do what God required or raised in him any dispute what to conclude upon But though it was grievous to do it yet because it was God's pleasure he forthwith set himself to obey This perfection of Obedience is what we should aim at for the greater Glory of God and for our own greater security and I will add for our ease too For he that submits to God with the least disputing when the trial is great doth it with the least pain but it will be accepted by God if we prevail at last and to do the thing that God expects in quitting all to secure an Interest in him although not with the same readiness that Abraham did though not without complaint and some disputing for God will pardon our Infirmities if there be a prevailing sincerity at the bottom that overcomes the reluctance of Flesh and Blood But we should labour to come up to the perfection of Abraham's example and consider well with our selves That it is our constant profession and pretence as well as it was Abraham's to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to hold nothing too dear for him and withal that there is nothing which God can require us to quit voluntarily but he has an absolute Right to dispose of it and has absolute Power to deprive us of it whether we will or not When therefore God requires that we should freely resign that to him which he can take away if he pleases it is evident that he requires this not for his own good but for ours If he had needed Isaac and it had been beneficial to himself that Isaac should be killed What need of Abraham to do it And sure it is a mighty reason without delay to put God's Will and Command in execution when we know beforehand that all is meant for our good not that God is the better for that which we quit but because we are the better for doing it freely and voluntarily 2. The other remarkable is That God required of Abraham to offer up that his only Son in whom his seed should be called through whom all those great Promises were to be fulfilled which he had made to him before and herein consisted the nobleness of Abraham's Faith that though God seemed to require that which would destroy all the hope he had by those Promises which hitherto he had firmly believed yet he believed still and submitted to do that which in all appearance was utterly inconsistent with the truth of those Promises that had been made to him so that he against hope believed in hope And this is that which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews lays an Emphasis upon chap. 11. By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son his only Son through whom those Promises were to be fulfilled Now though he could in obedlence to God get over the difficulty that Natural Affection laid in his way yet here was the hard point how he should get over that temptation to unbelief which struck at the very Root of his Faith God had promised before that in Isaac his seed should be called If he believed him now How did it not appear that he was deceived before If he was not deceived before in trusting to that Promise How could he be obliged to do that which would take away all reason to believe that Promise any longer But yet without any of this disputing and contending he went speedily about the matter he rose up early in the morning and takes his Son along with him to that place where he was to offer him up Now if you ask how it was possible for him to believe in God notwithstanding this Command mark what the Apostle says By faith he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure That is to say he so fully believed all God's Promises made to him before that his Faith was not staggered with the seeming inconsistency of this Command of God with his former Promises but concluded if there was no other way God would raise up Isaac from the dead for he accounted that is he was fully persuaded that God was able to raise him from the dead as in a sort he did by stopping his hand when he was about to slay him And now if upon the former consideration Abraham's sincerity deserved so high a testimony much more upon this for it is the highest praise of Faith to trust that God will make good all his Promises even when the way he takes so to do seems to be utterly inconsistent with them Well therefore might God upon this high act of Obedience renew his Covenant with Abraham in saying By my self have I sworn That because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy son thine only son from me that in blessing I will bless thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed And observe here I beseech you how highly God was pleased with this Noble Act of Faith and how fitly the Promise wherewith God immediately rewarded him agreed to what Abraham had done By my self have I sworn That because thou hast done this thing in blessing I will bless thee Words cannot express a greater delight than these do One would think that Abraham had done some singular kindness to his God and if God were to be judged of as we judge of Man that God had received an extraordinary favour and benefit from him But such is the infinite and pure Charity of God that when we do what is good for our selves it is no less pleasing to him than if it were beneficial to himself But because Abraham had conquered the greatest Temptation of all to Disobedience viz. That the thing commanded seemed to destroy all the Promises he had made of a Blessed Posterity that should descend from him by Isaac God now rewarded his Faith with repeated Assurances By my self have I sworn That in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed And so well might the Jews in their Peace-offerings when they thankfully acknowledged the goodness of God in giving them the possession of so good a Land call to mind the offering of Isaac as the great Foundation of all those Temporal Blessings which they as the seed of Abraham enjoyed And after such a demonstration as this well may we trust God in all Conditions if we resolve to do as Abraham did if we count none of his Commandments grievous if we do not repine at his Providences if we go on to serve him and to depend upon him though when we must hope against hope for then God will not fail to shew that we have wisely trusted in him and cast our selves upon him he will shew
some awakening Reproof from men or some merciful Providence of God may make the Truth which he is already provided with the belief of effectual to his Conversion But there is little reason to hope this of a man whose very Principles are corrupted and has no fears within himself for a charitable man to take hold upon And therefore that Saying of our Saviour may be well applied to such a Person If the light that is in him be darkness how great is that darkness Moreover as there is little hope to reform that man's evil Practices whose Persuasions make him secure and easy all the while so there is no little difficulty to be met with in trying to undeceive him for men will hold comfortable Errors as long as they can find the least pretence for it And which is not the least mischief of this Offence though such Errors are not laid down without a great trouble yet they are taken up with much readiness they are apt to spread far and wide And to this I believe the experience of the world agrees viz. That although there are mistakes that lead to Trouble of Mind and over-much Restraint yet for one that is led away by such Mistakes an hundred there are that believe comfortable Lies which either wholly take off the Restraints of Religion or in such part as to render them ineffectual 3. Perverse Disputes and an obstinate maintenance of Error by all the Arts of Sophistry has this lamentable evil commonly attending it That it renders many persons utterly careless to examine on which side the Truth lies Perhaps they are but few in comparison that are framed to an inquisitive Spirit and they who are not so framed by Nature or by Education must force their Tempers to Patience and take pains with themselves which is an Employment that men soon grow weary of and commonly they break off pretending it is to no purpose to search any farther but that when there is so much to be said on both sides when there is such an appearance of Reason for and against the same thing it is time for them to give over being Judges for themselves And indeed in things that are either really disputable or of less moment this were not much to be blamed But in matters of high consequence and questions that touch the very Vitals of Religion it often happens that men grow weary of searching Truth and give up themselves wholly to be led by the Authority and Judgment of others after the Controversy is stifly maintain'd for some time on both sides And it were well in this case if it were an even Lay whether they chuse the true Guide or not But when a Guide is to be chosen and followed with an implicit Faith the false Guide hath this Advantage always that he exceeds in Confidence in lofty Pretences in swelling Titles in positive denouncing Damnation to all that are not of his way And though a modest man that speaks justly of things and claims not to be infallible deserves the most credit yet 't is great odds that the other has most Followers amongst those that understand not the Merits of the Cause 4. The same Cause has too often a yet worse Effect and that is to run some persons into Infidelity and an utter neglect of Religion as if no Certainty could be had of the Principles of Religion seeing there is so much Controversy about it And some have said That it will be then time enough for them to believe in God and to worship him when they that pretend to oblige them to it are agreed about it The truth is were it not for that secret Impression of his own Being which God hath left upon our Nature it is not improbable but the monstrous Errors that have been obtruded upon a great part of mankind under the name of Faith and the Force and the Fraud wherewith they have been maintained had let in Atheism like a Deluge upon the world especially considering that there are those in the world who are so full of Zeal for their own way that they have no tenderness for the common Principles of Faith but are rather content that all should sink together than that their own Doctrines should not stand We have been born in hand that no assurance can be had of the Truth of Christianity but from the Authority of such and such men and they that believe upon other Grounds had as good have no Faith at all That if it were possible for them to propound any thing that is false we cannot be certain of any one Article that is true That the same exceptions may be made to the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles that are made against the Stories of latter Miracles And finally That by the same reason that any of their Traditions are rejected the Holy Scriptures may be rejected too and indeed we have lived to see the utmost that can be done by Wit and Learning to diminish the Authority of the Bible Now this I say is a most dreadful Offence and has done infinite mischief in the world that men who are violently engaged in a wrong way of Religion care not for the most part what they venture in the service of their own Cause for whilst they lay the same stress upon false or at least disputable Points that they do upon the most necessary and acknowledged Principles of Religion and bend all their Wit to shew that no difference ought to be made they give occasion to men that would fain be Atheists to deceive themselves into what they would be For a very little Consideration will serve to satisfy them that something is false which is propounded to them as an Object of their Faith and they know they have then leave given them to conclude that nothing is true 5. There is another great mischief of Offences that are given by Errors in Doctrine or Practice and a mischief that often happens in the world which is that of running into a contrary Extreme The Church found this by sad experience in the Fourth and Fifth Ages when men of no small Note disputing against one Heresy fell into another of an opposite nature to the no small trouble of Christendom Truth sometimes as well as Virtue lies in the Mean and they that transgress on any one side do not only this mischief to give what authority they can to the wrong side they are of but they do this mischief too of giving occasion to others to offend on the other Extreme Thus the abuse of Church Authority on the one side has bred in some men contempt of all such Authority on the other The Scandals that have been given by propagating Opinions by Force and Violence have produced in many a fond persuasion that there ought to be no restraints whatsoever in matters of Religion Superiors have required unlawful things in Divine Service and to be revenged upon that abuse it has been said that they are not to
