the wordes be agreed vpon yet the meaning of them is disputed of And therefore seeing it is the meaning that we are to gouerne our actions by and that wordes without meaning are of no weight â—â—t is euident that Tradition is a rule And that Scripture is none But why do I troble your Lordship with such scrupulous balancing of these rules one against the other since by my discourse in excluding â—â—ll former pretended rules it apâ—â—eareth euidently that if Tradition â—â—e not the light which God hath hung out to his Church whereby to know true doctrine from false when he sent his Apostles to preach and promised he would be with them that is with their preaching or with their successours in preaching vntill the end of the world We may truly conclude there is no light or certainty to guide his Church by Which is as much to say as that when he had built the world for men and had fitted them with all thinges requisite for their naturall and ciuill life in this world he failed and mistooke in the maine and chief end for which he had contriued all the rest THE XVIII CHAPTER Against the opinion of some deuines that place Tradition in the consent of fathers that haue written in their seuerall ages and against some other opinions of particular deuines As also against Naturalists and Socinians I am not ignorant that among vs there are some deuines who as they acknowledge Tradition to be the rule of faith for without doing so they could not be stiled Catholikes so they place Tradition in the consent or fathers through all ages But I conceiue I shall not wrong them if I say that in doing thus they consider onely themselues and not the Church which is composed of all sortes and of all degrees of persons simple and wise learned and vnlearned For no man is so weake as not to see that it were a wilder arrant to send the commonalty of Christians to the multitude of Fathers for their faith then to remitt them to the Scriptures It can not be doubted but that the rule of faith must be somewhat within the peoples kenning All sortes of persons are capable of discerning whither or no they are in the publike communion of those who professe they haue receiued their doctrine by a continued sequele of teachers succeeding one an other But for studying of fathers or Scripture the vniuersality of mankinde wanted for the most part capacity talents and leisure And no small difficulty will be added to this taske by our aduersaries endeauouring all they can to cast a mist before mens eyes and to obscure what of it selfe is moâ—â— cleare I take therefore the conseâ—â— of fathers to be a confirmation anâ—â— a testimony to learned men of thâ—â— Tradition that is deliuered by handes but not to be the substance of Tradition which of its nature might haue bin if so God had pleased and would haue maintained its vnshaken inuincible force though there had bin neither writinges of fathers nor Scripture Others seeme to thinke that some points of faith are knowne by Tradition or as they call it by the vnwritten word to witt those whereof they find not sufficient proofe in Scripture but that for the maine ones we are to haue recourse to Scripture Now for these I admire att the loosenesse of their discourse when they allow Tradition to giue assurance of those pointes which are the outmost and which can not be knowne without the former and yet will not haue the former to be knowne by the same Tradition And therefore I imagine it is but a mistake in their deliuering themselues and that their meaning is that all pointes are knowne by Traditionâ—â— but some not onely by tradition but by Scripture too And it is euident that all they who referre vnto Tradition the knowing that Scripture is the word of God and that this booke is the Canon of Scripture must needes relate all certainty of faith to Tradition euen of what they thinke they demonstrate out of Scripture Other deuines there be who adde to Tradition some power of reuealing new verities to the Church But euen they themselues do confesse that the knowing that there is such a power must rely finally vpon Tradition And then seeing it is a point not fully resolued of among our selues I conceiue it is not fitt to presse it vpon those who haue yet reluctance in digesting so much as is resolued of and is euidently true The reason why I haue mentioned these opinions of some particular deuines is because I desire that your Lordship should see that the way wherein we walke is not onely a plaine and a smooth one but an easy one to be found out which it would not appeare vnto you to be if you should be obliged to what these men would impose By my exceptions against which as well as out of what I haue formerly established I conceiue I may safely conclude That all Catholikes do take Traâ—â—ition for the last rule into which the certainty of all particular articles of faith is to be resolued Now were my taske performed Tradition sett in the throne of commanding Christian beliefe Did not the Naturalist and the Socinian with iointe forces endeauour to possesse Reason of that chaire Alleaging how Reason is the nature of man the sole power in him that can giue consent to any thing proposed vnto him And therefore in spight of all I haue said must be Queene and commanderesse both of his beliefe and of his actions But when they obiect this to me they do not consider how I haue beene all this while labouring to do in effect that which they require For what hath all my discourse