else he betrayed the Cause by appealing to a Medium which could not evince it For either the Nicene Council decreed the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father by Scripture without Tradition and then we have above three hundred venerable Fathers on our side or if they defin'd it in the strength of Tradition without Scripture or by Tradition sensing Scripture then St. August parting with the Council of Nice proceeding upon Tradition only or upon Tradition sensing Scripture left himself nothing or but the Letter of Scripture which according to our Adversaries wants all the properties of a Rule of Faith Sure Footing p. 29 to manage his Cause with By these Testimonies it is plain it cannot be that the Fathers should express themselves (a) Tho' some Fathers speak highly of Scripture as that it contains all Faith c. It is first to be mark'd whether they speak of Scripture sens'd or as yet to be sens'd and if the latter by whom c. Sure Footing p. 140. so highly of Scripture only so far as help'd and sens'd by Tradidition because as to the Being a Rule of Faith the Fathers separate Tradition from Scripture and set Scripture by it self Much more it is far from being (a) 'T is impossible they i. e. the Fathers should bâ—ld Scripture thus interpretable i. e. by other means thâ—n by Tradition the Rulâ— of Faith it being notorious that mâ—st Hereticks against whom they writ held it theirs And so had they held Scripture thus interpreted the Rule of Faith They could not have hâ—ld the Hereticks since they adbered stifly to that Root or Rule of Faith however they might err in many particular Tenents Ibid. p. 141. impossible that the Fathers should hold Scripture not interpreted by Tradition to be the Rule of Faith which yet is affirm'd And the Reason given is as weak as the Affirmation is untrue For if the Scripture not interpreted by Tradition could not be held to be the Rule of Faith because Hereticks adhering stifly to it as the Rule or Root of Faith could not be held as Hereticks then nor could Tradition be held to be the Rule of Faith because Hereticks as the (b) See Irenaeus quoted a little after Gnosticks and others sticking to Tradition as their Rule could not be held as Hereticks There 's a manifest parity of these Discourses and the latter is as concluding as the former But it is to accumulate injuries upon Scripture because the mistakes and perversness of Men abuse it by false glosses and compell'd deductions therefore to judge it fit it should forfeit its Authority Our blessed Lord who so condemn'd the Jewish Traditions held the Scripture of the Old Testament to be the Jew's Rule of Faith and the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection sure were held by him to be Hereticks and yet they disclam'd Tradition and adher'd stifly to Scripture only as the Root or Rule of Faith Certainly it is the impress and appointment from God which constitute a Rule of Faith make it to be such and Men prove Hereticks when they wilfully wrong pervert and wrest it but 't is wonderful that Hereticks acknowledging it to be the Rule of Faith i. e. paying to it what is due to it or a pretence that it favours their Errors which is a slander of it should unmake it a Rule of Faith render it impossible to be held to be such 2ly In enquiry about the second thing propos'd it must be consider'd that the word Tradition has more acceptions than one And that Tradition may be used to different Persons at different times in a divers manner and to several ends 1. Tradition is taken sometimes both in Scripture and Ecclesiastical Writers not for Oral delivery of Opinions and Practices to Posterity but for what is deliver'd by Writing and even in the Sacred Scriptures The Jew's Law and Rites are said to be such (a) Act. 6.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Moses Tradition'd and yet they were a part of the Old Testament St. Paul (b) 1 Cor. 15.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered to the Christians which he had also received that Christ dyed for our Sins which was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Scriptures (c) De Spiritu Sto. St. Basil says that our Baptisme in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is according to the very Tradition of our Lord and yet this is (a) Matth. 28.19 written with St. (b) Si ergo aut in Evangelio praecipitur aut in Apostelorum Epistolis aut Actibus continetur observetur etiam haec sancta Traditio In Ep. ad Pompeium Cyprian that is an holy Tradition which is either commanded in the Gospel or is contained in the Epistles and Acts of the Apostles 2ly It is observed that some of the Fathers had to do with such Hereticks as denied the Scriptures some part of them at the least and set up other writings in stead of them In dealing with such those Fathers were forc'd to have recourse to Tradition that so they might dispute with their Advesaries on such a Principle as they would allow and this in way of condescention 'T was thus with (c) Cum enim ex Scripturis arguuntur in accusationem convertuntur ipsarum Scripturarum quasi non rectà habeant neque sint ex autoritate quia variè sint dictae quia non possit ex his inveniri veritas ab his qui nesciant Traditioneâ— Non enim per literas traditam illam sed per vivam vocem ob quam causam c. Adversus baereses Lib. 3. Cap. 2. Irenaeus in his Contest with the Gnosticks Who says he when they are argued against out of the Scriptures accuse the very Scriptures themselves as if they were not right nor were of Authority sufficient and because their Sense is various and uncertain and because the Truth cannot be found in them by those who are ignorant of Tradition This made Irenaeus in opposition to their fictitious Tradition and pretended living Voice express himself the more respectfully of such Tradition as had brought down the Orthodox Doctrine from the Apostles in the several Churches Not that he preferr'd Tradition to Scripture for what his Judgment was of Scripture we have seen before and 't is the observation of (a) In Epist nuncupatoriâ Irenaeo praefixâ Erasmus that he fights against the Hereticks solis scripturarum praesidiis by the sole aid of Scriptures i. e. Scriptures were his chief Weapons and that if he took up Tradition 't was but occasionally upon the froward impudence of his Adversaries 3. We must distinguish of Times The Gospel was Preached before it was Written It was written too one part after another And when the whole was written the Copies could not presently be many and dispersed to all Christians especially the more new and remoto Converts Nay and had the Gospel never been written then the Church
