errors as you charge her with as matters of the Christian faith what assurance can you have she hath not erred in defining the Canon of Scriptures and delivering some Book or Books for the word of God which are not so This is the sum of all the pleadings of the Roman party in their own behalf And they are only such as the Jewish Doctors might have pleaded with as much plausibility against our Lords Disciples and that first Christian Church which they planted in that Nation For 1. Where may they say Vid. Stillingfl Sermon 24. Acts xiv will you produce the men of former Ages who taxed the Jewish Church with such errors and corruptions as your Jesus did and bid men beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees that is the most holy and learned Members of our Church Do not the Christians themselves acknowledge that we were once a right vine and the beloved of the Lord how or when therefore did we cease to be so If by Schism produce that major part or body of the Jewish Church from which we separated when first your Jesus like another Luther appeared among us Or if by Heresie we ceased to be so by what Church what Councils were we condemned Who can believe that God would ever suffer such dangerous Doctrines to prevail in his own Church and raise up no Church Guides no Prophets to discover things so destructive to her very being till these new Teachers and Reformers first arose Where then had God a true Church in the world if not among the people of the Jews what other Church could Christ or his Apostles mention besides that which he so often taxed with voiding the Commandments of God and rendring his worship vain because of some traditions which they had received from their Forefathers If then God suffered this Church to be all over-run with such a fatal leprosie and gave no clear discovery thereof where was the watchful eye of Providence Where was that God who promised that he would put his name for ever in Jerusalem and that his eyes and heart should be perpetually there But suppose that Providence was unconcerned did all our Pastors fall asleep at once or could they all conspire to deceive posterity Were not the Oracles of God committed to us Jews did not you Christians receive them from us if then our Church might teach her Children such destructive errors as you charge her with how can you be assured that she hath not erred even in that Canon of Scriptures which from her you have received Now though this instance which I have largely prosecuted may be sufficient to shew the vanity of the most plausible pretences of R. H. against the Protestants both in his Rational account and his Discourse It might be farther manifested that they as strongly plead for the Heathen world against the Jew for the Mahumetan against the Christian for the Priests of Baal against Elias and those seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal for the prevailing Arian against the Orthodox for the Fornicator the Simoniack the Covetous and the Debauched person in all those Ages in which these were the Epidemical Vide. Appen Chap. 3. §. 10 16. and almost general diseases of the Clergy that is from the tenth to the sixteenth Century and lastly for Antichrist himself when he according to the predictions of the Scripture and the confession of many Rnman Catholicks shall drive the Church that is the Orthodox Professors of the Faith into the Wilderness and slay the Witnesses of Christ and of his Doctrine But To conclude If this be truly the result of the most specious pretences of the Roman party to draw our souls into their deadly snares if all their fairest pleas do make for Judaism more naturally than they do for Popery If what they urge to prove â—he Potestant Divines to be Deceivers of the people doth more strongly prove our blessed Jesus a Deâ—eiver which is the highest Blasphemy I hope that â—o true lover of this Jesus will be much tempted â—y such pleas to entertain a good opinion of the Romish Faith It being certainly that Faith which cannot be established but on the ruins of Christianity nor embraced by any Protestant but â—o the greatest hazard if not the ruin of his â—oul FINIS
Numb xi 17. Moreover God promised to the Sanhedrim that he would put the spirit of Moses upon them and in compliance with that promise he came down in a Cloud and took the spirit which was upon Moses and gave it to the seventy Elders so that they Prophesied and did not cease Or 6. Do they argue for their infallibility because the Church is stiled by St. Paul 1 Tim. iii. 15. the pillar and the ground of truth by reason of that truth which is preserved by her Governours Answ God also hath declared touching his Priests Mal. ii 6. Zech. viii 3. that the law of truth was in their mouth and of Jerusalem that she should be called the City of truth And if the Church of Judah hath since failed so also hath the Church of Ephesus of which alone St. Paul affirmeth that it was the pillar and the ground of truth 7. Eph. iv 11 12. Do they conclude that the Church-Guides must be infallible because God hath placed in the Church some Apostles some Prophets some Pastors