Dissimulation be incident to one to a former Age as well as to another a latter And all this would be much more true when an Error should possess the Church longer than the Arrian did Having now examin'd by Reason's Test the two necessary Qualifications of the Testifiers and Guardians of Christian Faith through Centuries of Years and having prov'd that the Dove can find no rest for the sole of her foot that they are too fluid and sinking for Divine Truth to fix on to conside in for safety in her passage through the many hazards of Time I go on to Experience and to consider what the actual performance of Oral Tradition has been how faithfully it has acquitted it self CHAP. IV. Experience against Oral Traditions being a safe and certain Conveyance of Divine Truths SECT I. IF Oral Tradition be a certain and infallible Conveyance of Divine Truths which is the ground of it's pretended Supreme Authority in Religion then there has been an Vniformity a constancy of the same Belief of the Church from the first through following Ages The Divine Scriptures indeed may retain their Integrity and Authority though They who own them as the only certain Conveyance and Rule of Faith swerve from Them and vary from one another because they do not attend to or misunderstand them as tho' some things in St. Paul's Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 and other Scriptures were wrested by the unlearned and unstable to their own destruction who also differ'd from those who truly understood them yet notwithstanding those passages in St. Paul and those other Scriptures remain'd still Canonical But Oral Tradition does so intimately and necessarily include in it a successive Harmony of Forefathers and Posterities Belief it being a continued Testification of the one to the other that if this Co-herence fails if after Ages Belief contrariate that of the Primitive Age if one Church's Belief opposes that of another contemporaneous with it or perhaps agrees not well with it self at the same time or else with what it was in times precedent then the Conveyance breaks and so Oral Tradition forfeits its claim to Infallibility and consequently its arrogated Authority Let us then observe what the harmony and agreement of the Church's Belief has been through the several Ages of the World from the first Delivery of the Truths believed SECT II. When God made Man he endow'd him with such a rectitude of Nature as might enable him to glorifie his great Maker and to attain to his own Happiness And when Man had by eating of a forbidden Fruit contracted a general Ataxie of Soul and particularly a great dimness of Understanding God was pleased to relieve him and to repair the decays of his Knowledge of what concern'd him for Spiritual and Eternal purposes Especially doubtless God instructed him so far as he wanted supernatural Information about his Nature and Unity and how he would be Worshipped And questionless the first Father of Mankind and the succeeding Patriarchs did diligently teach their Children what they themselves had received from God And their exceeding long Lives gave them a peculiar opportunity to Catechise their Posterities through several Generations and to recover them upon any revolt from primitive belief or practice and the extraordinary length of their lives was also equivalent to a greater number of Traditioners Adam after the birth of Seth liv'd 800 years with his Children and Childrens Children and above 200 of those 800 years with Methusalah whose death was but a very little before the period of the old World Methusalah was Noahs Contemporary very near 600 years Noah that Preacher of Righteousness surviv'd with his descendents 350 Years after the Flood And before their dispersion and Plantation in remote places They especially the Heads of the Colonies had been educated and influenced by Noah that just Man and whom Gods familiarity with him and special care over him ought to have rendered most venerable and Them very dutifully sequacious of Him So likewise the two first Traditioners were incomparably considerable Adam and Eve were the greatest Miracles that ever were They could assure the World that they had a Being when as yet there was none of their own Kind besides them That they had near converse with the God that made them the Man of the Dust the Woman of a Rib of the Man They could truly relate to their Children many strange things of the World its State before and presently upon Sin And 't is likely there was such an Impress of Majesty upon the First Father of Mankind and a Prophet as Josephus calls him as might and doubtless did much awe his Children into an obsequious Regard to what he told them Then too in the days of Noah the drowning of the World in stupendious Waters and the Confusion of Tongues at the building of Babel were so rare and astonishing Wonders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jos Antiq. Jud. Lib. 1. Cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Joseph Ibid. as the world never since saw and the memory of them so continued and spread though the following Ages that the Flood and the a Ark were mentioned by all Barbarian Historians and that b confusion at Babel was spoke of by a certain Sibyl and by (c) Hago Grotius ex Eusebio in Annotatis ad Lib. de Veritate Religi Christ pag. 244. Abydenus One would think that here was Defence enough of Tradition from miscarriage yet notwithstanding all this as the general Practice of Mankind was so vile All Flesh had so corrupted his way upon Earth which is all the account that Scripture egives that God was provok'd to wash the Earth clean in a Deluge so not long after the Flood there was a great defection in Practice and Opinion also from what had been deliver'd from Pious Fathers concerning God and the true Worship of Him those Fathers who were very qualified Testifiers and who reported to their Children such Divine Wonders as both might answer for the want of a greater Number of lesser Miracles and likewise make the Children to dread to reject what was delivered from God by Them Yet for all this I say corrupt Notions of God and of his Worship crept in Polytheism and Idolatry entred the World Even (d) Josh 24.2 Terah who lived with Noah 127 years and other Fathers of the Holy Abraham served other Gods And how widely Polytheism Idolatry and Superstition afterwards spread in the World and what a long possession they kept of it is notorious Thus the world apostatiz'd and past a Recovery by Oral Tradition which rather confirm'd it in it's Apostacy for thus Symmachus pleads for Heathenisme (e) Suus cuique mos suus cuique ritus est Jam si longa aetas â—â—thoritatem religionibus faciat servanda est tot Seculis fides et sequendi sunt nobis Parentes qui faeliciter sequuti sunt suos Symmachi V. C. Relatio ad Valent. Theodos Arcad. Augustos pro veteri
