Faithful themselves and if the Faithful then must it have Preheminence before the Church it self which is nothing else but the Congregation of the Faithful Thus the Church of Rome will evidently fall short of that Prerogative she so presumptuously arrogates of being both Before and Above the Scripture Again a Rule consisting in Indivisibili as we say i. e. being of that Nature that it is not to be inlarged or diminished how guilty are they who either make Additions to or Substractions from it Both which the Roman Church practiseth as de facto will be manifest in the Sequele of this small Tract In Fine they hold the Word of God written to be that one infallible entire Rule whereby all men Learned and Unlearned may in all necessary and fundamental Points of Faith and Manners be sufficiently instructed what is to be embraced for True and Good That it is a Rule most Certain Plain Universal Impartial not addicted to one Side more than another which neither Pope Conclave nor Councel can so much as pretend to of Power and Authority able to convince the Consciences of such as use it and from which there can be no Appeal And the only Cause why any miss of the True Faith is because they do not sincerely seek and find out this infallible Rule or having found it will not with an obedient Mind captivate their Understanding but have Access to it with Pride Curiosity Prejudice or some other unmortifyed Lust or Impediment More especially the Church of England besides that high Veneration that she her self hath for these sacred Books labours to confirm and root the same in the Hearts of her obedient Children by her Devout Practice For to omit the Frequent Laborious and Judicious Preaching and Expounding of them in this Church she hath so prudently disposed of her publick Liturgy that every day some Part and Portion of both Testaments is appointed to be read The whole Book of Psalms is gone through once a Moneth the Old Testament once and the New thrice every year with other most excellent Exercises of Piety at which even the Romanists themselves can take no just Exception and a very great Author affirms that a modern Pope would have approved the whole Service-Book had his Authority but been acknowledged which discreet Course cannot but afford much heavenly Instruction and Consolation to the constant Attenders on such Blessed Opportunities But what saith the Church of Rome all this while in this Business In her Tridentine Council Sess 4. Can. 1. She expresly Decrees that unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the written Word that they are to be received with the same Reverence and Affection And Cardinal Hosius who was one who in the Popes Name presided at that Council defends that most Blasphemous Speech of Wolfangus Hermannus that the Scripture is of no more Authority than Esop's Fables but for the Churches and Popes Approbation lib. 3. de Authorit Script The Council of Basil would fain perswade us that the Churches Acts and Customs must be to us instead of the Scriptures Instar habeant Sacrarum Scripturarum for that the Scripture and Churches Customs both require the same Affection and Respect Indeed I find the Romish Doctors in nothing more fluent than in degrading and vilifying the Scriptures Our Country man Dr. Stapleton positively affirms that the Church hath Authority to put into the Number of Books of Scripture and to make Canonical the Writings of Hermes and Constitutions of Clemens two famous Counterfeits and that then they would have the same Authority which other Books have canonized by the Apostles themselves Some call them a Nose of Wax to be wrested any way Cardinal Cusanus blushes not to write that the Scriptures are fitted to the time and variously understood the sense thereof being one while this and another while that according as it pleases the Church to change her Judgment Some teach that the Scripture is not simply necessary that God gave it not to the People but to the Doctors and Pastors and that we must live more according to the Dictates of the Church than the Scripture Eckius the great Antagonist of Luther would make us believe that Christ never gave any Command to his Apostles to write any thing Which yet seems very odd when such an express Injunction was lay'd on S. John to write that mystical Book of the Apocalypse which certainly is not more conducing to the Churches Edification than our B. Saviour's Sermon on the Mount and the many other practical Discourses both of himself and his Disciples In a word the most ingenuous and civil among their Writers think they have pay'd all due Respect to Holy writ when they term it a Dumb Judge Dead Ink or Ink shaped into various Forms and Characters Notwithstanding which I humbly conceive that let an Indifferent Person open the Bible and the Canons of the Council of Trent together and he will receive at least as clear and full Satisfaction from the Bible as from the other unless we will impiously deny Almighty God the Faculty of expressing his holy Will and Pleasure as intelligibly as frail Men can theirs or without any