As to the certainty of Scripture's Sense is Scripture in earnest so utterly obscure Will their Author say so of the Histories of Livie or Tacitus or of the Philosophical Writings of Plato and Aristotle or of Euclid's Elements Could not God speak clearly and intelligibly to Men as Men have done and that in matters of the greatest consequence to them or would he not do so The Assertion of the one would impeach his Wisdom of the other his mercy and kindness to Souls And if Scriptures leave us so quite in the dark why do they call themselves a Light a Lamp say Ps 119 105.13â— Ps 19.7 8. that they enlighten the Eyes and make wise the simple Were the Books of the Old Testament the Gospels Acts and Epistles of the New Testament in the respective times in which they were writ in themselves unintelligible by them to whom and for whose Souls health they were writ If they were so then they were useless and vain And Oral Tradition could not expound them which was not in Being when those Books were first written for That deals with the Ages following the first conveys what was at the first delivered unto Posterity Did God then write only to amaze his Church 'T is acknowledged that there are several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things hard to be understood which it might please God should be partly to win the greater veneration to the Scriptures for what is obvious and presently seen through is in the more danger of contempt partly for the exercise of Christian's Industry Humility and Charity towards each other on occasion of dissent But howsoever the Scriptures are not so lock'd up but that a compâ—tent diligence and a Beraean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or readiness of mind may be a Key to them may open them in all Points necessary to Salvation And if in other things we remain ignorant or not so certain we may well bear with it while we are yet but in viâ and not comprehensores on our way unto but have not yet reach'd perfection That which makes the noise of Scriptur's obscurity the more loud is that Men are apt to look upon the many subtilties of the Schooles and Niceties of Polemick Writers as Articles of Faith and that men have more mind to fathom depths and to humour their curiosity for which end I believe the Scriptures were not intended and hence are ever racking the Scriptures and vexing the Sacred Text than to exercise themselves in a sober understanding of what is sufficiently plain and in a consciencious practise of the Holy Rules of Life which are evident enough If Christians would more seriously apply themselves to these two things they would find in the Scriptures employment enough and they would be more contented with their difficulties The Romanists have raised a cry of Scriptur's darkness upon another account and out of Policy For having embrac'd several Tenents and Practices which Scripture does condemn or not countenance either it is wholly silent of them or they are but meer appearances there which are snatch'd at and yet it is inconsistent with their grandeur or profit or the affected reputation of an infallibility to part with they are faine to press Tradition to serve in their Wars and for the defence of them Thus they have first made a necessity and then have invented a Remedy for it But when all is done the Remedy is more imaginary than real For how unsure a Conveyance and consequently how weak a Proof Oral Tradition is in matters of Christian Faith and Practice has been already evicted So that if we must be ignorant of Scriptures Sense unless Oral Tradition bless us with the Exposition of it and Scriptures no farther a Light than it is tinded at Tradition's Candle we must sit still in much ignorance or wander in great uncertainties for that cannot relieve us it is not that infallible Commentator it is pretended to be 2. To the upbraiding us with our Distractions I reply 1. Before the charge can be made good that the choice of Scripture for our Canon was the cause of our many Differences and that upon that pretence we should exchange Scripture for Oral Tradition it must be suppos'd that Oral Tradition is a sure and infallible clew to guide us out of the Labyrinth of Errors into the way of Truth and Peace the contrary to which has been sufficiently proved For otherwise to leave Scripture and to follow Tradition would be to relinquish a Guide or Rule which being indited by an unerring Spirit cannot mislead us and to chuse one which may and will carry us out of the way Nor will the pretence of Vnity make amends for this For true Christian Peace can't be otherwhere bottom'd than on Truth when and so far as it is a Cement of Men to the disservice of Truth it commences Faction Nor Reason nor Religion allow much less commend an Agreement of Persons to err together 2. They who have the most amorously espoused Tradition have also their many and great Differences as has been shew'd above only through Fear in some and Policy in the rest they are hush'd up more than amongst us and so do better escape the observation and talk of the World Nay that Church may be justly arraigned as the guilty cause of that which they call a great Schism viz. The Separation of so many Churches from them the Churches call'd Protestant by their imposition of unlawful and therefore impossible termes of Communion with them And (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nilus tells the World that their Imperiousness was the reason of the great Schism between the Greek and the Latin Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 21. 