The Rule of Faith, Part 3 · Section 7

The Rule of Faith · Part 3 · Section 7

p. 206SECT. VII.

The First Answer to his second Demonstration.§. 1. THat these Principles wholly rely upon the truth of the Grounds of his Demonstration a Priori. For if the Doctrine of Christ was either imperfectly taught in any Age, or mistaken by the Learners, or any part of it forgotten (as it seems the whole Greek Church have forgot that fundamental Point of the Procession of the Holy Ghost, as the Roman Church accounts it) or if the Arguments of hope and fear be not necessary causes of actual will to adhere to Tradition; then there may have been changes and innovations in any Age, and yet men may pretend to have followed Tradition. But I have shewn, that Ignorance, and Negligence, and Mistake, and Pride, and Lust, and Ambition, and any other Vice or Interest, may hinder those causes from being effectual to preserve Tradition entire and uncorrupted. And when they do so, it is not to be expected that those Persons, who innovate and change the Doctrine, should acknowledg that their new Doctrines are contrary p. 207to the Doctrine of Christ; but that they should at first advance them as Pious, and after they have prevailed and gained general entertainment, then impudently affirm that they were the very Doctrines which Christ delivered; which they may very securely do, when they have it in their power to burn all that shall deny it.

§. 2. I will give a clear Instance of the possibility of this in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, by shewing how this might easily come in, in the Ninth or Tenth Age after Christ. We will suppose then that about this time, when universal Ignorance, and the genuine Daughter of it (call her Devotion or Superstition) had overspread the World, and the generality of People were strongly enclined to believe strange things; and even the greatest Contradictions were recommended to them under the notion of Mysteries, being told by their Priests and Guides, that the more contradictions any thing is to Reason, the greater merit there is in believing it: I say, let us suppose, that in this state of things, one or more of the most eminent then in the Church, p. 208either out of design, or out of superstitious ignorance and mistake of the sense of our Saviour's words used in the Consecration of the Sacrament, should advance this new Doctrine, That the words of Consecration, This is my Body, are not to be understood by any kind of Trope (as the like forms in Scripture are, as I am the Vine, I am the Door, which are plain Tropes) but being used about this great Mystery of the Sacrament ought in all reason to be supposed to contain in them some notable Mystery; which they will do, if they be understood of a real change of the substance of Bread and Wine, made by vertue of these words, into the real Body and Blood of our Saviour. And in all this, I suppose nothing but what is so far from being impossible, that it is too usual, for men either out of Ignorance or Interest, to advance new Opinions in Religion. And such a Doctrine as this was very likely to be advanced by the ambitious Clergy of that time, as a probable means to draw in the People to a greater veneration of them; which advantage Mr. Rushworth **Dial. 1. Sect. 4.seems to be very sensible of, when he tells us, That the p. 209power of the Priest in this particular, is such a priviledg, as if all the learned Clerks that ever lived since the beginning of the World, should have studied to raise, advance, and magnifie some one state of men to the highest pitch of Reverence and Eminency, they could never (without special light from Heaven) have thought of any thing comparable to this. I am of his mind, that it was a very notable device, but (I am apt to think) invented without any special light from Heaven. Nor was such a Doctrine less likely to take and prevail among the People in an Age prodigiously ignorant, and strongly enclined to Superstition, and thereby well prepared to receive the grossest Absurdities under the notion of Mysteries; especially if they were such as might seem to conciliate a greater honour and reverence to the Sacrament. Now supposing such a Doctrine as this, so fitted to the humor and temper of the Age, to be once asserted, either by chance, or out of design; it would take like wild-fire: especially if by some one or more who bore sway in the Church, it were but recommended with convenient gravity p. 210and solemnity. And although Mr. Rushworth says **Dial. 3. Sect. 7., It is impossible that the Authority of one man should sway so much in the World, because (sayes he) surely the Devil himself would rather help the Church, than permit so little pride among men; yet I am not so thoroughly satisfied with this cunning reason: For though he delivers it confidently, and with a surely, yet I make some doubt whether the Devil would be so forward to help the Church; nay, on the contrary, I am enclined to think that he would rather choose to connive at this humble and obsequious temper in men, in order to the overthrow of Religion, than cross a design so dear to him by unseasonable temptations