with that which others of them name confirming whilst both place the suppos'd infallibility in the Popes assent which assent those who call it defining think perhaps they make the Proposition more obviously denote that Prelats infallibility as exclusive of all the rest thereby SECT III. The second Opinion amongst the Romanists viz. That a General Council conciliary proceeding is infallible in Matters of Faith taken into consideration and it 's double meaning explain'd the truth of which in one of them only is here brought to the Test the certainty of it in it's other sense being left to be examin'd in other Sections THis Assertion of the Second sort of Romish Controvertists that A General Council conciliarly proceeding cannot erre in Points of Faith may be taken in a two-fold sense either as the words conciliarly proceeding include Tradition which the Traditionists say and then the meaning of it is That A General Council defining according to Tradition or the living voice of the Church cannot erre in which sense the consideration of it belongs to some following Sections Or els as they are intended only to denote the exclusion of all fraudulent and forcible ways us'd to procure the votes of the Prelats so as that the Definition of the Council being left to it's own freedom will be infallibly true although the Means preparative to it were not at all so Against That whatsoever was deliver'd to the primitive Christians by Christ and his Apostles as a Point of Faith hath been perpetually handed down from time to time without interruption till our days as such and it 's assign'd proof the indefectibility of Tradition I shall say nothing here but remit the discourse I intend upon them to another place and at present enquire Whether the present Church of Rome does indeed depend on this Maxim for the certainty of the purity of her Faith That Christs Doctrine was deliver'd to her as descending without interruption from Christ and his Apostles For if it appear upon trial made she doth not then however indefectible Tradition be it may notwithstanding fall out that new Articles of Faith may be introduc'd into the Church upon some other Ground not firm and safe such as the Traditionists will I know grant That the Definition of a General Council not founded on Oral Tradition but on this Presumption That the Bishops effectually proceeding to define are immediatly inspir'd from Heaven is And that the Roman Church does not rely on the mentioned Maxim for the certainty of the purity and uncorruptedness of her Faith I have somthing which seems considerable and of moment to alledge in proof It will not I presume be deny'd That Cardinal Bellarmin and the learned Romish Controvertists more generally taken notice of after him ever since the Reformation till Rushworths Dialogues came to light for all that they made it their business to resolve Faith according to the belief and practice of their Church did not conclude and averr Tradition to be the alone safe Means of conveying Christs Doctrine to the knowledge of succeeding Ages And if such great Lights among the Roman Clergy mistook the Rule of Faith how can we reasonably think that the inferiour Pastors and Laics in their time knew it aright And if they knew it not neither could they rely on it as such For although it were granted which some say that Bellarmin himself and all the learned Clerks of the Roman Church no less then the other Clergy and Lay-men did practically rely on Tradition in as much as they were Orally taught their Religion by the preceding Generation and that again by the next before it and so still backwards one Age of another ever since the very first beginning of Christianity yet unless they also knowingly did it when once they came to make enquiry upon what stedfast Ground the Christian Faith was to be embrac'd they would no longer rest upon the instruction they had when they first in their younger years believ'd if so be upon search made they conceiv'd as it seems the chiefest of them besides many more if not the generality did that the certainty of Faith was not sounded on Oral Tradition their first Instructor in it but on something els Yea I think I shall not mistake the truth if I say that it was not the private opinion of some great Doctors and their followers only but the sense of the Council of Trent it self also That Faith is not resolv'd into Tradition as it 's adequate Rule whilst in consulting the first Decree of the fourth Session of that Council I find two Passages which seem to make it out The former of them is this Sacrosancta Oecumenica Generalis Tridentina Synodus c. perspiciens hanc nempe Christianam veritatem Disciplinam contineri in Libris scriptis sine Scripto Traditionibus quae ex ipsius Christi ore ab Apostolis acceptae aut ab ipsis Apostolis Spiritu Sancto dictante quasi per manus traditae ad nos usque pervenerunt Orthodoxorum Patrum exempla secuta omnes Libros tam veteris quám novi Testamenti cùm utriusque Deus sit Author necnon Traditiones