of Honesty insomuch that whatever Miracles tend to the Damage of Mankind or the Corruption of Manners they cannot be from God nor can they authorize any Doctrin as Divine that is inconsistent with the forementioned Standard of Justice and Reason And this makes a real Distinction and sensible Difference betwixt the Miracles wrought by Christ or his Apostles and those by Heathen Magicians On the one hand the Miracles always tended to good and were such as might invite Love as well as Admiration On the other hand they were for the most part hurtful to Mens Persons and Estates unless it was sometimes that the Devils cured the Diseases they had caused but it was still to establish a greater Tyranny When the Jews taxed our Saviour with casting out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils he answers to this effect That the Devil was too Wise a Creature to destroy his own Kingdom by casting out Devils especially when sometimes they were made to own themselves to be Devils and to confess Christ to be the Son of God But says he if I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come unto you And this was frequent in the Primitive Church that the Christians by a Divine Power overruled all the Powers of Darkness imployed by the Magicians of those times For as to do Works above Nature speaks a Power above her so when those Works tend to the good of Men by promoting Vertue and establishing true Piety they must reasonably be concluded to be from a Divine Author Let this then be the first Step or the Ground of all That whatsoever Doctrin or pretended Revelation destroys Justice or contradicts Reason cannot come from Heaven and ought not to be Believed In the next place when once a Law is established as Divine upon a sufficient Testimony of Miracles no other Revelation that is contrary to it may be allowed until it be repealed and no repeal can be but from the same Authority that enacted it And therefore the repeal cannot be of force till the Authority upon which it stands makes it self manifest by as great if not greater Miracles than were wrought at the Promulgation In this Point was the Prophets Miscarriage that went to cry against the Altar in Bethel who suffered himself to be overcome by the pretence of the old Prophet contrary to his own Commission But without pursuing this farther at present it is manifest and by all Christians acknowledged as such That the Gospel which our Saviour and his Apostles published to the World is neither contradictious to Reason nor destructive of Vertue or good Manners or inconsistent with former Revelations but that on the contrary it proposes the noblest End viz. Eternal Life and directs to the fittest and most agreeable Method for attaining it and therefore must be accounted Divine This being granted it follows That no Doctrin or Revelation which is not reconcilable to this Gospel can be from Heaven or have Power to bind us If an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. My present Business being not with Heathens but with Christians I will take it for granted till I see more occasion to prove it That the Apostles and Evangelists who were Divinely Inspired committed to Writing that Gospel which they had received that is as much of the Will of God as might be necessary for Men to Know and Believe in order to their Salvation The late Representers of Popery seem to allow as much when they own the Scripture to be the Word of God of the greatest Authority upon Earth and capable of leading a Man to all Truth It must also be granted That these Scriptures are no otherwise the Word of God than they are rightly Understood and Interpreted And here the Controversie begins about the Sense of Scripture For the Gentlemen of the Communion of the Church of Rome tell us we must receive the Canon of the Scripture and the Sense and Interpretation of Scripture upon the Authority of the Church for so the matter is stated even by their late Writers And this being of great Importance we will consider it Carefully and proceed with as much Clearness as may be a sufficient though short discussion of the Point If we are to receive the Canon and Sense of the Scripture upon the Churches Authority then the Churches Authority is the Ground upon which the Canon and Sense of Scripture depends as to us and if the Canon and Sense of Scripture depends as to us upon the Church then the Church has Authority to ingage and determine our Faith in these two Questions 1. What Books are Canonical and 2. What the Sense of them must be For if I know not the Sense of them I know not the Will of God without which it signifies nothing to have the Books although they had been written with God's own Finger And If the Church has Authority to declare what Books and what Sense of those Books is Divine then the Church has a Power to make me Believe its Declaration I say the Church must have a Power if it has Authority to make me Believe because no Man can Believe more than he can Believe nor help Believing what for the time he does Believe If the Church has a Power to make me Believe it either has it of it self as it were by Nature or it has it from God But of it self the Church can have no such Power because God only has a Dominion over the Minds of Men and is therefore to be Believed by virtue of his own Authority If therefore the Church as it consists of Men who in their private Capacities that is as they are Men may err has no Authority of it self to determine my Faith then the Authority of the Church if it have any to make me Believe must be Supernatural and Divine Which I think is granted by the Author of the Papist Misrepresented and represented when he says he believes no Divine Faith ought to be given to any thing but what is of Divine Revelation 'T is then an established Point That the Churches Authority is not to be believed as Natural but as Supernatural and Divine and if it be Supernatural it cannot be proved out of Natural Principles This the Papists seeing very well lay down Infallibility for the Ground of the Churches Authority So that the Churches Authority arising from its Infallibity no Man can be bound in matters of Faith to submit to the one farther than he can be Convinced of the other and the Church can no longer have a Power over Mens Faith than she is Infallible The Infallibility then of the Church being the Ground of her Authority the Papists expect we should resolve our Faith into it and we will consider how reasonable their expectations are in this Case But first let us remember That all this Authority and Infallability is
