which what effect soever it may have upon him would make any other man sufficiently asham'd But yet I must acknowledge that in this Position which he fastens upon me he honours me with excellent company my Lord Faulkland Mr. Chillingworth and Dr. Stillingfleet Persons of that admirable strength and clearness in their Writings that Mr. S. when he reflects upon his own style and way of reasoning may blush to acknowledge that ever he has read them And as to this Position which he charges them withall I do not know nor have the least reason upon Mr. S's word to believe any such thing is maintained by them As for my self whom I am now onely concern'd to vindicate I shall set down the two Passages to which I suppose he refers In my Sermon I endeavour among other things to shew the unreasonableness of Atheism upon this account Because it requires more evidence for things than they are capable of To make this good I discourse thus Aristotle hath long since observed how unreasonable it is to expect the same kind of Proof for every thing which we have for some things Mathematical things being of an abstracted nature are onely capable of clear Demonstration But Conclusions in Natural Philosophy are to be prov'd by a sufficient Induction of experiments things of a Moral nature by Moral Arguments and Matters of Fact by credible Testimony And though none of these be strict Demonstration yet have we an undoubted assurance of them when they are prov'd by the best Arguments that the nature and quality of the thing will bear None can demonstrate to me that there is such an Island in America as Jamaica yet upon the Testimony of credible persons and Authours who have written of it I am as free from all doubt concerning it as from doubting of the clearest Mathematical Demonstration So that this is to be entertained as a firm Principle by all those who pretend to be certain of any thing at all that when any thing is prov'd by as good Arguments as that thing is capable of and we have as great assurance that it is as we could possibly have supposing it were we ought not in reason to make any doubt of the existence of that thing Now to apply this to the present case The being of God is not Mathematically demonstrable nor can it be expected it should because onely Mathematical matters admit of this kind of evidence Nor can it be prov'd immediately by sense beause God being suppos'd to be a pure Spirit cannot be the object of any corporeal sense But yet we have as great assurance that there is a God as the nature of the thing to be prov'd is capable of and as we could in reason expect to have supposing that he were Vpon this passage it must be if any thing in the Sermon that Mr. S. chargeth this Position in equivalent terms of the possible falshood of Faith and that as to the chiefest and most fundamental Point the Tenet of a Deity And now I appeal to the Reader 's Eyes and Judgment whether the sum of what I have said be not this That though the existence of God be not capable of that strict kind of Demonstration which Mathematical matters are yet that we have an undoubted assurance of it One would think that no man could be so ridiculous as from hence to infer that I believe it possible notwithstanding this assurance that there should be no God For however in many other cases an undoubted assurance that a thing is may not exclude all suspicion of a possibility of its being otherwise yet in this Tenet of a Deity it most certainly does Because whoever is assur'd that there is a God is assur'd there is a Being whose existence is and always was necessary and consequently is assured that it is impossible he should not be and involves in it a contradiction So that my Discourse is so far from being equivalent to the Position he mentions that it is a perfect contradiction to it And he might with as much truth have affirm'd that I had expresly and in so many words said that there is no God The other passage is in pag. 118. of my Book concerning the Rule of Faith I was discoursing that no man can shew by any necessary argument that it is naturally impossible that all the Relations concerning America should be false But yet say I I suppose that notwithstanding this no man in his wits is now possest with so incredible a folly as to doubt whether there be such a place The case is the very same as to the certainty of an ancient Book and of the sense of plain expressions We have no demonstration for these things and we expect none because we know the things are not capable of it We are not infallibly certain that any Book is so ancient as it pretends to be or that it was written by him whose Name it bears or that this is the sense of such and such passages in it it is possible all this may be otherwise But we are very well assur'd that it is not nor hath any prudent man any just cause to make the least doubt of it For a bare possibility that a thing may be or not be is no just cause of doubting whether a thing be or not It is possible all the people in France may dye this night but I hope the possiblity of this doth not incline any man in the least to think it will be so It is possible that the Sun may not rise to morrow morning yet for all this I suppose that no man hath the least doubt but that it will To avoid the cavils of this impertinent Man I have transcrib'd the whole Page to which he refers And now where is this avow'd Position of the possible falshood of Faith All that I say is this That we are not infallible either in judging of the antiquity of a Book or of the sense of it by which I mean as any man of sense and ingenuity would easily perceive I do that we cannot demonstrate these things of as to shew that the contrary necessarily involves a contradiction but yet that we may have a firm assurance concerning these matters so as not to make the least doubt of them And is this to avow the possible falshood of Faith And yet this Position Mr. S. charges upon these words how justly I shall now examine Either by Faith Mr. S. means the Doctrine reveal'd by God and then the meaning of the Position must be that what God says is possible to be false which is so absurd a Position as can hardly enter into any man's mind and yet Mr. S. hath the modesty all along in his Book to insinuate that in the forecited Passage I say as much as this comes to Or else Mr. S. means by Faith the assent which we give to Doctrines as reveal'd by God and then his sense of infallibility must be either that whoever assents
