by him he says there are infinite other p Pag. 52. Those infinite other I can say nothing to because I know not what they are If he please to tell us some of them for we cannot expect he should ennumerate all because they are infinite they shall be considered All those he is pleased to mention are of the same kind viz. the Divisions that are among Christians from the different Senses they put upon the Scripture thereby making as many Bibles as there are Men. The unhappy Divisions says he which are among Christians sufficiently inform him that to such Readers as St. Peter calls unwary and ignorant how ever wise they may think themselves Arianism may be as obvious in this Book as Christ's Divinity and that when such an one undertakes the interpretation of it 't is an hazard whether at the end he comes out Quaker Anabaptist Presbyterian Independent Muggletonian Socinian or Atheist 'T is a venture whether the Trinity shall have place in his Creed or no Whether he 'll allow of Baptism or any Sacrament and whether Cruelty cutting of Throats Oppression Tyranny Dethroning of Kings and Murder of Princes shall not with him become a necessary Duty and a true serving of the Lord c. q Pag. 52. And in another place the Reason he gives why the Holy Scriptures are not generally allowed to the Vulgar is this That there may not be as many different Bibles among them as there are Heads r Pag. 54. Which is in effect the same with the former And in a third That it is not only thus in SEVERAL PEOPLE but even the SAME PERSON many times hath the faculty of multiplying the Word of God s Chap. 9. pag. 57. That is by reading the Scriptures Men are not only divided one from another but the same Person is at different times divided from himself by putting one Sense upon them at one time and another at another I shall observe one thing by the way before I come to expose the Folly of this way of Reasoning Had not this Gentleman vainly presumed that the Vulgar of our Communion are as ignorant as those of his own in other Countries he would not have laid so great stress upon these Words of St. Peter the unlearned and unstable and repeated them thrice within the compass of one half Sheet tho perhaps for a disguise in the words now cited he puts unwary and ignorant instead of unlearned and unstable since they are so far from proving what he designs that they are a fair Argument for the contrary For as I before observed could the unlearned have wrested the Scriptures had they not read them And if because they wrested them they were to be forbidden to read them would not the Apostle when the matter requir'd it have told them so and given this in charge to the Pastors of the Church Had he been of the same judgment with his Successors at Rome for the last three or four hundred years was it possible he should have forgotten this I appeal to the Representer's own Conscience Does he think it was St. Peter's intention that this Epistle of his should not be read by those to whom he wrote it If not he intended it should be read by the Vulgar for 't is certain it was written to such I shall now proceed to the particular consideration of these Mischiefs Which tho all as I said before of the same kind yet because to make the greater shew the Representer hath put them into a different dress of words and discoursed of them apart in three several Chapters t Chap. 7. 8 9. lest I should be thought to wave any thing material to his purpose I shall also speak to them severally and they are these I. The many Divisions that are among Christians u Chap. 7. p. 52. II. As many different Bibles as there are different Heads w Chap. 8. p. 54. III. Not only several People but even the same Person many times has the faculty of multiplying the Word of God x Chap. 9. p. 57. Mischief I. I. Having just before spoken of the many unhappy Divisions among Christians he says That these and infinite other Mischiefs arise from the free permitting the Bible among the Multitude y Pag. 52. Now if he speaks to the purpose his meaning must of necessity be That all these many unhappy Divisions arise from this cause only or at least from this cause principally And therefore no more is here needful than to discover the falseness of this Assertion However I shall be more liberal and shew these two things 1. That what is here affirm'd is notoriously false 2. That in case it were true it would not be of force to infer the Conclusion viz. That the reading of the Bible ought to be denied to the Vulgar First It is notoriously false That all the unhappy Divisions among Christians take their rise either ONLY or CHIEFLY from the free permitting of the Bible among the Multitude This will be evident by considering these five things 1. That there were Divisions among the Ancient Guides or Pastors of the Church 2. That there have been and still are Divisions yea as many among the Learned of the Church of Rome as among the Protestants 3. That the Learned Romanists are divided among themselves in all those Points in which they are divided from Protestants 4. That those very pernicious Doctrines and Practices which the Representer himself mentions are derived from the Learned and especially from the Learned of the Church of Rome And therefore 5. That the Divisions among the Vulgar for the most part are not owing to themselves but to the Learned 1. There were Divisions among the ancient Guides and Pastors of the Christian Church and in matters of as great moment as those are in which the Protestants are divided As between St. Irenaeus and Victor St. Cyprian and Stephen St. Chrysostom and Theophilus St. Jerom and Ruffinus St. Cyril and Theodoret the Bishops of the Council of Nice and those also of Sardica c. I wish those Divisions and many other among the ancient Bishops were not too well known to need any Proof Now can the Representer say That these Divisions sprang from permitting the Bible to the Multitude I trow not 2. There have been and still are Divisions yea as many among the Learned of the Church of Rome as among the Protestants Almost every Schoolman is the Head of a Sect and the Controversies between the Lutherans and the Calvinists are not so many as between the Thomists and the Scotists The Dissentions between the Regular and Secular Priests have lasted already for some Ages and are likely still to continue so many several Orders so many Sects in Religion you may find among the Regulars and the Remonstrants and Anti-monstrants will as soon unite as the Dominicans with the Jesuits or the Franciscans Yea the Popes themselves the Centre of their Unity are
