Chap. 3. from them without a Miracle, is not Wisdom, Quest.8. but ftupidity.

And if Men would lay unjuft Prejudices and Partiality afide; if they would argue confequently, and fuffer themselves to be directed by common Senfe; they could not but fee, that the fame Rule will hold in regard to all other Herefies. For had Catholick Writers, in the ten first Centuries, the Spirit of Prophecy, which they wanted even in the first? They could not forefee, what Arius and Macedonius would affert after the third Age. And did they forefee, that Berengarius would deny the real Prefence and Tranfubftantiation, after the tenth? The Arian Herefy finds, I may almost fay, a thousand Shelters in three Ages only: and is it likely, that the Berengarian Herefy will find none in ten? Catholick Writers, before Arius and Macedonius came upon the ftage, treated the Son of God and his Holy Spirit without Caution and Reserve, which they thought unneceffary, as indeed it was. But can they, with any Reafon, be suppos'd, to speak more nicely and dogmatically of the B. Sacrament, than they did of Christ himfelf? Tranfubftantiation was a Term unknown to the Apostles: And was not Confubstantiality? The first was not generally us'd, before Berengarianifm requir'd it, to diftinguish Catholicks from Diffenters. And was latter; till Arianifm made it useful and almost neceffary upon the fame Account? Catholick Writers had, against the Error of Berengarius, little or no Caution, till it appear'd in the eleventh Age. And did they use any great Caution against Arianifm or Macedonianifm,

the

till

till the fourth, in which they faw it? The Ari- Chap. 3. an Herely, without changing the Faith of the Queft.8. Catholick Church, occafion'd a visible Change in her Language, after three Centuries. Why then might not the Berengarian Herefy do the fame after ten?

Thirdly, it does not appear, that the great Mystery, of One God and three divine Perfons, was exprefs'd under these Terms, in the Apoftolical Age. And if we believe [4] Facundus Hermianenfis, the Name of divine Perfons was unknown, till Sabellianifm oblig'd, in a Manner, the Church to use it. But what we now mean, by One God, and three divine Perfons, was the Belief of all good Chriftians from the Beginning. For they always believ'd, that the Father is not the Son; that the Holy Spirit is neither the Son, nor the Father; that the Son is not a Creature; that the Holy Spirit is not a Creature (is not a Being which God made, and can unmake at pleasure) and that there is only one God.

Fourthly, all Tongues of frequent Ufe (even thofe, which we call dead Languages, because they are no where the native Languages of the common People) are in a continual Change. Words and Phrafes are differently us'd, and joyn'd with different Ideas, not only

-

at

[4] Ecclefia Chrifti, etiam cum nec dum ad diftin&tionem Patris, & Filii, & Spiritus Sandi, uteretur nomine Perfona, tres credidit & prædicavit Perfonæ autem nomen, non nifi cum Sabellius impugnaret Ecclefiam, neceffario in ufum prædicationis affumptum eft. Facundus L. 1. de tribus Capitulis, Cap. iii. p. 8. C. D. Edit. Sigmondi. an. 1679.

Chap. 3. at different Times, but even in different Places, Queft.8. by different Perfons, and by the very fame Writer on different Occafions. So that they have a temporary, a local, a perfonal, and an occafional Signification. New, and fometimes oppofite, Ideas are tied to the very fame Words and Phrases. And what one Age frequents, the next but one fcarce understands. This makes it utterly impoffible for Catholick Writers (how much foever their Faith may be the fame) to have always the fame Language. For either they will mean the fame thing, when the words feem to be contraditory; or when the Words and phrases are the fame, they will understand them in a different and even in a contradictory Sense: tho' both Parties follow the general and known Ufe of their own Times. Men of Judgment cannot wonder at this, because they fee, it is a neceffary Confequence of this mortal State; and that Perfons muft either not write at all, or (if their Writings furvive their own Age) they must be content to fall into Times, in which their words will meet with quite oppofite Ideas: For, if, in every Language of frequent Ufe, the Ideas of fome words and phrases in particular (as undoubtedly they are) are always fhifting; How can it be otherwife?

No Rule then can be more deceitful, than to judge of the Signification of all Words and Expreffions whatever in former Ages, by the Senfe, which they bear in ours; or to conclude that an ancient Writer is Unorthodox, because Catholicks at present do not speak as he does. And yet it is by this weak and rash Proceeding,

Proceeding, that the brighteft Stars in Anti- Chap. 3. quity are eclips'd, and given over to the Arians. Quest.8. And by the fame Injuftice, the Berengarians, and other Hereticks of Note, may pafs for the true and Orthodox Followers of Antiquity. All honest Writers defire to be understood: And they can guess pretty near, how their Words will be conftrued in the prefent Age, for which they write. But how they will be understood, in all things, three hundred Years after their Death, is what they cannot poffibly know without a miraculous Gift of Prophecy. Hence the most deteftable Herefies may appear to have a shelter in Antiquity. For Caution, in a Writer, is ridiculous, when it is not neceffary. And it is unneceffary, when neither past nor present Herefies call for it. Who then does not fee, that primitive Writers had no more Reason, to fence against Arianism, Berengarianifm, or any later Errors, than we have to fence against Herefies, which may rife three hundred years hence?

But does not this Change and Viciffitude, to which all Languages of frequent Ufe are fubject, render the Authority of the Fathers precarious and uncertain in controverted Points To the Catholick Church, and to Catholicks, it does not. To others, it does.

For thefe, having no better Rule, than the prefent Ufe of Words, to judge of their Signification in the Fathers; when this is chang'd, are frequently led into the greatest Errors. But Catholicks have a furer and better Rule to discover the Senfe of all Orthodox Writers, whether Ancients or Moderns, when their Language varies from the prefent Use.

This

Rule

Chap. 3. Rule is the general Syftem of Catholick Faith, Queft.8. which is the fame in all Ages, and with which all Orthodox Writers agree. By this Rule we know, that the Son is God, and that what appears to be Bread and Wine after Confecration, is the Body and Blood of Chrift. By this Rule we know, that whatever Dr. Clark alledges, or can alledge from the three first Centuries, in favour of Arianifm, is impertinent, and contrary to the true Senfe of the primitive Writers. For, if Catholick Faith be, as indeed it is, the fame in all Ages, what the Catholick Church profefs'd in the Beginning of the fourth Century, was believ'd by her in the 3d. in the fecond, and in the first. And could the Ante-Nicene Writers be Orthodox, if they diffented from the Catholick Church in their Time? Again, would not Dr. Clark be thought fit for Bedlam, if he should pretend to know the Sense of the third Age, better than the Nicene Bishops did, who had liv'd in it, who had taught others in it, and who had receiv'd the great Depofitum, the System, Rules, and Precepts of Chriftianity from it? The fame may, and must be faid of the Berengarians, and all other Hereticks, who no fooner appear'd in the World, but they were condemned by the Catholick Church: Which, if it be always Orthodox (as was fhew'd in the fifth Queftion) has the fame Faith in all Ages.

V. Is not then the Catholick Church tied to the Words of Scripture? In tranflating it, fhe is. In expounding it, either by her Creeds, or by her Definitions of Faith, the is not.

In