lookt upon him as concern'd in all this how it was his word that said and these sentiments were grown into the very habit of their mind as it would not be easy to corrupt or soften such so 't would be much more difficult to shake them since their faith is founded on the rock of ages Besides the Holy Scriptures carry in them such an obligation of adhering to them and to them alone since they are sufficient to make us wise unto salvation and are Gods word that men would not be apt to exchange them for Legends pious forgeries for things that can make good no certain title from the Lord for let them shew an equal derivation of it bring it down through all the ages ae we have don the Scriptures title to him Otherwise it justly may provoke Gods exclamation in the Prophet Jeremy Be astonisht O ye Heavens and be horribly afraid be yee very desolate saith the Lord for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hew'd them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water cisterns therfore that may leave them in a state to want a drop of water when their tongue shall be horribly tormented whereas he that drinks that living water which Christ gives his word shall never thirst but it shall be a well of water in him springing up to everlasting life FINIS * John 20. 30 31. a Hil. l. 1. de Trinit p. 53 54. Clemens Al. Strom. 6. p. 675. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Iustin. Mart. ad Diognetuâ— p. 499. Athanas ad Serapionem â—om 1. p. 191. 194. edit Par. 1672. a Iustin. ex Trogo l. 36. Diod. Sicul. l. 1. Strabo l. 16. Plinius 30. Tacitus Hist. 5. Ioseph contra Apionem mentions many others b Exod. 7 8 9 10. Chapters c Exod. 14. 21. d Exod. 16. 15. Deut. 8. 24. a Exod. 16. 20. b Exod. 16. 24. c Num. 11. 19 20. 31 32. d Num. 20. 8. 11. e Exod. 20. f Josh. 3. 16. g Josh. 6. 20. a Num. 2. 32. Num. 11. 21. a Jer. 25. 11. 12 b Isa 44. 26. 21. 28. 45. 1. c Dan. 9. 24. c. a Tac. An. l. 15. b Vid. Raim Martin pug fid p. 2. c. 8. c Celsus apud Orig. l. 2. Iulian. Cyril contra ipsum 6. Origen contra Cel. l. 2. c. 69. d Mat. 8. Mar. 1. Luc. 4. e Mat. 8. Mar. 5. Luc. 8. f Mat. 9. Mar. 2. Luc. 5. g Mar. 5. Luc. 8. b John 5. c Luc. 7. d Mat. 14. Mar. 6. Luc. 9. Joh. 6. e Mat. 15. Mar. 8. f Mat. 17. Mar. 9. Luc. 9. g John 11. a Mat. 24. Mar. 13. Luc. 21. b Mat. 26. Mar. 14. John 12. c Mat. 27. Mar. 15. Luc. 23. John 19. Phlegon apud Orig contra Cels. l 2. p. 80. Euseb. ad Olym. 202 ann 4 Philop. Georg. Syncel Thallus apud African vid. Seal animad ad Euseb. Chron. p. 186. ad ann 2044. Etiam vide Just. Mart. p. 76. p. 84. Tertull. Apol c. 21. de isto terrae motâ— agere Tacitum Plin. l. 2. c. 84. scribit Oros. a Mat. 281 Mar. 16. Luc. 29. John 24. b Mar. 16. 9. a Luc. 24. 5. b V. 33. c V. 13. d V. 36. 37. 41. e John 20. 24. f John 21. g Mat. 28. 16. Mar. 15. 6. h 1 Cor. 15. 7. i Luc. 24. 49. Act. 1. 4. 5. k Act. 1 9. Luc. 24. 51. l Act. 2. 6. 7. 8. a Luc. 1. 14. a 1 Cor. 4. 9. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sâ—idas in voâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence Euseb. says l. 2. Ecc. hist. c. 14. they at Rome not thinking it enough to have heard the gospel once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not being contented with the preaching of the heavenly doctrine while it was but an unwritten doctrine earnestly entreat St Mark that he would leave in writing with them a monument of that doctrine which had bin delivered to them by preaching Nor did they give over till they had prevail'd which when St Peter knew by revelation of the H. G. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being extremly pleas'd with that desire and their earnestness in it He approv'd it and appointed it to be read in their assembly b Euseb. l. 3. c. 37. a l. 10. epist. 97. b Iust. Mart. dial cum Tryph. Iudaeo p. 247. 302 311. Iren. l. 2. c. 56. 57. c Excerpt ex Quadrat Apolog. ad Hadrian apud Eus. l. 4. c. 3. d Iust. Mart. Apol 2. p. 98. e Iren. l. 3. c 1. â— f Iust. Mar. Apol 2. Eccl. Smyrnens apud Euseb. l. 4. c. 15. Ecclesiarum Viennen Lug. dun comment de passione Martyr suorum apud Euseb. l. 5. c. 1. Niceph. l. 3. 4. g Orig cont Cel. l. 2. p. 62. p. 80. Tertul. Apol c. 23. h Niceph. l. 5. c. 29. a V. Euseb. l. 6. 7. â—erè integros de Sev. Spartian Tertul. de Decio S. Cypr. b Euseb. l. 8. c. 2. c. 6. Niceph. l. 7. c. 6. Euseb. l. 8. c. 11. c. 9. Sulp. Sev. l. 2. Oros. l. 7. c. 25. Ignatii Patr. Antioch literas apud Scalig. de emend temp l. 5. p. 496. Spond ad annum 302 n. 4. Luc. 1. 4. Ego quidem etiamsi non semel sed saepe id in sacris monimentis scriptum extaret non ideirco tamen ita rem prorsus se hubâ—re crederem Socin de Iesu Chr. Servatore parte 3 c. 6 operum tom 2. p. 204. a John 10. 30. b Joh. 5. 7. The Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 8. the Spirit and the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one c Heb. 1. 10. 11. 12. d Psal. 102. 25. 26. 27. a The reasonableness of this supposition might be demonstrated if there were any need of it a L. 1. de Sanct. Beatit c. 17. a Psal. 27. 8. b Psal. 4. 6. c Psal. 45. 