A DISCOURSE ABOUT TRADITION Shewing what is meant by it AND WHAT TRADITION Is to be received AND WHAT TRADITION Is to be rejected LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Robert Horne at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange and Fincham Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate Street 1683. A DISCOURSE ABOUT TRADITION AN obligation being laid upon us at our Baptism to believe and to doe the whole will of God revealed unto us by Christ Jesus it concerns every one that would be saved to enquire where that whole intire will of God is to be found where he may so certainly meet with it and be so informed about it that he may rest satisfied he hath it all And there would be no difficulty in this matter had not the worldly interests of some men raised controversies about it and made that intricate and perplexed which in it self is easie and plain For the Rehearsal of the Apostles Creed at Baptism and of that alone as a Summary of that Faith whose sincere profession intitles us to the Grace there conferred warrants the Doctrine of the Church of England in its VI. Article that the Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation But this strikes off so many of the Doctrines of the present Roman Church which are not to be found in the Scripture nor have any countenance there that they are forced to say the faith once delivered to the Saints mentioned by S. Jude is not intirely delivered in the Scripture but we must seek for the rest in the Traditions of the Church Which Traditions say they are to be received as a part of the Rule of Faith with the same Religious reverence that we do the Holy Scripture Now though this is not really the bottom of their hearts as will appear before I have done but they finally rest for their satisfaction in matters of Faith somewhere else yet this being plausibly pretended by them in their own justification that they follow Tradition and in their accusations of us that we forsake Tradition I shall briefly let all our people see who are not willing to be deceived what they are to judge and say in this business of Tradition About which a great noise is made as if we durst not stand to it and as if they of the Roman Church stedfastly kept it without any variation neither of which is true I shall plainly shew in this short Discourse The meaning of the word Which for clearness sake shall begin with the meaning of the word TRADITION which in English is no more than delivering unto another and by a Figure signifies the matter which is delivered and among Christians the Doctrine of our Religion delivered to us And there being two ways of delivering Doctrines to us either by writing or by word of mouth it signifies either of them indifferently the Scriptures as you shall see presently being Traditions But custome hath determined this word to the last of these ways and distinguished Tradition from Scriptures or writings at least from the Holy Writings and made it signifie that which is not delivered in the Holy Scriptures or writings For though the Scripture be Tradition also and the very first Tradition and the fountain of all true and legitimate Antiquity yet in common language Traditions now are such ancient Doctrines as are conveyed to us some other way whether by word of mouth as some will have it from one generation to another or by humane Writings which are not of the same authority with the Holy Scriptures How to judge of them Now there is no better way to judge aright of such Traditions than by considering these four things First The Authours of them whence they come Secondly The matter of them Thirdly Their Authority Fourthly The means by which we come to know they derive themselves from such Authours as they pretend unto and consequently have any authority to demand admission into our belief 1. For the First of these every body knows and confesses that all Traditions suppose some Authour from whom they originally come and who is the deliverer of those Doctrines to Christian people who being told by the present Church or any person in it that such and such Doctrines are to be received though not contained in the Holy Scriptures because they are Traditions ought in Conscience to inquire from whom those Traditions come or who first delivered them By which means they will be able to judge what credit is to be given to them when it is once cleared to them from what Authours they really come Now whatsoever is delivered to us in Christianity comes either from Christ or from his Apostles or from the Church either in General or in part or from private Doctours in the Church There is nothing now called a Tradition in the Christian World but proceeds from one or from all of these four Originals 2. And the matter which they deliver to us which is next to be considered is either concerning that Faith and godly life which is necessary to Salvation or concerning Opinions Rites Ceremonies Customs and things belonging to Order Both which as I said may be conveyed either by writing or without writing by the Divine writings or by humane writings though these two ways are not alike certain 3. Now it is evident to every understanding that things of both sorts which are delivered to us have their Authority from the Credit of the Authour from whence they first come If that be Divine their Authority is Divine if it be onely Humane their Authority can be no more And among Humane Authours if their credit be great the authority of what they deliver is great if it be little its authority is little and accordingly must be accepted with greater or lesser reverence Upon which score whatsoever can be made to appear to come from Christ it hath the highest authority and ought to be received with absolute submission to it because he is the Son of God And likewise whatsoever appears to have been delivered by the Apostles in his name hath the same Authority they being his Ministers sent by Him as He was by God the Father and indued with a Divine Power which attested unto them In like manner whatsoever is delivered by the Church hath the same Authority which the Church hath which though it be not equal to the foregoing the Church having no such Divine Power nor infallible judgment as the Apostles had yet is of such weight and moment that it ought to be reverenced next to theirs I mean the sense of the whole Church which must be acknowledged also to be of greater or lesser Authority as it was nearer or farther off from the times of the Apostles What was delivered by their immediate followers ought
