or to read therein is subjected to severe penalties 2. FOR the vindication of the truth of God and to put to shame those unhappy Innovators who amidst great pretences to antiquity and veneration to the Scriptures prevaricat from both I think it may not be amiss to shew plainly the mind of the primitive Church herein and that in as few words as the matter will admit 3. FIRST I premise that Ireneus and Tertullian having to do with Heretics who boasted themselves to be emendators of the Apostles and wiser then they despising their autority rejecting several parts of the Scripture and obtruding other writings in their steed have had recourse unto Tradition with a seeming preference of it unto Scripture Their adversaries having no common principle besides the owning the name of Christians it was impossible to convince them but by a recourse to such a medium which they would allow But these Fathers being to set down and establish their Faith are most express in resolving it into Scripture and when they recommend Tradition ever mean such as is also Apostolical 4. IRENEUS in the second Book 47. c. tells us that the Scriptures are perfect as dictated by the word of God and his spirit And the same Father begins his third Book in this manner The disposition of our salvation is no otherwise known by us then by those by whom the Gospel was brought to us which indeed they first preach'd but afterward deliver'd it to us in the Scripture to be the foundation and pillar of our Faith Nor may we imagin that they began to preach to others before they themselves had perfect knowledg as som are bold to say boasting themselves to be emendators of the Apostles For after our Lords Resurrection they were indued with the power of the holy Spirit from on high and having perfect knowledg went forth to the ends of the earth preaching the glad tidings of salvation and celestial praise unto men Each and all of whom had the Gospel of God So Saint Matthew wrote the Gospel to the Hebrews in their tongue Saint Peter and Saint Paul preach'd at Rome and there founded a Church Mark the Disciple and interpreter of Peter deliver'd in writing what he had preach'd and Luke the follower of Paul set down in his Book the Gospel he had deliver'd Afterward Saint John at Ephesus in Asia publish'd his Gospel c. In his fourth Book c. 66. he directs all the Heretics with whom he deals to read diligently the Gospel deliver'd by the Apostles and also read diligently the Prophets assuring they shall there find every action every doctrin and every suffering of our Lord declared by them 5. THUS Tertullian in his Book of Prescriptions c. 6. It is not lawful for us to introduce any thing of our own will nor make any choice upon our arbitrement We have the Apostles of our Lord for our Authors who themselves took up nothing on their own will or choice but faithfully imparted to the Nations the discipline which they had receiv'd from Christ. So that if an Angel from heaven should teach another doctrin he were to be accurst And. c. 25. 'T is madness saies he of the Heretics when they confess that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing nor taught things different to think that they did not revele all things to all which he enforces in the following chapter In his Book against Hermogenes c. 23. he discourses thus I adore the plenitude of the Scripture which discovers to me the Creator and what was created Also in the Gospel I find the Word was the Arbiter and Agent in the Creation That all things were made of preexistent matter I never read Let Hermogenes and his journy-men shew that it is written If it be not written let him fear the woe which belongs to them thad add or detract And in the 39. ch of his Prescript We feed our faith raise our hope and establish our reliance with the sacred Words 6. IN like manner Hippolytus in the Homily against Noetus declares that we acknowledg only from Scripture that there is one God And whereas secular Philosophy is not to be had but from the reading of the doctrin of the Philosophers so whosoever of us will preserve piety towards God he cannot otherwise learn it then from the holy Scripture Accordingly Origen in the fifth Homily on Leviticus saies in the Scripture every word appertaining to God is to be sought and discust and the knowledg of all things is to be receiv'd 7. WHAT Saint Cyprian's opinion was in this point we learn at large from his Epistle to Pompey For when Tradition was objected to him he answers Whence is this Tradition is it from the autority of our Lord and his Gospel or comes it from the commands of the Apostles in their Epistles Almighty God declares that what is written should be obei'd and practic'd The Book of the Law saies he in Joshua shall not depart from thy mouth but thou shalt meditate in it day and night that you may observe and keep all that is written therein So our Lord sending his Apostles commands them to baptize all Nations and teach them to observe all things that he had commanded Again what obstinacy and presumtion is it to prefer human Tradition to divine Command not considering that Gods wrath is kindled as often as his Precepts are dissolv'd and neglected by reason of human Traditions Thus God warns and speaks by Isaiah This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrins the commandments of men Also the Lord in the Gospel checks and reproves saying you reject the Law of God that you may establish your Tradition Of which Precept the Apostle Saint Paul being mindful admonishes and instructs saying If any man teaches otherwise and hearkens not to sound doctrin and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ he is proud knowing nothing From such we must depart And again he adds There is a compendious way for religious and sincere minds both to deposit their errors and find out the truth For if we return to the source and original of divine Tradition human error will cease and the ground of heavenly Mysteries being seen what soever was hid with clouds and darkness will be manifest by the light of truth If a pipe that brought plentiful supplies of water fail on the suddain do not men look to the fountain and thence learn the cause of the defect whether the spring it self be dry or if running freely the water is stopt in its passage that if by interrupted or broken conveiances it was hindred to pass they being repair'd it may again be brought to the City with the same plenty as it flows from the spring And this Gods Priests ought to do at this time obeying the commands of God that if truth have swerv'd or fail'd in any particular we go backward to the source of the Evangelical
