Virgin Mary Invocation of Angels and Saints offering of a real Sacrifice for Souls in Purgatory and offering of the Masse to God for the honour of Saints is a true Glasse wherein you may see the face of the Church when St. Peter sate Bishop of Rome This is the aim of the Querists Discourse to set up this Tradition instead of Scripture If you will not believe him you may choose because he tels you plainly it is not his work to prove any thing But I will give you a little touch of proving the vanity of this pretence The experience of all Ages before the flood after the flood in the Jewish Nation and in the Christian Churches doth manifestly shew that the derivation of Religion from mouth to ear from hand to hand from Fathers to children from Priests to Successors from Age to Age this course of Tradition which is opposed unto and preferred before the Scriptural way of preserving and propagating and recovering of Religion hath been and may be quickly corrupted often interrupted and hath suffered notorious changes and may do at any time when sloth and senscality and neglect of the light and vanity of mind set forward by the Devils malice and cunning make men weary of the true Religion But I will add another Argument to another purpose 2 Thes 2. St. Paul by word of mouth taught the Thessalonians what he thought not expedient to write to wit what hindered the Man of sin from being revealed Here was a matter of consequence that concerned the Church delivered by word of mouth which if it had been written as well as that Character of the Man of sin the same Scripture which preserved and conveyed the one would have also secured the knowledge of the other to posterity If now an eminent Church failed in deriving one point of Doctrine to after Ages which with little difficulty might have been kept and taught but is now lost for not being recorded in Scripture what likelihood is there that the whole body of Christian Religion was or could be traduced entire and pure meerly by oral Tradition without dependance on the Scripture for 1600 years For my part I think still that as the Church of the Jews were either more or less pure and their Religion more or less flourished in truth and sincerity as the Governors gave heed more or less to the light of the Law written in like manner according to the degrees of Pastors attendance to the holy Scriptures the Tradition of Christianity hath varied Therefore the Script ures are the only fixed and stable Rule of Religion 7. Lastly Let us allow the Rule of Vincentius Lirinensis Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus non est erratum sed traditum That which hath been taught every where always and by all Pastors of the Church is not an error but a true Tradition If we make Antiquity Universality and Consent twisted together the measure of our faith for certain we shall have a very short Creed and that large Assumentum that new piece of Italian stuff which was woven in the Shop at Trent and by the Popes stitching is added to the old garment of the Church the Constantinopolitan Creed must of necessity be pared off and thrown away But the main thing to be considered at present is the difficulty of applying this Rule for the examination of the Doctrines which pretend to Tradition 1 Joh. 4.1 2 Thes 5.21 and the tryal of the Spirits even of all Doctrines before we trust any Teacher is alwayes an act of Christian prudence so long as the world is pestered with false Prophets For can you or any reasonable man imagin that Universal Tradition of the Catholick Church is more evident in it self and more conspicuous to learned and unlearned and easier to be applied by particular Christians then the Scripture the study whereof for the discovery of so much as is necessary to be believed and done requires infinitely less pains then is requisite for the certain knowledge of what the Church in all ages and places hath taught as matter of faith necessary to salvation You Sir are pretty well versed in Books and have been inquisitive into Antiquity and I believe you will conclude it much easier to know the mind and will of God which is the measure of spiritual wisdom and the Vnum necessarium the One thing necessary for us to seek after Rom. 12.2 Eph. 5.10,17 then to learn the sence of the Church that is still according to the Querists Exposition of the chief Pastors in all Ages concerning the points in debate between us To close up this Discourse try whether you find not within your self enough of reason to consent to this resolution he that by attendance on Gods Ordinances dispensed by a faithful Ministry and by private study of Gods Book hath learned the Gospel of Christ and is a good practical Scholar of the saving Grace of God which hath appeared unto all men a Catholick Light common as the Sun Tit. 2.11,12 teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we live soberly righteously and religiously in this present world this man I say being * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 6.45 taught of God doth know à priori before-hand and by