will yet remain in our selves and our very travail becomes our punishment till at last we die and perish in a Wilderness which becomes the enterance to greater darkness Alas the Christian Religion though much debauched by the corrupt intermixtures and disgraced by the vicious lives of men is not now to be revealed to the world nor are its Records so hidden or lost that the Principles of it are no where to be found nor are men yet so blockish and unlearned that they cannot read so as to understand them If men were so blind those that are as blind might lead them into the ditch But the principles of Christianity besides what was revealed in the Old Testament are now above sixteen hundred years standing and have been handed down from age to age with their original records And therefore this Religion becomes matter of fact not invention And all the question must now be What was at first delivered The wise and grave reason of men must not controll the Wisdom of God nor make another thing of that which God sent his Son to declare to the World and has been conveyed to us with as great a certainty as any thing antecedent to the time we live in We are not now by discourse or inspiration to make to our selves another Gospel under the notion or pretence of the old This is not a thing subject to the Maxims of every squirting and half-witted Philosopher nor to be moulded according to the intrigues and designs of a subtle and projecting Statesman It is not to be spued out of the mouth of the Leviathan nor cunningly to be fleered out of the Works of Plato nor blended with any Doctrines of Epicurus that may prepare men for an indulgence to their vice or perswade them to disbelieve some of the greatest and most substantial points of Christianity Our Religion is now too old to be made new nor must we model that which has run through so many Ages by any tricks or devices of our own nor must it be servant to any mens ambition as if their secular interest or opinion were to be their guide or phancy putting on the name and garb of conscience were to be a Rule for such as call themselves Christians To the Law and to the Testimony sayes the Prophet if any speak not according to this rule it is because they have no light in them Isa 8.20 And we have a more sure word of Prophecy sayes S. Peter Epist 2. Chap 1. ver 19. whereunto you do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place If we forsake therefore the tryal of the Doctrines and Pretences of men by the Scriptures which rightly understood are our only safe Rule we have no way to distinguish a bold pretender from him who is inspired from above If such persons were now to be expected after the Canon of Scripture the Rule for mens lives have been so long ago compleated For by inclining to believe any new revelation beyond the Scripture we suppose that an insufficient Rule the sufficiency of which true English Church Protestants have alwayes defended with success And if the revelation be contrary unto it it makes that Spirit that dictated the first a lyar if the latter be received and supposed true But grant what men of such an easie belief and such speedy resolutions that admit of as speedy changes would without any proof have yielded to them Yet I would fain know how men in their circumstances are able any way to satisfie themselves concerning the proposition which they pretend to be inspired in and thereby authorized to deliver unto others I am afraid confidence will be their only argument to recommend it to others and opinion interest and a strong presumption or what is worse Atheism and Knavery to themselves For 1. supposing the Spirit of God in its Dictates unto men alwayes uniform and consistent with it self how can there be different inspirations to prescribe various Rules opposite to each other at the same time for men to guide their belief and conversations The Apostle tells us that as there is but one God and one Lord with undoubted authority over the whole World so there is but one Spirit to influence the minds of men one Baptism that enters them into the Church of Christ and but one Faith to be embraced by them And therefore the Church is but one Body Eph. 4.4 5 6. How then can we reasonably admit the pretence of any mans inspiration that avers he speaks from the Dictates of the Spirit which is within him to publish any Rules of Religion different from what we have received before And if such a pretender means only his own Spirit the soul which acts within the body we can understand no more than his judgement and opinion Though phrases by such canting are rendered equivocal to startle the infirm but are foreign to our purpose when reflected on by considering men We well know that the design of Christianity was to unite the World under one profession and in religious affairs to subject it to the same rules of life How then can any with Religion or modesty pretend another inspiration for new directions when the former if they were ever true are sufficiently in the New Testament declared to be perpetual and obligatory till Christs coming to judgement when he shall pass sentence upon the whole World and deliver us into our everlasting states no less than his Mediatory Kingdom back unto the Father These are such inconsistent things that none but mad men can now expect any inspirations to deliver new Doctrines to the World 2. I would fain learn of any bold man that publishes under a pretence of inspiration new Doctrines different from the old how he knows himself to be inspired We find those that were formerly so besides some certain token to themselves which neither we nor our pretenders can now give a certain account of though we may some probable conjectures could work Miracles for the settlement of belief both in themselves and others But no such things appear now though lying wonders are published to the World carrying only the testimony of those that invent the story or others that are hired to sacrifice the truth to the confidence of an impostor and therefore one would think such things as these should at the utmost only deceive the simple whilst they that ensnare them having other designs beyond their reach vent what they do not believe themselves that they may accomplish their own carnal ends by the religious easiness and simplicity of others For upon the view of those various Sects visible either abroad or among our selves that any way pretend to be inspired to what they deliver to others we find them publishing by this authority doctrines to be believed and Rules of life quite different nay opposite to one another and pursue each other according to the advantages they receive with a greater eagerness and hotter
they might be sure to divide the Word aright and Glorious like the streams of Fire not only to represent the Majesty and Divinity of the Holy Ghost or to signifie the clearness and perspicuity of the Gospel but to enflame the zeal and warm the devotion of these Apostles Nay they were both Fiery and Cloven that their zeal might not be divorced from knowledge but one might administer to the other and both to him who influenced them with this Spirit This made them at once the admiration and envy of the World This made their Doctrine glorious and triumphant and confirmed it with Miracles beyond the force of malice and contradiction This caused the Church to spring from the Blood of Martyrs made it live in the midst of spight and flourish on the tops of Crosses and Gibbets to shine gloriously in the midst of flames and triumph over death it self though its members were killed all the day long This gave the Apostles the prevision of those things which in our Saviours life they were not able to bear at the same time giving them a prospect of their misery and their comforts too This brought to their remembrance what their Master had before taught them and inspired them to the instruction of others that they might build the Christian Church upon that Corner-Stone which though rejected of men was in it self elect and precious Thirdly The Holy Spirit came also upon the hearts of believers The Samaritans that believed received the Holy Ghost Acts 8.17 and whilst S. Peter was preaching occasion'd by the conversion of Cornelius the Holy Ghost fell on those that heard him Acts 10.44 And though as to those glorious effects