he delivered to Constantius I truly admire thee O Lord Constantius the Emperour who desirest a Faith according to what is written They pretended to no other in those days but as he speaks a little after look'd upon him that refused this as Antichrist It was onely 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 than 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. IV. 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 in 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 D. Jackson in his Treatise of the Catholick Church Chap. 22. who writes to this effect That Tradition which was of so much use in the Primitive Church was not unwritten Traditions or customs commended or ratified by the supposed infalliblity of any visible Church but did especially consist in the Confessions or Registers of particular Churches And the unanimous consent of so many several Churches as exhibited their confessions to the Nicene Council out of such Forms as had been framed and taught before this Controversie arose about the Divinity of Christ and that voluntarily and freely these Churches being not dependent one upon another nor overswayed by any Authority over them nor misled by faction to frame their confessions of Faith by imitation or according to some pattern set them was a pregnant argument that this Faith wherein they all agreed had been delivered to them by the Apostles and their followers and was the true meaning of the holy Writings in this great Article and evidently proved that Arius did obtrude such interpretations of Scripture as had not been heard of before or were but the sense of some private persons in the Church and not of the generality of Believers In short the unanimous consent of so many distinct visible Churches as exhibited their several Confessions Catechisms or Testimonies of their own or Forefathers Faith unto the Council of Nice was an argument of the same force and efficacy against Arius and his partakers as the General consent and practice of all Nations in worshipping a Divine Power in all ages is against Atheists Nothing but the ingrafted notion of a Deity could have induced so many several Nations so much different in natural disposition in civil discipline and education to affect or practise the duty of Adoration And nothing but the evidence of the ingrafted word as Saint James calls the Gospel delivered by Christ and his Apostles in the holy Scriptures could have kept so many several Churches as communicated their Confessions unto that Council in the unity of the same Faith The like may be said of the rest of the four first General Councils whose Decrees are a great confirmation of our belief because they deliver to us the consent of the Churches of Christ in those great Truths which they assert out of the holy Scriptures And could there any Traditive Interpretation of the whole Scripture be produced upon the Authority of such Original Tradition as that now named we would most thankfully and joyfully receive it But there never was any such pretended no not by the Roman Church whose Doctours differ among themselves about the meaning of hundreds of places in the Bible Which they would not doe sure nor spend their time unprofitably in making the best conjectures they are able if they knew of any exposition of those places in which all Christian Doctours had agreed from the beginning V. But more than this we allow that Tradition gives us a considerable assistance in such points as are not in so many letters and syllables contained in the Scriptures but may be gathered from thence by good and manifest reasoning Or in plainer words perhaps whatsoever Tradition justifies any Doctrine that may be proved by the Scriptures though not found in express terms there we acknowledge to be of great use and readily receive and follow it as serving very much to establish us more firmly in that Truth when we see all Christians have adhered to it This may be called a confirming Tradition of which we have an instance in the Doctrine of Infant Baptism which some ancient Fathers call an Apostolical Tradition Not that it cannot be proved by any place of Scripture no such matter for though we do not find it written in so many words that Infants are to be baptised or that the Apostles baptised Infants yet it may be proved out of the Scriptures and the Fathers themselves who call it an Apostolical Tradition do alledge testimonies of the Scriptures to make it good And therefore we may be sure they comprehend the Scriptures within the name of Apostolical Tradition and believed that this Doctrine was gathered out of the Scriptures though not expresly treated of there In like manner we in this Church assert the authority of Bishops above Presbyters by a Divine right as appears by the Book of Consecration of Bishops where the person to be ordained to this Office expresses his belief that he is truly called to this Ministration according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ Now this we are persuaded may be plainly enough proved to any man that is ingenuous and will fairly consider things out of the holy Scriptures without the help of Tradition but we also take in the assistance of this for the conviction of gain-sayers and by the perpetual practice and Tradition of the Church from the beginning confirm our Scripture proofs so strongly that he seems to us very obstinate or extremely prejudiced that yields not to them And therefore to make our Doctrine in this point the more Authentick our Church hath put both these proofs together in the Preface to the Form of giving Orders which begins in these words It is evident unto all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient Authours that from the Apostles time there have been three Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church Bishops Priests and Deacons I hope no body among us is so weak as
