understanding For when Hypocrites have for their worldly interest debauched Religion in this manner they know that the meanest people will never swallow their gross absurdities unless they can first prevail with them to believe that 't is a dangerous thing to trust their own eyes or to hearken to any discourse from Principles of Reason though it be never so clear and strong and that it is a kind of merit to believe things incredible and to stick to a conclusion the faster the more impossible it seems to be true But by the way if Reason be one and that the first means by which we are to judge for our selves in matters of Religion as I shall make bold to say it is I should vehemently suspect without farther examination that they know their Opinions to be very foolish who at first dash renounce the most general and necessary Rule by which they are to be tried I shall onely adde that because the fundamental Principles of Reason are the same all the World over Reason is therefore the most publick Rule and Test whereby to judge between Truth and Errour And therefore if a Council defines things in that manner that I must forsake right Reason to follow its Definitions when I make this plain this is not opposing a private Spirit to a publick Judgment but appealing from a less publick Judgment to the most publick Sence and Judgment of mankind § 6. 2. As Reason is a Rule to all men so is Scripture a Rule to all Christians at least it ought to be so and all pretend to make it a Rule for their Judgment by appealing to it The Church of Rome indeed allows it to be but part of the Rule of Faith we say it is an intire and perfect Rule thereof However so long as she acknowledges the Scriptures to be a Rule though she pretends there is another Rule besides that she is to be concluded by the authority of the Scriptures and so we are to be acquitted by her in not believing her against the Scriptures Now every body must grant that we do not judge rightly by the Scriptures where we mistake the meaning of the Text. And we ought to be sure that the sence wherein we take any place is the true sence before we make our interpretation of it a Rule whereby to examine other things Where the sence is very plain it requires nothing more than common sence and common honesty to understand it and it is very reasonable to suppose that God hath revealed all points necessary to salvation so clearly and plainly that it is not difficult for an honest man to understand what they are But because there are many obscure places in the Scriptures we must be very careful not to ground any Doctrine upon them till we have well weighed and examined the meaning of those places and the way to be secure from any dangerous mistake in concluding from places of Scripture that are more or less hard to be understood is to observe such cautions as these are which I think all Christians must allow to be reasonable 1. That we take no Text in a sence which is repugnant to common Sense and natural Reason 2. That we put no sence upon a place of Scripture that is repugnant to the general scope and designe of the whole Word of God 3. That we understand no difficult places in a sence that is contrary to to those places whose meaning is plain and manifest to all men 4. That we mistake not those places for plain which are not so 5. That we put no other sence upon a Text than what agrees with the scope and designe of that particular Discourse wherein we find it 1. Before we conclude upon the sence of a Text so as to prove any thing by it we must be sure that sence is not repugnant to natural Reason For if it be it cannot be the true meaning of the Scripture For God is the Original of natural Truth as well as of that which comes by particular Revelation and as Hierocles saith to believe and obey right Reason and to follow God are the same thing And therefore no Proposition that is repugnant to the fundamental Principles of Reason can be the sence of any part of Gods Book and that which is false and contrary to Reason can no more be true and agreeable to the revelations of Scripture than God who is the Author of one as well as the other can contradict himself From hence it is evident that these words This is my body are not to be understood in that sence which makes for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation because it is impossible that contradictions should be true and we cannot be more certain that any thing is true than we are that that Doctrine is false There are some other Doctrines maintained by men of Name in the World that they have no better grounds for than obscure Texts interpreted contrary to the Principles of natural Reason and Religion This caution therefore is to be minded in the first place 2. We must put no sence upon a difficult place which contradicts the great end and drift of the whole Bible Now that is to work Faith in men and thereby to bring them to repentance and to a holy life And therefore whatsoever Doctrine does naturally tend to take men off from the care of holy living by nourishing them in foolish presumption or driving them to miserable despair cannot be the Doctrine of the Scriptures and therefore such a Doctrine cannot be proved from any obscure Text of the Bible and by consequence that sence of an obsure Text from which it may be proved is