he that thinks himself never so Infallible in the Grounds of it That is a true Divine Faith which purifies the Heart and thereby enlightens the mind which works by Love and not by cavilling and wrangling about the Grounds of it which overcomes the World and not that which overcomes the Temptations of it And such a Faith and only such a one will carry us to Heaven when if it were possible for us to have the utmost Infallibility in the Act of believing yet if it did not work effectually on our Hearts and Lives we might go infallibly to Hell. And so I shall conclude this Discourse with the second sense of the Obligation which lies on those who have received Christ Iesus the Lord so to walk in him i. e. to improve their sound Faith into the Practice of a good Life For alas What advantage will it be to us to have the most Primitive and Apostolical Faith if our Works be not answerable to it Why call ye me Lord Lord saith Christ and do not the thing which I say Why do we pretend to receive Christ Iesus the Lord if we do not observe his Commands It is good saith S. Paul to be zealously affected always in a good thing And no doubt our Faith is such but then let us be zealous of good Works too that we may shew our selves to be that peculiar people who are redeemed by Iesus Christ. So that our Obligation arises every way from Christ Iesus the Lord to walk in him if we consider him as our Lord so we are to obey him if as Christ Iesus so he died for us to redeem us from all iniquity We can have no pretence to live in our sins if we have received him who commands us to forsake them for then we receive and reject him at the same time Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity saith St. Paul what should those then do that profess to receive him as their Lord who are thereby bound to yield obedience to his Laws one of the great causes of the Degeneracy of the Heathen World was the separating Religion and Morality when this was left to the Schools of Philosophers to instruct men in whereas their Religion consisted only of some Solemn Rites and Sacrifices Let us have a care of as dangerous a Separation between Faith and Works or which is all one between receiving Christ and doing his Will. For those are the proper Works of the Gospel wherein we own Christ as our Lord and do them because he commands us And the Apostle hath summ'd up the whole Duty of Christians in those comprehensive words Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. To whom c. FINIS ERRATA PAge 8. line 18. for Days read Places p. 25. l. 15. r. Matimâ—â— p. 28. l. 18. for were â— are 2 Cor. 1. 12. Col. 2. 3. Col. 1. 14. John 6. 66. Rom. 1. 8. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 15. 12. 14. Gal. 4. 14. 16. Ch. 1. v. 7. â—â— 12. v. 3. Russia in Symbol Joh 16. 13. Acts 9. 13 21. Gal. 1. 17. 2. 9. Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 25. Iren. l. 3. c. 3. 4. Tertul. de Praescript Haer. 1 John 1 2 3. Euseb. Hist l. 3. c. 39. Luk. 1. 4. Iâ—â—n l. 3. c. 1. Aug. de Con. â—ers Evang. l. 1. c. 54. l. 2. c. 53. Euseb Hist. l. 3. c. 2. 〈…〉 〈…〉 in Mat. in Prâ—â—ogo Euseb. l. 2. c. 15. Euseb. l. 6. c. 25. Epiphan Haer. 51. Athanas. in Synopsi p. 155. Tâ—tâ—l c. Marc. l. 4. c. 5. Hieron de Script Eccles Ambros. in Luc. Luke 1. 1. Epiph. Haer. 51. Theophyl in Luc. Maldonat Com. in Evang prol Joh. 20. 31. Hierom. Proem in Matth. De Script Eccles. Epiph. Hâ— 51. Chrys. hom 1. in Matth. Euseb. l. 3. c. 24. Act. 15. 23. 1 Cor. 15. 2. Gal. 3. 1. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Eph. 4. 14. 6. 17. Phil. 3. 2. 1. 27. 2 Thess. 2. 3. 10. 1 Tim. 4. 2 3. 2 Tim. 3. 1. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. 2 Thess. 2. 15. Bell. de verbo l. 4. c. 5. Aug. de Peccat Meritis l. 1. c. 4. a In Symbolo Fidei Spâ—i nostrae quod ad Apostolis traditum non scribitur in Charta Atramento sid in tabulis cordis carnalibus Hieron ad Pammaclu advers Errores Joh. Hierosol b Nec ut eadem verba Symboli teneatis ullo modo debetis scribere sed audiendo perdisctre nec cum didicâ—ritis scribere sed memoria semper tenere recolere August de Diversis Serm. 75. c Iacirco denique haec non scribi Chartulis membronis sid requiri credentium cordibus tradiderunt ut certum esset haec neminem ex lectione quae interdum 〈…〉 ad infideles solet sed ex Apostolorum traditione didicisse Ruffinus in Symbol d Tetul de Prascrip c. 12 13 14 21. De Virgin. Vâ—l. c. 1. Advâ—s Praâ—â—am c. 2. August Som. 59. 186. 213. 215. Retract l. 2. c. 3. Enâ—iâ—iâ— de Fide n. 15. De Symbol ad Caâ—â—câ— Râ—ffin in â—â—oem c Theod. l. 5. c. 9. d Cyrill 〈◊〉 11. e Theodo l. 1. c. 12. f Cassian de 〈◊〉 l. 6. c. 3 4. g Hiâ—â—on ad Pammach h Ruffin in Symbol p. 191. V. Vsser de Symb. p. 8 9. i Epiph. 〈◊〉 Haeres 72. k Cyrill Catech. 18. l August de Symb. l. 1. Petr. Chrysol Serm. 57 c. m Epiph Ancor at n Augustinâ— de Fide Symbolo Et de Symbolo Serm. 243. o De Symbolo ad Catech. c. 1. Deut. 9. 10. 10. 4. 2 Kings 22. 8. 23. 2 3. John 5. 39. 46. 47. Matt. 15. 3. 9. Heb. 11. 1. Act. 15. 9. Gal. 5. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 4. Luk. 6. 46. Gal. 4. 18. Tit. 2. 14. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Tit. 2. 12. 13.
SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION COMPARED IN A SERMON Preached at Guild-Hall Chapel Novemb. 27. 1687. By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET D. D. and Dean of St. Paul's LONDON Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-yard 1688. Imprimatur Guil. Needham Rmo in Christo ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris Domest Nov. 28. 1687. THE PREFACE I Intend God willing to publish in a little time a full Answer to J.S. his Catholick Letters so far as I am concerned in them In the mean while I thought it not unfit to Print this Sermon I lately Preached that I might give a General View of Scripture and Tradition as to the Way of conveying Matters of Faith before I come to the particular Debate with J.S. Wherein I do not doubt but I shall be able to shew that we have ry good Grounds for the Certainty of our Faith and that they have none either as to Faith or Tradition as to the main Points in Controversie between us nestly as he doth to them Must we think as some do that he uses these Expressions as gentle Methods of Insinuation and commends them for that which he would perswade them to But this doth not seem agreeable to the Apostles simplicity and godly sincerity which he elsewhere sets such a value upon But it is far more probable that hitherto they had been very orderly and stedfast but Epaphras going to St. Paul had informed him throughly of their condition viz. That they were like a Garrison closely besieged on all sides and although hitherto they had held out with great Courage yet he did not know what earnest Sollicitations and fair Promises and tempting Motives might do with them and therefore the Apostle writes this Epistle to encourage them in their stedfastness and to warn them against Temptations Which he doth in such a manner as shews 2. That he had a more than ordinary Apprehension of the danger they were in And this I say saith he lest any man should beguile you with enticing words v. 4. and beware lest any man spoil you with Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the rudiments of the World and not after Christ v. 8. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels c. v. 18. All which expressions do imply that he had just reason to fear and to give them caution in time that while they did yet think that they stood they should take heed lest they fall And this is that which the Apostle aims at in the words of the Text As ye have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him Receiving Christ Iesus the Lord doth not here relate to his Person but to his Authority and to his Doctrine so the Apostle himself explains it in the next verse rooted and built up in him and established in the Faith as ye have been taught Walking in him is an Eastern way of speaking and supposes both an adhering to that Faith they had then received and living according to it looking on Christ and his Doctrine as their only way to Heaven And as ye had received him so walk ye in him implies that the manner of their receiving Christ and his Doctrine at first was different from that which the false Apostles endeavoured to bring in among them and that they were bound to keep close to that pure and Primitive Doctrine which they at first received From hence we may consider a double Obligation lying upon them 1. To keep stedfast to that Faith which they first received without being seduced from it by the Arts of Deceivers who were then busie among them 2. To live according to it by making that Faith the Principle of a Christian Life and so walking in him as they have received him 1. As to the former the Reasonableness of it cannot but appear from the supposition here made viz. that they had received Christ Iesus the Lord. For thereby they declared that they received him as the Christ i. e. as him who was anointed of the Father to Teach and Instruct his Church and therefore they were bound to adhere to his Doctrine there being no other