the Church of Rome had enervated the whole Ancient Discipline and had turn'd it all to be a secret practice between the Priest and the Penitent in Auricular Confession and that Dispensations and Commutations were brought in by which men know the price of sin and how to buy it off that all of the sudden this Church could not be brought back to the Primitive Constitutions tho we see that our Reformers did sincerely intend it and prepared a Model for it But our bad Circumstances have made that this great and good Design could never be effected since that time for which we still continue to make a publick Acknowledgment in the Preface to the Office of Commination But after all How faulty soever particular persons may be in not obeying the Rules of the Church the Clergy are obliged to Catechise the Youth and when they are duly prepared for it they ought to offer them to the Bishop to be Confirm'd and this ought to precede their being at first admitted to the Sacrament If this is not duly and punctually executed it is the fault of those who fail in their Duty and one of the best and most effectual Answer that we can make to this prejudice is to endeavour to do in this point what lies in us towards the Instructing and Confirming the Youth As for the Scandals of men's lives much more certainly might be done both in the way of private admonition and publick censure than is done so here the best answer will still return upon us We ought to do all that is incumbent on us for watching over those that are committed to our Care for correcting their Manners for making the incorrigible asham'd and for cutting off corrupt and gangreen'd Members that they spread not their Infection to those that are yet found Yet if another man fail of his Duty that can never excuse any one from doing his and so it can never be a just ground of separation Some except to our habit as a Ceremony taken from the Service of the Jewish Temple and this tho it is now esteem'd the least considerable of all the exceptions made against us yet was that which first began those unhappy disputes that have since increased so fatally upon us The chief thing stood upon at first was That it was a compliance with the Supestitions of Popery but that has been consider'd already to which I shall in this place only add this one Consideration more to justify those Compliances in matters that are in themselves innocent That in Fact the body of this Nation was in a very few years brought off from Popery to which it is highly probable that those small Compliances contributed not a little so that the single reason upon which this was at first oppos'd was the chief Reason for its continuance All publick Functions are perform'd in some special Habits and White being among both Greeks and Romans the colour that expressed Ioy it bearing also a Signification of Purity and Innocence it was natural for the Primitive Christians both to put such as were newly baptized in white and also to have Divine Offices perform'd by persons habited in the same manner It is true Popery had brought in much Superstition upon all this the several parcels of the habits were deliver'd with particular Devotions in the conferring of Orders which imported a peculiar Virtue and Sanctity to be in them and they were to be us'd with such constant Devotions that did all signify that a Sacramental Virtue was believ'd to be lodg'd in them Now all this was taken away by our Reformers only for the decency of Worship in compliance with Ancient Practices they retain'd the Habits themselves and since the greatest Bodies of those who divide from us have us'd Black Gowns which is both a peculiar form of a Habit and in a special Colour that signifi'd Gravity it will not be easy to find a good reason why a peculiar Habit in a Colour that expressed both Innocence and Joy might not be as well us'd If we pretended that Innocence is by this convey'd to us here were a just exception but we using it only as a decent Habit that is enjoin'd by Law it is enough to justify our Obedience if the thing is lawful and it is enough to justify the Law if this Robe was Ancient and have in it a proper expression of that temper of mind in which we ought to be when we go to perform Divine Offices And thus it appears on how weak grounds the first disputes concerning Rituals among us were begun upon the progess of which and the effects that have followed upon them one can never reflect without remembring those words of St. Iames Behold how great a matter a little fire hath kindled Some have excepted to our observing Holy-days as if this was an Invasion upon that Liberty which the Fourth Commandment gives for Work all the six days of the Week and as if Men pretended to an Authority to make any parcels of time Holy Some quarrel with the days for the honor of the Apostles as if this was a remnant of Popery others except even to the observance of Christmas and ascension-Ascension-day together with those other days that relate to our Saviour himself as if the observing them were a reproaching the Apostles with want of regard to the Person of Christ which we pretend to supply But those words of six days Labour are not to be understood as a perpetual Command otherwise God himself had appointed a violation of this by all those other days of Rest that were enjoined the Iews all which were called Sabbaths Every seventh year was to be one continued Sabbath Therefore the Importance of the 4 th Commandment is only this That when that Precept was first