what was so delivered was a necessary Point of Faith But when St. Paul praises the Corinthians that they (c) 1 Cor. 11.3.23 kept the Ordinances or Traditions as he delivered them when he tells them he had received that which also he delivered to them when he exhorts the Thessalonians (d) 2 Thes 2.15 to hold the Traditions which they had been taught whether by word or says he our Epistle when he commands them (a) 2 Thes 3.6 to withdraw themselves from every Brother that walks disorderly and not after the Tradition which he received from the Apostle there is nothing I say in these places which will necessarily infer that more was delivered by the Apostles than was or is written and that what was so delivered was a necessary Point of Faith through all Ages Why now it is a wonder that if God tho' he provided his Church with the Holy Scriptures yet pleas'd to enstate Oral humane Tradition in the great Office of sensing Scripture and of being the only Rule of Faith He did not so order it that Scripture should modestly acknowledge its Superior but rather let Scripture carry away all the honour from it 2ly A second reason why Oral Tradition can't plead so strong a Title to a protection by the Divine Providence as Scripture is this God's Providence does ordinarily co-operate with and prosper means answerably to their comportment with and likelihood to reach the end intended Now it has been before demonstrated how weak and uncertain Tradition is how fix'd and able Writings are to conserve Truths once delivered and therefore 't is rational to believe that the Divine Aid does much rather assist to the preservation of Divine Truths by the Holy Scriptures than by Oral Tradition the former being much more servicable to the promoting such an end than the latter Hitherto I have prov'd the continued preservation of Holy Scripture from proper Causes of such an Effect causes ministerial and supreme humane care and vigilancy and Divine special Providence SECT V. 4ly Scripture's Preservation is manifest from the Event Such have been the happy success of Divine Providence's watchfulness and of humane Care and Diligence that Christians do generally consent in this that the Holy Scriptures are de facto continued safe and pure to us in all things which are necessary to be believed and to be practised for the obtainment of Everlasting Happiness The Church of Rome professes to have the Scriptures and the Trent Council has defin'd the Vulgar Latin to be those Genuine Authentick Scriptures How true that Determination was for the Authentickness of the Vulgar Latin Bibles is not necessary for me to enquire 't is enough for me that they acknowledge a preserved Integrity of the present Scriptures So that there is not a Tenent which we have more strong inducement to believe upon the account even of Tradition than that the Divine Books the Scriptures which we have are indeed the Word of God and have been faithfully derived to us from the beginning there being no Tradition more universal for any Point than for this great important Truth tho' Christians may run wide from each other in other matters yet they close in this Center I conclude then seeing that the Holy Scriptures are much more fit to keep the Truths committed to them safe than Oral Tradition if they be preserved as has been prov'd and likewise that the Holy Scriptures are preserv'd as is generally confess'd and even by our Adversaries it must follow that not Oral Tradition but the sacred Scriptures are the surest and safest way of Conveyance of Divine Truths down from their Original delivery unto us which to demonstrate was the scope of this Undertaking CHAP. II. Objections answer'd SECT I. THere remain some things which perhaps may be apprehended to reflect on the Prelation I have given to Scripture above Oral Tradition in the point of preservation which next shall be considered Obj. 1. The (a) Almost innumerable variae lectiones in it still controverted Sure Foâ—ting p. 32. many variae lectiones divers Readings may seem to some a reason to question Scripture's descent to us in a sufficient Purity But Answ 1. 'T is a question whether all those which go under the name of Divers Readings do truly deserve that Title For I conceive that not every Translation of the Bible in whole or in part by whomsoever and from whencesoever as suppose by some very uncertain or justly suspected Author or not from the Originals but from some Versions of them no nor that every Copy of the Bible in the Original Languages found any where or whether of convenient Antiquity or not are sitting to Minister matter for various Readings of the Sacred Text i. e. are such as merit to be considered by Learned Men and may put them to the stand sometimes which is the truest Certainly none if any Translations at all but such as are immediately from the Originals have been perform'd by Authors of repute or if their Persons are not known who give in the work no jealousie of their Integrity none but Copies of sufficient Antiquity are considerable for such a purpose And if such a course and some other cations were us'd it may be a great part of the Army of almost innumerable variae Lectiones would be disbanded 2ly But let them stand as they are mustred by some they are not so formidable as to (a) Nay so many variae lectiones in the New Testament alone observed by one man my Lord Usher that he durst not print them for fear of bringing the whole Book into doubt Sure Footing Ibid. bring the whole Book into doubt and doubtless the excellent Lord Primate (b) Supposing he said so as the Author of Sâ—re Footing reports Vsher was more Good and Learned than to think so tho' perhaps he might judge the Printing of them to be less convenient not as if they were rationally conclusive of any thing really disadvantageous to Scripture but lest the Atheistical or the weak might take an occasion from them to disparage the Scripture which care to avoid the ministring occasion of scandal to others in Religious matters has ever been the wariness of the good and prudent But as for these divers Readings (c) Dr. Br. Walton late Lord B. of Ch. in Proleg 7. ad Biblia Polyglort Qui etiam citat in eundem sensum Lud. Capellum in Proleg 6. some of the most curious Collecters of them have not discern'd any alteration made by them in the Scripture which may wrong Faith or Manners (a) In quâ tamen tam longâ latâ a textu criginario discessione divinam tecum providentiam agnoscimus suspicimus quòd nulla extiterit tam damnosa inter utrosque textus differentia ut rectam fidem quae ad salutem est necessaria labefactaret aut laederet Jacobi Vsserii Armach ad Ludov. Cappellum Epist And the Reverend Arch-Bishop Vsher before named confesses and venerates
