are Catholick foundations which they contradict and therefore no lawful weapons in their hands against the Arians Again it is no doubt but a Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead is substantially or materially contain'd in the Holy Scriptures but in formal express terms Trinity and Personality or Person are not to be found nor yet so evidently in any Texts as from them satisfactorily to convince the Antitrinitarians that the same indivisible Essence is equally and perfectly in three distinct Persons unless we call in Church-Authority and Tradition constantly so explicating those places to our assistance For 't is well known by expert Controvertists that such Texts are confronted by others which seem to contradict them with an appearance plausible enough to vulgar understandings yea and which are sometimes so perplex'd and intricate as to vex the most Learned for a satisfactory Solution And even might shake the Faith of many good Christians had they not Vniversal Tradition and the Infallibility of the Church for a more sure retreat to retire to and securely relie upon after the disquieting storms of Disputation And this is a manifest and undenyable Argument that those who forsake these Principles to ground themselves on Scripture only for all points necessary to Salvation have always made Shipwrack of Faith and run into Heresies A thing as manifest in Protestants as in any Separatists from the Church in former Ages And this Gangreen bred out of this corrupt Principle hath eat so far into the very heart and bowels of Religion that in process of time scarce any Article of our Creed but hath been called in question by such Scripturists and now by too many are contradicted And so will continue till the Church be restored to her right and Authoritative Power to interpret the written Word and determine all Controversies in matters of Religion For while Scripture is the only Rule left to every ones Fancy there 's no redress and therefore doubtless when writ never intended for such by the Apostles SECT V. That the Scripture is not nor can be a Judge to determine Controversies in Religion IT being clear that the Sacred Scriptures are not the sole and sufficient Rule of Faith much less can they be a Judge to pass a definitive Sentence for the final decision of points controverted among Christians For the proper Office of a Supreme Judge being to end Controversies arising among Members of the same Community by a perspicuous and evident Sentence which cannot be mistaken by the Parties litigant so as yet to proceed in their former contention 't is as manifest as the Sun that Scripture cannot perform this efficaciously when there are irreconcilable differences eternal jarrs and most inveterate enmities about fundamental points among those who appeal to only Scripture for their tryal Neither is it possible there should be any better agreement about supernatural Truths so sublime and mysterious as to transcend our comprehension and capacity where contending Parties left to their own liberty with prejudicate Opinions passionately favouring their opposite Interests make nothing but dead words a judging law according to their own Interpretations But in what concerns our present debate this impossibility will be much augmented if it be considered that the Holy Scriptures speak nothing at all of some necessary things nor possitively and clearly of many other about which Controversies are risen since their writing and reception by the Church Neither are there cases wanting in which they are in no sort capable to give a definitive Sentence for their decision For seeing there is a Controversy between Protestants and us in a main fundamental point about what Books are to be receiv'd for Canonical and believ'd for the undoubted Word of God can Scripture it self judge this It is confess'd impossible and they appeal to Canon and Tradition of the Jews to judge and give Sentence in this quarrel Wonderful A Jewish Tradition founded on the agreement of one particular People shall be of sufficient Authority to justify them against us but the voice of the Catholick Church grounded on the consent of all Tongues and Nations dispers'd over the whole World or represented in a lawful General Council is nothing for us against them in any Controversy Is not this strange However let them say what they will we rest satisfied with the Authority of the Catholick Church believing for * Innocentius primus Ep. ad Exuperium cap. 7. Conci Carthag 3. S. August de Doctr. Christiana l. c. 8. Canonical what she receives and accounting for Apocryphal what she rejects which is built upon better promises than the Jewish Synagogue and so guided by the Spirit of Truth in all matters of Faith that the Gates of Hell shall ne'r prevail against her In Decretis Gelasii Papa prope finem Concil Florentinum Conc. Trident. Sess 4. Machabaeorum libros non Judaei sed Ecclesia pro Canonicis habet S. Aug. l 18. de Civ Dei ca. 36. Hebraei non recipiunt libros Tobâ—ae Judith Machabaeorum Ecclesia tamen eosdem inter Canonicas Scripturas enumerat Sapientia Ecclesiasticus parem cum reliquis Canonicis libris tenere noscuntur Authoritatem Isidor in proemio de Libris Vet. Testamenti Novi And having mention'd the Jews we shall from Gods institution for the decision of all Controversies about matters of Religious Worship during that Pedagogy borrow an Argument against Protestants in my poor judgment altogether unanswerable For though all Ceremonial Rites and Observances about Religion were expresly ordain'd by God himself and so particularly and minutely committed to writing by his Servant Moses for the instruction and Deut. 17. 