from doing this that each various and contrary Faith and Doctrine is stifly upheld and maintained from the various Copies and Translations thereof and from the various and contrary readings and meanings which each Opinionist respectively may and doth put upon the Scripture it self insomuch that indeed it is now made capable of any impression which every learned and witty man can invent and pleaseth to put upon it to serve his own turn and occasion though he face about and change never so much never so often And thus each man still makes the Scriptures to be like to Pictures wherein every man in the Room believes they look on him only and that wheresoever he standeth or how often soever he changeth his station Now whether all this doth arise from a natural hidden sense of the Scripture or from the brevity of them or for want of many Books mentioned in Scripture whereof we never had either Original or Copy or from mistakes made by Transcribers Printers or Translators or from the varions acceptation of words and phrases contained in them and in probability understandable only by such persons to whom they were first written who being before-hand grounded in the Faith and Principles of Christianity and instrueted in the things treated upon were thereby enabled aright to understand the mind of the Pen-men in what they did but briefly touch upon in their Writings to them Or whether from all of these or from any other cause or causes I leave to the wise and considerate to determine but certainly were they perspicuous in their sense so many learned studious good men could not possible so much have erred and been divided in their understanding of them And if such as these notwithstanding all their advantages of learning have not been able to resolve the truth of these Doctrines so familiarly mentioned in the Scripture and so necessarily required to true Christianity who shall conceive that they were intended by God for the ground of Faith and Worship for all or any sort of men whatsoever except we shall conceive that the unlearned sort of men are in a better capacity perfectly to resolve the sense of Scripture then the learned which is too gross to imagine or else that all men are bound to know and conform their Faith and Worship to a Doctrine that none of them certainly understand which none will affirm it being inconsistent with that Justice and Goodness which all confesse to be in Almighty God Let us see what to this point is said by learned Dr. Taylor in his forecited Book pag. 13. his words are these viz. It is a demonstration that nothing can be necessary to be believed upon pain of damnation but such propositions of which it is certain that God hath spoken and taught them to us and of which it is certaine that this is their sense and purpose for if the sense be uncertaine we can no more be obliged to believe it in a certaine sense then we are to believe it at all if it were not certaine that God delivered it but if it be only certaine that God spake it and not certaine to what sense our faith of it is to be as indeterminate as its sense nor is it consonant to Gods justice to believe of him that he can or will require more But to go on and bring this neater It is manifest even in those Scriptures we have that Jesus Christ requires no credit to be given to his Doctrine either upon his own bare word or the bare word of any persons whatsoever as before is set forth If I bear witness of my self saith he my witness is not true neither receive I testimony of men the works that I do in my Fathers Name they bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me And when he is blaming the Scribes and Pharisees for their unbelief in him he thus far excuseth them in it That if he had not done among them the Works that none other man did they had not had sin Now who can conceive that Christ should pronounce men guiltless for not believing him upon his own bare testimony and yet not hold men much more guiltless for not believing the Scripture upon its bare testimony Christ though he bare witness of himself his witness was certain and true whereas Copies and Translations as before we have seen are uncertain and erroneous Christ disclaims the Testimony of men yea of John the Baptist as a ground insufficient to engage men to believe in his Doctrine though all that John said of him was true and what he had heard and seen that he testified And shall we imagine that he will binde all the succeeding generations of men to believe the truth of Christ and the Gospel upon any such inferior testimony as the testimony only of such as disclaim infallibility and have neither heard nor seen as John did Shall God and Christ be true and all men lyars and yet shall fallible men be preferred before them in being believed upon lower easier terms then either they or their most infallible servants Or shal God be conceived to require contraries of men as not to believe super-natural truths such the Gospel is judged to be without a sutable evidence and on the other side require men to believe it without any such evidence Shall men be blameless and blamed by him upon one and the same account If this cannot be as surely it cannot then it must necessarily follow That the Scripture was never instituted or intended by Almighty God to be the ground of Christian Faith and Religion or to be believed in and obeyed by