only Printed but in Manuscript g Prohibentur Biblia lingua vulgari extantia cum omnibus earum partibus impressis aut Manuscriptis pariter summaria compendia quamvis historica eorundam Bibliorum aut librorum sacrae Scripturae idiomate aut lingua vulgari And Alfonsus de Castro tells us That Ferdinand King of Spain forbad any Man under the heaviest Penalties to translate the Bible into the Vulgar Tongue or to keep any Bible in his Hands already translated h Alfons de Castro advers Haeres l. 1. c. 13. And in the Index of Pope Alexander VII not only those Bibles that are translated and printed by Hereticks but all Bibles in any Vulgar Tongue are prohibited i Biblia vulgari quocunque idiomate conscripta Yea so careful are the Clergy in most Popish Countries to keep the Laity from the Knowledg of the Scriptures that as Sir Edwin Sandys relates in their very Sermons tho they preach for the most part on the Gospel of the Day yet they do not read or otherwise recite the Text but discourse only on such Points of it as they think fittest that no sound of Scripture may possess the People I say in most Popish Countries because the use of France as he says is otherwise k Sandys's Europae Speculum p. 126 127. It would be therefore ridiculous in Spain to talk of a Licence because the Bible it self is not there permitted in the Vulgar Tongue And all that is permitted in other Countries where the Church of Rome bears sway without controul is that a Man may read the Holy Scripture in case he can get a Licence for it But now to whom may this Licence be granted What to all Men indifferently who ask it No but to those only who they know can receive no hurt but encrease of Faith and Piety thereby (l) Quos intellexerint ex hujusmodi lectione non damnum sed fidei atque Pietatis augmentum capere posse That is as the Representer expresses it Those who are not in danger of preferring their own Sense before that which they receive from their Pastors and the Church (m) Chap. 7. p. 52. And may it not be presumed that these Men will never so much as ask it For to what purpose should they desire to read the Scriptures who are already resolved right or wrong to believe as the Priest bids them Yea so far are they from desiring it that they reckon it a Mortal Sin. And should others presume to ask it it would be denied them because they cannot so much as ask it but they will be suspected to be of the number of those Persons who are in the greatest danger of receiving hurt by it So that upon the whole Matter the great noise they make of Licences is but a meer Sham since those of the Vulgar who might perhaps obtain them are never likely to ask them and those who will be most forward to ask them will never be able to obtain them And that it was indeed a Device of the Clergy to get the Bible again out of the Hands of the People among whom it was then dispersed is plain enough because whosoever had got a Bible and had not a Licence he might not receive Absolution of his Sins unless he first delivered up his Bible to the Ordinary And having thus got the Bible again into their own keeping that they designed as much as possible to keep it for the future out of the Hands of the People is further manifest from the addition made to this Rule by Pope Clement VIII upon the new Impression of it viz. That by this Impression or Edition no new Faculty is given to Bishops or Inquisitors or any Superiors of Regulars to grant a Licence of buying reading or retaining the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue since hitherto by the command and usage of the Holy Roman and Vniversal Inquisition that Faculty of granting such Licences of reading or retaining the Vulgar Bibles or any parts of the Holy Scriptures as well of the New as the Old Testament in any Vulgar Tongue hath been taken from them Which says he is to be inviolably observed (n) Observat Clement VIII circa Reg. quartam Trid. If then this Power formerly given of granting Licences be taken away and no new Power of granting them given it necessarily follows That there is now no such thing in being as a Power of granting Licences Or had there been any such Power before this new Impression of the Rule was made yet it was then taken away by the Pope in decreeing That the Command and Practice of the Roman Inquisition was to be inviolably observed And lest some perhaps might presume to read the Bible notwithstanding the Penalty threatned to them that do so to give check as much as might be to such Presumption the Booksellers who shall sell them to such Persons besides the loss of the price of the Books are liable to be punished at the Bishop's Pleasure It would be now superfluous to produce Cardinal Bellarmin Sixtus Senensis Stapleton Gretser Ledesna Azorius or any other great Names in the Church of Rome as Witnesses of this Practice I shall therefore conclude with a brief Recollection of what hath been delivered First In the Pope's or the King of Spain's Dominions no Vulgar Translation of the Bible is allowed nor any Parcels or Summaries of the Bible or of the Stories thereof 2dly In those Countries where the Vulgar Bible is not absolutely prohibited no Man is allowed to read it without a Licence 3dly This Licence must be granted by the Bishop or Inquisitor only though by the Custom of France it may be granted by the Penitentiary or Curat 4thly It may not be granted by them to all Persons who desire it but to those only of whom they shall understand that they can receive no hurt by reading it That is those of whom they are so secure that they think there is no fear of losing them and few or none of these will ever desire it So that all this talk of granting leave to read the Bible amounts to no more than this That those who desire it shall for the most part be denied it Even the Mareschal of Chastres's Lady notwithstanding her great Quality and Piety could not without much difficulty get a Licence from the Arch-Bishop of Sens. Nor could she by any Means procure it for the whole Bible but for some certain Books only (o) Le Sanctuaire fermè aux Profames p. 339. CHAP. II. THat it is contrary to the Will of God contrary to Reason yea contrary to the Practice of the Christian Church for more than a thousand Years after Christ not to permit the free use of the Holy Scripture to the Vulgar SECT I. That it is the Will of God That the Vulgar should have the free use of the Scripture omitting many other Arguments these three alone may suffice to prove 1. That
