measures namely leave to determine their particular actions according to the general Rule of Holy Scriptures and sometimes of Prudence where other Laws are not given to determine their Liberty And indeed this Article of the sufficiency of the Scriptures and the use of them as a Rule is the very dividing point at which those of the Separation on either hand leave our Church and her Moderation at once For those who are ready on one hand to receive all Traditions which the Church of Rome can offer with affection and reverence equal to the written word of God so that as it is in our Homily c Homily of good works 3 d. Part. The Laws of Rome as they said were to be received of all men as the four Evangelists No Moderation can contain the extravagancies such belief leads them to On the other hand to accept of no appointment for outward order and government in the Church or Kingdom but what is set out in the express word of God for the direction of every particular action under pretence of defending Christian Liberty is verily so gross and unreasonable a Pharisaical confining it that this principle is the first Sanctuary of ignorance and disobedience in most of our Separatists who under an immoderate pretence to Religion and the honour of Scriptures really offer great abuse and disservice to both as it is a real abuse to a person though of honour to give him Titles which do not belong to him so it is an occasion to Atheists and prophane persons captiously to detract from the true perfection of Holy Writings when they find attributed to them such Titles as are false and imaginary We must take heed saith the judicious Hooker d Eccles Pol. l. 3. §. 8. lest in attributing to Scripture more than it can have the incredibility of that do cause even those things which it hath most abundantly to be less reverently esteemed On this foundation of our Churches Moderation in what she judgeth concerning the perfection of Holy Scripture both the Protestant and the Christian Religion is established For as Bishop Sanderson saith e Pref. to his Sermons The main Article of the Protestant Religion is The Holy Scriptures are a perfect Rule of Faith and manners so the very mystery of Puritanism is That no man may with a safe Conscience do any thing for which there may not be produced either command or example in Scripture § 3. We are to note the Moderation of the Church in her judgment of the letter and sense of Holy Scripture and in the use of such consequences as are duly drawn from thence Whereas the Romanists 1. look on the letter of Holy Scripture but as so many dead and unsensed Characters f Richworth's Dialogues J. S. Sure-footing of variable and uncertain signification g Niâ— Cusâ—nus Card. Ep. 7. ad â—â—hem 2. They make the sense of Scripture entirely depend on the Authority of their Church h V. Concil Trid. Sess 4. Decret de usu S. Scr. 3. They presume the Church of Rome only can make authentick all the Books of Holy Scripture i Nullum Capitulum nullusque liber Canonicus habetur absque illius authoritate Greg. 7. Dict. 16. in Concil Rom. and by her sole Authority is to determine which are to be Canonical 4. They will not allow the clear consequences of Scripture to prove any matter of doctrine k V. Discourse upon a Conference Apr. 3. 1676. In these as in many other instances our Sectaries generally agree with the Romanists 1. They also make the Holy Scripture a dead Letter without their interpretation 2. In making the sense which they vouch to be the Word of God 3. Such Scriptures as seem to serve their turn they allow others they reject 4. The clear consequences from Holy Scriptures against them they cast by as only the results of carnal reason Between these two opposers of Holy Scripture at present there appears this difference instead of an external infallible Interpreter on one side the other sets up the witness of their own private spirit for an infallible interpreter also When time serves They that make the difference can compromise it Amidst these extremes observe we the Wisdom and Moderation of the Church of England 1. It gives all due honour to the Letter of Holy Writ referring her self and her Sons chiefly to the Originals l V. B. of Homilies passim Caeterùm in lectione D. Scripturarum si quae occurrerint ambigua vel obscura in V. Test earum interpretatio ex fonte Hebraicae veritatis petatur in N. autem Graeci codices consulantur Reform Leg. Eccles de fide Cathol c. 12. using all care in keeping the Letter of Holy Scripture and preserving the Originals and setting them forth correctly and translating them as faithfully as may be 2. The sense of Scripture our Church accounteth chiefly as Scripture viz. The Word of God therein The mind of God being thought by our Church to consist not in words but in sense For is the Kingdom of God words and syllables m Translators of the Bible Pres 3. The clear consequences in Scripture are in our Church accounted a good proof in matters of doubtful Doctrine Whatsoever is not read therein nor proved thereby is not to be required saith our sixth Article Wherefore Mr Chillingworth n Chillingworth 's Pref. § 28. did not without reason thus declare I profess sincerely I believe all those Books of Scripture which the Church of England accounts Canonical to be the infallible word of God I believe all things evidently contained in them or even probably deducible from them o Simpliciter necessaria Rex appellat quae vel expressè Verbum Dei praecipit vel ex verbo Dei necessaria Consequentiâ vetus Ecclesia elicuit Rex Jacobus ad Card. Perr § 4. In our Church no one Version nor more are made equal much less superiour to the original Nothing is declared authentick but what is judged truly and originally so Although the Church of Rome hath declared the vulgar Translation to be only the authentick Scripture p Conc. Trid. Sess 4. Decr. 2. according to which all points in Question are to be decided and though the same in our Church hath been convinced by sundry learned men of some imperfections yet wherein it is most faithfully performed the innovations of Popery even from thence may be sufficiently manifested Other ancient Versions and Translations which have been of Holy Scripture our Church is so far from rejecting or undervaluing that it hath made great use of them and doth constantly acknowledge their usefulness and doth esteem them according to their antiquity and the approbation they have had in the Church of God Yea in the worst of our late times when the true Church of England was most of all accused of Popery and opposition to the Scriptures then were sundry learned and religious Sons of the Church diligently
