those Guides of Souls he had set over them Did all our Pastors fall asleep at once or could they all conspire to deceive Posterity Thirdly R. H. The Guide of Controversies cannot be ignorant That as he says God then permitted the Sanhedrim to be the greatest Enemies of Truth for the Accomplishment of the Prophecies of the Old Testament so do we also say That God permitted these pernicious Doctrines to obtain in the Church of Rome for the Accomplishment of those Prophecies of the New Testament touching a great and almost general Apostacy which was to happen in the Days of the great Antichrist and in the time when all Tongues and Nations were to worship the Beast Now hence ariseth a Second Demonstration of the Falshood of this vain Presumption § 3 That no such Change can happen in the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Christ as we pretend to for the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures the Doctrine of the Fathers and the Confessions of many learned Catholicks assure us that this shall actually happen in the times of Antichrist and what will then become of all the pretended Demonstrations That this cannot happen or can never happen And First Rev. xj 7-xij 6. The Scripture speaks expresly of the Slaughter of the Two Witnesses the Flight of the Women into the Desart and of the Worship which the whole World shall pay unto the Beast Where note That the Witnesses which represent the Church or her true Pastors are but Two and they at last are slain and that the Dominion of Antichrist is represented as over all Kingdoms Tongues and Nations and he is said to cause the Earth Chap. xiij 7 v. 16. and him that dwells therein to worship him and both small and great rich and poor bond and free to receive his Mark. The Fathers also assert that the Apostacy will then be so great Basil Ep. 71. p. 115. That the Lord will seem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly to have left his Churches That there shall be then Totius mundi seductio Hippol. de Consum mundi p. 4. a Seduction of the whole World That Cuncti accedent P. 41. atque adorabunt eum all shall come and worship the Beast That the Saints shall hide themselves P. 43 49 59. in montibus speluncis cavernis Terrae in the mountains dens and caverns of the Earth That all shall fall off from God and believe that Impostor That there shall be nec oblatio P. 48. nec suffitus nec cultus Deo gratus neither Oblation nor Incense nor any Worship acceptable to God no Eucharist no Liturgy no singing of Psalms or reading of the Scripture That there shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. Tom 3. Ep. 63. p. 937. Hieron in Sophon c. 2. f. 97. F. a general Apostacy That Regnante Antichristo redigenda sit Ecclesia in solitudinem in the Reign of Antichrist the Church will be brought to Solitude so that Christ coming shall scarce find Faith upon the Earth That in the time of Antichrist ecclesia non apparebit Aust Ep. 80. ad Hesyc p. 364. the Church shall not appear being eclipsed by the Persecutions of ungodly Men That Men shall ask whether the Gospel doth any where continue upon Earth Ephr. Syr. de consum Sâ—eculi Antichristo Col. An. 1603. p. 219. responsumque iri nusquam and it shall be answered no where And in this Assertion the Fathers are generally followed by the Romish Doctors De Pontif. Rom. l. 3. c. 7. §. denique let one Bellarmine speak for them all saying that Daniel plainly saith That in the times of Antichrist by reason of the Severity of Persecutions the publick and daily Sacrifice of the Church shall cease ubi omnium consensu loquitur de tempore Antichristi where by the consent of all he speaketh of the time of Antichrist This being then so clear a Revelation or Prediction of the Holy Ghost and our great Prophet must some time or other happen or both our Saviour and the Holy Spirit must be charged with lying Prophecies And being so unanimously and without controll delivered by the Holy Fathers the constant Tradition and the received Doctrine of the Church of Christ throughout all those Ages must be a constant Refutation of this idle Dream and their Pretences to Tradition must evidently be confuted by Tradition Thirdly § 4 This Method and Proceeding of the Romanists for finding out and judging of primitive Doctrines and Traditions were it admitted would force us to condemn the Writers of the Church from the beginning to the Tenth Twelfth or Fourteenth Centuries as the worst of Fools or Knaves for seeing it is manifest from their plain Words produced in great Plenty throughout those Ages that they speak as plainly in Condemnation of the Latin Service Communion in one Kind the Veneration of Images the Seven Sacraments the Trent Canon of the Books of the Old Testament and of many other Articles of Romish Faith which they pretend to have received from Tradition as any Protestant can do either they must have spoken all these things unwittingly for want of knowledge of what the Church maintained to the contrary throughout those Ages and then it cannot be avoided but they must pass for the most ignorant of Men and such as did not know the necessary Articles of Christian Faith received in their Times or else they must have taught and conveyed to Posterity those things against their Knowledge and the conviction of their Consciences and then it cannot be denied but that they were the worst of Knaves and whichsoever of these things be said it cannot be denied but they of all Men were the most unfit to convey down Tradition to Posterity For to render any Person a credible Testator or Witness of the Churches Faith and Practice Two things seem absolutely necessary 1. That he should have sufficient Knowledge of the Truth of what he testifies And 2ly That he should have Honesty sufficient to assure us that he would not wittingly deceive us in his Testimony for if we have just Reason to suspect either his want of Knowledge or Sincerity we must have reason to suspect his Testimony So that if either such Simplicity and Folly or such apparent Knavery as hath been mentioned can justly be imputed to the Authors of the Testimonies cited against the Doctrines fornamed of the Church of Rome it is extreamly manifest we have just Reason to suspect the Truth of all they might deliver to future Ages either as Doctrines or Practices received from their Predecessors Fourthly § 5 This Method of proceeding must render it a vain and fruitless thing to search into Antiquity to find what was the Doctrine of preceeding Ages Sexta nota est conspiratio in doctrina cum ecclesia antiqua De notis Eccles cap. 9. Bellarm. de eccl milit l. 4 c. 9. and consequently it must assure us that the Church of Rome doth
Euseb H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 10. We have only Twenty two Books which deserve belief among us and then he reckons them up as doth our Article adding that the Books written from the time of Artaxerxes to their days were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not so worthy to be credited From Christ and his Apostles Luk. xxiv 27. for the Gospel of St. Luke informs us That Christ beginning from Moses expounded to two of his Disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning him and also that all things concerning him were written in the Law of Moses vers 44. and in the Prophets and in the Psalms that is in those Books which by the Jews are stiled Hagiographa The Apostles in their Epistles teach 2 Tim. iij. 15. That all Scripture is of Divine Inspiration and that Timothy from a Child had known them and yet he doubtless only knew the Canon then received by the Jews 2 Pet. i. 21. they add That the whole Scripture was a word of Prophecy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Euseb l. 3. c. 10. Genebrard Chron. ad An. 3640. Jansen ad cap. 48. Ecclus the Prophecy of Men moved by the Holy Ghost Now Josephus doth inform us That after the Days of Artaxerxes the Jews had no certain Succession of Prophets and it is confessed by many Romanists That from Malachy to John they had no Prophets In the Second Century Onesimus requesteth of Melito § 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 4. cap. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Bishop of Sardis a perfect Catalogue of the Books of the Old Testament whereupon this Bishop being to take a Journey into the East went to the place where those things were done and preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ibid. and learning thence the exact number of them he sent their Names to Onesimus numbring them just as our Sixth Article doth And of this Catalogue Eusebius saith That it contained all the Books of the Old Testament which the Church owned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. and that he thought it necessary to preserve this Catalogue of them in writing to Posterity Here then we find upon the first enquiry after the Death of the Apostles a Catalogue exactly formed from the East and from Jerusalem agreeing with the Judgment of the whole Church of God and as exactly with the judgment of the Church of England In the Third Century Origen informs us § 4 That we must not be ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Psal 1. Ed. Huet T. 1. p. 40 41. that the Canonical Books of the Old Testament are Twenty two according to the number of the Jewish Letters and then he reckons them exactly as we do adding That as these Letters are an Introduction to knowledge and divine Wisdom so these Twenty two Books are an Introduction to the Wisdom of God this saith he is the Tradition of the Jews The Tradition of the Church in the Fourth Century unanimously concurrs with the Article of the Church of England in all the Catalogues then given of the Books of the Old Testament § 5 Eusebius of Caesarea the Metropolis of Palestine who not only hath preserved the Catalogues of Melito and Origen but also doth approve them and saith They were the Books of the Old Testament received by the consent of all and of which he thought necessary to preserve the Catalogue in writing to posterity L. 4. c. 6. elsewhere saith That he is not able exactly to reckon the Governors of the Tribe of Judah that ruled the Jewish Nation after Zorobabel Demonst Evang l. 8. c. 2. p. 368. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that from his time to that of our Saviour's there was no divine Book written Athanasius in his Festival Epistle gives the same Catalogue which we receive and having finished it he saith Ad Ruffinum Tom. 2. p. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In these are comprehended the Books of the Old Testament The same Archbishop of Alexandria in his Book stiled a Synopsis of the Holy Scriptures tells us the number of the Books of the Old Testament are Twenty two Ibid. p. 58. and he there reckons them up according to our Article St. Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem speaks to his Catechumen thus Know thou studiously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Church the Books of the Old Testament read the divine Scriptures the Twenty two Books of the Old Testament interpreted by the Seventy Interpreters Catech. 4. cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 36 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by all confessed to be divine Meditate upon these Twenty two Books of the Old Testament and be careful to remember them as I name them and then he reckons them up exactly as we do Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in the Island of Cyprus in his Book of Weights and Measures Tom. 2. p. 161 162. doth in like manner inform us That the number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Canonical Books of the Old Testament is Twenty two and then he reckons them up as our Article doth St. Cap. 3. Basil Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia in his Philocalia puts this Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why are the divine Books Twenty two and answers it as Origen had done before him Gregory Nazianzen in his Treatise upon this very subject of the true genuine Books of Scripture Concil Oxon. Tom. 2. part 1. p. 179. declares That the Historical Books of the Old Testament are Twelve and the Metrical are Five and the Prophetical Five and then he names them all according to our Article Amphilochius in his Canonical Epistle to Selcucus gives us the same account of them Apud Balsamon p. 1083. with this only difference that the Book of Esther is said to be not so generally received for Canonical as the rest St. Jerom in several places of his works is so clearly for us that our Article is founded on his Judgment who often tells us That the Canonical Books of the Old Testament are Twenty two or if you will reckon Ruth and the Lamentations as distinct Books Tom. 3. f. 6. a. Ibid. f. 3. a. T. 1. f. 41. a. Apud Hieron Tom. 4. f. 51. they are Four and twenty In his Preface to the Book of Kings in his Epistle to Paulinus to Laeta and in divers places of his other works he is expresly of the same Judgment Ruffinus having numbered the Books of the Old Testament as we do adds That in these Books the Fathers did comprize tha◠number of the Books of the Old Testament St. Hilary saith Prolog Expla in Psalmos That the number of the Books of the Old Testament are Twenty two according to the number of the Hebrew Letters and having reckoned them up as we do saith These compleat the number of the Twenty two Books The Council of Laodicea Decrees Can. 59. That only the Canonical Books shall be read