His Grace John Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury SERMONS PREACH'D Upon several Occasions By His Grace JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The First Volume The Eighth Edition Corrected LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil and William Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1694. To the Worshipfull the Masters of the Bench and the rest of the Members of the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn Gentlemen WHen I resolv'd to publish these Sermons there could be no dispute to whom I should dedicate them They do of right belong to you being most of them first preach'd among you besides my great obligation to you for your constant respects to me both in the favourable acceptance and in the generous encouragement of my labours ever since I had the honour and happiness to be related to you In a thankfull acknowledgment whereof I humbly present this small part of them to you hoping that by the blessing of God they may be of some use for the promoting of true piety and vertue which is the sincere wish and aim of Your most obliged and faithfull Servant John Cant. The Preface I Shall neither trouble the Reader nor my self with any apology for the publishing of these Sermons For if they be in any measure truly serviceable to the end for which they are design'd to establish men in the Principles of Religion and to recommend to them the practice of it with any considerable advantage I do not see what Apology is necessary and if they be not so I am sure none can be sufficient However if there need any the common heads of excuse in these cases are very well known and I hope I have an equal right to them with other men I shall chuse rather in this Preface to give a short account of the following Discourses and as briefly as I can to vindicate a single passage in the first of them from the Exceptions of a Gentleman who hath been pleas'd to honour it so far as to write a whole Book against it The Design of these Discourses is fourfold First To shew the unreasonableness of Atheism and of scoffing at Religion which I am sorry is so necessary to be done in this Age. This I have endeavour'd in the two first of these Discourses Secondly To recommend Religion to men from the great and manifold advantages which it brings both to publick Society and to particular persons And this is the argument of the third and fourth Thirdly To represent the excellency more particularly of the Christian Religion and to vindicate the practise of it from the suspicion of those grievous troubles and difficulties which many imagine it to be attended withall And this is the subject of the fifth and sixth Fourthly To perswade men to the practice of this holy Religion from the great obligation which the profession of Christianity lays upon men to that purpose and more particularly from the glorious rewards of another life which is the design of the two last Discourses Having given this short account of the following Discourses I crave leave of the Reader to detain him a little longer whilst I vindicate a passage in the first of these Sermons from the assaults of a whole Book purposely writ against it The Title of the Book is Faith vindicated from the possibility of Falshood The Author Mr. J. S. the famous Author of Sure footing He hath indeed in this last Book of his to my great amazement quitted that glorious Title Not that I dare assume to my self to have put him out of conceit with it by having convinc'd him of the phantasticalness of it No I despair to convince that man of any thing who after so fair an admonition does still persist to maintain * Letter of Thanks p. 24 c. that first and self-evident Principles not onely may but are fit to be demonstrated and †Ibid. p. 11. that those ridiculous identical Propositions that Faith is Faith and a Rule is a Rule are first Principle in this Controversie◠of the Rule of Faith without which nothing can be solidly concluded either about Rule or Faith But there was another reason for his quitting of that Title and a prudent one indeed He had forsaken the defence of Sure footing and then it became convenient to lay aside that Title for fear of putting people any more in mind of that Book I expected indeed after his Letter of Thanks in which he * P. 14. tells us he intended to throw aside the rubbish of my Book that in his Answer he might the better lay open the Fabrick of my Discourse and have nothing there to doe but to speak to solid Points I say after this I expected a full Answer to the solid Points as he is pleased to call them of my Book and that according to his excellent method of removing the rubbish in order to the pulling down of a building the Fabrick of my Book would long since have been demolish'd and laid even with the ground But especially when in the conclusion of that most civil and obliging Letter he threatn'd never to leave following on his blow till he had either brought Dr. Still and me to lay Principles that would bear the test or it was made evident to all the world that we had none I began as I had reason to be in a terrible fear of him and to look upon my self as a dead man And indeed who can think himself so considerable as not to dread this mighty man of Demonstration this Prince of Controvertists this great Lord and Possessour of First Principles But I perceive that great minds are mercifull and do sometimes content themselves to threaten when they could destroy For instead of returning a full Answer to my Book he according to their new mode of confuting Books manfully falls a nibbling at one single passage in it pag. 118. wherein he makes me to say for I say no such thing that the Rule of Christian Faith and consequently Faith it self is possible to be false Nay in his Letter of Thanks * P. 13. he says it is an avow'd Position in that place that Faith is possible to be false And to give the more countenance to this calumny he chargeth the same Position in equivalent terms of the possible falshood of Faith and that as to the chiefest and most fundamental Point the Tenet of a Deity upon the forementioned Sermon But because he knew in his conscience that I had avow'd no such Position he durst not cite the words either of my Book or Sermon lest the Reader should have discover'd the notorious falshood and groundlesness of this Calumny Nay he durst not so much as refer to any particular place in my Sermon where such a passage might be found And yet this is the Man that has the face to charge others with false citations to which charge before I have done I shall say something
