write them down in order that he might know the Certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed From whence I infer that supposing St. Luke performed what he promised his Gospel must contain a full Declaration of the Christian Religion For First by promising to give an Account of those Things which were surely believed among Christians he engaged himself to give an entire Account of Christianity unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of Christianity which the Christians of that Time did not surely believe Secondly In promising to give an Account of those Things of which he had a perfect Understanding from the first and in which his Theophilus had been instructed he also engages himself to give a compleat Account of the whole Religion unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of this Religion which St. Luke did not perfectly understand and in which Theophilus had not been before instructed Thus also St. John testifies of his Gospel Chap. 20. 31. These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And if it be objected that by these Things the Apostle only means the Miracles of Christ which are the Motives of our Belief and not his Doctrines which are to be believed by us this is notoriously false since by these Things St. John means his Gospel in which not only the Miracles but the Doctrines of Christ are contained and therefore in his first Epistle chap. 5. 13. he saith These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe or continue to believe on the name of the Son of God Where by These Things it 's plain he means only that Christian Doctrine which he had been teaching throughout the whole Epistle From which two Places I argue that all Things necessary to eternal Life are written because he expresly tells us that These Things were written to this end that they might beget and nourish in us that Faith by which we may obtain eternal Life but if that Faith which these written Things was designed to beget in us be not sufficient to eternal Life then were these Things written in vain and the End of writing them which was that we might obtain eternal Life by believing them was wholly frustrated but if that Faith were sufficient to eternal Life then these written Things which begot that Faith and were the Object of it must contain in them all Things necessary to eternal Life for how can they beget in us a Faith that is sufficient to eternal Life unless they propose to our Faith all Things that are necessary thereunto And thus I have endeavoured to demonstrate from Scripture it self which all agree is the Word of God and consequently the most concluding Authority in the World that the Holy Scripture is in it self a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners to direct Men to eternal Life And if this be so I would fain know by what Warrant or Authority any Man or Church can pretend to obtrude upon the Faith of Christians any unwritten Traditions or Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Worship not recorded in Scripture as of equal Authority with those recorded in Scripture and equally necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. For that there have been such bold Imposers in the Christian World Irenaeus assures us in the 2d Chapter of his 2d Book against Heresies where he tells us of a sort of Hereticks who taught that the Truth could not be found in the Scriptures by those to whom Tradition was unknown for as much as it was not delivered by Writing but by Word of Mouth And these Hereticks 1 De Praescrip Haeret c. 25. as Tertullian observes confessed indeed that the Apostles were ignorant and that they did not at all differ among themselves in their Preaching but said they revealed not all Things unto all Men some Things they taught openly and to all some Things secretly and to a few which secret Things were the unwritten Traditions which they sought to impose upon the Faith of Christians And how far the Church of Rome it self doth in this matter tread in the Footsteps of these ancient Hereticks is but too notorious For thus in the Preface of their Catechism it is expresly affirmed by the Council of Trent that the whole Doctrine to be delivered to the Faithful is contained in the Word of God which Word of God is distributed into Scripture and Tradition And in the Councel it self they declare and define that the Books of Scripture and unwritten Traditions are to be received and honoured with equal pious Affection and Reverence In which Words they expresly own another Word of God besides the Scripture viz. Tradition which they equalize with the Scripture it self And this is almost verbatim the very Assertion which both Irenaeus and Tertullian condemn for Heresy and as they are the same so we find they are grounded on the same Authority For those very Texts of Scripture which those ancient Hereticks urged for their Tradition are urged by Bellarmin for the Tradition of his Church Thus for their Tradition as Irenaeus and Tertullian acquaints us they urged that of St. Paul We speak Wisdom among them that are perfect and also O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust and again That good Thing which is committed to thee keep All which Texts are urged by Bellarmin in his 4th and 5th Books de Verbo Dei in behalf of that Tradition which the Church of Rome contends for And 't is something hard that that which was damned for Heresy in the Primitive Church should be made an Article of Faith in the present Roman Not that we do disallow of Traditions universally received in all Churches and Ages for we frankly acknowledge that what is now contained in Scripture was Tradition before it was Scripture as being first delivered by Word of Mouth before it was collected into Writing and therefore whensoever it can be made evident to us that there are any unwritten Doctrines bearing the same Stamp of Divine Authority with those that are written we are ready to recive them with the same Veneration as we do the Scriptures themselves For it is not their being written that doth authorize them but their being from God and our Saviour and his Apostles and therefore when once it 's made appear to us that Christ or his Apostles taught so and so that is sufficient to command our Assent and Submission whether it be made appear from Scripture or Tradition So that the Reason why we embrace some Doctrines and reject others is not merely because the one are written and the other not but because to us who live at so great a distance from Christ and his Apostles it can never be made so evident that what is not written was taught by
extinguish Christianity they examined not only the Bishops and Clergy but also the People of all Degrees and both Sexes many of whom as well Women as Men owned that they had Bibles but rather chose to die than to deliver them up and many others who to avoid Death delivered up their Bibles and are therefore branded with the ignominious Name of Traditors for which they were excluded the Communion of the Church and could not be readmitted without a long and severe Penance But it is impossible the People could have been Traditors if they had had no Bibles to deliver up and therefore being so is an undeniable Argument that the People were then allowed the Use of the Scripture as well as the Priests And by the way it 's very strange that any Community of Christians should think that a proper Way to extinguish Heresie which those Heathen Persecutors made use of to extinguish Christianity But that in those first Ages these People were allowed the Use of the Bible is a case so plain that they who of later Ages have thought meet to repeal this Allowance have never been able to produce so much as one probable colour of Primitive Authority to warrant their practice And though in other Points they not only claim but ravish Antiquity in despite of Modesty as well as Truth yet here they are so abandoned of all pretence to it that they are not able to produce so much as one Passage of any Primitive Father that seems to discourage the People from Reading the Scripture and much less that forbids them so to do And 't is notorious to all the World That in the Primitive Ages when the Latin was the Vulgar Language of the Romans the Bible was translated into that Language for the Use and Instruction of the People but when through the many Incursions of the Barbarous Nations into the Roman Empire this Language was worn out by degrees and instead of being the vulgar became an unknown Tongue to that People the Governours of that Church having to serve their own secular Ends introduced into it sundry corrupt Doctrines and Practices which they feared the Light of the Scripture might detect to the People they thought it most advisable not to translate it into the New Vulgar but to let it remain lockt up from their Cognizance in the Old Latin which by this Time very few except the Clergy understood And when for some Time it had lain hid from them in an unknown Tongue they proceeded at last wholly to forbid the Use of it to the Laity So that about the Ninth and Tenth Ages which all argee were over-cast