of that power which at first was frequent in working Miracles and inspiring men to speak divers languages for the proof and early propagation of the Gospel it now withdraws its force and operation yet it still continues that necessary influence which impresses the minds of devout men and assists them in the performance of their duty and arms them with patience and resolution This Doctrine of the Spirits working upon the minds of men is too frequently contradicted even by such as seem to want the assistance of some strength superiour to their own whilst to avoid one Rock they run upon another To escape that Enthusiasm which has too much disturb'd the World and led men into darkness and error they reject the conduct of Gods Holy Spirit when he would lead them into the way of truth Men are so cautious lest they should infringe the uncontroulable liberty of their own wills that they intrench upon the Divine Providence and endeavour to bind their God in chains that he may sit fast in Heaven to very little purpose If there were no such thing as a Divine influence and benediction from above to what purpose would our prayers be Why should we petition for those things which we are assured we shall never receive Or how can any pray in faith for what they believe will never come We mock our Maker to his very face when we say Turn thou us O good Lord and so shall we be turned if God has no hand in the conversion of a sinner and it would be prophane and ridiculous to pray for the being or increase of grace if God did not influence our minds Nay he that rejects this principle boldly pleads the cause of Epicurus against Christ and the Philosophy of an Heathen countermands the Divinity of a Christian For how can God rule the world exercise his Empire over the Powers of the Earth how can he controll the purposes of men and rebuke their actions when they contradict the counsels of his Will and the designs of his Providence if he does not immediately influence their wills as well as propose objects to their senses I know we are too apt to disbelieve those things which we do not fully understand and to expunge that out of our Creed which is not plainly evident to our reason But can it appear to be just and equal to reject a Being because we understand not the manner of its existence Or to deny such effects as we see because we have not a view of the Cause which is invisible If so then farewel the sublimest Articles of the Christian Faith And not only so but the first Principle of all Religion the Being of a God which no mortal eye ever saw nor can a finite Being frame a compleat Idea of him Shall I deny the Creation of the World because I know not the manner of its Makers operation when he sent forth his Fiat Nor how so rare a Systeme of things could be produced out of nothing pre-existent Must I reject Spirits because I cannot see them or all the operations of immaterial Beings upon the corporeal substances of this World because motion amongst bodies is made by contact and I cannot apprehend how a Spirit can work upon a body when none but bodies can touch one another Who can tell how our souls work upon our bodies And yet none is so senceless as to deny it Nay who can describe the manner of our souls union to our bodies And yet no man will refuse to own the thing or will any one deny the parts of bodies to be united to each other because the term of their union was never yet so fully resolved as to baffle all objections to the contrary Why should we then doubt of the holy Spirits influencing the minds of men because the manner of operation is intricate and inexplicable When we find it by the independence of our thoughts and those good suggestions crowded into the midst of some evil contrivances where no other reason can be given of them but that they are injected from above that we may fully convince our selves by our own experience that God works by his Spirit and concurs with the motions of rational beings when they incline to comply with his operations The wind bloweth where it listeth sayes our Saviour and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit John 3.8 We all believe that the wind blows when it becomes obvious to our senses And yet the causes of these different winds and the reason of this swift motion of the Air have puzled the wisest and most inquisitive Philosophers God is therefore said by the Prophet to bring the winds out of his treasures Jer. 51.16 And in the Book of Job we find that they break out of the chamber and secret places So we discern the fruits and effects of the Spirit though we cannot account for the manner of producing them And therefore 't is not unreasonable to believe the influence of Gods Spirit upon the minds of men For 1. 'T is possible 2. Necessary 3. From the Scripture infallibility certain First The operation of the Holy Ghost upon the souls of men is possible Our Saviour to rebuke the
value of things before we receive them that counterfeit coin may not claim the same priviledge with what is instamp'd with Caesar's Image nor an enterance opened for the Pope of Rome riding in a Kirk born on the backs of those that know not what they carry that they may bring Popery in triumph to us like the Grecians lodged in the belly of that Wooden and insensible Horse that entred Troy and sacked the City and so gain'd that by an easie strategem which ten years siege could not effect For these and such like reasons if men will now hearken to any I have chosen this Subject to Discourse on that if possible we may separate the chaff from the wheat distinguish betwixt the Doctrines of Apostles and those of Devils and mark out the Spirit of Antichrist that it may be known from that of our Saviour that names may no longer confound things nor Satan be received by any of us though he transforms himself into an Angel of light lest we mistake that for Samuel in his Mantle which only the Witch of Endor raises And therefore let us not believe every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone into the world And from these words I shall raise my Discourse In this Epistle S. John endeavours to confirm Christians in the profession and practice of the Christian Religion notwithstanding all Objections to the contrary and therfore gives them sufficient caution to beware 1. Of such Heresies as destroy the foundation such as interfer'd with the great Doctrines and Authority of the Messiah such as under some great pretences of purity and preciseness might introduce Factions and Schisms and dissolve that strict love and union which ought to be among the Professors of the Gospel These things some were prone unto in the first and early times of Christianity As soon as the Church had put forth leaves the Caterpillars were ready to devour them 2. Because the Church of Christ was planted in the midst of Jewish Superstition and Heathen Idolatry and a Sect was now sprung up in the world that under the names of Christians had provided Principles which in times of danger might equally suit with both or either and so could shelter themselves from one storm and raise another if the wind blew from either quarter The Apostle therefore bids men to beware of Idolatry this being a plain renunciation of their Religion as Heresie would both maim and wound it Little children sayes he keep your selves from Idols and what he closes his Epistle with is what we all close our prayers with And that we may be also delivered from the insinuations or Society of both these sorts let all the people say Amen From the consideration of this design of our Apostle we may plainly see how suitable this whole Epistle is to the present humours and distractions among us and how soon were the advice imbraced it would cure us of those languishing distempers under which we seem to faint and die The extremities of disease vex and torture us and no sooner have we got off a cold fit which makes us almost shake and shiver into ashes but the hot one comes on which fires and almost is ready to consume us Nay a strange mixture of both encounter us rather than we shall recover and live and those things which the vigour and strength of our constitution is able to baffle whilst separate and apart being conjoined create a new disease which troubles the Physician and puts him to the utmost of his skill though I hope