unless they did forget what they held the day before or out of malice alter it Our Authour undertakes to make this out more clearly and therefore we will hear what he saith for our better information page 18. He asks Did Christ teach any error and he may be confident we will say He did not Then it follows When a Father believ'd what Christ taught him and the Son what the Father believ'd did not the Son too believe what Christ taught No doubt of it but he did Run it on then saith he to the last Son that shall be born in the World must not every one believe what Christ taught if every one believe what his Father believed It is certain he must And will you then saith he go about to perswade us that there actually is a company of men in the World who adhered to this Rule all Sons believing always as their Fathers did whereof the first believed as Christ taught and who notwithstanding erred in matters of Faith No he may be sure on 't we will never be so unreasonable except he can first perswade us to enter into the Roman Communion where we must lay by our Reason and renounce our Private Iudgments and then I know not what absurd things we may be brought to do Were it not very easie here for a man of less rediculing Wit than he triumphs in to make as fine Sport with his Non obstante here as he doth with another page 33 and could do I doubt not with two more which he knows of in the Councils of Constance and Trent But I leave him to sport alone We will grant him it is impossible to prove That men have erred notwithstanding they never erred and let him if he please note it in his Almanack amongst his Self-evidents But notwithstanding I would not have him want this word to play with I say notwithstanding all he hath here said one little thing is yet to be proved viz. That these Traditionary Christians adhere undecliningly to an unquestionable Tradition descending really and unvariably from Christ and his Apostles and could not possibly do otherwise that is That they never either did or could err from the Faith first taught for this is but supposed hitherto and from this self-evident supposition for it is as evident saith he as that Traditionary Christians are Traditionary Christians he necessarily concludes thus Suppose Traditionary Christians neither did nor could err it is certain they neither did nor could err Make what you can more of it There be two things which if they be incident to men may as is already confessed cause an innovation or alteration in Faith Forgetfulness and Malice But our Authour hopes we can have no advantage by pleading either of these in barre to the Infallibility of Tradition You do not I suppose desire saith he that we should prove that men had always Memories or that Christians were never malicious enough to damn themselves and their posterity wittingly and yet it can stick no where else page 32. Yet were there no danger of men's forgetting what had been taught it is hard to say why the Penmen of the Scripture should have been at the needless pains to write it Nay St. Peter himself if men's Memories be always so faithful seem'd to be too forgetful of this with so much diligence as he expresseth to Endeavour that they might be able after his decease to have these things always in remembrance 2 Pet. 1.15 And that by giving them unto them in Writing And if such Malice as he talks of can never possibly be found amongst Christians or men professing themselves so to damn themselves and Posterity wittingly I would fain have him tell us how it comes to pass that we find at this day among such Christians so many thousands by wickedness of all sorts hastning to damnation themselves and taking as little care to provide any better for their Children May not Christians through Malice and Wickedness be as careless of preserving the Faith as of maintaining Holiness in themselves or their Posterity when they know that Sin is as damnable as Error Again supposing neither Forgetfulness nor Malice enough to spoil the Rule of Tradition What if all Sons did not understand aright all that Fathers had taught them Is not this as possible as for some not to understand aright what Christ and his Apostles taught them And such there were amongst their hearers What if some Sons were so negligent as to take no care either to remember or teach what they had been taught by their Fathers Have we not daily experience of such careless persons who yet want neither understanding nor Memory What if some through Ambition Vain-glory and Popularity set abroach new Doctrines and taught them for Apostolical Traditions What if others to save themselves from Persecution concealed part and corrupted more of the Doctrine of Christ by their own Traditions taken not from Christ but from their forefathers Iews or Gentiles And to say no more What if some through a blind zeal ignorant devotion superstitious rigour and vain credulity added many things to the doctrine of Christ which by degrees grew into more general esteem till at last they were own'd and imposed as necessary to be believed and practiced What iâ— Error any of these ways brought forth grew multiplied spread obtain'd most power and drove out all that held the naked truth out of all those Countries where it came Because Instances brought by us are unwelcome to this Gentleman I will leave him to furnish himself with them out of all Histories But now he will I suppose betake himself again to his only Refuge That when any of these fell into Error they left their Rule Tradition I long saith he to hear it made out That an erring Church can still plead Tradition and adhere to it p. 18. For that a Church may follow Tradition at one time and leave it at another is no news p. 15. If this be no news then though we should grant Tradition to be an Infallible conveyance of the Truth yet would it not make even that Church which now adheres to it to be Infallible and therefore the Church of Rome though we should confess her at present to adhere to Infallible Tradition could not prove her self thereby to be Infallible That Church onely is Infallible which cannot err The Church that at one time follows Tradition may leave it at another and so doing errs Therefore if the Church of Rome be Infallible she must prove not only that she follows Tradition for so she proves only that she doth not err but also that she cannot leave it for Infallibility excludes all possibility of erring by leaving Tradition She must therefore seek out a new Medium to prove her self Infallible For hitherto according to his own way of reasoning she has but the same priviledge that all Churches have not to err so long as she holds to Tradition and doth not leave it Yet