the very seed and in the first principle what the true Church Catholick holds For that Word of God which lives and abides for ever in Heaven Psal 119.8,9 in the hearts of believers 2 Cor. 3.3 1 Joh. 3.9 in the Scriptures 1 Pet. 1.23,25 and in the Church is that incorruptible seed by which the Church Catholick is begotten and by which it lives Since then the Church is no longer or further a Church then as it believes the Gospel and the faithful Pastors in all ages do teach that Gospel it must needs be that whosoever knows the Gospel knows what is the sense of the Catholick Church though he never spend an hour in the reading of history whereas if he spend Methusalahs age in tumbling over the Fathers Schoolmens Ecclesiastical Histories and other Volumes he may weary his flesh and yet not know by them what was the Faith of the Catholick Church Now to the mans conclusion He acknowledges that a direct fit and true answer to my Queries mutatis mutandis would be an answer to his captious questions which he propounds with the same mind as his admired Masters the Scribes and Pharisees did trouble our Saviour Christ with Interrogatories thinking but in vain that we should be intangled in our ovvn Ansvvers whereas indeed he had been catched if he had given apposite Answers But after mine examination which I resign up to your discretion I desire you to transform your self by the power of imagination for a while into the person of a well-minded Jew that seeks for satisfaction in Religion in a distracted estate of the Church and try whether this Querist being forced to turn Respondent hath fully and fitly answered my
that makes his Maker and eats his God The publick service of God in a forreign and unknown language to the generality of the people that must say Amen to all Pictures of God used in Religious worship the superlative worship of the Virgin Mary Invocation of Saints Purgatory the ease of departed souls by offering of Masses the baptizing of Bels the treasury of superabundant merits of Christ and holy persons c. be as agreeable to the Scriptures as our Liturgy and the 39 Articles agreed on in our Church If you find it otherwise and Papists do not so much as pretend to make Scripture the Rule of these Doctrines and practices what credit can be given to such an impudent boaster But the ground of deserting us he pretends to be this That we will have the sole Rule of faith to be the Scriptures in exclusion of Universal Tradition and the voice of the Catholick Church 1. Suppose the chief Pastors and Doctors of England should dispute in the Schools about the Rule of faith and exclude Tradition and the voice of the Church from that honour which they think due only to the Word of God in Scriptures now since the decease of the Apostles and the unhappy divisions of Christians that make it difficult if not impossible to know assuredly what is delivered by Universal Tradition or taught by the Catholick Church why must you upon that account or any man desert the Church of England where the worship of God through Christ Jesus is celebrated without any mixture of superstition and the means of salvation are offered to you in a sufficient measure for your conduct in the way of truth and peace Let a Papist if he can prove that our making Scriptures the sole Rule of faith makes the communion with our Church unsafe Must you needs run out of our Church as if it were a House visited with the Plague meerly because it relyes only upon the Scriptures for a Religion And if you must do so must you needs then at the next step run into a Roman Assembly that as my Lord Falkland speaks keeps her children from Scripture as a Mother would keep her children from Rats-bane Think of both these because the Gentleman will not be pleased if you desert us but will not come to them He will think himself still a loser if any water go besides his Mill. 2. This calumny thus impudently fastned upon our Church shews this Querist to deive the Devils trade several wayes in tempting by impostures and in falsly accusing the brethren For I challenge any Papist to quote if he can and will cite an Author faithfully and fairly any Article of Religion or Writing of a Bishop or sentence of an Academy wherein we disclaim Universal Tradition or the voice of the Catholick Church For mine own part I do openly profess that if any point in controversie between us and Papists can be proved to have been taught by the Primitive Church as a matter of faith and derived by the voice of the Catholick Church from age to age and this Universal Tradition be â—anifested by as good evidence as is usually produced for the divine original of the Scriptures which we receive for Canonical I will embrace that Doctrine as the Word of God 3. SIR you cannot but know that we constantly reject many of the Popish opinions obtruded upon the Christian world as Novelties which not only want a sufficient warrant from the Scriptures but also cannot be made credible and acceptable by Universal Tradition Such are the Popes Universal Bishoprick or Oecumenical Headship which