Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus A Treatise of Reginald Peacock c. Guil. Needham R. R. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelm Archiep. Ã Sac. Dom. c. Ian. 12 1687. A TREATISE PROVING SCRIPTURE To be the Rule of Faith. WRIT BY REGINALD PEACOCK Bishop of CHICHESTER before the REFORMATION About the Year MCDL LONDON Printed for Iames Adamson at the Angel and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1688. PREFACE IF in any part of the Christian Religion an undoubted Certainty and most firm Assurance may justly be required if a scrupulous Examination and curious Enquiry may ever be allowed in Matters of Religion certainly an exact Knowledge of the Rule of Faith will deserve as our first so our chief Consideration For since the Articles of Christianity are not in themselves self-evident nor can be found out by the sole principles of Reason since all revealed Religions are no farther credible than as they can demonstrate their Revelation to have been true and real some Rule was necessary which might propose to Mankind those Articles of Faith which Reason could not suggest and propose them also with such evidence as that the denial of assent should in all become irrational What this determinate Rule is hath been the great Controversie of this and all preceding Ages However all parties agree in affixing some certain properties to it whereby it may be distinguished and indeed without which it can never supply the Office or serve the ends of a true Rule These may be reduced to four Heads That it be able safely and inviolably to convey down all revealed necessary Truths That it be fitted to propose them clearly and invariably to all Mankind That it be independent on all other revealed Articles And lastly that it be assigned as a Rule by God the Author of all revealed Religion If either of the two first Conditions be deficient the Rule will be unuseful if either of the latter uncertain and without authority The Scripture enjoys all these properties in so eminent a manner that no reasonable Doubt can be made of the Truth of it For if we consider that whatsoever is revealed may be pronounced whatsoever is pronounced may be written down and whatsoever is committed to Writing may be preserved safe while those Writings are preserved unaltered we must conclude that any revealed Religion may be intirely and without danger of mistake proposed from written Books to the universal Belief of Mankind since these will afford a standing Rule both to Pastors of teaching of their People and to the People of examining the Doctrine of their Pastors in case of Diffidence The independence of Scripture from all other revealed Articles is no less evident For that these Books were indeed written by those persons whose names they bear and these persons highly credible is known by the same evidences whereby the Authors and Credibility of any other Books are known I mean by the concurrent testimony and consent of all succeeding Ages considered not as a Collection of Men professing the Christian Faith but as persons devoid neither of common sense nor integrity as they must have been if they had mistaken themselves or deluded us in believing and then testifying a matter of fact so easie to be known and more easie to be remembred Being thus assured of the Credibility of Scripture that it was written by such Historians who really either performed or saw those Miracles which they do attest we cannot but believe these Miracles and consequently that the Authors and Founders of the Christian Religion acted by a Divine Commission and may reasonably command our assent to their Revelations Being thus assured of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures we may probably conclude from the nature and end of them but most certainly from their own Testimony that they contain all things necessary to Salvation and are the only Rule of Faith and all this although we did not yet believe any other Article of the Christian Religion On the other side Tradition wants every one of those Conditions which are necessarily required to a Rule of Faith. For first we can never be assured that any Articles were invariably and intirely without any addition or diminution conveyed down to us by Tradition since it hath been in all Times and Ages observed that Matters of Fact much more of Belief not immediately committed to Writing presently degenerated into Fables and were corrupted by the capricious Malice or Ignorance of Men. Nothing can exempt the Tradition of the Christian Religion from this Fate at least from our reasonable suspicions of it but the Infallibility of that Society of Men which conveys down this Tradition But the latter can never be known till this certainty of Tradition be first cleared and presupposed since the Belief of this supposed Infallibility must at last be resolved into the sole truth and certainty of Tradition In the next place Tradition cannot certainly and invariably propose the Belief of Christianity to all private persons For from whence shall this Tradition be received from a Pope or a Council or both or from none of these but only the Universal Church In every one of these Cases infinite difficulties will occur which will singly appear insuperable As who is a true Pope what his intentions in defining were whether he acted Canonically in what sense he hath defined What Councils whether Oecumenical Patriarchal or Provincial may be securely trusted What are the necessary Conditions and Qualifications of a General Council Whether all these Conditions were ever observed in any Council What these Councils are what they have defined what is the true sense and intention of their Definitions From whom must we learn the Belief of the Universal Church if Popes and Councils be rejected From all Christians or only from the Clergy If from the later whether the assent of every member of the Clergy be required If not how great a part may safely dissent from the rest From whom the opinion of the major part is to be received Whether from the Writings of Doctors or the teaching of living Pastors If from the latter whether it be sufficient to hear one or a few Parish Priests or all or at least the major number are personally to be consulted All these Difficulties may be branched out into many more and others no less insuperable be found out which will render the Proposal of Religion by way of Tradition if not utterly impracticable at least infinitely unsafe Thirdly Tradition is so far from being independent on other Articles of the Christian Faith that the Belief of all other Articles must be presupposed to it For since all Sects propose different Traditions and the truth of none of them is self-evident it must first be known which is the true Church before it can be determined which is the true Tradition Now the knowledge of the true Church can be obtained only two ways either from the Truth of her Doctrines or from the external Notes of a