shew of Reason affirm with a late Divine that Religion it self was never fully setled till that upstart Conventicle Conformable to the Sentiments are the Practices of that Church in keeping the Bible lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue from the Use of the Vulgar Clement the Eighth very strictly orders all Vulgar Translations to be put into the Index of Prohibited Books And in Italy and Spain and wherever the Inquisition hath the least Jurisdiction the very keeping of them is a Crime no less than Capital It is true where the Reformation hath got any footing Faculties are sometimes granted to read a Translation but clog'd with so many Proviso's and various Cautions and their Spiritual Guides give so small Encouragement to it that it seems rather a Trick to stop the Mouthes of their Adversaries when they Object the Prohibition of Reading Scripture than any real Intention of Promoting so Pious an Exercise among their Devotes Besides their other Forms of Devotion Rosaries or saying over the Beads after divers Methods our Ladies Office Prayers for the Dead Manuals the long Litanies of Saints hearing of Masses reading of Legends c. are in so great Vogue and take up so considerable a Time that I scarce see how any can be allotted for that contemned Employment of studying Gods Word which ought to be the Meditation of every good Christian Day and Night Indeed this neglect to say no worse of Holy Scripture is so notorious among and so peculiar to those of that Way and the Ignorance not only of the Laity but of divers of the Clergy in that kind of Learning especially is so gross that it would be a Work of Supererogation to attempt the proof of it Their Doctors generally pretending Translations of Scripture to be the cause of all Heresies and Phanaticism
Nay I have met with one so frantick that he thinks it was the Devils invention to permit the people to read the Bible Martin Peres de Tradit And I remember Thyrraeus de Daemoniac c. 21. says that thence he knew certain Persons to be possess'd by the Devil because being but Husbandmen they were able to discourse concerning Scripture We will now see what Holy Writ it self untainted Antiquity and unprejudiced Reason alleage in this Case and which side they patronize the Reformation or the Church of Rome S. Paul gives this Encomium of his Disciple Timothy 2 Ep. c. 3. v. 15. That from a Child he had been Conversant in the Holy Scriptures and tells him they were able to make him Wise to Salvation which I hope is Knowledge enough and I am sure is a more plain compendious Path than the crooked Labyrinths of uncertain Traditions forged Decrees Canons and Fathers He further assures him that the same Divine Scriptures were profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction to Righteousness that the Man of God might be perfect throughly furnished to every good Work For my part I know not what remains then for Tradition and suck like Trash to perform since the Word of God alone can so compleat us Solomon Prov. 2.9 assures us that Gods Law alone will make a man understand Righteousness and Judgment and Equity and Every good Work The Prophet Esa c. 8.20 refers us to try all things by the Law and Testimony and that we must conclude those to have no light who speak not according to that Word Our B. Saviour Luke 10.26 When a Lawyer inquired of him what he should do to inherit Eternal Life bids him have recourse to what was written in the Law and asked him how he read there S. Luke writ his Gospel to Theophilus a Lay Person Luke 1.4 to the end he might certainly know those things wherein he had been instructed S. John writ his as he himself testifies c. 20. v. 31. that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have Life through him Abraham sends Dives his Brethren to Moses and the Prophets rather than to Visions Apparitions and private Revelations which yet are so much pretended to and boasted of in the Roman Church Christ himself submitted the Tryal both of his Doctrine and Miracles to the Censure of the Scriptures John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me Thoughts are free and I am apt to think that some will take the Liberty to judge it a little unreasonable that our B. Saviour should so readily stand to the Verdict of Moses and the Prophets and yet his pretended Vicar should scorn to submit to the Censure of Christ and his Apostles but defie both their Doctrines and Practices with so many Non Obstante's as appears by their new model'd Creed at this day wherein Pius the fourth hath coined twelve new Articles of Faith to shew his single Power equivalent to that of all the Apostles in General who did but every one contribute his single Article to that ancient Symbole bearing their Name S. Paul's Auditors the Bereans are highly commended for searching the Scriptures daily to examine whether the Doctrine they heard were true or no. Act. 17.11 In Sum the old Law was severely injoyned to the Reading and Meditation both of Prince Priest and People men Women and Children as is obvious to observe all along the Style