with gross Darkness and Ignorance the Scriptures were shut up like the Sybilline Oracles in the Capitol and none but the Priests were allowed to Read and Consult them And though upon the Commencement of the Reformation the Bible was for some time set forth again in sundry vulgar Languages among the People yet did the Guides of that Church soon find it necessary for Defence of their own Vnscriptural Doctrines and Practices to remit it to its old Confinement For First The Council of Trent in the Fourth Rule of their Index Expurgatorius forbids the Laity to read or so much as to have the Bible in the Vulgar Language though translated by those of their own Church without a Licenee in Writing from the Bishop of the Diocess or the Inquisitor and this upon Pain of not receiving Absolution of their Sins unless they delivered up those their Bibles to their Ordinary To which Rule Pope Clement the Eighth afterwards added observation That hitherto by the Command and Practice of the Holy Roman and Vniversal Inquisition the Faculty of granting such Licences for reading or keeping Bibles in the Vulgar Tongue or any Summaries or Historical Compendiums of the said Bibles is taken away which is to be inviolably observed And in the Index of Prohibited Books published by Pope Alexander the Seventh not only those Bibles that are translated and printed by Hereticks but also all Bibles in any Vulgar Tongue are absolutely forbidden And though where the Reformation hath prevailed they are forced against their own Laws more freely to indulge the Use of the Scripture to their People yet in those Countries where they are sole Masters this Priviledge is very rarely granted And now being thus necessitated to deprive the People of the Light of the Scripture lest they should thereby discover their Errors and Corruptions it was necessary for them to invent some plansible Pretences to justifie a practice so contrary both to Scripture and Primitive Antiquity and so enormously derogatory to the common Right of Christians and when it must be done it is a very hard Case if Men of Wit and Learning cannot find something to say for any thing Now the two main Pretences that are urged in this Case are First That a general permission of the Use of Scripture to the People must necessarily open a wide Door to Errors and Heresies Secondly That it will prove an unavoidable occasion of great Corruptions in Manners 1. That a general Permission of the Use of Scripture to the People must necessarily open a wide Door to Errors and Heresies because there are many Things in Scripture which are hard to be understood and which the Vnlearned who are unqualified to understand them aright will be apt to wrest into a wrong Sense to their own Destruction To which I answer 1. That this Reason holds as good against the writing and publishing the Scripture at first in Languages that were vulgarly known to the People as against the Translating them now into the vulgar Languages For the Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written was the vulgar Language of the Jews and the Greek in which the New Testament was written was then the most vulgar Language of the Jews and Gentiles and yet notwithstanding there were the same hard Things then in the Scripture as now and the People were as unlearned then and as apt to wrest these hard Scriptures to their own Destruction then as now yet God notwithstanding thought fit to write and publish it in Languages that were most known to the People and therefore either we must say that he did not take that Care that he ought to have done to prevent Errors and Heresies or that this is no good Reason why the People should be debarred of the Scripture in their own vulgar Language For why should not the Writing the Scriptures at first in the vulgar Languages as much open a Door to Heresie as the translating them afterwards seeing it is neither their being written in the Vulgar Language nor their being translated into the Vulgar Language but their being in the Vulgar Language that is here pretended to set open this dangerous Door to Heresies 2. This Objection strikes with equal force against God's writing and publishing the Scripture to the People as against their reading and consulting it For that God wrote these Scriptures
and had been bred up in its Communion from my Infancy will they allow me when I come to the full use of my Reason fairly to question whether theirs be the only true Church or no and to hear the Reasons and examine the Scriptures and consult the Doctors on both sides No by no means this I am forbid under the penalty of being deprived of the Benefit of Priestly Absolution So that in short they will allow me to make Use of my Reason if I have been bred an Heretick in order to my Reconciliation to their Church but if I have never been an Heretick I must never use my Reason to examine the Truth either of my Church or Religion that is to say I may use my Reason when there is no other Remedy and I must continue a Heretick if I do not But it were much better that I had never had Occasion to use my Reason at all So that according to these Men the Use of our Reason in Religion is only the least of two Evils it is not so bad as to continue a Heretick but if I had never been one it would be very bad and a certain Way to make me one which methinks looks very odd that the Use of my Reason should be necessary to reduce me from Heresy and the disuse of it as necessary when I am reduced to preserve me from relapsing into Heresy 'T is a memorable Passage of the Bishop of St. Mark in the Council of Trent that Seculars are obliged humbly to obey that Doctrine of Faith which is given them by the Church without disputing or thinking farther of it Where by the Church he means the Clergy assembled in that Council So that according to this Man's Doctrine the Faith of the People is a meer Beast of Burthen that right or wrong must bear all the Load that the Priests shall agree to lay upon it and though it should feel it self oppressed by them with never such gross Contradictions or Absurdities it must think no farther of it but tamely trudg on without starting or bogling At this Rate what Tricks may not the Priests play with the Faith of the People Let them invent what Doctrines they please to serve the Interest of their own Ambition and Covetousness the People must believe them without asking why or if they should ask why they must expect no other Answer but this because we have thought to define and declare them For it is by no means allowable that the People should exercise any private Judgment of their own about Matters of Faith no I confess it is not where the Matters proposed to their Faith are false and erroneous because it is a thousand to one but one time or other the People will discover the Frauds and Impostures of the Priests and this would spoil all But if the Matters of Faith are true in all Probability the farther the People enquire into them the better they will be satisfied about them and if in the Exercise of their private Judgments they should in some particulars err that is far more tollerable than that they should be utterly deprived of the Means of being able to give an Answer to every one that asks them a Reason of the Hope that is in them But when God hath given the People reasonable Faculties on purpose that by them they may be able to distinguish what is true from what is false for any Party of Men to forbid them the Use of these Faculties in distinguishing what is true from what is false in Religion in which above all Things they are most highly concerned it is a most injurious Usurpation upon the common Rights of humane Nature For by this Means our best Faculty is rendred useless to us in our greatest Concerns and whereas God gave it to us on purpose to guide and direct us we are utterly deprived of it's Guidance where we have most need of it and where it will prove most fà tal to us if we should happen to err and go astray A DISSUASIVE FROM APOSTACY 1 TIMOTHY I. 19. Holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack THese Words are a part of St. Paul's Charge to his Son Timothy wherein he Pathetically Exhorts him as a Valiant Bishop to take all possible Care to preserve the Purity of the Christian Doctrine in his Diocess of Ephesus which at that time abounded with false Teachers whose Business it was to sow the Tares of Heresie and false Doctrine in that large and fruitful Field the Cultivation whereof St. Paul had committed to his Charge And that he might discharge this Office the more effectually the Apostle warns him in the first Place to take Care of himself that he did not suffer his own Faith and Manners to be depraved and corrupted by those lewd and irreligious Principles which those Antichristian Seminaries were then scattering among his People that so he might be an Example to his Flock as well as a Teacher of pure and undefiled Religion And this v. 18. he presses upon him from the Consideration of what had been foretold of him by Divine Inspiration before ever he entered upon his Ministry viz. That he should war a good warfare that is prove a