Predictions in the Old Testament concerning Christ and if we will take the pains to examine the Truth of these General Heads by more particular Enquiries we shall find that the Affairs of the Jewish Nation and the Writing of the Holy Books were so over-ruled by the Divine Spirit that when we come to look into them we cannot lightly turn our selves any way but we shall be encountred with some or other Prophetick passages concerning Christ All which was designed of God for the Confirmation of our Faith that when he should come in whom not only the plainest and most unquestionable Prophecies but all other Types and the more obscure Prefigurations of the Messias would be fulfilled we might without the least doubt believe and follow him 2. This word of Prophecy is said to be a light shining in a dark place the reason of which Expression is plain enough if we consider that the Prophecies were nothing so easy to be understood by themselves as they were afterwards made by the events which they foretold and therefore till the events made all plain the World was very much in the dark about the meaning of them as to most particulars but yet some of them were so express and full that they had raised an Expectation not only in the Jews but amongst the Gentiles also of that extraordinary Person whom God would send into the World for their relief And therefore they might very well be compared to a light shining in a dark place For such a Light though it doth not make a particular discovery of those things that lie round about it is yet apt to draw the Eyes of all towards it that are within distance and the Predictions concerning Christ were so remarkable that they awakened the Gentiles themselves to take notice of them and were therefore a light shining in a dark place to Jews and Gentiles not indeed clearly revealing the Truth to them at present but preparing them to receive it when it should be clearly revealed in the accomplishment of all that had been foretold And whereas this Light was said to shine till the day dawned and the day-star arose in their hearts The plain meaning seems to be that from the beginning of the World to the appearance of Christ the Prophecies concerning him grew still more express clear and particular as the time drew on that they were to be accomplished The whole Word of Prophecy was a light shining in a dark place but the latter Prophecies such as in Isaiah Daniel and Malachi were like the dawning of the day before the Sun of Righteousness himself appeared By such degrees did God prepare Mankind for the belief of the Gospel every Age contributing something before-hand to undermine the Prejudices of the Natural Man against it That God should send his Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin was a Mystery so far above the reach of worldly Wisdom and natural Reason that considering our weakness it would hardly have born being revealed all at once and therefore God chose to let Mankind into the knowledge of it by degrees and by the growing-Light of Types and Prophecies to prepare them for that stronger Light of the plain and clear Truth which in due time was to be revealed And by this way God also provided a sure Foundation for their Faith who should afterwards believe only we must do what St. Peter commends the Christians of his time for doing we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must give heed unto and bend our Minds to consider the Word of Prophecy and we must attend to it as to a light shining in a dark place till the day dawns that is we must not content our selves to try any one single Prediction only to compare it with the History of Jesus and then if that doth not give full satisfaction to try no more But as God by every new Prediction added more Light to the Word of Prophecy so we should consider what Evidence is given to the Gospel by the Prophecies of the Old Testament taken all together from the first to the last And this was the Method which our Saviour took to instruct the two Disciples going to Emmaus They were not unacquainted with the Prophecies of the Old Testament and yet they were mightily staggered at the shameful Death of their Master We trusted say they that this had been he which should have redeemed Israel but now they know not what to think of it Then said Jesus unto them O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his Glory But what course did he take to convince them did he take some one notable Prediction by it self and lay all the stress upon that No but beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself It was this that made the day-star arise in their hearts it was this that cleared all their doubts and enlightened their Understandings so perfectly that they afterwards said one to another Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures Luke 24. 3. The Word of Prophecy is said to be sure that is 't is a plain Testimony of God to make us sure that Jesus is the Christ For 1. It is absurd to ascribe the Prediction of these Events to any Cause less than Divine Omniscience for as St. Peter saith Prophecy came not by the will of man but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private interpretation i. e. Not as some would make us believe no Prophecy of Scripture is to be meditated upon and read by private Men but the Prophets did not utter their Predictions by the private Spirit but by the Spirit of God therefore if at vast distances of time from the Event it was foretold in several Ages that one in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed would come into the World of such a Nation of such a Family at such a Time and Place with several publick and notorious Characters by which he should be known Then certainly he in whom all these Predictions have been fulfilled is by the Testimony of God's Omniscience declared to be that great Prophet who was to come into the World Or shall we say that these things were the effects of Policy or Combination or Chance Could the most politick Statesman foresee the rise of Empires not yet begun how much less could they fix their periods as the Prophets did in their Predictions concerning Christ and his Kingdom And can we think that they could at the distance of many Ages with their utmost Skill foresee so many particular Events as were foretold by the Prophets and accomplished in Christ Jesus Or shall we say that there was a confederacy between Moses and Jesus
Accidents of Bread it might be broken as to the substance of Christ's body which is mentioned in St. John it is not broken unless you mean as Christ's body was broken upon the Cross And if the bread which is broken be really that which is spoken of in St. John as aforesaid both as to the Accidents and nature of bread I grant that the Accidents of bread would be the Body of Christ and if it be not the same both as to the Nature and Accidents I deny it This I profess not to understand Fath. As to the Doctor 's Argument it includes a Sophism as will appear when brought into form because it involves four Terms because he supposes in one Proposition for the Accidents of Bread and in the other for the Nature Dr. In the Argument I used I went upon this Supposition That the Accidents of Bread were only to be understood as the Answerer supposes and therefore I have not confounded the Nature and the Accidents of Bread together Besides the Distinction between the Nature of Bread and the Accidents of Bread was not to be remembred any more by the Answerer because I proceed upon his Supposition that the Accidents only are broken Now if St. Paul speaks of nothing but what is broken and Accidents only are broken and yet if he speaks of the very Flesh of Christ too then the Accidents of the Bread are the very Flesh of Christ And whereas the Answerer by his last Answer means the nature of Christ's body as he says I understood him of the Nature of Bread And now once more I desire him to shew me where the four Terms are Fath. The Text of St. Paul the Dr. takes for his Medium and argues from a double Supposition as first taking it for the Accidents of Bread which were broken and afterwards for the substance of Christ's Body under the Accidents in which latter sense it signifies the same that is meant by our Saviour in St. John Dr. I observe the Answerer will allow nothing to be broken but Accidents I observe also that nothing is said to be the Body of Christ or the Communion of the Body of Christ but what is broken If therefore nothing is broken but Accidents then Accidents are either according to the Answerer's long proof the very Body of Christ or according to the Apostle the Communion of the Body of Christ But neither are the Accidents of Bread the Body of Christ nor the Communion of the Body of Christ And this I say is not answered and believe will not be answered by any Man that maintains that St. Paul does not here speak properly of Bread Fath. All along in my Discourse I have supposed that when St. Paul speaks of this Bread he spoke of the H. Eucharist in which were contained both the Accidents of Bread and the true body of Christ How the Doctor has disproved this Doctrine so clearly as to justifie the Reformation I understand not Because I conceive no private Persons or particular Church ought to pretend a Reformation without clear Evidence whether the Doctor has given such I leave to the consideration of the Readers And whether having broken off from the great Body of the Vniversal Church and its Testimony he can possibly have any certain Rule to arrive at Christian Faith If Scripture be pretended interpreted by a fallible Authority how Certainty can be obtained or why a Socinian following Scripture for his Rule of Faith is not to be believed as well as any other Reformer following the same Rule I see not Signed W. Clagett Peter Gooden Dr. CLAGETT's Answer TO A PAPER Delivered to Him By Father GOODEN The Paper ARticles of Christian Faith are Truths Truths are impossible to be False Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are impossible to be False Therefore those who obtain Articles of the Christian Faith must have some Rule to acquire them by which cannot deceive them To a Parliamentary Protestant the ancient Fathers cannot be such a Rule because they are accounted Fallible Nor Councils because they also are accounted Fallible Nor Scriptures sensed by a Fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be False And therefore Faith cannot be obtained by any such means For that which is doubtful can only create Opinion which is also doubtful And he that doubts in Faith the Apostle says is Infidelis And a Company of Doubters are not a Church of Faithful but a Society of such as the Apostle calls Infidels Signed Peter Gooden The ANSWER Pap. Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Ans The Design of the Disputer is to prove that we are Doubters and therefore Infidels But never did any Man begin a Business more unluckily for at the very first dash he takes it for granted that we do undoubtedly believe Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths for otherwise he ought to have proved that they are so But there is another Misfortune he is faln into no less than that For his Argument to prove that we must needs be Doubters is that we want an Infallible Rule Now if he is sure that we want an Infallible Rule and that without such a Rule there can be no Faith I am sure he does notoriously contradict himself by supposing that we believe all Articles of Christian Faith to be Truths though we have no such Rule This is a very hopeful Paper and like to make wise Converts which ends in making us Infidels and begins to prove it by an Argument that manifestly supposes us to be Believers which also pretends that we have no infallible Rule and therefore can be sure of no Point of Faith but yet manifestly supposes us to be assured of some without it which shews the Paper to be a trifling Paper and worth no more Consideration But because the Disputer is said to boast so much of the Argument contained in it I will go on with every Clause of it to convince him if he does not already know it that there is not a Line in it but is either false or nothing to the purpose Pap. Truths are impossible to be False Ans By Truths the Disputer means the Truth of Things or of Propositions and therefore this is a vain and fulsome saying which does not advance his Reasoning one jot farther than it was before For this is no more than to say That which is true is true and it cannot possibly be but Truths must be Truths I think he applies himself to us as if we wanted not only Christian Faith but common Sense Pap. Therefore Articles of Christian Faith are impossible to be false Ans There is no doubt of this supposing that they are Truths So that the Argument he begins with being put into the right order and into other Words is this It is impossible but Truths must be Truths but Articles of Christian Faith are Truths Therefore it is impossible but they must be Truths The ancient Fathers had made wise work with Christianity if they
