Deut 4. Psal 1. 2 Tim. 3. Luke 16. Act 17.11 And those men are commended who searched the Scriptures and examined the Doctrine of the primitive Preachers by them If the blind lead the blind says Christ both shall fall into the ditch Mat. 15.14 Men will not be excused because they have been misled by their guides and believed as their Church believed Ezek. 3.17 18. Ezekiel tells us that where the people are not warned they shall dye in their iniquity Religion is every man's concernment and every man is obliged to take care of his Soul and not blindly to give himself up to him that pretends to be an infallible guide Be ready always says St. Peter to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you 1 Pet. 3 15. We must then judge of the grounds of our Faith and not take it upon trust 2. I shall represent to you for the better confirming my Proposition the just Exceptions against the contrary belief viz. That the people are bound to lay aside their own discretion and intirely to give themselves up without examining to be led as their guides please I shall shew the dangerous consequences the inconsistency and vanity the impiety and unreasonableness of this principle and that in the following particulars 1. This principle is of the most dangerous consequence It would justifie the Idolatry of the Israelites which was at any time introduced upon them by their H. Priests or false Prophets or evil Kings We reade of their sacrificing in high places their worship of the golden Calf and the Calves of Dan and Bethel of their brazen Serpent and their false Gods. It was not a just excuse for them that the golden Calf was made by Aaron 2 King. 10. They were not without blame for offering upon that Altar which resembled that which was at Damascus because Vriah their H. Priest set it up and Ahaz their King commanded the use of it But we know that God was angry with them when they followed their blind guides which he would not have been had they done well in it This principle would have justified the Jews in rejecting our Saviour For who could blame them for doing that which their H. Priest and Sanhedrim their Priests and Elders had done before It is true he wrought many Miracles But to this they might reply that their Church did not believe them effected by the power of God. Indeed Jesus appeals often to the Scripture but according to this principle to this they might have pleaded that it was not for private men to understand Scripture and that their Church did understand it otherwise They might have pleaded moreover that the interpreting of Scripture did not belong to private men as they were and that they were to be governed by Tradition or the Oral Law and not by the written one onely That they had among them an H. Priest and Sanhedrim Scribes or men learned in the Law and Traditions which latter they received with equal reverence with the Written Word Joh. 7.48 Have any of the Rulers and the Pharisees believed on him say they They were so far from it that they agreed that he who confessed him to be the Christ should be put out of the Synagogue Joh. 9. Would such pretences think ye have served the turn of the Jews By no means They ought to have read the Scriptures to which Jesus appealed to have compared events with prophecies This our Lord puts them upon Joh. 5.39.45 46 47. Act. 17.11 and it was at once their duty and interest to have done it They are commended who took this course This principle might afterwards have justified the Jews in their rejecting the Christian doctrine and the Apostles and first Preachers thereof The Jews might have pleaded against the Apostles many things e. g. The undoubted antiquity of the Jewish Church and novelty of the Christian doctrine The necessity of giving themselves up to the conduct of their Priests whose lips were to preserve knowledge and they were to seek the Law at their mouth They might have pleaded that they were in the safest way to salvation for though they denied the possibility of it to the Christians yet Jesus himself owned that salvation was of the Jews They might have urged the 17th of Deuteronomy to prove the infallibility of their Church with a far greater shew than ever Thou art Peter c. was produced to prove that of the Bishop of Rome It being expresly required Deut. 17.8 10. That in matters of Controversie men should abide by the Sentence of the law pronounced by the Priest or Judge of that time whereas no such thing is said of the Bishop of Rome in the New Testament This principle would effectually have hindred the propagation of the Christian Religion among the Gentil or Pagan part of the world They had their Priests and H. Priests too as well as the Jews they had antiquity to plead and great success and prosperity under their way of worship Sequendi sunt nobis parentes qui feliciter sequuti sunt suos saith Symmachus If this principle might be allowed there could be no way left to spread the faith among them This one principle where ever admitted would have put a perpetual bar to the conversion of Jews and Infidels to the Christian Faith. For what method can we take to bring them over if we cannot convince them that we are in