seems to me that our Saviour said Drink ye All of this and therefore that you of the Roman Church may as well take the Bread as the Cup from the Laity It seems to me that St. Paul calls the Communion of Christ's Body Bread The BREAD which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ and your Church says 't is Bread no longer after Consecration It seems to me that the same St. Paul speaks for a whole Chapter against Praying in an Unknown Tongue and yet your Church doth it It seems also to me that the Author to the Hebrews doth absolutely say That Christ was offered once for all and that he sat down thenceforth at the right hand of God but you pretend to fetch him down from Heaven and offer him a thousand times in a day It seems to me that God has forbidden the making of Images to worship them as absolutely and universally as words could do it and yet you picture God and make Similitudes of the Blessed Trinity and Images of the Saints and worship them when you have done I demand now why I may not be certain of the true sence of these places upon as reasonable grounds as you suppose I may be of those which in your judgment conclude for the Infallibility of your Church If I may then I am sure the Scripture condemns what you say and do in these points but if I may not be reasonably assured that I understand these in my judgment plain places of Scripture because I want an Infallible Judge to interpret for me then I demand again why do you urge me with those Scriptures that as you pretend prove the Infallibility of your Church for as yet I am not perswaded of the Infallibility thereof though I would gladly be perswaded of it If you say this is the interpretation of the Church concerning them which is Infallible and therefore you are to believe it I think any body but a Child would reply that that is the very thing in question and therefore that you cannot convince any man of your Infallibility unless he will take your word for it because he cannot infallibly know the true sence of Scripture giving testimony to it before he believes it without any testimony from Scripture at all So that it is to no purpose to go about to perswade any reasonable man that your Church is Infallible till he doth already believe it that is till it is a needless thing to do it because he does believe it already And therefore when all is done we must be content to understand the plain places of Scripture without an Infallible Judge and to find out the rest as well as we can and if the Scripture plainly condemns what you say and do we have more reason from thence to conclude that you have erred than to conclude that you cannot err because you say so of your selves And indeed I look upon this Pretence to Infallibility to be an Errour of the most pernicious consequence because it seals them up under all the rest and adds incorrigibleness which is the highest degree of obstinacy to all their other Errours and it is so much the more shameless because the whole World that was in Communion with them groaned for a Reformation before the Council of Trent One of their own Popes said We confess many abominable Abuses and Grievances have been for these many years last past in the Holy See and we look upon our selves concerned to endeavour a Reformation the more because we see the whole World doth most earnestly desire it At the Council of Trent the Embassadours of several Princes desired earnestly the Cup for the People the Marriage of the Clergy Service in a known Tongue and the Reformation of divers other matters in which Christendom would have reformed it self if Italy would have suffered it Italy I say who to hinder a general Reformation filled the Council of Trent with more Bishops than came from all the parts of Christendom besides Secondly Upon this Supposition the Church of England might and ought to reform it self as it hath done for we find that the Church of Pergamos which was not over-run with so many false Doctrines and corrupt Practices as those of the Roman Church I have mentioned was required by our Lord Jesus himself to remove those Errours and Corruptions which had crept into her and if she did not presently return to her Primitive Purity she was threatned to be cut off Indeed it had been a much more desirable thing that the whole Western Church and more desirable still that the East and the West had both united in a Reformation it had been a blessed thing if by a Free and General Council of all the Bishops in the Christian World an Universal Reformation had been made but the latter perhaps was improbable by reason of the vast distances of some Christian Churches from one another and the former was made impossible by the over-ruling Power of Italy which therefore was to be done upon particular Churches by common consent and perhaps there must never be a farther Reformation till the Day of Judgment It was very reasonable and very necessary therefore that Christian Kingdoms should proceed in Provincial and National Councils to reform themselves as this Church hath done under her Kings and Bishops Parliaments and Convocations that is by all that Authority which could be desired to make a publick Reformation within the limits of this particular Church And this proceeding has been authorized by the Examples of the best Ages of the Church when it was thought fit not always to tarry for General Councils but very often for particular Churches to proceed out of hand to the rooting out of Errour and Heresie and to the reforming of whatsoever they thought amiss amongst themselves and for this we are to appeal to the Councils of Laodicea Gangra Carthage and many others which are no General Councils To conclude Such Errours as had overspread the Church before the Reformation were in their own nature and in their consequences so pernicious that every Christian Man ought to reform himself from them inasmuch as it is better to obey God than man Much more might a publick Reformation be made by due Authority But we had no regard to the Bishop of Rome in this matter who was to be considered either as Head of the whole Church or the Patriarch of the West or as the Converter of the English Nation and we were not only in Communion with him but in subjection to him when the Reformation was made so that what cause soever there might be for it the Reformation was however schismatical To all which I answer in short 1. As to the Universal Supremacy it is a point to which Antiquity is wholly a stranger Scripture and the Fathers say nothing of it Ignatius who so often requires that nothing should be done of moment in the Church without the Bishop would have found out
now having given you this Account of the State of the Church of Pergamos as it was represented by our Lord himself I am much mistaken if from this Authority we may not be able to justifie the Reformation of the Church of England against the most specious and popular Exceptions which they of Rome make against our Reformation And this I shall endeavour to do under these three heads First That in this Church whilst it was in Communion with and Subjection to the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errours both in Doctrine and Worship added to the Profession of the Common Faith. Secondly That upon this Supposition we might and ought to reform our selves as we have done Thirdly That the main Objections which they of the Roman Church do bring and whereby they seek to stagger those of our Communion and to fright them into their own may by this instance of the Message of Christ to the Church of Pergamos be demonstrated to be vain and fallacious and therefore by no means fit to remove us from our stedfastness First That in this Church as in all others that were in Communion with the Church of Rome there were notorious Abuses and Errours introduced into the Faith and Worship of Christians And first as in the Church of Pergamos so in these Churches there were Doctrines and Practices leading to Idolatry I wish that were all but it is not all for Idolatry it self if it be possible for us to know what it is was practised and that practice not only connived at but encouraged and commanded and of this sort were the practices of Adoring the Host Praying to Saints to dead Men and Women and Worshipping of Images contrary to the whole tenor of the Scripture providing that we should worship the Lord our God and that him only we should serve And it is very observable that when we urge them with these things they defend themselves from Idolatry by the use of such distinctions as 't is impossible for the common People to save themselves by if indeed these distinctions would do the business As for Doctrines tending to licenciousness of Life and Manners what can be more evidently such than the easie terms upon which they promised forgiveness of sins and security from Hell Confession to a Priest with attrition being reckoned sufficient to receive a Pretorial Absolution which shall be valid in Heaven as also the invention of Purgatory and the Power of the Church to shorten the pains of it by Indulgences by applying the treasure of the Churches Merits by Masses and Prayers with a great many abuses of this nature And besides all these what shall we say to their Doctrine of Transubstantiation their Half Communion their Latin Service their Sacrifice of the Mass for which there is no President or Rule in the Scriptures or in Antiquity but plain and full consent there is both of the one and of the other against them But now to all this they make one general Reply and tell us that the Church meaning the Roman Church hath not erred in these points because she cannot err at all for she is the Mother and Mistriss of all Churches and the Standard of Catholick Unity and Faith she is that One Catholick Church which cannot fail to which Christ has promised his perpetual Presence and Assistance that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against her and of which St. Paul said that she is the pillar and ground of the Truth In a word that whatsoever is by her defined is infallibly true and therefore that these Doctrines and Practices are neither damnable errors and sins nor errors and sins at all Now if indeed such promises were made to that Church we should be brought into a very great strait and not very well know whether we should believe the Scripture speaking against the Doctrines and Practices imposed by that Church or the Scripture speaking to us to believe and do as that Church requires But first of all we say that whatsoever Promises were made to the Catholick Church they do not belong only to the