true Church If the first way then it must first be known what are the true and genuine Doctrines of Christianity the stedfast belief of which causeth this Society to become the true Church But if the true Church be known only from some external Notes these Notes are either taught by Scripture or found out by the light of Reason If taught by Scripture then the knowledge of the Divine Authority of Scripture is antecedent to the knowledge of the true Church and consequently independent on it For otherwise Scripture will be believed for the Authority of the Church and the Church for the Authority of Scripture which is a manifest Circle Besides in this case that grand Article of Belief in the Holy Catholick Church will be received not from Tradition but from the Scripture and consequently Scripture not Tradition will be the primary Rule of Faith. Lastly if the Notes of the Church may be found out by Natural Reason then to pass by the infinite Contradictions which would arise from such a Proposition these Notes can be no other than Antiquity Universality Perpetuity and such like every one of which doth some way or other presuppose the knowledge of the true Doctrines of Christianity as well as those of the present Church For the end of these Notes is to compare the former with the latter and consequently both of them must be first known Lastly It can never be proved that Tradition was assigned by God as a Rule of Faith. For this proof must be taken either from the Scriptures or from Tradition Not from the first for not to say that Scripture is wholly silent in this matter such a supposition would destroy it self and involves a manifest Contradiction For if it be a Point of Faith that Tradition is the Rule of Faith and this Article is deduced and received only from Scripture then Scripture is the immediate Rule of one Article of Faith and the mediate Rule of all other Articles and consequently Tradition cannot be the Rule of Faith. No less absurd is it to imagine any Proof of this Article can be drawn from Tradition For we can never be assured the Tradition of this very Article is of Divine Authority and consequently infallible until we be first satisfied that God by assigning Tradition for a Rule of Faith conferred Divine Authority upon it which is the matter now in question Thus have I briefly pointed out some Arguments which prove that Tradition neither is nor can be the Rule of Faith. And indeed all Ages of Christianity have been so far satisfied of the truth of this that in all Controversies the Catholicks no less constantly appealed to Scripture than the Hereticks recurred to Tradition The pretence of Tradition is so easie and impossible to be refuted by the meaner Christians that no wonder if Hereticks always took this more compendious way when to pretend the Authority of Scripture would have been too palpable and too gross an impudence The Standard of written Truths continued always the same and could not be universally corrupted Whereas Tradition might securely be adapted to the most absurd and contrary Opinions since to effect that Design no more was required than the confidence or mistake of Hereticks pretending to have received their own Dreams and Errors as necessary Articles of Faith from their Forefathers Thus all the Hereticks of the three first Centuries when the true and genuine Tradition of the Church might much more easily be known than it can be at this day proposed their Heresies under the venerable name of Apostolick Traditions which pretence they carried on so far that they published the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Traditions of almost every Apostle and Apostolick Man wherein they committed to Writing those revealed Truths which they believed the Apostles to have preached and have left unwritten In vain should the Fathers and Writers of the Church have recurred to the true and genuine Tradition of unwritten Revelations since they could never demonstrate that this true Tradition was rather to be found among them than among those Hereticks For many of these Heretical Sects were contemporary with or began immediately after the Apostles were vastly numerous and scattered through the whole Church and consequently could put in so fair a claim for Tradition that no human wit could ever have determined the Question if the Scripture had not been called in and opposed to such unreasonable pretensions Accordingly Scripture was ever pleaded by the Catholicks and the pretence of unwritten Revelations derived down by oral Tradition was then esteemed as a Characteristick Note of Hereticks Thus S. Augustin and before him Clemens Alexandrinus complain of the Hereticks of their times Tertullian assures us it was the usual evasion of Hereticks to decline the Scriptures and flee to Tradition pretending that the Apostles published not the Gospel to all People nor committed all revealed Truths to Writing but delivered many Articles of Faith secretly to approved Men which Articles were no other than their own Heresies In the same manner the Hereticks opposed by S. Irenaeus were wont when urged with the Authority of Scripture and their perfect silence as to those Articles which they obtruded upon the World to plead the Imperfection of the Holy Scriptures that they were not intended by God as a Rule of Faith Because the Truth could not be learned from them by those who were ignorant of Tradition For that the Christian Faith was not delivered by Writing but by Word of Mouth or by Oral Tradition To produce but one Example more Eunomius the Heretick in his Apology extant in Manuscript in S. Martin's Library every where pleadeth the Tradition of precedent Ages and professeth to follow that as his only Rule of Faith. It is necessary saith he for those who treat of matters of Faith setting before them the holy Tradition which hath all along obtained from the times of the Fathers as a Rule and Canon to make use of this accurate Rule to judge of those things which shall be said Afterwards proposing his blasphemous Opinion about the Holy Ghost he introduceth it with this Preface Exactly following the Doctrine of the Holy Fathers and receiving it from them we believe c. This then was the Artifice and Practice of the ancient Hereticks What the Practice of the Catholick Fathers was in opposing these Hereticks or establishing any necessary Article of Faith that they accounted Scripture to be the only adequate Rule of Faith and to contain in express and plain words all things necessary to be believed that they rejected all Articles which could not be thence deduced as spurious and false or at least uncertain and unnecessary and always asserted the Sufficiency of Scripture I will not here insist to prove since that Point hath been so often handled and cleared by the Writers of our Church more particularly by Bishop Taylor to whom I remit the Reader My Design and the Age of that
the least and the Authority of the Church it self as to the Ground and Foundation of it is chiefly deduced from the Gospel Nay the very Institution Power and Edification of the Church can no way so expresly and certainly be known as from the Gospel But as I imagin it can by no method be so certainly determined whether the Church or the Gospel be of greater Authority as by supposing this Case when the Church defineth any thing contrary to the Gospel I know indeed that this cannot be This is to be understood of the Belief and received Doctrine of the Universal Church not of the Decrees of the Representative Church Otherwise Clemangis will most foolishly contradict himself However that we may the better find out the truth let us put this Case Do you imagin that in that case S. Augustin would have rejected the Doctrine of the Gospel and adhered to the Definition of the Church No surely Where he proceeds at large to urge this Argument and thereby to assert the Superiority of the Scriptures Authority to that of the Church Before the middle of this Century flourished Thomas Waldensis Provincial of the Carmelites and Confessor to two Kings of England Henry V. and Henry VI. successively generally accounted the most Learned English Man of his Age and the great Champion of the Papal Cause against the Lollards and other supposed Hereticks of his time against whom he writ a large and elaborate Work which was in