are imposed upon us by the sole authority of one particular Church assuming a power over all the rest And so I come to the Second Part. PART II. What Traditions we do not receive I. AND in the first place we do not believe that there is any Tradition which contains another word of God which is not in the Scripture or cannot be proved from thence In this consists the main difference between us and them of the Romish persuasion who affirm that Divine Truth which we are all bound to receive to be partly written partly delivered by word of mouth without writing Which is not onely the affirmation of the Council of Trent but delivered in more express terms in the Preface to the Roman Catechism drawn up by their order where we find these words towards the conclusion of it the whole Doctrine to be delivered to the faithfull is contained in the word of God which word of God is distributed into Scripture and Tradition This is a full and plain declaration of their mind with which we can by no means agree for divers unanswerable reasons 1. Not onely because the Scriptures testifie to their own perfection which they affirm to be so great as to be able to complete the divinest men in the Church of Christ in all points of heavenly wisedom 2 Tim. III. 15 16 17. but Secondly Because the constant Tradition of the Church even of the Roman Church anciently is that in the Scriptures we may find all that is necessary to be known and believed to Salvation I must not fill up this Paper with Authorities to this purpose but we avow this unto the people of our Church for a certain Truth which hath been demonstrated by many of our Writers who have shewn that the ancient Doctours universally speak the language of Saint Paul 1 Cor. IV. 7. not to think above that which is written I will mention onely these memorable words of Tertullian who is as earnest an Advocate as any for ritual Traditions but having to deal with Hermogenes in a question of Faith whether all things in the beginning were made of nothing urges him in this manner I have no where yet read that all things were made out of a subject matter If it be written let those of Hermogenes his shop shew it if it be not written let them fear that woe which is allotted to such as add or take away The very same answer should our people make to those that would have them receive any thing as an Article of Faith which is not delivered to them by this truly Apostolical Church wherein we live If it be written let us see it if it be not take heed how you add to the undoubted word of God We receive the holy Scriptures as able to make us wise to Salvation So they themselves tell us and so runs the True Tradition of the Church which you of the Romish persuasion have forsaken but we adhere unto 3. And we have this farther reason so to doe because if part of God's word had been written and part unwritten we cannot but believe there would have been some care taken in the written Word not onely to let us know so much but also inform us whither we should resort to find it and how we should know it if it be absolutely necessary for us to be acquainted with it But there is no such notice nor any such directions left us nor can any man give us any certain rule to follow in this matter but onely this to examine all Traditions by the Scripture as the supreme Rule of Faith and to admit onely such as are conformable thereunto 4. For which we have still this farther reason that no sooner were they that first delivered and received the holy Scriptures gone out of the world but we find men began to add their own fancies unto the Catholick Truth which made it absolutely necessary to keep to the Tradition in the holy Scriptures all other growing uncertain This is observed by Hegesippus himself in Eusebius L. III. C. 32. that the Church remained a chast Virgin and the Spouse of Christ till the sacred Quire of the Apostles and the next generation of them who had had the honour to be their Auditours were extinct and then there began a plain conspiracy of impious atheistical errour by the fraud of teachers who delivered other doctrine Which was a thing Saint Paul feared even in his own life-time about the Church of Corinth 2 Cor. XI 3. lest the Devil like a wily Serpent should beguile them and corrupt their minds from the original simplicity of the Christian Doctrine wherein they were first instructed And if it were attempted then it was less difficult and therefore more endeavoured afterward as shall appear anon by plain History which tells how several persons pretended they received this and that from an Apostle Some of which Traditions were presently rejected others received and afterwards found to be impostures Which shews there was so much false dealing in the case that it was hard for men to know what was truly Apostolical in those days if it came to them this way onely and therefore impossible to be discerned by us now at this great distance of time from the Apostles who we know delivered the true Faith but we have no reason to rely upon mere Tradition without Scripture for any part of that Faith when we see what cheats were put upon men by that means even then when they had better helps to detect them than we have It is true the Fathers sometime urge Tradition as a proof of what they say But we must know that the Scriptures were