of means to the neglect of another Because there are so many Arguments which may sufficiently satisfy any of their Authority because some are convinced by some others by others We are encouraged in our Church to receive the Holy Scriptures as the word of God both from inward and outward motives both of divine and moral consideration But for our greater certainty and safety in a matter of so great concern our Church doth not lay the weight of so great a cause on slight or uncertain Foundations as the infallibility of the Church much less demonstration from the evidence of oral tradition or the testimony only of the Divine Spirit held by some so absolutely necessary to convince every one of the Divine Authority of Scriptures that without such an inward testimony there can be no kind of certainty whatsoever The Moderation of our Church excellently governs her judgment herein neither refusing the just Authority of Gods true Church nor denying any necessary influence of the Holy Spirit of God according to which Moderation guiding our selves we shall have occasion elsewhere to justify the real certainty of our Faith ch 6. § 8. In convincing also those of the Authority of Holy Scripture who do deny the same the wisdom and temper of our Church prudently hath omitted a twofold medium as improper to confute obstinate Adversaries The one is of proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures by Scriptures themselves which though it be a sufficient proof among them who have received them as divine yet to others it can never stop the objection from returning infinitely if the objector please to be dissatisfied The other method is alledging the Testimony of the Spirit for though the Church of God hath the Holy Spirit yet those that dispute this point may not have the Spirit neither can any ones saying so be a proper Argument to convince another Thirdly Our Church avoids the Circle of proving the Scripture by the Church and the Church by the Scriptures again because our Church doth first acknowledge the Holy Scriptures as superiour to it self o Article 6. 20. as one of the first principles of its Doctrine and against those who deny that principle of the Holy Scriptures veracity it doth dispute no otherwise than by reasons convincing the certainty of Tradition But as Archbishop Laud in his Preface against Fisher takes notice While one Faction cries up the Church above the Scripture and the other the Scripture to the neglect of the Church According to Christs Institution the Scripture where it is plain should guide the Church and the Church where there is doubt should expound the Scripture § 9. Whereas many run into very immoderate extravagancies concerning the interpretation of Holy Scripture our Church contains it self within very wise and just proportions in its judgment and practice concerning this matter 1. Concerning Holy Scripture it doth own what the Ancient Fathers p S. Chrys Hom. 3. in â— Thess S. Aug. in Ps 8. V. Second Part of the Homily of the knowledge of H. Scrip. have testified That what is absolutely necessary unto Salvation of all either for knowledge or practice is so fair and intelligible and plain to be understood of any that there needs no interpreter of the meaning of the sense to them who understand the words 2. For the understanding other places in Holy Scripture which are more obscure our Church doth suppose and acknowledge plentiful means allowed of God both to the Church and by and in the Church to all particular persons as much as is necessary that such places be understood For those which are mysterious and intricate are for the curious and wise to enquire into They are not the repositories of Salvation but instances of labour and occasions of humility and arguments of mutual forbearance and an endearment of reverence and adoration as the Archbishop of Spalato and our Bishop Taylor use to speak Such means for the interpretation of Scripture are the ordinary assistances of the Holy Spirit of God The instructions of the Church the use of our Reason especially in comparing one Scripture with another which excellent means of finding out the sense of Holy Writ our Church her self doth often use and recommends the same to those of her Communion according to the ancient practice of the Church Yet if we speak properly we do not call the Scripture the interpreter of it self nor properly a Judge of matter of Faith q S. Scripturam Judicem qui sentiunt rectè sentiunt sed siguratè â—oquuntur Gro. de Impâ—rio sum pot Though it be the Rule according to which the judgment which is of Doctrines is made and in Analogy with which Interpretations of Scripture also are to be govern'd But because of the danger of the vulgars being misled our Church doth send them frequently to their Pastors and Ministers for publick instruction and private advice and counsel and inferiour Ministers it refers to their Bishop r Exhortation to the Holy Communion Canon 53. The same method our Church directs for resolution of doubts which may arise referring to the Liturgy Preface concerning the Service of the Church Forasmuch as nothing can be so plainly set forth but doubts may arise in the use and practice of the same to appease all such diversity if any arise and for the resolution of all doubts concerning the manner how to understand do and execute the things contained in this Book the parties that so doubt shall alway resort to the Bishop of the Diocess who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting and appeasing of the same And if the Bishop be in doubt he may send for the resolution thereof to the Archbishop 3. Our Church doth not attribute more or less authority to the means of interpreting Scripture or any part thereof than God hath given it for that purpose and here the Moderation of the Church might be illustrated from the manifold extravagancies others have run into in this matter on all sides 1. Some make the Holy Spirit of God the only immediate interpreter of Scripture unto all persons whatsoever that at any time understand any thing thereof Others run into another extreme of slighting the illumination and assistance of the Holy Spirit 2. Some assert the Church of Rome only to have an infallible and absolute Authority herein others deny both the Church Universal and all parts thereof all authority to teach those under her Discipline or interpret any Scripture to them 3. Some have maintained that the publick Magistrate is the only interpreter of Scripture others deny him any kind of authority over or about the Church 4. There are those who make humane reason the only interpreter of Scripture Others reject all use of reason in divine matters Among these and many more extravagancies of men The Moderation of our Church keeps on one hand from the Tyranny of those who make such Authorities the Rule of interpreting Scripture which
Religion than the Holy and Divine inspired Scriptures with Melancthon and the Church of England I wish all Doctrines of Faith were brought to us derived from the Fountain of Scripture by the Channels of Antiquity otherwise what end will there be of innovation And thus our King James of Happy Memory did declare in the words of St Austin That what could be proved the Church held and observed from its first beginning to those Times That to reject He did not doubt to pronounce to be an insolent piece of madness So that the counsel and judgment of the Church of England seems to be moderated according to the Sentence of St Hierom in his Epistle to Minerva My purpose is to read the Ancients to prove all to hold fast what is good and never to depart from the Faith of the Catholick Church and conformably King Charles I. h His Majesties fifth Paper to Mr. Henders My Conclusion is That albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the unanimous consent of the Fathers and the universal practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most authentical Interpreters of Gods word For who can be presumed to understand the Doctrine and practice of the Christian Religion better than those who lived in the first and purest times Wherefore i Of Heresy §. 