to be great impiety to be of another mind which I shall shew you by a familiar example Put the case an authentic Book of the Laws of England confirmed by Act of Parliament tells us There is one King of England namely Charles the Second and that we must all obey him who would not from hence undoubtedly conclude there is but one King Charles the Second whom we ought to obey But now come two or three esteemed great Doctors of the Law and tells us we are quite mistaken in the meaning of the Law which though it tells us there is one King yet from hence it doth not follow but that there may be more than one and we assure you there are a hundred Kings whom we ought to obey Were not this very absurd and contrary to all reason that the Law should formally declare unto us there is one King if there were a hundred or twenty or two yet forsooth we must quit our reason and believe these Lawyers there are a hundred Were not this directly to believe these Lawyers rather than the Law Just so the Scripture the Word of God tells us There is one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Iesus and that we ought to present our supplications to God by him from whence we undoubtedly conclude according to reason that there is but one Mediator But we meet with some great Doctors of the Church who tell us we are quite mistaken for though the Scripture name one yet notwithstanding there are a thousand Mediators Saints and Angels by whom we ought to present our supplications but shew us no other Scripture to make this good yet require us to believe it meerly because they tell us so were not this to forsake Gods Word and believe in man rather than in God which I say is downright Idolatry For the better understanding this my assertion I must shew you what Faith is Divine and Human. Divine faith is the gift of God saith St. Paul Eph. ii 8. a grace infused into our minds by God whereby we believe his holy Word to be so true as that 't is impossible it should be otherwise and though it seem contrary to our reason yet it captivates our understanding in obedience to the faith and makes us believe it meerly because God said it Human faith is when we believe upon the Authority of another man who tells us such a thing because we believe him an understanding and honest man he will not easily be mistaken or deluded nor will he tell a lie Yet we know the wisest may be deceived and the truest may tell a lie So that all Human belief still supposes a possibility at least that it may not be true Herein then lies the difference between Divine faith and Humane That there is no possibility of untruth in Divine faith Therefore we say that we believe in God we entirely submit and captivate our understanding to Gods Word he is truth it self But when we speak of man we say that we believe man not that we believe in man for this implies an impossibility of untruth in that man and we undoubtedly believe the thing meerly because he spake it Such a belief is due only unto God and is called Divine Faith and is a supernatural gift of God unto us There is no such thing in nature the natural man receiveth not the things of God neither can be know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. ii 14. Having thus informed you what Divine and Humane Faith is I come now to the business of Idolatry I say then To believe in man that is to believe any thing to be infallibly true meerly because such a man said it and to venture your Salvation on it is directly Idolatry yea though an Angel said it For in so believing in man or Angel you make him God I mean you worship him as God Yea it is the greatest Idolatry you can perform for you give him the principal and greatest worship of God To offer incense to sacrifice Rams and Bulls is nothing to this Idolatry nay to sacrifice your own body to man is much inferior to it for 't is but sacrificing so much dirt One Soul is worth a hundred bodies of beasts or men and therefore to sacrifice your Soul and your reason the principal highest faculty of your Soul to captivate your understanding in obedience to faith in man is the highest act of Divine Worship and consequently to give this to man is most abominable Idolatry And contrariwise to worship God with our Soul and captivate our understanding in obedience to faith in him is the most acceptable service we can possibly perform this is the justifying act the saving grace this alone acquires Heaven and without this the whole world cannot purchase it Without this faith 't is impossible to please God Heb. xi 6. and with this Abraham so pleased God as that God thereupon promised to multiply his seed as the stars of Heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea shore and that all the nations of the world should be blessed in him Gen. xxii 17 18. I hope you are now fully satisfied that to believe in any man ever so learned ever so holy is great Idolatry for therein you make him God God hath three peculiar Attributes Unus Verus Bonus God is one God is true God is good Our Saviour questioned that man that called him good Why callest thou me good there is none good but one that is God Mark x. 17 18. As if he had said Why callest thou me good dost thou believe me to be God otherwise thou oughtest not to call me good So we may say Why call you this man true Do you believe him God for there is none true but God no man perfectly true so true but he may be deceived or false And therefore the Psalmist saith All men are liars that is all men have by nature the vice of falshood in them as well as other vices and so 't is not only possible but probable also that any man may tell a lie if God give him not the grace of truth Much more is it possible and probable for any man to be deceived and speak a falshood though he intend it not God only is perfectly true he can neither deceive nor be deceived But now perchance you think to wave this Idolatry which I have laid to your charge by answering that you do not believe in the Fathers of the Church as you believe in God you do not worship them with Divine faith Say you so what then with Humane faith only Why then I am sure your Humane faith shall never save you you were as good lay it by we are saved only by Divine faith not of our selves it is the gift of God But what if your Saints in whom you believe work miracles then you will say you believe in them with a Divine and saving faith their miracles being wrought by the power
of Truth and the way of Error the way of Godliness and the way of Iniquity the way of Life and the way of Death I most humbly and most earnestly beseech our most Gracious God for his Son Christ Iesus's sake to give you a right understanding in all things and to preserve you continually in the way of Truth Holiness Righteousness and Life Everlasting Amen THE END A SUPPLEMENT To the PRECEDING SERMONS TOGETHER WITH A TRACT concerning the Holy Sacrament OF THE Lords Supper Promised in the PREFACE By the Right Reverend Father in God HERBERT Lord Bishop of HEREFORD London Printed for Charles Harper 1679. A SUPPLEMENT To the Preceding SERMONS IN the Preceding Sermons I have proved these six things 1. That by God's special appointment all persons are to read and learn the Scriptures for their Edification in Faith and good Life and therefore 't is both foolish and impious for vain Man to take upon him to give reasons why the People should not read them 2. The reason of this because that in the Scriptures we have eternal life as our Saviour tells us which St. Paul explicates more particularly saying That they make us wise unto salvation that is they teach us all things necessary for our belief and they throughly furnish us unto all good works that is they teach us all things requisite for good life And these things the Scriptures compleatly contain in themselves without any Humane Doctrines so that if there were no other Writings nor Instructions in the World but the Scriptures alone yet we should not want any thing necessary to eternal life 3. That we are not to believe any thing with Divine