not perfectly understand and in which Theophilus had not been before instructed Thus also St. Iohn testifies of his Gospel Chap. 20. 31. These things are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And if it be objected that by these Things the Apostle only means the Miracles of Christ which are the Motives of our Belief and not his Doctrines which are to be believed by us this is notoriously false since by these Things St. Iohn means his Gospel in which not only the Miracles but the Doctrines of Christ are contained and therefore in his first Epistle chap. 5. 13. he saith These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe or continue to believe on the name of the Son of God Where by These Things it 's plain he means only that Christian Doctrine which he had been teaching throughout the whole Epistle From which two Places I argue that all Things necessary to eternal Life are written because he expresly tells us that These Things were written to this end that they might beget and nourish in us that Faith by which we may obtain eternal Life but if that Faith which these written Things was designed to beget in us be not sufficient to eternal Life then were these Things written in vain and the End of writing them which was that we might obtain eternal Life by believing them was wholly frustrated but if that Faith were sufficient to eternal Life then these written Things which begot that Faith and were the Object of it must contain in them all Things necessary to eternal Life for how can they beget in us a Faith that is sufficient to eternal Life unless they propose to our Faith all Things that are necessary thereunto And thus I have endeavoured to demonstrate from Scripture it self which all agree is the Word of God and consequently the most concluding Authority in the World that the Holy Scripture is in it self a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners to direct Men to eternal Life And if this be so I would fain know by what Warrant or Authority any Man or Church can pretend to obtrude upon the Faith of Christians any unwritten Traditions or Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Worship not recorded in Scripture as of equal Authority with those recorded in Scripture and equally necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. For that there have been such bold Imposers in the Christian World Irenaeus assures us in the 2d Chapter of his 2d Book against Heresies where he tells us of a sort of Hereticks who taught that the Truth could not be found in the Scriptures by those to whom Tradition was unknown for as much as it was not delivered by Writing but by Word of Mouth And these Hereticks as Tertullian observes confessed indeed that the Apostles were ignorant and that they did not at all differ among themselves in their Preaching but said they revealed not all Things unto all Men some Things they taught openly and to all some Things secretly and to a few which secret Things were the unwritten Traditions which they sought to impose upon the Faith of Christians And how far the Church of Rome it self doth in this matter tread in the Footsteps of these ancient Hereticks is but too notorious For thus in the Preface of their Catechism it is expresly affirmed by the Council of Trent that the whole Doctrine to be delivered to the Faithful is contained in the Word of God which Word of God is distributed into Scripture and Tradition And in the Council it self they declare and define that the Books of Scripture and unwritten Traditions are to be received and honoured with equal pious Affection and Reverence In which Words they expresly own another Word of God besides the Scripture viz. Tradition which they equalize with the Scripture it self And this is almost verbatim the very Assertion which both Irenaeus and Terullian condemn for Heresy and as they are the same so we find they are grounded on the same Authority For those very Texts of Scripture which those ancient Hereticks urged for their Tradition are urged by Bellarmin for the Tradition of his Church Thus for their Tradition as Irenaeus and Tertullian acquaints us they urged that of St. Paul We speak Wisdom among them that are perfect and also O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust and again That good Thing which is committed to thee keep All which Texts are urged by Bellarmin in his 4th and 5th Books de Verbo Dei in behalf of that Tradition which the Church of Rome contends for And 't is something hard that that which was damned for Heresy in the Primitive Church should be made an Article of Faith in the present Roman Not that we do disallow of Traditions universally received in all Churches and Ages for we frankly acknowledge that what is now contained in Scripture was Tradition before it was Scripture as being first delivered by Word of Mouth before it was collected into Writing and therefore whensoever it can be made evident to us that there are any unwritten Doctrines bearing the same Stamp of Divine Authority with those that are written we are ready to receive them with the same Veneration as we do the Scriptures themselves For it is not their being written that doth authorize them but their being from God and our Saviour and his Apostles and therefore when once it 's made appear to us that Christ or his Apostles taught so and so that is sufficient to command our Assent and Submission whether it be made appear from Scripture or Tradition So that the Reason why we embrace some Doctrines and reject others is not merely because the one are written and the other not but because to us who live at so great a distance from Christ and his Apostles it can never be made so evident that what is not written was taught by them as what is What is written hath been delivered down to us by the unanimous Tradition and Testimony of the Church of Christ in all Ages which I am sure can never be justly pretended of any one of those unwritten Traditions which the Church of Rome now imposes upon the Faith of Christians Let them but produce the same unanimous Testimony that any one of those Twelve Articles which they have thought meet to superadd to the ancient Creeds was taught by Christ or his Apostles as we do that what is contained in Scripture was so and we will as readily embrace it as any Proposition in Scripture but if this Article be neither to be found in Scripture nor delivered down to us as taught by Christ or his Apostles by the unanimous Testimony of the Church of Christ through all Ages we must crave their pardon if we cannot receive it as Part
had preached to the Corinthians he thus pronounces By which also ye are saved if ye keep in Memory what I preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain 1 Cor. 15. 1 2. But how could they be saved by that Gospel he preached to them unless it contained in it all Things necessary to Salvation And this very Gospel which the Apostles in their constant Ministry proposed to the World St. Iames calls the ingrafted Word which is able to save our Souls Iam. 1. 21. And for the same Reason it is also called the Word of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. The Word of Salvation Acts 13. 26. And the Word of Life Acts 5. 20. And the Savour of Life unto Life 2 Cor. 2. 16. And also the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believes Rom. 1. 17. Neither of which it could be justly stiled supposing it to be defective in any Things necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. 3. And lastly That all those necessary Truths which they preached are comprehended in those Writings of theirs of which the Holy Scripture consists It is true before the Christian Doctrine was collected into those Scriptures of which the New Testament now consists it was all conveyed by Oral Tradition from the Mouths of the Teachers to the Ears of the Disciples but in a little Time those holy Men who first preached it found an absolute Necessity of committing it to Writing as a much surer Way of preserving it uncorrupted and transmitting it down to all succeeding Generations for thus Eusebius tells us That the Romans not being satisfied with St. Peter ' s preaching of Christianity to them earnestly desired St. Mark his Companion that he would leave them in Writing a standing Monument of that Doctrine which St. Peter had delivered to them by Word of Mouth which was the Occasion says he of the writing of St. Mark ' s Gospel Which thing St. Peter understanding by a Revelation of the Spirit being highly pleased with their earnest Desire he confirmed it by his own Authority that it might afterwards be read in the Churches It seems in those Days the Romans did not think oral or unwritten Traditions a sufficient Conservatory of divine Truths nor did their Bishop then forbid the reading of the Scriptures to the Laity in their own Language After which he tells us that St. Matthew and St. John were the only Disciples of our Lord who had left written Commentaries of the Things which they had preached behind them and it was says he Necessity that impelled them to write For Matthew having preached the Faith to the Hebrews and intending to go from them to other Nations wrote his Gospel in his own Country-Language that thereby he might supply the Want of his Presence to those whom he left behind him And afterwards when Mark and Luke had published their Gospels John who had hitherto only preached the Gospel by Word of Mouth being at length moved by the same Reason betook himself to write And the Three former Gospels says he arriving to the Knowledge of all Men and particularly of St. John he approved them and with his own Testimony confirmed the Truth of them From which Relation it 's evident that that which moved those holy Men to commit their Gospels to Writing was this that they judged it necessary for the Conservation of the Christian Doctrine that so these in their Absence might be standing Monuments of the Faith to preach that Gospel to Mens Eyes which they had preached to their Ears And if they wrote to preserve the Faith to be sure they would leave no necessary or essential Part of it unwritten There are several Propositions in these Gospels which though very useful are far from being essential Parts of Christianity and can we imagine that those holy Men who wrote on purpose to conserve Chrictianity should take so much Care to write many Things which are not necessary Parts and in the mean time omit any Things that are Eusebius tells us of St. Mark in particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. he took great Care of this more especially not to pretermit any of those Things which he had heard even from St. Peter nor to affix any thing to them that was false And if he were so careful not to omit any Thing to be sure he would be particularly careful not to omit any Thing which he judged necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. But what need we depend upon humane Authority when as if we consult those Sacred Writings themselves which so far as they go all Christians allow to be the Word of God we shall find they give this Testimony of themselves that they comprehend in them all Things necessary to eternal Life For thus the Writers of the New Testament testify of the Old That they are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Iesus Christ 2 Tim. 3. 