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 BR 1610 .T3 1834 
 Taylor, Jeremy 
 A discourse of the liberty 
 of prophesying 
 
THE 
 
 SACRED CLASSICS; 
 
 €tibfnet aibvar^ of IBMmts- 
 
 m^- 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 THE REV. R. CATTERMOLE, B. D. 
 
 AND 
 THE REV. 11. STEBBING, M. A. 
 
 Vol. 1. 
 
 FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. 
 
 RELUCENS. 
 
 W^SHINGTOJS : 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PUBLISHED BY DUFF GREEN, 
 
 » 
 
 1834. 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING 
 
 THE UNEEASONABLENSSS OF PRESCRIBING 
 TO OTHER MEN'S FAITH i 
 
 AND THE 
 
 By JEREMY TAYLOR, D. D. 
 
 .^jj, . ChaTjlain ia Ordinary to King Charles the First, and some time 
 
 ^- 
 
 Lord »ishop of Down and Coniioir. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 BY THE 
 REV. R. CATTEflMOLE, B. D. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PUBLISHED BY DUFF GREEN. 
 
 iS34« 
 

 D V E R tli ^ t"^ ^ '^ ^--^ '.' 
 
 A 
 
 TO THE LONDON EliXTION 
 
 DON ECJ 
 
 No other country is so rich as England in Sacred Lite- 
 rature. Her greatest poets and philosophers have shared 
 with her divines, in setting forth and establishing the truths 
 of Revelation ; while her divines have been disting-uished 
 alike b)' the copiousness and the depth of their learning. 
 The soundness of character thus given to the standard The 
 ology of England has, through a variety of circumstances, 
 been happily prevented from degeneratino; into the harshness 
 of scholasticism ; and thus the whole series of our ' Sacred 
 Classics' is a well of truth and consolation, as open to the 
 general reader as to the most learned student. 
 
 But though several detached works, in different shapes, 
 and under many varieties of price, have been of late brought 
 into circulation, no attempt has yet been made to form the 
 noblest productions of our theological writers into a uniform 
 Library of Divinity, and to present the collection to the 
 public at such a price, that he who purchases at present the 
 cheapest of ephemeral publications, may, for the same money^ 
 possess himself of works which cannot fail to afford him 
 guidance and support in the highest exercise of his faculties, 
 and under every vicissitude of life. — It is the desire of the 
 proprietor, in undertaking ' The Cabinet Library of 
 Divinity,' to effect this important object. 
 
 It is intended to comprise in this collection, the best works 
 of all the most celebrated writers, whose labors have been 
 devoted to the elucidation and practical enforcement of the 
 principles of revealed truth, whether in tlieir application to 
 the immortal interests of individuals, or the order and well- 
 being of society. Treatises on the Doctrines, Morality, 
 and Evidences of Christianity, which have received the 
 permanent stamp of general approbation ; — select Sermons 
 of the most eminent Divines ; — the most interesting speci- 
 mens of Religious Biography ;— and the choicest exam 
 
b ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 pies of Devotional and Sacred Poetry, will succeed 
 each other in the order which may be judged most conducive 
 to the benefit and gratification of the reader. 
 
 To the productions of each author, or to each separate 
 production, as the case may seem to require, will be prefixed 
 an Introductory Essay, pointing out their characteristic 
 excellencies ; and, in some instances, comprehending a bio- 
 graphical sketch of the author, with remarks on tlie state of 
 rehgion in his times. 
 
 This being the design of the publication, the first volume 
 of which is now submitted to the public, it will perhaps be 
 considered almost unnecessary to suggest to what class of 
 readers in particular such a work must be a dedderatum : — 
 that which is so unquestionably valuable, cannot, it is be- 
 lieved, but prove acceptable to all. It is considered, however, 
 that those guardians and instructors of our youth, who are 
 desirous of recommending a course of serious reading, in 
 preference to the desultory, unsatisfactory, and often per- 
 nicious practice, of skimming over the light miscellaneous 
 productions of tlie day, cannot give a more judicious proof 
 of their regard, than by presenting their young friends with 
 a series of volumes of this nature. Its attractive form will 
 interest their (astes, while its substantial wortii will scarcely 
 fail to produce a permanently beneficial impression upon 
 their intellectual and moral faculties. To readers of more 
 mature years, fev/ words are needed to recommend the 
 writings of men who were the brightest ornaments of the 
 Protestant Church in the days in which they lived, and the 
 ])roductions of whose pens have stood the test of ages, and 
 have been hallowed by time. To them, a reprint of autliors, 
 of whom many are known to the present generation only 
 throug;h the recommendation of those scholars and divines, 
 who, in our times, have had taste and leisure to become fa- 
 miliar with the wealth of the best periods of our theological 
 literature, and whose works have, in many instances, been so 
 scarce as to preclude the possibility of their procuring a copy 
 for themselves, must be a source of satisfaction and deliglit : — 
 the proprietor, therefore, fearlessly issues this, the first of a 
 numerous series, confident that he has neither mistaken the 
 wants of the age, nor anticipated the time when such a pub- 
 Jication would be deemed both useful and attractive. 
 
 To those Dignitaries of the Church, as also to those Divines 
 and Ministers by whom he has been honored with the per- 
 inission of adding their names as patrons of the undertaking, 
 his most grateful acknowledgments are due, and ai'e here 
 most respectfully tendered. 
 
 Jamtary 1, 1833. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 The measure of freedom enjoyed in a country 
 will always be in proportion to the diffusion of 
 knowledge and virtue among the people. In the 
 latter ages, therefore, of the degenerate Roman 
 empire, over which the mists of ignorance were 
 settling with increasing density, and from which 
 public virtue had fled, all remains of liberty be- 
 came extinct. It was only by the disruption and 
 removal of that gigantic despotism, and by the 
 introduction of governments, in its place, with in- 
 stitutions which, though yet in all the rudeness of 
 infancy, were in their nature more favorable to 
 tlie development of the intellectual, and, in a still 
 higher degree, of the moral powers of man, that a 
 way could be prepared for the future admission of 
 every free agent to the full exercise of his natural 
 rights. To the gradual establishment of a national 
 diurch, and to the existence of a feudal nobility, 
 in each of the kingdoms formed by the Gothic and 
 Celtic races, we owe our present enjoyment of 
 what vve justly deem the birth-right of moral and 
 7 
 
8 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 civilized human beings. Those ennobling senti- 
 ments which were cultivated by that order of the 
 community, with whom alone the light of learning 
 and science remained, found their way by little and 
 little unto the bosoms of a bolder and more active 
 and powerful class. The improvement of the 
 vassal population, resulting from the humanizing 
 influence of the clergy and the nobles, was assis- 
 ted by many concurring circumstances, such as 
 the increase of commerce, the rise of independent 
 republics, and the foundation of the great schools 
 and universities. As the number of those increased 
 who rose to the mental and moral dignity of free 
 men, so did the number of those who sought and 
 acquired a share of the rights of free men. These 
 might be but ill understood, and find as yet no 
 clear expounders, but they began at least to be 
 practically vindicated. The strong holds of arbi- 
 trary power were by degrees undermined, and 
 limits to irresponsible authority rose up in all 
 directions; until, at length, the grand and anima- 
 ting spectacle presented itself, of a free and 
 enlightened people, enjoying the bounties of Provi- 
 dence, and cultivating the best faculties of their 
 being. Finally, law placed its sanction upon what 
 intelligence and virtue had achieved ; and that 
 freedom in which the existing generation rejoiced, 
 was secured by solemn enactments to poste- 
 rity. 
 
 Such was the progress of civil freedom, nor was 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 9 
 
 the growth of religious liberty the result of oflier 
 causes. In a country, where religion is purely a 
 political engine, as was the case in pagan Rome, 
 toleration is impossible, because under such circum- 
 stances treason and nonconformity are identical. 
 Notwithstanding the boasted indulgence of the em- 
 pire, in this respect, towards conquered nations, 
 and the ease with which the popular superstition 
 sat upon the powerful and intelligent classes, how 
 far the Romans were from allowing liberty of 
 conscience, sufficiently appears in the numerous 
 and terrible persecutions by which they strove to 
 exterminate the professors of that religion which 
 even their great men have branded as " a new and 
 mischievous superstition." 
 
 As long as the Christian church continued un- 
 corrupted, the utmost forbearance and mildness 
 towards the professors of heretical opinions, con- 
 sistent with public order, appear to have prevailed. 
 With corruption came in persecution. The first 
 example of intolerance, on the part of Christians 
 towards each other, appeared in the distractions 
 occasioned by the followers of Arius, and by the 
 other powerful sects which rose about the same 
 time, or not long afterwards. But whatever seve- 
 rities v/ere recommended and put in practice by 
 these schismatics, by the Iconoclasts, at a later 
 period, or by the church, in its angry endeavors 
 to crush the swarms of heresies by which its peace 
 was assailed, the rage of persecution among Chris- 
 
10 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 tians, in those earlj times, always stopped short 
 of the punishment of death. 
 
 That during the long interval from the seventh 
 to the thirteenth century, while, in the eastern 
 empire, religious disputes were carried on with 
 the utmost fierceness and cruelty, we find com- 
 paratively few instances of extreme intolerance 
 displayed by the church of Rome, may be accoun- 
 ted for without supposing the prevalence of a 
 spirit of Christian forbearance, which is not to be 
 met with even in the history of far more enlight- 
 ened periods. Such were the power of the popedom 
 and the feebleness and infrequency of resistance 
 to its dictates, that we need not wonder if tlie 
 successors of St. Peter were not often to be roused 
 from the slumbers of sensual enjoyment, or with- 
 drawn from the pursuits of ambition, and the con- 
 test with kings and emperors for temporal domin- 
 ion, by controversies about doctrines, with obscure 
 and unheeded speculatists. It was not till more 
 decided indications of returning intellectual light 
 presaged danger to the existence of that usurped 
 ecclesiastical tyranny, that it thought proper to 
 put forth its energies for the destruction of those 
 whom it regarded as heretics. Scotus Erigena in 
 the ninth century, and Berengarius in the eleventh 
 if not suffered to escape uninjured, were at least 
 permitted to live, though chargeable with as bold 
 invasions of the domains of established corruption, 
 as those which, at a later day, were the excuse 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 11 
 
 for deluging the valleys of the Alps with the blood 
 of the Vaudois, and crowding the statue-books of 
 England witli cruel and sanguinary laws, — wliich 
 filled our dungeons with the persecuted followers 
 of WicklifFe, and strewed Smithfield with the ashes 
 of the martyrs. 
 
 It is a favorite but iniquitous proceeding oi 
 party writers, when it is their object to blacken the 
 memory of those who maintained opinions adverse 
 to their own. to charge upon individuals the faults 
 and failings which they partook, and could not 
 but partake, in common with their age. True it 
 is, tliat it never occurred to the first reformers to 
 generalize upon the subject of a free choice in reli- 
 gion ; most surprising would the fact have been if 
 it had. This was left for a subsequent generation ; 
 it could not have been expected of them, nor was 
 it consistent with the part assigned them. While 
 we duly reverence those venerable men, we deem 
 it no disparagement to them, as partakers of the 
 imperfections of humanity, to say, that had tiiey 
 had leisure to do so — had they contended ex- 
 pressly for a general principle, rather than for a 
 direct personal claim, their eftbrts would in all 
 probability have proved far less vigorous and 
 effectual. But, in truth, the general principle was 
 implied in the fact of the deliverance of themselves 
 and their country, on the ground of riglit, from the 
 oppressive tyranny of Rome. Ttie stride that was 
 made towards universal freedom of conscience by 
 
12 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Cranmer, and the great and good men who were 
 associated with him, was actually larger than the 
 state of knowledge and morality among the people 
 could bear. If they are not to be compared for 
 a wise liberality, on this point, with the authors 
 and legislators of the eighteenth century, yet in 
 how brilliant relief do tlieir sentiments as well as 
 their conduct stand out, in the light of humanity 
 and tolerance, when we compare them with their 
 opponents, even of the same period — when we place 
 Ridley, Cranmer, and Hooper by the side, not of 
 the bitter persecutors Gardiner and Bonner, but 
 of the learned Warham, the accomplished Tonstal, 
 and the gifted Sir Thomas More. Public opinion 
 afterwards followed, Zo?2^o sed intervallo. Little 
 would the people have prized or understood an 
 enlarged system of toleration, who stumbling in all 
 the blindness of inveterate popery, flung back with 
 brutal contempt in the faces of the reformers, the 
 inestimable boon they had secured for them, and 
 more than once rushed into rebellion in favor of 
 an unmitigated return to the oppressions and the 
 mummeries that had beguiled their forefathers — 
 to masses, pilgrimages, prayers in an unknown 
 tongue, and the use of images. Hence the ma 
 jority hailed with delight the national relapse 
 into all the miseries of the worst times of popery, 
 in Mary's reign. 
 
 The lapse of a century of strife between the 
 church of England and the parties who now— 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. lo 
 
 whether in consequence of men's natural unrea- 
 sonableness and discontent with tlie good they 
 possess, or of the imperfect state in which the work 
 of reformation had been left, — rose into opposi- 
 tion to her doctrines, discipline, and immunities, 
 was necessary to prepare the national mind for 
 the effectual agitation of this great question. If 
 the church, in the prosperous days of Elizabeth 
 and James, maintained her prerogatives against 
 the Puritans with the severity of a parent assailed 
 by the unreasonable clamors of rebellious children, 
 these latter, however bitterly they complained of 
 the hardship of their own position, never denied, 
 upon general principles, the right of the former to 
 persecute ; ' their ardor for toleration was nothing 
 more than impatience of individual suffering.' In 
 the multiplication of sects that took place during 
 the latter part of that period, and in the reign of 
 the unhappy Charles, the animosity of each to- 
 wards every other, equalled that which all in 
 common bore towards the establishment. Each 
 strove for the supremacy of its own opinions — 
 none for an equal charitable tolerance of all specu- 
 lative tenets alike ; and when the most numerous 
 and powerful of the religious factions opposed to 
 the Church of England, at last obtained the ascend- 
 ancy, its members proved too clearly by their 
 arrogance and persecuting spirit how little effect 
 calamity, which softens and corrects the passions 
 of individuals, has in diminishing the hatreds and 
 
14 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 smoothing the asperities of sects and parties. Still 
 the anarchy of the latter years of King Charles, 
 was the chaos in which the light of religious liberty 
 was engendered. Here and there a calmer and 
 wiser spirit began to perceive, that the only pros- 
 pect of peace lay in the possibility of persuading 
 each to relinquish some portion of its individual 
 claims, in favor of the whole. Several smaller 
 publications, setting forth the justice and advan- 
 tages of this scheme, had already emanated from 
 diiFerent quarters, (and especially from among the 
 followers of Robert Brown,) when the church, now 
 the victim of those severities which in her hour 
 of prosperity she, it must be confessed, had not 
 scrupled to exercise, and more susceptible, as it 
 seems, of the lessons of adversity, than some of 
 those communities who had felt it longer, raised a 
 decisive and majestic voice in the great cause of 
 religious toleration. 
 
 The celebrated treatise on the Liberty of 
 PRorHESYiNG, is scarccly more valuable for the 
 consummate ability with which it handles this 
 important subject, than it is interesting for the 
 immediate circumstances under which it was pro- 
 duced, and striking as the production of the friend 
 of Laud, and the favorite chaplain of the unfortu- 
 nate Charles. The learning and genius of Taylor 
 obtained for him, about the year 1633, soon after 
 he had taken his degree of M. A. at Cambridge, 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 15 
 
 the favorable notice of that primate, to whom the 
 bitterest enemies of his person and his memory 
 could never refuse the praise of an accurate dis- 
 cerner of merit, and a munificent patron of learn- 
 ing. Discovering in the youthful divine talents 
 capable of raising him above the sphere of a mere 
 preacher, however popular or useful, Laud re- 
 moved him to Oxford, and placed him in Univer- 
 sity College, in order that he might carry on and 
 complete his studies without interruption. Of this 
 society he became a fellow, in the year 1636. In 
 the great national struggle which followed, Taylor 
 attached himself devotedly, from taste and princi- 
 ple as well as gratitude and regard, to the cause 
 of the monarchy and the hierarchy. He was 
 among the first to join the king at Oxford ; he 
 afterwards attended the royal army in his capa- 
 city as chaplain ; and on the final ruin of the king's 
 cause, he shared in the calamities which now fell 
 upon the loyal part of the nation. 
 
 Deprived of his preferment, he retired into 
 Wales, and having no other resource, engaged, for 
 the support of his family, in the irksome labors 
 of a school, at a place called Newton Hall, in 
 Carmarthenshire. The remoteness of his retreat, 
 however, did not screen him from molestation : he 
 was several times imprisoned, and only released 
 through the generous exertions of his friends, and 
 by the connivance of some persons of influence 
 
16 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 among the ruling party. " But that he" (writes 
 the eloquent divine, in the Epistle Dedicatory, 
 originally prefixed to the present Treatise*) " who 
 stilleth the raging of the sea, and the noise of his 
 waves, and the madness of his people, had pro- 
 vided a plank for me, I had been lost to all the 
 opportunities of content or study. But I know 
 not whether I have been more preserved by the 
 courtesies of my friends, or the gentleness and 
 mercies of a noble enemy." Who the noble 
 enemy alluded to \vas, is not known ; but the 
 friends who chiefly consoled the period of his 
 adversity — and he had domestic sorrows to dis- 
 tress him, besides the loss of property and prefer- 
 ment — were the Earl of Carbery and his lady, 
 whose residence was at Golden Grove, in Taylor's 
 neighborhood. In the bosom of this family he 
 continued for many years to enjoy the delights of 
 friendship, and the comfort of administering the 
 rites of religion, according to the prescribed forms 
 of the national church ; it was here also that many 
 of his most admirable works were composed, 
 particularly the Life of Christ, the most popular, 
 
 * As this Dedication is very long, and consists chiefly of 
 a recapitulation of the arguments brought forward in the 
 Treatise itself, it had been deemed consistent with the design 
 of tlie present publication to omit it. Some of the facts 
 adduced in it, however, have been transferred to the present 
 essay, and several of the most interesting passages preserved 
 to the reader in the quotations. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY* 17 
 
 and, in many respects, the noblest of his writings^ 
 the Holy Living and Dying, and the greater part 
 of his Sermons. It was, however, in all the fresh- 
 ness of recent affliction, while poverty and appre- 
 hension reigned within his household, and the 
 crash of the falling throne and broken altar was 
 loud without, deprived of books and leisure, that 
 the work was written, of the design of which it 
 now remains to give some account — a work truly 
 wonderful, as having received its birth under such 
 untoward circumstances, and which demonstrates 
 how little was required by its accomplished, author 
 for the production of the noblest results of literary 
 exertion, besides his o^vn powerful intellect, and 
 the unrivaled stores of secular and ecclesiastical 
 learning with which his memory was furnished. 
 
 The general principle advanced in the Liberty 
 OF Prophesying, is this : tliat as truth on all 
 minor dogmas of religion is uncertain, and of 
 small moment in its bearings upon the conduct of 
 men, while peace and charity are things of un-^ 
 doubted certainty and importance, our desire to; 
 obtain the former ought to yield to the necessity of 
 se<iuring the latter ; and every one, for the good 
 of the community at large, ought to tolerate the 
 differences of all others, while in turn he receives 
 toleration for bis own. But as it is indispensable 
 somewhere to draw the line — ^as some standard of 
 truth must be acknowledged, unless men were to 
 rush into boundless anarchv, or ^ink into mere 
 
18 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 indifference, of opinion, he proposes the confession 
 of the apostles' creed, as the test of orthodoxy, 
 and condition of union and communion among 
 Christians. 
 
 A test so liberal and comprehensive, though we 
 might not perhaps have expected to meet with its 
 advocate in one conversant in that sphere of arbi- 
 trary prerogative, to which the author had so long 
 been attached, was worthy of the pure and bene- 
 volent nature of Jeremy Taylor, and naturally 
 enough suggested by the peculiar circumstances 
 under which this splendid treatise was composed : 
 that Taylor's mind was utterly averse from all 
 harshness in the exercise of authority — that his 
 temper was not only tolerant but tender towards 
 all men, is sufficiently apparent to all who are in 
 any degree acquainted with his moral and prac- 
 tical writings; yet, had he still continued the 
 admired orator of an arbitrary court, and the 
 caressed favorite of a prelate whom the coarse 
 irritations of factious religionists, as much as his 
 own disposition and principles, hurried into harsh 
 and cruel measures, it is little likely the world 
 had ever beheld the Liberty of Prophesying. 
 From the melancholy experience of the past, the 
 present miserable wreck of all which he regarded 
 as most dear and venerable, and the gloomy 
 uncertainty which over Imng the future, he sought 
 refuge in the depths of his own generous pity for 
 the weaknesses and errors, and in his respect for 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 
 
 the rights, of his fellow-citizens. " I was deter- 
 mined," he says, "by the consideration of the 
 present distemperatures and necessities, by my 
 own thoughts, by the questions and scruples, the 
 sects and names, the interests and animosities 
 which at this day, and for some years past, have 
 exercised and disquieted Christendom; — being 
 very much displeased that so many opinions and 
 new doctrines are commenced among us, but 
 more troubled that every man that hath an opin- 
 ion, thinks his own and other men's salvation is 
 concerned in its maintenance, but most of all that 
 men should be persecuted and afflicted for dis- 
 agreeing in such opinions which they cannot with 
 sufficient grounds obtrude upon others necessarily, 
 because they cannot propound them infallibly, and 
 have no warrant of Scripture to do so." 
 
 The person of the king had now been transfer- 
 red from the custody of the parliamentary commis- 
 sioners to that of Cromwell and the army — from 
 the hands, that is to say, of the most, to those of 
 the least intolerant, of the great sectarian parties ; 
 and he was accordingly treated with more indul- 
 gence and respect- The author of the Liberty 
 OF Prophesying, therefore, may have cherished a 
 hope of promoting an accommodation between 
 the captive sovereign and his victorious subjects, 
 which, however slender, sufficed to rouse the zeal 
 of a mind equally imbued with loyalty to his king 
 and regard for the happiness of his fellow-subjects. 
 
20 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Taylor's experience of the temper of the parties 
 must indeed have forbidden the indulgence of any 
 very sanguine expectation, as to the effect of his 
 arguments in softening their mutual animosities 
 and dislikes. On the part of the king, scarcely 
 any thing remained to be conceded ; while, had 
 further concession been in his power, such a rooted 
 opinion prevailed of Charles's insincerity in his 
 engagements, as must have rendered a cordial 
 reconciliation impossible. On the other hand, the 
 arrogance of the Presbyterians, and the extent of 
 their demands, had increased in proportion to their 
 success ; nor did the indignation with which they 
 regarded the host of wild sects, which, encouraged 
 by their example, had now grown to be thorns in 
 their sides, divert any portion of their settled ha- 
 tred from the royalists and episcopalians. The 
 fluctuations of Taylor's own mind, between his 
 earnest desire to do something towards promoting 
 the peace of the king and the safety of the country, 
 and the fears he could not conceal, lest the mild 
 arguments of enlightened moderation should be 
 utterly thrown away amid the raging factions of 
 the time, are thus powerfully expressed in the 
 Dedication already quoted : "However," says he, 
 "there are some exterminating spirits who think 
 God to delight in human sacrifices, — yet if they 
 were capable of cool and tame homilies, or would 
 hear men of other opinions give a quiet account 
 without invincible resolutions never to alter their 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21 
 
 persuasions, I am very mucli persuaded it would 
 not be very hard to dispute such men into mercies, 
 and compliances, and tolerations mutual; such, I 
 say, who are zealous for Jesus Christ; than whose 
 doctrine never was any thing more merciful and 
 humane, whose lessons were softer than nard, or 
 the juice of the Candian olive. Upon the first 
 apprehension, I designed a discourse to this pur- 
 pose, witli as much greediness as if I had thought 
 it possible with my arguments to have persuaded 
 the roudi and hard-handed soldiers to have dis- 
 banded presently ; for I had often thought of the 
 prophecy, that, in the Gospel, Our sivords shall be 
 turned into ploughshares^ and our spears into pru- 
 ning-hooks ; I knew that no tittle spoken by God's 
 Spirit could return unperformed and ineffectual; 
 and I was certain, that such was the excellency 
 of Christ's doctrine, that if man would obey it 
 Christians should never war one against the other. 
 In the mean time, I considered not, that it was 
 predictio concilii, non eventus, till I saw what men 
 were now doing, and ever had done, since the 
 heats and primitive fervors did cool, and the love 
 of interests swelled higher than the love of Chris- 
 tianity ; but then on the other side, I began to 
 fear that whatever I could say would be as in- 
 effectual as it would be unreasonable; for if 
 those excellent words which our blessed Master 
 spake, could not charm tlie tumult of our 
 spirits, I had little reason to hope that one of 
 
22 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the meanest and most ignorant of his servants 
 could advance the end of that which he calls his 
 great, and his old, and his new commandments, 
 so well as the excellency of his own Spirit and 
 discourses could. And yet since He who knew 
 every event of things, and the success and efficacy 
 of every doctrine, and that very much of it to most 
 men and all of it to some men would be ineffec- 
 tual, yet was pleased to consign our duty that it 
 might be a direction to them that would, and a. 
 conviction and testimony against them that would 
 not obey, I thought it might not misbecome my 
 duty and endeavors, to plead for peace, and 
 charity, and forgiveness, and permissions mutual, 
 although I had reason to believe that such is the 
 iniquity of men, and they so indisposed to receive 
 such impresses, tliat I had as good plough the 
 sands or till the air, as persuade such doctrines, 
 which destroy men's interests, and serve no end 
 but the great end of a happy eternity and what is 
 in order to it. But because the events of things 
 are in God's disposition, and I knew them not ; 
 and because, if I had known my good purposes 
 would be totally ineffectual as to others, yet my 
 own designation and purposes would be of advan- 
 tage to myself, who might from God's mercy 
 expect the retribution which he is pleased to 
 promise to all pious intendments; I resolved to 
 encounter with all objections." 
 
 To us it appears from the general tone of this 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23 
 
 great work, that altliough its gifted author was 
 willing to take advantage of the least chance that 
 remained of bringing back the minds of the lead- 
 ing persons, on all sides, to a friendly and chari- 
 table temper, yet his real hope of a termination to 
 the sufferings and distractions which the nation 
 labored under, rather reposed upon the good 
 sense and right feeling of the people, generally ; 
 and that to them it is therefore to be regarded as 
 mainly addressed. Those religious disputes, 
 which had nearly brought the country to the brink 
 of ruin, had no reference to matters essential to 
 salvation, but were confined to points indifferent 
 or of secondary moment. "For my own particu- 
 lar," he exclaims, *'I cannot but expect, that God 
 in his justice should enlarge the bounds of the 
 Turkish empire, or some other way punish Chris- 
 tians, by reason of their pertinacious disputing 
 about things unnecessary, undeterminable, and 
 unprofitable, and for their hating and persecuting 
 their brethren, which should be as dear to them 
 as their own lives, for not consenting to one 
 another's follies and senseless vanities. And in 
 these triftes and impertinences men are curiously 
 busy, while they neglect those glorious precepts of 
 Christianity and holy life, which are the glories 
 of our religion, and would enable us to a happy 
 eternity." The impropriety of such disputes there- 
 fore, and the necessity of mutual forbearance in 
 regard to the points in question, it is his object to 
 
24 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 make appai'ent, not only by proving their general 
 uncertainty, as compared with those essential ar- 
 ticles of the faith in which all Christians are agreed, 
 but further by showing at length the utter falli- 
 bility and incompetence of the means by which 
 men arrive at their so confident conclusions, and 
 the authorities to which they appeal with so much 
 boldness. He alleges the difficulty of expound- 
 ing Scripture in regard to speculative points, — the 
 uncertainty of traditions, — the fallibility of popes, 
 councils, fathers, and even of the cliurch in its 
 diffusive capacity, as being all liable to those in- 
 numerable causes of error and mistake, to which 
 the human mind is ever exposed, — the innocency 
 of theoretical error and invincible ignorance, — the 
 force of inveterate prejudice, and the almost equal 
 liability of all men alike, not excepting the wisest 
 and the best, to be mistaken, — as grounds and in- 
 centives to general charity towards others, and 
 motives to humility in each man's estimate of his 
 own opinions ; while yet the work cannot in ge- 
 neral be fairly charged with any tendency to ex- 
 tenuate the criminality or danger of such dogmas, 
 justly branded with the mark of heresy, as are 
 subversive of morality in individuals, and of the 
 good order of society. 
 
 Though accomplished, even beyond his contem- 
 poraries, in an age abounding in learned theolo- 
 gians, in the use of every weapon of polemical 
 warfare, the mind of Jeremy Taylor was not formed 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
 
 for controversy ; and wlien lie engaged in it, it was 
 never for the triumph of an opinion, but for the 
 extension of truth and the promotion of godliness. 
 Nevertheless, ennobled as every subject was to his 
 conception by the grand general views which his 
 heavenward eye, even in the midst of discussions 
 on inferior questions, ceased not to rest upon, he 
 is seen to most advantage in those works where the 
 wealth of his most affectionate heart, and the im- 
 passioned sublimity of his imagination, coukl be 
 fully displayed. The reader who would become 
 acquainted with what this celebrated writer truly 
 was, as well as he who would seek from his works 
 the highest profit which can be derived from the 
 study of the uninspired labors of the human mind, 
 must pass unread the Dudor Dubitantium,' — 
 though the favorite of its author himself, — and 
 hasten through the pages even of the Liberty 
 OF Prophesying, in order to luxuriate amid the 
 holy thoughts and glowing imagery, which abound- 
 in his devotional and moral writings — in the Great 
 Exemplar, or Life of Christ — the Holy Living 
 and dying, and his truly wonderful Sermons. As 
 far, however, as the nature of the following work 
 admitted the peculiar endowments of the author 
 to appear, they will in every page be recognized. 
 Its various and minute learning, its logical pre- 
 cision, the majestic march of its eloquent language 
 but especially its unequalled tone of moderation 
 and candor, present a combination, which, toge- 
 3 
 
2b THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 ther with the ever fresh interest of the subject, en- 
 ables it to maintain its place, notwithstanding the 
 celebrity of some others, and especially of that 
 of Locke, as the most distinguished treatise on 
 Religious Liberty in our language. 
 
 While, however, we glory in the perfect can- 
 dor and Christian mildness whicli appear in the 
 following pages, as being truly in the spirit of the 
 best times of that church of which its author is so 
 remarkable an ornament, we feel that it would 
 scarcely become us, on presenting our countrymen 
 with an edition intended for the widest and most 
 general circulation, to forbear pointing out one or 
 two instances in which the singular goodness of 
 his heart and his extreme desire of peace are 
 thought to have carried him somewhat too far. In 
 his observations, here and elsewhere, on the pecu- 
 liar tenets of the church of Rome, there is nothing 
 to disapprove : they exhibit the principles of our 
 reformers, softened and mellowed by time and 
 those reviving charities which w^ould naturally 
 reappear, when all occasions for irritating colli- 
 sion between the two churches w^ere removed. 
 That he was less judicious in his labored apology 
 for the principles then professed by the Anabapt- 
 ists, we have his own acknowledgment, in the fact 
 that he afterwards wrote a tract to explain liimself 
 more at large on this head, in consequence of the 
 offence taken at the laxity of his language. This 
 was added to the subsequent editions of the 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 27 
 
 work ;* it was followed likewise bj a treatise in 
 favor of infant baptism, a further qualification of 
 the celebrated nineteenth section, afterwards in- 
 corporated into the Great Exemplar, of which 
 beautiful work it forms the sixth discourse. Per- 
 haps we may also venture to add, that less indul- 
 gence would have been shown towards those 
 opinions, the origin of which may be traced to the 
 heresy of Arius, had the excellent writer lived to 
 see the period when the doctrines to which we 
 allude, at that time scarcely acknowledged by a 
 small and obscure party, came to be received with 
 favor in the high places of the church. 
 
 It has been brought as a charge against Taylor, 
 in relation to the argument of this work, that he 
 bases his scheme of toleration on the weaknesses 
 of mankind which present a moral claim to tender- 
 ness and indulgence, rather than on the indefea- 
 sible right of every human being to the free 
 exercise of his own thoughts and opinions. The 
 difference results more from different views of 
 men's capacities to enjoy freedom, the consequence 
 perhaps of more or less experience of human life, 
 than from any want of sympathy with their just 
 claims, on the part of those who adopt the former 
 
 * This addition is not reprinted in the present volume, 
 from a wish to avoid exhausting the attention of the general 
 reader, by unnecessarily confining it, through so many pages, 
 to the minute details of a question of no great interest in our 
 times. 
 
28 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 method. That the soul of Taylor took a generous 
 interest in every noble struggle of humanity, and 
 responded to every sentiment inspired by the 
 love of justice, will scarcely be called in question 
 by any one familiar with his various writings of an 
 ethical and practical character. But there was, 
 in his days, no need of the voice of such an advo- 
 cate to swell the clamorous cry for immunities, 
 which every man eagerly demanded for himself, 
 and as eagerly denied to his neighbor. He iiad 
 had a long and painful experience, how little 
 individual impatience of restraint tended to secure 
 equal toleration for all ; and it was natural that 
 in seeking that object he should follow an oppo- 
 site course. Besides, the extent of natural right 
 must ever be matter of debate and uncertainty, 
 and its assertion liable to dangerous abuse, whereas 
 it is evident to all that the limits of charity 
 towards our brethren cannot be pushed too far, 
 and that the freest use of it is consistent with the 
 safety of all parties. Again, the claim of right 
 can be a ground, at best, only for negative tolera- 
 tion ; it vindicates the liberty .of the individual, 
 but provides him with no sphere for its exercise ; 
 the toleration, on the contrary, contemplated in 
 the subjoined treatise, is positive and active. Its 
 author recommends something more than a strenu- 
 ous assertion of our own freedom, with merely a 
 cold acquiescence in that of others : he proposes 
 the practise of the greater, as best securing the 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 59 
 
 less- — that opposing parties should not only refi-ain 
 from interfering with each other, but should 
 mutally hold forth the right hand of fellowship, 
 and, though difFeiing invincibly on speculative 
 articles, should communicate in tlie profession of 
 tlie same essentials, and in the reciprocation of 
 all the brotherly and becoming charities of life. 
 
 In his seclusion at Golden Grove, or in its 
 neighborhood, Taylor continued to reside until the 
 year 1658, when at the earnest instance of his 
 friends he removed to Lisburn, near Portmore, 
 the seat of the Ea^^l of Conway, in the north of 
 Ireland, where he accepted a lectureship under the 
 patronage of that nobleman. At the period of the 
 restoration, he chanced to be in London ; and 
 thus, as one of the tried and valuable friends of 
 monarchical and episcopal government, he imme- 
 diately fell under the favorable notice of the king, 
 and was shortly after nominated to the bishopric of 
 Down and Connor, to which the small adjacent 
 see of Dromore was subsequently added. It was 
 fortunate for Bishop Taylor's peace, though not for 
 the church's advantage, that the remoteness of his 
 dioceses placed him far from the sphere of the 
 profligate court of the second Charles, and se- 
 cured him from any sb.are in the public measures 
 of his reign. This was one of the few periods — 
 and the last- — over which the filial admirers of the 
 churcii of England may desire to draw a veil. The 
 
30 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 age of the cruel persecutions in Scotland^ and 
 of the perfidious severities practised towards the 
 nonconformist at home, — when the church of En- 
 gland stopped to copy, against the Presbyterians, 
 the worst parts of their own intolerant conduct, 
 when the door of reconciliation was closed in the 
 wantonness of power, and the foundations of mo- 
 dern dissent laid upon an ever-widening basis, — 
 presents a spectacle, to which v/e still revert with 
 sorrow not unmixed with sliame. What, then, 
 must have been the pain with which it was con- 
 templated, at the time, by the zealous advocate 
 of fraternal and enlightened toleration ? He found 
 his consolation, we may hope, in the careful dis- 
 charge of his episcopal functions in occasionally 
 adding to the list of his invaluable writings, in 
 the employments of a devotion as impassioned 
 and seraphic, as is consistent with the salutary 
 equilibrium of the l^iculties of the human mind, 
 and, doubtless, in the reflection, which must ever 
 attend the authors of those distinguished works of 
 genius, whose object is the promotion of God's 
 glory and the honor and welfare of his creatures, 
 that though the work through which, in the prime 
 of his mature faculties, he had endeavored to 
 instil into his divided country the wisdom of for- 
 bearance and Christian love, had as yet produced 
 no visible fruits, it had not been " cast upon the 
 waters'' in vain ; but would in due time be found, 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. bl 
 
 though " after many days," to have been concur- 
 ring with other causes to secure for posterity the 
 permanent blessings of religious peace. 
 
 We have alluded with all plainness to the errors 
 of the governors of our church, in periods when 
 exemption from such errors was not the rule, even 
 among Protestants, but tlie singular exception; 
 and thus, as her fearless and aftectionate children, 
 we feel we may be allowed to speak. For, (to 
 adopt the language of a contemporary writei-.) 
 " why should a clergyman of the present day feel 
 interested in their defence ? Surely it is sufficient 
 for the warmest partisan of our establishment, 
 that he can assert with truth,- — when our church 
 persecuted, it was on mistaken principles lield in 
 common by all Christendom. We can say, that 
 our church, apostolical in its faith, primitive in its 
 ceremonies, unequaled in its liturgical forms ; 
 that our church, which has kindled and displayed 
 more bright and burning lights of genius and 
 learning, than all other Protestant churches since 
 the Reformation, was least intolerant, when all 
 Christians unhappily deemed a species of intoler- 
 ance their religious duty ; that bishops of our 
 church were among the first that contended 
 against this error ; and finally, that since the 
 Revolution, when tolerance became general, the 
 Church of England in a tolerating age, lias shown 
 herself eminently tolerant." 
 
32 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 It is not long since we witnessed the erasure, 
 from our statute-books of the only remaining acts 
 of the legislature which could be regarded as 
 restraints upon the most perfect liberty of con- 
 science ; and cordially shall we, for our part 
 rejoice in their removal, should the event prove, 
 that sufficient care has been taken for the preser- 
 vation of that venerable establishment, in which 
 the deeply reflective writer just cited, " sees," he 
 tells us, " the greatest, if not the sole safe huhvark 
 of toleration." We cannot, however, shut our 
 eyes to the fact of danger to be apprehended from 
 the existence, in our times, — not indeed of a sect 
 or party, but — of a multitude of persons, whose 
 declared opinions place them beyond the pale of 
 all parties and sects alike, who w^illfully mistake 
 for toleration, a licence to overleap and lay v^^aste 
 all the defences of the public faith. Yet even 
 here we are willing rather to hail a motive to 
 exertion, than to acknowledge a ground of dis- 
 couragement; inasmuch as out of even this perni- 
 cious error we look to find the beneficent liand of 
 the Supreme Ruler of events extracting good: for 
 Ids Providence has supplied the means of cure in 
 the very excess of the evil, which in hurting some, 
 offending and rousing manj^, and endangering the 
 comfort of all, will be the means of bringing men 
 back to reflection, and thence to a peaceable sub- 
 mission to such sober and reasonable reo-ulatlons 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 33 
 
 for securing the full effects of Christianitj upon 
 this great nation, as will be found equally condu- 
 cive to the welfare of the individual, and to the 
 progressive improvement of the human race. 
 
 R. C. 
 
 London, December, 1S33. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 INTEODUCTION - - - - - -..-39 
 
 SECTION r. 
 Nature of Faith 45 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Of Heresy and the nature of it, and that it is to be 
 accounted according to the strict capacity of Chris- 
 tian faith, and not in opinions speculative ; nor ever 
 to pious persons 63 
 
 SECTIO.V III. 
 
 Of the difficulty and uncertainty of arguments from 
 Scripture, in questions not simply necessary, not 
 literally determined 119 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Of the difficulty of expounding Scripture - - 140 
 
 SECTION V 
 
 Of the insufficiency and uncertainty of Tradition to 
 expound Scripture, or determine Questions - - 154- 
 
 35 
 
36 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 SKCTION VI. 
 
 Of the uncertainty and insufficiency of Councils 
 Ecclesiastical to the same purpose - - . i80 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 Of the fallibility of the Pope, and the uncertainty of 
 his expounding Scripture, and resolving Questions - 214 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 Of the disability of Fathers or Writers Ecc esi- 
 astical, to determine our Questions with certainty 
 and truth 252 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 Of the incompetency of the Church in its diffusive 
 capacity to be judge of Controversies, and the im- 
 pertinency of that pretence of the Spirit - - 2C7 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 Of the authority of Reason, and that it proceeding 
 upon best grounds is the best judge - - - 272 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 Of some causes of error in the exercise of Reason 
 which are exculpate in themselves - - . 281 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 Of the innocency of error in opinion, in a pious 
 Person 300 
 
CONTENTS. 37 
 
 Page 
 SECTION xrii. 
 
 or the deportment to be used towards Persons dis- 
 agreeing, and the reasons vvliy they are not to be 
 punished with death, &c. 308 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 Of the practice of Christian Churches towards 
 persons disagreeing, and when Persecution first 
 came in 327 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 How far tiie Church or Governors may art to the 
 restraining false or differing opinions - - - 338 
 
 SECTION XVI. 
 
 Whether it be lawful for a Prince to give Toleration 
 to several Religions 342 
 
 SECTION XVII, 
 
 Of Compliance with disagreeing Persons, or weak 
 consciences in general 348 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 A particular consideration of the opinions of the 
 Anabaptists 354 
 
 SECTION xrx. 
 
 That there may be no Toleration of Doctrines incon- 
 sistent with Piety or the Public Good - - - 386 
 4 
 
38 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 
 How far the Religion of the Church of Rome is 
 tolerable 390 
 
 SECTION XXI. 
 
 Of the Duty of particular Churches in allovving 
 Communion - - 408 
 
 SECTION xxri. 
 
 That particular men may communicate with Churches 
 of different persuasions, and how far they ma)^ do it 411 
 
THE 
 
 LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The infinite variety of opinions in matters of 
 religion, as they have troubled Christendom with 
 interests, factions, and partialities, so have they 
 caused great divisions of the heart, and variety of 
 thoughts and designs amongst pious and prudent 
 men. For they all, seeing the inconveniences 
 which the disunion of persuasions and opinions have 
 produced directly or accidentally, have thought 
 themselves obliged to stop this inundation of mis- 
 chiefs, and h?.ve made attempts accordingly. But 
 it hath happened to most of them as to a mistaken 
 physician, who gives excellent physic but misap- 
 plies it, and so misses of his cure. So have these 
 men : their attempts have been ineftectual ; for 
 they put their help to a wrong part, or they have 
 endeavored to cure the symptoms, and have let 
 the disease alone till it seemed incurable. Some 
 have endeavored to reunite these fractions, by 
 propounding such a guide which tliey v*Tre all 
 
 "39 
 
40 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 bound to follow ; hoping that the unity of a guide 
 would have persuaded unity of minds ; but who 
 this guide should be, at last became such a ques- 
 tion, that it was made part of tlie lire that was to 
 be quenched, so far was it from extinguisliing any 
 part of the llamo. (Jthers thought of a rule, and 
 this must be the means of union, or nothing could 
 do it. But supposing all the world had been 
 agreed of this rule, yet the interpretation of it was 
 so full of variety that this also became part of the 
 disease for which the cure was pretended. All 
 men resolved upon this, that though they yet had 
 not hit upon the right, yet some way must be 
 thought upon to reconcile differences in opinion ; 
 thinking, so long as this variety should last, Christ's 
 kingdom was not advanced, and the work of the 
 gospel went on but slowly. Few men in the mean 
 time considered, that so long as men had such va- 
 riety of principles, such several constitutions, edu- 
 cations, tempers, and distempers, hopes, interests, 
 and weaknesses, de2;rees of lidit, and de2;rees of 
 Understanding, it was impossible all should be of 
 one mind. And what is impossible to be done is 
 not necessary it should be done ; and therefore, 
 although variety of opinions was impossible to be 
 curcci, (and they who attempted it did like him 
 who claps his shoulder to the ground to stop an 
 earthquake,) yet the inconveniences arising from 
 it might possibly be cured, not by uniting their 
 beliets, — that was to be despaired of, — but by cur- 
 ing that which caused these mischiefs, and acci- 
 dental inconveniences of their disagreeings. For 
 although these inconveniences, which every man 
 sees and feels, were consequent to this diversity 
 of persuasions, yet it was but accidently and by 
 chance ; inasmuch as vye see that in many things, 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 41 
 
 and thej of great concernment, men allow to 
 themselves and to each other a liberty of dis- 
 agreeing, and no hurt neither. And certainly if 
 diversity of opinions were of itself the cause of 
 mischiefs, it would be so ever, that is, regularly and 
 universally, (but that we see it is not :) for there 
 are disputes in Christendom concerningmatters of 
 greater concernment than most of those opinions 
 that distinguish sects and make factions ; and yet 
 because men are permitted to differ in those great 
 matters, such evils are not consequent to such 
 differences as ai'e to the uncharitable managing; 
 of smaller and more inconsiderable questions. It 
 is of greater consequence to believe right ifi the 
 question of the validity or invalidity of a death -bed 
 repentance, than to believe aright in the question 
 of purgatory ; and the consequences of the doctrine 
 of predetermination, are of deeper and more 
 material consideration than the products of the 
 lawfulness or unlawfulness of private masses ; and 
 yet these great concernments, where a liberty of 
 prophesying in these questions hath been permit- 
 ted, hath made no distinct communiou, no sects 
 of Christians, and the others have, and so liave 
 these too in those places where they have peremp- 
 torily been determined on either side. Since 
 then if men are quiet and charitable in some 
 disagreeings, that then and there the inconvenience 
 ceases, if they were so in all others where lawfully 
 they might, (and they may in most,) Christendom 
 should be no longer rent in pieces, but would be 
 redintegrated in a new Pentecost ; and although 
 the Spirit of God did rest upon us in divided 
 tongues, yet so long as those tongues were of fire 
 not to kindle strife, but to warm our affections 
 and inflame our charities, we should find that this 
 4* 
 
42 THE SACRED CLASSICS* 
 
 • variety of opinions in several persons would be 
 looked upon as an argument only of diversity of 
 operations, while the Spirit is the same ; and that 
 another man believes not so well as I, is only an 
 argument that I have a better and a clearer illu- 
 mination than he, that I have a better gift than 
 he, received a special grace and favor, and excel 
 him in this, and am perhaps excelled by him in 
 many more. And if we all impartially endeavor 
 to find a truth, since this endeavor and search 
 only is in our power, (that we shall find it, being 
 ab extra, a gift and an assistance extrinsical,) I 
 can see no reason wiiy this pious endeavor to find 
 out truth shall not be of more force to unite us in 
 the bonds of charity, than his misery in missing it 
 shall be to disunite us. So that since a union of 
 persuasion is impossible to be attained, if we 
 would attempt the cure by such remedies as are 
 apt to enkindle and increase charity, I am confi- 
 dent we might see a blessed peace would be the 
 reward and crown of such endeavors. 
 
 But men are now-a-days, and indeed always 
 have been, since the expiration of the first blessed 
 ages of Christianity, so in love with their own 
 fancies and opinions, as to think faith and all 
 Christendom is concerned in their support and 
 maintenance ; and whoever is not so fond and does 
 not dandle them like themselves, it grows up to a 
 quarrel, which because it is in 'materia theobglac 
 is made a quarrel in religion, and God is entitled 
 to it ; and then if you are once tliought an enemy 
 to God, it is our duty to persecute you even to 
 death, we do God good service in it ; when, if we 
 should examine the matter rightly, the question is 
 either in materia non revelata, or minus evidenti, 
 or non necessariay either it is not revealed, or not 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 43 
 
 SO clearly, but that wise and honest men maybe 
 of different minds, or else it is not of the founda- 
 tion of faith, but a remote superstructure, or else 
 of mere speculation, or perhaps, when all comes 
 to all, it is a false opinion, or a matter of human 
 interest, that we have so zealously contended for ; 
 for to one of these heads most of the disputes of 
 Christendom may be reduced ; so that I believe 
 the present factions (or the most) are from the 
 same cause which St. Paul observed in tlie Corin- 
 thian schism, ' When there are divisions among 
 you, are ye not carnal r' It is not the differing 
 opinions that is the cause of the present ruptures, 
 but want of charity ; it is not the variety of under- 
 standings, but the disunion of wills and affections ; 
 it is not the several principles, but the several ends 
 that cause our miseries: our opinions commence and 
 are upheld according as our turns are served and 
 our interests are preserved, and there is no cure 
 for us but piety and charity. A holy life will 
 make our belief holy, if we consult not humanity 
 and its imperfections in the choice of our religion, 
 but search for truth without designs, save only of 
 acquiring heaven, and then be as careful to pre- 
 serve charity, as we were to get a point of faith : 
 I am much persuaded we should find out more 
 truths by this means ; or however (which is the 
 main of all) we shall be secured though we miss 
 them ; and then we are well enough. 
 
 For if it be evinced that one heaven shall hold 
 men of several opinions, if the unity of faith be 
 not destroyed by that whicli men call differing 
 religions, and if an unity of charity be the duty 
 of us all even towards persons that are not per- 
 suaded of every proposition we believe, then I 
 would fain know to what purpose are all those 
 
44 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 stirs and great noises in Christendom ; those 
 names of faction, the several names of churches 
 not distinguished bj the division of kingdoms, the 
 church obeying the government,* which was the 
 primitive rule and canon, but distinguished by 
 names of sects and men. These are all become 
 instruments of hatred ; tlience come schisms and 
 parting of communions, and then persecutions, 
 and then wars and rebellion, and then the disso- 
 lutions of all friendships and societies. All these 
 mischiefs proceed not from this, that all men are 
 not of one mind, for that is neither necessary nor 
 possible, but that every opinion is made an article 
 of faith, every article is a ground of a quarrel, 
 every quarrel makes a faction, every faction is 
 zealous, and all zeal pretends for God, and what- 
 soever is for God cannot be too much. We by 
 this time are come to that pass, we think we love 
 not God except we hate our brother ; and we 
 have not the virtue of religion, unless we perse- 
 cute all religions but our own : for lukewarniness 
 is so odious to God and man, that we, proceeding 
 furiously upon these mistakes, by supposing we pre- 
 serve the body, we destroy the soul of religion ; 
 or by being zealous for faith, or which is all one, 
 for that which we mistake for faith, we are cold 
 in charity, and so lose tlie reward of both. 
 
 All these errors and mischiefs must be disco- 
 vered and cured, and that is the purpose of this 
 discourse. 
 
 * Ut ecclesia sequatur impenum. — Optat. B. iii. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 45 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Nature of Faitlu 
 
 First, then, it is of great concernment to know the 
 nature and integrity of Faith : for there begins our 
 first and great mistake. For faith, although it be of 
 great excellency, yet when it is taken for a habit 
 intellectual, it hath so little room and so narrow a 
 capacity, that it cannot lodge thousands of those 
 opinions which pretend to be of her family. 
 
 For although it be necessary for us to believe 
 whatsoever we know to be revealed of God,- — and 
 so every man does, that believes there is a God, — 
 yet it is not necessary, concerning many things, to 
 know that God hath revealed them ; that is, we 
 may be ignorant of, or doubt concerning the pro- 
 positions, and indifferently maintain either part, 
 when the question is not concerning God's veracity, 
 but whether God hath said so, or no : that which 
 is of the foundation of faith, that only is necessary ; 
 and the knowing or not knowing of that, the be- 
 lieving or disbelieving it, is that only which, as to 
 the nature of the thing to be believed, is in imme- 
 diate and necessary order to salvation or damna- 
 tion. 
 
 Now, all the reason and demonstration of the 
 world convinces us, that this foundation of faith, or 
 the great adequate object of the faith that saves us, 
 is that great inysteriousness of Christianity which 
 Christ taught with so much diligence : for the cre- 
 dibility of which he wrought so many miracles ; for 
 
46 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the testimony of which the apostles endured per- 
 secutions ; that which was a folly to the Gentiles, 
 and a scandal to the Jews, this is that which is tlie 
 object of a Christian's faith: all other things are 
 implicitly in the belief of the articles of God's ve- 
 racity, and are not necessary in respect of the con- 
 stitution of faith to be drawn out, but may there 
 lie in the bowels of the great articles, without dan- 
 ger to any thing or any person, unless some other 
 accident or circumstance makes them necessary. 
 Now the great object which I speak of, is Jesus 
 Christ crucified. ' I have determind to know no- 
 thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him cru- 
 cified;' so said St. Paul to the church of Corinth. 
 This is the article upon the confession of which 
 Christ built his church, viz. only upon St. Peter's 
 creed, which was no more but this simple enun- 
 ciation, * We believe and are sure that thou art 
 Christ, the son of the living God :''■■ and to tliis 
 salvation particularly is promised, as in the case of 
 Martha's creed, /o/m, xi. 27. To this the Scripture 
 gives the greatest testimony, and to all them tliat 
 confess it ; ' For every spirit that confesseth that 
 Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God ;' and 
 ' Whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is the Son 
 of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God :'t the 
 believing this article is the end of writing the four 
 Gospels : ' These things are written, that ye might 
 believe, that Jesus is the Christ the son of God :'+ 
 and then that this is sufficient follows : ' and that be- 
 lieving,'' viz. this article (for this was only instanced 
 in) ' ye might have life through his name.'' This is that 
 great article which, as to the nature of the things 
 to be believed, is sufficient disposition to prepare a 
 
 * Matt. xvi. 11). t 1 John, iv. 2, 15. X John, xx. SI 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 47 
 
 catechumen to baptism, as appears in the case of 
 the Ethiopian eunuch, whose creed was only this, 
 ' i believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God,' and 
 upon this confession (saith tlie story) they both 
 went into the water, and the Ethiop was washed, 
 and became as white as snow. 
 
 In these particular instances, there is no variety 
 of articles, save only that in the annexes of the se- 
 veral expressions, such things are expressed, as 
 besides that Christ is come, they tell from whence, 
 and to what purpose: and whatsoever is expressed, 
 or is to these purposes implied, is made articulate 
 and explicate, in the short and admirable myste- 
 rious creed of »St. Paul, Rom. x. 8. 'This is the 
 word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt 
 confess with tliy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 
 believe in thine heart that God hath raised him 
 from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' This is the 
 great and entire complexion of a Christian's faith ; 
 and since salvation is promised to the belief of this 
 creed, either a snare is laid for us, with a purpose 
 to deceive us, or else nothing is of prime and oi-i- 
 ginal necessity to be believed, but this, Jesus Christ 
 our Redeemer ; and all that which is the necessary 
 parts, means, or main actions of working this re- 
 demption for us, and the honor for him, is in the 
 bowels and fold of the great article, and claims an 
 explicit belief by the same reason that binds us to 
 the belief of its first complexion, without which 
 neither the thing could be acted, nor the proposi- 
 tion understood. 
 
 For the act of believing propositions is not for 
 itself, but in order to certain ends ; as sermons are 
 to good life and obedience ; for (excepting that it 
 acknowledges God's veracity, and so is a direct act 
 of religion) believing a revealed proposition hath 
 
48 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 no excellency in itself, but in order to that end for 
 which we are instructed in such revelations. Now 
 God's great purpose being to bring us to him by 
 Jesus Christ, Christ is our medium to God, obedi- 
 ence is the medium to Christ, and faith the medium 
 to obedience, and therefore is to have its estimate 
 in proportion to its proper end, and those things 
 are necessary which necessarily promote the end, 
 without which obedience cannot be encouraged or 
 prudently enjoined : so that those articles are ne- 
 cessary, that is, those are fundamental points, upon 
 which we build our obedience ; and as the influence 
 of the article is to the persuasion or engagement of 
 obedience, so they have tlieir degrees of necessity. 
 Now all that Christ, when he preached, tauglit us 
 to believe, and all that the apostles in their sermons 
 propound, all aim at this, that v/e should acknov/- 
 ledge Christ for our Lawgiver and our Savior; so 
 tliat nothing can be necessary by a prime necessity 
 to be believed explicitly, but such things whicli 
 are therefore parts of the great article, because they 
 either encourage our services or oblige them, such 
 as declare Christ's greatness in himself, or his good- 
 ness to us. So that although we must neither deny 
 nor doubt of any thing, which we know our great 
 Master hath taught us; yet salvation is in special, 
 and by name, annexed to the belief of those articles 
 only, which have in them the endearments of our 
 services, or the support of our confidence, or the 
 satisfaction of our hopes, such as are — Jesus Christ 
 the son of the living God, the crucifixion and re 
 surrection of Jesus, forgiveness of sins by his blood 
 resurrection of the dead, and life eternal ; because 
 these propositions qualify Christ for our Savior 
 and our Lawgiver, the one to engage our services, 
 i\\e other to endear them ; for so much is necessary 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 49 
 
 as will make us to be his servants, and his disciples ; 
 and what can be required more ? This, only; sal- 
 vation is promised to the explicit belief of those 
 articles, and therefore those only are necessary, and 
 those are sufficient ; but thus, to us in the formality 
 of Christians, which is a formality superadded to 
 a former capacity, we, before we are Christians, are 
 reasonable creatures, and capable of a blessed eter- 
 nity ; and there is a creed which is the Gentiles' 
 creed, which is so supposed in the Christian creed, 
 as it is supposed in a Christian to be a man, and 
 that is, " he that cometh to God must believe that he 
 is, and that he is a re warder of them that diligent- 
 ly seek him." 
 
 If any man will urge farther, that whatsoever is 
 deducible from these articles by necessary conse- 
 quence, is necessary to be believed explicitly, I 
 answer : It is true, if he sees the deduction and 
 coherence of the parts ; but it is not certain that 
 every man shall be able to deduce whatsoever is 
 either immediately, or certainly deducible from 
 these premises ; and then, since salvation is pro- 
 mised to the explicit belief of these, I see not liow 
 any man can justify the making the way to heaven 
 narrower than Jesus Christ hath made it, it being 
 already so narrow, that there are few that find it. 
 
 In the pursuance of this great truth the apostles, 
 or tlie holy men their contemporaries and dis- 
 ciples, composed a creed to be a rule of faith to 
 all Christians, as appears in Irenaeus, TertuUian,* 
 St. Cyprian,! St. Austin,:}: Ruffinus,§ and divers 
 others ;I| which creed, unless it had contained all 
 
 * Apol. Contr. Gent. c. 47. De Veland. Virg. c. 1. 
 t In Exposit. Symbol. | Serm. v. de Tempore, c. 2. 
 
 § In symbol apud Cyprian. 
 
 II All the orthodox fathers maintain that the creed is of' 
 5 
 
50 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the entire object of faith, and the foundation of 
 religion, it cannot be imagined to what purpose it 
 should serve ; and that it was so esteemed by the 
 whole church of God in all ages, appears in this, that 
 since faith is a necessary predisposition to baptism 
 in all persons capable of the use of reason, all cate- 
 chumens in the Latin churcii, coming to baptism, 
 were interrogated concerning their faith, and gave 
 satisfaction in the recitation of this creed. And 
 in the east they professed exactly the same faith, 
 something differing in words, but of the same mat- 
 ter, reason, design, and consequence; and so they 
 did at Jerusalem, so at Aquileia. This was tliat 
 "correct and blameless faith, proclaimed by the holy 
 catholic and apostolic churcli, without any mixture 
 of novelty or innovation."'- These articles were 'the 
 instructions delivered by the holy apostles and 
 their fellow-laborers, to the holy churciies of God.'t 
 Now, since the apostles and apostolical men and 
 churches in these their symbols,- did recite parti- 
 cular articles to a considerable number, and were 
 so minute in their recitation, as to descend to cir- 
 cumstances, it is more than probable that they 
 omitted nothing of necessity; and that these arti- 
 cles are not general principles, in the bosom of 
 which many more articles equally necessary to 
 be believed explicitly and more particular, are in- 
 folded ; but that it is as minute an explication of 
 those fundamental principles of belief I before 
 reckoned, as is necessary to salvation. 
 
 apostolic origin. — Sext. Senensis. lib. ii. Bibl. vide Genebr, 
 lib.iii. de Trin. 
 
 jtago?>jK» KAi a.Troa-Toyix.y) iUKKno-iA kat ohS'iva. t^ottov }cciivt(r/uoy 
 
 t Td T^y ityiav d.7J-os-To}.m xsu tZv fxtr i}Liivm S tuTfi-^-avnoiV h 
 <TJui; uyisLSC &iov iKUXvcricUc S'i<S'ci'yuu..TU.—lAh. V. Cod. de St 
 Trin. et. Fid. Cath. cum. ri?cla. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 51 
 
 And therefore TertuUian calls the creed, " the 
 rule of faith, by whose guidance, whatever appears 
 ambiguous or obscure in Scripture may be inves- 
 tigated and explained."* " The seal of the heart, 
 and the oath of our warfare,"! St. Ambrose calls 
 it: "the comprehension and perfection of our 
 faith,"± as it is called by St. Austin, Serm. 115 : 
 " the confession, declaration, and rule of faith,"§ 
 generally, by the ancients. The profession of 
 this creed was the exposition of that saying of St. 
 Peter, ' the answer of a good conscience towards 
 God :' for of the recitation and profession of this 
 creed, in baptism, it is that TertuUian says, " the 
 soul is not consecrated by the water, but hy the 
 truth professed ."II And of this was the prayer 
 of Hilary, " Regard this expression of my con- 
 science, that I may always hold fast the profession 
 which I made by baptism, in the name of the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in token of 
 my regeneration. "51 And according to the rule 
 and reason of this discourse, (that it may appear 
 that the creed hath in it all articles ;m??io etper se, 
 primely and universally necessary,) the creed is 
 just such an explication of that faith which 
 the apostles preached, viz. the creed which St. 
 Paul recites, as contains in it all those things 
 
 * " Regulam fidei, qua salva et forma ejus manente in 
 •suo ordine, posait in Scriptura tractari et inquiri si quid 
 videtur vel ambiguitate pendere vel obscuritateobumbrari." 
 
 t "Cordis signaculum et nostra? militias sacramentuin." 
 — Lib. iii. De Velandis Virgin. 
 
 t " Comprehensio fidei nostras atque perfectio." 
 
 ■^ " Confessio, expositio, regula fidei." 
 
 IJ " Anima non lotione, sed responsione sancitur." — De 
 Resur. Carnis. 
 
 T " Conscrva banc conscientiffi meje vocem, ut quod ia 
 regenerationis meae symbolo baptizatus in Patre, Filio, Spir, 
 S. profassus sum semper obtineam." — Lib. xii. de Trinit. 
 
52 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 which entitle Christ to us in the capacities of our 
 Lawgiver and our Savior, such as enable him to 
 the great work of redemption, according to tlie 
 predictions concerning him, and such as engage 
 and encourage our services. For, taking out the 
 article of Christ's descent into hell, (which was 
 not in the old creed, as appears in some of the 
 copies I before referred to, in Tertullian, Ruffinus, 
 and IrenaBus ; and indeed, vv^as omitted in all the 
 confessions of the eastern churches, in the church of 
 Rome, and in the Nicene creed, which by adoption 
 came to be the creed of the catholic church,) all 
 other articles are such as directly constitute the 
 parts and work of our redemption, such as clearly 
 derive the honor to Christ, and enable him with 
 the capacities of our Savior and Lord. The rest 
 engage our services by proposition of such articles, 
 which are rather promises than propositions ; and 
 the whole creed, take it in any of the old forms, 
 is but an analysis of that which St. Paul calls the 
 word of salvation, whereby we shall be saved ; 
 viz. that we confess Jesus to be Lord, and that 
 God raised him from the dead ; by the first v/hereof 
 he became our Lawgiver and our Guardian ; by 
 the second he was our Savior ; the other things 
 are but parts and main actions of those two. 
 Now, what reason there is in the word that can 
 enwrap any thing else within the foundation ; that 
 is, in the whole body of articles simply and inse- 
 parably necessary, or in the prime original neces- 
 sity of faith, I cannot possibly imagine. These do 
 the work, and therefore nothing can, upon the true 
 grounds of reason, enlarge the necessity to the 
 inclosure of other articles. 
 
 Now, if more were necessary than the articles 
 of the creed, I demand why was it made the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 53 
 
 characteristic note of a Christian from a heretic, 
 or a Jew, or an infidel ? Or to what purpose was 
 it composed ?* Or if this was intended as suffi- 
 cient, did the apostles, or those churches which 
 they founded, know any thing else to be neces- 
 sary ? If they did not, then either notiiing more 
 is necessary, (I speak of matters of mere belief,) 
 or they did not know all the will of the Lord, and 
 so were unfit dispensers of the mysteries of the 
 kingdom ; or if they did know more was neces- 
 sary, and yet would not insert it, they did an act 
 of public notice, and consigned it to all ages of the 
 church, to no purpose, unless to beguile credulous 
 people by making them believe their faith was 
 sufficient, having tried it by that touchstone apos- 
 tolical, when there was no such matter. 
 
 But if this was sufficient to bring men to heaven 
 then, whj not now ? If the apostles admitted all 
 to tlieir communion that believed this creed, v/hy 
 shall we exclude any that preserve the same 
 entire ? Why is not our faith of these articles of 
 as much effica.cy for bringing us to heaven, as it 
 was in the churches apostolical ? — who had guides 
 more infallible, that might without error have 
 taught them superstructures enough, if they had 
 been neccessary. And so tliey did : but that they 
 did not insert them into the creed, when they 
 might have done it with as much certainty as these 
 articles, makes it clear to my understanding, that 
 other tjiings were not necessaiy, but these were ; 
 tliat whatever profit and advantages might come 
 from other articles, yet these were sufficient ; and 
 however certain persons might accidentally be 
 
 * Vide Isidor de Eccles. OfTic, lib. i. cap. 20. Snidam, 
 Tarncbum, lib. ii. c. 80. advers. Vev.ant. For. in Exeg. 
 
54 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 obliged to believe much more, yet this was the one 
 and only foundation of fiiith upon which all persons 
 were to build their liopes of heaven ; this was 
 therefore necessary to be taught to all, because of 
 necessity to be believed by all. So that although 
 other persons might commit a delinquency in a 
 moral principle, if they did not know, or did not 
 l)elieve, much more because they were obliged to 
 further disquisitions in order to other ends, yet 
 none of these who held the creed entire could 
 perish for want of necessary faith, though possibly 
 he might for supine negligence or affected igno- 
 rance, or some other fault which had influence, 
 upon his opinions and his understanding, he hav- 
 ing a new supervening obligation from accidental 
 circumstances, to know and believe more. 
 
 Neither are we obliged to make these articles 
 more particular and minute than tlie creed. For 
 since the apostles, and indeed our blessed Lord 
 himself, promised heaven to them who believed 
 him to be the Christ that was to come into the 
 world, and that he who believes in him should be 
 partaker of the resurrection and life eternal, he 
 vv^ill be as good as his word ; yet because this arti 
 cle was very general, and a complexion rather 
 than a single proposition, the apostles and others 
 our fathers in Christ did make it more explicit ; 
 and though they have said no more than what lay 
 entire and ready formed in the bosom of the great 
 article, yet they made their extracts to great pur- 
 pose and absolute sufficiency, and therefore there 
 needs no more deductions or remoter consequen- 
 ces from the first great article, than the creed of 
 the apostles. For although whatsoever is certainly 
 deduced from any of these articles made already 
 so explicit, is as certainly true, and as amcii to be 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 55 
 
 bolieveJ as the article itself, because nothing but 
 what is true can flow from truth,* yet because it 
 is not certain that our deductions from them are 
 certain and what one calls evident, is so obscure 
 to another, that he believes it false ; it is the best 
 and only safe course to rest in that explication 
 the apostles have made ; because, if any of these 
 apostolical deductions were not demonstrable 
 evidently to follow from that great article to 
 which salvation is promised, yet the authority of 
 them who compiled the symbol, the plain descrip- 
 tion of the articles from the words of Scripture, 
 the evidence of reason demonstrating these to be 
 the whole foundation, are sufficient upon great 
 grounds of reason to ascertain us ; but if we go 
 farther, besides the easiness of being deceived, w? 
 relying upon our own disco"vses, (which though 
 they may be true, and then bind us to follow them, 
 but yet no more than when they only seem truest,) 
 yet they cannot make the thing certain to another, 
 much less necessary in itself. And since God 
 would not bind us upon pain of sin and punish- 
 ment, to make deductions ourselves, much less 
 would he bind us to follow another man's logic 
 as an article of our faith ; I say much less 
 another man's, for our own integrity (for we will 
 certainly be true to ourselves, and do our own 
 business heartily) is as lit and proper to be em.- 
 ployed as another man's ability. He cannot secure 
 me that his ability is absolute and the greatest, 
 but I can be more certain tliat my own purposes 
 and fidelity to myself is such. And since it is 
 necessary to rest somewhere, lest we sliould run 
 to an infinity, it is best to rest there Avhere tiie 
 
 * " Ex veris possunt nil nisi vera sequi." 
 
a 
 
 56 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 apostles and the churches apostolical rested; when 
 not only they who are able to judge, but others 
 who are not, equally ascertained of the certainty 
 and of the sufficiency of that explanation. 
 
 This I say, not that I believe it unlawful or 
 unsafe for the church or any of the ecclesiastical 
 rulers, or any wise man to extend his own creed 
 to anything which may certainly follow from any 
 one of the articles ; but I say, that no such deduc- 
 tion is lit to be pressed on others as an article of 
 fjiith ; and that every deduction which is so made, 
 unless it be such a thing as is at first evident to 
 all, is but sufficient to make a human faith, nor 
 can it amount to a divine, much less can be obli- 
 gatory to bind a person of a differing persuasion 
 to subscribe under pain of losing his faith, or being 
 a heretic. For it is a demonstration, that nothing 
 can be necessary to be believed under pain ot 
 damnation, but such propositions of which it is 
 certain that God hath spoken and taught tliem to 
 us, and of which it is certain that this is their 
 sense and purpose: for if the sense be uncertain, 
 we can no more be obliged to believe it in a cer- 
 tain sense, than we are to believe it at all, if it 
 were not certain that God delivered it. But if it 
 be only certain that God spake it, and not certain 
 to what sense, our faith of it is to be as indeter- 
 minate as its sense; and it can be no other in the 
 nature of the thing, nor is it consonant to God's 
 justice to believe of him that he can or will re- 
 quire more. And this is of the nature of those 
 propositions, wliich Aristotle calls bic-ac, to which 
 without any further probation, all wise men v/ill 
 give assent at its first publication. And therefore 
 deductions inevident, .from the evident and plain 
 letter of faith, are as great recessions from the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 57 
 
 obligation, as they are from the simplicity and 
 certainty of the article. And this I also affirm, 
 although the church of any one denomination, or 
 represented in a council, shall make the deduction 
 or declaration. For unless Christ had promised 
 his spirit to protect every particular church from 
 all errors less material ; unless he had promised 
 an absolute, universal infallibility even in the most 
 trifling matters ; unless superstructures be of the 
 same necessity with the foundation, and that 
 God's Spirit doth not only preserve his church in 
 the being of a church, but in a certainty of not 
 saying any thing that is less certain; (and that 
 whether they will or no too ;) we may be bound to 
 peace and obedience, to silence and to charity, but 
 have not a new article of faith made : and a new 
 proposition, though consequent (as it is said) from 
 an article of faith, becomes not therefore a part of 
 the faith, nor of absolute necessity. " What did 
 the church ever aim at doing by the decrees of her 
 councils, but to make what was believed before, 
 believed afterwards more firmly?"* said Vicen- 
 tius Lirinensis: whatsoever was of necessary be- 
 lief before is so still, and hath a new degree added, 
 by reason of a new light or a clear explication ; 
 but no propositions can be adopted into the foun- 
 dation. The church hath power to intend our 
 faith, but not to extend it ; to make our belief 
 more evident, but not more large and comprehen- 
 sive. For Christ and his apostles concealed no- 
 thing that was necessary to the integrity of Chris- 
 tian faith, or salvation of our souls ; Christ declared 
 all the will of his Father, and the apostles were 
 
 * " Quid unquam aliud ecclesia conciliorum decretis enisa 
 est, niai ut quod antea siinpliciter credebatur, hoc idem 
 postea diligentius crederetur ?" — Contra Haeres. cap. 32. 
 
58 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Stewards and dispensers of the same mysteries, 
 and were faithful in all the house, and therefore 
 concealed nothing, but taught the whole doctrine 
 of Christ: so they said themselves. And, indeed, 
 if they did not teacli all the doctrine of faith, an 
 angel or a man might have taught us other things 
 than what they taught, without deserving an 
 anathema, but not without deserving a blessing 
 for making up that faitli entire, which the apostles 
 left imperfect. Now, if they taught all the whole 
 body of faith, either the church in the following 
 ages lost part of the faith, (and then where was 
 their infallibility, and the effect of those glorious 
 promises, to which she pretends, and hath certain 
 title ? — for she may as well introduce a falsehood 
 as lose a truth, it being as much promised to her, 
 that the Holy Ghost shall lead her into all truth, 
 as that she shall be preserved from all errors, as 
 appears, John, xvi. 13,) or if she retained all the 
 faith which Christ and his apostles consigned and 
 taught, then no age can, by declaring any point, 
 make that to be an article of faith, which was not 
 so in all ages of Christianity before such declara- 
 tion. And, indeed, if the church,* by declaring 
 an article, can make that to be necessary which 
 before was not necessary, I do not see how it can 
 stand with the charity of the church so to do, (es- 
 pecially after so long experience she hath had, 
 that all men will not believe every such decision 
 or explication,) for by so doing, she makes the 
 narrow way to heaven narrower, and chalks out 
 one path more to the devil than he had before, and 
 yet the way was broad enough when it was at the 
 
 * Vide Jacob Almain. in 3. Sent. d. 25. Q. Unic. Dub. 3. 
 " Patet ergo, quod nulla Veritas est eatholica ex approbatione 
 ecclesiee vel Papse."— Gabr. Biel.inS. Sent. Dist. 23. q. 
 Unic. art. 3. Dub. 3. ad finera. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 59 
 
 narrowest. For before, differing persons might be 
 saved in diversity of persuasions ; and now, after 
 this declaration, if they cannot, there is no other 
 alteration made, but that some shall be damned, 
 who before, even in the same dispositions and 
 belief, should have been beatified persons. For, 
 therefore, it is well for the fathers of the primitive 
 church, that their errors were not discovered ; for 
 if they had been contested, (for that would have 
 been called discovery enough.) either they must 
 have relinquished their errors, or been expelled 
 from the church.* But it is better as it was ; they 
 went to heaven by that good fortune, whereas, 
 otherwise they might have gone to the devil. And 
 yet there were some errors, particularly that of 
 St. Cyprian, that was discovered, and he went to 
 heaven, it is thought ; possibly they might so too 
 for all this pretence. But suppose it true, yet 
 whether that declaration of an article of which 
 with safety we either might have doubted or been 
 ignorant, do more good than the damning of those 
 many souls occasionally, but yet certainly and 
 foreknowingly, does hurt, I leave it to all wise 
 and good men to determine. And yet, besides 
 this, it cannot enter into my thoughts, that it can 
 possibly consist with God's goodness, to put it 
 into the power of man so palpably and openly to 
 alter the paths and inlets to heaven, and to strait- 
 en his mercies, unless he had furnished these men 
 with an infallible judgment, and an infallible pru- 
 dence, and a never-failing charity; that they 
 should never do it but with great necessity, and 
 with great truth, and without ends and human 
 designs, of which I think no arguments can make 
 
 "* " Vel errores emendasaent, vel ab ecclesia ejecti fuisspnt. 
 Bellir. de Laicis, lib. iii. c. 20. § Ad primam Conlirmationem. 
 
60 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 US certain wliat the primitive church hath done in 
 this case : I shall afterwards consider and give an 
 account of it, but for the present, there is no in- 
 security in ending there where the apostles ended, 
 in building where they built, in resting where they 
 left us, unless the same infallibility which they 
 had, had still continued, which I think I shall 
 hereafter make evident it did not. And therefore 
 those extensions of creed which were made in the 
 first ages of the church, although for the matter 
 they were most true, yet, because it was not cer- 
 tain that they should be so, and they might have 
 been otherwise, therefore they could not be in the 
 same order of faith, nor in the same degrees of 
 necessity to be believed with the articles apostoli- 
 cal ; and therefore whether they did well or no in 
 laying the same weight upon them, or whether 
 they did lay tlie same weight or no, we will after- 
 wards consider. 
 
 But to return. I consider that a foundation of 
 faith cannot alter ; unless a new building be to be 
 made the foundation is the same still : and tliis 
 foundation is no other but that which Christ and 
 his apostles laid — which doctrine is like himself, 
 yesterday, and today, and the same for ever : so 
 that the articles of necessary belief to all, (which 
 are the only foundation,) they cannot be several in 
 several ages, and to several persons. Nay, the 
 sentence and declaration of the church cannot lay 
 this foundation, or make any thing of the founda- 
 tion, because the church cannot lay her own foun- 
 dation : we must suppose her to be a building, and 
 that she relies upon the foundation, which is 
 therefore supposed to be laid before, because she 
 is built upon it ; or (to make it more explicate) 
 because a cloud may arise from the allegory of 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 6l 
 
 building and foundation, it is plainly thus : the 
 church being a company of men obliged to the 
 duties of faiih and obedience, the duty and obliga- 
 tion being of the faculties of will and understand- 
 ing, to adhere to such an object, must presuppose 
 the object made ready for them ; for as the object 
 is bafore the act in order of nature, and therefore 
 not to be produced or increased by the faculty, 
 (which is receptive, and cannot be active upon its 
 proper object,) so the object of the church's faith 
 is in order of nature before the church, or before 
 the act and habit of faith, and therefore cannot be 
 enlarged by the church, any more tlian the act of 
 t?:^. visive faculty can add visibility to the object. 
 So that if we have found out wiiat foundation 
 Christ and his apostles did lay — that is, what 
 body and system of articles, simply necessary, 
 they taught and required of us to believe — we 
 need not, we cannot go any further for foundation, 
 we cannot enlarge that system or collection. 
 Now, then, altliougli all that they said is true, and 
 nothing of it be doubted or disbelieved, yet as 
 all they said is neitlier written nor delivered, 
 (because all was not necessary,) so we know that 
 of those things which are written some things are 
 as far off from the foundation as those things which 
 were omitted, and therefore, although now acci- 
 dentally they must be believed by all that know 
 them, yet it is not necessary all should know 
 them ; and that all should know them in the same 
 sense and interpretation, is neither probable nor 
 obligatory : but, therefore, since these things are 
 to be distinguished by some differences of neces- 
 sary and not necessary, whether or no is not the 
 declaration of Christ and his apostles affixing 
 salvation to the belief of some gi-eat comprehen- 
 6 
 
62 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 sive articles, and the act of the apostles, rendering 
 them as explicit as they thought convenient, and 
 consigning that creed made so explicit, as a tessera 
 of a Christian, as a comprehension of the articles 
 of his belief, as a sufficient disposition, and an 
 express of the faith of a catechumen, in ©rder 
 to baptism, — ^^vhether or no, I saj, all this be not 
 sufficient probation that these only are of absolute 
 necessity, that tliis is sufficient for mere belief in 
 order to heaven, and that therefore whosoever 
 believes these articles heartily and explicitly, as 
 St. John's expression is, * God dwelleth in him,' 
 I leave it to be considered and judged of from the 
 premises : only this, if the old doctors had been 
 made judges in these questions, they would have 
 passed their affirmative ; for to instance in one 
 for all, of this it was said by Tertullian : " Tiiis 
 symbol is the one sufficient, immovable, unalter- 
 able, and unchangeable rule of faith, that admits 
 no increment or decrement ; but if the integrity 
 and unity of this be preserved, in all other things 
 men may take a liberty of enlarging their know- 
 ledges and propheSyings, according as they are 
 assisted by the grace of God."* 
 
 * " Ree^ula quidem fidei una omnino est solo immobilis et 
 irreformabilis, &c. Hac lege fidei manente caetera jam disci- 
 plinag et conversationis admittunt novitatem correctionis, 
 operante scil. et proficiente usque in finem gratia Dei." — 
 Lib. de Veland. Virg. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 
 
 SECTION IL 
 
 Of Heresy and the nature of if, and that it is to 
 be accounted according to the strict capacity of 
 Chnstian faith, and not in opinions speculative ; 
 nor ever to pious persons. 
 
 And thus I have represented a short drauglit of 
 the object of faith, and its foundation; the next 
 consideration, in order to our main design, is to 
 consider what was and what ought to be the judg- 
 ment of the apostles concerning heresy ; for al- 
 though there are more kinds of vices than there 
 are of virtues, yet the number of them is to be taken 
 by accounting the transgressions of their virtues, 
 and by the limits of faith ; we may also reckon the 
 analogy and proportions of heresy, that as we 
 have seen who was called faithful by the apostoli- 
 cal men, we may also perceive who were listed 
 by them in the catalogue of heretics, that we in 
 our judgments may proceed accordingly. 
 