Faith but what is clearly contained in Scripture for such a belief is a Duty belonging to God alone and 't is the greatest and most acceptable Duty and Sacrifice we can perform unto God to captivate our understandings in Obedience to Faith in God and therefore to give this principal Divine Service unto Man is high Idolatry and consequently to believe in the Apostles themselves had been great Idolatry had not Christ fully assured us That they should have the Holy Ghost to guide them into all Truth So that to speak properly we do not believe in the Apostles and Prophets but in God the Holy Ghost speaking in them And for this reason we find St. Paul very wary in distinguishing and declaring to the people what he delivered as from the Lord and what he delivered as from himself though he was perswaded he had the Spirit of the Lord even in that But yet no clear and full assurance that it was spoken directly by the Lord. Nay our blessed Saviour himself though God and Man yet would not have us believe in him as Man and therefore assures us That the words he spake were not his but the Father's speaking by him 4. I have proved that we have not any clear and full assurance from God That any Assembly of Men or Church since the Apostles are infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost into all Truth and therefore to believe in any Assembly of Men or Church without this full assurance of the Holy Ghost's speaking in them is Idolatry also for by such a belief you pay them the greatest Divine Worship 5. Though we should grant That some promise of Infallibility were made in Scripture to the Church yet this must include the Laity as well as the Clergy for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Church is always set in Scripture for the Congregation of the Faithful and is not once set for the Clergy distinct from the Laity But there is no such thing as Infallibility granted to any neither Priests nor People nor both together 6. Grant yet farther that the word Church in Scripture should signifie the Clergy and a promise of Infallibility made to them as Successors to the Apostles yet the same Promise being made and the same Authority given to all the Apostles alike the Successor of St. Peter and his Clergy cannot from hence challenge any more Infallibility than the Successors of the other Apostles with their Clergy and Church But the Papists deny this Infallibility to other Churches Certainly then other Churches may as well deny it to them All these things I have proved But now for a fuller conviction of the Papists and perchance for better satisfaction to some others I have a mind to grant yet farther That Christ made some particular Promise to St. Peter above the other Apostles yea and to St. Peter's Successors also 't is impossible from Scripture to prove either of these but let it pass so let us now see how the Papists can from hence fix this Infallibility to the Bishop of Rome and his Churches For I have shewed you from Scripture which doubtless is of better Authority than any Writings the Papists can bring for St. Peter that Rome was comprised in St. Paul's Jurisdiction and that he lived and preached and suffered there But we will pass over this also and yield to St. Peter's Jurisdiction over the whole World What then Then St. Peter was Bishop of Rome and setled his Successor there And how do the Papists prove this They answer that many authentick Historians tell them so is this all their Proof Humane Testimony from History is this a sufficient foundation for a prime Article of Faith on which depends the Salvation of all Christian Souls Is this a sure Rock or rather a bank of Sand to build their Infallibility upon Do not the same Historians relate that St. Peter was Bishop of Antioch and we have more reason to believe History for this because the Scripture tells us he was there but not one tittle of his ever being at Rome but strong Presumptions to the contrary St. Luke in the Acts speaking so much of St. Paul's going thither hath not one word of St. Peter's who being as the Papists believe so eminent an Apostle above all the rest seems somewhat neglected by St. Luke which makes me suspect St. Luke was not of their Opinion And shall we accuse St. Paul also for want of charity or civility never to mention St. Peter in all those his particular and numerous Salutations to and from others in his Epistles we must not think that their quarrel at Antioch where St. Paul withstood St. Peter stuck so long in his mind as to omit all Salutation to him in several Epistles We ought rather in charity to St. Paul to believe St. Peter was not at Rome And truly methinks the Papists themselves who pretend so much to honour St. Peter do him no small dishonour in affirming him to be at Rome when St. Paul answered for himself before Nero the first time St. Paul complaining that no man stood with him but all forsook him And if those Historians which the Papists rely on for St. Peter's being Bishop of Rome speak true in the circumstance of time then he was at Rome when St. Paul first answered
the-flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him What can be more plainly exprest even to the meanest capacity of men Good Reader I suppose you conceive that here we are hard beset for these words certainly carry far more appearance for their transubstantiating the Bread into real Flesh than the bare saying This is my Body which as I shewed you is a common figurative way of speaking in Scripture But yet as our Saviour saith If ye have faith ye may say unto this mountain be thou removed and it shall be done So you shall see this their mountain of Objection presently removed Come then my Papist Doctors Will you have these words in St. Iohn literal down right literal without any figure I beseeeh you then tell me What becomes of all the Laity in your Church Will you send them into Hell Body and Soul for ever to make good this new-found Transubstantiation Doth not our Saviour here expresly declare That Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you Eat and Drink mark and Drink And do the Laity eat and drink literally no certainly How then shall they enter into life Must none but the Priests be saved Poor miserable Laity I am sure you must literally be damned for ever to save Transubstantiation a sad doctrine for you whatever becomes of your Priests I fear they will fare little better that thus blindly lead you into this fatal ditch of damnation Consider I beseech you how they delude and gull you They press these words of St. Iohn upon the ignorant Laity My flesh is meat indeed to perswade them 't is real flesh in the Sacrament but when we press them with those words Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you thereby shewing That 't is necessary for all to drink the blood as well as eat the flesh then they say all here is to be taken in a spiritual sence of eating and drinking by Faith Wherein they say truly but yet shew they deal falsly with you making you believe all here is to be taken literally whereas in truth all is to be taken spiritually and they compelled to acknowledge it so by their unlucky Decree of taking the Cup from the Laity Had it not been for this good God how would they have dunn'd our ears with this Chapter of St. Iohn there would have been no enduring their lowd clamors for their literal sence But now I beseech you calmly to consider this passage in St. Iohn Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day These words carry far more appearance of Christ's real Flesh in the Sacrament than those in St. Matthew This is my Body which as I said before is a figurative way of speaking very frequent in Scripture and no body startled at it but when our Saviour pronounced those words in St. Iohn most that heard them were very much startled and disordered at them yea many Disciples left following our Saviour upon them crying This is an hard saying who can bear it for really it sounds very hard if you take the bare words in themselves without our Saviour's Comment