ought they will as God's command the Order of the World and common Reason obliges them be rather willing to trust their Pastors who are better qualifi'd for such Knowledge and whom God hath set over them to instruct them what is the sense of Scriptures than trust their own private shallow judgments And 't is observable that Dr. St's discourse all along concerning this point is a plain begging the Question For if God have left a Church and commanded the Faithfull to hear it and conform to it's Faith and consequently to receive the sense of Scripture as to Points of Faith from it then there is no necessity of Scripture's being intended to be plain to all Capacities of it self nor of thinking men may sincerely desire to know God's will in Scriptures and use due means to understand it without making use of the Churches Judgment in that affair upon which false supposition Dr. St. wholly builds his otherwise perfectly ruinous discourse Wherefore his supposition being deny'd I must reply that those who sincerely desire to know Gods wisl have a certain virtue in them called Humility and this teaches them not to overween in their own opinion but to think that their Pastors appointed by God to teach them are generally wiser then those who are to be taught and that those who are wiser know better than those who are lesse wise A little of this plain honest rational Humility would quite spoil all Dr. St's discourse and convince all his Principles to be a plausible piece of Sedition and licentious presumption tending of its own nature utterly to destroy all Church and Church-Government and if applied to that Subject Temporal too I should be glad to know what means the word such in the last line if he means Infallible and that the Church pretending to Infallibility must have Infallible Assurance that she is Infallible t is asserted by us and his supposition that she is not is absolutely deny'd For the Church is Infallibly certain that Christ's promise to her shall not fail and also Infallibly certain by constant Tradition and the beleef of good Christians in all Ages that Christ has promis'd her this Security or Immunity from Errour in Faith none questioning it but those who have rebel'd and revolted from her In a word this whole Principle is Faulty being built on a False and unprov'd Supposition and were the Supposition granted and that the Church were Fallible still it were false that his Faithfull would have greater Assurance of their Faith than ours as hath been partly now shown and more amply in my Reply to the foregoing Principle Recapitulation The Sum then of Dr. St's Performances in these ten Principles of his which most Fundamentally concern his Faith and the pretended Reduction of it to Principles is briefly this that he hath not brought so much as one single Argument proving either that Scripture's Letter is the Rule of Faith nor that Tradition or the Infallible Testimony of Gods Church is not it And as for the particular Maxims or Sayings of his on which he chiefly relies they have been one by one disprov'd and the opposite Truths establish't As 1. That Faith being such an Assent as when built as it ought to be on the means left by God for mankinde to rely ou is impossible to be False and so that Means or the Rule of Faith being necessarily such as while men rely upon it is impossible they should erre These things I say being so as I have largely prov'd in Faith Vindicated and the Introductory Discourse to this present Examin Dr. St. has not so much as made an offer or attempt to show that Scripture is the Rule of Faith 2. That since 't is agreed God can contrive Writings sufficiently Intelligible for that End or sufficiently clear to ascertain those who rely upon them of their Faith and yet on the other side 't is evident God has not de facto done this or contriv'd such Methods and ways as our Reason tels us evidently are proper means to keep those Writings call'd the Scriptures from being thus mis-understood by severall Parties even in Fundamental Points as we experience they are it follows hence most manifestly that God never intended the way of writing for the Rule of Faith 3. Since several Parties of excellent capacities in understanding words aright and both owning Scripture for their Rule and applying themselves with greatest diligence to know the true sence of it do notwithstanding differ in those Fundamental Points of a Trinity and the God-head of Christ 't is manifest that Scripture is not able so secure those who rely on it to their power of the Truth of their Faith and so is not the Rule of Faith 4. Again since in passages that concern Faith the knowing whether the words be taken properly or improperly is that which determines what is Faith what not and this knowledge is not had from Scripture it follows that Scripture is not the Rule of Faith 5. God has no where promis'd that he will still assist those who sincerely endeavour to compass an end in case they take a way disproportion'd to attain that end and which way was consequently never intended by him for such an end for this were to engage himself to do perpetual Miracles when ever any one should act irrationally Wherefore unless it be first solidly prov'd that Scripture is the Rule of Faith or apt of its own nature to give those who rely on it Inerrable security of the Truth of their Faith while they thus rely on it and consequently that it was intended by God for such an end none can justly lay claim to God's assistance or tax his Justice or Veracity if they fall into Errour Much lesse if they neglect those Duties which Nature makes evident to them and common Christianity teaches viz. to obey and hear their Governours Pastors and Teachers ordain'd by God and rely on their own private Wit or God's Immediate Assistance to their single selves rather