a particular manner confirmed and approved by a special Bull of Pope Martin V. Therein proposing an intire System of Divinity he layeth down the Sufficiency of Scripture as a most certain Principle in three whole Chapters out of which I will produce some few Passages Disputing therefore of all Articles necessary to be believed and the complete System of Christian Faith he useth these words They who yet believe the Canon of Scripture to be imperfect and that it may yet be augmented by the Authority of the Church do yet with the Iews expect the fulness of time perhaps under a Iewish Messias He then takes notice of that famous Passage of S. Augustin I would not believe the Gospel unless the Authority of the Catholick Church perswaded me And giveth this Answer to it I do not approve the arrogance of some Writers who upon occasion of this place maintain the Decrees of Bishops in the Church to be of greater Weight Authority and Dignity than is the Authority of the Scriptures Which indeed seemeth not so foolish as mad unless such an one would say Philip were greater than Christ when he induced Nathanael to believe that Christ was he of whom Moses writ in the Law and the Prophets although without his Authority or Admonition he would not have at that time perceived it All Ecclesiastical Authority since it serveth only to bear testimony of Christ and of his Laws is of less Dignity than the Laws of Christ and must necessarily submit to the Holy Scriptures Well therefore did S. Thomas Aquinas allegorize when he introduced the Samaritan Woman to represent the universal Church which Woman when the Citizens of Samaria heard preaching Christ they were induced to believe on him c. This Passage clearly represents to us the Opinion of Waldensis to have been that by the attestation of the Church the Divine Authority of the Scripture is known which being once known all matters of Belief and Articles of Faith are to be learned from the Scripture just as Philip induced Nathanael and the Samaritan Woman her Neighbours to believe Christ to be a Divine Person of the truth of which when once satisfied they learned not the Rules of Life or Articles of Faith from Philip or the Woman but received both from Christ himself And therefore Waldensis subjoyns That the Authority of the Scripture is far superior to the Authority of all Doctors even of the whole Catholick Church and that although the Catholick Church should attest and confirm their Authority that the Authority of all latter Men following the Apostles and Churches ought to be submitted to the Authority of the holy Canon even to its Footstool That the former is subjected to the latter as a Witness to a Iudge and a testimony to the truth as a promulgation to a Law and as an Herald to a King. As a testimony therefore is no farther to be regarded than as it is true a promulgation invalid when it either increaseth or mutilates the Law and an Herald not to be obeyed when he exceeds the Commission of the King so the Decrees Definitions and Doctrines of the Church are no longer to be respected than as they are exactly conformable to the Scripture and deduced from it Upon this account Waldensis teacheth in the next Chapter That the Church cannot superadd any new Articles of Faith to the Scripture and that the Faith from the times of John the Evangelist who writ the last Book of Scripture receiveth no increase And therefore applieth to the Books of Canonical Scripture the measure of the new City of God made by the Angel in the XXI Chapter of the Revelations That as the circuit of that City consisted of so many miles neither more nor less so the whole System of Christian Faith and Divine Revelations is completed and contained in so many Books of Scripture and can receive no farther Addition Lastly shewing how many ways the Knowledge of the Catholick Truth may be attained he saith It may be obtained best of all and most certainly from the Canonical Scripture He proceeds to prove this from the Authority of S. Augustin and then concludes See four ways of coming to the undoubted Truth but more or less certain of which the first and most certain is by the Holy Scriptures the rest begetting only an Historical and uncertain knowledge of the Articles of Religion However these Doctors already mentioned were of great authority and sufficiently declare the common Doctrine of the Church in their time yet the practice and judgment of General Councils will give us greater assurance of it Two General Councils were held at the same time in this Age the one at Basil the other at Florence In both together the whole Western Church was present by its Representatives and in that of Florence the Eastern also These two Councils indeed thundered out Excommunications one against the other yet both agreed in using Scripture as the Rule of their Definitions and in all Disputations laid that down as a common uncontroverted Principle I begin with the Council of Basil wherein Iohannes de Ragusio a Learned Dominican by the appointment of the Bishops disputed publickly in the year 1433. against the Bohemians about Communion under both kinds Here magnifying the Authority of the Church he urgeth this Argument chiefly that without the Attestation of the Church the Divine Authority of the Scripture cannot be known and consequently that the Authority of the Church is antecedent to the knowledge even
all points in Controversie between the Church of Rome and the Lollards and largely endeavours to confute the latter But as his zeal induced him to plead the Cause of the Church so copiously so his Learning enabled him to discover the Follies and gross Superstitions practised in that Age which when once discovered his Piety inforced him to detest Religion had now passed through so many ignorant and barbarous Ages the means of greaterknowledge had been so studiously hidden from the People and the ignorance of the Laity was so advantageous to the interest of the Clergy that the true Spirit of Christianity seemed to be wholly lost and had degenerated into Shews and Ceremonies many of which were unlawful but almost all unuseful And not only this fatal stupidity and idle Superstition had generally possessed the minds of Men but all Remedies were detested and all Artifices made use of to continue the Disease Many good and Learned Men endeavoured the Reformation of these Abuses without departing from the Communion of the Church but were attended herein with the usual Fate of the Opposers of inveterate Evils who seldom escape the Persecution but never the hatred of those who are engaged both by zeal and interest in the continuance of those Evils Our Learned Bishop was of the number of those brave and generous persons who while he earnestly invited the Lollards into the Communion of his Church no less vehemently opposed the Superstitions of his own Party Some Footsteps and Marks of this Disposition may be found in this Treatise which prove his Integrity to have been equal to his Zeal and neither inferior to his Learning The Authority of the Church and Infallibility of her Definitions had of late been set up as the most successful Engine against the prevailing growth of supposed Hereticks To refute the Arguments of Wicleff and convince his Followers with solid Reasons neither the Ignorance of the Clergy nor the Badness of their Cause did then permit It was accounted too great a Condescension in the Governors of the Church to confute the Mistakes and inform the Judgments of their seduced People Yet somewhat at least was necessary to dazle the eyes of the unthinking multitude and at once convict all their Adversaries of the Charge of Heresie