the right and they in the wrong And how can they be made sensible of this if we allow them not the liberty of judging And sure if they be fit to judge of the whole matter they are not unfit to judge of the severals If we allow them the liberty to judge of Christianity before they embrace it it is not reasonable to deny them a judgment of discretion when they are received into the Christian Faith. This principle admitted would have excused the people that should have continued in Arianism when the Bishops and Priests and generally the whole Church was infected with it The Arians once filled the Church called themselves Orthodox and Catholicks and others Hereticks According to this principle the people ought to have continued thus always for they were to be governed by their Bishops and Priests And why should they think themselves obliged to hearken to what you had to offer from Scripture or Reason or the Council of Nice when it was against the sense of the present Church 2. This principle not being self-evident is inconsistent and manifestly destroys it self For 't is liable to be examined and ought to be strictly examined because very much depends upon it If it may be examined by the people they who maintain it have lost their question For then the people are not obliged to despoil themselves of their faculties and wiser powers but may judge in matters of Religion this being of the most principal concernment of all This
The Judgment of Private Discretion IN Matters of Religion DEFENDED IN A SERMON On 1 Thessal V. 21. Preached at St. Pauls Covent-Garden Feb. XXIII 1686. By RICHARD KIDDER IMPRIMATUR March 19 1686. Guil. Needham LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill MDCLXXXVII TO THE READER NOthing concerns us so much as the Salvation of our Souls and in order to that the choice of our Religion Here it well becomes us to use great care and strictly to examine things This we doe in matters of less moment when we purchase and when we trade when we are concerned for our Health our Estates and Properties The H. Scriptures frequently put us upon this care and the man who is diligent herein will be able to give the best account of himself hereafter and find the greatest satisfaction here Such a man will have steady Principles and have this comfort that 't is not by mere chance but choice that he is what he is This is the way to be certain that we are in the right which no man can be without understanding We may be confident indeed but can never be certain without knowledge and diligent examination of things The Church of England does not require a blind Obedience She is content Her Doctrines should be examined by the clearest light Simplicity and Truth seek not corners The H. Scriptures are allowed to the people and no means of instruction wanting among us She does not indeed vaunt of what she hath not She pretends not to any absolute Infallibility She is modest and contains Herself within due bounds and with-holds not from Her Children either the liberty or means of examining Her Doctrines But so it is that She suffers very greatly in the mean time Because She claims not Infallibility there are those who would infer that there is no certainty where the other is not But this is a wild and extravagant conclusion for the certaintâ— of a Thing does not depend upon the infallibility of a Person but ariseth from the evidence or clear grounds which evict its truth It does not follow that because I am fallible that I can be certain of nothing or that because I am liable to err I can never be sure I am in the right or that because I am ignorant of some things therefore I know nothing at all And yet we find it frequently pretended that Protestants want certainty and that they build upon an unsure foundation and that because they claim not that infallibility which others pretend to The best way to shew the uncertainty of our Faith would be to prove that we build on false grounds but those men who are most forward to traduce us have no great inclination to consider with due application the merits of our cause Instead of this they would have us rest upon the Authority of their Church as if the way to be more certain than we are were for us to see with other mens eyes and not with our own A man might justly expect from these men who thus declaim against Protestants that when they attempt to shew the uncertainty of their Faith they should at least prove the certainty of their own 'T will be worth our while to see if they have any better grounds for their Faith or safer way to Salvation than we have who examine our Doctrines by the H. Scriptures The best way to know this 〈…〉 Examen du livre qui porte pour â—â—tre â—â—â—ngez â—â—â—â—tunes 〈…〉 will be to compare them one with another They say that the desinition of the Church is our Rule where before we can be certain we must be sure of two things 1. That there is an infallible Church 2. That their Church is that infallible Church We on the other hand make the H. Scriptures our Rule and believe what they teach and here are two things also of which we must be sure 1. That what God says is true 2. That what the Scriptures reveal is from