many Ages afterwards till at length falling again into great Corruption of Doctrine and Manners she with all the other Six Churches of Asia written to by our Lord fell to be no Church at all and the Temples wherein the Name of Christ was called upon are now become Turkish Mosques and so the burden of Pergamos was fulfilled And now having given you this Account of the State of the Church of Pergamos as it was represented by our Lord himself I am much mistaken if from this Authority we may not be able to justify the Reformation of the Church of England against the most specious and popular Exceptions which they of Rome make against our Reformation And this I shall endeavour to do under these three Heads First That in this Church whilst it was in Communion with and Subjection to the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errors both in Doctrine and Worship added to the Profession of the Common Faith Secondly That upon this Supposition we might and ought to reform our selves as we have done Thirdly That the main Objections which they of the Roman Church do bring and whereby they seek to stagger those of our Communion and to fright them into their own may by this instance of the Message of Christ to the Church of Pergamos be demonstrated to be vain and fallacious and therefore by no means fit to remove us from our stedfastness First That in this Church as in all others that were in Communion with the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errors introduced into the Faith and Worship of Christians And First As in the Church of Pergamos so in these Churches there were Doctrines and Practices leading to Idolatry I wish that were all but it is not all for Idolatry it self if it be possible for us to know what it is was practised and that Practice not only connived at but encouraged and commanded and of this sort were the Practices of Adoring the Host Praying to Saints to dead Men and Women and Worshipping of Images contrary to the whole Tenor of the Scripture providing that we should worship the Lord our God and that him only we should serve And it is very observable that when we urge them with these things they defend themselves from Idolatry by the use of such distinctions as 't is impossible for the common People to save themselves by if indeed these distinctions would do the business As for Doctrines tending to licentiousness of Life and Manners what can be more evidently such than the easy terms upon which they promised forgiveness of Sins and security from Hell Confession to a Priest with Attrition being reckoned sufficient to receive a Pretorial Absolution which shall be valid in Heaven As also the Invention of Purgatory and the Power of the Church to shorten the Pains of it by Indulgences by applying the Treasure of the Churches Merits by Masses and Prayers with a great many Abuses of this nature And besides all these what shall we say to their Doctrine of Transubstantiation their Half-communion their Latin Service their Sacrifice of the Mass for which there is no President or Rule in the Scriptures or in Antiquity but plain and full consent there is both of the one and of the other against them But now to all this they make one general Reply and tell us That the Church meaning the Roman Church hath not erred in these Points because she cannot err at all for she is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and the Standard of Catholick Unity and Faith she is that One Catholick Church which cannot fail to which Christ has promised his perpetual Presence and Assistance that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her and of which St. Paul said that she is the pillar and ground of the truth In a word that whatsoever is by her defined is infallibly true and therefore that these Doctrines and Practices are neither damnable Errors and Sins nor Errors and Sins at all Now if indeed such Promises were made to that Church we should be brought into a very great strait and not very well know whether we should believe the Scripture speaking against the Doctrines and Practices imposed by that Church or the Scripture speaking to us to believe and do as that Church requires But first of all we say That whatsoever Promises were made to the Catholick Church they do not belong only to the Church of Rome which is but a part of it and that these Promises That the gates of hell should not prevail against the Church and that Christ would be with his Church to the end of the world amounted to no more than this That she should be preserved from so much Error as would utterly destroy the Being of a Church not from all Error whatsoever but that no Promise in particular was made to the Church of Rome so much as to secure her from Fundamental Errors utterly destructive of the Being of a Church especially since St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome plainly supposes that it was possible for them to be quite cut off from the Body of Christ Rom. 11.21 22. where speaking of the Rejection of the Jews he hath these words For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Which had been vain words if it had been impossible by virtue of any Privilege conferred upon the See of Peter for the Church of Rome not to continue in God's goodness or it be an infallible Truth that she shall not be cut off We do what we can to find the Infallibility of the Roman Church in the Scriptures but if we cannot find it there is much more reason to conclude that she hath erred because some of her Doctrines and Practices do seem to us apparently to contradict the Scripture than to believe she is infallible because she says so of her self But to this they say That we mis-interpret those Scriptures which seem to condemn what they profess and practise and in short that we cannot arrive to certainty of the true sense of Scripture without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter which the Church is Well for the present I will suppose this but then this will be the consequence of the Supposition That 't is impossible for that Church ever to convince me or any reasonable man of her own Infallibility by the Scriptures For when she tells me that Christ hath said Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and that the church is the pillar and ground of truth and Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world she supposes that the Promise of Infallibility to her self is so plainly made that
every man who has a mind to understand the truth may be certain of the true sense of the words But if I may arrive at a certain sense of these Scriptures without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter then why may I not be as certain of the sense of other Texts as plain as these without such an Interpreter It seems to me that our Saviour said Drink ye All of this and therefore that you of the Roman Church may as well take the Bread as the Cup from the Laity It seems to me that St. Paul calls the Communion of Christ's Body Bread The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ and your Church says 't is Bread no longer after Consecration It seems to me that the same St. Paul speaks for a whole Chapter against Praying in an unknown Tongue and yet your Church doth it It seems also to me that the Author to the Hebrews doth absolutely say That Christ was offered once for all and that he sat down thenceforth at the right hand of God but you pretend to fetch him down from Heaven and offer him a thousand times in a day It seems to me that God has forbidden the making of Images to worship them as absolutely and universally as words could do it and yet you Picture God and make Similitudes of the Blessed Trinity and Images of the Saints and worship them when you have done I demand now why I may not be certain of the true sense of these places upon as reasonable grounds as you suppose I may be of those which in your Judgment conclude for the Infallibility of your Church If I may then I am sure the Scripture condemns what you say and do in these Points but if I may not be reasonably assured that I understand these in my judgment plain places of Scripture because I want an Infallible Judge to interpret for me then I demand again Why do you urge me with those Scriptures that as you pretend prove the Infallibility of your Church For as yet I am not persuaded of the Infallibility thereof though I would gladly be persuaded of it If you say this is the Interpretation of the Church concerning them which is Infallible and therefore you are to believe it I think any body but a Child would reply That that is the very thing in question and therefore that you cannot convince any man of your Infallibility unless he will take your word for it because he cannot infallibly know the true Sense of Scripture giving Testimony to it before he believes it without any Testimony from Scripture at all So that it is to no purpose to go about to persuade any reasonable man that your Church is Infallible till he doth already believe it that is till it is a needless thing to do it because he does believe it already And therefore when all is done we must be content to understand the plain places of Scripture without an Infallible Judge and to find out the rest as well as we can and if the Scripture plainly condemns what you say and do we have more reason from thence to conclude that you have erred than to conclude that you cannot err because you say so of your selves And indeed I look upon this Pretence to Infallibility to be an Error of the most pernicious consequence because it seals them up under all the rest and adds incorrigibleness which is the highest degree of obstinacy to all their other Errors and it is so much the more shameless because the whole World that was in Communion with them groaned for a Reformation before the Council of Trent One of their own Popes said We confess many abominable Abuses and Grievances have been for these many years last past in the Holy See and we look upon our selves concerned to endeavour a Reformation the more because we see the whole World doth most earnestly desire it At the Council of Trent the Ambassadors of several Princes desired earnestly the Cup for the People the Marriage of the Clergy Service in a known Tongue and the Reformation of divers other matters in which Christendom would have reformed it self if Italy would have suffered it Italy I say who to hinder a general Reformation filled the Council of Trent with more Bishops than came from all parts of Christendom besides Secondly Upon this Supposition the Church of England might and ought to reform it self as it hath done for we find that the Church of Pergamos which was not over-run with so many false Doctrines and corrupt Practices as those of the Roman Church I have mentioned was required by our Lord Jesus himself to remove those Errors and Corruptions which had crept into her and if she did not presently return to her Primitive Purity she was threatned to be cut off Indeed it had been a much more desirable thing that the whole Western Church and more desirable still that the East and the West had both united in a Reformation it had been a blessed thing if by a Free and General Council of all the Bishops in the Christian World an Universal Reformation had been made but the latter perhaps was improbable by reason of the vast distances of some Christian Churches from one another and the former was made impossible by the over-ruling Power of Italy which therefore was to be done upon particular Churches by common consent and perhaps there must never be a farther Reformation till the Day of Judgment It was very reasonable and very necessary therefore that Christian Kingdoms should proceed in Provincial and National Councils to reform themselves as this Church hath done under her Kings and Bishops Parliaments and Convocations that is by all that Authority which could be desired to make a publick Reformation within the limits of this particular Church And this proceeding has been authorized by the Examples of the best Ages of the Church when it was thought fit not always to tarry for General Councils but very often for particular Churches to proceed out of hand to the rooting out of Error and Heresy and to the reforming of whatsoever they thought amiss amongst themselves And for this we are to appeal to the Councils of Laodicea Gangra Carthage and many others which are no General Councils To conclude Such Errors as had overspread the Church before the Reformation were in their own nature and in their consequences so pernicious that every Christian Man ought to reform himself from them inasmuch as it is better to obey GOD than man Much more might a publick Reformation be made by due Authority But we had no regard to the Bishop of Rome in this matter who was to be consider'd either as Head of the whole Church or the Patriarch of the West or as the Converter of the English Nation and we were not only in Communion with him but in subjection to him when the Reformation was made So that what Cause soever there might be for it the
