the Pope Concerning the Church the Apostle seemeth to giue a cléere testimonie that the answere thereof is an infallible Oracle of Gods worde when he saith It is y e piller and stay of truth whereof it may bée inferred that the Church alone whiche as the holy Scriptures is sufficient to vpholde and stay the truth that it should neuer faile nor decay in the worlde Much rather when it hath the assistance of the Scriptures in some part is the Church able to maintaine an other part of truth without the Scriptures After this maner the Papistes reason out of this text to prooue that all truth is not conteined in the holy Scriptures But this is a very féeble kinde of reasoning For graunting that the Church is y e piller and the stay of truth as it is in déede it followeth not thereof that it vpholdeth any truth which is not comprehended in the holy Scriptures But contrariwise séeing it hath béen plētifully prooued that all true doctrine is taught in the holy Scriptures euen to the perfection of the man of God it followeth that the Church is the piller and stay of that true doctrine which is taught in the Scriptures and not of any truth beside the Scriptures For when all truth is taught in the scriptures it followeth that whatsoeuer is not taught in the Scriptures is not truth But if this be y e proper note of y e Church to bee the piller of truth say they it is prooued thereby that the Churche cannot erre so that if it set foorth any thinge beside the Scriptures the same muste needes bée true I answere this Sophistrie is already confuted for it it bée graunted that the Church cannot erre as in matters necessary to saluation the whole Churche of God cannot erre to continue therein it is because the Church cannot depart from the doctrine contained in the Scriptures which are able to make a man wise vnto saluation But admit it were graunted that the Churche cannot erre at all what shoulde that auaile the Papistes verily nothing but to prooue that they are not the Churche For if this be a proper inseparable note of the Churche that it cannot erre what companie soeuer doth erre is not the Churche But the Papistes whose doctrine containeth so grosse contradiction of the worde of GOD doe shamefully and abhominably erre from the truth therefore the Popishe faction is not the Church which is the piller and stay of truth Thou shalt make no images for religion saith the worde of God Thou shalt make some images for religion saith the Popish Churche Thou shalt not fall downe to them nor worship them saith Gods commaundement Thou shalt fall downe and worship them saith the popish Sinagogue Thou shalt worship the Lorde thy God him only shalt thou serue saith our Sauiour Christ. When hée was tempted to fall downe and worship the Diuell not as GOD but as Gods Minister to whom the kingdomes of the worlde were committed to dispose The Pope saith thou shalt worship and serue other beside the Lorde thy God so thou worship them not and so thou serue them not as Gods I might runne ouer a whole hundreth of contradictions which the papistes doe holde and teach contrary to the worde of truth written in the Scriptures by which it is more then manifest that they holde and teache damnable errours therefore they are not the Churche of the liuing God which is the piller and stay of truth at the least wise in matters necessary to eternall saluation But let vs sée whether the Apostle by these wordes intended to priuiledge the Churche of God from all possibilitie of erring in any matter albeit the Church should departe from the certaine direction of the holye Scriptures in any thing Firste it muste bee remembred that Saint Paule in the Chapter 1. Timothie 3. describeth the persons and offices of Christian Bishoppes and Deacons which doone he addeth immediatly These thinges doe I write vnto thée hoping to come vnto thee shortly but if I tarry long that thou mayst knowe howe it behoueth thée to bée conuersant in the house of God whiche is the Churche of the liuing God the piller and stay of truth In which wordes wée haue to note first that the Apostle hath written briefly that which hée purposed if they met shortly more at large to set foorth and confirme Secondly that if he were disapointed so that hée coulde not come shortly that Timothie might haue a sufficient direction howe to behaue himselfe for ordering of the Church of god in appointing the ministers of the same By which it is manifest that this which hée speaketh of the piller and stay of the truth is meant in respect of the Pastors and Teachers of the Churche by whom the truth of heauenly doctrine is vpholden and continued in the worlde which without their ministery woulde vtterly fall to the grounde and decay For euen as hée writeth to the Romans séeing faith commeth by hearing of Gods word of them that are sent of faith commeth inuocation and from thence saluatiō if none be sent there can be no preaching no hearing no faith no innocation no saluation So the Church of the liuing God in respect of the faithfull