let it alone Though to say the Truth if I had been told the contrary the Errors which some Popes have fallen into would have hindred me in despite of any good will from owning him so Is this Infallibility shared among them so that every one has some For Infallibility they must have or their Authority is lost No this cannot be neither for Infallibility is a Quality that cannot be divided or enjoyed to the halfs And if it could it would not do the business for then they would be Fallible in part as well as Infallible in part And so we should be as hard put to it to find which part their Infallibility reaches to as we are to find that they have any at all Here peradventure it may be thought because it has been said heretofore That though the Pope and his Council may be Fallible in their Arguments and Discourses yet in the Result of them viz. their Definitions which only concern the Church they are Infallible This indeed is to the purpose if it could be as easily proved as said But since neither Art nor Nature does allow an Infallible Conclusion to issue from Fallible Means it must be wholly Supernatural and Divine And so we are come in the third place to ask How they came by a Power to make the Conclusion Divine the Means being Humane or How they will make it appear to me or any Man else that they are endued with such a Power Certainly a Claim so bold as this ought to be very well made out But here alass we are turn'd over to Motives of Credibility which are sometimes called the marks of the Church however we will see what can be made of them By Motives of Credibility must be meant such as may work upon my Reason and so incline my Mind to believe or assent to any thing for a Truth and so I can be induced to believe no farther than the point is made Credible to me Well but whatever is Supernatural can never work upon my Reason as being quite above it without some Divine Evidence and Testimony and that must either be Miracles or Scripture For Miracles they have of late been little pretended to But from Scripture they tell us Christ has promised to his Church a perpetual Assistance of his Grace yea such a measure of the Spirit as made Caiaphas prophesy Truth almost whether he would or no. But how can they pretend Scripture in this Case who have told us we must receive the Sense and Interpretation of Scripture from the Infallible Authority of the Church And that not in a few Points but in every Doubt and never presume upon our own private Sentiments howsoever seemingly grounded on Reason and Scripture If we must thus absolutely depend upon the Authority of the Church for the Interpretation of Scripture then the Authority of the Church must be better known to us than the Sense of the Scripture And if it be better known it cannot be proved by Scripture for every thing that proves another must it self be more evident And if the Churches Authority cannot be proved by Scripture it can never be proved without Miracles and by consequence can never be believed But if Christians must read and judg of Scripture and believe it in this Point I can see no reason why they may not in every one else that concerns Religion since there are few Points in it that are not much more cleary expressed Here Traditions would put in to help out But to spoil all we are told we must receive them too upon the Authority of the Church for it would be as dangerous to trust the World with a liberty of judging Traditions as of judging Scripture and more contests there are and would be about them And yet which is an insuperable Difficulty Tradition is silent in many Points of the Romish Faith nay in all whereabout any Difference is I mean as to the Primitive Church and sure Tradition cannot be produced where there is none If Tradition could be produced still the Difficulty returns That Tradition would be more manifest and therefore above the Churches Authority And how acceptable a Point that is at Rome Mr. White and Mr. Serjeant could have told at their own Cost But though Scripture and Tradition are insufficient perhaps Succession may make out this Matter or else why are we so often told of it and truly I must needs say I do not know why we are For if they mean a Succession of Bishops that can prove nothing to Rome because it is common to other Churches who have as undoubted a Succession as they If they mean a Succession of Doctrin from the Apostles to us 't is what we allow and for want of it refuse those other Doctrins they would impose There is behind a very forcible Argument to prove That the Pope and his Council together are not Infallible or that the Papists themselves do not think them so I Instance in the Lateran Council under Pope Innocent the III. where it was decreed that Princes may be Deposed He that Represents a Papist answers That this is no Article of Faith and that they are not bound to believe it But if this be not to be believed it is because the Truth of it is not evident enough and if it be not evident enough it must be because the Churches proposing or decreeing is not sufficient to make it evident which is the Point I aim at If he will as some have acknowledge the deposing Doctrin to be true let the World consider what kind of Subjects those must be that are in such a Communion and if he disavows it he makes it appear that he does not think their Church Infallible Nor can I think that Church has sufficiently cleared it self from the Charge of this Doctrin which some of them call a Calumny till it be as Publickly and Authoritatively Repealed as it was Decreed Nor can I imagine how that Author could tell us in the fourteenth Chapter of his Book that he thought himself obliged not to rely on his own private Judgment but upon the Authority of the Church in any Doubt and yet in the twentieth Chapter of the same Book tells us in Consequence what the Church has peremptorily Decreed is not to be believed I am sorry when that Decree passed such a powerfull Measure of the Spirit which made Caiaphas Prophesie was absent And since it was so then I do not see how they can reasonably presume he was not absent in other Points too Damnation being so particularly denounced against Rebellion we cannot think that a Point so inconsiderable as to be passed by in advertency It now plainly appears that this Challenge of Infallibility is very unaccountable and to shew its absurdity yet more you shall see that though we should grant as we do not that they have Infallibility some where yet in the resolution of Faith it would be useless The Church at this day is vexed
