most irrational consequence to conclude that it was the Roman when it was the Roman alone from whence arose all those misty Tempests and Darkness which had obscured the Truth nay which had most grievously then oppress'd and over-born her If we are not now able to name who those good Christians were that then made up the true Church we may thank their Furnaces Inquisitions and Expurgatory Subtilties which affrighted them from the Light and still took care to stifle the least occasions of their manifestations We confess God had always his true Church and this is agreeable to his Word but we acknowledge not that it was the Church of Rome for this reason because she was then as she is now most contradictory to the Truths of his Word And thus I proceed to another Principle of our Church impeached of Heresie by that of Rome and that is our ways and methods of finding out the Truth Now these are no other than what depend upon these two divine Principles Scripture and Reason which as they are the immediate Gifts of God flowing from the Excellency and Perfections of his own blessed Spirit so methinks they may not improperly be imploy'd in his Divine Service The Religious Man in Scripture is frequently Entituled the Wise and the Understanding Man and Wisdom and Religion are generally used to denote one and the same thing but how there can be the greatest Wisdom and Understanding where there must not be the least use or pretences to Reason I leave to these Despisers of Reason to illustrate The Wise Man tells us A blind Sacrifice is an abomination to the Lord and we often meet the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures lashing at the Sacrifice of Fools both which are demonstratively comprehended in that rebuke of our Saviour against the People of Samaria saying Ye know not what ye Worship and now what can all these Passages suggest to us but this that whosoever will pay a sit and suitable Worship to God ought throughly to know and understand the Nature and Excellency of the Divine Majesty as far as he has been pleased to reveal himself and then as one wou'd think nothing can more effectually instruct us in this Celestial Knowledge than the very Writings and express Revelations of God himself so it seems to me next door to a contradiction for any Man to aver that the most infallible way to come to a right Knowledge and Understanding of God is to set aside our Reason without which 't is impossible to know or understand at all or again to renounce the Scriptures which are the only Books in the World which his infallible Spirit has left us for our surer guidance and direction to that blessed Knowledge Perhaps it may be suggested here that the Mysteries and sublime Articles of our Religion such as the Incarnation the Trinity and the Resurrection which all infinitely transcend the highest Capacities of our Reason depend not on the use of our Reason but Faith which is of those things which are invisible even to the most piercing Eye of Man's Reason so that we must leave our Reason in the way to our embracements of them but this no way weakens the force of our Argument For these Mysteries surpass indeed the comprehension of our Reason yet the authority upon which we receive them into our Creed lies open to our Reason such as is the voice of the Scriptures and the example of the purest Ages of the Church of Christ which Reason recommends to us as the surest guides to direct us in all Matters of Religion And though indeed Reason cannot demonstrate to us the ineffable ways and explications of these Truths yet Reason furnishes us with this Demonstration that they ought to be received for the Truths of Christ upon this account because whatever is proposed to our belief upon such infallible Evidences as the Revelation of God's Word and the uninterrupted Authority of his Primitive Church in all Ages ought in reason to be believed as true I acknowledge were not these Articles of our Creed manifestly contained either in the express Words or in the necessary conclusions of Scripture or in the explications of the purest Ages of our Religion the belief of them wou'd be irrational and these unwarrantably crowded upon the belief of a Christian And therefore even in those very Articles which exceed our Reason it is still Reason which must justifie our Faith What is our Reason given us for no other end than to consult for the ease and satisfaction of our Bodies or must that most sublime faculty of our Souls be no ways interess'd or engag'd for its own Happiness and Salvation Again can we think the Divine Wisdom had no design in dictating the Scriptures or has he express'd his intention to reach only the Learned and the Wise Did not our Lord once make this the most expressive Argument that the Messiah was come viz. The poor have the Gospel Preached unto them And must it not seem very strange that Matters shou'd be so inverted since he is gone and this very Gospel left to us in Writing that it is to be inspected now only by Doctors and Philosophers Though the Poor have the Gospel