by which it is to be tried as by a Rule So that if men would speak properly and distinctly as certainly they ought to do in Controversies especially of this grand importance by this question what is the Rule of Faith can onely be meant what or where are the points articles or Propositions that are fundamentall in the faith of the Church For as to points not fundamentall they depend upon those that are and therefore do not come primarily into the question I would not trouble you with so much Metaphysicks but that they are of so necessary use to clear the foundation of our Faith from that rubbish and confusion which the sophistry and petulancy of our Adversaries have thrown upon it who in this point make it their business to confound the Notion of a Rule and a Iudge and then all those arguments that prove the necessity of an infallible Rule are easily brought to prove an infallible Iudge a Viva regula fidei which some of them make such a noise and a clamor with as if a person and a proposition were the same thing This gives also an easie answer to those of them that tell us The Apostles went not with books in their hands to preach and deliver Christs doctrine but with words in their Mouths that the Scripture is a dead letter and much other civil language of the like nature as they are pleased to give it It is not you see either the letter of Scripture or the sound of the Apostles preaching which is the Rule of our Faith but the great Doctrines which they preach't which were afterwards written and is the same Rule of faith I trow whether conveyed to us by writing or without it as Irenaus tells us of some Christians that had no written word at all 2. The Rule of Faith is the word of God who is our Creator and supream Lawgiver and the Author and object of that immortall happiness to which true faith leads us The word of God is indeed a glorious Title and therefore no wonder that so many have laid claim to it It would I confess look something like an adventure to range at large through the history of all times and places in quest of that which was but once delivered And yet did the time give us leave to be exact it would be necessary to examine the claims of at least the most vogued and considerable pretenders There was never yet any Lawgiver in the world that did not bear the People in hand that his Laws were dictated anâ— given at least ratified and auth orised by the Deity But of all these there is none except them whose history is in the Bible that have not been known and laught at for fables by the most able and greatest maintainers of them Those in the Bible are chiefly two which make up the two volumes of it respectively The one a Revelation made to the Iews by Moses the other to all Mankind by Christ Iesus The first of these appears to any understanding Reader to be wholly relative and propheticall consisting of Prophesies and other Praesignifications of a great Lawgiver and Prince that was not to appear till the world had attended his coming 4000 years The second volume contains the historicall relation of the life and gesta of that great Prince and the travels of his Ministers And therefore our Faith was not nor could be delivered sooner because the chief contents and matter of it are the conception birth speeches actions and sufferings of this Great One. And so S. Iudes phrase of once delivered is to be understood of that one age whvn this Divine Person the Son of God was incarnate suffered death rose again from death and did actually perform and transact all those passages and events which are the object matter of our Faith and Creed and also when this and all the rest was preached and attested by them that had seen these things done and had Especiall Commission from him to propose them as matters of Faith to all the world And therefore our Rule of Faith is contained in the Narrative of Our Saviours pilgrimage and his Apostles preaching that is in the four Gospels in the Epistles and Acts of the Apostles which were all extant in St Iudes time in writing and this writing taken for an undoubted Rule of Faith by the Church and therefore alone called Canonicall and so continued till the many and monstrous changes made in the Faith by the Church of Rome made it necessary for them to look out for another Rule Wherein how well they have acquitted themselves shall be seen by and by In the mean while her single testimony ought not to overballance so great a cloud of Witnesses as have deposed even life it self for the Scripture and against her own Iudgement for much above 1000 years Especially if it be added what arguments the present Church of Rome affords to prove that the Rule of Faith is contained in the Holy Scripture I. In the Iudgement of the Church of Rome it contains all necessary points of Faith and therefore contains the Rule of Faith Look over their Divinity-writers of all Sorts Especially of Controversies and bodyes of Divinity The decrees and Catechisme of the Councill of Trent You will find them as well as we labouring to prove their main points out of this written Word Yea the very infallibility of the Pope and such other doctrines as they set up against the Scripture And this they do in the first place as may be seen in Bellarmine and other their best writers as fetching their prime foundation from thence Nor have they been so bold as to say that they make use of Scripture onely ad hominem and not that they believe it For however they may deal with us in Controversie it is to be hoped they are more faithfull to the Souls of their own People So that would they be true to their own Consciences and the Consciences of their flocks they must return to the Rule of Faith contained in Scripture and confess with the said Bellarmine that Sacra Scriptura is Regula credendi certissima tutissima The most certain and safe Rule of believing That so all Christendom might once again if possible have one Faith II. The Rule of Faith in the Church of Rome is contained in the Holy Scriptures or else they have none Yes may some say The Church of Rome in full Council teaches us that her Faith is contained in libris scriptis sine scripto traditionibus in the written word and in unwritten traditions But then they must mean either that some of their Articles of Faith are contained in the written word and othersome in unwritten traditions onely or that all their Articles are proved partly from the written word and partly from unwritten traditions Not the first for they endeavour to prove all out of Scripture as was shewed even now Not the second for Divine warrant from the