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
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
Vnity and Welfare of all the Churches and States in Christendom But Card. Bellarmine himself speaks high enough Says he (a) De quâ re agitur cùn de primâ—â—u pâ—ntificis agitur bâ—e issime dâ—cam de summà rei Christianâ—e Id enim quâ—eritur debeatne Fâ—â—lesia diutiùs consistâ—â—e 〈…〉 dâ—ssolâ—i con 〈◊〉 â—â—d eniâ— alâ—ud est 〈◊〉 an eporteat ab â—dificio fuâ—◠〈◊〉 nâ—uâ—nâ—r moâ—ere a greâ—e pasterem â—b exercitu imperatorem solâ—mâ—ab astris caput a corpore quà m an oporteat aedifictum ruere gâ—egem dissipari eâ—â—câ—um sued◠〈◊〉 obsâ—uâ—ari corpus iâ—cere Bellarm. In Praefatiâ—ne ad Libros de suâ—nmo pontifice habitâ in Gymnâ—sio Romano Anno. 1577. clica initium What Subject is treated of whilest the Primacy of the Roman Pontife is treated of I will tell you very briefly It is discours'd of the sum of Christianity For it is discuss'd whether the Church must longer remain entire or fall asunder and perish He goes on as in the Margent Why now if the Pope have a Power given him by Christ of Governing the Vniversal Church of Christ as was the definition of the Council of Florence apud Caranzam and the Christian Church be so infinitely concern'd in the Pope and his Government as is affirm'd then it can't be rationally questioned but that our Blessed Saviour and Lord the Head of the Church did declare his Pleasure concerning the true state of the Papal Office and Power to his Apostles and charg'd them to Communicate it to the Church to be preserved through all Ages The reason is because it can't be conceiv'd consistent with our Lord's Wisdom and Goodness to have established an universal Empire over Christians in Peter and his Successors and yet not to have determined and given a punctual Scheme of that Power and Jurisdiction and consequently of Christians due obedience and dependance seeing that as is pretended such a Power was design'd for the guidance and preservation of all Christians in Truth Holiness and Peace For the Papal Power without such a clear stating of it would be utterly insufficient for attaining such glorious Ends. That which was intended to prevent and to compose differences would be it self an unhappy occasion of the greatest ruptures as it proves to be at this day Forasmuch then as the Papacy is so transcendent an Interest of the Christian Church in the claim of our Adversaries and that in plain reason the fixation and certainty of the Pope's Inerrability and of the just latitude of his Power is so necessary to a fit discharge of the Papal Office for the behoof of the Church and that therefore Christ was not wanting in the Revelation and Communication of it to his Apostles and Church Hence it follows that because the Romanists are so uncertain disagree so much about it therefore they differ among themselves not in Theological Quodlibets or meer speculative niceties but in very grave and substantial Points let them call them Points of Faith or by what other names they please and which the Church was at the first instructed in 4ly Between the infallibility of the Church which the (a) Suprà Trent Catechism affirms in which are contain'd the (b) Sacrae Synodi decreto Catechismus consâ—ribitur certaque formula ratio Christiani populi ab ipsis fidei rudimentis instituendi In Epist dedicat grounds and principles of the Roman Faith and which (c) Bellarm. suprà all Catholicks teach and the Authority of the Church only which was (d) Suprà Cressie's belief in which he was confirm'd (e) Exomol Cap. 41. by very Learned Catholicks there is a very wide difference and there are consequent very divers obligations and effects For if the Church cannot err then what it proposes ought to be believ'd as soon as it is made known and understood But if the Church may err and have an Authority only then its Articles and Canons may be soberly examin'd by some standard which is infallible and accordingly as they shall be found to agree with it or to contrariate it to yield or to suspend Belief quietly and without more noise than what a meek submission to the Church's censure makes or also Obedience to the Church's Authority may be a disobedience to the higher and supreme Authority of God who commands Christians Orthodoxy of Belief as well as holiness of Life I must not omit that even about this so weighty Subject which we are now upon viz. Oral Traditions being the only Rule of Faith the Romanists are not at accord among themselves as I touch'd in the Preface (a) De verbo Dei non scripto Lib. 4. Cap. 12. Sect. Dico Secundò Bellarmine held that the Word of God or Revelation made by God was the whole and entire Rule of Faith And this he says is divided into two partial Rules Scripture and Tradition If Scripture be in Part a Rule and Tradition a Rule but in Part then in the judgment of Bellarmine Tradition is not the onely Rule of Faith And no question but still there are those who are of Bellarmines mind There 's a Confession of (b) The Title of the 9th Par. of the 3d Dialo is that the dissention of the Catholique Doctors concerning the Rule of Faith doth not hurt the certainty of Tradition Rushworth that there is a Dissension of the Catholique Doctors concerning the Rule of Faith but he says that this does not hurt the certainty of Traditions To clear which and to satisfy the Nephews Scruple grounded on this Dissension the Vncle says Truly Cousin your Objection is strong yet I hope to content you For I see no great matter in the variety of Opinions amongst our Divines c. See what follows in the Margent (c) For you see they seek out the Decider of Points of Doctrine i. e. by whose mouth we are to know upon occasion of dispute what and which be our Points and Articles of our Fà ith to wâ—t whether the Pope or a Council or both Which is not much Material to our purpose whatever the truth be supposing we acknowledge no Articles of Faith but such as have descended to us by Tradition from Christ and his Apostles Rushworth Ibid. But under savour this variety of Opinions is very Material For tho' suppose all Romanists should agree to acknowledge no Articles of Faith but such as have descended to them by Tradition from Christ and his Apostles should agree to acknowledge this in general yet if they are still to seek if it be still unresolved among them who is the decider of Points of Doctrine i. e. by whose mouth they are to know upon occasions of dispute what and which determinately be their Points and Articles of Faith then there must be an uncertainty among them about the Points and Articles of Faith For the belief of Articles of Faith can be no more certain no more fix'd and uniform than the Deciders and Mouths are by which