15. And if the Old Testament alone was able to do this then much more the Old and New together but how could they make Men wise to Salvation if they were defective in any Article that is necessary to Salvation And then the same Author goes on and tells us that all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works v. 16. 17. And if the Old Scriptures were sufficient to make the Man of God perfect and to furnish him throughly unto all good Works one would think that the New and Old together should not be defective For that the Scriptures of the New Testament as well as of the Old contain in them all Things necessary to eternal Life they themselves do plainly testify of themselves For thus St. Luke in the Beginning of his Gospel tells his Theophilus to whom he writes that forasmuch as many had set forth a Declaration of those things that were surely believed among Christians it seemed good unto him also having had a perfect understanding of all things from the first to write them down in order that he might know the Certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed From whence I infer that supposing St. Luke performed what he promised his Gospel must contain a full Declaration of the Christian Religion For First by promising to give an Account of those Things which were surely believed among Christians he engaged himself to give an entire Account of Christianity unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of Christianity which the Christians of that Time did not surely believe Secondly In promising to give an Account of those Things of which he had a perfect Understanding from the first and in which his Theophilus had been instructed he also engages himself to give a compleat Account of the whole Religion unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of this Religion which St. Luke did
know the Primitive Tradition never admitted as Parts of the sacred Scripture and it is notorious to all the World how many Books and Writings they have forged and how many of the Writings of the Ancients they have gelded and interpolated to defend and support those pretended Traditions which they have imposed upon the World as Articles of Faith And after she hath been guilty of so many apparent Falsifications we cannot but think it a very hard Case that we should still be obliged to believe her upon her own bare Word For in the third Place at this rate of Proceeding we must in many Instances condemn the Traditions of the Primitive Church in Complement to those of the present Roman which if we believe our own Eyes and the most authentick Histories and Records of those Times do expresly thwart and contradict one another and since if we would never so fain we can never believe both Parts of a Contradiction we must in believing the one give the Lye to the other Nay Fourthly and lastly though we should be perswaded as we think we have Reason to be that many of the Traditions of the present Church of Rome are not only not mentioned in Scripture but directly contrary to it as for Instance their performing Divine Service in an unknown Tongue which we think is as contrary to 1 Cor. 14. as one Proposition can be to another yet if that Churches Definitions do by their own Authority oblige our Faith we must believe her against Scripture it self And this we think intollerable that any Church of Christian should be obliged to believe the unwritten Word of the Church of Rome in a Matter wherein upon the most diligent and impartial Search they are verily perswaded it contradicts the written Word of God and if the Sentence of the one or t'other must be made void we think it is very reasonable that the Voice of her pretended unwritten Word should be silenced by that more certain one of the lively Oracles of God But after all if what I have endeavoured to prove be proved viz. that the Holy Scriptures are a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners to conduct us to eternal Life this will be enough to evacuate all that is pretended for this unwritten Word of God For God and Nature we know do nothing in vain and therefore if one Word of God be sufficient viz. that which is written what need have we of this other which is unwritten And so I have done with the first necessary Property of a Rule of Faith viz. that it be full and shewn at large that the Holy Scripture is so as to all Things necessary to Salvation and therefore shall now proceed to II. The Second viz. That it be clear and intelligible to those whose Faith and Manners are to be regulated by it I do not mean when I say that the Scripture is clear and plain and intelligible to all those to whom it is a Rule of Faith and Manners that it is throughout so in all its Proposals For it cannot be denied but there are many Things not only in St. Paul's Epistles but also in other Parts of Scripture hard to be understood and such as do not only exceed the Apprehension of common Capacities but also puzzle the Understandings of the most acute and profound Enquirers But that which I assert is this That all those Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Manners which are necessary for Men to believe and practise in order to their Attainment of eternal Life are so plainly and clearly revealed in Scripture that there is no honest teachable Mind that is capable of understanding common Sense but may from thence receive full Information of them upon faithful and diligent Enquiry And though in some Texts these Necessaries are not so plainly proposed as in others yet in some Text or other they are all of them so plainly proposed that no Man can read the Scripture and still be ignorant of them without being wilfully blind for which there is no Remedy either in the Scripture or out of it And this I shall endeavour to prove 1. From the express Testimony of Scripture 2. From the avowed Design of writing the Scripture 3. From the frequent Commands God lays upon us to read the Scripture 4. From the Obligation that lies upon us under Pain of Damnation to believe and receive all those Necessaries to Salvation contained in it 1. From the express Testimony of Scripture it is evident that in all Things necessary to Salvation at least the Scripture is clear and plaâ—n For to be sure if in any thing the Scripture be plain it is in those Things that are most necessary to be believed and known and therefore if it be obscure in these Things we may reasonably presume it is plain in nothing But that it is in many Things plain and easy to be understood is evident from its own Testimony For thus of the Mosaick Law it is expresly affirmed by Moses This Commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off Deut. 30. 11. Where Moses speaks not only of the Ten Commandments which consisting for the most part of Laws of Nature are upon that Account more easy to be understood but of all the Commandments of Moses in general whether Ceremonial Iudicial or Natural For so v. 16. This Commandment we find contains as well the Statutes and Judgments as the Commandments of the Law all which must take in the whole Mosaick Institution And accordingly Ps. 119. 105. David calls this Word of God a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path which how could it be if it did not burn clear enough to guide and direct him and if it did then to be sure it burnt clear enough to direct him in those Things wherein it was most necessary for him to be directed Again in the 19th Ps. 7 8. we are told that the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple and that the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes But how can any Law make the simple wise or enlighten the Eyes of Men unless it be so plainly and clearly delivered as that the simple may be capable of apprehending and the Eyes of Men of discerning the Sense of it I know it is objected by Bellarmin that these Words do only imply that this Law indeed being understood doth enlighten Mens Eyes and direct their Practice but by no means that it is plain and easy to be understood But this is a meer Cavil for it 's plain that it is by understanding the Law that the simple are made wise and the Eyes of Men enlightned If therefore this Law be so obscure in its self as that it cannot make it self understood by all that sincerely enquire into it how is it possible that it should make them wise or enlighten the Eyes of their Minds But it 's plain that the Intent of those Passages
