Power and Assistance of God who is both the Framer and Controller of Nature or which is the same thing in effect by the Mediation and Ministry of good Spirits who always act obediently to his Will So that whether mediately or immediately it is God who is to be looked upon as the Original and Author of all those wonderful Things which were done by Jesus and his Disciples Now then Since God did interpose his Power to work such strange and stupenduous things for the Propagation and Confirmation of that Doctrine which was taught by Jesus and his Disciples This I think is a sufficient Demonstration that their Doctrine was certainly true For Who can imagine that God should make use of his extraordinary Power only to cheat and deceive the World into the Belief of a Lye I conclude therefore That the Primitive Christians had sufficient Reason to believe that it was revealed by God from Heaven that whosoever would believe on Jesus and receive and live according to his Religion should be made very happy in thenext Life this very thing being the grand Point of Doctrine which Jesus and his Disciples taught and preached to the World And if we are sure that the Primitive Christians had Reason sufficient to believe this from hence it follows That we have sufficient Reason to believe it also XX. But Jesus himself being long since ascended into Heaven and his Disciples who first preached the Gospel departed out of the World here I think it is necessary to enquire to whom or to what I must apply my self that amidst the several Parties in the World who all call themselves True and Orthodox Christians each condemning all others but themselves I may be truly and surely informed what is the true and genuine Religion or Doctrine of Jesus which I ought to receive and live according to in order to my future Happiness For if I do not this I must either reject the Doctrine of Jesus and so lose my future Happiness or else take it altogether upon Trust and by chance and then 't is odds but I light upon the wrong and must needs run a very great hazard And though he who is in a Mistake and cannot tell how to help it will doubtless find an easie Pardon from God yet he who falls into Errour for want of moderate Care and Diligence to find out the Truth has I think no pretence either to Pardon or so much as to Pity XXI The Roman Catholicks do tell me that I must apply my self to the Church This Church they define to be that Society of Persons who prosess Faith in Jesus Christ and live in Subjection to and Communion with the Pope or Bishop of Rome This Church they say is infallible and not only does not but cannot err in any Doctrine of Religion Go then say they to this Church and receive the Doctrine which she teaches and there you have certainly and infallibly the true and pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ But I cannot give my Assent to follow this their Direction because I find such great Difficulties in my way as I think are insuparable at least I am sure such as I am not able to overcome For First Although it may be a certain Truth that there shall always be a Church that is to say a Company of People some where or other professing the true Christian Religion as long as the World shall last yet what solid Proof can be brought that this particular Society of Men who live in Communion with the Pope or Bishop of Rome are alone the true Church and shall always keep and maintain amongst them the true and uncorrupt Doctrine of Jesus Christ This Matter being a Question of Revelation and positive Institution is uncapable of being proved by any Argument drawn from Natural Reason And as for the Texts of Scripture which they alledge it is even ridiculous to think that any sober and unprejudiced Person should be convinced by them as will evidently appear to any one who impartially reads what the Romish and Protestant Divines have written on this Controversie For there are none of those Texts but are fairly and naturally capable of another Interpretation and must be very much strained and wrested to make them countenance the Romish Doctrine Besides that the Divines of the Church of Rome do generally teach That no Man can be sure of the Authority or Sense of any Text of Scripture especially if it appear to be any way doubtful except he receives the Proposal and Interpretation thereof from this their Church which they say is infallible So that a Man must of necessity believe the Infallibility of their Church before he can any way be sure of the Credit or even of the Sense of those Texts of Scripture which they bring to prove it And then What need is there of Scripture-Arguments to prove a thing which must be acknowledged before the Arguments can have any force or even be as much as certainly understood And if they tell me that the Fathers and ancient Christian Writers do testifie thus much of the Church of Rome I can only say that the Protestant Divines who seem to me to be Men of as much Learning and Integrity as the Romish do declare that it is far otherwise Nor have I Skill enough in Language and Antiquity to take upon me to judge of this Dispute Neither do I understand by what Authority the Writings of those Persons who are acknowledged to have been subject to Errours should be obtruded on me as a Rule of my Faith or as a sufficient Argument to determine my Assent in so weighty a Matter Secondly Supposing but not granting that in the Church of Rome the true and pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ was preserved yet still it is granted that particular and private Men who live in the visible Communion of that Church may teach false and corrupt Doctrine Here then I demand How shall I certainly distinguish the Doctrine of the Church from the Opinions of private Men And how shall I certainly know what is the true Meaning of the Church's Doctrine They of the Church of Rome are not agreed who it is that has Authority to declare and expound the Doctrine of their Church whether it be the Pope or a General Council or neither alone but both together Or if they were unanimous in this Point yet how shall I know whether such a particular Person who possesses the Chair be a true and lawful Pope or such a particular Assembly a true and lawful General Council Or Suppose they could satisfie me in this Demand yet there is no Council now sitting nor if there were could I go to them or to the Pope to receive Instruction nor can the Pope or a Council be at leisure to satisfie the Demands of every private Enquirer How then can I be sure that this or that particular Person does both rightly understand and faithfully propose the Doctrine of the Church to me Especially since
