and foretasts of the glory which Christ hath purchased and promised If you know no such thing in your self as this you have resisted the Holy Ghost or Quenched the Spirit And if you would not have him dwell and operate in your heart no wonder if you cannot see him in the holy word And if you would not consent that he Rule your Mind and Life no wonder if you deny him also in that word which he did make to Rule you If you question the Real existence of these several Testimonies of Gods Spirit First Those that were given to Christ and his Apostles I have plainly proved to you in the Treatise were delivered down to the world three waies 1. By the most credible humane Testimony to produce a humane Faith 2. By such a Connexion and such Circumstances of those humane Testimonies as amount to a Natural Infallible Certainty As we have of the Wars in England and that there was such a man as K. Charles K. James c. and that our Laws were made by the King and Parliament that London was burnt that there is such a City c. even to them that see not any of these 3. By new Divine Attestations to these Attestations so that there concurreth First A full humane Faith Secondly A Natural Certainty Thirdly A Divine Faith to the ascertaining us that Christ did die rise ascend work miracles give the Spirit and by it the Apostles wrought the like Secondly And the other two Testimonies still shew themselves They are yet in Being The sacred Gospel is among is and on it the Life Light Love fore-described The Believers sanctified by this Gospel are among us and have within them the Impressed Life Light Love We see it where distance selfishness prejudice or malignity hindereth not shining though as through a Lanthorn and working though imperfectly in others And they that have it may so feel it in themselves as will preserve them against the Cavils of Unbelievers As the Great Creator hath his standing Testimony in the Natural Conscience of mankind which in despight of the Devil shall keep up some Natural Religion in the world And they that have not a written Law are a Law unto themselves shewing that God hath a Law in their hearts So the Gracious Redeemer hath his standing Witness in the sanctified even his holy Spirit the Divine Nature the New Creature the Image of God the Father Son and Spirit dwelling in them by Divine Life Light and Love so as shall keep up a Church of holy ones to Christ in despight of all the powers of Hell even the spirits of Death of Darkness and of Malignity And so much for the Validity of Gods Attestation III. All then that remaineth doubtful or further to be spoken to is What it is that God hath thus attested by the Holy Ghost And First We are sure it is not nothing It is not nothing that all this is done for nor nothing that maketh this change on souls Secondly We are sure it can be no less than the Truth of the Person Office and Doctrine of Christ himself He hath certainly by this proved his own Verity and Veracity for his own Miracles and Resurrection were seals affixed hereunto Thirdly We are sure that the same Gospel spoken by himself was confirmed also when spoken or written by his Disciples Else the same should be sure and not sure Fourthly We are sure that the Apostles Miracles c. confirmed all their Commissioned work I have proved this in my Treatise of the Lords Day Whatever Christ Promised them the Spirit for that he gave them the Spirit for He that findeth his Promise with the Performance may know that it was the Promise which was Performed Therefore our work is to find out that Promise And First We find their Commission Mat. 28. 19 20. Go and Disciple me all Nations Baptizing them into the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have Commanded you And the Promise is Lo I am with you alwaies to the end of the world And Joh. 16. 7 12 13 14 15. It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Advocate will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Howbeit when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all the truth For he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that he shall speak and he shall shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Luk. 24. 49. And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you But tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem till ye be endued with power from on high so Act. 1. 5. Ye shall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence Verse 8. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and to all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth John 17. 8. I have given to them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them Verse 17 18. Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth As thou hast sent me into the world so I have also sent them into the world And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth John 14 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Adde to these the Texts which mention the Performance of these Promises as John 20. 22. Act. 2. Act. 15. 28. Heb. 2. 3 4. So great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signes and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will 1 Pet 1 12. The things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven Rom. 15. 19 20. Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about by Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ Gal. 3. 2. This onely would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith By all this it is evident that the Spirit was given them to enable them to understand the Gospel and to preach it to the world to remember all that Christ had taught them to help them to deliver the Covenant of Grace and draw men into it and Baptize them To gather Churches and to teach them to observe all that
all which and much more it appeareth that the Apostles though then in a state of Justification had a very general and defective knowledge of the Office of Christ and that though his Prophetical Office was ordinarily believed Joh. 4. The Samaritane woman could say when the Messiah cometh he will tell us all things and a temporal Kingdom expected yet his spiritual Kingdom and especially his Priestly office by his sacrifice death resurrection heavenly intercession for all the old Types and Sacrifices was little understood by the Disciples Yea he sometimes sorbad them and others to tell men that he was the Christ because the great evidences of his Resurrection Ascension and Spirit by which it was to be evinced were yet to come And we believe not that all that were saved before had more knowledge than the Apostles so that though all the faithful Jews believed in the promised seed even the Messiah as one that was to be sent to be their Deliverer and Saviour yet it was by a saith that was very general and far from that distinctness which after the Resurrection of Christ was required of all to whom the Gospel was promuglate which I have said the more of to you lest you think that we hold what we do not and so take occasion to erre by supposing us to err Clemens Alexandrinus Justin Martyr Arnobius Lactantius and other old Christians do go yet further then yet I have conceded to you And our very learned Dr. Twisse doth argue that God could have saved the world without a Redeemer if he had pleased because he saved the faithful under the old Testament without any existent Mediator except God himself or any existent sacrifice or merit or intercssion of him and because he saveth Infants without faith But for the first I take it to be at best too great temerity or audacity to dispute whether God could have done things better or otherwise which he has done so well of which I have said more in my Premonition before my Treatise called the unreasonableness of Infidelity Though I know that Wallaeus and many other learned Protestants say the same And as for Infants they are not saved without the Sacrifice and grace of the Redeemer though they know him not nor are they in the Covenant without the faith of their Parents or Owners which is as their own And if the Spirit of the Prorphets be called the Spirt of Chrict 1 Pet. 1. 11. And the reproach of Moses was the reproach of Christ Heb. 11. 26. We may much more conclude of the ordinary Believers before his coming that Christs Interest and his Spirits operations and help extended much further than mens understanding of him his undertaking and his future work No doubt but the eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that had undertaken mans Redemption and thereupon was our Lord Redeemer gave even to Socrates Plato Cicero Seneca Antonine Epistotus Plutarch c. What light and mercy they had though they understood not well from whom or upon what grounds they had them Ninethly And also we hold that the Jews were not the whole of Gods Kingdome or Church of Redeemed ones in the world as I have fully proved elsewhere But that as the Govenant was made with all mankind so amongst them God-had other Servants besides the Jews Though it was they that had the extraordinary benediction of being his peculiar sacred People Tenthly And we hold that as the Jews had by Promises Prophesies and Types more means to know God and the Messiah to come than other Nations so they were answerably obliged to more knowledge and faith than other Nations were that had not nor could have their means If then all the world be under the first Covenant of Grace and if you confess this to proceed from the wisdome and goodness of God and that men are bound so to believe and if Christ since his Incarnation hath diminished none of the mercies of God to the world but rather greatly increased them and so where the Gospel is not preached nor cannot be had they that refuse it not are in no worse case than they were before how can you say that they are Remediless if Christ be the ransome and remedy We know that all men partake of a great deal of mercy from God after the notorious demerit of their sin We know that this mercy telleth them aloud that God dealeth not with them according to the first Law of Innocency They see he pardoneth them they feel that he pardoneth them in part that is that he useth them not as they deserve We know that all this mercy obligeth them to hope that he will yet be further merciful and to repentance obedience thankfulness and love We know that the Heathen are no left as the Divels without remedy but all the Nations are under Divine obligations to use certain means which have a tendency to their recovery And we know that God biddeth no man to use his means in vain Fourthly Let us therefore first debate this Case with any unbeliever that hath your objections Whether you have any fault to find with the Christian Doctrine of the way of mans salvation for the first 4000 years before the Incarnation of our Lord If you