and some Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine Answ Were not the Jewish Priests placed also for this end for the work of their Ministry the perfecting of their Saints the edifying of their Flocks Were not their lips to preserve that knowledg which should restrain the people from their errors Ezek. xxxiv 4. Were not they appointed to heal that which was sick and bring again that which was strayed Or Lastly Do they triumph in that promise of our Lord Matth. xvi 18. that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against the Church Answ Jer. xxxiii 20 21. God also promised that his Covenant made with his Levites Priests and Ministers should be as certain and perpetual as that of day and night So that I need not add that by this Phrase Essay Chap. 3. Christ only promiseth that pious Christians shall not for ever be detained under the power of the grave which I have elsewhere shewed to be the natural and only import of these words the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church Moreover the plain meaning of the foregoing words viz. Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church is as a Si quia dixerit Petro Dominus Super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam id circo praesumis ad te derivasse solvendi ligandi potestatem qualis es evertens commutans manifestum domini intentionem personaliter N.B. hoc Petro conferentem sic enim exitus docet in ipso Ecclesia exstructa est id est per ipsum ipse primus in Christi Baptismo reseravit aditum caelestis Regni De Pudicitia cap. 21. p. 574. B. Tertullian well informs us only this Thou who hast first of all my Disciples acknowledged me to be the Christ thou shalt first preach this Doctrine to the World and by so doing lay the first foundations of a Christian Church Which he accordingly performed first laying the foundation of a b Acts 2.41 Church among the Jews by the conversion of three thousand souls And after laying the foundation of a Church amongst the Gentiles by the conversion of Cornelius and his friends Christ having to fulfil his promise c Acts 15.7 made choice of him among the rest of the Apostles that the Gentiles by his mouth should hear the word of the Gospel and believe Now to pretend to be St. Peters Successor in this matter is in effect to say that the foundations of a Christian Church are not yet laid If therefore Roman Catholicks conclude from these ambiguous and obscure places for the infallibility of Councils or of the major part of the Church guides concurring with the Pope in any Sentence or Decree although these places do not speak one syllable of any Pope or major part of the Church-Guides and much less of the Romish Prelats and less of their infallible assistance what Ovations and Triumphs would they have made had it been said expresly of their Cardinals and Councils as it is said of Jewish Priests that they were set for judgment and for Controversie had God fixed his glorious presence at Rome as he did at Jerusalem and setled there a seat of Judgment and a continual Court of highest judicature as was that Sanhedrim which in Jerusalem was setled had he dwelt in St. Peters as he dwelt in the Temple had he left with them as he did with the Jewish Priests a standing Oracle a Vrim and a Thummim to consult with on all occasions so that this plea being much stronger for the infallibility of the Superiors of the Jewish Church than for the infallibility of the whole Western Church or any of its Councils the Roman Doctors must acknowledg either that they fallaciously urge it against Protestants or must confess that it stands also good against the Christian and is a confirmation of all those traditions which were condemned by our Saviour and a sufficient plea for all those errors and corruptions which as the Prophets do complain were generally taught and practised by the Church-Guides in the declining Ages of the Jewish Church V. Stillingfl Sermon upon Acts 24.14 p. 39. For if these Arguments be good now they were so then and if they were good then for ought that I can see the High Priest and the major part of the Church Rulers of the Jews were always in the right and Christ and his Apostles with the Holy Prophets must be in the wrong Moreover had we no evidence from Scripture may the Jew say in prosecution of this Argument reason seems very strongly to conclude for this submission of the common people and some few Priests to the concurring judgments of their Church-Guides and of the major part of Jews who joyned with then in condemnation of your Jesus as a Blasphemer and false Prophet and of his followers as Hereticks and Schismaticks or men who worshipped God after that way which by the Jews was called Heresie Acts 24.14 ibid. v. 5. and were Ring-leaders of a Sect. For still to argue after the manner of the Romish Doctors 1. Is it not reasonable to conceive that they who were Gods Ministers appointed for this very thing to judg in controversial matters and to make tryal of such as did pretend to Prophesie as was the Jewish Sanhedrim I say is it not reasonable to conceive that the assistance of the Holy Spirit should be vouchsafed to these Rulers of the Church and Doctors of the Law rather than to those common people who bore no such relation to God had no commission from him to direct others in the meaning of his word but had so many and such express injunctions to seek it at the mouth of their Church-Guides Can we
