of the Romish church are not yet well agreed about it; and if the English representer, or French expounder, have had the luck to hit it, I am sure that many heretofore, who thought themselves as wise as either of them, have strangely missed it: or else that council, and the religion called popery, hath several faces for several times and countries, and in one place and time shall look like itself, and in another shall be made to look as like the protestant religion as the artificial painter dares make it. But that which here puts us to a stand is this, that as the pope at first taught that council to speak, so hath he reserved the interpretation of its decrees to the see apostolic, or himself only; and he is not always pleased in plain terms to let us know his mind; and if he should for once speak out plainly, it will be a little hard for him to assure us that none of his successors hereafter shall contradict him, unless he can satisfy us that he has as well the gift of prophesying as that of defining and interpreting.

However, it is for not believing the new articles of Trent that we are accounted heretics, and out of the way to heaven. And the reason is, because these articles are supposed to be as firmly grounded on the word of God as any of those old ones which we believe; "for the word of God," saith the council of Trent, "is partly contained in the books of scripture, and partly in traditions unwritten; these are to be received with the same affection of piety and reverence;" and therefore he that disbelieves any article grounded upon unwritten tradition, is no less a heretic, than he that disbelieves what is written in the books of scripture. If I knew how to be satisfied concerning the authority of this council, I could easily tell what credit I should give to this, which it so confidently affirms. But so long as I cannot discern the reason of its pretended authority, I am a little apt to suspect that it was not the clearness of this principle that moved it to make so many either unscriptural or antiscriptural decrees, but rather the desire it had of vindicating its unscriptural doctrines and practices, that made it necessary to espouse such a principle. And indeed when I well consider it, I am not a little comforted by it; that this equalling unwritten tradition with scripture, which is the very basis of the Romish religion, is one of the most incredible things in the world of itself, and as destitute of any

tolerable evidence whence it may gain any credit to itself. It must needs seem very strange to any considering man, that the wise God should leave us a rule in writing, on purpose to direct us how to honour him, and attain unto salvation; and give it this commendation, that it is able to make wise unto salvation, and yet omit a great many things altogether as necessary to those ends as those that are written; and without the belief and practice whereof, those that are written can no whit avail us, and yet never so much as once tell us, in all that writing, whither we should go to seek and learn them: nay, that he should omit therein the principal point of all, and without which all that is either written or unwritten can signify nothing; that is, to tell us that the Romish church is the only true church, the only sure and infallible interpreter of all that is written, and the only faithful keeper of all that is unwritten; from the mouth whereof we must receive all saving truth. This, I think, is a thing that must needs be very hard for any one to believe, that believes the infinite wisdom, goodness, and veracity of God. And how it can ever be made evident that there are such necessary unwritten traditions, or that these which the church of Rome holds are they, I think no man living can imagine. I am sure, if the papists' way of reasoning be good, it is safer not to believe this. For all sides consent, that the scripture which we have is the certain word of God; but all sides are not agreed that unwritten traditions are the word of God; therefore it is safer to believe the scripture only to be the word of God, and not traditions. We hold us to scripture, and the papists grant that to be the safest rule: their greatest strength lies in unwritten, or (as they are wont to speak) oral and practical traditions; which, in plain English, is no more but report and custom; and whether there can reasonably be thought any certainty in these, equal to that of the written word of God, given by Divine inspiration, can be no hard matter for a very weak understanding to determine. That which makes these unwritten traditions of the less credit with me, is the assurance I have that a pretence to them, and a vain confidence in them, hath produced much error and division in the church. It is well known how far and how long the errors of the millenaries, and of administering the eucharist to infants, (to mention no more,) prevailed on

this account. And the early schisms betwixt the Roman and Asian churches about the keeping of Easter; and the hot contests between the Roman and African churches about rebaptizing heretics, were occasioned and upheld by pretences on all hands to tradition. This was the only refuge of old for heretics, when they were confounded by the scripture, to take shelter under tradition; whence Tertullian b called them lucifugas scripturarum, "men who shunned the light of the scriptures." Again, saith he, "They confess indeed that the apostles were ignorant of nothing, and differed not among themselves in their preaching; but they will not have it that they revealed all things to all, for some things they delivered openly to all, some things secretly and to a few; and that because St. Paul useth this saying to Timothy: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. And again, that good thing which is committed to thee, keep." Irenæus also makes mention of heretics, who affirmed, "That out of the scriptures the truth could not be found by them who understood not tradition, because it was not delivered by writing, but by living voice;" for which cause also Paul said, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect. St. Augustin, in his 97th tract upon John, saith, "That all the most foolish heretics, who desired to be accounted Christians, used to colour their audacious fictions with a pretence from that sentence of the gospel, John xvi. 10, I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." Thus did the heretics of old both plead tradition, and sought to strengthen their plea by such places of scripture as these; which are the very same that the papists produce to the same purpose, as may be seen in Bellarmine and others.