mankind to salvation Moreover it is evident if we may take the meaning according to the sense of the words as they are delivered to us in Translations That the Epistles and St. Johns Revelation in the New Testament were all written unto Believers and that both the Acts and Lukes Gospel were written to Theophilus an instructed Disciple Luke 14. And it is most probable that the other three Gospels were written to believers also at least for their sakes especially for such of them as did not see Christ themselves after his resurrection whereby he mightily declared himself to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 whereof the rest of the Apostles as well as Thomas much doubted whilest he lay dead as may appear by 1 Pet. 1.3 where St. Peter speaking of himself and of the rest saith That God of his abundant mercy had begotten them again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and what may be understood by this but that all their hope was extinct or languished by his death and revived again by his resurrection And that his being risen from death was very hardly believed by any of them may appear from Mark 16.10 11. when Mary Magdalen told the Disciples as they were mourning and weeping that Christ was alive and that she had seen him they believed it not and
with patience wait for it and why may not the same be said of being justified by faith iâ— being likewise the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 which when they once come to be seen or actually to be injoyed then faith as well as hope in respect of those things believed and hoped for shall cease for what need a man either to hope or trust any longer for that of which he hath already the sight or actual possession 1 Peter 1.19 The like may be understood at least as I conceive of these and the like texts He that hath everlasting life is already passed from death to life must not the meaning be That he believes in this that he shall actually enjoy everlasting life in the world to come and at the resurrection even that everlasting life which he hath here onely by faith unless it can reasonably be imagined that every believer must have actually two everlasting lives one here in this world and the other in the world to come to commence not until the resurrection Luke 20.35 36. And whereas it was said of believers That Christ was in them this was by faith likewise and where it was told them that they were partakers of the divine nature it was there also told them that it was by having promises 2 Pet. 1.4 which they laid hold on by faith and to be actual partakers of the divine nature at the resurrection 1 Cor. 15.47.48 And for the white stone that is likewise to be received in the life to come actually even at the same time when believers shall receive power over Nations c. which will not be until the resurrection Revel 2.17 26 27. Revel 20.4 How sottish therefore is the practice of all such as attribute any divine esteem honour or worship to any man conceiving him from these and the like texts to have Christ or the divine nature in him or to be sent of God to have the Spirit of God or to have divine authority not bringing with him divine power evidently to attest the same And since there are such various and contradictory opinions even among men of eminent learning parts and integrity as before is seen about justification wherein it s more probable that all have erred then possible all to be in the truth I have also proposed my opinion though different from all theirs declaring what I conceive may be meant by believers being justified by faith comparing it to and expounding it by the phrase of the Apostle we are saved by hope and by some other texts of like import as He that believeth hath everlasting life and is already passed from death to life and I think that no text can be found more positive for present and actual justification of a believer in this life then these and some other texts are for his everlasting salvation and glorification here also as namely He hath translated us into the Kingdome of his dear son Col. 1.13 hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly place in Christ Jesus Eph. 2.6 but ye are come to Mount Sion c. Heb. 12.22 whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 And now without offence to any let me here propose in this point my thoughts alittle further not imposing any thing upon any man but leaving all men to that freedome from which no man can justly take them Thus whether that actual justification and salvation of men come not both together and neither to be untill the day of judgement and that faith or believing simply considered will not then save any man How then can it now justifie or make any man at any time the more acceptable in the sight of God To make that which is here intended plain to be understood we need distinguish of believing 1. There is a believing a thing to be true which is the proper act of the understanding this I call a believing simply considered Thus to believe not being in a mans choice but imposed upon him by force of the evidence that is brought to evince it procures no reward or acceptance with God and the not believing in the same sence procures no punishment 2 There is obeying or disobeying of that truth so believed which being an act of the will and in a mans choice procures reward or punishment This also is called a believing or a not believing and in some places a hearing or a not hearing in Joh. 16.8 9. it 's called a not-believing and in Act 3.22 23. it 's called a hearing and a not hearing and when or wheresoever eternal life or salvation was promised upon believing or hearing or punishment threatened upon not believing or not hearing there alwayes obeying or disobeying is implied though not exprest And herein let appeal be made to any rational and impartial man if any of the Jews who onely believed Christ to be the true Messiah or the Gospel to be truth without obeying him or it should have been saved thereby when as we find that salvation and damnation at the last day to be disposed onely according to obedience and disobedience Matth. 