not presently communicated among some Barbarous Nations and there were some Hereticks also who either denied the Scriptures or some part of them and in these cases it was necessary to appeal to the Tradition that was in the Church and to convince them by the Doctrine taught every where by all the Bishops But that mark this I pray you of which they convinced them by this argument was nothing but what is taught in the Scripture 5. With which we cannot suffer any thing to be equalled in authority unless we would see it confirmed by the same or equal Testimony This is the great reason of all why we cannot admit any unwritten Traditions to be a part of the word of God which we are bound to believe because we cannot find any truths so delivered to us as those in the holy Scriptures They come to us with as full a testimony as can be desired of their Divine Original but so do none of those things which are now obtruded on us by the Romish Church under the name of Traditions or unwritten word of God For the primitive Church had the very first Copies and authentick Writings of those Books called the New Testament delivered by the Apostles own hands to them And those Books confirm the Scriptures of the Old Testament and they were both
to weigh so much with us as to have the greatest humane Authority and to be look'd upon as little less than Divine The Universal consent of the next Generation is an Authority approaching as near to the former as the Ages do one to another But what is delivered in latter times hath less humane Authority though pretending to come but without proof from more early days and hath no Authority at all if it contradict the sense of the Church when it was capable to be better acquainted with the mind of Christ and of his Apostles As for particular Churches their Authority ought to be reverenced by every member of them when they profess to deliver sincerely the sense of the Church Universal and when they determine as they have power to do Controversies of Faith or decree Rites and Ceremonies not contrary to God's word in which enery one ought to acquiesce But we cannot say the same of that which comes from any private Doctour in the Church modern or Ancient which can have no greater Authority than he himself was of but is more or less credible according as he was more or less diligent knowing and strictly religious 4. But to all this it is necessary that it do sufficiently appear that such Doctrines do really come from those Authours whose Traditions they pretend to be This is the great and the onely thing about which there is any question among sober and judicious persons How to be sufficiently assured that any thing which is not delivered unto us in the Scriptures doth certainly come for instance from Christ or his holy Apostles For in this all Christians are agreed that whatsoever was delivered by Christ from God the Father or by the Apostles from Christ is to be embraced and firmly retained whether it be written or not written that makes no difference at all if we can be certain it came from Him or them For what is contained in the Holy Scripture hath not its Authority because it is written but because it came from God If Christ said a thing it is enough we ought to submit unto it but we must first know that he said it and let the means of knowing it be what they will if we can certainly know He said it we yield to it But how we can be certain at this distance of time from his being in the world that any thing now pretending to it was said by Christ which is not recorded in the Holy Scriptures there is the business And it is a matter of such importance that it cannot be expected any man should be satisfied without very good evidence of it but he may very reasonably question whether many things be not falsly ascribed unto Him and unto his Apostles which never came from them Nay whether those things which are affirmed to be the Doctrines of the Primitive Church and of the whole Church be not of some later Original and of some particular Church or private Doctours in the Church unto whose Authority that reverence is not due which ought to be paid and which we willingly give unto the former Now according to this state of the matter any good Christian among us who is desirous to know the Truth and to preserve himself from Errour may easily discern what Traditions ought to be received and held fast and what we are not bound unto without any alteration and what are not to be received at all but to be rejected and how far those things are from being credible which the Roman Church now would obtrude upon us under the name of Apostolical or ancient Traditions without any Authority from the Holy Scriptures or in truth any Authority but their own and some private Doctours whose opinions cannot challenge an absolute submission to them But to give every one that would be rightly informed fuller satisfaction in this business I shall not content my self with this General Discourse but shall particularly and distinctly shew what Traditions we own and heartily receive and then what Traditions we cannot own but with good reason refuse These shall be the two Parts of this short Treatise wherein I shall endeavour that our people may be instructed not merely to reject Errours but also to affirm the Truth PART I. What Traditions we receive