at least to make it more passable in the World and therefore would have introduced into it some Rites of the Jews some Austerities of the Gentiles some ways of Worship which would recommend them to their Adversaries and upon this occasion he writes this Epistle to them to convince them that Christianity alone was far beyond any Mixtures of the Fancies or Traditions of Men and therefore he could give them no better Advice than as they had first received the Doctrine of Christ to continue in it or in the words of the Text As they had received Christ Jesus the Lord so to walk in him The design of what I have said is that although the Gospels and Epistles were written upon particular occasions yet those occasions were so great and considerable and the Assistance of the Holy Ghost did so direct the Hands and Pens of the Evangelists and Apostles in writing them that what they have therein delivered contains a compleat Rule of the true and genuine Faith as it was at first delivered to the Church But against this it is objected that St. Paul himself charged the Thessalonians to stand fast and hold the Traditions which they have been taught either by Word or by his Epistles From whence it appears that there were other Traditions to be held that were not written The force of all this will be taken away if we consider when that Epistle was written viz. one of the first which St. Paul wrote and soon after the former Epistle to the Thessalonians which was some time before St. Luke's Gospel which was first received in the Churches of Greece planted by St. Paul Therefore all the proper Doctrine of Christ himself and all that relates to his Life and Actions were then but Traditions among them and therefore St. Paul had great Reason then to require them to stand fast to the Traditions they had been taught i. e. to the Doctrine of Christ they had received in that manner But it is urged that he mentions before something he had said about Antichrist's coming when he was with them v. 5. If this be allow'd it will be more against than for Tradition For what is become of that Tradition If it be lost then it follows that Tradition is no infallible Way of conveyance and therefore we have more Reason to adhere to a written Word 2. Which leads us to the second Reason from which I designed to prove that there ought to be a written Rule for discerning true primitive Christianity and that is from the notorious unâ—ertainty of meer Tradition I say notorious because there never was any Trial made of it but it failed even when it had the greatest Advantages I might insist upon the Tradition of the first Ages of the World when Men's lives were so long and the Principles of the Natural Religion so few and yet both before and after the Flood Mankind was strangely degenerated from them I might insist on many Instances in the first Ages of the Christian Church so many that scarce one can be produced wherein they pleaded meer Tradition but they were mistaken in it As about the Millennium the Age of Christ the time of Easter on one side or other the communicating Infants For St. Augustin quotes Apostolical Tradition for it But I shall wave all these and only mention a very necessary and important thing which was a long time trusted to Tradition and yet they differ'd so much about it as evidently proved that meer Tradition was no infallible Means of conveyance And that is about the Apostle's Creed which was to be repeated by all that were to be baptized We have many plain Testimonies to prove that this was not to be written but to be conveyed from one to another by an Oral Tradition St. Hierom St. Augustin Ruffinus all affirm it And the Creed was commonly then called the Rule of Faith which shewed that they looked on all the Articles therein contained as the Standard of necessary Points And yet there is a plain and considerable difference in the Ancient Creeds some Articles being in some which were not in others Although we have Reason to believe the necessary Points were at first the same in all Or else the several Churches must have different Rules of Faith The Church of Jerusalem was called the Mother of all Churches by the General Council of Constantinople and in the Creed there delivered to the Catechumens St. Cyril mentions the Eternal Generation of the Son before all Worlds and so doth Eusebius at Coesarea in the Creed which he saith he learnt at his Baptism which was long before the Nicene Creed Cassian makes it a part of that Creed which the Apostles delivered to the Church and was particularly received in the Church of Antioch But no such thing was delivered in the Western Creeds as far as now appears by what St. Augustin Russinus and others say in their Expositions of it St. Jerom writing against the Bishop of Jerusalem urges him with the Creed no doubt that which was received in his own Church and he saith it consisteth of three main Points the Confession of the Trinity the Unity of the Church and the Resurrection of the Flesh. And the Creed of the Church of Aquileia went no farther saith Ruffinus nor some old