John chap. 4. vers. 1. Believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God it commends the practise of this duty in the Bereans Acts 17. 11. where 't is said of them that they were {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} more nobly-spirited than those of Thessalonica for that they searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so as the Apostles preached notwithstanding they were assisted by an infallible spirit It was not any slownesse in them to believe which made them examine but an holy prudence for so the words are They received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so they received them readily and yet searched making no more hast then good speed But Bellarmine thinks to take off the edge of this place of Scripture by this distinction The Bereans were but beginners and had not yet entertained the faith and therefore might examine but such as are already Christians and believe the Churche's infallibility are bound to believe the doctrine it proposeth without examination I answer first by way of concession that as many as believe the Churches infallibility are bound consequently to believe whatever she propounds as farre as an errour can bind them But secondly If all be beginners but those that believe that truly for our parts We Protestants do professe our selves to be Bereans and therefore I hope he will give Us leave to examine their doctrine in the balance of the Sanctuary and so we have and found it light And thirdly is Bellarmine sure the Bereans were not believers when they searched since they received the word with all readinesse of mind and then 't is added and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so But fourthly If they were not I wonder how men before they beleive should be better able to judge than afterwards and how they should come to loose that power and priviledge by beleiving Besides these there are many other Scriptures which do ex consequenti not onely permit but also require to try the doctrines before we entertain them as Matth. 24. 4. where our Saviour bids See that no man seduce you and the Apostle Paul in Ephes. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words and 2 Thessal 2. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means To what purpose are all these monitory cautions if we may not try nay do they not implicitly require and command us to try and examine the doctrines whoever they be that bring them S. Paul is bold in Gal. 1. 8 9. Though we or an Angel from heaven should preach any other Gospel let him be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And that you may see that this expression proceeded neither from rashnesse nor passion but a most advised and well resolved deliberation he repeats the words in the verse following As we said before so say I now again If any preach any other Gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed Whence I observe these two things to my present purpose first that there must be an examen else how could they know it was another Gospel and so reject it and secondly that the hearers as such and not teachers were to be the judges unlesse wee 'l say they were bound to curse themselves But the truth in hand may be further evidenced to us by reason thus Because we must neither embrace all doctrines nor reject all nor take some such as come next no nor the truth it self upon slight grounds therefore we must examine 1. We must not reject all for so we shall be sure to reject the truth and besides we do ow so much reverence to the name of God as not rashly to reject without examen any doctrine that hath but an appearance of any just pretence unto it 2. Nor may we embrace all promiscuously for so we shall be sure to be in the wrong and I see not how possibly the soul can at the same time assent unto contradictions and yet such there are found among opinions 3. Nor in the third place may we take up a certain number of opinions as they come next to hand as they are offered to us by the place where we live or the next comer by for so there will be great danger of falling into errour and truth is of more concernment to us than that we should adventure it upon the hazard of such a contingency 4. Nor lastly may we entertain truth it self if we should happen on it on so slight grounds if we take no better hold of it we shall never be able to hold it fast If we build upon such a sandie foundation how do we think to stand when the winds and waves of temptation and persecution shall arise It remains therefore that we must examine that so we may both refuse the evil and also hold fast that which is good And for the further quickning of us unto this duty I shall propound onely two considerations and very briefly First Let us seriously consider what great danger there is in being deceived our souls ate at the stake no lesse than the everlasting good of our souls is concerned in it for errour in understanding begets errour in life and practise and the Scripture tells us of damnable heresies and what ever some may think of speculative errours yet surely as they proceed from that maim in the understanding which is the effect of original sinne and as they are cherished and abetted by corruption in the will they are sinns and make us guilty For the actions of the understanding as well as of the other faculties are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} under the law of God and the will shall answer at God's tribunal for not putting the understanding to school to Scripture as well as for not bridling the passions and not governing the outward man Since then there is such danger in errour as you have heard had we not need be carefull had we not need examine especially considering What danger there is of being deceived which is the second consideration For first the best are subject to errour themselves and so may though unwittingly and unwillingly be means of seducing others who do not examine and then their godlinesse and learning which were wont to keep them from errours will become arguments to draw others into them But then secondly how many false prophets deceivers and seducers are there in the world who make it their designe and purpose to deceive MANY shall come in my name faith our Saviour Matth. 24.5 and shall deceive many and Many false prophets ARE gone out into the world 1 John 4. 1. and that which makes them the more dangerous they are indefatigably industrious in their way compassing the earth with their master and compassing sea and land to make a proselyte Which they do the more easily effect by reason of the craft and
