Finger of God I am sensible the Common Opinion presses me most with this Objection as if my Doctrine evacuated the conviction of our Saviour's Miracles and patroniz'd the Jews Infidelity in not believing for the Works sake But as has been observ'd by a Judicious Man this is a Dr. Jackson mistake for the Jews had a certain Rule of Tryal whereby to discern that the Works of Jesus were wrought in God and not in Beelzebub and that Rule was no other than the Spirit of Prophecy which like the Light as it Self-evidently manifests its own Divinity so by its Illustration it manifests other things which Spirit of Prophecy in the Old Testament those Oracles committed to the Jews had foretold that the Messiah so born so Rom. 3. 2. qualified so circumstantiated as Jesus and none other ever was should do these particular Works of wonder So that the Miracles of Christ were to them truly Signs and therefore convictive not solely because Divine operations for that was the question but because they were Contingencies determinately foretold And this is plain from our Saviour's Answer to the Pharisees requiring a Sign Matt. 16. 3. Can ye not discern the signs of the times or as St. Luke This time Chap. 12. 56. where in St. Luke Christ adds as awakening their Common reason Yea why do you not of your selves judge what is right which argues that they had a Rule to judge by i. e. why do ye not of your selves without my granting your request of a Sign judge out of the Prophets that I am the Messiah The works that I do in my Father's Name-bear witness of John 5. 36. me i. e. who I am Why how the Answer Christ made to John the Baptist Disciples Matt. 11. 4. resolves it Go tell John what ye see and hear the blind see the lame walk c. i. e. Go tell him that Isaiah's Prophecy you see is ALL Christ's Miracles were Signs to the Jews because presignified by the Prophets whom the Jews believed and in the Oeconomy of Grace the Messiah was therefore sent to that People first who had the Records of the Spirit of Prophecy I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel Why Mankind had as much interest in him as they but the most satisfactory convictive way of propagating his Faith to Mankind was from them which is the reason it was to be preach'd to all Nations Beginning from Jerusalem Luke 24. 46. fulfilled by me Isai 35. 6. and 61. 1. and then let him and you consider who I am Where Christ to that grand Question which was the Pharisees as well as John's in answer produceth the Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy and hereby he proved his works to be Divine or that he was sent by the Father as he himself speaks and then I allow most unquestionable and demonstrative Convictions And why was not this that which aggrandiz'd their Sin into blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Matt. 12. that they wilfully withstood the Convictions not only of the Spirit of Power but of Prophecy too of which latter they were such competent Judges whatever they were of the former Nay 't is further observable in this matter that after Jesus had prest the Jews with the two first Witnesses in Heaven viz. the Father's Voice and the Son's Miracles Joh. 5. 36 37. he finally laies the stress of his Convictions on the Writings of the Prophets Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me i. e. Joh. 5. 46 the grand Witness I appeal to at the bar of mens Judgment is the Spirit of Prophecy in the written Records Search the Scriptures and all this to prove what Christ v. 39 had said v. 30. that the Father sent him Where after all the other Testimonies produc'd he finally relies upon the Spirit of Prophecy But if ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe my words where Jesus himself v. 47. plainly acknowledgeth That in humane Judgment the test both of his Words and Works and all his Pretensions of Divine mission mentioned v. 30 c. was the Spirit of Prophecy as predicting So that I see not but we may conclude without any derogation That Christ's Miracles receiv'd the force of their conviction from the Spirit of Prophecy not of Power only and so the Apostles Miracles did too for as Christ's Miracles were determinately foretold by Moses and the Prophets so the Apostles Miracles were by Christ Both were Signs i. e. foretold Christ's Works in all the Old Testament the Apostles Mark 16. 17. These Signs shall follow them and elsewhere And this was the Gospels Confirmation God bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and divers Heb. 2. 3 4. Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost The first of Signs convictive as being the Testimony of Omniscient Verity the second of Miracles awakening the Senses and thereby the Understanding to consider that Conviction as the force of Omnipotence most effectually in this dull state can the last of Gifts as qualifying the Gospels Ministers to so difficult an employment Lastly After all their Miracles both Jesus and his Apostles back their Doctrine with this Testimony of the Spirit of Prophecy and hang the weight of their Convictions thereon This is that which was spoken or thus it is written throughout all the New Testament And I think 't is most remarkable That after all possible satisfaction given to their Senses Christ proves the truth of his Resurrection from this Testimony and 't is spoken signanter Then opened he their understandings that Luk. 24. 