22. Thus as the Church of Traditioners have no few Dissentions among themselves so they have given a beginning and continuance to the quarrels between them and a considerable part of Christendom 3. Ther 's no need of fetching our Distractions from the Rejection of Oral Tradition there are are other true manifest Causes of them assignable Our Church once flourish'd with Peace and that without the aid of an Oral Tradition whil'st the Reverend Bishops were suffered to govern it and the Royal was able to countenance the Ecclesiastical Authority But when the pious King and blessed Martyr was engag'd in and diverted by the turmoils of a Civil War when Episcopacy was chang'd for Anarchy when the Golden reins of Government in Church and State were broken then begun and increas'd our Divisions and Calamities Unto which it may be there were some assisting Causes from without some who helped to kindle and to blow our Fires And if the Roman Church should chance into the like afflicted State with ours it would be obnoxious to the like Confusions If the Mitre should be forsaken by the secular Crowned Heads and a mutinying multitude should pull their Holy Father out of his infallible Chair then 't is not altogether improbable but that Children would less heavken
any material Error but it is strait Alarum'd and then stands upon its guard and consequently is in a capacity to defend and to preserve it self And this is one reason more why the Church receiving her Faith by Tradition and not from Doctors Ibid. p. 44. hath ever kept her entire Answ 1. But first to wave a consideration how little an alteration some Doctrines cause in Christians Practice whether they are held pro or con it is deny'd that it was not possible that any material Point of Faith can be chang'd as it were by Obreption but it must needs raise a great Scandal and Tumult in the Christian Common-weal For that there should be a noise and tumult in the Church it was requisite that there should be a Breach of Communion a separation of one part from another Thus it hapned in the Arrian controversie and some others there was a manifest siding a departure of the Dissenters from each other Such was the Case too in Germany England c. Several Corruptions had possess'd the Church of Rome for a long time and that Church made the Profession and Practice of those corruptions a Condition of Communion with her upon which the Protestants withdrew from her Communion which occasion'd the notice of the World and the Guilt lies on them who were the cause of the Breach who gave the Offence But there may have been Innovations in Doctrine and Discipline too and yet the Members of the Church have still continued mutual Communion and therefore no cry have been rais'd little if any notice been taken not because of the little consequence of the Doctrine or Practice but tho' it might be considerable by reason of its surprizing manner of entrance Some things in their first beginnings because small and in their progresses because stealing on sensim sine sensu by invisible steps are often little if at all discern'd till arriving at some maturity and a size much exceeding what they had in their Infancy and sly growth they then manifest themselves and awaken other's Observation Is it not thus frequently in Nature Are there not some latent Diseases which make secret attempts upon the Life and undiscover'd till by more sensible effects and rudeness to Nature they warn the Patient of his danger Let us enquire whether the like may not have hapned in Religion also It has not been uncommon for Persons of busie Parts and good Credit for Virtue and Learning in their times to have mov'd in a little Sphere of their own to have held some Opinions against or beside the general Vogue of the Age. Now suppose one such Person in Preaching or Writing to have started a Doctrine This coming into the Church commended by the Reputation and plausible Arguments of the Author wins the good liking of many and is passable as a probable Opinion for some years Till in the next Generation through a wontedness to it and a forgetfulness in what degree of assent it was at the first entertain'd it comes to be believ'd as necessary Which advance would be the more facile and likely if the Doctrine were such as had not been expresly defin'd against in any general Council for then it would pass with the greater shew of Modesty or were very advantageous and particularly were such to the