leuelled att but to shew that reason obligeth vs to ground our beliefe vpon Tradition So that I professe Tradition hath no force to command beliefe vnlesse Reason tell vs so much and as it were deliuer vs vp to Tradition Reason telleth vs it is fitt to belieue a knowing teacher or directour in a matter wherein ones selfe is ignorant She telleth vs that she herselfe hath not principles and meanes without beleeuing some teacher to giue vs certaine information of the state of our soule in the next world and of the wayes in this whereby Beatitude is to be obtained She telleth vs that Tradition hath deriued this knowledge from a Master who was well assured of it and that she containeth within her selfe a strength of infallibility to reach vs without mistake what she learned of him And So Reason concludeth that we must barken to Tradition and follow that rule Else she renounceth vs and protesteth we goe against her sentiments that is we do vnreasonably Will not this satisfy any man that professeth to follow the conduct of Reason Yet I will say more Lett either Naturalist or Socinian produce true Reason that is demonstration against any thing that is attested by Tradition and I will graunt him we ought to leaue Tradition and
haue it Nor can he be sure that he hath it vnlesse he haue some infallible meanes whereby to discerne it from false and pretended doctrines This infallible meanes can be none other but the infallibility of the authority and conueyance by which this doctrine cometh to him If Christ whom he beleeueth to be God did speake himselfe immediatly to him he would require no more But seeing he is departed many ages since from conuersing with mankinde we must inquire what infallible conueyance of his doctrine to vs we may rely vpon It is cleare there can be but two wayes to performe that worke the one by writing the other by being handed downe from generation to generation by the mouths of them who first and immediately receiued it from Christ and taught it to those that they conuersed with who againe preached it all ouer the world and they who learned it of them taught it att their turne to those who succeeded them and so from generation to generation and from age to age is come downe to our present age The vniuersality which euen in the very beginning and whiles the doctrine was fresh in their memories that had it from its source requiring a great time to the forgetting and extetminating of it euery wheâ—â—e it may be conceiued to haue â—â—in conserued pure and entire all this while in some great part of the world Third way there is none vnlesse peraduenture we make a subdiuision of writinges distinguiâ—â—ing betveene such as came from â—â—he pennes of those teachers who â—â—eceiued what they write immediaâ—â—ly from Christ and whose wordes 〈◊〉 authenticall and lawâ—â— And such other writinges as being composed by authors in succeeding ageâ—â— do informe vs what the Church hath held in all times This sort of writers may seeme to partake of both wayes Of the first as being writers And of the second as farre forth as they are in a manner a part of the handes through which Christe's doctrine hath bin conueyed vnto vs These two wayes may seeme to haue bin shared betweene the french Caluinistes among vs called Puritans or Presbyterians and the English Protestantes or common prayer men But in reality they haue them not For the Puritane as soone as he hath highly and peremptorily pronounced that nothing but scripture must be Iudge of Religion and that the word of God pure and alone must gouerne he presently maketh you a Catalogue of articles which you must hold if you will not be excommunicated and cost out of his Church And howeuer he may pretend that he deâ—â—iueth these articles out of scripture yet the wordes of them not being in the Scripture he can not deny but that they are his owne collections and interpretations So that if he misse in interpreting Gods written word the sense aswell as the wordes will be his and not the Scriptures Now the Protestant seeing the vnreasonablenesse of this proceeding that a particular man or company should oblige all men to receiue his interpretation of Scripture thinketh to take a more plausible course by pretending to explicate Scripture by the fathers especially by the fatheâ—â—s of the primitiue ages But this seemeth to me more irrationall then the puritanes proceeding For first he goeth against his owne principle by appealing to the fathers after hauing prâ—â—tested against all humane authority 〈◊〉 fallible Secondly he maketh himselfe iudge which of the fathers â—â—re to be receiued and when and â—â—hat of them to be reiected and how to be vnderstood And so draweth the question from the sole booke of Scripture to the infinite volumes of fathers And lastly that he may serue himselfe of the fathers manner of expressions iointly with his owne conceits and opinions so to boulster out his fancyes with the semblance of their authority he confoundeth his owne language with their manner of speaking and neither vnderstandeth himselfe nor much lesse can make an other man vnderstand what he sayth Like those commentors of Aristotle and S. Thomas who not being bold enough to deny their authority which hath taken so deepe rootes in all the schooles of Christendome do render their doctrine and themselues vnintelligible by their wrested and confused interpretations Yet I deny not but that a right Protestant is in many pointes neerer truth