Tradition but by the Book of the Law found in the Temple that Josiah was both excited to reform Religion and instructed how to do it 2 Kings 22. 10. And had not that or som other copy bin produc'd they had bin much in the dark as to the particulars of their reformation which that they had not bin convei'd by Tradition appears by the sudden startling of the King upon the reading of the Law which could not have bin had he bin before possest with the contents of it In like manner we find in Nehemiah that the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles was recover'd by consulting the Law the Tradition whereof was wholly worn out or else it had sure bin impossible that id could for so long a time have bin intermitted Neh. 8. 18. And yet mens memories are commonly more retentive of an external visible rite then they are of speculative Propositions or moral Precepts 30. THESE instances shew how fallible an expedient mere oral Tradition is for transmission to posterity But admit no such instance could be given 't is argument enough that God has by his own choice of writing given the preference to it Nor has he barely chosen it but has made it the standard by which to mesure all succeeding pretences 'T is the means he prescribes for distinguishing divine from diabolical Inspirations To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word there is no light in them Isai. 8. 20. And when the Lawier interrogated our Savior what he should do to inherit eternal life he sends him not to ransac Tradition or the cabalistical divinity of the Rabbins but refers him to the Law What is written in the Law how readest thou Luk. 10. 26. And indeed throout the Gospel we still find him in his discourse appealing to Scripture and asserting its autority as on the other side inveighing against those Traditions of the Elders which had evacuated the written Word Ye make the Word of God of none effect by your Tradition Mat. 15. 6. Which as it abundantly shews Christs adherence to the written Word so 't is a pregnant instance how possible it is for Tradition to be corrupted and made the instrument of imposing mens phancies even in contradiction to Gods commands 31. AND since our blessed Lord has made Scripture the test whereby to try Traditions we may surely acquiesce in his decision and either embrace or reject Traditions according as they correspond to the supreme rule the written Word It must therefore be a very unwarrantable attemt to set up Tradition in competition with much more in contradiction to that to which Christ himself hath subjected it 32. Saint Paul reckons it as the principal privilege of the Jewish Church that it had the Oracles of God committed to it i. e. that the holy Scriptures were deposited and put in its custody and in this the Christian Church succeeds it and is the guardian and conservator of holy Writ I ask then had the Jewish Church by vertue of its being keeper a power to supersede any part of those Oracles intrusted to them if so Saint Paul was much out in his estimate and ought to have reckon'd that as their highest privilege But indeed the very nature of the trust implies the contrary and besides 't is evident that is the very crime Christ charges upon the Jews in the place above cited And if the Jewish Church had no such right upon what account can the Christian claim any Has Christ enlarg'd its Charter has he left the sacred Scriptures with her not to preserve and practice but to regulate and reform to fill up its vacancies and supply its defects by her own Traditions if so let the commission be produc'd but if her office be only that of guardianship and trust she must neither substract from nor by any superadditions of her own evacuate its meaning and efficacy and to do so would be the same guilt that it would be in a person intrusted with the fundamental Records of a Nation to foist in fuch clauses as himself pleases 33 IN short God has in the Scriptures laid down exact rules for our belief and practice and has entrusted the Church to convey them to us if she vary or any way enervate them she is false to that trust but cannot by it oblige us to recede from that rule she should deliver to comply with that she obtrudes upon us The case may be illustrated by an easy resemblance Suppose a King have a forreign principality for which he composes a body of Laws annexes to them rewards and penalties and requires an exact and indispensable conformity to them These being put in writing he sends by a select messenger now suppose this messenger deliver them yet saies withall that himself has autority from the King to supersede these Laws at his plesure so that their last resort must be to his dictats yet produces no other testimony but his own bare affirmation Is it possible that any men in their wits should be so stupidly credulous as to incur the penalty of those Laws upon so improbable an indemnity And sure it would be no whit less madness in Christians to violate any precept of God on an ungrounded supposal of the Churches power to dispense with them 34. AND if the Church universal have not this power nor indeed ever claim'd it it must be a strange insolence for any particular Church to pretend to it as the Church of Rome do's as if we should owe to her Tradition all our Scripture and all our Faith insomuch that without the supplies which she affords from the Oracle of her Chair our Religion were imperfect and our salvation insecure Upon which wild dictates I shall take liberty in a distinct Section farther to animadvert SECT VI. The suffrage of the primitive Christian Church concerning the propriety and fitness which the Scripture has towards the attainment of its excellent end AGAINST what has bin hitherto said to the advantage of the holy Scripture there opposes it self as we have already intimated the autority of the Church of Rome which allows it to be only an imperfect rule of Faith saying in the fourth Session of the Council of Trent that Christian faith and discipline are contain'd in the Books written and unwritten Tradition And in the fourth rule of the Index put forth by command of the said Council the Scripture is declar'd to be so far from useful that its reading is pernicious if permitted promiscuously in the vulgar Tongue and therefore to be withheld insomuch that the study of the holy Bible is commonly by persons of the Roman Communion imputed to Protestants as part of their heresy they being call'd by them in contemt the Evangelical men and Scripturarians And the Bible in the vulgar Tongue of any Nation is commonly reckon'd among prohibited Books and as such publicly burnt when met with by the Inquisitors and the person who is found with it