I. AND in the first place we acknowledge that what is now holy Scripture was once onely Tradition properly so called that is Doctrine by word of mouth In this we all agree I say that the whole Gospel or Doctrine of Christ which is now upon record in those Books we call the Scriptures was once unwritten when it was first preached by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles Which must be noted to remove that small Objection with which they of the Roman Church are wont to trouble some peoples minds merely from the Name of Traditions which Saint Paul in his Epistles requires those to whom he writes carefully to observe Particularly in that famous place 1 Thess II. 15. where we find this exhortation Therefore Brethren stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle Behold say they here are things not written but delivered by word of mouth which the Thessalonians are commanded to hold Very true should the people of our Church say to those that insist upon this but behold also we beseech you what the Traditions are of which the Apostle here writes and mark also when it was that they were partly unwritten For the first of these it is manifest that he means by Traditions the Doctrines which we now reade in the holy Scriptures For the very first word therefore is an indication that this verse is an inference from what he had said in the foregoing Now the things he before treated of are the grand Doctrines of the Gospel or the way of Salvation revealed unto us by Christ Jesus from God the Father who hath from the beginning saith he v. 13. 14. chosen you to Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he hath called you c. This is the sum of the Gospel and whatsoever he had delivered unto them about these matters of their sanctification or of their faith or of their salvation by obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to which they were chosen and called through their sanctification and faith this he exhorts them to hold fast whether it was contained in this Epistle or in his former preaching for he had not occasion now to write all that he had formerly delivered by word of mouth Which afterward was put in writing for mark which is the second thing the time when some things remained unwritten which was when this Epistle was sent to the Thessalonians Then some things concerning their salvation were not contained in this Letter but as yet delivered onely by word of mouth unto this Church I say to this Church for it doth not follow that all Churches whatsoever were at the time
have been so delivered But know withall that this universal Tradition of the Books of Scripture unto which you have added several Apocryphal Writings which have not been constantly delivered as those we receive is no part of the Tradition or Doctrine delivered That is no Doctrine distinct from the Scriptures but onely the instrument or means of conveying that Doctrine unto us In short it is the fidelity of the Church with whom the Canon of Scripture was deposed but is no more a Doctrine not written in the Scripture than the Tradition or delivery of the Code or Book of the Civil Law is any opinion or Law not written in that Code And we are more assured of the fidelity of the Church herein than the Civilians can be assured of the faithfulness of their predecessours in preserving and delivering the Books of their Law to them because these holy Books were always kept with a greater care than any other Books whatsoever and in the acceptance of them also we find there was great caution used that they might not be deceived all Christians looking upon them to be of such importance that all Religion they thought was concerned in them Of which this is an Argument that they who sought to destroy the Christian Religion in the primitive times sought nothing more than to destroy the Bible Which they were wont to demand of those who were suspected to be Christians to be delivered up to them that they might burn it And according as men behaved themselves in this trial so they were reputed to be Christians or not Christians And the Traditours as they were called that is they who delivered the holy Scriptures into the hands of the Pagans were look'd upon by Christians as men that were content to part with their Religion For which there could be no reason but that they thought Christian Religion to be therein contained and to be betrayed by those who delivered them to be burnt By which I have proved more than I intended in this part of my Discourse that in the holy Scriptures the whole will of God concerning our Salvation is contained Which is the true Question between us and the Church of Rome Not whether the Scripture be delivered to us as the word of God or no in this our people ought to tell them we are all agreed but whether they have been delivered as the whole will of God And from that argument now mentioned and many more we conclude that Universal Tradition having directed us unto these Books and no other they direct us sufficiently without any other Doctrines unto God and to our everlasting rest And if they urge you farther and say that the very credit of the Scripture depends upon Tradition tell them that it is a speech not to be endured if they mean thereby that it gives the Scripture its authority and if they mean less we are agreed