ipsas tum ad Fidem tum ad Mores pertinentes tanquam vel ore tenus a Christo vel à Spiritu Sancto dictatas continuâ successione in Ecclesia Catholica conservatas pari pietatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipit ac veneratur The latter Passage closeth up the Decree thus Si quis Libros ipsos integros Scripturae scilicet cum omnibus suis partibus prout in Ecclesia Catholica legi consueverunt in veteri vulgata Latina Editione habentur pro Sacris Canonicis non susceperit Traditiones praedictas sciens prudens contempserit anathema sit Omnes itaque intelligant quo ordine via ipsa Synodus post jactum Fidei Fundamentum sit progressura quibus potissimùm Testimoniis ac Praesidiis in confirmandis Dogmatibus instaurandis in Ecclesia Moribus sit usura In both these Passages Scripture and Apostolical Traditions are plainly contradistinguish'd as equally relating some way or other to Christian Faith and Manners And although in the former place they seem to be principally oppos'd as the Written and unwritten Word of God yet not without this apparent intimation also that as the Books or written Words call'd Scripture leade to the sense or Doctrine contain'd in them so likewise the unwritten words wherein Apostolical Traditions are taught guide to the meaning couch'd in them so that as Scripture and Traditions taken in the former sense are held by the Council to be equally the Word of God so are they moreover in the latter sense held to be equally significative and expressive of the Doctrine of Salvation delivered by them But in the latter rehearsed place of the Decree Scripture and Traditions are chiefly to be understood of written and unwritten words directing to the knowledge of the Objects of Faith as appears
Articles of Catholick and Apostolick Faith by vertue of Oral Tradition communicating the same unto it what good cause can be shewn why Tradition should not be the Rule of Faith even without having the Doctrins it delivers confirm'd by parallel Texts of Holy Writ Answer since the Rule of Faith must doubtless be that into which it is ultimatly resolv'd as the best and highest Means of ascertaining Christs Doctrin to Mankind and that the same must contain in it no Error this Inference I think will be clear that in case Oral Tradition or the Living voice of the Church either be not the best and highest means whereby to ascertain Christs Doctrin to Mankind or that it may deliver or teach an Error under the notion of an Article of Faith it cannot be in justice esteem'd the Rule of Faith And that Oral Tradition or the Living voice of the Church is not the best and highest means whereby to ascertain Christs Doctrin to Mankind the following Paragraph I think will make good Where two Testimonies both averr and attest the same thing if the one be of Divine the other but of Humane Authority the Testimony that is Divine ought of Right to have the preeminence and the relyance for the verity of what is witnessed by them is to be ultimatly cast upon it Seeing then the Testimony of Scripture is Divine as being ex confesso the Word of God and Tradition but an Humane Witness forasmuch as it is said to be the Delivery of Christs Doctrine in the various expressions of Pastors Parents Tutors Masters of Families and Nurses 't is most reasonable that Faith should be finally resolved into Scripture and not into Tradition as it 's Rule Yea and albeit Tradition may peradventure in some things be thought more plain then Scripture as for example suppose in the Point of Christs Divinity these words of the Nicene Creed Deum de Deo Lumen de Lumine Deum verum de Deo vero genitum non factum consubstantialem Patri per quem omnia facta sunt yet that Scripture should be still esteem'd the Text and Tradition but the best and most certain Comment upon it I gather from hence That it cannot well be otherwise thought but that even the Disciples of the Apostles after the Books of the New Testament were publish'd and receiv'd among Christians would themselves confirm to their Auditors what they told them they had been Orally taught by the Apostles out of the written Word because the very sayings of Christ himself and his divinely inspir'd Apostles would in common prudence be thought to be of greater weight and authority with them then their own although beleiv'd to be esteem'd by the people as true and certain as any whatsoever not of more then Humane Authority Having found then I suppose one reason why Tradition ought not to be held the Rule of Faith I 'le make tryal if in another sense also it be not incapable of being justly so reputed for if the present Church of any one Age can teach us an Article of Faith what is not so but indeed an Error then is not Tradition the Rule of Faith Now to find out whether the Church in any one Age can do so or not this will be a sure way to try if discovery can be made That any Error has been ever taught by the Catholick Church or by any known and acknowledg'd Part of it as an Article of Faith for if that can be