the least as to priviledge Oral Tradition to be the Rule of Faith For 1. Were their writings the Conservatories of Tradition written by persons mov'd by the Holy Ghost or not If not and I suppose our adversaries will not affirm they were then these writings have a great disadvantage of the Holy Scriptures which we profess to be the Canon of our Faith as great a disadvantage as must be between Books written by them who could not err and those written by them who might err from whence it would follow that what is contain'd in the one must be true that the Contents of the other may be true yet too they may be false there may be that reported in them as deliver'd by Christ and his Apostles which yet was not delivered by them But 2. Were there Ecclesiastical Monuments of unquestionable credit and which did from Christ and his Apostles through each age exacty and fully declare to us the consentient Doctrines and Practices of the universal Church it would be very material and we should much rejoice in it but the case is otherwise For some while there were very few if any writings save the Holy Scripture which come to our hands Justin Martyr is said to be the first Father About 150 years after Christ whose works have survived to this day There are some Books which pretend to an early date which yet are judg'd to be supposititious some of them judged to be so by the Romanists themselves others proved to be such by the (a) Cook in censu â quorundum Scriptorum D. James's Bastardie of false Fathers Daille Protestants For the first 300 years as there was no compleat Ecclesiastical History so the Fathers now extant were but few and their Works too being calculated for the times in which they lived reach not the controversies which for many years past and at this day exercise and trouble Christendom This paucity of the Records of the first ages (a) Id autem esse tempus quo quatuor prima Concilia Oecumenica includantur a Constantino Imp. ad Marcianum Atque hoc vel propterea aequissimum esse quia primorum seculorum paucissima extant monumenta illius vero temporis quo Ecclesia praecipuè florebat longe plurima ut facile ex ejus aetatis Patribus eorum scriptis fides ac disciplina veteris Catholicoe possit agnosci Ita Perron Sequitur Responsio Regis Hoc postulatum parùm illis aequum videbitur c. Apud Is Casaubonum in Responsione ad Cardinalis Perronii Epistolam pag. 38 39 40 41 42. Card. Perron acknowledges and does imply their insufficiency for setling Catholick Faith when as he would have recourse made for this purpose unto the 4th and 5th Centuries because then there were most writers Tho against this the learned Is Casaubon excepts and justly forasmuch as it must be presum'd that the stream of Tradition ran purest nearest to its Fountain The Fathers after the first 300 years did often mix their own private sentiments with the Doctrines of the Church Nor do the Fathers express themselves so as that we may clearly distinguish when they writ as Doctors and when as Witnesses when they deliver their own private Sense and when the Sense of the Church and if of the Church whether it be of the Church universal or of some particular Church some who have diligently perus'd their Writings judge it not easy to find any such constant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is confess'd by (a) Rushworth Dial 3d. Sect. 13. a Romanist that the Fathers speak sometimes as Witnesses of what the Church held in their days and sometimes as Doctors and so it is often hard to distinguish how they deliver their Opinions because sometimes they press Scripture or Reason as Doctors and sometimes to confirm a known Truth So that he who seeks Tradition in the Fathers and to convince it by their Testimony takes an hard task upon him if he go rigorously to work and have a cunning Critick to his Adversary So then Tradition must in a good measure be at a loss for succour from the Fathers Writings I conclude then that Books Writings have not given such advantages to Oral Tradition as to render it the safest and most certain Conveyance of Divine Truths but this Dignity and Trust is due to Holy Scriptures only which having been at the first penn'd by Persons assisted by the Divine infallible Spirit are stamp'd with an Authority transcendent to all humane Authority Oral or Written which have been witness'd to by the concurrent Testimony of the Church in each intermediate Age since the Primitive Times and which are at this day generally agreed upon as the true Word of God by Christians tho' in other things it may be some of their Heads may stand as oppositely as those of Sampson's Foxes SECT IV. There remains a Cavil or two rather than Objections which shall have a dispatch also 1. We are told that by desertion of Oral Tradition and adherence to Scripture we do cast our selves upon a remediless ignorance even of Scripture (a) Sure Footing P. 117. Tradition establish'd the Church is provided of a certain and infallible Rule to interpret Scripture's Letter by so as to arrive certainly at Christ's Sense c. And e contrà (b) Ibid. p. 98. without Tradition both Letter and Sense of Scripture is uncertain and subject to dispute Again (c) Ibid. p. 38. As for the certainty of the Scriptures signisicancy nothing is more evident than that this is quite lost to all in the uncertainty of the Letter 2ly It is suggested that the course we take is an Enemy to the Churches Peace (d) Ibid. p. 40. The many Sects into which our miserable Country is distracted issue from this Principle viz. The making Scriptures Letter the Rule of our Faith By these passages it is evident that this Author will have it that Protestants have nothing but the Letter of Scriptures dead Characters to live upon and that upon this he charges their utter uncertainty in the interpretation of Scriptures and their distractions Answ But Protestants when they affirm That Scripture is the safest and most certain Conveyance of Divine Truths and that consequently it is the only Rule of Faith do mean Scriptures Letter and Sense both or the Sense notified by the Words and Letter And therefore the Author might have spar'd his Proof of this conclusion i. e. That Scriptures Letter wants all the properties belonging to a Rule of Faith It was needless I say to prove this to Protestants Well but let Protestants mean and affirm what they will have only the Letter of Scripture and not the Sense of it because they admit not of Oral Tradition to Sense it Scripture it seems is such a Riddle that there is no understanding it except we plough with their Heifer and likewise without Tradition's caement we shall always be a pieces and at variance amongst our selves But 1.