12. d Concil tom 18. p. 295. * Sigen de regno Ital. ad annum 712. l. 3. p. 94. a Sigen de regno Ital. ad annum 726. l. 3. p. 103. b Leonis impeperium respuerunt ac solenni sacramento se Pontificis vitam statumque in perpetuum defensuros atque ejus in omnibus rebus autoritati obtemperaturos jurarunt Ita Roma Romanusque ducatus à Graecis ad Romanum Pontificem pervenit Sigon de Regno Ital. ad annum 727. l 3. p. 105. c 1 Cor. 1. 5. 12. 19. 20. d V. 6. 14. 16. 17. * Basil. Mag. in reg brevior interrog 278. Tom. 2. p. 641. Theodor. Cecumen in locum c. and the commentary under St Ambrose's name makes these who in the Church of Corinth would use an unknown tongue in their sacred offices against whom St Paul directs his speech and takes occasion for that which he saies in this chap. converted Hebrew 's who would it should seem perform the service or at least some parts of it in the Christian Assemblies as they had bin don of old in the Synagogues in the Hebrew tongue which the Corinthians understood not against which St. Paul disputes Conc. tom 24. p. 287. b Mat. 26. 27. 1 Cor. 11. 25. c Yet the Counc of Trent Sess. 22. c. 9. can 2. pronounces Anathema to all those that shall say these words do this quoting them also in the margin out of this place 1 Cor 11 did not constitute preists and ordain that they should offer the body and blood of Christ. Edit Col. Agrip. anno 1261. a 1 Cor. 11. 27. a Vsser de Chris. Eccle. success c. 6. §. 17. b c. 8. §. 1. c Spicileg tom 2. p. 624. a cap. 4. a Ordonnance de Messieurs les Vicaire Genereux de Monseigneur l'Emiminentissime Cardinal de Retz Archevesque de Paris which is in the 137th page of the Extrait du Frecez verbal de l'Assemblee general du Clerge de France tenuë à Paris en l'année 1660. b p. 128 of that extrait c Ibid. p. 128. p. 139. d p. 130. e p. 141. le enfans de nostre mere ont pris les armes contre neus ils la vent attaquer jusques dans le Sanctuaire des Mysteres de son Espoux pour les prostituer f p. 132. g p. 147 and the same bull is printed in the Index of prohibited books set out by the command of Alex. 7. at Rome 1664. p. 382. h Missa le praefatum Gallico idiomate conscriptum vel in posterum alias quomodolibet conscribendum evillgendum perpetuo damnamus reprobamus interdicimus ejusque impressionem lectionem retentionem universis singulis utriusque sexus Christi fidelibus eujuscunque gradus ordinis conditionis existant sub poena excommunicationis latae sententiae ipso jure incurrendae perpetuo prohibemus mandantes quod statim quicunque illud habuerint vel in futurum quodcunque habebunt realiter cum effectu exhibeant tradant locorum Ordinariis vel inquisitoribus qui nulla interposita more exemplaria igne comburant comburi faciant a Pigh 3. de hier Ecc. b Eccius c Pigh de hier l. 1. c. 2. fol. 8. d Idem Pigh e Vid. Chemn examen de S. Can. p. 47. f Peres de tradit par 1. assert 3. a Lam. 4. 3. b Iob. 39. 14. 1 Pet. 2. 2. a Jer. 2. 13. b Joh. 4. 14. compard with c. 6. 34.
when he calls it body he is instituting his Sacrament there 's all reason in the world he should mean Sacramentally since 't is the most proper meaning and by consequence 't is bread substantially as all waies of judging in the world assure us Here 's no stress on Scripture as there is no Principle to serve when as the other makes us differ not in Scripture only even where 't is plainest but tradition too For the most express and evident sayings of the primitive Fathers are on every head of difference as much the matter of contention as the texts of Scripture are as it were easy to demonstrate if that were my business So that it is meer deceit to lay our quarrels to defects in Gods word and particularly to its obscurity which a man would think were evident enough from this that Children knew it The last thing I am to speak to And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Iesus I cannot pass this that it is St Chrysostomes observation that Timothy was nurst up in the Scriptures from his childhood Yea and since his Father was an Heathen he must have bin taught them by his Grandmother Loïs and his Mother Eunice whose faith St Paul speaks of 2 Tim. 1. 5. Children therfore then and Women and they sure are Laics read the Bible Yea and since they knew it they must read it in a language which they understood and we know where that is unlawful now If we consider the first prohibition that appear'd in that Church with Synodical autority against such mens having any Bibles in their own tongue we shall find it was immediately upon the preaching of the Waldenses one of whose doctrines it was that the Scripture was the rule to judg of faith by so that whatsoever was not consonant to that must be refus'd This they preach't in France and over Europe in the latter end of the 12 Century and that Council which forbad their having of the Bible we find lately put forth by the frier D. Achery as held at Tholouse in the beginning of the 13th Century It seems they apprehended then their doctrines hardly would abide that touchstone And they therfore had no surer more compendious way for its security then to prevent such trial taking care men should not know what was or what was not in Scripture And it is not possible for me to give account why in their catechising they leave out all that part of the commandments Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image c. but this only that they dare not let the laity compare their doctrine and their practice with