God. This is the true state of the question between us And now let any man consider impartially who builds upon the surest grounds They who build upon the Veracity of God and upon the H. Scriptures which are by all Christians owned to be the declaration of his will or they who build upon a pretence that there is an infallible Church and that their own is it The Principles on which they build are neither so evident in themselves nor yet so generally owned as ours for theirs are not so much as owned by the generality of Christians whereas ours cannot be denied by themselves And 't will appear that our way is as Easie and more Safe than theirs 'T is as easie to know what the Scripture teaches as what their Church does God intended it for the use of the people and surely then he fitted it for their use And we have great reason to believe that God can deliver his mind as plainly as a Council that he did it in all things necessary to the guidance salvation of the people for whom he wrot it This is so very evident that some of the Church of Rome have owned it Pref. part 1. pag 7. Celuy qui ne cherche dans l'Ecriture que son salut l'y trouvera The Authors of the Preface to the Testament printed at Mons declare That he who in the Scripture seeks nothing but his own Salvation shall find it there And presently afterwards speaking of some obscurity in the Scripture they add these words But that which may comfort us in this obscurity is this that according to St. Augustin the H. Scripture does propose to us after an easie and intelligible manner all that is necessary for the conduct of our life That it does explain and clear it self in expressing clearly in some places that which in others it expressed obscurely For the Doctrine of the Church 't is not very easie to know it We find at this day several representations of it from those who are all of the Communion of the Roman Church How shall the simple and unlearned man know what this Doctrine is His Curate may not be rely'd upon nor can he be secure from the judgment of any private Doctor What must he doe How shall he distinguish between the Doctrine of private Doctors and that of the Church Must he read the ancient Canons and Councils and Fathers He 'll find this an harder task than the searching of the Scriptures As our way is as easie so ' t is More safe than theirs There is danger indeed lest our lasts and worldly interests should put a byass upon us and turn us aside from the Truth but this lies on both sides But then on our side the great danger is this lest we mistake the sense of the H. Scripture here 's the great fear But then on the other side they who govern themselves by the authority of the Church are under a double danger
1. Lest they take that Church for infallible which is not 2. Lest they take that for the Doctrine of this Church which indeed is not her Doctrine We are sure that the Scriptures are God's Word and were written for our instruction and that upon our diligent search into them and humble addresses to God we shall find Salvation if we seek nothing more For the infallibility of the Church which is so much talked of it must be made good before I can be obliged to receive it and when 't is I shall readily submit to it But in the mean time I find great difficulties attending upon that Doctrine both as to the Subject of that Infallibility as to the Thing it self and as to the Grounds on which it stands As to the Subject of it I find our Adversaries are not as yet agreed where it is to be placed and therefore I know not where to sind it and then 't is all one as if there were no such thing at all That which I cannot come at will stand me in no stead Let our Adversaries tell us in whom 't is lodged Is it in the Bishop of Rome Or is it in Him and the Conclave Or in Him and a General Council Or is it in a Council without Him If in a Council must that be oecumenical only or does it reside in National and Provincial also As to the Infallibility it self I would be informed how far it reacheth Does it extend to questions of Fact as well as of Law and Right Does it take in not only necessary things but also things that are of less moment Is this Church infallible not only in her Conclusions but in the premisses too from whence those Conclusions are drawn Does this Infallibility require that the question should be examined before the matter be decided or not Is it a natural gift or is it by Grace By immediate Revelation or not Let us suppose it in a General Council yet in this case I would know whether or not this Council will be infallible in their decisions however things are carried Are there no Rules the Council is to go by Must not questions be strictly examined and the suffrages be free and the Council be Canonically indicted Or will the Council be infallible tho' it observe none of these rules and forms Let them tell us what these forms are that are necessary and let them after this make it appear that they have been duly observed or let them say if any form or rule be needfull or not How comes it to pass that the Divines in a General Council have differed from one another How comes it that one Council hath determined