to have a real but a phantastic Body And the Ministers of the Church of England notwithstanding the denial of his learned Men do yet maintain the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour to be evidently delivered in the words The word was not is as he mistakes made Flesh. For who was the Word but he that is called God ver 1. that made all things ver 3. And what was his being made Flesh but his being made of the Seed of David Rom. 1.3 And how was he made Flesh but by being united to it and becoming Man Now if the Word that was God was the Word and not Man before he was made Flesh and when he was made Flesh did not cease to be the Word then there must be in him two Natures united which is the Incarnation His 3 d Instance is as he saith in order to Practice and the Query upon it is Then in order to Practice I desire to know whether it be necessary to Salvation to keep holy the Lord's-Day that is Sunday and not Saturday If it be I desire to know in what Chapter and Verse it is clearly contained in Scripture as also where the Abrogation of the Saturday is clearly expressed If it be not necessary for Salvation to keep holy the Lord's-Day I desire your warrant for it in these or the like terms It is not necessary to keep holy the Lord's-Day that is Sunday To this I answer That the obligation to observe the Lord's-Day is more or less necessary or unnecessary according to the Institution of it for such as the Institution is such is the Obligation If it be of mere Humane and Ecclesiastical institution it may by the same Authority be altered as it was established If of Divine Institution it 's not subject to humane arbitration And if it be of Divine Institution we must have it by the Revelation in Scripture or else it cannot be Divine And that it 's established upon such Authority I shall offer these considerations 1. There is as much in the Reason of the thing for this peculiar Day to be observed in the Christian Church as there was for the Sabbath in the Patriarchal and Jewish Church for what the Moral Sabbath was to Man upon his Creation and the Ceremonial Sabbath was to the Jews upon their Deliverance out of Egypt Deut. 5.15 that is the First Day of tâ—â— Week or the Lord's Day to Christians upon our Redemption by Christ which was accomplished and testified in his Resurrection on that Day 2. There is the Mark of Divine Institution set upon it when that which was otherwise called the first Day of the week was afterwards called the Lord's Day Rev. 1.10 It being usual in Scripture after that Times Places Things and Persons were set apart for the Service of God by Divine Institution to have his Name as a Mark of Propriety given to them Thus we read of the Lord 's Passover Exod. 12.11 The Sabbath of the Lord Exod. 20.10 The Temple of the Lord. The Lord's Sâ—pper 1 Cor. 11.20 Now I know not what Reason can be assigned that when the Things thus dignified by this Title are elsewhere of Divine Institution and so named because of that Institution that this Day should be called the Lord's Day and not be of Divine but Humane Institution 3. We may observe further That as the New World of Redemption began upon that Day so upon the same Day did Christ solemnly consecrate the Christian Church by the Descent of the Holy-Ghost upon the Apostles Acts 2.1 2. as of old the Jewish Church was by a Cloud or Divine Appearance Exod. 40.34 1 Kings 8.10 11. which they had the Promise of and until which they were not to depart from Jerusalem and to enter upon the work of gathering a Church Acts 1.4 4. It was the Day which the Primitive Christians in the Apostolical times held their stated Assemblies upon for Divine Worship as appears Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 This may suffice for the first branch of his Query I desire to know in what Chapter and Verse it is clearly contained in Scripture His next is Where the Abrogation of the Saturday he means the Sabbath is clearly expressed I may answer him it 's in the same Chapter and Verse where the Abrogation of Circumcision is clearly expressed And when he can find out Chapter and Verse for the one I will undertake to shew him Chapter and Verse for the other Indeed there was no need of an express Abrogation of either For Baptism being instituted by Christ as a means of Initiation into his Church Circumcision that was the old way of admission must fall in course because the one was inconsistent with the other So the Lord's Day being set a-part for the publick and solemn Worship of God in the Christian Church the Sabbath that was before appointed for it must in reason surrender to it So the Apostle Col. 2.16 17. Let no man judge you in meat or drink or in respect of an holy-day or of new-moons or of thâ— sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho in the plural signifies the Seventh day or Jewish Sabbath as it doth Matt. 25.10 12. and for the most part in the New-Testament And which being a shadow as well as Meats and Drinks Holy-days and New-Moons was with those and for the same reasons to cease by the coming of Christ. Now as the Institution of Baptism abrogated Circumcision and the Lord's Day abrogated the Sabbath so we may certainly infer that if the Sabbath was a shadow and abrogated as such which the Apostle here asserts that there was some other day instituted in the place of it these things mutually inferring each other and what that day is I may leave to our Author's guess without again going to Chapter and Verse If you say that everyone is only bound to believe what is clear to him in Scripture reading it with Sincerity and Humility then I must desire to know What if I reading Scripture Sincerely and with Humility cannot find clearly expressed either the Trinity or Incarnation will it not be necessary for the Salvation of my Soul to believe these two Mysteries I Answer 1. Sincerity and Humility do imply the due use of all the means a person hath in possession for the finding out the Truth such as diligent reading the Word of God Prayers and Consultation with such as are most able and fit to assist him And where this temper is and this course is taken there will never be wanting what is necessary John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self 2. No man can believe but according to the motives of credibility and the reasons he hath for his Faith. An obligation lies upon all to believe all things necessary to Salvation but that is