plainly grants that Some have not leave to read it who are capable of reading it as they ought and that in some Countries they cannot obtain this leave tho they never so much desire it Where by capable of reading as they ought he must if he speak sense mean those who will not abuse it tho it is a great mistake to confound these two as if they were the same when they are as different the one from the other as a sick Man is from one that is not capable of being well and therefore to say that a Man who abuses the Scripture is not capable of reading it as he ought is as absurd as that a sick Man is not capable of recovering his Health Were indeed all those that abuse the Scripture uncapable of reading it to good purpose I should not deny but they might with good reason be deprived of it But if they must be denied it for no other reason but because they abuse it then let all Men be deprived of their Eyes their Ears their Tongues c. there being no Man by whom these are not more or less abused Yea let not only some but every Man in the World be denied the reading of the Scripture because I fear there is scarce any Man who is most careful to avoid it but he may some time or other through weakness or ignorance abuse it It is therefore certain that a Man ought not for every Abuse to be deprived of this Priviledg And if for any of those mentioned by the Representer our blessed Saviour and his Apostles were much to blame who put all Men indifferently upon the study of the Scripture notwithstanding all these Abuses were as high in their time as they have been in any Age since Did I say not for every Abuse I will add not for any Abuse unless there can be any that God did not foresee for since notwithstanding any such Abuse he gave free liberty to all Men who can deny it to any unless they will take upon them to correct God And yet when all is done in case Men are to be denied the reading of the Scripture because they abuse it then those above all others ought to be denied it who most extragavantly abuse it I mean those who prove the Pope is as much greater than the Emperor as the Sun is greater than the Moon from Gen. 1. 16. God made two great Lights the greater Light to rule the Day and the lesser Light to rule the Night That in the Churches Power are two Swords the Temporal and the Spiritual from that Speech of St. Peter to Christ Behold here are two Swords That the Pope is an absolute universal Soveraign because Christ said to St. Peter Feed my Sheep That a married Man cannot please God because St. Paul saith They that are in the Flesh cannot please God. And to give one Instance in the Subject we are now upon That no unlearned Man may presume to meddle with the Scripture because God commanded That if a Beast touch'd the Mountain it should be stoned or thrust through with a Dart. Did ever Men more abuse the Scripture than those who for bad purposes put such absurd ridiculous Senses upon it And yet these are the Men who have taken upon them to be the only infallible Interpreters of it Let all impartial Men then judg who best deserves to be forbidden to read it Whether his Holiness or an honest Mechanic The Truth is the Pope and his Clergy have set up a Worldly Religion so directly opposite to that of Christ that the Heretical Scriptures however tortured will never be brought to a compliance with The Mischiefs they talk of that arise from the Vulgar are but pretended the Mischiefs that come to themselves thereby are those they are indeed afraid of as was plainly confessed to Pope Julius III by those Bishops assembled at Bononia to consult about the establishment of the Roman Church m Verger Consil de Rom. Eccles stabilienda I shall not insist upon it That the Representer is so intent upon the Mischiefs that he quite forgets the Benefits which arise from reading the Scriptures and those many intolerable Mischiefs which flow from the neglect of it which the ancient Fathers have largely insisted upon The reading of the Divine Scriptures says St. Chrysostom is a Spiritual Meadow a Paradise of Delights a better Paradise of Delight than that other Paradise God hath planted this Paradise not in the Earth but in the Souls of Believers He hath placed it not in Eden or toward the East confining it to one place but hath extended it to the Ends of the World. Here is no Serpent it is a place free from wild Beasts and fenced with the Grace of the holy Spirit And this Paradise hath a Fountain as the other had a Fountain from which not only four but myriads of Rivers flow Would you know the Nature of it know it from its use It is not profitable to this present Life but to the Life eternal Let us spend our Time in this Paradise let us sit by this Fountain let us abide in the reading of these Scriptures For as those that sit by a Fountain and enjoy that cool refreshing Air and when the Sun grows hot dipping their Face continually do drive away the stifling Heat and easily cure their troublesom Thirst So he that sits by the Fountain of the Divine Scriptures if the flame of Lust annoy him bathing his Soul in these Waters he may easily extinguish it If fierce Anger molest him inflaming his Heart as a boiling Cauldron by instilling a little of this Water he may presently repress the importunity of the Passion and from all evil Cogitations the reading of the Divine Scriptures delivers the Soul. For which Reason the great Prophet David knowing the advantage that comes by reading the Scriptures compares the Man who constantly attends to the Scriptures to a Plant placed by the Rivers of Waters which always flourishes For as that Tree is not hurt by unseasonable Air or by the scorching Rays of the Sun So that Soul that stands by the flowings of the Divine Scriptures and is continually watered by them is unconquerable if Sickness Loss false Accusation Revilings Yea if all the Evils in the World assault such a Soul he easily repels all Perturbations of Mind having sufficient Consolation from the reading of the Scriptures n De utilitate lectionis Script If any Man list to see more to this purpose let him consult the Sermon And as the Benefits are many and so great that a Man may reap from the reading of the Scripture so the same St. Chrysostom tells us that Myriads of Mischiefs spring from the neglect of it o Proaem in Epist ad Rom. many of which he hath given us a particular account of in several of his Sermons SECT II. Let us now consider what these Mischiefs are the Representer makes such a Noise about Besides those mention'd