upon them whereof we shall speak by and by This then is the thing I pray you to consider if these words in St. Iohn which carry so much a greater appearance of real flesh in the Sacrament yet may and ought to be taken and are taken by the Papists themselves in a Spiritual sence Is it not a most unreasonable and senceless thing in the Papists to cry out upon us for taking those words in St. Matthew This is my Body in a spiritual sence It is just the same as for a man that refuses to take a guilded shilling for pure Gold 〈◊〉 out on me because I will not accept of a piece of plain brass for pure gold But setting aside the Papists who take all Scriptures right or wrong as they serve most for their turn and as they blasphemously call the Scripture a nose of wax so use it and shape all to their own â—ancy let us now see our Saviour's own Comment on his own words that is the sure way to have the right sence of them I pray you then observe how our Saviour in this Chapter v. 47. just before he began this discourse prepares his Disciples for the spiritual understanding of what follows by saving Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me hath everlasting life Which plainly shews that the words he was going to speak were to be apprehended by Faith and not in a carnal way for as he saith in this 47 Verse with a double asseveration Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me hath everlasting life So Verse 53. Verily verily I say unto you Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Here he affirms the very same of eating his flesh as before of believing in him shewing that our eating must be by Faith and not carnally And then again after our Saviour saw that many were offended at those words of Eating his flesh to take them off from any gross carnal apprehension he tells them The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life After that our Saviour had thus instructed his Disciples in the true spiritual sence of his words we find it so rectified their Understandings as that when he administred to them this holy Sacrament and gave them that which figuratively he called his Body to eat not one of them in the least scrupled at it which doubtless some one or other would have done had they imagined our Saviour had given his real Flesh. They who startled at hearing it would much more at acting it for their Faith was not yet so strong as to believe such a miraculous Transubstantiation as the Papists fancy and that his whole Body should enter in at the narrow circle of their mouthes For we see how weakly they staggered at our Saviour's Resurrection though forewarned of it several times by him and they had seen him also raise several others from the dead yet would not believe his Resurrection till they saw him and scarce then All which plainly shews they took the Bread as real Bread according to Christ's Institution in remembrance of his Passion and Death and not as his very Body entring in at their mouthes into their breasts which doubtless some of them
send them the light of his Holy Gospel to shine amongst them Amen So much for the first part of my Text Christ's Command to search the Scriptures Now we come to the second part the reason of the Command For in them ye have Eternal Life a most weighty reason there cannot be a greater than the gaining of Eternal Life We all find by experience in our selves the truth of that saying Iob ii 4. Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his Life For which there is great reason according to nature for all that a man hath affords him no content or comfort in death which takes away the sense of all things If therefore life be so dear unto us because it gives us a capacity to enjoy these poor earthly delights that have so great and drossy an alloy of intermingled cares and troubles which alwaies attend them or if it were possible to enjoy them with more ease and tranquillity yet are they but momentary surely then Eternal Life which alwaies brings with it the enjoyment of heavenly pleasures free from all solicitous care and fear and full of all imaginable delight yea far beyond all that our narrow brain can now imagin for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him And this unconceivable delight being to continue beyond Methusalem's Age or the Age of the whole world to have an eternal duration for ever and ever I pray you then consider at how high a value we should esteem the means whereby we are to attain such an excessive weight of glory For the present then my business must be to shew you that the Holy Scriptures contain in them compleatly without any additional requisite the means to attain Eternal Life and then doubtless there will need small exhortation to move you to put a high value on them Let us then fall immediately on this business Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life Though I doubt not to make out this matter absolutely clear unto you yet I fear some weaker persons may stagger a little at one word in my Text and may erroneously fancy that it gives great cause of doubt and that is the word Think ye think ye have Eternal Life Our Saviour doth directly say that in the Scriptures we have Eternal Life but only tells the Iews that they thought they had in them Eternal Life and perchance they thought amiss Who can tell Who can tell certainly he could tell who gave them this counsel to search the Scriptures which you may be sure he would never have done did not the Scriptures contain in them Eternal Life if not it had been a vain thing to search the Scriptures for it and our Saviours Advice had been vain which God forbid we should say or think wherefore we may assuredly conclude that our Saviour who advised the Iews to search the Scriptures he both could tell and would have told them had they thought amiss for he came down from Heaven for this very end namely to teach them and us the way to Eternal Life and therefore says of himself I am the Way and the Truth and the Life I came to teach this unto you and all the world And as St. Paul declares Acts xiii he came to teach first the Iews verse 26. To you is the word of Salvation sent And again verse 46. It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you And our Saviour himself preached only to the Iews and in their sight he wrought all his Miracles All which makes it most evident that he used all means possible to inform them aright in the way to Eternal Life who then can doubt but that if the Iews had been mistaken in their opinion of the Scriptures our Saviour would most readily have corrected their error So that this manner of speaking in our Saviour In them ye think ye have Eternal Life is far from intimating any doubt in this matter 't is rather a fuller conviction of the Iews 't is a way of arguing which the School-men call Argumentum ad hominem which is the shortest and plainest way to confute another You think you your selves confess that the Scriptures contain Eternal Life in them this is a truth you cannot deny And our Saviour Luk. x. 25 26 27 28. fully declares this to be his sence likewise where being asked by a Lawyer of the Iews Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said unto him What is written in the Law how readest thou And he answering said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbour as thy self And he said unto him Thou hast answered right this do and thou shalt live Here you see our Saviour directs him for the gaining of Eternal Life to look into the Law and when the Lawyer had declared what was written in the Law our Saviour presently concludes This do and thou shalt live thou hast no need to be instructed farther the Law fully declares what thou art to do for the gaining of Eternal Life And this Evangelist St. Iohn who wrote my Text tells us toward the end of his Gospel that he omitted to write many things of our Saviour But these were written that we might believe and believing that we might have Life Now if we can have life by believing these things it follows most evidently