indeed commanded to write to himself a copy of the Law out of that which was before the Priests the Levits By which it appears that even Copies of the Law were not so ordinary Which may be gathered also out of 4 Kings c. 22. there was such Astonishment at the finding and reading of the Book of the Law newly found in the Temple The Ten Commandments were common the Pharisees Phylacteries prove it As for the rest it was divided into Parashots Sections and read unto the People when they met on the Sabbath as you may see Acts 15.21 And in the Second of Esdras cap. 8. And the same Custome is still in the Catholic Church which in her Service doth dayly read some of the New and Old Testament G. B. Pag. 14. What pains are taken by Papists to detract from the Authority of Scriptures how they quarrel its Darkness its Ambiguousness the Genuineness of its Originals Answer This is a Calumny We all unanimously own Scripture to be the Word of God that no Untruth can be found in it Out of its Darkness and Ambiguity we shew the necessity of receiving its Sense from Tradition and not sticking to the bare Letter of the Scripture without the Sense which is to the Letter what a Soul is to the Body G. B. Pag. 15. We complain of Scripture being two much perused Answer Another Calumny In all our Universities we have Masters of Scriptures who in those I know take place of those even of Divinity Which shews the esteem we make of that study G. B. Pag. 15. Let as little of it be in Vulgar Tongues as can be Answer A Third Calumny It is all in English translated by the Rhemish and Doway Colleges and in French by the Doctors of Lovain And as for the New Testament it is publish'd in French by Rene Benoit Brulot Villeloin and Amelot Besides other Editions less noted And if there hath been no new Translation in English it is not for any Decrees forbidding it but because that first Translation is liked in gross and if any thing be defective as is unavoidable in all Works of Men it is not considerable and the like or worse may be fear'd in another G. B. Pag. 19. We read it publickly in an unknown Tongue in Latin. Answer If this proves our Dislike of the Scriptures it will likewise prove our Dislike of Councils and Popes Bulls which you say we prefer before Scriptures seeing these were never extant in any Vulgar Language Latin cannot truly absolutely be call'd An unknown Tongue in the Latin Church seeing it is the Language of her Schools of her Public Service of her Laws of her Tribunals of her Councils and in many places as in Polony and higher and lower Germany of almost every particular person where very ordinarily even Carters and Watermen speak it And as for Spaniards and Italians with little application they understand it by reason of the Affinity betwixt their own and the Latin Tongue So English cannot absolutely be said to be an unknown Tongue in Wales and Ireland tho' in both there are several who understand it not If this be not a sufficient Vindication of our Church how will you excuse your own from the same Fault which never translated the Scripture into Irish but uses English in Ireland even where there are many thousands who understand it as little as Latin is understood by any Catholic G. B. Pag. 15. We permit no private person the use of it without Allowance from his Confessor Answer A Fourth Calumny In Latin Greek or Hebrew it is universally permitted to all In France no Body scruples at the reading of it in French provided the Editions be approved Your Brethren there could have informed you better seeing they have had the Confusion to see their Ministers mouths stopt by Cutlers and Shoemakers out of their own Bible which could not be had they not read it If the Opinion of a Confessor be demanded it is to know the Disposition of the person who desires it whether it be such as good may be hoped from that reading All Food is designed by Almighty God for the use of Man yet without any Injury to the Patient a Physitian may forbid him the use of some which would nourish peccant Humors So Scriptures are designed for our Instruction unto Piety to God and Peace to our Neighbors If any mans mind be possest with Opinions contrary to both and these Opinions controul all Instruction given him so as all serve only to confirm him in his impiety and turbulent Humor would you not advise him a Diet from such strong Food as Scripture For Example lately a great part of the Commonalty of our Nation was so posest with a Spirit of Rebellion against Ecclesiastical and Civil Government that altho there be scarce any thing more recommended in holy Writ than Obedience to Prelate and Prince yet they thought the whole Drift of Scripture abetted their Treason not that any such thing was to be found in Scripture but that they fancied it there as Men fancy that the Bells speak articulate Words In that conjuncture what Advice would you give to an Ignorant Man to be satisfied with Books of Devotion and Instructions drawn from Scripture which might keep him humble and peaceable or to continue reading the Scriptures which he thought preached Sedition and from which through his bad Disposition he was confirmed in his Rebellions and Antichristan Courses Another motive why the Confessors Advice is demanded is that he might instruct Men how to Read and reap Benefit from the Reading To Read with the Humility of a Scholer not the Presumption of a Master to make rather a Prayer than a Study of it To resolve to practise what they understand and adore God for what they understand not So that whether they do or do not comprehend what they read they glorifie God in all and grow in Vertue After such Instructions apply'd to the Condition of every one the Benefit will be much greater and the danger of ill using it much diminished CHAP. VII A Digression touching the Idolatry of the Pagans ill represented by E. S. D. D. THis matter is as clear in it self as any antiquated Rights can be all Men are possest with an Opinion that as the word imports the deluded Nations did Adore Idols as their Gods. S. Austin l. 20. contra Faust c. 20. having said that Latria was the Worship given to God alone as he is distinguished from all his Creatures how holy soever he says Ad hunc cultum pertinet oblatio Sacrificii unde Idololatria dicitur eorum qui hoc Sacrificium etiam Idolis offerunt That to offer Sacrifice is an Act of Latria whence those are called Idolaters who offer it to Idols This seems clear yet our modern Protestants to make good the Charge of Idolatry against the present Cath. Church raise a great Mist before their Readers Eyes and misrepresent Idolatry in such colours as may afterwards