the Edification of all Churches in all places and in all Ages of the World is evident from that so often repeated Close He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Every Church therefore because it can hear ought to hear and every Man of every Church because every Man hath an Ear to hear and because this Exhortation is also added to the Epistle sent to the Church of Pergamos part of which I have now read to you I may also exhort you to hear or rather I need not since our Lord Jesus himself hath required you so to do St. John who had been the Founder of the Church of Pergamos was now in the Isle of Patmos banished thither for the Testimony of Jesus as he witnesseth himself chap. 1. ver 9. I John who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ But he had committed this Church to the care of a Bishop in his absence who is here called the Angel of the Church and to whom this Epistle was directed in behalf of the Church under his care and it consists of these three general parts I. Of a Commendation II. Of a Reproof III. A Warning to repent I. A Commendation I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth Which Commendation consists of two parts 1. That the Church of Pergamos retained the Profession of the Name of Christ in all points necessary to the Being of a Church for if she had parted with any Point necessary she must then have ceased to be a Church But a Church she was by our Lord 's own acknowledgment and therefore by holding fast his Name and not denying his Faith we must needs understand that she had kept entire that form of sound words the Apostolical Creed which St. John had left amongst them 2. That which heightned her Praise was That she had done this in such a place where there was so great Temptations to Apostacy First Where Satan's seat was i. e. where there were so many Idol Temples that no place in Asia could shew so many as if Pergamos had been Satan's principal Court in that part of the World Secondly Where by consequence there was likely to be and where indeed there was a great Persecution of the Gospel under which Antipas a faithful Martyr of Jesus Christ whose Zeal and Courage was an Example to the rest was slain This is the Commendation of the Church of Pergamos that in such a place and at such a time she had held fast the Profession of the Fundamental Truths of the Gospel that she had held fast the Name of Christ and had not denied his Faith But there follows II. A Reproof But I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate i. e. Although she had the Foundation of the Faith yet within the Communion of that Church the Doctrine of Balaam and the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans was taught and practised She had suffered damnable Doctrines and wicked Practices to take place which were likely enough to endanger the subverting of the whole Christian Faith professed amongst them But more particularly 1. The Doctrine of Balaam was openly taught amongst them and that was the Lawfulness of joining with Idolaters in the Worship of their Idols For this was the stumbling-block which Balaam laid before the Children of Israel not only drawing them to carnal Fornication with the Daughters of Moab but spiritual Fornication also with their Idols Now it seems there was such a grievous Persecution of the Church at Pergamos that some of that Communion to ease the Church from it taught That it was lawful to Sacrifice to Idols and to have External Communion with Idolaters in their Worship to wit by eating things sacrificed to Idols pretending as we may gather from the Commendation given them in the former Verse that if they did but still hold fast the Name of Christ and not deny any necessary point of his Faith their External Compliance with Idolaters in their Worship would not deserve any severe Reproof but that because they should still retain the Name and Essence of a true Church they should therefore sufficiently approve their Fidelity to Christ notwithstanding their burning Incense and offering Sacrifice and giving Divine Honours by their outward Acts to that which is not God 2. The Doctrine of the Nicolaitans was also held amongst them that is a Doctrine that tended to a Licentious Life and the Corruption of good Manners And it is called the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans from Nicolas the Deacon who being upbraided for doting too much upon his fair Wife to shew that he was not to be blamed upon that account made a prostitution of her to all Comers Which lewd Example had it seems spread its Contagion into some of the Asian Churches especially at Pergamos where many of them held Community of Women to be lawful which was so vile and detestable a Doctrine that God is here said to hate it So that the Doctrines for tolerating of which the Church of Pergamos is here reprehended were such as grated very near upon the Foundations of Christianity the former leading to Idolatry the latter to an impure and vicious Life A very strange Corruption of the State of that Church in so short a time from the first Plantation of it Now III. We have in this Message of Jesus to the Church of Pergamos a warning to repent and to make haste to repent too Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth And what was she to repent of but of suffering those Corruptions in Doctrine and Practice to prevail in her Communion for which she was reproved before And how was she to repent but by reforming those Abuses and casting out of her Communion those that would not be reformed and returning to the Primitive Purity of her Faith and Worship and Manners And if she would not do this Jesus threatned that he would suddenly take the matter into his own hands and cut them off by the Sword of his Mouth from being a Church at all who were so soon degenerated from a pure Church and it is reasonable to believe that upon this warning she did repent and reform for she was not speedily cut off as God had threatned she should be if she did not repent but continued a Church for
Reformation was however Schismatical To all which I answer in short 1. As to the Universal Supremacy it is a Point to which Antiquity is wholly a Stranger Scripture and the Fathers say nothing of it Ignatius who so often requires that nothing should be done of moment in the Church without the Bishop would have found out some one occasion at least to have said Let nothing be done without the Bishop of Rome if he had known of any such Privilege and Power conferred on him by our Lord. But if Pergamos were justifiable in removing those Corruptions which were crept into that Church without staying for the consent of the Bishop of Rome England in removing more Corruptions and of equal danger was to proceed also without his leave if it could not be had 2. As to his Patriarchal Power over this Nation it did not anciently belong to him he had it not when the Council of Nice confined him to his own Province nor when the Council of Ephesus decreed That no Bishop should presume to invade any other Province which from the beginning had not been under his or his Predecessors Jurisdiction or if any do and make it his own by Force that he should restore it And then the Church of Britain was free acknowledging no Foreign Jurisdiction the Power that the Bishop of Rome gained here in After-Ages was got by Fraud and held by Force and was ever and anon disputed and gainsay'd and over-ruled and surely no Injury was done him when that Authority was resumed which he had usurped 3. As to the Conversion of the Saxons by Austin sent hither by Pope Gregory I say it follows not if long since the Inhabitants of this Island received any Benefit from Rome therefore they should in all Ages be exposed to the Usurpations of that Place afterwards nor that because we once received true Religion from Rome therefore Posterity must receive also false Doctrines from thence when it should please her to send them hither But in truth Christianity had been planted here long before by St. Paul himself in all probability and that in the Reign of Tiberius before Rome her self had received the Christian Faith And the British Bishops whom Austin found here would by no means submit to the Authority of the Roman Legate And so much for the Right that this particular Church had to reform her self I come now Thirdly To consider some of those specious Pretences and Objections by which they go about to weaken the stedfastness of our People in the Communion of our Church and to draw them to theirs 1. They say How was it possible that Errors could creep into the Church of that nature with those which we charge upon them There must have been great Opposition made to any the least design of such an Alteration in the state of Religion and we meet with no such account of things in History Therefore these are not Innovations but the ancient Doctrine and Practice of the Church To omit this That concerning most of their Innovations we can very nearly shew the time when they were brought in but can plainly shew that there was a time when they were not I answer It is much more easy to conceive that in a thousand Years time Error should creep into that Church by degrees and without noise than that in a Church planted by an Apostle as Pergamos was guarded by the Angel or Bishop placed there by an Apostle as Pergamos was should so soon tolerate the Doctrines of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans even while their Apostle was alive and therefore very soon after he departed from them 2. They say That the perpetual Succession of their Bishops from St. Peter is an Argument of the Succession of true Doctrine amongst them in the Purity thereof but behold an Apostolical Church in which a Bishop succeeded an Apostle yet alive corrupted in her Doctrine and Worship Can they have greater can they have as great an assurance of a perpetual uninterrupted Succession after so many Ages as the Church of Pergamos had before one Age was gone Or does their Infallibility grow with their Succession Or the farther they are removed from the beginning of the Church are they the surer still that they teach nothing but what was taught at first 3. They say We are departed from the whole Church of Christ that was visible every where upon the face of the Earth when the Reformation was begun seeing there was then no Communion in the World nor had been long before that professed the same Doctrine in all Points which the Reformation brought in Now in great liberality to admit for once that the whole visible Church had corrupted its way as the Church of Rome has done which yet is not true but I say admitting it what will then come of it That we departed from the whole Church of Christ No But that we departed from the general Errors and Corruptions of it and by that could not be said to depart from the whole Church whereof we our selves were a part unless we departed also from our selves Nay but say they this is to fall into another damnable Error and that is That the whole Church of Christ had failed from the Earth and so that the visible Church had perished for some Ages till the Reformation brought it to Life again Not so neither for we do not say That the Errors of the Church were of that nature as to make it cease to be a Church but that they were in themselves damnable and that they made the Salvation of all that were in it extremely hazardous but yet that we hope well of those who believing the Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity maintained in the Church and wanting means to discover her Corruptions served God according to their knowledge So that we do not say the Church had perished but that her Purity had been lost even as Pergamos was a Church and so acknowledged by our Lord himself because she held fast the Foundation of the Creed while yet she was corrupted with notorious Errors To this according to their usual way of arguing they would reply That the Case is not the same between a particular Church as Pergamos was and the whole Visible Church from which Luther and those that followed him separated themselves But then I would answer That the Case is the same as to the matter we are upon for if a particular Church though under great Errors may yet be a part of the whole Church by like reasons if the whole Church were overspread with foul Errors it would nevertheless still remain the whole Church and there is as great an obligation to depart from those Errors in the latter case as in the former and a particular Church by departing from such Errors does no more depart from the whole Church than she did from her self 4. They pretend Antiquity for their Errors and are often asking that shrewd Question as they deem it Where was your
