nothing do but Man's Comment instead of God's Text his Consequences Conclusions in the room of Sacred Revelation I cannot see how any Man can be obliged to receive or believe revealed Truths in any other Language than that of the Revelation itself especially if those that vary the Expression have not the same Spirit to lead them in doing so or that it appears not to me that they have the Guidance of that holy Spirit If the holy Ghost hath left Doubts in Scripture which is yet irreverent to believe I see not how Men can resolve them 't is the Work of that Spirit And since Men are so apt to Err Doubts are better left in Scripture than by us But it is to cross that Order of Prudence and Wisdom among Men who chuse to Conform their Expressions to the things they believe If any honest Man hath related a Story to me of something he hath seen and I am to declare my Faith about it if I believe the Fact I will chuse to deliver it in the Terms of the Relator as being nearest to the Truth Suppose a Father dying makes his Last Will and Testament and as he thinks so plain that there can be no Mistake made by the Executors but what is wilful if they instead of proving this Will and acting according to the plainness of it turn Commentators make more Difficulties than they find and perplex the whole Matter to the Children and Legatees and send them to the Law for their Right will we not esteem such Executors Ill Men and justifie those Persons concern'd in their Refusal of the Paraphrase God hath at sundry times and in divers manners by his Prophets his Beloved Son and his Apostles deliver'd to the World a Declaration of his Will and Testament but some have claim'd and taken to themselves the Keeping Explanation and Use of it so as those that chuse to be concluded by the Letter and Text of this Testament in its most important Points expose themselves to great prejudice for they are excommunicated from all other share in it than the punishment of the Breakers of it which is part of their Anathema who of all others are most guilty of Adding or Diminishing by undertaking to determin for others as well as themselves the Mind and Intention of the holy Ghost in it But if it be true as true it is that few have writ of the Authority of Scripture that do not affirm the very Penmen of it to be not only inspired by the Holy Ghost but so extraordinarily acted by him as that they were wholely asleep to their own Will Desires or Affections like people taken out of themselves and purely Passive as Clay in the hand of the Potter to the Revelation Will and Motion of the Spirit and for this End that nothing deliver'd by them might have the least Possibility of Mistake Error or Imperfection but be a Compleat Testament of the Will of God to men I cannot see which way such Men can excuse themselves from Great Presumption that will notwithstanding have the Wording of Creeds of Communion and reject that Declaration of Faith as insufficient which is deliver'd in the very Terms of the Holy Ghost and deny those Persons to be Members of Christ's Church that in Conscience refuse to subscribe any other Draught than their Lord has given them Two things oppose themselves to this Practice First The Glory of God the Honor of the Scriptures for it naturally draws people from the Regard Due to God the Scriptures begits too much Respect for Men their Traditions This was the Difficulty Christ met with and complained of in his time they had set up so many Rabbies to learn them Religion that the Lord of the True Religion could hardly find a place amongst them And what did they do They taught for Doctrines the Traditions of Men They gave their own and their Predecessors Apprehensions Constructions and Paraphrases upon Scripture for the Mind and Will of God the Rule of the Peoples Faith They were got near at this pass in the Church of Corinth when they cryed out I am for Paul I am for Apollo and I am for Cephas though they had not the same Temptation And that which followed then ever will follow in the like Case and that is DISTRACTION which is the Contrary to that Second thing that opposeth it self to this Practice and that is the Concord of Christians For Peace's sake consider it Lo here and Lo there always follow'd one of this mind and another of that As many Sects as Great Men to make and Head them This was the Case of the Jews and yet I do not hear that they devour'd one another about their Opinions and Commentaries upon Scripture but the Christians have done both Divided and Persecuted too First they have Divided and that mostly upon the score of Opinions about Religion they have not been Contented with the Expressions of the holy Ghost they liked their own better And when they were set up in the Room of Scripture and in the Name of Scripture SUBMISSION was required upon pain of Worldly Punishments This dissatisfied Curiosity this Unwarrantable what shall I say this Wanton Search has cost Christendom dear and poor England of any part of it I design not to grate upon any to revive old Stories or search old Wounds or give the least Just Occasion of Displeasure to those that are in Present Power yet I must needs say that Opinion on one side or t'other has been the cause of much of that Discord Animosity and Confusion that have troubled this Kingdom And it seems to have been the great Stratagem of Satan to prevent the spreading of the Glorious Gospel of Salvation in the World by taking men off from the serious pursuit of Piety and Charity Humility and holy Living Peace and Concord and under pretence of more raised Apprehensions and sublime Knowledge of Religion to put them upon introducing Curious and Doubtful Questions that have given occasion for Contention and Persecution This was no more uncondemned than unfore-seen of the Apostle Paul who exhorted his beloved Son Timothy To avoid those that doted about Questions those Men that would be thought Skilful Inquisitive Searchers after Truth such as love to exercise their Faculties and improve their Talents but let us hear his Judgment of which says he cometh Strife Railing Surmises perverse Disputings of men of Corrupt Minds And the truth is none else love such Disputings they who seek a daily Victory over the World the Flesh and the Devil and press fervently after Fellowship with God and that Consolation that ensues such an Employment of their time have very little to lose upon Contention about Words I could wish I were able to say that Vain Controversie were not our Case But this is not all the Apostle does expressly tell Timothy that if any man consent not to wholsom Words even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and