c. 6. Caelestin I. (d) Epist 1. ad Episc Gallia cap. 12. and Augustin (e) Lib. 2. de pec orig cap. 40. l. 6. cont Julian c. 5. ubi ait Ecclesia filios fidelium nec exorcisaret nec exufflaret si non eos de potestate tenebrarum à principo mortis erueret Id tu commemorare timuisti tanquam ipse ab orbe toto exufflandiu esses si huic exufflationi quâ Frinceps mundi a parvulis ejieitur for as contradicere voluisses The Church says S. Augustin to Julian would neither exorcise you call this a Charm the children of the Faithful nor blow upon them did she not free them from the power of the Devil This thou Julian durst not gainsay fearing thy self to be blown out of the Christian World if thou hadst done so So esteemed was this Ceremony then that even Hereticks durst not speak against it which now is reproach'd to us as à Charm a Superstition by our Reformers Not a petty Minister but thinks it a fit Object to be laught at and to shew his wit by playing the Buffoon upon it By natural Generation all are born in sin children of wrath slaves of the Devil and in the power of Darkness By supernatural Regeneration which is Baptism we are purged from Sin freed from the bondage of the Devil adopted the Children of God delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the beloved Son of God. Colos 1.13 This Faith delivered by the Apostles was believed by the primitive Christians and we believe the same They used this Ceremony to signifie this change in the Person baptized we use it for the same intent It was then so venerable that even Heretics durst not express any disesteem of it now you deride it and look upon it as prophane and a Charm. Whence comes this change from the Ceremony no it is the same it was then from the Intention of those who use it no it is employed to signifie the change from Sin to Grace now as it was then The Change is only in your self and your Brethren Reformers your Faith is as different from that of the Primitive as of the present Church and that new Faith enclines you to deride those things which the Church animated by Apostolical Faith did and doth esteem By this you see how Impious this Lucian like spirit is How imprudent it is will appear if you consider how full your Assemblies are of Libertines who deride all things of Devotion even practised by your selves as several tragically complain of in their Sermons You foster in them this Spirit by your Practise you plant that Tree in their Hearts which produces such sour Fruit that sets all your teeth an edge this Serpent is bread in the bowels of your Reformation and serpent like it will eat the bowels of her Parent and kill her if it be not stifled G. B. pag. 35. The Priest at Mass often how 's sometimes he turns to the People and gives them a short barbarian Benediction then goes on Answer In all this I see nothing ridiculous but your relating those sacred Rites How can he express his inward Worship of God more clearly than by kneeling or bowing His Office is to be a Mediator betwixt God and Man Heb. 5.1 and how can that be better represented than by his humble applications to God bowing to him and listing up his hands to the throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 to receive thence Mercy and then turn to the People to pour it upon them Thus on Jacobs Ladder the Angels appeared going up and down up to God down to Jacob a Type of what Priests do when they officiate But he gives them a short Barbarian Benediction That Benediction which you a very civilized person disdain as Barbarous is taken out of Scripture the words of an Angel to Gideon Judges 6.12 Our Lord be with you Dominus vobiscum Scripture it self cannot escape your censure if a Papist use it Your contempt of the language of Angels in this World will scarce make you worthy of their Company in the next G. B. pag. 35. After Adoration the God is to be devoured by the Priest which made the Arahian say Christians were fools who devoured what they adored Answer A worthy Authority for a King's Chaplain in ordinary to build upon Sir Christ said Take and eat this is my Body because he says it is his body we adore it and because he commands us to take and eat it we obey and do so But a Turk says it is foolish Let it be so no Turk's Opinion is the Rule of my Faith. Is it of yours Is not this prodigious that against the express words of Christ and the Practice of the whole Church the Authority of a Turk should be brought nay and preferred before it and this by a Minister G B. pag. 38. Rome enjoyns severer censures on the violation of those Ceremonies than on the greatest transgressions against the moral or positive Laws of God. Answer I know no motive you can have for advancing such notorious untruths but that of Cicero Cum semel limites verecundiae transieris oportet graviter esse impudentem You have past those bounds and there I leave you CHAP. XIII Scripture and the Church where of the Resolution of Faith. G. B. p. 41. c. Papists call the Scriptures a nose of Wax the source of all Heresies Answer If any Roman Catholic compared Scripture to a Nose of Wax it is only because the Letter may be wrested to different senses and made to look not that way which the Holy Ghost designed but that which Mens Passions lead them to The World affords not a more convincing Instance of this flexibility of Scriptures then that of your own Brethren in the late troubles who brought it to countenance Sedition Rebellion Heresie Murther and the horriblest of all Murthers Parricide the killing of the Father of the Country Did Scripture of it self look towards or abet all those crying Sins no sure it condemns them formally It can then be wrested from its own natural sence to another meaning contrary to it which is all that is meant by that Phrase As for its being a source of Heresies it is not true that Scriptures do found Heresies or that Heresies spring out of them but that Men draw Heresies out of the words of Scriptures taken in a Sense quite contrary to that of the Holy Ghost G. B. pag. 41. Papists will have all the Authority of Scriptures to depend on the Church A great difference is to be made betwixt the Testimony of a Witness and the Authority of a Judge The former is not denied to the Church Answer Here you grant to the Church as much as we desire provided you own in this Witness such a Veracity as the nature of its Testimony requires to bring us to a certain and undoubted belief of the Scriptures The Curch never took upon her the Title
