that the Church is infallible I would fain understand what this infallible assent is grounded upon and if the evidence be only sufficiently or morally infallible which are his own terms how the assent which is built upon it comes to be more than so It is very pleasant to observe how Mr. Cressey and some other late Writers of their Church are perplexed about this word Infallibility as if they had a Wolf by the ears they cannot tell how to hold it and they are afraid to let it go And very loth is is our N. O. to part with the sound of Infallibility although his own Concessions perfectly overthrow it as will yet further appear by this last viz. 8. That moral Certainty is a sufficient foundation for Faith This will appear by my 27. Proposition which is this The nature of certainty doth receive several names either according to the nature of the proof or the degrees of the Assent Thus Moral Certainty may be so called either as it is opposed to Mathematical evidence but implying a firm assent upon the highest evidence that Moral things can receive Or as it is opposed to a higher degree of Certainty in the same kind so Moral Certainty implies only greater Probabilities of one side than the other In the former sense we assert the certainty of Christian Faith to be Moral but not only in the latter To which he saith This Principle is granted if importing only that Christians have or may have a sufficiently certain and infallible evidence of the truth of their Christianity Whereby it is plain that though he useth the term infallible yet he means no more than I do or else he ought not to have brought that as an explication of my principle which is contrary to it as in this Controversie Moral Certainty is opposed to strict demonstration and Infallibility But if he by infallibility means only sufficient certainty I shall be content for quietness sake that he shall call it Infallibility if he pleases And that he can mean no more by it appears not only by what he hath said before but by what he saith afterwards in these words A Natural or Moral Certainty though not such a one as cannot possibly be false but which according to the Laws of Nature and the common manners and experience of Men is not false is sufficient on which to ground such a faith as God requires of us in respect of that Certainty which can be derived from humane sense or reason and which serves for an introductive to the reliance of this our faith upon such Revelation as is believed by us divine and which if divine we know is not possibly fallible In respect of its relying on which Revelation an infallible object and not for an Infallible Certainty as to the subject it is that this our Faith is denominated a Divine Faith Now this Natural or Moral Certainty is thought sufficient for the first rational Introductive and Security of our Faith not only by the Doctor in his 27. Principle but also by Catholick Divines in their Discourses of the Prudential Motives Very well said and I were a very disingenuous man if I should not heartily thank him for so free a Confession by which if I understand any thing he very fairly gives up the Cause of Infallibility as to the necessity of it in order to Faith As will easily appear by the managing of it so far as I have been concerned in it It is evident to any one that will cast an eye on the Controversie of Infallibility between the Arch-bishop and his Adversaries that it was raised on this account because those of the Church of Rome asserted that the Infallible Testimony of the Church was necessary in order to the believing the Scriptures to be the Word of God and so much is endeavoured to be defended by him who pretended to answer my Lord of Canterburies Book who goes upon this Principle That this is to be believed with a divine Faith and a divine Faith must be built upon an infallible Testimony the falsehood of which I at large shewed in the Discourse of the Resolution of Faith Since the publishing whereof the Metaphysical Gentleman before mentioned pretended to answer that part of it which concerns Infallibility and Moral Certainty Some of his assertions I have laid down already as contrary to this of N. O. as may be for he not only asserts the necessity of Infallibility for a foundation of Christian Faith but spends some Chapters in rambling talk against Moral Certainty The Title of one of which is Faith only Morally Certain is no Faith I desire N. O. and E. W. to agree better before they goe aboâ—â— to confute me and to what purpose shouldâ— trouble my self with answering a man whoâ— Principles the more ingenuous of their owâ— Party disown as well as we For not onâ—â— N. O. here makes Moral Certainty a sufficienâ— ground for Divine Faith but the Guide 1â— Controversies another of my Adversaries aâ—serts the same when he saith And indeeâ— from what is said formerly that a Divine Faith may be had by those who have had 〈◊〉 extrinsecal even morally infallible I see now from whom N. O. learnt these terms motive thereof it follows that Divine Faith doth not resolve into such motives either as the formal cause or always as the applicative introductive or condition of this divine faith And a little after That it is not necessary that such Faith always should have an external rationally infallible ground or motive thereto whether Church Authority or any other on his part that so believes By these concessions it appears that the cause of Infallibility as far as it concerns the necessity of it in order to Faith is clearly given up by these persons and if others be still of another mind among them I leave them to dispute it among themselves Thus far then we are agreed I now come to consider where the controversie still remains and why the rest of my Principles may not pass as well as these In order to this I must by taking a view of his several exceptions and answers draw together a Scheme of those Principles which he sets up in opposition to mine and if I do not very much mistake they may be reduced to these three 1. That God hath given an infallible assistance to the Guides of the Church in all Ages of it for the direction of those who live in it 2. That without this infallible assistance there can be no certainty of the sense of Scripture 3. That all the Arguments which overthrow the Churches Infallibility do destroy the Churches Authority These as far as I can perceive contain the whole force of his Considerations and in the examination of these the remaining discourse must be spent In which I shall have occasion to take notice of whatever is material in his Book 1. The main controversie is whether God hath given an
search and enquiry after it as times and means give leave But if we mean by a Church any particular Church he determines That particular men and Churches may erre damnably because notwithstanding others may worship God aright but that the whole Church at one time cannot so erre for that then the Church should cease utterly for a time and so not be Catholick being not at all times and Christ should sometimes be without a Church yet that errors not prejudicing the salvation of them that erre may be found in the Church that is at one time in the world we make no doubt only the Symbolical and Catholick which is and was being wholly free from error Which several expressions amount to no more than this that there will be always some true Christians in the World but what is this to infallible Teachers and Guides in a Church that pretends to be Catholick against all the sense and reason in the World And is it now imaginable after all this that Dr. Field should make any particular Church infallible No all that he means in his Preface is this that among all the Societies of men persons who have not leisure or capacity to examine particular Controversies ought diligently to search which is the true Church and having done this to embrace her communion follow her directions and rest in her judgment i.e. Suppose a man by that very Book of Dr. Fields should be convinced that the Church of Rome is a very corrupt and tyrannical Church and the Church of England is a sound and good Church which was the design of his writing it he being thus far satisfied ought to embrace the communion of this Church and so follow her directions and rest in her judgment so as not to forsake her communion for any cavils that are raised about particular Controversies of which he is not a capable judge And doth this make the Church of England infallible If we say that a man being first satisfied of the skill and integrity of a Lawyer ought to follow his directions and rest in his judgment doth this make that Lawyer infallible so we say here the resting in the judgment of a Church of whose integrity we have assurance before-hand implies only the supposition of so much honesty and skill in a Church as may over-rule the Judgments of persons who either have not leisure or capacity to understand particular Controversies which require skill in Languages search into the Fathers and later Writers on both sides If we say that unlearned persons ought in such things to trust the learned whose integrity they have no ground to suspect this doth not certainly make the more learned infallible But we may rest in the judgment of those whom we have no reason to suspect though we believe them not to be infallible and it was the former Dr. Field meant and by no means any infallibility unless he plainly contradict himself 3. He excepts That this brings in an inerrability of every particular Christian in all points necessary if such Christians will that is â—f only they shall sincerely endeavour to know the meaning of them The force of this Argument will be easily discerned if we put another parallel to it viz. That they who assert from Scripture the assistance of Divine Grace to the sincere endeavours of men do make all men impâ—ccable if they will as well as those who assert that God will not be wanting in necessaries to salvation to those who sincerely endeavour to know them make all such men so far infallible if they will If any one thing be plain in Scripture the goodness of God is and who can believe that and yet think that he will suffer those who sincerely endeavour to know what is necessary to their salvation not to understand it But besides how often doth the Scripture promise a greater degree of knowledge to the meek and humble to the diligent and industrious to those that ask and seek wisdom from him to those that do the will of God to whom our Saviour hath expresly promised that they shall know of his doctrine whether it be of God or no And if this be the inerrability he means he sees what grounds we have to assert it But we understand not by it that such persons cannot erre in their judgments about what things are necessary and what not nor that they cannot erre in other things which are not so necessary to salvation but that Gods goodness is so great and his promises so plain and his word so clear in necessary things that no one who sincerely endeavours to know them shall ever miss of salvation And if such an infallibility will satisfie them we do not deny it to Popes themselves or other Guides of the Church on condition they do not think themselves infallible beyond these bounds for they are only the meek and humble whom God hath promised to teach his way and not such who will be infallible whether God will or no. His other exceptions from this principle destroying Church-Authority from the parity of reason for Church Governors and the controverted places of Scripture shall be considered afterwards 2. I now come to examine what certainty there is for this Infallibility Here I shall lay down some principles of common reason by which we may better understand the force of his arguments 1. That the Proof ought always to be more evident than the thing that is to be proved by it For otherwise it is of no advantage to the proof of it if it have but the same degree of evidence but is a great prejudice to it if it have less so that if the proofs of Infallibility be equally obscure and difficult with those things which are to be believed by virtue of it this Infallibility is of no use but if they be less evident the pretence of it is both very ridiculous and prejudicial to the Christian Faith 2. The greater concernment any Law is of and the greater danger in mistaking the meaning of it the more plain and distinct ought the terms of that Law to be As a Law about the succession of the Crown ought to be framed with all the clearness and distinctness imaginable because the peace and security of a Nation depends upon it So in case Christ hath appointed any Successor in the Government of his Church or entailed Infallibility upon the Guides of it this being a matter of such infinite concernment to the whole Church it is most unreasonable to conceive that whatever other parts of his Will were obscure those which relate to the matter of Succession and Infallibility should be so but rather so plain that no one can miss of understanding them because the weight of all the rest depends upon these two and it is so horrible a presumption in any to pretend to them in case they have no right to them and the danger so great in relying upon them if there be
added to it But since he produces no other proof for it I must consider how he goes about to weaken mine against it Two things I insisted upon against such a pretence of Infallibility viz. That such a pretence implying an Infallible Assistance of the Spirit of God there were but two ways of proving it either 1. By such miracles as the Apostles wrought to attest their infallibility or 2. By those Scriptures from whence this Infallibility is derived Concerning both these I laid down two Propositions 1. Concerning the Proof by miracles The Proposition was this There can be no more intollerable usurpation on the Faith of Christians than for any Person or Society of men to pretend to an Assistance as Infallible in what they propose as was in Christ or his Apostles without giving an equal degree of evidence that they are so assisted as Christ and his Apostles did viz. by miracles as great publick and convincing as theirs were by which I mean such as are wrought by those very persons who challenge this Infallibility and with a design for the conviction of those who do not believe it To this he answers 1. That I am equally obliged to produce miracles for the Churches Infallibility in Fundamentals which I had asserted in the defence of the Archbishop But this admits a very easie answer for when I speak of Infallibility in Fundamentals I there declare that I mean no more by it than that there shall be always a number of true Christians in the World And what necessity is there now of miracles for men to believe since they receive the doctrine of the Gospel upon those miracles by which it was at first attested Neither is there any need of miracles to shew that any number of men are not guilty of an actual errour in what they believe supposing they declare to believe only on the account of that divine Revelation which is owned by Christians for in this case the trial of doctrine is to be by Scripture But in case any persons challenge an Infallibility to themselves antecedently to the belief of Scriptures and by vertue of which they say men must believe the Scriptures then I say such persons are equally bound to prove their infallibility by miracles as the Apostles were 2. Not resting in this he proceeds to another answer the sum of which is That the Infallibility of the Church not being so large or so high as the Apostles but consisting only in the Infallible delivery of the same doctrine there is no necessity of miracles in the present Church To this I answer That the doctrine of the Gospel may be said to be new two ways 1. In respect of the matter contained in it and so it was new only when it was first revealed 2. In respect of the person who is to believe it so it is new in every age to those who are first brought to believe it Now the Apostles had their infallibility attested by miracles not barely with a respect to the revelation of new matter for then none would have needed miracles but Christ himself or the Apostles that made the first Sermons for afterwards the matter was not new but the necessity of miracles was to give a sufficient motive to believe to all those to whom the Gospel was proposed and therefore miracles are said to be a a sign to unbelievers For by these Unbelievers were convinced that there was sufficient ground for receiving the doctrine of the Gospel on the Authority of those who delivered it God himself bearing them witness with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost Suppose then any of the Apostles after their first preaching continued only to inculcate the same doctrine for the conversion of more Unbelievers in this case the evidence of miracles was the reason of relying on the Authority of those persons for the truth of the Doctrine delivered by them From whence it follows that where the Christian Faith is to be received on the Authority of any persons in any Age those persons ought to confirm that Authority by miracles as the Apostles did For without this there can be no such Authority whereon to rely antecedently to the embracing the Christian Faith Now this is the case of the Church of Rome they pretend not to deliver any Doctrine wholly new but what was one way or another delivered by Christ and his Apostles although we therein charge them with fraud and falshood but yielding this yet they contend that no man can have sufficient ground for believing the Word of God but from their Churches Infallibility in this case it is plain that they make their Churches Infallibility to be as much the reason of persons believing as the Infallibility of the Apostles in their time was and therefore I say they ought to prove this Infallibility in the same way and by miracles as great publick and convincing as the Apostles did 3. Yet he is very loath to let go the miracles of their Church done in later times as well as formerly It would be too large a task in this place to examine the miracles of the Roman Church that may be better done on another occasion all that I have here to say is that all the miracles pretended among them signifie nothing to our present purpose unless those miracles give evidence of the Authority and Infallibility of those by whom they were done and they would do well to shew where ever in Scripture God did bestow a gift of miracles upon any but for this end and what reason there is that God should alter the method and course of his providence in a matter of so great concernment to the Faith of Mankind Such miracles as were wrought by Christ and his Apostles we defie all other Religions in the World to produce any like them to confirm their Doctrine but such as the Church of Rome pretends scarce any Religion in the World but hath pretended to the same And for his most credible Histories he vouches for them I hope he doth not mean the Church History written by S. C. nor any other such Legends among them if he doth I assure him they have a very easie Faith that think them credible And if all miracles that are so called by those among whom they are done be an Argument as he saith of the security of salvation in the Communion and Faith of that Church wherein they are done I hope he will be so just to allow the same to the Arrians Novatians Donatists and others who all pretend to miracles as well as the Church of Rome as any one that is versed in Church-History may easily see But of this more at large elsewhere 2. Concerning the proof of Infallibility from Scripture I said down this Proposition Nothing can be more absurd than to pretend the necessity of such an infallible commission and assistance to assure us of the truth of those Writings and to interpret them
