Reason which I shall recount unto you is this that to make the Scripture this sole Rule and Judge is in effect not to make the Scripture so but to make every individual man and woman who take upon them to read and understand the Scriptures such a Rule and Judge unto themselves for what difference is there between judging by my own Reason and judging by a Law to be Interpreted by my own Reason This is to make the Scripture not Gods Word but the word of every private man Hence I concluded that if Christ be God as certainly and infallibly he is and if he truly loved those soules for which he dyed he hath certainly provided for them some more assured means by which to know the true Faith without which he will not save them then by leaving them to the Scriptures to be interpreted by each one as he thinks best for what Law maker was there ever found so ridiculous as to gather a people into a body and give them a Law book in writing to govern them and to be their only judge in all their differences without appointing nay expresly prohibeting that there should be any living judge or Judges or any Court to expound this Law and to have the Executive Authority and jurisdiction from whence there should be no appeal Having considered after this manner what could be said for the private Spirit Reason and the sole sufficiency of Scripture I was in the last place to see what could be said on the behalf of the Catholick Church resolving from these premises that if here I could not find a satisfaction in point of certainty and an infallible assurance I was not to expect it as far as I yet understood from the Principles of Christianity and consequently must conclude that Religion and Faith were no more then Fancy and Opinion I thought it not unreasonable and other persons would doubtless have thought the Argument strong enough if I had sought no further but concluded the Private spirit is not Reason is not the Scriptures are not this Rule and Judge therefore the Church is But I resolved to examine farther and having agreed the point that such a Rule and Judge there must alwaies be of necessity and therefore there hath alwaies been and ever shall be such a One unless we shall say which I hope none will that God is defective in necessaries I found first for the first 2000 years before any Scriptures were written the Church of God was this Rule and Judge Was not Circumcision and other Rights brought in by Abraham and practised by the Church then without any Scripture to try them by what would you have said if you had then lived would you have disobeyed the then Church and rejected those Ordinances because there were then no Scriptures to warrant them Secondly the Church of the Jews was so to the Jews after that the Scripture was written and this by the express direction of Scripture Deut. 17. 8. Thou shal come to the Priests the Levites and unto the Iudge that shall be in those daies and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of Iudgement c. And according to the judgement which they shall tell thee you shall do Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left hand And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest or unto the Iudge even that man shall dye Therfore our Blessed Lord whilst the Jewish Church was yet in being gave directions Mat. 23. 2. 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all therfore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do Would God direct them unto punish with Death for not obeying an Authority which might deceive them would our Lord command the doing of whatsoever should be done by an Authority when that Authority was capable of mistaking From hence I concluded that it was possible for the Church of God to be such a Rule and Judge and to be the means appointed by God to give infallible instructions in the Truth Now as concerning the Church in the new Law under Christ I found Thirdly that God had promised such a Church such an Authority by the mouthes of his Prophets Isa 2. v. 2. 3 c. It shall come to pass in the last dayes so the Apostles called the time of the New Law That the Mountain of the Lords house shall be Established in the top of the mountains behold its visibility All Nations shall slow unto it see its Universality and extent and say come ye and let us goe up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob And He that is God will teach us his waies in this his house or Church for out of Sion shall go forth the Law as by the Apostles on Whitsunday and the Word of God from Ierusalem where the first Preaching of the Gospel begun And he shall judge amongst the Nations Not personally for Christ went not of Iewry but by his Churches Tribunal erected amongst all Nations so conspicuously that they may all flow to it Will any one say this judgement which is Gods judgement can be fallible Or that in this Tribunal he that teacheth can teach us Errors Isa 35. 8. where God promiseth to establish a way of holiness so direct unto us that Fooles should not erre therein Isa 54. 3. 13 17. Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles thy children shall be taught of the Lord and every tongue that shall rise against thee in Iudgement thou shall condemne Isa 56. 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit infallible that is upon thee and my words infallible also which I have put in thy mouth the mouth by which the Church teacheth and judgeth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever Behold here the spirit of Truth intailed upon the Church to preserve it from Error Isa 60. 10. 12 c. The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls their Kings shall minister unto thee thy Gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought For the Nation and Kingdome which will not serve thee by submitting to thy doctrine shall perish I will make the place of my feet glorious they shall call thee the City of the Lord I will make thee an eternal Excellency thy sun shall no more go down nor shall thy moon withdraw it self but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light If those shall perish who refuse to submit to this Authority to whom God is an everlasting Light and whom he makes an everlasting Excellency we need not fear that it can deceive us or that it can ever so be Eclipsed as to be at any time invisible