interpretationis as they were Pastours of the Church and while they conferred together seeking God they were in the use of the best means to find out truth and under a promise also but not of infallibility and therefore although we cannot make them the rule of our faith yet ought we not rashly to reject them when they are offered to us nor to slight their judgements as if they were nothing worth but seriously to examine their reasons and grounds on which they went We honour the Fathers as men whom God's providence raised up and indued with gifts to quell the growing heresies of their times and doubtlesse if they were more lookt into they would furnish us with tried weapons armour approved to subdue the self-same heresies risen again among us in these our dayes and prove as successefull as that stratagem of the Scythians was who put their rebel-slaves to flight by but shewing them the rods where with they had been wont to whip them But though we honour the Fathers yet we dare not worship them we may not believe in them nor make their writings the rule of our faith This is that which themselves did never desire but forbid and abhorre the thought of they seem to say to us Stand up for we also were but men subject to like infirmities with you {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Worship God believe in him I doubt not but they that mended many faults in their own writings left some behind and I wish others had not added more We admit them as witnesses but not as a rule since they also were but fallible The Church of Rome ha's boasted so long of the Fathers till at length they grow almost weary of it At first they had like to have put the Centuriatours out of countenance but afterwards Bishop Jewell was so bold as to challenge them in a Sermon at Paul's Crosse afterward printed and to offer that if they could produce any one ancient Father General Councel or example of the Primitive Church for the first six hundred yeares that sided with them against us in any one of 27 articles by him named and in controversie between us he would subscribe to them This challenge Dr. Humfryes thought was more than he needed to have made yet having made it he made it good against Harding and yet died a Protestant and this was no more than we all promise sayes learned Dr. Whitakar against Campian's fifth reason So that the Jesuite needed not to have arrogated to the Church of Rome that priviledge of the Jews Whose are the Fathers and Malone might have spared his scurrilous title-page against the Reverend and learned Primate Though you have ten thousand USHERS yet have ye not many FATHERS We boast not of ten thousand but are glad that we have one worth ten thousand of their Popish-Fathers and as many head-masters of their schools to boot But we hope we have the Fathers with us and I am sure we honour them more than they and yet make them not the rule of our faith neither They honour them not as Fathers but as Lords and Masters as Peter Cotton was wont to call him My Lord St. Austin At servum scis te genitum blandéque fateris Dum dicis dominum Sosibiane Patrem Let them therefore be the vassals if they please while we are the true and genuine sonnes of those ancient Fathers And yet some of the Papists to say the truth cared not overmuch for the judgement of the Fathers when it made against them Cardinal Cajetan will not fear to go against the generall torrent of all the ancient Doctours for which Canus indeed blames him but then Andradius takes his part and I am sure what Cajetan said was no other than what was put in practise by Maldonate Jansenius and divers others Fourthly Nor is the judgement or testimony of the Church a sufficient rule of divine faith The Papists cry up the Church as much as the Jews of old did the Temple but by the Church they mean their own which by that time the Jesuites have done with it is nothing else but the Pope But wee 'll keep their tearm the Church whose testimony they say is infallible and necessary to a divine faith of any one article in religion and although de-Valentia and Canus would fain mince the matter and make it onely necessary as a condition yet that will not serve the Romanists turn which Bellarmine and a-Sacro-bosco knew well enough and therefore make the testimony of the Church necessary as a medius terminus and Cause of assent in all divine faith and so they must say or come over to us Now infallibility as it is required to a rule of doctrine is nothing else but the constant assistance of the holy Ghost which the Papists require a man to believe that their Church hath before he can believe so much as that there is an holy Ghost for that 's one article of faith none of which say they can be believed without the infallible testimony of their Church Wee 'l leave the Jesuites to distinguish themselves out of this contradiction if they can and i' th' mean while let us examine their proofs They offer us Tradition for proof but for them to go about to prove the Churche's infallibity from the tradition of the Church is to beg the question Let them first convince us that the Church is infallible as it gives the tradition and then wee 'l spare them any further pains to prove that it is infallible They often attempt to prove it to us by Scripture by which very practise they do but condemn themselves For First then it seems the Scriptures infallibility may be first known before and without the believing of the Churches infallibility quod minimè vellent for then the latter may be spared And secondly hereby once for all they appeal to mens private judgements and that in a point on which their whole cause turns and if they think the Scriptures so cleare for the Churche's infallibility that a private Christian may discern it I do appeal to themselves whether many other articles be not laid down more clearly in Scripture we say all Well but it may be some will say the Churches infallibility is first known before we know the Scriptures to be infallible I say then 1. let them prove it 2. why do they go about to prove it by Scripture 3. let them avoid the above-named contradiction Or if they 'l be willing to draw stakes with us and have neither the infallibility of the one nor of the other to be first believed Then first let them never more quote Scripture for the Churche's infallibility Secondly let them not require us to prove the Scriptures by the testimony of the Church Thirdly they must give us leave to fetch all the articles of our faith immediately from the Scriptures without the midwifry of their Porphyry-chair and then wee 'l casily grant them if it
will do tnem any good that there is no prius and posterius in the belief of the infallibilities of the Scriptures and of the Church because there is no posterius that of the Church being none at all Fifthly nor are the words and doctrine of our teachers and ministers to be looked upon as an infallible rule of divine faith A private Christian ought to be very observant of his Pastour the Scripture every-where calls for it he is to reverence him as his spirituall Father to obey him as his governour to follow him as his guide yet no farther then he ha's the Scripture for his warrant Be ye followers of me saith the Apostle as I am of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 The words of a godly and able pastour are of great authority as of one that for his fidelity would not willingly for a world lead souls into errour and for his ability hath a greater measure of the spirit of discerning joyned with the advantages of acutenesse of parts much study and reading and long experience therefore must he be heard with reverence not rashly dÃsbelieved nor his doctrine rejected unlesse upon examination we find it to be condemned by the Scriptures Among humane authorities such an ones testimony is of very great weight but a divine faith will digge till it come to the rock of infallibility before it build which is not to be found