whom the Father hath sealed and appointed to declare his Will and in him were hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge They received him as Christ Iesus that is they hoped for Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins And if their hopes of Heaven depended upon his Mediation they had the greatest Reason to adhere only to him They received him as Christ Iesus the Lord and therefore they ought to submit to his Authority to obey his Commands and to observe his Institutions and in all Circumstances of Life to keep stedfast to the Doctrine which he delivered But here arises the great Difficulty how they should know by any Certain Rule what was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ which himself delivered For 1. The false Teachers among them pretended to deliver the true Doctrine of Christ as well as the Apostles 2. That which they at first received was no certain Rule For the false Teachers might have been before them And first Possession gives no Title in Religion 3. The Apostle doth not put the whole Tryal meerly upon their Judgments or Memories or Capacities viz. What they thought or remembred was at first taught them for the Doctrine of Christ. For it was very possible for them to have mistaken or to have mis-remembred what was at first delivered Nothing can be more weak than to imagine that the Judgments of People in matters of Faith must be formed according to the skill and excellency of their Teachers For the hearers of Christ himself although he spake as never Man spake yet did very often mistake his meaning Aud at one time so remarkably that although he took care to rectify their misapprehension yet it is said From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him So that the highest infallibility in the Teachers doth not prevent the possibility or the danger of mistaking in the hearers And whatsoever any vainly pretend nothing can do it but Transfusing the Spirit of Infallibility into all If we look over the Apostolical Churches while they were under the Care and Conduct of an Infallible Spirit yet this did not prevent their running into great errours and mistakes as appears by the Account we have of them given by that Spirit which cannot deceive in the Apostolical Writings In the Church of Rome it self even at that time when its Faith was spoken of throughout the World yet there were dissensions and differences there and such as were contrary to the Doctrine which was delivered And St. Paul bids them to mark such which caused them he doth not say it was impossible for them to introduce any thing contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned by Tradition from the Apostles but he
contained in the several Gospels And that which adds to the strength of this proof is that when the true Gospels were written there were several false and counterfeit Gospels dispersed abroad under the Names of the Apostles themselves As of St. Peter St. Thomas St. Matthias and others as Eusebius informs us and as we have the genuine Acts of the Apostles so there were the pretended Acts of Paul of Andrew and John and the other Apostles How came these to be rejected and the other to be carefully received Here lies the true Advantage of Original Tradition before the written Gospels that by it the several Churches were enabled to pass a true judgment concerning them when they came to be dispersed among them For they could presently tell whether what they read were agreeable to what they had heard and received from the Apostles As suppose the Gospel of St. Matthew being published in Iudea were carried into Mesopotamia or Persia where many Christian Churches were very early planted these being throughly instructed by the Apostles in all things relating to the Life Death Resurrection and Doctrine of Christ could presently judge whether St. Matthews Gospel agreed with what they had heard or not and the like holds as to all the Churches in the Roman Empire So that the Consent of the Churches so soon while the memory of the Apostles Doctrine was so fresh in their minds is in effect the consent of all the Apostles who taught them And this is very different from the case of particular Persons in some Churches who might mistake or forget what was taught for this is a concurrent testimony of all the Apostolical Churches who could not agree to approve an error in the Gospels contrary to the Faith delivered to them And that while some of the Apostles were still living For the other Gospels were received and approved before St. Iohn wrote his The case had been far