]
^0.
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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