not only supposes it very possible but he bids them have a particular Eye to them lest they should be deceived by them The Church of Corinth was planted by Paul and watered by Apollos and there were Disciples of Cephas and of Christ himself And yet in the midst of so many Infallible Teachers they had like to have lost all their Faith as one of them tells them How say some among you there is no Resurrection of the dead And if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain Could not they remember to day what was taught them yesterday and so what the Apostles at first preached to them The Churches of Galatia had such an opinion of St. Paul upon his first preaching the Gospel among them that they received him as an Angel of God even as Christ Iesus yet presently after he saith am I therefore become your Enemy beause I tell you the Truth What! Of an Angel of God or of one received as Christ Iesus to become their Enemy and that upon the most unjustifiable account because he told them the Truth But where truth can make Enemies errours may easily gain Friends And so we find it was in the Apostolical Churches even under the Conduct and Teaching of the Apostles The Colossians were not yet so far gone but they were in such danger that the Apostle writes this Epistle with great concernment for them He tells them v. 1. he had a sharp Conflict in his own mind about them They had not yet seen his Face in the Flesh being converted by some sent by him of whom Epaphras is most taken notice of but he was present with them in Spirit v. 5. i. e. He was deeply affected with their Condition for he understood the Designs and Artifices of the Seducers among them He knew what fair and plausible pretences they had viz. that they went about not to undermine Christianity but to advance it by taking in some Jewish Customs and some Gentile Observances and Modes of Worship which might easily be Accommodated to the Christian Doctrine and so a great deal of the Ammosities both of the Iews and Heathens would be removed and Christianity would thereby gain more Friends and meet with fewer Enemies The Apostle finding how necessary it was at this time if possible to keep them Stedfast in the Faith 1. He assures them that the Christian Doctrine was of it self so sufficient for the good of Mankind that it needed no Additions either from the Law of Moses or the Philosophy of the Gentiles which might introduce several things with a specious Appearance of Wisdom Humility and Mortification but they ought to be assured that from Christ they had all that was necessary or useful for Salvation For in him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge 2. That this Doctrine was at first truly delivered to them and they ought to be stedfast in it which is the design of the Text. But they might object that Epaphras was no Apostle of Christ himself and if he were yet there were many Apostles and the false Apostles pretended to be true ones and although St. Paul interposed his Authority yet he was but one and the Iudaizers would not yield to it but were ready to suggest that the other Apostles were more favourable to the Jewish Customs than he and therefore it was necessary some more general and common Rule be found out whereby to distinguish the Original and Genuine Doctrine of Christ from that of Pretenders and Seducers The clearing of this is in it self a matter of great consequence and not only was to those of that Age but is so in every Age of the Christian Church where the same Question may be put What was the true Primitive Doctrine of Christ and by what means may we come to it which concerns us this day as well as them And the Answer lay in two particulars which I shall endeavour to clear 1. 〈…〉 the Apostles did in common deliver to 〈…〉 by them was the Genuine Doctrine 〈…〉 2. That which they have left in their Writings after it came to be contested which was the true Doctrine of Christ. 3. That which the Apostles did in common deliver to the Churches planted by them For we have all the reason in the World to believe that the Apostles delivered one and the same Faith to all the Churches having the same Infallible Spirit to direct them There was no need for them to meet together before their dispersion and to agree upon some common Articles of Faith as Russinus imagins lest they should differ from each other For how could they differ who had the same Spirit of Truth to lead them into all Truth And we find nothing like a Combination among the Apostles as to matters of Doctrine And if there had been it would have rendred the Faith they delivered more suspitious in that they durst not trust particular Persons with delivery of it without an antecedent Confederacy among themselves which would have cerning him and the Disciples when they first heard him were amazed after this he took a course by himself and did not go up to Ierusalem to the College of Apostles there resident but went into Arabia so that if any one might be thought to set up another Doctrine it was he but he was so far from it that he established and confirmed the truth of what they delivered and was very successful in his Apostleship in all places And when there had been some whispers concerning him as though he proceeded not in the same way with the rest he went up to Ierusalem and there upon full examination James and Cephas and John who were the leading Apostles gave him the right hand of Fellowship in token of their full consent in the same Faith. 2. The truth of the Gospel was the more plainly discovered All this while the Apostles only preached and delivered their Doctrine to the several Churches by verbal Instructions but after these had been received in the hearts of such multitudes that there could be no suspition that a false Representation of Christs Doctrine or Actions could be received by those Churches then the Wise Providence of God took care for Posterity and imploy'd several Persons in distant Places and Times to write the History of our Saviour And there was this advantage to the Church that the Gospels were written no sooner For all the Churches planted by the Apostles were then made Judges whether the Gospels written were agreeable to the Doctrine which the Apostles had taught and if not there would have been just reason to have question'd either the Truth of what had been taught them or what was delivered in the Gospels But when they found the main to be fully consonant to what they had been taught the Testimony of every one of these Churches did shew the concurrence of all the Apostles as to the Doctrine