that there is no necessity of believing other things If you answer That the belief of other things may prove great helps to Eternal Life and who would not be glad to have all the helps he can to obtain Eternal Life To this I reply That the belief of other things may prove hinderances for ought we know and not helps Were it not then most desperate folly for me to venture upon other things which may prove hinderances to my Salvation when God tells me that he hath revealed unto me by his holy Prophets Apostles and by his own Son all things necessary to Salvation Was not this the business for which our Saviour came into the world as I said before to teach us the way to Eternal Life And when our Saviour went out of the world he left his Apostles to finish the work he had begun promising them that he would send them the Holy Ghost who should lead them into all truth And as the Apostles received the knowledg of all truth so they faithfully delivered it to others for so St. Paul Acts xx assures the Elders of Ephesus whom he sent for to Miletus That he had declared unto them the whole counsel of God and that he had not kept back any thing that was profitable to them vers 20. Mark I beseech you he declares not only necessary things but all things profitable all kept nothing
passages which otherwise we could not well understand Thirdly Where a passage of Scripture may have several significations and thereby make it doubtful what is the more proper meaning of it there those Primitive Fathers can best tell us in what sence it was received in the Primitive Church And surely in doubtful places every modest man will think it fit to incline to those Primitive Godly men whose nearness to the Apostles gave them great opportunities of knowing the true sence and whose godly lives give us great assurance of their fidelity in delivering unto us what they received from their godly Fore-fathers some the very Disciples of the Apostles Several other reasons might be added for our regard and reverence to these Primitive Fathers in their Expositions of the dark or doubtful places of Scripture Yet I humbly conceive nothing of all this is necessary to understand those matters of faith which are necessary to Salvation as that God created and governs the world or the incarnation death and resurrection of Christ. These and such necessary things are so plainly set down in Scripture as that men of ordinary capacity may understand them without any Comment of the Fathers But what if any one or more very learned and very godly Fathers even such as laid down their lives for the faith what if they teach me a Doctrine in which the Scripture is wholly silent Ought I not to believe in them To this I small give you an answer from Tertullian one of the first Christian Writers who lived in the second Century about a hundred and fifty years after Christs Ascension He tells us in his Prescriptions against Heresies that this was the rule among Christians That they were not to believe any thing but that which Christ and his Apostles had delivered unto them in the Scripture Hoc priùs credimus non ess◠quod ultra credere debemus And a little after sets down a Creed which very little varies from that which we have amongst us called the Apostles Creed This saith he is our rule of faith and we believe Nihil esse ultra quod credere debemus That there is nothing more for us to believe for this rule here set down is a compendium of all I do not cite this out of Tertullian as if I would prescribe unto you from him what you are to believe by his Authority for he doth not tell us this as his own opinion but only relates what was the belief and practice of the Church in his Primitive days who was so near after Christ. And this Tertullian is generally believed by the Learned to be as faithful a relater as any antient Writer whatsoever And he was of so great a credit with that learned and godly Father and Martyr of the Church St. Cyprian who lived not many years after Tertullian that he always called him Master and daily read his Works calling to his Servant Da Magistrum Give me my Masters Book to read Which shews he was of great credit But Tertullian after the discourse I now mentioned out of him confirms what he had said by Scripture Authority which is of far more weight than Tertullian and St. Cyprian both citing that place of St. Paul to the Galatians Chap. i. vers 8. Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached let him be accursed Now you must know that the Original Greek from whence our Gospel is translated hath this more effectual to our purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which more exactly in English is rendred thus If any man preach unto you any thing besides what we have preached he doth not say contrary to what we have preached but besides which is the same in effect as to say any thing more And Arius Montanus a learned Papist in the University of Sevil in Spain who translated the Greek new Testament word for word sets it down just as I have done unto you Praeter quod evangelizavimus Besides what we have preached St. Paul means If they shall preach any more as necessary to Salvation for this is to make the Word of God of no effect he having in his Holy Word given us a rule of Faith for our Salvation and then for any one to say you must believe more is in effect to say Gods Word is not sufficient This is an accursed saying according to St. Paul Now if neither St. Paul nor an Angel from Heaven had any Commission to preach any thing besides what is already set down in the Scripture certainly we may shut up our ears to any one or to all the Doctors of the Church preaching unto us any thing more than what is there contained As for Example If they shall preach 't is necessary to obey the Pope to believe Purgatory or the like things which are not expressed in Scriptures let them be accursed as St. Paul saith A second Question may be what you are to do when any Father or Fathers expound a place of Scripture contrary to what you believe is the plain meaning of that place Must you quit your own judgment and believe in them This is just like the Prophet whom God sent to Bethel with an express command not to eat bread there he hearkened afterward to the old lying Prophet who pretending to have received a contrary message from God dissuaded him from what God had commanded for which he was slain by a Lion in his return And surely all men have great reason to expect the like recompence for their disobedience who forsake that which they verily believe is Gods Command and hearken to the Doctrins of men To this my Answer I shall give you another from a person of great Authority St. Austin a most eminent Doctor of the Church In one of his Epistles to St. Ierome he gives a clear judgment in this case First He tells us that when he reads the Holy Scriptures he entirely submits his own judgment to them and absolutely believes every thing there to be true meerly because it is contained there Gods Word is truth it cannot be otherwise therefore whether he understands it or no yet still he believes it truth But as for all other Writers he saith Alios autem ita lego ut quantalibet sanctitate doctrináque praepolleant non ideo verum putem quia ita ipsi senserint sed quia mihi vel per illos autores canonicos vel probabili ratione quod à vero non abhorreant persuadere potuerint Other Writers I so read as that be they ever so Holy ever so Learned I do not therefore believe their opinion to be true because they thought so but so far only as they prove it true by Canonical Scripture or by such reasons as seem not to be contrary to the truth And then tells St. Ierome that he doubts not but he is of the same mind And as for my part I am fully of Saint Austins mind and farther think it
