from A. S. pitan. CHAP. III. An account of a book published by the Bishop, entitled, 1. OUR Bishop was not, it seems, by the offence lately taken at his preaching in vindication of the Bishops and conforming Clergy, and the trouble given him on that account, made to desist from his attempts to defend the established Church from the objections made to her by the dissenting Lollards. And therefore in the year 1449, his Lordship published a book in English, which he entitled, blaming The repressing of over miche * witing the Clergie; in which his Lordship endeavoured to defend the Clergy of the then Church of England against the common objections of the followers of Dr. John Wiclif, then going by the nick-name of Lowlardis, or Lollards. The design of this book may be seen by what the Bishop himself says of the partition or division of it. "I schal," says he, "justifie xi gover"nauncis of the Clergie whiche summe of the comoun "peple unwiisly and untreuli jugen and comdempnen to "be yuele. Of which xi governauncis oon is the hauvinge "and using of ymagis in chirchis; and another is pilgrimage in going to the memorials or the myndeplacis of seintis, and, that pilgrimagis and offeringis mowe be doon weel, not oonli priueli, but also openli; "and not oonli so of laymen, but rather of prestis and "of bischops. And this schal I do by writing of this present book in the comoun peplis langage, pleinli and "openli and schortli, and to be † clepid The Repressing, &c. and he schal have v principal parties. In the firste "of whiche parties schal be maad in general manner the "seid repressing, and in general maner proof to the xi "seid gouernauncis. And in the ii, iii, iv, and v parties "schal be maad in special manner the seid repressing, "and in special maner the proof to the same xi go"vernauncis." † called. 66 66 66 66 2. In the first part of this work, where the Bishop, as III. he proposed, makes the repressing in general manner, he CHAP. attacks the main or general principle of the over-blamers of the Clergy, as the Bishop calls them, or as he elsewhere styles them, of the Bible-men, which holden them so wise by the Bible a alone. According to the Bishop some of these affirmed, that, 3. "No governaunce is to be holden of Christen men Repressour, "the service or the lawe of God, save it which is groundid part ii. c. 1. "in holie Scripture of the Newe Testament; whereas "others of them maintained, that no governaunce is to be " held or accounted of Christian men the service or the law " of God, save it which is groundid in the New Testament 66 or in the Old, and is not bi the New Testament re"voked." Both parties agreed in this, that Scripture did not only contain all revealed and supernatural truth, which is absolutely necessary for men to know in this life, that they may be saved in the next; but all things simply, and in such sort, that to do any thing according to any other law, is not only unnecessary, but unlawful and sinful. This they applied to the ecclesiastical polity, or the government and service of the Church, to shew that to use any government or discipline, or to observe any rites or ceremonies which are not grounded in the Old or New Testament, is unlawful. So that the question was, not whether the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were the law of God concerning revealed and supernatural truth, but whether they were to be our law in the choice and use of such things as are in their nature indifferent, so that we may not be sometimes sufficiently guided by the light of reason and the common rules of discretion, and are not bound for every b thing we do in such matters to have our warrant from some places or other of holy Scripture. For however complete the sufficiency of the whole or entire a -Talem habebant terminum in omnibus suis dictis semper prætendendo legem Dei Goddislawe. Hen. Knighton de Event. Angliæ, coll. 2644. b I say, that the word of God containeth the direction of all things pertaining to the Church, yea of whatsoever things can fall into any part of man's life. Cartwright's Admonition, p. 14. §. 3. III. CHAP. body of Scripture is, it ought to be understood with this caution, that the advantage of the light of nature or of reason be not excluded as unnecessary, or of no use, because the necessity of a diviner light is magnified. Besides, it is plain matter of fact, that the Scriptures do not express particularly every thing that is to be done in the Church, or in the life of man; the Scripture has not expressed every particular ceremony, order, discipline or kind of government that is to be used in the Church; which occasioned the great Erasmus to wish that St. Paul had treated more copiously and distinctly of those ecclesiastical rites, which he just touches in his two Epistles to the Corinthians; and shews, as it were through a casement, that he had at least explained by whom, at what time, with what worship and ceremony, and with what words that mystical bread and holy cup of the Lord's blood used to be consecrated, whose unworthy treatment, the Apostle shews us, occasioned frequent distempers and deaths. 