14. Dr Hammond reckons it among the piè Credibilia that a truly general Council cannot erre § 3. And because the Catholick Church is and hath been so much divided and the Monuments of the ancient Church Universally accepted do contain but a few determinations Therefore the Church of England moderately remits her Sons to the first four general Councils as in the 28th year of K. Henry 8. k Fullers Eccl. Hist ad An. 1536. it was Decreed That all ought and must utterly refuse and condemn all those opinions contrary to the said Articles contained in the three Creeds contained in the four Holy Councils that is to say in the Council of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and all other since that time in any point consonant to the same So in the Institution of a Christian Man set forth 1537. and approved by the Convocation 1543. 't is there said A true Christian man ought and must condemn all those opinions contrary to the twelve Articles of the Creed which were of a long time past condemned in the four Holy Councils that is to say c. Isaac Casaubon also in the name of King James to Cardinal Perron saith l Primo R. Eliz. c. 1 The King and the Church of England do admit the four first Oecumenical Councils and following the judgment of the Church the Law of the Kingdom doth declare m Dicimus Ecclesiam Britannicam adeò venerari Concilia generalia ut speciali statuto caverit nè quisquam spirituali jurisdictione praeditus praesumat censuras suas Ecclesiasticas aliter distringere vel administrare aut quicquam Haereticum pronunciare quod non à scripturis Canonicis quatuor Conciliis generalibus aut alio quocunque Concilio pro tali judicatum fuerit J. B. de antiq libertate Eccl. Brit. Thes 4. That none however Commission'd shall in any wise have authority or power to order or determine or adjudge any matter or cause to be Heresy but only such as heretofore have been determin'd ordered or adjudged to be Heresy by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four general Councils or any of them or by any other general Council wherein the same was declared Heresy by the express and plain words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such as hereafter shall be ordered judged or determined to be Heresy by the Court of Parliament of this Realm with the Clergy in their Convocation Thus the authority of the four first general Councils are placed by our Church in the superiour order of Tradition forasmuch as Spalatensis according to St Austin n A plenariis Conciliis tradita Quarum est in Ecclesiâ salubrâ—â—ima authoritas S. Aug. Ep. 118. speaks of such Councils they have obtained a wholsom authority because from the Apostolick Declarations faithfully received they have explained the Holy Scriptures and beside because they have been approved by the Universal Church which with great reason contradicts what Curcellaeus p Curcell Rel. Christianae Instit l. 1. c. 15. hath delivered to depreciate the honour even of the first four Oecumenical Councils So that Mr Cressy in Answer to Dr Pierce might very well cite the Protestant acknowledgments of the Authority of Councils as that of Ridley Acts and Mon. p. 1288. Councils indeed represent the Vniversal Church and being so gathered together in the name of Christ they have the promise of the gift and guiding of the Spirit into all truth To the same purpose are named Bishop Bilson Hooker Potter c. Instead of all these he might have owned if he had pleased the judgment of our Church it self giving all due honour to general and Provincial Councils whose wholsome Decrees she hath accepted and imitated Yea our Church maintains the right of Provincial Synods taken away by the See of Rome q Tertullianus veneratur Provinciale Concilium quasi esset Oecumenicam assentiente sc universali vel iis decernentibus secundùm universale quomodo fit repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani virtualiter tota Ecclesia Neither is this honour diminisht by the further Moderation which our Church hath shown in not taking those for Councils or general Councils which are not such as neither the Council of Florence nor Lateran nor of Trent and we know that our Articles though they are very moderately framed are many of them directly oppos'd to those of Trent being in those points of Doctrine wherein the Church of Rome hath departed from the Catholick Church and made her Doctrines of design more than truth the unjust conditions of Communion A truly free and general Council we look upon as the best expedient on Earth for composing the differences of the Christian World if it might be had but we cannot endure to be abused by meer names of Titular Patriarchs but real Servants and Pensioners of the Popes with Combinations of interested parties instead of general Councils r Dr. Stillingfleet's first Part of an Answer c. 284. When Pope Paul III. call'd a Council then to be held at Mantua and King Henry VIII refusing thither to send He defended his Protestation in a Letter to the Emperour and other Christian Princes 1538. In which the King declares t Acts and Monuments p. 11â—2 Truly as our Forefathers invented nothing more holy than general Councils used as they ought to be so there is almost nothing that may do more hurt to the Christian Faith and Religion than general Councils if they be abused to lucre to gains to the establishment of errors And verily we suppose that it ought not to be called a General
principal motives why we rejected the Papacy was the constant Tradition of the Vniversal Church § 5. Concerning our Churches own Testimony Her Modesty and Moderation hath been always exemplary so far from assuming the Title of Catholick to her self only as St Austin tells us the Arians did and since them the Romanists c S. Aug. Ep. 48. ad Vincen. That she hath counted it a sufficient honour to be an humble and nevertheless for that eminent Member of the Universal Church and with her a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and though she vindicates to her self an authority to interpret the Holy Scripture within the bounds of her own Discipline for the edification of her own Family in Truth and Love and also asserts to her self an Authority in Controversies of Faith Article 20. namely for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing consent touching true Religion yet I cannot well omit to observe the wise modesty of our Church in her asserting her own authority in Controversies of Faith which expression I may have leave to illustrate from such another instance of Wisdom and Moderation in the recognition required to be made of the Kings Supremacy in our subscription according to the 36. Canon and in our Prayers wherein we acknowledge Him Supreme Governour of this Realm in all Causes and over all Persons It is not said over all Causes as over all persons forasmuch as in some Causes Christian Kings do not deny some spiritual power of Gods Church distinct from its temporal Authority which yet refers to the King as their Supreme Keeper Moderator and Governour Even so the Church declares her Authority in Controversies of Faith not that the Church of England or any other Church no not the Universal Church hath power to make any thing which is in controversy matter of Faith which God hath not so made The Church owns that she hath no power against the truth but for the truth Neither may it expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Article 20. But she hath power to declare her own sense in the Controversy and that I may express my own meaning in better words than my own d Pref. of Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Eccl. Records c. To determine which part shall be received and profest for truth by her own Members and that too under Ecclesiastical penalty and censure which they accordingly are bound to submit to not as an infallible verity but as a probable truth and rest in her determination till it be made plain by as great authority that this her determination is an error or if they shall think it so by the weight of such reasons as are privately suggested to them yet are they still obliged to silence and peace where the decision of a particular Church is not against the Doctrine of the Vniversal Not to profess in this case against the Churches determination because the professing of such a controverted truth is not necessary but the preservation of the peace and unity of the Church is is not to assert infallibility in the Church but authority Wherefore Mr Chilingworth e Chilingw Pres §. 