to pride: So that notwithstanding Mr. Rushworth's reason, it seems very likely that such a Doctrine, in such an Age, might easily be propagated by the influence and authority of one or a few great Persons in the Church. For nothing can be more suitable to the easie and passive temper of superstitious Ignorance, than to entertain such a Doctrine with all imaginable greediness, and to maintain it with a proportionable p. 211zeal. And if there be any wiser than the rest, who make Objections against it as if this Doctrine were new and full of contradictions, they may easily be born down by the stream, and by the eminency and authority and pretended sanctity of those who are the heads of this Innovation. And when this Doctrine is generally swallowed, and all that oppose it are looked upon and punished as Hereticks, then it is seasonable to maintain that this Doctrine was the doctrine of forefathers; to which end it will be sufficient to those who are willing to have it true, to bend two or three sayings of the Ancients to that purpose. And as for the contradictions contained in this Doctrine, it was but telling the People then (as they do in effect now) that contradictions ought to be no scruple in the way of Faith: that the more impossible any thing is, 'tis the fitter to be believed: that it is not praise-worthy to believe plain possibilities, but that this is the gallantry and heroical power of Faith, this is the way to oblige God Almighty for ever to us, to believe flat and down-right contradictions: p. 212For God requires at the Peoples hands (as Mr. Rushworth **Dial. 1. Sect. 4.tells us) a Credulity of things above and beyond Nature; nay, beyond all the Fables, be it spoken with respect, that ever man invented. After this Doctrine hath proceeded thus far, and by the most inhumane severities and cruelties supprest Dissenters, or in a good measure rooted them out; then if they please even this new word Transubstantiation may pretend also to Antiquity, and in time be confidently vouched for a word used by Christians in all Ages, and transmitted down to them by those from whom they received the Doctrine of the Sacrament, as a term of Art appendant to it. And when a superstitious Church and designing Governors have once gained this Post, and by means of this enormous Article of Transubstantiation have sufficiently debauched the minds of men, and made a breach in their understandings wide enough for the entertaining of any Error, though never so gross and sensless; then Innovations come in amain, and by sholes; and the more absurd and unreasonable any thing is, it is for that very p. 213reason the more proper matter for an Article of Faith. And if any of these Innovations be objected against, as contrary to former belief and practice, it is but putting forth a lusty act of Faith, and believing another contradiction, that though they be contrary yet they are the same.

§. 3. And there is nothing in all this, but what is agreeable both to History and Experience. For that the Ninth and Tenth Ages, and those which followed them till the Reformation, were thus prodigiously ignorant and superstitious, is confirmed by the unanimous consent of all Historians; and even by those Writers, that have been the greatest Pillars of their own Religion. And Experience tells us, that in what Age soever there are a great company of superstitious People, there will never be wanting a few crafty Fellows to make use of this easie and pliable humor to their own ends. Now that this was the state of those Ages of the Church, will be evident to any from these Testimonies. Platina **In Vit. Romani. Papae 117. A. C. 900.writes of Pope Romanus, that he null'd the Acts of his Predecessor Stephanus; For (sayes he) p. 214these Popes minded nothing else but how they might extinguish both the Name and Dignity of their Predecessors. And if so, who can doubt, but that these Popes who made it their business to destroy the very memory of their Ancestors, would be very little careful to preserve the Doctrine of Fore-fathers. But what the care of those Times was in this particular, may be conjectured from what Onuphrius **In Platin.says by way of confutation of that passage in Platina, concerning Pope Joan's reading publickly at Rome at her first coming thither. This (says he) is utterly false, for there was nothing that they were less sollicitous about in those Times, than to furnish the City with any publick Teachers. And the time which Onuphrius speaks of, was much about the beginning of the Tenth Century. Phil. Bergomensis **Anno 506.says, It happened in that Age through the slothfulness of men, that there was a general decay of Vertue both in the Head and Members. Again **Anno 9.8., These Times through the Ambition and cruel Tyranny of the Popes were extremely unhappy — For the Popes setting aside the fear of God and his Worship, fell into p. 215such enmities among themselves, as cruel Tyrants exercise towards one another. Sabellicus **Ennead. 