between Arminius and Episcopius c. for the Remonstrants and Gomarus Sibrandus c. for the Predestinarians distracted Holland not a little and had an ill Influence upon the Affairs of England at least so far as concern'd the Church But the Mournfullest part of that History is the Ill Usage Martinius Crâ—cius the Bishop of Landaff and others had who though they were acknowledg'd to be Sound in the Faith of those Times which generally followed the Judgment of Calvin as to the mean points controverted yet if at any time they appear'd moderate in their Behaviour gentle in their Words and for Accommodation in some particulars with the Remonstrators or Free willers Gomarus and his Followers not observing that Gravity of the Assembly the Rules of Debate and least of all the Meekness of Christian Communion fell foul of their Brethren reproach'd their Tenderness and began to fix Treachery upon their Sober Endeavours of Accommodation as if they intended to execute as well as maintain their Reprobation and blow up their Friends rather than not destroy their Adversaries But if we will yet rise higher in our Enquiry and view the Mischiefs of Earlier Times the Fourth and Fifth Centuries after Christ will furnish us with Instances enough We cannot possibly forget the Heavy Life some men made about the Observation of Easter Day as if their Eternal Happiness had been in Jeopardy for so far were they degenerated from the Love and Meekness of Christianity that about keeping of a Day which perhaps was no part but to be sure no Essential part of the Christian Religion they fell to pieces reproach'd revil'd and hated one another A Day was more than Christ who was the Lord and End of Days and Victory over Brethren better than the Peace and Concord of the Church the Great Command of Jesus But the Remarkable and Tragical Story of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and Arius his Priest in their known Debate about the Nature and Existence of the Son of God with the lamentable Consequences thereof as all Writers upon that Subject have related witnesseth to the truth of what I say The Bishop's Curiosity the Niceness of Arius the Presumption of the one to expound beyond the Evidence and Simplicity of the Text and the Captious Humor of the other that would not bate the Bishop any thing for his Age or the Rank he held in the Church but Logically exacted the Utmost Farthing of the Reckoning began the â—ray Which as it became the Perplexity of Church and State some Ages so it raged to Blood and those that had been persecuted like Sheep by the Heathen not long before turn'd Wolves now to each other and made sport for the Infidel doing their work Nay so much more Christian was Themistius the Philosopher that in his Oration called CONSUL he commended and advised the Emperour Jovianus to Exercise Moderation and to give that Liberty of Conscience which profest Christians refused to do to each other who seem'd to think they never did God better Service than in Sacrificing one another for Religion Did we duly reflect upon the Unnatural Heats Divisions and Excommunications among them the many Councils that were called the strong and tedious Debates held the Translations of Sees the Anathemas the Banishments Wars Sackings Fires and Blood-shed that followed this Unnatural Division that sprang from so nice a Controversie one would verily believe no less than that Religion it self had been in Utmost Hazard that Judaism or Paganism were over-running Christianity and not that all this Stir had been made about an Iota For the whole Question was whether HOMOUSIA or HOMOIUSIA should be received for Faith in which the difference is but the single Letter 1 Certainly we must do Violence to our Understanding if we can think that these men were Followers of that Jesus that Lov'd his Enemies gave his Blood for the World who hated their Brethren and shed one anothers Blood for OPINIONS The Heathen-Philosophers never were so Barbarous in their Differences But how easily might all these Confusions have been prevented if their Faith about Christ had been deliver'd in the words of Scripture since all sides pretend to believe the Text and why should any man presume to be Wiser than the Holy Ghost 'T is strange that God and Christ should be wanting to express or discover their own mind or that the words used by the Holy Ghost should have that Shortness Ambiguity or Obliquity in them that our frail Capacities should be needed to make them more Easie Proper and Intelligible But that we should scarcely deliver any one Article of Faith in Scripture-Terms and yet make such Acts the Rule and Bond of Christian Communion is in my Judgment an Offence hainous against God and Holy Scripture and very Injurious to Christian Charity and Fellowship Who can express any Man's mind so fully as himself and shall we allow that Liberty to our selves and refuse it to God The Scriptures came not in Old time said the Apostle Peter by the will of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Who can speak better or express the Mind of the holy Ghost plainer than the holy Ghost the Scripture is the Great Record of Truth that which all these Parties in Controversie agree to be the Declared Mind and Will of God they Unanimously say It ought to be believ'd and profest as such If this be true in what Language can we so safely and properly declare our Belief of the Truths therein contain'd orexpress those Truths as in the very Language of the Scripture And I cannot see how those Persons can be excused in the Day of God's Judgment who make men Heterâ—dox or Heretical for refusing to subscribe their Articles of Faith that are not in Scripture-Terms who at the same time offer to declare their Belief of God Christ Spirit Man's Laps or Fall Repentance Sanctification Justification Salvation Resurrection and Eternal Recompence in the Language of Holy Scripture 'T is preposterous and a Contradiction that those who desire to deliver their Faith of Truth in the Language of Truth should not be reputed True Believers nor their Faith admitted for this were to say that therefore their Faith is not to be received because it is declared in the Language of that very Truth which is the Object of that Faith for which it ought to be received and which is on all hands concluded to be our Duty to believe It seems then we must not express our Belief of God in his Words but our own nor is the Scripture a Creed plain or proper enough to declare a True Believer or an Orthodox Christian Are not things come to a sad pass that to refuse any other Terms than those the Holy Ghost has given us and which are confest to be the Rule or Form of sound Words is to expose a Man to the Censure of being Unsound in the Faith unfit for Christian-Communion Will
the Doctrine that is according to Godliness he is Proud knowing nothing but doting about Questions c. such as used Philosophy and vain Deceit as he writes to the Colossians Beware says he lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit that is draw them away from the Simplicity of the Gospel and the wholsome Words of Christ after the Traditions of men after the Rudiments of the World and not after Christ He used no humane Wisdom yet he spake Wisdom but it was in a Mystery not to the humble Disciples of Jesus nothing was plainer but it was a Mystery to the Wise Men of this World And truly they that are not unacquainted with the more degenerate Ages of the Greek Philosophers how Philosophy once taken for the Love of Virtue and self-Denial which they esteem'd truest Wisdom and was begun by men of Ordinary Rank became little else than an Art of Rangling upon a multitude of Idle Questions and so they entertain'd the Apostle Paul at Athens may very well guess which way Apostacy entred among Christians especially when we consider that in the third and fourth Centuries the Heathen-Philosophers had the Education of the Christian Youth and that no man had any Reputation among the Christian Doctors who were