it will never be able to baffle him or leave us to be a prey to vermine or the great disease and pest of men Let us follow the rules of this Apostle that what ever injuries our bodies may suffer which in too many are Martyrs already by the great fears and uncertainties of their minds our souls may be safe and secure and kept unblameable to the coming of the Lord Jesus Let us be united in our common profession not staggered with the high pretences of others nor let us yet relax our diligence from the discourses of any that will at all adventures be secure among our selves But whatever notions of infallibility on the one hand or present and particular inspiration on the other shall be presented to us to debauch us from our Principles Let us well examine before we believe receive nothing that may contradict natural Religion or what is superadded in the word of God that publick and plainly declared revelation to which there need no additions to make the man of God wise unto salvation But let us follow the Apostles advice and try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world By the word Spirit here is plainly meant any one that under a pretence of Inspiration or assistance from the Spirit publishes any new Doctrine to the world in the age of the Gospel and so includes both Papists and Enthusiasts The one tying the Spirit to the Chair of the Pope the other to their own Dreams and Phancies And this interpretation as it is generally assented to is plain and open to every man that will either consider the scope of the Epistle or the reason of this advice of the Apostle why we should not believe every Spirit because many false Prophets are come forth into the world and therefore we are to examine the Doctrines which any pretender to the Spirit teaches lest we are led by the authority of any into snares that may captivate and destroy our souls Now although this caution of Saint John primarily relates to the Gnostick defection yet it is a direction to all Ages and may guard us from all the pretensions of men that under a specious authority from the Spirit of truth vent false Doctrines to the World in any period of the Christian Religion Because both the Duty and the Argument to inforce it will be of a perpetual concernment as long as false Prophets come forth into the world Yet because the Gnosticks are most immediately reflected on as being the Antichrist so early appearing in the Christian world to defeat this Religion under a denomination from it boasting some extraordinary knowledge when they were men both ignorant and vile we must enquire into the particular reason why the Apostle in this place cautions men to beware of these whose faults were so scandalous that they seem manifest to all The reason of this next to that which is more general the proneness of men to any error that may gratifie themselves and become either their security or pleasure is the same why the sin against the Holy Ghost shall neither be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come because the Gnosticks plainly destroyed the Gospel although by a different Argument from the former The former against whom that severe though deserved Sentence was pronounced invalidated all our Saviours Miracles which proved
have been need of any standing Rule so the Apostle would not have commended these Jews for comparing the New Testament with the Old nor for searching the Scriptures to know whether the Apostles Doctrine was true since he came to preach by virtue of inspiration Fourthly 'T is our duty to try the Spirits that is to examine the Doctrines and Opinions of those who pretend to be guided and acted by the Spirit Because there are several advantages that accrew to men by a diligent examination of these things As 1. It is the only way to avoid the insinuations of those who under this pretence captivate and enslave the affections of many leading them into a false Religion and deceiving them of the priviledges and rewards of the Gospel And so their peace and happiness is dissolved here and they purchase eternal misery hereafter The taking away this liberty of enquiring from men is what supports the Church of Rome when having deprived men of their sight they lead them which way they please and spirit them into the chambers of death when they think they are going to the land of the living This is what causes many to believe the Priests gain to be their own godliness whilst ignorance begets a strange devotion and instead of being lead by the Spirit of God they are hurried away by that of delusion And then Egypt or a Wilderness will be as pleasant as the Land of Canaan and the Night become as glorious as the Day to such as have no eyes to see it The want of tryal and examination of these things makes the Sects among our selves to be catched and halter'd by the subtilty of others till they are betrayed into the hands of those who use them as Stalking horses to catch others till the Jesuits cast their Net over them and then the Romans come and take away our Kingdom To forbid this tryal and judgement of things is to render the faculties of a man useless to degrade him into the nature of a Beast and to bring a strange Metempsychosis amongst us by transplanting mens souls into other creatures whilst their bodies live and act in the world Or to make them in religious affairs which are the greatest concernments they have here to forsake the Law of God and the Testimony to seek unto them that have familiar Spirits Or unto the Wizzards that peep and mutter when a people should seek unto their God and not for the living to the dead Isa 8.19 2. By a serious tryal and examination of the Doctrines of men that pretend to inspiration we shall in all probability keep our faith sound and entire For there being among Christians but one true Faith as well as Baptism and one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Since there may be many Articles of Belief exhibited to men different from the true It must needs become the only means to keep our faith sound and blameless by examining things before we receive them and trying men that pretend to inspiration before we entertain their Doctrines in our minds or make them the objects of our belief A Ship that equally spreads her Sails to all the Storms and contrary Winds must not only lengthen her Voyage and be toss'd in the midst of the Waves and Tempest But frequently be in danger of a Wreck if it be not lost and overwhelmed There is no less hazard in the matters of our faith If we permit it without care to lay open to every wind of doctrine we may then not only be toss'd to and fro but at once make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience The Devil is both a Thief and a Murtherer so he was from the beginning and still walks about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour And how easie is it for him to enter the minds of men and to steal away their faith or hinder it from a vital influence upon their actions if the doors of their souls continually are open and are not at all lock'd or barr'd He may then come to us in his own shape without transforming himself into an Angel of light and both solicite and enslave our minds whilst we let him pass without examining And yet in Ports subject to invasion and Garrisons that may be capable of surprize we allow continual Watch and Ward and Orders to them are so strict in time of danger that none who is not publickly known to be a friend may enter without a strict examination lest he betray the place and let in the enemy No less advantage is it to the mind to preserve our faith spotless and unblemish'd to have a Sentinel alwayes at our Senses through which our souls make their sallies lest the adversary again enters with them and they are destroyed by the same way in which they hoped to preserve themselves We must guard our minds and have a watchman alwayes upon the Tower that our understandings themselves which govern both our choice and affections be not ensnared into false principles which will defile our actions and ruine our souls This is the way to keep our selves harmless and undefiled the sons of God in the midst of that crooked and perverse generation amongst whom we live and hereafter to shine like Stars in the midst of the Firmament for ever This is the design of Saint Paul's