of the Law So the Church among the Christians has the Gospel committed to her custody and has a power to determine in indifferent matters To order all the circumstances in Religion for decency order and edification and Authority to restrain such Controversies as tend to make a Schism and separation and dissolve that unity which Christians are frequently exhorted to keep So that although the Church be a witness and keeper of Holy Writ yet as it ought not to decree any thing against the same So besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation as our Church declares in her twentieth Article I shall not deny nor could I without singular pride and Arrogance but that Fathers and Councils and all Congregations of holy and judicious Christians much more Bishops and Governours of the Church treating about a point in Religion attempted to be introduced a new or being old is controverted in the world are with great deference to be attended to For every mans reason will urge this obligation to himself That his own judgement is rendered suspected when it opposes the common and united determination of persons that cannot justly be reproached with want either of skill or honesty And 't is ordinary for men to mistrust the sight of their own eyes when a multitude of others having the same advantage cannot behold what a single person pretends to see And in Religious affairs and such matters as are of great moment when persons of learning piety and authority in the holy Church of Christ assemble with solemnity and have a real intention to employ with all faithfulness and diligence those parts which God has bless'd and encreased to them by the advantage of a peculiar education and study invoking a Divine influence upon their endeavours to find out the truth and meaning of any difficult and controverted proposition We have great reason to incline to the belief of what these shall deliver for truth Unless the contrary be so apparent to us upon sufficient enquiry that there is no cause of hesitation at all This being the moderate opinion of our own Church we are opposed in it both by the Papist and Fanatick The former asserts that major est autoritas Ecclesiae quam Scripturae That the Authority of the Church is greater than that of the Scripture And that Traditiones sunt pari pietatis affectu cum Scripturis recipiendae Their Traditions are to be received with the same affection and devotion as the Scriptures And truly the latter come not far short of these but as much confine when it is in their power the belief as well as practice of their members to the determination of their Assemblies and little differ from the Roman infallibility in the end and design For if any Churches among our selves do yet affirm as they have formerly declared that the Kirk of Scotland was to be the pattern of their Reformation then I am sure they expect the same submission both in opinion and practice to their Assemblies determinations as a Popish Council do to their Canons or the Pope himself to his Decrees For to the Assembly held at Glasgow 1638 they swore that for judgement and practice they would adhere to the Determination of it though perhaps they knew not what it would determine But to leave the persons of those that stretch the power of a Church beyond the Authority God has given her There are three Reasons which plainly shew that any Church or Council of men cannot lay down any Propositions which derive their utmost Authority from themselves that may be the ultimate Rules by which the Doctrines and Opinions of others are to be judged 1. Because God to whom our Religion relates has appointed a rule that being superiour to the inventions of men must bind their fancies and opinions in these things and determine their Faith with those general actions that are deem'd Religious To what purpose were the Scriptures given to the World if they were not to be Rules and Directions to men Nay God being the Creator of all things and in reason claiming the Supreme Sovereignty over the things which he has made It is in his power to impose what Laws he will upon the world and 't is most suitable to his goodness to reveal them That men may not err for want of knowledge nor their thoughts contradict the will of their Maker Now this he has done in the holy Scriptures which are sufficiently authorized by his own Sanction in that Miracles attended their first publication which are as it were the Broad Seal of Heaven that prove them Gods own Act and Deed when they no way contradict the natural Notions and the prime foundations of the Religion of men The Scriptures therefore being thus given and confirmed to us must either be our Supreme Direction and an infallible guide in matters of Religion or else they were deliver'd to no purpose or to cheat and delude mankind The former consists not with the wisdom of God and the latter would contradict both his goodness and his truth All the difficulty then will be whether this Rule is sufficient to guide us in the Doctrine and practice of Religion so that we need not any new inspiration or any rules to be superadded beyond the sence of Scripture it self to conduct men in their way to Heaven And consequently whether we may by them judge of all Doctrines and Opinions without the help of the Roman infallibility or what is the same in another dress the unerring Spirit of the Enthusiast But admitting the Scriptures to be of Divine Authority they themselves are a sufficient testimony of their own perfection whilst they declare that they proceeded from Divine inspiration to be profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnish'd unto all good works 2 Tim. 3.16 2. No Canons or Decrees of whatever bears the name of Church or Council can be a Rule of trying Doctrines in Religion so as to be ultimate and Supreme Because all the conclusions and propositions of these are themselves the Doctrines and Opinions of men either with or without the pretence of inspiration and all Doctrines are to be tried themselves For this must be included as I have sufficiently proved in S. John's direction try the Spirits whether they are of God That therefore which is subject to an higher Tribunal cannot be it self the highest nor what is appointed solely to aid us in our trial and examination of Opinions nor the utmost Rule by which we must examine them Lastly If the Doctrines of the Prophets and Apostles of old nay of Christ himself the Saviour of the World were lyable to the examinations of men it being natural to mankind to try the truth of any Propositions before they believe them Then certainly no assembly of men can now in reason pretend such authority to impose their own