Pope Gregorie the great called the character of Antichrist the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and many other points of Popish Religion some whereof I recited above and need not repeat We have incessantly required the Advocates for the Papacy to prove the consent and conformity of the present Roman Church in these particulars with the Primitive Church whose voice is the Precentor in the Quire and the first circle in the diffusion of Universal Tradition Thus let due esteem and credit be given to Universal Tradition but you see how little it is in earnest valued by Papists or how far they are from making use of that Rule which they extoi so zealously as you hear thereby to prove the truth of their religion In fine you may apprehend the No-reason to desert the Reformed Church of England therefore because she makes the Holy Scripture the sole Rule of Religion when indeed she knows no other given by God to the Church and looks upon Universal Tradition whensoever it appears fair and full with reverence as being the sense of the Church He proceeds to abate the force of my dissuasive of you from entrance into the Roman Church when the condition of your entrance is the renouncing of your senses reason and charity For the two former though the terms seem hard yet his righour abates nothing of them You must be contented to lose the use of your senses and reason when you become a vassal to Rome To mitigate the severity he tells you this is no more than Scripture and the Protestant Church requires He abuses Scripture in two instances 1. He says was not Lot to deny his senses when he perceived them to be Angels c. I say no and the Scripture doth not say any such thing as this man supposes When God thought fit either to appear himself to the Patriarchs in humane shape clad with flesh in a transitory manner which is generally taken to have been a Praeludium of the words or the Son of God his incarnation or to send Ange is invested with humane bodies the servants of God to whom those heavenly messengers were sent so fitted for converse were not bound to renounce their senses but by their reason and their knowledge of Gods way of entercourse with his choice servants by Angels they were to regulate the notices of the object which their senses represented unto them 2. He cries out How could our Saviour pass through a croud of People and neither be seen heard or felt without a deception of the senses Judg I pray whether it suits with the Faith and Reverence we owe to Chirst the truth it self in his Person Doctrine and Actions to ascribe unto him the deception of the Peoples senses which comes very near to the practise of Magicians and will if admitted diminish the credit of Christs Miracles Our Saviours passage through the multitude so that he escaped their fury and left them in amazement might be wrought many wayes which we are not concerned to imagine and must not determine though we could devise because the Gospel hath not recorded the manner of it But it is rashly and irreverently said to be effected with a deception of the senses But how is Christs action at that time an obligation laid upon Christians to the worlds end to deny their senses in the Eucharist where Christ instituted the material objects of our
that the learned Papists who differ about the Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary do on either side urge for their defence universal Tradition If then it be not sufficient to determine this controversie why should it be set up to justle Scripture out of its Seat to make room for another means of determining controversies which is as uneffectual and indeed infinitely more unfit If a Papist say that the determination of this point is not necessary which is a gross absurdity because this remaining undetermined no small part of Popish worship of the Virgin Mary as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception hath no certain ground of Faith and by the Apostle St. Paul's sentence is Sin Rom. 14 23. we may with more reason say that the determination of the points in controversie between us is not necessary Or if it be necessary that determination is to be regulated now as the decision of things in dispute was of old in the general Councils by the Scripture or written word of God by which Tradition it self is to be measured and judged as St. Paul made the Scriptures the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or measure of truth between * Mat. 26.15 Read 1. Cor. 15.3,4 the Tradition of the Jews on the one side and the Christians on the other side concerning the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 6. Because here is frequent mention of Tradition and the ambiguity of the word is apt to beget mistakes and confusion therefore give me seave to unfold the Senses of the word that we may have a clear apprehension of the matter in hand Tradition is sometimes put to signify the thing delivered whether the way of delivery be writing or speaking and Tradition thus taken materially is indifferent to the being written or