often divided among themselves and their Definitions plainly contradictory one to another Witness Pope Gregory I and Pope Boniface III. The former condem'd the Title of Vniversal Bishop as abominable and Antichristian z Lib. 4. Epist 32 33 36 38. the later ambitiously affected and obtain'd it from the Tyrant Phocas a Plat. in vit Bonifacii III. Sabellic Ennead 8. l. 6. Pope Innocent I. held the Eucharist was necessary for Infants b Aug. Contr. duas Epist Pelag. l. 2. c. 4. Binii Concil Tom. 1. p. 769. Pope Pius IV. denounced an Anathema against those that held it c Conc. Trid. Sess 21. Can. 4. And certainly neither do these Divisions take their Rise from the reading of the Bible by the common People 3. The Learned Romanists are divided among themselves in all those Points of Doctrine in which they are divided from Protestants I shall instance in some viz. The Popes Infallibility and Vniversal Pastorship his Power over Princes and Dominion in Temporals the Canon of Scripture and Traditions of the Church the Sacrifice of the Mass and Communion in one kind the Worship of Images and Invocation of Saints the Doctrines of Purgatory and Indulgences to which I shall add but one more viz. Transubstantiation Tho they seem pretty well agreed to burn or hang those that deny it yet there is not one question about it in which they are at an agreement among themselves To borrow the Words of a learned Bishop of the Church of Ireland No sooner says he was this fatal Sentence given he means the Definition of Transubstantiation in the Lateran Council but as if Pandora's Box had been newly set wide open whole swarms of noisom Questions and Debates did fill the Schools Then it began to be disputed by what means this Change comes whether by the Benediction of the Elements or by the repetition of those Words of Christ THIS IS MY BODY Then was the Question started what the demonstrative Pronoun HOC signifies in these Words THIS IS MY BODY Whether this thing or this Substance or this Bread or this Body or this Meat or these Accidents or that which is contain'd under these Species or this Individuum vagum or lastly which seems stranger than all the rest this nothing c. Then it began to be argued whether the Elements were annihilated Whether the Matter and Form of them being destroyed their Essence did yet remain Or the Essence being converted the Existence remain'd Then the Schoolmen began to wrangle what manner of Change this was Whether a material Change or a formal Change or a Change of the whole Substance both Matter and Form And if it were a Conversion of the whole Substance then whether it was by way of Production or by Adduction c. (d) Bp. Bramh. Answ to the Epist of M. de la Militiere This is only a short taste of what the Reader may find in the Book quoted in the Margin Nor do they only quarrel about the Manner but some of their greatest Men do not believe and others plainly deny the Article it self as any one may see who will but take the pains to consult the learned Preface to a Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points c. and a Treatise written by an Author of the Communion of the Church of Rome touching Transubstantiation It is probable that if all the Disputes upon all Points controverted among Protestants were put together they would not amount to a greater number than those of the Papists in this one Article To conclude this Let any Learned Romanist tell me what his Judgment is in any one Point controverted between them and us and I will engage upon short warning to produce another Learned Romanist who shall contradict him And are not Men so entirely united in Judgment among themselves excellently qualified to upbraid Protestants with their Divisions 4. In that he says To such Readers as St. Peter calls Vnwary and Ignorant Arianism may be as obvious in this Book as Christ's Divinity It is a sign that he expected no other than such unwary and ignorant Readers For he must be ignorant indeed in these Matters who does not know That not the Ignorant but the Learned not the Laity but the Clergy were the Persons to whom Arianism was in this Book so obvious Witness the Councils of Sirmium of Milan and Ariminum I need not tell him That one or two of the Bishops of Rome either grosly dissembled or Arianism was for a time more obvious to them in this Book than Christ's Divinity And whereas he says That when such an one viz. one that is Unwary and Ignorant undertakes the interpreting of this Book 't is a hazard whether in the end he comes out Quaker Anabaptist Presbyterian Independent Muggletonian Socinian or Atheist He had spoken nearer the Truth if he had said When such an one takes this Book as interpreted to him by a Popish Priest or Jesuit in the disguise of a Quaker Anabaptist c. We know who have been imploy'd to sow and foment Divisions among us to draw our People into separated Meetings upon the pretence of a more pure and spiritual way of Worship We can tell him of great numbers instructed in Handy-craft Trades trained up to dispute one for Presbytery another for Independency a third for Anabaptism sent over hither by order from Rome so that when the deluded People have thought they had heard a gifted Tradesman they have heard a Romish Priest in that disguise We can acquaint him with those who have been detected exercising their Talents in several sorts of Meetings But that which follows is most surprising That it is a venture whether Cruelty cutting of Throats Oppression Tyranny dethroning of Kings murder of Princes shall not with him viz. the ignorant Reader become a necessary Duty and a true serving of the Lord. This I say is most surprising and doubtless he rubb'd his forehead hard before he wrote it since he knows That all these have for some hundreds of Years been taught and practised by the greatest Men of his own Church and therefore it is not a venture but beyond all peradventure that when Place and Time serve they will be so again He well knows what the great Cardinals Bellarmine Baronius Perron c. What the Learned Jesuits Suarez Lessius Azorius c. What his own Country-men Cardinal Allen Father Parsons Creswel c. have written for the deposing and murdering of Kings He knows what Pope Gregory VII Gregory IX Innocent III Innocent IV Boniface VIII Paul III Pius V Sixtus V Gregory XIII have not only taught but acted in pursuance of these Doctrines He knows there was a Holy League among those who had not the Bible in their Banners as well as a Solemn League and Covenant among those who had And he knows or at least may soon know if he please That the chief Weapons of the Rebellion in Forty two were setch'd from Rome
