annexed to any peculiar Men or Company of Men distinct from others by Prerogative of Place Preheminence of Succession and from him or them to be derived unto all others set apart for this Ministerie or whether the Ministerie of any men of what Place or Societie soever whom God hath called to this Function and enabled for the same be sufficient for the begetting of true Faith without any others Confirmation or Approbation of their Doctrine 9 Secondly it is questioned how this Ministery of Man which is necessarily supposed ordinarily both for knowing the Word of God and the true Meaning of it becomes available for the begetting of true Belief in either point In whomsoever the Authoritie of this Ministerial Function be the Question is whether it perform thus much only by Proposing or Expounding the Word which is Infallible or by their Infallible Proposal or Exposition of it that is whether for the attaining of true Belief in both Points mentioned we must relie infallibly upon the Infallible VVord of God only or partly upon it and partly upon the Infallibility of such as expound it unto us Or in other words thus whether the Authoritie or Infallibilitie of any Mans Doctrine or Asseveration concerning these Scriptures or their true Sense be as infallibly to be Believed as those Scriptures themselves are or that Sense of them which the spirit of God hath wrought in our Hearts by sure and undoubted Experience 10 These are the principal Roots and Fountains of Difference between us concerning our present Controversie whence issue and spring these following First Whether Christ whose Authoritie both acknowledge for Infallible hath left any Publick Judge of these Scriptures which both receive or of their right Sense and Meaning from whose Sentence we may not appeal or whether all to whom this Ministrie of Faith is committed be but Expositors of Divine Scriptures so as their Expositions may by all faithful Christians be examined Hence ariseth that other Question whether the Scriptures be the Infallible Rule of Faith If Scripture admit any Judge then is it no Rule of Faith If all Doctrines are to be examined by Scripture then is it a perfect Rule 11 Our Adversaries especially later Jesuites Positions are these The Infallible Authoritie of the present Church that is of some visible Companie of living Men must be as absolutely Believed of all Christians as any Oracle of God and hence would they bind all such as proâ—esse the Catholick Faith in all Causes concerning the Oracles or Word of God to yield the same Obedience unto Decrees and Constitutions of the Church which is due unto these Oracles themselves even to such of them as all Faithful Hearts do undoubtedly know to be Gods written Word 12 The Reasons pretended for this absolute Obedience to be performed unto the Church or visible Company of Men are drawn from the Insufficiency of Scripture either for notifying it self to be the Word of God or the true Sense and Meaning of it self Consequently to these Objections they stifly maintain That the Infallible Authority of the present Church is the mosâ— sure most safe undoubted Rule in all Doubts or Controversies of Faith or in all Points concerning these Oracles of God by which we may certainly know Both without which we cannot possibly know either which are the Oracles of God which not or what is the true Sense and Meaning of such as are received for his Oracles one of the especial Consequents of these Assertions is That this Churches Decisions or Decrees may not be examined by Scriptures 13 Our Churches Assertions concerning the knowledge of Gods Word in general is thus As Gods Word is in it self Infallible so it may be infallibly apprehended and Believed by every Christian unto whom he vouchsafeth to speak after what manner soever he speak unto him Yea whatsoever is necessary for any man to Believe the same must be infallibly written in his heart and on it once written there he must immediately relie not upon any other Authoritie concerning it 14 Or if we speak of Gods written Word our former general Assertion may be restrained thus 15 We are not bound to Believe the Authority of the Church or visible Companiâ— of any living men either concerning the Truth or true Sense of Divine Oracles written so stedfastly and absolutely as we are bound to Believe the Divine written Oracles themselves Consequently to this Assertion we affirm 16. The the Inâ—allible Rule whereupon every Christian in matters of written Verities absolutely and finally without all appeal condition or reservation is to relie must be the Divine written Oracles themselves some of which every Christian hath written in his Heart by the finger of Gods Spirit and Believes immediately In and For themselves not for any Authoritie of Men and these to him must be the Rule for examining all other Doctrines and trying any Masters of Faith But because most in our daies in Matters of Faith and Christian Obedience misse the Celestial Mean and fall into one of the two extreams It shall not be amisse while we seek to divert their course from Sylla to admonish lest they make shipwrack in Charybdis CAP. IV. Shewing the Mean betwixt the two Extremities the one in Excesse proper to the Papists the other in Defect proper to the Anti-papist 1 IT is a Rule in Logick that Two contrary Propositions for their form may be both False And hence it is that many Controversers of our times either in love to the Cause they defend or heat of contention not content only to Contradict but desirous to be most Contrarie to their Adversaries fal into Errour with them No Controversie almost of greater moment this day extant but yields Experiments of this Observation though none more plentiful then this in hand concerning the visible Churches Authoritie or Obedience due to Spiritual Pastours 2 The Papists on the one side demand Infallible Assent and illimited Obedience unto whatsoever the Church shall propose without examination of her Doctrine or appeal which is indeed as we shall afterwards prove to takeaway all the Authority of Gods Word and to erect the present Churches Consistorie above Moses and S. Peters Chair On the other side sundrie by profession Protestants in eagernesse of opposition to the Papists affirm that the Church or Spiritual Pastors must then only be Believed then only be Obeyed when they give Sentence according to the Evident and Expresse Law of God made evident to the Hearts and Consciences of such as must Believe and Obey them And this in one word is to take away all Authoritie of Spiritual Pastors and to deprive them of all Obedience unto whom doubtlesse God by his written Word hath given some special Authoritie and Right to exact some peculiar Obedience of their Flock Now if the Pastor be then only to be Obeyed when he brings evident Commission out of Scripture for those particulars unto which he demands Belief or Obedience
by meer Natural precepts For we suppose what afterwards wil manifest it self that all Truths necessary for men to Believe have a distinct relish from all falshood or other unnecessary or superfluous Truths and may be known by their fruit so men wil be careful to preserve the Sincerity of their Spiritual Taste 4 Gods written Word then is the only pure Fountain and Rule of Faith yet not such immediately unto all as it is written but the Learned or Spiritual Instructors only whose Hearts and Consciences must be ruled by it as in all other spiritual duties so especially as they are Instructors in this That they may not commend any Truths or principles of faith unto the illiterate but such as are expresly contained in Gods written Word or at least are in substance the self same with these written Truths If the Unlearned through Gods just Judgement absolutely admit of other principles and equalize them with these such shal lead them into Errour and pervert their faith If they doubt of any mans Doctrine whether it be truly Spiritual or consonant to the foundation of faith they may appeal to Scriptures as they shal be expounded to them by others Finally they are tied to no visible Company of men whom they must under pain of damnation follow but for their Souls Health they may trie every Spiritual Physitian If they wil be Humorous they may but at their own peril both for Temporal Punishment in this life and for Eternal in the life to come 5 For conclusion the Scripture according to our doctrine and the general Consent of Reformed Churches is the only Infallible rule of faith in both respects or conditions of a Perfect Rule First in that it contains all the principles of faith and points of salvation So that no Visible Church on earth may commend any doctrine to others as a doctrine of Faith unlesse it be commended to them for such by the Scriptures by which every ones doctrine that acknowledgeth God for his Lord must be examined as by a Law uncontrollable Secondly in that these principles of faith are plainly perspicuously and distinctly set down to the Capacities of all that faithfully follow their practical rules most plain most perspicuous and easie to all capable of any rule or reason So that this Sacred Canon needs no Associate no Addition of any Authoritie as equally infallible nor more perspicuous then it self to supply what it wants only the Ministery of men skilful and industrious in the search or Exposition of it is to be supposed And all these be they never so excellent and wel conversant in them are unto Scriptures but as the ordinary Expositors of Classick and Authentick Books are unto the chief Authors or Inventors of the science contained in them Supposing that the first Authors were men of extraordinary and infallible skil and their Expositors as they usually are but of ordinary Capacity or Experience in those faculties 6 Finally the Books of Scriptures are to be reputed a more absolute Rule for all Matters of Faith and Divine Mysteries then any Books or Writings of men are for natural sciences or secular professions as in sundrie other Respects so in This that they give as more facile so more infallible directions for finding out their true Sense and Meaning then any other Writings do or Writers could have done who though present could not be so fully Assistant but cannot so much as affoord their presence to their Expositours in the search of Truths rather professed then fully conceived much lesse infallibly taught by them whereas the Spirit of Truth which first did dictate is every where present alwayes Assistant to such as seriously and sincerely seek the Truth contained in these Divine Oracles conducting them from Knowledge to Knowledge both by all such Means as Artists have for increasing their skil and by other Means extraordinary such as none in any other Faculty can have nor any may hope for in the Search of Scriptures but only such as Delight in and Meditate upon them Day and Night SECT II. That the pretended Obscurity of Scriptures is no just Exception why they should not be acknowledged the absolute Rule of Faith which is the Mother-Objection of the Romanist CAP. XII How far it may be granted the Scriptures are Obscure with some Premonitions for the right state of the Question 1 IT is first to be supposed that these Scriptures for whose Soveraignty over our Souls we plead against the pretended Authority of the Romish Church were given by God for the Instruction of all succeeding Ages for all sorts of Men in every Age for all Degrees or divers Measures of his other Gifts in all several sorts or Conditions of Men. This diversitie of Ages and Conditions of Men in several Callings who so wel considers may at the first sight easily discover our Adversaries Willingnesse to wrangle in this point whose usual practise as if they meant to cast a Mist before the weak-sighted Readers eyes is to pick out here and there some places of Scriptures more Hard and difficult then Necessary or requisite to be understood of Every man perhaps of Any man in this Age. The Knowledge of all or any of which notwithstanding those that live after us though otherwise peradventure men of far meaner gifts then many in this present Age shall not therefore need to give for lost or desperate when they shall be called unto this Search For God hath appointed as for every thing else so for the Revelation of his Word certain and peculiar Times and Seasons Daniel though full of the Spirit of Prophecie and one that during the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar and Balthasar his son had as it were continually travelled of Revelations concerning the Estate of Gods Church and the affairs of forrain Kingdoms for many generations to come yet knew not the approaching Time of his peoples deliverance from Captivity until the first year of Darius son of Ahashuerosh And this he learned by Books even in the first year of his Raign I Daniel understood by Books the number of the years whereof the Lord had spoken unto Jeremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem And of his own Revelation he saith And Daniel was commanded to shut up his words and seal up his book unto the end of the Time or as some read unto the appointed Time and then many shall run to and fro and Knowledge shall be increased For at the Time appointed as he intimates in the words following others though no Prophets were to know more of this Prophecy then the Prophet did himself Then I heard it but I understood it not then said I O my Lord what shall be the end of these things And he said Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the end of the Time 2 The Prophets of later Ages did see Revelations of matters which had been hid from the Ancient
brest He may by his own followers Consession be as incorrigible for bad Life and Manners as infallible for matters of Doctrine Seeing then their supposed Rule cannot remove those Impediments which detain the Jews with other Infidels and Hereticks from the Truth can it make men Believe aright whilest They remain If it can it is of greater force then either our Saviours Authority or skil in Scriptures Neither of which not all his travels and best endeavours here on earth though infinitely surpassing any pains the Pope is willing to take could instruct the Jews in the Doctrine of Faith whilest their carnal Affections remained in strength How can ye Believe saith he who spake as never man spake and had wrought those Works none other could which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh 〈◊〉 God alone 14 To conclude then If the Infidelity of the Jews be any just exception why Scriptures cannot be the perfect Rule of Faith this Exception will disinable the Roman Churches infallible Authoritie for being such a Rule But if the general Error of the Jews in the very main Foundation of Religion be no just Exception why either the Scripture according to us or the Churches Authority according to them should not be the Rule of Faith then cannot the Errors of Hereticks or varietie of Opinions about the sense and Meaning of particular places of lesse moment impeach the sufficiencie of Scripture for performing all that is required by either Partie in their supposed absolute Rule For it shall God willing be made evident in due place that the self same Affections onely different in degree sometimes not so much which caused the Jews Insidelitie in our Saviours time are the onely roots and fountains of Heresies and Dissentions throughout all Ages 15 And as elsewhere is already proved wheresoever the habitual Affection for degree and qualitie is the Heresie or Insidelitie is likewise the same even in such as hold contrary Opinions and would perhaps maintain their contrarietie unto death for as many strongly perswaded of their Belief in Christ shall go for Infidels in that last day so may such as think themselves Orthodoxes be tainted with the contrarie Heresie which they impugne if subject to the same Affections which did breed it But for us to account such as make profession of Christianitie Insidels or such as subscribe to Orthodoxal Doctrine Hereticks would be injurious and unlawfull not because the former Assertion indesinitely taken is not warrantable but because no man can precisely discern the Indentitie of inward Affection save he alone that knoweth the secrets of all hearts Thus all the Blasts of vain Doctrine they can oppose unto the Truth we maintain do in the issue fasten the roots of Faith once rightly planted howsoever they may shake the timerous or faint-hearted Christian or cause the weak in Faith not cleaving to Scripture as their onely infallible Rule and sure Supporter dangerously to reel and stagger But though they fall yet Gods Word shall never fail to approve it self a most perfect Rule besides others in these Two respects First in that none can fail in that course which it prescribes or fall away from Faith but by such means as the Jew hath done the true Causes of whose Apostacie and incredulitie it hath expresly foretold and fully registred to Posterity Secondly because such as it doth not no other Rule Means or Authority possible either in the earth or in the region below the earth shall ever win to true Christian Faith CAP. XXIII The Suffficiencie of Scriptures for Final Determination of Controversies in Religion proved by our Saviours and his Apostles Authority and Practise 1 NOr will They be ruled by an Angel from Heaven That will not obey the live Voice of the Son of God whose Miracles whilest he lived here on earth joyned with his Doctrine we will suppose were of as much force if the Jesuite will grant no more as the Popes Proposal of Scriptures to beget Faith or convince gain-sayers of Truth The Jews were of diverse Opinions about his Doctrine Some said he was a good man Others said No but he deceiveth the People he gives them a Rule as you heard before how to discern it If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine c. This contents them not albeit he had done many and good works amongst them sufficient to have manifested his Divine Authority unto such as had never heard of Moses or a Messias to come Nay they go about to kill him for those works which bare Testimonie of his Worth and as they thought had Warrant of Scripture for so doing because he did them on the Sabbath day Here Christ is of one Opinion the Jews of another concerning the Sense of Scripture Who shall judge or by what Rule must their contrary Doctrine be tried By Christs infallible Authoritie they admit it not By extraordinary and miraculous Works they persecute him for his Miracles already wrought for their peoples good Doth Christ here leave them because destitute of a Rule to recall them If he had none how shall the Pope by his own challenge but his Vicar have any to convince his Adversaries It Christ submit his Divine Doctrine to any other Rule how dare the Pope deny submission of his to the same What Rule then was left Onely the Scripture which both 〈◊〉 acknowledge They pretend Moses Law concerning Sabbath-breach why he should die unto their false interpretation of this our Saviour opposed the true meaning of another Mosaical Scripture Moses forbad Murther as well as Sabbath-day-breaking and yet they seek to kill Christ only for Fealing a man upon the Sabbath-day so forgetfull are they of the One and so partially addicted to the Other But how shall they know that to make a man whole upon the Sabbath was not to break it and violate Moses Law This our Saviour makes evident unto them by exposition of that Law and their own Custom which continued from the first promulgation was a good interpretation of it Moses saith our Saviour gave unto you Circumcision not because it is of Moses but of the Fathers and ye on the Sabbath-day circumcise a man If a man on the Sabbath-day receive Circumcision that the Law of Moses should not be broken be ye angrie with me because I have made a man every whit whole 〈◊〉 the Sabbath-day Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgement Thus was Scripture applied to their Conscience the last and finall Rule by which they stand or fall and is alwayes a Light either bringing men to see their own Salvation or putting out their wonted sight in token of their Condemnation to utter darknesse And Christs last words in that Controversie Judge not according to the appearance are likewise a written Rule of Scripture so absolute a Rule is this Sacred Word of God by our Saviours consent and practise both to inform the
of our selves And again the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets 2 And yet both these Rules concern the greatest Scholars and most skilful Interpreters in some degree as well as the meanest For none is so absolutely good none so far exceeds another but in part may be exceeded by him Nor doth this Christian Modesty which the Scripture thus teacheth bind any Christian soul or ingenuous mind to such absolute servility as the Objection must inforce upon all if it prove ought For there is no ingenuous man especially of meaner gifts but will in heart and conscience acknowledge many both Ancient and modern for far more excellent Scholars then himself and yet be fully perswaded in Conscience that in sundry particulars he hath the Truth on his side which they oppugne and the true sense of Gods Spirit in some points wherein they have erred or were ignorant For neither wil an indefinite Proposition in matters whose revelation depends upon the free Wil and Liberty of Gods Spirit and are in respect of us contingent infer every particular nor will one or sew particulars in any point infer an Universal Proposition or such as we call vera ut plurimum true for the most part Now to say believe that such a man is a better Scholar and of far more excellent gifts is but indefinite not infinite for the extent of his Scholarship or gifts beyond mine Wherefore it wil not hence follow that he is a better Scholar or interpreter in this albeit he be so in many or in most other particulars much lesse will it follow that I am a better Scholar or interpreter then he because I am better seen in this one or few particulars The Consequence or Corollary of which two Assertions is again as evident I may without breach of Modesty think I have the Truth on my side in sundry particulars against him that is far better seen in Scriptures and other Sciences then my self For albeit he were much better seen in both then he is yet are his gifts measured as well as mine although God hath given him a greater measure of such gifts then me Wherefore as I would willingly yield unto him in infinite others so may I safely dissent from him in this or â—…r particulars that are contained in the small measure of Gods gifts upon me without any just censure of Arrogancy or breach of Modesty for entring the lists of Comparison with him absolutely For now we are to be compared but in this one or few Cases not according to the whole measure of Gods gifts in us which I acknowledge far greater in him and reverence him as my Superiour for them And as I acknowledge him absolutely for my better so is he in these particulars in some sort to yield Superiority unto me Christian Modesty teacheth every man not to be hasty or rash in gain-saying the Doctrine of the Ancient or other men of Worth but rather binds him to diligence in examination of the Truth to use deliberation in gain-saying the Opinions of men better learned then himself But Christianity it self binds all Christians not to believe mens Authority against their own Consciences nor to admit of their Doctrines for Rules of Faith be they never so excellent unlesse they can discern them to be the Doctrine of that great Prophet Cui DEUS non admetitur Spiritum He cannot fail in any thing and whatsoever He saith or what his SPIRIT shall witnesse to my Spirit to have proceeded from Him I am bound to Believe But for men to whom God gives his Spirit but in measure albeit in great measure because I cannot know the particulars unto which it extends I neither may absolutely refuse nor absolutely admit their doctrines for true until I see perfectly how they agree with or disagree from his Doctrine of whose Fulnesse we have all received And even the Truth of their Writings to whom he hath given his gifts in great measure I am to examin by their Consonancy unto that small measure of his undoubted gifts in my self so far as they concern my self or others committed to my charge And in the confidence of Gods Promises for the increase of Faith and Grace to all such as use them aright every Christian in sobriety of spirit may by the Principles of Faith planted by Gods singer in his heart examin the Sentences and Decrees of the wisest men on earth to approve them if he can discern them for true to confute them if false to suspend his judgement and limit the terms of his disobedience unto them if doubtful and finally to admit or reject them according to the degrees of their Probability or Improbability which he upon sober diligent and unpartial search directed and continued in reverence of Gods Word and sincere love of Truth shall find in them 3 All the Arguments which they can heap up from the Variety of Opinions amongst the learned albeit they could make a Catalogue of Confusion in this kind as long as the tower of Babel was high can only prove thus much That no man especially no man indued with the gift of interpreting may rely upon any other mans Opinions Expositions or Decrees without further examination of them but only upon the Scripture it self which never varieth from it self nor from the Truth for this cause to be admitted as the only Infallible Rule of all Divine Truths whereunto every man must conform his Belief and Perswasions For even this Variety of Opinions about the particular Sense or Meaning of this Canon of Truth amongst such as joyntly acknowledge the Infallibility of it in general is a sufficient Reason to disclaim any mans Authority for the Rule of Faith seeing Experience shews such Variety and Partiality in them and the general Foundation of Faith held by all thus dissenting binds every man to Believe that the Scripture is not subject to any of these Inconveniences This undoubted certainty of it when it is rightly understood and perceived should incourage all to seek out the right Sense and Meaning of it which once found is by all mens consent the surest foundation of Faith for by our Adversaries consent it is the Ground of the Churches Faith and where they cannot presently attain unto it to suspend their judgements and not to follow mens Authorities but onely in Particulars whose Generals are contained in Scripture lest they may lead them against the true Sense and Meaning of it And if men generally should have no other Ground but mans Authority or Believe this or that to be the Meaning of Scripture because such a man or companie of men doth tell him so besides his wronging of Gods Spirit herein he should also wrong many other men oft-times far better learned and skilfull in Scriptures more dear in the sight of God and better acquainted with his Spirit then are they on whose Authoritie he relies Every one to whom God hath given a wise heart and Power in Scripture might
Believe their Infallibilitie most infallibly it could be no Rule of Faith but might be rejected till we see it evidently proved whereas they contend it should be the Rule of Faith unto all and by their own confession a main Article of their Creed but according to their Positions as we shall hereafter prove the onely Article of Christian Faith How destitute these their Assertions are of all Grounds of Reason or Rules of Nature hath been made evident There remain onely Two Pillars possibly imaginable for supporting this pretended Infallibilitie Tradition and Scripture Against Tradition all the Arguments they can heap against the Certainty of Scriptures stand good as shall hereafter God willing be shewed That no Argument can be drawn from Scripture to their succour albeit the later Jesuites have earnestly sought to scrape a many for better then Scrapings are not the very best they bring we are now to prove 7 That our Belief of Scriptures Truth and their true Sense by what Means soever we attain thereto must be infallible Both agree The Means that must infalliblie ascertain or prove their Divine Truth and true Meaning unto us say our Adversaries is the Churches Infallibilitie which likewise must be infallibly Beleeved otherwise it could not be the Rule of Faith or Belief infallible It shall suffice here once for all to admonish the Reader That as often as we mention Belief of Scriptures or the Churches infallibility in this Dispute we mean not any kind of Belief but that only which is infallible so likewise whiles we mention the Means or Proofs of either we understand onely Means or Proofs infallible whereon Faith may immediately relie as upon a Rule most sure and certain In all these we demand nothing but what our Adversaries most willingly grant From their grant we argue thus 8 If either the Scriptures can thus ascertain or prove the Churches Infalibilitie or It the infallible Truth of Scriptures to our Souls we must of necessity either Believe the one of these before the other The Churches Infalibility before Scriptures or Scriptures before It or both together without all prioritie of Belief or praeexistent knowledge of the one whence the Belief or knowledge of the other must spring The members of the Division are in the Proposal actually two but in the Disquisition will prove three To begin with the first 9 If they say we must believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God before we 〈◊〉 believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their Church they overthrow their own and est ablish 〈◊〉 Postions For thus they make the Scripture a Rule of our Faith at the least In this one Article of the Catholick Churches Infallibilitie which by this Assertion we may and ought infallibly to believe because the Scriptures which we first infallibly believe do teach and prove it Hence private men should be taught by the Holy Ghost first to believe the Truth of Scriptures and for it the Churches Infallibilitie Wherefore the Scripture must be the immediate Rule of their Belief in the Article of the Churches Infallibility which to them is the generall Rule of Faith and so by consequence the Scriptures which to us are onely the Rule of Earth must be more then so to them even the Rule of their Rule of Faith But if the Scriptures may be the immediate and insallible Rule of their Belief in this one Article of the Churches Infallibility what reason possibly can be imagined why they should not be the infallible and immediate Rule of their Faith in all other parts or Articles of their Creed For I call Heaven and Earth Men and Angels to witnesse bâ—…xt ours and the Romish Church whether the Articles of Christs Incarnation his Death his Passion his Burial his Resurrection his Aseension his Intercession for us the Resurrection of the dead and Life everlasting c. be not to any mans Capacitie in the World much more plainly set down in sundry places of Scripture then the Infallibilitie of the present Romish Church in these words Peter feed my sheep Peter to thee 〈◊〉 give the â—…s of Heaven Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us or in any place her sonnes can challenge for it Wherefore if the Holy Ghost teach us this Article of the Churches Infallibilitie immediately without the Churches infallible Authoritie which as we now suppose must be proved from the Scriptures first infallibly Believed then questionlesse he may and will immediately teach us the other Articles of our Creed and whatsoever necessary to Salvation which are more plainly and perspicuously set down in Scriptures without the help or assistance of the Churches infallible Authority which it is supposed to teach by places more doubtfull 10 Or if our Adversaries will hold it no Absurdity to say that the Holy Ghost may teach us the true Sense and Meaning of the fore-mentioned places of Scripture which seem to make for the Infallibility of the Romish Church as Petre pasce oves c. immediately without the help or assistance of the Churches Infallibilitie which is here the lesson supposed to be taught and refers all other Points of Faith or matters of Doctrine unto the Churches teaching immediately they are bound in Reason to shew a Scripture for this Assertion And besides they must perforce make the same comparison betwixt the Holy Ghosts immediate teaching and the Church or Popes immediat teaching which our Saviour Christ made between the Holy Ghosts extraordinary teaching which was to ensue his Glorification and his own immediate teaching before his Passion and as soon as the Holy Ghost hath once taught us the Meaning of these places which make for the Churches Infallibilitie that may be applied unto him in respect of the Popes Supereminencie in teaching which our Saviour Christ spake of himself and his own personall Instructions in the dayes of his Humility in respect of that 〈◊〉 â—ed Comforters Illuminations to be bestowed in abundant measure upon his Apostles immediately upon his Ascention For thus by their Assertions that Holy Comforter after that Lesson once taught Tues Petrâ—… should take his leave of faithfull hearts in the same termes our Saviour there did of his Disciples I tell you the Truth it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter that Infallible Teacher on whose Authority your Souls must rest will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you and again I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot hear â—oem now howâ—eit when He is come that hath the Spirit of Truth your infallible Teacher whose Tongue while he speaks ex Cathedra I must attend he will lead you unto all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear be shall speak he shall glorifie me for he shall receive of me and shew it unto you These words I say might be
taken as a typical Prophesie of the Popes Infallible Authoritie such a Prophesie of it I mean as the History of the Paschal Lamb was of Christs Passion if they will hold the first member of the former division That the Holy Ghost doth first teach us Infallibly to Believe these Scriptures which they urge for the Infallibility of their Church and having once made us infallibly to Believe them refers us to the Churches Infallibilitie taught and Believed by them for the Rule of Faith in all other Articles 11 Sed quia hac non successit alia aggredien lum est via Let us now see whether they be like to find any better successe by following the second member of the forementioned Division i. If they should say We must infallibly Believe the Churches Infallibilitie in expounding Scriptures or Points of Faith before we can infallibly Believe them to be the Word of God or to contain in them Doctrines of Faith This indeed they must say if they hold their Churches Authority to be the Rule of Faith or whereby infalliblie to distinguish Divine Truth from Apocryphal 12 Let us first take the Proposition supposed for Disputations sake viz. We must believe the Churches Infallible Authority before we can believe the Scripture to be the Infallible Oracles of God Secondly let us consider but this one part of the Churches infallible Authority which all the Modern Papists acknowledge That the Scriptures cannot be known infallibly to be the Word of God but by the confirmation of the present Church And let us see how these two Assertions can stand together By the first the Churches infallible Authority must be infalliblie Believed before Scriptures By the second which contains the chief part of the Churches Infallibilitie the Scriptures cannot be infallibly acknowledged or believed to be the Word of God but upon former supposal of Believing the Churches Infallibilitie confirming this Truth unto us 13 Here let all whose Brains are not intoxicate with the wine of Fornication pause a while and contemplate what Babylonish giddinesse hath possest their Brains that have run round about so long though alwayes staggering in urging Scriptures for to prove that as an Article of Belief which must be infallibly Believed before those places of Scriptures which they urge for it or else nor they nor any other Scriptures can ever be stedfastly Believed to be the Word of GOD or to have sufficient Authoritie in them to cause stedfast Belief unto that which they teach For this is the Issue of all our Adversaries Arguments in this Point That such matters as are contained in Scriptures cannot be stedfastly acknowledged or Believed for Supernatural or Divine Truths until they be confirmed by this Infallible Authority of the present Church Where again I would have the Reader call to mind what was before observed out of Bellarmines Positions That this Infallibility of the Church consists directly in this that it is perpetually assisted by the Holy Ghost and it is all one with them to say We Believe the Churches infallible Authority in matters of Faith and to say We Believe the Church is perpetually assisted by the Holy Ghost Again by all the later Jesuiteâ— Positions it is all one to say We Believe the Church is perpetually assisted by the Holy Ghost in determining matters of Faith and to say We Beleeve that the Pope speaking ex Cathedra is assisted perpetually by the Holy Ghost in determining matters of Faith 14 Out of these Assertions compared with the Proposition supposed The Churches infallibilitie must be Believed before Scripture or other Articles of Faith this will immediately and directly follow We must Believe that the Holy Ghost the Supreme Judge of Scriptures and matters of Faith doth infalliblie assist the Church or Pope speaking ex Cathedra before we can Believe that there is an Holy Ghost For this is one Article of Faith taught in Scriptures which Scriptures say our Adversaries cannot be Believed but by the confirmation of the Churches Infallible Authority and this infallible Authoritie consists as we said before in this that it is infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost wherefore the Conclusion of this absurd Position is That we must first Believe the Holy Ghost is perpetually resident in the Popes breast or Consistory of Rome before it can be Believed that there is an Holy Ghost or Divine Trinitie in Heaven If we consider the Practise of our Adversaries in urging Scripture to prove their Churches Infallibility to be the Rule of Faith they should in Reason admit the first member of the fore-mentioned Division and hold that the Scriptures must be infallibly Believed for the Word of God before the Infallibilitie of the Church which they seek to prove by Scriptures can be infallibly Believed But again if we consider their assertions concerning the Churches Infallibilitie That the Scriptures cannot be known to be the Scriptures but by It and that It is the Rule of Faith they must of necessitie admit the second member of the fore-cited Division and maintain that the Churches Infallibilitie must infallibly be Believed before we can Believe the Scriptures to be the infallible Oracles of God For Regula semper est prior regulato but the Churches Infallibilitie is the Rule of Faith by their Positions and to Believe the Scripture to be the infallible Oracles of God is a main Point of Faith and necessary to Salvation for This is the Iesuites principal Topick to disprove the Scriptures Sufficiencie for being the Rule of Faith in all Points because it containeth not this one Point viz. that the Scriptures are the infallible Oracles of God It is hence evidently proved that neither of the two first members of the former Division can stand either with Reason the Allegators Practise or Positions For the first quite overthrows their Positions concerning their Churches Infallible Authoritie The second proves their Practise to be most absurd in urging Scriptures for to prove it And yet the third member is of all the three the most absurd albeit not so dissonant to their Positions or Practise in this Point because as are they so is it Senselesse both which will evidently appear by the bare proposal of it 15 The third member was That we must infallibly Believe the Scriptures to be the Oracles of God and the Churches Infallibilitic both together without any Prioritie of Time order or nature First if this Assertion be true then cannot the Churches Infallibility serve as a Rule to know the Scriptures to be the Word of GOD infalliblie because regula prior est regulato But by this Assertion there is no Priority in the Churches Infallibilitie their supposed Rule in respect of our knowing or Believing the Scriptures to be the Oracles of GOD. Secondly if the former Assertion be true then neither can the Scriptures prove the Churches Infallibility nor the Churches Infallibility prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God unto any Believer For all Means or
at least which this Counterfeit exacts to be Believed as true to wit that he himself is a man of excellent parts and one that wil use Fidelity as wel in his Doings as Sayings and in a word one whose proposal in matters of State or War is as infallible as the Popes in matters of Faith Yet notwithstanding that this Counterfeits Proposal or Asseveration which must be Believed from the Princes commendation of him which must be believed again from his Proposal Non habent unum idem objectum sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have not one and the same Object yet is the former resolution â—… and so is Valentians resolution of his Catholick Faith most ridiculously impious For what other issue of such dissolute resolutions can be expected but that men who know no better should hereby be driven to suspect the Scriptures for Counterfeit and the Catholick Church if the Roman were only the Catholick Church of villanous Forgery at the least in those places of Scripture which she pretends for Proof of her own Infallibilitie 19 As for Valentians later Exception why his Resolution should not be Circular it is more ridiculous then the former most ridiculously false to omit other points in this one that he dare deny the Churches proposal by their Doctrine to be the Cause why we Believe the Divine Revelation or rather that these Scriptures which we have are Divine Revelations For by their Positions we cannot assure our selves that the Scriptures are the Word of God by any other cause or reason besides the Churches Authoritie and therefore by their Doctrine the infallible Authoritie of their Church is the only Cause why we Believe this Sacred Canon of Scriptures which we enjoy to be Divine Revelations although it be no Cause by their Doctrine why we Believe that in general Divine Revelations are true For this is a dictate of Nature not controversed betwixt us and them or betwixt any who acknowledge a Divine Power And Valentian himself directly implies that which he impudently denies in the self-same period For he granteth that Propositio Ecclesiae est ratio credendi divinam revelationem ratio eredendi the Reason or Rule of Believing must needs include in it a precedent Cause of Belief it cannot be only a Condition annexed thereto but of this point God willing hereafter 20 Sacroboscus who hath followed Bellarmines and Valentians foot-steps as faithfully as any â—rish Foot-man could his Master though sometimes taking a more compendious and smoother way likely to entice pedestria ingenia wits either by nature dull or novices in Arts and smatterers in School-learning to follow him sooner then those great ones hath taken upon him to answer to this Circle in effect as Valentian doth save only that he hath put more Tricks of Art upon it either to confound the judicious or deceive the sample Reader Which here we shal not need to examin because we purpose to unrid his mystical Evasions in the next Dispute In the end of his tract in defence of Bellarmin he frames his Objection against both Valentian and his own Resolution Whether in Believing the Church by Scriptures and Scriptures By the Church the Belief of the one must in nature if not in time go before the other He thinks it not necessary that the one should be before the other Nam actus fidei fertur in suum objectum modo simplici ut visus in suum And therefore as we see colours per species visibiles by the visible shapes or resemblances which flow from them not by seeing the visible shape before the colours so do we Believe the Scriptures by the Church albe it we do not expresly and formally Believe the Church before we believe the Scriptures Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo In the former part of this his discourse the Visible Church was unto Scriptures as the Light was unto Colours now it is unto Scriptures as visible Shapes are unto Colours What then Do we not see visible shapes before Colours nor Colours before them no. For we see no visible shapes at all but by them Colours only are brought into our sight and we cannot see one before the other if the one we see not at all And in like sense it were true that we should not Believe the Church before Scriptures not Scriptures before we Believe the Church if we were not bound to Believe the one at all But if we see one thing by another which we likewise see we must needs see that first by which we see the other and so if either we Believe the Scriptures by Believing the Church or Believe the Church by believing Scriptures we must of necessitie Believe the one before the other For that by which we Believe a thing is the Means of Belief and the Means of Belief must needs in nature and order go before Belief it self And if the Church be the Means of believing only in as much as we believe it or to speak more distinctly if the believing the Church be the very Meanes of believing the Scriptures then must we needs believe the Church before we believe the Scriptures If our Adversaries affirm that their Church is the only infallible Means of believing Scriptures in any other sort then by believing it let them in the name of God assign by what Means they wil she can make us believe the Scriptures we shal not much contend so they wil not bind us to believe this their Churches Decisions Sacroboscus his comparison of the Visible Church and visible Shapes we admit thus far for good that as unlesse there were such visible Shapes no Colours could be seen so likewise unlesse God had some Visible Church on earth men ordinarily could not see the Light of the Gospel For it is not ordinarily communicated to any but by the Ministery of others but being communicated we believe it in it self and for it self not by believing others as we see Colours in themselves and for themselves not by seeing the visible Shapes by which they are presented or communicated unto our eyes But whether there be any Propriety between the belief of these two Church and Scriptures according to our Adversaries Doctrine or whether the belief of the one be the cause of the Belief of the other or in what sort the cause and what Inconveniences wil follow thereon we shal dispute hereafter 21 Let them in the mean time illustrate the Manner how we believe Scriptures by the Church as they please Let it have the same proportion to Scriptures which the Light or visible Shapes have unto Colours they themselves make the belief of Scriptures most uncertain and for this reason seek to establish the Infallibility of their Church for to assure us of the Truth of Scriptures We demand how â—… of their Churches Infallibility can possibly be proved By Reason that is impossible as you heard before By Tradition of whom of such as may erre that is
The â—esuits unwillingnesse to acknowledge the Churches proposal for the True Cause of his faith Of differences and agreements about the final Resolution of faith either amongst the adversaries themselves or betwixt us and them 464 27 That the Churches proposal is the true immediate and prime cause of all absolute Belief my Romanist can have concerning any determinate divine revelation 468 28 Discovering either the grosse ignorance or notorious craft of the Iesuite in denying his faith is finally resolved into the Churches veracitie or infallibility that possibly it cannot be resolved into any branch of the First Truth 471 29 What manner of causal dependance Romish belief hath on the Church that the Romanist truely and properly believes the Church onely not God or his Word 478 30 Declaring how the first main ground of Romish faith leads directly unto Atheisâ— the second unto preposterous Heathenism or Idolatry 484 31 Proving the last assertion or generally the imputations laid upon the Papacie by that authority the â—esuites expreslie give unto the Pope in matters of particular Fact as in the Canonizing of Saints 495 32 What danger by this blasphemous doctrine may accrew to Christian States that of all heresies blasphemies or idolatries which have been since the world began or can be imagined 〈◊〉 Christ come to judgement this Apostasie of the Iesuites is the most abominable and conâ—…ous against the blessed Trinity 499 BLASPHEMOUS POSITIONS OF JESUITES And other Later ROMANISTS Concerning the Authority of their CHURCH The Third Book of Comments upon the CREED SECT I. Containing the Assertions of the Romish Church whence her threefold Blasphemy springs HAving in the former dispute clearly acquitted as well Gods Word for breeding as our Church from nursing Contentions Schisms and Heresies we may in this by course of common equity more freely accuse their injurious calumniators And because our purpose is not to charge them with forgery of any particular though grossest Heresies or Blasphemies though most hideous but for erecting an Intire Frame capacious of all Villanies imaginable far surpassing the Hugest Mathematical Form human fancy could have conceived of such matters but only from inspection of this real and material patern which by degrees insensible hath grown up with the Mysterie of Iniquity as the Bark doth with the Tree Such inconsiderate passionate speeches as heat of contention in personal quarrels hath extracted from some one or few of their private Writers shall not be produced to give evidence against the Church their Mother whose trial shall be as far as may be by her Peers either by her own publick determinations in this controversie or joynt consent of her authorized best approved Advocates in opening the Title or unfolding the contents of that Prerogative which they challenge for her 2 Our accusations are grounded upon their Positions before set down when we explicated the differences betwixt us The Position in brief is This That the infallible authority of the present Church is the most sure most safe undoubted rule in all doubts or controversies of faith or in all points concerning the Oracles of God by which we may certainly know both without which we cannot possibly know either which are the Oracles of God which not or what is the true sense and meaning of such as are received for his Oracles whether written or unwritten 3 The extent of divine Oracles or number of Canonical books hath been as our Adversaries pretend very questionable amongst the Ancient though such of the Fathers as for their skil in antiquity were in all unpartial judgments most competent Judges in this cause were altogether for us against the Romanists and such as were for their opinion were but for it upon an errour as thinking the Jews had acknowledged all those books of the old Testament for Canonical Scripture which the Churches wherein they lived received for such or that the Christian Church did acknowledg all for Canonical which they allowed to be publickly read Safe it was our adversaries cannot deny for the Ancient to dissent one from another in this question or to suspend their assent till new probabilities might sway them one way or other No reasons have been produced since sufficient to move any ingenious mind unto more peremptory resolutions yet doth the Councel of Trent bind all to an absolute acknowledgement of those Books for Canonical which by their own confession were rejected by S. Hierom and other Fathers If any shall not receive the whole Books with all their parts usually read in the Church and as they are extant in the old vulgar for sacred and Canonical Let him be accursed So are all by the same decree that wil not acknowledg such unwritten traditions as the Romish Church pretends to have come from Christ and his Apostles for divine and of authority equal with the written word 4 So generally is this opinion received so fully believed in that Church That many of her Sons even whilest they write against us forgetting with whom they have to deal take it as granted That the Scriptures cannot be known to be Gods word but by the Infallible authority of the present Church And from this supposition as from a truth sufficiently known though never proved they labour in the next place to infer That without submission of our faith to the Churches publick spirit we cannot infallibly distinguish the orthodoxal or divine sense of Gods Oracles whether written or unwritten from heretical or human 5 Should we admit written Traditions and the Church withal as absolute Judge to determin which are Apostolical which not little would it boot us to question with them about their meaning For when the point should come to trial we might be sure to have the very words framed to whatsoever sense should be most favourable for justifying Romish practises And even of Gods written Oracles whose words or characters as he in his wisdom hath provided cannot now be altered by an Index Expurgatorius at their pleasure That such a sense as shall be most serviceable for their Turn may as time shall minister occasion be more commodiously gathered the Trent Fathers immediately after the former decree for establishing unwritten Traditions and amplifying the extent of divine written Oracles have in great wisdom authorized the old and vulgar translation of the whole Canon Which though it were not purposely framed to maintain Popery as some of our writers say they have as frivolously as maliciously objected yet certainly as well the escapes and errors of those unskilful or ill-furnished interpreters as the negligence of transcribers or other defects incident to that work from the simplicitie of most ancient the injuries or calamities of insuing times were amongst others as the first heads or petty springs of that raging sloud of impiety which had well nigh drowned the whole Christian world in perdition by continually receiving into its chanel once thus wrought the dregs and filth of every other error under heaven
I can find think themselves bound by the former decrees of the Trent Councel But what if any should dissent from these great Champions in the interpretation of it Who should judge betwixt them or whither were they to repair for resolution To the place which God hath chosen to wit to the Sea Apostolical or in other terms to Rome So saith the Pope that confirmed this Councel As if there were only a translation of the Sea none of the Priesthood sometimes established in Jerusalem where all were to worship And if Rome have that place in Christendom which Jerusalem had in Jewrie the Pope must be such a Lord to all Christians as he that dwelt betwixt the Cherubims was to the Israelites both their Answers of like Authoritie 13 But when we repair to Rome who shall there determin what the Councel meant the Pope alone or with his Cardinals with his Cardinals if he please himself alone without them or any other if he list all after as he shall find himself disposed to use his ordinary or plenarie power by the former of which answerable to Gods working with naturall agents he determines of matters by the usuall course of Lawes provided for that purpose using the advise or counsel of his Assistants by the other correspondent to Gods working in miracles effected by his own immediate peculiar power without the coagencie of any inferiour or created cause he may resolve of himself alone not consulting his Cardinals Bishops or others This power and libertie the Trent Councel it self seems to give unto the Pope as it were for an up-shot to all the fools thunder-bolts they had let flee before And lest any man should think this absolute acknowledgement of the Popes plenarie power to be a Counsel rather then a necessary Precept The Catechisme published by the Trent Councels Authoritie hath inserted amongst the Articles of faith That the present Pope is the sile visible head of the whole Christian Church though Christ the invisible The meaning of which if I mistake not is this That the Pope concerning the points above mentioned hath as absolute power in Christs absence as Christ himself should have were he present or hall have in that day of final judgement wherein if these mens Positions be true he shall have nothing to do in matters of Faith but onely to ratifie what the Pope hath defined who must not be called to any account of his Spiritual as Kings and Monarchs must be for their Temporal Stewardships Nor shall it be said to him as it must be to some of them Well done thou good and faithfull Servant For such men onely by our Adversaries Doctrine do well as might have done ill but the Pope live as he list cannot possibly do amisse in determining matters of Faith which are of all that are of greatest difficulty and consequence 14 When first I read Josephus Acosta I much wondred to see a man otherwise of an ingenuous spirit and of parts so excellent so zealous withall for the Popes Supremacie But now I perceive the reason was all private Catechismes were to be conformed unto that publick one authorized by the Councel and Pope Amongst other Contents of that Article of the Catholick Church almost quite omitted in the former Indian Catechismes Acâ—sta's advise is to have this inserted as an essential part That the Pope is Head of the Catholick Church Christs Vicar on earth indued with his plenary power to whom all other Christians Kings and Princes not excepted ow obedience These allegations may testifie our sincerity in proposing the state of the question and points of difference betwixt us gathered not out of one or two but the general agreemeent of best Romish Wâ—iters and whereunto Valentiaâ— were he alive would willingly subscribe For he as since I have observed proposeth the title of his main Controversie concerning the Churches Authoritie in termes aequivalent to those I used Lib. 2. Sect. 1. Cap. 3. and Lib. 1. Paragr uâ—t SECT II. The first branch of Romish Blasphemie in preferring humane Authoritie before Divine AGainst these late recited and infinite other aequivalent Assertions frequent in their Publick determinations and best private Writers our Writers usually object If the Church be Judge of Scriptures her Authoritie must be above the Scriptures â—f the sense of Scripture without the Church or Popes asseveration or proposal be not Authentick nor apt to beget most firme Belief then the Word of God must receive strength and Authoritie from the word of man Some Romish Writers grant the Inference with this restraint In respect of us and yet wipe their mouthes with the whore in the Proverbs as if they had neither committed Idolatrie nor spoken Blasphemie But Bellarâ—in was too cunning a Baud to expose his mothers foul face to publick view without more artificial painting CAP. II. Bellarmin's Replic to the main Objection joyntly urged by all Reformed Churches against the Romish the Equivocation which he sought in the Objection apparently found in his Replie 1 THe former Argument howsoever much esteemed by such as bring it yet in Bellarmmes judgement is very weak and as he suspects sick of his own desease Totum in aequivocatione versatur The aequivocation he seeketh to unfold with this distinction The former speeches may admit a double sence First their meaning may be That the Church doth judge whether that which the Scriptures teach be true or false Or Secondly This sure foundation of faith being first laid The words of Scripture are most infallible and true The Church doth Judge which is the true Interpretation or meaning of them This distinction he applieth thus The former Objections were pertinent if we held the Pope or Councel to determine of Scriptures in the former sence but taâ—… our right meaning they are meer calumnies For we affirm the Church to judge Scriptures onelie in the later and so to judge them doth not set the Church or Pope above Scriptures but above the judgement of private men Nor doth the Church by this Assertion 〈◊〉 a Judge of Scriptures truth but of private mens understanding Neither will it hence follow that the Word of God receiveth strength from the word of man but private mens knowledge may and doth receive strength and infallibilitie from the Church Finally the Scripture or Word of God as Bellarmine thinks is neither more true or certain because it is expounded by the Church but every mans opinion is more true and stable when it is confirmed by the Churches exposition or decision He hath said as much as the whole Councel of Trent could have said for themselves But let us see if this be enough 2 A private mans opinion saith Bellarmin is truer when it is confirmed by the Church If we had onely an opinion of the truth or sence of Scriptures the consent of others especially men skilful in such matters would indeed much confirm us for all opinions or uncertain
given in Heaven and in earth hath got an interest in the chief Kingdoms of the World disposing such as he can best spare or worst manage to any potent Prince that wil fall down and worship him and his copartner the Prince of darknesse who of late years have almost shared the whole World betwixt them the one ruling over insidels the other over professed Christians And seeing the Pope because his pomp and dignity must be maintained by Worldly wealth and revenews dares not part with the propriety of so many Kingdoms at once as Satan who only looks for honour profered he hath found out a trick to supply his wants for purchasing like honour and worship by his office of keeping S. Peters keys if earthly Provinces or Dominions fail him Gods Word his sons bloud and body all shal be set to sale at this price Fall down and worship him For no man we may rest assured no Nation or Kingdom whom he can hinder shal ever taste of the Lords Cup unlesse they wil first acknowledge lawful authority in him to grant deny or dispose of it at his pleasure which is an homage wherewith the Devil is more delighted then if we did acknowledge him Supream Lord of all the Kingdoms of the Earth for that were as much lesse prejudicial to Christs prerogative royal as a damage in possession or goods would be to a personal disgrace or some foul maim or deformity wrought upon a Princes body CAP. VI. Propounding what possibly can be said on our adversaries behalf for avoiding the force of the former arguments and shewing withal the special points that lie upon them to prove as principally whether their Belief of the Churches authority can be resolved into any divine Testimony 1 UNto all the difficulties hitherto proposed I can rather wish some learned Priest or Jesuite would then hope any such ever wil directly answer point by point For the Readers better satisfaction I wil first briefly set down what possibly can be said on their behalf and after a disclosure of their last secret refuge draw forth thence the dead and putrified darknesse of Romish faith which unto the ignorant and superstitious that cannot uncover the holes and clefts wherein these impostors upon every search are wont to hide it may yet seem to live and breath as the Fable went of S. John the Evangelists body after many years reposal in the grave or as the blinded Jews to this day brag the scepter of Judah yet flourisheth beyond Babylon in Media or some unknown part of India whither no European is likely to resort for a disproval of his relation 2 Unto the Demonstrative Evidences as wel of their error in expounding Scriptures pretended for as of other Scriptures rightly alledged by us against their former or like Decrees they wil be ready to oppose what Bellarmin hath done That the Church must judge of Scriptures Evidence and private errours in expounding it not private men of the Churches expositions Unto the objected dreadful consequences of their decrees could these possibly be erroneous they would regest disobedience to the Church that to disobey it is to disobey God Father Son and Holy Ghost a sin as hainous as mangling of Christs Last Will and Testament as Idolatry On the contrary to obey the Church even in her negative decrees and naked decisions unguarded with any pretence of Scripture much more where this loving Mother for the education of her children wil vouchsafe what she need not to alledge some clause or sentence of Holy writ we obey not the Church only but Gods Word also though not in those particular places which in our judgements either contradict the former or like decrees or else make nothing at all for them yet in texts produced for the Churches transcendent general authority As he that adores the consecrated host in procession because his holy Mother commands him so to do or accounts want of Christs bloud no losse because denied him by her authority although unto private spirits he may seem to contradict that Law Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve doth yet sincerely obey the Holy Ghost and rightly observe the true sence and meaning of these his dictates Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith should not fail Peter feed my sheep Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church From these places once firmly believing the Church possibly cannot erre he must not question whether the the practises by it injoyned contradict the former laws both being delivered by the holy spirit who cannot contradict himself This I take it is the sum of all the most learned of our adversaries can or would reply unto the former difficulties Not to draw faster but rather remitting the former Bonds wherein they have inextricably intangled themselves by their circular progresse in their resolution of faith admit their late doctrine left any possibility of knowing Scriptures acknowledged by both to be Gods word or of distinguishing humane testimonies written or unwritten from divine The present question we may draw with their free consent unto this issue whether their belief of the Churches infallible authority undoubtedly established as they pretend in the fore-cited places can be truly resolved into any branch of the First Truth or into humane testimonies only If into the later only the case is clear that absolutely obeying the Romish Church in the former or like decrees which her authority set aside to all or most mens consciences would seem to contradict Gods principal laws we believe and in believing obey men more then God humane authorities laws or testimonies more then divine 4 The strength or feeblenesse of Roman faith wil best appear if we try it in any one of these joynts Whether by Divine testimony it can be proved that S. Peter had such an universal infallible absolute authority as these men attribute unto the Pope Whether by like infallible testimony it can be proved the Popes from time to time without exception were Peters undoubted successours heirs apparant to all the preheminencies or prerogatives he injoyed Whether either the soveraignty or universality of their authority supposed probable in it self or to themselves or particular injunctions derived from it can be so fully notified to all Christians as they need not question whether in yielding obedience to decrees of like consequences as were the former they do not grievously disobey Gods Word For though the Popes themselves might know this truth by Divine revelation or otherwise their internal assurance unlesse generally communicable by divine testimonies could be no warant unto others for undertaking matters of fearful consequences whereof they doubt not only out of secret instinct or grudging of their consciences but from an apprehension of opposition betwixt the very forms of laws papal and divine 5 First it is improbable that he to whom our Saviour said If thy brother trespasse against thee dic Ecclesiae
Ariadna's thread as now it is thought to guide us through the Labyrinth of errors Such was S. Peters love to truth that he would have so fastned it to all faithful hearts as none should ever have failed to follow it in following which he could not erre Doubtlesse had any such conceit lodged in his breast this discourse had drawn it out his usual form of exhortation had been too mild his ordinary stile too low This doctrine had been proclaimed to all the world with Anathema's as loud and terrible as the Canons of any Papistical Councel report 2 But he followed no such deceitful Fables when he opened unto them the power and coming of Christ whose Majesty as he had seen with his own eyes so would he have others to see him too But by what light By Scriptures What Scriptures Peter feed my sheep Nay but by the Light of Prophesie That is a Light indeed in it self but unto private spirits it is no better saith Valentian then a light put under a bushel unlesse the visible Church do hold it out Where did the visible Church keep residence in those dayes In S. Peter I trow How chances it then he saith not fix your eyes on mine that have seen the glory of the Lord and the Prophets light shal shine unto you If by his commendation and proposal it were to shine he had said better thus Ye do well in that you give heed unto me as to your only infallible teacher that must confirm you in the truth of Prophetical Writings and cause them shine in your hearts but now he saith 2 Pet 1. 19. Ye do well in that ye take beed unto the Prophets as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day-star arise in your hearts This light of Prophets illuminated the eyes of Peters faith albeit with his bodily eyes he had seen Christs glory For speaking comparatively of that testimony which he had heard in the Mount he adds We have also a surer word of the Prophets That the Lord hath been glorified in the Mount his Auditors were to take upon his Credit and Authority nor could he make them to see this particular as he himself had done but that Christ Jesus whom he saw glorified in the Mount was the Lord of Glory he had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a surer testimony then his bodily sense the light of Prophets This then was the commendations of his flock that they looked upon it which shined as wel unto them as him to all without respect of persons that take heed unto it able to bring them not to acknowledg Peters infallibility but to the day-star it self whole light would further ascertain them even of the truth the Prophets and the Apostles taught For Christ is in a peculiar manner the first and the last in the edifice of faith the lowest and the highest stone in the corner refused by the master builders or visible pillars of the Jewish Church their faith was not grounded up on the Prophets whose words they knew not and not knowing them they knew not him but unto such as raise their faith by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true square and line Chist is both the Fundamental Rock which supporteth and the chief corner stone that binds the whole house of God and preserves it from clefts and ruptures 3 But lest his followers might look amisse upon this prophetical light rightly esteemed in the general S. Peter thought it necessary to advertise them not to content themselves with every interpretation or accustomary acknowledgment of their truth grounded on others relations reports or skill in expounding them or multitude of voices that way swaying This had been as if a man that hath eyes of his own should believe there was a Moon or stars because a great many of his honest neighbours had told him so A thousand witnesses in such a case as this were but private testimonies in respect of that distinct knowledge which every one may have that list That the Lord should preserve light in Coshen when darknesse had covered the whole face of Egypt besides seems unto me lesse strange but more sensibly true then before whilest I consider how in this age wherein the light of his countenance hath so clearly shined throughout those parts of Europe whence the Gospel came to us Ingolstade should still sit in darknesse environed with the shadow of death That her great professor Valentian born I take it within these fourscore years should grope at noon day as if he had been brought forth in the very midnight of Popery or died welnigh three hundred years ago Scarce Scotus himself not Ockam questionlesse though shut up in a prison where no light of any expositor had ever come could have made a more dunstical collection of the Apostles words then he hath done Saint Peter meant one of these Three First that there can be no certain or probable way of expounding Scriptures by our proper wit or industry or Secondly that one or other place of Scripture cannot be rightly expounded by human wit or industry but so compared they rightly may or Thirdly that the Scriptures cannot certainly and infallibly be expounded every where without the sentence of some other common infallible authority which in this respect is to be held as judge of faith in the Church The Apostle he infers did not mean the first or second ergo the third So as the force and wisdom of the Apostolical admonition is this No man by his private industry or study howsoever imploied either he thought not of the holy Ghosts direction or assistance or did not except it no not by any search of Scripture it self can certainly and infallibly understand the doctrine of Scriptures in controversies of which S. Peter in that place speaks not one word but it is necessary he learn this of some other publick authority in the church by which the Holy Ghost speaks publickly and teacheth all His reason follows more dunsticall then the collection it self For the Apostle straight subjoyns As the holy men of God did speak in Scriptures not by human authority but divine so likewise cannot the Scriptures be possibly understood by any human or private industry of this or that man but by some other authority likewise divine by which the holy spirit which is the Author of Scriptures may be likewise the most certain interpreter of Scriptures 4 Had another read thus much unto me and bid me read the Author or his works wherein it was found I should presently have named either Erasmus Moriae Encomium Frishlins Priscianus Vapulans or some such like Comedian disposed in merriment to pen some old Dunces part Cannot the Sun of righteousnesse infuse his heavenly influence by the immediate operation of his spirit or doth his influence want force without conjunction with this blazing Comet or falling star Was it not the authority of this spirit which made S. Peter himself to
as shall be declared in due place The place he means is where he disputes whether the Pope be bound to consult other authority besides his own or use any means to search the truth before he passe sentence ex cathâ—dra that is before he charge the whole Christian World to believe his decision This he thinks expedient but so far forth onely as if it please his Holinesse to enjoyn the belief of some particular point upon the whole World all must believe that he hath consulted Scripture and Antiquity as far as was requisit for that point as you shall after hear 2 That in such Controversies he includes The means of knowing Scriptures to be the Word of God is evident out of his own words in the fore-cited place For the knowledge of Scriptures he would have to be an especial point of faith yet such as cannot be proved by Scripture but by this living and speaking authority as he expressely contends in the eleventh paragraph of the same question His conclusion is If it be necessary there should be some authority though humane yet by divine assistance infallible to sit as Mistresse and Judge in all controversies of faith and not to be appropriated to any deceased as is already proved it remains that it be alwayes living in the Church alwayes present amongst the faithfull by succession he means of Popes Thus you see the present Pope must be Judge and Christ and his Apostles must be brought in as witnesses And yet whether there were such a Christ as Saint Matthew Mark Luke and John tell us there was or whether the Gospels which go under their names be Apocryphal and that of Bartholomews onely Canonical we cannot know but by the Popes testimony so that in the end he is the onely Judge and onely witnesse both of Christ the Apostles and their writings yea of all divine truths at least assisted with his Bishops and Cardinals Which Bellarmine though otherwise a great deal more wary then Valentian hath plainly uttered Unlesse saith he it were for the authority of the present Church of Rome he means the Trent Councel the whole Christian faith might be called in question so might all the Acts and Decrees of former Councels his reason was because we cannot know these Antiquities but onely by Tradition and historical relation which are not able to produce divine firme infallible faith 3 Thus whilest this great Clerk would dig a pit for the blind for he could not hope I think this block should stumble any that hath eyes in his head he is fallen into the middest of it himself by seeking to undermine us he hath smothered himself and buried the cause he was to maintain For if without the Trent Councels testification we cannot by divine faith believe the Scriptures or former Councels to be of Divine authority How can such as were born within these thirty yeers believe that Councel it seâ—t which ended above fourty years ago Few this day living were Auditors of the Cardinals and Bishops decisions there assembled not hearing them their saith must needs be grounded upon hear-sayes Again if it be true the Scriptures cannot be known to be divine but by the Authority of the present viâ—ible Church If this Church do not viva voâ—â— confirme all Christians in this fundamental truth their faith cannot be divine but hu mane What the Pope or his Cardinals think of these points is more then any living knows unlesâ—e they hear them speak and then it may be a great question whether they speak as they think Pope Alexander the sixths decisions should have been negative like the fools bolt in the Psalm Tâ—erâ— is no God No Christ No Gospel for so his meaning might have been interpreted as they say dreams are by contraries seeing he never spake as he thought Lastly if the Trent Councel were so necessary for the confirmation of Scriptures and other Orthodoxal writings how detestable was your Clergies backwardnesse to affoord the Christian World this spiritual comfort For whether fear it were the Popes Authority should be curbed on meer sloth and neglect of matters divine that did detain them their shifts to put the Emperour off the Reader may sufficiently conjecture from Sepul veda at that time Chronicler to the Emperour in his Epistle to Cardinal Contâ—râ—â— one of the Popes Legates in that Councel That my intermissâ—â—n of writing and silence in that question concerning the Correction of the â—ear hath 〈◊〉 so long I wish the fault had laid in my slouth or forgetfulneâ—â— that I might have been hence ocâ—asioned to acknowledge and depreccate the blanâ—â— rather then as noâ— I freely must impute the true cause to the negligence of your Romanâ— Priests whom I perceive to wax cold and to think of nothing lesse then of calling the Councel with hopâ— whereof as heretâ—fore I was excited so now â—â—spair hath made me dull For I see well that such as are most bound to have a â—â—gilant care oâ— the Churches publick welfare and not to foreslow any opportunity of increasing her dignity never so much as mention the Councel at this time as necâ—ssary as alwayes usefull but when Christians either are alâ—caay or are likâ—… be at viriance In one word never but then when there is sure hope it may bâ—… hindeâ—ed by their discord For when peace gets it turn and all is quiet not 〈◊〉 word of the Councel So as what they aime at by these unseasonable 〈◊〉 is so manifest as will not suffer the slon est capacity to live in doubt or sâ—â—pition 4 This great Learned Antiquaries Learned advice in â—…â—ile sent to the same Cardinall then imployed by the â—… cel was not to suffer matters Decreed in any former â—… assembled together to be disputed or called in question Sufferance hereof was in his judgement no lesle prejudicial to the State Ecclesiastick then unto the temporal it would be to permit malefactors traverse the equity of publick Lawes established and known after sufficient proof or confession made of Capital offences committed against them The marginal quotations of the Trent Councel compared with this grave admonition which had antiquitie-customes Canonical as the Authour urgeth to give it Countenance may serve as a perfect Index for our instruction with what prejudice the Bishops there assembled came to determine by whose manuduction or set rules they drew their supposed inerrable lines of life Now it is impossible any determination that takes it force from multitude of voyces should be either in it self more certain or more forcible to perswade others then are the motives or inducements that swayed the suffragants so to determine and these in this case could by Bellarmines reason be but historical perswasions or presumptions For no Jesuite I think will say these Bishops had the Popes sentence ex Cathedra to assure them before-hand what Councels had been lawfully called and fully confirmed or whether all the ancient Canons they afterwards reestablished were already as authentick and