thereof And the Jews were so versed in it as to be able to reckon up the Number of the Words nay Letters contained therein And the new Law excludes none either from that Common Salvation it holds forth or the means to attain it which is the Doctrine of the Gospel The Epistles are directed to Persons of all sorts and both Sexes In fine the whole Oeconomy both of the Old and New Testament is so diametrically opposite to the Practice of the Roman Church in this Point that it is but too too palpable that the three Main Pillars of Popery are to keep the Prince in awe the Priest in Honour and the People in Ignorance Antiquity is so luxuriant in this point that it will be a greater Difficulty to select than to accumulate Famous is that Speech of Constantine the great to the Fathers in the Nicene Council recorded by Theodor. Histor l. 1. c. 7. and this Saying among the rest is very remarkable We have the teaching of the Holy Ghost written for the Evangelical and Apostolical Books and the old Prophets do evidently teach us the things that are needful to be known concerning God Wherefore laying aside all Contention let us out of the Divinely Inspired Scripture take the Resolution of those things we seek for Tertullian contr Hermog in plain terms calls the Scripture The Rule of Faith St. Chrysostom Hom. 13. in 2 ad Cor. styles it A most Excellent Rule and Exact Ballance to try All things by St. August in l. 2. de Nupt. Concup c. 33. speaks thus This Controversie depending between us requires a Judge let Christ therefore judge and let the Apostle Paul judge with him because Christ speaks in his Apostle But most Memorable is that Passage of Optatus contr Parmen l. 5. where he thus presses the Donatist We are saith he to enquire out some to be Judges between us in these Controversies The Christians cannot because both sides cannot yield them and by part-taking the Truth will be hindred the Judge must be had from without our selves If a Pagan he knows not the Mysteries of Christianity if a Jew he is an Enemy to Baptisme therefore on Earth no judgment concerning this matter can be found The Judge must be had from Heaven But to what end should we knock at Heaven when here we have one in the Gospel Quotations might be Infinite but I Supersede Nor did the Antient Fathers onely think this themselves but by their frequent Translations of the Scripture and vehement Exhortations to the People to read them so translated they endeavoured to beget the same awful Respect to Gods Holy Word in the Minds of all Vlphilas a Bishop of the Goths turned the Scripture into that Barbarous Language as Socrates witnesses Methodius into the Sclavonian S. Chrysostom hom 1. in Johan makes mention of Syrian Aegyptian Indian Persian and Ethiopian Translations Theodoret de Curand Graec. Affect assures us the Bible was turned into all Languages used in the World Greek Latin Armenian Scythian Sarmatian c. And we have at this day divers Fragments of them remaining Venerable Bede shews the same of our own Country To speak plain I know no Topick the Fathers are more Copious upon than in calling upon the People to get Bibles to read them to examin what they hear by them and severely inveighing against the Negligence of such as did not According to the Apostles Advice even to the Laity Colos 3.16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you
Councils ought to have free Liberty orderly to declare and Determin Maters in question That whatever must oblige as Divine ought to be confirmed by the Authority of Holy Scripture That no Councils are Legitimate where private Respects are managed under pretext of Faith and Religion That the Roman Bishop hath not that power which many flatterers attribute to him viz. That he alone is to Determine and Others only to Consult and Advise That a General Council is Superiour to the rest of the Patriarchs and also to the Roman Bishop That a General Council may be deficient and that de facto Councils lawfully assembled have erred And since they have failed and have contradicted one another as appears in the Second Council of Nice and that of Constance among many others the one Decreeing the Worship of Images the other prohibiting Communion in both Kinds against the express words of Scripture the Councils of Lateran in Deposing Kings the Council of Frankfort opposite to that of Nice in the Business of Images the Council of Florence against those of Basil and Constance in the point of the Pope's Superiority over a Council It is certain that Councils are to be Regulated and Examined by God's Word and to be Received or Rejected as Conformable to or Disagreeing from that And for this we have the Authority of the Great S. Augustin contra Maxim Arian l. 3. c. 14. Nec ego Nicenum c. Neither ought I to produce the Nicen nor Thou the Ariminum Council as having already prejudged or absolutely Determined the Cause beyond all Appeal For I am not bound up by the Authority of this nor Thou by the Decree of that but let us regard the Authority of the Holy Scripture witnesses not partial or appropriated to either