unwritten for the same Tradition or Doctrine of the Gospel which was at one time unwritten might have been written and for certain was at another time writen And the Jewish Traditions which for many generations past by a successive conveyance without Book have been by the Rabbies committed at length to vvriting for their better Security And the Papists now make no scruple of vvriting their Traditions vvhich they call the unvvritten Word of God let them justify the presumption as vvell as they can Mat. 14.2,3,6 Novv as the Traditions of the Elders mentioned in Scripture signify the doctrines and Ceremonies that vvere delivered by the Fathers but vvere distinct from the Law vvritten So when vve speak of Traditions in the Christian Church vve do now in these latter ages commonly understand some particular doctrines or Rites or matters of fact delivered with a pretence of divine or at least Apostolical Authority for their reception which are not expressed in the written word of God These Traditions once accepted and commended by the present Church of Rome the Conventicle at Trent hath very severely enjoyned to be received and embraced with an equal affection of holy reverence wherewith we entertayn the sacred Scriptures themselves But to keep up the mystery of iniquity with the liberty of laying aside old Traditions and giving credit to new inventions as their interest and occasions may require they who determined the Canon of Scriptures and numbred the Books yet would not reckon up and determine the Traditions of the Church that Christians might know what is the perfect and fixed Rule of Faith Thus Romanists though they have a larger Object of Faith then we have yet they have no certain measure because the Traditions of the Roman Church are like the Moon subject to decreases as the giving of the Eucharist to Infants was once held by D. Innocentius 3. as a Doctrine of Faith and a Tradition of the Church Maldonate on John 6. confesseth thus much but after 600 years practise wore out insensibly and hath been condemned by the Councils of Constance and Trent with an Anathema and to increases also and therefore their Religion is indeed Irregular But concerning Traditions as the word signifies particular points of beliefe or practise in Christian Religion these 3 Rules are worth Observation 1. Whatsoever is offered to us or enjoyned to us in belief or practise under colour of being a Tradition if it be repugnant to the written word of God or destructive of Gods precepts ought to be rejected by Christians Christs reason together with the refutation of Phaâ—…aical Traditions confirms the Truth of this Rule Nihil credi Deus voluit adversus Sc ipturarum authoritatem Aug. l. 13. cont Faus Manich. Mark 7.5 13. 2. Whatsoever is obtruded upon us under the pretext of being a Tradition that is neither clearly delivered in nor fairly by good consequence deduced out of Gods written word needs not and ought not to be received as a matter necessary to Salvation The manner of conveniency or necessity wherein things which are strangers to Scripture are held is carefully to be taken notice of For several practises have been in early times introduced under shew of conveniency as the Apostle says some bodily exercises carry a plausible shew of wisdome which having once obtained credit by the favourable commendation of eminent persons and custome have been in succession of time adorned with the Title of Tradition and grown up from being thought convenient to be accounted and prest as necessary to Salvation This danger is to be prevented by circumspection And the perfection of Scripture as it is a compleat Rule of Religion proves the truth and usefulness of this second Rule 3. Doctrines of Faith and divine Worship being secured by Gods written word from intrusions of humane inventions if any Rites or Ceremonies can be proved by fair Testimonies of Antiquity to have been practised by the Church universal of primitive times and are still continued by the Authority of Church Governors as tending to edification or the free and open profession of our Faith whether they be called Traditions or no are not lightly to be rejected much less violently opposed by private Christians Thus much for Traditions as meaning Matters of Religion delivered down from former times to posterity But Tradition often bears another sence and is taken formally for the manner of conveyance of matters that concern Religion which is partly oral partly practical The joynt agreement of Doctrine and practice continued by succession of one Age after another whilst one generation derives to another the whole body of Religion is now called Tradition and of late is asserted by Papists in this Kingdom to be the only Principle and Rule of â—aith and affirmed to be of its own nature infallible and incorruptible and to be evident by its own light And thus the order of inquiring for the ancient dayes and old wayes is quite inverted for now we need only as they teach mark what the present Church of Rome doth and because Tradition cannot fail nor vary therefore the Popes Court at this day with the Church Altars Pictures Wafers mangled Eucharist adoration of the