jointly believe for God speaking either in his written word or by tradition Yet if a man should have asked him why he did or how possibly he could infallibly believe that God did speak all the words either contained in the Bible or in their traditions he must have given either a womans answer because God spake them or this because our holy mother the Church doth say so For elsewhere he plainly avows the Books of Canonical Scripture need not be believed without the Churches proposal whose infallible authority was sufficiently known before one tittle of the New Testament was written and were to be acknowledged though it had never been he plainly confesseth withal that he could not believe the Scriptures taught some principal Articles of faith most firmly believed by him unless the Churches authority did thereto move him against the light of natural reason Now if for the Churches proposal he believe that which otherwise to believe he had no reason at all but rather strong inducements to the contrary as stedfastly as any other truth the Churches infallibility must be the true and only cause both why he believes the mystery proposed and distrusts the natural dictates of his conscience to the contrary In sine he doth not believe there is a Trinity for in that Article is his instance because God hath said it but he believes that God hath said it because his infallible Mother the Church doth teach it This is the misery of miseries that these Apostates should so bewitch the World as to make it think they believe the Church because God speaks by it when it is evident they do not believe God but for the Churches testimony well content to pretend his authority that her own may seem more Soveraign Thus make they their superstitious groundless magical Faith but as a wrench to wrest that principle of nature Whatsoever God saith is true to countenance any villany they can imagin as wil better appear hereafter But first the Reader must be content to be informed that by some of their Tenents the same Divine revelations may be asâ—ented unto by the Habit either of â—heologie or of Faith both which are most certain but herein diâ—ferent That tâ—e former is discursive and resembles science properly so called the later not so but rather like unto that habit or faculty by which we perceive the truth of general Maxims or unto our bodily sight which sees divers visibles all immediately not one after or by another Whilst some of them dispute against the certainty of private spirits their arguments suppose Divine revelations must be believed by the Habit of Theologie which is as a sword to oâ—â—end us Whiles we assault them and urge the unstability of their resolutions they slie unto the non disâ—ursive Habit of faith infused as their best buckler to ward such blows as the Habit of Theologie cannot bear off 6 Not here to dispute either how truly or pertinently they deny â—aith infused to be a discursive habit the Logical Reader need not I hope my adâ—onition to observe that faith or belief whether habitual or actual unlesse discursive cannot possibly be resolved into any preexistent Maxim or principle From which grant this Emolument wil arise unto our cause that the Churches authority cannot be proved by any divine revelation or portion of Scripture seeing it is an Article of Faith and must be believed â—odâ—m intuâ—â—u with that Scripture or part of Gods Word whether written or unwritten that teacheth it as light and colours are perceived by one and the same intuition in the same instant And by this assertion we could not so properly say We beleeue the divine revelation because we believe the Church nor do we see colours because we see the light but We may truly say that the objects of our faith divine revelations are therefore actually credible or worthy of belief because the infallible Church doth illustrate or propose them as the light doth make colours though invisible by night visible by day This similitude of the light and colours is not mine but Sacroboscus's whom in the point in hand I most mention because Doctor Whitakers Objections against their Churches Doctrine as it hath been delivered by Bellarmine and other late Controversers hath enforced him clearly to unfold what Bellarmine Stapleton and Valentian left unexpressed but is implicitely included in all their Writings But ere we come to examine the full inconveniences of their opinions I must request the Reader to observe that as oft as they mention Râ—solution of faith they mean the discursive habit of Theologie For all resolution of Belief or knowledge essentially includes discourse And Bellarmine directly makes Sacroboscus expressely avoucheth the Churches authority the medius terminus or true cause whence determinate conclusions of faith are gathered From which and other equivalent assertions acknowledged by all the Romanists this day living it will appear that Valentian was either very ignorant himself or presumed he had to deal with very ignorant Adversaries when he denied that the last resolution of Catholick faith was into the Churches authority which comes next in place to be examined CAP. XXVIII Discovering either the grosse ignorance or notorious craft of the Jesuite in denying his Faith is finally resolved into the Churches veracity or infallibility That possibly it cannot be resolved into any branch of the First Truth 1 IT were a foolish question as Cajetan saith Valentian hath well observed if one should ask another why he believes the First Truth revealing For the Assent of Faith is finally resolved into the First Truth It may be Cajetan was better minded towards Truth it self first or secondary then this Jesuite was which used his authority to colour his former rotten position That the Churches proposal by their doctrine is not the cause of faith but our former distinction between belief it self and it object often confounded or between Gods Word indefinitely and determinately taken if well observed will evince this last reason to be as foolish as the former assertion was false No man saith he can give any reason besides the infallibility of the Revealer why he beleeves a divine Revelation It is true no man can give nor would any ask why we believe that which we are fully perswaded is a divine Revelation But yet a reason by their positions must be given why we believe either this or that truth any particular or determinate portion of Scripture to be a divine Revelation Wherefore seeing Christian Faith is alwayes of desinite and particular propositions or conclusions and as Bellarmine saith and all the Papists must say these cannot be known but by the Church As her infallible proposal is the true and proper cause why we believe them to be infalliblie true because the onely cause whereby we can believe them to be divine revelations so must it be the essential principle into which our Assent or Belief of any particular or determinate
be certaine whether ever there had been such an Emperour as they plead succession from or at least how far his Dominions extended or where they lay This manner of plea in secular controversies would be a mean to defeat him that made it For albeit the Christian World did acknowledge there had been such an Emperour and that many parts of Europe of right belonged unto his lawfull heir Yet if it were otherwise unknown what parts these were or who this heir should be no Judge would be so mad as finally to determine of either upon such motives Or if the Plaintiffe could by such courses as the World knows oft prevail in judgement or other gracious respects effect his purpose he were worse then mad that could think the finall resolution of his right were into the Emperours last Will and Testament which by his own confession no man knows besides himself and not rather into his own presumed fidelitie or the Judges apparant partiality So in this Controversie whatsoever the Pope may pretend from Christ all in the end comes to his own authority which we may safely believe herein to be most infallible that it will never prove partiall against it self or define ought to his Holinesse disadvantage 10 Here again it shall not be amisse to admonish younger Students of another gull which the Jesuite would put upon us to make their Churches Doctrin seem lesse abominable in this point lest you should think they did equalize the authority of the Church with divine revelations Valentian would perswade you it were no part of the formal object of faith It is true indeed that the Churches authority by their Doctrine is not comprehended in the object of Belief whilest it onely proposeth other Articles to be believed No more is the Sun comprehended under the objects of our actual sight whilest we behold colours or other visibles by the vertue of it But yet as it could not make colours or other things become more visible unto us unlesse it self were the first and principal visible that is unlesse it might be seen more clearly then those things which we see by it so we would direct our sight unto it so would it be impossible the Churches infallible proposal could make a Roman Catholicks Belief of Scriptures or their Orthodoxal sence the stronger unlesse it were the first and principal credible or primary object of his Beliefe or that which must be most clearly most certainly and more stedfastly believed so as all other Articles besides must be believed by the belief or credibility of it This is most evident out of Sacroboscus and Bellarmines resolution or explication of that point how the Churches proposal confirmes a Roman Catholicks belief To give this Doctrine of their Churches infallibility the right title according to the truth it is not an Article of Catholick Belief but a Catholick Axiom of Antichristian unbelief which from the necessary consequences of their assertions more strictly to be examined will easily appear CAP. XXIX What manner of casual dependance Romish Belief hath on the Church that the Romanist truely and properly believes the Church onely not God or his Word 1 THe two main assertions of our Adversaries whence our intended conclusion must be proved are these often mentioned heretofore First that we cannot be infallibly perswaded of the truth of Scriptures but by the Churches proposal Secondly that without the same we cannot be infallibly perswaded of the true sence or meaning of these Scriptures which that Church and we both believe to be Gods Word How we should know the Scriptures to be Gods Word is a Probleme in Divinity which in their judgement cannot be assoiled without admission of Traditions or divine unwritten verities of whose extent and meaning the Church must be infallible Judge It is necessary to salvation saith Bellarmine that we know there be some books divine which questionlesse cannot by any means be known by Scriptures For albeit the Scripture say that the Books of the Prophets or Apostles are divine yet this I shall not certainly believe unlesse I first believe that Scripture which saith thus is divine For so we may read every where in Mahomets Alcoran that the Alcoran it self was sent from heaven but we beliefe it not Therefore this necessary point that some Scripture is divine cannot sufficiently be gathered out of Scriptures alone Consequently seeing faith must rely upon Gods Word unlesse we have Gods word unwritten we can have no faith His meaning is we cannot know the Scriptures to be divine but by Traditions and what Traditions are divine what not we cannot know but by the present visible Church as was expresly taught by the same Authour before And the final resolution of our believing what God hath said or not said must be the Churches Authority To this collection Sacroboscus thus farre accords Some Catholicks rejected divers Canonical Books without any danger and if they had wanted the Churches proposal for others as well as them they might without sin have doubted of the whole Canon This he thinks consonant to that of Saint Austin I would not believe the Gospel unlesse the Churches authority did thereto move me He addes that we of reformed Churches making the visible Churches authority in defining points of faith unsufficient might disclaim all without any greater sin or danger to our souls then we incurre by disobeying some parts of Scripture to wit the Apocryphal books canonized by the Romish Church The Reader I hope observes by these passages How Bellarmine ascribes that to Tradition which is peculiar to Gods providence Sacroboscus that to blind belief which belongs unto the holy Spirit working faith unto the former points by the ordinary observation of Gods Providence and Experiments answerable to the rules of Scriptures 2 Consequently to the Trent Councels Decree concerning the second assertion Bellarmine thus collects It is necessary not onely to be able to read Scriptures but to understand them but the Scripture is often so ambiguous and intruate that it cannot be understood without the exposition of some that cannot erre therefore it alone is not sufficient Examples there be many For the equality of the divine persons the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son as from one joynt original Original sin Christs descension into Hel and many like may indeed be deduced out of Scriptures but not so plainly as to end Controversies with contentious spirits if we should produce onely testimonies of Scriptures And we are to note there be two things in Scripture the Characters or the written words and the sence included in them The Character is as the sheath but the sence is the very sword of the spirit Of the first of these two all are partakers for whosoever knowes the Character may read the Scripture but of the sence all men are not capable nor can we in many places be certain of it unlesse Tradition be assistant It is an offer worth the taking
that here he maks That the sence of Scriptures is the sword of the spirit This is as much as we contend that the sence of the Scripture is the Scripture Whence the inference is immediately necessary That if the Romish Church bind us to believe or absolutely practise ought contrary to the true sence and meaning of Scriptures with the like devotion we do Gods expresse undoubted commandements she prefers her own authority above Gods Word and makes us acknowledge that allegiance unto her which we owe unto the spirit For suppose we had as yet no full assurance of the spirit for the contradictory sence to that given by the Church we were in Christian duty to expect Gods providence and invoke the spirits assistance for manifestation of the truth from all possibility whereof we desperately exclude our selves if we believe one mans testimony of the spirit as absolutely and irrevocably as we would do the manifest immediate testimony of the spirit yet Sacroboscus acknowledgeth he believes the mysterie of the Trinity as it is taught by their Church onely for the Churches authority and yet this he believes as absolutely as he doth yea as he could believe any other divine Revelation though extraordinarily made unto himself 3 In both parts of Belief above mentioned the causal dependance of our faith upon the Churches proposals may be imagined three wayes either whilest it is in planting or after it is planted or from the first beginning of it to it full groweth or from it first entrance into our hearts untill our departure out of this world How far and in what sort the Ministery of men in the Church is available for planting faith hath been declared heretofore Either for the planting or supporting it the skill or authority of the teacher reaches no further then to quicken or strengthen our internal tast or apprehension of the divine truth revealed in Scriptures or to raise or tune our spirits as Musick did Elishahs the better to perceive the efficacy of Gods spirit imprinting the stamp of those divine Revelations in our Hearts whose Characters are in our Brains The present Churches proposals in respect of our Belief is but as the Samaritan womans report was unto the men of Sichar Many saith the Evangelist believed in him for the saying of the woman which testified he hath told me all things that ever I did But this Beliefe was as none in respect of that which they conceive immediately from his own words For they said unto the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed The Christ. The 〈◊〉 saith Job trieth the words as the mouth tasteth meats Consonant hereto is our Churches doctrine that as our bodily mouthes taste and trie meats immediately without interposition of any other mans sense or jugement of them so must the ears of our souls trie and discern divine truths without relying on other mens proposals or reports of their rellish No external means whatsoever can in either case have any use but only either for working a right disposition in the Organ whereby trial is made or by occasioning the exercise of the faculty rightly disposed How essentially faith by our adversaries doctrine depends upon the Churches authority is evident out of the former discourses that this dependance is perpetual is as manifest in that they make it the judge and rule of faith such an indefectible rule and so authentick a Judge as in all points must be followed and may not be so far examined either by Gods written law or rules of nature whether it contradict not it self or them 4 It remains we examin the particular manner of this dependance or what the Churches infallibility doth or can perform either to him that believes or to the object of his belief whence a Roman Catholicks faith should become more firm or certain then other mans It must enlighten either his soul that it may see or divine revelations that they may be seen more clearly otherwise he can exceed others only in blind Belief The cunningest Sophister in that school strictly examined upon these points wil bewray that monstrous Blasphemy which some shallow brains have hitherto hoped to cover We have the same Scriptures they have and peruse them in all the languages they do What is it then can hinder either them from manifesting or us from discerning their Truth or true meaning manifested Do we want the Churches proposal we demand how their present Church it self can better discern them then ours may what testimony of antiquity have they which we have not But it may be we want spectacles to read them our Church hath but the eyes of private men which cannot see without a publick light Their Churches eyes are Cat-like able so to illustrate the objects of Christian faith as to make them clear and perspicuous to it self though dark and invisible unto us Suppose they could Yet Cats-eyes benefit not by-standers a whit for seeing colours in darkness albeit able themselves to see them without any other light then their own The visible Church saith the Jesuite is able to discern all divine truth by her infallible publick spirit How knows he this certainly without an infallible publick spirit perhaps as men see Cats-eyes shine in the dark when their own do not Let him believe so But what doth this belief advantage him or other private spirits for the clear distinct or perfect sight of what the Church proposeth Doth the proposal make divine Truths more perspicuous in themselves Why then are they not alike perspicuous to all that hear read or know the Churches testimonie of them Sacroboscus hath said all that possibly can be said on their behalf in this difficultie The Sectaries albeit they should use the authoritie of the true Church yet cannot have any true belief of the truth revealed If the use of it be as free to them as to Catholicks what debars them from this benefit They do not acknowledge the sufficiencie of the Churches proposal And as a necessary proof or medium is not sufficient to the attaining of science unless a man use and acknowledge it formally as necessary so for establishing true faith it sufficeth not that the Church sufficiently proposeth the points to be believed or avoweth them by that infallible authority wherewith Christ hath enabled her to declare both what books contain Doctrines Divine and what is the true sense of places controversed in them but it is further necessary that we formally use this proposal as sufficient and embrace it as infallible 5 The reason then why a Roman Catholick rightly believes the Truth or true meaning of Scriptures when a Protestant that knows the Churches testimonie as well as he rests in both points uncertain is because the Catholick infallibly believes the Churches authority to be infallible whereof the Protestant otherwise perswaded reaps no benefit by it but continues still in darkness
labouring in vain to see the Truth of Divine revelations without it as much in vain as if a man should strive to see colours without light For this is Sacroboscus instance Besides the habit of faith seated in the understanding and the supernatural concourse of the Holy Spirit due to all endued with the babit of faith but necessary in respect of the subject or party two things more are requisite on the behalf of the object of which if either be wanting the facultie can never perform it proper function Of these two the one is that the proposition to be believed be revealed by God the other that there be a sufficient proposal made to us that God hath revealed it For an unsufficient proposal of any object is as none as may appear by the example of light which proposeth colours to be seen For when the light is weak or scant we cannot discern Colours not that we want a visible object but because we want light sufficient to illuminate the object or the space betwixt us and it He adds withall such as disclaim the Churches Authority and are content with this That Truths of faith are revealed by God in his Word and hence promise themselves the supernatural concourse of the Holy Ghost for producing acts of faith are destitute of a sufficient proposer and their presumption such as if a man should perswade himself because he hath Colours before his eyes and God ready to afford his ordinary concourse as oft as he is disposed to exercise his visive faculty he should be able to see them without light For saith this Jesuite the Prophets are dead Apostles dead Christ gone to heaven and instead of all Prophets Apostles or himself hath left us his Church Nor is it to be expected that God will every where upon all occasions supply the want of the external proposals by the abundance of internal illuminations as he did to our first parent or Saint Paul who had his Gospel neither from man nor by man but by the revelation of Jesus Christ For those are priviledges 6 The calumnie intended in this last instance hath often heretofore been prevented We never denied either the necessity or suffâ—iciencie of the Churches proposal as an external mean we account no other of that rank and nature is or could be either more necessary or more sufficient Saint Paul we grant had an extraordinary priviledge and yet for his private information had the truth proposed unto him by Ananias though the gifts of his publick Ministery were immediately from God Both the measure of his faith and manner of attaining it were unusual but his faith it self once attained no otherwise independent of any external proposal then ours is and all Christians must be We should have been more beholden to this professor had he distinctly told us what it is in their language to have a sufficient proposer albeit this we may gather from his words late cited and these following The Sectaries take upon them to correct the Churches sentence as oft as they list and then they oppose Christ to the Church as if the Church did propose one thing and Christ teach another If they admitted any Church as a sufficient proposer they were bound to conforme their opinions to it in all things As you heard before out of Bellarmine That the Popes Decrees may not be examined whether consonant or contrary to Gods Word or the foundations of faith already laid in our hearts and out of Canus That we must believe the Church absolutely without its or ands Thus believing we have Gods Word sufficiently proposed without this belief or acknowledgement of such authority in the Church we have no sufficient proposal of it but strive as foolishly to hear God speak as if we sought to see Colours without the light 7 It appears I hope as clearly to the Reader as to me that the Churches testimony or authority by our Adversaries Doctrine benefits none but such as stedfastly and absolutely believe it in all things But he that so believes it may by it easily believe all other points as he that can perfectly see the light may see Colours by it Want of this radical belief in us makes our faith in their opinion so unstable or rather blind and dead Yet can I hardly perswadâ— my self all of them will grant the Church addes any inherent or participated splendor to divine revelations whereby they become perspicuous in themselves as Colours are made visible by irradiation of the Sun Thus much notwithstanding all of them I know willingly would subscribe unto A Protestant can neither of himself be infallibly perswaded of the Truth of Scriptures or other conclusions of faith nor doth he absolutely believe any others that are infallible in their determinations but a Roman Catholick albeit by his private spirit he cannot infallibly believe them yet he infalliby believes the Church which cannot erre in belief All then that a Papist hath more then a Protestant is this his Belief of the Church if once he doubt of this he is where he was Which in plain termes is as much as to say ‖ He believes the Church concerning Scriptures not Scriptures That this is the true interpretation of their Tenent may easily be gathered from their own writings For Bellarmine expressely contends and all of them suppose that saying of Saint Austin Non crederem Evangelio nisime commoveret Ecclesiae authoritas I would not believe the Gospel unlesse the Churches authority did thereto move me to be true as well after faith is produced whilest it continues as whiles it is in planting Now if a man should say Non crederem Francisco nisi me commoveret Petri fiâ—elitas I would not trust Frances but for Peters word this speech resolved into it natural or proper sence is aequivalent unto this I do not trust Frances but Peter that gives his word for him And in case Peter should prove false or be distrusted by him that took his word for Frances as yet not believed but for Peters sake the creditor could have no hold of either Thus if Bellarmine and his fellows be as they would seem to make S. Austin minded not to believe the Gospel but for the Churches authority or proposal of it let them speak plainly and properly not in parables or metaphors and so we shall know their meaning to be That they indeed believe not the Scriptures but the Church or the Church truly and really the Scriptures onely by extrinsecal denomination 8 Nor can they reply either consequently to Sacrobos us instance or their general Tenents that as he which sees colours by the light truly sees colours not the light onely so he that believes Scriptures by the Churches infallible proposal believes not the Churches proposal onely but Scriptures as truely and properly The diversity of reason in these two consequences ariseth from the diverse manner of seeing colours by the Suns light and believing
then demonstrative Evidence of divine Truths which glorified Saints enjoy and obseurity or Jewish Blindness The particular manner how Gods Spirit works lively Faith by such Experiments as â—…tly I did and hereafter must acquaint him withall the Reader I hope will gather of his own accord out of the discourses following concerning the nature of Christian Faith and the Principal Objects thereof whereunto my Meditations are now add 〈◊〉 my long durance in this unpleasant subject having bred in my soul a more eagâ—r thâ—… after these well springs of life FINIS Though the Observant Reader may serve himself well of the Contents of every Chapter and the Table of Texts of Scripture as also of the Titles of every Page and Marginal Briefs yet for his further advantage is made this ensuing Table To which every Reader may adde what he pleases space being left The Figure signifies the Page M. the Margin A THe sin of Aaron extenuated by Jews pag. 38 Abrahams faith and Jews stubbornness 132 The sin of Abiram aggravated 410 The Authors Aboadment 507 His prayer 508 Apparitions of Heathen Gods 34 c. Actions humane distinguished 168 Actions not of faith 177 to 184 See Doubts Not of Faith Obedience The same ill Action may be less of faith in the confident then in the scrupler 184 Best method to square our actions to the rule of faith 185 Adrians severity against the Jews 111 112 c. Acosta's zeal for Popes supremacy 314 Adam did eat not doubting yet condemned 185 Adoration of the Hoast dangerous to mens souls 328 Council of Trents decree for adoration 329 m. To Adore a creature wherein the divel lurks Vasques thinks lawful if one direct not Worship to him 329 Saracens Adore a stone and a star 107 Adoration of a dead dog deliberated if not done 501 m. Ahabs Prophets 418 Elijahs and Michaiahs Prophesies abused by Polititians 1b Albigenses and Picards persecuted by the Provost Stenelda who wrote to S. Bernard about them 245 c. Alexander the great General to Solomon say the Turks 46 Ancient times not to be measured by latter and why 37 to 42 How we may dissent from the Ancient 266 267 268 Angels sent to gather the elect how meant 101 Angels got Israel miraculous victories 35 Androgyni Platonis 56 Different Ages divers events 309 c. We mistrust Antiquity why 37. c. Alphon. the great got great honor being prisoner 61 Antoninies Army relieved with water 78 Arnuphis the sorcerer by the Heathen said to do it ibid. Arabians cruelty to the Jews Ambassadors 77 Antichrists exaltation first degree 315 c. Second degree of it 375 c. Third degree 464 c. Excesse of His exaltation 449 c. Antichrist may in formall termes confesse Christ 355 Antichrists spirit ib. Antichristianisme not contradictory to Christianity but contrary 355 Romish religion So. ib. 360 Antichrist a Judas a secret underminer 373 The Great Antichrist 347 c. 374. Antidote against Romish enchanting sorcery 307 Apothegmes Crantzius 139. Carafa's 505. P. Leo's ib. Assent conditional 189 c. It differs from implicit faith 196 Four things considerable for guiding our Assent to truth proposed 191 Assent See belief and faith Atheists credulous in their kind though mistrustfull of Scripture 37 Atheists rare in old time 38 Authorit as docentis how it is a ground unto unevident Assent 2 3 Authority Divine is ground of faith infallible 7 Authority of Jewish Church after Moses his death 411 c. Authority see Pope Sanedrim Universall Aristotles Rule for Poets To have a true History for ground 27 Aristotle confounds the Causes 54 He leads us not to the First Cause or last end ergo imperfect ib. B BAal See Prophets Beclzebub might cast out devils upon designe as Cheaters lose 436 Baptisme with water and the holy Ghost Typified by the pillar of cloud and of fire 447 Babels building transformed by Poets into the Giants war 56 Roma Babel rediviva 244 245 Bassina's vision 4â— Belief is an assent without plain evidence 2 3 Belief how increased in strength and certainty 4 5 6 Objects of Belief distinguished 5 Belief of Gods Word though but conditionall what it effects and requires 8 9 Belief of Scriptures how to be confirmed by experiments in our selves 140 to 145 Belief of known Oracles confirmed in S. Peter by experiment 140 Belief of God wrought in Naaman by experiment onely 141 See experiment Belief of principal parts of Scripture ties our faith to the rest 148 c. Belief of Scripture to be got by practise not by Discourse 150 Belief must be wrought by the Spirit though by means 150 See Faith Conditional Belief the nature use conditions properties of it 189 Pronenesse to Believe when and in whom good or ill 419 Romish Belief meerly Humane 365 c. He that Believes the Romish Churches Authority as some teach it Believes no Article of Christian faith 464 He that Believes the Pope absolutely without all examination believes nor Christ nor his Gospel 494 Such Belief emboldens the Believer to villany ib. Romish Belief on the Church not on God 478 c. Bellarmin cited Bellarmins Catholick fyllogisme and resolution of faith 319 c. Bellarmins strange position if the Pope call evil good Papists must believe it 322. m. Bellarmins Put-off about Ahabs 400 prophets 418 Bellarmin confesses that nor Pope nor Councils can judge of scripture translated into modern Languages 157 St. Bernard against Rodulphus a vile Monk who preach't it was lawfull to spoil the Jewes to maintain the Holy war 117 Blasphemie Romish 309 c. 315 c. Blasphemy preferring Human Authority before Divine 316 Mouth of Blasphemy 450 502 More Blasphemy Romish 460 499 507 C CAnonical Books of the Old Testament to be known by the Jew 146 Of the New now confirmed 147 Trent Canon about Canonical Books 310 c. Cansuizing vide Saints Canus cited Caxus See Romish Writers in letter R. Cajetan and Cassander desired Reformation 276 Cardinall Carafa's blessing to the people 505 French Cardinals addresse to St. Cuthbert at Durham 160 Carbarinus defends the Council of Trent yet holds certainty of salvation 274 Ex Cathedra hard to know when the Pope speaks of it 404 Characters of sacred Writings 13 Charles Martel his martial Act. 110 c. Christian Religion confirmed by the ceasing of Oracles 30 c. Christ why so little spoken of by Heathen Writers 113 Christian Expeditions to recover Jewry bring evil upon the Jews 116 The Christian Cause and Cause called Catholick 155 Similitude betwixt Christ and Moses 434 c. Christs predictions and discovery of secrets prove him to be God and the Messiah 441 Church our Church in Romish as gold in drosse 245 m Comparison between our Church and the Romish for means of ending Controversies 272 c. The Church of Rome most needs means to end and take up Controversies 275 c. Jewish Church Representative a corrupt Judge in matters of God 422
A Collection of Dr. Jacksons WORKS A COLLECTION OF THE WORKS OF THAT Holy Man and Profound Divine Thomas Iackson D. D Late President of CORPUS CHRISTI Colledge In OXFORD Containing His COMMENTS Upon the APOSTLES CREED c. First Volume With the Life of the Author and an Index annexed LONDON Printed by R. Norton for Timothy Garthwait at the little North-Door of S. Pauls Church 1653. To the Christian Reader more designedly to the Younger sort of Students in Divinity and Academicall men Grace Mercy c. With this Account of the Designe IT is a part of Ingenuity to acknowledge the Parties by whom a man hath benefited M. Aurel. Antoninus mentions with a Gratefull and particular Memoration some single Principles of Morality which He received from Such and Such the prudent Instructors of his Youth It is a piece of Charity to shew unto others those Mines that have enriched our selves or the Fountains out of which we have drunk Cleansing quenching and healing Waters We do not well to Conceal from those in the City though they have shut us out as unclean the great good we have discovered during our exclusion Thus much in effect said the Samaritan Lepers 2 King 7. 9. O that my Lord was acquainted with the Prophet in Israel said Naamans little captive Maid He would cure my Masters Leprosie 2 King 5. Come see a Man that told me all that ever I did said the Samaritan woman to her neighbours Joh. 4. 29. If I mistake not I shall in some acceptable measure at once performe at least resemble all the forementioned Offices when I have in short told the Christian more signally the Learned or Reader willing to learn Thus much That What acquired skill I have in Theologie what understanding I have got in Holy Scripture under God I owe it all to this Authour Hic vir Hic est This is the Man I acknowledge to have been my Master and Mystagogus in Divinis From him I learned how to use my small Stock of Humane learning in the pursuit of Divine By him was my soul convinced of the Truth of Scriptures and stored with Arguments to perswade others that at least it was worth their Labour to Try whether practise of Scripture Rules would not produce submission to the Authority of Scripture I did not know what a Monster that Idol Infallibility was till I saw it drawn out by his Pencill I had swallowed and as I thought concocted the common Definition of Faith by a Full particular Assurance But when I read this Authour I perceived that Plerophorie was the golden Fruit that grew on the Top-branch not the First seed no not the spreading Root of that Tree of Life by feeding on which the just doth live and that true Fiducia can grow no faster then but shoots up just parallel with Fidelitas I mean that true Confidence towards God is adaequate to sincere and conscientious Obedience Before I had Read this Authour I measured Hypocrisie by the grosse and vulgar Standard Thinking the Hypocrite had been one that had deceived men like himself but in this Author I found him to be a Man that had attained the Magisterium Satanae even the Art of deluding his own Soul with unsound but high perswasions of Sanctity and that not by the Cubeia or Cogging of unrighteousnesse but by vertue of some One or more excellent Quality wherein he out-strips the very Saints of God From Him I learned many instances and exemplifications of that Holy but heavie Doom of our Judge and Saviour Luke 16. 15. The things which are in high esteem with men are abomination in the sight of God And that the Common Receipts if not the Notions of the World touching Good and Evil are as distorted and monstrous as if a man should define an Humble meek man by Cowardise or a Prudent Christian to be One That had conquered his Conscience To end this First Stage of the Preface I must professe that I have not onely reaped from this Authors sowen fields an Harvest of knowledge but some weighty sheaves of consolation too He hath so convincingly above others proved out of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms and the Jews also That our Blessed Lord Jesus is the Christ That my soul Rests upon it as upon a Basis or Centre immoveable And I am perswaded were his Works translated into Latin the Christian world of what Division soever that keeps the foundation would confesse it self Confirmed by him and a Debtor to him And now having this opinion rooted in my heart I hope the Reader will approve at least pardon if I pronounce this Authour The Divine of his Rank and Age and if in token of my private thankfulness for good received from him I breath out first towards Heaven Benedic Anima mea Domino c. Psal 103. and then towards men on earth tokens of good will and wishes qui Te genuere Beati Et mater Foelix fortunata profecto Siqua Tibi soror est quae dedit ubera Nutrix Happy were the Parents that had such a Son of understanding Blessed was the womb that bore him and the paps that gave him suck Blessed was that Alma mater that had such a name writ in her matricula in whose blessing her other sister was blessed also and that Phrontisterion who had him first a nursling childe and then a nursing father of her children Blessed were the Places where these Apostolical Feet of Beauty trod when he went abroad Evangelizans pacem Evangelizans Bona And blessed be the memory of that man whose hand like the hand in the Margin pointed out first unto me this Author His name is sweet and his Bones shall one day flourish out of their Dust If Others at the first view Nay after some Readings and Reviews of this Author come not up to my Rate or esteem of Him I have their Excuse as ready in my Pen as mine own Blame is fresh in my memory For when a Fatherly friend of mine Mr. F. of happy Memory thinking my younger yeers had need of such an Instructor commended this Author unto my Reading for some good time after I wished he had lent me his understanding together with this Book Yet with constant and frequent Reading I first began to like at last I mastered and made mine own so much of him as enabled me to improve and impart his Sence to others I often took his matter and preparing it to their Capacity preached it in popular Auditories I shame not to tell this because I know my Title to it was just by Donation not by Plagium The Author intended it for this purpose His very designe being to afford helps to younger Students to the Abler Hints and provocations for searches into the lesse beaten but more profitable paths the abstruser but Richer veins of Theologie It is to be expected that two Objections will militare against the Labours of this great Authour and either break the Arms weaken
Infallibility might prove as a Powder-plot to blow up the whole Edifice of Christian Faith as it certainly will if men suffer it to be once planted in their Hearts and Consciences The Jesuites speculative Positions of their Churches transcendent Authority are as the Train the Popes Thunderbolts as the Match to set the whole World on Combustion unlesse his Lordly Designes though in matters of Faith and greatest moment be put in execution without Question or demur as shall God prospering these proceedings most clearly appear in the sequel of this discourse Wherein are to be discussed 1 Their Objections against us the Points of Difference betwixt us with the Positive Grounds of Truth maintained by us 2 The Inconveniences of their Positions Erection of tripple Blasphemy by the overthrow of Christianitie 3 The Original Causes of their Errour in this and such erroncous Perswasions as held by them in other Points not descried by us prove secret Temptations for others to follow them or serve as previal Dispositions for their Agents to work upon 4 The possible Means and particular Manner how Orthodoxal may be distinguished from Heretical Doctrine or the Life-working Sense of Scriptures from Artificial Glosses These Points discussed and the Positive Grounds of Christian Faith cleared as well against the open Assaults of the professed Atheists as the secret Attempts of undermining Papists we may with better security proceed to raise the Foundation laid in the first general Part of the first Book to the height intended SECT I. What Obedience is due to Gods Word what to his Messengers THe whole Scripture saith the Apostle is given by inspiration of God and is profitable to Teach to Reprove to Correct and to Instruct in Righteousnesse that the Man of God may be absolute being made perfect unto all good works What or whom he means by The Man of God is not agreed upon by all that acknowledge his words in the sense he meant them most Infallible and Authentick Some hereby understand onely such men as Timothy was Ministers of Gods word or Prophets of the new Testament and so briefly elude all Arguments hence drawn to prove the sufficiency of Scriptures for being the Absolute rule of Faith at least to All as well unlearned as learned Yet should they in all reason might Gods Word rule their Reason grant them to be such unto all such as Timothy was publick Teachers men conversant in or consecrated unto Sacred Studies but even This they deny as well as the Former the former in their opinion be more absurd for us to affirm especially holding the Hebrew text only Authentick Briefly they charge us with debasing Peter for advancing Paul or rather for colouring or adorning our pretended sense of Pauls Words that is for giving too little to Peters Successors or the Church too much to Scriptures too little to Spiritual too much to Lay men 2 These are plausible Pretences and sweet Baits to stop the mouthes and mussle the pens of Clergy-men in reformed Churches unto most of whom as they object besides the Spiritual Sword little or nothing is left for their just defence against the Insolencies of rude illiterate profane Laicks And yet who more earnest then they in this Cause against the Church against themselves yet certain it is that no man can be truly for himself unlesse he be first of all for Truth it self of which he that gains the greatest share what other detriment or disparagement soever in the mean time he sustain in the end speeds alwayes best And seeing To Lie or teach amisse is a matter altogether impossible to Omnipotencie it self to be able and willing withall to defend a Falshood or set fair colours on foul Causes is rather Impotencie then Abilitie Hence was that quicquid possumus pro veritate possumus Seeing by Truth we live our Spiritual Life to weaken it for strengthning our Temporal Hopes can never rightly be accounted any true effect of Power but an infallible Argument of great and desperate Imbecillitie 3 For these Reasons since I consecrated my labours to the search of Divine Truth my mind hath been most set to find it out in this present Controversie whereon most others of Moment chiefly depend And as unto the Romanist it is though falsly termed the Catholick so should it be unto us to all that love the Name of Christ The very Christian Cause a Cause with which the Adversaries Fortunes our Faith their Temporal our Spiritual Estate and Hopes must stand or fall a Cause whose Truth and Strength on our part will evidently appear If we first examine what the Antichristian Adversary can oppose against it CAP. I. The Sum of the Romanists Exceptions against the Scriptures 1 THeir Objections against Scriptures spring from this double Root The One that They are no sufficient Rule of Faith but Many Things are to be Believed which are not taught in Them The Second that albeit they were the compleat Rule of Faith yet could they not be known of us but by the Authority of the Church so that all the former Directions for establishing our Assent unto the Scriptures as unto the Words of God Himself were vain seeing this cannot be attained unto but by relying upon Christs visible Church The former of these two Fountains or Roots of Errour I am not here to meddle with elsewhere we shall That the Scriptures teach All Points of Faith set down in this Creed they cannot denie or if they would it shall appear in their several Explications So that the Scripture rightly understood is a competent Rule for the Articles herein contained Let us then see whether the Sense or Meaning of these Scriptures which both They and We hold for Canonical may not be Known Understood and fully Assented unto Immediately and in themselves without relying upon any visible Church or Congregation of men from whose Doctrine we must frame our Belief without distrust of Errour or Examination of their Decrees with any intention to reform them or swarve from them 2 That the Scripture is not the Rule whereon Private Men especially Unlearned ought to rely in matters of Faith from these general Reasons or Topicks they seek to perswade us First admitting the Scriptures to be Infallible in themselves and so consequently to all such as can perfectly understand them in the Language wherin they were written yet to such as understand not that Language they can be no Infallible Rule because they are to them a Rule only as they are Translated but no Unlearned man can be sure that they are translated aright according to the true Intent and meaning of the Holy Ghost for if any man do infallibly Believe this and build his Faith hereupon then is his Faith grounded upon the Infallibilitie of This or That mans Skill in Translating whereof he that is Unlearned can have no sufficient Argument neither out of Scripture nor from Reason Nay Reason teacheth us that in matters of ordinarie capacitie most men are
obnoxious to brrour and the most Skilful may have his escapes in a long Work For Opere in longo sas est obrepere somnum Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus A man may sometimes take Homer napping even in that Art whereof he was Master much more may the greatest Linguist living in a Work of so great Difficultie as the Translation of the Bible not another Mans though that more easie to erre in then a mans Own but the Work or Dictates of the Holy Ghost prove an Homer but a blind Guide unto the blind Many things he cannot See and many things he may Oversee And how then can any man Assure himself that in those Places whereon we should build our Faith he hath not gone besides the Line unlesse we will admit an Insallible Authoritie in the Church to assure us that such a Translation doth not erre 3 Again in those very Translations wherein they agree Luther gathers one Sense Calvin another every Heretick may pretend a secret Meaning of his Private Spirit Who shall either secure the People distracted by Dissensions amongst the Learned or the Learned thus dissenting unlesse the Infallible Authoritie of the Church Finally without such an Infallible Authoritie Controversies will daily grow and unlesse It be established they can never be composed seeing every man will draw in the Scriptures as a Party to countenance or abett his Opinion how bad soever The Ground of all which Inconveniences though the Sectaries cannot see it is the natural Obscurity and Difficulty of the Scriptures These are the main Springs or first Fountains whence the Adversaries Eloquence in this Argument flows And it will be but one labour to stop up These and his Mouth Or granting them passage we may draw his invention against us drie by turning their course upon himself CAP. II. The former Objection as far as it concerns illiterate and Lay-men retorted and answered 1 IF to suppose such an Authority were sufficient to confirm any Translation or secure the world of sincere Translations or to allay all Controversies arising about the true Sense and Meaning of Scriptures we were very Impious to deny it But if we have Just Cause to suspect that such as contend for it have but Put this Infallible Authority as the Astronomers have Supposed Some Epicycles and Eccentricks Some the motion of the Earth to salve their Phenomena which otherwise might seem Irregular We may I trust Examin First Whether the Supposal of this Infallible Authority in the Church do salve the former Inconvenience Secondly whether greater Inconveniences will not follow upon the putting of it then are the supposed Mischiefs for the Avoidance of which this Infallible Principle was invented and is by the Favourites of this Art sought to be established and perswaded 2 That this supposed Infallible Authority of the Church visible doth no way salve the Inconveniences objected against our Positions is hence evident As the Scriptures themselves were written in a Tongue not common nor understood of all Nations but of some few so likewise the Decrees of this visible Church concerning the Authoritie of Translations are written in a Tongue neither common to all nor proper at this day to any unlearned Multitude but to the Learned only Sometime they were written in Greek but in later years all in Latin or some other Tongue at the least not common to all Christians for no such can this day be found Nor is the Pope or his Cardinals able to speak properly and truly every Language in the Christian world of which he challengeth the Supremacie He Would be the Universal Head indeed but he hath not nor dare he professe he hath an Universal Tongue whereby he may fully instruct every Person throughout the Christian world in his own natural known mother Tongue For Bellarmin brings this as an argument why the Bible should not be translated into modern Tongues because if into one why not into another and the Pope as he confesseth cannot understand all 3 Tell me then you that seek to bring the unlearned Lay-sort of men to seek shelter under the Infallible Authoritie of the Romish Church how can you assure them what is the very true Meaning of that Church They understand not the Language wherein her Decisions were written What then must they infallibly and under pain of Damnation Believe that you do not Erre in your Translations of them or must they stedfastly Believe that you Interpret Her Decrees aright Nay even those Decrees which you hold Infallible condemn all private Interpretation of them and your greatest Clerks daily dissent about the Meaning of the Trent-Councel in sundry Points Yet unless the Lay people can stedfastly Believe that you Interpret the Churches Sentence aright your supposed Rule of the Churches Infallibilitie in confirming Translations or Senses of Scripture can neither be a Rule Infallible nor any way Profitable unto them For it hath no other Effect upon their souls save only Belief and they have no other Means to know that this which they must Believe is the Churches Sentence but your Report then can they not be any more certain of the Churches Mind in this or that point then they are of your Skill or Fidelitie neither of which can be to them the Infallible Rule of Faith For if they should be thus Infallibly perswaded of your Skil or Fidelitie then were their good Perswasion of you the Ground and Rule of their Faith and so they must Believe that you neither did nor could Erre in this Relation Whereas your own Doctrine is That even the Learnedst among you may Erre and you cannot denie but that it is possible for the Honestest Jusuite either to Lie or Equivocate Otherwise your Infallibilitie in not Erring were greater then your Popes or Churches for they both may Erre unlesse they speak ex Cathedra Now whether the Pope speak this or that ex Cathedra or whether he speak or write to all or no is not known to any of the common People in these Northern Countries but only by your Report which if it be not Infallible and as free from Errour as the Pope himself the People must still stagger in Faith Nor do I see any possible Remedie unlesse every man should take a Pilgrimage to Rome or unlesse you would bring the Pope throughout these Countries as men use Monsters or strange Sights Yet how should they be certain that this is the Pope rather then some Counterfeit or how should they know Rome but by others Or can you hope to salve this Inconvenience by an Implicit or Hypothetical Faith as that it were enough for the Lay people to Believe absolutely and stedfastly that the Pope or Church cannot Erre but to believe your Report or Informations of his Sentence in doubtful Cases only Conditionally if it be the Popes Mind if otherwise we will be free to recall our present Belief This is all which I can imagin any of you can say for your selves
hold the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith 1 WHen we affirm that the Scriptures are the only infallible Rule in matters of Faith and Christian Obedience we understand such a Rule in those matters as Aristotles Organon may be said of Logick supposing it were sound and free from all suspicion of Errour in every point and contained in it all the general and undoubted Principles from which all true Forms of Argumentation must be deduced and into which all must be finally Resolved To illustrate this Truth by a known Practise Our younger Students are bound to yield their absolute Assent unto Aristotles Authoritie in matters of Logick but not unto any Interpreter that shall pretend it save only when he shall make evident unto them that this was Aristotles Meaning And while they so only and no otherwise yield their Assent they yield it wholly and immediately unto Aristotle not to the Interpreter although by his Means they came to know Aristotles Meaning which once known without any further confirmation of other Testimonie or Authoritie commands their Obedience and Assent But ere they can fully Assent unto this great Master or throughly perceive his Meaning they must conditionally Assent unto their private Tutors or other Expositors and take his Sense and Meaning upon their Trust and Credit In like manner say we in all Matters Doctrines or Controversies of Faith and Christian Obedience we are bound to yield our Assent directly absolutely and finally unto the Authoritie of Scriptures only not unto any Doctor Expositor or other whosoever he be that shall pretend Authoritie out of Scripture over our Faith save only when he shall make it clear and evident unto us that his Opinion is the true Meaning of the Scripture And thus yielding our absolute Assent unto the Truth explained by him we yield it not to him but unto the Author of Truth whose Words we hold to be Infallible in whose Mouthes soever and once known to be His words they need not the Testimonie or Authority of him that did bring us to the true Knowledge of them And before we be brought to see their Truth with our own eyes and feel it by our sense by the effects or experiments of it upon our own Souls we are to limit our Assent and Obedience as it is set down before according to the Probabilities or unpartial Inducements which we have of the Expositors Skill and Sincerity in dispensing Divine Mysteries And these Motives or Inducements which we have of his Skill and Sincerity must be framed according to the Rules or Precepts of Scripture not according to our Affections or Humours we may not think him most to be Believed that is in highest Place or hath the greatest stroke in other Affairs For as the Faith of Christ so must our Perswasion of the faithful Dispensers or skilful Seeds-men of Faith be had without respect of persons 2 If we yield Assent or Obedience unto any Expositor or other otherwise then upon these Conditions and Limitations then as we said before whilest we yielded absolute Obedience unto his doctrine that perswaded us to true Belief because we perceived that which he spake to be the Word of God we did not yield it unto him but unto Gods Word delivered and made known unto us by him so here again by the same Reason only inverted it will evidently follow that if we Believe any mans Doctrines or Decisions to be the Word of God because he speaks it or because we hold his Words to be infallible we do not truly and properly Believe the Word of God suppose his doctrine were the Word of God but his Words and Infallibilitie onely Hence again it follows that if we yield the same absolute and undoubted Assent unto his Authoritie which we would do unto Gods Word immediately known in it self and for it self or relie upon his Infallibility in expounding Gods Word as fully as he doth upon the Word which it is supposed he knows immediately in it self and for it self by doing thus we rob God of his Honour giving that unto Man which is only due to Him For the Infallibility of this Teacher hath the same Proportion to all that thus absolutely Believe him as the Infallibilitie of the Godhead hath unto him his Words the same Proportion to all other mens Faith that Gods Word hath unto his Gods Word is the Rule of his and his Words must be the Rule of all other mens Faith Or to speak more properly God must be a God only to him and he a God to all other men 3 Here it will be demanded how men altogether Illiterate can examin any Doctrine by Scriptures If they cannot Read them how shall they Examin any thing by them not examining the Points of Faith by them how can they be said to be the Rule of their Faith In such a Sense as Aristotles Works supposing them only Authentick and all his Opposites counterfeits or new-fangles may be said to be the Rule of Blind-mens Logick for albeit they cannot read his works yet are they capable of his general and undoubted rules seeing they have as well as other men a natural faculty of discerning Truth from Falshood and can distinguish betwixt rules derived from the pure Fountain of Truth in that kind and Precepts drawn from conjectural erroneous and corrupt Surmises of shallow Brains if both be distinctly proposed unto them And the rules of Truth once fully apprehended and embraced serve as a Touchstone to discern all Consequences and Conclusions which shall be suggested unto them by others so as they wil admit of nothing for sound true Logick but what may be resolved into the former or some other Principles which they can perspicuously and immediately discern to have been drawn from the Fountain of Truth by the same natural Facultie or Ability by which they did discern the former for the faculty will still be like affected with all Principles of like Nature Use and Perspicuity In like sort must the first and general Principles of Faith be derived from Scriptures the only pure fountain of Supernatural Truths unto all illiterate hearts by the Ministery of the learned For Hearts though Illiterate once illuminated by Gods Spirit are as apt to discern Spiritual Principles from falshood or carnal Conjectures as the natural Man is to discern natural Truths from Errours of the same kind And these general and fundamental Principles of Faith engrafted in their hearts serve as infallible rules for discerning the Consonancie or Dissonancie of such Particulars as shal be suggested unto them as shal God willing hereafter be declared nor may they without Injury to Gods Spirit or inward Grace admit any other precepts into the same rank or society with these but either upon evident and distinct deduction from them or sure Experiments of their like Spiritual fruit and Use for the amendment of Life and procuring that peace of Conscience which no Natural Man can conceive much lesse can it be caused
men in all points They would judge it damnable presumption for the most learned amongst their Laitie to professe as great skil in the Canons of their Church as their Cardinals Bishops Abbats or other principal Members of it either have or make shew of a great presumption of Heresie in any of their Flock to discusse the Meaning of their Decretals as accurately as their Canonists or sift other Mysteries of their Religion as narrowly as the Casuists do Should one of their greatest Philosophers that were no Clergy-man or profest Divine professe he knew the Meaning of that Canon in the Trent-Councel Sacramenta conferunt gratiam ex opere operato as wel as Soto Valentian or Vasques did Suarez or other their greatest School-men in Spain or Italy now living do it would breed as dangerous a Quarrel in their Inquisition as if he had entred comparison with a Rabbin in a Jewish Synagogue for skil in expounding Moses Law 9 That the Scriptures therefore may be said a sufficient Rule of Faith and Christian Carriage to all sorts or Conditions of Men it is sufficient that every Christian man of what sort or Condition soever may have the general and necessary Points of Catholick Faith and such Particulars as belong unto a Christian and Religious Carriage in his own Vocation perspicuously and plainly set down in them And no doubt but it was Gods Wil to have them in matters concerning one calling not so facile unto such as were of another Profession that every man might hence learn Sobriety and be occasioned to seek if not only yet principally after the true Sense and Meaning of those Scriptures which either necessarily concern all or must direct him in that Christian Course of life whereunto his God hath called him But shal this Difficulty of some Parts which ariseth from the Diversitie of Vocations be thought any hinderance why the whole Canon of Scripture should not be a perfect Rule to all in their several Vocations Suppose some universal Artist or compleat Cyclopedian should set out an absolute System or Rule for all secular sciences it would be ridiculous exception to say his Works could be no perfect Rule for young Grammarians Rhetoricians Logicians or Moralists because he had some difficult Mathematical Questions or abstruse Metaphysical discourses which would require a grounded schollers serious Pains and long search to understand them throughly and if he should admonish young students to begin first with those common and easie Arts and not to meddle with the other until they had made good trial of their Wit and Industrie in the former this would be a good token of a perfect Teacher and one sit to rule our Course in all those studies which he professeth And yet the Scriptures which the Jesuites would not have acknowledged for the rule of Christian Life besides all the infallible rules of Life and salvation common to all admonish every man to seek after the Knowledge of such things as are most for Edifying or most besitting his particular Calling 10 And even in S. Pauls Epistles which are the Common Places of our Adversaries invention in this Argument after he comes to direct his speeches as in the later end of them usualy he doth unto Masters of Families servants or the like or generally where he speaks of any Christian dutie either private or publick his Rules are as plain and easie to all men in this Age as they were to those Housholders or servants or the like unto whom they were first directed So plain and easie they are unto all Ages and so familiar especially to men of meaner Place that I much doubt whether the Pope himself and all his Cardinals were able in this present Age to speak so plainly unto the Capacitie or so familiarly to the Experience of men of their Qualitie unto whom he wrote For setting aside the absolute Truth and Infallibilitie of his Doctrines his manner of delivering them is so familiar so lowly so heartily humble so natural and so wel befitting such mens disposition in their sober thoughts as were impossible for the Pope to attain unto or imitate unlesse he would abjure his triple Crown and abstract himself from all Court state or solace unlesse he would for seven years addict himself unto Familiaritie with such men in a Pastoral Charge It was was an excellent Admonition of one of their Cardinals if I mistake not and would to God our Church would herein be admonished by him to begin alwayes with the later end of S. Pauls Epistles For once well experienced in them we should easily attain unto the true sense and meaning of the former Parts which usually are doctrinal and therefore more difficult then the later Yet the true reason of those difficulties in the former Parts containing doctrine is because he wrote them against the disputers of that Age especially the Jews Even in this Age they are only seen in matters that concern learned Expositors of Scriptures not necessary for private and unlearned persons to know And the especial reason why his doctrine in some Epistles as in the Epistle to the Romans seems obscure difficult and intricate is because learned men of later Times have too much followed the Authorities of men in former Ages who had examined S. Pauls doctrine according to the rule or Phrase of those Arts or Faculties with which they were best acquainted or else had measured his Controversie with the Jews by the Oppositions or Contentions of the Age wherein they lived Were this Partialitie unto some famous mens Authoritie which indeed is made a chief rule in expounding Scriptures even by many such as in words are most earnest to have Scriptures the only rule of Faith once laid aside and the rules of Faith else-where most perspicuously and plainly set down by S. Paul unpartially scan ned his Doctrine in that Epistle would be so perspicuous and easie unto the Learned as it might by them be made plain enough and unoffensive to the Unlearned For the light of Truth elsewhere delivered by this Lamp of the Gentiles might it be admitted as a Rule against some Expositions of that Epistle would direct mens steps to avoid those stumbling Blocks which many have fallen upon But to conclude this Assertion their Difficultie take them as they are is no just Exception against this Part of Scripture because it remains difficult stil even for this reason that it is held generally for difficult and is not made a rule indeed for our directions but other mens Opinions or Conjectures concerning it are taken for an Authentick Rubrick by whose level only we must aim at our Apostles Meaning from which we may not without imputations of Irregularitie swerve in the decision of Points to say no worse as now they are made hard and knottie 11 Thirdly from the diversitie of Capacities or different Measure of Gods Gifts in men of the same Profession we may safely conclude that the difficulty of the same Portion
of Scriptures unto some and Facility and Perspicuity unto others of like Profession cannot justly impeach them of greater Obscurity then befits the infallible rule as wel of theirs as of all other mens Faith in their several Vocations For as mens Callings are divers and Gods Gifts to men in their divers Callings in nature and qualitie different so likewise is the Measure of his like gifts to men in the same calling not one and the same To some he gives more Knowledge to others lesse yet all he commands not to presume above that which is Written and every man to limit his desires of knowing that which is Written by the distinct Measure of Gods Gifts in himself not to affect or presume of such skil as they have unto whom God hath given a greater Talent And besides this that the Scripture is the inexhaustible store-house â—hence all men have their several Measures of Divine Knowledge as wel he that hath most as he that hath least even in this again it is a perfect rule that it commands all sapere idque ad sobrietatem to be wise according to that Measure of Knowledge which God hath given them and not to seek to know at least not to say why should I not know as much as any other of any Profession For this were Pride and Arrogancie the fatal enemies of all true Christian Knowledge if so his Gifts be lesse then others And for the avoidance of these main Obstacles of Christian Knowledge or true Interpretation of Scriptures the Scripture hath commanded every man to think better of others than of himself and not to be wise in his own conceit 12 From the former General will follow this Particular Albeit some Parts of Scripture be very obscure unto some the same perspicuous unto other Ministers or Preachers of the Word yet may the whole Canon be the infallible Rule of Faith unto both according to the diverse Measure of their Gifts rightly and unpartially taken If the one either fail in the Exposition of sundrie Places which the other rightly expounds or cannot apprehend so much in them as the other doth he is in Sobriety of Spirit bound to acknowledge his own Infirmitie and content himself with that knowledge which is contained within the Measure of Gods Gifts bestowed upon himself and this again he is to take by the same Rule So that the Scriptures are a perfect Rule to both to all for Direction in the search of Divine Knowledge for limitation of mens desires whiles they seek it or Conceit of what they have gotten That they do not so thorowly instruct or furnish some as others though all men of God for exact performance of their Ministerial function can be no argument of their Insufficiencie to make all such in their Place and Order competently Wise unto Salvation more than it would be to prove Eâ—clides Elements or other more absolute Mathematical Work an insufficient and imperfect Rule for instructing Surveyours or other Practical Mathematicians whose skill lies onely in measuring Triangles Circles or other plain or solid Bodies because containing many Questions of higher Nature and greater Difficultie as of the Circles Quadrature of Lines or Numbers Surd or Asymmetral well befitting the exercise of speculatorie learned Mathematical Wits CAP. XIII The true state of the Question about the Scriptures Obscurity or Perspicuity unto what Men and for what Causes they are Obscure 1 THe Question then must be Whether the Scriptures be an absolute Rule of Christian Faith and Manners to every Man in his Vocation and Order according to the Measure of Gods Gifts bestowed upon him We affirm It is such to all None are so cunning none so excellent or expert in Divine Mysteries but must take it for a Rule beyond whose Bounds they may not passe from which they daily may learn more none so sillie but may thence learn enough for their Salvation so they will be Ruled by it And yet even of those Points which are perspicuously set down to the diverse Capacities of Men in the same or several Professions the Question is not Whether any can fully comprehend their intire Meaning Certain it is In this life they cannot But neither will our Adversaries I hope avouch that the infallible Authoritie of their Church can make us so comprehend the full meaning of Mysteries contained either in Scriptures or her pretended unwritten Traditions Of Scriptures the best learned Christian may say wth the Heathen Socrates Hoc unum scio me nihil scire I know this one thing that I know nothing Nothing as I should or as fully as I then shall when I shall know as I am known for in this life we know but in part and we propâ—… in part 2 Lastly even in respect of Places though containing Points of Salvation onely thus imperfectly known though as perspicuous and clear as can be required the Rule of Faith should be the Question is not whether they be very Obscure and Difficult unto some or unto the Major part of Mankind if we consider them as they are or may be not as they should or might be that is if we consider them as disobedient to the Truth known or carelesse to amend their lives by this light of Scripture For unto all such as hate it this very light it self proves an occasion of falling Nor could any thing be more plainly or perspicuously set down in any other Rule of Faith imaginable than this very Point we now handle is in Scriptures to wit that such Parts of them as contain matters necessary to Salvation are most easie to some most hard to others And albeit they might through the Iniquity of Mankind prove difficult to all or impossible to be understood of most now living living as for the most part we do yet were this Difficultie or Impossibilitie of understanding them aright upon these Suppositions no hindrance at all why they should not be a complete Rule of Faith to all no just reason for admitting any infallible Authority besides theirs 3 For of such as admit any Authority equivalent to theirs it must be further demanded whether the Infallibilitie of it can take away that Blindnesse of heart which by Gods just Judgement lights upon all such as detain the knowledge of God or his sacred Word in Unrighteousnesse If for their sins God punish them with this spiritual darknesse in discerning his Will revealed in his written Word no other infallible Authority as we suppose can take away those scales from their eyes which hinder their sight in the means of their Salvation If men have been called to this Light and prefer Darknesse before it either they must receive sight and direction from it again or continue still in ignorance and the shadow of death but doth God look up all or most mens eyes in such darknesse No for this blindnesse by our Doctrine befals onely such as have deserved it by the forementioned sins which once removed by Repentance the
Rule of Life shall inlighten them unrepented of no other Rule or Authoritie shall teach them the way to Life 4 Since we thus grant that the Scriptures may be Obscure to most men by their own default but perspicuous to others free from like fault or Demerit it remains we further enquire whether the same Scriptures do not most plainly set down First the Causes why they are so Obscure to some and Perspicuous to others Secondly the Remedy or means how their Obscurity or difficulty may be prevented If they plainly teach these two Points this is a sure Argument that they are if not that they cannot be so excellent a Rule of Faith as we acknowledge them For this very Point That the Scriptures in respect of diverse Persons are Obscure and Perspicuous though Obscure to none but through their own Default is a Principle of Christian Faith and therefore must be plainlie set down in the absolute complete Rule of Faith And to omit others in their due place to be inserted what can be more perspicuonsly taught either by Scriptures or other Writings than this Truth God giveth grace to the Humble and resisteth the proud or this He will confound the Wisdom of the Wise or such as Glory in their Wisdom These and like Rules of Gods Justice in punishing the proud and disobedient hold as true in the search of Scripture as in any other matter yea especially herein Thus were the Scribes and Pharisees men of extraordinary skill in Scriptures blinded in the most necessary Points of their Salvation though most plainly set down in Scriptures For what could be more plainly set down then many Testimonies of their Messias Many places of far greater Difficultie they could with Dexteritie unfold how chanced it then they are so Blinded in the other They were scattered in the proud Imagination of their hearts and glorious conceits of their Prerogatives in being Mosis Successours and in their stead simple and illiterate but humble and meek spirited Men raised up to be infallible Teachers of the Gentiles to unfold those Mysteries of Mans Redemption which the Scribes and Pharisees could not see with evidence of Truth to enlighten the sillie and ignorant and convince the Consciences of their learned proud Oppugners By their Ministerie Prophetical and Mosaical Mysteries became a Light unto the Gentile whose life had been in the shadow of death whilest a Veil was laid before the hearts of the most learned Jewes so that even whilst the Sun of Righteousnesse which enlightens every man that comes into the World did arise in their coast and ascend unto their Zenith they groap their way as men that walk in dangerous Paths by dark-night 5 Was the Scripture therefore no Rule of Faith unto these Jews to whom it was so Dishcult and Obscure Or is it not most evident that this Blindnesse did therefore come upon Israel because they hated this Light being carried away with Lowd cries of Templum Domini Templum Domini as the Papists now are with The Church The Church And for words of supposed Disgrace offered to It onely upon a Surmise that Christ had said he would destroy and build It up again brought to seek the destruction of the Glory of It even of the Lord of Glory Thou that wouldest make others beleave the Pope is such dost thou beleeve the Scriptures to be Infallible How is it then whilest thou readest Gods Judgements upon thy Brother Jew thou doest not tremble and quake lest the Lord smite thee also thou painted wall with like Blindnesse seeing thou hast justified thy brother Pharisees stubborn Pride wilfull Arrogancie and witting Blasphemie in oppugning Scriptures And as for all such whose hearts can be touched with the terrour of Gods Judgements upon others in fear and reverence I request them to consider well whether one of the greatest Roman Doctours were not taken with more than Jewish madnesse in mistaking Scripture in it self most plain and easie who to prove the Scriptures Obscurity to be such as in this respect it could not be the Rule of Faith alledgeth for his proof that place of the Prophet And the vision of them all is become unto you as the word of a Book that is sealed up which they deliver to one that can read saying Read this I pray thee then shall he say I cannot for it is sealed 6 The Prophet relates it as a wonder that they should not be able to discern the Truth What Truth an obscure or hidden Truth Impossible to be understood This had been a wonderfull Wonder indeed that men should not be able to understand that which was Impossible to be understood Wherein then was the true Wonder seen In this that they whose eyes had formerly been illuminated by the evidence and clearnesse of the Divine Truth revealed by Gods Messenger should not be able to discern the same still alike clear and perspicuous but now to be shut up from their eyes as appeareth by the similitude of the sealed Book whose Character was legible enough but yet not able to be read whilst sealed A man might as well prove the Sun to be dark because Polyphemus after 〈◊〉 had put out his eye could not see it as the Scriptures by this place to be Obscure The Prophets words entire are these Stay your selves and Wonder they are blind and make you blind they are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not with drink For the Lord hath covered you with a spirit of slumber and hath shut up your eyes The Prophets and your chief Seers hath he covered And the vision of them all is become unto you c. And more plainly Therefore the Lord said because this people come near me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but have removed their heart from me and their fear towards me was taught by the precepts of men doth he not mean the Blind Obedience of Modern Papists as well as ancient Jews Therefore behold I will do a marvellous work in this People even a marvellous work and a wonder For the Wisdom of the wise men shall perish and the understanding of the prudent man shall be hid The Lord himself foretels it as a wonder that this People should be so ignorant in the Word of God and yet will the Jesuite make us beleeve the Word of God is so Obscure that it cannot be unto us the Rule of Faith when as without the knowledge and light of it not which it hath in it self but which it communicates to us there is no Vision no Knowledge in the Visible Church but such wonderfull Darknesse as the Prophet here describes 7 Let the Reader here give sentence with me whether it were not wonderfull Jewish Blindnesse or wilfull Blasphemie in Valentian so confidently to avouch that the Veil which Saint Paul saith is laid before the Jews hearts was woven a great part out of the Difficulty of Scriptures such Scriptures as the