not well Initiated in the Philosophy Rhetorick and Poetry of the Gentiles Which made way for Impurity of Language and laid a Foundation for great Feuds in the Church Christ and his Doctrine must be prov'd by Aristotle and his Philosophy Yes Aristotle muff explain Scripture and by Degrees Methodize the loose Parts of it and reduce them to Formal Propositions Axiomes and by the Help of such Philosophers the poor Fisher-men were taught to speak Metaphysically and grew Polite in the Sense of Athens that to say true had been neither guilty of Using noâ— Understanding it But as the First Rules of Philosophy were few and plain and consisted in Virtuous Living so the Christian Religion was deliver'd with much Brevity yet much Plainness suited even to the Capacity of the Young the Ignorant and the Poor to inform their understandings subdue their affections and convert their Souls to God as well as Persons of more Age Knowledge and Ability And truly when we consider the Smalness of the Writings of the Evangelists the Shortness of Christ's Sermons the Fewness of the Epistles writ by the Apostles and the Many and Great Volumns of Commentators and Criticks we may justly say The Text is almost Lost in the Comment and Truth hid rather than revealed in these heaps of fallible Apprehensions Where by the way let me say that the Voluminousness of the Books is no small token of the Unclearness of the Writers the more Evident and better digested and Matter is the more easie and short it will be in expressing But after the Christians had declin'd the Simplicity of their own Religion and grew Curious and Wanton Loving God above all Their Neighbours as themselves and Keeping the plain Commandments of Christ that relate to good Life became but Ordinary and Homely things their Easiness rendred them Contemptible They gave but little pleasure to Speculative Minds they had nothing in them above Ordinary Capacities and it seemed hard that men of Inquisitive and Rais'd Spirits should sit down with the Lesson of RUSTICKS and PEASANTS Philosophers did not do so they would be like other Nations 'T was not enough now to know There was a God and that he was but One Just and Good the Observer of their Actions and the Rewarder of their Deeds and that therefore they should serve him But they must be distinctly inform'd of his Nature and all his Attributes his Purposes and his Decrees and the Suitableness of them all to the Line and Plumet of their Understandings So that God was to be what their Conclusions would allow him to be that yet knew not themselves their own Beings and their Extents Nor did it satisfie that there was a Christ that this Christ was the Son of God that God so loved Mankind as beholding him in a way of Destruction he sent his Son to proclaim pardon upon true Repentance and offer'd a General Reconciliation to as many as received and embrac'd his Testimony and that to that End he laid down his Life a Ransom Rise and Ascended and gave his good Spirit to lead his Followers in the Way of Truth and Holiness But they must search into the Secret of this Relation how and after what manner he is the Son of God his Nature Power and Person must be discus'd they will be satisfied in this before they can find in their Hearts to believe in him Next Whether he be the Cause or the Effect of God's Love What was that Prize he paid that Ransom he gave and how he died for us if Properly and strictly or Tropically and elegantly to satisfie the Justice of God and whether God could or could not have Saved man an other way If this Mercy were offer'd to all or but some and whether Acceptance and Repentance be with the Consent of the Creature or by an Irresistible Grace what Body he Rise Ascended with and what Bodies we shall have in the Resurrection in Nature Stature and Proportion Lastly What this Spirit is that comes from Christ if it comes from God also whether it be God or an Inferior Minister how it Exists If a Person in what Relation Degree or Dignity it stands to the Father and Son with abundance more of this Unreasonable Strain flowing from the Ungovern'd and Restless minds of men No man would be used by his Servant as they serve God he must wait our Leasure before we will believe receive and obey him his Message is Obscure we don't understand it he must gratifie our Couriosity we desire to be better satisfied with it before we believe or deliver it It comes not presently up to Mens's Understandings 't is too obscurely exprest we will explain it and deliver it with more Caution Clearness and Success then it is deliver'd to us Thus God's Revelation hath been scan'd and his Precepts examin'd before Licens'd Men would be wiser then God more wary then the holy Ghost Our Lord it should seem understood not what a kind of Creature Man was he wanted his Wisdom belike to admonish him of the Danger or haply he thought not upon that Corruption which should befall Mankind in these Latter Ages of the World which might require the Abilities of Men to supply the Wants and Defects left by the Holy Ghost in the Wording of the Scripture I wrong not this Practice I render it not more Odious than it is 't is an Inexcusable piece of Presumption that which debases the External Testimony of God and draws men off from that which is Eternal too It introduces the Traditions of men in the Room of God's Records and maketh their Judgment and Results the Rule of Christian Faith and Canons of Christ's Church This is one of those
is evident from Example as in the Case of Peter who for having believed in his heart and confest with his Mouth That JESUS was the Christ and SON of GOD obtained that Signal Blessing Mat. 16. This made Nathaniel a Disciple Rabbi said he thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel It was the like Confession that made amends for Thomas's Incredulity when he was sensibly assured of the Resurrection of Jesus My Lord and my God This was also the Substance of Martha's Confession of Faith to Jesus when he said to her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeeth in me shall never dye believest thou this She answered Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the World She answered him not as to that Particular of the Resurrection but in General that he was the Christ the MESSIAH that was to come into the World and that suffised 'T was a Confession not unlike to this that the Blind Man made to whom Christ gave Sight when Jesus said but to him Dost thou believe on the Son of God Lord said he I do believe and be worshipped him What shall we say of the rare Faith of the Centurion preferred by Christ himself before any in Israel though a Gentile the Faith of the Woman and Inhabitants of Samaria that he was the Messiah of that Importunate Woman that cryed to Jesus To cast a Devil out of her possest Daughter and would not be put off to whom Christ said O Woman great is thy Faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt To which let me add the Faith of the People that brought the Man Sick of the Palsy to Christ who uncover'd the Roof to let him down to be toucht The Faith of Jairus the Ruler and of that Good Woman who pressed through the Croud to touch the Hem of Christ's Garment to whom Jesus said Be of good Comfort Daughter thy Faith has made Thee whole Also the Two Blind Men that followed him out of