THE METHOD To arrive at SATISFACTION IN RELIGION TO THE TRULY VIRTUOUS the Lady T. E. THAT a Discourse of this nature should be addrest to Your Ladyship if it seems extraordinary it ought to argue a Judgment more than common in Her who is chiefly entitled to the perusal of it The Generality of your Sex through the unlucky disadvantage of their Education use to rellish nothing of a harder digestion than are the Delicacies of a Romance or at best a piece of History Nay many of the more knowing Sex who wear the repute of Learned do hardly even in this improoving Age so advance above the Sophister and the Pedant as to fancy any thing exceeds a pretty Probability trick't up with flowers of Rhetorick and gay Language And many of the greatest Wits if those may be justly called so who profess they know nothing have so unmann'd themselves by Scepticism that the solidest Principles in matters of this kind seem to them meer Air and the closest Consequences only worth answering by loose Drollery As if the Author of Nature I fear I do these Men too much right in thinking they hold any such had intended indeed to permit us the exercise of our Man-hood in Lines and Numbers but in things of infinitely highâ—r Concern had ordered us to be 〈…〉 that is as if Christ had erected a 〈◊〉 to educate and dispose Mankind towards Eternal Happiness and 〈…〉 done would not so much as 〈…〉 know the way to it Now 〈…〉 Your self should be held 〈◊〉 to penetrate and comprehend Discourses which pretend to a severity of Reason rescuing thus your own Sex from the imputation of inability for such performances and condemning the greatest part of ours is indeed a wonder if we consider the Generality of the world but none at all if we consider Your self Blush not Madam You are not singular in this Many other excellent Heroinae begin to get above their dull circumstances and the vogue of the World and own the glorious reproach of entertaining their best faculty Reason about the most noble and most profitable Subjects The high value you have for the sacred inviolableness of Catholick Faith Your earnest desire to render Faith lively and efficacious in your self by making out more and more to your thoughts how absolutely certain the Grounds of it are the Confidence You have in Gods Goodness not to deny us a clear easie and short way to make manifest this Certainty to our selves and others These good dispositions of Your Will give Your excellent Understanding such an attentiveness to the Proofs Faith stands under that I had fail'd your expectation and writ in a way much below You had I taken any other than I have here done that is to begin with the bottom-Principles and derive thence by a continued line of consequences my main Conclusion Had I produc'd Scripture-proofs or Quotations from any Authority of Fathers or Councils to evince the Point in hand Your piercing wit would have made this smart demand in behalf of my Readers that since none of those is a First Principle and so evident to all that heat them alledg'd I ought for their satisfaction make out by evident Reason that my Interpretation of Scripture could not fail to hit upon the right sence or those Authorities possibly mistake or mislead since no Authority deserves any Assent farther than Reason gives it to deserve So that still I was forc'd if I would appear before You to take this very Method I have here pursued that is to suppose nothing but prove all things that can possibly be questioned in this affair As for the following Discourse I only say that I could heartily wish Learned Writers of what Judgement soever would think fit to take the same short concluding Method and go about to settle some other Ground or Rule of Faith and thence by shewing who adhere to who reject that Rule conclude evidently who are truly Faithful who not The very attempting this would perhaps more readily discover on whose side Truth stands than many Books writ controver sially by way of mutual opposition where an obstinate Adversary may at pleasure still mistake wilfully every passage to make his impugnation the easier The maintainers of all Errors are as Experience teaches very free of opposition but only they who have certain Truth on their side will think fit to settle It will be wonder'd at Madam that I make no farther discovery of Your Person and Quality but You have will'd the contrary The Obedience to which Command obliges me by consequence to conceal my own Name and only to put instead of It the Title of my being Madam Your Ladiships most Devoted Honourer N. N. THE METHOD To arrive at SATISFACTION IN RELIGION 1. SInce all Superstructures must needs be weak whose foundation is not surely laid He who desires to be satisfy'd in Religion ought to begin with searching out and establishing the Ground on which Religion is built that is the First Principle into which the several Points of Faith are resolv'd and on which their Certainty as to us depends 2. To do this 't is to be consider'd that a Church is a Congregation of Faithful and Faithful are those who have true Faith Wherefore till it be known