discourses in that very Book against Manichaeus (q) Cap. XIV contra Epist quam vocant Fundamenti his Letter from whence the fore-named saying I had not believed the Gospel unless the Churches Authority had moved me to it is wont at every turn to be objected to us by those of the Romish perswasion Thou dost nothing but praise what thou believest and deride what I believe Now since I can be even with thee and do the very same praise what I believe and deride what thou believest what is to be done but that we leave and relinquish those who invite us to know things certain and afterwards require us to believe things uncertain let those of the Roman Church mark this and that we follow them who invite us first to believe that which we cannot yet see into that being made stronger in the Faith it self we may come to understand what we believe NOT MEN NOW BUT GOD HIMSELF INWARDLY ESTABLISHING AND ILLUMINATING OUR MIND It is impossible to read this passage and not see that this Father thought our Faith is not ultimately resolved into the Testimony of the Church but by that being invited to believe the Holy Scriptures we are established upon the serious reading of them in the Christian Faith and Knowledge of the Truth by God himself Upon whose Word in the Holy Scripture and not upon Men we bottom our Faith. Upon the Testimony and Authority of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and the Testimony of divine Men inspired by them who by Miracles and Signs and mighty Deeds and a prophetical Spirit proved themselves to be sent of God and have left his Mind and Will upon Record in the Scriptures of Truth Which the Church indeed in all parts of the World hath kept and preserved and faithfully transmitted down to us and now propounds to our Faith but it is not merely what the Church saith that makes us believe but what God himself saith in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ saith concerning his rising from the Dead and sending the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles Which being fulfilled evidently proved him to be the Son of God the Saviour of the World and them to be his Apostles and Ministers who declared to Men the true way of Salvation So the Church directs and guides us to the Scriptures of Truth but they resolve and assure our Faith being the very Word of God. The authority of God's Church is the first motive which leads us to esteem the Scriptures but being led thither we find in the matter of them that which gives us full satisfaction by bestowing our pains in reading or hearing and considering the Mysteries contained therein The Church holds out this light to us but it is by this light that we see what is the mind and will of God. To this the Church points us and bids us attend to it for this it disposes and prepares us it leads us by the hand to this as the only sure foundation of our Faith because herein we find God himself speaking to us and moreover by the Ministery of the Church we are assisted in understanding the sence of the Holy Scriptures but they contain in themselves that Divine Authority and Truth whereby we come to a certain Faith. The Church tells us such and such things are true and we find them to be so by examining the Scriptures Which the Beraeans searched daily whether those things were so which the Apostles preached and therefore many of them believed not merely because the Apostles told them they ought so to do but because they found what they said in the Holy Scriptures XVII Act. 11 12. And so far as any Church speaks according to the truth contained therein it is to be believed and followed But if it bring no Divine word for its warrant if it propound other Doctrines which are not there it hath no authority to make such Doctrines the matter of our Faith much less to set up its own authority above the Scriptures as they do who say The Scriptures receive their authority from the Church Which is the Doctrine of no less Men than Baronius and Bellarmine to name no more The former of (r) Ad Annum 53 〈◊〉 X XI which argues that because we receive these Holy Books to be writings of the Apostles and Evangelists and not forged under their Names upon the testimony of the Church therefore all the writings of the New Testament received their authority from the Churches tradition which is fundamentum Scripturarum as he ventures to say the foundation of the Scriptures The other (s) L. 2. de Sacrament C. 25. Tertium is no less positive that if we take away the authority of the present Church and the present Council we call in doubt the whole Christian Faith. For the firmness of all ancient Councils and of all Doctrines depends upon the authority of the present Church This is very presumptuous talk for by the Church they mean themselves and then by the testimony of the Church that is their own testimony they mean such a Divine witness as assures us by its own authority without any other proof Which are the great points of difference between us in this matter For we assert first that the office of leading Men to the Holy Scriptures and so to Faith belongs to every Church as much as to them and secondly that no Church can bring People to Faith by its own testimony and authority but by the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures nor is any Church whatsoever to be heard in matters of Divine Truth further than it can prove its Doctrines by the authority of God's Word and teaches things agreeable thereunto II. Which leads to the Second thing briefly to shew what power and authority the Church cannot pretend unto in matters of Faith. 1. And first it appears by what hath been said that it hath not a Soveraign Absolute Prophetical authority independent upon the Rule of the Holy Scriptures so that we must take whatsoever it saith for true without consulting them This is the ambitious pretence of the great Doctors of the Roman Church who give the Church meaning thereby the present Roman Church an authority over all things not depending on the Scriptures but upon which the Scriptures themselves depend So that without the authority of this Church all truth is doubtful Which is a manifest principle of Infidelity making all Religion stand to the courtesie of a company of Men who in such matters are the least to be trusted of all other Christians that we are acquainted withall 2. The Church hath no authority to propound any Doctrine as necessary to Salvation which is not delivered in the Holy Scriptures but depends solely on the authority of its own Tradition This is another of their ambitious attempts who having arrogated to themselves alone the whole power of the Church make that power so unlimited that it can supply the
shows that the Ancient Christians lookt upon the Church as the Pillar and Ground of Truth no other ways but as it professes preaches establishes and keeps up the Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles recorded in the Holy Scriptures unto all which they indifferently apply these words of S. Paul which are thought immediately to speak of the Church which supports the Truth delivered in the Holy Scriptures from Christ and from his Apostles Upon which account the Creed also which is a comprehensive breviary of the great Scripture Doctrines is wont to have the same attribute given to it Particularly by Epiphanius (m) In Exposit fidei Cathol n. 19. who calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pillar as the Greek word signifies in good Authors or prop of Truth c. our life our hope and the assurance of immortality And by S. Austin (n) De Symbolo ad Catechum L. III. C. 1. who tells the Catechumens in his Exposition of the Creed to them that it is fidei Catholicae fundamentum c. the Foundation of the Catholique Faith upon which the edifice of the Church arose built by the hands of the Apostles and Prophets Which hath made some learned Men (o) Jo. Camer Jac. Capellus refer these words of S. Paul not to what goes before but to the words following making a full stop at God and then beginning a new sentence in this manner The Pillar and Ground of the Truth and without Controversie great is the mystery of godliness c. which reading is countenanced by a Greek Edition of the New Testament at Basil 1540. where the words are so pointed as if the sence were this God incarnate and the great Truths depending thereupon ought to be the very Foundation of the Doctrine thou preachest The Doctrines of the Creed that is are the very Foundation and Pillars of the Christian Faith as the Jews it is known call the great principle of their Religion the Foundation of the Foundation the Pillar of Wisdom as Maimon speaks when he treats of this matter Stick close therefore to the Holy Scriptures and to these Articles of the Faith in the Apostles Creed which are the fundamental truths of Christianity it appears by what I have now said by which the Church maintains and defends the Truth and the Truth upholds the Church and we defend both Hold this fast as the ground of all and likewise lay up the word of God in your heart that it may setle there and take root and bring forth fruit unto Holiness that your end may be everlasting Life Make the Holy Scriptures your Rule and trust to them according to what the Son of Sirach saith of its ancient Books Ecclus XXXIII 3. A Man of understanding trusts in the Law and the Law is faithful to him as an Oracle or as the asking of Vrim That is here he may enquire and have a certain answer which will not deceive him Show your selves such Men of understanding as to enquire no where else And if any Church or Person would have you enquire of them only take that for an undoubted proof they are not to be trusted If they would not guide you by the Holy Scriptures that is by Christ the way as you have seen who hath shown us no where else that we know of what we ought to believe if they would have you follow their ungrounded Traditions whereby they would inlarge your Creed beyond the ancient