authority which must be proposed to us as the rule of our Faith because the Council is formally contrary to the Bishop of Condom's Doctrine Sess 1â— cap. 6. de Sâ—cram Poenâ—â— The Council speaking of Works and of Penances the things here in question doth not onely call them satisfactory in proper terms as also sometimes doth the Bishop of Condom himself but the Council doth declare that it suits not with the justice and goodness of God to forgive us our sins without some satisfaction on our parts and yet more expresly that these pennances whâ—â—â— the Church of Rome doth impose are not onely a precaution for our amendment and a remedy for the time to come which the Bishop of Condom calls the bands of justice and duty but a punishment or a revenge and a chastisement for our past sins requiring in proper termes that the Curates have always this maxime before their eyes and that they be very exact in examining the quality of the crimes and the abilities of the penitents and to impose upon them pennances proportionable to their sins This is so clear and express that nothing can be more In very deed this Doctrine of the Council is the common and constant Doctrine of the Church of Rome upon this point Lib. 1. de Purg. ca. 14. insomuch that Bellarmine by a subtilty contrary to that of the Bishop of Condoms doth teach that it is we who properly satisfy for our sins and that the satisfaction of Jesus Christ onely puts a value upon ours The Bishop of Condom therefore ought either to make all those of his communion to relinquish this Doctrin of the Council which is the common and constant Doctrine of their Church or to come to an accord that even by his own judgment we have right to charge them with the two things that have been touch'd The one that the Doctrine of the Church of Rome doth contradict it self and the other that they believe to satisfie at least in part for their sinns that by consequence they do injury unto the infinite satisfaction of Jesus Christ The Bishop of Condom did not judge it for his purpose to speak more openly what those painful and laborious works and those satisfactory pains are whereof here is question it might be said that these are verily of the number of those things which must be little explained and which are much better when they are lightly passed or wrapped up in general terms It would indeed seem that the Bishop of Condom hath introduced this term of painful and laborious works in the room of what the Roman Church directly calls penal works or pennances and satisfactions There is much difference betwixt the one and the other the one imports only difficult works the other punishments and it may plainly be seen by what hath been said that this alteration in the expressions doth onely proceed from the alteration which the Bishop of Condom hath made in the common Doctrine of the Church of Rome But to conclude by what name soever they are called we know they are such kind of works whereof we have already spoken Vows Pilgrimages Visits of Churches Abstinences Prayers by set-number Hair shirts Sack-clothes going without Shirts lying hard and such other Mortifications in this life and at last the paines of Purgatory in the other Now if it be here demanded whether there be not some authority for all these Doctrines the Council of Trent produces not any It only saith that in the Old Testament there are some examples of persons whom God hath punished with temporal paines though he had forgiven them their sin and that it seems to suit with the justice of God that it should be one kind of Grace which he shewes unto those who have sinned before Baptism and another which he shews to those who have sinned after Baptism The Bishop of Condom saith the same that this is just that this is a certain Order established as when God doth forgive us the sin of Adam and yet for all that not free us from the maladies which are the consequent of that sin This is the onely ground and sole authority that they give us for so considerable a Doctrine as is that of Satisfactions that is to say an argument meerly humane without any command or precept in Scripture as if the evils and corrections which God sends us to exercise our faith and patience were not at all effects of his love rather than punishments or as if this were a title or reason for us to give our selves discipline as they speak or to torment our selves and attempt in some sort upon our own lives As to us who have onely the will and Word of God for the rule of our manners and actions as well as of our Faith we are perswaded that all these Works which God hath not commanded being very far from pleasing do offend him that all this appearance of devotion is nothing else but an imitation of the Sect of the Pharisees which corrupted the Law by their Traditions fasting formally twice aweek The abstinence from meats in particular is an imitation of the Sect of the Pythagoraeans which fed on nothing but Herbs Whippings and Macerations an imitation of the Priest of Baal and of those of Cybele which whipped themselves and tore their skin even till the bloud gushed out and to conclude all these pretended Satisfactions are nothing else but commandments of men which as it hath been said do manifestly derogate from the infinite Satisfaction of Jesus Christ Purgatory Joh. Roffen Nav. l. 3. com de Jub Ind. De purgatorio apud priscos illos nulla vel quam rarissima fiebat mentio c. Nulla de purgatorio cura c. Cajetan in Tract de Indulg cap. 2. Nulla Sacrae Scripturae nulla priscorum Doctâ—â—rum Graecorum aut Latinorum authoritas scripta hac ad nostram deduxit no itiam sed hoc solum à 〈◊〉 annis Scripturae commendatem est de uerâ—stis â—â—â—bâ—s quod B. Gregor stat Indulg instituit Gab Biel lect 〈◊〉 57. upon the Can. of the Mass Ante tempora Greg. medicus vel nullus suit usus Inâ—l nunc autem crebrescit c. We have the same things to say against Purgatory as against Satisfactions it is also a Doctrine which derogates from the merit of the death of Jesus Christ as if the expiation which he made of our sins were imperfect that there were need that we should compleat it There is no track of Purgatory to be found in the Scripture whether of the Old or New Testament without forced interpretations and consequences whereof our Doctours have sufficiently shew'd the vanity Many also of themselves of the Church of Rome accord that for this Doctrine they have nothing but Tradition since the time of Gregory the first who wrote in the end of the Sixth Age and that the Doctrine of Purgatory and Indulgences are not onely not in Scripture but also