 And first, the word Heresy is used in Scrip- 
 ture indiiferently — in a good sense for a sect or 
 division of opinion, and men following it, or some- 
 times in a bad sense, for a false opinion signally 
 condemned. But these kind of people were then 
 called antichrists and false prophets more fre- 
 quently than heretics, and then there were many 
 of them in the world. But it is observable that 
 no heresies are noted with distinct particularity 
 in Scripture, but such as are great errors practical — 
 such whose doctrines taught impiety, or such who 
 denied the coming of Christ directly or by conse- 
 
64 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 quence, not remote or wiredrawn, but prime and 
 immediate : and therefore, in the code De S. Trini- 
 tate et Fide Catholica, heresy is caljed "a wicked 
 opinion and an ungodly doctrine."* 
 
 The first false doctrine we find condemned by 
 the apostles, was the opinion of Simon Magus, 
 who thought the Holy Ghost was to be bought 
 with money. He thought very dishonor: bly to 
 the blessed Spirit ; but yet his followers are rather 
 noted of a vice, neither resting in the understand- 
 ing, nor derived from it, but wholly practical. It 
 is Simony, not heresy, though in Simon it was a 
 false opinion, proceeding from a low account of 
 God, and promoted by his own ends of pride and 
 covetousness : the great heresy that troubled them 
 was the doctrine of the nece.^sity of keeping the 
 law of Moses, the necessity of circumcision ; 
 against which doctrine they were therefore zeal- 
 ous, because it was a direct overthrow to the very 
 end and excellency of Christ's coming. And 
 this was an opinion most pertinaciously and 
 obstinately maintained by the Jews, and had 
 made a sect among the Galatians, and this was 
 indeed wholly in opinion; and against it the apos- 
 tles opposed two articles of the creed, which 
 served at several times, according as the Jews 
 changed their opinion, and left some degrees of 
 their error : ' I believe in Jesus Christ, and I be- 
 lieve tlie holy catholic church ;' for they tlierefore 
 pressed the necessity of Moses's law, because they 
 were unwilling to forego the glorious appellative 
 of being God's own peculiar people; and that sal- 
 vation was of the Jews, and that tl e rest of the 
 world were capable of that grace no otherwise but 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 65 
 
 by adoption into tlieir religion, and becoming 
 proselytes. But this was so ill a doctrine, as that 
 it oft'erthrew the great benefits of Christ's coming; 
 for ' if they were circumcised, Christ profited 
 them nothing ;' meaning this, that Christ will not 
 be a Savior to them who do not acknowledge him 
 for their Lawgiver ; and they neither confess him 
 their Lawgiver nor their Savior, that look to be 
 justified by the law of Moses, and observation of 
 legal rites ; so that this doctrine was a direct ene- 
 my to the foundation, and therefore the apostles 
 were so zealous against it. Now, then, that other 
 opinion, which the apostles met at Jerusalem to 
 resolve, was but a piece of that opinion ; for the 
 Jews and proselytes w^ere drawn off from their 
 lees and sediment by degrees, step by step. At 
 first, they would not endure any should be saved 
 but themselves and their proselytes. Being wrought 
 off from this height by miracles, and preaching of 
 the apostles, they admitted the Gentiles to a pos- 
 sibility of salvation, but yet so as to hope for it by 
 Moses's law. From which foolery when they 
 were with much ado dissuaded, and told that sal- 
 vation was by faith in Christ, not by works of the 
 law, yet they resolved to plough with an ox and 
 an ass still, and join Moses with Christ; not as 
 shadow and substance, but in an equal confedera- 
 tion ; Christ should save the Gentiles if he was 
 helped by Moses, but alone Christianity could not 
 do it. Against this the apostles assembled at 
 Jerusalem, and made a decision of the question, 
 tying some of the Gentiles (such only who were 
 blended by the Jews as fellow countrymen) to 
 observation of such rites v*'hich the Jews had de- 
 rived by tradition from Noah, intending by this 
 to satisfy the Jews, as far as might be, with a 
 6*^ 
 
66 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 reasonable compliance and condescension ; the 
 other Gentiles, who v^^ere unmixed, in the mean- 
 while remaining free, as appears in the liberty St. 
 Paul gave the church of Corinth, of editing idol sa- 
 crifices, (expressly against the decree at Jerusa- 
 lem,) so it were without scandal. And yet for 
 all this care and curious discretion, a little of the 
 leaven still remained : all this they tliought did so 
 concern the Gentiks, that it was totally imperti- 
 nent to the Jews ; still they had a distinction to 
 satisfy the letter of the apostle's decree, and yet 
 to persist in their old opinion ; and this so con- 
 tinued, that fifteen Christian bishops, in succes- 
 sion were circumcised, even until the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, under Adrian, as Eusebius re- 
 ports.* 
 
 First, by the way, let me observe, that never 
 any matter of question in the Christian church 
 was determined with greater solemnity, or more 
 full authority of the church, than 'his question 
 concerning circumcision: no less than the whole 
 college of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, 
 and that with a decree of the hig!iest sanction ; ' It 
 seemed good to tiie Holy Ghost and to us.' Se- 
 condly, either the case of the Hebrews in particular 
 was omitted, and no determination concerning 
 them, whether it were necessary or lawful for them 
 to be circum^cised, or else it was involved in the 
 decree, and intended to oblige the Jews. If it 
 was omitted, since the question was concerning 
 what was essential, (for •! Paul say unto you, if 
 ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.') 
 it is very remarkable how the apostles, to gain the 
 Jews, and to comply with their violent prejudice 
 in behalf of Moses's law, did for a time tolerate 
 
 * Euseb. lib. iv. Eccles. Hist. c. 5 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 67 
 
 their dissent even in what was otherwise essential, 
 which I doubt not but was intended as a precedent 
 for the church to imitate for ever after: but if it 
 was not omitted, either all the multitude cf the 
 Jews, (which St. James, then tlieir bishop, express- 
 ed bj *' many myriads :"•■ 'Thou seest how 
 many myriads of Jews that believe, and yet are 
 zealots for the law;' and Susebius, speaking of 
 Justus, says, he was one ''of the infinite multitude 
 of the circumcision, who believed in Jesus,) "t I 
 say all these did perish, and their believing in 
 Christ served them to no other ends, but in the 
 infinity of their torments to upbraid them with 
 hypocrisy and heresy; or, if they were saved, it 
 is apparent how merciful God w.is, and pitiful to 
 huDian infirmitiee., that in a point of so great con- 
 cernment did f;i:v their weakness, and pardon 
 ttieir errors, and love their ^G;ood mind, since their 
 prejudice was little less than insuperable, and had 
 fair probabilities, at least it was such as might 
 abuse a wise and good man (and so it did nip.nj') 
 they did err with a good intention, x^nd if T mis- 
 take not, this consideration St. Paul J urged a^ a 
 reason why God forgave him who was a persecu- 
 tor of the saints, because he did it ignorantly in 
 unbelief; that is, he was not convinced in his 
 understanding, of the truth of the way which he 
 persecuted ; he in the meanwhile remaining in that 
 incredulity, not out of malice or ill ends, but the 
 mifjtakes of humanity and a pious zeal, therefore 
 * God had mercy on him.' And so it M'^as in this 
 great question of circumcision ; here only was the 
 
 * Acts xxi. 20. 
 
 I " Ex infinita rnultitudine eoruin qui ex circumcislono in 
 Jesum credeba,nt." — Lib. iii. 32. Eccles. Hist. 
 t 1 Tiaa. i. 
 
68 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 difference, the invincibility of St. Paul's error, and 
 the honesty of his heart caused God so to pardon 
 him as to bring him to the knowledge of Christ, 
 which God therefore did because it was necessary, 
 as an intermediate step. No salvation was con- 
 sistent with the actual remanency of that error; 
 but in the question of circumcision, although they, 
 by consequence, did overthrow the end of Christ's 
 coming, ^^et because it was such a consequence, 
 which they, being hindered by a prejudice not im- 
 pious, did not perceive, God tolerated them in 
 their error, till time and a continual dropping of 
 the lessons and dictates apostolical did wear it out. 
 And then the doctrine put on its apparel, and be- 
 came clothed with necessity : they in the mean 
 time so kept to the foundation, that is Jesus Christ 
 crucified and risen again, that although this did 
 make a violent concussion of it, yet they held fast 
 with their heart what they ignorantly destroyed 
 with their tongue, (which Saul before his conver- 
 sion did not,) that God, upon other titles than an 
 actual dereliction of their error, did bring them to 
 salvation. 
 
 And in the descent of so many years, I find 
 not any one anathema passed by the apostles or 
 their successors, upon any of the bishops of Jeru 
 salem, or the believers of the circumcision; and 
 yet it was a point as clearly determined, and of as 
 great necessity, as any of those questions that at 
 this day vex and crucify Christendom. 
 
 Besides this question, and that of the resurrec 
 tion, comnix^nccd in the churcli of Corinth, and 
 promoted, witli some variety of sense, by Hyme- 
 nseus and Philetus in Asia; who said that the re- 
 surrection was past already, I do not remember 
 any other heresy named in Scripture, but such a^ 
 
THE LIBERTY OF rROPHESYING. 69 
 
 were errors of impiety in moral practice ; such as 
 Was particularly, forbidding to marry, and the 
 heresy of the Nicolaitans, a doctrine that taught 
 ihe necessity of lust and frequent fornication. 
 
 But in all the animadversions against errors, 
 made by the apostles in the New Testament, no 
 pious person was condemned, no man that did in- 
 vincibly err. or with a good intention ; but some- 
 thing: that was "'.liss in ihe principle of action, 
 was that which Mie apostles did redargue. And 
 it is very considerable, that even they of the cir- 
 cumcision, who in so great numbers did heartily 
 believe in Christ, and yet most violently retain 
 circumcision, and without que'^tion went to heaven 
 in great numbers, yet of the number of these very 
 men, they came deeply under censure, when to 
 their error they added impiety; so long as it 
 stood with charity and without human ends and 
 secular interests, so long it was either innocent 
 or connived at; but when they grew covetous, 
 and for lilthy lucre's sake taught the same doc- 
 trine which others did in the simplicity of their 
 liearts, then they turned heretics, then they were 
 termed seducers; and Titus was commanded to 
 lool; to them, and to silence them ; * For there are 
 many that are intractable and vain babblers, se- 
 ducers of minds, especially they of the circum- 
 cision, who seduce whole houses, teaching things 
 that they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.' i hese 
 indeed were not to be endured, but to be silenced, 
 b}^ the conviction of sound doctrine, and to be re- 
 buked sharply, and avoided. 
 
 For heresy is not an error of the understanding, 
 but an error of the will. And this is clearly in- 
 sinuated in Scripture, in the style wiiereof faith 
 and a good life are made one duty, and vice is 
 
70 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 called opposite to. faith, and heresy opposed to 
 holiness and sanctity. So in St. Paul : ' For (saith 
 he) the end of the commandment is charity out of 
 a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith un- 
 feigned ;'* a quibus quod aberrarunt qitidam, from 
 which charity, and purity, and goodness, and sin- 
 cerity, because some have wandered, they have 
 turned aside unto vain jangling. And immediately 
 after, he reckons the oppositions to faith and sound 
 doctrine, and instances only in vices that stain the 
 lives of Christians, *the unjust, the unclean, tlie 
 uncharitable, the liar, the perjured person;' these 
 are the enemies of the true doctrine. And there- 
 fore St. Peter, having given in charge, to add to 
 our virtue patience, temperance, charity, and tlie 
 like, gives this for a reason : ' for if these things be 
 in you and abound, ye shall be fruitful in the 
 knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.'' So that 
 knowledge and faith is part of a good life.t And 
 St. Paul calls faith, or the form of sound words, 
 ' the doctrine that is according to godliness,' 1 
 Tim. vi, 5. And to believe in the truth, and to 
 have pleasure in unrighteousness,:}: are by the 
 same apostle opposed, and intimates, that piety 
 and faith is all one thing : faith must be entire and 
 holy too, or it is not right. It was the heresy of 
 the Gnosticks, that it was no matter how men 
 
 * 1 Tim. i. 
 
 t " Quid igitiir credulitas vel fides ? Opinor fidelitcr homl 
 nem Christo credere ; id est, fidelein Deo esse ; hoc est, fide- 
 liter Dei mandata servare." 
 
 " What then is belief or faith ? It is, in my opinion, faith- 
 fully to believe in Christ; that is, to be faithful to God: in 
 other words, fiiithfully to keep his commandments." — So Sal- 
 vian. 
 
 X Eva-i/^iic Tcev xpio-n-Ktvcev ^piKruiict ; that is, " our religion, 
 or faith ; the whole manner of serving God. — C. de summa 
 Trinit. et Fide Calhol. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 71 
 
 lived, so they did but believe aright : which wicked 
 doctrine Tatianus, a learned Christian, did so de- 
 test, that he fell into a quite contrary ; " It is of 
 no consequence what a man believes, but only 
 what he does."* And thence came the sect of 
 the Encratites. Both these heresies sprang from 
 the too nice distinguishing the faith from the pie- 
 ty and good life of a Christian : they are both but 
 one duty. However they may be distinguished, 
 if v/e speak like philosophers ; they cannot be dis- 
 tinguished, when we speak like Christians. For 
 to believe what God hath commanded, is in order 
 to a good life; and to live well is the product of 
 that believing, and as proper emanations from it, 
 as from its proper principle, and as heat is from 
 the fire. And therefore, in Scripture, they are 
 used promiscuously in sense, and in expression, 
 as not only being subjected in the same person, 
 but also in the same faculty; faith is as truly 
 seated in the will as in the understanding, and a 
 good life as merely derives from the understand- 
 ing as the will. Both of them are matters of choice 
 and of election, neither of them an effect natural 
 and invincible or necessary antecedently.t And, 
 indeed, if we remember that St. Paul reckons 
 heresy amongst the works of the flesh, and ranks 
 it with all manner of practical impieties, we shall 
 easily perceive, that if a man mingles not a vice 
 with his opinion, if he be innocent in his life, 
 though deceived in his doctrine, his error is his 
 misery, not his crime ; it makes him an argument 
 of weakness and an object of pity, but not a person 
 sealed up to ruin and reprobation. 
 
 * "Non e3t curandum quid quisque credat, id tantura 
 curandum est quod quisque faciat." 
 
 [ " Necessaria ut fiant, non n^cessaria facta." 
 
72 THE SACRED CLASSICS, 
 
 For as the nature of faith is, so is the nature of 
 heresy, contraries having the same proportion and 
 commsnsuration. Now faith, if it be taken for an 
 act of the understanding merely, is so far from 
 being that excellent grace that justifies us, that it 
 is not good at all, in any kind but naturally, and 
 makes the understanding better in itself, or pleas- 
 ing to God, just as strength doth the arm, or 
 beauty the face, or health the body ; these are 
 natural perfections indeed, and so knowledge and 
 a true belief is to die understanding. But this 
 makes us not at all more acceptable to God ; for 
 then the unlearned were certainly in a damnable 
 condition, and all good scholars should be saved, 
 (whereas I am afraid too much of the contrary is 
 true.) But unless faith be made moral by the 
 mixtures of choice and charity, it is nothing but 
 a natural periection, not a grace or a virtuf^ ; and 
 this is demonstrably proved in this, that by the 
 confession of all men, all wi" interests and persua- 
 sions in matters of mere belief, invincible ignor- 
 ance is our excuse if we be deceived, which could 
 not be, but that neither to believe aright is com- 
 mendable, nor to believe amiss is reprovable • but 
 where both one and the other is voluntary and 
 chosen antecedently or consequently, by prime 
 election or ex j^ost facto, and so comes to be con- 
 sidered in morality, and is part of a good life or 
 a bad life respectively. Just so it is in heresy ; 
 if it be a design of ambition and making of a sect, 
 (so Erasmus expounds St. Paul, cupimtov dtv^pa^ou;)* 
 if it be for filthy lucre's sake, as it was in some 
 that were of the circumcision ; if it be of pride 
 
 * " Alieni sunt a veritate qui se obarinant multitu- 
 dine."— Chryst. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 73 
 
 and love of pre-eminence, as it was in Biotrephcs; 
 or out of peevishness and indocibleness of disposi- 
 tion, or of a contentious spirit; that is, that their 
 feet are not shod with the preparation of the gospel 
 of peace ; in all these cases the error is jufet so 
 damnable as is its principle, but therefore damna- 
 ble not of itself, but by reason of its adherency. 
 And if any shall say any otherwise, it is to say 
 that some men shall be damned when they cannot 
 help it, perish without their own fault, and be 
 miserable for ever, because of their unhappiness 
 to be deceived through their own simplicity and 
 natural or accidental, but inculpable infirmity. 
 
 For it cannot stand with the goodness of God, 
 who does so know our infirmities, that he pardons 
 many things in which our wills indeed have the 
 least share, (but some they have,) but are over- 
 borne with the violence of an impetuous tempta- 
 tion ; I say, it is inconsistent with his goodness 
 to condemn those who err where the error liath 
 nothing of the will in it, who therefore cannot re- 
 pent of their error, because they believe it true, 
 who therefore cannot make compensation, because 
 they know not that they are tied to dereliction 
 of it. And although all heretics are in this con- 
 dition, that is, they believe their errors to be true ; 
 yet there is a vast difference between them who 
 believe so out of simplicity, and them vv'ho are 
 given over to believe a lie, as a punishment or an 
 effect of some other wickedness or impiety. For 
 all have a concomitant assent to the truth of 
 what they believe ; and no man can at the same 
 time believe what he does not believe, but tliis 
 assent of the understanding in heretics is caused 
 not by force of argument,but the argument is made 
 forcible by something that is amiss in his will ; 
 
74 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 and although a heretic may peradventure have a, 
 stronger argument for his error than some true 
 believer for his right persuasion, yet it is not 
 considerable how strong his argument is ; (because 
 ina w^eak understanding, a small motive will pro- 
 duce a great persuasion, like gentle physic in a 
 weak body;) but that which here is considerable, 
 is, what it is that made his argument forcible. If 
 his invincible and harmless prejudice, if his weak- 
 ness, if his education, if his mistaking piety, if 
 any thing that hath no venom, nor a sting in it, 
 there the heartiness of his persuasion is no sin, 
 but his misery and his excuse ; but if any thing 
 that is evil in the principle of his conduct did 
 incline his understanding, if his opinion did com- 
 mence upon pride, or is nourished by covetous- 
 ness, or continues through stupid carelessness, or 
 increases by pertinacity, Or is confirmed by obsti- 
 nacy, then the innocency of the error is disbanded, 
 his misery is changed into a crime and begins its 
 own punishment. But, by the way, I must ob- 
 serve, that when I reckoned obstinacy amongst 
 those things which make a false opinion criminal, 
 it is to be understood with some discretion and 
 distinction. For there is an obstinacy of will 
 which is indeed highly guilty of misdemeanor; 
 and when the school makes pertinacitj'^ or obsti- 
 nacy to be the formality of heresy, tliey say not 
 true at all, unless it be meant the obstinacy of the 
 will and choice; and if they do, they speak im- 
 perfectly and inartificially, this being but one of 
 the causes that make error become heresy. The 
 adequate and perfect formality of heresy is what- 
 soever makes the error voluntary and vicious, as 
 is clear in Scripture, reckoning covetousness, and 
 pride, and lust, and whatsoever Is vicious, to be 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 75 
 
 its causes ; (and in habits or moral changes and 
 productions, whatever alters the essence of a 
 habit, or gives it a new formality, is not to be 
 reckoned the efficient but tJie form;) but there is 
 also an obstinacy, (you may call it,) but, indeed, 
 is nothing but a resolution and confirmation of 
 understanding, which is not in a man's power 
 honestly to alter ; and it is not all the commands 
 of humanity that can be argument sufficient to 
 make a man leave believing tliat for which he thinks 
 he hath reason, and for wliich he hath such argu- 
 ments as heartily convince him. Now, the persist- 
 ing in an opinion finally, and against all the confi- 
 dence and imperiousness of human commands, 
 that makes not this criminal obstinacy, if the 
 erring person have so much humility of will as to 
 submit to whatever God says, and that no vice in 
 his will hinders him from believing it. So that we 
 must carefully distinguish continuance in opinion 
 from obstinacy, confidence of understanding from 
 peevishness of affection, a not being convinced 
 from a resolution never to be convinced upon hu- 
 man ends and vicious principles. " We are ac- 
 quainted with some persons who are uny^'illing to 
 relinquish what they have once believed ; nor can 
 they be easily convinced, but still persist in re- 
 taining the notions they have once adopted, though 
 in the spirit of peace and charity; in wliich case 
 we neither use compulsion nor authority,'' saith 
 St. Cyprian.* And he himself was such a one ; 
 for he persisted in his opinion of rebaptization 
 
 * " Scimus quo?dam quod semel imbiberint nolle dejDonere, 
 nee propositum suum fUcile mutare, sed salvo inter colleg-a.s 
 pacis et concordise vinculo quaedam propria qufe apud se 
 semel sint usurpata retinere ; qua in re nee nos vim cujquaiu 
 laciinus, aut legem dainus. — Lib. ii. Ep. 1. 
 
76 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 until death, and jet his obstinacy was not called 
 criminal, or his error turned to heresy. But to 
 return. 
 
 In this sense it is that a heretic is cu'To^^ATctapiroc, 
 self-condemned, not by an immediate express 
 sentence of understanding, but by his own act or 
 fault brought into condemnation. As it is in the 
 canon law, Notoriiis percussor clerici is ipso jure 
 excommunicate, not per sententiam latara ah ho- 
 mine, but a jure. " A man m^io strikes a clergy- 
 man, is excommunicated by his own conscience, 
 not so much by a public verdict as by right." No 
 man hath passed sentence from a judgment-seat, 
 but law hath decreed it by express enactment : 
 so it is in the case of a heretic. The understand- 
 ing, which is judge, condemns him not by an 
 express sentence ; for he errs with as much sim- 
 plicity in the result, as he had malice in the prin- 
 ciple : but there is sententia lata a jure, his will 
 which is his law that hath condemned him. And 
 this is gathered from that saying of St. Paul, 
 2 Tim, iii. IS. ' But evil men and seducers shall 
 wax worse and worse, deceiving and being de- 
 ceived.' First they are evil men; malice and 
 peevishness is in their wills ; then they turn here- 
 tics and seduce others, and while they grow worse 
 and worse, the error is master of their under- 
 standing; they are deceived themselves, 'given 
 over to believe a lie,' saith the apostle. They first 
 play the knave, and then play the fool ; they first 
 sell themselves to the purchase of vain glory or ill 
 ends, and then they become possessed with a lying 
 spirit, and believe those things heartily, which if y% 
 they were honest they should, with God's grace, 
 discover and disclaim. So that now we see that ' 
 a hearty persuasion in a false article does not 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. ' 71 
 
 always make tlie error to be esteemed involun- 
 taiily ; but then only when it is as innocent in 
 the principle as it is confident in the present per- 
 suasion. And such persons who by their ill lives 
 and vicious actions, or manifest designs (for by 
 their fruits ye sliall know them) give testimony 
 of such criminal indisposition, so as competent 
 judges by human and prudent estimate may so 
 judge them, then they are to be declared heretics, 
 and avoided. And if this were not true, it were 
 vain that the apostle commands us to avoid a 
 heretic : for no external act can pass upon a man 
 for a crime that is not cognizable. 
 
 Now every man that errs, though in a matter 
 of consequence, so long as the foundation is entire, 
 cannot be suspected justly guilty of a crime to 
 give his error a formality of heresy ; for we see 
 many a good man miserably deceived ; (as we 
 shall make it appear afterwards ;) and he that is the 
 best amongst men, certainly hath so much hu- 
 rr.ility to think he may be easily deceived ; and 
 twenty to one but he is, in something or otlier ; 
 yet, if his error be not voluntary, and part of an 
 ill life, then because he lives a good life, he is a 
 good man, and therefore no lieretic : no man is a 
 heretic against his will. And if it be pretended 
 that every man that is deceived, is therefore proud, 
 because he does not submit his understanding to 
 the authority of God or man respectively, and so 
 his error becomes a heresy ; to this I answer, that 
 there is no Christian man but will submit his 
 understanding to God, and believe whatsoever he 
 hath said ; but always provided he knows that 
 jGJod hath said so, else he must do his duty by a 
 readiness to obey when he shall know it. But 
 for obedience or humility of the riBderstanding 
 7"' 
 
78 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 towards men, that is a thin^g of another considera- 
 tion, and it must first be made evident that his un- 
 derstanding must be submitted to men ; and who 
 those men are, must also be certain, before it will be 
 adjudged a sin not to submit. But if I mistake not, 
 Christ's saying, 'Call no man master upon earth,' 
 is so great a prejudice against this pretence, as I 
 doubt it will go near wholly to make it invalid. 
 So tliat as the worshiping of angels is a humility 
 indeed, but it is voluntary and a willworship to 
 an ill sense, not to be excused by the excellency 
 of humility, nor the virtue of religion ; so is the 
 relying upon the judgment of man an humility 
 too, but such as comes not under that obedience 
 of faith which is the duty of every Christian, but 
 intrenches upon that duty which we owe to Christ 
 as an acknowledgment that he is our great ]Mas- 
 ter, and the Prince of the catholic church. But 
 whether it be or be not, if that be the question, 
 whether the disagreeing person be to be determined 
 by the dictates of men, I am sure the dictates of 
 men must not determine him in that question, but 
 it must be settled by some higher principle : so 
 that if of that question the disagreeing person 
 does opine, or believe, or err bona Jide^ lie is not 
 therefore to be judged a heretic, because he sub- 
 mits not his understanding ; because, till it be 
 sufficiently made certain to him that he is bound 
 to submit, he may innocently and piously disagree ; 
 and this not submitting is therefore not a crime, 
 (and so cannot make a heresy,) because without 
 a crime he may lawfully doubt whether he be 
 bound to submit or no, for that is the question. 
 And if in such questions which have influence 
 upon a whole system of theology, a man may 
 doubt lawfully if he doubts heartily, because the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 79 
 
 authority of men being the thing in question, 
 cannot be the judge of this question, and there- 
 fore being rejected, or (which is all one) being 
 questioned, that is, not believed, cannot render 
 the doubting person guilty of pride, and by con- 
 sequence not of heresy, much more may particular 
 questions be doubted of, and the authority of men 
 examined, and yet the doubting person be humble 
 enough, and therefore no heretic for all this pre- 
 tence. And it v/ould be considered that humility 
 is a duty in great ones as well as in idiots.*^ 
 And as inferiors must not disagree without reason, 
 so neither must superiors prescribe to others with- 
 out sufficient authority, evidence, and necessity 
 too; and if rebellion be pride, so is tyranny; both 
 may be guilty of pride of understanding, some- 
 times the one in imposing, sometimes the other in 
 a causeless disagreeing ; but in the inferiors it is 
 then only the want of humility, v/hen the guides 
 impose or prescribe what God hath also taught, 
 and then it is the disobeying God's dictates, not 
 man's, that makes the sin. But then this consider- 
 ation w'ill also intervene, that as no dictate of 
 God obliges me to believe it, unless I know it to 
 be such ; so neither will any of the dictates of my 
 superiors engage my faith, unless I also know, or 
 have no reason to disbelieve, but that they are 
 warranted to teach them to me, therefore, because 
 God hath taught the same to them ; which' if I 
 once know, or have no reason to think the contra- 
 ry, if I disagree, my sin is not in -resisting human 
 authority, but divine. And, therefore, the whole 
 business of submitting our understanding to human 
 authority comes to nothing; for either it resolves 
 
 * Mean or illiterate persons. 
 
80 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 into tlie direct duty of submitting to God, or, if 
 it be spoken of abstractedly, it is no duty at all. 
 
 But this pretence of a necessity of humbling 
 the understanding, is none of the meanest arts 
 whereby some persons have invaded and usurped 
 a power over men's faith and consciences ; and 
 therefore we shall examine the pretence after- 
 wards, and try if God hath invested any man, or 
 company of men, with such a power. In the mean 
 time, he that submits his understanding to all that 
 he knows God hath said, and is ready to submit to 
 all that he hath said if he but knov/ it, denying 
 his own aftections, and ends, and Interests, and 
 human persuasions, laying them all down at the foot 
 of his great master, Jesus Christ, that man hath 
 brought his understanding into subjection, and 
 every proud thought unto the obedience of Christ; 
 and this is the obedience of faith, which is the 
 duty of a Christian. 
 
 But to proceed. Besides these heresies noted 
 in Scripture, the age of tlie apostles, and that 
 which followed, was infested with other heresies; 
 but such as had the same formality and malignity 
 with the precedent, all of them either such as 
 taught practical impieties, or denied an article of 
 the creed. Egesippus, in Eusebius, reckons seven 
 only prime heresies, that sought to deflower the 
 purity of the church: that of Simon, that of The- 
 butes, of Cleobius, of Dositheus, of Gortheus, of 
 Masbotheus. I suppose Cerinthus to have been 
 the seventh man, though he express him not : but 
 of these, except the last, we know no particulars, 
 but that Egesippus says, they were false Christs, 
 and that their doctrine was directly against God 
 and his blessed Son. Menander, also, was the 
 first of a sect; but he bewitched the people with 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 81 
 
 his sorceries. Cerinthus's doctrine pretended 
 enthusiasm, or a new revelation, and ended in 
 lust and impious theorems in matter of unclean- 
 ness. The Ebionites^^' denied Christ to be the Son 
 of God, and affirmed him mere man, begot by 
 natural generation, (by occasion of which and the 
 importunity of the Asian bishops, St. John wrote 
 his Gospel,) and taught the observation of Moses's 
 law. Basilides taught it lawful to renounce the 
 faith, and take false oaths in time of persecution. 
 Carpocrates was a very bedlam, half-witch, and 
 quite mad-man, and practised lust, which he called 
 the secret operations to overcome the potentates 
 of the world. Some more there were, but of the 
 same nature and pest ; not of a nicity in dispute, 
 not a question of secret philosophy, not of atoms, 
 and undiscernible propositions, but open defiances 
 of all faith, of all sobriety, and of all sanctity; 
 excepting only the doctrine of the Millennaries, 
 which in the best ages was esteemed no heresy, 
 but true catholic doctrine, though since it hath 
 justice done to it, and hath suffered a just con- 
 demnation. 
 
 Hitherto, and in these instances, the church did 
 esteem and judge of heresies, in proportion to the 
 rules and characters of fliith. For faith beino* a 
 
 o 
 
 doctrine of piety as v/ell as truth, that which was 
 either destructive of fundamental verity, or of 
 Christian sanctity was against faith, and if it be 
 made a sect, was heresy ; if not, it ended in per- 
 sonal impiety and went no farther. But those 
 who, as St. Paul says, not only did such things, 
 but had pleasure in them that do them, and there- 
 fore taught others to do what tliey impiously did 
 
 * Vide Hilar, lib. i.DeTrin. 
 
82 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 dogmatize, they were heretics both in matter and 
 form, in doctrine and deportment, towards God, 
 and towards man, and judicable in both tribu- 
 nals. 
 
 But the Scripture and apostolical sermons, hav- 
 ing expressed most high indignation against these 
 masters of impious sects, leaving them under pro- 
 digious characters, and horrid representments, as 
 calling them men of corrupt minds, reprobates 
 concerning the faith, given over to strong delu- 
 sions, to the belief of a lie, false apostles, false 
 prophets, men already condemned, and that bj 
 themselves, anti-Christs, enemies of God; and 
 heresy itself, a work of the flesh, excluding from 
 the kingdom of heaven ; left such impressions in 
 the minds of all their successors, and so much 
 zeal against such sects, that if any opinion com- 
 menced in the church not heard of before, it 
 oftentimes had this ill luck to run the same for- 
 tune with an old heresy. For because the heretics 
 did bring in new opinions in matters of great 
 concernment, every opinion de novo brought in 
 was liable to the same exception ; and because the 
 degree of malignity in every error was oftentimes 
 undiscernible, and most commonly indemonstra- 
 ble, their zeal was alike against all; and those 
 ages being full of pietj^ were fitted to be abused 
 with an over-active zeal, as wise persons and 
 learned are with a too much indifterency. 
 
 But it came to pass, that the further the succes- 
 sion went from the apostles, the more forward 
 men were in numbering heresies, and that upoii 
 slighter and more uncertain grounds. Some foot- 
 steps of this we shall find, if we consider the sects 
 that are said to have sprung in the first three 
 hundred years, and they were quick in their 
 
THE LIBERTY OF rROPHESYIx\G. 83 
 
 springs and falls ; fourscore and seven of them are 
 reckoned. Thej were indeed reckoned afterward, 
 and though when they were alive, they were not 
 condemned with as much forwardness, as after 
 they were dead ; yet even then, confidence began 
 to mingle with opinions less necessary, and mis- 
 takes in judgment were oftener and more public 
 than they should have been. But if they were 
 forward in their censures (as sometimes some of 
 them were), it is no great wonder they were de- 
 ceived. For what principle or criterion had they 
 then to judge of heresies, or condemn them, besides 
 the single dictates or decretals of private bishops ? 
 for Scripture was indifferently pretended by all ; 
 and concerning the meaning of it, was the question. 
 Now there was no general council all that while, 
 no opportunity for the church to convene; and it 
 we search the communicatory letters of the 
 bishops and martyrs in those days, we shall find 
 but few sentences decretory concerning any 
 question of faith, or new-sprung opinion. And in 
 those that did, for aught appears, the persons were 
 misreported, or their opinions mistaken, or at 
 most, the sentence of condemnation was no more 
 but this: such a bishop who hath had the good 
 fortune by posterity to be reputed a catholic, did 
 condemn sucli a man of such an opinion, and yet 
 himself erred in as considerable matters, but meet- 
 ing with better neighbors in his life-time, and a 
 more charitable posterity, hath his memory pre- 
 served in honor. It appears plain enough in the 
 case of Nicholas, the deacon of Antioch, upon a 
 mistake of his words whereby he taught to abuse 
 the. flesh, viz. by acts of austerity and self-denial, 
 and mortification ; some wicked people, that were 
 glad to be mistaken and abused into a pleasing 
 
84 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 crime, pretended that he taught them to abuse the 
 flesh bj filthj commixtures and pollutions : this 
 mistake was transmitted to posterity with a full 
 cry, and acts afterwards found out to justify an ill 
 opinion of him. For by St. Jerome's time it grew 
 out of question, but that he was the vilest of men, 
 and the worst of heretics :* accusations that, while 
 the good man lived, were never thought of, for his 
 daughters were virgins, and his sons lived in holy 
 celibacy all their lives, and-himself lived in chaste 
 wedlock; and yet his memory had rotted in per- 
 petual infamy, had not God (in whose sight the 
 memory of the saints is precious) preserved it by 
 the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus,t and from 
 liim of Eusebius and Nicephorus.i But in the 
 catalogue* of heretics made by Philastrius, he stands 
 marked with a black character, as guilty of many 
 heresies; by which one testimony we may guess 
 what trust is to be given to those catalogues. 
 Well, this good man had ill luck to fall into un- 
 skillful hands at first; but Iren^us, Justin Martyr, 
 Lactantius (to name no more), had better fortune; 
 for it being still extant in their writings that they 
 were of the millennary opinion, Papias before, and 
 Nepos after, were censured hardly, and the opi- 
 nion put into the catalogue of heresies ; and yet 
 these men, never suspected as guilty, but, like the 
 children of the captivity, walked in the midst of 
 the flame, and not so much as the smell of fire 
 passed on them. But the uncertainty of these 
 things is very memorable in the story of Eusta- 
 thius, bishop of Antioch, contesting with Eusebius 
 
 * " Nicolaus Antiochenus, omnium immunditiarum condi- 
 tor, cboros diixit faemineos." — Ad Ctesiph, And a^am : " Iste 
 Nicolaus Diaconus ita immundus extitit ut etiam in prsBsepi 
 Domini nefas perpetrarit." — Epist. de Fabiano lapso. 
 
 t Lib. iii. Stromal. | Lib. iii. c. 26, Hist. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 85 
 
 Pamphilus : Eustathius accused Eusebius forgoing 
 about to corrupt the Nicene creed, of which slan- 
 der he then acquitted himself (saith Socrates) ;* 
 and yet he is not cleared by posterity, for still he 
 is suspected, and his fame not clear. However, 
 Eusebius then escaped well ; but, to be quit with 
 his adversary, he recriminates, and accuses him to 
 be a favorer of Sabellius, rather than of the 
 Nicene canons : an imperfect accusation, God 
 knows, when the crime was a suspicion, provable 
 only by actions capable of divers constructions, 
 and at the most made but some degrees of proba- 
 bility, and the fact itself did not consist in any 
 particular, and therefore was to stand or fall, to be 
 improved or lessened, according to the will of the 
 judges, whom in this case Eustathius, by his ill 
 fortune and a potent adversary, found harsh to- 
 wards him, insomuch that he was for heresy de- 
 posed in the synod of Antioch. And though this 
 was laid open in the eye of the world, as being 
 most ready at hand, with the greatest ease charged 
 upon every man, and with greatest difficulty ac- 
 quitted by any man, yet there were other suspi- 
 cions raised upon him privately, or at least talked 
 of afterwards, and pretended as causes of his de- 
 privation, lest the sentence should seem too hard 
 for the first offence. And yet, what they were no 
 man could tell, saith the story. But it is observ- 
 able what Socrates saith, as in excuse of such 
 proceedings :t ' // is the manner among the bishops, 
 when they accuse them that are deposed, they call 
 them wicked, but they publish not the actions of 
 their impiety,'^ It might possibly be that the 
 
 * Lib. i. c. 23. 
 
 t Tovro Si vTti 'n'a.vTcov uoo^Ae-i tav KArmpovfAivtev ttoiuv ot 
 t7ricrx.o?roi, lisLrnycfuvvm /uev aat eta-i^» /".s-^oyrs?, Tat; clf umnc 
 T«c aci^ikii ill Kr^zuffi, — Lib. i. c. 24. 
 
86 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 bishops did it in tenderness of their reputation : 
 but yet hardly ; for to punish a person publicly 
 and highly is a certain declaring the person pu- 
 nished guilty of a high crime ; and then to conceal 
 the fault, upon pretence to preserve his reputation, 
 leaves every man at liberty to conjecture what he 
 pleaseth, who possibly will believe it worse than 
 it is, inasmuch as they think his judges so chari- 
 table as therefore to conceal the fault, lest the 
 publishing of it should be his greatest punishment, 
 and the scandal greater than his deprivation.* 
 However, this course, if it were just in any, was 
 unsafe in all ; for it might undo more than it could 
 preserve, and therefoi'e is of more danger than it 
 can be of charity. It is therefore too probable 
 that the matter was not very fair, for in public 
 sentence the acts ought to be public ; but that they 
 rather pretend heresy to bring their ends about, 
 shows how easy it is to impute that crime, and 
 hov/ forward they are to do it. And that they 
 might and did then as easily call heretic as after- 
 ward, when Vigilius was condemned of heresy, 
 for saying there were antipodes ; or as the friars 
 of late did, who suspected Greek and Hebrew of 
 heresy, and called their professors heretics, and 
 had like to have put Terence and Demosthenes 
 into the Index Expurgatorius, Sure enough they 
 railed at them pro condone; tlierefore, because 
 they understood them not, and had reason to be- 
 lieve they would accidentally be enemies to tlieir 
 reputation among the people. 
 
 By this instance, which was a while after the 
 Nicene council, where the acts of the church were 
 regular, judicial, and orderly, we may guess at 
 
 * " Simpliciter pateat vitiuin fortasse pusillum, 
 
 Quod tegitur, majus creditur esse malum."— Martial. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 87 
 
 the sentences passed upon heresy, at such times 
 and in such cases, when their process was more 
 private and their acts more tumultuary, their in- 
 formation less certain, and therefore their mistakes 
 more easy and frequent. And it is remarkable in 
 the case of the heresy of Montanus, the scene of 
 whose heresy lay within the first three hundred 
 years, though it was represented in the catalogues 
 afterwards ; and possibly the mistake concerning 
 it is to be put upon the score of Epiphanius, by 
 whom Montanus and his followers were put into 
 the catalogue of heretics, for commanding absti- 
 nence from meats, as if they were unclean and of 
 themselves unlawful. Now the truth was, Mon- 
 tanus said no such thing: but commanded fre- 
 quent abstinence, enjoined dry diet and an ascetic 
 table, not for conscience' sake, but for discipline ; 
 and jet, because he did this with too much rigor 
 and strictness of mandate, the primitive church 
 misliked it in him, as being too near their error, 
 who, by a Judaical superstition, abstained from 
 meats as from uncleanness. This, by the waj', 
 will much concern them who place too much 
 sanctity in such rites and acts of discipline ; for 
 it is an eternal rule, and of never-failing truth, 
 that such abstinences, if they be obtruded as acts 
 of original immediate duty and sanctity, are un- 
 lawful and superstitious. If they be for disci- 
 pline, they may be good, but of no very great profit j 
 it is that bodily exercise which St. Paul says pro- 
 fiteth but little ; and just in the same degree the 
 primitive diurch esteemed them, for they therefore 
 reprehended Montanus for urging such abstinences 
 with too much earnestness, though but in the way 
 of discipline ; for that it was no more, Tertullian^ 
 who was himjself a Montanist, and knew best the 
 
88 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Opinions of his own sect, testifies ; and yet Epipha- 
 nius, reporting the errors of Montanus, commends 
 that which Montanus truly and really taught, 
 and which the primitive church, condemned in 
 liim, and therefore represents that heresy to an- 
 other sense, and affixes that to Montanus which 
 Epiphanius believed a heresy, and yet which Mon- 
 tanus did not teach. And this also, among many 
 other things, lessens my opinion very much of the 
 integrity or discretion of the old catalogues of 
 heretics, and much abates my confidence towards 
 them. 
 
 And now that I have mentioned them casually 
 in passing by, I shall give a short account of them, 
 for men are much mistaken : some in their opinions 
 concerning the truth of them, as believing them 
 to be all true; some concerning their purpose, as 
 thinking them sufficient not only to condemn all 
 those opinions there called heretical, but to be a 
 precedent to all ages of the church to be free and 
 forward in calling heretic. But he that considers 
 the catalogues themselves, as they are collected 
 by Epiphanius, Philastrius, and St. Austin, shall 
 find that many are reckoned for heretics for opi- 
 nions in matters disputable and undetermined, 
 and of no consequence ; and that, in these cata- 
 logues of heretics, there are men nun^ibered for 
 heretics which by every side respectively are ac- 
 quitted ; so that there is no company of men in 
 the world that admit these catalogues as good 
 records or sufficient sentences of condemnation. 
 For the churches of the reformation, I am certain 
 they acquit Aerius for denying prayer for the 
 dead, and the Eustathians for denying invocation 
 of Saints. And I am partly of opinion, that the 
 church of Rome is not willing to call the Colly- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 8SJ 
 
 ridians heretics for offering a cake to the Virgin 
 Mary, unless she also will run the hazard of the 
 same sentence for offering candles to her ; and 
 that they will be glad with St. Austin (1. vi. De 
 Ha:;res. c. 86.) to excuse the Tertullianists* for 
 picturing God in a visible, corporal representment. 
 And yet these sects are put in the black book by 
 Epiphanius, and St. Austin, and Isidore respect- 
 ively. I remember also that the Osseni are 
 called heretics, because they refused to v/orsliip 
 towards the east; and yet in that descent I find 
 not the malignity of a heresy, nor any thing 
 against an article of faith or good manners ; and 
 it being only in circumstance, it were hard, if they 
 were otherwise pious men and true believers, to 
 send them to hell for such a trifle. The Parerme- 
 neutse refused to follow men^s dictates like sheep, 
 but would expound Scripture according to the best 
 evidence themselves could find, and yet were 
 called heretics, v/hether they expounded true or 
 no. The Pauliciani,! for being oftended at crosses, 
 the Proclians, for saying, in a regenerate man all 
 his sins were not quite dead, but only curbed and 
 assuaged, were called heretics, and so condemned, 
 for ought I know, for affirming that which all 
 pious men feel in themselves to be too true. And 
 he that will consider how nuiiierous the catalogues 
 are, and to what a volume they are come in their 
 last collections, to no less than five hundred and 
 twenty (for so many heresies and heretics are 
 reckoned by Prateolus), may think that if a re- 
 trenchment were justly made of truths, and all im- 
 pertinences, and all opinions, either still disputable 
 or less considerable, the number would much de- 
 
 * D. Thorn. i^Contr. Gent. c. 21. 
 
 t Euthym. pErft i. tit. 2!. Epiphan, Hceres. 64. 
 
90 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 crease ; and therefore that the catalogues are much 
 amiss, and the name heretic is made a bugbear to 
 affright people from their belief, or to discounte- 
 nance the persons of men, and disrepute them, 
 that their schools may be empty and their disci- 
 ples few. 
 
 So that I shall not need to instance how that 
 some men were called heretics by Philastrius, tor 
 rejecting the translation of the Seventy, and fol- 
 lowing the Bible of Aquila, wherein the great 
 faults mentioned by Philastrius are, that he trans- 
 lates ;^/o-Toy Giou not Cliristum, but imciiim Dei, the 
 Anointed of God ; and instead of Emanuel, writes 
 Bens nobiscujn, God with us. But this most con- 
 cerns them of the primitive church, with whom 
 tlie translator of Aquila was in great reputation ; 
 it was supposed he was a greater clerk, and un- 
 derstood more than ordinary. It may be, so he 
 did: but whether yea or no, yet since the other 
 translators, by the confession of Philastrius, when 
 compelled by urgent necessity, did pass by some 
 things, if some wise men, or unwise, did follow a 
 translator who understood the original well (for 
 so Aquila had learnt amongst the Jews), it was 
 hard to call men heretics for following his transla- 
 tion especially since the other Bibles (which were 
 tliought to have in them contradictories, and' it 
 was confessed, had omitted some things) were ex- 
 cused by necessity ; and the others' necessity of 
 following Aquila, when they had no better, was 
 not at all considered, nor a less crime than heresy 
 laid upon their score. Such another was the 
 heresy of the Quartodecimani; for the Easterlings 
 were all proclaimed heretics, for keeping Easter 
 after the manner of the east ; and as Socrates and 
 Nicephorus report, the bishop of Rome v*r-s very 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 91 
 
 forward to excommunicate all the bishops of the 
 lesser Asia, for observing the feast according to 
 the tradition of their ancestors, though they did it 
 modestly, quietly, and without faction ; and al- 
 though they pretended, and were as well able to 
 prove their tradition from St. John, of so observing 
 it, as the western church could prove tlieir tradi- 
 tion derivative from St. Peter and St. Paul. If 
 such things as these make up the catalogues of 
 heretics (as we see they did), their accounts differ 
 from the precedents they ought to have followed ; 
 that is, the censures apostolical ; and therefore are 
 unsafe precedents for us; and unless they took 
 tlie liberty of using the word heresy in a lower 
 sense than the v/orld now doth, since the councils 
 have been forward in pronouncing anathema, and 
 took it only for a distinct sense, and a differing 
 persuasion in matters of opinion and minute arti- 
 cles, we cannot excuse the persons of the men ; 
 but if they intended the crime of heresy against 
 those opinions, as they laid them down in their 
 catalogues, that crime (I say) which is a work of 
 the flesh, which excludes from the kingdom of 
 heaven, all that I shall say against them is, that 
 the causeless curse shall return empty, and no 
 man is damned the sooner because his enemy cries 
 'Oh, accursed!' and they that were the judges 
 and accusers might-' err as well as the person ac- 
 cused, and might need as charitable construction 
 of their opinions and practices as iho. other. And of 
 ruje this we are sure, they had no warrant from any 
 of Scripture, or practice apostoHcal, for driving so 
 furiously and hastily in such decretory sentences. 
 But I am willing rather to believe their sense of the 
 word heresy was more gentle than with us it is, and 
 for that they might have warrant from Scripture. 
 
92 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 But, by the way, I observe that although these 
 catalogues are a great instance to show that they 
 whose age and spirits were far distant from the 
 apostles, had also other judgments concerning 
 faith and heresy than the apostles had, and the 
 ages apostolical; yet these catalogues, although 
 they are reports of heresies in the second and third 
 ages, are not to be put upon the account of those 
 ages, nor to be reckoned as an instance of their 
 judgment; which, although it was in some degrees 
 more culpable than that of their predecessors, yet 
 in respect of the following ages it was innocent 
 and modest. But these catalogues I speak of were 
 set down according to the sense of the then pre- 
 sent ages, in which as they in all probability did 
 differ from the apprehensions of the former centu- 
 ries, so it is certain there were differing learnings, 
 other fancies, divers representments and judg- 
 ments of men, depending upon circumstances, 
 which the first ages knew and the follovving ages 
 did not : and therefore the catalogues were drawn 
 with some truth, but less certainty, as appears in 
 their differing about the authors of some heresies, 
 several opinions imputed to the same, and some 
 put in the roll of heretics by one, which the other 
 left out; which to me is an argument that the col- 
 lectors were determined, not^by the sense and 
 sentences of the three first a'ges, but by them- 
 selves, and some circumstances about them, which 
 to reckon for heretics, which not. And that they 
 themselves were the prime judges, or perhaps 
 some in their own age together with them: but 
 there was not any sufficient external judicatory, 
 competent to declare heresy, that by any public 
 or sufficient sentence or acts of court had fur- 
 nished them with warrant for their catalogues. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 93 
 
 And therefore they are no argument sufficient that 
 tlie first ages of the church, which certainly were 
 the best, did much recede from that which I 
 showed to be the senee of the Scripture and the 
 practice of the apostles ; they all contented them- 
 selves with the apostles' creed as the rule of the 
 faith, and therefore were not forward to judge of 
 heresy but by analogy to their rule of faith ; and 
 those catalogues made after these ages are not suf- 
 ficient arguments that they did otherwise, but 
 rather of the weakness of some persons, or of the 
 spirit and genius of the age in which the compilers 
 lived, in which the device of calling all differing 
 opinions by the name of heresies, might grow to 
 be a design to serve ends, and to promote in- 
 terests, as often as an act of zeal and just indig- 
 nation against evil persons, destroyers of the faith, 
 and corrupters of manners. 
 
 For wliatever private men's opinions were, yet, 
 till the Nicene council, the rule of faith was entire 
 in the apostles' creed; and provided they retained 
 that easily, they broke not the utility of faith liow- 
 ever differing opinions might possibly commence 
 
 in such thino;s in which a libertv were better suf- 
 
 . . . "^ 
 
 fered than prohibited with a breach of charity. 
 
 And this appears exactly in the question between 
 St. Cyprian, of Cartl.age, and Stephen, bishop of 
 Rome, in which one instance it is easy to see 
 what was lawful and safe for a wise and good 
 man, and yet how others began even then, to be 
 abused by that temptation, v/hich since hath in- 
 vaded all Christendom. St. Cyprian rebaptized 
 heretics, and thought he was bound so to do ; calls 
 a synod in Africa, as being metropolitan, and 
 confirms his opinions, by the consent of his suf- 
 fragans and brethren, but still with so much 
 
94 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 modesty, that if any man was of another opinion, he 
 judged him not, but gave him that liberty that he 
 desired himself ; Stephen, bishop of Rome, grows 
 angry, excommunicates the bishops of Asia and 
 Africa, that in divers synods had consented to re- 
 baptization, and, without peace and without cha- 
 rity, condemns them for heretics. Indeed, here 
 was the rarest mixture and conjunction of un- 
 likelihoods that I have observed. Here was error 
 of opinion with much modesty and sweetness of 
 temper on one side ; and on the other, an over- 
 active and impetuous zeal to attest a truth. It uses 
 not to be so, for error usually is supported with 
 confidence, and truth suppressed and discounte- 
 nanced by indifferency. But that it might appear 
 that the error was not the sin but the uncharita- 
 bleness, Stephen was accounted a zealous and 
 furious person, and St. Cyprian,* though deceived, 
 yet a very good man, and of great sanctity. For 
 although every error is to be opposed, yet accord- 
 ing to the variety of errors so is there variety of 
 proceedings. If it be against faith, that is, a de- 
 struction of any part of the foundation, it is with 
 zeal to be resisted ; and we have for it an apos- 
 tolical warrant, * Contend earnestly for the faith :' 
 but then, as these things recede farther from the 
 foundation, our certainty is the less, and their ne- 
 cessity not so much ; and therefore it were very 
 fit that our confidence should be according to our 
 evidence, and our zeal according to our confi- 
 dence, and our confidence should then be the rule 
 of our communion ; and the lightness of an arti- 
 cle should be considered with the weight of a 
 precept of charity. And therefore, there are some 
 
 * Vid. St. Aug. lib. ii. c. 6. De Baptis. contra Donat. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 95 
 
 errors to be reproved, rather by a private friend 
 than a publijc censure, and the persons of the men 
 not avoided, but admonished, and their doctrine 
 rejected, not their communion ; few opinions are 
 of that malignity which are to be rejected with 
 the same exterminating spirit, and confidence of 
 aversation, with which the first teachers of Chris- 
 tianity condemned Ebion, Manes, and Cerinthus ; 
 and in the condemnation of heretics, the personal 
 iniquity is more considerable than the obliquity 
 of the doctrine, not for the rejection of the article, 
 but for censuring the persons ; and therefore it is 
 the piety of the man that excused St. Cyprian, 
 wliich is a certain argument that it is not the opi- 
 nion, but the impiety that condemns and makes 
 the heretic. And this was it which Vincentius 
 Lirinensis said, in this very case of St. Cyprian ; 
 ** Strange as it may appear, we judge the catholic 
 authors and the heretics that followed, to be of 
 one and the same opinion. We excuse the teach- 
 ers, and condemn the scholars. They who wrote 
 the books are the inheritors of heaven, while the 
 defenders of these very books are thinist down to 
 hell."* Which saying, if we confront against the 
 saying of Salvian, condemning the first authors of 
 the Arian sect, and acquitting the followers, we 
 are taught by these two wise men, that an error is 
 not it that sends a man to hell, but he that begins 
 the heresy, and is the author of the sect, is the 
 man marked out to ruin ; and his followers es- 
 caped, when the heresiarch commenced the error 
 upon pride and ambition, and his followers went 
 
 * " Unius et ejusdem opinionis (minim videri potest) judi- 
 camus authores catholicos, et sequaces haereticos. Excusa- 
 mus magistros, et condcmnamus scholasticos. Qui scripserunt 
 libros sunt haeredes ccbU, quorum librorum defensores detru- 
 duntur ad infernum."— Adv. Hseres. c. ii. 
 
96 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 after him in simplicity of their heart ; and so it 
 was most commonly ; but on the contrary, when 
 the first man in the opinion was honestly and in- 
 vincibly deceived, as St. Cyprian was, and that 
 his scholars, to maintain their credit, or their ends 
 maintained the opinion, not for the excellency of 
 the reason persuading, but for the benefit and ac- 
 cruments, or peevishness, as did the Donatists, 
 who, as St. Austin said of them, indulged them- 
 selves in their lusts, upon t\\c supposed authority 
 of Cyprian ; then the scholars are the heretics, 
 and the master is a catholic. For his error is not 
 the heresy formally, and an erring person may be 
 a catholic. A wicked person in his error becomes 
 heretic, when the good man in the same error shall 
 have all the rewards of faith. For whatever an ill 
 man believes, if he therefore believe it because it 
 serves his own ends, be his belief true or false, 
 the man hath an heretical inind ; for to serve his 
 own ends, his mind is prepared to believe a lie. 
 But a good man, that believes what according to 
 liis light, and upon the use of his moral industry 
 he thinks true, whether he hits upon the right or 
 no, because he hath a mind desirous of truth, and 
 prepared to believe every truth, is therefore ac- 
 ceptable to God ; because nothing hindered him 
 from it but what he could not help, his misery and 
 his weakness, which being imperfections merely 
 natural, which God never punishes, he stands fair 
 for a blessing of his morality, which God always 
 accepts. So that now, if Stephen had followed 
 the example of God Almighty, or retained but the 
 same peaceable spirit which his brother of Car- 
 thage did, he might, with more advantage to truth, 
 and reputation both of wisdom and piety, have 
 done his duty in attesting what he believed to be 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 97 
 
 true; for we are as much bound to be zealous 
 pursuers of peace, as earnest contenders for the 
 faith. I am sure, more earnest we ought to be for 
 the peace of the church, than for an article which 
 is not of the faith, as this question of rebaptiza- 
 tion was not ; for St. Cyprian died in belief against 
 it, and yet was a catholic, and a martyr for the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 The sum is this, St. Cyprian did right in a 
 wrong cause (as it hath been since judged); and 
 Stephen did ill in a good cause. As far, then, as 
 piety and charity is to be preferred before a true 
 opinion, so far is St. Cyprian's practice a better 
 precedent for us, and an example of primitive 
 sanctity, than the zeal and indiscretion of Stephen ; 
 St. Cyprian had not learned to forbid to any one 
 a liberty of prophesying or interpretation, if he 
 transgressed not the foundation of faith and the 
 creed of the apostles. 
 
 Well, thus it was, and thus it ought to be, in 
 the first ages, the faith of Christendom rested still 
 upon the same foundation, and the judgments of 
 heresies were accordingly, or were amiss ; but the 
 first great violation of this truth was, when ge- 
 neral councils came in, and the symbols were 
 enlarged, and new articles were made as much of 
 necessity to be believed as the creed of the apos- 
 tles, and damnation threatened to them that did 
 dissent; and at last the creeds multiplied in 
 number, and in articles, and the liberty of pro- 
 phesying began to be something restrained. 
 
 And this was of so much the more force and 
 efficacy, because it began upon great reason, and 
 in the first instance, with success good enough. 
 For I am much pleased with the enlarging of the 
 creed, which the council of Nice made, because 
 9 
 
98 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 they enlarged it to my sense ; but I am not sure 
 that others are satisfied with it; while we look 
 upon the article they did determine, we see all 
 things well enough ; but there are some wise per- 
 sonages consider it in all circumstances, and think 
 the church had been more happy if she had not 
 been in some sense constrained to alter the 
 simplicity of her faith, and make it more curious 
 and articulate, so much that he had need be a 
 subtle man to understand the very words of the 
 new determinations. 
 
 For the first Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, 
 in the presence of his clergy, entreats somewhat 
 more curiously of the secret of the mysterious 
 Trinity and Unity; so curiously, that Arius'- (who 
 was a sophistcr too subtle as it afterward appeared) 
 misunderstood him ; and thought he intended to 
 bring in the heresy of Sabeilius. For while he 
 taught the unity of the Trinity, either he did it so 
 inartificially or so intricately, that Arius thought 
 he did not distinguish the persons, when the 
 bishop intended only the unity of nature. Against 
 this Arius furiously drives ; and to confute 
 Sabeilius, and in him (as he thought) the bishop, 
 distinguishes the natures too, and so to secure the 
 article of the Trinity, destroys the Unity. It was 
 the first time the question was disputed in the 
 world ; and in such mysterious niceties, possibly 
 every wise man may understand something, but 
 few can understand all, and tlierefore suspect what 
 they understand not, and are furiously zealous for 
 that part of it which they do perceive. Well, it 
 happened in these as always in such cases, in 
 things men understand not they are most impetu- 
 
 * Socra. lib. i. c. 8. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 99 
 
 ous ; and because suspicion is a thing infinite in 
 degrees, for it hath nothing to determine it, a 
 suspicious person is ever most violent ; for his fears 
 are worse than the thing feared, because the thing is 
 limited, but his fears are not; so that upon this 
 grew contentions on both sides, and tumults, 
 railing and reviling each other;* and then the 
 laity were drawn into parts, and the Meletians 
 abetted the wrong part, and the right part, fearing 
 to be overborne, did any thing that was next at 
 hand to secure itself. Now, then, they that lived 
 in that age, that understood the men, that saw 
 how quiet the church was before this stir, how 
 miserably rent now, what little benefit from the 
 question, what schism about it, gave other censures 
 of the business than we since have done, who only 
 look upon the article determined with truth and 
 approbation of the church generally since that 
 time. But the epistle of Constantine to Alexander 
 and AriuSjt tells the truth, and chides them both 
 for commencing the question; Alexander for 
 broaching it, Arius for taking it up : and although 
 this be true, that it had been better for the church 
 it never had begun, yet, being begun, what is to 
 be done in it ? Of this, also, in that admirable 
 epistle, we have the emperor's judgment (I sup- 
 pose not without the advice and privity of Hosius, 
 bishop of Corduba, whom the emperor loved and 
 trusted much, and employed in the delivery of the 
 letters); for first he calls it, " a certain vain piece 
 of a question, ill begun and more unadvisedly 
 published ; a question which no law or ecclesiastical 
 canon defineth; a fruitless contention, the product 
 of idle brains ; a matter so nice, so obscure, so 
 
 * Id. Ub. i. c. 6. t Cap. 7. 
 
100 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 intricate, that it was neither to be explicated by 
 the clergy, nor understood by the people ; a dispute 
 of words ; a doctrine inexplicable, but most dan- 
 gerous when taught, lest it introduce discord or 
 blasphemy ; and therefore, the objector was rash, 
 and the answer unadvised ; for it concerned not 
 the substance of faith, or the worship of God, nor 
 any chief commandment of Scripture, and there- 
 fore, why should it be the matter of discord? 
 For though the matter be grave ; yet, because 
 neither necessary nor explicable, the contention is 
 trifling and toyish. And therefore, as the phi- 
 losophers of the same sect, though differing in 
 explication of an opinion, yet more love for the 
 unity of their profession, than disagree for the 
 difference of opinion ; so should Christians, be- 
 lieving in the same God, retaining the same faith, 
 having the same hopes, opposed by the same ene- 
 mies, not fall at variance upon such disputes, 
 considering our understandings are not all alike, 
 and therefore, neither can our opinions in such 
 mysterious articles : so that the matter being of 
 no great importance, but vain, and a toy, in 
 respect of the excellent blessings of peace and 
 charity, it were good that Alexander and Arius 
 should leave contending, keep their opinions to 
 themselves, ask each other forgiveness, and give 
 mutual toleration." This is the substance of 
 Constantine's letter, and it contains in it much 
 reason, if he did not undervalue the question ; but 
 it seems it was not then thought a question of faith, 
 but of nicety of dispute ; they both did believe 
 one God, and the Holy Trinity. Now, tlien, that 
 he afterward called the Nicene council, it was 
 upon occasion of the vileness of the men of the 
 Arian part, their eternal discord and pertinacious 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 101 
 
 wrangling, and to bring peace into the church; 
 that was the necessity ; and in order to it was the 
 determination of the article. But for the article 
 itself, the letter declares what opinion he had of 
 that, and this letter was by Socrates called " a 
 wonderful exhortation, full of grace and sober 
 counsels ;" and such as Hosius himself, who was 
 the messenger, pressed with all earnestness, with 
 all the skill and authority he had. 
 
 I know the opinion the world had of the article 
 afterwards, is quite diftering from this censure 
 given of it before; and therefore they have put it 
 into the creed (I suppose) to bring the world to 
 unity, and to prevent sedition in this question, 
 and the accidental blasphemies, which were oc- 
 casioned by their curious talkings of such secret 
 mysteries, and by their illiterate resolutions. But 
 although the article was determined with an ex- 
 cellent spirit, and we all, with much reason pro- 
 fess to believe it; yet it is another consideration, 
 whether or no it might not have been better de- 
 termined, if with more simplicity; and another 
 yet, whether or no, since many of the bishops who 
 did believe this thing yet did not like the nicety 
 and curiosity of expressing it, it had not been 
 more agreeable to the practice of the apostles, to 
 have made a determination of the article by way 
 of exposition of the apostles' creed, and to have 
 left this in a rescript for record to all posterity, 
 and not to have enlarged the creed with it ; for 
 since it was an explication of an article of the 
 creed of the apostles, as sermons are of places of 
 Scripture, it was thought by some, that Scripture 
 might, with good profit and great truth, be ex- 
 pounded, and yet the expositions not put into the 
 canon, or go for Scripture, but that left still in the 
 9* 
 
102 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 naked original simplicity ; and so much the rather, 
 since that explication was further from the foun- 
 dation, and though most certainly true, yet not 
 penned by so infallible a spirit, as was that of the 
 apostles, and therefore not with so much evidence 
 as certainty. And if they had pleased, they might 
 have made use of an admirable precedent to this 
 and many other great and good purposes ; no less 
 than of the blessed apostles, whose symbol they 
 might have imitated with as much simplicity as 
 they did the expressions of Scripture when they 
 first composed it. For it is most considerable, 
 that although, in reason, every clause in the creed 
 should be clear, and so inopportune and unapt to 
 variety of interpretation, that there might be no 
 place left for several senses or variety of exposi- 
 tions ; jeU when they thought fit to insert some 
 mysteries into the creed, which in Scripture were 
 expressed in so mysterious words, that the last 
 and most explicit sense would still be latent, yet 
 they who (if ever any did) understood all the 
 senses and secrets of it, thought it not tit to use 
 any words but the words of Scripture particu- 
 larly in the articles of Christ's descending into 
 hell, and sitting at the right hand of God, to show 
 us that those creeds are best which keep tlie very 
 words of Scripture ; and that faith is best which 
 hath greatest simplicity ; and that it is better, in 
 all cases, humbly to submit, than curiously to in- 
 quire and pry into the mystery under the cloud, 
 and to hazard our faith by improving our know- 
 ledge : if the Nicene fathers bad done so too, pos- 
 sibly the church never would have repented it. 
 
 And indeed the experience the cliurch had af- 
 terwards, showed that the bishops and priests 
 were not satisfied in all circumstances, nor the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 105 
 
 schism appeased, nor the persons agreed, nor the 
 canons accepted, nor the article understood, nor 
 any thing right, but when they were overborne 
 with authority, which authority, when the scales 
 turned, did the same service and promotion to the 
 contrary. 
 
 But it is considerable that it was not the ar-. 
 tide or the thing itself that troubled the disagree- 
 ing persons, but the manner of representing it ; 
 for the five dissenters, Eusebius of Nicomedia, 
 Theognis, Maris, Theonas, and Secundus, be- 
 lieved Christ to be very God of very God ; but the 
 clause of /AoouTm they derided, as being persuad- 
 ed by their logic that he was neither of the sub- 
 stance of the Father, by division, as a piece of 
 a lump, nor derivation, as children from their 
 parents, nor by production, as buds from trees ; 
 and nobody could tell them any other way at tliat 
 time, and that made the fire to burn still. And that 
 was it I said; if the article had been with more 
 simplicity and less nicety determined, charity 
 would have gained more, and faith would have 
 lost nothing. And we shall find the wisest of 
 them all, for so Eusebius Pamphilus* was esteem- 
 ed, published a creed or confession in the synod ; 
 and though he and all the rest believed that great 
 mystery of godliness, ' God manifested in the 
 flesh,' yet he was not fully satisfied ; nor so soon 
 of the clause of ' one substance,' till he had done 
 a little violence to his own understanding ; for 
 even when he had subscribed to the clause of 
 * one substance,' he does it with a protestation, 
 that " heretofore he had never been acquainted, 
 nor accustomed himself to such speeches. And 
 
 * Vide Sozomen, lib. ii. c. 18. 
 
104 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the sense of the word was either so ambiguous, or 
 their meaning so uncertain, that Andreas Fricius^ 
 does, with some probability, dispute that the Ni- 
 cene fathers, bj ofj<.oov<no':, did mean likeness to the 
 Father, not unity of essence.^ Sjlva, iv. c. 1. 
 And it was so well understood by personages dis- 
 interested, that when Arius and Euzoius had con- 
 fessed Christ to be Deus verbum, without inserting 
 the clause of ' one substance,' the emperor, by his 
 letter, approved of liis faith, and restored him to 
 his country and office, and the communion of the 
 church. And a long time after although the ar- 
 ticle was believed with nicety enough,:]: yet when 
 they added more words still to the mystery, and 
 brought in tlie word vTrofyT-jLo-i^, (hypostasis) saying 
 there were three hypostases in the lioly Tiinity, 
 it was so long before it could be understood, that 
 it was believed therefore, because they would not 
 oppose their superiors, or disturb the peace of the 
 church in things which tliey thought could not 
 be understood : insomuch that St. Jerome writ to 
 Damascus ; "Pray determine, for I shall not hesi- 
 tate to speak of three hypostases, if you command 
 me :" and again : '^ I implore thee, by the Savior 
 of the world and the United Trinity, that thou 
 wouldst authorize me, by thy letters, either to 
 speak or to be silent on the subject of the hypos- 
 tases."§ 
 
 * Socrat. lib. i. cap. 26. 
 
 t " Patris similitudinein, non essentiac unilatetn." 
 
 X "It was no injudicious application that some cue made 
 of the saying of Ariston, the philosopher, to the nice expo- 
 sition of this mystery ; ' Black hellebore cleanses and heals, 
 if it 'be taken in a state of consistence; but when bruised 
 and broken small, it suflbcates.' " 
 
 § " Discerne, si placet, obsecro ; non timebo tres hyposta- 
 ses dicere si jubetis. — Obtestor beatitudinem tuam per crn- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 105 
 
 But without all questions, the fathers deter- 
 mined the question with much truth; though I 
 cannot saj the arguments upon which they built 
 their decrees were so good as the conclusion itself 
 was certain ; but that which in this case is consi- 
 derable, is, whether or no they did well in putting 
 a curse to the foot of their decree, and the decree 
 itself into the symbol, as if it had been of the same 
 necessity. For the curse, Eusebius Pamphilus 
 could hardly find in his heart to subscribe ; at last 
 he did ; but with this clause, that he subscribed it 
 because the form of curse did only " forbid men 
 to acquaint themselves with foreign speeches and 
 unwritten languages," whereby confusion and dis- 
 cord is brought into the church. So that it was 
 not so much a magisterial high assertion of the 
 article, as an endeavor to secure the peace of the 
 church. And to the same purpose, for aught I 
 know, the fathers composed a form of confession, 
 not as a prescript rule of faith, to build the hopes 
 of our salvation on, but as a tessera (mark) of that 
 communion, which by public authority was there- 
 fore established upon those articles because the ar- 
 ticles were true, though not of prime necessity, 
 and because that unity of confession was judged, 
 as things then stood, the best preserver of the unity 
 of minds. 
 
 But I shall observe this, that although the Ni- 
 cene fathers, in that case, at that time, and in tb.at 
 conjuncture of circumstances, did well (and yet 
 their approbation is made by after ages ex post 
 facto), yet, if this precedent had been followed 
 by all councils (and certainly they had equal 
 
 cifixummundi Salutem, per oy.oovinov Trinitatem, ut inihi 
 epistolis tuis, sive tacendarum sive dicendariim hypostaseon 
 detur authoritas." 
 
106 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 power, if thej had thought it equally reasonable), 
 and that they had put all their decrees into the 
 creed, as some have done since, to what a volume 
 liad the creed by this time swelled ! and all the 
 house had run into foundation, nothing left for 
 superstructures. But that they did not, it appears 
 first, that since they thought all their decrees true, 
 yet they did not think them all necessary, at least 
 not in that degree ; and that they published such 
 decrees, they did it declaratively, not imperative- 
 ly ; as doctors in their chairs, not masters of other 
 men's faith and consciences. Secondly, and yet 
 there is some more modesty or wariness, or neces- 
 sity (what shall I call it ?) than this comes to : 
 ibr why are not all controversies determined ? but 
 even when general assemblies of prelates have 
 been, some controversies that have been very vexa- 
 tious, have been pretermitted, and others of less 
 consequence have been determined. Why did 
 never any general council condemn, in express sen- 
 tence, the Pelagian heresy, that great pest, that sub- 
 tle infection of Christendom? and yet divers ge- 
 neral councils did assemble while the heresy was in 
 the world. Soth these cases, in several degrees, 
 leave men in their liberty of believing and prophe- 
 sying. The latter proclaims, that all controversies 
 cannot be determined to sufficient purposes, and the- 
 lirst declares, that those that are, are not all of them 
 matters of faith, and themselves are not so secure 
 but they may be deceived ; and therefore possibly, 
 it were better it were let alone; for if the latter 
 leaves them divided in their opinions, yet their 
 communions, and therefore probably their chari- 
 ties, are not divided ; but the former divides their 
 communions, and hinders their interest , and yet 
 for aught is certain, the accused person is the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROrilESYING. 107 
 
 better catholic. And yet after all this, it is not 
 safety enough to say, let the council or prelates 
 determine articles warily, seldom, with great cau- 
 tion and with much sweetness and modesty ; for 
 though this be better than to do it rashly, fre- 
 quently, and furiously, yet if we once tr^insgress 
 the bounds set us by the apostles in their creed, 
 and not only preach other truths, but determine 
 them magisterially as well as exegetically, al- 
 though tliere be no error in the subject-matter 
 (as in Nice there was none), yet if the next ages 
 say they will determine another article, with as 
 much care and caution, and pretend as great a 
 necessity, there is no hindering them but by giving 
 reasons against it , and so, like enough they might 
 have done against the decreeing the article at 
 Nice; yet that is not sufficient; for since the au- 
 thority of the Nicene council hath grown to the 
 height of a mountainous prejudice against him 
 that should, say it was ill done, the same reason 
 and the same necessity may be pretended by any 
 age and in any council, and they think themselves 
 warranted, by the great precedent at Nice, to pro- 
 ceed as peremptorily as they did ; but then, if any 
 other assembly of learned men may possibly be 
 deceived, were it not better they should spare the 
 labor, than that they should, with so great pomp 
 and solemnities, engage men's persuasions, and 
 determine an article which after ages must re- 
 scind ! For therefore, most certainly in their own 
 age, the point, with safety of faith and salvation, 
 might have been disputed and disbelieved ; and 
 that many men's faitlis have been tied up by 
 acts and decrees of councils, for those articles 
 in which the next age did see a liberty had better 
 been preserved, because an error wa3 determined, 
 
108 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 we shall afterwards receive a more certain ac- 
 count. 
 
 And therefore the council of Nice did well, and 
 Constantinople did well; so did Ephesus and 
 Chalcedon; but it is because the articles were 
 truly determined (for that is the part of my be- 
 lief) : but who is sure it should be so beforehand, 
 and whether the points there determined were ne- 
 cessary or no to be believed or to be determined. 
 If peace had been concerned in it, through the fac- 
 tion and division of the parties, I suppose the 
 judgment of Constantine, the emperor, and the 
 famous Hosius of Corduba, is sufficient to instruct 
 us ; whose authority I rather urge than reasons, 
 because it is a prejudice and not a reason I am to 
 contend against. 
 
 So that such determination and publishing of 
 confessions, with authority of prince and bishop, 
 are sometimes of very good use for the peace of 
 the clmrch ; and they are good also to determine 
 the judgment of indifferent persons, whose reasons 
 of either side are not too great to weigh down the 
 probability of that authority ; but for persons of 
 confident and imperious understandings, they on 
 whose side the determination is, are armed with a 
 prejudice against the other, and with a weapon to 
 affront them, but with no more to convince them ; 
 and they against whom the decision is, do the 
 more readily betake themselves to the defensive, 
 and are engaged upon contestation and public en- 
 mities, for such articles which either might safely 
 have been unknown, or with much charity dis- 
 puted. Therefore the Nicene council, although it 
 have the advantage of an acquired and prescribing" 
 authority, yet it must not become a precedent to 
 othersj lest the inconveniences of multiplying 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 109 
 
 more articles, upon as great pretence of reason as 
 then, make the act of the Nicene fathers, in strait- 
 ening prophesying, and enlarging the creed, be- 
 come accidentally an inconvenience. The first 
 restraint, although, if it had been complained of, 
 might possibly have been better considered of; 
 yet the inconvenience is not visible, till it comes by 
 way of precedent to usher in more. It is like an 
 arbitrary power, which, although by the same 
 reason it take sixpence from the subject it may 
 take a hundred pounds, and then a thousand, and 
 then all, yet so long as it is within the first bounds, 
 the inconvenience is not so great; but when it 
 comes to be a precedent or argument for more, then 
 the first may justly be complained of, as having in 
 it that reason in the principle which brought the 
 inconvenience in the sequel ; and we have seen 
 very ill consequences from innocent beginnings. 
 
 And the inconveniences which might possibly 
 arise from this precedent, those wise personages 
 also did foresee ; and therefore, although they 
 took liberty in Nice to add some articles, or at 
 least more explicitly to declare the first creed, yet 
 they then would have all the world to rest upon 
 that, and go no farther, as believing that to be 
 sufiicient. St. Athanasius declares their opi- 
 nion :* " That faith, which those fathers there con- 
 fessed, was sufficient for the refutation of all 
 impiety, and the establishment of all faith in 
 Christ and true religion." And therefore there 
 was a famous epistle written by Zeno the emperor, 
 called the Emruov,^ or the Epistle of Reconcilia- 
 
 * "^H ytp zv Avnrn 7rtp± t&jv Trofcipm katci nrdt.i 3-s/jt? y^it^f^z 
 ofxoxoryn^iia-dt. ttio-tic, iwrttfittui i^Ti Trpo; AVitrpcTrnv fy.iv Trmrnc 
 d!.<Ti0ttai.c, o-ua-'VdLo-iv Si rug wa-z^HAg iv XpKnai vna-Tia)-;. — Epist. ad 
 Epict. 
 
 t Eva<:^. lib. iii. c. 14. 
 10 
 
110 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 tion, in which all disagreeing interests are en- 
 treated to agree in the Nicene symbol; and a 
 promise made upon that condition, to communi- 
 cate with all other sects ; adding, withal, that the 
 church should never receive any other symbol than 
 that which was composed by the Nicene fathers. 
 And however Honorius was condemned for a 
 Monothelite, yet, in one of the epistles which the 
 sixth synod alleged against him (viz. the second), 
 he gave them counsel that would have done the 
 church as much service as the determination of the 
 article did; for he advised them not to be curious 
 in their disputings, nor dogmatical in their deter- 
 minations about that question ; and because the 
 church was not used to dispute in that question, it 
 were better to preserve the simplicity of faith, than 
 to ensnare men's consciences by a new article. 
 And when the emperor Constantius was, by his 
 faction, engaged in a contrary practice, the incon - 
 venience and unreasonableness was so great, that a 
 prudent heathen observed and noted it in this cha- 
 racter of Constantius, " That he mixed the Chris- 
 tian religion, pure and simple in itself, with a 
 weak and foolish superstition, perplexing to exa- 
 mine, but useless to contrive ; and excited dis- 
 sensions which were widely diffused, and which 
 were maintained with a war of words, while he 
 endeavored to regulate every sacred rite by his 
 own will."^ 
 
 And yet men are more led by example than 
 either by reason or by precept ; for in the council 
 of Constantinople one article, wholly new, was 
 
 * " Christianam religionem absolutam et simplicem anili 
 superstitione confudit. In quascnitanda perplexius quam in 
 componenda p-atius, excitavit dissidia quse progressa fusing 
 alnit concertatione verborum, diim rituin omnein ad suum 
 trahere conatur arbitnura." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. Ill 
 
 added ; viz. "I believe one baptism for the remis- 
 sion of sins :" and then, again, they were so 
 confident that that confession of faith was so ab- 
 solutely entire, and that no man ever after should 
 need to add any thing to the integrity of faith, 
 that the fathers of the council of Ephesus pro- 
 nounced anathema to all those that should add 
 any thing to the creed of Constantinople. And 
 yet, for all this, tlie church of Rome, in a synod 
 at Gentilly, added the clause of " Filioque" to 
 the article of the procession of the Holy Gliost ; 
 and what they have done since all the world 
 knows. All men were persuaded that it was most 
 reasonable the limits of faith should be no more 
 enlarged; but yet they enlarged it themselves, 
 and bound others from doing it; like an intempe- 
 rate father, who, because he knows he does ill 
 himself, enjoins temperance to his son but con- 
 tinues to be intemperate himself. 
 