governing Party in the Church as suppose the Doctrine of the Supreme and Universal Domination of the Bishop of Rome or that of Pardons and Indulgences c. for then Interest would cast another weight into the Scale and it might be judg'd convenient to be believ'd as necessary By a zealous straining of Expressions and Practices there might in time be a slip from the Mean to an Extremity The high and deserv'd Veneration for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper might occasion some lofty expressions of it and reverential Gestures at the Celebration of it And then from the Hyperbolies of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. might arise Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Host There may have been very antiently a Solemn and Publick Commemoration of them who dyed in the Lord in way of Thanksgiving to God for such holy useful Persons and of recommendation of them as Religious Exemplars to the People It may be some too might pray for the Dead out of a superabundant Charity yet not for a release of them from Pains but for a more speedy consummation of their begun blessedness And hence in time might creep in an Opinion of a middle state of the departed and Prayers for the deliverance of Souls out of a Purgatory fire As the first Ages of the Church were Blessed with a multitude of Glorious Martyrs so the Christians of those Ages had a very high and fitting esteem of them Sometimes it was an use to pray at the Monuments of the Martyrs to address them also with Rhetorical Apostrophes till at the last the Saints departed came to be prayed to and to be Worshipped Thus it is intelligible enough how there might be alterations in the Church's Doctrine and Practice by stealth and unobservedly and this is sufficient to oppose to the Authors whom I quoted at the beginning of this Section it is not possible that any material Point should be chang'd as it were by Obreption c. But this secret and little notic'd Intrusion of Opinions and Practices into the Church will be found to have been the more feasible if we look back upon former Ages in it and the Genius of them For a great while Learning was very scarce and Piety likewise The Ignorance Irreligion and Debaucheries of the Laiety and Clergy also were so notorious in the eleventh and following Centuries that they occasion'd the great and loud (a) The Authors and the Collections out of them may be seen in Dr. J. White 's Way to the trâ—e Church p. 113 114 115. In Dr. James his Manuduction 103 104 105 106 107 108. And in Dr. Whitby's Absurdity and Idolatry of Host Worship the Appendix from p. 70 to p. 108. complaints of many who liv'd in the Roman Communion and in the respective Ages and may provoke to wonder and grief Those who shall read them This being adverted to 't is so far from being impossible that Changes should invade Religion that rather 't is impossible but that Doctrines and Practices should be corrupted and alter'd from their first Purity in their passage through so long and foul a sink as those dark and impure Ages are represented to have been For as good Knowledge and Piety are great defensatives against Error 's seizure of the Judgment so Ignorance in the Understanding lewdness and depravedness of the Will and Passions make Men indifferent for Religion and unwary in the matters of it dispose Men to a reception of Opinions and Practices precipitantly and without a due Examination of them whence they come and what they are without a discreet prospect whether they tend and what their issue may be at the last So that from what has
did decline so soon how much more probable is it that it should grow yet more feeble and corrupt at such a far greater distance of time As Waters which arise clear and of qualities agreeing with their Fountain the farther they run do the more contract a new relish and gather a foulness from the Chanels through which they travel SECT V. I proceed to the Christian Churches since the more Primitive times and as they are commonly divided into the Eastern and Western Churches so I shall begin with the Eastern and there speak of the Greek Church only In which I suppose none will question but that Christian Religion was planted in a very ample and punctual manner such as might have secur'd a perpetuity of Primitive Truths among the Professors of them as well as among any other Body of Christians This Church administers the Eucharist to the Laiety in both kinds allows Married Priests denys Purgatory-fire to add no more In these things the Roman Church differs from them One of them therefore must err and have receded from what was delivered at the first to them We believe the Roman Church to be guilty of the Recess and they to be sure will deny it But yet which soever it be of the Churches which is in the wrong and one of them must be so Oral Tradition is guilty of Mal-performance of its Duty But moreover this Church holds that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and not from the Son Which is a Tenent