is that it is a foolish thing to make use of a medium as uncertain as the thing which is to be proved by it and therefore if the Infallibility of the the Church be as liable to doubts and disputes as that of the Scriptures it is against all just Laws of reasoning to make use of the Churches Infallibility to prove the Scriptures by And to this no answer can be proper but either by saying that there is no absurdity in such a way of proving or else that the Infallibility of the Church is more certain and evident than that of the Scriptures Which I should be glad to see undertaken by any man who pretends to sense which N. O. doth too much to meddle with it and therefore fairly shuffles it off and turns my words quite to another meaning as though they had been spoken of the doubtful sense of the Decrees of Councils which although elsewhere I had sufficient reason to speak of yet that was not pertinent to this place But this was a way to escape by saying something though not at all to the purpose and yet he gives no sufficient answer to that sense he puts upon my words by bringing a Commentary upon them out of words used by me in another Discourse Wherein I did at large argue against the Infallibility of General Councils and after disproving it in general I undertook to prove that no man can have any certainty of Faith as to the Decrees of any Council because men can have no certainty of Faith that this was a General Council that it passed such Decrees that it proceeded lawfully in passing them and that this is the certain meaning of them all which are necessary in order to the believing those Decrees to be infallible with such a Faith as they call divine The words produced by him do speak of the doubtful sense and meaning of the Decrees of Councils by which I shew that men can have no more certainty of the meaning of them than of doubtful places of Scripture not as though I supposed it impossible for Councils to give a clear decision in matters of controversie so as that men might understand their meaning but I expresly mention such Decrees as are purposely framed in general terms and with ambiguous expressions pressions to give satisfaction to the several dissenting Parties for which I instanced in some of the Council of Trent whose ambiguity is most manifest by the disputes about their meaning raised by some who were present at the making of them I am far enough from denying that a Commentary may make a Text plainer or that a Iudges sentence can be clearer than the Law or that any Council can or hath decided any thing clearer than the thing that is in controversie which are his exceptions but I say if Councils pretend to do more than the Scriptures and to decide controversies for the satisfaction of the World and that men ought to have that certainty of Faith by them which they cannot have by the Scriptures they ought never to be liable to the same ambiguity and obscurity upon the account of which the Scripture is rejected from being a certain rule of Faith For as he saith well Infallibility alone ends not Controversies but clearness clearness in the point controverted which if Councils want they are as unfit to end Controversies as the Scriptures can be pretended to be But this is not the thing intended by me in this Proposition and therefore it needs no farther answer for the only subject of that Proposition is the Infallibility of the Church and not the clearness of the Decrees of Councils But I cannot admire the ingenuity of this way of answering me by putting another sense upon my words than they will bear and by drawing words out of another Discourse without shewing the purpose for which they are there used and leaving out the most material passages which tended to the clearing of them If N. O. thinks fit to oppose that whole Discourse against the Infallibility of General Councils and set down fairly the several Arguments I should be then too blame not to return a just answer but I am not bound to follow him in such strange excursions from the 17. Proposition of this Book to a single passage in a larger Book and from that back to another at a mighty distance in the same Book which being dismembred from the Body of the Discourse must needs lose much of their strength Yet with all the disadvantage he takes them which is such that the best Book in the World may be confuted in that manner he hath no great cause to glory in the execution he hath done upon them In answer to my Lord of Canterburies Adversary who boasted of the Unity of the Roman Church because whatever the private opinions of men are they are ready to submit their judgments to the censure and determination of the Church I had said that this will hold as well or better for our Unity as theirs because all men are willing to submit their judgments to Scripture which is agreed on all sides to be infallible Against these words thus taken alone N. O. spends two or three Pages which might have been spared if he had but fairly expressed what immediately follows them in these words If you say it cannot be known what Scripture determines but it may be easily what the Church defines it is easily answered that the event shews it to be far otherwise for how many disputes are there concerning the power of determining matters of Faith to whom it belongs in what way it must be managed whether Parties ought to be heard in matters of Doctrine what the meaning of the Decrees are when they are made which raise as many divisions as were before them as appears by the Decrees of the Council of Trent and the later of Pope Innocent relating to the five Propositions so that upon the whole it appears setting aside force and fraud which are excellent Principles of Christian Unity we are upon as fair terms of Union as they are among themselves I do not therefore say that the Church of Rome hath no advantage at all in point of Unity but that all the advantage it hath comes from force and fraud and setting these aside we are upon as good terms of Union as they and we do not envy them the effects of Tyranny and Deceit It is the Union of Christians we contend for and not of Slaves or Fools we leave the Turk and the Pope to vie with each other in this kind of Unity although I believe the Turk hath much the advantage in it and I freely yield to N. O. that they have a juster pretence to Vnity without Truth than we Which is agreeable to what he pleads for that they are more united in opinion than we united in opinion I say true or false saith he here matters not we speak here of Vnion not of Truth This and
very mean one of the Books of Scripture and the Divine Revelations therein contained I could here earnestly intreat the wiser men of that Church for the honour of God and the Christian Religion not to suffer such inconsiderate persons to vindicate their cause who to defend the extravagant infirmities of some Enthusiastical women among them are so forward to cast dirt and reproach upon our common Religion and those Revelations from whence we derive it But I forbear only it is a shrewd sign if this way be allowed of a wretched cause that cannot be maintained without plunging those who rely upon their word into the depths of Atheism But these are not things to be so slightly passed over they deserve a fuller and severer chastisement For the present this is enough to shew what monstrous absurdities this way of vindicating their Church from Fanaticism hath brought I. W. to Yet in one respect he deserves some pardon for they are wont to write their answers upon the common Themes out of some staunch Authors who considered a little better what they writ But this was a new charge and neither Bellarmin Becanus nor any of their old beaten souldiers could give them any assistance they found not the Title of the Fanaticism of the Roman Church in any of their common-place-Books therefore plain Mother-wit must help them and so it hath bravely But before they again attempt this matter I desire them to consider these things least they should in a desperate humour utterly give up the cause of Religion finding themselves unable to defend that of their Church 1. Whether there can be any greater Fanaticism than a false pretence to immediate divine Revelation For what can more expose men to all the follies and delusions imaginable than this will do what actions can be so wild and extravagant but men may do under such a pretence of immediate Revelation from God what bounds of order and Government can be preserved some may pretend a Revelation to take up Arms against their Prince or to destroy all they meet which is no unheard of thing others may not go so far but may have revelations of the unlawfulness of Kingly Government others may pretend revelations of a new Gospel and a more spiritual dispensation than hath been yet in the World as the Mendicant Friers did 2. Whether we are bound to believe all such who say They have divine revelations or whether persons may not be deceived in thinking they have revelations when they are only delusions of their own Fancies or the Devil if not then every one is to be believed who pretends to these things and then all follies and contradictions must be fwallowed which men say they have by immediate revelation and every Fanatick must be believed to have divine revelation who believes himself though he be only deluded by his own Imagination or become Enthusiastical by the power of a disease in his head or some great heat in his blood 3. Whether there must not be some certain rules established whereby all persons and even competent authority it self must proceed in judging these pretences to revelation whether they be true or false for if they proceed without rule they must either be inspired too or else must receive all who pretend to divine revelations if there be any certain rules whereby the revelation is to be judged then if any persons receive any revelation against those rules whether are other persons bound to follow their judgement against those rules 4. Whether there can be any more certain rule of judging than that two things evidently contradictory to each other cannot both come from divine revelation For then God must contradict himself which is impossible to be supposed and would overthrow the faith of any divine revelation And this is the plain case of the revelations made to two famous Saints in the Roman Church S. Brigitt and S. Catharine to one it was revealed that the B. Virgin was conceived with Original sin to the other that she was not both these have competent Authority for they were both Canonized for Saints by the Roman Church and their Revelations approved and therefore according to I. W. neither of them were Fanaticks though it is certain that one of their Revelations was false For either God must contradict himself or one of these must be deceived or go about to deceive and what greater Fanaticism can there be than that is if one of these had only some Fanatick Enthusiasm and the other divine Revelation then competent authority and submission to the judgement of the Church is not a rule to judge Fanaticism by for those were equal in both of them 5. Whether there be an equal reason to look for revelations now as in the time of the Prophets and our Saviour and his Apostles or whether God communicates revelations to no other end but to please and gratifie some Enthusiastical tempers and what should be the reason he should do it more now than in the age wherein revelations were more necessary In those times God revealed his mind to men but it was for the benefit of others when he sent them upon particular messages as the Prophets or made known some future events to them of great importance to the Church as the coming of the Messias c. or Inspired them to deliver weighty doctrines to the world as he did both the Prophets and Apostles why should we think that God now when the revelations of these holy and inspired persons are upon record and all things necessary to his Church are contained therein should vary this method of his and entertain some melancholy and retired women or other Enthusiastical persons with visions and revelations of no use to his Church 6. Whether God doth ever Inspire persons with immediate revelations without giving sufficient evidence of such Inspiration For if he did it were to leave men under a temptation to Infidelity without means to withstand it if he doth not then we have reason to examine the evidence before we believe the revelation The evidence God gave of old was either the Prophecy of a succession of Prophets by one whose commission was attested by great miracles as Moses who told the Israelites they were to expect Prophets and laid down rules to judge of them by or else by miracles wrought by themselves as by the Apostles whom our Lord sent abroad to declare his will to the world And where these are not what reason is there to receive any new Revelations as from God especially when the main predictions of the New Testament are of false Prophets and false Miracles 7. Whether the Revelations of their pretended Saints being countenanced by the Authority of their Church be equally received among them with the Revelations contained in Scripture if they be then they ought to have equal reverence paid to them and they ought to read them as Scripture to cite their Authority as divine and to believe them as infallible
Sophister one now comes forth in the habit of a grave Divine whom I shall treat with the respect due to his appearance of Modesty and Civility I pass by therefore all those unhandsome reflections in his Preface which I have not already answered in mine and come immediately to the main Controversie between us which I acknowledge to be of so great importance as to deserve a sober debate And the Controversie in short is this Whether Protestants who reject the Roman Churches Authority and Infallibility can have any sufficient Foundation to build their faith upon This we affirm and those of the Church of Rome confidently deny and on this account do charge us with the want of Principles i. e. sufficient grounds for our faith But this may be understood two ways 1. That we can have no certainty of our faith as Christians without their Infallibility 2. Or that we can have no certainty of our faith as Protestants i. e. in the matters in debate between their Church and ours These two ought carefully to be distinguished from each other and although the Principles I laid down do reach to both these yet that they were chiefly intended for the former will appear by the occasion of adding them to the end of the Answer there given The occasion was my Adversaries calling for Grounds and Principles upon which I there say that I would give an account of the faith of Protestants in the way of Principles and of the reason of our rejecting their impositions The first I undertook on two accounts 1. To shew that the Roman Churches Authority and Infallibility cannot be the Foundation of Christian faith and so we may be very good Christians without having any thing to do with the Church of Rome 2. That this might serve as a sufficient answer to a Book entituled Protestants without Principles Which being in some part of it directed against me I had reason not only to lay down those Principles bâ—t to do it in such a manner as did most directly overthrow the principles of that Book Which being only intimated there I must now to make my proceeding more clear and evident produce those assertions of E. W. for which mine were intended In the first Chapter he designs to prove That all men must be infallible in the assent they give to matters of faith For saith he If they disown such infallible believers they must joyntly deny all infallible faith and a little after an Infallible verity revealed to us forcibly requires an answerable and correspondent infallible faith in us and therefore he asserts a subjective Infallibility in true believers And from hence he proves the necessity of Infallible teachers for infallible believers and infallible teachers he saith seem neer correlatives In the second Chapter he saith he that hears an infallible teacher hath the Spirit of truth and he that hears not an infallible teacher wants this Spirit of truth by which he does not mean an infallible Revealer of the doctrine at first but the immediate teachers of the revealed doctrine for saith he no man can be a Heretick that denies the objective verities revealed in Gods word unless he be sure that his teacher reveals those verities infallibly He proposes the objection of a Simplician as he calls him that he builds his faith and Religion not on any Preachers talk but on the objective verities revealed in Scripture to which he answers that unless he first learn of some infallible Oracle the sense of Scripture in controverted places he can never arrive to the depth of Gods true meaning or derive infallible faith from those objective revealed Verities He yet farther asserts that every Catechist or Preacher that hath a lawful mission and is sent by the infallible Church to teach Christs Sacred Doctrine if he Preach that doctrine which Christ and his Church approves of is then under that notion of a member conjoyned with an Infallible Church infallible in his teaching and thence concludes that infallibility doth accompany both teachers and hearers and from denying this Infallibility he saith follows an utter ruine of Christian Religion yea and of Scripture too And afterwards he goes about to prove that no man can have any divine faith without infallibility in the proponent for faith he as long as the Infallibility of a Revelation stands remote from me for want of an undoubted application made by an infallible Proponent it can no more transfuse Certainty into Faith than Fire at a great distance warm This is the sum of the Principles of that Metaphysical wit but sure a man must have his brains well confounded by School Divinity and hard words before he can have common sense little enough to think he understands them But because I never loved to spend time in confuting a man who thinks himself the wiser for speaking things which neither he nor any one else can understand I rather chose in as short a way as I could to put together such Propositions as might give an account of Christian Faith without all this Iargon about Infallibility In order to this I first laid down the Principles wherein all parties are agreed and then such Propositions as I supposed would sufficiently give an account of our faith without any necessity of such an infallibility as he makes necessary for the foundation of it But for our clearer proceeding in an Argument of this importance it will be necessary to state and fix the notion of Infallibility before I come to particulars For as it is used it seems to be a rare word for Iugglers in Divinity to play tricks with for sometimes they apply it to the object that is believed and call that infallibly true sometimes to the subject capable of believing and say persons ought to be infallibly certain that what they believe is infallibly true and sometimes to the means of conveying that infallible truth to the faculties of men and these they say must be infallible or else there can be no infallible certainty of any thing as infallbly true But the subtilty of these things lies only in their obscurity and the School-man is spoiled when his talk is brought down out of the clouds to common sense I will therefore trie to bring these things out of their terms to a plain meaning and surely we may speak and understand each other in these matters without this doubtful term of Infallibility For if it signifies any thing we may make use of the thing it signifâ—es in stead of the word and by applying the thing signified by it to that which it is spoken of we shall soon discern how justly it is attributed to it Infallibile is that which cannot be deceived now if no one will say That a proposition cannot be deceived it is absurd to say that it is infallibly true therefore the matters revealed considered as objective verities as our schoolman speaks are not capable of
and at the same time to prove that Commission from those Writings from which we are told nothing can be certainly deduced such an Assistance not being supposed or to pretend that Infallibility in a Body of men is not as liable to doubts and disputes as in those Books from whence only they derive their Infallibility He grants the former part of this if by it be intended to prove such Commission only or in the first place from these writings But he saith a Christians Faith may begin either at the Infallible authority of Scriptures or of the Church It seems then there may be sufficient ground for a Christians Faith as to the Scriptures without believing any thing of the Churches Infallibility and for this we have reason to thank him whatever they of his own Church think of it For by this concession we may believe the Scriptures Authority without ever believing a word of the Churches Infallibility and let them afterwards prove it from Scripture if they can Nay he goes yet farther and saith That the Infallibility of Scriptures as well as the Church may be proved from its own testimony but he first supposes that the Infallibility of one of these be first learnt from Tradition And therefore in the remainder of his discourse on this Subject he shews how the Infallibility of the Church may be proved from Tradition not shewing at all how the Infallibility of the Church can be proved from Scripture Scripture being thus deserted as to the proof of the Churches Infallibility I must pursue him to his other Hold of Tradition The method of his discourse is this That the Infallibility of the Guides of the Church was antecedent to the Scriptures That the Apostles did not lose their infallibility by committing what they preached to writing That their successors were to have this infallibility preserved in them if there had been no writings and cannot be imagined to have lost it because of them because these give testimony to it That this Infallibility is preserved by Tradition descending from Age to Age as we say the Canon of Scripture is delivered to us And lastly That the Governours of the Church always held and reputed themselves infallible appears by their Anathematizing dissenters In this Discourse there are some things supposed without reason and other things asserted without proof The Foundation of all this Discourse proceeds upon the supposition that the same Infallibility which was in the Apostles must be continued in their Successors through all Ages of the Church for which I see not the least shadow of reason produced Yes saith he supposing there had been no Writings and no Infallibility Christian Religion would have been no rational and well grounded no stable and certain Religion Two things in answer to this I desire to be informed of 1. What he thinks of the Religion of the Patriarchs who received their Religion by Tradition without any such Infallibility 2. What he thinks of those Christians who receive the Scriptures or Churches Infallibility by vertue of common and universal Tradition which is certainly the ground of the one and supposed by him to be of the other whether the Faith of such persons be rational and well-grounded stable and certain or not if it be then there is no such necessity of Infallibility for that purpose if it be not then he doth hereby declare that the Faith of Christians is irrational and ill-grounded For whatsoever is received on the account of Tradition antecedent to the belief of Infallibility cannot be received on the account of it but the belief of either Scriptures or Churches Infallibility must be first received by vertue of a principle antecedent to the Scriptures or Churches Infallibility viz. Tradition By this it appears that his very way of proving destroys the thing he would prove by it For if the Tradition may be a sufficient ground of Faith how comes Infallibility to be necessary But if this Infallibility be not necessary without the Scriptures much less certainly is it now since it is acknowledged on both sides that the Apostles were infallible in their Writings and that therein the Will of God is contained as to all things simply necessary to salvation But these successors of the Apostles were not deprived of their infallibility by the Apostles Writings No certainly for none can be deprived of what they never had but where are the reasons all this while to shew that there was the same necessity of Infallibility in the Apostles successors as was in them Two I find rather intimated than insisted upon 1. That the Church would otherwise have failed if there had been neither Writings nor Infallibility But if this Argument hold for any thing it is for the necessity of the Scriptures and not of Infallibility for we see God did furnish the Church with one and left no footsteps of the other We do not dispute how far the Church might have been preserved without the Scriptures we find it hath been hard enough to preserve it pure with them but we always acknowledge the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God that hath not left us in matters of Faith and Salvation to the determinations of men liable to be corrupted by Interest and Ambition but hath appointed men inspired by himself to set down whatever is necessary for us to believe and practise And upon these Writings we fix our Faith as on a firm and unmovable Rock and on the veracity of God therein contained and expressed we build all our hopes of a Blessed Eternity And one great benefit more we have by these divine Books that by them we can so easily discover the fraud and imposture of the confident Pretenders to Infallibility Which is the true reason why the Patrons of the Church of Romes Infallibility have so little kindness for the Scriptures and take all occasions to disparage them by insinuating that they are good for nothing but to breed Heresies in the Heads of the People upon pretence of which danger they hide this Candle under a Bushel lest it should give too much light to them that are in the House and discover some things which it is more convenient to keep in the dark 2. He saith The Infallibility of the Apostles successors receives a second evidence from the testimony thereof found also in these Writings I confess I have seen nothing like the first evidence yet to which this should be a second but if by the first be meant that which I mentioned before this is a proper second for it Neither of them I dare say intend any mischief to any body both first and second are forced into the Field where they stand only for dumb shews and wonder what they are brought for But whereabouts I pray doth this second Testimony stand what are its weapons I hope not Dic Ecclesiae nor Dabo tibi Claves nor any of the old rusty Armour which our modern Combatants begin to be ashamed to appear