8 c. Paralip 19. 8 9 10 c. direction of that people in all things relating to God and his Worship Nevertheless when any difficulty or doubt arose the written Word was not to decide the question as a Judge but the Sentence to be given by the High-priest and obedience thereunto required under pain of death How comes it to pass that under the Law of Jesus Christ not committed in that exact manner to writing yet in things relating to God and his Worship Scripture it self should be the only Judge of Controversies and those to whom Christ hath committed the Government of his Church should not have one Authoritative word to say for their final decision Is this rational Alas poor Christian Church whose Glory is out-shin'd by legal shadows For with them Sarah the Mistress hath less power then her Hand-maid Agar Again when the contention is concerning the sense of Scripture in any fundamental point deliver'd but obscurely it is possible for the written Word to give a clear Sentence and determine the Controversy about it self For then it would be both obscure and clear in the same matter and in the self same respect at the same time flat contradiction If they say there 's no fundamental point but is evidently contain'd in Sacred Writ the contrary hath
the Joh. 1. 29. 34. Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the World I bear record that this is the Son of God Secondly The Testimony of his Divine works and stupendious miracles in these words I have a greater Joh. 5. 36. witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath sent me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me Thirdly The Testimony of God the Father in the Verse following And the Father v. 37. himself who hath sent me hath born witness of me And that by an audible voice from Heaven at his Baptism in these words This is my beloved Mat. 3. 17. Son in whom I am well pleased As also at his Transfiguration where the same words were spoken with this addition Hear ye Him Which Mat 17. 5. first voice if none of the Jews there present heard as certainly they did not unless in the words following Joh. 5. 37. Neither have ye heard his voice hearing is to be taken for obeying yet to them the Testimony was Authentick who seeing his most Holy Life and many Miracles to attest his Mission could not rationally think he would deceive them with a Lye Now more they could not desire when the force of these invincible arguments or nothing could dint and mollify their rocky hearts to receive the impression of saving Faith However our Blessed Saviour to give them all possible satisfaction makes use of a fourth Topick from the Holy Scriptures ver 39. which he bids them search For in them saith he ye think ye have eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Which Paraphras'd is thus much If ye will not receive the three former Testimonies which are most proper and efficacious to work Faith in your hearts but shut your eyes against Light sufficient to turn the darkness of Sodom and Gomorrah into day yet the Scriptures which ye receive and acknowledge bear such witness of me that if ye did search into them with humble hearts ye could not but be convinc'd of the Truth I preach unto you In them indeed ye think ye have eternal Life but while malice and pride thus blind your eyes ye deceive your selves and make them a killing Letter to your Souls Now let who will apply it the Argument runs thus Our Blessed Saviour having made use of the most powerful means to convince the Jews of their Infidelity and they yet persisting in their Blasphemies at last for their greater confusion made use of an argument from Scripture which they received Therefore Scripture is the sole Judge of Controversies about Religion How this follows I understand not when our Blessed Saviour in the present contest sends them not only to the written Word but uses it as the last and perhaps least evidence of his Divinity and Mission It clearly makes indeed for us Catholicks who as our Blessed Saviour brought St. Johns Testimony against his Advetsaries so do we likewise against the Protestants produce the Ancient Fathers Martyrs and Confessors of all Ages to witness for us in the present Controversies as also the voice of God from Heaven by many Miracles speaking in defence of the Truths which we profess They in this like to obdurate Jews despise these unanswerable evidences which are Motives sufficient to work on Infidels and will admit no Rule nor Judge but the Holy Scriptures to decide the quarrel Thinking as the Jews did to have