against another Why are some of these Councils in part received and in part rejected What sure marks have we to distinguish one from another What assurance can they give that the major part is always the better and have used the greatest care For the Grounds and proofs of this Infallibility I desire to see those that are solid and weighty such as are evident and clear and will render me infallibly certain of the thing This had need be well proved it not being self-evident If I must believe the Church in all other things yet 't is fit this should be strongly proved These proofs must be taken from the H. Scriptures and not from the authority of the Church which lays claim to it And then they must be such proofs as determine it to that very Church and as do evidently prove that such an Infallibility does belong to it as she pretends to Till these things are cleared I know not any better advice I can give the Reader than to continue stedfast in the Communion of our Church as the safest way to Heaven For tho' we ought not to want charity for others yet we are bound in conscience and as we will answer it at the great Day to choose wisely and to be constant to such a choice There are some things controverted between Vs and the Church of Rome wherein we are manifestly of the safer side To worship no Image hath no danger nor is there any hazard in receiving the Sacrament in both kinds 'T were easie to give other instances in which we are on the safer side In the mean time let it be our care to live up to our Principles and we shall not miscarry The best Church is no security to the careless and the profane We shall know the Will of God best when we doe it with great care 'T is not enough that we prove all things we must also hold fast that which is good A SERMON PREACHED At Saint Paul's Covent-Garden Feb. 23. 1686. 1 THESSAL V. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good IN these words the Apostle commends to those to whom he writes two things the one in order to the other First That they should prove all things Secondly That they should hold fast that which is good I begin with the first Prove all things And here I think my self obliged before I proceed any farther to consider 1. The Persons to whom the advice is given And 2. The importance of the advice it self Ch. 1. v. 1. 1. The Persons to whom this advice is given viz. to the Church of the Thess alonians Not to the Bishops and Governors of the Church only but to the People also This appears from the words v. 12. We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you It cannot be supposed that St. Paul does here direct himself to the head and not unto the members He does generally address himself to the Church in the most diffusive sense of that word E. G. To all that be in Rome Rom. 1.7 beloved of God called to be Saints 1 Cor. 1.2 And Vnto the Church of God which is at Corinth 2 Cor. 1.1 to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Again Vnto the Church of God which is in Corinth with all the Saints which are in all Achaia Gal. 1.2 Again Vnto the Church of Galatia And Eph. 1.1 To the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithfull in Christ Jesus And where the Bishops and other Ministers of the Church are named the body of the faithfull are not forgotten Thus To all the Saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons Phil. 1.1 Colos 1.2 Again To the Saints and faithfull brethren in Christ which are at Colosse And 1 Thes 1.1 2 Thes 1.1 Jam. 1.1 To the Church of the Thessalonians And thus also St. James To the twelve Tribes scattered abroad Thus St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.1 To the strangers scattered c. And 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like pretious faith with us And St. John as a learned man hath observed
may well be supposed to direct that Epistle to the Church or whole body of Christians which according to our version is said to be directed to the Elect Lady St. Jude directs his To them that are sanctified by God the Father Jude v. 1. and preserved in Jesus Christ and called St. Paul where he gives Laws about the Officers and Government of the Church directs his Epistles to the Governours onely as in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus otherwise he directs as here to the whole body of Christians 2. I consider the importance of the advice Prove all things The Greek word which we render Prove signifies to examine the truth or goodness of a thing and to discern the difference between one thing and another Luk. 12.56 ch 14. v. 19. Ro. 2.18 1 Cor. 3.13.11.27.16.3 It signifies to try and examine and sometime as the result of such tryall to approve It hath in the New Testament a particular reference to matters of Religion Ro. 2.18.12.2 Eph. 5.10 Phil. 1.10 These things deserve examining and there are about Religion many dangerous errours which want not the vogue and colour of truth 1 Joh. 4.1 We are required to try the Spirits and warned not to believe every Spirit We are required to examine and try the truth and goodness of things yea of all things and not to take them upon trust And this precept is subjoined to that 