great examples and leaders to piety and godly life but I say it only to prevent our being led into errors by their Authority who though they were very learned and godly men yet still were men and being men were subject to error and for this cause no assurance can be had in the word of man alone but of him only who was God and man for God only is truth And as for the miracles pretended to be wrought by the Fathers of the Church in confirmation of their Doctrine I answer First We find in no authentick Author any miracles wrought by the prime and principal Fathers of the Church in confirmation of any Doctrine taught by them St. Cyprian St. Ambrose St. Ierome St. Austine St. Chrysostome St. Gregory Nazianzen and such like Secondly For the pretended Fathers of the Church in later Ages and Mothers also it is sufficiently known what gross and ridiculous impostures have been in later Ages noised abroad for great miracles Our learned Dr. Stillingfleet hath sufficiently set them forth in their proper colours These fine devices began about the six hundredth year after Christ and in a few years after they grew as familiar as jugling feats especially in the female sex of whom I find none that wrought them in the Apostles days when true miracles were frequent among men and when there were women certainly as holy as any whatsoever in future Ages We do not find that the blessed Virgin her self ever wrought any miracle though now the Papists will tell you of a thousand wrought daily by several images of hers But this we know that in the later days lying wonders shall be wrought to deceive if it were possible the very Elect and we also know that whatever seeming miracle is wrought contrary to the word of God is a lying wonder for Gods word is truth and all liars that speak against that But these miracles which they pretend to be wrought at the images of the blessed Virgin and other Saints are apparently contrary to the word of God which commands us not to bow down to nor worship any images and consequently these must needs be lying wonders wrought to deceive the people who are thereby induced to worship those images and do daily visit them and prostrate themselves before them with as much reverence and devotion as if Christ himself were there present This is fully known to every man that hath travelled those parts But the Popish Priests here surely ashamed of their own Devotions will boldly deny it and finding us too strongly fortified with Scripture truth to be seduced by their supposititious Saints with their lying wonders and too quick-sighted to be catched with such stauking horses they come upon us with a whole Army of the Church Militant the Universal Catholick Church meaning the Romish Church falsly so called yea and back'd with Scripture too and so fight us at our own weapon and thence thunder out irresistable Cannon Shot He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publicane Matt. xviii 17. Beloved my time would fail me should I now engage in a fresh battel I shall therefore refer this to another time and for the present add only a few words of direction for those who take comfort in reading the Scripture and desire to improve their knowledge therein but meet with many obscure and difficult places which exceed their capacity in which they would gladly be farther instructed To this I answer first That I conceive it fit to advise with some learned orthodox sober and godly Divine if they have any such in their Neighbourhood for give me leave to say men so compleatly qualified are not every where to be found in these unfortunate days But if they can find any such let them desire his assistance and if this godly person can by other plain places of Scripture and clear reason make the sense of that doubtful place evident to his understanding then he may well conclude that to be the true meaning of the Holy Ghost But if this godly Counsellor makes use of any human Authority that is any one or many Fathers of the Church or Councils or the like to make good his exposition and cannot do it by clear places of Scripture or such circumstances as make that doubtful place clear to your understanding but require you to submit meerly to their Authority then you are to afford him no more than a human belief which helps you nothing forward to your salvation for that wholly depends on divine faith and belief in God not in man as I have shewed you And as for the doubtful places pass them over as doubtful and the clear knowledge thereof not necessary to your salvation God requires of no man beyond the talent which he hath given him and in his infinite goodness hath so provided that all things necessary for salvation may be understood of all What can be more plainly set forth to common understanding than it is in Scripture That there is one God Creator of Heaven and Earth one Saviour Iesus Christ the Son of God who dyed for all men rose again the third day ascended into Heaven and shall come again at the last day to judge and reward every man according to his deeds And then for the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper and such like necessary things they are also plainly set forth in Scripture even to vulgar understandings And lastly for our course of life what can be more plainly prohibited than fornication adultery all lasciviousness murther striking railing cousening What can be more plainly commanded than to do justice shew mercy charity c. and in sum to do unto all men as we would have them do unto us Now whosoever shall believe and practise all these plain things my Soul for his he shall never miss of his Salvation though he miss the understanding of a hundred places of Scripture many whereof the most learned understand very little better though they can talk more of them When our Saviour represents unto us the great Judgment day Mat. XXV He doth not call any to his right hand because they understood these and these dark places in Scripture nor curse any on his left hand because they understood them not but the whole Judgment depends on doing or not doing Come ye blessed for ye have fed the hungry cloathed the naked c. and go ye cursed for ye have not done so Wherefore the question in the Gospel is Good Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life and our Saviour's Answer is This do and thou shalt live And S. Paul tells us though we understood all Mysteries yet this profiteth not without Charity Charity and the deeds thereof with a firm belief of so much of Scripture as God enables us to understand would undoubtedly bring us to Christ's right hand in that great day Were but our practice according to the measure of our knowledge it
would be happy for us but hence comes our misery that instead of practising what we understand we fall to disputing of that we understand not and so we grow into passion from passion into faction from faction into schisms and heresies Were our passion laid aside there would be no need of laying aside the Scriptures but we should read them to our edification whereas we now read them to our destruction and confusion and thus the word of Eternal Life becomes unto us the savour of Death unto Death Wherefore my beloved when you take the Scriptures into your hands to read let your main intention be to observe the Instructions there given for your behaviour and course of life and then labour to stir up your affection and desire to practise it As for matters of belief as much as is necessary will quickly be attained but for practice that will require the whole study of a mans life Neither doth this consist so much in reading as in meditating on what we do read and striving to subdue our hearts in obedience to it and sending up also short but fervent ejaculations to Almighty God for the powerful assistance of his holy spirit to enable us to perform that is the end of all to perform This do and thou shalt live And if we thus read the Scriptures they will be unto us as the words of Eternal Life and the power of God to our Salvation Which God of his infinite mercy grant THE THIRD SERMON ON JOHN V. Ver. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life THE last thing we were upon in handling this Text was that the Scriptures wherein we say we have Eternal Life tells us that we are to hear the Church and he that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican Mat. xviii 17. Here say the Papists we have a plain easie and safe rule to guide all in matters of Faith both learned and unlearned this cuts off all disputes and prevents all errors Hear the Church what the Church believes we must belieue and if we will not hear the Church we are hereticks heathens If this be the safe and only way to heaven what man in his right wits would not take this safe and easie way Doubtless a very easie way and truly I think that is the reason why many so much incline to it most men love an easie way to Heaven and few are found willing to take much pains for it And those few that are conscientious in their way are often scrupulous also and fearful and being wearied with anxieties and disputes in their melancholy moods may be willing to lie down on this specious bank not considering Latet anguis in herba the lurking Adder that there lies concealed For certainly this way is as dangerous as easie far from safe Can any man think it a safe way to forsake the God of truth and his holy word and hearken to vain erroneous men and their doctrines whereof our Saviour bids us beware No Let God be true and every man a liar Rom. iii. 4. But you will say what the Papists here urge is not the Doctrine of men but the Word of God Hear the Church I grant 't is the Word of God but strangely abused by the interpretation of men and wrested very far from the clear meaning of the Text as I shall now shew you Look I pray you a few verses before and see what is the business here treated of and to what this saying relates V. 15. If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother V. 16. But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established V. 17. And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican I beseech you what is this to our purpose to the determination in matters of Faith Are trespasses matters of Faith No but they will prove from hence by necessary consequence That if you are to hear the Church in matters of fact such as trespasses much more are you to hear the Church in matters of faith They will prove I thought we had laid aside all proofs and consequences for they produce this Text as a clear evident rule to cut off all doubts and disputes a plain and safe way for all men learned and unlearned What is proposed as a plain rule to clear all doubts and determine all controversies ought in it self to be as clear as the Sun so that whosoever is not stark blind must needs see it and then doubtless I am stark blind for I cannot see one word here tending to matters of faith But they will argue thus If we are to hear the Church in temporal matters much more in spiritual matters for the Church being a spiritual body hath more to do in spirituals than temporals As blind as I am I plainly see as gross a mistake here in the word Church as before in the word Trespasses Did not I fully shew you the other day that this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text which we in English translate Church never in Scripture signifies the Clergy but the Congregation of the people the assembly of the faithful though we in English use the word Church very variously which is often the cause of great mistakes and therefore I pray you remember it well that in Scripture it still signifies the Congregation of the People And would the Papists have the Congregation of the People be our Infallible Guide to give rules of Faith and determine all controversies If so I see a sure and fatal consequence to their Infallible Head the Pope he and his triple Crown would soon be tumbled from his Throne to the ground and all his power under foot But put the case we would take the word Church here for the Clergy as the Papists would have us yet this gives no commission farther then to determin trespasses And as for their consesequences 't is very absurd to infer that because God leaves unto men to determin the small matters of this world therefore men may determin matters of that infinite weight as the eternal salvation of Souls For though the Church that is the Congregation should make a wrong judgment in the case yet the party suffering may if he please make great advantage by it for the patient suffering the loss for peace sake as God hath required he shall gain a hundred fold in Heaven but the party that forsakes Gods Wâ—â—d and hearkens to the wrong determination in matters of Faith shall suffer a hundred fold damage in Hell This therefore God reserves to himself and his Holy word unto which we are
not to add any thing nor subtract from it under a severe penalty there declared Wherefore we must take this Text as it lies without any human addition and so 't is evident that it contains nothing but the determination of matters of trespass between Neighbours of which our Saviour would have the offender privately admonisht and if no amendment than appeal to the Congregation in publick Not one word here concerning matters of Faith And thus beloved you see what a vain empty sound this great clamor is which the Papists make of this Text Hear ye the Church and whoever will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican Every part of it most grosly mistaken and wrested from the true meaning matters of fact such as trespasses and injuries wrested to matters of Faith the word Church wrested from the Congregation to the Clergy contrary to the whole current of Scripture Wherefore my beloved you see how necessary it is for you to follow this counsel of our Saviour and search the Scriptures and advise also with the more learned Pastors of our Church to arm you against these seducing teachers I hope this Text is sufficiently cleared and so I pass unto another 1 Tim. iii. 15. There 't is said The Church is the Pillar and ground of truth This Scripture say the Papists plainly relates to matters of Faith for truth is the object of our Faith we readily grant it What then Why then we are to hold fast to the Faith of the Church for that is the Pillar of truth ergo she cannot err This is another of their feigned consequences far from the meaning of the Text let us then peruse the Text it self with the circumstances there set down as we did the former and you will not find any such thing here as the Papists pretend That thou mayst know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth First That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the house of God There is nothing more frequent in Scripture than to set the word House for the People the house of Israel for the people hundreds of times And so Moses was faithful in all his house Heb. iii. 2. that is among all his people And so 1 Pet. ii 5. tells the Christians That as living stones they are built up a spiritual house to God And again iv 17. If judgment begin at the house of God that is the people of God Wherefore here Behave thy self in the house of God signifies the houshold the people of God That place where a man dwells is commonly called his house and God being said to dwell among his people 2 Cor. vi 16. I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people therefore the people are called the house of God Next follows Which is the Church of the living God that is the Congregation of the living God for 't is the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I shewed you alwaies in Scripture signifies the Congregation Now I pray you put this together that thou mayest know how to behave thy self among the people of God which is the Congregation of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth This last part of the verse the pillar and ground of the truth is metaphorical and may be interpreted several ways according to several mens apprehensions But in the first place I conceive all must grant that no metaphorical saying can be a clear evident and general rule to explain and determin other sentences but rather in it self needs an exposition But however you take this place it is evident that the Papists from hence can never