have First Is it with the Author Secondly Or with the terms and conditions of life First The Author then was none but God The eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisdome and word did interpose to prevent the execution of strict Justice by resolving to glorifie Love and Mercy Do you deny the being of Gods eternal wisdome or word Do you deny him to be God himself Or a Divine subsistence dream that it is but some Accident in God No your fair description of God p. 210. dischargeth you from the imputation of so gross an error You will say that the Divine power and goodness interposed as well as the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisdome and word True Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt in divisa but so that each hath an eminency in his own work though not as separated or a solitary principle or cause The Father and Divine Vital Active Power was eminently glorified in the Creation The Son and Divine wisdome is eminently glorified in the making of the Remedying Medicine And the Divine Love and Spirit is eminently glorified in the operation of it to the Health and Salvation of the Soul The son and the wisdome or word doth not finish all the work himself but with the Father and Divine power sendeth the holy Spirit and communicateth to man the Love of God And all together will be glorified in our glorification Secondly And if it be the terms of life that do offend you First It is either the terms of satisfying the Justice of God Secondly Or the terms of conveying the benefits to man First For the first there is nothing in it to give offence For we dream not of any extrinsecal agent or action much less that which
Eighthly And we do confess our selves that the Apostles had not the infallible Spirit given them for every use or thing that they had to do but for those matters about which they had special need of it and use for it to fulfill their office The Spirit was not so necessary for them to discern those things by which the common sense and understanding of a man was sufficient to discern They could tast sweet from bitter feel heat from cold discern light from darkness without an Infallible extraordinary Spirit And so being eye and ear witnesses of what Christ did and said of his words his miracles his resurrection his ascension they might infallibly know them by ordinary means And so a good Christian may doubt whether they had the Spirit infallibly to transcribe and cite every passage in the old Testament visible to all or to relate the things which they saw done with their eyes or to report the history of several actions which were then done as what was the place and power of Herod Archelaus Pilate Falix Festut c. and such other parts of common History Ninethly And we all confess that the words are but as the Body of the Scripture and the sense as the Soul And that the words are for the sense And there is more of the Spirits assistance in the sense and soul of the Scripture than in the words and body And that there is in the phrase and method somewhat of blameless humane imperfection And that as David was not stronger then Goliah nor his weapons more excellent in themselves but God would overcome strength by the means of the more weak so an Aristotle may be more accurate in method and a Demosthenes Varro or Ciâ—cro in words and phrase than an Apostle And they may be left to the imperfections of their several gifts diversified by nature or education in their stile And God may hide that from the wise and prudent which he revealeth to babes And by the foollishness of Preaching may save believers and confound the wisdom of the world and by things that are not bring to nought things that are that no flesh may glory in his sight Nor do we say that no man may seek or attain more Logick Philosophy or Grammar than he findeth in the Scriptures Tenthly As Protestants receive not so many Books as Canonical as the Papists do so some Protestants have not received so many as the rest And so many possibly erre in thinking that some part of the Scripture is not the word of God and consequently may think it of more uncertain credit Eleventhly Some have thought that Matthew being at first written in Hebrew or Syriack and after translated into Greek that the Translator being unknown the credit of the Translation must be the less certain because they know not whether the translator was one that had a promise of Infallibility though doubtless they erre who so conclude Twelfthly Some think that as certainly there are a great number of various Readings which all prove that some of the Copies erre so it is uncertain to us whether all those which we have may not in some words or particles differ from others which we have not and from the autographs seeing each scribe had not a promise of Infallibility Thirteenthly If some particular Books of Scripture were not extant or never known to some men yet the rest may teach those same men all the Christian Religion to their Salvation Therefore if they may be Christians and saved without knowing of that particular Book they may possibly be so without knowing that it is Canonical or of Divine and certain truth Fourteenthly Yea more no doubt but it is possible to be saved and to be good Christians without being certain what is contained in any one Book of the Bible totally for he that cannot Read may possibly not hear the whole Book from another at least so as to understand and remember it And yet he may hear the same Doctrines out of another Book Yea more it is past doubt that a man may in some cases or circumstances be a true Christian who knoweth not that there is any Scripture which is Gods Infallible word For first so all the believers of the old world were saved before Moses wrote the Law And the Christian Churches were gathered and thousands converted to Christ many years before a word of the New Testament was written Secondly And all the thousands and millions of Christians who cannot read do know that there is such a Book which hath such words in it but on the credit of other men Thirdly And we know not but the Papists who are too great undervaluers of the Scriptures and lock it up from the Laity and over magnifie Tradition may keep thousands among them without the knowledge that there is a Book which is Gods word And yet may teach them the Christian Religion by other means after to be mentioned And it seemeth by the Epist. Jesuit Masaeus Histor Judic and other writings that in Japan Congo China and other Countries of the East they did teach them onely by Creeds Catechismes and preachings And I remember no knowledge that they gave to most of them of the Scriptures And yet the most cruel torments and martyrdoms never before heard of which the Christians in Japan endured of which see Varentus history doth put all sober readers past doubt that there were many excellent Christians And if other means may make men Christians who are never told of the holy Scriptures than those same means with the Scriptures may make them Christians who are made believe that all Scripture passages are not the infallible dictates of Gods Spirit I have given you instances enough to prove that many may be Christians and have a certain faith who are not certain of all things in the Scriptures And therefore though all these persons are herein defective or erroneous yet that Christianity may be otherwise known and proved Yea though the case of the Scriptures were as these mistaking persons think And I told you how many waies besides Scripture the summe and necessary substance of the Christianity is delivered down from the Apostles to the world Reas of Christ Rel. pag. 336 337. First in the very successive Being of Christians and Churches who are the Professors of this Doctrine Secondly In a succession of Pastors whose office was to preach it Thirdly In a succession of Baptism which is that solemnizing the Christian Covenant in which the sum of the Gospel is contained Fourthly In the three breviates or symboles of the Christian Religion the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue which all the Christian Churches still used Yea every one that was baptized at age and the Parent for the Infant did openly make profession of the Christian faith and of Religion in all the essential particulars Fifthly In the Churches use of Catechising those who were to be baptized that they might first know that Religion which they were to
enter Sixthly In that constant Communion of all the Churches in their solemn Assemblies and setting apart the Lords day to that use where in their worshiping of God they expressed and excercised their Religion Seventhly In the constant preaching of the Gospel by the Pastors Eightly In the constant Celebration of the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood wherein the summe of the Gospel was recited and expressed And the custome was also to repeat the profession of their Belief Ninethly The frequent disputations of the Christian Pastors for their Religion against all Heathens Infidels and Heroticks Tenthly The writings of the said Pastors Apologies Doctrinal Historical Commentaries Devotional Eleventhly The Confession and Sufferings of the Martyrs Twelfthly The Decrees Canons and Epistles of Councils or Assemblies of the Christian Pastors Thirteenthly And after these the Decrees and Laws of Christian Princes in all which we have no need of any peculiar Tradition of the Church of Rome Fourteenthly Yea we may adde the Confessions of Adversaries who tell us part of the Christians Religion as Pliny Celsus Julian c. All these waies set together told men what Christianity was Fifteenthly But the fullest and surest discovery of it was by the holy Scripture of it self which was constantly read in the Assemblies of the Christians In all this I have but told you by how many waies and means materially the Gospel Doctrine was made known Now the great Question is Whether by all these means we might come to a certainty of the truth of the Christian Faith in case we could not prove every word or particle of Scripture to be Gods word and so to be true They that deny it say That he that can mistake or be deceived in one thing may be so in another and we cannot take his word as certain who sometimes speaketh falsly for we can never be sure that he speaketh the truth But I affirm the thing questioned and shall shew the mistake of this reason of the Adversaries First It must be remembred that we ascribe Infallibility Primitive and Absolute to God and no other Therefore we are certain that so much is true as is Gods word Secondly We are Certain that all that is the word of God which he hath set his seal or attestation to which I have largely opened in the Book which you oppose All that which hath the Antecedent and Constitutive