Power and Assistance of God who is both the Framer and Controller of Nature or which is the same thing in effect by the Mediation and Ministry of good Spirits who always act obediently to his Will So that whether mediately or immediately it is God who is to be looked upon as the Original and Author of all those wonderful Things which were done by Jesus and his Disciples Now then Since God did interpose his Power to work such strange and stupenduous things for the Propagation and Confirmation of that Doctrine which was taught by Jesus and his Disciples This I think is a sufficient Demonstration that their Doctrine was certainly true For Who can imagine that God should make use of his extraordinary Power only to cheat and deceive the World into the Belief of a Lye I conclude therefore That the Primitive Christians had sufficient Reason to believe that it was revealed by God from Heaven that whosoever would believe on Jesus and receive and live according to his Religion should be made very happy in thenext Life this very thing being the grand Point of Doctrine which Jesus and his Disciples taught and preached to the World And if we are sure that the Primitive Christians had Reason sufficient to believe this from hence it follows That we have sufficient Reason to believe it also XX. But Jesus himself being long since ascended into Heaven and his Disciples who first preached the Gospel departed out of the World here I think it is necessary to enquire to whom or to what I must apply my self that amidst the several Parties in the World who all call themselves True and Orthodox Christians each condemning all others but themselves I may be truly and surely informed what is the true and genuine Religion or Doctrine of Jesus which I ought to receive and live according to in order to my future Happiness For if I do not this I must either reject the Doctrine of Jesus and so lose my future Happiness or else take it altogether upon Trust and by chance and then 't is odds but I light upon the wrong and must needs run a very great hazard And though he who is in a Mistake and cannot tell how to help it will doubtless find an easie Pardon from God yet he who falls into Errour for want of moderate Care and Diligence to find out the Truth has I think no pretence either to Pardon or so much as to Pity XXI The Roman Catholicks do tell me that I must apply my self to the Church This Church they define to be that Society of Persons who prosess Faith in Jesus Christ and live in Subjection to and Communion with the Pope or Bishop of Rome This Church they say is infallible and not only does not but cannot err in any Doctrine of Religion Go then say they to this Church and receive the Doctrine which she teaches and there you have certainly and infallibly the true and pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ But I cannot give my Assent to follow this their Direction because I find such great Difficulties in my way as I think are insuparable at least I am sure such as I am not able to overcome For First Although it may be a certain Truth that there shall always be a Church that is to say a Company of People some where or other professing the true Christian Religion as long as the World shall last yet what solid Proof can be brought that this particular Society of Men who live in Communion with the Pope or Bishop of Rome are alone the true Church and shall always keep and maintain amongst them the true and uncorrupt Doctrine of Jesus Christ This Matter being a Question of Revelation and positive Institution is uncapable of being proved by any Argument drawn from Natural Reason And as for the Texts of Scripture which they alledge it is even ridiculous to think that any sober and unprejudiced Person should be convinced by them as will evidently appear to any one who impartially reads what the Romish and Protestant Divines have written on this Controversie For there are none of those Texts but are fairly and naturally capable of another Interpretation and must be very much strained and wrested to make them countenance the Romish Doctrine Besides that the Divines of the Church of Rome do generally teach That no Man can be sure of the Authority or Sense of any Text of Scripture especially if it appear to be any way doubtful except he receives the Proposal and Interpretation thereof from this their Church which they say is infallible So that a Man must of necessity believe the Infallibility of their Church before he can any way be sure of the Credit or even of the Sense of those Texts of Scripture which they bring to prove it And then What need is there of Scripture-Arguments to prove a thing which must be acknowledged before the Arguments can have any force or even be as much as certainly understood And if they tell me that the Fathers and ancient Christian Writers do testifie thus much of the Church of Rome I can only say that the Protestant Divines who seem to me to be Men of as much Learning and Integrity as the Romish do declare that it is far otherwise Nor have I Skill enough in Language and Antiquity to take upon me to judge of this Dispute Neither do I understand by what Authority the Writings of those Persons who are acknowledged to have been subject to Errours should be obtruded on me as a Rule of my Faith or as a sufficient Argument to determine my Assent in so weighty a Matter Secondly Supposing but not granting that in the Church of Rome the true and pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ was preserved yet still it is granted