Counter-Queries My next Task is to examine his exceptions against my Categorical Answers I shall not contend about words nor much crave excuse for want of accurate expression in that hasty delivery of my Conceptions to comply with your request at that time 1. As to the first he excepts against the term Christianity as dubious to make my Answer acceptable I will insert the Term he desires and say True Christianity But I fear the addition will dispel no mist of doubtfulness if there were any such about the answer For Hereticks alwaies pretend to Truth as much as to Christianity and would be taken for the only true Christians But to satisfy his nice and curious palate I answer as fully as he desires There was is and shall be till the worlds end a Catholick Church that in every age is visible by profession of true Christianity to the persons then living That is to say In all ages God had and will have and preserve some Christians who shall so profess the Truth according to the doctrine of the Gospel that their light of Faith shall shine to the men of their generation respectively But I cannot so easily admit another addition sliely made by the Querist to my Answer viz. in their whole profession Latet anguis in herbâ 1 Cor. 3.12,13 He that professes true Christianity may build hay and stubble upon the foundation and yet not miscarry in his person whilst he holds fast his profession of the saving truth unto the end though he be saved through the fire and loose his superstructure as St. Paul assures us It is not therefore necessary that any person or Church which maintains true Christianity should profess it in such an absolute purity as that water should never be mixed with the wine It is enough that poyson is not admixed with the liquor of life But because I perceive that there is much ambiguity in the termes of the Query for which it deserves to be called Fallacia plurium interrogationum a sophistical trick of asking many things under one word that hath two faces under a hood I will weigh the vvords over again and mould my answer anevv fitted to his explication of the vvord Catholick In common speech Catholick is no more than Universal Just. Mart. dial cum Tryph. Justin Martyr vvho vvith many others of that age believed a particular Resurrection of some that should rise and reign 1000 years before the end of the World calls the last Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Catholick or in plain English Universal Resurrection There is also a Catholick Faith vvhich is common to all Christians and comprises all that is necessary to Salvation And the Church of Christ novv unconfined to any one place or nation but spreading like a fruitful vine her branches throughout the carth is called Catholick that is not National as the old Church of the Jevvs vvas but Universal since the Gospel is preached to all the vvorld indifferently and the voice of the Apostles vvent forth into all the earth and their vvords unto the ends of the habitable vvorld Col. 2.6 Rom. 10.18 It is not to be omitted that in a secondary and borrovved sense the word Catholick is applied to them that hold the true Faith which is common to all Christians and therefore Catholick In this sense not only a particular Church but also a singular person may be called Catholick meaning one that professes the Catholick Faith But the Querist who hath a peculiar language and though he speaks English yet means Italian hath taught me since I first read his Questions and answered them according to the common usage of the words that he meant by the Catholick Church the Representative Church in a full and lawful meeting of the Priests and Pastors to teach the Church diffusive Now according to this sense of the words Catholick Church I do turn my Affirmative Answer into a Negative and say There is not in all ages a visible Catholick Church meaning a general Council lawfull assembled If this be Equivocation you see who teac hes me to be double tongued The exception against my second Answer is that I add the word ordinarily and he supposes that I might mean that some may be saved in extraordinary cases out of the visible Church and therefore he takes my Answer to be Affirmative That some may be saved out of the Catholick Church and this he thinks is contrary to the stream of Antiquity Mage cernit acutum quam aut Aquila out Serpens Epidaurius Horat. If he had not had the malignant disposition rather then the quick-sighted eye of a Serpent he would never have espied a fault in my Answer and fancied an Affirmative sentence in a Negative Proposition For if he had not been forward to cavil he might have easily conceived a very obvious reason of my putting in the word Ordinarily Because we know not how God will deal in judging all out of the pale of the Church and we that live within it are concerned to give an account onely for our selves and for the use of our Light and Talent I said that Ordinarily out of the Catholick