still Preached unto them yet the use of the Scriptures may well be registred to make up those defects and imperfections which our Preaching now abounds with in respect of those more powerful and efficacious Institutions of Christ and his Apostles I know none of us who are able to Convert Three Thousand with a Sermon nor indeed can we pretend to enforce any thing worthy of belief in you that hear us but what we our selves fetch from that Fountain of heavenly Wisdom which is the written Word of God And then why every Man may not as well Read as hear the Gospel read to him I leave to that blessed Spirit to determine which exhorteth all Men to search the Scriptures No doubt as God has given us Reason to make us capable of Understanding and Glorifying his Divine Majesty so has he given us his Scriptures also on purpose to exalt and enlighten our Reason and convince us all of the reasonableness of our Religious Services and I confess I see not how that Man can be able to pay his reasonable Service to God who has taken up a belief in him without Reason for let the Religion professed by such a Man be never so Holy and Pure and true in its self still in respect of such a Professor this must be own'd rather to Chance and Fortune than such a choice and wisdom as may affirm with the Bless'd Jesus We know what we Worship For without Knowledge there can be no Belief and without Belief no true coming unto God But further what reasonable Satisfaction can this be to any Man to encourage him in his Perseverance in his Religion in times of Tryals and Temptations to consider he has taken up his Religion by Chance and though he knows not why yet
though the Church of England may be later than the Church of Rome in such respects as these either because our Conversion to the Faith might possibly have been after theirs or again because our particular establishment as it now stands was enacted many Ages since the first settlement of a Christian Church at Rome Yet our Religion now may be ancienter still than their's at present if they are now changged and degenerated as 't is demonstrable they are from that Christian Purity which anciently denominated them an uncorrupted part of the Catholick Church and we now faithfully adhere with all Uprightness and Integrity which we are ready to make appear we do to that Faith of Christ which was once delivered to the Saints and as by many other Churches so anciently maintain'd by the Church at Rome For as their new corruptions and additional definitions of Faith must fall short of those Ages wherein Christianity flourished with all Truth and Purity and those can be no other than the Days of Christ and his Apostles so the old truths retained and prosessed by us must have been then most triumphant and prevailing And therefore that which has puzzled so many weak and unlearned People of our Communion to wit the question about the Age of our Religion and our Church may easily be resolved if they distinguish the Antiquity of Seat and Place which is nothing to the business from the Antiquity of Truths and Doctrines and this distinction must be allowed good even by our Adversaries themselves if they consider that the dispute now is not about the Antiquity of particular Sees and national Constitutions but the Antiquity of Faith and Religion its self which I hope may be the same in a Church of Yesterday's Conversion as it was in Antioch which had the honour to give the first Name to Christians Did the Church of Rome at any time esteem her own Antiquity lessened upon such a Consideration as this that St. Peter erected his Apostolical Seat first at Antioch before ever he had arrived at Rome Or will she acknowledge a deference due to that Church in point of Faith and Purity because she had the happiness to be Christened before her I doubt the Mother and Mistress of all Churches as she delights to stile her self could never stoop to such a Condescension If my Faith be found and perfect now can it be believed the more new and up-start because not professed by my Fore-fathers who knew not the Truths Or does my late Conversion if good and upright diminish or derogate from the Antiquity of Truth its self The Antiquity of all other things is calculated from their Original and beginning in the World and why the same rule won't do in Faith and Religion I understand not Indeed if any particular Church cou'd make out a continu'd Succession in all circumstances of Doctrine and Discipline from the times of the Apostles unto this very day this wou'd no doubt be an incomparable Argument both of her Antiquity and of God's especial Goodness and Providence over her But the present Roman Church can no more make out such a Succession than the present Church of England and if she could still such a Succession is not to be esteem'd the only mark of Truth and Antiquity And this I think cannot be more clearly illustrated than from Matter of Fact to which we may appeal in this case for instance there can be no Question but the ancient Faith of Christ is now professed by the true Faithful