most Christian Churches Saint Jerom that in process of time it obtained Authority Estius notes That they who before doubted of it in the Fourth Century embraced the Opinion of them who received it Praefat. in Epist Jacobi and that from thence no Church no Ecclesiastical Writer is found who ever doubted of it but on the contrary all the Catalogues of the Books of Holy Scripture published by General or Provincial Councils Roman Bishops or other Orthodox Writers number it among Canonical Scriptures quae probatio ad certam fidem faciendam cuique Catholico sufficere debet which proof must give sufficient certainty of it to any Catholick The Second Epistle of St. Peter Pag. 58. Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. p. 220. is cited by Origen against Marcian under the Name of Peter Firmilion saith That both Paul and Peter in suis Epistolis Haereticos execrati sunt ut eos evitemus monuerunt in their Epistles condemned Hereticks and admonished us to avoid them which is done by Saint Peter only in this Epistle Eusebius saith That it was commemorated by many and that they who did not reckon it Canonical yet held it very useful on which account Lib. 3. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was much studied with other Scriptures The same Eusebius informs us That his First Epistle was always owned by all Christians and thence we may have full assurance of the Truth of this Epistle for there are not saith the Reverend Doctor Hammond greater Evidences of any Epistles being written by the acknowledged Author of it than these Cap. 1. v. 1. The Title of Simon Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ The Voice which came from Heaven saying vers 17 18. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased we heard when we Peter and John and James were with him in the Holy Mount this second Epistle beloved I write unto you that you may be mindful of the Commandments of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Cap. 3. v. 1 2. All which are certain Demonstrations That Simon Peter the Apostle of our Lord who was with him in Mount-Tabor and there heard the Voice forementioned and who writ the First Epistle to the Twelve Tribes dispersed writ this also Note Lastly That after the Fourth Century § 22 there appears not the least intimation that any of these Books were any longer doubted of by any Orthodox Professor of the Christian Faith they being all received and reckoned as Canonical by the Councils and Fathers who mentioned the Canon of the New Testament Now from these premisses there is just ground to make this Inference and Conclusion That seeing most of the Catalogues of the Fourth Century given by Councils or by Fathers and all the Catalogues of the Fifth Century unquestionably assure us that what was once controverted by some few was afterwards unanimously received by all the Church of God we are sufficiently assured of the true Canon of the Books of the New Testament The evidence now produced even of these controverted Books being sufficient both in the judgment of all Catholicks and of all Christians who on these grounds alone receive them as such to assure us that they are Canonical Scripture for by what reason can any Man evince that ought to be rejected from the Canon which always was received as Canonical by the greatest part of the Church Catholick and being accurately enquired into by those who once were Doubters found such an uncontroulled reception through the whole Church diffused as stifled through all future Ages the least appearance of a doubt Hence then the Roman § 23 Doctors may discern what it is they have to do if they do undertake to shew us such a Tradition for those Roman Doctrines we reject as hath been shew'd for the Controverted Books of the New Testament And 1. It must be owned by them that it cannot be necessary to Salvation to believe or have an absolute assurance that these are true and Apostolical Traditions and therefore Haec est fides extra quam salus esse non potest This is the Catholick Faith without which there is no Salvation must be excluded from the Roman Creed 2. It must be also owned that the pretented Traditions of the present R. Church were for some Centuries controverted and rejected by whole Churches Orthodox and Apostolical and which were as such owned and embraced by all Christians and that some of them were or at least might have been for the first Four Centuries disowned by the Church of Rome as was one of these controverted Books and consequently it must be owned that she could not then be received as Mater Magistra omnium Ecclesiarum the Mother and Mistress of all Churches 3. It must be proved that there was the same necessity that these controverted Books should be known and received from the beginning by all Christians as that the necessary Traditions and Articles of Christian Faith should be so 4. It must be proved that these Traditions were always owned and mentioned as Divine and Apostolical Traditions by many Orthodox Churches and Fathers and even when controverted were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acknowledged by most of the Church Guides To instance in the Apocalypse which Mr. M. on all occasions singles out as a Book whose Authenticalness cannot be better proved than their Traditions let him shew us any such Testimonies from the First Second and Third Centuries for the pretended Traditions of the Church of Rome as we have shewed for the Apocalypse any one that saith of them as Denys of Alexandria doth of the Apocalypse That he durst not reject it by reason of the multitude of Christians who had a veneration for it let him produce the plain Testimonies of the Fathers that the Truth of these Traditions may be decided by the Testimonies of the Ancients that they owned them as Apostolical by virtue of their Testimony that the Ancient and Holy Fathers led by the Spirit of God gave Testimony to them and that they were the Traditions of holy Men inspired by God All these things have been said of the Apocalypse in the Four first Centuries and when Mr. M. can produce any thing of the like nature evidence and strength for any one of his Traditions we will own it as Divine and Apostolical Here then we see the greatest and the plainest difference betwixt the Traditions we receive and own and those pretended Traditions of the Church of Rome which we reject For 1. The Traditions we receive are Traditions handed down in writing to us throughout all Ages of the Church unto this present time the Traditions we reject are only presumptive Traditions such as the Church of Rome presumes to be so but yet they have no Footsteps in the Ancient Records of the Church of Christ which is a demonstration that they falsly do presume they are Traditions for as we could have no just reason to believe those which we own to be
the God of Israel was an evil God and not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and they denied the truth of our Saviour's Manhood and the Resurrection of the Flesh Secondly Observe That the Opinion of St. Cyprian and those who in Africa and elsewhere adhered to him Dicimus omnes omnino Haereticos Schismaticos c. Ep. 69. p. 180. was this That all Persons who only were Baptized by Hereticks were to be admitted into the Church by Baptism St Cyprian Bishop of Carthage thought Hist Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 3. Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. pag. 221. Omnes Schismaticos Haereticos qui ad Ecclesiam conversi sunt Baptizari Apud Cypr. p. 231. saith Eusebius that being first purged from their Error they ought to be admitted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise than by Baptism Not only the Cataphrygae saith Firmilian but caeteri quique Haeretici all other Hereticks whatsoever are deprived of the Power of Baptism In the Council of Carthage consisting of Eighty five Bishops assembled out of Africa Numidia and Mauritania Novatus a Thamugade defines according to the Testimony of the Scriptures and the Decree of our Collegs of Blessed Memory That all Schismaticks and Hereticks who are converted to the Church should be Baptized Januarius a Lambese saith According to the Authority of the Holy Scriptures I decree Haereticos omnes Baptizandos that all Hereticks shall be Baptized and so admitted into the Church Repudiandum esse omne omnino Baptisma quod sit extra Ecclesiam constitutum Firm. apud Cypr. Ep. 75. pag. 226. The Council of Iconium decreed That all Baptism was to be rejected that was celebrated out of the Church That of Synnada That no Baptism was to be found amongst Hereticks which were out of the Church Apud Haereticos nullum Baptisma reperiri and that therefore returning to the Church they ought to be Baptized in it Thirdly Observe That Pope Stephen § 17 in prosecution of this Quarrel or Dispute proceeded to a Separation of himself from and a refusal of Communion with his Brethren both in the Southern and the Eastern Churches who declared for the Baptism of Hereticks returning to the Bosom of the Church Pope Stephen saith Dionysius to Pope Xystus writ to me Apud Eusebium Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 5. as you do and for the same Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one who would not communicate with Helin Firmilian or any of the Bishops of Cilicia Cappadocia Galatia or of the Neighbouring Regions because they Rebaptized Hereticks In many other Provinces saith Firmilian many things do vary Rumpens adversus vos pacem Ep. 75. apud Cypr. p. 228. but yet for these things they do not depart from the Peace and Vnity which yet Pope Stephen hath been bold to do breaking that Peace which all his Ancestors have preserved with you in mutual Love and Honour And turning his Discourse to him he speaks thus How great Sin hast thou heaped upon thy self quando te à tot gregibus scidisti by cutting off thy self from so many Flocks Siquidem ille est vere Schismaticus qui sea Communione Ecclesiasticae unitatis Apostatum fecerit Ibid. Sacerdotes Dei abstinendos putat Deceive not thy self for thou hast cut thy self off from them he being indeed the Schismatick who makes himself an Apostate from the Communion of Ecclesiastical Vnity and whilst thou thinkest thy self able to separate all from thee thou only hast separated thy self from all St. Cyprian saith Ep. 74. Pag. 214. That he had passed his Judgment for the Excommunication of the Priests of God who kept the Truth of Christ and the Unity of the Church St. Austin also doth affirm Stephanus non solum non rebaptizabat Haereticos verum etiam hoc facientes Excommunicandos fore decernebat Libr. de Baptismo contra Petil. cap. 14. pag. 504. That Pope Stephen judged they should be Excommunicated who endeavoured to pull down the Ancient Custom of receiving Hereticks without Baptism Fourthly Observe That after the Death of Stephen Pope Xystus his immediate Successor asserted the same Doctrine and was as vehement as he for the Exclusion of all those from Church Communion who did oppose it For Xystus with Philemon and Dionysius two Roman Presbyters wrote Letters to Dionysius of Alexandria declaring That they would not communicate with them who held that Hereticks were to be admitted into the Church by Baptism Apud Euseb Ibid. This will appear from the Letter of Dionysius to Pope Xystus where having told him that his Predecessor Pope Stephen had written to him that he would not Communicate with them for this very reason he adds That he had written formerly both to Philemon and Dionysius of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb H. Eccl. l. 7. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were before of the same judgment with Pope Stephen as they were now of the same mind with Xystus and who writ to him about the same things Whence it is evident that Xystus the succeeding Pope Philemon and Dionysius Presbyters of Rome persisted in this Resolution not to Communicate with those who held That Hereticks were to be received into the Church by Baptism and seeing Dionysius who was of the same judgment succeeded Xystus it follows that three Succeeding Popes had then defined that Article Fifthly § 18 Observe That the Opinion and Practice of the Africans and many Eastern Churches was asserted by very many Christian Doctors Churches and Councils It was the Opinion of Tertullian Sine dubio non habent De Baptism c. 15. Apud nos Haereticus etiam per Baptisma veritatis utroque homine purgatus admittitur De pudicitia Cap. 19. that Hereticks had no Baptism and this saith he is without doubt It was the Doctrine of Agrippinus and of St. Cyprian in the same Century In Aegypt it was the Doctrine of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria In Asia of Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea In Cilicia of Helen Bishop of Tarsis In the Fourth Century it was the Doctrine of Optatus Lib. 4 5. who frequently asserts Apud ipsos non esse Sacramenta That the Hereticks had no Sacraments Orat. 3. Contr. Arian p. 413. Of Athanasius who declares the Arians Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly vain and unprofitable That the Baptism given by them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alien from the Truth though they used the name of the Father and the Son because they found them written Ibid. 13. for not he who simply calls him Lord gives true Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he who with the names holds the true Faith. Hence our Saviour gave not commission to Baptize any how but first to Teach that by teaching aright Faith might be obtained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. and with Faith might be added the Consecration of Baptism and of other Hereticks he faith