28. had very just reason to declare Whatsoever hath been held necessary to salvation either by the Catholick Church of all Ages or by the consent of Fathers measured by Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule or is held necessary either by the Catholick Church of this Age or by the consent of Protestants or even by the Church of England That against the Socinians and all others whatsoever I do verily believe and embrace Whereas the Pope and Church of Rome do challenge to themselves an authority supreme over all Causes and Persons by their Infallibility by which they exclude all others from their peace and themselves from emendation Neither are their followers much in the way thereunto by what Card. Bellarmine doth assert of this supreme Authority If the Pope saith he f C. Bellarm de Pontif. Ro. l. 4. c. 5. should err in commanding any Vices or forbidding any Vertues The Church is bound to believe those Vices are good and those Vertues are evil unless it would sin against Conscience g In bono sensu dedit Christus Petro potestatem saciendi de peccato non peccatum de non peccato peccatum c. Bell. c. 31. in Barklaium However in his Recognitions h Locuti sumus de actibus dubiis viâ—tâ—tum aut vitiorum Recogn operum c. B. p. 19. he minceth the matter in a distinction of doubtful and manifest Vices and Vertues O Blessed Guides of Souls How did the Illustrious Cardinal miss being Canoniz'd for that glorious Sentence and to help him for a Miracle to qualify him for an Apotheosis why did not some cry out of it So many words so many Miracles Thus many of the Romanists make the Pope such a Monarch in the Church as Mr Hobbs doth his Prince in the State i Hobbesius de Cive c. 7. art 26. c. 12. art 1. The interpretation of Holy Scripture the right of determining all Controversies to fix the rules of good and evil just and unjust honest and dishonest doth depend on his authority in the power of whom is the chief Government But this Doctrine is as bad Philosophy as that of the Cardinals is Divinity Among these excesses let us not forget the Moderation of our Church which holds she may revise what hath slipt from her wherefore in her 19. Article she declares As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred a charge agreeable to the Moderation of our Church considering what might have been further said which by the same proportions of reason she supposeth true of her self and of all others viz. That they are fallible and may erre § 6. Of the use of Reason with Reference to divine matters there may be elsewhere occasions in this Treatise to discourse * Ch. 6. §. 9 10. Yet here it is to be observed our Church doth not make its own reason a rule of Faith nor the sole Interpreter of Scripture much less the reason of private men yet because mankind hath no reasonable expectation of Miracles especially when ordinary means are sufficient and abounding and because the Holy Spirit of God in the testimony of his Church hath all along certainly conveyed to us the sense of many places beside That what is most needful to be heeded is very plain our Church doth allow and suppose rational mens perceiveing the sense of Scripture by the due use of their understanding which practice must also necessarily engage such to a high regard of what was anciently received in the Catholick Church For as nothing is held among us more agreeable to reason than our Religion so in expounding our Religion and in interpreting Scripture our Church makes use of the best and the truest reasons as is manifest in what she declares and enjoins and
are innumerable arguments which convince us of the certainty of the Divine Testimony in the matters we have received yet such is the Moderation of our Church she doth not require every one in her Communion necessarily to know and receive all the reasons of certainty which are and may be given nor yet to rely on one to the neglect of another but leaves us to be satisfied according to the means and opportunities which we have abundantly offered unto us justly supposing there are so many reasons perswading the truth of what we believe that some are convinced by some others by others as the Providence of God disposeth things 3. Our Church no where makes infallible certainty of assent a necessary condition of Faith it being sufficient to make our Faith certain if our Rule be infallible and that applyed with moral evidence that is such an evidence as we can have of things and actions past as is sufficient to guide and govern our manners and behaviour Some of late have contended with very ill success that an infallible certainty of assent is necessarily wrought by demonstration and what they love to call scientific Evidence in every Believer which doctrine of J. S. is condemned by his Adversaries even of Rome p Animadv P. Talboti Arch. Dubl in Prop. 2. p. 54. as the pith of Manicheism because it lays this burden on the Church or an Oecumenical Council evidently to demonstrate its own infallibility If destroying the first foundation of the Roman infallibility were all we might dispense with that inconvenience as it renders their motives of credibility insufficient which before the doctrine of infallibility is received used to be the only way they had to recommend the Church of Rome to the approbation of Proselytes but to affirm that all certainty of Christian Faith is generally wrought by such demonstration in case that doctrine proves false the consequence is If Christian Faith have no other certainty Christianity it self is left uncertain in its very foundations Others there are who deliver that an infallible certainty of assent wrought only by the immediate extraordinary operation of the Spirit of God is necessarily in every true Believer Now though our Church doth as much as any can do own the necessity of Gods Grace and holy Spirit to prevent assist and follow us especially in what concerns divine matters yet our Church is not so bold with the Holy Spirit of God to affirm that such an inward testimony of the Divine Spirit working together in our Spirits an infallible assent is so necessary to assure us of the certainty of Faith and of the authority of Holy Scriptures and of the truth of other Doctrines in question as without which we could have no such belief as is required to Salvation Which precarious presumption tends to render useless all those sufficient evidences we have of Divine truth by the gracious means which God hath appointed ordinary in his Church and whereas the assertors of this extraordinary spirit exclude all other means of real certainty as insufficient such a Doctrine being false must needs tend also to overthrow all Christian Religion Such is the sad consequence of the Doctrines both of Dr I. O. and Mr I. S. in making though on differing grounds an infallible assent necessary to a true belief They