not the true sence unless we can believe that some part of the holy Books teaches something that undermines the great end of the whole There are too many Opinions amongst some Christians that have no other colour for them than Scripture interpreted without this necessary caution which must therefore be added to the former 3. We must not understand a difficult place in a sence that is contrary to those places whose meaning is plain and manifest to all men For the Scripture cannot teach one thing plainly in one place and the quite contrary obscurely in another It is but reasonable therefore in trying to understand a difficult place or in going about to prove any thing from it that we should compare Scripture with Scripture and the obscure places with those that are plain not to interpret the plain by the obscure which is contrary to all Rules of Discourse but the obscure by the plain especially because the plain places contain things that are most necessary to be understood and believed by us and therefore we cannot without great danger forsake the Doctrine which they teach as every man in effect does who takes a difficult place in a sence contrary to that Doctrine In a word the Scripture is our Rule principally where it is easiest to be understood and the
their Opinions whose persons they admire and mostly to that degree as not to hear with any patience an Argument against them Such a Precious man said this or that and therefore no body must say otherwise But it is at once disingenuous and silly to entertain such an opinion of any man as to take all that he says for Gospel for the best men are fallible and 't is easie for an Hypocrite to make himself pass for a Saint in the opinion of ordinary people and therefore men may be led into great errours whose judgments are captivated in this manner To this we may adde that Prejudice which arises from conceiving hard things of mens persons which an ingenuous man will by no means yield to but will consider what another says though he does not fancy the man It is reason enough with some people to reject all that their Minister says to convince them of their mistakes if he be called a High Church-man or goes for an Arminian and all this while they stand in their own light and will not suffer themselves to be instructed in many profitable Truths which they might learn Thus the Jews though they were astonished at our Saviour's Doctrine and Works yet believed not and this because they were offended at him for the meanness of his Parentage Some are so weak as to be prejudiced against Opinions and Practices meerly because they have heard them often abused nicknamed and inveighed against in a rude and reproachful manner And this goes a great way with some Dissenters to make them deaf to all our Reasons that when they are got together they hear the Rites and Prayers of our Church scoffed at and called by vile names But it stands not with the least ingenuity to run away with prejudice against things that are abused and laugh'd at without examining whether there be reason for it Sincerity is opposed to those Prejudices that arise from vicious affections and worldly interests and it consists in a firm resolution to do the Will of God and a vehement desire to know it for that end And this is a most necessary preparation to know the Truth because nothing is more common than the perverting of mens judgments by the inordinacy of their lusts and the serving of a corrupt interest The love of any Vice makes a man partial and insincere in examining the truth of that Doctrine by which he stands condemned The belief of it is uneasie to him it is not for his interest that it should be true This is the reason why the fool saith in his heart There is no God The worldly interests of men do strangely byass and fashion their Judgments It were a thing never enough to be admired that so many men of Parts and Learning should not be ashamed of those pitiful grounds upon which they maintain the Supremacy of the Pope the Doctrine of Purgatory the Half Communion the Sacrifice of the Mass the Invocation of Saints and the like but that those things do notoriously serve the Wealth and Grandeur of the Roman Church If it be needful to go to a Conventicle for the getting of a rich Fortune or the bettering of a mans Trade a little enquiry will for the most part serve his turn and satisfie him that the Separation is lawful and the Causes of it are just A man ought to set aside all consideration of his worldly interest and to propound eternal life to himself as the end of his inquiry when he labours to know the Truth The affectation of Popularity and the love of Praise and Flattery cannot consist with a sincere love of the Truth and does very often hinder the attainment of it It is hard to convince men of those things that check their vainglorious ends and purposes And therefore says our Saviour How can ye believe in me that receive honour one of another and seek not that honour which cometh of God onely The wise man exhorts us to buy the truth intimating thereby that we must quit all our sinful lusts and affections and our carnal interests in prosecuting of it In a word we must be in mind prepared to believe all truth by being resolved to do whatsoever appears to be the Will of God let what will come of it in this World having