is exceeding evident that his Opinion was by the Church of God condemned both in General and in Particular Moreover it was the Judgment of Pope Stephen That the Baptism of Hereticks though administred only in the name of Christ and not of the whole Sacred Trinity was valid and not to be reiterated when they returned into the Bosom of the Church This is apparent from these words of Cyprian No Man to circumvent the Christian Truth should oppose the Name of Christ and say in nomine Jesu Christi ubicunque quomodocunque Baptizati gratiam Baptismi sunt consecuti Ep. 73. p. 205. that wheresoever howsoever Men are Baptized in the Name of Christ they obtain the Grace of Baptism And again Since after the Resurrection the Apostles being sent by our Lord to the Gentiles are commanded to Baptize them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost how do some say That out of the Church yea against the Church a Gentile may obtain Remission of Sins Ibid. p. 206. modo in nomine Jesu Christi ubicunque quomodocunque Baptizatum wheresoever and howsoever he be Baptized provided it be done in the name of the Lord Jesus when Christ himself commands the Gentiles to be Baptized in plena adunata Trinitate into the whole and united Trinity If then that be the Truth which usually is affirmed that the Ancients did admit the Baptism of those Hereticks who Baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and nulled their Baptism who Baptized not into the Sacred Trinity then must they plainly have condemned the Doctrine of Pope Stephen and his Abettors But though some of the Ancients seem to speak after this manner and to assert this Doctrine as is evident from the Apology made for the Baptism of the Novatians in St. Cyprian That they did Ep. 69. p. 183. eandem legem tenere quam Catholica Ecclesia teneat eodem Symbolo quo nos Baptizare eundem nosse deum patrem eundem filium Christum eundem Spiritum Sanctum use the same Symbol with Catholicks in Baptism and Baptized into the same Sacred Trinity And from the Canon of the first Council of Arles which Decrees That they should be admitted by Imposition of Hands only who were Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost yet the Opinion of the Ancient Church seems rather to have been this that their Baptism alone was to be admitted who both Baptized into and believed aright touching the Sacred Trinity as the Novatians did This St. Basil doth expresly teach saying Ad Amphil. can 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ancients judged that Baptism valid which in nothing differed from the Faith. And therefore having told us That the Baptism of the Encratitae the Saccophori and Apotactites was rejected by the Church he adds And let them not say we are Baptized into the Father Can. 47. Son and Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who make God the Author of Evil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 3. contr Arian p. 413. And Athanasius condemns the Baptism of the Arians though they named the Father and Son because they saw them in the Form of Baptism delivered in the Scripture seeing they did not conceive aright of them nor retain the right Faith adding That as the Manichees the Phrygae the Samosatenians pronounced the right Names and yet were Hereticks so the Arians though they recited the Names and Words of Baptism deluded them who received Baptism from them Again St. Cyprian and his party in Africa held the Baptism not only of Hereticks but Schismaticks to be void and in particular of the Novatians his words are these Ep. 69. p. 180. Dicimus omnes omnino Haereticos Schismaticos nihil habere potestatis ac juris propter quod Novatianus nec debet nec potest excipi We say that no Heretick or Schismatick hath any power or right to Baptize and therefore Novatian should not and cannot be excepted And again Ibid. p. 183. Audet quisquam dicere aquam Baptismi salutarem communem cum Schismaticis esse posse Ep. 72. p. 196. Dares any one say That Schismaticks can have the salutary Water of Baptism The same he Asserts in several other places and the Fathers of the Council held under him do often say Baptisma quod dant Haeretici Schismatici non est verum Pag. 231. ter 232. bis 236. bis that the Baptism of Hereticks and Schismaticks is not true and that both returning to the Church were to be admitted by Baptism Now in this indeed he differed from the received Opinion of the Church 〈◊〉 Amphil. can 1. to whom it seemed good saith Basil to reject the Baptism of Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to receive that of Schismaticks 2dly Whereas St. Cyprian and his party held the Baptism of all Hereticks to be void we find the Church did afterwards judge that some Hereticks should be admitted into the Church by Baptism and that others should be received only by Imposition of Hands 'T is therefore evident That the Church equally disallowed both their Assertions and decided the Controversie against them both and did as much condemn Pope Stephen's Traditum est as St. Cyprian's Scriptum est the Pope's Appeal to Tradition as the Bishop of Carthage's to Scripture Now the Corollaries which naturally do result from these Ten Observations are as follow First § 22 Hence we learn That the Latins though comparatively Ancient are not much to be relied upon in giving an account of matters in which their Church is concerned and in which they differed from the Eastern Churches For to omit St. Commen c. 9. Austin the Account Vincentius Lirinensis gives of this matter is as full of Errors as of Sentences for he averrs that Agrippinus was the first of 1 all Men who against the 2 Divine Canon against the 3 Rule of the Vniversal Church against the 4 Sence of all his own fellow Priests against the 5 Customs and 6 Institutions of the Ancients Rebaptizandum esse censebat judged for Rebaptization and that 7 all men disclaimed the novelty of the thing and 8 all the Priests every were resisted it but above all Pope Stephen who said Nihil innovandum nisi quod traditum est Nothing must be innovated but that which was delivered us to be retained that retenta est igitur Antiquitas explosa novitas hereupon Antiquity was retained and novelty exploded In which few words are no less than Eight gross mistakes as will appear by comparing these words with the Testimonies above cited In Ep. 70. p. â—89 And as it is truly observed by the Oxford Commentator upon Cyprian That the Eastern Writers were in rebus Occidentalium Hospites Strangers in things which concerned the West so is it as true that the Western Writers were many of them Strangers to the true State of Matters in the East Secondly § 23
such as want the Evidence of Reason to assure us of their Truth of the latter kind is the Tradition that Enoch and Elias are to appear as Christ's Fore-runners at the Day of Judgment § 1. This Tradition is very ancient and found no Contradiction in the Church § 2. It was also the general Tradition of the Jews that Elias was to come in Person before the first coming of their Messiah Ibid. And yet this is not countenanced but plainly is confuted by the Scriptures § 3. The promise in Malachy belongs not to Christ's Second but to his first Advent Ibid. The Elias there promised was not Elias in Person but John the Baptist § 4. The Objections against this Assertion answered Ibid. Two Corollaries 1. That Tradition is not always a sure Interpreter of Scripture 2. That Oral Tradition is not of absolute certainty in matters of Speculation § 5 6. The Tradition of the Superiority of Bishops over Presbbyters may be relied upon because it is strengthened by Reason § 7. So also is the Tradition of the true Copies of Scripture where note 1. That we cannot know the Scriptures are not corrupted from the Infallibility of the Jewish or the Christian Church § 8 9. But we may know from Reason grounded upon Scripture 1st That the Scriptures were committed pure to the Christian Church § 10. 2dly That the immediate succeeding Age could want no assurance of their Purity whilst the Autographae were extant § 11. 3dly That these Records being so generally dispersed could not be then corrupted § 11. 4ly That the whole Church would not and part of them could not corrupt them § 13. 5ly That the Providence of God would not permit them to be corrupted in Substantials § 14. No like proof can be given that the pretended Traditions of the Church of Rome have been thus handed down unto us § 15. The Objection of Mr. Mumford is answered § 16. WE distinguish betwixt Traditions which can be made appear by Reason to be such as ought to be received Dist 8. and which we therefore think our selves obliged to receive and such as cannot by Reason be proved to have derived from the Apostles though they appeared very early in the Church Of the first Nature are the Traditions of the Canon of Scripture of the Copies handed down to us without Corruption in any necessary Articles of Christian Faith of the Observation of the Lord's Day c. Of the Second Order are the Traditions of the Millennary Doctrine of the Appearance of Enoch and Elias the Tisbite as the Forerunners of the Day of Judgment And of Traditions of this Nature we say we have no Ground sufficient to receive them as Articles of Christian Faith or Apostolical Traditions The Appearance of Enoch and Elias § 1 then to resist the Seduction of Antichrist and to be slain by him is delivered thus De Resur Carnis c. 22. Enoch and Helias are saith Tertullian Translated caeterum morituri reservantur ut Antichristum sanguine suo extinguant but they are reserved to die and shed their Blood for the Extinction of Antichrist This saith Petrus Alexandrinus is In Chronico 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Apoc. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tradition of the Church That Enoch is to come in the last Days with Helias to resist Antichrist It is saith Aretas unanimously received by the Church from Tradition that Enoch and Elias the Tisbite are to come The Tradition of the Advent of the Tisbite is as old as Justin Martyr § 2 Dial. cum Tryph. p. 268. and hath been constantly believed in the Church from that time till the Reformation that of Enoch's coming with him is as old as Tertullian it generally obtained in the following Centuries and found no Contradiction from any of the Writers of those times and yet I find no ground at all for this Tradition concerning Enoch For the Two Witnesses in the Revelations are not described like Enoch and Elias but like Moses and Elias Rev. xi 6. it being said They have Power to shut Heaven that it Rain not in the Days of their Prophecy which Elijah did and have Power over Waters to turn them into Blood and to smite the Earth with all Plagues as often as they will which we know Moses did but there is nothing in the description of these Witnesses relating in the least to Enoch As for Elias let it be considered First That it was the general Tradition of the Jewish Nation that Elias the Tisbite was to come in Person as the Forerunner of the Messiah of the Jews that he in Person was to Anoint him and make him known unto the People that before the Advent of the Son of David Elias was to come to Preach concerning him This is the Import of the Question of St. Joh. i. 21. Matt. xvij 10. Mal. iv 5. John Art thou Elias and of the Saying of the Scribes Elias must first come and restore all things of the Interpretation of the Seventy Behold I send unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elias the Tisbite and of that Saying of the Son of Syrach Elias was ordained for reproofs in their times Ecclus xliij 10. to pacifie the wrath of the Lord's Judgment before it break into fury and to turn the Heart of the Father to the Son and to restore the Tribes of Jacob. And suitably to these Assertions Trypho the Jew declares That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dial. p. 268. all we Jews expect Elias to Anoint Christ at his coming Secondly Observe That it was the general Tradition of the Writers of the Christian Church even from the Second Century that Elias the Tisbite is to come in person before our Lord's Second Advent to prepare Men for it This Opinion of the coming of Elias In Tetull de resur carn c. 22. Not. in Orig. p. 41. c. 1. tradit tota Patrum antiquitas all the ancient Fathers have delivered saith De la Cerda Constans est patrum omniumque consensu receptissima Ecclesiae opinio It is the constant and most received Opinion of the Church and all the Fathers saith Huetius Constantissima semper fuit Christianorum opinio It was always the most constant Opinion of Christians In Mat. xi 14. That Elias was to come before the Day of Judgment saith Maldonate It is saith Mr. Mede well known Disc 25. p. 48. that all the Fathers were of this Opinion He is to come saith Petrus Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Tradition of the Church saith Arethas Caesariensis In Apoc. 11. According to the unanimously received Opinion of the Church And yet if we may credit either the Angel or our Blessed Lord § 3 the Prophecy on which the Jews built this Tradition was fulfilled in John the Baptist And if we may believe the Ancient Fathers they built their Tradition on those words of Christ Elias cometh first and restoreth