to believe such Things as are obscure and doubtful and uncertain and of which they can have no certain Knowledge Either the Necessaries to Salvation must be plainly and clearly expres'd in Scripture or we have not sufficient Reason to believe them and to say God will damn us for not believing those Things which he hath not given us sufficient Reason to believe is to charge him with the most outragious Oppression and Injustice But we are told that though God hath not clearly revealed to us in Scripture those Things which he hath obliged us to believe upon Pain of Damnation yet he hath left us sufficient Reason to believe them for he hath left us to the Conduct of an infallible Church that is to say of the present Church of Rome in all Ages whom he hath authorized to explain and define to us all Things that are necessary to be believed which we are to receive upon her Authority and not upon the Scriptures so that if we firmly believe what She defines and proposes to us we are sure to believe all Things that are necessary to be believed Now in Answer to this Objection which indeed is the great Foundation that the Faith of those of the present Church of Rome relies on I desire these Things may be seriously considered 1. That before we can reasonably rely upon the Authority of the present Church of Rome in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith there are sundry Things that we must believe upon the Authority of Scripture 2. That these Things which we must believe from Scripture before we can rely upon the Authority of that Church are at least as obscurely revealed in Scripture as any other Article of our Christian Faith 3. That after all these Things upon our relying on that Church's Authority we are left to the same or greater Uncertainties than upon our relying upon the Authority of Scripture 4. That in relying upon the Authority of Scripture we are left to no other Uncertainties than just what is necessary to render our Faith vertuous and rewardable whereas by relying upon the Authority of that Church supposing it to be a certain Ground as it is pretended our Faith would have little or nothing of Virtue in it 1. That before we can reasonably rely upon the Authority of that Church in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith there are sundry Things that we must believe upon the Authority of Scripture As for Instance we must in the first Place believe that there is a Church or Society of Christians separated from the World or incorporated by a peculiar Divine Charter Now whether there be such a Church or no is a Question that must be resolved by the Scripture and not by the Church because to believe that there is a Church because the Church saith there is a Church is to take that for granted which is the Thing in Question Secondly We must believe that this Church hath Authority to define and propose to us the Articles of our Faith which must also for the same Reason be believed on the Authority of the Scripture and not of the Church For to believe that there is a Church that hath Authority to propose to us the Articles of our Faith is to believe that there is a Church which we are obliged to believe and how can I believe this upon the Church's Authority unless I can believe it before I do believe it Thirdly Before we can rely upon this Church's Authority in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith we must believe that this Church is infallible for if she be not infallible how is it consistent with the Truth of God to oblige us to believe Her seeing in so doing he must oblige us whensoever She errs to believe her Errors but that She is infallible is not to be believed upon her own Authority for then her infallible Authority must be the Reason of our Belief that She is infallible that is we must believe her infallible because we believe her infallible Seeing then we cannot believe it on her own Authority if we believe it at all it must be upon the Authority of Scripture Fourthly Before we can rely upon the Church of Rome's Authority to define to us the Articles of our Faith we must believe the Church of Rome to be this infallible Church But seeing this is no self-evident Principle we must have some other Evidence besides her self to induce us to believe it and what else can that be but Scripture We are told indeed by some of her greatest Divines that there are certain Marks and Notes of a true Church peculiar to the Church of Rome by which we are obliged to believe Her the true Church such as Antiquity Vniversality Holiness of Doctrine c. But seeing no Doctrine can be holy that is not true we must be satisfied that that Church is true before we can know that it is holy so that before we can reasonably submit to her Athority we must be very well assured that her Doctrine is true and this we cannot be assured of by her Authority because that as yet is the Matter in Qustion and therefore we can be no otherwise assured of it but only by the Authority of Scripture and when we are assured beforehand by the Authority of Scripture that her Doctrines are true her Authority comes too late to assure us Seeing therefore it is evident that there are some if not all the Articles of the Roman Faith that must be known and believed by us upon the Authority of Scripture before we can safely rely upon her Authority to define them to us how can we be obliged to settle our Faith upon her Authority when as before we can reasonably admit her Authority we must believe several of the Articles of our Faith upon the Authority of Scripture For I would fain know are these Articles of Faith or no That there is a Church that this Church hath Authority to define the Articles of our Faith and that in so defining this Church is infallible and that this infallible Church is the Church of Rome If they be as they themselves own they are then there are some Articles it seems that must be believed without the Church's Authority upon the single Authority of Scripture and if some why not all why should not the Scripture be as sufficient to authorize us to believe the Rest as these since its Authority is as great in one Text as in onother Especially considering 2. That these Things which we must believe from Scripture before we can rely upon the Authority of the Church of Rome are at least as obscurely revealed in Scripture as any other Article of our Christian Faith The great Reason urged by the Romanists against our Relyance upon the Scripture for our Faith is the Obscurity of it and if this be a good Reason it proves a great deal more than they would have it
viz. that we ought not to rely upon Scripture even for those Articles without believing of which we can have no sufficient Ground to rely upon the Authority of their Church For I would fain know is it clear and plain from Scripture that the present Catholick Church of every Age hath Authority to define the Articles of Faith and that in all its Definitions it is infallible and that the present Church of Rome is this Catholick Church If so how come those Texts upon which those Articles are founded to be understood in a quite different Sense not only by us but by the greatest Part of the Primitive Fathers as hath been abundantly proved by Protestant Writers Supposing that we should be so blinded by our Partiality to our own Tenets as to misapprehend plain and clear Expressions of Scripture it is very strange methinks that the Fathers who were never engaged in the Controversy and so could not be biass'd either one way or t'other should yet misapprehend them too What is this but to say that let Men be never so indifferent yet they may be easily mistaken in the Sense of very plain and clear Expressions and if so what signifies either Speaking or Writing But to proceed to some Instances will any modest Man in the World affirm that the Church of Rome's infallibility in defining Articles of Faith to all succeeding Generations is more plainly exprest in those Words of our Saviour Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church than the Divinity of our Saviour is in the Beginning of the first Chaper of St. Iohn's Gospel where it is expresly affirmed that he is God whereas in the other there is not the least mention either of the Church of Rome or of Infallibility or defining Articles of Faith Why may we not then as well depend upon the one Text for the Article of our Saviour's Divinity as upon the other for that of the Church of Rome's Infallibility Again are there not innumerable Texts of Scripture wherein the Articles of Remission of Sin the Resurrection of the Dead the last Iudgment and the World to come are at least as plainly exprest as the present Church of Rome's Infallibility is in any of those Texts that are urged in the Defence of it and therefore if we believe the later upon the Authority of Scripture notwithstanding the pretended Obscurity of it why may we not as well upon the same Authority believe all the former since the former are at least as plainly exprest as the later Either therefore the Scripture is plain enough to be relyed upon as to this Article of the Church of Rome's Infallibility or it is not if it be not we have no Ground for our Dependence upon the Authority of her Definitions and Proposals if it be it 's plain enough to be relyed upon in all other necessary Articles of Faith since these are all as plainly at least expres'd in Scripture as that For if we may not rely upon Scripture because it is not plain then where it is equally plain it is equally to be relyed on 3. That when we come to rely upon this Church's Authority we are exposed to far greater Uncertainties than while we relied upon the Authority of Scripture For in the first place we are of all sides agreed that the Scripture is infallible and that such and such Writings are Parts of Scripture and therefore are absolutely secure that if we follow the true Sense of it it cannot mislead us But the much greater Part of Christians deny that the Church of Rome is infallible even the Church of Rome it self owns the Authority we rely on to be infallible but all Christians all the World over besides those of her own Communion disallow hers to be so and to forsake our Dependence upon an Infallibility which all own to rely upon an Infallibility which but few in Comparison admit is certainly a very dangerous Venture And then Secondly As for the Infallibility of Scripture we are certain where to find it viz. in every Text and in every Proposition therein contained which being all the Word of God must be all infallible But as for the Infallibility of the Roman Church as they have handled the Matter it is almost as difficult to find as to prove it some cry lo it is here and some lo it is there some place it in the Pope only others in the Pope and his College of Cardinals some in the Pope presiding in a General Council others in a General Council whether the Pope preside in it or no. So that in this Church it seems there is Infallibility somewhere but what are we the better for it if we know not where to find it If we go to the Pope for it there have been two or three Popes at once that have decreed against one another and therefore one or t'other of them to be sure were mistaken How then shall we know which is the true infallible one And when I have found the true Pope others tell me I am not yet arrived at the Seat of Infallibility until I have found him in his College of Cardinals and when I have found him here I am still to seek seeing I find the same Pope Eugenius the Fourth for Instance decreeing one Thing in his College of Cardinals and the quite contrary in a general Council and therefore I am sure he could not be infallible in both Therefore others send me to the Pope in a General Council but when I come thither I find my self at a Loss again because I meet with several Instances of one Pope's defining one Thing in one General Council and another Pope the quite contrary in another and therefore in one or t'other Council I am sure the one or t'other Pope was mistaken And as for General Councils themselves there are sundry of them which are owned by some and rejected by others of the principal Doctors of the Roman Communion And even when Councils are legally assembled there are so many nice Disputes among them what it is that makes them General and when it is that they act Conciliariter as they call it that is so as to render their Decrees perpetually and universally obliging that though we were resolved to build our Faith upon the Authority of this Church yet if we will use that Caution in believing that we ought to do in a Matter of so great Moment we should find our selves involved in greater Uncertainties concerning these Things than we are concerning the Sense even of the most difficult Places of Scripture But then Thirdly When we are pass'd over all these Difficulties we are still at as great a Loss to understand what is the Sense of the Church to be believed by us as what is the Sense of Scripture For the Church hath no other way to deliver her Sense to us but either by Oral Tradition that is by Word of Mouth or by Writing If She deliver her Sense to me by