we receive not as such and that on the contrary we do receive the Epistle of St. James which the Lutherans receive not at least all of them as we do whatever conformity there may be in other things betwixt them and us Again as a proof that it is not the authority of the Jewish Church which determines the one or the other of us to receive the Scriptures of the Old Testament as Canonical we may take this that at this time the Jewes not receiving for such all that the Church of Rome receiveth she doth not think her self bound to acquiesce in their judgement The Bishop of Condom's second proposition touching the authority of the Church depends in a manner wholly on the former for he saith that as we receive the Scriptures from the hands of the Church so we learn Tradition of her and by means of Tradition the true sense of the Scriptures In good time Let the Church then be the Guardian of Tradition as she is of the Scriptures and let her make use of Tradition either for order and discipline to facilitate the understanding of Scripture but let her not make thereof a title to impose upon us Worships or Doctrines which do not accord with the Scriptures or to make the sense of the Scripture to depend absolutely upon the interpretation of the Church as in receiving the Old Testament from the Jewes the Church did not tye her self blindly to receive their Traditions which overthrow the Law nor their interpretation when it doth not accord with the true sense of the Prophets Errour as vice is for the most part in the extremes we owe respect teachableness and submission unto all those whom God sets over us to instruct us this is not contested but this is no reason to change this submission into a voluntary blindness Faith being a gift of God we ought not to change nor force the use of the exteriour means which God employes to work it in our hearts but we ought to use them according to his intention with a spirit of sweetness and of charity to perswade and not to constrain Otherwise a blind submission in matter of Faith is not submission but a spirit of servitude very unworthy of the liberty of the children of God and to require such a submission by what name soever it be called is to make an outward society of bodies of interest and appearance and not at all a true communion of spirit and of judgement pa 162. pa. 165. The Church saith the Bishop of Condom doth profess that she saith nothing now of her self that she inventeth not any thing anew in points of Doctrine and elsewhere very far from intending to render her self mistriss of her Faith as her Adversaries accuse her she hath done what she can to bind her self and that the means of innovation may be taken away seeing she not onely submits to the Scripture but to banish for ever those arbitrary interpretations which make mens thoughts to pass for Scripture she hath bound her self to understand them as to what regards Faith and manners according to the sense of the holy Fathers from which she professeth never to depart declaring in all the Councils and in all the professions of Faith which she hath published that she receives not any Doctrine which is not conformable unto the tradition of all the foregoing Ages The Bishop of Condom doth well to say that the Church of Rome professes that she invents not any thing for where be the Innovatours which do not profess the same thing But upon the main is it true that the latter Councils have alwayes exactly followed the Doctrine of the Fathers or of the very preceding Councils for not to speak of Transubstantiation of worshipping the Hoste and of private Masses which according to us are Doctrines and Worships unknown at least in the eight first Ages because the Gentlemen of the Roman Church do not agree to it it hath already been made appear in another place that the worshipping of Images was forbidden by the Councils of Eliberis of Constantinople and of Francfort and that the same Worship has been established or maintained by the authority of the second Council of Nice and in the last place by that of Trent It bath also been shewed upon the Article of Purgatory that that Doctrine with all its consequences was put in the place of the opinion which many of the Fathers of the first Ages had that after death the souls did sleep or did refresh themselves in a place separate from Heaven The case is the same as to Auricular confesssion and of Indulgences which have succeeded to the practice of publick pennance and generally as to all the Doctrines and all the practice of which we find no footsteps in the Fathers of the three first Ages nor in the first Councils and which we pretend to have been added at several times unto the Doctrine and Institution of Jesus Christ and of his Apostles And here to instance yet in two examples of alteration in Doctrine and practice which are quite out of all question Hath not the Council of Trent which is that the Bishop of Condom takes for the rule of his Exposition abrogated the doctrine and use of giving the Sacrament