yield more easily to the antecedent Arguments of the Infallibility of that Church But if the Doctrine for which she vouches this Authority does upon the most impartial tryal that I can make appear to be worldly unscriptural or contrary to common sence then I am bound to examine the grounds of her Pretence more severely than in the former case And there is no question but such Doctrines may be taught by men pretending to Inspiration or Infallibility which will justifie a man in rejecting that Pretence out of hand and troubling himself no more about it If a Physician of never so great name should tell me that he would infallibly cure my Disease and then prescribe a dose of Arsenick I think Reason would advise rather to question his Infallibility because he goes thus madly to work than to take his Poyson because he promises an Infallible Cure Now if I am not to do violence to my own understanding in things that concern my bodily health much less should I do the same in things that regard my everlasting state And they are a strange sort of men who will allow people the liberty of using their Reason as well as they can for the security of their worldly interests but will have them be led in the great affairs of Religion and Eternity as if they had no reason at all For to judge aright and to know the truth in matters of Religion which is our highest concernment was the principal end for which we have Reason and are Creatures of judgment and choice And they may as well say that 't is dangerous for a man to walk abroad with his eyes open as that 't is dangerous for him to take upon himself to judge as well as he can whether he be in the right way to Heaven or not § 2. If we consider what has been already said it will not be difficult to answer the second Question 2. Whether a liberty of examining and judging in matters of Religion doth mischief in the Church and be the cause of Heresies and Schisms To which I answer that To affirm this is in effect to say that it had been much better in order to the peace of the Church and the prevailing of Truth that men had been nearer to stocks and stones than endued with natural Abilities of judging and natural propensions to use those Abilities which I think would be to reflect upon the Wisdom of our Maker For certainly it had been better for men to have wanted the faculties of judging and proving if it be so dangerous a thing to the Church to make use of them Nor is it much for the credit of the Church that it should be against her interest for men to examine her Doctrine and use their Reason about it as well as they can To speak to the thing It is not the liberty of examination and judgment in order to the knowledge of the Truth that causeth Heresies and Schisms but the not making a right use of this liberty i. e. mens entring upon this work with Pride and the prevalency of Lust and Passion and worldly interest their want of care and diligence and of proving things sufficiently their taking up Opinions without reasonable examination and then seeking for Pretences to colour their obstinacy The Lusts and Vices of men are against the peace of the Church and the interest of Truth but not the use of that Reason which is the divine part of our Natures and which God hath given us to restrain and govern our inferiour Faculties 'T is true indeed that if few or none troubled themselves at all to judge in matters of Religion there would be no Heresies But 't is true too that if they had no reason to judge of these things at all there would have been no Heresies and 't is as true that if there had been no Religion at all it were impossible that there should be Heresies in Religion But will any men say that Reason or Religion is therefore the cause of Heresies And yet there is as much reason to say this as to conclude that the use of our own understandings in the things of God is the cause of Heresies These things are too gross to need a Confutation And yet this Pretence against the liberty of proving what is propounded to us in Religion is intended chiefly against private and ordinary persons but not against the publick Guides and Officers of the Church whereas in truth if there be any thing in it it holds more strongly against these than against the other And that because the most pernicious Heresies that ever came into the Church were brought in by men of Learning and Authority in the Church And if this Pretence be good they of all men should be forbidden to inquire into matters of Religion because if they fall into any dangerous mistake their Authority is likely to give reputation to it and to make it go down more easily with the common People than if it had been started by one of themselves So that we must not lay the Heresies that have been in the Church to the liberty we have been contending for unless we will be content to exclude all from the duty of proving what they have been taught to 〈◊〉 And no man can think this reasonable unless he 〈◊〉 all Religions to be equally true that is every one to be alike false And he that believes this needs not care what Heresie he is of § 3. 