bounds know that you ought not to follow them nor be led by them For such may soon cease to be the pillars and supporters of the Truth because they leave that whereby they should support it and place themselves whom they call the Church in the stead of it An evident sign they are not what they pretend for the Church it self ought to be demonstrated by the Scriptures So S. Austin (p) L. de Vnitate Ecclesiae cap. XVI tells the Donatists in those known words which are worthy to be preserved in remembrance Setting aside all such things as these which he had said they could likewise alledge let them demonstrate their Church if they can not in the discourses and rumours of the Africans not in the Councils of their Bishops not in the Letters of any disputers whatsoever not in signs and fallacious wonders for we are prepared and rendred cautious against these by the word of the Lord but in the prescript of the Law in the predictions of the Prophets in the Songs of the Psalms in the words of the SHEPHERD himself i. e. Christ in the preachings and labours of the Evangelists that is in all the Canonical authorities of the holy Books Let this be done so as not to gather and relate those things which are obscurely or ambiguously or figuratively spoken there which every one may interpret as he pleases according to his own sense For such things cannot be rightly understood and expounded unless those things which are most clearly spoken be first held by a firm Faith. This is the very sense of the Church of England which teaches all her members first to hold by a firm Faith those things which are clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures and by them to understand and expound those things that are more obscurely delivered believing nothing to be necessary which is not read therein nor may be proved thereby nor receiving the Doctrines and Decrees of any Church unless it may be declared that they be taken from thence For haec sunt causae nostrae documenta haec fundamenta haec firmamenta as he there speaks you heard before These are the proofs of our Cause these are its foundations these are its supports And therefore as he also speaks in another Chapter of the same Book (q) Cap. III. de Vnitate Ecclesiae which he begins thus Let us not hear such speeches as these These things say I Those things sayest thou but let us hear These things saith the LORD These are certainly Books of the Lord to whose authority we both consent we both believe we both obey There let us seek the Church there let us discuss our Cause And let us not so much as think of looking after any other Articles of Faith but those which were from the beginning which our Church firmly believes in the three Creeds Nice-Creed Athanasius and that commonly called the Apostles (r) Article VIII because they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture For after the Faith confessed and sworn in Baptism as S. Hilary (ſ) Ad Constantium August speaks we ought not quicquam aliud vel ambigere vel innovare either to doubt or innovate any other thing It is absurd that is to doubt whether this be sufficient or to add any other to it as if this were not enough So he interprets it a little after Faith is still inquired after as if there were no Faith already Faith is to be written as if it were not in the
he that can say but a little doth take away or make it less Which is such a plain declaration that the Creed contains the whole Apostolical Tradition or Faith for they are the same in his Language and the only Catholique Doctrine that if we were at this day to contrive words on purpose for the asserting this Truth we could not invent any more full or express than these Which show us that this Faith is sufficient not only for the ignorant the Catechumens and beginners in Religion but for the most improved in Christian knowledge for those that instructed and ruled the Church who had no Authority to preach or impose any other belief This is a thing that runs through his whole Book for he repeats it again in fewer words in the latter end of the next Chapter that the true Church hath but that one and the same Faith before mentioned throughout the whole World. Which in the 19th Chapter he calls the Rule of Truth by which all error was discovered for holding this rule though they speak very various and many things we easily evince that they have deviated from the Truth And again in the third Book (g) L. III. Chap. 3. he hath recourse to the same Rule of Truth unto which whosoever will hearken may see what is the tradition of the Apostles manifested in the whole World in every Church Where he saith they were able to tell what Bishops were settled by the Apostles and their Successors untill his time who neither taught nor thought of any thing like to the dotages of the Hereticks of those days And because it would have been too long to reckon up all the Churches he instances in the Church of Rome to which all had occasion to go upon some business or other because it was the Imperial City by whose Bishop he saith that Tradition and that Preaching or Doctrine of Truth which was from the Apostles in the Church is come to us and is a most full proof that one and the same life giving faith which was from the Apostles in the Church is conferred to this time and delivered in Truth The very same which Polycarp wrote to the Philippians mark these words which they of the present Roman Church are wont to conceal that they may make the World believe Irenaeus thought the Tradition of the Apostles that is the Christian Faith was to be sought only in their Church and which was in the Church of Ephesus founded by Paul and having John continuing in it till the time of Trajan which Church is a true witness of the Tradition of the Apostles And that there may be no mistake about this Tradition L. III. Cap. 4. he repeats it again in the next Chapter and informs us in very remarkable words it was nothing else but the Doctrine contained in the Creed Since these things are so plain we ought not to seek further among others for truth which we may easily find in the Church For the Apostles left most fully in it as in a rich Repository all things that belong to truth So that every one who will may take from thence the Water of Life c. out of the Holy Scriptures he means as appears by what follows And suppose the Apostles had not left us the Scriptures shall we not follow the Order of the Tradition or Rule of Faith which they delivered to those unto whom they committed the Churches To which Ordination many barbarous Nations who believe on Christ assent having the Doctrine of Salvation without Paper and Ink written by the Spirit in their Heart and diligently preserving the ANCIENT TRADITION believing in one God the maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things which are therein by Christ Jesus the Son of God Who out of his most eminent love to his Creature vouchsafed to be born of the Virgin uniting Man to God by himself and suffering under Pontius Pilate and rising again and being illustriously received in glory shall come again the Saviour of those that are saved and the Judge of those that are judged Sending into eternal fire the misshapers of Truth and the contemners of his Father and of his coming Those that have believed this Faith without Letters we in our Language call barbarous but as to their opinion and custom and conversation they please God because of their Faith by which they are most wise living in all Righteousness Chastity and Wisdom Vnto whom if any one should speak in their Language those things which Hereticks have invented they would presently stop their ears and run away not induring to hear the blasphemy Thus by that OLD TRADITION of the Apostles viz. the Creed they do not so much as admit into their thoughts the portentous talk of those Hereticks in his days These things I have thought fit to set down the more largely because they are an evident demonstration what the OLD TRADITION of the Apostles is which is nothing else but that summary of Christian Truth contained in the Creed unto which they would suffer no other Tradition to be added but contented themselves with this as fully sufficient and by this judged of all other things that pretended to come from the Apostles and were every where so well instructed in this that in those Churches which as yet had not received the Apostolical Writings the Holy Scriptures of the N. T. they had this Doctrine as the contents of those Scriptures and were thought most wise being wise enough to salvation in this faith alone without any other But because this is such a very important Truth I shall take a little more pains to set down the sense of the Church in all Ages concerning it that the Reader may be satisfied there is no other Truth but this alone which is absolutely necessary to his Salvation Which they sometime comprehend in fewer words but never add any one article beyond those in the Creed If we had the Letters of Ignatius intire and sincere we should be able to tell what he took for Truth immediately after the Apostles were dead And thus much is evident from them as they now are that they or he who contrived the Epistle to the Philippians under his name for it is not thought to be his took this to be the Doctrine of that Second Age when after the mention of the Doctrine of the Trinity and that the Son of God was truly made Man truly born and truly crucified dead and rose again not seemingly not in appearance only but in Truth they make him conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that believes these things as they are and were really done is a blessed Man. Which is an undoubted testimony they took this Creed to be sufficient to salvation which Ignatius in an unquestioned Epistle of his to the Church of Smyrna calls the unmoveable Faith wherein he blessed God they were perfected or knit together mentioning no other Articles but those before named Polycarp also in the same