on the first of the Thessal asserts that from the alone reading or hearing of the Scripture one may learn all things necessary So Hom. 34. on Act. 15. he declares A heathen comes and saies I would willingly be a Christian but I know not who to join my self to for there are many contentions among you many seditions and tumults so that I am in doubt what opinion I should chuse Each man saies what y say is true and I know not whom to believe each pretends to Scripture which I am ignorant of 'T is very well the issue is put here for if the appeal were to reason in this case there would be just occasion of being troubled but when we appeal to Scripture and they are simple and certain you may easily your self judg He that agrees with the Scripture is a Christian he that resists them is far out of the way And on Ps. 95. If any thing be said without the Scripture the mind halts between different opinions somtimes inclining as to what is probable anon rejecting as what is frivolous but when the testimony of holy Scripture is produc'd the mind both of speaker and hearer is confirm'd And Hom. 4. on Lazar Tho one should rise from the dead or an Angel come down from heaven we must believe the Scripture they being fram'd by the Lord of Angels and the quick and dead And Hom. 13. 2 Cor. 7. It is not an absurd thing that when we deal with men about mony we wil trust no body but cast up the sum and make use of our counters but in religious affairs suffer our selves to be led aside by other mens opinions even then when we have by an exact scale and touchstone the dictat of the divine Law Therefore I pray and exhort you that giving no heed to what this or that man saies you would consult the holy Scripture and thence learn the divine riches and pursue what you have learnt And Hom. 58. on Jo. 10. 1. 'T is the mark of a thief that he comes not in by the dore but another way now by the dore the testimony of the Scripture is signified And Hom. on Gal. 1. 8. The Apostle saies not if any man teach a contrary doctrin let him be accurs'd or if he subvert the whole Gospel but if he teach any thing beside the Gospel which you have receiv'd or vary any little thing let him be accurs'd 20. CYRIL of Alex. against Jul. l. 7. saies The holy Scripture is sufficient to make them who are instructed in it wise unto salvation and endued with most ample knowledg 21. THâ—ODORET Dial. 1. I am perswaded only by the holy Scripture And Dial. 2. I am not so bold to affirm any thing not spoken of in the Scripture And again qu. 45. upon Genes We ought not to enquire after what is past over in silence but acquiesce in what is written 22. IT were easy to enlarge this discourse into a Volume but having taken as they offer'd themselves the suffrages of the writers of the four first Centuries I shall not proceed to those that follow If the holy Scripture were a perfect rule of Faith and Manners to all Christians heretofore we may reasonably assure our selves it is so still and will now guide us into all necessary truth and consequently make us wise unto salvation without the aid of oral Tradition or the new mintage of a living infallible Judg of controversy And the impartial Reader will be enabled to judg whether our appeal to the holy Scripture in all occasions of controversy and recommendation of it to the study of every Christian be that heresy and innovation which it is said to be 23. IT is we know severely imputed to the Scribes and Pharisees by our Savior that they took from the people the key of knowledg Luk. 11. 52. and had made the word of God of none effect by their Traditions Matt. 15. 6. but they never attemted what has bin since practiced by their Successors in the Western Church to take away the Ark of the Testament it self and cut of not only the efficacy but very possession of the word of God by their Traditions Surely this had bin exceeding criminal from any hand but that the Bishops and Governors of the Church and the universal and infallible Pastor of it who claim the office to interpret the Scriptures exhort unto and assist in the knowledg of them should be the men who thus rob the people of them carries with it the highest aggravations both of cruelty and breach of trust If any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy saies Saint John Revel 22. 19. God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this Book What vengeance therefore awaits those who have taken away not only from one Book but at once the Books themselves even all the Scriptures the whole word of God SECT VII Historical reflections upon the events which have happen'd in the Church since the with-drawing of the holy Scripture 'T WILL in this place be no useless contemplation to observe after the Scriptures had bin ravisht from the people in the Church of Rome what pitiful pretenders were admitted to succeed And first because Lay-men were presum'd to be illiterate and easily seducible by those writings which were in themselves difficult and would be wrested by the unlearned to their own destruction pictures were recommended in their steed and complemented as the Books of the Laity which soon emprov'd into a necessity of their worship and that gross superstition which renders Christianity abominated by Turks and Jews and Heathens unto this day 2. I would not be hasty in charging Idolatry upon the Church of Rome or all in her communion but that their Image-worship is a most fatal snare in which vast numbers of unhappy souls are taken no man can doubt who hath with any regard travail'd in Popish Countries I my self and thousands of others whom the late troubles or other occasions sent abroad are and have bin witnesses thereof Charity 't is true believes all things but it do's not oblige men to disbelieve their eies 'T was the out-cry of Micah against the Danites Jud. 18. 24. ye have taken away my Gods which I have made and the Priest and are gon away and what have I more but the Laity of the Roman communion may enlarge the complaint and say you have taken away the oracles of our God and set up every where among us graven and molten Images and Teraphims and what have we more and 't was lately the loud and I doubt me is still the unanswerable complaint of the poor Americans that they were deni'd to worship their Pagod once in the year when they who forbad them worship'd theirs every day 3. THE Jews before the captivity notwithstanding the recent memory of the Miracles in Egypt and the Wilderness and the first
