is more likely to be exact than a Speculation concerning their nature and yet we find a Tradition of giving Infants the Communion grounded on the indispensible necessity of the Sacrament continued a thousand Years in the Church A Tradition on which the Christians founded their Joy and Hope is less like to be changed than a more remote Speculation and yet the first Writers of the Christian Religion had a Tradition handed down to them by those who saw the Apostles of the Reign of Christ for a thousand Years upon Earth and if those who had Matters at second hand from the Apostles could be thus mistaken it is more reasonable to apprehend greater errours at such a distance A Tradition concerning the Book of the Scriptures is more like to be exact than the Exposition of some passages in it and yet we find the Church did unanimously believe the Translation of the 70. Interpreters to have been the effect of a miraculous Inspiration till St. Ierome examined this Matter better and made a New Translation from the Hebrew Copies But which is more then all the rest It seems plain that the Fathers befor the Council of Nice believed the Divinity of the Son of God to be in some sort Inferiour to that of the Father and for some Ages after the Council of Nice they believed them indeed both equal but they considered these as two different Beings and only one in Essence as three men have the same humane Nature in common among them and that as one Candle lights another so the one flowed from another and after the fifth Century the Doctrine of one Individual Essence was received If you will be farther informed concerning this Father Petau will satisfy you as to the first Period before the Council of Nice and the learned Dr. Cudmorth as to the second In all which particulars it appears how variable a thing Tradition is And upon the whole Matter the examining Tradition thus is still a searching among Books and here is no living Judge XII If then the Authority that must decide Controversies lies in the Body of the Pastors scattered over the World which is the last retrenchment here as many and as great Scruples will arise as we found in any of the former Heads Two difficulties appear at first view the one is How can we be assured that the present Pastors of the Church are derived in a just Succession from the Apostles there are no Registers extant that prove this So that we have nothing for it but some Histories that are so carelesly writ that we find many mistakes in them in other Matters and they are so different in the very first links of that Chain that immediatly succeeded the Apostles that the utmost can be made of this is that here is a Historical Relation somewhat doubtful but here is nothing to found our Faith on so that if a Succession from the Apostles times is necessary to the Constitution of that Church to which we must submit our selves we know not where to find it besides that the Doctrine of the necessity of the Intention of the Minister to the Validity of a Sacrament throws us into inextricable difficulties I know they generally say that by the Intention they do not mean the inward Acts of the Minister of the Sacrament but only that it must appear by his outward deportment that he is in earnest going about a Sacrament and not doing a thing in jest and this appeared so reasonable to me that I was sorry to find our Divines urge it too much till turning over the Rubricks that are at the beginning of the Missal I found upon the head of the Intention of the Minister that if a Priest has a Number of Hoslies before him to be consecrated and intends to consecrate them all except one in that case that Vagrant exception falls upon them all it not being affixed to any one and it is defined that he consecrates none at all Here it is plain that the secret Acts of a Priest can defeat the Sacrament so that this overthrows all certainty concerning a Succession But besides all this we are sure that the Greek Churches have a much more uncontested Succession than the Latines So that a Succession cannot direct us And if it is necessary to seek out the Doctrines that are universally received this is not possible for a private Man to know So that in Ignorant Countries where there is little Study the People have no other certainty concerning their Religion but what they take from their Curate and Confessor since they cannot examine what is generally received So that it must be confessed that all the Arguments that are brought for the necessity of a constant infallible Iudge turn against all those of the Church of Rome that do not acknowledge the Infallibility of the Pope for if he is not Infallible they have no other Iudge that can pretend to it It were also easy to shew that some Doctrines have been as Universally received in some Ages as they have been rejected in others Ê’ which shews that the Doctrine of the present Church is not alwayes a sure measure For five Ages together the Doctrine of the Popes Power to depose Heretical Princes was received without the least Opposition and this cannot be doubted by any that knows what has been the State of the Church since the End of the eleventh Century yet I believe few Princes would allow this notwithstanding all the concurring Authority of so many Ages to fortify it I could carry this into a great many other Instances but I single out this because it is a point in which Princes are naturally extream sensible Upon the whole Matter it can never enter into my mind that God who has made Man a Creature that naturally enquires and reasons and that feels as sensible a pleasure when he can give himself a good account of his actions as one that sees does perceive in comparison to a blind man that is led about and that this God that has also made Religion on design to perfect this humane Nature and to raise it to the utmost height to which it can arrive has contrived it to be dark and to be so much beyond the penetration of our Faculties that we cannot find out his mind in those things that are necessary for our Salvation and that the Scriptures that were writ by plain men in a very familiar stile and addrest without any discrimination to the Vulgar should become such an unintelligible Book in these Ages that we must have an Infallible Iudge to expound it and when I see not only Popes but even some Bodies that pass for General Councils have so expounded many passages of it and have wrested them so visibly that none of the Modern Writers of that Church pretend to excuse it I say I must freely own to you that when I find I need a Commentary on dark passages these will be the last persons to whom I
