to any thing as reveal'd by God cannot be deceiv'd upon supposition that it is so reveal'd or else absolutely that whoever assents to any thing as reveal'd by God cannot be deceiv'd Now although I do not in the Passage forecited speak one syllable concerning Doctrines reveal'd by God yet I affirm and so will any man else that an assent to any Doctrine as revealed by God if it be reveal'd by him is impossible to be false But this is onely an infallibility upon supposition which amounts to no more than this That if a thing be true it is impossible to be false And yet the principal design of Mr. S's Book is to prove this which I believe no man in the world was ever so senseless as to deny But if he mean absolutely that whoever assents to any Doctrine as reveal'd by God cannot be deceiv'd that is that no man can be mistaken about matters of Faith as he must mean if he pretend to have any adversary and do not fight onely with his own shadow this I confess is a very comfortable assertion but I am much afraid it is not true Or else lastly By Faith he understands the Means and Motives of Faith And then the plain state of the controversie between us is this Whether it be necessary to a Christian belief to be infallibly secur'd of the means whereby the Christian Doctrine is convey'd to us and of the firmness of the Motives upon which our belief of it is grounded This indeed is something to the purpose for though in the passage before-cited I say not one word concerning the Motives of our Belief of the Christian Doctrine yet my discourse there was intended to be apply'd to the means whereby the knowledge of this Doctrine is convey'd to us However I am contented to joyn issue with Mr. S. upon both these Points 1. That it is not necessary to the true nature of Faith that the Motives upon which any man believes the Christian Doctrine should be absolutely conclusive and impossible to be false That it is necessary Mr. S. several times affirms in his Book but how unreasonably appears from certain and daily experience Very many Christians such as St. Austin speaks of as sav'd not by the quickness of their understandings but the simplicity of their belief do believe the Christian Doctrine upon incompetent grounds and their belief is true though the argument upon which they ground it be not as Mr. S. says absolutely conclusive of the thing And he that thus believes the Christian Doctrine if he adhere to it and live accordingly shall undoubtedly be sav'd and yet I hope Mr. S. will not say that any man shall be saved without true Faith I might add that in this Assertion Mr. S. is plainly contradicted by those of his own Church For they generally grant that General Councils though they be infallible in their Definitions and Conclusions yet are not always so in their Arguments and reasonings about them And the Guide of Controversies * P. 35. expresly says that it is not necessary that a Divine Faith should always have an external rationally infallible ground or motive thereto whether Church Authority or any other on his part that so believes Here is a man of their own Church avowing this Position that Faith is possible to be false I desire Mr. S. who is the very Rule of Controversie to do justice upon this false Guide I must acknowledge that Mr. S. attempts to prove this Assertion and that by a very pleasant and surprizing Argument which is this The profound Mysteries oâ— Faith he tells us †Faith vind p. 9â— must needs seem to some viz. those who have no light but their pure natural Reason †P. 89. as he said before impossible to be true which therefore notâ—ing but a Motive of its own nature seemingly impossible to be false can conquer so as to make them conceit them really true What Mr. S. here means by a Motive of its own nature seeming impossible to be false I cannot divine unless he means a real seeming impossibility But be that as it will does Mr. S. in good earnest believe that a Motive of its own nature seeming impossible to be false is sufficient to convince any man that has and uses the light of natural Reason of the truth of a thing which must needs seem to him impossible to be true In my opinion these two seeming impossibilities are so equally matched that it must needs be a drawn Battle between them Suppose the thing to be believed be Transubstantiation this indeed is a very profound Mystery and is to speak in Mr. S's phrase of its own nature so seemingly impossible that I know no argument in the world strong enough to cope with it And I challenge Mr. S. to instance in any Motive of Faith which is both to our understanding and our senses more plainly impossible to be false than their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is evidently impossible to be true And if he cannot how can he reasonably expect that any man in the World should believe it 2. That it is not necessary to the true nature of Faith that we should be infallibly secur'd of the means whereby the Christian Doctrine is convey'd to us particularly of the Antiquity and Authority of the Books of Scripture and that the expressions in it cannot possibly bear any other sense And these are the very things I instance in in the passage so often mention'd