imagin that these Pharisees and Rulers should be the men ordained by God for Controversies and by whose words they must be tried and yet should be such blind and stupid Guides as by your Jesus they were said to be that he who was led by them must fall into the ditch Moreover were no assistance from above to be expected in this case is it not reasonable to think that these great Doctors of the Law those numerous Priests who made it their whole business to study Vid. Answ in Numb xi 16 17. and search out the meaning of the Law of Moses those Members of the Sanhedrim who were still chosen out of the most Learned Persons and the most eminent for wisdom I say may we not reasonably conceive such Persons to be fitter and more able Judges of the sense and meaning of that Law or of the truth of any miracles pretended to be wrought by Christ or his Apostles than was that rude and giddy Multitude which had no knowledg of the Law They therefore considering their Superiors study and Learning in such things Divine and also their own ignorance R.H. discourse Chap. 13. p. 13. they considering both the special ordination and commission of their Superiors from God to teach them in necessary truths and his charge laid upon them to obey their Ecclesiastical Superiors ought to depend upon and adhere to their directions so much the more in any point of faith by how much it is esteemed more necessary as wherein there is a much greater hazard if they should err 3. All that your Gospel doth suggest or reason may pretend for the exemption of the first Jewish Converts from obedience to these decrees of their Superiors in the Jewish Church may saith the Jew be fully answered from the plain Principles and almost in the words of Roman Catholicks For to proceed in the expressions of R. H. the Guide in Controversies with very little variation of them 1. Will you affirm that all the Priests and Rulers Scribes and Pharisees and the whole Sanhedrim acted against their faith and conscience in these determinations by which your Jesus was condemned as an Impostor Answ Discourse 1. Ch. 3. §. 37 38. p. 26. R. H. will tell you there is a moral certainty that so many such persons cannot conspire in such a matter viz. a necessary to Salvation to falsifie the truth against their own belief and conscience to their Subjects and Posterity with an Anathema to all dissenters or an excommunication of all who preached and believed that Christ was the Messiah promised to the Jews and was already risen from the dead when their own consciences could tell them that these things were true Ibid. p. 25. If any can be so uncharitable as to credit of them so great a wickedness that the Supream Councils of the Jewish Church should with design decree an error contrary to their faith or knowledg in this necessary matter and then enjoyn all their Subjects to believe it under Anathema he must believe that they most certainly do devote themselves to eternal perdition And therefore if not out of Charity or reverence to such sacred persons yet from the irrationality of such a defence it is much better to pass over this objection 2. Will you say that these Superiors were only to be appealed to in doubtful matters and that this thing whether the Scriptures declared your Jesus to be the true Messiah was not doubtful Answ R. H. informs you that a right judgment cannot but account all those places doubtful Disc Chap. 3. §. 44. p. 29. in the sense whereof either the Antient or present major part of Christianity are of a contrary judgment from himself That must be therefore doubtful according to the ground and reason of this Rule which you presume not to be doubtful since it was that in which the major part of the then present Jewish Church was of a contrary judgment from the Christian Convert 3. Will you plead in favour of the vulgar that they were bound to hearken to these Jewish Guides no longer than they followed the Rule of Scripture Answ Ibid. p. 28. Be it so But saith R. H. Who is appointed judg of these supreme Judges when they transgress against this Rule their Subjects who are from them to learn the sense of the Rule where difficult and disputed and who are bidden to follow their faith The right exercise of Judgment will not judge so For if the vulgar may pass this judgment of the Decrees of many Councils and the concurring judgment of their Superiors and Church Guides I hope the matter must be evident even to the vulgar sort that notwithstanding the contrary judgment of Chief Priests and Rulers Scribes Pharisees and Elders and almost all the Jewish Nation that sense of Scripture must be false which their Ecclesiastical Guides alledged to prove that Jesus was not the true Messiah and that according to their Law he was to die and that sense of the Scripture must be true which by the Apostles and their few Converts was alledged to prove that Jesus was the Messiah promised to the Jew Ibid. p. 143. Now how vainly saith R. H. doth any one pretend or promise himself a certainty of any thing wherein so many Councils and a much major part of the Church having all the same means of certainty as he judgeth contrary Rational account disc 3. Chap. 4. §. 