may they not as well understand the particular Service that is performed that so they might exercise a particular Devotion So that they are devout no further than they understand and consequently as to what they do not understand had every whit as good be absent Secondly They say the Prayers are to God and he understands them and that is enough But what harm were it if all they that pray understood it also Or indeed how can men pray to God without understanding what they ask of him Is not Prayer a part of the Christian Worship and is any Service reasonable that is not directed by our Understandings and accompanied with our Hearts and Affections But then what say they to the Lessons and Exhortations of Scripture which are likewise read to the People in an unknown Tongue Are these directed to God or to the People only And are they not designed by God for their Instruction and read either to that purpose or to none And is it possible to instruct Men by what they do not understand This is a new and wonderful way of Teaching by concealing from the People the things which they should learn. Is it not all one as to all purposes of Edification as if the Scriptures were not read or any thing else in the place of them As they many times do their Legends which the wiser sort among them do not believe when they read them For all things are alike to them that understand none as all things are of a colour in the dark Ignorance knows no difference of things it is only Knowledge that can distinguish Thirdly They say that some do at least in some measure understand the particular Prayers If they do that is no thanks to them It is by accident if they are more knowing than the rest and â—ore than the Church either desires or intends For if they desired it they might order their Service so as every man might understand it Fourthly They say that 't is convenient that God should be served and worshipped in the same Language all the World over Convenient for them for God or for the People Not for God surely for he understands all other Languages as well as Latin and for any thing we know to the contrary likes them as well And certainly it cannot be so convenient for the People because they generally understand no Language but their own and it is very inconvenient they should not understand what they do in the Service of God. But perhaps they mean that it is convenient for the Roman Church to have it so because this will look like an Argument that they are the Catholick or Vniversal Church when the Language which was originally theirs shall be the universal Language in which all Nations shall serve God and by this means also they may bring all Nations to be of their Religion and yet make them never the wiser And this is a very great Convenience because Knowledge is a troublesome thing and Ignorance very quier and peaceable rendring Men fit to be governed and unfit to dispute Secondly As to their depriving the People of the Scriptures the summ of what they say may be reduced to these three Heads First That the Church can give men leave to read the Scriptures but this not without great trouble and difficulty there must be a License for it under the hand of the Bishop or Inquisitor by the advice of the Priest and Confessor concerning the fitness of the Person that desires this Priviledge And we may be sure they will think none fit but those of whom they have the greatest confidence and security and whoever presumes to do it otherwise is to bt denied Absolution which is as much as in them lies to damn Men for presuming to read the Word of God without their leave And whatever they may allow here in England where they hold their People upon more slippery Terms yet this Priviledge is very rarely granted where they are in full possession of their Power and have the People perfectly under their Yoke Secondly They tell us they instruct the People otherwise This indeed were something if they did it to purpose but generally they do it very sparingly and slightly Their Sermons are commonly made up of feigned Stories and Miracles of Saints and exhortations to the Worship of them and especially of the Blessed Virgin and of their Images and Relicks And for the Truth of this I appeal to the innumerable Volumes of their Sermons and Postils in Print which I suppose are none of their worst I am sure Erasmus says that in his time in several Countries the People did scarce once in half a Year hear a profitable Sermon to exhort them to true Piety Indeed they allow the People some Catechisms and Manuals of Devotion and yer in many of them they have the confidence and the conscience to steal away the Second Commandment in the face of the Eighth But to bring the matter to a point if those helps of Instruction are agreeable to the Scriptures why are they so afraid the People should read the Scriptures If they are not why do they deceive and delude them Thirdly They say That People are apt to wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction and that the promiscuous use of them hath been the great occasion of Heresies It cannot be denied to be the condition of the very best things in the World that they are liable to be abused Health Light and Liberty as well as Knowledge But must all those be therefore taken away This very Inconvenience of Peoples wresting the Scriptures to their own Ruine St. Peter takes notice of in his days But he does not therefore forbid Men the reading of them as his more prudent Successors have done since Suppose the reading of the Scriptures hath been the occasion of Heresies were there ever more than in the first Ages of Christianity And yet neither the Apostles nor their Successors ever prescribed this Remedy But are they in earnest Must not Men know the Truth for fear of falling into Errour Because Men may possibly miss their way at Noon-day must they never travel but in the Night when they are sure to lose it And when all is done this is not true that Heresies have sprung from this Cause They have generally been broached by the Learned from whom the Scriptures neither were nor could be concealed And for this I appeal to the History and Experience of all Ages I am well assured the ancient Fathers were of another mind St. Chrysostome says if Men would be Conversant in the Scriptures and attend to them they would not only not fall into Errors themselves but rescue those that are deceived And St. Hierome more expresly to our purpose Thus infinite Evils arise from the Ignorance of the Scriptures and that from that Cause the most part of most part of Heresies have come But if what they say were true is not this to lay the blame of all