given God left Mankind free for six days and only reserved a seventh for Rest and Religion but that did not limit himself nor all other Lawful Powers from making further Impositions for Rest and Religious Exercises It is also certain that Men cannot make a Day Holy in one sense that is affix a special Purity or particular Virtue to any one day but the larger sense of a Holy Day being a day dedicated to Religious Exercises it seems to be in the power of every Society to appoint such Anniversary days as well as to appoint special times of Fasting and Thanksgiving upon one particular day and for one turn for since all do agree that this may be done for once the Arguments from the Fourth Commandment and against appointing a holy day are out of doors so it remains only to consider whether Anniversary Days may be appointed We see the Iews during the seventy years of the Captivity observ'd the Fast of the Fourth the Fifth the Seventh and Teâ—nth Month and the Prophet expostulating in the Name of God upon that Head does neither except to the Imposition nor the fixing Anniversaries but only complains of their being ill kept which plainly imports
Genius of the Emperor and that they met and Sung Hymns to Christ as a God and were tied by Vows not to commit Adultery nor to Steal or deceive or commit other Crimes and that their Feasts were Innocent and harmless This happening not above Seventy Years after our Saviour's Death shews us how fast this Doctrine did spread and what vast number had then embraced it and yet these being all born and bred with such prejudices against it cannot be supposed to have received it too rashly or to have believed it implicitly The last supposition of Infidelity yet remains to be consider'd which is That something must be yielded to have been published and received concerning this Religion soon after its first appearance but that in process of time the Books might have been Interpolated after all the Eye-witnesses were dead and many Additions of great Importance might have been clapt in afterwards And this indeed is the plausiblest part of their whole Plea for if they yield that the Books which we now have were given out in the same manner as we have them and that they were receiv'd in the Age in which many Eye-witnesses were alive to vouch them then all that can be cavilled at after this is once yielded is so poor and slight that it only shews the incurable obstinacy of those who maintain it This last has more colour there were many Gospels given out at first as St. Luke informs us some false Gospels there were and there was a consierable diversity among some Copies parcels were in some that were left out in others and it could scarce be otherwise while many were Writing what they themselves knew and saw and others might Copy these too hastily and uncorrectly Yet within a hundred years after our Saviour's Death we find this matter was so settled that we see these Books were cited by Iustin and Iremaeus not to mention the Epistles of Clemens Ignatius and Policarp and from them downward in a continued succession of Writers and they were such as we now have them I except only such small variations as might be the mistakes and errours of Copies all which when put together amount to nothing that is of any Importance to the matters of our Belief or the Rule of our Life Now when we consider how near St. Iohn lived to that time and that Irenaeus was instructed by Policarp who was ordained by St. Iohn and lived not far from him when we see what weight Irenaeus lays on the Scriptures in opposition to all Oral Tradition and how positively he makes his appeals to them when we see how soon after that time both the Greek and Latin the Roman and Affrican Churches those of Syria and AEgypt do all agree to cite the same Books in the same words or with inconsiderable variations we have all reason to conclude that this great point of the Books was setled much sooner since by the end of a hundred years they were in all Peoples hands and were read in all the Assemblies of Christians they were also read by their Enemies Trypho in particular as Iustin informs us we see also soon after this that Celsus had read them and indeed it is plain from all the Christian Writers in those Ages that the Books of the N. Testament were in all mens hands they quote them so often in their Apologies and other Books as Writings that were generally read and known such a spreading of Books and multiplying of Copies was a work of time when all was to be writ out and this was so near the Fountain that we have all reason to believe that the Originals at least of St. Paul's Epistles to the Churches were still preserved and tho an Oral Tradition of a Doctrine even for so short a period is so doubtful a conveyance that it were not easy to think that it might not have enlarged a little beyond the truth yet a Tradition of some Books could hardly in so very short a time have been varied or altered chiefly in so important a point as the Resurrection of Christ which was the main Article of their belief and that which runs as a Thread through all the Sermons and Epistles of the Apostles and indeed this being once yielded settles all the rest with it Therefore since we have such a Copious concurrence of Authors that cite those Books all-a-long from that time downwards besides the Epistles of those Apostolical Men St. Clement St. Ignatius and St. Policarp the first having writ in that very time probably before the destruction of Ierusalem and the