the Greek And that their Versions of the New Testament where they vary Graecis cedere oportere non dubium est must yield to the Greek Copies is without doubt St. Jerom in his Epistle to Lucinius saith Ep. Tom. 1. f. 69. b. That he had Translated most of the Old Testament according to the Hebrew and that he had Translated the New according to the Authority of the Greek Ut enim veterum librorum fides de Hebraeis voluminibus examinanda est ita novorum Graeci sermonis normam desiderat For as the Truth of the Books of the Old Testament is to be examined by the Hebrew so is the Truth of the Books of the New Testament to be examined by the Rule of the Greek In his Epistle to Sunia and Fretela he tells them Tom. 3. f. 28. a. That as in the New Testament if at any time a Question arise among the Latins and there is a diversity among the Copies recurrimus ad fontem Graeci sermonis we recurr to the Greek the Original Language in which the New Testament was writ so in the Old Testament if there be a diversity between the Greek and Latin Copies ad Hebraicam recurrimus veritatem Ep. Tom. 3. f. 10. b. we recurr to the Hebrew Verity In his Epistle to Damasus he saith That he had at his command Translated the Four Evangelists codicum Graecorum emendatâ collatione mending the former Versions by the Collation of the Greek Copies it being the desire of Damasus that because the Latin Copies differed he would shew quae sunt illa quae cum Graeca consentiunt veritate which best agreed with the true Copies of the Greek and indeed saith he If we must trust to the Latin Copies let them who think so say to which for they are almost all different one from the other surely the Scripture of the New Testament being writ in Greek when that differs in the Latin Tongue uno de fonte quaerendum we must have recourse to the Fountain Now by the way they who speak so expresly of the Hebrew and the Greek Verity by which the truth of the Latin Copies is to be examined shew that the Decree of Trent that the vulgar Latin Sess 4. pro Authentica haberetur should in all Readings Disputations Preachings and Expositions be received as authentick and that no Man should dare under any pretence to reject it agrees with Antiquity after their usual manner by way of Opposition and flat Contradiction to it though in this matter I confess they are the more excusable seeing as Espenceus saith In 1 Tim. c. 3. it rendred any of the Latins suspicious to know Greek and it was almost Heretical to know the Hebrew Tongue And as Melchior Chanus doth inform us The School-men for Four hundred Years Loc. Com. l. 2. c. 12. p. 108. retained only the Latin Edition quippe linguae Graecae Hebraicae non habuerunt peritiam because they had no skill in Greek or Hebrew Thirdly § 10 That the Books of the New Testament have been handed down unto us uncorrupted in the necessaries and substantials of Christian Faith and Manners we conclude from Reason grounded upon matter of Fact delivered and testified by the Doctors of the Vniversal Church and we receive them as such from the rational Evidence which Tradition affords in this Case Whence we collect 1. That the Apostles and Holy Spirit which did assist them in inditing of this Canon for the Church's use could not be wanting in causing them to be transmitted to those Christians for whose use they were indited because they could not be wanting to pursue the end for which they were endited Besides that they were actually thus committed to them is the Tradition of the whole Christian World which owned and cited read and received them for such from the Apostles Days as is apparent from the Epistles of Clement Polycarp Ignatius and others who were contemporary with the Apostles and from the works of Justin M. Irenaeus and many others of the Second Century They were read also by the Jews as Trypho doth confess and by the very Heathens at the invitation of the Christians For our Doctrines and Writings saith Justin M. Apol. 1. p. 52. Apol. 2. p. 7. are such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all Men are permitted to read and if you will vouchsafe to look into them you may learn these things for we do not only read them our selves Ibid. p. 82. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but we bring them to you to peruse knowing that they will be acceptable to all that read them Apol. c. 31. We our selves do not suppress them saith Tertullian and many Accidents do put them into the Hands of Strangers They were attested to by the Sufferings of the Primitive Christians who rather chose to suffer Death than to deliver up these Books which Sufferings they could have no Temptation to endure besides their full Conviction that they were as they always stiled them Passio S. Felicis saepius Deifici libri Scripturae deificae Books which instructed them to lead a Divine Life and which their Persecutors could have had no Temptation to suppress and burn had they not known them to have been the Records of the Christian Faith with which their Faith must live or perish Moreover they contained things of the highest moment and which it was their chiefest interest to be well assured of they being the sole Ground and matter of their support under their sharpest Trials and of their future Hopes and therefore Writings they were concerned to get and hear and read and keep Add to this that they very early were translated into other Languages into the Syriack by apostolical Men saith the Tradition of the Eastern Churches by Men of great Antiquity who lived before the Canon was established as is apparent from their neglecting to translate the controverted Books of the New Testament into the Latin and other Languages Praeleg in Bibl. polyglott 13. p. 91. saith Bishop Walton From the Beginning as we may rationally conjecture seeing the Church of Rome and other Churches which understood not Greek were founded in the Apostles Days or quickly after nor could it rationally be supposed that they were without the Scriptures long Especially if we consider That it was part of their Lord's day Exercise saith Justin Martyr Apol. 2. p. 98. to read the Writings of the Apostles As for the Books themselves we find them mostly written to whole Churches Nations 1 Cor. i. 1. 2 Pet. i. 1. or the whole World of Christians To all that called upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place who could not easily have received them had the Apostles by whom they were at first converted given no sufficient indication of them They were Books which could not have been spread abroad as they were in the Apostles Names whilst they were living unless the Apostles had endited them
Matth. p. 58. in luc 7. p. 351. Nazianzen in Orat. Funebr Basil in hanc sententiam Meliori non inventa maxima pars Veterum Auctorum concesserunt Maldonate in Matth. xi 2. viz. Ambrosius Eusebius Emissenus Julianus Pomerius Venantius Gregorius Question to our Lord Matth. 11.3 Art thou he that shall come or look we for another they should thus interpret it That St. John being to go down to Hell or Hades should send to ask whether he should go before him thither and preach him there as he had done on Earth Matth. 16.23 That when Christ said to Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an Offence to me they out of a Reverence to St. Peter should make him say to (f) Multi putant quod non Petrus correptus est sed adversarius Spiritus qui haec dicere Apostolum suggerebat Hieron in Matth. xvj 23. Hilarius in locum Theophylact. in Marc. 8. p. 232. Peter only come thou after me and to the Devil Satan thou art an Offence unto me That when the same St. Peter denied his Master Matth. 26.72 saying I know not the Man they should excuse and bring him off with this quaint Equivocation (g) Scio quosdam pij affectus erga Petrum locum hunc ita interpretatos ut dicerent Petrum non Deum negasse sed hominem esse-sensum nescio hominem quia scio Deum Hieron in locum Vide Maldonatum ibid. Nescio hominem quia scio Deum I know not the Man for I know him to be God not considering with St. Jerom That by thus attempting to excuse the Disciple they gave the lye to his Master who had foretold his Denial That from those Words of Christ Joh. 8.44 (h) Vide Origen in Joh. Tom. 23. ed. Huet T. 2. p. 308. Huetii notas p. 34. Epiph. Haer. 40. n. 5 6. Haer. 38. §. 4 5. Ammon caten in c. 8. Joh. p. 238. Cyril Alex. in locum p 559. Author quaest V. N. Test apud August c. 90 98. Hieron in Isa c. 14 F. 36 e. The Devil is a Lyar and the Father of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they should conclude that the Devil had a Father and that he was either Cain or Judas That to avoid the vain Cavils of the Marcionites and Manichees they should say That (i) Iren. l. 3. c. 7. Tertul. l. 5. adv Marcion c. xj Chrysost Theod. Photius apud Oecum Theophylact in locum August contr Faust Manichaeum l. 22. c. 2. 9. the God of this World mentioned 2 Cor. iv 4. was not the Devil but the true God And from these Words of the Apostle (k) Illud dici potest quod Paulus non tam maledixerit eis quam oraverit pro illis ut eas partes corporis perderent per quas delinquere cogebantur Hieron in locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret Oecum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. in locum Gal. 5.12 I wish they were cut off that trouble you they should gather that the Apostle desired that the Abettors of the legal Ceremonies and Circumcision might be gelt To omit infinite Passages of the like Nature Nor can it reasonably be doubted that the Doctrine of the Millennium of the necessity of communicating Infants of the Appearance of Enoch and the Tisbite at our Lord's Second coming of the nearness of the End of the World of our Lord 's Preaching but one Year after his Baptism of the Angels conversing with Women had all their Rise from the mistaken Interpretations of the Holy Scripture why therefore might not the Mistake of that Passage of St. 1 Cor. 3.15 Paul They shall be saved but so as by Fire give the rise to Purgatory That of the same Apostle Magnum Sacramentum Eph. 5.32 This is a great Mystery but I speak of Christ and the Church advance Marriage into a Sacrament the mistake of that Promise of an happy Resurrection to the true Members of Christ's Church Matth. 16.18 The Gates of Hades shall not prevail against it be made to countenance her Infallibility and so in other Cases of like Nature Sure I am that Communion in one Kind the Latin Service the Veneration of Images could never have obtained in the Church had not those Scriptures which so plainly do condemn them been miserably wrested by late Ages from their proper Sence and the received Interpretation which the whole Christian World had put upon them for Six hundred or a Thousand Years and why they might not as well wrest the Scriptures to establish some of their Doctrines as they have done it for the avoiding that Condemnation of them which is so clear in other Scriptures that he who runs may read it I am not able to discern Secondly § 7 Corruptions in Doctrine and Practice might easily prevail by altering or leaving of that Rule of Faith and Manners God had given them and acting by other Rules or Principles which in themselves are insufficient to establish any Article of Christian Faith for a false Rule must of necessity give false Directions both in Faith and Manners where the Principle is false the Conclusion from it must be so and where the Foundation is corrupted the Building cannot be firm now this we find done 1. By setting up the Fathers as the Rules of Faith the * Basil Ep. 62.67.70.349 Nazianz. Orat. 19 21 23 29. Pillars and the Grounds of Faith as some of them are often stiled This Method of proceeding as it is expresly contrary to our Lord 's Injunction to call no Man Father upon Earth in that presumptuous Sence in which the Jewish Rabbi's did affect that Title Matth. xxiij 6 10. John vj. 45. because one is our Father in Heaven and all that come to Christ are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God the Father and one is our Guide and Master Christ 1 Joh. ij 27. from whom we Christians have received an Unction and need not that any one should teach us but as that Spirit in the Word doth teach us all things So is it as repugnant to the Mind and the Prescriptions of those Holy Men who frequently declare That both they and their Brethren were subject to Error That Errarunt in fide tam Graeci quam Latini (a) Hieron Ep. ad Pam. Ocean To. 2 F. 69. Both the Greek and the Latin Fathers erred in the Faith That therefore others were (b) Aug. l. 11. Contr. Faust c. 5. at liberty when they read or heard them to approve what they liked and to reject what they conceived not to be right in them and warn us (c) Cyril Hieros Catech. 4. p. 30. not to believe what they say unless we find it demonstrated out of the Holy Scriptures To (d) Orig. Hom. 2. in Ezek. F. 135. B. observe diligently when the Pastor deceived them and when he spake things true and pious there being
