stedfastly concluded with my self as soon as God would grant me an opportunity to associate my self in the Protestant Church and reject the Roman Idolatry Which I accordingly have done and having renounced the Popish Religion have adjoyned my self unto the body of our Saviour Christ Jesus that is unto the true Protestant Church Whose truth I am going to shew now as shortly as I can and that by this argument That Church which doth vindicate the authority of the Scriptures defends the proprieties of them and teacheth according to the Scriptures is a true Church but the Protestant Church doth so The Major is firm and without contradiction The Minor is to be proved which I am endeavouring to do Neither will I be so Scripturary as that I should reject the old Fathers and the Primitive Councils I will alledg them likewise as bearing witness unto truth which cannot be overthrown As to the first The Protestant Church doth vindicate the authority of Scriptures when she denieth the same to depend from the authority of the Church not so much as to us Robert Bellarmin seeing that these who affirmed without any limitation Bell. de V. D. l. 1. c. 46. the Divinity of Scriptures doth depend from the authority of the Church did not speak soberly enough he endeavoured to mollify the Proposition with this distinction viz. that the Scriptures must be considered either in themselves or in respect unto us As they are considered in the first manner they do not depend from the authority of the Church but as they are in the second But as the distinction is vain because every authority is Relative and is not so much to be considered in it self as in respect of the object so likewise the supposition is false viz. That the authority of Scriptures in respect or in relation unto us doth depend from the Church But before I come to the demolishing of this assertion we will consider the reason why Papists say and believe so And indeed I can find no other besides this that they seeing themselves unable for resisting the Arguments of the Protestants which are drawn out of the Scriptures endeavouring to pervert the sense of them asserting that the same dependeth from the interpretation of the Church and so consequently are constrained to affirm that also the authority of Scriptures dependeth from the Church of which Scriptures nor of the right meaning of them nothing can be certain without the Tradition of the Church And by this same they very handsomely tread in the footsteps of the old Hereticks of whom one thus speaks The Hereticks when they come to be argued by the Scriptures they presently fall to the accusing of them as if they could not be from or of a sufficient authority or not so to be understood and of which no certainty can be had without Tradition Here is the true Protraicture of our modern Papists But to the thing it self We deny the authority of Scriptures to depend any way from the authority of the Church but only from the holy Spirit speaking within the Scriptures 2 Pet. 1.21 2 Tim. 3.16 17. by reason he is the author of them and so he doth endue them with an irrefragable authority And as Christ desires no testimony from any besides from the Father so likewise his word which he hath been pleased to leave upon earth instead of his person And as it is very unreasonable that the Kings Proclamation should depend from a Crier or a Rule from a thing that is ruled or that the Sun should borrow its brightness from that Orb or Vortex which it is contained in so it is very disagreeable to affirm that the Scriptures should depend from the authority of the Church The Church is a Candlestick the Word of God is a Candle as our Saviour declareth Luke 8.16 Now as a Candlestick doth contribute nothing at all to the light of the Candle so neither doth the Church to the authority of Scriptures We do not reject the Ministerial Testimony of the Church in that case by reason the Church leads us unto the Gospel as the Samaritan Woman did lead her fellow-citizens to Christ as Austin saith yet for all that none of them can be call'd the cause of our faith but an instrument Yet the Papists do object against us viz. 1 Tim. 3.15 That the Church is call'd the pillar and ground of the truth and from thence they bring in this conclusion that she is the only cause from whom the authority of the Scriptures doth depend But very foolishly because first that I may pass by the Observation of Camero who affirmeth these words to belong unto the 16 verse by reason there is to be found in that verse a Copulative Particle which otherwise should be to no purpose c. the Apostle doth speak of the Church considered as a house and then sheweth which is the chiefest pillar or ground of the same and indeed if we speak reasonably a house cannot be a pillar but a pillar is in a house It is secondly to be observed that by this pillar is not to be understood an Architectonical but a Political one not one that should uphold by its strength the authority of Scriptures but one upon which the Proclamations and Constitutions of the Supreme King are affixed Neither is the exception of Bellarmin against this distinction of any value viz. That by this way the Church may be as well call'd a Library as a Pillar by reason we do affirm that the office of the Church is not only to keep the books as it is of a Library but to expose the Contents of the same to the view of people and to under-teach them in the way of their Superiors will which belongs to a pillar The Church then can be an external Motive unto us that the Scriptures are of divine authority but cannot perswade us unto it by reason it is only the propriety and the business of the holy Ghost whom the Lord joyneth with his word Ps 59.21 when he saith My spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth c. Austin speaketh very handsomely to that purpose Lib. de Confess speaking of the authority of Scripture But how shall I be perswaded to believe this Moses indeed did say so it is true he said but he is gone and although he should be present and talk Hebrew to me I should not understand what he meant but if he should speak Latin I should understand But by what means should I know that he speaketh truth Therefore inwardly inwardly I say in the Cabinet of my heart not the Greek nor the Hebrew nor the Latin neither the Barbarian truth but he that without the sound of lips or the noise of syllables should tell me he speaketh truth and I should say to this this man You speak truth You may see Christian and impartial Reader how Austin did