which was the VIIIth after Christ the second Council at Nice which set up the worship of Images past the same condemnation upon him and making mention of the six (Å¿) Act. VII foregoing Councils they confirm and establish all that had been delivered from the beginning only they fraudulently add to bring in their Image worship whether written or unwritten Which made the first alteration in the Doctrine of the Church all the foregoing Councils having derived their Faith wholly from the Scriptures As the following Council at Frankfort did where as the worshipping of Images was condemned so the Holy Scriptures were highly extolled in words which signified they thought them their only safe Directors The thirtieth Chapter of the second Book of the Capitulare of Charles the Great abounds with such expressions as these the Scripture is a Treasure that wants no good but is redundant in all that Good is And in the beginning of the Third Book he and the Fathers there assembled give an account of their Faith in a Creed which they intitule A Confession of the Catholique Faith which we have received from the Holy Fathers which we hold and believe with a pure heart It is that in S. Hierom's Works inscribed Symboli explanatio ad Damasum I. which they thus subscribe This is the true integrity of the Catholique tradition of Faith which we believe and confess with a sincere heart c. This is the true Faith this confession we preserve and hold which whosoever keeps whole and undefiled he shall have everlasting Salvation Thus far therefore they were not got beyond the first Creed of which this is the explanation Nor was John Damascen himself advanced any further but confined his belief to what is contained in the Law and the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (t) L. 1. Orthod Fid. cap. 1. seeking for nothing beyond these For since God is good and envies no body he concludes that he hath revealed there all that is profitable for us and concealed only those things we are not able to bear And therefore let us love saith he these things let us abide in them not removing the Eternal Boundaries nor going beyond the Divine Tradition Which they seem to have preserved without exceeding the ancient limits in the beginning of the Ninth Age. For in a Council at Mentz (u) An. 813. Can. XLV care is taken for teaching the People the Creed which they call signaculum fidei the seal of Faith and the Lords Prayer for which end they are required to send their Children to School or to the Monasteries or their Parish Priests that they might rightly learn the Catholique Faith and the Lords Prayer Hitherto therefore the Catholique Faith was contained in the common Creed which had been from the beginning But towards the latter end of that Age the Council of (x) An. 859. Act. 10. Can. 1. Constantinople which the Roman Church calls the the VIIIth General Council began to talk of the Regulae Patrum the Rules of the Fathers in stead of the ancient word Regula fidei the Rule of Faith which is the Apostles Creed and called them the Secondary Oracles And therefore professed not only to hold all that the Catholique Church received from the Apostles and the General Councils but from any Father or great Doctor in the Church Which was the ready way to change the Faith of the Church and to turn particular Mens Opinions into matter of common belief though no new Article was as yet put into the ancient Creed The two next Ages are acknowledged to be so barbarous by the Writers of the Roman Church that they are ashamed of them and in some Collections they have made of the Councils there is not so much as one mentioned in the Tenth Age. And in the following there were so many frivolous things debated and such Corruptions crept into the Christian Doctrine that they run on very fast to the introducing a new Creed into the Church Yet this is remarkable that in the time of Thomas Aquinas who flourished in the XIIIth Century the Scripture still continued the only Rule of Faith and the Apostles Creed a sufficient summary of the Faith therein contained For in the resolution of this doubt Why should Articles of Faith be put in the Creed since the Scripture is the Rule of Faith to which it is not lawfull to add or from it to substract his Anwer is (y) Secunda 2 â—ae Q. 1. Art. IX ad primum that the Truth of Faith is diffusely and after divers manners and sometimes obscurely contained in Scripture so that long study and exercise is required to find out the truth of Faith there which they that have abundance of business have not leisure to use And therefore it was necessary that out of the sentences of Holy Scripture something manifest and clear should be summarily gathered which should be propounded unto all to be believed Which truly is not added to the Holy Scripture but rather taken out of the Holy Scripture And resolving next of all that doubt There is one Faith as the Apostle saith IV. Ephes but many Creeds his answer is (z) Ib. ad 〈◊〉 that in all the Creeds the same truth of Faith is taught But it was necessary the people should there be instructed more diligently in the truth of Faith where errors sprung up lest the Faith of the simple should be corrupted by Hereticks And this was the Cause why it was needsul to set forth more Creeds which differ in no other thing but this that those things are explained more fully in one which are contained implicitly in another To the same purpose many other of that sort of Writers declare their sense in the following Ages And this also is worthy of great remark that no longer ago than at the Council of Florence begun 1438 which the Greeks call the VIIIth General Council the Authority of the above-named Ephesine Canon about holding to the Nicene Creed was pressed with great earnestness by the Greeks upon the Latins there assembled For they said it was by no means lawful to add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (†) Tom. XIII Lab. Sess X. p. 162. not so much as a syllable nor a phrase nor a word and laid such a weight upon it as to affirm No man will accuse that Faith of imperfection unless he be mad * Ib. p. 163. And they likewise backt it with a passage in a Letter of Pope Celestine to Nestorius †Ib. p. 167. where he saith who is not to be judged worthy of an Anathema that either adds or takes away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that Faith which was delivered by the Apostles requires neither addition nor diminution Unto which the Roman Bishops had nothing to reply but that the Canon did not forbid another exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consonant to the Truth in that Creed Ib. p. 167. but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
they have respect to the knowledge of God or to the Creation and government of the World or to the redemption of Mankind or belong to the rewards of the good and the punishments of the bad are contained in the Doctrine of the Creed From whence this question naturally arises how come so many new Articles to be made necessary if all things belonging to the Christian Faith be contained in the Apostles Creed I can see no reason for it but only to maintain the grandeur of the Roman Church for there is no more simply necessary for all to be believed as Bellarmine himself confesses (q) L. IV. de Verâ—o Dei C. XI but the Articles of that Creed and therefore the rest are superfluous and ought to be discarded as not so needful but that Men may be saved without them 3. And for the Third that they are mere Novelties unknown to those in old time there are the like confessions of ingenuous Men amongst them Aeneas Sylvius afterward Pope Pius II. confesses (r) Epist 288. that before the time of the Council of Nice little regard was had to the Roman Church Which is a plain contradiction to Pope Pius the fourth's Article of New Belief that she is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches for none can doubt but they understood their duty in those days and practised it also to their Betters especially to a Parent The same may be said of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which some School-men have said not to be very ancient among which are Scotus and Gabriel Biel. They are the words of Suarez (s) Disput Tom. 3. Disp 30. unto whom many other testimonies may be added of the Doctors of that Church particularly Alphonsus à Castro who saith the ancient Writers spake very seldom of Transubstantiation he should have said Not at all for Cassander honestly acknowledges it to be a Novelty (t) See a late Treatise of Transubstantiation by an Author of the Roman Communion Part I. The like is acknowledged of the Sacrifice of the Mass which neither Thomas Aquinas nor Gabriel Biel long after him believed to be proper or propitiatory but give the same account that we do why the celebration of this Sacrament is called a Sacrifice of Christ viz. because the Images of things are called by the names of the things which they represent for which S. Austin is quoted and because by this Sacrament we are made partakers of the benefits of Christ's Passion (u) Summe Par. III. Q. 83. Artic. l. Respond That Purgatory was for a good while unknown and but lately known to the whole Church is confessed by our Bishop Fisher (x) Ross contra Lâ—tâ— Art. XVIII who by the whole Church means only the Latin Church for in the same place he saith to this day it is not believed by the Greeks The same he saith of Indulgences which began with Mens fears of Purgatory The same I might observe of the Seven Sacraments and the rest of their Articles but I will only observe the contradiction to which they swear in the very first new Article wherein they declare that they embrace Apostotical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and yet consent at the same time by swearing to all that is decreed in the Council of Trent to administer the Holy Communion but in one kind which for a thousand Years and more in