to misunderstand the Apoftles, and to believe o therwife than the Apostles taught: But pray now, tell me then, how fo many famous Churches came all to stumble upon one and the fame Faith? For fuch a prodigious Number of Men cou'd never come by chance to hit exactly upon the fame thing; and one Error of Faith in the Churches wou'd foon have branch'd out into many others. And therefore one and the fame Doctrine in fo many Churches can never be look'd upon as a lucky hit only of Error, but must be the Effect of Tradition, let them therefore fpeak out and fay, that they were in an Error who first deliver'd the Doctrine. However it be, an Error it feems there was, and all the time this Erfor reign'd, not a Heretick to be hear'd of; no Marcionite or Valentinian to be found, to fet the captive Truth at Liberty, and mistaken Travellers in the right way to Heaven: But all this while the Gofpel was preach'd amifs; Men believ'd amifs; fo many Thousands of Thousands were baptiz'd amifs; fo many Works of Faith adminifter'd amifs; fo many Miracles, Gifts and Graces were wrought and conferr'd amifs; fo many Sacerdotal and Minifterial Functions perform'd amifs; fo many crown'd with Martyrdom, and all in the Wrong! And I wou'd willingly be inform'd likewife, how the Affairs of God all this time came to go on fo miraculoufly fuc cefsful, before Men knew who was the God they were to ferve; and how there came to be fuch a vaft Increase of Chriftians before the right Chrift was discover'd, and how Herefy came to get the Start of the true Doctrine, for in other things Truth is always before Imitation, and the Substance before the Shadow.

But if any of thefe Hereticks have the Confidence to put in their Claim to Apoftolick Antiquity, because they were in Being in the Time of the Apofiles, let 'em (fay we) thew the Origin of their

Churches; let 'em give us a Catalogue of their Bi. Shops fucceffively deriv'd down from the firft Foun dation of Churches; and prove that their first BiShop was either confecrated by an Apoftle of an Apo ftolick Man who conftantly adher'd to the Apostles, or that he had fuch a Predeceffor in his See. For thus it is that the Apoftolick Churches derive their Defcent; as the Church of Smyrna produceth her Polycarp placed there by St. John; the Church of Rome her Clemens placed there by St. Peter; and fo all the reft of the Churches have their Bishops to thew, who were conftituted Bishops by the Apoftles, and who have handed down the Apoftolick Tradition to this prefent Age. And let your Hereticks produce any thing like this, if they can; and what may they not attempt to produce after fo much Blafphe my? But fhou'd they pretend to any fuch thing, who will credit 'em? For if you will be at the Pains to compare their Doctrine with that of the Apoftles, you will find fuch a monftrous difference between em, that 'tis hardly poffible to believe that fuch abominable Abfurdities fhou'd come either from an Apoftle or an Apoftolick Perfon. For as the Apoftles wou'd not teach different Doctrines from one another, fo neither wou'd the Men of thofe Times have taught any thing contrary to the Apostles, unless it were fuch only as went out from 'em because they were not of 'em. But now these Hereticks cannot make out their Apoftolicalnefs in any fenfe, either from a Succeffion of Bishops or a conformity in Doarine; nor are they admitted into Fellowship and Communion with any Churches that in any refpect are Apoftolical.

Thus then I have given in, the Judgment of Tertullian (and in him the Senfe of all the Catholick Writers down to Vincentius) concerning the fureft and fafest way of interpreting the Canon of Scripture, as to Matters of Faith efpecially; which is the main Subject of the following Book. And if I miftake

not

not, there is a great deal of good Senfe in what this old Prieft has deliver'd, and nothing more is needful to be added upon this Head, but only to put his Arguments together and fo leave 'em to the confideration of the Reader. The Propofition afferted is, That the Interpretation of the Scriptures was committed to thofe Men, to whofe Trust the Scriptures themselves were committed. For the Proof of this we are told, that the Apostles who had the Gift of difcerning Spirits, and confequently of choofing the moft faithful Perfons to be Fellow-Labourers with 'em in the Gospel, went out and planted Churches in every City: Thefe Fellow Labourers or Domefticks, whom they fet over their new Plantations, they par ticularly inftructed by Word of Mouth upon every occafion, as Chrift had inftructed them; and by the Laying on of Hands, conferr'd the fame miraculous Abilities on them as they themselves had receiv'd according to Promife: And for a farther fecurity yet, there was a Creed call'd by St. Paul, The Form of found Words, a Standard of Faith by which all DoEtrines were to be try'd, drawn up by the Apoftles or their Companions, and fix'd in thefe Apoftolick Churches; and this depofitum was committed to the Cuftody of the Bishop, who no doubt was particularly inftructed in the full meaning of every Article: Thefe Apoftolick Churches maintain'd a ftrict Friendship, Communion and Correfpondence with each other, which was a demonftration of their Unity in Doctrine and Government. From thefe MotherChurches were many others propagated, and thefe too copied exactly after their Original, and there fore were look'd upon as Apoftolick, and if any Difpute arose concerning the genuinefs of a Texr, or the Interpretation of it, recourfe was immediately had to the Mother Church, and fo the Difpute was ended. Now if the Apoftles can be fuppos'd nor to have taken the utmoft Care about the fecurity of the Faith in thofe Churches they planted, and which