which is the true Faith it cannot be known which is the true Church Again A Council is a Representative A Father an Eminent Member of the Church and a witness of her Doctrine Wherefore till it be known which is the true Church it cannot be known which is a Council or who a Father Lastly Since we cannot know which is Scripture but by the testimony of those who recommend it And of Hereticks we can have no security that they have not corrupted it in favour of their false Tenets Neither can we be secure which is Scripture till we be satisfy'd who are the truly Faithful on whose Testimony we may safely relie in this affair 3. Wherefore he who sincerely aims at Satisfaction in Religion ought first of all to find out and establish some assured Means or Rule by which he may be secured which is true Faith For till this be done He cannot be secure either of Scripture Church Council or Father but having once done this is in a ready way to judge certainly of all Whereas if he begin with any of the other orindeed argue from them at all till the Rule of Faith be first settled he takes a wrong Method and breaks the Laws of Discourse by beginning with what is less certain and indeed to him as yet uncertain and in effect puts the Conclusion before the Premises unless he argue Ad Hominem or against the personal Tenets of his Adversary which is a good way to Confute but not to Satisfie 4. And because the Rule of faith must be known before Faith can be known and Faith before Scripture Church Councils and Fathers it appears that to the finding out this Rule no assistance of Books will be requisite for
every one who needs faith is not capable to Read and understand Books There is left then only Reason to use in this Inquiry And since People of all Capacities are to be saved much sharpness and depth of wit will not be requisite but plain Natural Reason rightly directed will suffice 5. This being so the Method of seeking satisfaction in Religion is become strangely both more short and easie For here will need no tedious turning over Libraries nor learning Languages nor endless comparing voluminous Quotations nor so much as the skill to read English all being reduc'd to the considering one single Point But such an one as bears all along with it And this too comprehensible as will appear to a mean understanding Again the large debating particular Points in a controversial way is by this means avoided For when the Right Rule of faith is certainly known then as certainly as there is any faith in the world all that is received on that Rule is certain and of faith Not but that 't is of excellent use too to cherish and strengthen the faith especially of Young Believers by shewing each particular Point agreeable to right Reason and Christian Principles and recorded expressly in or deduced by consequence from the Divinely-inspired Books 6. Lastly This Method is particularly suitable to the Nature of sincere Inquirers who if they want the liberty of their own Native Indifferency and be aw'd by any Authority whatever before that Authority be made out cannot but remain unsatisfyed and inwardly feel they proceed not according to Nature and the conduct of unbyast Reason Whereas when the Authority is once made evident Reason will cleerly inform them that it becomes their Nature to assent to it 7. But how will it appear that 't is so easily determinable by common reason which is the right Rule of Faith Very evidently But first we must observe the Assent called Faith depends upon two Propositi What God hath said is true and God hath said this out of which two necessarily follows the Conclusion that this or that in particular is true Of these two we are concerned onely in the latter For to examin Why God is to be believed when he has said any thing which they call the formal Motive of faith is not a Task for those who own Christianity But all we have to do is to find out What God hath said or which in our case is all one What Christ has taught and that vvhatever it be vvhich acquaints us vvith this we call THE RULE OF FAITH as that vvhich Regulates our belief concerning Christs Doctrine or the Principles of Religion Now I affirm it may by obvious Reason be discover'd vvhich this Rule is and that by looking into the Nature of it or considering what kind of thing it ought to be vvhich is no more than attentively to reflect vvhat is meant by those two ordinary vvords RULE and FAITH 8. And both of them acquaint us that the Rule of faith must be the means to assure us in fallibly vvhat Christ taught For in case a Rule though we apply it to our povver and swerve not from it leave us still deceivable in those points in vvhich it should regulate us vve need another Rule to secure us that vve be not actually deceiv'd and so this other and not the former is our Rule Next Faith speaking of Christian Faith differs from Opinion in this that opinion may be false but faith cannot Wherefore the Rule of faith both as 't is a rule and as it grounds faith doubly involves Infallibility 9. Let us apply this to Scripture and Tradition for setting aside the