my understanding by the testimony of my senses concerning their own proper objects where there is a true medium and a just distance If this which thus seems to me to be Bread and Wine may yet not be so but the substantial Body and Blood of our Lord Then I can have no sufficient evidence that the Christian Doctrine was revealed from Heaven For the proof of this depending upon the certainty of those Miracles which were at the first wrought for the confirmation of it And these depending upon the certainty of their senses who were then eye-witnesse to the Miracles And if the senses of all mankind may together be deceived about this Sacrament the same possibility might make them so when the Miracles were wrought to prove the Gospel And then we have no certainty of our Religion but the whole Gospel may prove a fable and its greatest confirmation be nothing but an imposture This is enough to make the sin against the Holy Ghost to be introduced into the World with pomp and ceremony and to render it authentick by an infallible authority If it be said that in relation to the first confirmation of the Gospel our senses were free and then could not be deceived But that now since the Christian Religion was sufficiently authorized this very Doctrine thus confirmed tyes up our senses since 't is rational to submit them to Divine revelation I Answer That if the New Testament did any where thus impose upon the faculties of men It would 1. Be difficult upon the same grounds for me to believe that mine eyes were not imposed upon when I read the words 2. Supposing that I did read them true And that were sufficiently confirmed that I understood what I read Yet since no other Text can be pleaded for Transubstantiation besides This is my Body Why must I of necessity understand that by these words I am commanded to believe contrary to my senses When by a plain and easie construction agreeable to the usual Sacramental phrases particularly those which were used about the Passeover my senses are still left unto their liberty And no more than saying This is my Body That is This Bread represents or signifies my Body will express the sence and baffle the Objection 'T is so common to parallel this expression with I am the vine the way the door and That Rock was Christ This is my Covenant This Cup is the New Testament c. Where the Verbs are construed by represented signified and the like That I am ashamed we should be put to continued repetitions by the daily appearance of a baffled Adversary Thus we see by these three instances of erroneous determinations of the Church of Rome that if ever they had infallibility they have lost it Unless truth and error are reconciled and infallible falshood be a proper expression Seventhly If notwithstanding all the premisses the Romanists will yet hold the conclusion and affirm themselves to be infallible We must call upon them to prove it by Miracles For this can no way become the priviledge of the Church of Rome but by immediate inspiration to those that pretend it And whoever pretends to inspiration ought to prove it by Miracle when the Scripture does not command us to believe it The Apostles proved their infallibility by Miracles We must demand therefore the same from those that will pretend to the same priviledge Since the promises they challenge to themselves are compleated in the Apostles Nay 't will not be enough to tell stories instead of Miracles Nor to produce something done among them of which the cause being behind the Curtain no natural account can be given But they must be attended with such circumstances as may sufficiently prove them to be Divine And when this is accomplished which is impossible the infallibility pretended must be proved necessary to the Salvation and conduct of men Otherwise we shall doubt of the Miracles themselves because they confirm an unnecessary thing and what supposes the insufficiency of the Scriptures I might add more Heads of Argument but these are sufficient to baffle the strength of this proud Capitol CHAP. VIII HAving in the former Chapter spent a very large Parenthesis upon the Roman Infallibility for fear that I may not be well understood by some whose unthinking honesty may make them jealous of their power and cause them to conclude that I allow not Authority enough to Synods and Councils And that being no more than a private Minister I assume too much judgment to my self in making use of my faculties without leave I answer that I have sufficient leave from the Articles and Canons established in the Protestant Church of England for what I have already wrote concerning this matter Yet I shall farther explain the same thing to shew that I am willing to attribute as much Authority and Honour to the best established Church in the World and the Governours of it as any man can possibly do who does not pluck out his eyes to do them service Therefore notwithstanding what has been said of the Roman Infallibility I readily yield that Fathers and Councils and all Congregations of holy and judicious Christians much more the Bishops and Governours of the Church solemnly assembled to treat concerning the truth or falshood of any Point introduced into Religion are reverently to be attended to Reason urging a regard to those who by the advantage of study or the prospect they have obtained from an higher ground and according to the age in which they live are probably capacitated to assist our judgments and to determine a Controversie better than our selves When persons of learning piety and Authority also in the Church of Christ shall assemble in his name with a real intention to find out the truth of any difficult and disputed Proposition humbly begging the Divine assistance and blessing on their endeavours We have great Reason to incline to their determinations when neither secular interests or a blind passion or the force of others gains their Votes and procures their assent Nay when these are our own lawful Governours though nothing can force our belief we may in an improper sence call their determinations infallible quoad nos Because for the peace and Government of the Church to avoid Schism and to preserve an Ecclesiastical union among us it will be necessary that they bind us not to contradict them publickly by any external solemn act since we our selves have our assent virtually implied in Canons or Laws made by those who publickly represent us Although we are not obliged to believe every Proposition thus determined to be exactly true Unless it be propounded to us with sufficient evidence to convince our judgements if we have abilities to enquire into the Proofs themselves To restrain the external acts and discourses of men when they oppose the publick Sanctions and constitutions of those who are fixed in such places of Authority is plainly necessary to keep peace and order in any