But I find that the orthodox fathers of the church were of another mind: "The things which we find not in the scriptures," saith St. Ambrose, "how can we use them?” Ambr. Offic. 1. 1. c. 23. "Let those of Hermogenes his shop," saith Tertullian d, "shew that it is written. If it be not written, let them fear that woe designed for those that add or take away." Irenæus saithe, "That what the apostles had preached, the same afterwards, by the will of God, they delivered unto us in b Tertul. de Præscr. c. 25. c Iren. contra Hær. 1. 3. c. 2. Hermog. c. 22. e Iren. 1. 3. c. I.

d Tert. adv.

the scriptures, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith." St. Hierom, against Helvidius, calls the holy scriptures "the only fountain of truth." "Let us bring," saith St. Austinf, "for trial, not the deceitful balances, where we may hang on what we will, and how we will, at our own pleasure; saying, this is heavy, and this is light; but let us bring the Divine balance of the holy scriptures, and in that let us weigh what is heavier; nay, let us not weigh, but let us own the things already weighed by the Lord." And elsewhere, "The holy scripture," saith he, "fixeth the rule of our doctrine." And indeed the excellent sayings of the ancients to this purpose are so well known, that I should be very vain to cite any more here.

If now, after all this, I should suppose, what I can by no means yet grant, that God having ordered the scriptures to be written, and said so much in the commendation thereof, they do not yet contain all things necessary to salvation, but that some part of those necessary things (as both some heretics of old, and papists now would have it believed) was only whispered privately into the ears of the apostles, as mysteries unfit at that time to be communicated to vulgar Christians; and that the apostles (though they were commanded by Christ to preach upon the housetops that which he had told them privately in the ear, Matt. x. 27.) did not yet think themselves obliged to obey this command in writing all that was necessary, but rather to conceal for a time a considerable part of that mysterious doctrine. Yea, suppose that this was one principal use of St. Peter's keys, to lock up all these mysteries in the cabinet of the church's breast, (let the church signify what it can,) to be communicated to the world in after-ages by piecemeal, so as she should find men prepared by a blind credulity to receive them. Yet after all, I must needs think that we are too hardly dealt with to be called heretics, for not believing these things till something be produced, whereby we may be assured either that these things which they commend to us, come indeed from Christ and his apostles, or that we are obliged to take the church of Rome's word for a good assurance. It seems to me a very unreasonable thing, that we should be condemned as obstinate, for not believing things never suffi

f Aug. 1. 2. contra Donat.

ciently proved, whilst we know and declare ourselves prepared in mind to yield upon the first rational conviction. Why should not that church have the charity to forbear her censures till she hath tried the strength of her arguments? Why was the council of Trent, contrary to the custom of other councils, so liberal of her curses and so sparing of her reasons? One good reason would do more to make us of her communion thau a thousand anathemas. Would not a man suspect that they have no good reasons to shew, who keep them so close? The plain truth is, there have been such vain pretences to tradition in all ages, one contradicting another, that it seems impossible in this age to discern between true and false. Did not Clemens Alexandrinus call it an apostolical tradition, that Christ preached but one year? And did not Irenæus pretend a tradition, descending from St. John, that Christ was about fifty years old when he was crucified? And do the papists account either of these to be true? Many things might be named, which for some time have been received as apostolical traditions, which the church of Rome will not now own to be so. And those which she owns, she can no more prove to be so, than those she hath rejected. It were easy to shew this, even from abundance of their own writers, who assert the perfection of the scripture, and complain of the mischief this pretence to traditions hath done; and who confess, they cannot be proved to come from the apostles. But I shall now content myself with the ingenuous confession of the bishops assembled at Bononia, in their council given to pope Julius the Third. "We plainly confess," say they, "among ourselves, that we cannot prove that which we hold and teach concerning traditions, but we have some conjectures only." And again; "In truth whosoever shall diligently consider the scripture, and then all the things that are usually done in our churches, will find there is great difference betwixt them; and that this doctrine of ours is very unlike, and in many things quite repugnant to it." What said Erasmus long since on the second Psalm: "They call the people off," saith he," from the scriptures unto little human traditions, which they have honestly invented for their own profit." And Peter Sutor, a bitter adversary of his, hath these words: "Since many things are delivered to be observed, which are not expressly found in holy scripture, will not un