Of Judge of Scripture In her Councils she places in the middle of the Assembly a high Throne as for Christ and in it sets the holy Ghospels as his word according to which she judges of the Doctrin tontroverted Conc. Calced Act. 1. So she judges by Scriptures of the Doctrin of men but doth not judg of the Scriptures themselves At the first Admission of a Writing into the Canon of Scriptures the Church proceding is of another nature A Writing is brought to her as written by a Man Divinely assisted of S. Paul for example to the Romans by Phebe or to Philemon by a fugitive Servant Onesimus neither as a Witness give any great credit to the Writing they brought The Pastors of the flock of Christ consider the Writings examin the Messengers recurr to God by Prayer to demand the Assistance of his Holy Spirit to know whether he were truly the Author of the Writing exhibited If after all these means used to discover the Truth they remain convinced the thing was written by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost they obey it themselves command Obedience to it as to the Word of God and use it as a Rule of Faith and Manners So when an unknown Person brings into a Corporation a new Patent as of the King's Majesty and presents it to the Mayor He before he allows the Patentee to act in vertue of it with his Brethren considers the Writing the Signet the Seal the Stile c. to know whether it be counterfeit or sincere with a Resolution to obey it himself and make others do the same in case it appear to be truly the King 's The Mayor cannot be said to judge of the Kings Patents to which as a Subject he owes Obedience but only to discern whether an unknown Writing be the King's Patent or no. You say this makes the Authority of the Scriptures depend on the Church Which is as rational as if you should say the Authority of the King's Patent depends on the Mayor of a petty Corporation because the Patent is exhibited to him before it be executed If any Man hath so little common Sense as not to discern the difference betwixt these two Propositions To judge of the Kings Patent and to judge whether an unknown Writing be the Kings Patent I am to seek how to help him This Authority of the Church to recommend the Scriptures as an undeniable Witness occasioned that Saying of S. Augustin l. contra Epist Fundam c. 5. Ego Evangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae commoveret authoritas I would not believe the Gospel did not the Authority of the Catholie Church move me to it Which words are cited by all Catholic Controvertists as containing an implicit Decision of all our Controversies they shewing evidently S. Augustins Discourse against the Manichees to be just the same which we use against the modern Protestants that as we are heirs of that Faith which S. Augustin and the Church of his time defended against its Opposers the ancient Heretics so are we of the Titles by which they enjoyed it and the Arms with which they defended it I will put down the whole Discourse of S. Augustin at large that so we may the better understand his meaning and more convincingly shew how much the most understanding of our Adversaries are out of the way in explicating it The thing sought for in that Discourse was whether Manichaeus was an Apostle of Jesus Christ or no The Manichaeans said he was the Catholics denied it for whose cause S. Austin disputes thus in that place Quaero quis sit iste Manichaeus says he Respondebitis Apostolus Christi Non Credo Evangelium sortè mihi lecturus es indè Manichai personam tentabis asserere Si ergò invenires aliquem qui Evangelio nondum credit quid faceres dicenti tibi non credo Ego verò Evangelio non crederem nisi me Catholicae Ecclesiae commoveret authoritas Quibus ergo obtemperavi dicentibus credite Evangelio cur eis non obtemperem dicentibus mihi Noli credere Manichaeo Elige quid velis Si dixeris crede Catholicis ipsi me monent ut nullam fidem accommodem vobis quapropter non possim illis credens nisi tibi non credere Si dixeris noli Catholicis credere non rectè facis per Evangelium me cogere ad Manichaei fidem quia ipsi Evangelio Catholicis praedicantibus credidi Si autem dixeris benè credidisti Catholicis laudantibus Evangelium sed non rectè credidisti illis vituper antibus Manichaeum usque adeò me stultum putas ut nullâ redditâ ratione quod vis credam quod non vis non credam quippè multò justius cautius facio si Catholicis quoniam semel credidi ad te non transeo nisi me non credere jusseris sed manifestissime apertissimè scire aliquid feceris Quocirca si mihi rationem redditurus es dimitte Evangelium Si ad Evangelium te tenes ego ad eos me teneam quibus praecipientibus Evangelio credidi his jubentibus tibi omninò non credam Quod si fortè in Evangelio aliquid manifestissimum de Manichaei Apostolatu invenire potueris infirmabis mihi Catholicorum auctoritatem qui jubent ut tibi non credam Quâ infirmat â nec Evangelio credere potero quia per eos illi credideram ita nihil apud me valebit quicquid inde protuleris Quapropter si nihil manifestum de Manichaei Apostolatu in Evangelio reperitur Catholicis potiùs credam quà m tibi Si autem inde aliquid manifestum pro Manichaeo legeris nec illis nec tibi illis quia de te mihi mentiti sunt tibi quia eam scripturam mihi profers cui per illos credideram qui mihi mentiti sunt Sed absit ut ego Evangelio non credam Illi autem credens non invenio quomodò possim etiam tihi credere Haec Aug. ibid. I demand says this Saint Who is this Manichaeus You answer He is the Apostle of Christ I will not take your word for it What will you say what means will you use to persuade me Perchance you will take the Gospel and thence endeavor to prove unto me the Mission of Manichaus But what if you meet with one who doth not believe the Gospel how would you deal with him For my part I would not believe the Gospel did not the Authority of the Catholic Church move me Whom therefore I obey in saying Believe the Gospel should I not obey in saying Believe not Manichaeus Take your choice whether you will have me rely on the Catholics or no If you say Believe the Catholics they marn me not to believe you wherefore believing them I must reject you If you say Do not believe Catholics you do not well endeavoring to bring me to the Belief in Manichaeus by the Gospel which I received only upon the word of Catholics If you say you do well to believe the