to imagine when he reads this that by admitting Tradition to be of such use and force as I have mentioned we yield too much to the Popish Cause which supports it self by this pretence But if any one shall suggest this to any of our people let them reply that it is but the pretence and onely by the Name of Tradition that the Romish Church supports it self For true Tradition is as great a proof against Popery as it is for Episcopacy The very foundation of the Pope's Empire which is his succession in Saint Peter's Supremacy is utterly subverted by this the constant Tradition of the Church being evidently against it And therefore let us not lose this Advantage we have against them by ignorantly refusing to receive true and constant Tradition which will be so far from leading us into their Church that it will never suffer us to think of being of it while it remains so opposite to that which is truly Apostolical I conclude this with the direction which our Church gives to Preachers in the Book of Canons 1571. in the Title Concionatores that no man shall teach the people any thing to be held and believed by them religiously but what is consentaneous to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament and what the Catholick Fathers and ancient Bishops have gathered out of that very Doctrine This is our Rule whereby we are to guide our selves which was set us on purpose to preserve our Preachers from broaching any idle novel or popish Doctrines as appears by the Conclusion of that Injunction Vain and old Wives opinions and heresies and popish errours abhorring from the Doctrine and Faith of Christ they shall not teach nor any thing at all whereby the unskilfull multitude may be inflamed either to the study of novelty or to contention VI. But though nothing may be taught as a piece of Religion which hath not the forenamed Original yet I must add that those things which have been universally believed and not contrary to Scripture though not written at all there nor to be proved from thence we do receive as pious opinions For instance the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of God our Saviour which is so likely a thing and so universally received that I do not see why we should not look upon it as a genuine Apostolical Tradition VII I have but one thing more to add which is that we allow also the Traditions of the Church about matters of Order Rites and Ceremonies Onely we do not take them to be parts of God's Worship and if they be not appointed in the holy Scriptures we believe they may be altered by the same or the like authority with that which ordained them So our Church hath excellently and fully resolved us concerning such matters in the XXXIV Article of Religion where there are three things asserted concerning such Traditions as these First It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies they are the very first words of the Article be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversities of Countries times and mens manners so that nothing be ordained against God's word But then to prevent all disorders and confusions that men might make in the Church by following their own private fancies and humours the next thing which is decreed is this Secondly that whosoever through his own private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the word of God and be ordained and approved by common authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to doe the like as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Lastly it is there declared that every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain change and abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by man's authority so that all things be done to edifying This is sufficient to shew what we believe concerning Traditions about matters of Order and Decency VIII As for what is delivered in matters of Doctrine or Order by any private Doctour in the Church or by any particular Church it appears by what hath been said that it cannot be taken to be more than the private opinion of that man or the particular decree of that Church and can have no more authority than they have that is cannot oblige all Christians unless it be conteined in the holy Scripture Now such are the Traditions which the Roman Church would impose upon us and impose upon us after a strange fashion as you shall see in the Second Part of this Discourse unto which I shall proceed presently when I have left with you this brief reflexion on what hath been said in this First Part. Our people may hereby be admonished not to suffer themselves to be deceived and abused by words and empty names without their sense and meaning Nothing is more common than this especially in the business of Traditions About which a great stir is raised and it is commonly given out that we refuse all Traditions Than which nothing is more false for we refuse none truly so called that is Doctrines delivered by Christ or his Apostles No we refuse nothing at all because it is unwritten but merely because we are not sure it is delivered by that Authority towhich we ought to submit Whatsoever is delivered to us by our Lord and his Apostles we receive as the very word of God which we think is sufficiently declared in the holy Scriptures But if any can certainly prove by any Authority equal to that which brings the Scriptures to us that there is any thing else delivered by them we receive that also The Controversie will soon be at an end for we are ready to embrace