exhorting men to hold fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13 and of his thanking God that the Romans then though since they have departed from it obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine delivered to them Rom. 6.17 and of S. Jude's exhorting all Christians to contend earnestly for that faith which was once delivered unto the Saints in the third Verse of his Epistle For whatever any men boldly say we have as much reason to examine our belief as our actions and to take as great care of the principles as we do in the practice of our Religion For not only our reason concludes this because the understandings are the principal faculty of our souls But for that these direct our wills and influence all the actions of our lives And God will not accept of those who exchange their Creed for any publick faith that betrayes those Articles men should believe Safety or ruine depends upon it Because not only Baptism and the outward Ordinances of our Saviours institution are required to the ordinary salvation of men But he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 Hymeneus and Alexander not minding these things put away Faith and a good conscience and shipwrack'd their belief in the midst of error and for this they were delivered unto Sathan 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. If the Orthodoxy of mens judgments and opinions of things were not of great and eternal concernment in the times of the Gospel the old statutes might be still embraced or the Law of Nature remain the only direction unto men without any farther revelation But S. Peter tells us of errors that are damnable which entitle men
unto swift destruction 2 Pet. 2.1 And if there were not great caution to be used in relation to mens Principles and Belief Faith would not have been made the condition of the Gospel nor the qualification to justifie a sinner 3. By a strict examination of Principles and Doctrines we may preserve the peace of our own consciences For if conscience in things pertaining to Religion consists in the agreement of our notions with the will of God revealed unto men Then the trial of Opinions under whatever pretence they seem to be conveyed by this rule and accordingly either rejecting or receiving them must much conduce to the peace and quiet of our own minds which are regulated by the same rule by which we examine Doctrines and Opinions And can there be a greater advantage to men on Earth than full satisfaction and a quiet conscience settled upon an unalterable and firm foundation Contentment in the enjoyments of this world is that which makes the meanest Peasant as happy as his Prince and creates a level amongst mankind How much greater delight then must that satisfaction advance men to which relates to things of an everlasting concernment that causes the pangs of death ro vanish and the fears of Hell and torment to depart that carries us with all steadiness and peace through all the billows and storms of the World into that blessed Haven of rest and tranquillity where we shall know no trouble any more This is enjoying a perpetual Feast a pleasure beyond the greatest sensuality exceeding what men can otherwise possess or as much as invent or think upon For what are then all the concernments or advantages of the world when in matters of Religion I am fix'd and setled If I live in misery it cannot be long nature will soon have spun her thread if no accident cuts it off And if having my Religion fixed upon such Principles which cannot deceive me I regulate my actions by their directions death must then be welcome to me because it gives me the fruits of my hope and enters me into the joy of my Master who from earth having suffered an antecedent separation of soul and body entered visibly into his own glory and has made a passage to the same for those who live in the belief of what he has revealed and the practice of that Religion which in fulness of faith and indisputable assurance they have had a well grounded confidence in 4. This trial and examination of the Doctrines and Opinions of others will make men endeavour to live without disturbance in that Society of which they are members Nothing disturbs the Government of the world so much as doubtings and disputes about Religion But this when found out by a regular enquiry and truly established in the minds of men gives the greatest and most effectual checks to all the breaches made upon enclosures and those irregularities and invasions that are committed upon the properties of men This forbids the Prince to be a Tyrant and admonishes the Subjects to be obedient to the Laws to become Subject for conscience sake and not to rebel against the powers of this world lest they receive damnation in the next Rom. 13. But when men are apt to entertain the furious Principles of others when conveyed to them under the specious pretence of Spirit and inspiration With what ease are they ensnared when they are either lazy or refuse to examine There is nothing then so ruinous to Society nothing that puts men more into confusion nothing that dissolves the bands of Community and breaks Order into a Chaos but they will attempt under the covert of Religion and conclude they do service unto God when they are immediately offering to the Devil For the sence of Religion being the greatest tye upon mankind what will they not attempt or suffer when their actions let them be never so full of villany shall under pretence of the authority or inspirations of others be adopted into the number of vertues and heroick acts and their sufferings be advanced to Martyrdom Justice shall be violated when it shall be the act of Religion to gain a Crown from the head of him that rightly wears it And then they will make a way to the accomplishment of their design though they pave it throughout with the carkasses of the slain But if such Principles that ruine Religion under its name are well examined and submitted to the trial of reason and the Scriptures and new inspirations are measured by those that are old We shall easily conclude that such a Doctrine cannot come from God that teaches men to do the works of the Devil nor the Principles that tend to confusion among mankind ever proceed from a God of Order But they are upon the first audit to be damn'd to the place from whence they took their original and must be concluded to come from Hell which thus fire and consume the world And so you see that the several advantages which accrew to men upon trial of those that pretend to inspiration may be so many incouragements to the thing and so many arguments to recommend the duty to all those who by the Devil and his agents do not love to be led captive Finally To what purpose were faculties given to us that are able to judge and according to judgment to make our choice in matters of Religion if by a pretence of any ones inspiration the natural powers of our souls must cease or else be rendred useless They being suspended by a pretension of authority that without examination cannot appear to us to be Divine Nay why should the Apostle impose such a task upon us which without the use of every mans particular faculties becomes impossible No choice will then be left in Religion to the generality of men But it will become a necessary thing and we are bound like machins to move alwayes by the impulse of another nay quite contrary to what we were obliged before if the pretender to inspiration change his note and playes to us on a contrary string Would it not be strange for any man to preach to and exhort stones Or argue to one that were not capable of any impression Or could S. John be so unreasonable as to impose the trial of Spirits on men that either have no faculties to examine or have their senses tied up by a superiour power Must all false Prophets be rejected and is there a necessity of mens believing what Doctrines have been revealed from Heaven and must they not yet try the Spirits and use their own faculties to examine them To deny this may indeed be suitable to some Doctrines of the Church of Rome Yet it cannot but be plain to a Protestant or any other reasonable man that has not his faculties given him in vain that such arguing and such belief serve only to justifie imposture under the pretence of truth and to blind mens eyes that they may be led into a ditch This is to