Church in his time and the same is also described again Ephes 4. from v. 4. to the 17. But I suppose you will be asking Is not then Christ the Head of his Church can the Church have another Head besides Christ I answer Christ is the Head of his Church and yet the Church of Christ by his appointment may have in its external Government another Head that is an external Head by the appointment of Christ I say Christ is the only absolute independent Head but he may appoint a dependent Head derived from him Christ is the sole Head that Governs all both Pastors and People and the cheif Pastor also Thus God is the King of the World may not he therefore have other Kings Reigning under him Now how opposite and contrary your Congregational Churches and all Churches divided from the true Visible Church are to this constitution is easy for you to see What are those Congregational Churches but a confused Rabble of Itching Ears heaping up Teachers to themselves without any either single Person or Assembly of them endowed with power to govern or direct all of their Congregations dispersed in divers Provinces and Countries but every one stands upon its own bottome and hath no dependance of the rest as do the Common-Wealths of Venice Geneva Holland c. so that they have no visible unity amongst them either of coordination or subordination but are politick bodies wholly seperate and disjoyned the one from the other Can you think this the constitution of Christs visible Church on earth Is this One Body Is this a compaction and conjunction by joynts and Nerves mentioned by the Apostles The first and Original Christian Church in our Saviour time was such an united body as St. Paul mentions having then our Saviour for its visible Head and his Disciples for its Members all united together in one visible Communion and was not this Original Church the Model and Platform laid by our Saviour to be imitated and followed in its manner of Government by all succeeding Ages The Apostolical Church next to that of our Saviours time was like unto it where St. Peter was the chief Pastor and the Apostles under him over the whole Church dispersed both amongst Jews and Gentiles as appears Acts 15. and who had power to change this Original and Apostolical manner of union and Government in after Ages into a quite opposite digestion and to bring in a perfect Anarchie I hope from the grounds here laid it will appear as clear to you as I profess it did to me that the visible Church of God on Earth which in the Creed is called the Holy Catholick Church was and is that Rule and Judge that means appointed by God for the conveying of the Christian Faith to the World and to whom all on pain of Damnation were and are by Gods Ordinance to submit as to the Authority appointed by God to teach them what they ought to beleive in order to the attaining of Salvation and that without disputing any more then they would have disputed the decrees and directions of the Holy Apostles were they now living upon Earth consequently that this Authority was infallible It will onely remain that we consider which amongst all those congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ is really and truly this Holy Church and Spouse of Christ For having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted by the Holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an Error instead of a Truth we shall no more dispute the verity of her Doctrines then we should have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the Holy Apostles or the words of Christ himself Wherefore if this Church this infallible Guide shall teach us that Infants are to be Baptised that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of those who are living on our behalfs That the body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar or the Lords Supper or any the like Article of Faith we shall no more doubt of it then the first Christians did dispute the verity of what the Apostles taught them when they informed them that they were to beleive that Christ whom they had seen as man was true and very God that a Virgin still remaining a Virgin might by the power of the Holy Ghost bring forth a child That the body of Christ spirituallized might pass through a Dore the Dore being shut That three could be One and One three For who shall dare to question what God shall tell him to be true And if God now speaks by the mouth of his present Church as he did by the mouth of his Church in the times of the Apostles who shall doubt the truth of those words which proceeded from his mouth Wherefore as to this last question which is now this present Church of Christ which is our infallible Guide and Judge appointed by God for our direction and to whom we are to submit as aforesaid I shall in brief give you that answer which I profess gave me a full and clear satisfaction and it is shortly this The Protestant Church of England and all other Churches different from the Roman do judge and declare and profess themselves to be fallible even according to the infallible word of God If then the said Protestant Church of England or any other Churches different from the Roman be infallible in all that they judge and in that they declare and profess to be true according to the word of God they doubtless are then infallible and speak then the infallible truth when they judge declare and profess that even according to the Word of God they are fallible Therefore infallibly they are fallible Hence again it being thus proved that no Church different from that Roman is infallible And it being before proved that God hath appointed some Church upon earth to be our infallible Judge it demonstratively followeth that the Roman Church must needs be this infallible Judge because no church different from it that is none but the Roman Church can be this infallible Church But I pray you do not mistake this Argument as some have pleased to do who think the force of it to lye thus viz. The Roman Church claimeth infallibility therefore she is infallible This is nothing like the Argument which I put the force of which lies thus That the Church truly appointed by God for this infallible Judge of controversies cannot possibly be any of those Churches which teach themselves not to be this infallible Judge because they teach themselves to be Fallible if then they be infallible in the doctrine they teach they are infallible when they teach themselves to be fallible Therefore infallibly they are fallible Now the Church which is truly appointed by God to be this infallible Judge must needs have this condition that she doth own her infalibility but
