Defense of the Protestant Christian Religion, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Of the Nature of Hereſie.
DISCOURSE.
Hereſie is an adbeſion to ſome private, and ſingular Opinion, or Error in Faith, contrary to the general and approved Doctrine of the Church. If Rome did ever adhere to any ſuch Opinion, &c. By what General Council was it ever condemned? Which of the Fathers ever wrote againſt Her? Or by what Authority was She ever Reproved?
ANSWER.
This Deſcription of Hereſie, and the Queries grounded thereupon, as they are not agreeable, either to the Scriptural, or Eccleſiaſtical ſenſe, and uſe of the Word; ſo they are indeed no better than a begging of the thing in queſtion between you and us: For you know we hold, That the Rule whereby to judge of Hereſie, is the Scripture, and not the Opinions of Churches, of Fathers, Mr. Gales Idea of Janſeniſm Hiſtor. & dogmat. Part. 2. Sect. 28. p. 157.or Councils. Tertullian makes it the Badge of an Heretick to decline the Scriptures; he ſaith, They are Noctue & Lucifugae Scripturarum: Night Owls, that do not love the light of that Sun; yea, ſome of your own Church, who are the pars ſanion thereof (if yet they be of you) have ſaid, That it is an Herefie to judge of Hereſies, without the Word of God. So the Janſeniſts.
And the Reaſon why the generality of Papiſts, are ſo deſirous to derline the Scripture, is, becauſe they are conſcious to themſelves, that it is againſt them, as Mr. White hath well obſerved … of Briſom, White's way to the Church, Sect. 7. Numb. 8. Briſtow Motiv. ult. Canus loc. lib. 3. cap. 3. Confil. Epiſc. Bononi Congreg. Anno 1553. De ſtabilienda Roman. Eccleſ. Fol. 5.who teaching his Scholar, how to deal with a Proteſtant, … … proud Heretick out of his weak and falſe Caſtle of unely Scripturs, into the plain field of Traditions, Miracles, Councils, and Fathers; and then, like Cowards, They ſhall not ſtand. Another Papiſt ſaith, There is more ſtrength is confine Hereticks in Traditions, than in the Scriptures; yea, all Diſputations with them muſt be determined, by Traditions. Thoſe Reverend Fathers of your Church, that met at Bononia, by the Popes appointment, to conſult of the means for eſtabliſhing of the Church of Rome (or healing the Wound of the Daughter of Babel) in the counſel they gave to Pope Julius the Third, They do confeſs, Certè vix umbram quandam retinemus in noſtris Eccleſus ejus Doctrinae, & Diſciplinae quae Apoſtolorum temporibus floruerunt, & prorsùs aliam accerſivimus. The truth is, we ſearce retain a ſhadow in our Churches of that Doctrine and Diſcipline which flouriſhed in the Apoſtles times, but we have brought in altogether another. There was no mention, Fol. 2.ſay they (for we may confeſs the Truth to your Holineſs, but it muſt he kept cloſe) either of Popes or Cardinals in the Apoſtles times, nor of ſome years after. There were no Monaſteries, nor Priors, nor Abbots, much leſs were there theſe Doctrines, theſe Laws, theſe Cuſtoms, no nor that Empire which now we enjoy over ſeveral people and Nations. They ſay further, That the not ſtudying the Canon Law, and Sophiſtry, and Metaphyſicks, &c. Fol 5.But learning the Greek and Hebrew Tongues, and examining Tranſlations, by the Greek and Hebrew verity, hath been the cauſe and fountain of the late decay of the Church of Rome, and of the deplorable ſtate and condition of her Affairs at this day. And finally, which they reſerve to the laſt place, as the weightieſt of all their ghoſtly counſels, They adviſe, That as little as may be of the Goſpel, Fol. penult.be read amongſt the people in their vulgar Tongue: For, hic ille in ſumma eſt liber, qui praeter caeteros haſce nobis tempeſtates acturbines conciliavit, quibus, prope abrepti ſumus. For this is in brief, That Book, which above all others, hath raiſed, and brought upon us theſe ſtorms and whirlewinds, by which we are almoſt carried away headlong: Thus ſpeak they. It appears by all this, wherefore it is that you love not the Scripture, even becauſe it reſtifies againſt you: For he that doth evil, hateth the light; and cometh not to the light, leſt his deeds ſhould be reproved, John 3.16, 20.
