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which, after the ascension of our Lord, are written in canonical truth and authority, although as yet he understands them not as he ought?" But, of all other, St. Chrysostom is, every where, most vehement and direct, in this point: amongst infinite places, hear what he saith, in one of his Homilies of Lazarus: "I do always exhort, and will never cease to exhort you," saith he*, "that you will not here only attend to those things, which are spoken; but, when you are at home, you continually busy yourselves in reading of the Holy Scriptures: which practice also I have not ceased to drive into them, which come privately to me. For, let no man say, Tush, they are but idle words, and many of them such as should be contemned: alas, I am taken up with law-causes: I am employed in public affairs: I follow my trade: 1 maintain a wife and children, and have a great charge to look to: it is not for me to read the Scriptures; but, for them, which have cast off the world, which have taken up the solitary tops of mountains for their dwellings, which live this contemplative kind of life continually.' What sayest thou, O man? Is it not for thee, to turn over the Scriptures, because thou art distracted with infinite cares? Nay, then it is for thee more than for them: for they do not so much need the help of the Scriptures; as you, that are tost in the midst of the ways of worldly business." And, soon after +: "Neither can it be possible, that any man should, without great fruit, be perpetually conversant in this spiritual exercise of reading." And, straight:"Let us not neglect to buy ourselves books, lest we receive a wound in our vital parts." And, after he hath compared the books of Scripture to gold, he addeth §: "But what, say they, if we understand not those things, which are contained in those books? What gain we then? Yes, surely, though thou dost not understand those things, which are there laid up; yet, by the very reading, much holiness is got: although it cannot be, that thou shouldst be alike ignorant of all thou readest: for, therefore, hath the Spirit of God so dispensed this word, that publicans, fishers, tentmakers, shepherds, and goatherds, plain unlettered men, may be saved by these books; lest any of the simpler sort should pretend this excuse, That all things, which are said, should be easy to discern; and that the workman, the servant, the poor widow, and the most unlearned of all other, by hearing of the word read, might get some gain and profit." And the same Father, elsewhere:

* Chrys. Hom. 3. de Lazar. Semper hortor, et hortari non desinam, ut non hic tantùm attendatis, &c. < Ego forensibus causis affixus sum, &c...uxorem alo et liberos: familie curam gero, &c...qui montium vertices occuparunt, &c.' Quid ais, homo? Non est tui negotii, Scripturas evolvere? &c...Imò tuum magis est, quàm illorum, &c.

+ Neque nunc fieri potest, ut quisquam, &c.

Ne negligumus nobis parare libros, &c.

§ Quid igitur, inquiunt, &c...publicani, piscatores, tabernaculorum opifices, pastores, el apostoli, idiotæ illiterati, &c. Note, that, which is read in Chrysostom, amorós, in some better copies is alóλs, which signifies goatherds, more agreeable to the place. Ut et famulus, et vidua mulier, et omnium hominum indoctissimus, exauditá lectione, aliquid lucri utilitatisque reportet.

"I beseech you," saith he *, "that you come speedily hither; and hearken diligently to the reading of the Holy Scriptures: and, not only when you come hither; but also at home take the Bible into your hands, and by your diligent care reap the profit contained in it." Lastly, in his Homilies upon the Epistle to the Colossians, he cries out t, "Hear, I beseech you, O all ye secular men; provide you Bibles, which are the medicines for the soul: at least, get the New Testament."

Now, on the contrary, let the New Religion of Rome speak: first, by her Rhemish Jesuits, thus: "We may not think, that the translated Bibles into the vulgar tongues were in the hands of every husbandman, artificer, prentice, boy, girl, mistress, maid, man; that they were sung, played, alleged of every tinker, taverner, rhymer, minstrel ‡." The like words of scorn and disgrace are used hy Hosius; and by Eckius; and by Bellar. de Verb. I. ii. c. 15. "The wise will not here regard," say our Rhemists, "what some wilful people do mutter, that the Scriptures are made for all men, &c." And, soon after, they compare the Scriptures to fire, water, candles, knives, swords; which are indeed needful, &c. but would mar all, if they were at the guiding of other than wise men. "All the heretics of this time," saith Bellarmin §, "agree, that the Scriptures should be permitted to all, and delivered in their own mother-tongue. But the Catholic Church forbids the reading of the Scriptures by all, without choice; or the public reading or singing of them in vulgar tongues: as it is decreed in the Council of Trent; Sess. 22. c. S. and Can. 9." "If you think," saith Duræus ||, "that Christ bade all Christians to search the Scriptures, you are in a gross error. For, how shall rude and ignorant men search the Scriptures? &c." And so he concludes, that the Scriptures were not given to the common multitude of believers.