constant and couragious Champion of the Christian Faith which Prophesies he exhorts him to use his utmost endeavour to verifie both in his Profession and Practice by holding or as it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having or keeping faith and a good conscience which later viz. a good conscience some having put away concerning the former viz. Faith have made shipwrack Before we proceed to the Design of these Words it will be necessary briefly to explain some Terms in them as 1. What is meant by Faith 2. What by a good Conscience 3. What by putting away a good Conscience And 4. What by making shipwrack of the Faith 1. As for the first What is here meant by keeping the Faith I answer By this Phrase Faith we are to understand the Christian Creed or summary of those necessary and essential Doctrines whereof the Christian Religion is composed For at that time there was little else professed and taught in the Christian Churches but only the fundamental Principles of Christianity together with the nearest and most immediate Inferences from them so that few then mis-believed but such as mis-believed in Fundamentals and every Error in Doctrine was generally a Heresie The Christian Faith in those Days lay within a narrow compass and so it continued till the Wantonness and Curiosity of succeeding Ages started disputable Opinions and as they prevailed adopted them into the Family of Faith insomuch that in process of Time sundry Opinions were received that were never so much as heard of in the Apostolical Age and as soon as they were received they were presently declared necessary Articles And as for the contradictory Opinions though Christianity was little or nothing concerned whether they
into mystical Senses or grope after Truth among Shadows and Vmbrages as the good Jews were fain to do under the Mosaick Dispensation all that is necessary to our Salvation being written as it were upon the very Surface of our Religion and openly exposed to our View in plain and literal Proposals And yet notwithstanding the Plainness and Simplicity of the Christian Religion there are too many ' both among our selves and in the Church of Rome who have industriously set themselves to resolve all its Doctrines again into Darkness and unintelligible Mysteries having instead of the plain Propositions of our Saviour introduced a new-fashioned Mystical Divinity made up of nothing but certain empty Schemes of effeminate Follies and wild Enthusiasms which are impossible for any Man to understand that cannot conjure for the Meaning of them And those Doctrines which our Saviour purposely delivered in the most plain and literal Sense that so the meanest Understanding might be instructed by them these Men have blown up like so many Bubbles into swelling Mysteries which being Strip't of those glittering Allusions and pompous Metaphors wherein they are clothed vanish immediately into Air or sink into flat and empty Nonsense For thus the Doctrine of Faith and Repentance and Justification which lye as plain in the Scripture as Words can make them are by their Divinity render'd more obscure and mysterious than ever they were whilst they were couched under the Types and Figures of the Law more of the true Nature being discovered in Circumcision and the legal Washings and Attonements than in a hundred Volumes of modern Systems of Divinity For whatsoever is intelligible they look upon as carnal and till they have subtilized it into some unaccountable Mystery it is not spiritual enough to be admitted into their System of Divinity as if they thought it below the Majesty of Religion to expose it self to the View of the World and there was no Way to secure it from Contempt but to lock it up in Mysteries and Obscurities for else to what Purpose should they wrap it round with Clouds as they do unless they design to make a Trade of it and so draw a Curtain before it as Men do before their Puppet-Plays that so they may get Money by shewing it For 't is apparent that Religion it self suffers extremely by it for whilst they thus spiritualize it into Air and do as it were juggle it out of Sight in the Clouds of their mystical Nonsense they render it extreamly suspicious to all that are wise and inquisitive and will not suffer themselves to be imposed upon by the Trains of their mysterious Gibberish And as for their more credulous Followers whilst they thus lead them by the Nose through a Vally of Shades and Darkness they utterly deprive them of the vigorous Warmth and Comforts of Religion for how should they know how to make use of the Arguments and Motives of Christianity when those excellent Doctrines from whence they are deduced are wrap'd in unintelligible Mysteriws For how should they draw forth from the Articles of their Faith those Practical Principles that are lodged in them when those Articles are converted into Riddles which they do not nor cannot understand Thus by turning Christianity into a Mystery they do not only thwart the Design of our Saviour which was to bring it forth from under the mysterious Representations of the Law and propose it to the World in the most plain and intelligible manner but they also dispirit Religion it self whose Life and Energy consists in being understood and expose it to the Contempt and Scorn of those that have Wit enough to detect the Follies of their Enthusiastical Mysteries 4thly And lastly He dwelt among us full of Grace and Truth From hence I infer the Inexcusabeness of those Men that persist in their Disobedience to the Gospel now that our blessed Lord hath expressed so much Grace towards and so clearly made known his Mind and Will to us What Excuse can we urge to palliate our wretched Disobedience If you will but imagine your selves for a little while to be standing before the Tribunal of your Saviour where e're it be long you must all appear I will briefly draw up what in Probability will be your Plea and what may be reasonably presumed will be his Answer In the Name of Jesus then let me demand of you what can you plead for your selves why that fearful Doom which he hath pronounced against you should not be pass'd upon you Why Lord we know that thou wer 't an austere Man that thou would'st exact of us to the utmost Punctilio and that if ever we fail'd in the least Circumstance of our Duty thou would'st immediately let loose thy implacable Vengeance upon us and this utterly disheartned us from thy Service considering how impossible it was for us to please thee Ah wretched Creatures can you have the Face to charge me with Rigour and Severity who have had so many notorious Experiments of the Sweetness of my Nature and Tenderness of my Affections towards you What one Action was I ever guilty of in all my Conversation among you that could give you the least Suspicion that ever I would prove an austere Master to you or that I would not be ready to construe you in the most favourable Sense and to pity and pardon you wheresoever you were excusable Did I ever give you any Occasion to think that I was of a peevish or captious Nature apt to be provoked with Trifles Yea had you not all the Reason in the World to conclude from the Sweetness of my Temper that I would be always ready to consider your Infirmities and pity your Weaknesses and judge you by the Measures of a Friend And do you now pretend that it was the Dread of my Severity that disheartned you from my Service But Lord the Laws which thou gavest us were so intolerably burthen som that neither we nor our Fore-fathers were able to bear them We would willingly have obeyed thee if it had been possible but when we saw thy Burthen exceeded our Strength we concluded it was in vain for us to attempt the bearing it O ungrateful Rebels dare ye accuse me of Tyranny when you know in your own Consciences I never imposed any Law upon you but what had a necessary Tendency to your Happiness and was so far in its own Nature from being a Burthen to you that it commanded nothing but what would have been an Ease and Refreshment and if you can produce any one of my Commands that obliged you to any thing but to be kind to your selves or convince me that I could have enjoyned less upon you without being less kind or merciful to you I will freely admit of your Plea as just and immediately pardon all your Disobediences against me But when all my Laws are Instances of my Love to you and Expressions of my Zeal for your Welfare who but such Monsters of Ingratitude as your selves