done the possibility of the thing is put out of doubt thereby To make a clear discourse on this subject 't will be expedient to consider That there be two sorts of Errors in Matters of Religion Fundamental and not Fundamental By Fundamental I mean such as either immediatly and directly or at least by necessary and apparent Consequence contradict some Articles of Catholick Faith by not-Fundamental I mean such as evidently do neither This Distinction premis'd and allow'd of since 't is clear as I take it by what has been said of the Motives and Means of perpetuating Christs Doctrin in the World that no Article of Catholick Faith can ever perish or cease to be beleiv'd 't will follow that no Fundamental Error can at any time get a setled and quiet possession in the Church but shall always after it is taken notice of find opposition by Orthodox Christians because they cannot chuse but see that the embracing of it would necessarily destroy the contrary Divine Truth firmly held by so many at least as rightly consider the matter to be necessary to Salvation Of the assured certainty of this we have a famous Instance in the Arian Heresie which though eagerly promoted by the Wit and industry of most cunning and restless Heretics and stiffly back'd and countenanc'd by the Authority of several great Prelats assisted with the might and power of Temporal Potentates and Princes yet was still oppos'd and when fraudulent and violent means had tyr'd and spent themselves the opposit Truth prevail'd and shew'd it self more glorious then before But as for Errors not-Fundamental or whose opposition to any Article of Faith is not seen because too remotely contradictory thereto to be easily discern'd if such once come to be receiv'd as pious Opinions and promoted by the Schoolmen I do not understand why they may not in long continuance of time be advanc'd to the repute of being esteem'd Articles of Faith For proof of the truth of which I 'le produce some few Instances in the Doctrin of the Church of Rome The first shall be this That the Council of Trent has desin'd Sess 7. Can. 9. That there is a Character or certain spiritual sign or mark imprinted in the souls of all that are Baptiz'd Confirm'd and Ordain'd which yet I find disprov'd by an eminently Learned Gentleman of the Romish Church if I understand the Council and Him aright in his Institut Sacr. Tom. 2. Lect. 4. Pag. 32. as was shewn before in Sect. 4. of this Treatise and so superfluously to be here again set down A second Instance is the Belief of freeing souls from Purgatory and bringing them thence to Heaven before the day of Judgement which Opinion the last mentioned Author Thomas Albius in his Book De medio animarum statu has prov'd to be erronious 'T is true indeed he saies That it is no Article of the Roman Faith and I find the Trent Council in disertis verbis to affirm only this Purgatorium esse animà sque ibi detentas fidelium suffragiis potissimùm verò acceptabili Altaris Sacrificio juvari Decret de Purgatorio Sess 25. But the Popes granting InIndulgences and Priviledg'd Altars Priests saying of Masses and the Peoples praying and giving Alms for the delivery of souls out of Purgatory should better an indifferent person would be apt to think expound and declare the Churches sense or intention of Pastors Parents Tutors Master of Families and Nurses of the word juvari then any privat Doctor whatsoever Yea and if
any one then in the Eastern Parte yet that every third Christian understood that Language is not at all to be thought on Secondly Nor was the Scripture presently Translated into every Tongue where there were those who imbrac'd Christianity Thirdly Neither could poor Mechanicks Labourers Servants and Slaves procure it when Translated before the ready way of Printing was Invented because 't was not formerly a little money that would buy both or even one of the Testaments Fourthly Neither yet if all Christians had had wherewith to buy would there have been till the Art of Printing was found Books enough for half or a quarter of them Fifthly Suppose we now that by means of the Press every one has or might have a Bible in their native Tongue How is it possible that the vulgar should know of themselves that it is the Word of God that it has been kept free from corruption in things of necessary Belief and Practice that it is faithfully Translated out of the Originals that considering what variety of Doctrins are in it and in how many places dispers'd they should be able and at leisure to cull out of it a Summary of Fundamentals in case the thing it self were attainable without other helps besides Scripture seeing millions of them are necessitated to spend their whole time almost to get a poor Livelihood for themselves and Families that they should be able to compare places of Scripture so effectually as rightly to compose seeming Contradictions in Points of Faith thereby when not without difficulty they are got to understand but ordinarily well even plain and common things