it when any such thing can be produced Nay we have that reverence for those who succeeded the Apostles that what they have unanimously delivered to us as the sense of any doubtfull place we receive it and seek no farther There is no dispute whether or no we should entertain it To the Decrees of the Church also we submit in matters of Decency and Order yea and acquiesce in its authority when it determines doubtfull opinions But we cannot receive that as a Doctrine of Christ which we know is but the Tradition of man nor keep the Ordinances of the ancient Church in matters of Decency so unalterably as never to vary from them because they themselves did not intend them to be of everlasting obligation As appears by the changes that have been made in several times and places even in some things which are mentioned in the holy Scriptures being but customes suted to those Ages and Countries In short Traditions we do receive but not all that are called by that name Those which have sufficient Authority but not those which
are imposed upon us by the sole authority of one particular Church assuming a power over all the rest And so I come to the Second Part. PART II. What Traditions we do not receive I. AND in the first place we do not believe that there is any Tradition which contains another word of God which is not in the Scripture or cannot be proved from thence In this consists the main difference between us and them of the Romish persuasion who affirm that Divine Truth which we are all bound to receive to be partly written partly delivered by word of mouth without writing Which is not onely the affirmation of the Council of Trent but delivered in more express terms in the Preface to the Roman Catechism drawn up by their order where we find these words towards the conclusion of it the whole Doctrine to be delivered to the faithfull is contained in the word of God which word of God is distributed into Scripture and Tradition This is a full and plain declaration of their mind with which we can by no means agree for divers unanswerable reasons 1. Not onely because the Scriptures testifie to their own perfection which they affirm to be so great as to be able to complete the divinest men in the Church of Christ in all points of heavenly wisedom 2 Tim. III. 15 16 17. but Secondly Because the constant Tradition of the Church even of the Roman Church anciently is that in the Scriptures we may find all that is necessary to be known and believed to Salvation I must not fill up this Paper with Authorities to this purpose but we avow this unto the people of our Church for a certain Truth which hath been demonstrated by many of our Writers who have shewn that the ancient Doctours universally speak the language of Saint Paul 1 Cor. IV. 7. not to think above that which is written I will mention onely these memorable words of Tertullian who is as earnest an Advocate as any for ritual Traditions but having to deal with Hermogenes in a question of Faith whether 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 that woe which is allotted to such as add 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 be written let us see it if it be not take heed how you add 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 persuasion have forsaken but we adhere unto 3. And we have this farther reason so to doe 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 admit onely such as are conformable 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 add 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 Eusebius L. III. 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 Auditours were extinct and then there began a plain conspiracy 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. XI 3. lest the Devil like a wily Serpent should beguile 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 anon 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 truly Apostolical in those days 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 than we have It is true the Fathers sometime urge Tradition as a 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 Traditions 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 Books 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 pretious 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 the Doctours 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 reade 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 Authours 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 occasisions by the Doctours 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 so far from having any true authority that counterfeit testimonies and forged writings have been their great supporters Besides the plain drift of them which is not to make all men better but to make some richer and the manifest danger men are in by many of them to be drawn away from God to put their trust and confidence in Creatures As might be shewn if this Paper would contain it in their Doctrines of Papal Supremacy Purgatory Invocation of Saints Image Worship and divers others Concerning which we say as S. Cyprian doth to Pompeius about another matter If it be commanded in the Gospels or in the Epistles of the Apostles or in their Acts that they should not be baptised who return from any Heresie but onely be received by imposition of hands LET THIS DIVINE and HOLT TRADITION BE OBSERVED The same say we if there be any thing in the Gospels in the Epistles in the Acts concerning Invocations of Saints concerning the praying Souls out of Purgatory c. let that divine that holy Tradition be observed But if it be not there what obstinacy is this as it follows a little after in that Epist LXXIV what presumption to prefer humane Tradition before the Divine disposition or ordinance A great deal more there is in that place and in others of that holy Martyr to bring all to the source the root the original of the Divine Tradition for then humane errour ceases which original Tradition he affirms to be