them as what is What is written hath been delivered down to us by the unanimous Tradition and Testimony of the Church of Christ in all Ages which I am sure can never be justly pretended of any one of those unwritten Traditions which the Church of Rome now imposes upon the Faith of Christians Let them but produce the same unanimous Testimony that any one of those Twelve Articles which they have thought meet to superadd to the ancient Creeds was taught by Christ or his Apostles as we do that what is contained in Scripture was so and we will as readily embrace it as any Proposition in Scripture but if this Article be neither to be found in Scripture nor delivered down to us as taught by Christ or his Apostles by the unanimous Testimony of the Church of Christ through all Ages we must crave their pardon if we cannot receive it as Part of the Word of God But how impossible it is to prove by the unanimous Testimony of the Church that any unwritten Doctrine is Part of the Word of God necessary to be believed by all Christians is evident from hence because for several Ages after our Saviour the Church unanimously taught that whatsoever was necessary to be believed was contained in Scripture and for the same Church at the same time to testify that this or that unwritten Doctrine is a Part of God's Word necessary to be believed and yet that all Doctrines necessary to be believed are written is plainly to contradict it self And yet we find the Primitive Fathers unanimously attesting that the Scripture is the Rule from whence we draw all the Assertions of our Faith the last Will and Testimony of our Saviour by which all Controversies are to be decided the Boundaries of the Church out of which it is not to depart the Touchstone of Truth the Foundation and Pillar of our Faith for the Time to come and the only certain Principle of Christian Doctrine and Demonstration in Matters of Faith These are their own Expressions and abundance more than these we meet with to the same purpose and which is very observable they not only assert the Scripture to be a full and adequate Rule of Faith but severely declaim against all Additions to it Thus Eusebius Pamphilus in the Name of the Fathers of the Council of Nice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. those Things which are written believe those Things which are not witten neither think upon nor enquire after Thus also St. Austin Quicquid inde audieritisè Scriptura sacra hoc vobis bene sapiat quicquid extra est respuite ne erretis in nebula Whatsoever ye hear from the Holy Scriptures let it savour well with you whatsoever is without them refuse lest ye wander in a Cloud St. Bazil declares that it is a manifest falling from the Faith and an Argument of Arrogancy either to reject any point of those Things that are written or to bring in any of those which are not written and that it is the Property of a faithful Man to be fully perswaded of the Truth of those Things that are delivered in the Holy Scripture and not to dare either to reject or to add any thing thereunto Thus Tertullian advers Hermog Si enim non est scriptum timeat Vae illud adjicientibus aut detrahentibus destinatum If what he pretends be not written let him fear that Woe that is denounced against such as add or take away What Likelihood therefore is there that they who thus severely forbid adding any thing to the written Word of God did ever so much as dream of another Word of God consisting of unwritten Traditions And indeed methinks it is very strange if there had been any other Word of God besides what is written there should no notice be taken of it in that which is written especially considering that if it be as necessary to be believed as the Roman Church defines it it is as necessary that we should have Direction where to find it and how to know it when we have it but of this we have not the least Intimation in Scripture For as for those Words of St. Paul 2 Thess 2.15 Hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by Word or our Epistle all that can be justly inferred from them is only this that the Thessalonians at the Writing of this Epistle had only an Oral Tradition of a great Part of that Gospel which St. Paul had preached to them the Gospels being as yet either not collected into Writing or not dispersed abroad into the Churches so that then this and his former Epistle to them were perhaps the only written Part of the New Testament that was yet arrived to their hands and if so then this Command of holding the Traditions by word did oblige no longer than till they had received the written Gospel because then those Traditions by Word were all recorded in Scripture and being there recorded they were thenceforth obliged to hold them as Scripture and no longer as Traditions by Word But supposing there are still unwritten Traditions in the Church that are not in Scripture but yet were delivered by Christ or his Apostles and so are equally the Word of God with the Scripture I would fain know how we who live at so great a distance from Christ and his Apostles should either know where to find or be assured that they are such when we have them We know very well that even in the Primitive Ages there were sundry counterfeit Traditions which Hereticks pretended to derive from Christ and his Apostles and if it were so easy a matter to counterfeit Traditions then how much more easy is it now I confess Vincentius Lirinensis gives us a very good Rule how to distinguish counterfeit from true Traditions quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus creditum est hoc est vere proprieque Catholicum That which was every where and always and by all Christians believed that is truly and properly Catholick And by this Rule we are willing to abide if they can shew us any Article of Christianity not recorded in Scripture which hath been every where and always believed by all Christians we will readily admit it as an unwritten Word of God and with the same Respect and Reverence as we do that which is written But this we are fully assured they will never be able to perform seeing as was shewn before the Primitive Church doth with one Consent attest the Scripture to be an entire Rule of Faith in which all the Articles of Coristianity are contained But we are told that for these unwritten Traditions we must rely upon the present Church of every Age and receive as a divine Tradition whatsoever she defines to be so where by the present Church is meant the present Roman Church that is to say whatsoever this Church defines we must believe it because she defines it which we cannot but think is a hard Case First Because we
it seems the Scripture is plain enough for a well-disposed Child to know the Sense of it so far forth at least as it is necessary to be known and this is as much as we desire If therefore God requires us to read the Scripture as Timothy did the End that we may know and understand it as he did then either we may understand the Sense of it by reading it or else God requires us to read it in vain 4. And lastly From the Obligation we lie under upon pain of Damnation to believe and receive those Necessaries to Salvation contained in Scripture it is also evident that as to all those Necessaries it is plain and clear That we are obliged to believe under pain of Damnation all that the Scriture proposes as necessary to our Salvation is agreed on all hands but how can Men be justly obliged to believe such Things as are obscure and doubtful and uncertain and of which they can have no certain Knowledge Either the Necessaries to Salvation must be plainly and clearly express'd in Scripture or we have not sufficient Reason to believe them and to say God will damn us for not believing those Things which he hath not given us sufficient Reason to believe is to charge him with the most outragious Oppression and Injustice But we are told that though God hath not clearly revealed to us in Scripture those Things which he hath obliged us to believe upon Pain of Damnation yet he hath left us sufficient Reason to believe them for he hath left us to the Conduct of an Infallible Church that is to say of the present Church of Rome in all Ages whom he hath authorized to explain and define to us all Things that are necessary to be believed which we are to receive upon her Authority and not upon the Scriptures so that if we firmly believe what She defines and proposes to us we are sure to believe all Things that are necessary to be believed Now in Answer to this Objection which indeed is the great Foundation that the Faith of those of the present Church of Rome relies on I desire these Things may be seriously considered 1. That before we can reasonably rely upon the Authority of the present Church of Rome in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith there are sundry Things that we must believe upon the Authority of Scripture 2. That these Things which we must believe from Scripture before we can rely upon the Authority of that Church are at least as obscurely revealed in Scripture as any other Article of our Christian Faith 3. That after all these Things upon our relying on that Church's Authority we are left to the same or greater Uncertainties than upon our relying upon the Authority of Scripture 4. That in relying upon the Authority of the Scripture we are left to no other Uncertainities than just what is necessary to render our Faith virtuous and rewardable whereas by relying upon the Authority of that Church supposing it to be a certain Ground as it is pretended our Faith would have little or nothing of Virtue in it 1. That before we can reasonably rely upon the Authority of that Church in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith there are sundry Things that we must believe upon the Authority of