save in that holy breath of the unchangeable Spirit which is the Scriptures Sixthly therefore the onely true adequate and infallible rule of divine faith is the holy Scripture this is that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this is that balance of the sanctuary wherein faith weighs and tries all mens doctrines before it entertain them That this was infallibly inspired by the Holy Ghost is granted on all sides and that it may be known to be such may sufficiently appeare by what hath been already said That it is and ought to be the rule of faith might be fully and at large demonstrated but since it hath already devoured all the other pretended rules as Aaron's rod did those of the Egyptian Sorcerers and because I would not be prevented in that which lies before me I shall content my self briefly to have pointed at an argument or two and so passe on to what remains But first give me leave to premise onely thus much that whereas some of our Divines make Scripture the judge others the rule of controversies I conceive by a little distinguishing both may be admitted and that the Scripture is both Judge and Sentence the Law Rule and Principle of faith The holy Ghost in Scripture is the Judge Every truth exprest in Scripture is a definitive Sentence when ever it se lf is called in question and in respect of truths deducible from it it is a Law and Principle in respect both of truths formally contained in it and rightly deducible from it it is and may be truly called a Rule or canon of faith and life a rule to try and examine doctrines by and this I shall prove briefly in three words thus 1. The Bereans are commended by the holy Ghost for making the Scripture the rule and trying doctrines by it and that such doctrines as were delivered by the immediate assistence of the holy Spirit as was said before 2. The Scripture is the rule according to which men ought to preach and therefore also ought their doctrine to be examined by it To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no morning-light in them Isaiah 8. 20. and 1 Tim. 6. 3. These things teach and exhort and if any man teach otherwise or any other thing {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godlinesse he is proud knowing nothing c. See also Deut. 13. v. 1 2 3. and in the 12. Rom. 6. Let us prophesie according to the analogy or proportion of faith by which is usually understood the doctrine contained in the Scriptures But that is a remarkable place Gal. 1.8 9. if we or an angel from heaven if any man preach any other Gospel than what ye have received let him be accursed 3. The Scripture is the rule by which we must be judged at the last day therefore ought it to be the rule of our faith and life here Rom. 2. 16. God shall judge the secrets of men according to my gospel and this we may be sure of that that must needs be suitable to God's will accepting and approving which is agreable and according to the same will commanding and prescribing faith and duty to us which is revealed in his word But this truth having been so much insisted upon by our writers and being so well known as it is I forbear further inlargement on it at the present The Scripture then is the onely rule of faith And though some would admit of something else for a secondary rule for my part I see not how that can be admitted for if that same supposed secondary rule do exactly accord with the Scripture then is it not another and so not a secondary rule but if it swerve never so little from it then is it false and erroneous and not fit to be a rule at all but take it at the best it is but regula regulanda a rule that must be tried it self and who will choose to measure with a Carpenters rule when he hath the standard by him The Scripture is the rule and the standard by which all doctrines may and must be tried by arraigning them before the tribunall of the Spirit in the Scriptures but it will not be amisse to draw forth of Scripture a character or two to judge of doctrines by 1. The first shall be that of Paul but lately mentioned good doctrine must be according to the analogy and proportion of faith There is a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} spoken of in Scripture a body of divine truth as I may call it between the parts and members whereof there is an exact harmony symmetry and proportion as therefore in the natural body a member would become monstrous should it exceed its due proportion to the other its fellow-members so is it here We must therefore carefully compare a doctrine concerning one article with the truth concerning others and for instance so speak of the unity of God's essence as not to impair the Trinity of persons so treat of the justice of God as not to let it devoure his mercy and so to advance his mercy as not to violate his justice since he is so said to be love 1 John 4. 8. as that he is also called a consuming fire Heb. 12. 29. Let a man study a single point
fountains and returns to it again by the rivers Col. 1.9 10. We desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdome and spirituall understanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord in all well-pleasing there 's the first being fruitfull in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God there 's the second Let it be our care therefore brethren so to try all things as not to let go our hold of the things that are good and hold fast that which is good that we may the better prove all things and let this be the end of all our proofs and of all our trialls that having found out that which is good we may believe and practse accordingly Thus have I done with the words in their relative consideration I come now to speak to them absolutely and in themselves II. Sermon Hold fast that which is good IN handling whereof I shall briefly shew by way of explication First what is meant by that which is good Secondly what it is to hold it fast and then proceed First for the first that which is good There beimany that say Who will shew us any good Worldlings they are and worldly goods they mean such as are corn and wine and oyl these they are apt enough to hold fast quocunque modo rem and vestigia nulla retrorsum Here they are close-fisted enough what they get by diligence they will keep with care and need no exhortation to good husbandry The good here spoken of is a greater good and of another nature Three things there are as I conceive very pertinent to the Apostle's scope and the meaning of the words 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for the Apostle speaking here about doctrines it 's impossible a doctrine should be good that is not true To make one's word good is to make it true True doctrine is good doctrine This was that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that good thing committed to Timothie's charge which S. Paul exhorts him for to keep 2 Tim. 1. 14. and this is that which S. Paul himself kept I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith 2 Tim. 4. 