been said it is more than likely that there may have been Obreptions points of Faith and Religious Practice may have been materially changed and yet no great Tumult have been rais'd in the Christian Common-weal no Schisme because perhaps the Innovations rush'd not in the whole at once but convey'd themselves into the Church in a Climax insinuated themselves by sly and gradual Transitions therefore with the less if any observations especially might this surprize be undiscern'd in blind and irreligious Ages 2. Secondly as for notice of the changes of Opinions and Practices from Church-Histories So great is the use of Ecclesiastical Histories that we may with reason wish we could rather boast of a plenty than complain of their scarcity which yet Learned Men do especially considering the great extent of the Christian Church for Time and Place which necessarily afforded as huge a variety of Events and Revolutions (a) Is Casaub in Proleg ad Exercitat For above 200 years after the Apostles till Eusebius Pamphilus there was none who did more than begin to designe some History of the Church rather than seriously set about it For a considerable while after the six hundreth year that (b) Idem Ibid. Learned Man quoted in the Margent doubts whether to call those Ages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Times of Portentiloquie or of Ignorance But there are those who say as much or more and were Sons of the Church of Rome The great (c) Nulla res ita hactenus negligi vis est ac rerum Ecclesiasticarum gestarum vera certa exactâ diligentiâ perquisita Narratio Baron in Praefatione ad Annal. Tom. prim Annalist confesses That nothing seem'd to have been so much neglected as a true and certain and exact History of Ecclesiastical Affairs And before Him it was acknowleg'd by (d) Maximum saepenumero dolorem cepi dum ipse mecum reputo quà m diligenter Acta verò Apostolorum Martyrum deinque Divorum nostrae Religionis ipsius sive crescentis Ecclesiae sive jam adultae opâ—rta maximix tenebris ferè ignorari Fuere qui magna pietatis loco ducerent mendacia pro religione confingere Lib. 5. de Trad. Discipl .. Ludovicus Vives That the Acts of the Apostles of the Martyrs and of the Saints and the Concerns of the Church both growing up and grown were unknown being conceal'd under very great darkness In this penury of Ecclesiastical History how much of the Changes in the Church with an abundance of other very memorable accidents must have perished In those Histories which were Written and are still extant we can expect no more than the most remarkable Occurrents in the respective Ages of which the Authors wrote if all those That a Change in the Church should be remarkable it was requisite that it should raise a Storm cause a Publick disquiet and Breach of Communion which yet might not have hapned tho' there were an Alteration in material Points as has been shewn above and therefore Church-Histories if we had more of them to speak might be silent of it And yet notwithstanding Protestants can say more viz. That Ecclesiastical Writings are not so wholly unintelligencing but that they do report when and how several Points of the Romanists controverted between them and us got into the Church how and by whom they were observ'd and resisted in the several Ages of the Church For which among others (a) Way to the true Ch. p. 195 196 c. Dr. J. White may be seen But I am not engag'd necessarily to insist on this having said what is sufficient before SECT V. Scriptures Councils and Fathers were (b) Sure Footing p. 126 c. once drawn into the Field to engage in the defence of Oral Tradition but upon after thoughts a Retreat is sounded to Two of them For the Author of Sure Footing says That he Discourses from his Scriptural Allegations but (c) Letter of thanks p. 106. Topically and that in Citation of them he proceeds on such Maximes as are ut'd in Word-skirmishes on which account he believes that those Texts he uses sound more favourably for him than for us But in Word-skirmishes i. e. Appearances ministred from Words which may afford to a pleasant Sophister an opportunity of making passages seem to favour his Hypothesis when really they do not so I have no inclination to deal and I conceive such a wordy velitation to be below the Gravity of the Cause depending between us and our Adversaries Next the Author disclaims his Quotations of (a) Ibid. p. 105. Councils to be intended against Protestants if so then I am not obliged to take notice of them As for the Fathers I know all Protestants do declare that they do highly value the Fathers to such a degree as can be justly demanded from them and as the Fathers themselves were they now living would require from them And concerning their Testimonies both of Holy Scripture and of Tradition something shall be said in the Second Part and there on a particular occasion I have now dispatch'd the First Part of my Undertaking and have evinc'd from the Nature of Oral Tradition from Experience or Event and also by Answer to the Defenses brought for it That it is a very unsafe and insufficient Conveyance of Divine Truths down from their Original Delivery unto us And here I might rest thinking that I had compleated my work if I might be allow'd to discourse after the manner of the * P. 52. Author of Sure Footing with the change only of a few words and to say There being only two grounds or Rules of Faith own'd namely delivery of it down by Writing and by Words and Practices which we call Oral and Practical Tradition 't is left unavoidably out of the impossibility that Oral and Practical Tradition should be infallible as a Rule that Sacred Scriptures must be such and therefore that they are the surest Conveyance of faith But I shall not so crudely conclude my enquiry but shall in a Second Part prove Holy Scriptures to be the most safe immediate Conservatory and Conveyance of Divine Truths down from their first Delivery unto all after Ages Only having been large in the First Part I suppose I may be the briefer in the Second PART II. Sacred Scriptures are the safest Conservatory and Conveyance of Divine Truths down from their Original Delivery through succeeding Ages CHAP. I. SECT I. IF we may collect the Judgment of Mankind from their Practice we may believe that in the Conveyance of Matters of Moment to Posterity they judge the Precedence due to Writings about Oral Tradition because they so commonly commit things of that nature to Books tho' they know the Books themselves must be trusted with Tradition and Providence How much more should this Practice take place in Religion which concerns Men as highly as their Blessedness does And besides common Practice there 's great reason why the