than to those Publick Officers of the Church God had appointed to govern and direct them for this intolerable spiritual Pride is so odious and pernicious that it most justly entitles them to delusion Errour and Heresie 6. Hence since God has left some means for Faith and 't is Blasphemy to say that those who rely according to their utmost power on the means left and Intended by God to lead Men into Truth can while they do so run into Errour which yet private understandings as was seen may relying on the Written Word it follows 〈◊〉 unavoidably that some other way is left which is not Writing to secure the Relyers on it from Errour in Faith or to be to them the Rule of Faith 7. Scripture not being the Rule and Christ's Doctrine being once settled and accepted in the Christian part of the World by means of Miracles there needed no more but to derive it down to future Ages and this Doctrine being Practicall and so objected
Position abating the Degree of it for I take it to be equally or more absurd not to assent to the Infallibilty of a great body of men which is all that is pretended whatever Reason or Tradition appear for it without an evident Miracle The second part is likewise granted in case it suppose as it seems to do the knowledge of their Infallibility deriv'd only from those very books which they recommend and in passages which they are to explicate ere they can be sure of such an infallibility Otherwise 't is possible a book obscure in multitudes of other passages may be clear in that one which relates them to the Church or that body which they are to hear and obey as to the proper interpreters of the Scriptures in Dogmatical and controverted passages which belong to Faith But the Dr. should do well to shew us any society of men or Church that pretends to build her Infallibility only on the Scriptures interpreted by that very Infallibility Otherwise it will not touch our Church who claimes the Supernatural assistance of the Holy Ghost upon her Rule of Faith Tradition and as for her being naturally supported from errour in attesting former doctrines 't is grounded by those who discourse of that point upon Humane nature as to its infallible Sensations and on its Rationality which renders it incapable to do any thing without a motive as they must do should they transmit a not-deliver'd that is an evidently-new doctrine for an old or deliver'd one 18. There can be no hazard to any person in mistaking the meaning of any particular place in those books supposing he use the best means for understanding them comparable to that which every one runs who beleeves any person or society of men to be infallible who are not for in this later he runs unavoidably into one great error and by that may be led into a thousand but in the former God hath promis'd either he shall not erre or he shall not be damn'd for it This whole Paragraph is built on a false and unprov'd supposition viz. that any Adversary of his beleeves any society of men to be Infallible which is not Other faults there are in it and that good store as granting in effect here what he lately deny'd that a man using the best means for understanding Scripture may mistake the meaning of any particular place though not with a hazard incomparable to that of the other whereas if Scripture be the Rule of Faith as he contended 't is impossible that a man relying and proceeding upon it and using that means in the best manner he can possibly should come to erre in his Faith for in this case the man having done all that can be done by him as to the understanding the Rule the fault must needs be in his judging that to be a Rule which is none But this main and fundamental error is coucht in the last words in the former God hath promis'd he shall not erre or shall not be damn'd for it what mean in the former case c. This certainly and nothing but this if we may trust his own words in mistaking the meaning of any particular place in thâ—se books supposing he use the best means for understanding them Now 't is a strange thing to me that God should promise that a man mistaking the meaning of these books should not erre in so doing But omitting this slip of Dr. St's Reason or memory I ask what means this disjunctive promise either of not erring or not being damn'd for it Why it means that Dr. St. knows not well himself what to say to the point or whether he should stand to it or no that a man using the best means for understanding Scripture that is according to him the best means lest by God for him to arrive at Faith should not erre and therefore he warily subjoyn'd or he shall not be damn'd for it and then he thinks himself secure enough from confute it being a hard thing to conclude of any particular wellâ— meaning man when he is damn'd when not whereas it might perhaps be no such hard matter to prove whether what he held was true or not I could ask him whence or how he comes to this assurance of God's disjunctive promise here so confidently asserted on the truth of which the salvation of so many souls necessarily depends Not by Tradition For this would make him rely on a society of men or a Church which he hates with all his heart not by Scripture for this would make the same thing be the proof to it self not by Reason for we are to suppose he has done his best in that already and yet as is shown has effected nothing But I would demand of him seriously did God ever promise that if one takes such a way as for want of a due intelligibleness in proportion to his capacity is not able to secure him from error he shall not erre or that if he will needs be wiser than his Pastors and chuse a Means for such an end which God never intended for that end he shall yet be sure to arrive at that end by that means or that if by relying on it and erring he shall happen to fall short of