and Concomitant and subsequent Attestation of God there opened we are certain is of God Thirdly We are Certain that the Person of Christ and his own Doctrine had all this fourfold Divine Testimony And therefore that Christ and his Doctrine are of God and true And consequently that Christ was the Son of God the Redeemer of the world the Head of the Church and whatever he affirmeth himself to be Fourthly We are certain that the Apostles as Preachers of this Gospel and performers of the Commission Delivered them by Christ had the same attestation in kind as Christ himself had They had the same SPIRIT Though the antecedent testimony by Prophesie was not so full of them as it was of Christ yet the Gospel which they preached and left in writing First Hath in it still visibly to the eye of every truly discerning person the Image of Gods Power Wisdome and Goodness Secondly The same Gospel as preached and delivered by them had the Concomitant Testimony of abundant certain Miracles Prophesies and holy works Thirdly The same Gospel maketh that impression on the souls of true receivers which is the Image of Gods power wisdome and goodness and so proveth it to be of God The concurrence of these three is a full and certain proof Now if there be any doubtfulness in any of this it must be First Either what it is that these Attestations prove Secondly Or whether they are really Divine Attestations Thirdly Or whether Divine Attestations are a certain proof of Truth To begin at the last First If Divine Testimony be not a certain proof of Truth then there is no possible proof in the world For there is no Veracity in any Creature but derivative from God And then it must be either because a Lie is as perfect and Good as Truth which humanity reason and all the world contradicteth and humane society abhorreth there being no savages so barbarous as to think so or because God is imperfect either in wisdome to know what is True and sit or in Goodness to choose it or in Power to use it That is that God is not God or that there is no God and consequently no Being for an Imperfect God an unwise an ill an impotent Being is no God And verily all our Controversies with the Infidel and the Impious and the Persecuter must finally come to this Whethen there be a God II. And that these were really Divine Attestations I have fully proved in the Treatise First They are Divine Effects and the Divine Vestigia or Image Secondly And such as none can do but God None else can give that full Antecedent Testimony of Prophesie None else could have done what Christ did in his Life Death Resurrection and Ascension None could heal all Diseases work all Miracles raise the Dead with a word None else could do what the Apostles did in Tongues and Miracles and wonderous gifts and these wrought by so many before so many for so long a time No other Doctrine could it self bear Gods Image of Power Wisdome and Goodness so exactly nor make such an Impresse of the same Image on the souls of men Nay though this same Doctrine by the Spirit of God be adopted to such an effect yet would it not do it for want of Powerfull application if God by the same Spirit did not set it home so that the sanctification and renovation of souls is a Divine Attestation of this sacred Gospel And besides all the past Testimonies of Christs and his Apostles Miracles here is a double Testimony from God still vouchsafed to all true Believers to the end of the world The one is Gods Image on the holy Scriptures The other is The same Image by this Scripture and the Spirit that indited it printed on all true Christians souls Divine Power Wisdome and Goodness hath imprinted it self first upon the sacred word or doctrine and by that produceth unimitably holy Life Light and Love in holy souls True Christians know this They feel it They profess it They have this Spirit in them illuminating their minds sanctifying their wills and quickening them to vital operation and execution And this is Christs Advocate and Witness still dwelling in all his members I speak not of an immediate verbal or impulsive revelation in us but of a Holy indwelling nature principle operation conforming the soul to God and proving us to bear his Image This is Christs Witness in us that He is Christ indeed and True And this is Our Witness that we are the Children of God And it is our Inherent earnest and pledge first fruits
Christ had commanded them and made part of his Laws To teach them all truth which was Evangelical or part of their Ministerial Office To enable them to be most certain and full in their Testimony of what they had heard from Christ and seen him do which was part of the Gospel In a word to to perform all their proper Office I do not at the present suppose you to take these Texts for the word of God For I must suppose you to be an Infidel But I onely offer them as part of the certain historical evidence concurring with all the forementioned history and evidence of the fact to prove what it was which the Apostles miracles were used to confirm This same Gospel they preached every where when they wrought these miracles And if they confirmed not the Gospel or Christian Religion they confirmed nothing So that it being certain that this Spirit and Miracles were real and certain that they were the Testimony of God and certain that it was the Truth of Christs person actions doctrine sufferings resurrection ascension and Covenant and Commandments which they attested and all that is properly the Gospel or Christian Religion what hindereth our certainty of all this If it were a doubt whether the Spirit attested more it is never the more doubtful whether he attested this much The Apostles constantly preached this Gospel They Baptized persons into the New Covenant They opened the Articles of the Faith to them and caused them to profess that Faith They engaged them into the promise and directed them in the practice of a godly righteous and sober life And they confirmed all this by miracles And is not all this then made sure Yea before they wrote any of the Scriptures And now to the Objection He that speaketh falsly in one thing is to be believed certainly or as infallible in nothing I again answer it is a blind Objection God onely is absolutely infallible All men are fallible in some things We are not to believe that the Apostles could erre in nothing at all Peter knew not what he said when he talkt of dwelling on the Mount They could erre and they could sin And he that sinneth erreth They were not absolutely perfect But it is in certain particulars even in the Declaration of the Gospel that God would not suffer them to erre or to deceive Those words which the Holy Ghost did by inspiration dictate to them it is certain that all those words the same Holy Ghost attested That is To all the word of God And thus much being past doubt what if we were now at a loss about some Appurtenances of the Gospel whether they were any of the Spirits dictates or any part of the word of God or any proper part of that which the Apostles were Commissioned for and Spiritually Enabled to teach What if in some points which they could know by common sense infallibly as well as other men any one should think that they were left meerly to that certainty of sense What if one be uncertain which are the Parts and which but the Appurtetenances of the Gospel in some things which salvation is not laid on Or were uncertain whether the Spirit did determine the Speakers tongue or pen about every such Appurtenance What 's this to the invalidating of any of the rest If indeed when they speak by the Spirits Revelation they spake falsly at any one time we could never be sure that they spake true But when we are sure that all is true which they speak by the Spirit and sure that they spake the Gospel or delivered the Christian Religion by the Spirit and are onely not sure whether every word in Genealogy or by circumstances were spoken by the Spirit nothing will follow hence but that every word of God is true and every word of the Apostles which was a word of God And it is perversness to argue They may erre when they speak their own words as men Therefore they may erre when they speak Gods words by the Spirit First The Testimony of the Internal sanctifying Spirit is infallible And so much as this Spirit attesteth to me is true And I am sure that this Spirit attesteth the truth of the Gospel in me for the substance of the Gospel is imprinted on my heart and by the impression I know the seal But what if I find on me no part of Gods Image which was made by the name of Jorams Father or Son what if I feel no Testimony of the Spirit in me which tells the age of such or such a man there named Nor can prove by the Spirit in me how far Bethany was from Jerusalem What if the mention of Pauls Cloak and Parchments did not sanctifie me Must I be uncertain of that which did Secondly What if I read a promise in the Scripture that God will never fail me nor forsake me but will preserve me in safety to his Kingdome If I were uncertain whether this promise extended to every hair of my head so that none of them should perish or to the preservation of my Colour and such like accidents Will it follow that I cannot be sure that I my self my soul my person shall not be forsaken What if I have a promise that all things shall work together for my good And I am uncertain whether sins or my own follies or rashness or the creeping of every worm in the world or the shaking of every leaf be numbered with those All things Must I be uncertain therefore whether any thing shall work for my good or whether sufferings for Christ shall do it Thirdly What if I be uncertain whether the vegetative faculties or soul in man be material or immateterial Must I be as uncertain whether man have an immaterial or incorporeal soul and whether the intellectual powers be such or not Fourthly What if I be in doubt when the Law doth summon a man to any place or command him any office whether it meant that he shall not change his cloaths or leave them off nor cut his hair or nails but bring all with him Doth it follow that I must be as uncertain whether the person himself must come or not Fifthly What if I be disputing whether a Tree be wood and I cannot tell whether the leaves their ribs or stalkes be truly wood or not must I therefore be uncertain of all the rest Sixthly What if we dispute whether all the Kings officers are to be obeyed and it be a doubt to me whether a Prelate or an Apparator be the Kings Officers can I therefore be assured of no others Seventhly When a witness sweareth to any writing that it is true or to any interrogatories If I be uncertain whether it be the true spelling or Syntax of the words or the propriety of every phrase or every circumstance of the matter which he attesteth must I therefore be uncertain whether he attest any thing at al This one consideration may shew the unreasonableness of