unclean or unlawful in its own nature to be used nor can any man's touch make it so nor can any of these things defile a man's Conscience but a man's Conscience is defiled by that which comes from his heart by evil Thoughts by evil Words and by Actions contrary to the Command of God such as murders and adulteries c. These are the things that defile a man but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man i. e. doth not by any means affect his Soul or his Conscience for in this respect he is neither better for washing nor worse for letting it alone and to think otherwise is a Superstition hurtful to your selves and dishonourable to God and of very bad consequence tho it be not so impudent and notorious an abuse as the making void of God's Law by the other lewd Tradition that I mentioned before It is to this purpose that we are to understand the method and design of our Saviour's Discourse in this place in answer to the Objection of the Pharisees brought against the Disciples From which Answer there are some things to be gathered well worth our observation 1. That it is sufficient to overthrow the Authority of a pretended Tradition that it is contrary to the Commandment of God 2. That if there be one Traditionary Doctrine that notoriously contradicts the Law of God that one instance is sufficient to overturn the credit of that Tradition which pretends to deliver unwritten Doctrines of equal Authority with those that are written 3. That the universal consent of some one Age or more That such and such Doctrines were delivered by word of mouth many Ages before is no Argument that they were so delivered 4. That we have great reason to stick to the Word of God delivered to us in the Scriptures and to examine all Doctrines and Rules which are said to be necessary to Salvation by that Rule and to reject the Authority of unwritten Traditions 1. That it is sufficient to overthrow the Authority of a pretended Tradition That it is contrary to the Commandment of God For if when Tradition is pretended for any Doctrine or Practice it be not enough to shew that the same Doctrine or Practice is inconsistent with what is plainly required in the Scriptures which are acknowledged by all to contain the Word of God I say if this be not enough then our Saviour used an insufficient Argument against the pretended Tradition of not suffering the Son that was under a Vow of the contrary to relieve his Father or Mother that it made void the commandment of God But doubtless our Saviour was so far from using a bad Argument that he used the best and most convincing of all And truly if we did not in this case consider our Saviour's Authority yet it must be a monstrous prejudice that keeps any man from discerning the strength of this Argument against the Authority of any unwritten Doctrine That it is contrary to what is written for nothing is more certain than that Contradictions cannot be true and yet they must be true if that Doctrine for which unwritten Tradition is pretended can be of God tho it contradicts the written Tradition which is by all acknowledged to be Divine But as plain as this Argument is yet it is very well for us that we find our blessed Saviour giving such Authority to it because there are Christians in the World bearing up themselves upon the Tradition of the Church that are loth to admit this Argument which we have no cause to be amazed at because it is an utter Confutation of all their pretences We charge them with having brought into the Church new Articles of Faith and new Doctrines of Worship which are not only very different from what was taught at first by Christ and his Apostles but some of them contrary thereunto as we can shew them out of the Scriptures But this way of proceeding doth by no means content them and they insist upon it that the Cause may be tried otherwise For say they You acknowledge that our Church was once a pure Church and taught the Gospel sincerely but if as you say she departed from the pure Faith and Worship which the Apostles left it is impossible but this must have been very notorious because it could not have been done without opposition and resistance from some that must needs observe it Tell us therefore When were these new and false Doctrines introduced Who were the men that brought them in Who were the first that made the discovery What Council condemned them after they were discovered For if none of these things can be shewn it is absurd to think that any such alteration should have been as you say Which reasoning amounts to thus much That it is impossible we can be sure that in the compass of a thousand Years there was a great alteration happened in the state of Religion unless withal we can tell how it came about and just when it came about the precise time and the punctual manner and circumstances thereof which is just as if a man almost desperately sick of a Disease that had been for some Years growing upon him should prove to his Friend that he is as well as ever he was in his Life for says he You know I was well once and if I am now so ill as you say pray shew me the time when this Disease first happened the manner how and what Physicians were called about me which kind of arguing would certainly prove no more than that the Disease had taken his head When the Servants came and told their Lord that the tares came up with the wheat it was excusable in them to say We sowed good seed whence hath it these tares But when their Master told them An enemy hath done this if they had disputed and told him It was impossible there should be any Tares at all because he could not tell punctually that very Night when they were sown and who the Persons were that took the malicious pains to sow them then they had been very inexcusable thus to renounce their own certain knowledge for the sake of a vain Speculation Now we are very sure that the Apostles did at first sow nothing in the Church but good and true Doctrine Our Fathers that lived about fourteen hundred Years after found quite another sort of Doctrine gotten into the Church and some of them contrary to what the Apostles taught as the Scriptures manifestly shew and yet there have been a long time and still there are certain Disputers that go about to stagger others with such like questions as we have been speaking of and teach them to defy all reasoning out of the Scriptures till these questions are satisfied What Age What Year of our Lord were these Errors brought into the Church Who were they that brought them in and who first complained of them Now although a very reasonable account both may be and hath been given of
between the Prophets and Jesus so many hundreds of years after they were dead and before he was born Or are these Predictions and their Events to be imputed to Chance It is possible indeed that some one thing may be foretold and happen accordingly but that so vast a number of particulars should be foretold concerning one Person at all adventures and by strange luck come to pass afterwards is fit for them only to believe that can believe that the World was made by a casual hit of Atoms To name these things is enough to confute them 2. All that can be farther desired is to be well assured that these Prophecies were not forged by the followers of Jesus but that they were indeed contained in the ancient Writings that had been delivered down to the Jews of our Saviour's time by their Ancestors and the constant testimony of the Jews themselves who were most bitter enemies to Jesus and to his Doctrine were enough to satisfie us in this point 4ly And Lastly Whereas these Predictions are said to be a more sure word of Prophecy the meaning is this that they are a more convincing Testimony to Jesus than any other taken by its self they are indeed a more permanent Testimony and withal less liable to Cavil and Objection I cannot stand to shew this by making particular comparisons but shall only observe That Prophecy includes all other Testimonies and adds strength to every one of them It comprehends the Miracles of Jesus and of his Apostles his Resurrection and Ascension the Descent of the Holy Ghost and the excellency of his Doctrine because these were all foretold It includes all other proofs as well as the thing proved and those proofs are the more convincing because they also had been foretold by the Prophets From all this it follows That allowing the Scripture that Tradition which other good Histories have and which they have more of than any other ancient Writings in the World then the Prophecies of the Old Testament and the Accomplishment of them in the New do prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and this without the help of the Churches Authority and well is it for the Christian Religion that the Scriptures may be proved without the Authority of the Church for otherwise Christianity must never look an Infidel in the face since the Church hath no Authority at all till we are assured of the truth of the Scriptures themselves And I will make bold to add That when all those objections against the Authority of the Old Testament from the time wherein it was put into this form of Books from the light oversights of Transcribers from various readings and all the cavils upon any part of it are put together the word of Prophecy which runs through it all will bear all this reckoning and still remain an invincible argument that the first Authors were inspired that the Prophecy came not in Old time by the will of man but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Well therefore might St. Peter commend the Jewish Converts for taking heed to the word of Prophecy since this was the way to come to a well-grounded Faith indeed and to grow every day to greater assurance and stedfastness therein and for the same reason let us I beseech you be exhorted to like diligence in conversing with the Holy Scriptures that our Minds may be more enlightened with the knowledge of divine Truth and that every doubt if any there be that shakes our Faith may be removed And this Exhortation is so needful that I shall shew that there is no good reason in their Objection against it who have taken a great deal of pains to exclude all but the Clergy and those that have special License from reading the Scriptures the sum of what they say is this That the promiscuous Liberty of reading the Scriptures leads the People into Pride and Self-conceit makes them insolent and ungovernable and ready to throw off all Respect to their lawful Guides That almost all Heresies have proceeded from misinterpretation of Scripture and that there are so many obscure and difficult places in the Old and New Testament that to translate the Bible into vulgar Tongues and to encourage the People to read it is to betray them into the danger of infinite Errors which they are likely enough to fall into by mistaking the sense of the holy Text which therefore is to be kept out of the hands of the Laity as we would keep Children from medling with edged Tools and lay Swords out of mad-mens way Now if this Charge be true the Bible is a very dangerous Book if it be not true there is some other reason doubtless why they that pretend this have no kindness for the Bible I shall omit several advantages that may be taken against this Flourish because I think it may be shown very briefly that it pretends things that do by no means hang well together that it takes things for granted that are not true and that it concludes as strongly against the Scriptures being read by the Clergy as by the Laity It pretends some things that do not hang well together On the one side they tell us that the liberty of reading the Bible is apt to make the People throw off all dependance upon the Priest as to instruction on the one side that there are obscure and difficult passages in it by mistaking the true sense of which they will be led into Heresie and consequently into the way of Damnation Now indeed the Scriptures say this of themselves that there are divers things hard to be understood in them which ignorant and unstable men have wrested to their own destructien But if this be true the best way to keep the People in modest dependance upon the instruction of their Spiritual Guides is to lay the Bible before them and not to keep it from them since there cannot be a more convincing Argument of the necessity of attending to their Pastors in order to farther Instruction than the several difficulties that occur in the Scriptures and the warnings that the Scriptures themselves have given of the danger that unlearned and unstable Men are in of wresting them to their own destruction If it be said that experience shews the contrary and that neither this nor any other Argument can make people modest if they are generally permitted to have the Scriptures I add 2. That this arguing takes things for granted which are not true in point of fact all the Faithful anciently had the Scriptures but we find little complaint by the Bishops and Clergy then of the Wantonness and Insolence of the People so little in comparison of the frequent and earnest exhortations that all would deligently Read the Scriptures that it may be said to be none at all Christian People that had been trained up in the first Rudiments of the Faith were not only allowed them but required to Read the