That we cannot with Reason hold any thing for a Truth namely because the Church of Rome hath determined it for her determination is no intrinsecal ground of the Truth but onely an outward testimony or declaration of it and then what 's become either of her Infallibility or of her Authority to command our Faith Secondly That the Common People must be allow'd their Iudgment of Discretion for how without the free use of that they shall discern the Intrinsecal grounds of Truth when produced and so with Reason hold it I fear our Author cannot easily demonstrate which yet if he cannot do he must by his own Principles be forced to grant That the Church of Rome hath no more Infallibility or Authority than the Church of England hath she is to be believed onely when she produceth the Intrinsecal ground of Truth and not otherwise unless we must believe her without Reason and so far is the Church of England to be believed or any Church whatsoever And so this Author hath unawares I suppose set us all on even ground and I hope we may be able to maintain our ground against all that he saith hereafter for himself or against us to gain the advantage of us again First He falls upon the Certainty of the Protestant Faith which he hopes very easily to overthrow and it will be as easily done if it stand upon no surer ground than he would have it Suppose saith he Mr. G. could not prove Protestants are not certain are they therefore certain pag. 4. This he first imagines that all the certainty of our Faith is This that Papists cannot prove it to be uncertain and then 't is pretty to see what sport he makes with his own imagination But let him play on it seems time for us to be in earnest and more serious when the certainty of our Faith is struck at It is too weighty a matter to be play'd away at a game of Cards which is all he is commission'd to Yet will he make the World believe that we have thrown it away already nay he will needs make us believe it too You know well enough saith he that to prove Protestants have no Absolute certainty of their Faith is no hard task for a weak man. I say nothing yet of the word Absolute but ask how know we this Why we know any man may find it confessed to his hand by Protestants pag. 6. Who I pray are these Protestants Dr. Tillotson in his Rule of Faith pag. 117 118. I have so great a reverence for that very Excellent man that I am not unwilling though he be but one Protestant that he should pass for many and too many for all the Traditionary Catholicks to answer his Rule of Faith but his Confession that Protestants have no certainty of their Faith I must desire some good Catholick to shew me in those two Pages or in any other part of his Book when he can answer it for till then I despair of finding it We do not yet therefore see this Confession no nor he neither if he may be believed against himself some People have need of good Memories to save their Credit for pag. 23. he tells us We seem to grant we are thus Absolutely certain or Infallible by Virtue of Tradition How Confess we have no certainty and yet seem to grant we are Infallible and that too by Virtue of Tradition This is to make us right Traditionary Papists indeed whether we will or no such as Rushworth Dr. Holden Mr. Cressy and Mr. White all contending for the Infallilbility of Tradition and yet confessing that what the greatest part of Mankind must be satisfied with is Probability and Conjecture as he may find in the 120 th and following Pages of Dr. Tillotson's Rule of Faith where if he find them wrong'd he hath the liberty to vindicate them if he can Only I will here give him and his friends a seasonable warning That if any Protestant shall being now minded of it by him begin to plead Infallibility by virtue of Tradition it will behove them in time after their many shiftings from Post to Post to seek them out yet a new one for when both Parties pretend a like to Infallibility and Tradition neither of these can be any longer a sit Medium whereby to prove which is in the right It is agreed as he saith well on all hands Men are saved by believing and practising what Christ taught not barely by believing Scripture is Scripture Page 7. And 't is as true which he tells us Page 8. Where Churches differ in Faith infallible Faith in one cannot stand with certain Faith in the other Whence he may do well to take notice that when our certainty is once proved no more is needful to confute their Infallibility Now the Question is saith he Whether Protestants are absolutely certain that they hold now the same Tenets in Faith and all that our Saviour taught his Apostles Page 6. Which Question in that Challenge of his Page 22. is thus explained Make manifest that Protestants have absolute certainty not only of the Scripture which they call their Rule but of the Faith which they pretend to have from that Rule or else suffer another thing to be manifest viz. That you cannot do it and thither I am sure it will come The Proof he often tells us is our part and though he be so confident that we cannot make it good yet are we not afraid to undertake it even all that he here calls upon us to prove leaving out the word Absolutely till he tell us what is meant by it as he will do anon The certainty that we have of the Holy Scripture which we acknowledg to be our Rule of Faith we manifest after the same manner as they do theirs except only that we ground it not on the Infallibility of their Church and yet if that will do us any good we have it too confirming our certainty But so much certainty he yields us only he asks Did our Saviour teach and do Protestants believe no more than that the Book so call'd is Scripture Page 6. Yes tho I do not find that our Saviour ever taught that the Book so called is Scripture one great part whereof was not written when he taught yet do we believe that it is Scripture and Divine Scripture ' the Word of God containing in it all things necessary to Salvation and that all things therein contain'd are true Now this being granted us that our Scripture is God's Word we think that we do sufficiently prove the certainty of every Article of our Faith when we shew it to be solidly grounded on that Word and this being shewn our Faith is either certain or they who deny it to be so must affirm the Word of God on which it is wholly grounded to be no good ground of Certainty Neither indeed can these men deny the certainty of our Faith without denying that of their own too so