that particular and private Men who live in the visible Communion of that Church may teach false and corrupt Doctrine Here then I demand How shall I certainly distinguish the Doctrine of the Church from the Opinions of private Men And how shall I certainly know what is the true Meaning of the Church's Doctrine They of the Church of Rome are not agreed who it is that has Authority to declare and expound the Doctrine of their Church whether it be the Pope or a General Council or neither alone but both together Or if they were unanimous in this Point yet how shall I know whether such a particular Person who possesses the Chair be a true and lawful Pope or such a particular Assembly a true and lawful General Council Or Suppose they could satisfie me in this Demand yet there is no Council now sitting nor if there were could I go to them or to the Pope to receive Instruction nor can the Pope or a Council be at leisure to satisfie the Demands of every private Enquirer How then can I be sure that this or that particular Person does both rightly understand and faithfully propose the Doctrine of the Church to me Especially since
given to them or that such Opposition might soon be suppressed and over-ruled by the Power and Reputation of such prevailing Men. From all which I cannot but conclude That though the general Tradition or Testimony of the Church may be a good Help yet it may not always be a certain Rule to lead me to the entire and unaltered Doctrine of Jesus XXIII Other there are who tell me That to find out the true and entire Doctrine of Jesus I must apply my self to the holy Scripture that is to say to the Books commonly called the Old and the New Testament And because I look upon this to be the right Way I shall briefly and plainly deliver my Thoughts in relation to these Books And first of the New Testament That the New Testament as it was extant in the Greek Toegue has been ever universally owned by all Christians as containing a true though some deny it to be a full Account of the Life and Doctrine of Jesus is a thing so notorious and so universally acknowledged that I cannot find the least Ground or Reason to question it Now the History and Doctrine of Jesus being so well known unto the first Christians by the Preaching of the Apostles and Disciples and they being so ready upon all Occasions to lay down their Lives for the Truth of Christianity it cannot be imagined that ever they would so readily and universally receive and own such a Book if it had contained any thing in it which was dissonant from that Doctrine which they had received It is confessed indeed that some of those Books which make up the Volume of the New Testament that is to say the Epistle to the Hebrews that of St. James the Second of St. Peter that of St. Jude the Second and Third of St. John and the Revelations were not so soon and so universally received throughout the Christian Church as the rest of the Books were The Reason of which apparently was not That these Books contained any thing in them contrary to what was delivered it the other Books of the New Testament for he that reads the whole will plainly find that there is a very compleat Agreement between them the only seeming Discord of St. Paul's Justification by Faith and St. James's Justification by Works being exactly and fully reconciled by considering That St. Paul means no other Faith but such as worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. and St. James no other Works but such as proceed from Faith Jam. 2. 22. But because it was not at first universally known who were the Authors of them Which abundantly shews the Care and Caution of the Christian Church in not being hasty to receive and admit any Books as authentick Records of their Doctrine without very good Warrant for so doing And therefore since these same Books were in a very little time after received and owned to be of equal Authority with the rest of the New Testament I cannot but from thence conclude That those Churches which at the first doubted concerning those Books did soon receive most full and ample Satisfaction in that matter from those who had before received them I conclude therefore That the Book of the New Testament as it was extant in the Primitive Times in the Greek Tongue did contain a true Account of the Doctrine of Jesus XXIV That innumerable Copies of the New Testament were in a very little time dispersed through all places where Christianity was planted That it has heen at different times and in very distant places translated into all or almost all Languages And that Copies both of the Original and many of the several Translations have been preserved with much Care in a great many distant Parts of the World is allowed by all and denied by none From whence I think we may gather First That where the Generality of the Greek Copies of the New Testament do agree in the very same Words there we have undoubtedly the true and authentick Words of the New Testament For although some Mistakes might creep into some Copies either through the Wickedness or Negligence of some particular Men yet where so many Copies of a Book have been so carefully preserved and in such distant Parts of the World it is not to be imagined that the self-same Errour in any Expression should ever be propagated through the Generality of them Secondly That where the Words or Expressions of divers Greek Copies do differ one from another yet if the Sense and Meaning be exactly the same in all or almost all there we have certainly the true Sense