Sectaries so he terms us contend about and for proof of this Blasphemous Assertion to bring the forecited place Ere their allegations of this or like places brought to prove the Scriptures Difficultie or Obscurity can be pertinent they must according to the state of the Question already proposed first prove this Obscurity or Difficultie to be perpetuall and ordinarie not inflicted as a punishment upon Hypocrites or such as love Darknesse more than Light And this they never shall be able this one place alledged by Valentian most evidently proves the contrarie For this was an extraordinarie and miraculous Judgement vpon these Jews for their Hypocrisie as appears Verses the thirteen and fourteen And unto such as they were weacknowledge the Scriptures by the just Judgement of God to be most Difficult still but denie such Difficulties to be any Bar why they should not be the complete Rule of Faith If the Jesuites will avouch the contrarie Let them tell us whether any other Rule could in this case supply their defect be it unwritten Tradition or viva vox infallibilis authoritatis the infallible teaching or preaching of the visible Church or Pope This I presume they will be ashamed to affirm For this Prophecie was fulfilled of the Pharisees which lived in our Saviours time and heard him preach the Doctrine of Salvation as plainly as the Pope can do yet neither could his Doctrine nor Miracles win them to his Father Why could they not Because they had as the Papists now have though not so openly disclaimed the Scriptures for the Rule of their Faith and did follow the Precepts or Traditions of Men and God as we said before hath so de reed that such as neglect the Truth known or love Darknesse more than Light should be given over to this reprobate sense that the more evident the Truth is the more hatefull it should be to them as the hate of these Scribe and Pharisees to our Saviour was greater then their fore-elders had been to the Prophets because the light of his Doctrine was greater his Reprehensions more sharp and their deeds and Hypocrisie worse than their Fathers No marvail then if it be so hard a matter to recover a learned Papist or make a Jesuite recant his errour in this Point seeing they are farther gone in this Jewish disease of contemning Gods Word following Traditions and Precepts of Men for the Rule of their Faith than these Jews themselves were not likely therefore they would have yeelded to our Saviour himself if they had lived in his time Nor should the ingenious Reader think we Hyperbolize or over-lash when we charge them with deeper Blasphemie in this Point than these Jews were guiltie of as if this were strange seeing they are such great Scholers and professe that they love Christ as well as we for so would these Jews boast of their Antiquitie and skill in Scriptures and thought that they loved God and his Servant Moses as well as Christ and his Apostles did But it was Gods purpose to confound the Wisdom of the worldly-wise of the Scribes and Pharisees then and of the learned Priests and Jesuites now CAP. XIV How men must be Qualified ere they can understand Scriptures aright that the Pope is not so Qualified 1 OUt of the forementioned places it is Evident that Gods Word otherwise plain and perspicuous was hidden from this Peoples eyes for their Hypocrisie and the same Blindnesse continues still in their Posteritie for continuing in like sin But can it be proved as evidently by any other place of Scripture that unto such as do the Will of God and Practise according to his Precepts the same Word shall be plain and easie so far as is necessarie for their Salvation Yes Infinite places may be brought to this Purpose And lest any man should except against the Extent of such bountifull promises as if they included some condition of Learning great dexteritie of Wit or the like whereof many men are not capable Our Saviour Christ addes the universall Note If any man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self If Any Man will do his Will Not if any man will learn the learned Tongues or studie the Scribes and Pharisees Comments which this people supposed to have been the onely as they were good Means for understanding Scriptures aright whilest subordinate to this principall Condition here mentioned by our Saviour The occasion of the Multitudes admiring his Doctrine was that He who had never been Scholar to their Rabbins should be so expert in Scriptures as it is Verse the fifteenth Our Saviours replie to this their Doubt conceived by way of admiration in the sixteenth Verse is that he had his Learning from God and not from Man My Doctrine is not mine but his that sent me And as he was taught by his Father to deliver and teach the heavenly Doctrine so might the simplest and most unlearned amongst them be likewise taught of God to discern whether his Doctrine were of God or whether he spake of himself If they would do the Will of God and seek his Glory not their own as Christ did not seek his own Glory but his that sent him Yet might these Jews have brought the same Exceptions against our Saviours Rule for discerning Doctrines which the Papists now bring against the Scriptures why they should not be the infallible Rule of Faith as shall appear hereafter In the mean time whom shall we beleeve the Modern Jesuite who will swear one thing sitting and the contrary standing or Christ Jesus whose Word as he himself remains yesterday to day the same for ever Even at this day as well as at that time when he spake this Oracle if any man will do the Will of God which sent him he amidst the Varietie of mens Opinions concerning matters of Faith shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether Men speak of themselves without recourse unto the infallible Authority of such as sit in Peters Chair who are to Peter but as unto Moses the Scribes and Pharisees were unto whom Gods Church in Jewrie about our Saviours time was not much beholden for Doctrines of Faith or Decisions of Doubts concerning the Truth of Scriptures or principal Mysteries taught by Moses 2 Will you hear what Bellarmine the only Champion that ever Rome had for eluding evident Authorities of Scripture could answer unto this place Our Lord and Saviour did not intena in this speech to shew us that all honest minded men might understand every place of Scripture by themselves but to teach us that good men are free from diverse such Impediments as dis-enable others for understanding the true Doctrine of Faith either by themselves or by others help For some became uncapable of true Faith by pride and desire of worldly honour others by covetousnesse All these things heard the Pharisees also which were covetous and they
our Saviour imparted to his Disciples in private is now by Gods Providence plainly communicate unto us This is an Argument beyond exception that we are not in their Case who in that Parable are said to be Without but of their Number to whom it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God unlesse we wil in Life and manners imitate Hypocrites rather then Christs Disciples And lest we should prove like these Jews which having ears to hear would not hear though invited thereto by our Saviour our Evangelists inculcate again and again the Causes of this Dulnesse in hearing or conceiving what is heard or Aversnesse from the Truth in some sort conceived They tell us the Jews sometimes for Ambition sometimes for Convetousnesse generally for Presumption Pride and Hypocrisie in saying they had Abraham for their Father did make themselves uncapable of saving Knowledge To what purpose do men guided by the Spirit of God inclucate these or like Admonitions so oft That the growth of such carnal Assections might in all succeeding Ages be prevented That Christian Parents fore warned by the lamentable Issue of this stubbornnesse in Abrahams Seed might teach their Children these heavenly Lessons which had been so distastfull to the Jews before these or other inveterate Humours had brought them to the same or like Distemper For as I observed before and this Parable directly proves might celestiall Seed take root in Childrens hearts before these Secular Weeds sprung up their Souls should continually receive Blessing from God and daily drink in these Streams of Life which found no entrance into such Jewish barren Soyl as did bear nothing but Thorns and Brambles whose end was to be burned as altogether unworthy of more watering 6 Shall either the World Devil or Flesh be able to breed the least Suspition in any Christian Heart whether God who enabled the Apostles and Evangelists to speak so plainly to the Capacitie of all sorts of men in every Nation cannot either by increasing internal Docilitie in succeeding Ages or sublevating their dull Capacitie by facilitie and plenty of external Means repair whatsoever the Injuries of time might detract from the Perspicuitie of Writings Apostolical or Evangelical So that although the decay of Dialects absolutenesse of Phrase or Alterations of Customes whereunto they allude as well known then because in use might breed some difficultie unto Posteritie yet unlesse true Faith be decayed with them or all Characters of Gods Providence worn out of our hearts how can we distrust whether He by whose Wisdom as well Divine Mysteries unheard before as skill to utter them in every Language were extraordinarily and immediately infused into illiterate Souls without the help or Ministery of Man cannot or will not by his good Blessing upon our endeavours in the ordinary Course of attaining skill in Sacred Tongues continue the use of Tongues and all other good Means whatsoever necessarie or expedient either for our right understanding or communicating the infallible Truth alreadie taught without any others infallible Assistance besides his who can teach us as infallibly by Means in themselves not infallible as he hath done others without any Means at all To doubt of Gods Providence in this Point were to doubt whether he were the same God still and if the same he will albeit by other Means perform the same Effects still unlesse the sins of the Christian World deserve the contrary and pull that Blindnesse which in our Saviours time reigned in those Jews upon themselves by like Hardnesse of heart Pride or Hypocrisie And if so they do what shall this supposed Infallibilitie of the Pope avail Is his Teaching more infallible then Christs was shall he Loose where God hath Bound shall he disanull what the Almighty hath ratisied shall he make the Scriptures clear to them before whose hearts the Lord hath laid a Veil Or shall he give Sight where he that made the eye hath called for Blindnesse Oh that they could remember this who have forgotten their God and cannot see that whosoever accuseth the Scriptures of Disheultie or Obscurity doth indict the Omnipotent of Impotencie in not being able to perform what by his Apostles he intended CAP. XVI That all the Pretences of Scriptures Obscuritie are but Mists and Vapours rising from the Corruption of the flesh and may by the pure Light of Scriptures rightly applied easilie be dispelled 1 UNto this and all Demands of like nature if the Scriptures be not Obscure how chanceth it that so many find such Difficulties in them even in those places which seem to contain in them matters of Faith The Answer is already given It was the Almighties good pleasure to Decree that the Scriptures should be plain and easie to such as faithfully practise their most plain and easie Precepts but hard and difficult to be understood aright of such as Wilfully transgresse them or knowing them to be Gods Word do not glorifie them as his Word Most difficult most impossible to be understood of such as acknowledging by what Spirit they were written yet renounce their Authority or disclaim them for the Rule of their Faith All such though for the clearnesse of their understanding in other Speculations they may seem to have Angelicall Heads yet for Divine Mysteries have but Jewish or obscure Hearts and being Blinded in their mindes they imagine the Scripture wheron they look to be Obscure This Answer notwithstanding though most true will not satisfie all For seeing this Blindnesse in most men is not Voluntary at the least not Wilfull or affected the Captions will yet demand How shall they help it The Scriptures plainly teach how they may be holpen What can be more plain then that Rule If any man want Wisdom let him ask of God Yea many do so and yet go without it So they must as the Scripture telleth us if they ask amisse Doth the Scripture then serve as a streight Rule to direct them how they should ask aright Yes For what Rule can be more plain then that of Saint John Whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his Commandements and do those things which are pleasing in his sight The Promise indeed is plain but the Condition hard for the first thing we would ask of God is Grace to keep his Commandements But what hope have sinners to receive this seeing he heareth onely such as keep his Commandements Will this or any other Rule of Scripture help us out of this Labyrinth It will not fail us nor forsake us For if we have but a desire to amend our lives Christs words are as plain as forcible He quencheth not smoaking flix a bruised reed he will not break And this is his Commandement that we trie the Truth of this and other like Sayings of Comfort by relying upon his mercy or if we do but seek after Repentance we do that which is pleasing in his sight For he is not pleased in the
of Canonical Scripture May private Spirits discern their true Sence in matters of Faith as clearly as if they were a Light indeed to thee Oh no you quite mistake his meaning in making such Collections Let Valentian explicate himself in the end of this fourth Paragraph 8 After the Church hath once gathered any Opinion out of Scriptures and thereupon opposeth the Scripture thus understood by it according to the Apostolical Tradition unto contrary Errours It is extream Impiety and wickedness to desire any more either concerning the Authority or Interpretation of that parcel of Scripture under what Pretence soever of Difficulty Obscurity or the like To that Scripture I pray mark his words wel which is commended and expounded unto us by the Authority of the Church that Scripture now ea jam even for this Reason hoc ipso is most Authentick and shines most splendently mojt clearly like a Light videlicet as we have formerly expounded put upon a Candlestick Nay in good sooth just like a Candlestick put upon a Light or Candle For in this Countrey wherein we live we see the Candlestick by vertue of the Light not the Light by means or vertue of the Candlestick And yet if your Church be the Candlestick as you suppose and the Scripture the Light as you expresly acknowledge we must by your Doctrine discern the Light of Scriptures only by the Commendation Explication or Illumination of your Church the Candlestick And this Illumination is only her bare Asseveration for Scriptures she seldom expounds but only by Negatives or Anathemas The best Correction that can be made of this untoward crooked unwieldly Similitude would be this whereas this Doctor supposeth the Pope to be the Church and saith further necesse est ut lumen illud si dei quod in divinis literis splendet praeser at Ecclesia Let him put lucem for lumen and so the Pope being by his Assertion the Church may be truly called Lucifer And then as when Cloth shrinks in the wetting men shape their Garments accordingly making sometimes a Jerkin of that which was intended for a Jacket so out of this unhandsome ill-spun similitude which was marred in the making we may frame a shorter which wil hold exceeding wel on this fashion Even as Satan being the Prince of Darknesse doth to mens seeming transform him self into an Angel of Light Just so doth the Roman Lucifer being by Valentians Confession but the Candlestick labour to transform him self into the Light it self and would be taken for such a Light or Candle as should make the very Light of Heaven it self Gods Word to shine most splendently and clearly by the glorious Beams of his Majestical Infallibility once cast upon it For otherwise unlesse the Supernatural Glory of his Infallibility do infuse Light or adde fresh Lustre to this Light or Lantern of Truth the Candlestick naturally gives no increase of perspicuity to the Light or Candle Which wil shine as clear in a private Mans hands so he wil take the pains to hold it as in a Publick Candlestick But that which I would have the serious Reader to observe especially is this Speech of his Scripture as once commended unto us or expounded by the Churches Authority becomes thereby most Authentick and shines most clearly and most splendently For this same Doctor if a Doctor may be said the same affirming and denying the same in the beginning of that Dispute would gladly shuffle so as he should not be taken with that Trick which wil discredit their Cause for ever and descry their villanous Blasphemy in this Doctrine of their Churches Authority There he would perswade us that he doth not allow of this Speech I believe this or that to be a Divine Revelation because the Church doth tell me so or of this the Church is the Cause why I believe the Divine Revelations whereas this Speech of his Quae Scriptura per Authoritatem doth infer the Authority of the Church to be the very principal and immediate Cause of our Assent unto Scriptures 9 Secondly I would have the sober Christian Reader to observe what an unhallowed and unchristian Conceit it is to admit the Scriptures for a Lantern and yet to affirm that Christians cannot behold the Light therein contained but only as the Church of Rome doth hold it out what is this else but to call the People from the marvailous Light of the Gospel unto the fearful Lightnings of the Law And to make the Pope that Mediator which the People implicitely did request when they desired that Moses might speak to them not God If we be in Christ then are we not called into Mount Sinai to burning Fire Blindnesse Darknesse and Tempests this Light of the Gospel is not environed with a fearful Cloud or Smoak threatning Destruction if we should go up into the Mount to hear the Lord himself speak we have an Advocate with the Father and need not look for a Moses to go up for us while we stand trembling a far off For as our Apostle tels us Heb. 12. 22. We are come unto the Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the celestial Jerusalem and to the company of innumerable Angels and to the congregation of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just and perfect men and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Testament and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel What is the Consequence or Effect of this our Calling Our Apostle makes this Inference verse 25. See therefore that ye despise not him that speaketh Whom did he mean The Pope or Cardinals But they would be but of like Authority as Moses was but he that Speaketh untous is of far greater For so our Apostle collects See that ye despise nâ—t him that speaketh for if they escape not which refused him that spake on Earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him which speaketh from Heaven The Israelites I suppose had despised Moses if they had admitted any other infallible Teacher besides him whilest he was alive or believed any other as wel as his Writings after his death but only so far forth as they could discern their Words to be consonant unto his If Moses Writings were to these Jews a plain Rule of Faith then much more must Christs Word registred by his Apostles and Evangelists by the Rule of Faith unto us That Moses Doctrine was their Rule of Faith a Rule most plain and easie these places following abundantly testifie CAP. XVII That the Mosaical Writings were a most perfect Rule plain and easie to the Ancient Israelites 1 SO perfect Directions had Moses left for Posterities perpetual instruction that a great Prophet in later Ages desirous to bring Gods people into the right Paths which their Fathers had forsaken and for this purpose professing to impart to them whatsoever he had
III. That The continual practise of Hereticks in urging Scriptures to establish Heresie and the diversity of opinions amongst the Learned about the Sense of Them is no just Exception why They should not be acknowledged as the Sole Entire and Compleat Rule of Faith OUt of the former Discourse their other Objections are almost answered already and they be especially Two The first If the Scriptures be plain and easie how comes it to passe that there should be such Contentions amongst the Learned about them Or whence is it that every Heretick is so forward to urge Scriptures for his Opinion even to the Death The Second lies as it were in the womb of this as this did in the former's and drawn out in its proper shape is thus There can be no certain Means of taking up controversies or contentions in the Church but only by admitting an Infallible Authority for deciding all controversies viva voce seeing the Scripture is alwayes made a party on all sides in such contentions 2 In the former Objection they indict the Scriptures as the Principal in the later our Church as an Abetter of such Quarrels and Contentions as it breeds For our Church we shall answer in the next for Gods Word in this present Section CAP. XIX Containing the true State of the Question with the Adversaries General Objections against the Truth 1 IT cannot be denied that alwayes there have been and alwayes will continue Contentions amongst learned men in Points of Faith or Doctrine or about the true Sence or Meaning of Scriptures in these other Cases For thus much these Scriptures themselves do plainly witnesse Oporâ—… esse haereses For there must be Heresies even among you that they which are approved among you might be known But the Question is not whether there have been now are or alwayes shall continue many Contentions about the Sense of Scripture but First Whether the Scriptures have not plainly set down the original Causes and nurses of such Contentions and the Means how to avoid them so men will be ruled by them most plain for this purpose or Secondly Whether not submitting their wils desires and affections unto these plain and perspicuous Rules of life this supposed Infallible Rule of the Romish Church can prevent remove or compose all such Contentions according to the Truth and cause men stedfastly hold the Unity of Faith in the Bond of Peace 3 The Causes of Contentions about the Sence of Scriptures are the very same with the fore-mentioned which made the Scriptures unto sundry seem Obscure or the same which make men to mistake their true Sence and Meaning For even these Wars and Contentions whereof we speak specially these arise from Lusts which sight in our members †we lust and have not we envy and have indignation and cannot obtain we fight and war and got nothing not the Truth which we seek because we ask it not Do not such as contends most about the true Sence ask it most doth not every Heretick the earnester he is professe that he prayes for the Truth so much the more servently yea but such men receive not that which they so earnestly ask because they ask it amisse They desire skill in Scripture to advance their own Conceits and maintain their foolish and carnal Affections otherwise asking they should have and seeking they should find especially the true Sence and Meaning of Gods Word which must instruct us how to frame all our other Petitions unto God aright 4 These and infinite like places we acknowledge plainly declaring the Causes of Contentions and as many more some of which shall be here and there inserted directing us how to avoid all occasions of striâ—e and debate Both which if we observe Contentions will quickly cease Which those not observed must increase as a just punishment of Truth neglected coâ—…icted or low esteemed notwithstanding the best indeavours of any Authority upon earth imaginable to the contrary 5 But some perhaps will demand Is there no use of Humane Authority in this Case yes As for the begetting of true and lively Faith we supose the live-voice of an Ordinary Ministery as the Organ whereby the written Word must be conveyed to our Spirits so for retaining the Unity of this Faith in the Bond of Peace for suppressing or preventing all Occasions of Schismes Heresies or Contentions we acknowledge the necessary Use of a Lawfull Magistracie yet no infallibilitie in either The proper end and use of Both is to espouse mens Souls with an indissoluble knot of Love and Loyaltie unto the written Word the only Infallible Rule of that Faith whereby they live The One by unfolding the generall Points or Maximes of Christian Faith The other by constraining them at least to a civil Practise of undoubted Principles acknowledged by all and inhibiting such Courses as the Moral Precepts of this Canon have defected for Causes and Nurses of Contention Our Adversaries whether out of wilfull malice or oversight or out of both according to the diversities of their tempers have taken occasion to traduce our Churches Doctrine as if it admitted no Means for preventing or composing Contentions but onely the bare letter of Scripture Whereas we all teach that the written Word is the onely Means Infallible not the onely Means Simplie for effecting Both. Nor doth it skill how necessary either Ministerial Expositions or Juridical Decisions be for bringing us unto or retaining us in the Unitie of the Truth professed for not Necessity of Means but Infallibility of Direction is the proper unseparable Condition of the Rule of Faith And seeing Gods Word only endures for ever and therefore onely is Infallible it must be the Sole Rule of Faith how many or how necessary soever the Means be that must bring us to the true Knowledge of it 6 Valentian and Saero-boscus think it all One to acknowledge no Ecclesiasticall Authority or use of Ministerie and not to acknowledge an Infallibility in Both. But this is a Position devoid both of Sense and Reason For As our Senses though of themselves onely capable of particular and Material Objects subject to change and contingencie are the necessary and onely ordinary Means whereby our Intellective Facultie is brought to apprehend Universal and immaterial Principles whose Truth is necessary everlasting and immutable So may the Ministery and Magistracie though both in themselves fallible and obnoxious to Errors be the necessary and onely ordinary Means whereby we are brought as it were by a sensible Induction to the infallible Acknowledgement of the supernatural divine eternal Truths which are the proper Object of the illuminated or spiritual as immaterial and universal Principles are of the natural understanding which shall God willing be declared hereafter In this place I onely thought good to forewarn the Reader of this Hiatus in our Adversaries Collections whereunto the blind and ignorant English Papist led by such blinded forraign Guides as Valentian and Sacro-â—osâ—â—â— who either
and truly religious Writers in the best and flourishing ages of the Church have been as Copious and Industrious in citing Authorities of Scriptures for their Opinions as Hereticks this Argument proves nothing against us why we may not be Orthodoxes and true Catholicks as well as Hereticks That this hath been the practise of Hereticks we acknowledge and having received this their Blow we can return their own weapons upon them with greater probabilitie of better speed 2 It hath been the practise of sundry Hereticks never of any Orthodox to refuse their triall by Scripture and flee unto Traditions It hath been the continual practise of most monstrous and blasphemous Impostors of false Messiahs and such as oppose themselves against Christ of Mahomet and such like to plead the infallible Assistance of the Holy Ghost and a Supream Authority over others without subjection to any triall either by Scripture or other Means If most of them have failed in getting so many stedfast followers as the Pope now hath and for many yeers hath had it is most likely this was either because their Heresies were more open and more easie to be descried or they lesse cunning in countenancing them by Scriptures Antiquitie or other plausible showes of Custom Tradition or the like For we all know that Antichrists greatnesse must grow by the multitude of his resolute followers that God shall send them be they never so many strong delusions that they should beleeve lies that his coming is by the working of Satham who can urge Scripture as cunningly to maintain Falshood as any Heretick and by all power and signes and lying wonders So that it will be hard to discover or prevent his coming unlesse men be very cunning and expert in these Scriptures the Rule of Truth the onely Light whereby all falshood must be discovered 3 That they may once for all know how little we fear their force we will set our Bodies so as they shall not misse them and prepare our selves to take the full strength and Dint of all their strokes The Hereticks of old time say they have urged Scriptures for their Doctrine vehemently and copiously we will give them better hold and help them to presse this Point a little harder They did urge Scriptures most cunningly most subtilly and hereby deceived many yea almost staggered the very Elect. What if they did so would Pharaohs Enchanters have obstupisied most of the Israelite beside Moses and Aaron but did their cunning jugling prejudice the truth of Moses Miracles or did he neglect to manifest the Power of God for fear lest he should be censured for such a one as they were onely more cuning in his Craft Their wicked cunning served as a foyl so to set forth his heavenly skill as the Enchanters themselves could not but see the Finger of God in his working herein more ingenuous then the modern Jesuites who in so clear a Point as this we now dispute after so many foyls as they have taken will not acknowledge the force of that Scripture in themselves Magnaest veritas praevalet The Reason is because they will not come into the open Court to trie their Skill before unpartiall Judges 4 The Devil we all know did urge the Scripture to our Saviour with great skill and dexterity Had he been the onely follower or first founder of this practise or the first of all we had read of we should have been untill we had found some better example and warrant for it as much afraid to have imitated him herein as that scrupulous Monk was to wear his Hood because he thought the Devil had been the first that ever had worn one being usually painted in that habit when he came to tempt our Saviour Christ and that Story he thought in all likelie-hood to be as Ancient as the first Hood But with what Weapon did our Saviour vanquish Sathan that had set upon him with Scripture did he charge him sub poena anathematis to be silent or did he crave the Churches peace under pain of greater penalties or did he appeal unto the infallible Authority or Supream Tribunal of the Jewish Church did he except against him for using an unlawful Heretical weaponâ— can you deny that he foyled him with these very weapons wherewith we now contend that all Hereticks Sathans followers are to be assaulted and repulsed ere they can be lawfully foyled and quite overthrown And here I would beseech all sâ—ber-minded Christians even as they love our Saviour Christ â—he chief Captain of the Lords Host the Authour and finisher of our Faith and as they hate Sathan himself the Head and Prince of all Gods Christs and our enemies to consider these subsequent Reasons well and weigh'd is Instance in the quiet calm and setled motions of their hearts 5 If Sathan can thus teach Hereticks and other his like wicked Instruments such great skill and cunning in Scriptures as they can thereby countenance Errours and deceive others with a shew of Godlinesse why should we not hold it as a principall Article of our Faith that Christ Jesus is able to instruct his chosen Immediately in the true Sense and Meaning of the same Scriptures so as they may hereby grow skilful enough to retain such as love the Truth in the knowledge of Truth and defend themselves and others against the oppositions of Hereticks although they bring their Arguments out of Scripture For First we know and believe that Christ is stronger then Sathan for he hath bound that strong man Secondly that he is better skilled in Scripture for after his first enterance into his Prophetical or Sacerdotal Function he put him hereby to flight and at his Passion ‖ threw him out of his hold Sathans strength since that time hath been lesse and Christs Power greater so that in his strength we may be stronger then all Sathans followers Thirdly we know that the Scripture is in it self much more favourable unto Truth then unto Falshood and caeteris paribus far more apt to confirm true Religion and instruct in Points of Faith then to establish Heresie or fill the World with Errours onely the sons of Darknesse have been wiser in their generation then such as should be or in some measure are the sons of Light And if Hereticks may seem to have had the better sometimes of the Orthodox in trying Controversies by Scripture this doubtlesse was for no other reason but onely this Their alacritie and industrie in searching Scriptures for maintenance of Errours was greater then the others for establishment and confirmation of the Truth otherwise as we said before the Truth is more consonant to the puritie and integrity of Sacred Writ then any Falshood though never so fair in shew can be And Christ Jesus is more powerful and more skilfull more able and more willing to assist and strengthen such as follow him then Sathan is to enable his wicked Instruments Seeing then by these Scriptures he hath crushed
Fathers who had learned Christian Obedience alwayes ready to give honour where honour was due would most willingly have acknowledged so absolute a Soveraigntie and could have been glad to have used the Benefits of it to have spared themselves a great deal of trouble and pains if it could have been proved then to have been such an excellent Mean for allaying all Contentions amongst the Learned The Pope was much to blame to let Athanasuis suffer such pains exile and abuse by the Arian faction in the defence of the Truth if his Infallibilitie could have composed the Quarrel Austin hath been famous throughout all Generations since for his learned Labours against the Pelagian Heresie Cyril for his accurate Confutation of Nestorius and yet the Scripture was the best Weapon they knew Neither of them did ever appeal to the Popes Infallibilitie not the Popes themselves which then lived would have used any other Rule but Scripture for their own defence 3 Your usuall Argumentis that unlesse God had left such an infallible Authority as might take up all Controversies he had not sufficiently provided for his Church Then by your consent he left such an Authority as was sufficient to perform this good service to it To whom then did he commit it To the Sea of Rome say you How chanceth it your fore-elders did not put it in practise and make the Power of it better known This Blame you cannot lay 〈◊〉 the Almighty for he for his part by your confession provided abundantly for the Peace and Quiet of his Church And yet it seems the Church was ill provided for when Schisms and Heresies sprung so fast This therefore was your Churches fault that bore this Spiritual Sword in vain and world not use it when the Christian world stood most in need of it for the 〈◊〉 Decision of Controversies So then although we should grant you that your Church had sometimes the Birth-right amongst all the Israel of God yâ—â— might we justly say of it as old Israel said of Reuben his eldest son Thy â—â—nity is gone and we were to seek this Supream Authority if God had given any such Supremacy to any in some other Tribe which were likely to use it better 4 If you reply your Churches Authority in composing Controversies amongst the learned hath been better known since that flourishing Agâ—â— learned and religious Fathers and since it hath been so well known and acknowledged Heresies have been more thin sown then before few or 〈◊〉 till Luther arose daring to confront the Church or Popes Authority with Scripture You give us hereby just cause to suspect that Heresie had get the upper hand of Truth for the Multitude of followers that there had been a general Combination in Falshood till Luther brake it For if sundry 〈◊〉 the Ancient Hereticks with whose Doctrine the Primitive Church was pesterâ—… could under pretence of Scripture have got into Supream Authority or 〈◊〉 established their Propositions framed as they thought out of Gods Word with strength of Temporal Sword as Mahomet did his It were great Simplicity to think that they could not have been content to have let the Scriptures sleep or have threatned all with Death and Destruction that should have urged them to the prejudice of their Opinions especially of such Opinions as did concern their Dignity For all Falshood and Spiritual Blindnesse hates this Light and could either wish it put out or them utterly extinct that Object it to them As he that hath wound himself into anothers Inheritance by some quirk in Law or Captious clause not well understood would not be much offended to have all Evidences of primary Copies either burnt or buried even That by which he got it if It upon better Consideration or more indifferent hearing were likely to overthrow his Title 5 And if we may guesse at the course of Satans Policy in watching his Opportunities to effect his purpose by the customary fashion of secular Politicians his Schollars in like Cases most probable it is that after these Broâ—'s of Dissention about the Gospel of Peace so frequent in the Primitive Church the great Calamities and bodily Affliction which followed thereon most men grew weary of their Spiritual Warfare and became slothful in the search of Scriptures the only Armory for all munition in this kind of war Every man afterwards in the fresh memory of the Church their Mothers bleeding Wounds and the Desolation which had ensued these furious Broâ—'s became more tractable to entertain conditions of Peace and Satan himself who had sown the seeds of all the former Dissention after he saw all or most weary of war was content to turn Peace-maker for his own advantage These were as the first Preparations for laying the Foundations of the myâ—â—cal â—abel in whose erection the Marner Method and Circumstances of the formers dissolution are all inverted The Building of the first was hindered by the Confusion of Tongues or the Division of one Language into many whence insued the scattering of the People throughout the earth the second was finished by the Concourse of divers People and the Composition or Confusion of different Languages For as Goropius acutely observes the present temper of modern Italian Spanish French we may adde of our English Dialects was from the mixture of the Roman and Barbarous Tongues whilest the natural inhabitants of these Countries before accustomed to the Roman Language and the Barbarians which at that time over-ran them were inforced to imitate each other in their words and manner of speech that they might be the better understood in matters of necessary Commerce or ordinary Contracts And this is the true reason why our Ancient English Latinisms are not as the Latin Graecisms which were derived by Art and Imitation from clear Helicon extracted from the purest Roman but from Latin of the base and vulgar stamp This Confusion of the Latin and other barbarous Tongues was but a Type or picture of confounding the Ancient true Roman Religion with barbarous Heresies Heathenish Rites and several kinds of Paganisms whilest the Romans who had already begun to distaste the Truth sought by lying Legends and false Wonders to please the grosse Palate of the Goths Vandals Hunnes Alans Franks and Saxons and they again here-with delighted were content to imitate the other in sundry sacred and religious Rites so as neither kept their Ancient Religion but all imbraced this mixture or new confused Masse And to speak properly that Unity whereof the Adversary so much boasts since that flourishing Age of Fathers wherein Contentions were so rife and the Roman Church no better esteemed then some of her sisters was not a Positive Consent in the sincere Truth wrought by the Spirit of God as a perfect Homogeneal mixture by true and lively heat but rather a bare Negation of actual Dissention caused by a dull Confusion of the dregs of Errour coagulate and congealed together by Ignorance
These Hereticks some of you I imagin would say albeit they might pretend Scriptures for the Rule of Faith yet would not be ruled by Scriptures when they were evidently brought against them For your evidence of Scripture to prove these Points there mentioned we know them well enough for some of them you professe Tradition only CAP. XXII That our Adversaries Objections do not so much infringe as their Practise confirms the Sufficiency of Scriptures for composing the greatest Controversies in Religion 1 BUt suppose many Hereticks your selves for example will not submit their minds unto the Evidence of Scripture what Remedy who can help it Their Condemnation is just and Vengeance is Gods he will repay Man it behooveth to see evidently that they contemn or abuse Scripture before he adventure to iinflict Punishment upon them for it lest otherwise he become an intruder into the Almighties Tribunal But if the Evidence of Scripture will not what else shall recall such from Errour 2 Besides the former general Allegations let us see what more can be said why the Scriptures may not be the most effectual and infallible Rule that can be imagined to guide men in the way of Truth The Authority saith Valentian ordained by God for determining all Questions of Faith is without all question most apt to discern and prevent all Errours contrary to Faith Why may not the Authority of Scripture be accounted such The Scripture saith be is so framed yet was it God that framed it as Experience may also teach us that of it self alone it is so far from being a fit Rule for avoiding all Errours that by the secret judgement of God it is a stumbling Block and as a Snare to the feet of the unwise so that such as will rely upon it alone may soon trip or trâ—â—â— awry 3 The Reader must lay the Blame where it is due if these indefatigable mouthes of blasphemies reiterating the like absurd Impieties so oft enforce me often to oppose the same or like Answers to them Such an Occasion as Gods Creatures were of Idolatry the Scriptures we grant may be of Heresie For of Gods good Creatures wherewith the idolatrous Heathen polluted themselves the wise man speaks in that place whereto Valentian alludes And such an Occasion should this infallible Way of the Romish Church pretended for avoiding be of breeding Heresies were it any of Gods Wayes of which the wise son of Syrach saith indefinitely They are stumbling Blocks to the wicked so was the Way of Life the Gospel it self even whilest proposed and avouched by S. Peter and S. Paul The Question then must be For what Cause the Scriptures are a Snare to some mens feet because they admit and embrace them for their Rule of Life If thus either Valentians Ghost or any Jesuite now alive dare avouch I say no more then the Archangel said to Satan The Lord rebuke thee Only unto the unwise and wilfully wicked because Such the Mediator and Saviour of the world Salus ipsa Salvation it Self was a Stone of offence and unto all such not Scripture nor any of Gods Wayes serves as a Rule to save but to condemn them 4 This is the Article then upon which the Jesuite must once again be examined whether unto such as are by Gods just Judgements decreed to Destruction and given over by his Holy Spirit to believe Lies and follow lying Traditions or Fables of mans invention the Popes infallible Authority can be a Rule of Life or saving Faith If it can then we will grant it to be a more infallible Rule then Scripture because able to controul Gods immutable Decree if it cannot as none without open and presumptuous Blasphemy will say it can then is it no more effectual for to reclaim men from Errours then the Scriptures are nor doth it any wayes supply their want If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets saith our Saviour neither will they be perswaded though one were raised from the dead why So Because God hath decreed this Word as the onely Means of Salvation to such as have been partakers of it and such as refuse this are given over by his Spirit to the Stubbornnesse of their own hearts shall then the Popes Infallibility make such believe By what Means Are his words more effectual then the Words of Life Are his Buls able to withstand the Decrees of the Almighty Or are his Curses to the disobedient more terrible then the everlasting Woes pronounced by our Saviour Christ and his Prophets more piercing then the Relation of Hell-pains by a messenger from the dead By your Churches continual Practise I should guesse this would be your reply for there is no other left that the Pope can constrain men to subscribe to his Decrees by Fire and Sword This might command their Hands or Tongues but not their Minds For the Jesuites would teach such as feared the smart of their fleshly members to cosen their Conscience for saving their Bodies with this distinction Juravi linguâ mentem injuratam gero And if fire and sword be the best Weapons of spiritual Warfare or unrelenting Persecutions the ensigns of infallible Authority then the greater Tyrants may be alwayes the more infallible Teachers But these Weapons by your best writers consent ye may not use against any but such as are already admitted into Christs Fold Quae foris sunt judicabit Deus Such as are without God will judge The Pope may such as are within in what manner for what Cause he please not liable to any account whether in so doing he do right or wrong Let the fruits of our Practise then witnesse whether what is by you objected to us for using our Saviours language may not by fit Analogie be verified of your selves in this point whether We or Ye be the men of whom our Saviour gave the world warning when he told Of false Prophets outwardly appearing in sheeps clothing being inwardly ravening Wolves Unto such as are by us won to the Gospel we grant that Christian Liberty after which before their Conversion we promised Your Factors abroad as in the Indies or Japan appear to men in sheeps cloathing making fair promises of the glorious Gospel of Christ and the Liberty of the Son of God but inwardly as in Italy Spain or generally within your own Folds are ravening Wolves Or to sit you with an Emblem essentially parallel to your nature and custome ye are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inversi Men abroad and Wolves at your own home For whiles you seek to convert an Alien you magnifie the Doctrine of the Gospel your speech is fair your whistle pleasant and your feeding sweet and good if ye mention the Popes Authority it is moderately and urged in that stile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peter feed my lambs but when ye have once drawn these lambs within your hurdles ye change your note and turn into your proper shape then you cry with
ravenous mouths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as you interpret Rule my sheep or Petre macta manduca kill and eat Now all the pretended glorious Promises of the Gospel or large hopes of Liberty which you had given them before are sodainly contracted in these two main Commandments the chief Supporters of your Religion on which your Law and Gospel hang If any thing be proposed to be Believed Believe or be burnt If to be Acted Do or die 5 But as I was saying such kind of Weapons must be used only towards such as are admitted unto Christs Fold unto them the Popes Authority must be a Rule for they must be ruled by his iron Rod. But let us suppose a Christian either wel minded Protestant or Papist a Jew or Mahumetan all zealous in their kind and of carriage moderate should meet together in some Principles of Belief they all agree all acknowledge the old Testament to be the Word of God but differ in the true Sence and Meaning of it What means would you prescribe to win either of these two Unbelievers to the Truth I am sure ye would not begin with the Popes Authority Were it not the readiest way to win a Mahumetan to shew him that the greatnesse of that kingdom in which he glorieth was ordained by God to punish the Christian world as Nebuchadnezzars was to plague the Jews and should decay would Christians amend and the strength of his affection to the prosperity of that Empire abated to propose the carnal Affection of Mabomet and his Religion most of which is lothsom to the ears of such as have any notion of any Religion whereas the Purity of Christs Gospel is such as a sober minde once therewith acquainted would Reverence albeit he could not obey 6 This or the like Method is used by sundry learned Papists to diâ—… Mahumetium If they reply that they first seek to make them acknowledge the Scriptures that they may thence learn to rely upon the Popes Infallibility they utterly deface their own pretended Glory in converting so many Aliens unto the Faith For all this pains in such as follow this supposed Method is but to purchase a double portion in the Pharisees Wo For â—… passing Sea and I and to make others of their profession The Pharisees in such Conversions did as it were â—uadrate the measure of Proselytes sins multiplying Gentilism by Pharisaism The Jesuites make up the â—ul Câ—… 〈◊〉 they produce Mahumetism which is but a medley of Gentilism and Judaiâ—m into Jesuitism which is the sublimation of Pharisaism mixed with malignant Atheism For it is impossible that this Conversion should abolish the form or essential Quality of the Mahumetans former carnal corrupt Religion but rather intend the bad temper of it by superaddition of this second in quality more malignant And yet for the effecting of this Change they make Christ lesus their crucified Lord and God but a Stale for the advancement of His Kingdom that by their own confession may be for life and manners far worse then Mahomet Suppose then a convert-Mahumetan should know what manner of men most of their Popes be how could he chuse but either repent of his Conversion or turn treacherous Atheist to out-â—â—e the Jesuite in such villanous Gulleries as this wherein he useth Mahomets beastly life as an Argument to disswade his followers from his Religion and yet useth the Word of God whose Sanctity both acknowledge but as a bait to bring men on to fasten their Faith upon a more deâ—esâ—able Son of Perdition This were indeed the best way to harden the Mahumetan in his preposterous Belief That Mahomet though as we object a notorious Impostor might be sent from God to win the world unto that Truth by the sword whereunto Christ could not bring it by his godly Life and most essectual kinde of Preaching And I do not see what else but this or the like Conclusion can with any probability be gathered from any Arguments brought by the Papists to prove the necessity of the Popes or their corrupt Churches infallible Authority for supplying the defect of Christ and his Apostles Writings Finally to bring either Mahuâ—â—etan or Pagan to acknowledge the Truth of the New Testament or Christ for their Saviour that they might afterwards relie upon such men is but to lead them into the entry of the Kingdom of Heaven that they may finally shut the door on them when they have one foot within it which is indeed the sole entire formal effect of this supposed Infallible Key But my good liking of industry though of our greatest Adversarie in this slothful Age makes me hope God grant I fail not in my hopes that in remote Countries whose air is not pestered with the noisom and Ioathsom Scent of Rome their Mothers whoredom even Jesuites are inspired with more pure and hallowed Cogitations and that they use not Valentian Bellarmin or others of their Italianated fellows Methods in catâ—chising Converts or if they do yet God I trust wil be merciful unto such poor souls as thus adore the Pope not knowing what manner of Creature he is but rather in charity presume him for such in the Concrete as the Jesuites make him in the Abstract even a second-Christ or Holinesse it self 7 Were not the best Method to win the Jew to compare the Prophecies of the Old Testament with the History of the New and Experiments of Gods judgements upon that nation Some Jews have been brought unto the Truth by these means who have done the Church of Christ excellent service in the exposition of Prophecies concerning Christ labouring to win their Country-men unto him by comparing the Old Testament with the New If the Scripture may be a Rule to compose the diversity of these Opinions most repugnant amongst themselves may it not much more be a Rule to compose all Controversies amongst professed Christians who agree in far more Principles of Faith and Rules of Scripture then the former did if Christians would be as soberly affected and not stand upon the Authorities and Customes of men the special Obstacle that keeps the Jews from Christianity 8 It is usual with your Writers to argue thus We cannot know Scriptures to be the Scriptures but by the Authority of the Church therefore we cannot know the true Sense and Meaning of them but by the infallible Authority of the same The Antecedent of which Argument as we have partly shewed and hereafter God willing shal shew to be most false so for the Argument it self I only now say that it may be far more probably inverted upon you thus The Jews may come to acknowledge the New Testament for the very Cospel of their Messias and to Believe in heart and Profess with their mouthes the Mysteries therein contained by sober and diligent comparing them with the Prophecies of the Old without the infallible Authority of your Church therefore they may know the true sense and meaning of the Gospel
in all Points necessary to salvation without any such infallible Authority For it is a matter of far lesse Difficulty for any man of sense and reason to deduce particular Conclusions from general and evident Principles then to finde out the general and fundamental Principles by natural Notions or other Principles And therefore more easie for any such man to resolve his Conscience in particular Points of Faith or Christian Obedience after he hath found out the Foundation of Christian Faith to wit Chrâ—… Jesus crucified raised from the dead and other general Dictates of Faith in the Apostolical Writings then to come unto the acknowledgement and Belief of these fundamental Points themselves from the broken knowledge such as the Jews have of the Old Testament And thus it evidently follows that if the Old Testament be a Rule unto the Jews for finding out the Truth of the New much more may the New once acknowledged by them and admitted of equal Authority with the Old be a perfect Rule for them in matters of Salvation And if these Scriptures are or may be a Rule to the Jews if they will believe them then must they be a Rule to all Christians that Believe them No Christian I hope wil deny but that the Old Testament is the Rule of the Jews For the unbelieving Jews shal be condemned in what part of the world soever for not following this Rule which God hath commended and made known unto them not for not acknowledging the Popes Infallibility of which many of them never heard And if the Old Testament be such to them much more must the whole Canon be unto us such a Rule and if we die in misbelief or infidelity we shall be judged by this Rule of Gods Law and Gospel which we transgressed not by the Popes Decrees or Expositions of it That many Christians by profession erre in Points of Faith or mistake the true Sense and Meaning of it or pervert it to their Destruction proceeds from their Ingratitude towards God that gave it and for their delight in Falshood Which is the reason why these Jews mistake the true Meaning of the Old Testament 9 If any of our Adversaries here demand how chanceth it so many Jews erre in the Foundation of Faith if the Scripture be such an infallible Rule he must be content to resolve me in the like Question How chanceth it so many Jews live unconverted in Spain and Italy and other places either in the Popes Dominions or where his Authority is established if the Infallibility of his Authority or their Church be such an excellent Rule If they reply the Jews might believe all Points of Roman-Catholick Faith aright so they would admit their Church as Judge or Mistresse of Faith the Jews might with as good reason rejoyn so might the Romans believe all Points of Judaism would they acknowledge this supposed Infallibility of Doctrine to be in their Rabbinical Expositions not in the Popes Determinations But the Romanist I suppose would desire a Sign ere he believed them herein and are we lesse bound by the Rule of Faith to desire some tolerable satisfaction to these reasons following ere we believe them in this Point as prejudicial in our judgement to Religion in general as Subscription to Rabbinical Doctrine is unto Chistian Verity 10 The Jews admit the Old Testaments Authority as undoubtedly as the Jesuites do the Popes yet it enlightens not their hearts What is the Reason Because that Part of Scripture is so obscure So Valentian and such as follow him in all congruity must say yea he hath said it That Veil which Saint Paul saith is put before the hearts of Jews that they cannot behold the Glory of the Gospel as the Apostle there argues is woven for the most part of the Difficulties of Scriptures Nor do the Jews only deny the New Testament to be infallible but bitterly inveigh against it as erroneous and contradictory to the Old What is the Cause Is it not that which Valentian elsewhere assigns The Scripture alone that is in his language without the infallible Avouchment of their Church is so far from ending all Controversies of Faith that it rather occasions Controversies and Dissentions in Doctrines of Faith If to the Jew through his default the Writings of Moses and the Prophets be so obscure adde your infallible Key to open his heart to them or them to it If by this obscurity they minister matter of Contentation or their Sense mistaken exasperate Jewish malice against Christians Interpose your Humane Authority inspired from above to allay the fervency of their distempered Zeal 11 You acknowledge this Obscurity and other objected Insufficiencies disinabling the Scripture for ruling or judging mens Faith to arise from the frailty or viciousnesse of Humane Nature and hence you plead your Churches Infallibility as necessary and al-sufficient to supply these defects incident unto Scripture not in it self but in respect of us Your Churches Authority then at the least adjoyned to Scripture should make men otherwise subject to the former Infirmities or vitious Dispositions capable of Heavenly Doctrine Tell us then distinctly Can it or can it not make all or most or such as the Scriptures do not Believe aright If this it cannot do adjoyning to Scriptures it is by your own Objections against them a Rule as unsufficient as you would make them without it If it can make all or most or such as Scripture alone doth not Believe aright this it must effect either by removing or not removing those Diseases or Infirmities of Humane Nature which Scriptures without it cannot cure 12 First if it could remove that Temper which makes the Jew a more unprofitable Hearer of Scripture then young Gallants are of stoical moral discipline your Church is guilty of wilful malice and murther of souls that will not apply this infallible Key able of it self to open that Veil of Adamant wherewith the Jews hearts are so masked that neither the light of Mosaical Prophetical Apostolical or Evangelical Writings can find entrance unto them Secondly albeit this supposed infallible Authority could remove the former Veil yet were it not in this respect to be acknowledged an infallible Rule of Faith but rather an ordinary necessary Means such as we acknowledge the lawful Magistracy or Ministry to be for squaring or proportioning mens frail or exorbitant Affections the better to parallel with Gods word the most exact inerrable and al-sufficient Rule of Faith even by your consent were it not for this Infirmitie or vitious Disposition of mans Nature which as you likewise acknowledge is the sole Cause why the Scriptures are Obscure and minister matter of Contention 13 But our Adversaries attribute not any such vertue to their infallible Rule as to make a fool wise the lascivious chaste the drunkard sober a knave honest the impudent modest or ambitious lowly for even the Pope himself in whose bosome this Rule lodgeth may harbour these and like vices in his
Peoples distraction in following some one false Prophet some another fewest of all the true Prophets most their High-Priests and men in Authority might exempt any from acknowledgement of such Prophesies as in the issue proved Divine for the Rule of their Belief If that People either upon the Variety of Opinions or the Authority of the Priests or others might reject the Word of God either preached unto them by the Prophets or read by others or appeal from It to any visible company of men on whose decrees they might safely rely then may the Romanists with some probability teach men to rely upon the decrees of their Church for their infallible Rule not upon Scriptures only But if the People of those times were bound to rely upon MOSES Law and the Prophets Writings against all the World besides albeit joyntly conspiring to teach them otherwise though with Glozes and pretences of Moses Authority then much more must these Writings be of like Authority unto us And all the Mimical Objections which the Jesuites can frame to this or like purpose If the Scripture be the Rule of Faith and must be discerned by private Spirits how comes it to passe that Calvin expounds it one way Luther another Zwinglius a third and yet all think they have the Spirit are the very same in effect with the false Prophet Zedekiah's Exception against Michaiah When went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee 5 Zeclekiah had four hundred more of his opinion and this People had been very dull if conscious of their own factious greatnesse they could not have pleaded all the Papists Arguments against Michaiah all that can be drawn from the Universality or Authority of the Church All which have meer ignorance or incogitancy of a Divine Providence for their Root but branch themselves in their after-grouth into positive Atheism and contradictious Infidelity First their Authors the Priests and Jesuites erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God able to lead men unto Life by this written Way though narrow and private yet straight and plain Afterwards as if they were Satans sworn Takers or authorized Purveyoâ—â—s to furnish Hell with guests observing some who rather idly wish or loosly profer then seriously purpose or earnestly strive to enter in at the streight Gate either sail in their first Adventures or finally miscarry they watch hence all opportunities of haling Passengers to their broad beaten Catholick Way which almost all heretofore have gone as they brag wherein a blind man so he will follow his Guide cannot easily trip so I think until both come at the very Pit-brink of Destruction whereunto it tends directly and infallibly But is this your Catholick Way more plain or better beaten then rebellious Israels or Judahs was Could not these also whilest backed by their blinded Guides have mockt at private Spirits and bestowed Titles upon Gods true Servants because in number fewest and most opposite to their Prelates as foul and odious as Sectaries Schismaticks or Hereticks Or did these willingly and wittingly go astray as knowing their wayes to be the wayes of death Therefore my people is gone into captivity saith the Lord because they had no knowledg Ignorance the Nurse of your Devotion was the true Mother of their Superstition and Idolatry yet was this want of Knowledge which thus proved the fertile Seed of all their insuing Misery the native Fruit of their former Negligence in not practising the known Precepts of Moses Law And because increase of Ignorance in Gods Word did breed in them a greater delight of hearing Lies and pleasant things then the Truth he gave them their Lust as he had done their Forefathers Quails in his displeasure Son of man saith the Lord unto his Prophet these men have set up their Idols in their heart and put the stumbling Block of their Iniquity before their face should I being required answer them Therefore say unto them Thus saith the Lord God Every man of the House of Israel that setteth up his 〈◊〉 in his heart and putteth the stumbling Block of his Iniquity before his face and cometh to the Prophet I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his Idols That I may take the House of Israel in their own heart because they are all departed from me through their Idols 6 This evidently proves that unlesse the Moral Law be duly practised and those stumbling Blocks which the wicked set before their faces removed to seek after such a facile inerrable Rule as the Papists have framed for direction in points of Faith is to solicit a snare for their own Souls as no doubt God gave the Romans for their distast of his Word and that longing after Genulism before mentioned this broken Reed whereon to this day they rely as he had done the Israelites a King in his wrath And though in every Age since the Goths and Vandals over-ran the Empire God hath raised up some poor Michaiah to withstand their state-Prelates Yet those lying Spirits which possessed Ahabs Prophets have ever born greatest sway in that Church seducing Princes and People as they had done Ahab by multitude of Voices to their own Destruction That the Romanists can produce men of great fame and note through many Generations for their defence in some one point or other it skils not much For as God in times past suffered Prophets or Dreamers to take opportunity from their strange Predictions of inticing his people to Idolatry forbidden by his written Law so in every Age his Providence permits men of excellent Gifts and great skill in Scriptures to have yea to seek to establish their plansible Errours under pretences of Revelations secret Assistance or abundant measure of his Spirit that by this means he may try our Fidelity in searching Scriptures and Diligence in trying Spirits as he did the Israelites by such presumptions of Divine Prophesies or Visions And if amongst this great Variety of Opinions I might deliver mine as freely as I willingly submit it to each sober Prophets Censure much more to the Correction of my lawful Superiours I should for ought I yet see to the contrary avouch first that no Christian in any Age but is oft put upon his Trial Whether he love God or the great Ones of this world more Whether he will Confesse or Deny Christ before men Secondly That during these dayes of Peace and Security which we now enjoy our Acquital or Condemnation in both the Two former main Interrogatories stands especially upon our abandoning or abetting their Errours in some points of Danger whose Worth in others we justly admire So much addicted are we for the most part to such mens persons as have been Gods Instruments for our good that upon often experience of those wholesome Medicines wherewith their shops are plentifully furnished we swallow down whatsoever there we find when as perhaps the disease they had to deal with or some other
Spirit our Comforter and Instructer have far greater interest in our Souls and Consciences then either Aristotle or Plato or any other Philosopher or Philosophie it self hath in our Opinions or Perswasions 6 But though Gratitude to our God could not move us are those blessed hopes of Immortality so little worth as upon every light or no occasion we should adventure their eternal losse And yet idly desperately and frantickly adventure it we do unlesse such as urge us with solemn subscription to this more then Monarchical Supremacy over our souls enstamped not with any Roman Caesars but Gods own Image Superscription can shew us sufficient Warrant that thus to offer up not only the calves of our lips but even our Faith the best Tribute our hearts can yield wholly into Christs pretended Vicars hands be not a witnesse of our Rebellion against Christ himself the Supream Lord as wel of them that challenge this Authority as of us of whom this servile subjection is exacted All the warrant or Evidence which in this case they can pretend must either be drawn from the Rules of Reason or from the Scriptures the Rule as we contend of Faith which for this reason may justly controul all pretended Rules of Natural Reason And as we have said before if the Pope be as usually he is but homo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a witnesse then both Scripture and Reason teach us that he cannot perceive the things of God nor the Meaning of his Spirit for as our Apostle saith they are foolish unto him And if they be foolish to him then is he as foolish a Judge of them and of all things that must be Spiritually discerned as the meerest natural Idiot would be of natural Philosophie or other secular Arts or Sciences Even to this one place of Scripture uttered by the Spirit of God and the Ministry of that Apostle no sufficient Answer can be given without the evident Testimony of the same Spirit under some Prophets Apostles or Evangelists hand either mitigating or restraining that sense which the words naturally import and we collect whose Probability in it self and Consonancy with other Scriptures are so great that we stand bound by our general Allegiance which we ow unto GODS Spirit to suspect all men for Incompetent Judges or witnesses in matters concerning GOD unlesse we know certainly of what Spirit they are or have great Inducements to presume them of a better Spirit and in more favour with the Spirit of God then they themselves report their Popes to be CAP. XXIX That their Arguments drawn from conveniency of Reason or pretended Correspondency between Civil and Ecclesiastical Regiment do prejudice themselves not us 1 THat this is no general Dictate of common Reason or any part of the Law of Nature Reason and common Sense make evident And we may rest assured hereof in that no Jesuite nor other Stickler for the Popes Authority hath been so impudent hitherto as to avouch thus much That there are some Probabilities or Conveniencies which in Reason might perswade any indifferent man that there must be some one Umpire or Tribunal Seat by whose Authority all Controversies of Religion must be determined BELLARMINE thus goes about to prove GOD was not ignorant that many Difficulties about Faith would arise in the Church What then In Reason then he was to provide his Church of a Judge suppose he were But this Judge cannot be the Scripture nor any private revealing Spirit nor any Secular therefore an Eccesiastical Prince which may determin such matters either of himself alone or at least with the advice and consent of Bishops his Associates Nâ—… hath any yet as nor can any indeed imagin any other to whom the Judgement of these things can possibly appertain 2 That neither the Scripture nor any private man nor secular Prince is this Judge he labours to prove by Arguments whose strength hath been broken in the former Discourses concerning the Obscurity of Scriptures and the Varieties of Interpretations But how cunningly soever his sagacity may seem to have cast about he is at the same default Valentian and Sacroboscus were all of them over-ran the Sent by leaping from one Extream to another without search of the Mean betwixt them for they take it as granted that we deny all living Judges of Controversies because we acknowledge no absolute Infallibility in any Our Assertion is The Scripture is a Law or Rule most infallible whereby every man must judge himself whereby such as are in lawful Authority may judge others for not judging themselves by it but not alwayes infallibly Nor can it stand with the sobriety of Christian Wisdom to expect such a precise determination of all Points disputed much lesse disputable among the learned as might bind all men to an absolute Belief whether explicit or implicit of this or that determinate sense all others excluded Notwithstanding the more conscious any ordinary Judge is of his own or others Fallibility or Facility of erring dangerously if they should take upon them strictly to determin all Religious doubts much more all doubts in matters of Religion that might be moved the more infallibly may he rest assured that many cases of that Quality are very doubtful that in sundry of many Opinions all to his knowledge possible as much may be as probably alledged for any one as for other Now the true and proper Use of an Ecclesiastick Judge or Magistracy is not only to punish Oppugners of Truths either evident in themselves and infallibly Believed of all Christians or generally received by the best and most unpartial Writers in every Age but as wel to moderate mens carriage in Controversies of the former nature sometimes by restraining all peremptory Assertions one way or other all exasperating censures or contumelious contradictions as in difficulties aquipendent betwixt an equality of contrary Probabilities sometimes as in matters not so useful or unto whose search the Signs of times present do not solicit us by enjoyning a general Silence that all may hearken with better attention to GOD alwayes speaking by the ordinary Course of his Providence albeit softly and leasurely yet distinctly and audibly to quiet minds already instructed in that Heavenly knowledge though not simply unto all for many of us can perfectly distinguish mens voices whiles they repeat what in part we know though not whiles they pronounce matters unheard before or altogether unknown to us 3 By this it may appear would our Adversaries make an equal comparison that God hath better provided for his Churches Regiment in matters Spiritual then Common-weales in Temporal First the Scripture is a Rule as al-sufficient for all such Businesses as any Temporal Laws could be for effecting their proper End albeit we should suppose the Lord had dictated them immediately as he did the Scriptures This our Adversaries cannot deny unlesse they doubt whether the eternal Spirit have as great skil in Heavenly matters as
all though different in their particular Natures and peculiar Properties uniform for the transmission of Light But after the dissolution of the Christian Empire and the constitution of several States and Soveraignties throughout Europe all compleat within themselves and different one from another in Laws and Customes the transfusion of such an absolute Ecclesiastick Authoritie through all would be unequal and make Christendom like a Monster compact of many several entire Bodies made up in one or like some uglie living creature that had many Heads and but one Heart or Soul CAP. XXX That the final Trial of this Controversie must be by Scriptures That the Jesuites and modern Papists fierce oppugning all certainty of private Spirits in discerning the Divine Truth of Scriptures or their true Sense hath made the Church their Mother utterly uncapable of any plea by Scriptures for establishing her pretended Infallibility 1 BUt what Christian heart could have suspected that any man acknowledging the infinite Majestie of an Omnipotent God filling every place with his Presence ruling all things by his Power and having every least Creature of the World a world of Witnesses of his inconceivable Wisdome and unspeakable Providence over the Works of his own Hand durst once have presumed to think much lesse have opened his mouth to utter least of all have imployed his pen to proclaim such foul Impietie to the world as that a Power so infinite could not sufficiently provide for his Church in deciding matters of Faith surpassing all reach of Reason unlesse he had ordained some one Supream Tribunal Seat on earth the Judges whereof should be but mortal men whose Bodies can be but in one place at once whose Voices cannot reach without the precincts of their Consistories whereas the Law of this our God unto whose sentence in matters of Faith we appeal is or might be but for these our Antiscripturian Adversares importunitie every where throughout the Christian World dispersed and besides the external helps of an ordinary Ministerie or Magistracie alike common to all Nations the Holy Spirit is every where assistant to all such as seek him in the written Word by him revealed whose live-characters are as the prints or footsteps of his wonted Motions in Gods Prophets or Apostles hearts by which the faithful may discern his approach or Presence in their own Nor wil the Jesuites be so wilful I hope as to denie that this Holy Spirit who did dictate the Word to such as wrote it in these material Tables having first written it in the fleshly Tables of their Hearâ—ts is able now also to write the same immediately in the Hearts of all such as with fear and reverence prepare themselves for his fit and decent entertainment That this was possible to be performed by the Almighty Wisdom of God they would not I know deny were this 〈◊〉 direct and plain termes made the main Controversie betwixt us Albeit as much as we have charged them withall will most necessarily follow from their absurd and lavishly blasphemous Speeches which in the heat of contention have distilled from their pens in this present Controversie But of the Possibilitie of Gods immediate teaching every Christian Heart or rather of the Probabilities which may induce all to relie immediately hereupon we shall have occasion to discourse hereafter Let us now in sobrietie of Spirit rather dispute of Gods Will then his Power As whether there be any sure Argument to perswade us that it was his intent or purpose either to instruct men in the true Sense of Scriptures or to take up all Controversies in matters of Faith by this supposed Infallibilitie of some visible Church All this and somewhat more our Adversaries in this Point seriously avouch and earnestly contend for Let us therefore briefly see whether or no Gods Spirit hath taught thus much That the Sense of Scriptures cannot be had without the Assistance or working of Gods Spirit both jointly acknowledge They must be understood and interpreted saith Bellarmin by the same Spirit which wrote them as he very well gathers out of Saint Peter Whence likewise he well collects that the whole difficultie in this Question about taking up Controversies and finding out the true Sense of Scriptures consists in this where this Spirit is and where the distressed Soul and doubtfull Conscience ought to seek it In the Visible and Catholike Church saith Bellarmin and all the Modern Roman Catholicks that is as they interpret it in the Consistorie of the Pope and Cardinals or in the Assemblie of Bishops or as the Modern Jesuites will have it in the Pope alone speaking ex Cathedra 3 Every man say we ought to seek the Spirit of God in his own Soul and Conscience being directed and ruled by the Sacred Word which was revealed and uttered by the same Spirit This Word directs them in this search and the Spirit once found out or rather finding them thus seeking him establisheth their Assent unto the Word already revealed and written by imprinting the same invisible Word or the true Sense and Meaning of it in their Hearts 4 Why this Spirit should be infallibly present to the Visible Church all our Adversaries uncessantly urge Scripture I will not abuse the Readers patience with allegation of the Places which have been very fully answered by many of our Church That which I intend at this time is First to debar them by their own Grounds of this Plea of Scriptures by shewing their Absurditie and folly in urging any Scripture at all for the proof of their Aâ—lertion And secondly to overthrow the Assertion it self by manifest proofs that either their Churches transcendent Authoritie as it is now taught must fall or Christianitie cannot stand To make way for our dearer passage in the former 5 They generally hold That this Infallibilitie of the Visible Church consists directly in this That the Holy Ghost is infalliblie present to it and gives it the true Sense and Meaning of Scriptures which he doth not give to private persons whom in their judgements he will not vouchsafe immediately to instruct so that his Dictates already revealed cannot be a Rule unto them because they want his infallible Assistance for their Exposition and for the same reason Certain they cannot be without the Churches Authority that they understand the Scripture aright 6 This their Assertion being two-fold for their Churches infallible Expositions and against all private Interpretations is grounded upon these two Principles They are to be Believed in exposition of Scriptures fide divina whom the Holy Ghost infallibly assists They are not so to be Believed whom the Holy Ghost doth not so assist Whence what he said before will follow that no man besides the Pope may believe his own interpretations of Scriptures His or the Churches all must nay all men must believe fide divina that the Church or Pope is in all Determinations infalliblie assisted by the Holy Ghost For if we were not bound to