the Temptation Men of Probity and Lovers of Truth should upon diligent examination hold it faster than otherwise they would have done This is one of the great advantages to which that opposition tends which Truth has met with in the World And therefore the more lofty those Pretences are by which the other Church would bring us to an intire submission to her Authority in every point of Religion so much greater reason there is to examine every one of her particulars and if I find that she is mistaken in any of them I am very sure that she is not infallible in all And if she will not allow me to make a Judgment of the Particulars 't is just as if a Man should try to hinder me from casting up my own Accounts by going about to prove that he cannot possibly mistake in doing it he might indeed shew some Wit in working his Demonstration but I should shew a great deal more folly in trusting him To conclude We have a Rule whereby to try the Doctrine I will not only say of a Church or a Pope or a Council but even of an Angel from Heaven if an Angel should come and preach to us and that Rule is the Holy Scripture especially the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles These are by all Christians acknowledged to be the undoubted and the most ancient Records of our Holy Religion and they have had a Tradition so uncontroulable as no Books in the World ever had the like Whoever therefore is our Guide it is very reasonable that this should be our Rule And of all Churches in the World I will never trust my self to her discretion that will not trust me with the Knowledge and Study of this Rule Here we may if we please make our selves very sure that we are of those whom God will justifie for here we may discern what kind of Persons St. Paul and the Christians of whom he speaks in this place and what all the Apostles and Primitive Disciples of our Lord were For those Books which acquaint us with their Names and which were written by some of themselves do also discover to us what Faith they professed what Doctrine they taught and what Lives they led Now if we profess that very Faith and teach no other Doctrine and frame our practice by their Rules and good Examples then without all question we are such kind of Christians as they were and then altho' we should be used by the World as they were too yet the encouragement and comfort which they had will also belong to us and we too may say Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Having therefore the infallible Rule of God's Word whereby to guide our selves We beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more that while evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived ye may continue in the things which ye have learned knowing of whom ye have learned them even from the Sayings of our Lord Jesus and his holy Apostles delivered to us in the Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus Let us remember that it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us not forgetting by any means that 't is a way of righteousness we have been made to know and an holy Commandment that hath been delivered to us from which therefore we may depart as damnably by an impure Conversation as by leting go our pure Profession in which case we are so far from being justified that we shall be the more condemned by our Faith We have no false Principles to save our Hearts from condemning us if we allow our selves in any way of wickedness and God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Whoever else condemns us that is more than recompence enough if God justifieth But who is he that shall justifie us if God condemns FINIS THE SUMM OF A CONFERENCE On Feb. 21. 1686. BETWEEN Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden About the Point of TRANSUBSTANTIATION The Third Edition LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1698. The SUM of a CONFERENCE On Feb. 21. 1686. BETWEEN Dr. Clagett and Father Gooden About the POINT of TRANSUBSTANTIATION Introduction IT will perhaps appear to some a little strange that I do not say almost Incredible that there should have pass'd a Conference above two years since in which Mr. Gooden was concern'd and the World yet to learn the Substance of it The Vanity of that Gentleman to thrust himself upon all Occasions into Disputes with the most Learned Men of our Church first and then to boast of his own Performances in them was so great that there is scarce a Coffee-house in the Town that has not been filled with the Noise of his impertinent Vapours And if those of the other Communion have been always remarkable for an Assurance becoming the pretended Infallibility of their Church I may venture to say that next to Father P the Jesuit and his Friend Mr. M I scarce know any among them that have ever talk'd so loud or made such Heroical Defiances of the Champions and Armies of our Israel in all Places and upon all Occasions as Mr. Gooden these late Years has done among us But thus shallow Waters always run with the greatest Noise and Violence and little Sophisters who either want Capacity to see into their own Fallacies or think they have forehead enough to carry that off with Clamour and Confidence which they cannot do by Reason and Argument delight to expose themselves and their Religion to the most dangerous Tryals whilst Men of Learning and Judgment are modest and ingenuous and know it to be neither for the Honour of their Church nor their own Reputation to challenge all Mankind to answer Paradoxes and to shew that not to be Demonstration which when brought to the tryal is hardly sense See Mr. G's Pap. I hope this will not be thought too severe a Reflection on the late Pretenders of this kind among us which I speak out of a just respect to the more learned and charitable Persons of the Church of Rome who have been no less scandalized at these forward Zealots than our selves and to whom I ought to give this Testimony That during a long acquaintance with many of them I never met with any thing of the Vanity of those I have before-mentioned Our Differences in matters of Religion made no Disturbance either in our Friendship or Conversation with one another If the discourse at anytime led to a Controversie of
Authority of Interpretation as I will shew this Disputer when he pleases If nothing less than Infallibility will serve to understand or as he says to sense Words why does this Disputer put into my Hands this Paper of his which is none of the plainest neither I am sure he does not take me to be Infallible and yet I am confident he would be angry if I should say his Paper was not to be understood without an infallible Interpreter let him answer this if he can The Reason he gives why Scripture sensed by a fallible Authority cannot be the Rule of Faith is because all such Interpretations may be false That is to say because there is a bare Possibility of any fallible Man's mistaking the sense of plain Texts Which kind of Reasoning makes impossible that every Man should come to be a Believer unless himself be first Infallible And this I shall demonstrate so plainly that no Man who has any share of Understanding and Modesty shall be able to deny it There is no possible way for any sort of Christians to make known either the Articles or Reasons of Faith to those that are yet ignorant of them but by Words or Sentences written or spoken He who hears or reads the words and sentences cannot tell either what is to believe or why he should believe till he understands or in the Disputers Phrase till he senses those Words and Sentences but as yet his Authority is but fallible and Words sensed by a fallible Authority can never give a Man certainty either of the Rule or of the Reason of his Faith if this Disputer be in the Right therefore 't is impossible to make him a Believer unless you can make him Infallible first that it may not be possible for him to be mistaken in sensing the Words which he hears or reads And thus farewel to all Advantage that any Man can have by the Infallibility of Popes and Councils or Oral Tradition as well as by the Scriptures nay and to all possible means of arriving to certainty in any matter of Faith unless every body be Infallible first so that upon supposition that God would have all Men to be sav'd and therefore to believe it inavoidably follows from the wild reasoning of this Man that God has made every Man Infallible But if it be evident that Men are fallible Creatures then this Disputer has advanced a Principle the most destructive to all certainty of Faith that ever was heard of in the World But the comfort is that 't is so very absurd that no body well in his Wits can be misled by it Pap. And therefore Faith cannot be obtain'd by any such means Ans Which is as much as to say that Faith cannot be obtain'd till a Man have the Gift of Infallibility And if every Man has it before he can be taught to any purpose what need can there be of an infallible Interpreter to teach him But as I observed before 't is impossible to make Believers of those that are not Infallible unless the Disputer or his Church has a way to make known the Doctrines and Reasons of Christian Faith without Words Pap. For that which is doubtful can only create opinion which is also doubtful Ans Therefore since all Words are doubtful to him that has but a fallible Authority to sense them as no Man has more before he believes 't is impossible for the Disputers Church to create any thing more than opinion which is also doubtful in those whom she teaches unless as I have already said she can make them Infallible first and teach them afterwards And even then there would be no need of teaching them at all because they are now Infallible themselves Of all the Papers that ever I read I never met with any thing more absurd and contradictious than the reasoning of this In which the Disputer out of a vehement desire to overthrow our Faith and the Grounds of it has laid down Principles that do effectually overthrow all ways of making Men sure of any thing and in particular the use of those very Methods by which his own Church pretends to lead Men to Faith Pap. And he that doubts in Faith the Apostle saith is Infidelis and a company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Ans What Apostle says this if the Disputer refers to Rom. 14.23 as I think he does he has shewn his skill in the Interpretation of Scripture to be equal to his mastery in Reasoning If in the Infallible Church they can Interpret Scripture no better than thus give me the honesty and