the Peoples Minds and Manners St. Paul tells us the quite contrary These Things were our Examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they i. e. the Israelites in the Wilderness lusted Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 1 Cor. 10. 6 7 8 9 10 11. Whereas this Objection urges that there are sundry Passages in Scripture which should the People read would excite evil Thoughts in their Minds The same St. Paul tells us That all Scripture is profitable not only for Doctrine and Reproof but also for correction for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3. 16. Whereas this Objection pretends that it would be very unsafe for young People especially to be allowed the Scripture because there are several amorous Stories and Passages in it which will be apt to suggest wanton Thoughts to their gay and amorous Fancies David it is plain was of a quite contrary Mind for wherewith saith he shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Psal. 119. 9. than which two Passages what Assertions can be more contrary one to another 4. And lastly That supposing this Objection to be thus â—ar true that there are some Passages in Scripture which may sometimes occasionally excite bad Thoughts in Mens Minds yet this is no just Reason why the Use of Scripture should be forbid to the People For every Thing which the People occasionally make bad Uses of is for that Reason to be forbid to them even Prayer and the Sacraments and the Profession of Christianity ought to be forbidden them as well as the Scripture seeing of the one as well as of the other many People do occasionally make very bad Uses So long as the Scripture is good in it self and apt in its own Nature to instruct and edifie those that read it this is sufficient not only to warrant the Peoples Use of it but to enjoyn and require it and if it sometimes occasion corrupt Thoughts in corrupt Minds this is no more a Reason why the People should be deprived of the Light of it than some bad Mens making ill Use of the Light of the Sun is why the Sun should be extinguished or why the People should be for ever shut up from the Light of it in dark and dismal Dungeons But as for those very Passages of Scripture which do sometimes occasion ill Thoughts in Mens Minds they are so far from doing it of their own Natures that as they are delivered in Scripture there is nothing more naturally apt to repress bad Thoughts and to arm and fortifie Mens Minds against them As for instance The bad Examples recorded in Scripture are generally delivered with infamous Characters severe Prohibitions and dreadful Instances of God's Vengeance attending them which render them much more apt to repress than to excite evil Thoughts in Mens Minds to quicken them to Prayer and Watchfulness against Temptations and when at any Time they have been overcome by them to encourage them to Repentance or when they have overcome them to stir them up to a grateful Acknowledgment of that preventing and assisting Grace of God by which they have been enabled to resist and repel them These are the natural Uses of those bad Examples recorded in Scripture and therefore if instead of making these Uses of them some Men pervert them to bad Purposes that is their Faults and not the Scriptures It is sufficient that the bad Examples in Scripture as they are there recorded are in themselves of excellent Use to the People but should Men be deprived of the Use of every good Thing they abuse I would fain know what one good Thing would be left free to their Enjoyment And now having proved at large the Peoples Right and Obligation to Use and Search the Holy Scripture and answered the main Objections against it I shall conclude with these two Inferences from the whole 1. If the People are obliged to acquaint themselves with Scripture then they are obliged to receive upon the Authority of Scripture those Divine Truths which it proposes to their Belief For to what other end should we be obliged to read and consult the Word of God but only that we may learn from it what is his Mind and Will but how should we learn from Scripture what God's Mind is if we are not to believe what he therein declares upon Scripture Authority If I must not believe when I read the Scripture that this is God's Mind because the Scripture says so it is impossible I should ever learn God's Mind by reading it and consequently I am obliged to read it to no Purpose For there is nothing can teach me what God's Mind is but that which gives me sufficient Ground to believe that what it teaches is the Mind of God When therefore I read the Scripture and find such a Proposition plainly asserted in it is this a sufficient Ground or no for me to believe it to be the Mind of God If it be then the Authority of Scripture is a sufficient Ground for my Belief If it be not then the Scripture cannot teach me what God's Mind is because it cannot give me sufficient Ground to believe any one Proposition in it to be the Mind of God We are told indeed that we are not to receive the Sense of the Scripture from the Scripture but from the Church who alone hath Authority to Expound it to us and whose Expositions in all Matters of Faith are infallible But if this be so to what End should we read the Scripture seeing the only End of Reading is to learn the Sense of what we read which according to this Principle is not to be learnt from Scripture So that though there be no other wise End of reading the Scripture but only to learn from it what it means yet it seems for Men to read it for this End is a perfect Labour in Vain seeing it is not from the Scripture but from the Church that they are to learn the Meaning of Scripture For as for the Scripture if these Men are to be believed it is nothing but a heap of unsensed Characters so they expresly term it But what do they mean by it Is it that the Scripture consists of a company of Letters and Syllables and Words that carry with them no determinate Sense that God Almighty hath written and published a Book to the World that means nothing If so then when the Church by its infallible Authority pretends to expound the Scripture Her meaning is not to expound the
Sense of it but to impose a Sense on it which was never in it for how can She expound the Sense of a Book which hath no Sense in it If the Church is to expound the Sense of Scripture the Scripture must have a certain determinate Sense in it before she expounds it for to expound the Sense of That which hath no Sense is Nonsense And if the Scripture hath a certain Sense in it antecedently to the Church's Exposition of it why do they call it a Parcel of Vnsensed Characters If their Meaning be only this that the Sense of Scripture as it is delivered in Scripture is so obscure and ambiguous that without the infallible Exposition of the Church we can never be certain what it is besides that this is notoriously false the Scripture in all necessary Points both of Faith and Manners being so very plain and clear that any Man that reads it with an unprejudiced Mind may be as certain of the Sense of it as he can be of the Sense of any Writing and consequently of the Sense of any written Exposition of the Church besides this I say it is evident that whatever these Men pretend it is not meerly because of the obscurity of Scripture that they oblige Men to ground their Faith upon the Church and not upon the Scripture For they own as well as we that in many Things the Scripture is very plain and clear and yet they will by no Means allow Men to ground their Belief of these things upon the Authority of Scripture but all must be resolved into the Authority of the Church By which it is evident That if all the Scripture were as plain as the plainest Scriptures they would still contend for the Necessity of Mens relying upon the Church and not upon the Scripture and consequently that the true Reason why they contend for it is not because the Scripture is obscure but because they are resolved to advance their Church's Authority We own as well as they that where the Scripture is obscure Men ought to be guided by the Authority of the Church which we freely allow to be the best Expositor of Scripture But the true State of the Difference between them and us is this That whereas we require plain Men to judge of plain Things with their own Understandings and all Men so far forth as they are capable to judge for themselves in Matters of Religion and not content themselves to see with the Church's Eyes where they are able to see with their own nothing will satisfie these Men but to have all Men as well Wise as Simple surrender up their Faith and Judgment to the Church and wink hard and believe what-ever the Church believes purely because the Church believes it Whatever they pretend therefore the Truth of the Case is this They will by no means allow us to believe upon the Authority of Scripture not because the Scripture is obscure though this they pretend for were it never so plain the Case would be the same but because they are sensible that this will inevitably subvert their usurped Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of Men. But we must believe upon the Authority of the Church and who is this Church I beseech you Why they themselves are this Church So that whereas God hath published a Book called the Bible on purpose to declare his Mind and Will to the World here are started up a Sort of Men that call themselves the Church who very gravely tell us Sirs You must not so much as look into this Book or if you do must not believe any one Word in it upon its own Credit and Authority For though we do confess it is the Word of God yet we