the Rulers House crying Thou Son of David have Mercy on us To whom when Jesus had said Believe ye that I am able to do this they Answered YEA LORD then touch'd he their Eyes and said According to your Faith be it unto you Also the Blind Man near Jericho The Leprous Samaritan that Christ cleansed And that Notable Passage of the Woman that kissed his Feet and anointed his Head to whom he pronounced this Happy Sentence Thy Faith hath saved thee go in Peace I will conclude this with that Famous Instance of the Thief upon the Cross who neither knew nor had time to make a Large Confession like the Creeds of these dayes but it seems he said enough Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise By which it is easie to learn that 't was the Heart not the Mouth the Sincerity not the Words that made the Confession Valid Nor was this only in the Days of Christ the Effect of his Gracious Dispensation or peculiar Indulgence After-times afford us the like Instances This was the main Bent of Peter's Sermon and when the Three thousand believed that he whom the Jews had crucified was both Lord and Christ and repented of their Sins and gladly received his Word they are said to have been in a State of Salvation Thus Cornelius and his Houshold and Kindred so soon as Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah and that they had believed the Holy Ghost fell upon them and they were received into the Christian Communion But the Story of the Eunuch is very pat to our purpose As he rid in his Charriot he was reading these words out of the Prophet Isaiah viz. That he was led as a Sheep to the Slaughter and like a Lamb dumb before the Shearers so opened he not his Mouth In his Humiliation his Judgment was taken away and who shall declare his Generation for his Life is taken from the Earth Philip joyn'd to him and askt him If he understood what he read he desired Philip to interpret the mind of the Prophet if he spoke of him self or another Philip upon the place preached to him Jesus the Eunuch was so well perswaded by the Apostle that coming to a Water he said What doth hinder me to be Baptized Philip answered him If thou believest with all thine heart thou may'st To this the Eunuch replyed I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Upon which he was Baptized and 't is said He went away rejoycing which indeed he might well do that felt the Comfort of his Faith the Remission of Sin and the Joys of the holy Ghost I will conclude these Examples with a Passage in the Acts of Paul at Thessalonica 't is this Paul as his manner was went in unto them and Three Sabbath-dayes reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus said he whom I preach unto you is Christ And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the Chief Women not a few Thus we may plainly see that they were Baptiz'd into the Faith of Jesus and not into Numerous Opinions and that this one Confession from true Faith in the heart was the ground Principle of their Church-fellowship then God's Church was at Peace she thrive there were then no Snares of Words made to catch Men of Conscience in Then not many Words but much Integrity now much Talk and little Truth Many Articles but O ye of little Faith Nor was this only the Judgment and Practice of that Time out of Condescension to Weakness and Charity to Ignorance for both Christ Jesus himself and his Apostles those blessed Messengers of holy Truth have doctrinally laid it down as the great Test to Christians that which should distinguish them from Infidels and justly entitle them to his Discipleship and Christian Communion one with another Then said they to Jesus what shall we do that we might work the Works of God Jesus answered and said to them This is the Work of God that ye BELIEVE ON HIM whom God hath sent Verily Verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life And upon another Occasion to the Jews he said For if ye believe not that I am HE ye shall die in your Sins It must follow then that if they did believe him to be the Messiah the Anointed of God to Salvation they should be saved Most plain is that Answer of the Apostles to the Goaler when he came trembling to them and said Sirs what must I do to be saved Believe said they on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved The Apostle
is but FIGMENT they have peremptorily concluded and confidently imposed upon others a Necessity of Entertaining Conclusions of that Nature and to strengthen themselves have broken out into Divisions and Factions opposing Man to Man Synod to Synod till the Peace of the Church vanished without all Possibility of Recall Hence arose those Ancient and many Separations amongst Christians Arianism Eutychianism Nestorianism Photinianism Sabellianism and many more both Antient and in our Time And as he hath told us one great Occasion of the Disease so he offers what follows for the Cure And were Liturgies sayes he and Publick Forms of Service so framed as that they admitted not of particular and private Fancies but contained only such things as in which all Christians do agree Schisms on Opinion were utterly vanished Whereas to load our Publick Forms with the Private Fancies upon which we differ is the most-soveraign Way to perpetuate Schism unto the World's End Remove from them whatsoever is scandalous to any Party and leave nothing but what all agree on and the Event shall be that the Publick Service and Honor of God shall no wayes suffer For to charge Churches and Liturgies with Things Unnecessary was the First Beginning of all Superstition If the spiritual Guides and Fathers of the Church would be a little sparing of Incumbring Churches with Superfluities and not over-rigid either in reviving Obsolete Customs or imposing New there were far less Danger of Schism or Superstition Mean while wheresoever false or suspected Opinions are made a piece of the Church Liturgy he that separates is not a Schismatick for it is alike Unlawful to make Profession of known or suspected Falshoods as to put in Practice Unlawful or Suspect Actions He further tells us in his Sermon of Dealing with Erring Christians That it is the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and not the Identity or Oneness of Conceit which the Holy Ghost requires at the Hands of Christians A better Way my Conceit cannot reach unto then that we should be willing to think that these things which with some Shew of Probability we deduce from Scripture are at the best but Our Opinions For this peremptory Manner of setting down our Conclusions under this High Commanding Form of Necessary Truths is generally one of the greatest Causes which keeps the Churches this Day so fâ—r assunder whenas a Gratious Receiving of each other by Mutual Forbearance in this kind might peradventure in time bring them nearer together Thus much of this Great Man concerning Schism the Cause and Cure of it and for the Notion of Hereticks he will help us altogether as well For though they are generally taken for such as err in Judgment about Doctrines and Articles of Faith yet if this Man may have any Credit and perhaps none of his Profession has deserv'd more he tells us that Heresie is an Act of the Will not of Reason and is ind eeda Lye not a Mistake else sayes he how could that known Speech of Austin go for true Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo I may err but I am unwilling to be an Heretick And indeed this is no other than what Holy Scripture teacheth A Man that is an Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being CONDEMNED OF HIMSELF Which is as much as to say that no body is an Heretick but he that gives the Lye to his own Conscience and is Self-condemned Which is not the Case of Men meerly Mistaken or who only err in Judgment And therefore the Term of Heretick is as Untruly as Uncharitably flung upon those that Conscientiously dissent either in point of Discipline OF Doctrine from any Society of Christians and it is not hard to observe that those who have best merited it have most liberally bestow'd it But to show you that neither true Schismatick who is One that unnecessarily and unwarrantably separates from that part of the Visible Church of which he was once a Member nor true Heretick who is a Wilful Subverter of True or an Introducer of false Doctrines a Self-condemned Person can ever shelter himself under this Common Confession of Christianity sincerely made Let us consider that who-ever so declares Jesus to be the Messiah and Anointed Saviour of God to Men must be supposed to believe all that of him with respect to which he is so called Now that for which he is so denominated is that which God sent him to do the Reason and End of his coming he could best tell who hath told us thus I am come that ye may have Life and that ye may have it more abundantly The World was as dead in Trespasses and Sins the guilt and defilement of Transgression had kill'd the Soul as to Spiritual Life and Motion and from under this powerful Death he came to redeem the Soul unto Life in short to restore Man from this Fearful Degeneracy his Disobedience to God had reduced him to The Way he took to accomplish this Blessed Work was First To preach Repentance and the Approach of the Kingdom of God which is his Rule and his Authority in the Hearts of men which brings us to the Second thing to be believed namely What he Taught 1. First his Doctrine led Men to Repentance Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand No Man could receive the Kingdom of God whilst he lived under the Kingdom and Power of Satan so that to Repent is not only to bring their Deeds to the Light which Christ exhorteth Men to but to forsake that which upon Examination appeared to be Evil. Wherefore I conclude that such as have not been acquainted with this Holy Repentance do not sincerely believe neither can Rightly confess Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God the Saviour of the World Therefore saith the Apostle Let him that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from Iniquity plainly implying that those do rather Prophane than Confess the Name of the Lord who do not Depart from their Iniquities And saith the Apostle in another place No man can call Jesus LORD but by the Holy Ghost Which opens to us the Nature of the True Confession to wit That the True Confession of Jesus to be both Lord and Christ is from such a Belief in the Heart as is the work of the Holy Ghost and those that do not Confess him or call upon him by Virtue of the Overshadowings of this Divine Spirit and Power are not truly Christians true Worshippers Believers and Disciples Furthermore they that receive Christ receive his Kingdom his Power and Authority in their Souls the strong Man that kept the house becomes bounâ— and his Goods spoil'd by this stronger man the LORD 's CHRIST who is come from Heaven to dwell in us and be the Hope of our Glory for so he was preached to the Gentiles This Kingdom the Apostle tells us stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy
but keeping the Law of God Great Peace have they that love thy Law said David that had known the Trouble of Breaking it Therefore it is that Grace and Truth is come by Jesus Christ to help us to fulfill the Law not to Excuse our Disobedience of the Law And what before we were Unable this gives us Force to do So that Christianity is not an Indulgence of people under Weakness and Disobedience but the Compleating and Perfection of that Righteousness which without him was but Short and Imperfect through that Grace and Power that came by Jesus Christ Give me leave I beseech you for I have a Godly Jealousy upon me I fear lest the very End of Christs Coming is Mistaken And of how Dreadful a Consequence such a Mistake would be you cannot possibly be Ignorant that believe there is No Salvation in another Name Let us hear the Testimony of Scripture They are the Words of Christ himself I must peach the Kingdom of God for therefore am I sent Now what is this Kingdom of God but God's Government and where is this Kingdom and Government to be set up Christ also tells us Behold the Kingdom of God is within you So that the Reason of this being sent is to destroy the Kingdom and Government of the Devil the Strong Man that kept the House the Heart and to erect and establish the Kingdom and Government of God in the Soul Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done Would to God people would but consider what they Pray for For they are scandal'd at the thing they ask and both neglect and revile the Substance of their own Prayers Thy Kingdom come and thy Will be done but believe neither It was the Office God designed his Son to The Thief says Christ does not come but to kill to steal and to destroy That is To steal away the Heart from God and to kill and to destroy all Good Desires and Inclinations in the Soul for the Devil is this Thief and Destroyer But I am come says Christ that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly O Death 〈◊〉 will be thy Death as if he had said I will kill that which kill'd the Soul I will breath the Breath of Life into it again and by my Spirit and Grace I will beget Holy Motions and kindle Heavenly Desires in it after God after the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof This is the Newness of Life And I will not only restore that Life the Soul has lost but I will encrease it I will add to it that it may have Life more abundantly Indeed he was Anointed of God for this Purpose and is therefore called the Restorer of Paths the Repairer of Breaches and the Builder up of Waste Places that is he is ordained of God for the Recovery of Man from his Fallen and Disobedient State This is the Reason of his Name Thou shalt call his Name Jesus said the Angel for he shall save his People from their Sins Not from Wrath only but from Sin which is the Cause of Wrath. That is Of Bad Men he will make them really good Men and of Sinful and Unholy he will make them Holy and Righteous Men who truly believe in him This is the Burden of John's Testimony There is one says he that cometh after me is mightier than I he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire whose Fan is in his hand he will THROUGHLY PURGE his Floor And seeing Jesus coming to him said Behold the Lamb of God which TAKETH AWAY the SIN of the World I know the Use that too many make of these Scriptures as if they were an Hebraism borrow'd from the Old Sacrifices which may be said To take away Sin by taking away the Guilt and not that the Natures of Men are restored and perfected And indeed this is that Sense which I dread above all others because it