16.27 Matth. 25.27 c. Rom. 2.6 to the end Herewith judicious Dr. Taylor concurs speaking the very same in sence though different in expression In his fore-cited Book pag 24 25. his words being as followeth Faith saith he if it be taken for an act of the understanding meerly it is so far from being that excellent grace that justifies us that it is not good at all but in genere naturae and makes the understanding better in it self or pleasing to God just as strength doth the arm or beauty the face or health the body these are natural perfections indeed and so knowledge or true belief is to the understanding but this makes us not at all more acceptable to God for then the unlearned were certainly in a damnable condition and all good Scholars should be saved whereas I am afraid too much of the contrary is true but unless faith be made moral by mixture of choice and charity it is nothing but a natural perfection not a grace or a vertue and this is demonstrably proved in this that by the confession of all men of all interests and perswasions in matters of meer belief invincible ignorance is our excuse if we be deceived which could not be but that neither to believe aright is commendable nor to believe amiss is reprovable but where both one and the other is voluntary and chosen antecedently or consequently by prime election or ex post facto and so comes to be considered in morality and it is part of a good life or a bad life respectively And if any shall say otherwise it is to say that some men shall be damned when they cannot help it perish without their own fault and be miserable for ever because of their unhappinesse to be deceived thorow their own simplicity and natural or accidental but inculpable infirmity for it is inconsistant
with the goodness of God to condemn those who erre where errour hath nothing of the will in it who therefore cannot repent of their errour because they believe it true who therefore cannot make compensation because they know not that they are tied to dereliction of it thus far the Doctor In the first sence Pharaoh with his Egyptian Magicians believed that the miracles which Moses did was by the finger of God to which belief or convincement they were not Volunteers but compelled by force of the said miracles wrought in their sighs yet they disobeying the message confirmed so by those miracles were destroyed notwithstand their so believing In this sence also it is said Joh 12 42 43. That many of the chief Rulers believed in Christ but did not confess him because of the Pharisees lest they should be turned out of the Synagogues because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God Hereunto compare Joh. 16.7 8 9. where Christ sets forth the ends of his sending the spirit or power by which the Apostles others wrought such mighty works one whereof was to convince the world of sin where note the expression when he comes saies Christ he will convince the world of sin As if he had said That when or wheresoever this spirit and power which I will send you shall demonstate it self in the world to the sons and drughters of men it shall certainly procure the convincement of their understandings to believe the truth of the Gospel attested thereby And why of sin because they believe not that is obey not the Gospel in their wills and affections being convinced or believing of the truth thereof in their understandings For further justifying this Exposition take notice That that which in the former text is termed a belief is here in this later text termed a convincement and both having reference to the understanding And in like manner that which in the former text is termed a not confessing is in this later text termed a not believing and both having reference to the will and affections in respect of obedience so that in the Scripture-sence a man at one and the same time may be said to believe and not to believe that is to believe intellectually and not to believe obediencially whereby he becomes a self-condemner being found guilty even by the verdict of his own understanding and conscience This being that great condemnation which in Joh. 3.17 is set forth with an Emphasis on men for loving darkness rather then light which no man can reasonably be said to do unless he seeth the light for how can any man be said to love one thing rather then another which he never saw Adde to this 2 Thess 2.10 where St. Paul speaks of some that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved This they could not justly be blamed for unless they had apprehended it in their understandings to be a truth For whatsoever in my understanding I