ancient Copies Versions and Paraphrases especially the Septuagint and the Chaldee Paraphrast by observing the various readings and applications of places as we find them scatter'd in the writings of the Fathers and many other ways wherein you are better experienced then my self 2. To preserve the Faith it is necessary to distinguish in the Scripture points fundamentall from those which are not so This was proposed by the wise and learned King Iames as the best expedient for ending the Controversies of Christendom For as no book or doctrine so especially not the doctrine of the Scripture can be well understood much less maintain'd without an Analysis separation and digestion of the parts of it It being a Collection of the writings of so many Pen-men and those written upon severall occasions no one regularly delivering the whole Faith Now by Fundamentall points we do not mean necessary for all to know and believe to Salvation for to some more to some fewer are necessary according to their severall abilities and opportunities But we mean points principall and most essentiall in respect of the whole System of the doctrine of Salvation such as are necessary to make up the Unity of the Faith and so constitute a Church A perfect Catalogue of these we have in the Apostles Creed so called as the Fathers generally tell us because made by the Apostles before their dispersion to be a Rule in their preaching And therefore we need not go so far for a Rule of Faith or look upon it as so strange a thing and so difficult to find having it in our dayly prayers For this Creed is I conceive proposed in the Church of England to her Sons and Daughters as a Rule of Faith and was therefore in the beginning of the Reformation injoyned to be taught the People in English together with the Pater Noster and Ten Commandments the Breviats of our petenda and agenda respectively as that is of our Credenda And hath been therefore commanded ever since to be repeated twice a day that we might not if possible be to seek in so necessary a thing as the Rule of Faith This Creed the Ancients appeal to as to their Rule of Faith and thought their Faith sufficiently secured so long as this was stuck to Especially as it is opened in some parts by the Catholique Creeds of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedon and Athanasius This way they took to defend the Faith and with good reason for the defence of the Articles of our Creed involves the defence of all the Catholique Doctrine As in all sciences the principles Iustifie those Conclusions that are truly made from them 3. For the defence of the Faith it is necessary to study the old Ecclesiasticall Writers Fathers Councels Historians or whatsoever other they be For a great part of the points of our Faith being matters of fact such as our Saviours Birth Death Resurrection c. And our knowledge of the rest that are not matters of fact depending upon those that are they must in reason be best learned from the study of those books where they are best delivered historically whereof Scripture is the first and most Authentick record And next to it are the Christian writers of the eldest times For what is not recorded in Scripture cannot now be expected any where but in their writings Tradition whatever some men would make of it having so early and so grosly fail'd in the business of Easter admitting infants to the Eucharist and some other things Besides the many and great conflicts that they had with the Hereticks who oppugned the chief points of Faith give us a sight of all that can be objected against them and of enough though not all that is to be said in defence of them We do not say they are to be read with an implicite Faith as the Scripture is The infallible Inspiration of the Holy Ghost being withdrawn when the first Planters of the Gospel had finished their course and left the Word written Yet it seems the Holy Spirit did not take away all his extraordinary light at once having guided them to profess defend and deliver to us a more pure and unmingled Faith and this embraced with a more fervent and divine Love then the following ages could boast of How carefully the Church of England hath followed the ancient Fathers in this matter of Faith how much she relies on their Iudgement herein appears from the constant allegations of her ablest defenders since the Reformation and from her own act in Convocation 1571 where she forbids her publick Preachers to propose any thing to the People as matter of Faith but that which Catholici Patres veteres Episcopi ex S. Scripturae Doctrinâ collegerint which the Ancient Pastors and Catholick Doctors of the Church have drawn out of the Holy Scripture And it were no great boldness to challenge all her adversaries to show where she hath once swerved from this Rule or own'd any one point of Faith which she hath not proved after Scripture from a full consent of the Ancient Church To these must be added the study of the Schoolmen and of the chief writers of all