industry of a Fallible Church before it The Conclusion AND now after all this Paper is as absurd in the design as it is in the management for the business of it is to prove That Protestants have no Faith but are Infidels and that by this Argument they are and must be Doubters Now whether I doubt or do not doubt is a Question concerning a matter of Fact that I have more reason to know the Truth of than the Disputer can possibly have and if I know that I do not doubt and he can yet prove that I do doubt he is an extraordinary Man indeed For then I am sure he can prove That Truth not only may be but is false which perhaps such a Man as he can reconcile with what he said at first That truths are impossible to be false And this alone had been a sufficient Answer to his Paper for nothing can be more frivolous than to go about to prove to a Man by fine Reasoning that he does doubt of a thing when hâ— is as sure that he does not doubt of it as he caâ— be of any thing in the World But the design of this Paper seems to be as impious as 't is absurd And that is to bring weak Persons to Infidelity first that they may afterwards be setled upon Romish Grounds I do acknowledge 't is a very proper way to bring us over to the Church of Rome to make us Infidels first But this they will not find so easie a mattter for we trust that we are not of those who draw back to Perdition but of those that believe to the saving of the soul I have omitted nothing in the whole Paper but to take notice of that little and mean Reflection in calling the Protestant a Parliamentary Protestant I have told this Disputer the Reason and Ground of our Faith If we moreover are protected in the Profession of it by the Laws of the Land I suppose 't is no more than what he would desire for the Profession of Popery and he would think never the worse of himself for being a Parliamentary Papist Thus I have answered this Paper through every Clause of it And I am confident destroy'd all that little Appearance of Reasoning that it made Let the Disputer build it up again if he can I promise him by God's Grace that I 'll pull it down again FINIS
be obeyed in matters of Prudence and Expedience Religion has been made to run out into Shews and Ceremonies and this has begotten prejudices against all appearance of Beauty and Reverence in the external Worship of God And on the other side the excesses of men in departing from one extreme are scandalous to those whom they left and do confirm them in their Errors Thus because there are some who abuse the Liberty this Church gives to all of using the Holy Scriptures and who reject the assistance of their Guides they that are concerned the People should know as little of the Bible as is possible argue from the Folly and Vanity of the former how dangerous an Instrument it is in the hands of the Laity And because 't is impossible but that a Judgment of Discretion in matters of Religion being allowed to all must be liable to be abused they that abuse it to the making of Sects and Parties and the bringing in of Innovations give a Candle to that Church to glory in her Dissention which provides that all should believe as she believes because of her Authority and that no man judges of the particulars of his Faith for himself The truth is the Instances of this mischief are so many and so undeniable that whenever any great Scandal is given by Communities or Churches that consists in one Extreme a man may without the Spirit of Prophecy foretel that if the great Mercy of God prevent it not it will in time beget the other Extreme It is the great unhappiness of Mankind that opposite Errors which look as if one would destroy the other do really strive to support one another And yet there is hardly any foolish Advice more frequent than to run from an Extreme as far as is possible as if that were the way to make an end of it But by this means woful Mischiefs have happen'd in the world Divisions have been multiplied Uncharitableness increased and men more and more hardned in their ways of Error and Sin 6. The Scandal of mixing absurd and impious Doctrines with the Truth and unjustifiable Practices with such as are to be commended has this notorious mischief still attending it that it hinders the Conversion of Infidels and is a terrible obstruction to the propagating of Christianity Averroes did not speak his own sense alone when he said Since the Christians eat their God let my Soul be with the Philosophers The Scandals that are given to Jews and Turks I need not name But to make an end of this unpleasing Argument 7. And lastly The mischief of these and all other Offences is so much the greater because when once Offence is given no man can tell where the mischief will end For instance Suppose by my Example I animate another to sin in like manner or that I do not only corrupt his Manners but his Principles too and so do him all the hurt I can Who can say that this is all the mischief I have done Is it not likely that he will infect others as I have infected him And that they may go on to propagate the mischief which had its beginning from me And that the next Age may be the worse for me And that my Guilt may be growing Ages after I am dead Apply this to all the Offences that are given in the world and consider not only the greatness of the mischief they do but the spreading nature of it and we shall find great reason in those sad words of our Lord Wo to the world because of offences But 2. Whence comes it that Offences are taken and so all this mischief done by them In general it might be sufficient to answer That for whatever Causes some men are apt to give Offence for the same others are apt to take it and therefore it would not be impertinent to call over in this place the unsuitableness of the Gospel to the Lusts and to the Vanity of mankind whether it be considered as a Rule of Faith or Manners or Worship But to this it may be added 1. That there are a great many in the world who for want of either good natural Abilities or good Education have little ability to judge for themselves and therefore the most part take their Impressions from the Authority of other mens Examples or Instructions And therefore when they fall into ill hands they fare accordingly to which our Saviour seemed to have a particular regard in the Verse before the Text Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea So that because there would be some Persons sincerely disposed who in many things could not judge for themselves but must be led by Authority our Saviour for their greater security provided this frightful Threatning to deter all men from taking the advantage of their weakness to mislead them 2. Some stumble at Offences laid before them and take up pernicious Doctrines merely from impatience of considering and taking time to lay things together He that judges rashly and hastily may by chance make a true Judgment but he shall as often judge falsly it being no difficult thing as I observed last time to lay such colours upon Error as will require some leisure to see through them And in such cases if a man be unwilling to take pains and desires to come presently and easily to the Conclusion he gives the Seducer all the advantage he could desire and is indeed just the Person he desired to meet with one easily deceived by a false appearance of Reason 3. The strange Influence which the carnal Affections of men and their worldly Interests have upon their Judgments is a fatal cause of laying them open to the mischief of Scandals We are too apt to desire Doctrines and Examples in favour of liberty to sin and therefore when they are offered we are not so apt as we should be to guard our selves against them Thus it was among the Jews as God said by Jeremy Jer. 5.31 The prophets prophesie falsly and my people love to have it so To these I might add other Causes viz. The prejudice of Education undue admiration of mens Persons prejudice against Truth arising from prejudice against Persons an Inclination to Opinions suitable to our own Temper and Complexion love of Novelty on the one side and on the other hatred to change though it be for the better all which Dispositions and Circumstances expose those that are under them to the mischief of Offences But I should be over-tedious to run into all the Particulars under this Head which may also be more profitably supplied by Directions in the Close of all And so I come to the third intention which was to reduce what has been said to matter of Exhortation And I shall leave with you these two necessary Cautions I. Be careful to give no Offence II. Be
himself as much pleased with our Faith as he was with Abraham's and will reward it as effectually To sum up all The Testimony of God to Abraham's Faith was not given meerly for his own sake but for the Instruction and Encouragement of all true Believers to the World's end who when they deny themselves and do the hardest Duties and are never offended with the Will of God have I say a Title to the Testimony God gave to Abraham Now I know that thou fearest God Certainly it would be no mean encouragement to us it would raise up our minds to very great degrees of Joy and Triumph to have God say that to us that he did to Abraham but we are to remember that it was said to him once for all in behalf of all his Children that should tread in the steps of his faith This was not an Honour given to Abraham only though to him principally and in the first place it was done him also for the Credit of Religion in all Ages of the World and for the comfort and joy of all Religious and Holy Men and Women to the end of the World Wherefore my Brethren that we may come in for some share in the Praise and Reward of Abraham's Faith let there be in none of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God The evil heart of unbelief is the evil heart that causeth unbelief i. e. some corrupt inclination some unmortified Lust some carnal interest or other Do thou therefore in the first place when thou hast an eye upon the example of Abraham conceive how much thou art obliged to take thy sin thy dearly beloved sin whatever it be and slay it that is the first Sacrifice thou canst offer to God to wit a broken and contrite heart an heart clean from worldly and sinful Lusts Do this and thou wilt find nothing too dear for God thy Faith will then make thee to be entirely at the disposal of his Will and Pleasure it will justify and support thee in so doing and the God of Abraham will be thine exceeding great reward The Seventh Sermon MATTH XV. 1 2 3. Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying Why do thy Disciples transgress the Tradition of the Elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread But he answered and said unto them Why do ye also transgress the Commandment of God by your Tradition THough never Man was so unreproveable in his Doctrine and Example as our Lord Jesus yet never was Man more opposed or cavilled at as the Evangelists do abundantly testify in that History of him which they have written for us being upon the matter made up of the Holy Doctrines which he delivered the Good Works in which he was always employed and the Contradictions which he continually met with And it was very necessary that some instances of the last should be recorded for our sakes that they who profess the Truth as it is in Jesus should not think it strange if they happened to meet with such opposition as their Master did and likewise that by his Answers to the Cavils of his Adversaries they might be instructed how they should defend themselves afterwards against the like Objections One instance whereof we have in the Text I have now chosen to speak to Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem c. As to which words I shall not need to say much concerning the Persons that our Saviour had to deal withal because their Character is so well known to all that diligently read the Gospels The Scribes were the Men that professed to Teach the Law and expected to have all their Interpretations received as Oracles The Pharisees were the most subtle and prevailing Sect amongst the Scribes for though as things were in that Age and for some time before the Scribes generally agreed in corrupting the Law and deceiving the People yet they had their Parties and Factions among themselves the Pharisees in our Saviour's time being a Sect of the greatest Power in the Council and of the greatest Reputation with the People and whereas it is said that they were the Scribes and Pharisees or the Scribes of the Pharisaical Party which were of Jerusalem that came to Jesus the meaning is that they were such as kept their Schools in the City of Jerusalem and were therefore of the first rank amongst the Pharisees And now I shall discourse to you of these two things First Of the Objection which these Men made against Jesus and his Disciples Secondly Of the Answer which our Saviour made to the Charge that was laid against them I. Of the Objection which these Men made against Jesus and his Disciples Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread A Charge laid with as much confidence as anger and therefore they scorned to put any of his Disciples to answer it and thought fit to challenge the Master himself about it Now the first thing that is proper to be considered here is 1. The nature of the Charge which seems to be a general one illustrated by one particular instance The general Charge was That the Disciples of Jesus transgressed the tradition of the elders The particular instance was That they transgressed such Tradition in not washing their hands before meat As to the general Charge they had transgressed the tradition of the elders But what was the Tradition of the Elders The Tradition of the Elders was the Doctrine that had been delivered and the Rules that had been laid down by Wise and Great men and universally received in former Ages One would think therefore that the Laws of Moses and the Rules of the Prophets and whatsoever was commanded in the Scriptures had been the tradition of the elders for all these things had been delivered down by an uncontroulable Tradition from hand to hand for near Two thousand Years But there was no such meaning under these words as they used them By the tradition of the elders or by the ancient Tradition of Wise and Great men they meant no Doctrines or Rules for Faith or Practice that were expressed in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets but such Doctrines as not being written in the Law were delivered down by word of Mouth and by constant usage from Father to Son and so from one Age to another And thus Josephus tells us Antiq. 13.13 That the first and main Principle of the Pharisees was that they denied all those things to be written which concerned Religion The Fundamental Rule of their Sect was this that there was a double Law an Oral Law and a Written Law A Law delivered from Age to Age by word of mouth as well as a Law delivered in such Books as had Authority from Moses and the Prophets To gain reverence to these Traditions they persuaded the People that though they were not written in the
the Persons the Time and the manner and the Degrees by which such Corruptions got into the Church yet it is very unreasonable to expect that every Christian should be able to answer these Questions punctually because it requires more labour and reading than generally they have either leisure or ability to go through with but withal it is very needless because there is a shorter and a surer way to determine this matter and that by comparing those Doctrines and Practises with the Scriptures For the Scriptures have a more certain Tradition than any of those Histories that give an account of the Revolutions of Church-Affairs since the beginning and now what matter is it if I am assured that such and such Corruptions were brought into the Church some time or other after the Apostles because they are contrary to what the Apostles taught and left in their Writings though I cannot tell just the Year when or the Person by whom they first crept into the Church I would very fain know of any Man that when our Saviour set himself to overthrow that wicked Tradition which we were speaking of before whether he could not if he had pleased have given an exact account of the Persons that began it in the Jewish Church and of the time when it began and of every circumstance that attended its entrance into the World and its growth and increase afterwards But did he go this way to work It is certain that the Pharisees pretended the Traditions which they taught the People were delivered from God to Moses and that through several Ages they were conveyed down to them successively by word of Mouth And I grant that if our Lord had with many words shewn them that there were such and such Men who first brought them in this had been a confutation of their pretence but for all that he was pleased to use a better and a shorter argument against them and told them what the Commandment was in the Law which their pretended Tradition made void and this was instead of a thousand Arguments that their Doctrine never came from Moses but was invented some time afterwards And I beseech you let none of us be ashamed to use that kind of argument which our Saviour thought fit to confute those People withal and which we have reason to think he used that he might shew us the best way to secure our selves from being imposed upon by unwritten Traditions and by a pretence of having received such Doctrines from the Apostles as they never delivered When therefore we are asked If Transubstantiation be an Error and not an Article of Faith when did it come in If Service in an unknown Tongue be an Innovation when did it come in If the Sacrifice of the Mass be a Corruption when did it come in Let us account it sufficient to answer for so our Saviour thought it in the like case That Transubstantiation makes void those places of Scripture which expresly affirm that by eating of Bread we shew forth the Death of Christ and are made partakers of his Body That Service in an unknown tongue makes void the Fourteenth Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians And that the Sacrifice of the Mass makes void the Seventh and the Tenth Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews which expresly tell us that Christ can be offered no more and that there remains no more Sacrifice for sins and therefore we are very well assured that they did come in some time or other since the Apostles but whether they came in sooner or later is nothing to the purpose for certainly nothing ought ever to have come in that makes void any part of the Word of God but if any such thing hath got in there is all the reason in the World that it should be thrown out again They may well be ashamed that cannot bear this sort of arguing but most certainly we have no reason to be ashamed to use it since our Blessed Saviour hath used it before us for when he set himself to overthrow the credit of these Doctrines for which they pretended a constant Tradition in the Church he thought it sufficient for his purpose to shew that they voided the Commandments of God and made his word of none effect 2. If there be one Traditionary Doctrine that notoriously contradicts the written Word of God 't is enough to overthrow the whole Credit of that Tradition which pretends to bring down unwritten Doctrines that are necessary to be received For thus we find that our Saviour by the single instance of that Tradition which voided the Fifth Commandment overthrew the Objection of the Pharisees against his Disciples Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders i. e. their unwritten Traditions Which was as much as to say That they ought all of them to be Religiously observed because they had all the same Authority Our Saviour therefore produces an instance of their Traditions that takes away all Authority inasmuch as it was a plain contradiction to the Law of God if therefore amongst their unwritten Doctrines and Rules there were any that had some kind of goodness and usefulness they were to be regarded upon their own account and not upon the Authority of Tradition But when he had utterly overthrown all that pretended Authority by an undeniable Argument he then speaks to the case which themselves had propounded and lays down the truth concerning it They had a vast number of Superstitions for which they pretended Tradition and they tax our Saviour's Disciples for not observing one of them Now he with admirable Wisdom first breaks the Authority of their Tradition shewing that one of them was plainly against the Law of God and then he shews how Superstitious and foolish they were in the case which themselves chose to speak to In this also our Lord hath set us an example that if we are press'd by a pretence to Tradition in favour of unwritten Doctrines and Articles we should in the first place shew that one or more of these is contrary to the Word of God and therefore that there is no reason to pretend Tradition for any of them since they are all said to have come down together Which being done in the first place it will be then seasonable to shew what is to be thought of the rest if they are judged of by the general Rules of Reason and Scripture 3. The Universal consent of some one or two Ages that such and such Doctrines were delivered by word of mouth many Ages before is no Argument that they were so delivered The Pharisees did pretend that their Doctrines and Interpretations of the Law had been conveyed down from Moses by Oral Tradition to that Age in which they lived and there were several of these Traditions universally believed in that Age to have been so conveyed and the Practice of the People was universally governed by them For instance that of Religious Washing before meat and the washing
of Cups and Pots as a thing in it self good and holy was universally received and practised as St. Mark tells us Now I would fain know whether they might not have reasoned in this fashion We in this Age received this Doctrine and Rule from our Forefathers who professed they received it from theirs and if they had not received it from theirs then they all agreed together to cheat us as their Forefathers agreed to cheat them if they had not received it from theirs and so this Tradition must have come originally from Moses or else there was one Age that agreed to cheat the next in things concerning the Service of God and the Salvation of Mens Souls But after all the prettiness of this demonstration I think we have more reason to believe that this Superstition never came from Moses because our Saviour exposed it as a vain and foolish Doctrine than to believe that it did because the Jews ever since the Pharisees time who were a Sect of full three hundred years standing were taught to pretend Tradition for the Innovations of the Pharisees and for this amongst the rest And therefore it is a vain thing to pretend that because such and such Traditionary Doctrines were in such an Age taught without controul as necessary to Salvation they must needs have been taught so from the very first 4. That we have great reason to stick to the word of God delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures and to examine all Doctrines and Pretences by this Rule For the Holy Scriptures are indeed the Rule whereby we are to try that pretence that there is another Rule viz. of unwritten Tradition and if that other pretended Rule doth in any thing contradict the Scriptures most certainly it is but a pretended Rule and to be rejected To deal plainly this same plain Oral Tradition was never pretended for any good either by Jews or Christians nor made use of but to advance and protect some Doctrines or Practices that stand condemned by the Scriptures And therefore after so long experience had of the mischief as well as vanity of this pretence it were perhaps not unreasonable for any Christian to reject the Argument of unwritten Tradition without any more ado and to entertain no Doctrine or Practice necessary to Salvation which cannot be proved out of the Scriptures nor to entertain any thing at all that is contrary thereunto let Men talk of Tradition or any other Authority as long as they please And now I question not but this Discourse will be acknowledged to be very plain and convincing but for all that it is not certain that the Argument of it self will secure us from being deceived by the Sophistry of others if we do not take heed to the main thing of all and that is to lead such Lives as the Scriptures direct us to lead for