Who so shall seriously reflect on these matters will doubtless think it strangely unbecoming Mans most gracious Maker and Redeemer to require at the hands of the poor ignorant people to pick out their Religion of themselves from Holy Scripture or to depend upon their own weak performances for finding out the true sence and interpretation of it For over and above what has been already shewn for the unreasonableness of the thing after this be first well weigh'd in the balance of sound Reason that the Multitude must of necessity trust others for the truth of the Translation of Scripture let an irrefragable Reason be given by any that can why they should not aswell and might as safely give credit to those for the sense of it who are in prudence to be entrusted by reason of their Knowledg and Honesty for recommending to them the sincerity of the Version since 't is to be presum'd they understand it to be a true translation no further then they know the sence of the words translated Notwithstanding the plain verity of what has here been said 't is not unknown how frequently and vehemently some popular men use to cry out to the people from the Pulpit Believe not us believe the Scripture as if the meanest of their Auditors were thought by them to be the proper Judges of the Scripture sense amongst the rest But though their words seem to import as much if we look to the bottom of the business we shall discover That even these Preachers must acknowledge they intend otherwise or els confess their design in doing it is unlawful For when they say Believe not us believe the Scripture they either intend the Texts they quote for a Proof of what they touch or they do not If they intend them for a Proof their meaning must be this believe us yet not for our own sakes but for the Scriptures that is believe us because we teach the very same Doctrine which the Scripture doth or believe the Scripture to the same intent and purpose or in the same sense we alledge it for to believe it in any other would not have the effect of a Proof with them But if they have no intention to use the Scriptures they quote to prove what they Preach let them inform us to what other good intent they do it for I cannot think of any To several bad ends 't is obvious enough to conceive how it may be done as out of covetousness or through the desire of applause or for promoting a faction to humour and gratifie the people they Preach unto But for none of these ends will they yield I am well assur'd they do it and therefore I see no way to avoid it but that the Quotations must be granted to be produc'd for Proofs and consequently that the persons using them have no real design by saying beleeve not us beleeve the Scripture that the truth of their Doctrine should stand or fall accordingly as their Auditors judge it consonant or disagreeing to the places of Holy Writ which they 're directed to for examination and tryal of the verity of what their Teachers deliver as they themselves often I beleeve apprehend but for Proof and confirmation indeed of the Doctrine taught according to the intendment of the Preacher Some perhaps would here be encourag'd to assert that this which I have last discours'd concerning Holy Writ viz. that the Multitude cannot without better help then their own make right use of Scripture as 't is the Rule of Faith makes for Oral Tradition which instructs every one from the Prince to the Peasant in all the Articles of Christian Faith To such I should answer That Tradition could no more be made use of as the Rule of Faith supposing it were so by the People without the assistance of some more skilful then themselves then Scripture can For first They must trust others that what they are instructed in by their immediat Teachers is the sense of the present Catholick Church Secondly They must have it from better Arguments then themselves can frame That the Doctrine of the present Church is the very same with the Doctrine of the Church in all foregoing Ages since Christ Thirdly They must beleeve others That Tradition is the alone Rule of Faith for the Multitude I may safely say is not so quick sighted as clearly to see that there 's no other way to come to a right knowledge of Christs Doctrine but by an Oral Delivery of it So that in fine I am much assur'd That the Rule of Faith was never intended by God for the Multitude to resolve immediatly of themselves the Christian Faith into and that therefore the Destinction of Ecclesia docens discens is good yea necessary to be practically maintain'd and upheld among Christians To the former of which I mean the Ecclesia docens consisting of Prelats and Pastors the Depositum or Rule of Faith is principally not solely because it is lawful for any to make good use of it that can entrusted for that in reason the Clergy is justly presum'd to be fittest both for Skill and Will to understand it aright and to employ it to it 's due End whilst they can want no Helps possible to be had for gaining the true sense of it and that it is the Main of their Employ for which they are called to