7. where faith is put for truth the object of it for 't is no commendation to believe a lie and to persist in errour is but obstinacy Our Saviour Christ commends the Church in Pergamus for holding fast his nam Rev. 2.13 Thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith my faith that is either the true doctrine concerning me or the true doctrine which I taught thee So then Paul charges Timotby to keep the truth he professes himself had kept it and our blessed Saviour commends the Church in Pergamus for keeping of it what hinders then but that we may conclude that S. Paul exhorting the Thessalonians to hold fast good doctrine did partly mean such as was true Ertour has done us the mischief and it must be truth must do us good 2. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Good doctrine is holy doctrine All true doctrine is good but holinesse adds a greater degree of goodnesse to it There are some truths which tend onely to enrich the understanding and to accomplish the intellect but there are others which do change and sanctifie the heart and make it good That doctrine which is agreeable to the holy and good will of God and which tends unto sanctification whereby we are made good is holy and good doctrine as the Law is said to be holy and just and good Rom. 7. 12. in respect of the first it 's called the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Rom. 12. 2. and as it relates unto our sanctification and salvation it 's called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 1 Tim. 6. 3. The doctrine which is according to godlinesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 1 Tim. 6. 3. 2 Tim. 1. 13. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 2 Tit. 8. and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 2 Tim. 4. 3. found and wholesome words and doctrine Sound not rotten which will deceive a man if he trust unto it and wholsome both for food and Physick a nourishing word and an healing word With this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this sincere milk of the word was Timothy nourisht and brought up {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from an infant he suckt it in with his mothers milk {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as the words are of him 1 Tim. 4. 6. nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine which carryes in it both a corrasive to eat off and subdue corruption and also a cordiall to restore and comfort the fainting soul That doctrine which is according to the will of God is such as sanctifies the heart for this is the will of God even your sanctification This all truth cannot do onely the truth of God which is his word whence it is that our Saviour prayes John 17. 17. Sanctific them through thy truth thy word is truth Such doctrine then as kills sinne and corruption by purging it out of the soul and restores the soul to a spirituall health by working saving grace in the heart and nourisheth it unto eternall life by making it like unto God in righteousnesse and true holinesse such I say is holy doctrine and therefore good 3. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that which is tried and approved This is a further requisite in the doctrine which we are to hold fast It may be true and holy in it self but unlesse we know it to be such we are not yet sufficiently prepared to assent unto it But now when we have proved it compared it with the rule and brought it to the touch-stone and tried in the furnace and upon triall found it to be pure and true and good then must we close with it and hold it fast we must no longer doubt of it or question the goodnesse of it When the Assay-master ha's once tried a piece of gold and it endures the test he pronounces it to be good and so it passes for current So that if a doctrine be true and not false doctrine if it be holy and pure and not corrupt doctrine and if upon examination by the good word of God we find it to be so then 't is good doctrine and such as we are here exhorted to hold fast Which is the second thing to be explained viz. What it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to hold fast The word is sometimes used to signifie to detain and so the truth is said to be detained both when we conceal and keep it from the knowledge of others and also when we depose it from bearing rule in our hearts and keep it down from springing up and bearing fruit in our lives this is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}
apprehensions of other men But besides this knowledge there is another kind of assent found in all believers quà tales given to a truth onely in respect to the divine testimony this is faith which though it be much helped by that other assent when in conjunction with it yet it is often found without it and this is that assent upon which God will have our salvation to depend and this must we therefore yield unto truth 1. Because this is God's way wherein he will save souls by Faith not by Philosophy although it may be man would have liked that way best but it pleased God through the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that believe that the glory of the power might be of God S. Paul tells us 2 Thess. 2.13 that God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth and on the other side our Saviour tells us plainly and without a parable he that believes not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. 2. Because this way of faith makes most for a christian's security against falling away Faith takes the surest and fastest hold of truth By faith ye stand 2 Cor. 1. 24. but if ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established Isai. 7.9 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Faith and firmnesse are very neare of kind in the originall the word for faith grows upon a root that signifies to nourish no danger then of withering or fading away the just by faith shall live shall indure shall persevere Heb. 10. 38. And it signifies to be firm also Hence {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Being grounded and settled and unmoved through faith as it may be well translated Col. 1. 23. But wherein may some say doth this great strength of faith lie or how comes it to be so sure an hold-fast I answer briefly 1. It is in its own nature a depending grace and doth chain the soul to God who is Adon an immoveable basis even truth it self Its root is fastened in God and from him it draws and sucks continuall supply of strength and nourishment yea further it doth link the soul to God's truth by a mutual clasping of hands as it were The soul layes hold on God by faith and God holds our faith in his own almighty hand and none can take it thence If faith do shrink and faint at any time yet God almighty will not let go his hold and so long no danger of Apostasie This mutuall complication we may see variously exprest in Scripture Sometimes the doctrine of faith is said to be delivered unto the Saints Jude 3. Sometimes they are said to be delivered into that Rom. 6. 17. Sometimes we are said to be in the truth and on the other side that to be in us we to abide in that and that to dwell in us we to keep that and that again to keep us Our faith and God's truth are as it were mutuall hostages and pawns between God and the believing soul God he engages his truth to the soul and the soul trusts God with its faith God deposites his truth in the soul and that again places its faith in God and commits it self also into his hand by believing 1 Pet. 4. 19. God trusts Paul with his Gospel counting him faithfull 1 Tim. 1. 