unto little children of which we have already spoken Hath it not also declared in express terms for confirming the taking away the cup which was before ordained by the Council of Constance that therein little weight could be laid on the Fathers for it is to no purpose so the Council decides to alledge the sixth of St. John for the communion under both kinds Sess 21. de com cap. 2. what way soever saith the Council it be understood according to the sundry interpretations of the holy Fathers We will not here examine whether all these divers changes are for the better or worse because it hath been already done heretofore and because we treat not here of the right but onely of the matter of fact which the Bishop of Condom hath averred to wit that the Church of Rome hath bound her self that she hath taken away the means of innovating that she submits her self through all to the sense of the Holy Fathers and that she doth not receive any Doctrine which is not conformable unto that of precedent Ages To conclude these Expositions seem to intimate that the Church of Rome is not so well assured of her infallibility but that it hath been acknowledged she had need to be secured against her self by tying up her hands and taking away the means of Innovation And nevertheless if we will be a little informed by themselves what hath been the success of all this precaution Let the Doctrines of the last five or six centuries be onely compared in general with the Doctrines and practices of the three first and even with the following Ages the Council of Trent with them that went before it without having any regard if they please to our
Church I most firmly admit and embrace Likewise I admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our Holy Mother the Church ever did and doth hold to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures neither will I receive or interpret it but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers I profess also that there are seven true and proper Sacraments of the new Law instituted by our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ and necessary 〈…〉 Mankind though not 〈…〉 person to wit Baptism 〈…〉 the Eucharist Pennance Extream Vnction Holy Order and Matrimony and that they do confer grace And of these â—â—â—t Baptism Confirmation and Order without Sacrilidge cannot be repeated The received and approved rites also of the Catholick Church in the Solemn administration of all the foresaid Sacraments I do receive and admit I do embrace and receive all and every points and point touching original sin and justification which have been defined and declared in the Holy Council of Trent I do in like manner profess that there is in the Mass offered up to God a true proper and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead And that in the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist after Consecration there is truly really and substantially the body and bloud together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the whole Substance of bread is converted into the body of Christ and the whole substance of the Wine into his Bloud which conversion the Catholick Church calls Transubstantion I acknowledge likewise that under one kind onely all and entire Christ and a true Sacrament is taken I do constantly hold there is a Purgatory and that the Souls there detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful In Like manner that the Saints reigning with Christ are to be Venerated and called upon and that they offer up Prayers to God for us and that their Reliques are to be had in veneration I do most stedfastly affirm that the images of Christ and of the Mother of God alwayes a Virgin are to be had and kept and that due honour and veneration is to be given to them That the Power of Indulgences was left by Christ in the Church and that the use of them is most wholesom to Christian People I do acknowledge that the Holy Catholick and Apostolick Roman Church iâ— Mother and Mistress of all Churches I do promise and swear true obedience to the Pope of Rome Successour of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ I do likewise without doubting receive and profess all other matters that are delivered defined and declared by the Sacred Canons and the Oecumenical Councils and especially by the Council of Trent and I do likewise together condemn reject and Anathematize all things contrary and all whatsoever Heresies condemned rejected and Anathematized by the Church Here they lay their hand on the Gospels I the same N. do promise vow and swear that as far as lies in me I will take care that this self same true Catholick Faith out of which no man can be saved which at present of my own accord I profess and truly hold by Gods help be most constantly held and confest by me whole and inviolate to the Last breath of my Life and that the same be held taught and Preached by all that are under me or those the care of whom shall in my charge belong to me So God help me and these Gods Holy Gospels We will farther that these present Letters be read in our Apostolick Chancery according to the accustomed manner and to the end they may be the more easily known unto all that they be Registred in the Rolls thereof and that they be Printed And let no person whatsoever dare to infringe this declaration of our Will and commandment or by bold presumption to offend against it And if any one shall presume to attempt it let him know that he incurs the indignation of Almighty God and of his Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul Dated at Rome at St. Peters the Thirteenth day of November in the year of the incarnanation of our Lord 1564. And of our Popedome the Fift Fed. Cardinal Caesius Cae. Glorierius The Stationer hath in his hands the Attestation of