Scripture As for Instance we must in the first Place believe that there is a Church or Society of Christians separated from the World or incorporated by a peculiar Divine Charter Now whether there be such a Church or no is a Question that must be resolved by the Scripture and not by the Church because to believe that there is a Church because the Church saith there is a Church is to take that for granted which is the Thing in Question Secondly We must believe that this Church hath Authority to define and propose to us the Articles of our Faith which must also for the same Reasons be believed on the Authority of the Scripture and not of the Church For to believe that there is a Church that hath Authority to propose to us the Articles of our Faith is to believe that there is a Church which we are obliged to believe and how can I believe this upon the Church's Authority unless I can believe it before I do believe it Thirdly Before we can rely upon this Church's Authority in defining and proposing to us the Articles of our Faith we must believe that this Church is infallible for if she be not Infallible how is it consistent with the Truth of God to oblige us to believe Her seeing in so doing he must oblige us whensoever She errs to believe her Errors but that she is infallible is not to be believed upon her own Authority for then her infallible Authority must be the Reason of our Belief that She is Infallible that is we must believe her infallible because we believe her infallible Seeing then we cannot believe it on her own Authority if we believe it at all it must be upon the Authority of Scripture Fourthly Before we can rely upon the Church of Rome's Authority to define to us the Articles of our Faith we must believe the Church of Rome to be this infallible Church But seeing this is no self-evident Principle we must have some other Evidence besides her self to induce us to believe it and what else can that be but Scripture We are told indeed by some of her greatest Divines that there are certain Marks and Notes of a true Church peculiar to the Church of Rome by which we are obliged to believe Her the true Church such as Antiquity Vniversality Holiness of Doctrine c. But seeing no Doctrine can be holy that is not true we must be satisfied that that Church is true before we can know that it is holy so that before we can reasonably submit to her Authority we must be very well assured that her Doctrine is true and this we cannot be assured of by her Authority because that as yet is the Matter in Question and therefore we can be no otherwise assured of it but only by the Authority of Scripture and when we are assured beforehand by the Authority of Scripture that her Doctrines are true her Authority comes too late to assure us Seeing therefore it is evident that there are some if not all the Articles of the Roman Faith that must be known and believe by us upon the Authority of Scripture before we can safely rely upon her Authority to define them to us how can we be obliged to settle our Faith upon her Authority when as before we can reasonably admit her Authority we must believe several of the Articles of our Faith upon the Authority of Scripture For I would fain know are these Articles of Faith or no That there is a Church that this Church hath Authority to define the Articles of our Faith and that in so defining this Church is infallible and that
would not be worth our while to receive and peruse the Contents of those Sacred Epistles which by the Hands of his Holy Penmen he hath vouchsafed to direct to us Nor is it a sufficient Excuse for our Contempt to say that in Consideration of our own Proneness to Err and Mistake we ought to content our selves with this that our Spiritual Guides should Read God's Writings for us and deliver the Sense and Contents of them to us For to be sure had God intended that the Priests only should read them he would have directed them only to the Priests and ordered them only to deliver the Sense of them to the the People and therefore since he hath directed them to both this necessarily implies that it was his Intention that both should read them For if God had not directed them to Men neither Priests nor People were obliged to read them and therefore seeing the great Reason why any Men ought to Read them is because they are directed to Men this Reason obliges all Men to Read them because they are directed to all Men. For not to be highly concerned to know and understand what it is that God writes to us is an Argument that we have a very mean Regard both of his Majesty and his Mind and Will But to be sure whosoever is highly concerned to know what such a Writing contains will if he can be very curious to peruse it with his own Eyes at least supposing that it is not unlawful for him so to do because there is nothing gives that Satisfaction to a Man's Mind as the Information of his own Sense So that for Men wilfully to neglect reading the Scripture which God hath so expresly directed to them and thereby not only licensed but obliged them to read it argues a very prophane Disregard both of the Author of it and of the Matter it contains and for any Man or Society of Men to forbid the People to read what God hath written and directed to them is not only to deprive them of a Right which God hath given them but also to acquit them of a Duty which he hath laid upon them For St. Paul in those Epistles which he wrote to the Christian People in general of such and such Churches still takes it for granted that they would read them as being not only warranted but obliged thereunto by his writing them for so Ephes 3.3 4. speaking of that great Mystery of the calling the Gentiles which God had revealed to him concerning which saith he I wrote afore in few words whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ So also 2 Cor. 1.13 We write no other things unto you than what you read that is than what you may at least and are obliged to read by vertue of our writing them to you And as for his Epistle to the Thessalonians which he wrote to that whole Church he gives charge that it should be read to all the Holy Brethren 1 Thes 5.27 So also for that of the Colossians When this Epistle is or hath been read amongst you cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea Where you see he all along either supposes or requires that what he wrote to all should be read by all and to all If therefore this Authority of St. Paul be sufficient to over rule the Authority of any pretended Successor of St. Peter then it 's certain that reading the Scripture is still the Duty of Lay-men notwithstanding any Papal Prohibition to the contrary 5. From the great Concernment the People have in the Matters contained in Scripture it is also evident that they are obliged if they are able to read it and acquaint themselves with it For as for the Matters which the Scriptures contain they are such as are of everlasting Moment to the People as well as to the Clergy The Articles of Faith which the Scripture proposes are as necessary to be believed by the People as by the Clergy The Precepts of Life which the Scripture prescribes are as necessary to be practised by the People as by the Clergy The Promises and Threats with which the Scripture inforces those Precepts are as necessary to be considered by the People as by the Clergy And seeing both are equally concerned in the great Matters which the Scriptures contain what Reason can be assigned why both should not be obliged to acquaint themselves with them I know 't is pretended that it is the proper Office of the Clergy to study the Scriptures for the People as well as for themselves and that therefore the People are obliged to receive the Sense of the Scriptures upon Trust from their Teachers without making any farther Enquiry But I beseech you are you sure that your Teachers are infallible That they are not so is most certain it being notorious that most of the prevailing Heresies of Christendom were first set on broach by the Teachers of the Church and it is impossible they should be infallible who have so often actually erred even in Matters of the highest Moment Suppose then what is fairly supposable that your Teachers should mislead you and not only into dangerous but damnable Errors are you sure that they shall be damned for you and that you shall escape If so then Heresy in the Laity can never be damnable if they receive it upon Trust from their Teachers and consequently their Souls are as safe under the Conduct of false Teachers as true provided always that right or wrong they believe what is taught them But if your selves must give an Account to God as well for your Faith as for your Manners and are liable in your own Persons to eternal Damnation as most certainly you are as well for Heresy as Immorality then it is the most unreasonable Thing in the World that you should in all Things be obliged to believe your Teachers upon Trust for at this rate a Man may be eternally damned meerly for believing what he is obliged to believe If it be said that the People are not bound to believe what their particular Pastor teaches but what the Church teaches them and the Church cannot err though their particular Pastor may I would fain know how shall the People be otherwise informed what the Church teaches them than by the Expositions of their particular Pastors they being at least as incapable of informing themselves what the Doctrine of the Church is as what the Doctrine of the Scripture is and therefore if their Pastor should err damnably in expounding to them what the Church teaches as it is supposable he may if he be not infallible there is no Remedy but they must err damnably in believing whatsoever their Pastor teaches But we are farther told that it is sufficient for the People that they believe in the gross that whatsoever the Church teaches is true and that as for the particulars there