with in the Field And to speak truth N. O. seems to understand his Art better than to meddle with such heavy and Antique Armour which every one hath been foiled with that hath undertaken to combat with them only it seems a little for the credit of their Cause to point to such a Magazine which in the days of Ignorance and Credulity the Romantick Age of the Church was in great request But we must now buckle our selves to a new manner of Combat which is from the Tradition of the Church and that of the very same nature with what we have for the Canon of Scripture This I confess is bright shining Armour and may do great service if it will hold but that must be judged upon trial which I now set my self to But we shall find that no weapons formed against Truth can prosper and it hath been long observed of Rome that it could never endure a close Siege The Question now is whether they of the Roman Church have the same universal Tradition for the Infallibility of the Guides of it w ch we have for the Canon of Scripture w ch he asserts It is I suppose agreed on both sides That the Tradition on w ch we receive and believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God was universal as to all Ages and Times of the Church that from the beginning all disputes in Religion among true Christians were built upon the supposition of it That in no Age any persons were allowed to be good Christians who made doubt of it That every Age doth afford plentiful testimonies of the belief of it This is that universal Tradition we receive the Scriptures upon and let any thing like this be produced for the Infallibility of the Guides of their Church and we yield up the Cause to them Can any fairer terms than these be desired But we expect proofs and so I perceive we may do to the Worlds end I commend the Ingenuity of N. O. for endeavouring to escape out of the circle any way but I believe they think themselves as wise who still dance within it knowing the impossibility of doing any good in this other way The only Argument he insists upon is so weak that I wonder he had not considered how often it had been answered by their own Writers For it is certain that Provincial Councils as well as General have Anathematized dissenters and pronounced them Hereticks which is his only Argument to prove this Tradition of the Churches Infallibility and they had no way to answer it but by saying this doth not imply their Infallibility And if it doth not in the case of Provincial Councils why should he think it doth in the case of General For the Anathema's of Provincial Councils did not relate to the acceptation of their Decrees either by the Pope or the whole Church as N. O. supposes but did proceed upon their own assurance of the truth of what they decreed otherwise their Anathema's would have been only conditional and not absolute and peremptory as we see they were But I need give no other answer to this Argument than in the words of Dr. Field whom N. O. appealed to before viz. That Councils denounce Anathema not because they think every one that disobeyeth the Decree of the Council to be accursed but because they are perswaded in particular that this is the eternal truth of God which they propose therefore they accurse them that obstinately shall resist as St. Paul willeth every Christian man to Anathematize an Angel coming from heaven if he shall teach him any other doctrine than he hath already learned yet is not every particular Christian free from possibility of erring If the Argument then were good from Anathematizing dissenters and calling them Hereticks every particular person must by it be proved Infallible who are bound to Anathematize even Angels from Heaven in case of delivering any other doctrine from the Gospel so that this which is his only Argument in stead of proving an universal Tradition would prove an universal Infallibility Let the Reader now judge in his Conscience whether here be any thing offered in the way of Tradition for the Churches Infallibility that may bear the least proportion with the Tradition on which we receive the Scriptures And yet if this had been true it had been almost impossible that any one Age should have passed without remarkable testimonies of it For no Age of the Church hath been so happy as not to have occasion for an Infallible Judge of Controversies if any such had been appointed by Christ and therefore it cannot be imagined but that Christians must in all Controversies arising have appealed to him and stood to his determinations which must have been as well known in the practice of the Church as Judges trying Causes in Westminster Hall But I challenge him to produce any one Age since the Apostles times to this day wherein the Infallibility of a standing Judge of Controversies appointed by Christ hath been received by as universal a consent as the Authority of Scripture hath been in that very Age. Nay I except not that Age which hath been since the Council of Trent for the Scriptures of the New Testament have been received of all sides but the Infallibility of a standing Judge is utterly denied by one side and vehemently disputed between several parties on the other Some making only the Essential Church infallible others the representative in Councils others again the virtual viz. the Pope And supposing any infallible Judge necessary it stands to reason it should be rather in one than in a multitude and rather in a constant succession of Bishops in one See than in an uncertain number who cannot be convened together as often as the necessities of the Church may require But this is so far from being received as an Universal Tradition in that very Age wherein we live that onely one busie Party in the Roman Church do maintain it Many others eagerly opposing it and all the Princes and States in Christendom do in their actions if not in words deny it And is not this now an Universal Tradition fit to be matched with that of the Scriptures I had once thought to have brought testimonies oâ—t of every Age of the Christian Church manifestly disproving any such Tradition of Infallibility and that not only of private persons when there were no Councils but from the most solemn Acts of Councils and the confession of their own Writers but that would swell this Answer to too great a Bulk and is not needful where so very little is offered for the proof of it And yet I shall be ready to do it when any thing more important requires it I now return to his exceptions against the latter part of the former proposition viz. That Infallibility in a Body of men is as liable to doubts and disputes as in those Books from whence only they derive their Infallibility The plain meaning of which
should be left in a Church if we deny Infallibility Other diseases may be cured but natural incapacity cannot 2. Not the making Scriptures plain to all sober enquirers in matters necessary to Salvation This is that principle which N. O. makes such horrible out-crys about as though it were the Foundation of all the heresies and Sects in the World This he saith makes all Ecclesiastical Authority useless for what need is there of Bishops Presbyters or any Ecclesiastical Pastors among Protestants as to the office of teaching or expounding these writings if these in all necessaries are clear to all persons who desire to know the meaning of them But not content with this modest charge in comparison in another Treatise he makes this the very heighth of Fanaticism in spight of Mother Iuliana and their Legendary Saints because forsooth this is to ground all our Religion upon our own fancies enquiring into the true sense of divine Revelation and therefore good man seems troubled at it that he can by no means in the world absolve me from being not only a Fanatick but a Teacher of Fanaticism In earnest it was happily found out to return this heavy charge back upon my self with so much rage and violence for although N. O. be a modest man yet S. C. is a meer fury for not meerly Fanaticism pure putid Fanaticism follows from this principle Fanaticism without vizard or disguise and all this demonstratively proved from this Principle But all our Church is immediately gone with it Men may talk of dangerous plots for undermining and blowing up of Towns and Forts and Parliaments but what are all those to the blowing up a whole Church at once For since that Train of my Principles hath been laid nothing like the old Church of Englâ—nd hath been seen It is true there are the same Bishops the same Authority the same Liturgy and Ceremonies the same â—â—â—achers and Officers that were but what are all these to the Church of England For from hence it follows if we believe S. C. that the â—overnours of our Church have no Authority to teach truth or to condemn erâ—â—urs and aâ—l the people are become Prophets and all their Articles Constitutions and Ordinances have been composed and enjoyned by an usurped Authority Very sad consequences truly but like deep plots they lye very far out of sight For to my understanding not one of these dismal things follows any more from my Principles than from proving that S. C. and N. O. both stand for the same Person Which will easily appear to any one â—â—e that will but consider 1. The intention of those Principles 2. The just consequence of them 1. The intention of those Principles which was plainly to lay down the Foundations of a Christians faith living in the Communion of our Church which is expressed in as perspicuous terms before them as may be and to shew that the Roman Churches Infallibility is no necessary Foundation of Faith Now this being the design of those Principles to what purpose should I have gone about therein to have stated the nature and bounds of the Authority of particular Churches I no where in the least exclude the use of all means and due helps of Guides and others for the understanding the sense of Scripture and I no where mention them because my business was only about the Foundation of Faith and whether Infallibility was necessary for that or no If I have proved it was not I have gained my design for then those who deny the Church of Romes Infallibility may never the less have a sure Foundation or solid Principles to build their Faith upon Now to what purpose in an account of the Principles of Faith should I mention those things which we do not build our faith upon I mean the Authority of our Guides for although we allow them all the usefulness of helps yet those are no more to be mentioned in the Principles of resolving Faith than Eulids Master was to be mentioned in his Demonstrations For although he might learn his skill from him yet the force of his Demonstrations did not depend upon his Authority I hope it now appears how far I am from making Church-Authority useless but I still say our Faith is not to be resolved into it and therefore is not to be reckoned as a Principle or Foundation of Faith To that end it is sufficient to prove that men in the due use of means whom I call sober enquirers may without any Infallible Church believe the Scriptures and understand what is necessary to their Salvation herein If this may be then I say it follows Princ. 15. that there can be no necessity supposed of any infallible Society of men either to attest or explain these Writings among Christians Not one word that takes away the use of Authority in the Church but only of Infallibility but it may be said that although it might not be my intention yet it may be the just consequence of the Principles themselves 2. Therefore I shall now prove that no consequence drawn from them can infer this For what if all those things which are necessary to Salvation are plain in Scripture to all that sincerely endeavour to understand them doth it hence follow that there can be no just Authority in a Church no use of Persons to instruct others must all the people become Prophets and no bounds be set to the liberty of Prophesying These are bad consequences but the comfort is they are not true If I should say that the necessary Rules for a mans health are so plainly laid down by Hippocrates that every one that will take the pains may understand them doth this make the whole profession of Physick useless or license every man to practise Physick that will or make it needless to have any Professours in that faculty When the Philosophers of old did so frequently inculcate that the necessaries for life were few and easie did this make all Political Government useless and give every man power to do what he pleased Men of any common understanding would distinguish between the necessaries of life and civil Society so would any one but S. C. or N. O. of the necessaries to Salvation and to the Government of the Church For men must be considered first as Christians and then as Christians united together as in civil Societies they are to be considered first as men and then as Cives to say that a man hath all that is necessary to preserve his life as a man doth not overthrow the Constitution of a Society although it implys that he might live without it so when men are considered barely as Christians no more ought to be thought necessary for them as such but what makes them capable of Salvation but if we consider them as joyning together in a Christian Society then many other things are necessary for that end For then there must be Authority in some and subjection in others
the argument from parity of Reason p. 137. Of the Authority of the Guides of the Church in ten Propositions p. 142. The case of Vigilius and Honorius at large discussed p. 154 159. The different case of the separation of dissenters from our Church and our separation from the Church of Rome p. 180. Of the means to attain the sense of Scripture without an infallible Guide p. 186. Of the necessity of a Iudge in controversies p. 191. The way used in the Primitive Church for finding the sense of Scripture through several Ages of the Christian Church from the most authentick Writers of them p. 198. Church Authority not destroyed by my principles p. 260. What Authority we allow to Governors of the Church p. 267. The Roman Churches way of suppressing Sects compared with ours p. 286. ERRATA PAge 20. line 13. read the Church p. 26. l. 14 for and r. that p. 49. l. â— for here r. whâ—re p 176 l 23. r. Eutychianism p. 177. l. 8. r. followed p. 17. l. 5. r. Patriarchal p. 182. l. 14. for by r. â—e p. 189. l. 22. r. Apocalypticâ— p. 209. l. 30. for Boo r. Book p. 225. marg r. Vales. not ad Eusch. p. 273. 〈◊〉 r. Euclid p. 271. l. 7. for he makes this r. this is made p. 280. l. 5. blot â— one the. The Preface WHen I Published the late Book which hath so much enraged those of the Church of Rome against me I thought I had reason to expect that a just Answer should be made to it but they have taken an effectual course to undeceive me for by this new way I perceive their utmost ambition is to have something abroad which among themselves may pass for an Answer Which put me in mind of what I have heard a great Person said when he had undertaken to manage an ill cause before a publick Audience and one of his Friends asked him what he meant by it trouble not your self said he our own side will be sure to believe me It was surely some such presumption as this which made the learned Authors of these two elaborate Pamphlets to appear in such a manner in Print as if it were no great matter what they said so their people might have this to say and if they can believe it too that my book is answered If this be all their cause will afford it deserves rather to be pittied than confuted if it will bear more they are as bad managers of it as their enemies could wish For however I was threatned before hand that such answers were coming abroad every line of which would fetch blood yet as cruel as they are when we are under their lash I found that which they designed for my punishment to give me no small pleasure and I never had so good an opinion of the mercifulness of their Church as when I saw with what feeble hands they chastised me I had heard so much of their rage that I expected their greatest strength would be employ'd upon me and I could not tell what Zamzummims they might hitherto keep in the dark whose arms were not to be made use of but upon some special occasion when an Adversary was to be dispatch'd all at once and so perfectly subdued as never to appear more While I was preparing my self for this kind of Martyrdome out come these mighty men of valour who have beaten nothing that I know of but the air and themselves for they have neither tyed my tongue nor broke my heart nor fetched one drop of blood that I can yet find all which were things I was told would be done when these answers came abroad which threatnings made so loud a noise that I heard the report of them not only nearer home but from very distant persons and places But lest I should be thought only to despise my Adversaries which I confess they have given me no small occasion to do I shall bestow a particular examination upon what they have offered by way of Answer to my Book Only I think it reasonable in the first place to take notice of their present way and method of Answering wherein they make use of as many artifices as they do in gaining Proselytes When we set our selves to Answer their Books we endeavour to state the Controversie plainly to examine their proofs to apply distinct Answers to their Arguments fairly represented in their own words and to render the whole Discourse as clear and perspicuous as may be that all persons may be capable of judging on which side the greatest strength and evidence lyes This is the mighty advantage which a good cause gives us we make use of no tricks to deceive men nor Sophistical cavils to confound and perplex things we dare appeal to the judgement of any impartial person who will take the pains to examin the matters in difference between us But in their late dealings with us they seek to avoid the main things in dispute and abhor any methodical proceeding one man picks out a sentence here and there to answer another a page or two together a third leaps from one thing to another as if resolv'd to pass by the greatest difficulties but he is a man of courage indeed that dares fall upon the reer and begin to confute a Book at the end of it so that if he lives long enough and get heart he may in time come to the beginning And if we observe them all they look for nothing so much as some cleanly way of escape and if they can but raise such a dust as to fly away without being openly discerned to do so this they hope those of their own side will be so kind and partial as to call a Victory These are no general accusations but such as are easie to observe in their dealings with me as to my former Book and that lately published But to judicious men all these little arts and shifts are either plain acknowledgements of a baffled Cause or an Argument of a weak and unskilful management If the Book it self be a little too troublesome to be medled with it is best to fall upon the Author and it is a hard case if by false and ridiculous stories or open calumnies or at least base and ugly insinuations they cannot diminish his reputation and then they hope the Book will sink with its Author But we are not Ignorant whose cause is wont to be managed by such devices as these are and from whom they have learnt this method of confuting Adversaries As for all their railing accusations against me I shall not so much as desire God to rebuke them but only pray that he would pardon them and if I must thank them for any thing it is for giving me the occasion for exercising so great a charity I have learnt of him who when he was reviled reviled not again not only to forbear reproaching them in the same manner but to return them good for evil