Nothing could be more effectual to this end than the pretence of Infallibility which alone might satisfie the Scruples and command the assent of credulous persons For this reason ever since Heresie began to be punished with death it was thought sufficient to oppose the Infallibility of the Church to the Arguments and Reasons of condemned Hereticks and the maintenance of this pretence was esteemed the great Bulwark of the Church However our Bishop easily discovered the vanity of these pretences and in this followed the Opinion of the most Learned Writers of his Age that the Representative Church or General Councils were not only fallible but had sometimes actually erred that the Decrees and Definitions of the Church ought to be submitted to the Examination of every private person that no Article of Faith was to be received which was repugnant to the Principles of Reason and that not the Belief and Acceptation of the Church caused any Doctrin to be accounted true and an Article of Faith but the presupposed Truth of the Doctrine rendred the Belief of it rational and justifiable Indeed the Doctrine of the Churches Infallibility had by some Men in this Age been advanced so far that nothing less than a fatal credulity or no less fatal ignorance could excuse the admission of it Our Author assureth us in the first part of this Book of Faith that many Divines in his time argued from those words of S. Paul If we or an Angel from Heaven should teach any other Dâ—ctrine than that which ye have received let him be anathema that if it should happen that the Church militant and the Church triumphant disagreed in an Article of Faith the Determination of the Church militant were rather to be followed Such crude Positions might raise the admiration of fools but deserved the indignation of wiser Men. Our Author chose to do justice unto Truth in owning and asserting the Fallibility of Church and Councils and yet not to quit the specious pretence of the Churches authority in pleading her Cause and confuting the Lollards This therefore he proposed in a more plausible way confessed the Church might err and that even in matters of the greatest moment however that it would be most safe and rational for ignorant Laymen intirely to submit their judgment to the Direction of the Clergy that by this submission indeed they might possibly be led into Error and mortal Heresie but that this would be no disadvantage to them since in that case God would reward their submission and docility although to them the occasion of most grievous Errors no less than if they believed the Christian Faith intire and incorrupted and would even bestow upon them the Crown of Martyrdom if they laid down their lives in testimony of their Errors And since in that Age the Laity were generally very ignorant of the true Principles of Religion and devoid of all sort of Learning he included them all in the number of those whose duty and interest it was to pay an implicit submission to the direction of the Clergy But not only did he disown the Infallibility of the Church but also disallowed and condemned her practice of burning Hereticks He desired rather to win them to her obedience by gentle methods and thought it more noble to convince them by Reasons and Arguments than by Racks and Fires This moderation could not but displease his Fellow Bishops who chose rather at that time to satisfie their Malice by the punishment than serve the Church by the conviction of supposed Hereticks But our Author was acted with more noble and generous Principles he endeavoured to remove their Errors but refused to practise upon their Lives and which perhaps was no small part of his Crime neglected to thunder out his Curses against them and scorned to treat them with opprobrious Titles Rather in the first part of this Work he giveth to them an honourable Character and confesseth them to have been generally persons of good Lives and exemplary Conversations The incredible Fables of Legends and incurable itch of Lying for the Honor of their Saints and Patrons which then reigned among all the Monastick Orders and was fondly received by the credulous multitude were one of the greatest scandals and most pernicious abuses in the Church at that time The greater and more necessary Articles of Faith and all genuine and rational knowledge of Religion had generally given place to fabulous Legends and Romantick Stories Fables which in this respect only differed from those of the ancient Heathen Poets that they were more incredible and less elegant These our Learned Bishop feared not to oppose and disesteem arraigns them of Error Heresie and Superstition proclaims their falseness and
derides their folly This denial of Infallibility moderation towards the Lollards and disesteem of Legends drew upon him the envy and hatred of the Clergy to which may be added his favour with and faithful adherence to his Patron Duke Humphrey who had always manifested a moderation towards the dissenting Lollards and aversion from the superstitious practices of the Clergy No sooner was the Duke oppressed by a contrary State Faction but his Client the Bishop was attempted and his ruin designed Several Passages were taken out of his Writings which his Enemies accused of Heresie at least of Error Hereupon in the year 1457. he was cited to appear at a Synod held at Lambeth by Thomas Bourchier Archbishop of Canterbury attended with the Bishops of Winchester Lincoln and Rochester and 24 Divines by whom after a short hearing he was condemned of Heresie and injoyned to recant his heretical and erroneous Opinions publickly at S. Paul's Cross. The Recantation he performed on the fourth day of December when his Books were also publickly burnt His Fortunes after that time are very uncertain Some relate him to have been made away in prison others to have been kept prisoner in his own Episcopal Palace until his natural death and lastly some that he had a small pension assigned to him out of the Revenues of the Bishoprick and retired into a Monastery where he ended his days in a short time The Opinions which he was forced to recant as they are represented by Bale Bishop Godwin and Fox are these I. That it is the Office of a Christian Bishop before all other things to preach the Word of God. II. That human Reason is not to be preferred to the Holy Scripture III. That the modern use of the Sacraments as attended with so many superstitious Ceremonies and Customs was lâ—ss advantageous than the use of the Law of Nature IV. That Bishops buying their Admissions of the Bishop of Rome do sin V. That no man is bound to believe and obey the Determination of the Church of Rome VI. That the Revenues of Bishops are by Inheritance the Goods of the Poor VII That the Apostles composed not the vulgar Creed VIII That the Article of Christ's Descent into Hell was not formerly in the Creed IX That no other sense is to be attributed to Holy Scripture but the first and genuine sense X. That it is not necessary to Salvation to believe the Body of Christ is materially in the Sacrament XI That the Universal Church in a General Council may err even in Matters of Faith. XII That it is not necessary to believe in the Holy Catholick Church XIII That it is not necessary to believe the Communion of Saints XIV That the voluntary begging of the Mendicant Friars was unprofitable and no ways meritorious It must not be imagined that these Articles were generally at that time accounted erroneous and heretical in the Church For if we examine them we shall find that many of them were taught and believed by the greatest Divines of the Church at that time some at this day allowed