a faithful Witness gives hitherto and will give to the end of the World Testimony to that Revelation And we cannot be Hereticks because (b) Tertul. supra Nobis nihil ex arbitrio nostro inducere licet sed nec eligere quod aliquis ex arbitrio suo induxerit we never take the liberty to choose our selves or to admit what others choose but we take bona fide what is delivered as revealed by the greatest Authority imaginable on Earth which is that of the Catholic Church Let an Angel teach us any thing contrary to what is delivered and we will pronounce Anathema to him in imitation of the Apostle Gal. 1.18 Here is then the Tenure of our Faith. The Father sent his only begotten Son consubstantial to himself into the World And what he heard of his Father that he made known to us Joan. 15.15 The Father and Son sent the Holy Ghost And he did not speak of himself but what he heard that he spoke Joan. 16.13 The Holy Ghost sent the Apostles And they declared unto us what they had seen and heard 1 Joan. 1.3 The Apostles sent the Highest and lower Prelates in the Church and the Rule by which they framed their Decrees was Let nothing be altered in the Depositum let no Innovation be admitted in what is delivered Quod traditum est non innovetur Steph. PP apud Cypr. Epist 74. ad Pompeium By this we are assured that our Faith is that which the Councils received from the Apostles the Apostles from the Holy Ghost and so by the Son to God the Father where it rests Now to Protestants Their Proceeding is far different they hear the whole System of Faith commended by the Church as revealed by God and take it into Examination And some things displeasing them in it they fall to reforming it and cut off at one Blow all things not expressy contained in Scripture Here is one Choice Then Scripture is called to the Bar and near a third part of it condemned and lopt off which is a second Choice Thirdly there being still several things in the remnant which displease them as understood by the Church they reject that Interpretation and fix on it such a one as pleases them most So that even what Sense they retain they do it upon this their Haeresis or Choice What Evidence can convince a Man to be a Chooser in Faith that is a Heretic if these Men be not by this Proceeding sufficiently proved such For a farther confirmation of this consider the several ways of Catholics and Protestants in entertaining Propositions of Faith. A Catholic hearing from the Church our Saviour's Words with the Sense that is the compleat Scripture for the bare Word without the Sense is no more Scripture than a Body without a Soul or Life is a Man presently believes them and what Reason soever may appear to the contrary he silences it and submits his Vnderstanding to Faith and let the Words seem harsh and the Sense unconceivable yet the Truth of God triumphs over all those petty Oppositions A Protestant hears the same and presently consults his Reason and till he hath its Verdict suspends his Judgment If that say with the Pharisce Joh. 3.9 How can these things be or with the Capharnaits Joh. 4. This is a hard saying who can hear it the Protestant immediately renounces it So we submit our Reason to Faith you set yours above it We frame our Reason according to the Dictamens of Revelation you shape Revelation by your Reason In fine you set your Reason on a Throne to Judge of that Word by which one day you are to be Judged You may as easily prove the Pharisees and Capharnaits to be better Christians than the Apostles as that your Procedure in receiving Faith is better than that of the Catholic Church SECTION II. Of Hope HOPE is an expectation of future Bliss promised by our Blessed Saviour to those who love him and keep his Commandments It is built on a Promise of God which cannot fail And had that Promise been absolute we might have been more assuredly certain of our future Happiness than we can be of the truth of any Mathematical Demonstration but it is only Conditional requiring on our parts a concurrence with his Divine Grace and this is always uncertain by reason of the mutability of our Will to Evil notwithstanding our strongest Resolutions to Good. Hence our Hope is mixt with Fear Sperando timemus Tertul. l. de cultu faeminarum c. 2. p. 265. We have a full assurance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on God's side Who to shew unto the Heirs of promise the immatability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two things immutable in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us which Hope we have as an Anchor of the Souls both sure and stedfast Heb. 6.17 18 19. On our side we have always reason to apprehend the mutability of our own Will notwithstanding all present Grace from God and the strength of his Counsel Hence the Apostle admonishes us 2 Cor. 6.1 not to receive in vain the Grace of God. He sets before our Eyes his own Example 1 Cor. 9.27 keeping under his Body chastising it and bringing it into subjection lest having preached to others he might become himself a reprobate a cast-away And consequently warns us Phil. 2.12 to work out our salvation with fear and trembling When this Apostle fears who can presume We may resolve well pray hard and act well to day but what assurance have we that to morrow will find us so well disposed or even not doing the quite contrary and that being so ill prepared Death will not surprize us S. Paul the Vessel of Election who had been taken up to the Third Heaven feared lest he should become a reprobate and S. Peter bred up in our Blessed Saviour's School resolved to die with him yet shortly after denied him If these great Pillars of the Church shake and bend and fear breaking or actually break what may not such Reeds as G. B. and I. W. fear You see what Grounds we have to fear from Reason from the Example of the Apostles and from their Doctrin This is comfortless Doctrin to G. B. p. 54. and therefore he had rather throw all on Christ and persuade himself that Christ's Prayer was sufficient his Satisfaction sufficient his Merits sufficient We need neither Pray nor Suffer nor Merit Believe in him and he will do all Crede firmiter pecca fortiter Compare now this Disposition of modern Catholics which is the same with that of the Apostles with that of a Protestant their Fear with his Confidence their Trembling with his Assurance their Apprehensions with his Boldness and you shall find in Catholics true Hope mingled with Fear as you may see in Divines and I have shewed out of the Apostles and