11.52 Mark 6.34 and then did vain Traditions and corrupt Interpretations of the Scriptures mightily prevail St. Basil in his Epistle to Gregory the Divine tells him there was little Help to be expected from the Pride of the Western Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who neither knew the Truth nor will endure to learn it but being prepossessed with Lyes and false Suspicions they do now as they did before in the Case of Marcellus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contending with those who shew them the Truth and stablishing Heresy by themselves And again I would write saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their Head but only enigmatically touching Ecclesiastical Affairs Ep. 10. p. 54. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for they neither know the Truth of our Affairs nor do they take the Way to learn it And agreeably to this Complaint we find the Arians in the Council of Ariminum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 16. deceiving the Western Bishops because of their Simpleness and the Historians telling us That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were bubbled by them into a Subscription Sozomen informs us of the Three hundred Western Bishops met at Milan Hist Eccles l 4. c. 9. that they consented to the Deposition of Athanasius through Fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fraud or Ignorance of what they were about And in the general Theodoret informs us that the Arians made it their Business Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gull the Western Bishops by reason of their Simplicity Again That Ignorance in the People renders them easy to receive any thing which is imposed upon them as Matter of Revelation or Devotion or under the venerable Name of a Tradition of the Church a Doctrine of the Holy Fathers or a Definition of a Council will be evident if we consider that being once bereft of the Assistance of the Holy Scriptures they have no Principle left them by which they can examine no Judgment to discern the Truth or Falshood of any thing which comes proposed to them under these specious Colours and so they are not qualified to judge of or in Capacity to discover the Cheats thus put upon them Accordingly we find that in the Times of Ignorance the People were carried away after dumb Idols 1 Cor. 12.2 even as they were led and were cajol'd into the most superstitious vile unnatural and cruel Practices under the semblance of paying their religious Worship to their Heathen Deities Now of the prodigious Ignorance of those Ages in which most of the Romish Doctrines were introduced or else conciliarly were established and so advanced from Opinions and Practices permitted in some places to Articles of Faith and Rules of Manners we cannot reasonably doubt when we find the Second Nicene Council making a Canon That he who was promoted to a Bishoprick should be well acquainted with his Psalter that so he might be able to instruct his Clergy in it and that the Metropolitan should strictly examine whether he were sufficient to read the Canons Conc. Nic. 2. Can. 2. the Gospel the Epistle and the rest of the Scriptures discreetly and not imperfectly Cent. 9. when the Enquiry made by the Bishops in their Visitations was 1. Regino de Eccl. Discipl p. 28 29. Whether the Priest did pleniter intelligere fully understand the Exposition of the Creed and the Lords Prayer 2. Si bene intelligat Whether he well understood the Prayers the Preface and the Canon of the Mass Si Epistolam Evangelium bene legere possit Whether he could well read the Epistle and Gospel And when Baluzius saith ea erat saeculi istius infelicitas Not. in Regin p. 540. ut necesse erat Presbyteros ab Episcopis interrogari utrum bene legere possent the Infelicity of that Age made it necessary for the Bishop to ask whether the Priests knew how to read well and that this happened not only to the inferiour Clergy sed etiam in illis interdum qui ad summum Sacerdotium eligebantur but sometimes also to them who were chosen to the Office of Bishops as Carolus Calvus and the Bishops of the Council of Valence complain when good Learning perished almost throughout Europe Cent. 11. p. 152. Cent. 12. Barbarity prevailing every where saith Balaeus When all the Priests had abandoned the Scriptures appointed for Man's Salvation and were blind Guides De Praedest lib. Arbitrio l. 2. going before the Blind to Perdition saith Honorius Augustodunensis When the Bishops Priests and Ministers of the Church were ignorant almost of all things and the Waldenses carried the Vogue among the People by their Learning and were admitted by the Priests to preach publickly In Collect. de vrb Tolos Cent. 13. not that they approved their Opinions but because they were inferiour to them in Learning saith Jacobus de Riberia When he that had learned nothing became a Teacher of others and though he were like the sounding Brass and tinkling Cymbal usurped the Office of a Teacher being an unprofitable Trunk and a dumb Idol and they who were ignorant of the Holy Scriptures usurped that Burthen of Dignity which they could not bear saith Petrus Blesensis Ep. 23. When there neither appeared Piety or Learning in the Clergy saith William Bishop of Paris Lib. de Collat. benefic Cent. 14. When the Pope appointed to almost all ecclesiastical Dignities Men ignorant of the Holy Scriptures Idiots and Unlearned who knew not the Language of the People over whom they presided Defensor pacis l. 2. c. 24. p. 354 355 356. When not one among Ten of the Bishops Arch-Bishops Patriarchs of Provinces were sufficiently instructed in Divinity saith Marsilius of Padua When the Church was eclipsed with the black Mist of Ignorance De planctu Eccl l. 2. cap. 5. 20. Cent. 15. When the Bishops ordained Men whom they knew to be unlearned and unfit and being Idiots suffered themselves to be made Bishops saith Alvarus When it often happened through the Defect Negligence and deceit of them to whom by the Bishops A. D. 1473. apud Bin. To. 8. p. 1053. cap. 3. was committed the Examination of Persons to be ordained that Men Unlearned and altogether Ignorant were presented as fit to the Bishops and so ordained by them saith the Council of Toledo When such Men were admitted to the Priesthood and other Holy Orders as were Idiots Unlearned and scarce able to read though way wardly and without Understanding not knowing when they read or prayed whether they blessed God or blasphemed him When the Church was stock'd with ignorant and wicked Men De corrupto statu Eccl. c. 11 12 13 25. and no Man learned in the Scriptures was advanced to great Dignities When the Parish-Priests could not read and scarce knew A from B and knew not the Words much less the Things they read saith Clemangis Declarat de
defect virorum Eccles q. 1. vid. etiam q. 22 74. Cent. 16. When Bishops of good Life and Doctrine were not chosen any where but carnal Men and ignorant of spiritual Things saith Gerson When ignorance of Tongues and all parts of good Language and neglect of the Study of Scriptures Epist ad Leo 10th were the Vices of the Age saith Mirandula When every where there was so great a Neglect of the Word as made it necessary that Faith should Perish In 2. Ep. ad Tim. c. 3. p. 116. saith Espencaeus When neither Greek nor Hebrew the only Languages in which the Scriptures were indited were understood by the Divines and the Disputers of Four Centuries Loc. com l. 2. c. 13. saith Canus When it was the Custom of the Age to make Priests and Bishops out of the most unlearned and irreligious Persons and the Bishops generally were more ignorant of the Scriptures than the People saith Duarenus De Sacr. Eccl. Ministr Benef l. 1. c. 11 q. P. 153 168. Hist of the Trent Council p. 784. When the Bishops assembled in the Trent Council had but little Understanding in Religion When few of them had any Knowledge in Theology saith F. Paul When the prevailing part were both unlearned and simple saith Dudithius If therefore false Traditions might so easily prevail Apud Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 24. even in the first and purest Ages of the Church as Irenaeus doth inform us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of the Simplicity and Ignorance of the Governours how much more might they carry all before them in those times of Aegyptian Darkness If two or three hundred Bishops in the more learned Ages of the Church could be so tamely bubbled by a few cunning Arians how easy might it be for Men of Credit in the thick Darkness of those times to lead the Blind into the Pit of Error Act. 2. p. 102. If the pretended Donation of Constantine though so gross a Cheat Dist 96. c. 14. Const Imperator could obtain so long and generally as to be urged in the Second Nicene Council and put into the Decretals If the decretal Epistles now generally acknowledged to be Forgeries were received as genuine for Eight hundred Years Sess 45. Sess 8. insomuch that the General Council of Constance condemneth them as Hereticks who reject them why might not many other spurious Pieces as useful to promote Popish Doctrines as these were to establish the Pope's Supremacy and the Veneration of Images prevail as generally in those darker Ages If the Credit of one Marianus Scotus made the whole West even for Five Centuries believe the Story of Pope Joan which cast so great an Infamy on St. Peter 's Chair why might not other things in favour of the Church of Rome Manual c. 11. n. 22. obtain an equal Credit by like Means If as Navar declares throughout the whole Church of Christ Multos passim invenias nihil magis explicite de hisce Symboli Articulis quos Ecclesia solemnizat credere quam Ethnicum philosophum you may find every where many who explicitely believe nothing more of the Articles of the Creed than a Heathen Philosopher must not such Men be ready to receive any thing suggested as an Article of Faith Is it to be expected that they should rise up with great Zeal in opposition to new Doctrines or conveigh them by oral Tradition to Posterity Lastly If Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Manners be to be decided even in General Councils by Scripture and Tradition is it impossible for Men so ignorant and void of any Knowledge of what the Scriptures or Tradition teach should pass wrong Judgment in these Matters Sixthly New Doctrines and Practices might easily prevail and silence all that Opposition which was or would have otherwise been made against them when Force and Violence was used to promote them and to suppress the contrary Doctrines and Traditions For though Force can do nothing to the Conviction of the Conscience or to clear up the Vnderstanding nor can the Fire or the Faggot give new Light unto it yet have those things a very powerful Influence upon the Fearful the Lovers of the World and of the Comforts of it to engage them outwardly and hypocritically to profess what they do not believe and to deny conceal or not profess what really they do believe hence doth the Scripture so often teach us that when Persecution did arise for the Truths Sake Matth. 13.21 the stony Ground would be offended that because Trouble would abound the Love of many would wax cold Matth. 24.12 Hence the Apostles were so sollicitous to arm their Proselytes against these fiery Trials so frequent in their Exhortations to Patience and Perseverance Hebr. 11 32-36 1 Thess 3.3 5. so desirous to know the Constancy of their Faith so careful that they might not be moved by their Afflictions Hence also under the Heathen Persecutions we find such sad and numerous Examples of Apostacy St. Cyprian complains that by the Fury of the Decian Persecution Christianity was much weakened Ep. 11. p. 23 26. Ep. 10. p. 22. that they were very few who then stood firm but they who languished were very numerous De lapsis §. 3. §. 5. p. 123 124. ed. Oxon. that the Church then with Tears lamented the Fall of very many that there was then a manifold Decay of that once numerous People which professed the Christian Faith yea that even at the first Onset of the threatning Enemy the greatest Number of the Brethren betrayed their Faith. Dionysius of Alexandria informs us That when the Edict of the Emperor came forth all the Christians were wonderfully terrified that presently through this Fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many of the most celebrated Christians came in to the impure and prophane Sacrifices some being called by Name some brought thither by their Friends some by their Office or the Example of others some of them so pale and trembling as if they had not come to sacrifice but to be sacrificed some came boldly denying they had ever been Christians some fled and others being caught clap'd into Prisons and into Irons Apud Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 41. presently abjured the Faith others as soon as they were brought before the Judges And Lastly others when they had suffered Torment valiantly for a while at length grew weary and renounced In the Persecution under Dioclesian Ibid. l. 8. c. 3. Eusebius saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Myriads out of Fear fell presently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the first Assault and what then may not be expected of this Nature in the declining Ages of the Church when that strict Discipline and self-denial which prepared the Christians of that Age for Sufferings was laid aside That Love of God which then was fervent waxed very cold and that Iniquity which renders it impossible Men should be willing to