agree together also in the injury they do Christian Religion by traducing our Faith as a probable fallible humane natural Faith which are the very words they q V. Dr I. O. Reason of Faith p. 72. Mr I. S. Faith Vindicated both unite in to expose our belief to contempt which is grounded on such evidences as God hath abundantly afforded us to assure us of the truth of his Divine Testimony Which evidences especially in matters of Faith necessary to Salvation since they are so plain and certain Our Church hath always held needless such an infallible guide as the Romanists would impose upon us And for the same reasons that we do not expect any new Revelations nor any ostentation of new miracles necessary to a true Church or true Faith they being superseded by the ordinary means of Faith which are sufficient for the same reasons we cannot presume to expect much less to make necessary to every true belief such extraordinary illapses of the Divine Spirit which makes those who only think they have it think themselves only infallible And thus we may discern how many are led to Popery by the way of Enthusiasm For it is usual for those into whose head Enthusiasm is flown to reel from one extream to another 4. To preserve us from these uncertainties among the very many reasons which we have from rational and moral evidence whereby the truth of the Divine Testimony is confirmed to us abundantly Our Church owns no one greater since the miraculous gifts than the testimony of Gods Church now and in all Ages since Christ and his Apostles time because of the sundry Evidences also which confirm to us the truth of the Churches testimony All which amount to more than high probability for as r â— Lomini Hiâ—l Consul haeres Blacklo P. 2. c. 4. §. 5. Lominus tells J. S. Probability on one side doth not exclude probability also on the opposite side but the reason of moral evidence and certainty doth exclude any probability on the contrary part and that so manifestly that only grievous ignorance and pertinacy can incline a man thereunto § 9. As the Moderation of our Church allows us to be reasonably satisfied of the certainty of our Faith much more are other doctrines so propounded to those of our Communion as not to render useless their own reasons and judgments Notwithstanding our Church doth sufficiently vindicate her own just power and the authority of what she testifies and determines Article 20. 34. c. and by her Canons requires a just submission All care being also taken by the Church to prevent error and dissentions and wresting the Scriptures Canon 34. 49. 139. Yet all is performed among us with a most excellent and golden mean And in that nothing in our Church is determin'd contrary to truth nor the judgment of the Catholick Church nor right reason the Church of England can the better allow her Sons their right to search examine and discern what they must approve Which Bishop Davenant and Bishop Bramhall and some others understand by their judgment of discretion though the word sounds not so pleasing to some Religious Ears because it seems by the use of the phrase in English to incline private persons to a power of refusing what the Church rightly determines which is not to be allowed For as the suffrage of our Church hath been constantly unanimous with that of the Apostle We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth much more ought private persons to be bounded thereby if the Apostles and the Church are The Moderation of the Church will appear the more remarkable if we
of the Holy Scripture our Church rather doth take for granted than prove too laboriously or uncertainly § 9. All immoderate extravagancies concerning interpretation of Holy Scripture avoided by our Church § 1. WHereas Moderation hath its name and being from the equal measures observed by it the first instance of the Moderation of our Church is most properly to be taken from the right rule and measure in Religion which this Church of ours constantly receives and holds close to by which she is safely preserved from all undue extremes having to her self the same rule and measure of her Moderation which the universal Church of Christ in all Ages hath had such a rule as is beyond all exception and is of undeniable Authority namely the Holy Scriptures which are the same right and just measure by which she measures out to others and desires to be measured by her self in whatever she receives and delivers out as matter of Faith and required practice in the necessary parts of Religion and the worship of God Whereas next to the extreme of them who have no Religion nor no Rule the vanity and extravagance of those is very notorious who set up themselves to be their own Rule which is done in the pretences of infallibility on one hand and enthusiasm on the other between that Rock and this Gulf the Moderation of our Church doth safely conduct its own judgment and practice and all that follow her In the Sixth Article of Religion see how our Church doth own the perfection of Holy Scripture as a Rule Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation and the reason why the Church of England doth require her self to be acknowledged of her own a Canon 3. 1603. as a true and Apostolical Church is because she teacheth and maintains the Doctrine of the Apostles and in the fourth Canon the Church censures all Impugners of the worship of God and whosoever shall affirm her Form containeth any thing in it repugnant to the Scriptures In the 36. Canon Article 2. All who are to subscribe are willingly and ex animo to affirm That the Book of Common-Prayer and of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God and Article 3. That he acknowledgeth all and every of the 39. Articles to be agreeable to the word of God In the 19th Article of Religion The visible Church of Christ is defined a Congregation of faithful men in the which the pure word of God is Preached and the Sacraments be duly administred according to Christs Ordinance And in the ordering of Bishops and Priests it is asked Be you perswaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrine required of necessity for eternal Salvation through Faith in Jesu Christ And are you determined with the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your Charge and to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal Salvation but that you shall be perswaded may be concluded and proved by the Scriptures The Answer is I am so perswaded and have so determined by Gods grace In the 20th Article of Religion it is declared It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing contrary to Gods word written neither to expound one place that it be repugnant to another From all which passages and many more which might be repeated out of the Monuments of our Church it is evident that as our Church is formed in her whole Constitution with an uniform respect to this Rule and hath framed her Articles Liturgy Homilies and Orders thereby so it doth require her self to be acknowledged in those but in subordination to this Rule and measure as before and superiour to it self which doth manifest the exceptions of many of the Separation to be very unreasonable who seem to give such deference to the Holy Scriptures and at the same time renounce Communion with the Church of England which doth so religiously hold to the Sacred Scriptures of which our Church in union with the whole Church of God is a sure Keeper a faithful Witness a zealous Defender and a most sober Interpreter § 2. The Moderation of the Church