 But now, if I should be questioned concerning 
 the symbol of Athanasius (for we see the Nicene 
 symbol was the father of many more, some twelve 
 or thirteen symbols in the space of a hundred 
 years), I confess I cannot see that moderate sen- 
 tence and gentleness of charity in his preface and 
 conclusion, as there was in the Nicene creed. 
 Nothing there but damnation and perishing ever- 
 lastingly, unless the article of the Trinity be 
 believed, as it is there, with curiosity and mi- 
 nute particularities, explained. Indeed, Athana- 
 sius had been soundly vexed on one side, and much 
 cried up on the other ; and therefore it is not so 
 much wonder for him to be so decretory and severe 
 in his censure : for nothing could more ascertain 
 his friends to him, and disrepute his enemies, tiian 
 the belief of that damnatory appendix ; but that 
 
112 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 does not justify the thing. For the articles them- 
 selves, I am most heartily persuaded of the truth 
 of them, and yet I dare not say, all that are not 
 so are irrevocably danmed, because without this 
 symbol the faith of the apostles' creed is entire, 
 and he that believeth and is baptized shall be 
 saved ; that is, he that believeth such a belief as 
 is sufficient disposition to be baptized, that faith 
 with the sacrament is sufficient for heaven. Now 
 the apostles' creed does one ; why, therefore, doth 
 not both entitle ns to the promise ? Besides if it 
 were considered concerning Athanasius's creed, 
 how many people understand it not, how contrary 
 to natural reason it seems, how little the Scrip- 
 ture* says of those curiosities of explication, and 
 how tradition was not clear on his side for the ar- 
 ticle itself, much less for those forms and minutes; 
 how himself is put to make an answer, and ex- 
 cuse, for the fatherst speaking in favor of the 
 Arians, at least so seemingly that the Arians ap- 
 pealed to them for trial, and the offer was declined, 
 and after all this, that the Nicene creed itself 
 went not so far, neither in article, nor anathema, 
 nor explication ; it had not been amiss if the final 
 judgment had been left to Jesus Christ, for he is 
 appointed Judge of all the world, and he shall 
 judge the people righteously, for he knows every 
 truth, the degree of every necessity, and all ex- 
 cuses that do lessen or take away the nature or 
 
 * Vide Hosium de Author. S. Scrip, lib. iii. p. 53, et Gor- 
 don, HuntlcBum. torn. i. controv. i. de Verbo Dei, cap. 19. 
 
 t VideGretser. et Tanner. incoUoq. Ratisbon. Eusebium 
 fuisse Arianum ait Perron, lib. iii. cap. 2, contra Jacobum 
 Regem. Idem ait Originem negasse Divinitatem Filii et 
 Spir. S. lib. ii. c. 7, de Euchar. contra Duplessis. _ Idem, 
 cap. 5, observ. 4, ait, Irenaura talia dixisse quae qui hodie 
 diceret, pro Ariano reputaretur. Vide etiam Fisher, in. resp. 
 ad 9 Quaest. Jacobi Reg. et Epiphan. in Hceres. 65. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 113 
 
 malice of a crime ; all which I think Athanasius, 
 though a very good man, did not know so well as 
 to warrant such a sentence. And put case, the 
 heresy there condemned be damnable (as it is 
 damnable enough), yet a man may maintain an 
 opinion that is in itself damnable and yet he, not 
 knowing it so, and being invincibly led into it, 
 may go to heaven ; his opinion shall burn and him- 
 self be saved. But, however, i :rad no ♦ phiions 
 in Scripture called damnable but what are impious 
 in their effect upon the life, or directly destruc- 
 tive of the faith or the body of Christianity ; such 
 •of which St Peter speaks f ' bringing in damnable 
 heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, 
 these are tV: false prophets, who out of covetous- 
 ness make ; f^rchandize of you through cozening 
 words.' Such as these are truly heresies, and 
 such as these are certainly damnable. But be- 
 cause there are no degrees either of truth or 
 falsehood, every true proposition being alike true, 
 that an error is more or less damnable, is not told 
 us in Scripture, but is determined by the man 
 and his manners, by circumstance and accidents ; 
 and therefore the censure in the preface and end 
 are arguments of his zeal and strength of his per- 
 suasion ; but they are extrinsical and accidental 
 to the articles, and might as well have been spared. 
 And indeed, to me it seems very hard to put un- 
 charitableness into the creed, and so to make it 
 become as an article of faith, though perhaps this 
 very thing was no faith of Athanasius,t who, if we 
 may believe Aquinas, made this manifestation of 
 faith, nonper modum symboli, sed per modimi doc- 
 trinas ; that is, if I understood idm ri^ht, not with 
 
 * 2Pet. ii. 1. 
 
 t D. Tho. 2226. q. i. artic. 1. ad. 3. 
 10* 
 
114 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 a purpose to impose it upon others, but with confi- 
 dence to declare his own belief; and that it was 
 prescribed to others as a creed, was the act of the 
 bishops of Rome ; so he said ; nay, possibly it was 
 none of his. So said the patriarch of Constanti- 
 nople, Meletius, about one hundred and thirty 
 years since, in his epistle to John Douza : '• We 
 do not scruple plainly to protest that the creed is 
 falsely ascribed to Athanasius, which was cor- 
 rupted by the Roman pontiiis."* And it is more 
 than probable that he said true, because this creed 
 was written originally in Latin, which, in all reason 
 Athanasius did not, and it was translated into 
 Greek; it being apparent that the Latin copy is 
 but one, but the Greek is various, there being 
 three editions, or translations rather, expressed by 
 Genebrard, lib. iii. de Trinit. But in this parti- 
 cular, who list may better satisfy himself in a 
 disputation De Symboli Jlihanasii, printed at 
 Wertzburg, 1590, supposed to be written by Ser- 
 rarius or Clencherus. 
 
 And yet I must observe, that this symbol of 
 Athanasius, and that other of Nice, offer not at 
 any new articles; they only pretend to a furtlier 
 explication of the articles apostolical ; which is a 
 certain confirmation that they did not believe more 
 articles to be of belief necessary to salvation ; if 
 they intended these further explications to be as 
 necessary as the dogmatical articles of the apostles' 
 creed, I know not how to answer all that may be 
 objected against that; but the advantage that I 
 shall gather from their not proceeding to new 
 matters, is laid out ready for me in the words of 
 
 * " Athanasio falso adscriptura symbolum cum pontificiim 
 Rom. appendice ilia adulteratum, luce lucidius contesta- 
 mur." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 115 
 
 Atlianasiiis, saying of this creed, *"This is the 
 catholic faith;" and if his authority be good, or 
 his saying true, or he the author, then no man can 
 say of any other article, that it is a part of the 
 catholic faith, or that the catholic faith can be en- 
 larged beyond the contents of that symbol ; and 
 therefore it is a strange boldness in the church of 
 Rome,* first to add twelve new articles, and then 
 to add the appendix of Athanasius to the end of 
 them, " This is the catholic faith, without which 
 no man can be saved." 
 
 But so great an example of so excellent a man 
 liath been either mistaken or followed with too 
 much greediness; for we see all the world in 
 factions, all damning one another; each party 
 <lamned by all the rest; and there is no disagree- 
 ing in opinion from any man that is in love with 
 his own opinion, but damnation presently to all 
 that disagree. A ceremony and a rite hath caused 
 several churches to excommunicate each other ; as 
 in the matter of the Saturday fast and keeping 
 Easter. But what the spirits of men are when 
 they are exasperated in a question and difference 
 of religion, as they call it, though the thing itself 
 may be most inconsiderable, is very evident in 
 that request of Pope Innocent the Third, desiring 
 of the Greeks (but reasonably a man would think), 
 that they would not so much hate the Roman 
 manner of consecrating in unleavened bread, as 
 to wash and scrape, and pare the altars, after a 
 Roman priest had consecrated. Nothing more 
 furious than a mistaken zeal, and the actions of a 
 scrupulous and abused conscience. When men 
 think every thing to be their faith and their reli- 
 
 * Bulla Pii quart! supra forraa juratnenti professionis ficlei, 
 in fin. Cone. Trident. 
 
116 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 gion, commonly they are so busy in trifles and 
 such impertinences in which the scene of their 
 mistake lies, that they neglect the greater things 
 of the law, charity, and compliances, and the gen- 
 tleness of Christian communion ; for this is the 
 great principle of mischief, and yet is not more 
 pernicious than unreasonable. 
 
 For, I demand, can any man say and justify 
 that the apostles did deny communion to any man 
 that believed the apostles' creed, and lived a good 
 life ? And dare any man tax that proceeding of 
 remissness, and indilFerency in religion? And 
 since our blessed Savior promised salvation to 
 him that believeth (and the apostles, when they 
 gave this word the greatest extent, enlarged it 
 beyond the borders of the creed), how can any 
 man warrant the condemning of any man to the 
 flames of hell, that is ready to die in attestation 
 of this faith, so expounded and made explicit by 
 the apostles, and lives accordingly ? And to this 
 purpose it was excellently said, by a wise and a 
 pious prelate, St. Hilary,* "It is not through 
 thorny questions that God invites us to heaven ; 
 our way to eternal life is clear and easy: — to be- 
 lieve that Jesus was raised from the dead by the 
 power of God, to confess him to be the Lord," &c. 
 These are the articles which we must believe, 
 which are the sufficient and adequate object of 
 that faith which is required of us in order to sal- 
 vation. And therefore it was, that when the 
 bishops of Istria deserted the communion of Pope 
 Pelagius, in causa trium capituloruniy^ he gives 
 
 * " Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatara vitam quasstiones 
 vocat, &c. In absolute nobis et facili est aeternitas ; Jesum 
 suscitatum a mortuis per Deum credere, et ipsum esse Domi- 
 num confiteri," &c. — Lib. x. De Trin. ad finem. 
 
 t Concil. torn. iv. edit. Paris, p. 473. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 117 
 
 them an account of his faith by recitation of the 
 creed, and by attesting the four general councils, 
 and is confident upon this that no question or 
 suspicion can arise respecting the validity of his 
 faith: let the apostles' creed, especially so expli- 
 cated, be but secured, and all faith is secured ; and 
 yet that explication too, was less necessary than 
 the articles themselves; for the explication was 
 but accidental, but the articles, even before the 
 explication, were accounted a sufficient inlet to 
 the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 And that there was security enough, in the sim- 
 ple believing the first articles, is very certain 
 amongst them, and by their principles who allow 
 of an implicit faith to serve most persons to the 
 greatest purposes ; for if the creed did contain in 
 it the whole faith, and tliat other articles were in 
 it implicitly (for such is the doctrhie of the 
 school, and particularly of Aquinas), then he that 
 explicitly believes all the creed, does implicitly 
 believe all the articles contained in it ; and then 
 it is better the implication should still continue, 
 than that, by any explication (which is simply 
 unnecessary), the church should be troubled with 
 questions, and uncertain determinations, and fac- 
 tions enkindled, and animosities set on foot, and 
 men's souls endangered, who before were secured 
 by the explicit belief of all that the apostles re- 
 quired as necQSsary; which belief also did secure 
 them for all the rest, because it implied the belief 
 of whatsoever was virtually in the first articles, if 
 such belief should by chance be necessary. 
 
 The sum of this discourse is this ; if we take an 
 estimate of the nature of faith from the dictates 
 and promises evangelical, and from the practice 
 apostolical, the nature of faith and its integrity 
 
118 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 consists in such propositions which make the foun- 
 dation of hope and charity, that which is sufficient 
 to make us to do honor to Christ and to obey him, 
 and to encourage us in both ; and this is completed 
 in the apostles' creed. And since contraries are of 
 the same extent, heresy is to be judged by its propor- 
 tion and analogy to faith, and that is heresy only 
 which is against faith. Now, because faith is not 
 only a precept of doctrines, but of manners and holy 
 life, whatsoever is either opposite to an article of 
 creed, or teaches ill life, that is heresy ; but all those 
 propositions which are extrinsical to these two 
 considerations, be they true or be they false, make 
 not heresy, nor the man a heretic ; and therefore, 
 however he may be an erring person, yet he is to 
 be used accordingly, pitied and instructed, not 
 condemned or excommunicated : and this is the 
 result of the first ground, the consideration of the 
 nature of faith and heresy. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 119 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Of the difficulty and uncertainty of Arguments from. 
 Scripture, in Questions not simply necessary, not 
 literally determined. 
 
 God, who disposes of all things sweetly, and ac- 
 cording to the nature and capacity of things and 
 persons, had made those only necessary which he 
 had taken care should be sufficiently propounded 
 to all persons of whom he required the explicit 
 belief. And therefore all the articles of faith are 
 clearly and plainly set down in Scripture, and the 
 Gospel is not hid, excepting to them that are lost, 
 saith St. Paul ; ^' for there we find the encourage- 
 ment to every virtue, and the warning against 
 every vice," saith Damascen f and that so mani- 
 festly, that no man can be ignorant of the founda- 
 tion of faith without his own apparent fault. And 
 this is acknowledged by all wise and good men ; 
 and is evident, besides the reasonableness of the 
 thing, in the testimonies of Saints Austin,t Jerome,^ 
 Chrysostom,§ Fulgentius,[i Hugo de Sancto Vic- 
 tore,TI Theodoret,** Lactantius,tt Theophilus 
 AntiochenuSjJt Aquinas,§§ and the latter school - 
 
 * IIst!r«? yxp ctpiTHg 7rctfiix.x>i<j-iv, km x,axlAi eiTrnTnc rpovrw tv 
 TJ-VTcLti iupicTKc/iAiv. — Orthod. Fidei. lib. iv. c. 18. 
 t Super. Psal. 88, et de TJtil. Cred. c. 6. 
 X Super Isa. c. 19, and in Psal. 86. 
 
 § Homil. 3, in Thess. Ep. ii. || Serm. de Confess. 
 
 IT Miscel. ii. lib. i. tit. 46. 
 ** In Gen. ap Struch. p. 87. ft Cap. 6. 
 
 \X Ad Antioch. lib. ii. p. 918. §§ Far. i. q, i. art. 9. 
 
120 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 men. And God hath done more ; for many things 
 which are only profitable, are also set down so 
 plainly, that, as St. Austin says, "every one may 
 partake, if he come in a devout and pious spirit :" *^ 
 but of such things there is no question commenced 
 in Christendom ; and if there were, it cannot but be 
 a crime and human interest that are the authors 
 of such disputes; and therefore these cannot be 
 simple errors, but always heresies, because the 
 principle of them is a personal sin. 
 
 But besides these things, which are so plainly 
 set down, some for doctrine, as St. Paul says, that 
 is for articles and foundation of faith, some for in- 
 struction, some for reproof, some for comfort, that 
 is, in matters practical and speculative of several 
 tempers and constitutions, there are innumerable 
 places, containing in them great mysteries, but yet 
 either so enwrapped with a cloud, or so darkened 
 with umbrages, or heightened with expressions, or 
 so covered with allegories and garments" of rhe- 
 toric, so profound in the matter, or so altered or 
 made intricate in the manner, in the clothing, and 
 in the dressing, that God may seem to have left 
 them as trials of our industry, and arguments of 
 our imperfections, and incentives to the longings 
 after heaven, and the clearest revelations of eter- 
 nity, and as occasions and opportunities of our 
 mutual charity and toleration to each other, and 
 humility in ourselves, rather than the repositories 
 of faith and furniture of creeds, and articles of 
 belief. 
 
 For wherever the word of God is kept, whether 
 in Scripture alone, or also in tradition, he that 
 considers that the meaning of the one, and the 
 
 * " Nemo inde haurire non possit, si modo ad hauriendum 
 devote ac pie accedat." — Ubi supra de Util, Cied. c. 6. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROrilESYING. 121 
 
 truth or certainty of the other, are things of great 
 question, will see a necessity in these things 
 (wliich are the subject matter of most of the ques- 
 tions in Christendom), that men should hope to be 
 excused by an implicit faith in God Almighty. 
 For when there are, in the explications of Scrip- 
 ture, so many commentaries, so many senses and 
 interpretations, so many volumes in all ages, and 
 all, like men's faces, exactly none like another, 
 either this difference and inconvenience is abso- 
 lutely no fault at all, or, if it be, it is excusable, 
 by a mind prepared to consent in that truth wliich 
 God intended. And this I call an implicit faith 
 in God, which is certainly of as great excellency 
 as an implicit faith in any man or company of 
 men. Because they who do require an implicit 
 faith in the church for articles less necessary, and 
 excuse the want of explicit faith by the implicit, 
 do require an implicit fliith in the church, because 
 they believe that God hath required of them to 
 have a mind prepared to believe whatever the 
 church says ; which, because it is a proposition of 
 no absolute certainty, wdiosoevcr does, in readiness 
 of mind, believe all that God spake, does also be- 
 lieve that sufficiently, if it be fitting to be believed ; 
 that is, if it be true, and if God hath said so ; for 
 he hath the same obedience of understanding in 
 this as in the other. But, because it is not so cer- 
 tain God hath tied him in all things to believe 
 that which is called the church, and that it is cer- 
 tain we must believe God in all things, and yet 
 neither know all that either God hath revealed or 
 the church taught, it is better to take the certain 
 than the uncertain, to believe God rather than 
 men; especially since, if God hath bound us to 
 believe men, our absolute submission to God does 
 11 
 
122 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 involve that, and there is no inconvenience in the 
 world this way, but that we implicitly believe one 
 article more, viz. the church's authority or infalli- 
 bility, which may well be pardoned, because it 
 secures our belief of all the rest, and we are sure 
 if we believe all that God said explicitly or im- 
 plicitly, we also believe the church implicitly, in 
 case we are bound to it; but we are not certain, 
 that if we believe any company of men, whom we 
 call the church, that we therefore obey Ood, and 
 believe what he hath said. But however, if this 
 will not help us, there is no help for us, but good 
 fortune or absolute predestination; for by choice 
 ?i,nd industry no man can secure himself, that in 
 all the mysteries of religion taught in Scripture 
 he shall certainly understand and explicitly be- 
 lieve that sense that God intended. For to this 
 purpose there are many considerations. 
 
 I. There are so many thousands of copies that 
 w^ere writ by persons of several interests and per- 
 suasions, such different understandings and tem- 
 pers, such distinct abilities and weakness, that it 
 is no wonder there is so great variety of readings 
 both in the Old Testament and in ilm New. In 
 the Old Testament, the Jews pretend that the 
 Christians have corrupted many places, on purpose 
 to make symphony between both the Testaments. 
 On the other side, the Christians have liad so much 
 reason to suspect the Jews, that when Aquilla had 
 translated the Bible in their schools, and had been 
 taught by them, they rejected the edition, many 
 of them, and .some of them called it heresy to fol- 
 low it. And Justin Martyr justified it to Tryphon, 
 that the Jews had defalked many sayings from the 
 books of the old prophets, and am-ongst the rest he 
 instances in that of the Psalm, Bidteimiationibus 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 123 
 
 quia Dominus regnavit a ligno. The last words 
 they have cut oif, and prevailed so far in it, that 
 to this day none of our Bibles have it ; but if they 
 ought not to have it, then Justin Martyr's Bible 
 had more in it than it should have, for there it 
 was ; so that a fault there was, either under or 
 over. But, however, there are infinite readings iu 
 the new Testament (for in that I will instance); 
 some whole verses in one that are not in another; 
 and there was, in some copies of St. Mark's Gos- 
 pel, in the last chapter, a whole verse, a chapter 
 it was anciently called, that is not found in our 
 Bibles, as St. Jerome ad Hedibiam, q. S. notes. 
 The words he repeats, Lib. ii. Contra Polygamos : 
 **They confessed, saying, that it is the essence of 
 iniquity and unbelief, whicli does not allow the 
 true power of God to be apprehended by unclean 
 spirits ; therefore now display thy righteousness."* 
 These words are thought by some to savor of 
 Manicheism; and, for ought I can find, were 
 therefore rejected out of many Greek copies, and 
 at last out of the Latin. Now, suppose that a 
 Manichee in disputation should urge this place^ 
 having found it in his Bible, if a catholic sliouht 
 answer him by saying, it is apocryphal, and not 
 found in divers Greek copies, might not the Mani- 
 chee askj, how it came in, if it was not the word 
 of God, and if it was, how came it out ? and at 
 last take the same liberty of rejecting any other 
 authority which shall be alleged against him, if he 
 can find any copy that may favor him, however 
 that favor be procured ? And did not i\\Q Ebiu- 
 
 * " Etilli satis faciebantdicentPSjSaecuIumistud iniquitilla 
 et incredulitatis substantia est, qus non sinit per jmmundos 
 spiritus verara Dei apprehendi virtutein, idcirco jam nunc 
 revela jus^titiam tuara." 
 
124 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 nites reject all the epistles of St. Paul, upon pre- 
 tence he was an enemy to the law of Moses ? In- 
 deed, it was boldly and most unreasonably done; 
 but if one title or one chapter of St. Mark be called 
 apocryphal, for being suspected of Manicheism, 
 it is a plea that will too much justify others in 
 their taking and choosing what they list. But I 
 will not urge it so far; but is not there as much 
 reason for the fierce Lutherans to reject the epistle 
 of St. James, for favoring justification by works, 
 or the epistle to the Hebrews, upon pretence that 
 the sixth and tenth chapters do favor Novatianism ; 
 especially, since it was by some famous churches 
 at first not accepted ; even by the church of Rome 
 herself? The parable of tlie woman taken in 
 adultery, which is now in John viii, Eusebius says, 
 was not in any gospel, but the Gospel according 
 to the Hebrews; and St. Jerome makes it doubt- 
 ful, and so does St. Chrysostom and Euthimius, the 
 first not vouchsafing to explicate it in his homilies 
 upon St. John, the other aflirming it not to be 
 found in the exacter copies. I shall not need to 
 urge, that there are some words so near in sound, 
 that the scribes might easily mistake. There is 
 one famous one of serving the Lord* which yet 
 some copies read serving the time ,*t the sense is 
 very unlike, though the words be near, and there 
 needs some little luxation to strain this latter 
 reading to a good sense. That famous precept of 
 St. Paul that the women must pray with a cover- 
 ing on their head, Sia rou? rxyyixac, 'because of the 
 angels,' hath brought into the church an opinion 
 that angels are present in churches, and are spec- 
 tators of our devotion and deportment. Such an 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 125 
 
 opinion, if it should meet with peevish opposite& 
 on, one side, and confident hyperaspists on the 
 other, mi^ht possibly make a sect : and here were 
 a clear ground for the affirmative ; and yet, wha 
 knows but that it might have been a mistake of 
 the transcribers to double the ^? for if we read^ 
 cT/A T5T? ayiKu;, that the sense be, ' Women in public 
 assemblies must wear a veil, by reason of com- 
 panies of the young men there present,' it would 
 be no ill exchange, for the loss of a letter, to make 
 so probable, so clear a sense of the place. But 
 the, instances in this kind are too many, as appears 
 in the variety of readings in several copies, pro- 
 ceedino; fron^ the neo-lio-ence oi' i«:norance of the 
 transcribers, or the malicious endeavor of heretics,* 
 or the inserting marginal notes into the text, or 
 the nearness of several words. Ind-eed there is so 
 much evidence of tliis particular, that it hath en- 
 couraged the servants of the vulgar translation 
 (for so some are novz-a-days) to prefer that trans- 
 lation before the original: for altliough they have 
 attempted that proposition with very ill su-ccess, 
 yet that they could think it possible to be proved^ 
 is an argument there is much variety and altera- 
 tions in divers texts } for if they were not, it were 
 impudence to pretend a translation, and that none 
 of the best, should be better than the original. 
 But so it is, that this variety of reading is not of 
 slight consideration ; for although it be demon- 
 strably true, that all things necessary to faith and 
 good manners are preserved from alteration and 
 corruption, because they are of things necessary y 
 and they could not be necessary, unless they were 
 
 * Grseci corruperunt Novum Testamentiim ut testantur 
 Tiirtul. lib. V. adv. Marcion. Euseb. lib. v. Hist, c ult. Iren^e. 
 lib. i. r. 21. Alln. H.^res. Basil, lb. ii. rontr. Eunomiiim. 
 11' 
 
126 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 delivered to us, God in his goodness and his justice 
 having obliged himself to preserve that which he 
 hath bound us to observe and keep ; yet, in other 
 things, which God hath not obliged himself so 
 punctually to preserve, — in these things, since 
 variety of reading is crept in, every reading takes 
 away a degree of certainty from any proposition 
 derivative from those places so read : and if some 
 copies (especially if they be public and notable) 
 omit a verse or title, every argument from such a 
 title or verse loses much of its strength and repu- 
 tation ; and we find it in a great instance. For 
 when in probation of the mystery of the glorious 
 Unity in Trinity, we allege that saying of St. John, 
 ' There arc three which bear witness in heaven, 
 the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these 
 three arc one;' the anti-trinitarians think they 
 have answered the argument, by saying, the Syrian 
 translation and divers Greek copies have not that 
 verse in them, and therefore, being of doubtful 
 authority, cannot conclude with certainty in a 
 question of faith. And there is an instance on 
 the catholic part : for when the Arians urge the 
 saying of our Savior, 'No man knows that day 
 and hour (viz. of judgment), no not the Son, but 
 the Father only,' to prove that tlie Son knows not 
 all things, and therefore cannot be God, in the 
 proper sense ; St. Ambrose thinks he hath an- 
 swered the argument by saying those words, ' no 
 not the Son,' were tiirust into the text by the 
 fraud of the Arians. So that here we have one 
 objection, which must first be cleared and made 
 infallible, before we can be ascertained in any such 
 question as to call them heretics that dissent. 
 
 II. I consider that there are very many senses 
 and designs of expounding Scripture, and when 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 127 
 
 the grammatical sense is found out, we are many 
 times never the nearer ; it is not that which was 
 intended ; for there is, in very many Scriptures, a 
 double sense, a literal and a spiritual (for the 
 Scripture is a book written within and without, 
 Apoc. v.), and both these senses are subdivided. 
 For the literal sense is either natural or figurative ; 
 and the spiritual is sometimes allegorical, some- 
 times anagogical ; nay, sometimes there are divers 
 literal senses in the same sentence, as St. Austin 
 excellently proves in divers places ;* and it appears 
 in divers quotations in the New Testament, where 
 the apostles and divine writers bring the same tes- 
 timony to divers purposes; and particularly St, 
 Paul's making that saying of the Psalm, ' Thou art 
 my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' to be an 
 argument of Christ's resurrection, and a designa- 
 tion or ordination to his pontificate, is an instance 
 \ery famous in his first and fifth chapter to the 
 Hebrews. But now, there being such variety of 
 senses in Scripture, and but few places so marked 
 out, as not to be capable of divers senses, if men 
 will write commentaries as Herod made orations, 
 }cArA TTowDc <pctvTAcri!tc, wlth a mind inflated with 
 vanity, what infallible criterion will be left whereby 
 to judge of the certain dogmatical resolute sense 
 of such places which have been the matter of 
 question ? For put case, a question were com- 
 menced concerning the degrees of glory in heaven, 
 as there is in the schools a noted one. To show 
 an inequality of reward, Christ's parable is 
 brought, of the reward of ten cities, and of five, 
 according to the divers improvement of the ta- 
 lents : this sense is mystical, and yet very proba- 
 
 * Lib. xii. Confess, cap. 26. Lib. ii. de Civit. Dei. cap. 9. 
 Lib. iii. de Doctrina Christ, cap. 26. 
 
128 THE SACRED CLASSICS.' 
 
 ble, and understood by men, for aught I know, to 
 this very sense. And the result of the argument 
 is made good by St. Paul : * As one star differeth 
 from another in glory, so shall it be in the resur- 
 rection of the dead.' Now, suppose another 
 should take the same liberty of expounding another 
 parable to a mystical sense and interpretation, as all 
 parables must be expounded ; then the parable of 
 the laborers in the vineyard, and though differing 
 in labor, yet having an equal reward, to any man's 
 understanding, may seem very strongly to prove 
 the contrary ; and as if it were of purpose, and 
 that it were the main design of the parable, the 
 lord of the vineyard determined the point reso- 
 lutely, upon the mutiny and repining of them that 
 had borne the burthen and heat of the day, ' I 
 will give unto this last even as to thee ;' which to 
 my sense, seems to determine the question of de- 
 grees ; they that work but little, and they that 
 work long, shall not be distinguished in the re- 
 ward though accidentally they were in the work ; 
 and if this opinion could but answer St. Paul's 
 w^ords, it stands as fair, and perhaps fairer than 
 the other. Now, if we look v/ell upon the words 
 of St. Paul, we shall find he speaks nothing at all 
 of diversity of degrees of glory in beautified bo- 
 dies, but the differences of glory in bodies heavenly 
 and earthly : ' There are,' says he, ' bodies earthly, 
 and there are heavenly bodies : and one is the 
 glory of the earthly, another the glory of the 
 heavenly; one glory of the sun, another of the 
 moon, &c. So shall it be in the resurrection; for 
 it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup- 
 tion.' Plainly thus, our bodies in the resurrection 
 shall differ as much from our bodies here, in the 
 state of corruption, as one star does from another. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 129 
 
 And now, suppose a sect should be commenced 
 upon this question (upon lighter and vainer many 
 have been), either side must resolve to answer 
 the other's arguments, whether they can or no, 
 and to deny to each other a liberty of expounding 
 the parable to such a sense, and yet themselves 
 must use it or want an argument. But men use 
 to be unjust in their own cases ; and were it not 
 better to leave each other to their liberty, and 
 seek to preserve their own charity ? For when 
 the words are capable of a mystical or a diverse 
 sense I know not why men's liincies or under- 
 standings should be more bound to be like one 
 another than their faces : and either, in all such 
 places of Scripture, a liberty must be indulged to 
 every honest and peaceable wise man, or else all 
 argument from such places must be wholly de- 
 clined. Now, although I instanced in a question, 
 which by good fortune never came to open defi- 
 ance, yet there liave been sects framed upon 
 lighter grounds, more inconsiderable questions, 
 which have been disputed on either side with argu- 
 ments less material and less pertinent. St. Aus- 
 tin laughed at the Donatists, for bringing that 
 saying of the spouse in the Canticles, to prove 
 their schism, 'Tell me where thou feedest, where 
 thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.' For from 
 thence they concluded, the residence of the church 
 was only in the south part of the world, only in 
 Africa.* It was but a weak way of argument ; 
 yet the fathers were free enough to use such me^ 
 diums, to prove mysteries of great concernment ; 
 but yet again, when they speak either against an 
 adversary, or with consideration, they deny that 
 such mystical senses can sufficiently confirm a 
 
 * Jerome, in Matth. xi. 
 
130 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 question of faith. But I shall instance, in the 
 great question of rebaptization of heretics, which 
 many saints, and martyrs, and confessors, and 
 divers councils, and almost all Asia and Africa 
 did once believe and practice. Their grounds for 
 the invalidity of the baptism by a heretic, were 
 such mystical words as tliese ; * Thou hast covered 
 my head in the day of battle,' Ps. cxl ; and, ' He 
 that washeth himself, after touching a dead body, 
 if he touch it again, what avail eth his washing ?' 
 Ecdes. xxxiv. ; and ' Drink waters out of thine 
 own cistern,' Prov. v. ; and, * We know that God 
 lieareth not sinners,' John ix. ; and, " He that is 
 not with me is against me,' Luke xi. I am not 
 sure the other part had arguments so good ; for 
 the great one of ' one faith, one baptism,' did not 
 conclude it to their understandings who were of 
 the other opinion, and men famous in their gene- 
 rations ; for it was no argument that they who 
 had been baptized by John's baptism should not 
 be baptized in the name of Jesus, because ' one 
 God, one baptism ;' and as it is still one faith 
 which a man confesseth several times, and one 
 sacrament of the eucharist, though a man often 
 communicates ; so it might be one baptism, though 
 often ministered. And the unity of baptism might 
 not be derived from the unity of tlie ministration, 
 but from the unity of the religion into which they 
 are baptized ; though baptized a thousand times, 
 yet, because it was still in the name of the holy 
 Trinity, still into the death of Christ, it might be 
 • one baptism.' Whether St. Cyprian, Firmilian, 
 and their colleagues, had this discourse or no (I 
 know not), I am sure they might have had much 
 better to have evacuated the force of that argu- 
 ment, although I believe they had the wrong cause 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 131 
 
 in hand. But this is it that I say, that when a 
 question is so undetermined in Scripture, that the 
 arguments rely only upon such mystical places 
 whence the best fancies can draw the greatest 
 variety, and such which perhaps were never in- 
 tended by the Holy Ghost, it were good the rivers 
 did not swell higher than the foundation, and the 
 confidence higher than the argument and evidence : 
 for, in this case, there could not any thing be so 
 certainly proved, as that the disagreeing party 
 should deserve to be condemned, by a sentence of 
 excommunication, for disbelieving it; and yet 
 they were ; which I wonder at so much the more, 
 because they who (as it was since judged) had the 
 right cause, had not any sufficient argument from 
 Scripture, not so much as such mystical arguments, 
 but did fly to the tradition of the church ; in which 
 also I shall afterwards show, they had nothing that 
 was absolutely certain. 
 
 III. I consider that there are divers places ot 
 Scripture, containing in them mysteries and ques- 
 tions of great concernment ; and yet the fabric 
 and constitution is such, that there is no certain 
 mark to determine whether the sense of them 
 should be literal or figurative ; I speak not liere 
 concerning extrinsical means of determination, 
 as traditivc interpretation, councils, fathers, popes, 
 and the like ; I shall consider them afterwards, in 
 their several places ; but liere the subject-matter 
 being concerning Scripture in its own capacity, 
 I say there is notliing in the nature of the thing to 
 determine the sense and meaning, but it must be 
 gotten out as it can ; and that therefore it is un- 
 reasonable, that what of itself is ambiguous should 
 be understood in its own prime sense and inten- 
 tion, under the pain of either a sin or an anathema ; 
 
132 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 I instance, in that famous place from whence hath 
 sprung that question of transubstantiation, ' This 
 is my body.' The words are plain and clear, apt 
 to be understood in the literal sense; and yet this 
 sense is so hard as it does violence to reason ; and 
 therefore it is the question, whether or no it be 
 not a figurative speech. But here, what shall wc 
 have to determine it? What mean soever we 
 take, and to wliat sense soever you will expound 
 it, you shall be put to give an account why you 
 expound other places of Scripture, in the same 
 case, to quite contrary senses. For if you ex- 
 pound it literally, then, besides that it seems to 
 intrench upon the words of our blessed Savior, 
 ' The words tliat I speak, they are spirit, and they 
 are life,' that is, to be spiritually understood (and 
 it is a miserable thing to see what wretched shifts 
 are used to reconcile the literal sense to these 
 words, and yet to distinguish it from the Caper- 
 naitical fancy) ; but besides this, why are not those 
 other sayings of Christ expounded literally, ' I am 
 a vine, I am the door, I am a rock ?' Why do we 
 fly to a figure in those parallel words, 'This is 
 the covenant which I make between me and you r' 
 and yet that covenant was but the sign of the 
 covenant; and wliy do we lly to a figure in a pre- 
 cept as well as in mystery and a proposition ? * If 
 thy right hand offend thee, cut it off:' and yet we 
 have figures enough to save a limb. If it be said, 
 because reason tells us these are not to be ex- 
 pounded according to the letter; this will be no 
 plea for them who retain the literal exposition of 
 the other instance, against all reason, against all 
 phdosophy, against all sense, and against two or 
 three sciences. But if you expound these words 
 figuratively, besides that you are to contest 
 
 I 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. ISS 
 
 against a world of prejudices, you give yourself 
 the liberty, which if others will use when either 
 they have a reason or a necessity so to do, they 
 may }3erhaps turn all into allegory, and so may 
 evacuate any precept, elude any argument. Well, 
 so it is that very wise men have expounded things 
 allegorically, when they should have expounded 
 them literally.*' So did the famous Origen, who, 
 as St. Jerome reports of him, turned paradise so 
 into an allegory, that he took away quite the truth 
 of the story, and not only Adam was turned out 
 of the garden, but the garden itself out of para- 
 dise. Others expound things literally, when they 
 should understand them in allegory ; so did the 
 ancient Papias understand Christ's millenary reign 
 upon earth (Apocxd. xx.) ; and so depressed tlie 
 hopes of Christianity, and their desires to the 
 longing and expectation of temporal pleasures and 
 satisfactions; and he was followed by Justin 
 Martyr, Irenasus, TertuUian, Lactantius, and in- 
 deed the whole church generally, till St. Austin 
 and St. Jerome's time; who, first of any whose 
 works are extant, did reprove the error. If such 
 great spirits be deceived, in finding out what kind 
 of senses be to be given to Scriptures, it may well 
 be endured that sve, who sit at their feet, may also 
 tread in the steps of them whose feet could not 
 always tread aright. 
 
 IV. I consider that there are some places of 
 Scripture that have the self-same expressions, the 
 same preceptive words, the same reason and ac- 
 
 * Sic St. Hicrom. " In adolescentia provocatus ardore et 
 studio Scripturarum allegorice interpretatus sum Abdiam 
 prophetam, cujus historiam nesciebam." De Sensu AIIp- 
 goiico S, Script, dixit Basilius, 'n? niKofx-^iuf^ivav fxiv tov Koycv 
 uTTcS'i'xpi-^i^^, oiK)i^>i Si iivj-i ov TTctvu S^uKTccfxiv . — Lib. xxil. de 
 Civit. Dei. c. 7. Prcefat. lib. xix. in Lsai, et in c. 36. Ezek. 
 1 AJ 
 
134 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 count, in all appearance, and yet either must be 
 expounded to quite different senses, or else we 
 must renounce the communion, and the charities 
 of a great part of Christendom. And yet there is 
 absolutely nothing in the thing, or in its circum- 
 stances, or in its adjuncts that can determine it 
 to different purposes. I instance in those great 
 exclusive negatives for the necessity of both sa- 
 craments: * Except a man be born of water, &c. 
 
 * Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Now, 
 then, the first is urged for the absolute, indispen- 
 sible necessity of baptism, even in infants; inso- 
 much that infants go to part of hell if (inculpably 
 both on their own and their parents' part) tliey 
 miss of baptism ; for that is the doctrine of the 
 church of Rome, which they learnt from St. Aus- 
 tin : and others also do, from hence, baptize in- 
 fants, though with a less opinion of its absolute 
 necessity. And jet the same manner of precept, 
 in the same form of words, in the same manner of 
 threatening, by an exclusive negative, shall not 
 enjoin us to communicate infants, though damna- 
 tion (at least in form of words) be exactly, and in 
 every particular, alike appendant to the neglect 
 of holy baptism and the venerable eucharist. If 
 
 * except ye be born again,' shall conclude against 
 the anabaptist for necessity of baptizing infants, 
 (as sure enough we say it does), why shall not an 
 equal, * except ye eat,' bring infants to the holy 
 communion ? The primitive church, for some 
 two whole ages, did follow their own principles, 
 wherever they led them; and seeing that upon 
 the same ground equal results must follow, they 
 did communicate infants as soon as they had bap- 
 tized them. And whv tlie church of Konie should 
 
 I 
 
THE LIBEKTY OF PROPHESYING. 135 
 
 nnfc do SO too, being she expounds, ' except je eat,' 
 of oral manducation, I cannot yet learn a reason. 
 And, for others that expound it of a spiritual man- 
 ducation, why they shall not allow the disagreeing 
 part the same liberty of expounding * except a man 
 be born again,' too, I by no means can understand. 
 And in these cases no external determiner can be 
 pretended in answer : for whatsoever is extrinsi- 
 cal to the words, as councils, tradition, church 
 authority, and fathers, either have said nothing at 
 all, or have concluded, by their practice, contrary 
 to the present opinion ; as is plain in their com- 
 municating infants by virtue of * except ye eat.' 
 
 V. I shall not need to urge the mysteriousness 
 of some points in Scripture, which, from the 
 nature of the subject, are hard to be understood, 
 though very plainly represented: for there are 
 some mysteries in divinity,* which are only to 
 be understood by persons very holy and spiritual, 
 which are rather to be felt than discoursed of; 
 and therefore, if peradventure they be offered to 
 public consideration, they will therefore be op- 
 posed, because they run the same fortune with 
 many other questions ; that is, not to be understood ; 
 and so much the rather, because their understand- 
 ing, that is, the feeling such secrets of the king- 
 dom, are not the results of logic and philosophy, 
 or yet of public revelation, but of the public spirit 
 privately working, and in no man is a duty, but 
 in all that have it, is a reward; and is not neces- 
 sary for all, but given to some; producing its 
 operations, not regularly, but upon occasions, 
 personal necessities, and new emergencies. Of 
 this nature are the spirit of obsignation, belief of 
 particular salvation, special influences and com- 
 * Secreta Theologiae. 
 
136 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 forts, coming from a sense of the spirit of adoption, 
 actual fervors and great compiacencics in devotion, 
 spiritual joys, which are little drawings aside of 
 the curtains of peace and eternity, and antepasts 
 of immortality. But the not understanding the 
 perfect constitution and temper of these mysteries 
 (and it is hard for any man so to understand as to 
 make others do so too that feel them not), is cause 
 that in many questions of secret theology, by being 
 very apt and easy to be mistaken, there is a ne- 
 cessity in forbearing one anotlier ; and this con- 
 sideration would have been of good use in the 
 question between Soto and Catharinus, both for 
 the preservation of their charity and explication 
 of the mystery. 
 
 VI. But here it will not be unseasonable to 
 consider, tliat all systems and principles of science 
 are expressed so, that either by reason of the uni- 
 versality of the terms and subject-matter, or the 
 infinite variety of human understandings, and 
 these peradventure swayed by interest, or deter- 
 mined by things accidental and extrinsical, they 
 seem to divers men, nay to the same men upon 
 divers occasions, to speak things extremely dis- 
 parate, and sometimes contrary, but very often 
 of great variety. And this very thing happens 
 also in Scripture, that if it were not in a sacred 
 subject, it were excellent sport to observe, how 
 the same place of Scripture serves several turns 
 upon occasion, and they at that time believe the 
 words sound nothing else ; whereas, in the liberty 
 of their judgment and abstracting from that occa- 
 sion, their commentaries understand them wholly 
 to a differing sense. It is a wonder of what ex- 
 cellent use to the church of Rome, is tibi dabo 
 chives, * I will give thee the keys.' It was spoken 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 137 
 
 to Peter and none else (sometimes), and there- 
 fore it concerns him and his successors only ; the 
 rest are to derive from him. And yet, if you 
 question them for their sacrament of penance, and 
 priestly absolution, then ' I will give thee the keys' 
 comes in, and that was spoken to St. Peter, and in 
 liim to the whole college of the apostles, and in 
 them to the whole hierarchy. If you question 
 why the pope pretends to free souls from purga- 
 tory, *I will give tliee the keys' is his warrant; 
 but if you tell him, the keys are only for binding 
 and loosing on earth directly, and in heaven con- 
 sequently; and that purgatory is a part of hell, 
 or I'ather neither earth, nor heaven, nor hell, and 
 so the keys seem to have nothing to do with it, 
 then his commission is to be enlarged by a sup- 
 pletory of reason and consequences, and his keys 
 shall unlock his difficulty ; for it is the key of 
 knowledge, as well as of authority. And these 
 keys shall enable him to expound Scriptures iji- 
 fallibly, to determine questions, to preside in 
 councils, to dictate to all the world magisterially, 
 to rule the church, to dispense with oaths, to ab- 
 rogate laws: and if his key of knowledge will 
 not, the key of authority shall, and ' I will give 
 thee the keys' shall answer for all. We have an 
 instance in the single fancy of one man, what rare 
 variety of matter is afforded from those plain 
 \vords, ' I have prayed for thee, Peter,' Lukey 
 xxii. ; for that place, says Bellarmine,* is other-, 
 wise to be understood of Peter, otherwise of the 
 popes, and otherwise of tlie church of Rome : and 
 ' for thee' signifies, that Christ prayed that Peter 
 might neither err personally nor judicially ; and 
 that Peter's successors, if they did err personally, 
 * Bellar. lib. iv. da Pontif, c. 3, § Respondeo primo. 
 12^ 
 
138 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 might not err judicialiy; and that the Roman 
 church might not err personally. All this variety 
 of senses is pretended, by the fancy of one man, 
 to be in a few words which are as plain and sim- 
 ple as are any words in Scripture. And what 
 then in those thousands that are intricate ? So is 
 done with * Feed my sheep,' which a man would 
 think were a commission as innocent and guiltless 
 of designs, as the sheep in the folds are. But if 
 it be asked, why the bishop of Rome calls himself 
 universal bishop, * Feed my sheep' is his warrant. 
 Why he pretends to a power of deposing princes, 
 
 * Feed my sheep,' said Christ to Peter, the second 
 time. If it be demanded, why also he pretends 
 to a power of authorizing his subjects to kill him, 
 
 * Feed my lambs,' said Christ, the third time : and 
 ' feed' (pasce) is teach, and ' feed' is command, and 
 
 * feed' is Jcill. Now if others should take the same 
 (unreasonableness I will not say, but the same) 
 liberty in expounding Scripture, or if it be not 
 licence taken, but that the Scripture itself is so 
 full and redundant in senses quite contrary, what 
 man soever, or what company of men soever shall 
 use this principle, will certainly find such rare 
 productions from several places, that either the 
 unreasonableness of the thing will discover the 
 error of the proceeding, or else there will be a 
 necessity of permitting a great liberty of judg- 
 ment, where is so infinite variety without limit 
 or mark of necessary determination. If the first, 
 then, because an error is so obvious and ready to 
 ourselves, it will be great imprudence or tyranny 
 to be hasty in judging others ; but if the latter, 
 it is that I contend for: for it is most unreasonable, 
 when either the thing itself ministers variety, 
 or that we take licence to ourselves in variety of 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 139 
 
 interpretations, or proclaim to all the world our 
 great weakness, by our actually being deceived, 
 that we should either prescribe to others magiste- 
 rially, when we are in error, or limit their under- 
 standings, when the thing itself affords liberty 
 and variety. 
 
140 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Of the Difficulty of Expounding Scripture. 
 
 These considerations are taken from the nature 
 of Scripture itself; but then, if we consider tliat 
 we have' no certain ways of determining places 
 of difficulty and question, infallibly and certainly ; 
 but that we must hope to be saved in the belief of 
 things plain, necessary, and fundamental, and uur 
 pious endeavor to find out God's meaning- in such 
 places, which he .hath left under a cloud, for other 
 great ends reserved to his own knowledge, we 
 shall see a very great necessity in allowing- a 
 liberty in prophesying, without prescribing autho- 
 ritatively to other men's consciences, and becom- 
 ing lords and masters of their faith. Now the 
 means of expounding Scripture are either exter- 
 nal, or internal. For the external, as church- 
 authority, tradition, fathers, councils, and decrees 
 of bishops, they are of a distinct consideration, 
 and follow after in their order. But here we will 
 fiirst consider the invalidity and uncertainty of all 
 those means of expounding Scripture, which are 
 more proper and internal to the nature of the 
 thing. The great masters of commentaries, some 
 whereof have undertaken to know all mysteries, 
 have propounded many ways to expound Scrip- 
 ture ; which indeed are excellent helps, but not 
 infallible assistances, both because themselves are 
 but moral instruments, which force not truth from 
 concealment, as also because they are not infalli- 
 bly used and applied. 1. Sometime the sense is 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 141 
 
 drawn forth by the context and connexion of 
 parts : it is well when it can be so. But when 
 there is two or three antecedents, and subjects 
 spoken of, what man or what rule shall ascertain 
 me, that I make mj reference true, by drawing 
 the relation to such an antecedent, to which I 
 have a mind to apply it, another hath not ? For 
 in a contexture where one part does not always 
 depend upon another, where things of differing 
 natures intervene and interrupt the first inten- 
 tions, there it is not always very probable to 
 expound Scripture, to take its meaning by its 
 proportion to the neighboring words. But who 
 desires satisfaction in this, may read the observation 
 verified in S. Gregory's Morals upon Job, lib. v. 
 c. 29, and the instances he there brings are excel- 
 lent proof, that this way of interpretation does 
 not warrant any man to impose his expositions 
 upon the belief and understanding of other men 
 too confidently and magisterially. 
 
 2. Another great pretence of medium is the 
 conference of places, which lUyricus calls "a 
 mighty remedy, and a very happy exposition of 
 holy Scripture ;"* and indeed so it is, if well and 
 temperately used ; but then we arc beholding to 
 them that do so, for there is no rule that can con- 
 strain them to it ; for comparing of places is of 
 so indefinite capacity, that if there be ambiguity 
 of words, variety of sense, alteration of circum- 
 stances, or difference of style amongst divine 
 writers, then there is nothing that may be more 
 abused by willful people, or may more easily de- 
 ceive the unwary, or that may amuse the most 
 intelligent observer. The anabaptists take ad- 
 
 * " Ingens remedium et felicissimam expositionem sanctae 
 Scripturae." 
 
142 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 vantage enough in this proceeding (and indeed 
 so may any one that list), and when we pretend 
 against them the necessity of baptizing all, by 
 authority of ' unless a man be born of water and 
 of the Spiritn' they have a parallel for it, and tell 
 us, that Christ will ' baptize us witli the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire,' and that one place expounds 
 the otiier; and because by fire is not meant an 
 element, or any thing that is natural, but an alle- 
 gory and figurative expression of the same thing, 
 so also by water may be meant the figure signify- 
 ing the effect or manner of operation of the Holy 
 Spirit. Fire in one place, and wa.ter in the other, 
 do but represent to us, that Christ's baptism is 
 nothing else but the cleansing and purifying us by 
 the Holy Ghost. But that which I hero note as 
 of greatest concernment, and which, in all reason, 
 ought to be an utter overthrow to this topic, is an 
 universal abuse of it among those that use it 
 most ; and wlien two places seem to have the 
 same expression, or if a word have a double sig- 
 nification, because in this place it may have such 
 a sense, therefore it must ; because in one of the 
 places the sense is to their purpose, they conclude 
 that therefore it must be so in the other too. An 
 instance I give in the great question between the 
 Socinians and the Catholics. If any place be 
 urged, in which our blessed Savior is called God, 
 they show you two or three where the word God 
 is taken in a depressed sense, for one like God ; 
 as when God said to Moses, ' I have made thee a 
 god to Pharoah ;' and hence they argue, because I 
 can show the word is used for a false god, there- 
 fore no argument is sufiicient to prove Christ to 
 be true God, from the appellative of God. And 
 miglit not another argue to the exact contrary, 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 143 
 
 and as well urge that Moses is the true God; be- 
 cause in some places the word God is used lor 
 the eternal God? Both ways the argument con- 
 cludes impiously and unreasonably. It is a fal- 
 lacy to conclude affirmatively from a possibility 
 to a reality ; because breaking of bread is some- 
 times used for an eucharistical manducation in 
 Scripture, therefore I shall not, from any testi- 
 mony of Scripture affirming the first Christians 
 to have broken bread together, conclude that they 
 lived hospitably and in common society. Because 
 it may possibly be eluded, therefore it does not 
 signify any thing. And this is the great way of 
 answering all the arguments that can be brouglit 
 against any thing that any man hath a mind to 
 defend ; and any man that reads any controvei'- 
 sies of any side, shall find as many instances of 
 this vanity, almost, as he finds arguments from 
 Scripture: this fault was of old noted by St. Aus- 
 tin, for then they had got the trick, and he is an- 
 gry at it :* '• We ought not," says he, " to take it 
 for granted, that because, in a particular place, a 
 thing has a certain signification, it always signifies 
 the same.'' 
 
 3. Oftentimes Scriptures are pretended to be ex- 
 pounded by a proportion and analogy of reason; 
 and this is as the other, if it be well, it is well. 
 But unless there were some universal intellect, 
 furnished with infallible propositions, by referring 
 to which every man might argue infallibly, this logic 
 may deceive as well as any of the rest. For it is 
 with reason as with men's tastes ; although tliere 
 
 * "Neque enim putare debeinus esse prrescriptum, ntquod 
 in aliquo loco res aliqua per sifnilitudinern significaverit, hoc 
 etiam semper significare credamus." — De Doclri. Chri^iiau. 
 lib. iii. 
 
144 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 are some general principles which are reasonable 
 to all men, yet every man is not able to draw out 
 all its consequences, nor to understand them when 
 they are drawn forth, nor to believe when he does 
 understand them. There is a precept of St. Paul, 
 directed to the Thessalonians, before they were 
 gathered into a body of a church, 2 Tlies. iii. G, 
 ' To withdraw from every brother that walketh 
 disorderly:' but if this precept were now observed, 
 I would fain know whether we should not fall into 
 that inconvenience which St. Paul sought to avoid, 
 in giving the same commandment to the church 
 of Corinth, 1 Cor. v. 9: 'I wrote to you, that ye 
 should not company with fornicators;' and, 'yet 
 not altogether with the fornicators of this world, 
 for then ye must go out of the world :' and there- 
 fore he restrains it to a quitting the society of 
 Christians livin"; ill lives. But now that all the 
 world hath been Christians, if we should sin in 
 keeping company with vicious Christians, must 
 we not also go out of this world ? Is not the pre- 
 cept made null, because the reason is altered, and 
 things are come about, and that the ' many,' oi rnxxoi, 
 are the brethren, o/s^^o/ cvo^A'i^oiJ.ivot, ' called brethren,' 
 as St. Paul's phrase is? And yet either this 
 never was considered, or not yet believed ; for it 
 is generally taken to be obligatory, though (I 
 think) seldom practised. But when we come to 
 expound Scriptures to a certain sense, by argu- 
 ments drawn from prudential motives, then we 
 are in a vast plain without any sufficient guide, 
 and we shall have so many senses as there are 
 human prudences. But that which goes further 
 than this is a parity of reason, from a plain place 
 of Scripture to an obscure, from that which is 
 plainly set down in a text to another that is more 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPkESYING. 145 
 
 remote from it. And thus is that place in St. 
 Matthew forced : ' If thy brother refuse to be 
 amended, tell it to the church.' Hence some of 
 the Roman doctors argue, if Christ commands to 
 tell the church, in case of adultery or private in- 
 jury, then much more in case of heresy. Well, 
 suppose this to be a good interpretation, why must 
 I stay here ? Why may not I also add, by a pa- 
 rity of reason, if the church must be told' of 
 heresy, much more of treason : and wiiy may 
 not I reduce all sins to the cognizance of a church 
 tribunal, as some men do indirectly, and Snecanus 
 does heartily and plainly ? If a man's principles 
 be good, and his deductions certain, he need not 
 care wiiither they carry him. But when an autho- 
 rity is entrusted to a person, and the extent of his 
 power expressed in his commission, it will not be 
 safety to meddle beyond his commission upon con- 
 iideiice of a parity of reason. To instance once 
 more : when Christ, in ' feed my sheep,' and -thou 
 art Peter,' gave power to the pope to govern 
 thie church (for to that sense the church of Rome 
 expounds those authorities), by a certain conse- 
 quence of reason, say they, he gave all things 
 necessary for exercise of this jurisdiction; and 
 therefore,, in 'feed my sheep,' he gave him an 
 indirect power over temporals, for that is neces- 
 sary that he may do his duty. Well, havins; gone 
 thus far, we will go further upon the parity of 
 reason ; therefore he hath given the pope the gift 
 of tongues, and he hath given him power to give 
 it; for how else shall Xavier convert the Indians ? 
 He hath given him also power to command the 
 seas and the winds, that they should obey him, 
 for this also is very necessary in some cases :— and 
 so ' feed my sheep' is * receive the gift of tongues, 
 13 
 
146 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 command the seas and the winds, dispose of the 
 diadems of princes, and the possessions of the 
 people, and the influences of heaven too,' and 
 whatsoever the parity of reason will judge equally 
 necessary in order to feed Christ's sheep. When 
 a man does speak reason, it is but reason he should 
 be heard ; but though he may have the good for- 
 tune, or the great abilities to do it, yet he hath 
 not a certainty, no regular infallible assistance, 
 no inspiration of arguments and deductions; and 
 if he had, yet because it must be reason tliat must 
 judge of reason, unless other men's understand- 
 ings were of the same area, the same constitution 
 and ability, they cannot be prescribed unto by 
 another man's reason ; especially because such 
 reasonings as usually are in explication of parti- 
 cular places of Scripture depend upon minute 
 circumstances and particularities, in which it is 
 so easy to be deceived, and so hard to speak 
 reason regularly and always, that it is the greater 
 wonder if we be not deceived. 
 
 4. Others pretend to expound Scripture by the 
 analogy of faith, and that is the most sure and 
 infallible way (as it is thought); but upon stricter 
 survey, it is but a chimera, a thing in nubibus^ in 
 the clouds, which varies like the right hand and 
 left hand of a pillar ; and, at the best, is but like 
 the coast of a country to a traveler out of his 
 way; it may bring him to his journey's end, 
 though twenty miles about; it may keep him from 
 running into the sea, and from mistaking a river 
 for dry land; but whether this little path or the 
 other be the right way, it tells not. So is the 
 analogy of faith ; that is, if I understand it right, 
 the rule of faith ; that is, the creed. Now, were 
 it not a fine device to go to expound all the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 147 
 
 Scripture by the creed, there being in it so many 
 thousand places which have no more relation to 
 any article in the creed than they have to Virg-il's 
 Eclogues ? Indeed, if a man resolves to keep 
 the analogy of faith, that is, to expound Scripture 
 so as not to do any violence to any fundamental 
 article, he shall be sure, however he errs, yet not 
 to destroy faith, he shall not perish in his exposi- 
 tion. And that w^as the precept given by St. 
 Paul, that all prophesyings should be estimated 
 according to the analogy of faith. Rom. xii. 6. 
 And to this very purpose St. Austin, in his Expo- 
 sition of Genesis, by way of preface, sets down 
 the articles of faith, with this design and protesta- 
 tion of it, that if he says nothing against those 
 articles, though he miss the particular sense of the 
 place, there is no danger or sin in his exposition : 
 but hov/ that analogy of faith should have any 
 other influence in expounding such places in 
 which those articles of faith are neither expressed 
 nor involved, I understand not. But then, if you 
 extend tlie analogy of faith further than that 
 which is proper to the rule or symbol of faith, 
 then every man expounds Scripture according to 
 the analogy of faith : but what t his own faith : 
 which faith, if it be questioned, I am no more 
 bound to expound according to the analogy of 
 another man's faith, than he to expound according 
 to the analogy of mine. And this is it that is 
 complained of on all sides that overvalue their 
 own opinions. Scripture seems so clearly to 
 speak what they believe, tliat they wonder all the 
 world does not see it as clear as they do; but 
 they satisfy themselves witii saying, that it is 
 because they come with prejudice ; wiiereas, if 
 they had the true belief, that is, tlieirs, they would 
 
148 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 easily see what thej sec. And this is very true ; 
 for if they did believe as others believe, they 
 would expound Scriptures to their sense ; but if 
 this be expounding- according to the analogy of 
 faithj it signifies no more than this : be you of 
 my mind, and then my arguments will seem con- 
 cluding, and my authorities and allegations pressing 
 and pertinent : and this will serve on all sides, and 
 therefore will do but little service to the determi- 
 nation of questions, or prescribing to other men's 
 consciences, on any side. 
 
 Lastly; Consulting the originals is thought a 
 great matter to interpretation of Scriptures. But 
 this is to small purpose : for indeed it will ex- 
 pound the Hebrew and the Greek, and rectify 
 translations : but I know no man that says that 
 the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek are easy and 
 certain to be understood, and that they are hard 
 in Latin and English ; the difficulty is in the 
 thing, however it be expressed, the least is in the 
 language. If the original language were our mo- 
 ther tongue. Scripture is not much the easier to 
 us ; and a natural Greek or a Jew can, with no 
 more reason, nor authority, obtrude his inter- 
 pretation upon other men's consciences, than a 
 man of another nation. Add to this, that the in- 
 spection of the original is no more certain way of 
 interpretation of Scripture now, than it was to 
 the fathers and primitive ages of the church ; and 
 yet he that observes what infinite variety of trans- 
 lations of the Bible were in the first ages of the 
 church (as St. Jerome observes), and never a one 
 like another, will think that we shall differ a% 
 much in our interpretations as they did, and that 
 the medium is as uncertain to us as it was to them, 
 and so it is ; witness the great number of late 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 149 
 
 translations, and the infinite number of comment- 
 aries, which are too pregnant an argument, that 
 we neither agree in the understanding of the words 
 nor in the sense. 
 
 The truth is, all these ways of interpreting of 
 Scripture, which of themselves are good helps, are 
 made, either by design or by our infirmities, ways 
 of intricating and involving Scriptures in greater 
 difficulty; because men do not learn their doc- 
 trines from Scripture, but come to the under- 
 standing of Scripture with preconceptions and 
 ideas of doctrines of their own ; and then no 
 wonder that Scriptures look like pictures, wherein 
 every man in the room believes they look on him 
 only, and that wheresoever he stands, or how 
 often soever he changes his station. So that now 
 what was intended for a remedy becomes the pro- 
 moter of our disease, and our meat becomes the 
 matter of sicknesses : and the mischief is, the wit 
 of man cannot find a remedy for it, for there is 
 no rule, no limit, no certain principle, by which 
 all men may be guided to a certain and so infalli- 
 ble an interpretration, that he can, with any equity 
 prescribe to others to believe his interpretations 
 in places of controversy or ambiguity. A man 
 would think that the memorable prophecy of Jacob, 
 that the sceptre should not depart from Judah till 
 Shiloh come, should have been so clear a deter- 
 mination of the time of the Messias, that a Jew 
 should never have doubted it to have been verified 
 in Jesus of Nazareth; and yet, for this so clear 
 vaticination, they have no less than twenty-six 
 answers. St. Paul and St. James seem to speak 
 a little diversely concerning justification by faith 
 and works, and jet to my understanding it is very 
 easy to reconcile them ; but all men are not of 
 13* 
 
150 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 my mind, for Osiander, in his confutation of the 
 book which Melancthon wrote against him, ob- 
 serves, that there are twenty several opinions con- 
 cerning justification, all drawn from the Scrip- 
 tures, by the men only of the Augustan confession. 
 There are sixteen several opinions concerning 
 original sin ; and as many definitions of the sa- 
 craments as there are sects of men that disagree 
 about them. 
 
 And now what help is there for us in the midst 
 of these uncertainties ? If we follow any one trans- 
 lation, or any one man's commentary, what rule 
 shall we have to choose the right by ? Or is there 
 any one man that hath translated perfectly, or 
 expounded infallibly? No translation challenges 
 such a prerogative as to be authentic, but the 
 vulgar Latin ; and yet see with what good success, 
 for when it was declared authentic by the council 
 of Trent, Sixtus put forth a copy much mended 
 of what it was, and tied all men to follow that ; 
 but that did not satisfy, for Pope Clement reviews 
 and corrects it in many places, and still the decree 
 remains in a changed subject. And, secondly, 
 that translation will be very unapt to satisfy, in 
 which one of their own men, Isidore Clarius, a 
 monk of Brescia, found and mended eight thou- 
 sand faults, besides innumerable others, which he 
 says he pretermitted. And then, thirdly, to show 
 how little themselves were satisfied with it, divers 
 learned men amongst them did new translate the 
 Bible, and thought they did God and the church 
 good service in it. So that, if you take this for 
 your precedent, j^ou are sure to be mistaken infi- 
 nitely ; if you take any other, the authors them- 
 selves do not promise you any security. If you 
 resolve to follow any one as far only as you see 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 15L 
 
 cause, then you only do wrong or right by chance : 
 for you have certainty just proportionable to your 
 own skill, to your own infallibility. If you re- 
 solve to follow any one, whithersoever he leads, 
 we shall oftentimes come thither, where we shall 
 see ourselves become ridiculous, as it happened in 
 the case of Spiridion, bishop of Cyprus, who so 
 resolved to follow his old book, that when an elo- 
 quent bishop, who was desired to preacli, read liis 
 text, • Take up thy bed and walk,' Spiridion was 
 very angry with him, because in his book it was 
 * take up thy couch,' and thought it arrogance in 
 the preacher to speak better Latin than his trans- 
 lator had done: and if it be thus in translations, 
 it is far worse in expositions, "because in truth, 
 all do not receive the Holy Scriptures, on account 
 of their profundity, in the same sense, for there 
 are as many expositors as there are sentences in 
 it,"* said Vincent Lirinensis; in which every 
 man knows what innumerable ways there are of 
 being mistaken, God having, in things not simply 
 necessary, left such a difficulty upon those parts 
 of Scripture which are the subject matters of con- 
 troversy (as St. Austin gives a reason!), that all 
 that err honestly are therefore to be pitied and 
 tolerated ; because it may be the condition of 
 every man, at one time or other. 
 
 The sum is this: Since Holy Scripture is the 
 repository of divine truths, and the great rule of 
 faith, to which all sects of Christians do appeal 
 for probation of their several opinions ; and since 
 
 * " Quia scil. Scripturam Sacram pro ipsa sui altitudine 
 non uno eodemque sensu omnes accipiunt, ut pene quot 
 homines tot illic sententiaj erui posse videantur." — In Com- 
 monit. 
 
 t " Ad edomandum labore superbiam, et intellectum a fas- 
 tidio revocandum."— Lib. ii. De Doctr. Christian, c. C. 
 
152 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 all agree in the articles of the creed, as things 
 clearly and plainly set down, and as containing 
 all that which is of simple and prime necessity; 
 and since, on the other side, there are in Scripture 
 many other mysteries, and matters of question 
 upon which there is a veil ; since there are so 
 many copies, with infinite varieties of reading; 
 since a various interpunction, a parenthesis, a let- 
 ter, an accent, may much alter the sense; since 
 some places have divers literal senses, many have 
 spiritual, mystical, and allegorical meanings ; since 
 there are so many tropes, metonymies, ironies, hy- 
 perboles, proprieties, and improprieties of language, 
 whose understanding depends upon such circum- 
 stances that it is almost impossible to know its 
 proper interpretation, now that the knowledge of 
 such circumstances and particular stories is irre- 
 vocably lost; since there are some mysteries which, 
 at the best advantage of expression, are not easy 
 to be apprehended, and whose explication, by rea- 
 son of our imperfections, must needs be dark, 
 sometimes unintelligible; and lastly, since those 
 ordinary means of expounding Scripture, as search- 
 ing the originals, conference of places, parity of 
 reason, and analogy of faith, are all dubious, 
 uncertain, and very fallible, — he that is the wisest, 
 and by consequence the likeliest to expound 
 truest in all probability of reason, will be very far 
 from confidence ; because every one of these, and 
 many more, are like so many degrees of improba- 
 bility and uncertainty, all depressing our certainty 
 or finding out truth in such mysteries, and amidst 
 so many difficulties. And, therefore, a wise man 
 that considers this, would not willingly be pre- 
 scribed to by others ; and, therefore, if he also be 
 a just man, he will not impose upon others ; for 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 153 
 
 it is best every man should be left in that liberty 
 from which no man can justly take him, unless he 
 could secure him from error: so that here also 
 there is a necessity to conserve the liberty of 
 prophesying and interpreting Scripture ; a ne- 
 cessity derived from the consideration of the 
 difficulty of Scripture in questions controverted, 
 and the uncertainty of any internal medium of 
 interpretation. 
 
154 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Of the insiffficiency and uncertainty of Tradition 
 to expound Scripture, or determine Questions. 
 
 In the next place, we must consider those ex- 
 trinsical means of interpreting Scripture, and 
 determining questions, which thej most of all 
 confide in, tliat restrain prophesying with the 
 greatest tyranny. The first and principal is 
 Tradition, which is pretended not only to expound 
 Scripture, "for it is requisite, on account of the 
 various turns and windings of error, that the drift 
 of prophetic and apostolic interpretation be regu- 
 lated according to the concurrent opinion of the 
 universal church;"* but also to propound articles 
 upon a distinct stock, such articles whereof tliere 
 is no mention and proposition in Scripture. And 
 in this topic, not only the distinct articles are clear 
 and plain, like as the fundamentals of faith 
 expressed in Scripture, but also it pretends to 
 expound Scripture, and to determine questions 
 with so much clarity and certainty, as there shall 
 neither be error nor doubt remaining ; and tlierefore 
 no disagreeing is here to be endured. And indeed 
 it is most true, if tradition can perform these 
 pretensions, and teach us plainly, and assure us 
 infallibly of all truths which they require us to 
 believe, we can, in this case, have no reason to 
 
 * " Necesse enim est propter tantos tarn varii erroris anfrac- 
 tas, ut propheticje et apostolicse interpretationis linea secun- 
 dum ecclesiastic! et catholici sensus normam dirigatur."— 
 Vincent. Lirinens. in Commonitor 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 155 
 
 disbelieve them, and therefore are certainly heretics 
 it" we do ; because, without a crime, without some 
 human interest or collateral design, we cannot 
 disbelieve traditive doctrine or traditive interpret- 
 ation, if it be infallibly proved to us that tradition 
 is an infallible guide. 
 
 But here I first consider that tradition is no re- 
 pository of articles of faith, and therefore the not 
 following it is no argument of heresy ; for, besides , 
 that I have showed Scripture in its plain expresses 
 to be an abundant rule of faith and manners, tra- 
 dition is a topic as fallible as any other; so fallible, 
 that it cannot be sufficient evidence to any man in 
 a matter of faith or question of heresy. 
 
 For, first, I find that the fathers were infinitely 
 deceived in their account and enumeration of 
 traditions; sometimes they did call some traditions 
 such, not which they knew to be so, but by argu- 
 ments and presumptions they concluded them so. 
 Such as was that of vSt. Austin: ''What is held 
 by the universal church, and not known to have 
 been decreed by councils, is to be considered as 
 derived from apostolical tradition."* Now, sup- 
 pose this rule probable, that is the most, yet it is 
 not certain ; it might come by custom, whose 
 original was not known, but yet could not derive 
 from an apostolical principle. Now, when they 
 conclude of particular traditions by a general 
 rule, and that general rule not certain, but at the 
 most probable in any thing, and certainly false in 
 some things, it is no wonder if the productions, 
 that is, their judgments and pretence, fail so often. 
 
 * " Ea quae universalis tenet ecclesia nee a conciliis instituta 
 reperiuntur, credibile est ab apostolonim traditione descend- 
 isse." — Epist. cxviii. ad Sunar. de Bapt. Contr. Donat. lib. iv, 
 c. 24. 
 
156 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 And if I should but instance in all the particulars 
 in which tradition was pretended, falsely or uncer- 
 tainly, in the first ages, I should multiply them to a 
 troublesome variety ; for it was then accounted so 
 glorious a thing to have spoken with the persons 
 of the apostles, that if any man could, with any 
 color, pretend to it, he might abuse the whole 
 church, and obtrude what he listed, under the 
 specious title of apostolical tradition ; and it is 
 ver}^ notorious to every man that will but read and 
 observe the recog-nitions or Stro7nata of Clemens 
 Alexandrinus, wliere there is enough of such false 
 wares showed in every book, and pretended to be 
 no less than from the apostles. In the first age 
 after the apostles, Papias pretended he received a 
 tradition from the apostles, that Christ, before the 
 day of judgment, should reign a thousand years 
 upon earth, and his saints wdth him, in temporal 
 felicities ; and this thing, proceeding from so great 
 an authority as the testimony of Papias, drew after 
 it all, or most, of the Christians in the first three 
 hundred years. For, besides that the millenary 
 opinion is expressly taught by Papias, Justin 
 Martyr, Irenseus, Origen, Lactantius, Severus, 
 Victorinus, ApoUinaris, Nepos, and divers others, 
 famous in their time, Justin Martyr, in his dialogue 
 against Tryphon, says, it was the belief of all 
 Christians exactly orthodox; and yet there was 
 no such tradition, but a mistake in Papias ; but I 
 find it nowhere spoke against, till Dionysius of 
 Alexandria, confuted Nepos's book, and converted 
 Coracion, the Egyptian, from the opinion. Now, 
 if a tradition, whose beginning of being called so 
 began with a scholar of the apostles (for so was 
 Papias), and then continued, for some ages, upon 
 the mere authority of so famous a man, did yet 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIxNG. 157 
 
 deceive the church, much more fallible is the 
 pretence, when, two or three hundred years after, 
 it but commences, and then, bj some learned man, 
 is first called a tradition apostolical. And so it 
 happened in the case of the Arian heresy, which 
 the Nicene fathers did confute by objecting a 
 contrary tradition apostolical, as Theodoret re- 
 ports ;* and yet if they had not had better argu- 
 ments from Scripture than from tradition, they 
 would have failed much in so good a cause ; for 
 this very pretence the Arians themselves made, 
 and desired to be tried by the fathers of the first 
 three hundred years ;t which was a confutation 
 sufficient to them who pretended a clear tradition, 
 because it was unimaginable that the tradition 
 should leap so as not to come from the first to the 
 last by the middle. But that this trial was some- 
 time declined by that excellent man St. Athanasius, 
 although at other times confidently and truly 
 pretended, it was an argument the tradition was 
 not so clear, but both sides might with some 
 fairness pretend to it. And, therefore, one of 
 the prime founders of their heresy, the heretic, 
 Artemon,:j: having observed the advantage might 
 be taken by any sect that would pretend tradition, 
 because the medium was plausible, and consisting 
 of so many particulars that it was hard to be 
 redargued, pretended a tradition from the apostles, 
 that Christ was a mere man, and that the tradition 
 did descend by a constant succession, in the 
 church of Rome to pope Victor's time inclusively, 
 and tdl Zepherinus had interrupted the series, and 
 corrupted the doctrine ; which pretence, if it had 
 
 * Lib. i. Hist. c. 8. 
 
 1 Vide Petav. in Epiph. Haer. 69. 
 
 X Euseb. lib. v. c. ult. 
 
 14 
 
158 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 not had some appearance of truth, so as possibly 
 to abuse the church, liad not been worthy of 
 confutation, which yet was with care undertaken 
 by an old MTiter, out of whom Eusebius transcribes 
 a large passage, to reprove the vanity of the pre- 
 tender. But I observe from hence, that it was 
 usual to pretend to tradition, and that it was easier 
 pretended than confuted; and I doubt not but 
 oftener done than discovered. A great question 
 arose in Africa, concerning the baptism of heretics, 
 whether it were valid or no. St, Cyprian and his 
 party appealed to Scripture ; Stephen, bishop of 
 Rome, and his party, would be judged by custom, 
 and tradition ecclesiastical. See how much the 
 nearer the question was to a determination : either 
 that probation was not accounted by St. Cyprian, 
 and the bishops, both of Asia and Africk, to be a 
 good argument, and sufficient to determine them, 
 or there was no certain tradition against them ; 
 for, unless one of these two do it, nothing could 
 excuse them from opposing a known truth ; unless, 
 peradventure, St. Cyprian, Firmilian, the bishops 
 of" Galatia, Cappadocia, and almost two parts of 
 the world, were ignorant of such a tradition, for 
 they krtew of none such, and some of them ex- 
 pressly denied it. And the sixth general synod 
 approves of the canon made in the council of 
 Carthage, under Cyprian, upon this very ground, 
 because " the tradition was preserved only in the 
 dioceses of those bishops, and according to a 
 custom handed down among them."* They had a 
 particular tradition for rebaptization ; and there- 
 fore, there could be no tradition universal against 
 it, or, if there v/ere, they knew not of it, but 
 
 * " In prsedictorum prsesuluin locis, et solum secundum 
 traditam eis consuetudinem, servatus est." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 159 
 
 much for the contrary; and then, it would be 
 remembered, that a concealed tradition was like 
 a silent thunder, or a law not promulgated ; it 
 neither was known, nor was obligatory. And I 
 shall observe this too, that this very tradition was 
 so obscure, and was so obscurely delivered, so 
 silently proclaimed, that St. Austin,"^ who disputed 
 against the Donatists upon this very question, 
 was not able to prove it, but by a consequence 
 which he thought probable and credible, as appears 
 in his discourse against the Donatists. '' The 
 apostles," saith St. Austin, "prescribed nothing 
 in this particular: but this custom, which is con- 
 trary to Cyprian, ought to be believed to have 
 come from their tradition, as many other things 
 which the catholic church observes." That is all 
 the ground and all the reason ; nay, the churcli 
 did waver concerning that question, and before 
 the decision of a council, Cypriant and others 
 might dissent without breach of charity. It was 
 plain, then, there was no clear tradition in the 
 question; possibly there might be a custom in 
 some churches postnate to the times of the apostles, 
 but nothing that was obligatory, no tradition apos- 
 tolical. But this was a suppletory device, ready 
 at hand whenever they needed it ; and St. Austini 
 confuted the Pelagians, in the question of original 
 sin, by the custom of exorcism and insufflation^ 
 which, St. Austin said, came from the apostles by 
 tradition, which yet was then, and is now, so im- 
 possible to be proved, that he that shall affirm it^ 
 shall gain only the reputation of a bold man and 
 a confident. 
 
 * Lib. V. De Baptism. Contr. Donat. c. 23. 
 
 t Lib. i. De Baptism, c. IS. 
 
 X De Peccat. Original, lib. li. c. 40. contra. Pelaer. et Caslest. 
 
160 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 2. I consider, if the report of traditions in the 
 primitive times, so near the ages apostolical, was 
 so uncertain, that thej v/ere fain to aim at them 
 bj conjectures, and grope as in the dark, the 
 uncertainty is much increased since; because 
 there are many famous writers whose works are 
 lost, which yet, if they had continued, they might 
 have been good records to us, as Clemens Romanus, 
 Egesippus, Nepos, Coracion, Dionysius Areopa- 
 gite, of Alexandria, of Corinth, Firmilian, and 
 many more: and since we see pretences have 
 been made, without reason, in those ages where 
 they might better have been confuted than now 
 they can, it is greater prudence to suspect any 
 later pretences, since so many sects have been, 
 so many wars, so many corruptions in authors, so 
 many authors lost, so much ignorance hath inter- 
 vened, and so many interests have been served, that 
 now the rule is to be altered : and whereas it was 
 of old time credible, that that was apostolical whose 
 beginning they knew not ; now, quite contrary, we 
 cannot safely believe them to be apostolical, unless 
 we do know their beginning to have been from the 
 apostles. For this consisting of probabilities and 
 particulars, which, put together, make up a moral 
 demonstration, the argument which I now urge 
 hath been growing these fifteen hundred years; 
 and if anciently there was so much as to evacuate 
 the authority of tradition, much more is there now 
 absolutely to destroy it, when all the particulars, 
 which time and infinite variety of human accidents 
 have been amassing together, are now concentered, 
 and are united by way of constipation. Because 
 every age, and every great change, and every 
 heresy, and every interest, hath increased the 
 difficulty of finding out true traditions. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIKG. l6l 
 
 3. There are very many traditions which are- 
 lost; and yet they are concerning matters of as 
 great consequence as most of those questions, for 
 the detemnination whereof traditions are pretended: 
 it is more than probable, that as in baptism and the 
 eucharist the very forms of ministration are trans- 
 mitted to usj so also in confirmation and ordination^ 
 and that there v/ere special directions for visitation 
 of the sick, and explicit interpretations of those 
 difficult places of St. Paul, which St. Peter 
 affirmed to be so difficult, that the ignorant do 
 wrest them to their own damnation ; and yet no. 
 church hatii conserved these, or those many more 
 which St. Basil affirms to be so many, that the 
 day would fail him in JLhe very simple enumeratiorj 
 of all traditions ecclesiastical.* And if the clnucli 
 hath failed in keeping the great variety of tradi 
 tions, it vv'ill luirdly be 'thought a fault in a private 
 person to neglect tradition, which either the whole 
 church hath very much neglected inculpably, or 
 else the whole church is very much to blame 
 And who can ascertain us that she hath not enter- 
 tained some which are no traditions, as w^ell ay 
 lost thousands that are ? That she did entertain- 
 some false traditions, I have already proved ; but i* 
 is also as probable that some of those which these 
 ages did propound for traditions are not so, as it 
 is certain that some, which the first ages called 
 traditions, were nothing less. 
 
 4. There are some opinions, which when ih&y 
 began to be publicly received, began to be ac- 
 counted prime traditions; and so became such, not 
 by a native title, but by adoption ; and nothing is 
 more usual than for the fathers to color their po- 
 
 uivov. — Cap. 29. De Spir. Sancto. 
 14^ 
 
162 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 pular opinion with so great an appellative. St. 
 Austin called the communicating of infants an 
 apostolical tradition ; and yet we do not practise 
 it, because w" disbelieve the allegation. And that 
 every custoin, which at first introduction was but 
 a private fancy or singular practice, grew after- 
 wards into a public rite, and went for a tradition 
 after a while continuance, appears by TertuUian, 
 who seems to justify it; "You do not think it 
 lawful for any Christian to appoint, for discipline 
 and salvation, whatever he may deem well-pleas- 
 ing to God." And again. '' Whoever tradition 
 be introduced by, you should regard not the au- 
 thor, but the authority."* And St. Jerome most 
 plainly : " The decisions of the fathers are to be 
 esteemed by all as apostolical traditions."t And 
 when Irenseus had observed that great variety in 
 the keeping of Lent, Vvhich yet to be a forty day's 
 fast is pretended to descend from tradition apos- 
 tolical, some fasting but one day before Easter, 
 some two, some forty, and this even long before 
 Irenisus's time, he gives this reason : " That 
 variety of fasting originated with our fathers, who 
 did not carefully observe their custom, who either 
 from simplicity or personal authority, were for or- 
 daining rites for their posterity.""}: And there are 
 yet some points of good concernment, Vv^hich if any 
 
 * " Non enim existiraas tu licitum esse cuicunque fideli 
 constituere quod Deo placere iili visum fuerit, ad disciplinam 
 et salutem." — Contra Marcion. "A quocunque traditore 
 censetur, nee autborem respicias sed authoritatem." — De 
 Coron. milit. c. 3 et 4. 
 
 I " Prrocepta majorum apostolicas ti'aditiones quisque 
 existimat." — Apud Euseb. lib. v. c. 24. 
 
 X Vai-ietas ilia jejunii coepit apud majores nostros, qui 
 lion accurate consuetudinem eorum qui vel siraplicitate qua- 
 dain vel pvivata authoritate in posterum aiiquid statuissent, 
 obssrvarant." — Ex translatione Christophersoni. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 163 
 
 man should question in a high manner, they would 
 prove indeterminable by Scripture, or sufficient 
 reason ; and yet I doubt not their confident defend- 
 ers would say, they are opinions of the church, and 
 quickly pretend a tradition from the very apostles, 
 and believe themselves so secure, that they could 
 not be discovered ; because the question never 
 having been disputed, gives them occasion to say, 
 that which had no beginning known was certainly 
 from the apostles. For why should not divines do 
 in the question of reconfinration as in that of re- 
 baptization ? Are not the grounds equal from an 
 indelible character in one as in the other? And 
 if it happen such a question as this, after contest- 
 ation, should be determined, not by any positive 
 decree, but by the cession of one part, and the 
 authority and reputation of the other, does not the 
 next age stand fair to be abused with a pretence 
 of tradition in the matter of reconfirmation, v/liich 
 never yet came to a serious question ? for so it 
 was in the question of rebaptization ; for which 
 there was then no more evident tradition than 
 there is now in the question of reconfirmation, 
 as I proved formerly, but yet it was carried upon 
 that title. 
 