given to them or that such Opposition might soon be suppressed and over-ruled by the Power and Reputation of such prevailing Men. From all which I cannot but conclude That though the general Tradition or Testimony of the Church may be a good Help yet it may not always be a certain Rule to lead me to the entire and unaltered Doctrine of Jesus XXIII Other there are who tell me That to find out the true and entire Doctrine of Jesus I must apply my self to the holy Scripture that is to say to the Books commonly called the Old and the New Testament And because I look upon this to be the right Way I shall briefly and plainly deliver my Thoughts in relation to these Books And first of the New Testament That the New Testament as it was extant in the Greek Toegue has been ever universally owned by all Christians as containing a true though some deny it to be a full Account of the Life and Doctrine of Jesus is a thing so notorious and so universally acknowledged that I cannot find the least Ground or Reason to question it Now the History and Doctrine of Jesus being so well known unto the first Christians by the Preaching of the Apostles and Disciples and they being so ready upon all Occasions to lay down their Lives for the Truth of Christianity it cannot be imagined that ever they would so readily and universally receive and own such a Book if it had contained any thing in it which was dissonant from that Doctrine which they had received It is confessed indeed that some of those Books which make up the Volume of the New Testament that is to say the Epistle to the Hebrews that of St. James the Second of St. Peter that of St. Jude the Second and Third of St. John and the Revelations were not so soon and so universally received throughout the Christian Church as the rest of the Books were The Reason of which apparently was not That these Books contained any thing in them contrary to what was delivered it the other Books of the New Testament for he that reads the whole will plainly find that there is a very compleat Agreement between them the only seeming Discord of St. Paul's Justification by Faith and St. James's Justification by Works being exactly and fully reconciled by considering That St. Paul means no other Faith but such as worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. and St. James no other Works but such as proceed from Faith Jam. 2. 22. But because it was not at first universally known who were the Authors of them Which abundantly shews the Care and Caution of the Christian Church in not being hasty to receive and admit any Books as authentick Records of their Doctrine without very good Warrant for so doing And therefore since these same Books were in a very little time after received and owned to be of equal Authority with the rest of the New Testament I cannot but from thence conclude That those Churches which at the first doubted concerning those Books did soon receive most full and ample Satisfaction in that matter from those who had before received them I conclude therefore That the Book of the New Testament as it was extant in the Primitive Times in the Greek Tongue did contain a true Account of the Doctrine of Jesus XXIV That innumerable Copies of the New Testament were in a very little time dispersed through all places where Christianity was planted That it has heen at different times and in very distant places translated into all or almost all Languages And that Copies both of the Original and many of the several Translations have been preserved with much Care in a great many distant Parts of the World is allowed by all and denied by none From whence I think we may gather First That where the Generality of the Greek Copies of the New Testament do agree in the very same Words there we have undoubtedly the true and authentick Words of the New Testament For although some Mistakes might creep into some Copies either through the Wickedness or Negligence of some particular Men yet where so many Copies of a Book have been so carefully preserved and in such distant Parts of the World it is not to be imagined that the self-same Errour in any Expression should ever be propagated through the Generality of them Secondly That where the Words or Expressions of divers Greek Copies do differ one from another yet if the Sense and Meaning be exactly the same in all or almost all there we have certainly the true Sense and Meaning of the New Testament For it is easie to apprehend that a Transcriber might by a small Mistake put one Word or Expression of the same Signification in stead of another But that the same Sense should be punctually preserved in all or almost all Copies is not to be imagined except it were the true Sense delivered from the Beginning Thirdly That if there may be found any different Readings in divers Copies of the New Testament which disagree in Sense as well as in Words which scarce ever happens in any thing which is accounted a material Point of Religion then it seems to be most fit and proper to admit of that Reading and Sense which best agrees with the Tenour of the whole with the ancientest and best esteemed Translations and with the evident Principles of sound Reason And if any place be so obscure as that none of these Ways will afford any Light into its Meaning then I think that no stress ought to be laid upon it in any necessary part of Religion XXV But some will demand How are we sure of the Sense and Meaning even of those places of the New Testament where there is no difference about the Words In Answar to this I have already shewn § 21. that we are not to follow the Guidance of the Church of Rome to know the true Doctrine of Jesus Nor therefore consequently to know the true Meaning of the New Testament in which his Doctrine is owned to be contained I have shewn also § 22. That though general Tradition may be a good Help yet may it not always be a certain Rule to lead one to the unaltered Doctrine of Jesus nor therefore consequently to the true and genuine Interpretation of the New Testament Since therefore there is no other way to be found I conclude That the New Testament is to be interpreted the same way that other Books are that is by considering the Sense and Property of the Words and Sentences and the ordinary Figures of Speech as they are commonly used in the same Book and in others written in the same Language and about the same time together with the Scope Drift Coherence and Occasion of the Discourse To which End every Man that is learned being bound to use his best Endeavour to know the Will of God as I have shewn § 14. is obliged according to the measure of his Learning to consult