when they are proposed and according to the Evidence so we are to believe and so only we can And yet we do not say as this Writer words it That Every one is only Bound to believe what is clear to him in Scripture For the Obligation to believe doth not depend upon his Understanding but the Authority of the Revelation his want of understanding may be taken as an excuse for his want of Faith but doth not diminish his obligation to believe 3. No man shall answer for what he had not a power to do and if he wants the Means or fails of the End in a due use of those Means it shall not be imputed to him John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin I do not question but as he that is truly sincere would believe if he was able and could see into the strength of evidence for it so that this ingenuous disposition of mind will be a reason for Almighty God to give him that Faith which is necessary or to pardon the want of it and if I was to chuse I had rather be sincere and err in a Matter of Faith than believe upon the full Conviction of the Truth and yet not be sincere in the pâ—ofession of it being sensible that what is involuntary is a less sin than what is voluntary and that I shall suffer less for a fault in my Understanding which I could not help than for a fault in my Will which I might Therefore let a person first learn Sincerity and Humility and read the Scripture sincerely and with Humility and then he will be sure to find all Truths necessary to Salvation so clearly and sufficiently expressed therein that he will be thereby convinced of it or if he fail in it he may be sure his Sincerity and Humility will do more through the Grace and Mercy of God in Christ to save him than the want of a Belief of some things otherwise necessary can do to damn him Put the Case I have recourse as by these I have to Church Guides and they tell me I must believe those Mysteries Is it necessary I believe these Guides If it be then Scripture alone is not clear in Necessaries to Salvation for here I am obliged to believe what is not clear to me in Scripture Again am I bound to keep holy Sunday tho I find no Precept for it in Scripture and not Saturday tho I find an express Command for it no-where Abregated in Scripture because my Guides tell me I must do so If I must then Guides are necessary to Salvation and Scripture alone without them is not sufficient Be pleased to own this Proposition Scripture alone is not sufficient without Guides to Interpret it If notwithstanding my Guides I am not bound to believe either Trinity or Incarnation or observe Sunday then I must beg of you to warrant with your Authority these words I am not bound to keep holy the Lord's-Day or Sunday tho the Guides of the Church tell me I must if I cannnot find it clearly in Scripture But you tell me That Necessaries to Salvation are either clear in Scripture or evidently deduced out of Scripture Very well Assign then these Necessaries and deduce them out of Scripture shew the Verse and Chapter from whence is evidently deduced an Obligation to keep holy Sunday and not Saturday Again the Evidence of that Deduction is either had immediately from the meer reading of Scripture without help of Guides and then I desire to see the Places from whence these Necessaries are evidently inferr'd or it cannot be had but by the help of Guides and then the Scripture alone is not sufficient What he here saith concerning Church-Guides and Deductions from Scripture has been before in good part prevented and shall have a farther Reply But I cannot but observe before I proceed how our Author doth all along rather design to amuse his Reader than to come to the Point of which there is not a Paragraph but is an Evidence As for Instance 1. He thus argues If all things necessary to Salvation are contained in Scripture then they are either clearly contained in it so that there is no need of an Interpreter for the meaning of the words or not p. 1. Now he cannot but know that an Interpreter for the meaning of the words is no more denied by us than it is sufficient for them without he understands more by Meaning of the Words than he cared his Reader should at first perceive 2. He argues again Put the case I have recourse to Church-Guides and they tell me I must believe those Mysteries is it Necessary I believe those Guides Am I bound because my Guides tell me I must do so Now he knows that such Guides as it 's necessary to believe are the Guides they indeed would have but we deny 3. He proceeds The evidence of the Deduction is either had immediately from the mere reading of Scripture without help of Guides or c. Now who ever said that all Necessaries are to be learned by all persons by the mere reading of Scripture without the use of Means such as Attention Consideration Prayer Interpreters and Guides 4. He then infers fallaciously Or it cannot be had but by the help of Guides and then the Scripture alone is not sufficient For when the Scripture alone is said to be sufficient it 's meant so as to contain all things necessary to Salvation it 's sufficient as a Rule for all things belonging to Faith and Manners so as to exclude the Necessity of any other Rule of that kind But it 's not so alone sufficient as to exclude all Means by which it 's to be understood 5. He farther conceals himself when after he had applied the case to Church-Guides as if he would be understood of private and ordinary Teachers in the Church he at last lodges it in the bosom of some stated and universal Infallible and unerring Guide as in the next Question Secondly But if all Necssaries to Salvation be not clear enough in Scripture to be understood without an Interpreter then it will be necessary to know who and where the Interpreter is If you remit me to the Decision of the true Church it will be necessary to know whiâ—h is that Church If you tell me all Christian Churches joined together then it follows that I am bound to believe nothing but what all Christians agree in for what they disagree in cannot be the Sentiment or Decision of the whole Church but only of a part of it I am not then obliged to believe the Trinity for the Arians tho Christians deny it I am not obliged to believe the Incarnation for many Christians deny that Christ was God made Man by a strict Incarnation but only by a Moral Vnion that is he was a Man who had the Authority of God as his Plenipotentiary and the like Now then let me know on what