Ο

were

were to be a Pattern to the reft; if thofe Domefticks who convers'd with the Apostles and were inftructed from their Mouths, and miraculously affifted by the Holy Ghoft, and who laid down their Lives for the Faith, may be fuppos'd deficient either in point of Ability or Integrity: Nay, if their immediate Succeffors, who had the Benefit of their Writings in their original Purity, and were not without the extraordinary Gifts and Graces of the Holy Spirit, and who liv'd and dy'd in Catholick Communion; if thefe, I fay, may be fuppos'd to have no advantages for understanding the Senfe of Scripture above a modern Interpreter, then I think we may fuppofe any thing: We may fuppofe Le Clerc equal to an Apofile, we may burn all the Primitive Writings, and take up with his new Bible; for if that Dutch Commentator is in the Right, all the Catholick Writers in the first Ages were in the Wrong, and the Bible was never understood by any before he wrote his Comments on it. I conclude therefore with Vincentius, that the most ancient Fathers were incomparably the beft qualify'd for the Interpretation of Scriptute, which was the thing to be prov'd. But though this be the main thing our Author builds on, yet be there other co-incident Propofitions neceffary to be clear'd and fettled in a fceptical Age, that is for pulling down every Thing and fetting up Nothing: And I think they may be all reduc'd under thefe Three Heads: Firft, That Herefies muft be. Secondly, That their being is no Objection against the Goodness of any Church, or the Truth of the Chriftian Faith. Thirdly, That Matters of Faith are as necessary to Salva tion as Matters of Practice.

To make way for the Proof of these things, we muft obferve, that Herefy was a word us'd at firft indifferently, to denote any fort or Sea of Men diftinguifh'd from others by fome peculiar Doctrines or Practices, either true or falfe, good or bad; but when a Form of Dodrine was deliver'd which all Men were

oblig'd

oblig'd to believe under pain of Damnation, and all Believers under the like Penalty oblig'd to be of one and the fame Communion, then both Herefy and Schifm began to be us'd in a limited and worfer Senfe: Herefy was reftrain'd to fignify an Error about the Faith, and Schifm to denote a Breach of Order and Chriftian Communion. When therefore 'tis faid that there must be Herefies, we are not to imagin an abfolute Neceffity of God's making, that they muft unavoidably be; for then we cou'd no more be blam'd for being Hereticks than for not being Angels, fince it is God that has made us fuch, and not we our felves; but the meaning is, that feeing God will not interpofe his Almighty Power, but leave Mankind to their Liberty in order to judge 'em according to their Works, Herefies moft certainly wou'd be. And the Reafon of this will evidently appear, if we do but confider, either the Nature of the Gospel or the Tempers of Men.

For, firft, Chriftianity was an Inftitution whereby Men covenanted to renounce the Devil and all his Works, and all their old Train of Deities, with all the amufing Pageantry of numberlefs Rites, for the Worship of one God only, and with very few Cere. monies; for which the firft Chriftians were called Atheifts: They were to Promife and Vow likewife a perpetual Divorce from the Pomps and Vanities of the World, which they had been fo long wedded to, and to wage War against their darling Lufts and Par fions, that is, against themfelves; and to enter upor a ftrict courfe of unfafhionable Virtues, of ftrange Humility and Self denial, of Suffering for Righteoufnefs fake, of Loving their Enemies and Bleffing their Perfecutors, &c. againft the Practice of which, Mode and Custom, and all the Bofom Orators of Flesh and Blood had much to fay: No wonder then that fuch an ungrateful Inftitution not only met with much oppofition, but that many who profefs'd it foon fell a tampering and contriving how to make fuch a pinching

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