because such Actions do tend to the general Happiness of his Creatures whom he loves § 16. and for the contrary Reason it will follow that he hates and abhors all Actions that are evil And this is what I mean when I say That God is most holy 19. All possible Excellency or Perfection that I can conceive is reducible unto these Five Heads viz. 1. Perfection of Being which consists in perpetual Duration without any Decay or Infirmity 2. Perfection of Understanding which consists in such Knowledg and Wisdom as is free all Mistake or Ignorance 3. Perfection of the Will which consists in a free Liberty to choose or refuse without any Constraint or fatal Necessity 4. Perfection of Power which consists in an Ability to do every thing And 5. Moral Perfection which consists in an inflexible Resolution always to do and encourage that which is morally good and to avoid and discourage whatsoever is morally evil Now since all these Perfections are in God in the most absolute manner as I think I have shewn in the foregoing Paragraphs from hence it will follow That God is most absolutely perfect 20. And since he who is absolutely perfect can stand in need of nothing it must also follow that God is most perfectly happy in Himself 21. As my Reason do's evidently demonstrate unto me the Being of a God so does it not in the least suggest to me any Argument to conclude that there is any more but One God And it is absurd and unreasonable to multiply Beings without any Ground or Reason for it 22. That there is a real and not only a nominal Distinction between the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost or Spirit that they are frequently spoken of in the Holy Scriptures in such Terms as we ordinarily use when we speak of Three Persons altho sometimes this Expression Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit may be put to signifie not so much the Person as the Power Effect or Energy of God's Spirit That altho the Son be often spoken of as really and truly a Man yet many things are said of him which cannot agree to a meer Man or to any created Being whatsoever and that there are such things also spoken of the Holy Ghost as cannot be accommodated unto a Creature Moreover that the Son derives his Being from and always depends upon the Father as the Holy Ghost does from and upon the Father and the Son All these things I say in my Opinion are not to be denyed by any one who will but interpret the Holy Scriptures according to the ordinary Sense and Signification of the Words thereof and not according to his own Prejudices or preconceived Opinions And altho the Socinians do clearly enough expound some of those Texts of Scripture which with more Zeal than Reason are sometimes urged against them yet as to the principal Passages which are alleged to prove what I have now asserted I think their Interpretation of them not only to be harsh and strained which in a manner is acknowledged even by their own acute and brief Historian in the last Paragraph of his second Letter but also many times to be utterly irreconcileable unto the Words and Context And now to explain those Conceptions which arise in my Mind upon the Consideration of the Texts here hinted at as well as in a Matter so abstruse and remote from my Senses I am able since I cannot find a more proper Term to express the Distinction of the Father Son and Holy Ghost by I call them Three Persons and not knowing what other Title to give a Divine Person who is no Creature I call each Person God But I give the Title of God in a more emphatical manner unto the Father than unto the Son or Holy Ghost because the Father depends on none but they do depend on him And since both my Reason and the Holy Scriptures do teach me to own no more than one God I am of necessity compelled to say that these Three are so united together tho in such a manner as is above my Understanding as to be but one God And altho it argues a great deal of Imperfection in Humane Speech that for want of other fit and proper Terms we are forced to give the same Appellation to each Person singly and to the Three conjointly yet this does not imply any manner of Contradiction as some do object because when we apply the Word God to one single Person it has not the same exact and adequate Signification as when we ascribe it unto the Three Persons conjointly for that would imply that each single Person were at the same time the Three Persons and so confound that Distinction which the Holy Scriptures do so often and apparently make between them And this analogical Difference in the Signification of the Word God will easily solve most of those Objections which the Socinians do bring against the Doctrin of the Trinity And because I know no better Word to express that Unity which I apprehend to be between the Three Persons I therefore say that they are One in Essence or Substance For Unity of Concord or Consent alone does not seem enough to me to denominate them to be One God And because I find that the Son is said to be begotten and the Holy Ghost to proceed or be sent or emitted I therefore make use of these Terms without pretending to assign the Difference between Generation and Procession And altho the Son and the Holy Ghost being each of them God are and must needs be of the same Nature and upon that account equal with the Father yet it is manifest that this Equality must be understood with an Allowance for the absolute Independence of the Father and the Dependence of the Son and Holy Ghost upon him 23. All the Objections that I can remember to be made against the Doctrin of the Trinity thus stated I think are easie enough to be solved by what I have now said excepting Two which must be particularly answered The first is taken from Joh. 10. 33. c. But tho our Saviour did not here assert his Divinity when there seemed to be occasion for it yet it will not follow that therefore he is not God Especially if we consider that it was not always his Custom to give full and compleat Answers unto such captious Questions and Objections as were put to him But sometimes he contented himself only with shewing the Unreasonableness of those who proposed them of which we have one Instance Mat. 21. 23. c. and another Joh. 8. 3. c. and as some think another Mat. 22. 17. c. And we may as well conclude that he had no Authority for what he did because he did not declare it when the Chief Priests and Elders questioned it Mat. 21. 23. as deny his Divinity because he did not expresly maintain it when on that account he was charged with Blasphemy The other Objection is drawn from Mar. 13.