sufficient means he shall notwithstanding miraculously be sav'd without sufficient means These are the points he is to consider well and speak to and not thus confidently call every thing a Principle which he thinks fit to say on his own head though never so extravagant In a word let him prove Scripture to have in it the nature of a Rule of Faith or which will fall into the same to have been intended by God for that end that is to be of it self such to people of all capacities that soberly enquire as secures them from erring in Faith while they rely on it and this of it self without needing any society of Men or Church to attest or explain it and then I shall yeild his discourse to run as currently as his own heart can wish but in proving this he hitherto hath and ever must fall short most miserably He hath often as I noted formerly instead of saying his Rule of Faith should preserve those who endeavour to follow it from error or from missing of truth substituted those words cannot miss of what is necessary for their salvation and such like The examination of which words I have reserved till now and that I may do him all right imaginable I will press his Argument or rather indeed bare saying in behalf of Scripture as far as my reason can carry it None can deny but that the knowledge of a very few points are sufficient for well-meaning particular persons as appears by the Ieweâ— that were sav'd and many silly and weak Christians since nor can it be deny'd but every one that reads Scripture or hears it read by one they dare trust may understand some few good things to which if they live up heartily and
such persons are known to be lost it may be doubted nay it ought to be granted that the present Written Rule is defective in the nature of a Rule unless it be well made out that those divinely-inspir'd Writings which were lost were of another Nature then these extant and therefore that they had no part in being a Rule The Proofs for which point ought to be very pregnant and convincing otherwise it may be question'd whether any Books writ by men divinely inspir'd had in them the nature of a Rule or were intended for that end by God And this is particularly inforc'd because Dr. Sâ— here Princ. 28. makes Scripture the Rule and Measure of what we are to believe and if the Measure fall short 't is to be fear'd the thing measur'd or Faith will fall short likewise But if he says onely some of those divinely-inspir'd Writings were sufficient 't is very necessary it should be made out how many are needful that so it might be throughly understood what are the precise Grounds of Christian Faith concerning which yet there is much difference in opinion amongst those who hold the Letter-Rule which signifies that none of them know distinctly what themselves assign or hold to be that Rule Or if he says that onely those which Gods Providence has preserv'd are that Rule then he must either say that Gods Providence therefore preserv'd these because they contain'd holy Doctrin and were writ by men divinely-inspir'd or were apt to benefit future mankind and then by the same Reason those which perish'd should have been preserv'd too or else that God preserv'd these in particular because these which remain are besides those qualifications Proper and Sufficient to be the Rule of Faith And then he begs the Question and supposes his own Tenet true even while he is proving it so Nexâ— supposing the Originals of these Books now extant to have been once the Rule of Faith it was requisite the Church in the beginning shouâ—d have look'd upon them as such and consequently have made account for the first 300 years till when they were not collected or universally propos'd it had no Absolute Certainty or Entire Body of their Faith But of this we hear not that any had the least Jealousie or that they lookt after Books of Scripture as Things without which the Church was not either absolutely Certain of its Faith or had not all its Faith Again had those Books been then the Rule of Faith as considering that some of them were unacknowledg'd one scatter'd here another there accidentally is sensless to imagin Yet how can we â—ow or future Ages hereafter have Absolute Certainty that some substantial word or other is not alter'd omitted or inserted in those places that concern the main Points of Faith for example the Godhead of Christ or the Real Presence in case there be no Infallible Authority to attest the Truth of it which Dr. St. denies here Princ. 15. It is not evident he must say that none of these can be made out with Absolute Certainty and consequently confess with Dr. T. that all this may be otherwise unless he have recourse to Gods Extraordinary Assistance to the multitudes of Transcribers and Translators because of the Necessity the Letter should be thus preserv'd still unchang'd in regard otherwise none could say his Faith is True which again begs the Question and supposes it the Rule of Faith instead of proving it so Farther Let the Letter be suppos'd exactly like the Original how will that Letter secure from all possible Error all that rely on it as the Rule of Faith ought or to use Dr. St's words Princ. 