3. But if every man hath a just liberty and right to examine for himself is not this a good reason for Toleration or for the universal liberty of practising according to a mans Conscience or Perswasion For to what purpose is liberty of enquiry if after all I must be concluded by the Authority of my Superiours or else suffer under those Laws by which they provide for Uniformity in Religion To this I answer That every mans right and duty to judge for himself in matters of Religion is no good reason for Toleration unless it were also apparent that every man used that Right as he ought to do i. e. with industry deliberation and impartiality If all men were sincere and would examine without prejudice without that byass to one side which is made by lust and passion and worldly interest if they all intended to know the truth that they might do their duty then doubtless it were very fit that all should enjoy an undisturbed liberty of practice according to their Judgment for then no man would err in things plain and necessary to his own salvation and the peace of Church and State For our Lord hath assured us that if any man will do the will of God he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God But so long as there is that Hypocrisie in the World whereof men are conscious to themselves so long as all those Vices also reign which insensibly corrupt the Judgment and make men disloyal to the Truth
understanding For when Hypocrites have for their worldly interest debauched Religion in this manner they know that the meanest people will never swallow their gross absurdities unless they can first prevail with them to believe that 't is a dangerous thing to trust their own eyes or to hearken to any discourse from Principles of Reason though it be never so clear and strong and that it is a kind of merit to believe things incredible and to stick to a conclusion the faster the more impossible it seems to be true But by the way if Reason be one and that the first means by which we are to judge for our selves in matters of Religion as I shall make bold to say it is I should vehemently suspect without farther examination that they know their Opinions to be very foolish who at first dash renounce the most general and necessary Rule by which they are to be tried I shall onely adde that because the fundamental Principles of Reason are the same all the World over Reason is therefore the most publick Rule and Test whereby to judge between Truth and Errour And therefore if a Council defines things in that manner that I must forsake right Reason to follow its Definitions when I make this plain this is not opposing a private Spirit to a publick Judgment but appealing from a less publick Judgment to the most publick Sence and Judgment of mankind § 6. 2. As Reason is a Rule to all men so is Scripture a Rule to all Christians at least it ought to be so and all pretend to make it a Rule for their Judgment by appealing to it The Church of Rome indeed allows it to be but part of the Rule of Faith we say it is an intire and perfect Rule thereof However so long as she acknowledges the Scriptures to be a Rule though she pretends there is another Rule besides that she is to be concluded by the authority of the Scriptures and so we are to be acquitted by her in not believing her against the Scriptures Now every body must grant that we do not judge rightly by the Scriptures where we mistake the meaning of the Text. And we ought to be sure that the sence wherein we take any place is the true sence before we make our interpretation of it a Rule whereby to examine other things Where the sence is very plain it requires nothing more than common sence and common honesty to understand it and it is very reasonable to suppose that God hath revealed all points necessary to salvation so clearly and plainly that it is not difficult for an honest man to understand what they are But because there are many obscure places in the Scriptures we must be very careful not to ground any Doctrine upon them till we have well weighed and examined the meaning of those places and the way to be secure from any dangerous mistake in concluding from places of Scripture that are more or less hard to be understood is to observe such cautions as these are which I think all Christians must allow to be reasonable 1. That we take no Text in a sence which is repugnant to common Sense and natural Reason 2. That we put no sence upon a place of Scripture that is repugnant to the general scope and designe of the whole Word of God 3. That we understand no difficult places in a sence that is contrary to to those places whose meaning is plain and manifest to all men 4. That we mistake not those places for plain which are not so 5. That we put no other sence upon a Text than what agrees with the scope and designe of that particular Discourse wherein we find it 1. Before we conclude upon the sence of a Text so as to prove any thing by it we must be sure that sence is not repugnant to natural Reason For if it be it cannot be the true meaning of the Scripture For God is the Original of natural Truth as well as of that which comes by particular Revelation and as Hierocles saith to believe and obey right Reason and to follow God are the same thing And therefore no Proposition that is repugnant to the fundamental Principles of Reason can be the sence of any part of