our hearts evermore fixed upon the great concernment of eternal life And this is more necessary for the best knowledge than vastness of Parts and Learning Where the mind is thus prepared there will be little need to press the two remaining Dispositions whereof the former is 2. Competent diligence Errour is sometimes made to look so like the Truth that a superficial examination will not serve to distinguish one from the other Sometimes the Truth must be had by laying a great many things together and the proof does not lie in one but in many Arguments pointing the same way Sometimes also a conclusion is offered with the shew of many Motives of credibility which neither singly nor joyntly prove what is intended And here patience and industry commonly helpeth more than quickness of judgement Our Saviour bad the Jews search the Scriptures those very men who in all probability had read them but as it seemeth not with diligence enough It were very well if those that begin to study Divinity would not presume upon the diligence and honesty of others whose Books they see full of Citations of Scripture but take some pains to judge whether that be the true sence in which they are quoted For want of this several have miscarried in their first entrance upon this work and the errours of men of name and authority have been propagated It would also be very happy for this Church and for themselves too if the dissenting people would not presently conclude that what they read in the Books of their own way is all agreeable to Gods Word because they see abundance of Scripture in them but would use some diligence to judge whether that be the true meaning in which the Scripture is there understood It was doubtless with designe to catch such slothful people that the Catechism of H. T. was published in our Language wherein he pretends to prove all the lewd Doctrines of the Romish Religion by Texts of Scripture But if any man will take the pains to examine his pr̄oofs he shall find such miserable wresting and perverting of the Scripture that he will never trust a Book more merely for store of Scripture-Phrases and Citations but go to the Fountain of Truth it self the pure Word of God to see whether the interpretations of men are indeed the unpolluted streams of that Spring from whence they are said to come We must be willing to sift things to the bottom if we would not be imposed upon A very little pains will serve to make a man confident but 't is not a little that will make him confident upon safe grounds 3. To Diligence we must adde Prayer for the divine Illumination
while they perceive it not it is by no means reasonable that the State under which we live should leave us lawless and free from all obligation of temporal Penalties what Religion we profess and what Communion we observe For the most dangerous Pretence for the â—â—â—rying on of seditious and rebellious designes against the Government is that of Religion And a few men that mean nothing but their own greatness and power shall be able to manage the Zeal of a superstitious Multitude against the Government for their own private ends while they scorn the superstition of their Followers and perhaps all pretence to Religion in their own hearts And therefore it concerns the Government to take care that the true Religion be protected by the Laws and then to provide by the most prudent methods that no other be professed in the Commonwealth If it be said that the end of all liberty to inquire and judge for our selves is destroyed if at last we must conform to the Laws or be punished for our refusal The contrary will be easily shewn to any one who believes that we are infinitly more concerned what will become of us in the life to come than in our present fortunes For suppose that they are Errours which Authority requires us to profess and that they are unlawful things which it requires us to do in Divine Service and that by a due and diligent examination of things I come to know this do I get nothing by my enquiry but the severity of those humane Laws that are against me Do not I obtain the comforts of a good Conscience in having honestly endeavoured to know the truth and in doing what I thereupon knew to be my duty If I do hereby obtain Gods Favour at present and shall obtain Gods Rewards in a better life is not this worth all my care and sincerity though I should get nothing by it in this World but Trouble and Persecution So that it is worth the while to examine the Doctrine imposed upon me by Authority though I know before-hand that be it right or wrong I must be punished by man if I receive it not True Religion and our observation to profess Gods Truth and to do his Will stands indeed upon the Authority of God and the Evidence of divine Revelation but nevertheless the profession thereof ought to be encouraged and protected by the Powers of the World and by consequence all false Religions should be discountenanced and the profession of them made uneasie by their Laws Scripture and Reason teach us that they no less than Parents should use that Authority for God which they have received from him But if they for want of sincere tryal and examination do themselves establish Iniquity or Heresie by a Law and turn the edge of their Power against the true Religion they must answer it to God at the