15. reveal so plainly the whole will of God that no sober Enquirer can miss of what is necessary for salvation Now if they cannot miss of what 's necessary for salvation they must needs hit on it and so are in a manner Infallible as to that point while they rely thereon To put it to the Tryal let us consider what Disputes there are out of Scriptures Letter between Socinians and their Opposers about a Trinity and the Godhead of Christ and what between Catholicks and their Adversaries about the Real Presence How many Interpretations of This is my Body How many Allusions of one place to another in both those Points to hammer out the Truth and these agitated on both sides by Bodies of eminent men excellent Scholars Acute Scripturists Must every sober Enquirer and every private ignorant person who sincerely endeavours needs hit on the right and judge better of these Points than all those Learned men Or must we needs conclude that all those learned Enquirers found in each of those vast different parties are mad or Insincere I wish he would prove this 'T is his best Interest and would give his Argument some likelihood which till then has none for the Fact being so notorious how earnestly they all endeavour to find out the Truth of these points by the Letter none will judge but that if their Heads or Hearts be not strangely disorder'd by Folly or Insincerity the Letter which shouâ—d inform them is strangely incompetent for that end But 't is remarkable how neatly Dr. St. skips aside from the Point He undertakes not to give us any Assurance that his sober or sincere Enquirers shall by vertue of this his Rule of Faith find out that any one point of his Faith is an Absolutely Certain Truth but only that he shall not miss of what is necessary for salvation that he shall not erre or at least not be damn'd for it So that for any thing appears by his discourse let him but read the Scripture though he holds nothing but Error by so doing yet he is still in the way to salvation by the very Reading and Running into Errour But this deserves a particular reflexion hereafter Lastly the very nature and Genius of the Scripture as it now is shows that however it be excellently Vseful for perfecting the Lives of the Faithful in many regards yet it was never intended for the Rule of Faith For to omit innumerable other reasons frequently alledg'd by our Authors Its several parts were evidently writ on several emergent occasions and have not the least semblance as if the whole had been purposely compil'd to deliver an intire Body of Faith Nor does it observe any method tending to clear each several Point For it neither begins with defineing or explaining every word made use of in signifying those Points which is the best means to avoid Equivocation the Ground of all mistake nor does it pursue home the evidencing any one Point by making us aware of the sinister senses in which each word expressing that Point might seem to be taken nor does it put objections against each Tenet and establish us in the right Apprehension of it by solving them nor distinguish by laying common Rules to know when the words are to be taken properly when Metaphorically much less tell us particularly in
Christianity yet for any thing we know or these crafty common words inform us they have still all that is needfull to save them that is though they go wrong all their lives they are still all the while in the way to Heaven But I suppose Dr. St. means that no more is necessary for any ones salvation than just as much as he can understand in Scripture Which I wish he would once begin to set himself to prove make out by some convincing argument I am heartily weary of speaking still to his unprov'd and voluntary Assertions 14. To suppose the Books so written to be imperfect i. e. that any things necessary to be believed or practised are not contained in them is either to charge the first Author of them with fraud and not delivering his whole mind or the Writers with Insincerity in not setting it down and the whole Christian Church of the first Ages with folly in believing the Fulness and Perfection of the Scriptures in order to salvation As far as I apprehend the foregoing Principle was intended to shew that Scripture was sufficirntly Intelligible to be the Rule of Faith and this under examination is to prove it to be the measure of Faith as he calls it Princ. 28. and all he contends here is that it CONTAINS all that is necessary TO BE BELIEV'D and practic'd And that we may not multiply disputes I grant those Holy Books contain all he pretends some way or other either Implicitly or Explicitly either in Exprest words or by necessary conâ—equence But that those Books contain or signifie for they are the same all that is to be believed and practiced so evidently that all persons who sincerely endeavor to know their meaning and this for all future Ages may thence alone as his discourse aims to evince that is without the Churches interpretation arrive to know what 's necessary for their salvation with such a Certainty as is requisite for the Nature and Ends of Faith and the Obligations annext to it I absolutely deny and if he means this by the word Perfection which he adds to Fulness I deny also that either the first Author can be charg'd with Fraud since he promis'd no such thing or the Writers with Insincerity since they were not commanded nor did intend thus to express it nor as far as appears had any order from God to set down his whole mind but only writ the several pieces of it occasionally nor did the Christian Church in the first Ages ever attribute to Scriptures such an Intelligibleness as that private persons should ground their Faith upon their Evidence without needing the Churches Interpretation if we speak of all points necessary to Mankinds salvation as he seems and ought to do And here I desire to enter this declaration to all the world that I attribute not the least Imperfection to the Holy Scriptures Every thing has all the Perfection it ought to have if it can do what it was intended to do and in the manner it was Intended Treatises of deep Philosophy are not Imperfect if they be not as plain as plainest Narrative Histories no not if they be ita editi ut non sint editi in case they were meant as a matter for the Author to explain and dilate upon to his Scholars nor are the Laws Imperfect though they often need Learned Judges to interpret them Nor are we to expect that the Prophecy of Isaiah should be as