Eternal Life in them but with that incredulous people likewise deceive themselves do observe the Light of Divine Truth by drawing as it were a vail of private and perverse Interpretations over their Eyes to their eternal Perdition I add moreover that had our Blessed Saviour only appealed to the Prophesies of the Old Testament concerning himself as sufficient to convince the Jews that he was the true Messias so that nothing else was necessary or requisite for the cleaâ—ing of that point yet I see not how this conclusion will follow therefore all necessary points of Faith are so fully and plainly deliver'd to writing in the New Testament under the Law of Grace that there 's no other Rule nor Judge to know and determine how many and what they are when controverted among Christians Yet this must follow or this Text doth them no good for the end they use it as most certainly it does not Which answer likewise takes away all strength from that place in the Asts of the Apostles where the Bereans are commended for searching the Scriptures whether those things were so as St. Paul taught and they believed before they consulted the written Word upon the Authority of their Teacher confirming his Doctrine to be the Word of God by frequent Miracles Upon inquiry indeed it could not but be much satisfaction to them to find so much of the Light of the Gospels involv'd in the Shadows of the Law and the Predictions of the Prophets to be so exactly fulfill'd in the person of Christ and about these it was that St. Paul disputed out of Scripture and for which they search'd after their believing and and so comes not home to the question For that the whole Law of Christ or all Catholick Doctrines necessary to Salvation are plainly contain'd and may satisfactorily be prov'd from Moses and the Prophets I presume our Adversaries will not maintain and so their Argument from hence is at an end To that in the 20th of St. John I answer that the true sense and meaning of those words is this That St. John testifies to the World he hath written a Book of the Life and Death of our Blessed Saviour when the Miracles wrought by him and therein deliver'd did sufficiently evidence him to be the Son of God and the true Messias according to his Doctrine without belief in whose Name they could not be saved And not that all necessary points of Faith were so deliver'd in this Gospel as to be intended by him for a compleat Rule of Belief and Judge of all Controversies in Fundamentalls to the Christian World Neither can any rational man except blinded with Passion or bribed with Interest but perceive this latter Exposition to be forced and the other natural To believe in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of the World is a fundamental of fundamentals without which Salvation is not to be had But to believe this only is not sufficient nor can be the scope of this Text when 't is certain many necessary points of Christian belief are not contain'd in this Evangelist Who as 't is usual with other Sacred Pen-men of Gods Word ascribes the vertue of that effect to some principal or special causes though but partial which proceeds also from other by a necessary concatenation or connexion to make up the whole and adequate cause of such a product We are said in Scripture to be saved by Hope Rom. 8 24 is it therefore of it self sufficient for
can give no just cause to her Children to separate from her communion except they will say Christ hath not left his Church sufficient means to maintain Unity Besides the Fathers tell them that 't is impossible there should be just cause for any to separate from the Communion of the Catholick Church St. Iraeneus is very plain It is impossible to receive such an injury or provocation from the L. adver haere Governours of the Church as to make a separation excuseable And St. Austin is as positive It is impossible there should be any just cause to make a separation from the Communion of all Nations And therefore Antiquity Epist 48. judg'd a separation from the body of the Church how specious soever were the pretences of the dividers to be a sufficient evidence to prove such formal Schismaticks by the very matter of fact without any other argument I object to you the crime of Schism says the same Holy Father to the Donatists which St Aust cont Petilian you will deny and I will presently prove because you do not communicate with all Nations Upon which grounds if the Ancient Fathers were now living they must of necessity condemn Protestants as well as Arrians or Donatists in their days And thus being condemn'd both by Scripture and Antiquity for Schismaticks I know not what or who can justify their Separation or the continuers and maintainers of it It is not the Votes of a Parliament whom Christ never made Church Governours nor Judges in Controversies in points of Faith 't is not the Acts of a National Synod held by a few Schismatical Bishops when such Councils even of Catholick Bishops may and have erred 'T is not the consent of two Vniversities either for fear or flattery or self-interest renouncing the Papal Authority in