 5. There is great variety in the probation of 
 tradition ; so that whatever is proved to be tradi- 
 tion, is not equally and alike credible ; for nothing 
 but universal tradition is of itself credible ; other 
 traditions in their just proportion, as they partake 
 of the degrees of universality. Now, that a tra- 
 dition be universal, or, which is all one, that it be 
 a credible testimonj^, St. Irenasus* requires that 
 tradition should derive from all the churches 
 apostolical ; and, therefore, according to this rule, 
 
 * Lib iii. c. 4, 
 
104 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 iheve was no sufficient medium to determine the 
 question about Easter, because the eastern and 
 western churches had several traditions respect- 
 ively, and both pretended from the apostles. 
 Clemens Alexandrinus* says, it was a secret tra- 
 dition from the apostles, that Christ preached but 
 one year; but Irenseust says, it did derive from 
 heretics ; and says, that he, by tradition, first from 
 St. John, and then from his disciples, received 
 another tradition, that Christ was almost fifty 
 years old when he died ; and so, by consequence, 
 preached almost twenty years : both of them were 
 deceived, and so had all that had believed the 
 report of cither, pretending tradition apostolical. 
 Thus, the custom in the Latin church of fasting 
 on Saturday, v/as against that tradition which the 
 Oreeks had from the apostles ; and therefore, by 
 (his division and want of consent, which was the 
 true tradition, was so absolutely indeterminable, 
 that botl) must needs lose much of their reputa- 
 tion. But how then, when not only particular 
 churches, but single persons, are all the proof we 
 have for a tradition ? and this often happened : I 
 think St. Austin is the chief argument and au- 
 thority we have for the assumption of the Virgin 
 Mary; the baptism of infants is called a tradition 
 by Origen alone, at first, and from him by others. 
 The procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son, 
 which is an article the Greek church disavows, 
 derives from the tradition apostolical, as it is pre- 
 tended ; and yd before St. Austin, we hear nothing 
 of it very clearly or certainly, forasmuch as that 
 whole mystery, concerning the blessed Spirit, was 
 so little csplicated to Scripture, and so little de- 
 rived to them by tradition, that, till the council of 
 
 * Lib. i. Stroma. t ^'^^- "• c. 39 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 165 
 
 Nice, you shall hanlly find any form of worship, 
 or personal address of devotion to the Holy Spirit, 
 as Erasmus observes; and I think the contrary 
 will very hardly be verified. And for this parti- 
 cular in which I instance, whatsoever is in Scrip- 
 ture concerning it, is against that which the church 
 of Rome calls tradition; which makes the Greeks 
 so confident as they are of the point, and is an 
 argument of the vanity of some things which for 
 no greater reason are called traditions, but because 
 one man hath said so, and that they can be proved 
 by no better argument to be true. Now, in this 
 case, wherein tradition descends upon us with 
 unequal certainty, it would be very unequal to 
 require of us an absolute belief of every thing 
 not written, for fear we be accounted to slight 
 tradition apostolical. And since nothing can re- 
 quire our supreme assent, but that which is truly 
 catholic and apostolical, and to such a tradition is 
 required, as Irenscus says, the consent of all these 
 churches which the apostles planted, and where 
 they did preside, this topic will be of so little use 
 in judging heresies, that (besides what is deposited 
 in Scripture) it cannot be proved in any thing but 
 in the canon of Scripture itself; and, as it is now 
 received, even in that there is some variety. 
 
 And therefore there is wholly a mistake in this 
 business ; for when the fathers appeal to tradition, 
 and with much earnestness and some clamor they 
 call upon heretics to conform to, or to be tried by 
 tradition, it is such a tradition as delivers the fun- 
 damental points of Christianity, which were also 
 recorded in Scripture. But because the canon 
 was not yet perfectly consigned, they called to 
 that testimony they had, which was the testimony 
 of the churches apostolical, whose bishops and 
 
166 
 
 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 priests, being the chief authorities in religion, did 
 believe and preach Christian religion, and conserve 
 all its great mjsteries according as thej had been 
 taught. Irenseus calls this a tradition apostolical, 
 " that Christ took the cup, and said it was his own 
 blood, and taught the new oblation of the New 
 Testament, which the church, receiving from the 
 apostles, presents throughout the whole world."* 
 And the fathers in these ages confute heretics by 
 ecclesiastical tradition ; that is, they confront 
 against their impious and blasphemous doctrines 
 that religion which the apostles having taught to 
 the churches where thej did preside, their suc- 
 cessors did still preach; and for a long while to- 
 gether suffered not the enemy to sow tares amongst 
 their wheat. And yet these doctrines, which they 
 called traditions, were nothing but such funda- 
 mental truths which were in Scripture, all coinci- 
 dent with holy writ, as Irenseust in Eiiaebius 
 observes, in the instance of Polycarpus ; and it is 
 manifest, by considering what heresies they fought 
 against, the heresies of Ebion, Cerinthus, Nicolai- 
 tans, Valentinians, Carpocratians,:}: persons that 
 denied the son of God, the unity of the Godhead, 
 that preached impurity, that practised sorcery and 
 witchcraft. And now, that they did rather urge 
 tradition against them than Scripture, was, because 
 the public doctrine of all the apostolical churches 
 was at first more known and famous than many 
 parts of Scripture; and because some heretics 
 denied St. Luke's Gospel, some received none 
 but St. Matthew's, some rejected all St. Paul's 
 
 * " Christum accepisse calicem, et dixisse sanguinem suum 
 esse, et docuisse novani oblationera Novi Testaraenti, quam 
 ecclesia per apostolos accipiens offert per totura mundum." 
 
 t Lib. v.cap. 20. 
 
 I Vide Irenee. lib. iii. el iv. Cont. Heres. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 167 
 
 Epistles; and it was a long time before the whole 
 canon was consigned bj universal testimony; 
 some churches having one part, some another: 
 Rome herself had not all : so that, in this case, the 
 argument from tradition v/as the most famous, the 
 most certain, and the most prudent. And now, 
 according to this rule ti^ev had more traditions 
 than we have; and traditions did bj degrees lessen 
 as they came to be written, and their necessity 
 was less as the knowledge of them was ascertained 
 to us by a better keeper of divine truths. All tliat 
 great mysteriousness of Christ's priesthood, the 
 unity of his sacrifice, Christ's advocation and in- 
 tercession for us in heaven, and many other ex- 
 cellent doctrines, might Yerj well be accounted 
 traditions, before St. Paul's Epistle to ihe He- 
 brews was publivshed to all the v/orld ; but nov/ 
 they are written truths: and if tliey had not, pos- 
 sibly we might either have lost theui quite, or 
 doubted of them, as we do of many other tradifions, 
 by reason of the insudiciency of the propounder. 
 And therefore it was that St. Peter* took order 
 that the Gospel should be writ; for he had pro- 
 mised that he would do something which, after his 
 decease, should have these things in remembrance. 
 He knew it was not safe trusting the report of 
 men, where the fountain miglit quickly run dry, 
 or bs corrupted so insensibly that no cure could 
 be found for it, nor any just notice taken of it till 
 it were incurable. And, indeed, there is scarce 
 any thing but what is written in Scripture, that 
 can, with ariy confidence of argument, pretend to 
 derive from the apostles, except rituals and man- 
 ners of ministration ; but no doctrines or specula- 
 tive mysteries are so transmitted to us by so clear 
 * 2 Pet. i. 13. 
 
168 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 a current, that we may see a visible channel, and 
 trace it to the primitive fountainSe It is said to 
 be a tradition apostolical, that no priest should 
 baptize without chrism and the command of the 
 bishop : suppose it were, yet we cannot be obliged 
 to believe it with much confidence, because we 
 have but little proof for it, scarce any thing but 
 the single testimony of St. Jerome.* And yet, if 
 it were, this is but a ritual, of w^hich, in passing 
 by, I shall give that account, that, suppose this 
 and many more rituals did derive clearly from 
 tradition apostolical (which yet but very few do), 
 yet it is hard that any church should be charged 
 with a crime for not observing such rituals, because 
 we see some of them, which certainly did derive 
 from the apostles, are expired and gone out in a 
 desuetude ; such as are abstinence from blood and 
 from things strangled, the coenobitic life of secular 
 persons, the college of widows, to worship standing 
 upon the Lord's-day, to give milk and honey to 
 the newly baptized, and many more of the like 
 nature. Now, there having been no mark to dis- 
 tinguish the necessity of one from the indifferency 
 of the other, they are all alike necessary, or alike 
 indifferent; if the former, why does no church 
 observe them? if the latter, why does the church 
 of Rome charge upon others the shame of novelty, 
 for leaving of some rites and ceremonies which, 
 by her own practice, we are taught to have no 
 obligation in them, but to be adiaphorus ? St. Paul 
 gave order, that a bishop should be the husband of 
 one wife ; the church of Rome will not allow so 
 much; other churches allow more: the apostles 
 commanded Christians to fast on Wednesday and 
 Friday, as appears in their canons ; the church of 
 * Dialog, adv. Lucifer. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF TROPHESYING. 169 
 
 Rome fasts Friday and Saturday, and not on 
 Wednesday : the apostles had their agapse or love- 
 feasts ; we should believe them scandalous ; they 
 used a kiss of charity in ordinary addresses ; the 
 church of Rome keeps it only in their mass, other 
 churches quite omit it: i]\e apostles permitted 
 priests and deacons to live in conjugal society, as 
 appears in the iifth canon of the apostles (which to 
 them is an argument who believe them such), and 
 yet the church of Rome by no means will endure 
 it ; nay more, Michael Medina" gives testimony, 
 that of eighty-four canons apostolical which Cle- 
 mens collected, scarce six or eight are observed by 
 the Latin church; and Peresius gives this account 
 of it : '' Among these there are many which, owing 
 to the corruption of the times, are not fully ob- 
 served ; others are rejected, on account either of 
 the times or the nature of them, or by the authority 
 of the church."t Now it were good that they 
 which take a liberty themselves, should also allow 
 the same to others. So that, for one thing or 
 other, all traditions, excepting those very few that 
 are absolutely universal, will lose all their obliga- 
 tion, and become no competent medium to confine 
 men's practices, or limit their faiths, or determine 
 their persuasions. Either for the difficulty of iheir 
 being proved, the incompetency of the testimony 
 that transmits them, or the indiiferency of the thing- 
 transmitted, all traditions, both ritual and doctrinal, 
 are disabled from determining our consciences 
 either to a necessary believing or obeying. 
 
 6. To which I add, by way of confirmation, that 
 
 * De Sacr. Horn. Continent, lib. v, cap. 105. 
 
 I " In illis contineri inulta quae tempoi-um corruptione non 
 plene observantur, aliis pro temporis et materiEe qualitate aut 
 obliteratis, aut totius ecclesice magisterio abrogatis." — De 
 Tradit. part iii. c. De Author. Can. Apost. 
 15 
 
170 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 there are some things called traditions, and are 
 offered to be proved to us by a tiestimonj, which 
 is either false or not extant. Clemens of Alexan- 
 dria pretended it a tradition, that the apostles 
 preached to them that died in infidelity, even after 
 their death, and then raised them to life ; but he 
 proved it onlj by the testimony of the book of 
 Hermes. He affirmed it to be a tradition apos- 
 tolical, that the Greeks were saved by their philo- 
 sophy; but he had no other authority for it but 
 the apocryphal books of Peter and Paul. Tertul- 
 lian and St. Basil pretend it an apostolical tradi- 
 tion, to sign in the air with the sign of the cross : 
 but this was only consigned to them in the Gospel 
 of Nicodemus. But to instance once for all, in 
 the epistle of Marcellus to the bishop of Antioch, 
 where he affirms that it is the canons of the 
 apostles, " that councils cannot be held without 
 the consent of the Roman pontiff: and jei there 
 is no such canon extant, nor ever v/as, for aught 
 appears in any record we have ; and yet the col- 
 lection of the canons is so entire, that though it 
 hath something more than what was apostolical, 
 yet it hath nothing less. And now that 1 am 
 casually fallen upon an instance from the canons 
 of the apostles, I consider that there cannot, in 
 the world, a greater instance be given how easy it 
 is to be abused in the believing of traditions : for 
 first, to the first fifty, which many did admit for 
 apostolical, thirty-five more were added, which 
 most men now count spurious, all men call dubious, 
 and some of them universally condemned by 
 peremptory sentence, even by them who are great- 
 est admirers of that collection ; as the sixty-fifth, 
 sixty-seventh, and eighty-fourth and eighty-fifth 
 canons. For the first fifty, it is evident that 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 171 
 
 there are some things so mixed with them, and 
 no mark of difference left, that the credit of all 
 is much impaired, insomuch that Isidore of Se- 
 ville* says, " they were apocryphal, made by 
 heretics, and published under the title apostolical, 
 but neither the fathers nor the church of Rome 
 did give assent to them." And yet they have 
 prevailed so far amongst some, that Damascent 
 is of opinion they should be received equally with 
 the canonical writings of the apostles. One thing 
 only I observe (and we shall find it true in most 
 writings whose authority is urged in question of 
 theology), that the authority of the tradition is not 
 it which moves the assent, but the nature of the 
 thing; and because such a canon is delivered, 
 they do not therefore believe the sanction or 
 proposition so delivered, but disbelieve the tra- 
 dition, if they do not like the matter; and so 
 do not judge of the matter by the tradition, but 
 of the tradition by the matter. And thus the 
 church of Rome rejects the eighty-fourth or eighty- 
 fifth canon of the apostles, not because it is deli- 
 vered with less authority than the last thirty-five 
 are, but because it reckons the canon of Scripture 
 otherwise than it is at Rome. Thus also the fifth 
 canon amongst the first fifty, because it approves 
 the marriage of priests and deacons, does not per- 
 suade them to approve of it too, but itself becomes 
 suspected for approving it; so that either they 
 accuse themselves of palpable contempt of the 
 apostolical authority, or else that the reputation 
 of such traditions is kept up to serve their own 
 ends; and therefore, when they encounter them, 
 they are more to be upheld ; which what else is it, 
 
 * Apud Gratian. Dis. xvi. c. Canones. 
 t Lib. i. c. 18, De Orthod. Fide. 
 
172 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 but to teach all the world to contemn such pre- 
 tences, and undervalue traditions, and to supply 
 to others a reason why thej should do that which, 
 to them that give the occasion, is most unrea- 
 sonable ? 
 
 7. The testimony of the ancient church being 
 the only means of proving tradition, and some- 
 times their dictates and doctrine being the tradi- 
 tion pretended of necessity to be imitated, it is 
 considerable that men in their estimate of it, take 
 their rise from several ages and differing testimo- 
 nies, and are not agreed about the competency of 
 their testimony: and the reasons that on each 
 side make them differ, are such as make the au- 
 thority itself the less authentic, and more repu- 
 diable. Some will allow only of the three first 
 ages, as being most pure, most persecuted, and 
 therefore most holy ; least interested, serving; fewer 
 designs, having fewest factions, and therefore more 
 likely to speak the truth for God's sake and its 
 own, as best complying with their great end of 
 acquiring heaven in recompense of losing their 
 lives ; others say, that those ages being persecuted, 
 minded the present doctrines proportionable to 
 their purposes and constitution of the ages, and 
 make little or nothing of those questions which at 
 this day vex Christendom.* And both speak 
 true ; the first ages speak greatest truth, but least 
 pertinently. The next ages, the ages of the four 
 general councils, spake some things not much 
 more pertinently to the present questions, but 
 were not so likely to speak true, by reason of 
 their dispositions, contrary to the capacity and 
 circumstances of the first ages ; and if they speak 
 wisely as doctors, yet not certainly as witnesses 
 * Vid. Card. Perron, Letre au Sieur Cassaubon. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHKSYIXG. 173 
 
 of such propositions, which the first ages noted 
 not ; and jet, unless thev had not noted, could not 
 possibly be traditions. And therefore either of 
 them will be less useful as to our present affairs. 
 For, indeed, the questions which now are the 
 public trouble, were not considered or thought 
 upon for many hundred years ; and, therefore, 
 prime tradition there is none as to our purpose; 
 and it will be an insufficient medium to be used or 
 pretended in the determination; and to dispute 
 concerning the truth or necessity of traditions, in 
 the questions of our times, is as if historians, dis- 
 puting about a question in the English story, 
 should full on wrangling whether Livy or Plutarch 
 were the best writers : and the earnest disputes 
 about traditions are to no better purpose. For ha 
 church, at this day, admits the one half of those 
 things, which certainly by the fathers \vere called 
 traditions apostolical ; and no testimony of ancient 
 writers does consign the one half of the present 
 questions, to be or not to be traditions. So that 
 they who admit only the doctrine and testimony 
 of the first ages, cannot be determined in most of 
 their doubts which now trouble us, because their 
 writings are of matters wholly diflering from Vae 
 present disputes; and they which would bring in 
 after ages to the authority of a competent judge 
 or witness, say the same thing; for they plainly 
 confess, that the first ages spake little or nothing 
 to the present question, or at least nothing to their 
 sense of them : for therefore they call in aid from 
 the following ages, and make them suppletory and 
 auxiliary to their designs; and therefore there are 
 no traditions to our purposes. And they wlio 
 would willingly have it otherwise, yet have taken 
 no course it should be otlierwise: for thoy\ when 
 15* 
 
174 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 they had opportunitj, in the councils of the last 
 ages, to determine what they had a mind to, yet 
 they never named the number, nor expressed the 
 particular traditions which they would fain have 
 the world to believe to be apostolical ; but they 
 have kept the bridle in their own har.ds, and 
 made a reserve of their own power, that if need 
 be, they may make new pretensions, or not be put 
 to it to justify the old, by the engagement of a 
 conciliary declaration. 
 
 Lastly : We are acquitted, by the testimony of 
 the primitive fathers, from any other necessity of 
 believing, than of such articles as are recorded in 
 Scripture : and this is done by them whose autho- 
 rity is pretended the greatest argument for tradi- 
 tion, as appears largely in Iren^Eus,* who disputes 
 professedly for the sufficiency of Scripture against 
 certain heretics, who affirm some necessary truths 
 not to be written. It was an excellent saying; of 
 St. Basil, and will never be wiped out with all the 
 eloquence of Perron, in his sermon cleFide: '* It 
 is a manifest departure from the faith, and mere 
 superciliousness, eitker to reject what is taught in 
 Scripture, or to introduce any thin*;- that is not 
 written."! And it is but a poor device to say, 
 that every particular tradition is consigned in 
 Scripture, by those places which give authority to 
 tradition; and so the introducing of tradition is 
 not a superinducing any thing over or besides 
 Scripture, because tradition is like a messenger, 
 and the Scripture is like his letters of credence, 
 and therefore authorizes whatsoever tradition 
 
 * Lib. iii. ca. 2. Contr. Haeres. 
 
 I " Manifestus est fidei lapsus, et liquidum superbia vitium, 
 vel respuere aliquid eorum quie Scriptura habet, vel inducere 
 quicquarn quod Scriptum non est. " 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 175 
 
 speaketli. For supposing Scripture does consign 
 the authority of tradition (which it might do before 
 all the whole instrument of Scripture itself was 
 consigned, and then afterwards there might be no 
 need of tradition), yet supposing it, it will follow 
 that all those traditions which are truly prime and 
 apostolical, are to be entertained according to the 
 intention of the deliverers; which, indeed, is so 
 reasonable of itself, that we need not Scripture to 
 persuade us to it : itself is authentic as Scripture 
 is, if it derives from the same fountain ; and the 
 word is never the more the Word of God for being 
 written ; nor the less for not being written : but 
 it will not follow that whatsoever is pretended to 
 be tradition, is so ; neither in the credit of the 
 particular instances consigned in Scripture, et 
 dolosus vcrsafur in generalibics :'^ but that this craft 
 is too palpable. And if a general and indefinite 
 consignation of tradition be sufficient to warrant 
 every particular that pretends to be tradition, then 
 St. Basil had spoken to no purpose, by saying it 
 is pride and apostacy from the faith, to bring in 
 what is not written : for if either any man brings 
 in what is written, or what he says is delivered, 
 then the first being express Scripture, and the 
 second being consigned in Scripture, no man can 
 be charged with superinducing what is not written ; 
 he hath his answer ready; and then these are 
 zealous words absolutely to no purpose; but if 
 such general consignation does not warrant every 
 thing that pretends to tradition, but only such as 
 are truly proved to be apostolical, then Scripture 
 is useless as to this particular ; for such tradition 
 gives testimony to Scripture, and therefore is of 
 
 * " He who wishes to deceive, occupies himself in generali- 
 ties." 
 
176 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 itself first, and more credible, for it is credible of 
 itself; and therefore, unless St. Basil thought that 
 all the will of God in matters of faith and doctrine 
 were written, T see not what end nor what sense 
 he could have in these words : for no man in the 
 vv^orld, except enthusiasts and mad men, ever 
 obtruded a doctrine upon the church, but he pre- 
 tended Scripture for it, or tradition ; and therefore 
 no man could be pressed by these v/ords, no man 
 confuted, no man instructed, no not enthusiasts 
 or Montanists. For suppose either ofthem should 
 sav, that since in Scripture the Holy Ghost is 
 promised to abide with the churcli for ever, to 
 teach wliatever they pretend the Spirit in any age 
 hath taught them is not to superinduce any thing 
 beyond what is written, because the truth of the 
 Spirit, his veracity, and his perpetual teaching 
 being promised and attested in Scripture, Scrip- 
 ture hath just so consigned all such revelations, 
 as Perron saith it hath all such traditions. But I 
 will trouble myself no more with arguments from 
 any human authorities: but he that is surprised 
 with the belief of such authorities, and will but 
 consider the very many testimonies of antiquity to 
 this purpose, as of Constantine,* St. Jerome,t St. 
 Austin.^ St. Athanasius,§ St. Hilary,!! St. Epipha- 
 nius,^ and divers others, all speaking words to the 
 same sense with that saying of St. Paul,*^" 'Let 
 no man be wise above vv^hat is Vv'ritten,' will see 
 that there is reason, that since no man is materially 
 a heretic, but he that errs in a point of faith, and 
 all faith is sufficiently recorded in Scripture, the 
 
 * Orat. ad Nicen. PP. apud. Theodor. lib. i. c. 7. 
 
 t In Matth. lib. iv. c. 23, et in Aggoeiim. 
 
 X Be Bono Yiduil. c. i. § Orat. contr. Gent. 
 
 11 In Psal. cxxxii. 
 
 11 Lib. ii . Contra Haeres. tom.i. Ha?r. 61. ** 1 Cor. 4. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROFHESiYING. 17T 
 
 judgment of faith and heresy is to be derived from 
 thence, and no man is to be condemned for dis- 
 senting in an article for whose probation tradition 
 only is pretended ; only, according to the degree 
 of its evidence, let every one determine himself: 
 but of this evidence we must not judge for others; 
 for unless it be in things of faith, and absolute 
 certainties, evidence is a word of relation, and so 
 supposes two terms, the object and the faculty ; and 
 it is an imperfect speech, to say a thing is evident 
 in itself (unless we speak of first principles, or 
 clearest revelations), for that may be evident to 
 one that is not so to another, by reason of the 
 pregnancy of some apprehensions, and the imma- 
 turity of others. 
 
 This discourse hath its intention in traditions, 
 doctrinal and ritual ; that is, such traditions which 
 propose articles essentially new; but, now, if 
 Scripture be the repository of all divine truths 
 sufficient for us, tradition must be considered as 
 its instrument, to convey its great mysteriousness 
 to our understandings. It is said, there are 
 traditive interpretations, as well as traditive 
 propositions; but these have not nmcli distinct 
 consideration in them, both because their uncer- 
 tainty is as great as the other, upon the former 
 considerations; as also, because, in very deed, 
 there are no such things as traditive interpretations 
 universal : for as for particulars, they signify no 
 more but that they are not sufficient determinations 
 of questions theological ; therefore, because they 
 are particular, contingent, and of infinite variety, 
 and they are no more argument than the particular 
 authority of those men whose commentaries they 
 are, and, therefore, must be considered with them. 
 
 The sum is this : since the fathers who are the 
 
ITS THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 best witnesses of traditions, jet were infinitely 
 deceived in their account ; since sometimes they 
 guessed at them, and conjectured, bj way of rule 
 and discourse, and not of their knowledge, not by 
 evidence of the thing since many are called tra- 
 ditions which were not so, many are uncertain 
 whether they were or no, yet confidently pre- 
 tended ; and this uncertainty, v/hich at first was 
 great enough, is increased by infinite causes and 
 accidents, in the succession of sixteen hundred 
 years ; since the church hath been either so care- 
 less or so abused, that she could not, or would 
 not, preserve traditions with carefulness and truth, 
 since it was ordinary for the old writers to set out 
 their own fancies, and the rites of their church, 
 which had been ancient, under the spacious title 
 of apostolical ti^aditions; since some traditions 
 rely but upon single testimony at first, and yet 
 descending upon others, come to be attested by 
 many, whose testimony, though conjunct, yet in 
 value is but single, because it relies upon the first 
 single relater,and so can have no greater authority, 
 or certainty, than they derive from the single 
 person ; since the first ages, who were most com- 
 petent to consign tradition, yet did consign such 
 traditions as be of a nature wholly discrepant from 
 the present questions, and speak nothing at all, or 
 very imperfectly, to our purposes, and the follow- 
 ing ages are no fit witnesses of that which wr.s not 
 transmitted to them, because they could not know 
 it at all, but by such transmission and prior con- 
 signation ; since what at first was a tradition, came 
 afterwards to be written, and so ceased its being 
 a tradition, yet the credit of traditions commenced 
 upon the certainty and reputation of those truths 
 first delivered by word, afterward consigned by 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 179 
 
 writing; since, what was certainly tradition apos- 
 tolical, as many rituals were, is rejected by the 
 church, in several ages, and is gone out into a de- 
 suetude; and lastly, since, beside the no necessity 
 of traditions, there being abundantly enough in 
 Scripture, there are many things called traditions 
 by the fathers, wJiich they themselves either 
 proved by no authors, or by apocryphal and 
 spurious, and heretical, — the matter of tradition 
 will, in very much, be so uncertain, so false, so 
 suspicious, so contradictory, so improbable, so 
 unproved, that if a question be contested, and be 
 offered to be proved only oj tradition, it will be 
 very hard to impose such a proposition to the 
 belief of all men, with any imperiousness or re- 
 solved determination ; but it will be necessary 
 men should preserve the liberty of believing and 
 prophesying, and not part with it, upon a worse 
 merchandize and exchange than Esau made for 
 his birth -right. 
 
180 THE SACRED CLAbSIC; 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 Of the uncertainty and insufficiency of Councils 
 Ecclesiastical to the same purpose. 
 
 But since we are all this while in uncertainty^ 
 it is necessary that we should address ourselves 
 somewhere, where we may rest the sole of our 
 foot : and nature, Scripture, and experience, teach 
 the world, in matters of question, to submit to 
 some final sentence. For it is not reason, that 
 controversies should continue till the erring person 
 shall be willing to condemn himself; and the 
 Spirit of God hath directed us, by that great pre- 
 cedent at Jerusalem, to address ourselves to the 
 church that in a plenary council and assembly she 
 may synodically determine controversies. So that, 
 if a general council have determined a question, 
 or expounded Scripture, we may no more dis- 
 believe the decree than the Spirit of God himself 
 who speaks in them. And, indeed, if all assem- 
 blies of bishops were like that first, and all 
 bishops were of the same spirit of which the 
 apostles were, I should obey their decree with 
 the same religion as I do them whose preface was, 
 "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us :" 
 and I doubt not but our blessed Savior intended 
 that the assemblies of the church should be judges 
 of controversies, and guides of our persuasions, in 
 matters of difficulty. But he also intended they 
 should proceed according to his will, vv^hich he had 
 revealed, and those precedents which he had 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 181 
 
 made authentic by the immediate assistance of the 
 Holy Spirit: he hath done his part, but we do not 
 do ours ; and if any private person, in the sim- 
 plicity and purity of his soul, desires to find out 
 a truth, of which he is in search and inquisition, if 
 he prays for wisdom, we have a promise he shall 
 be heard and answered liberally; and therefore 
 much more when the representatives of the catholic 
 church do meet, because every person there hath, 
 as an individual, a title to the promise, and 
 another title, as he is a governor and a guide of 
 souls, and all of them together have another title 
 in their united capacity, especially, if in that 
 union they pray, and proceed with simplicity and 
 purity. So that there is no disputing against the 
 pretence, and promises, and authority of general 
 councils: for if any one man can, hope to be 
 guided by God's Spirit in the search, the pious, 
 and impartial, and unprejudicate search of truth, 
 then much more may a general council. If no 
 private man can hope for it, tiien trutii is not ne- 
 cessary to be found, nor we are not obliged to 
 search for it, or else we are saved by chance ; but 
 if private men can, by virtue of a promise, upop 
 certain conditions, be assured of finding out suiTi- 
 cient truth, much more shall a general council. 
 So that I consider thus : — there are many promises 
 pretended to belong to general assemblies in the 
 church ; but I know not any ground, nor any pre- 
 tence, that they shall be absolutely assisted, with- 
 out any condition on their own parts, and whether 
 they will or no ; faith is a virtue as well as charity, 
 and therefore consists in liberty and choice, and 
 hath nothing in it of necessity. There is no ques- 
 tion but that they are obliged to proceed according 
 to some rule ; for they expect no assistance, by 
 16 
 
182 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 way of enthusiasm; if they should, I know no 
 warrant for that; neither did any general council 
 ever offer a decree which they did not think suffi- 
 ciently proved by Scripture, reason, or tradition, 
 as appears in the acts of the councils. Now, then, 
 if they be tied to conditions, it is their duty to 
 observe them ; but whether it be certain that they 
 will observe them, tliat they will do all their duty, 
 that they vv'ill not sin, even in this particular, in 
 the neglect of their duty, that is the consideration. 
 So that if any man questions the title and au- 
 thority of general councils, and whether or no 
 great promises appertain to them, 1 suppose him 
 to be much mistaken ; but lie also that thinks all 
 of them have proceeded according to rule and 
 reason, and that none of them were deceived, 
 because, possibly, they might have been truly 
 directed, is a stranger to the history of the church, 
 and to the perpetual instances and experiments 
 of the faults and failings of humanity. It is a 
 famous saying of St. Gregory, that he had the 
 four first councils in esteem and veneration, next 
 to the four evangelists: I suppose it was because 
 he did believe them to have proceeded accord- 
 ing to rule, and to have judged righteous judg- 
 ment; but why had not he the same opinion of 
 other councils too, which were celebrated before 
 his death, for he lived after the fifth general ? not 
 because they had not the same authority ; for that 
 which is warrant for one is warrant for all ; but 
 because he was not so confident that they did 
 their duty, nor proceeded so without interest, as 
 the first four had done ; and the following coun- 
 cils did never get that reputation which all the 
 catholic church acknov/ledged due to the first 
 four. And in the next order were the three fol- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 183 
 
 lowing generals ; for the Greeks and Latins did 
 never jointly acknowledge but seven generals to 
 have been authentic in any sense, because they 
 were in no sense agreed that any more than seven 
 had procedcd regularly and done their duty ; so 
 that now, the question is not whether general 
 councils have a promise that the Holy Ghost will 
 assist them ; for every private man hath that pro- 
 mise, that if he. does his duty, he shall be assisted 
 sufficiently, in order to that end to which he needs 
 assistance ; and, therefore, much more shall ge- 
 neral councils, in order to that end for which 
 they convene, and to which they need assistance ; 
 that is, in order to the conservation of the faith, 
 for the doctrinal rules of good life, and all that 
 concerns the essential duty of a Christian, but 
 not in deciding questions to satisfy contentious, 
 or curious, or presumptuous spirits. But, now, 
 can the bishops so convened be factious, can they 
 be abused with prejudice, or transported with in- 
 terests, can they resist the Holy Ghost, can they 
 extinguish the Spirit, can they stop their ears, and 
 serve themselves upon the Holy Spirit and the 
 pretence of his assistances, and cease to serve him 
 upon themselves, by captivating their understand- 
 ings to his dictates, and their wills to his precepts ? 
 Is it necessary they should perform any condi- 
 tion ? Is there any one duty for them to perform 
 in these assemblies, a duty which they have power 
 to do 0" not do ? If so, then they may fail of it, 
 and not do their duty. And if the assistance of 
 the Holy Spirit oe conditional, then we have no 
 more assurance that they are assisted, than that 
 tliey do tlieir duty and do not sin. 
 
 Now, let us suppose what this duty is. Cer- 
 tainly, if the Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that 
 
184 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 are lost; and all that come to the knowledge of 
 the truth, must come to it by such means which 
 are spiritual and holy dispositions, in order to a 
 holy and spiritual end. They must be shod with 
 the preparation of the Gospel of peace ; that is, 
 they must have peaceable and docible dispositions, 
 nothing with them that is violent, and resolute to 
 encounter those gentle and sweet assistances. 
 And the rule they are to follow, is the rule which 
 the Holy Spirit hath consigned to the catholic 
 church ; that is, the Holy Scripture, either entirely, 
 or, at least, for the greater part of the rule :* so 
 that, now, if the bishops be factious and prepos- 
 sessed with persuasions depending upon interest, 
 it is certain they may judge amiss ; and if they 
 recede from the rule, it is certain they do judge 
 amiss. And this I say upon their grounds who 
 most advance the authority of general councils ; 
 for if a general council may err, if a pope confirm 
 it not, then, most certainly, if in any thing it recede 
 from Scripture, it does also err ; because, that they 
 are to expect the pope's confirmation they offer to 
 prove from Scripture. Now, if the pope's con- 
 firmation be required by authority of Scripture, 
 and that therefore the defailance of it does evacuate 
 the authority of the council, then also are the 
 council's decree invalid, if they recede from any 
 other part of Scripture : so that Scripture is the 
 rule they are to follow ; and a man would have 
 thought it had been needless to have proved it, 
 but that we are fallen into ages in which no truth 
 is certain, no reason concluding, nor is there any 
 thing that can convince some men. For Stapleton,t 
 
 * Vid. Optat. Milev. lib. v. adv. Paxm. Baldvin in eundem. 
 et St. August, in Ps. xxi. Expos. 2. 
 t Relect. Controv. iv. q. 1. a. 3. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 185 
 
 with extreme boldness, against the piety of 
 Christendom, against the public sense of the 
 ancient church, and the practice of all pious 
 assemblies of bishops, affirms the decrees of a 
 council to be binding, "though not yet confirmed 
 by the probable testimony of the Scriptures f nay, 
 though it be quite unauthorized by the Scriptures; 
 but all wise and good men have ever said that 
 sense v/hich St. Hilary expressed in these words: 
 " I will never defend what is not in the Gospel.'^t 
 This was it which the good emperor Constantine 
 propou.ided to the fathers met at Nice: "The 
 Gospels, the writings of the apostles and ancient 
 prophets, plainly teach us what we ought to believe 
 in religion."t And this is confessed by a sober 
 man of the Roman church itself, the cardinal of 
 Cusa: "Whatever we are bound to follow, ought 
 to be found in the authorized books of Scripture.''§ 
 Now, then, all the advantage I shall take from 
 hence, is this, tliat if the apostles commended them 
 Vv'ho examined their sermons by their conformity 
 to the law and the prophets, and the men of Berea 
 were accounted noble for searching the Scriptures 
 whether tliose things which they taught were so or 
 no, I suppose it will not be denied, but the coun- 
 cil's decrees may also be tried wliether they be 
 conform to Scripture, yea or no; and although no 
 man can take cognizance and judge tiie decrees 
 
 * "Etiamsi non confirmetur ne probabili testimonio Scrip- 
 turarum." 
 
 t "Quas extra evangelium sunt non defendam." — Lib. ii 
 ad Constant. 
 
 X "Libri evangelici, oracula apostorum, et veterum pro- 
 phetannn clare nos instruunt quid sentiendum in divinia." — 
 Apud Theodor. lib. i. c. 7. 
 
 § " Oportet quod omnia talia quae leg:pre debent. contine- 
 antur in author! tatibu 3 ^acrarum Scripturarum." — Concord. 
 Cathol. lib. ii. c. 10. 
 16^ 
 
186 THE SACRED CLASSICS, 
 
 of a council, as by public authoritj (pro authori- 
 tate piiblica), yet, for private and individual in- 
 formation (pro mformatione privata), they may ; 
 the authority of a council is not greater than the 
 authority of the apostles, nor tlieir dictates more 
 sacred or authentic. Now, then, put case, a 
 council should recede from Scripture ; whether or 
 no, were we bound to believe its decrees ? I only 
 ask the question ; for it were hard to be bound to 
 believe w hat to our understandings seems contrary 
 to that which v/e know to be the Word of God ; 
 but if we may lawfully recede from the council's 
 decrees, in case they be contrariant to Scripture, 
 it is all that I require in this question : for if they 
 be tied to a rule ; then they are to be examined and 
 understood according to the rule, and then we are 
 to give ourselves that liberty of judgment which is 
 requisite to distinguish us from beasts, and to put 
 us into a capacity of reasonable people, following 
 reasonable guides. But, however, if it be certain 
 that the councils are to follow Scripture, then if 
 it be notorious that they do recede from Scripture, 
 we are sure we must obey God rather than men ; 
 and then we are well enough. For, unless we are 
 bound to shut our eyes, and not to look upon the 
 sun, if we may give ourselves liberty to believe 
 what seems most plain, and unless the authority 
 of a council be so great a prejudice as to make us 
 to do violence to our understanding, so as not to 
 disbelieve the decree because it seems contrary tc 
 Scripture, but to believe it agrees with Scripture, 
 though we know not how, therefore, because the 
 council hath decreed it, — unless, I say, we be bound 
 in duty to be so obediently blind and sottisli, we 
 are sure that there are some councils which are 
 pretended general, that have retired from the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 187 
 
 public notorious words and sense of Scripture. 
 For what wit of man can reconcile the degree of 
 the thirteenth session of the council of Constance 
 with Scripture, in which session the half-com- 
 munion was decreed, in defiance of Scripture, and 
 witli a non obstante (notwithstanding) to Christ's 
 institution ? It is certain Christ's institution, and 
 the council's sanction are as contrary as light and 
 darkness. Is it possible for any man to contrive 
 a way to make the decree of the council of Trent, 
 commanding the public offices of the church to be 
 in Latin, friends with the fourteenth chapter of 
 the Corinthians? It is not amiss to observe how 
 the hyperaspists of that council sweat to answer the 
 allegations of St. Paul, and the wisest of them do 
 it so extremely poor, that it proclaims to all the 
 world, that the strongest man that is cannot eat 
 iron, or swallow a rock. Now, then, would it not 
 be an unspeakable tyranny to all wise persons 
 (who as much hate to have their souls enslaved as 
 their bodies imprisoned), to command them to be- 
 lieve that these decrees are agreeable to the Word 
 of God ? Upon whose understanding soever these 
 are imposed, they may, at the next session, recon- 
 cile them to a crime, and make any sin sacred, or 
 persuade him to believe propositions contradictory 
 to a mathematical demonstration. All the argu- 
 ments in the world that can be brought to prove 
 the infallibility of councils, cannot make it so cer- 
 tain that they are infiillible, as these two instances 
 do prove infallibly that these were deceived ; and 
 if ever we may safely make use of our reason, and 
 consider whether councils have erred or no, we 
 cannot by any reason be more assured, that they 
 have or have not, than we have in these particulars : 
 so that, either our reason is of no manner of use in 
 
188 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the discussion of this question, and the thing itself 
 is not at all to be disputed, or if it be, we are 
 certain that these actually were deceived, and we 
 must never hope for a clearer evidence in any 
 dispute. And if these be, others might have been, 
 if they did as these did; that is, depart from their 
 rule. And it was wisely said of Cusanus, " The 
 experience of it is notorious, that councils may 
 err:"*' and all tlie arguments against experience 
 are but plain sophistry. 
 
 And, therefore, I make no scruple to slight the 
 decrees of such councils, wherein the proceedings 
 M^ere as prejudicate and unreasonable as in the 
 council wherein Abailardus was condemned, wiiere 
 the presidents having pronounced Damnamus^ 
 they at the lower end^ being awaked at the noise, 
 heard the latter part of it, and concurred as far 
 as mnaraus went; and that was as good as dain- 
 namus ; for if they had been awake at the pro- 
 nouncing the whole word, they would have given 
 sentence accordingly. But, by this means, St. 
 Bernard numbered the major part of voices against 
 his adversary, Abailardus ;t and as far as these 
 men did do tlieir duty, the duty of priests and 
 judges, and wise men, so we may presume them 
 to be assisted, but no further. But I am content 
 this (because but a private assembly) shall pass foi- 
 no instance. But what shall we say of all the 
 Arian councils, celebrated with so great fancy, 
 and such numerous assemblies? We all say 
 that they erred. And it v/ill not be suflicient to 
 say they were not lawful councils ; for they were 
 convened by that authority which all the world 
 
 * " Notandarn est experimento rerum iinivf rsale concilium 
 posse deficere." — Lib. ii. c. 14, Concord. Calhol, 
 t Epist. Abailardi ad Heliss. Conjugem. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 189 
 
 knows did, at that time, convocate councils, and 
 by which (as it is confessed and is notorious*) the 
 first eight generals did meet; that is, by the 
 authority of tlie emperor, all were called, and as 
 many and more did come to them, than came to 
 the most famous council of Nice: so that the 
 councils were lawful, and if they did not proceed 
 lawfully, and therefore did err, this is to say, that 
 councils are then not deceived, when they do their 
 duty, when they judge impartially, when they 
 decline interest, when they follow their rule ; but 
 this says, also, that it is not infallibly certain that 
 they will do so ; for these did not, and therefore 
 the others maybe deceived as weW as these were. 
 But another thing is in the wind ; for councils not 
 confirmed by the pope, have no warrant that they 
 shall not err ; and they, not being confirmed, there- 
 fore failed. But whether is the pope's confirma- 
 tion after the decree, or before ? It cannot be 
 supposed before ; for there is nothing to be 
 confirmed till the decree be made, and the article 
 composed. But if it be after, then, possibly, the 
 pope's decree may be requisite, in solemnity of 
 law, and to make the authority popular, public, 
 and human ; but the decree is true or false before 
 the pope's confirmation, and is not at all altered 
 by the supervening decree, which being postnate 
 to the decree, alters not what went before. *' Our 
 opinion of a previous as fact is not to be determined 
 by a subsequent decree,"t is the voice both of law 
 and reason. So that it cannot make it divine, and 
 necessary to be heartily believed. It may make 
 it lawful, not make it true : that is, it may possibly 
 by such means become a law, but not a truth. I 
 
 *Cusanus, lib. ii. cap. 25, Concord. 
 
 t "Nunquam enim crescit ex post facto praeteriti aestimatio." 
 
190 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Speak now upon supposition the pope's confirnia- 
 tion were necessary, and required to the making 
 of conciliarj and necessary sanctions. But if it 
 were, the case were very hard ; for suppose a 
 heresy should invade, and possess the chair of 
 Rome, what remedy can the church have in that 
 case, if a general council be of no authority with- 
 out the pope confirm it? Will the pope confirm 
 a council against himself? Will he condemn his 
 own heresy? That the pope maybe a heretic 
 appears in the canon law,* which says he may, for 
 heresy, be deposed ; and therefore, by a council, 
 which, in this case, hath plenary authorit}^ with- 
 out the pope. And, therefore, in the synod at 
 Rome, held under pope Adrian II. the censure of 
 the sixth synod against Honorius, who was 
 convict of heresy, is approved, with this appendix, 
 that in this case, the case of heresy, " inferiors 
 may judge of their superiors" (minores possint de 
 majoribus judicare) : and, therefore, if a pope were 
 above a council, jti when the question is con- 
 cerning heresy, the case is altered ; the pope may 
 be judged by his inferiors, who, in this case, which 
 is the main case of all, become his superiors. 
 And it is little better than impudence to pretend 
 that all councils were confirmed by the pope, or 
 that there is a necessity in respect of divine 
 obligation, that any should be confirmed by him, 
 more than by another of the patriarchs. For the 
 council of Chalcedon itself, one of those four 
 which St. Gregory did revere next to the four 
 Evangelists, is rejected by pope Leo, who, in his 
 fifty-third epistle to Anatolius, and in his fifty- 
 fourth to Martian, and in his fifty-fifth to Pul- 
 
 * Dist. xl. Can. si Papa. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 191 
 
 cheria, accuses it of ambition and inconsiderate 
 temerity ; and, therefore, no fit assembly for the 
 habitation of the Holy spirit. And Gelasius, in 
 his tome, De Vinculo Anathematis^ affirms, that 
 the council is in part to be received, in part to be 
 rejected ; and compares it to heretical books of a 
 mixed matter, and proves his assertion bj the 
 place of St. Paul : 'Prove all things: holdfast 
 that which is good;'* and Bellarmine sajs the 
 same : " In the council of Chalcedon some things 
 
 o 
 
 are good, some bad; some are to be received, and 
 some rejected ; as is the case in regard to the books 
 of heretics;"! and if any thing be false, then all 
 is questionable, and judicRble, and discerr.able, 
 and not infallible antecedently. And however 
 that couacil hath, ex jjost facto, and by the volun- 
 tary consenting of after ages, obtained great repu- 
 tation; yet they that lived immediately after it, 
 that observed all the circumstances of the thin":, 
 and the disabilities of the persons, and tiie 
 uncertainty of the truth of its decrees, by -reason 
 of the unconcludino-ness of the are;uments brouo-lit 
 to attest it, were of another mind. "As to the 
 council of Chalcedon, it was neither openiv 
 acknowledged by the churches, nor rejected by all : 
 for the authorities, in every church, were guided 
 by their own judgment ;"i and so did all men in 
 the world, that were not mastered with prejudices, 
 and undone in their understanding with acci- 
 
 * De Laicis, lib. iii. c. 20. § ad. hoc ult. 
 
 t "In concilio Chalcedonensi qusedam sunt bona, qua?dam 
 mala, qucedam recipienda, quaedam rejicienda ; ita et in libris 
 liffireticorum." 
 
 % "Quod autera ad concilium Chalcedonense attinet, illud 
 id temporis (viz. Anastasii Imp.) neque palam in ecclesiis 
 .sanctissimis prffidicalum fuit, neque ab omnibus rejectum, 
 nam singuli ecclesiarum presides pro s!in arbitratu in ea re 
 ecrerur.t.""— Evair. lib. iii. c. 30. 
 
192 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 dental impertinences; they judged upon those 
 grounds which they had and saw, and suffered 
 not themselves to be bound to the imperious 
 dictates of other men, who are as uncertain in 
 their determinations as others in their questions. 
 And it is an evidence that there is some deception 
 and notable error, either in the thing or in the 
 manner of their proceeding, when the decrees of a 
 council shall have no authority from the compilers, 
 nor no strength from the reasonableness of the 
 decision, but from the accidental approbation of 
 posterity ; and if posterity had pleased, Origen iiad 
 believed well, and been an orthodox person. And 
 it was pretty sport to see that Papias was right 
 for two ages together, and wrong ever since ; and 
 just so it was in councils, particularly m this of 
 Chalcedon, that had a fate alterable according to 
 the age, and according to the climate, which, to 
 my understanding, is nothing else but an argument 
 that the business of infallibility is a later device, 
 and commenced to serve such ends as cannot be 
 justified by true and substantial grounds ; and 
 that the pope should confirm it as of necessity, is 
 a fit cover for the same dish. 
 
 In the sixth general council, Honorius, pope of 
 Rome, was condemned ; did that council stay for 
 the pope's confirmation, before they set forth their 
 decree ? Certainly they did not think it so need- 
 ful, as that they would have suspended or cassated 
 the decree, in case the pope had then disavowed 
 it ; for besides the condemnation of pope Hono- 
 rius for heresy, the thirteenth and fifty-fifth 
 canons of that council are expressly against the 
 custom of the church of Rome. But this parti- 
 cular is involved in that new question, whether 
 the pope be above a council. Now, since the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 193 
 
 contestation of this question, there, was never any 
 free or lawful council that determined for the 
 pope ; it is not likely any should ; and is it likely 
 that any pope will coniirm a council that does 
 not? For the council of Basil is therefore con- 
 demned by the last Lateran,* whicli was an as- 
 sembly in the pope's own palace ; and the council 
 of Constance is of no value in this question, and 
 slighted in a just proportion, as that article is 
 disbelieved. But I will not much trouble the 
 question with a long consideration of this parti- 
 cular; the pretence is senseless and illiterate, 
 against reason and experience, and already de- 
 termined by St. Austin sufficiently, as to this 
 particular ; " We may be allowed to think the 
 bishops, w^ho gave their judgment at Rome, were 
 not good judges: there still remained the full 
 council of the whole church, where the cause 
 might yet be discussed with those judges them- 
 selves, and their decree annulled, if they wei-e 
 convicted of pronouncing a wrong judgment."t 
 For since popes may be parties, may be Simoniacs, 
 schismatics, heretics, it is against reason that in 
 their own causes they sliould be judges, or that in 
 any causes they should be superior to their judges. 
 And as it is aga,inst reason, so is it against all 
 experience too ; for the council Sinuessanum (as 
 it said) was convened to take cognizance of pope 
 Marcellinus; and divers councils were held at 
 Rome to give judgment in the causes of Damasus, 
 Sixtus III, Symmachus, and Leo III, and IV ; as 
 
 * Vid. postea de Concil. Sinuessiano. § 6. N. 9. 
 
 t " Ecce puteinus illos episcopos qui Romas judicaverunt, 
 non bonos judices fuisse ; restabat adhuc plenarium ecclesice 
 universe concilium, ubi etiam cum ipsis judicibus causa 
 possit agitari, ut si male judicasse convicli essent eorum 
 sententiae solverentur."~-Epist. xvi. ad Glorium. 
 17 
 
194 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 is to be seen in Platina, and the tomes of tlie 
 councils. And it is no answer to this and the 
 like allegations, to say, in matters of fact and 
 human constitution the pope may be judged by a 
 council, but in matters of faith all the world 
 must stand to the pope's determination and au- 
 thoritative decision ; for if the pope can, by any 
 color, pretend to any thing, it is to a supreme 
 judicature in matters ecclesiastical, positive and 
 of fact ; and if he fails in this pretence, he will 
 hardly hold up his head for anything else; for 
 the ancient bishops derived their faith from the 
 fountain, and held that in the highest tenure, even 
 from Christ their head; but, by reason of the 
 imperial city,* it became the principal seat; and 
 he surprised the highest judicature, partly by the 
 concession of others, partly by his own accidental 
 advantages; and yet even in these things, al- 
 though he was major singulis, ''superior to each 
 singly," yet he v/as minor umversis, " inferior to 
 all of them together."! And this is no more than 
 what was decreed of the eighth general synod; 
 which, if it be sense, is pertinent to this question ; 
 for general council are appointed to take cogni- 
 zance of questions and differences about the 
 bishop of Rome; "not however to give sentence 
 against him audaciously. "t By audi^ciously, as 
 is supposed, is meant hastily and unreasonably ; 
 but, if to give sentence against him be wholly for- 
 bidden, it is nonsense; for to what purpose is an 
 authority of taking cognizance, if they have no 
 power of giving sentence, unless it were to defer 
 it to a superior judge, which in this case cannot 
 be supposed ? for either the pope himself is to 
 
 * Vide Concil. Chalced. act. 15. f Act. ult. Can, xxi. 
 
 * "Nor, tamen audacter in eum ferre sententiam." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 195 
 
 judge his own cause after their examination of 
 him, or tlie general council is to judge him ; so 
 that although the council is, by that decree, en- 
 joined to proceed modestly and warily, yet they 
 may proceed to sentence, or else the decree is 
 ridiculous and impertinent. 
 
 But, to clear all, I will instance in matters of 
 question and opinion ; for not only some councils 
 have made their decrees without or against the 
 pope, but some councils have had the pope's con- 
 firmation, and yet have not been the more legiti- 
 mate or obligatory, but are known to be heretical. 
 For the canons of the sixth synod, although some 
 of them were made against the popes and the 
 custom of the church of Rome, a pope, awhile 
 after did confirm the council; and yet the canons 
 are impious and heretical, and so esteemed by the 
 church of Rome herself. I instance in the second 
 canon, which approves of that synod of Carthage ; 
 under Cyprian, for rebaptization of heretics ; and 
 the seventy-second canon, that dissolves marriage 
 between persons of differing persuasion in matters 
 of Christian religion ; and yet these canons were 
 approved by pope Adrian I, who, in his epistle to 
 Tharasius, which is in the second act of the seventh 
 synod, calls them canones divine et legaliter prse- 
 dicatos, *' canons divinely and legally ordained." 
 And these canons were used by pope Nicholas I, 
 in his epistle ad Michaelem., and by Innocent III. 
 So that now (that we may apply this) there are 
 seven general councils which by the church of 
 Rome are condemned of error : — the council of 
 Antioch,* A. D. 345, in which St. Athanasius was 
 condemned ; the council of Millain, A. D. 354, of 
 
 • Vid. Socra. lib. ii. c. 5, et Sozomen. lib. iii. c. 5. 
 
196 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 above three hundred bishops; the council of Ari- 
 minum, consisting of six hundred bishops ; the 
 second council of Ephesus, A. D. 449, in which 
 the Eutjchian heresy was confirmed, and the 
 patriarch Flavianus killed by the faction of Dios- 
 corus ; the council of Constantinople under Leo 
 Isaurus, A. D. 730; another at Constantinople, 
 thirty-five years after ; and lastly, the council at 
 Pisa, one hundred and thirty-four years since.* 
 Now that these general councils are condemned, 
 is a sufficient argument that councils may err: 
 and it is no answer to say, they were not con- 
 firmed by the pope ; for the pope's confirmation I 
 have shown not to be necessary ; or if it were, yet 
 even that also is an argument that general coun- 
 cils may become invalid, either by their own fault, 
 or by some extrinsical supervening accident, 
 either of which evacuates their authority; and 
 whether all that is required to the legitimation of 
 a council, was actually observed in any council, 
 is so hard to determine, that no man can be in- 
 fallibly sure that such a council is authentic and 
 sufiicient probation. 
 
 2. And that is the second thing I shall observe ; 
 There are so many questions concerning the ef- 
 ficient, the form, the matter of general councils, 
 and their manner of proceeding, and their final 
 sanction, that after a question is determined by a 
 conciliary assembly, there are, perhaps, twenty 
 more questions to be disputed, before we can, with 
 confidence, either believe the council upon its mere 
 authority, or obtrude it upon others. And upon 
 this ground, how easy it is to elude the pressure 
 
 * Gregor. in Regist. lib. iii. caus. 7. ait, Concilium Numi- 
 dise errasse. Concilium Aquisgrani erravit. De raptore et 
 rapta dist. xx. can. de Libeilis, in glossa. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 197 
 
 of an argument drawn from the authority of a ge- 
 neral council, is very remarkable in the question 
 about the pope's or the council's superiority, which 
 question, although it be defined for the council 
 against the pope by five general councils, the 
 council of Florence, of Constance, of Basil, of Pisa, 
 and one of the Laterans, yet the Jesuits, to this 
 day, account this question undetermined, and have 
 rare pretences for their escape. As, first; it is 
 true a council is above a pope, in case there be no 
 pope, or he uncertain ; which is Bellarmine's an- 
 swer, never considering whether he spake sense 
 or no, not yet remembering that the council of 
 Basil deposed Eugenius, who was a true pope, and 
 so acknowledged. Secondly, sometimes the pope 
 did not confirm these councils ; that is their 
 answer: and although it was an exception that 
 the fathers never thought of, when they were 
 pressed with the authority of the council of Ari- 
 minum, or Syrmium, or any other Arian conven- 
 tion ; yet the council of Basil was convened by 
 pope Martin Y, then, in its sixteenth session, 
 declared by Eugenius IV to be lawfully continued,^ 
 and confirmed expressly in some of its decrees by 
 pope Nicholas, and so stood till it was at last 
 rejected by Leo X, very many years after. But 
 that came too late, and with too visible an interest ; 
 and this council did decree, *' that a council is to 
 be considered as superior to a pope."* But if 
 one pope confirms it and another rejects it, as it 
 happened in this case, and in many more, does it 
 not destroy the competency of the authority ? 
 And we see it by this instance, that it so serves 
 the turns of men, that it is good in some cases ; 
 that is, when it makes for them, and invalid when 
 
 * " Fide Catholica tenendum concilium esse suprse papam." 
 17* 
 
198 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 it makes against them. Thirdly : but it is a little 
 more ridiculous in the case of the council of 
 Constance, whose decrees were confirmed by 
 Martin V. But that this may be no argument 
 against them, Bellarmine tells you, he only con- 
 firmed those things quse facta fuer ant conciliaritery 
 re diligenter examinata, " which were done with 
 his concurrence, after his diligent examination ;" 
 of which there being no mark, nor any certain rule 
 to judge it, it is a device that may evacuate any 
 thing we have a mind to ; it was not done concili- 
 uriter, that is, not according to our mind; for 
 condliariter is a fine new nothing, that may signify 
 what you please. Fourthly : but other devices yet 
 more pretty they have ; as whether the council of 
 Lateran was a general council or no, they know 
 not (no, nor will not know); which is a wise and 
 plain reservation of tlieir own advantages, to make 
 it general or not general, as shall serve their turns. 
 Fifthly : as for the council of Florence tliey are 
 not sure whether it hath defined the question 
 "openly enough," satis aperte; aperie they will 
 grant, if you will allow them not satis aperte. 
 Sixthly and lastly : the council of Pisa is '' neither 
 approved nor disallowed ;" * which is the greatest 
 folly of all, and most prodigious vanity ; so that, 
 by something or other, either they were not con- 
 vened lav/fully, or they did not proceed condli- 
 ariter, or it is not certain that the council was 
 general or no, or whether the council were appro- 
 batiim, or reprobahim ; or else it is partim confir- 
 matum, partim reprohatum ;-\ or else it is neque 
 approbatum, neque reprohatum ;% by one of these 
 
 * "Neque approbatum neque reprobatum." — Bellar. De 
 Cone. lib. i. c. 8. 
 
 I " Partly confinned and partly disallowed." 
 t "Neither approved nor yet disallowed." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 199 
 
 ways, or a device like to these, all councils and 
 all decrees shall be made to signify nothing, and 
 to have no authority. 
 
 3. There is no general council that hath deter- 
 mined that a general council is infallible : no 
 Scripture hath recorded it ; no tradition universal 
 hath transmitted to us any such proposition ; so 
 tliat we must receive the authority at a lower rate, 
 and upon a less probability than the things con- 
 signed by that authority. And it is strange that 
 the decrees of councils should be esteemed au- 
 thentic and infallible, and yet it is not infallibly 
 certain, that the councils themselves are infallible, 
 because the belief of the councils' infallibility is 
 not proved to us by any medium but such as may 
 deceive us. 
 
 4. Sut the best instance that councils are some, 
 and may all be deceived, is the contradiction of 
 one council to another; for in tiiat case both 
 cannot be true, and which of them is true, must 
 belong to anotlier judgment, which is less than the 
 solemnity of a general council ; and the determin- 
 ation of this matter can be of no greater certainty 
 after it is concluded than when it was propounded 
 as a question ; being it is to be determined by the 
 same authority, or by a less than itself. But for 
 this allegation we cannot want instances : the council 
 of Trent* allows picturing of God the Father ; the 
 council of Nice altogether disallows it : the same 
 Nicene council,! which was the seventh general, 
 allows of picturing Christ in the form of a lamb ; 
 but the sixth synod by no means will endure it, as 
 Caranza affirms. The council of Neocaesarea,± 
 confirmed by Leo IV., dist. xx. de LibeUis, and 
 approved by the first Nicene council, as it is said 
 
 * Sess. XXV. t Act. ii. % Cnn. Ixxxii, 
 
SOO THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 in the seventh session of the council of Florence, 
 forbids second marriages, and imposes penances 
 on them that are married the second time, forbid- 
 ding priests to be present at such marriage feasts ; 
 besides that this is expressly against the doctrine 
 of St. Paul, it is also against the doctrine of the 
 council of Laodicea,* which took off such penances, 
 and pronounced second marriages to be free and 
 lawful. Nothing is more discrepant than the third 
 council of Carthage and the council of Laodicea, 
 about assignation of the canon of Scripture, and 
 yet the sixth general synod approves both : and I 
 would fain know, if all general councils are of the 
 same mind with the fatliers of the council of 
 Carthage, who reckon into the canon five books of 
 Solomon. I am sure St. Austint reckoned but 
 three, and I think all Christendom beside are of 
 the same opinion. And if we look into the title 
 of the law de conciliis called Concordcmiia dis- 
 cGrdantianim, we sliall find instances enough to 
 confirm, tliat the decrees of some councils are 
 contradictory to others, and that no wit can 
 reconcile them : and whether they did or no, that 
 they might disagree, and former councils be 
 corrected by later, was the belief of the doctors 
 in those ages in which the best and most fauious 
 councils were convened ; as appears in that famous 
 saying of St. Austin, speaking concerning the 
 rebaptizingof heretics ; and how much the Africans 
 were deceived in that question, he ansv/ers the 
 allegation of the bishops' letters, and those national 
 councils w^hich confirmed St. Cyprian's opinion, 
 by saying, that they were no final determination. 
 .Not only the occasion of the question, being a 
 matter not of fact but of faith, as being instanced 
 * Cap. 1. t Lib. xvii. De Cul, Dei, c. 20. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 201 
 
 in the question of rebaptization, but also the very 
 fabric and economy of the words, put by all the 
 answers of those men who think themselves pressed 
 with the authority of St. Austin. " For, as 
 national councils may correct the bishops' letters, 
 and general councils may correct national, so the 
 later general may correct the former ;"* that is, have 
 contrary and better decrees of manners, and better 
 determinations in matters of faith. And from hence 
 hath risen a question, whether is to be received the 
 former or the later councils, in case they contradict 
 each other. The former are nearer the fountains 
 apostolical, the later are of greater consideration ; 
 the first have more authority, the later more reason ; 
 the first are more venerable, the later more inquisi- 
 tive and seeing. And, now, what rule shall we have 
 to determine our beliefs, whether to authority or 
 reason ; the reason and the authority both of them 
 not being the highest in their kind, both of them 
 being repudiable, and at most but probable ? And 
 here it is that this great uncertainty is such as not 
 to determine any body, but fit to serve every body : 
 and it is sport to see that Bellarminet will, by all 
 means, have the council of Carthage preferred 
 before the council of Laodicea, because it is later; 
 and yet he prefers the second Nicene council| 
 before the council of Frankfort, because it is elder. 
 St. Austin would have the former generals to be 
 mended by the later; but Isidore, in Gratian says, 
 " When councils do differ, the elder must carry 
 it:"§ and indeed these probables are buskins to 
 
 * " EpiscoporuiD lilerce emendaripossunta conciliis nation- 
 alibus, concilia nationalia a plenariis, ipsaque plenaria priora 
 a posterioribus emendari."' — Lib. ii. De Bapt. Donat. c. 3. 
 
 t Lib. ii. De Cone. c. 8, § Respondeo in primis. 
 
 X Ibid. § De Conciiio autem. 
 
 >$> Dist. XX. Can. Domino Sancto. 
 
202 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 serve every foot; and thej are like magnum et 
 parvwn, thej have nothing of tlieir own, all that 
 they have is in comparison of others : so these 
 topics have nothing of resolute and dogmatical 
 truth, but in relation to such ends as an interested 
 person hath a mind to serve upon them. 
 
 5. There are many councils corrupted, and many 
 pretended and alleged, when there were no such 
 things ; both which make the topic of the authority 
 of councils to be little and inconsiderable. There 
 is a council brought to light, in the editions of 
 councils, by Binius, viz. Sinuessanum, pretended 
 to be kept in the year 303 ; but it was so private 
 till then, that we find no mention of it in any 
 ancient record; neither Eusebius, nor Rufinus, 
 St. Jerome, nor Socrates, Sozomen, nor Theo- 
 doret, nor Eutropius, nor Bede, knew any thing of 
 it ; and the eldest allegation of it is by pope 
 Nicholas I, in the ninth century. And he that 
 shall consider, that three hundred bishops, in the 
 midst of horrid persecutions (for so then they 
 were), are pretended to have convened, will need 
 no greater argument to suspect tlie imposture : 
 besides, he that was the framer of the engine did 
 not lay his ends together handsomely ; for it is 
 said, that the deposition of Marcellinus, by the 
 synod, was told to Diocletian when he was in tlie 
 Persian war; whereas it is known, before that 
 time he had returned to Rome, and triumphed for 
 his Persian conquest, as Eusebius in his chronicle 
 reports : and this is so plain that Binius and Baro- 
 nius pretend the text to be corrupted, and so go 
 to mend it by such an emendation as is a plain 
 contradiction to the sense, and that so unclerk- 
 like, viz. by putting in two words and leaving out 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 203 
 
 one ;* which, whether it may be allowed them by 
 any licence less than poetical, let critics judge. 
 St. Gregory saith,t that the Constantinopolitans 
 had corrupted the synod of Chalcedon, and that 
 he suspected the same concerning the Ephesine 
 council : and, in the fifth synod, there was a noto- 
 rious prevarication, for there were false epistles 
 of pope Vigilius and Menna. the patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, inserted ; and so they passed for 
 authentic till they were discovered in the sixth 
 general synod. Actions xii. and xiv. And not 
 only false decrees and actions may creep into the 
 codes of councils, but sometimes the authority of 
 a learned man may abuse the church with pre- 
 tended decrees, of Avhich there is no copy or 
 shadow in the code itself: and thus Thomas 
 Aquinas says,| that the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 w^as reckoned in the canon by the Nicene council ; 
 no shadow of which appears, in those copies we 
 now have of it; and this pretence and the reputa- 
 tion of the man prevailed so far with Melchior 
 Canus, the learned bishop of the Canaries, that 
 he believed it upon this ground, "that so holy a 
 man would not have asserted such a thing, if he 
 had not been fully assured of it :"|| and there are 
 many things whi-U have prevailed upon less reason 
 and a more slight authority. And that very 
 council of Nice hath not only been pretended by 
 Aquinas, but very much abused by others ; and 
 
 * Pro, Cum esset in bello Persarum, leoji volunt, Cum 
 reversus esset a bello Persarum. — Euseb. Chronicon, vide 
 Biniura in Notis ad Concil. Sinuessanum. torn. i. Concil. et 
 Baron. Anna!, torn. iii. A. D. 303. num. 107. 
 
 t Lib. V. Ep. 14, ad Narsem. 
 
 X Comment, in Hebr. 
 
 II " Vir sanctus rem adeo gravem non astrueret. nisi com- 
 pertum habuisset." 
 
204 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 its authority and great reputation hath made it 
 more liable to the fraud and pretences of idle 
 people : for whereas the Nicene fathers made but 
 twenty canons, for so many and no more were 
 rec-eived by Cecilian^ of Carthage, that was at 
 Nice in tlie council ; by St. Austint and two hun- 
 dred African Bishops with him ; by St. Cyril ± of 
 Alexandria :|| by Atticus of Constantinople ;§ by 
 Ruffinus, Isidore, and Theodoret, as Baronius*)] 
 witnesses : yet there are fourscore lately found 
 out, in an Arabian manuscript, and published in 
 Latin by Turrian and Alfonsus of Pisa, Jesuits 
 surely, and like to be masters of the mint. And 
 .not only the canons, but the very acts of the 
 Nicene councils are false and spurious, and are so 
 confessed by Baronius ; though how he and Lin- 
 danus** will be reconciled upon the point, I neither 
 know well nor much care. Now, if one council 
 be corrupted, we see, by the instance of St. 
 Gregory, that another may be suspected, and so 
 all ; because he found the council of Chalcedon 
 corrupted, he suspected also the Ephesine ; and 
 another might have suspected more, for the Nicene 
 was tampered foully with; and so three of the 
 four generals were sullied and made suspicious, 
 and therefore we could not be secure of any. If 
 false acts ])e inserted in one council, who can 
 trust the actions of any, unless he had the keep- 
 ing the records himself, or durst swear for the 
 register ? And if a very learned man (as Thomas 
 Aquinas was) did eitlier willfully deceive us, or 
 
 * Con. Carthag. vi. c. 9. f Con. African. 
 
 X Ibid. c. 102, et c. 133. i| Lib. i. Eccl. Hist. c. 6. 
 
 "^Nln Princ. Con. de Synod. Princ. 
 
 •ff Baronius, torn. iii.. A. D. 325. n. 156. torn. iii. ad A. D 
 325. n. 62, 63. 
 
 **Pampl. lib. ii. c. 6. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 205 
 
 was himself ignorantly abused, in allegation of a 
 canon which was not, it is but a very fallible topic 
 at the best, and the most holy man that is may be 
 abused himself, and the wisest may deceive 
 others. 
 
 6. And, lastly ; To all this and to the former 
 instances, by way of corollary, I add some more 
 particulars, in which it is notorious that councils 
 general and national, that is, such as were either 
 general by original, or by adoption into the canon 
 of the catholic church, did err, and were actually 
 deceived. The first council of Toledo admits to 
 the communion him that hath a concubine, so he 
 have no wife besides; and this council is approved 
 by pope Leo, in the ninety-second epistle to Rus- 
 ticus, bishop of Narbona : Gratian says,* that the 
 council means by a concubine, a Vvife married 
 " without a portion and due solemnity," 6'i??e dote 
 et solennitate: but this is daubing with untem- 
 pered mortar. For, though it was a custom 
 amongst the Jews to distinguish wives from their 
 concubines by dowry and legal solemnities, ^^'0,1 the 
 Christian distinguished them no otherwise than 
 as lawful and unlawful, than as chastity and for- 
 nication. And, besides, if by a concubine is 
 meant a lawful wife without a dowry, to what 
 purpose should the council make a law that such 
 a one might be admitted to the communion ? for 
 I suppose it was never thought to be a law of 
 Christianity, that a man should have a portion 
 with his wife, nor he that married a poor virgin 
 should deserve to be excommunicate. So that 
 Gratian and his followers are pressed so with this 
 canon, that, to avoid the impiety of it, they ex- 
 
 * Diat. xxxiv. Can. omnibus 
 
£06 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 pound it to a signification without sense or pur- 
 pose. But the business then was, that adultery 
 was so public and notorious a practice, that the 
 council did choose rather to endure simple forni- 
 cation, that by such permission of a less, they 
 might slacken the public custom of a greater; 
 just as at Rome they permit stews, to prevent 
 unnatural sins: but that, by a public sanction, 
 fornicators, habitually and notoriously such, should 
 be admitted to the holy communion, was an a,ct of 
 priests so unfit for priests that no excuse can make 
 it white or clean. The council of Wormes ■■ does 
 authorize a superstitious custom, at that time too 
 much used, of discovering stolen goods by the 
 holy sacrament, which Aquinast justly condemns 
 for superstition. The sixth synodt separates 
 persons lawfully married, upon an accusation and 
 crime of heresy. The Roman council, under Pope 
 Nicholas II, § defined, that not only the sacrament 
 of Christ's body, but the very body itself of our 
 blessed Savior is handled and broke by the liancis 
 of the priest, and chewed by the teeth of the com- 
 municants; which is a manifest error, derogatory 
 from the truth of Christ's beatifical resurrection, 
 and glorification in the heavens, and disavowed 
 by the church of Rome itself; but Bellarmine,^ 
 that answers all the arguments in the world, 
 whether it be possible or not possible, M'ould fain 
 make the matter fair, and the decree tolerable; 
 for, says he, the decree means that the body is 
 broken not in itself but in sign : and yet the 
 decree says, that not only the sacrament (wb.ich, 
 if any thing be, is certainly the sign) but the very 
 
 * Cap. 3. t Part. iii. q. SO, a. 6. ad 3. m. \ Can. Ixxii. 
 § Can. ego Berengar, de Consecrat. dist. ii. 
 Tf Lib. h c. e, De Concil. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 207 
 
 body itself is broken and champed, with hands 
 and teeth respectively ; which indeed was nothing 
 but a plain overacting the article, in contradiction 
 to Berengarius. And the answer of Bellarraine 
 is not sense, for he denies that the body itself is 
 broken in itself (that w^as the error we charged 
 upon the Roman synod), and the sign abstracting 
 from the body is not broken (for that was the 
 opinion that the council condemned in Berenga- 
 rius), but, says Bellarmine, the body in the sign : 
 What is that ? for neither the sign, nor the body, 
 nor both together are broken ; for if either of 
 them distinctly, they either rush upon the error 
 which the Roman synod condemned in Berenga- 
 rius, or upon that which they would fain excuse 
 in pope Nicholas. But if both are broken, then 
 it is true to affirm it of either ; and then the coun- 
 cil is blasphemous in saying, that Christ's glorified 
 body is passible and frangible by natural mandu- 
 cation ; so that it is and it is not; it is not this 
 way, and yet it is no way else : but it is some 
 way, and they know not how ; and tlie council 
 spoke blasphemy, but it must be made innocent, 
 and therefore it was requisite a cloud of a distinc- 
 tion should be raised, that the unwary reader 
 might be amused, and the decree scape untouched, 
 but the truth is, they that undertake to justify all 
 that other men say, must be more subtle than 
 they that said it, and must use such distinctions 
 which possibly the first authors did not under- 
 stand. But I will multiply no more instances ; 
 for what instance soever I shall bring, some or 
 other will be answering it; which thing is so far 
 from satisfying me in the particulars, that it 
 increases the difficulty in the general, and satisfies 
 me in my first belief: for, if no decrees of coun- 
 
208 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 cils can make against them,* though they seem 
 never so plain against them, then let others be 
 allowed the same liberty (and there is all the 
 reason in the world they should), and no decree 
 shall conclude against any doctrine, that they 
 have already entertained ; and by this means the 
 church is no fitter instrument to decree controver- 
 sies than the Scripture itself, there being as much 
 obscurity and disputing in the sense, and the 
 manner, and the degree, and the competency, and 
 the obligation of the decree of a council, as of a 
 place of Scripture. And what are we the nearer 
 for a decree, if any sophister shall think his illusion 
 enough to contest against the authority of a council. 
 Yet this they do that pretend highest for their au- 
 thority; which consideration, or some like it, 
 might possibly make Gratiant prefer St. Jerome's 
 single testimony before a whole council, because 
 he had Scripture of his side; which says, that 
 the authority of councils is not duroTna-Toc (de- 
 serving; of credit and confidence on its own 
 account), and that councils may possibly recede 
 from their rule, from Scripture ; and, in that case, 
 a single person, proceeding according to rule, is a 
 better argument ; which indeed was the saying of 
 Panormitan : " In matters of faith, the opinion of 
 a single individual is preferable to the dictate of 
 a pope, or of a whole council, if he be guided in 
 his decision by better arguments.''^ 
 
 * Ilia demum eis videntur edicta et concilia quce in rem 
 suam faciunt ; reliqua non pluris aestimant quam conventum 
 muliercularum in textrina vel thermis, — Lud. Vives in Scho- 
 liis, lib. XX. Aug. de Civit. Dei. c. 26. 
 
 t 36. q. 2. c. placuit. 
 
 X " In concernentibus fidem etiam dictum unins privati 
 esset dicto papae aut totius concilii praeferendum, si ille move- 
 letur melioribus argumentis." — Part I. De Election, et Elect, 
 potest, cap. significasti. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 209 
 
 I end this discourse with representing the words 
 of Gregory Nazianzen, in his epistle to Procopius : 
 " To say the truth, such is mv feeling, that I would 
 shun all the episcopal councils, for I have never 
 known one of them come to any good and pros- 
 perous issue, or which did not tend rather to the 
 growth than the diminution of evils."*' But I will 
 not be so severe and dogmatical against them : for 
 I believe many councils to have been called with 
 sufficient authority, to have been managed with 
 singular piety and prudence, and to have been 
 finished with admirable success and truth ; and 
 where we find such councils, he that will not, with 
 all veneration, believe their decrees, and receive 
 their sanctions, understands not that great duty he 
 owes to them who have the care of our souls, 
 whose ' faith we are bound to follow,' saith St. 
 Fault; that is, so long as they follow Christ, and 
 certainly many councils have done so: but this 
 was then, when the public interest of Christendom 
 was better conserved in determining a true article 
 than in finding a discreet temper, or a wise 
 expedient, to satisfy disagreeing persons (as the 
 fathers at Trent did, and the Lutherans and Cal- 
 vinists did at Sendomir, in Polonia ; and the 
 Sublapsarians and Supralapsarians did at Dort). 
 It was in ages when the sum of religion did not 
 consist in maintaining the dignity of the papacy ; 
 where there was no order of men, with a fourth 
 vow upon them, to advance St. Peter's chair ; 
 
 * " Ego si vera scribere oportet ita aniino afiectus sum, ut 
 omnia episcoporum concilia fu^iam, quoniam nullius con- 
 cilii fi'iem Itetum faustumque vidi, nee quod depulsionem 
 maloru , i potius quam accessionem et incrementum habuerit." 
 — Athanas. lib. De Synod. Frustra igitur circumcursitantes 
 praetexunt oh fidera se Synodos pos^ilare, cum sit Divina 
 Scriptura omnibus potentior. 
 
 t Heb. xiii. 7. 
 18* 
 
210 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 when there was no man, or any company of men, 
 that esteemed themselves infallible ; and, there- 
 fore, they searched for truth as if they meant to 
 find it, and would believe it if they could see it 
 proved ; not resolved to prove it, because they 
 had, upon chance or interest, believed it ; then 
 they had rather have spoken a truth than upheld 
 their reputation, but only in order to truth. 
 This was done sometimes, and w4ien it was done, 
 God's spirit never failed them, but gave them such 
 assistances as were sufficient to that good end for 
 which they v/ere assembled, and did implore his 
 aid ; and therefore it is, that the four general 
 councils, so called by way of eminency, liave 
 gained so great a reputation above all others ; not 
 because they had a better promise, or more special 
 assistances, but because they proceeded better, 
 according to the rule, with less faction, with- 
 out ambition and temporal ends. 
 
 And yet those very assemblies of bishops had no 
 authority, by their decrees, to make a divine 
 faith, or to constitute new objects of necessary 
 credence ; they made nothing true that was not so 
 before ; and, therefore they are to be apprehended in 
 the nature of excellent guides, and whose decrees 
 are most certainly to determine all those who have 
 no argument to the contrary, of greater force and 
 efficacy than the authority or reasons of the 
 council. And there is a duty owing to every 
 parish priest, and to every diocesan bishop ; these 
 are appointed over us, and to answer for our souls, 
 and are, therefore, morally to guide us, as reason- 
 able creatures are to be guided ; that is, by reason 
 and discourse: for in things of judgment and 
 understanding, they are but in form next above 
 beasts, that are to be ruled by the imperiousness 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 211 
 
 and absoluteness of authority, unless the authority 
 be divine ; that is, infallible. Now, then, in a 
 juster height, but still in its true proportion, 
 assemblies of bishops are to guide us with a higher 
 authority; because, in reason, it is supposed they 
 will do it better, with more argument and cer- 
 tainty, and with decrees, which have the advan- 
 tage, by being the results of many discourses of 
 very wise and good men ; but that the authority 
 of general councils was never esteemed absolute, 
 infallible, and unlimited, appears in this, that 
 before they were obliging, it was necessary that 
 each particular church, respectively, should accept 
 them: concurrente universali totius ecdesiss con- 
 sensu, fyc. in dedaratione veritatum quz credendss 
 stmt, 4'C.* That is the way of making the de- 
 crees of councils become authentic, and be turned 
 into a law, as Gerson observes; and till they did, 
 their decrees were but a dead letter (and there- 
 fore it is, that these later popes have so labored 
 that the council of Trent should be received in 
 France : and Carolus Molineus, a great lawyer, 
 and of the Roman communion, disputed against 
 the reception) ;t and this is a known condition in 
 the canon law ; but it proves plainly that the de- 
 crees of councils have their authority from the 
 voluntary submission of the particular churches, 
 not from the prime sanction and constitution of 
 the council. And there is great reason it should ; 
 for as the representative body of the church de- 
 rives all power from the diffusive body which is 
 represented, so it resolves into it ; and though it 
 
 * Vid. St. August, lib. i. c. 18. de Bapt. Contr. Donat. 
 
 t So did the third estate of France, in the convention of 
 the three estates, under Lewis XIII, earnestly contend 
 against it. 
 
212 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 may have all the legal power, yet it hath not all 
 the natural ; for more able men may be iinsent than 
 sent ; and they who are sent may be wrought upon 
 by stratagem, which cannot happen to the whole 
 diffusive church : it is, therefore, most fit, that 
 since the legal power, that is, the external, was 
 passed over to the body representative, yet the 
 efficacy of it, and the internal, should so still re- 
 main in the diffusive, as to have power to consider 
 whether their representatives did their duty, yea 
 or no ; and so to proceed accordingly, for, unless it 
 be in matters of justice, in which the interest of a 
 third person is concerned, no man will or can be 
 supposed to pass away all power from himself, of 
 doing himself right in matters personal, proper, 
 and of so high concernment : it is most unnatural 
 and unreasonable. But, besides that they are 
 excellent instruments of peace, the best human 
 judicatories in the world, rare sermons for the 
 determining a point in controversy, and the 
 greatest probability from human authority; be- 
 sides these advantages, I say, I know nothing 
 greater that general councils can pretend to, witii 
 reason and argument, sufficient to satisfy any wise 
 man : and as there was never any council so 
 general but it might have been more general ; for, 
 in respect of the wliole church, even Nice itself 
 was but a small assembly ; so there is no decree 
 so well constituted but it may be proved by an 
 argument higher tluan the authority of the council. 
 And, therefore, general councils, and national, and 
 provincial, and diocesan, in their several decrees, 
 are excellent guides for the prophets, and direc- 
 tions and instructions for their prophesyings ; but 
 not of weight and authority to restrain their liberty 
 so wholly but that they may dissent, when they 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 213 
 
 see a reason strong enough so to persuade them as 
 to be willing, upon the confidence of that reason, 
 and their own sincerity, to answer to God for 
 such their modesty, and peaceable, but (as they 
 believe) their necessary disagreeing. 
 