Gentleness in the Answer I shall grant you the first as far as in such hast and brevity I am able And the second as far as the nature of the cause will bear But if you account all Christians deceived fools you must not expect to be called wise nor that I should flatter you and tell you that Apostasie is a state of safety For I that believe Heb. 6. and 10. must think that this were not Gentleness but Cruelty and worse than to kill you for fear of displeasing you Prop. 1. If it could not by us be proved that every word of the Scriptures is true nor the Pen men infallible or indefectible in every particle yet might we have a certainty of the Christian Religion The reason is Because every particle in the Scripture is not an essential part of the Christian Religion no nor any Integral part if you take the Christian Religion strictly for the Doctrine of necessary Belief Desire and Practice And that part which is indeed the essence yea or Integrity of Christianity may be certainly proved and believed without our being able to prove the certainty or truth of all the rest which is in the Scriptures The Holy Scriptures contain all our Religion and somewhat more that is the Accidents and appurtenances of it As the body of a man besides the parts Essential and Integral hath its Accidents such as are the Hair and the Colour and some Humours which are for Beauty and other uses though not Parts So far are the Papists from being in the right who think that the Christian Religion is not all but part contained in the Scriptures that there is more than all that is necessary to salvation even the appurtenances which have an aptitude to the adorning and promoting of the rest To know who was the Father of every person mentioned in the Bibles Genealogies to know what age each person was of whose age is there mentioned to know the name of every person and every Town to know how far each City was from another whose distances are there expressed with a multitude of such like Historical Genealogical Chronological Topographical Physical incidental passages is but an appurtenance and not strictly a part Essential or Integral of the Christian Faith of Holiness or Religion Yet remember that we maintain as certain that they are all Lyars who accuse God of Lying And that whatever some ignorantly talk to the contrary God cannot lie See the excellent Amesius his Disputation of this Question An falsum subesse potest fidei divinae after his Medulla Theologiae which book with his Cases of Conscience and Alstedius his Encyclopaediae may after the Scriptures and Concordance make a good Divine and be a better Library than the Fathers of the fourth Council Carth. were acquainted with He that thinketh God can lie destroyeth the Objectum Formale fidei divinae and therefore can have no Faith If God could lie in one thing we should never be sure that he revealeth the truth unless by sense it self and after-experience All Faith goeth upon such a Syllogism as this Whatsoever God saith is true But this God saith Ergo it is true So that whosoever believeth every word in the Scripture to be Gods word must believe it all to be true or he can believe none of it at all But yet it is possible for a man to believe one part of the Bible to be Gods Word and not another part which needeth no proof Because that many of the ancient Churches for a certain time doubted of yea received not the Epistle of James Peter 2d the Heb. Apocal. c. and yet were truly of the Christian Religion First We deny not but that there are many false and wicked sayings historically recited in the Scripture as the saying of Cain Pharaoh Gehezi the false Prophets the Devil of Job to Christ c. but the Scripture is nevertheless true For it is true that all these untruths were spoken Secondly The Disciples of Christ were not absolutely and in all things infallible as all Christians do Confess They were not as perfect in Knowledge as now they are in Heaven Either Paul or Barnab as was mistaken about the fitness of Mark to go with them Thirdly There was a greater assistance of the Spirit promised them when two or three of them were assembled in Christs name than when they proceeded singly Mat. 18. 18. But there can be nothing above perfect infallibiâ—ity and impeccability to them all Fourthly We confess that Christs Disciples were not indefectible or sinless As their understandings so their wills and lives had still some imperfections Marke Paul and Silas did not all perfectly do their duties in the case they differed about Peter did amiss in avoiding the Gentile Christians when Paul blamed him openly Gal. 2. And Barnabas and others did not do well in being drawn away to the same â—issâ—â—â—lation When Paul saith of Timothy I have no man like minded â—nd of others They all seek their own He took not all Christians that had the Spirit to be perfect If any man had not the Spirit of Christ he was none of his Rom. 8. 9. And the very wrangling deâ—â—â—â—â—ng Galathians had received the spirit Gal. 3. 1 2 3. And so had the wrangling Corinthians Christ in them 2 Cor 8. 5. Fifthly We confess that he who is either infallible or defectible lyable to error or sia is of himself capable of being deceived and of deceiving others If he were Infallible in respect of the Knowledg of all the Truth yet while he can sin of himself considered he can be heedless careless rash partial and for by respects speak too little or too much It is the Devils last method to undo by overdoing and so to destroy the authority of the Apostles by over magnifying them therefore we will not use his methods nor deny any of this Sixthly Moreover we confess that it is possible for a good Christian to doubt whether those that were but Evangelists as Marke and Luke had the same promise of the Spirits infallible assistance with the Apostles seeing we find not that promise so expresly any where made to them And thereupon he may possibly think that some errors may consist with their measure of the Spirit as it did with many Christians who had the same Spirit Seventhly And we do not believe that the extraordinary operations of the Spirit were alwaies equally in the Apostles themselves we suppose the Prophets could not alwaies Prophesie nor those that spake with tongues use that gift at their own pleasure nor yet those that did miracles healed the sick or raised the dead But that the Spirit wrought as in various sorts and measures in several persons 1 Cor. 12. so also at various times and in various measures in the same person Whereupon it is possible for a good Christian to doubt whether every word in Scripture was written then when the writer had the gift of infallibility and indefectibility
such conclusions That all Systems Physical and Moral have their great Essential or principal parts and their smaller Integrals and their Accidents which are no proper parts And the Great and Principal parts are few plain discernable and necessary to the being or the greatest Ends The Integrals are numerous small hardly discernable and necessary only to Perfection The Accidents are some of them yet of a lower nature lesse necessary nnd less discernable At the master trunks its easie to know which is a vein and which an Artery and which a Nerve and what is their number But when you go to their extremities they will appear innumerable small and scarce discernable I can know many grand trunks or boughs a tree hath when I cannot know the number of the thousands of sprigs at the extreamities nor just where the woody nature ceaseth and the leaves or frutex doth begin So I can easily know in the frame of Grace that Faith Hâ—â—â— and Love are the fruits of the Spirit and so is every true part of Holiness But to know of every particular thought whether it be the fruit of the Spirit and a real part of holiness or not is not so easie Even so in our present case we can easily prove that all that is Gods word and uttered and sealed by his Spirit is true But to come to a full certainty of every book whether it be truly Canonical and every Copy that varieth in some readings from others or of every Genealogical Chronological Topographical or Historical word every phrase location order of sentences citation of the Prophets whether it were certainly all done by the Infallible inspiration of the Holy Ghost is a thing that requireth more knowledg than every true Christian hath as not having the same clearness and notoriety of Evidence as the Gospel or substance of Christianity hath No 〈◊〉 that all Gods word is True Truth is equally Truth it having not a magis minus but all Truth is not equally notorious or evident â—â—â—â— 2. Yet all that is in the Scriptures expressed as Gods word is certainly true And no error or contradiction is in it but what is in some Copies by the failing of Preservers Transcribers Printer or Translators The Reasons why I have premised the former Propositions is First For your own sake Secondly For the sake of many Infidels that now have the same mis-apprehensions Thirdly And for the sake of many thousand weak dark and tempted Christians That you may not think that you may renounce Christianity if you could prove a Contradiction or mistake in the Scriptures there being greater certainty of our Religion than of every single word in the Bible And that every Christian may not think that he must needs doubt as much of Christianity it self and of all the Gosâ—â—â—â— as he doth whether such a Text 〈…〉 word or have any contradiction to another And that he can have no more certainty of the Gospel than he hath of Jorams son or whether Matthew did rightly apply the Prophesie that Christ should be called a Nazarene Mat. 2. 23. or the name of Jeremy Mat. 27. 