5. as an Ambassadour 2 Cor. 5. 19. as a steward 1 Cor. 4. 1. and Paul again trusts God with his soul for he knew whom he had trusted 2 Tim. 1. 12. In which verse also we reade of Paul's {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which was in God's keeping and in the next verse but one we heare of another {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} committed to Timothies trust and keeping If we keep God's truth he will keep our souls Christ hath praied and God hath promised that our faith should not fail but he never did so much for our rational knowledge There is faith's first advantage 2. The second advantage which faith hath above other knowledge in holding fast the truth against temptation and persecution is this That in believing the soul rests it self upon the veracity and infallibility of God whereas in other knowledge it relies upon the goodnes of its own eye-sight in observing the principles consequents the pedigree and off-spring of truth wherein it is very subject to be mistaken and is oftimes imposed upon The Devil will sooner perswade a man's reason that the world was not created by raising difficulties and puzzling his arguments than he can perswade a believers faith that God is fallible who sayes it was created The Devil wants no sophistry the more we have to do with syllogisme and deduction the more room will he find to get in his nails Again faith overcomes the flatteries and frowns of the world by seeing through them it believes God and dare not offend him knows what heaven is and will not be cheated of it as a child for a butterflie it knows what hell is and fears God rather than men who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus doth faith overcome the world by believing the promises and threatnings of God and thus hath faith a preeminence over all our natural knowledge as to closing with and keeping possession of the truth Knowledge that holds it may be till a better Oratour or a more subtile disputant come but when we shall be beaten from these out-works faith will be acitadel that will hold out against all opposition for by it the heart is fixed trusting in God and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it Thus have you the first way of holding fast that which is good viz. by believing it stedfasly I shall be briefer in those that follow Secondly We must hold fast that which is good by loving it unfeignedly We have truth here presented to us under the notion of good and surely then we cannot but love it goodnesse being love's load-stone and the proper object about which it is conversant When once the soul having entertained truth doth tast and relish it delight and take pleasure in it then doth it cleave unto it as David's soul did to Jonathan's Love is an uniting affection twining it self about the thing beloved and if it be in an intense degree the thing may possibly by violence be torn from its embraces but it will first raise all its posse to prevent it And therefore the Apostle Paul bids Timothy to hold fast the form of sound words as in faith so in love 2 Tim. 1. 13. and by this we are said to cleave unto that which is good Rom. 12. 9. Let love be without dissimulation abhorre that which is evil and cleave to that which is good {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} being glewed to it as it were which is by love as the opposition there shews That we be not as children tossed to and fro and carried about with every
rule are not First the maxims of naturall reason For 1. they are farre from being infallible many of them being but the product of humane discourse and fallible observation and therefore some of them false if they be extended beyond the sphere of Philosophy for whose meridian onely they were calculated at the first I do not think there is any truth in Philosophy which contradicts any truth in Divinity yet am I sure that many sayings are true in Philosophy which are false in Divinity For maxims and general rules being but collections observed from particulars if the survey be short ad nimis pauca respiciens not taking in all particulars the verdict or maxime must needs be defective and the general rule be liable to exceptions So that a rule may be true in Philosophy as to all those particulars included within the object of Philosophy but false if stretched to take in the things of Divinitie as an observation concerning men may be true of men in France or Italy but false if applyed to those in England who were never attended to in the raising 2. As these maxims are not infallible so neither are they adequate to the things to be believed and therefore cannot make a fit rule of divine faith For there are many divine truths which are nothing at all of kind to any peice of naturall knowledge neither flowing from these maxims nor being reducible to them 3. It is not possible for any of those maxims to be the foundation of any divine faith at all for all assent that is wrought in the soul by them is but either science or opinion both which arise from the evidence of the thing whereas faith assents unto an article without any such respect but meerly for the sake of a testimony and if the faith be divine such also is the testimony which produceth it And yet the Socinians make reason the rule of their faith Quod absurdum est rationi debet esse falsum saith one others more modest or more subtile will seem to grant that reason ought to believe what God sayes be it never so contrary to their apprehensions but then when the question is put whether God say such a thing or no here they will deny it if it agree not with their maxims Thus what they give with the one hand they take away again with the other they passe it in the head but stop it in the house decline the volie but take the rebound which comes all to one at last But how little reason there is for so doing especially in hac foece Romali in this Apostate and fallen condition of humane nature the alone sense of our own infirmities and weaknesses may sufficiently convince O but yet Right Reason Ay where is it many make account they have it and that in those very things wherein yet they contradict one another Some think Aristotle did but bid his scholer go look when he made the judgement of a wiseman the rule of vertues mediocritie many pretend to be wise and many more think themselves such but it 's seldome that either prove so So that indeed a man may sooner find vertue than a wise-man especially considering that he had need to be one himself to know one when he meets him All reason then is not right nor have all men right reason that think they have it reason it self then stands in need of a rule to be tryed by Reason is then right when it is true and then only true when it judgeth according to the truth of things themselves now things to be believed are contained in Scripture let us carry our reason thith'er and trie it by them For as Amesius very well Ratio quaedicitur recta si absoluta rectitudo spectetur non alibi nobis est quarenda quà m ubi existit id est in Scripturis neque differt quatenus spectat bonum aequum à voluntate Dei ad nostrae vita directionem revelatâ Mcdullae lib. 2. cap. 2. So then although the maxims of natural reason may be of singular use in