the Church any more than the Errors of Pergamos made her cease to be so nor that it is impossible the Reformed and the Unreformed part of Christendom should be within the Pale of that one Church which we profess to believe in the Creed any more than it was impossible for the Church of Pergamos to have been a part of the Catholick Church both before and after her Reformation And thus I have gone through the Task I set my self and I hope need to make no Apology for entertaining you with a Controversy of this nature which indeed ought to be no Controversy amongst us But if it were needful I have this to say Whereas the Church of England does not pretend to be an Infallible Guide or Judge and yet requires the People to believe as she believes to profess what she professeth and to do what she enjoineth it is very fit that her Ministers should sometimes make it plain that she requires this because she has reason so to do and is not in these Points deceived though she does not pretend that she cannot err in any I know not whether I have made the things I have discoursed plain enough to every Understanding but whether that be so or not yet every one may perceive that we appeal to his Reason for the Truth and Honesty of our Cause and for my own part if I understood nothing else of the Merits of it I had rather be of a Church which pretends to guide me with Reason than of another that would govern me without it and that because the former is likely to take more care not to mislead me than the latter needs to do which when it has gained me to an implicit Faith and a blind Obedience may lead me whither she pleases As for what I have now said I declare in the Presence of God that I have offered nothing to you but what I believe my self and farther that I am not conscious to my self of any reason why I am fixed in the Communion of this Church in opposition to the other but a full Conviction of the Errors of that Church which if I should profess or practise I could not entertain the least hopes of Salvation And we who are thus convinced are as I take it bound in Conscience to take seasonable opportunities of confirming our Brethren in our Communion and enabling them as well as we can to make it appear that the Arguments and the Answers of the other side are unsatisfactory and vain as I have in some part endeavoured to shew at this time We should indeed not be unwilling to take pains to recover those to the knowledge of the Truth that are educated in damnable Errors but there is much more reason to do all we can to retain those in the profession of the Truth that have been educated in it seeing if they revolt we cannot have that hope of their Salvation which we would fain have of theirs who want sufficient means to discover them It were a blessed state of the Church indeed if all being united in true Faith and Worship we had nothing to do but to persuade and exhort men and to take care of them that they live answerably thereto but since we have two Works upon our hands to guard you against Error as well as to warn you against a wicked Life I do not see how we can discharge our Duty but by doing one as well as the other And that I may not say nothing to the latter I am to tell you in the Conclusion That we do not make the Communion of the best Church in the World to be all in all a man may go to Hell in the Communion of a pure Church and without true Repentance and Reformation the best and purest Church that ever was since the Gospel began could have done him no service And I take it to be as great a Corruption as can be readily thought of for any Church to pretend to save men by a Trick and send them to Heaven any other way than the plain way of keeping the Commandments of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Keep therefore the pure Profession of the Christian Faith but withal keep a good Conscience void of offence towards God and towards man Hold fast the form of sound words But still remember that if your Works be not answerable your Faith is vain For not the hearers of the Law but the doers thereof shall be justified Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of our Father which is in heaven The Second Sermon MATTH XVIII 7. Wo unto the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come But wo to that Man by whom the Offence cometh THE great End of the Gospel is to bring Mankind to Salvation and in order thereunto to convert them from Sin and from all dangerous Error and to lead them to a right Faith and a Holy Life But it is too evident that this End is not attained Universally And if any one should be tempted to suspect that the Christian Religion is not therefore a Divine Revelation because it has in so great part failed of the End which it pretended to pursue he may be easily brought to assurance again by considering the vast good which Christianity hath done in the World but especially by observing that the Gospel hath foretold that all men would not believe and obey Our blessed Lord himself testified that many were called but few were chosen and that strait was the Gate and narrow the way that leadeth to Life and few there be that find it Nay inasmuch as he hath forewarned us of a Day of Judgment and hath told us beforehand That the Word which he hath spoken the same should judge us at the Last Day This was a manifest Declaration that he did not pretend to lead men to Faith and Repentance by such means as could not but be effectual but only by such as were sufficient if we would in any measure comply with his gracious Methods and it was also a plain intimation that a great many would be never the better but the worse for these means that God had provided for their Salvation and that some for not receiving them others for not improving them would fall into greater Condemnation But our Saviour did not foretell these things only but the Causes of them too and what it was that would obstruct the Progress and Design of his Religion For this is the importance of those words of his which I have now chosen for my Subject Wo be to the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come By Offences or Scandals we are here and almost everywhere in the New Testament to understand those Temptations to Sin and Inducements to Error which some men lay in the way of others They are sometimes otherwise express'd Snares Stumbling-blocks and occasions of Fallings for the
promise of Eternal Life and the warning of a day of Judgment to come It is in this that the great power of the Gospel to mend the Tempers of men consists But when all is done in this kind that can be done men may chuse their Portion in this World because they will not hearken and consider And it well became Divine Providence to permit those to resist the Holy Spirit and the means of Salvation who would not be reclaimed by any reasonable means and that for these three Reasons 1. That there might be a clear difference made between the good and honest heart on the one side and the insincere and incorrigible on the other Which had been impossible if God had by his Omnipotence equally overborn all men into the Faith and Obedience of Christ But as the Case stands the Gospel is a Touchstone that distinguisheth between the humble and sincere and the unteachable and dishonest part of mankind And the Offences which are given by those that do not receive the Truth in the love of it are a farther trial of the sincerity and ingenuity of men as St. Paul said of one kind of Offences There must be heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest And therefore notwithstanding Offences that remains true which our Saviour said All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 6.37 i. e. All sincere and humble Persons who are committed to the special care of Christ to train them up to eternal Life will be sufficiently armed against Temptations and the Offences that are laid in their way shall but clear their sincerity and wisdom more to the world and turn to the increase of their Reward 2. As the sincerity of the Righteous so neither had the proper advantages and power of Truth been seen had God interposed his irresistible Power to prevent all Offences and Endeavours against the Truth And therefore he was pleased to suffer Error and Folly to appear upon the Stage of the World even after the Heavenly Wisdom of the Gospel was made known to mankind that by its own strength it might struggle with all kind of opposition and prevail and be justified of her Children 3. By this way the Wisdom of Divine Providence and the Truth of God's Word and his Care over the Church is seen more illustriously than if Offences had never been suffered That Promise That the Gates of Hell should never prevail against the Church of Christ nor the Faith lost from the Earth had lain in the Gospel unobserved we should have had no occasion for recourse to it no means of trial whether we put our Trust in it Had the Truth been never opposed never corrupted we had wanted one notable reason to praise God That while the Offences are so rise in this world this Church gives no Offence in matter of Doctrine or in matter of Worship And that God may count us worthy to enjoy so inestimable a Blessing let us pray that we may give no Offence by our Examples let us adorn our Profession by our Conversations and shew the Purity of our Faith by the Purity of our Actions Thus much for the necessity of Offences that thus would arise It must needs be that offences come The Third Sermon MATTH XVIII 7. Wo unto the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come But wo to that Man by whom the Offence cometh I Come now to the Second Point viz. That Offences would do great mischief in the world Wo unto the world because of offences In speaking to which I shall consider I. What Mischief is done by Offences II. Whence it comes that they are of so pernicious a consequence I. What Mischief is done by them And in this Question I need not be large because the Answer to it has in some part been already given under those several Heads of Scandal which I mentioned before it being impossible to shew where the Scandal of any Practice or Opinion lies without touching upon the Mischief it is apt to do But to what has been said something may be added 1. The general Mischief of Offences or Scandals is this That they are a prevailing Temptation upon many in the world to forsake the way of Truth and Piety For as good Examples and Encouragements good Counsels and Instructions are proper means of making others better so ill Examples and the Arts of seducing must needs have a contrary influence God has put us into a kind of dependance upon one another and has thereby given us opportunities of the greatest Charity and the best kinds of doing good viz. of leading and confirming one another in the way of Truth and Virtue But there is no help for it but the Society we have with one another may be abused into a means of doing one another mischief And therefore as where Truth is sincerely represented where Virtue is encouraged where Authority protects them where Wit and Learning are engaged to recommend them there abundance of good will be done upon those who are framed to learn and not to teach to follow but not to lead the way So on the other hand it is not to be expected but the abuse of all those Advantages will create Prejudices against Truth and Goodness and mislead multitudes And this is too evident from the experience of the world in all Ages No Opinions how foolish and absurd soever how pernicious soever to the common Interest of mankind if they have been set off with plausible Colours or supported by Authority or have been accommodated to the Interests of wicked men but they have had Abettors and Followers and have very often taken such deep Root in the Affections of men that 't is one of the hardest things in the world to convert them into the way of Truth But more particularly in the Second place 2. The scandal of advancing Doctrines that give liberty to the Lusts of men and ease to their Minds without effectual Reformation This Scandal I say has this pernicious effect that for the most part it fears the Consciences of men and hardens their hearts against all Reproof Although it be a terrible aggravation of sin for a man to venture upon the doing of that which his Conscience pulls him back from and for which he knows he must give a sad Account at the Last Day if it be not prevented by Sorrow and Reformation yet such a man is in a better condition than one that is well satisfied with himself and believes his Condition to be good enough while he goes on in his Sins without Reformation because he has another way to escape the Damnation of Hell For so long as a man believes the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel as they are and knows the terms upon which they are made it may be hoped that he will at length lay these things seriously to heart and that