Ministers of the same which teach the truth to the saluation of Gods people in which respect they are said to saue themselues and them that heare them is rightly called the piller and stay of truth which Ministery if it be taken away the truth also is taken away Euen as the remoouing of the Candlesticke in the reuelation signifieth the ouerthrowe of the Church of Ephesus vnto whom it is threatned if they doe not repent The Candlesticke which signifieth the Church vpholdeth the light of the gospell by the continual preaching of the Ministers thereof so is it a piller and stay of the truth so long as preaching of the Gospell is continued which if it cease then followeth darknes blindnes ignorance errour and destruction This is the true and plaine meaning of the Apostle where hée saith The church is the piller and stay of truth Not that it is vnpossible for the church to erre at any time or in any matter or that the determination of y e church without the scripture is a sufficient testimony of Gods worde or of the truth in any cause as the Papists maintaine For Paule instructeth Timothy by writing howe hée ought to behaue him selfe in the Church of God which is the piller stay of truth although hée should haue no further conference with him in the matter These thinges doe I write vnto thée saith he y t thou maist know so forth whereas if in calling the church the piller of truth hée had meant that the church without the scripture was able to haue instructed him hée would haue said If any thing want in my writing thou maist aske the determination of the church which is the piller and stay of truth But S Paul saith that
hée had written that Timothie might know be able to instruct the church of God that it might be the piller of truth not that the church as the piller of truth should instruct him For Timothie was to teach the truth of Gods worde vnto the church y t the church might be the piller of truth he was not to learne of y e church as of a teaching piller in which sense Iames and Peter Iohn are called pillers And no doubt but they wer pillers of y e church and of the truth yet they were not priuiledged thereby but that they might erre in some parte as the errour of Peter is declared in the same place Againe it is certaine that the Apostle in saying the church is the piller and stay of truth speaketh of the church of Ephesus in which hée had lefte Timothie And the same is true of euerie particular church of God in any place that it is the house of God the piller and stay of truth so long as it is the church of the liuing God For hée teacheth not Timothie by this writing how to be conuersant in the whole vniuersall church of Christ but namely in that particular church vnto which Saint Paule hoped to come vnot him and by example thereof in any other particular church wheresoeuer vpon like occasion hée should be placed by the Apostle Now the papists them selues doe confesse that euery particular church may erre but it is the catholike and vniuersall church which they say can not erre But séeing that whiche the Apostle here speaketh is principally spoken of a particular Church and is true of euerie particular Church that it is the piller and stay of truth as well as of the vniuersall and Catholike Church The catholike church is no more priuiledged from erring by this texte of scripture then any particular Church in the worlde But this question of the Church is so intricate and vncertaine among the Papists themselues that although they holde this as a principle that the Church can not erre yet they can not define what they meane by the Church in this proposition For if you aske them whether you meane by the Church all and euerie member of the bodie they will deny it Where shal we then haue the determination of the truth many doubtfull cause They will answere of the generall Councell which is the Catholike Church represented But here if they are not resolued what maketh the generall Councell For some holde that the Councell is aboue the Pope and may determine without him against him Other hold that the pope is aboue the councell and that the councell may determine nothing either against him or without him But contrariwise that the Pope without the councel hath al lawes right and truth in the closet of his brest so that hée may determine of any doubt and that all men are bound to beléeue his determination as procéeding from him which can not erre The most of our english Papistes at this time doe holde that the Pope is aboue the Councell and that the determination of the Councell without the Popes approbation is nothing to build vpon So that when they haue prated neuer so long of the authoritie of the Church the ende of all the talke commeth to this point that the Church is not all the faithfull but the generall Councell only the Councel is not all the Prelates but the Pope only without whom they can determine no truth and who without them may determine all truth can determine no errour So that against this secte of Papistes it shall be