Divinity if rightly limited by the Scriptures yet are they not fit to be canon they are both too short and too weak to make a rule of divine faith of Secondly nor is Antiquity such a rule as is required Antiquity barely considered is no good mark much lesse rule of truth The Romanists in giving marks of the true Church do as Painters who draw the Virgine Mary by their own Mistresses they do not choose the Church by her marks but indeavour to make their marks by their Church In like manner here they do not square their doctrine by the true rule but strive to find out a rule that will fit their doctrine and yet herein too they are oft times much to seek They cry up Antiquity very much bidding us ask for the old way for multitude of dayes shall teach us wisdome and make account they have praised themselves all this while but no such matter unlesse we should look at antiquity and nothing else but then I know who may vie with them the devil was a lier from the beginning For our parts we professe we do very much reverence antiquiry but it must be then in conjunction with truth we cannot admire old errours but as Solomon speaks of the hoary head Prov. 16. 31. The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousnesse We shall alwayes rise up before a reverend hoary-headed truth but we must have something else besides its gray hairs to know it by lest in stead of truth we salute her mask and worship a cloud in stead of a goddesse And as for the Papists for all their boasting so much of the antiquity of their doctrine we can easily shew them who brought in this doctrine and that doctrine into their Church this ceremony and that ceremony this corruption and that corruption We need no microscope to see how patcht their coat is of how different a thread and spinning so that it could never hang together but that the new would rend the old in sunder the strong the rotten were it not for that same Catholick plaister of infallibility But while we make the Scriptures to be our rule our doctrine is ancienter than much of theirs pretends to be Thirdly not the writings of the Ancient Fathers nor Canons of Councels neither of these are fit to be made the rule of a divine faith We do attribute much unto the judgements of those ancient Fathers those primitive Saints and Worthies whether exprest in their private writings or signified in lawfull Councels When the Councels were such as they ought to be consisting of holy able and learned Pastours of the Church we look upon them as bright constellations whose light was the greater because of their conjunction They had not onely donum intellectûs and that in a great measure too as they were single Christians but also donum
the Apostle proceeds hold fast that which is good Which is the second part of the text containing in it the second duty incumbent upon every Christian viz. holding fast of that which is good Which I shall speak unto first relatively and then absolutely First relatively as it hath reference and regard unto the former duty And so we may look upon these later words either 1. as a caution or 2. as a means or 3. as the end of the foregoing duty of proving doctrines First let us consider them as a caution and then they intimate thus much unto us That we must so try and prove all things as i' th' mean while not to let go that which is good They that fish with a golden hook had need hold fast the line and look to the ground they stand upon We must have a firm basis and centre to trust unto or else the motion can neither be sure nor regular If once we loose our anchor no wonder if we be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} carried about by every blast of temptation from without and if we cast our ballast over-board we must needs be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} tost up and down by the wave of every doubt and so become the sport and scorn of every wind and wave And I could heartily wish that some of late had not sailed so farre upon new discoveries till they have lost their compasse and so made shipwrack of faith and conscience both together But if we desire to be successefull in our enterprize of trying and proving doctrirnes we must be sure to hold fast all tried and approved principles and 1. Such as are unquestionable or out of question we must not go to call them into question this were for us to be alwayes laying the foundation so should we never build to be alwayes learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth weak and unstable souls When truths are once tried and approved we must then study arguments for them answer difficulties brought against them and contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints 2. We may examine an article of faith without doubring of the truth of it But suppose it should be called into question by others yea and doubted of also by our selves yet must we not presently for every doubt let go our faith nor quit it for every argument that 's brought against it though we cannot answer it A man may have strong demonstrations for a truth yet not be able to vindicate it from all objections whence scruples will arise but they may and must be overcome by believing and attending to the demonstrations and evidence for the truth though we be not able to acquit our selves of those difficulties which the devil's sophistry and our own infidelity may suggest We must not disclaim a truth because it is by some called in question much lesse ingenuously do they deal by truth who therefore disclaim it that so they may call it into question themselves We may not disbelieve a truth and scrape it out of our souls that so the soul may become rasa tabula unbiassed and perfectly indifferent either to receive a truth or to reject it as our new methodists would have us do That there is a God is an article of faith and a first notion ingraved upon the heart of man by nature Should I now go and not onely forbeare my assent unto it but also imagine the contrary to counter-poise the soul's naturall {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and inclination blot out that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to try if I can write it better What were this else but to lay faith to stake and throw the die for it to part with principles that we may try conclusions to deny the truth that we may recover it again by syllogismes to cast a jewell into the sea to see whether we can dive and fetch it up again with the Mountebank to wound for experiment and become Atheists that we may convert our selves by reason to tempt God to leave us and to tempt the devil to destroy us For my part I professe I see not how this can be put in practise withot being guilty of sinne and blasphemy Let us therefore hold fast the truth by a stedfast faith while we are examining doctrines and by holinesse of life also for the devil's great gains these late times have been that while men are taken up with disputes about truths in question they have too much neglected the practise of those that were indubitable Secondly we may look upon this latter duty as a means to help to the better performance of the former if we hold fast the truth which we already have we shall the more successefully prove the doctrines and find out the truth he that 's faithfull in a little ha's the promise of being ruler over much he that yields obedience unto truth shall know more of it if any man will do the will of God he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God or no John 7. 