as hath been already said for it is to say that Man gives authority to God's Word Whereas in truth the holy Scriptures are not therefore of Divine Authority because the Church hath delivered them so to be but the Church hath delivered them so to be because it knew them to be of such authority And if the Church should have conceived or taught otherwise of these Writings than as of the undoubted Oracles of God she would have erred damnably in such a Tradition I shall sum up what hath been said in this second particular in a few words Christ and his Apostles at first taught the Church by word of mouth but afterward that which they preached was by the commandment of God committed to writing and delivered unto the Church to be the ground of our Faith Which is no more than Irenaeus hath said in express words L. III. C. 1. speaking of them by whom the Gospel came into all Nations which they then preached but afterward by the will of God delivered unto us in the Scriptures to be in time to come the foundation and pillar of our Faith III. And farther we likewise acknowledge that the sum and substance of the Christian Religion contained in the Scriptures hath been delivered down to us even from the Apostles days in other ways or forms besides the Scriptures For instance in the Baptismal Vow in the Creed in the Prayers and Hymns of the Church Which we may call Traditions if we please but they bring down to us no new Doctrine but onely deliver in an abridgment the same Christianity which we find in the Scriptures Upon this there is no need that I should enlarge but I proceed farther to affirm IV. That we reverently receive also the unanimous Tradition or Doctrine of the Church in all ages which determines the meaning of the holy Scripture and makes it more clear and unquestionable in any point of Faith wherein we can find it hath declared its sense For we look upon this Tradition as nothing else but the Scripture unfolded not a new thing which is not in the Scripture but the Scripture explained and made more evident And thus some part of the Nicene Creed may be called a Tradition as it hath expresly delivered unto us the sense of the Church of God concerning that great Article of our Faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Which they teach us was always thus understood the Son of God begotten of his Father before all worlds and of the same substance with the Father But this Tradition supposes the Scripture for its ground and delivers nothing but what the Fathers assembled at Nice believed to be contained there and was first fetch'd from thence For we find in Theodoret L. I. C. 6. that the famous Emperour Constantine admonished those Fathers in all their questions and debates to consult onely with these heavenly inspired Writings because the Evangelical and Apostolical Books and the Oracles of the old Prophets do evidently instruct us what to think in Divine matters This is so clear a Testimony that in those days they made this the complete Rule of their Faith whereby they ended Controversies which was the reason that in several other Synods we find they were wont to lay the Bible before them and that there is nothing in the Nicene Creed but what is to be found in the Bible that Cardinal Bellarmine hath nothing to reply to it but this Constantine was indeed a great Emperour but no great Doctour Which is rather a scoff than an Answer and casts a scorn not onely upon him but upon that great Council who as the same Theodoret witnesseth assented unto that Speech of Constantine So it there follows in these words the most of the Synod were obedient to what he had discoursed and embraced both mutual Concord and sound Doctrine And accordingly S. Hilary a little after extols his Son Constantius for this that he adhered to the Scriptures and blames him onely for not attending to the true Catholick sense of them His words are these in his little Book which
in these things they have forsaken Traditions so in other cases they have perverted and abused them turning them into quite another thing As appears to all that understand any thing of ancient learning in the business of Purgatory which none of the most ancient Writers so much as dreamt to be such a place as they have now devised but onely asserted a Purgatory Fire through which all both good and bad even the blessed Virgin her self must pass at the great and dreadfull day of Judgment This was the old Tradition as we may call it which was among Christians which they have changed into such a Tradition as was among the Pagans 6. But it is time to have done with this else I should have insisted upon this a while which I touched before and is of great moment that the Tradition which now runs in that Church is contrary to the certain Tradition of the Apostles and the universal Church particularly in the Canon of Scripture In which no more Books have been numbred by the Catholick Church in all Ages since the Apostles time than are in the VI. Article of Religion in this Church of England till the late Council of Trent took the boldness to thrust the Apocryphal Books into the holy Canon as nothing inferiour to the acknowledged Divine Writings This hath been so evidently demonstrated by a late Reverend Prelate of our Church in his Scholastical History of the Canon of the Scriptures out of undoubted