be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended and though I should dye with thee yet will I not deny thee Which was no doubt spoken also with a very honest intent and purpose as it was by the rest of the Apostles who followed his Example he was no Hypocrite or Villain in what he said as Judas was but meant all that he promised and at that time verily believed that he should be as good as his word whilst Judas was at that Minute bent to betray him But this honest man wanted experience of himself and presumed too fast upon his own Ability and therefore our Lord took this occasion to lay a foundation in him of a better understanding of himself for he said unto him Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake Verily I say unto thee the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice A seasonable intimation it was that his Master in the very heighth of his confidence should tell him That he would thrice deny him before the next day was well begun And this forewarning together with the experience of his own Infirmity afterward no doubt served to make him ever after a more considerate and watchful man and tended to add Modesty and Humility to his other good qualities 2. If we go a little farther we find him sleeping with the rest of the Disciples though our Lord had left them to pray that they might not enter into temptation And that when Jesus came and found them asleep he said unto Peter who had undertaken so much before What could ye not watch with me one hour Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak By which words he gave him fully to understand that he was not acquainted with his own Infirmities and had not that sense of the necessity of watchfulness and prayer which he ought to have had at that time 3. It was but a little while after that Judas conducted the Officers and Soldiers that were sent by the High-Priest to take Jesus and when they had laid hands on him Peter's forward Spirit led him into another mistake He drew his sword and struck a servant of the high-priest and smote off his ear which though well meant in zeal for his Master was yet an undutiful Resistance of Authority and betray'd a rash anger But neither did our Saviour leave him here without that Admonition which was necessary to make him wiser and better Then said Jesus unto him Put up thy sword again into its place for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels But how then will the Scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be 4. That Trial of him that followed immediately almost at the High-Priest's Hall shewed him to be as yet a very imperfect man and one that wanted that Resolution which he thought himself Master of Indeed he shewed a little more Courage than the rest of his Brethren inasmuch as they fled upon their Master's being apprehended but he followed at a distance to observe the Event but this served only to intangle him in a more shameful Fault than theirs that ran clear away even to the denying of his Lord thrice and the last time with Imprecations He that had so forwardly confessed in the Name of the rest That Jesus was the Son of God He that but a few hours before had so vehemently declared That he would rather dye with his Master than deny him when now he saw him brought like a Criminal into the High-Priest's Hall altered from what he was before and his Faith began to fail It is not improbable that he had some hope his Master would deliver himself out of their hands by some Miracle because he sat among the servants to see the end But yet the danger was so apparent that he wanted Courage to own him till the End was come and so denied him And while he spake his last words of denial the cock crew And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter Luke 22.61 Not throwing off all farther care of him notwithstanding so foul a miscarriage And Peter remembred the words of the Lord how he had said to him Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice And he went out and wept bitterly That which I have been driving at all this time is to shew a notable Example of the weakness of the flesh in a man very apt to be confident of himself and withal of the watchful care of our Saviour to correct him and set him right and that because he had a willing spirit an honest and sincere disposition void of Malice and Falshood and was ever desirous to know the Truth and to do his duty Therefore said our Saviour to him just before his last Conflict Luke 22.31 32. Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not For the Tempter understood Peter's composition how much chaff was mingled with the wheat and what were the inconveniences of his Temper and desired nothing more than full liberty to make use of them for the overturning of all his good qualities But said Jesus I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren i. e. when thou art satisfied what a great many things are to be mended in thy self and that those Infirmities of thine which at present thou art not aware of had like to have been thy utter Ruin but withal that thou hast escaped through the Grace of God when thou art grown wiser and more established in all kind of goodness then do thou strengthen thy Brethren be careful of all sincere Persons that labour under Infirmities as I have been of thee take care to improve that which is good in them and to secure them all thou canst against all their Infirmities Thus much concerning the great Advantage of Sincerity That it doth entitle a man to the special Favour and Protection of God and so what we are to learn by all is to lay this Foundation of well-doing which our Saviour acknowledged and commended in his Apostles that is a willing Mind and an honest Disposition for then we are in a condition to be watched over by the Divine Grace But having shewn how valuable in the sight of God is a willing Spirit and an honest Mind I proceed in the Second place To urge our Saviour's Exhortation and that is notwithstanding this to watch and to pray that we enter not into temptation for though the spirit be willing yet the flesh is weak For if Sincerity could of it self support a man without any farther care and help we had never heard of the Drunkenness of Noah and Lot the Murder and Adultery of David and the Fall of Peter
between the Prophets and Jesus so many hundreds of years after they were dead and before he was born Or are these Predictions and their Events to be imputed to Chance It is possible indeed that some one thing may be foretold and happen accordingly but that so vast a number of particulars should be foretold concerning one Person at all adventures and by strange luck come to pass afterwards is fit for them only to believe that can believe that the World was made by a casual hit of Atoms To name these things is enough to confute them 2. All that can be farther desired is to be well assured that these Prophecies were not forged by the followers of Jesus but that they were indeed contained in the ancient Writings that had been delivered down to the Jews of our Saviour's time by their Ancestors and the constant testimony of the Jews themselves who were most bitter enemies to Jesus and to his Doctrine were enough to satisfie us in this point 4ly And Lastly Whereas these Predictions are said to be a more sure word of Prophecy the meaning is this that they are a more convincing Testimony to Jesus than any other taken by its self they are indeed a more permanent Testimony and withal less liable to Cavil and Objection I cannot stand to shew this by making particular comparisons but shall only observe That Prophecy includes all other Testimonies and adds strength to every one of them It comprehends the Miracles of Jesus and of his Apostles his Resurrection and Ascension the Descent of the Holy Ghost and the excellency of his Doctrine because these were all foretold It includes all other proofs as well as the thing proved and those proofs are the more convincing because they also had been foretold by the Prophets From all this it follows That allowing the Scripture that Tradition which other good Histories have and which they have more of than any other ancient Writings in the World then the Prophecies of the Old Testament and the Accomplishment of them in the New do prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and this without the help of the Churches Authority and well is it for the Christian Religion that the Scriptures may be proved without the Authority of the Church for otherwise Christianity must never look an Infidel in the face since the Church hath no Authority at all till we are assured of the truth of the Scriptures themselves And I will make bold to add That when all those objections against the Authority of the Old Testament from the time wherein it was put into this form of Books from the light oversights of Transcribers from various readings and all the cavils upon any part of it are put together the word of Prophecy which runs through it all will bear all this reckoning and still remain an invincible argument that the first Authors were inspired that the Prophecy came not in Old time by the will of man but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Well therefore might St. Peter commend the Jewish Converts for taking heed to the word of Prophecy since this was the way to come to a well-grounded Faith indeed and to grow every day to greater assurance and stedfastness therein and for the same reason let us I beseech you be exhorted to like diligence in conversing with the Holy Scriptures that our Minds may be more enlightened with the knowledge of divine Truth and that every doubt if any there be that shakes our Faith may be removed And this Exhortation is so needful that I shall shew that there is no good reason in their Objection against it who have taken a great deal of pains to exclude all but the Clergy and those that have special License from reading the Scriptures the sum of what they say is this That the promiscuous Liberty of reading the Scriptures leads the People into Pride and Self-conceit makes them insolent and ungovernable and ready to throw off all Respect to their lawful Guides That almost all Heresies have proceeded from misinterpretation of Scripture and that there are so many obscure and difficult places in the Old and New Testament that to translate the Bible into vulgar Tongues and to encourage the People to read it is to betray them into the danger of infinite Errors which they are likely enough to fall into by mistaking the sense of the holy Text which therefore is to be kept out of the hands of the Laity as we would keep Children from medling with edged Tools and lay Swords out of mad-mens way Now if this Charge be true the Bible is a very dangerous Book if it be not true there is some other reason doubtless why they that pretend this have no kindness for the Bible I shall omit several advantages that may be taken against this Flourish because I think it may be shown very briefly that it pretends things that do by no means hang well together that it takes things for granted that are not true and that it concludes as strongly against the Scriptures being read by the Clergy as by the Laity It pretends some things that do not hang well together On the one side they tell us that the liberty of reading the Bible is apt to make the People throw off all dependance upon the Priest as to instruction on the one side that there are obscure and difficult passages in it by mistaking the true sense of which they will be led into Heresie and consequently into the way of Damnation Now indeed the Scriptures say this of themselves that there are divers things hard to be understood in them which ignorant and unstable men have wrested to their own destructien But if this be true the best way to keep the People in modest dependance upon the instruction of their Spiritual Guides is to lay the Bible before them and not to keep it from them since there cannot be a more convincing Argument of the necessity of attending to their Pastors in order to farther Instruction than the several difficulties that occur in the Scriptures and the warnings that the Scriptures themselves have given of the danger that unlearned and unstable Men are in of wresting them to their own destruction If it be said that experience shews the contrary and that neither this nor any other Argument can make people modest if they are generally permitted to have the Scriptures I add 2. That this arguing takes things for granted which are not true in point of fact all the Faithful anciently had the Scriptures but we find little complaint by the Bishops and Clergy then of the Wantonness and Insolence of the People so little in comparison of the frequent and earnest exhortations that all would deligently Read the Scriptures that it may be said to be none at all Christian People that had been trained up in the first Rudiments of the Faith were not only allowed them but required to Read the