So it is not necessary for the preservation of Peace and Order that the Decisions of the Church should be infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures If Judges do so manifestly abuse their Authority that they fall into Rebellion and Treason the subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their obedience to their Soveraign tho' in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Soveraign The case of Religion being then this That Jesus Christ is the Soveraign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a subalterne Iudge if they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular persons may be supposed as competent Iudges of that as in Civill Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Iudges and in that case they are bound still to mantain their Obedience to Iesus Christ. In matters Indifferent Christians are bound for the Preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decisions of the Church and in matters justly doubtful or of small Consequence tho they are convinced that the Pastors have erred yet they are obliged to be silent and to bear tolerable things rather than make a Breach but if it is visible that the Pastors do Rebel against the Soveraign of the Church I mean Christ the People may put in their Appeal to that great Iudge and there it must lie If the Church did use this Authority with due Discretion and the People followed the rules that I have named with humility and modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the Providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that as there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho they are bad enough yet are not equal to the Effects that Ignorant Superstition and Obedient zeal have produced in the World Witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a Small Diversity of Opinions and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signify nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shewes us that it Must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party sayes it Cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand Years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and then that certainly it is not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say that there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy so ever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture sayes not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See. X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some Starts and after long Intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first 320 years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come Vote and what forfeits this right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Iudgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Councils of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern Parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperours Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700. years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a Competent understanding to satisfy him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicins History of that Council XI If it is said that this Infallibility is to be sought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the N. Testament he is involved in a study that must cost a Man an Age to go thro it and many of the Ages thro which he caries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our dayes that it is not possible to 〈◊〉 out their belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very near the Age of the Apostles contrary Traditions touching the Observation of Easter from which we must conclude that either the Matter of Fact of one side or the other as it was handed down was not true or at least that it was not rightly understood A Tradition concerning the Use of the Sacraments being a visible thing
put the late King out of the list of Protestant Kings so that this Reproach lies wholly on the King's Father and his Grand-father It is a little surprising after all the Eloquence that has been Imployed to raise the Character of the late Martyr to so high a pitch that one of his Sons Secretaries should set it under his hand in a letter that he pretends is written by the King's Commands that he made it a Maxime to undo his People The Writer of this Letter should have avoided the mentioning of fines since it is not so long since both He and his Brother valued themselves on a point that they carried in the Council of Scotland that Husbands should be fined for their wives not going to Church tho it was not founded on any Law. And of all Men living he ought to be the last that should speak of the taking away Estates who got a very fair one during the present Reign by an Act of Parliament that Attainted a Gentleman in a Method as new as his Stile is Upon this ground that two Privy Councellours declared they believed him guilty He will hardly find among all the Maximes of those Protestant Persecuting Kings any one that will Justify this It seems the New Stile is not very Copious in Words since Doctrine is three times repeated in so short a Letter He tells them that their Doctrine must tend to cause all the subjects to walk obediently now by obediently in this Stile is to obey the Absolute Pomer without reserve for to obey according to Law would pass now for a Crime this being then his meaning it is probable that the Encouragements which are necessary