Records that no fair Answer can be made to it But I must leave a little room for other things that ought to be noted III. And the next is a consequence from what hath been now said That there being so little credit to be given to the Roman Church onely we cannot receive those Doctrines for Truth which that Church now presses upon our belief upon the account of Tradition For instance that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches that the Pope of Rome is the Monarch or Head of the universal visible Church that all Scriptures must be expounded according to the sense of this Church that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments neither more nor less instituted by our blessed Lord himself in the New Testament that there is a proper and propitiatory Sacrifice offered in the Mass for the quick and dead the same that Christ offered on the Cross in short the half Communion and all the rest of the Articles of their New Faith in the Creed published by Pope Pius IV. which are Traditions of the Roman Church alone not of the Vniversal and rely solely upon their own Authority And therefore we refuse them and in our disputes about Traditions we mean these things which we reject because they have no foundation either in the holy Scripture or in Universal Tradition but depend as I said upon the sole Authority of that Church which witnesses in its own behalf For whatsoever is pretended to make the better shew all resolves at last into that as I intimated in the beginning of this Discourse Scripture and Tradition can doe nothing at all for them without their Churches definition Though their whole infallible Rule of Faith seem to be made up of those three yet in truth the last of these alone the Churches definition is the whole Rule and the very bottom upon which their Faith stands For what is Tradition is no more apparent than what is Scripture according to their principles without the Authority of their Church which pretends to an unlimited power to supply the defect even of Tradition it self In short as Tradition among them is taken in to supply the defect of Scripture so the Authority of their Church is taken in to supply the defect of Tradition but this Authority undermines them both because neither Scripture nor Tradition signifie any thing without their Churches Authority Which therefore is the rule of their Faith that is they believe themselves To which absurdity they are driven because it is made evident by us that there have been great diversities of Traditions and many changes and alterations made even in things called Apostolical c. and therefore they have no other way but to fly to the judgment of the present Roman Church to determine what are Traditions Apostolical and what are not by which judgment all mankind must be governed that is we must believe them and they believe themselves which they would have done well to have said in one word without putting us to the trouble of seeking for Traditions in Books and in other Churches But they would willingly colour their pretences by as many fair words as is possible and so make mention of Scripture Tradition Antiquity which when we have examined they will not stand to them but take fanctuary in their own Authority saying they are the sole judges what is Scripture and what Tradition and what Antiquity nay have a power to declare any new point of Faith which the Church never heard of before This is the Doctrine of Salmeron and others of his fellows that the Doctrine of Faith admits of additions in essential things For all things were not taught by the Apostles but such as were then necessary and fit for the Salvation of Believers By which means we can never know when the Christian Religion will be perfected but their Church may bring in Traditions by its sole Authority without end Nay some among them have been contented to resolve all their Faith into the sole Authority of the present Roman Bishop according to that famous saying of Cornelius Mussus promoted by Paul III. to a Bishoprick upon the XIV Chapter to the Romans to confess the truth ingenuously I would give greater credit to one Pope in those things which touch the mysteries of Faith than to a thousand Hierom's Austin's Gregory's to say nothing of Richard's Scotus's c. for I believe and know that the Pope cannot err in matters of Faith Which contemptuous speech he would never have uttered to the discredit of those great men whom they pretend to reverence if he had not known more certainly that the Tradition which runs among the ancient Fathers is against them than he could know the Pope to be infallible There is no Tradition I am sure for that nor for abundance of other things which rest merely upon their own credit as is fairly acknowledged in two great Articles of their present Creed by our Country-man Bishop Fisher with whose words I conclude this particular Many perhaps have the less confidence in Indulgences because their use seems to have been newer in the Church and very lately found among Christians To whom I answer that it doth not appear certainly by whom they began to be first delivered For the ancients make no mention or very rare of Purgatory and the Greeks to this very day do not believe it nor was the belief either of Purgatory or of Indulgences so necessary in the Primitive Church as it