historical Traditions shewed 1. In the Instance of our Lord's Birth Clauso utero § 4. Of his Age § 5. Of the penetration of his Body through the Doors and the Stone of the Sepulchre § 6. Of the Story of the Phoenix § 7. And of the Cells of the Seventy Interpreters § 8. Observe 3dly That we contend not with the Church of Rome touching Ecclesiastical Traditions concerning Ceremonials and unnecessary Observations but only touching necessary Rules of Faith and Manners § 9. FOR the right stating of this Question let it be considered 1. § 1 That we acknowledge That a Doctrine is neither more or less the Word of God for being written or unwritten for that Word which our Saviour spake unto the Jews was for a time unwritten and yet was nevertheless the Word of God because not written We also say there is no reason to dispute Whether the written or unwritten Word of God when equally known to be so is most to be relied on For the Word of God being therefore believed because known to us to be the Word of God must equally be believed in that Case whether it be written or unwritten Concil Trid. Sess 4. We do not therefore quarrel with the Church of Rome for saying That the Traditions which proceeded from the Mouth of Christ or his Apostles speaking by the Holy Spirit and preserved by a continual Succession in the Catholick Church are with the same Reverence and pious Affection to be received as what they writ But only desire them to prove the things which they affirm and we deny to have been thus delivered and then we promise to receive them as the Truths of Christ. And because Mr. M. hath the Confidence to say P. 397 398. That our Ministers usually so confound the Business that they make their Auditors even to startle when they tell them that we hold Tradition equal to Scripture whereas if they meant to deal really they should say what the Truth is that we do indeed equalize Tradition to Scripture and that we have all reason to do so To let him see how little reason he had to accuse us of corrupt Dealing in this Matter I will faithfully transcribe the Assertions of our most able Writers touching this Point Sect. 16. n. 20. Archbishop Laud declares That the Voice and Tradition of that Church which included in it Apostles Disciples and such as had immediate Revelation from Heaven was Divine and the Word of God from them is of like validity written or delivered Bishop Taylor owns Duct Dubit §. 2. c. 3. p. 484. That Tradition would be of the same use as Scripture is if the Tradition were from Christ and his Apostles and were as Certain as Vniversal as Credible as that is by which we are told that Scripture is the Word of God. We willingly grant saith Mr. Chillingworth Chap. 3. §. 45. vid. Chap. 2. §. 53 88. the Church to be as Infallible in her Traditions as the Scripture is if they be as Vniversal as the Tradition of the undoubted Books of Scripture is And again The Tradition of the Church you say must teach us what is Scripture and we are willing to believe it Answer to the Jes p. 35. Rat. p. 168 210 216. and now if you make it good unto us that the same Tradition down from the Apostles hath delivered from Age to Age and from Hand to Hand any Interpretation of any Scripture we are ready to embrace that also So also Bishop Vsher and Doctor Stillingfleet in his Rational Account frequently And therefore R. H. Guid. Disc 3. c. 11. p. 157. who was better acquainted with our Writings than Mr. M. declares That Protestants acknowledge a sufficient certainty of the Tradition concerning Scripture and consequently concerning all the Articles of Christian Faith that are built on Scripture upon which ground also they freely grant N. B. That if any other point wherein they dissent from Catholicks can be proved by as Universal a Tradition as that of the Scriptures they will subscribe to it We therefore manifestly do agree with Chrysostom Oecumenius and Theophylact when they say That the things delivered by the Mouth of the Apostles Oecum in 2. Thess ij 15. Chrysost ibid. Theophylact and by their Writings are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both worthy of Observation That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both equally deserve to be credited when we have equal certainty of both and therefore these passages are vainly cited against us by Mr. M. Let him once prove that the same Tradition tells us That the Apostles delivered the Points in Controversy betwixt us and the Church of Rome as Divine Verities by word of Mouth only and we are all his Humble Servants But alas he knows how vain and how impossible an attempt this would be § 2 and therefore thinks it better boldly to assert what he can never prove by saying P. 399. That our best and only assurance that the Scripture is the Word of God is that all the Christian world saith so but the same Tradition which tells us this tells us also that the Apostles delivered these and these Points to us as Divine Verities by word of Mouth viz. All the Traditions received as Apostolical in the Roman Church Now to reflect a little on this false Assertion and to expose this way of Arguing 1. Put it into the Mouth of a Jew and it thus pleads for those Traditions which our Lord condemned and by which they condemned him The best and only Assurance which you Jewish Christians can have that the Scripture of the Old Testament is the Word of God is that all the Jews say so but the same Tradition which tells us this tells us also That Moses and the Prophets delivered these and these Points to us as Divine Verities by word of Mouth which your Jesus rejected as vain Worship and as the Doctrines of Men 1 Pet. 1.18 and your St. Peter mentions as Traditions received from our Fathers though he stiles them vain you therefore must have equal Reason to receive those Traditions which condemn your Jesus and shew he could not be the true Messiah as to own those Scriptures of the Old Testament which say you Prophesied of him 2. Though we grant the Attestation of the whole Christian World to be a very good assurance of any necessary Article of Christian Faith yet have we more assurance that the Scriptures are the Word of God than so As 1. The necessity that the Christian Revelation should be preserved in some Records and the assurance that we have that it hath been preserved to us in no other The necessity I say that the Christian Revelation should be preserved in some Records for if St. Paul thought it necessary to write to the Church of Rome Rom. xv 15. 2 Cor. i. 13. to put them in remembrance of the Grace given to him as also to send in writing
Whereas the Church declared against Pope Stephen That in this matter of the Rebaptizing Hereticks the various Customs which had obtained were to be permitted without breach of Communion and Christian Peace that the Custom of every Region was to be followed and the obtaining practice to be submitted to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Orders sake that it was to be done or left undone suitably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to what should generally be ordered concerning it Hence in all matters of this indifferency and obscurity Ad Amphil. can 1. De unit fidei c. 19. in which saith Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing plainly is declared we admit that saying of St. Austin That Hereticks must be received as the Church receives them there being as he adds no clear Example to be produced from Scripture either way and with him we acknowledge Contr. Crescon l. 1. c. 33. That the Truth of Scripture is held by us when we do that which doth please the Church because we know from Scripture that God is the God of Order not of Confusion and that in matters of this indifferency that of the Apostle 1 Cor. xiv 33. 1. Cor. xi 16. We have no such Custom neither the Churches of God must cut off farther matter of Contention but then in Articles of Christian Faith we with the same St. Austin say De peccat mer. remiss l. 2. c. 36. Credo quod hinc divinorum eloquiorum clarissima Authoritas fuisset si homo illud sine dispendio salutis ignorare non possit We believe that the Authority of the Divine Oracles would have been most clear had the matter been such of which we could not have been ignorant without loss of Salvation Moreover though St. Austin doth acknowledge that no Example could be produced from Scripture in this Case yet he pretendeth Scripture for the right and lawfulness of the said Practice For saith he That I may not seem De Bapt. contr Donatistas l. 10. c. 6. Tom. 7. p. 379. humanis Argumentis id agere to prove the Right of receiving Hereticks without Baptism only by humane Arguments ex Evangelio profero certa documenta I produce certain proofs out of the Gospel to shew how rightly this was determined by the Church And again having said Ibid. l. 4. c. 7. p. 419. We follow that which the Custom of the Church always held and a plenary Council hath confirmed he adds That bene perspectis ex utroque latere Scripturarum Testimoniis potest etiam dici quod veritas declaravit Tot tantisque S. Scripturarum testimoniis l. 5. c. 4. Divinarum Scripturarum d◠cumentis l. 6. c. 1. hoc sequimur weighing well the Testimonies of Scripture on both sides it may also be said that we follow that which Truth hath declared From whence and many other places of his works it is evident that even in hae obscurissima quaestione in this most obscure Question as he often stiles it he recurrs for matter of Right to Scripture and weighs it in the Balance of the Sanctuary Thirdly § 24 Hence it is evident beyond all doubt that the Church of that Age in which this Controversie happened knew nothing or at least believed nothing of the New Rule of R. H. That in Judges subordinate dissenting all Christians must adhere to the Superior in those of the same Order and Dignity to the major part since all these Africans and Orientals not only take the liberty to dissent from what the Pope and all the Churches which adher'd to him held as Apostolical Tradition but also to condemn it as a thing contrary to the plain evidence of Scripture and to decree the contrary should be observed and practised For had such a Rule been then received and owned by the Church of Christ could all the Christian Churches besides that of Rome have still maintain'd Communion with those Southern and those Eastern Churches who did so resolutely oppose and flatly contradict this Rule Could they have thus condemned Pope Stephen of violating the Churches Peace and unity for acting consonantly to this Rule by renouncing Communion with them who were provided that this Rule be true manifest Schismaticks Could St. Denys of Alexandria have told the Pope he durst not by acting contrary to the Decrees made at Iconium and Synnada provoke those Churches to Contention if doing so had only been to act according to a Rule always received and owned by the Church of Christ Could St. Basil have judged it best for every one to follow herein the Custom of their own Country in opposition to this Rule Could Firmilian have charged the Pope with Schism Could Cyprian and the Council of Carthage have charged him with Tyranny for pressing a received Rule in the whole Church These sure are demonstrations that this pretended Rule is like the rest of Popish Doctrines a Rule with which the Ancient Church of Christ was not acquainted Fourthly Hence evident it is That all the Churches of that Age knew nothing of the Pope's Supremacy nothing of any Obligation laid upon them to conform to the Doctrines Decrees and Customs of the Roman Church and her adherents and lastly nothing of that pretended Law that Synods were not to assemble and make Canons without consulting of his Holiness Since all these Synods made these Canons either without his Knowledge or else in opposition to Unusquisque Episcoporum quod putat faciat c. Ep. 73. p. 210. and condemnation of the Decrees and Customs both of the Pope and Church of Rome and others told him They thought themselves obliged notwithstanding all his Threats to act according to their Sentence and durst not rescind it Had they believed the Pope's Supremacy in that Age would they have declared so freely as St. Cyprian doth Neque enim quisquam nostrum Episcopum se Episcoporum constituit aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigit Apud Cypr. p. 229. Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. p. 217 218 225 227 228. for the Liberty of every Bishop to act as he saw fit in this matter and said that he was only to give account to God of his proceedings Could they with the Council of Carthage have esteemed it such a tyrannical Matter for the Pope to act as Bishop of Bishops Could Firmilian have accused him so pertly of Inhumanity Insolence and Boldness in this Case Could he have judged him a downright Schismatick for acting as he did Could all the forementioned Bishops so freely have reproved him and dissented from him and judged it their Duty rather to adhere to the decisions of Provincial Synods than to his Determination Could they have thought themselves obliged to adhere to the Decrees Ubique a S. Scripturis declaratum est Baptisma Haereticorum non esse verum Ep. 7. the Doctrines or Customs of the Roman Church and yet declare as doth St. Cyprian and his Africans That the Decrees and Practice of