to make His Majesty continue the happiness of his Subjects will not be so very great as to Merit the perpetuating this favour There is with this a heavy charge laid upon them as to their practice that it must be such as shall be most pleasing to His Majesty for certainly that can only be by their turning Papists since a Prince that is so zealous for his Religion as His Majesty is cannot be so well pleased with any other thing as with this Their concurring with the King to remove the Penal Laws comes over again for tho Repetitions are Impertinencies in the Common Stile they are Flowers in the new one In Conclusion he tells them that the King expects that they will continue their prayers for him yet this does not agree too well with a Catholick Zeal for the prayers of Damned Hereticks cannot be worth the asking for the third time he tells them to look well to their Doctrine now this is a little ambiguous for it may either signify that they should study the Controversies well so as to be able to defend their Doctrine solidly or that they should so mince it that nothing may fall from them in their Sermons against Popery this will be indeed a looking to their Doctrine but I do not know whether it will be thought a looking well to it or not He adds that their Example be Influential I confess this hard new Word frighted me I suppose the meaning of it is that their practice may be such as that it may have an Influence on others yet there are both good and bad Influences a good Influence will be the animating the people to a Zeal for their Religion and a bad one will be the slackning and sofning of that Zeal A little more Clearness here had not been amiss As for the last Words of this Letter that all these are his Majesty's Commands it is very hard for me to bring my self to believe them For certainly he has more Piety for the Memory of the late Martyr and more regard both to himself to his children and to his people than to have ever given any such commands In order to the communicating this Piece of Elegance to the World I wish the Translating it into French were recommended to Mr. d' Albeville that it may appear whether the Secretary Stile will look better in his Irish French than it does now in the Scotch English of him who penne dit FINIS AN ANSWER To A PAPER Printed with Allowance Entitled A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty I. THe Accusing the Church of England of Want of Loyalty or the putting it to a new Test after so fresh a one with relation to His Majesty argues a high degree of Confidence in him who undertakes it She knew well what were the Doctrines and Practices of those of the Roman Church with Relation to Hereticks and yet She was so true to her Loyalty that She shut her eyes on all the Temptations that so just a fear could raise in her and She set her self to support His Majesties Right of Succession with so much Zeal that She thereby not only put her self in the power of her Enemies but She has also exposed her self to the Scorn of those who insult over her in her Misfortune She lost the Affections even of many of her own Children who thought that her Zeal for an Interest which was then so much decry'd was a little too fervent and all those who judged severely of the proceedings thought that the Opposition which She made to the side that then went so high had more Heat than Decency in it And indeed all this was so very Extraordinary that if She was not acted by a principle of Conscience Shâ— could make no Excuse for her conductâ— There appeared such peculiar Marks of Affection and Heartiness at every time that the Duke was named whether in Drinking his Health or upon graver Occasions that it seemed affected and when the late King himself whose Word they took that he was a Protestant was spoke of but coldly the very Name of the Duke set her Children all on fire this made many conclude that they were ready to Sacrifice all to him for indeed their behaviour was inflamed with so much Heat that the greater part of the Nation believed they waited for a fit opportunity to declare themselves Faith in Jesus Christ was not a more frequent Subject of the Sermons of many than Loyalty and the Right of the Succession to the Crown the Heat that appeared in the Pulpit and the Learning that was in their Books on these Subjects and the Eloquent Strains that were in their Addresses were all Originals and made the World conclude that whatever might be laid to their charge they should never be accused of any want of Loyalty at least in this King's time while the remembrance of so signal a service was so fresh When His Majesty came to the Crown these men did so entirely depend on the Promise that he made to maintain the Church of England that the doubting of the performance appeared to them the worst sort of Infidelity They believed that in His Majesty the Hero and the King would be too strong for the Papist and when any one told them How weak a tie the Faith of a
which one possessed with the present view that the Church of Rome has of this matter must needs have giveÌ„ V. There are some things very expresly taught in the N. Testament such as the rules of a Good Life the Use of the Sacraments the addressing our selves to God for Mercy and Grace thro the Sacrifice that Christ offered for us on the Cross and the Worshipping him as God the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and Life Everlasting by which it is apparent that we are set beyond doubt in those matters if then there are other passages more obscure concerning other matters we must Conclude that these are not of that Consequence otherwise they would have been as plainly revealed as the others are but above all if the Authority of the Church is delivered to us in disputable terms that is a just prejudice against it since it is a thing of such Consequence that it ought to have been revealed in a way so very clear and past all dispute VI. If it is a presumption for particular persons to judge concerning Religion which must be still referred to the Priests other Guides