Messieurs Claude de l'Angle Daillé and Allix shewing that they have seen this Answer and that they have not found any thing in it contrary to their Religion AN ANSVVER UNTO THE BOOK OF MONSIEUR The Bishop of CONDOM Monsieur the Bishop of Condom has too much justice to take ill the answering his Book Design of this Trea tise On the contrary he seemeth rather to invite us to the same in terms sufficiently express Page 187 And besides it is well known that defence is a natural and favourable right especially when it concerns a thing so dear as the interest of truth and Religion ought to be Page 187 He onely desires that in case aâ— one answer his Treatise he would not undertake to refute the Doctrine which 〈◊〉 contains Page 188 nor examin the different way that the Catholick Divines have used 〈◊〉 establish the Doctrine of the Council 〈◊〉 Trent nor the several consequences the particular Doctors have drawn thence Page 3. being things that are not necessarilâ— nor universally received Page 189 but that 〈◊〉 would chiefly hold himself to three things to prove that the Faith of the Churcâ— of Rome is not faithfully laid down iâ— his Book as he believes it is or thaâ— he would shew that this expositioâ— doth Leave all objections in their force and all the difficulties whole and intire or Lastly that it be made precisely appear wherein his Doctrine so explained doth overthrow the foundation of Faith Of these three things we will leave the first to be examined by those of his own communion because that is more properly their business and right than ours It belongs to them principally to consider if they would not be well contented and if it would not be very advantageous to them to reduce their belief in all matters of Controversie unto what is explained in that Treatise and to Lay aside all the consequences which their other Doctors have drawn from the Council of Trent and the means they have made use of to establish them as things that are not necessary and which nevertheless do clog Religion or do at Least in part hinder a matter which is so desireable as the uniformity of Worship and belief amongst Christians should be We will content our selves to observe by the Way several places where the Bishop of Condom uses an Art that is distant not onely from the Common belief of the Doctors of the Church of Rome and of the general practice of all the people of his Communion but also from the terms and the Doctrine it self of the very Council to the end it may be discerned wherein consist the sweetnings that the Bishop
that there is very little or scarce a jot of this usage nor of the mention thereof found in the first times of the Christian Church It is well known that the Fathers of the first three or four Centuries and some of the fifth it self had several Errours touching the state of souls after death which process of time hath taken away some having believed that the souls did abide in a place of refreshing near Heaven or under Heaven until the Day of Judgment Others that they did sleep and that they should arise the first time with their bodies to reign a thousand years upon earth with Jesus Christ and finally at the day of Judgement and of the last Resurrection all that were raised should pass as it were through a Sea of Fire which should purifie and cleanse them But never any of them did believe a place where the souls should suffer after the death of the body pains in some sort like those of Hell except for continuance as the Church of Rome teaches No more did the ancient Jews believe it neither do the Greeks yet at this day believe it though they pray for the dead after the same manner as the Fathers now mentioned did Dial. lib. 4. ca. 39 40 51 55. It may be made appear here that this Doctrine is onely an imitation of that of the Pagans and that even Pope Gregory himself who is the first that put this Doctrine in credit speakes in the same sense and the same terms as Virgil saying that the souls are purged some in the Fire others fann'd in the Air others washed and cleansed in Rivers and in Ice and lastly others in Baths and Stoves but we onely design to touch things here as in passe Indulgences If the Doctrine of Satisfactions and of Purgatory be evil that of Indulgences doth fall of it self because this as it is taught in the Church of Rome is but as consequent and dependant on the other If God hath not subjected us unto Works of Satisfaction and unto temporal punishments unto which the Church of Rome would subject us there is no need of her dispensations and we have no business to examine if she hath any power herein Few persons are ignorant of the great difference that there is betwixt the Indulgence which was formerly used unto publick penitents and the pardons which Popes give as well for the dead as for the living and we have shewed by the very confession of themselves of the Roman Church that this Doctrine is not grounded upon any authority in Scripture and that there is not found any practice nor mention of it in the five or six first Centuries Also every one knowes what interest the Court of Rome hath to maintain as well Purgatory as the power of the Keys as the Council speaks the great authority and immense riches which this Doctrine hath brought unto it and that it brings unto it daily the cases reserved unto the Holy See the Table of Sins rated Sess 25. de Indulg more or less according to the nature of Sins Lastly the crying abuses are too visible whereof the Council it self has been constrained to order a Reformation They are it may be something less in France where people have their eyes more open but they are so great in Spain beyond the Mountains and in the very place which is termed the Center of Religion that the sober persons of their Communion cannot forbear condemning of them This