his Superior Christ Jesus I never heard S. Ambrose suspected of Pride for refusing to admit Theodosius the Great into the Church before his Penance for the Slaughter at Thessalonica or for excluding him the Cancels after it It was a Zeal of the Glory of God and the good of the Church which moved him the Emperor himself understood it so As for precious Ornaments of the Church I will own ours to be too costly when you shall have proved that any thing is too good for God's Service not till then The infinit Majesty of God is ground sufficient to oblige us to bear him the greatest Respect interiorly and express our Duty to our Creator and our Gratitude to so great a Benefactor by returning to him in the best manner we can an Acknowledgment of his most bountiful Gifts This serves also to stir up in the Auditory Submission Respect and Adoration which otherwise would fail CHAP. XXVII Vnity of the Church in Faith and Sacraments G. B. owns that Protestants are Schismatics Of Severity against Dissenters And of Hugo Grotius G. B. p. 100. A Fourth Design of Christian Religion was to unite Mankind under one Head into one Body not by Love and pardoning Injuries only but also by associating the Faithful into one Body the Church which was to be united by Bonds of Love governed by Pastors and Teachers and cemented with the Ligaments of the Sacraments Answ You say something thô disorderly but not all For 1. You omit Faith by which we are inserted into the Body of Christ 2. You put Charity which doth not make us parts but living parts of that Body whose parts we are by Faith. 3. You add Sacraments which are only exterior Signs of interior Communication 4. You confound Charity and Sacraments as equally concurring to the Vnity of the Church yet there is a vast difference betwixt them the one formally quickning the Members of the Church interiorly the other only effecting it interiorly and testifying it exteriorly 5. Betwixt the Sacraments there is a vast difference as to this and you confound them for Baptism being our Regeneration in Christ is an esficient Cause of our Union with him and makes us his Members the others are designed only to nourish those who are already united to and in him When you speak of being Governed by Pastors I hope the Pope may find place amongst them he being the prime Pastor G. B. pag. 101. The Gospel pronounceth us free and no more Servants of Men but of God. Answ Free from the Ceremonial Law of Moses not from that of the Gospel and Obedience to the Governors of the Church How changeable are your Sentiments In the foregoing Page 100 the Church was to be Governed by Pastors and Teachers now she is to obey none but God and if any Man pretend to Command he changeth the Authority of the Church into a tyranical Yoke So we must have Governors without Authority to Command and Subjects without any Duty to Obey A new Model of Government G. B. ibid. Those things for which we withdrew from the Church are Additions to our Faith. She added to Scriptures Tradition to God Images to Christ Saints to Heaven and Hell Purgatory to two Sacraments five more to the Spiritual Presence of Christ his Corporal Presence Ans Never Man spake more and proved less than you who offer not one word in proof of these disputed Points which we declare to be evident untruths Is not this a poor begging of the thing in question But they are say you Additions to your Faith. Did we add to your Faith or you cut off from ours and that of the whole Christian World before your Deformation How could we add those things to your Faith when they were in peaceable possession all over the Christian World as you own your selves many Ages before Protestancy was thought on You have here only one Truth viz. That you withdrew from the Church Which convincingly proves the Guilt of Schism to lie at your Door G. B. pag. 105. If a Society of Christians visibly swerve from Christ so that Communion cannot be retained with it without departing from Christ then the departing from the Corruptions brought in can be no departing from the Church If then it appear that the Roman Church hath departed from the Truth of the Gospel those who separated from her cannot be said to separate from the true Church Answ Here we have a Paralogism which might better become a Junior Sophister than a Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty You will see it in these Instances The Communion of that Church ought to be renounced which obligeth her Children to Mahometism If then the English Protestant Church oblige hers to that her Communion ought to be renounced Another That Man deserves the greatest Contempt who writes Controversie and hath nothing to write but Calumnies and Sophisms If then Mr. G. B. hath nothing else but such stuff to fill his Books with he knows his Deserts What think you Sir of such Arguments which serve only to delude an unwary Reader into an assent of what you would but cannot prove There is no Logician but knows that Conditional Propositions signifie only the Connexion betwixt two things under such a Condition but they assert nothing absolutely unless the Condition be proved For Example If a Man flies he hath Wings If the Heavens fall we shall catch Larks These I say are granted to be true althô the Condition be impossible Yet those who grant them do not expect those Wings to go a Journey nor rely on those Larks for a Supper In like manner suppose we should grant your Conditional Illation yet the Guilt of Schism would lie on your Consciences because you neither do nor can prove the Condition upon which your Excuse relies G. B. pag. 106. The Cruelty of Papists extendeth to as much bloudy and barbarous Rage as ever sprung from Hell. Answ You mean the Laws made against Heretics which being made by the Secular Power and not by Churchmen I think my self not obliged to vindicate them Yet seeing the most severe of them all the Faggot was till of late as I am informed in force in England and hath been actually executed upon some since the Reformation I leave you to answer to our Honorable Judges for your pragmatical Boldness in censuring them so severely Another would take notice of the Laws in force against Papists but I let that pass it is enough to vindicate our Churchmen that they never made those Laws they never condemned any Man by them all they do is to judge of the matter of Fact whether a Person be guilty of Heresie and if they find him so to leave him to the Secular Power This is the most that ever the Inquisition did as far as ever I heard G. B. pag. 108. Grotius says that in Charles the Fifth's time more than One hundred thousand were butchered on the accout of Religion And in his Son Philip 's time the