Gods Book and that which is false and contrary to Reason can no more be true and agreeable to the revelations of Scripture than God who is the Author of one as well as the other can contradict himself From hence it is evident that these words This is my body are not to be understood in that sence which makes for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation because it is impossible that contradictions should be true and we cannot be more certain that any thing is true than we are that that Doctrine is false There are some other Doctrines maintained by men of Name in the World that they have no better grounds for than obscure Texts interpreted contrary to the Principles of natural Reason and Religion This caution therefore is to be minded in the first place 2. We must put no sence upon a difficult place which contradicts the great end and drift of the whole Bible Now that is to work Faith in men and thereby to bring them to repentance and to a holy life And therefore whatsoever Doctrine does naturally tend to take men off from the care of holy living by nourishing them in foolish presumption or driving them to miserable despair cannot be the Doctrine of the Scriptures and therefore such a Doctrine cannot be proved from any obscure Text of the Bible and by consequence that sence of an obsure Text from which it may be proved is not the true sence unless we can believe that some part of the holy Books teaches something that undermines the great end of the whole There are too many Opinions amongst some Christians that have no other colour for them than Scripture interpreted without this necessary caution which must therefore be added to the former 3. We must not understand a difficult place in a sence that is contrary to those places whose meaning is plain and manifest to all men For the Scripture cannot teach one thing plainly in one place and the quite contrary obscurely in another It is but reasonable therefore in trying to understand a difficult place or in going about to prove any thing from it that we should compare Scripture with Scripture and the obscure places with those that are plain not to interpret the plain by the obscure which is contrary to all Rules of Discourse but the obscure by the plain especially because the plain places contain things that are most necessary to be understood and believed by us and therefore we cannot without great danger forsake the Doctrine which they teach as every man in effect does who takes a difficult place in a sence contrary to that Doctrine In a word the Scripture is our Rule principally where it is easiest to be understood and the
Scripture that belongeth to a Discourse be agreeable to the designe and scope of that Discourse to which it belongeth This Rule as it is necessary for all to observe so it is especially to be urged upon men that are apt to interpret places that are not of themselves plain by those Opinions that they are already possessed with a belief of but for which they have little ground besides the mere sound of some Texts which at first hearing seem to be of their side but which if they were compared with the designe of the holy Writer in that Chapter or Book would be found to mean quite another thing All that I shall say besides of this Rule is that the difficulty of many places that are not of themselves plain will be removed by observing it For instance by this way we shall easily be satisfied that that forementioned place of St. Paul Who maketh thee to differ from another was chiefly meant of those extraordinary gifts which were distributed amongst believers in the first Ages of the Church and therefore though in a qualified sence this is true of all saving Graces it is very consistent with all those Scriptures that suppose the difference between the righteous and the wicked to depend upon something which is in the power of the righteous If we mangle coherent Discourses and take a shred or a phrase of Scripture by it self without regard to the main scope of the place and this to prove what what we would have we do not try our Opinions by Scripture but we interpret Scripture by our own Opinions Thus I have shewn what Cautions are to be observed in judging by Scripture I doubt not but all will acknowledge them to be very reasonable and equal and if all men had observed them who have a just veneration for the Scriptures the Word of God had been better understood and less wrested unsound Divinity had not easily passed for Scriptural Truth and all occasion of those unjust Reproaches had been taken away which the Church of Rome throws upon us for allowing to all Christians the free use of Gods Holy Book And thus much for the Rules of Reason and Scripture 3. The third I mentioned was Antiquity and Catholick Tradition Now if this Rule as I said at first be of excellent use then they are in the best way to find out what is the true Christian Religion by it who stick to the Holy Scriptures though they are not capable of using it otherwise For if that be true which was most anciently taught and believed in the Church and which was received all along in the best Ages of the Church then he that can prove his Faith by Scripture has the Argument of Antiquity and Catholick Tradition