by these Lines here following transcrib'd from thence Quibus potissimum Testimoniis Praesidiis nemque Scriptura Traditionibus in confirmandis Dogmatibus instaurandis in Ecclesia Moribus sit usura Synodus For Scripture and Traditions cannot here be taken for Christs Doctrine it self but for Characters and Sounds apt to discover what is meant by them From the whole therefore I gather That the Council of Trent resolves Faith into Scripture and Traditions when taken for the Word of God or Doctrine of Salvation as into it's proper Object and into the same Scripture and Traditions when taken the one for a Testimony in Writing the other for an Oral Testimony as into it's adequat Rule saving what the Adverb potissimùm in the last recited Passage of the Council may peradventure abate In hopes to enervate the force of this Discourse 't will not improbably be said That Scripture and Apostolical Traditions are granted to be held by the Tridentin Council the Totum or Extent of all reveal'd Truths and consequently the Characters and Sounds or the written and unwritten words wherein they are contain'd the material Rule of Faith but seeing it is Oral Tradition that informs us of the sense of both this alone is the formal Rule of Faith and that even according to the mind of the Trent Fathers themselves as the subsequent Passage of the second Decree of the fourth Session testifieth Ad coercenda petulantia ingenia decernit eadem scilicet Sacrosancta Synodus et nemo suae prudentiae innixus in rebus Fidei Morum ad aedificationem Doctrinae Christianae pertinentium sacram Scripturam ad suos sensus contorquens contra eum sensum quem tenuit ac tenet Sancta Mater Ecclesia cujus est judicare de vero sensa interpretatione Scripturarum sanctarum aut etiam contra sensum unanimem Patrum ipsam Scripturam sacram interpretari audeat In return to this I shall not deny but that if Holy Scripture were Writ and Apostolical Traditions express'd in Words not plainly significative of one determinate sense but had their intelligibleness in Matters of Faith and Manners from Oral Tradition this alone would be the formal Rule of Faith But then in case the thing were truely so and the late quoted place of the Council intended as much I see not how that learned Assembly can be clear'd from contradicting it self since Scripture and Apostolical Traditions if meer unintelligible Characters and Sounds without their suppos'd authentick Interpreter Oral Tradition would be so farr from being two Witnesses or Testimonies of Christs Doctrine which yet as was seen the Council solemnly and not transiently calls them that they would neither of them be any Witness or Testimony thereof at all the very nature and office of a Witness or Testimony being this to manifest and render intelligible to those who are immediatly concern'd to understand it what it bears witness or gives testmony unto immediatly I say concern'd but who those are in respect of the Rule of Christian Faith I deferr the enquiry of to another place At present in regard it will not I prefume be admitted that the Council contradicts it self the sence of the rehearsed Passage is farr more obvious then that which hath been mention'd if not evident to be this That whensoever the Holy Scripture is through either weakness or wilfulness drawn to a wrong sense it of Right belongs to the Governors of the Church to declare the true sence thereof which the Council might very well think to be just and fitting without supposing the words of Scripture to be unsens'd Characters since experience dayly shews that things easie to be understood are often mistaken by the vulgar and very plain words and sentences wrested by men of subtil wits to a perverse sense Two Witnesses then of Christs Doctrine viz. Scripture and Traditions the Council of Trent still seems to me plainly to assert But besides these let 's consider if there was not moreover a third which the Prelats had an eye to in respect of something defin'd by them for I cannot conjecture what they should mean by the Word potissimùm mentioned before except this That there are some divine Truths which are not so clearly contain'd either in Scripture or Apostolical Traditions as to be sufficiently attested by them and that therefore they stood need of a further Testimony to make them manifest which whether it was the unanimous consent of the Fathers or the immediat assistance of the Holy Spirit or something els which the Council intended I have no need to be scrupulous about since my business in this place was no more but to discover Whether the Church of Rome as 't is affirm'd by the Traditionists do really rely on this Maxim for her Faith that it was recommended to her as Orally descending by a continued succession from Christ and his Apostles or that it is but a thing speciously pretended on her behalf to avouch her Doctrine by wherein as the preceding Discourse hath already shewn in general so the subsequent