if such an unparallel'd love in God may not as much affect us as the slight benefactions of every ordinary friend if it cannot so much recommend him to our regard as to rescue his word from contemt and dispose us to receive impressions from it especially when his very speaking is a new act of his kindness and design'd to our greatest advantage 13. BUT if all he has don and suffer'd for us cannot obtain him so much from us we must surely confess our disingenuity is as superlative as his love For in this instance we have â—o plea for our selves The discourses of men â—tis true may somtime be so weak and irrational that tho kindness may suggest pity it cannot reverence But this can never happen in God whose wisdom is as infinite as his love He talks not at our vain rate who often talk only for talkings sake but his words are directed to the most important ends and addrest in such a manner as befits him in whom are all the tresures of wisdom and knowledg Col. 2. And this is our third consideration the wisdom of the Speaker 14. How attractive a thing Wisdom is we may observe in the instance of the Queen of Sheba who came from the utmost parts of the earth as Christ saies Mat. 12. 42. to hear the Wisdom of Solomon And the like is noted of the Greek Sages that they were addrest to from all parts by persons of all ranks and qualities to hear their Lectures And indeed the rational nature of man do's by a kind of sympathetic motion close with whatever hath the stamp of reason upon it But alas what is the profoundest wisdom of men compar'd with that of God He is the essential reason and all that man can pretend to is but an emanation from him a ray of his Sun a drop of his Ocean which as he gives so he can also take away He can infatuate the most subtil designers And as he saies of him self makes the diviners mad turns the wise men back and makes their wisdom foolishness Esay 44. 25. 15. How impious a folly is it then in us to Idolize human Wisdom with all its imperfections and despise the divine yet this every man is guilty of who is not attracted to the study of sacred Writ by the supereminent wisdom of its Author For such men must either affirm that God has not such a superâ—minency or that tho he have in himself he â—ath noth exerted it in this writing The former is down-right blasphemy and truly the â—â—ter is the same a little varied For that any â—hing but what is exactly wise can proceed â—â—om infinite wisdom is too absurd for any â—an to imagin And therefore he that â—harges Gods Word with defect of wisdom â—ust interpretatively charge God so too For â—â—o 't is true a wise man may somtimes speak â—olishly yet that happens thro that mixture of ignorance or passion which is in the most knowing of mortals but in God who is a pure Act and essential Wisdom that is an impossible supposition 16. NAY indeed it were to tax him of folly beyond what is incident to any sensible man who will still proportion his instruments to the work he designs Should we not conclude him mad that should attemt to fell a mighty Oak with a Pen-knife or stop a Torrent with a wisp of Straw And sure their conceptions are not much more reverend of God who can suppose that a writing design'd by him for such important ends as the making men wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. the casting down all that exalts it self against the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. should it self be foolish and weak or that he should give it those great Attributes of being sharper then a two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow Heb. 4. 14. if its discourses were so flat and insipid as som in this profane Age would represent them 17. 'T IS true indeed 't is not as the Apostle speaks the wisdom of this world 1 Cor. 2. 6. The Scripture teaches us not the arts of undermining Governments defrauding and circumventing our brethren but it teaches us that which would tend much more even to our temporal felicity and as reason promts us to aspire to happiness so it must acknowledg that is the highest wisdom which teaches us to attain it 18. AND as the Holy Scripture is thus recommended to us by the wisdom of its Author so in the last place is it by his truth without which the other might rather raise our jealousy then our reverence For wisdom without sincerity degenerates into serpentine guile and we rather fear to be ensnar'd then hope to be advantag'd by it The most subtil addresses and most cogent arguments prevail not upon us where we suspect som insidious design But where wisdom and fidelity meet in the same person we do not only attend but confide in his counsels And this qualification is most eminently in God The children of men are deceitful upon the weights Psal. 62. 9. Much guile often lurks indiscernibly under the fairest appearances but Gods veracity is as essentially himself as his wisdom and he can no more deceive us then he can be deceiv'd himself He is not man that he should die Num. 23. 19. He designs not as men often do to sport himself with our credulity and raise hopes which he never means to satisfy he saies not to the seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain Ex. 45. 19. but all his promises are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. He is perfectly sincere in all the proposals he makes in his Word which is a most rational motive for us to advert to it not only with reverence but love 19. AND now when all these motives are thus combined the autority the kindness the wisdom the veracity of the speaker what can be requir'd more to render his words of weight with us If this four-fold cord will not draw us we have sure the strength not of men but of that Legion we read of in the Gospel Mar. 5. 9. For these are so much the cords of a man so adapted to our natures nay to our constant usage in other things that we must put off much of our humanity disclaim the common mesures of mankind if we be not attracted by them For I dare appeal to the breast of any sober industrious man whether in case a person who he were sure had all the fore-mention'd qualifications should recommend to him som rules as infallible for the certain doubling or trebling his estate he would not think them worth the pursuing nay whether he would not plot and study on them till he comprehended the whole Art And shall we then when God in whom all those qualifications are united and that in their utmost transcendencies shall we I say think him below our regard when he proposes the improving our interests not by the scanty proportions