214 THE SACRED CLASSICS, 
 
 SECTION VIl. 
 
 Of the fallibility of the Pope, and the uncertainty 
 of his expounding Scripture^ and resolving Ques- 
 tions. 
 
 But since the question between the council and 
 the pope grew high, they have not wanted abettors 
 so confident on the pope's behalf, as to believe 
 general councils to be nothing but pomps and 
 solemnities of the catholic church, and that all the 
 authority of determining controversies is formally 
 and effectually in the pope; and, therefore, to ap- 
 peal from the pope to a future council is a heresy ; 
 yea, and treason too, said pope Pius II;* and 
 therefore, it concerns us now to be wise and wary. 
 But before I proceed, I must needs remember, that 
 pope Pius II,t while he was the wise and learned 
 iEneas Sylvius, was very confident for the pre- 
 eminence of a council, and gave a merry reason 
 why more clerks were for the popes than the coun- 
 cil, though the truth was on the other side ; even 
 because the pope gives bishoprics and abbeys, but 
 councils give none ; and yet, as soon as he was 
 made pope, as if he had been inspired, his eyes 
 were opened to see the great privileges of St. Peter's 
 chair, which before he could not see, being amused 
 with the truth, or else with the reputation of a ge- 
 neral council. But, however, there are many that 
 
 * Epist. ad Norimberg. 
 
 f "Patrum et avorum nostrorinn tempore pauci audebant 
 dicere papain esse supra concil." — Lib. i. de Gestis ConciL 
 Basil. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 215 
 
 hope to make it good, that the pope is the universal 
 and the infallible doctor, that he breathes decrees 
 as oracles, that to dissent from any of his cathedral 
 determinations, is absolute heresy, the rule of faith 
 being nothing else but conformity to the chair 
 of Peter. So that here we have met a restraint of 
 prophesy indeed ; but yet, to make amends, I hope 
 we shall have an infallible guide ; and when a man 
 is in heaven, he will never complain that his choice 
 is taken from him, and he is confined to love and 
 to admire, since his love and his admiration is 
 fixed upon that which makes him happy, even 
 upon God himself. And in the church of Rome, 
 there is, in a lower degree, but in a true propor- 
 tion, as little cause to be troubled, that we are 
 confined to believe just so, and no choice left us 
 for our understandings to discover, or our wills to 
 choose ; because, though we be limited, yet we are 
 pointed out where we ought to rest; we are con- 
 fined to our centre, and there where our under- 
 standings will be satisfied, and therefore will be 
 quiet, and where, after all our strivings, studies, 
 and endeavors, we desire to come ; that is, to truth, 
 for there we are secured to find it, because we have 
 a guide that is infallible : if this prove true, we are 
 well enough; but if it be false, or uncertain, it 
 were better we had still kept our liberty, than be 
 cozened out of it with gay pretences. This, then, 
 v/e must consider. 
 
 And here we shall be oppressed with a cloud of 
 witnesses : for what more plain than the commis- 
 sion given to Peter ? ' Thou are Peter, and upon 
 this rock will I build my church;' and 'to thee 
 will I give the keys.' And again : * For thee have I 
 prayed, that thy faith fail not; but thou, when thou 
 art converted, confirm thy brethren.' And again: 
 
216 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 * If thou lovest me, feed my sheep.' Now, nothing 
 of this being spoken to any of the other apostles, 
 by one of these places, St. Peter must needs be 
 appointed foundation, or head of the church ; and, 
 by consequence, he is to rule and govern all. By 
 some other of these places he is made the supreme 
 pastor, and he is to teach and determine all, and 
 enabled, with an infallible power so to do : and, in 
 a right understanding of these authorities, the fa- 
 thers spake great things of the chair of Peter ; for 
 we are as much bound to believe that all this was 
 spoken to Peter's successors, as to his person ; that 
 must, by all means, be supposed; and so did the 
 old doctors, who had as much certainty of it as we 
 have, and no more ; but yet let us hear what they 
 have said : "To this church, by reason of its moi'fe 
 powerful principality, it is necessary all churches 
 round about should convene."* "In this, tradition 
 apostolical always was observed ; and, therefore, to 
 communicate with this bishop, with this church, 
 was to be in communion with the church catholic"! 
 "To this church error or perfidiousness cannot 
 have access.":}; "Against this see gates of hell 
 cannot prevail."§ "For we know this church to 
 be built upon a rock: and whoever eats the lamb, 
 not within this house, is profane ; he that is not 
 in the ark of Noah perishes in the inundation of 
 waters. He that gathers not with this bishop, he 
 scatters ; and he that belongeth not to Christ, must 
 needs belong to antichrist ;"|| and that is his final 
 sentence. But if you would have all this proved 
 
 * Irense. Contr, Hseres. lib. iii. c. 3. 
 t Ambr. de Obitu Salyri. et lib. i. Ep. iv. ad Imp. Cj'pr. 
 Ep. Iii, 
 
 X Cypr. Ep. Iv. ad Cornel. 
 
 § St. Austin, in Psal. contra part. Donat. 
 
 II Hieion. Ep. Ivii. adDamasum. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 217 
 
 by an infallible argument, Optatus* of Mileyis in 
 Africa, supplies it to us from the very name of Peter : 
 for therefore Christ gave him the cognomination 
 of Cephas, am t«c x2p*A«f, to show that St. Peter 
 was the visible head of the catholic church. A 
 cover this, truly worthy of the dish !t This long 
 harangue must needs be full of tragedy to all them 
 that take liberty to themselves to follow Scripture 
 and their best guides, if it happens, in that liberty, 
 that they depart from the persuasions or the com- 
 munion of Rome : but, indeed, if with the peace of 
 the bishops of Rome I may say it, this scene is the 
 most unhandsomely laid, and the worst carried of 
 any of those pretences that have lately abused 
 Christendom. 
 
 1. Against the allegations of Scripture, I shall 
 lay no greater prejudice than this, that if a person 
 disinterested should see them and consider wjiat 
 the products of them might possibly be, the last 
 thing that he would think of would be, how that 
 any of these places should serve the ends or pre- 
 tences of tlie church of Rome. For, to instance 
 in one of the particulars that man had need have 
 a strong fancy, who imagines, that because Christ 
 prayed for St. Peter (being he had designed him 
 to be one of -those upon whose preaching and 
 doctrine he did mean to constitute a church), 
 * that his faith might not fail' (for it was neces- 
 sary that no bitterness, or stopping, should be in 
 one of the first springs, lest the current be either 
 spoiled or obstructed), that therefore the faith of 
 pope Alexander VI, or Gregory, or Clement, 
 fifteen hundred years after, should be preserved 
 by virtue of that prayer, which the form of words, 
 
 * Lib. ii. Contra Parmenian. 
 t " Dignum patella operculuin !" 
 19 
 
218 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the time, the occasion, the manner of the address, 
 the effect itself, and all the circumstances of the 
 action and person, did determine to be personal ; 
 and when it was more than personal, St. Peter did 
 not represent his successors at Rome, but the 
 whole catholic church, says Aquinas,* and the 
 divines of the university of Paris. " They ex- 
 plain the prayer as referring to the church alone,"t 
 says Bellarmine of them ; and the gloss upon the 
 canon law plainly denies the effect of this prayer 
 at all to appertain to the pope ; ** The question is, 
 respecting what church we are to understand it 
 said, that it is infallible ; is it of the pope himself, 
 who is called the church ? But it is certain that 
 the pope may err. — I answer, the congregation of 
 the faithful is here called the church; and it 
 cannot be otherwise than such, for our Lord 
 himself prays for the church ; and will not be 
 disappointed of the request of his lips.".t But 
 there is a little danger in this argument, vrhen we 
 well consider it; but it is likely to redound on 
 the head of those whose turns it should serve : 
 for it may be remembered, that for ail this prayer 
 of Christ for St. Peter, the good man fell foully, 
 and denied his master shamefully ; and shall 
 Christ's prayer be of greater efficacy for his suc- 
 cessors, for whom it was made but indirectly and 
 by consequence, than himself, for whom it was 
 
 * 22. ae. q. 2. a. 6. ar. 6. ad. 3. m. 
 
 t *' Volunt enim pro sola ecclesia esse oratum." — Lib. iv 
 de Rom. Pont. c. 3,§. 1. 
 
 X " Qusere de qua ecclesia intelligas quod hoc dicitur, quod 
 non possit errare, si de ipso papa qui ecclesia dicitur ? sed 
 certum est, quod papa errare potest. Respondeo ipsa con- 
 gregatio fidelium hie dicitur ecclesia ; et talis ecclesia non 
 
 {)otest non esse, nam ipse Dominus orat pro ecclesia, et vo- 
 untate iabiorum suorum non fraudabitur." — Caus. xxi. cap. ' 
 a recta, q. 1. xxix. Dist. Anastatius, 60, di. si Papa. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 219 
 
 directly and in the first intention? And if 
 not, then, for all this argument, the popes may 
 deny Christ, as well as their chief and decessor, 
 Peter. But it should not be forgotten, how the 
 Roman doctors will by no means allow that 
 St. Peter was then the chief bishop or pope, 
 when he denied his master. But, tlien, much 
 less was he chosen chief bishop when the prayer 
 was made for him, because the prayer was made 
 before his fall ; that is, before tliat time in which 
 it is confessed he was not as yet made pope; 
 and how, then, the whole succession of the 
 papacy should be entitled to it passes the length 
 of my hand to span. But, then, also, if it be 
 supposed and allowed, that these words shall 
 entail infallibility upon the chair of Rome, why 
 shall not also all the apostolical sees be infallible, 
 as well as Rome? why shall not Constantinople, or 
 Byzantium, where St. Andrew sat ? why shall not 
 Ephesus, where St. John sat ; or Jerusalem, where 
 St. James sat? for Christ prayed for them all, 
 *that the Father should sanctify them by his 
 truth.' John xvii. 
 
 2. For was it personal or not? If it were, then 
 the bishops of Rome have nothing to do vvith it i 
 if it were not, then by what argument will it be 
 made evident ^at St. Peter, in the promise, re- 
 presented only his successors, and not the whole 
 college of apostles, and the whole hierarchy ? For, 
 if St. Peter was chief of the apostles and head of 
 the church, he might, fair enough, be the repre- 
 sentative of the whole college, and receive it in 
 their right as well as his own; which also is 
 certain that it was so, for the same promise of 
 binding and loosing (which certainly was all that 
 the keys were given for), was made afterwards to 
 
220 THE SxiCRED CLASSICS. 
 
 all the apostles, Matt, xviii ; and the power of 
 remitting and retaining, whicli, in reason and 
 according to the style of the church, is the same 
 thing in other words, was actually given to all the 
 apostles. And unless that was the performing 
 the first and second promise, we find it not re- 
 corded in Scripture how, or when, or whether yet 
 or no, the promise be performed : that promise, I 
 say, which did not pertain to Peter principally 
 and by origination, and to the rest by communica- 
 tion, society, and adherence; but that promise 
 which was made to Peter first, but not for liimself, 
 but for all the college, and for all their successors, 
 and then made the second time to them all, 
 without representation, but in diffusion, and per- 
 formed to all alike in presence, except St. 
 Thomas. And if he went to St. Peter to derive 
 it from him, I knov/ not; I find no record for 
 that ; but that Christ conveyed the promise to 
 him by the same commission, the church yet 
 never doubted, nor had she any reason. But this 
 matter is too notorious : I say no more to it, but 
 repeat the words and argument of St. Austin.* 
 *' If the keys were only given and so promised to 
 St. Peter, that the church hath not the keys, then 
 the church can neither bind nor loose, remit nor 
 retain; which God forbid." If any man should 
 endeavor to answer this argument, I leave him 
 and St. Austin to contest it. 
 
 3. For ' Feed my sheep,' there is little in that 
 allegation, besides the boldness of the objectors; 
 for were not all the apostles bound to feed Christ's 
 sheep? Had they not all the commission from 
 Christ, and Christ's Spirit immediately ? St. Paul 
 
 * " Si hoc Petro tantum dictum est, iion facit hoc ecclesia." 
 — Tra. 1. in Joann. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 221 
 
 had certainly. Did not St. Peter himself say to 
 all the bishops of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
 Asia, and Bithinia, that they should feed the flock 
 of God, and the great Bishop and Shepherd should 
 give them an immarcescible crown; plainly imply- 
 ing, that from whence they derived their authority, 
 from him they were sure of a reward ? In pursu- 
 ance of which, St. Cyprian laid his argument upon 
 this basis.* Did not St. Paul call to the bishops 
 «f Ephesus to feed the flock of God, of which the 
 Holy Ghost hath made them bishops or overseers.^ 
 And that this very commission was spoken to 
 Peter not in a personal, but a public capacity, and 
 in him spoke to all the apostles, we see attested 
 by St. Austin and St. Ambrose,! and generally by 
 all antiquity; and it so concerned even every 
 priest, that Damasus was willing enough to have 
 St. Jerome explicate many questions for him. 
 And Liberius writes an epistle to Athanasius, with 
 much modesty requiring his advice in a question 
 of faith : " That I also may be persuaded without 
 all doubting, of those things which you shall be 
 pleased to command me."± Now, Liberius needed 
 not to have troubled himself to have writ into the 
 east to Athanasius; for, if he had but seated 
 himself in his chair, and made the dictate, the result 
 of his pen and ink would certainly have taught 
 him and all the church ; but that the good pope 
 was ignorant that either 'Feed my sheep' was 
 his own charter and prerogative, or. that any 
 other words of Scripture had made him to be 
 infallible : or if he was not ignorant of it, he did 
 
 * " Nam cum statutum sit omnibus nobis, &c, et singulis 
 pastoribus portio gre|;;is, &.c." — Lib. i. Ep. 3. 
 t De Agone Christi, c, 30. 
 
 Epist. ad Athanas, apud Athanas. torn. i. page 42. Paris. 
 19* 
 
222 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 very ill to compliment himself out of it. So did 
 all those bishops of Rome that, in that trouble- 
 some and unprofitable question of Easter, being 
 unsatisfied in the supputation of the Egyptians, 
 and the definitions of the mathematical bishops of 
 Alexandria, did yet require and entreat St. Am- 
 brose* to tell them his opinion, as he himself 
 witnesses. If ' Feed my sheep' belongs only to 
 the pope by primary title, in these cases the sheep 
 came to feed the shepherd; which, though it was 
 well enough in the thing, is very ill for the preten- 
 sions of the Roman bishops ; and if we consider 
 how little many of the popes have done towards 
 feeding the sheep of Christ, we shall hardly de- 
 termine which is the greater prevarication, that 
 the pope should claim the whole commission to 
 be granted to him, or that the execution of the 
 commission should be wholly passed over to others : 
 and it may be, there is a mystery in it, that since 
 St. Peter sent a bishop with his staff to raise up a 
 disciple of his from the dead, who was afterwards 
 bishop of Triers, the popes of J^ome never wear a 
 pastoral staff, except it be in that diocess (says 
 Aquinas),t for great reason, that he who does not 
 do the office should not bear the symbol ; but a 
 man would think that the pope's master of cere- 
 monies was ill advised, not to assign a pastoral 
 staff to him who pretends the commission of ' Feed 
 my sheep' to belong to him by prime right and 
 origination. But this is not a business to be merry 
 in. 
 
 But the great support is expected from, 'Thou 
 art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
 church,' &c. Now there being so great difference 
 in the exposition of these words, by persons dis- 
 
 * Lib. X. Ep. 83, f M. iv. Sent. Dist. 21. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 223 
 
 interested, who, if any, might be allowed to judge 
 in this question, it is certain that neither one sense 
 nor other can be obtruded for an article of iaith ; 
 much less as a catholicon instead of all, by con- 
 stituting an authority which should guide us in all 
 faith, and determine us in all questions ; for if 
 the church was not built upon the person of Peter, 
 then his successors can challenge nothing from 
 this instance. Now, that it was the confession of 
 Peter upon which the church was to rely for ever, 
 we have witnesses very credible ; St. Ignatius, '■ 
 St. Basil,t St. Hilary,! St. Gregory Nyssen,§ St. 
 Gregory the great,|| St. Austin^, St. Cyril of 
 Alexandria,** Isidore Pelusiot,tt and very many 
 more. And, although all these witnesses con- 
 curring cannot make a proposition to be true, yet 
 they are sufficient witnesses, that it was not the 
 universal belief of Christendom that the church 
 was built upon St. Peter's person. Cardinal 
 Perron hath a fine fancy to elude this variety of 
 exposition, and the consequents of it ; for (saith he) 
 these expositions are not contrary or exclusive of 
 each other, but inclusive and consequent to each 
 other: for the church is founded casually upon 
 the confession of St. Peter, formerly upon the 
 ministry of his person ; and this was a reward 
 or consequent of the former. So that these expo- 
 sitions are both true, but they are conjoined as 
 mediate and immediate, direct and collateral, 
 literal and moral, original and perpetual, accessory 
 and temporal ; the one consigned at the beginning, 
 the other inti;oduced upon occasion : for before 
 
 * Ad Philadelph. f Seleuc. Orat. xxv. 
 
 t Lib. vi. De Trim. § De Trin. advers. Judaeos. 
 
 II Lib. iii. Ep. 33. IT In 1 Eph. Joann. ti". 10. 
 
 ** De Trin. lib. iv. ff Lib. i. Ep. 235. 
 
2£4 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the spring of the Arian heresy, the fathers ex- 
 pounded these words of the person of Peter ; but 
 after the Arians troubled them, the fathers, finding 
 great authority and energy in this confession of 
 Peter, for the establishment of the natural filiation 
 of the Son of God, to advance the reputation of 
 these words and the force of the argument, gave 
 themselves licence to expound these words to the 
 present advantage, and to make the confession of 
 Peter to be the foundation of the church ; that, if 
 the Arians should encounter this authority, they 
 might, with more prejudice to their persons, de- 
 claim against their cause, by saying they over- 
 threv/ the foundation of the church. Besides that 
 this answer does much dishonor the reputation of 
 the fathers' integrity, and makes their interpreta- 
 tions less credible, as being made not of know- 
 ledge or reason, but of necessity and to serve a 
 present turn, it is also false ; for Ignatius* ex- 
 pounds it in a spiritual sense, which also the liturgy 
 attributed to St. James calls i-n Tnrpctv ^yi? Trion-ice;, 
 "' upon the rock of the faith :" and Origen expounds 
 it mystically to a third purpose, but exclusively 
 to this : and all these were before the Arian con- 
 troversy. But if it be lawful to make such 
 unproved observations, it would have been to 
 better purpose, and more reason, to have observed 
 it thus : the fathers, so long as the bishop of Rome 
 kept himself to the limits prescribed him by Christ, 
 and indulged to him by the constitution or con- 
 cession of the church, were unwary and apt to 
 expound this place of the person of Peter ; but 
 when the church began to enlarge her phylacteries, 
 by the favor of princes and the sunshine of a 
 prosperous fortune, and the pope, by the ad van - 
 ♦ Epist. ad Philadelph. in c. 16. Mat. Tract. 1. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 122D 
 
 tag-3 of the imperial seat, and other accidents, 
 began to invade upon the other bishops and pa- 
 triarchs, then, that he might have no color from 
 vScripture for such new pretentions, they did, most 
 generally, turn the stream of their expositions 
 from the person to the confession of Peter, and 
 declared that to be the foundation of the church. 
 And thus I have requited fancy with fancy : but, 
 for the main point, that these two expositions are 
 inclusive of each other, I find no warrant ; for 
 though they may consist together well enough, if 
 Christ had so intended them, yet, unless it could 
 be shown by some circumstance of the text, or 
 some other extrinsical argument, that they must 
 be so, and that both senses were actually intended, 
 it is but gratis dictum^ and a begging of the ques- 
 tion, to say that they are so ; and the fancy so new, 
 that when St. Austin had expounded this place of 
 the person of Peter, he reviews it again, and, in 
 his retractations, leaves every man to his liberty 
 whicli to take ; as having nothing certain in this 
 article : which had been altogether needless, if he 
 had believed them to be inclusively in each other, 
 neither of them had need to have been retracted; 
 both were alike true, both of them might have been 
 believed. But I said the fancy was n^w, and I 
 had reason ; for it was so unknown till yesterday, 
 that even the late writers, of his own side, ex- 
 pound the words of the confession of St. Peter, 
 exclusively to his person, or any thing else, as is 
 to be seen in Marsillus,^ Petrus de Aliaco,\ and 
 the gloss upon Dist. xix. Can. ita I)ominus,§ ut 
 supra, which also was the intei-pretation of Phavo- 
 rinus Camers, their own bishop, from whom they 
 learnt the resemblance of the word hsT/jo? (Peter), 
 * Defens. Pacis, part. ii. c. 28. f Recommend. Sacr. Scrip. 
 
226 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 and TTirpst, (a rock), of which they made so many 
 gay discourses. 
 
 5. But, upon condition I may have leave, at 
 another time, to recede from so great and numerous 
 testimony of fathers, I am willing to believe that it 
 was not the confession of St. Peter, but his person 
 upon which Christ said he would build his church ; 
 or that these expositions are consistent with and 
 consequent to each other; that this confession was 
 the objective foundation of faith, and Christ and 
 his apostles the subjective — Christ principally, 
 and St. Peter instrumental ly ; and yet I understand 
 not any advantage will hence accrue to the see of. 
 Rome; for upon St. Peter it was built, but not 
 alone, for it " was upon the foundation of the 
 apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being 
 the chief corner-stone ;" and when St. Paul reck- 
 oned the economy of hierarchy, he reckons not 
 Peter first and then the apostles, but first apostles, 
 secondarily prophets, &c. And whatsoever is first, 
 either is before all things else, or at least nothing 
 is before it; so that at least, St. Peter is not before 
 all the rest of the apostles ; which also St. Paul 
 expressly avers : ' I am in nothing inferior to the 
 very chiefest of the apostles ;' no, not in the very 
 being a rock and a foundation ; and it was of the 
 church of Ephesus that St. Paul said, in particular, 
 it was * the pillar and ground (or foundation) of 
 the truth ;' that church was, not excluding others, 
 for they also were as much as she : for so we keep 
 close and be united to the corner-stone, although 
 some be master builders, yet all may build ; and we 
 have known whole nations converted by laymen 
 and women who have been builders so far as to 
 bring tliem to the corner-stone.* 
 
 * Vid. Socrat. lib. i. c. 19, 20. Sozom. lib. ii. c. 14- 
 Niceph. lib. xiv. c. 42. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 227 
 
 6. But suppose all these things concern St. Peter, 
 in all the capacities that can be with any color 
 pretended, yet what have the bishops of Rome to 
 do with this ? For how will it appear that these 
 promises and commissions did relate to him as 
 a particular bishop, and not as a public apostle ? 
 since this latter is so much the more likely, because 
 the great pretence of all seems in reason more 
 proportionable to the founding of a church than its 
 continuance: and, yet if they did relate to him as 
 a particular bishop (which yet is a further degree 
 of improbability, removed further from certainty), 
 yet why shall St. Clement, or Linus, rather succeed 
 in this great oiRce of headship than St. John, or 
 any of the apostles that survived Peter } It is no way 
 likely a private person should skip over the head 
 of an apostle. Or why shall his successors at 
 Rome more enjoy the benefit of it than his suc- 
 cessors at Antioch, since that he was at Antioch 
 and preached there, we have a divine authority ; 
 but that he did so at Rome at most we have but a 
 human. And if it be replied, that because he died 
 at Rome, it was argument enough that there his 
 successors were to inherit his privilege, this, besides 
 that at most it is but one little degree of probability, 
 and so not of strength sufficient to support an 
 article of faith, it makes that the great divine right 
 of Rome, and the apostolical presidency was so 
 contingent and fallible as to depend upon the 
 decree of Nero ; and if he had sent him to Antioch, 
 there to have suffered martyrdom, the bishops of 
 that town had been heads of the catholic church. 
 And this thing presses the harder, because it 
 is held by no mean persons in the church of 
 Rome, that the bishopric of Rome and the papacy 
 are things separable ; and the pope may quit that 
 
228 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 see and sit in another : which, to my under- 
 standing, is an argument, that he that succeeded 
 Peter at Antioch, is as much supreme by divine 
 right, as he that sits at Rome ;* both alike ; that is 
 neither bj divine ordinance : for if the Roman 
 bishops, by Christ's intention, were to be head of 
 the church, then, by the same intention, the suc- 
 cession must be continued in that see; and then, 
 let the pope go whither he will, the bishop of 
 Rome must be the head ; which they themselves 
 deny, and the pope himself did not believe, when 
 in a schism he sat at Avignon ; and that it was 
 to be continued in the see of Rome, it is but 
 oifered to us upon conjecture, upon an act of 
 providence, as they fancy it so ordering it by 
 vision, and this proved by an author which them- 
 selves call fabulous and apochryphal.t A goodly 
 building which relies upon an event that was 
 accidental, whose purpose was but insinuated, 
 the meaning of it but conjectured at, and tliis 
 conjecture so uncertain, that it w^as an imperfect 
 aim at the purpose of an event, which, whether it 
 was true or no, was so uncertain that it is ten to 
 one tliere was no such matter. And yet, again, 
 another degree of uncertainty is, to whom the 
 bishops of Rome do succeed ; for St, Paul was 
 as much bishop of Rome as St. Peter w^as : there 
 he presided, there he preached, and he it was that 
 was the doctor of the uncircumcision and of the 
 gentiles ; St. Peter, of the circumcision and of 
 the Jews only ; and, therefore, the converted Jews 
 at Rome might, with better reason, claim the privi- 
 lege of St. Peter, than the Romans and the churches 
 
 * Vid. Cameracens. Qu. vespert. 
 
 t Under the name of Linus inBiblioth. P. P. de Passione 
 Petri etPauli. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF rROPHESYING. 229 
 
 in her communion, who do not derive from Jewish 
 parents. 
 
 7. If the words were never so appropriate to 
 Peter, or also communicated to his successors, yet 
 of what value will the consequent be ? what pre- 
 rogative is entailed upon the chair of Rome? 
 For that St. Peter was the ministerial head of the 
 church is the most that is desired to be proved by 
 those and all other words brought for the same 
 purposes and interests of that see. Now let the 
 ministerial head have what dignity can be imagined, 
 let him be the first (and in all communities that 
 are regular and orderly, there must be something 
 tliat is first, upon certain occasions where an 
 equal power cannot be exercised, and made pomp- 
 ous or ceremonial) ; but will this ministerial head- 
 ship infer an infallibility ? will it infer more than the 
 headship of the Jewish synagogue, where clearly 
 the high priest was supreme in many senses, yet 
 in no sense infallible ? v/ill it infer more to us 
 than it did amongst the apostles ? amongst whom, 
 if for order's sake St. Peter was the first, yet he 
 had no compulsory power over the apostles ; there 
 was no such thing spoke of, nor any such thing put 
 in practice. And, that the other apostles were, 
 by a personal privilege, as infallible as himself, 
 is no reason to hinder the exercise of jurisdiction, 
 or any compulsory power over them : for, though 
 in faith they were infallible, yet in manners and 
 matter of fact as likely to err as St. Peter himself 
 was; and certainly there might have something 
 happened in the whole college that might have 
 been a record of his authority, by transmitting an 
 example of the exercise of some judicial power 
 over some one of them : — if he had but withstood 
 any of them to tlieir faces, as St. Paul did liim, it 
 20 
 
230 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 had been more than yet is said in his behalf. Will 
 the ministerial headship infer any more than, when 
 the church, in a community or a public capacity, 
 should do any act of ministry ecclesiastical, he 
 shall be first in order ? Suppose this to be a 
 dignity to preside in councils, which yet was not 
 always granted him ; suppose it to be a power of 
 takingcognizance of the major causes of bishops, 
 when councils cannot be called ; suppose it a double 
 voice, or the last decisive, or the negative in the 
 causes exterior; suppose it to be what you will of 
 dignity or external regimen, which, when all 
 churches were united in communion, and neither 
 the interest of states, nor the engagement of 
 opinions had made disunion, might better have 
 been acted than now it can ; yet this will fall in- 
 finitely short of a power to determine controversies 
 infallibly, and to prescribe to all men's faith and 
 consciences. A ministerial headship, or the prime 
 minister, cannot, in any capacity, become the 
 foundation of the church to any such purpose. 
 And, therefore, men are causelessly amused with 
 buch premises, and are afraid of such conclusions 
 vvhich will never follow from the admission of any 
 sense of* these words that can with any probability 
 be pretended. 
 
 8. I consider that these arguments from Scrip- 
 ture are too weak to support such an authority, 
 which pretends to give oracles, and to answer 
 infallibly in questions of taith ; because there is 
 greater reason to believe the popes of Rome have 
 erred, and greater certainty of demonstration, 
 than these places can be that they are infallible, 
 as will appear by the instances and perpetual 
 experiment of their being deceived, of which 
 there is no question, but of the sense of these 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 231 
 
 places there is; and, indeed if I had as clear 
 Scripture for their infallibility as I have against 
 their half-communion, against their service in an 
 unknown tongue, worshiping of images, and 
 divers other articles, I would make no scruple 
 of believing, but limit and conform mj under- 
 standing to all their dictates, and believe it 
 reasonable all prophesying should be restrained. 
 But till then I have leave to discourse, and to use 
 my reason; and, to my reason, it seems not 
 likely that neither Christ nor any of his apostles, 
 St. Peter himself, nor St. Paul, writing to the 
 church of Rome, should speak the least word, or 
 tittle of the infallibility of their bishops ; for it 
 was certainly as convenient to tell us of a remedy,, 
 as to foretell, that certainly there must needs be 
 heresies, and need of a remedy. And it had 
 been a certain determination of the question, if 
 when so rare an opportunity was ministered in the 
 question about circumcision, that they should 
 have sent to Peter, who, for his infallibility in 
 ordinary and his power of headship, would, not 
 only with reason enough, as being infallibly assisted, 
 but also for his authority, have best determined 
 the question, if at least the first Christians had 
 known so profitable and so excellent a secret; 
 and, although we have but little record that the 
 first council at Jerusalem did much observe the 
 solemnities of law, and the forms of conciliary 
 proceedings, and the ceremonials, yet so much of 
 it as is recorded, is against them ; St. James, and 
 not St. Peter, gave the final sentence ; and al- 
 though St. Peter determined the question in favor 
 of liberty, yet St. James made the decree and the 
 assumentum too, and gave sentence they should 
 abstain from some things there mentioned, which 
 
232 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 by way of temper he judged most expedient, and 
 so it passed. And St. Peter showed no sign of a 
 superior authority, nothing of superior jurisdic- 
 tion, " but entreated him, that every thing might 
 be determined by a public decision, and nothing 
 by any person's mere authority and command."* 
 
 So that if this question be to be determined by 
 Scripture, it must either be ended by plain places, 
 or by obscure ; plain places there are none, and 
 those that are with greatest fancy pretended, are 
 expounded by antiquity to contrary pui-poses. 
 But if obscure places be all the ctu^ivnu. (authority), 
 by what means shall we infalliblj^ find the sense 
 of them ? The pope's interpretation, though in 
 all other cases it might be pretended, in this 
 cannot; for it is the thing in question, and there- 
 fore cannot determine for itself: either therefore, 
 we have also another infallible guide besides the 
 pope, and so we have two foundations and two 
 heads (for this, as well as the other, upon the 
 same reason) : or else (which is indeed the truth) 
 there is no infallible way to be infallibly assured 
 that the pope is infallible. Now, it being against 
 the common condition of men, above the pretences 
 of all other governors ecclesiastical, against the 
 analogy of Scripture, and the deportment of the 
 other apostles, against the economy of the church, 
 and St. Peter's own entertainment, the presump- 
 tion lies against him ; and these places are to be 
 left to their prime intentions, and not put upon 
 the rack to force them to confess what they never 
 thought. 
 
 But now, for antiquity, if that be deposed in 
 this question, there are so many circumstances to 
 
 * 'Op«t J« AVTOV fxyrct ^ioivnc ttclvtu TroicuvTit yvasjunc, ovS'^} e/.u- 
 3T/Twa)f ouS- Afx^KooZ' — ^- Chrysost. Horn. iii. in Act. Apost. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 233 
 
 be considered, to reconcile their words and their 
 actions, that the process is more troublesome than 
 the argument can be concluding, or the matter 
 considerable: but I shall a little consider it, so 
 far, at least, as to show either that antiquity said 
 no such thing as is pretended, or if thej did, it is 
 but little considerable, because they did not 
 believe themselves; their practice was the greatest 
 evidence in the w^orld against the pretence of 
 their words. But I am much eased of a long 
 disquisition in this particular (for I love not to 
 prove a question by arguments whose authority is 
 in itself as fallible, and by circumstances made as 
 uncertain as the question), by the saying of 
 j^neas Sylvius, that before the Nicene council 
 every man lived to himself, and amall respect was 
 had to the church of Rome ; which practice 
 could not well consist with the doctrine of their 
 bishops infallibility, and, by consequence, supreme 
 judgment and last resolution, in matters of faith, 
 but especially by the insinuation, and consequent 
 acknowledgment, of Bellarmine,* that for one 
 tliousand years together, the fathers knew not of 
 ihe doctrine of the pope's infallibility ; for Nilus, 
 Gerson, Almain, the divines of Paris, Alphonsus 
 de Castro, and pope Adrain VI, persons who 
 lived fourteen hundred years after Christ, affirm 
 that infallibility is not seated in the pope's person, 
 that he may err, and sometimes actually hath ; 
 which is a clear demonstration that the church 
 knew no such doctrine as this ; there had been no 
 decree, nor tradition, nor general opinion of the 
 fathers, or of any age before them ; and therefore 
 this opinion, which Bellarmine would fain blast 
 
 * De Rom. Pont. lib. iv. c. 2,^ Secunda Sententia. 
 20* 
 
234 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 if he could, yet in this conclusion he says, it is 
 not properly heretical. A device and an expres- 
 sion of his own, without sense or precedent. But 
 if the fathers had spoken of it and believed it, 
 why may not a disagreeing person as well reject 
 their authority when it is in behalf of Rome, as 
 thsj of Rome, without scruple, cast them off when 
 they speak against it ? as Bellarmine, being pressed 
 with the authority of Nilus, bishop of Thessa- 
 lonica, and other fathers, says, that the pope 
 acknowledges no fathers, but they are all his 
 children, and, therefore, they cannot depose against 
 him ; and if that be true, why shall we take their 
 testimonies for him ? for if sons depose in their 
 father's behalf, it is twenty to one but the adverse 
 party will be cast ; and therefore, at the best, it 
 is but suspicious evidence. But, indeed, this 
 discourse signifies nothing but a perpetual uncer- 
 tainty in such topics, and that where a violent 
 prejudice, or a concerning interest is engaged, 
 men, by not regarding what any man says, pro- 
 claim to all the world, that nothing is certain but 
 Divine authority. 
 
 But I will not take advantage of what Bellar- 
 mine says, nor what Stapleton, or any one of them 
 all say ; for that will be but to press upon personal 
 persuasions, or to urge a general question with a 
 particular defailance, and the question is never 
 the nearer to an end ; for if Bellarmine says any 
 tiling that is not to another man's purpose or 
 persuasion, that man will be tried by his own 
 argument, not by another's. And so would every 
 man do that loves his liberty, as all wise men do, 
 and therefore retain it by open violence, or private 
 evasions : but to return. 
 
 An authority from Irenasus in this question. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 235 
 
 and on behalf of the pope's infallibilitj, or the au- 
 thority of the see of Rome, or of the necessity of 
 communicating witli them, is very fallible; for, 
 besides that there are almost a dozen answers to 
 the words of the allegation, as is to be seen in those 
 that trouble themselves in this question with the 
 allegation, and answering such authorities, yet, if 
 they should make for the affirmative of this ques- 
 tion, it is an affirmation contrary to fact.* For 
 Irenaeus had no such great opinion of pope Victor's 
 infallibility, that he believed things in tlie same 
 degree of necessity that the pope did ; for there- 
 fore he chides him for excommunicating the Asian 
 bishops rtS-foa?, all at a blow, in the question con- 
 cerning Easter day ; and in a question of faith, he 
 expressly disagreed from the doctrine of Rome, for 
 Irenaeus was of the millenary opinion, and be- 
 lieved it to be a tradition apostolical : now, if the 
 church of Rome was of that opinion, then why is 
 she not now ? where is the succession of her doc- 
 trine ? But if she was not of that opinion then, 
 and Irenaeus was, v/here was his belief of that 
 church's infallibility ? The same I urge concern- 
 ing St. Cyprian, who was the head of a sect in 
 opposition to the church of Rome, in the question 
 of rebaptization ; and he and the abettors, Fir- 
 milian, and the other bishops of Cappadocia, and 
 the vicinage, spoke harsh words of Stephen, and 
 such as became them not to speak to an infallible 
 doctor, and the supreme head of the church. I 
 will urge none of them to the disadvantage of that 
 see, but only note the satires of Firmilian against 
 him, because it is of good use to show that it is 
 possible for them in their ill carriage, to blast the 
 reputation and efficacy of a great authority : for he 
 
 • Proteatatio contra factum. 
 
236 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 sajs that the church did pretend the authority of 
 the apostles, " when, in many of its religious 
 ordinances, it departed from the apostolic rule, 
 and from the practice of the church of Jerusalem, 
 and even defamed Peter and Paul as authorities."* 
 And a little after, says he, " I disdain the open 
 and manifest folly of Stephanus, by which the 
 verity of the Christian rock is annulled."t Which 
 words say plainly, that for all the goodly pretence 
 of apostolical authority, the church of Rome did 
 then, in many things of religion, disagree from 
 divine institution (and from the church of Jeru- 
 salem, which they had as great esteem of, for 
 religion sake, as of Rome for its principality) ; and 
 that still, in pretending to St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 they dishonored those blessed apostles, and de- 
 stroyed the honor of the pretence, by their untoward 
 prevarication ; which words, I confess, pass my 
 skill to reconcile them to an opinion of infallibility ; 
 and although they were spoken by an angry per- 
 son, yet they declare, that in Africa they were not 
 then persuaded as now they were at Rome : " For 
 Peter, who was chosen by the Lord, did not vainly 
 and proudly arrogate to himself a claim to pre-emi- 
 ne.nce."t That was their belief then, and how the 
 contrary hath grown up to that height where now 
 it is, all the world is witness. And now I shall 
 not need to note concerning St. Jerome, that he 
 
 * " Cum in multis sacramentis divins rei, a principio dig- 
 crepet, et ab ecclesia Hierosolymitana, et dafamet Petrum et. 
 Paulum tanqu^jn authores." — Epist. Firmiliani, contr. Steph. 
 ad Cyprian. Vid. etiam Ep. Cypriani ad Pompeium. 
 
 t " Juste dediguor apertam "et manifostam stultitiam Ste- 
 phani, per quam Veritas Christianae petree aboletur." 
 
 J " Nam nee Petrus, quern primum Dominus elegit, vendi- 
 cayit sibi aliquid insolenter, aut arroganter assumpsit, ut 
 diceret se primatum tenere." — Cyprian. Epist. ad Quintura 
 Fratrem. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 237 
 
 gave a compliment to Damasus that he would not 
 have given to Liberius : Qui tecum non colligit 
 spar git ; *' He who gathereth not with you scat- 
 tereth." For it might be true enough of Damasus, 
 who was a good bishop, and a right believer ; but 
 if Liberius's name had been put instead of Da- 
 masus, the case had been altered with the name ; 
 for St. Jerome did believe, and write it so, that 
 Liberius had subscribed to Arianism.* And if 
 either he, or any of the rest, had believed the pope 
 could not be a heretic, nor his faith fail, but be so 
 good and of so competent authority as to be a rule 
 to Christendom, why did they not appeal to the 
 pope in the Arian controversy ? Why was the 
 bishop of Rome made a party and a concurrent, as 
 other good bishops were, and not a judge and an 
 arbitrator in the question ? Why did the fathers 
 prescribe so many rules, and cautions, and provisos, 
 for the discovery of heresy? Why were the 
 emperors at so much charge, and the church at so 
 much trouble, as to call and convene in councils 
 respectively, to dispute so frequently, to write so 
 sedulously, to observe all advantages against their 
 adversaries, and for the truth, and never offered to 
 call for the pope to determine the question in liis 
 chair? Certainly no way could have been so ex- 
 pedite, none so concluding and peremptory, none 
 could have convinced so certainly, none could have 
 triumphed so openly over all discrepants as this, 
 if they had known of any such thing as his being 
 infallible, or that he had been appointed by Christ 
 to' be the judge of controversies. And, therefore, 
 I will not trouble this discourse, to excuse any 
 more words, either pretended or really said to this 
 purpose of the pope ; for they would but make 
 
 * De Script. Eccles. in Fortunatiano. 
 
£38 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 books swell, and the question endless. I shall 
 only to this purpose observe, that the old writers 
 were so far from believing the infallibility of the 
 Roman church or bishop, that many bishops, and 
 many churches, did actually live and continue out 
 of the Roman communion; particularly St. Aus- 
 tin,* who, with two hundred and seventeen bishops, 
 and their successors, for one hundred years together, 
 stood separate from that church, if we may believe 
 their own records : so did Ignatius of Constanti- 
 nople, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, Firmilian, 
 tliose bishops of Asia that separated in the question 
 of Easter, and those of Africa in the question of 
 rebaptization : but, besides this, most of them had 
 opinions which the church of Rome disavows now, 
 and, therefore, did so then, or else she hath inno- 
 vated in her doctrine ; which, though it be most 
 true and notorious, I am sure she will never 
 confess. But no excuse can be made for St. 
 Austin's disagreeing, and contesting, in the ques- 
 tion of appeals to Rome, the necessity of commu- 
 nicating infants, the absolute damnation of infants 
 to the pains of hell, if they die before baptism, and 
 divers other particulars. It was a famous act of 
 the bishops of Liguria and Istria, who, seeing the 
 pope of Rome consenting to the fifth synod, in 
 disparagement of the famous council of Chalcedon, 
 which for their own interests, they did not like of, 
 they renounced subjection to his patriarchate, 
 and erected a patriarch at Acquileia, who was 
 
 * " Ubi ilia Augustini et reliquorum prudentia ? quis jam 
 ferat crassissimae ignorantiae iliam vocein in tot et tanlis 
 Patribvis ?" — Alan. Cop. Dialog, p. 76, 77. Vide etiam 
 Bonifac. 11. Epist. ad Eulalium Alexandrinum. Lindanum 
 Panopl. lib. iv. c. 89. in fine Salmeron. torn. xii. Tract. GS, 
 § ad Canomen. Sander, de visibili Monarchia, lib. vii. n. 411. 
 Baron, torn. x. a. j?. 878, 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 239 
 
 afterwards translated to Venice, where his name 
 remains to this day. It is also notorious, that 
 most of the fathers were, of opinion that the souls 
 of the faithful did not enjoy the beatific vision 
 before doomsday : whether Rome was then of that 
 opinion or no, I know not ; I am sure now they 
 are not; witness the councils of Florence and 
 Trent; but of this I shall give a more full account 
 afterwards. But if to all this which is already 
 noted, we add that great variety of opinions 
 amongst the fathers and councils, in assignatiorit 
 of the canon, they not consulting with the bishop 
 of Rome, or any of them thinking themselves 
 bound to follow his rule in enumeration of the 
 books of Scripture, I tliink no more need to be said 
 as to this particular. 
 
 8. But now, if after all this, there be some popes 
 which were notorious heretics, and preachers of 
 false doctrine, some that made impious decrees, 
 both in faith and manners; some that hayc 
 determined questions VN^th egregious ignorance 
 and stupidity, some w^ith apparent sophistry, and 
 many to serve their own ends most openly ; I sup- 
 pose then the infallibility will distknd, and we 
 may do to him as to other g-ood bishops, believe 
 him when there is cause ; but if there be none, 
 then to use our consciences. " For it cannot be 
 sufficient for a christian, that the pope constantly 
 affirms the propriety of his own command ; he 
 must examine for himself, and form his opinion by 
 the Divine law."* I w^ould not instance and 
 repeat the errors of dead bishops, if the extreme 
 boldness of the pretence did not make it necessary ; 
 
 * "Non enim salvat Christianum quod pontifex constanter 
 affirmat prseceptum suum esse justum, sed oportet illud ex- 
 aminaii, et se juxta regulam supeiius datam dirigere." — 
 Tract, de Interdict. Compos, a Theol. Venet. prop. 13. 
 
240 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 but if we may believe Tertullian,* pope Zephe- 
 rinus approved the prophesies of Montanus, and 
 upon that approbation granted peace to the churches 
 of Asia and Phrygia, till Praxeas persuaded him 
 to revoke his act : but let this rest upon the credit 
 of Tertullian, whether Zepherinus were a Monta- 
 nist or no ; some such thing there was for certain.t 
 Pope VigiliusJ denied two natures in Christ : and 
 in his epistle to Theodora, the empress, anathe- 
 matized all them that said he had two natures in 
 one person : St. Gregory himself permitted priests 
 to give confirmation; which is all one as if he 
 should permit deacons to consecrate, they being, 
 by divine ordinance, annexed to the higher orders ; 
 and, upon this very ground, Adrianus affirms, that 
 the pope may err in his definition of the articles 
 of faith.§ And that we may not fear we shall 
 want instances, we may, to secure it, take their 
 own confession : " For there are many heretical 
 decretals," says Occham, as he is cited by Almain, 
 "which," says he, for his own particular, "I 
 firmly believe ; but we must not affirm contrary to 
 what is decreed. "II So that we may as well see 
 that it is certain that popes may be heretics, as 
 that it is dangerous to say so ; and therefore there 
 are so few that teach it. All the patriarchs, and 
 the bishop of Rome himself, subscribed toArianism 
 (as Baronius confesses^); and Gratian affirms that 
 pope Anastasius II, was stricken of God for com- 
 
 * Lib. adver. Praxeam. 
 
 t Vid. Liberal, in Breviario, c. 22. 
 
 X Durand. iv. dist. 7. q. 4. 
 
 §Quse. de Confirm, art. uit. 
 
 II "Nam multse sunt decretales haereticge, el finniter hoc 
 credo ; sed non licet dogmatizare oppositum, quoniam sunt 
 determinatae." — 3 Dist. 24. q. unica. 
 
 1TA. D. 367. n. 41. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 241 
 
 municating with the heretic Photinus.* I know it 
 will be made light of, that Gregory the VII saith, 
 the very exorcists of the Roman church are superior 
 to princes. But what shall we think of that de- 
 cretal of Gregory III, who wrote to Boniface, his 
 legate in Germany, '' That they whose wives 
 refused them conjugal riglits, on account of some 
 bodily infirmity, might marry others ?t" Was this 
 a doctrine fit for the head of a church, and infallible 
 doctor ? It was plainly, if any thing ever was, 
 " the doctrine of devils," and is noted for such by 
 Gratian, caus, xxxii. q. 7. can. Quod proposuisti ^ 
 where the gloss also intimates, that the same 
 privilege was granted to the Englishmen by Gre- 
 gory, ''on the ground of their being but newly 
 converted." And sometimes we had little reasou 
 to expect much better ; for, not to instance in that 
 learned discourse in the canon law, demajorifate 
 et obedientia;t where the pope's supremacy over 
 kings is proved from the first chapter of Genesis ; 
 and the pope is the sun, and the emperor is the 
 moon, for that was the fancy of one pope perhaps, 
 though made authentic and doctrinal by him ; it 
 was (if it be possible) more ridiculous, that pope 
 Innocent III urges, that the Mosaical law was 
 still to be observed, and that upon this argument 
 saith he, *' That by the very word Deuteronomy, 
 or second law, it is shown, that what is there de- 
 termined ought to be observed in the New Testa- 
 ment."§ Worse yet; for when there was a 
 
 * Dist. xix. c. 9. lib. iv. Ep. 2. 
 
 t " Quod illi quorum uxores infirmitate aliqua morbidse 
 debitum reddere noluemnt, aliis poterant nubere?" — Vid. 
 Corranz. Sum. Concil. fol. 218. Edit. Antwerp. 
 
 X Cap. per venerabilem — qui filii sint legitimi. 
 
 § " Sane cum Deuteronomium secunda lex interpretetur, 
 ex vi vocabuU comprobatur, ut quod ibi decernitur in Testa- 
 mento Novo debeat observari." 
 21 
 
24^ THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 corruption crept into the decree, called Sancta 
 Romantt^^ where instead of these words, Sedulii 
 opus heroicis versibus descriptum, " The work of 
 Sedulius, written in heroic verses ;" all the old 
 copies, till of late, read hssreticis versibus de- 
 scriptum, " written in heretical verses ;" this very 
 mistake made many wise men (as Pierius says±), 
 yea, pope Adrian VI, no worse man, believe that 
 all poetry was heretical, because (forsooth) pope 
 Gelasius, whose decree that was, although he 
 believed Sedulius to be a good catholic, yet, as 
 they thought, he concluded his verses to be here- 
 tical. But these were ignorances; it hath been 
 worse amongst some others, whose errors have 
 been more malicious. Pope Honorius was con- 
 demned by the sixth general synod, and his epis- 
 tles burnt; and in the seventh action of the eighth 
 synod, the acts of the Roman council under Adrian 
 II are recited, in which it is said, that Honorius 
 was justly anathematised, because he was convict 
 of heresy. Bellarmine says, it is probable that 
 pope Adrian and the Roman council were deceived 
 with false copies of the sixth synod, and that 
 Honorius was no heretic. To this I say, that 
 although the Roman synod, and the eighth general 
 synod, and pope Adrian, altogether, are better 
 witnesses for the thing than Bellarmine's con- 
 jecture is against it, yet, if we allow his con- 
 jecture, we shall lose nothing in the whole ; for 
 either the pope is no infallible doctor, but may be 
 a heretic, as Honorius was ; or else a council is to 
 us no infallible determiner ; I say, as to us, for if 
 Adrian, and the whole Roman council, and the 
 eighth general, were all cozened with false copies 
 
 * Dist. XV. apud Gratian. j Oe Sacerd. barb. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. £45 
 
 of the sixth synod, which was so little a while 
 before them, and whose acts were transacted and 
 kept in the theatre and records of the catholic 
 church, he is a bold man that will be confident 
 that he hath true copies now. So that let which 
 they please stand or fall, let the pope be a heretic, 
 or the councils be deceived and palpably abused, 
 (for the other, we will dispute it upon other 
 instances and arguments, when we shall know 
 which part they will choose), in the mean time, 
 we shall get in the general what we lose in the 
 particular. This only, this device of saying the 
 copies of the councils were false, was the strata- 
 gem of Albertus Pighius,* nine hundred years 
 after the thing was done; of which invention, 
 Pighius was presently admonished, blamed, and 
 wished to recant. Pope Nicholas explicated the 
 mystery of the sacrament with so much ignorance 
 and zeal, that, in condemning Berengarius, he 
 taught a worse impiety. But what need I any 
 more instances ? It is a confessed case by Baro- 
 nius, by Biel, by Stella, Almain, Occham, and 
 Canus, and generally by the best scholars in the 
 church of Romet, that a pope may be a heretic, 
 and that some of them actually were so ; and no 
 less than three general councils did believe the 
 same thing, viz., the sixth, seventh, and eighth, as 
 Bellarmine is pleased to acknowledge^ ; and the 
 canon si Papa, dist. 40, affirms it in express 
 terms, that a pope is judicable and punishable in 
 that case. But there is no wound but some 
 empiric or other will pretend to cure it ; and there 
 
 * Vid. Diatrib. de act. vi. et vii. Synod. Priefatione ad 
 Lectorem et Dominicum Bannes, xxii. q. 1. a. 10. dub. 2. 
 t Picus Mirand. in Exposit. theorem. 4. 
 t De Pontifice Romano, lib. iv. c. 11. Resp. ad Arg. 4. 
 
244 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 is a cure for this too. For, though it be true that 
 if a pope were a heretic, the church might depose 
 him ; yet no pope can be a heretic, — not but that 
 the man may, but the pope cannot, for he is ipso 
 facto no pope, for he is no christian ; so Bellar- 
 mine :* and so when you think you have him fast, 
 he is gone, and nothing of the pope left. But, 
 who sees not the extreme folly of this evasion ? for, 
 besides that out of fear and caution he grants more 
 than he needs, more than was sought for in the 
 question, the pope hath no more privilege than the 
 abbot of Cluny ; for he cannot be a heretic, nor be 
 deposed by a council ; for, if he be manifestly a 
 heretic, he is ipso facto no abbot, for he is no 
 christian ; and, if the pope be a heretic privately 
 and occultly, for that he may be accused and 
 judged, said the gloss upon the canon si Papa^ 
 dist. 40. And the abbot of Cluny and one of his 
 meanest monks* can be no more, therefore the 
 case is all one. But this is fitter to make sport 
 with than to interrupt a serious discourse.! And, 
 therefore, although the canon Saneta Romana ap- 
 proves all the decretals of popes, yet that very 
 decretal hath not decreed it firm enough, but that 
 they are so warily received by them, that when 
 they list tliey are pleased to dissent from them ; 
 and it is evident, in the extravagant of Sixtus IV. 
 Com. de Reliquiis;X who appointed a feast of the 
 immaculate conception, a special office for the 
 day, and indulgences enough to the observers of 
 it; and yet the Dominicans were so far from 
 believing the pope to be infallible and his decree 
 
 * Lib. ii. c. 30, ubi supra, § est ergo. 
 
 t Vide Alphons. a Castr. lib. i. adv. Haeres. c. 4, 
 
 X Vid. etiam Innocentium, Serm. 2. de Consecrat. Pontif. 
 
 act. vii. viii. Synodic et Concil. S.subSyinraadio. CoUat. viii. 
 
 can. 12. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 245 
 
 authentic, that they declaimed against it in their 
 pulpits so furiously and so long, till they were 
 prohibited, under pain of excommunication, to say 
 the Virgin Mary was conceived in original sin. 
 Now, what solemnity can be more required for 
 the pope to make a cathedral determination of an 
 article.^ The article was so concluded, that a 
 feast was instituted for its celebration, and pain 
 of excommunication threatened to them which 
 should preach the contrary. Nothing more solemn, 
 nothing more confident and severe : and yet, after 
 all this, to show that whatsoever those people 
 would have us to believe, they will believe what 
 they list themselves ; this thing was not deter- 
 mined defide, paith Victorellus. Nay, the autiior 
 of the gloss of the canon law hath these express 
 words : " With regard to the feast of the con- 
 ception, nothing is said, because it is not kept, as 
 it is in many places, and especially in England; 
 and the reason is, that the Virgin was conceived 
 in sin, as were the other saints."* And the com- 
 missaries of Sixtus V, and Gregory XIII, did not 
 expunge these words, but left them upon record, 
 not only against a received and more approved 
 opinion of the Jesuits and Franciscans, but also in 
 plain defiance of a decree made by their visible 
 head of the church, who (if ever any thing was 
 decreed by a pope with an intent to oblige all 
 Christendom) decreed this to that purpose.t 
 So that without taking particular notice of it, 
 
 * " De festo Conceptionis nihil dicitur, quia celebrandum 
 non est, sicut in multis regionibus sit, ex maxime in Anglia; 
 et hffic est ratio, quia in peccatis concepta fuit sicut et caeteri 
 Sancti." — De Angelo custod. fol. 59. de Consecrat. dist. 3, 
 can. pronunci and gloss, verb. Nativit. 
 
 i " Hac in perpetuum valitura constitutione statuircus," 
 &c.— De Reliquiis, &<c. Extrav. Com. Sixt. IV. c. 1. 
 21* 
 
246 
 
 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 that egregious sophistry and flattery of the late 
 writers of the Roman church is in this instance, 
 besides divers others before mentioned, clearly 
 made invalid. For, here the bishop of Rome, not 
 as a private doctor, but as pope, not by declaring 
 his own opinion, but with an intent to oblige 
 the churcli, gave sentence in a question which the 
 Dominicans still account undetermined. And 
 every decretal recorded in the canon law, if It be 
 false in the matter, is just such another instance. 
 And Alphonsus a Castro says it to the same 
 purpose, in the instance of Celestine dissolving 
 marriages for heresy : *' Neither ought this error of 
 Celestine to be imputed to negligence alone, so 
 that we may say he erred as a private individual, 
 and not as a pope; because such a decision as 
 this of his is found in the ancient decretals, in the 
 chapter concerning the conversion of infidels 
 which I myself have seen and read."* And, 
 therefore, it is a most intolerable folly to pretend 
 that the pope cannot err in his chair, though he 
 may err in his closet, and may maintain a false 
 opinion even to his death; for, besides that it is 
 sottish to think that either he would not have tlie 
 world of his own opinion (as all men naturally 
 would), or that if he were set in his chair, he would 
 determine c utrary to himself in his study (and 
 therefore represent it as possible, they are fain to 
 fl)'- to a mira; b, for which they have no color, 
 neither instructions, nor insinuation, nor warrant, 
 nor promise), besides that it were impious and 
 
 * " Neque Cselestini error talis fuit qui soli negligentise 
 imputari debeat, ita ut ilium errasse dicamus velut privatam 
 personam et non ut papam, quoniam hujusmodi Ca?lestlni 
 definitio habetur in antiquis decretalibus, in cap. Laudabilenrj, 
 titulo de converaione iniideliura ; quam ego ipse vidi et legi." 
 — Lib. i. adv. Hseres. cap. 4. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 24? 
 
 unreasonable to depose him for heresy, who may 
 so easily, even by setting himself in his chair, 
 and reviewing his theorems, be cured; it is also 
 against a very great experience : for, besides the 
 former allegations, it is most notorious, that Pope 
 Alexander III, in a council at Rome of three 
 hundred archbishops and bishops, A. D. 1179, 
 condemned Peter Lombard of heresy in a matter 
 of great concernment, no less than something about 
 the incarnation ; from which sentence he was, after 
 thirty-six years abiding it, absolved by Pope In- 
 nocent III, without repentance or dereliction of 
 the opinion. Now if this sentence was not a 
 cathedral dictate, as solemn and great as could 
 be expected, or as is said to be necessary to oblige 
 ail Christendom, let the great hyperaspists of the 
 Roman church be judges, who tell us that a par- 
 ticular council, with the pope^s confirmation, is 
 made oscumenical by adoption, and is infallible, 
 and obliges all Christendom;* so Bellarmine ; 
 and therefore, he says, that it is ** rash, erroneous, 
 and bordering onheresy,"t to deny it: but whether 
 it be or not it is all one, as to my purpose ; for it is 
 certain that in a particular council, confirmed by 
 the pope, if ever, tlien and there the pope sat him- 
 self in his chair; and it is as certain that he sat 
 besides the cushion, and determined ridiculously 
 and falsely in this case : but this is a device for 
 which there is no Scripture, no tradition, no one 
 dogmatical resolute saying of any father, Greek or 
 Latin, for above one thousand years after Christ ; 
 and themselves, when they list, can acknowledge 
 as much.! And, therefore, Bellarmine's saying I 
 
 , * Lib. ii. de Concil, cap. 5, 
 t "Temerarium, erroneum, et proximum haeresi." 
 X De Pontif. Rom. c. 14, <^ Respondeo. In 3 sent. d. 24. 
 
 q. in con. 6. dub, 6. in fine. 
 
248 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 perceive, is believed by them to be true, that there 
 are many things in the decretal epistles which 
 make not articles to be de fide. And, therefore, 
 *' We are not implicitly to believe whatever 
 the pope decrees,"* says Almain. And this serves 
 their turns in every thing they do not like ; and, 
 therefore, I am resolved it shall serve my turn 
 also for something; and that is, that the matter 
 of the pope's infallibility is so ridiculous and 
 improbable, that they do not believe it themselves. 
 Some of them clearly practised the contrary ; and 
 although pope Leo X hath determined the pope 
 to be above a council, yet the Sorbonne to tliis 
 day scorn it at the very heart. And I might 
 urge upon them that scorn that Almain truly 
 enough, by way of argument, alleges.t It is a 
 wonder that they who affirm the pope cannot err in 
 judgment, do not also affirm that he cannot sin : 
 they are like enough to say so, says he, if the 
 vicious lives of the popes did not make a daily 
 confutation of such flattery. Now, for my own 
 particular, I am as confident, and think it as 
 certain, that popes are actually deceived in matters 
 of Christian doctrine, as that they do prevaricate 
 the laws of Christian piety ; and therefore, Alphon- 
 sus a Castro calls them " impudent flatterers of 
 the pope,":}: that ascribe to him infallibility in 
 judgment, or interpretation of Scripture. 
 
 But, if themselves did believe it heartily, what 
 excuse is there in the world for the strange un- 
 
 * " Non est necessario credendum determinatis persum- 
 mwm pontificem." 
 
 t De Authorit. Eccles. cap. 10, in fine. 
 
 X " Impudentes papse assentatores." — Lib. i. c. 4, ad vers. 
 Hseres. edit. Paris, 1534. In seqq. non expurgantur ista 
 verba, at idem sensus manet. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 249 
 
 charitableness or supine negligence of the popes, 
 that thej do not set themselves in their chair, and 
 write infallible commentaries, and determine all 
 controversies without error, and blast all heresies 
 with the word of their mouth, declare what is and 
 what is not cle fide, that their disciples and con- 
 fidents may agree upon it ; reconcile the Francis- 
 cans and Dominicans, and expound all mysteries? 
 For it cannot be imagined, but he that was endued 
 witli so supreme power in order to so great ends, 
 was also fitted with proportionable, that is ex- 
 traordinary, personal abilities, succeeding and 
 derived upon the persons of all the popes. And 
 then the doctors of his church need not trouble 
 themselves with study, nor writing explications 
 of Scripture, but might wholly attend to practical 
 devotion, and leave all their scholastical wrang- 
 lings, the distinguishing opinions of their orders; 
 and they might have a fine church, something like 
 fairy land, or Lucian's kingdom in the moon. 
 But, if they say they cannot do this when they 
 list, but when they are moved to it by the Spirit, 
 then we are never the nearer; for so may the 
 bishop of Angouleme write infallible commen- 
 taries when the Holy Ghost moves him to it; for 
 I suppose his motions are not ineffectual, but he 
 will sufficiently assist us in performing of what 
 he actually moves us to; but, among so many 
 hundred decrees which the popes of Rome have 
 made or confirmed and attested (which is all one), 
 I would fain know in how many of them did 
 the Holy Ghost assist them } If they know it, 
 let them declare it, that it may be certain which 
 of their decretals are de fide; for as yet none of 
 their own church knows. If they do not know, 
 then neither can we know it from them, and then 
 
250 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 we are uncertain as ever; and, besides, the Holy 
 Ghost maj possibly move him, and he by his 
 ignorance of it, may neglect so profitable a motion, 
 and then his promise of infallible assistance will 
 be to very little purpose, because it is with very 
 much fallibility applicable to practice. And, 
 therefore, it is absolutely useless to any man or any 
 church ; because, suppose it settled in Thesi, that 
 the pope is infallible, yet whether he will do his 
 duty and perform those conditions of being assisted 
 which are required of him, or whether he be a secret 
 Simoniac (for if he be, he is ipso facto no pope), 
 or whether he be a bishop, or priest, or a Christian, 
 being all uncertain ; every one of these depending 
 upon the intention and power of the baptizer or 
 ordainer, which also are fallible, because they 
 depend upon the honesty and power of other 
 men, we cannot be infallibly certain of any pope 
 that he is infallible; and, therefore, when our 
 questions are determined, we are never the nearer, 
 but may hug ourselves in an imaginary truth ; the 
 certainty of finding truth out depending upon so 
 many fallible and contingent circumstances. And, 
 therefore, the thing, if it were true, being so to no 
 purpose, it is to be presumed that God never gave 
 a power so impertinently, and from whence no 
 benefit can accrue to the Christian church for whose 
 use and benefit, if at all, it must needs have been 
 appointed. 
 
 But I am too long in this impertinency. If I 
 were bound to call any man master upon earth, 
 and to believe him upon his own affirmative and 
 authority, I would, of all men, least follow him 
 that pretends he is infallible and cannot prove it. 
 For that he cannot prove it, makes me as uncertain 
 as ever; and that lie pretends to infallibility 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 251 
 
 makes him careless of using such means which 
 will morallj secure those wise persons, who, 
 knowing their own aptness to be deceiveclj use 
 what endeavors they can to secure themselves 
 from error, and so become the better and more 
 probable guides. 
 
 Well ! thus far we are come ; although we are 
 secured in fundamental points from involuntary 
 error, by the plain, express, and dogmatical places 
 of Scripture, yet, in other things, we are not, but 
 may be invincibly mistaken, because of the ob- 
 scurity and difficulty in the controverted parts of 
 Scripture, by reason of the uncertainty of the 
 means of its interpretation ; since tradition is of 
 an uncertain reputation, and sometimes evidently 
 false ; councils are contradictory to each otlier, 
 and therefore, certainly are equally deceived 
 many of them, and therefore all may ; and then 
 the popes of Rome are very likely to mislead us, 
 but cannot ascertain us of truth in matter of ques- 
 tion ; and in this world we believe in part, and pro- 
 phesy in part ; and this imperfection shall never be 
 done away, till we be translated to a more glorious 
 state ; either we must throw our chances, and get 
 truth by accident or predestination, or else we 
 must lie safe in a mutual toleration, and private 
 liberty of persuasion, unless some other anchor 
 can be thought upon, where we may fasten our 
 floating vessels, and ride safely. 
 
252 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 Of the Disability of Fathers or Writers Ecclesias- 
 tical, to determine our Questions, with certainty 
 and truth. 
 
 There are some that think thej can determine 
 all questions in tlie world by two or three sayings 
 of the Fatiiers, or by the consent of so many as 
 they will please to call a concurrent testimony. 
 But this consideration will soon be at an end ; for, 
 if the fathers, when tliey are witnesses of tradition, 
 do not always speak truth, as it happened in the 
 case of Papias and his numerous followers, for 
 almost three ages together, then is their testimony 
 more improbable when they dispute or write com- 
 mentaries. 
 
 2. The fathers of tlie first ages spake unitedly 
 concerning divers questions of secret tlieology, and 
 yetwere afterwards contradicted by one personage 
 of great reputation, whose credit had so much in- 
 fluence upon the world, as to make the contrary 
 opinion become popular : why, then, may not we 
 have the same liberty, when so plain an uncertainty 
 is in their persuasions, and so great contrariety in 
 their doctrines ? But this is evident in the case 
 of absolute predestination, which, till St. Austin's 
 time, no man preached, but all taught the contrary ; 
 and yet the reputation of this one excellent man 
 altered the scene. But, if he might dissent from 
 so general a doctrine, why may not we do so too, 
 it being pretended that he is so excellent a prece- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 253 
 
 dent to be followed, if we have the same reason ? 
 He had no more authority nor dispensation to dis- 
 sent, than any bishop hath now. And therefore 
 St. Austin hath dealt ingenuously ; and as he took 
 this liberty to himself, so he denies it not to others, 
 but, indeed, forces them to preserve their own 
 liberty. And, therefore, when St. Jerome'" had a 
 great mind to follow the fathers in a point that he 
 fancied, and the best security he had was, Paliaris 
 me cum tcdibus err arc, '' You may allow me to err 
 with such men," St. Austin would not endure it, 
 but answered his reason, and neglected the autho- 
 rity. And therefore it had been most unreasona- 
 ble that we should do that now, though in his 
 behalf, winch he, towards greater personages (for 
 so they were then), at that time judged to be un- 
 reasonable. It is a plain recession from antiquity, 
 wliich was determined by the council of Florence, 
 '' that the souls of the saints are received imme- 
 diately in heaven, and clearly behold God himself, 
 three in one ;"t as who please to try, may see it 
 dogmatically resolved to the contrary by Justin 
 Marty ivt [r8gneus,§ by Origen,!| St. Chrysostom,^ 
 Theodoret,* •• Arethas Ca3sariensis,tt Euthymius,fl: 
 who may answer for the Greek church; and it is 
 plain tliat it was the opinion of the Greek church, 
 by that great difficulty the Romans had of bringing 
 the Greeks to subscribe to the Florentine council, 
 where the Latins acted their masterpeice of wit 
 and stratagem, the greatest that hath been till the 
 famous and superpolitic design of Trent. And for 
 
 * Sess. ult. 
 
 t "Piorum animas purgatas, &c. mox in ccelum recipi, et 
 intueri clare ipsum Deum trinum et enum sicuti est," 
 X Q. 60, ad. Christian. § Lib. v. || Horn. vii. in Levit 
 H Horn, xxxix. in 1 Cor. ** In c. 11, ad. Heb 
 
 tt Inc. 6, ad Apoc. Jf In 16, c. Luc. 
 
 22 
 
254 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the Latin church, Tertulliaii,'^ St. Auibrose^t St, 
 Austin;± St. Hilary, § Prudcntius.|| Lactantius,^ 
 Victorinus Martyr,**' and St. Bernard,tt are known 
 to be of opinion that the souls of the saints 
 are in abditis rcceptaculis et cxterioribus atriis, 
 "in secret receptacles and outer courts,'* where 
 they expect the resurrection of their bodies, 
 and the olorification of their souls; and though 
 they all believe them to be h.appy, yd tiiey enjoy 
 not the beatific vision before the resurrection. 
 Now, there being so full a consent of Fathers (for 
 many more may be added), and the decree of pope 
 John XXn besides, who was so confident for hi& 
 decree, that he commanded the university of Parisj 
 to swear that they would preach it and no other, 
 and that none should be promoted to degrees in 
 theology that did not swear the like (as Occhani,i|. 
 Gerson,§§ MarsiliusJH and Adrianus,^ <^ rc[)ort). 
 Since it is esteemed lawful to dissent from all these, 
 I hope no man will be so unjust to press other men 
 to consent to an authority which he himself judges 
 to be incompetent. These two great instances 
 are enough ; but if more were necessary, I could 
 instance, in the opinion of the Chiliasts, maintained 
 by the second and third centuries, and disavowed 
 ever since; in the doctrine of communicating 
 infants, taught and practised as necessary by the 
 fourth and fifth centuries, and detested by the 
 
 * Lib. iv. adv. Mar. t Lib. ii. de. Cain. c. 2. 
 
 X Ep. iii. ad Fortunalianum. § In Psal. 138. 
 
 11 De exeq. Defunctor. II Lib. vii. c. 21. ** In c. 6, Apoc. 
 
 tt Serm. iii. de Om. Sanctis. Vid. enim St. Aui:;. in 
 Enchir. c. 108, et lib. xii. de Civit. Dei. c. 9, etin Ps. 36, et: 
 in lib. i. Retract, c. 14. Vid. insuper testiinonia qiue collept 
 Spala. lib. v. c. 8. n. 98, de Repub. Eccl. et Sixt. Senen. 
 lib. 6, Annot. 345. 
 
 Xt In Oper. nonap^. dierum. §§ Serm. de Pascliat. 
 
 nil In iv. sent. q. 13. a 3. "iITI In 4, de Sacram. Cofirmat. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF rUOPIIESYING. 255 
 
 Latin church in all the following ages ; in the 
 variety of opinions concerning the very form of 
 baptism ; some keeping close to the institution and 
 the words of its first sanction, others affirming it 
 to be sufficient, if it be administered in nomine 
 Christii-- particularly St. Ambrose, pope Nicho- 
 las I. V. Bedet and St. Bernard.^ besides some 
 writers of after ages, as Hugo de S. Victore, and 
 the doctors generally, his contemporaries. And 
 it would not be inconsiderable to observe, that if 
 any synod, general, national, or provincial, be re- 
 ceded from bytlie church of the later age (as there 
 have been very many), then, so many fathers as 
 were then assembled and united in opinion, are 
 esteemed no authority to determine our persua- 
 sions. Now, suppose two hundred fathers assem- 
 bled in such a council, if all they had writ books 
 and authorities, two hundred authorities had been 
 alleged in confirmation of an opinion, it would have 
 made a mighty noise, and loaded any man with an 
 insupportable prejudice that should dissent : and 
 yet every opinion m.aintained against the authoritv 
 of any one council, though but provincial, is, in its 
 proportion, such a violent recession and neglect of 
 the authority and doctrine of so many fathers as 
 were then assembled, vvdio did as much declare 
 their opinion in those assemblies, by their suffrages, 
 as if they had writ it in so many books; and their 
 opinion is more considerable in the assembly than 
 in their writings, because it was more deliberate, 
 assisted, united, and dogmatical. In pursuance 
 of this observation, it is to be noted, bv way of 
 instance, that St. Austin, and two hundred and 
 
 * De Consecrat. dist- 4, c. a quod in Judeo. 
 t In c. 10, Act. ' t Ep. 340. 
 
256 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 seventeen bishops, and all their successors,' for a 
 Avhole age together, did consent in denying appeals 
 to Rome ; and yet the authority of so many /withers 
 , (all true catholics) is of no force now at Rome, in 
 this question; but if it be in a matter they like, 
 one of these fathers alone is sufficient. The doc- 
 trine of St. Austin alone brought in the festival 
 and veneration of the assumption of the blessed 
 ^. .virgin, and the hard sentence passed at Rome upon 
 ^ unbaptized infants, and the Dominican opinion 
 concerning predetermination, derived from him 
 alone, as from their original; so that if a father 
 speaks for them, it is wonderful to see what tra- 
 gedies are stirred up against them that dissent, as 
 is to be seen in that excellent nothing of Campian's 
 ten reasons. But if the liithers be against them, 
 then " the fatliers have, in some things, mistaken 
 in no slight deg-ree, and some of them most 
 egregiously,"t says Bellarmine; and it is certain, . 
 the chiefest of them have foully erred. Nay, Posa, 
 Salmeron, and Wadding, in the question of the 
 immaculate conception, make no scruple to dissent 
 from antiquity, to prefer new doctors before the 
 old; and, to justify themselves, bring instances in 
 which the church of Rome had determined against 
 the fathers. And it is not excuse enough to say 
 that, singly, the fathers may err; but if they con- 
 cur they are certain testimony: for there is no 
 
 * Vid. Epist. Bonifacii II, apud Nicolinum, torn. ii. Con- 
 cil. pa<^-e 544, et exemplar preciim Eulalii apud eundem, ibid. 
 p. 525. Qui anathematizat omnes decessores suos, qui, in ea 
 causa, Roma se opponendo rectce fidei regulam prcevaricati 
 sunt ; inter quos tamen fuit Au^ustinus, quern pro maledicto 
 Caslestinus tacite agnoscit, admitlendo ?c. exemplar precum. 
 Vid. Doctor. Marta. de Jurisdict. part. iv. p. 273, et Erasm. 
 Annot. in Hieron. preefat. in Daniel. 
 
 t " Patres in quibusdam non levity lapsi sunt ; constat, 
 quosdam ex praecipuis. — De. Verb. Dei, Tib. iii. c. 10, § dices. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 257 
 
 question this day disputed, by persons that are 
 willing to be tried by the fathers, so generally 
 attested on either side as some points are, which 
 both sides dislike severally or conjunctly : and 
 therefore, it is not honest for either side to press 
 the authority of the fathers, as a concluding 
 argument in matter of dispute, unless themselves 
 will be content to submit, in all things, to the 
 testimony of an equal number of them; which I 
 am certain neither side will do. 
 
 3. If I should reckon all the particular reasons 
 against the certainty of this topic, it would be more 
 than needs as to this question ; and therefore I 
 will abstain from all disparagement of those worthy 
 personages, who were excellent lights to their 
 several dioceses and cures. And therefore I will 
 not instance that Clemens Alexandrinus* taught, 
 that Christ felt no hunger or thirst, but eat only to 
 make demonstration of the verity of his human 
 nature; nor that St. Hilary taught that Christ in 
 his sufferings, had no sorrow ; nor that Origen 
 taught the pains of hell not to have an eternal 
 duration ; nor that St. Cyprian taught rebaptiza- 
 tion ; nor that Athenagoras condemned second 
 marriages ; nor that St. John Damascen said, 
 Christ only prayed in appearance, not really and 
 in truth : I will let them all rest in peace, and 
 their memories in honor. For if I should inquire 
 into the particular probations of this article, I 
 must do to them as I should be forced to do now : 
 if any man should say that the writings of the 
 schoolmen were excellent argument and authority 
 to determine men's persuasions, I must consider 
 their writings, and observe their defailances, their 
 contradictions, the weakness of their arguments, 
 
 * Strom, lib, iii. et vi, 
 
 22-* 
 
258 THE SACRED CLASSICS, 
 
 the misallegations of Scripture, their inconse- 
 quent deductions, their false opinions, and all the 
 weaknesses of humanitj, and the failings of their 
 persons, which no good man is willing to do, 
 unless he be compelled to it bj a pretence that 
 they are infallible, or that they are followed by 
 men even into errors or impiety. And, therefore, 
 since there is enough in the former instances to 
 cure any such mispersuasion and prejudice, I will 
 instance, in tlie innumerable particularities that 
 might persuade us to keep our liberty entire, or to 
 use it discreetly. For it is not to be denied but 
 that great advantages are to be made by their 
 writings, etprobabile est quod omnibus, quodpluri- 
 bus, quod sapientibus videtur ; if one wise man 
 says a thing, it is an argument to me to believe it 
 in its degree of probation ; that is, proportionable 
 to such an assent as the authority of a v/ise man 
 can produce, and when there is nothing against it 
 that is greater; and so in proportion, higher and 
 higher, as more wise men (such as the old doctors 
 were) do affirm it. But that which I complain of 
 is, that we look upon wise men that lived long 
 ago, with so much veneration and mistake, that 
 we reverence them, not for having been wise men, 
 but that they lived long since. But, when the 
 question is concerning authority, there must be 
 something to build it on ; a Divine commandment, 
 human sanction, excellency of spirit, and greatness 
 of understanding, on which things all human 
 authority is regularly built. But, now, if we had 
 lived in their times (for so we must look upon 
 them now, as they did who, without prejudice, 
 beheld them), I suppose we should then have 
 beheld them as we, in England, look on those 
 prelates who are of great reputation for learning 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 259 
 
 and sanctity : here only is the difference ; when 
 persons are living, their authority is depressed by 
 their personal defailances and the contrary in- 
 terests of their contemporaries, which disband, 
 when they are dead, and leave their credit entire, 
 upon the reputation of those excellent books and 
 monuments of learniiiG: and piety which are left 
 behind: but beyond this, why the bishop of Hippo 
 shall have greater authority than the bishop of the 
 Canaries, ceteris paribus, I understand not. For 
 did they that lived (to instance) in St. Austin's 
 time, believe all that he wrote ? If they did they 
 were much to blame, or else himself was to blame 
 for retracting much of it a little before his death : 
 and if, while he lived, his affirmative was no more 
 authority than derives from the credit of one very 
 wise man, against whom, also, very wise men 
 were opposed, I know not why his authority 
 should prevail further now ; for there is nothing 
 added to the strength of his reason since that time, 
 but only that he hath been in great esteem with 
 posterity. And if that be all, why the opinion of 
 the following ages shall be of more force than the 
 opinion of the first ages, against whom St. Austin, 
 in many things, clearly did oppose himself, I see 
 no reason; or whether the first ages were against 
 him, or no, yet that he is approved by the follow- 
 ing ages is no better argument ; for it makes his 
 authority not to be innate, but derived from the 
 opinion of others, and so to be precarious, and to 
 depend upon others, who, if they should change 
 their opinions, and such examples there have been 
 many, then there were nothing left to urge our 
 consent to him ; which, when it was at the best, 
 was only this, because he had the good fortune to 
 be believed by them that came after, he must be 
 
260 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SO still ; and because it was no argument for the 
 old doctors before him, this will not be very good 
 in his behalf. The same I saj of any company of 
 them ; I say not so of all of them ; it is to no 
 purpose to say it; for there is no question this day 
 in contestation, in the explication of which all the 
 old writers did consent. In the assignation of 
 the canon of Scripture, they never did consent for 
 six hundred years together; and then, by that 
 time the bishops had agreed indifferently well and 
 but indifferently, upon that, they fell out in twenty 
 more ; and except it be in the apostles' creed, and 
 articles of such nature, there is nothing which 
 may, with any color, be called a consent, much 
 less tradition universal. 
 
 4. But I will rather choose to show the un- 
 certainty of this topic, by such an argument which 
 was not in the father's power to help; such as 
 makes no invasion upon their great reputation, 
 which I desire should be preserved as sacred as it 
 ought. For other things, let who please, read Mr. 
 Daille, *' On the true use of the Fathers ;" but I 
 shall only consider, that the writings of the fathers 
 have been so corrupted by the intermixture of 
 heretics, so many false books put forth in their 
 names, so many of their writings lost which would 
 more clearly have explicated their sense ; and, at 
 last, an open profession made, and a trade of 
 making the fathers speak, not what themselves 
 thought, but what other men pleased ; that it is a 
 great instance of God's providence, and care of 
 his church, that we have so much good preserved 
 in the writings which we receive from the fathers, 
 and that all truth is not as clear gone as is the 
 certainty of their great authority and reputation. 
 