judge an untruth though the same in it self be a truth yet whiles I do judge it otherwise I neither can or ought to love it as a truth Hereunto also contributes the parable declared by Christ Mat. 22. Luke 14. of a King who at the marriage of his son made a great feast and bad many thereto and when all things were in readiness he sent for his guests who although all were unwilling to come yet not one of them said or could say That he did not know of the Kings invitation or that he did not believe the truth of the message or of the great preparation made for his bountiful entertainment and welcome none of all which was doubted by them nor did any of them say that between them and the Kings Palace was any gulf or sea mountain or rock exceeding their power to get over or that any one of them were either sick or lame or otherwise disabled to come but their meer wills and affections adhering to the things of this life was the onely impediment and all their excuse Object And for that which may be objected from John 12.37 Though Christ had done so many miracles before the Jews yet they believe not on him but said He cast out Devils by the Prince of Devils Answ It may be answered That though they believed not so as to love or obey him yet they believed as the chief Rulers afore-mentioned did being convinced in their understandings by the mighty works done by Christ among them for how else could their meer saying so amount to any sin much less to the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost wherewith they were charged by Christ if they had but spoken in the simplicity of their hearts and as in truth they apprehended believed for it is of none but such that Christ speaks in Joh. 15.24 where he sayes If I had not done among them the works which no other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father Where note 1. What the great works done among them produced namely their seeing convincement or believing intellectually 2. What the consequence of that their seeing was namely their hating both him and his father from whence sprang this their saying which aggrevated their sin which had had nobeginning or being unless they had seen and been convinced And therefore I conceive from the premisses may be safely concluded That none at years of discretion in whose sight and presence signes and miracles were wrought by Christ or his Apostles and Ministers to attest the truth and divine authority of their doctrine but they were so convinced as to believe the same to be true and of God or thus That all unbelievers seeing the great witness by signs and miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost which God gave to their doctrine were so convinced in their understandings as they could not but rationally conclude and believe the same to be true and of god Notwithstanding all that 's premised and all the late and great pretences of Reformation yet the pretence of divine right still remains and is challenged by many without divine power or manifestation for besides the Episcopal or rather Papal relicks of ordination that is still retained and upheld amongst us to be of divine right did not the Assembly of Divines so called consisting of Independents as well as of Presbiterians hold themselves and their Assembly to be divinely authorized from the meer recital of the Apostles and Elders assembling at Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 15. And as these still maintained their authority to be divine which was by holy Orders as they call it conferred upon them from the Bishops supposed divine authority lately exploded as Antichristian So these with the Separatists do still maintain the baptizing of Infants to be of divine right from the meer recital of the Covenant of Circumcision made with Abruham and his natural seed wherein Abraham was commanded to
such that it was meer Barbarism to them 1 Cor. 14.11 And if any urge That it was afterward made of Divine Authority and the Word of God to all by its being translated into all Languages here I demand What humane Power could confer upon Translations that Prerogative which the Authograph never had especially since all Translations have many such Errors Mistakes and Contradictions in them as the Authographs had not and as the Word of God cannot have for to affirm any thing not perfectly true and infallible to be the Word of God implyes a flat contradiction Besides herein also is a great failer namely in that the most learned are at great variance not certainly knowing but much disagreeing about the right sense and meaning of words in Scripture this is evident by their often changing altering amending and new making of the Bible and by the palpable material differences and contradictions which still remain among Traaslations when all is done and the many exceptions taken by some or other of the learned against every Translation Nay if the original Language were the Mother-Tongue of some amongst us yet the Scripture would not be much the easier to them and a natural Greek or Jew can with no more reason or authority obtrude any Translation upon other mens consciences then any other man of any other Nation can do Consider further the infinite variety of Translations of the Bible that were in the primitive Ages of the Church as St. Hierome observes and never a one like another And can any man think but that the