of England further appears in avoiding the extremes of those who take away from the true perfection of Scripture and of others who seem officiously to add thereunto Of the first sort of those who detract from the true perfection of Scripture are they who frame an additional Canon of their own as the Church of Rome doth who declares that the Apocryphal Writings and Traditions of men are nothing inferiour nor less Canonical than the Sovereign dictates of God as well for the Confirmation of doctrinal points pertaining to Faith as for ordering of Life and Manners and that both the one and the other ought to be embraced with the same affection of Piety and received with the like religious Reverence b Concil Trid. Sess 4. Decr. 1. not making any difference between them Thus as it is in the second part of the Homily of good works Christ reproved the Laws and Traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees because they were set up so high as though they had been equal with Gods Laws and above them They worship Me in vain that teach for Doctrines the Commandments of men For you leave the Commandments of God to keep your own Traditions Yet He meant not thereby to overthrow Mens Commandments for He Himself was obedient to the Princes and their Laws made for good order On the other extreme They of the Separation among us are busy to attribute to the Holy Scriptures such a perfection as God never intended them namely particularly to determine of all actions of Mankind and every matter of order and decency in Religion Between these two see by how even a thred our Church divides the controversy first asserting the real perfection of Scriptures as a Rule to be as much as need to be to be as great a perfection as God hath given it in order to its end namely to guide our belief and practice in things needful to Salvation Article 20. Besides the same namely Gods word written ought not the Church to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation and in the same Article It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing contrary to Gods word written Yet the Article begins thus The Church hath power to Decree Rites and Ceremonies and hath Authority in controversies of Faith Wherein according to an accurate Moderation the Church doth behave itself in attributing to the Holy Scriptures their just and full perfection On the other hand our Church doth thankfully accept of that Christian Liberty which God hath left her and indeed which he hath given all particular Christians according to their
Christ which of themselves are sufficient motives to Religion and make the same proceed from the most free and most suitable and noble principle that can be of affection and thankfulness to God § 13. Because an Oath is an act of Divine Worship in which we solemnly invoke God as a witness to what we swear It is but proper here to take notice of the Moderation of our Church in what relates to Oaths 1. Our Church doth in the 39. Article of Religion excellently declare and in the Homily against perjury at large prove The lawfulness and benefits of swearing for causes necessary and honest and for the ending of controversy and sets forth also the sore danger of perjury 2. Our Church doth at large testify against customary and unnecessary Swearing and the mentioned Homily declares the danger and vanity thereof Both these purposes of the Homily are briefly contained in the 39th Article Thus As we confess vain and rash Swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle So we judge That Christian Religion doth not prohibite but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a cause of Faith and Charity so it be done according to the Prophets teaching in Justice Judgment and Truth In a few lines also of the Homily our Church seems fully to determine the whole Controversy which our Sectaries have rais'd concerning Swearing When Christ so earnestly forbad Swearing it may not be understood as though he did forbid all manner of Oaths but he forbiddeth all vain Swearing and forswearing both by God and by his Creatures as the common use of Swearing in buying and selling and in daily Communication to the intent every Christian mans word should be as well regarded in such matters as if he confirm'd his Communication with an Oath for the truth is as Theophylact writeth no man is less trusted than he that useth much to swear Beside the practice of the Gentiles to swear by Creatures the Jews had fallen into that Custom which gave our Saviour and St James occasion to forbid such S. Mat. 5. 34. S. James 5. 12. kind of Swearing which also was in use among the Manichees as St Augustine notes x Jurabant saepissimè nulloque mentis scrupulo per Creaturas c. Faust 22. Seeing then all Swearing by the Creatures is counted by the Homily Vain-Swearing It can be deemed no other to swear by the y V. Catechism Trident Blessed Virgin or by Saints or their reliques since they have no delegated power to know our hearts or to punish Perjury At the solemn Inauguration of the Emperour he saith I swear unto God and S. Peter c. When any enter into a Monastery they say I vow unto God and to the Blessed Virgin and to S. Dominic or some other their particular Saint 3. Concerning the matter and obligation of lawful and unlawful Oaths we may hear our Church excellently advising and declaring Therefore whosoever maketh any promise binding himself thereunto by an Oath Let him foresee that the thing he promiseth be good and honest and not against the Commandment of God and that it be in his own power to perform it justly and such promises must men keep evermore assuredly But if a man at any time shall either of ignorance or of malice promise and swear to do any thing which is either against the Law of Almighty God or not in his power to perform let him take it for an unlawful Oath Of an unlawful Oath the same Homily determines in the Case of Herod That as he took a wicked Oath so he more wickedly performed the same These full and just determinations of the Church might be fitly commented on by what Bishop Sanderson hath writ of the obligation of Oaths especially in his third Prelection and may very justly also be applyed to the Case of the solemn League and Covenant which sufficiently justifies the abjuration of the Covenant as it is required in the Act of Uniformity 4. Our Church lays a great charge and weight on the words of the Prophet Jeremiah Ch. 4. V. 2. Thou shalt swear in Judgment Truth and Righteousness Whosoever sweareth let him be sure in his Conscience That his Oath have these three conditions z Homily against Perjury which also are mentioned in the 39th Article and largely insisted on in the Homily All which do sufficiently testify against the Equivocations and mental reservations which the Jesuits allow and defend which is a most notorious artifice of deceit a great profanation of the divine name and contrary to the nature and end of Oaths And that we may observe how rightly our Church judgeth of the Power of the Pope or of any other in rescinding and dispensing with lawful Oaths a Vi. Duo brevia Pontisicis Ro. 1. dat 1606. 