tho but of a City or Nation have proportionably acquir'd a greater esteem But those who have aspir'd to be universal benefactors to do somthing for the common benefit of the world their fame has commonly teach'd as far as their influence men have reverenc'd nay somtimes according to the common excesses of mans nature ador'd them Many of the heathen deities especially their demi-gods having bin only those persons who by introducing som useful Art or other part of knowledg had oblig'd mankind So we see what a natural gratitude men are apt to pay to worthy and generous designs And if we will be content but to stand to this common award of our nature the Scripture will have the fairest claim imaginable to our reverence and thankfulness upon this very account of the excellency of its designs 76. NOR need we borrow the balance of the Sanctuary to weigh them in we may do it in our own scales for they exactly answer the two properties above mention'd of profit and diffusiveness which in secular concerns are the standard rules of good designs For first it is the sole scope and aim of Scripture the very end for which 't was writ to benefit and advantage men and that secondly not only som small select number som little angle or corner of the world but the whole race of mankind the entire Universe and he that can imagin a more diffusive design must imagin more worlds also 77. NOW for the first of these that it is the design of the Scripture to benefit men we need appeal but to Scripture it self which surely can give the best account to what ends 't is directed and that tells us it is to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. In which is comprehended the greatest benefit that mans nature is capable of the making us wise while we live here and the saving us eternally And this sure is the most generous the most obliging design that 't is possible even for the Creator to have upon the creature and this is it which the holy Scripture negotiates with us 78. AND first the making us wise is so inviting a proposal to humanity that we see when that was much wiser then now it is it caught at a fallacious tender of it the very sound of it tho out of the devils mouth fascinated our first Parents and hurried them to the highest disobedience and certainest ruin And therefore now God by the holy Scriptures makes us an offer as much more safe as it is more sincere when he sends his Word thus to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths Ps. 119. 105. to teach us all that is good for us to know our affectation of ignorance will be more culpable then theirs of knowledg if we do not admire the kindness embrace the bounty of such a tender 79. NOW the making us wise must be understood according to the Scripture notion of wisdom which is not the wisdom of this world nor of the Princes of this world which come to â—ought as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 2. 5. but that wisdom which descends from above Ja. 3. 17. which he there describes to be first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy Indeed the Scripture usually comprehends these and all other graces under Wisdom for it makes it synonymous to that which includes them all viz. the fear of the Lord. Thus we find throout the whole Book of Proverbs these us'd as terms convertible In short Wisdom is that practical knowledg of God and our selves which engages us to obedience and duty and this is agreeable to that definition the Wise man gives of it The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Pro. 14. 8. Without this all the most refin'd and aerial speculations are but like Thales's star-gazing which secur'd him not from falling in the water nay betrai'd him to it In this is all solid wisdom compris'd 80. THE utmost all the wise men in the world have pretended to is but to know what true happiness is and what is the means of attaining it and what they sought with so much study and so little success the Scripture presents us with in the greatest certainty and plainest characters such as he that runs may read Hab. 2. 2. It acquaints us with that supreme felicity that chief good whereof Philosophy could only give us a name and it shews us the means marks us out a path which will infallibly lead us to it Accordingly we find that Solomon after all the accurate search he had made to find what was that good for the sons of men he shuts up his inquest in this plain conclusion Fear God and keep his commandments for God shall bring every work unto judgment Eccles. 12. 13 14 The regulating our lives so by the rules of Piety as may acquit us at our final account is the most eligible thing that falls within human cognizance and that not only in relation to the superlative happiness of the next world but even to the quiet and tranquillity of this For alas we are impotent giddy creaâ—ures swai'd sometimes by one passion somâ—imes by another nay often the interfearing of our appetites makes us irresolute which we are to gratify whilst in the interim their â—trugling agitates and turmoils the mind And what can be more desirable in such a â—ase then to put our selves under a wiser conduct then our own and as opprest States â—se to defeat all lesser pretenders by becoming homagers to som more potent so for us to deliver our selves from the tyranny of our â—usts by giving up our obedience to him whose service is perfect freedom 81. WERE there no other advantage of the exchange but the bringing us under fixt and determinat Laws 't were very consideraable Every man would gladly know the terms of his subjection and have som standing â—ule to guide himself by and Gods Laws are â—o we may certainly know what he requires of us but the mandats of our passions are â—rbitrary and extemporary what pleases them to day disgusts them to morrow and we must alwaies be in readiness to do we know not what and of all the Arbitrary governments that men either feel or fear â—his is doubtless the most miserable I wish our apprehensions of it were but as sensible and then we should think the holy Scripture did us the office of a Patriot in offering us a rescue from so vile a slavery 82. AND that it do's make us this offer is manifest by the whole tenor of the Bible For first it rowzes and awakes us to a sense of our condition shews us that what we call liberty is indeed the saddest servitude that he that committeth sin is the servant of sin Jo. 8. 34. that those vices which pretend to serve and gratify us do really subdue and enslave us and fetter when they seem to embrace and