party but common to both A speech worthy the Gravity Learning and Piety of S. Augustin As for the Councils of the Later Centuries they neither have been General nor hath either their Assembling or Proceeding been Lawful and they have most Industriously thwarted the Canons of the most Pure and Antient Councils Their Assembling hath not been Legal in that the Modern Popes have Usurped the whole Right and Authority of Convocating Councils contrary to the Primitive Custom and Practice of the Church The first Nicene Council was called by Constantine the Great the first Constantinopolitan which is the second General Council by Theodosius that of Ephesus by Theodosius Junior that of Chalcedon by Martianus the fifth by Justinian c. All which are such evident Proofs that the Cardinals Cusanus Jacobatius and Zabarella confess that in the first Ages of the Church the Right of Calling Councils belonged to the Emperour Nor are Their Proceedings any better For the Popes admit no Assessours or Judges in Councils but their own Faction Men beforehand enslaved by a Solemn Oath which all Bishops of that Communion take at their Confecration to maintain the Regalia Petri all the Usurpations of that See The Pope is the only Authentick Judge in All matters Approving and Refusing whatever He pleases Their own Histories afford us Examples enough to confirm this I shall instance but in the Sleights and Wiles of the Late so much cryed up Trent-Council Wherein to make sure work on the Pope's side there were more Italian Bishops than of all the World beside And most ridiculously to dazle the eyes of the and Others as if they were Greek Prelates Some had the Titles of Archbishops who had neither Church nor Diocess as Vpsalensis and Armachanus who were Created on purpose to fill up the Number And when the Pope on a certain Occasion wanted Voices to sway the cause He sent a fresh supply of 40 Bishops newly made And this was part of that Leigerdemain which an Eminent French Bishop Claud. Espenc one of those vvho sat in the Council calls the Great Helena which of late Ruled All at Trent in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. All the Oriental and Greek Patriarchs and Bishops were Excluded None out of England Scotland Ireland Danemark Swedland few out of France and Spain fewer out of Germany it self were admitted When the Protestants required Audience they could not be hearken'd to upon any tolerable terms It was long before they could get a Safe-Conduct and when it was procured it was clogg'd with this Clause That it should belong to none but such as would Repent and Return to the Bosom of the Roman Church This Partiality and Jugling when the Princes of Europe saw they sent their Protestations against the Council as being Insufficient to Reform Religion In Trying and Deciding Controversies they adhered more to Tradition than Scripture and pass'd nothing till the Pope with his Consistory had seen it at home and approved it and then he transmitted it to his Legats So that as One said the Holy Ghost was continually posted in Cloakbags between Rome and Trent Though by the way their own Doctors teach that the Assistance of the Holy Ghost is a personal Privilege and cannot be Delegated While the Divines were formally Disputing at Trent the Pope was as busie in Ingrossing Canons at Rome and sending them to the Council to be published Thus they proceeded sometimes by a wrong Rule sometimes by none at all In the 4th Session they Decree That none should give any other Exposition of Scripture than such as might agree with the Doctrine of the Church of Rome And yet this very Doctrine was the Thing questioned and the Scriptures were to have been the Touchstone to try it by Take this whole Affair in the Words of Andraeas Dudithius a Bishop in the Roman Church and an Eminent Member of this Council He thus writes in an Epistle to the Emperour Maximilian the 2d What good could be done in that Council where voices were taken by Number and not by Weight The Pope was able to set an 100 of his against every one of ours and if an 100 were not sufficient he could on a sudden have created a thousand to succour those that were ready to faint We might every day see hungry and needy Bishops and those for the most part Beardless Youngsters come in Flocks to Trent hired to give their Voice according to the Pope's humour unlearned indeed and foolish but of good Use to him for their Audaciousness and Impudency The Holy Ghost had nothing to do with that Conventicle All things were carried by Humane Policy which was wholly employed in Maintaining the Immoderate and indeed most Shameless Lordship and Domineering of the Pope From thence were Answers waited for as from the Oracles of Delphos or Dodona From thence the Holy Ghost who as they brag was President of their Council was sent shut up in Carriers Budgets who a thing worthy to be laugh'd at when the Waters were up as it falls out many times was fain to stay till they were down again before he could repair to the Council By this means it came to pass that the Spirit was not carried on