let it alone Though to say the Truth if I had been told the contrary the Errors which some Popes have fallen into would have hindred me in despite of any good will from owning him so Is this Infallibility shared among them so that every one has some For Infallibility they must have or their Authority is lost No this cannot be neither for Infallibility is a Quality that cannot be divided or enjoyed to the halfs And if it could it would not do the business for then they would be Fallible in part as well as Infallible in part And so we should be as hard put to it to find which part their Infallibility reaches to as we are to find that they have any at all Here peradventure it may be thought because it has been said heretofore That though the Pope and his Council may be Fallible in their Arguments and Discourses yet in the Result of them viz. their Definitions which only concern the Church they are Infallible This indeed is to the purpose if it could be as easily proved as said But since neither Art nor Nature does allow an Infallible Conclusion to issue from Fallible Means it must be wholly Supernatural and Divine And so we are come in the third place to ask How they came by a Power to make the Conclusion Divine the Means being Humane or How they will make it appear to me or any Man else that they are endued with such a Power Certainly a Claim so bold as this ought to be very well made out But here alass we are turn'd over to Motives of Credibility which are sometimes called the marks of the Church however we will see what can be made of them By Motives of Credibility must be meant such as may work upon my Reason and so incline my Mind to believe or assent to any thing for a Truth and so I can be induced to believe no farther than the point is made Credible to me Well but whatever is Supernatural can never work upon my Reason as being quite above it without some Divine Evidence and Testimony and that must either be Miracles or Scripture For Miracles they have of late been little pretended to But from Scripture they tell us Christ has promised to his Church a perpetual Assistance of his Grace yea such a measure of the Spirit as made Caiaphas prophesy Truth almost whether he would or no. But how can they pretend Scripture in this Case who have told us we must receive the Sense and Interpretation of Scripture from the Infallible Authority of the Church And that not in a few Points but in every Doubt and never presume upon our own private Sentiments howsoever seemingly grounded on Reason and Scripture If we must thus absolutely depend upon the Authority of the Church for the Interpretation of Scripture then the Authority of the Church must be better known to us than the Sense of the Scripture And if it be better known it cannot be proved by Scripture for every thing that proves another must it self be more evident And if the Churches Authority cannot be proved by Scripture it can never be proved without Miracles and by consequence can never be believed But if Christians must read and judg of Scripture and believe it in this Point I can see no reason why they may not in every one else that concerns Religion since there are few Points in it that are not much more cleary expressed Here Traditions would put in to help out But to spoil all we are told we must receive them too upon the Authority of the Church for it would be as dangerous to trust the World with a liberty of judging Traditions as of judging Scripture and more contests there are and would be about them And yet which is an insuperable Difficulty Tradition is silent in many Points of the Romish Faith nay in all whereabout any Difference is I mean as to the Primitive Church and sure Tradition cannot be produced where there is none If Tradition could be produced still the Difficulty returns That Tradition would be more manifest and therefore above the Churches Authority And how acceptable a Point that is at Rome Mr. White and Mr. Serjeant could have told at their own Cost But though Scripture and Tradition are insufficient perhaps Succession may make out this Matter or else why are we so often told of it and truly I must needs say I do not know why we are For if they mean a Succession of Bishops that can prove nothing to Rome because it is common to other Churches who have as undoubted a Succession as they If they mean a Succession of Doctrin from the Apostles to us 't is what we allow and for want of it refuse those other Doctrins they would impose There is behind a very forcible Argument to prove That the Pope and his Council together are not Infallible or that the Papists themselves do not think them so I Instance in the Lateran Council under Pope Innocent the III. where it was decreed that Princes may be Deposed He that Represents a Papist answers That this is no Article of Faith and that they are not bound to believe it But if this be not to be believed it is because the Truth of it is not evident enough and if it be not evident enough it must be because the Churches proposing or decreeing is not sufficient to make it evident which is the Point I aim at If he will as some have acknowledge the deposing Doctrin to be true let the World consider what kind of Subjects those must be that are in such a Communion and if he disavows it he makes it appear that he does not think their Church Infallible Nor can I think that Church has sufficiently cleared it self from the Charge of this Doctrin which some of them call a Calumny till it be as Publickly and Authoritatively Repealed as it was Decreed Nor can I imagine how that Author could tell us in the fourteenth Chapter of his Book that he thought himself obliged not to rely on his own private Judgment but upon the Authority of the Church in any Doubt and yet in the twentieth Chapter of the same Book tells us in Consequence what the Church has peremptorily Decreed is not to be believed I am sorry when that Decree passed such a powerfull Measure of the Spirit which made Caiaphas Prophesie was absent And since it was so then I do not see how they can reasonably presume he was not absent in other Points too Damnation being so particularly denounced against Rebellion we cannot think that a Point so inconsiderable as to be passed by in advertency It now plainly appears that this Challenge of Infallibility is very unaccountable and to shew its absurdity yet more you shall see that though we should grant as we do not that they have Infallibility some where yet in the resolution of Faith it would be useless The Church at this day is vexed