to be literally true by the Learned Writers of the Church of Rome and in fine that our Author knew the Doctrine of the Church far better than his Judges and although condemned by them was no less Orthodox than they As for the twelfth and thirteenth Articles which seem to be most odious they are meer Calumnies as appears from this very Treatise For towards the end of it he acknowledgeth it to be necessary to believe the existence of the Holy Catholick Church and of the Communion of Saints but yet unnecessary to believe on them that is as himself explains it to give a blind assent to all their Determinations The seventh and eighth Articles are known to be literally true by all Learned Men. For no proof can be brought that the Apostles composed this Form of Creed which we now use and it is most certain that the Article of Christ's Descent into Hell was found in none of the Ancient Creeds for the first 400. years except in that of the Church of Aquileia The first second sixth and ninth Articles if candidly interpreted cannot be denied to be true by any sober Romanist and whosoever considers the gross Ignorance and Superstition of those times will not deny the third The fourth Article may be justified by the Opinion of many great Canonists who define all such payments to be Symony and the Church of France hath all along decried and disapproved them The fourteenth was defended by Richard Archbishop of Arniagh Gulielmus de S. Amore and many other great Divines of the Church of Rome The eleventh and consequently the fifth Articles were believed and maintained by Occant Peter de Alliaco Cardinal of Cambray Thomas Waldensis Panormitan Antoninus Cardinal Cusanus Clemangis and many others in this Age. Lastly the tenth Article may be defended from Peter Lombard Peter de Alliaco Scotus Tonstal Bishop of Durham and others who believed indeed the Truth of the Article but denied it to be necessary to be believed That Treatise which I here publish and which gave occasion to the present Discourse was by me transcribed out of a Manuscript extant in Trinity College in Cambridge which seemeth to have been written with Bishop Peacock's own hand as may be conjectured from the frequent Emendations and Additions inserted in the Margin and bottom of the Pages by the same hand The whole Work was intituled by the Author A Treatise of Faith however in the Front of it this Title is affixed by a later hand Reginald Peacock Bishop of Chichester 's Sermons in English whereas the whole Treatise is a Dialogue between the Father and the Son divided into two Books whereof the first proposeth to treat of the most probable means of reducing the Lollards to the Church which he assigns to be an intire submission of Judgment to the Decrees of the Church although supposed fallible The second treateth of the Rule of Faith. The first Part is chiefly taken up with a long Digression proving that Faith is only probable not sciential or that the Truth of the Christian Religion cannot be proved by demonstrative but only by probable Arguments This Dispute is managed in a Scholastick Way full of Subtleties and Niceties of Philosophy and School Divinity and very obscure which therefore I thought not worthy either my transcribing or the Readers perusal However I transcribed some considerable Fragments or Excerpta which seemed to me more remarkable and worthy of notice which I here present to the Reader The second Book or Treatise of the Rule of Faith I have published intire as far as the Manuscript Copy permitted me For which is much to be lamented some few Leaves were wanting in the end Besides what I have already mentioned many things may be here found worthy a particular Observation as with how great ardor he impugns the refusal of
Churche is principalier and cheefer than is holi Writt anentis eny feith taugt by holi Writt and that for VIII Argumentis which y can make thereto Wherefore y donte not but that trouble and discencioun schulen be bitiwixe Lay Men and Clerkis yhe and bitwixe summe Clerkis and othre Clerkis upon this whether holi Writt or the Churche is chefir and of more power havyng anentis feith is conteynyd in holy Writ ni lasse thanne ye Fadir answer to thilke VIII Argumentis and so y can not se but that the mater of this discencioun muste nedis be brougte forth in utteraunce and conicacioun Sone y am redi to heere thi VIII Argumentis and for to answere to them yf I can Peraventure in the answering to them schal growe in sum thing wherebi schal be clerid what comparisoun is to be hadde bitwixe holi Writt and the Churche anentis al feith conteynyd in holi Writt And bi so moche y am the leefir for to heere thi Argumentis and for to answere to them bi hou moche thou hast now seid and trouthe is that the treuthe which is now occasioun of the comparisoun making bitwixe holi Writte and the Churche mygte not be left unseid and untoold to the Lay Peple neither to Clerkis And that cause bifore bi thee alleggid Fadir agens this which ye hau allowid bifore in the X. Chapter to be trewe that holi Writt is such a ground and foundement of oure Cristen general Feith that noon gretter or bettir or surer to us ground or foundament is for oure Cristen general Feith written in holi Writt y may argue by VIII principal Argumentis of which this is the first Nothing is to be seid ground to us of oure feith without which thing oure feith mygte have be sufficientli groundid and witnissid But without Holi Scripture now had Feith mygte habe be to us sufficiently groundid Wherfore holi Scripture is not to be seid ground of another thing without which the othre thing may be and the seconde premysse is to be proved thus Thoug the Apostlis hadde not write eny word yet thei mygten have taugt to othre Clerkis and lay folke the al ful hool feith sufficientli to thbihove of the peple as to ther therof the leerning reporting and remembring whithe Clerkis and lay folke so taugt of the Apostlis and outlyving to the Apostlis mygten have taugten othere Clerkis and lay folke the same al hool feith sufficientli which surviving and outlyvyng her Techers mygte have taugte othere folke bothe of the Clergie and of the Layte the same hool feith sufficientli whiche folke so taugt also surviving and outlyvyng her Techers mygten have taugt the same al hool feith sufficientli to othere and so forth into this present dai without eny writing maad delivered to folke upon the same feith so taugt And if this had be doon thanne the feith of ech Leerners hadde be sufficientli ynoug groundid in her Techers and in no Scripture therupon maad Wherfore it folowith that Scripture is not ne was not the ground of feith to eny persoonys bileeving That this be trewe which is bifore takun in the profe of the seconde premysse that thoug the Apostlis hadde not written eny word thei mygten have taugt the al hool ful feith to peple sufficiently y may argue thus In tyme of the oold Lawe it was so that al the bileeve conteynyd in thillâ— Lawe was taugt by mouth and mas leerned by mouth For whi Exod. the XIII Chap. whanne it is seid of the paske day that it schulde be kept yeerli by the Lawe thanne renning it is seid ferthe anoon aftir this And thou schalt telle to thi sone in that day and schalt seie This is it what the Lord dide to me whanne y gede out of Egipt and it schal be as a signe in thi honde and as a memorial bifore thi igen and that the lawe of God be ever in thi mouth For in a stronge honde the Lord ledde thee out of Egipt c. Also soone aftir there whanne it is bede that the peple of Iewis schulde halowe to God ech first gendrid thing that openeth the wombe among the sones of Israel as well of Men as of