A DISCOURSE Concerning the TRIAL OF SPIRITS WHEREIN Inquiry is made into Mens Pretences to Inspiration for publishing Doctrines in the Name of God beyond the Rules of the Sacred Scriptures In opposition to some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks As they contradict the Doctrines of the Church of England defined in her Articles of Religion established by her Ecclesiastical Canons and confirmed by ACTS of PARLIAMENT By THOMAS PITTIS D.D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary London Printed by B.W. for E. Vize at the Bishop's Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1683. To the Right Worshipful Sr. Edward Worseley Knight Colonel of one of the Regiments of the Country Militia and Deputy Governour of the ISLE of WIGHT Honoured Sir HAving an unexaminable opportunity of publishing such Tracts as this And having formerly by your Father been presented to the Rectory of the Parish of Gatcomb in the Bounds of which your Mansion House is seated and in which you live having the right of Advowson undoubtedly in your self I cannot but present these Papers to you as being the Inheritor of your Fathers Estate and Vertues too and of his great kindness to me in particular which you yet on all occasions continue and increase by succeeding heaps of favours I need not relate the Loyalty of your Family it bearing date with its Antiquity and has been so manifested to the present World that a Memorial of mine would be its disparagement and upbraid the memory of mankind All know whose brains are not sunk into Oblivion how you would have redeemed King Charles the First that most Pious Martyr of ever blessed memory when he was a Prisoner in Carisbrook Castle from the present insolence of the worst of men to whom by violence he was enthral'd and the designed mischiefs that were likely to befal him from persons that thirsted after Royal Blood who were most monstrous and irreconcileable enemies to mankind and Caesar You had prudently laid your design and were honestly ready accoutred and prepared and at your Post at the appointed hour But alas all miscarried through the base treachery of other men to your misfortune and much bigger grief After this you were forced to wander and exile your self And 't was happy for us that survive your misfortune that you came off so Since the return of our present and most gracious Sovereign with whom you were also expell'd by the rage and malice of a Pack of unreasonable and malicious men your great modesty and unalterable affection to the Island in which you make so considerable a Figure in which I have the priviledge and honour of a Native has been the only cause of your not being removed into a larger Sphere But now your age and the greatness of your Merits together with your old Protestant Church of England Principles to which you are honestly and severely addicted will hardly permit you to suffer an exchange in this World though I alwayes wish'd it 'till you advance to the Glory of the next I dare not any longer be thus burdensome to your modesty and contentment that covet retirement in defiance of all your very large capacities But yet Sir give me leave to pray from the true resentments of a grateful mind that the great God who is far exalted above all Beings would continue to preserve your most Loyal and exceedingly devout self Your most Vertuous and extraordinarily pious and modest Lady and the two Gentile and excellent Branches happily sprung and nourished too from You who are the root of both much longer than I in this World shall be capable of remaining Dear SIR Your most affectionate and most humble Servant Tho. Pittis London Nov. 1. 1683. A DISCOURSE Concerning the TRIAL OF SPIRITS CHAP. I. THE Third Person in the Sacred Trinity one God blessed for ever is frequently abused by the pretences of men to such Revelations as are inconsistent with the truths of the Gospel and many Doctrines of the Christian Religion which the Holy Ghost at first inspired men to deliver And though this began in the Apostles days when the mystery of iniquity by the Gnostick defection began to work Yet it has continued and improved men in their villanies throughout the several Ages of the Church Nay so far that Treason and Murder and open Rebellion are consecrated by those that pretend to be inspired and they blasphemously make the Holy Spirit of God that breaths forth peace and quietness upon the World to become the Patron of the greatest and most disturbing impieties that ever infested the Societies of mankind This though we have been loth to believe it we are now convinc'd of by a woful experience an experience which had been purchased by our utter ruine unless Gods Providence assisting and favouring the wisdom of our Superiours encouraged by some Loyal and unwearied resolutions had happily prevented it We have two sorts of men both pretending to an infallible inspiration though on different grounds that ruine and destroy the Principles of Christianity under a shew to advance them And though we were unwilling to think that men who seem'd at so great a distance from each other should ever reach to join hand in hand and that the same principle should reconcile such different pretensions Yet as Samson's Foxes were joined together by their Tails though their heads looked away from one another So now we see those that breath inspirations from the Pope and they that boast more immediate ones from Heaven confederating though before expected by the most observing and considerate men to house the corn and tares together that Gods Harvest may become their own and they may reap where they never sowed And certainly when such attempts both by a separate and united force are made against all Order and Religion intitling God to the Patronage of a lie making the Spirit of Truth to contradict himself and crucifying Christ under a pretence to exalt him when our own Kingdoms are ready to be destroyed by cheating us out of our Properties and our Lives with a specious shew of advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and to lift up his Scepter our Soveraign's must first be broken in pieces when disorders tending to subversion and ruine are plainly legible in the affairs of men coals are blowing to set all our Houses on fire and we tread those paths that will lead us to confusion and all this while men profess to be serving a God of Order when multitudes pretend to be sent from God that speak contrary to his written word and have no other Miracle to prove their Principles but the strangeness of their villany in rooting up the Laws of Nature and Society when so much brass is currant amongst us instead of gold and our silver is every day exchang'd for dross and we are ready to be made the companions of Owls or what is worse of Thieves and Murderers 't is high time to bring forth the Touchstone to enquire into the
persecution than we at any time oppose them all And if the Holy Spirit be but one as yet I hope I may without much assuming or confidence affirm he is if it be alwayes consistent with it self there can be but one inspiration at one time true and the rest that pretend differently from this make at once themselves and God a Liar whilst they suppose him to contradict himself and they become the publishers of such contradictions Besides if the Spirit these wild men pretend to does inform their minds of the principles they deliver by an immediate illumination or impulse upon their spirits either they feel the stroke made upon them by this invisible power so that they can tell the time as the Prophets of old when the Word of the Lord comes to them or else they are raised by degrees into a presumption that they have this Spirit which thus forces them to declare new Doctrines to the World If they pretend to know when the stroke and impulse is made why does not one immediately of a Fisherman become an Apostle without any study or former gradual practice without being bred in the Schools of the Jesuits or by long hearing the Cant at home by which he is educated and trained to it why does he not on a sudden rise up and publish such consistent Doctrines as may be suitable to the reason of those whom he would perswade to embrace them or at least not thwarting and contradicting the natural Religion of mankind But since we find this impossible among them or the utmost of their skill to be by some mechanick operation or