 The publishing books with the inscription of 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. ;26l 
 
 reat names, began in St. PauPs time ; for some 
 ad troubled the church of Thessalonica with a 
 false epistle, in St. PauPs name, against the incon- 
 venience of which he arms them, in 2 Thess. ii. 1 ; 
 and this increased daily in the church. The 
 Arians wrote an epistle to Constantine,* under 
 the name of Athanasius, and the Eutychians wrote 
 against Cyril of Alexandria, under the name of 
 Theodoret ; and of the age in which the seventh 
 synod was kept, Erasmus reports, '•' That books, 
 under the assumed name of illustrious men, were 
 everywhere to be met with."t It was then a 
 public business, and a trick not more base than 
 public : but it was more ancient than so, and it is 
 memorable in the books attributed to St. Basil, 
 containing thirty chapters ''concerning the Holy 
 Spirit," whereof, fifteen were plainly added by 
 another hand, under the covert of St. Basil, 
 as appears in the difference of tlie style, in the 
 impertinent digressions, against the custom of that 
 excellent man, by some passages contradictory to 
 others of St. Basil, by citing Meletius as dead be- 
 fore him, who yet lived, three years after him,:j: 
 and by the very frame and manner of the dis- 
 course ; and yet it was so handsomely carried, and 
 so well served the purposes of men, that it was 
 quoted under the title of St. Basil by many, but 
 without naming the number of chapters, and by 
 St. John Damascen, in these words : " Basil, in 
 a work containing thirty chapters, to Amphilo- 
 chius ;"§ and to the same purpose, and in the 
 
 * Apolog. Athenas. ad. Constant. 
 
 t "Libris falso celebrium virorum titulo commendatis 
 scatere omnia." — Vid. Baron, a. d. 553. 
 
 X Vid. Baron, in Annal. 
 
 § " Basilius in opere triginta capitum de Spiritu S. ad Ara- 
 philochium." — Lib. i. de fmagin. Orat. 1. 
 
262 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 number of twenty-seven and twenty-nine chapters, 
 he is cited by Photius,* by Euthymius, by 
 Burchard, by Zonaras, Balsamon, and Nicepho- 
 riis; but for this, see more in Erasmus's preface 
 upon this book of St. Basil. There is an epistle 
 goes still under the name of St. Jerome, to the 
 virgin Demetrias, and is of great use in the ques- 
 tion of predestination, with its appendices, and 
 yet a very learned mant, eight hundred years ago, 
 did believe it to be written by a Pelagian, and 
 undertakes to confute divers parts of it, as being 
 high and confident Pelagianism, and written by 
 Julianus Episc. Eclanensis;! but Gregorius Arimi- 
 nensis, from St. Austin, affirms it to have been 
 written by Pelagius himself. I might instance in 
 too many. There is not any one of the fathers 
 who is esteemed author of any considerable 
 number of books, th.at hath escaped untouched : 
 but the abuse in this kind hath been so evident, 
 that now, if any interested person, of any side, be 
 pressed with an authority very pregnant against 
 him, he thinks to escape by accusing the edition, 
 or the author, or the hands it passed through, or, 
 at last, he therefore suspects it, because it makes 
 against him : both sides being resolved that they 
 are in the right, the authorities that they admit 
 they will believe not to be against them ; and they 
 wliich are too plainly against them shall be no au- 
 thorities : and, indeed, the whole world hath been so 
 much abused, that every man thinks he hath reason 
 to suspect whatsoever is against him, that is, v/hathe 
 please; which proceeding only produces this truth, 
 tliat there neither is, nor can be any certainty, nor 
 very much probability, in such allegations. 
 
 * Nomocan. tit. i. cap. 3. 
 
 t V. Beda de Gratia Christi. ad v. Julianum. 
 
 I Gres;. Arim. in ii. sent. dist. xxvi. q, 1. a. 3. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 263 
 
 But there is a worse mischief than this, besides 
 those very many which are not yet discovered, 
 which like the pestilence destroys in the dark, and 
 •yrows into inconvenience more insensibly and 
 more irremediably ; and that is, corruption of 
 particular places, by inserting words and altering 
 them to contrary senses ; a thing which the fathers 
 of the sixth general synod complained of con- 
 cerning the constitutions of St. Clement, "in 
 which certain corruptions of the true faith are 
 introduced by persons heretically inclined, which 
 have obscured the beauty of the divine decrees ;*' *' 
 and so also have his recognitions, so have his 
 epistles been used, if, at least, they were his at 
 all ; particularly the fifth decretal epistle, that 
 soes under the name of St. Clement, in which 
 community of wives is taught upon the authority 
 of St. Luke, saying, the first ChrivStians had all 
 things common ; if all things, then wives also, says 
 the epistle: a forgery like to have been done by 
 some Nicolaitan, or other impure person. Tliere 
 is an epistle of Cyril extant, to Successus, bishop 
 of Diocsesarea, in wliich he relates, that he vvas 
 asked by Budus, bishop of Emessa, wliether he 
 did approve of the epistle of Athanasius to 
 Epictetus, bishop of Corinth, and that his answer 
 was : "If the copies you have are not corrupted, 
 for many are found to be so by the enemies of the 
 church."t And this was done even while the 
 authors themselves were alive ; for so Dionysius 
 
 * " Quibus jam oliin, ab iis qui a fide aliena aentiunt, adul- 
 terina qusedam etiam pietate aliena introducta sunt, qus 
 divinoruin nobis decretorum clegantexn et venustam speciem 
 obscuraruiit." — Can. ii. 
 
 t "Si haec apud vos scripta non sint adultera; nam plura 
 ex his ab hostibus Ecclesiffi deprehenduntur esse depravata." 
 — Euseb. lib. iv. c. 23. 
 
j264 the sacred classics. 
 
 of Corinth complained that his writings were cor- 
 rupted by heretics, and Pope Leo, that his epistle 
 to Flavianus was perverted by the Greeks : and in 
 the synod of Constantinople,* before quoted, (the 
 sixth synod,) Macarius, and his disciples, were 
 convicted " of garbling, or corrupting the writings 
 of the saints."! Thus the tliird chapter of St. 
 Cyprian's book, " On the Unity of the church," 
 in the edition of Pamelius, suftered great altera- 
 tion. These words, primatus Petro daficr, "the 
 primacy is given to St. Peter," wholly inserted ; 
 and these, siipei- cathcdram Petri fundatar eat 
 ecdesia, '''the church is founded upon the chair of 
 St. Peter :" and whereas it was before, super unum 
 sedificat ecclesiam Christus, "Christ builds his 
 church upon one ;" that not being enough, they 
 have made it super ilium unum, " upon that one." 
 Now, these editions are against the faith of all old 
 copies before Minutius and Pamelius, and L;!,i;ainst 
 Gratian, even after himself had been chastised by 
 the Roman correctors, the commissaries of Gre- 
 gory XIII ; as is to be seen where these words 
 are alleged, Decret. c. 24, q. 1. can. Loquitur 
 Dominus ad Petrum. So that we may say of 
 Cyprian's works, as Pamelius himself said con- 
 cerning his writings, and the writings of other of 
 the fathers; saith he: " Whence we gather, that 
 the writings of Cyprian, and others of the fathers, 
 are in various ways corrupted by the transcribers.":!: 
 But Gratian himself could do as fine a feat when 
 he listed, or else somebody did it for him ; and it 
 
 * Act. viii. vid. etiam Synod, vii. act. 4. 
 
 t " Quod sanctorum testimonia aut truncarint autdeprava- 
 rint." 
 
 \ " Cypriani scripta ut et aliorum Veterum a librariis varie 
 fuisse interpolata."— Annot. Ciprian. super. Concil. Car- 
 thag. n. 1. 
 
THE LIBERT V OF PROPHESYING. ^65 
 
 was ill this very question, their beloved article of 
 the pope's supremacy; for he quotes these words 
 out of St. Ambrose : " They do not hold the 
 inheritance of Peter, who do not possess the seat 
 of Peter :"*\/z(fcm, "faith," not sedem, '' seat," it 
 is in St. Ambrose; but this error was made 
 authentic by being inserted into the code of the 
 law of the catholic church ; and considering iiovv 
 little notice the clergy had of antiquity, but what 
 was transmitted to them by Gratian, it will be no 
 great wonder that all this part of the world swal- 
 lowed such a bole, and the opinion that was 
 wrapped in it. But I need not instance in Gratian 
 any further, but refer any one that desires to be 
 satisfied concerning this collection of his, to Au- 
 gustinus, arc'ibishop of Tarracon, in EmendaCwne 
 Graliani, where he shall find fopperies and cor- 
 ruptions, good store, noted by that learned man : 
 but that the Indices Expurgatorii, commanded by 
 authority ,t and practised with public licence, 
 profess to alter and correct the sayings of tlie 
 fathers, and to reconcile them to the catholic sense, 
 by putting in and leaving out, is so great an ini- 
 posture, so unchristian a proceeding, that it hath 
 made the faith of all books and all authors justly 
 to be suspected. For co?isidenng their intluiin 
 diligence and great opportunity, as having had 
 most of the copies in their own hands, together 
 with an unsatisfiahle desire of prevailing in their 
 right, or in their wrong, they have made an ab- 
 solute destruction of this topic; and when the 
 
 * " Non habent Petri hsereditatem, qui non babent Petri 
 sedem. 
 
 t Vid. Iiid. Expurg. Belg. in Bertram, et Fland. Hispan. 
 Portugal. Neopolitan. Romannm. Junium in prefat. ad Ind. 
 Expurg. Belg. Hasenmusserum, p. 275. Withlington, Apo- 
 log. num. -143. 
 23 
 
266 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 fathers speak Latin,* or breathe in a Roman diocess, 
 although the providence of God does infinitely 
 overrule them, and that it is next to a miracle, 
 that in the monuments of antiquity there is no 
 more found that can pretend for their advantage 
 than there is, which, indeed, is infinitely incon- 
 siderable; yet, our questions and uncertainties are 
 infinitely multiplied, instead of a probable and 
 reasonable determination. For since the liatins 
 always complained of the Greeks, for privately 
 corrupting the ancient records, both of councils 
 and fathers,! and now the Latins make open pro- 
 fession, not of corrupting, but of correcting their 
 writings (that is the word), and at the most it was 
 but a human authority, and that of persons not 
 always learned, and very often deceived; the 
 whole mater is so unreasonable, that it is not 
 worth a further disquisition. But if any one de- 
 sires to inquire further, he may be satisfied in 
 Erasmus; in Henry and Robert Stephens, in the 
 prefaces before the editions of Fathers, and their 
 observa,tion upon them; in Bellarmine, de Script. 
 Ecdes.; in Dr. Reynolds, de Libris Jipocryphis ; in 
 Scaliger; andRobert Coke of Leeds, in Yorkshire, 
 in his book de Censura Patriim. 
 
 ' Videat Lector Andream Cristovium, in BpIIo Jesuitico, 
 et Joh. Reynolds, in )ib. de Idol. Rom. 
 I Vid. Ep. Nicolai ad Michael. Imperat. 
 
THE J IBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 9.^7 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 ( f thi mcompefency of the Church in its diffusive 
 capacity to be judge of controversies, and the im- 
 pertinency of tlmt pretence of the Spirit. 
 
 And now, after all these considerations of the se- 
 veral topics, tradition, councils, popes, and ancient 
 doctors of the church, I suppose it will not be ne- 
 cessary to consider the authority of the church 
 apart; for the church either speaks by tradition, 
 or by a representative body in a council, by popes, 
 or by the fatliers : for the church is not a chimera, 
 not a shadow, but a company of men believing in 
 Jesus Christ, which men either speak by themselves 
 immediately, or by their rulers, or by their proxies 
 and representatives. Now, I have considered it in 
 all senses but in its diffusive capacity ; in whicli 
 capacity she cannot be supposed to be a judge of 
 controversies, both because in that capacity she 
 cannot teach us, as also because if by a judge v/e 
 mean all the church diftused in all its parts and 
 members, so there can be no controversy ; for if 
 all men be of that opinion, then there is no question 
 contested : if they be not all of a mind, how can 
 the whole diffusive catholic church be pretended 
 in defiance of any one article, where tiie diffusive 
 church being divided, part goes this way and part 
 another ? But if it be said, the greatest part must 
 carry it ; besides that it is impossible for us to 
 know wliich way the greatest part goes, in many 
 questions, it is not always true that the greater 
 
268 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 part is the best ; sometimes the contrarj is most 
 certain, and it is often very probable, but it is 
 always possible. And wiien paucity of followers 
 was objected to Liberius, he gave this in answer : 
 *' There was a time when but three children of 
 the captivity resisted the king's decree."* And 
 Athanasiust wrote on purpose against those that 
 did judge of truth by multitudes ; and indeed it 
 concerned him so to do, when he alone stood 
 in the gap against the numerous armies of the 
 Arians. 
 
 But if there could, in this case, be any distinct 
 consideration of the church, jat to know Vv^hich is 
 the true church is so liard to be found out, that 
 the greatest question of Christendom are judged 
 before you can get to your judge, and then there 
 is no need of him. For those questions which 
 are concerning the judge of questions, must be 
 determined before you can submit to his judgment; 
 and if you can yourselves determine those great 
 questions, which consist much in universalities, 
 then also you may determine the particulars, as 
 being of less difficulty. And he that considers how 
 many notes there are given to know the true 
 church (no less than fifteen by Eellarmine) and 
 concerning every one of them, almost, whether it 
 be a certain note or no, there are very many 
 questions and uncertainties ; and v^'lien it is re- 
 solved which are the notes, there is more dispute 
 about the application of these notes than of the 
 UparoKptvoiuivov (original question), will quickly be 
 satisfied that he had better sit still than to go round 
 about a difiicult and troublesome passage, and at 
 last get no further, but return to the place from 
 whence he first set out. And there is one note 
 
 * Theod. lib.ii. c. 16,Hist. t Torn. ii. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 269 
 
 amongst the rest, — holiness of doctrine ;~ that is 
 so as to have nothing false either in faith or morals, 
 (for so Bellarmine explicates it), which supposes 
 all your controversies judged before they can be 
 tried by the authority of the church ; and when 
 we have found out all true doctrine, (for that is 
 necessary to judge of the church by that as St. 
 Austin's council is, " We should look for the 
 church in the words of Christ) ;"* then we are 
 bound to follow because we judge it true, not 
 because the church hath said it : — and this is to 
 judge of the church by her doctrine ; not of the 
 doctrine by the church. And, indeed, it is the 
 best and only way; but then how to judge of that 
 doctrine will be afterwards inquired into. In the 
 mean time, the church, that is, the governors of 
 the churches, are to judge for themselves^ and 
 for all those who cannot judge for themselves. 
 For others, they must know that their governors 
 judge for them too, so as to keep tliem iu peace 
 and obedience, though not for the determination 
 of their private persuasions ; for the economy of 
 the church requires that her authority be received 
 by all her children. Now this authority is divine in 
 \ts original, for it derives immediately from Christ, 
 but it is human in its ministration. We are to be 
 led like men, not like beasts : a rule is prescribed 
 for the guides themselves to follow, as we are to 
 follow the guides ; and although, in matters inde- 
 terminable or ambiguous, the presumption lies on 
 behalf of the governors (for we do nothing for 
 authority, if we suffer it not to weigh that part 
 down of an indifferency and a question which she 
 chooses) : yet if there be a manifest error, as it 
 often happens, or if the church governors them- 
 
 * ""Keeiesiam in verbis Christi investigemns." 
 23* 
 
SZ'O THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 selves be rent into innumerable sects, as it is this 
 day in Christendom, then we are to be as wise as 
 we can in choosing our guides, and then to fol- 
 low so long as that reason remains for which we 
 first chose them. And even in that government 
 which was an immediate sanction of God, I mean 
 the ecclesiastical government of the synagogue, 
 where God had consigned the high priest's au- 
 thority, with a menace of death to them tliat 
 should disobey, that all the world might knowrthe 
 meaning and extent of such precepts, and that 
 there is a limit bejr^nd which they cannot com- 
 mand, and we ought not to obey ; it came once to 
 pass, that if the priest had been obeyed in his 
 conciliary degrees, the whole nation had been 
 bound to believe the condemnation of our blessed 
 Savior to have been just ; and, at anotlier time, 
 the apostles must iio more have preached in the 
 name of Jesus. But here was manifest error : 
 and the case is tlie same to every man that in- 
 vincibly, and therefore innocently, believes it so. 
 ' Obey God rather than man,' is our rule in such 
 cases. For although every man is bound to follow 
 his guide, unless he believes his guide to mislead 
 him, yet when he sees reason against his guide it 
 is best to follow his reason ; for though in this he 
 may fall into error, yet he will escape the sin — he 
 may do violence to truth, but never to his own 
 conscience ; and an honest error is better than an 
 hypocritical profession of truth, or a violent luxa- 
 tion of the understanding; since, if he retains 
 his honesty and simplicity, he cannot err in a 
 matter of faith or absolute necessity. God's 
 goodness hath secured all honest and careful 
 persons from that — for other things he must fol- 
 low the best guides he can, and he cannot be 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 271 
 
 obliged to follow better than God hath given 
 him. 
 
 And there is yet another way pretended, of 
 intallible expositions of Scripture, and that is, by 
 the Spirit: but of this I shall say no more, but 
 that it is impertinent to this question. For put 
 case, the Spirit is given to some men, enabling 
 them to expound infallibly; yet because this is 
 but a private assistance, and cannot be proved to 
 others, this infallible assistance may determine my 
 own assent, but shall not enable me to prescribe 
 to others; because it were unreasonable I should, 
 unless I could prove to him that I have the Spirit, 
 and so can secure him from being deceived, if he 
 relies upon me. In this case I may say, as St. 
 Paul, in the case of praying with the Spirit; ' He 
 verily giveth thanks well : but the other is not 
 edified.' So that, let this pretence be as true as 
 it will, it is sufficient that it cannot be of consi- 
 deration in this question. 
 
 The result of all this — since it is not reasonable 
 to limit and to prescribe to all men's understand- 
 ings, by any external rule in the interpretation of 
 difficult places of Scripture, which is our rule ; 
 since no man, nor company of men, is secure from 
 error, or can secure us that they are free from 
 malice, interest, and design ; and since all the 
 ways by which we usually are taught, as tradition, 
 councils, decretals, &c. are very uncertain in the 
 matter, in their authority, in their being legita- 
 mate and natural, and many of them certainly 
 false, and nothing certain but the divine authority 
 of Scripture, in which all that is necessary is 
 plain, and much of that that is not necessary, is 
 ve^-y obscure, intricate, and involved; either we 
 must set up our rest only upon»,flrticles t»f fftith 
 
272 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 and plain places, and be incurious of other ob- 
 scurer revelations (which is a duty for persons 
 of private understandings, and of no public func- 
 tion) ; or, if we will search further (to which, in 
 some measure the guides of others are obliged), it 
 remains, we inquire how men may determine 
 themselves, so as to do their duty to God and not 
 to disserve the church, that every such man may 
 do what he is bound to, in his personal capa- 
 city, and as he relates to the public as a public 
 minister. 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 Of the Autliorily of Reasmi, and that it proceeding 
 upon best grounds is the best judge. 
 
 Here then I consider, that although no man 
 may be trusted to judge for all others, unless this 
 person were infallible and authorized so to do, 
 which no man nor no company of men is, yet every 
 man may be trusted to judge for himself; I say 
 every man that can judge at all (as for others, 
 they are to be saved as it pleaseth God) ; but 
 others that can judge at all must either choose 
 their guides, who shall judge for them (and then 
 they oftentimes do tlie wisest, and always save 
 themselves a labor, but then they choose too) ; or 
 if they be persons of greater understanding, then 
 thiiy are to choose for themselves in particular 
 -what the others do iu gejs^eral; and by choosing 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 273 
 
 their guide ; and for tliis any man may be better 
 trusted for himself than any man can be for 
 another ; for, in this case, his own interest is most 
 concerned ; and ability is not so necessary as 
 honesty, which certainly every man will best pre- 
 serve in his own case, and to himself (and, if he 
 does not, it is he that must smart for it) ; and it is 
 not required of us not to be in error, but that we 
 endeavor to avoid it. 
 
 2. He that follov/s his guide so far as his reason 
 goes along with him ; or which is all one, he that 
 follows his own reason (not guided only by natural 
 arguments, but by divine revelation, and all other 
 good means), hath great advantages over him that 
 gives himself wholly to follow any human guide, 
 whatsoever ; because he follows all their reason and 
 his own too : he follows them till reason leaves 
 them, or till it seems so to him, which is ail one to 
 his particular ; for, by the confession of all sides, an 
 erroneous conscience binds him, when a right guide 
 does not bind him. But he that gives himself up 
 wholly to a guide, is oftentimes (I mean, if he be a 
 discerning person) forced to do violence to his own 
 understanding, and to lose ail the benefit of his 
 own discretion, that he may reconcile his reason 
 to his guide. And of this we see infinite incon- 
 veniences in the church of Home; for we find 
 persons of great understanding oftentimes so 
 amused with the authority of their church, that it 
 is pity to see them sweat in answering some objec- 
 tions, which they know not how to do, but jet 
 believe they must, because the .church hath said it. 
 So that if they read, study, pray, search recoi-ds, 
 and use all the means of art and industry in the 
 pursuit of truth, it is not with resolution to follow- 
 that which shall seem truth to them, but to confirm 
 
274 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 what before thej did believe ; and if any argument 
 shall seem unanswerable against any article of 
 their church, they are to take it for a temptation, not 
 for an illumination, and they are to use it accord- 
 ingly ; which makes them make the devil to be the 
 author of that which God's Spirit hath assisted them 
 to find, ill the use of lawful means, and the search 
 of truth; and when the devil of falsehood is like to be 
 cast out by God's Spirit, they say that it is through 
 Belzebub, which was one of the worst things that 
 ever tlie Pharisees said or did. And was it not a plain 
 stifling of the just and reasonable demands made 
 by the emperor, by the kings of France and Spain, 
 and by the ablest divines among them, which was 
 «sed in the council of Trent, when they demanded 
 the restitution of priests to their liberty of marriage, 
 the use of the chalice, the service in the vulgar 
 tongue ; and these things not only in pursuance of 
 truth, but for other great and good ends^ even to 
 take away an infinite scandal, and a great schism ? 
 And yet, when they themselves did profess it, all 
 the world knew these reasonable demands were 
 denied merely upon a politic consideration ; yet 
 that these things should be framed into articles 
 and decrees of faith, and they for ever after bound 
 not only not to desire the same things, but to think 
 the contrary to be divine truths, never was reason 
 made more a slave, or more useless. Must not all 
 the world say, either they must be great hypocrites, 
 or do great violence to their understanding, when 
 they not only cease from their claim, but must also 
 believe it to be unjust? If the use of their reason 
 had not been restrained by the tyranny and impe- 
 riousness of their guide, what the emperor, and the 
 kings, and their theologues would have done, they 
 can best judge who consider the reasonableness of 
 
THE LIBERTY OF rROPHESYING. -75 
 
 the demand, and the unreasonableness of the 
 denial. But we see many wise men, who, with 
 their optandinn esset ut eccksia liceniiam daret^^ 
 <*^/:., proclaim to all the worlds that in some things 
 they consent, and do not heartily believe what they 
 are bound publicly to profess ; and they themselves 
 would clearly see a difference, if a contrary decree 
 should be framed by the church ; they would, with 
 an infinite greater confidence, rest themselves in 
 other propositions than what they mu&t believe as 
 the case now stands ; and they would find that the 
 authority of a church is a prejudice as often as a 
 free and modest use of reason is a temptation, 
 
 3. God will have no man pressed with another's 
 inconveniences in matters spiritual and intellectual 
 — no man's salvation to depend upon another; 
 and every tooth that eats sour grapes shall be set 
 on edge for itself, and for none else; and this is 
 remarkable in that saying of God by the prophet: 
 'If the propliet ceases to tell my people of their 
 sins, and leads them into error, the people shall 
 die in their sins, and the blood of them I will re- 
 quire at the hands of that prophet. 't Meaning, 
 that God hath so set the prophets to guide us ; that 
 we also are to follow them by a voluntary assent, 
 by an act of choice and election. For, although 
 accidentally and occasionally the sheep may perish 
 by the shepherd's fault, yet that which hath the 
 chiefest influence upon their final condition, is 
 their own act and election ; and therefore God 
 hath so appointed guides to us, that if we perish 
 it may be accounted upon both our scores, upon 
 our own and the guides' too ; which says plainly, 
 that although Me are intrusted to our guides, yet 
 
 * " It were to be wished, that the church allowed, &c." 
 t Ezek. xxxiii. 
 
276 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 we are intrusted to ourselves too. Our guides 
 must direct us; and vet, if they fail, God hath not 
 so left us to them, but he hath given' us enough" to 
 ourselves to discover their failings, and our own 
 duties in all things necessary ; and for other things 
 we must do as well as we can. But it is best to 
 follow our guides, if we know nothing better ; but 
 if we do, it is better to follow the pillar of fire, than 
 ' a pillar of cloud, though both possibly may lead to 
 Canaan : but then, also, it is possible that it may be 
 otherwise. But I am sure, if I do my own best ; 
 then, if it be best to follow a guide, and if it be 
 also necessary, I shall be sure, by God's grace and 
 my own endeavor, to get to it ; but if I, without 
 the particular enc^agement of my understanding 
 follow a guide, possibly I may be guilty of extreme 
 negligence, or I may extinguish God's Spirit, or do 
 violence to my own reason. And whether intrust- 
 ing myself wholly with another be not a laying up 
 my talent in a napkin, I am not so well assured : I 
 am certain the other is not. And since another 
 man's answering for me v/ill not hinder, but that I 
 also shall answer for myself ; as it concerns him to 
 see he does not willfully misguide me^ so it concerns 
 jne to see that he shall not, if I can help it; if I can- 
 not, it will not be required at my hands : whether 
 it be his fault or his invincible error, I shall be 
 charged with neither. 
 
 4. This is no other than what is enjoined as a 
 duty. For since God will be justified with a free 
 obedience — and there is an obedience of under- 
 standing as well as of will and aftbction — it is of 
 great concernment, as to be willing to believe 
 whatever God says, so also to inquire diligently 
 whether the will of God be so as it is pretended. 
 Even our acts of understanding; are acts of choice ; 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 277 
 
 and thei'efore it is commanded, as a duty, to 
 ' search the Scriptures, to try the spirits, whether 
 the J be of God or no, of ourselves to be able to 
 judge what is right, to prove all things, and to 
 retain that which is best.'* For he that resolves 
 not to consider, resolves not to be careful whether 
 he have truth or no, and therefore hath an affection 
 indifferent to truth or falsehood, which is all one as 
 if he did choose amiss; and since, when things 
 are truly propounded and made reasonable and 
 intelligible, we cannot but assent, and then it is 
 no thanks to us ; we have no way to give our wills 
 to God in matters of belief, but by our industry in 
 searching it, and examining the grounds upon 
 which the propounders build their dictates. And 
 the not doing it, is oftentimes a cause that God 
 gives a man over g;c vow a-^oMfxrA', into a reprobate 
 and undiscerning mind and understanding. 
 
 5. And this very thing (though men will not 
 understand it) is the perpetual practice of all men 
 in the world, that can give a reasonable account 
 of their faith. The very Catholic church itself 
 is rationabilis et ubiq. diffusa, saitli Optatus, 'rea- 
 sonable, as well as diffused every where.' For, 
 take the proselytes of the church of Rome — even 
 in their greatest submission of understanding, they 
 seem to themselves to follow their reason most of 
 all: for if you tell them, Scripture and tradition 
 are their rules to follow, they will believe you 
 when they know a reason for it ; and if they take 
 you upon your word, they have a reason for that 
 too ; either they believe you a learned man, or a 
 good man, or that you can have no ends upon 
 them, or something that is of an equal height to 
 
 * Matt. XV. 10 ; John, v. 40; 1 John, iv. 1 ; Ephes. v. 17, 
 Luke, xxiv. 25 ; Rom. iii. 1 1, i. 28 ; Apoc. ii. 2 ; Acts. xvii. 11. 
 24 
 
278 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 fit their understandings. If jou tell them tHey 
 must believe the church, you must teil them why 
 they are bound to it; and if you quote Scripture 
 to prove it, you must give them leave to judge 
 whether the words alleged speak your sense or no, 
 and therefore to dissent if they say no such thing; 
 and although ail men are not wise, and proceed 
 discreetly, yet all make their choice some way or 
 other. He that chooses to please his fancy, takes 
 his choice as much as he that chooses prudently. 
 And no man speaks more unreasonably than he 
 that denies to men the use of their reason in 
 choice of their religion : for that I may, by the 
 way, remove the common prejudice, reason and 
 authority are not things incompetent or repugnant, 
 especially when the authority is infallible and su- 
 preme; for there is no greater reason in the wo'ld 
 than to believe such an authority. But then we 
 must consider, whether every authority tliat pre- 
 tends to be such, is so indeed : and therefore, iJcirs 
 dixit, ergo hoc verimi est, '• God hath said it, there- 
 fore it is true," is the greatest demonstration in the 
 world for things of this nature. But it is not so 
 in human dictates; and yet reason and human 
 authority are not enemies: for it is a good argu- 
 ment for us to follow such an opinion, because it 
 is made sacred by the authority of councils and 
 ecclesiastical tradition, and sometimes it is the 
 best reason we have in a question, and then it is 
 to be strictly followed ; but there may also be, at 
 other times, a reason greater than it that speaks 
 against it, and then the authority must not carry 
 it. But then the difference is not between reason 
 and authority, but between this reason and that, 
 which is greater; for authority is a very good 
 reason, and is to prevail, unless a stronger comes 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIXG. 279 
 
 and disarms it, but then it must give place. So that 
 in this question, by reason, I do not mean a distinct 
 topic, but a transcendent that runs throuo;h all 
 topics ; for reason, like logic, is instrument of all 
 things else: and when revelation, and philosophy, 
 and public experience, and all other grounds of 
 probability or demonstration, have supplied us with 
 matter, then reason does but make use of them : 
 that is, in plain terms, there being so many ways 
 of arguing so many sects, such differing interests, 
 such variety of authority, so many pretences, and 
 so many false beliefs, it concerns every wise man 
 to consider which is the best argument, which 
 proposition relies upon the truest grounds: and if 
 this were not his only way, why do men dispute 
 and urge arguments, why do they cite councils 
 and fathers, why do they allege Scripture and tra- 
 dition, and all this on all sides, and to contrary 
 purposes ? If we must judge, then we must use 
 our reason ; if we must not judge, why do they 
 produce evidence ? Let them leave disputing, and 
 decree propositions magisterially : but then we 
 may choose whether we will believe them or no ; 
 or, if they say we must believe them, they must 
 prove it, and tell us why. And all these disputes 
 concerning tradition, councils, fathers, &c., are 
 not arguments against or besides reason, but con- 
 testations and pretences to the best arguments, 
 and the most certain satisfaction of our reason. 
 But then all these coming into question, submit 
 themselves to reason ; that is, to be judged by 
 human understanding, upon the best grounds and 
 information it can receive. So that Scripture, 
 tradition, councils, and fathers, are the evidence 
 in a question, but reason is the judge ; that is, we 
 being the persons that are to be persuaded, we 
 
280 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 must see that we be persuaded reasonably. And 
 it is unreasonable to assent to a lesser evidence, 
 when a greater and clearer is propounded ; but of 
 that every man for himself is to take cognizance, 
 if he be able to judge ; if he be not, he is not 
 bound under the tie of necessity to know any 
 thing of it. That that is necessary shall be cer- 
 tainly conveyed to him : God, that best can, will 
 certainly take care for that; for if he does not, it 
 becomes to be not necessary ; or, if it should still 
 remain necessary, and he damned for not knowing 
 it, and yet to know it be not in his power, then 
 who can help it? there can be no further care in 
 this business. In other things, there being no 
 absolute and prime necessity, we are left to our 
 liberty to judge that way that makes best demon- 
 stration of our piety, and of our love to God and 
 truth; not that way that is always the best argu- 
 ment of an excellent understanding, for this may 
 be a blessing, but the other only is a duty. 
 
 And now that we are pitched upon that way 
 which is most natural and reasonable in determi- 
 nation of ourselves, rather than of questions, 
 which are often indeterminable, since right reason 
 proceeding upon the best grounds it can, viz. of 
 divine revelation and human authority and proba- 
 bility, is our guide : and supposing the assistance 
 of God's Spirit (which he never denies them that 
 fail not of their duty in all such things in which 
 he requires truth and certainty), it remains that 
 we consider how it comes to pass that men are so 
 much deceived in the use of their reason and 
 choice of their religion ; and that, in this account, 
 we distinguish those accidents which make error 
 innocent, from those which make it become a 
 heresy. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 281 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 Of some Caifses of Error in the exercise of Reason 
 zvhich are exculpate in themselves. 
 
 1. Then I consider that (here are a great many 
 inculpable can ses^of error, which are arguments of 
 human imperfections, not convictions of a sin. 
 Afid first, the variety of human understandings 
 is so great, that what is plain and apparent to 
 one, is difficult and obscure to another; one will 
 observe a consequent from a common principle, 
 and another from thence will conclude the quite 
 contrary. When St. Peter sav/ the vision of the 
 sheet let down, with all sorts of beasts in it, and a 
 voice, saying, ' Eise, Peter, kill and eat,' if he had 
 not, by a particular assistance, been directed to i'n^ 
 meaning of the Holy Ghost, possibly he might 
 have had other apprehensions of the meaning of 
 that vision; for to myself it seems naturally to 
 speak nothing but the abolition of the Mosaica! 
 rites, and the restitution of us to that part of Chris- 
 tian liberty which consists in the promiscuous 
 eating of meats ; and yet, besides this, there want 
 not some understandings in the world, to whom 
 these words seem to give St. Peter a power to kill 
 heretical princes. Methinks it is a strange under- 
 standino; that makes such extractions, but Bozlus 
 and Baronius did so. But men may understand 
 what they please, especially when they are to ex- 
 pound oracles. It was an argument of some wit, 
 but of singularity of understanding, that happened 
 24* 
 
282 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 in the great contestation between the missals of St. 
 Ambrose and St. Gregory. The lot was thrown, 
 and God made to be judge, so as he was tempted 
 to a miracle, to answer a question which them- 
 selves might have ended without much trouble. 
 The two missals were laid upon the altar, and the 
 church door shut and sealed. By the morrow 
 mattins, they found St. Gregory's missal torn in 
 pieces (saith the story), and thrown about the 
 church, but St. Ambrose's opened and laid upon the 
 altar in a posture of being read. If I had been to 
 judge of the meaning of this miracle, I should have 
 made no scruple to have said, it had been the will 
 of God that the missal of St. Ambrose, which had 
 been anciently used, and publicly tried and ap- 
 proved of, should still be read in the church, and 
 that of Gregory let alone, it being torn by :ia 
 angelic hand, as an argument of its imperfection, 
 or of the inconvenience of innovation. But yet 
 they judged it otherwise ; for by the tearing and 
 scattering about, they thought it was meant, it 
 should be used over all the world, and that of St. 
 Ambrose read only in the church of Millain. I 
 am more satisfied that the former was the true 
 meaning, than I am of the truth of the story; but 
 we must suppose that. And now there might 
 have been eternal disputings about the meaning 
 of the miracle, and nothing left to determine, 
 when two fancies are the litigants, and the con- 
 testations about probabilities hinc inch. And 1 
 doubt not this was one cause of so great variety 
 of opinions in the primitive church, when they 
 proved their several opinions, which were myste- 
 rious questions of Christian theology, by testimo- 
 nies out of the obscurer prophets, out of the 
 Psalms and Canticles, as who please to observe 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 283 
 
 their arguments of discourse and actions of council 
 shall perceive thej verj^ much used to do. Now 
 although men's understandings be not equal, and 
 that it is fit the best understandings should 
 prevail, yet that will not satisfy the weaker 
 understandings; because all men will not think 
 that another understanding is better than his own; 
 or, at least, not in such a particular in which, with 
 fancy, he hath pleased himself. But commonly 
 they that are least able are most bold, and the 
 more ignorant are the more confident: therefore 
 it is but necessary, if he would have another bear 
 with him, he. also should bear with another; and 
 if he will not be prescribed to, neither let him 
 prescribe to others. And there is the more reason 
 in this, because such modesty is commonly to be 
 desired of the moi-e imperfect ; for wise men know 
 the ground of their persuasion, and have their 
 confidence proportionable to their evidence ; others 
 have not, but overact their trifles : and therefore 
 I said, it is but a reasonable demand, that they 
 that have the least reason should not be most im- 
 perious ; and for others, it being reasonable enough, 
 for all their great advantages upon other men, they 
 will be soon persuaded to it; for although wise 
 men might be bolder, in respect of the persons 
 of others less discerning, yet they know there are 
 but few things so certain as to create much bold- 
 ness and confidence of assertion. If they do not, 
 they are not the men I take them for. 
 
 2. When an action or opinion is commenced 
 with zeal and piety, against a known vice, or a 
 vicious person, commonly all the mistakes of its 
 proceeding are made sacred by the holiness of the 
 principle, and so abuses the persuasions of good 
 people, that they make it as a characteristic note 
 
284 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 to distinguish good persons from bad ; and tiien, 
 whatever error is consecrated by tliis means, is 
 therefore made the more lasting, because it is ac- 
 counted holy; and the persons are not easily 
 accounted heretics, because they erred upon a 
 pious principle. There is a memorable instance 
 in one of the greatest questions of Christendom, 
 viz. concerning images. For when Philippicus 
 had espied the images of the six first synods upon 
 the front of a church, he caused tlicm to be pulled 
 down : now he did it in hatred of the sixth synod ; 
 for he, being a Monothelite, stood condemned by 
 that synod. The catholics that were zealous foi- 
 the sixth synod, caused the images and represent- 
 ments to be put up again ; and then sprung the 
 question concerning the lawfulness of images in 
 churches.* Philippicus and his party strived, by 
 suppressing images, to do disparagement to the 
 sixth synod ; the catholics, to pi-eserve the honor 
 of the sixth synod, would uphold images. And 
 then the question came to be changed, and th«y 
 who were easy enough to be persuaded to pull 
 down images, were overawed by a prejudice 
 against the Monothelites; and the Monothelites 
 strived to maintain the advantage they had got, by 
 a just and pious pretence against images. The 
 Monothelites would have secured their error by 
 the advantage and consociation of a truth ; and 
 the other would rather defend a dubious and 
 disputable error, than lose and let go a certain 
 truth. And thus the case stood, and the suc- 
 cessors of both parts were led invincibly : for 
 when the heresy of the Monothelites disbanded 
 (which it did in a while after), yet the opinion of 
 the Iconoclasts, and the question of images grew 
 * Vid. Paulum Diaoonuin. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 285 
 
 stronger. Yet, since the Iconoclasts, at the first 
 were heretics, not for their breaking images, but 
 for denying the two wills of Christ, his divine and 
 his human ; — that they were called Iconoclasts 
 was to distinguish their opinion in the question 
 concerning the images ; — but that then Iconoclasts 
 so easily had the reputation of heretics, was be- 
 cause of the other opinion, which was conjunct in 
 their persons ; which opinion men afterwards did 
 not easily distinguish in them, but took them for 
 heretics in gross, and whatsoever they held to be 
 heretical. And thus, upon this prejudice, grev.' 
 great advantages to the veneration of images ; and 
 the persons at first were much to be excused, be- 
 cause they were misguided by that which might 
 have abused the best men. And if Epiphanius, 
 who was as zealous against images in churches as 
 Philippicus or Leo Isaurus, had but begun a public 
 contestation, and engaged emperors to have made 
 decrees against them, Christendom would have 
 had other apprehensions of it than they had when 
 the Monothelites began it : for few men will endure 
 a truth from the mouth of the devil, and if the 
 person be suspected, so are his ways too. And 
 it is a great subtlety of the devil so to temper 
 truth and falsehood in the same person, that truth 
 may lose much of its reputation by its mixture 
 with error, and the error may become more 
 plausible by reason of its conjunction with truth. 
 And this we see by too much experience ; for we 
 see many truths are blasted in their reputation, 
 because persons whom we think we hate, upon 
 just grounds of religion, have taught them. And 
 it was plain enough in the case of Maldonat,*' that 
 said of an explication of a place of Scripture, that 
 * In cap. 6, Johaii. 
 
28G THE SACKKD CLASSICS. 
 
 it was most agreeable to antiquity, but because 
 Calvin had so expounded it he therefore chose a 
 new one : this was malice. But when a prejudice 
 works tacitly, undiscernibly, and irresistibly, o\ 
 the person so wrought upon, the man is to be 
 pitied, not condemned, though possibly his opi^iion 
 deserves it higlily. And therefore it hath been 
 usual to discredit doctrines by the personal de- 
 failances of them that preach them, or with ilie 
 disreputation of that sect that maintains then), 
 in conjunction wdth other perverse doctrines. 
 Faustus,* the Manichee, in St. Austin, glories 
 much that in their religion God v/as worsldped 
 purely, and without images. St. Austin liked it 
 well, for so it was in his too; but from hence, 
 Sanders concludes, that to pull down images in 
 churches was the heresy of the Manichees. The 
 Jews endure no images, therefore Bellarmine makes 
 it to be a piece of Judaism to oppose them.t He 
 might as well have concluded against saying our 
 prayers, and church music, that it is Judaical be- 
 cause the Jews used it. And he would be loth 
 to be served so himself; for he that had a mind to 
 use such arguments might, with much better 
 probability, conclude against their sacran^ent of 
 extreme unction ; because, when the miraculous 
 healing was ceased, then they were not catholics 
 but heretics that did transfer it to the use of dying 
 persons, says Irenaius ;t for so did the Valenti- 
 nians : and, indeed, this argument is something 
 better than I thought for at first, because it was 
 in Irenceus's time reckoned among the heresies. 
 
 *Lib. XX, c. 3, Cont. Faustum Man. Lib. i. c. ult. de 
 Imagin, 
 
 t De Reliq. SS. iib. ii. c. G, Sect. Nicolaus. 
 t Lib. i. c. S, Adv. Hter. 
 
THE LIBERTV OF PROPHESYING. 287 
 
 But there are a sort of men that are even with 
 them, and hate some good things which the church 
 of Rome teaches, because she who teaches so 
 many errors, hath been the publisher, and is the 
 practiser of those things. I confess the thing is 
 always unreasonable, but sometimes it is invinci- 
 ble and innocent; and then maj serve to abate 
 the furj of all such decretory sentences as con- 
 demn all the world but their own disciples. 
 
 S. There are some opinions that have gone 
 liand in liand with a blessing, and a prosperous 
 profession ; and i^ae good success of their defenders 
 hath amused many good people, because they 
 thought they heard CJod's voice where they saw 
 God's h.and ; and therefore have rushed upon such 
 opinions with great piety, and as great mistaking. 
 For where they once had entertained a fear of 
 God, and apprehension of his so sensible declara- 
 tion, such a fear produces scruple; and a scrupu- 
 lous conscience is always to be pitied, because, 
 lliougli it is seldom wise, it is always pious. And 
 this very thing liath prevailed so far upon the 
 understandings, even of wise men, that Bcllarmine 
 makes it a note of the true church : which opinion, 
 wlien it prevails, is a ready way to make that, 
 instead of martyis, all men should prove heretics 
 or apostates in persecution; for since men in 
 misery are very suspicious, out of strong desires 
 to find out the cause, that by removing it they 
 may be relieved, they, apprehend that to be it that 
 is first presented to their fears ; and then, if ever 
 truth be afflicted, she shall also be destroyed. I 
 will say nothing in defiance of this fancy, although 
 all the experience in the world says it is false ; 
 and that, of all men, christians should least believe 
 it to be true, to whom a perpetual cross is their 
 
288 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 certain expectation (and the argument is like the 
 moon, for which no garment can be fit ; it alters 
 according to the success of human affairs, and in 
 one age will serve a papist, and in another a pro- 
 testant) ; yet, when such an opinion does prevail 
 upon timorous persons, the malignity of their error 
 (if any be consequent to this fancy, and taken up 
 upon the reputation of a prosperous heresy) is not 
 to be considered simply and nakedly, but abate- 
 ment is to be made in a just proportion to that 
 fear, and to that apprehension. 
 
 4. Education is so great and so invincible a pre- 
 judice, that he who masters the inconvenience of 
 it is more to be commended than he can justly be 
 blamed that complies v>'ith it. For men do not 
 always call them principles which are the prime 
 fountains of reason, from M'hence such consequents 
 naturally flow, as are to guide the actions and dis- 
 courses of men : but they are principles wiiich 
 they are first taught, which they sucked in next to 
 their milk; and, by a proportion to those first 
 principles, they usually take their estimate of 
 propositions. For whatsoever is taught to them 
 at first they believe infinitely, for they know no- 
 thing to the contrary: they have had no other 
 masters whose theorems might abate the strength of 
 their first persuasions. And it is a great advantage 
 in those cases to get possession ; and before their 
 first principles can be dislodged, they are made 
 habitual and complexional ; it is in their nature 
 then to believe them, and this is helped forward 
 very much by the advantage of love and veneration 
 which we have to the first parents of our persua- 
 sions ; and we see it in the orders of regulars in 
 the church of Rome. That opinion which was the 
 opinion of their patron or founder, or of some 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 489 
 
 eminent personage of the institute, is enough to 
 engage all the order to be of that opinion; and it 
 is strange that all the Dominicans shall be of one 
 opinion in the matter of predetermination and 
 immaculate conception, and all the Franciscans 
 of the quite contrary ; as if their understandings 
 were formed in a different mould, and furnished 
 with various principles by their very rule. Now 
 this prejudice works by many principles ; but h'ow 
 strongly they do possess the understanding, is 
 visible in that great instance of the affection and 
 perfect persuasion the weaker sort of people 
 have to that which they call the religion of their 
 forefathers.* You may as well charm a fever 
 asleep with the noise of bells, as make any pre- 
 tence of reason against that religion which old men 
 have entailed upon their heirs male so many gene- 
 rations till they can prescribe. And the apostles 
 found this to be most true in the extremest diffi- 
 culty they met with, to contest against the rites of 
 Moses, and the long superstition of the Gentiles, 
 which they therefore thought lit to be retained, 
 because they had done so formerly; 'proceeding 
 as things were or had been, not as they ought to 
 be,'t and all the blessings of this life which God 
 gave them, they had in conjunction with their re- 
 ligion, and therefore they believed it was for their 
 religion, and this persuasion was bound fast in 
 them with ribs of iron ; the apostles were forced 
 to unloose the whole conjuncture of parts and 
 principles in their understandings, before they 
 could make them malleable and receptive of any 
 
 * " Optima rati ea quae magno assensu recepta sunt, quo- 
 rumq. exempla multa sunt ; nee ad rationem, sed ad simili- 
 tudinem vivimus." — Sen. Vid. Minut. Fel. octav. 
 
 t Pergentes non quo eundum est, sed quo itur. 
 
290 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 impresses : but the observation and experience of 
 all wise men can justify this truth. All that I 
 shall say to the present purpose is this, that con- 
 sideration is to be had to the weakness of persons 
 when they are prevailed upon by so innccent a 
 prejudice ; and, when there cannot be arguments 
 strong enough to overmaster an habitual persua- 
 sion, bred with a man, nourished up with him, that 
 always eat at his table, and lay in his bosom, he is 
 not easily to be called heretic ; for, if he keeps the 
 foundation of faith, other articles are not so clearly 
 demonstrated on either side but that a man may 
 innocently be abused to the contrary. And there- 
 fore, in this case, to handle him charitably, is but 
 to do him justice ; and when an opinion in mino- 
 ribus articulis, " in points of inferior moment," is 
 entertained upon the title and stock of education, 
 it may be the better permitted to him, since upon 
 no better stock nor stronger arguments, most 
 men entertain their whole religion, even Chris- 
 tianity itself. 
 
 5. There are some persons of a differing persua- 
 sion, who, therefore, are the rather to be tolerated, 
 because the indirect practices and impostures of 
 their adversaries have confirmed them, that those 
 opinions which they disavow are not from God, as 
 being upheld by means not of God's appointment, 
 for it is no unreasonable discourse to say, that God 
 will not be served with a lie, for he does not need 
 one, and he hath means enough to support all those 
 truths which he hath commanded ; and hath sup- 
 plied every honest cause with enough for its mainte- 
 nance and to contest against its adversaries. And 
 (but that they which use indirect arts will not be 
 willing to lose any of their unjust advantages, nor 
 yet be charitable to those persons whom either to 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 291 
 
 gain or to undo thej leave nothing unattempted) 
 the church of Rome hath much reason not to be so 
 decretory in her sentences against persons of a dif- 
 fering persuasion ; for if their cause were entirely 
 the cause of God, they have given wise people 
 reason to suspect it, because some of them have 
 gone to the devil to defend it. And if it be re- 
 membered what tragedies were stirred up against 
 Lutlier, for saying the devil had taught him an 
 argument against the mass, it will be of as great 
 advantage against them that they go to the devil for 
 many arguments to support not only the mass, but 
 the other distinguishing articles of their church ; I 
 instance in the notorious forging of miracles, and 
 framing of false and ridiculous legends. For the 
 former, I need no other instances than what hap- 
 pened in the great contestation about the immacu- 
 late conception, when there w^ere miracles brought 
 on both sides to prove the contradictory parts ; 
 and though it be more than probable that both sides 
 played the jugglers, yet the Dominicans had the 
 ill luck to be discovered, and the actors burned at 
 Berne. But this discovery happened by Provi- 
 dence ; for the Dominican opinion hath more de- 
 grees of probability than the Franciscan, is clearly 
 more consonant both to Scripture and all antiquity, 
 and this part of it is acknowledged by the greatest 
 patrons themselves, as Salmeron, Posa, and Wad- 
 ding; yet because they played the knaves in a just 
 question, and used false arts to maintain a true 
 proposition, God Almighty, to show that he will 
 not be served by a lie, was pleased rather to dis- 
 cover the imposture in the right opinion than in 
 the false ; since nothing is more dishonorable to 
 God than to offer a sin in sacrifice to him, and 
 notliing more incongruous in the nature of the 
 
£92 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 thing, than that truth and falsehood should sup- 
 port each other, or that true doctrine should live at 
 the charges of a lie. And he that considers the 
 arguments for each opinion^ will easily conclude, 
 that if God would not have truth confirmed by a 
 lie, much less would he himself attest a lie witli a 
 true miracle. And by this ground it will easily 
 follow, that the Franciscan party although they 
 had better luck than the Dominicans, yet had not 
 more honesty, because their cause was worse, and 
 therefore their arguments no whit the better. 
 And although the argument drawn from miracles 
 is good to attest a holy doctrine, which by its own 
 worth will support itself, after way is a little 
 made by miracles ; yet of itself, and by its own 
 reputation, it will not support any fabric: for 
 instead of proving a doctrine to be true, it makes 
 that the miracles themselves are suspected to be 
 illusions, if they be pretended in behalf of a doc- 
 trine which we think wc have reason to account 
 false. And therefore the Jews did not believe 
 Christ's doctrine for his miracles, but disbelieved 
 the truth of his miracles because they did not like 
 his doctrine. And if the holiness of his doctrine, 
 and the Spirit of God by inspirations and infusions, 
 and by that which St. Peter calls * a surer word of 
 prophecy,' had not attested the divinity both of 
 his person and his office, we should have wanted 
 many degrees of confidence which now we have 
 upon the truth of Christian religion.* Eut now, 
 since we are foretold by this surer word of pro- 
 phecy, that is, the prediction of Jesus Christ, that 
 Antichrist should come in all wonders and signs, 
 and lying miracles ; and that the church saw much 
 
 * Vide Baron. A. D. 68, n. 22. Pliilostrat. lib. iv. t. 485. 
 Coinpend. Cedren, p. 202. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 293 
 
 of that already verified in Simon Magus Apollo- 
 nius Tyanaeus, and Manetho, and divers heretics ;* 
 it is now come to that pass, that the argument, in 
 its best advantage, proves nothing so much as that 
 the doctrine which it pretends to prove is to be 
 suspected, because it was foretold that false doc- 
 trine should be obtruded under such pretences. But 
 then, when not only true miracles are an insuffi- 
 cient argument to prove a trutli, since the esta- 
 blishment of Christianity, but that the miracles 
 themselves are false and spurious ; it makes that 
 doctrine in whose defence they come, justly to be 
 suspected, because they are a demonstration that 
 the interested persons use all means, leave nothing 
 unattempted, to prove their propositions ; but 
 since they so fail as to bring nothing from God, but 
 something from the devil for its justification, it is 
 a great sign that the doctrine is false, because we 
 know the devil, unless it be against his will, does 
 nothing to prove a true proposition that makes 
 against him. And now, then, those persons who 
 will endure no man of another opinion, might do 
 well to remember how, by their exorcisms, their 
 devil's tricks at Loudun, and the other side pre- 
 tending to cure mad folks and persons bewitched, 
 and the many discoveries of their juggling, they 
 have given so much reason to their adversaries to 
 suspect their doctrine, that either they must not 
 be ready to condemn their persons who are made 
 suspicious by their indirect proceeding, in attest- 
 ation of that which they value so high as to call 
 their religion, or else they must condemn them- 
 selves for making the scandal active and effectual. 
 As for false legends, it will be of the same 
 consideration, because they are false testimonies 
 
 * Stapelton, Prompt. Mora], pars ^Estiva, p. 672. 
 25* 
 
294 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 of miracles that were never done; which diifers 
 only from the other, as a lie in words from a lie 
 in action. But of this we have witness enough in 
 that decree of pope Leo X, session the eleventh 
 of the last Lateran council, where he excommuni- 
 cates all the forgers and inventors of visions and 
 false miracles, which is a testimony that it was 
 then a practice so public as to need a law for its 
 suppression; and if any man shall doubt w-lietlier 
 it were so or no, let him see th^ Centum Grava- 
 mina of the princes of Germany, where it is high- 
 ly complained of. But the extreme stupidity and 
 sottishness of the inventors of lying stories is so 
 great, as to give occasion to some persons to 
 suspect the truth oi" all church story f witness the 
 Legend of Lombardy, of the author of which the 
 bishop of the Canaries gives this testimony : '-' You 
 will oftener read in this book monstrous prodigies 
 than real miracles ; he vv'ho wrote it was a sliame- 
 less and dull fellow, and far enough from being 
 of a serious and judicious mind."t But, I need 
 not descend so low; for St. Gregory and V. Bede 
 themselves reported miracles, for the athority of 
 which they only had the report of the common 
 people ;± and it is not certain that St. Jerome had 
 so much in his stories of St. Paul and St. An- 
 thony, and the fauns and the satyrs which appeared 
 to them, and desired their prayers.§ But I shall 
 only, by way of eminency, note what Sir Thomas 
 More says, in his epistle to Ruthal, the king's 
 secretary, before the dialogue of Lucian (Philop- 
 
 * Tfifc ydip /«» iipn/uiiva. inCiu^p/uivoi, itcti to. ctCiAcrrsos i!p>:,uiva. 
 vTroTrnuic-QM '^ctfcLs-niv^nTiv . — Isid. Pelus. 
 
 t " In illo enim libro miraculorum monstra ssepius quam 
 ■vera rairacula lecras. Hanc homo scripsit ferrei oris, plumbei 
 cordis, animi certe parum severi et prudentis." 
 
 I Vide lib. xi. loc. Theol. cap. 6. § Canus, ibid. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. £95 
 
 seudes) ; that, therefore, he undertook tlie transla- 
 tion of that dialogue, to free the world from a 
 superstition that crept in under the face and title 
 of religion. For such lies, sajs he, are transmitted 
 to us with such authority, that a certain impostor 
 had persuaded St. Austin, that the very fable 
 which Lucian scoffs, and makes sport withal in 
 that dialogue,* was a real story, and acted in his 
 own days. The epistle is worth the reading to 
 this purpose : but, he says, this abuse grew to such 
 a height, that scarce any life of any saint or 
 martyr is truly related, but is full of lies and 
 lying wonders; and some persons thought they 
 served God, if they did honor to God's saints by 
 inventing some prodigious story or miracle for 
 tlieir reputation. So that now it is no wonder, 
 if the most pious men are apt to believe, and the 
 greatest historians are easy enough to report such 
 stories, which, serving to a good end, are also 
 consigned by the report of persons otherwise pious 
 and prudent enough. I will not instance in 
 Vincentius his Speculum, Turonensis, Thomas 
 Cantipratanus, John Herolt, Vitx Patrum,^ nor 
 the revelations of St. Bridget, though confirmed 
 by two popes, Martin V, and Boniface IX : even 
 the best and most deliberate amongst them, Lip- 
 poman, Surius, Lipsius, Bzovius, and Baronius, 
 are so full of fables, that they cause great disrepu- 
 tation to the other monuments and records of 
 antiquity, and yet do no advantage to tlie cause 
 under which they serve and take pay. They do 
 no good, and much luirt; but yet, accidentallj', 
 
 * Viz.Deduobusspurinis,alterodecedente, alteroinvitam 
 redeunte post viginti dies ; qiiam in aliis nominibus ridet Lu- 
 cianus. Vide etiatn argumentum Gilberti Cognati, in Annotat 
 in hiinc Dialog. ^ 
 
 f Vide Palaeot. de Sacra Sindone, part i. Epist. ad Lector 
 
S96 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 they may procure this advantage to charity, since 
 they do none to faith; that, since they have so 
 abused the credit of story, that our confidences 
 want much of that support we should receive from 
 her records of antiquity, yet the men that dissent 
 and are scandalized by such proceedings should 
 be excused, if they should chance to be afraid of 
 truth that hath put on garments of imposture ; and, 
 since much violence is done to the truth and 
 certainty of their judging, let none be done to 
 their liberty of judging : since they cannot meet 
 a right guide, let them have a charitable judge. 
 And, since it is one very great argument against 
 Simon Magus and ag&inst Mahomet, that we can 
 prove their miracles to be impostures, it is much 
 to be pitied if timorous and suspicious persons 
 shall invincibly and honestly less apprehend a 
 truth which they see conveyed by such a testi- 
 mony, which we all use as an argument to reprove 
 the Mahometan superstition. 
 
 6. Here also comes in all the weaknesses and 
 trifling prejudices which operate not by their own 
 strength, but by advantage taken from the weak- 
 ness of some understandings. Some men by a 
 proverb or a common saying, are determined to 
 the belief of a proposition, for which they have no 
 argument better than such a proverbial sentence. 
 And when divers of the common people in Jeru- 
 salem were ready to yield their understandings to 
 the belief of the Messias, they were turned clearly 
 from their apprehensions by that proverb, " Look 
 and see, does any good thing come from Galilee r" 
 andthis; *'When Christ comes, no man knows 
 from whence he is ;■' but this man w^as known of 
 what parents, of what city. And thus the weak- 
 ness of their understanding was abused, and that 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 297 
 
 made the argument too hard for them. And the 
 whole seventh chapter of St. John's Gospel is a 
 perpetual instance of the efficacy of such trifling 
 prejudices, and the vanity and weakness of popu- 
 lar understandings. Some whole ages have been 
 abused bj a definition, which, being once received, 
 as most commonly they are, upon slight grounds, 
 they are taken for certainties in any science re- 
 spectively, and for principles ; and upon their 
 reputation men use to frame conclusions, which 
 must be false or uncertain, according as the defi- 
 nitions are. And he that hath observed any thing 
 of the weaknesses of men, and the successions of 
 groundless doctrines from age to age, and how 
 seldom definitions which are put into systems, or 
 that derive from the fathers, or approved among 
 school -men, are examined by persons of the same 
 interests, will bear me witness, how many great 
 inconveniences press hard upon the persuasions 
 of men, who are abused, and yet never consider 
 who hurt them. Others, and they very many, are 
 led by authority, or examples of princes, and 
 great personages : " Have any of the mlers be- 
 lieved on him ?"* Some, by the reputation of one 
 learned man, are carried into any persuasion 
 whatsoever. And, in the middle and latter ages 
 of the church, this was the more considerable, be- 
 cause the infinite ignorance of the clerks and the 
 men of the long robe, gave them over to be led by 
 those few guides which were marked to them by 
 an eminency, much more than their ordinary; 
 which also did the nuore amuse them, because 
 most commonly they were fit for nothing but to 
 admire what they understood not ; their learning 
 then was in some skill in the master of the sen- 
 * John, vii. 
 
^98 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 tences, in Aquinas or Scotus, whom they admired 
 next to the most intelligent order of angels. 
 Hence came opinions that made sects and division 
 of names — Thomists, Scotists, Albertists, Nomi- 
 nals, Reals, and I know not what monsters of 
 names; and whole families of the same opinion, 
 the whole institute of an order being engaged to 
 believe according to the opinion of some leading 
 man of the same order ; as if such an opinion were 
 imposed upon them as a proof of holy obedience. 
 But this inconvenience is greater when the prin- 
 ciple of the mistake runs higher, when the opinion 
 is derived from a primitive man and a saint ; for 
 then it often happens, that what at first was but 
 a plain, innocent seduction, comes to be made 
 sacred by the veneration which is consequent to 
 the person, for having lived long agone ; and then, 
 because the person is also since canonized, the 
 eiTor is almost made eternal, and the cure despe- 
 rate. These, and the like prejudices, which are 
 as various as the miseries of humanity, or the 
 variety of human understandings, are not absolute 
 excuses, unless to some persons ; but truly, if they 
 be to any, they are exemptions to all, from being 
 pressed with too peremptory a sentence against 
 them; especially if we consider what leave is 
 given to all men, by the church of Rome, to follow 
 any one probable doctor, in an opinion which is 
 contested against by many more. And as for the 
 doctors of the other side, they being destitute of 
 any pretences to an infallible medium to deter- 
 mine questions, must, of necessity, allow the same 
 liberty to the people, to be as prudent as they can 
 in the choice of a fallible guide ; and when they 
 have chosen, if they do follow him into error, the 
 matter is not so inexpiable for being deceived in 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 299 
 
 using the best guides we had, which guides, be- 
 cause themselves were abused, did also, against 
 tiieir wills, deceive me : so that this prejudice may 
 the easier abuse us, because it is almost like a 
 duty to follow the dictates of a probable doctor; 
 or, if it be over acted, or accidentally pass into 
 an inconvenience, it is therefore to be excused, 
 because the principle was not ill, unless we judge 
 by our event, not by the antecedent probability. 
 Of such men as these it was said by vSt. Austin, 
 "The common sort of people are safe, in their not 
 inquiring by their own industry, and, in the sim- 
 plicity of their understanding, relying upon the 
 best guides they can get."* 
 
 But this is of such a nature, in which, as we 
 may inculpably be deceived, so we may turn it 
 into a vice or a design, and then the consequent 
 errors will alter the property, and become heresies. 
 There are some men tliat have men's persons in 
 admiration, because of advantage ; and some that 
 have itching ears, and heap up teachers to them- 
 selves. In these and the like cases, the authority 
 of a person, and the prejudices of a great reputa- 
 tion, is not the excuse but the fault : and a sin is 
 so far from excusing an error, that error becomes 
 a sin by reason of its relation to that sin, as to its 
 parent and principle. 
 
 ***Caeteram turbara non intelligendi vivacitas, sed ere- 
 dendi simplicitas tutissimam facit." — Contr. Fund. cap. 4. 
 And Gregory Nazianzen, la^u ttokkakh tqv kolov to aQclo-o.- 
 vicTTov. — Orat. xxi. 
 
300 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 Of the Innocency of Error in Opinion, in a pious 
 Person. 
 
 And, therefore, as there are so many innocent 
 causes of error as there are weaknesses within, 
 and harmless and unavoidable prejudices from 
 without, so, if ever error be procured bj a vice, it 
 hath no excuse, but becomes such a crime, of so 
 much malignity, as to have influence upon the 
 effect and consequent, and, by communication, 
 makes it become criminal. The apostles noted 
 two such causes, covetousness and ambition ; the 
 former in them of the circumcision, and the latter 
 in Diotrephes and Simon Magus ; and there were 
 some that were " led away by divers lusts :"* 
 they were of the long robe too ; but they were the 
 she disciples, upon whose consciences some false 
 apostles had influence, by advantage of their 
 wantonness ; and thus the three principles of all 
 sin become also the principles of heresy — the lust 
 of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of 
 life. And in pursuance of these arts, the devil 
 hath not wanted fuel to set awork incendiaries, in 
 all ages of the church. The bishops were always 
 honorable, and, most commonly, had great reve- 
 nues, and a bishopric would satisfy the two de- 
 signs of covetousness and ambition ; and this hath 
 been the golden apple very often contended for, 
 and very often the cause of great fires in the 
 church. "Thebulis created great disturbances 
 
 * 2 Tim. iii. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 301 
 
 in the ehurcb, because he could not obtain the 
 bishopric of Jerusalem," said Egesippus, in Euse- 
 bius. Tertullian turned Montanist, in discontent 
 for missing tiie bishopric of Carthage, after Agrip- 
 pinus^ and so did Montanus himself, for the same 
 disconteiit, saith Nicephorus, Novatus would 
 have been bishop of Rome ; Donatus, of Carthage ; 
 Arius, of Alexandria ; Aerius, of Sebastia : but 
 they ail missed, and therefore ail of them vexed 
 Christendom. And this was so common a thing, 
 that oftentimes the threatening the church with 
 a schism, or a heresy, was a design to get a 
 bishopric : and Socrates reports of Asterius, that 
 he did frequent the conventicles of the Aiians, 
 *' for he aimed at some bishopric." And setting 
 aside the infirmities of men, and their innocent 
 prejudices, Epiphanius makes pride to be the 
 only cause of heresies : vCf,ig nm Tfox-oicr:?, pride and 
 prejudice cause them all, the one criminally,, the 
 other innocently. And, indeed, St, Paul does 
 almost make pride the only cau&e of heresies ; his 
 words cannot be expounded, unless it be at least 
 the principal : " If any man teach otherwise and 
 consent not to sound words, and to the doctrine 
 that is according to godliness, he is pix)ud, know- 
 ing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes 
 of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, 
 evil surmisings."* 
 
 The sum is this ; if ever an opinion be begun 
 with pride, or managed with impiety, or ends in a 
 crime, the man turns heretic t but let the error be 
 never so great, so it be not against an article of 
 creed, if it be simple, and hath no confederation 
 with the personal iniquity of the man, the opinion 
 is as innocent as the person, though, perhaps a? 
 
 * iTim. vi. 3,4. 
 26 
 
302 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 false as he is ignorant ; and therefore shall burn, 
 though he himself escape. But in these cases, 
 and many more (for the causes of deception in- 
 crease by all accidents, and weaknesses, and illu- 
 sions), no man can give certain judgment upon 
 the persons of men in particular, unless the matter 
 of fact and crime be accident and notorious. The 
 man cannot, by human judgment, be concluded a 
 heretic unless his opinion be an open recession 
 from plain, demonstrative, divine authority (which 
 must needs be notorious, voluntary, vincible, 
 and criminal), or that there be a palpable serving 
 of an end, accidental and extrinsical to the 
 opinloii. 
 
 But this latter is very hard to be discerned; 
 because those accidental and adherent crimes 
 which make the man a heretic, in questions not 
 simply fundamental or of necessary practice, are 
 actions so internal and spiritual, that cognizance 
 can but seldom be taken of them. And therefore, 
 to instance, though the c-inion of purgatory be 
 false, yet to believe it cannot be heresy, if a man 
 be abused into the belief of it invincibly: because 
 it is not a doctrine either fundamentally false or 
 practically impious, it neither proceeds from tlie 
 will, nor hath any immediate or direct influence 
 upon choice and manners. And as for those 
 other ends of upholding that opinion, which 
 possibly its patrons may have; as for the reputa- 
 tion of their church's infallibility, for the advan- 
 tage of dirges, requiems, masses, monthly minds, 
 anniversaries, and other offices for the dead, which 
 usually are very profitable, rich, and easy, these 
 things may possibly have sole influences upon 
 their understanding, but whether they Imve or no 
 God only knows. If the proposition and article 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 30S 
 
 were true, these ends might justly be subordinate, 
 and consistent with a true proposition. And 
 there are some truths that are also profitable ; as 
 the necessity of maintenance to the' clergy, the 
 doctrine of restitution, giving alms, lending freely, 
 remitting debts in cases of great' necessity; and 
 it would be but an ill argument that the preachers 
 of these doctrines speak false, because, possibly, 
 in these articles, they may serve their own ends. 
 For although Demetrius and the craftsmen were 
 without excuse for resisting the preaching of St. 
 Paul, because it was notorious they resisted the 
 truth upon ground of profit and personal emolu- 
 ments, and the matter was confessed by them- 
 selves; yet, if the clergy should maintain their 
 just rights and revenues, which by pious dedica- 
 tions and donatives were long since ascertained 
 upon them, is it to be presumed, in order of law 
 and charity, that this end is in the men subordi- 
 nate to truth, because it is so in the thing itself, 
 and that therefore no judgment, in prejudice 
 of these truths, can be made from that observa- 
 tion? 
 
 But if in any other way wfe are ascertained of 
 the truth or falsehood of a proposition respectively, 
 yet the judgment of the personal ends of the men 
 cannot ordinarily be certain and judicial, because, 
 most commonly, the acts are private and the 
 purposes internal, and temporal ends may some- 
 times consist with truth ; and whether the pur- 
 poses of the men make these ends principal or 
 subordinate, no man can judge ; and be they how 
 they will, yet they do not always prove that when 
 they are conjunct with error, the error was caused 
 by these purposes and criminal intentions. 
 
 But in questions practical, the doctrine itself. 
 
304 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 and the person too, may with more eas€; be re- 
 proved, because matter of fact being evident, and 
 nothing being so certain as the experiments of 
 human affairs, and these being the immediate 
 consequents of sudi doctrines, are with some 
 more certainty cf observation redargued, than the 
 speculative ; wnose judgment of itself more diffi- 
 cult, more remote from matter and human observ- 
 ation, and with less curiosity and explicitness 
 declared in Scripture, as being of less conse- 
 quence and concernment, in the order of God's 
 and man's great end. In other things, which end 
 in notion and ineffective contemplation, where 
 neither the doctrine is malicious, nor the person 
 apparently criminal, he is to be left to the judg- 
 ment of God : and as there is no certainty of 
 human judicature in this case, so it is to no 
 purpose it should be judged. For if the person 
 may be innocent with his error, and there is no 
 rule whereby he can certainly be pronounced that 
 he is actually criminal (as it happens in matters 
 speculative), since the end of the commandment 
 is love out of a * pure conscience and faith un- 
 feigned;' and the commandment may obtain its 
 end in a consistence with this simple speculative 
 error ; v/hy should men trouble themselves with 
 such opinions, so as to disturb the public charity 
 or the private confidence? Opinions and per- 
 sons are just so to be judged as other matters 
 and persons criminal; for no man can judge any 
 thing else; it must be a crime, and it must be 
 open, so as to take cognizance, and make true 
 human judgment of it. And this is all I am to 
 say concerning the causes of heresies, and of the 
 distinguishing rules for guiding of our judgment 
 towards others. 
 
THE LIBERTY QF PROPHESYING. S05 
 
 As for guiding our judgments, and the use of 
 our reason in judging for ourselves, all that is to 
 be said is reducible to this one proposition. Since 
 errors are then made sins when they are contrary 
 to charity, or inconsistent with a good life and the 
 honor of God, that judgment is the truest, or, at 
 least, that opinion most innocent, that, first, best 
 promotes the reputation of God's glory, and, se- 
 condly, is the best instrument of holy life. For in 
 questions and interpretations of dispute, these two 
 analogies are the best to make propositions, and 
 conjectures, and determinations. Diligence and 
 care in obtaining the best guides, and the most 
 convenient assistances, prayer, and modesty of 
 spirit, simplicity of purposes and intentions, hu- 
 mility and aptness to learn, and a peaceable dis- 
 position, are therefore necessary to finding out 
 truths, because they are parts of good life, without 
 which our truths will do us but little advantage, 
 and our errors can have no excuse ; but with these 
 dispositions, as he is sure to find out all that is 
 necessary, so what truth he inculpably misses of, 
 he is sure is therefore not necessary, because he 
 could not find it when he did liis best and his most 
 innocent endeavors. And this I say to secure the 
 persons, because no rule can antecedently secure 
 the proposition in matters disputable. For even 
 in the proportions and explications of this rule, 
 there is infinite variety of disputes ; and when the 
 dispute is concerning free will, one party denies 
 it, because he believes it magnifies the grace of 
 God, that it works irresistibly ; the other affirms, 
 because he believes it engages us upon greater care 
 and piety of our endeavors. The one opinion 
 thinks God reaps the glory of our good actions, 
 the other thinks it charges our bad actions upon 
 26* 
 
306 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 him. So in the question of merit, one part chooses 
 his assertion, because he thinks it encourages us 
 to do good v/orks : the other believes it makes us 
 proud, and therefore he rejects it. The first 
 believes it increases piety, the second believes it 
 increases spiritual presumption and vanity. The 
 flrst thinks it magnifies God's justice, the other 
 thinks it derogates from his mercy. Now then, 
 since neither this, nor any ground can secure a 
 man from possibility of mistaking, we were in- 
 finitely miserable if it v/ould not secure us from 
 punishment, so long as we willingly consent not to 
 a crime, and do our best endeavor to avoid an 
 error. Only by the way, let me observe, that since 
 there are such great difterences of apprehension 
 concerning the consequents of an article, no man 
 is to be charged with the odious consequences of 
 his opinion. Indeed, his doctrine is, but the per- 
 son is not, if he understands not such things to be 
 consequent to his doctrine : for if he did, and then 
 avows them, they are his direct opinions, and he 
 stands as chargeable with them as with his first 
 propositions ; but if he disavows them, he would 
 certainly rather quit his own opinion than avow 
 such errors or impieties, which are pretended to be 
 consequent to it ; because every man knov/s that 
 can be no truth, from whence falsehood naturally 
 and immediately does derive ; and he therefore 
 believes his first propositions, because he believes 
 it innocent of such errors as are charged upon it, 
 directly or consequently. 
 
 So that now, since no error, neither for itself, 
 nor its consequents, is to be charged as criminal 
 upon a pious person, since no simple error is a sin, 
 irior does condemn us before the throne of God, 
 since he is so pitiful to our crimes, that he pardons 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 307 
 
 many de toto et integro^ in all makes abatement for 
 the violence of temptation, and the surprisal and 
 invasion of our faculties, and, therefore, much less 
 will demand of us an account for our weaknesses ; 
 and since the strongest understanding cannot 
 pretend to such an immunity and exemption from 
 the condition of men, as not to be deceived and 
 confess its weakness; it remains, we inquire what 
 deportment is to be used towards persons of a 
 differing persuasion, when we are (I do not say 
 doubtful of a proposition, but) convinced tliat he 
 that differs from us is in error ; for this was the 
 first intention and the last end of this discourse. 
 
308 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 Of the Deportment to be used towards persons dis- 
 agreeing ^ and the Reasons why they are not to he 
 punished with Death, ^c. 
 
 For although every man may be deceived, yet 
 some are right and may know it too, for every man 
 that may err does not therefore certainly err; and 
 if he errs because he recedes from his rule, then if 
 he follows it he may do right ; and if ever any man 
 upon just grounds did change his opinion, then he 
 was in the right and was sure of it too; and, al- 
 though confidence is mistaken for a just persuasion 
 vnany times, yet some men are confident, and have 
 reason so to be. Now when this happens, the 
 question is, what deportment they are to use 
 towards persons that disagree from tliem, and by 
 consequence are in error* 
 
 1, Then no Christian is to be put to death, dis- 
 membered, or otherwise directly persecuted for his 
 opinion, which does not teach impiety or blasphe- 
 my. If it plainly and apparently brings in a crime, 
 and himself does act it or encourage it, then the 
 matter of fact is punishable according to its pro- 
 portion or malignity ; as, if he preaches treason or 
 sedition, his opinion is not his excuse, because it 
 brings in a crime, and a man is never the less 
 traitor because he believes it lawful to commit 
 treason ; and a man is a murderer if he kills his 
 brother unjustly, although he thinks he does God 
 good service in it Matters of fact are equally 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING, 309 
 
 (judicable, whether the principle of them be from 
 within or from without; and if a man could pretend 
 to innocence in being seditious, blaspliemous, or 
 perjured, by persuading himself it is lawful, there 
 were as great a gate opened to all iniquity as will 
 entertain all the pretences, the designs, the im- 
 postures, and disguises of the world. And there- 
 fore God hath taken order, that all rules concern- 
 ing matters of fact and good life shall be so clearly 
 explicated that, without the crime of the man, he 
 cannot be ignorant of all his practical duty. And 
 therefore the apostles and primitive doctors made 
 no scruple of condemning such persons for heretics 
 that did dogmatise a sin. He that teacheth others 
 to sin is worse than he that commits the crime, 
 whether he be tempted by his own interest, or 
 encouraged by the other's doctrine. It was as 
 bad in Basilides to teach it to be lawful to renounce 
 faith and religion, and take all manner of oaths 
 and covenants in time of persecution, as if himself 
 had done so ; nay, it is as much worse, as the 
 mischief is more universal, or as a fountain is 
 greater than a drop of water taken from it. He 
 that writes treason in a book, or preaches sedition 
 in a pulpit, and persuades it to the people, is the 
 greatest traitor and incendiary, and his opinion 
 there is the fountain of a sin ; and therefore could 
 not be entertained in his understanding upon 
 weakness, or inculpable or innocent prejudice : he 
 cannot, from Scripture or divine revelation, have 
 any pretence to color that so fairly as to seduce 
 either a wise or an honest man. If it rests there 
 and goes no further, it is hot cognizable, and so 
 scapes that way ; but if it be published, and comes, 
 a sfylo ad machasram (as Tertullian's phrase is), 
 "from the pen to the sword," then it becomes 
 
3-10 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 matter of fact in principle and in persuasion, anti 
 is just so punishable as is the crime that it 
 persuades. Such were thej of whom St. Paul 
 complains,* who brought in damnable doctrines 
 and lusts. St. Paul's, ' I would they were even cut 
 off,' is just of them; take it in any sense of rigor 
 and severity, so it be proportionable to the crime, 
 or criminal doctrine. Such were those of whom 
 God spake in Dc.it. xiii.: 'If any prophet tempts 
 to idolatry, saying, Let us go after other gods, he 
 shall be slain.' But these do not come into this 
 question. But the proposition is to be understood 
 concerning questions disputable as matter of opi- 
 nion, which also, for all that law of killing, such 
 , false prophets were permitted with impunity in the 
 synagogue, as appears beyond exception in the 
 great divisions and disputes between the Pharisees 
 and the Sadducees. I deny not, but certain and 
 known idolatry, or any other sort of practical im- 
 piety, with its principiant doctrine, may be punished 
 corporally, because it is no other but matter of fact : 
 but no matter of mere opinion, no errors that of 
 themselves are not sins, are to be persecuted, or 
 punished by death, or corporal inflictions. This 
 is now to be proved. 
 
 2. All the former discourse is sufficient argu ^ 
 ment how easy it is for us, in such matters, to be 
 deceived. So long as Christian religion was a 
 simple profession of the articles of belief, and a 
 hearty prosecution of the rules of good life, the 
 fewness of the articles and the clearness of the 
 rule was cause of the seldom prevarication. But 
 when divinity is swelled up to so great a body, 
 when the several questions, which the peevishness 
 and wantonness of sixteen ages have commenced, 
 
 * Gal. V. 
 
THE' LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 311 
 
 are concentered into one, and from ail these ques- 
 tions sometliing is drawn into the body of theology 
 till it hath ascended up to the greatness of a moun- 
 tain, and the sum of divinity collected by Aquinas 
 makes a volume as great as was that of Livy, 
 mocked at in the epigram, 
 
 " Q.uem mea vix totum bibliotheca capit, — "* 
 
 it is impossible for any industry to consider so 
 many particulars, in the infinite numbers of ques- 
 tions as are necessary to be considered before we 
 can with certainty determine any. And after all 
 the considerations which we can have in a whole 
 age, we are not sure not to be deceived. The 
 obscurity of some questions, the nicety of some 
 articles, the intricacy of some revelations, the 
 variety of human understandings, the windings of 
 logic, the tricks of adversaries, the subtlety of 
 sophisters, the engagement of education, personal 
 affections, the portentous number of writers, the 
 infinity of authorities, the vastness of some argu- 
 ments, as consisting in enumeration of many par- 
 ticulars, the uncertainty of others, the several 
 degrees of probability, the difficulties of Scripture, 
 the invalidity of probation of tradition, the oppo- 
 sition of ail exterior arguments to each other, and 
 their open contestation, the public violence done 
 to authors and records, the private arts and 
 supplantings, the falsifyings, the indefatigable in- 
 dustry of some men to abuse all understandings 
 and all persuasions into their own opinions,— 
 these, and thousands more, even all the difficulty 
 of things, and all the weaknesses of man, and ail 
 the arts of the devil, have made it impossible for 
 any man, in so great variety of matter, not to be 
 * "A work which shelves like mine can scarce contain.'* 
 
51i2 THE SAC^RED CLASSICS. 
 
 ileceived. No man pretends to it but the pope, 
 and no man Is more deceived than lie is in that 
 very particular. 
 