2. dat 1607. contra juram Fidel. in R. Jac. Apologiâ yea dispensing with men aforehand to make unlawful Oaths and Vows as in Marriages within the degrees Levitical b Apol. of certain Proceedings in Courts Eccles p. 2. c. 2. p. 18. The sixth part of the Homily against wilful Rebellion speaking of the Bishops of Rome discharging the Subjects of the Kings of England of their Oath of Fidelity to their Soveraign Lord as particularly Innocent III. to King John calls it fitly A feigned discharging of their Oath and fealty and a vain cursing of the King Which practices of the Popes rely upon two Principles of the Church of Rome 1. That the Pope hath an absolute and Oecumenical Authority over the whole World and that all Oaths are to be taken with a reserve of his pleasure and that he hath the sole power to declare and dispense in what relates unto them 2. That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks which Doctrines are published in the Books of the Famous Romanists neither prohibited nor animadverted on c Nullo modo Fides servanda Haereticis etiam Juramento firmata Simanca In interpreting Oaths as our Church doth not encourage any loose sense that the taker by any evasion may collude the design of the Law so also our Church rejects such rigid interpretations which force the words to a severe sense but where a fair and easy construction may be made by the natural interpretation of the words which is agreeable to truth and justice and may secure the intention of Superiours such a construction our Church is ready to allow of and encourage d Vi. Q. Eliz Admon V. Article 37. 5. The general Oaths enjoined or defended in our Church are but few and those for great causes appointed and with great Moderation framed As 1. The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy The necessity and Moderation of which hath been largely expounded in the Apology of King James and others d See the Admonition of Q. Eliz 1559. of the Oath of Supremacy Nunc mitius ac moderatius substitutum est Sander de Schism Angl. p. 149. since which the
Orders in its own Constitution hath an excellent temper between an Ecclesiastical Monarchy which the Church of Rome asserts in making it self the Mother and Mistress of other Churches and its Bishop Supreme Monarch over all the Bishops and Churches and between such Democracy and Populacy as is held in the Independent and Presbyterian parity * Retiâ—emuâ— ex singulis regiminibus exquisitam temperaturam J. A. Comenius Moravus de ord Eccl. apud Bohemos In our Government by Bishops succeeding the Apostles which also was Aristocratical they having all a fulness of Order and Power among themselves ¶ Omnes Episcopi ejusdem meriti ejusdem sacerdotii S. Hier. ad Evagr. a succession of Pastours our Church doth not refuse because derived for a time in the same Chanel with the Roman Bishops After the same manner saith Bishop Jewel we are chosen invested confirmed admitted if they were deceived in any thing we succeeded in their Place not in their Error Of the real Moderation of our Episcopacy Mounsieur Amyrald may speak for us because of many he may more readily be heard The Bishops of the Amyraldi Irenic p. 196. Church of England because they neither acknowledg the Authority of the Roman Pontif nor do they assume to themselves any right or power over the Consciences of Men nor over the Truth of Christ and in all other things they most earnestly maintain the same Doctrine with us against the Errors of the Papists Cavendum ne Scyllae fugâ in Carybdi incidamus Neve rigor nimius Vatinianum in Episcopos odium eò imprudentes adigat ut veters Ecclesiae dicam scribanius Sam. Bochart Ep. 8. ad Episc Winton Anabaptists Socinians and others We think therefore in somethings they are to be born with if there be any thing in that Order which doth not altogether suit to our Humour § 4. As our Church doth not approve of the Roman Tonsures Rasures Vnctions in the imitation of the Jews so she hath cast out of its form of Ordination all those superstitious Rites used in the Church of Rome Neither hath any of her Consecrations * Instit of a Chri. Man 1537. any thing that is of it self Superstitious or Vngodly ¶ 39. Articles 36. Yet so moderate is our Church toward the Church of Rome That 1. It allows it to have not only the Essentials of a true Church but of Ordination also 2. Although it hath only the Ancient and Apostolical Rites of Imposition of Hands and Prayer and accepts of the form of Ordination used by our Lord as most suitable and best Nevertheless it doth not hold all those Ordinations void which have been made in some other form of Words 3. It imitates the Moderation of the whole Catholic Church in being against the Rebaptizing of any who have had the Essentials of Baptism And also against the Re-ordination of those who keep the Essentials of Ordination and of such Churches where Bishops cannot be had we use all Moderation of Judgment * Bishop Bramhal's Vindicat. p. 29 31. Yet where our Constitution requires Ordination by Bishops it is at liberty not to make use of their Ministry who peremptorily refuse the Ordination of our Bishops ¶ Non opus est Reâ—pub Eocive qui parere nescit M. Curius Valer. Max. l. 6. c. 3. Neque Ecclesia opus est iis qui spretis Episcopis suis c. V. Vindic. S. Eccl. Angl. c. 6. Or who would in a settled Church and Kingdom set up a Church Government in opposition to the Bishops who ordained them before § 5. Our Church doth endeavour to preserve to its Bishops Priests and Deacons all due Honour and regard sutable to their several Ministries and Orders Having the right of a Revenue which is for the most part a convenient provision for its Clergy above some others of the Reformation Yet not only below the Pompousness of the Roman Church but much inferiour in proportion to the Provision God made the Priests and Levites among the Jews As our Church observes an excellent Moderation in reference to things peculiarly devoted unto God equally abhorring Idols and Sacrilege And whatsoever is sanctified to the peculiar Service of God our Church Orders should be used in a sutable manner So in reference to Persons consecrated to the holy Service of God a worthy care is taken by the very constitution of our Government in Kingdom * 1 R. Eliz. c. 2. ¶ 8 R. Eliz. c. 1. and Church to secure their Office and Persons from such contempt as might render their Religious Performances more useless and unprofitable to the Church and might discourage the worthy industry of those who should devote themselves entirely to a Function so honourable in it self King Edward the 6th and Queen Elizabeth enjoyn'd that Whereas many indiscreet Q Eliz. Injunction §. 28. Persons do at this Day uncharitably contemn and abuse Priest and Ministers of the Church yet for as much as their Office and Function is appointed of God The King's Majesty willeth and chargeth all his loving Subjects that they use them charitably and reverently for their Office and Administration sake especially such as labour in setting forth God's holy Word And for the more remarkableness of the Moderation of our entire Constitution may be considered what Dr. Heylin makes out at large in his Treatise for undeceiving the People in point of Tithes 1657. Never was any Clergy maintained with less Charge to the Subject than the established Clergy of the Church of England No Man paying any thing of his own toward the Maintenance of his Parish-Minister but his Easter-Offering § 6. Because our Church asserts to its Ministry all just Effect See Art 33. It makes the power of the Keys not only Declarative and Doctrinal but Authoritative of which more in the next Section of this Chapter Yet our Churchmen do not boast as some of the Church of Rome do often of a Power Ascendant over the awful Presence of God and the glorified Body of Christ in Heaven as if they made him corporally and immediately present in the Eucharist upon their secret pronouncing of Hoc est enim Corpus meum * V. Missale Rom. Neither doth our Church of England ascribe to the power of Priests the bringing Spirits out of Purgatory in their Suffrages for the Dead Nor doth our Church hold any true Propitiatory Sacrifice for Dead or Living to be offered up in the Mass because that would derogate from the sufficiency of Christ's Priesthood Neither De Sacram ord can 1. doth it define its Priesthood by the action only of such a Sacrifice as doth the Council of Trent § 4. Our Church behaves it most moderately between the two extremes of those who slight all due Penance and of those who explain it differently from the true nature of it The Council of Trent declares it of necessity by Divine Right for every one of both Sexes once a Year