that there is such a thing to be found among men Then will he have us grant That there are no means by which men may be secured from being deceived and then they will not take all that pains that are necessary to compass that good which for ought they can tell they may not compass with all their pains Ibid. But here he is too hasty for thô we know not where to find infallible men now living on Earth yet we know there is an Infallible and Living God and He by Men indued with his Infallible Spirit hath given us his Word plainly Written and this Word is a sufficient means to secure us from being dangerously deceived in any thing necessary to our Salvation if we diligently attend unto it and use the proper helps of understanding it And this is our encouragement to take all pains to compass the good we desire that the same Infallible God who hath given the means hath assured his blessing to them that diligently use them Yet I a little wonder to hear him talk of men's being discouraged from taking pains to be well assured of the truth for want of an Infallible Guide when it hath been the common Argument a long time whereby such a Guide has been commended to us that it would save us the pains of examining the particulars of our faith If we be in love with ease or if we be content to take pains all 's one there 's enough in the Infallibility of the Church of Rome for all the pleasure of the one or the necessity of the other may be a Motive sufficient to enter into that Communion wherein we may it seems have our free choice of either What cunning Gamesters are these men that hope to win with any hand Certainly they trust more to their Art than to their Cards After we have been sent from place to place to seek this Infallibility where now shall we find it at last In Tradition if any where for we have miss'd it everywhere else And there we have already found it if our Authour must be trusted The certainty of Scripture is from Tradition therefore there is no refusing that Tradition causes certainty and makes faith as certain as Scripture page 7. Yet it may be this Certainty comes not up to Infallibility yes it is the very same as you heard before and he adds page 23. This makes Tradition to be an Infallible ascertainer of some things at least and so unless some special difficulty be found in other things that light into the same channel it must needs bring them down Infallibly too Now it is very true that we have the Books of Scriptures by Tradition and what other way such antient Books could be convey'd unto us I confess I do not know neither indeed can I see what greater Certainty any man can reasonably desire that these indeed are the very same Books which the Authors of them left to the Church and which the Church hath always received as the Word of God. And this Tradition we look upon as a ground of sufficient certainty of this matter of Fact wherein no man was ever wont to desire better nor in reason can But then first This Tradition is not that of the Church of Rome only which is the only Tradition that I ever heard of that has been pretended to be the ground of Infallibility but a more Vniversal Tradition of all Christians if some of whom had not been more careful to preserve these Books than they of Rome we might for ought I know have lost some of them at least that Excellent Epistle to the Hebrews And in the next place this Vniversal Tradition is no more but Humane Testimony and that can be no ground of Infallibility which excludes all possibility of Error A Moral Certainty is enough to stand on such a foundation and all that can be rationally desired in this case These Books as writ by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost are the foundation of our Christian Faith and he knows I hope that neither Papists nor Protestants content themselves with Tradition but produce abundance of other Arguments for the Confirmation of Scripture's Divine Authority And whereas he saith it makes Faith as Certain as Scripture no man can doubt but conveying the Book to us it conveys to us all points of Faith contained in the Book and witnessing the Book to be writ by men divinely inspired it also gives as good credit to the Faith contained in it as humane Testimony can give But he means another thing when he thus explains himself Vnless some special difficulty be found in other things that light into the same channel it must needs bring them down infallibly too These other things are things unwritten in that Holy Book and without more ado we will promise him that when ever he can shew us those other things and assure us that they light into the same channel of Vniversal not only Roman Tradition and are so convey'd to us we will entertain them with the same Certainty as we entertain the Scripture upon account of that Tradition only But for these other things which are to be parts of Faith too I fear we must either fish for them in the Channel of Tiber or not at all find them All Traditionary Christians believe the same to day which they did yesterday and so up to the time of our Blessed Saviour page 8. So saith Mr. G. And saith our Author There is no denying this but by denying that Traditionary Christians are Traditionary Christians But suppose these Traditionary Christians be so call'd from their adhering to a Tradition which reacheth not so high as our Blessed Saviour's time but only pretends to it as they are by others if not by themselves may we not call them Traditionary Christians and confess too that they believe the same to day as they did yesterday yea and as they did ever since the Council of Trent or some hundreds of years before that and yet deny that they believe the same that was believed quite up to the time of our Blessed Saviour Yes this is and will be denied till he can prove it Next Mr. G. faith If they follow this Rule they can never err in Faith. And his Friend tell us This is palpably self-evident and p. 9. therefore they are infallible But unless the Rule of Tradition which they follow be longer than it is yet proved to be they may follow it and err all along by following it And let it be never so long yet if they follow it not they may err and therefore are not infallible except he shew that they cannot choose but follow it So that unless it be first as was before said proved that God hath given a Rule which no man can possibly swerve from which supposed not only a Pope or Council but all who have it are infallible we must all be content to be fallible still Yea but They could not innovate in Faith