45 46. they might understand the Scriptures i. e. he explain'd the Scriptures intelligibly to them and said unto them Thus it is written c. From all which consider'd I may conclude this first Reason why the Spirit of Prophecy is The Testimony because 't was that Tally could not be counterfeited given therefore to prevent delusions for the Rules of Tryal were easie and certain and no Divination could bear the test but what had the Spirit of God its Author or else deserv'd not the name of Prophecy Secondly 'T is The Testimony because all Ages are under its conviction equally more than they are of any others abstracting from this And my reason is because this Testimony is permanent and the rest without this are transient though this adjoyned makes even them permanent too Ex. gr 1. The Father's Voice as I remember was only heard at the Baptism and Transfiguration of Jesus 2. The Word incarnate was personally present only in the Daies of Augustus and Tiberius 3. The Holy Ghost's Visible descent was but once at Jordan and once at Jerusalem the Day of Pentecost And these as generally interpreted are the Three in Heaven So likewise for the other Three on Earth 1. Holiness or Moral goodness is the pretence of every Philosopher a standing and laudable Testimony I confess and therefore the grand design
Eutychianus Whether it was Oraculum daemonum aut figmentum hominum he assures us not To me it seems grounded on some Opinions of the Primitive Christians concerning Antichrist's appearance but how miserably it fail'd St. Austin observes that in the very year Gaudentius and Jovius overthrew the Temples of the Heathen gods in Cartage Et plurimi Christiani facti qui tanquam verâ illâ Divinatione revocabantur à fide postquam eam completo eodem annorum numero inanem irridendamque viderunt De Civit lib. 18. cap. 54. the Papal or Mahometan under the Character of a divine Institution For certainly this he would have done had not the ability of his own Spirit fail'd him both as to the certainty and distance of such a contingency because nothing imaginable could have bruised the heel of the Womans Seed so dangerously confirmed Gentile Idolatry and staggar'd the Faith of Mankind so effectually as this by confronting a testimony for Antichrist out of the Heathen Oracles as good as that for Christ out of the Old Testament Prophecies And therefore all that the Serpent can do in this matter is to play the after-game as subtilly as may be and inspire Mahomet when he finds him Enthusiastick and amongst a People fit for delusion and so to club to perfect the Imposture or else to transform himself into an Angel of Light the only way to mischief the Christian Church as the Bishop of Rome doth himself into the Catholick or a Jesuit himself into a Christian or a Quaker himself into a man of Perfection And because I may not scan every objected Instance in Heathen Divination I shall in general only say that who so affirms any other than the Divine can be the Spirit of Prophecy seems to suffrage with them that blasphemed against him in leaving no distinctive Character to discern the Holy Spirit by and so may ascribe to Beelzebub what is the Divine Spirit 's prerogative And I call this of Prediction the Divine Spirit 's prerogative because God in the Prophet puts all other Diviners upon this Test Isa 41. 21 c. Produce your cause saith the Lord Bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth and shew us See Isa 47. 3 4 5 6 7. what shall happen let them shew the former things what they be that we may consider 'em and know the latter end of them or declare us things for to come Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods Allowing then that the sphere of Jesus's Interests is as large as the concerns of his Churches in all Ages the Prophecies of Enoch Noah Jacob and Others before his Incarnation or of Agabus St. John and Others after it make no Objection against this Truth That the Spirit of Prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus and nones else so that no cause distinct or opposite to his can produce it all divine Revelation centring in him to which give all the Act. 10. 43. Prophets witness 't is theresore called the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets 1 Pet. 1. 11. and 't is observable when this Divine Spirit was to convince the World of Sin for not believing it silenc'd all the Oracles in the World both true and false I mean both Jewish and Heathen Act 16. 16 17. 19. 16 19. which might be made use of in opposition to the Gospel And that 's my first Observation 'T is the Testimony of Jesus i. e. peculiarly and nones else Secondly 'T is not the Person employed Man or Angel on whom the validity of this Testimony depends but 't is The Spirit of Prophecy not only as revealing God's mind but as predicting to confirm the Revelation i. e. 