Christian Churches that are or have been Since what is confess'd that there always hath been and now is one Catholick Church therefore one because professing this same Rule of Faith is to be demonstrated from the records of the severall Churches in the volumes of their Writers 4. The fourth means is the often teaching and explaining these chief articles and other approved and authorised forms of sound words to those that are most apt to learn and use best to remember what they learn And they are the younger sort to whom these points are made most intelligible by the familiar way of Catechising This is doubtless next to the inward operation of Gods grace the best and most effectual preaching and planting the Faith in any Soul To these it is commonly delivered in the most plain and free manner without any false glosses or sophistry which may hide or adulterate the light of it And in these tender and untainted minds it finds the least enmity and opposition obtains an easie quiet and secure possession and growing up with them becomes a rock and shelter against the winds of strange doctrines Whereas on the other hand even the reading of the written Word of God and much more the hearing of it paraphras'd upon in popular discourses and sermons is of far less use often of dangerous consequence to those that not onely want their first principles but it may be are leavened with false ones And therefore it is necessary that this be done as was said with approved and authorised forms of words For as the wisdom of the Church is best able to prescribe what is generally necessary for all her members to know and believe for their souls health So the interest that both Church and State have in the right principling of Youth
of them with that Zeal and constancy which the greatness of the Cause it self and our unchangeable concernment in it require and was the second part of our earnest Contention proposed they would not fail through Gods blessing who never deserts the Cause of Faith to make our Church and People happy But they have generally had that bad fortune that other good things have to be better known and valued from the want then from the enjoyment and benefit of them A miscarriage which surely we have since his Majesties most happy Restauration been guilty of A miscarriage that must from the notion and nature of it make Mankind miserable all happiness consisting in the right apprehension and enjoyment of the good we are possest of And the more extreamly miserable the greater Importance and Necessity the things themselves are of which was the Third member of the Text and hath two parts First the importance of our carnest contending for our Rule of Faith It is the securing of the foundation and the very Being of the Church and the Pillars of our future Happiness and undoubtedly of the greatest consequence Secondly the necessity of it now the Greater because of the restless importunity and unrestrained licenciousness of our Adversaries which is so visible and causes so much complaint already that I shall not spend time in speaking of it nor I hope need to caution you to defend yourselves against it Yet must not forget to put you in the right way to do it and that is by laying at home in your own Souls a good foundation of this Ancient and Holy Faith by a diligent learning of and resolute adhering to these Articles to this Rule of Faith as it is literally delivered in the plainest places of Holy Scripture and comprised and explained in the three Creeds and the Church Catechism If we forsake these holds there is nothing in the Christian World can secure our Faith These we are therefore constantly to teach our Flocks and they diligently to learn and to consider that exhortation of the Apostle Hebr. 13. 7 8 9. Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation Iesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever And be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines FINIS a Sure Foot Disc. 1. Para. â—7 b Lib. 1. capp 2 3. c De Praescript Regula est autem fidei ut jam hinc quid credamus defendamus illa scilicet quâ creditur unum ominino deum esse Haec regula à Christo Instituta nullas habet apud nos quaestiones nisi quas Haereses inferunt quae Haereticos faciunt Ceterùm manente forma ejus in suo ordine quantum libet quaeras tractes Fides in regulâ posita est Cedet Curiositas Fidei Certè aut non strepant aut quiescant adversus Regulam Idem de Veland Virg. Regula quidem fidei una omnino est soimmobilis irreformalis credendi scilicet in unicum Deum omnipotentem mundi Conditorem d Serm. de temp 119. Symbolum est breviter complexa Regula fidei Idem de fide symbolo Idem de Genesi ad literam Catholica fides Est haec Deum Patrem omnipotentem universam creaturam fecisse Idem similiter pluries alibi e Adversus Valentin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contra Marcosios versus finem In Ancoratu versus finem In compendiariâ verâ doctrinâ De fide Catholicae Apostolicae Ecclesiae In Marcelli fide conscriptâ f Ad Cledonium adversus Apollinarium Orat. 52. Fidem Nicaenam vocat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide sequentia ibid. Idem Contra Iulian. Orat. 3. g Epist. ad Pulcheriam August Siquidem ipsa Catholici Symboli brevis perfecta confessio Tam instructa sit munitione coelesti ut omnes Haereticorum opiniones solo ipsius gladio possunt detruncari Hujus symboli plenitudincm si Eutiches Sure foot Disc. 4. Par. 5. Lib. 3. Cap. 4. Verbo Dei â— 1. cap 2. Concil Triden Sess. 4. Ibid. 1 Cor. 4. 13. S. Mar. 13. 10. Sure foot Disc. 2. para 2. Ibid. Edw. Injunct 5. Q. Eliz. Injunct 5. Rubr. before the Apostles Creed Canon de Concionator pag. 19 True relation of the Form and Government of the Kirk of Scotland 1640. Primo Eliz. cap. 1. Hooker Eccles Pol. l. 5. par 79.