sufficient to prooue that the Popish Church may erre if I can prooue that the Pope which is the only piller and stay of truth therein may erre But séeing wée knowe the Pope to be a meere mortall man howsoeuer some of them haue made him more theÌ„ a man yea a GOD aboue all Gods some neither GOD nor man but a newter betwéene both as if any of them will deny I can bring their owne sayinges to their shame and séeing the scripture pronounceth of euerie man which is but a man that hée is a lyar and that God only is true let vs consider what impudent shifte they haue to iustifie their Pope from errour that God only should not bée true Some of theÌ„ say the Pope may erre as a man but not as a Pope other say the Pope may erre as Pope also but not in matters of faith others séeme to say if they durst speake out that the Pope may erre also in faith but not to induce any maÌ„ into a false faith by his error Thus are they at variance among them selues and mince the matter so small y t at length it coÌ„meth to as good as nothing at all that they brag of the spirit of truth giuen to the Pope in suche measure that hée cannot erre But how do they assure them selues that the Pope hath such a priuiledge that hée cannot erre in matters of faith Our Sauiour Christ say they praied for Peter thâ—t his faith should not faile willing him after his conuersion to confirme his brethren And what in Gods name maketh this to prooue that the Pope cannot erre Yes forsooth hée prayed for Peter that is for him all his successors because he was the rocke of the church that none of their faith might faile that is they might not erre This is a very strange interpretation For the naturall sense of that place is manifest by that hée said before Simon Simon behold satan hath desired to winow you as wheat But I haue prayed for thée that thy faith should not faile By whiche wordes hée signifieth that the desire of Satan was vtterly to disperse the Churche that it might neuer bee gathered together and Peter was in greatest daunger of all the Apostles through his shamefull and cowardly deniall and forswearing of his maister howbeit hée declareth that hée hath obtained by his prayer that Peters faith should not be altogether quâ—nched but that hée shoulde by repentance take holde of Gods mercy and be restored willing him after his conuersion and experience of Gods mercy to strengthen his brethren which likewise were weake in fayth though none so néere to falling away as hée So that the effect of Christes praier was that Peter through the greatnes of his sinne should not dispaire of forgiuenesse but by faithfull repentance bée renued and conuerted not that Peter should neuer erre in his owne person and much lesse that none of Peters successors should erre in any master of faith which thing by no logike in the worlde can possibly be concluded out of this place For what kinde of reasoning is this Christ prayed that Peters fayth should not faile Ergo Peter had suche a prerogatiue by Christes prayer that hée could not erre neyther hée nor any of his successours Christ prayed not only for Peter but for all his Apostles in this my text praieth for them all that
The very tradition it self was farre vnlike to the pretended tradition of the Papists For the Lord God who in that time would haue his holy word to be preserued from generation to generation by tradition without writing committed the same to faithfull witnesses whose liues he enlarged vnto so many yeares as we read of in the holic scriptures not only for propagation of their kinde but also and especially that they might continue the doctrine of his word which he had deliuered vnto them vnto many generations to a long posteritie after them For this cause Adam liued 930. yeares Seth 912. yeares Methusalach 969. Noach 950. yeares So that Adam which first receiued the doctrine of GOD both of the lawe the Gospell and also the external forme of worshipping god by sacrifice which hée taught his sonnes insomuch that Abell by fayth offered an acceptable sacrifice vnto God which coulde not bée without hearing of the worde of God as the holie Ghost witnesseth continued a faithfull witnesse and teacher of the same doctrine vnto many thousandes of his posteritie by the space of 930. yeares beside his godly sonne Seth and other of his after commers And whereas by the wicked generation of Cain the true inuocation of God was prophaned in the dayes of his Nephew Enoch which vngodly broode dayly increased in wickednes corrupting many euen of the posteritie of Seth. The Lorde stirred vp an extraordinarie Prophet Enoch to confirme the true doctrine taught by Adam Seth Enoch and other of his godly posteritie and tooke him our of the worlde miraculously both to confirme the faithfull in the hope of the resurrection and to confound the reprobate that despised his holy correction and discipline Now let vs consider the certaintie of this tradition Noach was 600. yeare olde before the Lord God sent the floode to destroye those impudent contemners So