to the People and that in so doing he not only gave them a Right but also laid on them an Obligation to Read them I have already shewed If therefore the Reading the Scripture by the People be such an unavoidable In let of Error and Heresie as this Objection pretends it was doubtless very unadvisedly done of God to publish such a dangerous Book to the World which those for whom he published and to whom he directed it cannot familiarly converse with without eminent Peril of being infected with Heresie And if the Scripture be such a quarrelsome Knife as these Men say it is that the People can hardly touch it without cutting their Fingers they are certainly more beholding to the Church for taking it from them than they are to God for bestowing it on them 3. This Objection makes as much at least against the Priests Reading the Scripture as the People For most of those Heresies that have been broacht to the People were first brewed by the Priests from whose Lips the People do commonly derive their Errors as well as their Knowledge Witness those famous Heresies with which the Christian World hath been so distracted from one Generation to another such as the Novatian the Donatist the Arian the Pelagian the Eutichian the Eunomian all which Counterfeits and a great many more were first coined by the Clergy and dispersed for current Christianity among the Laity And therefore if this Pretence that the Reading of Scripture opens a Gap to Heresie be a sufficient Reason why the Laity should not Read it it is a much more sufficient Reason why the Clergy should not Read it For it requires Skill and Learning as well to wrest the Scripture into such false Senses as are likely to impose upon the World as to interpret it into its true Sense and I am very sure that it ordinarily requires more Wit and Art to extort from the Scripture probable Errors than it doth to discover by it necessary Truth and if so then if the danger of letting in Heresies is a true Reason why any should not Read it it is much more a true Reason why the Learned should not Read it than the Vnlearned and confequently why the Priests should not Read it than the People seeing the former are more qualified to extract Heresies from it than the later If therefore this Objection signifie any Thing it must be this That it is a very dangerous thing for any Body to Read the Bible that this same Divine Book which God thought fit to publish to the World and which the Primitive Church thought fit to oblige all that were able to Peruse and Study is now become such a dangerous Inlet of Heresie that like Pandora's Box you can no sooner open it but Swarms of Errors and False Doctrines will presently fly abroad into the World so that it would be very well for the World if it were either utterly extinguished or hid in some inaccessible Repository where no Mortal Eye might ever approach it 4 This Objection expresly contradicts our Saviour and the Primitive Fathers For Matt. 22.29 our Saviour tells the Sadducees who were cavilling with him about the Resurrection Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures Had therefore the Sadducees been of the same Mind with our Objectors they would doubtless have told him by your good Leave Sir in this Point you your self are in an Error for in all Probability had we known the Scripture or been intimately acquainted with it we should have err'd much more Either therefore our Saviour was mistaken in charging the Errour of the Sadducees upon their Ignorance of Scripture or our Objectors are mistaken in making it so necessary an Expedient for the Prevention of Error to forbid the People being acquainted with Scripture for 't is plain He and They are of quite Different Opinions in the Case But whatever their Opinion is I am sure the Primitive Fathers were of the same Opinion with our Saviour For Irenaeus writing of the Valentinian Hereticks * Lib. 3. c. 12. All those Errors they fall into because they know not the Scriptures So St. Jerom †In Ep. ad Ephes l. 3. c. 4. We must search the Scriptures with all Diligence that so as being good Exchangers we may know the lawful Coyn from the Copper And elsewhere That infinite Evils arise from Ignorance of the Scriptures and that from this Cause the greatest Part of Heresies have proceeded St. Chrysostom is of Opinion that if Men would be conversant with the Scriptures and attend to them they would not only not fall into Errors themselves but be able to rescue those that are deceived and that the Scriptures would instruct Men both in right Opinions and good Life And to name no more Theophilact tells us that nothing can deceive them who search the Holy Scriptures for that saith he is the Candle whereby the Thief is discovered But it seems according to Modern Experiments this Candle of Scripture rather serves to light the Thief into the House than to discover him when he is there and therefore it is thought necessary for honest Men's security either that it should be wholly extinguished or at least hinder'd from giving Light by being shut up in a dark Lanthorn of an Vnknown Tongue But when they who were once the honest Men are become the Thieves it is no wonder that they should thus change their Note and complain of the Light of this Candle as dangerous to them which heretofore they esteemed their greatest Securith I am sure the Reason assigined by St. Peter why some Men wrested the Scriptures to their own Destruction was not their reading the Scripture but contrary wise their not reading it enough which they that are unlearned saith he wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 Vnlearned in what Why doubtless in the Holy Scripture For as to humane Learning St. Peter himself was as unlearned as they and if it were their being unlearned in Scripture that occasioned them to wrest it into an heretical Sense then it is not Mens reading the Scripture that leads them into Heresy but their not reading it enough To say therefore that the Peoples reading the Scripture is an Inlet of Heresy and to say no it is not their reading it but their not reading it enough is the Inlet of Heresy is an express Contradiction the former our Objectors say the later our Saviour his Apostles and the Primitive Church say and I think it is no hard Matter to determine which of these two Contradictions we ought to believe 5. And lastly According to this Objection the best Way to keep Men from being Hereticks is to deprive them of all Means of arriving at the Knowledge of the Truth And this I confess is a very certain Way though not a very Honest one Let Men know nothing of Religion and to be sure they cannot be Hereticks it being impossible for Men to err in their Conceptions of those Things whereof
of other Principles of Christianity as well as those seeing there are no common Principles of Chrstian Religion but what are at least as plainly reealed in Scripture as these But this will spoil all for if Men may be infallibly certain of the Principles of Religion upon Scripture Authority what will become of the Necessity of Mens relying upon the Church which is founded upon this Principle that Men can arrive at no infallible Certainty in Religion by relying upon the Authority of Scripture or indeed any other Authority but the Church's But if I cannot be infallibly certain of those two Principles viz. that they are the Church and Infallible by those Authorities of Scripture which they urge to prove them how can I be infallibly certain of any Thing that they declare and define For if I am not certain that they are the Church for all I know the Church may be infallible and yet they may be mistaken and if I am not certain that they are infallible for all I know they may be the Church and yet still be mistaken In short no Authority can render me infallibly certain but that which is infallible no Infallibility can render me infallibly certain but that of which I have an infallible Certainty Either therefore the Scripture can render me infallibly certain of the Infallibility of their Church and if it cannot I am sure nothing can or it cannot if it can why may it not as well render me infallibly certain of other Principles of Christianity which are at least as plainly revealed in it as that If I cannot how can I be infallibly certain that any Thing she defines and declares to me is true If then the Authority of Scripture