and Meaning of the New Testament For it is easie to apprehend that a Transcriber might by a small Mistake put one Word or Expression of the same Signification in stead of another But that the same Sense should be punctually preserved in all or almost all Copies is not to be imagined except it were the true Sense delivered from the Beginning Thirdly That if there may be found any different Readings in divers Copies of the New Testament which disagree in Sense as well as in Words which scarce ever happens in any thing which is accounted a material Point of Religion then it seems to be most fit and proper to admit of that Reading and Sense which best agrees with the Tenour of the whole with the ancientest and best esteemed Translations and with the evident Principles of sound Reason And if any place be so obscure as that none of these Ways will afford any Light into its Meaning then I think that no stress ought to be laid upon it in any necessary part of Religion XXV But some will demand How are we sure of the Sense and Meaning even of those places of the New Testament where there is no difference about the Words In Answar to this I have already shewn § 21. that we are not to follow the Guidance of the Church of Rome to know the true Doctrine of Jesus Nor therefore consequently to know the true Meaning of the New Testament in which his Doctrine is owned to be contained I have shewn also § 22. That though general Tradition may be a good Help yet may it not always be a certain Rule to lead one to the unaltered Doctrine of Jesus nor therefore consequently to the true and genuine Interpretation of the New Testament Since therefore there is no other way to be found I conclude That the New Testament is to be interpreted the same way that other Books are that is by considering the Sense and Property of the Words and Sentences and the ordinary Figures of Speech as they are commonly used in the same Book and in others written in the same Language and about the same time together with the Scope Drift Coherence and Occasion of the Discourse To which End every Man that is learned being bound to use his best Endeavour to know the Will of God as I have shewn § 14. is obliged according to the measure of his Learning to consult
Tribunal of God and yet be very justly condemned by the Magistrate Thus for instance If a Man has committed Theft or Murther and upon a sincere and hearty Repentance has obtained the Pardon of his Sins from God yet nevertheless if such a Person be accused and legally convicted of such Crimes before the Civil Magistrate He not only may but ought to put the Law of the Land in Execution agninst him though he believes him to be ever so penitent That it may be a Terrour unto others For if this ought not to be done every Malefactor by a pretence of Repentance which cannot certainly be discovered by any but God might escape the Lash of the Law By which Means all wicked Men would be encouraged to commit all sorts of Crimes Thus also when the Children of Israel were commanded by God to conquer the Land of Canaan we read how they sent Spies to make a Discovery of the Land that they might the more easily invade it Now it is most certain that these Spies did nothing but what they had God Almighty's Warrant for and yet if they had been taken by any of the Canaanitish Magistrates and legally convicted of their Design Who doubts but that it had been lawful for them to have punished them according to the Law of War and the Law of Nations For it is none of the Magistrates Business to enquire who keeps or transgresses the Laws of God for the Law of God extends to many Cases where the Magistrate's Authority has nothing to do but they who transgress the Laws of the Land and thereby disturb the Peace of the Common-wealth are upon a due Conviction to be punished by the Magistrate without any farther Enquiry it being his Business to do every thing which appears to be necessary for the Preservation of the Weal-Publick provided that he does nothing which is contrary to the known Laws of God who is the supreme King and Lord of all XXXVI But Fifthly it will be objected That whatever becomes of the civil Magistrate's Power yet this Doctrine which here is taught must certainly defeat and cancel all that Authority with which the Church is endowed and invested For though the civil Magistrate has no more to look after but only the Peace and Preservation of the Common-Wealth yet surely it is the Duty of the Church to take Cognizance of those things which are committed merely against the Law of God But how can the Church call any Man to an Account for any Sin or Transgression when a Man may plead for himself That he thought it was his Duty which Plea if really true and who but God can disprove it is sufficient according to this Doctrine to justifie him before God and consequently to indemnifie him from all Censures of the Church To this I answer That the Authority of the Church i. e. of a Christian Society is twofold viz. Either that Authority wherewith it is invested immediately by God or that which is conferred on it by the civil Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom or Commonwealth The latter of these is a civil Authority though exercised by Ecclesiastical Persons because it is derived altogether from the civil Power And therefore the Consideration of it must be referred to what is but now said touching the civil Magistrate But as for that Authority which is given to the Church immediately by God it is evidently no more than this viz. An Authority