otherwise if no Gospels had been written in that Age for then it might have been suspected that either the Impressions of the first Teachers were worn out or they had been by degrees alter'd from their first Apprehensions by the cunning craftiness of those who lay in wait to deceive them After the decease of the Apostles the common Tradition of the Apostolical Churches was useful in these cases 1. To convey down the Authentick Writings of the Apostles or Evangelists which were delivered to any of them 2. To bear Testimony against any pretended Writings which were not first received by the Apostolical Churches to which they were said to be written For there can be no Negative Testimony of more force than that it being improbable to the utmost degree that such a Church should not know or not make known any true Apostolical Writings 3. To overthrow any pretence to a secret Tradition from the Apostles different from what was seen in the Apostolical Writings And to this purpose Irenaeus and Tertullian make very good use of the Tradition of the Apostolical Churches against the pretenders to such a Tradition which those Churches were not acquainted with But they agree that the Apostles committed the same Doctrine to Writing which they preached and that it might be a Foundation and Pillar of Faith that this Doctrine was contained in the four Gospels and that the Apostolical Churches did receive them from those who first wrote them and that within the compass of the Apostolical Age. It was therefore most agreeable to the Infinite Wisdom of God in providing for a constant Establishment of the Faith of his Church in all Ages neither to permit the Gospels to be written till the Churches were planted nor to be put off to another Generation For then it would have been plausibly objected if these things are true why were they not recorded when there were Persons living who were best able to have either proved or confuted them Then we might have been satisfyed one way or other but now the Iews are dead and the Apostles are dead and although there are many left who believe their Doctrine yet this can never reach to the Testimony of those who saw and heard the things themselves or whose Doctrine was attested by those who did so And this is now the mighty Advantage of the Church ever since that the things concerning Christ were written by such Persons With what another kind of Authority do those words command our Assent That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifest unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you then if all the Testimony concerning Christ were to be resolved into those who heard some say that others told them they had it from such who saw those who conversed with them who saw Christ in the Flesh At such a distance the Authority of a Testimony is extremely lessen'd which is not like a River which grows greater by running but like a Mineral Water which loses its strength by being carried too far We find in the time of Papias who lived but in the second Century the Authority of bare Tradition was mightily sunk For Eusebius saith he conversed with the Disciples of our Lord and his Apostles he saith of himself that he went up and down to them to get what he could from them having a greater esteem of what he could learn from them than of what was written And what Advantage did this bring to the Church It brought some idle opinions into reputation saith Eusebius for afterwards they thought it enough to fix them upon Papias But how was it possible for him to mistake Eusebius saith that being a Man of mean capacity he might easily misunderstand the meaning of what was spoken But if Tradition might fail after such a manner so near the Apostles times then we must be assured of the Capacity as well as Integrity of those of every Age through whom a Tradition passed or else they might deceive or be deceived about it But God was pleased to provide better for the security of our Faith by causing the Gospels to be written either by the Apostles themselves as St. Matthew and St. Iohn or by the Disciples of the chief Apostles while the others were surviving as St. Mark and St. Luke and the latter gives this account of his undertaking to write it viz. That thou mighest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed His instruction was by an Oral Tradition but that it seems wanted something to strengthen and confirm it and that was by St. Lukes writing his Gospel How could they add any assurance to him if all the ground of his certainty were to be taken from Tradition St. Luke thought