that Scripture But tho it is possible they might conceive some danger if the whole Scripture should be expos'd yet in those portions which the Church it self chose out for her own offices the little lessons and Epistles and Gospels those sure one would think were safe no not their Psalter Breviary nor their Hours of the Blessed Virgin must they have translated in their own tongue as that Council did determin And truly when the Roman Missal was turn'd lately into French and had bin allow'd to be so by the general Assembly of the Clergy in the year 1650. and when it was don it had the usual approbation of the Doctors and some Bishops and then was printed at Paris with the license of the Vicars general of their Archbishop Yet another general assembly of the Clergy the year 1660 whereat there were 36 Bishops upon pain of excommunication forbid any one to read it and condemn not only that present traduction but the thing in general as poysonous in an Encyclical Epistle to all the Prelates of the Kingdom and in another they say of him that did translate it and the vicars general that did defend him in it that by doing so they did take armes against the Church attaquing their own Mother namely by that version at the Altar in that sanctuary that closet of her spouses mysteries to prostitute them and in another Epistle they beseech his Holiness Pope Alexander 7th to damn it not in France alone but the whole Church which he then did by his Bull for ever inter dicting that or any other version of that book forbidding all to read or keep it on severest paines commanding any one that had it to deliver it immediately to the Inquisitor or Ordinary that it might be burnt forthwith Now thus whatever it be otherwise the mass is certainly a sacrifice when 't is made a burnt offering to appease his holiness's indignation when that very Memorial of Christs passion again suffers and their sacred offices are martyr'd To see the difference of times 't was heretofore a Pagan Dioclesian a strange prodigy of cruelty who by his edict did command all Christians to deliver up their Bibles or their bodies to be burnt 'T was here his Holiness Christs Vicar who by his Bull orders all to give up theirs that is all of it that they will allow them and their praiers also that they may be forthwith burnt or themselves to be excommunicated that is their souls to be devoted to eternal flames And whereas then those only that did give theirs up were excommunicate all Christians shun'd them as they would the plague and multitudes whole regions rather gave themselves up to the fire to preserve their Bibles now those only that have none or that deliver up theirs are the true obedient sons of that Church and the thorough Catholics I know men plead great danger in that book it is represented as the source of monstrous doctrines and rebellions I will not say these men are bold that take upon them to be wiser then Allmighty God and to see dangers he foresaw not and to prevent them by such methods as thwart his appointments but I will say that those who talk thus certainly despise their hearers as if we knew not Heresies were hatcht by those that understood the Bible untranslated and as if we never heard there were rebellions among them that were forbid to read the Bible For if there were a Covenant among them that had it in their own tongue so there was an Holy League amongst those men that were deni'd it While those that had the guidance of the subjects conscience were themselves subject to a forreign power as all Priests of that communion are How many Kings and Emperors have there bin that did keep the Scriptures from their people but yet could not keep their people from sedition nor themselves from ruine by it In fine when God himself for his own people caus'd his Scripture to be written in their own tongue to be weekly read in public to and day and night in private by the people and when the Apostles by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost indited Scripture for the world they did it in the language that was then most vulgar to the world what God and the Holy Spirit thus
appointed as the fittest means for the Salvation of the world to define not expedient as the Holy Fathers of Trent did looks like blasphemy against God and the Holy Spirit But blasphemies of this kind are not to be wonder'd at from that kind of men that call the Scripture a dumb judg a black Gospel incken Divinity written not that they should be the rule of our faith and Religion but that they should be regulated by submitted to our faith that the autority of the Church hath given canonical autority to Scriptures and those the chief which otherwise they had not neither from themselves nor from their authors And that if the Scriptures were not sustain'd by the autority of the Church they would be of no more value then Aesops fables And lastly that the people are permitted to read the bible was the invention of the Devil But to leave the controversy and speak to the advantages which may be had from early institution in the Scripture 't is so evident that I need not observe how 't is for want of principles imprest and wrought into the mind in Childhood that our youth is so licencious And 't is not possible it can be otherwise when