which some of these Interpreters attribute to it; who, by their contradictions to one another, have given full proofs to the world, that they do not all expound it in the right sense then their followers in that case are not guided by the pure Word of God, but by the authority of mistaken men, and upon this their religion is built. This is evident, I may add, that none of them in fact have learned their religion by reading Scripture, but by the Instruction of Parents, Ministers, and Catechisms, by which they are all taught the tenets of their Sect, and all chuse their religion, before they have ever read the Scriptures, or are in any capacity to understand them. So far is it from truth, that Protestants all build their Faith on Scripture, and on nothing but Scripture.

When therefore you take the written Word for your rule, let the Church be your judge for the sense of it, and you will have nothing to fear. The Church is the only authentick judge, what books are to be held as canonical Scripture, what translation to be received and what the true sense of the text in controverted points. By the Church here we mean the Pastors of the Church, with the supreme head the successor of St. Feter, whether in a General Council or out of it: these have received from Christ a divine authority to teach and to be believed: to teach, I say, the written word, as well as the unwritten; and consequently to expound it when the sense is disputed: for to teach the Word of God, and expound the true sense of it, is one and the same act in the teacher, as I noted above.

EXHORTATION. Is it not then, O Christian! a safer way to be guided as God has directed, than to follow guides which are not of his appointment? Is it not safer to trust to the doctrine and judgment of that Church to which all the promises were made, and to which was given the whole authority to teach, than to follow private teachers in the Interpretation of Ser

ture, who are not secured from error by any promise of God.

O my Soul! trust not to such, but only to those who have received from Christ the authority to teach, and to be believed, the Apostles, I mean, and their successors, the Pastors of the Holy Catholick Church. 'Twas by hearing them the world became christian; by hearing them the orthodox have ever been preserved from all past heresies: to them he said, Behold I am with you at all times, to the end of the world. This he did not say to any one particular national or local Church, Meeting, or private Congregation, or the teachers of them; but to the Universal or Catholick Church ever holding one Faith and Communion. Follow those whom God has appointed to be your guide, otherwise, 'tis the blind leading the blind, till both fall into the ditch.

CHAP. IV.

On Private Judgment, and Private Spirit. Every Prophecy of Scripture is not of Private Interpretation (2 PET. 1. 20.)

Q. What do you mean by private Judgment?

A. To be guided by one's own sense, independently of all Church authority for the interpretation of Scrip

ture.

Q. Why may not every one be allowed to follow the Scripture, according to the best of his Judgment in matters of Faith?

A. It is a most pernicious maxim, it destroys all obedience to the Church, which we are commanded to hear; besides many other evils that have sprung from it. Q. What are those evils?

A. Innumerable sects in Faith and Religion; no Heresy but what took its beginning from it.

Q. At least why may not I be allowed to follow my her, or the Congregation, or National Church I 5 to?

A. No National Church, no private Congregation or Teacher, dissenting from the Universal or Catholick Church, can be a safe guide to their followers: all Sectarists and Hereticks follow such guides.

Q. Why may we not, at least, follow the instinct of the Spirit; the Spirit of God cannot deceive me.

A. Very true, the Spirit of God cannot deceive you, nor be deceived: but you may be deceived by those who make you believe, that you follow the instinct of the. Spirit of God when you do not.

INSTRUCTION. Private Judgment, which makes a man his own judge in controverted points of Faith and Religion, never was allowed of in the Church of God, but condemned by all antiquity. All controversies of Faith from the very beginning of the Church, were decided by the authority of the Church. The first controversy about the necessity of circumcision for the converted Gentiles, was determined in a council at Jerusalem; not left to the private judgment of the contending parties: and all the sequent controversies; as of the time for celebrating Easter; of the Trinity of Persons in God; of the Divinity of Christ, and the Holy Ghost; of the Incarnation; of the power of the Church to remit sin to those who fall after Baptism; of Grace; of Original Sin, all these controversies were determined by Church authority against ancient Hereticks. Luther and Calvin own the condemnation of them to be just, and that those who maintained them are to be accounted as Hereticks. But had private judgment been the judge, and all parties been allowed an equal right to expound Scripture for themselves in those controverted points, I apprehend those disputes had not been ended to this day: nor can it be known with certainty, if the infallibility and authority of the Church be set aside, whether the parties condemned, or those who condemned them, had truth on their side. Private judgment has raised many disputes in religion, but never ended one.

The Scripture itself teaches, that the Scripture is not to be interpreted by private judgment: as it is written in St. Peter, (Er. 2. c. 1. v. 20.) Every Prophecy of Scripture is not of private interpretation: for not by human will was Prophecy brought at any time; the Holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost. Here the reason is given why the Scriptures are not to be expounded by every man's private judgment; because every part of the holy Scripture was delivered by the Holy Ghost, by whom the sacred writers were inspired. By whom then are they to be interpreted when their sense is disputed, but by those to whom the Holy Ghost was promised and sent for the teaching them all truth? the apostles and their successors the pastors of the Catholick Church: Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, he will teach you all truth, (Jo. XVI. v. 13.) A promise not made to every particular person that undertakes to expound Scripture by his own private judgment.-Moreover:

As private judgment destroys all obedience to the Church, it cannot ground a certain belief, because every man's private judgment is subject to error. Those therefore who leave the divine unerring authority of the Church Catholick, to follow their own private interpretations of Scripture, can have no divine Faith of what they believe, because, although the Scripture which they pretend to make the rule of their belief, be infal lible truth, their interpretation is not but liable to mistake; and thus their private judgment being ever apt to embrace error as well as truth, when left to itself, whatever belief is built upon it, is no more than Opi nion, not Christian Faith, which excludes all deliberate doubt and uncertainty; so that this maxim of expounding Scripture by private judgment destroys all cer tainty of the Christian Faith, especially in points controverted.

ome indeed among those who dissent from the Ca

tholick Church, pretend they do not follow their own private judgment, but the National Church, or their teachers, not considering, that a National Church dissenting from the Catholick or Universal Church, does but follow the private judgment of its first reformers: As do also private meetings and congregations; and therefore these are no more sufficient to ground divine Faith upon, than was the private judgment of those that founded them. Besides, those who first model their Faith by their own sense of Scripture, (which is a right allowed to every one in all the reformed Churches,) and then approve of that Church which approves them, do not in effect believe their Church, but themselves.

The same is to be said of those who believe by pretended Instincts of the Spirit. For though the testimony of the Holy Ghost be a sufficient ground of divine Faith; yet there being no sure testimony produced to shew who are led by this divine Spirit, and no promise of God for it; nor proof-given, whereby we may clearly discern the motions of the Holy Ghost from other motions of fanaticism; there cannot be such certainty in these pretended instincts of the Spirit, as divine Faith requires; and the belief of those who follow those private instincts, is not Faith; but only Opinion, or Persuasion, like theirs who follow their private judgment, and no better. I may add, that the Sectataries of our times who pretend to be led by the Instincts of the Spirit, are found to contradict one another most furiously, at the same time all cry, The Spirit of the Lord! The Spirit of the Lord! which plainly shews by what spirit they are led.

In a word, you would not trust the private judgment or private instinct of another in an affair of this great concern, nor would another trust to yours:-You easily discover in others how unqualified is private judgment and private spirit to decide matters of controversy, and how dangerous it is to trust it, and yet while you