are the sole Iudges of the Sense of it and therefore whatsoever we declare is its Sense how unlikely soever it may seem to you you are bound in Conscience to receive and believe it for this very Reason because we declare it In short you must resign up your Eyes your Faith your Reason and Vnderstandings to us and see only with our Eyes and believe only with our Faith and judge only with our Iudgment and whithersoever we shall think fit to lead you you must tamely follow us without presuming to examin whether we lead you right or wrong But yet after all to induce us thus to inslave our Understandings to them they themselves are fain to appeal to Scripture and allow us in some Things to judge of the Sense of it and to believe those Things upon its Authority For no wise and honest Man will ever believe either that They are the Church or the infallible Judges of the Sense of Scripture without some Proof and Evidence and for this they are fain to produce several Texts of Scripture such as Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church Now supposing that to be true which is notoriously false viz. that those Texts do necessarily imply that They are the only true Catholick Church and that as such they are constituted by God infallible Judges of Scripture yet before I can believe so I must judge for my self whether this be the Sense of them or no and if I judge it is I must believe that they are the Church and infallible upon the Scripture's Authority and not theirs for their Authority is the Thing in debate and I cannot believe upon it before I believe it So then though we must believe nothing else upon Scripture Authority yet upon this very Authority we must believe that they are the Church and that they are infallible which are the fundamental Principles of their Religion that is to say we must believe as much upon Scripture Authority as will serve their turn and no more But may I be certain of the Truth of these two Fundamental Principles upon Scripture Authority or no If I may why may I not as well be infallibly certain upon the same Authority of other Principles of Christianity as well as those seeing there are no common Principles of Christian Religion but what are at least as plainly revealed in Scripture as these But this will spoil all for if Men may be infallibly certain of the Principles of Religion upon Scripture Authority what will become of the Necessity of Mens relying upon the Church which is founded upon this Principle that Men can arrive at no infallible Certainty in Religion by relying upon the Authority of Scripture or indeed any other Authority but the Church's But if I cannot be infallibly certain of those two Principles viz. that they are the Church and Infallible by those Authorities of Scripture which they urge to prove them how can I be infallibly certain of any Thing that they declare and define For if I am not certain that they are the Church for all I know the Church may be infallible and yet they may be mistaken and if I am not certain that they are infallible for all I know they may
be the Church and yet still be mistaken In short no Authority can render me infallibly certain but that which is infallible no Infallibility can render me infallibly certain but that of which I have an infallible Certainty Either therefore the Scripture can render me infallibly certain of the Infallibility of their Church and if it cannot I am sure nothing can or it cannot if it can why may it not as well render me infallibly certain of other Principles of Christianity which are at least as plainly revealed in it as that If it cannot how can I be infallibly certain that any Thing she defines and declares to me is true If then the Authority of Scripture can give us an infallible Certainty we have as just a Pretence to it as They it being upon this Authority that we ground our Faith if it cannot neither they nor we can justly pretend to it because they can no otherwise be infallibly certain of their own Infallibility but by Scripture But the Truth of it is God never intended either that they or we should be infallibly certain in the Matters of our Religion for after all the Means of Certainty that he hath given us he still supposes that we may err and plainly tells us that there must be Heresies and that even from among the Members of the true Church where infallible Certainty is if it be any where there should arise false Teachers who should bring in damnable Doctrines which could never have happened if he had left any such Means to his Church as should render her Children infallibly certain All that he designed was to leave us such sufficient Means of Certainty in Religion as that we might not err either dangerously or damnably without our own Fault He hath left us his Word and in that hath plainly discovered to us all that is necessary for us to believe in order to eternal Life He hath left us a standing Ministry in his Church to explain his Word to us and to guide us in the Paths of Righteousness and Truth but still he requires us to search the one and attend to the other with honest humble and teachable Minds and if we do not we may err not only dangerously but damnably and it is but fit and just we should But if we diligently search the Scripture and faithfully rely upon its Authority without doing of which we search it in vain if we sincerely attend to the publick Ministry with Minds prepared to receive the Truth in the Love of it though we may possibly err in Matters of less Moment yet as to all Things necessary to our eternal Salvation our Faith shall be inviolably secured and this is as much as any honest Man needs or as any honest Church can promise 2. From hence also I infer that in the Matters of our Faith and Religion God doth expect that we should make use of our own Reason and Judgment For to what End should he put us upon searching the Scriptures but that thereby we may inform our selves what those Things are which he hath required us to believe and practise But if it were his Mind that we should wholly rely upon the Authority of our Church or of our Spiritual â—â—ids and submit our Faith to their Dictates without any Examination what a needless and impertâ—â—â—nt Imployment would this be for us to search and consult the Scriptures Consult them for what it we are not to follow their Guidance and Direction and to take the Measures of our Faith and Manners from them And if for this End God hath obliged us to consult them as to be sure it can be for no other End then he hath obliged us to imploy our own Reason and Judgment to consider what they say and enquire what they mean otherwise he hath obliged us to consult them to no Purpose It is as evident therefore that God will have us use our own Reason and Judgment in discerning what we are to believe and what not in Religion and not lazily rely upon others to see and discern and believe for us as it is that he would have us search and consult the Scriptures and that I think is evident enough from what hath been said to any one that is not resolved to admit of a Conviction And indeed seeing our Reason is the noblest Faculty we have it would be very strange if God should not allow it to intermeddle in the highest and most important Affair wherein he hath engaged us and seeing it is our Reason only that renders us capable of Religion what an odd Thing would it be for God to forbid us making use of our Reason in the most important Concerns of Religion that is indistinguishing what is true Religion from what is false and what we ought to believe from what we ought to reject I know it is pretended by those who urge the absolute Necessity of submitting our Reason to the Church that they allow Men to make Use of their own Reason and Judgment in discovering which the true Church is and that all they contend for is only this that when once Men have found the true Church they ought to enquire no farther but immediately to deliver up their Reason and Understanding to it and believe every Thing it believes without any farther Examination So that before Men come into their Church it seems they are allowed to see for themselves but after they are in they must wink and follow their Guides and depute them to see and understand for them which to such Men as are not quite sick of their own Reason and Understandings should methinks be a great Temptation to keep them out of their Church for ever For if I may judge for my self while I am out of it but must not while I am in it I must be very fond of parting with my own Eyes and Reason if ever I come into it at all But suppose I was always in it and had been bred up in its Communion from my Infancy will they allow me when I come to the full use of my Reason fairly to question whether theirs be the only true Church or no and to hear the Reasons and examine the Scriptures and consult the Doctors on both sides No by no means this I am forbid under the Penalty of being deprived of the Benefit of Priestly Absolution So that in short they will allow me to make Use of my Reason if I have been bred an Heretick in order to my Reconciliation to their Church but if I have never been an Heretick I must never use my Reason to examine the Truth either of my Church or Religion that is to say I may use my Reason when there is no other Remedy and I must continue a Heretick if I do not But it were much better that I had never had Occasion to use my Reason at all So that according to these Men the Use of our Reason in Religion is only the least of two Evils