then the Presbyterianâ—â— For his reading of the fathers and his allowing them some kind of estimation can not choose but worke some good effect in his minde But that which I complaine of him for is that the rule he pretendeth as he vseth it is more intricate then the Presbyterians and his discourse is more ambigous and confused by his counterfeiting to hold with the fathers when in truth he renounceth them THE XV CHAPTER A further consideration of the insufficiency and vnreasonablenesse of the late Protestants proceeding in point of Religion TRVLY it seemeth to me so euident that neither of these haue any rule of Christianity as I haue oftentimes wondered when I haue heard some men in other thinges appearing to be prudent say in earnest that they beleeue they haue one and grow warme in their maintaining so much For there being but two channels whereby Christes doctrine can descend to vs writting and deliuering from hand to hand How can they pretend to Christianity who accept of neither of these As for tradition by handes they clearely defy it And as for Scripture If they take that for their rule why do they binde men to opinions that can not be decided out of Scripture but remaine still disputable after all is said that can be vrged from thence Well may they in pursuance of their owne rule quarrell att such as shall deny any point that is cleare and euident in Scripture But to anathematise and punish when they haue the power those that produce out of Scripture as faire proofes for their opinions as any thing they are able to bring against them seemeth to me a great iniustice Certainly nothing can be more-euident then that in all the points which haue bin disputed out of Scripture alone betweene Catholikes and them now almost an 100. yeares the textes produced by them haue not att all inclined the ballance on their side but rather if I may'be allowed to giue my verdict in a case where I am inâ—â—ereâ—â—ed it hath weighed notably on our side And therefore lett them pretend what they will it is cleare that Scripture is not their rule As for the Protestantes pretending to the authority of the fathers in interpreting Scripture the case is yet more cleare if more may be For they sticke not to say vpon euery occasion that the fathers erred and that they might erre both in common and in particular So that theirs is but like a cobwebbe lawne lining of no substance or solidity to the Nettelike cloke wherewith the Presbyterians do endeauour to hide their foule play when they recede from the rule which themselues propose and is looked through att the first casting of ones eyes vpon it And in this
regard both their cases are the very same And to speake plainely the rule common to both these and to all others who proposing Scripture for their rule do afterwardes prefixe particular opinions to their Church neither is nor can be any other then a heady pride and wilfulnesse to bind all other men to their not knowledge but guessing Now if such guessing can be iudged a sufficient meanes for themselues and others to be assured of those thinges without the doing whereof mankinde must be eternally miserable these men may pretend to Christianity But for my part I can entertaine but a very meane estime of it I know â—â—euerall of them are held for learned men And that not onely in their owne opinions but by many others besides How iustly they deserue that title will appeare if we consider what true learning and knowledge in any science is I take it to be an assurance of the nature of the thinges that are treated of in that science Such Mathematicians haue in their profession such the masters of all the artes that belong to mans life Such Philosophers haue or should pretend to haue though some vnworthy the name of Philosophers do content themselues with probable opinions and much more deuines ought to haue such assuraÌ„ce of what concerneth their profession seeing that any mistake therein exposeth men to eternall ruine and misery Now the learning of these men that would passe for so great deuines wherein doth it consist They pretend to no other then to know that hath bin said by others Which others are God and men to witt what hath bin sayd by God in Scripture and by men in their bookes If they rightly vnderstood all this they might with reason haâ—â—e a good conceipt of themselues But let vs examine how they behaue themselues in their proceeding with both these As for Scriptures I haue already touched how their penetrating into the sense of them is but a meere guessing Yet were it something if they could make it appeare that they guesse fairely I will allow them so much if they can shew how any of their deuines in any one question hath faithfully paralleled the places of Scripture vsed to be brought on each side and hath fairely compared and weighed them in the ballance one against the other and hath giuen each of them their full weight and then hath pronounced an orderly sentence in this sort that by reason of plurality of places propriety of wordes efficacity of texts and the like the aduantage falleth to this side rather then to that If they should pretend they are able to do this which I am sure they neuer haue as yet performed I would entreate them to shew me a learned logike of wordes out of which they had extracted the rules whereby the sense of wordes may be pondered and whereby one may be certaine when their sense is demonstratiuely knowne and when but probably and by what weights