Destruction shall be charged upon those who have taken away the Key of Knowledge and shut the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. And it is just with God to punish such Persons not only as the Occasion but as the Authors of this Ruine For who can judge otherwise but that they who deprive Men of the necessary means to any End do purposely design to hinder them of attaining that End. And whatever may be pretended in this Case to deprive Men of the Holy Scriptures and to keep them ignorant of the service of God and yet while they do so to make a shew of an earnest desire of their Salvation is just such a mockery as if one of you that is a Master should tell his Apprentice how much you desire he should thrive in the World and be a Rich Man but all the while keeps him ignorant of his Trade in order to his being Rich and with the strictest care imaginable conceals from him the best means of Learning that whereby alone he is likely to thrive and get an Estate Woe unto you Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites By what hath been discoursed upon this Argument you will easily perceive where the Application is like to fall For the Woe denounced by our Saviour here in the Text against the Scribes and Pharisees falls every whit as heavy upon the Pastours and Teachers of the Roman Church They have taken away the Key of Knowledge with a Witness not only depriving the People of the right Understanding of the Scriptures but of the very use of them As if they were afraid they should understand them that they dare not suffer them so much as to be acquainted with them This Tyranny that Church hath Exercised over those of her Communion for several Hundreds of Years It grew upon them indeed by degrees for as by the Inundation of Barbarous Nations upon the Roman Empire the Romans bought their Language by degrees so the Governours of that Church still kept up the Scriptures and the Service of God in the Latin Tongue which at last was wholly unknown to the Common People And about the Ninth and Tenth Centuries when by the general Consent of all their own Historians gross Darkness and Ignorance covered this part of the World the Pope and the Priests took away the Key of Knowledge and did as I may so say put it under the Door for several Ages till the Reformation fetcht it out again and rubbed off the Rust of it And I profess seriously that hardly any thing in the World was ever to me more astonishing than this Uncharitable and Cruel usage of the People in the Church of Rome And I cannot tell which to wonder at most the Insolence of their Governours in imposing upon Men this sensless way of serving God or the patience shall I call it or rather stupidity of the People in enduring to be so intollerably abused Why should reasonable Creatures be treated at this rude and barbarous rate As if they were Unworthy to be acquainted with the Will of God and as if that which every Man ought to do were not fit for every Man to know As if the Common People had only Bodies to be present at the service of God but no Souls or as if they were all distracted and out of their Wits and it were a dangerous thing to let in the Lights upon them But to speak more distinctly There are two things we charge them withal and which they are not able to deny Their performing the Publick Service of God in an Unknown Tongue and depriving the People of the use of the Scriptures And I shall first tell you what we have to say against these things and then consider what they pretend for them 1. As for their performing the service of God in a Tongue Unknown to the People And I begin with St. Paul who in his first Epistle to the Corinthians hath a whole Chapter on purpose to shew the unreasonableness of this thing and how contrary it is to the Edification of Christians His Discourse is so plain and so well known that I shall not particularly insist upon it Erasmus in his Annotations upon this Chapter breaks out as well he might into admiration at the Church of Rome in his time Hâc in re mirum quam mutata sit Ecclesiae consuetudo It is Wonderful says he how the Custom of the Church is altered in this matter St. Paul had rather speak five Words with Vnderstanding and so as to teach others than Ten Thousand in an Vnknown Tongue Why does the Church doubt to follow so great an Authority or rather how dares she to dissent from it As for the practice of the Ancient Church let Origen bear Witness The Grecians saith he in their Prayers use the Greek and the Romans the Latin Tongue and so every one according to his Language prayeth unto God and praiseth him as he is able And not only in Origen's time but for more than Six Hundred Years the Service of God was always performed in a known Tongue And this the Learned Men of their own Church do not deny And Cardinal Caietan as Cassander tells us said it was much better this custom were restored and being reproved for saying so he said he Learned it from St. Paul. And Bellarmine himself confesseth that the Armenians Aegyptians Aethiopians Russians and others do use their own Language in their Liturgies at this day But it is otherwise now in the Church of Rome and hath been for several Ages And it seems they lay great stress upon it not only as a thing of great use but necessity For Pope Gregory the Seventh forbids the Prince of Bohemia to permit to the People the Celebration of Divine Offices in the Sclavonian Tongue and commands him to oppose them herein with all his forces It seems he thought it a Cause worthy the fighting for and that it were much better the People should be Killed than suffered to understand their Prayers But let us reason this matter a little calmly with them Is it necessary for Men to understand any thing they do in Religion And is not Prayer one of the most solemn Parts of Religion And why then should not Men understand their Pâ—ayers as well as any thing else they do in Religion Is it good that People should understand their private Prayers that we thank them they allow and why not the publick as well Is there less of Religion in publick Prayers Is God less honoured by them Or are we not as capable of being Edified and of having our hearts and affections moved and incited by them Where then lies the Difference The more I consider it the more I am at a loss what tolerable reason any Man can give why People should not understand their publick Devotions as well as their private If Men cannot heartily and devoutly pray alone without understanding what they ask of God no more say I can they heartily and devoutly join in the