plain as the Law of Moses The Immediate End of writing each piece as far as appears to us was occasional St. Pauls Epistles were evidently so nor can I doubt but they were perfect in their kind and apt to signify competently to those to whom he writ what he intended so that if they had any farther doubt they might send to ask him or do it viva voce and yet we see that even in those days when the complexion of all the Circumstances was fresher and neerer then now some unlearned persons err'd damnably in mistaking and misconceiving them that is while they went about to frame their Faith out of them 'T is questionless also they rely'd upon them as Gods Word or dictated by the Holy Ghost else they had not so built upon them or adher'd to them They might sincerely endeavour too to know their meaning yet if the Writings were disproportion'd to their pitch they migh Erre damnably for all that What farther End God intended the H. Scriptures for appears not by any Expresse either promise or declaration of our Saviour but out of the knowledge that they were writ by persons divinely inspir'd and the Experience the Church had of their Vsefulness towards Instruction and Good Life joyn'd with the Common Knowledg we have that all Goods that come to the Church happen through the ordering of Gods Providence hence we justly conclude as Dr. St. well says that they were intended and writ also for the Benefit of future Ages And from their Vsefulness and the success of their Use we may gather how God intended them for the Church The Learned and stable sons of the Church read them with much fruit to excite their wills to Goodness The Pastore of the Church make excellent use of them in exhorting preaching catchising c. and in many other uses of this sort they are excellently beneficial which are so many that were it now seasonable for me to lay them open at large as I truly hold them none would think I had little Reverence for Scriptures but in deciding Controversies or finally silencing Hereticks as the Rule of Faith ought to do by the unavoidable evidence of the Text to private persons no use was ever made of them alone with any success as the Fathers also complain Unless the the Churches Authority going along animated the dead Letter in dogmatical passages and shew'd the sense of the places to have been perpetually held from the beginning and so give It the Sense Majesty Authority and Force of Gods VVord elevating it thus above the repute of being some private Conceit or Production of Skill and Wit interpreting the Letter Scripture then is perfect or has all due to the nature God intended it if duly made use of as the Churches best Instrument it be able to work those Effectâ— spoken of though it be not so Evident or self-authoriz'd as to be the Rule of Faith We give it absolute Pre-eminence in its kind that is above all other Writings that ever appear'd in the world but we prefer before it Tradition or Gods Church which is the Spouse of Christ the Pillar and Ground of Truth and consisting of the Living Temples of the H. Ghost for whose sole Good as its Final End Scripture it self was intended and written 15. These Writings being owned as containing in them the whole Will of God so plainly reveal'd that no sober enquirer can miss of what is necessary for salvation there can be no necessity supposed of any Infallible society of men either
to attest or explain these Writings among Christians any more than there was for some Ages before Christ of such a Body of men among the Iews to attest or explain to them the VVritings of Moses or the Prophets He that owns this must own it without reason for any thing appears yet for Dr. St. has afforded us hitherto nothing to prove this point but a few words craftily laid together which when look'd into have not a jot of reason in them And the like empty inside we find in this present Principle For if the whole will of God be plainly reveal'd in Scripture then in case nothing else be requisit to understand Gods will but the disposition of soberly enquiring as he puts no other it must follow that no sober Enquirer can miss of knowing there the whole will of God and since every Article of Faith is part of Gods VVill it would follow hence that every sober Enquirer may understand all Faith in Scripture which yet the Dr. is not dispos'd to say as appears by his avoiding to put down what the tenour of his discourse requir'd namely that the whole will of God is so plainly reveal'd in Scripture that no sober Enquirer can miss of knowing his whole will there and instead of it substituting that the whole will of God is so plainly reveal'd in Scripture that no sober Inquirer can miss of what is necessary for salvation which words may be true though they fall far short of knowing the whole will of God by that means Next it is very material and it would be very requisiâ—e to know how a man must be qualify'd to be a sober Enquirer In order to which we may reflect that as was said before it ought in reason be judged Gods will that we should know whether Christ be God and whether his Body and consequently Himself be really in the Sacrament lest we either want the best Incitements to Devotion if he be and we judge he is not or else commit material Idolatry by judging him to be so when he is not so Now I would have him clearly show clearly I say for all depends upon it according to his Grounds in what either the Roman Catholicks or the Socinians fall short in point of being sober enquirers for 't is plain they must both fall short of being such if the whole will of God be clearly reveal'd in Scripture since the former holds Christ is really in the Sacrament the other that he is not God the contrary to both which I suppose Dr. St. holds to be the true sense of Scripture Farther if there can be no necessity of any