one probability appeareth greater then an other And after all this paines I would tell them and they can not deny it that as long as both senses are probable the lesse probable may peraduenture be the true one And so all their labour is lost But lett vs examine if their learning be any greater in humane writers The depth of it is to boggle att any darke place of History or of fathers and by it persuade such men as are not conuersant in antiquity to frame a iudgement coutrary to the publicke practise of the Church of those ages As for example what can be more publicke and notorious then the succession and authority of Bishops then the being of Monkes and Nunnes then the principality of the Bishop of Rome then the practise of the Masse Sacrements and ceremonies then the custome of praying for the dead then the vse of Crosses and of pictures And euen for all these they make it their labour and for which they pretend the title of subtile and deepe schollers to persuade you out of some not fully declared sentence of a father speaking vpon the by that there were no such thinges as these in antiquity Yet had our contryman more sincerity then this who in his translation of S. Augustines confessions professeth plainely that he had left out many thinges because S. Augustine had erred in them So the Centurists and Luther and Caluin and all Nouellists whiles there remained any ingenuity among them confessed that the opinions which they reiected were auncient errors of the fathers But now all their learning consisteth in belying of antiquity and in pinning a false maske vpon the venerable face of it How then can men deserue the name of learned who take not the course to know any thing att all Neuerthelesse they must passe for great deuines when peraduenture they are all together ignorant what diuinity is Diuinity signifyeth a science that followeth out of faith or out of the discipline of saluation in such sort as Euclides Elements do follow out of the definitious and axiomes which he hath prefixed as groundes for his bookes and that he hath supposed before them In like manner faith must be supposed to diuinity But in sâ—â—eed of doing so these men who terme themselues deuines do spend all their paines and employe all their schollership in opposing the receiued tenets of faith So that they are such eminent deuines as he would be a Geometrician who in steed of studying throughly Euclides Elements should neuer goe beyond the first leafe but should busy himselfe many yeares and write great volumes to proue that his definitions are ill contriued and that this axiomes are false And yet must such seely aequiuocation so pusse them vp and persuade their followers they are so great Clerkes that all Antiquity all the latter and present ages and common sense it selfe must be deserted to adhere to these learned Masters Whereas those who are truly deuines are beyond common Christians and do begin their science and employment att the height of those notions which belong to common Christians Whiles these whom the Protesâ—â—ants terme deuines do neuer attaine to the knowledge that the simplest Christians are imbued with by relying vpon tradition and vpon the authority of the Church But enough of this since it seemeth that God himselfe hath taken it to his taske to ruine them wheresoeuer they appeared to haue power THE XVI CHAPTER The Socinians and the Independents excluded from hauing the true doctrine of Christ THESE two being reiected from holding the rule of Scripture whatsoeuer they may pretend there remaine yet two other families who lay clayme to that rule namely the Independents and the Socinians Their difference I take to be this That the Independent acknowledgeth the booke we call the Bible to be truly the word of God and accordingly maketh it his precise study to know what is sayd in this booke All that no lest findeth there he holdeth for most certaine and holy He bindeth others no further then to acknowledge the letter
how during all this tract of time there hath still bin great disputing out of Scripture against sundry most important propositions diuers of them directly impugning our Sauiour himâ—â—elfe and his dignity and Godhead for the settling whereof in mens beliefes it appeareth that a great part of the Scripture was written And yet peraduenture neuer a one of them was euer conuinced and beaten downe by Scripture or by any other meanes then by Tradition and by the title of possession of the contrary Doctrine And shall not the consideration of this successe after so many attempts make vs very doubtfull and afraid that nothing can be conuinced out of â—â—ole Scripture I haue heard some â—â—ho haue employed their studies to be exact in the controuersy about Scriptures being the rule of faith challenge others that haue pretended to haue greatest skill and insight in Scripture to conuince out of it alone that there was but one God a point wherein all Christians agree and tâ—â—ey could neuer receiue satisfaction in it The Ecclesiasticall stories informe vs how the Arrians defended their denying of our Sauiours dâ—â—uinity by pregnant texts of Scripture and could not be conuinced otherwise then by Tradition And how it fared in like manner with sundry others The very nature of wordes so subiect to diuerses senses and vnderstandinges The length of the Bible whereby all sortes of metaphores and improper manners of speaking do occurre in it And thâ—â— reiterating of the same speech