condemned by Protestants and Romanists both And the Grecians misbelief in this Article was judg'd by Card. Bellarmine so criminous that he counted it meritorious of the sacking of Constantinople which hapned accordingly in his calculation at the Feast of Pentecost Bellarm. de Christo lib. 2. cap. 30. as a Judgment of God upon them for this error about the Procession of his Holy Spirit And he adds That many compare the Greek Church to the Kingdom of Samaria which separated from the true Temple and for that was punish'd with perpetual Captivity How far charitable in his Censure and right in his (a) Vossius de tribus Symboli in Addendis Chronology the Cardinal was let others judge But this is clear that they of that Communion as they are very numerous so do generally consent in this Opinion that there has been an entail of it upon Posterity through hundreds of years and that though their Reduction has been more than once attempted yet endeavours have prov'd succesless the wound may have been skin'd over but it has not been heal'd (b) Idem Ibid. Though at the Councils of Lyons and Florence it is said there was something of a Closure yet as soon as the Greeks return'd home there was presently a Rupture again and the Churches remain'd at as great a distance as before And they retain their old Error (a) Ricaut of the Greek Church to this day and are observed to defend it with a particular dexterity The same Greek Church denies the Pope's Supremacy that (b) Summa Rei Christianae Bellar In Praef. ad lib. de summo Pontifice Diana of the Romanists They may have yielded the Bishop of Rome a (c) See Nilus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primacy of Order and yet that too not as enstated on him by Divine Right but indulg'd him by the favour of Princes and Ecclesiastical Canon But they would never grant him a Superiority of Power and Authority They will not (d) Ricaut of the Greek Church yet allow it him These Opinions of the Greek Church cannot in the Judgment of the Romanists who hold contrarily to both and are so especially concern'd in the latter descend from Christ and his Apostles Therefore they must confess that Tradition has miscarried And Traditions miscarrying among so great and formerly renowned tho' now afflicted a Society of Christians for so very long a time and in Points of such moment must needs decry it much below that value to which its friends have enhans'd it SECT VI. Next shall succeed a consideration of the Western Church And what Church in the West would be more taken notice of than the Roman VVhere we are to find the most accurate Tradition or to despair of meeting with it any where They of that Communion having dress'd up and strengthned the Cause of Oral Tradition with the greatest advantages which their wit and learning can give it and claiming it as their (a) Sure Footing P. 116. Priviledge to be the most infallible Traditioners of any Church whatsoever Two things here may be considered 1. VVhat the Accord is of the Roman with the Antient Church 2ly VVhat her Harmony is with herself How well Oral Tradition has preserv'd her in both these respects First how little the Church of Rome comports in her Opinions and Practices with the most antient and purest Churches has been demonstrated by many Learned Protestants I shall insist but on one thing viz. The denyal of the Cup to the Laiety in the Eucharist by the Roman Church The Learned Cassander thought it could not be prov'd that (a) Non puto demonstrari posse totis mille ampliùs annis in ullâ Catholicae Ecclesiae parte sacrosanctum hoc Eucharistiae Sacramentum aliter in sacrâ synazi è mensâ Dominicâ fideli populo quà m sub utroque panis vinique Symbolo administratum fuisse De saerâ Comm. sub utrâque specie He is positive and large in this in his Consultation likewise Much to the same purpose Alphonsus a Castro Tit. Eucharistia Haeresi 13. For above a 1000 years the Sacrament of the Eucharist was otherwise administred to the faithful People than under the Elements of Bread and Wine both Several of our Adversaries give their suffrages with Cassander And the Greek Church administers to the Laiety in both kinds to the present Age. But let us come to that which will with our Adversaries be of more Authority The Council of (a) Praeterea declarat hane potestatem perpetuò in Ecclesiâ fuisse ut in Sacramentorum dispensatione salva illorum substantia ea statueret vel mutaret quae suscipientium utilitati seu ipsorum Sacramentorum venerationi pro rerum temporum locorum varietate magis expedire judicaret Quare agnoscens mater Ecclesia hanc suam in administratione Sacramentorum Anthoritatem licèt ab initio Christianae religionis non infrequens utriusque speciei usus fuisset tamen hanc consuetudinem sub alterâ specie communicandi approbavit pro lege habendam decrevit Sess 5. Can. 2. Apud Caran Trent confesses That from the beginning of Christian Religion the use of both Bread and Wine was not uncommon Yet licèt although such had been the Primitive and not uncommon usage the Council approv'd of Communicating under one kind and decreed it to be observed as a Law And this the Council did by virtue of a pretended Power of the Church to appoint and to