Church of Rome which is but a part of it and that these Promises that the gates of Hell should not prevail against the Church and that Christ would be with his Church to the end of the world amounted to no more than this that she should be preserved from so much error as would utterly destroy the Being of a Church not from all Error whatsoever but that no Promise in particular was made to the Church of Rome so much as to secure her from fundamental Errors utterly destructive of the Being of a Church especially since St. Paul writing to the Church of Rome plainly supposes that it was possible for them to be quite cut off from the Body of Christ Rom. 11.21 22. where speaking of the rejection of the Jews he hath these words For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off Which had been vain words if it had been impossible by virtue of any Priviledge conferred upon the See of Peter for the Church of Rome not to continue in God's goodness or it be an infallible truth that she shall not be cut off We do what we can to find the Infallibility of the Roman Church in the Scriptures but if we cannot find it there is much more reason to conclude that she hath erred because some of her Doctrines and Practices do seem to us apparently to contradict the Scripture than to believe she is infallible because she says so of her self But to this they say that we mis-interpret those Scriptures which seem to condemn what they profess and practise and in short that we cannot arrive to certainty of the true sence of Scripture without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter which the Church is Well for the present I will suppose this but then this will be the consequence of the Supposition that 't is impossible for that Church ever to convince me or any reasonable man of her own Infallibility by the Scriptures For when she tells me that Christ hath said Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth and Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world she supposes that the Promise of Infallibility to her self is so plainly made that every man who has a mind to understand the truth may be certain of the true sence of the words But if I may arrive at a certain sence of these Scriptures without the Testimony of an Infallible Interpreter then why may I not be as certain of the sence of other Texts as plain as these without such an Interpreter It
shall be encountred with some or other prophetick passages concerning Christ All which was designed of God for the confirmation of our Faith that when he should come in whom not only the plainest and most unquestionable Prophecies but all other Types and the more obscure prefigurations of the Messias would be fulfilled we might without the least doubt believe and follow him 2. This word of Prophecy is said to be a light shining in a dark place the reason of which Expression is plain enough if we consider that the Prophecies were nothing so easie to be understood by themselves as they were afterwards made by the Events which they foretold and therefore till the Events made all plain the World was very much in the dark about the meaning of them as to most particulars but yet some of them were so express and full that they had raised an Expectation not only in the Jews but amongst the Gentiles also of that extraordinary Person whom God would send into the World for their relief And therefore they might very well be compared to a light shining in a dark place For such a Light though it doth not make a particular discovery of those things that lie round about it is yet apt to draw the Eyes of all towards it that are within distance and the Predictions concerning Christ were so remarkable that they awakened the Gentiles themselves to take notice of them and were therefore a light shining in a dark place to Jews and Gentiles not indeed clearly revealing the Truth to them at present but preparing them to receive it when it should be clearly revealed in the accomplishment of all that had been foretold And whereas this light was said to shine till the day dawned and the day-star arose in their hearts The plain meaning seems to be that from the beginning of the World to the appearance of Christ the Prophecies concerning him grew still more express clear and particular as the time drew on that they were to be accomplished The whole word of Prophecy was a light shining in a dark place but the latter Prophecies such as in Isaiah Daniel and Malachi were like the dawning of the day before the Sun of Righteousness himself appeared By such degrees did God prepare mankind for the belief of the Gospel every Age contributing something before-hand to undermine the Prejudices of the Natural Man against it That God should send his Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin was a Mystery so far above the reach of worldly Wisdom and natural Reason that considering our weakness it would hardly have born being revealed all at once and therefore God chose to let mankind into the knowledge of it by degrees and by the growing Light of Types and Prophecies to prepare them for that stronger Light of the plain and clear Truth which in due time was to be revealed And by this way God also provided a sure foundation for their Faith who should afterwards believe only we must do what St. Peter commends the Christians of his time for doing we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must give heed unto and bend our Minds to consider the word of Prophecy and we must attend to it as to a light shineing in a dark place till the day dawns that is we must not content our selves to try any one single Prediction only to compare it with the History of Jesus and then if that doth not give full satisfaction to try no more But as God by every new Prediction added more Light to the word of Prophecy so we should consider what Evidence is given to the Gospel by the Prophecies of the Old Testament taken altogether from the first to the last And this was the Method which our Saviour took to instruct the two Disciples going to Emmaus They were not unacquainted with the Prophecies of the Old Testament and yet they were mightily staggered at the shameful Death of their Master We trusted say they that this had been he which should have redeem'd Israel but now they know not what to think of it Then said Jesus unto them O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his Glory But what course did he take to convince them did he take some one notable Prediction by itself and lay all the stress upon that No but beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself It was this that made the day-star arise in their hearts it was this that cleared all their doubts and enlightned their understandings so perfectly that they afterwards said one to another Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures Luke 24. 3. The word of Prophecy is said to be sure that is 't is a plain Testimony of God to make us sure that Jesus is the Christ For 1. It is absurd to ascribe the Prediction of these events to any cause less than Divine Omniscience or as St. Peter saith Prophecy came not by the will of man but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private interpretation i. e. Not as some would make us believe no Prophecy of Scripture is to be meditated upon and read by private men but the Prophets did not utter their Predictions by the private Spirit but by the Spirit of God therefore if at vast distances of time from the event it was foretold in several Ages that one in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed would come into the world of such a Nation of such a Family at such a Time and Place with several publick and notorious Characters by which he should be known Then certainly he in whom all these Predictions have been fulfilled is by the Testimony of God's Omniscience declared to be that great Prophet who was to come into the World. Or shall we say that these things were the effects of Policy or Combination or Chance Could the most politick Statesmen foresee the rise of Empires not yet begun how much less could they fix their periods as the Prophets did in their Predictions concerning Christ and his Kingdom And can we think that they could at the distance of many Ages with their utmost skill foresee so many particular events as were foretold by the Prophets and accomplished in Christ Jesus Or shall we say that there was a confederacy between Moses and Jesus between the Prophets and Jesus so many hundreds of years after they were dead and before he was born Or are these Predictions and their events to be imputed to Chance It is possible indeed that some one thing may be foretold and happen accordingly but that so vast a number of particulars should be foretold concerning one Person at all adventures and by strange luck
suppose he means believing them and by a Rule by which to acquire them He must understand a Rule or means whereby to know what the Articles of the Christian Faith are and then his meaning is That those who believe the Articles of the Christian Faith must be provided of some such Rule or Means to know what they are as cannot deceive them Now whether this be in it self true or false it does not at all follow from what he had laid down before For though the Truth of Things or Propositions is so sure that as he wisely says 't is Impossible they should be false yet it does by no means follow that the Reasons upon which I believe these things must necessarily be as sure as the Truth of the Things themselves And this I make no doubt the Disputer was well aware of But because I am sensible who they are whom he designs to pervert by this Paper and for whose sake I Answer it I will explain this matter by an Instance that will bring it down to all Capacities If there was such a man as Henry the 8th It is certainly Impossible that there should be no such man but my Belief that there was such a Man is grounded upon such Reasons as do not imply an absolute Impossibility of the Contrary because it is grounded upon the Testimony of Fallible men And yet I should be very little better then a mad-man if I should entertain the least doubt that there was such a man which plainly shews that I may have sufficient Reason to believe a thing without any Evidence of the Impossibility of the contrary and this is enough to overthrow his Consequence I shall now inquire what truth there is in the Conclusion it self To which end I observe That there are two things which may be understood by those words cannot deceive them either first that the Rule it self is so plain and certain