some places for 1300 Years was administred in both kinds every where even in the Roman Church by an undoubted Apostolical Tradition and Ecclesiastical custom and practice which continues in all other Churches to this day Which observation evidently convinces them to be guilty of the most fearful sin in cursing and damning those who do not receive these Novel Doctrines though they faithfully embrace all the Doctrines of the truly Catholique Faith and had rather die than deny any part thereof But let us be of good comfort we are safe enough notwithstanding all these Anathema's which they thunder out against us For I have proved that were these Doctrines true as they are certainly false which they press upon us yet we should not be Hereticks if we did not believe them and so not fall upon this account under the sentence of damnation Because it is only the denial of the great and fundamental Truths that can make us incur such a danger other Truths there are of which we may be ignorant without danger of perishing provided we still hold the Foundation and keep the Faith as the Apostle speaks with a life according to it They themselves therefore knew that these terrible Anathema's are but bugbear words which they use to affright Children withal For they who can read what the wisest and best of them write will find that they confess these new Articles to be superfluous while they plainly say the Apostles Creed contains all things necessary to Salvation Thus Gregory of Valentia * In secunda secundae Disp 2. Q. 7. The Articles of Faith contained in the Creed are as it were the first Principles of Christian Faith in which are comprized the summ of Evangelical Doctrine which all are bound explicitely to believe Thus the Fathers judge when they affirm this Creed was composed by the Apostles that all might have a short Summary of those things which are to be believed and are scatteredly contained in the Scriptures Thus also writes Filiucius and a great many more even the Trent Catechism it self as I have shown before So that we have nothing to do but to hold fast that which we have been taught from the beginning and to make it the Rule of our Lives as well as of our Faith. And that now I must tell you for a Conclusion of this part of my Discourse is the Grand Truth of all the main point of the Christian belief that the intention of all Divine Truths and of Faith it self is to make us truly godly They can do us no service if they do not produce this effect Whence it is that in this very Epistle of S. Paul he calls Christianity the Doctrine that is according unto godliness 1 Tim. VI. 3. and a little after calls it godliness v. 6. But Godliness that is the Christian Religion with contentment is great gain And indeed we may well be contented with the Christian Faith and Hope and think our selves happy in such glorious expectations hereafter nay look upon our selves as exceeding great gainers whatsoever we lose here upon this account if we lose not the hope of immortal life In the Epistle to Titus also in the very first Verse he calls it the truth which is after godliness which is the very Truth that is the subject of my Discourse as appears by what follows when the Apostle saith it is a mystery of godliness Not a cunning device to get Mony to advance our wordly Grandeur and Pomp much less a crafty Artifice to excuse us from living well or to palliate wickedness and show us a way how to be
defects of the Scripture and make things unwritten to become matters of Faith. Which is such an unbounded Prerogative that we may have a new Faith as often as they please to pretend a Tradition for it though they cannot prove it For we must rest in the authority of the present Church which affirms it and that against the very Scripture it self which tells us it is able to make a Man of God perfect and against the testimony of the Universal Church which I have shown forbids the producing of any other Faith but that which was evidently delivered by the Apostles there 3. We cannot allow the Church an Infallible authority that is such an assistance in her Doctrines and proposals that she cannot err in any thing she defines In Controversies indeed arising about matters of Faith we own and reverence the authority of the Church (t) Artic. XX. so as not to contest the publique judgement but to prefer it before our own private conceits in doubtful things But as it ought to proceed in its determinations by the Rule of Gods word So we think it possible it may mistake in the application of this Rule and therefore we do not blindly resign our selves to its authority without all regard to the Holy Scriptures unto which the Church ought to have a respect in all its determinations No that 's another proud pretence of the present Roman Church that they cannot mistake in their definitions and therefore we must submit unto them without examination From whence this intollerable mischief hath insued that it hath made them both insensible of their errors and careless to seek any cure of them nay utterly incapable of a remedy For as one of our own Divines excellently speaks (u) Dr. Petter's Answer to Charity mistaken Sect. 5. whose words those are this conceit of their Infallibility is to them both a sufficient reason for that which is most unreasonable and a sufficient answer to that which is most unanswerable To this they retreat upon all occasions when they are not able to maintain their ground they have no other way to defend their errors when they are plainly set before their eyes but to tell us confidently they cannot err Which is a very strange boldness for we demonstrate in manay instances that they have erred erred most grosly particularly in this that they have added new Articles to the old Creed to be believed under pain of Damnation and added a new Canon of Scripture to the Old Testament against the clearest evidence in the Records of the Universal Church that the Books they have newly received were never acknowledged for Canonical Scripture If by the Church indeed they would understand the Church truly Catholique the whole Body of Christ in all times places and ages and if by matters of Faith they would understand those grand Articles which I have mentioned in the first part of this Discourse and if by being Infallible they would understand not an absolute impossibility of erring which humane nature is not capable of but not actual error there are none of us make any question but the Church is Infallible That is the whole Church hath not erred nor shall not err in the whole Faith or in any necessary part thereof for such error would cut Men off from Christ the head and so leave him no Church at all which is impossible It hath been the very scope of first my Discourse to show that the Church hath always kept the great fundamental truths of our Religion and not erred in them but transmitted them down to us whole and undefiled till the Church of Rome in the Council of Trent corrupted the Faith by their errors which they have mixed with it For to a particular Church such as that of Rome is we cannot allow this priviledge of not erring because we know they have erred even in fundamental Truths and thereby ceased to be Churches Witness those glorious Churches to which Christ himself sent his Letters by S. John the Apostle These Prerogatives therefore not belonging to any Church every one must be content with those two Offices before mentioned which are sufficient First The Office of a Witness testifying the authority of the Holy Scriptures unto its members Secondly of Gods instrument by whose Ministry in opening expounding and urging the Holy Scriptures the Holy Ghost begets a divine Faith in us And by performing these Offices it supports and continues and propagates the Truth and so may be called the Pillar and Ground thereof The meaning of which I shall now distinctly set before the Readers eyes that I may give a short account of the fourth and last thing propounded in the beginning IV. How the Church may appropriate to it self this Title 1. First Every Church and every person in it especially the Bishops and Pastors are the Pillar and Ground of Truth officio by Duty and Office whereby they are obliged to keep maintain and uphold the Truth This always was and always will be incumbent on them which is sufficient to fill up the sense of such attributes as these which do not always note performance of Duty but only obligation to it As when our Saviour saith to his Disciples Ye are the salt of the Earth it doth not signifie that they were necessarily so for he supposes immediately the salt might lose its savour but that they ought to be so and if they were not so would be good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot Matth. V. 13. 2. But Secondly The first Churches of Christ in the Apostles times were actu effectu actually and effectually the Pillar of Truth that is they faithfully discharg'd this Office and perform'd their Duty constantly maintaining the Truth as it is in Christ in its purity and simplicity For the Apostles were a part of those Churches whom God led into all Truth which they taught sincerely and intirely while they lived and do at this day instruct us in the Holy Scriptures in the whole Truth necessary to our Salvation 3. But we cannot say the same of all succeeding Churches that they did faithfully perform this office though in duty they also were bound so to do No some of them were so far from being Pillars of the Truth that they let it fall to the ground We have strange instances of it with which I shall not fill these Papers in the History of the Church which show us that if we take not heed to our selves and the Doctrine that is delivered to us we have no security that we or any other particular Church shall continue firm and stedfast supporters of the Truth For Pillars themselves may decay and if they be not well lookt after will go to ruin and fall to the Earth 4. Even this very Church of Ephesus which was a Pillar and Ground of Truth while Timothy presided in it afterward began before all the Apostles were dead to remit its first love and zeal for