42. p. 179. where it seems the Scripture may be so doubtful that the sense of the then Catholick Church or its greatest Councils they say can be to them no certain or infallible interpreter of it where the judgment or common Reason of these Councils thinks it self so certain of the contrary as to Anathematise dissenters or cast them out of the Church On what grounds here these private Persons or new erected Churches could assure themselves of their own sense of Scripture to be true they having left that of the Churches Councils and of a major part of Jews who also judged their sense false I understand not Surely they will not say they have this certainty from the Scripture because the true sense thereof is the thing so mainly questioned and the certainty or infallibility of the traditive sense of the Jewish Church they renounced and then which only is left their own judgment or their own common reason when that of their greatest Councils or major part of their Church-Guides differs from it one would think should be a more fallible ground to them than the judgment or common reason of the Church For a man to presume himself certain in a matter of faith Ibid. disc 2. Chap. 2. §. 15. p. 95. or in his own sense of Scripture though the literal expression he never so clear where so many Learned and his Superiours comparing other Texts c. are of a contrary judgment this saith R. H. is the same as if in a matter of sence a dim
for Miracles they tell us that there is no certain way of judging true from false but by the Authority of the Church Now if these things be so what ground could the first Jewish Converts have to believe Christ was the true Messiah or a worker of true Miracles when in believing both these things they must oppose the Authority of the then present Church 4. All that hath been discoursed in answer to the former pleas serves also against this For who shall be judg whether these Miracles were true and were sufficient to confirm the Christian Faith those Persons whose Office it was to judg both of true Prophets and true Miracles or those who had no power or commission so to do Was not the Jewish Sanhedrim and other Rulers of that Church more able Judges of the Truth and the validity of any Miracles pretended to be wrought by Christ and his Apostles than was that Multitude which as experience teacheth may be imposed upon with ease Were not those Guides who were appointed to be Judges in all other matters the proper Judges of this Controversie Have we not reason to believe their judgment was as free from interest and passion and their endeavors to search out the truth of these relations as sincere as was the judgment or endeavours of the Laity When therefore these Church-Guides did notwithstanding those pretended Miracles of Christ and his Apostles conclude unanimously that Christ was a Deceiver was it not absurd to say that what they so universally determined might be discerned by any private judgment to be the clearest falshood that vulgar persons had demonstration in this matter against the judgment of the whole body of their Guides and that their common reason was able to discern that to be manifestly true which the same common reason of their Superiors judged to be manifestly false Thus have we seen that Scripture and Reason do more countenance the Jew pleading against our Lord and the first Christian Converts than they do countenance the Papist pleading against Protestants In the last place the Jew may argue from Tradition thus viz. These Spiritual Guides in making this determination and passing of this judgment concerning Jesus were guided by that Rule Synod Tri◠Sess 4. which by the greatest part of Christians I mean the Roman Catholicks is highly magnified and equaled with the Holy Scriptures viz. Tradition acknowledged by the present Church for such And so your Jesus must also upon this account be deemed an Impostor or the pretences and pleadings of the Romanist against the Protestant from the Tradition of the Church must be acknowledged to be vain For 1. It is most certain that the Jews had a Tradition generally received amongst them that their Messiah at his coming should restore the Kingdom to Israel That he should subdue the Nations under them and should erect a Temporal Dominion in the Jewish Nation over all their Enemies Even the Disciples of our Lord did constantly believe this Article till by the Holy Ghosts descent upon them they were better informed Matth. xviii 1. Matth. xx 21. Witness their contests who should be greatest in that Kingdom and the desire of the Sons of Zebedee to sit one at his right hand another at his left hand in it This was our Faith saith Cleopas Luke xxiv 21 we trusted that this Jesus should have Redeemed our Israel