there is no such temptation in the World to be fond of Traditionary Doctrines as to live in that manner that if the Traditionary Doctrines be not true we can have no hope of Salvation If we will live according to the Scriptures we shall have no temptation and I am sure we have no reason to believe otherwise than according to the Scriptures Let us often think that here we have no continuing place we must not always live here but that in a very little time we are to go into another World and to appear before our Judge Let us remember that this is the great argument by which the Scriptures engage us to live a sober righteous and godly life and let us consider that it is the strongest Argument in the World and be persuaded by it to do accordingly and this will above all things establish us in the Truth It is something hard to keep that Man from being deceived who needs the comfort of false Principles For Men are very apt to be running for comfort where it is to be had though they cheat themselves for it Brethren the Holy Scriptures are God's Book and they are acknowledged to be so by all Christians in the World therefore I say it again and again stick to the Scriptures live according to the Scriptures and believe according to the Scriptures Make the Scriptures the Rule of your Practice and then you will need no more arguments to make them the Rule of your Faith And as many as walk according to this Rule Peace will be upon them The Eighth Sermon 1 COR. XI 19. For there must be Heresies also amongst you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you THE word Heresy did at first indifferently signify any Party distinguished from others by Opinions and Practises peculiar to it self whether those Opinions were true or false those Practices good or bad insomuch that Christianity it self was called a Sect or Heresy for some time But in time it came to be used in the worser sense and was restrained to those that distinguished themselves by the profession of false Doctrines or by unjustifiable Practices Which use of the word began soon after Christianity as far as I can find and there was this reason for it that Christianity having established one Form of Doctrine which was to be universally received there were now to be no Heresies or Sects that is no departure from the Unity of that Doctrine and every new Sect from that time forward must necessarily be in the wrong Thus also the word Schism or Division came in a little time to be restrained to that side or party by whose fault the breach of Christian Communion and Concord was made and although when a dissention and breach of Unity happens they that are not in the fault are at the same distance from those that are that the faulty are from the innocent yet the faulty were only said to be in Schism or Division Moreover it seems that Heresy and Schism were words at first used indifferently to signify the same fault of discord and Contention because breach of Charity and Communion was for the most part made by departing from Unity of Doctrine though in process of time Heresy was restrained to signify an Error about the Faith and Schism a breach of Order and Christian Communion St. Paul doth in this place seem to mean the same thing by both words for in the foregoing verse says he I hear that there be divisions or Schisms among you and I partly believe it that is I believe it of some of you And then he adds For there must be also Heresies among you that is Sects and Parties distinguished from one another by their peculiar Doctrines and Practices The matter about which there was a disagreement in the Church of Corinth was no less than that of the administration of the Holy Communion that having happened so early which in the latter Ages of the Church has obtained in a much higher degree that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which was in great part instituted to unite the Faithful in
Bible and yet they modestly attended upon their Spiritual Guides for farther Instruction out of the Bible And therefore if some Men in later Ages have grosly Misinterpreted the Scriptures and would not be set right by those that had more skill to interpret them this doth not prove that the reading of the Scriptures makes the People ungovernable for then it must always have been so which is notoriously false and whereas it is said that almost all Heresies have come of Mis-interpreting Scripture this doth not prove that Christian People must not Read the Scriptures for it cannot be denied that those Heresies which have given any considerable disturbance to the Church of God were begun not by Laicks or illeterate Persons but by such Men as the objectors do allow to have a right of reading and studying the Scriptures i. e. by Bishops or Priests Wherefore In the last place The Arguing of these Men against the common use of the Bible concludes against the Priest as strongly as against the People For if to prevent Heresie the Scriptures are to be kept from Lay-men who may bring Heresie into the Church by misinterpreting the Scriptures then for the same reason Men in Orders should not be suffered to read them since they have actually been the Founders of Heresie nay the reason is something stronger since the wresting of the holy Text by Men of Office or Learning will be of greater Authority and do more mischief than the mistakes of private and unlearned Persons But if the danger of perverting difficult places be a good reason to deprive Men of all use of the Bible this reason hath a particular force upon some Men that they should never look upon a Bible more For the best way to judge how the Scriptures are likely to be used by any sort of Men is to consider how they have constantly used them heretofore and let any indifferent Man judge of them by these following instances because God said Let us make man after our own Image therefore it is lawful to fall down before an Image of Wood or Stone Because Christ said to Peter Feed my Sheep Therefore his pretended Successors have power to depose Heretical Princes Because Peter said to Christ Lord here are two Swords therefore they have a Temporal as well as a Spiritual Jurisdiction Because Jacob in Blessing Ephraim and Manasses prayed that his Name might be named on them therefore it is lawful to pray to Saints Because it is said the Disciples met together to break Bread therefore the Laity may be depriv'd of the Cup. Because St. Paul saith of him that prayeth in a Tongue not understood by others Thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified therefore it is in it self good to appoint publick Prayers in a Language unknown to the people that is because he that understands what himself says doth well for himself because he understands therefore he doth well for others that understands not a word and are therefore not edified Because the Apostle saith we must glorifie God with one mouth therefore in all publick Offices of Liturgy there is to be but one and that the Latin Tongue in all places of Christendom Because that many Languages at Babel caused confusion therefore for God to be served in the many vulgar Tongues of Christian Nations would breed Schisms in the Church Because the Beast that touched the mountain was to die and because Christ said Give not that which is Holy to Dogs therefore ordinary People are not to have the Bible These Expositions are not invented but there are good Authorities for them and for a great many more of the like sort I know not what can farther be objected but this That if Priests and Learned Men have been so foully mistaken in the Interpretation of Scripture how much more are the Unlearned in danger of falling into Mistakes which tho' perhaps will never come to be Heresies in the Church may yet prove damnable to themselves as St. Peter plainly saith To which I answer That St. Peter's unlearned Men were such as had not yet attained to the knowledge of the necessary Doctrine of Faith and good Life as appears by his calling them unstable not yet fixt in the Perswasion of the plain Truths and great Ends of the Gospel and such as those whether they were Men of good Parts or not were likely enough to interpret the hard places of St. Paul's Epistles to a sense contrary to the plain and open Truths of the Gospel But if a Man be instructed in the necessary and plain Doctrine of Christianity and moreover furnished with Modesty and a sincere Love of the Truth and willingness to learn Qualities that ought to be common to all he shall be as far from wresting the difficult Scriptures to his own destruction as one that hath vastly greater Abilities Nay I will add one thing which if it be true there is no force at all in the Objection and that is this That the service of a Cause and espousing the Interest of a By-party doth more fatally lead to Misinterpretation of the Scripture than bear weakness of Understanding and there is this plain reason for it because Modesty and love of the Truth will secure a Man of no great Abilities from rash concluding upon the difficult Places of Scripture but Partiality and the Service of a By-cause shall engage a Man of Parts and Learning to trouble the clearest and to pervert the plainest Texts as the forementioned Instances evidently shew so that either the danger of Misinterpreting Scripture is no sufficient reason to prohibit the Laity from reading it or else it were better that no Order of Men were trusted with it at all and if that be true I think it will follow that it had better never have been written at all which no Man will say whatever he thinks But to speak to the thing the Scriptures were written for an universal good and in order thereunto for common use Here are all Divine Truths and Reasons of Christian Faith and Practice that are necessary to be known of every Man plainly exprest for the use of the meanest Capacities Here are also Difficulties and Mysteries of several sizes fit to employ the Industry of the Learned according to the several degrees of their Abilities and to exercise the Modesty the Humility and the Reverence of all But still we confess that they may be perverted and abused and if this be a sufficient Reason to interdict the general use of them then farewel at once to all the Comforts of this Life and to all the Means of Grace in order to a better with every one of which Men in their folly and wickedness may and very often have hurt themselves and others St. Peter was aware of this that some Men wrested those hard things in S. Paul's Epistles and in other Scriptures to their own destruction but did he therefore disswade the Faithful from reading them No but in the