that no man who uses it can be deceived by the Rule or secondly that 't is Impossible any man should be mistaken in the Vse of it If he means the former then I shall shew him presently that we have such a Rule as he speaks of and that he hath said nothing to make us ashamed of it If he means the latter then I say it is absolutely false That those who without doubting believe the Articles of the Christian Faith must have such a Rule to know what they are as that they cannot possibly mistake in the Vse of it To make which plain to every bodies understanding I shall add another Instance easy to be Applyed If a man skilful in Arithmetick hath a great many Numbers before him and desires to know what Sum they make when they are put together he has the Rule of Addition to do it by which Rule cannot deceive him Now there are these two things to be observed farther which I think the Disputer himself will not deny first that it is in the Nature of the thing Possible that this man may be mistaken every time that he puts these several Numbers together to bring them all into one Sum but secondly that notwithstanding this Possibility of being mistaken yet after he has tryed it over and over again he may be sure without the least doubt that he has done his work right Even so we may have a Rule of Faith that cannot deceive us and though it is not Absolutely Impossible that we should be mistaken in the use of it yet we may for all that be Assured and believe without the least doubting that we have learn'd what the true Faith is by that Rule For all the World knows that it is no sufficient Reason to Doubt of any thing that the Contrary is barely Possible Pap. To a Parliamentary Protestant the Antient Fathers can't be such a Rule because they are Accounted fallible Ans We never said they were such a Rule This therefore is Impertinent Pap. Nor Counsels because they also are accounted fallible Ans This is Impertinent also for we never said they were our Rule of Faith. But we have better Reasons to give why Fathers and Councils cannot be our Rule of Faith than this that the Disputer has made for us And one is this That we cannot make them the Rule of our Faith but by so doing we must depart from the Primitive Fathers and the ancient Councils in as much as all agree That the Holy Scriptures are the Rule of Faith and they made it theirs Pap. Nor Scriptures senced by a fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be false Ans This is the Place where I shall tell the Disputer what we beleive and why we believe it And when I have done I shall consider whether he hath said any thing in this clause to shake our Assurance We firmly believe all the Articles of the Creed into the Profession whereof we have been Baptized We moreover believe all other Doctrine that is Revealed in Holy Scriptures The Grounds of this our Faith are these That in the Holy Scriptures are Recorded those Testimonies of Divine Revelation by which the Doctrines therein contained are confirmed That these Testimonies were too notorious and Publick to be gainsaid in so much that the Doctrine built upon them could not be overthrown by the Powers of the world engaged against it That the holy Books were written by the Inspired Preachers of that Doctrine which they contain And that for this we have the Testimony of Vniversal and uncontroulable Tradition which is a thing credible of it self This is the Sum of that External Evidence upon which our Faith is grounded In assigning of which I do by no means exclude that Internal Evidence that arises from the Excellent Goodness of the Doctrines themselves which shews them to be worthy of God. Now whereas this Disputer says That these Scriptures cannot be an Infallible Rule to us because they are sensed by a fallible Authority that is because we who are fallible understand them as well as we can I answer That no man needs to be Infallible in order to the understanding of plain Scripture I who do not pretend to Infallibility am yet certain which is enough for me That I do find the Articles of the Creed in the Scriptures and many other Doctrines besides which I do understand I am sure that I know what these words of St. John signifie 1 John 2.25 And Chap. 5.3 This is the Promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and the like The Antient Fathers thought the Scriptures to be so plain that they argued out of them without pretending to an Infallible Authority of Interpretation as I will shew this Disputer when he pleases If nothing less then Infallibility will serve to understand or as he says to sense words why does this Disputer put into my hands this Paper of his which is none of the plainest neither I am sure he does
reasonable so it is a safe Rule upon this account that if it be followed it will secure us from the greatest Offences as those Opinions and Practices are which are evidently contrary to God's Word 2. Let us keep close to the Ancient Creeds which our Church faithfully delivers for no Man has yet been so bold as to offer the least doubt against that nay all that we are challenged for is that we do not receive those additions to the Creed which in comparison were but of Yesterday These Ancient Forms of confessing the Faith shew what Articles of meer Belief were thought by the Primitive Church necessary to be known and held by all And because the Faith was at once delivered to the Saints no more can be necessary now than was then Now if we observe that the Profession of this Faith is sufficient to make a Christian or a Member of the Church we shall be the better guarded against all erroneous Doctrines which are propounded to us by any Party under the Notion of Necessary Truths For whilst we are sure we profess all that was thought necessary at first we shall be at ease and feel no disturbance in examining what is moreover propounded and determining to receive it if it has Authority from the Scriptures and to reject it if it has none much more if it be contrary thereunto Which Rule I hope you perceive is to take place in judging what you are to believe not in judging whatsoever is to be done for even in the Worship of God there are several things of an indifferent Nature for which there is no particular Precept in the Scripture and in which we may be and ought to be concluded by the Custom of our Church and the Will of our Superiours And he cannot miscarry greatly but is in great measure secured from the mischief of Offences who in matters of Faith will be determined by nothing less than Divine Authority and who in matters of external Order which are no way determined by the Authority of the Scriptures is still ready to be concluded by the Authority of Man. But then 3. Let us keep our selves always in the proper disposition and preparation to judge and conclude aright for our selves i. e. by Sincerity which consists chiefly in a vehement desire to understand the Truth and to do our Duty We must lay our Hands upon this that we will be honest and good and then we shall use all good Rules well to be sure we shall not be a whit the more inclined to embrace Doctrines for our Belief or Practice because they make for our worldly and carnal Interests And this goes a great way to enable men to distinguish between Truth and Error Good and Evil. Offences from without would not stumble us if we were not weakned and blinded by the Offence of a vitious disposition within our selves And therefore our Saviour having given warning against the former in the words of the Text doth in the very next words proceed to direct us how to secure our selves against them and that by preventing the latter Wherefore says he if thy right hand or foot offend thee cut them off And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee That is subdue thy dearest Lusts and if there be any one that is harder to part with than the rest and is grown a part of thy self though it cost thee as much pain to divide thy self from it as it would to cut off thine hand or pull out thine eye for that very reason do thou mortifie it in the first place For when the World will be full of Offences i. e. encouragements to Sin and of deceitful Errors if thou also art an Offence to thy self for want of a sincere and honest heart and purifying thy mind from worldly and carnal Lusts thou wilt not be able to withstand the Arts and Force of outward Temptations Now the way to gain this Honest Mind is to fix our thoughts steadfastly upon the Life to come which is the means our Saviour directs to the use of in this place too And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out for it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than to be cast into Hell-fire Lastly Let all our other care be begun continued and ended in earnest Prayer to God that he would enlighten the eyes of our minds and purifie our intentions and lead us in the right way and keep us in it by his Grace For the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much for another but much more for himself and most of all when he asketh the best things when he asketh those things that please God best a Mind purified from worldly Lusts and an Understanding enlightned with the knowledge of the Truth He that doth these things shall never fall The Fourth Sermon MATTH XXVI 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak IN these words are contained an Exhortation to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation and a Reason upon which the Exhortation is made The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak In the Exhortation we may observe a Direction to the use of means watch and pray and then the end why we should do so That we enter not into temptation As to the means watching and praying the use of them both supposes a great concern for the event For if I am not only to be careful my self but to get all the help I can nay if I am to go to the God of Heaven and Earth for his help and to seek it constantly to be sure as the end I aim at ought not to be in it self trivial so neither ought I to be trivially affected with it A great concern for the end is supposed in the use of such means as Watchfulness and Prayer But more particularly as to watching That signifies such a care of our selves as supposes danger and that was the case of the Disciples to whom the Exhortation was immediately given Our Saviour was now preparing them for his approaching Passion he would therefore have them consider before-hand what a terrible Temptation it would be to see their own Master forsaken and contemned and almost every body ashamed or afraid to own him he would have them reflect upon their own Infirmities and examine their own Hearts and to consider whether they were likely to hold out against such a Temptation as was coming upon them He would have them furnish their minds with all the Powers of Faith with all the Reasons of Constancy which they might infer from the Holy Doctrine he had taught them they were now to consider the value of their Souls the vanity of the World the promise of Everlasting Life and what-ever they had learnt from Jesus which was proper to confirm them in that good mind they were in at present he would have them to