Vntrustiness I shall proceed next to consider Tradition Oral Tradition more particularly and distinctly and as apply'd to Religion CHAP. II. Of Oral Tradition as it is apply'd to Religion and there what is allow'd to it what deny'd SECT I. I Come now nearer to the Question which being mov'd both of Oral Traditions and of the Sacred Writings Trustiness and Certainty of Conveyance of Divine Truths c. I shall give them a distinct Consideration And first I shall enquire How sure and safe an immediate Conservatory and Conveyance Oral Tradition is of Divine Truths more speculative or more immediately practical fundamental or others down from their first delivery to the Church through succeeding Ages And before further procedure it is granted that Oral Tradition is of use in Religion yet not so much solitary and by it self as in conjunction with Tradition Written 1. It is yielded that tho' there be many (a) Dr. Cosins the late Reverend Lord Bishop of Duresme in his Scholast History of the Canon of Scripture pag. 4 5. Ecclesia Testis est custos sacrarum Literarum Ecclesiae Officium est ut ver as germanas ac genuinas Scripturas a falsis supposititiis ac adulterinis dijudicet ac discernat D. Whitak de S. Script Controv. 1. Quest 3. Cap. 2. Article of Religion 20. internal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Arguments clear in the Scriptures themselves whereby we may be sufficiently assur'd that they were breath'd from a Divine Spirit and are truly the Word of God Yet as to the particular and just number of those Sacred Books every Verse and Sentence in them whether they be more or fewer we have no better External and Ministerial assurance than the Constant and Recorded Testimony of the Catholick Church from one Generation to another which is a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ 2ly It is confess'd that there are many particular Truths which have had the universal continued Profession and Oral Attestation of the Christian Church from the Primitive to the present Times 3ly It is not deny'd but that if there had been no Scriptures yet Oral Tradition might have derived some Truths to Posterity 4ly Let any Points be recommended to us by so large an Approbation and Certificate from Tradition as Sacred Scriptures have and we shall receive them with all beseeming regard But then 1. We deny that Oral Tradition is sufficient to preserve to us and to ascertain us of the several particular Truths which concern Christian Belief and Practice together with the Sense of the Sacred Books 2ly Tho' there are several Divine Truths which have had the universal and continued Profession of the Church yet we deny it would have been so happy if there had been no Scriptures 3ly Though there had been no Scriptures Oral Tradition might have sent down some Truths to Posterity But they would have been but few and those too blinded with erroneous Appendages most would have been lost as in Hurricanes and among Rocks and Sands some Vessels may weather it out yet shatter'd but how many Perish 4ly As to the last thing sure our Adversaries can't justly charge us with the contrary there being no Point maintained by them and deny'd by us which has so ample a Recommendation But I shall resume the first Concession and the annex'd Denyal and shall add That there is a great difference between Tradition's Testification concerning the Scriptures and Tradition's conserving the many Divine Truths and Sense of them and the safe transmitting them to all succeeding times We may rely upon Tradition for the former which is a more general thing and in which Tradition was less obnoxious to Error and yet not trust it for the latter which abounds in such a variety of Particulars in which there is the greater liableness to mistake and failance The difference I urge may be illustrated thus Suppose one informs me of a Guide in my Journey I credit and accept of that Information and thank the Informant But I rest no farther on him but follow the Guide in the several Stages of my Journey Or suppose one directs me to a very Honest Man and a very knowing Witness in my Cause When he has done so it is not He but the Witness on whom I must depend for a success in my Suit Nay if the Witness should chance to depose against him I may rationally believe him and he can't refuse the Evidence because he himself recommended him to me as a very credible Deponent The Application is obvious The Church's Tradition testifies 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. Isa 8.20 that the Scriptures are the Oracles of God These Oracles of God are a Guide a Witness in the things of God and which belong to Man's Salvation They affirm so much of themselves and because they are Divine Oracles and testified by the Church so to be they must be believed by us in that Claim Why now tho' we owe and pay Thanks to the Church's Tradition for the Preservation of Holy Scriptures and Direction of Us to Them yet we are not therefore bound to resign our Faith universally to the Tradition of the Church but we may trust our selves with Scriptures Guidance and Testimony in all particular Matters of Faith and Practice Yes and if these Scriptures Witness against the Church's Tradition against some Opinions and Practices of it for which Tradition is pretended we ought to believe the Scriptures and Tradition can't fairly decline the Testimony tho' against it self SECT II. But against this it is urg'd That there can be no Arguing against Tradition out of Scripture The reason is Sure Footing in Christianity p. 10◠because there can be no certainty of Scripture without Tradition This must first be supposed certain before the Scripture can be held such Therefore to argue against Tradition out of Scripture is to discourse from what is Tradition being disallow'd uncertain which can't be a solid way of Argumentation To this I reply Omiting that Tradition is not the only means of our Certitude about Scripture That the Exception does not invalidate what I have said for thus it is We do confess to receive the Scriptures upon the Church's universal Tradition and we allow this Testimony to be in it's kind very useful and sufficiently certain and this certainty of Tradition quoad hoc for the Intelligencing us concerning Scripture is supposed by us But then we do and may argue from Scripture thus supposed certain against Tradition i. e. against what is uncertain or false in it viz. Any such Points of Faith or Practice or such Senses of Scripture as it would obtrude upon us when as yet they are perhaps contrary to Scripture and the Tradition is far short of being Vniversal it may be is very narrow or feigned rather than real So that we do not proceed upon an Vncertainty but upon what is certain by Vniversal Tradition i.e. That the Books of the Old and New Testament in the Number that we have them