9. L. 1. Anno. 900.says, It is wonderful to observe what a strange forgetfulness of all Arts did about this time seize upon men; insomuch that neither the Popes, nor other Princes seem'd to have any sense or apprehension of any thing that might be useful to humane life. There were no wholsome Laws, no Reparations of Churches, no pursuit of liberal Arts; but a kind of stupidity and madness and forgetfulness of manners had possessed the minds of men. And a little after, I cannot (says he) but much wonder, from whence these Tragical Examples of Popes should spring; and how their minds should come to be so devoid of all Piety, as neither to regard the Person which they susteined, nor the place they were in. Sigonius **De Regn. Ital. L. 6.speaking of these Times, about the beginning of the Tenth Century, calls them the foulest and blackest, both in respect of the wickedness of Princes, and the madness of the People, that are to be found in all Antiquity, Genebrard **Chron. L. 4.speaking of the same Time, This (says he) is called the unhappy Age; being destitute of men p. 216eminent for Wit and Learning, as also of famous Princes and Popes. In this Time there was scarce any thing done worthy to be remembred by Posterity. And he adds afterwards, But chiefly unhappy in this one thing, that for almost 150 years together, about 50 Popes, did utterly degenerate from the vertue of their Ancestors. He should have added further, but even to a miracle happy in another respect, that during this long and total degeneracy from the Piety and Vertue of their Ancestors, they did not in the least swerve from them in matter of Faith and Doctrine: A thing incredible, were there not Demonstration for it. Werner **Fascic. Tempor.gives this Character of that Time; About the year of our Lord One Thousand, there began an effeminate Time, in which the Christian Faith begun to degenerate exceedingly, and to decline from its ancient vigour; insomuch that in many Countries of Christendom, neither Sacraments nor Ecclesiastical Rites were observed—And people were given to Soothsaying and Witchcrafts, and the Priest was like the People. It seems by this Testimony, that Tradition did faulter a little in that Age, else p. 217the Christian Faith could not possibly have degenerated and declined so very much: And (which threatens Mr. S's Demonstration most of all) that the Practical Tradition of Sacraments, and other Ecclesiastical Observances did fail in many Christian Countries. Gerbert **Epist. 40., who lived in that Time, gives this short Character of the Roman Church, in an Epistle of his to Stephen Deacon of that Church; The World stands amazed at the Manners of Rome. But most full is the complaint of a great Prelate of the Church **Bell. Sacr. L. 1. c. 8.concerning those Times; In the West (says he) and almost all the World over (especially among those who were called the Faithful) Faith failed, and there was no fear of God among them: (it seems the Argument of Fear had lost its force) Justice was perished from among men, and violence prevailing against equity governed the Nations. Fraud, Deceit, and the Arts of Couzenage were grown universal. All kind of Vertue gave way as an useless thing, and wickedness supply'd its place. The World seemed to be declining apace towards its Evening, and the second coming of the Son of man to draw near: p. 218For Love was grown cold, and Fai…h was not found upon Earth. All things were in Confusion, and the World looked as if it would return to its old Chaos.—All sorts of Fornication were committed with the same freedom as if they had been lawful Actions; for men neither blushed at them, nor were punish't for them.—Nor did the Clergy live better than the People.—For the Bishops were grown negligent of the Duty of their place. &c. In a word, men ran themselves headlong into all Vice, and all Flesh had corrupted its way. And farther to shew the great neglect of Priests and Bishops in the work of Teaching and Instruction (which is so necessary to the preserving of Tradition inviolable) I will add the Testimony of one **Elfric. Serm. ad Sacerdot.who lived in those Times; who tells us, That in those days, the Priests and Bishops, who ought to have been the Pillars of the Church, were so negligent that they did not mind the Divine Scripture; nor take any care to teach and instruct Scholars that might succeed them, as we read holy Men had used to do, who left many Scholars perfectly instructed to be their Successors. If they had only neglected the Scriptures, p. 219all might have been well enough; but it seems they took no care to instruct people in the way of Oral Tradition, nor to furnish the Church with a new Generation of able Teachers who might deliver down from hand to hand the sense and faith of Fore-fathers. This last Testimony, the late Learned Lord Primate of Ierland, Bishop Vsher (in his Book De Christian. Eccles. Success. &c. **C. 2. & 3.where several of the Testimonies I have produced, with many more to the same purpose, may be seen) cites out of a M. S. in Bennet Colledg Library in Cambridg; concerning the authority of which M. S. there need be no dispute between Mr. S. and me; because the whole force and effect of this Testimony is sufficiently contained in those Citations which I have brought out of publick and unquestionable Books.