(a) Ioh. 20. uit written that we might believe and believing have life and which were (b) Rom. 15.4 written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope but how could they attain those ends if they should perish if this light were extinguish'd how much in the dark and forlorne would Man be This peculiar watchfulness of God over the Scriptures is acknowledged by the Romanists (c) Ita velente Deo ut verae lectionis â—ntegrâ—tas quam hominum velmalitia vel negligentia corâ—uperent in partibus in totâ saltem Ecclesiasticorum codi um universitate servâ—retur ne Ecclesia Christi per aliquod tempus divinarum Scripturaâ—um integritate careret Bibl. Sanct. p. 727. Sixtus Senensis attributes the preserved incorruptness of the sacred Text to the Will of God And Bellarmine (d) De verbo Dei L. 2. C. 2. Quintum ultimum argumentum argues from the Divine Providence for the preservation of the Old Testament from any injury by the Jews Indeed he entitles Tradition likewise to Gods special care as the (a) Cura ista non incumbit praecipue hominibus sed Deo Praeter-providentiam Dei quae est praecipua causa De verbo Dei non Scripto Lib. 4. C. 12. principal cause of its pretended safety And this is a Confession that God is in a particular manner the Guardian of that by which he communicates his Mind and Pleasure to Man for such a thing i. e. The unwritten word of God he held Tradition to be But certainly Tradition can't lay a just claim to such an interest in Divine Providence as the Scripture 1. For first besides what I have before prov'd to the just diminution of Oral Tradition there was a providential dismission of it and choice of Scripture to be the Conveyance of Gods revealed Will to his Church through successive Ages For whenas Oral Tradition had been in use for that purpose before the Flood and some while after it and great had been the untrustiness of it at the length God writ his Law Himself and commanded what was written to be kept with a great religious care Afterwards as Moses the Prophets and Hagiographers were inspir'd their Revelations were written so far as was necessary to the Church's Edification And when the People were in danger of seduction and it behoved them to seek to their God for instruction they were sent not Children to their Traditioning Fathers Is S. 19 20. but to the Law and to the Testimony and they were told that those who spoke not according to that word it was because there was no light in them Yes and when the Church was generally corrupted and therefore Tradition had not done its Duty the Churches relief was not from the living voice of testifying Fathers but from the Scripture according to whose Canon abuses were reformed And for this Reformation and because in it he perform'd the words of the Law which were written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the house of the Lord Josiah stands renowned in Sacred Story with this Character Like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might 2 Kin. 23 24 25. according to all the Law of Moses c. This way of securing Revelations by writing was continued under the Gospel as we have them in the Evangelists the Epistles the Acts and the Revelation And this course was as needful under the Gospel as under the legal Oeconomy if not more For it being intended by God that the Gospel should be propagated beyond the narrow Confines of Judaea where the Scriptures of the Old Testament had lodg'd for hundreds of years throughout the World and among so many Nations of such different Complexions Customs and Interests there was the more danger it should be disguis'd if it had been committed to the frailty of an Oral Tradition as we know that the more Mouths Relations pass through the more subject they are to alterations from their primitive truth through the ignorance mistakes prejudices prepossessions or wilfulness of the Relators Whereas a Writing being preserved is a perpetual standard by which to correct any such changes for in these Truth would be most likely still to appear in its first Integrity Thus I have shew'd how that after an experienc'd unsuccessfulness of Oral Conveyance God appointed another way and so ordered it that Law and Gospel should be written Now if after and notwithstanding such a Provision yet it should be God's intent that Oral Tradition only should have the prerogative to sense Scripture and that Faith should be lastly resolved into Oral Tradition and therefore that This not Scripture should be the only Rule of Faith it must needs seem strange and unaccountable to a-any rational Christian how it should come to pass that in the Sacred Scriptures there should be so many and such high (a) Ps 19.7 8 9 10 11. Ps 119. passim 2 Pet. 1.19 20 21. Eph. 6.17 Heb. 4.12 Encomiums of them that our Saviour should bid the Jews (b) Ioh. 5.39 search the Scriptures should tell them they (c) Matth. 22.29 err'd not knowing the Scriptures (d) Matth. 22.42 Ioh. 10.34 35 36. should dispute with and baffle them out of the Scriptures and by them (e) Luke 24.25 26 27. confirm his Disciples in the Truth that his Apostles should proceed in the same manner with the Jews That the (f) Act. 17.11 12. Beraeans should be commended for searching the Scriptures daily whereupon many of them believed that St. Paul should mention it to Timothy (g) 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. as an encouragement or engagement of him to continue in the things he had learned that he from a Child had known the holy Scriptures and that he should presently add a description of Scripture than which a more full one sure can't be us'd of the Rule of Faith viz. That it is able to make wise unto Salvation through the Faith which is in Christ Jesus that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnish'd unto all good works I say it is mighty strange that Scripture should be thus magnified and yet none of all this should be said there of Tradition Nay that either Tradition should be mentioned with disgrace as when our Saviour (a) Matth. 15.2 3. condemns the Jew's Traditions of their Elders and St. Paul (b) Col. 2.8 warns the Colossians to beware lest any Man spoile them after the Tradition of Men or where the word is found yet that the sense of it should not be useful to our Adversaries purpose which that it might be it must be sufficient to prove that there was more delivered by the Apostles than was written and that