to preach the Gospel and to perswade Men every where to receive it and an Authority to exclude those Men out of the Society that is out of the visible Communion of it who do not profess the true Christian Faith and live according to the Christian Law Other Authority than this does not appear to be given to the Church by God And nothing that I have said does in the least tend to abridge them any way as to the Exercise of this Power The Church may and ought to preach the Gospel and perswade men to embrace it And however any Man may be excused before God by invincible Ignorance yet he is not to be suffered in the visible Communion of the Church if he does not believe and live as a Christian XXXVII Sixthly it may be objected that I have several times in this Discourse made use of a Distinction which Distinction is nevertheless render'd altogether useless and impertinent by the main Design of the Discourse it self The Distinction is between necessary Matters of Religion and such as are not necessary which is referred to ◠26. and elsewhere But if no Man can be obliged in any Matter of Religion any farther than to do his best Endeavour from thence it must follow That all things are alike necessary in Religion For whatsoever is within a Man's Power according to this Doctrine is necessary for him and whatsoever is not within his Power is not necessary so that the very same thing may be necessary in Respect of one Man and not necessary in Respect of another which confounds the Distinction and renders it useless To this I answer That by things necessary I mean all such as it is a Sin for a Man to be ignorant of if the Knowledge of them be within his Power Such as are That Jesus is the Son of God That God is to be worshipped c. By things not necessary I mean Such as a Man is not obliged so much as to search after the lgnorance whereof shall not be accounted sinful before God although it might have been in a Man's Power to have known them Such are a great many curious Speculations which Divines do trouble themselves and the World with which they themselves do yet confess are not necessary to any Man's Salvation and consequently which a Man is no more obliged to trouble his Head with than with any Problems either in Geometry or Natural Philosophy XXXVIII Seventhly It may be objected That this Doctrine must needs encourage Men to continue in their Ignorance and not to take any Care or Pains to inform themselves concerning the Truth of Religion or any of the Duties of it For Why should a Man take any Pains to get more Knowledge which will it may be bring Trouble in the Practice of it when Ignorance is no manner of Bar to his Salvation For let him but live according to the Knowledge which he already has and God it seems requires no more from him To this I answer That for a Man to act according to the best of his Knowledge will not serve his turn except he has used his best Endeavour by all Means to know and understand the Will of God as perfectly as He can as I have shewn all Men are bound to do § 14. Which though it is a Comfort to those who are ignorant and cannot help it yet is no manner of Encouragement or Excuse for those whose Ignorance is their own Fault or Neglect XXXIX My Reason having thus brought me to embrace the Christian Religion
in Scripture as Joyned together in one Society or Body which is called the Church of which Christ Jesus is the chief or Head and under an obligation to live in communion and fellowship one with another under those Laws and Constitutions which Christ has given them but not that I can find in Scripture obliged to joyn with or submit to any one person as the Vicar of Christ and the visible Head of the Church upon Earth For if Christ had appointed any such person as his Deputy upon Earth he must either have declared a matter of such consequence with great plainness and evidence or else it would be very hard to find fault with any man for being mistaken in it Whereas the Arguments which those of the Church of Rome bring to prove either that such a Vicar there must be or that St. Peter the Apostle was the Man or that the Pope or Bishop of Rome and not the Bishop of Antioch is the Successour of St. Peter both in his Bishoprick and Authority are all so weak and precarious so forced and perplexed and so fully confuted by the Protestant Divines that nothing in my Opinion but Blindness of Understanding or worldly Interest can prevail with the Members of that Church still to insist upon them Now that Christ instituted but one Church in which all true Believers and good livers are for ever to be comprised is very plain And altho through the Mistakes and Perverseness of Man this Church is rent and divided into opposite and contending parts and parties yet this does not hinder but that according to its true and primitive Constitution it is or ought to be one as a Kingdom or Common-wealth by its Laws and Constitutions is but one Society altho there may arise Factions and different Interests in it nor shall any Man be esteemed as a Member of the Church before God who is not ready and willing according to the best of his power and knowledge to maintain the Unity of it and that upon those very Terms and none other which Christ has appointed as near as possibly he can find and apprehend them Moreover that all the Laws and Constitutions on which Christ has founded the Church and by which he would have it regulated are exactly agreeable unto the Rules of sound Morality and the Will of God cannot be so much as doubted and therefore