Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 1 · Part 6
The sixt Chapter, declaring howe the people shall come to the vnderstanding of the scriptures.Hesk.
The vnderstanding then of ye scriptures is necessarie,Eulk. seing God as you cōfesse, which ordeineth nothing in vain, hath appointed a meane, wherby the people should come to the vnderstanding of the scriptures. So by the way we hauehave gained thus much: that ignorance is not the mother of Christian deuotion, as was most impudently affirmed by all the Bel weathers of Papistrie, in the conference of Westminster, to the perpetuall shame & ignominie, both of them selues, and al the Popish Church. But nowe to the meane appointed by God, which you say, Is, that the lawe should be in the mouth of the Priest, and the people should learne it at his mouth. A very godly order in deede, but yet such as neither promiseth, that the lawe shal be alwayes in the Priestes heart, nor bindeth the people to learne it only at his mouth. And therefore nothing in the world letteth, but that the godly man should meditate in the lawe of God day & night, Psal. 1. and hauehave it so familiar vntounto him, that he shuld teach his childrē therin, talke of it at home, & abroad, vprising, and downlying, and write on the postes of his doores, and vponupon his gates, that he may learne to do it. Deut. 4. & 11. Wherefore all the places that M. Heskins alledgeth, to shewe that the Priestes should be learned, and the people instructed by them, serue to proue nothing that is in controuersie, but is confessed of al men: except it be to condemne the Clergie of Papistrie, which for the most part are ignoraunt, not onelyonly of Gods lawe, but of all honest knowledge, and vponupon very necessitie, open a gate vntounto the people, to seeke instruction them selues, where the ordinarie passage is stopped, through the ignorance of the Ministers.
The first place by him alledged, is Deu. 17. That if there rise a matter too hard for the people in iudgement betweene bloud and bloud, &c. they shall come to the Priestes, and stand to their iudgement on paine of death, &c. Although I might answere, that this ordinaunce appertaineth to iudiciall causes, of which God gaue his lawe also, yet if it be taken generally, so long as the Prieste determineth according to the lawe, it is well ynough. But this proueth not, that the people must hauehave no vnderstanding, beside the priests mouth. For the decree is onelyonly of matters that are difficult, and such as cannot be decided at home. No more do the wordes of Malachie, That the lips of the Priest shall keepe the law, and men shall require it at his mouth. And much lesse the commaundement in Aggee: Enquire the lawe of the Priestes, And least of all that Christ commaundeth the Scribes and Pharisees to be heard sitting in the chaire of Moses. These places proue, that it is the Priestes duetie to be learned in the lawe of God, but repel not the general lawe, wherby eueryevery man is cōmanded also to studie in the law of God, yea, though the Priestes neither would nor could teach him. For if the blinde followe the blinde, they both fall into the ditch: which our sauiour Christ willeth all men to take heede of. Hieronyme in the place by you alledged (M. Heskins) gathereth rightly of these places,…n Agge. 2. that it is the Priestes office to know and expound the scriptures: but I muse how the greatest number of your Priestes can brooke those words of his: If he be ignorant of the law, he proueth him selfe to be no Priest of God. Much more against your cleargie, & your cause is that large sentence you set down out of Hieronyme, thē to hurt your aduersaries, where he concludeth out of 1. Tim. 3. & Tit. 1. that both by the new Testament and the old it is the priests office to know and teach the lawe of God. As is also that which you adde out of 1. Cor. 12. that God hath appointed some Apostles, some Prophets, some pastors, & teachers, as though these orders might not stand with the peoples reading of the scriptures: whē euen in the Apostles time, the Thessalonians or Berrhoeans wer cōmended, for that thei did not only heare the Apostles, but also cōferred their doctrin with the scriptures Actes. 17. Hauing rehearsed your texts, you fal to collecting of three things out of thē. 1. That it is the dutie of a Priest to be learned in the law of God, and godly life also, which euerie man confesseth. 2. That there be doubts and hard matters in the law. And that also shal be confessed. But withall out of the same place it is proued, that there are many plaine and easie pointes in the lawe, because the decree was not for all the lawe, but onelyonly for harde cases of the lawe. Thirdly, that the people must bee taught them and learne of the priestes, and this also shall be granted to the vttermost, so that you will allow the people to learn such things as are easie, not only of the priests, but also of their own reading, study, & conference with thē that are no priestes. And this is no inuerting of Gods order, M. Heskins, how much soeuer you enuie the peoples instruction. For it is gods commaundement, as I shewed before, that his people shoulde not onelyonly reade the lawe themselues, but teach the same to others, yea parentes are commaunded to teach the lawe of God to their children, and yet I weene you will not say that all parents be priestes. But the marke you shoote at, is easie to see, the ignorance of the people is more for your worshippe and gaine then their knowledge. The examples you bring, of the people teaching Aaron, of Chore, Dathan, & Abiram; rebelling against Moses and Aaron, and of the Israelites in deposing Samuel and desiring a king, are of no force to dissuade men from reading of the Scriptures, no thoughe they hauehave learned and true teachers: much lesse, when they are vnderunder dumbe dogges and heretikes, as all popishe priestes are: nor to abridge the authoritie of lawfull magistrates, in banishing and suppressing all vsurped power and false teachers, nor to shake off the yoke of Antichrist to submit thēselues vntounto a king. There is too great oddes betweene the Pope and Samuel, betweene Moses and Aaron & the popish cleargie, that they which withstande the Pope and his Prelates, should be in the case of Dathan and his complices, or of the people that refused the regiment of Samuel. The saying of Augustine Ep. 118. Although it come in here out of season, yet it maketh nothing against vsus. (He saith, It is most insolent madnesse to dispute, whether that is to be done, which the Church throughout all the worlde doth obserue:) Excepte M. Heskins can shewe, what is obserued of the Church throughout the worlde; which we doe not obserue, or deny to be obserued. For S. Augustine in that place speaketh of Ceremonies.