the Church of Rome doth And tho Protestants never refuse to yield assent to all such Doctrines as the Church truly Catholic hath in all Ages taught yet they can see no reason to pin their Faith upon the Church of Rome there being as vast a difference between the Church of Rome and the Church Catholick as between the Church of York and the Church of England But St. Paul Heb. 13. 17. commands all to obey and submit to those that are over them 'T is true and I grant that by those that are over them he means Ecclesiastical Superiors But does not the same St. Paul command Children to obey their Parents and Servants to obey their Masters Would he therefore have all Children and Servants to take their Faith upon trust from their Parents and Masters He also commanded every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers and yet I am pretty confident that his meaning was not that every Christian should then believe as the Roman Emperor did But he commands to obey and submit not only as to External Government but as to Truth and Belief Then those who had Arian Bishops as a great part of the Church for some time had were bound to believe that Christ was not God and those who had Donatist Bishops were bound to believe that the Church of Rome was so far from being the Catholick Church that it was not so much as a Part of it But how does the Representer prove That the People ought absolutely to submit their Faith to those that are over them because the Apostle says v. 7. whose Faith follow And does he not say Chap. 6. 12. Be ye Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Are we therefore bound to believe as every deceased Christian hath believed In both places the Apostle speaks of Christians departed this Life in the later of Christians indifferently in the former of Christian Bishops And the words should be render'd Remember them which have had the Rule over You which have spoken to You the Word of God such for instance as James Bishop of Jerusalem who had witness'd the Faith by his Death whose Faith follow And the meaning is this Imitate them in their Constancy and Perseverance in the Christian Profession and Practice notwithstanding all the Persecutions you meet with in the World. The Pillar and Ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. may relate either to Timothy himself or to that Summary of Christian Doctrine that follows But suppose it relate to the Church that particular Church was primarily meant in which Timothy was directed how to behave himself and I think no Romanist says That a Man is bound to believe as every particular Church believes The words of Christ Matth. 18. 17. If he hear not the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen Man and a Publican are also impertinent because he speaks there not of Matters of Faith but of Fact and directs what course is to be taken for the ending of private Quarrels between Man and Man tho had he spoken of Matters of Faith they would not have been to the purpose because by the Church can be meant no other than that particular Church of which the offending Brother was a Member I need say no more to shew how unconcluding those Reasons are by which he would perswade us to abandon our Reason and to take the sense of Scripture upon trust from his Church CHAP. IV. I Proceed now to the fourth and last Head viz. The false Constructions as the Representer calls them which the Protestants make of this Practice of the Church of Rome or the wrong Inferences they deduce from it Which are these three 1. That the Vulgar Papists are deprived of the Word of God. 2. That they take up all their Belief upon trust 3. That the Reason why they are not permitted to read the Bible is for fear lest they should discover the Errors of their Religion Whether these are Misconstructions or no I shall leave the impartial Reader to judg after I shall have consider'd those Reasons by which he endeavours to prove that they are so SECT I. The first Protestant Inference is That the Vulgar 〈…〉 Papists are deprived of the Word of God of the Food of their Souls (i) Chap. 6 p. 43 44 4◠To prevent Cavils and Evasions I premise this The Protestant does not say that the Vulgar Papists have nothing of the Scripture allow'd them He very well knows that some shreds of it are now and then given them in Sermons and some small parcels in their Catechisms and Manuals of Devotion But what then Will it hence follow that it is false to say they are deprived of the Scripture Will not every Man say That he is deprived of his Father's Will who is allowed no more than the sight of here and there a Line transcrib'd from it Or that a Man's Inheritance is detain'd from him who has no more than a small Pension given him out of it One may a little wonder that this should be reckon'd a false Inference What! are they not depriv'd of the Word of God who are not suffer'd to read it or so much as to have it in a Language they understand No says the Representer The Vulgar of our Communion have more of this Holy Food than those of any other Perswasion whatsoever (k) P. 45. This is yet more wonderful That they should not be permitted to have it and yet that they should have more of it than those who have the whole of it in their Hands and daily read it How shall we unriddle this Why They are taught it by their Pastors Be it so Does it thence follow that they have more of it than those of other Perswasions who are taught it by their Pastors as well as they For whereas he presently suggests That the Protestants are for leaving their Pastors that they may teach themselves that 's a Calumny Tho the Protestants read the Scriptures themselves yet they do not reject their Pastors They do not think the use of the one does render the other needless now any more than it did in the first Ages of the Christian Church when they both went together and were both thought necessary But that they who are taught it by their Pastors only should have more of it than those who are both taught it by them and have the whole of it in their own possession is as true as that a part is more than the whole But the Representer will say Their Pastors teach them all that is necessary for them to know How shall the Vulgar know this We can tell them of Pastors who have concealed from their People some of the most necessary Points of the Christian Faith but I need not name them to the Representer But how are the People assur'd that what they teach them is indeed the Word of God and not their own Inventions when they are not suffered to examine