what is delivered in the holy Scriptures which delivering to us the whole will of God concerning us we look after no other Tradition but what explains and confirms and is consonant to this For we believe that what is delivered to us by the Scriptures and what is delivered by true Tradition are but two several ways of bringing us acquainted with the same Christian Truth not with different parts of that Truth And so I have done with the first thing the sum of which is this We do not receive any Tradition or Doctrine to supply the defect of the Scripture in some necessary Article of Faith which Doctrines they of Rome pretend to have one and the same Authour with the Scripture viz. God and therefore to be received with the same pious affection and reverence but cannot tell us where we may find them how we shall discern true from false nor give us any assurance of their Truth but we must take them purely upon their word Now how little reason we have to trust to that will appear in the second thing I have to add which is this II. That we dare not receive any thing whatsoever merely upon the Credit of the Roman Church no not that divine that holy Tradition before spoken of viz. the Scripture Which we do not believe onely upon their testimony both because they are but a part of the Church and therefore not the sole keepers of Divine Truth and they are a corrupted part who have not approved themselves faithfull in the keeping what was committed to them Let our people diligently mark this that Traditions never were nor are now onely in the keeping of the Roman Church and that these things are widely different the Tradition of the whole Church or of the greatest and best part of it and the Tradition of one part of the Church and the least part of it and the worst part also and most depraved What is warranted by the Authority of the whole Church I have shewn before we reverently receive but we cannot take that for current Tradition which is warranted onely by a small part of the Church and we give very little credit to what is warranted onely by that part of it which is Roman Because 1. First This Church hath not preserved so carefully as other Churches have done the first and original Tradition which is in the Scriptures but suffered them to be shamefully corrupted Every one knows that there is a Latine Vulgar Edition of the Bible which they of that Church prefer before the Original none of which they preserved heretofore from manifest depravations nor have been able since they were told of the faults to purge away so as to canonize any Edition without permitting great numbers in their newest and most approved Bibles Isidore Clarius in his Preface to his Edition complains that he found these holy Writings defaced with innumerable errours Eight thousand of which that he thought most material he saith he amended and yet left he knew not how many lesser ones untouched After which the Council of Trent having vouched this Vulgar Latine Edition for the onely authentick Pope Sixtus the Fifth published out of the several Copies that were abroad one which he straitly charged to be received as the onely true Vulgar from which none should dare to vary in a tittle And yet two years were scarce passed before Clemens the Eighth found many defects and corruptions still remaining in that Edition and therefore published another with the very same charge that none else should be received Which evidently shews they have suffered the holy Books to be so fouly abused that they know not how to amend the errours that are crept into them nor can tell which is the true Bible For these two Bibles thus equally authorised as the onely authentick ones abound not onely with manifest diversities but
with contradictions or contrarieties one to the other Whereby all Romanists are reduced to this miserable necessity either to make use of no Bible at all or to fall under the curse of Sixtus if he make use the Bible of Clement or the curse of Clement if he use the Bible of Sixtus For they are both of them enjoined with the exclusion of all other Editions and with the penalty of a curse upon them who disobey the one or the other and it is impossible to obey both This might be sufficient to demonstrate how unfaithfull that Church hath been in the weightiest concerns Whereby all the members of it are plunged beyond all power of redemption into a dismal necessity either of laving aside the Scriptures or of offending against the sacred decrees as they account them of one or other of the heads of their Church which some take to be infallible and being accursed of them 2. But for every one 's fuller satisfaction it may be fit farther to represent how negligent they have been in preserving other Traditions which were certainly once in the Church but now utterly lost There is no question to be made but the Apostles taught the first Christians the meaning of those hard places which we find in their and other holy Writings But who can tell us where to find certainly so much as one of them and therefore where is the fidelity of this Church which boasts so much to be the keeper of sacred Traditions For nothing is more desirable than those Apostolical interpretations of Scripture nothing could be more usefull and yet we have no hope to meet with them either there or indeed any where else Which is no reproach to other Churches who do not pretend to more than is written but reflects much upon them and discredits them who challenge the power of the whole Church intirely and would pass not onely for the sole keepers and witnesses of Divine Truth but for carefull preservers of it For of what should they have been more carefull than of these usefull things whereof they can tell us nothing when of unprofitable Ceremonies they have most devoutly kept if we could believe them a very great number 3. They tell us indeed of some doctrinal Traditions also which they have religiously preserved but mark I beseech you with what sincerity For to