32. But to it I answer That our Saviour's Design in that Place being only to represent the Day there spoken of as a Secret not to be made known unto Men until it should come upon them that they might always stand upon their Guard watch and prepare for it Let but the Word know be taken to signifie to make known which fully answers the Design of the Place and as it is evident St. Paul uses the same Word 1 Cor. 2. 2. Idetermined says he not to know that is not to make known or teach any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified and then the most natural Paraphrase of that Place will be this But that Day and Hour there is no one who shall or can make known unto you no not the Angels which are in Heaven who may be supposed to be ignorant of it themselves nor even the Son himself who altho he knoweth all things Joh. 21. 17. yet can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Joh. 5. 19. And who speaketh not of himself but the Father which sent him gave him Commandment what he should say Joh. 12. 49. But the Father only shall in his own time make it known by bringing it to pass And this Exposition of this Place of Scripture which is the only Text that seems to press very hard upon us in this Controversy I am sure is much more easie and natural than many of those Interpretations which the Socinians do advance of the principal Passages which we urge against them But if any one shall tell me that this whole Matter concerning the Trinity is very obscure and difficult to be apprehended and therefore that it is unreasonable to require the explicit Belief of such Doctrin as necessary either to Salvation or Church-communion As to the Obscurity it is not to be expected that it should be otherwise since in this Life we know but in part and prophesie in part and see but through a Glass darkly or in a Riddle as the Margin has it Word for Word from the Original 1 Cor. 13. 9 12. As to Church-communion I shall speak of it hereafter in its proper Place And as touching Salvation I refer my Reader to what I have said § 3. and Part 1. § 14. and § 26. 24. Either the Matter of this visible World did from all Eternity coexist together with God or else it was produced from Nothing by him there being no Third Way to be assigned Now both these Ways being above tho neither of them contrary to my Reason my Reason alone can never solidly determine which of them is the right But the later of these making most in my Opinion for the Honour of God of whom as being the most perfect Being I think I ought to entertain the most glorious Thoughts that possibly I can and the Holy Scriptures so often ascribing Eternity without Beginning unto God in an emphatical manner as his alone peculiar Attribute I am thereby brought to believe that the Matter of this World is not eternal but was at first created by God from Nothing and consequently that God can again annihilate it or any Part of it if it should so please him 25. That God did contrive frame and fashion this World and every part of it and also that he still preserves and governs it by his Providence I have formerly concluded Part 1. § 7. and § 10. And tho every ignorant Person is not able to dive into and fathom the Counsels of a great and Sovereign Prince yet this is no Argument that he does not manage and rule his Dominions with due Care and Wisdom Nor could the making nor can the Government of the World be any manner of Trouble to God as the Epicureans objected since he is absolutely Omnipotent and needs no more but to speak the Word and the thing is done 26. It is very evident that the Heathen World its self was generally and strongly addicted to the Belief of certain Beings some good and some evil superiour in Nature to Man but subject to and Ministers of the Will and Pleasure of the supreme God But the Holy Scriptures do give us a more full and perfect Account of this Matter viz. that God created certain Spiritual Beings called Angels that is to say Messengers as being sent forth by him to execute his Will upon all Occasions that he thinks fit and particularly to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation not that God has any need of their Assistance or Ministry any more than he has of the Worship and Service of Man but only thought fit to create them of his own good Will and Pleasure and probably that they as well as Man might be Objects for him to exercise his Goodness and Beneficence upon But whether every particular Person State and Kingdom have their proper Guardian Angels appointed them by God is not as I can find upon any sure Grounds to be determined But we are farther informed that of these Angels some sinned and therefore kept not their first Estate but were cast down into Hell and delivered into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment the Chief or Prince of whom is called the Devil the great Dragon the old Serpent and Satan and is together with his Angels permitted by God to range to and fro in the Earth to tempt even the Godly but to prevail and work in the Children of Disobedience 27. That an eternal Succession of Men or any other Beings without a Beginning is absolutely impossible I have I think with Reason already said Part 1. § 6. That Man at first was not fashioned by any blind and undesigned Chance is to me very evident as well from the wonderful Frame of his Mind as from the great Variety Regularity and Usefulness of all the Parts of his Body and particularly his Organs of Sensation And that he did not at first spring up out of the Earth by any Force of Nature distinct from the Power of God I think needs no Proof because the contrary Supposition is not only without any Ground of Evidence but also liable to so many monstrous Improbabilities as do render it hightly extravagant to imagine I therefore must conclude That at the least the first Male and Female of Mankind were immediately framed and fashioned by God and that all the rest of them were and are derived from those two by the way of natural Generation Christ Jesus excepted who tho born of a Woman was not begotten of a Man is the plain Voice of the Holy Scripture 28. That Man tho made a little lower than the Angls is yet by Nature far more excellent than any other living Creature is sufficiently apparent The Holy Scripture tells us that God made Man after his own Image But this Expression cannot be understood with respect to the Shape and Structure of the Human Body God being both incorporeal and invisible but is as I apprehend it to be inlation