't is the Testimony of Omniscient Veracity or of the prime Verity for nothing can furnish out the Spirit of Prophecy but a Science and Truth that is indefectible and infinite For the account of certainty in the Divine Prescience as to Contingencies and the products of Liberty must not be resolv'd into the Decree as if God certainly foreknew this would be the product of Liberty therefore because he decreed it for the Decree makes all Contingencies equally possible unless we introduce Fatality But the certainty of Prescience must be resolved solely into the Infinity of Science There is no searching of his understanding Isa 40. 28. So then whether it be Man or Angel that 's acted by the Spirit of Prophecy whether Moses or Balaam Simeon or Caiphas it matters not contrary to Maimonides's Rules about Qualifications the Testimony is the Spirits of Prophecy the attestation to the Revelation is made by the Prime Verity and the force lies in the presumptive truth of Nature's concession What God says is true or as St. John expresses it If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater 1 Joh. 5. 9. For all things in the World are true or false as they have or want the Testimony of the * Thus the Sun evidenceth it self by its own light and all other things visible by that illustration of Light it lends them either transiently as to the Air or permanently as to some Precious Stones c. Prime Verity whether that Verity record its Testimony in the settled Laws and Volumes of Nature upon which the study of Philosophy and all Secular knowledge depends or in the prescripts of Revelation called for distinctions sake Supernatural knowledge i. e. therefore this or that Knowledge is true in the nature of things because their causes and effects are apprehended as the first Cause and the Divine Truth did constitute them And so in Revelation this or that created Knowledge and Judgment is true or false which apprehends it according to the word and meaning of the first Revealer or otherwise We see this in Humane affairs where the grand decision of Truth depends entirely upon an Oath and therefore upon an Oath because an Oath is the attestation or appeal to the Prime Verity which Testimony upon Oath being ever esteemed most Sacred till the Licentious and Atheistical prophaneness of our Swearing Age essayed to unhallow and make it common Therefore it must follow That whatever is attested by the Prime Verity itself is true without any other or against any other contrary Evidence and 't is this that renders the Faith of Christian Mysteries reasonable Now the Declarations or Revelations of the Spirit of Prophecy Self-evidently appear to proceed from the Prime Verity because no knowledge but the Divine and Infinite can reach the Spirit of Prophecy i. e. can confirm Revelation by certain Prediction And if I mistake not this wounds the Leviathan who has taken his pastime in these waters of the Sanctuary and may shew him that Divine Faith may and ought to be resolved into Divine Truth that so its certainty might be stedfast as any knowledge in the World for whosoever may minister to this Faith its relyance must be upon
Divinity itself and happy were it would men consider the grounds of their Faith that they might with the Apostle amidst all the oppositions of the World stand firm with a Nevertheless I am not ashamed for I 2 Tim. 1. 12. know whom I have believed And that Mankind might have rational and satisfactory grounds for Faith in Jesus The Divine Spirit which ever gave Testimony to him exerted it self both as a Spirit of Omnipotency in Miracles and of Omniscience in Prophecy to the end Men might believe the great concerns of Revelation upon the demonstrative grounds of Divine perfection This I take to be St. Paul's meaning when he says My preaching was not with enticing words of man's 1 Cor 2. v. 4 wisdom but in Demonstration of the Spirit and of power i. e. of Miracles wrought by the Spirit of Omnipotency and of Demonstrative conviction out of the Prophets who appear to have been acted by the Spirit of Omniscience and Truth itself by the Events answering their Predictions That your Faith saies he should Verse 5. not stand in the wisdom of men either the Authority of the Civil State with the Leviathan or strong Probability with Others but in the Power of God i. e. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 4. the Divinity itself which when it gives Testimony Natural light unquestionably concludes it true And if it be demanded which way the Apostle made his Demonstrations in the Spirit I suppose he tells us v. 13. We speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth i. e. according to the studied Rules of Arts now in Greece but which the Holy Ghost teacheth Comparing spiritual things with spiritual i. e. comparing the Doctrine and Transactions of the New Testament with the Prophecies of the Old and hereby the Faith of Jesus is Demonstrated to be Divine because attested by the Spirit of Prophecy for in the 9th verse he had quoted the Prophet Isaiah and so in all his preaching as Acts 17. 