What then remains but that being seriously affected with the Sense of our Danger we presently awake out of our Security and with the deepest Concern for our immortal Souls cry out with St. Peter's Auditors Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved Verily when I reflect upon the strange Unconcernedness of Men about their future Condition I am tempted to think either that they do not believe they have an immortal Soul in them or that if they do they believe it is impossible it should for ever miscarry For how is it conceivable that Men who in other matters are so solicitous when their Interest is at Stake and exposed to the least Hazard should believe that they have Souls in Danger of perishing for ever and yet take no more Care or Regard of them but like the forgetful Mother who when her House was on Fire to save her Goods forgot her Child lay out all their thoughts upon the little Concerns of this frail and mortal Life and in the mean time forget their precious Souls and leave them perishing in the Flames of Perdition O stupid Creature what art thou made of that canst consider that thou hast an immortal Soul surrounded with so many Dangers of being lost for ever and yet be no more concerned for its Preservation Methinks if thou hadst any Sense in thee having a Prospect of such endless Miseries before thee the remotest Possibility of falling into them should be enough to startle and awake thee but when thou art so near the Brink of those Miseries and hast so many Causes round about thee shoving thee forward and thrusting thee headlong down into them and yet be no more concerned at it is such a Prodigy of sensless Stupidity as Heaven and Earth may justly be astonished at 'T is true if the Danger thou art in were such as is impossible to be evaded it would then be the wisest Course thou couldst take to concern thy self as little as may be about it but rather to live merrily whilst thou mayst and not antedate thy Misery by thinking of the dismal Futurity But God be praised this is not our Case though our Condition be dangerous yet it is far from desperate for if we will use our honest Endeavour and vigorously exert the Faculties of our Nature we not only may but shall escape There are indeed a great many Causes of our Danger a great many Enemies concurring to our Ruin but none of these are able to effect it unless we our selves joyn hands in the fatal Conspiracy If we will be but faithful Friends to our selves and true to our own eternal Interest it will be beyond the power of all those Causes together to do us any material Injury For blessed be the good God those that are for us are far greater and mightâ—er than those that are against us against us we have the World the Flâ—sh and the Devil the weakest of which is I confess a dangerous and puissant Enemy but for us we have God and Angels and our own Reason assâ—â—â—ed with the most invincible Motives with vast and glorious Promises that stand beckoning to us with Crowns of Immortality in their hands to call us off from the Pursuit of our Lusts to the Practice of Virtue and Religion with direful Threatnings that are continually Alarming and warning us of the dreadful Consequents of our Sins and sundry other such mighty I had almost said Almighty Motives as if we would seriously attend to would certainly render our Souls impregnable against all the Temptations of Vice And besides our Reason thus Armed and Accoutered we have on our side the Holy Angels of God who are always ready to prompt us to and assist us in our Duty and to second us in all our spiritual Combats against the Enemies of our Souls And besides all these we have with us the Almighty Spirit of God who upon our sincere Desires and honest Endeavours is engaged to aid us and co-operate with us in working out our Salvation whose Grace is abundantly sufficient for us to strengthen us in our Weakness to support us under our greatest Difficulties and carry us on victoriously through the most violent Temptations And being back't with such mighty Auxiliaries how is it possible that we should miscarry unless we are resolved to betray our selves and give fire to the fatal Trains of our Enemies and if we are so bent there is no Remedy for our Obstinacy and it is just and sit we should be left to the dismal and pitiless Effects of our own Folly and Madness For if when we see our selves in so much danger and it is yet in our Power to escape if we please we will notwithstanding precipitate our selves into Ruin all the World must agree upon an impartial Inquisition for the Blood of our Souls that we murdered our selves that God is just and that his hands are clean from any stain of our Blood and that our own Ruin is wholly owing to our own invincible Obstinacy III. I proceed now to the Third Proposition That our renouncing of Christ and his Religion will most certainly infer the loss of our Souls For as I have shewed you these Words are urged by our Saviour as a Motive to deter his Disciples from forsaking him as is plain from Ver. 24 25. which necessarily supposes that upon their forsaking him this Loss would most certainly and inevitably follow In the Prosecution therefore of this Argument I shall endeavour these two things 1. To shew you what that forsaking of Christ is which Infers this Loss 2. Upon what Accounts our thus forsaking him infers it 1. What that forsaking of Christ is which infers this Loss To which I answer there is a Four-fold Forsaking of Christ which the Scripture takes notice of as capital and damnable to the Souls of Men. 1. When we forsake him by a total Apostacy 2ly When we cowardly renounce the Profession of his Doctrine or any Part of it notwithstanding we still belive and are convinced of the Truth of it 3. When by obstinate Heresy we either add to or subtract from the Faith of Christ. 4ly When by any wilful Course of Disobedience we do vertually renounce the Authority of his Laws 1. We lose and forfeit our Souls when we forsake Christ by a total Apostacy from him When after we have been Baptized into his Name and thereby have made a visible Profession of our believing his Doctrines and obeying his Laws we turn Runagadoes and cast off our Belief of the one and disown our Obligation to the other we do most justly incur the Loss and Forfeiture of our Souls For so strong and cogent is the Evidence of Christianity that it is not to be supposed that any professed Christian can be either innocently or excusably seduced into a Disbelief of it For Religion being a Matter of the vastest Moment and Concern he is a Traytor to himself that either takes up his Religion without Examination or that
Law which they call the Cabala or the Law by Tradition not that this traditional contained any thing that was not in the written Law but because those things which were obscurely contained in the Types of the written Law were explained and interpreted in this their Traditional Law But it is apparent that the Types of eternal Life were not fully explained in this traditional Law till after the Babylonish Captivity after which the Prophet Daniel and after him Ezekiel began to speak more plainly of the Resurrection of the Dead and from that Time forwards the Doctrine of the Resurrection and eternal Life began to be more openly taught among the Common People till about the Time of the Maccabees when it was brought forth in the Light from under those Types in which it was so obscurely represented and became a Principle even of the Popular Religion and an Article of the Iewish Faith as plainly appears from the Records of those Times particularly 2. Macc. 7. 23 26. Comp. with Heb. 11. â—5 And indeed it was very necessary that then this Article should be more clearly revealed to fortify the Iews against those many Persecutions whereunto they were exposed for the sake of their Religion that they might not be terrified to apostatize from it by those cruel Martyrdoms which in the Time of the Maccabees they many of them endured and besides now the Time of the Gospel was approaching and consequently its Mysteries like the Light of the rising Sun began to break forth clearer and clearer from under that Cloud of Types wherein it was wrapt and involved till at last the Sun of Righteousness himself arose and dispersed those Clouds and brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel But as for the Sadducees who give no heed to the Cabala or Traditional Law in which this Doctrine was first discovered and adhered only to the written Law of Moses they still continued Infidels in this Point and believed neither Angels nor Spirits nor the Life to come So very obscurely was it represented in the Types and Shadows of the Written Law But when once the Eternal Word came to tabernacle in our Flesh he revealed this great Article so plainly and clearly to the World that 't is impossible for any one not to believe it that believes him to be the Messias or Incarnate Word And thus you see by all these Instances what a vast Difference there was in respect of Truth between Christ's tabernacling in our Nature and in the Tabernacle of Moses And now I shall conclude this Argument with two or three practical Inferences 1st He dwelt or tabernacled among us From hence I infer the high Authority of Christ and that holy Religion which he hath revealed to us For to tabernacle among us as I have already shewed you signifies to dwell in the midst of as the Shechinah Presence or Representative of the most High God as one that acted in his Father's Person and was vested with his Authority and consequently as one who hath as great a Right to exact our Obedience as the Eternal Father himself should he have come down from Heaven in his own Person to give Laws to Mankind For so when the Eternal Word went before the Camp of Israel as the Shechinah or Angel of God's Presence God requires them that they should obey him as himself Beware of him and obey his Voice saith God provoke him not for he will not pardon your Transgression for my Name is in him Exod. 23. 21. and v. 22. To obey the Voice of this Angel is interpreted to be the same thing as to obey the Voice of the most High God himself But if thou shalt indeed obey his Voice saith God and do all that I speak then I will be an Enemy to thy Enemies c. So that for the Israelites to disobey this Angel who as I have proved to you was the Eternal Word or Representative of the most High God to them was to all Intents and Purposes the same Thing as if they had disobeyed the most High himself And accordingly our Saviour tells the Iews He that believeth on me believeth not on me but on the Father that sent me that is he doth not meerly believe on me but on the Father too whose Authority I have and whose Person I represent for so he explains himself in the following Verse He that seeth me seeth him that sent me that is I being my Father 's Shechinah or Representative Ioh. 12. 44 45. And therefore as every Contempt of the Deputy or Vice-Governor is an Affront to the Sovereign Prince whose Person he bears and by whose Authority he acts so every Rebellion against Christ is an open Defiance to the Sovereign God whose Person he represents and by whose Authority he reigns Hence our Saviour tells the Iews Ioh. 5. 23. that He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him which plainly intimates that God the Father resents those Indignities which we offer to Christ and his Laws as if they were done to his own Person and that if himself should speak to us from the Battlements of Heaven or proclaim his Law to us in a Voice of Thunder he would not be more displeased to hear us openly declare that we will not obey him than he is to see us trample upon the Laws of his Son which he hath stamp'd with his own Sovereign Authority So that if we were not infinitely fool-hardy methinks we should never dare to violate our Religion in which the Authority of the most High God is so immediately concerned For whatsoever our Religion requires of us it requires in his Name who hath an undoubted Right and Authority to command us for from all Eternity he was invested with an absolute and unlimited Power of doing any thing that is not unbecoming his Divine Perfections and in this the Right of his Dominion over us is originally founded For he that hath Power must needs have a Right to exercise it so far as it is just and becoming his Nature otherwise his Power would be altogether in vain and therefore since God from all Eternity hath a Power of doing whatsoever he pleases so far as is consistent with his Holiness and Goodness there is nothing can be pretended against the Right of his Dominion and Authority over us For God cannot but have an eternal Right to exercise his own Power and he cannot but have an immutable Right to exercise it over his own Creatures And as from all Eternity he had Power to do whatsoever was just and becoming him so from his creating of us it became most just and becoming that he should rule and govern us for we became his as soon as we were created by him all our Powers of Action were from him and by that he hath acquired an unalienable Right in whatsoever we are able to do We have nothing but what is his Gift and therefore can do nothing but what is his