are sensible they are not to be proved in the same way they find themselves obliged to give the same Authority to one as the other and to bring down the Scripture to the Church or exalt the Church to the Authority of Scripture So that if we will look for things necessary not contained in Scripture we must have recourse to the Church which can as they say ordain new Articles of Faith and which whenever so ordained are as much to be believed and received as those which have their Authority immediately from Scripture And after our Author hath beat about and done his endeavour to loosen the Articles of our Faith from the written Revelation and the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles hither he would bring the Case that we are obliged to stand to the Determination of one particular Church as he insinuates page 4. But now to return his own words upon him If you remit me to the Decision of the true Church it will be necessary to know which is that Church For since there are several pretenders and there are Christian Arrians as he saith and many other Dissenters how shall I find out this True Church and why that more than others Is it because she herself saith she is the True Church All the rest claim the like Character of being a True Church and besides this is to demand the thing that is to be proved Is it that she is like a City upon an Hill or the Sun in the Firmament to be known by a self-evident Light Why is it not then as well known and indisputably owned to be the true Church and the only True Church as a City to be a City or the Sun to be the Sun Is it to be found out by the Notes and Marks of the True Church Then we must find out the Marks before we find out the Church that is to be known by them And then the pinching Question comes on Where must I seek these Notes It 's to be feared that will lead us to the Scripture and then we know what follows Lastly Are we to find out the Church by an Infallible Guide Then we are to find such a Guide out of the Church and that we have no direction where to seek or by what Notes we may know it Here indeed we are left in a Maze to beat out the way and they that have made the Church a Guide have appointed no Guide to lead us to the Church That is a Track we must find of our selves there we must use our own simple Reason Consideration and Enquiry So that how certain soever we may be when in the Church we can never be infallibly certain which is the Church that we are bound to follow because this kind of certainty is peculiar to the Church and not to be had out of it But since we have gone thus far upon Supposition let us take it for granted once more that the Church is upon the Hill visible and demonstrable yet because the Church is a Collective Body where is the Seat of that Infallible Authority that I am to attend to and finally to be determined by Is it in every particular person Then because Infallibility knows no degrees I my self should in that Church be as Infallible as the Supreme Pastor of it Is it in one particular person or in a General Council Who and where is it Must I suspend till I know or till all the parts of the Church agree in it If you tell me all joyned together as our Author has taught me to Reason then it follows I am bound to believe nothing of this kind but what all agree in for what they disagree in cannot be the Sentiment or Decision of the whole Church but only of a part of it I am not then obliged to believe the Pope's Infallibility for the Councils of Basil and Constance and the French Church tho Papists deny it Nor am I obliged to believe a Council Infallible without the Pope because those at Rome deny it And because what 's a good Argument in one case is good in another let me have our Author's Warrant that I am bound to believe neither Infallible since neither of these agree with the other For certainly I am no more obliged to believe the Infallibility of their Church which they do thus disagree in than our Author would perswade us that we are not obliged to believe the Trinity because the Arrians tho Christians deny it But supposing that the Seat of Infallibility be clear and evident Yet how can I that am at a vast distance of years or place from that Oracle whatever it is be infallibly assured that these that are put into my hands are the very Results and Decrees of that Authority Or that this that I think or am told is the true and undoubted sense of them Or to speak modestly How can I be as much assured of the Truth of these matters as I am of the Authority and Sence of Scripture Or that Christ hath not spoken as plainly and intelligibly in the Scriptures as his Vicar or Substitutes have in any of their Canons and Decrees So that tho the Church be Infallible and I a Member of that Infallible Church yet what will that Infallibility avail me when I am without the doors of that Infallible Council or out of the reach of the immediate Dictates of the Infallible Chair And unless the spirit of Infallibility descends from the Chair to the meanest Priest who is to instruct and direct me or is indorsed upon every Decree and inspires every Article with its own unerring sense I am not infallibly certain And I may be no more certain of the true Doctrine of the Infallible Church than I am of the sense of Scripture under the Conduct of a Fallible Church since the immediate Authority I depend upon for the Doctrine and the Sense of it is all this while Fallible As for example I am told that there is such a Creed as that before mentioned of Pope Pius IV. that contains in it such Articles that every one is so bound to believe as without the belief of which no Man can be saved And I find in that Creed that the Church of Rome is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches And yet how shall I be Infallibly assured first that there ever was such a person as Pope Pius the 4th or that he ever composed such a Creed or that the foresaid Supremacy of the Church of Rome is one of those Articles The Pope I never saw nor am like to see A Council is a rare thing and what they care not to hear of at Rome and are able to do as well without as with it And therefore where shall I be infallibly instructed in these matters How shall I then be sure that the Article aforesaid is not to be understood that the Church of Rome is the Mistress of all Churches within the particular Diocess of Rome only For