England and acknowledging the King Supreme Head of the Church in his Dominions 't is not any or all of these can bear them out and make them innocent Yea these consequent Acts make their Schism far more inexcusable For what in the beginning the height of passion might somewhat extenuate by this solemn deliberation became more voluntary and so aggravated the former malignity However notwithstanding this undeniable prevarication they have patch'd up some Fig-leaves together to cover the nakedness of their Schism and that they are no better I shall endeavour to make appear in the following Sections SECT III. Wherein the Protestants plea that they did not separate from the Church but were forcibly cast out from her Communion and therefore the Schism which is a voluntary recession from the Church not imputable to them is answered SEeing it cannot be denyed but that the first Reformers were bred in the bowels of the Roman Church communicating with her before this unhappy rupture to wipe off from them the odious crime of Schism they lay the fault upon the Catholick Church for casting them out by force from the Communion whereas Schism is a voluntary recession from the Church and theirs was not they not separating themselves but being separated In answer to which I say first that never were any Hereticks or Schismaticks even whom they acknowledge for such in any Age cast out from among the Faithful by Sentence of Excommunication for their contumacy but they might with as much show of reason use the same plea for their justification Secondly how can they impute their separation to the Church when after her utmost endeavours to maintain unity they would by no means be perswaded that it was lawful to communicate with her in Doctrine and Worship herein preferring their own private opinions before the judgment of the whole Christian world But thirdly how frivolous this plea is will most manifestly appear if they will but consider what was acted by themselves wholly antecedent to the censure of the Church That the Church hath just Power and Authority to Excommunicate such of her Subjects who deserve it is confess'd on all sides Yea that she 's obliged to cut off corrupted and incorrigible Members from the body of Christianity lest others be infected with their errours is plain to common sense And that it was the practice of the Church in all Ages to injoyn the Faithful to abstain from Communion with those who pertinaciously maintain'd a different Faith from her no man can doubt who knows any thing in Church-history Now when they had voluntarily receded from the Doctrine and Government of their Catholick Mother or if any compulsion appear'd in the business it was not on the Churches part but from their new Spiritual Head the King when they had demolish'd Monasteries ceiz'd on their Revenues Persecuted the most Conscientious of the Clergy Confiscated the Estates of contradictors and put to death some most eminent for Learning and Piety because they would not prostitute their Faith and Conscience to the Kings assumed Authority in Church Affairs When they had abolish'd the publick Worship of the Church as Superstitious and Idolatrous and cast out most of the Sacraments as prophane and unholy things when they had moulded a Religion according to the policy of State and Interests of the great ones who had added to themselves by taking from the Church When they had forsaken the only certain Rule of Faith and made way for innumerable Sects and Subdivisions which they have found too true by sad experience God lashing them with their own rod that they may see their sin in the glass of their punishment And lastly when to fill up the measure of their sins they remained unrelenting and obstinate in their manifold disorders and miss-called Reformations in the Churches Faith and Discipline when they had done and acted this in a most violent and head-strong manner to the wonder and pity of the understanding World and all possible means being us'd to reduce them to the Catholick Unity from which they were fallen but all in vain The Church then and not Anno 10. Eliz. Reg. 'till then by Authority Christ proceeding according to her duty and constant practice in like cases to the just Sentence of Excommunication They cry out not guilty they are innocent and have done nothing amiss the Schism is not to be laid to their charge who made no voluntary recession from the Church But to the Church who against their wills did cast them out Just as if a Malefactor who hath made himself incapable of Mercy by his unpardonable offences should accuse the Judge as guilty of his death because he pronounces on him the Sentence of Condemnation Is not this a pretty plea to excuse themselves from Schism So bad a cause stands in need of better Arguments to maintain it self SECT IV. Wherein is shew'd the emptiness of their Plea that they did not separate from the Universal but only from the particular Church of Rome BUt seeing there is a palpable Schism in the Church by their new erected Ecclesiastical Government and they cannot make the World believe that the Church of Rome