think he could be perswaded of the authority of Scriptures not by the authority of the Church nor by the perswasion of Moses or the Prophets but by the internal truth speaking in his heart Which is the holy Spirit And let them not make an instance against us that every one pretends the holy Spirit by reason pretension maketh no prejudice to truth Neither is the question betwixt us and the Papists as betwixt admitting the authority of the Scripture and denying the same by reason both of us do admit the same and then the question ariseth how or by what way we may be perswaded that these Scriptures which we embrace as divine are not prophane And if we or they answer more agreeably let every impartial Christian be a judg We conclude therefore as this question to be unworthy of a Christian man If the holy Bible be the Word of God so another assertion of a Jesuit Sambar de fide orthodoxa called Sambar to be very foolish viz. that the Protestant Churches have no Scriptures For besides that he defends this proposition for no other end but to escape the strength of the arguments derived out of the Scriptures likewise he confirmeth this proposition by no other medius terminus or reason but because the Protestant Church having no notes of a true Church is false and so she can have no Scripture being the Scriptures dependeth from the Church both in their material and in their formal part Whereas both the argument and its probation is false and they foolishly petunt principium take that for granted which we utterly deny viz. that the Scriptures and their sense doth depend from the authority of the Church as we did touch this point somewhat higher Moreover the Jesuit by this assertion doth shew his desperate cause by reason none of the ancient Fathers did deny the Scriptures to any Heretick as they suppose us to be that they might shew his case plain and Austin saith that the Scriptures are not belonging as proper to one Aug. lib. 3. contr Ma. Arian but that they are common witnesses of both the sides And if we would be so rude we could change the scene and affirm that the Papists themselves have no Scripture as to the formal part because we did plainly shew a little higher their Church not only to be false and erroneous but none at all But being I am not afraid of their arrows which they can take out of the Scriptures I will not deny them the Bible Having thus far secured the Sentiment of the Protestant Churches about the authority of Scriptures I descend to the proprieties of them I affirm therefore the holy Scriptures to be perfect as well touching the perfection of parts as of degrees and thence to be sufficient to our salvation The Law of God is perfect saith David Psal 119. and the sufficiency of it is shown by the Apostle in the forementioned words 2 Tim. 3.16 The accession of the New Testament to the old maketh no prejudice to the perfection and sufficiency of Scriptures because he that declared all the counsel of God spoke nothing other than what Moses did say and the Prophets as we writ before Hence the old Fathers said very well As the New Testament is hidden in the old so the Old Testament is declared in the new neither gradus variat speciem doth a degree change the nature of things that are of the same kind Neither do we dispute with the Papists of this or the other part of Scriptures but of the whole Canon as it is made by the Apostles declared by the ancient Church and enumerated by Hierom. Hierony in prol Gal. They are not therefore to commit a fallacy of division And as we do justly cut off from this perfection and sufficiency of Scriptures the books call'd Apocrypha by reason they contradict themselves and the holy Scripture neither were they found in the Jewish Church unto which were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 So we reject the distinction of the Papists betwixt the books Protocanonical and Deuterocanonical by reason a Canon cannot be changed And for this reason we do very little esteem Traditiones non scriptas not written Traditions because out of that is written Joh 20.31 2 Tim. 3.15 we may have sufficient instructions for the life-eternal To refer unto these Traditions the several Orders of Fryers and the sheaving of their Crowns the words of Christ John 16.12 I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now is a very great folly Because if this was the meaning of Christ he could very easily have called a Barber and commanded the heads of those Disciples to be shaven But may be he could not by reason of their baldness Besides that Monks Hieronimus whose duty was to weep and not to teach as an old Father saith were not shaven for a sign of their honour and pre-eminence but for a sign of their penitence For the last Psal 19.8 Rom. 16.4 the Scriptures are easie to be understood The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes and whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Which could not be if the Scripture was not easie and light We affirm therefore that as those things which are absolutely necessary to salvation are few so they are plainly set down in the Scriptures But as for other questions I do not deny such things to be found in the