Infallible society of men either to attest or explain those Writings 't is Evident there can be no need of a Fallible society of men for those Ends. For if Writings which are attested or explained by a Fallible Society of men be the Rule of Faith or the Grounds God has left us to build our Faith on and it be evident that a Fallible Attestation or Explication may possibly lead us into nothing but Errour it would follow that God himself may possibly have led all Christians hitherto and still leads them to the end of the world into actual Errour since a reliance on Fallible means of knowing the Letter and Sense cannot possibly raise any Assent beyond possibility of being Erroneous There needs therefore by Dr. St's discourse neither Infallible nor Fallible Societies and so according to his Principles farewell all Church both Catholick and Protestant as far as concerns these two main Duties on which all else depends Again though all this were true and that the Scriptures were own'd as containing in them the whole VVill of God so plainly reveal'd that no sober Enquirer can miss of what 's necessary to salvation and that therefore there needed no Church to explain them Yet 't is a strange Consequence that therefore there can be no necessity of any Infallible society of men to ATTEST them or to witness that the Letter of Scripture is right This is so far from following out of the former part of his Discâ—â—â—se that the contrary ought to follow 〈…〉 prejudicing his own pretence that 〈◊〉 conduces exceedingly to it for certainâ—y his sober Enquirer would less be in doubt to miss of what is necessary to salvation in case the Letter on which all depends be well attested than if it be not and most certainly an Infallible society of men can better attest that Letter than a Fallible one and those Writings can with better show of reason be owned to contain in them the VVill of God if their Letter be attested beyond possibility of being wrong than if left in a possibility of being such for if the Letter be wrong all is wrong in this case It might seem wonderful then what it is that thus byasses Dr. St. against his own Interest And I wish I had reason to think it were not a kind of Innate Antipathy against not onely our Church but Church in Common and a desire to attribute as little to it as he can possibly though he hazzard some prejudice to his own Cause and even all Christian Faith into the bargain His whole way of discourse here bends strongly towards the taking away all divine Institution of Pastors for this would oblige the people to hear them and levelling all into a Fanatick Anarcâ—y I would gladly interpret him otherwise and imagine that perhaps he means that since 't is own'd the Scriptures thus contain Gods will therefore there needs not be supposed any Infallible society of men either to attest or explain them but I cannot conceive he should think Scriptures Letter must be own'd to be right without some either Fallible or Infallible Authority to attest it to be such or that however he may sceptically dread no Authority can be Infallible yet that he will deny but that it were good there were such an Authority to attest Scriptures Letter nay needful too in case he heartily held that Christian Faith built according to his Grounds solely on that Letter may not possibly all be a Ly which common sense tells us it may be in case we may all be deceiv'd in the Truth of the Letter Lastly That for some Ages before Christ there was no Necessity of such a Body of men among the Iews to attest or explain to them the VVritings of Moses and the Prophets is first not prov'd and yet Dr. St. builds upon it as confidently as if it were evidently concluded or else Self-evident Next what mean those words for some Ages before Christ If the whole time of the Moâ—aiâ—al Law then 't is evidently false since Deut. 17. v. 10 11 c. God commanded upon pain of death to do according as some persons he had appointed for that end should explain the Writings belonging to that Law and if these men had not some way or other been secured from Errour God by commanding the subject Laity under so heavy a penalty to
as well as a private man to consider the consequence of mistaking also I am sure it as much concerns her and so the Church or as he cals it a Society of men may also be Infallible in understanding and explaining Scripture and by this means we are come about again to an Infallible Proponent which we have so zealously labour'd to avoid In a word after he has put all Means left by God to be Certain of our Faith and all the diligence and care possible to be used by man to lay hold on those means let him either acknowledge that any particular man in the world and so a fortiori God's Church or any Sâ—ciety of men exactly following relying on those Means to arrive at right Faith is by so doing Infallible in that thing or in interpreting Scripture and by consequence that Christian Faith is Infallibly Certain or else confess that notwithstanding all means us'd all Christian Faith is still either not Certain at all or else Fallibly Certain which is a peece of most profound Nonsense and were it sense signifies plain all may be False The later half of this Principle is still more admirable Nonsense than the former and shows how meanly he is verst in solid Divinity he conterposes there the Certainty in matters of Faith to that which God has made use of as the means to keep men from Sin in their lives as if Faith were not intended by God to make men Virtuous and the Certainty of Faith the most effectual part of those means But because I see Dr. St. though he have a very good witt yet by reason of his sole Application to verbal Divinity which never reaches the Ground or Bottom of any thing it talks of is very Ignorant of what is meant by Christian Life and it's opposite