Judge now what either we say, or these Papists condemn, besides the ancient judgment of the Fathers and if ever either Calvin or Luther have been more peremptory in this matter than St. Chrysostom¶, I vow to be a Papist. If ours be not in this the old religion, be not you ours.

(5.) Yet this one passage further, and then no more, lest I weary you.

Our question is, Whether the Scriptures depend upon the authority of the Church, or rather the Church upon the authority of the Scriptures:

Hear, first, the Ancient Church, with and for us.

Hom. in Gen. 29. Obsecro, ut subinde huc eveniatis, &c. ↑ In Coloss. Hom. 9. Audite, obsecro, seculares omnes, &c. Rhemists, in their Preface to their Testament.

§ Bellarm. de Verb. lib. ii. cap. 15. Hæretici hujus temporis omnes in co conveniunt, ut oporteat Scripturas omnibus permittere, imò et tradere in sua lingua, &c. At Catholica Ecclesia, &c. prohibet ne passim omnibus sine discrimine concedatur ejusmodi lectio, &c.

Duræus contra Whit. lib. vi. Si Christianis omnibus ut Scripturas scrutentur a Christo dictum esse intelligis, in magno certè errore, &c...Promiscuæ fidelium turbæ, &c. ¶ Basil. Ep. 82.

"The question is," saith St. Austin, "betwixt us and the Donatists, where the Church is. What shall we do then? shall we seek her in her own words, or in the words of her Head, the Lord Jesus Christ? I suppose we ought to seek her rather in his words, which is the Truth, and knows best his own body; for the Lord knows who are his. We will not have the Church sought in our words." And, in the same book; "Whether the Donatists hold the Church," saith the same Father †, "let them not shew, but by the canonical books of Divine Scriptures. For neither do we therefore say they should believe us, that we are in the Church of Christ, because Ŏptatus or Ambrose hath commended this Church unto us, which we now hold; or, because it is acknowledged by the Councils of our fellow-teachers; or, because so great miracles are done in it: it is not therefore manifested to be true and catholic: but the Lord Jesus himself judged, that his disciples should rather be confirmed by the testimonies of the Law and the Prophets: these are the rules of our cause: these are the foundations: these are the confirmations." And, upon the Psalms, "Lest thou shouldst err," saith the same Augustin ‡, "in thy judgment of the Church; lest any man should say to thee, This is Christ,' which is not Christ; or, This is the Church,' which is not the Church: for many, &c. Hear the voice of the Shepherd himself, which is clothed in flesh, &c. He shews himself to thee: handle him, and see. He shews his Church, lest any man should deceive thee under the name of the Church, &c." Yet Chrysostom, more directly, thus §: 66 He, that would know which is the true Church of Christ, whence may he know it in the similitude of so great confusion, but only by the Scriptures? Now the working of miracles is altogether ceased: yea, they are rather found to be feignedly wrought of them, which are but false Christians. Whence then shall he know it, but only by the Scriptures? The Lord Jesus therefore, knowing what great confusion of things would be in the last days, therefore commands, that those, which are Christians, and would receive confirmation of their true faith, should fly to nothing but to the Scriptures. Otherwise, if they fly to any other help, they shall be offended and perish; not understanding which is the true Church."

This is the old faith.

Now hear the New, contradicting it and us.

* Aug. de Unitate Ecclesiæ, sive Epist. contra Petilianum Donatistam, cap. 2. Inter nos autem et Donatistas quæstio est, ubi sit Ecclesia: quid ergo facturi sumus? in verbis nostris eam qua situri, &c.

† Aug. ibid. cap. 16. Utrum ipsi Ecclesiam teneant, non nisi Divinarum Scripturarum canonicis libris ostendant, &c. Quia nec nos propterea dicimus, &c.

Aug. in Ps. Ixix. in illa verba, Omnes qui quærunt te, &c. Ne in Ecclesiá errares, ne quis, &c. Multi enim dixerunt carnem non habuisse: ostendit, &c. So Ep. 166. and in Ps. lvii. &c.

§ Chrysost. Hom. in Matth. 49. Qui vult cognoscere quæ sit vera Ecclesia Christi, unde cognoscet nisi, &c.

"The Scripture," saith Eckius a Popish Doctor, "is not authentical, without the authority of the Church: for the canonical writers are members of the Church. Whereupon, let it be objected to a heretic, that will strive against the decrees of the Church, by what weapons he will fight against the Church: he will say, 'By the Canonical Scriptures of the Four Gospels, and Paul's Epistles.' Let it be straight objected to him, how he knows these to be canonical, but by the Church." And, a while after, "The Scripture," saith he †, "defined in a Council, It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, that you abstain from things offered to idols, and blood, and strangled. The Church, by her authority, altered a thing so clearly defined and expressed: for it useth both strangled and blood. Behold, the power of the Church is above the Scripture." Thus Eckius. And, besides Cusanus, Bellarmin saith t thus: "If we take away the authority of the present Church, and of the present Council," of Trent, all the decrees of all other Councils, and the whole Christian Faith may be called in doubt." And, in the same place, a little after §: "The strength of all ancient Councils, and the certainty of all opinions, depends on the authority of the present Church."

