he did against St. Paul they charge us with bringing in new Sects under the pretence of Reformation or with rejecting the Authority of the present Church which we were bound to obey and thereby laying the Foundation of Faction â—nd Schism These are heavy charges but they are no other than those the High Priest and the Elders made against St. Paul and thanks be to God his Defence and Vindication is ours too for we appeal to Scripture and the best and purest Antiquity and desire to be judged according to these These three things therefore I shall speak to before I conclude 1. That the same reasons which they produce against the Reformation would have held against the spreading of Christianity at first 2. That the same Defence which St. Paul made for Christianity will justifie the Reformation 3. That we have all reason to follow the courage of St. Paul in owning and defending our Religion not with standing the imputations which are cast upon it 1. That the same reasons which they produce against the Reformation would have held against Christianity at first What have all the clamours of our Adversaries for above a hundred years come to but the very same which I have already mentioned as the Jews Objections against Christianity viz. Novelty and Faction Where was your Church before the Reformation produce your succession in all Ages of persons who agreed in all things with you Where were those distinct bodies of men who found fault with those corruptions that you pretend to reform Our Church hath had a constant and glorious succession of Bishops and Martyrs and Consessors and Religious Orders of Men Virgins and Widows But supposing such a distinct succession were not necessary yet shew how it was possible for so many errors and corruptions to come into the Church and no one take notice of them and discover them Where was the watchfull eye of Providence over the Church all this while What all the Pastors asleep at once or all conspiring together to deceive their posterity Besides how can the Protestants ever answer their rejecting the Authority of the present Church which they lived under and to whom God had promised his infallible Spirit how can they clear themselves from faction and disturbing the peace of the Christian world which lived in so great unity and peace before This is the summ of their Objections against the Reformation which are the very same we have mention'd before as produced by the Jews against Christianity If the arguments are good now they were so then if they were good then for all that I can see the High Priest and Elders were in the right and St. Paul in the wrong if they were not good then but are now some remarkable disparity must be shewed between their case and ours and that must lye in shewing these three things 1. That the Christian Church hath greater infallibility promised than the Jewish had 2. That the first Christians had greater reason to reject the Authority of that Church than the Reformers had as to the Church of Rome 3 That the Causes of corruptions in the Jewish Church could not hold in the Christian But if none of these can be made good then the case will appear to be the very same 1. It cannot be proved that the Christian Church hath greater infallibility promised than the Jewish had Of which we have this plain evidence that one of the strongest arguments produced for the infallibility of the Christian Church is taken from the Promises made to the Jewish How often hath Deut. 17. 8 9 10. been made Use of to prove infallibility in the Christian Church If they had any better arguments in the New Testament would they ever run so far back to a Command that most evidently relates to the Jewish constitution Where hath ever God promised that he would dwell in St. Peters at Rome as he did that he would dwell in his Temple at Hierusalem What boastings and triumphs would there have been if any such words had been in the Gospel concerning Rome as there were of old concerning Hierusalem viz. that God had sanctified it that his Name might be there for ever and his eyes and his heart should be there perpetually What pittiful proofs in comparison of this are all those brought out of the New Testament for the Authority and Infallibility of the Roman Church What are all the promises of the Spirit made to the Apostles and remarkably accomplished in them to this plain promise of Gods particular presence in that place for ever Suppose St. Peter had priviledges above the rest of the Apostles how comes the entail to be made to all his successors and only at Rome and no where else Where are the Deeds kept that contain this gift Why are they not produced during all this contest And yet we see in the Jewish Church where such a promise was made to a particular place no such thing as Infallibility was implyed in it 2. It cannot be shewed that the first Christians had greater reason to reject the Authority of the Jewish Church than our Reformers had to reject that of the Church of Rome I know here it will be presently said That the Apostles saw the Miracles of Christ and wrought many themselves and received an immediate Commission from Jesus Christ in whom the Churches Infallibility was then seated All which I grant to be true in it self but cannot be pleaded by them who contend for absolute obedience to the present