provided for the salvation of men of all capacities it is no such reflection upon the goodness and wisedom of providence as Mr. S. imagines that he hath not taken care that every man's Faith should arrive to the degree of infallibility nor does our blessed Saviour for not having made this provision deserve to be esteem'd by all the world not a wise Lawgiver but a mere Ignoramus and Impostor as * Labyvinthus Cantuariensis P. 77. one of his fellow Controvertists speaks with reverence Besides this assertion that infallibility is necessary to the true nature of that assent which we call Faith is plainly false upon another account also because Faith admits of degrees But Infallibility has none The Scripture speaks of a weak and a strong Faith and of the increase of Faith but I never heard of a weak and strong Infallibility Infallibility is the highest perfection of the knowing faculty and consequently the firmest degree of assent upon the firmest grounds and which are known to be so But will Mr. S. say that the highest degree of assent admits of degrees and is capable of increase Infallibility is an absolute impossibility of being deceived now I desire Mr. S. to shew me the degrees of absolute impossibility and if he could doe that and consequently there might be degrees of Infallibility yet I cannot believe that Mr. S. would think fit to call any degree of Infallibility a weak Faith or assent 2. Because an infallible security in the particulars mention'd is impossible to be had I mean in an ordinary way and without miracle and particular revelation because the nature of the thing is incapable of it The utmost security we have of the antiquity of any Book is humane Testimony and all humane Testimony is fallible for this plain reason because all men are fallible And though Mr. S. in defence of his beloved Tradition is pleas'd to say that humane Testimony in some cases is infallible yet I think no man before him was ever so hardy as to maintain that the Testimony of fallible men is infallible I grant it to be in many cases certain that is such as a considerate man may prudently rely and proceed upon and hath no just cause to doubt of and such as none but an obstinate man or a fool can deny And that thus the learned men of his own Church desine certainty Mr. S. if he would but vouchsafe to read such Books might have learnt from * De lo. Theol. lib. 11. c. 4. Certa apud homines ea sunt quae negari sine pervicacia stultitia non possunt Melchior Canus who speaking of the firmness of humane Testimony in some cases which yet he did not believe to be infallible defines it thus those things are certain among men which cannot be deny'd without obstinacy and folly I know Mr. S. is pleas'd to say that certainty and infallibility are all one And he is the first man that I know of that ever said it And yet perhaps some body may have been before him in it for I remember Tully says that there is nothing so foolish but some Philosopher or other has said it I am sure Mr. S's own Philosopher Mr. Wh. contradicts him in this most clearly in his Preface to Rushworth's Dialogues where explicating the term Moral certainty he tells us that some understood by it such a certainty as makes the cause always work the same effect though it take not away the absolute possibility of working other ways and this presently after he tells us ought absolutely to be reckon'd in the degree of true certainty and the Authors consider'd as mistaken in undervaluing it So that accordiâ—g to Mr. Wh. true certainty may consist with a possibility of the contrary and consequently Mr. S. is mistaken in thinking certainty and infallibility to be all one Nay I do not sind any two of them agreeing among themselves about the notions of infallibility and certainty Mr. Wh. says that what some call moral certainty is true certainty though it do not take away a possibility of the contrary Mr. S. asserts the direct contrary that Moral certainty is only probability because it does not take away the possibility of the contrary The Guide in Controversies * P. 135. differs from them both and makes moral certain and infallible all one I desire that they would agree these matters among themselves before they quarrel with us about them In brief then though moral certainty be sometimes taken for a high degree of probability which can onely produce a doubt full assent yet it is also frequently us'd for a firm and undoubted assent to a thing upon such grounds as are fit fully to satisfie a prudent man and in this sense I have always us'd this Term. But now insallibility is an absolute security of the understanding from all possibility of mistake in what it believes And there are but two ways for the understanding to be thus secur'd either by the perfection of its own nature or by supernatural assistance But no humane understanding being absolutely secur'd from possibility of mistake by the perfection of its own nature which I think all mankind except Mr. S. have hitherto granted it follows that no man can be infallible in any thing but by supernatural assistance Nor did ever the Church of Rome pretend to infallibility upon any other account as every one knows that hath been conversant in the Writings of their Learned men And Mr. Cressy in his * P. 88 89. Answer to Dr. Pierce hath not the face to contend for any other infallibility but this that the immutable God can actually preserve a mutable creature from actual mutation But I can by no means agrâ—e with him in what immediately follows concerning the Omniscience of a creature that God who is absolutely omniscient can teach a rational Creature all truths necessary or expedient to be known so that though a man may have much ignorance yet he may be in a sort omniscient within a determinate sphere Omniscient within a determinate sphere is an infinite within a finite sphere and is not that a very pretty sort of knowing all things which may consist with a ignorance of many things Of all the Controvertists I have met with except Mr. S. Mr. Cressy is the happiest at these smart and ingenious kind of reasonings As to the other Particular of the sense of Books it is likewise plainly impossible that any thing should be deliver'd in such clear and certain words as are absolutely incapable of any other sense and yet notwithstanding this the meaning of them may be so plain as that any unprejudic'd and reasonable man may certainly understand them How many Definitions and Axioms c. are there in Euclid in the sense of which men are universally agreed and think themselves undoubtedly certain of it and yet the words in which they are express'd may possibly bear another sense The same may be said concerning the