17. whereas on the contrary a corrupt heart will breed a corrupt judgement and either hinder the entertainment of truth at the first or else procure the ejectment of it afterwards out of the soul but more of this hereafter Thirdly we might also look upon these later words as the end of the foregoing duty let this be your aim and designe in proving all things to wit that you may hold fast that which is good Have recourse unto the Scriptures that you may know what is good have recourse unto Scriptures that you may believe it for haec scripta sunt ut credatis the ensuring of our faith was the end of the writing of the Scriptures This then condemns Scepticisme and the Academicks {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Again prove all things that you may practise that which is good not that you may entertain your selves with jejune and idle speculations the end and fruit and perfection of knowledge is practise knowledge is a precious talent which is given unto us not to be hidden in a napkin but that we should {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} trade or work with it Unlesse the fruits of good living do grow upon the tree of knowledge it will never become to us a tree of life I shall leave others to dispute where Paradise was situate but our Saviour ha's placed happinesse between those two the tree of life and the tree of knowledge John 13. 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them The more we know God the more we love him and the more we love him still the more do we desire to know of him so is it here the end of the knowledge of truth is that we may practise it and practise is a means of knowing more as the water comes from the ocean to the
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} Rom. 1.18 to detain the truth in unrighteousnesse to imprison and keep it in hold and to withhold it from others but not to hold it fast as we are here commanded Three things I covceive the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} does here import 1. To entertain throughly to close with to grasp and lay fast hold of that which is good to enter upon and take possession of it and so the word is used Matth. 21.38 The husbandmen said This is the heire come let us kill him {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and let us seize upon his inheritance So should we not onely buy the truth but also take livery and seisin of it to have and to hold seize upon it as the eagle does her prey and the hungry man his food Take fast hold of it that 's the first 2. The word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifies to retain to hold fast and keep possession thus must we not let go our hold nor quit our interest in truth either through feeblenesse or ficklenesse through want of strength or want of stedfastnesse and thus the fruitfull hearers are said to be such as do {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} having heard the word do keep it in an honest and good heart Luke 8. 15. 3. The word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} imports also the maintaining of truth the holding of it fast not onely as a possession but also as a strong Hold or Castle defending it against any that shall go about to oppose it or to spoil us of it and wrest it from us This the Scripture expresses sometimes by the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which implyes an holding fast by main strength against any forcible or violent assault Sometimes by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as in that place Tit. 1.9 a Bishop must be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} one that holds fast the faithfull word according as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers the word properly signifies to hold against and this is the third thing implyed in the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} You may see all three things together expressed in one verse Prov. 4. 13. Take hold of instruction there is the first let her not go there is the second keep her for she is thy life there is the third Thus much may serve in breif for the explication of the words the sense whereof amounts to thus much That what-ever doctrine we do upon due triall by the word of God find to be true according to God's holy will and tending to sanctification and salvation we must take and keep fast hold of it close with it throughly and adhere to it immovably We must hold it fast which we have also exprest to us in Scripture by standing fast in the faith 1 Cor. 16. 13. Continuing grounded and settle in the faith Coloss. 1. 23. established in truth 2 Tim. 1.12 by keeping the faith 2 Tim 4.7 and continuing in it as in that exhortation of S. Paul to Timothy 2. epist. 3. chap. 14. vers others are deceived but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them Now we must hold fast that which is good these six severall wayes especially First By believing it stedfastly And here I shall shew briefly these two things 1. That truth so tried and evidenced is to be assented unto and continued in 2. That it must be assented unto by an assent of faith First That it must be firmly assented to may appeare 1. Because such an assent is due unto truth it self Truth is the proper object of the understanding and if the truth be presented with sufficient evidence either of its own light or of divine testimony some question whether the understanding can suspend its assent I am sure it ought not if it do the will is too blame and must answer for it And then this assent must be constant buy the truth but sell it not for it is above price and if it be sold it must needs be undervalued 2. Because such an assent is necessary for us that the truth may do us good we are saved by truth but it is through the knowledge of it The truth shall make us free but then we must suffer it to unty us which it cannot do unlesse it be entertained by us The potion be it never so soveraign cannot cure us unlesse we drink and take it in Our Saviour prayes keep them through thy truth but if we would have truth keep us then we must be sure to keep it it is like a fortresse What a losse then must the Sceptick needs be at who assents to nothing how unsatisfied is his mind how unprovided is his soul what a trembling wavering and uncertain thing is he S. James tells us that a double-minded man is unstable in all his wayes 1.8 and if a doubting man be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} then surely a Sceptick is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of a thousand severall minds or rather {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} having no soul or mind at all choosing to loose his soul rather than be at the charge of entertaining truth or maintaining an opinion like Socrates he goes to the market to buy nothing thinking that he hath no need of any thing In his soul he is quodlibeticall in his life he is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as S. James speaks unstable and indeed disorderly in all his wayes as the word may be interpreted the divers lusts after which he is carried and goes a whoring will not suffer him to wed and plight his faith to any truth In little better condition is the fickle and unconstant man who is continually fluttering up and down from one opinion to another never settling nor abiding by any He entertains truth by the day he takes it in but it stayes not with him being distempered with a kind of intellectual diabetes Truth can never nourish such a man nor will he ever be rooted and grounded in it who is alwayes flitting and removing But we must have the truth dwelling in us we must assent unto it firmly that is the first Secondly As we must firmly assent unto the truth so must we do it by an assent of faith {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 2 Tim. 1. 