9. or whether Jude be Canonical and the Epistle to Laodicea and Clemens Rom. ad Cor. not Canonical or whether Henochs prophesie cited by Jude be Divine with many such like We need not spread the sails so wide to the temptations of Satan as if we must let go all if we doubt of the divine authority of any one word But yet that indeed every word is Divine and sure which is delivered as Gods word I now assert My meaning in that limitation is this There are some passages as I said spoken only historically and contain the Narration of some words of the Devil as to Job Christ and as most think to Saul at Endor c. and some words of wicked men and some words of weak and common persons And all these are not mentioned as the words of God As the words of Job's Friends which God reproved The words of the old Prophet that lyed in the name of the Lord to the young Prophet to his destruction The words of Jonas I do well to be angry and the words of Christs Enemies Perfecutors c. Yea the mention of the Old Prophet remembreth me that all words spoken as in Gods name and that by a pretended yea by a real Prophet are not therefore the words of God Micheah onely may say true while Zidkiah and all the rest of Ahabs Prophets may lie as in the name of the Lord. Balaam and the aforesaid old Prophet and many such may say true when Gods Spirit doth inspire them and yet lie at another time in Gods name And what Paul meaneth by his not the Lord but I I leave to consideration Whether in 1 Cor. 14. all those that he correcteth for a disorderly using even the Miraculous gifts of tongues and prophesying c. had their Timeing and ordering of their gifts from the same Spirit that gave them the gifts you may judge And some Protestant expositors have doubted whether James and the rest were guided by the Spirit when they perswaded Paul to go into the Temple to shew the Jews that he observed their Law Though I think that Counsel was of the Spirit because Paul concurred in obeying it But one instance I more doubt of my self which is when Christ and his Apostles do oft use the Septuagint in their Citations out of the old Testament whether it be alwaies their meaning to justific each translation and particle of sense as the word of God and rightly done or onely to use that as tolerable and containing the main truth intended which was then in use among the Jews and therefore understood by them and so best as suited to the auditors And so whether every citation of numbers or Genealogies from the Septuagint intended an approbation of it in the very points in which it differeth from the Hebrew Copies such plain exceptions being promised I assert that All that is said in the Bible as by the spirit of God by men that had the promise of his Spirit and especially by the Apostles is certain Truth and hath no Contradiction in its parts Before I give you my Reasons I think it meet to remove all ambiguity of the words Infallible or Certain that I may be rightly understood First The consent of all sober Divines and Philosophers teacheth us to diftinguith between objective and subjective certainty that is The certain Truth of the Thing and the Certainty of our own apprehension of it Secondly The word certain when applyed to the Apprehension sometime signifieth an infallible apprehension and sometime a clear and strong apprehension excluding both deceit and doubts and by some abusively to a strong Apprehension which excludeth Doubts but not Deceits Thirdly In the object Infallibility sometime signifieth nothing but Verity which whoever believeth is not deceived And sometimes it signifieth also such clear evidence as is in its kind sufficient
to banish all considerable doubting And now I conclude First Whatever is True is objectively certain and Infallibly true so far as that no man in Believing it true is therein deceived or mistaken All Truth is Certain Infallible Truth in it self Secondly Few Truths in the world are so Evident as that a blinded prejudiced indisposed person may not be ignorant of them or erre about them Thirdly All Truths in the Scripture have not equal evidence that they are the word of God though all that is known to be the word of God if equally so known have equal evidence in the formal reason of saith that they are true Fourthly All known Truth is infallibly known that is He that knoweth it is not deceived nor can possibly be deceived by taking it to be true so that as Infallibility signifieth not being deceived all true knowledge is subjectively infallible and certain that is its true Fifthly No man can know that Infallibly which is not objectively certain that which is not True cannot be known to be true The strongest and most confident belief of a falshood is a false belief and more than fallible or uncertain Sixthly All Gods word being equally true and infallible the belief of it is also equally true and infallible But being not All equally intelligible evident to be his word and necessary the understanding and belief of every part is not equally easie strong past doubting or necessary Seventhly There is a superficial belief of Divine Revelations even the Gospel which a natural man may have by extrinsick means And there is a more clear apprehension which a Commoner sort of Grace may produce But that Belief which is so clear and powerful as truly to sanctifie and save the soul must be the effect of the special operation of the Holy Ghost who yet hath a course of appointed means in which we must receive it Eighthly The reason of this necessity of the Spirits operation of faith and then by saith is not because the Gospel wanteth due Ascertaining Evidence or an aptitude to convince and sanctifie a soul For it s highly Rational though mysterious and Good But because by corruption and pravity the mind of man is so undisposed to know believe and love truths of such a nature as that there is need of a special Internal higher Operator to set home the work as the hand of a man setteth the seal upon the wax and to do that by it which the bare word alone with the excellentest preacher cannot do Ninethly Yet is no wicked Infidel excuseable that saith If I cannot believe it I will not believe it Because First It is his pravity which is his disability Secondly He is more able for a common superficial belief than for a special effectual belief Thirdly And if he did by the help of that common belief do what he might and God appointeth him in the use of means to obtain a special Faith through grace he should find that God hath commanded no man to labour and seek after grace in vain and if any man have not that grace and power which is of necessity to his faith and salvation it is long of himself who useth not his commoner power and grace as he might use them And so much to prevent misunderstanding Now my Reasons why I take every History Chronology Genealogy in Scripture as certainly true and every other word which is spoken by a true Prophet and Apostle as by the Spirit and not disowned by the Scripture it self but especially such as you accuse in the Gospel are these First A Priore Because it seemeth to me that the writing of the whole Books of the New Testament by them was done in the discharge of the Commission given them by Christ And he promised his Apostles his Spirit for the performance of all their Commissioned office work This writing is part of the preaching which Christ sent them for And no doubt but the Spirit did cause them to write all the substantial part And therefore we have reason to think that the smallest parts are from the same Author and that he assisted them in the least as well as in the greatest Yea the very accidents may have a perfection in their place though less perfect in themselves Though all the Evangelists use not the same Method or Order nor repeat Christs sayings in the same terms yet in respect to the whole frame it may be best that there should be that diversity of words and order to preserve and declare the same sense and things And even their plain and less accurate stile and method may be best as fittest to its use and end Secondly A Posteriore There is no Caviller that yet hath proved any falshood or contradiction in any passages of the Scripture Though the clearing of some of them require more than vulgar knowledge Thirdly Saving the controversies about the few questioned Books and some few sentences and words the Church which received the Scriptures as Gods word did receive the whole as his word and as certainly true in every part Fourthly Because that Spirit of Miracles in the Apostles and that Spirit of Holiness in us which attesteth the Christian Religion doth receive it and attest it as found in the sacred Scripture though not as there alone And it putteth no exception against any part of the sacred record Therefore while it particularly attesteth the chief parts it inferreth an attestation to the smallest for that word or line which is not strictly a part but an accident of the Christian Religion is yet a part of the Bible which containeth it Fifthly And though all the reasons which I have given prove that the Truth of the Christian Religion may be certainly proved though we could not prove every by expression in the Scripture to be true and though we deny not but the Pen-men manifested their humane imperfections in stile and method yet if each passage were not True it would be so great a temptation to the weak and make it so difficult to know in some points what is true in comparison of what it would be if all be true that we have no reason to imagine this difficulty to our selves while its unproved And having said this I am here in order to answer your objections which yet you should not have expected from me whilst so great a number of books are already written which have done it And why should you bid me write that again which is written already unless you had confuted what is written If you understand Latine you may find a multitude of such seeming contradictions reconciled in Sharpius Magrius Althamer Cumeranus but most fully in abundance of Commentators If you understood not Latine you may read enough in Dr. Hammond and many other Annotaters and Commentaries Mr. Cradock's Harmony c. And you may have enough that understand Latine to translate you the solutions as out of Spanhemii Dub Evangel Grotius Jansenius Chemnitius and such others And