are the Holy Scriptures and Oracles of God against what is affirm'd and can be prov'd by us to be uncertain or false in Tradition As in a like case Scholars argue from what is true and clear in Reason against what is false or dubious tho' it have Reason pretended for it Thus discoursing from Reason against Reason i. e. from what is really such against what is such but in name and appearance The sum and result of the Premises is this That as we do not take Tradition's Word for all the Doctrines or Practices and Senses of Scripture it would impose on us though we accept of Tradition's Evidence concerning the Scriptures as was in the beginning of this Chapter acknowledg'd So nor are we oblig'd to the former by acknowledgment of the latter Having stated what may be allow'd and what is denyed to Oral Tradition Next it shall be examin'd what Reason and Experience suggest against its sureness and safety of Conveyance and likewise after that what either can pretend on it's behalf CHAP. III. Reasons against the Certainty and Safety of Conveyance of Divine Truths by Oral Tradition SECT I. IT is asserted That the Body of the Faithful from Age to Age are the Traditioners of Divine Truths Sure Footing p. 60.100 101. that in reality Tradition rightly understood is the same thing materially with the living Voice and Practice of the whole Church essential consisting of Pastors and Laiety Now before Reason can acquiesce in a Tradition by Pastors and Laiety it must according to what has been premis'd be well satisfied in the fitness of the Testifiers The Qualifications of Persons for a due Testification especially in so weighty a matter as Religion are 1. Good knowingness of Fathers and Ancestors in Religion as also due care and diligence of Fathers in teaching their Children together with good Apprehensions Memory and Tractableness in the Children and Posterity 2ly Such a measure of Integrity through all descents as may secure the successive Testifiers against all temptations unto swerving from what they received from Fathers Let these Qualifications be farther considered of 1. The first Requisites are good Knowingness of Fathers together with Care and Diligence as also Apprehension Memory and Tractableness in Children let us examine how far these may be found in the Laiety I believe that the value and zeal for Religion in the first and golden Age of the Church made Fathers diligent to teach and Youth to learn But I doubt that this Temper as is incident to Religious Fervors might cool afterwards and that when Emperors became Christians Ease and Prosperity might beget a restiveness and neglect both in Ancestors and Posterity How well Fathers of Families did perform their part and how docile Children have been throughout the many hundred years before us is out of our Ken. But if we may guess at times past as there is often a likeness in some measure of the ways of Men in one Age to those in another by the times present and nearer to us it is to be wished I fear rather than it will be found that all or most Fathers and Governors of Families were such as Abraham Gen. 18.19 Josh 24.15 and Joshua Religion is too little minded in too many Families The use of a Catechisme is too rare and That when us'd is often little understood and less remembred Commonly Parents teach their Children the Lords Prayer Creed and Ten Commandments and that is well But these Rudiments are too slender a stock for Children to set up with as qualified Conveyers of the Body of the Christian Faith And if even these should pass down long by word of Mouth and not be Written they would be in danger of Maims or Corruptions But it may be thought Dr. James in his Manuduction to Divinity p. 108. Ex. Jo. Avent Conc. Bas M. S. that Spiritual Fathers instruct Young and Old both and capacitate them better for being Oral Traditioners Yet when the Priests were Fools Stocks and slothful Beasts when they had neither Scientiam nor Conscientiam neither Knowledge nor Conscience as it was complain'd in Old time it is not likely that then the Clergy were very careful to instruct the Laiety or that the Laiety should learn much from such a Clergy When of far later years some in Ireland (a) The reverend Arch-Bishop Usher in a Sermon Preached before the King June 20. 1624. on Eph. 4.13 who would be accounted Members of the Roman Church being demanded what they thought of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation not only rejected it with indignation but wondred also that it should be imagin'd any of their side should be so foolish as to give Credit to such a senseless thing When throughout a County in England (b) Dr. J. White in his Preface to The way to the true Church the Vulgar Papists were unable to render an account of their Faith or to understand the Points of the Catechism and utter'd their Creed in a Gibberish ridiculous to others and unintelligible by themselves Then the Priests fail'd in teaching the People or the People in teachableness But perhaps it has been otherwise since and was then in those Countries where the Publick and Authoriz'd Profession of the Roman Religion gave their Clergy more freedom of Access to and of Conversation with the Laiety Yet there 's an Opinion of the Romanists which will not much forward the diligent instructing of the Laiety in the Religion of Forefathers viz. That (a) The Author of Charity mistaken c. In Dr. Potter 's Answer to it pag. 183. 200 201. it suffices the Vulgar to believe implicitely what the Church teaches And that by virtue of such an implicite Faith a Cardinal Bellarmine and a Catholick Collier are of the same Belief This implicite Faith makes quick work and supersedes a distinct knowledge of Divine Truths and then what much need is there of a careful Teaching them They who speak not so broadly yet (a) Azor Instit Mor. Part 1. Lib. 8. Cap. 6. Sect. Tertiò quaeritur Et Sect. Sed mihi probabilius verius say it is the common Opinion of Divines that it is necessary to believe explicitely no more than the Apostles Creed or the fourteen Articles as they speak Nay some hold too that if this explicite Belief be only of the substance of the Articles confusedly and generally it is sufficient But by leave of these Authors such an explicite Belief of the Apostles Creed only much less a confus'd and general Belief cannot be sufficient howsoever sufficient it may be for other purposes to qualifie the Laiety for that great Purpose which in these Papers I am treating of But let the utmost be suppos'd viz. That the Clergy now do and formerly did discharge their Pastoral Duty as amply and faithfully as is requisite yet the Peoples usual immersion in secular business and distractions their oscitancy in Religious matters slowness of Understanding frailty of Memory in the
things of God would hugely hazard their proficiency in so large and clear a knowledge as might fit them to be Authentick Trustees in the Delivery of the Christian Faith from Generation to Generation What I have writ in this Section proceeds not in the least from an humour of reproaching any not from any contempt of the Laiety or as if I expected they should be Divines I pay Acknowledgment and Honour to many of the Laiety for their singular Accomplishments in Religious Knowledge and Virtue And it is out of question with me as much as with any that the rest of them may with their lesser measures of knowledge for they have not generally advantages for higher Attainments and the merciful God will not expect to Reap where he has not Sow'd live good Christians and be saved for ever My only aim and that in prosecution of my undertaking has been to shew how incompetent and very casual Traditioners the Laiety who are exceedingly the greater part of the Body of the Faithful generally are of Divine Truths in so full and distinct a manner as may be for their preservation and security against the emerging encroachments of the contrary Errors through all Ages So that by far the greatest weight and strength of Oral Tradition must lye upon the Clergy whose proper business Religion is whose Lips should preserve knowledge and the People should seek the Law at their Mouth Yet in that very place where it is thus said of the Priests it immediately follows But ye Priests are gone out of the way Mal. 2.7 8. ye have caused many to stumble at the Law c. Their performance had not answered their Duty But to say no more of that how little Clergy and Laiety both are to be relyed on as to an Oral indefectible Conveyance of Divine Truths shall be seen on a second account in the next Section SECT II. 2ly To an exact and constant steadiness of Tradition there is requisite an Integrity a clearness of Spirit an unencumbrance of Christians through all Ages with any thing which might sway them to a Belief or Profession contrary to that of