Scriptures that can afford work enough for a human wit. Namely as one saith The holy volumes are of such a nature Chrysostomus that as well a lamb may wade in it as an Elephant swim Being then that the holy Scriptures are perspicuous as it is evident out of reason testimony and the consent of the ancient Fathers therefore the Protestants proceed very lawfully in attributing judicium discretionis or a judgment of discretion to every true Christian So that every believer by the often reading of the Word of God and by the conferring of one place of Scripture with the other may interpret the Gospel 2 Pet. 1.20 21. because no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation for it came not by the will of man but by the holy Ghost As for the Fathers of the ancient Church and the four Primitive Councils we imbrace them as interpreters of the holy Scriptures yea we affirm likewise that they may bind subordinately to Scriptures our conscience but not force them to the faith ligant non obligant yet we deny whether the Fathers or the Council or the Roman Pope to be a Judg of the Controversies about matters of faith Austin Fatetur Andradius contra Kâ—mnitium Defens Concil Triden l. 2. Bellar. sacra scriptura regula decidendi certissima tutissimaque est Heb. 4.12 but only the Holy Ghost speaking in his Word
or as one saith Christ himself when he speaketh Let Christ judg of this controversie who although he be absene in his person yet is present in his word Hence doth flow that the Scriptures may be justly called a Judg not proclaiming outwardly the sentence but deciding the question as a Law and so it may be called a judex normalis a normal Judg being it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart We did shew as I believe shortly and clearly that the Protestant Churches do vindicate sufficiently the authority of the holy Scriptures and derogate nothing at all from their adjuncts and proprieties Now I will come to the second part of our argument and shew that the Protestants do teach according to the doctrine of the Holy Ghost contained in the Scriptures I will pass by these common places of Divinity as touching God in his Works Proprieties and Persons by reason the Papists do believe the same as the Protestants except in some preter-fundamental things which we will have better opportunity to speak of somewhat lower Only this I touch at present that Jesuital definition of the Free will is very false and erroneous viz. that it is Facultas qua positis omnibus ad agendum praerequisitis aliquis possit agere non agere A faculty by which all the requisites belonging to the doing of a thing being present a man can nevertheless chuse to do it or no I say it is false because besides that when the object is present the will by the determination of the last practical judgment of our reason embraces the object without any dilation likewise it is impossible that a man should change Gods Decree which is one of the requisits Act. 17.28 Psal 7.6 Isa 4.10 Psal 8.11 putting a man into a performance of this or another kind of an action by reason as God himself cannot change so neither can his Will because he saith himself My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure and David The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations After all the requisites to the prodition and betraying of Christ were found in Judas as viz. the determination of his Will by his Reason the taking of the money c. Judas could not chuse but betray Christ by reason the highest requisite was present which is the Will of God and his determination or his hand and his counsel in order unto which the Son of man was of necessity to be delivered into the hands of sinful men Act. 1.28 Luk. 24.7 and be crucified and the third day rise again All which could have been changed if the free-will of Judas had been of that condition our Jesuitical definition speaks of The Protestants therefore are sounder in this case as well as in the rest because they define the free-will thus Arbitrium humanum est facultas agendi libere absque coactione determinatione physica ad unum that is The will of a man is a faculty doing a thing freely without coaction or physical determination to one Because not every necessity taketh away the freedom of our will but only that which is of coaction and of physical necessity for the free will cannot be forced as to its actus elicitos or internal acts but quoad imperatos or external nor can it be determined to one thing only as the fire is determinated to burning Therefore it is not free from the Divine determination nor from the last judgment of the practical reason nor in the unregenerate from sin unto which although it be determined yet considered specifically it hath freedom to make a choice betwixt sin and sin So that in an unregenerated man it is only free to sin neither can a man by the vertue of the same arrive to the doing of any Theological good 1 Cor. 3.5 Col. 2.13 Eph. 2.3 5.14 2.12 Rom. 14.23 For we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God being we are by nature the children of wrath we are dead without God and every imagination of the thought of our heart is only evil continually Gen. 6.5 and from our youth Cap. 8.28 And the best that any unregenerate man seemeth to do is but bad by reason it doth not proceed from faith which qualifieth the work Just then as a privatione totali non datur regressus ad habitum nisi per potentiam infinitam from a total privation can be no returning to a habit unless by the infinite power so likewise from sin which is privatio rectitudinis debitae inesse a want or a privation of the righteousness which ought to be within us there is no returning to justice or righteousness Joh. 11.43 unless God awaken us and speak to our dead hearts Rise up Lazarus unless he commandeth the Sun of Righteousness to rise in our dark