that we should regulate our Practice by the Rules of Right Reason and direct all our Faculties and Affections to their proper Ends and Objects and when we come to this Pitch always to think that which is most reasonable and always to practise what we think so then we are advanced to the topmost Round of our Prefection in which is founded the utmost Happiness we are capable of So that in all the Course of our Christian Practice we are in a direct Progression and Tendency towards our Perfection and Happiness And as for the Credenda of Christianity the Doctrines it requires us to believe they are all of them pregnant with the most strong and vehement Motives to engage us to the Practice of what it enjoins Motives that have such a Potent I had almost said Omnipotent Force in them that 't is impossible for any Man heartily to believe and throughly to weigh and consider them and not be effectually perswaded by them Since therefore it was so highly convenient that the Son of God in Person should come down from Heaven among us that so the Dignity of his Person might give Authority to that Religion by which the World was to be governed and since he did come down upon this honourable Errand it was impossible for him to have taught any Doctrine that could more effectually have promoted the great End of Religion or more fully expressed his infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Zeal for the Welfare of the Souls of Men than that which is contained in the Christian Religion which is every way so adapted to make Men good and happy so accommodated to the Nature and Condition of Mankind that there is nothing could better become the only begotten Son to teach in the World or that could be more worthy of all those infinite Perfections that are lodged in his Nature and do speak him to be the most genuine Off-spring of the most High For so excellent was his Doctrine that his very Enemies were astonished at the Wisdom that was given him Mark 6. 2 3. and wondered at the gracious Words that proceeded out of his Mouth Luke 4. 22. Well therefore might he say of himself I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life Ioh. 8. 12. 4thly And lastly The incomparable Sanctity and Purity of his Life was such as very well became the only begotten Son For as it was highly convenient that he should come down into the World and in his own Person teach us that Religion by which he intended to govern us that thereby he might stamp it with a more awful Authority so to render it more successful it was no less convenient that he should come down in our Natures that therein he might be capable of practising what he taught us and setting us an Example of what he would have us to do that so we might see that he enjoined nothing upon us but what was practicable and what did become the most glorious Person that ever did assume our Natures that thereby we might be encouraged to our Duty and animated with a noble Emulation of treading in his blessed Footsteps Since therefore all this was so highly convenient and the Son of God in Compliance with this Convenience did actually assume our Nature it was impossible for him to lead a Life that better comported with this Design of his Incarnation or better became the Dignity and Excellency of his Person than he did For now that he was become a Man he was obliged to act suitably to his Nature and should he have done any thing that was unsuitable to the State and Circumstances of his Nature he would not have acted becoming himself So that it was highly convenient that he should become a Man and being a Man it was indispensably necessary that he should live like a wise and a good Man in the Condition and Relations wherein he was placed and nothing could be more worthy of or becoming him than so to do though he was still the only begotten Son of the Father For it is the Glory of God himself that he always acts most reasonably according to the State and Relations of a God and therefore when God becomes Man by assuming our Nature to his own it is his Glory to act most reasonably in the State and Relations of a Man And thus did the blessed Iesus do in the whole Course of his Conversation upon Earth for his Life was a most exact Pattern of all humane Virtues in which all that is ornamental to humane Nature was represented in its fairest Colours There you may see a fair Example of the most ardent Love to and constant Dependance upon God of the most profound Humility and perfect Resignation to his Heavenly Will There you may behold the Moderation of Humane Passions and Appetites set forth to the Life and fairly delineated in all its most exquisite Perfections in a word there you will find Loyalty and Submission to Superiors Fidelity and Iustice to Equals Courtesy and Candor and Condescention to Inferiors universal Love and an unbounded Charity to all practised to the Height and Exactness and which way soever you turn your Eyes on this fair Monument of Virtues you can discover nothing but what is lovely and adorable and infinitely becoming the only begotten Son of the Father Having thus explained and demonstrated the Proposition to you I shall conclude with these four Inferences from this four-fold Glory of the Word which they saw 1. They saw the glorious Splendor which invested his Person at his Baptism and Transfiguration From whence I infer his Deputation from the most High God and Father of all Things to be his Representative and Vice-Roy in the Christian Church For this visible Glory with which he was invested was always the peculiar Character of the immediate Representative of God and therefore by way of Appropriation it is called the Glory of God and the Glory of the Lord and wheresoever God as Supream Monarch and Governor is represented as residing and taking up his Royal Habitation there you always find him displaying himself in this visible Glory and Splendor Thus when by the Eternal Word he was represented among the Iews as their supreme Lord and Governor he always manifested his Majestick Presence among them by some bright and shining Appearance the first Instance of which was his Appearance to Moses from out of the burning Bush upon Mount Sinai where he first acted under God the Father as Sovereign King of Israel in commissioning Moses to be their Captain and Leader out of Egypt for here it is said that he appeared in a flame of fire Exod. 3. 2. that is in a visible Glory that resembled the Brightness of a Flame of Fire For this Mountain he had chosen for the Seat and Throne of his Majestical Residence from whence he intended to give Laws to Israel and to exert his Royal Dominion
Oral Tradition how can I know what that is who never heard Her speak either in its diffused Body or in a General Council or in any other Representative unless it be that of my own Parish-Priest perhaps who for all I know may be Ignorant or Heretical and so either not understand himself the Church's Oral Tradition or wilfully pervert it to a contrary Meaning And if the Church deliver her Sense to me by Writing as She hath done in the written Decrees of her General Councils must I read over all her Decrees How should I do that who understand not so much as the Languages in which they are written Or suppose they were Translated how shall I know that they are faithfully render'd any more than I do that the Scripture is so But suppose I were certain of this and should thereupon proceed to read them alass I find in them a great many difficult and dubious Expressions yea and at least seeming Contradictions to each other how then can I be more certain of the true Sense of these Writings than of the Sense of the Writings of Scripture But you will say the Church hath digested her Sense of all her Articles of Faith into a plain Creed and Catechism viz. that of the Council of Trent whereby the plainest Reader may without any laborious Enquiries be readily instructed what he ought to believe This I confess is something but as for those Articles of Faith wherein We and the Church of Rome are agreed we find them as plainly expressed in Scripture as in that Creed and Catechism and therefore we have Reason to believe that if those Articles wherein we disagree had ever been intended for Articles of Faith they would have been as plainly express'd there as these but 't is no wonder we should not find them plainly express'd there when we cannot find them express'd there at all But do we not find that the Scriptures even in the plainest Expressions of Articles of Faith have yet been perverted by Hereticks into a contrary Meaning And what then Are not the Words of Councils as liable to be perverted into a contrary Meaning as the Words of Scripture For do not the Roman Doctors differ as much about the Sense of their Councils as we do about the Sense of our Scriptures Yea and have we not a notorius Instance of it at this very Day For what can be more contrary than Belarmine's Exposition of the Trent Faith and the Bishop of Condom's And yet both allowed by the Pope who by the Authority of that Council is made sole Arbitrator of the Sense of it But then Fourthly and lastly As to the Sense of Scripture our Reliance on the Authority of that Church