with them and we and they are not Members of one another as all the Members of the Church are Which kind of reasoning how likely soever it may be to confound and amuse a Man is by no means fit to unsettle a prudent nor so much as an honest Person if he will give himself leave to consider The plain Answer to these Harangues is this That Christians are not united into one Body or Church in all respects but in some they are There is the Unity of one Lord and one Faith and one Baptism which makes them one Body But then alas they are not always one Body in respect of Unity and Affection and good will towards one another nor in respect of Unity of Communion in the Service of God or of Discipline and Government as they ought to be But now the profession of the same Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and Admission into the state of Christian Duties and Privileges by Baptism is that which makes a Christian and which unites all Christian Societies into one Body They indeed who are defective in this are no Christians and they who come thus far are so because we are all baptized into one Body But then we grant there ought to be a farther Unity and in particular an Unity of Communion for the uniting of the Members of this Body more strictly to one another But tho' there be not Unity of Communion they do not therefore cease to be Members of one Body but all that can be truly said is that some of the Members are contentious and either give just cause of Offence or take Offence when none is given which is indeed contrary to the Duty of the Members of the Church but not utterly inconsistent with their being Members of it And for this we have the Authority of St. Paul in the two Verses next but one to the Text If the foot shall say Because I am not the hand I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body That is if the Members of the Body of Christ do contrary to their Duty in some respect it doth not follow presently that they are no longer parts of the Church and if one Church will have no Communion with another but upon most unjust and unreasonable Terms it is very certain that Unity of Communion is not likely to last between them But so long as there is an Unity of Faith i. e. a consent in professing the necessary Articles of Christianity they are yet one Body tho' one part of it doth not perform the Duty incumbent on it as it is a part of the Church but will perhaps be the whole or nothing and is not content to profess the first Faith but moreover adds new Doctrines thereto contrary to the Scriptures and would impose them upon the rest of the Christian World We may therefore in respect of Faith and Baptism grant That Church which would be all in all to be within the Unity of the Catholick Church tho' we are not in Communion with it but then in respect of Unity of affection and Charity and Unity of Communion in the Service of God and in opposing all dangerous Errors and Unity of Government in these respects I say she is not within the Unity of the Body in as much as she doth contrary to her Duty in all these respects So that tho' the Church be one in respect of Baptism and the principal Articles of Christianity yet because it is not one in other respects I am by no means startled at that charge You and we are two Churches because we are of opposite Communion and therefore if you grant us to be a true Church you must conclude your self not to be so For I have this to answer That Faith which you profess with us that Baptism which you administer and receive with us is that which makes you to be of the Church and thus far you are one with us 'T is true indeed there ought to be Unity in maintaining Communion in all Christian Offices and to that end no false Doctrines are to be added to the profession of the Faith nor any unlawful Practices to be brought into God's Worship but this is that which we cannot help though you can and by such things as these you have departed from the Unity that ought to be in the Church but we have not To make which Answer more plain let it be remembred That one instance of that Unity which ought to be in the Church is keeping all the Commandments of God Now all unholy Persons professing Christianity do depart from this Unity yet inasmuch as they are baptized and profess the Creed we own that they are visible parts of the Church But now because they are so if they should charge all those that take not the same Liberties they do with being out of the Church because the Church is one Body and they are ganted to be of it I think nothing could be more ridiculous and it is little better that they say who under the Protection of this Principle That the Church is but One would exclude all from being Parts of the Church who do not run into the same Enormities about Doctrine Worship and Government with themselves In a word the Church is one in respect of the common Faith which is professed every where amongst Christians and it ought to be one but it is not in respect of purity of Profession and of Worship and Government But it doth not from hence follow that they who are in the right must go over to those that are in the wrong in order to being a part of the Church for that they are already but they that are in the wrong should learn to do their Duty better that they may become a purer part of the Church which yet they are not 2. We are born in hand also That where there is most Unity there must of necessity be the True Church and this because there is but One Body Concerning which I say That if by Unity be meant Agreement in all Points of any great consequence they that advance this Principle have advanced it against themselves for it must be a very uncomfortable one to those that in many matters differ notoriously amongst themselves But. 1. The Principle it self is false for there may be Unity in Error as well as in Truth and there hath been so The false Prophets in Elias's time were at Unity so were the Scribes and Pharisees that consented to our Saviour's Death no not is Satan divided against himself It is not meerly Unity that is a Mark of a true Church unless it be Unity in the true Faith nor is Unity the Mark of a pure Church unless it be upon Terms of Obedience to God of Charity to one another of keeping the Faith unmixed with Errors and Innovations and the Worship of God free from material Defects and forbidden Practices Unity in Error and Sin is to be broken
Unity only in Faith and Goodness is to be preserved 2. It is possible that where there are discords there may be yet more truth professed than where there are none and that for the former Reason because there may be Unity in the worst Errors Besides the common Faith that is professed by all Christians one part of the Church may maintain the Purity of that Profession against another that hath superadded new and false Doctrines to it and yet the Reformed part may labour under Discords that affect their very Communion while the other doth not There may be on the one side disobedience to Authority overvaluing of Questions of no great moment a greater stress laid upon Opinions or Practices than the Cause will bear and this shall be sufficient to break Christian Communion and at the same time whilst gross Errors are maintained on the other side with one consent the differences that happen by the bye may be so over ruled by Authority by Force and Power and by the sensible Interests of this World that how wide soever they are they shall not yet rend Communion But in such a case it were the fondest thing in the World to chuse a Doctrine by the mark of Unity among those that profess it Therefore in this divided State of Christendom it is easie to see what Christians are to do to preserve the Unity of the Body of Christ as much as in them lies and to be sure that they are within the Unity of the Church in all respects 1. I need not say that they are to stand fast in the Faith which was first delivered to the Saints in the Common Faith of Christians for without this they could not so much as continue in that Body into which they were baptized only I may add That they are to lay it up in their hearts and to value it as the greatest Treasure and to proclaim their esteem of it and to acknowledge all that profess it to be of the same Body with them This being that Faith which Christ came down from Heaven to establish in the World and which he sent the Holy Ghost to inspire his Apostles withal to reveal it to us and to confirm it for us by the Writings and by the Miracles of inspired Persons 'T is by this Faith and this Profession therefore which includes Baptism that they are Christians who will not allow us to be of the Church 2. Let them keep themselves from entertaining any corrupt or false Doctrines not only any that are contrary to the Scriptures but any as necessary to Salvation which are not to be proved by the Scriptures for thus they will be sure to keep themselves from any dangerous Errors and continue not only true but pure Believers and they sure are not the less but the more in the Unity of the Church who receive nothing as necessary to be believed in order to Salvation but what by the undoubted Records of our Christian Faith appears to have been taught by Christ and his Apostles 3. Let every private Christian be most careful to observe the Commands of our Lord Jesus in the Government of all his Affections and all his Actions for Unity in this thing ought to be amongst all Christians since without Obedience no Man how qualified soever he may be in the Church upon other accounts shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not every one that saith Lord Lord Without this it is not the being of the one Church it is not the professing of the one Faith no nor the being of a pure Profession and a pure Communion that will unite us really and effectually to our Lord Jesus the Head of the Church but we shall be cut off from him as Branches that bring forth no fruit 4. Let him maintain an universal Charity to all Christians Good will to those that are misled and seduced in endeavouring to reduce them as he hath opportunity in praying for them readiness to be beneficial to all his Brethren to forgive Injuries and to overcome evil with good compassion to the miserable pleasure in that which is for the particular good of any one of his Brethren and much more in what is for the general good of all Thus he shall preserve himself in the other Unity which is the Duty of the Church the Unity of Charity and Good will 5. Let him live in strict Communion with the particular Church whereof he is a Member in subjection to the Authority of it in observing the Rules of it for the guidance of Religious Assemblies for the ordering of all things that fall under human Authority i. e. the Authority of the lawful Guides of the Church in order to the Edification and well Governing of it Thus he shall maintain an Unity of Communion with his Brethren and his Guides and so in effect with the whole Christian Church where the Parts of it do as they ought to do and most undoubtedly we are not to be united to any of them in things wherein they do as they ought not The Sum of this Advice is easie to be understood and to a good Man as easie to be practised There is no need for him to trouble his own Mind with nice and intricate Questions about Unity because he will maintain his part in order to the Unity of the Church by doing his plain Duty by sticking to the Faith which is professed by all Christians the Faith into which we were baptized by rejecting whatsoever is contrary to the Scriptures and making them the Rule of his religious Perswasions which all Christians ought to do by observing the Rules of the Gospel for the Government of his Life and Actions in which yet undoubtedly all Churches and every Member of every Church ought to conspire though this part of Unity is hardly remembred when Men talk of the Church by bearing Christian Affection towards all that name the name of Christ whereby he performs the Duty of Unity towards them which whether they do or not they ought to perform too Finally By frequenting the Service of God in publick Prayers and Exhortations in the Administration of Sacraments according to the Order of the Church whereof in particular the Grace and Providence of God hath made him a Member and which observes the Institutions of our Lord Jesus in all the publick Offices of Religion For thus he performs his part of Unity towards the whole Church with respect to Communion nor is he nor can be to blame if others will not be perswaded to it It is a fond thing to think of seeking a True Church that is the only Church in opposition to all others or to be scandalized at the divided State of the Church which we cannot help and under a pretence of seeking for Unity to mind nothing else We are to preserve our selves in the Unity of the Church by professing true Doctrine and by leading good Lives by a charitable Spirit and Behaviour towards all Christians by frequenting