in sacred matters this is a good Argument to oblige all Nations to continue in the Established Religion whatever it may happen to be and above all others it was a convincing Argument in the mouths of the Jewes against our Saviour He pretended to be the Messias and proved it both by the prophesies that were accomplished in him and by the Miracles that he wrought as for the Prophesies the Reasons urged by the Church of Rome will conclude much stronger that such dark Passages as those of the Prophets were ought not to be interpreted by Particular persons but that the Exposition of these must be referred to the Priests and Sanhedrin it being expresly provided in their law Deut. 17.8 That when controversies arose concerning any cause that was too intricate they were to go to the place which God should choose and to the Priests of the tribe of Levi to the judge in those daies that they were to declare what was right to their decision all were obliged to submit under pain of death so that by this it appears that the Priests in the Jewish Religion were authorised in so extraordinary a manner that I dare say the Church of Rome would not wish for a more formal testimony on her behalf As for our Saviours Miracles these were not sufficient neither unless his doctrine was first found to be good since Moses had expresly warned the people Deut. 13.1 That if a Prophet came and taught them to follow after other Gods they were not to obey him tho he wrought miracles to prove his Mission but were to put him to death So a Jew saying that Christ by making himself one with his father brought in the worsâ—hip of another God might well pretend that he was not obliged to yield to the authority of our Saviours Miracles without taking cognisance of his doctrine and of the Prophesies concerning the Messias and in a word of the whole matter So that if these Reasonings are now good against the Reformation they were as strong in the mouths of the Iewes against our Saviour and from hence we see that the authority that seems to be given by Moses to the Priests must be understood with some Restrictions since we not only find the Prophets and Ieremy in particular opposing themselves to the whole body of them but we see likewise that for some considerable time before our Saviour's dayes not only many ill-grounded traditions had got in among them by which the vigour of the moral law was much enervated but likewise they were also universally possessed with a false notion of their Messias so that even the Apostles themselves had not quite shaken off those Prejudices at the time of our Saviour's Ascension So that here a Church that was still the Church of God that had the appointed means of the Expiation of their sins by their Sacrifices and Washings as well as by their Circumcision was yet under great and fatal Errors from which particular persons had no way to extricate themselves but by examining the Doctrine and texts of Scripture and by judging of them according to the Evidence of Truth and the force freedom of their Faculties VII It seems Evident that the passage Tell the Church belongs only to the Reconciling of Differences â—hat of Binding of Loosing according to the use of those terms among the Iews signifies only an Authority that was given to the Apostles of giving Precepts by which men were to be obliged to such Duties or set at liberty from them and the gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church signifys only that the Christian Religion was never to come to an end or to perish that of Christs being with the Apostles to the end of the world imports only a special Conduct Protection which the Church may alwayes expect but as the promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee that belongs to every Christian does not import an infallibility no more does the other And for those passages concerning the spirit of God that searches all things it is plain that in them St. Paul is treating of the Divine inspiration by which the Christian Religion was then opened to the world which he sets in opposition to the wisdom or Philosophy of the Greeks so that as all those passages come far short of proving that for which they are alledged it must at least be acknowledged that they have not an evidence great enough to prove so important a truth as some would evince by them since 't is a matter of such vast consequence that the proofs for it must have an undeniable Evidence VIII In the matters of Religion two things are to be considered first the account that we must give to God and the Rewards that we expect from him and in this every man must answer for the sincerity of his heart in examining divine Matters and the following what upon the best enquiries that one could make appeared to be true and with relation to this there is no need of a Iudge for in that Great Day every one must answer to God according to the talents thar he had and all will be saved according to their â—incerity and with relation to that judgement there is no need of any other judge but God. A Second view of Religion is as it is a Body united together by consequence brought under some regulation and as in all States there are subalterne Iudges in whose decisions all must at least acquiesce tho they are not infallible there being still a sort of an appeal to be made to the soveraigne or the supream legsliative Body so the Church has a Subalterne Iurisdiction but as the Authority of Inferiour Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law