Church there is no Salvation This negative which resolves nothing positively concerning Gods extraordinary acting cannot without unjust violence to my words be taken for an affirmative sentence That some may be saved out of the Church And I hope you will excuse if not justify my unwillingness to limit the spirit and mercies of God which blows and shine where God pleases As for Christian Antiquity you know that many antient Doctors have been very favourable in their judgment not only of them who lived by the law of nature in a communion with God when the Covenant of Grace was first ratified with the Hebrew Patriarchs though those worshippers of God were not of the stock of Israel Of this see Is Casaub Exerc 1. ad Card. Baron App. c. 1. but also of them who lived in latter ages in the acknowledgment of one God with a constant observation of Truth and Justice such as were Socrates and Aristides But according to the Querists explication of the Church Catholick I shall now change the shape of my second Answer also and say That Christians may attain salvation out of a Representative Church which he gives to be the meaning of a Catholick Church in the Querie and charges me with sophistry because I will not understand it so The members of a general Council being but few and that not agreed who have right to be so it were hard with Christendom if all who are extra Concilium out of that compass were excluded out of Heaven I add that the Church Catholick may stand and all the members of it may be saved without a Church Representative Now because all that he says is but beating the Air and very impertinent to his design of making a Convert which is the thing aimed at I add a Proposition which though
Canonical Scripture The Catholick Church being quickly after enlarged and spred through many regions of the earth did together with the Gospel preached receive Copies of the Scriptures which had been communicated by the particular Churches to which they were directed at first unto their neighbour Churches These Scriptures were by all Churches reverenced and preserved as the Grand Charter of their Salvation and the Laws and Records of their Society as the Church was the Kingdome of Christ distinguished from the world The zeal of Christians for their Laws and their knowledg of them which were frequently read in the publick Assemblies according to an * Col. 14.16 Appostolical order to which we must add above all the Providence of Gods watching over the Church for the preservation of Scriptures being more pretious to God than to Man and as pretious to God as the world it self these being well considered may assure us that it was morally impossible that the whole Church of God should be cousened into the reception of any forged Scriptures And if the Church in following ages could not combine together to coyn counterfeit Scriptures then the Church universal could never obtrude any thing upon the world for Canonical Scripture which was not received from the Primitive Church at first But how doth it follow from hence that the Church is an Infallible Judg in this point A creditable witness is not presently an Infallible Judg. A faithful Depositary that keeps Records is not the same thing with an unerring Judg. The Tradition of the Church Universal which hath derived the Holy Scriptures from age to age is not an Act of Judicature The Nation of the Jews is at this day a credible witness of the divine Original and authority of the Old Testament at least at the first plantation of the Church Christian the Jevvish Church did preserve and deliver the Holy Scriptures in tire so much at least as God thought necessary or expedient and if any book vvere lost that by being lost became unnecessary and vvas secured by Gods Providence in the conveyance of his Oracles to Christians Doth it hence follovv that the People of the Jews was a visible Infallible Judg in that point and if so then in all matters of Faith For thus the Papist proceeds If so I require some satisfactory reason says the Querist why the Church should be infallible in this and fallible in other points of Faith c. I have already shewed that the Case is not so as this man imagines therefore I am not bound to give him the satisfaction which he requires Yet for your further information I add this 1. The reception and tradition of Scriptures by the Church is a fact which God orders as expedient for the preservation of Religion 2. The certain number of the Books written by inspiration is not a point of faith necessary for every Christian to know and believe unto Salvation 3. The Catholick Church cannot err in any point of faith necessary to salvation 4. But any particular Church may believe and teach erroneous Doctrine for matter of Faith The Church of Rome which is not the sole keeper of Scripture may and doth err in several points of their Religion and doth impose upon her children uncanonical Books for Scripture and false Doctrines for matters of faith as is evident by the Canons of the Conventicle of Trent And yet it is not in the power of the