will hereafter shew in particular what the truth to my apprehension is whilst that which has been said concerning the Council of Trents opinion in the Point shall be further seconded and confirm'd by several Instances out of the same The first shall be That it has defin'd Sess 4 Decree 1. What Books are Canonical Spâ—ture and anathematizes those who will not receive them as such amongst which the Epistle to the Hebrews is one and yet it has not always been esteem'd Canonical by the Western Church as is granted by Cardinal Perron and others of the Romish Profession that St. Jerom whose testimony cannot be in reason refus'd affirms for being in his time an eminent Member of the same Church he could not be ignorant of her practice and that he would Write an untruth whereof he might easily be detected is not at all credible The Second Instance is That the Books Arocryphal for which there is no Universal Tradition that they are the Word of God as Dr. Cosins late Lord Bishop of Durham in his Scholastical History of the Canon of Scripture shews are defin'd by the Council of Trent Sess 4. Decree 1. to be Canonical Scripture The third and last Instance which at present I shall produce is to be seen Sess 7. Can. 9. of the Trent Synod where we find it thus defining Si quis dixerit in tribus Sacramentis Baptismo scil Confirmatione Ordine non imprimi Characterem in anima hoc est signum quoddam spirituale indelebile unde ea iterari non possunt Anathema sit These according to the Traditionists are the words or at least the sence of the words of the Church diffusive pronounc'd by it's Representative by which it seems there is a Tradition that a Character or a certain Spiritual indeleble signe is imprinted in the Souls of those who are baptiz'd confirm'd and ordain'd Now That the generality of Pastors Parents Tutors
is not if it be not Tradition is no way concern'd let the Greeks and Latins too hold whether way they please about it If it be an Article of Faith and that the Greek and Latin Churches agree in the substance and sence of it and differ only in the manner of the expression there has been no failure of Tradition in the Greek Church concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost Forasmuch then as it remains only to be known whether the Greeks and Latins agree in Sence though they differ in words or the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Filium be the same in effect with the Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 á Filio let 's see what the Roman Doctors who we may be sure will be no more favourable to the Greeks then 's fitting say to 't Peter Lombert writing of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son saith Sciendum est quòd Graeci confitentur Spiritum Sanctum esse Filii sicut Patris quia Apostolus dicit Spiritum Filii Veritas in Evangelio Spiritum Veritatis Sed cùm non sit aliud Spiritum Sanctum esse Patris vel Filii quà m esse à Patre Filio etiam in hoc in eandem nobiscum Fidei sententiam convenire videntur licet in verbis dissentiant Unde etiam quidam eorum Catholici Doctores intelligentes unam eandémque fore sententiam praedictorum verborum quibus dicitur Spiritus Sanctus procedere à Filio esse Filii professi sunt Spiritum Sanctum etiam procedere à Filio Lib. 1. Sentent Distinct 11. D. E. Where the same Author goes on to shew That several eminent Greek Fathers Athanasius Didymus Cyrillus and Chrysostom accord even in expressions also about the Procession of the Holy Ghost Aquinas propounding the Question Utrum Spiritus Sanctus procedat à Patre per Filium concludes affirmatively and answers Objections made to the contrary as is to be seen Part prima Quaest 26. Artic. 3. Yea and Mr. White however in the Apologie for Tradition he calls the Greeks assertion concerning the Holy Ghosts Procession as is truely said of him a meer negative Tradition or a Denial that they have any such Tradition that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son yet explicating els where the sacred Mystery of the Blessed Trinity averrs it to be a more significant Speech to say that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father by the Son then from the Father and the Son which in illustrating the Doctrine of the Trinity by Cognitum Cognitio Amor he thus shews Patet vim motivam quae est in Bono cognito esse totam in ratione Boni rationem veró cognitionis non esse nisi conjunctionem hujus virtutis ad movendum quare alio modo dicitur tertia Persona Procedere à Patre alio modo à Filio quasi directè principaliter à Patre à Filio non nisi concomitanter seu tanquam à modo Causae Unde non mirum si Christus Dominus aliqui Patres disertè dicant eum procedere à Patré sine mentione Filii unde intelligitur quòd sit magis expressiva locutio dicere quòd procedit à Patre per Filium quà m quòd procedit à Patre Filio Cùm enim per quasi viam medium denotet impossibile est procedere per Filium non à Filio quia omnis pars viae respectu termini habet rationem termini à quo principii