Vice or Sin I will take a little pains to inform him better He may please then to know that it suting best with God's Wisdom to govern the world by way of Causes and Effects he carries on the course of his Ordinary Providence even in Supernaturalls by means of Dispositions The whole design then of his Goodness is to plant those dispositions in our Soul by means of Religion as may make us most comfortable to himself that so Ascensiones in corde nostro disponendo asceendamus de virtute in virtutem donec videatur Deus Deorum in Sion That is by Ordering those rising Steps in our heart we may ascend from Virtue to Virtue till the God of Gods be seen in Sion Hence the life of a Chriâ—tian as such is spiritual and the Proper way for him to worship God is in spirit that is by Spiritual Acts or Habits to perfect his Soul or that part in us which is Spiritual and dispose is for Heaven But Errour is also spiritual and yet is far from perfecting our Soul therefore Truth must go along with it and so we are to worship God in spirit and Truth Hence the first of virtues in priority of Nature is true Knowledge of God and of the motives or means to attain him and the only way for the Generality to arrive at these is by beleeving his Divine Authority upon some way of Revelation which gives his Church and by her and all others Absolute Certainty 't is engaged by which means we are perfectly secure that what we proceed upon is God's sense or Truth which is the Basis of all our Spiritual building Out of these Knowledges are apt to spring Adoration Reverence Hope and Love of him above all things in Christian Language call'd Charity the Queen of all Virtues major autem horuni Charitas says St. Paul and out of this Love of God above all things Love of our Neighbour as our self in the heartiness of which or the having that Rational disposition in our hearts to do as we would be done to consists the keeping all the Commandments of the Second Table which is also our good for so more undisturb'd by Passion or vexation from the Exteriour World whose order we violate in transgressing against these we are more free to practice those other vertues which are to elevate us towards Heaven and fit us according to the measure of out pitch appointed by God for the Attainment of Bliss Hence is seen what is meant by sin or vice For this being formally a defect is only a want of the opposit good Disposition or Virtue The chief Vice then is Hatred of God or a very sleighting and perfectly deliberate dis-regard Posthabition of his Incomparable self our Final Bliss to a Creature next Despair Irreverence Infidelity totally as in Heathenism or in some particular as Turâ—ism Iudaism Heresy In the last place comes the want of that due Love of our Neighbour for God's sake as leaves our Will dispos'd as far as that motive carries us to do him any injury for our own temporal Convenience in which consists the violation of the Commandments of the Second Table Insomuch as though a man commits not one of those Acts there forbidden out of the motive of Worldly Honour Civility Fear or any other such like yet if he wants that rightly-grounded Interiour Love of his Neighbour and builds not his Avoidance of harming him on that motive that is if he be dispos'd to commit them all for any thing that motive would hinder him however in the sight of man or Exteriourly he keeps those Commandments yet is he guilty of them all Interiourly or in the sight of God To apply this then to our present purpose 'T is seen hence that Faith is the Basis of all virtuous Life and consequently the want of it the ruin of all virtue and the ready way to all Vice and sin For external Acting or Avoiding are nothing to Christian virtue unless they spring from a Christian motive and 't is only Faith which gives us those Motives and the stability well-groundedness or Truth of Faith which renders those Motives effectual Wherefore unless the Faithful be materially Infallible while they believe God has revealed such and fuch things that is unless God did indeed reveal them and so their Faith be really True all Gods worship and Good life is ill-built ruinous and fals to the Ground And unless some of them or those who are capable to understand it to be True be formally Infallible it would work less effectually in all those who should reâ—lect that they saw not but it might be False or be made so reflect by others who were enemies to Faith nor could the Truth of Christian Faith be defended or made out or be Justifiably recommended to others as True nor with Wisdom and Honesty be profest True by those who judge themselves capable to look through it's Grounds and yet see nothing Conclusive of Truth in them Wherefore this Fallible Certainty of his destroys all Efficacy all Defence and even Essence of Faith and consequently radically subverts and overthrows all Christian Virtue and all true Goodness Which I attest
the Authour and Finisher of our Faith is the true reason why I with so much zeal and Earnestness oppose him and his Friend for advancing Vncertainty and consequently Scepticism in Faith however they and their angry passionate party are pleas'd to apprehend me I perceive Dr. St. will hope to evade by saying that Christian virtue may be upheld by the Certainty we have of some Points of Faith though others be Vncertain which Points to make his Uncertainty of Faith go down the better he cals here Opinions But if he means by Opinions the Tenets of a Trinity Christs Godhead and Presence in the B. Sacrament all most highly concerning Christian Life one way or other in which we discern great parties differing who all â—dmit the Scripture and use the best means to interpret it as far as we can perceive nay and consider the consequence of mistaking too which he makes the very best means of all If I say these