Bestis thanne it is seid anoon aftir thus And whanne thi sone schal aske of thee to morewe and seie what is this thou schalt answere to him In a stronge honde the Lord ledde us out of Egipt of the hous of servage For whanne Pharao was maad hard and wolde not delyver us the Lord killid al the first gendrid thing in the londe of Egypt fro the first gendrid of man til to the first gendrid of bestis Therefore y offre to the Lord al thing of mawle kinde that openeth the wombe and y agenbie alle the first gendrid thingis of my sones Therefore it schal be as a signe in this honde and as a thing hanged for mynde bifore thi igen For in a stronge honde he ledde us out of Egipt Also lyk sentence to this is written Deutro VI. Chap. of the paske daie keping and Josue IV. Chap. of the XII Stoones taken out of the water and sette on drie lond into perpetual remembrance that Jordan was dried Also Deutr. IV. Chap. it was seid thus Forgete thou not the wordis which thin igen sigen and falle thou not from thin herte in alle the daies of thi lyf Thou schalt teche tho to thi sones and to thy sones sones Telle thou the day in which thou stodist bifore thi Lord God in Oreb whanne the Lord spake to me and seid c. Also Deutro XI Chap. it was seid thus Putte these wordis in youre hertis and soulis and hange ye the wordis for assigne in hondis and sette ye bitwixe youre igen teche youre sones that thei thenke in tho wordis whanne thou sittist in thi house and goist in the wey and liggist doun and risist Thou schalt write tho wordis on the postis and gatis of thi house that the daies of thee and of thi sones be multiplied in the lond which c. Wherefore bi like skile in tyme of the newe Lawe the al hool feith mygt have be taugt bi word of mouthe fro oon to an othre into this present day sufficientli Ferthemore into prof or into confirmacioun of the same seid seconde premysse availith this that we seen in summe Monasteries the kunnyng and the fulfilling of certeyn usagis and customes be had forth in persoones of the Monestarie and be continued bothe in knowing and in fulfilling sufficientli fro the first Fadirs of the Monestaries unto this present day and that without eny writyng maad upon the same usagis but bi discente of word oonli fro persoone into persoone Wherfore in lyk maner the kunnyng and the using of al oure hool feith mygte have be hadde and lad and contynued sufficientli bi mynde and bi teching of mouthe fro Fadris and Prelatis into her Children and Parischens
Treatise which I now publish require me to descend lower and demonstrate that even in latter Ages it was the commonly received Opinion of the Church that Scripture is the Rule of Faith. And this alone will as evidently overthrow the Plea of Tradition as if the Consent of all Ages herein were demonstrated For since Tradition is the perpetual Succession of any Doctrine conveyed down in the Church by word of mouth from the Apostles to this present time if this Succession were in any Age whatsoever interrupted it can no more claim the Title of Tradition than if it had never been believed So that if it can be proved the Doctrine of Tradition being the Rule of Faith was in any Age of the Church disbelieved not only the proof of this Article from Tradition will fail but even the Article it self will appear to be evidently false For it is not possible that Tradition should be the Rule of Faith if that very Article that Tradition is the Rule of Faith were not delivered down by an uninterrupted succession of Belief for then it would not be the Rule of that very Article Besides it is absurd that the Church of any Age should have power of declaring what the Tradition of Faith is and consequently of fixing the Rule of Faith and yet be so far from being conscious of any such power inherent in her that she disbelieved it Not to say that if at any time Tradition was not believed by the Church to be the Rule of Faith and yet at the same time divers Articles of Faith were defined by the Church Tradition must necessarily ever since have ceased to be the Rule of Faith since otherwise all Definitions of the Church must indifferently be admitted made by her both when she followed and when she deviated from the Rule of Faith and consequently the Faith of all private Christians must be subjected to infinite uncertainty Now to prove that the Tradition of this Article was in any Age of the Church interrupted and discontinued it is not necessary that all members of the Church should then agree in the disbelief of it that no Doctors should believe Tradition to be the Rule of Faith or none maintain the Insufficiency of Scripture It is sufficient that some Divines of great name who lived and died in the Communion of the Church were ever held in great esteem both for Piety and Learning and never censured by the Church for any erroneous Opinions much less for Hereticks that some such I say disbelieved this Article and maintained Scripture to be the Rule of Faith. For if any such were then the contrary Opinion could not be the belief of the universal Church much less an Article of Faith. That there were such Doctors I shall immediately prove by producing their own Words and thereby demonstrate my intended purpose And not only so but farther shall therewith render it highly probable that it was the generally received Opinion of the Church at that time that Scripture not Tradition is the Rule of Faith by all those Arguments which a question of this Nature will admit I mean by the authority of the most eminent Writers and publick practice of the Church in Councils For it cannot be imagined that so many Learned Persons esteemed as it were the Oracles of their Times and Pillars of the Church should either be ignorant of the Doctrine of the Church touching the Fundamental Principle of Faith or if willfully opposing it should obtain or conserve to themselves so great a Reputation or that the General Councils of that time should in their Sessions and Disputations permit the Sufficiency of Scripture to be laid down as an uncontroverted Principle without giving some check to so grand an Error That the Church therefore in the fifteenth Age did generally believe the Scripture to be the Rule of Faith and contain all things necessary to Salvation may be evidently demonstrated from this Treatise which I now publish The Author of which was far the most Eminent and Learned Bishop of the Church of England in his time a person who as himself assures us had spent more than twenty years in writing Controversial Books against the Lollards when he composed this Treatise and who every where giveth manifest proof of his great Learning So eminent a person cannot be supposed to have been ignorant of the general Belief of the Church in his time concerning the Rule of Faith nor will his apparent zeal for the Interest of the Church permit us to believe that he wilfully opposed the Doctrine of the Church in whose Service he employed the greatest part of his life or that when he so zealously pleaded the Cause of the Church against the Lollards he should himself depart from the Church in her principal Article and therein become a Lollard Since therefore he plainly asserts and teacheth that Scripture is the Rule of Faith this undeniably proves that the belief of this Proposition was not in the time of our Author accounted any part of Lollardism or supposed Heresie but rather esteemed an Article of Catholick Belief at least an Article which might be freely disputed without violating the Definitions or dissenting from the universal Belief of the Church And indeed our Author in the beginning of this Discourse assureth us that the Doctors