Organs by which God spake and their Words were his Words When you received the word of God says S. Paul 1 Thes 2.15 which when you received of us you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God. Hence those Men frequently use that Phrase Haec dicit Dominus Thus says the Lord. And Faith is no farther a Theological Vertue than it relies solely and only on the Truth Veracity of God as on its Formal Object as with our Divines and out of them Dr. Pearson in his Learned Explication on the Creed teaches And in this even those Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinely Inspired proceeded as we do resolving their Faith into the Veracity of God as well as we for their Faith was univoca of the same nature with ours with this only difference that the Formal Object was applied to them clearly and to us only obscurely The assent to such a Mystery in Christ was Science or Vision not so in any others He might say Quod scimus loquimur quod vidimus testamur Jo. 3.11 We know what we speak and we testifie what we have seen The rest must say Credimus propter quod loquimur 2 Cor. 4.13 We believe and therefore we speak In this manner Faith was first spread in the World. I say the Catholic Faith not your Protestant Faith which as it contains your positive and negative Articles otherwise it is not Protestant was never delivered by any Man Divinely Inspired but invented by your first Reformers who as I have said Chap. 22. Sect. 1. taking the whole Sum of Faith revealed topt and lopt off it as much as they pleased and from them you have not the Christian but the Protestant Faith Fides temporum non Evangeliorum A Faith of the Times not of the Gospels says Tertul. Were these the Men of God Divinely Inspired and assisted by Miracles G. B. ibid. The Doctrins about which we differ can pretend to no such Divine Original Answ You know we hold this not to be true we received all by the same Authority from the same Hand G. B. pag. 117. What Man sent of God was the first Author of the Belief of the Corporeal Presence of the Sacrifice of the Mass of the Pope's Supremacy of Purgatory of Indulgences and of all those innumerable Superstitions of which Scripture is absolutely silent Answ Christ was a Man sent of God and he was the first Author of them G. B. ibid. If these Doctrins were not the Off-spring of Revelations we cannot be obliged to believe them as such Answ Your former Legerdemain comes again another conviction of your disingenuous Proceeding This appears by these Propositions If the Bible were not the Offspring of Revelation we should not be bound to believe it If Christ were not true God we should not be bound to adore him as such Could you with patience hear a Pagan with such a Sleight undermine the Authority of the Bible or the Honor due to Christ Prove what you odiously suggest that the things you wrongfully call Superstitions are not revealed and you will do something to the purpose But you are too cunning to attempt any such Proof which you know surpasses your Strength And therefore you had rather suppose than prove it that being more proportioned to your Capacity and Religion G. B. ibid. They vouch Scriptures for Proof to some of these but these are so far stretched that their sure Retreat is in the Sanctuary of Traditions Answ You speak as Dogmatically as if it were ex Tripode Here is an Assertion without any Proof and so is a convincing Proof that you have none Tradition is indeed our Sanctuary to which you have no Claim By it we received 1. Scriptures 2. The Sense of Scriptures which is their Soul. Now when Scriptures are doubtful in any Point or as you phrase it seem not to reach home without Stretching can we have better assurance of their true meaning than by the Authority of the Church which is clearly commended to us in Scriptures themselves And in following her Sense we are certain we follow Scriptures which is the Discourse of S. Aug. lib. 1. contra Crescon cap. penult Quamvis hujus rei de Scripturis Canonicis non proferatur exemplum Scripturarum etiam in hac re à nobis tenetur veritas cum hoc facimus quod universa jam placuit Ecclesiae quam ipsarum Scripturarum commendat auctoritas ut quoniam Sacra Scriptura fallere non potest quisquis falli metuit hujus obscuritate quaestionis Ecclesiam de illâ consulat quam sine ullâ ambiguitate Sancta Scriptura demonstrat G. B. ibid. Till it be proved that an Error could not creep into the World that way we must be excused from Believing Answ Unless you prove that Errors have crept in that way you are inexcusable You actually rejected those things as Errors which were in possession all over the World unless you prove them to be such your Fact is criminal G. B. ibid. It is not possible to know what Traditions came from the Apostles Answ Habemus hic confitentem reum For if it be impossible to know what Traditions were Apostolical your Reformers Act in rejecting so many was rash and inconsiderate They had been better advised to retain all as they found them in the Church than to cut them off But your Procedure is as different in this as in the rest from S. Austin For was any thing doubted of this Saint's Method was to consult the Church and adhere to what she believed or practised as you see in his Discourse above you consult the Church too but it is only to reject her Practice and condemn her Sentiments The weight of the Authority of the Church may be sufficient to convince which are Apostolical Traditions as it convinces which are Apostolical Writings Yet we have other Signs I will instance in two one taken from S. Aug. l. 4. de Bapt. cont Donat. c. 24. Quod universa tenet Ecclesia neec à Conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi Apostolicâ traditum auctoritate rectissimè creditur We ought to believe those things to have come from the Apostles which the whole Church holds and were not introduced by Councils but were always in use To prove this it is enough that the first Persons who mention them speak of them not as of things newly begun but which were of ancient Practice The second Rule is taken out of Tertullian l. de Praescript c. 28. Age nunc omnes erraverint deceptus sit Apostolus de testimonio reddendo quibusdam nullam respexerit Spiritus Sanctus uti eam in veritatem induceret ad hoc missus est à Christo ad hoc postulatus de Patre ut esset Doctor veritatis neglexerit officium Dei villicus Christi vicarius sinens Ecclesias aliter in terris intelligere aliter credere quà m ipse per Apostolos praedicabat Ecquid