perhaps by an unaccountable influence from the Prince of the Air Why should any be startled at or give credit to new Apostles when our Rules are compleated by those that were commissioned of old If we search into the bottom of these things we shall find them either voluntary Cheats when those that own them make them subservient to bad designs or such as men being deceived themselves by a bad constitution a corrupt education or a suggestion from the Devil under the form of an Angel of Light endeavour either through ignorance or subtilty to impose upon easie believers For 1. There is no promise for such immediate inspirations to dictate new Rules of life made to any but to Apostolical men in the first Age of the Gospel who were to deliver what was to be the standing Law to all succeeding Generations And therefore there is no ground of hope for such things as these in the present Age wherein we live Because inspiration being an immediate influence from God himself his Will enlarges or restrains this power to us and whenever men expect with reason any thing from him it must be grounded upon a promise on which we may hope and rely because all Gods Promises are as certain as his Truth and that equally certain with his Being There being therefore no promise of this made beyond the Age and Lives of the Apostles as no men can now rationally expect any inspiration to confirm their pretensions so neither can others with sobriety believe them 2. Inspirations to prescribe new Rules to the World are so needless after a compleat Law is already given that is to be so lasting and perpetual as the Gospel that were they now to be found amongst men if they should be contrary to it they would abolish and destroy the Gospel But if the pretenders are inspired only to the propagation of the same truths revealed there this second inspiration will appear needless and so tax the wisdom of God to do so great and extraordinary a thing to no purpose because there are the same rules already reveal'd written down in the first age and by the special providence of Almighty God notwithstanding the diligent and furious attempts of the powers of the Earth to interrupt the conveyance handed down from age to age and yet remaining publick and open amongst our selves in our own language that all may read and understand The continuance of men distinct from the multitude who by a different manner of living and Education are enabled and bound by a special duty to read and interpret these Scriptures to the people renders a new inspiration useless to deliver these things to the world which art and human industry can do God might indeed if he had so pleased have continued his Doctrines and Rules of life by writing them daily in every mans breast and inspiring every individual amongst us But if he had done so at first there had been no need of the Twelve Apostles nor our Saviours own preaching to the world but only to be born and die and rise again and if it were afterwards continued it would render preaching and reading a written word useless ease us of much pains and toil and all our inspired and blown up men of giving themselves or others the trouble to come to preach or to hear them at a Conventicle And so inspired men compendiously preach away their own Office Yet our Saviour constituted a standing Ministry whom he has promised to be with to the end of the world Mat. 28.18 19. And S. Paul tells us that when our blessed Lord ascended up on high he constituted in his stead to continue his Office of teaching and presiding over his Church some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers several orders and degrees of men suitable to Ages and various Imployments to preserve the Institutions Doctrines and order of the Gospel for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ To remain so long till all that should be gathered out of the successive ages and generations of men might come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4 th from the 8 th to the 13 th Verse Now the establishment of such a standing Ministry throughout the ages of the Christian Church which is to endure until the Judgement of the Great day sufficiently baffles all expectations of any particular and continued inspirations to effect the same which the Ministry assisted by the received Rule and ordinary conduct of Gods Holy Spirit can well accomplish The constitution of the one is so opposite to and inconsistent with the other that none but madmen can believe both and none but those that are diseased and Lunatick can expect inspiration to such purposes that ever considered the constitutions of Christianity it evacuating all the Oeconomy of the Gospel 3. Suppose there were such an impulse or inspiration to be expected Yet how should those who are to be guided by what they that pretend to it deliver know that they are really inspired who so confidently conduct and lead the people since they do no real Miracles nor use such convincing arguments either from the nature of those Principles they propound
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
considered together brings the promise of the Spirit and infallibility to the Apostles under determinate restraints and limitations But 2. This will further appear if we compare the promise of guiding into all truth with that other relating to the Holy Ghost Joh. 14.26 where the Apostles are told that he should teach them all things more plainly those which our Saviour had delivered and bring those things to their memory which they might forget though before declared He shall teach you all things sayes he and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you So that it appears that the Apostles had not the Spirit without measure though they may be said to be filled with the Holy Ghost And that this promise of infallibility to them was made in a limited and restrained sense Secondly Supposing the promises of Infallibility were made in never so enlarged a sense yet they are to be restrained to the persons to whom they were at first made as to the unerring conduct and I might easily make it appear that they cannot in their full sence concern any but the Apostles themselves and the first Preachers of the Christian Religion Because the end of this extraordinary inspiration was to make them capable of prescribing to us an infallible and unerring rule Which being accomplished there is no farther occasion of an infallible inspiration For to what end should this be continued to one or a certain number of men unless they were upon new emergencies to deliver new Doctrine to the world If it be necessary to the understanding of what has been already prescribed the Laws of the Gospel will not only want one of the most excellent qualifications of a Law that it be plain and easily intelligible But the same necessity will argue infallibility useful to all which renders it thus necessary unto some For if it be therefore necessary to some that they may become Guides to others Since their conduct in relation unto others must consist in advice and declaring that sence of the Law which could not be understood without them all which must be expressed by word or writing every man has as much need of infallibility that he may not misunderstand the interpretation as any have to prevent their misapprehensions