And to these Mr. S. ought to have spoken if he intended to have confuted that passage But he was resolv'd not to speak distinctly knowing his best play to be in the dark and that all his safety lay in the confusion and obscurity of his talk Now that to have an infallible security in these particulars is not necessary to the true nature of Faith is evident upon these two accounts because Faith may be without this infallible security and because in the particulars mention'd it is impossible to be had 1. Because Faith may be without this infallible security He that is so assur'd of the Antiquity and Authority of the Books of Scripture and of the sense of those Texts wherein the Doctrines of Christianity are plainly delivered as to see no just cause to doubt thereof may really assent to those Doctrines trines though he have no infallible security And an assent so grounded I affirm to have the true nature of Faith For what degree of assent and what security of the Means which convey to us the knowledge of Christianity are necessary to the true nature of Faith is to be estimated from the end of Faith which is the salvation of mens souls And whoever is so assur'd of the authority and sense of Scripture as to believe the Doctrine of it and to live accordingly shall be saved And surely such a belief as will save a man hath the true nature of Faith though it be not infallible And if God have sufficiently
out-cry of all is p. 57 77. that I abuse his first Demonstration by vertue of a direct falsification both of his words and sense by cogging in the word all making his principle run thus that the greatest hopes and fears are applied to the minds of all Christians This indeed I make to be his Principle grounded upon his words which I had cited a little before and they are these First That Christian Doctrine was at first unanimously settled by the Apostles in the hearts of the faithfull dispers'd in great multitudes over several parts of the world 2ly That this Doctrine was firmly believed by all those faithfull to be the way to Heaven and the contradicting or deserting of it to be the way to damnation so that the greatest hopes and fears imaginable were by engaging the divine Authority strongly apply'd to the minds of the first Believers c. Now if these first believers to whom he says these hopes and fears were strongly apply'd be all those faithfull he spoke of before which were dispers'd over several parts of the world as the tenor of his words plainly shews what are these less than all the Christians of that Age and he himself a little after tells us there is the same reason of the following Ages So that I made his Principle run no otherwise than he himself had laid it And if it contradict what he says elsewhere it is no new or strange thing I wonder more at his confidence in charging such falsifications upon me as every man's eyes will presently confute him in Methinks though a man had all Science and all Principles yet it might not be amiss to have some Conscience I shall only speak a few words to the two solid Points as I may call them of his Letter and I have done I had charg'd him that he makes Traditions certainty a first and self-evident Principle and yet that he goes about to demonstrate it which I said was impossible to be done and if it could be done was needless To avoid this inconvenience which he found himself sorely press'd with all he distinguishes between Speculative and Practical self-evidence and says that things which are practically self-evident may be demonstrated but those that are speculatively so cannot But he must not think to shelter himself from so palpable an absurdity by this impertinent distinction For let things be evident how they will speculatively or practically 't is plain that if they be Principles evident of themselves they need nothing to evidence them and if they be first Principles there can be nothing to make them more evident because there is nothing before them to demonstrate them by Now if Mr. S. had in truth believed that the certainty of Tradition was a first and self-evident Principle he should by all means have let it alone for it was in a very good condition to shift for it self but his blind way of Demonstration is enough to cast a mist about the clearest Truth in the world But perhaps by the self-evident certainty of Tradition Mr. S. onely means that it is evident to himself for I dare say it is so to no body else And if that be his meaning he did well enough to endeavour to demonstrate it it was no more than needed The other Point is about his First Principles such as these a Rule is a Rule Faith is Faith c. which he says †P. 11. must principle all that can be solidly concluded either about Rule or Faith Of these he hath mighty store and blesseth himself in it as the Rich man in the Gospel did in his full Barns Soul take thine ease thou hast Principles laid up for many years and out of an excess of good nature pities my case who did undertake to write a Discourse about the Ground of Faith P. 74. without so much as one Principle to bless my self with But the mischief is that after all this stir about them they are good for nothing and of the very same stamp with that