Bible and yet they modestly attended upon their Spiritual Guides for farther Instruction out of the Bible And therefore if some Men in later Ages have grosly Misinterpreted the Scriptures and would not be set right by those that had more skill to interpret them this doth not prove that the reading of the Scriptures makes the People ungovernable for then it must always have been so which is notoriously false and whereas it is said that almost all Heresies have come of Mis-interpreting Scripture this doth not prove that Christian People must not Read the Scriptures for it cannot be denied that those Heresies which have given any considerable disturbance to the Church of God were begun not by Laicks or illeterate Persons but by such Men as the objectors do allow to have a right of reading and studying the Scriptures i. e. by Bishops or Priests Wherefore In the last place The Arguing of these Men against the common use of the Bible concludes against the Priest as strongly as against the People For if to prevent Heresie the Scriptures are to be kept from Lay-men who may bring Heresie into the Church by misinterpreting the Scriptures then for the same reason Men in Orders should not be suffered to read them since they have actually been the Founders of Heresie nay the reason is something stronger since the wresting of the holy Text by Men of Office or Learning will be of greater Authority and do more mischief than the mistakes of private and unlearned Persons But if the danger of perverting difficult places be a good reason to deprive Men of all use of the Bible this reason hath a particular force upon some Men that they should never look upon a Bible more For the best way to judge how the Scriptures are likely to be used by any sort of Men is to consider how they have constantly used them heretofore and let any indifferent Man judge of them by these following instances because God said Let us make man after our own Image therefore it is lawful to fall down before an Image of Wood or Stone Because Christ said to Peter Feed my Sheep Therefore his pretended Successors have power to depose Heretical Princes Because Peter said to Christ Lord here are two Swords therefore they have a Temporal as well as a Spiritual Jurisdiction Because Jacob in Blessing Ephraim and Manasses prayed that his Name might be named on them therefore it is lawful to pray to Saints Because it is said the Disciples met together to break Bread therefore the Laity may be depriv'd of the Cup. Because St. Paul saith of him that prayeth in a Tongue not understood by others Thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified therefore it is in it self good to appoint publick Prayers in a Language unknown to the people that is because he that understands what himself says doth well for himself because he understands therefore he doth well for others that understands not a word and are therefore not edified Because the Apostle saith we must glorifie God with one mouth therefore in all publick Offices of Liturgy there is to be but one and that the Latin Tongue in all places of Christendom Because that many Languages at Babel caused confusion therefore for God to be served in the many vulgar Tongues of Christian Nations would breed Schisms in the Church Because the Beast that touched the mountain was to die and because Christ said Give not that which is Holy to Dogs therefore ordinary People are not to have the Bible These Expositions are not invented but there are good Authorities for them and for a great many more of the like sort I know not what can farther be objected but this That if Priests and Learned Men have been so foully mistaken in the Interpretation of Scripture how much more are the Unlearned in danger of falling into Mistakes which tho' perhaps will never come to be Heresies in the Church may yet prove damnable to themselves as St. Peter plainly saith To which I answer That St. Peter's unlearned Men were such as had not yet attained to the knowledge of the necessary Doctrine of Faith and good Life as appears by his calling them unstable not yet fixt in the Perswasion of the plain Truths and great Ends of the Gospel and such as those whether they were Men of good Parts or not were likely enough to interpret the hard places of St. Paul's Epistles to a sense contrary to the plain and open Truths of the Gospel But if a Man be instructed in the necessary and plain Doctrine of Christianity and moreover furnished with Modesty and a sincere Love of the Truth and willingness to learn Qualities that ought to be common to all he shall be as far from wresting the difficult Scriptures to his own destruction as one that hath vastly greater Abilities Nay I will add one thing which if it be true there is no force at all in the Objection and that is this That the service of a Cause and espousing the Interest of a By-party doth more fatally lead to Misinterpretation of the Scripture than bear weakness of Understanding and there is this plain reason for it because Modesty and love of the Truth will secure a Man of no great Abilities from rash concluding upon the difficult Places of Scripture but Partiality and the Service of a By-cause shall engage a Man of Parts and Learning to trouble the clearest and to pervert the plainest Texts as the forementioned Instances evidently shew so that either the danger of Misinterpreting Scripture is no sufficient reason to prohibit the Laity from reading it or else it were better that no Order of Men were trusted with it at all and if that be true I think it will follow that it had better never have been written at all which no Man will say whatever he thinks But to speak to the thing the Scriptures were written for an universal good and in order thereunto for common use Here are all Divine Truths and Reasons of Christian Faith and Practice that are necessary to be known of every Man plainly exprest for the use of the meanest Capacities Here are also Difficulties and Mysteries of several sizes fit to employ the Industry of the Learned according to the several degrees of their Abilities and to exercise the Modesty the Humility and the Reverence of all But still we confess that they may be perverted and abused and if this be a sufficient Reason to interdict the general use of them then farewel at once to all the Comforts of this Life and to all the Means of Grace in order to a better with every one of which Men in their folly and wickedness may and very often have hurt themselves and others St. Peter was aware of this that some Men wrested those hard things in S. Paul's Epistles and in other Scriptures to their own destruction but did he therefore disswade the Faithful from reading them No but in the
down in the New Testament or what those things are that belong in common to all Christians as their Duty or their Priviledge and in respect of their joynt-performance of the former of which and their enjoyment of the latter they may be said to be One. 1. Therefore all Christians do unite in their Profession to submit to one Head who is our Lord Jesus Christ which is so necessary a Duty incumbent on all that he who makes not this Profession is in no respect within the Unity of the Church this being the Ground of all other Reasons of Unity whatsoever and therefore the Apostle makes this to be one principal Foundation of the Unity of the Church that it professes subjection to one Lord Eph. 4.5 And in the third Verse of this Chapter he lays down this mark of distinction between the impulse of the Spirit of God and the impulse of an evil Spirit That whosoever is led by the former doth say that Jesus is the Lord. They are also One in professing the common Faith that was at first delivered to the Saints which began to be preached when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and hath ever since been contained in the Holy Scriptures and summarily expressed in the ancient Creeds And therefore to one Lord the Apostle doth in the forementioned place add one Faith Thus we find in Rom. 6.17 That one Form of Doctrine was delivered to Christians and that they are to stand fast in one Spirit and with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 Thus St. Paul charged Timothy That if any man taught otherwise and consented not to wholsome words the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness he should from such withdraw himself 1 Tim. 6.3 Not looking upon them any longer as Christians or as such conversing with them which together with many other like Passages manifestly shews that he who in any point departed from the common Faith of Christians that was received from the Apostles was broken off from the Unity of the Church which is One by a common profession of certain Points of grand importance taught at first by the Holy Spirit For which reason St. Cyprian doubted not to say He cannot seem a Christian who doth not persist in the Vnity of Christ's Gospel and Faith 3. There is an Unity of Sacraments in the Christian Church One Baptism by which we are all admitted into the same state of Duties and Priviledges undertaking the Conditions of the New Covenant and gaining a Right to the Promises thereof and therefore the Apostle adds also one Baptism And here in the Text he expresly affirms that by one Spirit we are baptized into one Body into one Body of People professing one common Faith and claiming the Priviledges belonging to such a Profession The like Unity is inferred from the other Sacrament since we are all made to drink into one Spirit And in the 10th Chapter of this Epipistle v. 16 17. he saith The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread 4. There is also an Unity of Obedience to the same Laws and Institutions For to all Christians it equally belongeth to govern themselves effectually by the will of their Lord Jesus Christ to observe his Ordinances and Commands by the doing of which they declare themselves to be of his Flock in that they hear his Voice and of his Kingdom in that they live by his Laws and that as there is one and the same Obligation so there is one and the same Correspondent Practice one and the same Spirit of Obedience that runs through all 5. There is also an Unity of Affection or mutual Charity prescribed to the Church Thus saith our Saviour By this shall all Men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Thus saith the Apostle in this Chapter The Members should have the same care one for another and whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or one Member be honoured all the Members rejoyce with it which kind of Unity appeared most visibly after the Church was begun on the day of Pentecost for it is observed presently that the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul Acts 4.32 6. There is also an Unity of Communion in the Service and Worship of God in joyning together in the same Acts of Piety and Devotion according to the Rules of the Gospel in Prayers and in Sacraments and in glorifying God with one mouth moreover in the common defence of the same Truth and in the joint opposition of every dangerous Error in propagating and promoting the same Faith of the Gospel and striving together for the Interest of it 7. There is also an Unity of Discipline or Government which is to be maintained by every Member's keeping in his Place and order in the Church the People of Christ receiving the Mysteries of Christianity from their Pastors and these confederating one with another for the maintenance of common Christianity without invading each others Liberty and Jurisdiction and accomodating as near as may be all Rites of Discipline and Worship to one another and assisting each other by Advice and Correspondence and giving no occasion to breach of Charity and Christian Communion by abusing a lawful or by claiming an undue Authority Other more particular Instances might be mentioned but I shall content my self with these believing that upon these Grounds of Unity which I have noted it will not be difficult to satisfie those Scruples which have been thrown into some Mens Minds concerning the necessity of being of that one Church which is the Body of Christ and they are chiefly two 1. That there must be one Church which is the only Church of Christ exclusively to all the rest that are not in Communion with her 2. That where there is most Unity there of necessity must be the true Church 1. That there is one-Society or Communion which is the Body of Christ exclusively to all other Communions whatsoever For thus they argue The Apostle here and the New Testament elsewhere affirms That the Disciples of Christ are one Body If therefore there be as there are several Bodies of Christians in this divided State of Christendom that are not united in Communion in Worship in Government no nor in Doctrine neither these cannot all be the Body of Christ which is but one and therefore there must be but one of them which is that Body of Christ or the true Church And from hence they proceed farther since we grant that they are a Church we do in effect grant that we are not so much as a part of the true Church our selves because we are not in Communion