I answer First whether we suppose that they first told them of the words of the Angels that were without the Sepulchre before Peter went and after of the Angels within the Sepulchre which might be the same Angels but not the same apparition or whether you only suppose Luke as in Christs Doctrine so in these by-matters of fact to intend only to deliver the matter and not to tell just the time and order There is no untruth nor contradiction in either supposition III. Your third question is fully answered in the answer of the Former According to the first Harmony or supposition Matthew onely mentioneth one of the Apparitions of the Angels and one of Maries goings to the Disciples And so this written in Matthew was partly before Maries seeing Christ viz. The Angels first appearance and partly after viz. her going the second time upon the second appearance of the Angels to tell them According to the second Harmony Maries speech to Christ was after the Angels 〈…〉 And now consider 〈◊〉 you deal reasonably with Christ and with your own soul upon such poor cavils as these to argue against the Christian Faith and plead for Apostasie when the Gospel hath all the Divine attestations and evidences which I have opened in my Treatise and you are not able to confute them which leadeth me to my Third Proposition Prop. 3. He that first preveth the Truth of the Christian Faith by solid evidence may and ought to be certain of that Truth though he be not able to salve all seeming contradictions in the Scriptures or answer all objections which occur Yea certain of EVERY PARTICLE thereof This I prove by these following Arguments Arg. 1. From the consent of all mankind who are forced thus to conclude in all arts and sciences There being none of them so plain and sure but somewhat may be said against them which few if any man can answer And incommodum non solvit argumentum must be their reply Arg. 2. From the nature of objects and the imperfection of mans knowledg If we could be sure of nothing till we can answer all objections against it we must come to Zanchez his Nihil Scitur Nothing in all the world can be sure Can no man be sure that there is any such thing as Motion till he can answer the Objections that would first prove no Vacuity and then no Penetrability and then an impossibility till a Cession begin at the extremity of natural beings and continue unto the supposed mobile Shall we say that a wheel cannot possibly turn round because no one part first giveth place to the other to succeed it Will you be able to answer all the difficulties tossed in the Schools or but those mentioned in Mr. Glanvils Scepsis Scientifica before you will be sure of any thing of those matters where these difficulties are found He that can answer all objections First Is supposed not onely to know but to know the matter in some perfection And can none know certainly but those who be they that know in such perfection 2dly Yea they are supposed to know all other matters which may any way relate to the matter in hand And shall no man know any thing certainly till he knoweth all things For instance First What if the Question be whether there be a God the Creator of all Cannot I be sure of this till I can answer Aristotles Objections of the worlds Eternity and all the rest which every Atheist will alleadge 2dly What if the Question be whether God be most wise Cannot I be sure of it by the notorious effects of his wisdome till I can answer him that saith He that maketh fools and permitteth so much madness and confusion in the world leaveth mankind in so great ignorance is not perfectly wise Thirdly What if the Question be Whether God be perfectly good Cannot I be sure of it till I can answer all their Objections who say perfect goodness would make all things perfectly good and would not let the world he in so much wickedness nor so many tormenting Diseases to afflict us nor the innocent Horse and Oxe to be laboured tired tormented and killed by us at our pleasure c. Fourthly What if the Question were Whether God be Almighty Cannot I know it till I can answer them who say that He that cannot make an infinite world is not infinite in power He that hath a will which men can violate he that indureth all the sin in the world which he hateth and the ruine and misery of so many millions whom he loveth is not Almighty Fifthly What if the Questions Whether man be a rational Creature whether he have any free will whether bruits have reason whether plants and stones have sense Can I know none of these till I can answer all the Objections of the Somatists against the Soul and all the Objections of Hobs against free will and all the Objections of Chambre for the reason of beasts and all that Campanella hath said de sensu rerum In a Word What shall we know in the world if we can know nothing till we can solve all difficulties and Objections Therefore I adde Prop. 4. The true method of one that would arrive at certainty and not deceive himself and others is to begin at the bottom and discern things in their neerest intrinsecal and most certain evidences and afterwards to try the by-objections as he is able And not to pore first upon the objected difficulties and judge of all the cause by those The plain truth and case of Christians is that if God had not done more for them by giving them his Spirit by the Gospel and experience of its truth in the effects than their Teachers have done by a right instructing them in the evidences of Faith or than the Reason of the most doth in a clear discerning of those evidences in the thing or word it self it were no wonder if Apostates were more numerous than they are when so many build on the sand and are strangers to the true foundation and will never see the evidences of the Christian Verity in it self no wonder if poor Objejections shake them that never understood the nature and Reasons of their own Religion If the Tree grow all in top which exposeth it to the winds and little in the roots which must hold it fast no wonder if it be overthrown When men never knew the great clear evidences of the Christian Religion but take it up by Custome Education and on the Credit only of the time and place in which they live no wonder if every seeming weakness error or contradiction in Scripture make them doubt First Look to all Learning Arts and Sciences Do not learners that would know begin at the Elements and Foundation Do we not begin in Grammar with our Letters Syllables Words and chief rules And in all Arts and Sciences with the Elements and Principles Secondly And Reason telleth us that the points that are
was not existent till 4000 years after having any proper casuality to change Gods mind or will The sum of the Christian Doctrine about the Interposition and Redemption by the Son for man upon his fall is but this As if God should say I will not destroy or damn sinful man remedilesly according to the strict termes of the Law of Innocency which he hath broken but will give him a remedying Covenant of Grace because I will in the fulness of Time provide better for the glorifying of my Truth and Holiness wisdome and goodness justice and mercy than the remediless destruction of mankind would do even by the Incarnation doctrine sacrifice merits c. of the eternal word So that this grand work of God is the cause of his subordinate works but not the cause of any real but only relative or denominative mutation in himself This all sound Christians are agreed in And can this offend you Secondly And for the termes of communication of Grace to man it is either First The New Covenant as a Gift of pardon and life Secondly Or the conditions which it requireth of man First The former you neither do find fault with nor can do That God should give the world a Recovering and pardoning Law Secondly The second is all that is here liable to your exception And what do you think amiss in that First Not that Repentance is one of the Conditions of further Grace for that you plead for Secondly Not that Fides in Deum misericordem Faith in Gods revealed meâ—cy as pardoning sin is required of man for that also you plead for But you would have his goodness and mercy to be a sufficient satisfaction to his Justice Answ First I hope you will not exclude his wisdome because you abhorre Atheism as folly Secondly And I hope you will distinguish between the prime satisfying Cause and the satisfying means These plainly differ The prime satisfying Cause is Gods wisdome contriving and determining of the fittest way to communicate his love and spirit But the prime satisfying means is Jesus Christ who was to do that which was fittest to attain the foresaid ends But that which you will accept against is that the Belief in Christs future incarnation was made then necessary to salvation Answ First See that you feign not the Christian Doctrine to say more of this than indeed it doth which I have opened to you before I told you how narrow the Apostles own faith was before Christs Resurrection We know that â—â— the believing Jews knew not so much as they nor so much as the Prophets and more illuminated men And we know that the rest of the world had not so full a revelation as the Jews But we know that all that had the notice of his promise were to believe the truth thereof And those that had not the word of promise made known to them had the possession of many such mercies as that promise gave and as intimated much of the same grace which the promise did Thefore none could be bound to lessthan to believe that God of his mercy would pardon sin and save penitent Believers by such a means of securing the honour of his holiness truth and justice as his infinite wisdome should provide This much you cannot deny And that the promise of the Victorious seed though it seem too obscure to bind men to so distinct a faith as ours is was by Tradition told to Adams posterity and that they had a General belief of such an expiation for some time seemeth intimated in the early and almost universal use of sacrificing of which I shall speak more anon Hitherto then I have vindicated the Christian Doctrine of mans salvation for the first 4000 years Secondly And is there any thing since which should make it more offensive to you First As to the Person of Christ I have said enough in my Treatise the Reason of Christian Religion Verily I think it far harder to confute those that feign all the world to be animated by God as the universal Soul and to conceive how God who is most intimate to all things in whom we live and move and are should not be as neerly united to all things as Christians believe him to be to the humane nature of Christ though undoubtedly it is not so than that he should have that neer union with his humane nature Secondly And as to Christs work I have so largely shewed you the necessity the reasonableness and the harmonical congruities that I will not repeat them In a word The New Testament is the Doctrine of the eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisdome or word of God Incarnate to communicate the Divine Spirit and love to man to be a sacrifice for sin the Conqueror of Satan Death and Sin the Head over All things to the Church the Author of Redemption the grand Administrator of the new Covenant the Reconciler and Restorer of man to God the Teacher Ruler and High Preist of the Church in order to this our Restoration and Salvation Thirdly But if it be the Time of his coming that doth offend you I have answered that and further adde First What is there in foolish man that should encourage him to dream that he better knoweth the fittest season for Gods works than God himself Secondly Man was not all the while before without the Benefits of this dedesigned and undertaken Redemption He was still under a Covenant of Grace Thirdly Consider well that God did not intend to give mankind that had so heinously sinned by preferferring the Devils word before his a present and a perfect pardon but onely to give a new Law and Covenant which should be a conditional gift of pardon to be obteined in full perfection in time and by degrees we had made our selves voluntarily the Slaves of Satan And God would not deliver us all at once We had forfeited the heavenly assistance of the holy spirit and God would not give it us all at once Mans time of healing the wounds of his own sin is the time of this life and the perfect cure will not be done till our entrance into the perfect world And as it is with Individual men so it is with the world of all mankind Grace mitateth nature and doth all by degrees darker Revelations were meeter for the Infancy of the world and clearer at noon day and riper knowledge fitter for its maturity And when Satan by Divine permission had plai'd his part and seemed to triumph over the sinful world it was time for Christ to come by Power Wisdom and Goodness meanly cloathed to cast down his Temples and Altars to subsidue his Kingdoms and to triumph over the Triumpher Fourthly But if it be the present conditions of the new Covenant since Christs Resurrection that offendeth you viz that the world is required to believe in him I have answered that and now adde First Remember what I said before that no mans condition is made worse by Christ than