Churches Authority as infallible My reason is because upon this principle they could not believe Christ to be the true Messias for his being the true Messias depended upon two things viz. the fulfilling of Prophecies and the truth of his Miracles now according to their principles no man could be certain of either of these without the Authority of the Church for the fulfilling of Prophecies depended upon the sense of many obscure places of Scripture about which they say there is a necessity of an infallible Judge and for Miracles they tell us that there is no certain way of judging true and false but by the Authority of the Church Now if these things be so what ground could the first Christians have to believe Christ to be the true Messias when in both these they must oppose the Authority of the present Church 3. They can never prove that the same causes of corruptions do not hold as to the Christian which did as to the Jewish Church For the Christian Church in those Ages which we charge with introducing the corruptions was degenerated into greater Ignorance Barbarism Luxury and Superstition than the Jewish Church in the time of its darkness from the cessation of Prophecy till the coming of Christ. Our Adversaries themselves confess that for a long time there was nothing either of Learning or Humanity among them nothing but ease and luxury and ambition and all manner of Wickedness among the Chief Rulers among them nay
upon their own Authority to begin a new Church and to broach new Doctrines directly contrary to the judgement of the High Priest and Sanhedrin yea after they had pronounced Sentence against Jesus of Nazareth and condemned him to death and excommunicated his followers and punished as many as they could get into their power what could it in their opinion be but the Spirit of Faction and disobedience thus to oppose the Authority of their Church in believing contrary to its decrees and reforming without any power derived from it We see in our Saviours time how severely they checked any of the people who spake favourably of Christ and his Doctrine As though the poor ignorant people were fit to judge of these matters to understand Prophecies and to know the true Messias when he should appear And therefore when some of their Officers that had been sent to apprehend him came back with admiration of him and said Never man spake like this man they take them up short and tell them They must believe as the Church believes what they take upon them to judge of such matters No they must submit to their Governours Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him but this people which know not the Law are cursed i e. When they set up their own judgement in opposition to the Authority of the Church And after our Saviours death at a solemn Council at Hierusalem when Peter and John were summoned before them the first Question they asked was By what power or by what name have ye done this They never enquired whether the Miracle were wrought or no or whether their Doctrine were true all their Question was about their Mission whether it were ordinary or extraordinary or what authority they could pretend to that were not sent by themselves but let the things be never so true which they said if they could find any flaw in their Mission according to their own Rules and Laws this they thought sufficient ground to forbid them to preach any more and to charge them with Faction if they disobeyed 2. They charged the Christians with Faction in being so active and busie to promote Christianity to the great disturbance of the Jews in all parts This Tertullus accused St. Paul of that he was a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and accordingly the Jews at Thessalonica take the Christians by force and carry them to the Rulers of the City crying Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also This they knew was the most effectual course to render them odious to all Governours who are apt to suspect all new things as dangerous and think no truth can compensate the hazard of alterations Thus it was especially among the Roman Governours who had learnt from the counsel given to Augustus to be particularly jealous of all innovations in Religion and had much rather the people should continue quiet under an old error than have the peace disturbed for the greatest Truth This was really the greatest difficulty in the way of Christianity it came no where but people were possessed before hand with quite other apprehensions of Religion than the Christians brought among them The Jewish and Pagan Religions were in possession in all places and the people were at ease in the practice of them What then must the Christians do Must they let them alone and not endeavour to convince them of the truth of their own Doctrine If so they are unfaithful to their trust betrayers of truth and false to the Souls of men if they go about to perswade men out of their Religion they know such is the fondness most men have for their own opinions especially in Religion that where they might hope to convince one they might be sure to enrage many especially of those whose interest lay in upholding the old Religion How little doth Reason signifie with most men where Interest is against it Truth and falshood are odd kind of Metaphysical things to them which they