exalted himself when he got it declared in the Lateran Council that he was above a General Council and the Universal Church (z) Sess XI being blasphemously called by his flatterers the Spouse of the Church the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah From which very Phrase of Spouse no less Man than Bellarmine (a) L. II. de Concil Auctor c. 17. himself labours to prove the Pope to be absolutely above the Vniversal Church and above a General Council because it is contrary to the Apostle and to the order of Nature that the Wife should be above the Husband This is sufficient to show what we ought to think of the present Roman Church which is so far from being Infallible that it hath erred more than any other Church 6. But though there be no promise either to that or any other particular Church of being preserved from Error yet the Universal Church in some part or other of it we are sure will always be a Pillar and Ground of the whole Truth necessary to Salvation because our Saviour hath promised the gates of hell shall not prevail against it That is the Church shall be perpetual which it cannot be unless it hold the Truth intirely it is joyned to Christ its Head. And thus one of their own Cardinals (b) 〈…〉 de 〈◊〉 L. II. c. 〈◊〉 L. III. 〈◊〉 understood the Infallibility of the Church with which they now make so much noise When we say The Church cannot err in Faith or Manners it must be thus taken according to the Doctrine of the Fathers that God doth so assist his Church to the end of the World that the true Faith shall never fail out of the same For to the World's end there shall be no time wherein some though all shall not have true Faith working by Love. Unto this exposition we heartily submit but that the present Church of Rome or indeed any other particular Church cannot degenerate and depart from the right Faith we can by no means allow but think our selves bound by the most sacred tyes to oppose these arrogant pretences that the Church is Infallible and that they are the Church They are no more the Church than any other company of Men professing the Christian Faith nor so much neither for there are truer Believers than they I have proved also that other Churches have erred and therefore so may they nay they have erred and that so grosly as to be able by no other means to maintain their errors but by pretending they cannot err And therefore let no Man be so forgetful of these things as to trust them to be his Guides fancying they cannot mislead him They have misled those that rely upon them and have led them into a maze or labyrinth in which it is impossible for them to find their way and know what is the Truth For if we should grant them their Church cannot err they are not agreed nor ever will what they mean by the Church Whether the whole body of Christian People which is the new Heresie among them as some of themselves call it or a General Council which the learnedst and best Men among them maintain or the Pope who hath a great many on his side but they cannot agree about the manner of his definition whether alone or in a General Council nor about the time whether at any time or only when he resolves to publish Doctrines as matter of Faith nor about the matter whether all things even matters of fact or only matters of Faith and after all no body can tell when there is a true Pope So that all their Faith falls to the Ground and they cannot be certain of any thing they believe because they cannot be certain of the very Ground and Foundation of their Faith which is their Church These things I have only briefly toucht which are more largely handled in other Books that the Readers may be sensible how happy they are who are freed from these Impostures And that our People may know their duty in this Church of England whereof by the Grace of God they are Members I shall conclude this Treatise with Six Considerations more whereby the whole I hope will be made more useful I. First I desire every one to consider from what I have said that this Church in which we are is certainly as much a Pillar and Ground of Truth as any other nay more than many other Churches For we openly profess and recite twice a day in our own Language that every one may understand it the whole Christian Faith comprised in the Apostles Creed with the explication of some part of this Faith by the Nicene Fathers once every week or more and a more distinct Explication of the same Articles by Athanasius once a month That is we hold and assert and maintain all those things which have always been and are confessed by all Christians the True Ancient Catholique and Apostolique Faith and the Holy Scriptures wherein this Faith is Originally contained And if we knew any thing else to be the mind of God delivered to us from Christ and his Apostles by the Universal Church we are prepared to receive it and did it appear would immediately embrace and propagate it But the Vniversal Church as I have shown hath declared this to be sufficient nay full and perfect and moreover forbidden any other Faith to be either composed or offered to those who would become Christians To all which that I have said in the First Part this memorable saying of Pope Leo (c) Epist ad Pulcheriam Augustam the Great may be added The short and perfect Confession of the Catholique Symbol or Creed it self which is sealed in as many sentences as there were Apostles i. e. XII Articles is so instructed with Caelestial munition or defence that all the opinions of Hereticks with this Sword alone may be cut in pieces II. And therefore Secondly every one of us is bound â—nless we will betray our trust and as we will answer it to our Lord Christ the Author of our Faith to hold fast this Faith to preserve it intire and to defend it not suffering any of it to be lost or any addition to be made to it as if this were not sufficient to Salvation Take fast hold of instruction of those great substantial unquestionable Truths mentioned in the beginning let them not go keep them for they are your life as Solomon speaks of Wisdom IV. Prov. 13. They are the Wisdom of God our Saviour the Rule which the Apostles preached equally among all Nations as Venantius Fortunatus (d) Praefat. in Symbol speaks the comprehension and perfection of our Faith as S. Austin (e) Sâ—rm CXV de Teâ—p or an Ancient Author under his name the Test as I have shown and Mark whereby the Faithful are distinguisht from Unbelievers and Hereticks And having this Note of a Christian you ought neither to seek for nor to admit of any other being indued
delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and Oecumenical Councils especially by the most holy Synod of Trent I receive and profess without doubt and likewise all things contrary and whatsoever Heresies condemned rejected and anathematized by the Church I in like manner condemn reject and Anathematize This true Catholique Faith without which no Man can be saved which at present I freely profess and truly hold I will most constantly retain and confess intire and inviolable by God's help to my last breath and take care as much as lies in me that it be held taught and preached by my Subjects or those whose care belongs to me in my Office. I the aforesaid N. Promise Vow and Swear So help me God and these holy Gospels This Bull as they call it bears date on the Ides of November 1564. and concludes in the usual manner with threats of the indignation of God and of his blessed Apostles S. Peter and Paul against all that shall inrringe or oppose it And every Reader I suppose discerns that this is not meerly a confession of Faith but likewise a solemn Oath And so the Title of it bears A Bull concerning a form of an Oath of profession of Faith. Which Oath all Ecclesiastical Persons whether Secular or Regular as they distinguish them and all Military Orders are bound to take And it is as easie to observe that this is perfectly New both as an Oath and as a profession of Faith. Never was there any such Creed imposed before or so much as framed much iess tyed upon Men by an Oath For when these Fathers met at Trent and were to make a profession of Faith by rehearsing the Creed which the Roman Church uses (a) Sess III. so the words are they could find none to profess but the Nicene Creed no larger Creed was in use no not there in the Roman Church but these very Men who afterward turned New Creed-makers were forced to be content with that And therefore this new Profession is most impudently pretended to be the true Catholique Faith being in no sense Catholique neither as to place nor time For it was no where used till they made it no not there nor is now every where believed and was not at all believed in any Church for above 1500 Years nor now used in that Church it self when they admit Members into the Catholique Church by Baptism but they are put into a state of Salvation by believing as before the old Nicene Creed alone Which is direct contradiction to their new Creed which they make necessary to Salvation but can never show to be contained implicitely in the old For it is as impossible to draw Water out of a Pumice as to extract out of the Apostles Creed the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Worshipping of Images Seven Sacraments the Traditions and other Constitutions used in the Roman Church Which was never so much as thought to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches or to have power to impose new Articles upon the whole Church especially such large ones as take in all the definitions of that Council of Trent which they themselves are not agreed to this day how to expound Nor had that Synod if these Articles could have been shown to be contained in the old Creed any power to explain it and declare them according to what they confessed at the Florentine