Faith we argu'd it upon the same Principles and with the same Calmness that we did any other Subject whatsoever by Arguments drawn from the Authority of the Holy Scriptures or from the Testimonies of the ancient Fathers as the Nature of the thing required us to do If these did not Convince they never flew off to the Common-place Topicks of the Authority and Infallibility of the Church much less to that exploded refuge of Oral Tradition but the Controversie ended And when all was done they were content to hope well of those of our Church who being sincere in their Enquiries and willing to be led by Truth where-ever it was still continued to differ from them Instead of calling me a Heretick or Schismatick or thundring out Damnation against me as such a mutual Charity concluded the Discourse We hoped and prayed for the Conviction of the Erring Party which ever it was but made no question but that the same Heaven might receive us all tho' we should continue to disagree to the last But this was not the temper of Mr. Gooden and the rest of the little Herd of that Church who gave so much Trouble and Disturbance to their own and the Nations repose and have contributed what in them lies by their Heat and Folly to ruine both themselves and us As for the Occasion of the present Conference it was this A Gentlewoman of a good Estate and intimately acquainted with divers R. C's was by a frequent Conversation with them wrought up by degrees into an extraordinary Opinion of the advantages of a Recluse Life for the better performing the Exercises of Religion Insomuch that the desire she began to have for such a sort of retirement made her almost willing to leave our Church and go over to the Roman Communion but that she still look'd upon their Doctrine in those points wherein they differ from us to be false and dangerous and to one so persuaded as she was Destructive of Salvation Being thus prepared for their Seduction they let slip no Opportunity to finish their work and gain their Proselyte For which purpose care was taken first by one of her Acquaintance to represent to her all the popular Pretences of that Church by which many are prejudiced in favour of it and the Advantages it had in point of Antiquity Unity Universality Infallibility and what not beyond ours and then in the next place to get Father Gooden brought to her as one that would give her a fuller satisfaction in all these matters if she would but afford him the opportunity of discoursing with her And to the end his Arguments might make the deeper Impression upon her it was thought fit to set forth the Priest to her not in the glorious Idea of the great Master of Demonstration one who had devoured all Mr. I. S's Principles and was thereby become such a mighty Man of Controversie that none of our Divines durst cope with him He in whose Hands the Dean of Paul's himself was nothing who had a certain Paper that in a few Lines baffled all that could be said or written in favour of the Reformation which was a greater thing answering in a few Sheets all the Books and Sermons that had ever been published or preach'd against them but in the humble Character of a Country Priest a little inconsiderable Man amongst them and his Dress was accommodated to his Character that so under this disguise he might talk with the greater Advantage to her But Mr. Gooden forgetting the person he had put on presently fell into his usual strain He began to talk of nothing but Infallibility Antiquity Demonstration That all the Fathers and Councils were on their side That he had baffled our most considerable Divines and particularly the Dean of Pauls who had in truth all of them so little to say for themselves when he came amongst them that he desired nothing more to convince her of the Truth of their Doctrines than that she would pitch upon some Point and bring one of our Men to meet him and she should see what work he would make with him Such a noise as this from one of the little inconsiderable Priests of the Church of Rome amazed the poor Lady And had he Prudently contented himself with the Boast of the Victories he had already gained without aspiring after the Honour of adding one more for the increasing his Triumph he might possibly have saved himself from the shame of that discovery the following Conference made of his Abilities and have gain'd his Proselyte But as great Wits are too often a little inconsiderate and before they are aware run themselves into difficulties out of which they cannot tell afterwards how to extricate themselves so it fell out with Mr. Gooden on this Occasion For the Lady presently took hold on his Offer and applied her self to Dr. Clagett and the Time and Place and Subject being fix'd Mr. Gooden and the Doctor met accordingly at Gray's-Inn Feb. 21 1686. I shall say nothing of the Menage of the Conference it self but that it was with much Noise on Mr. Gooden's side who in Discourse let fall some very extraordinary things and which might have pas'd into the Abstract too had not another Person who was with him and seem'd much more modest and understanding than himself observed what pass'd and corrected his Blunders After the Dispute was ended which lasted about Four or Five Hours a new Discourse arose about the Paper which Mr. Gooden made such Boasts of about the Town and had so often represented to the Lady and others as unanswerable He was very unwilling a great while to let the Doctor have a Copy of it tho' he promised to give him an Answer to it till at last it was declared That if he refused to let him have it the Company would look upon it as an idle Paper that had nothing in it and that therefore he durst not trust him with it Vpon this he gave him a Copy of it and the Doctor in pursuance of his Promise the next day sent him the following Answer to it For what concerns the Sum of the Conference here published it was taken in Writing and signed by both Parties upon the place so that there can be no cause for any one to question the sincerity of it And tho' the Abstract be very short yet I am persuaded it is enough to satisfie every impartial Reader why Mr. Gooden did not care to make any boasts of it And those who were present at the meeting and heard all that pass'd between them as well as the Lady for whose sake they met were very well satisfied that he would not force them to publish the History of it But tho' the Doctor was willing to let this matter die and shew'd himself as careful of Mr. Gooden's Reputation after the Conference as he was of the Ladies Conviction in it yet being now by the Providence of God removed from us I thought it a just
Accidents of Bread it might be broken as to the substance of Christ's body which is mentioned in St. John it is not broken unless you mean as Christ's body was broken upon the Cross And if the bread which is broken be really that which is spoken of in St. John as aforesaid both as to the Accidents and nature of bread I grant that the Accidents of bread would be the Body of Christ and if it be not the same both as to the Nature and Accidents I deny it This I profess not to understand Fath. As to the Doctor 's Argument it includes a Sophism as will appear when brought into form because it involves four Terms because he supposes in one Proposition for the Accidents of Bread and in the other for the Nature Dr. In the Argument I used I went upon this Supposition That the Accidents of Bread were only to be understood as the Answerer supposes and therefore I have not confounded the Nature and the Accidents of Bread together Besides the Distinction between the Nature of Bread and the Accidents of Bread was not to be remembred any more by the Answerer because I proceed upon his Supposition that the Accidents only are broken Now if St. Paul speaks of nothing but what is broken and Accidents only are broken and yet if he speaks of the very Flesh of Christ too then the Accidents of the Bread are the very Flesh of Christ And whereas the Answerer by his last Answer means the nature of Christ's body as he says I understood him of the Nature of Bread And now once more I desire him to shew me where the four Terms are Fath. The Text of St. Paul the Dr. takes for his Medium and argues from a double Supposition as first taking it for the Accidents of Bread which were broken and afterwards for the substance of Christ's Body under the Accidents in which latter sense it signifies the same that is meant by our Saviour in St. John Dr. I observe the Answerer will allow nothing to be broken but Accidents I observe also that nothing is said to be the Body of Christ or the Communion of the Body of Christ but what is broken If therefore nothing is broken but Accidents then Accidents are either according to the Answerer's long proof the very Body of Christ or according to the Apostle the Communion of the Body of Christ But neither are the Accidents of Bread the Body of Christ nor the Communion of the Body of Christ And this I say is not answered and believe will not be answered by any Man that maintains that St. Paul does not here speak properly of Bread Fath. All along in my Discourse I have supposed that when St. Paul speaks of this Bread he spoke of the H. Eucharist in which were contained both the Accidents of Bread and the true body of Christ How the Doctor has disproved this Doctrine so clearly as to justifie the Reformation I understand not Because I conceive no private Persons or particular Church ought to pretend a Reformation without clear Evidence whether the Doctor has given such I leave to the consideration of the Readers And whether having broken off from the great Body of the Vniversal Church and its Testimony he can possibly have any certain Rule to arrive at Christian Faith If Scripture be pretended interpreted by a fallible Authority how Certainty can be obtained or why a Socinian following Scripture for his Rule of Faith is not to be believed as well as any other Reformer following the same Rule I see not Signed W. Clagett Peter Gooden Dr. CLAGETT's Answer TO A PAPER Delivered to Him By Father GOODEN The Paper ARticles of Christian Faith are Truths Truths are impossible to be False Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are impossible to be False Therefore those who obtain Articles of the Christian Faith must have some Rule to acquire them by which cannot deceive them To a Parliamentary Protestant the ancient Fathers cannot be such a Rule because they are accounted Fallible Nor Councils because they also are accounted Fallible Nor Scriptures sensed by a Fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be False And therefore Faith cannot be obtained by any such means For that which is doubtful can only create Opinion which is also doubtful And he that doubts in Faith the Apostle says is Infidelis And a Company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a Society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Signed Peter Gooden The ANSWER Pap. Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Ans The Design of the Disputer is to prove that we are Doubters and therefore Infidels But never did any Man begin a Business more unluckily for at the very first dash he takes it for granted that we do undoubtedly believe Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths for otherwise he ought to have proved that they are so But there is another Misfortune he is faln into no less than that For his Argument to prove that we must needs be Doubters is that we want an Infallible Rule Now if he is sure that we want an Infallible Rule and that without such a Rule there can be no Faith I am sure he does notoriously contradict himself by supposing that we believe all Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths though we have no such Rule This is a very hopeful Paper and like to make wise Converts which ends in making us Infidels and begins to prove it by an Argument that manifestly supposes us to be Believers which also pretends that we have no infallible Rule and therefore can be sure of no Point of Faith but yet manifestly supposes us to be assured of some without it which shews the Paper to be a trifling Paper and worth no more Consideration But because the Disputer is said to boast so much of the Argument contained in it I will go on with every Clause of it to convince him if he does not already know it that there is not a Line in it but is either false or nothing to the purpose Pap. Truths are impossible to be False Ans By Truths the Disputer means the Truth of Things or of Propositions and therefore this is a vain and fulsome saying which does not advance his Reasoning one jot farther than it was before For this is no more than to say That which is true is true and it cannot possibly be but Truths must be Truths I think he applies himself to us as if we wanted not only Christian Faith but common Sense Pap. Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are impossible to be false Ans There is no doubt of this supposing that they are Truths So that the Argument he begins with being put into the right order and into other Words is this It is impossible but Truths must be Truths but Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Therefore it is impossible but they must be Truths The ancient Fathers had made wise work with Christianity if they