13. Hold fast the form of sound words in faith and hence it is that doctrine is called faith in Scripture fides quae creditur Many truths there be which a man may have a natural knowledge of he may see the truth in all its avenues and principles as also in the necessary issues and consequences of it and from them be able to make it out to the rational
wind of doctrine but that we may grow up unto him who is the head and so {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} we must {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ephes. 4. 15. Follow the truth in love not out of fansie as children do That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith we must be rooted and grounded in love Ephes. 3. 17. and therefore where the love of truth once decayes there truth it self staies not long after it We reade of some Rom. 1. 28. who not liking to retain God in their knowledge he gave them over to a reprobate mind And it a remarkable place that of 2 Thess. 2. 10 11 12. where it is said that the man of sinne should come after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish See what becomes of those who are deceived by the man of sinne they perish and if ye ask why so the words following will give you an answer Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved See there how necessary the love of truth is to salvation For indeed where there is no sineere love of the truth there can be no true belief of it For as the Apostle there goes on For this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Observe the opposition A sad place it is and I wish it were well considered by all that are so coldly affected to the truth especially by such as hate it and are so much inclined in their minds and affections to the errours of that man of sinne whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and will destroy with the brightnesse of his coming as he there threatens In the 10 verse 't is they received not the love of the truth and by the 12 verse 't is come to they believed not the truth they had lost the truth for want of love to it Would we hold truth fast we must hold it in corde as well as in capite hold it fast by loving it unfainedly Thirdly hold fast that which is good by remembring it faithfully and doubtlesse where truth is believed and beloved the mind will often be upon it quae curant meminerunt 1 Cor. 15. 1 2. Moreover brethren I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein ye stand by which also ye are saved {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} if ye hold fast keep in memory what I preached unto you unlesse ye have believed in vain Those that do truly believe the truth will be carefull to keep it in memory which is a speciall means to preserve the faith and love of it in their hearts Memory holds fast the truth while faith and love renew their acts upon it for this cause ought we to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} lest we leak and let them slip and so we that I say not they be spilt and perish irrecoverably Heb. 2.1 The Spirit of God confirms us in the truths taught by bringing them to our remembrance The Scriptures were written that we might believe that by hearing them preached by frequent reading them and meditating upon them as David did we might have faith begotten increased in us Therefore we ought {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be taken up with these duties As Paul to Timothy The minister is appointed for a remembrancer to us 1 Tim. 4.6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things then shalt thou be a good minister of Jesus Christ and when S. Paul himself went over again the cities where he had formerly preached the word the text tells us what the succese was And so were the Churches est ablished in the faith Acts 16. 5. And S. Peter thought it meet as long as he continued in his earthy tabernacle to put Christians in remembrance of the truths delivered that so they might have them alwayes in remembrance after his decease and that although they knew them already 2 Pet. 1. 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwaies in remembrance of these things though you know them and be established in the present truth Though they were already established and therefore might seem not to need putting in remembrance which is the means of establishment yet the Apostle thought it meet to do it alwayes even as long as he lived for it would further confirm them and be a means to keep them from falling from their stedfastnesse and to persevere in holding fast that which is good Fourthly another way of holding fast that which is good is by practising it conscientiously To keep the commandments is to obey them Jesus Christ tells his disciples John 15.10 if ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love as many branches as bring forth fruit abide in the vine and are fastened in it by the sap they draw S. John 1. cpist 3.c last verse He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us S. Peter 2. cpist 1. chap. exhorts to give all diligence to adde unto faith vertue temperance godlinesse charity and the rest of the graces there reckoned up for if these things be in you and abound they will make you fruit full in the knowledge of Jesus Christ they will put forth themselves into acts and what then vers. 10. if ye do these things ye shall never fall Oft times custome engages men to continue in evil practises while they are ashamed of their principles but when good practises are backt with good principles the engagement is the stronger to continue in them and defend them An honest and good heart having heard the word keeps it and brings forth fruit with patience A good heart is the fittest cabbinet to keep the good word of God in And indeed when once the word is ingraffed upon the soul by faith it over-rules the sap of the stock and sanctifies the fruit Truth being espoused to the soul by faith and bedded by love brings forth fruit unto holinesse faith working by love and proles firmat conjugium If we would be stedfast and immoveable let us be alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. If we would but follow that which is good as we are exhorted in the 15 verse before my text we should find that one means and a good one too of holding fast that which is good Fifthly a fifth way that we must hold fast that which is good is by professing of it constantly S. Paul was not ashamed to preach the Gospel no more must we be