Deòrum cultu adversus Christianos Every People have their custome each their Rites Now if long time can give authority to Religions belief is to be given to so many ages and we ought to follow our Fathers who have happily follow'd Theirs Unto which the Christian Poet Prudentius replyes to this Sense If there be such a studiousness and care of Antique Custome and it pleases not to depart from old Rites There is extant in antient Books He means the Scriptures a Noble Instance that even in the time of the Deluge or before the Family or People who first inhabited the new Earth and dwelt in the empty World serv'd but one God whence our continued Race derives its pedigree and reforms the Laws of the Piety of the Native Country Si tantum sludium est cura vetusti Moris a prisco placet haud descedere ritu Extat in antiquis exemplum Nobile libris Jam tunc diluvii sub temporae vel priùs Vni Insâ—rvisse Deo gentem quae prima recentes Incoluit terras vacuoque habitavit in Orbe Vnde genus ducit nostrae porrecta propago Stirpis indigenae pietatis jura reformatis Aurel Prudentius contra Symmachum Lib. 2. SECT III. The State of Religion being so craz'd the world being so corrupt in Opinion and Practice God vouchsafed to reveal Himself to Abraham and the other Patriarchs and at the last singled out the posterity of Abraham for his peculiar People Ps 78.5.6.7 8. Deut. 6.6 17. and established a Testimony in Jacob appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded the Fathers that they should make them known to their Children That the Generation to come might know them even the Children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children that they might set c. Among these Laws God commanded the owning and Worship of himself exclusively of all pretended Deities whatsoever He prescribed in the greatest accuracy the Substance and very punctilio's of his worship And to fence these sacred Injunctions the better to preserve them from violation at the first delivery of them God strook an holy dread into the People by Thundrings and Lightnings and a thick Cloud so that all in the Camp trembled Exod. 19.16 nay so terrible was the sight that Moses himself said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.21 And to make all the more sure there was superadded an explicite and formal Covenant between God and the people solemniz'd with the sprinkling of Blood part of it on the Altar Exod. 24.3 4.5 and part on the People and all the People answered with one Voice and said All the words which the Lord hath said will we doe What a large and exact Provision was here made for the safe descending of what God had committed to the People unto all Generations and for the making them trusty Traditioners yet how strangely were they ever and anon declining from the purity of what had been delivered to them Fathers and Children prophaning the Divine Worship and dishonouring God by the mixtures of Heathenish Rites and Idolatrous Abominations In the Chain of Tradition the first Link broke That very People who had so lately trembled at Mount Sinai yet tho' still so near that Mount danced before a Golden Calf saying These be thy Gods Exod. 32.4 O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt If this fall out so early how much more likely was it that the conveyance of Religion in its purity to after Ages should fail And the event was answerable The Books of Judges Kings and Chronicles and of several of the Prophets so abound in examples of almost perpetual and general defections from the Ancient Faith and Practice that many quotations are needless two will be enough 1. In the Reign of Ahab Elijah mourn'd to God that he only was left of the true Worshippers in Israel at the least of the true Prophets 1 Kings 19.10.18 and that even his life was in danger And tho' the All-seeing God comforted him by the account of seven thousand who had not bow'd the knee to Baal Yet as it seems this was to Elijah an invisible Church so what were these seven thousand to the multitudes of the rest of Israel 2ly In Judah so great and criminous was the Falling off from what God had antiently ordain'd that good Josiah rent his Clothes when he heard the words of the Books of the Law read 2 Kings 22.11 and compar'd former and present Practice with what was there commanded Such were the Apostasies of the Jewish Church from Primitive Doctrine and instituted Worship and for a long time and without any relief and restitution from Oral Tradition the intervening Reformation in Josiah's Reign was ow'd to the Holy Scriptures 2 Kings 23.2 3. Till God reveng'd those miscarriages sharply but very righteously first upon the ten Tribes and afterwards upon the remaining two The two Tribes after seventy years Correction return'd home re-built their City and Temple But in time they split into several Sects which were so many degeneracies from the first Purity of their Religion Our Blessed Lord reprov'd them for their corrupt Traditions as being a vain Worship Math. 15.3.9 and Evacuations of the Commandments of God The Jews have amongst them an Oral Tradition expository of the Law Written and given as is said by them by God to Moses intrusted by Moses with Joshua and the seventy Elders and by them transmitted down from one Generation to another This that People have in (a) Video Hebraeos omnes Legem quae per os tradita est tanti facere ut eam non modò aequent Legi Scriptae sed longe anteferant tanquam animam corpori quò sine eâ impossibile sit ut ipsis videtur Legem Scriptam intelligere aut observare adeoque sine eâ Lex tota non sit nisi corpus â—ine Spiritu c. Episcopii Instit Theol. L. 3. C. 4. very high estimation preferring it to the very Scriptures and honouring it with room in their Creed of which one Article is (a) Leo Modena History of the present Jews c. Translated by Mr. Chilmead p. 248. I believe that the Law which was given by Moses was wholly dictated by God and that Moses put not in one Syllable of himself And so likewise that that which we have by Tradition by way of Explication of the Precepts of the other hath all of it proceeded from the Mouth of God delivering it to Moses Yet Learned Men judge this fardle of Traditions to be a very (b) Episcop Ibid. Cap. 6. per toâ— Figment and that in some Age or other Ancestors have impos'd on the Credulity of their Posterity that Tradition has recommended to them That as deriving from God which never had so sacred and infallible an Author After the foregoing Observation of the Church and how little agreeingly with it's first Model Tradition preserv'd it for two