Constance proceeded in their Decree upon a Custome rationally as they say introduced for the avoiding dangers and scandals or offences But 1. why they should insist on and commend a Custome as rational which was in truth but an Innovation because contrary to the first Institution of the Sacrament by Christ and to the first and general use in the Churches of Christ and therefore unreasonable I cannot understand Certainly the Council had shew'd the Prudence and Gravity of Fathers if they had condemn'd this Custome as a Novel abuse and had done that Right to the Sacrament as to have restor'd the Administration to what it was at the Beginning But perhaps 2ly The Avoidance of certain dangers and Scandals may be some excuse Now what those dangers and Scandals might be I should not have thought but that I find Card. Bellarmin who (d) De Euchar Lib. 4. Cap. 24.6 neque ad hoc incommodum confesseth that Christ instituted the Eucharist under both kinds and that the Ancient Church administred in both kinds yet alledging (e) Ibid. Sect. Sexta ratio sumi potest ab incommodis some Inconveniences which he says would follow upon a necessity of the use of both Species As 1. Because of the Numerousness of some Congregations where yet there may be but one Priest 2. Danger of Irreverence in casual spilling the wine 3ly Some cannot drink wine 4ly Vines do not grow nor is wine made in some Countreys This is the sum of the four Incommoda Inconveniencies in which I conceive there is not much For 1. If the Congregation be any where so very large and there be but one Priest he may procure an Assistant at the Sacramental Seasons or the more days may be assigned for Communicating There be many great Congregations among Protestants each of which have but One Incumbent and yet they do not find the administration of the Bread and Cup both to the People to be unpracticable 2ly To avoid spilling the Priest may put the less wine into the Chalice and tread the more carefully this is an easi prevention of Irreverence 3ly The persons who have an Antipathy to wine are but few and it is unreasonable that a rare and extraordinary case should wholly suspend the force of a Law and supersede a Practice with respect to All and even Extra casum extraordinarium where there is no such extraordinary occasion 4ly 'T is known that wine is common and sufficiently cheap in those places where it is not made Or if there be any odd Corner where wine cannot be had the third answer may serve So much for Expediency and the avoiding dangers and scandals (a) Con. Constant Ibid. They of the Council add That it is most firmly to be believed and not at all to be doubted that the whole Body of Christ and his Blood are truly contain'd as well under the species of Bread as under the species of Wine 'T is likely that they meant this pretended concomitancy as an Argument for the no necessity of the Laieties having the Cup Administred to them because as they say the whole Body and Blood of Christ is contain'd under the Bread alone But as they went upon a supposition that there 's a real Transubstantiation of the Bread and Wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ which we deny and can never be prov'd so They boldly reflect upon the Wisdom of Christ who did Ordain and Administer Wine as well as Bread and that to the same Persons and best knew how he was present in the Sacrament and would be to the end of the World best knew what was necessary what superfluous in his own Ordinance Certainly Christ having declared his Pleasure by what he said and did at his Institution and Administration of the Eucharist concerning Communicating in both kinds Christians without puzling their heads about an imaginary Concomitancy or the like needless Subtleties are to judge that then they partake of whole Christ in a Sacramental way i. e. enjoy Communion of his Body and Communion of his Blood also whenas they drink of the Cup of Blessing as well as eat of the Bread broken conformably to our Lord 's own Institution and accordingly as his Apostle (a) The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 sorts them out each respectively to the other Nay suppose this fancied Concomitancy yet it can't be a Salvo for the denial of the Cup to the People in the Eucharist For there Christ is represented and Christians partake of him as (b) 1 Cor. 11.26 dying partake of his Body as (a) 1 Cor. 11.24 broken and of Blood (b) Math. 26.28 as shed i. e. separated from his Body but what is separated from his Body is not Concomitant with it Hence (c) Par. 3. Qu. 76. Article 2. â— Thomas Aquinas says That if this Sacrament had been Administred at the very time of Christ's Passion and Death then the Body of Christ Administred under the species of Bread would have been without the Blood as also the Blood under the species