hearts as he did in the first Creation Mal. 4. saying Let there be light Gen. 1. And truly because Regeneration according to the phrase of the holy Scriptures is nothing else but a new creation Eph. 2.10 For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works saith Paul and elsewhere In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing Gal. 6.15 nor uncircumcision but a new creature confer Gal. 6.15 cum Col. 3.10 Hence David prays God should create a clean heart in him it cannot be attributed to any else but only to the Infinite power Phil. 2.13 which is in God who worketh in us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure Whatever good works therefore are or were to be found in Heathens are not without reason call'd by Austin August Mat. 5.45 Splendida peccata shining sins I do not deny they may do somewhat good morally by the general influence of the Almighty according to Paul's saying The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.19 yet they can do no good as it is considered Theologically because they are destitute of faith which purifieth the heart and of a right end of their doing Act. 15 9. which is Gods glory Being they do not absolutely shew this or the t'other sin but for that they may shew themselves before people as Socrates did shun Intemperance for to gain by it vain-glory Hence it floweth that Justification Sanctification and the like are not ours but Gods so that when God confers upon us as justified and sanctified the eternal glory he may be well said August to crown with reward his own gifts and not our merits As to Justification which we first intend to speak of it is twofold active and passive Or else it is to be considered either in respect of God justifying or in respect of the man justified In the first respect it is nothing else but an outward absolution of a sinner and a proclamation made by God of a
the prostration of John but says Worship God. Rev. 19.10 A Heathen Poet could tell that God only should be worshipped when he saith Nec ela sum dixit nec sacro thuris honore Humanum dignare caput Why should we Christians then be so unjust to the Almighty God as to deprive him of his honour The distinction which they use betwixt Latreia and Duleia and Hyperduleia is of no value and I have seen many which sufficiently yea abundantly refuted the same Only I will conclude in this matter that if Papists cannot be accused of formal Idolatry surely they are guilty of material Their exceptions betwixt the coherence of Signum and Signatum and other small exceptions in that kind are vain Every man is an Image of God but I do believe they will not worship every one Having thus far shewen the truth of the Protestant Churches in defending of the holy Scriptures and in conforming their Doctrine to them in the most weighty points I will infer this conclusion that the Protestant Church is a true a faithful and a sincere Church which was to be the conclusion This I will add for the last that namely the Papists seeing they could not prevail with the Protestants in the way of disputing of their Doctrine They questioned the Ministry of the Protestant Clergy saying the same was not lawful But besides that their own Scholasticks Bannes Canus as Bannes Canus and others doth allow that per haeresin potestas ordinandi non amittitur Likewise they shew the contrary by their practise because they do not re-ordain them that are ordained in our Churches as to the substantial part and it is sure enough that a bad Governour or Governours of the Church may send good labourers into the Vineyard of Christ as I will shew by an instance in answer upon the next following argument A Papist once discoursing with me about the Clergy of the Protestants that namely they were unlawful because they were ordained by them that fell off from the Church of Rome and so became Hereticks framed this argument against me viz. That Antichrist can send no servants for Christ But the Roman Pope as the Protestant saith is an Antichrist and he cannot send any servants for Christ It seemed unto me a very strong argument at the first till at last after a little while I answered him thus That Antichrist that hath nothing of Christ in him cannot send servants for Christ I allow but the Roman Pope is such an Antichrist I deny and so do the Protestants because they do not affirm the Pope to be quite without Christ or else he is not an open Antichrist but a hidden one under a Cloak of a Vicar of Christ who distributeth the Offices of his temporal and earthly Court. And that such a one may send good men and willing to serve Christ I have shewed it by an instance which was this When Christ was upon earth and the limits of the Church were within the compass of Canaan the Church was very much corrupted Christ calleth their learning fermentum leaven their lives sepulchra dealbata painted Coffins Paul calleth the High Priest a whited Wall and yet they did send out good Workmen into the Vineyard of the Lord as viz. Joseph Nicodemus and others Thus I stopt the mouth of the Papists and here I will make an end of my book In the mean time I thank the Almighty God for that he hath been pleased to open mine eyes for they see the way of truth and pray him to confirm me in it And wish that every one may reject the way of abomination and be rooted and built up in Christ and stablished in the faith lest he be spoiled by vain deceit Col. 2.7 8. after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ Surely the Popish Religion as it is considered in it self and so by consequence their Church is nothing else but Babylon Apoc. Exite igitur ex ea popule mi Go out of it my people lest you should be partakers of their sins Imbrace the true Protestant Religion which is pure in her Doctrine holy in her Manners true to God and King to which both who will obey let him be a true Protestant FINIS