here Reader presented thee with a Discourse which if we may believe Mr. S. is more than Mathematically demonstrative A rare Sight indeed And is not this a pleasant Man and of good assurance I now find it true which he * Letter of Thanks P. 1. says elsewhere that Principles are of an inflexible genius and self-confident too and that they love naturally to express themselves with an assuredness But certainly the sacred names of Principles and Demonstration were never so profan'd by any Man before Might not any one write a Book of such Jargon and call it Demonstration And would it not equally serve to prove or confute If he intended this stuff for the satisfaction of the People he might as well have writ in the Coptick or Sclavonian Language yet I cannot deny but that it is very suitable to the Principles of the Roman Church for why should not their Science as well as their Service be in an unknown Tongue that the one may be as sit to improve their knowledge as the other is to raise their devotion But if he designed this for the Learned nothing could be more improper for they are far less apt to admire non-sense than the common People And I desire that no man how learned soever he may think himself would be over-confident that this is sense I do verily believe that neither Harphius nor Rusbrochius nor the profound Mother Juliana have any thing in their writings more senseless and obscure than this Discourse of his which he affirms to be more than Mathematically Demonstrative So that if I were worthy to advise Mr. S. he should give over this pretence to Science for whatever he may think his Talent certainly does not lie that way but he seems to be as well made for a Mystical Divine as any man I know and methinks his Superiours should be sensible of this and employ him to write about the Deiform fund of the Soul the super-essential life the method of self-annihilation and the passive unions of nothing with nothing These are profound Subjects and he hath a Style peculiarly fitted for them For even in this parcel of stuff which I have now cited there are five or six words such as may-not-bees potentiality actuality actuation determinative supervene and subsume which if they were but well mingled and discreetly ordered and brought in now and then with a that is to explain one another would half set up a man in that way and enable him to write as Mystical a Discourse as a man would wish But enough of this And I have trespass'd not a little upon mine own disposition in saying thus much though out of a just indignation as confident Non-sense It is time now to draw toward a conclusion of this debate I shall onely leave with the Reader a few observations concerning this Book of Mr. S's and his Doctrine of Infallibility First That the main drift of his Book being to prove that what is true is impossible to be false he opposes no body that I know of in this matter Secondly That in asserting Infallibility to be necessary to the true nature of Faith he hath the generality of his own Church his professed Adversaries The Church of Rome never arrogated to her self any other Infallibility but what she pretends to be sounded upon Christ's promise to secure his Church always from Errour by a supernatural assistance which is widely different from Mâ— S's rational infallibility of Oral Tradition Mr. S. surely cannot be ignorant that the Divines of their Church till Mr. Rushworth and Mr. White found out this new way did generally resolve Faith into the infallible Testimony of the Church and the infallibility of their Church into our Saviour's Promise and the evidence of the true Church into the Markes of the Church or the Motives of credibility which Motives are acknowledg'd to be only prudential and not demonstrative * I. 4. de Eccles Bellarmine says that the Marks of the Church do not make it evidently true which is the true Church but onely evidently credible and that says he is said to be evidently credible which is neither seen in it self nor in its principles but yet hath so many and so weighty Testimonies that every wise man hath reason to believe it Becanus * Sum. Tom. 2. partic de tide c. 1. to the same purpose that the Motives of credibility are onely the foundation of a prudent but not of an infallible assent I know very well that Mr. Knott and some others would fain perswade us that an assent in some sort infallible may be built upon prudential Motives which is as absurd as it 's possible but if it were true yet Mr. S. would not accept of this sort of infallibility nothing less will serve him than demonstrative Motives and such as are absolutely conclusive of the thing Stapleton as Mr. Cressy tells us expresly says that such an infallible certitude of Means is not now necessary to the Pastors of the Church as was necessary to the Apostles who were the first founders of the Church So that according to these Authors there may be true Faith where neither the means nor the Motives of it are such as to raise our assent to the degree of infallibility And this is as much to the full as any Protestant that I know of ever said Nay even his Friends of the Tradition Mr. Rushworth Mr. White and Mr. Cressy are guilty of the same damnable and fundamental Errour as Mr. S. calls it †Letter to his Answerer p. 5. For they grant less assurance than that which is infallible to be sufficient to Christian Faith and that we are justly condemn'd if we refuse to believe upon such evidence as does ordinarily satisfie prudent men in humane affairs And particularly Mr. Wh. makes a question whether humane nature be capable of infallibility as I have shewn at large by clear and full Testimonies out of each of these Authors in the Answer to Sure-footing †Pâ—â—â—c c. Of which Testimonies though Mr. S. hath not though fit to take the least notice throughout his Book yet I cannot but think it a reasonable request to desire him to vindicate the Divines of his own Church especially those of his own way from these things before he charge us any farther with them Thirdly That Mr. S. by this Principle that infallibility is necessary to the true nature of Faith makes every true believer infallible in matters of Faith which is such a Paradox as I doubt whether ever it enter'd into any other man's mind But if it be true what need then of any infallibility in Pope or Council And if this infallibility be grounded upon the nature of Oral Tradition what need of supernatural assistance I doubt Mr. S. would be loth to preach this Doctrine at Rome I have often heard that there is an old teasty Gentleman lives there who would take it very ill that any one besides himself should