most learned of these later ages have differed erred and be mistaken as much in Translations as the other were ☞ and that the medium is as uncertain to these as it was to them which is evidently seen by the great variety of late Translations Commentaries which are too pregnant an Argument that the most learned neither agree in the understanding of the words nor of the sense and therefore Translations can bind no man to believe them to be of Divine Authority or the Word of God for an unknown or uncertain sense binds men as little to the belief thereof as an unknown tongue doth this also St. Paul plainly sets forth 1 Cor. 14.7 8. in these words Even things saith he without life giving sound whether Pipe or Harp except it give a certain distinction in the sound how shall it be known what is piped or harped for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to Battaile Secondly Because the Word of God or Gospel of Christ which was of Divine Authority and which universally concern'd and bound all men to believe it so to be came not in any unknown Tongue nor upon any such uncertainties to any nor only in plainness of speech to be rightly understood of the meanest vulgar rational capacity but with divine and evident demonstration to attest the certain truth thereof as may be seen in St. Pauls expression to the Corinths besides many other places of like import 1 Cor. 2.4.5 where he tells them That his speech and his preaching came not to them with perswasible words of mans wisdom only intelligible to them all but with evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and Power of God that there faith might not stand in the wisdom of men but in the Power of God evidently implying That if it had come to them only in never so great plainness and wisdom of speech and they had thereupon believed it that then their Faith had stood meerly in the wisdom of men and not in the Word and Power of God Now let it be considered whether St. Pauls meer preaching so as aforesaid be not of as much Divine Authority and the Word of God as any of his own or other mens writings in Scripture are or ever were Thirdly Because the Word of God is powerful Heb. 4.12 Jer. 23.29 for God did but say Let there be light and there was light Gen 1.3 Christ did say Lazarus come forth and the dead came forth bound hand and foot Joh. 11.44 These words actions were afterwards recorded and so became Scripture The words and acts of the Kings of Israel were afterwards recorded so became Scripture The words and acts of the Devil in his tempting of Christ in the Wilderness were afterwards recorded and so became Scripture But as the record of the words and acts of the Devil are not the words and acts of the Devil and as the record of the words and acts of the Kings of Israel are not the words and acts of the Kings of Israel so the writing or recording of Gods Words is not Gods Word but only a Declaration what was Gods Word whereby he created the Light not that it is Gods VVord so written or so read or so spoken by us for if it continue truly and indeed Gods VVord in our mouths it must then still powerfully produce Light when spoken by us as then it did when it was spoken by God himself And the like evident difference was in the Power that followed the Faith that was built upon the very VVord of God above any faith that is built upon the Scripture in any sense These signs followed the first namely The stopping the mouths of Lyons quenching the violence of fire casting out of Devils speaking with new Tongues healing of the sick by meer laying on of hands c. Heb. 11.33 34. Mark 16.17 18. But no such signs follow the Faith built upon the Scripture or on the matter and substance contained therein nor on the Doctrines drawn from them by any men who usually borrow or steal the words of God of Christ of the Prophets of the Apostles or any other which they there find recorded and then by the help of some Commentor whereof there are divers and many devise some Doctrines c. which they afterwards deliver as from God to the people But such would appear to deal more ingenuously if they did follow the Prophets advice He that had onely a dream should tell it but as a dream and not as the Word of God for what is the chaff to the wheat Jer. 23.28 29 30 31 32. And especially I conceive it would be much more pleasing to God beneficial to men comfortable to themselves not to trouble the world with any sublime and mysterious Doctrine as that of Trinity Election Predestination Reprobation the Nature or Essence of God the order or number of his Decrees the nature or extent of Christ his death Justification or any other matters in Divinity so much controverted among School-men and other of the learned and are but doubtfully and uncertainly known to the wisest of them all as is evident in that each opposite among them with great confidence maintains the verity of their several contradictory Propositions in these Points which is no marvel since we see them likewise at no small variance even about the very Principles of the Doctrine of Christ which