Catholics when they commend the Gospel but you do not well in believing them when they blame Manioheus do you think me such a Fool as without any reason I should believe what pleases you and not believe what you dislike Certainly it is much more reasonable seeing I must believe the Catholics that I abandon your Communion unless you can give me an evident Demonstration for the contrary Wherefore if you will alledge Reason lay by the Gospel If you retain the Gospel I will stick to those upon whose word I have admitted the Gospel and their Authority forces me to renounce you Now if perchance you can shew out of the Gospel any evident proof of Manichaeus his Apostleship you will indeed weaken in me the Authority of Catholics who forbid me to believe you But that Authority being weakned I shall no more be able to believe the Gospel which I received by it and so whatsoever you prove thence will fall to the ground Therefore if no clear proof of Manichaeus his Mission is extant in the Gospel I will rather believe the Catholics than you If a clear proof be found there I will neither believe the Catholics nor you Not them because they were false in the Opinion they delivered of you Not you because you rely on that Scripture which I received on the testimony of those who have deceived me Yet God forbid I should reject the Gospel and believing it I see no possibility of believing you Thus the great Saint which I have cited at large because the whole Discourse holds against all Heresies changing only the Name of Manichaeus or Manichean into that which signifies the Heresie as for Example into that of Protestant or Luther Morcover it contains a clear Confutation of what hath hitherto by the Learnedst of our Adversaries been said in Answer to it The first Interpretation of this Place is delivered by W. L. in his Relation of a Conference pag. 81. Some of your own says he will not endure it should be understood save of the Church in the time of the Apostles only and then cites Ockam Dial. p. 1. l. 1. c. 4. Where he hath not one word of that But says Mr. Still in his Rational Account p. 198. the words are in Durandus l. 3. Insent d. 24. q. 1. n. 9. where he says Intelligitur solùm de Ecclesiâ quae fuit tempore Apostolorum It is understood only of the Church which was in the time of the Apostles The same Author borrows another Explication of Biel Lect. 2. in Can. Missae That the words are to be understood of the Church in general as it contains the first and later Ages A tempore Christi Apostolorum c. And to this he sticks for he adds And so doth S. Augustin take Eccles contra Fund And Dr. Still p. 198 199 approves the same and confirms it out of Gerson and Driedo Neither of these two Explications can stand with the Text as appears out of those words Quibus obtemperavi dicentibus Credite Evangelio cur eis non obtemperem dicentibus mihi noli credere Manichaeo Whom I obeyed in saying Believe the Gospel should I not obey in saying Do not believe Manichaeus Hence I frame this Argument St. Augustin professeth he received the Gospel upon the credit of that Church which condemned Manichaeus But that Church which condemned Manichaeus was that of his time and not that of the Apostles who never mentioned Manichaeus Ergo the Church on whose word he received the Gospel was that of his time and not that of the Apostles When therefore E. S. p. 220. says It is plain St. Austin means not the Judgment of the present Church but of the Catholic Church as taking in all Ages and Places he evidently contradicts the very Text of St. Austin whence I conclude that either he speaks against his Conscience which I am unwilling to believe or else which is more excusable that he had not read the Text which he undertakes to Explicate A Third and yet more improbable Explication is delivered by W. L. p. 82. He speaks it either of Novices or Doubters in the Faith or else of such as were in part Infidels Mr. Fisher the Jesuit at the Conference would needs have it that St. Austin spake it even of the Faithful which I cannot yet think for he speaks to the Manichees and they had a great part of the Infidel in them And the words immediately before these are If thou shouldst find one qui Evangelio non credit which did not believe the Gospel what wouldst thou do to make him believe Thus W. L. This is likewise plainly false for S. Austin was neither a Novice nor a Doubter in the Faith nor in part an Infidel when he writ that Book for he writ it after he was made Bishop as you may see Lib. 2. Retract c. 2. But he speaks of himself and describes the ground of his own Faith Ergo he doth not speak of Novices Doubters or half Infidels nor describes the ground of their Faith but of those who are firm Believers I prove that S. Austin speaks of his own Faith and shews the ground on which it relied For first he says I would not believe the Gospels without the Authority of Catholics commending them Secondly he says If you weaken the Authority of Catholics I will reject the Gospel This I believe Mr. Stillingst saw and therefore said pag. 20. If you extend this beyond Novices and Weaklings I shall not oppose you in it And I cannot think that W. L. had read that place at least with attention when he writ He could not think S. Austin spoke of the Faithful Stilling pag. 220. Neither you nor any Catholic Author is able to prove that S. Austin by these words ever dreamt of any infallible Authority in the present Church Ans Seeing S. Austin expresly says He would renounce the Gospel if the Authority of Catholics were weakned in him by discovering they had delivered any one Lye he must either think them exempt from all possibility of Lying or else he adhered very loosly to the Gospel I hope E. S. will not assert the later part wherefore he must grant that S. Austin thought the Church free from all possibility of Error Let us return to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 43. Christ's Prophetic Office is invaded by the pretence of the Churches Infallibility in Expounding Scriptures And why good Sir should the Infallibility in Expounding Scriptures be an Invasion of the Prophetic Office of Christ seeing Infallibility in writing them was no such thing Certainly it is more to compose a Writing than to understand it as many can understand Cicero's Speech pro Milone who cannot compose such an one And your old Women pretend to understand several parts of Scripture which yet I think will scarce undertake to Pen the like By this say you the whole Authority is devolved on the Church No more than it was on S. John when he writ his Gospel
