Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
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A65571
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Eight sermons preached on several occasions by Nathanael Whaley ...; Sermons. Selections
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Whaley, Nathanael, 1637?-1709.
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1675
(1675)
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Wing W1532; ESTC R8028
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120,489
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326
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be so it is plain there is no need of the Guide we are seeking for and then I doubt after all our searching we shall never be able to find him But there is one Argument above all that there is no such Guide viz. That Christ never Promised There should be one always in his Church And without a Promise from him we can never be certain that there is We know what is pretended in this matter and what Texts are produce for it but after the strictest and most deliberate Enquiry into the meaning of them we can find no evidence of any such Promise nor discern the least shadow or Footstep of a visible Infallible Guide We own indeed that God has Promised the Guidance of his Spirit to all that desire the Knowledg of his Ways but we the rather think that he has not promised any other Infallible Guide than this For what need is there of the Inward Direction of the Spirit in the Search of Truth when we have a Guide at hand that can lead us Infallibly into it and save us the labour of searching after it But did not our Saviour Promise to send his Spirit upon the Apostles and were not they Infallible Guides True but did he Promise to make their Successors in all Ages Infallible too If he did every Successor has an equal Claim And then how comes the Church of Rome to talk of but one Infallible Guidfe since the Death of the Apostles and to Appropriate that extraordinary favour to here self If he did not she must shew us a particular Charter or Promise that Infallibility should never depart from the See of Rome and when she does that we may allow her to be Infallible But supposing that Christ had promised an Infallible Guide it may be convenient to know 2. Whether or no he has given him Authourity to suspend the Judgment of all Christians in matters of Religion This we must say is a distinct Power from Infallibility unless we can imagin that our Saviour and his Apostles tho they were infallible did not know the extent of their Power For 't is plain they did not affect any such Authority or treat their Disciples in this manner but both required them to prove the Truths which they heard Act. 17.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and commended their Ingenuity in proving them by the Scriptures Besides a Guide whose Directions we must blindly follow without examinig the Grounds and Tendency of them seems to be a very improper means of bringing men to Heaven For surely God did design that in the exercise of our Religion we should act like men and not lay aside our Reasonand Judgment as things that are dangerous to our salvation 'T is true not to Judge at all is a certain way not to err but it is a very blind and unlikely way to bring men to the knowledge of the Truth without which their Obedience can never be a Reasonable Service And theresore if any Church or Person under colour of Infallibility shall assume an absolute Authority over the Consciences of men before I resign up my Judgment to them I must desire to be informed not only how they come to be infallible but what Commission they have to oblige me to believe as they please and to strangle my own Sense and Reason if they offer to oppose any Doctrine of theirs tho never so absurd or contradictory to them But suppose still there were Reasons to convince me that there is an infallible Judge and that there ought to be no Judge besides him yet because he cannot be useful to me till I know who he is there is another great Question to be resolved before I can prudently commit my self to him viz. How I may certainly know where to find him And here I meet with one vast Discouragement at the very entrance into this enquiry Namely that the same Church which alone pretends to this Infallible Guide is very uncer tain who he is Some chain Infallibility to St. Peter's Chair and place it in the Person of the Pope But this is the most Interessed Party as depending entirely upon the Pleasure of him whom they call Infallible Others send us to General Councils some of whcih have condemn'd the Pope for an Heretick and contradicted the Decrees of former Councils But then what think we of Oral Tradition Or the Doctrine of the Universal Churcvh conveighed by Father to Son from the Apostles Time down to the Present Age The General consent I confess of the Christian Church so far as it reaches is an excellent means to find out the sense of Scripture But we are not speaking now of Tradition or the Church as a Witness of Truth but of the Authority of any Church or Guide to prescribe a Rule of Faith and Practice by Vertue of an Insallible Assistance This is the thing we are enquiring after and where the Seat of this Authority is and all we can certainly learn hitherto is this That seeing there are so many controversies in the Church of Rome about it it will be a very hard thing to find it there And that in the Judgment of a considerable part of that Church a man may tire himself and be in quest of his Infallible guide all his Days and never come within sight of him at last For suppose he takes the Pope to be the infallible Oracle he is thought to be mistaken by all those that stand for a General council and if he go to a General council he is lost in the opinion of all that declare for single infallibility And the men for Oral tradition think they are all deceived that look for infallibility in any one Person or Party in the Church What must we do now that have so much choice of infallible guides and nothing to determine our choice Many we pick and choose at a venture But that cannot be safe because they have occasion sometimes to lead contrary to one another and therefore cannot be all infakubke and none of them speaks of more infallible guides than one Must we then weigh their Reasons and the Scriptures they produce for their several claims These we have often heard and considered and cannot but admire the confidence of men who pretend to sound the infallibility and other Prerogatives of the Bishop and Church of Rome upon Texts that speak not the least Syllable of them Whereas matters of this importance ought to be exprest in the easiest and plainnest Words that he that runs may read them If not only the Peace and Unity of the Church but every man's salvation depends as our Adversaries must say upon the Right understanding of there Texts we have that confidence in the Goodness of our Saviour that we certainly believe he would not expect we should find out a meaning in therm that by no good Rule of Interpretation can be collected from them And for this Reason we cannot think our selves obliged when any thing is said