2 3. and for studying this Demonstration or comparing the New Testament with the Old the Bereans are so much commended v. 11. and nothing is plainer than that all the Evangelists and Apostles and even Christ himself did thus argue or convince out of the Old Testament Prophets The force therefore of the Testimony depends solely upon the Spirit of Prophecy or that 't is the Testimony of the Prime and Omniscient Verity I must not stay to clear my hand of the Tractatus Theologico-politicus who has resolv'd the Spirit of Prophecy not as St. Peter did into being Moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet 1. 21. but into the Crasis of the Imaginative faculty that so you may know him the First-born of the Leviathan and by their Hypotheses whose Scholars Tract p. 7 c. both were even his who resolv'd the Creation of the Universe into the fortuitous concurs of Atoms Neither may I reflect upon that Moral Probability which some seem to think a sufficient foundation for Faith further than to say That matters reveal'd and confirm'd by the Spirit of Prophecy are and ought to be so far as reveal'd as certain Truths as any Demonstrations in the World besides I fear not after St. Paul to say that matters of a Moral and Spiritual nature may be demonstrated taking Demonstration not in the confin'd signification which the School of Heathen Philosophy affixt to it but in the reality of the thing and with respect to the end for which Demonstration serves viz. a Proof that creates a knowledge certain and indubitable and this the Spirit of Prophecy not as revealing but as confirming Revelation by Prediction doth Which brings me to the Third and chief design'd Particular Thirdly That of all other Testimonies of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy is The Testimony My meaning is There is no such standing satisfactory and demonstrative proof of the Divinity of JESVS's Transactions Faith and Doctrine as the Spirit of Prophecy is There are indeed many other Testimonies of Jesus better than most or any other cause beside his can produce First The Testimony of Angels both good and bad the good in obsequious attendancies upon his Birth his Luke 2. 13. 22. 43 c. Agonies his Resurrection and Ascension The bad in flying Fears concluding at least strongly suspecting by Luke 8. 28. Mark 1. 24. the Predictions of the Old Prophets who it was they now had to deal with in Humane Nature even the Holy One of God or the Seed promised to break the Serpent's head Secondly The Testimony of Men both his Friends and Enemies His Friends extol adore him die for him his Enemies of all sorts confess him an extraordinary Person though a deceiver as Celsus Jalian Mahomed the Jew the Philosopher the Apostate the Impostor the Infidel Mahomed is kindest of all the rest for he will allow him to be his Pew-fellow in Prophecy upon condition he may but sit above him Nay Thirdly There are more venerable Witnesses than either Angels or Men I mean those Three in Heaven 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. and those Three on Earth where though the Divine Spirit make One in either Three yet which I wonder is no more observed and insisted on the Spirit as 't is in this sence explain'd The Spirit of Prophecy is however to my apprehension The Testimony Not in preference to the Others consider'd in themselves but consider'd with reference to Mankind who are to be Judges of their Evidence and whose Judging faculties are more susceptive of satisfaction from the Spirit as a Spirit of Prophecy or infinite Science in truth than from the same Spirit in any other way of Evidence the reason of which I conceive to be this That the convictions of the Spirit in the way of Prophecy or in the display of Omniscience is more directly accommodate to humane Intellect our faculty of Science than any other operation of the Spirit is For the strongest tendencies of Intellect are to the Science of Truth and therefore acts of Omniscient Truth are more accommodate to Humane understanding than acts of Power Wisdom being that it is more delighted in than Strength If any Revelation be from God by the foresaid Rule of Natural knowledge it ought to be accepted and submitted to But whether that which pretends Revelation be from God or no is the only Question Now the Argument from Miracles is prest by all this of Prediction by few or none but without depreciating the former I must confess ever since I consider'd it the latter is weightier and more convictive with me for I am more fully satisfied That the whole Series of Scriptural Revelation is Divine because I find all along the Spirit of Prediction interwoven than because I read such and such Miracles done For I find the Alcharon pretending Miracles but not daring to pretend Prediction So that of all the innate Characters of Divinity pretended to in any written Law this of Prediction is peculiar to the Scriptures This