whilst their souls dream when their bodies sleep or are indisposed whilst they are awaked We easily know how far the depraved dispositions of our bodies work upon our minds and how easie it is for men proportionable to their melancholy or joy to frame different opinions of things which by the way renders many signs of grace that some men for their own advantage exhibit to the world altogether vain and deceitful But notwithstanding all these things we find by too woful an experience how men either not fixed or fearful are prevail'd upon by such pretensions So that it proves a difficult task to hinder their error or to reduce them from it For all former rules to those that entertain so wild a principle are set aside and Reason must not be heard against Revelation Yet since God is but one and all Propositions are true or false since we find different nay contrary Opinions vented to the World under the same pretence 't is an argument why we should prove and try them and the rather by how much the more difficult true inspiration is to be distinguished from that which is false and what comes from God to be discern'd from what proceeds from the constitution of our bodies the variety of objects presented to our sense or what the Devil injects into our minds and thereby employes and captivates our thoughts and this way frames an Opinion Fifthly False Prophets will give accents to what they deliver with such art and elocution as may make great impressions on a multitude and suit their voice to the constitutions of those whom they design to delude with such elevations and cadencies as may agree with the joyful and the melancholy as if a man must first be skill'd in Song before he is capable to become a Preacher or a Fidler were in the next capacity to be a false Prophet to delude the World But besides these suitable percussions upon the nerves of men to make a grateful reception in the understanding They add to it a great deal of their own passion which many mistake for a true zeal they can be loud when they are not rational and what is wanting in sense they can supply by noise and great action shall pass for an argument and a goggle of the eye for clear demonstration They will put their blood and Spirits into such nimble motions that they will seem as if they were ravished from themselves and the parts of their bodies were just running away from one another This strange fury is called zeal and many men are apt to receive every thing for true which is thus recommended by a Religious fury not thinking that zeal is determined by its object and according to what it is conversant about becomes either good or bad With what zealous acclamations and repeated outcries did the Jews call for the crucifixion of our Saviour whilst they tried saying Crucifie him Crucifie him Luke 23.21 and the more Pilate endeavoured to release the more zealous were they to put him to death and more instant in requiring his blood In this men of false and corrupted Principles exceed those that are possess'd of true truth being usually conveyed with simplicity because reason and understanding receives and fortifies it but Error must be managed by art and cunning because its nature cannot recommend it We read of men in the 7 th of Hosea that though they devoured their Kings and Judges strayed away into the Groves and Woods from the Worship of God to that of an Idol so that none sayes God calleth upon me yet they were as hot as an Oven And those false Prophets mentioned by Jeremiah that spake peace to those that despised their Maker and to such as walk'd after the stubbornness and imagination of their own hearts saying No evil shall come upon you were eager to deliver what they had no Commission to do and exceeding zealous to publish the Message of which God refused to be the Author I have not sent these Prophets sayes God yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied Jer. 23.21 So that we may be easily deceived if we are drawn into our belief by the heat and eagerness of those that endeavour to impose upon us if we have no other way to difference a fire that warms and relieves from that which will both scorch and burn us Sixthly False Prophets that go abroad into the world will frequently boast the number of themselves and startle men with the glory and multitude of their proselytes But Egypt had many Magicians and Sorcerers in Pharaohs time that could confront the Rod of Aaron and boldly vye Miracles with Moses Baals Priests were four hundred and fifty and the Prophets of the Groves four hundred and what proportion could Elijah bear to such a multitude as these The Arrians among the Christians were so numerous that Athanasius seemed to engage against the World And the Papists boast an Universality as well as Antiquity of their Church Nay the Fanaticks also tell us of their number and take all opportunities to shew themselves in the greatest and most formidable body Not only to put frights upon Authority but to gain beholders and Proselytes too Herod and Pilate for such ends as these shall become friends And Ephraim and Manasseh shall join together to make an argument from the increase of number though Manasseh be against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh And abundance of men especially such as neglect to examine the Principles of their Religion are led on by company and example they follow the Herd though to their own ruine and will run on with the Flock or Covey till the Fowler spreads his Net over them Though arguing to the truth from the numbers that profess it would for some time have concluded our Religion to have been false and given the cause both to Jews and Heathens The Turk may yet boast the number of his Proselytes and the Devil brag that his name is Legion Seventhly False Prophets will often plead the strictness of their lives and will come with Holiness written upon their Foreheads how little soever be in their hearts They will often be very precise and scrupulous and though they can swallow Camels yet they will strain at Gnats they will be very tender in smaller matters that they may be thought such as great sins never seize on like the Pharisees in the Gospel they will pay tythe of Mint Anise and Cummin although they omit the weightier matters of the Law None among the Jews were more outwardly grave and formal than these they made broad the Phylacteries those scrolls of Parchment on which the Law was inscribed that they might be capable of more Texts of Scripture than other mens to shew their great opinion of the Law they enlarged also the fringes of their Garments beyond the proportions of other men that they might not only be badges of their distinction and separation but evidence them to be exceedingly Religious because
an evasion is a palpable error is apparent from the institution of our Saviour as recorded by all the Evangelists that mention it in all the Gospels where this is repeated For as the essential parts are always set down so we have prescribed Bread and Wine which by a solemn consecration are blessed and separated from common uses to signifie Christs Body and Blood and in a separate manner to represent Christ dead and not united under one Symbol And to whomsoever he gave the Body represented by the Bread the same person received the Blood signified by the Wine contained in the Cup As it appears upon the view of Christs own institution If it be Objected upon the grant of this which none can deny that the Apostles then only received And that the Romanists themselves allow it to the Priests It may from thence with a greater colour be argued that the whole Sacrament ought only to be continued to the Clergy And that the Laity should not receive so much as a part And then the argument will sooner deprive them of all than any one part of it But that I may totally invalidate this scruple and at the same time prove the Papists to be erroneous Let us view the institution as repeated by S. Paul who has in this proved Rome to have err'd and clearly frees us from their imposture Though S. Peter sayes nothing of it 1 Cor. 11.23 I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you this do for a remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup when he had supped saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me