 3. From hence proceeds a danger which is con- 
 sequent to this proceeding ; for if we, who are so 
 apt to be deceived and so insecure in our resolu- 
 tion of questions disputable, should persecute a 
 disagreeing person, we are not sure we do not 
 fight against God ; for if his proposition be true and 
 persecuted, then, because all truth derives from 
 God, this proceeding is against God ; and therefore 
 this is not to be done, upon Gamaliel's ground, 
 lest peradventure we be found to fight against 
 God, of which because we can have no security 
 (at least) in this case, we have all the gvilt of a 
 doubtful or an uncertain conscience. For if there be 
 no security in the thing, as I have largely proved, 
 the conscience, in such cases, is as uncertain as 
 the question is : and if it be not doubtful where it 
 is uncertain, it is because the man is not wise, but 
 as confident as ignorant ; tlie first without reason, 
 and the second without excuse. And it is very 
 disproportionable for a man to persecute another 
 certainly, for a proposition that, if he were wise, he 
 would know is not certain, at least the other per- 
 son may innocently be uncertain of it. If he be 
 killed he is certainly killed ; but if he be called 
 heretic it is not so certain that he is an heretic. It 
 were good, therefore, that proceedings were ac- 
 cording to evidence, and the rivers not swell over 
 the banks, nor a certain definitive sentence of 
 death passed upon such persuasions which cannot 
 •certainly be defined. And this argument is of so 
 much the more force because we see that the 
 greatest persecutions that ever have been were 
 against truth, even against Christianity itself; and 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 313 
 
 it was a prediction of our blessed Savior, that 
 persecution should be the lot of true believers : 
 and if we compute the experience of suffering 
 Christendom, and the prediction, that truth should 
 suffer, with those few instances of suffering he- 
 retics, it is odds but persecution is on the wrong 
 side, and that it is error and heresy that is cruel 
 and tyrannical, especially since the truth of Jesus 
 Christ, and of his religion, arp so meek, so chari- 
 table, and so merciful. And we may, in this case, 
 exactly use the words of St. Paul : ' But as then, 
 he that was born after the liesh, persecuted him 
 that was born after the spirit ; even so it is now ;' 
 and so it ever will be till Christ's second coming. 
 4. Whoever persecutes a disagreeing person, 
 arms all the world against himself^ * and all pious 
 people of his own persuasion, when the scales of 
 authority returns to his adversary and attest his 
 contradictory: and then what can he urge for 
 mercy for himself, or his party, that showeth none 
 to others? If he says, that he is to be spared 
 because he believes true, but the other was justly, 
 persecuted because he was in error, he is ridicu- 
 lous; for he is as confidently believed |;o be a 
 heretic as he believes his adversaiy such ; and 
 whether he be or no, being the thing in question, 
 of this he is not to be his own judge : but he that 
 hath authority on his side will be sure to judge 
 against him. So that what either side can indif- 
 ferently make use of, it is good that neither Vv'ould, 
 because neither side can, with reason sufficient, 
 do it in prejudice of the other. If a man will 
 
 * " Quo comperto iili in ncstram perniciem licentiore auda- 
 tia grassabuntur." — St. Aug. Epist. ad Donat. Procons. et 
 Contr. ep Fund. " Ita nunc debeo sustinere et tanta patieutia 
 vobiscum agere quanta mecum egerunt proximi mei cun; in 
 vestro dogmate rabiosus ac coecu.s errarem." 
 07 
 
314 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 saj that every man must take his adventure, and 
 if it happens authority to be with him, he will 
 persecute his adversaries; and if it turns against 
 him he will bear it as well as he can, and hope 
 for a reward of martyrdom and innocent suffering ; 
 besides that this is so equal to be said of all 
 sides; besides that this is a way to make an 
 eternal disunion of hearts and charities, and that 
 it will make Christendom nothing but a shambles, 
 and a perpetual butchery ; and as fast as men's 
 wits grow wanton, or confident, or proud, or 
 abused, so often there v/ill be new executions and 
 massacres :■— besides all this, it is most unreason- 
 able and unjust, as being contrarient to those laws 
 of justice and charity, whereby we are bound with 
 greater zeal to spare and preserve an innocent 
 than to condemn a guilty person ; and there is less 
 malice and iniquity in sparing the guilty than in 
 condemning the good; because it is in the power 
 of men to remit a guilty person to divine judica- 
 ture, and for divers causes not to use severity, but 
 in no case is it lawful, neither hath God at all given 
 to man a power as to condemn such persons, as 
 cannot be proved other than pious and innocent; 
 and therefore it is better if it should so happen, that 
 we should spare the innocent person and one that 
 is actually deceived, than that, upon the turn of the 
 wheel, the true believers should be destroyed. 
 
 And this very reason he that had authority suf- 
 ficient and absolute to make laws, was pleased to 
 urge as a reasonable inducement for the establish- 
 ing of that law which he made for the indemnity 
 of erring persons. It was in the parable of the 
 tares mingled with the o-ood seed, in the Lord's 
 field; the good seed (Christ himself being the 
 interpreter) are the children of the kingdom, the 
 
THE LIBERTY 'oF PROPHESYING. 315 
 
 tares are the children of the wicked one ; upon 
 this comes the precept, * Gather not the tares by 
 themselves, but let them both grow together till the 
 harvest,' that is, till the day of judgment. This 
 parable hath been tortured infinitely to make it 
 confess its meaning, but we shall soon despatch it. 
 All the difficulty and variety of exposition is 
 reducible to these two questions : what is meant 
 by gathfcr not, and what by tares ? That is, what 
 kind of sword is forbidden, and what kind of 
 persons are to be tolerated ? The former is clear 
 for the spiritual sword is not forbidden to be used 
 to any sort of criminals, for that would destroy 
 the power of excommunication : the prohibition 
 therefore lies against the use of the temporal 
 sword in cutting oiF some persons ; who they are 
 is the next difficulty. But by tares, or the chil- 
 dren of the wicked one, are meant, either persons 
 of ill lives, wicked persons only in re practica 
 (in conduct) ; or else another kind of evil persons, 
 men criminal or faulty in re inieUectuali (in un- 
 derstanding). One or other of these two must be 
 meant — a third I know not. But the former 
 cannot be meant, because it would destroy all 
 bodies politic, which cannot consist without laws, 
 nor laws without a compulsory and a power of the 
 sword; therefore, if criminals were to be let 
 alone till the day of judgment, bodies politic must 
 stand or fall ad arbitrium impiorum, *' according 
 to the pleasure of evil men ;" and nothing good 
 could be protected, not innocence itself; nothing 
 could be secured but violence and tyranny. It 
 follows then, that since a kind of persons which 
 are indeed faulty are to be tolerated, it must be 
 meant of persons faulty in another kind, in which 
 the Gospel had not, in other places, clearly esta- 
 
316 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 blished a* power externally compulsory ; and 
 therefore, since in all actions practically criminal 
 a power of the sword is permitted, here, where it 
 is denied, must mean a crime of another kind, 
 and by consequence, errors intellectual, commonly 
 called heresy. 
 
 And, after all this, the reason there given con- 
 firms this interpretation,* for therefore it is for- 
 bidden to cut oflf these tares, lest we also pull up 
 the wheat with them, which is the sum of these 
 two last arguments. For, because heresy is of 
 so nice consideration and difficult sentence, in 
 thinking to root up heresies we may, by our 
 mistakes,! destroy true doctrine : which although 
 it be possible to be done, in all cases of practical 
 question, by mistake, yet because external actions 
 are more discernible than inward speculations and 
 opinions, innocent persons are not so easily mis- 
 taken for the guilty, in actions criminal as in 
 matters of inward persuasion. And upon that 
 very reason St. Martin was zealous to have pro- 
 cured a revocation of a commission granted to 
 several tribunes, to make inquiry in Spain for 
 sects and opinions ; for under color of rooting out 
 the Priscillianists there was much mischief done, 
 and more likely to happen to the orthodox : for it 
 happened then, as oftentimes since, "a heretic was 
 sometimes discovered rather by his pallid coun- 
 tenance and his dress than by his creed."i They 
 were no good inquisitors of heretical pravity, so 
 
 •^ Vide St. Chrysost. Horn, xlvii. in cap. 13, Matt, et St. 
 August. Quaest. in cap. 13, Matt. St. Cyprian. Ep. lib. iii. 
 Ep. 1. Theophyl. in 13, Matt. 
 
 t S. Hieron. in cap. 13, Matt, ait, "Pefhanc parabolam 
 significari, ne in rebus dubiis prasceps fiat judicium." 
 
 I " Pallore potius et veste quam fide hsereticus dijudicari 
 sobat aiiquando per tribunes Maxiini." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 317 
 
 Sulpitius witnesses. But, secondly, the reason 
 says, that therefore these persons are so to be 
 permitted as not to be persecuted, lest, when a 
 revolution of human affaii's sets contrary opinions 
 in the throne or chair, they who were persecuted 
 before should now themselves become persecutors 
 of others, and so, at one time or other, before or 
 after, the wheat be rooted up, and the truth be 
 persecuted. But as these reasons confirm the law 
 and this sense of it, so, abstracting from the law, 
 it is of itself concluding by an argument ab in- 
 commodo (from inconvenience), and that founded 
 upon the principles of justice and right reason, as 
 I formerly alleged. 
 
 5. We are not only uncertain of finding out 
 truths in matters disputable, but we are certain 
 that the best and ablest doctors of Christendom* 
 have been actually deceived in matters of great 
 concernment; which thing is evident in all those 
 instances of persons from whose doctrines all sorts 
 of Christians respectively take liberty to dissent. 
 The errors of Papias, Irenseus, Lactantius, Justin 
 Martyr, in the millenary opinion ; of St. Cyprian, 
 Firmilian, the Asian and African fathers, in the 
 question of rebaptization ; St. Austin, in his decre- 
 tory and uncharitable sentence against the unbap- 
 tized children of Christian parents ; the Roman or 
 the Greek doctors, in the question of the proces- 
 sion of the Holy Ghost, and in the matter of 
 images, are examples beyond exception. " The 
 
 * "Illi in vos saeviant, qui nesciunt cum quo labore verum 
 invenialur, et quam difficile caveantur en'ores. Illi in vos 
 sseviant, qui nesciunt quam rarum et arduum sit carnalia phan- 
 tasmata pire mentis serenitate superare. Illi in vos Sceviant, 
 qui nesciunt quibus et suspiriis et gemitibus fiat ut ex quan- 
 tulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus. Postremo illi in vos 
 saeviant, qui nullo tali errore decepti sunt, quali vos deceptoa 
 vident." — St. August. Contr. En. Fund. 
 27* 
 
318 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 errors that attacli to the minds of men are number- 
 less."* Now, if these great personages had been 
 persecuted or destroyed for their opinions, who 
 should have answered the invaluable loss the 
 church of God should have sustained in missiiuo- 
 so excellent, so exemplary, and so great lights r 
 But, then, if these persons erred, and by conse- 
 quence might have been destroyed, what should 
 have become of others whose understanding was 
 lower, and their security less, their errors more, 
 and their danger greater ? At this rate, all men 
 should have passed through the lire; for who can 
 escape when St. Cyprian and St. Austin cannot r 
 Now, to say these persons were not to be perse- 
 cuted because, although they had errors, yet none 
 condemned by the cliurch at that time or before, 
 is to say nothing to the purpose, nor nothing that 
 is trde. Not true, because St. Cyprian's error was 
 condemned by pope Stephen, which, in the present 
 sense of the prevailing party in the church of 
 Kome, is to be condemned by the church. Not to 
 the purpose, because it is nothing else but to say 
 that the church did tolerate their errors ; for since 
 those opinions Vv^ere open and manifest to the world, 
 that the church did not condemn them, it was eithei 
 because those opinions were by the church not 
 thought to be errors, or if they were, yet she thought 
 tit to tolerate the error and the erring person : 
 And if she would do so still, it would in most 
 cases be better than now it is. And yet, if the 
 church had condemned them, it had not altered the 
 case as to this question ; for either the persons, upon 
 the condemnation of their error, should have been 
 persecuted or not. If not, why shall they, now, 
 
 * "Au<^i J" ^ci'j^puTroov <^^<riv ^ AfxTr'K'Xiiic.i 'otV£t/3t'S"^^TC/ Ki'wtcvrrt/. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 319 
 
 against the instance and precedent of those ages 
 who were confessedly wise and pious, and whose 
 practices are often made to us arguments to follow ? 
 If yea, and that they had been persecuted, it is 
 the thing which this argument condemns, and the 
 loss of the churcli had been invaluable in the losing 
 or the provocation and temptation of such rare per- 
 sonages ; and tiie example and the rule of so ill 
 consequence, that all persons might, upon the 
 same ground, have suflfered ; and though some had 
 escaped, yet no man could have any more security 
 from punishment than from error. 
 
 6. Either the disagreeing person is in error or 
 not, but a true believer; in either of the cases, to 
 persecute him is extremely imprudent. For if he 
 be a true believer, then it is a clear case that we do 
 open violence to God, and his servants, and his 
 truth. If he be in error, what greater folly and 
 stupidity than to give to error the glory of mar- 
 tyrdom, and tlie advantages which are accidentally 
 consequent to a persecution ? For as it was true 
 of the martyrs, Quoiies moriinur toiies nascwiur,-^ 
 and the increase of their trouble was the increase 
 of their confidence and tlie establishment of their 
 persuasions, so it is in all false opinions ; for that 
 an opinion is true or false, is extrinsical or acci- 
 dental to the consequents and advantages it gets 
 by being afflicted. And there is a popular pity 
 that follows all persons in misery, and that com- 
 passion breeds likeness of aftections, and that very 
 often produces likeness of persuasion ; and so mucii 
 the rather, because there arises a jealousy and 
 pregnant suspicion that they v/ho persecute an 
 opinion are destitute of sufficient arguments to 
 
 * ♦•'As often as we die, so olten do we begin to live."' 
 
S20 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 confute it, and that the hangman is the best dis- 
 putant. For if those arguments which they have 
 for their own doctrine were a sufficient ground of 
 confidence and persuasion, men would be more 
 willing to use those means which are better com- 
 pliances with human understanding, which more 
 naturally do satisfy it, which are more human and 
 Christian than that way which satisfies none, which 
 destroys many, which provokes more, which makes 
 all men jealous. To which add, that those who die 
 for their opinion leave in all men great arguments 
 of the heartiness of their belief, of the confidence of 
 their persuasion, of the piety and innocency of 
 their persons, of the purity of their intention, and 
 simplicity of purposes ; that they are persons to- 
 tally disinterested and separate from design. For 
 no interest can be so great as to be put in balance 
 against a man's life and his soul, and he does very 
 imprudently serve his ends who seeingly and fore- 
 knowingly loses his life in the prosecution of them. 
 Just as if Titius should offer to die for Sempronius, 
 upon condition he might receive twenty talents 
 when he had done his work. It is certainly an ar- 
 gument of a great love, and a great confidence, 
 and a great sincerity, and a great hope, when a 
 man lays down his life in attestation of a proposi- 
 tion. "^ Greater love than this hath no man, than 
 to lay down his life," saith our blessed Savior. 
 And although laying of a wager is an argument of 
 confidence more than truth, yet laying such a 
 wager, staking of a man's soul, and pawning his 
 life, gives a hearty testimony that the person is 
 honest, confident, resigned, charitable, and noble. 
 And I know not whether truth can do a person or 
 a cause more advantages than these can do to an 
 error. And therefore, besides the impiety, there 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 321 
 
 is great imprudence in canonizing a heretic and 
 consecrating an error by such means, which were 
 better preserved as encouragements of truth and 
 comforts to real and true martyrs. And it is not 
 amiss to observe, that this very advantage was 
 taken by heretics, v/ho were ready to show and 
 boast their catalogues of martyrs : in particular, 
 the Circumcellians did so^and the Donatists; and 
 yet the first were heretics, the second schismatics. 
 And it was remarkable in the scholars of Priscil- 
 iian, who, as they had their master in the reputa- 
 tion of a saint while he was living, so when he was 
 dead they had him in veneration as a martyr ; 
 they with reverence and devotion carried his, and 
 the bodies of his slain companions, to an honorable 
 sepulchre, and counted it religion to swear by the 
 name of Priscillian. So that the extinffuishing of 
 the person gives life and credit to his doctrine, and 
 when he is dead he yet speaks more effectually. 
 
 7". It is unnatural and unreasonable to persecute 
 disagreeing opinions. Unnatural ; for understand- 
 ing — being a thing wholly spiritual — cannot be 
 restrained, and therefore neither punished by cor 
 poral afflictions. It is in cdiena republican a matter 
 of another world : you may as well cure the colic 
 by brushing a man's clothes, or fill a man's belly 
 with a syllogism : these things do not communicate 
 in matter, and therefore neither in action nor pas- 
 sion; and since all punishments, in a prudent 
 government, punish the offender to prevent a 
 future crime, and so it proves more medicinal 
 than vindictive, the punitive act being in order to 
 the cure and prevention ; and since no punishment 
 of the body can cure a disease in the soul, it is 
 disproportionable in nature ; and in all civil govern- 
 ment, to punish v/here tlie punishment can do no 
 
322 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 good, it may be an act of tyranny, but never of 
 justice. For is an opinion ever the more true or 
 false for being persecuted ? Some men have be- 
 lieved it the moi'e, as being provoked into a confi- 
 dence and vexed into a resolution; but the thing 
 itself is not the truer ; and though the hangman 
 may confute a man with an inexplicable dilemma, 
 yet not convince His understanding; for such pre- 
 mises can infer no conclusion but that of a man's 
 life; and a wolf may as v/ell give laws to the 
 understanding as he whose dictates are only pro- 
 pounded in violence and writ in blood. And a dog 
 is as capable of a law as a man, if there be no 
 choice in his obedience, nor discourse in his choice, 
 nor reason to satisfy his discourse. And as it is 
 unnatural, so it is unreasonable that Sem.pronius 
 should force Caius to be of his opinion, because 
 Sempronius is consul this year, and commands the 
 Lictors ; as if he that can kill a man cannot but 
 be infallible: and if he be not, why should I do 
 violence to my conscience because he can do vio- 
 lence to my person ? 
 
 8. Force in matters of opinion can do no good, 
 but is very apt to do hurt; for no man can change 
 his opinion when he v»'ill, or be satisfied in his 
 reason that his opinion is false because discounte- 
 nanced. If a man could change his opinion when 
 he lists, he might cure many inconveniences of 
 his life : all his fears and his sorrows would soon 
 disband, if he would but alter his opinion, vvdiereby 
 he is persuaded that such an accident that aiiiicts 
 him is an evil, and such an object formidable ; let 
 him but believe himself impregnable, or that he 
 receives a benefit when he is plundered, disgraced, 
 imprisoned, condemned, and afflicted, neither his 
 sleeps need to be disturbed, nor his quietness 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. btii) 
 
 discomposed. But if a man cannot change his 
 opinion wlien he lists, nor ever does heartily or 
 resolutely but when he cannot do otherwise, then 
 to use force may make him an hypocrite but never 
 to be a right believer; and so, instead of erecting 
 a trophy to God and true religion, we build a 
 monument for the devil. Infinite examples are 
 recorded in church story to this very purpose ; but 
 Socrates instances in one for all ; for when Eleu- 
 sius, bishop of Cyzicum, was threatened by the 
 emperor Valens with banishment and confiscation 
 if he did not subscribe to tlie decree of Ariminum, 
 at last he yielded to the Arian opinion, and pre- 
 sently fell into great torment of conscience, openly 
 at Cyzicum recanted the error, asked God and 
 the church forgiveness, and complained of the 
 emperor's injustice, and that v/as all the good the 
 Arian party got by offering violence to his con- 
 science. Ai^d so many families in Spain, which 
 are, as they call them, new Christians, and of a 
 suspected faiili, into which they were forced by 
 the tyranny of the Inquisition, and yet are secret 
 Moors, is evidence enough of the inconvenience 
 of preaching a doctrine in in ore glidii cruentandu 
 at the point of the sword. For it either punishes 
 a man for keeping a good conscience or forces 
 him into a bad; it either punishes sincerity or 
 persuades hypocrisy; it persecutes a truth or 
 drives into error; and it teaches a man to dis- 
 semble and to be safe, but never to be honest. 
 
 9. It is one of the glories of Christian religion, 
 that it was so pious, excellent, miraculous, and 
 persuasive, that it came in upon its own piety and 
 wisdom, with no other force but a torrent of argu- 
 ments, and demonstration of the Spirit ; a mighty 
 rushing wind to beat down all strong holds, and 
 
324 rHE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 every high thought and imagination ; but towards 
 the persons of men it was always full of meekness 
 and charity, compliance and toleration, conde- 
 scension and bearing with one another, " restoring 
 persons overtaken with an error, in the spirit of 
 meekness, considering lest we also be tempted." 
 The consideration is as prudent and the proposition 
 as just as the precept is charitable and the prece- 
 dent was pious and holy. Now, things are best con- 
 served with that which gives it the first being, and 
 which is agreeable to its temper and constitution. 
 That precept which it chieHy preaches, in order 
 to all the blessedness in the world, that is, of 
 meekness, mercy, and charity, should also preserve 
 itself, and promote its own interest. For, indeed, 
 nothing v/111 do it so well; nothing doth so excel- 
 lently insinuate itself into the understandings and 
 affections of men, as when the actions and per- 
 suasions of a sect, and every part and principle 
 and promotion are univocal. And it v/ould be a 
 mighty disparagement to so glorious an institution, 
 tjmt in its principle it should be merciful and 
 humane, and in the promotion and propagation ot 
 it so inhuman ; and it would be improbable and 
 unreasonable that the sword should be used in the 
 persuasion of one proposition, and yet, in the 
 persuasion of the whole religion, nothing like it. 
 To do so may serve the end of a temporal prince, 
 but never promote the honor of Christ's kingdom; 
 it may secure a design of Spain, but will very 
 much deserve Christendom, to offer to support it 
 by that which good men believe to be a distinctive 
 cognizance of the Mahometan religion from the 
 excellency and piety of Christianity, whose sense 
 and spirit is described in tliose excellent words of 
 St. Paul, 2 Tim. ii. 24 : ' The servant of the Lord 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. S25 
 
 must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, in 
 meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, 
 if God peradventure will give them repentance to 
 the acknowledging the truth.' They that oppose 
 themselves must not be stricken by any of God's 
 servants ; and, if yet any man will smite these 
 who are his opposites in opinion, he will get 
 nothing by that ; he must quit the title of being a 
 servant of God for his pains. And I think a dis- 
 tinction of persons secular and ecclesiastical will 
 do no advantage for an escape ; because even the 
 secular power, if it be Christian and a servant of 
 God, must not be * a striker ; the servant of the 
 Lord must not strive.' I mean in those cases 
 where meekness of instruction is the remedy, or 
 if the case be irremediable, abscission by censures 
 is the penalty. 
 
 10. And if yet in the nature of the thing it 
 were neither unjust nor unreasonable, yet there is 
 nothing under God Almighty that hath power over 
 the soul of man so as to command a persuasion, 
 or to judge a disagreeing. Human positive laws 
 direct all external acts in order to several ends, 
 and the judges take cognizance accordingly; but 
 no man can command the vvdll, or punish him that 
 obeys the law against his will : for, because its 
 end is served in external obedience, it neither 
 looks after more, neither can it be served by more, 
 nor take notice of any more. And yet, possibly, 
 the understanding is less subject to human power 
 than the will, for the human power hath a command 
 over external acts, which naturally and regularly 
 flow from the will ; and at most, suppose a direct 
 act of will, but always either a direct or indirect 
 volition, primary or accidental; but the under- 
 standing is a natural faculty, subject to no com- 
 28 
 
326 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 mand but where the command is itself a reason 
 fit to satisfy and persuade it. And therefore God 
 commanding us to believe such revelations, per- 
 suades and satisfies the understanding by his 
 commanding and revealing i for there is no greater 
 probation in the world that a proposition is true, 
 than because God hath commanded us to believe 
 it. But because no man's command, is a satisfac- 
 tion to the understanding, or a verification of the 
 proposition, therefore the understanding is not 
 subject to human autliority. They may persuade, 
 but not enjoin where God hath not; and where 
 God hath, if it appears so to him, he is an infidel 
 if he does not believe it. And, if all men have 
 no other efficacy or authority on the understanding 
 but by persuasion, proposal, and entreaty, then a 
 man is bound to assent but according to the 
 operation of the argument, and the energy of per- 
 suasion; neither, indeed, can he, though he would 
 never so fain ; and he that, out of fear and too 
 much compliance and desire to be safe, shall desire 
 to bring his understanding with some luxation to 
 the belief of human dictates and authorities, may 
 as often miss of the truth as hit it, but is sure 
 always to lose the comfort of truth, because he 
 believes it upon indirect, insufficient, and incom- 
 petent arguments ; and as his desire it should be 
 so is his best argument that it is so, so the pleasing 
 of men is his best reward, and his not being con- 
 demned and contradicted all the possession of a 
 truth. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 327" 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 Cf the Practice of Christian Churches towards 
 Persons disagreeing, and when Persecution first 
 came in. 
 
 And thus this truth hath been practiced in all 
 times of christian religion, when there were no 
 collateral desioiis on foot, nor interests to be 
 served, nor passions to be satisfied. In St. Paul's 
 time, though the censure of heresy were not so 
 loose and forward as afterwards ; and all that were 
 called heretics were clearly such, and highly crimi- 
 nal ; j^t as their crime was, so was tlieir censure, 
 tliat is, spiritual. They were first admonished, 
 once at least, for so Irenaeus,* TertulliaUjt Cj- 
 prian,t Ambrose,§ and Jerome,|l read that place of 
 Titus iii. But since that time all men, and at that 
 time some read it, "after a second admonition" 
 reject a heretic. Rejection from the communion 
 of saints, after two warnings, that is the penalty. 
 St. John expresses it by not eating with them, not 
 .bidding them God speed ; but the persons against 
 whom he decrees so severelj^, are such as denied 
 Christ to be come in the flesh, direct antichrists; 
 and, let the sentence be as high as it lists, in this 
 case all that I observe is, that s-iace in so damna- 
 ble doctrines nothing but spiritual censure, sepa- 
 ration from the communion of tlie faithful, was 
 enjoined and prescribed, we cannot pretend to an 
 
 * Lib. iii. c. 3. t De Prjescript. 
 
 X Lib. ad Quirinum. § In hunc locum. |1 Ibidem. 
 
328 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 apostolical precedent, if in matters of dispute and 
 innocent question, and of great uncertainty and 
 no malignity, we should proceed to sentence of 
 death. 
 
 For it is but an absurd and illiterate arguing, 
 to say that excommunication is a greater punish- 
 ment, and killing a less ; and, therefore, whoever 
 may be excommunicated may also be put to death 
 (which, indeed, is the reasoning that Bellarmine 
 uses) ; for, first, excommunication is not directly 
 and of itself a greater punishment than corporal 
 death; because it is indefinite and incomplete, 
 and in order to a further punishment, which, if it 
 happens, then the excommunication was the inlet 
 to it ; if it does not, the excommunication did not 
 signify half so much as the loss of a member, much 
 less death. For it may be totally ineft'ectual, 
 either by the iniquity of the proceeding or repent- 
 ance of the person ; and, in all times and cases, it 
 is a medicine if the man please ; if he will not, but 
 perseveres in his impiety, then it is himself that 
 brings the censure to effect, that actuates the judg- 
 ment, and gives a sting and an energy upon that 
 which otherwise would be ;^s//3 AKvpo?, *' an authority 
 without force." Secondly, but when it is at worst, 
 it does not kill the soul, it only consigns it to that 
 death which it had deserved, and should have re- 
 ceived independently from that sentence of the 
 church. Thirdly, and yet excommunication is to 
 admirable purpose ; for whether it refers to the 
 person censured or to others, it is prudential in 
 itself, it is exemplary to others, it is medicinal to 
 all. For the person censured is by this means 
 threatened into piety, and the threatening made 
 the more energetical upon him because, by fiction 
 of law, or as it were, by a sacramental represent- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 329 
 
 ment, the pains of hell are made presential to him ; 
 and so becomes an act of prudent judicature and 
 excellent discipline, and the best instrument of 
 spiritual government: because tlie nearer the 
 threatening is reduced to matter^ and the more 
 present and circumstantial it is made, the more 
 operative it is upon our spirits while they are 
 immerged in matter. And this is the full sense 
 and power of excommunication in its direct inten- 
 tion ; consequently and accidentally other evils 
 might follow it, as in the times of the apostles the 
 censured persons were buffeted by Satan; and 
 even at tliis day there is less security even to the 
 temporal condition of such a person whom his 
 spiritual parents have anathematized. But, be- 
 sides this, I knov/ no warrant to affirm any thing 
 of excommunication, for the sentence of the church 
 does but declare, not effect the final sentence of 
 damnation. Whoever deserves excommunication 
 deserves damnation ; and he that repents shall be 
 saved, though he die out of the church's external 
 communion ; and if he does not repent he shall be 
 damned, though he was not excommunicate. 
 
 But suppose it greater than the sentence of 
 corporal death, yet it follows not because heretics 
 may be excommunicate therefore killed ; for from 
 a greater to a less, in a several kind of things, the 
 argument concludes not. It is a greater thing to 
 make an excellent discourse than to make a shoe ; 
 yet he that can do the greater cannot do this less. 
 An angel cannot beget a man, and yet he can do 
 a greater matter, in that kind of operations which 
 we term spiritual and angelical. And if this were 
 concluding, that whoever may be excommunicate 
 may be killed, then, because of excommunications 
 the church is confessed the sole a.nd entire judge, 
 28* 
 
S30 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 she is also an absolute disposer of the lives of 
 persons. I believe this will be but ill doctrine in 
 Spain : for in Bulla Ccenfe Domini, the king of 
 Spain is every year excommunicated on Maunday 
 Thursday. But if, by the same power, he might 
 also be put to death (as upon this ground he may), 
 the pope might, with more ease, be invested in 
 that part of St. Peter's patrimony which that king 
 hath invaded and surprised. But besides this, it 
 were extreme harsh doctrine in a Roman con- 
 sistory, from whence excommunications issue for 
 trifles, for fees, for not suffering themselves infi- 
 nitely to be oppressed, for any thing : if this be 
 greater than death, how great a tyranny is that 
 which does more than kill men for less than 
 ti'ifles ; or else how inconsequent is that argument 
 which concludes its purpose upon so false pretence 
 and supposition ? 
 
 Well, however zealous tlie apostles were against 
 heretics, yet none were by them or their dictates 
 put to death. The death of Annanias and Sap- 
 phira, and the blindness of Elymas the sorcerer, 
 amount not to this, for they were miraculous 
 inflictions; and the first was a punishment to 
 vow-breach and sacrilege, the second of sorcery 
 and open contestation against the religion of Jesus 
 Christ; neither of them concerned the case of 
 this present question. Or if the case were the 
 same, yet the authority is not the same ; for he 
 that inflicted these punishments was infallible, and 
 of a power competent; but no man at this day is 
 so. But, as yet, people were converted by mira- 
 cles, and preaching, and disputing ; and heretics, 
 by the same means, were redargued, and all men 
 instructed, none tortured for their opinion. And 
 this continued till Christian people were vexed 
 
THE LIRERTV OF PROPHESYING. 331 
 
 by disagreeing persons, and were impatient and 
 peevish, by their own too much confidence, and 
 the luxuriancy of a prosperous fortune; but 
 then they would not endure persons that did 
 dogmatize any thing which might intrench upon 
 their reputation or their interest. And it is ob- 
 servable, that no man nor no age did ever teach 
 the lav/fulness of putting heretics to death, till 
 they grew wanton with prosperity. But when the 
 reputation of the governors was concerned, when 
 the interests of men were endangered, when they 
 had something to lose, when they had built their 
 estimation upon the credit of disputable questions, 
 when they began to be jealous of other men, when 
 they overvalued themselves and their ov/n opinions, 
 when some persons invaded bishoprics upon pre- 
 tence of new opinions — then they, as they thrived 
 in the favor of emperors, and in the success of 
 their disputes, solicited the temporal power to 
 banish, to fine, to imprison, and to kill their ad- 
 versaries. 
 
 So that the case stands thus : — In the best times, 
 amongst the best men, when there were fewer tem- 
 poral ends to be served, when religion and the 
 pure and simple designs of Christianity were only 
 to be promoted ; in those times, and amongst such 
 men, no persecution was actual, nor persuaded, 
 nor allowed, towards disagreeing persons. But 
 as men had ends of their own and not of Christ's, 
 as they receded from their duty, and religion from 
 its purity ; as Christianity began to be compounded 
 with interests, and blended with temporal designs, 
 so men were persecuted for their opinions. This 
 is most apparent, if we consider when persecution 
 first came in, and if we observe how it was checked 
 by the holiest and the wisest persons. 
 
332 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 The first great instance I shall note, was in 
 Priscillian and his followers, who were condemned 
 to death bj the tyrant Maximus : which instance, 
 although St. Jerome observes as a punishment and 
 judgment for the crime of heresy, yet is of no use 
 in the present question, because Maximus put 
 some Christians of all sorts to death promiscu- 
 ously, catholic and heretic, without choice; and 
 therefore the Priscillianists might as well have 
 called it a judgment upon the catholics, as the 
 catholics upon them. 
 
 But when Ursaeus and Statius, two bishops, pro- 
 cured the Priscillianists' death, by the power they 
 had at court, St. Martin was so angry at them for 
 their cruelty, that he excommunicated them both. 
 And St. Ambrose, upon the same stock, denied 
 his communion to the Itaciani. And the account 
 that Sulpitius gives of tlie story is this : " The 
 example was worse than the men. If the men 
 were heretical the execution of them, however, 
 was unchristian."* 
 
 But it was of more authority that the Nicene 
 fathers supplicated the emperor, and prevailed for 
 the banishment of Arius ;t of this we can give no 
 other account, but that, by the history of the time, 
 we see baseness enough, and personal misde- 
 meanor, and factiousness of spirit in Arius to have 
 deserved worse than banishment,! though the 
 obliquity of his opinion were not put into the 
 balance ; which we have reason to believe was not 
 
 *■ "Hoc modo homines luce indignissimi pessimo exemplo 
 necati sunt." 
 
 t Sozom, lib. i. c. 20. 
 
 j Socrat. lib. i. c. 26. cont. Crescon. Grammat. lib. iii. 
 c. 50. Vide etiam Epist.lxi. ad Dulciiiura, et Epist. clviii, et 
 cxcix. et lib. i. c. 29. cont. tit. Petilian. Vide etiam Socrat. 
 lib. iii. c. 3, et. 29. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 333 
 
 SO much as considered, because Constantine gave 
 toleration to differing opinions, and Arius himself 
 was restored upon such conditions to his country 
 and office, which would not stand with the ends 
 of the catholics, if they had been severe exactors 
 of concurrence and union of persuasions. 
 
 I am still within the scene of ecclesiastical per- 
 sons, and am considering what the opinions of the 
 learnedest and the holiest prelates were concern- 
 ing this great question. If we will believe St. 
 Austin (who was a credible person), no good man 
 did allow it. " No good men approve of inflicting 
 death upon any one, though he be a heretic."* 
 This was St. Austin's final opinion ; for he had 
 first been of the mind that it was not honest to do 
 any violence to mispersuaded persons ; and when, 
 upon an accident happening in Hippo, he had 
 altered and retracted that part of the opinion, yet, 
 then also he excepted death, and would by no 
 means have any mere opinion made capital. But 
 for aught appears, St. Austin had greater reason 
 to have retracted that retraction than his first 
 opinion: for his saying, oinidlis bonis placet , ''no 
 good men approve of it," was as true as the thing 
 was reasonable it should be so. Witness those 
 known testimonies of Tertullian,t Cyprian,:}: Lac- 
 tantius,§ Jerome,|| Sulpitius Severus,*!! Minutius,** 
 Hilary,tt Damascen,J:j: Chrysostom,§§ Theophy- 
 lact,[||| and Bernard,^^ and divers others, whom 
 
 * " Nullis tamen bonis in catholica hoc placet, si usque ad 
 mortem in quenquam, licet hareticum, saeviatur." — Lib. ii. 
 cap. 5. Retractat. Vide Epist. 48, ad Vincent, script, post 
 Retract, et Epist. 50, ad Bonifac. 
 
 t Ad Scapulam. % Lib. iii. Ep. 1. Epist. 
 
 § Lib. V. c. 20. 11 In cap. 13, Matt, et in cap. 2. Hos. 
 
 1[ In Vit St. Martin. ** Octav. ft Cont. Auxent. Arr. 
 
 XX 3 Sect. c. 32. §§ In cap. 13, Matt. Horn. 47. 
 
 nil In Evang. Matt. HIT In verba Apost. fides ex audita. 
 
S34 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the reader may find quoted by the archbishop of 
 Spalato.* 
 
 Against this concurrent testimony my reading 
 can furnish me with no adversary nor contrary in- 
 stances, but in Atticus of Constantinople, Theo- 
 dosius of Synada, in Statins and Ursaeus, before 
 reckoned. Only, indeed, some of the later popes 
 of Rome began to be busy and unmerciful, but it 
 was then when themselves were secure, and their 
 interests great, and their temporal concernments 
 highly considerable. 
 
 For it is most true, and not amiss to observe 
 it, that no man who was under the ferula did ever 
 think it lawful to have opinions forced, or heretics 
 put to death; and yet many men, who themselves 
 have escaped the danger of a pile and a faggot, 
 have changed their opinion just as the case was 
 altered ; that is, as themselves were unconcerned 
 in the suffering. Petilian, Parmenian, and Gau- 
 dentiusjt by no means would allow it lawful, for 
 themselves were in danger, and were upon that 
 side that is ill thought of and discountenanced : 
 but Gregory^ and Leo,§ popes of Rome, upon 
 whose side the authority and advantages were, 
 thought it lawful they should be punished and 
 persecuted, for themselves were unconcerned in 
 the danger of suffering. And therefore St. Gre- 
 gory commends the exarch of Ravenna, for forcing 
 them who dissented from those men who called 
 themselves the church. And there were some 
 divines in the Lower Germany, who, upon great 
 reasons, spake against the tyranny of the inquisi- 
 
 * Lib. viii. de Rep. Eccles. cap. 8. 
 t Apud. Aug. lib. i. c. 7, cont. Epist. Parmenian. et lib. ii. 
 c. 10, cont. tit. Petilian. 
 
 t Epist. i. ad Turbiura. § Lib. i. Ep. 72. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 335 
 
 tion, and restraining prophesying, who yet, when 
 they had shaked oft* the Spanish yoke, began to 
 persecute their brethren. It was unjust in them, in 
 all men unreasonable and uncharitable, and often 
 increases the error, but never lessens the danger. 
 But yet, although the church, I mean in her 
 distinct and clerical capacity, was against destroy- 
 ing or punishing difterence in opinion, till the 
 popes of Rome did super-seminate, and persuade 
 the contrary, yet the bishops did persuade the 
 emperors to make laws against heretics, and to 
 punish disobedient persons with fines, with im- 
 prisonment, with death, and banishment respect- 
 ively. This, indeed, calls us to a new account : 
 for the churchmen might not proceed to blood, nor 
 corporal inflictions, but might they not deliver 
 over to the secular arm, and persuade temporal 
 princes to do it ? For this I am to say, that since 
 it is notorious that the doctrine of the clero;y was 
 against punishing heretics, the laws which were 
 made by the emperors against them might be for 
 restraint of differing religion, in order to the pre- 
 servation of the public peace, which is too fre- 
 quently violated by the division of opinions. But 
 I am not certain whether tliat was always the 
 reason, or whether or no some bishops of the court 
 did not also serve their own ends, in giving their 
 princes such untoward counsel ; but we find tlie 
 laws made severally to several purposes, in divers 
 cases, and with different severity. Constantine 
 the emperor made a sanction, *'that they who 
 erred might enjoy the blessing of peace and quiet- 
 ness equally with the faithful."* The emperor 
 
 * " Ut parem cum iidelibus ii qui errant pacis et quietis 
 fruitionem gaudentes accipiant."— Apud. Euseb. de Vita 
 Constant. 
 
336 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Gratian decreed, "that every one might follow 
 what religious opinion he chose, and that all might 
 come to the ecclesiastical conventions without 
 apprehension ;"* but he excepted the Manichees, 
 the Photinians, and Eunomians. Theodosius the 
 elder made a law of death against the Anabaptists 
 of his time, and banished Eunomius, and against 
 other erring persons appointed a pecuniary mulct ; 
 but he did no executions so severe as his sanc- 
 tions, to show they were made i7i terrorem only.t 
 So were tlie laws of Valentinian and Martian,! 
 decreeing, contra omnes qui prava docere tenent, 
 "who persisted in teaching heretical opinions," 
 that they should be put to death ; so did Michael§ 
 the emperor, but Justinian only decreed banish- 
 ment. 
 
 But whatever whispers some politics might 
 make to their princes, as the wisest and holiest 
 did not think it lawful for churchmen alone to do 
 executions, so neither did they transmit such per- 
 sons to the secular judicature. And therefore, 
 when the edict of Macedonius, the president, was 
 so ambiguous, that it seemed to threaten death to 
 heretics unless they recanted, St. Austin admo- 
 nished him carefully to provide that no heretic 
 should be put to death ; alleging it, also, not only 
 to be unchristian, but illegal also, and not war- 
 ranted by imperial constitutions ; for before his 
 time no laws were made for their being put to 
 death; but, however, he prevailed that Mace- 
 donius published another edict, more explicit and 
 
 * " Ut quam quisque vellet religionem sequeretur ; et con- 
 venlus Ecclesiasticog semoto metu omnes agerent." 
 
 t Vide Socrat. lib. vii. c. 12. 
 
 X Vid. Cod. de Haeretic. L. Manichees. et leg. Ajriani, et 
 t. Quicunque. 
 
 § Apud Paulmn Diac. lib. xvi. et lib. x?dv 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 337 
 
 less seemingl J severe. But in lils epistle to 
 Donatus, the African proconsul, he is more con- 
 fident and determinate : " We are impelled by 
 necessity rather to perish by them, than to rush 
 upon tliose who are devoted to destruction by 
 your decrees."* 
 
 But afterwards, many got a trick of giving them 
 over to the secular power, which at the best is no 
 better than hypocrisy, removing envy from them - 
 selves, and laying it upon others ; a refusing to do 
 that in external act which they do in council and 
 approbation; which is a transmitting the act to 
 another, and retaining a proportion of guilt unto 
 themselves, even their own and the otlier's too. 
 I end tliis with the saying of Clirysostom : " We 
 ought to reprove and condemn impieties and 
 heretical doctrines, but to spare the men, and to 
 pray for tlieir salvation."! 
 
 * "Necessitate nobis impacta et indicta, ut potius occidi 
 ab eis eligamus, quam eos occidendos vestris judiciis ingera- 
 mus." 
 
 t " Dogmata impia, et quas ab hsereticis profecta sunt ar- 
 
 fuere et anathematizare oportet, hominibus autem parcen- 
 um et pro salute orum orandum." — Senn. de Anathemate, 
 
 29 
 
138 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 How far the Church or Governors may act to the 
 restraining false or differing Opinions. 
 
 But althougli heretical persons are not to be 
 destroyed, yet heresy being a work of the flesh, 
 and all heretics criminal persons, whose acts and 
 doctrine have influence upon communities of men, 
 whether ecclesiastical or civil, the governors of 
 the republic, or church, respectively, are to do 
 their duties in restraining those mischiefs which 
 may happen to their several charges, for whose 
 indemnity they are answerable. And therefore, 
 according to the effect or malice of the doctrine 
 or the person, so the cognizance of them belongs 
 to several judicatures. If it be false doctrine in 
 any capacity, and doth mischief in any sense, or 
 teaches ill life in any instance, or encourages evil 
 in any particular, s-^i aTria-TofM^iiv, these men must be 
 silenced ; they must be convinced by sound doc- 
 trine, and put to silence by spiritual evidence, and 
 restrained by authority ecclesiastical ; tliat is, by 
 spiritual censures, according as it seems necessary 
 to him who is most concerned in the regimen of 
 the church. For all this we have precept, and 
 precedent apostolical, and much reason. For by 
 thus doing the governor of the church uses all 
 tliat authority that is competent, and all the means 
 that is reasonable, and that proceeding which is 
 regular, that he may discharge his cure and secure 
 his flock. And that he possibly may be deceived 
 in judging a doctrine to be heretical, and, by con- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYIInG. 339 
 
 sequence, the person excommunicate suffers in- 
 jury, is no argument against the reasonableness 
 of the proceeding. For all the injury that is 
 is visible and in appearance, and so is his crime. 
 Judges must judge according to their best reason, 
 guided bj the law of God as their rule, and by 
 evidence and appearance as their best instrument, 
 and they can judge no better. If the judges be 
 good and prudent, the error of proceeding will 
 not be great nor ordinaiy; and there can be no 
 better establishment of human judicature than is 
 a fallible proceeding upon an infallible ground : 
 and if the judgment of heresy be made by esti- 
 mate and proportion of the opinion to a good or a 
 bad life respectively, supposing an error in the 
 deduction, there will be no malice in the conclu- 
 sion; and that he endeavors to secuie piety ac- 
 cording to the best of his understanding, and yet 
 did mistake in his proceeding, is only an argu- 
 ment that he did his duty after the manner of 
 men, possibly with the piety of a saint, tliough 
 not with the understanding of an angel. And 
 the little inconvenience that happens to the per- 
 son injuriously judged, is abundantly made up in 
 the excellency of the discipline, the goodness of 
 the example, the care of the public, and all those 
 great influences into the manners of men which 
 derive from such an act so publicly consigned. 
 But such public judgment in matters of opinion 
 must be seldom and curious, and never but to 
 secure piety and a holy life; for in matters 
 speculative, as all determinations are fallible, so 
 scarce any of them are to purpose, nor ever able 
 to make compensation of either side, either for 
 the public fraction or the particulai' injustice, if it 
 should so happen in tlie censure. 
 
340 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 But then, as the church may proceed thus far, 
 yet no Christian man, or community of men, may 
 proceed farther. For if they be deceived in their 
 judgment and censure, and yet have passed only 
 spiritual censures, they are totally ineffectual, and 
 come to nothing ; there is no effect remaining upon 
 the soul, and such censures are not to meddle 
 with the body so much as indirectly. But if any 
 other judgment pass upon persons erring, such 
 judgments whose effects remain, if the person be 
 unjustly censured, nothing will answer and make 
 compensation for such injuries. If a person be ex- 
 communicate unjustly, it will do him no hurt ; but 
 if he be killed, or dismembered unjustly, tliat cen- 
 sure and infliction is not made ineffectual by his 
 innocence : he is certainly killed and dismembered. 
 So that as the church's authority in such cases, so 
 restrained and made prudent, cautelous, and or- 
 derly, is just and competent ; so the proceeding is 
 reasonable, it is provident for the public, and the 
 inconveniences that may fall upon particulars so 
 little, as that the public benefit makes ample 
 compensation, so long as the proceeding is but 
 spiritual. 
 
 This discourse is in the case of such opinions, 
 which by the former rules are formal heresies, and 
 upon practical inconveniences. But, for matters 
 of question which have not in them an enmity to 
 the public tranquillity, as the republic hath nothing 
 to do upon the ground of all the former discourses, 
 so, if the church meddles with them where they 
 do not derive into ill life, either in the person or 
 in the consequent, or else the destructions of the 
 foundation of religion, which is all one ; for that 
 those fundamental articles are of greatest neces- 
 sity, in order to a virtuous and godly life, wliich is 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 341 
 
 wholly built upon tliem (and therefore are princi- 
 pally necessary), if she meddles further, otherwise 
 than by preaching, and conferring, and exhorta- 
 tion, slie becomes tyrannical in her government, 
 makes herself an immediate judge of consciences 
 and persuasions, lords it over their faith, destrovs 
 unity and charity; and as he that dogmatizes the 
 opinion becomes criminal if he troubles the church 
 with an immodest, peevish, and pertinacious pro- 
 posal of his article, not simply necessary; so the 
 church does not do her duty, if she so condemns 
 it pro tribunali, as to enjoin him and all her sub- 
 jects to believe the contrary. And as there may 
 be pertinacy in doctrine, so there may be pertinacy 
 in judging, and both are faults. The peace of i'm 
 church and the unity of her doctrine is best con- 
 served when it is judged by the proportion it hath 
 to that rule of unity which the apostles gave, that 
 is, the creed for articles of mere belief, and the 
 precepts of Jesus Christ, and the practical rules of 
 piety, which are most plain and easy, and without 
 controversy set down in the gospels and writings 
 of the apostles. But to multiply articles, and adopt 
 them into the family of the faith, and to require 
 assent to such articles, which (as St. Paul's phrase 
 is) are of doubtful disputation, equal to that assent 
 we give to matters of faith, is to build a tower 
 upon the top of a bull rush ; and the further the 
 effect of such proceedings does extend, the worse 
 they are ; the very making such a law is unrea- 
 sonable; the inflicting spiritual censures upon 
 them that cannot do so much violence to their 
 understanding as to obey it, is unjust and inef- 
 fectual ; but to punish the person with death, or 
 with corporal infliction, indeed it is effectual, but 
 it is therefore tyrannical. We liave seen what 
 29* 
 
342 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the church may do towards restraining false or 
 differing opinions ; next I shall consider, by way 
 of corollary, what the prince may do as for his 
 interest, and only in securing his people, and 
 serving the ends of true religion. 
 
 SECTION XVI. 
 
 Whether it be lawful for a Prince to give Toleration 
 to several Religions. 
 
 For upon these very grounds we may easily give 
 account of that great question, whether it be lawful 
 for a prince to give toleration to several religions ? 
 
 For, first, it is a great fault that men will call the 
 several sects of Christians by the names of several 
 religions. The religion of Jesus Christ is the form 
 of sound doctrine and wholesome words, which is 
 set down in Scripture indefinitely, actually con- 
 veyed to us by plain places, and separated as for 
 the question of necessary or not necessary by the 
 symbol of the apostles. Those impertinencies 
 which the wantonness and vanity of men hath 
 commenced, which their interests have promoted, 
 which serve not truth so much as their own ends, 
 are far from being distinct religions ; for matters 
 of opinion are no parts of the worship of God, nor 
 in order to it, but as they promote obedience to his 
 commandments; and when they contribute to- 
 wards it, are, in that proportion as they contribute, 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. S4S 
 
 parts and actions, and minute particulars of that 
 religion to whose end they do, or pretend to serve. 
 And such are all the sects and all the pretences 
 of Christians, but pieces and minutes of Chris- 
 tianity, if they do serve the great end, as every 
 man foi his own sect and interest believes for his 
 share it does. 
 
 2. Toleration hath a double sense or purpose ;. 
 for sometimes by it men understand a public license 
 and exercise of a sect ; sometimes it is only an in- 
 demnity of the persons privately to convene and 
 to opine as they see cause, and as they mean to 
 answer to God. Both these are very much to the 
 same purpose, unless some persons whom we are 
 bound to satisfy be scandalized; and then the 
 prince is bound to do as he is bound to satisfy. 
 To God it is all one. For, abstracting from the 
 offence of persons, which is to be considered just 
 as our obligation is to content the persons, it is all 
 one whether we indulge to them to meet publicly 
 or privately to do actions of religion, concerning 
 which we are not persuaded that they are truly 
 holy. To God it is just one to be in the dark and 
 in the light ; the thing is the same, only the cir- 
 cumstance of public and private is difterent, which 
 cannot be concerned in any thing, nor can it con- 
 cern any thing but the matter of scandal and rela- 
 tion to the minds and fantasies of certain persons. 
 
 3. So that to tolerate is not to persecute. And 
 the question, whether the prince may tolerate 
 divers persuasions, is no more than whether he 
 may lawfully persecute any man for not being of 
 his opinion. Now, in this case, he is just so to 
 tolerate diversity of persuasions as he is to tolerate 
 public actions ; for no opinion is judicable, nor no 
 person punishable, but for a sin ; and if his opinion, 
 
344 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 by reason of its managing or its effect, be a sin in 
 itself, or becomes a sin to the person, then, as he 
 is to do towards other sins, so to that opinion or 
 man so opining. But to believe so, or not so, 
 when there is no more but mere believing, is not 
 in his power to enjoin — therefore not to punish. 
 And it is not only lawful to tolerate disagreeing 
 persuasions, but the authority of God only is com- 
 petent to take notice of it, and infallible to deter- 
 mine it, and fit to judge ; ?tnd therefore no human 
 authority is sufficient to do all those things which 
 can justify the inflicting temporal punishments 
 upon such as do not conform in their persuasions 
 to a rule or authority which is not only fallible, 
 but supposed by the disagreeing person to be 
 actually deceived. 
 
 But I consider, that in the toleration of a differ- 
 ent opinion, religion is not properly and imme- 
 diately concerned, so as in any degree to be 
 endangered. For it may be safe in diversity of 
 persuasions, and it is also a part of Christian 
 religion,* that the liberty of men's consciences 
 should be preserved in all things where God hath 
 Dot set a limit and made a restraint ; that the soul 
 of man should be free, and acknowledge no master 
 but Jesus Christ ; that matters spiritual should not 
 be restrained by punishments corporal ; that the 
 same meekness and charity should be preserved 
 in the promotion of Christianity that gave it 
 foundation, and increment, and firmness in its 
 first publication ; that conclusions should not be 
 more dogmatical than the virtual resolution and 
 efBcacy of the premises ; and that the persons 
 
 * " Humani juris et naturalis potestatis, unicuiq. quod 
 putaverit, colere. Sed nee religionis est cogere reii;.:ionein, 
 qua suscipi sponte debet, nan vi." — Tertul. ad Scapulam. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 345 
 
 should not more certainly be condemned than 
 their opinions confuted; and lastly, that the in- 
 firmities of men and difficulties of things should 
 be both put in balance, to make abatement in the 
 definitive sentence against men's persons. But 
 then, because toleration of opinions is not properly 
 a question of religion, it may be a question of 
 policy: and although a man may be a good Chris- 
 tian, though he believe an error not fundamental, 
 and not directly or evidently impious, yet his 
 opinion may accidentally disturb the public peace, 
 thi'ough the overactiveness of the person, and the 
 confidence of their belief, and the opinion of its 
 appendant necessity; and therefore toleration of 
 differing persuasions, in these cases, is to be con- 
 sidered upon political grounds, and is just so to be 
 admitted or denied as the opinions or toleration 
 of them may consist with the public and necessary 
 ends of government. Only this: as Christian 
 princes must look to the interest of their govern- 
 ment, so especially must they consider the interests 
 of Christianity, and not call redargution or modest 
 discovery of an established error, by the name of 
 disturbance of the peace. For it is very likely 
 that the peevishness and impatience of contradic- 
 tion in the governors may break the peace. Let 
 them remember but the gentleness of Christianity, 
 the liberty of consciences which ought to be pre- 
 served ; and let them do justice to the persons, 
 whoever they are that are peevish, provided no 
 man's person be overborne with prejudice. For 
 if it be necessary for all men to subscribe to the 
 present established religion, by the same reason, 
 at another time, a man may be bound to subscribe 
 to the contradictory, and so to all religions in the 
 world. And they only who by their too much 
 
346 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 confidence entitle God to all their fancies, and 
 make' them to be questions of religion and evi- 
 dences for heaven, or consignations to hell, they 
 only think this doctrine unreasonable ; and they 
 are the men that first disturb the church's peace, 
 and then think there is no appeasing the tumult 
 but by getting the victory. But they that consider 
 things wisely, understand that since salvation and 
 damnation depend not upon impertinencies, and 
 yet that public peace and tranquillity may, the 
 prince is in this case to seek how to secure govern- 
 ment, and the issues and intentions of that, while 
 there is in the cases directly no insecurity to reli- 
 gion, unless by the accidental uncharitableness of 
 them that dispute ; which uncharitableness is also 
 much prevented when the public peace is secured, 
 and no person is on either side engaged upon 
 revenge,* or troubled with disgrace, or vexed witli 
 punishments by any decretory sentence against 
 him. It was the saying of a wise statesman (I 
 mean Thuanus),t " If you persecute heretics or 
 discrepants, they unite themselves as to a common 
 defence : if you permit them, they divide them- 
 selves upon private interest ;" and the rather, if 
 this interest was an ingredient of the opinion. 
 
 The sum is tliis: — ^it concerns the duty of a 
 prince because it concerns the honor of God, that 
 all vices and every part of ill life be discounte- 
 nanced and restrained ; and therefore, in relation 
 to that, opinions are to be dealt with. For the un- 
 derstanding being to direct the will, and opinions 
 to guide our practices, they are considerable only 
 
 * " Dextera prsecipue capit indulgentia mentes, asperitas 
 odium saevaque bella parit." 
 
 t " Hffiretici qui pace data factionibus scinduntuii perse- 
 cutione uniuntur contra remp." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 347 
 
 as they teach impiety and vice, as they either 
 dishonor God or disobey him. Now, all such doc- 
 trines are to be condemned ; but for the persons 
 preaching such doctrines, if they neither justify 
 nor approve the pretended consequences which are 
 certainly impious, they are to be separated from 
 that consideration. But if they know such conse- 
 quences and allow them, or if they do not stay till 
 the doctrines produce impiety, but take sin before- 
 hand, and manage them impiously in any sense ; 
 or if either themselves or their doctrine do really 
 and without color or feigned pretext disturb the 
 public peace and just interests, they are not to be 
 suffered. In all other cases, it is not only lawful to 
 permit them, but it is also necessary that princes 
 and all in authority should not persecute discre- 
 pant opinions. And in such cases, wherein per- 
 sons not otherwise incompetent are bound to re- 
 prove an error (as they are in many), in all these, 
 if the prince makes restraint, he hinders men from 
 doing their duty, and from obeying the laws of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
348 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XVII. 
 
 Of Compliance ivith disagreeing Persom, or iveak 
 ConscAences in general. 
 
 Upon these grounds it remains that we reduce 
 this doctrine to practical conclusions, and consider 
 among the diftering sects and opinions which 
 trouble these parts of Christendom, and come into 
 our concernment, which sects of Christians are to 
 be tolerated, and how far ; and which are to be 
 restrained and punished in their several propor- 
 tions. 
 
 The first consideration is, that since diversity 
 of opinions does more concern public peace than 
 religion, what is to be done to persons who disobey 
 a public sanction, upon a true allegation that 
 they cannot believe it to be lawful to obey such 
 constitutions, although they disbelieve them upon 
 insufficient grounds ; that is, whether in constitiita 
 lege disagreeing persons or weak consciences are 
 to be complied withal, and their disobeying and 
 disagreeing tolerated ? 
 
 1. In this question there is no distinction can 
 be made between persons truly weak and but pre- 
 tending so. For all that pretend to it are to be 
 allowed the same libertj^, whatsoever it be : for no 
 man's spirit is known to any but to God and him- 
 self; and therefore pretences and realities in this 
 case are both alike, in order to the public tolera- 
 tion. And this very thing is one argument to per- 
 suade a n sgative. For the chief thing in this case 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 349 
 
 is the concernment of public government, which 
 is then most of all violated, when what may pru- 
 dently be permitted to some purposes may be 
 demanded to many more, and the piety of the laws 
 abused to the impiety of other men's ends. And 
 if laws be made so malleable as to comply with 
 weak consciences, he that hath a mind to disobey 
 is made impregnable against the coercitive power 
 of the law by this pretence. For a weak conscience 
 signifies notliing in this case but a dislike of the 
 law upon a contrary persuasion. For if some weak 
 consciences do obey the law, and others do not, it 
 is not their weakness indefinitely that is the cause 
 of it, but a definite and particular persuasion to 
 the contrary. So that if such a pretence be excuse 
 sufficient from obeying, then the law is a sanction 
 obliging every one to obey that hath a mind to it, 
 and he that hath not may choose; that is, it is no 
 law at all : for he that hath a mind to it may do it, 
 if there be no law, and he that hath no mind to it 
 need not for all the law. 
 
 And therefore the wit of man cannot prudently 
 frame a law of that temper and expedient, but 
 either he must lose the formality of a law, and 
 neither have power coercitive nor obligatory, but 
 by the vv^ill of inferiors, or else it cannot, antece- 
 dently to the particular case, give leave to any 
 sort of men to disagree or disobey. 
 
 2. Suppose that a law be made, with great reason, 
 so as to satisfy divers persons, pious and prudent, 
 that it complies with the necessity of government, 
 and promotes the interest of God's service and 
 public order, it may be easily imagined that these 
 persons, which are obedient sons of the church, 
 may be as zealous for the public order and disci- 
 pline of the church, as others for their opinion 
 30 
 
350 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 against it, and may be as much scandalized, if 
 disobedience be tolerated, as others are if the law 
 be exacted; and what shall be done in this case? 
 Both sorts of men cannot be complied withal, 
 because, as these pretend to be offended at the 
 law, and by consequence (if they understand the 
 consequents of their own opinion), at them that 
 obey the law ; so the others are justly offended 
 at them that unjustly disobey it. If, therefore, 
 there be any on the right side as confident and 
 zealous as they who are on the wrong side, then 
 the disagreeing persons are not to be complied with 
 to avoid giving offence ; for if they be, offence is 
 given to better persons, and so the mischief which 
 such complying seeks to prevent is made greater 
 and more unjust, obedience is discouraged, and 
 disobedience is legally canor.ized for the result of 
 a holy and a tender conscience. 
 
 3, Such complying with the disagreeings of a 
 sort of men, is the total overthrow of all disci- 
 pline ; and it is better to make no laws of public 
 worship, than to rescind them in the very consti- 
 tution; and there can be no end in making the 
 sanction but to make the law ridiculous, and the 
 authority contemptible. For, to say that com- 
 plying with weak consciences, in the very framing 
 of a law of discipline, is the way to preserve unity, 
 were all one as to say, to take away all laws is the 
 best way to prevent disobedience. In such mat- 
 ters of indifferency, the best way of cementing 
 the fraction is to unite the parts in the authority ; 
 for then the question is but one, viz. whether the 
 authority must be obeyed or not ? But if a per- 
 mission be given of disputing the particulars, the 
 questions become next to infinite. A mirror, when 
 it is broken, represents the object multiplied and 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 351 
 
 divided; but if it be entire, and through one 
 centre transmits the species to the eye, the vision 
 is one and natural. Laws are the mirror in which 
 men are to dress and compose their actions, and 
 therefore must not be broken with such clauses of 
 exception, which may, without remedy, be abused, 
 to the prejudice of authority, and peace, and all 
 human sanctions. And I have known, in some 
 churches, that this pretence hath been nothing but 
 a design to discredit the law, to dismantle the 
 authority that made it, to raise their own credit, 
 and a trophy of their zeal, to make it a charac- 
 teristic note of a sect, and the cognizance of holy 
 persons ; and yet the men that claimed exemption 
 from the laws, upon pretence of having weak con- 
 sciences, if in hearty expression you had told them 
 so to their heads, they would have spit in your 
 face, and were so far from confessing themselves 
 ■weak, that they thought themselves able to give 
 laws to Christendom, to instruct the greatest 
 clerks, and to catechise the church herself. And 
 which is the worst of all, they who were perpetu- 
 ally clamorous that the severity of the laws should 
 slacken as to their particular, and in matter adia- 
 phorous (in which, if the church hath any autho- 
 rity, she hath power to make laws), to indulge a 
 leave to them to do as they list, yet were the most 
 imperious amongst men, most decretory in their 
 sentences, and most impatient of any disagreeing 
 from them, though in the least minute and parti- 
 cular; whereas, by all the justice of the world, 
 they who persuade such a compliance in matters 
 of fact, and of so little question, should not deny 
 to tolerate persons that differ in questions of great 
 difficulty and contestation. 
 
 4. But yet, since all things almost in the world 
 
352 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 have been made matters of dispute, and the will 
 of some men, and the malice of others, and the 
 infinite industry and pertinacy of contesting, 
 and resolution to conquer, hath abused some per- 
 sons innocently into a persuasion that even the 
 laws themselves, though never so prudently con- 
 stituted, are superstitious or impious, such persons 
 who are otherwise pious, humble, and religious, 
 are not to be destroyed for such matters, which in 
 themselves are not of concernment to salvation, 
 and neither are so accidentally to such men and 
 in such cases where they are innocently abused, 
 and they err without purpose and design. And 
 therefore, if there be a public disposition in some 
 persons to dislike laws of a certain quality, if it 
 be foreseen, it is to be considered in lege dicenda 
 (m the framing of a statute); and whatever incon- 
 venience or particular offence is foreseen, is either 
 to be directly avoided in the law, or else a com- 
 pensation in the excellency of the law, and cer- 
 tain advantages made to outweigh their preten- 
 sions : but in lege jam dicta (in a statute already 
 enacted), because there may be a necessity some 
 persons should have a liberty indulged them, it is 
 necessary that the governors of the church should 
 be entrusted with a power to consider the parti- 
 cular case, rnd indulge a liberty to the person, 
 and grant personal dispensations. This, I say, is 
 to be done at several times, upon particular in- 
 stance, upon singular consideration, and new 
 emergencies. But that a whole kind of men, such 
 a kind to which all men, without possibility of 
 being confuted may pretend, should at once, in 
 the very frame of the law, be permitted to disobey, 
 is to nullify the law, to destroy discipline, and to 
 hallow disobedience ; it takes away the obliging 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 353 
 
 part of the law, and makes that the thing enacted 
 shall not be enjoined, but tolerated only; it de- 
 stroys unity and uniformity, which to preserve 
 was the very end of such laws of discipline ; it 
 bends the rule to the thing which is to be ruled, 
 so that the law obeys the subject, not the subject 
 the law ; it is to make a law for particulars, nor 
 upon general reason and congruity, against the 
 prudence and design of all laws in the world, and 
 absolutely without the example of any church in 
 Christendom; it prevents no scandal, for some 
 will be scandalized at the authority itself, some at 
 the complying, and remissness of discipline, and 
 e^everal men at matters and upon ends contradic- 
 tory : all which cannot, some ought not to be com- 
 plied withal. 
 
 6. The sum is this : the end of the laws of dis- 
 cipline is in an immediate order to the conser\^a- 
 tion and ornament of the public, and therefore the 
 laws must not so tolerate, as by conserving persons 
 to destroy themselves and the public benefit; but 
 if there be cause for it, they must be cassated ; or 
 if there be no sufficient cause, tlie complyings 
 must be so as may best preserve the particulars, 
 in conjunction with the public end, which, because 
 it is primarily intended, is of greatest considera- 
 tion; but the particulars, whetlier of case or per- 
 son, are to be considered occasionally and emer- 
 gently by the judges, butxannot antecedently and 
 regularly be determined by a law. 
 
 But this sort of men is of so general pretence 
 that all laws and all judges may easily be abused 
 by them. Those sects which are signified by a 
 name, wliich have a system of articles, a body of 
 profession, may be more clearly determined in 
 SO* 
 
354 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 their question concerning the lawfulness of per- 
 mitting their professions and assemblies. 
 
 1 shall instance in two, which are most trouble- 
 some and most disliked ; and bj an account made 
 of these, we may make judgment what may be 
 done towards others, whose errors are not appre- 
 hended of so great malignity. The men I mean 
 are the anabaptists and the papists. 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 A particular consideration of the Opiiiions of the 
 Anabaptists. 
 
 In the Anabaptists I consider only their two 
 capital opinions, the one against the baptism of 
 infants, the other against magistracy ; and because 
 they produce different judgments and various 
 effects, all their other fancies, which vary as the 
 moon does, may stand or fall in their proportion 
 and likeness to these. 
 
 And first, I consider their denying baptism to 
 infants : although it be a doctrine justly condemned 
 by the most sorts of Christians, upon great grounds 
 of reason, yet possibly their defence may be so 
 great as to take off much, and rebate the edge of 
 their adversaries' assault. It will be neither un- 
 pleasant nor unprofitable to draw a short scheme 
 of plea for each party, the result of which possibly 
 may be, that though they be deceived, yet they 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 355 
 
 have so great excuse on their side that their error 
 h not impudent or vincible. The baptism of in- 
 fants rests wholly upon this discourse. 
 
 When God made a covenant with Abraham, for 
 himself and his posterity, into which the gentiles 
 were reckoned by spiritual adoption, he did, for 
 the present, consign that covenant with the sa- 
 crament of circumcision. The extent of which rite 
 v/as to all his family, from the major domo (the 
 iiead or patriarch) to the proselytus domicilio (the 
 proselyte among his servants), and to infants of 
 eight days old. Now the very nature of this 
 covenant being covenant of faith for its formality, 
 and with all faithful people for the object, and 
 circumcision being a seal of this covenant, if ever 
 any rite do supervene to consign the same cove- 
 nant, that rite must acknowledge circumcision for 
 its type and precedent. And this the apostles 
 tell us, in express doctrine. Now the nature of 
 types is to give some proportions to its successor, 
 the antitype; and they both being seals of the 
 same righteousness of faith, it will not easily be 
 found where these two seals have any such dis- 
 tinction in their nature or purposes, as to apper- 
 tain to persons of differing capacity, and not 
 equally concern all ; and this argument was 
 thought of so much force by some of those excel- 
 lent men which were bishops in the primitive 
 church, that a good b'shop writ an epistle to St. 
 Cyprian, to know of him whether or no it were 
 lawful to baptize infants before the eighth day, 
 because the type of baptism was ministered in 
 that circumcision ; he, in his discourse, supposing 
 that the first rite was a direction to the second, 
 which prevailed with him so far as to believe it to 
 limit ever^^ circum.stance. 
 
356 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 And not only this type, but the acts of Christ 
 which were previous to the institution of baptism, 
 did prepare our understanding bj sucli impresses 
 as were sufficient to produce such persuasion in 
 us,that Christ intended this ministry for the actual 
 advantage of infants as well as of persons of un- 
 derstanding. For Christ commanded that child- 
 ren should be brought unto him, he took them in 
 his arms, he imposed hands on them and blessed 
 them; and, without questions, did, by such acts of 
 favor, consign his love to them, and them to a 
 capacity of an eternal participation of it. And 
 possibly the invitation which Christ made to all to 
 come to him, all them that are lieavy laden, did, 
 in its proportion, concern iniVjits as much as 
 others, if they be guilty of original sin, and if that 
 sin be a burthen, and presses them to spiritual 
 danger or inconvenience. And it is all the reason 
 of the world, since the grace of Christ is as large 
 as the prevarication of Adam, all they who are 
 made guilty by the first Adam should be cleansed 
 by the second. But as they are guilty by another 
 man's act, so they should be brought to the font to 
 be purified by others, there being the same pro- 
 portion of reason, that by others' acts they should 
 be relieved who were in danger of perishing by 
 the act of others. And therefore St. Austin 
 argues excellently to this purpose : " The church 
 furnishes them with the feet of others that they 
 may come, with the heart of others that they may 
 believe, with the tongue of others that they may- 
 make confession ; in order that, as they are dis- 
 eased in consequence of another's sin, so being 
 made whole by another's confession, they may 
 be saved."* And Justin Martyr : '*The children 
 
 * Accommodat illis mater ecclesia ajiornm pedes, ut veui- 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 357 
 
 of pious parents are accounted worthy of baptism, 
 through the faith of those who bring them to be 
 baptized." •• 
 
 But whether they have original sin or no, yet 
 take them in their state as they are by nature, they 
 cannot go to God, or attain to eternity, to which 
 they were intended in their first being and crea- 
 tion ; and therefore, much less since their naturals 
 are impaired by the curse on human nature procured 
 by Adam's prevarication. And if a natural agent 
 cannot in its state of nature attain to heaven, 
 which is a supernatural end, much less when it is 
 loaden with accidental and grievous impedin.snts. 
 Now, then, since the only way revealed to us 
 of acquiring heaven is by Jesus Christ, and the 
 first inlet into Christianity and access to him is 
 by baptism, as appears by the perpetual analogy of 
 the New Testament, -either infants are not persons 
 capable of that end which is the perfection of hu- 
 man nature, and to which the soul of man, in its 
 being made immortal, was essentially designed, 
 and so are miserable and deficient from the end of 
 humanity, if they die before the use of reason ; or 
 else they must be brought to Christ by the church 
 doors, that is, by the font and waters of baptism. 
 
 And, in reason, it seems more pregnant and 
 plausible, that infants, rather than men of under- 
 standing should be baptized. For since the 
 efficacy of the sacraments depends upon divine 
 institution and immediate benediction, and that 
 
 ant; aliorum cor, ut credant ; aliorum lingiiain,utfateantur: 
 ut quoniam, quod aec;ri sunt, alio peccante praegravantur, sic 
 cum sani fiant alio confitente salventur." — Serm. x. de 
 Verb. Apost. 
 
 * 'A^touvTctt S'i roov via, tou ^ATrTia-fxtLTo^ etyA^m ta f^ipi^pn th 
 ■riiTTii Tcov Trpoa-^ipovraiv uvrct. Tie (irtTrTia-ix'XTi. — Resp. ad 
 Orthodoxos. 
 
558 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the J produce their effects independently upon man, 
 in them that do not hinder their operation ; since 
 infants cannot by any act of their own promote the 
 hope of their own salvation, which men of reason 
 and choice may, by acts of virtue and election ; it 
 is more agreeable to the goodness of God, the 
 honor and excellency of the sacrament, and the 
 necessity of its institution, that it should in infants 
 supply the want of human acts and free obedience. 
 Which the very thing itself seems to say it does, 
 because its effect is from God, and requires nothing 
 on man's part but that its efficacy be not hindered : 
 and then in infants the disposition is equal, and 
 the necessity more ; they cannot object to other's 
 acts, and by the same reason cannot do other's 
 acts, which, without the sacraments, do advantage 
 us towards our hopes of heaven ; and therefore 
 have more need to be supplied by an act and an 
 institution divine and supernatural. 
 
 And this is not only necessary in respect of the 
 condition of infants' incapacity to do acts of grace, 
 but also in obedience to divine precept. For Christ 
 made a law, whose sanction is with an exclusive 
 negative to them that are not baptize<l : " Unless a 
 man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall 
 not enter into the kingdom of heaven." If then 
 infants have a capacity of being co-heirs with 
 Christ, in the kingdom of his Father, as Christ 
 affirms they have, by saying, ^' For of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven," then there is a necessitj^ that 
 they should be brought to baptism, there being an 
 absolute exclusion of all persons unbaptized, and 
 all persons not spiritual, from the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 But, indeed, it is a destruction of all the hopes 
 and happiness of infants, a denying to them an 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 359 
 
 exemption from the final condition of beasts and 
 insects, or else a designing of them to a worse 
 misery, to say that God hath not appointed some 
 external or internal means of bringing them to an 
 eternal happiness. Internal they have none; for 
 grace being an improvement, and heightening the 
 faculties of nature, in, order to a heightened and 
 supernatural end, grace hath no influence or effi- 
 cacy upon their faculties, who can do no natural 
 acts of understanding ; and if there be no external 
 means, then they are destitute of all hopes and 
 possibilities of salvation. 
 
 But, thanks be to God, he hath provided better, 
 and told us accordingly , for he hath made a pro- 
 mise of the Holy Ghost to infants as well as to 
 men. "The promise is made to you and to your 
 children," said St. Peter ; '*the promise of the Fa- 
 ther," the promise that he would send the Holy 
 Ghost. Now, if you ask hov/ this promise shall 
 be conveyed to our children, we have an express 
 out of the same sermon of St. Peter :* " Be baptized, 
 and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;" 
 so that, because the Holy Ghost is promised, and 
 baptism is the means of receiving the promise, 
 therefore baptism pertains to them to whom the 
 promise, which is the efiect of baptism, does ap- 
 pertain. And that we may not think this argument 
 is fallible, or of human collection, deserve that it 
 is the argument of the same apostles in express 
 terms; for in the case of Cornelius and his family, 
 he justified his proceeding by this very medium ; 
 " Shall we deny baptism to them who have received 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost as well as we .?" Which 
 discourse, if it be reduced to form of argument, 
 says this : they that are capable of the same grace 
 * Acts, ii. 38, 39. 
 
S60 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 are receptive of the same sign; but then (to make 
 the syllogism up with an assumption proper to our 
 present purpose) infants are capable of the same 
 grace, that is, of the Holy Ghost (for the promise 
 is made to our children as well as to us, and St. 
 Paul says, the children of believing parents are 
 holy and therefore have the Holy Ghost, who is 
 the fountain of holiness and sanctification), there- 
 fore they are to receive the sign and the seal of it ; 
 that is the sacrament of baptism. 
 
 And indeed, since God entered a covenant with 
 the Jews, which did also actually involve their 
 children, and gave them a sign to establish the 
 covenant and its appendant promise, eitlier God 
 does not so much love the church as he did the 
 synagogue, and the mercies of the gospel are more 
 restrained than the mercies of the law, God having 
 made a covenant with the infants of Israel, and 
 none with the children of Christian parents ; or if 
 he hath, yet we want the comfort of its consign- 
 ation ; and, unless our children are to be baptized, 
 and so entitled to the promises of the nev/ covenant, 
 as the Jewish babes were by circumxision, this 
 mercy which appertains to infants is so secret, and 
 undeclared, and unconsigned, that we want much 
 of that mercy and outward testimony which gave 
 them comfort and assurance. 
 
 And in proportion to these precepts and revela- 
 tions was the practice apostolical; for they (to 
 whom Christ gave in precept to make disciples all 
 nations, baptizing them, and knew that nations 
 without children never were, and that therefore 
 they were passively concerned in that commission), 
 baptized whole families, particularly that of Ste- 
 phanus, and divers others, in which it is more than 
 probable there were some minors, if not sucking 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 361 
 
 babes. And this practice did descend upon tlie 
 church in after ages by tradition apostolical. Of 
 this we have sufficient testimony from Origen : — 
 *^ The church has received it by tradition from the 
 apostles to admit little children to the rite of 
 baptism''* and St. Austin : — " This practice the 
 church has received upon the faith of the fathers."! 
 And generally all writers (as Calvin says) affirm 
 the same thing, for " there is no writer so ancient 
 as not to refer its origin to the apostolic age.'*± 
 From hence the conclusion is, that infants ought 
 to be baptized, that it is simply necessary, that 
 they who deny it are heretics, and such are not to 
 be endured, because they deny to infants hopes, and 
 take away the possibility of their salvation, which 
 is revealed to us on no other condition of which 
 they are capable but baptism. For by the insinua- 
 tion of the type, by the action of Christ, by the 
 title infants have to heaven, by the precept of the 
 gospel, by the energy of the j)romise, by the rea- 
 sonableness of the thing, by the infinite necessity 
 on the infants' part, by the practice apostolical, by 
 their tradition, and the universal practice of the 
 church ; by all these, God and good people pro- 
 claim the lawfulness, the conveniency, and the 
 necessity of infants' baptism. 
 
 To all this, the Anabaptist gives a soft and 
 gentle answer, that it is a goodly harangue, which 
 upon strict examination will come to nothing; that 
 it pretends fairly and signifies little; that some of 
 
 * •' Pro hoe ecclesia ab apostolis traditionem accepit, etiam 
 parvulis baptismum dare." — In Rom. vi. tom. ii. p. 543. 
 
 t "Hoc ecclesia a majorum fide percepit." — Serm. x. de 
 Verb. Apost. c. 2. 
 
 X " NuUus est scriptor tarn vetustus, qui non ejus originem 
 ad apostolorum sseculum procerto referat." — 4 Instit. cap. 16, 
 sect. 8. 
 
 31 
 
362 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 these allegations are false, some impertinent, and 
 all the rest insufficient. 
 
 For the argument from circumcision is invalid 
 upon infinite considerations : — figures and types 
 prove nothing, unless a commandment go along 
 with them, or some express to signify such to be 
 their purpose. For the deluge of waters and the 
 ark of Noah were a figure of baptism, said Peter; 
 and if, therefore, the circumstances of one should 
 be drawn to the other, we should make baptism a 
 prodigy rather than a rite. The paschal lamb was 
 a type of the eucharist, which succeeds the other 
 as baptism does to circumcision ; but because there 
 was, in the manducation of the paschal lamb, no 
 prescription of sacramental drink, shall we thence 
 conclude that the eucharist is to be ministered 
 but in one kind ? And even in the very instance 
 of this argument, supposing a correspondence of 
 analogy between circumcision and baptism, yet 
 there is no correspondence of identity; for al- 
 though it were granted that both of them did con- 
 sign the covenant of faith, yet there is nothing in 
 the circumstance of children's being circumcised, 
 that so concerns that mystery but that it might 
 very well be given to children, and yet baptism 
 only to men of reason ; because circumcision left a 
 character in the flesh, which being imprinted upon 
 infants did its work to them when they came to 
 age ; and such a character was necessary, because 
 there was no word added to the sign ; but baptism 
 imprints nothing that remains on the body, and if 
 it leaves a character at all, it is upon the soul, to 
 which also the word is added, which is as much a 
 part of the sacrament as the sign itself is. For 
 both which reasons, it is i:equisite that the persons 
 baptized should be capable of reason, that they may 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING, 363 
 
 be capable both of the word of the sacrament and 
 the impress made upon the spirit. Since, therefore, 
 the reason of this parity does wholly fail, there is 
 nothing left to infer a necessity of complying in this 
 circumstance of age any more than in the other 
 annexes of the type ; and the case is clear in the 
 bishop's question to Cyprian ;* for why shall not 
 infants be baptized just upon the eighth day, as 
 well as circumcised ? If the correspondence of the 
 rites be an argument to infer one circumstance 
 which is impertinent and accidental to the mys- 
 teriousness of the rite, why shall it not infer all r 
 And then, also, females must not be baptized, 
 because they were not circumcised. But it were 
 more proper, if we would understand it right, to 
 prosecute the analogy from the type to the anti- 
 type, by way of letter, and spirit, and signification ; 
 and as circumcision figures baptism, so also the 
 adjuncts of the circumcision shall signify some- 
 thing spiritual in the adherencies of baptism ; and 
 therefore, as infants were circumcised, so spiritual 
 infants shall be baptized, which is spiritual circum- 
 cision ; for therefore babes had the ministry of the 
 type, to signify that we must, when we give our 
 names to Christ, become vitTnoi iv 7rone,t%» children 
 in malice ; ** for unless you become like one of these 
 little ones, you cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven," said our blessed Savior ; and then the 
 type is made complete. And this seems to have 
 been the sense of the primitive church ; for in the 
 age next to the apostles they gave to all baptized 
 persons milk and honey, to represent to them their 
 duty, that though in age and understanding they 
 were men, yet they were babes in Christ, and 
 
 • Lib. ill. Epist. 8. ad Fiduin 
 
364 THE SACRED CLASSICSo 
 
 children in malice. But to infer the sense of the 
 paedobaptists is so weak a manner of arguing, 
 that Austin, whose device it was (and men use to 
 be ill love with their own fancies), at the most 
 pretended it but as probable and a mere conjecture. 
 