§. 4. All these Testimonies which I have produced are, in general and for the substance of them, confirmed by Two of the greatest Props of the Romish Church; Bellarmine, and Baronius. Bellarmine **De Rom. Pontif. L. 4. c. 12.says of this Tenth Age, That there was never any either more unlearned, or more unhappy. Baronius p. 220**Annal. Tom. 10. Anno 900.speaks more particularly, What was then the face of the Roman Church? How deformed? When Whores, no less powerful than vile, bore the chief sway at Rome; and at their pleasure changed Sees, appointed Bishops; and (which it is horrible to mention) did thrust into St. Peters See their own Gallants, false-Popes, who would not have been mentioned in the Catalogue of the Roman Popes, but only for the more distinct Recording of so long a Succession of Times. And a little after, Christ was then (it seems) in a very deep sleep—And which was worse; when the Lord was thus asleep there were no Disciples to awaken him, being themselves all fast asleep. What kind of Cardinal Presbyters and Deacons can we think were chosen by these Monsters, when nothing is so natural as for every one to propagate his own likeness? It is very much that these lewd Women, and their Favourite-Popes, Cardinals, and Bishops who then swayed the Church, should, when they were so careless of their own Souls, be so tender of the salvation of Posterity; and, when they administred all other affairs of the Church so extravagantly, should p. 221be so careful of the main chance, as to transmit the Christian Doctrine entire and uncorrupted to succeeding Ages. Yet Mr. S. hath demonstrated this a Posteriori, which seems so very strange to a man that considers things a Priori.

§. 5. But it may be, this dismal state of the Roman Church lasted but a little while; and she did in the same Age, before Tradition could be interrupted, recover her self out of this degenerate condition. I will therefore enquire a little into the state of succeeding Times. And I find in the Thirteenth Century, St. Bernard **In Convers. Sancti Pauli. Serm. 1.complaining, That the degeneracy of the Priests was in his days greater than ever; We cannot (says he) now say, as is the People so is the Priest; for the People are not so bad as their Priests. In the Fifteenth Century, Nic. de Clemangiis, who lived in that Time, wrote a Book upon this argument, Of the corrupt state of the Church; by which we may make some judgment whether in that Age it was (as Mr. S. says) impossible but that the Christian Doctrine should be entirely preserved, and faithfully and diligently taught. He says **C. 3.there was an universal p. 222degeneracy in the Church, from the very Head of it to its lowest Members. In the same Chapter he complains, Who is there that preaches the Gospel to the People? Who shews them the way to Salvation either by Word or Action? It seems there was a great failure both of Oral and Practical Tradition. Again **C. 5., speaking of the Pope's taking to himself the Collation of all vacant Bishopricks and Dignities; he says, one might think the Pope did this, that the Church might be provided of worthier Governors, both in respect of their Learning, and their lives, did not the thing it self declare the contrary, and that ignorant and useless Persons (provided they had money) were by Simony advanced to the highest degrees in the Church. And **C. 6., speaking what a vast number of Candidates there was usually at Rome from all Parts waiting for Benefices and Dignities, he tells us, That many of these did not come from their Studies, or from Schools of Learning, to govern Parishes; but from the Plow, and from the meanest Professions: and that they understood Latin and Arabick much at the same rate; and many of them could not read at all. p. 223But it may be (says he) their manners were such as might be some excuse for their Ignorance. No; though their Learning was but little, their Vertue was less; for being brought up in Idleness, they followed nothing but Debauchery and Sports, &c. Hence it comes to pass, that in all places there are so many wicked, and wretched, and ignorant Priests— Hence it is that Priests are so contemned by the common People—Formerly the Priesthood was highly honoured by the People, and nothing was more venerable than that Order of men; but now nothing is more vile and despicable.— **C. 9.I make no doubt, but there are now more Thieves and Robbers, than true Pastors in the Church.