perverts the End of Christs Coming and lodges Men in a Security pernitious to their own Souls For though it is most true that Remission of Sins was and is preached in his Name and Blood and that Sin in a Sense may be said to be Taken away when the Guilt of the Sins is removed by Remission yet this is only of Siâ—s past that upon Repentance are forgiven But this is not the Whole Full and Evangelical Sense as Christ's own words do plainly import For says he the Son of Man is come to save that which was Lost And upon another Occasion he expresseth himself to the same purpose and almost in the same words For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was Lost Now who is this that is Lost but Man and in what Sense can Man be said to be Lost but by Sin and Disobedience that which cast him out of the Presence and Garden of God and put him in a Condition of Eternal Misery If Christ then came to Save Lost Man he must be understood to Save him from that which puts him into a Lost Condition that is Sin for The Wages of Sin is Death and the Servant of Sin is a Son of Perdition Christ has determin'd this Point beyond all Exception in his Discourse with the Jews John 8. 31 32 33 34. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed vn him if ye continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you Free What Freedom was this Certainly from Sin sutable to that passage in his Prayer Sanctify them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth But some Jews present proud of their Priviledges apprehended not the Liberty Christ spoke of and therefore answer'd him thus We are Abraham's Seed and were never in Bondage to any Man how sayest thou Ye shall be made Free Jesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin In which place it is very remarkable that Men are only to be distinguish'd by their Works that no Claims Priviledges Successions or Dissents are available but He that commits Sin is the Servant of Sin So that Christ's Free Man is he that is Freed from Sin this is his Follower and Disciple And as Christ oppos'd the Works of the Jews who unjustly sought to kill him to their Pretensions they made to Abraham's Seed so must we oppose the Actions of Ill Men to their better Professions we must faithfully tell them He that commits Sin is the Servant of Sin From which Servitude Christ came to Save his people and is therefore called The SAVIOUR and the REDEEMER This Doctrine is closely followed by the Apostle Paul in his sixth Chapter to the Romans Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in Newness of Life
Man the second Adam with his Holy Life and Works so shall the Fruits of his Spirit shine through us which are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Patience Gentleness Faith Meekness Temperance for they that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts They hear his Voice that leads them out of the Concupiscencies of this Vile World and they follow him and he gives unto them Eternal Life and a Stranger they will not follow The World the Flesh and the Devil make up this Stranger and those that are carried away by this Stranger are in an Unreconciled State to God and so dying must inevitably perish VVell then will be true Christians Have we Faith then let us take the Advice of that good man Peter Let us add to our Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly-Kindness and to Brotherly-Kindness Charity For says he if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his Old Sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The Fourth Great Ecclesiastical Evil is Preferring HUMANE AUTHORITY above Reason and Truth This the next Evil which is the Last now to be considered to wit Propagation of Faith by Force Religion by Arms are the Two Legs upon which the false Church hath in all Ages under this degeneracy we find the Jewish Church at Christ's coming and he complains of it Ye teach for Doctrines the Traditions of men ye seek to kill me a man that has told you the Truth But I challenge the whole Account of Time and Records of the World which are come to the hands of this Age to tell me When where and by whom these Principles have been receiv'd improv'd and us'd with any sort of Proportion or Comparison with the Practice of that Church which has long prided her self with the Name of Catholick and Christian And yet I could wish nothing of these Two Ill Principles had found any place amongst us that call our selves Protestants for to them are properly owing most of that Ignorance Superstition Idolatry Animosity Persecution and Blood-shed that have been among Christians since the Christian Profession hath grown to any Power in the World I shall consider them severally respecting us and in their due Order with as much Brevity as well I can That Humane Authority hath been preferred above Reason and Truth that is That the Apprehensions Interpretations Conclusions and Injunctions of Men have been reputed the great Necessaries or Essentials to Salvation and Christian Commâ—ion insomuch as a Sober and Reasonable Dissent hath been too often over-rul'd not by VVeight of Argument or Evidence of Truth but by the Power and Numbers of Men in Ecclesiastical Office and Dignity is that I may say Modestly in some Degree true among us The First Church Evil reprehended in this Discourse may begin the Proof and give the first Witness upon this part of the Charge viz. That OPINIONS have been maâ—â— ARTICLES of Faith that is the CONSTRUCTIONS and CONCLUSIONS of MEN from Sacred VVrit and not the TEXT it self have been injoyn'd impos'd as ESSENTIAL to Eternal Salvation and External Christian Communion Insomuch as no Reason Scripture or purest Antiquity have suffer'd to prevail against such Determinations and too often not enough to excuse those that have pleaded for a Conscientious Dissent from them the Authors of them either resting upon the Authority of their own Judgments or conforming themselves to the Example of Ages less pure and clear I Conscientiously refuse to name Parties because I am tender of giving the least Offence but upon a Just Observance of those Revolutions of Protestancy that have been amongst us we may see with what Stiffness not to say Obstinacy several Models of Religion and Draughts of Creeds have been contended for I would beseech every Party in Christ's Name to look into it self for I don 't because such are best able if they will be Impartial and put no Cheat upon themselves to make the Application However I will name those Points about which the Authority of Man as it seems to me has been so Positive of God as to his Prescience and Predetermination Of Christ as to his Natures and Personality and the Extent of his Death and Intercession Of Free Will and Grace Of Faith and Works Of Perseverance and Falling away Of the Nature of the Church And Lastly of the Dignity and Power of the Clergy And if men please but to lay their Hands upon their Hearts and cast their Eyes upon the Scriptures if they will but use the Light that God has afforded them and bring such Debates and Results to the Test of that Light and the Sound Form of Words the Holy Ghost hath preserv'd amongst us I need not take the Employment upon me of pointing to Humane Authority among the several Parties of Protestants as to these points nothing will be clearer For