4. It seems as if these Bible-men, as the Bishop calls them, were led to this extravagant opinion of the Scripture's sufficiency, through an opposition to the schools of Rome, who had now carried the authority of the Church, or the significancy of its determinations, to an unjustifiable height, equalling them with the determinations of holy Scripture; providing, that none should either publicly or privately bring them into dispute; and making it heresy to impugn them; for Dr. Wiclif's followers had allowed, Prologue to❝ that men might accept man's law and ordinances when the Bible, "they were grounded in holy Scripture, or good reason, 66 or were for the common profit of Christian people." Const. A. D. 1408. MS. c. i. 5. Our Bishop therefore shewed them, that in opposing this, they themselves ran into a dangerous extreme; that the law of nature or reason, as it is before all Scripture, so it is not grounded thereon, but rather the Scripture is grounded on that, though its rules and precepts may in part с -Non solum hæresis incurritur ex hoc quod aliquis impugnat articulos fidei, sed etiam si impugnet ea quæ sunt determinata per Ecclesiam, licet non concernant articulos fidei. Lindwood Provenc. III. be conveyed to us by Scripture, but not so fully as by ra- CHAP. tional searches and deep study; from whence he inferred, that men may be obliged to some duties and practices, as taught by the law of nature or reason, of which no mention is to be found made in the Bible. For this purpose the Bishop laid down the following conclusions, which I shall repeat in his Lordship's own words. First, "It longith not to holi Scripture, neithir it is his Repressour, "office into which God hath him ordeynedd, neither it is part ii. c. 2. "his part for to grounde eny governaunce or dede or ser"vice of God, or eny lawe of God, or eny trouthe which "mannis resoun bi nature may fynde, leerne, and knowe.” This the Bishop defends in the following manner: "1. Scripture does not contain all that is necessary for “the grounding or supporting of moral vertues, and there"fore is not properly the foundation on which they stand. 66 There may nothing be fundament or ground of a "wal, or of a tree, or of an house, save it upon which "the al hool substaunce of the wal, or of the tree, or of "the house stondith, and out of which oonli the wal, tree, or house cometh." 66 2. That is properly the foundation, which is alone sufficient for the purpose, as natural reason in this case is. "Al the leernyng and knowing which holi Scripture geueth cap. 8. 66 upon eny biforesaid gouernaunce, deed, or trouthe of "Goddis moral lawe mai be had bi doom of natural re"soun, ghe thoug holi Writt had not spoken therof, &c." These reasons the Bishop elsewhere thus expresses ; 66 a Inter Frag"truth is not known," saith he, "which is not known a Two opinions there are concerning the sufficiency of holy Scripture, each extremely opposite unto the other, and both repugnant unto truth. The schools of Rome teach Scripture to be unsufficient, as if, except traditions were added, it did not contain all revealed and supernatural truth, which absolutely is necessary for the children of men in this life to know, that they may in the next be saved. Others justly condemning this opinion, grow likewise unto a dangerous extremity, as if Scripture did not only contain all things in that kind necessary, but all things simply, and in such sort, that to do any thing according to any other law were not only unnecessary, but even opposite unto salvation, unlawful and sinful. Hooker's Eccles. Pol. lib. ii. §. 8. menta in Bibl. Bodl. MS. III. 66 66 66 CHAP. "either of itself, or in its ground from whence it proceeds ❝and comes, and into which it may be resolved and re"duced. Now because of all conclusions of written truths, "about which any care is to be taken, or which are of any importance, there are only four grounds, viz. the judgment of reason for a philosophical truth; a positive "constitution for a juridical one; the text of holy Scrip"ture, in its probable sense, for a truth of orthodox faith; "and history for the truth of an historical fact; it ought "to follow, that every matter doubted of, whether it be a "matter of philosophy, law, divinity, or history, it is ne"cessary, if a true knowledge be to be had of that matter, "that it be run up thither where it fundamentally lies, and as it were sprung from the root; and we ought to see "how they stand according to their principles, and funda"mental undoubted evidences, and accordingly to form a judgment of them." This reasoning his Lordship thus * Pius et applies: "Christ," says he, " has revealed to us politics compatiens <<6 Christus. or governances which human reason of itself alone could 66 never have found out, so as to know and appoint them; " and we hold them by faith, as experience will teach any 66 one, who inquires into and examines each of them. But "all, or almost all practical governances necessary to be "known and instituted for the salvation of souls, to the "finding and establishing of which human reason can at"tain, Christ has left to the wisdom of his Church to find "out and constitute, and has not himself revealed nor ap"pointed them.” cap. 4. cap. 5. 66 3. "The moral lawe or judgment of natural reson was "whanne neither of the Newe, neither of the Old Testa"ment the writing was, and that fro' the time of Adam, " &c." 4. "The most that Scripture does, is only to remind, "exhort, stir up, command, or counsel to the practice of "moral vertue; which supposes the thing to have been "before known, for he biddith a man to be emeke, and • Thus a celebrated pen of the present age: "There is nothing new in the "Christian institution but matters of faith; there are no new vices forbidden, |