the Church might be furnished with a full Relation of all that was necessary to compleat and establish the Faith of Christians 2. As to the Epistles The first Epistle we read of in the Christian Church and in probability the first writing in the New Testament was the Decretal Epistle of the Council of Ierusalem What should make the Apostles put these Decrees into Writing They were very short and concerned the practices of Men and withal were sent by Barnabas and Paul and Iudas and Silas Were not these sufficient to deliver the Apostles sense to the Churches without Letters from them What a pitiful thing did they take Oral Tradition to be if they thought such Men could not by it give full satisfaction to the Churches of Syria and Cilicia unless they sent it under their hands The Epistle to the Romans was written by St. Paul on purpose to clear some main points of the Christian Doctrine which were then warmly disputed between the Jews and the Christians and between the Judaizing Christians and others as about Iustification Rejection of the Iews the difference of Meats c. And St. Paul took very needless pains in writing that excellent Epistle if he knew of Christs appointing a Iudge of Controversies there or if he thought Writing were not a certain way to make a Rule of Faith whereby they were to judge in those matters The first Epistle to the Corinthians was written not meerly to reprove their Factions and Disorders but to direct them and to establish and prove the Faith of the Resurrection which was then contested among them The Epistle was sent by Stephanus and Fortunatus who could have carried the Apostles sense without his Writing but there are many weighty things besides the particular occasions which are of lasting concernment to the Church in all Ages as there are likewise in his second Epistle to them The Epistle to the Galatians was written on occasion of one of the greatest points of controversy at that time viz. the Use and Obligation of the Law of Moses And St. Paul sound by sad experience among them that it was very possible for those who had the best Instructions either to forget them or to grow out of Love with them and to be fond of a change else he would never have said O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the Truth And I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ into another Gospel How was it indeed possible for them to be removed and to be soon removed who had received the Faith by the Delivery of St. Paul himself Then for all that I can see human Nature taken with all its Advantages and Motives and Evidences is a very sallible thing and if then it might be deceived and that so easily and grosly then much more in any following Age of the Church unless human Nature be mightily changed for the better since the Apostles times or any Teachers since be more effectual than the Apostles and especially than St. Paul who laboured more abundantly than they all The Epistle to the Ephesians though written upon a general Argument yet doth suppose that they were in continual danger of being deceived and tossed up and down and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of Men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive And therefore he advises them to be upon their guard and to have their Armour about them and one choice part of it is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. The Philippians were assaulted by a rude violent head-strong Faction of Judaizers which the Apostle bids them to beware of and writes his Epistle to them for that purpose and he exhorts them to stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel In the second Epistle to the Thessalonians and in both Epistles to Timothy he gives notice of a great Defection from the Christian Faith he describes the manner of it that it shall be with signs and lying words and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they shall speak lies in hypocrisie and forbid to marry and command to abstain from meats being evil men having a form of godliness and denying the power of it I meddle not now with the time when this Apostacy began but from hence it is evident that St. Paul supposed that those who at first received the Christian Faith by Tradition from the Apostles themselves might notwithstanding through their own weakness and folly and the Artifices of Deceivers be drawn from it and that to prevent such mischievous consequences he knew no better means than a Written Rule which he tells Timothy was able to make him wise to Salvation and to make the Man of God perfect throughly furnished to every good Work. And to name no more the Colossians were set upon by some who thought to refine Christianity or at least to make it more passable in the World and therefore would have introduced into it some Rites of the Jews some Austerities of the Gentiles some ways of Worship which would recommend them to their Adversaries and upon this occasion he writes this Epistle to them to convince them that Christianity alone was far beyond any mixtures of the Fancies or Traditions of men and therefore he could give them no better Advice than as they had first received the Doctrine of Christ to continue in it or in the words of the Text As they had received Christ Iesus the Lord so to walk in him The design of what I have said is that although the Gospels and Epistles were written upon particular occasions yet those occasions were so great and considerable and the Assistance of the Holy Ghost did so direct the Hands and Pens of the Evangelists and Apostles in writing them that what they have therein delivered contains a compleat Rule of the true and genuine Faith as it was at first delivered to the Church But against this it is objected that St. Paul himself charged the Thessalonians to stand fast and hold the Traditions which they have been taught either by word or by his Epistles From whence it appears that there were other Traditions to be held that were not written The force of all this will be taken away if we consider when that Epistle was written viz. one of the first which St. Paul wrote and soon after the former Epistle to the Thessalonians which was some time before St. Lukes Gospel which was first received in the Churches of Greece planted by St. Paul. Therefore all the proper Doctrine of Christ himself and all that relates to his Life and Actions were then but Traditions among them and therefore St. Paul had great Reason then to require them to stand