is what we had to say of Justification and of the Doctrines which depend upon it It may be believed that this may suffice to shew that the questions which separate us from the Roman Church upon this point are not of so small consequence as the Bishop of Condom would insinuate but that on the contrary herein is concerned the purest and if it may be spoken the most Christian part of Religion as hath been proved throughout upon this Article and that to conclude the Bishop of Condom doth not make any controversies to cease except perhaps in regard of those things which he hath suppressed and upon this particular point of Satisfactions upon which the Council of Trent Bellarmine and in a word the doctrine and general practice of the Roman Church formally take away what the Bishop of Condom would grant us THE FOVRTH PART The Process of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise IX The Sacraments in general doth call us to the matter of the Sacraments We will but little insist as neither doth he upon the name the number and the efficacy of the Sacraments in general and in like sort upon the greatest part of what he calls Sacraments in particular because the difficulties upon these points are not in reality so hotly agitated as the Bishop of Condom himself saith It may be believed that the time and patience of them who shall take the paines to read this Answer will be better imployed upon the matter of the Eucharist and upon the other articles which concern Tradition and the authority of the Pope which are more important and upon which we have most controversie In the first place as to the name of Sacraments Greg. in cap. 16. â—ib Reg. Tertul. de praesc c. Lib. 10 50. Tra. 80. 〈◊〉 Joan. Accedit verbum ad elementuÌ„ fit SacrameÌ„tum it were a thing indifferent to give them one name rather than another if we were agreed of the things or if the names would not by consequence draw in the things themselves The name of Sacrament may be taken in a double sense the one general and extensive to signifie any sacred act or ceremony as it is often taken in the Fathers the other proper less extensive as St. Augustine defines it in his Book of the City of God when he calls it a visible sign of an invisible grace the blessing of the Word being joyned as he saith elsewhere unto the matter of the outward Elements In the first sense they may if they please make not onely seven Sacraments Pierre de Damien Ser. 69. pa. 168. but twelve if they will as a Catholick Doctour did before the Council The Bishop of Condom doth in some sort accommodate himself unto this general sense when he uses this expression that in his communion there are received seven Signs or sacred Ceremonies The difficulty is that the Council being herein less equitable than the Bishop of Condom hath in this as well as in the matter of Justification made Articles of Faith of many particular Opinions which are nothing to the Essence of Sacraments which are good for nothing at all but for the Schools For the Council will have us expresly to believe not only seven Signs or sacred Ceremonies in a general sense but seven true Sacraments properly so called as it speaks and that we believe neither more nor less under pain of Anathema however it is plainly to be seen that at least in the ceremonies of Marriage of Pennance
all this The same Scripture of the New Testament speaks in divers places against Traditions without ever intimating that there were some good which were to be distinguished from the bad and in one onely place which is that whereof the Bishop of Condom makes mention Mar. 7.8 9 13. Colos 2.8 2 Thes 2.15 the Apostle exhorting the Thessalonians to hold fast the Traditions which they had received of him whether it were by mouth when he was present with them or by Epistle which he had since writ to them sayes not one word which intimates that the things which he had taught them by mouth were different from those which he had written unto them but he gives to understand all along that it was one and the same Gospel which he preached unto all to them who were present by voice and to them that were absent by writing In summe whosoever will take the pains with any attention to read St. Paul's Two Epistles to the Thessalonians where he speaks unto them of the instructions which he gave them and of the manner of his having preached the Gospel unto them shall find there nothing at all no more than in the Gospel it self which hath the least resemblance to prayer for the dead to Purgatory to the invocation of Saints to the adoration of Images nor in fine to any of the Traditions which are in question betwixt the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome and us It were an easie matter here De Doct. Christ li. 2. c. 9. li. 3. cont lit Petili c. 6. Hieron ad Hel. vi pa. 315 366. Chrysos Hono. 3. in 2. ad Cor. to strengthen our selves with the Testimony of St. Austin and of several other Fathers to prove what we have said that the Scripture doth contain all that is necessary either for the Service of God or for the rule of our actions but besides that this were to engage in a particular Controversie touching the judgment of the Fathers which is not the design of this Answer we think that amongst Christians it were in some fort to prejudice the Dignity and Divinity of this same Holy Scripture to doubt that its proper light were not sufficient to make known its perfection Onely let us see what the Bishop of Condom produces for the unwritten Word Jesus Christ saith he having founded his Church upon preaching pa. 158. the unwritten Word was the first rule of Christianity and when thereto the Scriptures of the New Testament were added this Word did not thereby lose its authority We must observe here at first that this is to speak in some sort improperly