other two soon after it in which several of the Books of the N. Testiment are cited as Writings then well known and in all mens hands we must from all this firmly conclude that the Books as we now have them are not altered from the form in which they were at first writ They were quickly Copied out for the use of the Churches they were read at the Assemblies of the Christians they were Translated into the vulgar Tongues particularly the Latin and Syriach very early so that they becoming so soon publick and getting into so many hands it was not possible for any one who might have had the wickedness to have attempted the corrupting them to have compassed it afterwards And what noise soever the Enemies of our Faith may make of the various readings and how much soever the bulk of them as they are added to the Polyglot Bible may at first view strike the eye yet when all these are examined they amount not to any one variation in any Article of our Faith and they appear so plainly to be the slips of the Writers that this can never shake any man who will be at the pains to search it to the bottom So that I have now gone round all the suppositions of Infidelity and have I hope clearly evinced that there is not any one of them which is in any sort credible or even possible I will in conclusion consider some few of their Objections indeed all that I have ever met with which seem to have any force Some cannot imagine why our Saviour after his Resurrection shewed himself only to a few and did not come in next day to the Temple and shew himself to that vast Assembly which was then to be there since that must for ever have put an end to all doubting and have silenced all his Enemies This were a very reasonable Objection if God's ways were as our ways our warm tempers that boil with resentment and that pursue eagerly our own Vindication would have no doubt wrought this way but if we go to ask an account of all God's Works or Ways we shall find them very different from our own Notions A great part of his Creation seems useless to us much of it seems defective as well as another part seems superfluously redundant to us there are many very unaccountable things both in the structure of our Bodies and the temper of our
been so overcome by the men of Labour and Learning that even the Church that boasts of Infallibility would have made a small progress without their Endeavours And why should we imagine that a Religion which we feel to be so hard in practice should be made so easy in the speculative part that we should be in no danger and need no Industry to understand it A Promise of the Spirit is indeed pretended that the Church should be thereby guided into all Truth But it is to be consider'd that this Promise was made personally to the Apostles who were Inspir'd and so were infallibly guided which appears more plainly from the following words and he shall shew you things to come that is clearly a promise of the Spirit of Prophesy to which since no Body of men can now pretend they cannot claim the other neither for both must go together according to the force of those works Nor is there any reason from those words to conclude that this any more than the Inspiration of the Apostles was to descend to others after them or if any will through a parity of Reason think that this was to continue in the Church why should it not belong to every Christian and not be confin'd to any Body or Succession of men especially since those who think that the same parity will hold as to the other effects of the Spirit promis'd there of its dwelling in them of bringing things to their remembrance of giving them Confort Peace Ioy and Victory over the World and that these do descend to others after the Apostles do believe that they belong to all Christians and are not to be contracted to a small number Now if all the other promises were to descend thus why not this of being led into all Truth as well as the rest For all promises even tho express'd in positive words do carry a condition naturally in them so that when this promise is believ'd to belong to all Christians yet it is not absolute but supposes men's using their utmost Endeavours with an honest and good Mind in which case no man can deny but that whether that promise was specially meant to them or not yet it shall be so far accomplish'd in them that they shall be left in no Error that shall be fatal to them but that either they shall be deliver'd from it or that it shall be forgiven them since it is inconsistent with the Notion of infinite Goodness that any man should perish who is doing all he can in order to his Salvation If it be said That Error does disturb the Peace and Order of the Church beyond what is to be apprehended from Sin Error runs men into parties and out of those Factions do arise which break not only the Peace of the Church but the whole order of the World and the Quiet of Civil Society whereas Sin does only harm to those who are guilty of it or to a few who may be corrupted by their ill example But to this it is to be answer'd That Sin does naturally much more mischief to Mankind than Error he that errs if he is not Immoral with it is quiet and peaceable in his Error therefore still the greatest mischief is from Sin which corrupts men's Natures through its own Influence And the mischief that Error does procure arises chiefly from the pretensions to Infallibility or something that is near a-kin to it for if men were suffer'd to go on in their Errors with the same undisturbed quiet