and such as these be the Opinions he speaks of and counterposes them to means to keep men from sin in their lives and that the Rule of Faith he assigns leaves whol Bodies of Reliers on it in actual Errour in such Fundamental Points of Faith and of most high concernment to good life as has been shown even while they proceed upon it 't is evident 't is not the Rule God intended his Church and mankinde to build their Faith on and so none can presume of security of mistake by relying purely upon it but all of Concern not known before by some other means that is all which it alone holds forth may be also liable to be a mistake likewise unless some other Authority more ascertainable to us then it abets it's Letter in such passages as are plain because they are either meerly Moral or Narrative or explain it's sense in others which are more spiritual and supernatural and so more peculiar and Fundamental to Christianity Recapitulation To meet with the absurd Positions exprest or else imply'd in the Doctrin deliver'd here by Dr. St. in these last Eleven Principles of his I take leave to remind the Reader of these few opposit Truths establisht in my former Discourse 1. That Assent call'd Faith taken as built on the Motives left by God to light Mankind to the Knowledge of his Will that is taken as it ought to be taken and as 't is found in the Generality is for that Reason Absolutely that is more then morally Certain or Impossible to be False 2. Though the Nature of Assent depend immediatly on the Evidence we have of it in our minds when 't is Rational yet in case it be True as the Assent of Faith ought to be it must necessarily be built and depend fundamentally on the nature of the Thing since without dependance on It this Evidence it self cannot possibly be had 3. A man may be materially Infallible or out of possibility of being actually deceiv'd in judging the divine Authority is engag'd by adhering to another's Iudgment who is Infallible or in the right in thus judging though he penetrate not the reason why that other man comes to be Infallible Also he who is thus Infallible being in possession of those Truths reliev'd upon the Divine Authority as the Formal motive of believing them which Truths as Principles beget those good Affections in him in which consist our Christian Life such a man I say has consequently enough speaking abstractedly for the Essence of Saving Faith though he be not Formally or knowingly Infallible by penetrating the Conclusiveness of the Grounds of Faith 4. To be thus materially Infallible or thus in the right in judging the Divine Authority is engag'd is requisite and necessary for the Essence of Faith otherwise the believing upon the Divin Authority when 't is not engag'd and so perhaps the believing and holding firmly to abominable Errours and Hereticall Tenets might be an Act of Faith to assert which is both absurd and most impious 5. 'T is requisite to the Perfection of Faith to be formally or Knowingly Infallible that the Divine Authority is engag'd For since it hazards Heresy and Errour to judge that the Divine Authority is engag'd for any point when 't is not it ought to breed suspence and caution in Reflecters till they see it engag'd consequently the better they see this the more heâ—rtily they are apt to assent to the point upon the Divine Authâ—rity So that the Absolute Certainty of the Grounds which conclude the Divine Authority engag'd betters and strengthens the Act of Faith 6. However it be enough for the Faith of those whose downright rudeness lets them not reflect at all to be only Materially Infallible that God's Authority is engag'd yet 't is besides of Absolute necessity to Reflecters who raise doubts especially for those who are very acute to discern some reason which cannot deceive them or to be formally or knowingly Infallible that 't is indeed actually engag'd for those points Otherwise it would follow that provision enough had been made by God to satisfy or cause saving Faith in Fools and none at all to breed Faith wise men which without satisfaction in this in point is in possible to be expected in such through-sighted Reflecters The same Formal Infallibility is necessary for the wisest sort of men in the Church both to deâ—end Faith and establish it's Grounds in a Scholar-like way as also for their Profession of the Truth of Faith and other Obligations incumbent on them as Faithfull and lastly for the Effects which are to be bred in them by Faith's Certainty 7. Though then the Rule of Faith needs not to be actually penetrated by all the Faithfull while they proceed unreflectingly yet it ought to be so qualifi'd that it may satisfy all who are apt to reflect and so to doubt of their Faith that is it 's Ruling power ought to be penetrable or evidenceable to them if they come to doubt and also so connatural and suitable to the unelevated and unreflecting thoughts of men of all sorts that it be the most apt that maybe to establish the Faithfull in the mean time and preserve them from doubting of their Faith Both these are found in Tradition or Testifying Authority and not in Scripture's Letter That therefore and not This is the Rule of Faith 8. Infallible Certainty of Faith being rejected the Moral Certainâ—y he substitutes must either be a Fallible Certainty or none this later is Impious the former is non-sense Wherefore all Dr. St's Discourse of Faith while he rejects Infallibility must forcibly have the one or the other of these Qualifications 9. A firm Assent to a thing as True renders no man Certain of what he thus assents to for so Hereticks might be truly Certain of all the pestilent Errours they hold so they but firmly assent they are True 10. Faith being the Basis of all Christian Virtues on which all our spiritual Edifice is built and from whence we derive all the