frivolous one Aristotle speaks of if a thing be it is Analyt Poster l. 1 which he rejects as a vain and ridiculous Proposition Such are Mr. S's first Principles surfeited of too much truth as an ingenious Writer of his own Church says of them and ready to burst with self-evidence and yet by ten thousand of them a man shall not be able to advance one step in knowledge because they produce no conclusion but themselves whereas it is of the nature of Principles to yeild a Conclusion different from themselves And to convince Mr. S. fully of the foolery of these Principles I will try what can be done with them either in a Categorical or Hypothetical Syllogism e. g. A Rule is a Rule Tradition is a Rule Ergo Tradition is a Rule Again If a Rule be a Rule then a Rule is a Rule But a Rule is a Rule Ergo. How is any man the wiser for all this But it may be Mr. S. can make better work with them and manage them more dextrously so as to principle any thing that can be solidly concluded in any Controversie And now I hope at last to have given Mr. S. full satisfaction since he has brought me to the very point he desir'd to acknowledge that I have no Principles And indeed if there be no other to be had but such as these I do declare to all the world that I neither have any Principles nor will have any The Texts of each Sermon JOB 28.28 And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisedom and to depart from evil is understanding page 1 2 Pet. 3.3 Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own lusts p. 101 Prov. 14.34 Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is the reproach of any people p. 129 Psalm 19.11 And in keeping of them there is great reward p. 151 Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. p. 179 1 Joh. 5.3 And his Commandments are not grievous p. 213 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity p. 243 Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven p. 273 JOB XXVIII 28. And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding IN this Chapter Job discourseth of the secrets of nature and the unsearchable perfections of the works of God And the result of his discourse is this That a perfect knowledge of Nature is no where to be found but in the Author of it no less wisdom and understanding than that which made the world and contrived this vast and regular frame of Nature can throughly understand the Philosophy of it and comprehend so vast a design But yet there is a knowledge which is very proper to man and lies level to humane understanding and that is
or not which a testimony from God does suppose and therefore ought not to be brought for the proof of it 'T is true indeed that those effects of Divine Power I mean miracles which will prove a divine testimony to an infidel will as well prove the being of a God to an Atheist But when we dispute against those who deny a God no testimony ought to be presum'd to be from God but must be prov'd to be so And whatever argument proves that will also prove that there is a God Humane testimonies are of two sorts universal tradition and written History Both these are plainly and beyond dispute on our side First There is an universal tradition concerning the beginning of the world and that it was made by God And for the evidence of this we have the concurring Tradition of the most ancient Nations the Egyptians and Phoenicians * Vide Gâ—â—t de verit Chr Relig. L. 1. and of the most barbarous the Indians who as Strabo †Geograph L. 15. tells us did in many things agree with the Grecians particularly in this that the world did begin and should have an end and that God the maker and governour of it is present in all parts of it And Acosta tells us that at the first discovery of America the inhabitants of Peru did worship one chief God under the name or title of The Maker of the Vniverse And yet these people had not had any commerce with the other known parts of the world for God knows how many ages To which may be added that the most ancient of the Philosophers and those that were the heads of the chief Sects of Philosophy as Thales Anaxagoras and Pythagoras did likewise consent to this Tradition Particularly concerning Thales Tully * De Nat. Deorum L. 1. tells us that he was the first of all the Philosophers that enquired into these things and he said that water was the beginning of all things and that God was that mind or intelligent Principle which fashion'd all things out of water So likewise Strabo * Georg. L. 15. informs us that the Brachmans the chief Sect of Philosophers among the Indians agreed with the Grecians in this That the world was made of water Which agrees exactly with Moses's account of the Creation viz. That the Spirie of God moved upon the face of waters which St. Peter * 2 Pet. 3.5 expresses thus That by the word of God the heavens and the earth for so the Hebrews call the world wert of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constituted or made of water not standing out of the water as our Translation renders it Nay Aristotle * Metaph. L. 1. c. 3. himself who was the great asserter of the eternity of the world gives this account why the Gods were anciently represented by the Heathens