to forbear the reading of the Scriptures who do not understand them Secondly That they who thus read them with a pious Mind shall be graciously accepted and rewarded by God. These Inferences are not mine but both of them St. Chrysostom's It follows Since therefore the Papists in delivering the Scriptures come nearest to this method commanded by God in the Old Law prescribed and practised by Christ and his Apostles in the New c. If he mean that this was the only Method commanded by God in the Old Law and prescribed by Christ in the New I have already shew'd it to be false If he mean that this was one Method then how widely remote the Conclusion is from the Premisses will appear only by setting them together One Method commanded by God in the Old Law was that the Priests and Levites should read the Law and explain it to the People the like Method was prescribed and practised by Christ and his Apostles in the New Law Therefore the Papists in withholding the Scripture from the Common People come nearest to the Method commanded by God in the Old Law and prescribed by Christ and his Apostles in the New. Where lies the Connection And yet I confess it follows as clearly as this That the Scriptures were not in the Vulgar Tongue because St. Paul said to Timothy Thou hast learned the Holy Scriptures from a Child (a) Ledesma de Script Divinis quavis lingua non legendis c. 5. I should have thought the quite contrary had followed had I not been taught otherwise by one that follows the guidance of the Infallible Church Had the Representer spoken the whole Truth in the Premisses the Conclusion had been unavoidable for the Protestants who in delivering the Scripture to the People observe the same Method that God appointed under the Law and Christ and his Apostles under the Gospel What follows upon this Head we have had before SECT III. That which the Representer reckons as another Misconstruction Inference 3. of the Protestants is this That the Reason why the Vulgar Papists are not permitted to read the Bible is for fear lest they should discover the Errors of their Religion (g) Chap. 8. p. 53. 'T is true the Protestants assign this for one Reason but when he brings in the Protestant saying I can apprehend no other he misrepresents them because they assign others tho they take this to be the chief Now this he says is a Misconstruction that lies so open that there needs no more than a glimpse of Reason to discover it Let us therefore see whether there be so much as a glimpse in those pretended Reasons he brings to confute it which are these two 1. That tho the Vulgar and Vnlearned of the Papists have not in some Countries the Bible promiscuously allow'd amongst them yet that in those same Countries and all others there 's no College Vniversity Community or place of Learning but where the Scriptures are publickly read and expounded (h) Ibid. 2. That there can be no ground for this Pretension at least here in England where the Bible in English or the Rhemes Testament is to be found in most Catholic Families (i) P. 54. 1. That in all Popish Countries there 's no College Vniversity Community or place of Learning but where the Scripture is publickly read and expounded Now if they viz. the Protestants should consider this is it possible says the Representer for them to believe that that Restraint is upon the Vulgar for fear they should see into the Follies of their Religion It is possible and because we see a Papist can believe contrary to Sense and Reason I add that it is not only possible but there is great Reason for Protestants to believe this And that 1. Because even Papists themselves believe it So did the Bishops that met at Bononia to consult about the establishment of the Roman Church For having given it as their last and weightiest Advice to Julius III That he labour to the uttermost that as little as may be of the Gospel especially in the Vulgar Tongue be read in the Cities that were under his Dominions and that that little might suffice which is wont to be read in the Mass They add This in short is the Book which besides others hath raised those Tempests and Whirlwinds which we are almost carried away with And the truth is if any Man shall diligently consider this Book and then view in order one after another the things which are wont to be done in our Churches he will see that there is a very great difference between them and that this our Doctrine is altogether diverse from that and oft-times even contrary to it which as soon as Men understand being stirred up by some Learned Men of our Adversaries they never give over clamouring against us till they have render'd us odious to all Men k Hic ille est liber qui praeter caeteros hasce nobis tempestates ac turbines concitavit quibus prope abrepti sumus Et sane si quis illum diligenter expendar deinde quae in nostris fieri Ecclesiiis consueverunt singula ordine contemplatur videbit plurimum inter se dissidere hanc doctrinam nostram ab illa prorsus diversam esse ac saepe contrariam etiam Quod simul atque homines intelligunt à docto scilicet aliquo Adversariorum nostrorum stimulati non ante clamandi in nos finem faciunt donec re tandem pervulgata nos invisos omnibus reddiderint Consil de Rom. Eccles Stab Of the same Belief was Peter Sutor as appears by these words Since many things are deliver'd to be observed which are not expresly in the Holy Scriptures will not the Vnlearned observing these things be ready to murmur complaining that so great Burdens are laid upon them by which their Gospel-Liberty is sorely abridged And will they not be easily withdrawn from observing the Constitutions of the Church when they shall see that they are not contain'd in the Law of Christ l Sed cum multa palam tradantur observanda quae Sacris in literis expresse non habentur nonne Idiotae haec animadvertentes facile murmurabunt conquerentes cur tantae sibi imponantur Sarcinae quibus libertas Evangelica ita gravicer elevatur Nonne facile retrahentur ab observantia Institutionum Ecclesiasticarum quando eas in lege Christi animadverterint non contineri De Translat Bibl. c. 22. Fo. 96. To which may be added all those which make a vast number who as the Cardinal Rodolpho Pio di Carpi believe that if the Bible be in the Vulgar Tongue all Men will become Hereticks m Soave 's Hist of the Counc of Trent l. 5. p. 460. For who do they usually mean by Hereticks but those who by reading the Bible do first discover and then renounce their Errors Now tho I confess there are some things believed by Papists which I think it