diuersly in diuers occasions Do render it mainely suspitious that it is impossible to make a demonstration for proofe and explication of the true meaning of any passage in it which great wittes haue engaged themselues in explicating a contrary way And therefore before a man can rationally rely vpon Scripture for a sufficient rule to bring him to Beatitude he must be satisfyed and conuinced that there is a meanes whereby he may certainely know what is the sense of Scripture and how he may compasse this meanes For otherwise all that he draweth our of Scripture is vncertaine And no lesse vncertaine it is whither what he hath drawne be enough or whither more be not necessary And in a word he remaineth on all handes in perpetuall incâ—â—titude THE XVII CHAPTER That Tradition is the onely meanes of conueying Christes doctrine to succeeding ages OF the two wayes of conueying Christes doctrine to Mankinde in all ages the first of which is by writing and that â—â—e haue bin hitherto reflecting vpon there remaineth onely the latter which is by handing it from one to an other to be considered A doctrine so conueyed implying thereby that it hath beene in all ages that is to say in the vniuersality of time belongeth onely to Catholikes to lay clayme vnto it and onely they who do so may properly be stiled Catholikes Neither can it be obiected that the Greekes may pretend it in such pointes of faith as they differ in from those that liue in communion with the Roman See Well may they in matters of custome But these are of such a nature as they may haue bin different in seuerall places euen att the very origine of them without any inconueniency att all And consequently in different places there may haue continued different practises euer since the Apostles time But lett vs examine more particularly what aduantages or prerogatiues this way of transmitting Christe's doctrine from hand to hand vntill our dayes hath ouer the retriuing it in Scripture First we shall find that it hath the prerogatiue of Possession All aduersaries hauing found the Catholike Church out of which they broke in a quiett credulity that her doctrine was so descended from the Apostles Next it hath the prerogatiue of all the approbation and commendation that our fathers could giue it by themselues by their lawes by their rewardes and punishements and by whatsoeuer else they could inuent for the continuation of it It hath a high straine of testification aboue all that is to be found in our titles to land inheritances legacies bargaines and all other morall transactions and concernements whatsoeuer It hath the testimony of all our aduersaries to haue continued for a thousand yeares euen in those pointes wherein they dissent from vs but in all others wherein they agree with vs they allow our continuance from the very origine of Christianity So as it can not be doubted euen by our Aduersaries confession but that this way is capable of bringing downe truths vnto us vncorrupted But aboue all it hath the euidence or its fidelity in conueying to posterity the doctrine of Saluation by the connexion of one age to an other Out of this maxime That it is impossible all fathers through out the whole world should conspirâ—â— to deceiue their Children in so important an affaire For this Maxime doth so connect the knowledge of euery century to what was knowne in the century immediately preceding it that it is impossible for any error to creepe in betweene them And the maxime it selfe is as euident as any that belongeth to Mathematikes And so much more cleare then any of those as perpetuall dayly practise beateth vs into the knowledge and continuall view of it For as no man could doubt but that the braines of that person were crased who conuersing with marchants vpon the Exchange in London and hearing them speake dayly of Paris and of moneyes they remitt hither and of letters they receiue from thence Should neuerthelesse thinke confidently there were no such towne as Paris because he was neuer there himselfe So much more â—â—ould he be held for a mad man that liuing in England and conuersing with all forces of people reading their bookes of all kindes hearing their sermons considering their lawes and the change of some particular ones in matter of Religion and innumerable other particulars which speake manifestly how Catholike Religion had course in England before Henry the VIII changed it should neuerthelesse deny it because he liued not in the time when that Religion was publikely professed For in this case the number of wittnesses is farre greater then in the other Now when a motiue of humane prudence is so preualent a one as to brand him with want of common sense who shoud not assent to what it induceth It is a manifest signe of a conquering axiomaticall euidence in the proposition that he should so deny And consequently by this discourse applying it to euery age since Christ's planting of his Church the descent of Christian or Catholike Religion from Christ is as euident as any Geometrical demonstration whatsoeuer One great prerogatiue more I must not omitt that Tradition hath aboue Scripture which is that Scripture is deliuered in precise and determinate wordes whose sense is not vnderstood But Tradition is deliuered in almost as many seuerall expressions as there be seuerall persons that deliuer it So that in Tradition the sense is constant though the wordes be vncertaine Whereas in a truth deliuered by writting though