their posterity then to follow that of their Ancestors som have interest and designs which will be better serv'd by new Tenets and som are ignorant and mistaking and may unawares corrupt the doctrin they should barely deliver and of this last sort we may guess there may be many since it falls commonly to the mothers lot to imbue children with the first rudiments 19. NOW in all these cases how possible is it that primitive Tradition may be either lost or adulterated and consequently and in proportion to that possibility our confidence of it must be stagger'd I am sure according to the common estimate in seculars it must be so For I appeal to any man whether he be not apter to credit a relation which comes from an eie-witness then at the third or fourth much more at the hundredth rebound as in this case And daily experience tells us that a true and probable story by passing thro many hands often grows to an improbable lie This man thinks he could add one becoming circumstance that man another and whilst most men take the liberty to do so the relation grows as monstrous as such a heap of incoherent phancies can make it 20. IF to this it be said that this happens only in trivial secular matters but that in the weighty concern of Religion mankind is certainly more serious and sincere I answer that 't is very improbable that they are since 't is obvious in the common practice of the world that the interests of Religion are postpon'd to every little worldly concern And therefore when a temporal advantage requires the bending and warping of Religion there will never be wanting som that will attemt it 21. BESIDES there is still left in human nature so much of the venom of the Serpents first temtation that tho men cannot be as God yet they love to be prescribing to him and to be their own Assessors as to that worship and homage they are to pay him 22. BUT above all 't is considerable that in this case Sathan has a more peculiar concern and can serve himself more by a falsification here then in temporal affairs For if he can but corrupt Religion it ceases to be his enemy and becomes one of his most useful engins as sufficiently appear'd in the rites of the heathen worship We have therefore no cause to think this an exemt case but to presume it may be influenc'd by the same pravity of human nature which prevailes in others and consequently are oblig'd to bless God that he has not left our spiritual concerns to such hazards but has lodg'd them in a more secure repository the written Word 23. BUT I fore-see 't will be objected that whilst I thus disparage Tradition I do vertually invalidate the Scripture it self which comes to us upon its credit To this I answer first that since God has with-drawn immediate revelation from the world Tradition is the only means to convey to us the first notice that this Book is the word of God and it being the only means he affords we have all reason to depend on his goodness that he will not suffer that to be evacuated to us and that how liable soever Tradition may be to err yet that it shall not actually err in this particular 24. BUT in the second place This Tradition seems not so liable to falsification as others It is so very short and simple a proposition such and such writings are the word of God that there is no great room for Sophistry or mistake to pervert the sense the only possible deception must be to change the subject and obtrude suppositious writings in room of the true under the title of the word of God But this has already appear'd to be unpracticable because of the multitude of copies which were disperst in the world by which such an attemt would soon have bin detected There appears therefore more reason as well as more necessity to rely upon Tradition in this then in most other particulars 25. NEITHER yet do I so farr decry oral Tradition in any as to conclude it impossible it should derive any truth to posterity I only look on it as more casual and consequently a less fit conveiance of the most important and necessary verities then the writen Word In which I conceive my self justifi'd by the common sense of mankind who use to commit those things to writing which they are most solicitous to derive to posterity Do's any Nation trust their fundamental Laws only to the memory of the present Age and take no other course to transmit them to the future do's any man purchase an estate and leave no way for his children to lay claim to it but the Tradition the present witnesses shall leave of it Nay do's any considering man ordinarily make any important pact or bargain tho without relation to posterity without putting the Articles in writing And whence is all this caution but from a universal consent that writing is the surest way of transmitting 26. BUT we have yet a higher appeal in this matter then to the suffrage of men God himself seems to have determin'd it And what his decision is 't is our next business to inquire 27. AND first he has given the most real and comprehensive attestation to this way of writing by having himself chose it For he is too wise to be mistaken in his estimate of better and worse and too kind to chuse the worst for us and yet he has chosen to communicate himself to the latter Ages of the world by writing and has summ'd up all the Eternal concerns of mankind in the sacred Scriptures and left those sacred Records by which we are to be both inform'd and govern'd which if oral Tradition would infallibly have don had bin utterly needless and God sure is not so prodigal of his spirit as to inspire the Authors of Scripture to write that whose use was superseded by a former more certain expedient 28. NAY under the Mosaic oeconomy when he made use of other waies of reveling himself yet to perpetuate the memory even of those Revelations he chose to have them written At the delivery of the Law God spake then viva voce and with that pomp of dreadful solemnity as certainly was apt to make the deepest impressions yet God fore-saw that thro every succeeding Age that stamp would grow more dim and in a long revolution might at last be extinct And therefore how warm soever the Israelites apprehensions then were he would not trust to them for the perpetuating his Law but committed it to writing Ex. 13. 18. nay wrote it twice himself 29. YET farther even the ceremonial Law tho not intended to be of perpetual obligation was not yet referr'd to the traditionary way but was wrote by Moses and deposited with the Priests Deut. 31. 9. And after-event shew'd this was no needless caution For when under Manasses Idolatry had prevail'd in Jerusalem it was not by any dormant