and divided by many Heresies and contrary Opinions How must the Truth be cleared and Peace be restored to Christendom By the Churches Authority say the Papists But it has been proved that the Churches Authority extends no farther than she has Infallibility and the Pope being not Infallible alone and their being no Council assembled under him the present Church has no Infallibility and so by Consequence no Authority to determine Controversies about Faith. Peradventure it will be said the Council which sat in the last Age defined all Points and so determined our Faith. I answer That what that Council defined is one thing and its setling Faith and determining Controversies appears by the effect to be another It will be said it determined all but what Pride and Obstinacy still kept on foot But if Controversies still remain whether from Pride or Heretical-pravity or from any other Cause whatever it matters not Why should the Scripture be taxed as insufficient to be a Rule of Faith for not effecting what their Infallibility cannot bring to pass Sure there is no reason why it should Well but for obstinate and prejudiced Persons we will set them aside and see what can be done for inquisitive People such as are Willing to be Convinced what shall these do They tell us They must be guided by the Definitions and Decrees of the last General Council assembled at Trent But how shall they be ascertained that they have a true Copy of the Acts of that Council For upon occasion Suppositious Canons have been alledged by the Church of Rome The Authority of the present Church cannot do it as you may conclude from that which has already been said besides it is the thing in Question However suppose from the Testimony of the present Church witnessing though not authorising and by such Methods as we receive the Works of other Writers we should admit the Acts of the Council of Trent to be truly derived to us What shall we do to attain the true Sense and Meaning of them without which they can signifie nothing And to shew you that this is no Captious Question some great Men among them have interpreted that Councils Decrees very differently And the late Representer of a Papist has construed them in a Sense very wide from what some eminent Doctors long since gave of them Are we not now in a fair way for Peace and Unity After all if so many Difficulties surround the Learned what shall Women do and such as only understand their Mother Tongue I can meet with no Answer to this but that the Learned must with honest Minds and just Diligence search out the Sense of the Churches Definitions and from them must those of less Judgment and meaner Capacities receive it But if the matter must rest here for my Life I cannot see why the like Care and Pains should not bring a Man to the true Sense of the Scripture as well as of a Council 'T would be an ill Reflection upon God's Wisdom to say he ordered his Will to be written but not so intelligible as human Writings And if there be some who for want of Ability in themselves must rest their Faith upon other Mens Judgments I do not see why the Clergy of the Church of England may not as well be relied on as the Priests of the Church of Rome since the World has no reason to think them less Learned or less Sincere The Church of England among all impartial Men has this manifest advantage that She derives Her Faith from Scripture not fancifully Interpreted but Expounded to a Sense which the Text reasonably leads to And to strengthen Her Exposition She takes in the Testimony of the Church in Her four first General Councils Not that She rests upon an Authority in them but She takes them as Witnesses to shew that in Her Interpretation She is neither Singular nor Private Thus in short a Member of the Church of England proceeds He is certain his Faith is right and true because it is founded as to its Object upon the Will of God. He is certain it stands upon the Will of God because it stands upon the Word of God. He is certain it is built upon the Word of God because it is built upon the Scripture He is certain the Scripture is the Word of God because the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles that wrote it were Divinely Inspired And he is made certain that they were Divinely Inspired by the Divine Testimony of Miracles which God gave them Nor lastly can he doubt but whatsoever God sets his Seal to is Truth for he will not he cannot Lye or Deceive If he be asked how he knows these Books to be Written by those Inspired Men to whom they are attributed He Answers for that he has an universal Testimony of Friends and Enemies through all Ages Which is as good an Evidence as a Matter of Fact can bear or does require and when he reads them he is farther Confirm'd by finding them so admirably Compiled and Suited to that Character If he be asked how he attains the right Sense of them He answers by using due Attention and an unprejudiced Mind with such other helps as are fit for that Purpose he gains as great Certainty of the true meaning of Scripture as Sense and Reason can bear in an ordinary Capacity I mean as far as concerns the Articles of Faith summ'd into his Creed and is as safe in this Resolution as was the Primitive Church with which he agrees More than this he does not apprehend necessary After this since the Papists have taxed our Faith as wavering and uncertain how unjustly you may easily discern I might here make them a Requital by telling the World that upon their own Principles they can have no Faith at all For if what Faith they have arises from the Churches Authority then if the Church has no Authority they can have no Faith. But I have proved before the Church can have no such Authority because it has not Infallibility and it cannot reasonably pretend to Infallibility because it can make no Evidence of it and without Evidence no Man can believe But God forbid I should say or think they have no Faith I only offered this to shew the weakness and insufficiency of the Principles they go upon and what little Reason they have to charge us And now to that Question so often asked By what Authority we depart from the Faith of the Church of Rome I answer by an Authority which is inseparable from the Mind of every Man to refuse to believe any thing for which he has not a Reason to him sufcient indeed no Man can believe without it For the Mind of Man is so disposed as to Truth that it immediately imbraces it and closes with it as soon as ever it discerns it But if the Mind discerns no Truth in a Proposition it cannot assent to it whatever Profession the Man makes The Church of Rome