Now the whole design of this repetition of the first Institution is to rebuke those disorderly practices of the whole body of the Church of Corinth and to regulate all by the Institution of our Saviour And all together as well people as Clergy are told that as often as they eat this Bread and drink this Cup they shew forth the Lords death till he come If this then is to be continued in the Church as a Memorial of Christs Death till his coming again to judge the World which the Church of Rome will not deny It must be an error thus to depart from the first Institution of Christ and the succeeding practice of his blessed Apostles to say nothing of other Ages of the Church to give to the people an half Communion which the Priests will not be contented with themselves and to deliver them only a part of the Sacrament This certainly is such an error as does not only void their infallibility but a crime too Unless the greatest Sacriledge be a vertue And in plain language it certainly concludes that either the Scriptures or the the Romanists are not infallible Secondly I instance in their Prayer in an unknown tongue I mean a language unknown to the people I cannot but wonder if we had no directions in the Book of God concerning this matter that any persons should be so stupid as to petition from God they know not what and to offer that under the notion of a reasonable service which they do not understand For how can that be presented with Faith which they know not whether it be such as God will accept and as becomes them to offer The Priest here may curse the people in the name of the Devil when they think they are bless'd in the name of God But not to prosecute any absurdities consequential to this irrational practice besides what the Scriptures mention designing not at present to handle these things at large 'T is a direct contradiction to that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 14. Chap. 14 15. and 16 Verses For the Apostle having laid down this general direction that all things in the publick Worship should be done to edification He affirms that praying and blessing in unknown tongues did not accomplish this end vers the 12 th and 17 th 1. Because he that prayes in an unknown tongue though he understands it himself becomes unprofitable unto others v. the 14. 2. Because no man that understands not can give his assent or breath forth a wish by saying Amen to a Prayer or Blessing in an unknown tongue ver the 16 th And the Apostle from the whole inferrs this as a rule unto himself That when he prays with the Spirit i. e. in an unknown tongue which was then an immediate gift of the Spirit he would pray with understanding also i. e. so as he understanding it himself might become fruitful unto others by giving them its just interpretation that they who understood not divers languages might be able to say Amen when they were rendered into their own So that it must be an error in the Church of Rome to enjoyn their publick Prayers to be made in an unknown tongue Unless they will invalidate the Scriptures of S. Paul by a blind and unwritten authority from S. Peter Lastly They have lost their pretended infallibility by determining that monstrous and absurd Doctrine of Transubstantiation It cannot be expected when I introduce this point as a proof of another that I should expatiate upon all the absurdities that attend so prodigious a determination As that the same Body may be in a thousand places at once that there may be admitted a penetration of dimensions That a Body may be somewhere where it was not before without changing its place That the whole Body of Christ may be contain'd within the small compass nay in every little part of a Wafer That it may be eat every day yet remain the same still That an irrational creature a Mouse for example may feed upon the Body of our Lord That one thing may be chang'd into another thing which did exist before That a Body may be in a place after the manner of a Spirit Nay that Christ may give his own Body to be eaten by his Disciples whilst yet he remained alive and entire at the Table These and such like are the absurd consequences of Transubstantiation which men must swallow with the substantial Body and Blood of Christ in the Roman Sacrament of the Lords Supper And they require too large a discourse for me to expatiate upon each severally and apart I shall therefore instance in one absurdity or rather a foundation of great impiety such as destroys the authority of the Gospel if this Doctrine of Transubstantiation proves true and is not an error And that is That it destroyes all the certainty of our senses For if that which has the colour and appearance of Bread That which my taste informs is such That which by touching and handling of it seems to be Bread by as great an evidence as can appear to
Society much more in such a one as is purely Christian that we may be regular and uniform in our practice and that there may be no divisions among us And that the common Acts which we are to join in as a Body or Society of Christian men may not be disturbed by particular members withdrawing from them or rendered indecent or invalid by noise or confusion But yet there is no obligation upon any man to resign either his sense or reason in any point of which he is a capable Judge But only to captivate it to the obedience of faith in such points as are apparently revealed by God though the points themselves may be above the determination of the faculties of men And therefore no Authority can oblige us to contradict the Scriptures in their standing Laws of Faith and Manners Because these ought to be a Law both to our Governours and our selves antecedently to the Laws and Canons of men Hence is it that we reject the pretences of aspiring men to any absolute and compleat infallibility by virtue of any promise supposed to be made to the Successors of the Sacred Apostles Because there is no such promise made to any but the Apostles and the first Writers and Publishers of the Christian Religion whose Writings are to be our standing Rules in all things absolutely necessary to Salvation Nay the end and design of the first Divine and infallible guidance was only to introduce a new Law superstructed upon the Old Law of Nature and to free Religion from the corrupt glosses and customs of men who abusing their Authority had falsly imposed things on others To obliterate the old Ceremonial injunctions prescribed to the Jews To draw the Gentiles from their Heathen Idolatry and to erect the Christian Church among men that all Nations might flock to it be sheltered in one Fold being redeemed from the power of the destroyer and feed together under the Government and conduct of Jesus Christ the great Pastor and Bishop of our souls Hence was it that our Saviour promised the immediate and infallible guidance of the Spirit to his Apostles that being before of meaner capacities they might be able to understand his Laws so well as to publish them to the World as the standing Rules to all future Generations But this rule being once compleated by the informations which our Saviour gave to his Apostles whilst he was with them And by the continued inspirations and assistances which they received from the holy Spirit after his Ascension into Heaven to explain some things and bring others to their remembrance and to enable them to preach the Gospel to the World and to publish the Doctrines and Rules of it in Writing to be the standing Law of Religion to which all future ages might have recourse for guidance both in Faith and Manners When this Law was fully and compleatly written which was to be the great and only Rule of mens Religion there was no need of a standing infallibility to interpret what was so fairly written that in things absolutely necessary to Salvation none but Ideots can possibly be mistaken and none but Knaves will endeavour to mislead them For there is no man who has humility enough to use the help of the learned in Religion and grace enough to implore the ordinary assistances of the Divine Spirit which God gives to those that ask him but if he endeavours with sincerity to live according to what he already knows and faithfully and honestly applies his rational faculties to the diligent search of Divine truth he shall certainly attain such degrees and