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A56698 A sermon preached on Saint Mark's Day MDCLXXXVI in the parish church of St. Paul's Covent Garden by Symon Patrick ... Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. 1686 (1686) Wing P844; ESTC R7041 18,815 51

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is it not as good a Judge of any thing as of their Authority What reason can be given for using our Reason in this single affair and relinquishing it ever after Is it not the same Reason still Was it not given us for our constant Safe-Conduct By what reason then do we trust others to chuse our Religion for us without examining whether what they say be true or no but taking it barely upon their word How do they know that to be true which they propound to us May not we know it by the same means and rely not merely upon their Authority but upon the same reason that they do For they say what they deliver to us either with reason or without If with reason we ought to judge whether it be a good reason or no for why should not we judge as well as they since God hath intrusted us with a faculty whereby to judge If without reason we ought not to follow an Authority which presses things to be believed upon no ground but to look upon those as the most sincere and faithful Directors who would have us to examine and prove consider and ponder all things well before we receive them and who offer to us their assistance therein that we may see with our own eyes what God himself hath delivered to us in his holy Word Which brings me to the next thing Secondly In this proof which we make of every thing propounded to us the Scriptures ought to be the Rule whereby we judge We have no other I have formerly shewn you and they are abundantly sufficient for us and so authentick that our Blessed Lord himself and his Apostles after him constantly appealed to them for the proof of their Doctrine And as they referred all men to the old Scriptures saying no other thing but what the Prophets and Moses did say should come xxvi Act. 22. so we can send them no whither else for their information but to the same Scriptures and to the New Testament according to which if any men do not speak they are not to be received Nay St. Austine ventured to imitate St. Paul and to say * L. III. contra liter Petiliani cap. 6. Let him be accursed whosoever he be I will not say we who are not worthy to be compared with him that said THOUGH WE but though he be an Angel from Heaven who declares to you any thing of Christ or of his Church or of any other matter that belongs to our Faith and Life besides that which ye have received in the Legal and Evangelical Scriptures Unto which the same St. Paul sends Timothy himself for his instruction in both his Epistles to him Where he commands him to give attendance to reading viz. of the holy Scriptures which he had known from a Child and which were able he tells him to make him wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus They being given by inspiration of God that even a man of God like the antient Prophets might be perfected and thoroughly furnished unto all good works for every part of his employment 2 Tim. iii. 15 16. Which place I have explained not long ago and now mention it again because the Apostle directs him to these holy Writings as a means to preserve him in the true Christian belief ver 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures c. What we have learned out of the holy Scriptures we have an assurance of we know from whom they come and are certain we are taught by God when we read these holy Books but cannot be assured of any other Tradition which is not contained here and therefore ought to continue stedfast in our adherence to the Scriptures and both to suspect those who would draw us from this hold and stick to those Guides who bid us stick to this and prove all things by it For it is evident they have no mind to deceive us but do in effect bid us believe God and follow his directions and rely upon his Authority who cannot mislead us and will not suffer us to be mis-led if we continue in the things which we have learnt out of the holy Scriptures For taking them to be our Rule we shall neither admit any thing which is contrary to that Rule nor shall we take any thing to be an essential part of the Christian Faith which is not there delivered unto us For it is not consistent with the notions we have of God's infinite Goodness and Wisdom to believe He would give us a Rule which is defective in necessary things No He hath abundantly provided here for our Instruction in all such matters and as we ought to refuse that which contradicts any part of these holy Books so we ought not to think it necessary that we should entertain any thing which they do not teach us And teach us plainly and evidently for in all necessary things they are very clear and perspicuous Else they could not be a Rule unto us but we must seek for some other The Apostle's Creed for instance which the Ancients called the immoveable Rule of Faith a short Summary of Christian Belief beyond which as they speak we ought not to seek for Faith together with the Nice Creed and Athanasius's which expound the Apostles ought thoroughly to be received and believed for that they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture But whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation This is the Doctrine of our Church in its sixth and eighth Articles unto which let us strictly keep if we would not be carried to and fro uncertainly with the blasts of vain Doctrines which have no certain Warrants in the holy Scriptures and therefore are not to be received or are contrary to them and therefore are to be rejected Here we must fix and believe that here we are safe For the Scriptures want nothing to compleat us in Christian wisdom which they do not wrap up in obscurity but as far as is needful give us a clear understanding of the Doctrines of Faith And make us understand withal if we please to consider them that having laid our foundation well in a firm belief of those great and necessary things which out of the Scriptures are summed up in the Creeds before named we need not trouble our selves about other matters which are not so evident but make it our whole business in this world to raise the solid Superstructure of a holy Life upon the Foundation of Faith in Christ This is the Second thing the holy Scriptures are the Rule whereby we must prove all things from which if we do not depart we cannot be led into any