and to pray for them while they calumniate me I have so much the less reason to wonder that my Book should be charged by them with no less than Blasphemy since the Author of our Religion himself was so and suffered under that accusation But wherein I pray doth this blasphemy lye have I uttered any thing that tends to the reproach of God or true Religion have I the least word which malice it self can stretch to the dishonour of Iesus Christ the Prophets and Apostles or the Holy Scriptures written by divine Inspiration no I challenge the boldest of them and most malicious to produce any thing I ever said or writ that doth but seem to look that way Have I made the practice of true devotion ridiculous and the real expressions of piety the subject of scorn and derision No so far from it that it was only a just zeal for the Honour and practise of true Religion made me willing to lay open the ridiculous Fanaticisms of some pretended Saints in the Roman Church And must they be allowed to charge Fanaticism on us and think it far from Blasphemy to represent the Enthusiastick Follies of the Sectaries among us and when they are guilty of the very same or greater may not we shew their unjustice and partiality without being accused of Blasphemy But some of these are Canonized Saints as S. Brigitt S. Catharine S. Francis and S. Ignatius which is so far from making the Cause of their Church better that to my understanding it makes it much worse For although Fanaticism be disowned by our Church it seems it is not barely countenanced and allowed in the Church of Rome but Canonized and adored That which I insist upon is this either we have no Fanaticks or theirs are so for by the very same rule that ours are so theirs must be too for our Fanaticks do pretend as high to the Spirit and divine Revelation as any of theirs only there is this remarkable difference between their Fanaticks and ours that ours are among us but not of us but theirs are both Now if any one who pretends to Inspiration and Enthusiasm cannot be charged with Fanaticism without blasphemy we must be exposed to all follies and contradictions imaginable and to what purpose are we bid to try the Spirits whether they be of God or no i. e. whether their pretence to divine revelation be true or false If there may be false pretences to Inspiration we are to examine the grounds of them and to judge accordingly and all false pretenders to Inspiration let them be Canonized by whom they will are the highest sort of Fanaticks and the greater honour is given them the greater dishonour it is to the Christian Religion But these things shall be more largely discussed in their proper place I now only take notice of the injustice of their calumny with which they have made so much noise among injudicious people and I should not have been so much concerned about it had I not found suggestions to the same purpose in the Authors of the two Pamphlets The one of them very kindly makes no difference between Lucian Porphyrius and me but only some interest which doth byass me another way and verily believes good man that were it not for that I could flurt with as much piquancy and railery at Christian Religion as I do at the Roman In which base suggestion there is no colour of truth but only that he very honestly distinguisheth the Christian Religion and the Roman from each other as indeed they are in many things as different from each other as truth from falshood wisdom from folly and true piety from gross Superstition If he had called me an Atheist in plain terms the grossness of the calumny might have abated the force of it but there is no such way to do a man mischief as by fly insinuations and shrewd suggestions introduced with I verily believe and expressed with some gravity and zeal But you who are so good at resolving faith what is this verily believe of yours founded upon Have you the authority of your Church for it have you any evidence of reason or rather have you it by some vision or revelation made by some of those Saints whose Fanaticism is exposed or do you verily believe it as you verily believe many other things for no reason in the world If I should tell you I have made it my business to assert the truth of the Scriptures and Christian Religion therein contained in a large Discourse several years since published such is your charity that you would tell me so did Vaninus write for Providence when he denyed a Deity If I should make large Apologies for my innocency and publish a confession of my faith with protestations that no interest in the world could remove me from it you might tell me where there is no guilt what need so much ado In plain terms I know but one way to satisfie such as you are but I will keep from it as long as I can and that is to go to Rome and be burnt for my faith for that is the kindness there shewed to those who contend for the purity of the Christian Religion against the corruptions of the Roman But such calumnies as these as they are not fit to be passed by so are they too gross to need any further answer I shall however declare my mind freely to you if I had no other notion of the Christian doctrine than what I have from the Doctrines of your Church as contrary to ours no other measures of Christian piety than from your mystical Theology no better way to Worship God than what is practised among you no greater certainty of Inspiration from God than of the Visions and Revelations of your late Saints no other miracles to confirm the Christian doctrine than what are wrought by your Images and Saints I should sooner choose to be a Philosopher than a Christian upon those terms And I verily believe to answer yours with another that the frauds and impostures of the Roman Church have made more Atheists in Christendom than any one cause whatsoever besides for when men resolve all their faith into the testimony of a Church whose frauds are so manifest and confessed by your best Writers such as Melchior Canus and Ludov. Vives what can they who know no better but suspect the Inspirations and Miracles of former Ages who see such false pretences to them so much magnified and the Fanatick pretenders Canonized on that account And I am so far from thinking it any disservice to the Christian Religion to expose these Fanaticisms that I again verily believe that Christianity will never obtain as it ought to do among men till all those hypocritical cheats be yet more laid open to the view of the World which if any one have but the courage and patience to undertake it would be as great and a much more useful labour
hath revealed his Will to us by any supernatural means Let this be granted saith he From whence it follows that we have sufficient certainty of the Principles of Natural Religion without any such thing as Infallibility 2. He yields That Reason is to be judge concerning divine Revelation which appears by the next Proposition Nothing ought to be admitted for Divine Revelation which overthrows the certainty of those Principles which must be antecedently supposed to all Divine Revelation for that were to overthrow the means whereby we are to judge concerning the truth of any Divine Revelation Of which he saith Let this also be granted 3. He yields That the Will of God may be sufficiently declared to men by writing for he grants the tenth Proposition which is this If the Will of God cannot be sufficiently declared to men by writing it must either be because no writing can be intelligible enough for that end or that it can never be known to be written by men infallibly assisted the former is repugnant to common sense for words are equally capable of being understood spoken or written the latter overthrows the possibility of the Scriptures being known to be the Word of God This saith he is granted 4. He yields That the written will of God doth contain all things simply necessary to salvation For in his consideration of the 14. Proposition these are his words Mean while as touching the Perfection of holy Scriptures Catholicks now as the holy Fathers anciently do grant that they contain all points which are simply necessary to be of all persons believed for attaining salvation 5. He yields That no person is infallibly certain of or in his Faith because the Proponent thereof is infallible unless he also certainly know or have infallible evidence that he is infallible only he adds That for begetting an infallible assent to the thing proposed it is sufficient if we have an infallible evidence either of the thing proposed or of the Proponent only Which is all I desire as to this matter But he quarrels with me for saying Proposition 21. It is necessary therefore in order to an infallible assent that every particular person be infallibly assisted in judging of the matters proposed to be believed Because saith he it is not necessary to have an infallible evidence of the truth of the things proposed i. e. from the internal principles that prove or demonstrate them but it is enough that he have an infallible or sufficiently certain evidence only of the infallibility of the external Proponent Where there are two things to be taken notice of 1. That by the matters proposed to be believed he would seem to understand me only of the things that are to be believed by vertue of any Proponent supposed infallible whereas I meant it of all such things to which an infallible assent is required and chiefly of that by which we are to believe the things revealed as for instance that the Church is infallible is in the first place to be believed upon their principles and either an infallible assent is required to this or not if not then infallibility is not necessary to faith if it be then this infallible assent must be built on an infallibility antecedent to that of the Church and then my consequence necessarily follows that the ground on which a necessity of some external infallible Proponent is asserted must rather make every particular person infallible if no divine Faith can be without an infallible assent and so renders any other Infallibility useless 2. That he explains infallible evidence by that which is sufficiently certain which is meer shuffling for he knows well enough that we contend for sufficiently certain evidence as much as they our only Question is about infallibility whether that be necessary or no If sufficiently certain evidence will serve for the Churches Infallibility why may it not for the Scriptures or any matters of Faith contained therein If they mean no more by Infallibility but sufficient certainty why do they make so great a noise about it as though there could be no Faith and we no Christians without Infallibility when we all say that the matters of Faith have sufficient certainty nay the highest which such things are capable of Is infallible Faith come to be sufficiently certain only for all that I know an infallible Pope may by such another explication become like one of us 6. He yields That a right and saving faith may be without any infallible assurance concerning the Churches Infallibility Which he saith is abundantly declared by Catholick Writers I only desire to know why a like right and saving faith may not be had concerning the Scriptures without their Churches infallibility For from hence it follows that an infallible assent is not requisite to saving faith directly contrary to my former Adversary E. W. for one saith it is necessary to faith and the other that it is not But above all how will he ever answer this to Mr. I. S. who hath written a whole Book purposely against this Principle as impious and atheistical Methinks this way of defending the main foundation of their Faith by Principles so directly contradicting one another looks a little scandalously and brings an odd suspition upon their Cause as if it were very hard to be made good when our Adversaries cannot agree by which of two quite contrary Principles it was best be maintained 7. He yields That the utmost assurance a man can have of the Churches Infallibility is only moral but to make it up he calls it a moral infallibility which how strangely soever it sounds yet his meaning is good for it is such an infallibility as is not infallibility Hath the dispute been thus long among us whether infallibility be necessary or no to faith and now at last one comes and tells us Yes surely a moral infallibility is necessary I have heard of a hoâ— dispute between two Gentlemen about Transubstantiation very earnest they were on both sides at last another falls into their company and asked them what it was they were about they told him Transubstantiation very well said he but I pray tell me what you mean by it one said it was standing at the Eucharist and the other kneeling Much such another explication is this here of Infallibility only this is somewhat worse for it is joyning two words together which destroy each other for if it be only moral Certainty it is not infallible if it be infallible it cannot be barely moral I expect to hear shortly of an accidental Transubstantiation a co-ordinate Supremacy as well as a moral Infallibility But we are to suppose that by Infallibility he means no more than Certainty because he explains it by the Certainty of universal Tradition this were well enough if in the precedent Page he had not said That a particular person may be infallible in the assent he gives to some matter proposed viz. to this
Divine Grace assisting him to find out in these Writings the things necessary to Salvation yet after all he cannot certainly understand the meaning of them Which to me appears so absurd and monstrous a Doctrine so contrary to the honour of the Scriptures and the design of Christianity that if I had a mind to disparage it I would begin with this and end with Transubstantiation For in earnest Sir did not our Saviour speak intelligibly in matteâ—s of so great importance to the Salvation of Mankind Did he not declare all that was necessary for that end in his many admirable discourses Did not the Evangelists record his words and actions in writing and that as one of them saith expresly That we might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his name And after all this cannot we understand so much as the common necessaries to salvation by the greatest and most sincere endeavour for that end But it is time now to consider his exceptions against this Principle which are these 1. That God may reveal his mind so in Scripture as that in many things it may be clear only to some persons more versed in the Scriptures and in the Churches Traditional sense of them and more assisted from above according to their imployment which persons he hath appointed to instruct the rest But what is all this to our purpose our Question is not about may be 's and possibilities of things but it is taken for granted on both sides that God hath revealed his mind in writing therefore he need not make the supposition of no writings at all as he doth afterwards the Question is Whether these Writings being allowed for divine revelations of the Will of God he hath expressed the necessaries to salvation clearly therein or not That God may delivers his mind obscurely in many things is no question nor that he may inspire persons to unfold his mind where it is obscure but our question is whether or no these Writings being acknowledged to contain the Will of God it be agreeable with the nature of the design and the Wisdom and Goodness of God for such Writings not to be capable of being understood in all things necessary to salvation by those who sincerely endeavour to understand them But when I had expresly said things necessary for salvation why doth he avoid that which the dispute was about and only say many things in stead of it I do not doubt but there are many difficult places of Scripture as there must be in any ancient Writings penned in an Idiom so very different from ours But I never yet saw one difficulty removed by the pretended Infallible Guides of the Church all the help we have had hath been from meer fallible men of excellent skill in Languages History and Chronology and of a clear understanding and we should be very unthankful not to acknowledge the great helps we have had from them for understanding the difficult places of Scripture But for the Infallible Guides they have dealt by the obscurities of Scripture as the Priest and the Leviâ—e in our Saviours Parable did by the wounded man they have fairly passed them by and taken no care of them If these Guides did believe themselves infallible they have made the least use of their Talent that ever men did they have laid it up in a Napkin and buried it in the earth for nothing of it ever appeared above ground How could they have obliged the World more nay it had been necessary to have done it for the use of their Gift than to have given an Infallible sense of all controverted Places and then there had been but one dispute left whether they were infallible or not but now supposing we believe their Infallibility we are still as far to seek for the meaning of many difficult places And supposing God had once bestowed this Gift of Infallibility upon the Guides of the Church he might most justly deprive them of it because of the no use they have made of it and we might have great reason to believe so from our Saviours words To him that hath shall be given but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath So that not making use of this Talent of Infallibility gives us just reason to question whether God continues it supposing he had once given it to the Guides of the Church since the Apostles days which I see no reason to believe 2. His next exception is from a saying of Dr. Fields who he saith seems to advance a contrary Principle in his Preface to his Books of the Church But O the mischief of Common-place-Books which make men write what they find and not what is to their purpose For after all Dr. Field doth but seem to advance another Principle in his opinion and doth not so much as seem to do it in mine For that learned and judicious Writer sets himself purposely to disprove the Infallibility of the Church in the beginning of his fourth Book and is it probable that any man of common understanding would assert that in his Preface which he had disproved in his Book It is a known distinction in the Church of Rome of the Church Virtual representative and essential by the two first are meant Popes and Councils and of these two Dr. Field saith that they may erre in matters of greatest Consequence yet these are N. O's infallible Guides whose conduct he supposeth men obliged to follow and to yield their internal assent to Concerning the essential Church he saith That it either comprehends all the faithful that are and have been since Christ appeared in the flesh and then he saith it is absolutely free from all errour and ignorance of divine things that are to be known by Revelations or as it comprehends only all those Believers that are and have been since the Apostles times and in this sense he saith the whole Church may be ignorant in sundry things which are not necessary to salvation but he thinks it impossible for the whole Church to erre in anything of this nature But in things that cannot be clearly deduced from the Rule of Faith and word of divine and heavenly Truth we think it possible that all that have written of such things might erre and be deceived But if the Church be taken only as it comprehends the Believers that now are and presently live in the world he saith it is certain and agreed upon that in things necessary to be known and believed expresly and distinctly it never is ignorant much less doth erre Yea in things that are not absolutely necessary to be known and believed expresly and distinctly we constantly believe that this Church can never erre nor doubt pertinaciously but that there shall ever be some found ready to embrace the truth if it be manifested to them and such as shall not wholly neglect the
no such thing 3. A Law of such universal concernment to the Faith and Peace of the Christian Church being supposed the practice of the best and purestâ— Ages of the Church must be supposed agreeable thereto i. e. that in all matters of difference they did constantly own these infallible Judges by appealing to them for a final issue of all debates and resting satisfied with their decisions But if on the contrary when great differences have happened in and nearest the first times no such Authority was made use of but other ways put in practice to make an end of them if when it was pretended it was slighted and rejected nay if the persons pretending it were proceeded against and condemned and this not by a popular Faction but by just and legal Authority we may thence conclude that such Judges have arrogated that power to themselves which was not given them by the Supreme Legislator These things being premised I come to his particular Arguments which lie scatteredâ—up and down but to give them the greater strength I shall bring them nearer together And they are drawn either from Scripture or Tradition or parity of Reason 1. From Scripture And in truth the only satisfactory Argument in a matter of so great concernment to the Christian Church ought only to be drawn from thence unless we will suppose the Scripture defective in the most important things For this being pleaded as a thing necessary for the Peace of the Church by some and for the Faith of Christians by others so much greater the necessity of it is so much clearer ought the evidence of it to be in Scripture supposing that to be intended to reveal the Will of God to us in matters of the greatest necessity But it cannot be denied by our Adversaries that the places produced by them for a constant Infallibility in the Guides of the Church do not necessarily prove it because they are very capable of being understood as to the Infallibility only of the Apostles in the first Age and Foundation of the Christian Church is it then to be imagined that if Christ had intended such an Infallibility as the foundation of the Faith and Peace of his Church he would not have delivered his mind more plainly and clearly than he is pretended to do in this matter How easily might all the contentions of the Christian World have been prevented if Christ had caused it to be delivered in terms so clear as the nature of the thing doth require If he had said I do promise my Infallible Spirit to the Guides of the Church in all Ages to give the true sense of Scripture in all controversies which shall arise among Christians and I expect an obedience suitably to all their determinations or more particularly I appoint the Bishops of Rome in all Ages for my Successors in the Government of the Church who shall be the standing and infallible Iudges of all Controversies among Christians this dispute might never have happened among us For we assure them that we account the peace of the Church so valuable a thing and obedience to Christs Commands so necessary a duty that we are well enough inclined to embrace the doctrine of Infallibility if we could see any ground in Scripture for it But we cannot make persons infallible by believing them to be so but we may easily make our selves fools as others have done by believing it without reason The controversie then is not whether Infallibility in the Guides of the Church be a desirable thing or not for so we say impeccability is too but the question is whether there be any such thing promised by Christ to the Guides of his Church and whether all Christians on that account are bound to yield their internal assent as well as external obedience to all their decrees which we deny and desire to see it clearly proved from his words who alone could grant this Infallibility For if an infallible Judge be therefore necessary because the Scripture is not sufficiently clear for ending of Controversies and that God hath actually constituted such a Judge cannot be proved but by Scripture surely we have all the reason in the World to expect that the Scripture should be abundantly and beyond all contradiction clear in this point to make amends for its obscurity in the rest For if this Point be not clearly proved we are never the nearer an end of Controversies because the business stops at the very head and they may beg their hearts out before we shall ever be so good natured as to grant it them without proof And they who have been so bold shall I say or blasphemous as to charge our Lord with want of discretion in case he have not provided his Church with such an Infallible Judge do certainly render him much more obnoxious to this imputation in supposing him to have constituted such a Judge if he have no where plainly declared that he hath done so And let them if they can produce one clear Text of Scripture to this purpose which by the unanimous consent of the Fathers is so interpreted and which to the common sense of Mankind is more sufficiently clear for the ending this Controversie than the Scripture is said by them to be in other necessary Points of Faith And till they have done this according to their own way of arguing we have as much reason to deny their Infallibility as they have to demand our assent to it upon the presumed obscurity and insufficiency of Scripture When I came thus prepared to find what the Considerator would produce in a matter of such consequence I soon discerned how little mind he had to insist upon any proofs of that which is his only Engine to overthrow my Principles For after the most diligent search I could make the only Argument from Scripture I found produced was from the Old Testament where I confess I least looked for it but however this is thought so considerable as to be twice produced and yet is so unlucky that if I understand any thing of the force of it it pâ—oves the Judges in Westminster Hall to be infallible rather than the Pope or any Guide of the Christian Church For the force of the Argument lies in Gods appointing Iudges under the Law according to whose sentence matters were to be determined upon penalty of death in case of disobedience But what then doth this imply infallibility no that he dares not stand to but absolute obedience which we are ready to yield when we see the like absolute command for Ecclesiastical Judges of Controversies of Religion as there was among the Iews for their supreme Iudges in matters of Law But of this place I have already spoken at large and shewed how impertinently it is produced for Infallibility in the Book he often referrs to and might if he had thought fit have answered what is there said before he had urged it again without any new strength