of Christ and shall continue to be so professed till the Day of Judgment and yet there is now no particular Church of the Faithful that can make out such a Succession nor any one Church endowed with an assurance of continuing indefectibly in that very State in which she is now till the Day of Judgment I know the Church of Rome wou'd fain have us believe her inspired with these infallible Accomplishments but she must produce a better Scheme of her Perfections than what we meet in her Trent Definitions or she will never perswade us that she is any more like the Church Establish'd at Rome by St Peter than St. Peter himself was like the most changed and backsliding Apostle For as to her Magnificent Stile in writing her felt the Church Apostolick this must appear rather a Character of Ornament and Shew than any certain signification of her necessary continuance in Truth and Purity For were not the Apostolick Sees as liable to relapse and degenerate as any founded by their Successors Where is the glory of Antioch Ephesus and Alexandria which the Apostles themselves planted and watered with the Dew of Heaven which those Heavenly Shepherds nourish'd with the blessed Food of Evangelical Righteousness And notwithstanding all the applauses with which the present Romanists exalt themselves I doubt not but were St. Peter to arise this moment from the Dead and visit the Conclave or inspect the Councils of Rome but he wou'd be very much put to it where to find Faith on Earth I say therefore her being founded by an Apostle if we grant thus much can no more Entitle her indefectible in the Faith than it has the Churches of Antioch Ephesus and Alexandria which have either altogether failed and forsaken the Name of Christ or are at least according to their own Roman Tenents quite cut off for Schism or Heresie from the Communion of what they call the true Church let her shew when and where God has anointed her with this Oyl of Perfection above her Fellows But now then if an Apostolick Church may thus recoil and become impure nay since Christianity shall not fail why must not some Churches be most pure which yet are not Apostolical I mean taught and instructed by the lively voice of the Apostles If this be bad arguing what may we think of all the Churches Converted and founded many Ages since the days of the Apostles Or if this be a good Inference what Objection can it be against any particular Church which is sound and upright in all her Doctrines that she has not continued for ever that she is yet but of a very late Birth and Duration If her Doctrines are as Old as the Scriptures can the Religion of such a Church fall short of the Age of the Gospel If her holy Principles flourished in the ancientest Creeds and Councils can she reasonably be Reproach'd for an Innovation of Two Hundred Years ago This is the very case of the Church of England and for the truth of it we appeal to the Scriptures to the ancientest Creeds and Councils Indeed the Church of Rome makes a great noise and show with the flourish of her Succession but if she means a Succession in purity of Doctrines we may easily convince her of Vanity and Tattle if she means a Succession in the outward circumstances and appearances of a Church such as consists in true Pastors Bishops and the like I answer that there may be such
which belong to God Nay which is apparently to profess Doctrines which 't is impossible they shou'd render a Reason of for without knowledge there can be no Reason given and no Man will pretend to know that explicitly of which he professes purely an implicit Belief nay perhaps which he understands not that he does believe till the Church upon an occasion rubs up his Faith and Memory and tells him he must and he does believe it I am sure this is such a kind of Faith which Christ himself detested to impose for we may observe that he never recommended any thing to the belief of the Jews but what he still confirmed with such Tokens as might convince the meanest Spectators of its Truth nay we find he taught his Disciples many essential Doctrines before his Death which they believed not but did not Anathematize their incredulity till they became able to bear them till they had beheld that most convincing Demonstration then remaining even the irresistible sign of his Resurrection Nay that nothing of certainty might be wanting to the satisfying the Reason of Man even after that glorious Demonstration he humbly condescended to let mistrustful Thomas thrust his Fingers into the very holes of the Nails and behold the Prints in his Side Is here any thing like the imposition of an implicit Faith or such a groundless Belief as obliges us not only to abandon our Reason with all the strongest Convictions of our Senses but also to renounce the helps even of the inspired Writings of that blessed Comforter which was sent on purpose to lead us into all Truth Since Christ himself was pleased thus meekly to condescend in the giving satisfaction to our Infirmities what kind of relation can that Church bear to him which