— **C. 11.Why should any man now flatter himself with hopes of Preferment, because of his Vertue or Learning? Men do not now (as formerly) rise in the Church by such Arts— **C. 13▪Which of those that are now adays advanced to the Pontifical Dignity, hath so much as perfunctorily read, or heard, or learn't the Scriptures; yea, or ever touched any more than the cover of the Bible? Again **C. 14, speaking of the prodigious Covetousness of the Governors of the p. 224Church, and the gross neglect of their Flocks, They would (says he) much more contentedly bear the loss of ten thousand Souls, than of ten or twelve Shillings. But why do I say more contentedly? When without the least trouble or disturbance to themselves, they can bear the loss of Souls; a thing so far from their care, that it never entred into their thoughts. Had the Hereticks of those days but had Wit enough, and a little Money, they might (it seems) for a small Sum have hired the Governors of the Church to have renounced Tradition, or to have ceased to propagate it; though they had known that in so doing they should have damned all their Posterity. He goes on, and tells us, That if there were perhaps any one who did not take these courses, the rest would all snarle at him, call him Fool, and say he was unfit to be a Priest.—So that the study of the Scriptures (together with the Professors of it) was turned into laughter and scorn by all; but (which is prodigious) especially by the Popes, who prefer their own Traditions many degrees before the Commands of God. I desire Mr. S. to take notice in what kind p. 225of Times Tradition was set up against Scripture. Again **C. 16., speaking of the choice of persons to be Priests, he tells us, That there was no enquiry made into their Lives, no question about their Manners: As for their Learning (says he) what need I speak of that? When we see the Priests, almost universally▪ have much ado to read, though but in an haesitating and spelling fashion, drawing out one syllable after another, without understanding either the sense of what they read, or the words. I am now reconciled to oral Tradition, and convinced that there was great need of it in those Ages in which scarce any of the Priests could either write or read. I omit the particulars of what he says **C. 20, 21, 23.concerning the common Drunkenness and Incontinency of Priests, who (because they made Conscience of Marriage) kept Whores in their Houses; concerning the dissolute Lives of Monks; and concerning Nunneries, which instead of being the Sanctuaries of God, were he abominable Stews of Venus▪ and the Receptacles of lascivious young men; insomuch (says he) that at this day it is the same thing to put a Virgin into a p. 226Nunnery, and to make her a common Strumpet. And to shew that he does not speak these things of a few, but with relation to the general corruption of that Age, he adds **C. 25., That wickedness did so abound in all Orders of men, that scarce one among a thousand was to be found who did truly live up to his Profession: And if there was any one that did not follow these lewd courses, he became ridiculous to others, and was branded either as an insolent singular Mad-man, or an Hypocrite. I wil conclude this long Testimony with the character which he gives **C. 27.of one of the Popes of his time, Clement by name, viz. That he did chiefly apply himself to gratifie and oblige all the Parasites and Buffoons that had any interest in the several Courts of Princes: And to this end, did confer upon these, and upon handsom young Boys (which he much delighted in) almost all the vacant Bishopricks, and most of the other Church-D…nities. It is well that oral Tradition hath the security of Infallibility, otherwise it had in all probability been lost among this lewd sort of People, which yet they gravely call the Holy Roman-Catholick Church.

p. 227§ 6. To this effect I might have produced Testimonies concerning every Age from the Ninth to the Sixteenth; but Mr. Cressy hath saved me that labour, who acknowledges **Exomolog. C. 68., that these worst times of the Church, when Ignorance, Wordliness, Pride, Tyranny, &c. reigned with so much scope: When the Popes (so wicked, so abominable in their Lives) enjoyed so unlimited a power even over secular Princes themselves, and much more over the Clergy: I say, he acknowledges that these worst times continued during the space of about six Ages before Luther: A competent time (one would think) for Tradition to have miscarried in, were it not (as Mr. S. says) indefectible. Mr. Cressy indeed tells us **Ibid., That this was to him an irrefragable Testimony of a strange watchfulness of Divine Providence over the Church, to preserve it from the Gates of Hell (that is, established and dangerous Errors) during these worst times. And very likely it is that this might appear so to such a Catholick whose judgment, he tells us, it is to renounce his own judgment: but it will never appear irrefragable, to any man that hath his judgment p. 228about him, unless Mr. Cressy can prove, that by that phrase, viz. the Gates of Hell, the Scripture does not mean gross wickedness of Life, as well as dangerous errors in Opinion; and likewise, that a general viciousness and debauchery of Manners is not as pernicious to Christianity, and as destructive to the end of it, as establish'd Errors in Doctrine: And if so, that the Providence of God is not equally concerned to preserve the Church from things equally pernicious. When he hath proved these three things, then this Declamatory discourse of his may signify something, but not before.