the first Age. Now if we look abroad into the World we shall see that commonly Men take up this or that Profession side with this or that Party in Religion more upon the score of Education Example or Interest upon some extrinsick Motive or upon some short and confuse Apprehensions than upon an explicite knowledge or at the least a truly solid Conviction of those Tenents by which those Parties are distinguished But to proceed more particularly Among others there are four things which have an usual and powerful Operation upon Mens Belief and Profession to the changing or smothering their Persuasions and the corruption of their Practice 1. A wantonness of Reason is very incident to Mankind Man loves Variety and conversing here below with little but what is mutable in an unhappy kind of imitation learns to affect change and is apt to be cloy'd with old Truths as with a wontedness to all things else The hankering after some New things was not peculiar to the Athenians and Strangers among them but is an itch natural to all And to cherish this affection for Novelty there have not wanted Broachers of new Opinions in most Ages of the Church 2ly There 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinary enough a bending the stick too much the other way on pretence to make it streight a Recoile from one Extremity to another Out of keenness in contending for a Truth a Zeal for it it has not been unusual to over-do and to retreat from an Error too far on the contraty side Both (a) Illud interim cavenâ—um ne Erroris unius odio devolvamur in alium errorem Id si nullis fere veterum non accidit aliquâ ex parte equidem non deprecabor hominis ociosi notam qui haec admoneam Tertullianus dum nimis acriter pugnâ—t aaversus eos qui plus sat is tribuebant Matrimonio delatus est in alteram foveam Hieronymus tanto ardore pugnat adversus eos qui Matrimonium efferebant cum injuriâ Virginitatis ut ipse sub iniquo Judice vix possit suam tueri causam si reus fiat parum reverenter tractati Conjugis Digamiae Montanus dum ardentiùs oppugnat illâ—s qui passim dignis indignis aperiebant Ecclesiae fores plus satis taxatâ severitate disciplinae Ecclesiasticae in diversum incidit malum D. Augustinus advâ—â—sâ—s Pelagium toto studio dimicans aliâ—â—bi minus tribuit Libero arbitrio quà m tribuendum putant qui nunc in scholis regnant Theologicis Possem hujus generâ—s exempla permulta commemorare etiam ex recentioribus Sed praestat opinor in re odiosâ non esse admedum copiosum In Epistolâ praefatoriâ ad Opera Sti. Hilarti Erasmus and (b) Ardebant veteres Illi tanto sincerae pietatis Catholicae defensienis ardere ut dum unum errorem omnium virium conatu destruere annituntur saepe in alterum errorem oppositum deciderent vel quodammodo decidisse videantur Sic Dienysius Corinthiorum Antistes c. In Praefatione Lib. 5ti Bibliothecae Stae Sixtus Senensis have given us Instances of this in several of the Antients as may be seen in the Margent 3. It has not been uncommon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have Mens Persons in admiration and that not alone for Advantage but for their Learning and Piety so highly to revere them as before Christians were aware to become over-credulous and to follow their Conduct Some Hereticks have been of sufficient Learning and appearing Sanctity and have been adhered to in the Church by no small number of Proselytes The Reputation for Virtue which once Pelagius had with St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine his several Works who were his Followers what noise his Opinions made in the Christian World and how the Relicks of them were continued among the Massilians or Semipelagians may be seen at large in (a) Historia Pelag. lib. 1. cap. 3.4 5 6 7. Vossius 4ly What a strong influence have Hopes and Fears upon Men Hopes of Ease Profit Preferment by their pleasing Insinuations gain great command over the Soul and are apt to bribe the Judgment Fear of Evil of Confiscations Imprisonments Gibbets and Stakes tho' they are no proper Topiques to convince the Reason yet work hugely upon the Passions And Men are often frighted from those Opinions out of which they could not have been fairly and quietly disputed It is the Observation of a Learned and Honourable (b) The Lord â—f Falkland in his Reply p 122. Person That in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth 's Reign of many thousand Livings which are in England the Incumbents of not an hundred chose rather to lose their Benefices for Popish Opinions than to keep them by subscribing to the Tenents of the Reformed Church of England All who for the greater part must be
suppos'd for private Interest to have dissembled their Religion either then or immediately before But if we look higher there is what is much more remarkable It is Famous there was a time when the (a) Tum haeresis Arrii prorupit totúmque Orbem invecto Errore turbaverat Etenim duobus Arriis acerrimishujus perfidiae Autoribus Imperator etiam depravatur Dúmque sibi Religionis Officium videtur implere vim persecutionis exercuit actique in Exilium Episcopi saevitum in Clericos animadversum in Laicos qui se ab Arrianorum communione secreverant Sulpic. Sev. Sac. Histor Lib. 2. World turn'd Arrian the Orthodox Profession being under Persecution After what has been said among such hazards such incident Biassings of the Affections and Judgment how unsafe must an Oral Tradition be i. e. the trusting of the great Concerns of Religion with Man's good Nature his Constancy and Faithfulness to Divine Truths through Ages But it may be it will be replyed to the mention of the Doctrines of Arrius and Pelagius and the bustle they made in the Christian world that yet the Catholick Doctrines did recover and pass to after-Ages And we are told that (a) Sure Footing p. 118 119. erroneous Opinions and absurd Practices tho' they may creep into the Church and spread there awhile yet can never gain any solid Footing in the Church Forasmuch as the Church is a Body of Men relying on Tradition or the Authority of Attesting Forefathers not on the Authority of Opinators c. In return to this 'T is confess'd that the Doctrines assaulted by Arrius and Pelagius were rescued and preserved But 1. In and about that time there was such a Constellation of Pious and Learned Lights of the Church as could scarce be parallell'd in the Ages before or afterwards This might be an especial Cause that those Truths out-liv'd their Opposition It may be questioned whether if the Errors of Arrius or Pelagius had been started and as vigorously manag'd in the Ignorant and Corrupt Ages which follow'd afterwards they might not have found as easy an Entertainment and have as generally prevailed as some other Errors did 2ly But how will it be prov'd that it was by the strength of Oral Tradition that these Truths were recovered and continued To speak only of the Divinity of Christ impugn'd by Arrius besides what has been said in the foregoing part 1. There was manifestly a Civil Cause interposing for the Restauration of a publick and free Profession of it For as the Frown of the Prince Constantius and his Party arm'd with force suppress'd the Orthodox Opinion So the contrary inclination and favour of succeeding Princes countenance from the secuâ—ular Power restor'd it So that this Resurrection of that Truth was not from Orel Traditions strength an impossibility of its sailure but was owed to Causes extrinsick and which might or might not have been For there was no necessity that the Emperers should be Orthodox or Favourers of the Orthodox Opinion and if they had continued still Arrian and Persecutors of the Orthodox and so there had been still the same Fears it is as likely that Arrianisme would still have been the general Profession as it is That the same Cause still existing and working after the same