once to be served who enticed their Brethren away to serve other Gods. Now for my own part I do not think that even these kinds of Worshippers if there are any such to be found in the World as I believe there are not ought to be thus served for it were barbarous Inhumanity to kill those who ought to be taken care for in an Hospital proper for them For what greater madness can be imagined than for a Man at the same time to worship a senseless thing as the Supreme God and to believe that it is a senseless thing as he must do if he excludes all apprehension of an invisible and spiritual Godhead For by the Supreme God all Men understand something that is able to help or to hinder and that knows when to do the one and when the other and is willing to do accordingly And therefore to worship either Sun Moon or Stars or any visible or corporeal Deity and at the same time to exclude all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead is to worship a thing because I am sure it knows something while I am as sure at the same time that it knows nothing at all for that which has nothing of a spiritual and invisible nature has no knowledge of any thing no more than a block has and if to worship such a thing knowing it to be such be all the Idolatry that ever was in the World I do believe you will all grant that there never was an Idolater in the World who might not have been easily perswaded to fall down upon his knees to a Tree to believe it to be his Father and to ask it blessing only there is this difference in the case that such a distempered Man might possibly believe that Tree capable of blessing him but it seems the Idolater must be more mad than so for he must at the same time believe that what he worships knows nothing of him and is not and cannot be concern'd about him because he excludes all sense and apprehension of a spiritual and invisible Godhead in his corporeal Deity But if the Maker of this Notion did really think that his Idolater was a Man in his Wits then he has really made the Idolater to be the very same with the Atheist whereas they are two Persons This Rule of the Text hath two parts as I have shewn one that we are to worship God which he that doth not is an Atheist another to worship God only which he that doth not is an Idolater But now he that hath no sense and apprehension of a spiritual Godhead and yet worships for the Supreme God senseless matter does not if he be in his Wits believe that there is any God at all and if he pretends to worship the Sun or the Moon or Leeks and Onyons without any reference to any thing that can see or hear help or hinder understand or chuse any thing it is manifestly in derision of all pretence to Religion and Worship whatsoever So that the true and only Notion of Idolatry is only at last a true Notion of Atheism very odly represented and so as an ingenious Atheist would have done it much better for himself We are therefore to look upon this True and Only Notion of Idolatry to be an overstrained repetition of what has been to much better advantage pretended by those of the Roman Communion viz. That a Man cannot be an Idolater who doth firmly believe there is one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and who doth worship him as the Supreme God and Lord of all This indeed is something that is it is what we understand but then this is very false as I shall demonstrate by plain testimony of Scripture And in the first place the Text seems to give clear evidence against it Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only c. For they all say that this speaks of Divine Worship and at other times they grant that to give Divine Worship to any thing that is not God is Idolatry But now the Text supposes not only that a Man ought to give Divine Worship to God but it expresly says that he should give it to him only it is therefore possible to give Divine Worship to God and to give Divine Worship to something else too which is not God and to do that they themselves confess to be Idolatry and therefore it is possible to acknowledge and to worship one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and yet to be guilty of Idolatry which is a point that I think fit to insist upon something more particularly because I perceive there are many that are very loath to have it believed And first I shall insist upon that instance which was the occasion of these words The Devil promised our Saviour That he would give him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if he would fall down and worship him Now I think there is no question but that to worship the Devil is Idolatry but the Question is Whether the Devil was so arrogant as to desire to be worshipped so as to exclude the belief and the worshipping of God who is the Supreme Lord of all But indeed it ought not to be question'd that he did not desire any such thing but that himself acknowledged the Being of God For in his very first Temptation he said If thou be the Son of God c. which was a plain acknowledgment of the Being of God and so in his second Temptation If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written he shall give his Angels charge over thee c. So that he did not only acknowledge the Being of God but he acknowledged also the Truth of the Scripture Nay when he promised to Jesus the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them if he would fall down and worship him it appears by St. Luke that he did by no means pretend to be the Supreme Disposer and Governour of the World i. e. to be the Supreme God but acknowledged him that was truly so for thus it is said Luk. 4.6 And the Devil said unto him All this power will I give thee for it is delivered to me and to whomsoever I will I give it Now here the Devil plainly acknowledged that this Power was but delivered to him and not originally in him and this was as plain a signification as could possibly be given that he did not design to draw our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme Deity since he confessed a Superiour Whereas therefore our Saviour answered him Get thee behind me Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. It seems very evident that Divine Worship may be given to that which is not God by one that acknowledges and worships the true God for otherwise I am sure it had not been Idolatry to worship the Devil in these circumstances who did by no means require
our Saviour to worship him as the Supreme God or not to worship him who really is so And here I cannot but observe how instructing our Saviour's Answer was for when the Devil tempted him to worship him Jesus might have refused it justly enough upon another score that no Honour was to be given to that Enemy of God and Man but when omitting that consideration he spoke to the point in this manner It is written Thou shalt worship c. he laid down a Rule to serve his Disciples in all like cases even where they might be called not to worship a Devil but a Saint not a bad Angel but a good one Thou shalt worship c. If it be pretended in the behalf of Saints that they have great power with God in Heaven and of Angels that they are his ministring Spirits and therefore they are to be honoured with Invocations and bodily Worship by us upon Earth we are to remember that when the Devil pretended to have the Power of the Earth delivered into his hands and promised that upon the desire of Jesus and a little prostration to him he would give it to him our Lord did not give him that answer which was peculiar to the particular case as that he was a lying and wicked Spirit and therefore no such acknowledgment was to be paid to him but such an Answer as supposed it Idolatry to pay the same respect to any other created Being Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God c. But because the Notion of Idolatry was of necessity the same under the Gospel that it was under the Law since without any new Notions of it the Apostles who were Jews Preached against Idolatry we cannot go a better way to work to confute this pretence That they who acknowledge one Supreme God cannot be guilty of Idolatry than by observing what was counted Idolatry under the Law. 1. Now we read 1 King. 11. that Solomon in his old age turned away his heart and worshipped other Gods viz. Ashtoreth and Milcom and Chemosh and Molech These were the Idols of the Nations round about the Israelites and all the World knows that the Service of Idols is Idolatry But now did Solomon renounce the God of Heaven and Earth the Supreme Governour of the World the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob So he must have done according to the modern Notion of Idolatry or else he could not be guilty of it But if we may believe plain Scripture so he did not for mark what is said v. 4. His Wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of David his Father It seems then that his heart was not quite turned away from the Lord his God but it was not perfectly with him and that because he did not worship the Lord his God only but served other Gods besides Again v. 5 6. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians and after Milcom the abomination of the Amonites and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord as did David his Father Now can that be said of one that utterly renounceth the Belief and worship of the Supreme Lord that his heart doth not go fully after the Lord These things are so plain that they need no illustration To be short in the old Testament these Worships were esteemed and condemned as Idolatry 1. To worship other Beings with the True God which was the case of Solomon now mentioned and of the Samaritans 2 Kings 17.41 Who feared the Lord and served their graven Images their own Gods. 2. To worship Idols only which seemed to be the case of Ahab and Manasseh who had given over the Service of the God of Israel but yet were not without all sense and apprehension of him but for all that they addicted themselves wholly to the Service of false Gods. 3. The worshipping of the True God by a material Image or Representation of him such for instance was the Idolatry of the Golden Calf which the Israelites intended for a Representation of that God which had brought them out of the Land of Egypt as it evidently appears from the Proclamation Exod. 32. These are thy Gods or this is thy God O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt and Aaron built an Altar before it and made a Proclamation and said To morrow is a Feast to Jehovah or to the Lord. In vain it is said that the Israelites fell to the Egyptian Idolatry thus much I am willing to grant that the Israelites missing Moses took that very Representation of the Supreme God which they had seen in Egypt for it is a foolish thing to imagine that the Egyptians themselves were without any sense or apprehension of the Supreme God but that the Israelites fell to downright Egyptian Superstition and copied all that they had learnt in Egypt is undeniably false from this one argument that the Israelites offered Burnt-offerings and brought Peace-offerings unto the Image they had set up and as Jeroboam did afterwards they offered Bullocks and Rams to the Idol which Beasts being amongst the Egyptians held Sacred were never sacrificed to their Idols and for that very reason God commanded them to be offered to him so that the Israelites in their Sacrificing followed their Rule which they had received from God only but missing Moses they would have a visible Representation of the True God to go along with them and for worshipping it they were called Idolaters and punished as such The instance of the Calves of Dan and Bethel which Jeroboam did set up the worshipping of which is called Idolatry is to the same purpose for all he pretended was that it was too much for the Israelites to go up to Jerusalem to worship Behold says he thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt 1 Kings 12.28 He did not forsake the God of Israel to follow other Gods but he set up material Images or Representations of the True God and it was his Idolatry to worship them Hence the Prophets whom God raised up in Israel did not charge the Worshippers of this sort for Deserters of the God of Israel though they inveighed against their Altars But when Ahab fell to worship other Gods it was particularly noted of him that he did therein what Jeroboam did not do this latter sort of Idolatry was laid to Ahab's charge 1 Kin. 16.31 to wit That as if it had been a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he went and served Baal and worshipped him From all this it is plain that whereas in the New Testament the Apostles bid us beware of Idolatry my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry Little children keep your selves from Idols and the like They being Jews must necessarily by Idolatry mean the worshipping of the true God by Images or giving any
Divine Worship whatsoever any Honour due to God only giving that I say to any other Being how excellent soever although they that do so do believe and worship the Supreme God the Maker of Heaven and Earth all the while For by Idolatry they could understand nothing but what went for Idolatry under the Law seeing the Notion of it was not in the least altered but it continued just the same that it was before as these very words do witness Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve But as I entered upon this Argument by distinguishing between Atheism and Idolatry so I shall now close it by comparing them together Idolatry is indeed a very heinous sin because it gives away the Glory of God to another but Atheism is a worse because that is a renouncing of the Lord of Heaven and Earth the Creator of the World they who do not serve the Lord only are guilty of great impiety but they who do not serve and worship him at all are guilty of a greater impiety To worship God and to worship Angels to pray to God and to pray to Saints to adore Jesus Christ and to adore the Virgin is in part to forsake God and our Saviour but neither to worship or pray to Saints and Angels no nor to God himself this is utterly to forsake him and to live without God in the World Which I do not say to extenuate the Crime of Idolatry but to give every thing its due and to leave this impression upon our mind that by how much more we inveigh against the Idolatry of others because it is no less than giving some of God's Glory to his Creature by so much the more we oblige our selves to be constant and devout and in very good earnest in the Worship of the only true God least by degrees we fall into a Spirit of Irreligion and Atheism and be wholly estranged from God which is a worse case than Solomon's was who falling into the Idolatry of his Neighbours fell under this Character That his heart was not perfect with the Lord and he went not fully after him To conclude since through the Grace of God it is our Happiness to worship the Lord our God and to serve him only let us have a care that we go on to worship God only and to be sure let us remember that we worship him that we be not slothful in Religion but earnest and fervent least we forsake God by a Spirit of Irreligion which is every whit as damnable as Idolatry Let it appear by our whole Conversation that we do indeed worship the God that made Heaven and Earth who only hath power to bless us to protect and keep us in this Life and to reward us with the enjoyment of himself forever The Sixth Sermon GEN. XXII 12. Now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me IN these words we may observe two things I. God's Testimony concerning Abraham Now I know that thou fearest God. II. The Fact upon which this Testimony of God concerning him was grounded which was his offering his Son Isaac to God Because thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me 1. The Testimony of God concerning him I know that thou fearest God this I say was God's Testimony concerning him For whereas it is said That the Angel of the Lord called to him out of Heaven it seems plain that the Angel of the Lord was no other than the Angel of the Covenant the Son of God himself who did sometimes appear to the Patriarchs for the words are Seeing thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me i. e. from God it was God that spake to him and who said Now I know that thou fearest God. The matter God testified of him was That he feared God that is that he believed in God that he was fully perswaded of his Infinite Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness and all his Infinite Perfections and that he was affected sutably thereunto This is the meaning of the Fear of God in the Scripture which is a phrase used to comprehend all pious Affections towards him and is therefore of the same latitude with Faith the Praise whereof is ascribed to Abraham by the Author to the Hehrews The only thing to be added is this That we must remember that to fear God is to fear him as God that is before and above all other things and consequently to love him and to trust in him and to rely upon him incomparably and infinitely more than upon all the World besides inasmuch as the perfections of all others are finite God only is infinite in all perfections Now this was that which God testified of Abraham in saying of him that he feared God and in the understanding of this there is no difficulty at all But it may seem strange that God should give this testimony of him in that manner wherein we find he did Now know I that thou fearest God Now i. e. now thou hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me For did not God know the integrity of Abraham's heart before Is not God the searcher of hearts and doth he need our outward actions that he may judge of our tempers and intentions by them It is true we have no other way to come to the understanding of one anothers thoughts but by our words and deeds But hath God no other way Yes without all doubt he that knoweth our thoughts afar off even before they are born within us cannot be ignorant of them when they are But why then doth he say Now I know that thou fearest God I answer that this is one of those sayings of God by which he is pleas'd to condescend to the manner of our speaking and conversing with one another For we with great propriety use such expressions as these upon such extraordinary occasions If from my Friend that hath always professed great kindness to me I receive some notable benefit in my distress not without hazard to himself it is very proper for me to say Now I know that he loves me Now I know he is indeed a faithful and sincere Friend though I had great reason to make no doubt of it before yet this is so great a confirmation and strengthening of my belief that in comparison thereto I might be said to know little or nothing of it before In allusion to such expressions it is that God useth these words Now I know that thou fearest God Not in intimation of his having now gained greater assurance of Abraham's integrity than he had before Abraham had been for a long time the Servant of God and had made an open profession of worshipping and obeying him and God saw all along that he was an upright man and this no less before he was bidden to offer his Son Isaac than after he had stretched forth his hand to slay him upon the