have any proof for the infallibility of their Church as they would have it for S. Paul calls the Congregation of the people the pillar and ground of the truth But to shew you how little this Text will serve their turn though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never in Scripture signifies the Clergy yet for their greater conviction let it pass The Clergy are here called the pillar and ground of truth What then Why then the assembly of the Clergy must be infallible Hold there I beseech you Why can truth be fallible no certainly but the pillar of truth may fail the pillar may decay and go to ruin but the truth of God endureth for ever 1 Pet. i. 23. What then is meant by these words The pillar and ground of the truth I will shew you I suppose you have seen pillars set up in high ways at the meeting of several ways together and inscriptions written on the several sides of the pillars This way leads to such a place That way leads to that place some pillars have arms in them and hands pointing to the ways The pillar is only that which bears the inscription 't is the inscription that gives you the true information which is the way Now St. Paul saith Rom. iii. 2. speaking of the people of the Iews and the great advantage they had over other Nations For unto them were committed the Oracles of God And so St. Stephen Acts vii 38. tells his brethren the Iews that their fathers received the Oracles of God to give unto us So we may say of the Christians to their great honour and advantage above all other people in the world To them were committed the Oracles of God the Holy Scriptures to give unto us As then of old the people of the Iews were peculiarly the people of God the house of God which was then the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth and they bare the Oracles of God the Holy Scriptures So St. Paul now calleth the Christians the peculiar people of God the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth for they now bear the Oracles of God the Holy Scriptures the word of truth teaching us the true and perfect way to the Heavenly Ierusalem This my Exposition is strongly backed and confirmed by another Text of Scripture which is accounted by all men the best way of expounding Scripture Rev. i. 20. The seven Churches or Congregations are set forth by seven golden Candlesticks and you know candlesticks give no light of themselves but only hold the candles which give the light so the Churches are to hold forth Christ he is the light of the world and his Doctrine contained in the Scriptures they give the light they teach us the way to Eternal Life As in the former place the pillars bear and hold forth the inscriptions the Oracles of God so here the Candlesticks hold forth the light of Gods Holy Word this teacheth us the way herein lies the infallible truth not in the Church the Congregation that consists of fallible men Gods Word is truth all men are liars And
is come for then mens hearts will be so filled with fears and cares to avoid the present evil and to preserve what they have in this world as that they will not be able to make a right judgment of things relating to the world to come but their reason will be so biassed by their affections as then to think those Arguments for the Popish Religion rational and plausible which now they think very simple and absurd Wherefore now in this time of peace and calmness when your reason is not disturbed with tumults nor your conscience awed with dangers I here ask you in the presence of God Are your judgments convinced by those Arguments which I have laid before you in Gods Holy Word that the Scriptures contain in themselves compleatly Eternal Life and thus you ought to take them alone for the only rule of faith and that you are not to hearken to any Doctrines of men ever so holy ever so learned farther than they can make their Doctrine evident to your understandings by plain places of Scripture and that whatever miracles are pretended to be wrought by them if they tend to prove any things which you according to the best of your understanding verily believe are against Scripture you are to take them for lying wonders wrought by that great deceiver and tempter of mankind the Devil Are you now fully perswaded of all this or no For your fuller satisfaction I repeat it again and do you consider it well Are your judgments c. If you doubt of any part of this I as your lawful Pastor set over you by God and the King his vicegerent require you to repair to me and propose your doubts and I hope by Gods assistance to give you full satisfaction And if you are already satisfied then in Gods name I require you to hold fast to the Scriptures his Holy Word and not to suffer your selves to be carried away with any wind of Humane Doctrine And when if ever times of change and danger come and your judgment begins to alter from what now seems to you apparent truth and fully agreeable to Gods Holy Word you ought to conceive that alteration proceeds from the delusion of the devil the world and the flesh not from any new inspiration from God for he is the same to day and for ever he cannot change 't is you that change But perchance some will say in those days This Papist tells me things I never heard of before new and better arguments and upon better information I may and ought to change to better resolutions Oh my beloved take heed 't is not better information but the old man loves to have it so for it will then make better for his enjoyment of this world But I will now take from you this subterfuge you shall not 'scape me so Go now to the ablest Papist you can hear of consult with such see what new and better arguments they can now give you and if you think you have met with such come to me I shall take any pains to give you better satisfaction But if you come no more at me now but in the change of times your heart and reason change I shall if I so long live and you ought infallibly to conclude 't is not Reason nor Religion but the blindness of your heart and the corruption of your flesh that leads you blindly away from the God of truth to follow the Doctrine of erroneous man For no doubt you may now in times of settlement and quiet make a far better judgment of things than in times of bustle and danger No man whilest he carries this house of clay about him can mount to that high pitch as to be above the reach of storms and combustions but will undoubtedly be shak'd and disordered with them The stiffest Oak will bend with boisterous winds Wherefore now as I said is the time to make a clear rational judgment of truth and to make also firm resolutions to adhere to that And then if danger comes and your heart be besieged by powerful enemies be sure to observe the counsel of good King Hezekiah 2 King xviii 36. Hold your peace and answer not a word to any deluding Rabshakeh who shall endeavour to withdraw you from our Heavenly King Christ Jesus and his holy Word and revolt to the proud Prince of Babylon the Pope of Rome Disputing is dangerous when interest is the Argument that takes captive the hearts of most men silence then will be the safety And be you assured that in that great and terrible day of the Lord the word that I have now spoken unto you for 't is the Word of God shall judge and condemn you if you swerve from it Lastly for a Conclusion let me advise all those who are not throughly setled in their Religion to endeavour it with all speed no man ever so young ever so strong hath any assurance of life for a day we see it by daily experience and it would be a very sad thing for a dying man to be then to chuse his Religion I advise you therefore not to delay this necessary work and when you are on serious mature consideration well setled in the Faith admit no more of debates for 't is a great artifice of the Devil so to busie mens heads in matters of Faith as wholly to neglect good Life without which Faith is fruitless and dead for though we are justified by Faith yet it must be Faith working by Love Gal. v. 6. And he that loves