of Wine would have been without the Body Why and so it must be understood still For things Arbitrarily Instituted as the Eucharist was must be consider'd and us'd answerably to the Will and Intent of the Ordainer It having then been Christ's pleasure that his Sacrament should exhibit him not as he was before or after his Death but as dying and parting with his Blood Christians accordingly are to participate of his Body and Blood considered under such circumstances as then were when he hung bleeding on the Cross i. e. When his Body and Blood were divided from each other and therefore significantly of this Separation in point of congruity as well as precept Christians are to receive the Wine as well as the Bread I shall annex but one thing more It is (a) The Title of the Dialogue is whether and how Communion in both kinds is Faith And toward the end of it Besides that the present Practice viz. administring in one kind though universal doth not deciare the Church's Faith as in this particular the Council of Trent shews declaring that the Pope may dispence upon just occasion which could not be in matters of Faith Enchiridion of Faith Dial. 14. pag. 75. By Fran. Covent Tho. White as is supposed Printed at Douay 1655. said the more I suppose to alleviate the Church's denial of the Cup to the Laiety when as yet the Author confesses that among the Antients they did more frequently and publickly give the holy Eucharist in both kinds that this is a Practice but not a matter of Faith But 1. Antient Divine Practices and Usages such as the Sacramental Administration as well as Divine Doctrines should be held sacred and be kept inviolate by Christians 2ly Faith is truly concern'd in this
Sacramental Practice For in Religion and even the Agendis of it the things to be done Faith and Practice are interwoven with each other the former must guide the latter The understanding must be right in its Belief before the Actions can be regular Now that Christ did ordain the Sacrament and command the Administration of it in after Ages in such a way as he himself had ordain'd and administred it are Credenda things to be believed tho' the Execution of or Obedience to the Command be a Practical So then the Church of Rome denying the Cup to the People and avowing it disobeying a Divine Command and maintaining that disobedience doth offend in a matter of Practice and Faith both For they do not barely omit a Practice or Duty but also oppose and evacuate a Divine Command and the obligation from it which are Objects of Faith And that Faith has to do in this Affair was the Judgment of the Council of Constance whenas they denounc'd Concil Constant Ibid. that an Assertion of the unlawfulness or sacriledge in administring in one kind only should be sufficient for a Man's Conviction of Heresie After all which has been discoursed in this Section it must be concluded that the Church of Rome have in their half-Half-Communion and peremptory defence of it departed from primitive Institution divine command and the Church's ancient general Vsage that Posterity has deserted Fore-fathers and therefore that Oral Tradition has not done its Duty SECT VII Secondly let us examine what the Agreement is of the Romanists among themselves And if we find them at difference then Tradition has not been so faithful as to bring Truth whole and sincere to them for if Tradition were full and uniform it would keep them at Vnity with one another But even among them there may be observed Parties who tho' in Complement they acknowledge one first Mover yet have each their counter-motions tho' that Church boast of their Harmony yet they have their discords only they are not so loud perhaps as those are among their Adversaries Let account be taken of some of their Civil Wars The Contests between the Jesuits and Dominicans concerning Grace and Freewil Predetermination and Contingency as also between the Molinists and Jansenists are well known The (a) Les provinciales or the Mistery of Jesuitism pag. 92. Doctrine of Probable Opinions and many practical Doctrines of the Jesuites questionless please themselves and likewise the (b) pag. 194. polite Saints and Courtier-like Puritans Yet others mislike them and believe they never descended from Jesus nor from his Apostle St. Peter The difference between the Cassandrians and the Church in communion whereof they live is so great as that it seems to be as it were one State within another State and one Church within another Church as (c) Mr. Daille Of the right use of the Fathers Lib. 1. Cap. 11. one reports who had reason to know Some will have the (a) Bellarm. De Concil Auctor Lib 2. Cap. 14. Pope to be above a Council others a Council to be above the Pope Some affirm that the Pope (b) Bellar. de Romano Pontif. L. 4. C. 2. cannot err Others that he may Some are for the Pope's plenary Power over the whole world both in Ecclesiastical affairs and also Political but others allow him (c) Idem de Pont. Rom. L. 5. C. 1. only a Spiritual Power directly