And when they were assembled after the Resurrection their first enquiry is this Act. i. 6. Lord wilt thou now restore the Kingdom to Israel It is therefore certain that this was the received Tradition of the whole Jewish Church grounded as they supposed upon the Scriptures which did necessitate them to expect a glorious Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dial. p. 249. B. not such a one saith Trypho as your mean and despised Jesus was 2. It was also a Tradition which generally obtained amongst the Jews that their Elias who was called the This bite was to appear again in person before the advent of the true Messiah Mal. iv 5. so was that place of Malachi Translated by the Seventy three hundred and eighty years before our Saviours coming Behold I send unto you Elias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the great and glorious day of the Lord come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dial. p. 268. A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark ix 11. All we expect saith Trypho that Christ should be anointed by Elias who is for to come and because this Elias is not come we think your Jesus cannot be the Christ Accordingly the Scribes or the Expounders of the Law did with one voice declare it necessary that Elias should first come 3. It was the general Tradition of the Jews that the Law of Moses should be perpetually obliging to them and that it was to be observed even in the days of the Messiah On this presumption certainly it was that Christs Disciples after his Resurrection were strict observers of the Law of Moses for a considerable time and so were also many thousands of the Jewish Converts St. Peter was so nice in observation of the Jewish customs that till he was informed better by a vision he thought such meat was utterly unlawful as was forbidden by the Law so that when in that vision he was bid to slay and eat he presently cries out as a man tempted to an unlawful act Act. x. 14. Not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is unclean St. James gives an account to Paul of the great Zeal that all the Jewish Converts had to the Law of Moses in these words Act. xxi 20. Thou seest Brother how many thousand of Jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the Law He farther tells him how highly they were all offended with him Verse 21. because they were informed he had taught that they were not obliged to yield obedience to the Constitutions and Customs of the Jewish Law and lastly doth exhort him to do what might be proper to cause these Zealots to believe that he also walked orderly and kept the Law Verse 24. a Chron. 2. St. Jerom and b Lib. 2. c. 45. Sulpicius inform us that fourteen immediate succeeding Bishops with their flocks were all observers of the Law of Moses And by the unbelieving Jews nothing was more abhorred than the thoughts of changing their Mosaick Customs For upon this account St. Stephen was accused of Blasphemy against Moses and the Law Act. vi 11 14. because he said that the Messiah should change the customs which Moses had delivered to them This accusation before the Scribes the Elders and High-Priest was deemed sufficient to prove him guilty of that capital offence of Blasphemy On this account they bring St. Paul before the judgment seat of Gallio because say they he did persuade men to worship God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. xviii 13. against or otherwise than was commanded by the Law of Moses
And this opinion they grounded chiefly upon those places which seem to speak of the perpetual duration of those Statutes Deut. xxix 29. Levit. iii. 11. Exod. xii 17. and say they shall be ordinances to them for ever and consequently seem to infer a Declaration from the mouth of God that they should not be altered Moreover it is certain that as the Protestants condemn as sinful and pernitious many Traditions and Customs of the Roman Church so did that Jesus whom Christians honour as the true Messiah as frequently inveigh against and solemnly condemn many Traditions which then were generally received and practised in the Jewish Church as vain and sinful customs and such as tended to make void the Scriptures and render the whole Jewish worship vain He therefoce seemeth to have been as great an enemy to Ecclesiastical Traditions though they were generally owned by the then present Church as such as Protestants can be esteemed Lastly Certain it is that the Superiours and Church Rulers or at the least the Major and prevailing part of the Church Rulers did then as firmly and unquestionably believe that those Traditions which were condemned by your Jesus and which so evidently proved if true he was not the Messiah promised to the Jew were both agreeable to the word of God Expounded by their Church Tradition and were delivered to them by Moses and the Patriarchs and Prophets and were continually practised by their Forefathers as doth the Roman Church believe that her Traditions were taught and practised by Christ or his Apostles and by their Successors throughout all Ages of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. xv 