§ 7. Now if this be a true representation of the state of the Roman Church in those Ages, was not this a very fit time for the Devil to play his Pranks in? Will any man that reads these Testimonies, think it impossible that the Doctrine of Christ should have been depraved in this Age; or that the most sensless and absurd Tenets might then be brought in under the notion of Christian Doctrines? When scarce any one knew what the Doctrine of Christ was: When a general ignorance of Letters▪ p. 229and almost an universal stupidity and madness had seized upon the minds of men: When there was a horrid depravation of manners, and a general failure of Vertue and Piety both in the Head and Members of the Church: When the lives of the Popes were Tragically wicked, and no footsteps of Piety appeared in them: When for about 150 years together, in a continued succession of 50 Popes, there was scarce one pious and vertuous Man (or Woman) sate in that Chair: When the Whores governed Rome, and put out, and put in Bishops at their pleasure; and made their own Gallants Popes, who would be sure to make a Colledge of Cardinals of such Monsters as themselves: When pretty Boys, and Parasites, and Buffoons led the Head of the Church by the Nose, and were gratified with the best Bishopricks and Dignities in the Church: When there was a general decay of knowledg, and defection of the Christian Faith: When in many Countreys neither Sacraments, nor other Ecclesiastical Rites were observed: When Violence and Fraud, and all the Arts of Deceit and Couzenage, and p. 230blacker Arts than these, were the common study and practice: When Intemperance, and all kind of Lewdness and Debauchery, reigned in all sorts and orders of men: When the generality of Bishops and Priests (who, according to Mr. Rushworth **Dial. 3. Sect. 3., can only teach the Traditionary Doctrine) were ignorant in the Scriptures and in every thing else (very few of them being able so much as to read tolerably) and did neglect to teach the People, and to breed up any in knowledg to succeed them in their Office; and in the lewdness of their lives did surpass the vilest of the People. Was not such an Age a fit season to plant the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in? Or if any thing more monstrous than that can be imagined, it might then have taken place; for what Weeds would not have grown in so rank a Soyl? Doth Mr. S. think it impossible, that those that were born in the Church then, should be ignorant of the Doctrine of Christ, when scarce any one would take the pains to teach it them; or that it could then have been altered, when so few understood, and fewer practised it: When ptodigious p. 231Impiety and Wickedness did overspread the Church, from the Pope down to the meanest of the Laity, can any one believe that men generally made Conscience to instruct their Children in the true Faith of Christ? Was it impossible there should be any neglect of this Duty, when all others failed? That there should be any mistake about the Doctrine of Christ, when there was so much Ignorance? unless he be of Mr. Rushworth's **Dial. 3. Sect. 7.mind, who reckons Ignorance among the Parents of Religion. Where were then the Arguments of Hope and Fear? Were they strongly applied, or were they not? Were they causes of actual will in Christians to believe well, when they lived so ill? Or is Christianity only fitted to form mens minds to a right belief, but of no efficacy to govern their lives? Hath Christ taken care to keep his Church from Error, but not from Vice? As the great Cardinal Perron **Reply to K. James. L. 4. C. 6.(stooping below his own Wit and Reason to serve a bad Cause) tells us, That the Church sings, and will sing to the end of the World, I am black, but I am fair; that is to say, I am black in Manners, but fair in Doctrine: As if p. 232the meaning of the Prophesies and Promises of Scripture made to the Church were this, that by the extraordinary care of Gods Providence, and peculiar assistance of his Holy Spirit, she should be wicked, but Orthodox to the end of the World. Where were then the vigorous causes imprinting Christ's Doctrine, and continuing it more particularly at Rome than any where else; and of securing that See and its supreme Pastor in the faith and practice of the Christian Doctrine, above any other See or Pastor whatsoever? Who is so little versed in History, as not to understand the dismal state of Religion in the Romish Church, in those times? Who does not know what advantages the Bishops of Rome, and their servile Clergy made of the ignorance and superstition of those and the succeeding Ages; and by what Arts and steps they raised themselves to that power which they held in the Church for a long while after? When they could tread upon the necks of Princes; and