Lib. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Apostles and their Disciples The true and life-giving Faith quam ab Apostolis Ecclesia percepit distribuit filiis suis Lib. 3. c. 1. Apol. c. 47. which the Church received from the Apostles and distributes to her Sons It saith Tertullian is the Rule of Truth quae venit à Christo transmissa per comites ejus which came from Christ and was by his Companions handed down to us De praescrip Cap. 9. Cap. 14. Cap. 21. Epist ad Jov. Tom. p. 246 247. Pag. 501. Epist 81. The Institution of Christ which all Nation ought to believe Regula à Christo instituta The Rule prescribed by Christ and which the Churches received from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ This saith Athanasius is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine and Apostolical Faith which was preached from the beginning It is saith Cyril of Jerusalem the Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Holy and Apostolick Faith. Is is saith Ambrose the Symbol of the Faith of the Apostles which Symbol the Church of Rome keeps undefiled Ruffinus in his Exposition of this Symbol saith Apud Hieron Tom. 4. f. 46. That their Ancestors left to them this Tradition that the Apostles being to depart one from the other did first agree upon this as the Rule of what they afterwards should preach and determined hanc credentibus dandam esse regulam this should be given as a Rule to Believers and as an Index of their Faith by which he should be known qui Christum vere secundùm Apostolicas regulas praedicaret who preached Christ truly according to the Rules of the Apostles It is saith Austin De Temp. Serm. 181. To. 10. p. 984. certa Regula Fidei the sure Rule of Faith which the Apostles delivered And then he proceeds almost in the very words of Ruffinus De Off. Eccles l. 2. c. 22. to declare That this was the Tradition of the Ancients Isidore Hispalensis saith Tali ratione institutum majores nostri dixerunt Our Ancestors have said that the Apostles Creed was instituted after this manner and then he goes on in the very words of Ruffinus to the end of that Chapter De instit Cler. l. 1. c. 27. l. 2. c. 56. Rabanus Maurus also hath transcribed the same words and in them brought down the Tradition to the Ninth Century And to return to the Age following Ruffinus Pope Leo tells us Ep. 96. This is the short and perfect Confession of the Symbol which is signed with the twelve Sentences of the Apostles Praefat. ad Expos Symb. Apost Apud Ivon decret part 1. c. 35 36. Venantius Fortunatus in the Sixth Century informs us That this is the Symbol which they among themselves wholesomely made by the assistance of the Holy Spirit It is saith venerable Bede the Symbol of Faith delivered by the Apostles 3. It is also evident from Tradition § 6 that Christians were received into the Church by Baptism on the profession of this Faith or that this only was the Faith which they required them to believe and to profess at Baptism Justin Martyr saith only in the general That as many as believed Apol. 2. p. 93. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the things which were said and taught by Christians were true were admitted by Baptism among the number of Christians But Irenaeus his Cotemporary L. 1. c. 1. p. 40. gives us the Creed delivered by the Apostles and says it was the undeclinable Rule of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Christian received by Baptism and the preaching of that Truth by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church illuminates all that are willing to come to the knowledge of the Truth L. 7. c. 40 41. The Apostolical Constitutions tell the Priest what the Catechist who is to be Baptized must renounce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the things which cencern his being Listed among Christians Now they are these I rank my self among the Souldiers of Christ and I believe I am Baptized into the one unbegotten only true God c. And after he hath made profession of this Creed he is to be Anointed and Baptized Can. 46. The Council of Laodicea saith That they who are to be Baptized must first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 learn the Faith and recite it to the Bishop or his Presbyter The Seventy eighth Canon of the Sixth General Council saith the same thing Now what it is to learn the Faith we know from all the Fathers of those times who do with one consent inform us that the Catechists were prepared for Baptism by being taught the Creed the Symbol or the Rule of Faith delivered and taught by the Apostles and afterwards explained by that of Nice or of Constantinople and that they were Baptized into the profession of this Creed Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 18. Sozomen and Gelasius inform us that a plain Lay-man and Confessor undertook to confute a Philosopher in the Council of Nice Gelas Cyz l. 2. c. 13. And that he did this by repeating of his Creed saying to the Philosopher There is one God who having made all things sustained them by his Word and holy Spirit This word O Philosopher we adore knowing him to be the Son of God and believing that for our Redemption he was incarnate of a Virgin and was born and was made Man and that by his Death and Passion on the Cross he delivered us from eternal condemnation and by his Resurrection he purchased for us Life eternal whom being ascended into Heaven we hope that he will come again to be judge of all our Actions And that the Philosopher answering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syn. Const sub Menna Act 5. Bin. Tom. 4. P. 78 82. He believed this the Confessor bid him then follow him to the Church to be Baptized at which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nicene Synod rejoiced From both which Instances we learn what was the Symbol into which Christians were Baptized when that Council met and which they owned as sufficient for that end Eusebius Caesariensis speaks thus of his own Creed approved by the Nicene Council As we have received from the Bishops that were before us Socr. Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 8. p 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both when we were Catechized and when we received Baptism and as we have learned from the Scriptures and as we have both believed and taught when we were made Priests and Bishops so believing at present we declare this our Faith unto you The Council of Constantinpole confirms the Nicene Confession of Faith as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 9. being most ancient and annexed to Baptism Con. Constant sub Menna Act. 5. Bin. Tom. 4. p. 78 87 85. 91 96. The Synod of Jerusalem says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Symbol into which we were Baptized and
to Cardinal Campejus he speaks thus Videham ut quisque esset integerrimis moribus Evangelicae puritati proximus ita minime infensum Luthero Lib. 14. p. 446. I heard excellent Men of approved Doctrine and Religion rejoice that they met with that Man's Books and I saw that as any man was more upright in his Life or nearer to Evangelical purity he was the less offended with Luther And in the same Epistle he adds Pag. 448. that he conceived it not convenient presently to be incensed against a Man with whose Writings so many excellent Governors so many Learned and pious Men were delighted L. 15. p. 492. In his Epistle to Godeschallus he saith That he did not defend him even then cum non decessent maximi Theologi qui non vererentur affirmare nihil esse in Luthero quin per probatos Authores posset defendi when the greatest Divines were not afraid to affirm that there was nothing in Luther which might not be defended by approved Authors And lastly he himself declares Hausit pleraque ex veteribus Epist l. 14. p. 447. That Luther gathered most of his Tenets from the Ancients and that had he named the Ancients from whom he had them he would have avoided much of that envy which then lay upon him To proceed to the particular Controversies in the Order in which they are mentioned in the Articles of Religion subscribed by our Clergy Holy Scripture saith our Sixth Article § 2 containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation So that besides the same Art. 21. the Church ought not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation Agreeably to this Article the Bishop of Rhodes disputing with the Greeks in the Council of Florence speaks thus in the behalf of the Western Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bin. Tom. 8. Concil Florent Sess 7. p. 609. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. I desire you Greeks to satisfie me in this Question Doth not the Gospel perfectly contain the Doctrine of Christian Faith Surely saith he the Reverence you bear to it will not permit you to affirm that the Faith is not perfectly contained there And that is true and not denied by us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. which the Bishop of Ephesus said That the Fathers had inclosed the Gospel and the Holy Scripture so that it should by no means be lawful to add to them And whereas the the Bishop of Ephesus had said That the Evangelists did not forbid that any thing should be added to what they had written This saith he with his leave cannot be said of Holy Scripture for the Apostle Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. i. 9. If any Man preach any thing besides what you have received let him be Anathema And St. John in the end of his Revelations saith If any one add to these things God shall add to him the Plagues which are written in this Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Sess 8. p. 630. Nicenus also on the part of the Greeks saith We draw all divine Doctrines from the Fountains of the Holy Scriptures which are the principles and the foundations of our Faith to which nothing ever was or ever shall be added by us or any other Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Flor. Sess 25. p. 783. Time was saith the Archbishop of Nice in his Oration made at that time and place when the Church the Spouse of God was without spot or wrinkle viz. when we made more account of the simple and not curious Faith delivered as it lay in the Gospel and regarding that superfluous and talkative Divinity which is the fruit of our own Reasonings less than the Sacred Oracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we attend only to what was written delighting in the things spoken by the Holy Spirit and being compacted in one by them So that it seems by these plain words that both the East and West were then of the same Judgment with the Church of England in this Article It is declared saith John Gerson by the Authority of Dionysius Declaratur ex Authoritate Dionysii dicentis nihil audendum dicere de divinis nisi quae nobis a Scriptura S. tradita sunt quoniam Scriptura nobis tradita est tanquam Regula sufficiens infallibilis pro regimine totius Ecclesiastici corporis Lib. de Exam. Doctr. secunda parte princip consid 1. That we must not dare to say any thing of Divine Things but that which is delivered to us from the Holy Scriptures of which the Reason is That the Scripture is delivered to us as a Rule sufficient and infallible for the Government of the whole Ecclesiastical Body and Members of it to the End of the World. The Holy Scripture saith Gabriel Biel is according to B. Gregory In Can. Miss Lect. 71. f. 200. Edit 1510. as the Mouth of God quia per eam loquitur Deus omnia quae vult a nobis fieri because by it God speaketh all things which he would have done by us Gregory the Great saith Molinaeus asserts Asserit Haereseos labe inquinatos qui extra S. Scripturas aliquid docent aut proferunt c. Lib. de Concil Trid. §. 17. That they are infected with the filth of Heresie who teach or produce any thing beyond the Holy Scriptures I mean in those things which appertain to the Substance of Faith and Doctrine The Sorbon Doctor who set forth the French Testament printed at Mons A. D. 1672. informs us Praeface 1 2. That St. Austin considered the Holy Scripture as the Treasure of Divinity and as the Source of all those Truths which a Man ought to know for the Edification of himself or the Instruction of others And speaking of the mixture of profound places with those which are proportioned to the capacity of the most simple he saith That which ought to comfort us in this obscurity is that according to St. Augustin the Holy Scripture proposeth to us all that is necessary for the conduct of our Life in a manner easie and intelligible that it explicates and clears up it self by speaking that clearly in some places which it saith obscurely in others The Guide of Controversies saith Guid. Disc 2. §. 40. n. 2. That as for the sufficiency or the entireness of the Scriptures for the containing of all those Points of Faith which are simply necessary of all Persons to be believed for attaining Salvation Catholicks deny it not And for this he cites among many other R. Doctors this saying of Aquinas In doctrina Christi 22. qu. 1. Art. 9. Apostolorum he means Scripta veritas fidei est sufficienter explicata In the written Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the