Light of the private Spirit grounding Phanaticism there are no more which claim to be Rules of faith and see to which of them this Notion fits that is which hath truly the Nature of the Rule of faith And this is perform'd by examining which of them is of its own Nature if apply'd and held to able to assure us infallibly that Christ taught thus and thus 10. And for the Letter of Scripture not to insist that if it be deny'd as many if not all the parts of the New Testament have been by some or other or mention that those who receive the Books do often and always may doubt of almost any particular Text alledged whether some fault through Malice Negligence or weakness be not crept into it in which Cases the Letter cannot evidence it self but needs another Rule to establish it I say not to insist upon these things which yet are undeniable We see by experience Multitudes of Sects differing from one another and some in most fundamental Points as the Trinity and Godhead of Christ yet all agreeing in the outward Letter And it is not onely uncharitable but even impossible to imagine that none among so vast Multitudes do intend to follow the Letter to their power while they all profess to reverence it as much as any read it frequently study it diligently quote it constantly and zealously defend the sense which they conceive of it so far that many are even ready to die for it Wherefore it cannot be suspected but they follow it to their power and yet 't is so far from infallibly teaching them the Doctrine of Christ that all this notwithstanding they contradict one another and that in most fundamental points The bare Letter then is not the Rule of Faith as not being of its own Nature able to assure us infallibly though we follow it to our power what Christ has taught I would not be mistaken to have less Veneration than I ought for the Divine Books whose Excellence and Usefulness as it is beyond man to express so peradventure amongst men there are not many who conceit this deeper than my self and I am sure not one amongst those who take the confidence to charge us with such irreverent thoughts But we are now about another Question They are the Word of God and their true Sense is Faith We are enquiring out the Rule of Faith whose office 't is not to satisfie us that we ought to believe what God has said which none doubts of but What it is which God has said And I affirm That the Letter alone is not a sufficient means to assure us infallibly of this and the experience of so many erring Thousands is a lamentable but convincing proof of it 11. On the other side there needs but common sense to discern That TRADITION is able if follow'd to ones power to bring infallibly down to after Ages what Christ and his Apostles taught at first For since it means no more but delivery of Faith by dayly Teaching and Practise of immediate Forefathers to their respective Children and it is not possible that men should be ignorant of that to which they were educated of that which they dayly saw and heard and did let this Rule be follow'd to ones power that is let Children resolve still to believe and practise themselves what
they were taught by and practis'd with their Fathers and this from Age to Age and it is impossible but all succeeding Children which follow this Rule must needs from the Apostles time to the end of the World be of the same Faith which was taught at first For while they do thus there is no change and if there be no change 't is the same Tradition then thus understood has in it the Nature of the Rule of Faith as being able if held to to bring down infallibly what Christ and his Apostles taught 12 We have found the Rule of Faith there remains to find which body of men in the World have ever and still do follow this Rule For those and onely those can be infallibly assured of what Christ taught that is can onely have true Faith Whereas all the rest since they have but fallible grounds or a Rule for their Faith which may deceive them cannot have right Faith but Opinion onely which may be false whereas Faith cannot 13. And first 'T is a strong presumption that those many particular Churches in communion with the Roman which for that reason are called Roman-Catholicks do hold their Doctrine by this Infallible Tenure since they alone own Tradition to be an Infallible Rule whereas the Deserters of that Church write whole Books to disgrace and vilifie it And since no man in his wits will go about to weaken a Tenure by which he holds his Estate 't is a manifest sign that the Deserters of that Church hold not their Faith by the Tenure of Tradition but rather acknowledg by their carriage that Tradition stands against them and that 't is their Interest to renounce it lest it should overthrow their Cause Wherefore since Tradition § 11. is the only means to derive Christs Doctrine infallibly down to after ages they by renouncing it renounce the onely means of conveying the Doctrine of Faith certainly to us and are convinc'd to have no faith but onely opinion And not onely so but even to oppose and go point-blank against it since