there is a shorter and a surer way to determine this matter and that by comparing those Doctrines and Practices with the Scriptures For the Scriptures have a more certain Tradition than any of those Histories that give an account of the Revolutions of Church Affairs since the beginning and now what matter is it if I am assured that such and such Corruptions were brought into the Church sometime or other after the Apostles because they are contrary to what the Apostles taught and left in their Writings though I cannot tell just the Year when or the Person by whom they first crept into the Church I would very fain know of any Man that when our Saviour set himself to overthrow that wicked Tradition which we were speaking of before whether he could not if he had pleased have given an exact account of the Persons that began it in the Jewish Church and of the time when it began and of every circumstance that attended its entrance into the World and its growth and encrease afterwards But did he go this way to work It is certain that the Pharises pretended the Traditions which they taught the People were delivered from God to Moses and that through several Ages they were conveyed down to them successively by word of mouth And I grant that if our Lord had with many words shewn them that they were such and such men who first brought them in this had been a confutation of their pretence but for all that he was pleased to use a better and a shorter argument against them and told them what the commandment was in the Law which their pretended Tradition made void and this was instead of a thousand arguments that their Doctrine never came from Moses but was invented some time afterwards And I beseech you let none of us be ashamed to use that kind of argument which our Saviour thought fit to confute those People withal and which we have reason to think he used that he might shew us the best way to secure our selves from being imposed upon by unwritten Traditions and by a pretence of having received such Doctrines from the Apostles as they never delivered When therefore we are asked If Transubstantiation be an Error and not an Article of Faith when did it come in If Service in an Vnknown Tongue be an Innocation when did it come in If the Sacrifice of the Mass be a Corruption when did it come in Let us account it sufficient to answer for so our Saviour thought it in the like case That Transubstantiation makes void those places of Scripture which expresly affirm that by eating of Bread we shew forth the Death of Christ and are made partakers of his Body That Service in an Vnknown Tongue makes void the Fourteenth Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians And that the Sacrifice of the Mass makes void the Seventh and the Tenth Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews which expresly tell us that Christ can be offered no more and that there remains no more Sacrifice for Sins and therefore we are very well assured that they did come in sometime or other since the Apostles but whether they came in sooner or later is nothing to the purpose for certainly nothing ought ever to have come in that makes void any part of the Word of God but if any such thing hath got in there is all the reason in the World that it should be thrown out again They may well be ashamed that cannot bear this sort of arguing but most certainly we have no reason to be ashamed to use it since our blessed Saviour hath used it before us for when he set himself to overthrow the credit of these Doctrines for which they pretended a constant Tradition in the Church he thought it sufficient for his purpose to shew that they voided the Commandments of God and made his word of none effect 2. If there be one Traditionary Doctrine that notoriously contradicts the written Word of God 't is enough to overthrow the whole Credit of that Tradition which pretends to bring down unwritten Doctrines that are necessary to be received For thus we find that our Saviour by the single instance of that Tradition which voided the Fifth Commandment overthrew the Objection of the Pharises against his Disciples Why do thy Disciples transgress the Tradition of the Elders i. e. their unwritten Traditions which was as much as to say that they ought all of them to be Religiously observed because they had all the same Authority Our Saviour therefore produces an instance of their Traditions that takes away all Authority inasmuch as it was a plain contradiction to the Law of God if therefore amongst their unwritten Doctrines and Rules there were any that had some kind of goodness and usefulness they were to be regarded upon their own account and not upon the Authority of Tradition But when he had utterly overthrown all that pretended Authority by an undeniable argument he then speaks to the case which themselves had propounded and lays down the truth concerning it They had a vast number of Superstitions for which they pretended Tradition and they tax our Saviour's Disciples for not observing one of them Now he with admirable wisdom first breaks the Authority of their Tradition shewing that one of them was plainly against the Law of God and then he shews how superstitious and foolish they were in the case which themselves chose to speak to In this also our Lord hath set us an example that if we are prest by a pretence to Tradition in favour of unwritten Doctrines and Articles we should in the first place shew that one or more of these is contrary to the Word of God and therefore that there is no reason to pretend Tradition for any of them since they are all said to have come down together Which being done in the first place it will be then seasonable to shew what is to be thought of the rest if they are judged of by the general Rules of Reason and Scripture 3. The Universal consent of some one or two Ages that such and such Doctrines were delivered by word of mouth many Ages before is no argument that they were so delivered The Pharises did pretend that their Doctrines and Interpretations of the Law had been conveyed down from Moses by Oral Tradition to that Age in which they lived and there were several of these Traditions universally believed in that Age to have been so conveyed and the Practice of the People was universally governed by them For instance that of Religious Washing before Meat and the washing of Cups and Pots as a thing in it self good and holy was universally received and practised as St. Mark tells us Now I would fain know whether they might not have reasoned in this fashion We in this Age received this Doctrine and Rule from our Forefathers who professed they received it from theirs and if they had not received it from theirs then
they all agreed together to cheat us as their Forefathers agreed to cheat them if they had not received it from theirs and so this Tradition must have come originally from Moses or else there was one Age that agreed to cheat the next in things concerning the Service of God and the Salvation of Mens Souls But after all the prettiness of this demonstration I think we have more reason to believe that this Superstition never came from Moses because our Saviour exposed it as a vain and foolish Doctrine than to believe that it did because the Jews ever since the Pharises time who were a Sect of full three hundred years standing were taught to pretend Tradition for the Innovations of the Pharises and for this amongst the rest And therefore it is a vain thing to pretend that because such and such Traditionary Doctrines were in such an Age taught without controul as necessary to Salvation they must needs have been taught so from the very first 4. That we have great reason to stick to the word of God delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures and to examine all Doctrines and Pretences by this Rule For the Holy Scriptures are indeed the Rule whereby we are to try that pretence that there is another Rule viz. of unwritten Tradition and if that other pretended Rule doth in any thing contradict the Scriptures most certainly it is but a pretended Rule and to be rejected To deal plainly this same Oral Tradition was never pretended for any good either by Jews or Christians nor made use of but to advance and protect some Doctrines or Practices that stand condemn'd by the Scriptures And therefore after so long experience had of the mischief as well as vanity of this pretence it were perhaps not unreasonable for any Christian to reject the Argument of unwritten Tradition without any more ado and to entertain no Doctrine or Practice necessary to Salvation which cannot be proved out of the Scriptures nor to entertain any thing at all that is contrary thereunto let Men talk of Tradition or any other Authority as long as they please And now I question not but this Discourse will be acknowledged to be very plain and convincing but for all that it is not certain that the Argument of it self will secure us from being deceived by the Sophistry of others if we do not take heed to the main thing of all and that is to lead such Lives as the Scriptures direct us to lead for there is no such temptation in the world to be fond of Traditionary Doctrines as to live in that manner that if the Traditionary Doctrines be not true we can have no hope of Salvation If we will live according to the Scriptures we shall have no temptation and I am sure we have no reason to believe otherwise than according to the Scriptures Let us often think that here we have no continuing place we must not always live here but that in a very little time we are to go into another World and to appear before our Judge Let us remember that this is the great argument by which the Scriptures engage us to live a sober righteous and godly life and let us consider that it is the strongest Argument in the World and be perswaded by it to do accordingly and this will above all things establish us in the Truth It is something hard to keep that man from being deceived who needs the comfort of false Principles For Men are very apt to be running for comfort where it is to be had though they cheat themselves for it Brethren the Holy Scriptures are God's Book and they are acknowledged to be so by all Christians in the World therefore I say it again and again stick to the Scriptures live according to the Scriptures and believe according to the Scriptures Make the Scriptures the Rule of your Practice and then you will need no more arguments to make them the Rule of your Faith And as many as walk according to this Rule Peace will be upon them The Eighth Sermon 1 COR. XI 19. For there must be Heresies also amongst you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you THE word Heresie did at first indifferently signifie any party distinguished from others by Opinions and Practices peculiar to it self whether those Opinions were true or false those Practices good or bad insomuch that Christianity it self was called a Sect or Heresie for some time But in time it came to be used in the worser sense and was restrained to those that distinguished themselves by the profession of false Doctrines or by unjustifiable Practices Which use of the word began soon after Christianity as far as I can find and there was this reason for it that Christianity having established one Form of Doctrine which was to be universally received there were now to be no Heresies or Sects that is no departure from the Unity of that Doctrine and every new Sect from that time forward must necessarily be in the wrong Thus also the word Schism or Division came in a little time to be restrained to that side or party by whose fault the breach of Christian Communion and Concord was made and although when a dissention and breach of Unity happens they that are not in the fault are at the same distance from those that are that the faulty are from the innocent yet the faulty were only said to be in Schism or Division Moreover it seems that Heresie and Schism were words at first used indifferently to signifie the same fault of discord and contention because breach of Charity and Communion was for the most part made by departing from Unity of Doctrine though in process of time Heresie was restrained to signifie an Error about the Faith and Schism a breach of Order and Christian Communion St. Paul doth in this place seem to mean the same thing by both words for in the foregoing verse says he I hear that there be Divisions or Schisms among you and I partly believe it that is I believe it of some of you And there he adds For there must be also Heresies among you that is Sects and Parties distinguished from one another by their peculiar Doctrines and Practices The matter about which there was a disagreement in the Church of Corinth was no less than that of the Administration of the Holy Communion that having happened so early which in the latter Ages of the Church has obtained in a much higher degree that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which was in great part instituted to unite the Faithful in one Body was perverted into an occasion of dividing them from one another Upon which observation St. Paul inserted this memorable saying There must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest There must be Heresies i. e. Parties that will contend for false Doctrines and unlawful Practices that will either take away from the Faith or add to