then which cannot be any sufficient ground nor prove better in this case to men then the house mentioned by Christ did to the foolish builder who built the same upon the earth without foundation which suddenly fell the fall whereof was very great Lu. 6.49 When the Premises are duly weighed it will be the less marvel that the Doctriens and Opinions of the most able learned and best men in the world have been and are so various full of cantradictions and opposite one against another as may appear to any that shall but look into the great controversies that in all or most ages that we hear of have been holden and maintained both in Churches and Councils and amongst the most studious Fathers and wisest Pen-men and Preachers in all these points viz. Some have and do hold the Deity to be ubiquitary Some circumscribed of the later Opinion was our late King JAMES renowned for learning and depth of Judgement Some have and do judge the Deity to consist of a threefold personality Others have and do hold Christ and the Holy Chost to be creatures and Gods only by deputation Concerning the Decrees of God some have and do hold the greatest part of mankind and devils to be designed to everlasting damnation Some have and do hold and believe the contrary Some conceive that all mankind may be saved if they will Others have and do believe that not only they but the Devils at the last day shall be saved yet so as by fire Concerning the ordering and governing of the world some will have it performed by God whom they say is present in all places and doth all things as himself will not allowing any thing to be contingent but that all things whatsoever even the most inferiour yea and the most wicked to be wrought by him affirming That wicked men do commit their Wickedness by the just impulse of God That the Devil and wicked men cannot conceive nor contrive nor execute any mischief nor so much as endeavour its execution any further then God himself doth command them and they are compelled to perform obedience to such commands That Adultery or Murther in as much as it is the Work of God the author mover and compellor it is not a crime but in as much as it is of man it is a wickedness and so making God the predeterminer of all events whether holy or unholy clean or unclean good or evil Some ascribe only good actions to God and to his good Angels Others assign all to men because they shall be judged according to their Works which they conceive cannot be reputed theirs if they were not free and voluntary agents in the doing of them Some wil have all evil actions to be done by the Devil Some judge him to have sole command of this world because he is called the God of this world and Prince of the Air. Concerning the person of Christ some have judged it to be constituted of two natures some only of one which some have holden to be Divine only others humane Concerning the death of Christ some have and do restrain it only to the Elect others have and do extend it to all mankind and some to all creatures or the whole Creation Concerning the nature of his death some thought all mens sins to be discharged thereby some the sins of the Elect only and that Faith serves only to reveal this to them and to give them comfort in it Some conceive no mans sins to be pardoned by his death but that it served only to confirm the truth of his Doctrine namely Remission of sins salvation through an endeavour'd conformity to his life and preaching And according to this diversity of Opinions of God and Christ are the diversity of definitions of Faith and the end and use of it which some conceive to be Justification others only Sanctification and some both No less various are they in their Doctrine concerning Faith how it is obtained which some hold to be by infusion others that it is acquired so concerning perseverance in Faith Concerning our Estate by birth whether damnable or not Concerning the Sacraments and wherefore they serve Concerning the persons that are to administer them The persons whom they are to be administred to and when and upon what conditions Concerning the Sabbath-day whether moral divine or humane when it beginneth when it endeth and what works may or may not be done upon it In all these and sundry others even concerning Marriage we find them no less divided then in those before mentioned Moreover there are many of great learning who affirm Remission of sin to be a fruit or consequence only and no part of our Justification Many there are on the other side who make Remission of sin antecedent to Justification and Justification to be its immediate consequent Many take Remission of sin to be the whole of our Justification yea What large disputes and Treatises are written very much to prove this and many famous men for learning there are that maintain it Many there be that take Justification to consist partly in Remission of sin and partly in the imputation of Christs own Righteousness and these with the former say That accepting us as Righteous is a consequent of Justification Sin must first be remitted say the former and Christs Righteousness imputed ours say the later before God can accept any man as righteous Likewise are they at variance both how and when Justification is obtained 1. How whether it be by the active or passive obedience of Christ or both some say one way some another some say it is by Faith as it is an act others as it is an habet and some say it is by Works 2. When it is obtained Some say it was from eternity by an eminent act of God and that all the sins of the Elect were actually pardoned the Debt-book crossed the Hand-writing cancelled c. and that this grand Transaction between God