advancements of knowledge as shall be sufficient to make him wise unto Salvation if he does not too much strive to be wise above what is written And if after all this he chance to fall into any error through the naked infirmities of human nature it shall be such as will be consistent with the foundation nor will it be so severely laid to his charge as to be the cause of condemning him hereafter when it was not in his own power to help it The Scriptures certainly were first designed to be the Rule of Faith and Manners And a rule ought to be so plain that all who are to take their measures by it may be able by some means or other to compare their belief and actions with the Rule and also to pass a judgment upon the whole Nay if we reflect upon our own rational powers together with those assistances we are directed to and make use of these when we consider the Scriptures themselves we must of necessity yield this to be true Unless we will be perverse and obstinate in every thing For if we think upon the quality of those persons to whom our Saviour and his Apostles applyed themselves in their usual discourses we shall find that they spake not in their Sermons nor wrote their Epistles only to the Rabbins among the Jews nor only to the Philosophers among the Gentiles Nor were there at the first many Rich or Noble called But the Poor had the Gospel preached to them The Apostles declared their Doctrine freely to the multitude Nay so did our blessed Saviour himself And therefore they must preach it in such language as all might be capable of understanding and receiving it if prejudice did not resist the impression For their design being to plant Christianity in the World to make Proselytes to the Kingdom of Heaven and in the belief and practice of this Religion to bring the lapsed race of men once more to God by disswading them from the error of their wayes and by guiding their feet into the way of peace Why should any think that they delivered the matters of mens future and everlasting concerns and the present Laws to guide them by in so mysterious a manner or such muffled language that the end of all their discourses might be lost by their speaking unintelligibly to the people Now since the souls of men that are not too much hindered by a very bad constitution of their bodies have all the same principles of Reason and every Individual has a proper judgement peculiarly his own and either we understand the languages and schemes of speech in which the Doctrines and Rules of life delivered by Christ and his Apostles were written Or else we receive them faithfully translated especially in necessary Doctrines and rules which the Criticks themselves cannot well torture because they are oftener than once delivered from several pious and learned men who more perfectly and compleatly understood them Why should things therefore that were at first plain to the capacity of the meanest be so obscure to us that we must want a guide who is infallible to direct us almost in all our wayes and what is worst of all he splits us at last against a stone If God has not thought it fit to bridle mankind so as to curb them from becoming sinners but has in this left them to their own
wonder of his Disciples at a Doctrine of his that seemed harsh and difficult tells them that with God all things are possible Matth. 19.26 The possibility therefore of a thing prepares us for the belief of any proposition when either certainty or greater probabilities do not plainly determine the contrary Now what does not imply a contradiction that it should be is possible to be But the Holy Spirits operation upon the minds of men does not imply any contradiction And therefore it must be at least a possible supposition that it may be so Nay further what has been is certainly possible to be But that there has been such influences upon the minds of men the sacred Inspirations of the Prophets and Apostles do abundantly evince And to assert the contrary must shake the very foundation of Religion and invalidate the whole Canon of Scripture And certainly if it admits no contradiction to affirm Spirits working upon Bodies it must be less to suppose one Spirit to operate upon another there being a nearer affinity betwixt their natures and a greater capacity to apprehend the notices they receive from one another For if the Soul of one man may apprehend what are the thoughts of another when they are expressed by the words of the tongue or some external signs and representations There is as great a probability that there may be more easie and quicker methods for one soul to converse with another were they freed from their bodies than by the mediation of external senses which may and often do convey false representations to the mind And therefore for the holy Spirit of God to influence the minds and affections of men is not only rendered possible But a very probable and easie supposition Though whilst we remain in these bodies 't is all one as to the being of the thing whether we conjecture for it can be no more the influence to be made immediately upon the soul or by percussions on or dispositions of the nerves and by determining the Spirits so as to make representations to the mind to cause in it desire or aversation and from hence just and proportionable actions suitable to the design of the holy Spirit But Secondly this influence and operation of the holy Spirit is not only possible but necessary too if we consider our own weakness and infirmity or the circumstances we are frequently surrounded with in this vale of tears and region of misery We have still a proneness and propensity to sin notwithstanding our being washed by an holy Baptism and dipt in the sacred Laver of regeneration And though grace were then conveyed to us and power to perform our part of the Covenant which at last gives us the possession of the promise Yet this cannot well be apprehended to be tied about us with such indissoluble bonds as not to forsake us upon the violation of our vow when by sinful courses we rescind Gods obligagation to us Or if there were no forfeiture to be made Yet we cannot apprehend this Grace and Spirit given us at the first to be so constantly and powerfully residing in us as never to need any new supplies or accessions of degrees Or to be like our souls alwaies tied continually to invigorate us without any new influences from above God governs the World by his Providence and supports this great systeme of Beings by the constant and continued influences of his Power impressing things by his Divine concurrence to accomplish the end and design of their beings to continue their stated motions and order and to repair their decayes by a new and uninterrupted succession Now it would not be more false and unsuitable to his nature to suppose him at first to have put things into their orderly motions and to impregnate nature with all the power at once that shall at any time be requisite for its support and conduct when things are subject to such various misadventures that it is impossible for any but himself to foresee Than it would be to suppose him to give a child in his sacred Baptism sufficient strength to influence his whole life and afterwards leave him to his conflicts and misfortunes without any new assistances from above This would still make the Great and infinite Being of the World instead of a wise and active God nothing but an idle and lazy Spectator We need not then pray for grace and continued accessions of strength and power But only use those words of David Cast us not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from us Psal 51.11 The Apostles and Primitive Disciples of our Saviour were sensible of new accessions or incomes from the Spirit as the difficulties increased which they encountered For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us sayes S. Paul so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 And when we shall consider that our assistances are necessary in proportion to our duties or our sufferings all men being not in the same circumstances but some have an easier passage to an eternal rest and a blessed eternity than others who are made a spectacle to the world who have greater difficulties to encounter a longer race to run upon the Earth and are surrounded with a larger number of duties