of his time disagreed in determining whether the Church or Scripture were chiefly to be respected in the resolution of Faith. One thing may be objected against the Authority of our Author That he was forced by the ruling Clergy to recant several Opinions and Doctrines taught by him as erroneous and consequently that he cannot be esteemed a Doctor of the Church But here not to say that the sentence of two or three partial Bishops for no more condemned him is not to be accounted the Judgment of the Church of England this very Recantation addeth no small strength to our Argument For when the malice of his Enemies obliged him to recant all those Doctrines which they esteemed to be erroneous they took no notice of his having asserted Scripture to be the only Rule of Faith nor obliged him to recant that Proposition a manifest Argument that it was not then accounted either heretical or erroneous or contrary to the received Doctrine of the Church since otherwise they would not have failed to place it in the front of his Recantation as an Error of an higher degree and greater contagion than any of those for which he stood condemned which in truth were so far from being Heresies that they were all at that time maintained by many eminent Divines who never were censured by the Church and some of them so far true that no Learned Man of the Church of Rome will at this day deny them And this also fully clears our Author from any suspicion of Lollardism or secret inclination to it That he was not singular herein defended no Paradox nor opposed any Doctrine of the Church I come next to prove The
School Divinity was at that time universally received in the Church of Rome taught in all Universities and Schools and by long use become in great measure the Doctrine of the Church The most famous and celebrated Author of this Divinity was S. Thomas Aquinas whose Writings were then in all Mens hands universally applauded and religiously embraced Some few Divines indeed dissented from him and followed the System of Scotus but this Disagreement respected not the Rule of Faith nor indeed any material point of Divinity but only some abstracted Notions and Scholastick Niceties of Divinity The Doctrine therefore of Aquinas is to be esteemed the general opinion of the Divines and Writers of those times It cannot be here objected against the force of our Argument that the same Divinity is yet retained and taught in most Popish Countries although the Doctrine of the Scriptures Sufficiency be rejected The Method of Reasoning and Disputing is now infinitely altered among the Writers of the Roman Church from what it was before the Reformation Before that time they made no difficulty to acknowledge and even urge the necessity of Reformation whereas now the Honour of their Church obligeth them to declare it both unnecessary and unlawful While Scripture was yet looked up in an unknown Tongue and removed from the knowledge of the Laity who were then generally very ignorant they were not ashamed to make confident Appeals for the Truth of their Doctrine to the Holy Scriptures When that Veil was removed the Scriptures translated and the World become more intelligent and inquisitive some other Artifice was to be found out which might preserve the Credit of antient Errors and defend them from the silence and opposition of Scripture To this end no stratagem could conduce more than the constant Artifice of all Innovators in Religion the Plea of Tradition Before that lesser Artifices could hide the Deformity of their Errors and while ignorant Christians could be securely misled with false and sometimes foolish Interpretations of Scripture while Ecce duos gladios was thought sufficient to evince the coercive Power of the Pope over temporal Princes and Arabant boves juxta comedebant asini could effectually perswade the Laity intirely to resign up their Judgments to the Direction of the Clergy there was no need of any desperate Remedy but when persons became so far inquisitive as to inquire into Reasons of Things and demand some better Authority for the belief of Articles imposed on them nothing less than the arrogant pretence of an infallible Tradition could secure and palliate the contradiction of impossible Propositions To prove therefore Aquinas his Doctrine concerning the Rule of Faith to have been intirely agreeable to that of our Author I will go no farther than his Sum of Divinity the most famous and best known of all his Works In the beginning of it laying down the Principles upon which Divinity and the proofs of Religion ought to proceed he saith That this Holy Doctrine useth the Authority of Philosophers as extraneous and only probable but the Authorities of Holy Scripture as properly belonging to her and concluding necessarily or infallibly but the Authorities of other Doctors of the Church as properly indeed belonging to her but concluding only probably For our Faith is founded upon the Revelation made to the Apostles and Prophets who wrote the Canonical Books of Scripture and not upon any Revelation made to other Doctors if any such there be Whence S. Augustin saith in his Epistle to S. Hierom To the Books of Scripture only which are called Canonical have I learned to pay this honour that I should most firmly believe none of their Authors to have erred in any thing in composing them In the two next Articles it is inquired whether Holy Scripture may use Metaphors and contain diverse senses under one and the same Letter In both places the Objections are thus formed These Qualities would be incongruous to a Rule of Faith but the Scripture is the Rule of Faith. This last Proposition is no where reinforced in the Objections but laid down as an uncontroverted Principle Aquinas in answering them no where denies Scripture to be the Rule of Faith but endeavours to take off the incongruity of a metaphorical and ambiguous Style to the Rule of Faith and in answer to both Objections hath these words Although Metaphors and Allegories be found in Scripture yet doth Holy Scripture suffer no detriment or imperfection thereby For nothing necessary to Faith is contained under the hidden sense which Scripture doth not somewhere manifestly deliver in the literal sense Afterwards being about to dispute of God and the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation he proposeth this as a most certain and undoubted Principle That we ought to affirm nothing of God which is not found in Holy Scripture either in words or in sense conformably to what the Master of Sentences and Founder of the School Divinity had before taught who inquiring what Method is to be observed in treating of the Trinity answers That it must in the first place be demonstrated according to the Authorities of Holy Scripture whether the Christian Faith teacheth it or not and in what manner But to return to Aquinas he asserteth Scripture to be the Rule of Faith in many other places of his Summ. Thus disputing of the nature and properties of the New Law or Covenant he inquires whether it be a written Law. in resolving of this Question he opposeth not the written Law to Tradition but to the Law written in the Hearts of Men by the virtue and operation of the Holy Ghost and at last concludeth thus The New Law is principally that very Grace of the Holy Ghost which is written in the Hearts of the Faithful but secondarily it is the written Law in as much as those things are delivered in it which either dispose to Grace or respect the use of that Grace Here the very nature of this Question and comparison of the Written with the New Law supposeth that the whole System of revealed Truths is contained in the written Law and lest we should doubt of this supposition the latter part of the Passage now cited plainly determines it But to proceed Aquinas often reneweth this supposition and at last comparing the Old with the New Testament he determines thus All things which are plainly and explicitely delivered to be believed in the New Testament are delivered also to be believed in the Old Testament but implicitely and obscurely And in this respect also as to matters of Belief the new Law is contained in the old But if all matters of Belief in the new Law be contained in the Old Testament and whatsoever is contained in the Old Testament is plainly and explicitly taught in the New Testament then the New Testament doth not only contain all matters of Belief in the New Law but also which is more considerable proposeth them clearly and explicitly He intimates