day of Judgment who hath shewed them as well as others what is good and what he required of them In the mean while Persecution distinguishes between the Sincere and the Hypocrite and as the insincere study how to perplex the Truth and to avoid the convictions that are upon their minds and to reconcile their Apostacy to their Credit and Consciences so the honest inquire into the grounds of their Faith more diligently and being desirous to strengthen themselves under Sufferings by a full assurance that they suffer for Righteousness sake they search into all the grounds of their Perswasion more narrowly than if they had never come under this temptation and by this means the true Doctrine comes to be propounded to the World with the advantage of stronger Arguments and those better managed than if it had never met with opposition But if the true Faith and Worship be establish'd by Law and the Penalties of Nonconformity be strictly required this is so far from hindring men from enquiring that it lays an obligation upon a great many to consider things impartially who otherwise would never have looked but upon one side of the Question I mean all those whom either Wantonness and Self-conceit or Faction and Worldly Interest or the undue admiration of mens persons and the like would have held under a constant prejudice against Reason and Truth A carnal Argument for a good Cause is very often a wholsom means to remove a carnal prejudice against it And the Authority of the Magistrate can hardly be better used in matters of Religion than to make such a difference between the Observers of the Ecclesiastical Laws and the Dissenters from them that it shall be very hard for any man to lie under a Worldly Temptation to dissent sufficient to recompence the damage he must undergo This will make a great many impartial in weighing the Objections against Conformity with the Arguments and Answers on the other side and by degrees bring them to the knowledge of the Truth and at length to a sincere love of it It is a false Maxime That Force in matters of Religion makes Hypocrites but not true Converts For sometimes it cures Hypocrisie very often Ignorance and Partiality and that is a good degree towards Conversion And yet this will not justifie the putting of men to death for mere difference in Religion The least degree of severity which will do the business is great enough The Supreme Powers should consider their Subjects in these cases as a wise and good Father would consider his own Children who if he had power of life and death over them would not kill his misbelieving Son and yet would try to reduce him by Worldly Discipline and drive him to consideration by the sensible effects of his Displeasure The moderation of the English Laws for Uniformity is visible to all disinteressed persons and though the unevenness of their execution hath rendred them less effectual yet there are several who have cause to bless God for being compelled to come to our Churches and to consider the Terms of our Communion with some impartiality whereas if there had been an absolute Toleration their Ignorance and Prejudices might have led them they know not whither The Church of England causeth the Scriptures to be publickly read and puts them into the Peoples hands and desires nothing more than that every one would diligently and impartially consider the cases between her and those that separate from her And it is no absurd thing to say that this liberty of Judgment which she allows is consistent with the English Laws that require conformity of all since if it had not been for those Laws some men had never attained to liberty of Judgment but had still been held in bondage to their Prejudices and Errours 〈…〉 that they make the greatest noise for liberty of practice according to their Judgment who have made little or no use of their Judgment in distinguishing between good and bad true and false They demand one liberty while they make no use of another the liberty of being undisturbed and licentious in a
In searching for Truth we must implore his help who is the God of Truth whose Word is the Word of Truth and whose Spirit is the Guide into Truth that he would free our minds from all prejudices and corrupt affections and from every thing which obstructs a right understanding If we lack wisdom we must ask it of God who giveth his holy Spirit to them that ask him And now I dare appeal to all that read these Papers if it had not been to the unspeakable advantage of Gods Church and the Souls of men if all that profess Christianity had inquired into the Controversies of Religion so far as they are concerned in them with these Dispositions that I have recommended And therefore I do the more earnestly desire them to lay their hands upon their breasts and in good earnest to ask themselves if they have in this manner sought the knowledge of the Truth with a mind thus prepared with impartiality and diligence and constant Prayer for Gods blessing and direction § 8. IV. My next business is to offer some Considerations to perswade our people to an honest and impartial tryal of Opinions in Religion This indeed cannot be done by all with equal advantage because of the difference of mens abilities but something is to be done by all and every one is to do what he can and God expects no more