the following of Tyranny which we complain of are the two fairest Pleas for their Vnion I ever met with But this is not a place to examine the pretences to Unity on both sides that I have at large done in a whole Chapter in the late Book and if N. O. had intended any thing to purpose against me on this subject he ought much rather to have fallen on a just Discourse than two such lame Clauses as he makes these to be by his citation of them And when he doth that he may hear more of this Subject in the mean time Infallibility is our business And therefore I proceed to the third Argument made use of by N. O. for the proof of Infallibility in the Guides of the Church which is from parity of Reason Because I say that it is repugnant to the nature of the design and the wisdom and goodness of God to give infallible assurance to persons in writing his Will for the benefit of mankind if those Writings may not be understood by all persons who sincerely endeavour to know the meaning of them in all such things as are necessary to their salvation from hence he inferrs That if every Christian may become thus infallible in necessaries from 1. a clear rule 2. a due Industry used 3. and a certainty that it is so used may not the Church-Governours still much rather be allowed Infallible and so retain still their infallible Guideship and the people also the more clear the rule of Faith is proved to be the more securely be referred to their direction and have we not all reason to presume that the chief Guides of the Church even a General Council of them or if it be but a major part of this Council 't is sufficient in their consults concerning a point necessary to salvation delivered in Scripture use at least so much endeavour for more needs not as a plain Rustick doth to understand the meaning of it and also the like sincerity For what they define for others they define for themselves also and their salvation is as much concerned as any other mans is in their mistakes And next why may not these Governours upon such certainty of a sincere endeavour and clearness of the rule take upon them to define these points and enjoyn an assent to and belief of them to their subjects especially since it is affirmed that all those from whom they require such obedience if they please to use a sincere endeavour may be certain thereof as well as they And are we not here again arrived at Church-infallibility if not from extraordinary divine assistance only sincere endeavour being supposed And thus doe not his conditional Infallibility of particular persons in necessaries the condition being so easie necessarily inferr a moral impossibility of the Churches erring in them especially those necessaries being contracted to the Apostles Creed as it is by some To lay open the weakness of this Discourse which appears fair and plausible at first view I shall give an account of these two things 1. What Infallibility I attribute to private persons 2. How far the parity of reason will extend to the Infallibility of the Guides of the Church 1. As to the Infallibility by me attributed to private persons no such thing can be inferred from my words and I wish N. O. would have kept to my own expressions and not foisted in that term of Infallibility without which all his Discourse would have betrayed its own weakness For take the terms which I laid down and apply them to the Guides of the Church and see what a mighty Infallibility springs from them For if it be repugnant to the nature of the design and to the wisdom and goodness of God to give infallible assurance to persons in writing his Will for the benefit of mankind if those Writings may not be understood by all persons who sincerely endeavour to know the meaning of them in all such things as are necessary for their salvation how doth it hence follow that the Guides of the Church must be infallible in teaching matters of Faith If I had asserted that particular persons were infallible in determining what was true and what not then I grant the Argument would have much more held for those whose office it is to guide and direct others But what he means by mens being infallible in necessaries I do not well understand for it is capable of three several meanings 1. That either men are infallible in judging of necessaries to salvation 2. or That men are infallible in teaching others what art necessaries to salvation Or 3. That men are infallible in believing such things as are necessary to salvation i. e. that such is the goodness of God and the clearness of Scriptures that no man who sincerely desires to know what is necessary to salvation shall be deceived therein and what is this any more than to assert that God will not be wanting in necessaries to mankind and although I know no reason for using the term of Infallibility thus applied yet the thing it self I assert in that sense but in neither of the other and what now can be inferred from hence by a parity of reason but that the Guides of the Church supposing the same sincerity shall enjoy the same priviledge which I know none ever denied them but what is this to their infallibility in teaching all matters of Faith which is the only thing to be proved by him If he can prove this as necessary for the salvation of mankind as the other is then he would do something to his purpose but not otherwise So that all this discourse proceeds upon a very false way of reasoning from believing to teaching and from necessaries to salvation to all matters of Faith which the Guides of the Church shall propose to men 2. But may we not inferr that if God will not be wanting to particular persons in matters necessary to their salvation much less will he be wanting to the Guides of the Church in all matters of Faith No certainly unless it be proved that their Guidance is the only means whereby men can understand what is necessary to salvation which is utterly denied by us God having otherwise provided for that by giving so clear a Rule in matters necessary that no man who sincerely endeavours to know such things shall fail therein But will not the same sincerity in the Guides of the Church extend to their knowing and declaring all matters of Faith This is a thing possible and supposing God had entrusted them with the infallible delivery of all matters of Faith were not to be questioned but that is the thing still in dispute and is not to be supposed without proving it by plain evidence from those Books which are agreed on both sides to contain the Will of God Besides that no man that is acquainted with the proceedings of the Council of Trent will see reason to be over-confident of the
Governâ—uâ—s of a Christian society the Priviledge of Commanding in things which God hath nâ—t alâ— ready determined by his own Law We plead for the respect and reverence which is due to the Lawful constitutiâ—ns oâ— the Church whereof we are members and 〈◊〉 the just Authority of the Guides it in the exercise of that power which is committed to the Governours of it as the successours of the Apostles in their care of the Christian Church although not in their Infallibility 6. We allow a very great Authority to the Guides of the Catholick Church in the best times of Christianity and look upon the concurrent sense of Antiquity as an excellent means to understand the mind of Scripture in places otherwise doubtful and obscure We prosess a great Reverence to the Ancient Fathers of the Church but Especially when assembled in free and General Councils We reject the ancient heresies condemned in them which we the rather believe to be against the Scripture because so ancient so wise and so great persons did deliver the contrary doctrine not only to be the sense of the Church in their own time but ever since the Apostles Nay we reject nothing that can be proved by an universal Tradition from the Apostolical times downwards but we have so great an opinion of the Wisdom and Piety of those excellent Guides of the Church in the Primitive times that we see no reason to have those things forced upon us now which we offer to prove to be contrary to their doctrine and practice So that the controversy between us is not about the Authority of the Guides of the Church but whether the Guides of the Apostolical and Primitive times ought not to have greater Authority over us than those of the present Church in things wherein they contradict each other This is the true State of the Controversy between us and all the clamours of rejecting the Authority of Church Guides are vain and impertinent But we profess to yield greater reverence and submission of mind to Christ and his Apostles than to any Guides of the Church ever since we are sure they spake by an Infallible Spirit and where they have determined matters of Faith or practice we look upon it as arrogance and presumption in any others to alter what they have declared And for the Ages since we have a much gâ—eater esteem for those neaâ—est the Apostolical times and so downwards till Ignorance Ambition and private Interests sway'd too much among those who were called the Guides of the Church And that by the confession of those who were members of it at the same time which makes us not to wonder that such corruptions of doctrine and practice should then come in but we do justly wonder at the sincerity of those who would not have them reformed and taken away 7. In matters imposed upon us to believe or practise which are repugnant to plain commands of Scripture or the Evidence offense or the grounds of Christian Religion we assert that no Authority of the present Guides of a Church is to overrule our faith or practice For there are some things so plain that no Man will be guided by anothers opinion in them If any Philosopher did think his Authority ought to overrule an Ignorant Mans opinion in saying the snow which he saw to be white was not so I would fain know whether that Man did better to believe his eyes or the prudent experienc'd Philosopher I am certain if I destroy the Evidence of sense I must overthrow the grounds of Christian Religion and I am as certain if I believe that not to be bread which my senses tell me is so I must destroy the greatest Evidence of sense and which is fitter for me to reject that Evidence which assures my Christianity to me or that Authority which by its impositions on my faith overthrows the certainty of sense We do not say that we are to reject any doctrine delivered in Scripture which concerns a Being infinitely above our understanding because we cannot comprehend all things contained in it but in matters lyable to sense and the proper objects of it we must beg pardon if we prefer the grounds of our common Christianity before a novel and monstrous figment hatched in the times of Ignorance and Barbarism foster'd by faction and imposed by Tyranny We find no command so plain in Scripture that we must believe the Guides of the Church in all they deliver as there is that we must not worship Images that we must pray with understanding that we must keep to our Saviours Institution of the Lords supper but if any Guides of a Church pretend to an Authority to evacuate the force of these Laws we do not so much reject their Authority as prefer Gods above them Doth that Man destroy the authority of Parents that refuses to obey them when they Command him to commit Treason That is our case in this matter supposing such Guides of a Church which otherwise we are bound to obey if they require things contrary to a direct Command of God must we prefer their Guidance before Gods If they can prove us mistaken we yield but till then the Question is not whether the Guides of the Church must be submitted to rather than our own reason but whether Gods authority or theirs must be obeyed And I would gladly know whether there be not some Points of faith and some parts of our duty so plain that no Church-Authority determining the contrary ought to be obey'd 8. No absolute submission can be due to those Guides of a Church who have opposed and contradicted each other and condemned one anâ—ther for errour and hereâ—y For then in case of absolute submission a Man must yield his assent to contradictions and for the same reason that he is to be a Catholick at one time he must be a heretick at another I hope the Guides of the present Church pretend to no more infallibility and Authority than their predecessours in the same Capacity with themselves have had and we say they have contradicted the sense of those before them in the matters in dispute between us Yet that is not the thing I now insist upon but that these Guides of the Church have declared each other to be fallible by condemning their opinions and practices and by that means have made it necessary for men to believe those not to be infallible unless both parts of a contradiction may be infallibly true Suppose a Man living in the times of the prevalency of Arrianism when almost all the Guides of the Church declared in favour of it when several great Councils opposed and contradicted that of Nice when Pope Liberius did subscribe the Sirmian confession and Communicated with the Arrians what advice would N. O. give such a one if he must not exercise his own Judgement and compare both the doctrines by the rule of Scriptures must he follow the present Guides even the Pope himself Then he must
here is a contest of Right in the case antecedent to any duty of submission which must be better proved than ever it hath yet been before we can allow any dispute how far we are to submit to the Guides of the Roman Church 2. Not to submit to those who are Lawful Guides in all things they may require For our dispute is now about Guides supposed to be fallible and they being owned to be such may be supposed to require things to which we are bound not to yield But the great difficulty now is so to state these things as to shew that we had reason not to submit to the Guides of the Roman Church and that those of the Separation have no reason not to submit to the Guides of our Church For that is the obvious objection in this case that the same pretence which was used by our Church against the Church of Rome will serve to justify all the Separations that have been or can be made from our Church So my Adversary N. O. in his preface saith that by the principles we hold we excuse and justify all Sects which have or shall separate from our Church In answer to which calumny I shall not fix upon the perswasion of conscience for that may equally serve for all parties but upon a great difference in the very nature of the case as will appear in these particulars 1. We appeal to the Doctrine and practice of the truly Catholick Church in the matters of difference between us and the Church of Rome we are as ready as they to stand to the unanimous consent of Fathers and to Vincentius Lerinensis his Rules of Antiquity universality and consent we declare let the things in dispute be proved to have been the practice of the Christian Church in all Ages we are ready to submit to them but those who separate from the Church of England make this their Fundamental principle as to worship wherein the difference lyes that nothing is Lawful in the worship of God but what he hath expresly commanded we say all things are Lawful which are not forbidden and upon this single point stands the whole Controversy of separation as to the Constitution of our Church We challenge those that separate from us to produce one person for 1500. years together that held Forms of prayer to be unlawful or the ceremonies which are used in our Church We defend the Government of the Church by Bishops to be the most ancient and Apostolical Government and that no persons can have sufficient reason to cast that off which hath been so universally received in all Ages since the Apostles times if there have been disputes among us about the nature of the difference between the two orders and the necessity of it in order to the Being of a Church such there have been in the Church of Rome too Here then lyes a very considerable difference we appeal and are ready to stand to the judgement of the Primitive Church for interpreting the letter of Scripture in any difference between us and the Church of Rome but those who separate from our Church will allow nothing to be lawful but what hath an express command in Scripture 2. The Guides of our Church never challenged any Infallibility to themselves which those of the Church of Rome do and have done ever since the Controversy began Which challenge of Infallibility makes the Breach irreconcileable while that pretence continues for there can be no other way but absolute submission where men still pretend to be infallible It is to no purpose to propose terms of Accommodation between those who contend for a Reformation and such who contend that they can never be deceived on the one side errours are supposed and on the other that it is impossible there should by any Until therefore this pretence be quitted to talk of Accomodation is folly and to design it madness If the Church of Rome will allow nothing to be amiss how can she Reform any thing and how can they allow any thing to be amiss who believe they can never be deceived So that while this Arrogant pretence of Infallibility in the Roman Church continues it is impossible there should be any Reconciliation But there is no such thing in the least pretended by our Church that declares in her Articles that General Councils may err and sometimes have erred even in things partaining to God and that all the proof of things to be believed is to be taken from Holy Scripture So that as to the Ground of Faith there is no difference between our Church and those who dissent from her and none of them charge our Church with any errour in doctrine nor plead that as the reason of their separation 3. The Church of Rome not only requires the belief of her errours but makes the belief of them necessary to Salvation which is plain by the often objected Creed of Pius 4. Wherein the same necessity is expressed of believing the additional Articles which are proper to the Roman Church as of the most Fundamental Articles of Christian Faith And no Man who reads that Bull can discern the least difference therein made between the necessity of believing one and the other but that all together make up that Faith without which no man can be saved which though only required of some persons to make profession of yet that profession is to be esteemed the Faith of their Church But nothing of this nature can be objected against our Church by dissenters that excludes none from a possibility of Salvation meerly because not in her Communion as the Church of Rome expresly doth for it was not only Boniface 8. who determined as solemnly as he could that it was necessary to Salvation to be in subjection to the Bishop of Rome but the Council of Lateran under Leo 10. decreed the same thing 4. The Guides of the Roman Church pretend to as immediate authority of obliging the Consciences of men as Christ or his Apostles had but ours challenge no more than teaching men to do what Christ had Commanded them and in other things not commanded or forbidden to give rules which on the account of the General Commands of Scripture they look on the members of our Church as obliged to observe So that the Authority challenged in the Roman Church encroaches on the Prerogative of Christ being of the same nature with his but that which our Governours plead for is only that which belongs to them as Governours over a Christian Society Hence in the Church of Rome it is accounted as much a mortal sin to disobey their Guides in the most indifferent things as to disobey God in the plain Commands of Scripture but that is not all they challenge to themselves but a power likewise to dispence with the Law 's of God as in matter of marriages and with the Institution of Christ as in Communion in one kind and promise the same spiritual effects to