it is about the Meaning of this and the Intention of that place of Scripture the Contest hath been and is and how to maintain and propagate those Conceits So that the falling out is in the Wood of our own Opinions and there the Contention is kindled that consumes all about our Ears O that we would be but impartial and see our over-plus to the Scriptures and retrench that redancy or keep it modestly for 't is an horrid thing that we Protestants should assume a Power of ranging our apprehensions with the Text and injoining our Imaginations for Indispensible Articles of Faith and Christian Communion But the next proof of the prevalency of Humane Authority amongst us Protestants is The great Power and Sway of the Clergy and the Peoples Reliance upon them for the Knowledge of Religion and the Way of Life and Salvation This is such plain Fact that almost every Parish proves it Is not Prophecy once the Church's now engrost by them and wholly in their hands Who dare publickly preach or pray that is not of that Class or Order Have not they only the Keys in keeping May any body else pretend to the Power of Absolution or Excommunication muchless to constitute Ministers Are not all Church Rites and Priviledges in their Custody don 't they make it their proper Inheritance Nay so much larger is their Empire then Caesars that only they begin with Births and end with Burials Men must pay them for Coming in and Going out of the World To pay for dying is hard Thus their Profits run to the Grave and that which is
hath been even now alleadged we shall in another place make discovery of some other Reasons We shall for the present add only this one That the people themselves are in a perpetual kind of Mutation some daily dying and departing others succeeding and growing up in their stead Whence it comes to pass That since the Change which is made in every Age is small either the people cannot perceive it or if they do observe it yet they esteem it not of such moment as to think fit to move any Difference thereabout This thing also is of very great force to keep the people from taking notice of a Change in Doctrine when men shall perswade themselves that they are not able to judge of matters of Religion as though it is it is not and other words used in Scripture do not signifie the same which they do in common discourse or as if nothing could be understood without some great Knowledge in the Tongues and Arts or Sciences and as if the Power of the Spirit were of no efficacy without these Helps Whereby it cometh to pass that whilst they think they understand not even those things which in some sort they do understand being expressed in most clear and evident words they do at length arrive to that Blockishness that they cannot understand them indeed so that though they have before their Eyes a Sentence of Scripture so clear that nothing can be more evident yet if they to whose Authority they in all things subject themselves shall say any thing point-blank opposite thereunto they will give credit unto them and imagine themselves not to see that which they see as clear as the Light And by these means verily it comes to pass That when the Doctrine of Religion is corrupted the Mutation is not discovered Furthermore when the Doctrine is once begun to be changed it must needs be that out of one Error another should spring and propagate infinitely and God for Just Reasons of his own blinding them men bring upon themselves so great Darkness and slip into such soul Errors That if God out of Mercy open a mans Eyes and let him see those Errors he lives in he can scarcely believe himself or be perswaded that he was ever enveloped with such blind Errors Which thing is as true and as well to be seen in Men of greatest Learning Experience If thou shalt thorowly peruse the writings of some of the School-men as they call them thou shalt in some places meet with so much Accuteness as will make thee admire Thou shalt see them oftentimes cleave a fine Thred into many parts and accurately Anotomise a Flea and a little after fall so foully and avouch such Absurdities That thou caâ—st not sufficiently stand amaz'd wherefore we must obey that Advice of the Poet Principijs obsta sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras Resist betimes that Med'cine stayes too long Which comes when Age has made the Grief too strong Now there is need of a double Caution viz. That there be no Change made in the Doctrine when it is pure And if any Change be made that there be notice taken of it Now look what Change is made in this kind all the Blame is laid upon those whose Office it is to instruct the People for though themselves are the Authors of the Change yet will the people impute it to the Ministers Sleepiness and want of Care at least It concerns therefore the Pastors and Teachers to be Eagle eyed and to be very well acquainted with those Causes whereby the Change of Doctrine becomes undiscovered and to have them at their Fingers ends and to be wary that on no hand they may miscarry Now it will be an excellent Caution for the keeping of Doctrine pure if they shall avoid all curious and vain Controversies If they shall set before their Eyes the scope and end of all Religious Doctrine and likewise a Series or Catalogue of all such things as make to the attainment of that End of which we formerly spake if they shall affect not only the matter it self but also the words and phrases which the Holy Ghost in Scripture makes use of and exceedingly suspect all different Forms of speaking Not that I would have them speak nothing but Hebraisms for so their Language would not be plain nor intelligible but I wish that they will shun all such Expressions as have been invented by over-nice Disputants beyond what was necessary to express the sence of the Hebrew and Greek and all those Tenets which men by their own Wits do collect and infer from the Scriptures Now of what Concernment this will be we may gather by this Instance The Papists think it one and the same thing to say The Church cannot err and to say in the words of our Lord Wheresoever two or three shall be gathered together in my Name there will I be in the midst of them Yet is the Difference very great which may thus appear forasmuch as in case any one shall conceive the Church to be the Pope Cardinals and Bishops anointed by the Pope he hearing the aforesaid Sentence will judge that whatsoever they shall decree ought to be of Force But if he shall rather mind the words of our Lord and shall consider that those kind of men do regard nothing but their own Commodity Wealth and Dominion he will be so far from so understanding them that peradventure not being able to allow the Deeds and Practices of these Men he will come to hope from those words That if himself with some other good Men loving God with their whole Heart shall come together and unanimously implore the Assistance of God shall be better able to determiâ—… What it is that ought to be believed and practised for the attainment of Salvation then if they should persist to put their Confidence in such Pastors Now this Rule that the words of the Scripture ought to be used rather than any other is then especially to be observed when any thing is delivered as a certain and tryed Truth or as a Rule of Faith or Life or out of which any other thing is to be inferred For in Expositions and Explanations as there is need happily of greater Liberty so is there less Danger if it be taken For whenas the Word of God and the exposition thereof are at one and the same time both together in view as it were there no man can be ignorant that the Exposition is the word of Man so that he may reject it in case it seem impertinent And look by what means a man may hinder the Doctrine of Religion from being changed by the self-same he may find whether it be chang'd or no. Now every man ought to compare the Doctrine of that Age wherein he lives with no other Doctrine then that which was out of question spotless which is the Doctrine of the Apostles Wherefore notwithstanding that in our Age the Gospel is as