as swearing by the lake Styx because water was supposed to be the principle of all things And this he tells us was the most ancient opinion concerning the original of the world and that the very oldest Writers of Theology and those who liv'd at the greatest distance from his time were of this mind And in the Book de Mundo * Cap. 6. it is freely acknowledg'd to have been an ancient saying and a general Tradition among all men That all things are of God and were made by him I will conclude this with that full Testimony of Maximus Tyrius * Dissertat 1. to this purpose However says he men may differ in other things yet they all agree in this Law or Principle that there is one God King and Father of all things c. This the Greeks say this the Barbarians this those that live upon the Continent and those that dwell by the Sea the wise and the unwise Secondly We have likewise a most ancient and credible History of the beginning of the world I mean the History of Moses with which no Book in the world in point of antiquity can contend I shall not now go about to strengthen my argument by pleading the Divine authority of this Book for which yet I could offer good evidence if that were proper to the matter hand It is sufficient to my present purpose that Moses have the ordinary credit of an Historian given him which none in reason can deny him he being cited by the most ancient of the Heathen Historians and the antiquity of his writings never questioned by any of them as Josephus * L. 1. contra Appion assures us Now this History of Moses gives us a particular account of the beginning of the world and of the creation of it by God Which assertion of his is agreeable to the most ancient Writers among the Heathen whether Poets or Historians And several of the main parts of Moses's History as concerning the Floud and the first Fathers of the several Nations of the World of which he gives a particular account Gen. 10. do very well accord with the most ancient accounts of Prophane History And I do not know whether any thing ought more to recommend the Writings of Moses to a humane belief than the easie and credible account which he gives of the original of the World and of the first peopling of it As to the account of ancient times both the Aegyptian and Chaldean accounts which are pretended by some to be so vastly different from that of the Scriptures may for all that be near the matter easily reconcil'd with it * Vide Dr. Stillingsleet's Orig. Sac. where this is fully made out if we do but admit what Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch very credible persons and diligent searchers into ancient Books do most expresly assure us viz. that both those Nations did anciently reckon months for years And the account of the Chineses is not hard to be reconcil'd with that of the Septuagint Now in so nice and obscure a matter as the account of ancient times is it ought to satisfie any fair and reasonable enquirer if they can be brought any whit near one another So that universal Tradition and the most ancient History in the world are clearly on our side And if they be one can hardly wish a more convincing argument For if the world and consequently mankind had a beginning there is all the reason in the world to expect these two things First that there should be an universal Tradition concerning this matter because it was the most memorable thing that could be transmitted to posterity And this was easie to be done if mankind sprang from one common root and originalâ— from whence this Tradition would naturally be universally diffus'd Secondly it may with the same reason be expected that so remarkable a thing should be recorded in the most ancient History Now both these have accordingly happened But then on the other hand if the world was eternal and had no beginning there could be no real ground for such a Tradition or History And if such a Tradition
also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel c. And yet he tells us he was contented to forgoe all these advantages for Christ and the Christian Religion v. 7. But what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ And not onely these but if there were any thing else that men value in this world he was willing to hazard that also upon the same account v. 8. Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. In which words the Apostle declares the high esteem he had for the Christian Religion which he calls the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord the excellency whereof appear'd so great to him that he valued nothing in comparison of the advantages which he had by the knowledge of it My design at this time from this Text is to represent the excellency of this knowledge of the Christian Religion above that of any other Religion or Institution in the world And here I shall not consider the external evidence which we have of the truth of Christianity and of the Divinity of its doctrine in which respect it hath incomparably the advantage of any other Religion but onely the internal excellencies of the Doctrine it self abstracting from the Divine authority of it And that in these four respects First As it does more clearly reveal to us the