Unity only in Faith and Goodness is to be preserved 2. It is possible that where there are discords there may be yet more truth professed than where there are none and that for the former Reason because there may be Unity in the worst Errors Besides the common Faith that is professed by all Christians one part of the Church may maintain the Purity of that Profession against another that hath superadded new and false Doctrines to it and yet the Reformed part may labour under Discords that affect their very Communion while the other doth not There may be on the one side disobedience to Authority overvaluing of Questions of no great moment a greater stress laid upon Opinions or Practices than the Cause will bear and this shall be sufficient to break Christian Communion and at the same time whilst gross Errors are maintained on the other side with one consent the differences that happen by the bye may be so over ruled by Authority by Force and Power and by the sensible Interests of this World that how wide soever they are they shall not yet rend Communion But in such a case it were the fondest thing in the World to chuse a Doctrine by the mark of Unity among those that profess it Therefore in this divided State of Christendom it is easie to see what Christians are to do to preserve the Unity of the Body of Christ as much as in them lies and to be sure that they are within the Unity of the Church in all respects 1. I need not say that they are to stand fast in the Faith which was first delivered to the Saints in the Common Faith of Christians for without this they could not so much as continue in that Body into which they were baptized only I may add That they are to lay it up in their hearts and to value it as the greatest Treasure and to proclaim their esteem of it and to acknowledge all that profess it to be of the same Body with them This being that Faith which Christ came down from Heaven to establish in the World and which he sent the Holy Ghost to inspire his Apostles withal to reveal it to us and to confirm it for us by the Writings and by the Miracles of inspired Persons 'T is by this Faith and this Profession therefore which includes Baptism that they are Christians who will not allow us to be of the Church 2. Let them keep themselves from entertaining any corrupt or false Doctrines not only any that are contrary to the Scriptures but any as necessary to Salvation which are not to be proved by the Scriptures for thus they will be sure to keep themselves from any dangerous Errors and continue not only true but pure Believers and they sure are not the less but the more in the Unity of the Church who receive nothing as necessary to be believed in order to Salvation but what by the undoubted Records of our Christian Faith appears to have been taught by Christ and his Apostles 3. Let every private Christian be most careful to observe the Commands of our Lord Jesus in the Government of all his Affections and all his Actions for Unity in this thing ought to be amongst all Christians since without Obedience no Man how qualified soever he may be in the Church upon other accounts shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not every one that saith Lord Lord Without this it is not the being of the one Church it is not the professing of the one Faith no nor the being of a pure Profession and a pure Communion that will unite us really and effectually to our Lord Jesus the Head of the Church but we shall be cut off from him as Branches that bring forth no fruit 4. Let him maintain an universal Charity to all Christians Good will to those that are misled and seduced in endeavouring to reduce them as he hath opportunity in praying for them readiness to be beneficial to all his Brethren to forgive Injuries and to overcome evil with good compassion to the miserable pleasure in that which is for the particular good of any one of his Brethren and much more in what is for the general good of all Thus he shall preserve himself in the other Unity which is the Duty of the Church the Unity of Charity and Good will 5. Let him live in strict Communion with the particular Church whereof he is a Member in subjection to the Authority of it in observing the Rules of it for the guidance of Religious Assemblies for the ordering of all things that fall under human Authority i. e. the Authority of the lawful Guides of the Church in order to the Edification and well Governing of it Thus he shall maintain an Unity of Communion with his Brethren and his Guides and so in effect with the whole Christian Church where the Parts of it do as they ought to do and most undoubtedly we are not to be united to any of them in things wherein they do as they ought not The Sum of this Advice is easie to be understood and to a good Man as easie to be practised There is no need for him to trouble his own Mind with nice and intricate Questions about Unity because he will maintain his part in order to the Unity of the Church by doing his plain Duty by sticking to the Faith which is professed by all Christians the Faith into which we were baptized by rejecting whatsoever is contrary to the Scriptures and making them the Rule of his religious Perswasions which all Christians ought to do by observing the Rules of the Gospel for the Government of his Life and Actions in which yet undoubtedly all Churches and every Member of every Church ought to conspire though this part of Unity is hardly remembred when Men talk of the Church by bearing Christian Affection towards all that name the name of Christ whereby he performs the Duty of Unity towards them which whether they do or not they ought to perform too Finally By frequenting the Service of God in publick Prayers and Exhortations in the Administration of Sacraments according to the Order of the Church whereof in particular the Grace and Providence of God hath made him a Member and which observes the Institutions of our Lord Jesus in all the publick Offices of Religion For thus he performs his part of Unity towards the whole Church with respect to Communion nor is he nor can be to blame if others will not be perswaded to it It is a fond thing to think of seeking a True Church that is the only Church in opposition to all others or to be scandalized at the divided State of the Church which we cannot help and under a pretence of seeking for Unity to mind nothing else We are to preserve our selves in the Unity of the Church by professing true Doctrine and by leading good Lives by a charitable Spirit and Behaviour towards all Christians by frequenting
wanting to maintain it When all Flesh had corrupted their ways God came and swept away Mankind with a Flood and saved Noah to be the Father of a new and better Generation When their Prosperity had corrupted their ways he called Abraham forth to preserve true Religion in him and in his Family and these and the like Providences are Pledges of the same care to interpose in behalf of Truth and Righteousness when the Faithful seem to fail from among the Children of Men. While God seems to let the World alone and to suffer all Men to go on in their own ways as if he took no notice of them nor were at all concerned at what they did he is all the while trying and proving what they are not indeed for his own Information for he knows all things but for the instruction of those that are to come after If he at every turn should interpose when we think it needful we should very seldom know who are sincere and who are Hypocrites it is very fit that it should be sometimes seen whether Men are what they pretend to be whether indeed they are concerned for that Truth for which they have once pretended a mighty Zeal whether they are governed by Conscience as they say or by mere worldly and politick Considerations for such Discoveries as these are very instructing and serve for the bringing about of much good in the World and in the Church which we may reasonably presume to be one cause why when the Son of Man comes he will find but little Faith upon the Earth because while he suffers the World to go on as if he minded it not he is trying those that pretend to Faith and upon the Tryal many are discovered not to have it In short Divine Providence is so far from being regardless of the Affairs of Men that it then most of all shews it self when Men are tempted to think that it regards nothing i. e. when there is but little Faith to be found in the Earth and this will be abundantly demonstrated at the close of all things that is at the Day of Judgment which will be the most convincing Act of Providence that ever was in the World and one Forerunner of it will be that Question Where is the promise of his coming And now the use of all ought to be that which is the declared intention of our Saviour in the beginning of the Parable And he spake a Parable to them to the end that men ought always to pray and not to faint For the true Ground of Prayer is Faith in the Providence and Promises of God and if there be no time when these fail then ought Men always to pray and not to faint i.e. they ought always to depend upon God's Providence they ought always to believe his Promises they ought always to be certain that their Prayers are heard and will turn to good account for them that God is gracious to all and much more to them that love and serve him and if they do all this then they will always pray and not faint i.e. and not be discouraged And if they ought always to pray then also when they are most apt to be discouraged and when there is but little Faith to be found upon the Earth nay then most of all because when Temptations to Unbelief are greatest we should the most of all strengthen our selves by recourse to God and dependance upon him To this Instance in Prayer there are two things must go 1. A stedfast Resolution to walk in all the ways of God and not to be diverted out of them by any worldly Interest whatsoever For he can have no Faith to go to God who thinks of taking care for himself without regard to his Duty to God A Man is not in a condition to seek the Favour of God or to commend his case to him that contrives how to shift for himself without him 2. A perfect resignation of himself to the Will of God for by this also it is that a Man entitles himself to his Favour and Blessing The most effectual way to obtain the particular Blessings we pray for at any time if they are such things as may prove evil as well as good for us is to leave the matter after all to the disposal of Divine Providence for then if we obtain them we get his Blessing with them too if we do not we are sure to get his Blessing without them which is the general thing we pray for always With these Dispositions we are in a fit case to present our Prayers to God for Spiritual Blessings for our selves and for the Church of Christ which will assuredly come accompanied with Temporal ones too if it be best for us and if God sees that it is better for his Church to be prosperous than to be afflicted in this World and then it is better so to be when Men are sufficiently prepared for it by God's Correction and their own Repentance Men ought therefore always to pray and not to faint for their Prayers thus qualified will not fail of obtaining what they ask which our Saviour thought good to illustrate by an Example in the Parable delivered before the Text viz. of an unjust Judge that neither feared God nor regarded man who nevertheless upon the importunity of a Widow did what was right in her case much more shall God hear the Prayers of his faithful Servants For 1. He is the Just God and is of himself ready to right those that do at any time suffer wrong 2. He is also the merciful God that regardeth Men and when we desire things of him that are needful he is of himself ready to grant what we ask or at least that which is more needful than what we ask 3. Whereas the Judge in the Parable seem'd to contemn the Poverty and Meanness of that Person that sued to him for Justice for which reason she is represented here to be a Widow one of a destitute Condition that wanted a Patron to assert her Right God who is Just and Good to all is particularly gracious to his Servants and esteems them highly and no Circumstances of Meanness and Distress which he suffers them to fall into can alter his Favour towards them for all which Reasons if the Judge in the Parable granted the Widow's Suit merely because she lay upon him and was troublesome to him much more will God to whom we are never troublesome when we make our Requests known to him grant what we ask because he is Righteous and Gracious and loveth and pitieth us as a Father doth his Children The Fourteenth Sermon AN ASSIZE-SERMON PREACHED at St. Maries in Bury 1678. Levit. XIX xii Ye shall not swear by my name falsly THE Religious Use of an Oath depends chiefly upon the Matter and the Discharge The Matter must be worthy of that Obligation which an Oath implies in promising it must not be unlawful that we may swear in Righteousness