that they have for most of their sins they would probably be much quieter in them since Sin of its nature is a much fiercer thing than a point of Speculation can be suppos'd to be but if men apprehend Inquisitions or other Miseries upon the account of their Opinions then they stand together and combine for their own Defence and Preservation so that it is not from the Errors themselves but from the methods of treating them that all those Convulsions have arisen which have so violently shaken Churches and Kingdoms But the last and Main thing that is urg'd on this Head is That no private Understanding is strong enough to find out Truth in all the points of Religion that it is an indecent and an insolent thing for private men for Tradesmen perhaps or for Women to pretend to expound Scripture or to judge in points of Religion This feeds Pride and self-conceit beyond any thing that can be imagin'd whereas a Spirit of Submission and Humility of thinking others particularly Superiours wiser than our selves has so great a resemblance to the Spirit of the Gospel and seems to agree so well with the design of this Religion that we must believe it to be a part of it This is indeed specious but after all it is to be consider'd that God has made us of such a nature that our apprehensions of things must determine us whether we will or not and it is not likely that God would make us as he has done and yet at the same time so limit our Faculties that they should not be imploy'd in the Matters of Religion We naturally love Freedom and we believe things the more firmly the more profoundly we have inquir'd into them when we come to be once fully satisfi'd about them when we find our selves oft call'd on in the Scriptures to search them to prove all things to try the Spirits when we see a great part of the New Testament was directed to whole Churches to all the Saints that is to the whole Body of the Christians when so much of it is writ in the Style of one that argues that descends from that Apostolical Authority by which he might have commanded those he writes to to receive and rest in his Decisions and that lays things in their natural Connexions and Consequences before those he writes to we see in that such an appeal to their Reasons and that even in the Age of Miracles in which there was another sort of Characters of the Divine Commission that render'd the Apostles Infallible when I say this Appeal was made to their Reasons and Understandings at that time it seems much more reasonable that in the succeeding Ages men should have a right to imploy their Faculties in finding out the Sense and examining the Books of the New Testament Here let us consider the state of every Iew at that time and see if this reasoning for Authority and Infallibility was not then as strong to keep him in Judaism There was a Controversy between the Apostles and the Sanhedrim whether Iesus was the Messias or not A decision of this was in a great measure to be made from the Prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Messias which were urg'd by the Apostles but the Rabbies the Scribes and Pharisees put other senses on these Now what was a private Iew to do Must he take upon him to judge so intricate a Controversy Must he pretend to be wiser than all the Doctors
Deceency and Beauty as may carry on the Order and Edification of the Church and since some Actions seem to have a very natural tendency to give good Impressions and to raise a seriousness and awe for Divine Performances these may be also appointed by those who are to feed teach and guide their people We see the Iews tho their Religion seems to have in it a sufficient share of Rituals did add a great many Ceremonies to those which Moses gave them They had in their Pascal-Supper a thick sawce of Dates Almonds and Figs pounded together and wrought up into the form of Clay to remember them of the Clay of which their Fathers had made Bricks in the Land of AEgypt and yet our Saviour observ'd this Paschal-Supper with the same addition for this was probably the sawce into which Iudas dipt the Sop. They had likewise a form of Initiating Proselytes into their Religion by Baptism not mention'd in the Old Testament and after this Paschal-Supper the Table was spread a second time and nothing but Bread and Wine was set on it yet tho these two last mention'd were Rites added by them to the Divine Institution our Saviour was so far from condemning them for those additions that he took these and hallow'd them to be the two Foederal Rites of his own Religion Nor does he so much blame the Pharisees for the observation of those Rites which Tradition had handed down to them as because they set that value on them as to make the Laws of God of no effect upon their account when those voluntary assum'd Ceremonies were preferr'd by them to the Moral Law it self so that the over-valuing of Rituals and the imagining that by them Compensation can be made to God for the weghtier Matters of the Law Faith Justice and the Love of God is indeed severely reprimanded by our Saviour but the bare observance of them is no where censur'd by him On the contrary The whole service of the Synagogues was only a human Institution no print of any Divine Precept appearing for it in the whole Old Testament yet our Saviour came to their Synagogues and bore a share in the Acts of Worship that were perform'd there A Feast was Instituted by the Maccabees in commemoration of their having purg'd the Temple from Idolatry which was observ'd