and perplexities certainly God who is the God of all grace will reasonably give the influences of his Spirit suitable to the degrees of mens necessities and the employments or conflicts that his most wise Providence calls them unto As the Apostles were not sufficient of themselves to preach the Christian Doctrine to the World and to obviate those difficulties that attended the publication so neither can any of us in our ordinary course of affairs in the World being placed in the midst of snares and temptations keep consciences void of offence without the influences of Gods grace and the assistances of his Spirit S. Paul justifies himself to the Corinthians by giving them a prospect of his joy and innocence Our rejoycing is this sayes he the testimony of a good conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you wards 2 Cor. 1.12 And when in the third Chapter he re-assumes the argument lest they should think that all was effected by his own power he introduces also this acknowledgement Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God ver the 5 th God is not an hard and austere Master to reap where he did not sow nor to gather where he did not scatter He expects an account of his own talents which every one does or may receive in proportion to his wants and necessities that he may grow up unto that measure of stature to which Christ has appointed him in the world And doubless we may obtain Divine helps If men have but that love to themselves as to pray with
that they should read natural Philosophy to the World He did not intend to teach them to call the Stars by their names or that they should by virtue of his instruction know their several motions distances or altitudes He did not intend Aphorisms in Physick Or to give to them Geometrical proportions Nor to breed them curious and expert Artificers though some of these have made themselves Apostles Nor to teach them the numbers of Arithmetick Or the Astrological signatures of things or times and seasons For these were not for them to know because the Father had put them into his own power Acts 1.7 And therefore as they were never so proud and bold so neither were they so unlucky as the Pope who must needs condemn a point in Geography and the tenet of Antipodes for a destroying Heresie So little did he know the universal Empire he pretended to that he did not understand the extent of it nor the Figure or Bounds or Inhabitants of that Earth over which he yet pretended an Authority The Holy Ghost therefore guided the Apostles into those truths only in Divinity which included the full Doctrine of the Gospel which our Saviour delivered that they might be able to preach them to the present age and commit them to writing for the use of all succeeding Generations The Spirit was not given to them to make them great Historians or Philosophers but Christians and to capacitate them to be the planters and founders of Churches not the posts and standards of dispute Or to be the leaders of Sects and Factions in Philosophy They were to erect a Pillar of truth setled upon a firm foundation Christ himself supporting the Building and this neither for Pasquins or Poetry but for a Rule and directory of standing Religion and Devotion CHAP. XII THE souls of men whilst hous'd in these bodies of clay are darkned and obscured notwithstanding all the windows of sense to let in the light of external objects to an intercourse with the mind For supposing our senses could alwayes make true and exact representations to our souls which yet we know are often deceived yet these could only convey such things as are the proper objects of the souls of men Those of an higher and more exalted nature that are not capable of an image must needs escape the perception of our outward senses and if reason it self when most disentangled from those fetters which our senses too often impose should endeavour to make propositions and inferences about the essences of those things whose spiritual natures evade our sense our notions could not be adequate to the things themselves nor could we fully comprehend what is infinite nor have a positive Idea of spiritual Beings though reason might conclude their existence Hence is it that all our definitions and descriptions of these are therefore imperfect because negative and though we may conclude what they are not we never could by humane power yet resolve compleatly what they are which makes Divine Revelation necessary and that we should have faith beyond our reason though we never believe without reason to assure us of the authority we confide in This being therefore our state and condition in this World we must as well praise Gods Goodness as admire his Power for sending us that Spirit of Truth which guides us into all truth that is necessary to conduct us to eternal happiness Now this Promise I told you I would consider two wayes 1. As it related to the Apostles and first Disciples of our Lord and Saviour 2. As it concerns the whole Church of Christ that is or shall be militant on the earth The first of these is already dispatched And therefore I now proceed to the second To view the Promise of the Spirits guidance as it concerns the Church throughout the several Ages and Periods of the Christian World I have already proved the divine influence on the minds of men though its immediate operation is too difficult to be explained as to the manner of its energy and work and that we have no reason to disbelieve the thing for that we know not the manner of its operation What therefore is now to be discoursed supposing the truth of its influence in general and that extraordinary assistance he gave unto the Apostles is How the Holy Spirit of God possesses the minds of those with truth who make themselves by holy dispositions and a due exercise of their rational faculties capable to receive it and what truths those are that the Spirit of God guides men into As to the first supposing that which has been already proved That the Apostles were inspired from above to receive a full revelation of those truths by opening their understandings and quickning their memories that concern the salvation of mankind and that they committed them to writing faithfully recording them for the use of posterity and that these are to be standing rules for all ages and generations to come I cannot find any other method the Spirit has used or does continue to guide the ages succeeding the Apostles into all truth but what is contained in these three particulars 1. By those Scriptures which he inspired the Apostles to publish and deliver 2. By inclining the hearts of some men to continue that Ministry which must endure to the end of the world And 3. By confirming those truths contained in the Scriptures unto the minds of men by co-operating with the external ministration by an internal work upon the understanding will and affections of those who are inclinable in the day of his power First then The Spirit of truth guides us into all truth by those Scriptures Christ and his Apostles delivered to be the standing rules for posterity These are those lively Characters in which we may read the Nature of God and the directions of our lives These are such an infallible rule of truth that they certainly guide those into it who soberly and conscientiously apprehend and follow them They convey peace of conscience here which is a thing valuable above Crowns and Kingdoms and hereafter give us such possessions as infinitely transcend the power of our thoughts and exceed all humane expectations These Holy Scriptures contain such a compleat body of Doctrine that they need not any additions to be made to them Let their own sense be but sufficiently explained and if they are permitted to speak their own mind they will neither want Apocrypha nor Traditions nor any new Revelation neither to render them a compleat System of Divinity Mens own Doctrines and not Christs want Traditions to confirm them and 't is the pride and covetousness of a Sect of men that would make all Christians groan with their burden and void Gods Word with their own pretensions however they are varnished with the plausible Epithets of ancient and Apostolical that make such additions to the Scriptures But the Holy Scriptures which were at first given by inspiration of God are able of themselves