Church of Rome to abuse the whole Christian world by the imposition of counterfeit Scriptures upon it I shall yet persist in my reflexion upon the Jews that I may shew that the keeping of Scriptures without forgery falsification and corruption is a thing distinct and separable from erring teaching errors The Jews cannot be denied to have been good keepers of the Books even then when they corrupted the Religion enjoyned by the Law written in those Books Never yet was any man so weak as to conclude that the Priests and Rabbies of the Jews were Infallible Judges of the Doctrine concerning the Messias even those who condemned Christ the Son of God to be guilty of blasphemy and worthy of death because they kept the Books of Moses and the Prophets There is now less reason why we should take the present Church of Rome which we evidently see to teach Doctrines and set up a worship as contrary to the Scriptures as darkness is to light to be an infallible Judge of faith upon this account because the Primitive Roman Church in communion with other Churches did hand down to posterity the holy Scriptures without any falsification since the Church of Rome at this day doth both accept and impose upon her own Children and would but cannot upon others Apocryphal Books for Canonical I have now shewed that these Queries are not unanswerable by Protestants adhering to their own principles or Axioms I desire you to consider the result of the whole design Except you allow him at first that the Roman-Church is in propriety of speech the Catholick Church this disquisition can advance you not an hairs-breadth to a better opinion of the Roman Church for a Guide then you had before For after all the clamour made for resolution of these Queries concerning the Catholick Church the main Question stands as it did Whether the Church of Rome at this day be to be subjected unto as an infallible Guide and to be communicated with all other Churches being abandoned and particularly the Church of England whereof you are now a setled member Till this be resolved you that know the frame of our Church and the module of our Religion may stay safely where you are It remains now that I examine his Answer to my conclusive Querie And I shall briefly note what you may by your own reason or experience discover either absurd or false in it He doth not require you to desert the Reformed Church of England for adhering to the Scriptures as the Rule of Faith For the Roman Church doth that as well as the Protestant as he says If this Querist do not pretend to Infallibility and Authority over you he will out of modesty allow you to examine whether Papists do as well that is as fully and firmly adhere to the Scriptures as English Protestants Certainly they do not well own them for a Rule who accuse them of obscurity and imperfection and make it a point of faith that the defectiveness of Scriptures must be supplied with unwritten Traditions And as certain it is that we who maintain the fulness of Scriptures in delivery of all things necessary to salvation and the perspicuity in that delivery and therefore admit of no point of Religion that is a meer stranger unto the Scripture do more closely stick to that Rule then the Papists But because you are free to examine the adherence of Papists to the Scriptures in particulars by comparison with the English Protestants try whether a mangled Eucharist the real Sacrifice of Christ by a Priest
when they turned it into a den of thieves God deserted his own habitation and laid it wast So he that reads the Gospel will quickly perceive this figment of Infallibility not so much usurped by Scribs and Pharisees themselves as pinned upon them by Papists overthrown by our Saviour Christ were they secured from error in expounding the Law and teaching the people the sense thereof Mat. 5.20 c. whose partial righteousness our Saviour condemns as inconsistent with true justice and whose corrupt glosses Christ confutes and opposes his own authority to their comments which adulterated the meaning of Gods law But because it may be said that this was a defect in them for want of light and spiritual obedience was the proper Doctrine of the Gospel so that this is not enough to convince the Scribes and Pharisees of error in Doctrine I answer Rom. 7.14 that St. Paul says the Law is in it self spiritual and it was a gross seducing the people in faith and manners to teach such carnal Doctrines as incouraged and hardned men in sin and kept them from repenting of their vain thoughts and vile lusts which lodged in their hearts But to go a step further Christ that commanded obedience to them which necessarily must be limited by the standing and known Laws of Gods people Mat. 16.11,12 expresly warns his Disciples to beware of the Leaven of their Doctrine If Christ did by the Precept alledged evidently suppose as the Querist says that the Scribes and Pharisees could teach the people no error in faith and manners then why did our Saviour go about to secure his Disciples by such a Caution whereas they had no reason to suspect