Council being far from a General Council no not of these Western parts of the World. And clearly showed it self to be but a factious Party in the Church by that very Explication which they made of this Article the holy Catholique Church which they thus expound the holy Catholique Apostolique Roman Church the Mother and Mistress of all Churches For it is certain the Apostles could not intend the Roman Church should be comprehended under the Catholique Church any more than every other Church which was then or should be hereafter because it was not in being there was no Roman Church at all when notwithstanding the Church was Catholique And hereby Salvation is impiously confined to the Roman Church alone by making the Catholique Church of no larger extent than that And this against the resolution of their greatest Doctors who think it no matter of Faith to be perswaded that the Apostolique See is fixed to Rome Which Bellarmine (b) L. IV. de Pont. Romano cap. 4. proves from hence because neither Scripture nor Tradition affirm it Nay if Christ had bidden Peter to place his See at Rome he doth not think it would follow that he placed it there immoveably And therefore no Man according to their own sense is bound to believe the Apostolical Church cannot be separated from the Roman which if it should happen and the Apostolick See be removed suppose to Paris the Creed must be altered again and it must run thus I believe the holy Catholique and Apostolique Parisian Church the Mother and Mistress of all Churches In which latter part of the Exposition to this Article they force Men to swear to a downright falshood For if the Roman Church be the Mother of all Churches she must be the Mother of her Grand-mother the Church of Jerusalem And it is no truer that she is the Mistress of all Churches For all Churches were not taught the Faith by her nor do they own her Authority over them But it is time to draw to an end of this matter We in this Church of England have always professed and preserved a true reverence to the IV. first General Councils One or rather two of which hath forbidden under the greatest penalties any Man to produce or compose or offer any other Faith besides that established by the Fathers at Nice which Theodoret (c) L. I. Hist Eccla c. 7. L. II. c. 22. L. IV. c. 2. in innumerable places calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Exposition of Faith and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faith expounded the Apostolical Faith explained And therefore even for this reason alone we cannot receive the Creed of this Council at Trent which is manifestly another Faith added to the Confession of the Nicene Creed which old Creed it is madness as the Greeks at Florence said to think insufficient For it is to think they were all damned for 1500 Years and more who knew nothing beyond this necessary to be believed which no Man in his wits can believe For it is contrary to the very Faith it self which teaches us as Tertullian speaks to believe this in the first place that there is nothing to be believed beyond this And we believe so with the greatest reason because to admit any other Articles of Faith is to make endless Schisms in the Church as to believe contrary Articles is to fall into dangerous Heresies We know not where to stay if we rest not here for by the same Authority that made these more additions may be made continually without end There is therefore no such Authority in the Church that can do this
though we should be ignorant of some of them For who can think for instance that it is of the same necessity to be able to give an account of the Genealogy of our Saviour mentioned I. Matth. III. Luke and to believe that he is the Son of God made flesh for our Salvation That foundation therefore which was laid in every Church as it was at Corinth 1 III. 11. were such Doctrines concerning Jesus Christ as every Christian was bound to learn and actually believe in other points it sufficed if they had a pious preparation of mind to learn and believe any thing revealed in the Scriptures when it was sufficiently cleared to them Now these two things that there are such fundamental truths or first principles and that they are no other than those contained in the Creed ought to be asserted and maintained for the honour and glory of God our Saviour which is much concerned herein For it tends much to the glory of the Almighty lover of Souls that it should be believed he doth not lay equall weight upon all truths nor made them alike necessary to be received for the obtaining his favour and grace and that it should be certainly known and be without Controversie and question what those truths are which he expects should be received and heartily embraced in order to our Salvation For otherwise the most of Christian people must necessarily perish who either are not capable of knowing more than these great things or have not the means of knowing more or not with any certainty but must be content to rest here As well they may for why was the Creed called by the name of the Symbol of Faith but because it was the mark or sign which might serve to distinguish true Christians who embraced it from Infidels or misbelievers who did not receive it or were defective in it This is the true reason of the name of Symbol which is as much as tessera signaculum quo inter fideles persid s secernitur (f) Maximus Taur de Trad. Synb the token mark or badge whereby the faithful were known and distinguisht from the persidious And therefore it comprehends briefly all the Fundamental points of Faith else it could not be a distinctive note or character sufficient to sever right Believers from Infidels Hereticks and Apostates But so it was that they who owned this Creed were owned for Christians they who did not confess it were rejected for by a Man's answer to this who was examined he was discovered just as a Soldier is by the Word si hostis sit an socius as both Isidore and Ruffinus before him speaks whether he were an Enemy or a fellow Souldier of Jesus Christ To this Test alone every one was brought by this touch-stone he was tried whether he were a Christian of the right Stamp or a false adulterate coyn as the Ancients speak which is a demonstration that they lookt upon this as a perfect summary of the Catholique Faith sufficient of it self as you heard Athanasius (g) 〈…〉 speaks for the overthrow of all impiety and for the establishment of piety in Christ Nay this sense of the word Symbol is owned by the Roman Catechism it self Cap. 1. Quaest 3. IV. From whence it necessarily follows that no man can justly be called an Heretick who heartily embraces and stedfastly holds to this Faith. How should he when there is no Catholique no Fundamental Article of Christian Truth but he is perswaded of it and professes it No part of that Creed which is the Sign the Mark and Note as you have heard whereby Christians are approved and discerned from misbelievers as well as unbelievers which he doubts of and doth not acknowledge It is a very lamentable thing that the imputation of Heresie should be so frequent and familiar among Christians upon the account of different Opinions only which they are passionately in love withal though no parts of the Catholique Faith. They of the Church of Rome especially are so foully guilty of this and so strangely fiery that they not only account us Hereticks but look upon us as little better than Infidels nay seem to have more kindness for Jews which they tolerate among them when they will not suffer us who believe all the Creeds that were known in the Church for above 1500 years For they call themselves Catholiques in distinction from us whom they will not allow to be members of the Catholique Church though we have a clearer title to it than themselves For I have shown that we unfeignedly believe whatsoever is truly Catholique and reject nothing but what is merely Roman We embrace that form of Faith which they themselves say (b) Catech. Rom. pars 1. cap. 1. Q. 2. was composed by the Apostles for this very end that all might think and speak the very same thing and that there might be no schisms among them whom they had called to the unity of Faith but they might be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment It is not our fault then that there is not this unity and perfect agreement for we stedfastly hold that which should thus link us all together but it is their fault who have forsaken this Apostolical method by making another form of Faith which instead of uniting hath broken Christians all in pieces For we cannot agree to that because it doth not contain Catholique truths which according to Vincentius his rule have been held every where always and by all but are the Tenents only of a particular Church which hath no power to lay any other Foundation than that which was long ago laid in the truly Catholique Church Which Catholique Church we believe better than themselves who appropriate the name of Catholiques to their own party and thereby restrain the Catholique Church to those of their opinion This certainly was the Heresie of the Donatists who esteemed all other Christians to be no better than Pagans (i) Optatus L. III. tait Parn. 1631. and were reproved by the true Catholiques just as we now answer for our selves in such words as these Do you call one a Pagan after the profession of the Faith Can he be a Pagan who hath believed in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost For that is a short Creed which comprehends all the Articles of the Christian Faith as S. Hilary (k) L. 2. de Tâ—â—â—itate discourses who not only calls this forma fidei certa the certain form of Faith but having mentioned those words Go baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost asks this question what is there that is not contained in that same Sacrament of humane Salvation or what is there that remains or is obscure All things are full and perfect as coming from him that is full and perfect And thus he concludes all his Books on that Subject with this Prayer (l) L. XII