do not care to trouble their heads with but what makes for or against their Interest is thought easie and substantial All other matters are as Gallio said questions of names and words which they care not for but no men will sooner offer to demonstrate a thing to be false than they who know it to be against their interest to believe it to be true This was the case of these great men of the Jews that came down to accuse Paul they easily saw whither this new Religion tended and if it prevailed among their people farewell then to all the Pomp and Splendour of the High-Priesthood at Hierusalem farewell then to the Glory of the Temple and City whither all the Tribes came up to worship thrice a year farewell then to all the riches and ease and pleasure which they enjoyed And what was the greatest Truth and best Religion in the world to them in comparison with these These were sufficient reasons to them to accuse Truth it self of deceiving men and the most peaceable Doctrine of laying the Foundation of Faction and Sedition Thus we have considerd the false imputations which were cast upon Christianity at first implyed in these words After the way which is called heresie 2. I now come to the way taken by St. Paul to remove these false imputations which he doth 1. By an appeal to Scripture as the ground and rule of his faith Believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets 2. By an appeal to the best and purest Antiquity as to the object of Worship So worship I the God of my Fathers not bringing in any new Religion but restoring it to its primitive purity 1. By an appeal to Scripture as the ground and rule of his faith The Jews pleaded Possession Tradition Authority of the present Church against all these St. Paul fixes upon a certain and unmoveable Foundation the Law and the Prophets He doth not here insist upon any particular revelation made to himself but offers the whole matter in dispute to be tryed by a common Rule that was allowed on both sides And his meaning is if they could prove that he either asserted or did any thing contrary to the Law and the Prophets then they had some reason to accuse him of innovation or beginning of a new Sect but if the foundation of his doctrine and practice lay in what themselves acknowledged to be from God then they had no cause to charge him with introducing a new Sect among them But the great Question here is What ground St. Paul had to decline the Authority of the present Church Since God himself had appointed the Priests to be the interpreters of the Law and therefore in doubtful cases resort was to be made to them and not the judgement left to particular persons about the sense of Scripture and yet in this case it is apparent St. Paul declined all Authority of the present
Church for at that very time the High-Priests and Elders came down to accuse him and he takes not the least notice of their judgement in this matter I shall therefore now shew that St. Paul had very great reason so to do and to appeal only to Scripture 1. Because the Authority of the present Church was more lyable to error and mistake than the Rule of Scripture was 2. Because it was lyable to more partiality than that was 1. Because it was more lyable to error and mistake than the Rule of Scripture was It was agreed on both sides that the Law was from God and that the Prophets spake by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost all that was now left was only to find out the true meaning of them and to compare Prophecies with events As in the case of the Messias if the circumstances foretold by the Prophets had their exact accomplishment in Christ as might appear to those who carefully compared them If he were born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah when the Scepter was departed from it and during the second Temple and all other circumstances agreeing then though the ordinary judgement concerning true Prophets belonged to the Sanhedrin yet it was far more reasonable to believe that they were mistaken than that all the Prophecies should be accomplished in a person that was not the true Messias For those Prophecies were not intended only for the Priests and Rulers but for directions to the People that they might be able to judge of the accomplishment of them otherwise when the Authority of the Jewish Church condemned our Saviour the People could have no reason to believe him to be the Messias if they were bound in the sense of Scripture to submit their judgement wholly to the Churches Authority It is plain then that the sense of Scripture may be so evident to private capacities that they are not to submit in it to the present Authority of a Church For notwithstanding all the promises made to the Jewish Church and the command of submitting to the sentence of their Priests and Rulers in a matter of the highest concernment viz. concerning the true Messias men were bound to believe directly contrary to the present Authority in the Church For the people were bound to believe Christ to be the true Messias although the High Priest and Elders had condemned him for a deceiver and malefactor But besides this particular case there may be several others wherein men may lawfully reject the Authority of the present Church and those are when that Authority shall go about to overthrow those things