that which the Scribes and Pharisees offered them for the food of their souls Their very sitting in Mose's Chair was a sufficient assurance that they were as faithful in the House of God as Moses if you will take this mans word Christ meant and said so and were so wise as they could not be mistaken and so honest as they would not give sowr Leaven instead of heavenly Manna Oh brave Patron of the accursed Scribes and Pharisees But Sir I believe you have read the 23 Chapter of St. Matthew throughout wherein our Saviour sets out those blind Guides and abominable Hypocrites Luk. 11.52 who had the Key of knowledg as the Pope pretends to the custodie of St. Peter's Keys in such detestable characters as are inconsistent with Infallibility But some will say their corruption in manners doth not infer their erroneousness in Doctrine and therefore Pope Alexander the 6 th though a Devil incarnate might be infallible in the Chair as a learned Lady of the Romish side whom you knew once told me I answer that it will be hard to perswade a sober Christian that hath reverent apprehensions of Gods holy Spirit Wisd 1.5 that the Spirit of Discipline will abide with such unrighteousness and uncleanness See Joh. 14.17 or that persons immersed in worldly lusts should enjoy the constant presence and influence of that Spirit which leads humble and holy men into all truth But he that can perswade you that they Mat. 15.14 whom Christ calls blind Guides were not only fit but also infallible Directors may with the same confidence and arguments make you believe that the Sun shines in our Horizon at midnight I do not forget that it is not the Pope's Infallibility but a Councils which the Querist pleads for by the example of the Scribes and Pharisees albeit they were perhaps Doctors of the Law but few of them members of the great Council But I touch this briefly because it may be the next Papist that creeps into your familiarity will he for the Pope or perhaps this person who hath in his second Paper resolved the Catholick Church into a Council will in his next Paper melt down a Council into the Pope which is the more likely to be a Guide because a living person to be consulted with if many reasons did not hinder our acceptance of him for an infallible one But that the Scribes and Pharisees were guilty of teaching for Doctrines obligatory of conscience Mat. 15.3 9. the traditions of men and did by their devices annul the Commandements of God and encourage men under pretence of Religious Vows to disobey their parents and by false Doctrines involved souls in the guilt of perjury is evident by our Saviours convicting and condemning them Mat. 23.16,17,18,19,20 Can you now be of the opinion that this ungodly fraternity of Villains could make up an infallible Consistory by possessing the Chair of Moses If you can entertain such a concelt you bless whom Christ hath cursed and put darkness for light and call blind Guides the Seers Esa 5.20 and so draw down the woe upon your self Indeed such Guides are fit for them who wilfully wink against the light and make themselves slaves to the enemies of true Religion who put out the eyes of their captived Proselytes that they may with quiet grind in their Mills I will conclude my Reply to this Paragraph with one Proposal This Querist defers such honour to the Jewish Priesthood that the Priests ought to be simply believed upon their word till Shiloh came because they or at least a Council of them could not erre in faith I will not instance in the Council that condemned our Saviour because although some plead for Caiphas by vertue of his Priesthood to have been inspired by the Holy Ghost which alwayes assisted the Chair yet perhaps this Querist will not extend the continuance of Infallibility thus far And yet he that hath feigned Christ to assign it to the Scribes and Pharisees cannot give a good and solid account how Caiphas and his Confederates came in that critical hour to lose it or why the people without a manifest Declaration of God to abrogate their Authority should not then also be bound to believe their sentence though it were blasphemy and tended to the murder of the Son of God or how Joseph of Arimathea could be absolved according to this mans principles from being an Heretick and Schismatick for not consenting to the counsel and practice of the High Priest with his Assembly for which very thing the Gospel commends him to be a good and a just person Luk. 23.50,51 since at that very time the whole Nation of the Jews were obliged according to this mans assertions by Christs own injunction to rest in the Doctrine and Determination of the Council of Jerusalem as infallible in matters of Religion and consequently to deny Jesus to be the Christ Think of this seriously But there is another instance which I aim at It is well known that in the degenerate estate of the Jews there started up a powerful Sect of the Sadducees Act. 5.17 These though pretending to adhere unto the Law of Moses yet are noted to have been infected with pernicious errors in Religion for they believed