pretend to be infallible Fourthly That Mr. S. by his Principles does plainly exclude from salvation the generality of his own Church that is all that do not believe upon his Grounds And this is the necessary consequence of his reasoning in a late Treatise intituled The method to arrive at satisfaction in Religion The principles whereof are these That the Church is a Congregation of Faithfull The Faithfull are those who have true Faith That till it be known which is the true Faith it cannot be known which is the true Church That which is the true Faith can onely be known by the true Rule of Faith which is Oral Tradition And that the infallibility of this Rule is evident to common sense And from these principles he concludes * Sec. 21. that those who follow not this Rule and so are out of this Church can have no true Faith And that though many of the Points to which they assent are true yet their assent is not Faith for Faith speaking of Christian Faith is an assent which cannot possibly be false So that the Foundation of this Method is the self-evident infallibility of Oral Tradition which hath been sufficiently consider'd in the Answer to Sure footing which yet remains unanswer'd That which I am now concern'd to take notice of is the consequence of this Method which does at one blow excommunicate and un-Christian the far greatest part of his own Church For if all who do not follow Oral Tradition as their onely Rule of Faith are out of the Church and can have no true Faith then all who follow the Council of Trent are ipso facto no Christians For nothing is plainer than that that Council did not make Oral Tradition the sole Rule of their Faith nor rely upon it as such which hath been prov'd at large in the Answer to Sure footing But why is Mr. S. so zealous in this matter of infallibility There is a plain reason for it He finds that confidence how weakly soever it be grounde hath some effect upon the common and ignorant People who are apt to think there is something more than ordinary in a swaggering man that talks of nothing but Principles and Demonstration And so we see it in some other Professions There are a sort of People very well known who find that the most effectual way to cheat the People is always to pretend to infallible Cures I have now done with his Infallibility But I must not forget this Letter of Thanks I shall wholly pass by the passion and ill language of it which a man may plainly see to have proceeded from a gall'd and uneasie mind He would fain put on some pleasantness but was not able to conceal his vexation Nor shall I insist upon his palpable shussling about the explication of the Terms Rule and Faith He was convinc'd that he had explain'd them very untowardly and therefore would gladly come off by saying that he did not intend explication p. 7. but onely to praedicate or affirm something of them And yet the whole design of the first page of Sure-footing is to shew the necessity of beginning with the meaning of those words which express the thing under debate And this method he tells us he will apply to his present purpose and will examine well what is meant by those words which express the thing he was to discuss namely The RVLE of FAITH Now if to examine well what is meant by words be not to go about to explain them I must confess my self to be in a great errour Of the same kind in his Apology for his Testimonies as if they were * P. 105. not intended against the Protestants whereas his Book was writ against the Protestants and when he comes to his Testimonies he †Sure-footing P. 126. declares the design of them to be to second by Authority what he had before establish'd by Reason So that if the Rational part of his Book was intended against the Protestants and the Testimonies were design'd to second it I cannot understand why he should say one was less intended against them than the other But it seems he is so conscious of the weakness of those Testimonies that he does not think them sit to satisfie any but those who believe him already As to his charge of false citations it is but the common artifice of the Roman Controvertists when they have nothing else to say However that the world may see how little he is to be trusted I shall instance in two or three about which he makes the loudest clamour and leave it to the Reader to judge by these of his sincerity in the rest He says P. 62. I notoriously abuse the Preface to Rushworths Dialogues in citing the Author of it to say that such certainty as makes the cause always to work the same effect though it take not away the absolute possibility of working otherwise ought absolutely to be reckon'd in the degree of true certainty whereas says Mr. S. he onely tells us there p. 7. that by moral certainty some understood such a certainty as makes the cause c. To vindicate my self in this I shall onely set the Author's words before the Reader 's eyes They are these This term Moral certainty every one explicated not like but some understood by it such a certainty as makes the cause always work the same effect though it take not away the absolute possibility of working other ways Others call'd that a moral certainty which proceeds from c. A third explication of this word is c. Of these three the first ought absolutely to be reckon'd in the degree of true certainty and the Authors consider'd as mistaken in undervaluing it Is this onely to tell us that by moral certainty some understood c. Does not the Prefacer also expresly affirm that what these some understood by moral certainty ought absolutely to be reckon'd in the degree of true certainty which is the very thing I cited him for Another heavy charge is P. 65. that according to my usual sincerity I quote Rushworth's Nephew to say that a few good words are to be cast in concerning Scripture for the satisfaction of indifferent men who have been brought up in this verbal and apparent respect of the Scripture whereas says Mr. S. in the place you cite he onely expresses it would be a satisfaction to indifferent men to see the positions one would induce them to embrace maintainable by Scripture Does he onely say so let the Reader judge The words in Mr. Rushworth are these Yet this I must tell ye that it were a great satisfaction for indifferent men that have been brought up in this verbal and apparent respect of the Scripture to see that the Positions you would induce them unto can be and are maintain'd by Scripture and that they are grounded therein Certainly one would think that either this man has no eyes or no forehead But the greatest