deceived therfore this not the Rule Nor hath this any effect amongst those who pretend it for by this none of them ever as yet reconciled any differences but each pretender grows perverse and obstinate and seperates from all who pretend to have the spirit as well as himself and so endless Heresies and Schisms arise without any possibility to allay them or for either the Learned or the Ignorant to judge which of these bold pretenders hath a true spirit In the mean time it will not possibly be hard for a sober man to find that they are all of them governed by the Spirit of Error who pretend thus audaciously if he considers well the Rule which St. Iohn gives for discerning the spirit of truth from the spirit of error 1 Ioh. 4. 6. v. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error As if he should have said Christ hath placed Apostles and Teachers and Doctors to govern and teach his Church we are those and therefore of God therefore whoever pretends to know the Will of God must hear and obey and submit unto us or it is evident what he saith is but a pretence and he doth not indeed know God nor is he of God for if he did know God or were of God he would certainly hear us Here therefore is your Rule to know true from false spirits The spirit of truth is alwaies remaining with that Authority which God hath placed in the World to teach truth to the world and bring them to the Faith and all that are actuated and lead by this spirit are taught by it to submit to this Authority and to hear those whom God hath sent and doth send by this Authority since Faith only comes by hearing those who are truly sent but the spirit of error is a spirit of Pride which refuseth to submit to that Authority which God hath set up and heaping to themselves Teachers having itching eares turn away their ears from the Truth 1 Tim. 4. v. 3. 4. By this I saw that although the Rule and the Judge which I looked for must have the assistance and influence of the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth yet it could not be every private man or woman who laid claim to such influences and who could no more satisfie another that they are guided by the Spirit of Truth then many who are cast into Bedlam for affirming themselves to be God can evince themselves to be so and whose affirmations for ought I know are as concluding as the other In this therefore I was satisfied The next thing which I considered was Reason which I found could not possibly be this Rule and Judge that I sought for because first it was to submit as a Subject and Vassall to that Rule and Judge therefore it could not be it Secondly it was fallible and strangely apt to mistake which is against the Nature of this Rule and Judge to be For if God should obliege us upon pain of damnation to submit unto and to be governed ruled by an Authority that might deceive us and might teach us that for a truth which is not we should be bound to beleive that for true which is not so and yet be damned for not beleiving the truth Thirdly if Reason were to be this Rule and Judge then it would follow contrary to the Scripture that it is not impossible to please God without Faith for Reason would teach us sufficiently how to please God yea it would be a breach of this rule to beleive what we do not understand and then every Religion would be the truth consequently contradictions would be true consequently there would be many Religions and not only not one faith but no faith at all for there is scarce a man living but his reason differs from anothers understandings and judgements differing as much as Faces and Reason excludes faith Therefore no one that followes his own Reason could in justice be condemned by God consequently all men would be saved unless peradventure you will say that in a business of such consequence as the salvation of our souls our private Reason perswades us to prefer the Authority of such as are wiser then our selves before our own judgements which is most true But then I inferr that Roman Catholicks are the most rational people in the world and consequently have the best Religion as acting most conformably to Reason for they rely upon the Authority of General Councels consisting of the ablest and most Learned men of all Nations which is the greatest Authority to be found on earth especially if they have the assistance of the Holy Ghost as it appears they have both by the testimony of Scripture and the constant tradition of all Ages Lastly that would probably be the truth and the true faith to one man this year which seven years hence would be an error and a false faith to the same person for in such a compass of time a mans reason hath such an alteration Upon these grounds I concluded that certainly God in his good Providence had appointed a more sure Guide Rule and Judge to bring me to the infallible faith of Christianity then my own Reason The next thing in order to be considered was the Scriptures whether these were solely sufficient to teach us the true Faith and from time to time to direct Rule and Govern us and to be this Rule and Jude to whose sentence and determination to whose directions and Authority all were to submit and which was to supply unto us the place of Christ and the Apostles And indeed I found this highly contended for and several Reasons urged for it First the words of our Saviour Joh. 5. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me But to this I found several answers given which to me were a satisfaction For first it doth not appear whether this in the Original be the Imparative or Indicative Mood St. Ciril with whom Beza agrees takes it in the Indicative Mood and then the sence runs thus You do search the Scriptures because in them you have an Opinion that you have Eternal Life and yet even those Scriptures are so far from being against me that they testify of me so that I shall be no waies prejudiced if I should joyne issue with you and try my cause by your own Rule And in this sence they are so far from proving what they are produced for that they prove directly the contrary they are so far from being a command to all to read or search or make Scripture the sole Rule and Judge that they rather seem a reprehension to all who shall frame that conceit of the Scriptures Secondly these words cannot extend to prove this conclusion if they were in the Imparative Mood which can never be proved infallibly because they