leaves us at as great an Uncertainty as it found us For where the Scripture designs to speak plainly as it doth in all Things necessary to salvation the Church cannot speak plainer and therefore there we may understand the Scripture as well without the Church as with it but where it doth not speak plainly the Church of Rome hath left us no infallible Commentary whereby to understand it so that where the Scripture is plain She hath not made it plainer and where it is obscure She hath left it as obscure as ever So that after all the Noise that is made of Infallibility her Doctors are fain to apply themselves to the same Methods of Understanding Scripture that is to consult the Sense of Antiquity and compare Text with Text and the like that we fallible Protestants do and when they have done all are as lyable to be mistaken as we Nay they themselves confess that even General Councils themselves may be mistaken in their Applications of Scripture that is that they may misapply them to wrong Purposes which they cannot do without mistaking the Sense of them of which there are a great many notorious Instances in the second Council of Nice which to prove it the Duty of Christians to worship Images urges God's taking Clay and making Man after his own Image and likewise that of Esay There shall be a Sign and Testimony to the Lord in the Land of Egypt and also those Passages of David Confession and Beauty is before him Lord I have loved the beauty of thy House O Lord my Face hath sought for thee O Lord I will seek after thy Countenance O Lord the light of thy Countenance is sealed over us And from that Passage As we have seen so have we heard they argue that there must be Images to look on and because it is said God is marvellous in his Saints they conclude that the Church must be deck'd with Pictures And from No man lighteth a Candle and putteth it under a bushel they wisely infer that Images must be set upon the Altar All which are as remote from their Sense as the first Verse of the first Chapter of Genesis What greater Certainty have they with their Infallibility than we without it We can know as well the Sense of plain Texts of Scripture as of plain Texts of Councils or Creeds or Catechisms and we can as easily pervert the Sense of the one as of the other And as for those that are not plain even General Councils you see for all their Infallibility may be mistaken about them as well as we So that when all comes to all by forsaking the infallible Authority of Scripture to rely upon the infallible Authority of that Church we are so far from arriving at a greater Certainty of Faith that we are involved in greater Uncertainties than ever But then 4. And lastly in relying upon the Authority of Scripture we are left to no other Uncertainties than just what are necessary to render our Faith vertuous and rewardable whereas by relying upon the Authority of the Church of Rome supposing it were as sure a Ground of Faith as it is pretended our Faith would have little or nothing of Virtue in it It is pretended though falsly you see that that Church's Authority is so sure a Ground of Faith that while a Man depends upon it he cannot be mistaken in any necessary Article of Faith which in Reality amounts to no more than this That while a Man believes as that Church believes which infallibly believes all that is necessary to Salvation he infallibly believes all that is necessary to Salvation and it is equally true that while a Man believes as the Scripture teaches which infallibly teaches all that is necessary to Salvation he infallibly believes all that is necessary to Salvation that is both are equally false For no Man can infallibly believe either the Church or Scripture because Infallibility exceeds the Capacity of humane Nature no Man can so believe either but that he may be mistaken and if he may be mistaken its possible he may not believe all that is necessary to Salvation whether he grounds his Faith upon the Church or the Scripture But because this Church pretends so to secure my Faith while I
depend upon her Authority as that I cannot be mistaken for this very Reason I cannot depend upon it because I am sure of this that God never designed for me any such Means of Believing as should render my Faith infallible For to what End should he require me to take so much Pains and Care to secure my Faith from Errors if he hath furnished me with any certain Means of being infallible It would be but applying that Means whatever it is and my Danger would be immediately over and then I need trouble my Head no further being now so secured as that I cannot be mistaken after which it would be very impertinent methinks for God to trouble me with those unnecessary Injunctions of trying all Things and holding fast to that which is good of searching the Scriptures and trying the Spirits whether they be of God and taking heed whilst I stand lest I fall What need a Man be at the Expence of all this Labour and Caution whose Faith is already secured Seeing therefore God requires these Things at our Hands it is a plain Case that he never intended us any Method how to be infallible in believing and therefore since the Church of Rome's Authority is pretended to be such a Method for that Reason it ought to be rejected It 's plain that God intended that our Faith should be a Grace and a Virtue and consequently that it should be an Act of our Wills as well as of our Understandings which supposes the Evidence of it not to be irresistible for what Virtue is it to believe that the Sun shines when it glares full in our Eyes Since therefore our Faith must be a free and voluntary Assent upon such Motives as are sufficient to satisfy an honest Mind but not to compel either an obstinate Infidel or self-deceived Hypocrite God did not think fit so to secure our Faith as to leave it impossible for us to err damnably And indeed if he had it would have been no Virtue in us to believe savingly for what Virtue is it for a Man to do that which it is impossible for him not to do It is sufficient that we cannot err damnably in our Faith without some damnable Fault in our Wills but if we either refuse to enquire into this Revelation for what is necessary for us to believe or will only enquire into it with a Mind that is byass'd with wicked and sinful Prejudices or will not submit our Understandings to it upon the clearest Conviction there is no doubt but we may be ignorant and we may be deceived in Things of the greatest Moment and it is but just and fit that we should And if notwithstanding these Faults we could not err for God's sake what Virtue would it be to be Orthodox But if with honest humble and teachable Minds we will diligently enquire into divine Revelation we shall there find all the Necessaries to Salvation so clearly and plainly proposed to us that 't will be morally impossible for us either to be ignorant of or deceived about them So that by relying on Scripture you see we are exposed to no other Uncertainties than just what are necessary to render our Faith a Virtue and God doth as much require that our Faith should be vertuous as that it should be Orthodox that it should be the Act of an honest humble diligent and teachable Mind as that it should be extended to all Things necessary to Salvation Now our Faith may be Orthodox without an infallible Certainty but it canot be vertuous and rewardable with it To what purpose then do the Romanists talk of an infallible certainty in Believing Is it reasonable to expect more certainty than God ever intended to give He hath given as much as is necessary for honest Minds and no more and whether Knaves and Hypocrites believe right or wrong is of no great Concernment If therefore our Faith be liable to no other Uncertainty than just what is necessary to try our Honesty that is much better for us in Respect of the Virtue of our Faith than an infallible Certainty Supposing therefore that the Church of Rome were as infallible as it pretends it is certain that the Scripture is as infallible as that but whether we relie upon one or t'other we are fallible still And could that Church render us as infallibly certain as it pretends it would thereby preserve indeed the Orthodoxy of our Faith but then at the same Time it would destroy the Virtue of it For to believe right when we cannot believe wrong is fatal and necessary but to believe right when through our own Default we may believe wrong this is virtuous and rewardable By what hath been said therefore I think it is sufficiently evident that it is upon the Scripture we are to relie and not upon the Church especially upon the Roman Church for all Things necessary to Salvation and therefore since we are obliged to believe these Things upon Pain of Eternal Damnation it necessarily follows that they must be plain and clear and Scripture otherwise we could not be justly so obliged to believe them And thus I have shewn at large that the Scripture is the great Rule of our Faith and Manners and that as such it is both full and clear as containing in it all Things necessary to Salvation and proposing them so plainly and clearly as that upon an honest and diligent Enquiry all Men may find and discover them A Second Discourse Upon JOHN V. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life WHether these Words are to be rendred Indicatively Ye do search the Scriptures as some would have them or Imperatively Search the Scriptures as our Translation renders them amounts to the same thing For if we render them Indicatively Ye do search the Scriptures it is evident that they are spoken with Approbation Ye do read the Scriptures and ye do very well in so doing For thus we find the Bereans commended for Searching the Scriptures and Timothy for knowing them from a Child And if to Search the Scripture be a commendable Practice then to be sure our Saviour here mentions it at least with Approbation and what he approves when done that to be sure he would have us do Whether therefore it be delivered in the Form of a Command or of a bare Assertion it is equivalent to a Command it being at least an Assertion of a Thing which he approves and consequently would have all Men to Practise But because there is a numerous Party in the Christian World which doth not only forbid the People to Search the Scriptures but represents it as a Practice of very dangerous Consequence it is hereby become necessary that we should not only assert but prove their Obligation to it which otherwise would be very needless there being nothing more plain and evident in it self Now to prove that the People are obliged to Search and Read the Scriptures I shall as