You have heard both speak: say now, with whom is true antiquity; and, in God's name, detest the newer of both.

It were as easy to bring the same, if not greater evidence, for the perfection and all-sufficiency of Scripture: and so to deliver all the body of our religion by the tongues and pens of the Fathers, that either you must be forced to hold them novelists with us, or yourselves such against them. How honest and ingenuous is that confession of your Erasmus ! who, in his Epistle to the Bishop and Cardinal of Mentz, could say, "It is plainly found, that many things in Luther's books are condemned, for heretical, which, in the books of Bernard and Austin, are read for holy and orthodox."

This is too much for a taste. If your appetite stand to it, I dare promise you full dishes. Let me, therefore, appeal to you, if light and darkness be more contrary, than these points of your religion to true antiquity. No, no: let your authors gloze as they list, Popery is but a young faction, corruptly raised out of ancient grounds.

* Eckius in Enchirid. c. De Ecclesiâ. Scriptura non est authentica, sine authoritate Ecclesiæ; scriptores enim canonici sunt membra Ecclesiæ. Unde, heretico, contendere volenti, &c.

† Eckius ibidem. Scriptura definit in Concilio, Visum est Spiritui Sancto, &c. rem tam clarè expressam et definitam, Ecclesia, suâ authoritate, mutavit, &c. Ecce potestas Ecclesiæ super Scriptura.

Si tollamus authoritatem præsentis Ecclesiæ et præsentis Concilii, in dubium revocari poterunt omnium aliorum Conciliorum decreta, et tota Fides Christiana &c. Bell. de Effectu Sacr. 1. ii. c. 25. p. 300.

§ Omnium dogmatum firmitas, &c. So Pigh. 1. i. de Hier. Ec. Stapl. 1. ix. Princ. Doct. c. 1.

Compertum est ab his damnata, ut heretica, in Lutheri libris, quæ in Bernardi Augustinique libris, ut orthodoxa, imò ut pia leguntur. Eras. Epist. ad Card. Mogunt. p. 401.

And if it have, as we grant, some ancient errors, falsehood cannot be bettered with age. There is no prescription against God and Truth. What we can prove to be erroneous, we need not prove new. Some hundreds of years is an idle plea, against the Ancient of Days.

3. What can you plead yet more for your change?

THEIR NUMBERS, perhaps, and OUR HANDFUlls. You heard all the world was theirs; scarce any corner ours. How could suspect a few?

you but

These are but idle brags. We dare and can share equally with them in Christendom. And, if we could not, this rule will teach you to advance Turkism, above Christianity; and Paganism, above that the world, above the Church; hell, above heaven. If any proof can be drawn from numbers, he, that knows all, says the best are fewest.

4. What then could stir you? OUR DIVISIONS, and THEIR UNITY :If this my following labour* do not make it good to all the world, that their peace is less than ours, their dissention more, by the confession of their own mouths, be you theirs still, and let me follow you. I stand not upon the scoldings of Priests and Jesuits; nor the late Venetian jars; nor the pragmatical differences now on foot, in the view of all Christendom, betwixt their own Cardinals in their Sacred Conclave, and all their Clergy, concerning the Pope's temporal power: neither do I call any friend to be our advocate: none, but Bellarmin and Navarrus shall be my orators; and, if these plead not this cause enough, let it fall. See here dangerous rifts and flaws; not in the outward bark only, but in the very heart and pith of your religion: and, if so many be confessed by one or two, what might be gathered out of all? and, if so many be acknowledged, think how many there are that lurk in secret, and will not be confessed? How loth would we be, after all exclamations, that your busy Jesuits could rake out so many confessed quarrels out of all our authors, as I have here found in two of yours! We want only their cunning secresy, in the carriage of our quarrels. Our few and slight differences are blazoned abroad, with infamy and offence: their hundreds are craftily smothered in silence.

Let your own eyes satisfy you in this, not my pen: see now, what you would never believe †.

5. What is it then, that could thus bewitch you to forsake the comely and heavenly truth of God, and to doat upon this beastly strumpet? to change your religion, for a ridiculous, sensual, cruel, irreligious faction?

A religion, if we must call it so, that made sport to our plain forefathers, with the remembrance of her gravest devotions! How oft have you seen them laugh at themselves, while they have told

"The Peace of Rome," left out, because it was but a Translation, in this edition, &c.

+ See "Advertisement to the Reader," and Note, at the end of this Dis course. EDITOR.

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