to say that Jesus Christ founded the Church upon preaching and not rather by preaching Preaching is a means and not a foundation the means may cease the foundation ought to be durable And no more is it true that the unwritten Word was the first rule of Christianity It is the Scripture it self of the Old Testament which was the first and the eldest rule and the foundation of the Faith of Christians It is the Old Testament that not onely contains the Commandments of the Law which is the permanent and unchangeable rule of our Duty as well towards God as towards men but likewise all the figures all the promises and all the prophesies touching the Messias the time and the place of his Birth and all the circumstances of his death The Gospel as all the world knows is not the abrogating but the fulfilling of the Law therefore it is that we see that Jesus Christ and the Apostles grounded their preaching upon the Scriptures of the Old Testament Jesus Christ continually refers the Jews to the Law and to the Testimony It is written saith he in your Law c. Joh. 5.39 46. Rom. 1. Search the Scriptures diligently for in them ye think ye have eternal life And the Apostle St. Paul to the Romans Paul a servant of Jesus Christ c. separated unto the Gospel c. which was promised by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ c. who was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh and so he begins his very Epistle to the Hebrews God who at sundry times spake unto the Fathers by the prophets c. In fine his first Chapter and the whole Epistle is nothing else but one citation of Exodus of Chronicles of Samuel Job Psalms and the other Books of the Old Testament It is besides a very improper manner of speaking to say that when the Scriptures of the New Testament were joyned unto the unwritten Word this word for all that did not thereby lose its authority as if the Doctrine of the Gospel such as we have it now in writing were an accessary or were a thing different from that unto which they pretend it was joined or that that which was not written were more considerable than that which we have in the Sacred Books for this expression of the Bishop of Condom's that the Scriptures were joyned to the unwritten word suggests all these imaginations in stead of saying the thing properly as it is He should have said that the unwritten Word having been put into writing or the Scripture of the New Testament having succeeded preaching this Divine Word not onely not lost its authority but on the contrary was corroborated in that it doth not any longer depend on the memory nor the will of men naturally subject unto Errour For upon the main the Bishop of Condom pretends that the Holy Scripture contains onely the lesser part of Christian Religion and that on the contrary Tradition doth contain the principal part At least his pretence is that there may be some particular Doctrines which are not to be had but by Tradition which ought not for their not being in Scripture therefore to lose their authority As for any thing else the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome are so little firm to their principle of Tradition or at least they so well acknowledge that Tradition cannot go equal with Scripture though the Council hath been pleased to determine the contrary that when they are pressed touching particular Traditions which are in question betwixt them and us there is scarce one but they endeavour to support by the authority of Scripture whether it be by interpreting it in their sense or by the consequences which they draw thence When they treat of Tradition in general they maintain it with excess comparing it to Scripture as if it went through all Religion and when they treat of their Doctrines in particular they would make the World believe that there is scarce any one amongst them which is not founded on the very Scripture But if we would know nevertheless how the Bishop of Condom proves that the particular ponits of Tradition are the very Doctrine of the Apostles unwritten it may be at first we would believe that he had in hand some Authour either of the age of the
authority of the Church of Rome which they pretend cannot err Behold therefore the Bishop of Condom's argument overthrown in all its parts seeing that the Maxime which he layes down is not true which is that all the Doctrines embraced by all the Christian Churches whereof the first beginning cannot be shewn proceed from the Apostles and that the application which he doth make is less true which is that all the Traditions of the Church of Rome are Doctrines embrac'd by all the Christian Churches without possibility of shewing their beginning and by consequence this conclusion whether it be of the Bishop of Condom or of the Council of Trent far from being true and orthodox is a very strange principle that we ought to receive the Traditions even those which do separate us from the Church of Rome with the same respect and the same submission as the Holy Scripture XIX The authority of the Church After Tradition follows the authority of the Church The Bishop of Condom doth not clearly explain wherein this authority consists nor what he understands by the Church which should have this authority whether this authority should have any bounds or whether it should have none or whether it be the Pope with the Council or without the Council or the Council alone in which this authority doth reside for we also have our Churches and our Governours and we believe that we should not onely keep order but all that doth conduce for the maintaining of unity and concord and the Question here as elsewhere is oftentimes but of the more or less What the Bishop of Condom sayes in this case is reducible to four principal propositions The first that it cannot be but by