As to the word Hereſie, for your miſtakes call upon me, to open it a little; if we look at the notation of it, from foreign, capio, eligo, ſo it ſignifies any thing of choice, or option, as Galen, foreign, and foreign, the Methodical, and the Empirical way of Phyſick; when applyed to matters of Religion, it imports in the largeſt ſignification, any Sect, or way of Religion that a man makes choice of, whether true or falſe: So the Sect foreign of the Sadduces, Acts 5.17. the Sect of the Phariſees, Acts 15.5. called the moſt exquiſite Sect of our Religion, Acts 26.5. the Sect of the Nazarens, Acts 24.5. the word is foreign, Herefie, in all theſe places. But it is frequently reſtrained by a Synecdothe, to ſignifie a falſe Religion, as ſome other words, ex gr. Tyrannus magnus, &c. which are commonly taken in deteriorem partem: Thus Epiphanius ſeemeth to take it in his Book of Eighty Hereſies, where he numbers Barbariſm, Seythiſm, Stoiciſm, Platoniſm, &c. amongſt Hereſies. But it is commonly reſtrained yet more by a further Synecdoche, to ſuch Errors as overthrow the Foundation, and are obſtinately maintained, againſt Conviction, by perſons pretending (in part) to the True Religion; and ſo we do not call Pagans, Hereticks, but Infidels. This ſenſe of the word ſeems to be grounded, on 1 Cor. 3.10, 11. and 2 Pet. 2.1. and Titus 3.10, 11. where the Apoſtles do diſtinguiſh of Doctrines, comparing ſome to Hay and Stubble, yet retaining the true foundation: But there is another ſort, which they call, damnable Hereſies, or Hereſies of perdition, Soul-deſtroying Hereſies; the Aſſertors whereof, are ſubverted, or overturned, foreign, from off the true foundation; and ſelf-condemned, foreign, as ſinning againſt their own light. Now the written Word of God being the onelyonly Rule of True Religion, hence nothing ought to be rejected under the Notion of Hereſie, but what the Scripture doth condemn as ſuch, viz. as falſe, and deſtructive unto Souls, and dangerouſly intrenching upon the very Vitals, and Fundamentals of Religion.
And if it be demanded of us, What are the Hereſies of the Church of Rome, in this laſt ſenſe? This is a large Field: Popery, ſaith Dr. Ames, Ames Caſ. l. 5. c. 4. de Haereſ:Non eſt una aliqua ſingularis Haereſis, ſed quaſi corpus quoddam ex variis Haereſibus conflatum & productum. Sicut enim Mahumetiſmus eſt antecedentium Haereſ…n mixtura, in Oriente & Meridie; ſic Papiſmus, quamvis aliâ ſpecie variarum Haereſe…n ſentina eſt in Occidente & Septentrione. Popery, is not one ſingle Hereſie, but a Sink of many Hereſies, a dead Sea, a Sodomitick Lake of many poyſonous and erroneous Opinions. Look, as Mahometiſm is a mixture of former Hereſies, in the Eaſtern and Southern Countries; ſo is Papiſm (though under different pretenſions) a Sink of many Hereſies, in the Weſtern and Northern parts of the old Roman Empire. Take at preſent, for I would not leave things at random, theſe few Inſtances of the Hereſies your Church hath fallen into. It is eaſie, ſeeing you call us to it; it is eaſie, in the ſtrength of Chriſt, in the evidence of his Word and Spirit, to make good the Charge againſt Her.