or S. Paul composing his Epistles nor so much neither seeing these were so assisted as to Compose Holy Scripture when the Church only pretends to Expound the Word of God. How doth such an Assistance of the Divine Spirit derogate from the Infallibility of God from which it is derived But Her Exposition must be admitted say you though contrary to the Sense As if Infallibility did not exclude all possibility of such a wrested Exposition The Infallibility of the Church may slight your Attempts whilst you are armed only with such Straws We have seen your Arguments let us see your Answers to ours G. B. pag. 44. The Gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church Mat. 16.18 proves not the pretence of Infallibility Why not Learned Sir Not a word of that but as if you had forgotten what you were about you fall upon the English Translation of that Text which you say deserves amendment and I will leave you to be taught better Manners by your Fellow Ministers or your Mother the Kirk of Scotland G. B. pag. 45. The Spirit leading into all truth Joan. 16.13 advances not the Cause a whit since that Promise relates to all Believers Here is another Assertion without Proof as if we were bound to take your word Those words are part of the Sermon after the last Supper at which only the Apostles were present and which was directed immediately to them You should then give some Reason why they relate to all Believers althô spoken only to the Apostles G. B. The Church's being built on the Rock Peter proves nothing for a Series of Bishops of Rome seeing the other Apostles were also Foundations Answ If it prove all Bishops together Infallible firm in Faith as a Rock it confounds your Reformation which is condemned by them all G. B. The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16.19 import no more than that Peter was to open the Gospel When you shall give in a Proof we will consider it till then I will believe not you but Christ who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adds the Office of the Keys to open and shut not the Gospel but Heaven by loosing and binding Sins G. B. pag. 46. It is certain that Vice as well as Error is destructive of Religion If then there be no Authority for suppressing of Vice but that same of the Discipline of the Church it is not incongruous there be no other Authority for suppressing of Error but that same of the Discipline of the Church Answ It is certain that both in the old and new Law several Persons have been secured against Error who were subject to Sin. S. Peter was truly reprehensible (a) Gal. 2.11 for a thing he did not for any thing he writ or preached The same of David of Salomon c. For this reason our Blessed Saviour commanded (b) Mat. 23.23 all to follow the Doctrin of the Scribes and Pharisees because they sat on the Chair of Moyses but not their Example So your Question why God should provide more against Error in Faith than against Vice in Manners can find no place amongst Catholics who are taught to adore God's holy Will even when they understand it not and to (c) 2 Cor. 10.5 Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ To you who think it absurd to deny a Man the use of his Reason in Judging and Diseerning all things and submit even Divinely revealed Truths to its Tribunal to you I say we leave the search of those Depths and discovery of those Mysteries G. B. pag. 48. I could prove from History that General Councils have erred that Popes have been Heretics Answ By what you have done we may guess what you can do Your Learning appears by your Writings as also your Judgment in using it We have seen many Proofs of it and shall see more in this small Tract I will add to them one Instance out of another Work of yours Observations on the First Canon of the Apostles pag. 66. You prove that anciently Priests could Administer the Sacrament of Confirmation out of the First Canon of the First Council of Orange When it is evident that That Canon doth not give Priests power to Administer the Sacrament of Confirmation but commands them to use Chrism in Baptism since when every Divine of the First Year knows that Vertical Chrismation hath been a Ceremony of that First and mysterious Sacrament Such Mistakes as these are incident to such as are bred in a Congregation where Ceremonies are abrogated G. B. pag. 49. We are not the Servants of Men nor bound to their Authority for none can be a Judge but where he hath Power to Try and to Coerce Now none but God can search our Hearts so none but he can be Judge Answ The Independent and Quaker and all who endure with regret Prince and Prelate Canon and Civil Law under pretence of Evangelical Liberty will thank you for this CHAP. XIV Of Merits G. B. p. 50. IF any have derogated from the value of the Satisfaction of that Lamb of God they have offered the utmost Indignity to the highest Love and committed the Crime of the greatest Ingratitude imaginable Answ Transeat totum what then G. B. Who would requite the most unconceivable Love with such a sacrilegious Attempt Answ None that I know of But say you how guilty are they of this who would set the Merits and Works of Men in an equality with the Blood of God Answ I know none such if you do point them out for Punishment no Catholic is concerned in them G. B. pag. 51. It is true this Doctrin of Merit is so explained by some of that Church that there remains no ground of quarrelling it except for the Terms sake which is indeed odious and improper thô early used by the Ancients in an innocent Sense But many of that Church acknowledge there can be no Obligation on God by our Works but that which his own Promise binds upon him Answ Here is one of the malicious Sleights of you and your Brethren when you cannot with any colour accuse the Doctrin of our Church to pretend it is only the Doctrin of some few Persons that you may persuade your Disciples the generality of Catholics hold the contrary The Council of Trent contains what all Catholics Subscribe to and this is the Doctrin of that Council in this Point Concil Trid. Sess 6. cap. 16. Benè operantibus usque in finem in Deo sperantibus proponenda est vita aeterna tanquam gratia filiis Dei per Christum Jesum misericorditer promissa tanquem merces ex ipsius Dei promissione bonis ipsorum operibus meritis fideliter reddenda To those who persevere in good Works even to the end of this Life and who hope in God Life everlasting is proposed both as Grace mercifully promised to the adopted Children of God through Jesus Christ our Lord as also as a Reward due in vertue