the knowledge of our Creator and of the duty we owe to him the wisdom of pleasing God by doing what he commands and avoiding what he forbids This Knowledge and Wisdom may be attained by man and is sufficient to make him happy And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding These words consist of two Propositions which are not distinct in sense but one and the same thing variously express'd For wisedom and understanding are synonymous words here and though sometimes they have different notions yet in the Poetical Books of Scripture they are most frequently used as words equivalent and do both of them indifferently signifie either a speculative knowledge of things or a practical skill about them according to the exigency of the matter or thing spoken of And so likewise the fear of the Lord and departure from evil are phrases of a very near sense and like importance and therefore we find them several times put together in Scripture Pro. 3.7 Pr. 16.6 Fear the Lord and depart from evil By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil So that they differ onely as cause and effect which by a Metonymie usual in all sorts of Authors are frequently put one for another Now to fear the Lord and to depart from evil are phrases which the Scripture useth in a very great latitude to express to us the sum of Religion and the whole of our duty And because the large usage of these phrases is to be the foundation of my following discourse I shall for the farther clearing of this matter endeavour to shew these two things 1. That 't is very usual in the Language of Scripture to express the whole of Religion by these and such like phrases 2. The particular fitness of these two phrases to describe Religion I. It is very usual in the Language of Scripture to express the whole of Religion by some eminent principle or part of Religion The great Principles of Religion are knowledge faith remembrance love and fear by all which the Scripture useth to express the whole duty of man In the Old Testament by the knowledge remembrance and fear of God Religion is called The knowledge of the holy Prov. 30.3 Jer. 10.25 And wicked men are described to be such as know not God So likewise by the fear of the Lord frequently in this Book of Job and in the Psalms and Proverbs And Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another And the fear of God is expresly said to be the sum of Religion Eccl. 12.13 Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of man And on the contrary the wicked are described to be such as have not the fear of God before their eyes Ps 36.1 And so likewise by the remembrance of God Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth Eccl. 12.1 that is enter upon a religious course betimes And on the contrary the character of the wicked is that they forget God The wicked shall be turned into Hell Ps 9.17 and all the Nations that forget God In the New Testament Religion is usually expressed by faith in God and Christ and the love of them Hence it is that true Christians are so frequently called believers and wicked and ungodly men unbelievers And that good men are described to be such as love God all things shall work together for good to them that love God Ro. 8.28 Eph. 6.24 and such as love the Lord Iesus Christ Now the reason why these are put for the whole of Religion is because the belief and knowledge and remembrance and love and fear of God are such powerfull principles and have so great an influence upon men to make them Religious that where any one of these really is all the rest together with the true and genuine effects of them are supposed to be And so likewise the sum of all Religion is often expressed by some eminent part of it which will explain the second phrase here in the Text departing from evil The worship of God is an eminent part of Religion and Prayer which is often in Scripture expressed by seeking God and calling upon his Name is a chief part of Religious worship Hence Religion is described by seeking God Heb. 11.6 He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him and by calling upon his name Acts 2.21 Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved And so by coming to God and by departing from evil In this fallen state of man Religion begins with repentance and conversion the two opposite terms of which are God and Sin Hence it is that Religion is described sometimes by coming to God Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe that he is that is no man can be religious unless he believe there is a God Is 59.15 sometimes by departing from sin And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey that is such was the bad state of those times of which the Prophet there complains that no man could be religious but he was in danger of being persecuted II. For the fitness of these two phrases to describe Religion 1. For the first the fear of the Lord The fitness of this phrase will appear if we consider how great an influence the fear of God hath upon men to make them religious Fear is a passion that is most deeply rooted in our natures and flows immediately from that Principle of self-preservation which God hath planted in every man Every one desires his own preservation and happiness and therefore hath a natural dread and horrour of every thing that can destroy his Being or endanger his happiness And the greatest danger is from the greatest power and that is omnipotency So that the fear of God is an inward acknowledgment of a holy and just Being which is armed with an almighty and irresistible power God having hid in every Man's Conscience a secret awe and dread of his infinite power and eternal justice Now fear being so intimate to our natures it is the strongest bond of Laws and the great security of our duty There are two bridles or restraints which God hath put upon humane nature shame and fear Shame is the weaker and hath place onely in those in whom there are some remainders of vertue Fear is the stronger and works upon all who love themselves and desire their own preservation Therefore in this degenerate state of mankind fear is that passion which hath the greatest power over us and by which God and his Laws take the surest hold of us Our desire and love and hope are not so apt to be wrought upon by the representation of vertue and the promises of reward and happiness as our fear is from the apprehensions of Divine displeasure For though we have lost in a great measure the gust and relish of true happiness yet we