c. your God proveth you The meaning is In matters of Immorality the Case is not to be try'd by the Rule of Signs but by the primary Rule that of a former Law whether in Creation which we call Natural Religion or in some well-grounded former Revelation as this of Moses's was in respect of all following Prophets and so the Gospel in respect of all New light c. For whatever has any intrinsecal Evil necessarily adherent or repugnant to a former Law surely believ'd to be Divine whatever overthrows Humanity the natural Notions of Good and Evil Truth and Falshood which is Natural Religion or the Law of Creation upon whose bottoms all Supernatural stands let it pretend Catholicisme and Infallibility on the one hand or Spiritual giftedness and Inspiration on the other 't is certainly not Divine but Diabolical though strengthned with Signs and Wonders And 't is then men are given up to strong delusions to believe Lies when through pretences of Inspiration they have not received the love of this Truth but let go this grand and primary Rule of Tryal for doubtless were the pretences of new Revelations and Inspirations examin'd closely by this Rule and observ'd how they overthrow Natural Religion or the plain Maxims and Duties of Christians it would discover the Impostures of Popery Fanaticism Mahometism as well as Gentilism But what pretends to Prophetical Revelation or to be God's Will being not peccant against this first Rule and is confirm'd with Signs or Prediction fulfill'd must be allowed to be Divine as having the Seal of God annext and no mark left to discern the counterfeit by which is a case Omnipotent and Omniscient Truth is concern'd to Isai 44. 25 c. look to It will perhaps be demanded if this be so How could the several Ages of the World make Tryal of the Spirit of Prophecy in its Testimony to Jesus seeing they liv'd not to see the predicted Signs fulfilled To which I Answer They liv'd to see and know other Signs or Predictions fulfill'd which the same Spirit of Prophecy in connexion to the Testimony of Jesus had foretold and that was sufficient Ex. gr The Deluge was sign sufficient to Noah and all his Posterity till Abraham's daies Isaak's Birth was so to Abraham the Egyptian Bondage and Delivery precisely foretold to Abraham was so to Jacob and his Posterity till Moses and the Prophets arose and then there wanted none till Christ's time as might be easily shew'd So that in every Age God submitted to Tryal that Spirit of Prophecy that gave Testimony to Jesus by such Events or Predictions fulfill'd as peculiarly concern'd the sight or experienc'd knowledge of those Ages * Nam quae melior validior ratio de rebus talibus redditur quà m cum Omnipotens ea facere perhibetur Facturu dicitur quae praenunciasse Ibi legitur Ubi alia multa praenunciaâ—it quae Fecisse monstratuâ— Aug de Civit. lib. 21. cap. 7. and from hence 't was reasonable they should conclude That the same Spirit would not miscarry in its Testimony to Jesus or the Messiah promised and so particularly decipher'd And this was the foundation of Patriarchal Religion so far as 't was Supernatural i. e. of their * 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. 12. where Prediction and Revelation are distinguisht in the Spirit of Prophecy for the Revelation was v. 12 in the things they ministred or the same Gospel to us and them Heb. 4. 2. the prediction was in testifying beforehand v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith as St. Paul calls it Heb. 11. From all which I hope I may conclude that the Spirit of Prophecy in this sence is THE Testimony of Jesus as being that Tally could not be counterfeited like the Roman Ancile by Mamurrius without discovery by the easie Rules of Tryal whereas to me all the other Testimonies without this seem liable to it And I am perswaded my freedom in saying so will not be esteemed impious by him that considers St. Peter has said as much before me who recognizing the Father's Voice which he himself heard on the Holy Mountain yet immediately subjoyns We have also a more sure word 2 Pet. 1. 18. 19. of Prophecy i. e. more sure than a Voice from Heaven For the question is not which is surer in itself the Father's Voice on Mount Tabor or the Spirits of Prophecy in the Scripture but which is surer unto us in the way of our discerning The one I conceive cannot be counterfeited without discovery but may not the other for a Voice in the Air from a good Angel has been heard why then not from a bad one We have no Rules of Tryal that I know of for the one as I have shew'd we have for the other therefore that other is surer to us And to evidence this further 't is observable That the Father witnessing refers to the Son hear him and the Matt. 17. 5. Joh. 5. 39. Son witnessing refers to the Spirit of Prophecy Search the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are they that testifie of me which is as much as I affirm from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text the Spirit of Prophecy is eminently The Testimony So that of the Three that bear record in Heaven to Vs the Spirit of Prophecy is the Test of the others as being that which cannot be counterfeited but may be discovered by the easie Rules of Tryal And as for those Three on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood i. e. as they are generally interpreted Christ's Miracles wrought by the Spirit of Power his Holiness and Purity denoted by the Water and his Constancy to death imply'd by the Blood It may well be scrupled whether they may not all be so far counterfeited that without other Considerations they may not alwaies by us be discerned whether they attest a Divine Revelation or Imposture For