 And as ill success will thej have with the other 
 arguments as with this ; for, from the action of 
 Christ's blessing infants, to infer that they are to 
 be baptized, proves nothing so much as that there 
 is great want of better arguments. The conclusion 
 wouki be with more probability derived thus :— 
 Christ blessed children, and so dismissed them, 
 but baptized them not; therefore infants are not to 
 be baptized ; but let this be as weak as its enemy, 
 yet that Christ did not baptize them is an argu- 
 ment sufficient that Christ hath other ways of 
 bringing them to heaven than by baptism ; he 
 passed his act of grace upon them by benediction 
 and imposition of hands. 
 
 And therefore, although neither infants nor any 
 man by nature can attain to a supernatural end 
 without the addition of some instrument or means 
 of God's appointing, ordinarily and regularly, jei 
 where God hath not appointed a rule nor an order, 
 as in the case of infants we contend he hath not, 
 the argument is invalid. And as we are sure that 
 God hath not commanded infants to be baptized, 
 so we are sure God will do them no injustice, nor 
 damn them for what they cannot help. 
 
 And therefore let them be pressed with all the 
 inconveniences that are consequent to original sin, 
 yet either it will not be laid to the charge of in- 
 fants, so as to be sufficient to condemn them, or 
 if it could, yet the mercy and absolute goodness 
 of God will secure them, if he takes them away 
 before they can glorify him with a free obedience. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 365 
 
 *' Why is innocent infancy to be anxious for the 
 remission of sins ?"* was the question of Ter- 
 tullian {lib. de Bapt.) ? lie knew no such danger 
 from their original guilt, as to drive them to a 
 laver of which, in tliat age of innocence, they had 
 no need, as he conceived. And therefore there 
 is no necessity of flying to the help of others, for 
 tongue, and heart, and faith, and predispositions 
 to baptism ; for what need all this stir ? As in- 
 fants without their own account, without any act 
 of their own, and without any exterior solemnity', 
 contracted the guilt of Adam's sin, and so are 
 liable to all the punishment which can with jus- 
 tice descend upon his posterity, who are personally 
 innocent ; so infants shall be restored without any 
 solemnity or act of their own, or of any other 
 men for them, by the second Adam, by the re- 
 demption of Jesus Christ, by his righteousness 
 and mercies, applied either immediately, or how 
 or when he shall be pleased to appoint. And so 
 St. Austin's argument will come to nothing, with- 
 out any need of godfathers, or the faith of any 
 body else. And it is too narrow a conception of 
 God Almighty, because he hath tied us to the 
 observation of the ceremonies of his own institu- 
 tion, that therefore he hath tied himself to it. 
 Many thousand ways there are by which God can 
 bring any reasonable soul to himself; but nothing 
 is more unreasonable, than because he hath tied 
 all men of years and discretion to this way, there- 
 fore we, of our own heads, shall carry infants to 
 him that way without his direction : the conceit is 
 poor and low, and the action consequent to it is 
 too bold and venturous. ** I have nothing to do 
 
 * " Quid ergo festinat innocens ajtas ad remissionem pec- 
 catorum." 
 
 31* 
 
366 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 in religion but with myself and my household."** 
 Let him do what he please to infants, we must 
 not. 
 
 Only this is certain, that God hath as great care 
 of infants as of others ; and because they have no 
 capacity of doing such acts as may be in order to 
 acquiring salvation, God will, by his own im- 
 mediate mercy, bring them thither where he hath 
 intended them ; but to say that therefore he will 
 do it by an external act and ministry, and that 
 confined to a particular, viz. this rite and no other, 
 is no good argument, unless God could not do it 
 without such means, or that he had said he would 
 not. And why cannot God as well do his mer- 
 cies to infants now immediately^ as he did before 
 the institution either of circumcision or baptism .^ 
 
 However, there is no danger that infants should 
 perish for want of this external ministry, much 
 less for prevaricating Christ's precept of • Except 
 a man be born again,' &c. For, first, the water 
 and the Spirit in this place signify the same thing; 
 and by water is meant the effect of the Spirit, 
 cleansing and purifying the soul, as appears in its 
 parallel place of Christ baptizing with the Spirit 
 and with fire. For although this was literally 
 fulfilled in Pentecost, jet morally there is more 
 in it, for it is the sign of the effect of the Holy 
 Ghost, and his productions upon the soul ; and it 
 was an excellency of our blessed Savior's office, 
 that he baptizes all that come to him with the 
 Holy Ghost and with fire ; for so St. John, pre- 
 ferring Christ''s mission and office before his own. 
 tells the Jews, not Christ's disciples, that Chris-: 
 shall baptize them with fire and the Holy Spirit ; 
 
 * " Mysterium meum raihi e filiis domiis mes." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 367 
 
 that is, ' all that come to him,' as John the Bap- 
 tist did with water, for so lies the antitliesis : and 
 you may as well conclude that infants must also 
 pass tlu'ough the fire as through the water. And 
 that we may not think this a trick to elude the 
 pressure of this place, Peter says the same thing ; 
 for when he had said that baptism saves us, he 
 adds, by way of explication, ' not the washing of 
 the flesh, but the confidence of a good conscience 
 towards God ;' plainly saying, that it is not water, 
 or the purifying of the body, but the cleansing of 
 the spirit, that does that which is supposed to be 
 the effect of baptism; and if our Savior's exclu- 
 sive negative be expounded by analogy to this of 
 Peter, as certainly the other parallel instance 
 must, and this may, then it will be so far from 
 proving the necessity of infants' baptism, that it 
 can conclude for no man that he is obliged to the 
 rite ; and the doctrine of the baptism is only to 
 derive from the very words of institution, and not 
 be forced from words which were spoken before 
 it was ordained. But to let pass this advantage, 
 and to suppose it meant of external baptism, yet 
 this no more infers a necessity of infants' baptism, 
 than the other words of Christ infer a necessity 
 to give them the holy communion : ' Except ye 
 eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his 
 blood, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.' 
 And yet we do not think these words sufficient 
 argument to communicate them ; if men, there- 
 fore, will do us justice, either let them give both 
 sacraments to infants, as some ages of the church 
 did, or neither. For the wit of man is not able to 
 show a disparity in the sanction, or in the energy 
 of its expression. And therefore they were honest 
 that understood the obligation to be parallel, and 
 
368 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 performed it accordingly; and yet because we 
 say they were deceived in one instance, and yet 
 the obligation (all the world cannot reasonably 
 say but) is the same, they are as honest and as 
 reasonable that do neither. And since the ancient 
 church did with an equal opinion of necessity 
 give them the communion, and yet men now-a- 
 days do not, why shall men be more burthened 
 with a prejudice and a name of obloquy for not 
 giving the infants one sacrament, more than they 
 are disliked for not affording them the other ? If 
 Anabaptist shall be a name of disgrace, why shall 
 not some other name be invented for them that 
 deny to communicate infants, which shall be 
 equally disgraceful, or else both the opinions sig- 
 nified by such names, be accounted no disparage- 
 ment, but receive their estimate according to their 
 truth ? 
 
 Of which truth, since we are now taking ac- 
 count from pretences of Scripture, it is consider- 
 able that the discourse of St. Peter, which is pre- 
 tended for the entitling infants to the promise of 
 the Holy Ghost, and by consequence to baptism, 
 which is supposed to be its instrument and con- 
 veyance, is wholly a fancy, and hath in it nothing 
 of certainty or demonstration, and not much pro- 
 bability. For besides that the thing itself is un- 
 reasonable, and the Holy Ghost works by the 
 heightening and improving our natural faculties, 
 and therefore is a promise that so concerns them 
 as they are reasonable creatures, and may have a 
 title to it in proportion to their nature, but no 
 possession or reception of it till their faculties 
 come into act; besides this, I say, the words men- 
 tioned in St. Peter's sermon (which are the only 
 record of the promise) are interpreted upon a 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 369 
 
 weak mistake. " The promise belongs to you and 
 to joiiv children," therefore infants are actually 
 receptive of it in that capacity. That is the argu- 
 ment, but the reason of it is not yet discovered, 
 nor ever will ; for " to you and your children," is 
 to you and your posterity, to you and your chil- 
 dren when they are of the same capacity in which 
 you are effectually receptive of the promise ; but 
 he that, whenever the word children is used in 
 Scripture^ shall by children understand infants, 
 must needs believe that in all Israel there were 
 no men, but all were infants ; and if that had 
 been true it had been the greater wonder they 
 should overcome the Anakims, and beat the king 
 of Moab, and march so far, and discourse so well, 
 for they were all called the children of Israel. 
 
 And for the allegation of St. Paul, that infants 
 are holy if their parents be faithful, it signifies 
 nothing but that they are holy by designation, 
 just as Jeremiah and John Baptist were sanctified 
 in their mother's womb, that is, they were ap- 
 pointed and designed for holy ministries, but had 
 not received the promise of the Father — the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost— for all that sanctification ; 
 and just so the children of Christian parents are 
 sanctified : that is, designed to the service of 
 Jesus Christ and the future participation of the 
 promises. 
 
 And as the promise appertains not (for aught 
 appears) to infants in that capacity and consist- 
 ence, but only by the title of their being reason- 
 able creatures, and when they come to that act of 
 which by nature they have the faculty, so if it did, 
 yet baptism is not the means of conveying the 
 Holy Ghost. For that which Peter says, " Be 
 baptized and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost," 
 
370 THE SA6RED CLASSICS. 
 
 signifies no more than this : first, be baptized, and 
 then by imposition of the apostles' hands (which 
 was another mjsterj and rite) ye shall receive 
 the promise of the Father. And this is nothing 
 but an insinuation of the rite of confirmation, as 
 is to this sense expounded by divers ancient 
 authors ; and in ordinary ministry the effect of it 
 is not bestowed upon any unbaptized persons, for 
 it is in order next after baptism, and upon this 
 ground Peter's argument in the case of Cornelius 
 was concluding enough, a majori ad minus (from 
 the greater to the less). Thus the Holy Ghost 
 was bestowed upon him and his family, which 
 gift, by ordinary ministry, was consequent to bap- 
 tism (not as the effect is to the cause or to the 
 proper instrument, but as a consequent is to an 
 antecedent, in a chain of causes accidentally and 
 by positive institution depending upon each other). 
 God by that miracle did give testimony, that the 
 persons of the men were in great dispositions 
 towards heaven, and therefore were to be admit- 
 ted to those rites which are the ordinary inlets 
 into the kingdom of heaven. But then, from 
 hence to argue that wherever there is a capacity 
 of receiving the same grace there also the same 
 sign is to be ministered, and from hence to infer 
 pasdobaptism, is an argument very fallacious upon 
 several grounds. First, because baptism is not 
 the sign of the Holy Ghost, but by another mys- 
 tery it was conveyed ordinarily, and extraordi- 
 narily it was conveyed independently from any 
 mystery ; and so the argument goes upon a wrong 
 supposition. Secondly, if the supposition were 
 true, the proposition built upon it is false; for 
 they that are capable of the same grace are not 
 always capable of the same sign; for women, 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 371 
 
 ^nder the law of Moses, although they were 
 capable of the righteousness of faith, yet they 
 were not capable of the sign of circumcision. 
 For God does not always convey his graces in the 
 same manner, but to some mediately, to others 
 immediately ; and there is no better instance in 
 the world of it than the gift of the Holy Ghost 
 (which is the thing now instanced in this contest- 
 ation) ; for it is certain in Scripture, that it was 
 ordinarily given by imposition of hands, and that 
 after baptism (and when this came into an ordi- 
 nary ministry it was called by the ancient church 
 chrism, or confirmation) ; but yet it was given 
 sometimes without imposition of hands, as at 
 Pentecost and to the family of Cornelius; some- 
 times before baptism, sometimes after, sometimes 
 in conjunction with it. 
 
 And after all this, lest these arguments should 
 not ascertain their cause, they fall on complaining 
 against God, and will not be content with God 
 unless they may baptize their children, but take 
 exceptions that God did more for the children of 
 the Jews. But why so ? Because God made a 
 covenant with tlieir children actually as infants, 
 and consigned it by circumcision. AVell, so he 
 did with our children too in their proportion. He 
 made a covenant of spiritual promises on liis part, 
 and spiritual and real services on ours; and this 
 pertains to children when they are capable, but 
 made with tliem as soon as they are alive, and yet 
 not so as with the Jews' babes ; for as their rite 
 consigned them actually, so it was a national and 
 temporal blessing and covenant, as a separation of 
 them from the portion of the nations, a marking 
 them for a peculiar people (and therefore, while 
 they were in the wilderness, and separate from 
 
372 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the commixture of all people, they were not all 
 circumcised), but as that rite did seal the righteous- 
 ness of faith, so bj virtue of its adherency and 
 remanency in their flesh, it did that work when 
 the children came to age. But in Christian infants 
 the case is otherwise ; for the new covenant being 
 established upon better promises, is not only to 
 better purposes, but also in distinct manner to be 
 understood ; when their spirits are as receptive 
 of a spiritual act or impress as the bodies of Jew- 
 ish children were of the sign of circumcision, then 
 it is to be consigned : but this business is quickly 
 at an end, by saying that God hath done no less 
 for ours than for their children ; for he will do the 
 mercies of a Father and Creator to them, and he 
 did no more to the other ; but he hath done more 
 to ours, for he hath made a covenant with them, 
 and built it upon promises of the greatest concern- 
 ment; he ditl not so to them. But then, for the 
 other part, which is the main of the argument, that 
 unless this mercy be consigned by baptism, as 
 good not at all in respect of us, because we want 
 the comfort of it; this is the greatest vanity in 
 the world ; for when God hath made promise per- 
 taining also to our children (for so our adversaries 
 contend, and we also ackno vvdedge in its true 
 sense), shall not this promise, this word of God, 
 be of sufficient truth, certainty, and efficacy, to 
 cause comfort, unless we tempt God, and require 
 a sign of him ^ May not Christ say to these men 
 as sometime to the Jews, * a wicked and adulterous 
 generation seeketh after a sign, but no sign shall 
 be given unto it ?' But the truth is, this argument 
 is nothing but a direct quarreling with God Al- 
 mighty. 
 
 Now, since there is no strength in the doctrinal 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 373 
 
 part, the practice and precedents apostolical and 
 ecclesiastical will be of less concernment, if they 
 were true as is pretended ; because actions apos- 
 tolical are not always rules for ever. It might be 
 fit for them to do it pro loco et tempore (for the 
 place and time), as divers others of their institu- 
 tions, but jet no engagement passed thence upon 
 following ages ; for it might be convenient at that 
 time, in the new spring of Christianity, and till 
 they had engaged a considerable party, by that 
 means to make them parties against the gentiles' 
 superstition, and by way of pre-occupation to as- 
 certain them to their own sect when they came to 
 be men ; or for some other reason not transmitted 
 to us, because the question of fact itself is not 
 sufficiently determined. For the insinuation of 
 that precept of baptizing all nations, of which 
 children certainly are a part, does as little advan- 
 tage as any of the rest, because other parallel 
 expressions of scripture do determine and ex- 
 pound themselves to a sense that includes not all 
 persons absolutely, but of a capable condition, as 
 * Worship him all je nations, praise him all ye 
 people of the earth,' &c. and divers more. 
 
 As for the conjecture concerning the family of 
 Stephanus, at the best it is but a conjecture; and 
 besides that, it is not proved that there were chil- 
 dren in the family ; yet if that were granted, it 
 follows not that they were baptized, because by 
 whole families, in Scripture, is meant all persons 
 of reason and age within the family. For it is 
 said of the ruler at Capernaum, that ' he believed 
 and all his house.' Now, you may also suppose 
 that in his house were little babes— -that is likely 
 enough— and you may suppose that they did be- 
 lieve too before they could understand, but that is 
 
ij74 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 not so likely. And then the argument from bap- 
 tizing of Stephen's household may be allowed 
 just as probable; but this is unmanlike to build 
 upon such slight airy conjectures. 
 
 But tradition, by all means, must supply the 
 place of Scripture, and there is pretended a tra- 
 dition apostolical that infants were baptized : but 
 at this we are not much moved ; for we, who rely 
 upon the written word of God as sufficient to es- 
 tablish all true religion, do not value the allegation 
 of traditions ; and however the world goes, none 
 of the reformed churches can pretend this argu- 
 ment against this opinion, because they who reject 
 tradition when it is against them, must not pre- 
 tend it at all for them. But if we should allow 
 the topic to be good, jet how will it be verified ? 
 for so far as it can yet appear, it relies wholly 
 upon the testimony of Origen, for from him Austin 
 had it. Now a tradition apostolical, if it be not 
 consigned with a fuller testimony than of one per- 
 son, whom all after ages have condemned of many 
 errors, will obtain so little reputation amongst 
 those who know that things have upon greater au- 
 thority pretended to derive from the apostles, and 
 yet falsely, that it will be a great argument that 
 he is credulous and weak that shall be determined 
 by so weak probation in matters of so great con- 
 cernment. And the truth of the business is, as 
 there was no command of Scripture to oblige 
 children to the susception of it, so the necessity 
 of paedobaptism was not determined in the church 
 till in the eighth age after Christ ; but in the year 
 418, in the Milevitan council, a provincial of Af- 
 rica, there was a canon made for psedobaptism t — 
 never till then ! I grant it was practised in Africa, 
 before that time, and they or some of them thought 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 
 
 S7^ 
 
 well of it ; and though that be no argument for us 
 to think so, yet none of them did ever before pre- 
 tend it to be necessary, none to have been a pre- 
 cept of the gospel. St. Austin was the first that 
 ever preached it to be absolutely necessary, and 
 it was in his heat and anger against Pelagius, who 
 had warmed and chafed him so in that question 
 that it made him innovate in other doctrines, pos- 
 sibly of more concernment than this. And that 
 although this was practised anciently in Africa, 
 yet that it was without an opinion of necessity, 
 and not often there nor at all in other places, we 
 have the testimony of a learned paedobaptist, 
 Ludovicus Vives, who in his annotations upon St. 
 Austin, De Civit. Dei, lib. i. c. 27, affirms, '' that 
 anciently none but adults were baptized."* 
 
 But, besides that the tradition cannot be proved 
 to be apostolical, we have very good evidence from 
 antiquity, that it was the opinion of the primitive 
 church that infants ought not to be baptized; and 
 this is clear in the sixth canon of the council of 
 Neocaesarea. The words are these : " A woman 
 with child may be baptized when she please ; for 
 her baptism concerns not the child."t The reason 
 of the connexion of the parts of that canon is in 
 the following words : *' because every one in that 
 confession is to give a demonstration of his own 
 choice and election :" meaning plainly, that if the 
 baptism of the mother did also pass upon the child^ 
 it were not fit for a pregnant woman to receive 
 baptism ; because in that sacrament there being a 
 confession of faith, which confession supposes un- 
 
 * " Neminem nisi adultum antiquitus solere baptizari." 
 
 itoivccvii n TiKravo-dL tcd TMToyAVce S'io. ro ftcctffTCu iS'tav tuv vrfocU' 
 (i^iv niv & Til ofAoXoyia. (^ukvjtQxs. 
 
S7Q THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 derstanding and free choice, it is not reasonable 
 the child should be consigned with such a mystery, 
 since it cannot do any act of choice or under- 
 standing. The canon speaks reason, and it inti- 
 mates a practice, which was absolutely universal 
 in the church, of interrogating the catechumens 
 concerning the articles of creed ; which is one 
 argument that either they did not admit infants to 
 baptism, or that they did prevaricate egregiously 
 in asking questions of them, who themselves knew 
 were not capable of giving answer. 
 
 And to supply their incapacity by the answer 
 of a godfather, is but the same unreasonableness 
 acted with a worse circumstance.* And there is 
 no sensible account can be given of it ; for that 
 which some imperfectly murmur concerning sti- 
 pulations civil, performed by tutors in the name of 
 their pupils, is an absolute vanity. For what if 
 by positive constitution of the Romans such 
 solemnities of law are required in all stipulations, 
 and by indulgence are permitted in the case of a 
 notable benefit accruing to minors, must God be 
 tied, and Christian religion transact her mysteries 
 by proportion and compliance with the law of the 
 Romans ? I know God might, if he would, have 
 appointed godfathers to give answer in behalf of 
 the children, and to be fidejussors for them; but 
 we cannot find any authority or ground that he 
 hath, and if he had, then it is to be supposed he 
 would have given them commission to have trans- 
 acted the solemnity with better circumstances, 
 and given answers with more truth. For the 
 
 * "Quid ni necesse est sponsores etiam periculo ingeri, 
 qui et ipsi per mortalitatein destituere promissiones suas pos- 
 sint, et proventu malag indolis falii ?" — Franc. Jiinivis in notis 
 ad Tertul. lib. de Baptis. ap. 18. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 377 
 
 question is asked of believing in the present. 
 And if the godfathers answer in the name of the 
 child, '' I do believe," it is notorious thej speak 
 false and ridiculously; for the infant is not capable 
 of believing; and if he were, he were also capable 
 of dissenting; and how then do they know his 
 mind? And therefore Tertullian gives advice 
 that the baptism of infants should be deferred till 
 they could give an account of their faith,* and the 
 same also is the counsel of Gregory,! bishop of 
 Nazianzum, although he allows them to hasten it 
 in case of necessity ; for though his reason taught 
 him what was fit, yet. he was overborne with the 
 practice and opinion of his age, which began to 
 bear too violently upon him ; and yet, in another 
 place, he makes mention of some to whom baptism 
 was not administered, Jw v>jOTOT«Tit, "by reason of 
 infancy." To which, if we add that the parents 
 of St. Austin, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose, al- 
 though they were Christian, yet did not baptize 
 their children before the}'- were thirty years of age, 
 it will be very considerable in the example, and of 
 great efficacy for destroying the supposed necessity 
 of derivation from the apostles. 
 
 But, however, it is against the perpetual ana- 
 logy of Christ's doctrine to baptize infants : for 
 besides that Christ never gave any precept to bap- 
 tize them, nor ever himself nor his apostles (that 
 appears) did baptize any of them, all that either 
 he or his apostles said concerning it, requires 
 such previous dispositions to baptism of which 
 infants are not capable, and these are faith and re- 
 
 * Lib. de Baptis. prope finem, cap. 18. " Itaque pro per- 
 sons cujusque conditione ac dispositione, etiam aetate, cunc- 
 tatio baptism! utilior est, prcecipue tamen circa parvulos. — 
 Fiant Chrisliani cum Christum nosse potueriiit." 
 
 t Oral. xl. quaest, in S. Baptisma. 
 32* 
 
378 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 pentance. And not to instance in those innume- 
 rable places that require faith before this sacrament, 
 there needs no more but this one saying of our 
 blessed Savior : ' He that believeth and is bap- 
 tized shall be saved, but he that believeth not 
 shall be damned ;'* plainly thus, faith and baptism 
 in conjunction will bring a man to heaven ; but if 
 he have not faith, baptism shall do him no good. 
 So that if baptism be necessary then so is faith, 
 and much more ; for want of faith damns abso- 
 lutely — it is not said so of want of baptism. Now, 
 if this decretory sentence be to be understood of 
 persons of age, and if children by such an answer 
 (which indeed is reasonable enough) be excused 
 from the necessity of faith, the v/ant of which regu- 
 larly does damn, then it is sottish to say the same 
 incapacity of reason and faith shall not excuse 
 from the actual susception of baptism, which is 
 less necessary, and to which faith and many other 
 acts are necessary predispositions, when it is rea- 
 sonably and humanly received. The conclusion 
 is, that baptism is also to be deferred till the time 
 of faith; and whether infants have faith or no is a 
 question to be disputed by persons that care not 
 how much they say, nor how little they prove. 
 
 1. Personal and actual faith they have none; 
 for they have no acts of understanding; and be- 
 sides, how can any man know that they have, since 
 he never saw any sign of it, neither was he told so 
 by any one that could tell? 2. Some say they 
 have imputative faith ; but then so let the sacra- 
 ment be too — that is, if they liave the parents' 
 faith or the church's, then so let baptism be im- 
 puted also by derivation from them, that as in 
 
 * Mark, xvi. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 379 
 
 their mothers' womb and while they hang on their 
 breasts they live upon their mothers' nourishment, 
 so they may upon the baptism of their pai'ents or 
 their mother the church. For since faith is neces- 
 sary to the susception of baptism (and they them- 
 selves confess it by striving to find out new kinds 
 of faith to daub the matter up), such as the faith 
 is such must be the sacrament; for there is no 
 proportion between an actual sacrament and an 
 imputative faith, this being in immediate and ne- 
 cessary order to that; and whatsoever can be said 
 to take off from the necessity of actual faith, all 
 that and much more may be said to excuse from 
 the actual susception of baptism. 3. The first of 
 these devices was that of Luther and his scholars, 
 the second of Calvin and his; and yet there is a 
 third device which tlie church of Rome teaches, 
 and that is, that infants have habitual faith: bur. 
 wiio told them so ? how can they prove it ? what 
 revelation or reason teaches any such thing ? Are 
 they by this habit so much as disposed to an actual 
 belief, without a nev/ master ? Can an infant sent 
 into a Mahometan province be more confident for 
 Christianity when he comes to be a man, than if 
 he had not been baptized ? Are there an}'- acts 
 precedent, concomitant, or consequent to this pre- 
 tended habit ? This strange invention is absolutelj^ 
 without art, without Scripture, reasoii, or authority : 
 but the men are to be excused unless there were a 
 better. But for all these stratagems, the argument 
 now alleged against the baptism of infants is de- 
 monstrative and unanswerable. 
 
 To which also this consideration may be added, 
 that if baptism be necessary to the salvation of 
 infants, upon whom is the imposition laid ? To 
 whom is tiie command given ? to the parents or to 
 
330 THE SACRED CLASSICS, 
 
 the children? Not to the children, for tliey are 
 not capable of a law ; nor to the parents, for then 
 God hath put the salvation of innocent babes into 
 the power of others, and infants may be damned 
 for their fathers' carelessness or malice. It follows, 
 that it is not necessary at all to be done to tliem 
 to whom it cannot be prescribed as a law, and in 
 whose behalf it cannot be reasonably intrusted to 
 others with the appendant necessity; and if it be 
 not necessary, it is certain it is not reasonable ; and 
 most certain it is no where in terms prescribed, and 
 therefore it is to be presumed that it ought to be 
 understood and administered according as other 
 precepts are, with reference to the capacity of the 
 subject and the reasonableness of the thing. 
 
 For I consider that the baptizing of infants does 
 rusk us upon suck inconveniences which in other 
 questions we avoid like rocks, which will appear if 
 we discourse thus. 
 
 Either baptism produces spiritual effects or it 
 produces them n'^^ : if it produces not any, why is 
 suck contention about it ? wkat are we tke nearer 
 heaven if we are baptized ? and if it be neglected, 
 wkat are we tke fartker of? But if (as without 
 all peradventure all the pa^dobiiptists will say) 
 baptism does do a work upon tke soul, producing 
 spiritual benefits and advantages, tkese advantages 
 are produced by tke external work of tke sacrament 
 alone, or by tkat as it is kelped by tke co-operation 
 and predispositions of tke suscipient. 
 
 If by tke external v/ork of tke sacrament alone, 
 how does tiiis differ from tke opus operaticm of tke 
 papists, save that it is worse ? For they say the 
 sacrament does not produce its effect but in a sus- 
 cipient, disposed by all requisites and due prepara- 
 tives of piety, faith, and repentance ; though in a 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 381 
 
 subject SO disposed, they say tlie sacrament by its 
 own virtue does it, but this opinion says, it does 
 it of itself without the help or so much as the co- 
 existence of any condition but the mere reception. 
 
 But if the sacrament does not do its work alone, 
 hut per modicm recipientis (according to the predis- 
 positions of the suscipient), then because infants 
 can neither hinder it nor do any thing to further it, 
 it does them no benefit at all. And if any man runs 
 for succor to that exploded refuge, that infants 
 have faith, or any other inspired habit of I know 
 not what or how, we desire no more advantage in 
 the world than that they are constrained to an 
 answer without revelation, against reason, common 
 sense, and all the experience in the world. 
 
 The sum of the argument, in short, is this, though 
 under another representment : — 
 
 Either baptism is a mere ceremony, or it implies 
 a duty on our part. If it be a ceremony only, how 
 does it sanctify us or make the comers thereunto 
 perfect ? If it implies a duty on our part, how 
 then can children receive it, who cannot do duty 
 at all ? 
 
 And indeed this way of ministration makes bap- 
 tism to be wholly an outward duty, a work of the 
 law, a carnal ordinance : it makes us adhere to the 
 letter without regard of the spirit, to be satisfied 
 with shadows, to return to bondage, to relinquish 
 the mysteriousness, the substance, and spirituality 
 of the gospel : which argument is of so much the 
 more consideration because, under the spiritual 
 covenant, or the gospel of grace, if the mystery 
 goes not before the symbol (which it does when 
 tlie s^nnbols are seals and consignations of the 
 grace, as it is said the sacraments are), yet it al- 
 ways accompanies it, but never follows in order 
 
382 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 of time; and this is clear in the perpetual analogy 
 of Holy Scripture. 
 
 For baptism is never propounded, mentioned, or 
 enjoined, as a means of remission of sins, or of 
 eternal life, but something of duty, choice, and 
 sanctity is joined with it, in order to production of 
 the end so mentioned : " Know ye not that as many 
 as are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into 
 his death ?"* There is the mystery and the symbol 
 together, and declared to be perpetually united, 
 oaoi iQa^rurbiiuiv, " SO many of us as were baptized." 
 All of us who were baptized into one were bap- 
 tized into the other. Not only into the name of 
 Christ, but into his death also. But tlie meaning 
 of this, as it is explained in the following words of 
 St. Paul, makes much for our purpose ; for to be 
 baptized into his death signifies " to be buried with 
 him in baptism, that as Christ rose from the dead 
 we also should walk in newness of life."t That is 
 the full mystery of baptism ; for being baptized 
 into his death, or which is all one in the next words, 
 iv ofA-oiu^fxAri Tov ^AvsiTov AVTov, " Into the Ukcness of his 
 death," cannot go alone ; " if we be so planted into 
 Christ, we shall be partakers of his resurrection,"^ 
 and that is not here instanced in precise reward, 
 but in exact duty; for all this is nothing but "cru- 
 cifixion of the old man, a destroying the body of 
 sin, that we no longer serve sin."§ 
 
 This indeed is truly to be baptized, both in the 
 symbol and the mystery; whatsoever is less than 
 this is but the symbol only, a mere ceremony, an 
 opus operalum^ a dead letter, an empty shadow, 
 an instrument without an agent to manage or force 
 to actuate it. 
 
 * Rom. vi. 3. t ^om. iv, 4. % Verse 5. § Verse 6. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 383 
 
 Plainer yet : " Whosoever are baptized into Christ 
 have put on Christ, have put on the new man ;" but 
 to put on this new man is " to be formed in right- 
 eousness, and holiness, and truth." This whole 
 argument is the very words of St. Paul ; the major 
 proposition is dogmatically determined. Gal. iii. 27 ; 
 the minor in Ephes. iv. 24. The conclusion, then, 
 is obvious, that they who are not formed new in 
 righteousness, and holiness, and truth — they who, 
 remaining in the present incapacities, cannot walk 
 in newness of life — they have not been baptized 
 into Christ, and then they have but one member of 
 the distinction used by St. Peter, they have that 
 baptism "which is a putting away the filth of the 
 flesh," but they have not that baptism " which is 
 the answer of a good conscience towards God,"* 
 which is the only " baptism that saves us :" and 
 this is the case of children ; and then the case is 
 thus: — 
 
 As infants by the force of nature cannot put 
 themselves into a supernatural condition (and 
 therefore, say the paedobaptists, they need bap- 
 tism to put them into it), so, if they be baptized 
 before the use of reason, before the works of the 
 Spirit, before the operations of grace, before they 
 can throw off *' the works of darkness, and live in 
 righteousness and newness of life," they are never 
 the nearer : from the pains of hell they shall be 
 saved by the mercies of God and their own inno- 
 cence, though they die in a state of nature, and 
 baptism will carry them no further. For that bap- 
 tism that saves us is not the only washing with 
 water of which only children are capable, but the 
 answer of a good conscience towards God ; of which 
 
 * 1 Pet- iii. 21. 
 
384 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 they are not capable till the use of reason, till they 
 know to choose the good and refuse the evil. 
 
 And from thence I consider anew that all vows 
 made by persons under others' names, stipulations 
 made by minors, are not valid till they, by a super 
 vening act, after they are of sufficient age, do ratifj' 
 them. Why, then, may not infants as well make 
 the vow de novo as de novo ratify that which was 
 made for them ab antiquo, when they come to years 
 of choice ? * If the infant vow be invalid till the 
 manly confirmation, why were it not as good they 
 staid to make it till that time, before which, if they 
 do make it, it is to no purpose ? This would be 
 considered. 
 
 And in conclusion : our way is the surer way, 
 for not to baptize children till they can give an 
 account of their faith is the most proportionable to 
 an act of reason and humanity; and it can have no 
 danger in it ; for to say that infants may be damned 
 for want of baptism (a thing which is not in their 
 power to acquire, they being persons not yet capa- 
 ble of a law), is to affirm that of God which we 
 dare not say of any wise and good man. Certainly 
 it is much derogatory to God's justice, and a plain 
 defiance to the infinite reputation of hi^ goodness. 
 
 And therefore whoever will pertinaciously per- 
 sist in this opinion of the pssdobaptists, and 
 practise it accordingly, they pollute the blood of 
 the everlasting testament, they dishonor and make 
 a pageantry of the sacrament, they inetFectually 
 represent a sepulchre into the death of Christ, and 
 please themselves in a sign without effect, making 
 baptism like the fig-tree in the gospel, full of leaves, 
 but no fruit; and they invocate the Holy Ghost in 
 
 * ViH°, Erasmum in preefat. ad Annotat. in Matth. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 385 
 
 vain, doing as if one should call upon him to illu- 
 minate a stone or a tree. 
 
 Thus far the anabaptists may argue ; and men 
 have disputed against them with so much weakness 
 and confidence, that they have been encouraged in 
 their error* more by the accidental advantages we 
 have given them by our weak arguings, than by 
 any truth of their cause, or excellency of their wit. 
 But the use I make of it as to our present question 
 is this : that since there is no direct impiety in the 
 opinion, nor any that is apparently consequent to 
 it, and they with so much probability do, or may, 
 pretend to true persuasion, they are, with all means 
 Christian, fair, and humane, to be redargued or 
 instructed ; but if they cannot be persuaded, they 
 must be left to God, who knows every degree of 
 every man's understanding, all his weaknesses and 
 strengths, what impress each argument makes upon 
 his spirit, and how irresistible every reason is ; and 
 he alone judges his innocency and sincerity. And 
 for that question, I think there is so much to be 
 pretended against that which I believe to be the 
 truth, that there is much more truth than evidence 
 on our side ; and therefore we may be confident 
 as for our own particulars, but not too forward 
 peremptorily to prescribe to others, much less to 
 damn, or to kill, or to persecute them that only in 
 this particular disagree. 
 
 i]fji»Tif>a}v tra^fioi! tavtyiv ^nfivovTi;, as Nazianzen observes of the 
 case of the church in his time 
 
 S3 
 
386 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XIX. 
 
 That there may be no Toleration of Doctrines incon- 
 consistent ivith Piety or the Public Good. 
 
 But then for their capital opinion, with all its 
 branches, that it is not lawful for princes to put 
 malefactors to death, nor to take up defensive arms, 
 nor to minister an oath, nor to contend in judg- 
 ment, it is not to be disputed with such liberty as 
 the former. For although it be part of that doctrine 
 which Clemens Alexandrinus says was delivered 
 by private tradition from the apostles, ' that it is 
 not allowable for Christians to go to law, neither 
 before the heathen nor believers; and that a 
 righteous man ought not to take an oath f and the 
 other part seems to be warranted by the eleventh 
 canon of the Nicene council, which enjoins penance 
 to them that take arms after their conversion to 
 Christianity ; yet either these authorities are to be 
 slighted, or be made receptive of any interpreta- 
 tion, rather than the commonwealth be disarmed 
 of its necessary supports, and all laws made 
 ineffectual and impertinent : for the interest of the 
 republic and the well-being of bodies politic is not 
 to depend upon the nicety of our imaginations, or 
 the fancies of any peevish or mistaken priests ; and 
 there is no reason a prince should ask John-a- 
 Brunck whether his understanding will give him 
 
 * "Non licere Christianis contendere in judicio, nee 
 coram gentibus, nee coram Sanctis, et perfeetum non debere 
 jurare. — Lib, vii. Stromat. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 387 
 
 leave to reign, and be a king. Naj, suppose there 
 were divers places of Scripture which did seem- 
 ingly restrain the political use of the sword, jet 
 since the avoiding a personal inconvenience hath 
 bj all men been accounted sufficient reason to 
 expound Scripture to any sense rather than the 
 literal, which infers an unreasonable inconvenience 
 (and therefore the pulling out an eye and the 
 cutting off an hand is expounded by mortifying a 
 vice, and killing a criminal habit), much rather 
 must the allegations against the power of the 
 sword endure any sense, rather than it should be 
 thought that Christianity should destroy that which 
 is the only instrument of justice, the restraint of 
 vice and support of bodies politic. It is certain 
 that Christ and his apostles, and Christian religion, 
 did comply with the most absolute goverment, and 
 the most imperial that was then in the world ; and 
 it could not have been at all endured in the world 
 if it had not ; for, indeed, the world itself could not 
 last in regular and orderly communities of men, 
 but be a perpetual confusion, if princes and the 
 supreme power in bodies politic were not armed 
 with a coercive power to punish malefactors. The 
 public necessity and universal experience of all the 
 world convinces those men of being most unrea- 
 sonable that make such pretences, which destroy 
 all laws and all communities, and the bands of 
 civil societies, and leave it arbitrary to every vain 
 or vicious person, whether men shall be safe, or 
 laws be established, or a murderer hanged, oi 
 princes rule. So tliat, in this case, men are not 
 so much to dispute with particular arguments as 
 to consider the interest and concernment of 
 kingdoms and public societies ; for the religion of 
 Jesus Christ is the best establisher of the felicity 
 
388 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 of private persons and of public communities ; it 
 is a religion that is prudent and innocent, hu- 
 mane, and reasonable, and brought infinite advan- 
 tages to mankind, but no inconvenience, nothing 
 that is unnatural, or unsociable, or unjust. And 
 if it be certain that this v^rorld cannot be governed 
 without laws, and laws without a compulsory sig- 
 nify nothing, then it is certain that it is no good 
 religion that teaches doctrine whose consequents 
 will destroy all government ; and therefore it is 
 as much to be rooted out as any thing that is the 
 greatest pest and nuisance to the public interest. 
 And that we may guess at the purposes of the men 
 and the inconvenience of such doctrine, these men 
 that did first intend by their doctrine to disarm 
 all princes and bodies politic, did themselves take 
 up arms to establish their wild and impious fancy ; 
 and, indeed, that prince or commonwealth that 
 should be persuaded by them, would be exposed 
 to all the insolences of foreigners, and all mutinies 
 of the teachers themselves ; and the governors of 
 the people could not do that duty they owe to 
 their people of protecting them from the rapine 
 and malice which will be in the world as long as 
 the world is. And tlierefore here they are to be 
 restrained from preaching such doctrine, if they 
 mean to preserve their government ; and the neces- 
 sity of the thing will justify the lawfulness of the 
 thing. If they think it to themselves, that it can- 
 not be helped so long as it is innocent, as much as 
 concerns the public ; but if they preach it, they 
 may be accounted authors of all the consequent 
 inconveniences, and punished accordingly. No 
 doctrine that destroys government is to be endured 
 — for although those doctrines are not always good 
 that serve the private ends of princes or the secret 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 389 
 
 designs of state, which, by reason of some accidents 
 or imperfections of men, may be promoted by that 
 which is false and pretending ; yet no doctrine can 
 be good that does not comply with the formality 
 of government itself, and the well-being ot" bodies 
 politic : " Cato, when an augur, ventured to say 
 that the omens were always in favor of what was 
 for the public good, and against whatever was the 
 reverse."* Religion is to meliorate the condition 
 of a people, not to do it disadvantage; and there- 
 fore those doctrines that inconvenience the public 
 are no parts of good religion. The safety of the 
 state is a necessary consideration in the permis- 
 sion of prophesyings ; for according to the true, 
 solid, and prudent ends of the republic, so is the 
 doctrine to be permitted or restrained, and the men 
 that preach it, according as they are good subjects 
 and right commonwealth's men ; for religion is a 
 thing superinduced to temporal government, and 
 the church is an addition of a capacity to a com- 
 monwealth, and therefore is in no sense to disserve 
 the necessity and just interests of that to which it 
 is superadded for its advantage and conservation. 
 And thus, by a proportion to the rules of these 
 instances, all their other doctrines are to have their 
 judgment, as concerning toleration or restraint ; 
 for all are either speculative or practical; they are 
 consistent with the public ends or inconsistent, they 
 teach impiety or they are innocent, and they are 
 to be permitted or rejected accordingly. For in 
 the question of toleration, the foundation of faith, 
 good life and government is to be secured : in all 
 other cases, the former considerations are effectual. 
 
 * " Augur cum esset Cato, dicere ausus est, optimis aus- 
 piciis ea geri quae pro reipublicae salute gererentur ; quae 
 contra rempublicam fierent, contra auapicia fieri." — Cicero 
 de Senectute. 
 33* 
 
390 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 
 How far the Religion of the Church of Ro7ne is 
 tolerable. 
 
 But now, concerning the religion of the chiircli 
 of Rome (which was the other instance I pro- 
 mised to consider), we will proceed another way, 
 and not consider the truth or falsity of the doc- 
 trines ; for that is not the best way to determine 
 this question concerning permitting their religion 
 or assemblies; because that a thing is not true, is 
 not argument sufficient to conclude that he that 
 believes it true is not to be endured ; but we are 
 to consider what inducements there are that pos- 
 sess the understanding of those men, whether 
 they be reasonable and innocent, sufficient to 
 abuse or persuade wise and good men, or whether 
 the doctrines be commenced upon design, and 
 managed with impiety, and then have eftects not 
 to be endured. 
 
 And here, first I consider that those doctrines 
 that have had long continuance and possession in 
 the church, cannot easily be supposed in the pre- 
 sent professors to be a design, since they have 
 received it from so many ages ; and it is not likely 
 that all ages should have the same purposes, or 
 that the same doctrine should serve the several 
 ends of divers ages. But, however, long prescrip- 
 tion is a prejudice oftentimes so insupportable that 
 it cannot with many arguments be retrenched, as 
 relying upon these grounds, that truth is more 
 
THK LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 391 
 
 certain than falsehood ; that God would not for so 
 many ages forsake his church, and leave her in 
 error; that whatsoever is nev/ is not only suspi- 
 cious but false; which are suppositions pious and 
 plausible enough. And if the church of Rome 
 had communicated infants so long as she hath 
 prayed to saints or baptized infants, the commu- 
 nicating would have been believed with as much 
 confidence as the other articles are, and the dis- 
 sentients with as much impatience rejected. But 
 this consideration is to be enlarged upon all those 
 particulars, which as they are apt to abuse the 
 persons of the men and amuse their understand- 
 ings, so they are instruments of their excuse ; and 
 by making their errors to be invincible, and their 
 opinions, though false, yet not criminal, make it 
 also to be an effect of reason and charity to permit 
 the men a liberty of their conscience, and let them 
 answer to God for themselves and their own 
 opinions : such as are the beauty and splendor of 
 their church; their pompous service; the state- 
 iir.ess and solemnity of the hierarchy; their name 
 of Catholic, which they suppose their own due, 
 and to concern no other sect of Christians ; the 
 antiquity of many of their doctrines ; the con- 
 tinual succession of their bishops; their immediate 
 derivation from the apostles ; their title to succeed 
 St. Peter ; the supposal and pretence of his per- 
 sonal prerogatives ; the advantages which the con- 
 junction of the imperial seat \nth their episcopal 
 hath brought to that see ; the flattering expressions 
 of minor bishops, which by being old records, have 
 obtained credibility; the multitude and variety of 
 people which are of their persuasion; apparent 
 consent with antiquity in many ceremonials which 
 other churches have rejected ; and a pretended, 
 
39^* THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 and sometimes an apparent consent with some 
 elder ages in many matters doctrinal ; the advan- 
 tage which is derived to them bj entertaining some 
 personal opinions of tiie fathers, which thej with 
 infinite clamors see to be cried up to be a doc- 
 trine of the church of that time; the great consent 
 of one part with another in that which most of 
 them affirm to be matter of faith ; the great dif- 
 ferences which are commenced amono-st their ad- 
 versaries, abusing the Liberty of Propliesying 
 unto a very great licentiousness ; their Jiappiness 
 of being instruments in converting divers nations ; 
 the advantages of monarchical government, the 
 benefit of which as well as the inconveniences, 
 (which though they feel they consider not) they 
 daily do enjoy; the piety and the austerity of 
 their religious orders of men and women ; the 
 single life of their priests and bishops ; the riches 
 of their church; the severity of their fasts and 
 their exterior observances; the great reputation 
 of their first bishops for faith and sanctity; the 
 known holiness of some of those persons whose 
 institutes the religious persons pretend to imitate ; 
 their miracles, false or true, substantial or ima- 
 ginary; the casualties and accidents that have 
 happened to their adversaries, which, being chances 
 of humanity, are attributed to several causes, ac- 
 cording as the fancies of men and their interests 
 are pleased or satisfied ; the temporal felicity of 
 their professors; the oblique arts and indirect 
 proceedings of some of those who departed froui 
 them ; and amongst many other things, the names 
 of heretic and schismatic, which they widi infinite 
 pertinacy fasten upon all that disagree from them 
 —these things, and divers others, may very easily 
 persuade persons of much reason and more pietv. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 393 
 
 to retain that which they know to have been the 
 religion of their forefathers, which had actual pos- 
 session and seizure of men's understandings be- 
 fore the opposite professions had a name ; and so 
 much the rather, because religion hath more ad- 
 vantages upon the fancy and affections than it hath 
 upon philosophy and severe discourses, and there- 
 fore is the more easily persuaded upon such 
 grounds as these, which are more apt to amuse 
 than to satisfy the understanding. 
 
 Secondly, if we consider the doctrines tliem- 
 selves, we shall find them to be superstructures ill 
 built and worse managed, but yet they keep the 
 foundation ; they build upon God in Jesus Christ; 
 they profess the apostles' creed ; they retain faith 
 and repentance as the supporters of all our hopes 
 of heaven, and believe many more truths than can 
 be proved to be of simple and original necessity 
 to salvation ; and therefore all the wisest person- 
 ages of the adverse party allowed to them possi- 
 bility of salvation, whilst their errors are not 
 faults of their will, but weaknesses and decep- 
 tions of the understanding. So tliat there is no- 
 tliing in the foundation of faith that can reasonably 
 hinder them to be permitted. The foundation of 
 faith stands secure enough for all their vain and 
 unhandsome superstructures. 
 
 But then, on the other side, if we take account 
 of their doctrines as they relate to good life, or 
 are consistent or inconsistent with civil govern- 
 ment, we shall have other considerations. 
 
 For, thirdly, I consider that many of their doc- 
 trines do accidentally teach or lead to ill life; and 
 it will appear to any man that considers the 
 result of these propositions. Attrition (which is 
 a low and imperfect degree of sorrow for sin, or. 
 
594 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 as others say, a sorrow for sin commenced upon 
 any reason of temporal hope, or fear, or desire, or 
 anything else) is a sufficient disposition for a man 
 in the sacrament of penance to receive absolution, 
 and be justified before God, by taking away the 
 guilt of all his sins and the obligation to eternal 
 pains. So that already the fear of hell is quite 
 removed, upon conditions so easy that many men 
 take more pains to get a groat, than by this doc- 
 trine we are obliged to for the curing and acquit- 
 ing all the greatest sins of a whole life of the 
 most vicious person in the world ; and but that 
 they affright their people with a fear of purgatory, 
 or with the severity of penances, in case they will 
 not venture for purgatory (for by tlieir doctrine 
 they may choose or refuse either), there would be 
 nothing in their doctrine or discipline to impede 
 and slacken their proclivity to sin. But then 
 they have as easy a cure for that too, v/ith a little 
 more charge sometimes, but most commonly with 
 less trouble. For there are so many confraterni- 
 ties, so many privileged churches, altars, monas- 
 teries, cemeteries, offices, festivals, and so free a 
 concession of indulgences appendant to all these, 
 and a thousand fine devices to take away the fear 
 of purgatory, to commute or expiate penances, 
 that in no sect of men do they with more ease 
 and cheapness reconcile a wicked life with the 
 hopes of heaven, than in the Roman communion. 
 And, indeed, if men would consider things upon 
 their true grounds, the church of Rome should be 
 more reproved upon doctrines that infer ill life, 
 than upon such as are contrariant to faith. For 
 false superstructures do not always destroy faith; 
 but many of the doctrines they teach, if they v/ere 
 prosecuted to the utmost issue, would destroy 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 395 
 
 good life. And therefore my quarrel with the 
 church of Rome is greater and stronger upon 
 such points wliich are not usually considered, tlian 
 it is upon the ordinary disputes which have, to no 
 very great purpose, so much disturbed Christen- 
 dom ; and I am more scandalized at her for teach- 
 ing the sufficiency of attrition in the sacrament, 
 for indulging penances so frequently, for remitting 
 all discipline, for making so great a part of religion 
 to consist in externals and ceremonials, for put- 
 ting more force and energy, and exacting with 
 more severity the commandments of men tlian the 
 precepts of justice and internal religion ; lastly, 
 besides many other things, for promising heaven 
 to persons after a wicked life, upon their imperti- 
 nent cries and ceremonials, transacted by the 
 priest and the dying person : I confess, I wish the 
 zeal of Christendom were a little more active 
 against these and the like doctrines, and that men 
 would write and live more earnestly against them 
 than as yet they have done. 
 
 But then, what influence this just zeal is to 
 have upon the persons of the professors is another 
 consideration ; for as the Pharisees did preach 
 well and lived ill, and therefore were to be heard, 
 not imitated, so if these men live well though they 
 teach ill, they are to be imitated, not heard : their 
 doctrines by all means. Christian and human, are 
 to be discountenanced, but their persons tolerated 
 so far (eatenus) ; their profession and decrees to 
 be rejected and condemned, but the persons to be 
 permitted, because by their good lives they con- 
 fute their doctrines ; that is, they give evidence 
 that they think no evil to be consequent to such 
 opinions; (ind if they did, that they live good 
 lives is argument sufficient that they would them- 
 
OyO THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 selves cast the first stone against their own opi- 
 nions, if they thought them guilty of such misde- 
 meanors. 
 
 Fourthly : but if we consider their doctrines in 
 relation to government and public societies of 
 men, then, if they prove faulty, they are so much 
 the more intolerable by how much the consequents 
 are of greater danger and malice. Such doctrines 
 as these — the pope may dispense with all oaths 
 taken to God or man ; he may absolve subjects 
 from their allegiance to their natural prince ; faith 
 is not to be kept with heretics ; heretical princes 
 maybe slain by their subjects — these propositions 
 are so depressed, and do so immediately com- 
 municate with matter and the interests of men, 
 that they are of the same consideration with mat- 
 ters of fact, and are to be handled accordingly. 
 To other doctrines ill life may be consequent, but 
 the connexion of the antecedent and the con- 
 sequent is not (peradventure) perceived or ac- 
 knowledged by him that believes the opinion with 
 no o-reater confidence than he disavows the effect 
 and issue of it ; but in these the ill effect is the 
 direct profession and purpose of the opinion ; and 
 therefore the man and the man's opinion is to be 
 dealt V ithal, just as the matter of fact is to be 
 judged; for it is an immediate, a perceived, a 
 direct event, and the very purpose of the opinion. 
 Now these opinions are a direct overthrow to all 
 human society and mutual commerce, a destruc- 
 tion of government, and of the laws, and duty, 
 and subordination which we owe to princes ; and 
 therefore those men of the church of Rome that 
 do hold them, and preach them, cannot pretend to 
 the excuses of innocent opinions and hearty per- 
 suasion, to the weakness of humanity, and the 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYiXG. " 397 
 
 difficulty of things ; for God hath not left those 
 truths, which are necessary for conservation of 
 public societies of men, so intricate and obscure, 
 but that every one that is honest dud desirous to 
 understand his duty will certainly know that no 
 Christian truth destroys a man's being sociable, 
 and a member of the body politic, co-operating to 
 the conservation of the whole, as well as of itself. 
 However, if it might happen that men should 
 sincerely err in such plain matters of fact (for 
 there are fools enough in the world), yet if he 
 hold his peace, no man is to persecute or punish 
 him ; for then it is mere opinion, which comes not 
 under political cognizance; that is, that cogni- 
 zance which only can punish corporally. But if 
 he preaches it he is actually a traitor, or seditious, 
 or author of perjury, or a destroyer of human 
 society, respectively to the nature of the doctrine ; 
 and the preaching such doctrines cannot claim the 
 privilege and immunity of a mere opinion, because 
 it is as much matter of fact as any the actions of 
 his disciples and confidents; and therefore in 
 such cases is not to be permitted, but judged ac- 
 cording to the nature of the effect it hath or may 
 have upon the actions of men. 
 
 Fifthly: but lastly, in matters merely specula- 
 tive, the case is wholly altered, because the body 
 politic, which only may lawfully use the sword, is 
 not a competent judge of such matters which have 
 not direct influence upon the body politic, or upon' 
 the lives and manners of men, as they are parts 
 of a community (not but that princes, or judges 
 temporal, may have as much ability as others, but 
 by reason of the incompetency of the authority) ; 
 and Gallio spoke wisely when he discoursed thus 
 to the Jews : ' If it Avere a matter of wrong or 
 34 
 
S98 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 wicked lewdness, ye Jews, reason would that I 
 should hear jou ; but if it be a question of words 
 and names, and of your law, look ye to it ; for I 
 will be no judge of such matters.'* The man 
 spoke excellent reason, for the cognizance of these 
 things did appertain to men of the otiier robe ; but 
 tiie ecclesiastical power, which only is competent 
 to take notice of such questions, is not of capacity 
 to use the temporal sword or corporal inflictions. 
 The mere doctrines and opinions of men are 
 things spiritual, and therefore not cognizable by 
 a temporal authority; and the ecclesiastical au- 
 thority, which is to take cognizance, is itself so 
 spiritual that it cannot inflict any punishment 
 corporal. 
 
 And it is not enough to say, that when the ma- 
 gistrate restrains the preaching suc1\ opinions, if 
 any man preaches them he may be punished (and 
 then it is not for his opinion but his disobedience 
 that he is punished) ; for the temporal power ought 
 not to restrain prophecyings, where the public 
 peace and interest is not certainly concei-ned. And 
 therefore it is not sufficient to excuse him whose 
 law, in that case, being by an incompetent power, 
 made a scruple where there was no sin. 
 
 And under this consideration come very many 
 articles of the church of Rome, which are wholly 
 speculative, which do not derive upon practice, 
 which begin in the understanding and rest there, 
 and have no influence upon life and government, 
 but very accidentally, and by a great many re- 
 moves ; and therefore are to be considered only so 
 far as to guide men in their persuasions, but have 
 no effect upon the persons of men, their bodies, or 
 
 * Acts xviii. 14. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 399 
 
 their temporal condition : I instance in two, prayer 
 for the dead and the doctrine of transubstantiation ; 
 these two to be instead of all the rest. 
 
 For the first, this discourse is to suppose it false, 
 and we are to direct our proceedings accordingly; 
 and therefore I shall not need to urge with how 
 snanj fair words and gay pretences this doctrine 
 is set oft*, apt either to cozen or instruct the con- 
 science of the wisest, according as it is true or false 
 respectively. But we find (says the Romanist) in 
 the history of , the Maccabees, that the Jews did 
 pray and make offerings for the dead (which also 
 appears by other testimonies, and by their form of 
 prayers still extant, which they used in the cap- 
 tivity) : it is very considerable, that since our 
 blessed Savior did reprove all the evil doctrines 
 and traditions of the «6cribes and Pharisees, and 
 did aro-ue concernino- the dead and the resurrec- 
 tion against the Sadduces, yet he spake no word 
 against this public practice, but left it as he found 
 it, which he who came to declare to us all the will 
 of his Father would not have done if it liad not 
 been innocent, pious, and full of charity. To 
 which, by way of consociation, if v;e add that St. 
 Paul did pray for Onesiphorus, "that God would 
 show him a mercy in that day'** — that is, accord- 
 ing to the style of the New Testament, the day of 
 judgment — the result will be, that c^lthough it be 
 probable that Onesiphorus at that time was dead 
 (because in his salutations he salutes his household, 
 without naming him who was the major domo, 
 against his custom of salutations in other places), 
 yet, besides this, the prayer was for such a blessing 
 to him whose demonstration and reception could 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. IS 
 
400 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 not be but after death ; which implies clearly, that 
 then there is a need of mercj ; and bj consequence 
 the dead people, even to the day of judgment 
 inclusively, are the subject of a misery, the object 
 of God's mercy, and therefore fit to be commemo- 
 rated in the duties of our piety and chanty, and 
 that we are to recommend their condition to God, 
 not only to give them more glory in the reunion, 
 but to pity them to such purposes in which they 
 need ; which because they are not revealed to us 
 in particular, it hinders us not in recommending 
 the persons in particular to G(5d's mercy, but 
 should rather excite our charity and devotion; for 
 it being certain that they have a need of mercy^ 
 and it being uncertain how great their need is, it 
 may concern the prudence of charity to be the 
 more earnest, as not knowij^g the greatness of their 
 necessity. 
 
 And if there should be any uncertainty in these 
 arguments, yet its having been the universal prac- 
 tice of the church of God in all places and in all 
 ages, till within these hundred years, is a very 
 great inducement for any member of the church to 
 believe that in the first traditions of Christianity 
 and the institutions apostolical, there was nothing 
 delivered against the practice, but very much to 
 insinuate or enjoin it ; because the practice of it was 
 at the first, and was universal. And if any man 
 shall doubt of this, he shows nothing but that he is 
 ignorant of the records of the church, it being 
 plain in TertuUian* and St. Cypriant (who were 
 the eldest writers of the Latin church), that in their 
 times it was of old the custom of the church to 
 pray for the souls of the faithful departed, in the 
 
 * De Corona Milit. c. 3, et De Monogam. c. 10. f Ep. G6 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 401 
 
 dreadful mysteries ; and it was an institution 
 apostolical (says one of them), and so transmitted 
 to the following ages of the church; and when 
 once it began upon slight and discontent to be 
 contested against by Aerius, ike man was pre- 
 sently condemned for a heretic, as appears in 
 Epiplianius. 
 
 But I am not to consider the arguments for the 
 doctrine itself, although the probability and fair 
 pretence of tliem may help to excuse such persons 
 who upon these or tlie like grounds do heartily 
 believe it. But I am to consider that, whetlier it 
 be true or false, there is no manner of malice in it ; 
 and at the worst it is but a wrong error upon the 
 right side of charity, and concluded against by its 
 adversaries upon die confidence of such arguments, 
 which possibly arc not so probable as the grounds 
 pretended for it. 
 
 And if the same judgment might be made of 
 any more of their doctrines, I think it were better 
 men were not furious in the condemning such 
 <:|uestions, which either they understood not upon 
 the grounds of their proper arguments, or at least 
 consider not, as subjected in the persons, and 
 lessened by circumstances, by the innocency of 
 the event, or other prudential considerations. 
 
 But the other article is harder to be judged of, 
 ^nd hath made greater stirs in Christendom, and 
 hath been dashed with more impetuous objections, 
 and such as do more trouble the question of tolera- 
 tion. For if the doctrine of transubstantiation 
 be false (as upon much evidence we believe it is), 
 then it is accused of introducing idolatry, giving 
 diyine worship to a creature, adoring of bread and 
 wine, and then comes in iho. precept of God to 
 34* 
 
402 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the Jews, that those prophets who persuaded to 
 idolatry should be slain.* 
 
 But here we must deliberate, for it is concern- 
 ing the lives of men ; and yet a little deliberation 
 may suffice, for idolatry is a forsaking the true 
 God, and giving divine worship to a creature or 
 to an idol ; that is to an imaginary god, who liath 
 no foundation in essence or existence ; and is that 
 kind of superstition which by divines is called the 
 superstition of an undue object. Now it is evi- 
 dent that the object of their adoration (that which 
 is represented to them in their minds, their 
 thoughts, and purposes, and by which God princi- 
 pally, if not solely, takes estimate of human ac- 
 tions) in the blessed sacrament, is the only true 
 and eternal God, hypostatically joined with his 
 holy humanity ; which humanity they believe ac- 
 tually present under the veil of the sacramental 
 signs. And if they thought him not present, they 
 are so far from worshiping the bread in this case, 
 that themselves profess it to be idolatry to do so, 
 which is a demonstration that their soul hath 
 nothing in it that is idolatrical. If their confi- 
 dence and fanciful opinion hath engaged them 
 upon so great mistake (as without doubt it hath), 
 yet the will hath nothing in it, but what is a great 
 enemy to idolatry , '' and there is nothing damn- 
 able which is independent of the wi]l."t And 
 although they have done violence to all philosophy 
 and the reason of man, and undone and canceled 
 the principles of two or three sciences to bring in 
 this article, yet they have a divine revelation 
 whose literal and grammatical sense, if that sense 
 
 * Deut. xiii. 
 
 t " Et nihil ardet in inferno nisi propria voluntas " 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 403 
 
 were intended, would warrant them to do violence 
 to all the sciences in the circle ; and, indeed, that 
 transubstantiation is openly and violently against 
 natural reason, is an argument to make them dis- 
 believe, who believe the mystery of the trinity in 
 all those niceties of explication which are in the 
 school (and which now-a-days pass for the doc- 
 trine of the church), with as much violence to the 
 principles of natural and supernatural philosophy 
 as can be imagined to be in the point of transub- 
 stantiation. 
 
 1. But for the article itself, we all say that 
 Christ is there present some way or other extra- 
 ordinary ; and it will not be amiss to worship him 
 at that time, when he gives himself to us in so 
 mysterious a manner, and with so great advan- 
 tages; especially since the whole office is a con- 
 sociation of divers actions of religion and divine 
 worship. Now, in all opinions of those men who 
 think it an act of religion to communicate and to 
 offer, a divine worship is given to Christ, and is 
 transmitted to him by meditation of that action 
 and that sacrament; and it is no more in the 
 church of Rome, but that they differ and mistake 
 infinitely in the manner of his presence; which 
 error is wholly seated in the understanding, and 
 does not communicate with the will. For all 
 agree that the divinity and the humanity of the 
 Son of God is the ultimate and adequate object 
 of divine adoration, and that it is incommunicable 
 to any creature whatsoever ; and before they ven- 
 ture to pass an act of adoration, they believe the 
 bread to be annihilated or turned into his sub- 
 stance who may lawfully be worshiped ; and they 
 who have these thoughts are as much enemies of 
 
404 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 idolatry as they that understand better how to 
 avoid that inconvenience which is supposed to be 
 the crime, which they formally hate, and we ma- 
 terially avoid : this consideration was concerning 
 the doctrine itself. 
 
 2. And now, for any danger to men's persons 
 for suffering such a doctrine ; this I shall say, that 
 if they who do it, are not formally guilty of idol- 
 atry, there is no danger that they whom they per- 
 suade to it should be guilty; and M'hat persons 
 soever believe it to be idolatry to worship the sa- 
 crament, while that persuasion remains will never 
 be brought to it, there is no fear of that : and he 
 that persuades them to do it by altering their per- 
 suasions and beliefs, does no hurt but altering the 
 opinions of the men, and abusing their under- 
 standings; but when they believe it to be no idol- 
 atry, then their so believing it is sufficient secu- 
 rity from that crime, which hath so great a tincture 
 and residency in the will that from thence only it 
 hath its being criminal. 
 
 3. However, if it were idolatry, I think the 
 precept of God to the Jews, of killing false and 
 idolatrous prophets, will be no warrant for Chris- 
 tians so to do. For in the case of the apostles 
 and the men of Samaria, when James and John 
 would have called for fire to destroy them, even 
 as Elias did under Moses's law, Christ distin- 
 guished the spirit of Elias from his own spirit, and 
 taught them a lesson of greater sweetness, and 
 consigned this truth to all ages of the church, that 
 such severity is not consistent with the meekness 
 which Christ by his example and sermons hath 
 made a precept evangelical ; at most it was but a 
 judicial law, and no more of argument to make it 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 405 
 
 necessary to us than the Mosaical precepts of put- 
 ting adulterers to death, and trying the accused 
 persons by the waters of jealousy. 
 
 And thuSj in these two instances, I have given 
 account what is to be done in toleration of diver- 
 sity of opinions.; the result of which is principally 
 this : let the prince and the secular power have a 
 care the commonwealth be safe. For whether 
 such and such a sect of Christians be to be per- 
 mitted, is a question rather political than religious ; 
 for as for the concernments of religion, these in- 
 stances have furnished us with sufficient to deter- 
 mine us in our duties as to that particular, and by 
 one of these all particulars may be judged. 
 
 And now it were a strange inhumanity to permit 
 Jews in a commonwealth, whose interest is served 
 by their inhabitation, and yet, upon equal grounds 
 of state and policy, not to permit differing sects 
 of Christians ; for although possibly there is more 
 danger men's persuasions should be altered in a 
 commixture of divers sects of Christians, yet 
 there is not so much danger when they are changed 
 from Christian to Christian, as if they be turned 
 from Christian to Jew, as many are daily in Spain 
 and Portugal. 
 
 And this is not to be excused by saying tlie 
 church hath no power over them qui f oris sunt , 
 *• who are without," as Jews are. For it is tnie the 
 church in the capacity of spiritual regiments, hath 
 nothing to do with them, because they are not her 
 diocese ; yet the prince hath to do with them, wlien 
 they are subjects of his regiment; they may not 
 be excomm.unicate any more than a stone may be 
 killed, because they are not of the Christian com- 
 munion, but they are living persons, parts of the 
 commonwealth, infinitely deceived in their reli- 
 
406 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 gion, and very dangerous if they oiFer to persuade 
 men to their opinions, and are the greatest enemies 
 of Christ, whose honor and the interest of whose 
 service a Christian prince is bound with all his 
 power to maintain. And when the question is 
 of punishing disagreeing persons with death, the 
 church hath equally nothing to do with them both, 
 for she hath nothing to do with the temporal sword ; 
 but the prince, whose subjects equally Christians 
 and Jews are, hath equal power over their persons ; 
 for a Christian is no more a subject than a Jew is; 
 the prince hath upon them both the same power of 
 life and death ; so that the Jew by being no Chris- 
 tian is not /oris, or any more an exempt person [or 
 his body or his life than the Christian is. And 
 yet in all churches where the secular power hath 
 temporal reason to tolerate the Jews, they are tole- 
 rated without any scruple in religion ; which thing 
 is of more consideration, because the Jews are 
 direct blasphemers of the Son of God, and blas- 
 phemy by their own law, the law of Moses, is 
 made capital, and might with greater reason be 
 inflicted upon them who acknowledge its obligation 
 than urged upon Christians as an authority, ena- 
 bling princes to put them to death who are accused 
 of accidental and consequentive blasphemy and 
 idolatry respectively, which yet they hate and dis- 
 avow with much zeal and heartiness of persuasion. 
 And I cannot yet learn a reason why we shall 
 not be more complying with them who are of the 
 household of faith : for at least they are children, 
 though they be but rebellious children (and if they 
 were not, what hath the mother to do with them 
 any more than with the Jews ?) — they are in some 
 relation or habitude of the family, for they are 
 consigned with the same baptism, profess the same 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 407 
 
 faith delivered by the apostles, are erected in the 
 same hope, and look for the same glory to be re- 
 vealed to them at the coming of their common 
 Lord and Savior, to whose service, according to 
 their understanding, they have vowed themselves: 
 and if the disagreeing persons be to be esteemed as 
 heathens and publicans, yet not worse, " have no 
 company with them," that is the worst that is to 
 be done to such a man in St. Paul's judgment : 
 " yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish 
 him as a brother." ^ 
 
408 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 SECTION XXI. 
 
 Of the Duty of jjarticular Churches in allowing 
 Communion. 
 
 Fkom these premises we are easily instructed 
 concerning the lawfulness or duty respectively of 
 Christian communion, which is differently to be 
 considered in respect of particular churches to 
 each other, and of particular men to particular 
 churches : for as for particular churches, they are 
 bound to allow communion to all those that pro- 
 fess the same faith upon which the apostles did 
 give communion; for whatsoever preserves us as 
 members of the church, gives us title to the com- 
 munion of saints ; and whatsoever faith or belief 
 that is to which God hath promised heaven, that 
 faith makes us members of the catholic churcli. 
 Since, therefore, the judicial acts of the church 
 are then most prudent and religious when they 
 nearest imitate the example and piety of God, to 
 make the way to heaven straiter than God made 
 it, or to deny to communicate with those whom 
 God will vouchsafe to be united, and to refuse our 
 charity to those who have the same faith, because 
 they have not all our opinions, and believe not 
 every thing necessary which we overvalue, is im- 
 pious and schismatical ; it infers tyranny on one 
 part, and persuades and tempts to uncharitableness 
 and animosities on both ; it dissolves societies, and 
 is an enemy to peace ; it busies men in impertinent 
 wranglings, and by names of men and titles of 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 409 
 
 factions it consigns the interested parties to act 
 their differences to the height, and makes them 
 neglect those advantages which piety and a good 
 life bring to the reputation of Christian religion 
 and societies. 
 
 And therefore Vincentius Lirinensis, and indeed 
 the whole church, accounted the Donatists heretics 
 upon this very ground, because they did imperi- 
 ously deny their communion to all that were not 
 of their persuasion ; whereas the authors of that 
 opinion for which they first did separate and make 
 a sect, because they did not break the church's 
 peace, nor magisterially prescribe to others, were 
 in that disagreeing and error accounted Catholics. 
 ** Division and disunion makes you heretics, peace 
 and unity make Catliolics,"* said St. Austin ; and 
 to this sense is that of St. Paul : " If I had all faith 
 and not charity I am nothing." He who upon con- 
 fidence of his true belief denies a charitable com- 
 munion to his brother, loses the reward of both. 
 And if pope Victor had been as charitable to the 
 Asiatics as pope Anicetus and St. Polycarp were 
 to each other in the same disagreeing concerning 
 Easter,Victor had not been TrxyixTmarspov KArAri^u/uuvoc, 
 so bitterly reproved and condemned as he was for 
 the uncharitable managing of his disagreeing, by 
 Polycrates and Irenseus.t True faith, which leads 
 to charity, leads on to that which unites wills and 
 affections, not opinions.^ 
 
 Upon these or the like considerations the emperor 
 Zeno published his syaTwov, in which he made the 
 
 * "Divisio enim et disunio facit vos haereticos, pax et 
 unitas faciunt Catholicos." 
 
 t Euseb. lib. v. c. 25, 26. 
 
 I " Concordia enim qua?, est qharitatis effectu^ est unio 
 voluntatum non opinionum." — Aquin. 22 ae. q. 37, a. 1. 
 9.!^ 
 
410 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 Nicene creed to be the medium of Catholic com- 
 munion ; and although he lived after the council 
 of Chalcedon, jet he made not the decrees of that 
 council an instrument of its restraint and limit, as 
 preferring the peace of Christendom and the union 
 of charity far before a forced or pretended unity of 
 persuasion, which never was or ever will be real 
 and substantial ; and although it were very conve- 
 nient if it could be had, yet it is therefore not ne- 
 cessary because it is impossible ; and if men please, 
 whatever advantages to the public would be conse- 
 quent to it, may be supplied by a charitable com- 
 pliance and mutual permission of opinion, and tlie 
 offices of a brotherly affection prescribed us by the 
 laws of Christianity; and we have seen it, that all 
 sects of Christians, when they have an end to be 
 served upon a third, have permitted that liberty to 
 a second which we nov/ contend for, and which they 
 formerly denied, but now grant, that by joining 
 hands they might be stronger to destroy the third. 
 The Arians and Meletians joined against the 
 Catholics ; the Catholics and Novatians joined 
 against the Arians. Now, if men would do that 
 for charity which they do for interest, it were hand- 
 somer and more ingenuous ; for that they do permit 
 each other's disagreeings for their own interest's 
 sake, convinces them of the lawfulness of the 
 thing, or else the unlawfulness of their own pro- 
 ceedings ; and therefore it were better they would 
 serve the ends of charity than of faction ; for then 
 that good end would hallow the proceeding, and 
 make it both more prudent and most pious, while 
 it serves the design of religious purposes. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 411 
 
 SECTION XXII. 
 
 That particular Men may communicate with 
 Churches of different PersuasionSy and how far 
 they may do it. 
 
 As for the duty of particular men in the question 
 of communicating with churches of different per- 
 suasions, it is to be regulated according to the laws 
 of those churches ; for if they require no impiety or 
 any thing unlawful as the condition of their com- 
 munion, then they communicate with them as they 
 are servants of Christ, as disciples of his doctrine, 
 and subjects to his laws ; and the particular distin- 
 guishing doctrine of his sect hath no influence or 
 communication with him who, from another sect, is 
 willing to communicate with ail the servants of 
 their common Lord : for since no church of one 
 name is infallible, a wise man may have either the 
 misfortune, or a reason, to believe of every one in 
 particular that she errs in some article or other ; 
 either he cannot communicate with any, or else 
 he may communicate with all that do not make a 
 sin or the profession of an error to be the con- 
 dition of their communion. And therefore, as 
 every particular church is bound to tolerate dis- 
 agreeing persons, in the senses and for the reasons 
 above explicated, so every particular person is 
 bound to tolerate her ; that is, not to refuse her 
 communion when he may have it upon innocent 
 conditions. For what is it to me if the Greek 
 church denies procession of the third person from 
 
412 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 the second, so she will give me the right hand of 
 fellowship (though I affirm it), therefore because 
 I profess the religion of Jesus Christ, and retain all 
 matters of faith and necessity ? But this thing 
 will scarce be reduced to practice, for few churches 
 that have framed bodies of confession and articles 
 will endure any person that is not of the same con- 
 fession; which is a plain demonstration that such 
 bodies of confession and articles do much hurt, by 
 becoming instruments of separating and dividing 
 communions, and making unnecessary or uncertain 
 propositions a certain means of schism and dis- 
 union. But then men would do well to consider 
 whether or no such proceedings do not derive the 
 guilt of schism upon them who least think it; and 
 whether of the two is the schismatic, he that makes 
 unnecessary and (supposing the state of things) 
 inconvenient impositions, or he that disobeys them 
 because he cannot, without doing violence to his 
 conscience, believe them : he that parts communion 
 because without sin he could not entertain it, or 
 they that have made it necessary for him to sepa- 
 rate, by requiring such conditions which to man 
 are simply necessary, and to his particular are 
 either sinful or impossible. 
 
 The sum of all is this, there is no security in any 
 thing or to any person, but in tlie pious and hearty 
 endeavors of a good life; — and neither sin nor 
 error does impede it from producing its propor- 
 tionate and intended effect; because it is a direct 
 deletery to sin, and an excuse to errors, by making 
 them innocent, and therefore harmless. And, in- 
 deed, this is the intendment and design of faith ; 
 for (that we may join both ends of this discourse 
 together) therefore certain articles are prescribed 
 to us, and propounded to our understanding, that 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 413 
 
 80 we might be supplied with instructions, with 
 motives and engagements to incline and determine 
 our wills to the obedience of Christ. So that obe- 
 dience is just so consequent to faith, as the acts 
 of will are to the dictates of the understanding. 
 Faith, therefore, being in order to obedience, and 
 so far excellent as itself is a part of obedience or 
 the promoter of it, or an engagement to it, it is 
 evident that if obedience and a good life be secured 
 upon the most reasonable and proper grounds of 
 Christianity — that is, upon the apostles' creed — 
 then faith also is secured. Siace whatsoever is 
 beside the duties, the order of a good life cannot 
 be a part of faith, because upon faith" a goo<l life is 
 built; all other articles, bj not being necessary, 
 are no otlierwise to be required but as they arc to 
 be obtained and found out — that is, morally, and 
 fallibly, and humanly: it is fit all truths be pro- 
 moted fairly and properly, and yet but few articles 
 prescribed magisterially, nor framed into symbols 
 and bodies of confession; least of all, after such 
 composures, should men proceed so furiously as to 
 say all disagreeing, after such declarations, to be 
 damnable for the future and capital for the present. 
 But this very thing is reason enough to make men 
 more limited in their proscriptions, because it is 
 more charitable in such suppositions to do so. 
 
 But in the thing itself, because few kinds of 
 errors are damnable, it is reasonable as few should 
 be capital ; and because every thing that is damn- 
 able in itself, and before God's judgment-seat, is 
 not discernible before men (and questions dis- 
 putable are of this condition), it is also very rea- 
 sonable that fewer be capital than what are damn- 
 able, and that such questions should be permitted 
 to men to believe, because they must be left to 
 
414 THE SACRED CLASSICS. 
 
 God to judge. It concerns all persons to see that 
 they do their best to find out truth, and if they do, 
 it is certain that let the error be never so damnable, 
 tliey shall escape the error or the misery of being 
 damned for it. And if God will not be angry at men 
 for being invincibly deceived, why shouid men be 
 angry one at another ? For he that is most dis- 
 pleased at another man's error, may also be tempted 
 in his own will, and as much deceived in his un- 
 derstanding ; for if he may fail in what he can 
 choose, he may also fail in what he cannot choose ; 
 his understanding is no more secured than his will, 
 nor his faith more than his obedience. It is his own 
 fault if he offends God in either ; but whatsoever 
 is not to be avoided, as errors which are incident 
 oftentimes even to the best and most inquisitive 
 of men, are not offences against God, and therefore 
 not to be punished or restrained by men. But all 
 such opinions in which the public interests of the 
 commonwealth, and the foundation of faith, and a 
 good life are not concerned, are to be permitted 
 freely : " Let every one be fully persuaded in his 
 own mind," was the doctrine of St. Paul, and that 
 is argument and conclusion too; and they were ex- 
 cellent words which St. Ambrose said in attestation 
 of this great truth: — *'The civil authority has no 
 right to interdict the liberty of speaking, nor the 
 sacerdotal to prevent speaking what you think."* 
 I end with a story which I find in the Jews' 
 books : — When Abraham sat at his tent door, 
 according to his custom, waiting to entertain 
 strangers, he espied an old man stooping and 
 leaning on his staff, weary with age and travel, 
 
 * "Nee imperiale est libertatem dicendi negate, nee sacer- 
 dotale quod sentias non dicere." 
 
THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING. 415 
 
 coming towards him, who was an hundred years 
 of age ; he received him kindly, washed his feet, 
 provided supper, and caused him to sit down ; but 
 observing that the old man eat and prayed not, 
 nor begged for a blessing on his meat, asked him 
 why he did not worship the God of heaven ? The 
 old man told him that he worshiped the fire only, 
 and acknowledged no other god ; at which answer 
 Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust 
 the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all 
 the evils of the night and an un2;uarded condition. 
 When the old man was gone, God called to Abra- 
 ham, and asked him where the stranger was ? he 
 replied, I thrust him away because he did not wor- 
 ship thee. God answered him, I have suffered him 
 these hundred years, although he dishonored me, 
 and couldst thou not endure him one night, when 
 he gave thee no trouble ? Upon this, saith the story, 
 Abraham fetched him back again, and gave him 
 hospitable entertainment, and wise instruction :— 
 " Go thou and do likewise," and thy charity will 
 be rewarded by the God of Abraham. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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