manner would produce the same Effect 2ly If we look after the Religious Cause why may we not ascribe the Revival of the Truth to Holy Scriptures For the Fathers had recourse to Them during it's Depression and after it (a) Vnum hoc ego per hanc dignationis tue sinceram audientiam rogo ut praesente Synodo quae nunc de fide litigat paucis me de Scripturis Evangelicis digneris audite Fidem Imperator quaeris audâ— eam non de novis chaâ—tulis sed de Dei libris Audi rogo ea quae de Christo sunt Scripta ne sub eis ea quae non Scripta sunt praediâ—entur Summitte ad ea quae de libris locuturus sum aures tuas In Libâ—o ad Constantium Augusâ—um propiùs â—â—em St. Hilary Truth 's great Champion against the Arrians is frequent in Citation of Scripture for it And in his Address to Constantius He entreats that Constantius would vouchsafe the Synod being present which debated about the Faith to hear him in a few words from the Evangelical Scriptures And soon afterwards Thou requirest my Faith O Emperor hear it not from new Papers but from the Books of God Where He opposes New Papers or Writings not to Antient Oral Tradition but to the Divine Books There is something more to the like Sense in the Margent After him (a) Nec ego Nicaenam Synodum tibi nec tu Arimenensem mihi debes tanquam praejudicaturus objicere Scripturarum authoritatibus res cum re causa cum causa ratio cum ratione concertet Contra Maxim Lib. 3 Cap. 14. St. Augustine tells the Arrian Maximinus He would not object to him the Synod of Nice nor should he urge to him that of Ariminum but he would have the dispute to be manag'd by Authority of Scriptures That which was thus us'd in Proof and Defence of this Article of Faith both under Persecution and after it why may not That deserve to have the honour of it's Preservation and Restitution viz. the Holy Scripture Especially when as Holy Scriptures being an unvaried and permanent Standard in all alterations of the Church's State have an aptitude for such a Purpose whereas Oral Tradition has no probable Energy for it For they of that Age when Arrianism was generally regnant either really changed their Judgment about the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and then according to our Adversaries Principle they would teach their Children as they judg'd and believ'd themselves and so the Arrian Opinion would have continued Or they smother'd and dissembled their Opinion out of fear and profess'd contrarily to their Judgment And in this Hypocrisie either their Children discover'd them or not If not then much the same Effect would follow If they did know it then they would scruple to believe them even in other Truths as Witnesses and Traditioners are no more than such For Hypocrisie weakens the Credit of a Witness and gets him this disadvantage that he will be the more hardly believ'd even when he speaks truth And in this particular Truth Children would have been put at the least to the stand For tho' the Posterity might satisfie themselves that the Age before the last generally embrac'd the Tenent contrary to the Arrian yet they might be tempted to doubt whether as their immediate Fathers made shew of believing the Opinion they secretly condemn'd so in remoter Ages Forefathers might not publickly profess the Divinity of Christ rather out of compliance with the humour of the Times they liv'd in than from their Hearts and so the Tenent might have stoln down through following Ages the manner of it's old reception and Hypocritical Profession being lost For why might not
did decline so soon how much more probable is it that it should grow yet more feeble and corrupt at such a far greater distance of time As Waters which arise clear and of qualities agreeing with their Fountain the farther they run do the more contract a new relish and gather a foulness from the Chanels through which they travel SECT V. I proceed to the Christian Churches since the more Primitive times and as they are commonly divided into the Eastern and Western Churches so I shall begin with the Eastern and there speak of the Greek Church only In which I suppose none will question but that Christian Religion was planted in a very ample and punctual manner such as might have secur'd a perpetuity of Primitive Truths among the Professors of them as well as among any other Body of Christians This Church administers the Eucharist to the Laiety in both kinds allows Married Priests denys Purgatory-fire to add no more In these things the Roman Church differs from them One of them therefore must err and have receded from what was delivered at the first to them We believe the Roman Church to be guilty of the Recess and they to be sure will deny it But yet which soever it be of the Churches which is in the wrong and one of them must be so Oral Tradition is guilty of Mal-performance of its Duty But moreover this Church holds that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and not from the Son Which is a Tenent condemned by Protestants and Romanists both And the Grecians misbelief in this Article was judg'd by Card. Bellarmine so criminous that he counted it meritorious of the sacking of Constantinople which hapned accordingly in his calculation at the Feast of Pentecost Bellarm. de Christo lib. 2. cap. 30. as a Judgment of God upon them for this error about the Procession of his Holy Spirit And he adds That many compare the Greek Church to the Kingdom of Samaria which separated from the true Temple and for that was punish'd with perpetual Captivity How far charitable in his Censure and right in his (a) Vossius de tribus Symboli in Addendis Chronology the Cardinal was let others judge But this is clear that they of that Communion as they are very numerous so do generally consent in this Opinion that there has been an entail of it upon Posterity through hundreds of years and that though their Reduction has been more than once attempted yet endeavours have prov'd succesless the wound may have been skin'd over but it has not been heal'd (b) Idem Ibid. Though at the Councils of Lyons and Florence it is said there was something of a Closure yet as soon as the Greeks return'd home there was presently a Rupture again and the Churches remain'd at as great a distance as before And they retain their old Error (a) Ricaut of the Greek Church to this day and are observed to defend it with a particular dexterity The same Greek Church denies the Pope's Supremacy that (b) Summa Rei Christianae Bellar In Praef. ad lib. de summo Pontifice Diana of the Romanists They may have yielded the Bishop of Rome a (c) See Nilus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primacy of Order and yet that too not as enstated on him by Divine Right but indulg'd him by the favour of Princes and Ecclesiastical Canon But they would never grant him a Superiority of Power and Authority They will not (d) Ricaut of the Greek Church yet allow it him These Opinions of the Greek Church cannot in the Judgment of the Romanists who hold contrarily to both and are so especially concern'd in the latter descend from Christ and his Apostles Therefore they must confess that Tradition has miscarried And Traditions miscarrying among so great and formerly renowned tho' now afflicted a Society of Christians for so very long a time and in Points of such moment must needs decry it much below that value to which its friends have enhans'd it SECT VI. Next shall succeed a consideration of the Western Church And what Church in the West would be more taken notice of than the Roman VVhere we are to find the most accurate Tradition or to despair of meeting with it any where They of that Communion having dress'd up and strengthned the Cause of Oral Tradition with the greatest advantages which their wit and learning can give it and claiming it as their (a) Sure Footing P. 