make a great King walk bare-foot, and yield himself to be scourged by a company of petulant Monks: When they could send any p. 233man upon an Errand to visit the holy Sepulchre, or the Shrine of such a Saint; and command five or six Kings with great Armies upon a needless expedition into the Holy Land, that so during their absence they might play their own Game the better: When they could mint Miracles, and impose upon the belief of the People (without the authority of any ancient Books) absurd and counterfeit Tales of ancient Saints and Martyrs, as delivered down to them by Tradition; and could bring that foppish Book the Legend, almost into equal Authority and Veneration with the Bible; and perswade the easy people that St. Denys carried his own head in his hand after it was cut off two miles, and kiss'd it when he laid it down. Any one that shall but reflect upon the monstrous practises of the Roman Bishops and Clergy in these Ages, the strange Feats they played, and what absurdities they imposed upon the superstitious credulity of Princes and People, may readily imagine not only the possibility, but the easiness of innovating new Doctrines as they pleased, under the specious pretences of Antitiquity, p. 234and constant and uninterrupted Tradition.

§ 8. And this kind of Discourse concerning the possibility of Errors coming into the Church, is not, as Mr. White ridiculously compares it **Apology for Tradition, p. 49., as if an Orator should go about to perswade people, that George, by the help of a long staff, and a nimble cast of his body, and such like advantages, might leap over Paul's Steeple; never considering all the while the disproportion of all these advantages to the height of the Steeple: so (saith he) he that discourseth at large how Errors use to slide into mans life, without comparing the power of the causes of Error to the strength of resisting, which consists in this Principle, Nothing is to be admitted but what descends by Tradition, &c. says no more towards proving an Error's over-running the Church, than the Orator for George's leaping over the Steeple. How vain is this? When it appears, from this Instance that I have given of the state of the Roman Church, in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, and afterwards; that the causes of Error were infinitely stronger than the power of resistance. p. 235The great causes of Error are Ignorance and Vice; where Ignorance reigns, there's no Power; where Vice, no Will to resist it. And how great the Ignorance and Viciousness of all orders of men in the Roman Church was, is too too apparent from the Testimonies I have brought. Where was the strength of resisting Error, when for 150 years together the Popes were the vilest of men, Bishops and Priests overwhelmed with Ignorance, abandoned to all manner of vice, and most supinely negligent in instructing the People? In such a degenerate state of a Church, what strength is there in this Principle, Nothing is to be admitted but what descends by Tradition? When those, who ought to teach men what that Doctrine is which was derived to them by Tradition, are generally careless of their Duty, and ignorant themselves what that Doctrine is; When they addict themselves wholly to the satisfying of their Ambition, and other Lusts, and carry on designs of Gain, and getting Dominion over the People. What can hinder men so disposed from corrupting the Doctrine of Christ, and suiting it to their own Lusts p. 236and Interests? And what shall hinder the People from embracing those Corruptions? when by the negligence of their Pastors to instruct them, and not only so, but also by their being deprived of the Scriptures in a known Tongue, they are become utterly incapable of knowing what the true Doctrine of Christ is. So that in an Age of such profound Ignorance and Vice, and general neglect of Instruction 'tis so far from being impossible for Errors to over-run a Church, that the contrary is morally impossible; and George's long staff and advantagious cast of his Body are more powerful causes to enable him to leap over Paul's Steeple, than this Principle, That nothing is to be admitted, but what descends by Tradition, is to keep Errors out of a Church in an ignorant and vicious Age; when few or none are either able or willing to instruct men in the Truth. For suppose this always to have been the Principle of Christians, viz. That nothing is to be admitted as the Doctrine of Christ, but what is descended to them by Tradition: How shall this Principle secure the Church from Heresy, any more than p. 237this, viz. That nothing but Truth is to be assented to, doth secure men from Error? Or more than this, viz. That no man is to do any thing but what is wise and vertuous, does secure the generality of mankind from folly and vice?