can give us an infallible Certainty we have as just a Pretence to it as They it being upon this Authority that we ground our Faith if it cannot neither they nor we can justly pretend to it because they cannot otherwise be infallibly certain of their own Infallibility but by Scripture But the Truth of it is God never intended either that they or we should be infallibly certain in the Mtters of our Religion for after all the Means of Certainty that he hath given us he still supposes that we may err and plainly tells us that there must be Heresies and that even from among the Members of the true Church where infallible Certainty is if it be any where there should arise false Teachers who should bring in damnable Doctrines which could never have happened if he had left any such Means to his Church as should render her Children infallibly certain All that he designed was to leave us such sufficient Means of Certainty in Religion as that we might not err either dangerously or damnably without our own Fault He hath left us his Word and in that hath plainly discovered to us all that is necessary for us to believe in order to eternal Life He hath left us a standing Ministry in his Church to explain his Word to us and to guide us in the Paths of Righteousness and Truth but still he requires us to search the one and attend to the other with honest humble and teachable Minds and if we do not we may err not only dangerously but damnably and it is but fit and just we should But if we diligently search the Scripture and faithfully rely upon its Authority without doing of which we search it in vain if we sincerely attend to the publick Ministry with Minds prepared to receive the Truth in the Love of it though we may possibly err in Matters of less Moment yet as to all Things necessary to our eternal Salvaion our Faith shall be inviolably secured and this is as much as any honest Man needs or as any honest Church can promise 2. From hence also I infer that in the Matters of our Faith and Religion God doth expect that we should make use of our own Reason and Judgment For to what end should he put us upon searching the Scriptures but that thereby we may inform our selves what those Things are which he hath required us to believe and practise But if it were his Mind that we should wholly rely upon the Authority of our Church or of our Spiritual Guides and submit our Faith to their Dictates without any Examination what a needless and impertinent Imployment would this be for us to search and consult the Scriptures Consult them for what if we are not to follow their Guidance and Direction and to take the Measures of our Faith and Manners from them And if for this End God hath obliged us to consult them as to be sure it can be for no other End then he hath obliged us to imploy our own Reason and Judgment to consider what they say and enquire what they mean otherwise he hath obliged us to consult them to no Purpose It is as evident therefore that God will have us use our own Reason and Judgment in discerning what we are to believe and what not in Religion and not lazily rely upon others to see and discern and believe for us as it is that he would have us search and consult the Scriptures and that I think is evident enough from what hath been said to any one that is not resolved to admit of a Conviction And indeed seeing our Reason is the noblest Faculty we have it would be very strange if God should not allow it to intermeddle in the highest and most important Affair wherein he hath ingaged us and seeing it is our Reason only that renders us capable of Religion what an odd Thing would it be for God to for bid us making use of our Reason in the most important Concerns of Religion that is in distinguishing what is true Religion from what is false and what we ought to believe from what we ought to reject I know it is pretended by those who urge the absolute Necessity of submitting our Reason to the Church that they allow Men to make Use of their own Reason and Judgment in discovering which the true Church is and that all they contend for is only this that when once Men have found the true Church they ought to enquire no farther but immediately to deliver up their Reason and Understanding to it and believe every Thing it believes without any farther Examination So that before Men come into their Church it seems they are allowed to see for themselves but after they are in they must wink and follow their Guides and depute them to see and understand for them which to such Men as are not quite sick of their own Reason and Understandings should methinks be a great Temptation to keep them out of their Church for ever For if I may judge for my self while I am out of it but must not while I am in it I must be very fond of parting with my own Eyes and Reason if ever I come into it at all But suppose I was always in it
Understandings So long as a Man lives in any known Sin he doth not only live without but against his Reason which instead of being the Guide of his Actions hath nothing at all to do with them but like an idle Spectator doth only behold the brutish Scene without any Part or Concern in it And whilst a Man thus abandons himself to the Government of his own blind Will and lives not only in the perpetual Neglect but Contempt of his Reason it is impossible for him not to wast and impair it For as our rational Faculties are improved and perfected by Exercise so they naturally languish and decay through Disuse and inactivity and consequently the less Use we make of them in the Government of our Lives and Actions which is their proper Office and Employment like standing Waters they must corrupt and putrifie And indeed there is no impure Lust but doth by its own natural Efficacy disable Mens Reason and Understanding For while we are in these Bodies our Mind is fain to work by bodily Instruments and to make Use of Brains and Blood and Spirits in all its Operations and according as their Temper is good or bad its Operations will be more or less perfect But while a Man indulges himself in any impure Affection that will naturally distemper these Organs of his Mind and indispose them for the Use of his Reason For so Madness which is such a Distemperature of the Brain and Blood and Spirits doth wholly alienate them from the Use of Reason and Discourse is usually found to be the Effect of some wild and extravagant Affection such as Pride or Covetousness Anger or Fearfulness Jealousie or Lust and if these Passions being once arrived to their utmost Rage and Excess do so often run into down-right Madness and Distraction to be sure every inordinate Degree of them must be a Tendency towards it a great Disturbance of Mind though not a total Distraction and how much they exceed their due Bounds and Measures by so much they must taint and vitiate these necessary Instruments of our Mind and Reason Thus every inordinate Lust doth by a natural Influence disturb Mens Reason and sully the clearness of their discerning Faculties So that what Clearness is to the Eye of the Body that Purity from vicious Affection is to the Eye of the Mind it brightens its Apprehensions and renders its Conceptions of Things more quick distinct and vigorous Whereas on the contrary all disorderly Affection doth more or less cloud and disturb the Brain chill or inflame the Spirits hurry them into tumultuous Motions or render them listless and unactive by which continual Disorders our discerning Faculties must by Degrees be extreamly weakened and confounded And whilst the Mind is thus lost in the Fogs of inordinate Affection it is an easie Matter to seduce and mislead it it being through the Dimness of its sight apt to be imposed upon by false Colours and tinctured with Prejudice and undue Apprehensions of Things Weak Minds are easily abused especially in Matters of Religion which being placed beyond the Prospect of Sense require a severer Attention in order to the forming of right Apprehensions concerning them and therefore the more Men weaken their Understandings by their Lusts the more they must be exposed to Errors and Delusions But them 2. Living in any known Course of Sin renders the Principles of true Religion uneasie to Mens Minds Whilst a Man leads a wicked Life his Religious Principles if they are pure and true will perpetually reproach and upbraid him For there are no Contraries in Nature more irreconcilable to one another than true Faith and bad Manners the great Design of all true Faith being to move and persuade Men to abstain from all Ungodliness and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World If therefore a Man's Faith be true and genuine he cannot live wickedly without acting against the full Persuasion of his own Mind which must necessarily render him very uneasie for in this State of Things he acts with a self-condemning Judgment and every Compliance with his Inclination sets him at odds with his Reason all the while he is meditating any wicked Design he struggles with his Conscience and confronts and outrages his own Convictions and when he hath acted it every Reflection he makes on it is a bitter Invective