and immediately yet in virtue of that spiritual Power to have likewise a Power indirectly and that the highest even in Temporal matters Of this latter Opinion Bellarmin himself was yet it seems the French denied the Pope's power in Temporals whether directly or but indirectly when as Bellarmin's (a) Gold in Repl. pro. Imp. cited by Dr. Crakanthorp of the Popes Tempor Monarchy Chap. 11. Book against Barclay in which Bellarmin defends the Popes Power over Princes was so detested by that State that in their publique Assembly they did prohibit and forbid any and that under the Pain of High Treason either to keep or receive or print or sell that Book (b) Exomolog C. 40. H. P. de Cressy calls Infallibility to him an unfortunate word confesses that Chillingworth has combated it with too too great success will have it that the Church of Rome maintains no more than an Authority and says he has reason moving him to wish that the Protestants may never be invited to Combat the Authority of the Church under the notion of Infallibility And to shew that he is not alone in this he makes very bold with the Council of Trent Ibid. and Pope Pius 4th if they are not on his side for he shelters his Opinion under a Decision of the former and a Bull of the latter concerning the Oath of the Profession of Faith And likewise Dr. Holden in his (d) Quem Cathel cae Fidei consonum inveni c. Approbation of Cressy's Book without any Censure of this passage says He found it consonant to the Catholique Faith If this be so as Cressy would sain have it to be then the Romanists and we are not at so much distance as we thought we had been for of an Authority of the Church there 's no dispute between us and them But sure there 's more in the case than so For the Roman Catechisme set forth by decree of the Council of Trent and by the Command of Pope Pius 5th (e) Quemadmodum haec una Ecclesia errare non potest in fidei ac morum disciplinâ tradendâ cùm a spiritu S. gubernetur ita c. Catech Rom. Cap. 15. Quest 15. says that the Church cannot Err in delivering Faith and Manners forasmuch as it is govern'd by the holy Spirit cannot Erre i. e. is infallible And this Church thus inerrable is that of the Roman Communion for the same Catechism (f) Quid de Romano Pontifice visibili Ecclesiae Christi Capite sentiendum est De eo fuit illo omnium Patrum ratio c. Ibid. quest 11. says a little before that the Roman Pontife is the visible Head of Christ's Church And the great Defender of the Romish Faith Card. Bellarmin affirms that (a) Catholici verò omnes constanter dâ—cent Concilia generalia a summo Pontifice confirmata non posse errare nec in fide explicandâ nec in tradendis morum praeceptis toti Ecclesiae communibus Bellarm. de Conciliorum Autoritate L. 1. C. 2. circa initium all Catholiques do constantly teach that General Councils confirm'd by the Pope cannot Err in Faith or Manners in explicating the one or in delivering Precepts about the other And in the same Chapter he adds that (b) Tota Autoritas Ecclesiae fermaliter non est nisi in Praelatis ergo idem est Ecclesiam non posse errare in definiendis rebus fidei Episcopos non posse errare Idem Ibid. Sect. ex his enim locis manifeste colligitur the whole
of such a Belief of Posterity concerning such an Obligation 'T is well known that antiently and in several Ages of the Church scarce a new Opinion could start up but it found Abettors 'T is strange if there were indeed such a persuasion as is pretended fix'd in the hearts of Christians that so often they should have left the Road and turn'd into an unbeaten Path in former Ages To come neerer to our own Times The Relinquishers of the Roman Tenents and Communion the Deserters as our Adversaries call them of Tradition were like the Croud in St. John's Vision a great Multitude which no man can number of many Nations and Kindreds People and Tongues People divided by diversity of Climates and vast spaces of Earth and Seas of various Complexions of Body and Dispositions of Soul of different Education manner of Life and Civil Interests This being undeniably true how utterly improbable is it that so many Myriads differenced by so many considerable Circumstances should so unanimously agree in a departure from the Roman Church i. e. in the Style of our Adversaries in a defection from Tradition if there had really been such a common Charm and great Principle regnant among them and uniting them in an Obsequious adherence to their Fathers Faith and in an opposition to any alteration of their Belief Especially it is yet the more improbable if it be remembred that many of these adventur'd on a change through the sharpest Persecutions And the Successors of those first Reformers have maintain'd the Secession toward two Centuries of years and are so well fatisfied in it that they are generally averse from a return to the Roman Communion unto which nothing but force is likely to reduce them if even That can do it By this it appears how highly improbable that Position is viz. That it is