Indulgences Fictions For every man shall bear his own Burden in that great Day of the Lord. It cannot therefore be Reasonable that another man should have the Keeping of my Understanding at my Eternal Cost and Charges or that I must entirely depend upon the Judgment of a Man or Men who erring and thereby causing me to err cannot be damned for me but I must pay their Reckoning at the hazard of my own Damnation I am not unacquainted with the great Objection that is made by Roman Catholicks and some Protestants too High Church-men perhaps that Love the Treason but hate the Traytor that love this part of Popery but hate the Pope viz. There are doubts in Scripture even about the most important Points of Faith some body must guide the Weak there must be some one ultimate External and Visible Judge to appeal to who must Determine and Conclude all Persons as to their Doubts and Apprehensions concerning the Interpretation of Scripture otherwise So many Men so many Minds the Church would be filled with Controversie and Confussion I answer That the Scriptures are made more doubtful than they are by such as would fain preserve to themselves the Umpiridge Judgship of their Meaning I deny it in point of Fact that Man's Duty is not most plainly exprest in all that concerns Eternal Salvation but 't is very strange that when God intends nothing more by the Scriptures than to reach the Capacities of Men as to things on which their Eternal Salvation depends yet that no Book if such men say true should be so obscure nor subject to so many Various nay Contradictory Constructions Name me one Author Heathen Jew or Christian that ever wrote with that Obscurity and seeming Inconsistency which some gladly pretend to find in the holy Scripture that they might have the Use and Keeping of them from the Vulgar and make their own Ends by it Is then every Body's Book to be understood but God's Was that writ not to be understood In short one of these two things must be true Either that God intended Not to be understood or To be understood in what he commanded to be written If he resolved Not to be understood it had been better there had been nothing writ but if it was his purpose To be understood of Men it must be supposed that what he caused to be written was plain enough for men to understand or he mist his own Aim and End and writ it to no purpose which is absurd If it should be told me That it is not denyed but that the Scriptures may be understood by some body but not by every body for that the Great Visible Judge must needs understand them because it belongs to his Office to resolve those Doubts and determine those Controversies that may arise about understanding them Answ I must also say that this is false in Fact For its ridiculous to imagine that Luke did not make Theophilus his own Judge in the reading of what he writ to him or that the Apostles in writing to the several Churches as Rome Corinth Ephesus c. to whom they directed their Epistles did not intend that they should understand what they writ or that they erected any such Officer in the Church as an Expounder of their Epistles to the Assembly to be necessarily believed For we know in those days The People made the Church they were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the CLERGY however it came about that it be now engrossed into fewer hands as you may see in the Greek of Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated Heritage in all our Bibles But this is as if the Priest's only were the Lord's Heritage which can't be for a Reason obvious to all namely that they reign as Lords over God's Heritage or Clergy forbid expresly by Peter therefore not the Heritage and Clergy over which they so rule like Lords by no means I will say no more but this 't is no convincing Proof to me of their Humility But to shut up this Agument about the Difficulty of Understanding the Scripture and pretended a necessity of a Visible Judge I say Whatsoever may be spoken may be written or thus Whatsoever a Visible Judge can now say the holy Pen men by God's Direction might have written and what an Omniscient and Omnipotent God did know and could do for Man's Salvation an OMNIBENEVOLENT God that tells us he delights not in the Death of one Soul but rather that he should be saved would have done And because God is as Omnibenevolent as Omniscient and Omnipotent we must conclude he has done it and 't is great Presumption and a mean Shelter to Ignorance to raise a credit to Humane Devices by beating down the true Value of the Scriptures They are dark what follows they must not be read what follows then Why then such Teachers may do as they list with the People But did the Pharisees with their broad Philacteries know God's mind better then the Prophets or could they deliver it clearer no such matter 't is by the same strange Figure that the School-men know the mind of Christ better then the Apostles and that the Council of TRENT can declâ—re Faith more clearly then the holy Ghost in the Scripture hath donâ— and yet this is the English of their Doctrine that hold to us those Lights to read Scripture by and that would have us seach their Canons and Decrees to find out the Mind of the holy Ghost in Scripture The Confusions that are pretended to follow such an Inquiry are but the wretched Arts of ill men as much as in them lies to keep Light and Truth out of the World When the Net was cast into the Sea there came some good some bad Fish that was not the Fishers fault they were no better Inquiry is not to be blam'd for the ill use weak or worse men make of it The Bereans might not all believe though they might all search for men don't inquire with equal Wisdom Love and good Desire some seek and find not Some ask and receive not therefore must none ask or seek after that which is good or because some ask or seek amiss will it follow that the thing it self is naught If Superstition Error Idolatry and Spiritual Tyranny be detected and Truth discover'd will it more then make amends for all that Weakness and Folly some men have brought forth by the liberty of such an Inquiry The Enemies of Light may be as Rhetorical as they please upon the excess or Presumption of some bolder then wise and more Zealous then Knowing but if they had nothing to lose by the discovery they would never be the Enemies of a prudent Search It is to be fear'd such get that Obedience by a blind devotion which no man could yield them upon better Information and is it reasonable that men of that Stamp should secure their Empire by the Ignorance of the People