116. Priviledge to be the most infallible Traditioners of any Church whatsoever Two things here may be considered 1. VVhat the Accord is of the Roman with the Antient Church 2ly VVhat her Harmony is with herself How well Oral Tradition has preserv'd her in both these respects First how little the Church of Rome comports in her Opinions and Practices with the most antient and purest Churches has been demonstrated by many Learned Protestants I shall insist but on one thing viz. The denyal of the Cup to the Laiety in the Eucharist by the Roman Church The Learned Cassander thought it could not be prov'd that (a) Non puto demonstrari posse totis mille ampliùs annis in ullâ Catholicae Ecclesiae parte sacrosanctum hoc Eucharistiae Sacramentum aliter in sacrâ synazi è mensâ Dominicâ fideli populo quà m sub utroque panis vinique Symbolo administratum fuisse De saerâ Comm. sub utrâque specie He is positive and large in this in his Consultation likewise Much to the same purpose Alphonsus a Castro Tit. Eucharistia Haeresi 13. For above a 1000 years the Sacrament of the Eucharist was otherwise administred to the faithful People than under the Elements of Bread and Wine both Several of our Adversaries give their suffrages with Cassander And the Greek Church administers to the Laiety in both kinds to the present Age. But let us come to that which will with our Adversaries be of more Authority The Council of (a) Praeterea declarat hane potestatem perpetuò in Ecclesiâ fuisse ut in Sacramentorum dispensatione salva illorum substantia ea statueret vel mutaret quae suscipientium utilitati seu ipsorum Sacramentorum venerationi pro rerum temporum locorum varietate magis expedire judicaret Quare agnoscens mater Ecclesia hanc suam in administratione Sacramentorum Anthoritatem licèt ab initio Christianae religionis non infrequens utriusque speciei usus fuisset tamen hanc consuetudinem sub alterâ specie communicandi approbavit pro lege habendam decrevit Sess 5. Can. 2. Apud Caran Trent confesses That from the beginning of Christian Religion the use of both Bread and Wine was not uncommon Yet licèt although such had been the Primitive and not uncommon usage the Council approv'd of Communicating under one kind and decreed it to be observed as a Law And this the Council did by virtue of a pretended Power of the Church to appoint and to
Sacramental Practice For in Religion and even the Agendis of it the things to be done Faith and Practice are interwoven with each other the former must guide the latter The understanding must be right in its Belief before the Actions can be regular Now that Christ did ordain the Sacrament and command the Administration of it in after Ages in such a way as he himself had ordain'd and administred it are Credenda things to be believed tho' the Execution of or Obedience to the Command be a Practical So then the Church of Rome denying the Cup to the People and avowing it disobeying a Divine Command and maintaining that disobedience doth offend in a matter of Practice and Faith both For they do not barely omit a Practice or Duty but also oppose and evacuate a Divine Command and the obligation from it which are Objects of Faith And that Faith has to do in this Affair was the Judgment of the Council of Constance whenas they denounc'd Concil Constant Ibid. that an Assertion of the unlawfulness or sacriledge in administring in one kind only should be sufficient for a Man's Conviction of Heresie After all which has been discoursed in this Section it must be concluded that the Church of Rome have in their Half-Communion and peremptory defence of it departed from primitive Institution divine command and the Church's ancient general Vsage that Posterity has deserted Fore-fathers and therefore that Oral Tradition has not done its Duty SECT VII Secondly let us examine what the Agreement is of the Romanists among themselves And if we find them at difference then Tradition has not been so faithful as to bring Truth whole and sincere to them for if Tradition were full and uniform it would keep them at Vnity with one another But even among them there may be observed Parties who tho' in Complement they acknowledge one first Mover yet have each their counter-motions tho' that Church boast of their Harmony yet they have their discords only they are not so loud perhaps as those are among their Adversaries Let account be taken of some of their Civil Wars The Contests between the Jesuits and Dominicans concerning Grace and Freewil Predetermination and Contingency as also between the Molinists and Jansenists are well known The (a) Les provinciales or the Mistery of Jesuitism pag. 92. Doctrine of Probable Opinions and many practical Doctrines of the Jesuites questionless please themselves and likewise the (b) pag. 194. polite Saints and Courtier-like Puritans Yet others mislike them and believe they never descended from Jesus nor from his Apostle St. Peter The difference between the Cassandrians and the Church in communion whereof they live is so great as that it seems to be as it were one State within another State and one Church within another Church as (c) Mr. Daille Of the right use of the Fathers Lib. 1. Cap. 11. one reports who had reason to know Some will have the (a) Bellarm. De Concil Auctor Lib 2. Cap. 14. Pope to be above a Council others a Council to be above the Pope Some affirm that the Pope (b) Bellar. de Romano Pontif. L. 4. C. 2. cannot err Others that he may Some are for the Pope's plenary Power over the whole world both in Ecclesiastical affairs and also Political but others allow him (c) Idem de Pont. Rom. L. 5. C. 1. only a Spiritual Power directly and immediately yet in virtue of that spiritual Power to have likewise a Power indirectly and that the highest even in Temporal matters Of this latter Opinion Bellarmin himself was yet it seems the French denied the Pope's power in Temporals whether directly or but indirectly when as Bellarmin's (a) Gold in Repl. pro. Imp. cited by Dr. Crakanthorp of the Popes Tempor Monarchy Chap. 11. Book against Barclay in which Bellarmin defends the Popes Power over Princes was so detested by that State that in their publique Assembly they did prohibit and forbid any and that under the Pain of High Treason either to keep or receive or print or sell that Book (b) Exomolog C. 40. H. P. de Cressy calls Infallibility to him an unfortunate word confesses that Chillingworth has combated it with too too great success will have it that the Church of Rome maintains no more than an Authority and says he has reason moving him to wish that the Protestants may never be invited to Combat the Authority of the Church under the notion of Infallibility And to shew that he is not alone in this he makes very bold with the Council of Trent Ibid. and Pope Pius 4th if they are not on his side for he shelters his Opinion under a Decision of the former and a Bull of the latter concerning the Oath of the Profession of Faith And likewise Dr. Holden in his (d) Quem Cathel cae Fidei consonum inveni c. Approbation of Cressy's Book without any Censure of this passage says He found it consonant to the Catholique Faith If this be so as Cressy would sain have it to be then the Romanists and we are not at so much distance as we thought we had been for of an Authority of the Church there 's no dispute between us and them But sure there 's more in the case than so For the Roman Catechisme set forth by decree of the Council of Trent and by the Command of Pope Pius 5th (e) Quemadmodum haec una Ecclesia errare non potest in fidei ac morum disciplinâ tradendâ cùm a spiritu S. gubernetur ita c. Catech Rom. Cap. 15. Quest 15. says that the Church cannot Err in delivering Faith and Manners forasmuch as it is govern'd by the holy Spirit cannot Erre i. e. is infallible And this Church thus inerrable is that of the Roman Communion for the same Catechism (f) Quid de Romano Pontifice visibili Ecclesiae Christi Capite sentiendum est De eo fuit illo omnium Patrum ratio c. Ibid. quest 11. says a little before that the Roman Pontife is the visible Head of Christ's Church And the great Defender of the Romish Faith Card. Bellarmin affirms that (a) Catholici verò omnes constanter dâ—cent Concilia generalia a summo Pontifice confirmata non posse errare nec in fide explicandâ nec in tradendis morum praeceptis toti Ecclesiae communibus Bellarm. de Conciliorum Autoritate L. 1. C. 2. circa initium all Catholiques do constantly teach that General Councils confirm'd by the Pope cannot Err in Faith or Manners in explicating the one or in delivering Precepts about the other And in the same Chapter he adds that (b) Tota Autoritas Ecclesiae fermaliter non est nisi in Praelatis ergo idem est Ecclesiam non posse errare in definiendis rebus fidei Episcopos non posse errare Idem Ibid. Sect. ex his enim locis manifeste colligitur the whole