of the Law if there can be no peace without infallibility Now that all men have not infallibility is as readily yielded as it is to be proved that the Pope has none Thirdly If there were now this infallibility amongst men there must be a perpetual revelation For if the perfection of the humane nature could here render any men infallible we may well conjecture that many might have been in every age that might have been Directors to the rest Or if it had been founded in humane nature why should not an equal perfection render all mankind infallible Either of them being granted will invalidate the necessity of a Divine Revelation and turn the word of God into a story and do despight to the spirit of grace if rendering it useless and a fable will do it For to what end should any men be inspired when they were before infallible in themselves The infallibility therefore which we discourse of must proceed from a strong and certain inspiration And whatever is delivered by vertue of this is of equal authority with the Scriptures themselves And then none can be safe in his life or fortunes when ever any inspired man makes it his pleasure to take them away Nay if we are conscientious we must yield them up upon demand lest haply we may be found fighters against God And this appears in the Romanists themselves as well as others taught by them The more conscientious any of them are the more readily do they yield to the impositions of their superiours and they have reason for it if they think them to be absolutely infallible For no private evidence of a thing must subvert their faith in the Churches determination and so much the more triumphant is their faith by how much the more it captivates their understandings As it is so much the more meritorious by how much the less it has of evidence So the greater the Objections are that meet and encounter the Churches determinations their faith is rendered the more glorious and full of victory Let the Doctrine then be never so wicked in it self or consequences the conscientious believer of the point of Roman Infallibility must neither see the one nor the other But renounce all the evidence of his reason and if occasion be as there is sometimes of his senses too For what evidence can reasonably be attended to that bears a testimony against that which is infallible This then must be a ready method to change the nature of good and evil and the eternal Law instamp'd upon our minds if the mutation proceeds from the Roman Chair Nay the nature of things need not be changed if the Pope please to change their names Men may borrow then and never pay if he pleases to cancell the debt Ruining families and overturning Kingdoms will become noble and a glorious exploit Nay religious acts when he is at leisure to adopt them into the number Burning Cities and murdering Princes shall be accounted means of propagating the Gospel if he please once to determine that we may do evil that good may come of it And blowing up the Estates of Kingdoms is presently holy if he will but sanctifie the Powder and Canonize the man that has the courage to attempt it So powerful is this Doctrine of Roman Infallibility that it can change the Devil into an Angel of Light And let the Pope himself be never so wicked his determinations are all true and good and he may remain his Holiness still He may subvert by degrees or all at once the whole Doctrine of Christianity though from thence he receives his pretensions of authority if he pleases to declare it a Fable when it shall no longer comport with his advantage Nay he has already so blended it with the Religion of the Jews and practice of the Heathens that Christianity is so buried in an heap of rubbish that 't is an hard matter to gather it up out of such a great confusion of ruines The substance is lost in the midst of Ceremony internal devotion is interrupted by a pompous Scene of Pageantry and Shew and yet the evidence of our senses must be rejected in the Doctrine which they so much applaud in practice And yet Fourthly Notwithstanding all the Roman pretences to Infallibility If there are any promises made of it they do as well concern other Churches as themselves For if these promises were made to the Apostles in general as is very plain from the circumstances of their delivery if they were not terminated in them but reached also the whole succession of those by vertue of whom Christs promise was made good of being with the Apostles alwayes to the end of the world Then either
all Churches must be infallible or none especially all that are able to derive their succession from any Apostle or Apostolical men that were once Bishops and presided there And if so then the Church of Jerusalem must be infallible because S. James the less was appointed their Bishop either by our Saviour himself as some say or else immediately by the Apostles as others The Church of Alexandria because this was the Bishoprick of S. Mark must become as infallible as that of Rome That of Constantinople because founded by S. Andrew That of Ephesus because S. John was seated there Nay those also of Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea because this Apostle laid the foundations of them Nay and our own Church of Britain too which our adversaries will hardly yield infallible because Simon the Zelot preached here wrought many Miracles and at last suffered Martyrdom for the Faith of Christ and our Native Soil has the honour of his Bones if the Greek Menologies may obtain any credit amongst men But to bring this business nearer to an head If this infallibility will not be allowed to all Churches of the Apostles planting nor to those over which they more especially presided as they certainly will never yield it whose interest it is to keep it unto themselves Yet why should not Antioch become infallible which was a Church of S. Peter's planting at least seven years before he came to Rome Must the elder Sister become a fool that the younger may appear infallible Or must we deny the priviledge of Antioch because it would invalidate that of Rome The latter seems their most probable conjecture though 't is easily proved S. Peter was at Antioch but eagerly disputed whether ever he was at Rome But allowing S. Peter to have been at Rome and not only so but to have been Bishop there and the present Pope to be his Successor which yet is hard for them to prove especially when the Succession is to be traced through their Anti-Popes and Pope Joan must become an Holy Father too How came this promise of infallibility to be fixed only upon S. Peter when it was spoken to the whole Apostolical College If you will say that the infallibility can be fixed but in one and that we may as well discourse of many Omnipotents as many Infallibles and certainly 't is to be proved with equal success were the infallibility not capable of restraint Yet why must it be fixed upon S. Peter and not on any other of the Apostles S. Paul though a later Apostle has as much to plead for a settlement of it upon the Gentiles as ever S. Peter to fix it upon the Jews Nay the Romanists themselves have greater reason to derive it from S. Paul than ever they had for deriving it from S. Peter Unless they acknowledge themselves to succeed the Circumcision of which S. Peter was only Bishop But perhaps they