent in this Undertaking to have to do with nothing but Scripture Quotations And so I begin Deut. 6. 6. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thy house and on thy gates The words were spoken to the whole Congregation of Israel and need not be explain'd Deut. 17. 18. And it shall be when the king of Israel sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life c. Where give me leave to take Notice That it being impossible to keep the Scriptures from the Eye of the more Ingenious Gentry they have been furnished with a Vulgar Latin Translation of the Bible which they call though falsly enough St. Jerome's and lest the Corruptions wherewith they had prudently loaded it should be discovered Pope Sixtus the V. in the Year 1578 published a Greek Copy purposely forg'd by Cardinal Carapha to make Men believe That the Latin was agreeable to the Original Josh 1. 8. This Book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and
inherent parts of Prayer and Fasting I think they may be included in the same Advice which I need not have inserted by reason of your frequent using the Lords Prayer in which 't is evident After all there is not one Text as I know of that by any good Consequence makes Confession to a Priest so absolutely Necessary as the Doctrin of the Church of Rome does If any will do it and do it sincerely we do not deny it to be Good. But after 't is done without a Private Confession to God it must needs be Imperfect for it is God that knows our Hearts better than we do our selves and we are guilty of many Sins we know not of as the Psalmist professes Wherefore we should cry out with him Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults The consequence of all is That all Men ought to Confess their Sins to God against whom only they have sinned as to one that has the sole Power to forgive them Not that I desire in the least to diminish the Power of the Keys given to the Church for I own That our Blessed Lord gave Power and Authority to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his People being Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their Sins in his Name But to confine that Power to the Church of Rome only and to say All that Die out of her Communion are certainly Damn'd for want of it and to make the Bishop of Rome joynt-Competitor with Christ in the Business is against the Grain and will not digest in my Stomach whatever it may do in other Mens I should wast too much Time and Paper If I should examine the Gross Nonsensical Consequences of Believing the Bishop of Rome able to Forgive Sins which have from thence been imposed upon the greater part of the Church of Rome the Ignorant sort of People That the Pope can at once Forgive a Man all the Sins he ever has committed or ever shall be guilty of that he can thrust a Man into Heaven for as long a Time as he pleases where he shall lie undiscovered by the all-seeing Eye of God and at the end of that Term be kicked into Hell that he can forgive the Sins of all that are in the Communion of the Roman Church of all Christians nay if he pleases of the whole World at once It has been acknowledged by many of their own Writers on this Subject who have been guilty of the least Extravagance That the Pope has Power if he will at one Mass to free all the Souls out of Purgatory If this were true King James the First 's Inference on the Position was with Abnegation of the Popes Charity and Admiration of his unparallel'd Cruelty That being granted to have a Power so to do he does not apply his Will to it But I know Madam you are no Friend to such Fancies therefore I shall appeal no further than to your own Ingenuity to judge from what has been produced Who has the Supreme and only Power to forgive Sins to whom Confession properly is due and in whose Name only Absolution ought to be Pronounced And so proceed IV. The Fourth Enquiry proposed was Whether the Scriptures warrant the Worshiping of Images or Praying to Saints and Angels The Second Commandment is so much to our Purpose that they of the Church of Rome have prudently left it out of the Decalogue and to make up the number they cut the Tenth into two Parts so the Church of Rome's Decalogue is this I. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain c. III. Remember that thou keepest holy the Sabbath-day c. IV. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. V. Thou shalt do no Murther VI. Thou shalt not commit Adultery VII Thou shalt not Steal VIII Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour IX Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House c. So that the generality of the People of the Church of Rome know of no such thing in Being as the tedious Harangue against Images by us called the Second Commandment However there are Texts enough besides both in the Old and New Testaments clearly against them of which I will only give you a few of the chief Judges 13. 15 And Manoah said unto the Angel of the Lord I pray thee let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah Though thou detain me I will not eat of thy bread and if thou wilt offer a Burnt-offering thou must offer it unto the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord What is thy name that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour And the angel of the Lord said unto him Why askest thou after my name seeing it is secret The Angel would not tell his Name because Manoah should honour God only Psal 29. 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness For Isai 42. 8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images And I am certain there is not one Text to the contrary but many to the same purpose Acts 10. 25. And as Peter was coming in Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him But Peter took him up saying Stand up I my self also am a man. And Chap. 14. Vers 11. When the People saw what Paul had done they lift up their voices saying in the speech of Lycaonia The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of Men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief Speaker Then the Priest of Jupiter which was before their City brought Oxen and Garlands unto the Gates and wou'd have done Sacrifice with the People Which when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of they rent their Clothes and ran in among the People crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things we also are men of like Passions with you c. I am apt to believe these things were done and suffer'd by the Providence of God on purpose to shew that as they were not to be worshipp'd while they were on the Earth so neither shou'd we pay Divine Honours to 'em now they are in Heaven But the Apostle to the Corinthians is very express to the purpose 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the name of Paul Chap. 3. 4. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the