Almighty against every such refractory opposer of the Truth which he should obey There is no exception from this Rule for as it there follows v. 11. there is no respect of persons with God. Would to God they would seriously lay this to heart who now seem to be possessed with a mighty Zeal for Truth and for a right Faith that they be not so deceived by this warm Zeal as to miss the end of Faith the Salvation of their Souls which can by no means be obtained no not by Faith it self without an Holy Life PART II. What it is to be a Pillar and Ground of Truth and to whom this Office belongs HAving shown with some care what the Truth is of which S. Paul speaks which was the first thing I propounded the two next may be explained together with less pains viz. what and who is the Pillar and Ground of these great Truths which are necessary to be believed by all that will be saved I. And as for the first of these they of the Church of Rome would have us by a Pillar and Ground to understand that which is the very Foundation of our Faith that upon whose Credit and Authority all Christian Truth and the certainty of our Religion depends For taking it for granted that the Church is this Pillar and presuming also that they only are the Church they thence infer that we can be sure of no Truth but from them and that they give authority and certainty to the very Word of God it self and likewise whatsoever the Church i. e. they declare to be Truth is therefore to be received insomuch that if they make any new Articles or Faith we are to give a full assent to them because all Truth depends upon the credit of their Church This sounds strangely in the Ears of those that are not accustomed to such Language and may be thought perhaps a misrepresentation of their Doctrine But â—â—â—larmine to name no more vouches this to be the Catholique sense of this place and from the words Pillar and Ground of Truth proves that the Church cannot err either in Believing or in Teaching (y) L. II. de Concil 〈◊〉 c. 2. and again that whatsoever the Church approves is true and whatsoever it disapproves is false (z) L. III. de 〈◊〉 Milit. c. 14. But this only shows that they are hard put to it to find proofs for their high pretences For it will appear in the process of this Discourse first that it can never be proved the words Pillar and Ground have respect to the Church and not rather to Timothy for which there is good Authority as well as Reason I shall let the Authority alone till its proper place and only note Secondly That there is good reason not to refer this to the Church for having called the Church a House it doth not seem a congruous speech immediately to call the same Church a Pillar as on the other side it is very agreeable to call Timothy a Pillar in that House and to wish him to behave himself therein like other great Persons to whom in other places he gives the name of Pillars But Thirdly if it do relate to the Church it no more concerns the Church of Rome than any other Church and immediately relates to the Church of Ephesus in which Timothy presided Which Church of Ephesus (a) Concil Floreat 〈◊〉 ult with other Churches of the East condemned this Headship of the Bishop of Rome upon which they build a Soveraignty over our Faith. And further if we should suppose Fourthly That the Apostle respects the Church Universal and likewise that it is not only bound in duty to be but also actually is the Pillar and Ground of Truth yet Lastly it can never be proved that he speaks of any other Truth but those grand Fundamental Articles of Faith those Catholique Doctrines which were once delivered to the Saints and which blessed be God are maintained in every Church to this day not of all truth whatsoever much less of an absolute freedom from all manner of error For letting these things alone at present I shall shew that this is all that can be meant by the Pillar and Ground of Truth if it refer to the Church as I am content to admit not that the Church as they absurdly affirm is the very foundation of our Faith upon which it relyes but that it firmly retains upholds and professes the Christian Truth against all the force violence and opposition of Earth and Hell of Men and Devils that indeavour to overthrow it That this is the natural import of the phrase I will manifest First from the propriety of the words Secondly from clear reason and the Holy Scripture I. First from the propriety of the words in the Greek Language In which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently signifies such a Pillar as stood before their common Halls and Courts of Judicature upon which the Decrees and Orders of the Court were wont to hang or be fixed Unto which Tertullian alludes when speaking of an Article of the Creed in the place above named * L. de Resurrect Carnis C. 18. he saith Vnum opinor apud omnes EDICTVM DEI PENDET I suppose one Edict of God hangs up among all viz. to be read by them having just askt before quonam titulo Spes ista proscripta est by what TITLE this hope viz. of the resurrection is proposed and held forth to all And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ground signifies not the foundation but the Seat where any thing is placed so as to be settled and laid up to remain and abide there And at the most can mean no more than the stay or establishment the seat or settlement of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumenius renders it the confirmation of truth or if we will have these words allude to a building because the Church is here called the House of the living God as elsewhere the Temple of God which is the same they signifie no more but supporters and upholders without which the edifice would fall to the ground And the most we can make of them when they are applied to the Church with respect to the truth is this that the Church sustains and keeps it from sinking or falling as a Pillar firmly setled upon a Basis sustains and upholds the fabrick laid upon it This consists in these three things which I shall distinctly though but briefly mention for the Reader 's clear information in this matter First The Church is that Body of Men which preserves and keeps which maintains and holds up the Christian Faith which God hath committed to its care as he did to the Jews the Divine Oracles delivered in old times And as the Church will answer it to God and not be guilty of betraying its trust it must constantly preserve the truth committed to it that it be not lost and do not perish This might be divided into two that the Church
Austin when he was yet in part an Infidel being a Manichee to believe the Gospel according to that famous Discourse of his in answer to the Epistle of Manichaeus which contained in a manner the whole Belief of that party Ego non crederem Evangelio nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae authoritas commoveret (m) Tom. VI. contra Epistolam Fandamenti Cap. 5. which is to be thus translated according to the Phrase of the Asricans I had not believed the Gospel unless the Authority of the Catholique Church had moved me thereunto For it is evident as hath been shown by our Writers since the beginning of the Reformation * D. Whitakeram de saâ—â—a Scâ—iâ—t Q. 3. cap. 8. he speaks of himself when a Manichee as the words immediately following declare Those whom I obeyed when they said Believe the Gospel why should I not obey when they say Do not believe Manichaeus Which doth not signifie that the credit of the Gospel is founded upon the Churches Authority but that this was the first motive to incline him to look into the Gospel and consider it as a Divine Book which would inform him in the way of Salvation Thus he explains himself in the very foregoing Chapter where setting aside the sincere Wisdom taught in the Church which they would not believe he reckons up abundance of other things which might serve to keep him in the Catholique Church viz. the consent of People and Nations c. and then thus concludes These numerous and great and most dear tyes of the Christian name may very well hold a Man that believes in the Catholique Church although by reason of the slowness of his understanding or the defects of his life the truth do not yet show it self most openly unto him Whereas among the Manichees there were none of these things to invite or to hold him but a bare promise of Truth wherewith they made a noise which if they could have shown so manifestly that it could not be doubted he confesses it was to be preferred before all those things whereby he was held in the Catholique Church Which words are an evident proof that he speaks of the Authority of the Church as only moving and inducing him to believe the Scriptures and to joyn himself to their Society before the TRUTH was manifested to him which he was to sind there in the Scriptures and which he preferred before the Authority of the Church Which he elsewhere tells the Donatists was not to be believed upon its own credit L. de unitate Ecclesie cap. 16. But whether they hold the Church let them not show but from the Canonical Books of the Divine Scriptures for we neither do not say that we ought to be believed because we are in Christ's Church because that Church which we hold was commended to us by Optatus or Ambrose or other innumerable Bishops of our Communion or because it is approved by Councils or because Miracles are every where wrought in it These and such like things are therefore to be approved because they are done in the Catholique Church but it is not therefore manifested to be the Catholique Church because these things are done in it Our Lord Jesus himself when he rose from the dead and offered his Body to be toucht as well as seen by his Disciples lest they should think there was any fallacy in it judged it meet rather to confirm them by the testimonies of the Law and the Prophets