the true Papists are wise enough to slip the third or last so as it shall not pinch them and have a trick withall to make the First yeeld what way they please who are resolved to follow what way soever it shall please the Popes Authority whereunto their souls indeed are onely tied to lead them But of such as ever had or hope to have any tast or relish of Gods Spirit if any should resolve absolutely to believe his interpretation of any place of Scripture contrary to that life-working sence which must be in every heart endued with hope of seeing God that mans disloyalty towards God and his Holy Spirit is as impudent as if a poor subject should replie unto his Prince commanding him in expresse termes to do thus or so I will not believe your words have any such meaning as they naturally import but a contrary such as one of my fellow-servants hath already acquainted me withall whatsoever you say I know your meaning is I should believe him in all things concerning your will and pleasure and whatsoever he shall enjoyn that will I do 8 That neither the Church can prove the Scriptures nor the Scriptures the Churches Authoritie was proved in the fourth Section of the former Book That such as hold this damnable Doctrine against which we dispute do not at all believe God speaking in the Scriptures shall be evinced in the third Section of this The present inconvenience which now will they nill they we are to wrest from their resolutions of faith is That in deed and conscience they either acknowledge no Authoritie in the Church or Scriptures or else greater in the Church then in Scriptures CAP. III. Inferring the general conclusion proposed in the Title of this Section from Bellarmines Resolution of faith 1 ASwell to occasion the learned Readers further consideration of their ill-grounded and worse builded faith as for deducing thence the proposed inconvenience it will not be amisse to propose Bellarmines resolution of a Roman Catholicks faith One especial Objection of our Writers as he frameth it is That Faith if depending on the Churches judgement is grounded but upon the word of man a weake foundation for such an Edifice that the Scripture was given by the Spirit of God and must therefore be understood by the same not by the Churches Spirit Hereunto Bellarmine answereth The word of the Church 〈◊〉 of the Councel or the Pope speaking ex Cathedra is not the bare word of man He means no word obnoxious to errour but in some sort the Word of God in as much as it is uttered by the assistance and Government of the Holy Ghost I adde saith he that Hereticks are they which indeed do lean upon a brokenreed For we must know that a proposition of Faith must be concluded in this or the like Sâ—llogisme Whatsoever God hath revealed in Scripture is true but God hath revealed this or that in Scriptures Ergo this or that is true The first proposition in this Syllogisme is certain amongst all the second likewise amongst Catholicks is most firm as being supported by the testimonie of the Church Councel or Pope of whose immunity from possibilitie of erring we have expresse promises in the Scriptures as It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us I have prayed for thee thy faith should not fail But amongst Hereticks the second or minor proposition is grounded onely on conjecture or judgement of a private Spirit which usually seems but is not good Whence seeing the conclusion must follow the weaker part it necessarily followes that all the faith of Hereticks such in his language are all that will not relie upon the Church is but conjectural and uncertain 2 A dreadfull imputation could it be as substantially proved as it is confidently avouched And the consequence of his resolution generally held by all his fellows is of no lesse importance then this That no man can be infallibly assured either of the truth or true sence of any particular proposition in the whole Canon of Scriptures received by us and them unlesse he have the Churches Authority for confirmation of both For unto us that onely which the Church avoucheth is certain and unfallible that sence of it which the Church gives onely sound if we speak of any particular or determinate truths 3 How certain and unfallible Assent unto all or any Scriptures may be wrought in mens hearts without any infallible teacher already hath been and hereafter shal be God willing in more particular sort exemplified In this place it stood the Jesuite upon to have given a better solution to the doubt objected which he is so far from unloosing that he rather knits it faster as shal appear if the Reader wil first cal to mind That for the establishing of firm and undoubted assent to any truth proposed it skils not how infallible the truth in it self or the proposer be unlesse they whose Relief or Assent is demanded be as infallibly perswaded of this Infallibility in the truth or the proposer In this respect our adversaries plead their immunity from errour as an Article necessary to be infallibly Believed for confirmation of Gods Word alwayes most infallible as all grant in it self but not so as they affirm to us until it be avouched by Infallible authority 4 Herein they concur with us Both with the truth That if we believe it only as probable that God spake all those words which we acknowledge to be most infallible because his our belief notwithstanding is not infallible but probable or conjectural For as a man may have bad desires of things essentially good so may he have uncertain perswasions of truthes in themselves most certain It is not therefore the supposed Infallibility of the Church or Pope howsoever but infallibly apprehended and believed that must strengthen our faith which otherwise as is pretended would be but conjectural And by the former principle acknowledged as wel by them as us it necessarily follows that if we be only probably not infallibly perswaded the Pope or Church cannot erre our assent unto the minor proposition i. unto any determinate part of Gods Word is only probable not Infallible For by the Jesuites Doctrine we cannot be certainly perswaded that God spake this or that but by the Churches testimony The immediate consequence of which two assertions compared together is we cannot be more certain that God hath spoken this or that then we are of the Churches Infallibility If then we be only probably not infallibly perswaded that the Church is infallible our Belief of the minor proposition that is of any determinate truth which men suppose God hath spoken must be only probable or conjectural not infallible Consequently to these collections the learned Papists generaly hold that the Churches Infallibility must be absolutely and infallibly believed as you heard before out of Canus Bellarmin and Valentian otherwise as Bellarmin would infer our Belief of the Minor in any
Syllogismâ—… wherein a Proposition of Faith is Concluded can be but Conjectural 5 The proposed inconvenience we may drive from this difficulty How the Papists themselves can attain to the infallible belief of the Churches infallible authority The Church they think hath a publick spirit and publick spirits they know are infallible hence they may perswade themselves the Church is infallible only upon the same terms they believe it hath a publick spirit if their belief of this later be but conjectural their assent unto the former can be no better Seeing then they must of necessity grant for this is the principal mark they aim at that all must infallibly believe the Church hath a publick spirit the difficulty removes to this point how this infallible perswasion is or may be wrought in them Either it must be grounded upon Scriptures or not avouched unto them and wrought in their hearts it must be either by a publick or private spirit Let us examin all the parts of this division 6 First if private mens infallible perswasion of the Churches publick or Authentick spirit be not grounded upon Scriptures acknowledged by us and them the Churches Authority without all controversie is much greater then the authority of Scriptures if it by this assertion can be any and the Churches not all in all For unto that which men cannot know whether it be true or false they cannot be bound to yield absolute or immediate obedience unto that authority which they absolutely believe as infallible they are bound to yield infallible assent and absolute obedience directly in it self and for it self But by this supposition men cannot know Scriptures infallibly without the Churches authority and yet they must infallibly believe the Churches authority without Scriptures The Scriptures authority therefore is either lesse then the Churches or none at all 7 But be it supposed that private mens infallible Belief of the Churches publick spirit is grounded upon Scriptures acknowledged by us and urged by them to this purpose as upon these it seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and us I have prayed for thee thy faith should not fail The question whereunto we demand an answer is whether this infallible Belief of the Churches authority grounded upon these places must be wrought in mens hearts by a private or publick spirit If by a private spirit only Bellarmin believed the Churches publick spirit or those Scriptures truth or true meaning whereon he grounds it He and all other Papists such as he was when he delivered this Doctrine neither Bishops nor Cardinals are subject to the same inconveniences which he hath condemned us for as Hereticks For all private spirits by his positions are abnoxious to errour unsufficient to plant any infallible perswasion in matters of faith yet such is this article of the Churches Authentick spirit of which unlesse men be so perswaded infallibly perswaded they cannot be of the minor proposition in any Syllogism wherein a point of faith is concluded and uncertain of the minor they cannot be certain of the conclusion which as Bellarmin rightly observes alwayes follows the weaker part The infallible conclusion therefore of Bellarmin's resolution is unlesse private men may have publick spirits to warrant the truth of Scriptures and the Churches infallibility thereon grounded they cannot truely believe any conclusion of faith It remains then we inquire what inconvenience wil follow if they admit private men to be partakers of publick spirits 8 Diversity of such spirits they acknowledge not If therefore private mens Infallible Assent unto the truth or true sense of those particular Scriptures whence they seek to prove their Churches Infallibility must be planted by a publick spirit planted it must be by the same spirit which guides and guiding makes the Church and Pope authentick and infallible both in their proposal of Scriptures and declaration of Scriptures sence Seeing this spirit is one and the same if it can make the Church or Pope infallible in all why may it not make all private men by this supposition partakers of it alike infallible at the least in the right understanding of those places which warrant the Churches Infallibility or publick spirit For our adversaries I hope wil easily grant that the Churches publick and Authentick spirit must be most infallibly Believed because so expresly taught in those Scriptures cited by Bellarmin to this purpose If this publick or Authentick spirit can work such infallible apprehension of those places true meaning in private hearts why not in all others as necessary for them to know that is in all necessary to salvation And if thus it do why are we bound to believe the Pope more then the Pope us we being partakers of a publick and infallible spirit as wel as he 9 Or if they hold it no absurdâ—ty to say we must believe two or three places It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and us Peter feed my sheep by a publick and authentick spirit teaching us from these to rely upon the Pope in all other parts of Gods Word because as it must be supposed we have but a private spirit for their assurance by this supposition the Popes authority in respect of us must have the same excesse of superiority unto Scriptures that a publick spirit hath unto a private or the Pope who believeth all Scriptures by a publick spirit hath unto a private man This publick spirit whereof they vaunt is the same which did inspire the Scriptures to Atoses the Prophets and Apostles and must by this position be the Pope or Churches immediate Agent for establishing this inviolable league of absolute allegeance with mens souls unto them but of none so absolute to their Creator and Redeemer and the rest of whose written laws and eternal decrees must be communicated unto them by a private spirit and subscribed unto with this condition If the Pope shal witnesse them to be his laws or to have this or that meaning 10 Nor can our adversaries deny the truth of this subsequent collection If it were possible for the Pope in matters controversed to teach contrary to Gods Word we were bound to follow him For they themselves argue thus If the Pope could erre in matters of Faith Faith might perish from the Earth all Christians bound to erre because bound to obey him This proves that our Assent to any Scriptures besides those which teach the Popes authority cannot in it self be perfect and absolute but subject to this condition if the Pope be infallible And even of those places which as they pretend witnesse him to be such there yet remains a further difficulty These the Pope believes not because they are confirmed to him by his predecessor but directly and immediately by his publick spirit But may private men believe them so too No. For these especially and the Churches infallibility contained in them are by all our adversaries consent propositions of Faith in respect of us and need by their doctrine the proposal or
testimony of the Church whereon all private mens faith must be immediately grounded believing this we shal from it at least conjoyned with Scripture believe all other parts of Gods Word necessary to salvation as wel as the Pope doth these former from the testimony of his publick spirit Wherefore his authority must be unto us altogether as great as the authority of the Godhead is unto him which is far greater unto him then it is or can be to any others for even that which is acknowledged for Gods Word both by him and us must be lesse authentick unto us then the words of this mortal man 11 For though we pardon our adversaries their former absurdities in seeking to prove the Churches authority by the Scripture and the Scriptures by the Churches though we grant them all they can desire even what shal appear in due place to be most false That whiles they believe the Popes particular injunctions or decisions from a presupposal of his universal transcendent authority they do not only believe him or his words but those parts of Gods Word upon which they seem to ground his infallibility yet our former argument holds stil most firm because that absolute Assent which private men must give unto the supposed grounds of their Religion before other portions of Scripture is not grounded upon any preheminencie incident to these words as they are Gods as if they were more his then the rest in some such peculiar sort as the Ten Commandments are in respect of other Mosaical Laws nor from any internal propriety flowing from the words themselves as if their secret character did unto faithful minds bewray them to be more divine then others nor from any precedent consequent or comitant circumstance probably arguing that sence the Romish Church gives of them to be of it self more perspicuous or credible then the natural meaning of most other Scriptures all inspired by one and the same spirit all for their form of equal authority and perspicuitie All the prerogative then which these passages can have before others must be from the matter contained in them and that by our adversaries position is the Churches Infallibility Wherefore not because they are Gods word or were given by his Spirit in more extraordinary sort then others but because they have more affinity with the Roman Lord in late years exalted above all that is called God Father Son or Holy Ghost these places above cited must be more authentickly believed then all the words of God besides As I have read of pictures though not more artificial in themselves yet held in greater estimation amongst the Heathen and freer from contemptuous censure then any other of the same Painters doing only because they represented their great God Jupiter 12 Another difficultie whereunto we demand an answer is whether whiles they assent as they professe not only to the Infallibility taught as they suppose in the fore-cited places but also unto the Infallibility of Scriptures which teach it they acknowledge two distinct assents or but one If but one let them shew us how possibly the Church can be said to confirm the Scriptures if two let them assign the several properties of either whether is more strong whether must be to the other as Peter to his brethren or if neither of them can confirm the other let them declare how the one can be imagined as a mean or condition of believing the other 13 An Hereticks Belief of the Minor proposition in the former Syllogism saith Bellarmin is but weak A Romanists Belief of the same most strong Let this be the Minor Peter feed my sheep or Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith should not fail what reason can be imagined why a Romanists Relief of these Propositions should be so strong and ours so weak The one hath the Churches Authority to confirm his Faith the other hath not What is it then to have the Churches Authority only to know her Decrees concerning those portions of Scriptures If this were all we know the Romish Churches Decrees as wel as the Romanists but it is nothing to know them if we do not acknowledge them To have the Churches Authority then is to Believe it as Infallible and for this reason is a Roman Catholicks Belief of any portion of Scripture more certain and strong because he hath the Testimony of the Church which he Believes to be most Infallible and believing it most infallibly he must of necessity Believe that to be Scripture that in every place to be the meaning of the Holy Ghost which this Church commends unto him for such Let the most learned of our adversaries here resolve the doubt proposed whether there be two distinct assents in the belief of the forementioned propositions one unto the truth of the proposition itself and another unto the Churches infallibility It is evident by Bellarmins opinion that all the certainty a Roman Catholick hath above a Sectary is from the Churches Infallibility For the proposition it self he can believe no better then an Heretick may unlesse he better believe the Church i. e believe the Churches exposition of it or the Churches infallibility concerning it better then the proposition it self in it self and for it self And so it is evident that the Churches authority is greater because it must be better believed 14 Suppose then one of our Church which believes these propositions to be the word of God should turn Roman Catholick his former belief is by this means become more strong and certain This granted the next question is what should be the Object of this his strong Belief the propositions believed Peter feed my sheep I have prayed for thee or anyother part of Gods written word or the Churches authority not the propositions themselves but only by accident in as much as the Church confirms them to him For suppose the same man should estsoones either altogether revolt from that Church or doubt of her authority his belief of the former propositions becomes hereby as weak as it was before which plainly evinceth that his belief of the Church and this proposition were two distinct Beliefs and that this strong Belief was fastened unto the Churches authority not unto the proposition it self immediately but only by accident in as much as the Church which he believeth so firmly did teach it for his Belief if fastened upon the proposition it self after doubt moved of the Churches authority would have continued the same but now by Bellarmins assertion as soon as he begins to disclaim his belief of the Churches infallibility his former strong belief of the supposed proposition begins to fail and of this failing no other reason then already is can be assigned The reason was because the true direct and proper object of his strong belief was the Churches authority on which the belief of the proposition did intirely depend as the conclusion doth upon the premisses or rather as every particular doth on the universal whereunto it
is essentially subordinate CAP. IV. Containing a further Resolution of Romish faith necessarily inferring the authority of the Romish Church to be of greater authority then Gods Word absolutely not only in respect of us IF we rack the former syllogism a little farther and stretch it out in every joynt to its ful length we may quickly make it confesse our proposed conclusion and somewhat more The Syllogism was thus What soever God hath spoken is most true But God hath spoken and caused to be written all those words contained in the Canon of Scriptures acknowledged by opposite religions of these times Therefore these words are most true The certainty of the Minor depends as our adversaries wil have it upon the present Romish Churches Insallibility which hath commended unto us these Books for Gods Word Be it then granted for disputations sake that we cannot know any part of Gods Word much lesse the just bounds extent or limits of all his words supposed to be revealed for our good but by the Romish Church The Spiritual Sense or true meaning of al most or many parts of these determinate Volums and visible Characters as yet is undeterminate and uncertain whereas all ponts of belief must be grounded on the determinate and certain sence of some part of Gods Word revealed for our adversaries acknowledg all points of Faith should be resolved into the First Truth Hence if we descend to any particular or determinate conclusion of Faith it must be gathered in his Syllogism Whatsoever the Church teacheth concerning the determinate and true sence of Scriptures whereon points of Faith are grounded is most trâ—â— But the Church teacheth thus and thus for example That her own authority is infallibly taught by the Holy Ghost in these words Peter feed my sheep Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith should not fail ergo this sence and meaning of these words is most true And as true as it is must the sence likewise of every proposition or part of Scripture by this Church expounded or declared be accounted 2 The Major proposition of this Syllogism is as undoubted amongst the Roman Catholicks as the Major of the former was unto all Christians but as yet the Minor The Church doth give this or that sence of this or that determinate place may be as uncertain indeed as they would make our belief unto the Minor proposition in the general Syllogism before it be confirmed by the Churches authority For how can we be certain that the Church doth teach al those particulars which the Jesuites propose unto us we have Books indeed which go under the name of the Trent Councel but how shall we know that this Councel was lawfully assembled that some Canons have not been foisted in by private Spirits that the Councel left not some unwritten tradition for explicating their decrees after another fashion then the Jesuites do who shall assure us in these or like doubts The present Church All of us cannot repair to Rome such as can when they come thither cannot be sure to hear the true Church speak ex Cathedra If the Pope send his Writs to assure us what Critick so cunning as to assure us whether they be authentick or counterfeit Finally for all that can be imagined in this case only the Major of the Catholick syllogism indefinitely taken is certain and consequently no particular or definite conclusion of Faith can be certain to a Romanist because there are no possible means of ascertaining the Minor What the true Church doth infallibly define unto his Conscience 3 Or if they wil hold such conclusions as are ordinarily gathered from the Trent Councel or the Popes decisions as infallible points of faith they make their authority to be far greater then the infallibility of Gods written word yea more infallible then the Deity This Collection they would deny unlesse it followed from their own premisses These for example That a conclusion of faith cannot be gathered unless the minor God did say this or that determinately be first made certain But from the Pope or Churches infallibility conclusions of faith may be gathered albeit the minor be not certain de Fide For who can make a Jesuites report of the Popes Decrees or an Historical relation of the Trent Councel certain de fide as certain as an Article of faith And yet the Doctrine of the Trent Councel and Popes Decrees must be held de fide upon pain of damnation albeit men take them only from a Priests mouth or upon a Jesuites faith and credit 4 This is the madnesse of that Antichristian Synagogue that acknowledgeth Gods Word for most infallible and the Scriptures which we have for his word if it self be infallible For it tels us they are such yet wil not have collections or conclusions with equal probability deduced thence so firmly believed by private men as the collections or conclusions which are gathered from the Churches Infallibility An implicit faith of particulars grounded upon the Churches general infallibility so men stedfastly believe it may suffice But implicit faith of particulars grounded only upon our general Belief of Gods infallibility providence or written word sufficeth not This proves the authority of the Church to be above the athority of Scriptures or the Deity absolutely considered not only in respect of us that is all besides the Pope and his Cardinals For that is of more authority absolutely not only in respect of us which upon equal notice or knowledge is to be better believed more esteemed or obeyed but such is the authority of the Church in respect of the divine authority such is the authority of the Popes Decrees in respect of Gods Word For the Minor proposition in both the former Syllogisms being alike uncertain the conclusion must be more certain in that Syllogism whose major relies upon the Popes infallibility then in the other whose Major was grounded upon the infallibility of the Deity 6 Briefly to collect the sum of all The authority of the Church is greater then the authority of Scriptures both in respect of Faith and Christian Obedience In respect of Faith because we are bound to believe the Churches decisions read or explicated unto us by the Popes messenger though a Sir John Lack-latin without any appeal but no part of Scripture acknowledged by us and them we may believe without appeal or submission of our interpretation to the Church albeit the true sence and meaning of it seem never so plain unto private consciences in whom Gods Spirit worketh Faith The same argument is most firm and evident in respect of Obedience 6 That authority over us is alwayes greatest unto which we are to yield most immediate most strict and absolute obedience but by the Romish Churches Doctrine we are to yield supream and most absolute obedience to the Church more supream and absolute then unto Gods word therefore the authority of the Church is greater over us The Major is out of controversie seeing
as an infallible prophet of things past which cannot approve himself a true foreteller of things to come were to invert Gods ordinance and mock his word For it hath been a perpetual law of God that no man should ever be believed more then man or by any faith more then humane though in matters present whereof he might have been an eye witness unless he shewed his participation of the divine spirit by infallible prediction of things to come or evidency of miracles fully answering to the prediction of Gods word already written as shall be shewed at large in the next Section 11 If we put together the first elements of Romish faith as they have been sounded apart they make no such compound as the simple and ignorant Papists who in policy are taught to read this lesson as little children untaught wil by guessing at the whole in grosse without spelling the parts believe they do First their prerogatives they give to Peter are blasphemous Secondly their allegations to prove that their Popes succeed as full heirs to all Peters prerogatives are ridiculous Whence it must needs follow that their faith is but a compost of folly and blasphemy This pretended perpetuity of tradition or suspitious tale of succession from Peter is the best warrant they have that the Church doth not erre in expounding the places alledged for her infallibility and their belief of their infallibility in such expositions the only security their souls can have that obeying the former decree of worshipping the consecrate Host of communicating under one kind they do not contemptuously disobey Gods principal laws mangle Christs last Wil and Testament vilifie his pretious body and bloud Seeing then they themselves confesse the places brought by us against their decrees to be divine and we have demonstrated that mens belief of that infallible authority in making such decrees to be meerly humane the former Conclusion is most firm that whilest men obey these decrees against that natural sense and meaning which the former passages of Scripture suggest so plainly to every mans conscience that the Churches pretended authority set aside none would ever question whether they could admit any restraint they obey men more then God humane laws more then divine and much better believe the traditions of humane Fancy of whose forgery for others worldly gain there be strong presumptions then the expresse written testimony of the holy spirit in the especial points of their own salvation 12 Or if unto the testimony of Gods spirit recorded in Scriptures we adde history tradition Councels or former Popes decrees or whatsoever possibly may be pretended to prove the present Popes authority it must stil be supposed greater and better known then all that can be brought for it or against it as wil appear if we apply our argument used before That authority is alwayes greater which may trie all others and must be tried by none but such is the Popes declaration or determination of all points in controversie whether about the Canon or sence of Scriptures over those which are brought for it whether about the truth true meaning or authority of unwritten traditions whether about the lawfulnesse of Councels or their Authentick interpretations in one word his determinations are Monarchical and may not be examined as S. Austin or others of the ancient Fathers writings may by any law written or unwritten So Bellarmin sutable to the Trent Councel expresly avoucheth The Fathers were only Doctors or expositors the Pope is a Judge What then is the difference betwen a Judge and an expositor To explain as a Judge there is required authority to explain as a Doctor or expositor only learning is requisite For a Doctor doth not propose his sentence as necessary to be followed but only so far as reason shall counsel us but a Judge proposeth his sentence to be followed of necessity Whereof then wil the Pope be Judge Of expounding Scriptures these places of Scripture which make for his pretended authority Must his sentence herein of necessity be followed By Bellarmin it must albeit we see no reason for it either out of Scripture or nature It is for Doctors to bring reasons for their expositions but the Pope neehs not except he wil nor may we exact it of a Judge So he adds more expresly We admit not of Bartolus or Baldus glosses as we do of Emperours declarations Austin and other Fathers in their Commentaries suppy the places of Teachers but the Councel and Popes exercise the function of Judges whereunto God hath designed them But how shal we know that God hath committed all judgement unto them seeing we have been taught by his word that he hath committed all judgement unto his son Because all men should honour the son as they honour the father We read not of any other to whom the like authority is given by God or his son yet of one whose very name shal import the usurpation of like authority that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christs Vicar general unto whom the Son as must be supposed doth delegate the same judiciary power the Father delegated unto him 13 But may a Princes declaration in no case be examined by his subjects Yes though in civil matters it may so far as it concerns their conscienqes as whether it be consonant to Gods word or no whether it make more for the health of their souls to suffer what it inflicts upon the refusers or to act what it commands To controle countermand or hinder the execution of it by opposition of violence or contrary civil power subjects may not But for any but man to usurp such dominion over his fellow creatures souls as earthly Princes have over their subjects goods lands or bodies is more then Monarchical more then tyrannical the very Idea of Antichristianism And what I would commend unto the Reader as a point of especial consideration This assertion of Bellarmin concerning the Popes absolute authority directly proves him as was avouched before to be a supream head or foundation of the self same rank and order with Christ no way inferiour to him in the intensive perfection but only in the extent of absolute soveraignty For greater soveraignty cannot be conceived then this That no man may examin the truth or equity of commands or consequences immediately derived from it though immediately concerning their eternal joy or misery No Prince did ever delegate such soveraign power to his Vice-gerent or deputy nor could he unlesse for the time being at least he did utterly relinquish his own supream authority or admit a ful compeer in his kingdom Bellarmins distinctions of a primary and secondary foundation of a ministerial and principal head of the Church may hence be described to be but meer stales set to catch guls Their conceit of the Popes copartnership with Christ is much better resembled and more truly expressed by the Poets imaginations of Jupiter and Augustus Caesars fraternity Divisum imperium cum
Jove Caesar habet Jove and Caesar are Kings and Gods But Jove of heaven that 's the only ods That Christ should retain the title of the supream head over the Church militant and the reality of supremacy over the Church triumphant our adversaries are not offended Because there is small hope of raising any new tribute from the Angels and Saints in heaven to the Romish Churches use and as little fear that Christ should take any secular commodity from it which anciently it hath enjoyed 14 But though it were true that we were absolutely bound to obey an absolute Monarch of whose right none doubts yet may we examin whether every Potentate that challengeth Monarchical jurisdiction over others or gives forth such insolent edicts in civil matters as the Pope doth in spiritual do not go beyond his authority in these particulars albeit his lawful preâ—ogatives in respect of others be without controversie many and great yet limited both for number and magnitude For suppose King Henry the eight after he had done what he could against the Pope should stil have professed his good liking of Romish religion opposing only this to all his Popish Clergie that had challenged him of revolt Am not I defender of the faith The Pope whom I trow you take for no false Prophet hath given me this prerogatrâ—… amongst Christian Princes as expresly as ever S. Peter bequeathed him his supremacy above other Bishops It is as impossible for me to defend as for his Holinesse to teach any other besides the true Catholick Faith Let the proudest amongst my Prelates examin my expositions of his decrees and by S. George he shall fry a fagot for an Heretick Would this or the like pretence though countenanced by royal authority have been accepted for a just defence that this boisterous King had not contradicted the Pope but the tatling Monks or other private expositors of his decrees would this have satisfied the Popes agents until the King and his Holinesse had come to personal conference for final debatement of the case yet for Christs servants thus to neglect their masters cause is no sin in the Romanists judgement yea an heresie is it not to deal so negligently in it For a sin of no lower rank they make it not to submit our hearts minds and affections unto the Popes negative decrees though against that sence of Scripture which conscience and experience gives us Unto all the doubts fears or scruples these can minister it must suffice That the Pope saith he expounds scripture no otherwise then Christ would were he in earth but only controls all private glosses or expositors of them But can any Christian heart content it self with such delusions and defer all examinations of doctrine until that dreadful day come upon him wherein the great Shepheard shall plead his own cause face to face with this pretended Vicar and his associates Do we believe that Christ hath given us a written law that he shal come to be our Judge and call us to a strict account wherein we have transgressed or kept it yet may we not try by examination whether these Romish guides lead us aright or awry Whether some better or clearer exposition may not be hoped for then the Pope or Councel for the present tenders to us What if the Pope should prohibit all disputations about this point in hand whether obeying him against the true sence of Scripture as we are perswaded we yield greater obedience unto him then unto Scriptures may we not examin the equity of this decree or his exposition of that Scripture which happily he would pretend for this authority his amplius fili mi ne requiras No by their general Tenent and Valentians expresse Assertion it were extream impiety to traverse this sence or exposition under pretence of obscurity c. By the same reason for ought I can see it would follow that if the question were whether obeying the Pope more then God we did obey man more then God we might not examin at least not determin whether the Pope were Man or God or a middle nature betwixt both which came not within the compasse of that comparison CAP. X. In what sense the Jesuites may truly deny they believe the words of man better then the words of God In what sense again our writers truly charge them with this blasphemy 1 IF we review the former discourse we may find that equivocation which Bellarmin sought as a knot in a bulrush in our writers objections to be directly contained in their Churches denial of what was objected Whilest they deny that they exalt the Churches authority above Scriptures or mans word above Gods this denial may have a double sence They may deny a plain and open profession or challenge of greater authority in their Church then in Scriptures Or they may deny that in effect and substance they overthrow all authority of Scripture save only so far as it makes for their purpose 2 That the Pope should openly professe himself competitor with God or in expresse tearms challenge greater authority then Scriptures have was never objected by any of our writers For all of us know the Man of Sin must be no open or outward enemy to the Church but Judas-like a disciple by profession his doctrine indeed must be a doctrine of devils yet counterseiting the voice of Angels as he himself though by internal disposition of mind a slave to all manner of filthinesse and impurity must be enstiled Sanctissimus Dominus the most holy Lord. If the poison of his iniquity were not wrapt up in the titles of divine mysteries it would forth-with be disliked by many silly superstitious souls which daily suck their bane from it because perswaded that the Scriptures which they never have examined whose true sense they never tasted but from some reliques of heathenish zeal idolatrously worship in gross do fully warrant it When our Writers therfore object that the Papists exalt the Popes laws above Gods had not these holy Catholicks an especial grace to grow deaf as often as we charge their mother with such notorious and known whoredomes as they see might evidently be proved unto the world if they should stand to contest with us their meaning is plain that the Pope in deed and issue makes the Scriptures which in shew he seems to reverence of no authority but only with reference to his own That he and his followers should in words much magnifie Gods word written or unwritten we do not marvel because the higher esteem men make of it the higher still he may exalt his throne being absolutely enabled by this device to make all that belongs to God his Word his Laws his Sacraments the pretious Body and Bloud of his Son blessed for ever meer foot-stools to his ambition For if the authority of Scriptures or such traditions as he pretends be established as divine and he admitted sole absolute infallible Judge of their meaning it would argue
Evangelist and led him to Caiaphas the High Priest where the Scribes and Elders were gathered together And lest a Jesuite should have picked a quarrel at the time of their assembly as if they had met at some unlawful hour Saint Luke saith as soon as it was day the Elders of the people and the High Priests and the Scribes came together and led him into their Councel and examined him upon the very fundamental point of faith Saying art thou The Christ tell us For affirming this which is open infidelity to deny the High Priest himself not missed by any witnesses but from Christs own words which he himself had heard pronounceth sentence against him And if this were not enough he proposed the matter to the rest of his associates What think ye and they answered and said He is worthy to die After all this they urged the people to approve of this their Sentence perswading them to ask Barrabas and to destroy Jesus And so strongly had they conjured the multitude by their pretended authority that they apprehend this their choice as a point of faith or good service to God and his Church For when Pilate laieth his bloud unto their charge All the people as the Text saith all such as relied upon the Scribes Pharisees or their high Priests answered and said His bloud be upon us and our children One of your lay Papists could not have been more throughly perswaded of your Churches authority nor more violently bent against John Hus or any other of Christs Martyrs for the like reasons then this whole multitude was against Christ being condemned by the High Priest speaking ex Cathedra Here were more conditions and more solemnities observed in this proceeding of theirs then you require in the Pope speaking ex Cathedra Theirs was a publick assembly and sentence was given by joynt consent in the Consistory and in the morning you hold it sufficient for the Pope to give his desinitive sentence alone without evidence of the fact it self whereunto he ties mens faith as shal appear by your own confessions Nor do you limit him any time as wel in the afternoon as in the forenoon as wel for ought we can gather when drink is in and his wits out of his head as when he is sober For you hold it not necessary for him to use any long deliberation But if it be his wil to bind all Christians to believe him the whole Church must believe that he was herein directed by the Holy Ghost for the Church is bound to hear their chief Pastor And if he bind all men to believe him then must all of necessity believe that he was infallibly assisted by the Holy Ghost in shewing that which he binds them to believe for otherwise the whole Church might erre nay were bound to erre because it is bound to believe the Pope These consequents are your own not mine as may in part appear from what hath been already more fully from what shal be said hereafter Besides the whole multitude of the Jewish people heard the Priests and Elders utter their opinions concerning Christ and his doctrine viva voce we have the Popes decrees but by hear-say Either was this sentence pronounced ex Cathedra or else it wil be hard for you to prove that any sentence in your Church hath been so pronounced or can be although the Pope himself be present in the Councel and be an eye witnesse of all proceedings 8 Yet if any of you should here shufle as ye usually do at the last pinch and say Howsoever Valentia or some others of our learned but private spirits may define what it is to speak ex Cathedra yet we know not whether our Church hath so desined it or no and therefore although these High Priests and Elders did observe all the circumstances which these doctors require in a sentence given ex Cathedra yet for ought we know they might â—ay sure they did fail in some circumstance which we know not and did not indeed speak ex Cathedra albeit they seemed so to do wherefore this doth not conclude against the Popes infallible authority when he speaks ex Cathedra if any of you shall take this last hold as I cannot imagin any other left you we shal quickly beat you out of it For let it be granted for disputations sake that the Pope hath as ye suppose these Jews had an infallible authority when he speaks ex Cathedra yet seeing it is a matter so hard to be known even by these that hear him whether he observe all circumstances required to the exercise and true use of such infallible authority and whether he speak ex Cathedra or no when he may seem to sundry so to speak it would be the only safe course for all Christian Churches utterly to renounce all obedience to him but upon examination of his doctrine to stand continually upon their guard lest under pretence of this his infallible authority when he speaks ex Cathedra he may work some such inestimable mischief unto the Scriptures or Christs chosen here on earth as these High Priests did unto Christ himself by his seeming to speak ex Cathedra when he doth not If by abusing this his infallible authority he should either make away these Scriptures or animate the people to imbrue their hands in the bloud of Christs dearest Saints it is not his speaking ex Cathedra that can redeem their souls from hell nor restore Gods word again for these are matters of an higher price then that they should be purchased with two or three words of his Holinesse unhallowed mouth 9 To conclude if this authority of your Church be but such as the ancient Church of the Jews had you cannot expect any faithful people should otherwise esteem of your decrees then the faithful in our Saviours time were bound to esteem of the Jewish High Priests and Elders whom surely they did not take for Christs only nor best friends If the Popes infallibility be but such as these High Priests had you may be as guilty of the bloud of Christs Saints as they were If you wil challenge as indeed you do greater authority then they had ye must of necessity renounce your principal arguments brought to prove it CAP. XVI That Moses had no such absolute authority as is now ascribed unto the Pope That the manner of Moses his attaining to such as he had excludes all besides our saviour from just challenge of the like 1 WHether Moses were a Magistrate as the Papists think spiritual or as others meerly civil or whereunto upon grounds in due places to be discussed I most incline actually neither and virtually both it wil suffice for proof of our conclusion that the Pope is no servant of God but an adversary in that he exalts himself above Moses whom none besides the High Priest and sole Mediator of the new covenant was to equalize in soveraignty over Gods people
met them as live-like as they themselves were Was he to them a Prophet mighty in word and deed and yet not able to perform what he had constantly spoken But what was the chief matter of their just reproof That they had not believed his words nor given due credence to his works Dull no doubt they had been in not esteeming better of both unwise in not learning more of Him that taught as never man taught but as in them he teacheth us most dul and most unwise even Fools and slow of heart in not believing all that the Prophets had spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things as if he had said Is it possible your ignorance in them should be grosse as not to know that Christ was thus to suffer and so to enter into his glory 2 You wil say perchance they did not wel in giving so little attention and credit to the Prophets whose light should have led them unto Christ but now that they have light on him in person without their help only by his seeking them shall not he who was the end and scope of all prophetical writings teach them all He will but not by relying only upon his infallible authority This Edifice of Faith must be framed upon the Foundation laid by the Prophets For this reason happily our Saviour would not bewray himself to be their infallible teacher until he had made them by evidence of Scripture by true sense and feeling of his spirit believe and know the truth which he taught to be infallible He had opened their hearts by opening the Scriptures unto them before their eyes were open to discern his person for he began at Moses and at all the Prophets and interpreted unto them in all the Scriptures the things which were written of him Stedfast Belief then of any mans authority must spring out of the solid Experience of his skil and truth of his doctrine These two disciples might now resolve their hearts that this was he who John said should baptize with the holy Ghost and with fire when by the working of his spirit their hearts aid burn within them whiles he talked with them and opened the Scriptures unto them Though before they had received John Baptists witnesse of the truth as a Tie or Fest to stay their fleeting Faith yet now they would not receive the record of man there is another that beareth witnesse of him the spirit of truth which hath imprinted his doctrine in their hearts 3 Would the Pope who challengeth Christs place on earth amongst his living members and requires we should believe his words as wel as these Disciples did Christs but expound those Scriptures unto us which Christ did to them with like evidence and efficacy could he make our hearts thus burn within by opening the secret mysteries of our salvation we would take him for Christs Vicar and believe indeed he were infallibly assisted by the Holy Spirit But seeing he and his followers invert our Saviours method by calling the certainty of both Testaments in question telling us we cannot know them to be Gods word unlesse it shal please this Roman God to give his word for them or confirm their truth seeing this his pretended confirmation is not by manifesting the mysteries of our salvation so distinctly and clearly as Christ did unto these Disciples nor by affording us the true sense and feeling of the spirit in such ardent manner as they enjoyed it and yet accurseth us if we believe not his words as wel as they did their Redeemers we may hence take a perfect measure of that mouth of Blasphemies spoken of by S. John according to all the three dimensions contained in the three assertions prefixed to the beginning of this Section Nor can the reader imagin either any other forepassed like unto it or yet to come likely to prove more abominable if it shal but please him to survey the length and breadth of it but especially the profundity 4 The length of it I make That assertion The Pope must be as well believed as either Christ was whilst he lived on earth or his Apostles after his glorification The breadth His absolute authority must be for extent as large and ample as Christs should be were he on earth again or as that commission he gave unto his Disciples Go Preach the Gospel to every creature his directions must go forth throughout all the earth and his words unto the ends of the world The depth is much greater then the space between heaven and hell For if you would draw a line from the Zenith to the Nadir through the Center it would scarce be a gag long enough for this monstrous mouth so wide as hell cannot conceive a greater The depth I gather partly from the excesse of Christs worth either arising from his personal union with the Godhead his sanctity of life and conversation or from his Hyperprophetical Spirit and abundant miracles For look how much he exceeds any but meer man in all these by so much doth the Pope though supposed as not obnoxious to any crime make his authority and favour with God greater then Christs which is the Semidiameter of this Mouth of Blaspemies The other part equal hereunto in quantity but for the quality more tainted with the dregs of Hell ariseth from that opposition the Popes spirit hath unto Christ or from the luxury and beastly manners of the Papacy erected by Satan as it were of purpose to pollute the world with monstrous sins and to derogate as much from mankind as true Christianity doth advance it finally to make the Christian world as much more wicked as Christs Disciples Apostles and faithful followers are better then the heathen Nor doth the Pope exact Belief only without miracles or manifestation of a prophetical spirit but contrary to all notions of good and evil common to Christians and Heathens and as it were in despight of the Prophesies that have deciphered him for Antichrist What heathen Philosopher could with patience have endured to hear that a dissolute luxurious tyrant could not though in matters of this life give wrong sentence out of the seat of Justice The Jesuites teach it as an Article of faith that the Pope albeit a dissolute and ungracious tyrant Mankinds reproach the disgrace of Christianity cannot possibly give an erroneous sentence ex Cathedra no not in mysteries of religion But as if it were a small thing thus impudently to contradict nature and grieve the souls of ingenuous men unlesse they also grieve their God seeking as it were to crosse his spirit by holding opinions not only contradictory but most contrary to his sacred rules they importune the Christian world with tumultuous clamours to take that which the spirit hath given as the demonstrative Character of great Antichrist the old serpents chief confederate for the infallible cognisance of Christs Vicar the very signet of his beloved Spouse Nor wil they I know
Without the help or ministerie of man We maintain as wel as they God is not a father to such as will not acknowledge the Church for their Mother Notwithstanding thus we conceive and speak of the Church indefinitely taken not consined to any determinate place not appropriated to any individual or singularized persons Now to verifie an indefinite speech or proposition the truth of any one particular sufficeth As he that should say Socrates by man was taught his learning doth not mean the specifical nature or whole Mankind but that Socrates as others had one man or other at the first to instruct him The same Dialect we use when we say Every one that truly cals God father receives instructions from the Church his Mother that is from some in the Church lawfully ordained for planting faith unto whom such Filial Obedience as elsewhere we have spoken of is due The difference likewise between the Romanists and us hath partly been discussed before In brief it is thus We hold this Ministery of the Church is a necessary condition or mean precedent for bringing us to the Infallible Truth or true sense of Gods word yet no infallible Rule whereon finally or absolutely we must rely either for discerning divine Revelations or their true meaning But as those resentâ—â—ances of colours which we term Species visibiles are not seen themselves though necessary for the sight of real colours so this Minisiery of the Church alâ—… in it self not infallible is yet necessarily required for our right apprehension 〈◊〉 the Divine Truth which in it self alone is most infallible yea as infallible to us as it was ‖ to the Apostles or Prophets after it be rightly apprehended The difference is in the manner of apprehending or conceiving it They conceived it immediately without the Ministery or instruction of man so cannot we This difference elsewhere I have thus resembled As trees and plants now growing up by the ordinary husbandry of man from seeds precedent are of the same kind and quality with such as vvere immediately created by the hand of God so is the immediate ground of ours the Prophets and Apostles Faith the same Albeit theirs was immediately planted by the finger of God ours propagated from their seed Sown and cherished by the daily industry of faithful Ministers 3 Neither in the substance of this assertion nor manner of the explication do we much differ if ought from Canus in his second book where he taxeth Scotus Durand and others for affirming the last resolution of our faith was to be made into the veracity or infallibility of the Church The Apostles and Prophets saith he resolved their faith into truth and authority divine Therefore we must not resolve our faith into the humane authority of the Church For the faith is the same and must have the same Formal Reason For better confirmation of which assertion he adds this reason Things incident to the object of any habit by accident do not alter the formal reason of the object Now that the Articles of faith should be proposed by these or these men is meerly accidental wherefore seeing the Apostles and Prophets did assent unto the Articles of faith because God revealed them the reason of our assent must be the same Lastly he concludes that the Churches authority miracles or the like are only such precedent conditions or means for begetting faith as sensitive knowledge exhortations or advise of Masters are for bringing us to certain knowledge in demonstrative faculties Had either this great Divine spoken consequently to this doctrine in his 5th Book or would the Jesuites avouch no more then here he doth vve should be glad to give them the right hand of fellowship in this point But they go all a wrong way unto the truth or would to God any way to the truth or not directly to overthrow it Catharinus though in a manner ours in that question about the certainty of salvation saith more perhaps then they meant whom Canus late taxed Avouching as Bellarmin cites his opinion that divine faith could not be certain and infallible unlesse it were of an object approved by the Church Whence would follow what Bellarmin there infers that the Apostles and Prophets should not have been certain of their Revelations immediately sent from God until the Church had approved them which is a doctrine wel deserving a sharper censure then Bellarmin bestows on Cathirinus Albeit to speak the truth Bellarmin was no fit man to censure though the other most worthy to be severely censured Catharinus might have replied that the Prophets and Apostles at least our Saviour in whom Bellarmin instanceth vvere the true Church as wel as they make the Pope Nor can Valentia's with other late â—esuites opinions by any pretence or thew hardly Bellarmins own be cleared from the same inconveniences he objects to Catharinus as will appear upon better examination to be made hereafter CAP. XXVII That the Churches Proposal is the true immediate and prime cause of all obsolute belief any Romanist can have concerning any determinate divine Revelation 1 WHereas Valentian and as he sayes Caietan deny the Churches infallible proposal to be the cause why we believe divine Revelations This speech of his is Equivocal and in the equivocation of it I think Valentian sought to hide the truth The ambiguity or Fallacy is the same which was disclosed in Bellarmins reply unto us objecting that Pontificians make the Churches authority greater then Scriptures In this place as in that the word of God or divine revelations may be taken either indefinitely for whatsoever God shall be supposed to speak or for those particular Scriptures or Revela tions which we suppose he hath already revealed and spoken Or Valentian may speak of the object of our belief not of belief it self If we take his meaning in the former sense what he faith is most true For the Churches infallibility is no cause why we believe that to be true vvhich vve suppose God hath revealed nor did vve ever charge them with this assertion This is an Axiom of nature presupposed in all Religions yet of which none ever knew to make so great secular use as the Romish Church doth But if we speak of that Canon of Scripture which vve have or any things contained in it all which vve and our adversaries joyntly suppose to have come from God the only cause vvhy vve do or can rightly believe them is by Jesuitical doctrine the Churches infallibility that commends them unto us 2 If that Church which Valentian holds so infallible should have said unto him totidem verbis you must believe the books of Maccabees are canonical even for this reason that your holy Catholick Mother tels you so he durst not but have believed as wel the reason as the matter proposed To wit That these Books were Canonical because the Church had enjoyned him so to think albeit his private conscience left to Gods grace and
much grieved at the Trent Councels impietie but now I wonder at these grave Fathers folly that would trouble themselves with prescribing so many Canons or overseeing so large a Catechisme when as the beginning of Protagoras Book one or two words altered might have comprehended the entire confession of such mens faith as rely upon their Fatherhoods The Atheist thus began his Book De dijs non haâ—â—o quod decam utrum sint necne Concerning the Gods or their being I can say nothing A private Roman Catholick might render an entire account of his faith in termes as brief De Christo Christiana fide non habeo quod dicam utrum sint necne Whether there be a Christ or Christian Religion be but a Politick Fable I have nothing to say peremptorily yea or no the Church or Councel can determine whom in this and all other points wherin God is a party I will absolutely believe whilest I live if at my death I find they teach amâ—e let the devil and they if there be a devil decide the controversie Yet this conceit or conditional Belief of Christ and Christianity conceived from the former serves as a ground colour for disposing mens souls to take the sable dye of Hell wherewith the second main stream of Romish impietie will deeply infect all such as drink of it For once believing Gods Word from the Churches testimony this absolute submission of their consciences to embrace that sence it shall suggest sublimates them from refined Heathinisme or Gentilisme to diabolisme or symbolizing with infernal spirits whose chiefest solace consists in acting greatest villanies or wresting the meaning of Gods written Lawes to his dishonour For just proof of which imputation we are to prevent what as we late intimated might in favour of their opinion be replied to our former instance of light and colours 9 Some perhaps well affected would be resolved why as he that sees colours by the sun sees not only the sun but colours with it so he that believes the Scriptures by relying upon the Church should not believe the Church onely but the Scriptures too commended by it The doubt could hardly be resolved if according to our adversaries Tenent the Churches declarations did confirm our faith by illustrating the Canon of Scriptures or making particular truths contained in it inherently more perspicuous as if they were in themselves but potentially credible and made actually such by the Churches Testimony which is the first and Principal Credible in such sort as colours become actually visible by illumination of the principal and prime visible But herein the grounds of Romish doctrine and the instance brought by Sacroboscus to illustrate it are quite contrary For the light of the Sun though most necessary unto sight is yet necessary onely in respect of the object or for making colours actually visible which made such or sufficiently illuminated are instantly perceived without further intermediation of any other light then the internal light of the Organ in discerning colours alwayes rather hindered then helped by circumfusion of light external For this reason it is that men in a pit or cave may at noon day see the starres which are invisible to such as are in the open air not that they are more illuminated to the one then the other but because plentie of light doth hinder the Organ or eye-sight of the one Generally all objects either actually visible in themselves or sufficiently illuminated are better perceived in darknesse then in the light But so our Adversaries will not grant that after the Church hath sufficiently proposed the whole Canon to be Gods Word the distinct meaning of every part is more clear and facile to all private spirits by how much they lesse participate of the visible Churches further illustration For quite contrary to the former instance the Churches testimony or declaration is onely necessary or available to right belief in respect not of the object to be believed Scriptures but of the party believing For as hath been observed no man in their judgement can believe Gods Word or the right meaning of it but by believing the Church and all belief is inherent in the believer Yea this undoubted Belief of the Churches authority is that which in Bellarmine and Sacroboscus's judgement makes a Roman Catholicks belief of Scriptures or divine truths taught by them much better then a Protestants If otherwise the Churches declaration or testimony could without the belief of it infallibility which is inherent in the subject believing make Scriptures credible as the light doth colours visible in themselves a Protestant that knew their Churches meaning might as truely believe them as a Roman Catholick albeit he did not absolutely believe the Church but onely use her help for their Orthodoxal interpretation as he doth ordinary Expositors or as many do the benefit of the Sun for seeing colours which never think whether colours may be seen without it or no. For though it be certain that they cannot yet this opinion is meerly accidental to their sight and if a man should be so wilfull as to maintain the contrary it would argue only blindness of mind none of his bodily sight Nor should distrust of the Romish Churches authority ought diminish our Belief of any divine Truth were her declarations requisite in respect of the object to be believed not in respect of the subject believing 10 Hence ariseth that difference which plainly resolves the former doubt For seeing the Sun makes colours actually visible by adding vertue or lustre to them we may rightly say we see colours as truely as the light by which we see them For though without the benefit of it they cannot be seen yet are they not seen by seeing it or by relying upon it testimony of them Again because the use of light is onely necessarie in respect of the object or for presenting colours to the eye after once they be sufficiently illuminated or presented every creature endued with sight can immediately discern each from other without any further help or benefit of external light then the general whereby they become all alike actually visible at the same instant The Suns light then is the true cause why colours are seen but no cause of our distinguishing one from another being seen or made actuallie visible by it For of all sensible objects sufficiently proposed the sensitive faculty though seated in a private person is the sole immediat supreme Judge and relies not upon any others more publick verdict of them On the contrary because the Romanists supposed firm belief of Scriptures or their true meaning ariseth only from his undoubted belief of the Churches veracicie which is in the believer as in it subject not from any increase of inherent credibilitie or perspicuitie thence propagated to the Scriptures Hence it is that consequently to his positions most repugnant to all truth he thinks after the Church hath sufficiently avouched the Scriptures divine truth in general we
cannot infalliblie distinguish the true sence and meaning of one place from another but must herein also rely upon the Churches testimony and onely believe that sence to be repugnant that consonant to the analogie of faith which she shall tender albeit our private consciences be never so well informed by other Scriptures to the contrary The truth then of our former conclusion is hence easily manifested For seeing they hold both the Scriptures and their distinct sence to be obscure and unable to ascertain themselves unlesse the Church adde perspicuitie or facilitie of communicating their meaning to private spirits such after the Churches proposal cannot possibly discern them any better or more directly in themselves then they did before but must wholy rely upon their Prelates as if these were the onely watchmen in the Tower of Gods Church that could by vertue of their place discern all divine truth Others must believe there is an omnipotent God which hath given his Law a Mediator of the new Testament but what the meaning either of Law or Gospel is they may not presume otherwise to determine then weak sights do of things they see confusedly a farre off whose particular distance or difference they must take onely upon other mens report that have seen them distinctly and at hand 11 To illustrate these deductions with the former similitude of the prime and secondary visibles Let us suppose for disputations sake that the Sun which illuminates colours by its light were further indued as we are with sense and reason able to judge of all the differences between them which it can manifest to us and hence challenge to be a Pope or infallible proposer of colours This supposition the Canonist hath made lesse improbable For Deus fecit duo luminaria God made two lights that is by his interpretation the Pope and the Emperour Or if you please to mitigate the harshnesse of it let the Man in the Moon whom we may not imagine speechlesse be supposed the Sun or Pope of colours his Mercurie or Nuncio As the Papists say we cannot know Scriptures to be Scriptures but by the infallible proposal of the Church so it is evident we cannot see any colour at all unlesse illuminated or proposed by the Suns light But after by it we see them suppose we should take upon us to discourse of their nature or determine of their distinct properties as now we do and the Sun or Pope of colours by himself or his Nuncio should take us up as Duke Humphrey did the blind man restored to sight which he never had lost Yea who taught you to distinguish colours were you not quite blind but now as yet you cannot discern any colours without my publick light and yet will you presume to define their properties and distinguish their natures against my definitive sentence known Must not he that enables you to see them enable you to distinguish them seen Must you not wholly rely upon my authority whether this be white or that black If a man upon these Motives should absolutely believe the Suns determinations renouncing the judgement of his private senses could he truely say that he either knew this colour to be white or that black or another green Rather were he not bound to say I neither know white from black nor black from blew nor blew from green but I know that to be white which the Sun the onely infallible Judge of colours saith is white that onely to be black that blew and that green which he shall determine so to be I may think indeed that the snow is white or coals black but with submission to the Suns determination 12 And yet as you have heard at large out of the Trent Councel and best Apologies can be made for it the Church must be the infallible Judge of all Scripture sence and must absolutely be believed without all appeal to Scriptures not conditionally as she shall accord with them The conclusion hence issuing is most infallible and on their parts most inevitable Whosoever absolutely acknowledgeth this authority in the Church or Consistory and yeelds such obedience unto it in all determinations concerning the Canon of Scriptures doth not believe either this or that determinate proposition of faith or any definite meaning of Gods Word The best resolution he can make of his faith is this I believe that to be the meaning of every place which the Church shall define to be the meaning which is all one as if he had said I do not believe the Scriptures or their meaning but I believe the Churches decision and sentence concerning them He that believes not the Church saith Canus but with this limitation if it give sentence according unto Scriptures doth not believe the Church but the Scriptures By the same reason it followes most directly he that believes not the true sence and meaning of Scriptures but with this reservation if the Church so think or determine doth not believe them but the Church onely For as the Schoolmen say Ubi unum propter aliud ibi unum tantum He that serves God onely because he would be rich doth not serve God but his riches albeit he performe the outward acts of obedience Or if we love a man onely for his affinity with another whom we dearly love we truely and properly love but the one the other onely by way of reflexion or denomination in such a sence as we say a man appears by his proxie that is his proxie appears not he In like sort believing the sence of Scriptures onely from the supposed authentick declaration of the Church or because we believe it we infalliblie believe the Church alone not the Scriptures but onely by an extrinsecal denomination 13 Yet as a man may from some reasons lesse probable have an opinion of what he certainly knowes by motives more sound or as we may love one in some competent measure for his owne sake and yet affect him more entirely for anothers whom we most dearly love so may an absolute Papist in some moral sort believe the Scriptures for themselves or hold their authodoxal sence as probable to his private judgement albeit he believe them most for the Churches sake and that sence best which it commends But this his belief of the Church being by their doctrine more then moral or conditional doth quite overthrow all moral or probable belief he can possiblie have from what ground soever of Scriptures themselves For as I said before the Church shall determine ought contrary to his preconceived opinion the more probable or strong it was the more it encreaseth his doubt and makes his contrary resolution more desperate yea more damnable if habitual because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extreamly contrary to the doctrine of faith Bellarmins prescription in this case is just as if a Physitian or Surgeon should seek to case the pain by ending of the Patients dayes Lest a man should sin against his conscience this
c. He hath not God for his Father that hath not the Church his Mother 465 Churches proposal the Cause of Romish faith 467 The Church the Church see Templum Domini Church see Infallibility Belief The Enthusiasts Circle 150 Circle dolus circulatorius 291 to 293 508 Sacrebosco in a Circle 294 297. see Valentian Coaliers Circle 242 Coaliers Catechisme 292 Conditional see Assent faith belief obedience Cassius his sacriledge at Jerusalem and pilling the Jews punished 67 Crassus his sacriledge at Jerusalem the cause of his destruction 65 66 Crassus his overthrow and sin misapplied ib. Crassus his sinne pointed out in his punishment 66 67 Young Crassus and Old their Ominous stumble as they came out of the Temple at Hierapolis 65. c. St. Cyprian sinned not deadly in contradicting Pope Stephen sayes Bellarmin 313 m. Cup confessed by the Trent Council usuall of old yet forbid by it 330 c. and that upon a Text fore strained 332 c. Cup essentiall 335. Pope may grant it 338 m. A Queen poisoned in the Cup Greg. Tours 330 Council of Trent cited D DAlilah by Poets made Scylla 48 Day of the Lord not limited to one day 100 102 Deliverance from Popery like that from Egypt 138 Divine Authority ground of faith 7 Dialogue of Protestant and Papist 485 Dialogue of Catech. and Consistory 489 Differences dissensions amongst Learned See Scripture Disobedience see Obedience Deucalions flood 50 c. Divels believe how 3 Doctrine Christs doctr tried by Moses his and the Prophets Popes must not be so no not by Christs 428 Belief of Christs Doctrine without triall by Moses c. had been not belief but blindness 429 Christs Doctrine is to Moses his c. as the Conclusion is to the premisses 430 S. Peter proves his doctrine by Moses and the Prophets 453 S. Paul lets his doctrine be examined 456 So doth Christ 428 All doctrine to be tried by scripture 458 Doctrine of Infallibility dangerous to States 499 507 worst of all errors heresies blasphemies ib. in Canonizing Saints dangerous 501 danger from Gods wrath 502 more of the danger of that doctrine 503 This doctrine inverts the Frame of Christian Religion ib. Doubts may arise from extending unduly the meaning of scripture 179 One may in some Case obey or disobey not without doubt yet without sin 180 Every doubt is not sufficient to deny obedience 186 The Text He that doubts c. expounded 179 180 Adam condemned for eating though he doubted not about it 185 One may sin doubting of the Popes or Churches power yet not sin in examining it whilest he doubts says Bell. 313 m. 458 m. 420 Dreams of them in particular 27 c. Wickedness worldliness policie caused defect of Gods warning men by Dreams 29 Bassinas Dream 41 Dreams usual amongst the Patriarchs c. 28 yea to eminent persons and others perhaps that knew not the true God 29 Strabo says Moses taught chastity requisite in those that expected direction from God in Dreams 29 E EDition vulgar part Lucians part S. Jeroms part Theodotions the heretick saies Bellarmine 300 See translation Ecclesiastick writers of the first age why so silent of the wonders of that age 98 99 End he that commends the end commends the necessary means is a rule 420 Eleazar presents a Golden beam to Crassus 66 Emicho wastes the Jews and kils twelve thousand of them 116 Enthusiasme dangerous 150 c. England Jews calamities there 120 c. See Jews Euphrates compounded of Hu prath 56 Evidence excluded from belief 2 Evidence drowns belief 2 Evidence excluded from the thing directly believed not from things united to it 2 Exceptions See objections and universal Experiments of Scripture-truth in our selves how to be found 140 to 145 how to be framed in our selves 144 Experience confirmed S. Peter in the truth of a known Oracle 140 Experiments fruitful and powerful in hearts prepared 142 c. Experiments uneffectual in hearts indisposed why 143 c. Experiments of scripture truth small in our dayes and why so 145 Script as rule of dyet Experiments as nutriment Gods spirit as the digestive 150 c. Experiments confirm faith 408 411 428 433 508 Experience of evil threatned begets hope of good promised 415 F FAbius Ursinus his Oration 50â— Fables resembling truths Helicon Bâ—â—r Cadmus Moses Scylla Dâ—lâ—la Nâ—obe Lots wâ—… 47 c. 59 Fathers how they used the authority of the Church 243 Faith to beget it in children parents instructions be necessary 411 412 413 Faith confirmed how See experiments Jeremies Faith confirmed by seeing Gods threats fulfilled 416 Gideons Faith confirmed 414 To settle and ripen Faith a rule 421 See rule Christ risen revived his disciples Faith by what Moses and Prophets had foretold of him 449 Not of Faith three meanings of that text or phrase 177 to 184 The universality of it limited 178 See Actions see doubts The doubt and disobeying may be not of Faith as well as the positive action 179 Omission may be not of faith as well as commission 185 Implicate Faith Romish differs from conditional Belief 196 Popish writers make the Church mistress of mâ—ns Faith 197 Roman rule of Faith unsufficient 297 to 305 Of Romish Faith the first main ground â—…ds to Atheism second to Heathenism c. 484 c. Resolution of Faith by Valentian 292 464 c. He resolves Faith into the Churches authority not into the first verity 471 472 c. Not into Gods veracity or truth of his word 478 c. Resolution of Faith two fold 472 Foundation what a Foundation the Papists make Christ 356 G GIdeons faith confirmed 414 Gersons caveat to the Pope about Canonizing of Saints 501 Godesaealchus a dutch priest perswades the King of Hungary to kill the Jews 117 Greek letters and inventions taken from the Hebrew 57 Great day of the Lord not to be limited to one day 100 102 Gyants frequent in Moses's daies 35 c. Gyants about mount Vesuvius 101 Gods patience to the Iews a mercy to the Gentiles 80 c. Gods mercy and justice exemplified in the Iews 91 Gods justice and wisdom in the Iews calamity 133 His proceedings against them even to this day most just and most wise ib. Gods favours to Ancient Iews paralleld with the the like to the Gentiles 135 c Gods judgements why not so signal now as in former times 137 Gods providence in the reformation from Popery remarkable 138 c Gods providence how little observed 143 c Gods providence in making the Papists to acknowledge the Apocalyps for Canonical 148 Gods providence in preserving clauses of scripture 149 Gods Spirit not to be discerned but by his fruits 150 H HAnnahs faith confirmed by experiment 142 c Of Hannah more 143 Harmony of sacred Writers 17 c Henry 3. cruel to the Iews 123 Henry 8. by prosopopaeia brought in 372 Heathen objections against the Iews all prevented by Iewish Writers 78 c Hereticks urge scripture 235