justifie these they have forged great numbers of Writings and Books under the name of such Authours as it is evident had no hand in them which is another reason why we cannot give credit to their reports if we have no other authority There are very sew persons now that are ignorant how many Decretal Epistles of the ancient Bishops of Rome have been devised to establish the Papal Empire and how shamefully a Donation of Constantine hath been pretended wherein he gave away the Roman Empire and all its rights to the Pope Which puts me in mind as a notorious proof of this of the forgeries that are in the Breviary it self where we reade of Constantine's Leprosie and the cure of it by Sylvester's baptizing him which are egregious Fables and of the Decrees of the second Roman Synod under that Pope Sylvester wherein the Breviary affirms Photinus was condemned when all the world knows that Photinus his Heresie did not spring up till divers years after the death of Sylvester And there are so many other arguments which prove the Decrees of that Synod to be a vile forgery that we may see by the way what reason they have to keep their Liturgy in an unknown Language lest the people perceiving what untruths they are taught instead of God's word should abhor that Divine Service as justly they might which is stuffed with so many Fables It would be endless to shew how many passages they have foisted into ancient Writers to countenance their Traditions particularly about the Papal Supremacy by which so great a man as Thomas Aquinas was deceived who frequently quotes authorities which are mere forgeries though not invented by him I verily think but imposed upon him by the fraud which had been long practised in that Church For we find that the Canons of so famous and universally known Council as that of the first at Nice have been falsely alledged even by Popes themselves Boniface for instance and Zosimus alledged a counterfeit Nicene Canon to the African Bishops in the Sixth Council of Carthage who to convince the false dealing of these Popes sought out with great labour and diligence the ancient and authentick Copies of the Nicene Canons and having obtained them both from Alexandria and from Constantinople they found them for number and for sense to be the very same which themselves already had but not one word in them of what the Popes pretended The same I might say of Pope Innocent and others whom I purposely omit because I study brevity 4. And have this farther to add that as they have pretended Tradition where there is none so where there is they have left that Tradition and therefore have no reason to expect that we should be governed by them in this matter who take the liberty to neglect as they please better Tradition than they would impose upon us None are to be charged with this if it be a guilt more than themselves For instance the three immersions i.e. dipping the persons three times in Baptism was certainly an ancient practice and said by many Authours to be an Apostolical Tradition and to be ordained in signification of the blessed Trinity into whose name they were baptised And yet there is no such thing now in use in their Church no more than in ours who justifie our selves as I shewed above by a true opinion that Rites and Ceremonies are not unalterable which it is impossible for them to do unless they will cease to press the necessity of other Traditions upon us which never were so generally received as this which is now abolished To which may be added the custome of giving the Eucharist to Infants which prevailed for several Ages and is called by S. Austin an Apostolical Tradition the custome of administring Baptism onely at Easter and Whitsontide with a great heap more which it would be too long to enumerate Nor is it necessary I should trouble the Reader with them these being sufficient to shew the partiality of that Church in this matter and that we have no reason to be tied to that merely upon their Authority which they will not observe though having a far greater Nay all discreet persons may easily see what a wide difference there is between them who have abrogated such Traditions as had long gone even in their Church under the name of Apostolical and us who therefore do not follow pretended Traditions now because we believe them not to be Apostolical but merely Roman He is strangely blind who doth not see how much more sincere this Church is than that in this regard 5. Besides this we can demonstrate that as
in these things they have forsaken Traditions so in other cases they have perverted and abused them turning them into quite another thing As appears to all that understand any thing of ancient learning in the business of Purgatory which none of the most ancient Writers so much as dreamt to be such a place as they have now devised but onely asserted a Purgatory Fire through which all both good and bad even the blessed Virgin her self must pass at the great and dreadfull day of Judgment This was the old Tradition as we may call it which was among Christians which they have changed into such a Tradition as was among the Pagans 6. But it is time to have done with this else I should have insisted upon this a while which I touched before and is of great moment that the Tradition which now runs in that Church is contrary to the certain Tradition of the Apostles and the universal Church particularly in the Canon of Scripture In which no more Books have been numbred by the Catholick Church in all Ages since the Apostles time than are in the VI. Article of Religion in this Church of England till the late Council of Trent took the boldness to thrust the Apocryphal Books into the holy Canon as nothing inferiour to the acknowledged Divine Writings This hath been so evidently demonstrated by a late Reverend Prelate of our Church in his Scholastical History of the Canon of the Scriptures out of undoubted Records that no fair Answer can be made to it But I must leave a little room