will plead Infallibility from Supremacy and afterwards if occasion serves plead Supremacy from Infallibility again Yet still S. Paul will bid as fair for the Supremacy too if we take time to examine his Plea Saint Paul was not only designed to his Apostleship by the Grace of God before he had any merit in himself being a chosen Vessel to bear Christ's Name amongst the Gentiles when he was appointed to his Office from his Mothers Womb Gal. 1.15 But his Conversion was attended with Miracles and from a Persecutor when the design was laid and his malice big against the Christian Church he was struck down with a dart from Heaven and convinced by that Light which made him blind He was brought to this Religion with Pomp and Ceremony and ushered into the Church with a train of circumstances that were Heralds to his honour and proclaimed him great Acts 9. Nor was he greater in his Apostleship than in his sufferings For after a large Catalogue of his miseries 2 Cor. 11. he made the Tragedy compleat by his death He was thrown into Prison with S. Peter And if Baronius may be credited the Pillars are yet remaining at which they were both bound and scourg'd And had he not been a Roman he might have been crucified with S. Peter But being such like a Person of Honour he was beheaded In the time he lived he laboured more abundantly than the rest of the Apostles 1 Cor. 15.10 Nor was he in any respect behind the very chief of them 2 Cor. 11.5 He neither yielded to the argument of interest when he received his first conviction nor did he when he was baptized or illuminated from above and by inspiration had received a sufficient Commission to preach the Gospel go to derive his authority from the Apostles as if he had been inferiour unto them But he straightway preached Christ in the Synagogues though to the amazement of all that heard him Acts 9.20 21. He was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ though his former zeal another way might be and was objected to him And that he might sufficiently evidence the truth and the honour of his Apostleship he went into the untrodden paths of the World where none had adventured to preach the same Doctrine before him For so sayes he have I strived to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named lest I should build upon anothers foundation Rom. 15.20 All this we have drawn into a narrow compass Gal. 1.16 17. But it pleased God who separated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither went I up to Jerusalem to those which were Apostles before me As he was most justly stiled The Apostle of the Gentiles For the care of all their Churches lay upon him and I hope the Romans were not then Jews let them be whatever they will since and came more upon him every day 2 Cor. 11.28 He opposed the principal Officers of the Church at Jerusalem and gave no place by subjection no not for an hour since they that seemed to be somewhat added nothing in conference to his knowledge but perceived him to be appointed the Apostle of the Gentiles as well as S. Peter was the Apostle of the Jews when they came to Antioch he withstood Peter to the very face because sayes he he was to be blamed for that both he himself had dissembled with the Jews and had perswaded James and Barnabas into the same compliance And upon the whole neither of them walked according to the truth of the Gospel And all this difference was upon no smaller point than this that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ Gal. 2. 'T is plain S. Paul had here in a proper sense the right hand of fellowship not only in that they admitted him into the society of the Apostles but they gave him the preheminence among them And S. Peter
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
choice that if they will sin it may be their own act and deed Why should we think that he has chained them so fast one to another that they cannot err or wander out of the way unless they break that link which ties them all to an Infallible Chair But alas such is our condition here that we may as well expect to free mankind from the commission of sin as to restrain all men from error Nay there is as great a necessity that the lives of men should be void of the one as there is that they should be free from the other As much reason there is for men to be holy in all manner of conversation as there is for all to be sound in the faith since if we have faith we may have it to our selves but the actions of our lives have an influence upon others Why therefore should there not be an irresistible power set up to restrain men from vice as well as a standing infallibility to keep them from error Since God then who will judge men hereafter for those things which are properly their own has not thought it fitting to set up the one I cannot but suspect that he never designed to fix the other but to leave men to their own faculties to which he has added sufficient assistances to judge and to chuse fairly for themselves And therefore methinks 't is more reasonable to believe that since men cannot pretend to both it would be more modest to pretend to neither especially since we have no authority whatever power any have gained or usurped among us from reason or revelation to advance any among the Race of men to be an infallible Judge in Religion farther than his sentence proceeds according to the Laws of the Gospel And by this I cannot find that he has done any more beyond the faculties we have received as we are men than to give us a Rule sufficient to judge Doctrines by and Laws by which we are to govern our practice together with some superadded means to help our judgments and direct our Opinions by the Authority of Magistrates who are an Ordinance of God by the instructions of his Ministers who are also of Divine institution and the common assistances of his Holy Spirit to guide us into all necessary truths which tend to the promotion of our eternal happiness And so the final success is left to our own liberty and choice either in a refusal or compliance with them Because I cannot believe but that God acts suitable to the nature of human creatures in all his general dispensations to men that so he may in our future state with equal justice inflict punishment or give us a reward according to his promise And indeed to write strictly to be sound in the Faith would not be praise worthy if it were so ordered that we could not err Nor need S. Paul have so carefully exhorted to this if we might have been so easily preserved from all diseases and deviations in Religion by the infallibility of S. Peter and those who plead their Title from him I am sure that an Apostle acquaints the Church of Corinth that there must be also Heresies among them that they who are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11.19 By which he proves and fore-tells matter of fact though he does not signifie Gods approbation but only his permission of them And the reason why he suffered error and division to be introduced among them by the perverseness or curiosity of any was that such as united in the true Faith might brighten and shine forth with the greater glory and like the Sun in the Firmament might triumph over Clouds and darkness There is no foundation therefore to erect the Popish infallibility on nor for any Church to set