unquestionably on his side because the Scriptures are the most ancient Records of our Religion and they have been delivered down to us as such from the beginning through all Ages to our present times But we acknowledge also the testimony of Antiquity of something of a later date that is of the antient Fathers of the Church to be of very good use for the clearing of some places in Scripture for shewing what Order and Discipline was left in the Church by the Apostles for confirming us in points of Faith grounded upon the Scriptures but which have been disputed and opposed by Hereticks and likewise for confuting those gross errours in Belief or Practice which of later days have been brought in amongst Christians especially those of the Church of Rome But how things are to be examined by this Rule I shall not here direct because this is the subject of an excellent Discourse already published And thus much concerning Rules whereby to try Opinions in Religion § 7. III. The Dispositions wherewith we are to search for the Truth by these means are also of necessary consideration for whatever other advantages we have if we be greatly defective in these we shall very often lose our labour and fall into mistakes of dangerous consequence To qualifie a man for receiving Truth when propounded with sufficient evidence or to find it out by his own search there must be these three things 1. A prepared mind 2. Competent Diligence 3. Prayer to God for his blessing upon that Diligence 1. A prepared mind which our Saviour calls a good and honest heart Now this consists in Humility Ingenuity and Sincerity Humility is necessary because overweening and self-concit makes a man apt to despise what those of a different Perswasion can say for themselves before their Arguments are considered and in general to neglect that help which may be had by the advice and reasoning of others So likewise vain-glory fixeth a man in an errour he hath once defended and while he is unwilling to acknowledge a mistake he strains all his Wit to delude himself into a stronger belief of it and of his ability to defend it In Controversies he is desirous of victory and would fain be thought some-body and therefore he studies more to expose an adversary than to inform himself And if he be yet to chuse his side of a Question he takes the wrong one if it be more fashionable than the right Therefore says our Saviour Whosoever doth not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child i. e. with a meek and pliable spirit shall not enter therein Again says he My sheep hear my voice intimating that they would be easily convinced who were of tractable and humble minds And therefore he adds concerning the Pharisees that they rejected him because they were not of his Sheep i. e. because of their haughty and inflexible dispositions Prejudice is apt to bar the mind against conviction as well as Pride and therefore to Humility we must adde Ingenuity and Sincerity by which a man is qualified to distinguish between the suggestions of Prejudice on the one side and the force of good Reasons on the other Ingenuity is opposed to those Prejudices that are either unavoidably contracted or taken up through weakness of understanding Of the former sort are the Prejudices of Education or conversing altogether with our own Party Men are generally prepossess'd with great favour to those Opinions in which they have been all along trained up and which have been instilled into them by all that they have conversed with And therefore we cannot be meet Inquirers after Truth if we want the ingenuity of suspecting our selves on this side and trying those Perswasions in which we have been bred up with the greater impartiality and severity Some men are prejudiced by an unaccountable inclination toward an Opinion or an antipathy against it and these ought the more carefully to distinguish between the warmth of their imaginations on the one side and the force of Arguments on the other and not to take a passionate fondness for a conclusion or an aversion from it to be a Reason one way or other It is very incident to weak minds to prejudg in favour of
meaning is most plain and evident But this caution will be of greater use if we take the next along with us and that is this 4. In trying Opinions by Scripture we must be something careful lest we mistake those places for plain which indeed are not so but more or less obscure And here I think it needful to shew what I mean by the plainness or by the difficulty of a Text. A Text is then plain when that is the true and intended meaning of it which the first reading or hearing of the words doth suggest to a mans mind And the Scripture is thus plain in necessary points especially in the Precepts and Exhortations thereof which though in some places they are couched under more obscure terms yet in others they are delivered with this plainness A Text may be said to be difficult when we do not hit of the true and intended sence upon the first reading or gather it from the bare surface of the words but must search and enquire farther to know it And there are two sorts of difficult Texts in Scripture Some places are so hard to be understood that upon the first reading of the words or phrases no