Copies of the Roman Creed But Marcellus of Ancyra had Eternal Life in his Creed and so had Cyril of Jerusalem so had the African Church in St. Augustin's time so had the Church of Ravenna but not the Church of Turin nor the Gallican Churches if Maximus Taurinensis and Venantius Fortunatus explained all the Articles of their Creeds Ruffinus confesses the Article of Descent into Hell was not in the Roman nor in any of the Eastern Creeds The Creeds of Jerusalem and Aquileia had not the Communion of Saints nor those of Marcellus and Epiphanius The Title of Catholick was not added to the Church in the Creed in St. Augustin's time for the makes it a Periphrasis utique Catholicam from whence probably it came to be added afterwards Ruffinus takes no notice of it and it was not extant in the old Copies of the Roman Creed nor in that of Marcellus Ancyranus These things I mention not in the least to shake the Faith of the Articles of the Apostle's Creed which St. Augustin saith was gathered out of Scriptures and is agreeable to them but to shew what an uncertain way of conveyance meer Oral Tradition is when a thing so easily remembred so constantly used of so much weight and consequence fell into such varieties in the greatest Churches while they were so scrupulous about the writing of it What cause have we then to be thankfull to God that hath taken so much care of his Church as to provide us an infallible written Rule in the Holy Scriptures whereby we certainly know what the true Primitive Christianity was which was
the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature Therefore our business is to consider whether any such things be contained in that Revelation which we all own and if they be we are bound to believe them although we are not able to comprehend them Now here are two remarkable Characters in these Words by which we may examine these different Hypotheses concerning the way of Salvation by Jesus Christ. I. It is a faithfull saying and therefore must be contained in that Revelation which God hath made concerning our Salvation by Christ. II. It is worthy of all Acceptation i. e. most usefull and beneficial to Mankind Now by these two I shall proceed in the Examination of them I. Which is most agreeable to the revealed Will of God II. Which doth offer fairest for the Benefit and Advantage of Mankind I. Which is most agreeable to the revealed Will of God For that we are sure is the most faithfull saying since Men of Wit and Reason may deceive us but God cannot When the Apostles first preached this Doctrine to the World they were not bound to believe what they affirmed to be a faithfull saying till they gave sufficient Evidence of their Authority from God by the wonderfull Assistance of the Holy Ghost But now this faithfull saying is contained in the Books of the New Testament by which we are to judge of the Truth of all Christian Doctrines And when two different Senses of Places of Scripture are offer'd we are to consider which is most reasonable to be preferr'd And herein we are allow'd to exercise our Reason as much as we please and the more we do so the sooner we shall come to satisfaction in this matter Now according to Reason we may judge that Sense to be preferr'd 1. Which is most plain and easie and agreeable to the most received Sense of Words not that which is forced and intricate or which puts improper and metaphorical Senses upon Words which are commonly taken in other Senses especially when it is no Sacramental thing which in its own Nature is Figurative 2. That which suits most with the Scope and Design not only of the particular Places but of the whole New Testament which is to magnifie God and to depress Man to set forth the infinite Love and Condescention of God in giving his Son to be a Propitiation for our Sins to set up the Worship of one true God in Opposition to Creatures to represent and declare the mighty Advantages Mankind receive by the Sufferings of Christ Jesus 3. That which hath been generally received in the Christian Church to be the Sense of those places For we are certain this was always look on as a matter of great Concernment to all Christians and they had as great Capacity of understanding the Sense of the Apostles and the Primitive Church had greater helps for knowing it than others at so much greater Distance And therefore the Sense is not to be taken from modern Inventions or Criticisms or Pretences to Revelation but that which was at first deliver'd to the Christian Church and hath been since received and embraced by it in the several Ages and hath been most strenuously asserted when it hath met with Opposition as founded on Scripture and the general Consent of the Christian Church 4. That which best agrees with the Characters of those Persons from whom we receive the Christian Faith and those are Christ Jesus and his holy Apostles For if their Authority be lost our Religion is gone and their Authority depends upon their Sincerity and Faithfulness and Care to inform the World aright in matters of so great Importance 1. I begin with the Character