and Apostolical Tradition and there found our actings from whence their order and origation began 8. IT is true Bellarmine reproches this discourse as erroneous but whatever it might be in the inference which Saint Cyprian drew from it in it self it was not so For Saint Austin tho sufficiently engag'd against Saint Cyprian's conclusion allows the position as most Orthodox saying in the fourth Book of Baptism c. 35. Whereas he admonishes to go back to the fountain that is the Tradition of the Apostles and thence bring the stream down to our times 't is most excellent and without doubt to be don 9. THUS Eusebius expresses himself in his second Book against Sabellius As it is a point of sloth not to seek into those things whereof one may enquire so 't is insolence to be inquisitive in others But what are those things which we ought to enquire into Even those which are to be found in the Scriptures those things which are not there to be found let us not seek after For if they ought to be known the holy Ghost had not omitted them in the Scripture 10. ATHANASIUS in his Tract of the Incarnation saies It is fit for us to adhere to the word of God and not relinquish it thinking by syllogisms to evade what is there clearly deliver'd Again in his Tract to Serap of the holy Ghost Ask not saies he concerning the Trinity but learn only from the Scriptures For the instructions which you will find there are sufficient And in his Oration against the Gentiles declares That the Scriptures are sufficient to the manifestation of the truth 11. AGREEABLE to these is Optatus in his 5. Book against Parmen who reasons thus You say 't is lawful to rebaptize we say 't is not lawful betwixt your saying and our gain-saying the peoples minds are amus'd Let no man believe either you or us All men are apt to be contentious Therefore Judges are to be call'd in Christians they cannot be for they will be parties and thereby partial Therefore a Judg is to be lookt out from abroad If a Pagan he knows not the mysteries of our Religion If a Jew he is an enemy to our baptism There is therefore no earthly Judg but one is to be sought from heaven Yet there is no need of a resort to heaven when we have in the Gospel a Testament and in this case celestial things may be compar'd to earthly So it is as with a Father who has many children while he is present he orders them all and there is no need of a written Will Accordingly Christ when he was present upon earth from time to time commanded the Apostles whatsoever was necessary But as the earthly father finding himself to be at the point of death and fearing that after his departure his children should quarrel among themselves he calls witnesses and puts his mind in writing and if any difference arise among the brethren they go not to their Fathers Sepulcher but repair to his Will and Testament and he who rests in his grave speaks still in his writing as if he were alive Our Lord who left his Will among us is now in heaven therefore let us seek his commands in the Gospel as in his Will 12. THUS Cyril of Ierus Cat. 4. Nothing no not the least concernment of the divine and holy Sacraments of our Faith is to be deliver'd without the holy Scripture believe not me unless I give you a demonstration of what I say from the Scripture 13. SAINT Basil in his Book of the true Faith saies If God be faithful in all his sayings his words and works they remaining for ever and being don in truth and equity it must be an evident sign of infidelity and pride if any one shall reject what is written and introduce what is not written In which Books he generally declares that he will write nothing but what he receives from the holy Scripture and that he abhors from taking it elsewhere In his 29. Homily against the Antitrinit Believe saies he those which are written seek not those which are not written And in his Eth. reg 26. Every word and action ought to be confirm'd by the testimony of the divineâ—y inspir'd Scriptures to the establishment of the Faith of the good and reproof of the wicked 14. SAINT Ambrose in the first Book of his Offic. saies How can we make use of any thing which is not to be found in Scripture And in his Instit. of Virgins I read he is the first but read not he is the second let them who say he is second shew it from the reading 15. GREG. Nyssen in his Dial. of the soul and resurrect saies 'T is undeniable that truth is there only to be plac'd where there is the seal of Scripture Testimony 16. SAINT Jerom against Helvidius declares As we deny not that which is written so we refuse those which are not written And in his Comment on the 98. Ps. Every thing that we assert we must shew from the holy Scripture The word of him that speaks has not that autority as Gods precept And on the 87. Ps. Whatever is said after the Apostles let it be cut off nor have afterwards autority The one be holy after the Apostles the one be eloquent yet has he not autority 17. SAINT Austin in his Tract of the unity of the Church c. 12. acknowledges that he could not be convinc'd but by the Scriptures of what he was to believe and adds they are read with such manifestation that he who believes them must confess the doctrin to be most true In the second Book of Christian doctrin c. 9. he saies that in the plain places of Scripture are found all those things that concern Faith and Manners And in Epist. 42. All things which have bin exhibited heretofore as don to mankind and what we now see and deliver to our posterity the Scripture has not past them in silence so far forth as they concern the search or defence of our Religion In his â—ract of the good of Widowhood he saies to â—ulian the person to whom he addresses What shall I teach you more then that we read in the Apostle for the holy Scripture settlos the rule of our doctrin that we think not any thing more then we ought to think but to think soâ—erly as God has dealt to every man the mesure of Faith Therefore my teaching is only to exâ—ound the words of this Doctor Ep. 157. Where â—ny subject is obscure and passes our compreâ—ension and the Scripture do's not plainly afford its help there human conjecture is presumâ—â—ous in defining 18. THEOPHILUS of Alex. in his second Paschal homily tells us that 't is the suggestion of a diabolical spirit to think that any thing besides the Scripture has divine autority And in his third he adds that the Doctors of the Church having the Testimony of the Scripture lay firm foundation of their doctrin 19. CHRYSOSTOM in his third Homily