nature of God which is the great foundation of all Religion Secondly As it give us a more certain and perfect Law for the government of our lives Thirdly As it propounds to us more powerfull Arguments to perswade men to the obedience of this Law Fourthly As it furnishes us with better motives and considerations to patience and contentedness under the evils and afflictions of this life Now these are the greatest advantages that any Religion can have To give men right apprehensions of God a perfect rule of good â—ife and efficacious arguments to perswade men to be good and patiently to bear the evils and sufferings of this life And these shall be the heads of my following discourse I. The Christian Religion doth more clearly reveal to us the nature of God than any Religion ever did And to have right apprehensions of God is the great foundation of all Religion For according as mens notions of God are such will their Religion be If men have gross and false conceptions of God their Religion will be absurd and superstitious If men fancy God to be an ill-natur'd Being arm'd with infinite power one that delights in the misery and ruine of his creatures and is ready to take all advantages against them they may fear him but they will bate him and they will be apt to be such towards one another as they fancy God to be towards them for all Religion doth naturally incline men to imitate him whom they worship Now the Christian Religion gives us a more perfect and a more lovely character of God than any Religion ever did It represents him to us as a pure spirit which the Heathens did not generally believe and that he is to be worship'd in such a manner as is most suitable to his spiritual nature which not onely the Heathens but even the Jews themselves were extremely mistaken about God is a spirit says our Saviour and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth It is true indeed God himself did command sacrifices to the Jews and all those external and troublesome observances of which their Religion did consist But then it is to be consider'd that he did not institute this way of Worship because it was most suitable to his own nature but because of the carnality of their hearts and the proneness of that people to Idolatry God did not prescribe these things because they were best but because the temper of that People would then admit of nothing better And this the Scripture gives us several intimations of Psal 51.16 Thou desirest not sacrifice thou delightest not in burnt-offerings saith David And elsewhere more expresly to this purpose I spake not unto your Fathers says God by the prophet Jeremiah nor commanded them in the day that I brought them forth out of the Land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices but this thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice A sufficient intimation that God did not primarily intend to appoint this way of worship and to impose it upon them as that which was most proper and agreeable to him but that he condescended to it as most accommodate to their present state and inclination And in this sense also some understand what God says to the same people by the Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 20.25 that he gave them statutes that were not good And as the Christian Religion gives a more perfect so a more amiable and lovely character of the Divine nature No Religion that ever was in the world does so fully represent the goodness of God and his tender love to mankind which is the best and most powerfull argument to the love of God The Heathens did generally dread God and looked upon him as fierce and cruel and revengefull and therefore they endeavoured to appease him by the horrid and barbarous sacrifices of men and of their own children And all along in the Old Testament God is generally represented as very strict and severe But there are no where so plain and full declarations of his mercy and love to the sons of men as are made in the Gospel In the Old Testament God is usually styl'd the Lord of Hosts the great and the terrible God But in the New Testament he is represented to us by milder titles the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all consolations the God of all patience the God of love and peace nay he is said to be love it self and to dwell in love And this difference between the style of the Old and New Testament is so remarkable that one of the greatest Sects in the Primitive Church I mean that of the Gnosticks did upon this very ground found their heresie of two Gods the one evil and fierce and cruel whom they call'd the God of the Old Testament the other good and kind and mercifull whom they call'd the God of the New So great a difference is there between the representations which are made of God in the Books of the Jewish and the Christian Religion as to give at least some colour and pretence for an imagination of two Gods II. Christian Religion hath given us a more certain and perfect Law for the government of our lives It hath made our duty more plain and certain in many instances than either the Philosophy of the Heathen or the precepts of Moses had done It commands universal love and kindness and good