has not sufficiently proved the Doctrins in dispute betwixt us and that if we had no more would be Authority enough for us to refuse them and depart from her since She will not receive us to Communion but upon Conditions which they cannot make out to be reasonable unless we grant that false Supposition of Infallible Authority They ask farther who is to be Judg of the Controversies and Reasonings between us I answer every Man must for himself For as every Man must believe so every Man must have a Reason why he believes and sure every one must be a Judg of his own Reason whether he be Convinced or no. We are told That then there will be Heresies and Schisms it is true there are so and for ought I see will be so still But that 's no more than the Apostle told the Corinthians must be that those which are approved may be made manifest The Church of Rome may appear yet more unequal in Her Pretences for that She advances a Doctrin which cannot be believed even by those who pay the utmost deference to her Authority and that is Transubstantiation which implies several Contradictions Some that own the Churches Infallible Authority and are resolved to rest upon it may so overrule their Minds as to keep them from considering or thinking upon that Doctrin and so for the time do not as it were disbelieve it but whenever they come to weigh it their Minds cannot imbrace it because there can be no Reason for a Contradiction For sure Church Authority cannot go on where the Power of God ceases If it be said it is only a Contradiction in appearance that comes to the same thing for 'till it can be made not to seem a Contradiction it must have the same effect upon all Mens Minds as upon ours who know it to be really a gross one And this makes me sensible That it is a greater absurdity to believe as they say implicitly or indefinitly as the Church believes when a Man considers not what that is than to Pray implicitly or in a general intention with the Church when one knows not what the Church Prays for It being absurd to say a Man believes any thing which the Mind does not particularly imbrace or apply it self to and the Mind cannot be said to imbrace that which it thinks or knows nothing of Here it must not be forgotten that I am not speaking of the Habit but the Acts of Faith. Nor do the Principles I have laid down oblige me to think every one has alwas a true ground for his Faith. I doubt not but many believe upon inducements that would if examined be found Slender and Disproportionate for such it is their good fortune if they believe aright but if they are in the wrong they must answer for not taking greater Care. But if they have used their utmost Care and Diligence and yet continue in the wrong we may leave them without any desperate apprehension to the mercy of God. Most of the Points about which we differ with Rome have been discussed in particular Treatises and so I will meddle little with them having from the first designed in chief to consider the grounds of Faith. I would here have taken leave but that I am stayed with a Pretence That the Faith which we own we had from the Church of Rome I will not here inquire into the merits of this Pretence but examin what use they make of it Suppose now we had the Scripture and the Creeds from them what follows Why then they would have us receive all the rest of their Additional Articles too Indeed if we had received all we believe upon their Churches Authority it had been a better inference But they know we did not receive any Articles upon any Authority but the Reason of them and therefore where that ends our Faith stops and we receive no more They would it seems prescribe and supposing we imbrace some Truths which they pretend to have delivered to us would have us entertain whatever else they offer This is very strange indeed If any one hearing the Devils declaring Jesus Christ to be the Son of God as the Gospel tells us they did should have believed him so and Tertullian we know made it a great Argument and appealed to the Heathens upon it when the Devils made Confession must they therefore have believed all the Devils said at any time because they saw reason to believe what they said some times 'T would have been a strange Case with Religion unless Men had been assured the Devil's inclinations to deceive should have always been overruled and they like Caiaphas should have been made to speak Truth whether they would or no. In like manner to have received some Truths from the Church of Rome can be no reason why we should believe others Thus far I have considered the Grounds of Faith and shewed the Weakness and Insufficiency of those Means which the Church of Rome takes to resolve it by I pray God by his Grace so to inlighten the Understandings and dispose the Wills of all Christians that they may heartily endeavor the Peace and Unity of the Church by an humble and impartial Enquiry after Truth the only Way effectually to bring it about Popery has of late been Expounded to a more favourable Sense and Represented in a less formidable Dress than it wore heretofore And so far am I from being angry at it that I am heartily glad hoping it may tend to the Scattering those thick Mists of Prejudice and Ignorance that have obscured the Truth and hindred many from discerning it I only wish they would manifest the Sincerity of their Representation by a Practice answerable to it They took away the Scriptures from some least in reading they should misinterpret it And I wish they would take away Images which have been horribly misunderstood since they now tell the World they think them but as Books to instruct the Ignorant and honorary Remembrances to the Learned This would be one reasonable and fair Step toward restoring Peace and healing the Schism And since we are told that no Power upon Earth can limit alter or annul any Precept of Divine Institution contrary to the Intention of the Law-giver a Position highly reasonable we expect the Cup should be given to all of the Communion seeing that our Saviour instituted and gave that as well as the Bread. And after his Institution the same Night that he was betrayed I cannot find that he made the least Alteration To say our Saviour had no Mind that should be done which he appointed would be very absurd Therefore what he once instituted must continue in force as his Mind still unless they can shew that he altered it and this would be another good Step toward our Union They have now reduced their praying to Saints departed to a desire only that the Blessed would assist them with their Prayers to God as we desire good