18 it is said That the Sacrifices of Masses in the which it was commonly said That the Priest did offer Christ for the Quick and the Dead to have Remission of Pain or Guilt were blasphemous Fables and dangerous Deceits Now of this Sacrifice the Trent Council teacheth 1. Corpus Sanguinem suum sub Speciebus panis vini Deo patri obtulit Sess 22. cap. 1. That Christ offered his Body and Blood under the Species of Bread and Wine to God the Father 2. That the same Christ in this Divine Sacrifice Idem ille Christus incruente immolatur qui in ara crucis semel seipsum cruente obtulit c. 2. Una enim eademque est hostia idem nunc offertur Sacerdotum ministerio qui seipsum tunc in carne obtulit Ibid. Can. 1. Can. 3. P. 510. is unbloodily offered who bloodily once offered himself upon the Altar of the Cross 3. That therefore the Holy Synod teacheth that this Sacrifice is truly propitiatory because one and the same Host is now offered by the Ministry of the Priests who then offered himself upon the Cross 4. That therefore if any Person saith That in the Mass there is not offered to God Verum proprium Sacrificium a true and proper Sacrifice or that the Sacrifice of the Mass is only a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving aut nuda commemoratio Sacrificii in cruce peracti or a naked commemoration of the Sacrifice performed on the Cross and not a propitiatory Sacrifice let him be accursed Now as to the first of these Particulars the Author of the History of the Trent Council doth inform us That almost an equal Number of the Divines there denyed that Christ in the Institution of this Supper offered himself for if so the Oblation of the Cross say they would have been superfluous because Mankind would have been redeemed by that of the Supper which went before They alledged also That neither the Scripture nor the Canon of the Mass nor any Council ever said that Christ offered himself in the Supper saying P. 536. That it was not a time to ground ones self upon things uncertain and upon New Opinions never heard nor thought of by Antiquity and that when i◠was decreed that Christ did offer himself Twenty three Bishops did contradict it He adds That the Bishop of Veglia said P. 519. That he that maintaineth a propitiatory Sacrifice in the Supper must needs confess that by it we are redeemed and not by his Death which is contrary to Scripture and to Christian Doctrine And That the Bishop perswaded so many that it was almost the common Opinion not to make mention of the propitiatory Sacrifice offered by Christ in the Supper Now by the Confutation of this First Proposition the Second and the Third must be entirely confuted As for the Third and Fourth the same Bishop teacheth Ibid. that one propitiatory Sacrifice being offered if it be sufficient to expiate no other is offered but only for Thanksgiving And suitable to this Assertion it is determined by Peter Lombard in Answer to that Question Si quod gerit Sacerdos proprie dicatur Sacrificium vel immolatio si Christus quotidie immoletur Sent. l. 4. dist 12. lit G. vel semel tantum immolatus sit Whether the Action of the Priest may properly be called a Sacrifice or whether Christ be offered daily or was once only offered I say in answer to this Question it is determined by him That what is offered and consecrated by a Priest is called a Sacrifice and Oblation Quia memoria est representatio veri Sacrificii Sanctae immolationis factae in ara crucis because it is the Memorial and Representation of the true Sacrifice and Holy Immolation which was made upon the Altar of the Cross And that Christ is daily offered in the Sacrament Quia in Sacramento recordatio fit illius quod semel factum est because in the Sacrament is made a Remembrance of that which was once done and that what we do is recordatio Sacrificii a Remembrance of that Sacrifice Aquinas saith That the Celebration of this Sacrament is stiled an Offering of Christ for Two Reasons First Because as Austin to Simplicius saith Images are wont to be called by the Names of those Things of which they are Images In Sum. part 3. q. 83. Art. 1. Celebratio autem hujus Sacramenti imago quaedam est representativa passionis Christi quae est vera ejus immolatio and the Celebration of this Sacrament is an Image representing the Passion of Christ which is the true Oblation Secondly As to the Effect of this Passion to wit because by this Passion we are made Partakers of the Fruit of the Lord's Passion In cap. 1. Es P. 34. Arias Montanus saith Non Sacrificium illud offerimus sed illud ipsum Christi representamus We do not offer that same Sacrifice of Christ but we represent it In Hebr. 10. We must affirm saith Lyranus That there is no Reiteration of the Sacrifice of the Altar there but a daily Commemoration of that one Sacrifice which was offered on the Cross Our Thirty-second Article Asserts § 19 That it is lawful for Bishops Priests and Deacons to marry at their own Discretion Accordingly Vdalricus Bishop of Ausburg the First of that Name in his Epistle to Pope Nicholas the First tells him That the First Council of Nice approved the Sentence of Paphnutius Apud Calixt de conjug Cleric p. 445 446. discarding the Imposition of this Law upon the Clergy and left this Matter Uniuscujusque voluntati to every Mans Will adding that the Law of Celebacy which Pope Nicholas then indeavoured to impose upon the Clergy was Communi omnium sapientum judicio violentia in the common Judgment of all Wise Men Dist 31. a Violence Gratian confesseth that there was a time Cum nondum erat institutum when it was not enjoined that Priests should contain Yea saith he from the Authority of Pelagius the First it is apparent that Priests Dist 28. c. 13. Deacons and Subdeacons Licite matrimonio uti possunt may lawfully use Matrimony And to the Canons of the Councils of Neocaesarea and Ancyra which approved of their Marriage he answers First That they were made Cum nondum erat introducta continentia Ministrorum Altaris when the Continency of the Ministers of the Altar was not yet introduced Secondly That they were made in the East and that Orientalis Eccesia non suscepit votum Castitatis the Eastern Church received not the Vow of Chastity Cap. 13. and in his Fifty-eighth Distinction he expresly saith Sacerdotibus ante prohibitionem ubique licita erant conjugia That before the Prohibition it was every where lawful for Priests to marry and in the Oriental Church it is lawful for them at present so to do where the Gloss observes That it is plain that Gratian was of this Opinion Aliquando in
were all confirmed and even ascribed to the Holy Spirit by the general Council held in Trullo and by the Second Nicene Council or who now thinks himself obliged by that Text to do so Fifthly Who knows not that anciently it was esteemed § 10 by the whole Church a thing unlawful for a Bishop Presbyter or any of the Clergy to go from one Church or Diocess to another The first Nicene Council declares That some Can. 15. who before their sitting had done this did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Canon and decrees That for the future neither Bishop Priest or Deacon shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go from City to City Can 21. The Council of Antioch approved by the whole Church renews the same Decree The Council of Sardica represents the Attempt of such a Change as Can. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most pernicious Custom to be pulled up by the Roots and as a Wickedness which deserved Translationes ab Ecclesia ad Majores apud Hilar. Frag. p. 437. Can. 1. Apud Athanas Apol. p. 744. Ep. 84. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be severely punished and therefore they declare That they who made such Changes should be excluded even from Lay-Communion and they object these Translations to the Arians as their great Crime The General Council of Chalcedon confirms all the Canons made touching this Matter by these Councils Pope Julius not only condemns this Transmigration but saith That he who practiseth it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 despise the Station God hath given him Pope Leo adds That he who doth so shall not only be expell'd from the Chair he had invaded Sed carebit propria but shall be deprived of his own Pope Damasus declares That he will have no Communion with such Persons Moreover this Practice they condemn as Spiritual Adultery declaring That the Church to which the Bishop or the Priest is chosen is his Wife which therefore he cannot dismiss and take another without Adultery Thus the Synod of Alexandria accuse Eusebius of Nicomedia for going from Berytus to that City as having forfeited his Bishoprick and committed Adultery against the Import of that Precept Apud Athanas Apol. 2. p. 727. Art thou bound to Wife seek not to be loosed which if it be said of a Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how much more of a Church of the same Bishoprick to which one being tied ought not to seek another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Binium Tom. 4. p. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 15. That he may not be found also an Adulterer according to the Holy Scriptures In the Synod under Mennas it was also laid to the Charge of Anthimus That having been Bishop of Trabisond he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adulterously snatch that of Constantinople against the Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons Apud Regin de Eccles discipl l. 1. c. 250. Pope Calixtus from the same Scripture determines That if a Bishop or Priest leave his Church or Parish which is his Wife bound to him whilst he lives he commits Spiritual Adultery And suitably to the Determinations of so many Councils they who refused to be thus promoted were highly commended as observing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vita Constant l. 3. c. 61. the Commands of God and the Canons of the Apostles and the Church Thus when upon the Deposition of Eustathius Bishop of Antioch they would have preferred Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea to that See he refused the Offer Sozom. Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 19. because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of the Church forbad it and this Fact Constantine commended as acceptable to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb ibid. and agreeable to the Tradition of the Church But they who did transgress this Canon were removed from that See they were translated to though never so well deserving of the Church Thus Gregory Nazianzen though removed from Sasima to Constantinople by the Emperor though he had laboured so much in that Church to convert the Heathens he found there and hinder the Endeavours of the Hereticks yet the General Council of Constantinople observing saith Sozomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 7. the Laws of the Fathers and the Ecclesiastical Order took his Bishoprick from him no ways regarding the great Merits of the Person But who now in the Church of Christ regards these Canons of so many General Councils or looks upon it as a Crime to admit of or even sue for a Translation from a less Bishoprick to a greater It were easy to shew the like Difference betwixt the Practice and Judgment of the present Church and that of former Ages touching the corporal and pecuniary Punishments of Men for difference in Religion which they of former Ages most plainly disapproved of touching the Suffrage of the People being requisite to the Election of their Bishop which they expresly did assert disowning such pretended Bishops as wanted the Consent and Suffrage of the People to omit many other Instances which might be easily produced to shew that Doctrines and Practices have passed for currant and even Apostolical in former Ages which are now utterly rejected and disapproved of in this present Age. But Lastly though when the whole Church is unanimous § 11 nd all her Members do agree in the asserting any Doctrine as an Article of Christian Faith necessary to be owned by all Christians the Plea from the concurring Judgment of the Church is highly plausible and never ought without the clearest Evidence of Reason or of Scripture to be gainsaid nor hath the Church of England ever disowned any such Doctrine yet when whole Churches or Nations are divided in their Sentiments concerning any Doctrine and Number may be pleaded by both Parties then say we with the Fathers That we must have Recourse unto the Scriptures This is at present visibly the State and the Condition of the Church of Christ she agrees now in nothing but the Apostles and the Nicene Creed there is East against West and West against East Protestant against Papist and Papist against Protestant Now in this case the ancient Fathers of the Church declare it is our only safe and prudent Course to fly as doth the Church of England to the Holy Scriptures and to primitive Antiquity and say That a Necessity is laid upon us so to do Thus Hippolytus or whosoever is the Author of that Book which bears his Name having given an Account of the Prevalence which Antichrist shall have clearly insinuates That the best Preservative against him is P. 60. Scripturas audire to hear the Scriptures and that Christ will pronounce them Blessed who have done so And that they who do not Diligenter legere Scriptures P. 13. diligently read the Scriptures shall run up and down saying Where is Christ and shall not find him The