unde ly pèr explicat esse à à non primo principio SECT XI What rational assurance we have That Scripture is not corrupted in Necessaries to salvation The way to know what things have been ever Orally taught Two Reasons given why Tradition though it be of an indefectible nature should not be the Rule of Faith Whether a fundamental Error can ever obtain a a setled quiet possession in the visible Church An offer from Reason for the impossibility of the thing Errors not-fundamental may overspread the Church and why Several instances of such Errors in the Roman Church THe practical delivery of Christs Doctrine never as has been seen failing it may by carefully searching the Scripture be known what things contain'd in it are of necessity to be generally believ'd and practic'd because no more is so but what has been always believ'd and practic'd by Christians provided assurance may be had what has been ever practically deliver'd and that Scripture is not corrupted in such places of it as contain the Necessaries to salvation or Articles of Catholick and Apostolick Faith For the latter which I 'le first insist on That Scripture is not corrupted in necessary Points I shall briefly say but this Since the actings of Gods Providence are not known to us but as they are seen in second Causes the most rational account we have That Scripture is come safe to our hands without Corruption in all things of necessity to be generally believ'd and practic'd is from hence that Scripture being constantly read by multitudes of Knowing Christians could not possibly be corrupted in Texts containing such things as were perpetually taught repeated and practic'd in the Church of which sort the Necessaries to Salvation are without being taken notice of and if occasion requir'd rectified As for satisfaction in the other difficulty viz. What things have been ever orally taught this in general from what has been sayd appears certain that no Point of Christ's Doctrin shall ever fail And although in this or that Place the continuance of Christian Faith be not necessary yet where ever there has been a visible great Society of Christians wherein it was once firmly setled and which has had a constant succession of Pastors continued in it nothing held by that society to be an Article of Faith could totally cease to be so esteem'd unless so vast a Body in which there would be in every Age a considerable number of wise and pious men could either be universally impos'd on by fraud or forc'd by violence or that all it's Members would carelessly neglect or wilfully forsake what they believ'd to be a necessary Means to save themselves and their Posterity from endless Torment and to bring them to everlasting Jay Universally then such a Body could neither desert nor loose it's Faith in any necessary Point And in case any remarkable Member or Part thereof should ever do it 't would be known and presently oppos'd by the sound Part adhering to the Truth as constant Experience has made evident in the timely resisting of all Heresies This if granted to be true plain reason will enforce our assent that the Latin or Western Church being such a Society as is before mentioned did at the begining of the Reformation and still does hold and maintain all the Articles of Catholick and Apostolick Faith Obiection If the Latin or Western Church when the Reformation begun did really hold all the
impossible for although in Metaphysics Philosophers speak abstractedly first of a substance and afterwards difference it by corporeal and incorporeal yet such discourse doth not at all intend or suppose that there either is or can be a substance really existing which is neither of the two no more then from saying animal est rationale vel irrationale it can be presum'd that an animal doth or may possibly exist and be neither man nor brute The design of inventing such general words as substantia animal homo was not to make signs of any real or possible Being to be signified by them but to contract and abbreviate mens discourse for the more ready understanding of one another as for Instance when we would signify in short that Peter James John and every other individual person in the world is of the same nature to wit a creature compounded of soul and body endued with sense and Reason a word is fram'd to comprehend and import all that which is Homo Man and then we affirm of Peter of James of John c. that he is a Man in stead of saying he is a Creature compounded of Soul and Body endued with Sense and Reason When again it is observ'd wherein Peter James John c. agree with every singular Brute a word is devis'd to denote that agreement to wit animal And since it is found that not only all these but that also every corporeal and spiritual Thing whatsoever accords together in this that they have a Being subsisting of it self a word is us'd to shew that which is substantia a substance to avoid therefore the trouble of saying Peter James John c. this horse bird fish c. is a Thing that has a Being of