apprehension of a God doth spring from an infinite jealousie in the mind of man and an endless fear of the worst that may happen according to that divine saying of the Poet which he can never sufficiently admire Primum in orle Deos fecit timor Fear first made Gods So that it is granted on both sides that the fear of a Deity doth universally possess the minds of men Now the question is whether it be more likely that the existence of a God should be the cause of this fear or that this fear should be the cause why men imagine there is a God if there be a God who hath impressed this image of himself upon the mind of Man there 's great reason why all men should stand in awe of him But if there be no God it is not easie to conceive how fear should create an universal confidence and assurance in men that there is one For whence should this fear come It must be either from without from the suggestion of others who first tell us there is such a being and then our fear believes it or else it must arise from within from the nature of man which is apt to fansie dreadfull and terrible things If from the suggestion of others who tell us so the question returns who told them so and will never be satisfied till the first Author of this report be found out So that this account of fear resolves it self into tradition which shall spoken to in its proper place But if it be said that this fear ariseth from within from the nature of man which is apt to imagine dreadfull things this likewise is liable to inexplicable difficulties For First The proper object of fear is something that is dreadfull that is something that threatens men with harm or danger and that in God must either be power or justice and such an object as this fear indeed may create But Goodness and Mercy are essential to the notion of a God as well as power and justice now how should fear put men upon fansying a being that is infinitely good and merciful No man hath reason to be afraid of such a being as such So that the Atheist must joyn another cause to fear viz. hope to enable men to create this imagination of a God And what would the product of these two contrary passions be the imagination of a being which we should fear would do us as much harm as we could hope it would do us good which would be quid pro quo and which our reason would oblige us to lay aside so soon as we have fansied it because it would signifie just nothing But Secondly suppose fear alone could do it how comes the mind of man to be subject to such groundless and unreasonable fears The Aristotelian Atheist will say it always was so But this is to affirm and not to give any account of a thing The Epicurean Atheist if he will speak consonantly to himself must say that there happened in the original constitution of the first men such a contexture of Atomes as doth naturally dispose men to these panick fears unless he will say that the first men when they grew out of the earth and afterwards broke loose from their root finding themselves weak and naked and unarmed and meeting with several fierce Creatures stronger than themselves they were put into such a fright as did a little distemper their understandings and let loose their imaginations to endless suspicions and unbounded jealousies which did at last settle in the conceit of an invisible being infinitely powerful and able to do them harm and being fully possest with this apprehension nothing being more ordinary than for crazed persons to believe their own fancies they became religious and afterwards when mankind began to be propagated in the way of generation then Religion obliged them to instill these Principles into their Children in their tender years that so they might make the greater impression upon them and this course having been continued ever since the notion of a God hath been kept up in the world This is very suitable to Epicurus his Hypothesis of the original of men But if any man think fit to say thus I cannot think it fit to confute him Thirdly whether men were from all eternity such timorous and fancifull Creatures or hapned to be made so in the first constitution of things it seems however that this fear of a Deity hath a foundation in nature And if it be natural ought we not rather to conclude that there is some ground and reason for these fears and that nature hath not planted them in us to no purpose than that they are vain and groundless There is no principle that Aristotle the great assertor of the eternity of the world doth more frequently inculcate than this That nature doeth nothing in vain and the Atheist himself is forc'd to acknowledge and so every man must who attentively considers the frame of the world That although things were made by chance yet they have happen'd as well as if the greatest wisedom had the ordering and contriving of them And surely wisedom would never have planted such a vain principle as the fear of a Deity in the nature of man if there had not been a God in the world Secondly If fear be not a sufficient account of this universal consent the Atheist thinks it may very probably be resolved into universal Tradition But this likewise is liable to great exception For whence came this Tradition It must begin some time it must have its original from some body and it were very well worth our knowing who that man was that first raised this spirit which all the reason of mankind could never conjure down since Where did he live and when In what Countrey and in what Age of the world What was his name or his sons name that we may know him This the Atheist can give no punctual account of only he imagines it not improbable that some body long ago no body knows when beyond the memory of all Ages did start such a notion in the world and that it hath past for current ever since But if this Tradition be granted so very ancient as to have been before all Books and to be elder than any History it may for any thing any body can tell have been from the beginning and then it is much more likely to be a notion which was bred in the mind of man and born with him than a Tradition transmitted from hand to hand through all Generations especially if we consider how many rude and barbarous Nations there are in the world which consent in the opinion of a God and yet have scarce any certain Tradition of any thing that was done among them but two or three Ages before Thirdly But if neither of these be satisfactory he hath one way more which although it signifie little to men of sober and severe Reason yet it very unhappily hits