up such a Tribunal among themselves Having thus as I hope cleared my self from any great and unpardonable miscarriage in this point I shall briefly proceed in reflecting upon some mistakes of others that are false Rules to judge Doctrines and Spirits by Wherein private Enthusiasts are most notoriously guilty These smell Popery at a distance and can hardly promote any design without pretending that it is suddenly to be introduced into the most Protestant and best established Church in the World But they too publickly discover themselves to be Popishly affected who are very apt to spie errors in the Pope and yet so transfer them to themselves and steal them away that they may have the Monopoly of them and retale them to others under new names when they are in the possession of another Master These will not allow the Pope to be infallible but are apt to conclude themselves to be so And thus they fetch Candles from Romes Altars that they may set them up in their own Breasts As if there were no difference betwixt the holy Spirits guiding men into truth and walking by the light of their own fires What either a disease and weakness in their bodies or their minds has made a representation of to their phancies so long till their brooding thoughts have at last produced something which they may justly call their own These things they are apt to think or at least to say are the dictates of the Spirit and accordingly they will adventure to guide themselves and impose their own enjoyed phancies upon other men But if every thing of this nature and mens wild discourses the effect of this were to receive the stamp of Divine Authority and become infallible guides of action So strange a confusion would be made among us and such a monstrous Babel would be erected that Trowels would be call'd for instead of Morter and men would cry out for Bricks before they had gotten Straw to make them Their tongues would be so various and unintelligible that a Teutonick language could never reconcile them nor be able to discover them nor give marks to know the first Builders by when they are dispersed into divers Countries But every mans head would still tilt against another and bring a kind of damnation upon the World The Society of Devils would be more regular than men who must live without God or Beelzebub The births of reason would be deem'd abortive and the fruits of madness would receive the characters of sobriety and discretion The greatest Lunaticks would be most Religious and we should pay the greatest veneration to a Fool. But since things are not come to this pass yet I shall briefly examine a very few false Rules by which some among us satisfie themselves in the tryal of Spirits and guidance of themselves First There are some that build much on what they stile the Return of prayer when they have made a Fast the Prologue to contention and a long Prayer has been the Breakfast when they resolved to dine upon Widows houses yet they have too frequently thought or at least endeavoured to cause others to believe that what has happened after their prayer has been the return from
their Governours Opinions enacted into Laws for the true dictates of the Holy Ghost inspiring the Pope or presiding at their Councils and infallibly assisting in their determinations But none of these things taken as they are propounded can possibly be a safe Rule much less the highest conduct in matters of Religion When we shall consider that though they may be helps to judge upon the view of the Rule Yet phancy and opinion may frequently be mistaken for reason illumination Conscience nay the dictates of the holy Spirit it self and according to the common inferences about these matters are so concluded and believed by men that consult their own faculties But this will yet be more evident if we consider 1. That the holy Spirit of God does not in any ages since he inspired those that delivered the Scriptures to be the rule of life either illuminate or direct mankind in the things relating to their eternal peace in any other manner than 1. By those Scriptures allowing the faculties of human nature and the general propositions of Religion among mankind which he inspired the Sacred Pen-men to record 2. By inclining as well as authorizing some men being prepared by education and study to continue a succession of that Ministry which our Saviour appointed to endure to the end of the World to explain the difficulties in Religion unto others And 3. Confirming by a secret and inexplicable operation which is easily believed by all that affirm Gods Grace or Providence and in consequence his Being the propositions contained in the Scriptures unto the minds of men and inclining their faculties to believe and embrace them Which influence is obtained by prayer to him that is of a docil disposition as well as given in our Sacred Baptism till such time as we either resist or renounce it all which shall be more evident before I make an end Now none of these though great priviledges can intitle any to that illumination or immediate guidance which wild men make the rule of their faith and conductor of their actions But they may mistake and be confident in it their own phancy and high opinion proceeding either from thoughtfulness or disposition for immediate motions from the Spirit of God And 2 As for the consciences of men if they mistake them not for phancy opinion or a strong persuasion of their own minds they are nothing but the agreement of our judgements with Gods word for thus much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports which is knowledge with another and includes the relation of our understandings to a Rule These are so far therefore from being a rule themselves that they are to be governed by another and cannot be proper consciences without it Being therefore guided by a Superiour Rule they cannot be safe conductors themselves and if conscience as taken by those that plead hardest for it were once allowed its full latitude phancy interest and the humours and impious mistakes of men would pass for conscience and a safe guide and introduce such a medly and mixture in Religion that every one under the covert of this would do what is good in his own eyes even as when there was no King in Israel The Church of Christ would be turned into a Babel and our houses of Prayer into dens of Thieves being fill'd with nothing but Sacriledge and confusion Thirdly Some make such Providence as crowns their opinions with success to be an argument that their opinions are true But to evince the invalidity of this needs no other than this observation That when the same things are covered with a Cloud their Authors punished or the propagation of their tenets becomes improsperous the same men will not admit of the same argument Nor permit others to defend their opinions by the same medium with which they prov'd their own When the Sun for a season shines upon them and the Heavens smile then behold the hand of the Lord is with them But when a prosperous ray refreshes others and they receive not the countenance they had before but have the frowns and discouragements of Superiors Behold now wickedness is seated in high places The holy Seed are led into the Wilderness and persecution attends the Elect of God and Canaanites possess the Holy Land But if