in Scripture as Joyned together in one Society or Body which is called the Church of which Christ Jesus is the chief or Head and under an obligation to live in communion and fellowship one with another under those Laws and Constitutions which Christ has given them but not that I can find in Scripture obliged to joyn with or submit to any one person as the Vicar of Christ and the visible Head of the Church upon Earth For if Christ had appointed any such person as his Deputy upon Earth he must either have declared a matter of such consequence with great plainness and evidence or else it would be very hard to find fault with any man for being mistaken in it Whereas the Arguments which those of the Church of Rome bring to prove either that such a Vicar there must be or that St. Peter the Apostle was the Man or that the Pope or Bishop of Rome and not the Bishop of Antioch is the Successour of St. Peter both in his Bishoprick and Authority are all so weak and precarious so forced and perplexed and so fully confuted by the Protestant Divines that nothing in my Opinion but Blindness of Understanding or worldly Interest can prevail with the Members of that Church still to insist upon them Now that Christ instituted but one Church in which all true Believers and good livers are for ever to be comprised is very plain And altho through the Mistakes and Perverseness of Man this Church is rent and divided into opposite and contending parts and parties yet this does not hinder but that according to its true and primitive Constitution it is or ought to be one as a Kingdom or Common-wealth by its Laws and Constitutions is but one Society altho there may arise Factions and different Interests in it nor shall any Man be esteemed as a Member of the Church before God who is not ready and willing according to the best of his power and knowledge to maintain the Unity of it and that upon those very Terms and none other which Christ has appointed as near as possibly he can find and apprehend them Moreover that all the Laws and Constitutions on which Christ has founded the Church and by which he would have it regulated are exactly agreeable unto the Rules of sound Morality and the Will of God cannot be so much as doubted and therefore it is truly said that the Church is Holy altho every particular Member thereof has both his frailties and his sins which yet he must repent of and so become holy as the Church is holy or else he violates one of the main and fundamental Laws and so becomes as it were an Out-law of the Church and forfeits his part in all the Privileges that belong unto that Society And whereas before the coming of Christ the People of Israel did enjoy more of the Favour of God and had greater privileges and advantages on the score of their being God's chosen and peculiar People than any or all other Nations of the World The Gospel of Christ on the contrary now looks upon all as equally entitled unto God's Favour and the advantages thereon depending who take care duly to qualifie themselves for it So that whereas formerly the Church that is the chosen People of God might have been said to be particular as being in a manner limited to one Nation or People now on the contrary it is Catholick that is to say universal as being no way confined to one place or Nation all People being equally chosen by God in Christ who will receive and love according to the Gospel 41. In those several Revelations which God was pleased to make of himself after the Fall of Man unto Adam to Abraham and to the People of Israel there was still a plain intimation given them that in the time to come there should an extraordinary Person arise in the World who should yet more clearly make known the Will of God to Mankind But when Christ who was That Person did accordingly come and send his Apostles to preach the Gospel over all the Earth he neither suggested to them nor they unto the World that any other Revelation was ever after to be expected But always gave them to understand that God had in the Gospel compleated and finished all that declaration which he intended to make of Himself or his Will unto Mankind until the general Judgment and Dissolution of the World If therefore the Holy Scripture had given me no manner of assurance of the perpetuity of the Church my own Reason would have been enough to make me conclude that God in his Providence will so order the matter as that the Christian Religion being the only known and ordinary means of eternal Salvation shall never be wholly extinguished while the World lasts so as to stand in need of any new Revelation to revive and restore it But that there shall always be a certain Company of Men evidently conspicuous to the World teaching and professing the true Christian Religion without any Errour or Corruption in Doctrine or Worship is what I can no where find promised or foretold either by Christ or any of his Apostles On the contrary there are several passages in the New Testament which do plainly seem to foretell that in process of time most pernicious Doctrines and practices should prevail and take place even amongst the generality of those who should profess themselves to be Disciples of Christ And whosoever shall but lightly compare the state of Christianity for several Centuries before the Reformation with that Draught of it which is left us by Christ and his Apostles in the Holy Scriptures must if he be impartial I think be fully convinced of the truth of those Predictions 42. Whether or no God has or does at any time communicate or bestow any extraordinary Grace or Assistance upon those who are no visible Members of the Church but altogether strangers unto that Revelation which he has made of himself is a question which the virtuous lives and heroick actions of some brave Heathens make it hard positively to determine in the negative But that he will give so much Grace and strength to every one who shall become a Member of Christ's Church as that thereby they may if the fault be not their own sufficiently qualifie themselves for eternal Happiness by the performance of those things which he requires on their part to be done is what I think no man can doubt of who does but in general consider the Mercy and Love which God designed even unto all men but more especially unto the Church in sending our Saviour Christ Jesus into the world altho there were not any particular Promises of this nature in the Gospel And that this Grace and ability to do good is in Scripture ascribed unto the Ministry and Influence of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts and minds of true Believers is plain and generally owned by all Christians But that this