against himself Thus so long as the Principles of true Religion possess his Mind he finds himself continually hagg'd and oppressed by them they sit as an uneasie Load upon his Soul and will not suffer him to Sin in quiet but perpetually cause his sinful Delights to go off with an ungrateful Farewel and recoil upon him in many a sickly Qualm and Convulsion In which State of Things he hath no other Remedy but either to forsake his Principles or his Lusts or to live in perpetual Variance with himself and therefore if he still resolve to Sin on in all probability he will soon grow quite weary of true Religion and quit his Mind as soon as possibly he can of those stern and inflexible Principles which create these Discords in his Breast And whilst he is in this Temper it will be an easie matter to pervert him to any Religion that will give Ease to his straitlaced Conscience and cast a more favourably Aspect on his Lust for being resolved to follow his vicious Inclinations he now sees through them and understands by them and whilst his Mind runs upon the false Biass of his Lusts that Religion which is most grateful to them will seem most reasonable to him Shew him a way how he may worship God acceptably without the Expence of a strict Attention and the inward Devotion of a pure Heart and heavenly Affections meerly by numbring so many Prayers on a String of Beads by seeing a Priest act over such a Set of Ceremonies and hearing him in varied Tones sometimes pronounce and sometimes murmur a Form of Words in an Vnknown Language and though at first view it may seem very absurd to him yet the very Loosness and Carnality will be apt to engage his Affections to it and then they by degrees will go near to wheedle his Understanding into a more favourable Opinion of it Propose to him an Expedient how he may go to heaven at last without undergoing the Severities of a sincere Repentance and Amendment tell him there is a certain Church in the World whose Priests if he confess his Sins to them with any Degree of Sorrow and Remorse have full Power to Pardon and Absolve him so that if he do but take Care not to die without Confession however he lives he cannot miscarry for ever He may indeed go into a very hot Place called Purgatory and there suffer a while very grievous Things before he get to Heaven but if instead of parting with his Lusts while he lives he will part with his Mony when he dies he may at easy Rates purchase of that Church such a
Number of Masses Requiems and Indulgencies as will in all Probability soon procure his Dismission from those temporary Sufferings into eternal Happiness How odly soever this Doctrine may appear to his Reason to be sure it will be charming enough to his Lusts and when once a Mans Lusts are retained the Cause is half carried at the Bar of his Judgment And so in all other Instances it is a great Disadvantage to true Religion and as great an Advantage to false that Mens Faith and Reason are so much swayed and byass'd by their Lusts For though there is no Religion can be true but what is pure and holy yet it is the Holiness of true Religion that doth provoke their Lusts against it and 't is their Lusts that do provoke their Reason and when all is done there is nothing doth more strongly incline or frequently pervert depraved and wicked Minds to false Religion than its Complyance with their vicious Affections though this very Thing is one of the most certain Signs in Nature of its Falshood 3. Living in any known Course of Sin deprives Men of the greatest Encouragements to Constancy and Steadfastness in the true Religion For doubtless the highest Encouragement to Perseverance in the Truth against all Oppositions and Temptations is the Hope of those glorious Rewards that await them in the World to come 'T was this that guarded the Faith of the antient Martyrs safe through all the Rage and Cruelty of their Persecutors their having an Eye to the Recompence of Reward the Sight of which inspired the drooping Souls with an invincible Courage made them despise Racks and Wheels and Flames and exalt and triumph under the most exquisite Torments And indeed what less Encouragement than the Hope of being eternally happy within a few Moments could have enabled a Company of tender Virgins delicate Matrons infirm and aged Bishops to endure those long and dolorous Martyrdoms as many times they did when their Tormentors took their turns from Morn to Night and plyed them with all Kinds of Tortures till oftentimes they were forced to give over and confess themselves overcome either through Weariness or Compassion But now by indulging our selves in any known Course of Sin we throw away this Sovereign Cordial and leave our selves naked and destitute of all the mighty Supports it is able to give us under any Temptation to Apostacy For how can we hope for any Good from God and much less for so great a Good as a Heaven of immortal Joys amounts to whilst we persist in open Rebellion against him especially when he hath expresly suspended this mighty Recompence upon our constant and faithful Obedience to his Will and told us plainly before hand that we might know what to trust to that if we fail of this he will be so far from admitting us into that Place and State of Blessedness that he will banish us for ever from his Presence into outer Darkness and eternal Wretchedness and Despair When by wilful Sin therefore we have cast away our hope of Heaven what have we left to support our Constancy to the Truth if ever we should be called to suffer for it How can it be expected that rather than renounce our Religion we should be contented to part with our Goods or Liberties or Lives when all our Hope is shut up in this Life and we have no Prospect of Compensation either here or hereafter If ever therefore we would be stedfast to the Truth against all Temptations we must above all Things take Care by a holy Life to cherish and keep alive the Hopes of Heaven in our Breasts which is the only Anchor that can hold and secure us in a stormy Sea from making Shipwrack of our Faith 4. Living in any known Course of Sin weakens the natural Force of Mens Consciences which is the greatest Restraint from Apostacy Indeed for Men to apostatize from their Religion to secure their worldly Interest is a Thing so base and infamous so foul an Instance of a cowardly degenerous and prostitute Soul that if a Man were under no other Restraint but only that Sense of Honour that is lodged in all brave Minds he would scorn so mean so poor a Condescention But yet when all is done there is no such powerful Restraint upon Men as that of a good Conscience which is the natural Bridle by which God curbs our head-strong Nature and keeps it from flying out into all the wild Extravagancies it is inclined to For it is from God and in God's stead that Conscience acts who is the most powerful Being in the World When it commands it is with God's Authority when it rebukes it is with God's Majesty when it applauds it is with God's Complacency It proceeds not upon Principles of mere Policy or Prudence which require us to act this way now and anon the contrary as Circumstances after but upon the awful Principles of Divinity which oblige us by all that we can hope or fear for ever and require of us the self same Things and Actions in all Circumstances and the sole Reason it insists on is the Will of God whose Pleasure or Displeasure can make us happy or miserable for ever The Voice of Conscience is not This I judge most expedient for thee to do and this to avoid but this thou must do and this avoid as thou tenderest the Love of God and dreadest his everlasting Hatred and Revenge And it is no less than eternal Bliss that Conscience allures our Hope with and eternal Vengeance that it alarms our Fear with and if Men will not be withheld by such powerful Restraints as these what can withold them Whilst therefore a Man cherishes his Conscience by complying with it and follows its Directions this if any Thing will secure his stedfastness to the Truth against all Temptations whilst this hath any Power over him he will as soon eat Fire as sacrifice his Faith to his Interest For for a Man to renounce his Religion upon any Prospect of temporal Gain or Loss is such a flagitious Violation of all that is Sacred such a monstrous Instance of High-Treason against God such an open Blasphemy of his Truth such a bold Defyance of his Majesty and in a word such a Complication of vile Perfidy base Ingratitude and impious Falsehood that but to think of it is like looking down from a stupendous Precipice that swims the Head and strikes the Mind with Horror and Amazement so that while a Man's Conscience hath any Power over him he will no more be able to prevail with himself to commit the one than to throw himself headlong down from the other whilst he is under the Horror of the Prospect and he will find it so much more easy to endure the worst of Persecutions than to commit such an Outrage and Violence on his Conscience and undergo those horrible Reflections and stinging Remorses that must follow it But after a Man by wilful Sinning hath often wounded