First Holiness and Purity is a garb Hypocrites may put on so artificially that it may not be in our power to detect it Secondly Constancy to death is but what a strong delusion may animate a man to if it be but of the right Roman temper and Jesuitical mettal which the Instances of our Age surely have evinc'd Thirdly The Spirit of Power i. e. Miracles though I grant a divine Testimony in itself yet may not alwaies be so to us because not subjected to such easie Rules of Tryal as the Spirit of Prophecy is For how far sensible Nature may be under the power of Art or the Agency of evil Spirits who is so skilful as to determine the most that may be and the least that is So that a Beholder may be at a loss betwixt a true Miracle and a lying Wonder and not know who to believe Moses or the Magicians till one Party quits the field and confess the
Atheism But because to outstrip the Devil and not believe at all is impossible long to continue and Religion in general is so planted in Nature that it will recur and keep the field therefore the most corrupt Religion in special is fittest at last to be chosen and so Atheism devolves to Popery and sends so many Newgate-Converts to Tyburne as that party boasts of But Conviction without bitterness is all the Application I shall tender from this discourse and that particularly to the Three abovesaid First To Atheism thus If the Scriptural Revelation which is the Christian Institution be not to be believ'd nothing in the World is for he that considers it as becomes a reasonable man and yet disbelieves it rejects the Testimony of the Prime Verity as I prov'd before And set this aside let the Atheist prove his Senses or any thing in the World true if he can Secondly To Popery which is that part of pretended Christianity which is peculiar to them of the present Roman Communion and none else I apply the Conviction of this discourse thus That if any Religion so call'd overthrow the foundations of Natural Religion as by introducing Idolatry and subverting the common Notions of Good and Evil then by the grand Rule of trying Spirits 't is most infallibly an Imposture To make good which Charge against Popery in each particular Doctrine or Practice by that Church espoused as I may not now essay So I think 't is sufficient to consider the many bloody Plots it has hatcht to promote it self and to weigh the whole Doctrine of the Jesuits Casuistical Divinity for never did any pretended Religion so boldly and palpably refix the common and natural sentiments of Good and Evil as that has done And God grant that no Profession amongst our selves by thirsting after New light and Inspiration pretending to differ from them may yet symbolize with them in this particular Lastly To the vicious Protestant or Member as he calls himself of the Church Reform'd the Conviction applies itself for such an one stands self-condemn'd a good Believer as he thinks himself and a bad Liver being one of the greatest absurdities in the World and may not this be fear'd as much as Popery for that makes but Men this makes God our Enemy We talk much at this day of uniting different Parties joyntly disclaiming Popery and God grant it may succeed to good effect but if it be an Union in matters of Faith or Religion I hope they 'l let us of the Church of England by Law establisht know what Faith they are of as they know ours For methinks all or most Differences in the World might be reconcil'd but one and that 's the difference between Good and Evil and this indeed is eternally irreconcileable The best method then of Uniting us who pretend to the Reform'd Religion is to carry on that part of it which is most needful not to Reform the Church but the Members of it i. e. the Evils we are guilty of against the Rules of it and this is more in Our power than our Governours else I would not mention it but then as I said before Evil and Vice must have its due latitude which takes in giddy and Enthusiastick Opinions as well as sensual and sinful practices for there is a Filthiness 2 Cor. 7. 1. of the Spirit as well as of the Flesh I mean ungovernable Spiritual Pride and Intellectual Debaucheries as well as Sensual And would all sorts of People joyntly disclaiming Popery set themselves sincerely and humbly about this great work of Reformation it would certainly dispose their hearts to the Union of Charity and good Affection though it might not in every particular mould their heads into an Unity of Notion And without this Unity in good Affection 't is strange if a Church or Kingdom so divided should stand In a word That our Faith in Jesus might be Rational and lasting I have prest the best Argument of Satisfaction and Conviction I know That it may work by Love and the Vnity of Christian Affection shall be my Prayer and ought to be all our Endeavours Till we all Eph. 4. 13. come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Which God of his infinite mercy grant by directing and succeeding these and all the Ministeries of his Appointment through the continual Blessings of his Holy Spirit for the sake of Jesus our Lord To whom with the Father and the Divine Spirit be Praise and Honour and Glory eternal Amen FINIS