which must be supposed antecedent to the belief of any such Authority as 1. The common sense of mankind 2. The force of a divine Law 3. The liberty of judgement concerning truth and falshood All these must necessarily be supposed before any Authority of a Church but if any Church goes about to overthrow these it thereby forfeits its own Authority over men 1. If it requires things contrary to common sense as in that instance wherein some of the Jewish Rabbies required submission to their Authority viz. in believing the right hand to be the left or the left to be the right if they determined so or supposing the Jews to have required the people to deny that they ever saw any Miracle wrought by Christ or in the Miracle of the Loaves that what they saw and handled and tasted to be bread was true bread or to say that the same individual body might be in a thousand places at once or that things whose nature it is to be in another can subsist without their proper subject what Church soever requires such things as these from its members to be believed gives them just reason to reject its Authority 2. If it requires things contrary to the force and reason of a divine Law as the Jews themselves would have acknowledged if any Authority among them had gone about either to have left out the second Commandment or made it lawful to give Religious worship to Images under any distinctions whatsoever or if the Priests had taken away from the people their share in the sacrifices under pretence of the unsanctified teeth or the long beards of the Laity which were not fit to touch what had been offered in sacrifice to God But we need not put cases among them for our Saviour therefore bids men have a care of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees because by their traditions they made the Commandment of God of none effect as in their Corban if they made a vow to God they thought themselves excused from relieving their Parents and in this way our Saviour generally deals with them shewing that though they pretended to keep the letter of the Law yet by their corrupt additions and false glosses they overthrew the scope and design of it which he thought sufficient reason to reject their Authority and therefore when he bids his Disciples observe and do what soever the Scribes and Pharisees bid them it must be supposed to be only while they keep to the letter and reason of the Law for if he had intended an absolute obedience he would never elsewhere bid his Disciples beware of their Doctrine 3. If it takes away all liberty of judgement concerning truth and falshood in Religion For this is a natural right which every man hath to judge for himself and they that take this away may as well command all men to put out their eyes that they may better follow their Guides But the other is so much worse because it is an assault upon our understandings it is a robbing us of the greatest talent God hath committed to our management it is a rape upon our best faculties and prostituting them to the lusts of Spiritual Tyrants it is not captivating our understandings to the obedience of faith but enslaving them to the proud and domineering usurpations of men wherein they would do by us as the Philistins did by Sampson they would put out our eyes that we might grind in their prison and make them sport I would not be mistaken it is the liberty of judgement I plead for and not of practice that may be justly restrained by the Laws of the Church where the other is allowed because the obligations to peace and unity are different from those to faith and inward assent And that no absolute submission of judgement could be required by the Law of Moses notwithstanding the command of outward obedience in the cases mention'd Deut. 17. 8 9 c. is most evident from hence because that Law makes provision for a sin-offering in case the whole Congregation of Israel sin through ignorance and the thing be hid from the eyes of the Assembly or Supream Council and they have done something against the commandment of the Lord which had been a Law made to no purpose if it had been impossible for their chief Authority to have erred or been mistaken
I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets Wherein we have these three things considerable 1. The Imputation which Christianity suffered under in its first appearance After the way which they call heresie 2. The Way taken by St. Paul to remove this false Imputation viz. by appeal to Scripture and Antiquity So worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets 3. The Courage of St. Paul in so freely owning his Religion in the presence of his greatest enemies and when they were in hopes to destroy him for it This I confess unto thee that after the way c. 1. I begin with the false Imputation which Christianity suffered under at its first appearance After the way which is called heresie the same Word which is translated Sect v. 5. and although the Word be indifferent in it self yet where it is taken for a combination of men together against an established Religion and lawful Authority as it was by the Jews when they charged the Christians under this name then it implies in it a twofold accusation 1. Of Novelty and Singularity 2. Of Faction and Sedition 1 Of Novelty A Sect of Heresie in this sense implies in it mens setting