it is truly said that the Church is Holy altho every particular Member thereof has both his frailties and his sins which yet he must repent of and so become holy as the Church is holy or else he violates one of the main and fundamental Laws and so becomes as it were an Out-law of the Church and forfeits his part in all the Privileges that belong unto that Society And whereas before the coming of Christ the People of Israel did enjoy more of the Favour of God and had greater privileges and advantages on the score of their being God's chosen and peculiar People than any or all other Nations of the World The Gospel of Christ on the contrary now looks upon all as equally entitled unto God's Favour and the advantages thereon depending who take care duly to qualifie themselves for it So that whereas formerly the Church that is the chosen People of God might have been said to be particular as being in a manner limited to one Nation or People now on the contrary it is Catholick that is to say universal as being no way confined to one place or Nation all People being equally chosen by God in Christ who will receive and love according to the Gospel 41. In those several Revelations which God was pleased to make of himself after the Fall of Man unto Adam to Abraham and to the People of Israel there was still a plain intimation given them that in the time to come there should an extraordinary Person arise in the World who should yet more clearly make known the Will of God to Mankind But when Christ who was That Person did accordingly come and send his Apostles to preach the Gospel over all the Earth he neither suggested to them nor they unto the World that any other Revelation was ever after to be expected But always gave them to understand that God had in the Gospel compleated and finished all that declaration which he intended to make of Himself or his Will unto Mankind until the general Judgment and Dissolution of the World If therefore the Holy Scripture had given me no manner of assurance of the perpetuity of the Church my own Reason would have been enough to make me conclude that God in his Providence will so order the matter as that the Christian Religion being the only known and ordinary means of eternal Salvation shall never be wholly extinguished while the World lasts so as to stand in need of any new Revelation to revive and restore it But that there shall always be a certain Company of Men evidently conspicuous to the World teaching and professing the true Christian Religion without any Errour or Corruption in Doctrine or Worship is what I can no where find promised or foretold either by Christ or any of his Apostles On the contrary there are several passages in the New Testament which do plainly seem to foretell that in process of time most pernicious Doctrines and practices should prevail and take place even amongst the generality of those who should profess themselves to be Disciples of Christ And whosoever shall but lightly compare the state of Christianity for several Centuries before the Reformation with that Draught of it which is left us by Christ and his Apostles in the Holy Scriptures must if he be impartial I think be fully convinced of the truth of those Predictions 42. Whether or no God has or does at any time communicate or bestow any extraordinary Grace or Assistance upon those who are no visible Members of the Church but altogether strangers unto that Revelation which he has made of himself is a question which the virtuous lives and heroick actions of some brave Heathens make it hard positively to determine in the negative But that he will give so much Grace and strength to every one who shall become a Member of Christ's Church as that thereby they may if the fault be not their own sufficiently qualifie themselves for eternal Happiness by the performance of those things which he requires on their part to be done is what I think no man can doubt of who does but in general consider the Mercy and Love which God designed even unto all men but more especially unto the Church in sending our Saviour Christ Jesus into the world altho there were not any particular Promises of this nature in the Gospel And that this Grace and ability to do good is in Scripture ascribed unto the Ministry and Influence of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts and minds of true Believers is plain and generally owned by all Christians But that this
is possible When therefore any religious Dispute arises whereby the Church's Peace and Unity is like to be endangered It is free and proper for Nor is there any thing which should hinder either the Church universal or any particular Church or even any prudent Men whatsoever to declare and publish their sense of the matter in debate But as no Man can be obliged to believe the Determination of any Church or party whatsoever any farther than he is convinced and satisfied of its agreement with Reason and the Holy Scriptures Part 2. § 1 and 2. so is not any Man bound to oppose or dispute even against an Error it self except there be something in it which is injurious to Christian Faith or practice and consequently which may prove pernicious to Men's Salvation And therefore if such a Mistake which may have prevailed in any Church cannot well be rectified without endangering the breach of Peace and Charity because they who hold it it may be are obstinately wedded to it I think it is the Duty of us all to be very tender in such a case and to permit every Man freely to abound in his own Sense