thus to use the Authour of our Beings and the Patron of our Lives to make a scorn of him that made us and to live in an open defiance of him in whom we live move and have our beings But this is not all As it is a most heinous so it is a most dangerous impiety to despise him that can destroy us and to oppose him who is infinitely more powerful than we are Will ye says the Apostle provoke the Lord to jealousie are ye stronger than he What Gamaliel said to the Jews in another case may with a little change be applied to this sort of men If there be a God and the principles of Religion be true ye cannot overthrow them therefore refrain from speaking against these things lest ye be found fighters against God I will but add one thing more to shew the folly of this prophane temper And that is this that as it is the greatest of all other sins so there is in truth the least temptation to it When the Devil tempts men with riches or honour to ruin themselves he offers them some kind of consideration but the prophane person serves the Devil for nought and sins only for sin's sake suffers himself to be tempted to the greatest sins and into the greatest dangers for no other reward but the slender reputation of seeming to say that wittily which no wise man would say And what a folly is this for a man to offend his conscience to please his humour and onely for his jest to lose two of the best Friends he hath in the world God and his own soul I have done with the three things I propounded to speak to upon this Argument And now I beg your patience to apply what I have said to these three purposes 1. To take men off from this impious and dangerous folly of prophaneness which by some is miscalled wit 2. To caution men not to think the worse of Religion because some are so bold as to despise and deride it 3. To perswade men to employ that reason and wit which God hath given them to better and nobler purposes in the service and to the glory of that God who hath bestowed these gifts on men 1. To take men off from this impious and dangerous folly I know not how it comes to pass that some men have the fortune to be esteemed Wits onely for jesting out of the common road and for making bold to scoff at those things which the greatest part of mankind reverence As if a man should be accounted a Wit for reviling those in Authority which is no more an argument of any man's wit than it is of his discretion A wise man would not speak contemptuously of a great Prince though he were out of his Dominions because he remembers that Kings have long hands and that their power and influence does many times reach a great way farther than their direct Authority But God is a great King and in his hand are all the corners of the earth we can go no whither from his Spirit nor can we flee from his presence where-ever we are his eye sees us and his right hand can reach us If men did truly consult the interest either of their safety or reputation they would never exercise their wit in dangerous matters Wit is a very commendable quality but then a wise man should always have the keeping of it It is a sharp weapon as apt for mischief as for good purposes if it be not well manag'd The proper use of it is to season conversation to represent what is praise-worthy to the greatest advantage and to expose the vices and follies of men such things as are in themselves truly ridiculous But if it be applied to the abuse of the gravest and most serious matters it then loses its commendation If any man think he abounds in this quality and hath wit to spare there is scope enough for it within the bounds of Religion and decency and when it transgresseth these it degenerates into insolence and impiety All wit which borders upon prophaneness and makes bold with those things to which the greatest reverence is due deserves to be branded for folly And if we would preserve our selves from the infection of this vice we must take heed how we scoff at Religion under any form lest insensibly we derive some contempt upon Religion it self And we must likewise take heed how we accustom our selves to a slight and irreverent use of the Name of God and of the phrases and expressions of the Holy Bible which ought not to be applied upon every light occasion Men will easily slide into the highest degree of prophaneness who are not careful to preserve a due reverence of the great and glorious Name of God and an awfull regard to the Holy Scriptures None so nearly disposed to scoffing at Religion as those who have accustomed themselves to swear upon trifling occasions For it is just with God to permit those who allow themselves in one degree of prophaneness to proceed to another till at last they come to that height of impiety as to contemn all Religion 2. Let no man think the worse of Religion because some are so bold as to despise and deride it For 't is no disparagement to any person or thing to be laught at but to deserve to be so The most grave and serious matters in the whole world are liable to be abus'd It is a known saying of Epictetus that every thing hath two handles By which he means that there is nothing so bad but a man may lay hold of something or other about it that will afford matter of excuse and extenuation nor nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it A sharp wit may find something in the wisest man whereby to expose him to the contempt of injudicious people The gravest book that ever was written may be made ridiculous by applying the sayings of it to a foolish purpose For a jest may be obtruded upon any thing And therefore no man ought to have the less reverence for the principles of Religion or for the holy Scriptures because idle and prophane Wits can break jests upon them Nothing is so easie as to take particular phrases and expressions out of the best Book in the world and to abuse them by forcing an odd and ridiculous sense upon them But no wise man will think a good Book foolish for this reason but the man that abuses it nor will he esteem that to which every thing is liable to be a just exception against any thing At this rate we must despise all things but surely the better and the shorter way is to contemn those who would bring any thing that is worthy into contempt 3. And lastly to perswade men to employ that reason and wit which God hath given them to better and nobler purposes in the service and to the glory of that God who hath