impossible for a Protestant to believe yet I doubt not but the Representer will grant that the belief of this is as easy to a Protestant as it is to a Papist And that since it is believed by Papists there is very good reason why Protestants should believe it 2. Since they allow the Vulgar the Ten Commandments in their own Tongue what probable Reason can be given why they leave out this part Thou shalt not Tho to stop their Adversaries Mouths they now put these words into the English Catechisms make to thy self any graven Image c. but this that they dare not let their Laity compare their Doctrine and their Practice with this Scripture It is I know commonly said that this is done in compliance with the weak Memories of the People But he must be of a weak understanding who is satisfied with this Reason especially considering how tedious some of their Offices of Devotion are which are composed for the use of the Laity 3. It is no Thanks to them that the Bible is not denied to the Learned because it is impossible it should be kept from them as long as it is suffer'd in any Language But it is plain they are afraid of them in that they do not allow them however learned and pious but at the Bishop's discretion to read any Versions of the Old Testament Nor do they give the Bishop leave to permit any Man how learned soever to read any Versions of the New made by those who are censured by their Church but confine them to the Vulgar Edition n Reg. 3. â— Trid. And to make as sure of them as they can they tie them up as close as they are able from giving any such Interpretation of it as may be prejudicial to their new Faith. And yet not trusting to this Security they endeavour as much as may be to conceal from them those Scriptures which are repugnant to their Doctrine Which is 4. A plain Argument That it is the Bible it self they take to be mischievous to them Why else 1. Did they blot those words out of the Margin and Index of Rob. Stephen's Bible which were the same with those in the Text For Example Abraham was justified by Faith. He that believeth in Christ shall not die for ever They that blotted these out of the Index that the Reader might not thereby be directed to find them would they not if they durst have blotted them out of the Text too 2. Why else have they purged not only out of the Ancient Fathers but many late Learned Writers of their own Church many Passages of the Scripture it self 3. Why was it commended as a most meritorious Act in John Della Cava Arch-bishop of Benevento That tho he had not openly and expresly condemn'd the Gospel yet obscurely and covertly he had because in his large Catalogue of Hereticks he had reprobated a great part of that Doctrine which is contain'd in the Gospel especially some certain Heads which were most opposite to the Church of Rome p Consil de Rom. Eccles Stab The Representer proceeds If their Religion be so contrary to Scripture as you pretend is it not more likely the Learned should make this discovery in their reading the Bible than the Vulgar if they had the like liberty c. To which I return these two Things 1. If the Learned are as free from Prejudice Pride Vain-glory Covetousness and other evil Affections which darken Mens Minds it is more likely they should make this Discovery than the Vulgar if not the Vulgar are better qualified to make it than they For tho Learning when joyn'd with a sincere love of Truth is a great advantage for the discovery of it yet when destitute of this it is as great a hinderance The Learned among the Jews in the days of our Saviour are a demonstrative Proof of this Tho Moses and all the Prophets bore Testimony to him yet the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to see it Why because they were prepossessed with the Prejudices of a Pompous Messias they sought Glory of Men they had carnal Affections and a worldly Interest to serve tho therefore all the Characters of the Messias were visible in him yet because he was not a Messias for their turn they could not discern them I say not only they did not but without first laying aside their corrupt Affections they could not And so our Saviour himself says Ye cannot hear my Word q Joh. 8. 43. And how can ye believe which receive Honour one of another r Joh. 5. 44. How wife and prudent soever they were in other Matters they were not capable of the Truths of the Gospel and therefore they were hid from them while they were revealed to Babes s Mat. 11. 25. Now how few in comparison of the Learned in the Church of Rome have not some carnal Interest to serve How few are not prepossess'd with some such false Principle that be the Scripture never so clear against them will so blind their eyes that they shall not be able to discern it Should the Church of Rome teach Murder and Adultery to be Vertues he who makes it a Fundamental Article of his Faith that she cannot err would not be able to see that they are Sins but would find out some other sense of these Commandments than the words plainly import In short this Argument the Learned Jews made use of against our Blessed Saviour Have any of the Pharisees believed on him But this People who know not the Law are curs'd t Joh. 7. 48 49. As much as to say Were he the true Messias the Learned Pharisees who study the Law would certainly know it since therefore they do not believe on him no heed is to be given to the ignorant Multitude Were therefore this Argument of force it would have justified the Vulgar Jews in rejecting of Christ But 2. Many of their Learned Men have made this Discovery How many such were the chief Instruments of the Reformation and they doubtless discover'd the Errors of their Church before they forsook it How many continually since have forsaken their Communion in spite of all worldly Motives to the contrary How many who have not left their Communion have given abundant Testimony by their Writings that they were convinced of their Errors some in one thing some in another Cardinal Cajetan and Cardinal Contarenus will be owned for as Learned Men as most of their Time and they discover'd the Error of Prayer and Service in an Unknown Tongue Erasmus in the last Age and Arnaud and his Brethren the Jansenists in this have exposed to all the World the Error I now write against The Learned Men of the Church of Rome who have rejected the Apocryphal Books from the Canon of Scripture are too many to be particularly mentioned for that they are no part of the Canon was Catholic Doctrine at Rome it self as a Learned Bishop of our own