for other things that ought to be noted III. And the next is a consequence from what hath been now said That there being so little credit to be given to the Roman Church onely we cannot receive those Doctrines for Truth which that Church now presses upon our belief upon the account of Tradition For instance that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches that the Pope of Rome is the Monarch or Head of the universal visible Church that all Scriptures must be expounded according to the sense of this Church that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments neither more nor less instituted by our blessed Lord himself in the New Testament that there is a proper and propitiatory Sacrifice offered in the Mass for the quick and dead the same that Christ offered on the Cross in short the half Communion and all the rest of the Articles of their New Faith in the Creed published by Pope Pius IV. which are Traditions of the Roman Church alone not of the Vniversal and rely solely upon their own Authority And therefore we refuse them and in our disputes about Traditions we mean these things which we reject because they have no foundation either in the holy Scripture or in Universal Tradition but depend as I said upon the sole Authority of that Church which witnesses in its own behalf For whatsoever is pretended to make the better shew all resolves at last into that as I intimated in the beginning of this Discourse Scripture and Tradition can doe nothing at all for them without their Churches definition Though their whole infallible Rule of Faith seem to be made up of those three yet in truth the last of these alone the Churches definition is the whole Rule and the very bottom upon which their Faith stands For what is Tradition is no more apparent than what is Scripture according to their principles without the Authority of their Church which pretends to an unlimited power to supply the defect even of Tradition it self In short as Tradition among them is taken in to supply the defect of Scripture so the Authority of their Church is taken in to supply the defect of Tradition but this Authority undermines them both because neither Scripture nor Tradition signifie any thing without their Churches Authority Which therefore is the rule of their Faith that is they believe themselves To which absurdity they are driven because it is made evident by us that there have been great diversities of Traditions and many changes and alterations made even in things called Apostolical c. and therefore they have no other way but to fly to the judgment of the present Roman Church to determine what are Traditions Apostolical and what are not by which judgment all mankind must be governed that is we must believe them and they believe themselves which they would have done well to have said in one word without putting us to the trouble of seeking for Traditions in Books and in other Churches But they would willingly colour their pretences by as many fair words as is possible and so make mention of Scripture Tradition Antiquity which when we have examined they will not stand to them but take fanctuary in their own Authority saying they are the sole judges what is Scripture and what Tradition and what Antiquity nay have a power to declare any new point of Faith which the Church never heard of before This is the Doctrine of Salmeron and others of his fellows that the Doctrine of Faith admits of additions in essential things For all things were not taught by the Apostles but such as were then necessary and fit for the Salvation of Believers By which means we can never know when the Christian Religion will be perfected but their Church may bring in Traditions by its sole Authority without end Nay some among them have been contented to resolve all their Faith into the sole Authority of the present Roman Bishop according to that famous saying of Cornelius Mussus promoted by Paul III. to a Bishoprick upon the XIV Chapter to the Romans to confess the truth ingenuously I would give greater credit to one Pope in those things which touch the mysteries of Faith than to a thousand Hierom's Austin's Gregory's to say nothing of Richard's Scotus's c. for I believe and know that the Pope cannot err in matters of Faith Which contemptuous speech he would never have uttered to the discredit of those great men whom they pretend to reverence if he had not known more certainly that the Tradition which runs among the ancient Fathers is against them than he could know the Pope to be infallible There is no Tradition I am sure for that nor for abundance of other things which rest merely upon their own credit as is fairly acknowledged in two great Articles of their present Creed by our Country-man Bishop Fisher with whose words I conclude this particular Many perhaps have the less confidence in Indulgences because their use seems to have been newer in the Church and very lately found among Christians To whom I answer that it doth not appear certainly by whom they began to be first delivered For the ancients make no mention or very rare of Purgatory and the Greeks to this very day do not believe it nor was the belief either of Purgatory or of Indulgences so necessary in the Primitive Church as it