and this by virtue of the hopes of an Heaven and fears of an Hell For how strongly soever these might be applied to the minds of the first Believers yet that so strong and effectual an Application of them was made by all Fathers to all their Children through all after Ages so that the (a) Ibid. Cause should be always actually causing is uncertain nay very improbable for the Reasons before given 3ly If a less number may be a sufficient party to make a Tradition then meerly the comparative fewness of (b) Catal. Testium veritatis Aâ—rian Râ—gen in Histor Eccles Sâ—avonic Dr. Field in the Appendix to the 3d. Book of the Church those who through several former ages held some fewer some more of the Points in which we Protestants differ from the Romanists and that thy mov'd Eccentricks to the generality of Christians of their times is no rational Objection against them and their Tenents as if they were not truly Primitive nor in a parity of Reason did it justifie the Romanists Tenents that they had got so large a Possession of the Western World nor consequently did our Fathers deserve to be call'd Deserters of Tradition because they departed from some Tenents and Practices of the Roman Church which had stolen the general Vogue in some former blind Ages For 't is not affirm'd that the greatest number of Christians but only a great Part and a Body of them would be trusty Traditioners A great Party absolutely considered may be but little comparatively and the Minimum quod sic in the case we are not told Therefore the general Prevalency of certain Romish Tenents at and before the Secession did not conclude them to be therefore justified by Tradition properly so called nor did the bare comparative Paucity suffice to condemn them of Innovation who made the Secession SECT III. 3ly To assure Oral Tradition's infallibility it is press'd that there is an (a) Sure Footing p. 236 237. Author of Sure Footing Ibid. Obligation on Posterity to believe their Ancestors in a matter of Fact or a matter delivered to have been not thought or deem'd but done And 't is confidently added I make account there is not a Man in the World or ever was such is the goodness of rational Nature given us by God who in his natural thoughts could ever raise such a doubt or think he could possibly frame his thoughts to a belief of the contrary And it appears at first sight to be a strange distortion or rather destruction of humane Nature which can so alter it The Instances given in which Posterity is obliged to believe Ancestors are (a) Ibid. p. 217. Alexander's conquering Asia (b) Ibid. p. 236 237. William the Conqueror's Harry the Eights and Mahomet's Existence (c) Ibid. p. 219. 220 221. The proof of the Obligation on Posterity not to believe contrary to Forefathers from Age to Age is thus proceeded in viz. The second Age after the first was obliged to believe the first Age because they saw with their Eyes what was done The third Age was obliged to believe the second tho' they saw it not because the second Age could not be deceived in what the first Age told them and they must be conceived so honest and withal such to be the disinteressedness of the position that they would not conspire to deceive the third Age and so those of the third Age have the first Ages Authority applied to them And by virtue of this same Argument the same effect will be upon the fourth fifth and five hundreth Age. This is the full substance to the best of my understanding of the Author's Argumentation Ans In reply to this If the matter of Fact be but some general thing such as the Author himself has given Example of there may be the more of Truth in this Procedure but then there 's little in it it comes not home enough to our business But if the things done or spoken at or about the same time were divers or if the thing tho' one were wrap'd in several circumstances then the first Eye or Ear-Witnesses might for want of a more close and steady attention mistake or forget some partitulars and so might misreport and therefore might justly be disbelieved or the second Witnesses from the first though suppose things were truly and punctually reported to them by the first yet might misunderstand or forget something if not much of what was related to them or if there should be no misinformation by the second Witnesses yet the third might misapprehend or not well remember what the second told them The same may be said of the Witnesses in the fourth remove or age with regard to the third and of those in the fifth with respect to these in the fourth and so unto the five hundredth till after a discent through so many hazards and chances what was done or spoken at the first be at length wholy altered or become very unlike to its Primitive self Seeing then there may be such failures in successive Testifyings how can a Man be bound to believe conformably to Forefathers especially when as perhaps he is distant hundreds of Successions from the speaking or doing the thing testified of I may confirm the uncertainty of successive Testifyings through Ages by a passage of an Adversary (a) Rushworth Dial 2. Sect. 7. He putting the Question whether the very rehearsing and citing anothers words do not breed uncertainty and variety resolves it in the affirmative 'T is true he aimes at the invalidating Scriptures certainty in conveying to after-Ages the mind of the Authors but what he writes is adaptable to words spoken as well as written For answerably to what he discourses (b) Let us suppose the writer himself play the Translator as for Example that our Saviour himself having spoken in Hebrew or Syriak the holy writer is to express his words in Greek or Latin And farther that this which we have said of Translations be as truly it is grounded in the very nature of divers Languages therefore unavoidable by any Art or Industry will it not clearly follow that even in the Original Copy written by the Evanlists own hand there is not in rigor the true and self-significant words of our Saviour but rather a Comment or Paraphrase explicating and delivering the Sense thereof Nay let him have written in the same Language and let him have set down every word and syllable yet men conversant in noting the changes of meaning in words will tell you that divors accents in the pronunciation of them the turning of the Speakers Head and Body this way or that way the allusion to some Person or to some precedent discourse or the like may so change the Sense of the words that they will seem quite different in writing from what they wree in speaking Rushworth Ibid. And the Title of the next the 8th par is The uncertainty of Equivocation which of necessity is incident
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.