is possible When therefore any religious Dispute arises whereby the Church's Peace and Unity is like to be endangered It is free and proper for Nor is there any thing which should hinder either the Church universal or any particular Church or even any prudent Men whatsoever to declare and publish their sense of the matter in debate But as no Man can be obliged to believe the Determination of any Church or party whatsoever any farther than he is convinced and satisfied of its agreement with Reason and the Holy Scriptures Part 2. § 1 and 2. so is not any Man bound to oppose or dispute even against an Error it self except there be something in it which is injurious to Christian Faith or practice and consequently which may prove pernicious to Men's Salvation And therefore if such a Mistake which may have prevailed in any Church cannot well be rectified without endangering the breach of Peace and Charity because they who hold it it may be are obstinately wedded to it I think it is the Duty of us all to be very tender in such a case and to permit every Man freely to abound in his own Sense until such time as God shall think fit to bring them to a clearer sight of the Truth And by no means to renounce the Communion of any Church on the account of any Error that is not damnable and much less on account only of such Terms or Expressions as are but abstruse or of doubtful signification For otherwise since the Apprehensions of Men are so very different especially in such things as being remote from our Senses are matter only of rational Speculation if Difference of Opinion upon such theological Questions as do not immediately concern our Salvation were a sufficient ground for Separation in point of Communion there would soon be probably almost as many Churches as Men in the World But if any Church shall require from a Man either to comply with or practise any thing which is not only against his Fancy in point of Decency or Convenience but also against his Conscience in point of Lawfulness or that he should not only be silent and not oppose but also explicitly profess the Belief of any such Doctrines as he judges to be false however innocent the Belief of them may be to them who think them true and if such a Church shall refuse and deny her Communion to all those who will not joyn with her upon these Terms We must rather be contented to be excluded from such a Church's Communion than to purchase it by solemnly telling a down right Lye before God and the World or by the violation of any other of God's Commands For if we offer to do Evil that Good may come of it St. Paul has declared us to be in a state of Damnation 65. For the due regulation of every Society it is necessary that it have a Power somewhere or other vested in it over its own Members either to compel them to live orderly according to its Laws and Constitutions or if any of them are disobedient and refractory and will not upon due admonition be reclaimed wholly to exclude them from the Body of the Community For otherwise if the Members of any Society may at their pleasure break its Constitutions and violate its Laws without control this would be wholly to pull down the Enclosure and lay all open and common as before and consequently in effect to dissolve the Society it self And accordingly our Saviour has given the Church a Power to admonish and rebuke those who give any scandal by their ungodly and unruly Behaviour and if upon this they do not repent and reform of rejecting and cutting them off from her Communion Which Authority must ever be exercised with due mildness and caution for the edification and not with heat and fury which in the end would more probably tend to the destruction of the Church But if any Church shall go beyond this to punish or persecute Men with Fire and Sword or with Fines and Imprisonment only for being of a different persuasion from and refusing to communicate with her In my Opinion she herein acts contrary to that Mildness and Gentleness which the Gospel upon all occasions prescribes and particularly in the case of dealing with those who oppose themselves to it 2 Tim. 2. 24. Altho at the same time it cannot be deâ—yed but that if any Man under the pretence of Conscience or Religion shall advance such Doctrines or do such acts as are destructive to the peace or safety of the civil State or Common-wealth the civil Magistrate may and ought to punish such a person according to the Laws of the Land notwithstanding all his pretences For if the Plea of Conscience the truth of which can only be known to Almighty God be sufficient to save any Malefactour from Punishment no civil Society can ever be safe and all humane Laws and Magistrates would be wholly useless See Part 1. § 35. 66 And as Almighty God in his Mercy is pleased not to cut the greatest sinners off from all hopes of pardon but is ready at any time upon their true and sincere Repentance to receive them again into his Favour so has he committed unto the Church the ministry of Reconciliation which Church therefore accordingly ought not only to endeavour to bring sinners to Repentance by Preaching Admonition and Exhortation but also wherever she sees evident Marks and Tokens of it in any person of which yet there ought to be good assurance for his greater comfort and ease of Conscience to remit or absolve him from his sins and restore him again to the benefit and privilege of Christian Communion of which I suppose that he has or ought to have been deprived And whatever Sentence of thus binding or loosing remitting or retaining of Men's sins is duly and regularly pronounced by the Church upon Earth our Saviour assures us it shall be ratified and confirmed by God in Heaven But that a Man is obliged to make a particular Confession of all his sins unto any other person except God in order to obtain the Pardon of or Absolution from them as I no where find it asserted in the Holy Scripture so the reason which the Roman Divines do allege for it is very weak and unconcluding For it is not the particular Confession of a Man's sins which may be performed by the most hardened impenitent but his Contrition and the visible reformation of his life which may sufficiently appear without a particular Confession that only can enable the Church or her Ministers to judge whether he truly repents of his sins or not and consequently whether he be a proper Object of God's Mercy and the Church's Favour Altho I deny not but that in some cases it may be very proper for a Man to make known the diseases of his Soul to a prudent Spiritual Physician that he may have his advice for the cure of them And his Duty also