1 Cor. 14.3 4 5. Despise not prophecyings i. e. the preaching of the Word as may be collected from the Apostle's words elsewhere St. Paul doth frequently put us in mind to reverence the Ministers of Religion and tells us how they are to be esteemed He requires us in this Chapter To esteem them very highly in love for their works sake Heb. 13.17 1 Cor. 4.1 2 Cor. 5.20 v. 13. and bids us not despise prophecyings and yet even to this he adds Prove all things c. whence I raise this Doctrine or Proposition That it is the duty of Christian people to examine the grounds of their Religion and Faith and not to take them upon trust For the better speaking to it I shall First shew how this Proposition is to be understood Secondly I shall prove the Truth of it Thirdly I shall answer the Objections that may be brought against it Fourthly I shall make some use and application of the whole I shall shew how this Proposition is to be understood And that I shall doe in the following particulars 1. What I plead for is a judgment of discretion and not of jurisdiction and direction which belongs to our Superiors 'T is here as in the Laws of a Kingdom The people are obliged to know and keep them It is the duty and the interest of every man to know so much of them as concerns his life and property and the discharging his duty to his Prince and Countrey But then the power of making these Laws lies in his Prince or Governors and the learned in the Law are onely fit to direct and guide men in the matters of doubt and question And so it is in Religion It does not belong to every private man to be a preacher and interpreter of Holy Writ much less hath he any thing to doe to make Laws for other men But the private man hath a soul to save and in order thereunto is bound to inform himself in matters of faith Ro. 14.1 and those things which tend to the regulating his life and conversation We do not receive the people as judges of Controversies and doubtfull Disputations yet think them concerned in Religion in the mean time For matters of dispute and question the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge Here it becomes private men to be modest and to preserve a great reverence for their spiritual guides But there is a great deal of difference between asking the way when we are at a stand and pulling out our eyes and leaving our selves wholly to be led by another We may use our own eyes and our guides too 2. It is likewise a judgment of private discretion which I plead for It is not fit that a private man should judge for himself and his brother too His Conscience is not to be the common standard and measure of other mens Ro. 14.5 Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Every man ought to have this liberty to himself and to be content therewith and not to censure his brother 3. The practice of private men must notwithstanding this liberty be governed by the laws of their just Superiors And nothing can excuse them from an active obedience but where their Governors command what God hath forbid or forbid what he hath commanded And this determination of our practice especially in matters of order and discipline of which I would be chiefly understood is very consistent with that judgment of discretion which I am now pleading for Indeed if the thing commanded be evil I must obey God rather than man but if it be not I sin against God when I disobey my Superiors A private man is not judge of what is convenient most decent and orderly but ought to judge between good and evil lawfull and unlawfull true and false Our Doctrine does not give men a liberty to doe what they list when it permits them a judgment of discretion we do not pull out the peoples eyes nor yet allow them to break hedges and throw open enclosures and ramble whereever they list I shall prove the truth of this Proposition and shew that men are not to take their Religion upon trust That they ought to examine their Religion To try the Doctrines which they are taught whether true or false revealed by God or not And also to consider whether what is enjoined them be lawfull or not And to this purpose I desire you to consider 1. That the Scripture teacheth us this Doctrine We are here commanded to prove all things And our Saviour bids his followers take heed that no man deceive them Matt. 24.4 c. 23.10 1 Pet. 5. Christ allows no man a tyranny over the Consciences of men nor would St. Peter have it usurped nor did the Apostles themselves practice it St. Paul declares himself not to be a Lord over their faith but an helper of their joy 2 Cor. 1.24 Heb. 13.20 1 Cor. 11.1 Christ is our Master and great Shepherd His Ministers are but Stewards and Embassadors and are no farther imitable than they follow Christ Our Saviour calls upon his followers to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees Matt. 16. Joh. 5.39 1 Joh. 4.1 Gal. 1. and to search the Scriptures And we are required to try the Spirits and not to believe an Apostle or an Angel that should preach any other Gospel God gave his law for our direction And we are assured that the Scripture is sufficient to render the man of God wise unto salvation through faith in Christ