they oppose the onely-sure Method by which it can with certainty come down to us 14. Besides since Tradition which I always understand as formerly explicated to be the Teaching the Faith of immediate Forefathers by words and practise hath been proved the onely infallible Rule of Faith those who in the days of K. Henry VIII and since have deserted it ought to have had infallible certainty that we receded from it formerly for if we did not but still cleav'd to it it could not chuse but preserve the true Faith to us and if they be not sure we did not they know not but we have the true faith and manifestly condemn themselves in deserting a Faith which for ought they know was the true one but Infallible Certainty that we had deserted this Rule they can have none since they neither hold the Fathers Infallible nor their own Interpretation of Scripture and therefore unavoidably ship wrack themselvs upon that desperat Rock vvhich is aggravated by this Consideration that they built not their Reformation upon a zealous care of righting Tradition which we had formerly violated nor so much as Testimonial Evidence as shall be shown presently that we had deserted It but all their pretense was that we had deserted Scripture and because they assign no other certain means to know the sense of the Holy Books but the Words and those are shown to be no certain means § 10. 't is plain the Reformers regarded not at all the right Rule of Faith but built their Reformation upon a weak Foundation and incompetent to sustain such a building Whence neither had the first Reformers nor have their Followers Faith at all but onely Opinion 15. On the contrary since 't is known and agreed to by all the World at what time all Deserters of our Church of what name soever broke from us as also who were the Authors and Abetters and who the Impugners of such New Doctrines besides in what places they first begun and were thence propagated to others but no such thing is known of us even by our Adversaries whom it concerns to be most diligent Searchers after it seeing they are in a hundred minds about the Time when and the Persons who introduc'd these pretended New Doctrines of ours which they say vary from Scripture as may be seen by their own words in several Books and amongst others one call'd The Progeny of Protestants and this for every point in which they pretend we have innovated 't is plain that when we charge them with deserting the known Doctrine of the former Church and the Rule of Faith we speak open and acknowledg'd evidence when they accuse us of the same their charge is obscure and unknown even to the very Accusers nay plainly prov'd false by the necessity of â—he things being notorious if it happen'd and the constant disagreement of those who allege it when or how it happen'd 16. I say Notorious for since Points of Faith which ground all Christian practise are the most concerning Truths in the World it cannot be but the denyal of such Truths must needs raise great commotions before the opposite Tenets could be universally spread and the change of Christian Practise and Manners which depend on those Truths must be wonderfully manifest and known to every body wherefore had we been guilty of such a change and introduc'd New Tenets and propagated them over the Christian world as is pretended it must needs be manisestly and universally known that we did so neither is it possible the change should be so insensible and invisible that our very Adversaries cannot find it out especially this alone making their Victory over us so certain and perfect For seeing we own TRADITION as an In-fallible Rule We are irrecoverably overthrown if they make out that we ever deserted It and surely nothing should be more easie than to make out That than which if True nothing can possibly be more Notorious 17. Moreover since it can not be that Multitudes of men should profess to hold point's both infinitely concerning and strangely difficult to believe and yet own no ground upon which they hold them if we ever as 't is said we have deserted Tradition vve must till the time we took it up again have proceeded upon some other Ground or Rule of Faith And because none ever charged us with proceeding upon the Letter of Scripture or Phanaticism and besides these there is no other but Tradition 't is plain we never deserted but always stuck to Tradition 18. Besides 't is impossible that that Body of Men which claim for their Rule of Faith an uninterrupted Tradition from the Apostles days should not have held to that Rule of faith from the beginning For otherwise they must have taken it up at some time or other and by doing so profess to the World that Nothing is to be held of Faith but what descended by an uninterrupted delivery