to make an open Confession of his sins whenever it is necessary for God's Glory or to repair any publick scandal which has been given by him 67. That Almighty God even where he has pardoned a Man's sins upon his true Repentance may yet on the score of those very sins which he has so pardoned lay some sharp and severe temporal Afflictions upon the penitent either to keep him more effectually from sinning for the time to come or that it may be a Terror to others or for many other reasons best known to himself is a thing that cannot be disputed But from hence to infer that these temporal Afflictions if not laid on us in this World are to be undergone in Purgatory and that therefore for the preventing them it is fit and necessary that Penance should be imposed by way of satisfaction or Indulgences granted by way of Remission and all this without any Warrant from the Holy Scripture save only a faint and forced Consequence from some few perverted Texts is a thing so groundless and precarious that it amazes me to think how Men can suffer themselves to be so grossly imposed upon And whosoever shall duly consider upon what weak grounds the Pope and his Prelates do pretend to a Power of dispensing and distributing the Merits of Christ unto the People by way of Indulgence as if they alone had the keeping of that Treasure under Lock and Key and to which tho infinite they have yet added the Merits of the Saints to make their Treasure more abundant will I think very much wonder that their People should be so free to part with their earthly Treasure in purchasing these Indulgences upon no better security 68. That the Apostles of Christ when they were first sent abroad to preach the glad Tidings of the Gospel did anoint many sick persons with Oyl and thereby miraculously heal them we are plainly told by St. Mark c. 6. v 13. And that in this they did no more than what Christ himself had expressly commanded them is most reasonable and probable to suppose Moreover that the anointing with Oyl which is mentioned by St. James c. 5. v. 14. was intended for the very same purpose viz. the raising up the sick person and restoring him to Health is as apparent as any thing can be form the very Context But as we do not find that this anointing of the sick was appointed either by Christ or his Apostles as a standing and perpetual Ordinance for ever to be used in the Church so since Experience shews that the miraculous effect of healing thereby is now wholly ceased I can see no reason why the practice it self should be any longer continued But what just ground the Church of Rome can have from either of these or any other place of Scripture for the divine Institution of their Extreme Unction which they make use of for a far different end namely the preparing thereby of persons who are past hopes of recovery for their passage into the next life is more than I am able to find out 69. As the Body natural would be but a confused and useless Lump if it were not distinguished into the several Members which are necessary for its own Service and preservation And as the Body-politick would be but a disorderly Rabble if there were not Magistrates setled to rule and govern and ministerial Officers appointed to perform all necessary Functions in and about it so the Holy Scripture as well as Reason assures us and the practice of the apostolical Church which is there recorded confirms it that the like Appointment and distinction of Offices are no less necessary in the Church in order to the regular and orderly government of it and the due execution of all its Laws and Constitutions But how far these Offices are limited and appointed by the Law of God or how far left to be setled and determined by the Prudence of the Church according as Circumstances may render it convenient is what I shall not take upon me to pronounce my Sentence in But whatever Polity or ecclesiastical Constitution is setled and acquiesced in either by the whole Church in general or by that of any Nation or Country in particular I think ought quietly to be submitted to by every one who would be a Member of such respective Church except there appears to him to be either something therein which is not only uncommanded but even contrary to the Law of God or else something wanting which God requires and therefore is absolutely necessary to be maintained and kept up in all Churches Nor can I apprehend that any less Warrant can be sufficient for breaking or endangering the Peace or Unity of the Church the preservation of which is so often and so earnestly recommended to us in the Holy Scripture besides the absolute necessity of obeying the Positive Command of God himself And therefore since the Government of the Church by Bishops that is to say by certain persons having in their several Districts a Priority among and in some respects a Superiority over the Presbyters has for so many Ages been universally setled amongst and acquiesced in by all Christians in all parts of the World I cannot find how they can be excused who without any necessity for so doing have so earnestly set themselves not only to retrench the Exceffes and rectifie the Abuses of the episcopal Power but also to pull down and wholly abolish the very Order it self to the no small scandal of those who think that so universal a Constitution every where taking place even in the primitive Church could be grounded on no less than an Apostolick Ordinance of which there seems to be some not obscure Foot-steps in the Scriptures of the New Testament and that most probably in conformity to that Imparity which Christ himself established between the Apostles and the seventy Disciples who were yet both commissioned by him to preach the Gospel 70. How far a case of necessity may upon some occasions excuse or justifie a Man for taking on him an Office which regularly does not belong to him especially if his design therein be truly honest and sincere I know not But no Man certainly ought to intrude into any ecclesi astical Function or exercise any such Office who is not called and admitted thereunto by the lawful Authority and according to the established Constitutions of the Society For if this be not carefully observed the distinction of Offices and Functions in the Church is in effect wholly taken away and a wide Door opened for Confusion and Anarchy But then on the other side good care ought ever to be taken by the Church that no persons be entrusted with any sacred Office but such as are duly qualified for it And that such a Maintainance be provided and setled for every such person as that he may not be necessitated to neglect the publick Service of God and the due exercise of his Function by being constrained to bestow