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. i. 14. Hence are they often styled by them the Traditions of the Antients or the Traditions received by succession from their Fathers And in their later writers they are always held to be derived from God by Moses together with the written Law and as an explication of it Hence like good Roman Catholicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. xxi 21. Act. xxviii 17. they were more exceedingly zealous for the Traditions of their Fathers than for the Law it self They accuse all who walked not according to these customs of their Fathers as persons who forsook the Law of Moses And to do any thing against these customs of their Fathers was reputed Criminal This being so I ask why the tradition of the major part of the Church Catholick or Christians in any Age whatsoever and their concurring judgment that what she doth at present teach and practise she received from Christ and his Apostles should be esteemed sufficient to render all those persons guilty of Heresie and Schism who do not yield assent to what they teach or a compliance with their practices as Roman Catholicks assert and yet that the general tradition of the then present Jewish Church even including the Disciples of Christ should not conclude them Schismaticks and Hereticks who being Members of that Church would not assent unto what they so generally taught or comply with that which they practised as delivered to them by Moses and the Patriarchs and Prophets But to apply these things if it be possible yet more particularly unto the pleadings of the Roman Church and to shew the weakness and the pernicious results of their most specious pretences I add 1. That notwithstanding it was the duty of the Priests and Rulers of the Jewish Church both to preserve and teach unto the people the knowledg of the Law yet did the major part of these Church-Guides both oft and dangerously swerve from this their duty For they did teach and practise and direct the people into those ways which were destructive to the eternal welfare of their Souls God by his Prophets doth complain without exception of them Esa xxviii 7. Ibid. v. 15. that they erred in vision and stumbled in judgment that the teachers of his people made lies their refuge and under falshood hid themselves saying the overflowing scourge shall not come to us Isa xliil 27. Isa lvi 10 11. that their Interpreters had transgress'd against him that his watchmen were blind they were all ignorant all dumb dogs that could not bark sleeping lying down loving to slumber that they were greedy dogs that could never have enough Jer. ii 8. Shepherds that could not understand that the Priests said not Where is the Lord and they that handled the Law knew him not that the Pastors also transgressed against him and the Prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that did not profit Jer. v. 31. Jer. vi 13 14. That his Prophets prophesied falsly and the Priests bare rule by their means That from the Prophet to the Priest every one dealt falsly That they heald also the hurt of the Daughter of his people slightly saying peace peace when there was no peace Jer. viii 9. Jer. xxiii 1 2. That his wise men had rejected the word of the Lord. And that the Pastors whose business it was to feed his sheep destroy'd and scattered and drove them away and did not visit them Ibid. v. 11. Ezek. xxii 26. That both Priests and Prophets were profane That they had violated his Law and had profaned his holy things putting no difference betwixt the Holy and profane the clean and the unclean and hid their eyes from his Sabbaths Ezek. xxxiv 1 6. That the Shepherds of Israel fed themselves but did not feed the flock the diseased did they not strengthen neither did they heal that which was sick nor bring again that which was driven away nor seek that which was lost but with force and cruelty they Ruled so that the sheep were scattered because there was no Shepherd Hos iv 6. Zeph. iii. 4. That they rejected knowledg so that Gods people were destroyed for lack of it That her Prophets were light and treacherous persons her Priests had polluted the Sanctuary they had done violence to the Law Mal. ii 8. That they had forgotten the Law of their God they departed out of the way they caused many to stumble at the Law they corrupted the Covenant of Levi. Moreover of these Guides it is expresly said Isa iii. 12. Chap. ix 16. Jer. l. 6. Matt. xxiii That they which led his people caused them to err and destroyed the way of their paths That the Leaders of the people caused them to err and they that were led of them were destroyed and that their Shepherds caused them to go astray Our Lord declares that they were fools blind Guides full of Hypocrisie and of iniquity that they had taken away the key of knowledg Luke xi 52. Matt. xxiii 13. and had shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men not going in themselves nor suffering them that were entring to go in That they made many false decisions in matters of so great importance as to make void the Law of God Matt. xv 6 9. and render his whole