they are to know what and which be their Points of Faith But that Decider and Mouth is yet confessedly unagreed on Hence it must follow that Tradition is hurt is sorely wounded in its certainty in that it does not either bring down primitive Truths so cleerly that there needs no dispute about them or at the least certainly determine who shall be the Decider and infallible Mouth from which to receive the Decision of them but leaves them when disputes arise to wrangle it out among themselves as well as they can From the account which has been given it is manifest that the Points in which the Romanists dissent from one another are Points of Faith or else that those about which Protestants differ are not such the Tenents disagreed about among the Romanists being as material and influential as those controverted among the Protestant formed Churches or rather much more considerable Thus in the foregoing pages Oral Tradition has been tryed by Reason and by Experience the few passages of Scripture quoted being not intended for Proof of the Thing in Controversie but only us'd incidentally and in a sense which is obvious and is found guilty of so much uncertainty and failure that it deserves to be judg'd too insufficient to be trusted with the Conveyance of divine Truths down from their first Delivery through all succeeding ages But it may happen sometimes that there may be Arguments against a Thing so plausible and which may have so strong a seemingness of Demonstration as to engage the Judgment against it and yet there may be Arguments too for it so far more cogent and convincing as upon a weighing both to preponderate the other and to determine the Understanding to the affirmative part Let us see then whether the like may fall out in Oral Tradition and having alleged the proofs against its sureness and safety of Conveyance let us next consider what and how rational the Pleas are on its behalf and whether they are weighty enough to turn the Scales CHAP. V. The Arguments alleg'd for Oral Tradition SECT I. THE Defences brought for the certainty and infallibility of Oral Tradition are such as follow 1. It is pleaded that Oral Tradition is a (a) Sure Footing p. 114. Principle Self-evident to all Mankind who use common Reason that (b) Ibid. p. 53. Man's Nature is the Basis of it according to those faculties in him perfectly and necessarily subject to the Operations and Strokes of Nature i. e. his Eyes his Ears handling c. that the (c) Letter of thanks c. p. 87. 88. way of Tradition is as efficaciously established in the very grain of Man's Nature as what seems most natural the propagation of their kind that (d) Sure Footing p. 54. the virtue by which Tradition regulates her followers to bring down Faith unerringly is grounded on a far stronger Basis than all material Nature Answ Indeed a Principle Self-evident deeply founded and radicated in Man's very Nature and more strongly grounded than all material Nature deserves to be heedfully attended to and preserved inviolate But let these high strains be considered of 1. As to Self-evidence First Principles most properly are Self-evident being indemonstrable not borrowing but shining by a light of their own Such are It is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be The whole is greater than any Part. But in this Sense Tradition tho' the Author of Sure Footing calls it a (a) p. 114. first Principle is confess'd not to be Self-evident for he undertakes to demonstrate it as well a (b) p. 57. Priori as a Posteriori Therefore he says that there are Principles (c) Letter of thanks c. p. 24 25 26. Self-evident in an inferior manner not as incapable of demonstration but because they need none being presently assented to by all who have the use of their faculties the notions of them stealing universally into Mens understandings and there gaining a fix'd entertainment undiscernibly The Instances given are That in a square space 't is a neerer way to go from one corner to that which is opposite by the Diameter than to go by the two sides Or that things look less afar off and bigger nearer hand 'T is affirm'd that Tradition is a Self-evident Principle of this latter kind But Tradition is not a Self-evident Principle even of this latter kind That Testimony and Authority and Oral Tradition which is one sort of (a) That vast Testification we call Tradition Sure Footing p. 54. Testimony has room among the Topiques and is a seat of dialectical argumentation is evident enough its use and necessity in some cases have been acknowledg'd But That Oral Tradition is a certain infallible Medium That (b) Sure Footing p. 115. Councils general and provincial nay particular Churches are infallible by proceeding upon it is deny'd by Protestants to be Self-evident evident or but true And tho' it is not material what Protestants affirm or deny in other Points disputed between them and the Romanists farther than they can prove yet in this business their very denial is much sufficient because the Question is driven up to this viz. whether they are Owners of so much Reason as is common to all Mankind And let all judge who have had conversation with them whether as they are no inconsiderable part of Mankind so they have the use of Common Reason or no and as one Argument of this whether they deny such plain Propositions as were before instanc'd in or any the like which are the Sentiments generally of Mankind 2ly Which is of some kin to the former consideration forasmuch as the knowledge of first and Self-evident Principles is in some Sense natural Let Oral Tradition's Foundation in nature be examin'd 'T is confess'd that the Faculties of Seeing and Hearing the Memory Understanding Will and Affections are from Nature are natural to us that according to a Method of Nature outward Objects do excite the Faculties into Acts proper to each That they being in motion do influence upon one another The Senses inform the Understanding the Understanding trusts the Memory and gives impulses to the Will and Affections Suitable to this procedure in Nature I grant that Tradition strikes upon the Senses and those strokes are derived to the inward Faculties and cause variety of impressions there This is all which I can understand by the Faculties perfect and necessary subjection to the operations and strokes of Nature or by Traditions being grounded and engrain'd in Man's Nature But now how short is all this of a Proof that Tradition is infallible in the strength of any Basis it has in the Nature of Man Tho' our Faculties and their way of Operation be Natural yet the Operations or Exercises of them are not beyond a possibility of Error and mistake Sure all will allow that the very Senses are not undeceivable nor the Vnderstanding inerrable that the Memory is frail and leaky and that