Will of God or rather Whether God has Discovered it to be his Will. For though the Will of God be the Fountain of all Duty and Obligation yet it cannot be a binding Law to any body till it be made known to him or sufficient means given for him to know it That God can make his Will known to any Man is too certain to be doubted but that his Will should be known before he has discovered it can never be pretended And because every Man considered as a Creature and more especially every Christian is bound to obey the Will of God therefore every Man is bound to inform himself of so much as God has made necessary to be known for his Salvation I have added this to shew that Implicit Faith is a dangerous bottom for any body to rest upon For to believe as another believes unless a Man knows what it is he believes and upon what account is very absurd as may be made out anon So much of the Will of God as may be discovered by the Light of Nature is besides my present Business because there is little difference among us about it But that part of the Will of God which we are bound to know and adhere to as we are Christians by Profession distinguished from the rest of Mankind as being in Covenant with God is the Subject of this ensuing Discourse Now this part of the Will of God is either revealed to the Mind of every individual Christian by particular and immediate Inspiration from God or it was made known to some particular select Persons who were to instruct the rest The first of these ways is not pretended or allowed either by Protestants or Papists but the second is viz. That God did Discover his Will to some that they might Publish it to the rest And thus far I take it to be agreed betwixt us Before we advance another step we will lay it down as a Ground That no Man knows the Mind of a Man save the Spirit of a Man that is in him No Man can know the Mind of another farther than it is Discovered to him And by Consequence no Man can know Revelations from God made to the Mind and Understanding of another but by one of these two ways in the first place either God by Inspiration must assure him that he has made such Revelations to the other As when God sent St. Paul at his Conversion to Damascus to be instructed by Ananias which was an extraordinary Case not fit to be drawn into Precedent and so neither pretended to nor to be expected since stances of it hitherto are so rare Or in the second place he to whom the Revelation is made must bring such Testimony and Evidence as may Convince Men that it is really Divine His bare word for it will not be a Competent Proof Nor will the Testimony of other Men satisfie the Minds of reasonable Enquirers in this Case for those others must have some to Witness for them too and so on without End. Which plainly evinces that this is not a Basis for Faith to rest upon Let us see then what will do for we cannot forget what our Saviour confesses of himself to the Jews viz. That if he bear Witness of himself his Witness is not true that is it is not of force to Convince But then he tells the Jews They ought to Believe him for his Works sake and accordingly he appealed to his Hearers That the Works which he did in his Fathers Name bore Witness of him the Miracles which he wrought among them were sufficient to prove his Authority to be Divine and his Doctrin to be from God. Nicodemus freely confessed as much when he owned him a Teacher come from God because no Man could do the Miracles which he did except God were with him And as our Saviour did demonstrate his Divinity by his Works so when he sent his Apostles to publish his Doctrin to the World he sealed their Commission by giving them a Power to work Miracles which might convince their Hearers of its Truth And they the Apostles went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following So that it is not to be doubted but that the Doctrine which the Apostles preached was Divine and the Miracles which they wrought are our assurance that it was so And hitherto all Christians proceed with little or no difference Having thus laid down Miracles as a foundation upon which we are in some manner to ensure our Faith it seems necessary before we proceed in few words to set down 1. What we mean by Miracles and 2. How far this Testimony of Miracles may extend so as to authorise our Belief First by Miracles we must understand such Works as are not only without the Lines of ordinary Course and measure of Nature for of this kind many things happen which may be called Wonders but not Miracles but such as are above the power of Nature to effect But because many such Works have in appearance been wrought for very different Purposes we must in the second place look what Judgment must be made of all such things And certainly some way there is to distinguish or else the Minds of Men would be involved in most perplexing and inextricable Difficulties by such Contradictions as have been abetted with Signs and Wonders Let us see then by what Rules we must examine and judge Miracles themselves or such Doctrines as are advanced upon them For to receive all without distinction would come to the same thing as to allow none Because that can never prove any one Point which may be alledged or colourably pretended in favour of another unless there be some way to appropriate it to one side as by the Rules following it may Whatsoever Doctrin is proposed that is contrary to right Reason or the fundamental Laws of Nature cannot be Divine or such as we ought to believe though never so many Signs should be shew'd to confirm it For right Reason is only a Judgment made according to that Law and Standard of Justice and Truth which God our Creator has stamped upon the Minds of Men. And the Fundamentals of Reason issuing from God as Light flows from its Fountain the Sun must always remain unchangeably the same because he himself from whom they Spring has no variation And if the Principles of Reason were not so fixed we should be exposed to all manner of illusion and should never be able to believe any thing because we could be certain of nothing Upon this ground God directs the Jews to try their Prophets who if they preached up other Gods were not to be hearkned to though they worked Miracles nothing being more absurd or inconsistent with right Reason than allowing many Gods. Yet further God when he created Man according to the exact Laws of eternal Justice implanted in our Natures the Seeds of it and the Sense