Many more promises might be collected out of the Old Testament but I come to shew Fourthly that Christ by his own mouth and by the mouthes of his Apostles hath promised to us likewise such a Church Mat. 16. 19. Upon this Rock I will build my Church which he had foretold by his Prophets should be of so vast extent And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 18. 17. He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen or a Publican but if Christ by his spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching me error instead of a truth I may from this Church which Christ obligeth me to hear and unto which obligeth me to submit receive such errors as may damn me Mat. 28. 20. And Loe I am with you alwaies even unto the end of the World this must be meant of the visible Church which was to be in every Age for the Apostles were not to live and to Baptise and teach alway unto the end of the world And therefore if the same assistance and presence of Christ was promised to the Church after the Apostles I think we shall not doubt but that it is the same that is infallible But that it may clearely appear that the Assistance promised by Christ to his Church extended to an infallible security from all errors consider Iohn 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive and v. 26. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I shall say unto you and ch 16. 12. I have many things yet to say unto you but you cannot hear them now howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth But all Truth excludeth all Errors and this for ever which was longer then the Apostles were to live If we therefore enquire by what means this teaching shall be by whom the people shall be taught all Truths and how preserved from all errors St. Paul will tell us Eph. 4. 11. He gave some Apostles succeeding in full Apostolical Authority some Prophets expounders of the Prophets some Evangelists Preachers of the Gospel some Pastors and Teachers to what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ For what time Till we all come in the Union of the faith But will these secure us the next verse will tell you That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in waite to deceive Gods intent then was to provide such means for mankinde as might secure them in their beleif in every Age that they might not be deceived by the cunning craft of false Teachers such as now think themselves able by pretending inward Lights Private Spirits and evidence of Scripture by themselves Interpreted to teach us a doctrine contrary to all those who for almost fifteen Ages before them have been and none others teaching a contrary Faith can be named who have been the Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastours and Teachers in the Visible Church of Christ In the last place I shall urge that Text of St. Paul to Timothy 1. Tim. 3. 15. The Church of the Living God the Pillar and ground of Truth And may we not securely rely upon that Pillar which God hath erected for us and found our Faith upon that Ground of truth which the God of all truth hath given us for that end To elude their plain and evident Texts I know you are wont to say in the first place that they may have other Interpretations and therefore this is not the truth But will not the same reason hold the Apostles cited many Texts of Scriptures and interpreted them so as to prove Christ the Messias and his Doctrines to be true whereas those Texts might have had other interpretations therefore the Interpretation put on them by the Apostles were not true Who sees not the weakness of this Argument Can you shew with any assurance that these Texts are not capable of these interpretations If not then according to your own principles these interpretations may be true for you who say the contrary are not infallible but may be mistaken Another answer which you use to give is that you are willing to agree that so long as the Church of Christ teacheth conformable to Scripture she is infallible and so long as she doth her Duty she may and ought to be beleived But this is as weak as the former for who sees not that it gives the Church no more priviledge nor allowes it to have any more benefit from these promises then the Divel hath for so long as he teacheth conformable to Scripture he may be beleived A straw may be a Pillar until it bends and Quick-sands sure ground until they yield What assurance can we have that the Holy Apostles did their duty in writing what the Holy Ghost did dictate unto them For if they did not their writings are not to be beleived consequently we are not nor can we be infallibly secure that the Scriptures which we have were dictated by and are by Inspiration from God If you can answer this so as to be secure that the Apostles did their duty the same will be our answer that the present Visible Catholick Church of Christ at all times doth her Duty The fift Argument is that the Church of God was this Rule and Judge this only means to convey Faith and this infallible Guide and Authority when our Blessed Saviour was alive and before the New Testament was written and also in the Apostles times both before and after the whole New Testament was written If not I obliege you to shew some evident Text which proves certainly that after the New Testament was written the Church in the Apostles time was deprived of this priveledge and Authority and that it had been no sinne then to oppose or not submit to the guidance direction government and authority of the Apostles But if notwithstanding this you shall without giving any other Reason insist that the Apostles were this infallible Rule and Judge in their times only until the Canon of Scriptures was finished and then lost their Authority when they had compleated the Canon I pray consider what will be the consequence in case it stands proved that the Canon of Scripture which they finished is now uncompleated by the loss of those Epistles and parcels of the Apostles writings which I have proved to be lost Will it not follow that for the same Reason that an infallible living rule and Judge was necessary before the Canon was compleat the same is now necessary some part