by our Saviour and the whole New Testament is full of allusions to some Forms and Rites which were their practised by the Iews in their Worship tho no where instituted in the Old Testament There are also some Precepts given in the New Testament about Ritual Matters which are now taken away only by disuse that is by the Authority of the Church that has discontinu'd the practice of them such is the Decree that the Apostles with the rest at Ierusalem made against the eating of meats strangled or offered to Idols or of blood which as they are join'd with Fornication so the prohibition of them is reckon'd among necessary things yet these are now no more consider'd as forbidden that prohibition being lookt on either as a compliance with the Iews in those precepts which they believe were given to the Sons of Noah or as a direction to keep the Christians at a due distance from all compliances with the Gentiles in their Idolatrous practises And now that all regards to the Iews have ceased with God's rejecting them from being his people at the destruction of Ierusalem and all danger of coming too near the practices of the Gentiles is likewise at an end we living no more among Heathenish Idolaters the nature of the things prohibited by that Decree not being evil in themselves when the ground of the Prohibition ceases all men reckon that the Prohibition must be at an end Here then the Authority and Practice of the Church seems to be strong even in bar to an Apostolical Decree and none of those Bodies that are offended at our Rituals have revived this So at least this Argument is of force against those who do it not for certainly a greater degree of Authority is necessary to take away a practice that has the face of a plain Commandment in Scripture enjoining it than for adding such Rites as are recommended by new Emergencies To this may be added the Practice and Rules given by the Apostles concerning Deaconesses Phoebe and others are mention'd that serv'd in that Function St. Paul also in the Rules that he gives concerning the Age the Qualifications and the Functions of the Widows seems plainly to mean them and we do certainly know that they were in the first Ages of Christianity and were imploy'd in the Instruction and about the Baptism of such women as were converted to the Faith But when afterwards some Scandals rose upon them as the Council of Nice prohibited the Clergy to keep any women that were not very nearly related to them in their houses so in the Fifth Century upon some publick Scandals given by them we find that as they were put down in the Western Church by several Provincial Synods so they insensibly wore out of the Greek Church and yet none in our days have endeavour'd to revive this Institution The kiss of peace was likewise us'd in the Apostles times and is mention'd in their Epistles yet that Rite being perhaps made use of by prophane Scoffers to represent the Assemblies of the Christians as too licentious for the black and unjust Imputations cast on their Meetings seem to have no other Foundation but this it wore out of practice and I do not hear that any in our days have endeavour'd to bring it again in use We see likewise that they had Love-feasts before the Eucharist which was taken from the Iews and tho St. Paul complains of some abuses in this practice he does not condemn it nor order it to be let fall yet it wore out and is not now offer'd to be reviv'd by any among us Thus we see that as to Matters that are expresly mention'd in Scripture with warrants that seem to impose them as standing Rules upon succeeding Ages the abuses or unfitness which afterwards appear'd in them were thought sufficient Reasons for departing from them To these Instances another may be added that must needs press all that differ from us one Body only excepted very much We know that the first Ritual of Baptism was by going into the Waters and being laid as dead backwards all-along in them and then the persons baptized were rais'd up again and so they came out of them This is not only mention'd by St. Paul but in two different places he gives a Mystical Signification of this Rite that it signified our being buried with Christ in Baptism and our being raised up with him to a new life so that the Phrases of rising with Christ and so putting on Christ as oft as they occur do plainly relate to this and yet partly out of modesty partly in regard to the tenderness of
that Nation there were still some among them that as a remnant were to be gained to Christianity and therefore while there was ground to hope for that they went on in that condescention to their infirmity observing that very Low which was then maintained by the Iews with the highest insolence and cruelty possible against Christ and his Followers When this Point is well weighed in its full extent and in all its consequences it will I hope satisfy many how far so great an end as the publick Peace and the edification of the whole Body ought to be pursued when the Apostles went so far in order to the gaining of a few And here it will be no impertinent digression to observe the Rules that St. Paul lays down to Christians in this whole matter I cannot think that it was so fully opened in Epistles that have been preserved down to our days as a main part of the Canon of our Faith without a special Providence of God that in those Rules we might see our own duty in the management of such Controversies as should afterwards arise Since besides a historical knowledge of the state