Ayis. 1. That the church's testimony is no otherwise the testi- mony of God than as it agrees with the word of God ; and when it doth so, we are to believe what the church says, not merely because the church says it, but because God says it. And if the church holds forth to me any divine truth, and I yield my assent to it merely be- cause the church declares it to me, though what I believe be a divine truth, yet the faith with which I receive it will be but a human faith; the truth is of God, but my faith is in man. Whereas, if I believe any truth because God speaks it, though not by the church, nor any officer of it, but some private person, yet my faith is a divine faith, and the testimony of a private person, speaking what the Scripture speaks, is as really the voice of God as the testimony of the church.
1 " Deus per ecclesiam loquens non aliter loquitur, quam si immediate per vi- siones et soiniiia, aut quovis alio supernaturali modo revelandi, nobis loqueretur." — Stapletouus.
51G AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURK
2. Some of the most learned of tlie Pa})ists themselves^ make a great difference between the testimony of God and of the church. The former they grant to be altogether divine ; the latter, modo quo- dam, "after a sort" divine. The former they reckon to be the primary foundation of faith; the latter, but the secondary. Nay, some of them acknowledge that faith which rests only on the authority of the church not to be divine ; and some, tlie church's testimony to be but tlie conditio sine qua non, "the condition without which we cannot" believe the divinity of the Scriptures; — which surely they would scarcely do, if they thought the testimony of the church to be the testimony of God. And if the testimony of the church be but " in some sort" a divine testimony, the faith which is built upon it can be but " in some sort " a divine faith. And if the testimony of the church be but the secondary foundation of faith, how comes it to be (according to Stapleton) the testimony of God himself, which surely they will allow to be the primary foundation of faith?
3. Before they can evince the testimony of the church to be the testimony of God, they must first prove the church to be absolutely infallible, and see they agree among themselves about it ; lest we be still at a loss how to know what is that church whose testimony is the voice of God himself. And, —
4. If I do but deny the testimony of the church to be the testimony of God (as we do), how Avill they prove it? " By the testimony of the church." I shall not take its word. Or will they say it hath such notes of its being the voice of God in it, as thereby to manifest itself to be his voice? They will get nothing by that; for I am ready to say the same of the Scripture. Or, lastly, will they prove it by the Scripture? Then they plainly give away their cause, and own the authority of the Scripture to be before the testimony of the church.
Ary. VI. If we must believe the Scripture to be the tvord of God only because the church determines it to be so, then lue must believe all tilings in it to be of God for the same reason only. That "Christ came into the world to save sinners," 1 Tim. i. 1 5 ; that " whosoever believeth in him shall have everlasting life," etc., John iii. 16; and all the promises of the gospel, must be believed to be made to us by God, only because the church tells us they were ; and the truth of them, as to us, depends merely on the church's authority: and so all the comfort of our hearts, and the hopes we have of heaven, must be primarily derived from the authority of the church, and ultimately resolved into it. What a case had we been in, if it had not pleased the clmrch to receive these promises into the canon! And if the Papists say true, she might not have received them: for, as we shall
' Beliartuimis; Bccanus apud Rob. Baron.; Mclchior Carus, lib. ii. cap. 8.
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see by-and-by/ it depends wholly upon the church what books shall be canonical, and what not; and, by the same reason, what parts of those books ; and, consequently, whether all the promises of the gos- jDel shall be canonical or not. And so we owe all our hope to the church's charity; and must count her a good-natured mother for not cutting off these " breasts of consolations," Isa. Ixvi. 1 1 ; but leaving something for her poor children to hang upon, to keep them from perishing. Belike it is the church's favour that all the world is not damned. I am sure the best promises in the Scripture, if the popish doctrine take place, can afford but cold comfort. For if I be asked what ground I have for my hopes of salvation, I answer, The pro- mises of God. If I be asked again, "Are these promises true?" I answer. Yes. "But how doth that appear?" Why, because God made them. " But how do I know God made them?" Well enough; for the church says he did. Here the authority of the church is the first foundation of all my hopes : and poor ones, God knows, they are, if no better grounded, and little comfort I am like to have in them. It is to little purpose to tell me the testimony of the church is not merely human; for is it merely divine? If it be not, it cannot found a faith which is merely divine. And when my soul and the everlast- ing salvation of it lie at stake, I think I am concerned to see that my faith and hopes have a sure foundation; and that, I am sure, none can be which is not merely divine.