punishment 427 Spirit of God not to be known but by his fruits 150 Betwixt the Spirit of God and that of the Papacy the opposition is Diametral 449 c Christ would not suffer unclean spirits to publish the Gospel 354 Spirit of Antichrist 355 Spirits see Triall Proper sorcery in Jesuiticall doctrine 502 Sodom Straboes report of it 50. Circumference sixty furlongs Thirteen populous cities in that soyl destroyed by earthquake sayes he ib. Lots sons in law their wives Lots other daughters probably all destroyed in Sodom 49 Salt-sea might season the Atheist 50 Scriptures truth hath greater and surer tradition then any other Writings 10 Incitement to search the script 9 Madness not to search the script 9 Scripture miracles proved true 11 Script divine truth proved by its prevailing without outward help 11 Script confirmed by the solid marks of Historical truth 13 ad 17 Script divine truth proved by harmony of sacred Writers 17. script divine truth proved from its drift and scope 17 Script Authority proved from the vehemency and sincerity of spirituall affections 19 ad 25 Script truth proved by Poeticall fables 27 ad 30 Some scripture relations confirmed by the apparition of Heathen gods 34 ad 37 Scripture truths transformed into Poeticall fables 46 ad 57. scriptures relation of the Suns standing still misapplied to Atreus 48 Scripture relation of the fiery serpents changed into Cadmus his Dragon ib. Scripture relation of Sodom and Gomorâ—ha proved true by reason and sense 50 Scripture genealogies agree with the names of Nations 52. scriptures relations of the first inhabited parts how proved 53 Scriptures truth proved by Gods proceeding with the Iews 61 ad 90 Scriptures proved by the Iews desolation 137 Scriptures truth how to be confirmed by experiments in our selves 140 ad 145 Scriptures how to be read and heard 142 Many good qualifications required in Readers of scriptures that they may understand them 210 to 219 223 to 229 233 c. 248 256 258 c 261 264 270 Scriptures why so ineffectual in their Readers and Hearers 142 script ineffectivenesse in some no derogation to their power 142. script truth confirmed by the consent of Papists Protestants Jews 146. scripture truth to be known by practise 150. scriptures how unreasonably neglected and distrusted ib. script writ by Moses a perfect rule to the Israelites 229 to 233 255 263 Agreements and Differences betwixt Papist and Protestant about script 163 Obscurity pretended by Papists hinders not script from being that Rule 201 How Protestants grant ' script obscure 201 to 206 Unto what men and for what causes scriptures be obscure 206 to 210 Roâ—ish objections against perspicuity of script flye at God and the Pen-men of holy Writ as much as us 219 220 to 222 S. John and other Evangelists intended plainnesse 220. Pretences of Obscurity are vapours of fleshly corruption 223 233. Bellarmins darkning Lucerna 223 224 225 211. and Valentians 225 m. 226 c. yet this qualified 234. m. He sets a Candlestick upon the light 228 Papists sometimes made the holy Bible the holy Mount that might not be touched 229 m. But now may 257 upon condition m. ib. The Devil made the Jews depart from God by perswading them that Gods Law was too Obscure 230 What Protestants mean by scripture is the Rule of Faith 198 206 268 282 283. See Faith Scripture a rule of Faith even to the unlearned 199 Two Romish objections against scripture being Rule of Faith 155. The former answered 156 c Their other objections Hereticks urge scripture The Learned differ about sence of scripture private spirits uncertain answered 235 c Prove aut nihil aut nimium 266 c conclude against all science as much as against us 266 c See Hereticks Devil and Hereticks cunning in scripture Christ â—…inger and more ready to help 241 Scripture a slumbling block and snare to the unwise so Valent. 248 256. m Difficulty of scripture is the Jews vail so Valent. 209 252 Sufficiency of scripture 254 to 260. sine schola Simonis 259. m Christ submits his doctrine to scripture 255 Scriptures teach the remedy for the danger in reading scriptures 259 c The Objection Protestants permit all to use scripture and to take what sence they please ergo they have no means to end Controversies answered and retorted 271 Script must be understood by the same spirit by which they were written Bell. confesses this 286 Scripture supreme judge of Controversies in what sence 302. Councell of Trents Decree about interpreting scriptures 311 Scripture hath a Ruled Case for the successe of all State Business on foot in the World 144 About the Canon of scripture 146 T TAcitus his spleen against the Iews 70 c Against Christians 114 Tacitus objections against the Iews confuted 70 to 72. Tacitus a Tatler 76 Talmud seems to justifie the condemnation of Christ 396 Iesuites Tempt God 497 Templum Domini Templum Domini the Church the Church 374 422 508 Under the second temple no Bood added to the Canon Providence in it 59 Second Temple see Urim When the Temple was fired Titus kills the priests saying No need of them that being burnt 91 Tithes why so unwillingly payed 144 Titus dying expostulates with God 85 Tiberïus calls a Council about Pan 31 Ten Kings give power to the Beast 505 The word therefore imports not alwayes a cause of the thing but of our instruction to be taken from it 130 131 Testimony of Jesus spirit of prophesie 366 398 Testimony of Iews and papists usefull about Canon of scripture 146 147 c Thamous Egyptian 31 Thunder thought the Pythagoreans made to terrifie them in Hell 54 Turk partner with Ishmael in Circumcision A proselyt of Istmael Heir adopted to that promise Gen. 17. 20. 110 Turk signifies a wild man 110. Turks mad Historians Make Job and Alexander the Great Officers to Solomon 46 47. Under Turks and Saracens Christians suffer as Jews did under Greeks and Asiaticks 110 Tradition of parents how good for children 411 Traditions by Trent decree equal'd to script 487 Trajan in an earthquake drawn out at a window by miracle 96. Trajan shot in the shoulder 108 Trajans Army plagued with storms and flies 108 Traian pursues the Jews Enacts that if a Jew though driven by tempest set foot in Cyprus he is condemned ipso facto 111 Transubstantiation 328 Translation vulgar partly Lucians partly S Jeroms partly Theodotions the Heretick partly anothers may have scribe sâ—ps in it sayes Bellarm. yet no errata in iis quae ad Fidem mores pertinent 300 Forerius his defence and dealing for the vulgar translation 301 Trent decree for the vulgar translation 311 Tryall of spirits 150 c. 265 354 Christians in every Age tryed in tryall of spirits and in their love to God 265 Ignat. Loyola's way of tryall of spirits 151 Tryall of prophesies 434 c S Thomas Moors Jest 192 Ren. Tudelensis his visi ing and relation of the Jews his Countrey-mens
mulierum exercendis illorum impietas 〈◊〉 â—o processisset ut pro communi omnium incolumitate expediret tanti vim morbi celeri remedio coercere omnino 〈◊〉 tejiciendos ex civitatibus decrevit Hieron Rubeus lib. 11. hist Raven Of the â—… some â—… which â—… Moses and the Prophets Such speeches do not import an Absolute Cause of the thing but of our instruction or perswasion concerning it A comparison of the â—… Jews â—… with the stedfastnesse of Abrahams faith Deut. 29. 19. * Vide Socratem lib. 7. cap. 16. Krantzium lib. 10. Wandalorum c. 18. PapiriuÌ„ Masson lib. 3. p. 335. ex Villaneo Vide Hollinshead An. 40 Hen. 3. alibi At Prage in the year 1240. or thereabout they crucified a Christian Die Sacra Parasceves Krantzius lib. 7. Wandalorum c. 40. Vide Ezah 6. * Vide 〈◊〉 cap 〈◊〉 â—â—gr 〈◊〉 Gods Favours to the Ancient Israelites Parallel'd by like Blessings upon the Gentiles Exod. 25. 40. Heb. 8. 5 †Matth. 16. 3. Luke 12. 54. The Jews 〈◊〉 is an especial Light unto the Gentile Rom. 11. 25. â—…4 〈◊〉 Esay 5. 4 6. The Desolation of the Jews the most Effectual Sign for confirming Christian Faith Levit. 16. 44. A Parallel of the Israelites deliverance from Egyptian and Ours from Rome Babrlonish Ihraldom * Interim si Pontificii omnino cum Judaeis signuÌ„ habere velint accipiant hoc quod nos suâ— rhi miraculi loco habcmus unicum virum eumque miserum Monachum absque omni mundana vi Romanorum Pontificum tyrannidem quae tot seculis non tantùm potentissimis Regibus sed Toti Orbi Formidabilis fuit oppâ—gnasse superesse prostravisse juxta Elegantissimos versiculos Harmon Evangel cap. 59. ‖ Dolebat sanctissimo viro non solum vitam eorum quibus religionis confessio mandata erat nefariis sceleribus inquinari sed serpere etiam in religionem maximos errores Ideò de illis everteÌ„dis plurimum laborabat Sed quod tandem â—dcsct râ—pae authoritatem quousque processisset diffideret ne unos homo tanto negotio par esset de seipso spem â—… opravit ut omnes docti viri conjunctis studiis papam in ordinem redigerent Idem dixit quum paulo ante â—… infâ—â—â— us Lutheri propositiones de indulgentiis vidisset Lurherum in bonam causam ingressum esse sed unius â—… vires nihil valere ad tantam pontificis potentiam infringendam quae nimium invaluifâ—eâ— Et lectis approâ—… propofitionibus Luthâ—â—i exclamasse fertur Frater c. Johan Wolf in prafat ad Kranizii opera S. Peters Belief of known Orâ—dâ—â—â—nsâ—meâ—â— Eâ—pâ—… Jâ—â— 34 19. Wisd 6. 7. Acts 10. 34. Deut. 32. 29 30 39. Naaman without the written word by Experiment confirmed in the truth of what was written in the word 2 Kings 5. 15. Verse 17. 2 Tim. 3. 5 6 7. Beâ—… effects of Experiments lesse wonderful in Anna. 1 Sam. 2. 2. * De Prophetiâ Hannae vide AugustinuÌ„ lib. 17. de Civ Dei c. 4. Different Operations of like Experiments in diverse parties with their causes †1 Kings 20. vers 23. General directions for the right making of Experiments in our selves The causes why so many in â—ur dares have little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Experience of the truth of divine 〈◊〉 * The testimonies of the Ancient Israelites and modern Jews for the Canon of the old Testament is most Authentick For even those Aâ—… Fathers which our adversaries alledge to ackknowledg some more Books for Canonical then our Church doth did it only upon this Errour that they thought there had been more in the Canon of the Hebrew upon whose testimonies they relied as will be made clear against the Papists 〈◊〉 â—…at Mâ—… 11. 1◠〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 phâ—…â—â—â—nem c. That is their writinâ— wâ—re the complâ—at 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and infallible means of salvaâ—ion until John Yet can it not be proved that any Book held by our Church for Aâ—…al 〈◊〉 contained either undeâ— thâ— Law 〈◊〉 Proâ—â—â—ts 〈◊〉 the Historical books of the Hebrew Canon are Evident it is that the bâ—â—ks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Mâ—…s were writ since Mâ—lâ—chies time from whom till John no Prophet was to be expected â—ut Mosâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 recorded in Histories and prophetical commentaries till Malachies time Inclusive was to be the immediat◠〈◊〉 for dâ—…ning the Great â—rophâ—â— See Lib. 2. c. 17. numb 3. 4. l. 1. c. 17. ‖ The divine Authority of Some Books in the new Testament especially the Apocalypse doubted of by the Ancient brought to light in later times Wherein the Testimony of the Rimish Church in discerning some Canonical Books is most available †How our firm Assent to some Principal mat ters revealed in Scriptures 〈◊〉 our Faith unto their whole Canon * This is that Circle which the Adversary 〈◊〉 as a Counterâ—… to us whilest we seek to overthrow their Circular â—… The Objects 〈◊〉 may justly be 〈◊〉 upon the Enthusiast but not on Our Church as shall appear in the 〈◊〉 Section of the Second Book †Proficiâ—â—tibus ut admonet P. noster Ignatius L. Exercit de dignosc spirit Spiritus malus se dure implacide violenter quasi cum strepitu quodam ut imber in saxa decidens infundit Bonus vero iisdem leniter placide suaviter sicut aqua irrorat spongiam Illis vero qui in deterius proficiunt experientia docet contrà evenire Delrius disquisit Magic lib. 4. cap. 1. q. 3. sect 6. 2 Tim. 3. 16. The Romanists 1. Objection set down here is answered in the next Chap. c. * This 〈◊〉 is answered Chap. 19 â—…c 〈◊〉 2. †This is R◠〈◊〉 and an sâ—… Chap. â—… ‖ Answered Chap. 12. * Tot verò traÌ„slationes mutationes sinc gravissimo periculo incoÌ„modo non fierent Nam non semper inveniun cur idonei in terpretes atque ita multi errores coÌ„mitterentur qui non possint postea sacilè tolli Cum neque Pontifices neque Concilia de tot linguis judicare possint Bellarm lib. 2. de verbo Dei cap. 15. in Fin. * Were their Objections against us pertinent not the Popes Infallibilitie but the Priests and Jesuites Honestie or Fidelity should be the Rule of mose Lay Papasts Faith †Concil Trident Sessione quarta Granting the Pope to be as infallible as God himself yet were not his Decrees related by his messengers to be so much believed as Gods written Word received by us them because it is more free from suspition of Forgerie then they can be harder to be Counterfeited then they are †A brief Answer to the Objection concerning the Illiterate In what Sense the Scripture or written Word may be said to be the Rule of their Faith-see chap. 11. parag 3. and 4. How far such are to rely upon their Instructors Authority see chap. 8. ‖ See chap. 16. * The want of skill in sacred tongues in former ages was for their ingratitude towards God and loving of Darknesse more then
3 Lastly the experiments which are related by Authors of this profession men in any reasonable mans judgement as much to be Believed herein as any other Writers in theirs are far more notable and apt to produce belief and hope of attaining the truth in this profession than any others can have in theirs The experiments of others were but ordinary and natural these are extraordinary and supernatural If the Atheist should impudently deny the truth of their report we may convince him with S. Augustines acute Dilemma If the Miracles related by our Writers be true they give evident experiment of the truth of Scripture if there were no such particular miracles but all feigned then this was a miracle above all miracles that Christian Religion should prevail against all other Arts Power or Policy without any extraordinary event or miracle It was not so easie a matter to cozen all the Roman Emperours and their Deputies with feigned Tales the World which hated Christians so much was inquisitive enough to know the truth of their reports I may conclude Nisi veritas magna fuisset non praevaluisset It was miraculous doubtless that it should so enrease without arms without any promise of carnal pleasure or security but even against their natural inclination that did profess it and all the Worlds opposition against it It had enemies both private and publick domestick and forraign even the flesh and sense of those which followed it fought against it 4 Mahomet since that time hath found a multitude of followers but all either enforced to follow him by threats of shame disgrace and tortures in this life or else allured thereto by fair promises of carnal pleasures to be perpetual without interruption in the life to come He hath set his followers such a course as they might be sure both of wind and tide And if the Haven whereat they arrive were as safe as their course is easie they were of all men the most happy But Christianity from its first beginning was to row against the stream of flesh and blood and to bear out sail against all the blasts that the Devil World or Flesh could oppose against it In a word the increase of Mahumetism hath followed the barbarous Turkish monarchies advancement as moisture in bodies doth the increasing fulness of the Moon And it had been an extraordinary Miracle if a barbarous multitude never acquainted with any civil pleasures should not have composed their mindes unto their Emperours in following a Religion framed as it were to court the senses and wooe the flesh But Christianitie then flourished most when the scorching heat of persecution was at the height When the countenance of Emperours as terrible to their foes for their Heroical valour as plausible to their friends for their lovely carriage were most fiercely set against it What Princes either more terrible to their enemies or more amiable to their friends than Trajan Dioclesian or others of the Christians persecutors were What man living is there of civil education that would not have lothed Mahomet and the whole succession of the Ottoman Familie in respect of these Roman Princes And yet a great part of their native Subjects men as otherwise excellently qualified so of a quiet and peaceable disposition yet readie alwaies to venture their lives for these Heathen Princes in most dangerous service against the enemies of the Roman Empire but most readie to follow the Crucisied Christ through fire and sword against their Emperors command dearer to them than this mortal life and all the Worlds threats or allurements It were sottish to think that such men had not perfect notice of some Higher Powers Commandment to the contrarie whom they thought it safer to obey when they contradicted the commandments or fair allurements of these supream Earthly Powers And it were as silly a perswasion to think that if the great Turk would change his religion for any other that might yeeld like hopes of carnal pleasure after this life any great number of his Subjects would lose their dignities for refusing subscription 5 The brief of what hath been or may be said concerning the grounds or motives of our Assent unto Objects supernatural may be comprised in these four Propositions following of which the first two are Axiomes evident in nature and received by all The two latter undoubted Axiomes amongst true Believers but suppositions onely to meer natural men or Novices in Christianity 6 The first The Stile or Title of these Sacred Books pretending divine Authority binde all men to make trial of their truth commended to us by our Ancestors confirmed to them by the Blood of Martyrs their Predecessors to use the means which they prescribed for this trial that is Abstinence from things forbidden and Alacrity in doing things commanded by them 7 The second Ordinary Apprehension or natural Belief of matters contained in Scriptures or the Christian Creed are of more force to cause men to undertake any good or abstain from any evil than the most firm Belief of any ordinary matters or any points of meer Natural consequence 8 The third Objects and grounds of Christian Belief have in them greater stability of truth and are in themselves more apt to found most strong and firm Belief then any other things whatsoever meerly credible 9 For as the most noble Essences and first Principles of every Art are most intelligible so are divine Truths of all other most Credible Not that they are more easie to be Assented to of any at their first proposal But that they have a greater measure of credibilitie in them and as their credibilitie and truth is inexhaustible so Belief of them once planted can never grow to such fulnesse of certaintie as not to receive daily increase if we applie our mindes diligently unto them so that true Christian Belief admits no stint of growth in this life but still comes nearer and nearer to that evidence of Knowledge which shall swallow it up in the life to come For the conceit of impossibilities or repugnances in nature objected by the obdurate Atheists to make the Principles of Christian religion seem incredible that they might like old Truants have the companie of Novices in Christianitie to loiter or mis-spend good hours with them we shall by Gods assistance dispel them and all other Clouds of like Errours in unfolding the truth of those Articles which they most concern 10 The fourth The means of apprehending the truth of Scriptures and experiments confirming their divine Authority are both for variety of kindes and number of Individual in every kinde far more and more certain than the means of apprehending the grounds of any other Belief or the experiments of any other teachers Authority 11 Some Particulars of every kinde with the General Heads or Common places whence like Observations may be drawn we are now to present so far as they concern the confirmation of the truth of Scriptures in general For the experiments which confirm the truth
force of assimilating them unto the paterns of godly and religious mens Souls represented herein yea even of transforming them into the similitude of that Image wherein they were first created The Idaeas of Sanctity and Righteousnesse contained in this Spiritual Glasse are the causes of our Edification in good life and Vertue as the Idaea or Platform in the Artificers head is the cause of the Material House that is builded by it SECT II. Of Experiments and Observations External answerable to the rules of Scripture CAP. VII Containing the Topick whence such Observations must be drawn 1 IF the Books of some Ancient rare Author who had written in sundry Arts should be found in this Age all bearing the Authors name and other commendable Titles prefixed a reasonable man would soon be perswaded that they were His whose name they bore but sooner if he had any positive arguments to perswade himself or their Antiquitie or if they were commended to him by the authoritie or report of men in this case credible But besides all these if every man according to his Experience or Skill in those Arts and Faculties which this Ancient writer handles should upon due examination of his Conclusions or discourse find resolution in such points as he had alwayes wavered in before or be instructed in matters of his Profession or observation whereof he was formerly ignorant this would much strengthen his Assent unto the former reports or traditions concerning their Author or unto the due praises and Titles prefixed to his Works albeit he that made this trial could not prove the same truth so fully to another nor cause him to Believe it so firmly as he himself doth unlesse he could induce him to examine his writings by like Experiments in some Facultie wherein the examiner had some though lesse Skill And yet after the like trial made he that had formerly doubted would Believe these works to be the supposed Authors and subscribe unto the Titles and commendations prefixed not so much for the Formers Report or Authoritie as from his own Experience Now we have more certain Experiments to prove that the Scriptures are the word of God then we can have to prove any mens works to be their supposed Authors for one Author in any Age may be as good as another He perhaps better of whom we have heard lesse We could in the former case only certainly Believe that the Author whosoever was an excellent Scholler but we could not be so certain that it was none other but he whose Name it did bear For there may be many Aristotles and many Platoes many Excelllent men in every Profession yet but One God that is All in All whose Works we suppose the Scriptures are which upon strict examination will evince him alone to have been their Author 2 The meanes then of establishing our Assent unto any part of Scripture must be from Experiments and Observations agreeable to the rules in Scripture For when we see the reason and manner of sundrie events either related by others or experienced in our selves which otherwise we could never have reached unto by any Natural Skill or generally when we see any effects or concurrence of things which cannot be ascribed to any but a Supernatural Cause and yet they fully agreeing to the Oracles of Scriptures or Articles of Belief This is a sure Pledge unto us that he who is the Author of Truth and gives being unto all things was the Author of Scriptures 3 Such Events and Experiments are divers and according to their diversities may work more or lesse on divers dispositions Some may find more of one sort some of another none all Some again may be more induced to Believe the truth of Scriptures from one sort of Experiments some from others Those observations are alwayes best for every man which are most incident to his Vocation With some varietie of these observations or Experiments we are in the next place to acquaint divers Readers CAP. VIII That Heathenish Fables ought not to Prejudice divine Truth 1 NOthing more usual to men wise enough in their generation then for the varietie or multitude of false reports concerning any Subject to discredit All that are extant of the same And all inclination unto diffidence or distrust is not alwayes to be misliked but onely when it swayes too far or extends is self beyond the limits of its proper Circumference that is matters of Bargain or secular Commerce As this diffident temper is most common in the cunning managers of such affaires so the first degree or propension to it were not much amiss in them did they not Transcendere à genere ad genus that is were not their Mistrust commonly too generally rigid and stiff For most men of great dealings in the world finding many slipperie companions hold it no sin to be at the least suspitious of all Others being often cozened by such as have had the name and reputation of Honest men begin to doubt whether there be any such thing indeed as that which men call Honestie and from this doubting about the real nature of Honestie in the Abstract they resolve undoubtedly That if any man in these dayes do not dâ—… ill with others it is onely for want of sit opportunitie to do himself any great good But as Facilitie in yielding Assent unless it be moderated by discretion is an infallible Consequent of too great simplicitie and layes a man open to abuse and wrong in matters of this life so General Mistrust is the certain forerunner of Insidelity and makes a man apt enough to cozen himself without a tempter in matters of the life to come though otherwise this is the very disposition which the great Tempter works most upon who for this reason when any notable truth of greater moment fals out labours by all means to fil the world with reports of like events but such as upon examination he foresees wil prove false for he knows well that the Belief of most pregnant truths may be this means be much impaired as honest men are usually mistrusted when the world is full of knaves And to speak the Truth It is but a very short Cut betwixt general and rigid Mistrust in worldly dealings and Infidelity in spiritual matters which indeed is but a kind of diffidence or mistrust and he that from the experience of often cozenage comes once to this point That he will trust none in worldly affairs but upon strong securitie or legal assurance may easily be transported by the varietie or multitude of reports in spiritual matters notoriously false to Believe nothing but upon the sure pledge and Evidence of his own Sense or natural Reason This is one main fountain of Atheism of which God willing in the Article of the Godhead In this place I onely desire to give the Reader notice of Satans Policy and to advertise him withall that as there is a kind of Ingenuous Simplicity which if it match with sobâ—ieâ—ie and serious
Authoritie of some Books it rather ought to confirm his Faith that men disagreeing so much in many opinions so opposite in their affections should so well agree about the number of no fewer then two and twentie Canonical Books of the old Testament Had their authority only been Human or left to the choice of men whether they should be allowed or rejected many that now admit them would reject them because opposite Religions did embrace them That all sorts of Protestants Papists and Jews do receive them is an infallible Argument that he who is Lord of all did commend them to all Nor doth our Church so disclaim all which the Romans above these two and twenty admit as if it were a point of faith to hold there were no more it only admits no more into the same Rank and Order with the former because we have no such warrant of faith or sure Experiments so to do Many of them discover themselves to be Apocryphal and albeit some of them can very hardly or not at all be discerned for such by their Stile Character or dissonancie to Canonical Scriptures yet that none of them indeed are or can be admitted for Canonical without manifest tempting of God is evident from what hath been observed before concerning Gods unspeakable providence in making the Blinded and Perfidious Jews Christ's and our bitterest enemies such trusty Feoffees for making over the Assurances of Life unto us For seeing by them he commended unto us only so many Books of the old Testament as our Church acknowledgeth this is an intallible Argument that His will was we should admit no more Had any more been written before the re-edifying of the Temple by Zerubbabel no doubt the Jews would have admitted them into their Canon For all such as should be written after the Prophet Malachie who is the last of their Canon had left this caveat in the last words of his prophecie for not admitting them Remember the law of Moses my servant which I commanded to him in Horeb in all Israel with the statutes and judgments as if he had said You must content your selves with His Writings such as you have already Consonant to his for any others of equal Authoritie you may not expect until the Expectation of the Gentiles come For no Prophet shall arise untill that time as he intimates in the last words Behold I will send you Eliah the Prophet before the coming of the great and fearful day of the Lord and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest 〈◊〉 come and smite the earth with cursing The Ministery of others for converting souls he supposed should be but ordinarie by the Exposition of the Law and Prophets and the Authoritie of such writ they as much as they listed could not be Authentick or Canonical 3 Some others again of reformed Churches in these our times have from the example of Antiquitie doubted of the authoritie of some Books in the new Testament as of Jude of James the second of Peter and some others Which doubt is now diminished by their continuance in the sacred Canon so long time not without manifest documents of GODS providence in preserving â—hem whose pleasure it may seem was to have these Books of whom the Ancients most doubted fenced and guarded on the one side by S. Pauls Epistles and other Canonical Scriptures never called in question by any but absurd and foolish Hereticks whose humorous opinions herein died with themselves and on the other by the Book of the Apocalypse of whose Authoritie â—hough many of the Ancient for the time being doubted yet He that was before all times did fore-see that it should in later times manifest it self to be â—…is work by Events answerable to the Prophecies contained in it And albeit many Apocryphal Books have been stamped with Divine Titles and obâ—…uded upon the Church as Canonical whilest she was in her Infancie and the sacred Canon newly constitute yet the divine Spirit by which it was written hath wrought them out as new wine doth such filth or grossenesse as mingle with it whilest the grapes are troden S. Johns Adjuration in the conclusion of that Book hath not only terrified all for adding unto or diminishing it â—elf but hath been as it were a Seal unto the rest of this Sacred Volume of the new Testament as Malachies prophecie was to the old the whole Canon it self consisting both of the Old and New continues still as the Ark of God and all other Counterfeits as Dagon 4 Were not our Roman adversaries Doctrine concerning the general principles of Faith an Invention devised of purpose by Satan to obliterate all print â—r impression of Gods providence in governing his Church out of mens hearts how were it possible for any man endued with reason to be so far overgrown with Phrensie as not to conceive their own folly madnes in avouchâ—…g we cannot know what books are Canonical what not but by the Infallible Testimony of the present Romish Church But of those impieties at large hereafter I wil now only infer part of their Conclusion which they still labor but never shall be able to prove from Premises which they never dreamt of For 〈◊〉 profess among others this is not the least reason I have to hold the Apocalypse for Canonical Scripture because the Romish Church doth so esteem it Nor could reformed Churches Belief of its Authority be so strong unless that Church had not denied but openly acknowledged it for Canonical Scripture As the same Beams of the Sun reach from heaven to earth and from one end of the world to another so do the same raies of Gods power extend themselves from generation to generation alwaies alike conspicuous to such as are Illuminate by His Spirit for who thus Illuminate can acknowledg his providence in making the Jews so careful to preserve the old Testament and not as clearly discern the same in constraining the Romish Church to give her supposed infallible Testimony of the Apocalypse Doubtlesse if that Book had been the work of man it had been more violently used by that Church of late then ever the new Testrment hath been by the Jewish Synagogue or any Heretick by the Romanists seeing it hath said far more against â—hem then any whom they account for such ever did But God who â—ade Pharaohs Daughter a second mother unto Moses whom he had apâ—…ted to bring destruction afterwards upon her Fathers house and Kingâ—â—m hath made the Romish Church of old a Dry Nurse to preserve this Book whose meaning she knew not that it might bring desolation upon her self 〈◊〉 her children in time to come For by the breath of the Lord shall she be destroyed her doom is already read by S. John the Lord of late hath intangled her in her own snare whilest she was drawing it to catch others Her childrens Brags of their mothers
the Holy Ghost did write we answer briefly That the Language Tongue or Dialect is but the Vesture of Truth the Truth it self for substance is one and the same in all Languages And the Holy Spirit who instructed the first Messengers of the Gospel with the true sense and knowledge of the Truths therein revealed and furnished them with Diversity of Tongues to utter them to the capacitie of divers Nations can and doth throughout all succeeding Ages continue his gifts whether of Tongues or others whatsoever are necessarie for conveying the true sense and meaning of saving Truth already taught immediately to the Hearts of all such in every Nation as are not for their sin judged unworthy of his societie of all such as resist not His Motions to follow the Lusts of the Flesh And as for men altogether Illiterate that cannot read the Scripture in any Tongue we do not hold them bound nor indeed are any to Beleive absolutely or expresly every Clause or sentence in the sacred Canon to be the Infallible Oracle of Gods Spirit otherwise then is before expressed but unto the several Matters or substance of Truth contained in the principal Parts thereof their souls and Spirits are so surely tied and fastned that they can say to their own Concences Wheresoever these men that teach us these good Lessons learned the same themselves most certain it is that Originally they came from God and by the gracious Providence of that God whose Goodnesse they so often mention are they now come to us Such are the Rules or Testimonies of Gods Providence the Doctrines or real truths of Oriâ—…il Sin of our Misery by Nature and Freedom by Grace Such are the Articles of Christs Passion and the Effects thereof of the Resurrection and Life everlasting Unto These and other Points of like Nature and Consequence every true Christian Soul indued with Reason and Discourse gives a ful a firm and absolute Assent directly and immediately fastned upon these Truths themselves not tied or held unto them by any Authority of Man For albeit true and stedfast Belief of these Fundamental Points might be as scant as the true Worship of God seemed to be unto Flias in his daies yet every Faithful Soul must thus resolve Though all the World besides my self should worship Baal and follow after other Gods yet will I follow the God of Heaven in whom our Fathers trusted and on whose Providence who so reâ—…es shal never fall So likewise must every Christian both in Heart resolve Cutwardly profess with Peter but with unfaâ—â—ed praiers for better Succesâ—… diligent Indeavours by his Example to beware of all Presumption Though the World beside my self should abâ—ure Christ and admit of Mahomet for their Mediator yet would not I follow so great a Multitude to so great an Evil but always cleave unto the cruciâ—ied Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer who I know is both Able and Willing to save all such as follow him both in Life and Death So again though all the subtiltie and wisdom of Hell the World and Flesh should joyntly bend their Force stretch Invention to overthrow the glorious Hope of our Resurrection from the dead yet every Faithful Christ an must here resolve with Job and out of his Believing Heart profess I am sure that my Redeemer liveth and he shal stand the last on the earth and though after my skin this Body be destroyed yet shal I see God in my Plesh whom I my self shal see and mine eyes shal behold and none other for me Job 19. 25. As we hope to see Christ with our own eyes immediately and directly in his Person not by any other mens eyes so must we in this life stedfastly believe and fasten our Faith upon those Points and Articles which are Necessarie for the aâ—taining of this sight of Christ In and For Themselves not from any Authoritie or Testimonie of Men upon which we must relie for this were to see with the eyes of others Faith not with our own 12 Many other Points there be not of like Necessitie or Consequence which unto men specially altogether unlearned or otherwiâ—e of less capacity may be proposed as the Infallible Oracles of God unto some of which it is not lawful for them to give so absolute and firm irrevocable Asâ—ent as they must do unto the former because they cannot discern the Truth of them in it self or for it self or with their own eyes as it is supposed they did the Truth of the former CAP. III. The general Heads of Agreements or Differences betwixt us and the Papists in this Argument 1 Aâ—… the Diâ—â—iculties in this Argument may be reduced to these Three Heads First How we can know whether God hath spoken any thing or no unto his Church Secondly What the Extent of his Word or Speech is as whether All he hath spoken be VVritten or some Unwritten or how we may know amongst Books written which are written by Him which not Likewise of Unwritten Verities which are Divine which Counterfeit Thirdly How we know the Sense and Meaning of Gods VVord whether VVritten or Unwritten 2 These Difficulties are common to the Jews Turks Christians and all Hereticks whatsoever All which agree in this main Principle That whatsoever God hath said or shall say at any time is most undoubtedly and infallibly True 3 But for this present we must dismisse all Questions about the Number or Sufficiencie of Canonical Books or Necessitie of Traditions For these are without the lists of our proposed Method All the Professours either of reformed or Romish Religion agree in this Principle That certain Books which both acknowledge do contain in them the undoubted and infallible Word of God 4 The first Point of Breach or Difference betwixt us and the Papist is concerning the Means how a Christian man may be in Conscience perswaded as stedfastly and infallibly as is necessarie unto Salvation That these Books whose Authoritie none of them denie but both outwardly acknowledge are indeed Gods Words 5 The second Point of Difference admitting the stedfast and infallible Belief of the former is concerning the Means how every Christian man may be in Conscience perswaded as infallibly as is necessary to his Salvation of the true Sense and Meaning of these Books joyntly acknowledged and stedfastly believed of both 6 In the Means or Manner how we come to Believe both these Points stedfastly and infallibly we agree again in this Principle That neither of the former Points can ordinarily be fully and stedfastly Believed without the Ministerie Asseveration Proposal or instructions of men appointed by God for the begetting of Faith and Belief in others hearts both of us agree that this Faith must come by Hearing of the Divine Word 7 Concerning the Authority of Preachers or men thus appointed for the begetting of Faith the Question again is Twofold 8 First whether this Authority be primarily or in some peculiar sort
what Obedience do men perform unto Him more then to any other man whomsoever For whosoever he be that can shew us the expresse undoubted command of God it must be Obeyed of all but whilest it is thus Obeyed It only not He that sheweth it unto us is Obeyed And if this were all the Obedience which I owe unto others I were no more bound to Believe or Obey any other man then he is bound to Obey or Believe me the Flock no more bound to Obey their Pastors then the Pastors them Yet certainly God who hath set Kingdoms in order is not the Author of such Confusion in the Spiritual Regiment of his Church 3 Seeing then it is most certain that the Romanists do foully Erre let us see how their Errour may be fully Contradicted not strive to be most Contrary unto them but rather to seek out the mean between these two Erroneous Extreams 4 Infallible Assent and illimited unreserved Obedience we may not perform to the present Church or any visible Companie of Men but to the Scripture only made known and evident to our Consciences This Assertion is directly and fully Contradictorie unto the Papists 5 Conditional Assent and cautionary Obedience we may and must perform to our spiritual Pastors Overseers and Governours albeit we see not expresse Commission out of Scripture to warrant these Particulars whereunto they demand Assent or Obedience It is sufficient that they have their general Commission for Obedience expresly contained in Scripture This Assertion directly Contradicts the other Extream or contrary Assertion and of all the three onely doth not Contradict the Word of God which expresly teacheth that Some peculiar Obedience is due unto Spiritual Governours Unlesse we hold that when Christ ascended on High and led Captivity captive his Donation of Spiritual Authority was but a donation of bare Titles without Realities answering unto them To some He gave to be Aposiles to some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers Ephes 4. 11. Though Prophecying in some degree hath ceast and the Eminencie of Apostleship be dead with the Apostles yet Pastors remain and Teachers must continue in Christs Church unto the Worlds end If Pastors we be then must we have our shepherds Staff if Teachers a Rod to keep our Schollers in awe The same Apostle from these grounds thus exhorteth the flock Obey them that have the oversight of you and Submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Heb. 13. 17. What manner of Submission or what kind of Obedience doth he here exact Only Spiritual will the carnal Gospeller reply But what manner of Obedience is this Spiritual the least of all others It is doubtlesse in their esteem which fear no losse but what is sensible for the present nor know not the Vertue of any thing but what is palpable unto all such to be Spiritual is all one as to be Invisible and to be Invisible is all one as not to Be at all This is the last Resolution of most mens Conceit of all Spiritual Authority in our times But such such as dread the Majesty of that Invisible God and fear to grieve his Holy Spirit will be most afraid of contemning Spiritual Authority Disobedience to it though in a Prince is as hateful to the King of Kings as the sin of Witch-craft for no Subject is more bound to Obey his Prince in Civil Actions than his Pastors in Spiritual He that said touch not mine Anointed said also do my Prophets no harm Of Princes it is said by the Apostle He that resisteth them resisteth God To Pastors it was said by the Wisdom of God by whom Princes raign He that heareth you heareth me he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me and else-where 〈◊〉 hose sins ye remit they are remitted whose sins ye retain they are retained These are Prerogatives of Priests and were not esteemed as words of Course or Formality in the Ancient and Primitive Church It was the just fear of Disobedience in the Flock which first gaue occasion to Pastors to usurp this Tyranny over them which now they practise For as Idolatry and Superstition could not have increased so much in the old World unlesse there had been evident Documents of a Divine Power in Ages Precedent So neither could this extreme Tyrannie over Christs flock have been either usurped in the middle or continued to the later Ages of the Christian world unlesse the Flock had made it a main matter of Conscience to Disobey their Pastors and Overseers whose Authority they knew from those places of Scripture then well expounded by the Practise of Holy Men to be exceedding great 6 Saint Peter foresaw that this Antichristian Authority was likely to spring from the Peoples Reverent Conceit of their Pastors Authority and because the Fock was bound most strictly to Obey them he willeth the Pastors not to be too Lordly in their Commands Feed the flock of God which dependeth upon you caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind Not as though ye were Lords over Gods Heritage but that ye may be Ensamples to the flock So doth Saint Paul Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own bloud for I know this that after me departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Unlesse the Flock for their parts had been bound to strict Obedience Usurpation of Lordship over them had not been so easie especially when there was no Power beside the Pastoral staff to keep them under nor could their Pastors have had any such opportunity to attempt it as might justly occasion these Caveats from these two Apostles which by their moderate Carriage had prescribed a contrary Example to their Successours Easie it had been for the Flock to have spared themselves or kept aloof from such mercilesse Overseers whose Designes though they could not with safe Consciences contemn Avoid they might by circumspect and carefull attending to other true Shepherds voices who by their skill in Scriptures and true knowledge of the Apostles Rules knew how to limit the former large Commission directed to Pastors after they begun to degenerate into Wolves For this cause neither of these Apostles direct these Admonitions to their flock as if it were permitted them to limit their Obedience at their pleasure but unto their Pastors And Saint Peter in the words immediately following this Admonition unto Pastors exhorts the Flock unto Obedience Likewise ye younger Submit your selves unto the Elders without any the least intimation that they might Disobey as soon as the other began to Dominier Not that the flock may not refuse to
consequence as Inferiour Ministers may If they could but duly consider and unpartially esteem the Goodnesse which accompanies Obedience which is better then sacrifice and the evil of Disobedience which is as the Sin of Witchcraft these two laid together would be more then equivalent to any evil that Lay-men or Inferiours usually conceive in such Actions as they deny Obedience in unto their Pastors Nay in this unbelieving Age wherein it is more to be Complemental then Religious it is thought an answer good enough so it be complementally performed unto their Pastors We would do as you Advise or Injoyn us in Christs Name if we certainly knew that it were Christs Will or agreeable to Gods Word Whereas in truth in giving such Answers when neither they certainly know nor are careful to learn whether their Advise be contrary to Gods Word or no they sin directly against Christian Faith advancing their own Humours above Gods Word which commands Obedience unto Pastors preferring the Liberty of their unruly Wils before the safety of their Consciences And it is preposterous to plead Ignorance of Gods Will before them whose Instructions therein they are bound duly to Hear and hearing to Obey until they can light on better or find them false upon serious and due examination that is They must Obey them not absolutely and irrevocably but with Limitation and Caution And questionlesse if men did infallibly Believe or absolutely from their hearts Obey that which they undoubtedly know to be Gods Will they would never make question but that for which they have Presumptions that it is part of Gods Will or that which is commended unto them for his Will by such as he hath appointed to be Messengers of the same should be conditionally Believed and without caution Obeyed especially when it is delivered solemnly upon deliberation and premeditation or out of that place whence he hath appointed them to learn his Wil. Did not Priests as the Proverb is forget that ever they were Clerks or such as take themselves for great proficients that they were sometimes Novices in the School of Christ they might remember how they came unto that absolute and infallible Belief of those Christian Principles by which they hope for Salvation by entertaining this conditional Belief which we speak of and by yielding like Obedience unto Divine Truths now fully but at the first imperfectly known for such And albeit such general Articles of Christian Faith as are necessary for all to Believe neither increase nor diminish their Number yet if we descend unto the Diversity of mens Estates and Callings and Difference of Time and Place Christian Faith receiveth perpetual increase not only in its proper Strength or as we say by way of Intention but in extent also unto many particulars either directly contained though not so easie to be discerned as essential parts under the former general Principles or else annexed unto them collaterally as limbs or borders Besides all Christian Duties or Matters of Practise are not promiscuously fir for every Time or Place but must be severally proportioned to their diversitie Again the same duties I mean of the same kind must be performed in different measure according to the different exigence of Time Place Persons or other Occurrents In all these and many more respects is this conditional Assent and Obedience unto Pastors most necessary And ere men can retain stedfastly that which is best they must make triall of all or many things of different kinds and yet trial of Spiritual Medicines without Spiritual Physitians prescripts is so much more dangerous to ordinary mens Souls then like trial of Physick-conclusions is to their Bodies by how much such men are more ignorant of the state of their Souls then of their Bodies The necessity and use of what hath been delivered concerning Obedience in general will appear in sundry points to be discust hereafter In respect of which especially of that point concerning the manner how we may know the Sense of Scriptures and that concerning the nature of Christians Faith some further unfolding of this Conditional Assent and Obedience will be likewise necessary CAP. IX Of the Nature Use Conditions or Properties of Conditional Assent or Obedience 1 THe first step in the way to Life is from this Infallible Ground of Nature Whatsoever God hath revealed concerning Matters of Mans Salvation is most True and by all means to be Obeyed This Principle All Men absolutely capable of Reason acknowledging a God do Believe and from their absolute Belief hereof they yield a conditional Obedience and Reverence unto those Books which we call Scripture From the trial of whose Truth we rise a step or degree higher and undoubtedly acknowledge Certain General Principles contained in Scripture without whose Belief no man ordinarily can be saved for the Oracles of God or Divine Revelations and unto them we yeeld absolute Obedience This second step brings men within the Lists or Borders of Christianitie where no Christian man is to set up his Rest Even the meanest that bears that Name once come to years of discretion or capable of Instruction must hold on his Progresse still thus resolving with himself Though I must be as a Child for Innocencie yet not in knowledge of Gods Will A shame it were I should alwayes be a Babe in that Profession which of All is onely Necessary a 〈◊〉 should accustome my self to Milk for this were to nourish unexpert 〈◊〉 in the Word of Righteousnesse A Christian I was from my Cradle and now as 〈◊〉 a Christian as a Man but strong Meat is fit for them that are of Age which have or should have their Wâ—â—s exercised through long 〈◊〉 to â—… 〈◊〉 Good from Evil Not the fundamentall Principles of Christian Religion onely without which none can be saved not be that hath professed Christiâ—… but an hour These are Grounds which once surely laiâ— must as the Apostle speaketh be left that we may be led on to perfection not always haâ—mering upon the foundation of Repentance from â—â—ad works of Faith towards God or of 〈◊〉 of Laying on of hands of the Resurrection from the dead and of eternall judgement but seaking to Build upon these whatsoever is bâ—â—ating present times or seasons 〈◊〉 may make our Eleâ—â—ion sure And thâ—r who laid the former foundations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart seek yet my farther Edification in many Points of whose Truth 〈◊〉 Conscience as yet hath no such firm Perswasion or lively taste as it now hath of the former but is so affected towards these later as it was to the other before better acquaintance with them Should I for this Reason forthwith deny Obedence to my Instructors or withdraw Assent from matters proposed by them God forbid For he hath Comman ' ed all not exâ—epting me to Obey their Overseers in the Lord Must we Obey them whilest they Plant and may we Disobey them whilest they Water how then can I expect that God should give Increase unto
common reason and cannot but command the Assent of every sanctified Mind That such Men are most likely to have the Meaning of Gods Spirit which walk according to Gods Spirit and seek not their own Gain Glory or pleasure but Christs Glory his Will and peoples Good and such again are most likely to use greatest sincerity in delivering the Truth which they know without partiality or respect of persons Again men are bound caeteris paribus to Believe them best and Obey them most of whose skil and sincerity in dispensing the Mysteries of faith they have had most comfortable and spiritual Experience For the Article of Gods providence binds us hereto and wils us to reverence our Fathers in Christ either such as by his Word first begot faith or nourished it in us more then others Thus much concerning this point I have thought good to insert in this place because the true and sincere Practise of Obedience according to that measure of Truth or Belief which men have though but imperfect is the excellentest Means for attaining the clear sight of Divine Truth and that perfect Measure of sanctifying Belief which in this life can be looked for as shall God willing afterwards appear CAP. X. Wherein this Conditional Belief differeth from the Romans implicite Faith That the one is the other not subordinate to Gods Word or Rule of Faith 1 AS this Opinion of conditional Assent unto Divine Truthes not absolutely known for such holds the Mean betwixt the two Extreams or contrary Errours above mentioned So is this conditional Assent it self a Mean betwixt that absolute Belief which all acknowledge to be necessarie in some principal Points of Christian Faith and that implicit Belief which the Romish Church exacts in all points whatsoever Our Assent unto many Articles of Faith is actually and expresly absolute The implicit Belief of the Romanists is but potentially or rather vertually and implicitely absolute This conditional Belief hitherto mentioned not so much as potentially much lesse implicitely or virtually absolute That properly is Believed by an implicite Faith which is not actually and expresly Assented unto in the particular but yet is so essentially and immediately contained in some general Article or Point of Faith absolutely or expresly Believed that this Particular likewise is Assented unto in grosse whilest we Assent to it and may be as absolutely as expresly and distinctly Assented unto as the General when it is once explicated and unfolded In this Sense we say the Conclusion is implicitely contained in the Premisses the Corollarie in the Theorem or the immediate Consequent in his necessarie Antecedent For he that grants One of these absolutely must upon the same terms grant the Other at the first proposal of it unto him But this conditional or reservative Belief may be of such Points as are not certainly and infallibly contained in any Principle of Faith absolutely expresly actually or infallibly acknowledged much lesse so essentually and immediately contained in any that a man cannot absolutely grant it but he must absolutely Believe them And albeit off-times they may be infallibly deduced from known undoubted Principles of Faith yet is not the deduction so immediate as can be made clear and evident to all Capacities at least not at the first sight without any further increase of Knowledge in Spiritual Matters And before the deduction be made as evivident and apprehended asinfallible as are the general Articles whence they are deduced the Particulars deduced from them may not be so infallibly and absolutely Believed as the Generals are The Papists besides their Explicit Belief of some few main Points demand an Implicit Belief of as many Particulars as the Church shall propose so as whatsoever the Church shall propose with them once proposed admits no conditional Belief all must be Absolute albeit the parties Believing cannot discern any necessary or probable deduction of the particulars from general Points absolutely and expresly believed It is enough that they know them to be proposed by the Church For once Believing Whatsoever the Church saith is most Infallible which is the main Article of Roman Faith no man can denie any particular proposed by it to be infallible more then he can deny the Conclusion for certain after he hath granted the Premisses for such Consequently to these Positions they make the Visible Church the Rule and Mistresse of mens Faith as they speak For albeit a man at this present think otherwise of many Points of greatest Moment then the Church or Pope doth or though he think not at all of many things which they in time may propose unto him yet after they have proposed either a contrarie Opinion to that which his Conscience tels him is Gods Word or a new and strange Position which he never thought of he must without more ado Believe both absolutely and expresly and so finally retract extend enlarge abridge direct and frame his Faith according to that Rule or Standard which they shall set him Hence God willing shal appear the Madness of some great Schollers among them who holding the Church to be such a Rule of Faith would perswade us if we would be so simple that their last Resolution of Faith is not into the Churches Authoritie but into the Scripture For nothing can be resolved beyond it rule to make the Churches authority such an absolute authentick unquestionable rule of faith as the Papists do and withal to seek the resolution of any point of faith further then it or to derive it from Scripture doth argue such a medley of Folly Impietie as if some gullish Gentleman desirous to prove the Antiquitie of his House should draw his Pedigree from Adams great Grandfather and yet hold the Records of Moses for most undoubted and true which affirm Adam to have been the first Progenitour of all Mankind Whether they seek to resolve their Faith into the Scriptures acknowledged by us and them or into other Unwritten Revelations pretended for Divine Truths their Folly will still appear the same so long as they hold that impious and blasphemous Opinion making the Churches Authoritie such a Rule of Faith as hath been said Their Injuries and Contumelies unto Gods written Oracles as hath heretofore been intimated are especially Two First they deny them to be any intire Rule for the number of Precepts Secondly they make those very Precepts which are acknowledged for Divine insufficient for the establishment of true Faith unto themselves without the Churches Authority We acknowledge them every way sufficient for the Edification of Christs Church in Faith and Manners and consequently both to our Positions and the Truth we teach that all Matters of Faith must be finally resolved into these Divine written Verities which for this reason we acknowledge the only Infallible Rule of Faith The Meaning of which Assertion is here to be further explicated that so the Truth may be maintained against their Objections CAP. XI In what Sense we
Seers And as it fared with them in the Succession of Visions immediately inspired from God not framed in imitation of any precedent written Word but to be then first written for posterities instruction some saw one Vision some another alwayes such were seen by the present Prophet as most concerned the present Times So fares it still with the Ministers of Gods Church and Christian people throughout all succeeding Ages wherein Visions have failed and only the written stories of former Visions are reserved for perpetual Direction Some part of Gods Will con ained in Scripture is revealed in one Age some in another alwayes that which is most necessary for the present Time is most easie to be understood by the Faithful then living so they seek the Meaning of it as they should not upon Curiosity of knowing Mysteries for the Raritâ—… of that Skill but for the Edifying of Christs Church which is sometimes out of Reparations in one Point sometimes in another for which case God suffereth the Knowledge of sundry places to grow and increase according to the necessity of the present Times nourishing as it were a continual Spring for repairing or beautifying of his Temple 3 For this reason those places which seem most plain and easie unto us might be more hard and difficult to such in former Times as should have sought their Meaning too Curiously yea it might have been Curiositie in that Age to have sought half so much Knowledge in them as we now see at the first Sight because the Time of their Revelation now is was not then come 4 It is but a silly Shift for our Adversaries to say that some of the Ancient Fathers did otherwise interpret the Apocalyps then our men do the perfect Interpretation and Knowledge of which Book more peculiarly concerns this later then that flourishing Age of Ancient Fathers most of all these dayes wherein we live in which the true and perfect Meaning of it were most likely to be Revealed as God be praised in good measure it hath been and daily shall be more and more unlesse the daily increase of our Sins deserve the contrary Many Godly men yea Disciples in our Saviours time were ignorant of sundry Mysteries which since his Glorification have been communicated to the meanest of his Flock by the Holy Spirit who never failes to Reveal Gods Will either by extraordinary or ordinary Means so men be not negligent to enquire after it by lawful Means For God is as far from partial respect of Ages as of persons so the persons of several Ages respect his Word alike and as they should 5 The like Observation we may take from the diversitie of Place or Nations As the Knowledge of Jeremies Prophecies did more concern the State of Judah under Jehoiachim and Zedekiah then the Prophecie of Isaias or some more ancient Prophet did so in this our Age the knowledge of some one Part of either their Prophecies and the manner of Judah his progresse in their times to her Overthrow may more concern this our Land then the knowledge of some other Parts of the same or other Prophets And yet those other whose Knowledge concerns us lesse may at this instant concern some other Land or People more Alwayes the gracious Providence of our God directs the study and industry of all that love him to the search of those Points which most concern them but suffers the endeavours of such as by their Transgressions have procured his Wrath to run at random never seeking after those things which belong unto their Peace until his Judgements overtake them 6 These Collections are no Paradoxes but Truths probable enough of themselves to win the Assent of sober and unpartial minds so capable of external Fortification as they may easily be made evident and strong enough to convince the froward minds of such as delight most in Contradiction From their Truth supposed which we are ready to make good against all Gain-sayers it necessarily follows that this Question about the Scriptures Obscuritie or Perspicuitie cannot be universally meant of all and every Part of Scripture in respect of all Persons and Ages as whether no Part be obscure or difficult to all or any this day living For from this diversitie of Ages we may easily discern some things kept secret from the Ancient Patriarches by the Wisdom of God made manifest unto us and some things again by the disposition of the Divine Providence become obscure and difficult unto us which were more manifest unto them as the particulars concerning the Mysterie of Mans Redemption were more obscure to them then us although the Mysterie it self was in some sort Revealed to them in the Prophetical and Mosaical Writings So likewise all the Prophetical Predictions or Prelusions unto the time of Grace are better and more distinctly known of us then them because the express Knowledge of these particulars more concerns us that have lived since then those that lived before the fulness of Time So the Israelites Judaical Constitutions their Types and Ceremonies were much more plain and easie unto them then us because the knowledge of these Matters if we speak of their Judicial Law more concerned theirs then any other State as their Types and Ceremonies did their Persons unto whom the Messias was to be pourtraied or shadowed out more then any in this present or other precedent Age since he was manifested in our Flesh and substance The knowledge of the Moral Law the End and Scope thereof the Observation of Gods Commandments and Doctrine of Repentance after their Transgression was equally Perspicuous to both because equally Necessarie most necessarie to both for their Salvation 7 Again from the divers Conditions of men living in the same Age this Resolution is most evident and most certain The same Portion of Scripture may be difficult unto some sort of men and easie unto others without any prejudice to their sufficiency for being the perfect and infallible Rule of Faith to all For what we said before of divers Ages we may conclude again of divers sorts or Conditions of Men. Sundry places are more Necessary and requisite to be understood of this or that sort and other places of others nor are all places necessary for the one to know requisite for men of another Condition or Calling to search into Thus the Knowledge of many places is necessary for him that is a publick Reader Teacher Instructer or general Overseer of Gods Flock which to search into or laboriously to examin would be Curiosity in him that had no such Calling especially if engaged to any other which might justly challenge the greatest portion in his best endeavours or take up the most part of his choicer hours for study 8 In this Assertion we avouch no more then our Adversaries must of Necessitie grant and expresly do acknowledge in their supposed infallible Rule which they do not suppose should be alike plain and easie to all sorts or Conditions of
mocked him 3 That all honest-minded men should be able to understand all Places of Scriptures we never affirmed that without the Ministerie or help of others they should ordinarily understand any aright we never taught This notwithstanding we constantly avouch Without this Condition of doing Gods Will not men otherwise furnished with the best Gifts of Art and Nature can ever be competently qualified for spiritual Instructors By performing it the simple and illiterate shall be made capable of good Instructions and enabled to discern true Doctrine from false By our Saviours Rule in the very next words more infallible than any other pretended Infallibilitie can be we may discern the Pope of all others to be no true much lesse any infallible Teacher unlesse of Lies and Antichristian deceit For he that seeketh his own glory as what Pope is there doth not so many seek the Popedome by their predecessors bloud he speaks of himself not the Word of him whose Viear he boasts himself to be 4 To place the Apostle S. Pauls Authority next in sile unto our Saviours Fashion not your selves saith he unto his beloved Romans like unto this present world but be ye changed by the nenewing of your mind that ye may prove what is the good Will of God and acceptable and perfect Being fashioned like unto the present World they were altogether disproportionable unto the Kingdom of heaven uncapable of heavenly Mysteries but being renewed in their minds they might prove taste and relâ—… aright the Meaning of Gods Word revealed Of such as disanul the Scriptures for being the Rule of Faith and transfer this Canonical Dignity upon the Pope I would gladly be resolved whether this his Holinesse Infallibility can take away the Veil which is laid before the Jews hearts or this Desire which raigns in most men of fashioning themselves unto this present World whether he can in all such as professe Christianity root out those Lusts and Concupiscences those corneae fibrae stiff and stubborn heart-strings as are the very the eeds whereof this Veile is made which makes the Scriptures so Difficult and so eclipseth their Light in respect of men If he cannot well may he make them understand or believe his own Decrees but never rightly apprehend or stedfastly embrace the Spiritual Mysteries of their Salvation That Rule of S. Pauls is still most infallible The Natural or Carnal Man is altogether uncapable of the things of Gods Spirit of those things which are in themselves most evident Neither can be know them If you wil not believe his Authority as infallible he gives you a Reason for the truth of the Conclusion for they are spiritually discerned Is it then the Popes Infallibility or the framing of our lives according to Gods holy Word that must purge the Errours of our young and wanton dayes and make us cease to be homines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natural or Carnal men and become Spiritual If the Popes infallibility cannot perform this to what use doth it serve The Scriptures wil be difficult stil and their sense insipid to such as have not their hearts thus cleansed If without his Infallibility by the Industry of faithful Pastours attentive Hearing and serious Meditation of his sacred Word our lives may be amended and we of Carnal men become Spiritual we shal discern the things of God what is his Wil and mercy towards us in Christ we shal know of every Doctrine necessary unto our Salvation whether it be of God or no much better then the Pope and his Cardinals can do if they be Carnals For our Apostle adds The Spiritual man judgeth or discerneth all things and is judged of none The sense of which words some of your School-men much mistake when they hence gather that the Pope may judge Princes but the Spirituality so in common talke we cal the Clergie may not be judged by any Temporal or Lay Power Our Apostle means nor wil a learned Interpreter though a Papist deny it that in matters of Faith and in the Truth of Divine Mysteries the truly spiritual that is such as are renewed in the inner man not such as bear the Name or Title of Spiritual men in their corrupt language see and understand those things which the Wisdom of God hath hidden from the wisest and most glorious Teachers of the World from all Carnal men of what Gifts soever they may be in other matters as appears by our Apostles Discourse in that place Which Doctrine of our Apostle how truly it is verified in the wise men of Rome the Jesuites I mean to give them what by our Proverb we are bound to give their Master their due men of famous industry and excellent reach in all subtile and profound Arts but how ignorant and besotted in matters of Faith and Mysteries of mans Salvation their Doctrine in this present Controversie being compared with this Axiom of our Apostle may abundantly witnesse to the Astonishment of all sober-minded Christian Readers 5 They cannot deny That matters of Faith and Christian Life the Mysteries of mans Salvation are matters belonging to the Spirit of God and that a lewd naughty ambitious luxurious man an Heretick is homo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Carnal Man they will not offer to call in question Again that many of their Popes be such as I have said naughty wicked luxurious men they openly confesse Some of them grant that Honorius was an Heretick Valentian will not dispute this particular de facto whether he were one or no but that the Pope or Popes may hold Heretical Opinions he granteth albeit thus tainted with Heresie they cannot propose their Heresies ex Cathedra to be Believed by others believe Valentian herein who list for God by his Providence would prevent this Mischief But howsoever the Pope and his Cardinals may by their own Confession be Carnal Men with a witnesse Now S. Paul saith plainly Homo animalis non potest cognoscere ea quoe sunt Spiritus Dei No Carnal or Natural man can conceive the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. for this indefinite Proposition in materia necessaria may have this Universal Note Homo animalis non potest cognoscere no Carnal Man can perceive The Jesuites affirm the Contradictory unto S. Pauls Doctrine as an undoubted Article of Faith The Pope say they albeit homo animalis though a most wicked man though otherwise an Heretick the worst of Carnal Men cannot but discern the things that belong unto the Spirit all the Mysteries of Mans Redemption all points whatsoever necessary to Mans Salvation For he cannot erre in deciding such Matters if he speak ex Cathedra More unhappy man Honorius more Fools have the whole generation been that ever would shut their mouthes or cease to speak ex Cathedra even to the last gasp 6 That sundâ—y lewd and wicked men may learnedly discourse of spiritual matters and deduce necessary Consequents out of Truths supposed or
take up Our Saviours next words imply the contrary but of this Question we shal take occasion hereafter Only now I say the Jesuites of all other are most uncapable of this Plea For they hold â—ree-Wil in men whereby they may Assent unto Grace offered and if men have Free-Wil and Christ offer his Grace unto such as use it wel the learning of Humility and taking up his Yoak wil be easie through Grace though impossible to Nature But let this Question concerning Grace and Free-Wil stand stil as it doth in Controversie betwixt us and them and the Lutherans This is granted by all that if Christ grant his grace to all that wil endeavour to follow his Precepts then it is easie to all to learn this first Lesson of Christianity Lowlinesse and Meeknesse the Rudiments of true Knowledg in Scripture without which all other Learning in them is but Verbal As this is confessed by all so would I be resolved by any Jesuite whether if it be Christs pleasure to deny his Grace to any it be not altogether impossible for him to learn this Lesson perfectly or to become a good Proficient in the School of Christ although the Pope their supposed infallible Teacher should vouchsase to Catechize him ex Cathedra What hath this Jesuite got then by his fierce objecting this difficulty of learning Humility for to make the Scriptures seem Obscure If the same Obscurity the same Impossibility of understanding them aright stil remain albeit the Pope himself should stretch his plenary Power to illustrate them with his infallible Authority 13 Or wil it not be more hard for the Pope being so highly placed in Secular Honour and Dignity as he is to stoop so low as a little Childe for Lowlinesse of mind then it wil be for us poor and silly men If it be more hard for him then us so to do we are more likely to become better Schollers in Christs school then his infallible Holiness more likely to be more certain of the true sense or meaning of Scriptures then he can be much more certain in all necessary Points hereof then he can be of his Infallibility For this Lesson of true Humility must of necessity be learned ere we can proceed in the true Knowledge of these Mysteries Suppose this be a very hard Lesson to learn yet caeteris paribus it wil be harder as mens Places are higher or their dignities greater hardest of all to men of highest Place and greatest Dignities especially if their advancements to such Preeminencies be as many Popes and Cardinals have been per saltum or ab extremo in extremum sine medio like lazy Beggers sodainly mounted on stately steeds shal then this Difficulty late objected deprive these Scriptures of this Dignity which we plead for Shal this debar them from being the infallible Rule of Faith or rather do they not in giving this very Rule of learning Humility and thus forewarning of their Impossibilitie to be understood without it approve themselves to be an excellent Rule of Faith a more excellent Rule for these superexcellent Divine Mysteries then any other Rules are for ordinary petty or trivial Arts For suppose Bellarmine or any other more exquisite though he an excellent Teacher of the Hebrew Tongue should in his Grammer have given this Caveat easie to be confirmed by sound Reason and Experience that whosoever would become perfect in that Language should begin his study in his younger days before he were engaged to subtile or profounder Studies or given to deep meditations of Realties otherwise it would be very hard for him to descend again unto Grammer Rules and begin like a School-boy to conn Declensions Conjugations without which and many other petty Rules about altering of Vowels he could never hope to be an absolute Hebrician Had Bellarmin set down these or like Caveats more at 〈◊〉 should this Admonition be accounted any just Exception why his Grammer otherwise supposed Authentick should not be a perfect Rule for learning Hebrew or must we for this reason have stretched our wits to invent some infallible Teacher of Hebrew for such men I am sure he that should have found the truth of his Admonitions by Experience in himself or Observation in others would commend his Judgement herein and think so much better of his Grammer or wish that he himself had known or others would observe these Admonitions whiles they were young and rather use Bellarmin then Experience for their School-master in this point 14 Doubtlesse it is for want of acquainting Youth and Childhood with the former Rules of Scripture which make the Scripture generally either seem Obscure or Difficult or causeth men mistake them seeming evident For when they are grown to mans Estate or be embarked in worldly Affairs or invested in secular dignities before they have studied Scriptures or practised the former Precepts this seeming difficulty either moveth them to seek for other Rules more easie to their Capacity or not to care for any Rule of Faith at all or else to transform this which God hath given for reforming his Image in them into the nature of their corrupt Affections Were this Lesson of becoming like little Children throughly planted in our hearts when we were Children true Knowledge in other parts of Scriptures would grow with us and Faith once planted in Humility while our hearts were tender and easie to be wrought upon by this plain and easie Precept albeit at the first but like a Grain of mustard-seed yet having got the start of Pride and desire of secular glory in the Spring should afterwards flourish in all heavenly Knowledge and fructifie in every good and acceptable Work without the husbandry lopping or pruning of an infallible Teacher But if we either through our own Wilfulness or Parents Negligence have perverted the Wayes of our Youth that they wil not parallel this straight and easie Rule shal Gods Righteousnesse be prejudiced by our Iniquity shal not his Wayes this Way of Life be equal because our Wayes be unequal Must we become like Seneca's blind Woman who accused every place wherein she could not see for being too dark must the Scriptures for our Blindnesse of heart be thought Obscure not in themselves saith the Jesuite but unto us how unto us or unto which of us only to such as are therefore become Blind because they have not in time been made acquainted with this Light For otherwise the Scriptures were written to Enlighten us not themselves or such as wrote them And unto such as are Blinded in their own desires Difficult they are and Obscure without any respect of Persons to the Pope as wel as to any meaner Man not more Proud or Carnal then He. Thus we see our Adversaries cannot offer one Blow against us in this point but we can make it fal more heavy upon themselves And wel were it if their Objections did light heavy only upon the Objecters themselves for they have deserved it But here I must