the Book of the Law which was found in the House of the Lord. This was the Rule by which Hilkiah the High Priest thought it necessary for Iosiah to go by and not by any Tradition left among them concerning the Law which God had given by Moses 3. This was that which our Saviour appealed to in all his Disputes search the Scriptures saith he to the Iews not run to your Traditions for those were then very corrupt especially about the Messias as that he was to be a Temporal Prince c. which was then a dangerous and fundamental mistake and therefore Christ appeals from them to the Scriptures And they are they which testifie of me Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrote of me but if ye believe not his Writings how shall ye believe my words And our Saviour severely checks the Pharisees for regarding their own Traditions more than the Written Law. And yet they pretended to an Oral Tradition down from Moses as the Jews do to this day and none are more grosly deceived than they 4. The general Sense and Experience of Mankind agrees herein that all matters of consequence are more certainly preserved by Writings than by meer words There is no Invention hath been more valued by the Wiser part of Mankind than that of Letters because it is of such excellent use for conveying the sense of our minds at a distance to others All men have so great a mistrust either of the capacity or memory or fidelity of others that what they would have done with security they commit to Writing And whatever we truly understand of the Ages before us we are beholden to Writing for it all those memorable Actions and Institutions either of Philosophy or Religion which were not written are long since buried in Oblivion without possibility of a Resurrection But where they have been committed to Writing they are preserved after so many Ages and by it we certainly know the History of the Patriarchs and the strange Revolutions that happened from the beginning of the World. By it we converse with the Wisest persons of former times and were able to justifie the Scriptures by the concurrent Testimonies of other Writers By it we are enabled to interpret Prophecies and to make plain their accomplishments which without it we could never make out Yea by it the Wisdom of those is preserved for the benefit of mankind who thought fit to write nothing themselves as Socrates and Pythagoras but their Disciples took care in time to Write their Doctrines So that we have the general Consent of the wisest part of mankind that writing is a far more certain way of conveyance than meer Tradition 2. And especially in our case where there are so many particular advantages as to the Holy Scriptures above any other Writings 1. From the special Providence of God with respect to them for since it is agreed by all Christians that these were written by Divine Inspiration it is most reasonable to believe that a more than ordinary care would be taken to preserve them And therefore to suppose any Books of Scripture to be lost which contained any necessary points of Faith is a great Reflexion on Divine Providence For if God watches over his Church he cannot be supposed to let such Books be lost which were designed for the universal and lasting Benefit of his Church 2. From the mighty esteem which the Church of God had always for them for they built their Hopes of Heaven upon the promises contained in them The Book of Scripture was their Evidence for their future Inheritance the Foundation of their Hope and Rule of their Faith their Defence against Assaults and Temptations their Counseller in cases of Difficulty their Support under Troubles and their surest Guide to a happy Eternity and therefore the Primitive Christians chose rather to endure any Torments than basely to betray it and give it up to their Enemies 3. From the early disputes that were about them Which shews that they were no Invention of after times nor were brought into the World by Stealth and Art for they endured the greatest shock of Opposition at first while the matters of Fact concerning them were the most easily proved And having passed the severe Scrutiny of the first Ages when so many counterfeit Writings were sent abroad the following Ages could have no Reason to call their Authority in question 4. From the general consent of divided Churches about them It might have pleased God to have kept his Church from those unhappy Breaches which have been in all parts of the Christian World but the East and the West the North and the South can all bear Testimony to the sad Divisions of Christendom and those of many Ages standing But yet we have this considerable Advantage by them that we can have no Reason to mistrust a conspiracy where the several Bodies are so much divided 5. From the great internal satisfaction which the minds of good Men have concerning them and which no other writing can pretend to give For here we read of the Promise of Divine Assistance to sincere and humble minds And that Assistance carries a Lumen Fidei into the mind as Aquinas calls it 2. 2. a 3 ad 2. and by that he saith the mind is united to Truth that its assent is only fixed upon it and therefore there is no danger of Damnation to those who are in Christ Iesus and are thus illuminated by Faith in him Not that this is an Argument to convince others who have not that inward sense which they have but the same Holy Spirit which did at first indite them may give such an inward and effectual Testimony as to the Truth of the matter contained in them that from thence they may firmly conclude these Books to contain the word of God. And that Assurance which the minds of good Men have from the Influence of Divine Grace may be more effectual and powerful in them than all the pretended Infallibility or Demonstration in the World. It is certain those cannot be deceived whom the Holy Spirit teacheth and the best and wisest of the Antient Schoolmen did make the great firmness and certainty of Faith not to depend on outward Motives but on inward Grace which so inlightned the Mind and fixed the Inclinations of the Soul that nothing is able to remove it This sort of Faith is no blind Assent but after all the Evidence which it hath to make its Assent Reasonable it takes so fast a hold of Divine Truths by discerning the excellency and value of them that he that hath it is willing to let go any thing rather than that and although the Apprehension of Faith be not so clear as that of Science yet the Hypostasis as the Apostle calls it may be so firm that no Temptations may be able to shake it And he that can die for his Religion hath a stronger and better Faith than