the authority of the Church that we receive the whole body of the Holy Scriptures The second that it is of the Church that we learn Tradition and by Tradition the true sense of the Scriptures The third that it is the Church and her Pastours assembled which should determine controversies that divide the Faithful and that when once they have resolved any matter we ought to submit unto their decisions without examining anew that which they have resolved The fourth and last that this authority is so necessary that after having denied it we have been forced to establish it amongst us by our discipline by the Acts of our Synods and by our practice in things pertaining to Faith it self As to the first we agree with the Bishop of Condom that the Christian Church is the Guardian of the Scriptures and that as she hath received the Law and the Prophets from the Jewish Church so it is from the Chirstian Church that the Faithful receive all the Scriptures as well of the Old as of the New Testament We even acknowledge that the authority of the Church is a lawful reason which at first makes us look upon the Scripture as a revelation from Heaven but we do deny not onely that it is meerly by the authority of the Church but that it is principally by her authority that we receive the Scripture as the Divine Word The Scripture is full of Testimonies which it self gives of its Divinity and of the efficacious power which it hath upon hearts by the operation of the Holy Ghost It is indeed somewhat injurious to this the Divinity of the Scripture and to its efficacy and somewhat contradictory when it is contended that a matter Divine should not be received but by dependance upon an humane authority It is as if one would say that it is yet at this day onely by the authority of the Jewish Church that Christians have received the whole body of the Scriptures of the Old Testament because it is by her hand that we have received them though upon the whole the authority of this peopel chosen of God may be a reasonable ground of the Divinity of the Scriptures Truth hath its proper character even in humane matters which makes us acknowledge it for its self when once it is set before our eyes and not for the authority of those who propose it to us By greater reason Heavenly truths like the Sun manifest themselves by their proper splendour 'T is a common speech upon this subject that a man asleep being told the Sun is up presently believes it is day upon what is told him but when once he sees it is day he believes it not any longer because he was told so but because he sees it and he doth not so much as dream any longer that it was told him so The Gentlemen of the Church of Rome will not agree that it is as clear that the Scripture is the Word of God as it is clear that it is day when the Sun is above our Horizon and this is it which the Bishop of Condom gives to understand in terms positive enough when he speaks of us that whatever we say he believes that it is principally the authority of the Church pag. 16. that determines us to reverence as Divine Books the Song of Songs which hath so few sensible marks of prophetical inspiration the Epistle of St. James which Luther rejected and that of St. Jude which might be suspected by reason of some Apocryphal Books which are therein alledged But how dare any man rebate or decry as I may so speak the brightness and force of the Word of God Why sayes he absolutely that the Song of Songs hath so few marks of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit And to what end here again proposes he scruples against this Song and against the two Epistles of St. James and St. Jude which we look upon both in the one and the other communion as sacred Books and that without so much as alledging the reasons which have determined as well the Church of Rome as ours to receive these Writings as Canoniâ—al For will any say that if these Writings had not had any character of Divinity the sole approbation of the Church of Rome could give them 〈◊〉 light which they had not of themselves For our parts 2 Tim. 3.16 we say with the Apostle that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and if all men do not look upon them in the same manner or with the same sentiments it is not the fault of the Scripture but it is the effect of the variety and weakness of the humane spirit and the wise and free dispensation of the Spirit of God which bloweth where it will and as it will An evident proof that it is not the authority of the Church of Rome which determines those of our communion to reverence the Scriptures and these three Books particularly as Canonical but that it is their own proper character and the grace which we believe that God gives us to acknowledge this character is that 't is well known there are some others as Tobie Judith VVisdome Ecclesiasticus and the two first Books of Maccabees c. which the Church of Rome receives as Canonical which