up with a new Doctrine which was not heard of before and making that theFoundation of a new Society separate and distinct from the established Church and consequently they must charge the Church they are divided from with errors and corruptions or they make themselves guilty of Schism i. e. unnecessary separation Now upon these two grounds the Jews laid the imputation of a New Sect upon the Nazarenes or Christians 1. Because they could not shew a visible succession in all Ages 2. Because they could not prove the Jewish Church to be guilty of such errors and corruptions as to need a Reformation 1. They could not shew a Succession in all Ages of such persons who agreed in all things with them For where say they were the men to be found in former Ages that taxed the Jewish Church with such errors and corruptions as Jesus of Nazareth did that bid men beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees i. e. of the most learned and holy men Had not God alwayes a Visible Church among them they could produce the names of their High Priests in every Age and shew them all the marks of a Visible Church For in Judah was God known and his Name was great in Israel Hath not God said that in his House at Hierusalem he would put his Name for ever and his eyes and his heart should be there perpetually How is it then possible but there must be a constant and visible Succession in all Ages since God would alwayes have a people to dwell among and that might be known to be his people by the outward marks and signs of a true Church But if the Christians pretences held good God must for several Ages have wanted a Church amongst them For none of those things which they charged the Jews with were newly crept in among them but had been delivered down to them by the Tradition of their Fore-fathers in an uninterrupted manner as they thought from the very time of Moses This was their Rule whereby they guided themselves in their actions of Religion and in the sense of obscure places of the Law and the Prophets and in that time after the cessation of Prophecy when the Christians supposed these corruptions to have come in among them they could draw down a constant Succession from the men of the great Synagogue of persons eminent for Learning and Piety that never charged them with any such corruptions as Jesus of Nazareth and his Disciples did Would God ever suffer such dangerous errors hypocrisie and superstitions to prevail in his own Church and raise up no Persons to discover these things till these new Teachers and Reformers arose Were not Hillel and Shammai that so accurately discussed all the niceties of the Law able to find out such gross and open corruptions if any such had been among us Might not we say that not only the Teachers but God himself had slept all that time if he raised up no one Person to discover the coming in of such errors and corruptions Where had God then any true Church in the world if not among his people of the Jews And would he suffer that to be overspread with such a Leprosie and send none of his Priests to discover it And even by the confession of the Christians themselves they were once the beloved and chosen people of God how or when was it that they ceased to be so Do not themselves acknowledge that they receive the Law and the Prophets from our hands And that to us were committed the Oracles of God and that to us pertained the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises and that ours are the Fathers How is it then possible after all these priviledges to suppose this Church to fall into such a degeneracy as at last to be cast off by God and a new Church to arise out of the ashes of it Thus we may reasonably suppose the Jews to have argued for themselves and on the other side they trampled upon and despised this new Sect of the Nazarenes That had nothing of the Pomp and Splendour of their Church they had only a company of mean and illiterate persons at first to joyn with them the Disciples of their Master were a sort of poor Fishermen and inconsiderable persons men of no Authority or reputation for extraordinary Sanctity or Learning even their Master himself was one of no great severity of life that did not retire from the world and lead an abstracted life but conversed with Publicans and Sinners and put not his Disciples upon Fasting and long Prayers whereas the Pharisees were men of great austerity and mortification much exercised in devotion making frequent and long prayers at certain hours and in whatever place those hours took them Now how is it possible to believe that such devout persons as these are mistaken and the Sect of the Nazarenes only in the right But besides all this Where was their Church before Jesus of Nazareth We offer to produce a personal succession on our side that joyned in constant communion with us at the Temple at Hierusalem let the Christians shew any number of men before themselves that joyned with them in believing what they do and rejecting the abuses which they tax among us if they cannot do this let them then suffer under the just imputation of Novelty 2. But supposing they do not think it necessary to assign a number of men distinct from our Society but say it is enough that though they joyned with them in the worship of God yet they did not in their corruptions yet to