death of a sinner but rejoyceth at his Repentance If we be wanting to our selves in the Practise of these Rules the Popes infallible Authoritie shall never be able to supply our Negligence his Blessing where God hath laid his Curse shall do as little good as Balaams endeavour to Curse the Israclites did them harm whom God had Blessed Observing the former Precepts well the Word of God which these men belike out of their own Experience challenge of Obscurity should be a Lantern unto our feet and a Light unto our paths as it was unto Davids 2 For the Readers further Satisfaction may it please him but unpartially to consider what two of the most-learned Jesuites in matters of moderne Controverses could answer unto this last place of the Psalmist 〈…〉 would have two strings to his deceitfull and broken Bow 〈◊〉 saith he it may be answered that the Psalmist speaks not of all Scriptures but of the Commandements onely If this answer of his could stand for good it would serve as a new Supporter to our former Assertion grounded on our Saviours words in the seventh of John For thus the Commandements 〈◊〉 not be Obscure but a Lantern unto our feet and if we follow them they will be as I have shewed before a perfect Light unto us to discern tro Doctrine from false And in this respect all good Commandements not the Decalogue or these Ten onely are properly a Light whereby we may clearly know as to avoid Evil so to discern that which is Good And by this Light was David conducted unto that true Wisdom which his enemies wanted †By thy Comman dements thou hast made me wiser then mine enemies But what reason had Bellarmine to think that David in the forementioned verse should mean the Commandements onely For there he saith plainly thy Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is much more generall then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corrmandements or Testimonies yet David saith That he had more understanding then all his Teachers not the infallible Teacher that sate if any such there were in Moses Chair excepted So that his Commandements are a Light his Testimonies a Light and his Word a Light And the best 〈◊〉 as well Theirs as Ours take these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Commandements Words promiseuously thorowout this whole Psalm Any one of these most of all the most generall of all Words sâ—gnisie at least all Scripture which serves for mans Direction in the way of Life 3 None can be restrained to the Decalogue onely This Bellarmine saw well enough Wherefore his second Answer is It may it must be granted that he speaks of all or rather of the whole Scripture But the Scriptures saith he are called a Lanterne and a Light non quia facile intelligantur not because they are Perspicuous and easie to be understood sed quia intellects cum fuerint illustrant mentem but because when they are understood they Illuminate the Mind or Understanding This much we have said before and still do grant that the Scriptures are not plain and easie unto All live they as they 〈◊〉 nor do they shine unto Such as are Blinded in the Pride Vanitie or Corruption of their Hearts yet a Light in themselves and a Light to all that Love not Darkâ—… more than Light A Light not after they are understood for a David got true understaning by their Light whose Propertie is as well to thew the way how to avoid that Blindnesse which causeth them to seem obscure as to illuminate the clear-sighted For as by the Sun we see what Bodies are 〈◊〉 transparent or penetrable by its light so by Scriputres we discerne what be the Obstacles that hinder the intromission of their Splendour in it self and for it self most apparent into our Hearts And the Glimpse of their 〈◊〉 Beams appearing thorow the Chinks and ruptures of that Veil of Corruption which Nature hath woven about the eye-sight of our Souls doth enlighten us so far as we begin to desire the Veils removal that we may have a full fruition of their marvellous and comfortable Light as men in the Morning after long and irksom Darknesse unlesse desirous with the sluggard in the Proverbs to have a little more sleep are occasioned to open their Windows when they see the Sun-beams appear in at the Chinks My meaning is those Precepts whereof I spake before to learn Humilitie and Meeknesse Gods Threatnings to sinners his sweet Promises to the Penitent to pray for Wisdom from above and infinite other like are so Perspicuous and clear that they cannot but find entrance into Enveiled if not withall maliciously Wilfull or sluggish Hearts and finding entrance cannot but suggest Considerations what their former Life hath been and whereunto their now professed Hopes do call them that now it is time they should arise from sleep seeing Salvation draweth neerer then when they first Beleeved that the Night is past and the Day at hand therefore time to cast away the works of Darknesse and put on the armour of Light to walk honestly as in the Day not in Gluttory and Drunkennesse neither in Chambering and Wantonnesse nor in Strife and Envie Unto Hearts thus prepared the Scriptures need no other Commendation then their own no infallible Proposers Authority to illustrate or confirm their Truth more then the Sun doth a more glorious Star to manifest his Brightnesse unto men indued with perfect sight For unto such as walk like Children of the Gospels Light nothing necessarie to their Souls health can be hid in Darknesse not the Day of Destruction which shall come as a snare upon other Inhabitants of the earth can steal upon them as a thief in the night 4 But unto Infidels Haughtie and Proud-minded men unto such as delight in Sin and love to sleep in sinfull Pleasures unto such as scorn to be controlled in their Courses the Light of Gods Word if it once shine or send some scattered Raies into their hearts it shines not so again for they draw a Curtain and spread the Veil lest further intromission of such Beams might interrupt their pleasant sleep This did Luther well teach had he been as well understood that the Scripture was onely Obscure or difficult unto Infidels or proud minds But Bellarmine replies At certè David non erat superbus aut infidelis Surely David was neither a proud man nor an Infidell and yet the Scripture was Obscure and difficult to him Let him be accounted both that thinks David was either a proud man or an Infidell But the Question is not whether he were but what was the Cause he was not such was it not the Perfection of Gods Law which did convert his soul was it not the Certainty of Gods Testimonies that gave Wisdom unto his Simplicitie Yes by these Precepts he had gotten understanding to have all the wayes of Falshood And except that Law had been his delight he had perished in his Affliction How then doth
have acknowledged as much had be been in their place For why should he Any other might say he had the Spirit of God and that he was the Messias and what if Peter one of his Fellows late a Fisher-man did confesse him The Scribes and Pharisees principal Members of the visible Church deny him to be their Messias And how should they know his Words to be the Word of God unlesse the Church had confirmed them If Christ himself should have said in their hearing as he did to the Jews John 5. 46. Moses wrote of me consider his Doctrine and lay it to your hearts A Jesuite would have replied You say Moses wrote of you But how shal we know that he meant you Moses is dead and saies nothing and they that sit in his Chair say otherwise And verily the Scribes and Pharisees had far greater Probabilities to plead for the Infallibility of that Chair then the Jesuites can have for their Popes who had they been in the others place could have coyned more matter out of that one saying of our Saviour Mat. 23. 2. Sedent in Cathedra Mosis for the Scribes and Pharisees infallible Authority then all the Papists in the world have been able to extract out of all the Scriptures that are or can be urged for the Pope or Church of Romes Infallibilitie 4 The Scribes and Pharisees though no way comparable to the â—esuites for cunning in painting rotten or subtilty in oppugning Causes true and â—…nd could urge for themselves against such as confessed Christ that none of the Rulers nor of the Pharisees did Believe in him but only a Cursed Crew of such as knew not the Law John 7. 48. They could Object the Law was obscure and the interpretation of it did belong to them But could these pretences excuse the people for not obeying Christs Doctrine You will say perhaps they could not be excused because Christs Miracles were so many and manifest These were somewhat indeed if Christ had been their Accuser But our Saviour saith plainly that he would not accuse them to his Father And for this cause he would not work many Miracles amongst such as were not moved with the like already wrought lest he should increase their Sins If Christ did not who then had reason to accuse them Moses as it is in the same place did Moses in whom they trusted and on whom they fastened their Implicite Faith Moses of whom they thought and said We will Believe as he Believed Moses whose Doctrine they to their seeming stood as stifly for against Christs new Doctrine as they supposed as the Jesuites do for the Catholick Church as they think against Hereticks and Sectaries as they term us Why then is Moses whom thus they honoured become their chief Accuser because while they did Believe on him only for Tradition or from pretence of Succession or for the dignity of their Temple Church or Nation they did not indeed Believe Him nor his Doctrine For had they Believed his Doctrine they had Believed Christ For he wrote of Christ So he might thinks the Jesuite and yet write so obscurely of him as his Writings could be no Rule of Faith to the Jews without the Visible Churches Authority Yea rather they should and might have been a Rule unto them for their good against the Visible Churches Authority and now remain a Rule or Law against both to their just condemnation because the Doctrine of Christ was so plainly and clearly set down in these writings had they set their hearts unto them Even the Knowledg of Christ the Word of life it self was in their mouthes and in their hearts For that Commandment which Moses there gave them was That Word of Faith which S. Paul the infallible Teacher of the Gentiles did preach as he himself testifies Rom. 10. 8. If any man ask how this Place was so easie to be understood of Christ or how by the doctrine of Moses Law the doctrine of the Gospel might have been manifested to their Consciences my Answer is already set down in our Saviours Words Had they done Gods Will revealed unto them in that Law they should have known Christs Doctrine to have been of God 5 Had they according to the prescript of Moses Law repented them of their Sins from the bottom of their Hearts the Lord had blotted all their Wickedness out of His remembrance And their hearts once purged of Wickednesse would have exulted in his presence that had made them whole Faith would have fastened upon his Person though never seen before Not the Moon more apt to receive the Sun-beams cast upon it then these Jews hearts to have shined with the Glory of Christ had they cast away all Pride and Self-conceit or the Glory of their Nation but unto them as now they are and long time have been swollen with Pride and full of Hypocrisie Christs Glory is but as clear Light to sore or dim-sighted eyes They wink with their eyes lest they should be offended with the Splendor of it This Doctrine of Christ and Knowledge of Scriptures in points of Faith shall be most obscure to us if we follow them in their foolish pretences of their Visible Church most clear perspicuous and easie if we lay Moses Commandments to our hearts For Truth Inherent must be as the eye-sight to discern all other things of like nature CAP. XVIII Concluding this Controversie according to the state proposed with the testimony of Saint Paul 1 WE may conclude this Point with our Apostle Si Evangelium nostrum tectum est iis qui pereunt tectum est in quibus Deus hujus saeculi excaecavit mentes id est infidelibus ne irradiat eos lumen Evangelii gloriae Christi qui est imago Dei If the Gospel be Obscure or rather hid For it is a Light obscure it cannot be God forgive me if I used that speech save only in our Adversaries persons It is hid only to such as have the eyes of their mind Blinded by Satan the God of this World Of which Number may we not without breach of Charity think he was one who seeing the light and evidence of this place would not see it but thought it a sufficient Answer to say Aposiolus non loquitur de intelligentia Scripturarum sed de cognitione side in Christum The Apostle speaks not of understanding Scriptures but of Knowing and Believing in Christ It is well the Jesuite had so much Modestie in him as to grant this later that he spake at the least of Knowing Christ For if the knowledg of Christ be so clear to the godly and elect then are the Scriptures clear too so far as concerns their Faith For S. Paul wrote this and all his Epistles only to this end that men might truly come to the Knowledge of Christ But he meant of a perfect and true Knowledge not such as Bellarmine when he gave this Answer dreamed of ut neque sit puer neque
did not or would not know what our Church in this Point doth hold fall headlong in the very first entrance of this dispute 7 But in this as in the former Question it shall not be amisse to propose our Adversaries principall Arguments and Exceptions against our Churches Doctrine in admitting the Scripture for the Rule of Faith And I would request any man that is able to judge of the force and strength of an Argument to read the best learned and most esteemed of our Adversaries for the further confirmation of this Truth which we teach Against which some who have not sought into their Writings may happily imagine that much more hath or might be said by any of them then can be found in all their Writings Whereas Bellarmine and Valentia two excellent Schollars and most judicious Divines where their wits were their own and all other good Writers of their side whom I could hitherto meet with by reason of the Barrennesse of their matter and shallow unsetled Foundation of their Infallible Church have performed as good service to our Cause in this present Controversie as that Roman Orator famous for his Unskilfulnesse in Augustus his time did to the Parties whom he accused I would to God said the Emperour this foâ—lish Fellow had accused my gallerie which had been long in building for then it had been absolved that is according to the use of this word in Latin finished long ere this In this Case we have his wish And for the edification of mine own Faith in this Point I must out of the sincerity of a good Conscience professe I would not for any good on earth but Bellarmine Valentian and other grand Patrones or plausible Advocates of the Popes Cause especially Valentian had taken such earnest pains in accusing our Churches Doctrine for they have most clearly acquitted it in that we may justly presume there can be no more said against it And whether all they have said or can say be ought I leave it to the judicious Readers judgement I will set down some of their Objections and then prosecute their general Topick or forms of their Arguments whence all particulars which in this Case they can bring must receive their whole strength 8 All Hereticks saith Saint Augustin which admit the Authority of Scriptures for some rejected all or most parts of the Sacred Canon seemâ—… themselves to follow the Scriptures when as indeed they follow their own Errours Nor do Heresies saith the same Father in another place and other naughtyâ— Opinions which ensnare mens Souls spring from any other Root then this That the right sense of Scripture conceivea amisse and yet so conceived is boldly and rashly avouched 9 And in another book of Augustin it is said Valentian would have the saying well observed as it shall be to his shame That Hereticks do not cor-rupt onely the obscure and difficult but even the plain and easie places of Scriptures and our Saviour Christ as this Writer addeth did intimate how obnoxious the Evangelical Doctrine was to this corruption by Hereticks when he forewarned us to beware of false Prophets Hereticks saith he seem to be Prophets because they make a fair shew of Scripture-phrases which are as the Character or external shaâ—e of heavenly Doctrine But Prophets they are not because under the out â—ard shew of heavenly words they manifest not the native sense and meaning of the Holy Ghost but their own adulterate corrupt Opinions sacrilegiously invested by them in sacrea phrase as it were the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy place as Origen clâ—gantly notes Hom. 29. in Matt. By the same Analogie are they called ravening Wolves being arayed in sheeps cloathing c. 10 These and like places are brought by Valentian as the title and conclusion of that Paragraph shew to this purpose That seeing all Hereticks may and do easily pervert the Scriptures as Saint Peter saith to their own dâ—struction We should hence be instructed that this universal Authority and most behoâ—â—vefull for the Salvation of all which we seek as the common Judge in all Points of Faith cannot 〈◊〉 seated in the Scripture alone 11 Another Mark whereat these fiery Darts do usuall aim is to fasten the conceipt of Heresie upon our Church seeing it hath alwayes been the practise of Hereticks to cover their wicked imaginations with sacred phrase and as Lyrinensis saith to inter sperse or straw their depraved Opinions with the 〈◊〉 and fragrant Sentences of Scripture as with some precious spice lest the exhaâ—…ation of their native smell might bewray their corruption to the Reader This is a Common place trodden almost bare by the English pamphleting Papist who learns the Articles of his Roman Creed and general heads of Controversies betwixt us with their usuall Arguments or Exceptions against our Doctrine no otherwise then the Fidler doth his Song holding it sufficient for his part to afford a Mimicks face scurrilous stile or Apish gesture unto the â—nventions of Bellarmin Valentian or some forrain Jesuites Brain And as it is hard for us to speak though in general termes against any Sin in a Countrey Parish but one or other will perswade himself that we aim at his overthwart-Neighbour unto whom perhaps our reproofs are lesse appliable then unto him that thus applies them so is it very easie for this Mimical crue to perswade the ignorant or discontented People that every Minister whose person or behaviour upon what respect soever they dislike is the very man meant by the Ancient Father and our Saviour in the former general Allegations if he use but the phrase of Scripture not the Character of that forrain Beast Whereas their Objections duly examined can hurt none but the Objectors CAP. XX. That the former Objections and all of like kind drawn from the Cunning Practise of Hereticks in colouring false Opinions by Scripture are most forcible to confirm ours and confound the Adversaries Doctrine 1 MUster they as many Authorities or Experiments of this Rank as they list we know the strength and nature of their weapons They are dangerous indeed to such as have not put on the Brest-plate of Righteousnesse or Shield of Faith but yet God be praised as sharp at the one end as at the other and they had need to be wary how and against whom they use them For beaten back directly by the Defendants they may be as fair to kill the Thrower at the rebound as Them against whom they were first intended For proof hereof look how easily we can retort all they have thrown at us upon themselves It hath been the practise of Hereticks say they to misinterpret Scriptures and pretend their Authoritie for countenancing errours This wounds not us except we were naked of all Syllogistical Armour of proof For they should prove if they will conclude ought to our prejudice that none but Hereticks have used Scriptures Authoritie to confirm their Opinions For if Orthodox
Sathans head and put him to flight why should his faithfull followers despair by the same Weapons to foyl and slay Sathans servants so they will be as industrious to use them as the others are to abuse them Nor will you I hope deny that Christ is present perpetually to his true Church as well as Sathan is to Hereticks Say then what you can or dare why ye should think it strange or impossible that he should teach all faithfull Souls the true Sense and Meaning of his Word immediately by his Blessed Spirit working with the Ministery of Saints without a Vicar general on earth as well as Sathan doth Hereticks the counterfeit sense or false but fair-seeming Meaning of it immediately by himself or his wicked spirits For we never heard that Sathan had any Vicar general by whom he teacheth Hereticks all their cunning unlesse this be the Pope which if he be then is he not Vicar general unto Christ 6 Seeing beloved Christians we are compassed about with such a cloud of Witnesses whereof not one without open Infidelity can be impeached let us not disdain to take the practise of Christ Jesus the Authour and Finisher of our Faith as a Pattern well befitting our imitation Not to be as industrious in searching the inward Sense and secret Meaning as Hereticks in urging the outward letter of the Law were not to follow the footsteps of a victorious Lord most good and gracious to his followers with as great alacritie as vanquished Sathans wicked instruments do his both if not detested by us as the foulest shame that in this life can befall us will breed our everlasting Confusion in the life to come 7 That I may dispute with such as make a jest of Scriptures according to their childish follie if by this means I might possiblie cure their Impietie Tell us I pray ye Doctors of Rome many of whom I know to be men of learning wit and spirit and for this reason as I should think more unwilling to make your selves palpablie ridiculous to every child or novice in Arts howsoever unto all sorts you strive to make Christs Practise such Tell us what is your Counsel in this choice Shall we forsake Christ Our us Saint Peters bâ—st Master to become Scholers unto your Staphilus or Hoâ—… Câ—… who if their reports be true did sooner put the Devil to silence with this Doctrine of your Churches Infallibilitie then Christ did for all his Scriptures for the Devil as the Evangelist tels us departed not from our Saviour before the Third Blow Avoid Sathan able to abide the Coalier but Two or rather one a little doubled I believe as the Church believes and the Church believes as I believe So much by your Doctrine doth the Devil fear the very Name of your Church though in a Coaliers mouth more then the Word of God albeit uttered by the Son of God himself 8 But we know the Proverb too well Like to like Children and ignorant people are not ignorant that the Devil will be commanded by such as studie the black-Art no marvail if he suffer himself upon good termes to be put down by a Coalier And as I will not peremptorily denie but the Story might be true so questionlesse such as most believe it mightily mistake the true cause of Sathans sudden silence for the truer the Story were the likelier were it he should hold his peace as soon as he heard the Coalier believe as he would have him This is a Catechism in it kind so perfect and absolute so well suiting to the old Serpents purpose that if Hell might have a general vacancie from all other imployments for time as long as hath been since Luâ—â—sers fall not all the Powers therein could devise what one word might be added what detracted unlesse perhaps they would expresse what the Coalier happily understood I believe as the Church Romish believes and the Church Romish as I believe whose Consequence is Both shall believe whatsoever Hell would have them The use of such rustick weapons as these was perhaps on your part not unnecessary in that rude World wherein Lindan's Panoplie went for approved harnesse or Ecchius Bolts for good Artillerie but should you use the like now every Punie in our Schools that knows but how to manage an Argument of which God be praised we have enough for a whole Army shall match your great Goliath whilest they thus keep aloof and lay your stoutest Champions in the dust by returning their own or like shot upon them CAP. XXI The pretended Excellencie of the supposed Roman Rule for composing Controversies impeached by the frequencie of Heresies in the Primitive Church and the imperfection of that Union whereof since that time they so much boast 1 BUt let us leave off skirmishing afar off and come a little nearer to the Point You are content to joyn with us in This That it hath been the Practise of Hereticks from time to time to stand much upon the Authority of Scriptures Then were not Luther and Calvin the first that ever made this Odious Comparison betwixt Gods Word and the Popes Nay you will nor deny but this Practise of urging Scripture was most frequent and the Truth most troubled hereby in the Primitive Church If a man might ask you where was this your supposed Infallibilitie then in the swadling-clouts or unborn If then unborn it is too young to make younger Brethren of all Congregations else too young to cause Christian Kings and Emperours subject their Crowns unto your upstart Mitre If then born albeit but in its Infancie yet such an Herculean Power as you professe yours to be which puts an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all Christian mens thoughts in Points of Faith for to this purpose your Controversors cite that place of Scripture as your Vulgar reads it Verba Sapientum sunt tanquam clavi in altum fixi per Magistrorum consilium conscripta à Pastore Uno data viz. the Pope istis amplius Fili mi ne requires might in all congruitie have taken Hercules Motto for its Word Cunarum labor est angues superasse mearum though it had lain then sleeping in the Cradle yet might it were it such as you would make it easily have crusht this Seed of Serpents in the very nest wherein they bred and not have suffered them to grow up to flying Dragons to pester the World far and near with their deadlie poison 2 I would have you here to consider this Incongruity well which I must farther prosecute in the next Dispute You plead the necessity of your Churches Infallibility for composing all Contentions and varietie of Opinions about Scripture-sense and yet we evidently see which you cannot deny that such bitter Contentions and dangerous varieties of Opinions about Scripture-sense were most rife most eagerlie prosecuted and maintained when this Title of your Churches Infallibilitie if it were just might have been best known and soonest assented unto For sure the Ancient
Carelesnesse Sloth Negligence and want of zeal to the Truth 6 And after this Composal was once so wrought that men had felt some intermission of publick Dissention which they feared most such as were industrious in the search or would have been expert in the Knowledge of Scriptures were esteemed of but as Souldiers in the time of Peace and ease alwayes suspected lest they should raise new Broils And for this reason debarred of free accesse unto this Armory But how soever the Practise of examining the Churches Authority by Scripture was for many generations rare till Luther arose yet during all this time that of our Apostle Acts 14. 17. was in this Case most true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 GOD did not leave himself without a Witnesse In all these ages he had his Martyrs who in the fervency of their Zeal earnestly sought the dissolution of the coagulated Masse and extraction of Celestial Quintessences therein buried offering their Bodies as fuel to the flames of persecutions that were to effect it 7 Nor can you in reason demand we should give particular Instances of such Martyrs in every Age. For no man of sense but will easily conceive that your Church would seek by all means possible to obliterate their Fame and Memory upon whose Bodies she had exercised such extream Tyranny left their Example might encourage Posterity to like Resolutions Unlesse DRIFDO had unawares I think acquainted me with the Provost of STENELDA'S Epistle to S. BERNARD I had not known either your Cruelty against the Albigence's or Picards as I suppose or their Constancy in suffering Tortures in themselves most grievous yet attended with Usages as disgraceful both for the manner or form of Proceeding as injuriously inflicted as the ground or matter of Accusations brought against them were unjust and impious The Provosts Epistle was to this effect 8 I would gladly be resolved Holy Father might I enjoy your presence whence it is that in Hereticks the Devils members there should be so great Resolution for defence of their Heresies as the like can scarce be found in very religious and faithful Christians There are saith he amongst us Hereticks which put no confidence in the Suffrages of men deceased or Prayers of Saint Fastings and other afflictions of the Body usually undertaken for Sin are not in their Opinion necessary to the righteous Purgatory after death they acknowledge none Denying the making of our Lords Body in the Sacrament of the Altar the Church they affirm to be amongst them having neither fields nor possessions Of such we have known divers by the multitude misled with too much zeal violently haled agaiâ—… our will unto the flame whose Torments they not only indured with patience but entertained with joy I would therefore be resolved by you Holy Father whence so great Resolution in the Devils members should spring 9 No question but this Provost which esteemed no better of them then as of Hereticks or Satans members did relate the worst Opinions then known to be held by them and yet He as I would have the Reader note living in their time laies no such odious Tenents to their charge as those that lived long after or were imployed by the Romish State to write against Wickliff Husse or Jerome of Prage have charged them and their followers with Driedo tels us he finds no direct Answer by way of Epistle or writing unto this venerable mans demand in particular But out of S. Bernards Doctrine else-where delivered concerning like Hereticks he finds this Resolution The Constancy of Martyrs hath no affinity with the Stubbornnesse of Hereticks Pietie breeds contempt of Death in the one Hardnesse of heart in the other Such good minded men as S. Bernard I think had least to do in the Examination of such men most obnoxious to mis-information in the particulars of their carriage with which the Civil Magistrates of France though Romish Catholicks better acquainted have given them laudable Testimonies for their honest and religious Lives and whether these mentioned by that Provost were such as S. Bernard spake against in the place late cited is more then Driedo knew Howsoever in matters of this nature it is most true Bernardus non vidit omnia being as easie in his life time to be abused by crafty Politicians as his Authority is now by modern Jesuites He that will believe these men were such Hereticks as Driedo would make them only because Driedo sayes so may easily be perswaded that their Resolution did not spring so much from true and lively Faith as from Humorous Obstinacy or stubborn Pride But while we consider all Circumstances well though many we take from your Relation who in this Case relate nothing so well and truly as you should we have just cause to think they were not Hereticks but men rightly Religious fearing God more then men and more observant of his Laws then of humane Traditions For at this time as the Glory the temporal Power and Authority of your Church was exceeding Great so were the Hopes of these poor souls lesse either of purchasing Glory by contradicting or private Gains by disobeying your Decrees To attempt the one was the readiest way to procure their utter Disgrace the other an infallible provocation of greatest Danger Your Church had the whole Multitude of Nations as ready at her beck to applaud your cruel designs against them as the High-Priests and Elders had the Jewish People to approve our Saviours Condemnation The manner of their Tortures accompanied with such certainty of Ignominy and Disgrace were dreadful to the setled and deliberate cogitations of Flesh and Bloud their Memory for ought they could in human probability foresee was either to sleep with their Bodies and lie buried in their ashes or if surviving them to be perpetually scourged by the scurrilous pens and tongues of their bitter Adversaries No hope they had of being Canonized for Saints in the vehement desire whereof some in your Church have solicited the procurement of their own violent death by others hands 10 All these and many other like circumstances whiles we consider ye may brag of the Multitude and Universality as a Note of the true Church and we will easily grant you to have been at that time far more in number then these silly Sheep whose admirable Constancy neverthelesse in the heat of such extream Tyrannie and alwayes matcht with such harmlesse Simplicity doth make us think that albeit you were the greater yet these were that little Flock unto whose hearts our Saviour by his holy Spirit of comfort had said Fear not for it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdom lands and possessions as your Adversaries truly object here on earth ye have had none But the Losse is little or rather your Gain exceeding great For these because these you have forsaken for the Gospels sake and mine you shall receive lands and possessions an hundred fold with life everlasting in the world to come
Understanding and to moderate Affection which makes us blind 2 The same Method our Saviour useth in a like dispute with the last Clause whereof if we compare the Romanists Doctrine in this Controversie ' it may appear in some sort the same Theirs is our Saviours indeed but quite inverted truly Antichristian They teach we cannot know Mosaical or other Scriptures but by the Popes infallible Proposal The great infallible Teacher tels the Jews they could not Believe him or know his Doctrine though Proposed by him mouth to mouth because they had not Believed Moses Writings If ye beleeve not his Writings how shall ye beleeve my Words yet Christs Words registred by his Apostles and Evangelists must be at the least of like force and use to us as Mosaical Writings were then to the Jews Our Conclusion therefore is invincible If Moses Doctrine alone were a Rule to trie Christs Controversies with the Jews then must it and Christ conjoyned be the Rule whereby all Christians Controversies must be tried From the Opportunitie of this place the judicious Reader though not admonished would observe that our Adversaries unlesse possessed with Jewish phrensie or phantastick madnesse diseases causing men usually misdeem other for such as they most are but least think themselves could not possibly account it a part of folly in us to make the WRITTEN WORD sole Umpire in all Controversies of Religion though not impossible to be thus perverted by these Jews or others of Jewish disposition as are all Hereticks more or lesse For we will give their imaginations a yeers respite to rove about upon condition they will then return an answer what Rule either written or unwritten can possibly be imagined which would not be perverted what Authoritie either living or dead which would not be either disclaimed abused or contemned by men so minded as these Jews who in the live presence of the Son of God the heir of all things by whom the world was made and must be judged thus sought to Patronage the Murther of his Royall Person by the Authoritie of his Fathers Word unto whose Sence they thought themselves as strictly tied as any Papist to the Councel of Trent The Hereticks with whom Saint Augustine had to deal strangely wrested his words against a plain and natural meaning Though so they had done the Bishops of Rome or any others then living not disdaining to call God his Lord their practise had not seemed strange to this reverend Father for he knew the Servant was not above his Master and therefore could not expect his or any mans should be free from any such wrong or violence which he saw offered to Gods Word 3 Our Saviour in the fore-cited Controversies saw well how earnestly the Jews were set to pervert Scriptures for their purpose how glad to find any pretence out of them either to justifie their dislike of his Doctrine or wreak their malice upon his Person Reason he had as great to distast their practise herein as the Pope himself can have to inveigh against Hereticks for the like Neither is there any person now living against whom any intention of Harm can be more heinous then the intention of Murther against him nor any sort of men unlesse the Jesuites Spanish Inquisitors or such as they suborn so cruelly bent as these Jews were to seek blood under a shew of love to pure immaculate Religion Yet doth not our Saviour accuse the Scriptures though capable of so grievous and dangerous misconstruction of Obscurity or Difficultie or of being any way the Occasion of Jewish Heresie or his persecution thence caused nor doth he disswade those very men which had thence sucked this poisonous Doctrine much lesse others from reading but exhorts them in truth and deed not in word and fancie onely to relie on Scriptures as the Rule of Salvation Search the Scriptures for in them ye think and that rightly to have Eternall Life Joh 5. 9. Not intimating the least necessity of any external Authority infallibly to direct them he plainly teacheth it was the internal distorture of their proud affections which had disproportioned their minds to this straight Rule and disinabled them for attaining true Belief which never can be rightly raised but by this square and line 4 It was not then the reading of Scriptures which caused them mistake their meaning and persecute Him but the not reading of them as they should Erre they did not knowing the Scriptures and know them they did not because they did not read them thorowly sincerely searching out their inward Meaning And thus to read them afresh as our Saviour prescribed them laying aside ambitious desires was the onelie Remedie for to cure that distemper which they had incurred by reading them amisse It were a mad kind of counsel better befitting a Witch or cunning woman then a wise man to disswade one from vsing Medicines prescribed him by men of skill because he had incurred some dangerous disease by taking the like out of his own humour or in a fancie either without or contrary to the prescript of professed Physitians yet such and no better our Adversaries advice heretofore hath been and the strength of all their Arguments in the Point now in hand to this day continues this We must not make Scriptures the Rule of Faith because many Heresies have sprung thence and great Dissensions grown in the Church whiles one follows one Sence and another the contrary Whereas in truth the only Antidote against Contentions Schismes and Heresies is to read them attentively and with such preparation as they prescribe as not to be desirous of vain glory not to provoke or envie one another To lay aside all malicionsnesse guile dissimulation and evil speaking like new born babes desiring the sincere milk of the Word whereby we must grow not fashioning our selves according to this present world c. 5 These were delivered as soveraign Remedies against all Epidemical diseases of the Soul by Physitians as Both acknowledge most Infallible For better unfolding and more seasonable applying of these and infinite other like Aphorismes of life we admit varietie of Commentators but are as far from suffering any of whose spirit we have no proof especially any not ready to submit the trial of his Receits unto these sacred Principles and Experiments answerable to them to trie what Conclusions he list upon our souls as the Pope would be from taking what Potions soever any English Emperick should prescribe though disclaiming all examinations of his prescripts by Galen Hippocrates Paracelsus or any other Ancient or Modern well esteemed Physitians Rules 6 If since this late invention of the Popes Infallibilitie our Adversaries do not now as heretofore condemne all Reading Scriptures simply what marvell For as Sathan after once God had spoken to the world by his Son began to change his old note and sought to imitate the Gospels stile by writing his Heresies as God did his new Covenants
in mens hearts So in later Ages since the Almightie gave his Word in every language and the number of Preachers hath been greatly multiplied the old Serpent permits the Jesuits and his other Instruments to translate expound and Preach the Gospel to the ignorant And in opposition to the practise of Reformed Churches the lay Roman Catholick may now behold yea read the Words of Life What difference then can any make betwixt theirs and our Doctrine in this Point such as in times past was betwixt true Miracles wrought by the singer of God and Diabolical Wonderments all which later were usually wrought to idle purposes and by some apish trick or other bewrayed their Authors sinister intendments So doth the cunning restraint of this Libertie late granted to the Roman Laicks great in shew bewray who was the Authour of this Plot and what his purpose Some merry Devil sure is minded to make Hell sport by putting this gull upon the learned Papist his Instrument to put the like upon the ignorant who now at length may read the Scriptures but with absolute submission of their Interpretation to his Instructors who may not take any receit thence but according to their supreme Infallible Physitians prescripts which may not be examined by any Rule of Gods written or unwritten Word nor may any man call his skill in question much lesse condemn him of Imposture by the lamentable issue and dismal successe of his Practises Should men upon like termes be admitted to read Galen or Hippocrates and yet the Monopoly of Medicines permitted to some one Emperick or Apothecarie not liable to any account whether his confections were made according to the Rules of Physick Art or no They might be in greater danger of poysoning then if these grand Physitians had never written for that might be prescribed them by such an authentick Mountebank as a Cordial which the other had detected for Poyson So should the Christian World might the Jesuites plea prevail be continually at the Popes Curtesie whether they should embrace that Sense of Scriptures which Christ and his Apostles have condemned for the Doctrine of Devils as the Oracles of the living God and food for their Souls 7 But some man more indifferent would here perhaps interpose Though theirs be bad do you prescribe us any better Method of Health Your former counsel to practise the Apostles Rules is as if a man should say to one sick of a dangerous disease Expel the bad humour and you shall be well Yet as we said before Est pars sanitatis velle sanari To desire the exâ—…pation of such Affections as hinder our proficiencie in the School of Christ or knowledge of his precepts is a good step to health The Scriptures are the words of life containing Medicines as well as Meat and must purge our Souls of carnal Affections as Physick doth the body of bad Humours They teach withall what Abstinence must be used ere we can be capable of that spiritual Welfare which they promise to the Soul of such as follow their Prescriptions And because our natural Corruption cannot be asswaged much lesse expelled but by their force or vertue which is not alwayes manifested upon the first Receipt we are to come unto them with such reverence as the Moralist did to Meditations of Vertue Vacua sobria mente in sobrietie of Spirit not in the heat abundance or actual motion of such Affections as hinder their operation upon our Souls as men usually take Physick upon a fasting and quiet stomack although Pestered with bad humours which yet cannot be extirpate but by Physick nor by Physick if ministred in the actual motion heat or raging of such humours If a man have but this desire to be rid of such Affections as breed this distemper in his Soul or work a distast of the Word of Life he is capable of that Promise Habents dabitur and shall in good time see his desire augmented whose encrease will bring forth greater fervencie in prayer and prayers if fervent though in men subject to such infirmities avail much and shall in the end be heard to 〈◊〉 full And as well in thankfull duty to the Redeemer of Mankind for his gracious Promises as in hope of being further partakers of the Blessings promised Every one that heareth Gods Word ought and such as hear it a right will as oft as they seek recovery of their spiritual Health by it or such Means as it prescribes abstain from all occasions and occurrents that may encrease provoke or strengthen such Affections as hinder the operations of it upon their Souls For even Nature taught the Cynick to account surfetting and intemperate diet madnesse in the Heathen whiles they sacrificed for Health If any have erred in hearing Gods Word amisse or in the unseasonable applying of Sacred Prescripts these Errors must be recalled by further consultation with their dispensors by more diligent search and better instruction in other parts of this Method of Life 8 Saint Peter knew many ignorant and unstable Souls had perverted some haâ—d places of S. Pauls Epistles as they had other Scriptures to their own destruction Did he therefore advise them to whom he thus wrote not to seek their Salvation out of Saint Pauls Epistles but with absolute submission of their judgement to his and his successours Prescripts Or doth he not seek to establish them in that Doctrine which Saint Paul had taught according to the wisdom given him in all his Epistles Or can any endued with reason doubt whether Saint Paul himself did not expect his Writings should be a Rule of Faith to all that read them without continuance either of his own or others actual Infallible Proposal of them He had protested once for all Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach unto you otherwise then that we have preached unto you let him be accursed He had said before and yet saith he now again If any man preach unto you otherwise then ye have received let him be accursed For he had taught them as their own Conscience might witnesse the Doctrine of God and not man as he intimateth in the next words 9 Either Saint Paul is not Authentick in this protestation or else all stand accursed by it that dare absolutely admit any Doctrine though from an Angels mouth but upon due examination and sure triall whether consonant or contrary to what Saint Paul hath left in writing His meaning notwithstanding in many places as his fellow-Apostle witnesseth was much perverted And seeing what was past could not be amended it seemed necessary to Saint Peter to admonish others lest they should be intangled in like errour But what means had he left to prevent this perverting of Scriptures in them Either none besides or none so good as diligent Reading or Hearing the written Word For such was this Epistle which for their Admonition he now wrote and was desirous questionlesse all of them should with attention hear or read
with Hereticks Difference between your selves and us in this Point you shall never be able to assigne any Tell us by what Means you can discern who dissent from your Canons and our Answer is readie we can discern who dissent from ours by the same if no other were left us This briefly may suffice for removall of Prejudices easie to be wrought in such as compare not Particulars with Particulars or consider not the use of external Magistracie acknowledged by us for punishing Contentious Spirits or our Means of discerning who are such In both which respects we are at least equal to the Romans CAP. XXVII That the Romish Church hath most need of some excellent Means for taking up Contentions because it necessarilie breeds so many and so grievous 1 FOr the main Point as well about the Original of Contentions and Schismes as incorrigible continuance in them onely this Difference I find That we permitting a sober search of Scriptures unto all not binding any mans Faith to the Judgement of man leave a possibilitie to the learned of finding out a liberty unto all of professing the Truth found for the health and life of their Souls without dread or danger to their Bodies And seeing we bind no man upon pain of damnation to Believe any point of Doctrine which is not plainly and expressely set down in Scriptures we minister no occasion of deadly dissention unto any For Contentions amongst our selves they are rather distempers then dangerous diseaseâ— nor do they affect those parts of Religion in which our spiritual Life is properly seated Yet even these in later yeers had been and alwayes would be fewer and their danger lesse were it not for those Foxes which your Church suborns to bring firebrands into the Lords Harvest And even these your Foxes in this our Land howsoever for this publick Mischief against us and the intended Combustion of our Church their Tails were tied together by your Churches knot have yet whet their cankred Teeth as eagerly and opened their venemous Mouthes as bitterly one against another as any but they could have done either against us or any creatures living But to leave private dissentions amongst your selves your Church prohibiting men the ingenuous search of Scriptures and free profession of their Conscience tying them to submit their Judgements at all adventure unto the corrupt Doctrine of your Clergie hath set open a wide gap to such grosse Opinions and monstrous Heresies as no man vnlesse his judgement had been surprised by your pretended Authority or his Spiritual senses lockt up in superstition sleep and midnight darknesse would ever have assented unto much lesse have tolerated when men were taught to hold them for Points of Faith as infallibly true as the Scripture it self only because your Church hath proposed and practised them 2 Thus did your Doctrine and filthy Practise of Indulgences to omit many moe from some surmises of the Ancient concerning a third place after this life as it were from a small seed or kernel by little and little come up to such a mighty growth that it violently rent and tore asunder the main Wals of Christs Temple and caused that irreparable breach and rupture betwixt the Southern and Northern parts of Christs Church established in this Western part of the World And albeit Cassander with divers other learned men in your Church both before and about the time of the Trent-Councel wished a reformation of many Points maintained by you hoping the Lutheran and other reformed Churches would thereby be drawn to Unity with you again yet what one suspicious Opinion hath that Councel cleared what bad amended what harsh or odious one hath it mitigated Nay what Possibility hath it left for the amendment of any in Ages to come amongst such as shall acknowledge that Authority infallible which hath thundred out so many Anathema's to all Gainsayers Before it was lawful for Cassander and Cajetan Fspenceus and others to shew their dislike of your Doctrine and signifie their desires of amendment retaining some Reliques or fashion of men that had been Free-born not Slaves or Vassals to corrupt and dissolute Tyrants They used their Liberty of Speech even in those cases wherein it is not now lawful for any in your Church to mutter no not so much as to sigh or groan under that heavy Yoak which their Forefathers grudged to bear whose weight and hardnesse notwithstanding you still increase whilest your upstart Statesmen the Jesuites like Rehoboams green-headed Counsellers daily seek to make your Ecclesiastick Monarchâ—s little finger greater then his Predecessors loins 3 Some Jesuite or other happily would reply Had Luther been quiet the Church had been still at such Peace and Unity as it enjoyed for many years before What manner of Peace and Unity was that Any other then such as usually is found in any political Argus-eyed Tyrannie before the sinews of it shrunk or the ligaments be dissolved where no man may move but he is seen nor mutter but he is heard where the least secret signification of any desire of Freedom in Speech or Liberty in Action is interpreted for open Mutiny and the least Motion unto Mutiny held matter sufficient for a cruel Death These were the Bonds of your Peace and Unity in this point of your Ecclesiastick Monarchie As for your Peace in other speculative Points of lesse use or commodity to your state it was like the revellings or drunken Consorts of Servants in their night sportings when the Master of the House is asleep in a retired room Any School-man might broach what Opinion he list and make his Auditors drunk with it others might quarrel with him and them in as uncivil sort as they list so no Weapon were drawn against the Popes Peace Albeit in the mean time the Scripture suffered as open Violence and Abuse as Priscian doth when drunken or dunstical Grammarians braul in extemporary Latin As for your Cardinals and States-men they were at league indeed but it was foedissimum foedus a League solemnized with more then barbarous and heatheâ—sh sacrifice with the bloud of many thoâ—sand silly Lambs for whom the Lamb of God had sacrificed his precious Body and Bloud What number of Hussits Bohemians Picardes poor souls of Lions were made a prey unto your Woolvish I may not say Lions teeth seeing as the Italian Poet argues this Title so ill befits your Popes Nec cadit in turpes nobilis ir a feras No Lions they for noble wrath No place in such base creatures hath But what Troops of such harmlesse souls were slain burnt and tormented for their longing after the Liberty of the Sons of God nor we nor you that live this day can know nor shall be known until the Register of the Book of life be opened And howsoever they went as their Lord and Master the great Shepheard of their souls had done before them like sheep unto the slaughter whilest their friends and kinsfolks cries were drowned with your Jewish
challenge another as free and absolute as himself for his Tributarie or Vassal and traduce him for a seditious member of Christendome because he would not compose the Quarrel thus injuriously sought with the surrender of his Crown and Dignitie 3 Princes may conclude a Peace for civil and free commerce of their People though professing sundry Religions and they and their Clergie might perhaps procure a mitigation of some other Points now much in Controversie but Though all others might yet This admits no terms of parly for any possible Reconcilement The natural Separation of this Island from those Countries wherein this Doctrine is professed shall serve as an everlasting Emblem of the Inhabitants divided hearts at least in this Point of Religion and let them O Lord be cut off speedily from amongst us and their Posterity transported hence never to enjoy again the least good thing this Land affords let no print of their Memory be extant so much as in a tree or stone within our Coast or let their Names by such as remain here after them be never mentioned or alwayes to their endlesse shame who living here amongst us will not imprint these or like Wishes in their hearts and daily mention them in their Prayers Littora littoribus contraria fluctibus undas Imprecor arma armis pugnent ipsique nepotes Which words though uttered in another case applied to this sound thus much to all wel-affected English or Brittish ears Let our and for ain Coasts joyn battel in the Main Ere this foul blasphemy Great Brittain ever stain Where never let it come but floating in a floud Of ours our nephews and their childrens childrens bloud 4 The Leaven of the Pharisees whereof our Saviour willed his Disciples to beware was sweet Bread in respect of this pestiferous Dough whose poison is so diffused througout the whole Body and Masse of Romish Religion as it hath polluted every parcel therein and makes even those particular Points to be damnable in modern Papists which in the Ancient holding them from other Grounds were pardonable Such as held a kind of Purgatorie or third Place after this life Evangelical Counsels Invocation of Saints or the like because they thought the Scripture taught them were deceived in these particular Scriptures but yet reserved their faithful Allegiance to Gods Word in general Nay even those particular Errours and mistakings of the sense of Scriptures were witnesses and pledges of their Obedience unto the Scripture or Word of God when they therefore Believed them because they were immediately perswaded in Conscience that the Scriptures the Rule of their Conscience did teach them But while you hold the same Opinions not because you are perswaded in Conscience immediately ruled by Scripture that they are contained in Scripture but because the Church which as ye suppose cannot erre doth teach them or to speak more plainly whiles you your selves either Believe or teach others to Believe them or the Scriptures concerning them because the Church whose Authoritie in this and all other Cases you acknowledge for the infallible Rule of your Faith commands you so to do you hereby openly renounce your own and sollicit the the people to alienate their Allegiance from God and his Word and the passing over or yielding up of stedfast and absolute Assent unto any particular Point in your Religion upon these Grounds is as evident a witnesse of high Treason committed against GOD by the partie thus believing a swearing of that Fealtie or Allegiance to a pretended Vicegerent or Deputy which is only due to the Prince himself would be in a natural and sworn subject Wherefore the supposed Infallibility of your Church is no such excellent Means of taking up all Controversies if your meaning be in the former sense proposed For it is so far from taking up all that it puts an Imposibility of having any betwixt you and as taken up unlesse you abjure it quite for it makes all the rest of your Opinions deadly to such as stedfastly Believe it or for it them 5 Your meaning then must be That this Infallibility of your Church would be an excellent Means for taking up all Controversies if all men would subscribe unto it Indeed I must confesse there would soon be an end of all or rather no controversies should ever be begun if every man would resolve with himself not to dissent from others but let them hold what they list he would hold the very same or if all men would bind themselves to abide some one Mans or a Major part of some few or more determinate persons Determinations without more ado In this case one might say of his Judge He shall determin for me and another might reply nay but for my Opinion the third might say He shall judge as I will have him and the fourth reply or rather as I will and yet never a one dissent from other but all agree All of them might have the Judges Sentence at as absolute command as the Shepheard had the Weather For every one might have him determin as he pleased because all of them were fully resolved to be pleased with whatsoever he should determin If you dream of such an Unitie in Faith or such a manner of composing Contentions it must be further disputed whether this were not an open Dissention or solemn Compact for moving a general Apostasie from the true Faith And they that labour for such an Union in points of Faith and Salvation do in effect solicite the whole Christian world to run hand in hand but head-long into open Insidelitie lest perhaps by breaking companies some might slide into Schisms and Heresies Should the Ramists and Aristotelians or generally all the Professors of Secular Arts and Sciences in our Universities bind themselves under penaltie of Expulsion or by solemn Vow never to swerve from the Bedle of beggers or John-a-dogs his determinations and resolutions in any point of Logick Philosophie or Metaphysicks would this be a sweet match to take up all Controversies or Contentions between Colledge and Colledge in our Schools were this so excellent a way to retain the Unitie of the Truth and skill in those Faculties or rather the only readie way to make all bond-slaves to Errour Ignorance and Falshood And yet might we with more safety delegate greater Authority in these cases to every one then we may to any living in matters of Faith and Religion over which or over our selves in respect of which we have no lawful Power or Authority For this and other Reasons should we be more afraid to subscribe unto any mortal mans Authority as unto a Judge most absolute and infallible whose decrees we may not resist from whose Sentence we may not appeal in matters of Faith then to refer our seves wholly unto the sole Judgement of the meerest natural Fool living in matters of secular Learning and natural Knowledge For besides the danger hence accrewing to our selves GOD our Creator Christ our Redeemer and the Holy
in Secular For as we shewed before he moved Holy men to write the Scriptures that we by them might attain eternal life Secondly besides this most infallible Rule or Law we admit an equal Necessity of Ecclesiastical and Temporal Judges an equal Authority in both to give Sentence viva voce And albeit we deny any absolute Infallibility in either yet the Possibility of not erring we acknowledge so much greater in the Judge Ecclesiastick as his Directory Rule is more certain and Authentical But here I must request these great Disputers of Rome if their Frenzie ome but by fits and admit Lucida intervalla one time or other upon their good dayes or in their sober hours if God send them any to bethink themselves wel what manner of Judge they require in matters Civil or meerly Secular such an one as cannot possibly erre in judgement one whom neither Ignorance lewd Desires nor exorbitant Affections can cause to swerve either from the undoubted Rules of Natural or Civil Equity the fundamental Laws of his Country or the chief Law-givers true intent and meaning If they willingly grant that our Civil Magistracie which they acknowledge lawful and necessary in its kind may sometimes judge wrongfully in Causes by nature most determinable by ordinary course of Civil Justice as for example in condemning Priests and Jesuites or generally in matters of Life and Death with what foreheads can they demand we should Believe the Pope or other Ecclesiastick Judge cannot possibly give erroneous sentence in any matters of Religion many of which are of that nature as can admit no other use of external or coactive Power save only severe restraint of all precise Determinations or curious search one way or other And to admit though in Cases meerly Civil such an absolute inerrable Tribunal from whose censure no man though ready with patience to brook the execution of heaviest bodily doom it could inflict may so much as in the secrets of his Heart or Conscience so far appeal as to examin whether the determination be right or wrong were either secretly to deny or openly to praeoccupate or prevent Christs Final Judgement wherein even Supream Judges shal be judged and all forepast decisions examined by the written Word which these men disclaim for any Authentick Rule of Faith the Right approved the Wrong reversed by Him whose peculiar Prerogative it is though now usurped by the Pope to put a Final End to all controversies viva voce 4 Notwithstanding be it supposed for disputations sake that God had appointed such an Authentick Tribunal as these Drunkards dream of for deciding matters of Religion yet were it most grosse to think might Reason alone without Scripture be admitted Judge there should be but one Supream Tribunal for the whole Christian World Even common Sense were Reason silenced might instruct us that it were much more convenient for every several Kingdom every free State or Societie of men to have such a Consistorie or Supream Tribunal amongst themselves For by the means might all differences in Opinions be far sooner known more narrowly sifted and present notice taken of every Circumstance concerning their Occasions Progresse or Favourers the controversie it self quicklier decided the Offenders more speedily punished and the like occasions better avoided Whereas for every Nation to resort to Rome or for the Pope to send his Legates into every corner of the Christian World would procure great toil and long labour with little successe The causers of contentions or maintainers of Heresies might often die in their Sins before the controversie were examined or the Truth so manifested as might move their to Repentance or recantation of their Errours the Information might be impertinent partial imperfect or false the Opinion or supposed Herenr being happily first set abroach in the presumed Hereticks Countrie Dâ—aleci would be worse understood of the Pope whose Instruction in many principal circumstances must oft-times depend upon disagreeing hear-sayes for his Holiness sees no better his Infallible-ship hears no farther in matters de facto then meaner men his plenarie Power even while he gives Sentence ex cathedra is not able to understand more Tongues then many Linguists may in a meaner seat his Fatherhood understands none besides his mother-Tongue so wel as the natural inhabitants of every Countrie do their own proper native Language Many such Inconveniences might be alledged for which might we chuse what manner of Ecclesiastick Government God should appoint us we should make choice of a Supream Judge in all causes Ecclesiastical at home rather then go to Rome to have them heard If the Controversers were to go from Norway the Seas might be frozen and the enemies possesse the Land The passages from sundrie other places might all be so stopt as we should have greater controversie in going to Rome then that for which we were to go Or if the Election of men for by man is the Pope elected could give such Infallibility to any the manner of such Elections would be much more agreeable to the Rules of Gods Providence and the example of Christs Apostles if all the Congregation which was to relie upon his Infallibility should first make choice of some few most excellent and famous men renowned for Learning and Integritie afterwards all with one mind and one heart pray unto the Lord to shew by lot which was the man to whom he would undoubtedly vouchsafe this infallible Assistance of his Holy Spirit Thus might Reason or common Sense without Scripture be Judge what manner of Government were fittest for Christs Church we could bring far greater Reasons for a multitude of Popes or Ecclesiastical Monarches for one at least in every Nation then either our Adversaries bring or can be brought for one general Monarch over the Universal Church Militant 5 And albeit this challenged large extent of the Romish Churches Authoritie over others were the Authoritie it self otherwise for the Qualitie moderate had been in former times not altogether so unreasonable yet were it at this day to be abandoned as a turbulent device apt for nothing so much as perpetual disturbation of publick Peace throughout Christendom now divided into so many several Soveraignties and governed by so many absolute Princes or States no way dependent one of another And Bellarmin's Reasons brought for to prove the Monarchical government of the Church would with far greater Probabilities infer a conveniencie for a several Monarchical Government in every particular State then for one general Monoâ—rch over all While the Christian World was governed by one absolute Monarch or Emperour and all the peculiar customes or priviledges of several Nations like divers members of the same Bodie conformable one to another by their common subordination to one supream Imperial Law the Vertue of a like Ecclesiastical Authoritie might have been equally diffused throughout the whole Bodie thereof as the splendor of the Sun throughout the whole Hemisphere of the Air and other aetherial and coelestial Bodies
uncertain Of the infallible Church But her Infallibility is called in question and any Church may challenge this Prerogative as wel as theirs unlesse they can shew a better Title Without Revelation from above it is stil uncertain fide divina whether we are to Believe any Churches Infallibility concerning Scripture Or if any which of all Revelations from above we acknowledge none but the written Word they acknowledge Traditions as wel as It yet so as the Scriptures by their Confession are as certain as Tradition which they make equal only with the written Word acknowledged by us not above it Wherefore if the Scriptures be in themselves by their Objections uncertain then is Tradition as uncertain What shall assure us of the Truth of either The infallible Church But this can assure no man unlesse he first Believe it for certain and infallibly What shal make it certain to us The Scriptures But they are uncertain say our Adversaries and the Church must confirm their certainty unto us Though this Circle wherein Valentian and Sacroboscus have run giddie were of force to raise up all the Spirits in Hel and though they raised should sift all the Jesuites Brains in the world yet should not all the invention of Man with the help of Devils be able to find out the least Probability of avoiding the former Inconvenience Nay they should far sooner make ropes of the sand in the Adriatick Sea so strong as would hale Italy unto the Islands of Devils before they could teach all the Jesuites in the world so much Geometry as to make one of these Uncertainties support another CAP. XXXI The Unsufficiency of the Roman Rule of Faith for effecting what it aims at albeit we grant all they demand the ridiculous use thereof amongst such as do acknowledge it 1. WHen I was a Child as our Apostle saith and spake as a child understood as a child I thought some great matters might be contained under those Hyperbolical and swelling Titles of the Romish Church where-with mine ears were often filled And although I had been instructed to the contrary yet could I have wished her doctrine true such was my Affection to her shape as it was falsely represented to my childish Fantasie But after the Day-star had shined in mine heart the former Humour wherewith the eye-sight of my infant mind had been corrupted was quickly dispelled Once able to look more narrowly into the subtilest of her School-mens Disputes and examin her learned Clerks Apologies for her by the Gospels Light I saw clearly how by presenting meer shews or shadows of Truth they led weak-sighted Souls into Error as it were in a mist in the beginning of their works usually inserting pretended Grounds here and there as they espie occasion of their intended Conclusions supported with some sleight Reasons for the present feeding us with expectation of better Proofs either in some other work or a great way after in the same which may stay our minds til we come at them where they return us back again to what is past that being now far off and most particulars out of mind may seem not altogether nothing to such as wil not take pains to review it And thus in fine as the mist so their Proofs seem every where somewhat til a man come near them but then so vanish as he shall see nothing of that he looked for 2 Bellarmins books de verbo Dei compared with those others of his de Romano Pontifice c. and Valentians Analysis fidei wil easily approve this observation to him that shal read them through with Attention Both of them in the beginning of their works promising great matters made me expect some extraordinary proof in the processe but finding them best at the first always ambitions in producing multitude of Allegations to little purpose copious in bestowing glorious Titles and Prerogatives upon their Holy Church and yet finally contracting her Universalitie and sacred Catholickship into one mans breast who by their own Confession may be so carnally grosse that he cannot draw any spiritual breath their former goodly Encomions ending thus made me call to mind how crafty companions cozen children of what they love or stay their crying at what they dislike by promising them some Gallant â—ine Gâ—â—die Trim Goodly Brave Golden New Nothing Such brave Epithets so ravish a childs thoughts as at the first hearing he parts with any thing he hath or forbears to seek what otherwise he would have in hope of such a gay reward never looking into the substance of what is promised which was indeed just nothing With like bombast outsides do modern Priests Jesuites terrifie silly souls men or women meer children in understanding from all communion with our Church leading them through such painted Forefronts or fained but sightly Entrances into their vast imaginary empty Paradise wherein grows nothing but forbidden Fruit. Though Volums they write huge and large and in the sublimity of their speculative imaginations fetch Arguments from beyond the Moon yet unto him that hath but the eye of ordinary Reason in his head not blinded by their juglings their best Collections prove in the end but like the drawing of a net spread far and wide in the open air able to retain nothing of what it had compadded only such as looked a far off or had brains so weak or sight so ill disposed as could not distinguish betwixt the element of air and water making more then an ordinary stir in fetching so huge a draught might happily suspect some goodly Catch 3 Suppose we should grant that the Pope whiles he speaks ex cathedra cannot erre who shall I am sure no Jesuit or private Spirit can without all ambiguity and pretence of gainsaying determin directly and absolutely what it is to speâ—k ex cathedra And it is not to be expected that the Pope will ex cathedra define what it is to define a thing ex cathedra in such sort as shall leave â—…sion to excuse his Errour if he should be urged with a Sentence ex cathedraâ— which to the Major part of professed Christians might seem doubtful whether it were palpably erroneous or no. But suppose we knew directly and authentically what it were to speak ex cathedra and when the Pope did indeed so speak when not which no man can know but only by hear-say unlesse such as hear him give Sentence yet what Assurance can the Jesuites give unto the Christian World that his Holiness shal so determin or speak as often as the Peace of Christs Church or Weal of Christendom shal require That he shal speak de sacto ex cathedra whensoever the Church stands in need of a Decision the Papists themselves do not hold as any part of his Infallibility but only that he is able so to speak when his Infallibility wil. And â—… on 〈◊〉 arâ—umâ—ntum No man in their judgement can or ought â—…rain him to a â—…cision except he list And seeing they
adventure Thus might Divines dispute without any danger to 〈◊〉 Souls if the Romanists had not been so lavish in coyning matter for Contention rather then in searching Scriptures for Edification of Christs Church Or if the Laitie would be as carefull of their Spiritual as Bodily Health and not take their Physick blind-fold at such Mountebanks hands as Jesuites Priests and Seminaries be who minister none but such as either shall intoxicate the Brain or inflame the Heart with preposterous zeal Nor should variance in Points of Doctrine amongst Divines breed any danger or disturbance to Common-weals if they would not be Statists or Underminers of States as the Jesuites be If their Contentions were for the manner uncivil or bitter as are all contentions which the Jesuites breed the Supreme Magistrate whether Ecclesiastick or Civil might bind their Tongues and Pens to good abearance were it not for these Romish Wolves which in Sheeps cloathing convey themselves into the Fold of Christ and once crept in will admit of no triall but in the Lions Den unto which they are sworn Purvevors for whose maintenance like their Master that great Accuser of Gods Children they compasse Sea and Land and fetch their range about the World 10 Who can imagine any other Cause besides this their insolent challenge of Soveraigntie over all others Faith why the Scripture might not be admitted Judge over all Controversies of Divinitie much better then Hypocrates or Galen of all Controversies in Physick without any infallible Physitian perpetually resident in the World to give sentence viva voce It is no Paradox to hold that God which made us these Souls and gave the Scripture for their Health did much better know what was necessarie for them then either Hippocrates or Galen did what was good and wholesome for mens Bodies one hair of which they neither made black or white Even what they best knew they knew not otherwise to communicate unto Posteritie then by these dumb Characters or atramentarie instructers Whatsoever our Adversaries can urge to the prejudice of Scriptures Sufficiencie or Abilitie of Gods Spirit is true of these great Authours and their Writings all other Means of teaching though their dearest Schollers died with them now not able either to strengthen or consolidate the weak or shallow brain or illuminate darkned understandings they cannot so much as take notice of their Followers towardly pains and industrie or reward such as are most devoted to their Memorie and use their Aphorismes as infallible Rules of Bodily life and health with any blessing of Art or Nature But our God lives for ever and knows best who are his alwayes ready to Reward such as love him And as there is none living but hath received some Gift or other from him so hath he promised to give more and more unto all such as well Use what he hath already given If Nature be dulled so it be not slothfull withall in good courses he can sharpen it by Art though both be defective yet can he so inflame the heart with Zeal as it shall pierce more deeply into the Mysteries of mans Salvation then the acutest unregenerate Wit that Nature yeelds or Art can fashion His Spirit cannot be bound but bloweth where he listeth and giveth life to whom he pleaseth and can inlighten our mindes to see that Truth now written which he taught others to Write for our good 11 Physitians look not Hippocrates or Galen should stand on earth again Vessalius like to read Anatomy-Lectures upon their Followers live-tongues or other instruments of breath and speech abused to debate and strife or blowing the coals of bitter Dissention about their Meaning But we all look if we Believe aright that Christ Jesus who hath left us these his Sacred Lawes and Legend of his most blessed Life as a Patern whereby to frame our own free from contention peaceable humble and meek will one day after which shall be no more exact a strict accompt of every idle Word much more will he punish such Tongues or Pens as have been continually set on fire by Hell with the everlasting flames of that brimstone lake 12 Were our exorbitant Affections brought within compasse by hope and fear answerable to the Consequences of the former sweet Promises made to such as rightly use and terrible Threats against all such as abuse the good Means ordained by God for knowing his Will his infâ—… wordâ— from whose mouth soever uttered yea though but privately read with attentive silence would instruct us how to demean our selves in the search of Truth inform us how to direct fasten or inhibit finally how in all Mysteries of our Salvation to moderate our Assent much better then this supposed infallible Authoritie residing usually in men most like to Heathen Idols Though Mouthes they have as they pretend infallible yet fearce speak they once in two ages whose words when they are uttered portend more danger to the Christian World then if brute beasts should speak like men 13 No Christian Common-wealth but either hath or might have good Lawes for composing Contentions or establishing Unitie in the studie of Truth To see what should be done is never hard would strength of Authoritie be as willing to enforce men unto a Civil and orderly observation of Means known and prescribed Our Statutes are much more absolute and complete then Israels were when it was a sin to enquire after other Means either more easie or effectual for their conduction unto that true Happinesse whereat all States aim but onely such shall light on as put these Sacred Lawes in execution It is the common Errour of all corrupted mindes to seek that far off which as the Lord told his people is within them even in their Hearts and in their Mouthes so they would be Doers not Hearers onely of the Law Many Heathens have used such diligent care and unrelenting Resolution for just execution of their defective erroneous Laws as would the coactive Power every where resident where Christianity is professed use the like for establishing an uniform and unpartial though but an external and civil Practise of the ten Commandements and other Sacred Moral Precepts of whose Truth no Christian doubts about whose Meaning nor Protestant nor Papist nor any Sect this day living do or can contend fallible Judges might effect what the Papists pretend as infalliblie as if every particular Congregation had such a true infallible Teacher as they falsely deem or fain their Pope to catechise them ex cathedra thrice a week For who could better resolve us in all Points of Moment or retain our hearts in Unitie of Faith then Truth it self once clearly seen or made known unto us yet is it in it self much brighter then the Sun we daily see which it likewise herein exceeds That whilest Gods Word endures amongst us it still remains above our Horizon and cannot set onely grosse and foggie Interpositions raised from exhalation of such foul Lusts and reeking sins as