Blessed Trinity or between the two Natures which are in our Lord Jesus Christ Which three things being taken for granted the question that is to be determined is Whether or no it be a sufficient ground for a Man to deny his Assent to the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation of Christ because they are above his Reason 16. And here in the first place it is very plain That although we cannot by any means comprehend the things themselves yet we do so far understand the meaning of the Terms in which these Doctrines are expressed as clearly to perceive that they are not a company of insignificant Words put together to make a sound and signifie nothing What a Person is we know though we cannot tell what sort of Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are and how their Personal Distinction between themselves particularly and fully differs from that of Men one from another What it is to be One we well understand although we cannot frame an Idea of that special Union which is between those Divine Persons What it is for one being to generate another and what to proceed from another we are not ignorant although the peculiar manner of the Generation of the Son of God and the Procession of the Holy Ghost be beyond our Capacity to conceive And Lastly What it is for two Beings to be Vnited together we can very well apprehend although we pretend not to know the manner of That Union which is between the two Natures in the Person of Jesus Christ From whence it plainly follows That these Doctrines though above our Reason do yet so far stand upon equal Terms with those Doctrines which I have termed reconcilable to Reason Sect. 8. That as our Reason may be plainly and positive convinced from its own Principles alone of the possibility of the one so is there no Principle of our Reason which can reach so far as to prove or demonstrate any impossibility in the other And where there is no Contradiction or Impossibility in a Doctrine it will undeniably follow that that same Doctrine may possibly be true And where ever a Man is convinced of the possibility of a Doctrine if the Truth of that same Doctrine appears to him to be restified by any Person of whose Veracity he cannot entertain any manner of doubt he cannot refuse to give his Assent to it as I have said Sect. 13. Since then the Veracity of God admits of no manner of doubt and the Holy Scriptures are by both Parties in this Dispute allowed of as most Authentick Records of the Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Life which God has made known and revealed to the World And lastly since we here suppose that the Doctrine of the Trinity and that of the Incarnation of Christ do neither of them contain or imply any Impossibility or Contradiction although they are both of them above our Reason it will follow that if all or any of the Texts of Scripture which are brought to prove these Doctrines being expounded according to the common way of interpreting all Books of which see Part 1. Sect. 25. do fairly and without being wrested contain either in themselves or their evident Consequences those same Doctrines which they are alledged to establish there can be no just Cause why any Man should deny his Assent to them But if notwithstanding all this it be still urged that it is not possible for a Man explicitly to believe a thing of which he can frame no Conception or Idea I must refer him to the Story of the blind Man Sect. 14. which seems to me abundantly to evince the contrary And why we should not believe the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation upon the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures as well as the blind Man did the Existence of Light and Colours upon the Testimony of other Men joyned with that collateral Experiment which I have mentioned I profess I can see no manner of Reason 17. And as in my Book Part 3. Sect. 71. I have advertised my Reader that I have purposely avoided the use of certain Words and Terms for the Reason there given So must I desire him to take notice that for the like Reason I have both in my Book and in this Appendix omitted so much as to mention the word Mystery about which so great a Noise has of late been made Whether this same Term Mystery be always used in the New Testament in the very same and no other Signification as it is understood by Heathen Authors Or Whether other sorts of things by a very allowable Analogy are not also there called Mysteries upon account of their Obscurity because we know them but in part and see them but as in a Glass darkly Or Lastly Whether there be any thing in Christianity which may properly be called a Mystery according to the genuine meaning of that Term to me seems to be no more but a Contention about a word which the Apostle expresly forbids 2 Tim. 2. 14. But whatever may be determined concerning the propriety of the Word the thing if self seems to me to be very evident that there are some Doctrines in Christianity which are above our Reason and yet that this is no sufficient ground for the denial of our Assent to them 18. And if I am told that after all this there is no greater obscurity in any of the Doctrines of Christianity than what there is in all natural Beings with which we most familiarly converse whose real Essence we cannot penetrate but must content our selves with a sort of Superficial Knowledge of them which is caused by those Impressions which they make upon our outward Organs which at most can be termed but a nominal Essence so that even a spire of Grass a Stick a Stone or any other natural Being may upon this account as truly be termed Mystericus as the most sublime Doctrines of Religion I shall only answer that it mightily raises my wonder to hear Men so freely acknowledge that in every other thing whatsoever there is something which is above their Reason and to which their Understanding cannot reach and yet that they will not allow the same in Religion 19. But I know it will be objected that the first of those three Suppositions which I have laid down Sect. 15. will by no means be granted by the Unitarians for they are so far from allowing the Texts of Scripture which are brought to prove the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation to be any way sufficient to that purpose that on the contrary they do with the greatest Assurance undertake to bring other and contrary Interpetations of those very Passages which they pretend to be far more Rational and Natural To which I shall only Answer that this is all that I aim at in this Appendix that the Issue of these Controversies may be placed upon that which is the only true Foundation for it I mean the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and that blind Men would not take upon them by the strength of their Reason to discuss Problems and frame Conclusions concerning Light and Colours of which they can have no true or sufficient Idea I am very sensible that learned Men who have their Minds strongly prepossessed with any Opinion may by their Criticisms and Paraphrases and such like Engines torture and screw almost any Text of Scripture till they make it look with another Aspect from what is truly its own and seem to confess what really it never thought or meant But if we would always take those Interpretations which flow of themselves and not those which are violently pressed from the Scripture which I think is the fairest way of expounding all Speeches and Discourses whatsoever I cannot for my part see how we can otherwise conclude concerning the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation than as I have done Part 2. Sect. 22. 37. FINIS