that of his father Lamech and of his granfather Methushalech which might sée and heare The first of the worlde Adam which Seth Enoch and all the godly Patriarkes that were before him did receiue the doctrine of Gods worde as it was deliuered by God himselfe vnto them without any addition or corruption Besides that Noach which receiued the tradition but from the second mouth of them which receiued it from the mouth of God is againe confirmed with diuine reuelation with whom and his posteritie the couenant of God is againe renewed so that it appeareth howe for the space of a thousande and sixe hundred yéeres the worde of God and doctrine of saluation was continued in the church by tradition without any danger or doubt of corruption from Adam to Noach Nowe let vs sée howe this tradition was maintained after the flood vntill the time of Moses which was the first writer of the Canonicall Scripture First it is certaine by the computation of the age of Sem the sonne of Noach who was one of them that were preserued in the Ark and with whom the couenant was renewed that hée liued vnto the time of Abraham yée vntill Isaac was 50. yéere olde more for hée liued 502. yéeres after the flood So that all this time there continued a faithfull and credible witnesse of the worde of God and historie of the world restored of whoÌ„ the people might learne the certaintie of the doctrine without any perill or doubt of corruption But when the Lorde called Abraham and seuered him and his posteritie for his peculiar people and chosen congregation and that the age of man was nowe contracted and drawne vnto a much shorter time of life that the certeintie of his heaueÌ„ly truth should not be committed to vncertaine tradition of many generations hée renewed his couenaunt with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and euery one of them and confirmed the same to their children in euery age by diuine reuelation vntill it was his pleasure to record the same in the most certaine Tables of the holy Scriptures For from the death of Ioseph one of the twelue Patriarkes which liued after the comming of Iacob in to Egypt thréescore ten yéeres there passed but thréescore yéeres vntill y e birth of Moses Leui an other of the xii Patriarks liued 23. yeres after Ioseph whose daughter Iacobed was mother vnto Moses And Moses long time before hee brought the people out of Egypt receiued diuine reuelation as S. Steeuen testifieth so that hee thought his brethren shoulde haue acknowledged that God had appointed him to bee there deliuered by killing the Egyptian that oppressed them So that the certaintie of this tradition appeareth from the beginning of the worlde vnto the wriâ—ing of the holy Scriptures to haue béen confirmed in euery age by reuelation from god and by witnesses aboue all exception such as receiued the Oracles and confirmatiof them from God him selfe whose life was prolonged into such number of yéeres that the Church might neuer lacke a prophet inspired of God of whom they might hée instructed in truth of Gods worde So that the Lorde did neuer permit his worde to bare tradition of men suche as the Papistes affirme the tradition of the Apostles to haue béene whiche shoulde haue deliuered the doctrine to their successors without writing and they to their successours and so from age to age without any assurance of the fidelitie of al their successours through an hundred handes before it come vnto vs. By whiche vncertaintie of the Tradition a wyde gate is opened vnto Satan to bring in any falshood strange error to father it vpon the tradition of the Apostles As it is manifest he did in y e heresie of the ValeÌ„tiniaÌ„s Maniches Montanistes such other monstrous heresies who had none other refuge to couer y e noueltie of there strange opinions but a secret tradition beside the Scriptures according to which the Valentinians iumpe with the Papists as Irenaeus testifieth they affirmed the Scriptures were to bée interpreted not otherwise But when Irenaeus not content to confute them by Scriptures seeketh to ouerthrom them also by tradition what certaintie of truth findeth he in the traditioÌ„ of the apostles as it was receiued in his time And a man woulde thinke hée being so néere the time of the Apostles so that hee had séene them which had heard the Apostles shoulde haue had a much greater certaintie and assurance of their traditions then we can haue in these times after so many heresies corruptions alterations persecutions contentions which take away alcertaintie from such vnwritten traditioÌ„s Yet eueÌ„ this godly father Irenaeus whiles hee striueth to beare downe the Heretikes not only by scriptures but also by tradition in which they gloried was deceiued by a false and counterfet tradition contrary to the Scriptures by which it was affirmed that our sauiour Christ liued more then fortie yéeres in the fleshe And yet to iustifie this tradition hée alleadgeth for witnesses all the elders of Asia which had conuersation with S. Iohn the Disciple of our Lorde who