severe unpartial execution of known Lawes might easily restrain usually eclipse or hide it from us Such as are not so Eagle-sighted as to behold the brightnesse of every Divine Truth in it proper Sphere might yet safely behold the reflexion of it in one part or other of the sacred Fountain were it not troubled with the muddy conceipts of unsetled and unquiet Frains or were not such men oftentimes in great places as minding nothing but earthly things alwayes mingle filth and clay with the Chrystal-streams of the Water of Life Happie is that man of God that in this turbulent Age can in points of greatest moment see the Divine Truth himself small hope have any of causing others to see it whilest carnal mindes may every where without fear of Punishment but not without terrour of such Ecclesiastick Power as shall controul them foam out their own shame and overcast the face of Heaven whence Light should come unto their Souls with blasphemous unhallowed Breath whilest dunghill-Sinks may be suffered to evaporate the abundance of that inward Filth which is lodged in their hearts as it were of purpose to choak the good Spirit of God whilest it seeks to breath in others Mouthes whose Breasts it hath inspired with Grace 14 In brief lest my Adversary should challenge me of Partialitie As the Means which our Church from Gods Word prescribes for establishing mens hearts in the Unity of true Faith were the execution of known Lawes any way correspondent might as is said infallibly effect what the Papists falsely pretend so in truth it cannot without Hypocrisie be dissembled that whiles our Practise is so dissonant to our Doctrine and our Publick Discipline so loose though in detestation of their Errours we have turned our backs upon them with Protestation to follow a contrary Rule yet for the most part we jump with them at the journeys end To omit more finall agreements of our Contrarieties elsewhere shewed They wholly permit the Keyes of the Well of Life to ones mans hands who for his own advantage we may be sure will lock it up so close as none shall look upon it but with Spectacles of his making For as the Head is such we must expect the Eyes will be if the one the other must be universall too such as will leave nothing to be seen by private or particular eyes but what they have seen before or in one word if we admit one absolute visible Head his must be the onely Eyes of the Church We not through default of publick Constitutions nor so much by connivence of Ecclesiastick Magistrates as by presumptuous disobedience of Inferiours are so far from committing the custodie of this Sacred Fountain into one or few mens hands that the Flock for the most part never expect the Pastors marshalling but rushing into it without order trample in it with unclean feet If any Beam of Truth have found entrance into one of their Souls though quickly eclipsed or smothered by earthly cogitations he straight-way presumes Gods Word more plentifully dwels in him then in all his Teachers whence if his Purse be strong it is with him as with an Horse when Provender pricks him he kicks against all Ecclesiastick Authority and spurns at his poor Overseer that should feed him like the wanton Asse in the Fable that seeing the Moon lately shining where she was drinking suddenly covered with a cloud upon imagination she had drunk it up ran winsing out ere her thirst was quenched and threw her Rider 15 Thrice happie is that Land and State where Civil Policie and Spiritual Wisdom grave Experience and profound Learning in whose right Commixture consists the perfect Temperature of every Christian State do rightly symbolize These where they mutually clasp in their Extreams without intermedling in the Essence of each others Profession are like the Side-postes or Arches in the Lords House and the awfull respect of Christ Jesus the Judge of both and that dreadfull Day continually sounding in their ears by the voice of Gods faithfull and sincere Ministers would be as the Binding-stone or Coupling to fasten them surely in the joyning But whilest these each jealous of other start asunder that Breach is made whereat the Enemies of the Church and State hope for speedy entrance to the utter ruine of both CAP. XXXII Brieflie Collecting the Summe of this second Book 1 TO draw a brief Map of these large Disputes As the Occasions that breed so the right Means to avoid all Contentions and Schismes are most perspicuously set down in Scriptures Amongst others most necessary for this purpose for the plantation increase and strength of true and lively Faith sincere Obedience to Spiritual Authoritie is the chief For more willing and chearful performance hereof Choice should be made of Pastors or Overseers qualified as Scripture requires men of so high a Calling should be men not given to Quarrels or strife men of mild and lowlie Spirits fearing God and hating Covetousnesse men esteeming the hidden treasure of a good Conscience at so high a rate as neither Fear of man nor Hopes of any Worldly favour can move them to hazard or adventure it Were these Rules by such as have the oversight of Gods Flock as faithfully practised as they are by Scripture plainly taught the knowledg of Gods Word should daily encrease Piety Devotion and Christian Charitie continually flourish all Strife and Dissention quickly fade 2 But if through the default of Princes or Potentates no fit choice be made of spiritual Governours if by their negligence worse be made of inferiour Ministers the cause comes not by devolution to be reformed by the Congregation What then must they be altogether silent at such abuse No the Scripture hath given as plain a Rule for their imployment as for the others The more or more often Higher Powers offend the more fervently frequent should the lower Sort be in pouring out supplications prayers and intercessions for Kings and for all that are in Authority that they may Rule according to Gods Word In the mean time albeit they Rule otherwise Inferiours should consider that GOD gives them such Superiours for their pronenesse to disobedience scurrilitie scoffing at lawfull Authoritie or other like sins expresly forbidden by his Word To every People as well as Israel he gives such Rulers in his wrath as shall not seek them but theirs not his Glory in their salvation but their own Glory by their harm 3 But as the Tongues of Inferiours must be tied from scoffing or jesting at men in Authorities bad proceedings so must not the Word of God be bound If their Consciences rightly and unpartially examined direct them otherwise then their Governours command they must notwithstanding their Superiours checks speak as they think until Death command them silence if for the freedom of their Speech upon good warrant of Conscience they be punished Vengeance is Gods he will repay Superiours for it unto whose lawfull Authority whilest Obedience is denied upon
greatnesse of authority is alwayes measured by the manner of obedience due unto it The Minor is as evident from the former reason Our obedience is more absolute and strict unto that authority from which in no case we may appeal then unto that from which we may in many safely appeal but by the Romish Churches doctrine there lies alwayes an appeal from that sence and meaning of Scriptures which Gods spirit and our own conscience gives us unto the Churches authority none from the Churches authority or meaning unto the Scriptures or our own consciences 7 Our Saviour Christ bids us search the Scriptures S. Paul try all retain that which is good S. John try the Spirits whether they be of God or no Suppose a Minister of our Church should charge a Romanist upon his allegiance to our Saviour Christ and that obedience which he owes unto Gods Word to search Scriptures trie Spirits and examin Doctrines for the râ—tifying of his faith he wil not acknowledge this to be a Commandment of Scripture or at least not to be understood in such a sence as may bind him to this practise What follows if our Clergie charge him to admit it he appeals unto the Church And as in Schools simus and nasus simus is all one so in their language is the Church and the Church of Rome This Church tels him he may not take upon him to trie of what spirit the Pope is nor examin his determinations decisions or interpretations of any Scripture by other known places of Scripture or the analogie of faith acknowledged by all Unto this decree or sentence of the Church although he have it but at the second hand or after it have passed through as many Priests and Jesuites mouthes as are Post Towns from London to Edenburgh he yields absolute obedience without acknowledgement of farther appeal either unto Scriptures or other authority whatsoever further manifestation of Gods wil he expects none Let all the reformed Churches in the World or all the Christian World besides exhort threaten or adjure him as he tenders the good of his own soul as he wil answer his Redeemer in that dreadful day of final Judgement to examin the Church or Popes decrees by Gods written Laws his answer is he may not he cannot do it without open disobedience to the Church which to disobey is damnation of soul and body But O fools and slow of heart to believe and obey from the heart that doctrine whereunto ye were delivered Know ye not that to whomsoever ye give your selves as servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be the man of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousnesse Of all Mankind are onely Roman Catholicks not bought with a price that they may thus alienate their souls from Christ and become servants of men that they may consecrate themselves by solemn vow to the perpetual slavery of most wicked and sinful men even monsters of Mankind CAP. V. That in obeying the Romish Churches decrees we do not obey Gods Word as well as Them but Them alone in contempt of Gods principal Laws 1 BUt the simple I know are born in hand by the more subtile sort of this generation That thus obeying sinful men they obey Christ who hath injoyned them this obedience unto such That thus believing that sence of Scripture which the Church their mother tenders unto them they do not believe her better then Scriptures because these two Beliefs are not opposite but subordinate that they prefer not her decrees before Christs written Laws but her interpretation of them before all private Expositions This is the only City of refuge left them wherein prosecuted by the former arguments they can hope for any succour but most of whose gates already have been all shortly shall be shut upon them 2 That they neither believe nor obey Gods Word whilest they absolutely believe and obey the Church without appeal is evident in that this Church usually binds men not unto Positive points of Religion gathered so much as from any pretended sence of Scripture expounded by it but to believe bare Negatives as that this or that place of Scripture either brought by their adversaries or conceived by such amongst themselves as desire the knowledge of truth and right information of conscience have no such meaning as the Spirit of God not flesh and bloud as far as they can judge of their own thoughts hath revealed unto them 3 But the Spirit may deceive private men or at least they may deceive themselves in their trial of Spirits They may indeed and so may men in publick place more grievously erre in peremptory judging private men because obnoxious to errour in the general erroneous in this particular wherein they ground their opinions upon Gods Word plentiful to evince it at least very probable reasons they bring many and strong whereunto no reasonable answer is brought by their adversaries whose usual course is to presse them only with the Churches authority which appears to be of far greater weight then Gods word unto all such as yield obedience to her negative decrees without any evidence or probability either of Scripture or natural reason to set against that sence and meaning of Gods Laws whereunto strength of arguments unrefuted and probable pledges of Gods Spirit undisproved have long tied their souls Do we obey God or believe his word whilst we yield obedience to the Church in such Commandments as to our consciences upon unpartial examination seem condemned ere made by the very fundamental Laws of Religion and all this oft-times without any shew or pretence of Scripture to warrant us that we do not disobey God in obeying them 4 But doth the Romish exact absolute obedience in such points as if it were possible they could be false may endanger the very foundation of true Religion without evident demonstration that their daily practise neither doth nor can endanger it Yes For what can more concern the main foundation which Christians Jews and Mahumetans most firmly hold then those precepts in number many all plainly and peremptorily forbidding us to worship any Gods but One or any thing in the Heaven or Earth but Him only The Romanists themselves grant that cultu latriae God alone is to beadored that so to adore any other is Idolatry and Idolatry by their confession a most grievous sin O how much better were it for them to hold it none or Gods Word forbidding it of no authority then so lightly to adventure the hourly practise of it in contempt of such fearful threatnings as they themselves out of Gods Laws pronounce against it upon such broken distoynted surmises as are the best they can pretend for their warrant 5 To believe Christs flesh and bloud should be there present where it canot be seen or felt yea where we see and feel another body as perfectly as we can do ought is to reason without warrant of Scripture but a
they become their chief accusers That opinion which at first brought in neglect of the Chalice and as the Trent Councel presumed would have warranted them in making this decree doth most condemn them for the measure of their iniquity could not have been so fully accomplished unlesse they had held a transubstantiation of the wine into Christs bloud 19 What part of Scripture can we presume they wil spare that dare thus countermand the most principal of all Gods Commandments what reckoning may we think they make of our Saviour Christ that adventure thus shamefully to disanul and cancel his last wil and testament defrauding almost the whole Christian World of half their Lord and Masters royal allowance partly without any shew of Scriptures either to restrain or otherwise interpret these Soveraign precepts partly upon such idle and frivolous allegations as may further witnesse their sleight estimate of Gods Word save only so far as it may be wrested to serve their turns 20 But grant the places there alledged by the Councel did so mitigate either the form of the institution or the peremptory manner of our Saviours speeches in the sixth of John as to make it disputable in unpartial judgments whether they did plainly injoyn any necessity of communicating under both kinds the former decree notwithstanding would manifestly infer an usurpation of Soveraignty over Gods word quite contrary to the general Analogie of faith reason and conscience by all which in cases doubtful and for the speculative form of truth disputable with equal probability affirmatively or negatively we are taught to frame our choice when we come to practise according to the difference of the matter or of consequences which may ensue more dreadful one way then the other alwayes to prefer either a greater good before a lesse or a lesse evil before a greater though both equally probable Suppose then these two contradictory propositions The denial of the Cup is a mutilation of Christs last will and testament the denial of the Cup is no mutilation of Christs last will and Testament were for their speculative probabilities in just examination equipendent yet the doctrine of faith delivered in Scripture reason and conscience without contradiction instructs us that to alter abrogate or mutilate the son of Gods last Will and Testament is a most grievous most horrible most dreadful sin but to permit the use of the Chalice hath no suspition of any the least evil in it Had the Trent Fathers thus done they had done no worse then our Saviour then his Apostles then the Primitive Church by their own confession did This excesse of evil without all hope of any the least compensative good to follow upon the denial should have swaied them to that practise which was infinitely more safe as not accompanied with any possibility or shew of danger although the speculative probability of any divine precept necessarily injoyning the use of the cup had been none Thus peremptorily to adventure upon consequences so fearful whereto no contrary fear could in reason impel nor hopes any way comparable allure them thus imperiously to deprive the whole Christian World of a good in their valuation testified by their humble supplications and frequent embassages to that Councel so inestimable without any other good possible to redound unto the deniers save only usurpation of Lordly Dominion over Christs heritage plainly evinceth that the Church is of far greater authority with them then GODS Word either written in the Sacred Canon or their hearts then all his Laws either ingrafted by nature or positive and Supernatural For 21 Admit this Church representative had been fully perswaded in conscience rightly examined and immediately ruled by Scripture that the former decree did not prejudice the institution use or end of this Sacrament yet most Christians earnest desire of the Cup so publickly testified could not suffer them to sleep in ignorance of that great scandal the denial of it needs must give to most inferiour particular Churches Wherefore the rule of charity that moved the Father of the Gentiles to that serious protestation If meat offend my brother I will eat no flesh while the world standeth that I may not offend my brother should in all equity divine or humane have wrought these Prelates hearts to like profession If want of their spiritual drink offend so many Congregations and such a multitude of our brethren we will rather not use our lawful authority acknowledged by all then usurp any that may be offensive or suspicious unto others though apparantly just unto our selves for they could not be more fully perswaded this decree was just then Saint Paul was that all meats were lawful to him 22 But may we think these Prelates had no scruple of conscience whether the very form of this decree were not against our Saviours expresse command Bibite ex hoc omnes drink ye all of this For mine own part whiles I call to mind what else-where I have observed that the Jews were never so peremptory in their despightful censures of our Saviours doctrine nor so outragiously bent against his person as when their hearts were touched in part with his miracles or in some degree illuminated with the truth he taught The Councels extraordinary forwardnesse to terrifie all Contravenaries of this decree makes me suspect they were too conscious of their own shallow pretended proofs to elude Gods word whose light and perspicuity in this point had exasperated their hardned hearts and weak-sighted faith to be so outragious in the very beginning of that session as if they had meant to stifle their consciences and choak the truth lest these happily might crosse their proceedings or controul their purposes if this cause should once have come to sober and deliberate debatement For as theeves oftentimes seek to avoid apprehension by crying loudest Turn the Thief so these wolves hoped wel to smother their guilt and prevent al notice taking of their impiety by their grievo us exclamations against others monstrous impious opinions in this point interdicting all upon penalty of the causes following ere they had determined ought to teach preach or believe otherwise then they meant to determin 23 Yet though the Councel accurse all that hold communication under both kinds as a necessary doctrine it doth not absolutely inhibit all use of the Chalice but leaves it free unto their Lord the Pope to grant it upon what Conditions he please either unto private men or whole Nations Upon what conditions then may we presume wil it please his Holinesse for to grant it upon any better then Satan tendred all the Kingdomes of the Earth unto our Saviour For this fained servant of Christ a true Gehazi repining at his Lord and Masters simplicity that could refuse so fair a profer made after Satan in all haste saying in his heart I wil surely take somewhat of him though my Master spared him and pretending a message in his name to whom all power was
them in whom it is are much worse then some foolish Heathens dreams of an immortal fame that was to accompany their mortal souls as they esteemed them and argue in these sons of Antichrist either an incogitancie or unbelief of Christ who lives for ever come in the flesh or a secure worldly hope he shall never or not this long time come to judgement 31 Saint Peter hath foretold that there shall come in the last dayes mockers which will walk after their lusts and say where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation Atheists and Libertines I know here are literally meant But as the Prophets usually prefigure our future Blisse by Jerusalems present glory or other known felicity by which perhaps it was represented unto them So might S. Peter shadow out unto us the mysterie of iniquity according to that rude draught which it had in his time For the substance native quality or proportion of the Atheists and the modern godlesse Romanists mockery they are the same onely the one is more rude and rough hewen the other more smoothly varnished with Hypocrisie and overlaied with artificial colours The blunt Atheist like a lewd debter that simply denies his bond imagines the Lord will never come to call him to an account Their subtle Romanist like a craftie companion that acknowledgeth the debt but no set day of payment specified save onely to morrow hopes to drive off God Almighty from day to day putting Christs coming as far from him the next three yeers to come as it was the last three past and so would hold on these hundred thousand yeers if the World should stand so long because Antichrist who by professed enmitie against Christ shall give the World three yeers warning according to the yeers of an hireling of its dissolution if we may beleeve this mocker is not yet revealed Nor ever shall be to him unto whom since the Patriarchs and Apostles died all things continue as they did from the beginning of the new creation mans redemption without any general Apostasie or decay of Peters faith which remains still as fresh and lively as when he first confessed Christ Not the Jew more sottish in expecting his Messias then this hypocrite in deferring Antichrists coming And no marvell when that which first caused the Jew so grievously to stumble and since retains him in his unbelief is made the onely ground of the Roman Catholicks faith Hell by an approved Experiment of the ones fall knew well the same charm would enchant the other both being equally tainted with a superstitious heathenish conceit that their teachers could not erre because they sit in the seats of such as were Infallible in their life times And hence it is they are so blind and see it not bewitched and bewitching others with continual reiterating that magick Spell of Templum Domini the Church the Church words whose meaning they understand no more then simple women do waggish scholars medicines or charms for the tooth-ach Their ignorance though may put us in mind of another mockery they make of our Saviours words 32 For where he promised hell gates should never prevail against his Church meaning against no true Christian soul espoused to him by an indissoluble knot of faith and everlasting love These mockers dispossesse the Christian world of this glorious hope by a double delusion first perswading it that the universal Church militant may encamp in one mans brest upon whom though hell shut her gates the simple such as they would make us all must believe the Church is safe because he came not within them as an Heretick For so in the second place though our Saviour promiseth in termes as ample and Majestical as can be devised that not Hell gates that is no power or force of hell shall be able to hold play with that Church whose safe conduct to his heavenly Kingdom he there undertook they make the meaning of his assurance to be but this No Heresie as if hell gates were furnished with no other munition shall ever make breach upon the Roman Consistorie or approach the Popes Seat of dignity Thus to support the Popes Supremacie they would make Christ so to shufle as if a Prince were it possible any Prince could be so base should warrant his Confederates safe conduct thorow his Territories upon as high termes as his Soveraigntie or Supremacie would stretch unto and yet challenged upon the others miscarriage interpret his meaning to have been but this I did warrant him he should not die of porson administred by any Physitian of mine in my Dominions That no violence should be offered him by theeves and robbers or other unrulie subjects I undertook not CAP. IX That the Romanists Belief of the Churches Infallible Authority cannot be resolved into any testimony better then Humane whence the main conclusion immediately followes That the Romanist in Obeying the Church-decrees without examination of them by Gods Word prefers mans Lawes before Gods 1 SEeing it hath been manifested as well by Ostensive proof from Scriptures as by Deduction to inconveniences most contrary to the Analogie and prejudicial to the main foundation of Faith that Saint Peter was not the Church nor such an head as the Pope doth make himself of all the faithfull the principal Point is clear that the Romanists Belief of such a transcendent absolute oecumenical Authority in the Church as might warrant our Obedience to the former Decrees cannot be resolved into any Divine testimony or absolute Promise of Christ in neither of which the Pope can have any interest but onely by right derived from Saint Peter 2 To follow them a little in their School humour onely reckoning the Speculative probabilities that can be brought for them without computation of their Blasphemies or other dangerous Consequences wherewith their Doctrine heretofore hath been and must be further charged let us trie what strength the other joints have in themselves and see in the next place what proof they can make their Popes are successours to such preheminences as Peter had Albeit even this joint as all the rest of their religion is quite benummed and utterly deprived of sense by the deadly blow lately given to the principal nerve whence life and motion must be derived to the whole body of their Religion For if we consider the intensive perfection of that preheminence or estimation which Peter in respect of his fellowes had either with his Lord or with his flock this was founded in a correspondent excesse of his love his lively faith and diligent feeding unto no one of which good qualities the Popes professe themselves heirs infallible Or if we respect the extent or amplitude of Saint Peters extraordinary soveraignty it was the same with Davids kingdom or Christs own Pastoral charge and reached but from Dan to Beersheba At the utmost it and the circumcision had the same circumference Within which
either Antichristian blindnesse not to see or impudency of no meaner stock not to acknowledg that the Pope by this mean might appropriate unto himself the honour due unto God play upon his Creator in such sort as if a corrupt Lawyer having evidences committed to his trust should by vertue of them take up rents and let leases to the Land-lords dammage and Tenants overthrow And what is most villanous unto whatsoever prerogatives though most prejudicial to the divine majesty his Parasitical Canonists shal blasphemously entitle this most holy Father The Son of God and his faithfullest servants Apostles or Prophets must be brought forth to abet the forgery as if evidence given in Court by infamous Knights of the Post should in the final day of hearing be produced under the hands and seals of free Barons or other chief Peers of the Land for as was intimated before whatsoever the Pope though in his own cause shall say it must by this doctrine be supposed that Christ doth say the same Yea if it should please his Holiness to avoach ex Cathedra that these words Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melechisedech are truly and literally meant of himself as Christs Viâ—ar or of perpetual succession in Peters Chair the evidence must be taken as upon the Almighties oath who in that place hath sworn as much as these words import but what that is the Pope must judge That then he permits Christ the title of his soveraign Lord and urges others to subscribe unto his laws as most divine is just as if some Polititian should solicit the whole body of a kingdom solemnly to acknowledge one othewise lawful heir unto the Crown for their Monarch most omnipotent and absolute whose wil once signified must be a law for ever inviolable to all his subjects not with intent that he should in person retain such perpetual soveraignty over them but that he might have absolute power to dispose of his kingdom as he pleased unto the worlds end or to nominate others as absolute in his place whilest he spent his dayes as a sojourner in a forrain land Finally not the most treacherous and detestable plot the most wicked Pope that hath been is or shall be could desire to effect but may by this device be countenanced with as great and sacred authority as were the best actions our Saviour ever undertook which as may better appear from what shall be said in the next Section is to make every Popes authority as much greater then our Saviours as their lives and actions are worse then his was 3 Suppose some Devil should possesse the Popes place in similitude of a man as some Papists think the great Antichrist who shall challenge as great authority as the Pope doth shall be a Devil incarnate or the son of a Devil might he not hold his dignity by the same plea the Jesuites make for their Lord and Master Could he not be content to pretend Christs name or succession from S. Peter as Simon Magus might he have obtained what he desired would have done for his own advantage could he not urge the authority of Gods word to confirm his own over it and all that is called Gods If in such a case it might not be permitted men to examin his allegations out of Scriptures how could the devil himself be convinced by Scriptures or deposed from his supremacy thence pretended And can we doubt whether he which makes no other plea then the Devil were he in place might is not that Filius Diaboli The great Antichrist Were we not taught that the sons of this world are wise only in their own generation we might justly wonder that any men indued with natural wit could be so blind as at the first sight not to descrie the politick Sophisins used by the Romanist to cozen Christ of his kingdom As their whole Religion is but the image of the old Roman policy so their main plot of Templum Domini Templum Domini the Church the Church as if all were rebels against Christ that wil not swear absolute fealty to the Church Romish may be most fully paralleled by the like practise of such cunning States-men as having alwayes one eye to the advancement of their own private fortunes live under an absolute Monarch of himself royally minded but not much intermedling in the affairs of greatest moment Opportunity of high place under a king upon what occasion soever thus sequestred that poor mens complaints cannot possesse his ears tempts politicians to effect their own purposes under pretence of his right and to condemn all of treason or disroyalty that will not obey their designs directed in their Soveraigns name though most abhorrent from the disposition of his Royal heart were he acquainted with such lamentable grievances of his poor Subjects as are the usual consequents of Princes gracious Favours upon great Ones The more absolute such a Princes lawful authority the greater is native subjects love unto him is the more may both be abused by such unthankful officers As it is the Soveraign conceit all men have of Christs kingdom which keeps the silly in such servility unto the Pope his pretended agent 4 This is the only difference in these two cases otherwise most like An earthly Prince may live and die deluded of his Machiavillian States men over whom he hath no power after he himself is once subject But Christ lives and reigns a King for ever and though his throne be in the highest heavens beholds the things done on earth He sees and yet suffereth his pretended officers to detain such as love darknesse more then light in grossest ignorance and blind subjection to the Prince of darkenesse and his associates he sees and yet suffers them detain all such as delight in lies more then in truth from acquaintance with his Holy spirit He sees and yet suffers their foulest villanies to be countenanced by his sacred laws he sees and yet suffers his holy name to be abused to the establishing of Antichristian Heresies he sees and yet suffers his glory made a stale for maintenance of their secular pomp He is the keeper of Israel and cannot so slumber as any abuse should escape his notice his indignation shall not sleep for ever but in due time he wil rouse himself as a Lion awaked to take vengeance upon all the workers of iniquity on them above others who have thus usurped his throne on earth taking that judgement during the time of his supposed absence wholly into their hands which beloâ—…nly unto him Even so come Lord Jesu Holy and True and with the breath of thy mouth destroy him that hath destroyed truth and sincerity from amongst the Sons of men SECT III. Containing the second degree of great Antichrists Exaltation in making his authority more absolutely infallible then any the visible or representative Church of the Jews Moses or the Prophets ever had Finally in making it greater then Christs or
his Apostles was THat the Church of Rome doth advance her decrees above the laws and ordinances of the Almighty her words that in this kind is called Gods above all divine Oracles written and unwritten is apparant out of their own positions hitherto discussed yet is this but the first degree of great Antichrists Exaltation 〈◊〉 second is the exalâ—â—ng the Popes above any personal authority that ever was either practised or established on earth This in brief is the assertion which by Gods assistance we are in this present section to maâ—e evident The authority which the Jesuites and Jesuited Priests give and would bind others upon pain of damnation to give unto the present Church or Pope throu 〈◊〉 every age is greater then any authority that ever was challenged since the world began by any man or visible company of men the man Christ Jesus not excepted This conclusion followeth immediately out of three Positions generally held and stifly maintained by that Church The first that the Pope live he as he list cannot erre in matters of faith and manners when he speaketh ex Cathedra that we are bound infallibly to believe whatsoever he so speaks without examination of his doctrine by Gods word or evident external sign or internal Experiment of Gods spirit speaking in him The second that we cannot assure our selves the Scriptures are the Oracles of God but by the infallible testimony of the Visible Church The third that the true sense and meaning of Scriptures in cases doubtful or controversed cannot be undoubtedly known without the infallible declaration of the same Church CAP. XI What restraint precepts for obedience unto the Priests of the Law though 〈◊〉 ing most universal for their Form did necessarily admit And how universal Propositions of Scriptures are to be limited 1 SEing we undertake to prove that no such authority as the Romish Church doth callenge was ever established on earth The answering of those arguments drawn from the authority of the Priests in the old Testament may to the judicious seem at the first sight needlesse yet because such as they set the fairest glosses upon if we look into the inside or substance are fullest fraught with their own disgrace and ignominy It wil not be superfluous to acquaint the Reader with some particulars prefixing some general admonitions to the younger sort for more commodious answering of all that can be brought of like kind 2 Their common places of cozening the world especially smatterers of Logick or school learning with counterfeit proofs of Scripture is either from some universal precept of obedience given to the people or general promises of infallibility made to the Priests in the old Testament Such as come unto the Scriptures having their mind dazled with notionâ— of universale primum or other Logick rules true in some cases think the former precepts being for their form universal may admit no exception limitation or restraint otherwise the holy Ghost might break the rule of Logick when as they admit many restraints not alwayes from one but oft-times from divers reasons from these following especially God sometimes injoyns obedience as we say in the Abstract to set us a pattern of such true accurate obedience as men should perform unto authority it self or unto such governours as neither in their lives nor in the Seat of judgement would decline either to the right hand or to the left but square all their proceedings to the exact rule of Gods word Unto such governours continual and compleat obedience was to be performed because the 〈◊〉 governed upon examination should alwayes find them jump with the law of God unto which absolute obedience as hath been shewed is due Nor doth the word of God in setting out such exact obedienc lie open to that exception which Politicians take against Philosophers as if it as Philosophers do did give instructions only for happy men of Aristotles making or for the Stoicks wise men who can no where be found but in Plato's common-wealth whose Metropolis is in the Region of Eutopia For the ancient Israel of God had this prerogative above all the nations of the earth that their Priests lips whilest they themselves were clothed with righteousness and bare holinesse unto the Lord in their breasts should still preserve knowledge and be able to manifest the wil of God unto the people not only by interpreting the general written law but by revelations concerning particular facts of principal moment as may be gathered from that law Also thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgement the Urim and the Thummim which shall be upon Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord And Aaron shall bear the judgement of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually 3 To omit the various interpretations and divers opinions of this Brest-plates use why it was called the Breast-plate of Judgement Josephus and Suidas in my mind come nearest the truth That the Revelation by it was Extraordinary that Gods presence or Juridical approbation of doubts proposed was represented upon the pretious stones that were set therein is probable partly from the aptnesse of it to allure the Israelites unto Idolatry partly from that formality which the Egyptians in imitation of the Ephods ancient use amongst the Jews retained long after in declaration of the truth in Judgement For Diodorus tels us that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or chief Judg in that Famous and venerable Egyptian high Court or Parliament did wear about his neck in a golden chain Insigne a Tablet of pretious stone or if the Reader be disposed to correct the Translator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they called as the Septuagint did Aarons Breast-plate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on which he stedfastly looked while matters were debating as Suidas saith the High Priest did on his Breast-plate whilest they asked counsel of God and whilest he gave Sentence turned it unto the better cause exhibited as the fashion was in that Court in writing iâ— sign the Truth it self did speak for it That the Urim or Thummim were more then an Emblem yea an Oracle of Justice and right Judgement is apparant out of Scripture When Josâ—… was consecrated to be Israels chief Governour in Moses stead he was to stand before Fleazar the Priest ordained to ask counsel for him by the Judgement of Urim before the Lord So did Abiathar certisie David of Sauls malitious resolution against him and the Lords of â—eilahs treachery if he should trust unto them So again David is assured of victory by the judgement of Urim and Thummim if he would follow the Amalekites that had burnt Zâ—klâ—g 4 Such Priests as these were to be absolutely obeyed in answers thus given from the mouth of God And it is most probable that the parties whom these answers did concern had perfect notice of the Revelation made to the Priests howsoever the truths of such answers being confirmed by Experiment in those
dayes they were to undertake what the Priests appointed and to obey his advice at least by cautelous obedience untill the event did prove the truth But neither was this certain manifestation of Gods will so absolutely promised unto the Priests but not living according unto the direction of Gods Law he might fail in his Oracles Nor was this peoples Prerogative above others without all limit that if they lived no better then others did they should as often as they asked counsel of God infallibly know whether the answer were from him or no albeit there were no defect in the Priest For this reason the Lord answered not Saul when he asked Counsel of him neither by dreams nor by visions nor by Urim nor by the Prophets for Saul was now cast off by God not willing to vouchsafe an answer unto his demands which argues that the revelation made to the Priests was also manifested to the party solemnly and in sincerity of heart proposing the questions whereof he desired to be resolved 5 That the Priest had no such priviledge or absolute promise of Gods infallible presence as the Pope challengeth is apparant from the law of temperance prescribed And the Lord spake unto Aaron saying thou shalt not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when ye come into the Tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die This is an ordinance for ever throughout your generations that ye may put difference between the holy and unholy and between the clean and unclean and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes the Lord had commanded thee by the hand of Moses If these Priests themselves were unholy and unclean they could not infallibly discern between the holy and unholy between the clean and unclean if they lived not according to this they could not teach the children of Israel the rest of Gods expresse lawes much lesse could they infallibly manifest unto them his will in all doubts and controversies But the Pope so absolute is his Prerogative which the Jesuites attribute unto him must be thought to be infallibly assisted by the Holy Spirit albeit he lead a most unhallowed unclean polluted life 6 But for the promise made unto Levi and his seed God himself by his Prophet Malachy most expresly interprets the meaning of it And now O ye Priests this commandement is for you if ye will not hear it nor consider it in your heart to give glory unto my Name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you and will curse your blessings yea and I have cursed them already because ye do not consider it in your heart behold I will corrupt your seed and â—â—st dung upon your faces even the dung of your solemn feasts and you shall be like unto it and ye shall know that I have sent this commandement unto you that my covenant which I made unto Levi might stand saith the Lord of hosts My covenant was with him of life and peace and I gave him fear and be feared me and was afraid before my Name the law of truth was in his mouth and there was no iniquitie found in his lips he walked with me in peace and equitie and diâ— turn many from iniquity for the Priests lips shall preserve knowledge and theysâ—â—ll 〈◊〉 thâ— law at his mouth As if he had said Such Priests I have had in former times and such might your praises from my mouth and your estimation with men have been had you framed your lives according to the Rules which my servant Moses had set you But were these Priests against whom he here speaks infallible in their doctrine still because Gods promise was so ample unto Levi If they were not why doth Bellarmin bring this place to prove the Popes infallible Authority in teaching divine truths If they were why doth the Lord complain in the words immediately following But ye are gone out of the way ye have caused many to fall by the law ye have broken the covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hosts Therefore have I made you also to be despised and vile before all the people because you keep not my wayes but have been partiall in the law 7 This place alone though many others might be brought clearly evinceth Gods promise unto Levi and his posterity during the time of their priesthood to have been Conditional not Absolute And as Gods promise of Infallibility was unto him and his seed such was the Obedience due to them and their Authority not absolute but conditional and where the precepts may seem universal yet are they to be limitted oft-times by the Condition of the Priests life 8 But sundrie Propositions there be in Scriptures for their Form Universal which are also absolutely true in their proper subject whose full extent or limits not withstanding are not always Evident Whence many mistake in stretching them too far others seeing them fail in some particulars which seem comprehended under the universality of their forme suspect the absolutenesse of their truth and account them rather morally probable or conditionally true then necessary and certain yet are they most absolutely necessary and certain onely their universality is to be limited by their proper subjects This is a common difficulty in all Arts though lesse apparent in the Mathematicks or Metaphysicks or other like abstract contemplative Sciences But in Philosophie as well natural as moral many general rules there be most true and evident to such as know the nature or quality either of the subject or matter whereunto they are applied or of these particulars whence the induction was gathered and yet are obscure and doubtfull unto others who mark the universality of their form not so well acquainted with the nature of those subjects in which their truth is principally and most evidently seen not so able to discern the Identitie or Diversity the proportion or disproportion which other subjects may have with the former but of the triall of rules in Arts if God permit elsewhere I will now instance in Scripture onely what proposition could be for the form more universal what precept conceived in words more general then that of sanctifying the Sabbath In it thou halt do no manner of work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non facies ullum opus The Scribes and Pharisees putting a Religion in the letter of the Law as the Jesuites now do when it may make for their advantage did conclude from the generalitie of this precept that our Saviour brake the Sabbath when he healed the sick upon it Their pretences if we respect the universalitie of the Proposition only were far more probable then the Papist can pick any for their purpose Yet Jewish still in that they considered not the end of the Sabbath which might have limited the universal form of the precept and restrained it unto some kind of works onely for not all but onely all those works which were
Faith there should be no question but God hath ordained such an authentical manner of deciding all Controversies If he have not it must needs be either because he could not establish such an infallible Authority and uncontrolable power or else because he would not To say he could not were to deny his omnipotencie open blasphemie to say he would not were little better for this were to denie his goodnesse and love to his Church both which the Scriptures testifie to be great nay infinite 3 But how great soever his love to his Church and chosen be as we acknowledge it to be infinite and everlasting if these or the like arguments make any thing for the infallibilitie of the present Romish they prove as much and as directly for the ancient Jewish Church For that was a Visible company of men not of oxen and asses and of them God had a care also Nay they were his own peculiar people and without all controversie the onely visible Church which he had on earth Wherefore all the former arguments if they conclude any infallible Authority in the present Romish Church they conclude much more for the like infallibility of the Jewâ—sh And by necessary consequence if I prove That Church had no such Authority my assertion stands sure That this infallible authority which the Factors of the Romish Church do challenge is greater then any visible Company of men had before our Saviours time And by the same proof shall the Romish Church be debarred for ever of both the two former pleas either drawn from the authority of the Priests or from the best form of government CAP. XV. That justly it may be presumed the Jewish Church never had any absolute infallibility in proposing or determining Articles of faith because in our Saviours time it and so grievously erre in the fundamental point of salvation FOr proof of the Conclusion proposed that Jerusalem had no such absolute infallibilitie as Rome pleads for I took it for a long time as granted by all that if any such authority had been established in the Law it should not have varied untill the alteration of the Priesthood For Gods covenant with Levi was in this sence everlasting that it was to endure without interruption untill His sacrifice was accomplished that was a Priest after a more excellent order His oblation of himself was the common bond to the Law and Gospel the end of the one and the beginning of the other Nor did the Legal rites or ceremonies themselves though these most obnoxious to corruption vanish by little and little as this sacrifice did approach neerer and neerer as darknesse doth before the rising of the Sun rather that consummation wrought upon the Crosse did swallow them up at once as virility doth youth youth childhood childhood infancie Seeing then our Adversaries suppose this infallibilitie was annexed as a prerogative royall unto the Priesthood they cannot imagine any tolerable reason why the one should expire before the other was quite abolished Hence it is that most of them hold the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviours time were absolutely infallible in their Cathedrall consultations And I had just reasons to presume Bâ—llarmin had been of the same mind For besides his urging that place without all sense or reason unlesse grounded on this opinion They sit in Moses chair All therefore whatsoever they bid you that observe and do these other words of his seemed to imply thus much It cannot be shewed that the Synagogue of the Jews did fail in faith untill Christs coming at what time it did not fail but rather became better by change By his speeches elsewhere I perceived by the Synagogue thus changed he meant the Church planted by Christ not the Consistory of the High-Priests and Elders not the Catholick Representative Jewish Church For saith he as it is not necessary the Popes Vicar should be inerrable when the Pope himself doth guide the Church and defend it from errour so neither was it necessary that the Jewish High Priest should not erre when Christ the High-Priest of the whole Church was present and did govern his Church in person 2 This example were it true might illustrate though ill-favouredly his assertion once supposed as possible but no way argues it to be probable Herein his similitude fails that the High Priests in our Saviours time were Aarons lawfull successors their Priesthood as entire then as ever it was and they Deputies to none in this rank or order That their Predecesâ—ors had such infallibility he fain would prove Can he or any for him â—hew us when or by what means it should determin whiles the Priesthood lasted To take away the Popes infallibility even in this last age of the word were in their construction to deny Christs promise made unto S. Peters chair And was not the former like prerogative as inseparably annexed to Moses seat did our Saviour before his Passeover either by doctrine or practise derogate ought from any lawful authority established on earth much lesse from that which God had expresly instituted The greatest prerogative the Scribes and Pharisees Priests or Rulers ever had was that they were Aarons successors and possessed Moses place and this authority was never disanulled but rather ratified by our Saviour after he had undertaken his ministerial function They sit in Moses seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you that observe and do And elsewhere Go and shew thy self unto the Priest c. 3 Yet this Sophister would perswade us that Isaiah and Daniel had foretold the expiration of this prerogative in later times They both indeed foretel this peoples extraordinary general blindnesse about the time of our Saviours conversation on earth But this directly proves what we object not what Bellarmin should have answered at least to us who contend the Priests and Rulers of this people were not infallible in our Saviours time nor doth Isaiah or Daniel or any Prophet of God say they were at any time such Let any Jesuite prove what easily he may out of Isaiahs words cited by Bellarmin that the Jewish Church representative was not infallible in our Saviours time and from the same we shal as clearly evince it palpably erroneous in Isaiahs own dayes or immediately after For the self same words which the Evangelist saith were fulfilled in the unbelieving Jews that heard our Saviours doctrine were literally and exactly verified of their fore-fathers before the captivity of Babylon as the Cardinal himself would he take the pains to read the whole Chapter and review the place cited by him I know would not deny His words are these And he said go and say unto this people Ye shall hear indeed but ye shall not understand ye shall plainly see and not perceive Make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy and â—â—â—ut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and convert and
Nor doth the excesse of glory ascribed unto the new Testament in respect of the old argue greater authority in Christian then was in ordinary legal governours whether temporal or spiritual much lesse doth in infer greater authority in any Christ only excepted then Moses had 2 If we take Christs Church as consisting both of Priests and people it is a congregation far more royal and glorious then the Synagogue so taken was If we compare our High Priest or mediator of the new Covenant with theirs the Apostles comparison is fittest Consider the Apostle High Priest of 〈◊〉 profession Christ Jesus who was faithful to him that hath appointed him even as Moses was in all his house For this man is counted worthy of more glory then Moses in as much as he which hath builded the house hath more honour then the house Now Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a witnesse of the things which should be spoken after but Christ iâ— as the Son over 〈◊〉 own house whose house we are If severally we sort our people or Ministers with theirs as the Apostles successors with Aarons the preheminence both wayes is ours Notwithstanding this excesse of our Ministers glory whether ordinary or extraordinary compared with the like of theirs is not so great as the preeminences of Christs flock above the people of the Synagogue Yet must all excesse in spiritual graces which the ordinary hearers of the Gospel have of the ordinary hearers of the law be subducted from that prerogative which we that are Christs messengers have in respect of Aarons successors ere we can take a right account of our own authority over our flock committed to us in comparison of theirs over the ancient people Computatis computandis our soveraignty wil prove lesse not greater 〈◊〉 our adversaries confusedly reckon without their hoste Their pretended glosses that all such places of Scripture as make for the authority of Moses chair conclude à fortiori for S. Peters because the New Testament is more glorious then the old are as if a man should argue thus The ancient Roman and modern German are States far more noble then the Turkish or Moscoviâ—ish therefore the Roman Consuls had more absolute authority over the people or the present Emperour over the Princes and States of Germany then the Turk hath over his Bashawâ— or the Moscovit over his Vassals 3 The glory of a common-weal or praise of government consists in the ingenuity or civil liberty not in the slavery or servile condition of the governed or in their voluntary obsequiousnesse to wholesome laws proportioned to common good not in their absolute subjection to the omnipotent wil of an unruly Tyrant subject to no law but the law of sin Our Saviours authority over his Disciples was more soveraign then is befitting any to usurp or challenge over his fellow servants his kingdom more glorious after his resurrection then before yet a little before his suffering he saith to his Disciples Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Hence for thâ—… I you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his master â—oth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father have I made known to you It is the very conceit of the base degenerate dissolute sottish later heathen Roman more delighted in such gaudy shews as his luxurious Emperours made happily once or twice in their whole raign then in the valor and vertue of his victorious free-born Ancestors that to this day swims in the Jesuites brain and makes him dream the royaltie of Christian Priest-hood or glory of the Gospel should consist wholly or chiefly in the magnificent pomp of one visible high Priest or Oecumenical Bishop for garnishing of whose Court the whole Body of Christ besides must be content to spend their lives goods or substances and as his occasion shall require to pawn their very souls as younglings wil be at any cost or pains they can devise to deck up a Lord of the Parish a victor in a Grammer school or as merry fellows wil be ready to spend more then their incomes wil defray to have a gallant Lord of misrule of their own making 4 But they demand Wherein doth the Pope aspire above the pitch of Moses throne He desires but to be reputed an infallible teacher and was not Moses such yet not such after the same manner He approved himself perpetually infallible because alwayes found most faithful in all affairs belonging to God but had it been possible for him to have worshipped the golden Calâ— to have eaten the offerings of the dead or to have joyned himself to Baal-Peor The Levites and such as clave unto the Lord in these Apostasies would have sought Gods will at more sanctified lips then his at least for that time were If then we consider him not as he might have been but as indeed he proved the peoples obedience unto him was de facto perpetual and compleat yet but conditionally perpetual but conditionally compleat or perpetually compleat upon their sight and undoubted experience of his extraordinary familiarity with God of his intire fidelity in all his service The Pope would be proclaimed so absolutely infallible by irrevocable patent or inheritance as no breach of Gods commandments no touch of disloyaltie to Christ in actions might breed a forfeiture of his estate or estrange Christian consciences from yielding obedience to him every way as compleat and absolute as that which the people of God performed unto Moses or Christians do yet unto their Saviour Whence though we admit Moses infallibility and his to be the same yet the difference between the absolutenesse of their authority or the tenour or holds of the same infallibility would be such as is betwen a Tenant at wil or one that enjoyes a fair estate perhaps all his life time yet only by continuance of his Lords good liking of his faithful service and a Freeholder that cannot by any act of fellony murther treason or the like forfeit his interest in as large possessions 5 Again albeit the authority gotten or manner of holding it were the same yet the manner of getting it in Moses and the Pope is not alike The one profers no miracle for the purchase no sign from heaven no admirable skil in expounding Gods word his calling he professeth to be but ordinary and in this respect say his followers he was to succeed Saint Peter Moses not such nor so affected his miracles were many and great the signs and tokens of his especial favour with God almost infinite his calling extraordinarily extraordinary otherwise that obedience the people performed to him had been no lesse then desperate Idolatry as the challenge of the like without like proof and evidence of such favour with God is no better then blasphemy or Apostasie Hence saith S. Austin the people of Israel did believe Moses laws were from God after
take it and the City is given into the hand of the Caldeans that fight against it by means of the sword and of the famin and of the pestilence and what thou hast spoken is come to passe and behold thou seest it And thou hast said unto me O Lord God Buy unto thee the field for silver and take witnesses for the City shall be given into the hand of the Caldeans Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah saying Behold I am the Lord God of all flesh is there any thing too hard for me The Lord had stricken Jacob with the wound of an enemy and with a sharp chastisement for the multitude of his iniquities wherefore he cried for his affliction and said My sorrow is incurable not considering who it was had done all this unto him for because the Lord had killed they must believe he would make alive again Their present wounds inflicted contrary to the rules of politick defence were the best pledges of their future health beyond all hope of State-Chirurgions And this is the very Seal of Jeremiahs assurance from the Lords own mouth Thus saith the Lord like as I have brought all this great plague upon this people so will I bring upon them all the good I have promised them And the fields shall be possessed in this land whereof ye say It is desolate without man or beast and shall be given into the hand of the Caldeans Men shall buy fields for silver and make writings and seal them and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin and round about Jerusalem So absolute and al-sufficient was Moses's his law in particular actions much more in general or doctrinal resolutions that God himself for confirmation of his Prophets and this distrustful peoples faith in a point by humane estimate most incredible thought it sufficient to be a remembrancer to the Law-giver For the Lord here saith to Jeremiah concerning this particular Moses many generations before had universally foretold Now when all these things shall come upon thee either the blessing or the curse which I have set before thee and thou shalt turn into thine heart among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee then the Lord thy God will cause thy Captives to return and have compassion upon thee and will return to gather thee out of all the people where the Lord thy God had scattered thee Though thou wast cast unto the uttermost part of heaven from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee and from thence will he take thee And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possesse it and he will shew thee favour and will multiply thee above thy fathers By this rule of Moses according to the prediction of Jeremiah doth Nehemiah afterwards frame his prayers to God and direct his enterprise for restauration of Jerusalem We have grievously sinned against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgements which thou commandedst thy servant Moses I beseech thee remember the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses saying Ye will transgresse and I will scatter you abroad among the people But if ye turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them though your scattering were to the uttermost part of the heaven yet will I gather you from thence and will bring you unto the place that I have chosen to place my name there Now these are thy servants and thy people c. O Lord I beseech thee let thine ear now hearken to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name and I pray thee cause thy servant to prosper this day and give him favour in the presence of this man He saw the truth of Moses divine prediction confirmed by the Kings present grant of his petition and speedy restauration of Jerusalem albeit a Prophet by profession had disswaded the enterprise as likely to prove dangerous to his person CAP. XVIII That the Society or visible Company of Prophets had no such absolute authority as the Romish Church usurps 1 DId the Records of Antiquity afford us any the least presumption to think that absolute belief or obedience might safely be tendered by inferiours as due to any visible Company of men without examination of their proposals by Moses writings since they were extant the society of Prophets in all respects the Romanists can pretend had the most probable title to this prerogative Their profession or calling was publick and lawful their distinction from all others eminent their persons and places of residence visible and known their promises for enjoying the extraordinary presence or illuminations of Gods spirit peculiar many of them venerable for their integrity in civil dealings and sanctity of private life some of them endued with the gift of miracles In all these and many like considerations that fraternity or collegiate society might justly have pleaded all the priviledges a publick spirit can grant to one sort of men before others For if the more or lesse expresse testimony of Gods word for extraordinary assistance of his spirit or the different measure of his illumination or manner of immediate teaching be that which makes some mens spirit more publick then their brethrens this difference was greater between the Priests or Prophets and people of old then since God spake unto the world by his Son yet what Prophet did once intimate the necessity of his proposal for notifying the truth of Scriptures What one did ever bewray the least desire to have his interpretations of them universally held authentick or his particular predictions absolutely assented unto without further trial then his bare assertion without examination of them by Moses doctrine already established 2 Had they been the infallible Church representative had their assertions though given by joynt consent ex Cathedra or in the most solemn manner used in those times been of such authority as the Romanist would perswade us a Councel of their Prelates lawfully assembled is Gods people had stood bound to embrace whatsoever a major part of that profession had resolved upon but this inference though necessarily following the supposed premises the Jesuite I know dare not affirm lest Ahabs bloud untimely shed by confidence in their infallibility cry out against him Yet Bellarmin too wel knowing the liquorish temper of this prâ—â—â—a age for the most part acquainted with none but table-talk Divinity to be such as wil swallow down any doctrine be it never so idle profane or poisonous so it be saneed with pleasant conceit and merriment would put us off with this jest That as in Saxony one Catholicks verdict were to be taken before four hundred Lutherans so should one of the Lords Prophets have been followed in those times before five hundred of Baals And Ahab no doubt had so done had not the Devil taught his Divines then as he hath done Bellarmin and his fellows
though friendly admonished cease henceforth to urge their outworn arguments drawn from antiquity universality from that reverence and allegiance which most Kingdoms of Europe have for these thousand years and more born to the See of Rome or from the bloudy victories over all other inferiour Churches or private spirits that have oppugned her These or like allegations in their judgement abundantly prove their Church to be Christs best beloved the Pope to be his Deputy or rather his corrival here on earth whose words sound as the word of God and not of Man albeit the spirit hath plainly foretold that the beast which had his power from the Dragon and should open his mouth unto blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven should have power given withall to make war with the Saints and to overcome them yea over every kindred tongue and nation so as all that dwell upon the earth should worship hint whose names were not written in the Book of life of the Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the world 5 To the Jesuites brags that no visible Church since the world began did either spread it self so far or flourish so long as theirs hath done I only oppose that of our Saviour Ex tuo ipsius ore judicabere serve nequam Thine own confession shall condemn thee thou bond-slave of Satan For if the Romish Hierarchy be or hath been in the worlds eye the most potent and flourishing that ever was This description of the Beasts power cannot agree so wel to any as unto it Nor doth the Scripture any where intimate the true Church militant should dominere over all Nations or be so triumphantly victorious as they boast theirs hath been To think the Antichrist whom they expect should in three years space subdue as many Nations as have been tributary to the See of Rome is a conceit that justifies the Jew as well in his credulity of things to come which are impossible as in his hypocritical partiality towards his present estate which he never suspects of Apostasie Unto this observation the Reader may adde other like descriptions of this scarlet Whore all so fitly agreeing to the Papacy as he that will not acknowledge it for the Kingdom of great Antichrist hath great reason to suspect his heart that if he had lived with our Saviour he would scarce have taken him for his Messias nor can the Jesuites bring any better reasons why the Pope should not be the Antichrist then the Jews did why Christ should not be the great Prophet Yet this I say not to discourage such as doubt whether the Pope be that Man of sin or to bring them out of love with their belief which may be sound without expresse or actual acknowledgement of this truth not as yet revealed unto them as those two Disciples no doubt were neither hypocrites nor infidels albeit they mistrusted the report of Christs resurrection for they were farther from approving the practises of the Jews against him then from actual acknowledgement of it If any man thus doubt whether the Pope be Antichrist so he do not approve his hatred and war against Gods Saints or his other devilish practises Gods peace be upon him and in good time I trust his eyes shal be enlightned to see the truth in this particular as those two Disciples did in the Article of the resurrection 6 Seeing we have proved the Popes authority so far to exceed Christ it may seem needlesse to compare it with the Apostles Yet lest any Jesuite should except that their authority might be greater after their Masters glorification then his was before let us a while examin what they assumed unto themselves what they gave unto the Scriptures before extant CAP. XXIII That the authority attributed to the present Pope and the Romish rule of faith were altogether unknown unto Saint Peter the opposition betwixt Saint Peters and his pretended Successors doctrine 1 TO begin with S. Peter the first supposed to be enstalled in this See of Rome It may be presumed that this Supremacy over his fellow Apostles were it any was in his life time whiles his miracles were fresh and the extraordinary efficacy of his Ministery daily manifested as wel known amongst the faithful as the Popes now amongst Roman Catholicks If necessary it had been to acknowledge him or his successors as a second Rock or foundation the commendation of this doctrine unto posterity had been most requisite at the time he wrote his second Epistle as knowing then the time was at hand he should lay down his Tabernacle when he endeavoured his auditors might have remembrance of his former doctrine to make their calling and election sure If ever there had been a fit season for notifying the necessity of the See Apostolicks infallibility all the circumstances of this place witnesse this was it If any they to whom he wrote were most bound to obey it Their faith had been planted by him his present intent and purpose was more and more to confirm them in the truth wherein they were in some measure established And being thus mindful wil he not make choice of means most effectual to prevent Heresie or Apostasie What are these then absolute reposal in his and his Successors infallibility Had this been the best rule of faith he knew his fault were inexcusable for not prescribing it to such is most willingly would have used it His personal testimony and authority was I confess as great as any mortal mans could be with his own eyes he had beheld the Majesty of our Lord Christ whom he preached unto them If any trust there be in humane senses this Saint of God could not possibly be deceived If any credence to be given unto miracles or sanctity of life his flock might rest assured he would not deceive his works so witnesse the sincerity of his doctrine or if his eye were not in these his auditors judgements sufficient witnesses of this truth he further assures them when his Lord received of God the Father honour and glory there came such a voice unto him from the excellent glory This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased And this voice saith he we heard when it came from heaven being not a far off but with him in the mount If S. Peters seat or chair had been as the Pole-star whereto our Belief as the Mariners needle should be directed lest we float we know not whither in the Ocean of opinions were the Bosome of the visible Church the safest harbour our souls in all storms of temptation could thrust into this Apostle was either an unskilful Pilot or an uncharitable man that would not before his death instruct them in this course for the eternal safety of their souls whose bodily lives he might have commanded to have saved his own Had perpetual succession in his See or Apostolical tradition never interrupted been such an
be so authentick in his doctrine Is it not the pretended priviledge of the same spirit which exempts the Pope from privatenesse and makes his authority oecumenical and infallible Whosoever then by participation of this spirit understands the Prophesies either immediately or expounded by others whomsoever his conceit of them or their right interpretation is not private but authentick And Canus though a Papist expresly Teacheth That the immediate ground or Formal Reason of ours and the Apostles Belief must be the same both so immediately and infallibly depending upon the testimony of the spirit as if the whole world beside should teach the contrary yet were every Christian bound to stick unto that inward testimony which the spirit hath given him Though the Church or Pope should expound them to us we could not infallibly believe his expositions but by that spirit by which he is supposed to teach so believing we could not infallibly teach others the same for it is the spirit only that so teacheth all The inference then is as evident as strong that private in the fore-cited place is opposed to that which wants authority not unto publick or common The Kings promise made to me in private is no private promise but wil warrant me if I come to plead before his Majesty albeit others make question whether I have it or no. In this sense that interpretation of scriptures which the spirit affords us that are private men is not private but authentick though not for extent or publication of it unto others yet for the perfection of our warrant in matters of salvation or concerning God For where the spirit is there is perfect liberty yea free accesse of pleading our cause against whomsoever before the Tribunal seat of justice especially being wronged in matters of the life to come To this purpose saith our Apostle But â—e that is spiritual discerneth all things yet he himself is judged of no man In those things wherein he cannot be judged by any he is no private man but a Prince and Monarch for the freedom of his conscience But if any man falsly pretend this freedom to nurse contentions or to withdraw his neck from that yoak whereto he is subject he must answer before his supream Judge and his holy Angels for framing unto himself a counterfeit licence without the assured warrant of his spirit And so shal they likewise that seek to command mens consciences in those matters wherein the spirit hath set them free This is the height of iniquity that hath no temporal punishment in this life but must be reserved as the object of fiercest wrath in that fearful day the very Idea of Antichristianism CAP. XXIV That S. Paul submitted his doctrine to examination by the Words before written That his doctrine disposition and practise were quite contrary to the Romanists in this argument 1 SAint Paul as wel as other Apostles had the gift of miracles which amongst Barbarians or distressed souls destitute of other comfort likely to be won to grace by wonders he did not neglect to practise but sought not to enforce belief upon the Jews by fearful signs or sudden destruction of the obstinate albeit he had power to anathematize not only in word but in deed even to deliver men alive unto Satan When he came to Thessalonica he went as his manner was into the Synagogue and three Sabbath dayes disputed with his country-men by the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must have suffered and risen again from the dead and this is Jesus Christ whom I preach to you These Jews had Moses and the Prophets and if they would not hear them neither would they believe for any miracles which to have wrought amongst such had been as the casting of pearls before swine What was the reason they did not believe because the Scriptures which he urged were obscure but Saint Paul did open them Rather they saw the truth as Papists do but would not see it They rightly believed whatsoever God had said was most true that he had said what Moses and the Prophets wrote and yet Saint Paul taught nothing which they had not foretold But that was all one these Jews had rather believe Moses and the Prophets meant as the Scribes and Pharisees or other chief Rulers of their Synagogues taught then as Paul expounded them albeit his expositions would have cleared themselves to such as without prejudice would have examined them But the Beroeans were of a more ingenuous disposition so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports they were not vassals to other mens interpretations or conceits but used their liberty to examin their truth They received the word with all readinesse and searched the Scriptures whether these things were so or no. If they believed in part before their practise confirms the truth of our assertion that they were not to believe the infallibility of Paul but of his doctrine albeit they were wel perswaded of his personal authority If they believed neither in part nor wholly before they saw the truth of his doctrine confirmed by that Scripture which they had formerly acknowledged their ingenuity herein likewise confirms our doctrine and condemns the Papists of insolent blasphemy for arrogating that authority unto the Popes decrees which is only due unto Gods word already established 2 I would demand of any Papists whether the Beroeans did wel or ill in examining Saint Pauls doctrine if ill why hath the Spirit of God commended them if well why is it not lawfull and expedient for all true Christians to imitate them Unlesse the Reader bite his lip I will not promise for him he shall not laugh at Bellarmines answer albeit I knew him for another Heraclitus or Crassus Agelastus who never laughed in all his life save once when he saw an Asse feed on thistles Surely he must have an Asses lips that can taste and a swines belly that can digest this great Clerks Divinity in this point I answer saith he albeit Paul were an Apostle and could not preach false doctrine thus much notwithstanding was not evident to the Beroeans at the first nor wore they bound forthwith to believe unlesse they had seen some miracles or other probable inducements to believe Therefore when Paul proved Christ unto them out of the Prophetical Oracles they did well to search the Scriptures whether those things were so If Saint Paul had thought miracles a more effectuall means then Scriptures for begetting faith in such as acknowledged Moses and the Prophets no doubt he had used miracles rather then their authority Or if the Pope cannot expound the Scriptures as effectually and perspicuously as Saint Paul did why doth he not at the least work miracles are we bound absolutely to believe him and is he bound to do neither of these without which the people of Beroea were not bound as Bellarmine acknowledgeth to believe Saint Paul But if his reason be worth belief Christians which know the Church