Church has prov'd but ten Years before the Council of Trent And whosoever has read the History of that Council cannot but see that the denial of the Cup to the Laity was discovered to be an Error by many Learned Men of that Church Yea the great Article of Transubstantiation many of their most Learned Men both in the present and in foregoing Ages could never perswade themselves to believe How many more of their Errors have been discover'd and published to the World by Cassander Wicelius Erasmus Picus Mirandula and many other Learned Men who died in Communion with them I shall not stay to mention But shall only make this Inference that the Representer would never have argued at this rate had he not vainly thought that the Protestants are as little acquainted with the Writings of the Papists as the Papists generally are with those of the Protestants What follows concerning Mechanicks and Apron-strings the Anvil the Needle and the Ell I suppose he did not intend for Arguments but only for Ornaments and Imbellishments and therefore I pass them over He adds Is it probable that every Man amongst the Papists no sooner becomes Scholar but he turns Atheist No. That upon their search in the Bible they plainly see all the Errours of their Religion and yet are so bewitched as to go on boldly and jocondly to the Devil without speaking a word or moving a step to save their own Souls or their Relations u P. 53 54. I will not say that every Learned Papist sees all the Errours of their Religion It may suffice that many of them have discover'd many of their Errors have written boldly against them And for those who discover their Errors and yet profess to believe them it is not necessary they should be Atheists I hope those Gentlemen are no Atheists who for several years late past have believed with the Church of Rome and profess'd with the Church of England their Religion approves Equivocations and mental Reservation Tho I confess that very Argument is so great a Bar to my turning Papist that I cannot at present imagine that I can ever be reconciled to that Religion which allows such gross Hypocrisies I hope by this time the Representer sees how weak and ill-grounded his own Arguments are 2. But he asks What ground can there be for this Pretension at least here in England where the Bible in English or the Rhemes Testament is to be found in most Catholic Families If it be so who is to be thanked for it Not their Church-men For tho they are more indulgent to their People here in England yet it is because they dare not be otherwise since should they hold them to as strict terms here as they do where they are in full possession it might endanger their losing them Besides that it is impossible to keep the Bible here from those who have a mind to read it for if they have it not with their leave they can have it without it But yet to keep them as much as may be from it they endeavour to perswade them that it is a sin to read it without leave and many are so possessed with this Belief that they acknowledg they dare not read it nor any other Book offer'd to them by Protestants without leave first obtain'd from their Ghostly Father and were England as much in their Power as Spain and Italy are a Bible in the Vulgar Tongue would be as rarely found in any Family here as it is in those Nations tho I see no reason but they may freely allow them the Rhemes Testament because they have so transform'd it into their own likeness that one would think they need fear no danger from it But if says he the prohibition of the Bible be as you pretend in other Countries for fear of the Vulgar discovering the Errors of their Religion how comes it that they don't make this Discovery here Some may not make this Discovery because of those invincible Prejudices they are prepossess'd with Others may not make it because they do not see with their own Eyes but leave it to their Priests to see for them Yet 't is strange the Representer should ask How comes it they do not make this Discovery as if none had made it when to the great grief of their Church such vast numbers have long since made it Does he not know That one Objection against translating the Bible in in King Hen. VIII days was That if Lay-men had the Bible in their Mother Tongue it would make them all Hereticks Does he not know how far the Event has answered the Prediction that whereas before the whole Nation was generally of their Belief so many have forsaken them since that now perhaps one or two in an hundred are as many as they can challenge He says Many have quitted that Communion upon other Motives best known to themselves but never any one could I meet with left them yet by reading and following the Word of God. He has it seems met with few who have left them nor could it be expected he should meet with many for so many had left them before his time that few in comparison remain'd to leave them now And those who left their Communion in K. Hen. VIII days could not leave it upon worldly Motives because after he gave leave to print the Bible in English and encouragement to all Men to read it he not only continued a Member of the Church of Rome himself but a zealous Persecutor of those who forsook it But perhaps he meets with none who desert them now If he does not yet many others do and I presume those that forsake them now their only Motive must be to follow the Word of God. But if the reading the Scriptures is such a defeat to Popery as you give out is it likely those who have been bred up to the reading of the Bible and have made it their Study and Companion should ever embrace that Communion Not more unlikely than that those who have been bred up to the reading of the Bible should imbrace divers other Opinions and Practices that are utterly inconsistent with it which we frequently see some Men do Tho I question not but if he examine their Converts he will find but few of them such as have made the Bible their Study and Companion And for those who have been bred up to the reading it but never concern'd themselves to consider it it is not more unlikely that they should imbrace Popery tho never so plainly contrary to it than that those should who never so much as saw it I shall not pass a Censure upon their late Proselytes but I am perswaded the Representer himself will confess that some of them are such as they have no reason to boast of FINIS ERRATA PAge 4. Marg. for Mandeuent read Mandement P. 8. Marg. for Prosanes r. Profanes P. 11. l. 6. after that add it l. last for Acaia r. Achaia P. 16. Marg. l. 4. for it r. et P 19. Marg. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2 and 3 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 30. after reading add it P. 53. l. 27. for gosly r. grosly P. 69. l. 7. for reciâ—â— r. reciâ—â— P. 80. Marg. r. contempletur