publick Prayers which are made by the Priest wiâ—hout understanding what they are If it be enough for the Priest to understand them why should not the Priest only be present at them Unless the People do not meet to worship God but only to wait upon the Priest. But by saying that the Priest understands 'em it seems it is better that some body should understand them than not and why is not that which is good for the Priest good for the Pâ—ople So that the true state of the Controversy is whether it be fit that the People should be Edified in the Service of God and whether it be fit that the Church should order things contrary to Edification For it is plain that the Service of God in an unknown Tongue is useless and unprofitable to the People Nay it is evidently no publick Service of God when the Priest only understands it For how can they be said to be publick Prayers if the People do not join in them and how can they join in that they do not understand and to what purpose are Lessons of Scripture read if People are to learn nothing by them and how should they learn when they do not understand This is as if one should pretend to teach a Man Greek by reading him Lectures every day out of an Arabick and Persian Book of which he understands not one syllable As to their depriving the People of the use of the Holy Scriptures our Blessed Saviour exhorts the Jews to search the Scriptures And St. Paul chargeth the Christians that the Word of God should dwell richly in them And the ancient Fathers of the Church do most frequently and earnestly recommend to the People the reading and study of the Scriptures How comes the Case now to be so altered Sure the Word of God is not changed that certainly abides and continues the same for ever I shall by and by examine what the Church of Rome pretends in excuse of this Sacriledge In the mean time I do not see what considerable Objections can be made against the reading of the Scriptures which would not have held as well against the writing and publishing them in a Language understood by the People as the Old Testament was by the Jews and the Epistles of the Apostles by the Churches to whom they were written and the Gospel both by Jews and Greeks Were there no difficulties and obscurities then in the Scriptures capable of being wrested by the Unstable and unlearned Were not People then liable to Errour and was there no danger of Heresy in those Times And yet these are their great Objections against putting the Scriptures into the hands of the People which is just like their arguing against giuing the Cup to the Laity from the inconveniency of their Beards least some of the Consecrated Wine should be spilt upon them As if Errours and Beards were Inconveniences lately sprung up in the World and which Mankind were not liable to in the first Ages of Christianity But if there were the same dangers and inconveniences in all Ages this Reason makes against the Publishing of the Scriptures to the People at first as much as against permitting them the use of them now And in truth all these Objections are against the Scripture it self and that which the Church of Rome would find fault with if they durst is that there should be any such Book in the World and that it should be in any bodies hands learned or unlearned for if it be dangerous to any none are so capable of doing mischief with it as Men of Wit and Learning So that at the bottom if they would speak out the Quarrel is against the Scriptures themselves This is too evident by the Counsel given to Pope Julius the Third by the Bishops met at Bononia to consult about the Establishment of the Roman See where among other things they give this as their last advice and as the greatest and weightiest of all That by all means as little of the Gospel as might be especially in the vulgar Tongue should be read to the People and that little which was in the Mass ought to be sufficient neither should it be permitted to any Mortal to read more For so long say they as Men were contented with that little all things went well with them but quite otherwise since more was commonly read And speaking of the Scripture they give this remarkable testimony and commendation of it This in short is that Book which above all others hath raised those Tempests and Whirlwinds which we were almost carried away with And in truth if any one diligently considers it and compares it with what is done in our Church he will find them very contrary to each other and our Doctrine not only to be very different from it but repugnant to it If this be the Case they do like the rest of the Children of this World prudently enough in their Generation Can we blame them for being against the Scriptures when the Scriptures are acknowledged to be so clearly against them But surely no body that considereth these things would be of that Church which is brought by the undeniable evidence of the things themselves to this shameful Confession that several of their Doctrines and Practices are very contrary to the Word of God. Much more might have been said against the Practice of the Church of Rome in these two particulars but this is sufficient I shall in the second place consider what is pretended for them And indeed what can be pretended in justification of so contumelious an affront to Mankind so great a tyranny and cruelty to the Souls of Men Hath God forbidden the People to look into the Scriptures No quite contrary Was it the Practice of the Antient Church to lay this restraint upon Men or to celebrate the Service of God in an unknown Tongue Our Adversaries themselves have not the face to pretend this I shall truly represent the substance of what they say in these two points As to the Service of God in an unknown Tongue they say these four things for themselves First That the People do exercise a general Devotion and come with an intention to serve God and that is accepted though they do not particularly understand the Prayers that are made and the Lessons that are read But is this all that is intended in the Service of God does not St. Paul expresly require more That the Vnderstanding of the People should be Edified by the particular Service that is performed And if what is done be not particularly understood he tells us the People are not Edified nor can say Amen to the Prayers and Thanksgivings that are put up to God And that any Man that should come in and find People serving of God in this unprofitable and unreasonable manner would conclude that they were mad And if there be any general Devotion in the People it is because they understand in general what they are about and why