they have nothing to oppose to constitution when t is growing and to all the temtations both of objects and example no strict sense of duty planted in them no such notions as would make resistance to the risings of their inclination and seducements of ill company and they therefore follow and indulge to all of them And in Gods name why do parents give their Children up to God in their first infancy deliver him so early a possession of them as if they would have Religion to take seizure on them strait as if by their baptizing them so soon they meant to consecrate their whole lives to Gods service make them his as soon as they were theirs as if they had bin given them meerly for Gods uses And they therfore enter them into a vow of Religion almost as soon as they have them why all this if accordingly they do not season and prepare them as they shall grow capable Why when they are but newly born their children do they take care they shall be regenerate and born again Gods children if they do not furnish them with necessaries educate them into all the qualities and hopes that appertain to the condition of Gods children as well as they do to that of their own That parent which not only like some delicate ones refuses her own breasts to her own infant but provides no other to sustain it that does only wash her babe from i'ts first blood and uncleanness to expose it the more handsom prey to wolves and tigers in the desert is more savage then those tigers even the sea monsters draw out the breasts they give suck to their young ones saith lamenting Ieremy but he adds the daughter of my people is cruel like the Ostrich in the wilderness which leaveth her eggs in the earth and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them shee is hardned against her young ones such are they who when their children are so born again to God yet as they shall wax capable provide not that which St Peter calls the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby but from their being washt so in the laver of regeneration take no more care but expose them forthwith to such lusts and conversations as are much more wild and savage then those beasts in the comparison to which they cannot choose but be a prey They strive indeed they say to educate them into men betimes that is make them conversible and bold and since for that they must engage them into frequent company where they see and hear mens follies that I say no worse by that means they come to have their understandings stor'd with nothing but the Modes and sins of conversation fill'd with froth and puddle men betimes only thus as they have forwarded their inclinations to and got an early understanding and experience of those vices which one would think men only could be equal for But by this means the mind that only part that makes us be men is not only not improv'd but dwarft They do not only still continue children in their understanding as to any thing that 's real and solid but the hopes of reason are destroy'd in them and its growth kill'd by turniug all its nurishment to feed the beast part and the Christian is quite starv'd There needs no other cause be given for the most part why so many men have no Religion own being Libertines and profess vice for want of education they have nothing in them that does check this for they had no principles of a Religion instil'd into them And if at any time it comes to pass that they think it is their interest to take upon them the profession of some Religion they therfore since they have no Principles nor rules to judg by are most apt to choose to profess that Religion which is like to be most gentle to the courses they have steer'd and are engag'd in Now that men hope to find such an one whether by its constitution I shall not enquire but by i'ts practice is but too appaernt Accordingly when they go over to it they carry with them and preserve in it the vices of their no Religion and by consequence they went not over seriously for Religion and are therfore so much worse now then when they own'd no Religion that they do their wickednesses with certainty of easy absolution and so hopes of salvation and by this are likely to be made twofold more children of Hell then before and let them triumph in such conquests Ther 's nothing in the world that contributes so much to this as mens being not acquainted early with instructed in those divine rules and obligations to piety and virtue which this book the Bible does afford If men had bin season'd first with the knowledg and the sense of duty with the comforts that are in it with the apprehensions of great blessings that attend it and the mischiefs that are consequent indeed essential to impiety and vice here and their minds were furnisht with examples of both which this book abounds with and their hearts too rais'd with expectations of far greater blessedness in a life hereafter and with the belief that both that blessedness and life shall have no end and were made sensible also of strange dreadful torments that await the breach of duty which shall also last for ever If these impressions I say did prevent all other and take up the mind and had in them the stamp and character of God and so there were a reverence and awe of him wrought in them and they