impossible that Men should not think themselves obliged to believe (a) Sure Footing p. 216. and to do as their Predecessors did Or if a very great improbability be suppos'd and that the Secessors from Rome had such a Belief of a Tye upon them unto the Faith and Practice of Ancestors then for certain they acted contrarily to that Belief But howsoever Act they did and Counter to the Age then and some Ages before And even this will weaken Oral Tradition's indefectibility For what hapned in this alteration may have hapned in the Ages before Tho' Children suppose did conceive an Obligation upon them to the same Faith with that of their Fathers and because it was their Fathers yet if they might move contrarily to them notwithstanding such a believed engagement there might be a Rupture in Tradition as surely as if they had had no sense of such Obligation So that I do not see if it should be granted that there had been and were still in all Generations such a persuasion of Posterities Obligation to believe and to practice just as Forefathers did how such a Concession would quite do Oral Tradition's business For tho' it may be well argued negatively if Posterity did not conceive themselves oblig'd to believe and to do as their Fathers did there can be no certainty of Oral Tradition yet it does not necessarily follow on the other side and affirmatively if successive Generations do believe themselves engag'd to believe and to practise just as the foregoing did therefore it will be sure that they will so believe and practise The reason is because Men do not always nay too seldom what they know it is their Duty to do And tho' they who first departed from Tradition might proceed against conviction of their Obligation to the contrary yet their Successors not discerning the manner of the first departure might continue it as the 200 Men followed Absalom in their simplicity till continuance grew into a Prescription and gain'd the Port of Tradition But notwithstanding that the so numerous Relinquishers of Rome render it very improbable that there was or is a belief generally rooted in the minds of Men that they are bound to believe and to do conformably to Fathers yet it may be perhaps said to counterballance this that they who keep still constant to Rome and to Tradition are remarkably numerous And it is confess'd they are too many But it may rationally be questioned whether all or the greatest part of them do stay in that Communion out of a fix'd belief that they are bound to believe as their Fathers did I am sure their Being of that Church does not evince such a Belief in them because there are divers other Causes which may detain them on that side besides such a persuasion As Ignorance Education Prepossession and Wontedness to it variety of great Preferments and Grandure secular Pomp and Splendor the profitableness and pleasingness of some Doctrines fear from the Princes who are Popish and of Civil Penalties dread of Ecclesiastical Censures and of the Inquisition Were they of the Roman Party more free the Rod not so held over them were Punishments not so severely threatned and executed on Revolters we should better understand how devoted submitters they were to Oral Tradition and how much they were convinced of it as a necessary Duty not to let their Faith alter from that of Ancestors The summ of this Section is this 1. That it has not been proved that there is an Obligation on Posterity to believe Forefathers nay the contrary has been proved 2ly That if there were such an Obligation yet it is not necessary that Posterity should conceive themselves to be under such an Obligation 3ly That if they did conceive themselves to be so obliged yet it does not necessarily follow that they would move according to their Sense of such an Obligation Therefore on this third Head there is not sufficient security given for Oral Tradition's infallibility SECT IV. 4ly The Author of the Answer to the Lord Falkland's Discourse of the Infallibility of the Church of Rome says P. 10 11 12. That a deeper root which greatly strengthens and reduces into action the efficacity of Tradition is that Christian Doctrine is not a speculative knowledge but it is an Art of living a practical Doctrine The consequence of which is that it is not possible that any material Point of Christian Faith can be changed as it were by obreption whilest Men are on sleep but it must needs raise a great scandal and tumult in the Christian Common-weal We remember in a manner as yet how Change came into Germany France Scotland and our own Country Let those be a signe to us what we may think can be the creeping in of false Doctrine specially that there is no point of Doctrine contrary to the Catholick Church rooted in any Christian Nation that the Ecclesiastical History does not mention the times and combats by which it entred and tore the Church in pieces Here 's another Argument for the great Efficacy of Tradition in that it prevents Obreptions so that the Church can't be assaulted by