Yç 56 Chap. 13. Of thïe fiterpretàtion ofSctiptúres. Introdu&, at Aberdeen, in his Bookde pbje(.io fides formali, Trait. 5. In BifhopBrdels Letters, Chiilingworths Safeway, &c. cap. 2.&c. and others. Th'e fundamentals ofReligion which are abfolately neceffary for all to know and pra- (bife, are plainlyfit dotvtz in.Scripture, andof them there is no Controverfie ; in matters doubtful thefafeft way is tofubmit to the judgmental' the Church, yet not negletiing other means, as prayer, readino, meditation,conference, &c. efpeciallypratli'ffng what we know, fol. 7.t7. and fowe arelitre tobekept from all damnable erreurs. Inall other Prefeffi_ ens,common realm teaches,if anydoubt arife,tofubmit to thejudgement oftheskilful in chofe prafegions,as in Law, Phytick, &c.although theyhave nofachfp,ecial promife's as the Church bathfrom Chrifi of being lead intoall truth,and if this be not obfirved in the Church, it muff needsprove deftrutbive to all order,& overthrow the being ofaChurch, taking away that difiintlton which Chrifi loath fet between Paftor andpeople, when all pall prefume to interpret, and to be as wife as their Teachers, as we fee now bywoful experience. We fubmit to the ?edges in point of Law, yet no man think; them therefore infallible, and fo may andought we to fubmit to our Bi flsops andPaftort in point of Religion, fo as not to op . pole their determinations, but reverently to receive what theydeliver, when the contrar.( (hall not evidently appear : I fay evidently, for in doubtful things if their judgmen- may not turn the Scale, when it hangs in xquilibrio, either there is fame fault en the beam, or their Authority is very light. And therefore external obedience is required at leaf , fo as not to oppofe publikely in things we affent not to. Thisagrees with what our Learned Author bath leftin his otherwork!, eompofedinhis riper years, when hisjudgment was fullyfettled, by which this andwhat elfe be delivered in his younger time ought tobe expounded and correiled. In his Sermon on Matthew 6. r7. pag. zz 3. He tells us, that noman loath God to be his Father, that bath not the Church robe his Mother, and that `once and twice,order is taken in the Proverbs, ar to keep to the Precepts of our Father, `fo not tofetlight by the Laws of our Mother, Proverbs a. 8. and 07. z5. Irapattas &. ` dolor marris are together in one verfe, he that grieves her, angers him, and he cannot, `but grieve herthat little fees by ber wholfom orders -..- but now floe errs, or at leaf isfold ` toerr at every bodies pleafure, &c. Nòw come to the particulars. t . For the Fathers, it is a vain fpeculation to believe that the Fathers concurall in one Expofition of all places of Scripture. And if we mull take them where they all agree, we (hall findemany places which they do not expound alike, yet, where they allagree, asin Articles of Faith and matters Fundamental , wherein wefind a joynt har- mony, their expo/ition oughtto be received, far therein they deliver thefenfe of thewhole Ca- tholickChurch derivedfrom the Apoflei, which in fach points is byChri{ls promife free from erreur, etherwife ChrilPmight havenoChurch. z. In their Expofitions, they did not ufually keep the literal fenfe, except in point of Controverfies which fell in their times : For in their Homilies the}; follow- ed the tropological or figurative fenfe, drawing from thence divers necetfary Do- fttines, and applications neceffary and tending to good life and manners. So faith St. Auguflinecontra Pulian. , that in Controverfies which fell not in their times they fpake more carlefly. Cpl 4 3. Again, Baffle faith of Dionyfus a Father, that he fpake many things ar=e oak, di- fputationis grata,byway of Difputation, notibrmnma, definitive, pofitively againft the Heretiques of his time: and therefore in manÿ things the Fathers muli be taken tohave fpokenper modum contradiecndi, non docendi, by way of contradielion, ,and not pofitively. 4. Cardinal Cajetan affirmed in the Council of 7renr, thatif he knew a true and found Expofition upon any place of Scriptnre, not ufed by theFathcrs,hewould hold, and maintain it contra torrentemomniumDolloeum Epi fcoporum againft the current ofall Doftorsand Bilhopa. And Andrad. faith as much, and all of them uîe to deny the Fathers in their Schools. And now in regard that the Fathers often diffent, they lean to that which the greatcft part of the Fathersfay. Epl.tr: 5. Therewas a Controverlebetween Saint ..dugaflineand Saint ferome, whether al'Z' t0 Saint Pauls reproofof Saint Peter were real or not? /erome maintaining that Saint Paul did it only pro forma, formally? and Augufline that he did it fimpl y, and from his
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