to premise 1. That by the streight way to Heaven I understand as it is plain the Author of this Epistle does the way which God hath revealed in his Gospel the same which is there called the way that leadeth unto Life Mat. 7.14.22.16 Act. 16.17 2 Pet. 2.15 Heb. 10.20 the way of God in Truth the way of Salvation the right way the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us that is the Method which the Son of God by his Incarnation and Preaching the Gospel hath put us into for the attainment of Everlasting Life and Happiness 2. By the sure finding of this Way upon a due and careful enquiry I mean that Ordinary Christians by applying themselves to the study of the Scriptures the Sacred Records of our Religion with a clear and honest intention by imploring the Divine Asssistance and making that use they ought of their Spiritual Guides may certainly attain to the knowledge of all the Truths which are necessary to be believed and of the Duties required of them to be done in order to their Eternal Salvation And this is as much as any man that is sincerely inquisitive after the Way to Heaven can desire For who that is so can desire to be more than certain of his way thither Or to have a better Foundation for his Faith and Practice than the Authority of God himself who if there be any such thing as Infallibity in men must be the Author of it Now to prove that we may be certain of our way to Heaven without the help of an Infallible Guide I shall endeavour to make good these following Assertions 1. That the Blessed Author of our Religion hath left us a certain Rule to direct us to Eternal Life That there is such a Rule is as evident as that the Gospel is the Word of God or that the Doctrine of Christ is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles And in this all Christians are agreed Even the Romanists themselves allow the Scripture to be the Infallible Rule tho they are no great Friends to the Usefulness or Perfection of it But still we have a greater Authority than this I mean that of the Scriptures themselves which declare that they were written Joh. 10. ult that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God i. e. to be the Rule of our Christian Faith and that Believing we might have Life through his Name Tit. 2.11 12. That they teach us a Rule of Life and are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15 And hence the Primitive Fathers and the First General Councils appealed to the Scriptures as the True Standard of Christianity and condemned the Ancient Hereticks by the Authority of them In those days the manner was to set the Holy Oracles in the midst of the Councils to signifie that they ought to be consulted in all their Debates and that nothing ought to be imposed upon the Faith of Christians or decreed to be an Article of Religion but what may be found in the Gospel and is so determined by that Infallible Rule 2. Christ having left such a Rule to his Church it must be supposed to be Intelligible i. e. capable of being understood and applied by those that are to use it as a Rule Otherwise it can never serve the Great End it was given for to say which is the highest Reflexion that can be upon the Wisdom of him that gave it The Gospel pretends to shew us a streight way to Heaven but to what purpose if we can never find it by its directions If we must use it as a Rule we must learn from it what we are to believe and practise And if we must do so I think that is a plain and unanswerable Argument that we may do it For assuredly God would never make a shew of bringing us to Heaven by a Means which he certainly knows would fail us if we trust to it 3. The Institution of Pastors and Ministers in the Church for the instruction of private persons in the meaning of this Rule undeniably proves that our Saviours meaning was that all Christians should understand it themselves And then it is evident they may do it so far as they are concern'd and are qualified to judge in other matters For what use is there of Teachers but to assist and inform our Understandings and help us to make a Right Judgment of Things Or what benefit is there of being taught if we may not use our Judgment when it is rightly informed and be permitted to know when it is and when not This I am sure is the natural priviledge of Mankind and I do not know one natural right that our Saviour by any Institution of his deprives us of And certainly of all others he would never bar us of this because his Doctrine would be of little use to us without it For what sway is the Gospel like to bear upon our Minds or which way can it influence our lives till we know the true Sense and Uses of it which it is impossible we should unless we may exercise our own Judgments upon them Let my Guide be never so Knowing or Infallible 't is not his without my own knowledge that can make me sure of my way And therefore unless he has a way to conveigh his Great Knowledge into me and if he has it is surely through my understanding I am but just where I was without him and never like to make any Spiritual Improvement by him 'T is the Interest I confess of some Teachers that their Disciples should not see which way they lead them But those whom Christ hath ordained to this Office are sent to open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness unto Light that they themselves may see the things which belong to their Eternal Peace 4. Christians without distinction are expresly required to search the Scriptures and to prove all things by them as the Rule and Standard of Truth and certainty in matters of Religion Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life John 5.39 implying that as there is a Treasure in the Scriptures a clear discovery of the Way to Eternal Life so it may be certainly found by those that duly search for it And if it may be found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament to which our Saviour here directs his Disciples there can be no reason we should despair of finding it in the New being infallibly assured 2 Tim. 1.10 that Life and Immortality were brought to the Light of the Gospel i.e. were more Emphatically Discovered being set in a better Light to us Christians by the New and Brighter Revelations of the Gospel than they were of Old to the Jews by all the Writings of Moses and the Prophets And then if we seek for Life and Immortality and follow the directions of this