disdains a submission to an Examination either by Reason or the blessed Rule of God's own Word I am sure it must be a shrewd sign that that Church which makes this refusal is reconcileable neither to Reason nor Scripture for were she agreeable to either why shou'd she so imperiously decline a tryal by the two most Godlike Principles we are enriched with which certainly Scripture and Reason may be acknowledged to be neither can it be any great disgrace to the purest Church to be made appear conformable to them I confess I can't but admire the subtilty of the Church of Rome in usurping thus an Authority above all Examination since her Definitions of Faith are such as far transcend the Explications either of Scripture or Reason the clearest measures which God has left us to examine by Is it not much the wisest way to put off such Commodities by the Gross which we are satisfied won't bear a particular inspection Is there not much greater security to such a Cause in an implicit Faith which swallows down all at a lump than such an explicit one as may be curious and inquisitive and desire the satisfaction of Sense and Reason I see no false step here on their Churches side in point of Carnal Prudence and Worldly Policy but methinks that must be an unintelligible Devotion indeed which does thus contentedly ensnare his Soul for a Pig in a Poke for what he is neither to scruple nor yet to understand And thus you see upon what contradictory and irreconcileable positions the Church of England and the Church of Rome are founded at present that they are as far from one another as Scripture and no Scripture Reason and no Reason Antiquity and Innovations Truth and Falshoods and as the Churches stand at variance so have the faithful Members of our Church upon all occasions and opportunities appear'd in defiance of Rome's Corruptions it is not many years since most of us beheld and all of us heard with what steadiness and Devotion with what Resignation to the will of God and disdain to the pollutions of Men the Members of our Church like so many Illustrious Confessors withstood the attempts and sollicitations the threatnings and invitations of the Whorish Woman Withstood them I say even then when many of the Members of our separate Congregations who had before shew'd themselves most uneasie in their fears of Popery gave life and boldness to her growing hopes by their unseasonable Addresses and Compliances I speak not this with a desire to make advantages of the weakness or by way of insult over the inconstancy of our fellow Christians now in Charity I perswade my self they were rather outreach'd by the policies than debauch'd by the principles of Rome and there is nothing we ought all more heartily to pray for or more religiously endeavour than a mutual forgetfulness of all infirmities but I speak it with hopes that as such Protestants must acknowledge their error in siding with Popery then so they will blush when they upbraid our Church as a Daughter of Babylon now if Men wou'd but credit their own eyes or give place to the arguments presented to their own understandings we need not appeal to other than our adversaries themselves whether they can still believe our divine service to be what some people do ignorantly miscall it Popery in English who remember the toleration and liberty given to every Soul to run as far out of our Church and the sound of its divine service as they pleased managed by the artifice set on foot and carry'd on by the influence of the Papists if the way to Rome lies through a Communion with our Church as such Men dream how come the Romanists who are no strangers to their own interests to seduce Men out of our Communion as the readiest road to Popery had they seen with some Mens eyes amongst us and found any thing in our Communion which looks kind and serviceable to the cause of their own superstitions 't is not to be believed they wou'd so publickly have tempted all Men out of our Communion with the alluring promises of the royal favour I take that liberty and toleration then given by the Papistry to be so manifest an argument and declaration of that opposition which our Church in every particular of its constitution bears to Popery which as every eye might discern it so every well-meaning Man ought to be convinced by it and retract his censures The Papists knew well enough there wou'd be no enlarging their own without first thining our Churches that the Mass Book cou'd make no advances whilst the Common-Prayer stood in reputation that the only probability they cou'd have of making any Proselytes must be to get Men as far out of the bosom of our Church as possible Methinks the pretences of some in separation from us who reproach our service for Popish and the practices of the Papists who were for drawing all Men out of our Communion as a bar to Popery are very hard to be reconciled The Conclusion from such considerations must be this Either the Papists understand not what makes up the Popish Religion or the divine service of our Church which they appeared so