man is so easily brought to And therefore the Question must be whether really these Heathens do truly Repent and Love God as God or not Answ First Here you may perceive that though before you did but require that salvation be brought down to the Sinners choice yet now that will not serve the turn Yea though Faith in God and true repentance were the terms that you were satisfied should be imposed on all yet now you are loth to stand to that unless we grant that all these men have the power so to beleive and repent Well if by power you mean a Natural faculty we grant that they have the power of Intellection and Uolition And if it be the object that is in question we grant that the object of that Faith and Repentance which you mention your self is certain and existent And if it be the evidence of the object that is in question we grant that the Being Power Wisdome Goodness Holiness Truth Justice and Mercy of God are revealed to manking by an evidence sufficient in its kin if their souls be but rightly disposed to receive it And that sin to be repented of is discernable in themselves is doubtless Amyraldus largely laboureth to prove that as God bindeth no man to natural impossibilities that is to any Act without First A faculty that can do it Secondly An Object Thirdly Evidence of that Object As not to see First without an eye Secondly That which is not in being Thirdly Or that which is a thousand miles off or in the dark without Light so that all Heathens have first the natural faculty Secondly An object which would save them if truly believed in and Loved that is God Thirdly A Revelation of this object And that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such an object as would procure their felicity if duly apprehended See also Mr. Trumans Treatise of Natural and Moral Impotency But indeed when all is done the wit of man that is offended with God as if he gave not all men a power to be saved will not be satisfied if that be granted unless also he actually save them Should we grant you all the rest if some yet are damned when God could have saved them it will not satisfie them that will be above God and will judge their Judge But because you seem satisfied with less suppose all the question come to this Whether or no those that never had the Gospei do ever come without it to true faith in God and true repentance and so to be saved Answ First And when we have granted you what you first desired that none perish but those that are willfully impenitent and believe not truly in God why must the controversie be carried to mens hearts and acts I can read Gods Law but I cannot know or read the hearts of millions whom I never saw Must I be obliged to know the thoughts of every man in China Tartary Japan or the Antipodes Secondly What number is it that you put the question of and whose Repentance you assert Is it All or but some If All he must be mad that believeth it that All men are true penitent Belivers in God If but some First Would not your wit quarrel still with God for damning all the rest Secondly And must it be the greater part or the lesser or would you know on what number or where to find satisfaction And what have we to do to judge anothers Servants To their own Master they stand or fall Secondly And methinks you should easily grant at least First That Repentance and Holiness is far easier to them that have the Gospel than to them that never heard it Secondly And that they are far more common And so that far more Christians are holy and saved than of others For First Tell me If God should send an Angel from Heaven as aforesaid with miraculous evidence of his mission to call men to repentance and belief in God and Glory would it not be easier for those men to repent than for others Nay would not you the easilier believe in Christ your self if you had but such an Angel to confirm you why then should not the word of Christ who by his Miracles Resurrection and the donation of such a Spirit to his Servants proved his mission from the Father be a help to our Faith and Repentance Especially when his word hath a self evidencing Light also in the Image and superscription of God upon it Secondly You will not deny but that the difference of common lower means doth make Repentance much easier or harder to one than another Take one man that is born in Brasile or Soldania or among any other savage People or that is bred up in a Tavern Ale-house or Whore-house or Gaming house among those that make a scorn of godliness and take another that is bred up to Learning Labour and Godliness among them that by doctrine and example do honour and command a godly righteous sober life And hath not one of these abundance more hinderances to his Repentance than the other Thirdly And will not sense and experience make you certain that the Christian part of the world hath more such helps than all the rest Is there not more Reason Learning Sobriety Doctrine all sorts of Teaching there than among the rest Were it but that Christianity hath furnished the World with more helps to repentance and Holiness the case were clear Fourthly And a little acquaintance with the World and the History of it may fully satisfie you that de facto there are actually far more knowing penitent holy Persons among Christians than among any others When therefore the fact it self is undeniable and we see that more Souls are healed by Christ in the Church than in the World without what need we any greater evidence And if there were no more in it than this that the actual knowledge or belief of Christ incarnate doth make so great an addition to the helps and hopes of Sinners and maketh conversion from sin to God and salvation so much more easie and common as Aquinas Cont. Gent. argueth should not this be received with the greatest thankfulness rather than with unreverent arrogant Contradiction But I proceed to overthrow your Fundamental Error That repentance alone with the mercy of God is a sufficient satisfaction for our sins to divine Justice First If it be but proved that de facto God hath required and provided another Sacrifice for satisfaction then you cannot call Repentance alone sufficient But this is proved fully Secondly If the great work of our Redemption by Christ have all those blessed ends tendencies and effects and bring all those benefits to mankind which in the treat forementioned I proved If it was so actual a demonstration of Gods wisdom and love of his holiness and truth his Justice and Mercy as is there manifested and proved If it have brought men such helps to Repentance and Holiness as are forementioned how perverse will it
are otherwise disposed whereas the Power and so the Nature of mans soul is certainly gathered from what the wisest do attain Because nothing can act beyond its Power And if the attainments and acts of some mens souls do prove such a Power in them all souls of men are of the same species and therefore the rest might attain it if they had the same objects evidences excitations and improvements I think all this is plain truth Ninethly And if by believing you will heartily give up your souls to Christ and his Spirit you will find that there is yet a more excellent addition of knowledg and certainty to be obtained than by all other means could be procured At least as to the Intension and clearness of the Act if not as to the extension of it to more objects IV. Quest Whether the aforesaid Common notices do make up all the Religion of the Catholick Church And whether the Catholick Church be all the world believing these common truths Answ The question is either de nomine ecclesiae or de re As to the name the word is not used in Gods word for any but the Society of Believers as separated from the unbelieving and ungodly world As for men themselves every one may use this and other words in what sence he please But how aptly you may judge Quoad rem I have told you before how far all the world are capable of salvation if that be the question And I adde The Kingdome of God is a word of a larger sense but the Church of God properly so called is Narrower being Caetus evocatus The Kingdom of God signifieth First All that de jure are obliged to subjection and obedience And so all mankind on earth are of his Kingdome even Rebels Secondly Or it signifieth all that consent to subjection and obedience and profess it And these are First Such as profess subjection to God under some lame defective false conception as one that alloweth them to worship Idols under him or to live in wickedness or one that Governeth not the world by a Law or will not make a Retribution hereafter or as one that will pardon and save men onely for their superstition or without a Saviour And thus allmost all Heathens and Infidels are of Gods Consenting Kingdome Secundum quid Eatenus so far as this cometh to and no more Secondly Or such as profess subjection and love to God as truly described And as reconciled to man and saving them by Christ our Mediator And these are quoad actum First But oral or unsound not Cordial Professors And such are Hypocritical Christians who are simpliciter of the visible Church Secondly Or sincere Consenters who are simpliciter of the essential mystical Church of the Regenerate Now when we thus open the Case as to the Thing there remaineth besides the controversie de nomine no more than how far Heathens are under a Covenant of Grace and how far they are capable of salvation of which I have said enough before V. Quest Whether all Revelation for Religion must be but Notitiarum Communium Symbolum A Creed containing these common notices or truths as is asserted p. 221. Answ I have said enough against this before First What need God send a Prophet or an Angel to tell the world that which they all knew certainly before Secondly Full existence assureth us as I have