success were an argument for inspiration and smiling Providences a rule to judge Doctrines by Numa Pompilius might have had an argument for the inspirations from his Nymph Aegeria and for the truth of his Religion he establish'd among the Romans The Jews might have been lost in the Wilderness and have justified the making their Gods to go before them They had ceased to have the marks of a Church and would not have been the people of the Lord when they were carried into Egypt or Babylon Nay by this they might have justified their condemning the great Messiah and Pilate and the Roman Guards might have had an argument for executing him The Primitive Christians must be condemned and the Apostles inspiration be proved an imposture if a dark Providence be that by which the Doctrines of men are to be judg'd Mahomet must have been deemed a true Prophet when he gathered so many Proselytes in the East And the great Turk be yet as holy as he has been for the most part prosperous in the World Nay Popery it self must then be embraced if the glory and prosperity of opinions must prove them true and success becomes the measure of Religion This is a way to justifie all lucky Usurpations To determine right and wrong by combate and the longest Sword may justly measure out the largest Possession and the property of mankind must submit to power A Rebel then may lawfully possess his Sovereings Throne if he has strength enough to force the brightest Majesty to an exchange And if this principle be fully pursued the men that own it may bow the Knee and say to an Usurper God save the King This will make many times the greatest Villany to have more Authority than Virtue and Innocence and force true Religion to be vanquished by a false Nay he that by this rule is taken for a Prophet to day may be an Impostor to morrow though he continues in the delivery of the same Doctrine Because a man may receive Hosanna's from the multitude and their cry shall shortly be Crucifie him Crucifie him These things are the subject of common observation It was holy Davids long ago And it will be so to the end of the world whatever Jews or Millenaries may dream That the wicked will sometimes be in great power when the righteous hang down their head like a bulrush When the Psalmist spake of the prosperity of the wicked He observ'd for some time that there were no bands in their death but their strength was firm and sound They were not in trouble like other men but plagued less than those that were better Therefore pride compass'd them as a chain and violence covered them as a garment their
without hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace Thus I have endeavoured to free the inspirations of the Holy Spirit from the bold claims of Papists and Fanaticks when they plead its conduct and appropriate it to themselves in those false Doctrines which they publish to the World What now remains to finish this Discourse but only to beg that we would be perswaded to avoid these obstructions to the compleatment and perfection of our Religion and to practise the contrary that may perfect our obedience to the truth that we would give unto God an undivided heart that we would not halt betwixt two opinions and mix Christianity with other principles different from it That we would not think the Cross so grievous to be born when the reward of a Crown is proposed with it That we would not be so fond of our natural dispositions but submit our inclinations to Gods commands that we would more seriously endeavour to make our faith conquer our senses in things that are not their proper objects that the spirituality of that Worship which the Gospel prescribed may be more strictly practised and intended by us That we would endeavour to alleviate the burden of those duties that Christianity prescribes by the rational considerations of their excellency and rewards That we would allow our selves more leisure for consideration and thoughtfulness by a retirement from the hurries and business of the World that we would banish the love of the World from our hearts especially when detracting from the love of God and the interest of Religion That we would distinguish well betwixt zeal and passion and let good things determine our affections That we would not wilfully misunderstand the Gospel to support either a principle or a faction That we would watch against the insinuations and subtilties of the Devil who like a roaring Lyon walks about seeking to devour us That we would beware of pride and obstinacy of mind which hates conviction and strengthens error That we would not be partial in the choice of the duties of Religion since the same authority enjoins all and true obedience must be universal That we would banish coolness and not be indifferent in our choice of Religion but be strict in the examination of our principles that in the proof of all things we may hold fast that which is good Finally That we would not imbibe such Opinions as in their nature or consequences are destructive of Christianity that we may not ruine by particular conclusions what we seem to hold to and profess in the general And Lastly That we would admit such evidences of what Christianity enjoins us to believe as the nature of the things are capable of since the expectation of more is unreasonable and a farther demand is altogether against the Laws of discourse and we require what is impossible to be done This advice if we cordially embrace will prepare us for obedience to the truth and hinder us from being shaken with every wind of Doctrine and toss'd alwayes in the midst of uncertainties our judgements then will be fixed and setled and if we add our sincere endeavours to live according to the principles we receive and pray to God to assist us in our duties we shall gain peace of conscience here and hereafter an eternal Crown of Glory Which God of his infinite mercy grant to us all for Christ Jesus sake to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed by all rational creatures that are capable of performing it all Glory and Adoration now and for ever Amen FINIS Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Edward Vize at the Sign of the Bishop's Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil A Discourse of Prayer Wherein this great Duty is stated so as to oppose some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks as they are contrary to the Publick Forms of the Church of England established by her Ecclesiastical Canons and confirmed by Acts of Parliament By Thomas Pittis D.D. one of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Advice to the Readers of the Common-Prayer and to the People attending the same With a Preface concerning Divine Worship Humbly offered to Consideration for promoting the greater Decency and Solemnity in performing the Offices of Gods Publick Worship administred according to the Order established by Law amongst us By a well-meaning though unlearned Laick of the Church of England T. S. The Life of the Learned and Reverend Dr. Peter Heylin Chaplain to Charles I. and Charles II. Monarchs of Great Britain Written by George Vernon Rector of Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire The Crafty Lady Or the Rival of Himself A Gallant Intriegue Translated out of French into English by F. C. Ph. Gent. FINIS