their own Institutions as to those of Christ as in the 5. Sacraments they have added to the two of Christ and to other ceremonies in use among them 5. Setting aside these considerations we dare appeal to the judgement of any person of what perswasion soever whether the reasons we plead for separation from the Church of Rome be not in themselves far more considerable than those which are pleaded by such who separate from our Church i.e. Whether our Churches imposing of three Ceremonies declared to be indifferent by those who require them can be thought by any men of common sense so great a burden to their Consciences as all the load of superstitious fopperies in the Roman Church whether praying by a prescribed form of words be as contrary to Scripture as praying in an unknown tongue Whether there be no difference between kneeling at the Sacrament upon Protestants Principles and the Papists adoration of the Hâ—st Whether Transubstantiation Image worship Invocation of Saints Indulgences Purgatory the Popes supremacy be not somewhat harder things to swallow than the Churches power to appoint matters of order and decency Which particulars make the difference so apparent between the separation of our Church from the Church of Rome and that of dissenters from our Church that it seems a very strange thing to me that this should be objected by our Enemies on either side And thus much may suffice to clear this point of submission to the Guides of a Church of which I have the more largely discoursed not for any difficulty objected by N. O. but because the thing it self did deserve to be more amply considered But some other things relating to Church-Authority I must handle afterwards and therefore now return to my Adversary The next thing to be debated is what assurance we can have of the sense of Scripture in doubtful places if we allow no Infallible Guides to interpret them For that is the second main principle of N. O. that without this Infallible Assistance of the Guides of the Church there can be no certainty of the sense of Scripture And it is chiefely oâ— this Account that N. O. doth assert the necessity of Infallible Guides of the Church For as appears by his concessions he yields that the Churches Infallibility is not necessary to the foundation of faith for men faith he saith may begin at the Infallible Authority of Scriptures but the main grounâ— on which he contends for the necessity of Infallible Guides is for the interpretation of controverted places and giving the true sense of Scripture for which he often pleads fâ—â— necessity of an external Infallible Guide Because God hath referred all in the dubioâ— sense of Scripture to the direction of his Ministers their spiritual Guides whom he 〈◊〉 over them to bring them in the Vnity of the Faith to a perfect man and that they may not be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of those who lye in wait to deceive And without which Guide St. Peter observes that in his time some persons for any thing we know diligent enough yet through want of learning and the instability of adhering to their Guides being unlearned saith he and unstable wrested some places of Scripture hard to be understood to their own destruction Therefore these Scriptures are also in some great and important points hard to be understood And afterwards he saith that Christians who have sufficient certainty of the truth of Christianity may be deficient in a right belief of several necessary Articles of this Christian Faith if destitute of that external infallible Guide therein without which he determines that men must fluctuate and totter and vary one from another whilst the Scriptures are ambiguous in their sense and drawn with much art to several Interests The force of all which comes to this that we can arrive at no certainty of the sense of Scripture in Controverted places without an external Infallible Guide and therefore we are bound to submit to him Here are two things to be discussed 1. What necessity there is for the Salvation of persons to have an infallible interpretation of controverted places of Scripture 2. Whether the denying such an Infallible Interpreter makes men uncapable of attaining any certain sense of doubtful places For if either it be not necessary that men should have an infallible interpretation or men may attain at a certain sense without it then there can be no colour of an argument drawn from hence to prove the necessity of an infallible Guide 1. We are to enquire into the necessity oâ— such an infallible interpretation of doubtfâ—â— places of Scripture There are but three grounds on which it can be thought necessary either that no man should mistake in the sense of Scripture or that the Peace of the Church cannot be preserved or that mens Souls cannot be saved without it If iâ— were necessary on the first account then every particular person must be infallible which being not pleaded for we must consider the other two grounds of it But here we are 〈◊〉 take notice that the matter of our preseâ—â— enquiry is concerning the clearness of Scripture in order to the Salvation of particulâ—â— persons of which the Proposition laid dowâ— by me expresly speaks If therefore N. O. do any thing to overthrow this he muâ—â— prove not that there are doubtful and controverted places which no one denies but that the sense of Scripture is so doubtful and obscure in the things which are necessary to mens Salvation that persons without an Infallible Guide cannot know the meaning of them If he prove not this he doth not come near that which he ought to prove We do not therefore deny that there are places of great difficulty in the Books of Scripture but we assert that the necessaries to Salvation do not lye therein but those being plain and clear men may be saved without knowing the other As a Seaman may safely direct his compass by the Stars although he cannot solve all the difficulties of Astronomy Can any man in his senses Imagine that Christs coming into the world to dye for sinners and the precepts of a holy life which he hath given and the motives thereto from his second coming to Judge the World are not more plain than the Apocalyphical visions or the proofs for the Church of Romes Infallibility If a person then by reading and considering those things which are plain may do what Christ requires for his Salvation what necessity hath such a one to trouble himself about an Infallible Guide For either he may go to heaven without him or not if he may let them shew the necessity he is of to that end which may be attained without him if not then the things necessary to Salvation cannot be known without him Let this be proved and I will immediately yield the whole cause and till it be proved my Principles
remain unshaken But saith N. O. the Scripture is obscure in some great and important points because S. Peter saith that men unlearned and unstable though it may be diligent enough wrested some places of Scriptures hard to be understood to their own destruction But doth S. Peter say that the Scriptures are so hard to be understood that sober and devout minds cannot learn therein what is necessary to their Salvation This had been indeed to their purpose but it is far enough from St. Peters He only saith that in St. Pauls Epistles there are some difficult passages which men that wanted judgement and constancy and it may be diligence too were ready to pervert to their own mischief But if there be such difficulties is there nothing plain and easy if bad men may pervert them may noâ— good men make a good use of them If some may destroy themselves by their own weakness and folly may not others be saved by their diligence and care If it were proved by N. O. that St. Peter charged all this upoâ— them for want of adhering to their Guides that would approach nearer his business but if St. Peter had intended any such thing as N. O. insinuates what fairer opportunity had there been of preventing this Instability in others by telling them that God had appointed infallible Guides in his Church to prevent such abuses of Scripture and that so long as they adhered to them they were safe but there is not the least word in St. Peter to this purpose when it had been most necessâ—ry to have given such advice but he only bids them have a care of imitating the inconstancy of such wicked men and grow in the grace and knowledge of Iesus Christ. If on so fair and just an occasion offered St. Peter himself whom they believe to have been Head of the Church at that time and at Rome at the writing of this Epistle doth wholly omit referring men in the sense of obscure places to Infallible Guides what can we else infer but that St. Peter knew of no such appointment of Christ or thought no such thing of necessity for his Church For if he had such was his care and faithfulness he would never have omitted so necessary a thing if the Salvation of mens souls had depended upon it If it be not then necessary to mens Salvation to have an infallible interpretation of doubtful places for what other end can it become necessary Is it that without this the Churches peace cannot be preserved because Controversies arising in the Church no issue can be put to them unless there be an infallible Iudge to determine which is the true sence of Scripture For it is impossible That Scripture it self should be judge because the Controversy is about the sense of Scripture So that either there is no way left to determine Controversies or there must be an infallible judge to deliver the sense of Scripture in â—oubtful places This is the force of all that I know can be said in this matter to which I answer 1. The strength of this argument depends upon the supposition of the necessity of determining Controversies in Religion by a living Judge who must pronounce sentence between the parties in 〈◊〉 Which supposition how plausible soever it seems is not built on any sufficient foâ—ndation of Scripture or Reason For the weakness of humane understanding the power of Interest and passion and the ambiâ—â—ity of words are as apt to beget disputes in Religion as in any other things so that we have 〈◊〉 caâ—se at all to wonder that there should happen to be Controversies among men about there 〈◊〉 when we see them daily happen about the Laws of every Country The only Question now is whether as the necessities of people have made it necessary that there should not only be Laws but Judges who should be as the most equal Arbitrators to put an end to such differences as may happen among men about matters of Right and Law it be thus in Religion too And this Question is plainly about a matter of Fact i.e. whether Christ hath appointed such Judges in all Ages who are to determine all emergent Controversies about the difficult places of his Law And in this case we think it is all the reason in the World that they who Affirm should Prove especially when they Affirm a matter of their own Right and challenge a submission from others on the Account of it We desire them who challenge to be our infallible Guides that they would shew their Commission and produce their Patent For as we are ready to yield obedience if they crave it so we think it Treason and Tyranny in them to usurp it if they have it not And it is to no purpose to talk of the Benefits that would come to the world by an infallible Judge of Controversies unless they first prove that there is one But we must not allow men to prove things to be meerly because they think it fitting they should be for that is to make themselves Wiser than Christ and rather to tell him what he should have done than prove what he hath done What if Christ having provided for the necessaries of Salvation by a clear Revelation should leave other things in the dark to exercise the Wits of some and the Charity of others What if he thought it sufficient to oblige men to the greatest honesty and Integrity in knowing and doing the Will of God and hath promised to pass by the errours and failings men are subject to barely as men What if he foresaw this matter of ending Controversies would be an occasion of raising one of the greatest in the Christian World and become a pretence of the most intolerable Tyranny over the minds of men And therefore what if he thought it reasonable to leave the failings of mens understandings and lives upon the same terms so as to give sufficient means to prevent either but not effectually to hinder men from falling into either of them What if the nature of Religion will not bear such a determination of Controversies as civil matters will because civil matters concern the right and wrong of particular persons in which it is not the sentence of the Judge so much as the Civil force whereby it is backed which puts an end to the dispute but in matters of Religion the ending Controversies can be no effect of force and power but of reason and conviction of Conscience and all the pretended infallibility in the World can never satisfy my mind unless I be first assured of that infallibility In all civil causes it is agreed on both sides that such Judges are appointed to determine cases of Law and on the supposition of this men proceed to tryal before them but in our case this is the main thing in dispute and he that pretends to be the Judge is the most accused partie and what reason can there be that only on the pretence of greater
peace if Controversies were referred to an infallible Judge we must therefore allow every one that pretends to it to be such an infallible Guide And we must on the same ground allow every one if we must not first be satisfied of the grounds on which it is challenged by any one And withal since Christ is the best Judge of what is fittest for his Church we must see by his Laws whether he hath made it necessary for all Controversies to be ended by a standing Judge that should arise about the sense of Scripture If he hath not done it it is to no puâ—pose to say it is fit he should have done it for that is to upbraid Christ with weakness and not to end differences in his Church 2. Supposing it necessary that Controversies should be ended it may as well be done without an infallible Judge of the sense of Scripture as with one for all that is pretended to be done by an infallible Judge is to give a certain sense of controverted places so that men are either bound to look on that which they give as the certain sense on the account of the infallibility of the Interpreter or that such an infallible interpretation being set aside there is no way to know the certain sense of Scripture If the first then no man can be more certain of the sense of any doubtful place than he is of the infallibility of his Interpreter I desire therefore to be resolved in this case I am told I can arrive at no certainty of the sense of doubtful places of Scripture without an infallible Interpreter I say the places of Scripture which are alledged for such an infallible Judge are the most doubtful and controverted of any I would fain understand by what means I may come to be certain of the meaning of these places and to find out the sense of them Must I do it only by an infallible Guide but that is the thing I am now seeking for and I must not suppose that which I am to prove If I may be certain without supposing such an infallible Guide of the meaning of these very doubtful and controverted places than why may I not by the same way of proceeding arrive at the certainty of any other less doubtful and obscure places unless there be some private way to come at the sense of those places which will hold for none else besides them which is not so easy to understand 2. I come theâ—efore to the second enquiry which is about the means of attaining the certain sense of Scripture in doubtful places without the supposition of an infallible Guide It will not I hope be denyed that the Primitive Christian Church had a certain way of understanding the sense of doubtful places as far as it was necessary to be understood and that they wanted no means which Christ had appointed for the ending of Controversies But I shall now shew that they proceeded by no other means than what we use so that if they had any means to come to a certain sense of Scripture we have the same and it would be a veâ—y hard case if by the use of the same means we cannot attain the same end I shall therefore give an account of the proceeding of the Primitive Church in this weighty Controversy concerning the sense of Scripture in doubtful places and if no such thing was then heard off as an infallible Judge it is a plain demonstration they thought there was none appointed because the disputes that happened then required as much the Authority of such a Judge as any that are at this day in the Christian Church In the first Ages of Christianity there were two sorts of Controversies which disturbed the Church one was concerning the Authority of the Books of the new Testament and the other concerning the sense of them For there was no one Book of the New Testament whose Authority was not called in Question by some Hereticks in those first Ages The Gnosticks by whom I understand the followers of Simon Magus Menander Saturninus and Basilides haâ— framed a new Religion of their own under the name of Christian and had no regard to the Writings either of the old or new Testament but had a Book of their own which they called the Gospel of Perfection But as Epiphanius well observes no man that hath understanding needs Scripture to refute such a Religion as theirs was for right reason alone was sufficient to discover the folly and filthyness of it The followers of Cerinthus and Ebion acknowledged no other Gospel but that of St. Matthew and that not entire but with diverse corruptions and interpolations according to their several fancies Cerdon and Marcion allowed no Gospel but that of St. Luke which they altered according to their pleasure cutting off the Genealogy and other places and inserting many things as it served most to their purpose as may be seen at large in Epiphanius Some say the Valentinians received no other Gospel but that of St. Iohn as the Alogi in Epiphanius rejected that alone but I do not find that Valentinus did reject any but added more for Irenaeus chargeth the Valentinians only with adding another Gospel which they called the Gospel of Truth and Tertullian expresly saith that Valentinus therein differed from Marcion that Marcion cut off what he pleased with his sword but Valentinus corrupted it with his pen for although he allowed all the Books of the New Testament yet he perverted the meaning of them Eusebius tells us that the followers of Severus rejected the Epistles of S. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles and interpreted the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels after a peculiar sense of their own So that we see those who undertook to confute these Hereticks were not only to vindicate the true sense of Scripture but to dispute with such who did not own the same Books which they did and therefore were forced to use such ways of arguing as were proper to them as may be seen at large by the proceedings of Irenaeus and Tertullian against them But because the Valentinians and Marcionites did endeavour to suit their extravagant fancies to the Scriptures allowed by them it will be necessary for us to enquire by what means they went about to clear the true sense of Scripture from their false Glosses and Interpretations Irenaeus in the beginning of his Book relating at large the Doctrines of the Valâ—ntinians saith that by the perverse interpretations and corrupt expositions of the Scripture they drew away unstable minds from the true faith for they pretended to find out deeper and more mysterious things in the Scripture than others were acquainted with viz. That Christ intimated the 30. Aeöns by not appearing till the 30. year of his Age. That the parable of men called at the first the third the sixth the ninth the eleventh hour referred to the same thing for those hours make up