proved in the Treat that mankind hath need of more Thirdly More tendeth to perfect mans understanding and consequently his will and life This is undeniable And mans perfection is his felicity and end And therefore more than those common notices is needful to his end Fourthly Else as is said you will reduce all the world to the measure of that part which is the lowest the unwisest and the worst You would not in wealth or health be equalled with the basest poorest or the sickest nor yet in wit and knowledg of other matters with the most foolish And why then in the knowledg love and practice of Holiness VI. Quest Whether as some others say all supernatural Revelations be to be tryed by the common notions known by nature Answ First It is supposed that all that pretend to Prophesie and Revelation are not to be believed And therefore that we must try the Spirits whether they be of God and that all tryal of things unknown must be made by some foreacknowledged principles if it be a conclusion that must be known Secondly It must therefore next be understood whether the Truth of the Gospel be to be known as a simple term or a self evident proposition or as a true conclusion First The first kind of knowledge onely apprehendeth the words and sense but not the Verity It is the Truth of the Doctrine that we enquire of Secondly Many Divines assert the second way and say it is Principium indemonstrabile Like est vel non est Doubtless this is not true as to the Natural Evidence of the proposition principle or doctrine But I think that in the very hearing or reading Gods spirit often so concurreth as that the will it self shall be touched with an internal gust or savour of the goodness contained in the doctrine and at the same time the understanding with an internal irradiation which breedeth such a sudden apprehension of the Verity of it as nature giveth men of natural principles And I am perswaded that this increased by more experience and Love and inward gusts doth hold most Christians faster to Christ than naked reasoning could do And were it not for this unlearned ignorant persons were still in danger of Apostasie by every subtile Caviller that assaulteth them And I believe that all true Christians have this kind of internal knowledge from a suitableness of the Truth and Goodness of the Gospel to their now quickned illuminated sanctified souls Thirdly But yet I believe that this is not All the knowledge of the truth of the Gospel which we have There is a common Belief of its truth by other means which most usually goeth before this Generative spiritual reception and belief usually they that are converted to holiness by the Gospel are such as had some Belief of it before and not such as took it to be false to that moment And after Conversion it is to be known as a certain demonstrable Conclusion And so the faith of wise and settled Christians is most rational And they are thus made capable to defend it against Temptations and adversaries and to preach it rightly to unbelievers Thirdly The premises from which this conclusion is proved The Gospel is true are both of them truths of infallible evidence viz. Whatsoever doctrine is attested by so many and such miracles extrinsecally by the self-evidencing impress of Divine Power Wisdome and goodness intrinsecally and by the effecting the like Impression in holy Life Light and Love on the souls of all sincere receivers is certainly true being attested by the spirit of God But such is the
so that how much hath God done hereby to confute such suspicions and accusations There are now in England learned and worthy men in Church preferments which doubtless do not so love them as to buy them with the loss of truth and that to keep up a Religion against their Consciences But if you did so accuse them sure the many hundred silenced Ministers now in England that live in poverty and many of them want Bread when they might have preferment as well as others do live out of the reach of this accusation I write not this at all as meddling with their Cause but as answering your Exception I have my self got no more for Preaching the Gospel these nine years than if I had been a Lay-man I mean I have Preached for nothing if the success on mens souls were not something and Gods acceptance so far as I did Preach And more than that I would offer any man my solemnest oath to satisfie him that I believe and profess the Christian Doctrine for its proper evidence and for the hopes of the blessedness promised thereby which if they prevailed not with me above all the riches preferments and pleasures of this world I would never have been a Preacher or a Christian nor would continue in my calling and profession one day much less on the self-denying terms as I now do But O my Lord thou hast been to me a faithful Saviour a happy Teacher a supporting Comforter in my greatest dangers distress and fears Thy service hath been sweet and good Thy word hath been a powerful Light a Quickening a changing an elevating a guiding a comforting word So far am I from Repenting that I am thy Disciple or thy Servant that now I am not far from my departure from this world I do vehemently protest that I beg no greater mercy of thee in this world than that I may Believe in thee more firmly and Hope in thy promises more confidently and by thine Intercession receive more of thy Holy Spirit by which I may have neerer access to God and that by thy blood and merits I may be justified and cleansed from the guilt of all my sins and that by thee I may be taught to know the Father and to Love him as his Love and Goodness hath manifested it self in Thee and in the gracious works of mans Redemption That thou wilt be the undertaker for my soul and body through my life and that at death I may commend my Spirit into thy hands in a strong well grounded Faith and Hope and come to the in the fervent desire of Divine and Heavenly Love And I ask for no greater felicity hereafter than to be with thee where thou art to behold thy Glory and to see the Glory of the blessed Deity and Live in the perfect Knowledge and Love and Praise of God Sixthly And I may add that it is not only Clergy men that are Christians Besides them the Learned'st men in the world have defended or stuck to the Christian Faith I need not name to you either men of your own rank such as the two Mirandula's the great Du Plessis Marnixius de Aldegâ—nde Anhaltinus a Prince though a Divine Bacon and many a worthy Noble man of these Kingdoms and of many other nor such Laymen as the Scaligers Salmasius Grotius Causobone Thuanus and multitudes more Were all these larvati vel palliati by assed by price or fleshly interest He that is not a Christian for Spiritual and Eternal Interest taking up his Cross and following a Crucified Christ on terms of self-denial even to the forsaking of all for him not excepting life it self and doth not by his Cross even Crucifie the flesh and the world which is the provision for its lusts is indeed no real Christian at all I had thought to have said somewhat to your pag. 220 221. In omni Religione immo conscientia sive ex Natura sive ex gratia media sufficientia dari unde Deo accepti esse possint ultro credimus But I have been long enough and the answer may be gathered from what is said before The Lord save this Land and the darker world from Infidelity and its fruits and give us moâ—â—â—f that spirit which is Christs Agent and witness in us effectually to plead and maintain his cause Amen Jan. 16. 1672. Caes Baronius Annal. ad An. 411. BUt because we are discoursing of such matters Reader I intreat thee to suffer me like the good householder in the Gospel who bringeth out of his Treasurie things new and old to adde some things new or later to these of elder date For what I shall briefly say will much delight thee For I will not report unproved things but what I know to be confirmed by the assertion of very many learned men Yea and by all Religious men out told the people in their Sermons And for my part I will bring forth the Author of whom I received it and that is Michael Mercatus Miniatensis PPronotory of the S. R. Church a man of most entire fidelity and of eminent knowledge and honesty of life He told me of his Grandfather of the same name with himself Michael Mercatus senior between whom and Marsilius Ficinus a man of a most noble wit there was an intimate friendship contracted and increased by Philosophical studies in which they both were followers of Plato It happened on a time that as they used they were gathering from Plato but not without doubting how much or what of man remained after death which Platonick documents where they failed were to be under-propt by the Sacraments of the Christian Faith for of that argument there is extant a learned Epistle of Marsilius to this Michael Mercatus of the Immortality of the Soul God And in their discourse when they had long disputed they thus concluded it and giving each other their right hands they Covenanted that which ever of them first died if he could do it he should certifie the other of the state of the other life And having thus covenanted and sworn to each other they departed And after a considerable space of time it fell out that Michael senior being early in the morning at his Philosophical studies unexpectedly he heard the noise of a horse swiftly running and stopping at his door and withall the voice of Marsilius crying out O Michael O Michael those things are true Michael marvelling at the voice of his friend rose up and opening the window he saw him whom he heard with his back toward him in white riding away on a white horse and called after him Marsilius Marsilius and looked after him but he vanished from his sight He being struck with admiration at the strangeness of the case took care to enquire what was become of Marsilius he lived in Florence where he died and found that he died that same hour in which he heard and saw him And what did he hereupon Though he had been a man of approved honesty and had lived a life harmless and profitable to all as it became a true Philosopher yet from that time bidding farewell to Philosophical Disciplines and becoming a forward Lover or follower of the true Christian Philosophy onely as more eminent than the rest he lived the rest of his time as dead to the world onely for or to the life to come being an example of a most absolute Christian who before had been famous among the Philosophers of his time in praise as second unto none So far Baronius The same is reported by abundance of other writers FINIS ERRATA PAge 1. l. penult for were read was p. 23. l. 2. r. Indic p. 30. l. 10. r. adapted p. 64. l. 7 8. r. same apparition p. 117. l. 15. r. Treat l. 27. r. bestow p. 123. l. 23. r. mens p. 149. l. 16. r. end p. 157. l. 20. for ls r. is