a Royal stamp upon it when he sees such grounds made use of as must shake all Settlements whatsoever for if a prescription of 120. years and Confirmations reiterated over and over again these 100. years past do not purge some Defects in the first Formation of those Laws what can make us secure but this looks so like a Fetch of the French Prerogative Law both in their processes with Relation to the Edict of Nantes and those concerning Dependences at Mets that this seems to be a Copy from that famous Original VIII It were too much ill nature to look into the History of the last Age to examine on what grounds those characters of pious and blessed given to the Memory of Q. Mary are built but since James's Memory has the character of glorious given to it if the civility due to the fair sex makes one unwilling to look into the one yet the other may be a little dwelt on The peculiar Glory that belongs to James's Memory is that he was a Prince of great Learning and that he imployed it chiefly in writing for his Religion of the Volume in folio in which we have his works two thirds are against the Church of Rome one part of them is a Commentary on the Revelation proving that the Pope is Antichrist another part of them belonged more naturally to his Post and Dignity which is the warning that he gave to all the Princes and states of Europe against the Treasonable and bloody Doctrines of the Papacy The first Act he did when he came of Age was to swear in person with all his family and afterwards with all his people of Scotland a Covenant containing an Enumeration of all the points of Popery and a most solemn renunciation of them somewhat like our Parliament Test his first Speech to the Parliament of England was Copious on the same subject and he left a Legacy of a Wish on such of his posterity as should go over to that Religion which in good manners is suppressed It is known K. Iames was no Conquerour and that he made more use of his Pen than his Sword so the Glory that is peculiar to his Memory must fall chiefly on his Learned and Immortal Writings and since there is such a Veneration expressed for him it agrees not ill with this to wish that his Works were more studied by those who offer such Incense to his Glorious Memory IX His Maj. assures his people of Scotland upon his certain knowledge and long Experience that the Catholicks as they are good Christians so they are likewise Dutiful subjects but if we must believe both these equally then we must conclude severely against their being Good Christians for we are sure they can never be Good Subjects not only to a Heretical Prince but even to a Catholick Prince if he does not extirpate Hereticks for their beloved Council of the Lateran that decreed Transubstantiation has likewise decreed that if a Prince does not extirpate Hereticks out of his Dominions the Pope must depose him and declare his Subjects absolved from their Allegeance and give his Dominions to another So that even His Majesty how much soever he may be a Zealous Catholick yet cannot be assured of their fidelity to him unless he has given them secret assurances that he is resolved to extirpate Hereticks out of his Dominions and that all the Promises which he now makes to these poor wretches are no other way to be kept than the assurances which the Great Lewis gave to his Protestant Subjects of his observing still the Edict of Nantes even after he had resolved to break it and also his last promise made in the Edict that repealed the Edict of Nantes by which he gave Assurances that no Violence should be used to any for their Religion in the very time that he was ordering all possible Violences to be put in execution against them X. His Majesty assures us that on all occasions the Papists have shewed themselves Good and faithfull subjects to him and his Royall Predecessors but how Absolute soever the Kings Power may be it seems his knowledge of History is not so Absolute but it may be capable of some Improvement It will be hard to find out what Loyalty they shewed on the occasion of the Gunpowder Plot or during the whole progress of the Rebellion of Ireland if the King will either take the words of K. Iames of Glorious Memory or K. Charles the first that was indeed of pious and blessed Memory rather than the word of the penners of this Proclamation it will not be hard to find occasions where they were a little wanting in this their so much boasted Loyalty and we are sure that by the Principles of that Religion the King can never be assured of the Fidelity of those he calls his Catholick Subjects but by engaging to them to make his Heretical Subjects Sacrifices to their Rage XI The King declares them capable of all the Offices and Benefices which he shall think fit to bestow on them and only restrains them from invading the Protestant Churches by force so that here a door is plainly opened for admitting them to the exercise of their Religion in Protestant Churches so they do not break into them by force and whatsoever may be the sense of the term Benefice in its antient and first signification now it stands only for Church Preferments so that when any Churches that are at the Kings gift fall vacant here is a plain intimation that they are to be provided to them and then it is very probable that all the Lawes made against such as go not to their Parish Churches will be severely turned upon those that will not come to Mass. XII His Majesty does in the next place in the vertue of his Absolute Power Annull a great many Laws as well those that established the Oaths of Allegeance and supremacy as the late Test enacted by himself in person while he represented his Brother upon which he gave as strange an Essay to the World of his Absolute Iustice in the Attainder of the late Earl of Argile as he does now of his Absolute Power in condemning the Test it self he also repeals his own Confirmation of the Test since he came to the Crown which he offered as the clearest Evidence that he could give of his Resolution to maintain the Protestant Religion and by which he gained so much upon that Parliament that he obtained every thing from them that he desired of them till he came to try them in the Matters of Religion This is no extraordinary Evidence to assure his People that his Promises will be like the Lawes of the Medes and Persians which alter not nor will the disgrace of the Commissioner that enacted that Law lay this matter wholly on him for the Letter that he brought the Speech that he made and the Instructions which he got are all too well known to be so soon forgotten and if Princes will give