If we chuse a way of Religion at random or without honest care to know the Truth we are in great danger of falling into delusion because there are false Religions and damnable Errours in the World Saith St. John Try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world There was danger of running into grievous errour in the best and purest Age of the Church if Christians were not careful to examine things And surely the danger is greater in this corrupt Age and this extremely-divided State of Christendom It often happens also I doubt for the most part that Seducers are more diligent and wise to propagate Errour than good men are to gain Proselytes to the Truth The former are evermore too hard for the latter in confidence peremptoriness threatning of damnation magnificent and lofty pretences and where the case calls for it in artificial addresses and insinuations And this makes our danger the greater if we are not resolved to try before we trust Nay if we were secure from Impostors yet because no man is infallible we should not surrender up our Belief wholly to the Authority of any man but judge of his Doctrine as well as we can Because there cannot be a stronger ground for our assent to any thing than that God has said it we are to be very careful how we receive an Opinion for which Texts of Scripture are multiplied one upon another i. e. we must see whether they do indeed prove the thing in question for otherwise we may by the pretence of so great Authority be the more fastned in some dangerous errour We are exposed to manifest hazard if we are apt to admire a man for bringing much Scripture to serve his purpose but not to think it needful to see whether those passages of Holy Writ be pertinently applied or not To this I must adde that the errours we may fall into for want of enquiry and examination may for ought we know be of dangerous consequence to our own Souls Some there are that wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction and if we are in their way they may wrest them to ours too We may inconsiderately take up Principles that will by degrees debauch our Consciences and reconcile us to wicked practices and in many instances eat out the sense of good and evil sin and duty On the other hand by considering things as impartially and judiciously as we can we shall not onely be secure from running into great errours but the Doctrines of true Religion will become more plain to us and we shall have a more clear and distinct apprehension of them which will reward our endeavours with great pleasure and satisfaction For next to the delight of a good Conscience gained by doing what we know to be our duty there is no pleasure more pure and agreeable to the best part of our nature than that which arises from an improved knowledge in the things of God And having well weighed and considered the grounds of our Perswasion we shall adhere more stedfastly to that truth which we have learn'd and not be easily unsetled by the Sophistry or the Confidence of ill men being prepared to shew that there is no sound Reason in the former and no just Cause for the latter And when Seducers perceive that we have inquired too far into things to be born down with peremptoriness or to be deluded with colours they will be discouraged from attempting to draw us into their Net Moreover it will be no little satisfaction to us when we are going out of the world that we have all along taken due pains to inform our selves in things of the greatest concernment to us viz. those which regard our everlasting salvation and that the errours into which we may have fallen were not to be imputed to want of honest diligence in inquiring after the Truth but onely to humane infirmity In the mean time we cannot have the conscience of sincerity upon good grounds if we do not with diligence apply our selves to know all our duty and consequently all that divine Truth which is the Rule of it or which leads to the performance of it One character of that good and honest heart which our Saviour compares to the good Ground is to understand the Word And the reason why the Pharisees did not understand was because they were not of God but of their Father the Devil whose lusts they did One reason why God in his wisdom permits Impostures and Errours to go up and down in the World is because this serves to make a more evident difference between those that are sincere and honest and those that are not so For in these circumstances good men will take the more pains to distinguish between Truth and Errour while the insincere either take up that Profession which serves best for their worldly ends or take occasion by the differences that are in the World about Religion to throw off all pretence to Religion it self There must be herefies among you saith St. Paul that they which are approved may be made manifest To which we may adde that by honest endeavours to be rightly informed in matters of Religion we do in some measure qualifie our selves for the happiness of another life and shew that we are disposed heavenwards and desirous of that infinitely-better state of things where Darkness and Errour shall be done away For one great part of the Reward promised in a better life is that we shall know divine things more perfectly there than we can do in this World But this can be