it self we contract it into this Peter James c. this horse bird fish is a substance since then we see that a Substance abstractedly taken is not only void but even incapable of all kind of existence to say Christs Body is present in the blessed Sacrament after the manner of a Substance is to the same effect as to say That it is neither corporeally nor incorporeally there present that is in verity not at all But suppose we that Christs Body were present in the Eucharist without extension and no other substance for the Accidents of Bread and Wine to subsist in the Accidents in such a case must either subsist in Christs Body and so extension be in a Subject unextended which is plainly contradictory or els they must subsist of themselves without a Subject which is equally impossible for if we duly reflect we shall find That an Accident is not any Thing really differing from it's Subject but a meer Mode only or manner of it's Being or an appearance of the Subject under some particular consideration as will I think by the following Instance evidently be seen Take a piece of Paste and mold it into several forms one after another making it now long then round afterward square and t will be no thing all the while but the very same Paste still under various appearances which for distinction sake we give different appellations to so that to suppose length roundness squareness or long round square take whether we please really to exist without some Thing which we denomintate long round square is to suppose the meer mode of a Thing not to be the meer mode of a Thing but a Thing of it self which is utterly impossible Many strange incredible things beside would follow upon the supposal of the Accidents subsisting without a Subject as that they are apt to do and suffer all things which the Bread and Wine before their Transubstantiation were liable unto as to nourish the Body to be broken to be split to be corrupted to be turn'd into ashes smoke c. which seem to involve in them a contradiction also in that a meer accident which is nothing should do and suffer something SECT XII That the Holy Scripture or Written Word of God is the Rule of Christian Faith That Tradition is the best and safest way and means whereby to attain to the certain knowledge thereof That the Multitude or weakest sort of Christians are not able of themselves without the help of others to resolve Faith aright or be rationally assur'd what the Doctrine of Salvation is NOw at length having master'd all the difficulties in my Way I see nothing of moment to obstruct or hinder me why I may not from the premis'd Discourse securely inferr That the Sacred Scripture i. e. Such places of it as contain the necessario credenda and agenda of Christs Gospel is the Rule of Christian Faith yet so as that without the help of Tradition it can neither be known to be the Word of God nor when in general 't is known so to be any rational assurance can be had That the Texts containing the Necessaries to Salvation remain uncorrupt but by the same Tradition nor lastly That those Necessaries to Salvation can be manifested what they are save as Tradition guides unto and gives notice of them All which if I have been clear in the proof of he that goes about to seek for the Rule of Faith and makes not Tradition his chief and best Assistant shall never have any rational ground of certainty that he has met with it and explicitly knows the Contents of it even though perchance he have really and indeed found it and peradventure explicitly believes whatsoever is contain'd in it If it be so difficult a thing as it seems to be by what hath been sayd to resolve Faith aright or to make such use of Scripture as to be certainly inform'd by it of Christs Doctrin without danger of erring or being mistaken it might be demanded how the generality of Christians should be able of themselves to do it True but such demand as it would be reasonable and pertinent if the Multitude were oblig'd to learn the Christian Religion of themselves immediatly from Scripture so on the contrary if they have no obligation to do it 't is neither the one nor the other And that no such obligation lies upon them the unpracticableness to say no worse of the thing manifested in the sixt Section of this Treatise sufficiently testifies We must then would some say pin it seems our Faith on others sleeves To wave that catachrestical effeminate speech let 's put the Question more manlike and fairly thus Whether the generality of the People must not of necessity rely on others Learning and Fidelity in comming to the knowledge of Christs Doctrin And my Answer then is That there is no possible way of avolding it without a continued Miracle of immediat Revelation but that most certainly they must and 't was and ever will be so For first if we look back towards the begining of the Gospel we shall find that the New Testament was writ by the Apostles and Evangelists in Greek which Tongue though granted to have been the most generally known of