the number of 30. That St. Paul often mentions these Aeöns and the proâ—uctions of them that the duodecade of Aeöns was implyed in our Saviours â—isputing with the Doctors at 12. years of Age and in the choice of the 12. Apostles and the remaining 18. By his abiding 18. months as they said with his Disciples after his resurrection and where ever in Scripture they met with words suitable to the description of their Aeöns they pretended that they did refer to their notions but were obscurely expressed on purpose for which end they made use of Parables and the first of St. John and many passages in St. Pauls Epistles What course now doth Irenaeus take to clear the sense of Scripture in these controverted places Doth he till them that God had appointed Infallible Guides in his Church to whom appeal was to be made in all such cases Nothing like it through his whole Book but he argues with very good reason that no such thing as they imagined could be intended by the Scripture 1. From the scope and design of the Scripture which ought chiefly to be regarded whereas they only took some particular passages which served most to their purpose without looking to the series of the discourse wherein they were Therefore saith he they make only a rope of sand when they apply the Parables of our Saviour or the sayings of the Prophets or Apostles to their opinions for they pass over the order and connexion of the Scriptures and as much as in them lyes loose the members of truth from each other and then transform and change them from one thing to another thereby deceiving men As if saith he a man should take an excellent Image of a Prince done with a great deal of art in pretious stones and remove those stones out of their proper places and turn them into the shape of a Dog or a Fox ill put together and should then affirm that because the stones are the same that this Image of a Dog or a Fox was the Image of the Prince made by such an excellent Artist after the very same way saith he do they use the Scriptures Or as he afterwards expresseth it they take several words and names here and there and put them together much after the way of those who would apply the words of Homer to any argument proposed to them which some have done so artificially that unskilful men have been perswaded that Homer did mean that very thing when he wrote his Poem As one did the going of Hercules to Cerberus so exactly in the words of Homer put together in the Greek fragments of Irenaeus that those who did not consider upon what different occasions those words were used by him some being spoken of Vlisses some of Priamus some of Maenelaus and Agamemnon and some of Hercules might Imagine that the Poet intended to describe what the other expressed by him But he that will examine the several places will find that the words indeed are Homers but the sense his that so applyed them So it is in this case the words are the Scriptures but applyed quite in another way than they were intended the stones are the same but yet the Image of the Fox is not to be taken for that of the Prince and when he hath taken the pains to put every thing in its proper and due place he will then easily find out the deceit And by the help of this rule Irenaeus vindicates the places of Scripture which the Valentinians made use of and makes it evident that could not be the sense of them which they put upon them As he doth particularly prove that St. Iohn by the beginning of his Gospel could not mean the first Ogdoad of the Valentinians To the very same purpose doth Tertullian argue against their way of interpreting Scripture That although it seems to have wit and easiness in it yet it is no more than is often practised on Virgil and Homer as well as the Scriptures For we have seen Virgil saith he with the same words turned quite to another sense as Hosidius Get a made the Tragoedy of Medea out of Virgil some fragments whereof are still extant and one had explained Cebes his Table in Virgils words and many had applyed the words of Homer in their Cento's to different purposes and not only some of late but Isidore saith that Probâ— and Pomponius before his time had madâ— Virgil Evangelize Therefore it is nâ— wonder saith Tertullian that the Scripture should be so abused it being much more fruitful and applicable to several purposes than other Writings are Nay saith he I am not afraid to say that the Scriptures were so framed by the Will of God that they might afford matter for Hereticks to work upon since I read that there must be heresies which cannot be without the Scripture And surely then he did not Imagine that God had appointed an infallible Judge on purpose to prevent the being of Heresies by giving an infallible sense of Scripture 2. From the repugnancy of the sence they gave to other places of Scripture Irenaeus observes that the Hereticks delighted most in dark places and left the plain ones whereas we ought most to rely upon the plain places and by them interpret the obscure For such who loved God and the truth would study most those things which God put under our command and knowledge and those are things which are plain before our eyes and are open and without ambiguity laid down in Scriptures and to these Parables and dark places ought to be fitted and by this means they may be interpreted without danger and of all alike and the body of truth remains entire with a suitableness of all its parts But without this every man interprets as he pleases and there will be no certain rule of Truth but every interpretation will be according to the opinion of the Interpreter and mâ—n will contradict each other as the Philosophers did And by this means men will be always seeking and never finding because they cast away the means of finding Seeing therefore saith he that all the Scriptures both Prophetical and Evangelical are plain and clear and may be heard alike of all they must be very blind that will not see in so great light but darken themselves in Parables wherein every one of them thinks he hath found a God of his own And from hence he very much blames the Hereticks since they could not so much as pretend that any thing was plainly said for them in Scripture but only intimated in dark sayings and parables that they would leave that which is certain and undoubted and true for that which was uncertain and obscure Which he saith is not to build the house upon the firm and strong roâ—k but upon the uncertainty of the sand on which it may be easily overturned This excellent rule for interpreting Scripture Irenaeus makes great use of in his following discourse and in the
very next Chapter urges this as the Consequence of it that having truth for our Rule and so plain Testimony of God men ought not to perplex themselves with doubtful Questions concerning God but grow in the love of him who hath done and doth so great things for us and never fall off from that knowledge which is most clearly revealed And we ought to be content with what is clearly made known in the Scriptures because they are perfect as coming from the wâ—rd and Spirit of God And we need 〈◊〉 â—onder if there be many things in Religion above our understandings since there are so in natural things which are daily seen by us as in the nature of Birds Water Air Meteors c. of which we may talk much but only God knows what the truth is Therefore why should we think much if it be so in Religion too wherein are some things we may understand and others we must leave to God and if we do so we shall keep our faith without danger And all Scripture being agreeable to it self the dark places must be understood in a way most suitable to the sense of the plain 3. The sense they gave of Scripture was contrary to the Doctrine of faith received by all true Christians from the beginning which he calls the unmoveable rule of faith received in Baptism and which the Church dispersed over the Earth did equally receive in all places with a wonderful consent For although the places and languages be never so distant or different from each other yet the faith is the very same as there is one Sun which inlightens the whole World which faith none did enlarge or diminish And after having shewn the great absurdities of the Doctrines of the Enemies of this faith in his first and second Books in the beginning of the third he shews that the Apostles did fully understand the mind of Christ that they preached the same Doctrine which the Church received and which after their preaching it was committed to writing by the Will of God in the Scriptures to be the pillar and ground of Faith Which was the true reason why the Hereticks did go about to disparage the Scriptures because they were condemned by them therefore they would not allow them sufficient Authority and charged them with contradictions and so great obscurity that the truth could not be found in them without the help of Tradition which they accounted the key to unlock all the difficulties of Scripture And was not to be sought for in Writings but was delivered down from hand to hand for which cause St. Paul said we speak wisdom among them that are perfect Which wisdom they pretended to be among themselves On this account the matter of Tradition came first into dispute in the Christian Church And Irenaeus appeals to the most eminent Churches and Especially that of Rome because of the great resort of Christians thither whether any such tradition was ever received among them and all the Churches of Asia received the same faith from the Apostles and knew of no such Tradition as the Valentinians pretended to and there was no reason to think that so many Churches founded by the Apostles or Christ should be ignorant of such a tradition and supposing no Scriptures at all had been written by the Apostles we must then have followed the Tradition of the most ancient and Apostolical Churches and even the most Barbarous nations that had embraced Christianity without any Writings yet fully agreed with other Churches in the Doctrine of Faith for that is it he means by the rule of faith viz. a summary comprehension of the Doctrine received among Christians such as the Creed is mentioned by Irenaeus and afterwards he speaks of the Rule of the Valentinians in opposition to that of the sound Christians From hence Irenaeus proceeds to confute the Doctrine of the Valentinians by Scripture and Reason in the third fourth and fifth Books All which ways of finding out the sense of Scripture in doubtful places we allow of and approve and are always ready to appeal to them in any of the matters controverted between us and the Church of Rome But Irenaeus knew nothing of any Infallible Judge to determine the sense of Scripture for if he had it would have been very strange he should have gone so much the farthest way about when he might so easily have told the Valentinians that God had entrusted the Guides of his Church especially at Rome with the faculty of interpreting Scripture and that all men were bound to believe that to be the sense of it which they declared and no other But men must be pardoned if they do not write that which never entred into their Heads After Irenaeus Tertullian sets himself the most to dispute against those who opposed the Faith of the Church and the method he takes in his Boo of Praescription of Hereticks is this 1. That there must be a certain unalterable Rule of Faith For he that believes doth not only suppose sufficient grounds for his faith but bounds that are set to it and therefore there is no need of further search since the Gospel is revealed This he speaks to take away the pretence of the Seekers of those days who were always crying seek and ye shall find to which he replys that we are to consider not the bare words but the reason of them And in the first place we are to suppose this that there is one certain and fixed Doctrine delivered by Christ which all nations are bound to believe and therefore to seek that when they have found they may believe it Therefore all our enquiries are to be confined within that compass what that Doctrine was which Christ delivered for otherwise there will be no end of seeking 2. He shews what this Rule of Faith is by repeating the Articles of the Ancient Creed which he saith was universally received among true Christians and disputed by none but Hereticks Which Rule of Faith being embraced then he saith a liberty is allowed for other enquiries in doubtful or obscure matters For faith lyes in the Rule but other things were matters of skill and curiosity and it is faith which saves men and not their skill in expounding Scriptures and while men keep themselves within that Rule they are safe enough for to know nothing beyond it is to know all 3. But they pretend Scripture for what they deliver and by that means unsettle the minds of many To this he answers several ways 1. That such persons as those were ought not to be admitted to a dispute concerning the sense of Scripture because they rather deserved to be censured than disputed for bringing such new heresies into the Church but chiefly because it was to no purpose to dispute with them about the sense of Scripture who received what Scriptures they pleased themselves and added and took away as they
because it is not mentioned out of what they were made Hermogenes proves they were made out of matter because it is not said they were made of nothing To determine therefore the sense of these places Tertullian shews from reason the repugnancy of the eternity of matter to the attributes of God he compares several places of Scripture together he reasons from the manner of the expressions and the Idiom of Scripture I adore saith he the fulness of the Scripture which shews me both the maker and the thing made but the Gospel likewise discovers by whom all things were made But the Scripture no where saith that all things were made out of matter Let the shop of Hermogenes shew where it is written and if it be not written let him fear the wo denounced to those who add or take from what is written He examins the several places in dispute and by proving that sense which Hermogenes put upon them to be repugnant to reason as he shews to the end of that Book he concludes his sense of Scripture to be false and erroneous Against Praxeas he disputes whether God the Father took our nature upon him and the arguments on both sides are drawn from the Scriptures but Tertullian well observes that they insisted upon two or three places of Scripture and would make all the rest though far more to yield to them Whereas the fewer places ought to be understood according to the sense of the greater number But this saith he is the property of all Hereticks because they can find but few places for them they defend the smaller number against the greater which is against the nature of a rule wherein the first and the most ought to oversway the latter and the fewer And therefore he sets himself throughout that Book to produce the far greater number of places of Scripture which do assert the distinction between the Father and the Son and consequently that it could not be the Father who suffered for us Hitherto we find nothing said of an infallible Guide to give the certain sense of Scripture when the fairest occasion was offered by those who disputed the most concerning the sense of Scripture in the Age wherein they lived viz. by Irenaeus and Tertullian I now proceed to Clemens of Alexandria who in his learned Collections proposes that objection against Christianity that there were many Heresies among Christians and therefore men could believe nothing To which he answers That there were Heresies among the Jews and Philosophers and that objection was not thought sufficient against Iudaism or Philosophy and therefore ought not to be against Christianity Besides the coming of Heresies was foretold and what ever is foretold must come to pass The Physitians saith he differ in their opinions yet men do not neglect to make use of them when they are sick Heresies should only make men more careful what they choose Men ought thereby to endeavour the more to find out truth from falshood as if two sorts of fruit be offered to a man real and waxen will a man abstain from both because one is Counterfeit or rather find out the true from the apparent When several ways offer themselves for a man to go in he ought not therefore to sit down and not stir a step further but he uses the best means to find out the true way and then walks in it So that they are justly condemned who do not discern the true from the false for they who will saith he may find out the truth For either there is demonstration or not all grant demonstration or evidence who do not destroy our senses If there be demonstration there must be search and enquiry made and by the Scriptures we may demonstratively learn how Heresies fell of and that the exactest knowledge was to be found in the truth and the ancient Church Now the true searchers will not leave till they find Evidence from the Scriptures To this end he commends the exercise of mens reason and understanding impartiality or laying aside opinion a right disposition of Soul for when men are given over to their lusts they endeavour to wrest the Scriptures to them But he establishes the Scripture as the only principle of certainty to Christians and more credible than any demonstration which who so have tasted are called faithful but those who are versed in them are the truly knowing men The great objection now is that Hereticks make use of Scripture too I but they saith he reject what they please and do not follow the Body and Contexture of Prophecy but take ambiguous expressions and apply them to their own opinions and a few scattered phrases without regarding the sense and importance of them For in the Scriptures produced by them you may find them either making use of meer names and changing the significations of them never attending to the scope and intention of them But truth saith he doth not lye in the change of the signification of words for by that means all Truth may be overthrown but in considering what is proper and perfectly agreeable to our Lord and Almighty God and in confirming every thing which is demonstrated by the Scripture out of the same Scriptures Wherein Clemens Alexandrinus lays down such rules as he thought necessary to find out the certain sense of Scripture viz. by considering the scope and coherence of the words the proper sense and importance of them the comparing of Scripture with Scripture and the Doctrine drawn from it with the nature and properties of God all which are excellent Rules without the least intimation of the necessity of any Infallible Interpreter to give the certain sense of doubtful places After this time a great dispute arose in the Church about the rebaptizing Hereticks managed by the Eastern and African Bishops against Stephen Bishop of Rome Here the Question was about the sense of several places of Scripture and the practice of the Apostles as appears by the Epistles of Cyprian and Firmilian both parties pleading Scripture and Tradition for themselves But no such thing as an infallibility in judgement was pleaded by the Pope nor any thing like it in the least acknowledged by his Adversaries who charge him without any respect to his Infallible guideship with pride error rashness impertinency and contradicting himself Which makes Baronius very Tragically exclaim and although he makes use of this as a great argument of the prevalency of Tradition because the opinion of Stephen obtained in the Church yet there is no Evidence at all that any Churches did submit to the opinion of Stephen when he declared himself but as appears by Dionystus of Alexandria's Epistles the Controversy continued after his time and if we look into the judgement of the Church in following Ages we shall find that neither Stephens opinion nor his Adversaries were followed for Stephen was against rebaptizing any Hereticks and the others were for rebaptizing all because one
Baptism was only in the true Church For in the 19. Canon of the Council of Nice the Samosatenian Baptism is pronounced null and the persons who received it are to be new Baptized and the first Council of Arles decrees that in case of Heresy men are to receive new Baptism but not otherwise The second Council of Arles puts a distinction between Hereticks decreeing that the Photinians and Samosatenians should be Baptized again but not the Bonofiaci noâ— the Arians but they were to be received upon renouncing their Heresy without Baptism Which seems the harder to understand since the Bonosiaci were no other than Photinians The most probable way of solving it is that these two latter sorts did preserve the form of Baptism entire but the Photinians and Samosatenians altered it which St. Augustin saith is a thing to be believed So Gennadius reports it that those who were Baptized without invocation of the B. Trinity were to he Baptized upon their reception into the Church not rebaptized because the former was accounted null of these he reckons not only the Paulianists and Photinians but the Bonâ—sâ—â—ci too and many others But St. Basil determines the case of Baptism not from the form but from the faith which they professed a Schismatical Baptism he faith was allowed but not Heretical by which he means such as denyed the Trinity and therein he saith S. Cyprian and Firmilian were to blame because they would allow no Baptism among persons separated from the Communion of the Church The Council of Laodicea decreed that the Novatians Photinians and Quarto-decimans were to be received without new Baptism but not the Montanists or Cataphryges but Binius saith there was one Copy wherein the Photinians were left out and then these Canons may agree with the rest and Baronius asserts that the greater number of M. S. Copies leave out Photinians And withal he proves that the Church did never allow the Baptism of the Photinians though it did of the Arians by which we see that the Church afterwards did not follow that which Stephen pretended to be an Apostolical tradition viz. that no Hereticks should be rebaptized and from hence we may conclude that the Pope was far from being thought an infallible Guide or Interpreter of Scripture either by that or succeeding Ages when not only single persons that were eminent Guides of the Church such as the African and Eastern Bishops were opposed his Doctrine and slighted his excommunications but several Councils called both in the East and Africa and the most eminent Councils of the Church afterwards such as the first of Arles and Nice decreed contrary to what he declared to be an Apostolical Tradition In the same Age we meet with another great Controversy about the sense of Scripture for Paulus Samosatenus openly denyed the Divinity of Christ and asserted the Doctrine of it to be repugnant to Scripture and the ancient Apostolical tradition For this Paulus revived the heresie of Artemon whose followers as appears by the fragment of an ancient Writer against them in Eusebius supposed to be Caius pleaded that the Apostles were of their mind and that their Doctrine continued in the Church till the time of Victor and then it began to be corrupted Which saith that Writer would seem probable if the holy Scriptures did not first contradict them and the Books of several Christians before Victors time So that we see the main of the Controversie did depend upon the sense of Scripture which was pleaded on both sides But what course was taken in this important Controversie to find out the certain sense of Scripture Do they appeal to any infallible Guides Nothing like it But in the Councils of Antioch in the Writings of Dionysius of Alexandria and others since they who opposed the Samosatenian Doctrine endeavoured with all their strength to prove that to be the true sense of Scripture which asserted the Divinity of Christ. It is great pity the dispute of Malchion with Paulus is now lost which was extant in Eusebius his time but in the Questions and Answers between Paulus and Dionysius which Valesius without reason suspects since St. Hierome mentions his Epistle against Paulus the dispute was about the true sense of Scripture which both pleaded for themselves Paulus insists on those places which speak of the humane infirmities of Christ which he saith prove that he was meer Man and not God the other answers that these things were not inconsistent with the Being of the Divine nature since expressions implying humane passions are attributed to God in Scripture But he proves from multitude of Scriptures and reasons drawn from them that the divine nature is attributed to Christ and therefore the other places which seem repugnant to it are to be interpreted in a sense agreeable thereto The same course is likewise taken by Epiphanius against this heresie who saith the Christians way of answering difficulties was not from their own reasons but from the scope and consequence of Scripture and particularly adds that the Doctrine of the Trinity was carefully delivered in the Scriptures because God foresaw the many heresies which would arise about it But never any Controveâ—sie about the sense of Scripture disturbed the Church more than that which the Arians raised and if ever any had reason to think of some certain and infallible way of finding out the sense of Scripture the Catholick Christians of that Age had I shall therefore give an account of what way the best Writers of the Church in that time took to find out the sense of Scripture in the Controverted places Of all the Writers against them Athanasius hath justly the greatest esteem and Petavius saith that God inspired him with greater skill in this Controversie than any others before him The principle he goes upon in all his disputes against the Arians is this that our true faith is built upon the Scriptures so in several places of his conference with the Arian and in the beginning of his Epistle to Iovianus and elsewhere Therefore in the entrance of his Disputations against the Arians he adviseth all that would secure themselves from the impostures of Hereticks to study the Scriptures because those who are versed therein stand firm against all their assaults but they who look only at the words without understanding the meaning of them are easily seduced by them And this Counsel he gives after the Council of Nice had decreed the Arian Doctrine to be Heresie and although he saith other ways may be used to confute it yet because the Holy Scripture is more sufficient than all of them therefore those who would be better instructed in these things I would advise them to be conversant in the divine Oracles But did not the Arians plead Scripture as well as they how then could the Scripture end this Controversie which did arise about the sense of Scripture This objection which is now made so much