hearts I shall first endeavour to explain this reason for the diligent reading of the Scriptures and shall try to remove those Prejudices and Objections which some Men have thought fit to produce against it and lastly recommend it to your Care and Conscience by earnest Exhortation First as to the reason itself we may observe that the Apostle had in the foregoing Verses mentioned that Testimony which had been given to Jesus by a Voice from Heaven But says he we have also a more sure word of Prophecy i. e. we have yet a more convincing Testimony of God that Jesus is the Christ viz. The word of Prophecy Again it is said in the following Verses That no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private Interpretation or rather of the Prophets own skill and motion for so the Original will bear and the following words require For Prophecy came not of old time by the Will of Man but Holy Men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost From hence it is plain that which the Apostle speaks of that Testimony the Prophesies of the Old Testament give to Jesus by having foretold those things concerning the Messias which were fulfilled in Jesus and in him only So that St. Peter commends the Disciples of Christ for their diligent study of Moses and the Prophets because their Writings did abound with those Predictions concerning Christ which had raised an Expectation of him in the World before he came which would clearly demonstrate him to the World when he should come and which now were a most convincing Testimony that he was come and that Jesus in whom all those Predictions were fulfilled was he And that this is the sum of the Apostle's Argument will appear by considering these particulars of the Text. I. That the Old Testament is said to be the word of Prophecy II. A light shining in a dark place till the day dawned and the day-star arose in their hearts III. A sure Word IV. A more sure word of Prophecy 1. That the Old Testament is said to be the Word of Prophecy The Writings of Moses and the Prophets do indeed contain other Matters and particularly Histories of things past as well as Predictions of things that were to come and yet they are called the Word of Prophecy This implieth that the main design and business of those Holy Books was to foretel Christ by those Characters of his Person and Circumstances of his Appearance that should demonstrate him afterwards And though upon other Accounts the Prophets had their several Arguments of Writing yet in this they all conspired as St. Peter told Cornelius and his Company To him give all the Prophets witness that whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of Sins Acts 8.43 And this might in great part be made good by producing the clearest Prophecies of all concerning Christ those which speak directly of him and of nothing else but those Circumstances by which he should be known Of this sort was that Prediction of Jacob that he should come before the final Subversion of the Jewish State The Scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come And that of Daniel's 70 weeks which punctually sixeth the time of his Manifestation and Sufferings from the Persian King's decree for the rebuilding the Walls of Jerasalem But besides such Prophecies as these there is a great abundance of another sort such namely as are mixed with some things which the Prophets spake of themselves or others of which kind that seems to be one instance which St. Peter with good success alledged to the Jews Acts 2.25 David speaketh concerning him the Lord is on my right hand that I should not be moved therefore did my heart rejoyce and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my Soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Now the former Expressions and indeed the rest of the Psalm might well be applied to David himself but the latter were too magnificent to be true of him in any good sense and therefore St. Peter argued from hence in this manner Men and Brethren let me freely speak unto you of the Patriach David that he is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us unto this day therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an Oath unto him that of the Fruit of his Loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ to sit upon his Throne He seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his Soul was not left in Hell neither did his Flesh see Corruption Now it is no disparagement to these Prophecies that some passages they are joyned with were meant of other Persons as well as of Christ since it seemeth to me an Argument of the care of Divine Providence to fill the Holy Books with Predictions concerning Christ that are not only diverse Prophecies which speak entirely of him and of him only but upon all fit occasions the spirit of Prophecy broke out into those things which concerned him and though other matters were begun with yet if there was any congruity in the subject it perpetually diverted into this Hereunto we may add those passages which in their first meaning signified some things past or present and yet were designed to presignifie Christ too such as these Out of Egypt have I called my Son and a Bone of him shall not be broken the former being first meant of the Children of Israel the latter of the Paschal Lamb both afterwards fulfilled in Christ again the true Son of God the true Paschal Lamb. Nay the Omission of Melchisedeck's Descent Birth and Death did at length appear to hint this signification that Christ whose Type he was had neither beginning of days nor end of life So truly is the Old Testament the word of Prophecy that the very Omission of this thing was Prophetical To conclude this point the most Illustrious Persons of the Old Testament as Moses and Aaron and Joshua and David and Solomon were designed by Divine Providence to represent before-hand by lively resemblances what the Messias should be and what he should do afterwards and the most memorable passages of the History of the Israelites together with the presence of God in the Tabernacle and in the Temple and the whole frame of the Levititical Service were clear and natural Types of the Messias and of a more perfect state of things under him foretelling in Things as other Prophecies did in Words The sum of all is this That there is a vast plenty of Predictions in the Old Testament concerning Christ and if we will take the pains to examine the Truth of these general heads by more particular Enquiries we shall find that the Affairs of the Jewish Nation and the writing of the Holy Books were so over-ruled by the Divine Spirit that when we come to look into them we cannot lightly turn our selves any way but we
both as to the Accidents and nature of Bread I grant that the Accidents of Bread would be the Body of Christ and if it be not the same both as to the Nature and Accidents I deny it This I profess not to understand Fath. As to the Doctors Argument it includes a Sophism as will appear when brought into form because it involves 4 Terms because he supposes in one Proposition for the Accidents of Bread and in the other for the Nature Dr. In the Argument I used I went upon this Supposition That the Accidents of Bread were onely to be understood as the Answerer supposes and therefore I have not confounded the Nature and the Accidents of Bread together Besides the Distinction between the Nature of Bread and the Accidents of Bread was not to be remembred any more by the Answerer because I proceed upon his Supposition That the Accidents onely are broken Now if St. Paul speaks of nothing but what is broken and Accidents onely are broken and yet if he speaks of the very flesh of Christ too then the Accidents of the Bread are the very flesh of Christ And whereas the Answerer by his last Answer means the Nature of Christ's Body as he says I understood him of the Nature of Bread. And now once more I desire him to shew me where the four Terms are Fath. The Text of St. Paul the Dr. takes for his Medium and argues from a double Supposition as first taking it for the Accidents of Bread which were broken and afterwards for the substance of Christ's Body under the Accidents in which latter sense it signifies the same that is meant by our Saviour in St. John. Dr. I observe the Answerer will allow nothing to be broken but Accidents I observe also that nothing is said to be the Body of Christ or the Communion of the Body of Christ but what is broken If therefore nothing is broken but Accidents then Accidents are either according to the Answerer's long proof the very Body of Christ or according to the Apostle the Communion of the Body of Christ But neither are the Accidents of Bread the Body of Christ nor the Communion of the Body of Christ And this I say is not answered and believe will not be answered by any man that maintains that St. Paul does not here speak properly of Bread. Fath. All along in my Discourse I have supposed that when St. Paul speaks of this bread he spoke of the H. Eucharist in which were contained both the Accidents of Bread and the true body of Christ How the Dr. has disproved this Doctrine so clearly as to justifie the Reformation I understand not Because I conceive no private Persons or particular Church ought to pretend a Reformation without clear evidence whether the Dr. has given such I leave to the consideration of the Readers And whether having broken off from the great body of the Vniversal Church and its testimony he can possibly have any certain Rule to arrive at Christian Faith If Scripture be pretended interpreted by a fallible Authority how Certainty can be obtained or why a Socinian following Scripture for his Rule of Faith is not to be believed as well as any other Reformer following the same Rule I see not Signed W. Clagett Peter Gooden Dr. CLAGETT's Answer TO A PAPER Delivered to Him by Father GOODEN The Paper ARticles of Christian Faith are Truths Truths are Impossible to be False Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are Impossible to be False Therefore those who obtain Articles of the Christian Faith must have some Rule to Acquire them by which cannot deceive them To a Parliamentary Protestant the Antient Fathers cannot be such a Rule because they are accounted Fallible Nor Councels because they also are accounted Fallible Nor Scriptures sensed by a Fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be False And therefore Faith cannot be Obtained by any such means For that which is Doubtfull can only Create Opinion which is also Doubtful And He that doubts in Faith the Apostle says is Infidelis And a Company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a Society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Signed Peter Gooden The Answer Pap. Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Ans The Design of the Disputer is to prove that we are Doubters and therefore Infidels But never did any man begin a business more unluckily for at the very first dash he takes it for granted that we do undoubtedly believe Articles of Christan Faith to be Truths for otherwise he ought to have proved that they are so But there is another Misfortune he is faln into no less than that for his Argument to prove that we must needs be Doubters is that we want an Infallible Rule Now if he is sure that we want an Infallible Rule and that without such a Rule there can be no Faith I am sure he does notoriously contradict himself by supposing that we believe all Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths though we have no such Rule This is a very hopeful Paper and like to make wise Converts which ends in making us Infidels and begins to prove it by an Argument that manifestly supposes Us to be Believers which also pretends that we have no Infallible Rule and therefore can be sure of no Point of Faith but yet manifestly supposes Us to be Assured of Some without it which shews the Paper to be a trifling Paper and worth no more Consideration But because the Disputer is said to boast so much of the Argument Contained in it I will go on with every Clause of it to Convince him if he does not already know it that there is not a Line in it but is either false or nothing to the purpose Pap. Truths are Impossible to be False Ans By Truths the Disputer means the Truth of Things or of Propositions and therefore this is a vain and fulsome saying which does not Advance his Reasoning one jot farther than it was before For this is no more than to say That which is true is true and it cannot possibly be but truths must be truths I think he applies himself to us as if we wanted not only Christian Faith but Common sence Pap. Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are Impossible to be False Ans There is no doubt of this supposing that they are Truths So that the Argument he begins with being put into the right order and into other words is this It is Impossible but truths must be truths but Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Therefore it is Impossible but they must be Truths The Antient Fathers had made wise work with Christianity if they had gone this way to work to Convert Infidels Pap. Therefore those who obtain the Articles of the Christian Faith must have some Rule to acquire them by which cannot deceive them Ans This is an obscure saying and I must make the best of it By obtaining Articles of the Christian Faith I
not take me to be Infallible and yet I am confident he would be angry if I should say his Paper was not to be understood without an Infallible Interpreter let him answer this if he can The Reason he gives why Scripture sensed by a fallible Authority cannot be the Rule of Faith is because all such Interpretations may be false That is to say because there is a bare Possibility of any fallible man's mistaking the sense of plain Texts Which kind of Reasoning makes impossible that every man should come to be a Believer unless himself be first Infallible And this I shall Demonstrate so plainly that no man who has any share of Understanding and modesty shall be able to deny it There is no possible way for any sort of Christians to make known either the Articles or Reasons of Faith to those that are yet Ignorant of them but by words or sentences written or spoken He who hears or reads the words and Sentences cannot tell either what is to believe or why he should believe till he understands or in the Disputers Phrase till he Senses those words and Sentences but as yet his Authority is but fallible and words sensed by a Fallible Authority can never give a man certainty either of the Rule or of the Reason of his Faith If this Disputer be in the Right therefore 't is impossible to make him a Believer unless you can make him Infallible first that it may not be Possible for him to be mistaken in Sensing the words which he hears or reads And thus farewell to all Advantage that any man can have by the Infallibility of Popes and Councils or Oral Tradition as well as by the Scriptures Nay and to all Possible means of arriving to certainty in any matter of Faith unless every body be Infallible first so that upon supposition that God would have all men to be saved and therefore to believe it inavoidably follows from the wild Reasoning of this man that God has made every Man Infallible But if it be evident that men are fallible Creatures then this Disputer has Advanced a Principle the most destructive to all certainty of Faith that ever was heard of in the world But the comfort is that 't is so very absurd that no body well in his wits can be misled by it Pap. And therefore Faith cannot be obtain'd by any such means Ans Which is as much as to say that Faith cannot be obtain'd till a man have the gift of Infallibility And if every man has it before he can be taught to any purpose what need can there be of an Infallible Interpreter to teach him But as I observed before 't is impossible to make Believers of those that are not Infallible unless the Disputer or his Church has a way to make known the Doctrines and Reasons of Christian Faith without words Pap. For that which is doubtful can only create opinion which is also doubtful Ans Therefore since all words are doubtful to him that has but a fallible Authority to sense them as no man has more before he believes 't is impossible for the Disputers Church to create any thing more than opinion which is also doubtful in those whom she teaches unless as I have already said she can make them Infallible first and teach them afterwards And even then there would be no need of teaching them at all because they are now Infallible themselves Of all the Papers that ever I read I never met with any thing more absurd and contradictious than the Reasoning of this In which the Disputer out of a vehement desire to overthrow our Faith and the Grounds of it has laid down Principles that do effectually overthrow all ways of making men sure of any thing and in particular the use of those very methods by which his own Church pretends to lead men to Faith. Pap. And he that doubts in Faith the Apostle saith is Infidelis and a company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Ans What Apostle says this if the Disputer refers to Rom. 14.23 as I think he does he has shewn his skill in the Interpretation of Scripture to be equal to his mastery in Reasoning If in the Infallible Church they can Interpret Scripture no better than thus give me the honesty and industry of a Fallible Church before it The Conclusion AND now after all this Paper is as absurd in the design as it is in the management for the business of it is to prove That Protestants have no Faith but are Infidels and that by this Argument they are and must be doubters Now whether I doubt or do not doubt is a Question concerning a matter of Fact that I have more reason to know the truth of than the Disputer can possibly have and if I know that I do not doubt and he can yet prove that I do doubt he is an extraordinary man indeed For then I am sure he can prove That Truth not onely may be but is false which perhaps such a man as he can Reconcile with what he said at first That truths are impossible to be false And this alone had been a sufficient Answer to his Paper for nothing can be more frivolous than to go about to prove to a man by fine Reasoning that he does doubt of a thing when he is as sure that he does not doubt of it as he can be of any thing in the World. But the design of this Paper seems to be as Impious as 't is Absurd And that is to bring weak Persons to Infidelity first that they may afterwards be setled upon Romish Grounds I do acknowledg 't is a very proper way to bring us over to the Church of Rome to make us Infidels first But this they will not find so easy a matter for we trust that we are not of those who draw back to Perdition but of those that believe to the saving the Soul. I have omitted nothing in the whole Paper but to take notice of that little and mean Reflection in calling the Protestant a Parliamentary Protestant I have told this Disputer the Reason and Ground of our Faith If we moreover are Protected in the Profession of it by the Laws of the Land I suppose 't is no more then what he would desire for the Profession of Popery and he would think never the worse of himself for being a Parliamentary Papist Thus I have Answered this Paper through every clause of it And I am confident destroy'd all that little Appearance of Reasoning that it made Let the Disputer build it up again if he can I promise him by God's Grace that I 'le pull it down again FINIS BOOKS Printed for and are to be Sold by William Rogers BIshop Wilkins's Fifteen Sermons 8º Dr. Tillotson's Sermons and Discourses The Third Volume 8º Dr. Wallis's two Sermons of Regeneration 4º His Defence of the Royal Society 4º Mr. Hodges