God keeps his Commandments Iohn xiv 15. and 21. And therefore 't is meer Hypocrisie in those who seem so zealous for the truth of Religion but take no care to live the life of Religion of which sort there are too too many they wear out their Life and their Bible in tumbling it over for Texts to oppose the Papists but pass over all those Texts wherewith they should be armed to oppose the temptations of the Devil These ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone Mat. xxiii 23. These persons will be ranked with those who in that final day shall come and say Lord Lord we have Prophesied in thy Name cast out Devils and done many wondrous works and yet shall hear that dreadful Sentence from the Lord I never knew you depart from me all ye that work Iniquity Mat. vii 23. You are then to search the Scriptures both for true Faith and good Life and to captivate yoâ—â— hearts in obedience to Gods Commandments as well as your understandings in obedience to the Faith both are equally requisite to Eternal Life and both are plainly and fully declared in the Scriptures they make us wise unto Salvation and throughly furnish us unto every good work so that we are lest without excuse in either You know these things and happy are ye if ye do them not otherwise And thus Beloved having laid plainly before you out of Gods Holy Word the way
for St. Paul to declare to the Corinthians this great and hidden mystery if there were any But he declares the contrary telling them it was Bread which they did eat 1 Cor. xi 26 As often as ye eat this bread and the Bread is eaten after the words of Consecration If then it be Bread when we eat there is no change at all And I pray you let us observe also St. Paul's manner of Consecration First he tells them that he delivered unto them what he had received of the Lord to shew his fidelity in the business then proceeds to the form of consecrating the Bread And when he comes to the Cup he saith This Cup is the new Testament in my blood Mark I pray you He doth not say This Wine but This Cup. I here ask the Papists is this a literal or a figurative Speech If literal then the Cup is changed into the Blood so saith the letter Wine is not here mentioned And if you talk of God's Power God can as easily change the Cup into his Blood as the Wine The Papists then will needs have a figure in this Consecration so we in that of the Bread for it were absurd to take one literally and the other figuratively And I presume the Papists will not dare to say that St. Paul here prevaricated in delivering what he received from the Lord yet St. Paul's words differ somewhat from Christ's but if we take them figuratively they are in effect the same which plainly shews all here is figurative The Papists then having no Scripture expressing any substantial change of the Bread and we having a Scripture clearly expressing that it remains Bread after Consecration I suppose their figment of Transubstantiation is sufficiently confuted For had we ten Scriptures declaring the same they were of no more force than one In Humane Evidences many are of more weight than one because Man may erre God cannot Yet there want not other Scriptures strongly implying a denial of Christ's Corporal presence in the Sacrament First Our Saviour at the Institution of this blessed Sacrament commands his Disciples to celebrate it in Remembrance of him and it seems very incongruous to desire men to remember that person who is present before them Secondly Acts iii. 21. St. Peter tells us That the heavens must receive Christ until the times of restitution of all things And therefore we see Acts vii 56. when he was pleased to shew himself unto that blessed Martyr St. Stephen he did not descend from Heaven but opened the Heavens and strengthened the eyes of Stephen to behold him at that great distance Thirdly Ioh. xvi Where our blessed Saviour discourses largely to his Disciples of going â—rom them and their great Sorrow caused thereby he uses several Arguments to allay it and in conclusion promises to send them the Holy Ghost the Comforter of whom they had then but a very obscure notion and could not receive any present comfort by it But had our Saviour promised to return again presently and be daily in the celebration of his last Supper which we find was daily celebrated by the Apostles this would doubtless have been the greatest comfort imaginable to them Who then can doubt but that our Saviour would have given them this great comfort by telling them so had he intended any such thing as the Papists groundlesly believe But of this we find not one tittle 'T is a common saying Facilè credimus quod volumus We easily believe the thing we desire Wherefore were there I do not say a clear expression but any good intimation of that the Papists would have us believe what Christian would not most gladly and readily catch at it and believe it with all his heart For sure it would be a great and daily comfort to us to go to the Altar of our blessed Saviour Jesus that died for us there corporally present as they believe and there with Mary Magdalen adore him kiss those blessed feet that were pierced for us wash them with our tears and receive them and his whole Body into our breasts If it be said All this may as well be done now by Faith I grant a lively Faith of this affords great comfort to the Soul but whil'st our Soul is united to the Body we cannot so refine and spiritualize the affections of it but that we shall still hanker after some bodily comfort And I verily believe the bodily part of the Papists Devotions to this Sacrament as also to the worshipping of Saints with their Shrines Reliques Pictures and such like is a great means to gain People to their Religion To worship God in Spirit and Truth only though it be the only true Christian Worship yet it is a sublime and difficult thing and requires the Spiritual sublimation of Hearts by Grace And this is the reason of the Jews so often and so easily falling away to the gross Idolatry of the Heathens And in a great measure operates in like manner on the Papists And could we find any warrant in Scripture to save our Souls with such bodily worship I believe very few of us would be found so spiritual as not to encline to it Wherefore Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall All this while I have said nothing of their Idolatrous adoring their consecrated Wafer which they will needs have to be Christ's real Body But if it be not then they themselves confess an evident truth without their Confession That they are as great Idolaters as any Heathens adoring a dead Wafer for the ever-living God And I desire them also to remember the Determination of their Council of Constance mentioned before in the Supplement That the intention of the Priest in Consecration of the Host is requisite to effect their supposed Transubstantiation wherein if he fail they grant that there is no substantial change in the Bread nor any Consecration at all Now considering how many careless dissolute yea and villainous Priests are amongst them 't is more than probable that many of them intend not at all this business when they are about it and some as I said before in their Hearts laugh at it as a meer Mock shew to gull the Spectators who notwithstanding with all reverence adore the unconsecrated Wafers of those villainous Priests All which makes their case so dangerous that no man of any tolerable Reason or Conscience would venture without clear Scripture-warrant for it Wherefore I beseech them to consider that we have a plain text of Scripture against Transubstantiation viz. That it is Bread which we eat in this Sacrament after the Consecration of it besides many other Scriptures intimating the same we have both Reason and Sence also on our side which two latter we are bound to follow unless forbidden by some plain text of Scripture which they can never shew bringing only one figurative speech viz. This is my body which they will needs have to be literally spoken whereas there are many more the like