and led others into errours in these matters we cannot with any safety trust to Traditions that have passed men pretend from one to another untill now but we can find no mention of in any Writer till some Ages after the Apostles and then were by some-body or other who had authority in those days called Apostolical Traditions merely to gain them the more credit Thus Andreas Caesariensis in his Commentaries upon the Book of Revelation p. 743. saith that the coming of Enoch and Elias before the second coming of Christ though it be not found in Scripture was a constant report received by Tradition without any variation from the teachers of the Church Which is sufficient to shew how ready they were to father their own private opinions upon ancient universal Tradition and how little reason we have to trust to that which was so uncertain even in the first Ages and therefore must needs be more dubious now Thus I have endeavoured to lay before the eyes of those who will be pleased to look over this short Treatise what they are to think and speak about Tradition It is a calumny to affirm that the Church of England rejects all Tradition and I hope none of her true Children are so ignorant as when they hear that word to imagine they must rise up and oppose it No the Scripture it self is a Tradition and we admit all other Traditions which are subordinate and agreeable unto that together with all those things which can be proved to be Apostolical by the General Testimony of the Church in all Ages nay if any thing not contained in Scripture which the Roman Church now pretends to be a part of God's word were delivered to us by as universal uncontrolled Tradition as the Scripture is we should receive it as we do the Scripture But it appears plainly that such things were at first but private Opinions which now are become the Doctrines of that particular Church who would impose her Decrees upon us under the Venerable Name of Apostolical Universal Tradition which I have shewn you hath been an ancient cheat and that we ought not to be so easie as to be deceived by it But to be very wary and afraid of trusting the Traditions of such a Church as hath not onely perverted some abolished others and pretended them where there hath been none but been a very unfaithfull preserver of them and that in matters of great moment where there were some and lastly warrants those which it pretends to have kept by nothing but its own infallibility For which there is no Tradition but much against it even in the Original Tradition the holy Scriptures which plainly suppose the Roman Church may not onely err but utterly sail and be cut off from the Body of Christ As they that please may reade who will consult the Eleventh Chapter to the Romans v. 20 21 22. Of which they are in the greater danger because they proudly claim so high a prerogative as that now mentioned directly contrary to the Apostolical Admonition in that place be not high minded but fear CONCLUSION I Shall end this Discourse with a brief Admonition relating to our Christian practice And what is there more proper or more seasonable than this While we reject all spurious Traditions let us be sure to keep close to the genuine and true Let us hold them fast and not let them go Let us not dispute our selves out of all Religion while we condemn that which is false Nor break all Christian Discipline and Order because we cannot submit to all humane impositions In plain words let us not throw off Episcopacy together with the Papal Tyranny We ought to be the more carefull in observing the Divine Tradition delivered to us in the Scripture and according to the Scripture because we are not bound to other While we contend against the half Communion let us make a Conscience to receive the whole frequently It looks like Faction rather than Religion to be earnest for that which we mean not to use In like manner while we look upon additions to the Scripture as vain let us not neglect to reade and ponder those holy Writings When we reject Purgatory as a fable let us really dread Hell fire And while we do not tye our selves to all usages that have been in the Church let us be carefull to observe first all the substantial duties of righteousness charity sobriety and godliness which are unquestionably delivered to us by our Lord himself and his holy Apostles and secondly all the Ordinances of the Church wherein we live which are not contrary to the word of God For so hath the fame Divine Authority delivered that the people should obey those that are their Guides and Governours submitting themselves to their authority and avoiding all contention with them as most undecent in it self and pernicious to Religion which suffers extremely when neither Ecclesiastical Authority nor Ecclesiastical Custome can end disputes about Rites and Ceremonies Reade 1 Thess V. 12. Heb. XIII 17. 1 Cor. XI 16. and reade such places as you ought to do all the other Scriptures till your hearts be deeply affected with them For be admonished in the last place of this which is of general use and must never be forgotten because we shall lose the benefit of that celestial Doctrine which is delivered unto us if we do not strictly observe it That as this Evangelical Doctrine is delivered down to us so we must be delivered up to it Thus Saint Paul teaches us to speak in VI. Rom. 17. where he thanks God that they who formerly had been servants of sin did now obey from the heart that form of Doctrine unto which they were delivered So the words run in the Greek as the Margin of our Bibles inform you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Tradition which we must be sure to retain and hold fast above all other as that without which all our belief will be ineffectual This is the very end for which all Divine Truth is delivered unto us that we may be delivered and make a surrender of our selves unto it Observe the force of the Apostles words which tell us first that there was a certain form of Christian Doctrine which the Apostles taught compared here to a mould so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 form may be translated into which metal or such like matter is cast that it may receive the figure and shape of that mould 2. Now he compares the Roman Christians to such ductile pliable matter they being so delivered or cast into this form or mould of Christian Doctrine that they were intirely framed and fashioned according to it and had all the lineaments as I may say of it expressed upon their souls 3. And having so received it they were obedient to it for without this all the impressions which by knowledge or faith were made upon their souls were but an imperfect draught of what was intended in the