Psal. 138. 2. cannot brook that we should make it vile and cheap play and dally with it And if it were a capital crime to convert any of the perfume of the Sanctuary to common use Ex. 30. 32. can we think God can be pleas'd to see his more sacred Word the theme of our giddy mirth and have his own words echoed to him in profane drollery 52. BUT besides 't is to be consider'd that this wanton liberty is a step to the more solemn and deliberate contemt of Gods word custom do's strangely prescribe to us and he that a while has us'd any thing irreverently will at last bring his practice into argument and conclude that there is no reverence due to it God knows we are naturally too apt to slight and easy apprehensions of sacred things and had need to use all Arts and Instruments to impress an awe upon our minds 53. IT will sure then be very unsafe for us to trifle with them and by so undue a familiarity draw on that contemt which we should make it our care to avoid The wise man saies he that contemns small things shall fall by little and little Eccl. 19. 1. And tho no degree of irreverence towards God or his Word can be call'd a small thing absolutely consider'd yet comparatively with the more exorbitant degrees it may and yet that smaller is the seed and parent of the greatest It is so in all sins the kingdom of Satan like that of God may be compard ' to a grain of mustard seed Mat. 13. 31. which tho little in it self is mighty in its increase 54. No man ever yet began at the top of villany but the advance is still gradual from one degree to another each commission smoothing and glibbing the way to the next He that accustoms in his ordinary discourse to use the sacred Name of God with as little sentiment and reverence as he do's that of his neighbor or servant that makes it his common by-word and cries Lord and God upon every the lightest occasion of exclamation or wonder this man has a very short step to the using it in oaths and upon all frivolous occasions and he that swears vainly is at no great distance from swearing falsely It is the same in this instance of the Scriptures He that indulges his wit to rally with them will soon come to think them such tame things that he may down-right scorn them And when he is arriv'd to that then he must pick quarrels to justify it till at last he arrive even to the height of enmity 55. LET every man therefore take heed of setting so much as one step in this fatal circle guard himself against the first insinuation of this guilt and when a jest offers it self as a temtation let him balance that with a sober thought and consider whether the jest can quit the cost of the profanation Let him possess his mind with an habitual awe take up the Bible with solemner thoughts and other kind of apprehensions then any human Author and if he habituate himself to this reverence every clause and phrase of it that occurs to his mind will be apter to excite him to devout ejaculations then vain laughter 56. IT is reported of our excellent Prince King Edward the sixth that when in his Council Chamber a Paper that was call'd for happen'd to lie out of reach and the Person concern'd to produce it took a Bible that lay by and standing upon it reacht down the Paper the King observing what was don ran himself to the place and taking the Bible in his hands kissed it and laid it up again Of this it were a very desirable moral that Princes and all persons in autority would take care not to permit any to raise themselves by either a hypocritical or profane trampling upon holy things But besides that a more general application offers its self that all men of what condition soever should both themselves abstain from every action that has the appearance of a contemt of the holy Scripture and also when they observe it in others discountenance the insolence and by their words and actions give Testimony of the veneration which they have for that holy Book they see others so wretchedly despise 57. BUT above all let him who reads the Scripture seriously set himself to the practice of it and daily examin how he proceeds in it he that diligently do's this will not be much at leisure to sport with it he will scarce meet with a Text which will not give him cause of reflection and provide him work within his own brest every duty injoin'd will promt him to examin how he has perform'd every sin forbid will call him to recollect how guilty he has bin every pathetic strain of devotion will kindle his zeal or at least upbraid his coldness every heroic example will excite his emulation In a word every part of Scripture will if duly appli'd contribute to som good and excellent end And when a thing is proper for such noble purposes can it be the part of a wise man to apply it only to mean and trivial Would any but an Idiot wast that Soveraign Liquor in the washing of his feet which was given him to expel poison from his heart And are not we guilty of the like folly when we apply Gods word to serve only a ludicrous humor and make our selves merry with that which was design'd for the most serious and most important purpose the salvation of our souls And indeed who ever takes any lower aim then that and the vertues preparatory to it in his study of Scripture extremely debases it 58. LET us therefore keep a steady eie upon that mark and press towards it as the Apostle did Phil. 3. 14. walk by that rule the holy Scripture proposes faithfully and diligently observe its precepts that we may finally partake its promises To this end continually pray we in the words of our holy mother the Church unto Almighty God who has caus'd all holy Scripture to be written for our learning that we may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of his holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting Life which he has given in our Savior Jesus Christ. THE CONTENTS SECTION Sect. 1. The several methods of Gods communicating the knowledg of himself Pag. 1. Sect. 2. The divine Original Endearments and Autority of the Holy Scripture p. 9. Sect. 3. The Subject Matter treated of in the holy Scripture is excellent as is also its end and design p. 63. Sect. 4. The Custody of the holy Scripture is a privilege and right of the Christian Church and every member of it which cannot without impiety to God and injustice unto it and them be taken away or empeacht p. 123. Sect. 5. The Scripture has great propriety and fitness toward the attainment of its excellent end p. 145. Sect. 6. The suffrage of the primitive Christian Church concerning the propriety and fitness which the Scripture has toward the attainment of its excellent end p. 165. Sect. 7. Historical reflexions upon the events which have happen'd in the Church since the with-drawing of the holy Scripture p. 180. Sect. 8. Necessary Cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy Scripture p. 193. FINIS