then have we confidence of our selves By doing those things that please him we are sure to please our selves By making him our Friend we shall infallibly make one Friend more and that is our own Consciences which is infinitely more to us than the opinion of the World 'T is a plain case that we approve our selves to God by following Truth and Goodness and this we know will not put us upon struggling with our own Judgment and straining points against our clear knowledge of what we ought to do All the while we are gaining his Favour we are sure we do well and when we have done it we shall thank our selves instead of being plagu'd with a sad and black remembrance of the way we took to get it Acquaint now thy self with God and be at peace with him and so shall good come unto thy Soul 5. There lies no Flattery nor false Accusation nor outward accident against us to put us out of God's Favour or to make us lose that we have wrought to turn his mind or to blot our services out of his remembrance No change of Fortune shall bring us into disgrace which consideration St. Paul laid great strength upon in pursuance of the Text. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword v. 35. I am persuaded says he that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord v. 38. Nay says the Apostle in all these things we are more than Conquerors that is we get by being condemned by others because by that we are made more dear to God who will consider not only that we served him but under what discouragements from the World we did so Lastly 6. Whom God justifies them he also glorifies For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to he conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many brethren v. 29 30. i. e. Those whom he foreknew to be his most faithful Servants he did before time decree that by suffering for Righteousness they should follow so glorious a Pattern as their elder Brother the Lord Jesus Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called i. e. he brought them to the profession of the truth in a hazardous time that they should shew their Integrity and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Which is so sure that the Apostle mentions it as if it were done already Then he proceeds in the following Verses What shall we say to these things If God be for us who can be against us He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect It is God that justifies who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The conclusion is this That whoever condemns we are not to be discourag'd if God justifies But it may be said That all this is very true indeed but it serves the turn of all Parties even of those who are most severely condemned by each other while each of them pretends to have God and Truth on their side And therefore that this Subject might have been more usefully pursued by shewing particularly what that Faith and that Practice is with which they must be qualified whom God justifies and how we are assured of it Now I considered all this at first but then I knew that I was to speak to persons who are neither ignorant of the Doctrine of this Church nor of the evidence whereby it appears to be the very Truth of Christianity by which whoever governs himself in worshipping God in behaving himself to others and in all his ways shall be assuredly justified of God though all the World should condemn him for it But I considered also that of all things which are apt to shake the constancy of modest Persons nothing is more likely to do it than the mighty confidence wherewith they of the Roman Church condemn us and exclaim against us For to those who are acquainted with the History of the World and of the Church it must needs be a surprize that Men who are said to be Learned and known to be zealous do pronounce against us with no less severity than if we were mere Infidels One would think there must be some deep reason for it when they make us nothing at all and themselves all in all For thus they will not allow that we are a Church or that we have any certainty so much as of that true Doctrine we profess for they know us better than we do ourselves and as for our Salvation they are as sure it belongs not to us till we are converted to them as if they kept the Keys of Heaven Nor do they sink us more than they raise themselves who are not only a Church but the whole Church and not only not deceived but even Infallible They talk as if there were no safety with us and no danger with them which may raise such doubts in weaker Minds that I thought it not unseasonable to bring to your remembrance how violently the Apostles and their Christian Brethren were condemned by Men of whom yet these Men will grant that they were justified of God If it shall be said This is a common-place Argument of which all Men serve themselves I answer That the Argument is so much the stronger For if these Men themselves will tell you that confidence is not to be trusted you will I hope make this application That neither is their confidence to be trusted and therefore that you ought to consider what they are before you believe them to be what they call themselves and examine what they teach before you think the worse of your selves for what they call you And this is all that we desire of you That you would weigh the reasons of things and not mind sweling Words Brethren it is by no means a new Artifice to talk in a very high strain when Argument runs very low Thus Jews and Gentiles exclaimed against our Fathers the Apostles and the primitive Believers condemning them for going against Antiquity Universality Authority Tradition Philosophers Law-makers Kings and Nations And yet when all was done all this was but empty noise and vain pretence and the Cause of Christianity was the Cause of God Foul Errors have been drest with glorious appearances of Truth and Truth has been opposed with Confidence and God suffers it to be so to try the sincerity of Men that while they who are willing to be deluded fall by
had gone this way to work to convert Infidels Pap. Therefore those who obtain the Articles of the Christian Faith must have some Rule to acquire them by which cannot deceive them Ans This is an obscure Saying and I must make the best of it By obtaining Articles of the Christian Faith I suppose he means believing them and by a Rule by which to acquire them He must understand a Rule or means whereby to know what the Articles of the Christian Faith are and then his meaning is That those who believe the Articles of the Christian Faith must be provided of some such Rule or Means to know what they are as cannot deceive them Now whether this be in it self true or false it does not at all follow from what he had laid down before For though the Truth of Things or Propositions is so sure that as he wisely says 't is impossible they should be false yet it does by no means follow that the Reasons upon which I believe these things must necessarily be as sure as the Truth of the Things themselves And this I make no doubt the Disputer was well aware of But because I am sensible who they are whom he designs to pervert by this Paper and for whose sake I answer it I will explain this matter by an Instance that will bring it down to all Capacities If there was such a Man as Henry the 8th it is certainly impossible that there should be no such Man but my belief that there was such a Man is grounded upon such Reasons as do not imply an absolute impossibility of the contrary because it is grounded upon the Testimony of Fallible men And yet I should be very little better than a mad-man if I should entertain the least doubt that there was such a Man which plainly shews that I may have sufficient Reason to believe a thing without any Evidence of the impossibility of the contrary and this is enough to overthrow his Consequence I shall now inquire what truth there is in the Conclusion it self To which end I observe That there are two things which may be understood by those Words cannot deceive them either first that the Rule it self is so plain and certain that no Man who uses it can be deceived by the Rule or secondly That 't is impossible any Man should be mistaken in the Use of it If he means the former then I shall shew him presently that we have such a Rule as he speaks of and that he hath said nothing to make us ashamed of it If he means the latter then I say it is absolutely false That those who without doubting believe the Articles of the Christian Faith must have such a Rule to know what they are as that they cannot possibly mistake in the Use of it To make which plain to every bodies understanding I shall add another Instance easie to be applied If a Man skilful in Arithmetick hath a great many Numbers before him and desires to know what Sum they make when they are put together he has the Rule of Addition to do it by which Rule cannot deceive him Now there are these two things to be observed farther which I think the Disputer himself will not deny first that it is in the Nature of the thing possible that this Man may be mistaken every time that he put these several Numbers together to bring them all into one Sum but secondly that notwithstanding this Possibility of being mistaken yet after he has tryed it over and over again he may be sure without the least doubt that he has done his work right Even so we may have a Rule of Faith that cannot deceive us and though it is not Absolutely Impossible that we should be mistaken in the use of it yet we may for all that be assured and believe without the least doubting that we have learn'd what the true Faith is by that Rule For all the World knows that it is no sufficient Reason to doubt of any thing that the contrary is barely possible Pap. To a Parliamentary Protestant the ancient Fathers can't be such a Rule because they are accounted fallible Ans We never said they were such a Rule this therefore is impertinent Pap. Nor Councils because they also are accounted fallible Ans This is impertinent also for we never said they were our Rule of Faith But we have better Reasons to give why Fathers and Councils cannot be our Rule of Faith than this that the Disputer has made for us And one is this That we cannot make them the Rule of our Faith but by so doing we must depart from the Primitive Fathers and the ancient Councils in as much as all agree That the Holy Scriptures are the Rule of Faith and they made it theirs Pap. Nor Scriptures sensed by a fallible Authority because all such Interpretations may be false Ans This is the Place where I shall tell the Disputer what we believe and why we believe it And when I have done I shall consider whether he hath said any thing in this Clause to shake our Assurance We firmly believe all the Articles of the Creed into the Profession whereof we have been baptized We moreover believe all other Doctrine that is revealed in Holy Scriptures The Grounds of this our Faith are these That in the Holy Scriptures are recorded those Testimonies of Divine Revelation by which the Doctrines therein contained are confirmed That these Testimonies were too notorious and publick to be gainsaid insomuch that the Doctrine built upon them could not be overthrown by the Powers of the World engaged against it That the holy Books were written by the inspired Preachers of that Doctrine which they contain And that for this we have the Testimony of universal and uncontroulable Tradition which is a thing credible of it self This is the Sum of that External Evidence upon which our Faith is grounded In assigning of which I do by no means exclude that internal Evidence that arises from the excellent Goodness of the Doctrines themselves which shews them to be worthy of God Now whereas this Disputer says That these Scriptures cannot be an infallible Rule to us because they are sensed by a fallible Authority that is because we who are fallible understand them as well as we can I answer That no Man needs to be Infallible in order to the understanding of plain Scripture I who do not pretend to Infallibility am yet certain which is enough for me That I do find the Articles of the Creed in the Scriptures and many other Doctrines besides which I do understand I am sure that I know what these Words of St. John signifie 1 John 2.25 And chap. 5.3 This is the Promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and the like The ancient Fathers thought the Scriptures to be so plain that they argued out of them without pretending to an infallible