and establishing Truth and Peace with all freedom from prejudice and passion hath appeared throughout the whole frame of our Liturgy Articles and Homilies and Constitutions and Versions we have of Holy Scripture any who are sincere themselves may easily acknowledg if they will truly consider the same For as our Homily of Holy Scripture saith Without a single Eye pure Intent and good Mind nothing is allowed before God And in the Homily of Prayer earnest complaint is made of such as would deface the plain and simple Religion of Christ In pursuance of these sincere designs of Piety Truth Peace and Order the Moderation of our Church in her Reformation will the more certainly appear founded in Justice If we consider 1. Our Church hath not made Truth to submit to her Authority but hath chearfully and sincerely submitted her self to Truth She hath not had a weight and a weight to buy the Truth by one and to sell it by another but hath judged of all Truth and the degrees of its necessity by the Standard which God hath given his Church namely the Holy Scriptures the only Rule of her Faith So in rejection of Error our Church hath bin impartial to either extreme 2. Our Church holds no such Doctrines as necessarily or by consequence overthrow a good Life and the practice of Devotion For this we must say for the Constitution of our Church The Vices among us are in no wise the Consequences of our Doctrines Neither have we any such Moderation among us to reconcile the pleasures and profits of Sin with the hope of happiness hereafter subjecting the most divine things to most vile purposes which tends to make the World believe that Christian Religion is a cheat and its Priests the most vile Imposters of any Whatever the scandalous opinions and practices of the Adversaries of our Church have done to the great hindrance of the conversion of many and the injury of Christianity Our Church of England gives no offence to Jew or Greek Mahumetan or Heathen 3. Our Church hath not squared the frame of its Ecclesiastical Policy by the ends of Secular Grandure or external Pomp as if she could put off Christianity to put on worldly Glory and as if we believed in such a Messias as the Jews expected rather than in the crucified Jesus whose Kingdom is not of this World And here rather than stay the Reader too long I commit to his reflection how the peculiar Doctrines of the Roman Church tend to the encrease of their Power or their Patrimony * Non est amplius Ecclesia sed Respublica quaedam humana sub Papa Monarchiâ temporali Spalatensis in profect Consil rather than that Interest of the Christian Religion which the whole constitution of our Church is framed first to regard Here might properly be considered the intolerable Charge which the Moderation of our Church justly saves us in that expence which unjustly follows Popery The one Doctrine of Purgatory will cost any one very dear upon the belief of it How many Indulgences Masses Jubilees c. must be paid for ¶ V. Fullers Eccl. hist ad an H. 8. 27. V. Romish Horse-leach V. Brutum fulmen Tanti videlicet nobis constitit âmicitia urbis Romae Apol. Eccl. Angl. § 160. 4. Our Church by its Moderation hath been far from driving on any corrupt designs Whereas the Moderation of the Romish Church hath been always noted very artificial Whence they have moderate explications for the doubtful Indulgences for the soft Austerities for the soure Legends for the credulous Visions for the Enthusiast fair interpretations for what may seem harsh a mild sence for their turn and a strict sense also to keep up the Authority of their Church fair and goodly Baits to entangle Proselytes but when they are engaged they may find themselves caught with a bearded Hook Even such sometime is the seeming Moderation and Self-denial which is cherished in our Sectaries by those who actuate them that so they may more effectually divide and propagate such Division Whereas those who are truly principled according to the Moderation of our Church are made to be more constant and consistent to themselves and to Truth not to turn to one hand of Popery nor to the other hand of Enthusiasm in any sinful compliance which rather than admit if the case requires they can suffer Martyrdom as did sundry of the first Compilers of our Common-prayer-book and many since even in the late times and all kinds of Sufferings beside 5. The Moderation also of our Church in its Reformation thus founded in Justice hath caused her to avoid such Corruptions as render the Sincerity of others very doubtful We have not by Arts and devised Subtilties gone about to palliate nor by Power and Authority to uphold any Errors whatsoever nor promoted Ecclesiastical Policy by gratifying the corrupt inclinations of Men Neither the Doctrines nor Policy of our Church are kept up by pious or impious Frauds equivocations of Oaths false Miracles pretended Revelations counterfeit Reliques Forgeries and Expurgation of Books devotional Ignorance exquisite Arts of defaming our Adversaries and sometime extream Cruelty This Justice in which the Moderation of our Church is founded makes those of our Church careful to take and heedful to keep our Oaths and Vows whereas among the Romanists easy dispensations dissolve those sacred Bands of Society What think we saith our Homily of good works ¶ â—2 Part. of those that vow Chastity and yet as is very moderately expressed how their Vows are kept it is more honest to pass over in silence They vow Poverty and yet their Possessions and Riches are equal to those of Princes under pretence of Obedience to their Fathers in Religion by their Rules and Canons they are made free from the Obedience of their natural Father and Mother According to the same principle of Justice governing our Church the forms and practices of our Church do not contradict our general Rules of Faith because we believe in the Holy Trinity therefore we do not worship Saints and Angels because we believe the Holy Catholic Church therefore we believe not in the Church of Rome 6. The same Moderation of the Church founded in Justice hath governed her Reformation in using or rejecting things indifferent which have bin abused The Wisdom and Moderation of our Church having bin far from judging that things which have been abused to ill purposes can never be lawfully or profitably used which principle might lay waste all Ecclesiastical or Civil Societies of any good Orders and Appointments for there is nothing so good but either hath bin or is capable to be abused very grosly Wherefore our Church doth well distinguish between what is abused by the fault of ill Men * Si quid vitil accessâ—t vitium tellatur râ—s verò restituatâ—r concordia â—latur Wicelii Meth. Concord c. 5. and what in the nature of the thing it self tends to promote such an abuse