until such time as God shall think fit to bring them to a clearer sight of the Truth And by no means to renounce the Communion of any Church on the account of any Error that is not damnable and much less on account only of such Terms or Expressions as are but abstruse or of doubtful signification For otherwise since the Apprehensions of Men are so very different especially in such things as being remote from our Senses are matter only of rational Speculation if Difference of Opinion upon such theological Questions as do not immediately concern our Salvation were a sufficient ground for Separation in point of Communion there would soon be probably almost as many Churches as Men in the World But if any Church shall require from a Man either to comply with or practise any thing which is not only against his Fancy in point of Decency or Convenience but also against his Conscience in point of Lawfulness or that he should not only be silent and not oppose but also explicitly profess the Belief of any such Doctrines as he judges to be false however innocent the Belief of them may be to them who think them true and if such a Church shall refuse and deny her Communion to all those who will not joyn with her upon these Terms We must rather be contented to be excluded from such a Church's Communion than to purchase it by solemnly telling a down right Lye before God and the World or by the violation of any other of God's Commands For if we offer to do Evil that Good may come of it St. Paul has declared us to be in a state of Damnation 65. For the due regulation of every Society it is necessary that it have a Power somewhere or other vested in it over its own Members either to compel them to live orderly according to its Laws and Constitutions or if any of them are disobedient and refractory and will not upon due admonition be reclaimed wholly to exclude them from the Body of the Community For otherwise if the Members of any Society may at their pleasure break its Constitutions and violate its Laws without control this would be wholly to pull down the Enclosure and lay all open and common as before and consequently in effect to dissolve the Society it self And accordingly our Saviour has given the Church a Power to admonish and rebuke those who give any scandal by their ungodly and unruly Behaviour and if upon this they do not repent and reform of rejecting and cutting them off from her Communion Which Authority must ever be exercised with due mildness and caution for the edification and not with heat and fury which in the end would more probably tend to the destruction of the Church But if any Church shall go beyond this to punish or persecute Men with Fire and Sword or with Fines and Imprisonment only for being of a different persuasion from and refusing to communicate with her In my Opinion she herein acts contrary to that Mildness and Gentleness which the Gospel upon all occasions prescribes and particularly in the case of dealing with those who oppose themselves to it 2 Tim. 2. 24. Altho at the same time it cannot be deâ—yed but that if any Man under the pretence of Conscience or Religion shall advance such Doctrines or do such acts as are destructive to the peace or safety of the civil State or Common-wealth the civil Magistrate may and ought to punish such a person according to the Laws of the Land notwithstanding all his pretences For if the Plea of Conscience the truth of which can only be known to Almighty God be sufficient to save any Malefactour from Punishment no civil Society can ever be safe and all humane Laws and Magistrates would be wholly useless See Part 1. § 35. 66 And as Almighty God in his Mercy is pleased not to cut the greatest sinners off from all hopes of pardon but is ready at any time upon their true and sincere Repentance to receive them again into his Favour so has he committed unto the Church the ministry of Reconciliation which Church therefore accordingly ought not only to endeavour to bring sinners to Repentance by Preaching Admonition and Exhortation but also wherever she sees evident Marks and Tokens of it in any person of which yet there ought to be good assurance for his greater comfort and ease of Conscience to remit or absolve him from his sins and restore him again to the benefit and privilege of Christian Communion of which I suppose that he has or ought to have been deprived And whatever Sentence of thus binding or loosing remitting or retaining of Men's sins is duly and regularly pronounced by the Church upon Earth our Saviour assures us it shall be ratified and confirmed by God in Heaven But that a Man is obliged to make a particular Confession of all his sins unto any other person except God in order to obtain the Pardon of or Absolution from them as I no where find it asserted in the Holy Scripture so the reason which the Roman Divines do allege for it is very weak and unconcluding For it is not the particular Confession of a Man's sins which may be performed by the most hardened impenitent but his Contrition and the visible reformation of his life which may sufficiently appear without a particular Confession that only can enable the Church or her Ministers to judge whether he truly repents of his sins or not and consequently whether he be a proper Object of God's Mercy and the Church's Favour Altho I deny not but that in some cases it may be very proper for a Man to make known the diseases of his Soul to a prudent Spiritual Physician that he may have his advice for the cure of them And his Duty also