from the beginning and yet at the same time acknowledg that all they then held was not so descended but received by another Rule This of Tradition or uninterrupted Delivery being then newly taken up which is so palpable a Contradiction that as Humane Nature could not fall into it so if it could the very pretense would have overthrown it self and needed no other confutation 19. Add to this that none of those many Sects who from time to time have deserted our Church's Faith and Disciplin and so becom her Adversaries ever yet pretended to assign the time when we took up this Rule of Tradition and yet a change in that on which we profess to build all the rest must needs be of all changes the most visible and most apt to justifie the carriage of those Revolters Wherefore 't is demonstrably evident on all sides that as this present Body of men call'd the Roman-Catholick Church does now hold to Tradition so their Predecessors uninterruptedly from the Apostles days did the same that is did hold to it ever And since 't is shown before § 11. that this Rule if held to will certainly convey down the true Faith unchang'd to all after Ages 't is likewise demonstrable that they have the true Faith and are the truly Faithful or true Church 20. And hence by the way is clearly seen what is meant by UNIVERSAL TRADITION and where 't is to be look'd for and found which puzzles many men otherwise very judicious and sincere who profess a readiness nay a duty to follow Universal Tradition but they are at a loss how we may certainly know which is It. For since 't is evident that to compleat the notion of the Universality of Mankind for example it were absurd to think we must take in brutes too which are of an opposite nature to Mankind but 't is sufficient to include all in whom the nature of mankind is found so to make up the notion of Universal Tradition it were equally absurd to think we ought to take in those in whom the nature of Tradition is not found but its Opposit that is Deserters of Tradition or their Followers but 't is sufficient to include those in whom Tradition is found as in its Subject that is Adherers to Tradition or Traditionary Christians All therefore that have at any time deserted the Teaching and Practise of the immediately foregoing Church how numerous and of what name soever they be have no show of Title to be parts of Universal Tradition and onely they who themselves do and whose Ancestors did ever adhere to it how few soever they seem are the onely persons who can with any sense pretend to be those of whom as Parts Universal Tradition consists 21. These men therefore by applying this their Rule can certainly know who have true Faith and which body of men is the true Church likewise that a Representative of that Body is a true Council and that an Eminent Member of it delivering down to the next Age the Doctrine believ'd in his whether by expresly avouching it the Churches sense or confuting Hereticks is a true Father Lastly they can have Infallible Certainty both of the Letter and Sense of Scripture as far as concerns Faith For if any fault which shocks their Faith whether of Translator or Transcriber creep into any passage or if the Text be indeed right but yet ambiguous they can rectifie the Letter according to the Law of God written in their hearts and assign it a sense agreeable to the Faith which they find there between which and that of the Holy Writers they are sure there can be no disagreement as being both inspir'd by the same unerring Light 22. Contrariwise those that follow not this Rule and so are out of this Church of what denomination soever First can have no true Faith themselves 'T is possible indeed and usual that some and not seldom many of the Points to which they assent are True and the same the truly Faithful assent to yet their Assent tothem is not Faith for Faith speaking of Christian Faith is an Assent which cannot possibly be false and not only the Points assented to but the Assent it self must have that distance from Falshood as is prov'd at large in Faith Vindicated else 't is not Faith but degenerates into a lower Act and is call'd Opinion Now the strength of an Assent rationally made depends upon the strength of its Grounds and all Grounds of that Assent call'd Faith I mean such Grounds as tell us what Christ taught besides Tradition are proved § 10. weak and none Without It therefore there can be no true faith Next For want of that only Infallible Ground they cannot have Certainty which is true faith who truly faithful which the true Church which a true Council who a true Father nor lastly which is either the Letter or Sense of Scripture in Dogmatical passages that concern Faith And since they have no Certainty of these things they have no right nor ought in a Discourse about Faith be admitted to quote any of them but are Themselves and the whole Cause concluded in this single Inquiry Who have a Competent that is an impossible to be false or Infallible Rule to arrive at Faith 23. The solid Satisfaction therefore of those who inquire after true faith is onely to be gain'd by examining who has or who has not such a Rule This METHOD is short and easie and yet alone goes to the Bottom All others till this be had are superficial tedious and for want of Grounds Insignificant FINIS ERRATA Ep. Ded. p. 5. l. 5. r. of what other p. 8. l. 18. r. thing which p. 10. l. ult r. Infallibility in its notion