or how can you know those Books which ye call Scriptures were from God The last and final answer according to the Jesuitical Catechismes wherein as you heard before out of Bellarmine they think they have great advantage of us would be this The holy Church our Mother doth so instruct giving us this expresse admonition withall his amplius fili 〈◊〉 ne requiras Here upon God their Father and the infallible Church their Mothers blessing their souls are bound to rest without further doubt or demand Whence unlesse they use some mental reservation or seek to shrowd themselves in the former aequivocation hitherto unfolded they must of necessity account themselves accursed if they deny the last or final resolution of their belief to be into the Churches infallibility or veracity Again what reasonable man would demand further resolution of any doubts incident to his faculty be it real or verbal speculative or practick then into the prime and immediate rules He should surely be lasht in a Grammar School that either for quantitie of syllables right accent construction of words or the like would seek a further reason then a known general rule which admitteth no exception So should he with disgrace be turned over the Barre amongst the Lawyers that would demur or seek a devolution of an evident ruled case which by his own confession could never alter Much more grosse would his absurdity appear that in the Mathematicks or other demonstrative science should attempt to resolve a Probleme or conclusion further then into an unquestionable Theorem or definition Finally might we have a centumviral Court of all professions under the Sun our Adversaries would be condemned with joint consent either of intolerable folly or impudency if they should with Valentian deny the last resolution of their faith to be into the Churches infallibilitie seeing they make it such a Catholick inerrable perpetual rule of Christian faith as admits no exception no devolution from it no appeal It is to them more then he said of Logick Ars artium scientia scientiarum a faculty of faculties a Rule of Rules able rightly to resolve all doubts concerning the very Canon of Scriptures or Gods Word written or unwritten or the true sence or meaning of both briefly able most authentically to determine and define all Controversies in Religion of what kind soever 4 Nor will it boot them ought to say that Gods Word in the Churches mouth is the Rule whereinto faith is finally resolved seeing the Church defines nothing but by Gods Word either written or unwritten For this is more then the party which believes it can know nor hath he any other motive to believe it besides the Churches definition or assertion Suppose then we should conceive so well of a temporall Judge as to presume he did never speak but according to the true meaning either of Statute or customary Law yet if we could not know either the one or the other or their right interpretation but onely by his determinations the Law were little beholden to him unlesse for a flout that should say he were resolved jointly by the Judge and it For seeing the Law is to him altogether uncertain but by the Judges avouchment or interpretation his last resolution of any act of justice must be onely into the Judges skill and fidelitie This inference Sacroboscus would not deny he himself hath made the like to prove that not the Scripture but the Church must be the infallible rule of faith You will object saith he when the Church defines it alwayes defines according to the Word of God either written or unwritten New revelations it receives none the promised assistance of the spirit helps it onely to know what is already revealed Therefore from the first to the last that which determines controversies and is the Judge in all questions of faith is the Word of God To this objection thus he answers Because we cannot be certain of the true sence of Gods Word but by the voice of the Church which hears our controversies and answers them The Church is Judge although it judge according to Gods Word which upon examination and by the spirits assistance it alwayes understands aright And if every one of us should have the infallible gift of understanding Gods Word we should not need any other Judge The Reader I hope will remember what was said before that those flowting hypocrites would fain believe the Pope saith nothing but what God saith that God may be thought to say all he sayes which is the most abhominable Blasphemie that ever Hell broacht worse then worshipping of Devils as shall appear hereafter 5 It may be some Novice in Arts that hath late read some vulgar Logicians upon the demonstrations might here frame this doubt in favour of the Romish Churches Doctrine As the finall cause may be demonstrated by the efficient and the efficient by the final so may the Church be infallibly proved by Scriptures and the Scriptures again by the Churches authority both infallibly believed each for others sake as both the former demonstrations are true and certain and yet mutually depending one upon the other 6 This objection had some late Logicians understood what they said would carry some shew of truth to countenance Valentians former Circular Resolution but they lace their Masters Rule uttered by him Pingui Minerva too too straitly For taking it as they do we should admit of circular demonstrations the conceit whereof can have no place but in a giddy brain To demonstrate the final cause in any work of Nature were to assigne a Counsellor to the infinite wisdom of the God of Nature in whose intention the end is first and is the cause of all operation or efficiencie Who could give or who would demand a naturall cause why life should be preserved for this is the will of him that gave it If question were made of the manner how the life of man and other creatures is preserved when as their heat might seem to choak them A man might truely answer by respiration and respiration is from the lungs But it is one thing to ask How or by what Means another for what End any effect is produced The former is an inquiry of the Efficient within these precincts of means or motions alwayes prime and independent The later of the final cause absolutely indemonstrable because it implies a contradiction to give a reason why that should be for whose sake all other things of that rank have being Nor is the End it self to speak properly ever produced though oft-times in common speech we take the Effect immediately thereto destinated because most sensible for the End it self as we do the starre next to the Pole because visible for the Pole or point immoveable Thus we confound respiration or actual preservation of life with the Final cause why men have lungs when as both are effects of the lungs both means of accomplishing Natures or rather the God of Natures
Scriptures by the Church which we are now to gather from this short Catechisine containing the summe of Roman faith CAP. XXX Declaring how the First main ground of Romish faith leads directly unto Atheisme the second unto preposterous Heathenisine or Idolatry 1 IT is a prety Sophisme as a judicious and learned Divine in his publick exercise for his first degree in Divinity late well observed where-with the Jesuite deludes the simple making them believe their faith otherwise weak and unsetled is most firm and certain if it have once the visible or representative Churches confirmation when as the Church so taken seldom or never instructs or confirms any at least not the hundred thousandth part of them unto whose salvation such confirmation is by Jesuitical perswasions most absolutely necessary But suppose the visible Church or Romish Consistory the Pope and his Cardinals should vouchsafe to catechize any the Dialogue between them and the Catechized would thus proceed Cons. Do ye believe these sacred Volumes to be the Word of God Catech. We do Cons. Are you certain they are Catech. So we hope Cons. How can your hope be sure for Mahomet saith His Alchoran is sundry other Hereticks say their fained revelations or false traditions are Gods Word How can you assure us ye may not be deceived as well as they Are not many of them as good Schollers as you Catech. Yes indeed and better Cons. Are not you subject unto error as well as they Catech. Would God we were not Cons. What must you do then to be ascertained these are divine revelations Cat. Nay we know not but this is that which we especially desire to know and would bind our selves in any bond to such as could teach us Cons. Well said do you not think it reason then to be ruled in this case by such as cannot be deceived Cat. It is meet we should Cons. Lo we are the men we are the true visible Church placed in authoritie by Christ himself for this purpose These Scriptures tell you plainly as much 〈◊〉 Petrus super hanc Petram c His holiness whom here you see is Peters Successor sole heir of that promise far more glorious then the Jewish Church ever had any 2 This is the very quintessence and extraction of huge and corpulent volumes written in this argument which our English Mountibanks sent hither from the Seminaries venditate as a Paracelsian medicin able to make men immortal The summ of all that others write or they alleadge is this â—very one may pretend what writings he lists to be the word of God who shall be the infalliale Judge either of written or unwritten revelations Must not the Church for she is Magistra Judex fidei These are the words and this is the very Argument wherein Valentians soul it seems did most delight he useth them so oft But to proceed The parties Catechized thus by the visible Church it self should any Protestant enter Dialogue with them how they know those received Scriptures to be the Word of God could answer I trow sufficiently to this question thus Mary sir we know better then you For we heard the visible Church which cannot erre say so with our own ears Prot. You are most certain then that these are the Oracles of God because the visible Church Gods living Oracle did bear testimony of them Catech. Yea sir and their testimony is most infallible Prot. But what if you doubt again of their infallibilities How will you answer this objection Mahomet saith his Alcoran is Scripture the Turkish Priests wil tel you as much viva voce and shew you if you be disposed to believe them evident places therein for his infallibility Manes could say that he had divine revelations The Pope pretends he hath this infallibilitie which neither of them had Who shall judge the Consistory But why should you think they may not erre as wel as others Did they shew you any evidence out of Scriptures or did they bring you to such entire acquaintance with their publick spirit as to approve your selves Divine Criticks of all questions concerning the Canon as oft as any doubt should arise Catech Oh no these audacious Criticismes of private men they utterly detest and forewarned us upon pain of damnation to beware of For there is no private person but may erre and for such to judge of Scriptures were presumption justly damnable Rely they must for this reason upon the Churches infallibility and that continually It alone cannot without it all others may erre as wel as Manes Mahomet Nestorius or Eutyches undoubtedly believing it cannot erre we our selves are as free from error as he that follows such good counsel given by others as he cannot give himself is more secure then he that altogether follows his own advice albeit better able to counsel others then the former Prot. Then I perceive your onely hold-fast in all temptations your onely anchor when any blasts of vain doctrine arise is this The present Romish Church canndt erre for if you doubt of any doctrine taught to the contrary ask her and she will resolve you or if you cannot see the Truth in it self yet believe without all wavering as she believes that sees it and you shall be as safe as if you rode in the harbour in a storm Catech. Ah yes Gods holy name be praised who hath so well provided for his Church for otherwise hereticks and schismaticks would shake and toss her even in this main point or ground of faith as evil spirits do ships in tempests we must either hold this Test sure or else all is gone God hath left off speaking unto men and wee cannot tell whether ever he spake to them or no but as the present Church which speaks viva voce tels us 3 But the Reader perhaps expects what inconvenience will hence follow First hereby it is apparent that Belief of Scriptures divine Truth and their true sense absolutely and immediately depends upon the Churches proposal or rather upon their Belief of what it proposeth as well after they are confirmed in that general point That they are Gods words as in the instant of their confirmation in it The first necessary consequence of which opinion is That the Church must be more truely and properly believed then any part of Scriptures or matter contained in it For in this matter of dependance that transcendent rule of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath it proper force whether we speak of the Essence Existence or Quality of things being or existing that upon which any other thing thus absolutely and continually depends doth more properly and really exist and hath much firmer interest in it essence and existence then ought can have which depends upon it One there is and no more that can truely say My Essence is Mine own and my Existence necessary Whatsoever is besides is but a shadow or picture borrowed from his infinite being Amongst created Entities all essentially depending
erring is more stedfastly to be believed as more credible in it self then either the Canon of Scriptures or any thing therein contained because these become actually credible unto us onely by the Churches Declaration which cannot possibly ought avail for their belief unless it were better believed 6 Perhaps the Reader will here challenge me that this last instance proves not all that I proposed in the Title of this chapter For it onely proves the Popes supremacie is better to be believed then that Christ is come in the flesh that God did ever speak to men in former ages by his Prophets and â—…tter by his Son But this infers no absolute alienation of our belief from Christ seeing even in this respect that we believe the Church or Pope so well we must needs â—elieve that Christ is come in the flesh and that God hath spoken to us sundry ways for thus much the Pope avouâ—â—eth Yea but what if the Church teach us that Christ is our Lord and Redeemer and â—et urge us to do that which is contumelious to his Majesty What if it teach us that these Scriptures are Gods Word and yet binde us by her infallible dâ—â—â—â—es to break his Laws and give his spirit the lye Should we make profession of believing as the Pope teacheth and yet take his meaning to be only such as Marnixius whom we better believe would make it His Holiness would quickly pronounce us Apostat's from the Catholick faith Or if this suffice not the indifferent Reader for satisfying my former promise let him have patience but for a while and I will pay him all 7 Their first main position That no private man can certainly know the Canon of Scriptures to be Gods Word but by relying upon the present Church infers as much as hath been said much more will follow from their second That no man can certainly be perswaded of the true sense and meaning of particular propositions contained in the general Canon without the same Churches testimony unto whom the authentick interpretation or dijudication of Scriptures â—holly belongs Imagine the former parties now fully perswaded of the Scriptures divine truth in general should by the Consistory which late Câ—â—â—chized them be questioned about the meaning of some particular plaâ—â—â— Consist We hope you adore the consecrated host with Divine worship as oft as you meet it in procession Cat. Desirous we are to do any thing that becomes good Christians and obedient Sons unto our holy mother the Church but we cannot satisfie our consciences how this may stand with the principles of Christianity Your Holinesses for which we rest yours unto death have assured us these sacred volumes are the very words of God and his words we know must be obeyed Now since we know these to be his words we have found it written in them Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve It is we doubt our simplicity that will not suffer us to conceive how the consecrated Host can be adored as God without open breach of his commandement For to our shallow understanding there is no necessity to perswade us Christ God and man should be hid in it These words Hoc est corpus meâ—m may bear many interpretations no way pregnant to this purpose And it is doubtful whether Christs Body though really present in the Sacrament should retain the same presence in procession whereas the former commandement is plain We must worship the Lord our God and him only must we serve Consist Ye think this Text is plain to your late purpose we think otherwise Whether is more meet ye to submit your private opinions to our publick spirits or us that are Pastors to learn of you silly sheep Cat. Therefore are your servants come unto you that they may learn how to obey you in this decree without Idolatry well hoping that as ye enjoyn us absolutely to obey you in it so ye can give us full assurance we shall not disobey the Spirit of God in the former great commandement whose exposition we most desire 8 Would these or like supplications though conceived in Christian modesty though proposed with religious fear and awfull regard of their persons though presented with tears and sighes or other more evident signes of inward sorrow find any entrance into Romish Prelates ears or move the Masters of the Inquisition house to forbear exaction of obedience to the forâ—er or other Decree of the Trent Councel Were the Form of the Decree it self unto private judgements never so contradictory to Gods expresse written lawes or the consequence of practizing as it prescribes never so dreadful to the doubtful conscience How much better then were it for such silly souls had they never known the Books of Moses to have been from God for so committing idolatrie with stocks and stones or other creatures they had done what was displeasing to their Master and justly punishable yet with fewer stripes because his will was not made known unto them But now they know it and acknowledge the truth of this Commandement To what end That they may be left without all excuse for not doing it They see the general truth of Gods Oracles that they may be more desperately blinded in wilfull perverting the particulars For what glory could the allurement of silly ignorant men to simple idolatry be unto great Antichrist Let them first subscribe to the written Lawes of the everliving God and afterwards wholly submit themselves to his determinations for their practise and so the opposition betwixt him and the Deity betwixt his injunctions and the Decrees of the Almighty may be more positive more directly contrary The Heathen or others not acknowledging Gods Word at all are rightly termed unbelievers men thus believing the Scriptures in general to be Gods Word from the testimony of the Church and yet absolutely relying upon her judgement for the meaning of particular places are transported from unbelief to misbelief from grosse ignorance to wilfull defiance of God and his Lawes Finally they are brought to know Gods Word that they may doubt in this and like fearful practises enjoyned that so first doubting and afterwards desperately resolving absolutely to follow the Churches injunction against that sence and meaning of the divine decrees which the holy Spirit doth dictate to their private consciences they may without doubt be damned for not abiding in the truth Like their first parents they hear Gods sentence but prefer the interpretations of Sathans first-born before their own because it must be presumed he is more subtle then they Or to referre the two main streames of thâ—s iniquity to their proper heads The first That we cannot know the old or new Testament to be Gods Word but by relying upon the Church makes all subscribers to it real Atheists or Infidels and Christians onely in conceit or upon condition If the Church whose authority they so highly esteem be as infallible as is pretende Heretofore I have
c Some hereticks refuse triall by scripture 239 Orthodox do not so ib. Hereticks likely to balk scripture when it will not bestead them 244 Worms in the Hoast how or whence they breed Doctors opinions 329 m. Hoast see Adoration Hâ—â—d see Monk Hosius's Coalier 242 Hypocrites their curiosity 435 Hypocrisie 507 Hypocrisie see posterity I IAnnes and Iambres magicians 38 Jealousies their original in the people against their Teachers 393 Ieremies Lamentation a prophecy as well as at Elegy 90 Ierusalems destruction by the Romans a Map of the day of judgement 92 93 Iesuites medley 250 King Iohn cruel to the Iews 122 c Iris Thaumantis filia 54 See Rainbow Jews favoured by their Conquerors beyond all po litick observation 62 63 68 Jews strange thriving under their Conquerors testified by Heathens 68 69 Jews strange powerfulness in winning Gentiles to Iudaisme ib. Jews wronged by Tacitus and why 70 71 72 Jews thriving in captivity to be attributed to their Law 73 Jews more favoured by God then any other Nation 73 to 75 Jews a mightier Nation then any other 74 75 Jews strange continuance in the midst of miseries ib. Jews had better security of their prosperity then any others 75 Their increase and decay not measurable by human policie 76 77 Jews why said by Diogenes Laertius to be descended from the Magi. 77 Jews and their Religion despised by Heathens on false grounds 78 to 82 All heathen objections against the Iews prevented by Iewish Writers 78 c. Iews calamities and prosperities with their causes foretold in Scriptures ib. Their enemies untill Christ was rejected how punished by God 75 Their enemies after Christ was rejected how favoured by God 83 Iews destruction the cause of Gods exalting Vespasian 83 to 86 Iews a Nation set apart to exemplifie Gods justice and mercy 91 Iews blind madnesse in Cyrene and Cyprus according to Deut. 28. 28. 111 Iews continuance in misery according to Deut. 28. 59. 111 Iews mighty desolation under Adrian 112 Iews prohibited to come within the view of Jewry Deut. 28. 62. ib. Iews why not mentioned from Adrians time till Romes captivity 113 Iews misery in Spain and France 114 115 Iewry a Marl-pit for Gods vineyard 115 Iews bereaved of their children according to deut 28. 32. 115 Iews calamities in Hungary 116 Iews calamities in Germany 117 Iews why not utterly destroyed ib. Iews meannesse in the Eastern parts 118 119 Jews rejection of Samuel a type of their rejection of Christ 118 Iews punished according to Deut. 28. ad 33. 120 Iews miseries in all times and places according to Deut. 28. 33 ib. Iews calamities in England 120 to 123 Iews bruitish stupidity 121 Iews massacre in Linne on a small occasion 121 Iews madnesse and self murder in York 122 Iews may not come on Horseback nor in Constantinople but upon Termes 117 Iews grievous oppressions under King Iohn Henry 3. and Edward 1. 122 123 Aaron the Iew paid Henry 3. a Ransome of 30200 marks 123 Iews banishment out of England purchased by Parliament 123 The Iew of Bristow paid 10000 marks after he had lost 7. teeth 123 Iews for murthering a Christian childe are massacred at Munchin 129 Iews poison Fountains and offer indignities to the B. Eucharist 124 to 126 Iews for so doing are much afflicted in France and Germany ib. Iews cannot be saved from the peoples rage by King and Governours 125 Iews banished out of Spain and Portugal 126 Iews bereaved of their children again 127 Iewes urged to serve such gods as their fathers knew not 128 Iews miseries according to Deut. 28. 65 ad 67. 129 Iews become a Proverb and by-word to all Nations 130 Iews banished by the father bought and brought in of the son Banished by Pius Quintus recalled by Sixtus Quintus 129 Iews scattered from the one end of the world to the other 131 Iews infidelity a strong argument for Christians faith 132 Iews stubbornness an argument that they are Abrahams posterity 132 Iews the cause of their own misery 133 134 Iews thirst of crucifying Christian children proves their forefathers crucifying of Christ 133 Iews make their fathers sins their own 133 Iews cariage and temper the Lees of their forefathers excellency 134. Iews present depression proves their former exaltation 134 Iews blindness a light to the Gentiles 136 Iews desolation the most effectuall proof of Christian saith 137 Iews misery a type of unbeleevers eternal misery 137 From the history of these Iews general and useful Collections 129 to 139 Iews conveâ—sion as likely to be sudden as at all 138 Best method to convert the Iews 251 Church of the Iews see Infallibility Sanâ—drim Christian Ishmaelits the same with Saracens and Hagarens 103 to 107 Iews and Ishmaelites continuall signes to the Nations 1â—3 Ishmaels description by Moses a prophesie of his posterity 105 Ishmaelits why called by themselves Saracens 109 Ishmaelites or Saracâ—ns how like Ishmael 106 107 Ishmaelites a mighty Nation 108 109 Image worship the effects of it in Monks 128 Indulgences caused a breach in the Church 270 S. Iohn in some points above S. Paul S Peter 3â—â— Infallibility He that is taken or takes upon him to have absolute Infallibility is made and makes himself God 198 199 Infallibility granted is no such means to end controversies as is pretended 243 248 Infall a means to harden a Mahumetan 250 Infallibility as dangerous to the soul as Empericks practise to the body 257 The differences amongst Ancients an Argument against any one mans infallib 268 Popes Infallibility pretends to decision of Controversies brought to him not to praediction or prevention of them ere they arise to censure the opinion not punish the Author 274 Popes challenge of infall cause of Dissensions 277 Infallibility is not de facto a means to end Controversies 279 298 Nor would infallib end them aright if all granted it 280 Imperfections in the Popes Infallibleship 284 Infallibility wherein it consists 287 289 Churches or scriptures infallibility which first to be beleeved or are both together to be beleeved 289 c. Infallibility of the Iewish priests depended upon their continencie 378 Infallibility of the King defensible by scripture as probably as that of the priest 387 Some Iews brag that Iudah's scepter still flourish in Media 339. Iews Church erred fundamentally in Christs time ergo not infallible at any time 400 Infallib more necessary under the Law 3â—8 Disadvantage to Rome not to hold the synagogue Infallible 399. Iews after Moses death made not Churches infallibility the Rule of faith but experiments answerable to Gods word 411 What does infal perform to the Believer what to the object beleeved 481 Pope infall in canonizing Saints sayes Valent. 496 Jesuites doctrine of Popes infallib dangerous to states and the worst of errors 499 505 Infallibility a device to cover practises not justifiable by Romish Clerks 506 Infallibility the doctrine of it inverts the whole frame of Religion 5â—â— K POwer of the Keyes 395. see
A False Prophet perswades 6000 Jews to wait for miracles and deliverance but all perish sayes Iosephus 91 Ptolomaeus Philadelphus his goodness to the Jews releasing 100000 of them c. 62 S. Peter what priviledge he had by pasce oves and by Christs prayer for him 341 to 347 S. Peters faith confirmed by experience 140 c S. Peter is not the Rock Christ is 347 c S. Austin thought S. Peter was not the Rock 348 m. Of Petra Petros and Cepha 347 S. Peters deniall 341 Popes speaking ex Cathedra 298 c Popish Foxes set fire amongst us 275 Opposition betwixt S. Peter and his successours 453 c Pope exacts belief contrary to all Notions of good and evil 451 Pope may be an Heretick but cannot teach heresie ex cathedra saies Valent. Iohn 22. within an inch of one Honorius probably was one 213 c. m. All Popes not qualified to understand scripture 213 Pope to blame that being infallible he stills not all Controversies 213 243 244 Pope forces not Infidels in but corrects Christians within the Church 249 Pope Antichrist 446 c. 451 452 Popes speaking is Ominous 304 Popes Authority made greater then Gods 325 Pope is a Judge The Fathers but Doctors 370 Popes primacy overthrown 341 c Pope a ministeriall Head 371 m. Pope his Authority made greater then the Jewish Churches 375 c. Then Moses's 405 c. Then the Prophets 417 c. Then Christ's 427 c. Then the Apostles 452 c. Pope onely Judge say Bellarmin and Valent. 461 Pope may do what he will by their doctrine 463 Pope See Infallibility see Oath The Sun Pope of colours Facetious 49â— The High Priest did erre ex Cathedra in a main Article of Faith 403 Priests hated the prophets living loved the dead prophets 423 Posterities affection to stain prophets an Argument of deep hypocrisie 422 Predictions by dreams usuall of old 28 29 Our Saviours prophesies Matth. 24. c. exactly fulfilled 93 to 103 A prophesie of a Monarch from the East misapplied 86 Joels prophesie pillars of smoak agrees with Pliâ—ies 100 101 Prophesie of Ismaels being a great Nation fulfilled 108 109 Moses prophesies fulfilled in the Jews destruction 111 to 133 Samuels prophesie fulfilled how when 118 119 Prophesies of Ishmaels posterity fulfil 103 to 111 Prophesie of psalm 59. ver 11 13. fulfilled on Jews of later times 135 Prophesies of the old Testament exactly fulfilled in the Jews destruction 87 to 92 Christ prince of Prophets 434 437. see Raysed Prophetical predictions but particulars of Moses's generalities 426 c Prophetical predictions surer grounds of faith then vive voices of the Apostles 453 m. Prophets priviledges 417 Voâ—â—s of a major part of prophets examinable 417 419 c â—…s 400 prophets no professed servers of Baal 418. More of those prophets 424 437 Elijahs and Michaiahs prophesies of Ahab by hi dolititians scanned and set at odds 418 Prophesie fulfilled 4 wayes 401 m. Whether the society of prophets was the Church representative 419 Why Prophets joyn repentance with their predictions 421 Prophets have mostly Cassandra's Fates 423 Means to discern true prophets 425 Tryall of prophesies 434 c Prophets testimonies prove Christ the Messiah better then miracles do 430 c Lumen propheticum erat aliqualiter Aenigmaticum 439 Q PIus Quintus Sixtus Quintus see Jews Pharisees did Quadrate the sins of proselytes 250 R CHrist Raised two wayes 448 Rain-bow poets fansies about it 28 Rain-bow not before the flood 54 Rain-bow Gods messenger to assure the timerous posterity of Noah they might safely go down to the valleys 54 m. Rain-bows colours signifie the stâ—oy of the old world by water of this by fire 55 Reformation desired by Cassander and Cajetan 276 By Sepulveda 462 Redemption Christ spoke of was preservat on from the Nations terrors 101 Revelation of S. Iohn somewhat about it 147 c Revelations private see Zachary Roma Babel Rediviva 244 m. 245 The Romish Rack 318 The Roman Account 356 358 Romish religion as Romish what kind 361 Romish Church a rare Idoll 363 Romish Church mistresse of mens faith 197 226 Some Romish Writers come too neer the justification of them that put Christ to death as the Talmud does 396 397 400 402 Romish Rule of faith not known to S. Peter 452 Old Roman Historians seldom mention Jews or Christians but upon occasion of war such as was under Vespasian Trajan Adrian 113 At Richard 1. Coronation Jews sore handled 120 c Rindeflaish the Rustick sayes he was sent from heaven to destroy the Jews as Hartmannus did 124 126 The Rechabites live in foâ—m of a Kingdom 119 A Rule for setling and ripening faith 421 A Rule in Divinity All absolute perfections are really in God abused by Papists 427 A Rule of Logick explained 475 Aristotles Rule fore Poets 28 A school Rule Ubi unum propter aliud ibi unum tantum 493 S SAcred Writers sobriety compared with Heathenish writers vanity 58 to 61 Samson and Dalilah by Poets made Nisus and Scylla 48 Samuels rejection a type of Christs rejection by the Jews 118. Sarah see Zachary Saracens pretend to Sarah 109 Saracene a Region in Ishmaels territories 109 Original of Saracens 103 c Saracens Hagarens Ishmaelites all one 103 to 107 Saracens and Jews continuall signes to the Nations 103. Saracens how like Ishmael their fathe 106 to 110 A Saracens fact 100 A Saracens Oration 109 300000. Saracens slain by Charles Martell 110 Saracens living manners mariages c. 103 to 107 Saracens City had Zoars priviledge Trajans Army vexed with winde lightning flies c. whilest they assaulted their Metropolis 108 Satan carves for himself out of the Churches broyls 244 Sanedrim's authority limited not as the Papist do 385 Saul not answered by God why 29 Saints Pope cannot erre in canonizing them saies Valentian 496 More about canonizing Saints 500 Popes power to saint men dangerous to states 501 Gersons Caveat to the Pope about canonizing Saints 501 All State affairs have a ruled case in Scripture 144 States The age or duration of them 40 Strabo cited Saying of Augustus Caesar 238 Saying of S. Austin Non crederem Evangelio c. 479 483 Saying proverbiall scortum sive benedicat c. 505. Another Saying Nemo senex veneratur Jovem 40 Scruples see Doubts School-aivines assigne not a right subordination of second causes to the first 144 Silence about Grace and Free-will enjoyned in Spain for four yeers 301 Semele in the Poets is Eliiahs or Moses story spoiled 59 Simon Magus his sin 214 c. Scythians dispute with the Aegyptianâ— about antiquiority 51 No signe can be given us Christians aequivalent to the destruction of the Jews 137 Signes c. discoursed on from 90 to 103 Signes in the Sun and Moon are past 98 c. Signes of the Time 85 136 425 427 432 Sun turned into darknesse 100 101 Sin in generall gets fear of punishment speciall sins special
estate 117 to 119 Trent Council cited V VAlentian cited Valentian turned Doctor similitude 227 Valentian his Inchanted Circle 291 c. 475 507 Valentians saying of the veil that is upon the Jews hearts 209 252 Vates 43 10 Vesuvius burning a Beacon to all flesh 100 Vespasians expedition against the Jews how and why honoured 83 84 Vespasian advanced beyond policy 84 87 Vespasians service against Jerusalem rewarded as Jehu's was 85. Vespasian another Moses 85 A type of Messiah 86 Vespasian prophesied of by Josephus 83 Vespasian owned by an Ox and a Dog 84 Vespasian cures a blinde and a lame man 84 85 Oracle at Carmel aboads Him prosperity 84 Vespasian confident that his son shall succeed him in Empire or no body 85 Vespasians death foregon by a Comet and the opening of Augustus his sepulchre 87 His dying speech Nunc Deus Fio 86 Nor Vespasian nor Titus titled Judaicus 87 Vicinity breeds envie 423 Visions counterfeited by evil spirits 261 Visions seen to one not to others 34 35 Vision of Queen Bassina 41 At Vitrye in Champaine Jews imprisoned themselves 124 Deus vult Deus vult Rumour of a Voyce from heaven 116 Ubi unum propter aliud ibi unum tantum 493 Evil unity good dissention 277 Vulgar Edition See Translation An universal Text limited 178 Uniuersal precepts promises propositions admitting exceptions 376 c All that the scribes and Pharisees bid you do do limited 391 c. And limitted by Maldonat well 392. That Text unduly extended may be abused to justifie the condemnation of our Saviour Jesus Christ 396 Urim and Thummim what it was 377 m. Urim ceased 200 years before his time sayes Josephus 36. It rather ceased with that generation that came back from captivity soon after the second Temple was finished 36 Gods promise to direct by Urim conditional 378 The Authority of the Keys not absolutely universall 395 Unbelief of curious Artists like Naamans doubtting 141 142 Unbelief of Scripture unreasonable 150 Unbelief may find pretences ib Unbelief Antichristian An Axiom of its 478 W VVIlliam Rufus cruel to the Jews 117 Jewish Womans eating her childe 91 Wood-worship indeed 129 Lots Wife not transformed but candyed over 49 50 Want of Wine complained of as cause of want of courage in souldiers who yet were beaten by water-drinkers 106 Wranglings amongst Christians makes the world doubt of Christianity 19 Writers See Sacred and Romish Whore of Babylon a Witch properly 502 Wormes in the Hoast whence they breed 329 m Written Word sole Umpire 256 Y THe Horrid Suicidium of the Jews at York 122 Z ZIdkiah the Prophets dispute against Michaiah out of Josephus 418 Zachary and Sarah sinned not the sin of proper Infidelity as it is opposed to sides Catholica when they doubted of Gods promises to them because the Revelation was private but of imprudence sayes Valentian 468 A Table of Scriptures Expounded or Illustrated by Observations in these Three Books of Commentaries Out of the Old and New Testament Genesis Chap. Verse Page 1. 26 27 56 2. 14 ibid. 4. 1 25 13 5. 1 2 56 Â 29 14 9. 12 13 14 54 10. 13 14 23 52 11. 1 2 51 12. 2 3 77 16. 12 105 17. 20 110 19. 14 15 49 20. 3 c 28 25. 14 15 16 18 104 Â 18 105 34. 30 c 14 37. 10 11 28 40. 8 12 13 19 ib. 42. 20 c 15 44. 16 c ibid. Exodus 3 2 34 4. 13 446 14. 13 408 15. 1 43 Â 26 408 16. 12 ib. 17. 7 ibid 19. 4 409 20. 10 379 24. 9 439 Â 10 410 28. 30 377 32. 1 c 38 33. 13 59 Leviticus 10. 9 378 26. 14 c 44 81 Numbers 11. 16 439 12. 6 ib. Â 6 7 29 21. 6 48 Â 16 c 47 22. 22 34 23. 22 446 27. 21 377 Deuteronomy 4. 1 2 407 Â 5 c 73 Â 9 413 5. 22 410 Â 28 29 444 6. 6 c 230 10. 16 141 Â 17 426 11. 2 411 Â 13 412 Â 18 19 411 Â 22 26 29 412 17. 8 385 Â 19 387 18. 14 445 Â 15 448 Â 15 c 434 Â 18 438 Â 18 445 Â 19 443 Â 20 435 27. 11 12 13 14 412 28. 29 125 Â 30 127 Â 31 120 Â 32 127 Â 33 120 Â 34 122 Â 37 41 131 Â 43 84 Â 49 c. 52 112 Â 53 82 Â 59 111 Â 62 113 Â 64 131 Â 65 c 130 Â 68 122 29. 19 133 30. 1 416 Â 11 c 304 31. 16 11 12 13 413 Â 16 426 Â 19 44 32. 26 c 80 Â 29 141 Â 36 c 80 Â 39 141 Â 46 44 34. 10 445 Joshuah 8. 33 34 35 413 10. 13 48 Judges 2. 7 8 413 5. 1 c 43 6. 12 34 Â 13 14 414 Â 15 415 Â 22 60 8. 33 415 13. 22 60 16. 17 19 49 17. 15 415 1 Samuel 2. 1 2 c 43 8. 7 11 c 118 15. 22 171 23. 9 377 28. 6 29. 378 30. 7 8 377 1 Kings 9. 7 131 13. 18 422 18. 36 437 19. 11 c 59 20. 36 c 172 22. 24 264 Â 24 424 Â 28 437 2 Kings 1. 24 81 4. 27 440 5. 15 141 6. 17 35 2 Chronicles 24. 20 426 Ezra 2. 63 36 Nehemiah 1. 7 417 6. 16 77 Ester 6. 13 76 Job 19. 25 162 33. 14 c 28 34. 19 140 Psalms 2. 7 448 3. 1 22 9. 8 9 10 23 19. 7 216 27. 1 3 22 34. 8 45 42. 1 21 43. 5 22 44. 1 21 46. 1 2 23 50. 16 354 Â 25 355 51. 1 2 3 10 12 13 20 21 59. 11 117 Â 13 135 66. 16 20 74. 9 21 78. 33 34 412 81. 11 80 106. 39 46 79 119. 98 105 224 Proverbs 16. 7 81 28. 9 ibid. Isaiah 5. 13 264 6. 9 10 11 12 401 11. 2 431 28. 16 352 29. 9 10 11 13 14 209 35. 5 431 40. 3 441 42. 1 431 Â 89 441 Â 11 104 53. 8 9 448 61. 1 431 63. 10 60 Jeremiah 2. 3 67 9. 23 17 10. 2 89 18. 18 424 20 7 c 18 24. 1 2 c 134 25. 29 91 Â 31 100 26. 8 2 424 28. 6 7 8 9 43S Â 10 12 440 29. 26 425 30. 13 14 316 31. 33 32 32. 24 25 c 416 Â 42 43 c ibid. 35. 9 10 14 19 119 Lamentations 1. 12 87 2. 20 21 90 Ezekiel 7. 23 79 14. 3 4 5 264 33. 32 33 438 Daniel 2. 44 358 9. 2 18 20 12. 4 8 201 Joel 2. 28 30 31 96 98 100 Habbakkuk 1. 10 11 c 78 Malachy 1. 11 36 2. 1 2 378 4. 2 33 Â 4 146 Judith 5. 21 76 Wisdome 6. 7 40 Ecclesiasticus 45. 23 24 25 388 39. 24 231 1 Macchabees 2. 36 37 38 380 Â 41 ibid. 2 Macchabees 6. 14
obscuro loco Quod itaque hiâ— air â—… verbâ—m esâ— qâ—od scripâ—uris sanctis omnibus continetur Aug. â—… understandingâ—… â—… waveâ—… â—… Dâ—â—â—ine A mâ—â—datis â—uis intellexi Aliud est mandata â—… qâ—â—d alâ—ud â—e signiâ—icet intellexisse à mandatis Deiâ— quod â—… ad earâ—m 〈◊〉 in intelligentiâ—m qâ—as concupiâ—eâ—it â—… Dâ—â—inus â—…het cam tibi 〈◊〉 quisquam â—…â—â—pienâ—… perveâ—… quam capâ—re â—… sed quae â—…it â—… * Rom. 13. 11 12 13. †1 Thess 5. 2. ‖ Bell lib 3 de verbo Dei c. 1. a Psal 19 〈◊〉 Psal 119. 104. b Verse 92. c Psal 19. 8. d Videbat I utherus posse 〈◊〉 uâ—â—de 〈◊〉 tot controversâ—ae si scriptura est tam clara duo effugia excogitavit uâ—um quod Scriptura etiamsi alicuâ—i sit obâ—cura tamen illud idem alibi clarè proponit Alâ—â—rum quod Scriptura licet per se cla iâ—sima tamâ—n sâ—pâ—râ—is iâ—fidelâ—â—us sit obscura ob eorum coecitatem pravum affectum Addit Brentiâ—s in pâ—oleg Coutra Peâ—â—um à Soto reâ—â—ium â—stâ—gium quod etiam interdum sit obscura propter phâ—ases alienae linguâ— id est Hebraicae Graeâ—ae tamen 〈◊〉 â—ju◠〈◊〉 sir Qâ—â— sententia manifestò salsa est nam scriptura ipsa de sua difficultate atque of scuritate testimonium 〈◊〉 Psl 119. Danihi intellectum scrutabor legem â—â—am Ibid. Revela oculos meos considerabo mirabilia de lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faciâ—m â—… illumina super servum tuum doce me justificationes tuas Et certè David noverat totam scripturam qâ—ae 〈◊〉 noverat phrases linguae Hebraicae nec erat superbus aut â—nfidelis Bellaâ—m lib. 3. de verbo Dei câ—p 1. 〈◊〉 would â—… the Scriptures to be obscure because David prayeâ— to God for the right understanding of them And Vâ—lent an 〈◊〉 perswade us to relie upon the Churches infallible Authoritie because it is a hard matter to pray unto God as S Aâ—guâ—… for the gift of Interpretation His words are these Qâ—id autem precatio ad Deum pro sapâ—entiae interpretatiâ—… 〈◊〉 An exigua difficultes est piè perâ—everanter illud cum eodem Augustino lib. 11. Couseâ—â— Cap 2 oraâ—â— Domine attende c. Valent. tom 3. disp 1. quast 1. puâ—ct 7. paragr 4. These words of Valentian immediately sollow his sormer obserâ—â—tion upon S. Austin noted Paragr 11. chap. 14. * â—… 119. â—… †â—… 1. â—… ‖ a ‖ â—… sit hoc 〈◊〉 non in se modo lucidum verum etiam ut reglus Propheta Psal 18. dicet â—… qua 〈◊〉 â—…squisque ingenii proprii aâ—que industriae suae fiâ—iâ—u illud 〈◊〉 qâ—am 〈◊〉 â—… sed quatenâ—s est divinitus in Ecclesâ—ae Catholicae Authoriâ—â—â—â—â—… qui in dâ—mo sunt Matth. 5. Hanc enim Ecclâ—sâ—â— Authâ—… fidei vivam idcirco necâ—sse est ut 〈◊〉 illud fidei quod â—…endat omnibus qui ad eam aggâ—… in â—aque â—…ent liâ—… illud ut in ipsis literis sanctis tanquam in luceâ—â—a continâ—â—ur 〈◊〉 â—… 4. * â—…quam Ecclesia sententiam alâ—qâ—am ex Scriptura colligit scripturán que proinde ut est à se secunâ—um Apostolicâ—m traditionem â—ntellâ—cta câ—â—trâ—â—iis erâ—…us opponit sâ—… a improbitas est aliquid prâ—â—erea dâ—siderare in ejusmodi scripturae vel authoâ—itaâ—e vâ—l inteâ—pâ—etatione qâ—â—cunque id fiat â—ive diâ—…tis â—ive obscuâ—iâ—atis praetextu Qâ—ae 〈◊〉 scriptura per authoritaâ—â—m Ecclesia commenda 〈◊〉 explicaâ—…ue ea jam hâ—c ipso maxime 〈◊〉 authentica â—pleâ—diâ—… 〈◊〉 clarissiâ—… que 〈◊〉 tanquam 〈◊〉 vide 〈◊〉 ut supra expoâ—eban us posita super candelaâ—â—um Tom. 3. disp 〈◊〉 qâ—aest 1. punct 7. parâ—graph 4. * Yet have the Papists in times of Darknesse born the People in hand that the Bible was the Holy Mount which no man might approach but the Priest †Exod. 20. 18. * The Author of the â—8 Psal v. 3 4. * ‖ †a * Eccle. 39. 24 †John 6. 30. ‖ John 5. 46. a Quod vero suâ—jâ—â—git Malachias Mementote legis Moiâ—i servi mei quaÌ„ mandavi ei in Châ—reb ad oâ—â—em Israel prâ—cepta judicia oppâ—rtune commeÌ„orat post declâ—â—atum 〈◊〉 â—… inter observatoâ—es lâ—â—is contempâ—… discrimen siâ—â—l etiam uâ— discant legâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qâ—â—m judicem faciâ—ndâ— est inter bonos malos ipsa discretio Non enim sâ—â—sâ—ra idem Dominuâ— ait Judais si â—…e 〈◊〉 Moisi crederetis mihi De meenim ille scripsit Carnaliter quippe accipiendo legâ—m ejus â—… stium figuras esse nescientes in illa murmura coâ—ruerunt ut dicere auderent 〈◊〉 â—st qui 〈◊〉 Dâ—â—â—t quid amplius quia cusâ—… mandata ejus quia ambulavimus simplices ante â—aciem Doâ—… August de 〈◊〉 Dei lib. 20. cap. 28. 1 Cor. 1. 22. * †* 2 Cor. 4. 3. 4. †Bellarm. lib. 3. de vâ—… Dei caâ— 2. Reâ—p ad 5. â—rg The reasâ—n why 〈◊〉 with his â—ellows and many other gâ—eat Schâ—lâ—ars besides make such Hypâ—…itiâ—al Glasses of Sâ—… plainly teaching what thâ—y deny is their not considering that the same inordinate Affâ—ctions which made the Jews to reject the very â—…orical Truth or Letter of the Gâ—spel makes such as admit it content themselves with it only never locking into the Meaning of the Spirit if 〈◊〉 once contradict their Desiâ—es Of this â—allaâ—â— in the 3. Sect of the 4. boâ—k 2 〈◊〉 3. 15. 16. 7. * 1 Cor. 11. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * â—… 14. 4 James 4 3. Mat. 7. 〈◊〉 The true Use of the Magistracie and Ministery for avoyding Schismes and Contentions The Grosnesse of our Adversaries Exceptions being a branch of their general Extremity mentioned cap. 4. sect 1. further to be prosecuted lib. 3. sect 3. cap. 11. * Omnes â—â—rretiâ—â— qui scripturâ—m auâ—… recipiunt ipsas sibi videntur fectam cum suâ—s potius â—ectentur â—… Aug. epist 222. ad Consentuur †‖ a â—… cum admonuit ut ab ijs tanquam à falsis prophetis caveremus Videntur propheâ— sunt character quasi externa species sed prophetae â—… externa specie non ostendunt nobis genuinam S. S. sententiam led adâ—… collocatas tanquam abominationem ut eleganter Origenes 〈◊〉 â—… 〈◊〉 loco sancto Eadem de causa vocantur lupi tapaces qui vestimentis induti sunt oviâ—â— Vaâ—… Disputat 1. quaest 〈◊〉 punâ—… paragr 6. b Haec ideo recitavi ut quoniam universi 〈◊〉 â—…in suam â—…ionem â—icut D. Petrus inquit depravant 2 Pet. 3. Intelâ—… ceâ—te non in â—…tam esse universalem illam ad salutem hominum accommodissimam authoritatem totius fideâ—… quam inquâ—…mus Valent. loc ciâ—at * Our appealing to Scriptures 〈◊〉 no sâ—â—h Presumption of Heresie in us as the refusall of triall by them is of Antichristianism in the Adversary 2 Thess 2. 11. What advantage the Orthodoxes have of Hereticks in trial of Controversies by Scriptures â€
have used as Josephus Aâ—â—sâ—a complains l. 5. de prâ—â—aranda Ind. Salute cap. 7. De sancta vero Ecclesia articulus à vulgaribus catechistis fere omittitur â—â—usam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor quòd in mysteriis Fidei explicandis non tam Symboli Apostolici seriem sequantur quà m usitatam â—…â—â—stâ—ibutionem articulorum fidei in septem ad divinitatem pertinentes toridem ad hâ—â—anitatem c. †John 〈◊〉 was converted by this Method as he himself expresly witnesseth in his Epistle to his Country-men whom he well hoped to win by his labours in this kind the best use he knew of the Popes Authority was such as is incident to ordinary â—agistraâ—â— whether Civil or Ecclesiastick only to constrain the Jews to read his Book as our Laws bind Papists to hear Sermons and for this purpose he intreats the Cardinal unto whom he dedicated his labours to solicite thus much at the Popes hands â—… ut Ecclesia authoritatem habeat discernendi verba Dei à verbis hominum sensum Dei ab humano sensu non hâ—… Canus lib. 5. cap. 5. post medium Quod si aliam authoritatem praeter scripturam necesse est esse infallibilem Quae doceat id quod in fide est maximum nempe scripturae ipsius doctrinam esse in universum divinam profecto est insania sane editions have insamia but falsly as I think non credere illam ipsam authoritatem infallibiliter item docere qu◠〈◊〉 sâ—ntâ—ntia 〈◊〉 jusmodi divinae doctrinae Valentianus loco saepius citato paragrapho 5. * John 5. 44. Joh. 7. 12 verse 17. John 7. 22. Deut. 1. v. 16 17. Joh. 5. ver 41. * Qui ficti potest ut quae doctrina tam 〈◊〉 ab hominibus adulteratur ut in pattâ—… in ominum eâ— rorum advaâ—… eadem siâ— accâ—mmodaâ—issnia apposiâ—ssiâ—â—que reâ—…a ad â—eijcâ—â— dum omnes omnino 〈◊〉 Non maris hoc 〈◊〉 stare potest quaÌ„ si quis diceret illud esse accommodatissimum remedâ—â—m ad 〈◊〉 vidâ—n sum ex quo accideret omnes cacutire quicunque â—iâ—rent caci Valentian loco â—aepius citat pâ—ragr 6. ‖ Non est mitum si Pelagi ani dicta nostra in sensus quos volunt deâ—oâ—quere conantur quando de Scriptur is sanctis non ubi obscure aliquid dictum est sed ubi clara aporta sunt testimonia id sacere conâ—uâ— verunt more quidem â—…run etiam â—…tum Augustin li. 2. de Nupt. concupise cap 31. This was the place which Valentian as waâ—… in the â—…ter of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove the Insufficiency of Scriptures for composing Controversies would have observed The Reader I doubt not will â—… shaâ—e â—…th or â—â—th that either could not or would not see hoâ— easily these men would have wrested the Trent Council â—… Rule they can imagine 〈◊〉 restraining such evident perversnesse we acknowledge the necessity of a lawfull Magistratie â—… in this or like doth to way argue an absolute Infallibility in determining all Cases of Controversies * Gal. 5. 26. †1 Pet. 2. 12. ‖ Rom. 12. 2. †And good reason the poorest Creature living should tender the eternal Welfare of his Soul as much as the Pope doth the transitory health of his Body ‖ Vide lib. 1. cap. 10. par 2. * The Popes drift in permitting his â—aitie to lock into the Holy Scriptures and behold the Majesty of God speaking in them a matter heretofore held as dangerous for them as for the Israelites in time past to have approached the Holy Mount is just like the Devils in carrying our Saviour into a high Mountain to shew him all the Kingâ—… of the earth and the glory of them The condition annexed to the Popes Donative is the self same with that the Devil adâ—ed 〈◊〉 his profer All these will I give unto thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me For none may enjoy Scriptures but with double acknowledgement of absolute Homage unto the Pope as the sole and supreme Judge of all Controversies concerning them 〈◊〉 whom all Right unto the Means of their Salvation must be derived Which kind of Worship is altogether as deâ—â—gâ—uory to Gods â—…as that which Sathan demanded of our Saviour or any other Idolatry that is or hath been as shall God willing hereâ—… appear †* Gal 1 v 8. From this place Valentian after his 〈◊〉 manner would force an Argument to prove the necessity of a perpetuall infallible Authority to denounce viva voce the like Anathema's against Hereticks Whereas S. Pauls words if we consider all Circumstances do exclude any such infallible Authority or Judge of his Meaning or other Scripture by which he supposed all other Doctrines should be examined And as a learned Papist well observes upon these words of S. Paul to Timothy The scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. The Scriptures which he had learned to wit the Old Testament might perform the same to him in his absence which S. Paul had done in his presence as he saith sine schola Simonis as we may adde â—…ne schola Papae without the Popes cursing or blessing Vide Sasbout in 2. ad Timoth. cap. 3. That there is no danger can come by reading Scriptures for which the scriptures have not present remedy * Rom. 12. 3. a 1 〈◊〉 2. 1. b Gal. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16. 4. 5. d Wherein our Adversaries Proofs come short of what they aim at * Partiality either unto our own or others Opinion is the only cause of Contention amongst men and Dissention from the Truth even amongst such as a knowledge the Scripture for their Rule of Faith for it is one thing to say they make it another indeed to make it or use it as the Rule of Faith in their Practise or Course of Life Whence our Adversaries Objections drawn 〈◊〉 Contentions amongst reformed Churches are easily answered For these are not occasioned by relying upon the Scripture but because sundry in reformed Churches do in Deed as the Papists both in Deed and Word disclaim it for the Rule of Faith Wherein their Conclusions over-reach †These Seducing Spirits hopes were not so desperate as to make them leave their womed trade even in Saint Cyprians time Spiritus insinceri vagi qui postea quam terrenis vitiis immersi sunt à vigore coelesti terreno contagio recesserunt 〈◊〉 desmunt perditi perdere depravati errorem pravitatis insundere Hoâ— poetae daemonas vocant Socrates inâ—… se regi ad arbitrium damonis predicabat Hi ergo spiritus sub statuis atque imaginibus consecratis delite 〈◊〉 H◠〈◊〉 suo vatum pectora inspirant extorum fibras animant avium volatus gubernant sortes regunt oracula efficituâ— salsa veris semper involvunt nam fallentur fallunt vitam turbant 〈◊〉 inquietant 〈◊〉 quod Idola Diâ—â—â—osunt Thus he spake of his own experience as he adds nec aliud his â—rudium est
quam à Deo homines avocare ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sui ab intellectu verae religionis avertere cum sint ipsi poenales quaerere quas ad 〈◊〉 comiâ—es quâ—â—â—… en soul fecerint errore participes Hi tamen adjurati per Deum verum à nobis statim cedunt fatentur de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extre coguntur These were the effects of Christs triumph over Satan sure pledges that the strong man was 〈◊〉 cast cut And the like power had not been so manifest before among the Sons of men * * 1 Kings 22. 24. †〈◊〉 5. 15. ‖ 〈◊〉 1◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a â—… * This Law of Deuteronomie holds true in proportion throughout al Ages If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of dreams and give thee a sign or wonder And the sign and the wonder which he hath told thee come to Passe saying Let us 〈◊〉 after other Gods which thâ—u hast not known and let us serve them Thâ—u shalt not â—eaâ—ken to the words of that Prophet or unto that Dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Deut. 13. 1. †1. Cor. 1. 26. * Phil. 2. 3. †1 Cor. 14. 32. That this 〈◊〉 â—… the 〈◊〉 should rather move all 〈◊〉 Christians to 〈◊〉 all in â—… 〈◊〉 of men then to rely upon any â—… 14. â—… Psal 119. 99. Heb. 3. 5. Psal 119. 100 * That our means for â—iscerning the â—â—â—ginal Causes oâ— O◠〈◊〉 of Conâ—…ns are fully â—â—ui â—aâ—â—nt to the Romish Churches †â—â—llaâ—miâ— lib. 3. de justif cap 3 4. c. disputes so eagerly against this Bishop as might have 〈◊〉 a Censurâ—â—f Irregulâ—…ty had â—e liâ—â—â— in his Diâ—â—esse ‖ Apostolica authoritate inhibemus omnibus tam Ecclesiasticis personis cujuscunque sint ordinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qâ—â—m â—aiâ— is quocunque honore ac potestate praeditis Praelatis quidem sub interdicti ingressus Eccâ—… que â—uâ—rint sub eâ—communicationis latae sententiae poenis ne quis sine authoritate nostra audeat ullos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glosâ—â—s annotationes scholia ullumve omnino interpretationis genus super ipsius conciliâ— decretis quoâ—… aâ—â— quidquam quocunque nomine etiam sub praetextu majoris decretorum corroborationis aut executiâ—… â—… colore statuere Bullae Pij quarti super confirmatione oecum gener Concil Trident. * Maldoâ—atus censuâ—e of thâ—se men for dissenting as he thinks from their Church is so sharp and peâ—â—â—pâ—oâ—y as might well have caused Contention should his writings have come into their hands Impediunt nos quo â—inus acriter vehemeâ—ter invehamur in haereticos Catholici quidam qui nescio qua imprudentia hereticis se junxerunt Neminem nomino nâ—minem viâ—latae accuso religionis scio Catholicos scio doctos scio religiosos ac probos viros esse sed minimè profecto utilâ—m atque fidelem in hac re operam Ecclesiae navaverunt Quod contra Scripturae sensum contra Patrum omnium inter pretationem contra tacitum iâ—o minime tacitum sed satis superque explicatum consensum Ecclesiae dixerint atque contendeâ—int hoc loco de Sacramento non agi quod ut Benignissimè dicam est Temerarium gravioribus condemnarem verbis nisi crederem viros bene Catholicos Errore magis animi quam vitio in Haereticorum sententiam impegisse Maldonat Comment in sext Johan In this sense Christ is said to have come not to send Peace but a Sword unto the World That this very challenge of this insallible Authority of the Râ—mish Church for ending all Controversies â—â—th necessarily 〈◊〉 the greatest Diâ—…tion from it that can be in all relâ—giâ—us minds * â—… whether from the known or possible fruits of the Romish Churches Means so excellent as is pretended â—… Argument can be drawn to work a prejudicial conceipt in mens minds That it were â—… Authority to their Church before they come to direct examination of the main point what â—… Scriptures * See 〈◊〉 14 â—… 5 c. * Non ignoraâ—at dens multas in Ecclesia exorituras disâ—iculâ—ates circa fidem debuit igitur ju dicem aliqueÌ„ 〈◊〉 a providâ—◠〈◊〉 iste 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non potest elle Scriptura neque Spirâ—aus revelans privatus neque princeps saecularis igâ—tur princeps Ecclesiasticus aut solus aut cerâ—e cum coÌ„silio coÌ„sensu Coepiscoporum Neque enim singitur neque singi potest aliquid aliud ad quod hoc judicium pertinere posse videatur Bellarm. lib. 3. de verbo Dei cap. 9. * Christs Church having by our Doctrine a most infallable written Law and living though but fallible Ecclesiastick Judges is much better provided 〈◊〉 in all matters Spiritual then Politick â—…ties whose Laws as wel as Judges are faluble in matters Câ—vil †The utmost Bounds of all Christian Obedience unto any Authority on earth is only to abide a peaceable â—ial before the lawful Judges patiently to imbrace the Penalty inslicted but not to think about Penalties soever they shall 〈…〉 cause for which 〈…〉 be just or such as shal staâ—â— for good in the day of final Judgement for so earthly Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absâ—lute Authority over our Souls which is Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Adversaries go in t that a Prâ—viâ—cial Councel conjirmed by the Pope is as authentick as a General wherein be were presâ—â—t thâ—ugh a sâ—nt in the other 〈◊〉 acâ—quainted with particular Circumstances or carâ—â—ag of the Connoversie Much more availeable should a Popes Confirmation of such Councels be who were present and uel acquainted with all Occasions or other Circumstances of the Conâ—orersie or the Division Wherefore if Reason without Scripture might divide this Comrover sie it were more 〈◊〉 to have a many Popes as sâ—â—eralyâ—ce Statâ—â—o or Monarchies * Convenit etiam inter nos adversaries Sâ—… intelligâ— debere to Spiritu quo factae sunt id est Spiritu sancto Quod Apostolus Peâ—… Epist 2. cap. 1. doe et cum ait Ho◠〈◊〉 intelligentes quod omnis Prophetia Scripturae propria interpretatione non sit Non enim humana voluntate allata est aliquando Peopheâ—a sed Spirtu Sancto inspirati loquuti sunt Sancti Dei homines Ubi B. Petrus probat non debere exponi Scriptur as ex proptio ingenio sed secundum dictamen Spiritus Sancti quia non sunt scriptae humano ingenio sed ex inspiratione Spiritus Sancti Bel. lib. 3. de verb. Dei cap. 3. †2 Pet. cap. 1. vers 20. 21. ‖ Tota igitur quaestio in â—o posita est ubi sit iste Spiritus Nos enim existimamus hunc Spiritum etsi multis privatis hominibus saepe conceditur tamen cetto inveniri in Ecclesia id est in Concilio Episcoporum confirmato à summo Ecclesiae totius Pastore sive in sun mo Pastere cum Concilio aliotum Pastorum Bellarmin ibid. In this place as he professeth he will not dispute
whether the Pope alone speaking ex Cathedra be the Church for that he was to dispute of afterwards and he and all his fellows do and must acknowledge it as shall in due place be shewed That in this place he grants the communication of that Spirit by which the Scriptures were written unto private men doth not argue any agreement with us but rather his disagreement from sâ—me of Eis own profession who urge the necessity of the Churches Proposal so much and so far that not Gods Prophets or others to whom his Word was â—…dinarily revealed could without it be certain Vide Bellar. lib. 3. de justif cap. 3. * The Papists Assertions whence the proposed Conclusion is gathered â—… The general Points of Difficultie how either the Church can ascertain the Divine Truth of Scripture unto us or the Scripture the Churches infallible Authority ††John 16. 7. ¶ Verse 12. * 〈◊〉 Valenâ—… cap. 22. Valentians attempted Evasion out of the inchanted Circle of Roman Faith resuted * Ut breviter quae susius disputata sunt de resolutione fidei colligamus placet modum tradere quo quis de fide inteâ—rogatus debeat respondere Igitur siquis rogetur v. g Quare credat Deum esse trinum unum distinguat utrum viz. firmiter infallibiliter id credat vel de causa ob quam acceptaverat eam fidem Si primum respondeat qui a Deus revelavit Si rursus interrogetur unde cognoscat Deum revelasse respondeat se quidem non nosse id clare credere tamen eadem side infallibiliter id quidem non ob aliam revelationem bene tamen ob infallibilem propositionem Ecclesiae tanquam ob conditionem ad id credendum requisitam Si rursus unde cognoscat propositionem Ecclesiae esse infallibilem similiter dicat se claâ—â— non nosse credere tamen fide infallibili ob revelationem Scripturae testimonium perhibentis Ecclesiae cui revelationi non credit ob aliam revelationem sed ob seipsam quamvis ad hoc ipsum opus sit Ecclesiae propositione ut conditione requisita Valent. tom 3. in Aquinat Disp 1. quaest 1. punct 1. Sect. 10. †Neque in sic respondeÌ„do erit aliquis vitiosus circulus Tum quia reveâ—atio propter quam dicitur credi infallibilitas propositianis propasitio ob quam dicitur credi revelatio non habent unum idem objectum sed aliud aliud Objectum n. propositionis est ipsa revelatio objection autem revelationis est ipsa veâ—…redita ut Deum esse trinum unum aut propositionem Ecclesiae esse infallibilem Tum quia cum ex revelatione redditur ratio credendi propositionem reditur per causam revelatio enim est causa assensus fidei cum autem ex propositione Ecclesiae redditur ratio credendi revelationem ratio redditur non per causum credendi sed per conditionem ad id requisitam ita vitatur vitiasus circulus solum reditur ratio connexotum vicissim ex ipsismet connexis sub diversatione id quod omnino licet Valent. ibid. * In matters of Knowledge or Belief Reason and Curse are Synonymal and every Cause in 〈◊〉 goes before the Effect And even when we demonstrate the Cause by its proper Effect the Effect must needs be first known to us seeing it is the reason or Cause of our knowing the Cause though no Cause of the real Cause it self †Sacrobosous intangled in the former circle and caught in his own share ‖ Sed quaeris num quando quis credit ali quid propter authoritatem Ecclesiae necessariaÌ„ sit priâ—â—…pore vel saltem natura formaliter explicite credat ipsam Ecclesiam esse infallibilis authoritatis quemadmodum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conclusion propter Praâ—… necesse est ut prius assentiamur ipsis praemistis Respondeo id minime 〈◊〉 â—…rium nam actus fidei ferâ—… in suem objectum modo simplici ut visus in suum itaque sicut visus per spe 〈◊〉 albi v. g vider album non videndo ipsam speciem sic potest quis per Ecclesiae authoritatem credere ita ut 〈◊〉 prius formaliter explicite credat Ecclesiae Authoritatem Christophorus à Sacrobosco Dubliniensis è Societ Jesu 〈◊〉 128 139. A good examiner may know this fellow to be a Jesuite by his Answer so full stuft with mental Reservations 〈◊〉 Evasions and ambiguities First he will not resolve us whether men ordinarily must Believe the Church before Scriptures 〈◊〉 a man may Believe the Scriptures although he do not first Believe the Church explicitè or formally And in the very next 〈◊〉 be impertinently adds that Believing the Scriptures we cannot but implicite and vertually Believe the Church Which ar 〈◊〉 that the Scriptures must be Believed before the Church But say we could not Believe the one but â—e must upon equal termes 〈◊〉 the other this proves that neither could be any infallible or effectual Means of Believing the other For there is no man â—… twice 4 make 8 but knows as well twice 2 make 4 yet is neither a Means of knowing the other for both are immediately 〈◊〉 of themselves This shews the impertinency of their Answer that matter they know not what as if the knowledge of points of 〈◊〉 did resemble habitum principiorum rather then habitum conclusionis If so they do then cannot the Churches Infal 〈◊〉 being by their Positions a point of Faith be any Means of knowing the Scriptures to be Drvine which is a main point of faith * This 〈◊〉 of his doth very well illustrate our former â—… Chapâ— 12 concerning the Use of an ordinary â—… And the Visible Church may â—… the shapes and resemâ—… are called visible being indeed by naâ—… and are visible only by external demonstratâ—â—… as much as they present colours to 〈◊〉 sight â—… visible Were they really visible being received into our eyes they would hinder â—… of all colours so doth this admission of a real â—… in the Church exclude all infallible Belief of â—… * Jisdem serè argumeÌ„tis efficitur neque solam traditioneÌ„ viâ—… vocis eorum qui olim vita desuncti sunt esse judicem sufficientem fidei quae valeat per 〈◊〉 fine alia aliqua insallibili ac praeâ—…te authoritate omnes oâ—…ino definite fidei quaeâ—… Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicut de an thoritate iâ—sius 〈◊〉 neceâ—… 〈◊〉 per aliquam aliâ—… au hâ—ritatem conâ—… iâ—â— etiam 〈◊〉 authâ—… traditionis siâ—… quoâ— revocetur in dubium Non enim traditio loquitur etiam ipsa clarè perspicuè de sese ut neque ipsa scriptura Deinde cum traditio scriptis ferè doctorum orthodoxorum in Ecclesia conservetur quaestiones ac dubia moveri possunt de 〈◊〉 illius sicut dubitatur saepe de sensu mente doctorum Valentianus Tom. 3. Disp 1. quaest 1. de objecto sidei punct 7. Sect. 12. * The politick Sophisines of the Papists in their Councels
〈◊〉 and Valenrian hath use the like speeches The Romish rack of conscience Lest they might in any doubt go against their conscience they are taught to Believe That whatsoever the Pope shall command is good and cannot hurt the Conscience See the next Annotation out of Bellaâ—…in * Respoundeo verbum Ecclesiae id est Conciliâ— vel Pontificis docentis ex Cathedia non esse omnino verbum hominis id est verbum errori obnoxium sed aliquo modo verbum Dei id est prolatum gubeâ—nante assistente spiritu sancto imo dico Haereticos esse qui revera nitantur baculo arundineo Sciendum est enim propositionem fidei concludi tali Syllogismo Quicquid Deus revelavit in Scripturis est verum hoc Deus revelavit in Scripturis ergo hoc est verum Ex propositionibus hujus Syllogismi prima certa est apud omnes secunda apud Catholicos est etiam â—…ima nititur enim testimonio Ecclesiae Concilij vel Pontificis de quibus habemus in Scripturis apertas promissiones â—â—od errare non possint Actorum 15. Visum est Spiritui Sancto nobis Et Luc. 22. Rogavi pro te ut non deficiat fides 〈◊〉 At apud Haereticos nititur solis conjecturis vel judicio proprij spiritus qui plerumque videtur bonus est malus Et cum conclusio sequatur debiliorem partem sit necessariò ut tota fides Haereticoâ—um sit conjecturalis incerta Bellar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dei interpret lib. 3. cap. 10. resp ad 15. arg a Bellarmins Catholick Syllogisine wherein all Conclusions of Faith must be gathered †Acts 15. ver 28. ‖ Luke 22. ver 32. †Cap. 1. The 〈◊〉 â—…ulty in then opinion whence our our former conclusion may be deduced * Sâ— volunt Pontishcem in rebus alioqui omnino controversis id est non satis expresse in Ecclesia compertis ac determinatis definite posse ut personam publicam errorem re ipsa contra fidem erraut ipsi in side gravissimè Posset enim into teneretur tunc Ecclesia universa Pontificem de re controversa docentem ac nondum haeresi manifestè notatum pro Pastore suo agnolcere atque adeo ipsum omnino audite 〈◊〉 sieret ut si tunc errare possit Ecclesia etiam universa possit immo teneretur erraâ—e Valeitiam Tem. 3. de object Fid. Disp 1. Quaest 1. Puâ—ct 〈◊〉 Paragraph 41. Bellarmin from the same grounds Collects that the Pope cannot err in matters of manners †Vide Librum 2. Cap. 30. Paragraph 14. Nam sides Catholica docet omnem virtutem esse bonam omne vitium esse malum si autem Papa erraâ—et pracipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Fedesia credere vitia essa bona 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 virtutes malas nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare Tenetur enim â—…bus dubiis Ecclesia acquiescerè judicio sumâ—… sacere quod ille praecipit non sacere quod ille prohibet ac ne forte contra conscientiam â—… bonum esse quod ille praecipit 〈◊〉 quod ille prohibet Bellarmin Lib. 4. de Roman Pâ—… Cap. 5. Wherein the Papists make the Popes authority greater then Gods Jâ—… 39. 〈◊〉 â—hâ—s 5. 21 1 Jâ—hn 4. 1. The grosse impiety of the Romish Church in binding men to believe negatives without any tolerable exposition of those Scriptures which seem to contradict her decrees in matters damnable to adventure upon without Evidence of truth on her part â—… whereâ—… mens â—… fâ—r â—… with 〈◊〉 â—…damnable because contrary to the Doctrine of Faith And yet to enforce a Belief upon our selves that Christ 〈◊〉 there present without warrant of Scripture is more damnable for this were to affect ignorance for cloaking Idolatry See l. 2. 〈◊〉 7. * Vasquez in part 3. Thomae Tom. 1 Disput â—… Cap. 5. Num. 33. Tom. 2. disp 209. cap. 4. Num. 41. †The known Experiments of such Creatures arising from corruption of their consecrated Hoast have enforced the School-men to invent new Miracles how they should come there Some think per creationem novae materiae primae others that the quantity of the late deceased consecrated hoast Supplet locum materiae primae which as Pererius thinks is the greatest of all the nine miracles about Transubstantiation See Pererius disput 16. in 6. Chap. John Suarez Metaphys Disput 20. Sect 5. Num. 13. § Siquis dixerit in sancto Eucharistiae Sacramento Christum unigenitum Dei filium non esse cultu â—… externo adorandum atque ideo nec 〈◊〉 peculiari Celebritate venerandum neque in processionibus â—… laudabilem universalem Ecclesiae sanctae ritum consuetudinem solemniter circumgestandum vel non pubâ—… populo proponendum 〈◊〉 adoratores esse Idololatias Anathemâ— sit Concil Tâ—… Sess 13. Can. 6. â—… decree of the Trent Councel for communicating in one kind against the expresse Commandment of Christ the practise â—… and the Primitive Church †Sâ—… 21. cap. 2. ‖ â—… autem sub Aâ—… secta vivenâ—â—â— quia â—… st ut ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vâ—… dâ— alio 〈◊〉 Reges comâ—… de alio populus â—iâ—or vâ—renâ—m in calice illo posâ—it de quo â—… communicatura erat Quo illa 〈◊〉 â—… de parte Diaboli Quid câ—ntraâ— aâ—… Haeretici respondebunt â—… Nos vero Trinitatem in una aequalitate paâ—iter omnipotentia â—… bi◠〈◊〉 in nomine Patris Filij Spiritus Sancti veri incorruptibilis Dei nihil nos nocâ—â—iâ— Greg. Tuâ—â—n Hist Lab. 〈◊〉 Num. 31. * Concil 〈◊〉 Sâ—â—â— 21. Cap. 1. Itaque sancta ipsa Synodus 〈◊〉 Spiritus Sanctâ—… qui spiritus est sapientiâ—… intellectus spiritus 〈◊〉 pictatis edocta atque ipsius Ecclesiae judicium coâ—suâ—tudinem secuta declarat ac docet Nullo divino praecepto Laicos Clericos non conficientes obligati ad Euchaâ—… entum sub utraque specie sumendum neque ullo pactò salva fide dubitari posse quin illis alterius 〈◊〉 â—… ad â—… ad salutem sufficiat Nam etsi Christus Dominus in ultima caena venerabile hoc Sacramentum in panis vici speciebus instituit Apostolis tradidit non tamen illa institutio traditio eò tendunt ut omnes Christi fideles statuâ—o 〈◊〉 ad utâ—â—â— que speciem accipiendam astringantur Sed neque ex sermone illo apud Johan 6. recte colligitur utriâ—… Domino praeceptum esse utcunque juxta varias sanctorum Patrum Doctorum interpretationes Nan que qui dixit Nisi manducaveritis carnem â—ilij hominis biberitis ejus sanguinem non habebiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—n vobis dixit quoque Siquis manducaverit ex hoc pane vivet in aeternum Et qui dixit Qui manducat â—â—am â—… habet vitam aeternam dixit etiam Panis quem ego dabo â—aro mea est proâ—… Qui manducat meam carnem bibit meum sanguinem in me maner ego in illo dixit â—…
panem vivet in aeternum And in the second Canon of the same Session it is expressed sub poena Anathematis Si quis dixerit Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam non justis causis rationibus adductam suisse ut laicos atque etiam clericos non conficientes sub panis tantummodo specie communicaret aut in eo ercasse Anathema sit Ista distinctio saith Bellarmin tam frequens carnis sanguinis cibi ac potus apertè indicat Christum loâ—… de communicatione sui sub speciebus panis vini alioqui enim quorsum ista distinctio toties praesertim repetita Spiritualis enim perceptio Christi per fidem non eget ista distinctione cum uno modo fiat idem enim est manducare 〈◊〉 in suâ—pâ—ione per solam fidem Bellar. Lib. 1. de Sacrament Euch. Cap. 5. in haec verba Johannis 6. Now if we 〈◊〉 But the Romish Church will not suffer Christians to receive Christs Boate and Blood sub speciebus panis vini the 〈◊〉 is inevitable therefore the Romish Church directly contradicts Christ and as much as in her lies deprives the 〈◊〉 of eternall life Our Saviour in the sixth of John speaks indefinitely both of Sacramental and Spiritual eating not peâ—… of either * Vide Bezâ— annotationes in vers 63. cap. 6. Johan Quoniamâ—es ipsa id est corporis sanguinis Christi spiritualis manducatio potus ibi â—â—culenter traditur ad quam postea Evangelistae ad 〈◊〉 historiae suâ— declarant Christum adjun xisse symbola externa panis 〈◊〉 vini idcirco nos caput illud à Sacramento Eucharistiae non putamus esse aliâ—num Peter Martyr defens ad Gardiner de Eucharist part 1. Solut. objection 32. The strange interpretation of Saint Pauls words whereby the Trenâ—â— Councel deluded by Sathan seeks to delude the Christian World * Ephes 5. verse 32. The improper use of which Word in that place made Matrimonie a Sacrament amongst the Papists yet Bellarmin de fends the Translation Idem esse Mysterium Gracis Latinis SacramentuÌ„ Graeci enim cum de Sacramentis agent semper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant Bellar. Lib. 2. de verbo Dei Cap. 14. Parag. Septimus So oftentimes we call an Asse a Beast but to translate Bestia by the English Asse would argue either rudenesse or negligence in the Translator or the approver partialitie in the Apologizer 1 Cor. 4. 1. †1 Cor. 11. ver 26 27 28. * Pâ—…a declarat hanc potestatem peâ—peâ—â—o in Ecclesiaâ—â—isse ut in Sacramentorum dispensatione â—alva illorum substiti◠〈◊〉 statuerer vel â—…t quae suscipiâ—â—â—tium utilitati seu ipsorum Sacramâ—totum venerationi pro rerum temporum locorum varietate magis expedite judicaret Id autem Apostolus non obscure visus est â—â—sinuasse cum ait Sic nos existimet home ut ministros Christi dispensatores mysteriorum Dei atque ipsum quidum hac potestate usum esse satis constat cum in multis aâ—â—s tum in hoc ipso Sacramento cum ordinatis nonâ—ullis circa ejus 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 â—orinth 11. vers 34. â—atera inquit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disponam â—…l â—…nt Sess 2. cap. 2. †â—… ver 5 6 7 8 9. ‖ 1 Cor. 11. ver â—4 * Cited in the Precedent Annotation Parag 15. That the Cup is an essential and substantial part of the Eucharist Heb. 9. 22. That the Trent Fathers had preferred their own Authority above the Scriptures albeit the Scriptures they alledge for this Decree were as probable at these we bring against it †Sess 21. Cap. 2. ‖ 1 Cor. 8. 13. Sacrosancta oecumenica generalis Tridentina Synodus in spiritu sancto legitimè congregata praesidentibus in ea eisdem Apostolicae sedis Legatis cum de tremendo Sanctissimo Eucharistae sacramento varia diversis in locis errorum monstra nequis 〈◊〉 daeâ—-onis artibus circumferantur ob quae in nonnullis provinciis multi à Catholicae Ecclesiae fide atque obedientia vidâ—… discessisse Censuit ea quae ad communionem sub utraque specie parvulorum pertinent hoc loco exponenda esse quapropter cunctis Christi fidelibus interdicit ne posthac de iis aliter vel credere vel docere vel praedicare audeant 〈◊〉 est his decretis explicatum atque definitum Concil Trid. Sess 21. in Proaemto * Mat. 26. 27 Cum â—…sancta Synodus superiori sessione duos articulos alià s propositos tum nondum discussos videâ—… an rationes S quibus Catholica Ecclesia adducta suit ut communicatet laicos atque etiam non celeâ—…ntes Sacerdotes sub una panis specie ita sint retinendae ut nulla ratione calicis usus cuiquam sit permittendus Et Au si honestis christianae chaâ—…ati consentaneis rationibus concedendus alicui vel natione vel regato calicis usus videatur sub aliquibus conditionibus concedendus sit quanam illae sint in aliud tempus oblata sibi occasione examinandas atque dermiendas reservaverit nunc corum pro quibus petitur saluti optime consultum volens decrevit integrum negotium ad sanctissimum Dominum nostrum esse referendum prout praesenti decreto refert qui pro sua singulari prudentia id efficiat quod utile reipublicae Christianae salutare perentibus usum calicis sore judicaverit Concil Trident. vicessima secunda Sessione in decreto super petit de concessione Calicis †L. 3 c. 10. ‖ Deut. 6. 13. Luke 4. 8. * Vide Lib. 2. Cap. 30. Peter was not the Church Mat. 18. 17. * Bell. lib. 2. de Pont. Rom. cap. 12. Quae dicuntur Petro ut uni ex fidelibus certè omnibus fidelibus dicta intelliguntur ut Mat. 18. Si peccaverit in te frater tuus c By this reason then the Pope must appeal to the Church who then are meant by the Church Respondemus saith Bellarmin illud Dic Ecclesiae significare deser ad publicum Ecclesiae judicium id est ad eos qui publicam personam in Ecclesia gerunt Bellar. lib. 1 de Pontis Rom. cap. 6. So that if any man offend the Pope the cause must come to be decided by himself as a publick person Our Saviours prayers for S. Peter did not bestow upon him any â—…umenical Soveraign authority absolutely infallible in such sence as the Romanists would make the Popes The Admirable Use of Peters Fall foreseen by the All-seeing Wisdom of God ‖ Not in respect of danger represented which was but death but of extraordinary licence at that time granted to the power of darknesse Statius lib 1. Theb. 98â— â—… usually manifested as great want of christian charity and resolution as Peter did in that denial or as great ignorance in divine mysteries as Peters was when our Saviour said unto him get thee behind me Satan * Gal 2. 7 8 9 S. Peters extraordinary power and efficacy in converting the circumcision * Luke 22 3◠†Acts
Light For the like reasons were the Scriptures to the Jews as to our Forefathers they had for a long time been as a sealed Book See chap. 13. parag 3 4 5. a Lib. 1. cap. 34. ‖ Thus muâ—… 〈◊〉 gâ—… eth de 〈◊〉 Theol. â—… cap â—… 〈◊〉 Ad â—… omnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the docâ—â—ruâ—â— â—… adâ—ò anâ—cli â—â—â—loâ—um mihi aâ—â—rueâ—t oppoâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 de tenâ—… mâ—a labâ—faâ—tareâ—ur 〈◊〉 â—a Paulâ— Apoâ—â—oli â—…iptom illud Licet nos â—nt Angelus c. Gal â—â— v. 8. Câ—â—sequently heâ—eunto he proveth the last Resolution of Faith not to be into the Vâ—â—aâ—â—â— or Infallibility of the Church taxing Scoâ—â—s Gabriâ—l and Durâ—â—â— as the margin telleth us But his â—… gâ—…d against all saâ—â—h as male the Churches â—…lity the Rule of â—… shall be â—hewed God â—… Lib. â— Sect. â— See l. 2. Cap. 10. The First Breach beâ—wixt us The Second * Our Agreement concerning the Necessity of Ministerial Function for the planting of Faith The points of Difference betwixt us about the Prerâ—gative of Pastors and the mannes of their begâ—ttiâ—g Faith in others Other â—…â—chcs of the for 〈◊〉 Diâ—ferences 〈◊〉 Romaâ—…s 〈◊〉 Our Churches Assertions câ—ntradictory to the fâ—â—mer * The sâ—st â—â—â—tremitie held by the Papisâ—◠†The second held by the Anti-papists * Rom. 13. ‖ Luke 10. 16. †Joh. 〈◊〉 23. Vâ—dâ—…lâ— 1 cap. 12. †1 Pet. 5. 2 3. ‖ Acts 20. 28 29. * 1 Pet. 5. 5. †‖ Peâ—… Pure 〈◊〉 Mâ—â—â— * The Rule of private Resolutions in matters apprehended as meerly Evil In what Case some matters apprehended as meerly evil may be undertaken with less danger then others which are partly apprehended as Evil partly as Good The chief point of Difficults â—…ing the 〈◊〉 of Obedience * Abraham non solum non est culpatus crudelitatis crimine verum etiam laudabus est nomine pietatis quod voluit filium nequaquam sceleratè sed obedienter occidere Aug. de civit Dei lib. 1. Cap. 21. Spontaneus metus execrabils Deo jubente Landabilis Aug. contra Faust Man l. 22. c. 73. †Abrahams Obedience made that Action which without it had been worse then Murther to be better then Sacrifice How far the former Instance serveth to infer the Conclusion proposed * Some Obedience may after that evil which appears in some Actions because any Obedience though in the lowest degree doth make Actions which without it were indifferent to be truly good To give precise Rules what Actions may of evil become good by Obedience is very difficult †A certain Rule when Authority may be disâ—eyed without whole of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is alwaâ—es more 〈◊〉 then Saâ—e Aâ—is 4. 19. †In viâ—iâ—m ducit culpae â—uga si caret arâ—e As we may not do evil that good may ensue so may we not omit any good lest evil might happen thereon and yet Obedience by all mens consent is good Thus from an unnecessary fear of the former men fall into the later which is but a Siyler Sin by denying Obedience which in it self is good for fear lest they should give occasion of evil ‖ Thus much S. Aust in taketh as granted by all For he bringeth in these words following to infer a Conclusion denied by his Adversary Vir justus si fortè sub rege homine etiam sacrilego militet rectè potest illo jubente bellare civicae pacis ordinâ—m servaÌ„s Cui quod jubetur vel non esse contra Dei praecepâ—um câ—rtum est vel utrum sit certum non est ita ut forrasse term regem faciat iniquitas imperandi innocentem autem militem ostendat ordo serviendi Aug. l. 22. contra Faustum Manichâ—… cap. 75. * What hath been spoken of Authority in general applied to Spiritual Authority * Rom. 14. 23. * Three divers Meanings of this phrase not of Faith The first Meaning The second Meaning * †The effects of such Scrupulosities as our Apostles Rule universally understood would necessarily breed are contrary to the Analogic of Faith ‖ Deniall of Obedience upon Scruple yea even the scruple or doubt it self may be not of Faith as well as the positive Action of whose Lawfulnesse they doubt whence the Objection which many draw from the Apostles Rule is most forcible against themselves * Verse 〈◊〉 See 1 Cor. 8. 〈…〉 Râ—m 14. 15. 1 〈◊〉 8. 13. 1 〈◊〉 9. 15. * 2 〈◊〉 6. 21 22 23 24 c. †* Acts 10. 13. †This Phrase includeth a Contrariery â—r Opposition unto Faith as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and many like Phrases as usual in the Hebrew Dialect as the 〈◊〉 compounds immitis immisericors c ‖ The former Interpretation necessarily followeth from Grounds of Divinitie acknowledged by all a How Sâ—â—uples or Douâ—t of what â—… conâ—ur to 〈◊〉 â—ur Aâ—… Sinful b As when the Evil 〈◊〉 is greater thâ—n any Gâ—â—d that can be â—â—ped * Malum non malâ— Hoc itaque de uno 〈◊〉 genere non edendo ubi a liorum tanâ—a copia subjâ—cebaâ— â—am leve praecepâ—uÌ„ ad observanduÌ„ tam 〈◊〉 ad memoria â—…nendum â—â—i pâ—… nondum voluntaâ—i câ—pidâ—tas resiste â—at quod de poena traâ—sgressionis postea subsecuâ—uÌ„ est tanto majore injustiâ—a violaâ—uÌ„ est qâ—… saciliâ—â—e possit obsâ—… 〈◊〉 Aug. de â—iv Dei lib. 14. cap. 12. * This is a Point which I am â—eâ—swadâ—d 〈◊〉 have 〈…〉 then had been 〈◊〉 as not considering that our Apostles Rule might be violated as well by the Omission of some Actions 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 of others or that the same Offence might be given to weak and tender Consciences by emboldning them to deâ—y â—… 〈◊〉 was given in our Apostles time by emboldning them to eat of things suspected for unlawful Nor can we dâ—ubt bâ—â— many i◠〈◊〉 time have made Scruple of matters injoyned by lawful Authority only from the Example of others whom they â—… * * Hard to determin what Degrees of fear lost we should â—yobeyng ans Law â—… boy Gods I aâ—â—t immediately ought â—… ill fear of disobeying Mans Laws whose Authority in general is from Gods †Sometimes by disobeying Man 's In unctious we may dâ—… Gods Laws both meâ—… and immediately That the Goodnesse of Obedience by our Apostles Rule whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin ought to move men unto such conditional Assent and Obedience unto their Pastors as hath been mentioned †* Four Points to be considered for the rectifying or right framing of our Assent unto Truths proposed †2 Cor. 4. 2. ‖ 2 Cor. 2 17. What 〈◊〉 Faith is * A Speech well beseeming the servants of the great Whore That the Faith of modern Papists cannot be resolved into the Scriptures or the first Truth * In what Sense the Scriptures may be said the Rule of mens Faith altogether illiterate 〈◊〉 scriptu The Prerogative of Scriptures in respect of Faith above all other Rules in respect of Arts or Sciences * Dan. 9. 2. †Dan 12. 4. The Question concerning