of the Rule of Faith and therefore the first Principle of the Christian Religion For thus he argues But that the aforesaid Article the existence of one holy Catholick Church is the first of all others into which all others are resolved is manifest For if any doubt arise concerning any other Articles recourse is immediately made by common consent to the Holy Scripture as to a most certain and invariable Rule and according to the Testimony of Scripture the Truth is cleared and all Doubts removed For unless the Existence of the Church be known Scripture hath no Authority Whether this Argument be valid and conclusive concerns not my present purpose It is sufficient that he assumes this Proposition Scripture is the Rule of Faith as an undoubted Principle common to both Parties However if by a Church in this place he meant no more than a Society of credible Persons whose unanimous attestation of a matter of Fact ought to be received the Argument will be good and valid And that he meant no more I am induced to believe because immediately after disputing of the Authority of a Church properly so called he acknowledgeth the proof of this Article is to be taken from Holy Scripture However these words cannot infer the Doctrine at this day received in the Church of Rome since they expresly assert the Scripture to be the Rule and Judge of all Articles of Faith saving this one of the Existence of the Church and attribute to the Church no more than the power of bringing us to the knowledge of the Scripture which thenceforward is to be used as our only Rule and Guide He proceeds to lay down several Suppositions as Foundations and Postulates of his subsequent Determinations Of these the sixth is conceived in these words Faith and all things necessary to Salvation as well Matters of Belief as of Practice are founded in the literal sense of Holy Scripture and from thence only may Arguments be drawn to prove those things which are of Faith and of necessity to Salvation The seventh Supposition is this Holy Scripture in the literal sense well and soundly understood is the infallible and most sufficient Rule of Faith. This he doth not only suppose but also proveth with divers Arguments of which the second is this If Holy Scripture were not a sufficient Rule of Faith it would follow that the Holy Ghost who is the Author of it had insufficiently delivered it which is by no means to be thought of God all whose works are perfect Besides if Holy Scripture were deficient in some things necessary to Salvation then those things which are wanting might lawfully and meritoriously be superadded from some other Principle or if any things were superfluous in it they might lawfully be diminished But this is forbidden by S. John the Evangelist in the last of the Revelations where he saith If any one add to this Book c. From which words of John the Evangelist it is clearly proved that nothing is deficient or superfluous in Holy Scripture which is also consentaneous to the Author of it who is the Holy Ghost as was before said to whose Omnipotence it agreeth that he give us a System of Wisdom neither deficient nor superfluous and that he should deliver it in a method agreeable to our necessity of Salvation In the Council of Florence however the Greeks and Latins differed in all other things till the former were forced into a complyance by the Commands and Threats of their Emperor yet in this they agreed in laying down Scripture to be the only Rule and Principle of Faith although they dissented in determining how far it might be explained by the Church The Controversie was occasioned by the addition of FILIOQVE to the Nicene Creed this the Greeks maintained to be unlawful because the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son is not in express Terms taught in Scripture which they held to be the only Rule of Faith. The Latins denyed not this but only asserted that it was sufficient this procession was taught in the Scripture in implicit Terms the Church having authority by explanation of those obscure Passages to constitute Articles necessary to be believed and add them to the Creed although but implicitly contained in Holy Scripture the Rule of Faith and consequently that to insert FILIOQVE in the Creed was no addition to the Faith since that Article is implicitly contained in Holy Scripture The Opinion of the Greeks is thus represented by Bessarion Archbishop of Nice who was chosen by the Greeks to manage and defend their Cause We derive and receive all Articles of Faith from the Fountains of Holy Scriptures which are the Principles and Foundations of our Faith. Nothing was ever added to them accounted necessary to be believed which is not contained in them nor may any thing ever be added to them neither by us while we are our selves nor by any other Christians And when the Latins recurred to their wonted refuge of Explanation or Declaration made by the Church of what is implicitly contained in Scripture Bessarion replyed That it is undeniable that although any thing were added by way of Declaration it was still an addition which seemeth to be forbidden and consequently the addition of this word FILIOQVE is forbidden But whereas ye alledge the Actions of the Fathers in Councils wherein some things seem to be thus explained this reacheth not our Question For that any thing should be added to the Faith it never was nor ever will be lawful The Bishop of Friuli was chosen by the Latins to answer the Arguments of Bessarion and defend the addition of the word FILIOQVE This he doth not by denying Scripture to be the Rule of Faith but endeavouring to prove that the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son might be deduced from the Principles of Faith viz. from the Holy Scriptures Ye grant saith he that Articles of Faith are taken from the fountain of Scriptures which are the Principles of Faith. From this Proposition we infer that a Declaration Expression and Explication which is made concerning an Article of Faith or of the Creed by the Writings of the Gospel the Epistles of Paul and the Booke of the Old and New Testament is by no means to be accounted extraneous or a Doctrine of another kind since it is the Doctrine of God and of the Church For then only is a proof to be accounted extraneous when it is made not by the proper Principles of that Doctrine but by the Principles of some other kind of Science As if a Physical Conclusion should be proved by a Mathematical Principle But according to you the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Principles of Faith. Therefore a Proof and Declaration which is made by these Scriptures is plainly made by the proper Principles of Faith and intrinsecal Principles of our Religion Yea this ought not properly to be called an addition