and that in case of appeal unto a National Synod the full and final resolution should be there made by the Word of God unto which if the Gainsayers should refuse to acquiesce from point to point with an express disowning of their errours they should be cut off from the Church From whence the Bishop of Condom draws this consequence that we do not attribute the authority of this last judgment to the Word of God taken in it self independently upon the interpretation of the Church because the appeal of indifferent persons was received who had in their judgment applied that very word The difficulty is here onely as it may be seen upon the more or less of the authority which should be attributed unto the judgment of Synods or of Popes and of Councils Neither this rule nor the consequence which the Bishop of Condom draws from it speak any thing but what we have already all along acknowledged that order and dependance is requisite and that Pastours and Synods are appointed to govern the Church to teach the Word of God and to promote the understanding of it But this infers not at all that we attribute infallibility unto our Pastours nor to our Synods as the Church of Rome doth to Popes and Councils nor that the people are obliged to receive their decisions without examining them or to give a blind obedience unto them The Article sayes that those who have any scruple shall be heard in the Synod with all holy freedom and that the scruple or difficulty shall be there resolved by the Word of God It is not possible to find a temper more just and equitable to retain on the one side particular persons in a just moderation and to leave to God and his Word the supreme and absolute authority over our consciences It may be that this moderation it self is not without some inconvenience and that it would seem that the opinion of the infallibility of Popes or of Councils and the soveraign and absolute authority that is attributed unto them are as a strong rampire to retain the people within bounds But in the first place an inconvenience in a Government is no sufficient reason that another should be good and just if it be not so of it self 2. Where is there any order and form of Government either in Church or State but that there is some inconvenience There is much more without comparison in attributing infallibility and an absolute dominion unto Popes and to Councils because when it so happens that Popes or Councils fall into any errour as it ought to be supposed in this part of the Question that it may so happen and as we are convinced by experience that it hath happened diversetimes the evil is almost without remedy Errour hath the force of authentick and irrevocable Law it renders it self more general more durable and by consequence more difficult to be reformed and when once the guides are blind then there will be a necessity to fly to particular persons unto whom God giveth sufficient light strength and courage to take the part of the Truth But that it might not be said that this is onely a supposition accommodated unto the particular case of the Reformation of our Fathers it is known how hard it was to root out Arrianism when it was supported by the authority of the Episcopal chair of Rome and of the Council of Arimini that it is principally unto the zeal and courage of St. Athanasius that the glory of restoring Christianity in its purity is due and that in fine if God had not made use of this holy man and of others that seconded him the Arrians might have fortified themselues so that they might have mastered the Councils and Truth might have groaned longer than it did under the oppression of those Hereticks 3. In fine it is not absolutely true neither upon the whole that the infallibility and authority which is attributed to Popes and Councils is either a stronger or a surer means to restrain the people than is the temperament of our Discipline For experience shews that for more than an Age since our Churches of France have been governed by this order there hath never been any difference amongst us either in doctrine or in discipline which hath not been decided without any trouble whereas it might be said that the excessive authority of Popes and of Councils far from hindring of division hath very much contributed unto the divisions of the East against the West and of the West against it self which are the two Schisms the most considerable and unfortunate that could fall out in the Church The sincere persons of the Church of Rome do acknowledge yet to this day that it is the too great heighth with which the Popes and the Council of Trent did affect to make Articles of Faith of all that was disputed in the very Schools and to anathematize those that would not receive those Doctrines that hath put an obstruction well nigh inuincible to the peace and re-union of Christians And not long since again amongst Roman Catholicks we have seen that the authority of Popes supported by that of Princes has scarce been able in some way to hinder that the differences which had stirred up so much eagerness upon points of Doctrine and Discipline had not caused yet greater scandal But after all we daily see that this authority of the Pope hath onely the power to change the outward appearances but the unity of minds is wanting so true is it that it is onely the knowledge of Faith and charity which are the solid grounds of an holy union of hearts and of thoughts The Bishop of Condom doth yet make a third difficulty upon the form of the Letters which we give unto our Deputies when we send them to the Synods The Form is conceived in these terms which are reported by the Bishop of Condom We promise in the presence of God to submit our selves to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly to obey and execute it to the best of our power being perswaded that God will reside there and will direct you by his Holy Spirit in all truth and justice by the Rule of his Word Every one at the first light perceiveth that as this Form is conceived it is so far from supposing that the Synod cannot err or from attributing an absolute authority unto it and independent upon Scripture that it doth precisely suppose the contrary It cannot be sufficiently wondred at how the Bishop of Condom could have so much mistaken himself herein as he hath done for he thinks that there is something more in it than in those two other places of our discipline and of the Synod of Charenton which he had reported to shew that we yield a blind submission unto our Synods His reason is because there is submission given unto what shall be resolved in the Synod before it be known that it hath spoken according to the Scripture