of that time this is all the use that it seems we can now make of such long Discourses and Arguings and if this can be well stated it will be a sure thread to guide us First then St. Paul leads men above the valuing such matters too much as if the being of the one or the other side signified any thing towards their peace with God For all fierce Zealots are apt to imagine that by their zeal they please God and atone for great faults Therefore to take away that false Conceit this is often repeated That in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision a vailed any thing but a new creature or faith which worketh by love and the keeping the Commandments of God and that the Christian Religion or the Kingdom of God consisted not in meat and drink that is in Rituals concerning the distinction of Meats clean and unclean but in much higher things righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And he seems to assert that whosoever served Christ in these things was acceptable to God and ought to be approved of men whatsoever his sense might be as to all other things Another Position laid down is That every man ought to he fully persuaded in his own mind to have clear Principles and to frame these into as distinct Rules as possibly he could And this is the meaning of doing all things in faith which word signifies persuasion and ought to have been so rendered here And then all those difficulties that arise out of the misunderstanding of that word would cease so that the paraphrase of those so oftencited words will run thus Hast thou a persuasion have it within thy self so that then mayst appeal to God upon it For happy is the man that is so setled that he does not waver in a distraction of thoughts sometimes approving and at other times condemning the same thing for while a man is still doupting he is condemned within himself For instance If he eats freely of all Meats without regarding the Iewish distinctions and yet has within him an opinion of the obligatory force of those Laws he does not act upon clear Principles and Persuasions for while a man acts without these not knowing but that he may be sinning against God he does then really sin since he does things which he thinks are sins so that they become sins to him This is a plain account of those words which as it agrees exactly to their natural signification so it shuts out all the difficulties which arise out of them For the word rendred by doubting according to the sense in which it stands in all the other parts of the New Testament signifies the making distinction so that the meaning of it is He who thinks that there is still a distinction between meats clean and unclean is very guilty if he eats as long as he is under that persuasion A third Rule laid down by St. Paul is Teat in all such matters men ought not to assume an Authority to judge others that is to impose things upon them as if they had a Judiciary Authority over them Let not man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day that is Let no man in matters left at liberty pretend to an Authority over another for God is the sole Judge of all men And let no man judge his Brother that is offer to call him to an account of his Actions for we must all stand at the judgement-seat of Christ where he who is our only Judge as a Law giver will then be our Iudge by calling us to an account of our Actions Upon this follow the Rules of mens deportment towards one another Those that have larger Principles and higher Notions who in that respect are stronger and who by that freedom of mind and thought did eat without those nice distinctions of clean and unclean ought not to despise such as were yet fearful and straitned in their thoughts and durst not emancipate themselves as if they were men of low thoughts and narrow minds On the other hand Those who were still entangled with an opinion of the obligation of the Mosaical Law ought not to condemn such as acted with more freedom as if they were loose and lawless men To this a fourth Assertion is added That in such diversities of apprehensions men of both sides might be received and accepted by God both acting with good Intentions and following sincerely their Persuasions One man regarded a day He observed the Iewish Festivities their New Moons and days of rest called by the general word of Sabbaths yet in doing this under the sense of the Obligations of that Law lying still over him be regarded it to the Lord Another who reckoned himself freed from that Yoke did acknowledge that this his Liberty was occasioned by the Christian Religion so he in not observing it acknowledged that Religion which had set him free The same Rule is also instanced in observing the distinction of Meats the one did eat freely and thanked God for that liberty while the other did abstain from forbidden Meats and thanked God for that Law by which the Iewish Nation had so many special Priviledges beyond all other Nations so that God was honoured by both even in all that diversity of practices And perhaps a diversity of practices if with that a tender and perfect Charity could be maintained might be yet a greater honour to Religion than an absolute ageement in all points since it is a higher Instance of the power of Religion if men can love one another notwithstanding a diversity in opinion and practice than if they loved one another being in all points of the same mind and agreeing in the same practices After these came two Rules relating to private mens behaviour towards