which the Apostles give of Christ Jesus himself which is that he was a Person of the greatest Humility and Condescension that he did not assume to himself that which he might justly have done For let the Words of St. Paul be understood either as to the Nature or Dignity of Christ it is certain that they must imply thus much that when Christ Jesus was here on Earth he was not of a vain assuming humour that he did not boast of himself nor magnifie his own Greatness but was contented to be look'd on as other Men although he had at that time far greater and diviner Excellency in him than the World would believe Less than this cannot be made of those Words of the Apostle Who being in the form of God he thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant Now this being the Character given of him let us consider what he doth affirm concerning himself For although he was far from drawing the People after him by setting forth his own Perfection yet upon just Occasions when the Jews contested with him he did assert such things which must savour of Vanity and Ostentation or else must imply that he was the Eternal Son of God For all Mankind are agreed that the highest Degree of Ambition lies in affecting Divine Honour or for a meer Man to be thought a God How severely did God punish Herod for being pleased with the People's Folly in crying out the Voice of God and not of Man And therefore he could never have born with such positive Assertions and such repeated Defences of his being the Son of God in such a manner as implied his being so from Eternity This in his Disputes with the Jews he affirms several times that he came down from Heaven not in a Metaphorical but in a proper Sense as appears by those words What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before In another Conference he asserted that he was before Abraham Which the Jews so literally understood that without a Metaphor they went about to stone him little imagining that by Abraham the calling of the Gentiles was to be understood But above all is that Expression which he used to the Jews at another Conference I and my Father are one which they understood in such a manner that immediately they took up stones to have stoned him What means all this Rage of the Jews against him What For saying that he had Unity of Consent with his Father No certainly But the Jews misunderstood him Let us suppose it would not our Saviour have immediately explained himself to prevent so dangerous a Misconstruction But he asked them what it was they stoned him for They answered him directly and plainly because that thou being a man makest thy self God This was home to the Purpose And here was the time for him to have denied it if it had not been so But doth he deny it Doth he say it would be Blasphemy in him to own it No but he goes about to defend it and proves it to be no Blasphâ—my for him to say that he was the Son of God i. e. so as to be God as the Jews
first Resolutions and to improve them into a present Practice agreeable thereto as the prodigal Son here did who when he had resolved upon it did accordingly arise and go to his Father v. 20. I do not think there are many Persons in the World who have Convictions upon their Minds of the Evil of their Ways but do resolve at one time or other before they die to repent of their Sins and to make their Peace with God But alas these are Ova subventanea they make a fair appearance but there is no principle of Life in them or as St. Jude expresses it they are Clouds without Water of no Consistency but carried about with winds hurried to and fro with the force and power of Temptations and then their Resolutions are like the Vapours St. James speaks of which appear for a little Time and then vanish away Trees they are without fruit as St. Jude goes on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not that make no shew or appearance of Fruit but it hath no such firmness and substance in it as to endure the nipping Frosts and so it drops off and withers away Just such are the Effects of faint and imperfect Resolutions they never hold out long and only aggravate the Sins committed after them For every such Sin is a plain Sin against Conscience or else they would never have made any Resolution against it And those who continue to sin after Resolutions against their Sins not only lose all the Peace and Comfort of their Minds but make it much harder for them either to make or trust their Resolutions again and consequently to be satisfied of the Sincerity of their Repentance If we would then lay a sure Foundation for the Satisfaction of our Minds in a matter of such unconceivable Moment as the Truth of our Repentance is let us call our selves to an Account as to this matter of the firm Purpose and Resolution of our Minds Have we strictly examin'd our selves as to our particular Sins For there is no Age no Imployment no Condition of Life but hath its Temptations belonging to it which require not only our Care and Consideration but Resolution to keep us from them But suppose we have been overcome by