tolerable or intelligible sence can be put on them at all without a great deal of farther study and enquiry the difficult places of which sort are more seldom perverted to maintain any ill Opinion for no body goes about to make a Text a Scriptural proof of any thing without he first determines with himself in what sence to take it and as for the hard places of this kind it being not obvious at the first reading what sence they can bear a man cannot well offer to prove any thing by them The other sort of difficult Texts are those which being taken by themselves do upon the first sight or sound of the words seem to have a plain sence and meaning which yet are not to be understood in that sence the words will be upon the first reading of them and these are the hard places in Gods Word which are most perverted and taken in such sence as the Holy Ghost never intended for then is an hard place like to be wrested when it seems plain to him who doth not understand it and a difficult Text may seem plain to him who for want of studying and considering thinks he understands it but doth not I shall instance in some difficult Texts of the latter sort which have been mistaken for plain that is erroneously taken to have such a meaning as they appear to have upon the first reading In the ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we have these words That it might not be of works but of him that calleth some take this for a plain place and therefore think it a clear scriptural truth that our salvation is not at all of our works but onely proceeds from an absolute decree of Heaven So again we have it affirmed by the Apostle in the same Chapter It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Hence some think it is plain in Scripture that what we do signifies little all is from an arbitrary favour of God Again in the 1 Cor. 4. 7. we find these words Who maketh thee to differ from another From the sound of which words some gather that we are not free Agents in our own conversion but that if we be better than our Neighbours it is an Almighty Power hath made us so and not any free choice or care of our own Now certain it is that we mistake the meaning of a Text of Scripture if we look upon it as plain when it is not so and consequently in this case we cannot be able to judge what is orthodox or erroneous by having recourse to any Scriptures so misapprehended But how can I know when a place is but seemingly plain and not really so i. e. when I am not to take that to be the meaning of the place which I may apprehend upon the first running of the words and sound of the phrases This is to be known by comparing places together and going by this Rule A place seems onely to be plain but is not when it 's uppermost sence and what it offers to us does not agree with the sence of a place undoubtedly plain For instance the Texts now mentioned may seem plain to those who would prove their erroneous Perswasions to be scriptural Truths by them yet if we suppose them plain i. e. if we think they are to be taken in that sence which they will bear at the first reading then they are Texts undeniably repugnant to such places of St. Paul as all must believe and acknowledge to be plain For whereas he says That it might not be of works c. in another place he gives us this plain Precept Work out your salvation Is not salvation of works and yet must we work it out Either therefore it is not true in the sence some take the words that salvation is not of works or it is not proper to bid us work it out wherefore by this plain place Work out your salvation we must conclude that the other place That it might not be of works whatsoever the sence of it may be it cannot have this meaning that our salvation doth not depend upon our works or doings In like manner whereas the Apostle says It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth c. doth he not in a plain practical discourse wherein he compares the Christian life to a Race exhort us so to run that we may obtain Now is it not of running that we obtain and yet doth he bid us so run that we may obtain Wherefore the plain Precept to run c. evidently shews that it cannot be the meaning of the other place that it is not by running or by diligence in a Christian life that we obtain salvation Again whereas he asketh in one place Who maketh thee to differ from another he also exhorteth in another Be not conformed to the world And therefore the meaning of the former clause cannot be that the righteous man who is more excellent than his neighbour doth nothing towards the making of that difference for then it would be very improper to exhort a man to make that difference by not conforming to the world Finally it is evident that these places of St. Paul which I have now compared cannot be all of them plain for then they are irreconcilably repugnant to one another and if they are not all plain then some of them must not be thought to have such a meaning as the first reading of the words might make us think they have And therefore in judging things by Scripture we must be careful that we do not prove or disprove them by Scriptures mistaken for plain when they are not so 5. We must also see that the sence wherein we take a passage of