of against the Scriptures was never so much as thought of in those days or if it were was not thought worth answering for they diâ— not in the least desert the proofs of Scripture because their Adversaries made use of it too But they endeavouâ—ed to shew that their Adversaries Doctrine had no solid Foundation in Scripture but theirs had i.e. that the Arians perverted it because they did not examine and compare places as they ought to do but run away with a few words without considering the scope and design of them or comparing them with places plainer than those were which they brought Thus when the Arians objected that place My Father is greater than I Athanasius bids them compare that with other places such as My Father and I are one and who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equâ—â— with God and by him all things were made c. When Arius objected to us there is but one God of whom are all things he telâ—s him he ought to consider the following words and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things from whence when Arius argued that Christ was only Gods instrument in creating things Athanasius then bids him compare this place with another where it is said of whom the whole body c. Not barely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Arians objected Christs saying all things are delivered to me from my Father Athanasius opposes that place of St. Iohn to it By him all things were made Thus when they objected several other places he constantly hath recourse to Iohn 1. 1 2 3. to Phil. 2. 7. 1 Iohn 5. 20. and others which he thought the plainest places for Christs eternal Divinity and by these he proves that the other were to be interpreted with a respect to his humane nature and the State he was in upon Earth So that the greatest Defender of the Doctrine of the Trinity against the Arians saw no necessity at all of calling in the Assistance of any infalâ—ible Guides to give the certain sense of Scripture in these doubtful places but he thought the Scripture plain enough to all those who would impartially examine it and for others who wilfully shut their eyes no light could be great enough for them Indeed when the Arians called in the help of any of the Ancient Writers to justify their Doctrine then Athanasius thought himself concerneâ— to vindâ—cate them as particularly Dionysius of Alexandria But as he saith if they can produce Scripture or Reason for what they say let them do it but if not let them hold their peace Thereby implying that these were the only considerable things to be regarded yet he shews at large that they abused the Testimony of Dionysius who although in his letters against Sabellius he spake too much the other way yet in other of his writings he sufficiently cleared himself from being a savouâ—er of the Arian Heresie And although Athanasius doth else where say that the Faith which the Catholick Church then held was the faith of their Fore-fathers and descended from the Apostles yet he no where saith that without the help of that Tradition it had been impossible to have known the certain sense of Scripture much less without the infallible interpretation of the Guides of the present Church S. Hilary in his disputes against the same Hereticks professes in the beginning that his intention was to confound their rage and ignorance out of writings of the Prophets and Apostles and to that end desires of his Readers that they would conceive of God not according to the Laws of their own beings but according to the greatness of what he had declared of himself For he is the best Reader of Scripture who doth not bring his sense to the Scripture but takes it from it and doth not resolve before hand to find that there which he concluded must be the sence before he reads In things therefore which concern God we must allow him to know himself best and give due Reverence to his word For he is the best witness to himself who cannot be known but by himself In which words he plainly asserts that the Foundation of our Faith must be in the Scriptures and that a free and impartial mind is necessary to find out the true sense of Scripture And after he had said in the second Book that Heresies arise from misunderstanding the Scripture and charged in his fourth Book the Arians particularly with it he proceeds to answer all the places produced by them out of the old and new Testament by comparing several places together and the antecedents and consequents and by these means proving that they mistook the meaning of Scripture So in the beginning of his ninth Book rehearsing the Common places which were made use of by the Arians he saith they repeated the words alone without enquiring into the meaning or Contexture of them whereas the true sense of Scripture is to be taken from the antecedents and consequents their fundamental mistake being the applying those things to his Divine nature which were spoken of his humane which he makes good by a particular examination of the several places in Controversie The same course is taken by Epiphanius Phaebadius and others of the ancient Writers of the Church who asserted the Eternal Divinity of Christ against the Arians Epiphanius therefore charges them which mangling and perverting the sense of Scripture understanding figurative expressions literâ—â—ly and those which are intended in a plain sense figuratively So that it is observable in that great Controversie which disturbed the Church so many years which exercised the wits of all men in that time to find out a way to put an end to it after the Guides of the Church had in the Council of Nice declared what was the Catholick faith yet still the Controversie was managed about the sense of Scripture and no other ways made use of for finding it than such as we plead for at this day It is a most incredible thing that in a time of so violent contention so horrible confusion so scandalous divisions in the Christian Church none of the Catholick Bishops should once suggest this admirable Expedient of Infallibility But this Palladium was not then fallen down from heaven or if it were it was kept so secret that not one of the Writers of the Christian Church in that busie and disputing Age discovered the least knowledge of it Unless it be said that of all times it was then least fit to talk of Infallibility in the Guides of the Church when they so frequently in Councils contrâ—dicted each other The Synodical Book in the new Tomes of the Councils reckons up 31. several Councils of Bishops in the time of the Arian Controversie whereof near 20. were for the Arians and the rest against them If the sense of Scripture were in this time to be taken from the Guides of the
Testimonies of Scripture it must be made manifest to be the sense by clear Evidence of Reason But he rather approves the way of proving the sense of Scripture by other places of Scripture where the interpretation is doubtful So that the way in doubtful places which he prescribes is this either to draw such a sense from them as hath no dispute concerning its being a true Proposition or if it have that it be confirmed by other places of Scripture Besides these he lays down the 7. rules of Ticonius the Donatist which are not of that consequence to be here repeated that which I take notice of is that St. Augustin thought the rules he gave sufficient for understanding the meaning of Scripture in doubtful places but he doth not in the least mention the Infallibility of the Guides of the Church as a necessary means for that end But he doth assert in as plain terms as I have done that Scripture is plain in all necessaries to Salvation to any sober enquirer and what ever consequences are charged upon me for making that a Fundamental principle must reflect as much upon St. Augustin as me and I do not fear all the objections can be made against a principle so evident to reason and so agreeable not only to St. Augustin but the Doctrine of the Catholick Church both before and after him The next after St. Augustin who hath purposely writ of this argument about the sense of Scripture is Vincentius Lerinensis about 4. years after St. Augustins death and 3. after the Council of Ephesus who seems to attribute more to the Guides of the Church than St. Augustin doth yet far enough short of Infallibility He saith that every man ought to strengthen his faith against Heresie by two things first by the Authoriry of the divine Law and then by the Tradition of the Catholick Church which tradition he makes necessary not by way of addition to the Scripture for he allows the perfection and sufficiency of that for all things but only to interpret Scripture by giving a certain sense of it there being such different opinions among men about it For all the Hereticks whom he there names had different senses of Scripture as Novatianus Sabellius Donatus Arius Macedonius Photinus c. But then he bounds this tradition within the compass of the universal consent of Antiquity as well as the present Church or as he expresseth it within those things which were believed every where always and by all persons That we may therefore consider how far these rules of Vincentius will serve for explaining the sense of Scripture we are to take notice of the restrictions he lays upon them 1. That they are to be taken together and not one of them separate from the rest As for instance that of Vniversality in any one Age of the Church being taken without the consent of Antiquity is no sufficient rule to interpret Scripture by For Vincentius doth suppose that any one Age of the Church may be so overrun with Heresie that there is no way to confute it but by recourse to Antiquity For in the case of the Arian heresie he grants that almost the whole Church was overspread with it and there was then no way left but to prefer the consent of Antiquity before a prevailing novelty In some cases the Universal consent of the present Church is to be relyed upon against the attempts of particular persons as in that of the Donatists but then we are to consider that Antiquity was still pleaded on the same side that Vniversality was and supposing that all the Ancient Church from the Apostles times had been of the same mind with the Donatists the greater number of the same Age opposing them would have been no more cogent against them than it was afterwards for the Arians It is unreasonable to believe that in a thing universally believed by all Christians from the Apostles times the Christian Church should be deceived but it is quite another thing to say that the Church in any one or more Ages since the Apostles times may be deceived especially if the Church be confined to one certain Communion excluding all others and the persons in that Church have not liberty to deliver their opinions for then it is impossible to know what the Judgement of the whole Church is And so universality is not thought by Vincentius himself to be alone sufficient to determine the sense of Scripture supposing that universality to be understood according to the honesty of the Primitive times for a free and general consent of the Christians of that Age in which a man lives but since the great divisions of the Christian world it is both a very hard matter to know the consent of Christendom in most of the Controverted places of Scripture and withal the notion of Vniversality is debauched and corrupted and made only to signifie the consent of one great Faction which is called by the name of the Catholick Church but truly known by the name of Roman 2. That great care and Judgement must be used in the applying those Rules for 1. The consent of Antiquity is not equally evident in all matters in dispute and therefore cannot be of equal use 1. There are some things wherein we may be certain of such a consent and that was in the Rule of Faith as Vincentius and most of the ancient Writers call it i.e. the summary comprehension of a Christians duty as to matters of faith which was not so often called the Symbol as the Rule of Faith that I mean which was delivered to persons who were to be baptized and received into the Church this the ancient Church Universally agreed in as to the substance of it And as to this Vincentius tells us his Rule is especially to be understood For saith he this consent of Antiquity is not to be sought for in all questions that may arise about the sense of Scripture but only or at least chiefly in the Rule of Faith or as he elsewhere explains himself alone or chiefly in those Questions which concern the Fundamentals of the Catholick Doctrine which were those contained in the Rule of Faith delivered to all that were to be baptized Suppose men now should stretch this Rule beyond the limits assigned it by Vincentius what security can there be from him that it shall be a certain rule who confined it within such narrow bounds Not that I think his Rules of no use at all now no I think them to be of admirable use and great importance to Christianity if truly understood and applyed i.e. When any Persons take upon them to impose any thing upon others as a necessary matter of faith to be believed by them we can have no better rules of Judgement in this case than those of Vincentius are viz. Antiquity Vniversality and Consent and whatsoever cannot be proved by these Rules ought to be rejected by all Christians To make this plain the
as Christ and his Apostles if they be not than whatever they pretend they are not looked on as divine revelations by them as manifestly appears because they are wholly rejected by some of the wisest of them doubted of and disputed by others as it were easie to prove were it not too large a subject for this discourse but by none received as writings of divine authority and equal with the Scriptures which they must be if they came from the same Spirit And since they are not it is evident that they are no otherwise esteemed among themselves than as the Fanatick heats of some devout persons of disturbed and deluded Fancies whom notwithstanding they are willing to cherish partly because they are loth to discountenance any pretence to an infallible Spirit in their Church and partly that there may never be wanting matter to make Saints of when the Pope thinks fit and good consideration is offered This may suffice to make good this charge of Fanaticism against the Roman Church and to shew that I am as far from the appearance of any contradiction therein although their Revelations are not from a real one as I. W's vain and Sophistical talk is from any appearance of reason The last contradiction charged upon me is about the Divisions of the Roman Church The occasion of which discourse was that divisions were objected to me as another consequent of the Reformation upon which I thought my self obliged to enquire into the Vnity of their Church and I have at large proved from undenyable Instances attested by their own Authors that they have no reason to insult over other Churches on account of their divisions nor to boast of their own Unity and Peace For I have there proved that there have never been greater disturbances in the Christian World than what they call the means of Unity viz. the Popes Authority hath procured no where greater or more lasting Schisms no where fiercer disputes about matters of order and doctrine than among them I considered all their salvo's and from them shew'd that if they have no divisions among themselves neither have we nay the same arguments which prove they do not differ in matters of faith from each other do likewise prove that they and we do not differ from each other in those things And what saith I. W. to all this Instead of healing their own divisions he only designs to prove me to be divided against my self that he might make up the full Tale of his contradictions But I. W. had so much forgot himself as to make good the very thing I designed and by that very argument he uses to prove that I contradict my self he manifestly proves that there are no more divisions in matters of faith between the Roman Church and us than there are among themselves This I shall make very evident but I must proceed as he doth with his Propositions 1. No divisions from the Roman Church are divisions of the Roman Church This is a very subtle principle of unity among them and by this rule there would be an admirable Unity in the Roman Church if the Pope himself were left alone in it For all others would only be divided from it and I would allow the Pope to be at a very good Agreement with himself which is more than I. W. will allow me In this case indeed there would be Vnity but where would be their Church Suppose a shepherd should boast of the excellent Government of a great Flock he had under his command and the Unity and peace they lived in and a by-stander should tell him that he saw others pretend to the same authority over that flock that he did and part followed one and part another he saw some of the chief of the Leaders set themselves against him disputing his authority he saw many of the sheep continually fighting with each other and some had wholly forsaken him would it not be a pleasant thing for this shepherd to say that notwithstanding all this they had great peace and Unity because as many as did not quarrel were very quiet and those that were divided from his Government were not under it But our question is whether such authority be the means to preserve the whole flock under Government when we see it prevents no divisions but causes many He might have spoken more to the purpose if he had framed his Proposition thus there can be no divisions in the Roman Church but such as divide men from it and in that case the Roman Church would have been reduced to a very small number But if there may be such divisions which are as contrary to Unity and peace as divisions in matters of faith are to what purpose is it to shew that they have none in one kind if they have very great in all others But although this be not sufficient to demonstrate their Vnity yet it is enough for his purpose if it doth shew that I contradict my self But where lyes the contradiction The force of it lyes here I charge them with divisions in matters of faith when divisions in matters of faith make them not to be members of the Roman Church therefore there can be no divisions in the Roman Church in matters of faith Again for in these two arguments the substance of his own propositions is couched by himself All those who assent unto the ancient Creeds are undivided in matters of faith but all Roman Catholicks assent unto the ancient Creeds ergo all Roman Catholicks are undivided in matters of faith and consequently it is a calumny in me to say they are divided in these matters Now what an easie matter is it to disposses me of this Spirit of contradiction which he imagines me possessed with I need no holy water or sacred charms and exorcisms to do it with There needs no more but understanding what is meant by matters of faith when matters of faith are spoken of by me in the place he refers to it is evident to every one that reads it and by his own words I speak only of the Fundamental and necessary articles of faith which are necessary to the salvation of all and to the very being of a Church of which kind I say none ought to be esteemed that were not admitted into the ancient Creeds But when I charge them with divisions in matters of faith I do not mean that they reject the ancient Creeds but I take matters of faith in their own sense for things defined by the Church and if I. W. had sought for any thing but words to raise cavils upon he might have found it so explained in the very place where I speak of this For that discourse is to answer an objection of theirs that they do not differ in those things which they esteem matters of faith and particularly I insisted upon that that they cannot be sure whether they differ in matters of faith or no because they are not agreed what