and Psalms showing how all things were fulfilled which were predicted And so he commanded his Church saving that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his Name beginning at Hierusalem This he testified was written in the Law the Prophets and Psalms this we hold commended from his Mouth These are the Documents these the Foundations these the strong Grounds of our Cause We read in the Acts of the Apostles of some Believers that they sought the Scriptures daily whether those things were so What Scriptures but the Canonical Books of the Law and the Prophets to which are added the Gospels the Apostolical Epistles the Acts of Apostles and the Revelation of S. John. Search all these and bring forth something manifest whereby ye may demonstrate the Church either to have remained only in Africa or to be to come out of Africa c. This is an illustrious Testimony he thought the Church it self was to be warranted by the Scriptures which did not therefore receive their Authority from the Church but give it all the Authority it hath And after all it was not the Authority of the present Church barely that moved him when he was a Manichee but of the Catholique Church from the beginning Occham * Fr White 's Answer to Fisher's second Conference p. 24. thinks he speaks of the Church in the Apostles times alone which moved him to Believe And others as Gabriel Biel confess he speaks of the Authority of the Church à tempore Christi Apostolorum c. from the time of Christ and of the Apostles down to his days Such Authority cannot but weigh 〈◊〉 much even with those that do not yet believe if 〈…〉 â—eriously pondered but much more with those that are already Christians Whether they be Novices and weaklings who are as yet doubtful in the Faith though in the Church the Testimony and Authority of it ought to confirm and quiet their minds as it did S. Austin's it appears by the place before-named and keep them close to the Christian Society till they may themselves come better acquainted with the Truth and more fully understand the Holy Scriptures which the Church delivers to them and puts into their hands as the Word of God. Or whether they be more grown Christians and indeed all sorts of Persons in the Church who ought to be so far wrought upon even by its Authority as to be perswaded thereby to read constantly to consider and ponder seriously and to practise those plain Lessons faithfully which the Holy Scripture teaches them till it work effectually upon their hearts and purge them so throughly from all bad affections that they may more perfectly understand the Truth Thus much is indisputable for God hath appointed outward means for the conveying Divine Truth to our Belief and this means is ordinarily the Church to which we ascribe these two great things in this business (p) Answer to Charity mistaken Sect. V. First the office of a Witness testifying the Authority of Holy Scripture to us Secondly of an Instrument in Gods Hand to lead us into the understanding of the Scriptures and by its Ministry in preaching and expounding them to beget a Divine Faith in us But further than this we cannot we must not go For the last resolution of our Faith is not into the Testimony of the Church but into the Testimony of God himself which we find recorded in the Holy Scripture delivered by the Church unto us Thus S. Austin most admirably
with this Wisdom you ought to think your selves wise unto Salvation And not be in the least moved with the bugbear name of Hereticks or the empty noise of Damnation which they of the Church of Rome thunder out against you For they signifie nothing but the wrath-of those who would drive you into the belief of that by frights and terrors into which they cannot draw you by solid proofs and arguments Turn away your Ears both from the one and the other for as the former is an insignificant sound so the latter all their Arguments are but confident Sophistry Which hath been and is at this day so evidently demonstrated by our Writers that they can have no excuse who are deceived by them III. And thus every one is bound to teach his Children diligently instructing and confirming them in these main Points of Christianity that so the Truth may live when we are gone Consider I beseech you what a necessary duty this is How should the Truth be preserved and supported but by those that believe it And how should they believe it who do not understand it And how should they understand it unless they be taught and instructed in it And who so much concerned to instruct their Children as they that brought them into the World Their God-fathers and God-mothers indeed are engaged to see this done but their Parents have a further even a natural obligation to it And therefore ought first of all diligently to inform themselves and by attending to all the means of instruction which they have in this Church to increase in true Christian knowledge that they may be able to teach those who are committed to their care and prepare them to be catechised and further instructed by those whom God hath set over them We are not Pillars and supporters of the Truth but the betrayers of it if we take no care about this Which is one great reason why some have easily forsaken the true Religion here taught and professed and condemned this Church an horrid crime if you seriously weigh the consequents of it by renouncing Communion with it as no part of the Body of Christ Men may be soon perswaded by confident talkers to part with that which they do not understand especially if they apprehend any danger in keeping it or hope to gain by letting it go Why should they hazzard the least hair of their Head for they know not what Nay why should they be at all concerned for it any more than a Man is for the seed that is scattered in the High-way from which he expects no Crop To that you know our blessed Lord compared him that heareth the word of the Kingdom and understandeth it not for then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart Matth. XIII 19. IV. You must endeavour therefore to profit by all such instructions as these and to grow in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures where God hath revealed his whole mind and will to you and plainly published all those Truths which belong to the great mystery of godliness You ought for instance to take heed how you wantonly and loosely interpret or apply them according to your own sudden or careless fancies that 's a great profanation of the Sacred Books and yet you must not for fear of this be perswaded to throw them out of your hands but rather with the more solemn humble and reverend awe of God upon your Souls ponder and weigh what you read therein especially those things which are plain and evident to every understanding that by the help of them and of those whom God hath set over you to guide and direct your minds you may either inform your understanding in what appears to have difficulty in it or satisfie your selves that it is not necessary you should understand it For they that would drive you from this hold of the Holy Scriptures intend to deceive you and would have you depend on that which is far more uncertain than the meaning of any place of Scripture can be There is no firm ground for us to stand upon but only this which all acknowledge is the very word of God and delivers that which hath been ever accounted the substance of Christian Doctrines in such words as every one may understand them And therefore this is as I have said the very foundation upon which the Church is built Which is the Pillar of Truth as it defends the Truth out of the Scriptures and by the Scriptures against all Hereticks and other opposers and as it establishes and supports it in the hearts of Men by this means that it may be continued to Posterity This must be added for the explication of all that hath been said that the Church and every person in it great or small are Pillars not by themselves but by the Holy Scriptures For we know those things that belong to our Salvation as Irenaeus (g) Adv. Hereses L. III. C. 1. begins his Third Book by no other persons than those by whom the Gospel came to us which then truly they preached but afterwards by the will of God deliverd to us in the Scriptures fundamentum Columnam fidei nostrae futurum to be the FOVNDATION and PILLAR of our Faith. Upon these our Faith rests and relys so that they who take the Scriptures from you take away the Foundation and Pillar of that Truth which is or ought to be taught in the Church and that alone They contain the mind and will of our Lord Christ who himself being the first Foundation and chief Pillar of all Epiphanius (h) Heres LXIX Nâ—m 35. applies these words to him When he saith our Lord is called the door because by him we enter in and the way because by him we walk and the Pillar because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very words of S. Paul in this place the ground or settlement and stay of Truth And in like manner S. Cyril (i) L. III. de Adoral in Sp. Veritate of Alexandria saith the Pillar of a Cloud and the Pillar of Fire each of them represented Christ because first of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is the Pillar and Ground of Truth and then because he cannot be shaken or disturbed c. which he repeats again upon another occasion speaking of the pillars which supported the Curtains of the Tabernacle Christ is to be understood saith he (k) Ib. Lib. IX in each Pillar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the prop of the Church the Ground of Truth according to the words of Paul. And in the next Book (l) L. X. speaking of the four pillars which supported the Vail before the holy place he saith that Vail was a figure of Christ who was lifted up on high by the preaching of the Evangelists and therefore he saith the four Evangelists were typified by those four pillars being equally eminent and pretious more valuable than Gold and Silver Which