in all Writings in the Margent Points of Faith in the Oral Tradition of them must have as pass'd from one Country to another so been clothed in variety of Languages the divers Accents in the pronuntiation of the words passing thro' multitudes of mouths the divers turnings of the Speakers Head or Body this way or that way the allusion to some precedent discourse or the like may change the Sense of words when spoken by one from what they were when spoken by another as well as make them different in writing from what they were in speaking and Equivocation too is incident to words spoken as well as written So that if for these reasons the Conveyance of the Faith antiently spoken or preach'd by Scripture will be uncertain as is said for the same reasons if they are truly reasons the sense and meaning of the Divine Planters of the Faith will as uncertainly descend to us by an Oral Tradition All this while I have mentioned only casualties and the more innocent infirmities as shortness in understanding inheedfulness in Memory incident to Testifiers on the score of which there may be a misrepresentation of things tho' there be no Conspiracy to deceive But then if the question be concerning the Soberness and Integrity of all the Testifiers what assurance can be given of them There is a proneness in Men not alone out of inadvertency and precipitancy but also out of capriciousness and ambition to be an Author to substract to to add to to alter Stories which meeting with Credulity in others as it often happens the Stories and their Errata pass currant and uncorrected Besides if there be not such a disinteressedness of the Position or thing testified which frequently falls out then the Honesty and Fairness of the Testifiers in their Relation may be the more questionable and others may be the more suspending in their Belief I suppose what I have said is enough to shew the descent of Testifications from Age to Age to be liable to great failures especially if it be applied to Religion where the Articles of Faith the Sacred Practices and Senses of Scripture which concern all these are so many and withal there are so many and so tempting Diversions of Men as has been above proved But here it is replyed that Religion is rather a Remedy of the failures attending on the descent of Testimonies And to prove a far greater steadiness of Oral Tradition in Religion's Affairs than in any other there are (a) Sure Footing p. 224 225 226 227 228. alleg'd the great Divine Author of Religion the superlative Interest of Mankind in it the publick miraculous Confirmation of it the Preaching and Reception of it in all even the remotest parts of the World the entertainment of it among the first Christians when they were at Age to judge of the Miracles and Motives to Christian Religion and among the after Christians when they were yet scarce able to speak much less to judge and taught by Nature to believe their Parents And from hence are inferr'd an incomparable recommendableness in Religion and an Obligation to believe and to practise it and likewise a most forcible Obligation on Children to believe Parents attesting to it Answ I acknowledge that to be true which is alleg'd in the just commendation of Religion and that it does deserve and bind to a zeal diligence and sincerity in the Treatment of it far above what Men bestow on any worldly thing whatsoever I question not also but that the incomparable remarkableness of Religion did fix deep and indeleble Impressions on the Christians of the first Age and on all afterwards who have known how to value love and tender it answerably to its true worth But this is that at which I stop i. e. Whether Christians have in all Ages so cherish'd the even now named virtues for Religion as to send it down to us without any disguises and in its genuine and first Integrity and this by virtue of an Oral Tradition and of Fathers long continued testifying to their immediate Descendents whether they have not been too cold and careless for it or too whether their zeal for want of a governing Prudence has not sometimes transported them from one Error to an opposite one Whether they have been so single and upright in the Maintenance of the Truths of Religion as the Simplicity of it does require especially may we doubt of this Candor and Ingenuity in those who hold the Doctrine of Equivocation I think that he who has considered the Genius of Mankind will see it probable enough that Christians may have given worldly Interests and corrupt Passions too great a Preference in their dealing with Religion the particular Truths and Practices of it And that were it not for some Leading Men Persons of Parts and Spirit who sometimes sway the Age in which they live and yet these too may be overborn by a dissenting Multitude the most would be too prone to turn almost with every wind that should blow and to steer their Course thither whence they might look for the greatest Temporal ease and advantage And this Men might do and yet (a) Sure Footing p. 230. not as a pack of impudent Knaves that conspir'd to abuse their Posterity purposely to damn them For Men may act contrarily to their Duty and to the wrong of themselves and of theirs eventually nay too often do so and yet not out of a desperate and form'd purpose to destroy either From what has been discours'd it follows that the incomparable recommendableness of Religion and its obligingness to be believed do not conclude a continued and necessary obligation upon Children to believe their Parents through all Ages And yet suppose that there were such an Obligation upon Children to believe their Fathers unless Children did believe such an obligation incumbent on them Oral Tradition would be still failable For then Children Posterity would take the liberty to judge for themselves and to vary from the Fathers as they should see reason for it Or if they should believe as Fathers did it would be casual Therefore to make all sure 't is (a) Sure Footing p. 215 216. own'd and undertaken to be proved That every Age in the Church and all Persons in it look'd upon themselves as obliged not to vary in any thing from the Doctrine and Practice of the precedent Age. Yet I cannot discern in all the following Pages of that Author any proof of this but only an attempt to prove an Obligation on those in every Age to believe those of the precedent Age. But as this Obligation has been sufficiently disprov'd so yet if it were true could it infer that they in every Age look'd upon thought themselves obliged to believe those of the Ages foregoing for 't is notorious that Men do not always think themselves oblig'd to believe and to do that which yet they are really obliged to believe and to do But I can't discover any Indication