the Sin which doth so easily beset us the Work is harder to recover the Ground we have lost than at first to maintain it but if we have sinned we must repent and the sooner the better but it is not to be done without awakening the drousie and benummed Faculties of our Minds and exercising the secret and hidden Powers therein Not as though this were to be done without the Grace of God preventing and assisting us but because God worketh in us to will and to doe of his good Pleasure we ought to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Let us then trifle no longer in a Work we can never do too well nor too soon nor go about it with too much Resolution It is the want of this which ruins such a Number of those who would fain go to Heaven but have not Courage and Resolution enough to own their Repentance and to break off their former Sins They are half Penitents they are inwardly troubled for them and wish themselves able to withstand the next Temptation but when it comes they yield and suffer themselves to be drawn away as a Bird hasteth to the Snare and knoweth not that it is for his Life Now in such Cases Resolution is not only a convenient and proper thing but a very wise thing For when once a Resolution is found to be serious and in good earnest the former Companions in wickedness will leave off to solicit and if once a penitent Sinner can endure to be despised and exposed for a time by evil Men for owning his Repentance he will find the other parts of his Change grow more easie to him and the Devil's Instruments in tempting will be like himself i. e. they will give over tempting when they see no hopes to prevail And let no Men ever complain that they want Power to break off their former Sins till they have tried what the strength of a Vigorous Resolution will do But because we have always Reason to suspect our selves let us make our devout Applications to Almighty God to give us the Assistance of his Grace through the only Mediation of his Son Jesus Christ. To whom c. SERMON II. Scripture and Tradition COMPARED In a SERMON Preached at Guild-Hall-Chapel Novemb. the 27 th 1687. Coloss. II. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him THERE are two things observable in the manner of St. Paul's expressing himself to the Colossians in this Epistle 1. That he had a very good opinion of them at present as appears by the foregoing Verse For though I be absent in the Flesh yet am I with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your order and the stedfastness of your Faith in Christ. What could be said more to the Advantage and Honour of a Christian Church For Order is the Strength and Beauty of any Society uniting the several Parts to each other and thereby preserving and adorning the whole Body And the more there is of this in any Christian Church the more it resembles the Body of Christ and the greater Honour it brings to the Christian Profession Especially when it is joyned with a stedfastness of Faith in Christ i. e. with a firm and well setled Resolution to adhere to that Faith which Christ himself delivered For the true Faith of Christ is not only the Mark which distinguishes but the Soul which enlivens the Body of the Church and by its Vigour and Influence makes the several Parts of it become the living Members of Christ's Body But if all this were seen by St. Paul in the Church of the Colossians what need he to write so warmly and earnestly 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
delivered by Christ and his Apostles But here is a great difficulty to be removed as to the written Word How can we be certain we have it if not by Tradition and if Tradition be so uncertain how can we be made certain by it that we have that written Word which the Apostles delivered For might not that fail in this as well as the Creed And then what security can we have for our Faith In Answer to this I shall shew 1. What Advantage things that are written have as to the certainty of conveyance above things meerly committed to Memory and Tradition 2. What Advantage the Scriptures have above any other things committed to Writing as to the certainty of their conveyance 1. As to the Advantage things written have above those committed to Memory and Tradition only Which will appear by these things 1. It was the way God himself made choice of where the Reason for Tradition was stronger I mean as to the Ten Commandments which were short and plain and easie to be remembred and very agreeable to the Sense and General Interest of Mankind yet the Wise God who perfectly understood the Nature of Man would not leave the Ten Commandments to an Oral Tradition but God delivered to Moses Two Tables of Stone written with the Finger of God and on them he wrote the Ten Commandments What a vain and superfluous thing were this if Oral and Practical Tradition were infallible But God 's own pitching upon this way after so long a Trial of Mankind in the other is a Demonstration of the greater certainty of it if we suppose that God aimed at the benefit of Mankind by it 2. When Religion was corrupted among the Jews the only way of restoring it was by a written Book of the Law As we find in the case of Josiah's Reformation which was made by the Book of the Law which was found in the House of the Lord. This was the Rule by which Hilkiah the High-Priest thought it necessary for Josiah to go by and not by any Tradition left among them concerning the Law which God had given by Moses 3. This was that which our Saviour appealed to in all his Disputes search the Scriptures saith he to the Jews not run to your Traditions for those were then very corrupt especially about the Messias as that he was to be a Temporal Prince c. which was then a dangerous and fundamental Mistake and therefore Christ apâ—eals from them to the Scriptures And they are they which testifie of me Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me but if ye believe not his Writings how shall ye believe my Words And our Saviour severely checks the Pharisees for regarding their own Traditions more than the written Law And yet they pretended to an Oral Tradition down from Moses as the Jews do to this day and none are more grosly deceived than they 4. The general Sense and Experience of Mankind agrees herein that all matters of consequence are more certainly preserved by Writings than by meer Words There is no Invention hath been more valued by the wiser Part of Mankind than that of Letters because it is of such excellent use for conveying the sense of our Minds at a distance to others All men have so great a Mistrust either of the capacity or memory or fidelity of others that what they would have done with security they commit to Writing And whatever we truly understand of the Ages before us we are beholden to Writing for it all those memorable Actions and Institutions either of Philosophy or Religion which were not written are long since buried in Oblivion without possibility of a Resurrection But where they have been committed to Writing they are preserved after so many Ages and by it we certainly know the History of the Patriarchs and the strange Revolutions that happened from the beginning of the World By it we converse with the wisest Persons of former times and are able to justifie the Scriptures by the concurrent Testimonies of other Writers By it we are enabled to interpret Prophecies and to make plain their Accomplishments which without it we could never make out Yea by it the Wisdom of those is preserved for the benefit of Mankind who thought fit to write nothing themselves as Socrates and Pythagoras but their Disciples took care in time to write their Doctrines So that we have the general Consent of the wisest Part of Mankind that Writing is a far more certain way of conveyance than meer Tradition 2. And especially in our case where there are so many particular Advantages as to the Holy Scriptures above any other Writings 1. From the special Providence of God with respect to them for since it is agreed by all Christians that these were written by Divine Inspiration it is most reasonable to believe that a more than ordinary care would be taken to preserve them And therefore to suppose any Books of Scripture to be lost which contained any necessary Points of Faith is a great Reflexion on Divine Providence For if God watches over his Church he cannot be supposed to let such Books be lost which were designed for the universal and lasting Benefit of his Church 2. From the mighty Esteem which the Church of God had always for them for they built their Hopes of Heaven upon the Promises contained in them The Book of Scripture was their Evidence for their future Inheritance the Foundation of their Hope and Rule of their Faith their Defence against Assaults and Temptations their Counseller in cases of Difficulty their Support under Troubles and their surest Guide to a happy Eternity and therefore the Primitive Christians chose rather to endure any Torments than basely to betray it and give it up to their Enemies 3. From the early disputes that were about them Which shews that they were no Invention of After-times nor were brought into the World by Stealth and Art for they endured the greatest shock of opposition at first while the Matters of Fact concerning them were the most easily proved And having passed the severe Scrutiny of the first Ages when so many counterfeit Writings were sent abroad the following Ages could have no Reason to call their Authority in question 4. From the general Consent of divided Churches about them It might have pleased God to have kept his Church from those unhappy Breaches which have been in all Parts of the Christian World but the East and the West the North and the South can all bear Testimony to the sad Divisions of Christendom and those of many Ages standing But yet we have this considerable Advantage by them that we can have no Reason to mistrust a conspiracy where the several Bodies are so much divided 5. From the great internal Satisfaction which the Minds of good Men have concerning them and which no other Writing can pretend to give For here we read of the Promise of Divine