and the Mediator Jesus Christ was concluded on and dispatcht long before men had any being in Nature or Grace Some say it was only from the death of Christ and some others say it is not until we actually believe Infinite are the differences even between men of greatest eminency and of most exquisite learning and parts as well about the definition of Faith Repentance and almost all other graces as about the most substantial and highest points in Divinity and of the Gospel as may be further seen in Mr. Blakes Exceptions Mr. G. Kendals Answer to Mr. Joh. Goodwin Mr. Ayre 's Justification of Infidels Mr. Joh. Craudons Anatomy and Mr. R. Baxters Answers and Replyes to all these And from whence can it be imagined that all these variety and contrariant Faiths and Opinions do come but from the variety uncertainty and insufficiency of the Scripture clearly to resolve these Points and vindicate them from all such Exceptions as lie against them on each hand but the Scripture is so far
from Luke 24.21 22. where two of the Disciples after they had with much sadness declared how the chief Priests and Rulers had delivered Christ to be condemned to death and had crucified him said we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel intimating thereby that he being then dead and gone they were quite hopeless expecting nothing less then his rising again for after when they heard by the women that he was alive they were astonished at it in Mark 16.13 when upon his appearing unto two of them these went and told it to the rest of the Apostles yet they believed it not and hence it was that he appeared and shewed himself to his Disciples 500 at once and familiarly and often to such of them as he intended to make his Apostles and chief witnesses to the world to confirm this their belief in his resurrection insomuch that when he first appeared to them he shewed them his hands and his feet and bad them handle and see Luke 24.39 Jeh 20.20 c. where it is very observable that Thomas not being then present would not believe the report of all the rest of the Apostles that he was risen unless he might see and handle his wounds also as they had done wherein also afterward Christ gave him satisfaction by permitting him to do so likewise and then withal left a blessing in the hands of the Apostles for all such other of his Disciples who had not seen him as they had done yet did believe his resurrection Wherefore most requisite it was That as well for the communicating of this blessing as for the confirmation of the Disciples believers in the belief of Christs resurrection they should write the Narratives of all these things and most probable it is the Apostles did therefore write the three other Gospels for these ends and purposes as may be gathered by comparing John the Apostle with the Apostle John that is Joh. 20.31 with 1 Joh. 5.13 I have been the larger upon this because I finde not only ordinary men but most learned profound Teachers do pervert this place of Scripture to the mis-leading of many whether ignorantly or purposely I will not determine 1 In making the sence of the words as if Christ thereby did intend a blessing on all such as in the future should believe the teachings of men without seeing any divine evidence to attest the truth of their Doctrine whereas Christs words had respect onely to such other of his Disciples or believers who had not seen Christ as Thomas did yet did believe his being risen again which Thomas by no means would do until he had both seen and felt him 2 In making the Apostles words in vers 31. to be intended to all the world as a ground sufficient for true and saving faith whereas if it were so it might serve instead of a true Ministry in all nations when as to the generality of mankinde it was meer barbarism coming from the Apostle but in one language onely which would have been a failer not imaginable in the Apostle having the guift of tongues enabling him purposely to teach all nations people in their respective languages and accordingly no doubt he would have written if he had intended it for any such great and general use but it is most plain that his intention therein was onely to confirm believers of that one language in their belief of that one great article of Christs being the Son of God whereof they could not doubt if they firmly believed his resurrection And if we may have leave to give a like credit to the Scripture in this matter and to make conclusions from plain premisses such as many would have us give and make from none at all or at best from such as are far more dark We may both see and conclude that the Scripture is so far from testifying it self to be any sufficient ground for faith and conviction to the unbelieving world that it testifies the quite contrary 1 In that it testifies that the power of God by signes and miracles accompanying the Ministry and attesting the truth and divine authority of their doctrine was the onely true ground of faith and conviction unto unbelievers as before is set forth and is evident by these texts Ioh. 16.7 8 9. Acts 1.4 8. Luke 24.49 Act. 1.1 2 3. Mark 16.20 1 Cor. 2.4 5. compared with Rom. 15.18 19 20. Act. 8.6 And that thus and upon this foundation of the Apostles and Prophets the true Ministry of the Gospel fitted by gifts Ephesians 4.8 11 12 13. Christ Jesus himself being the chief Corner-stone was Christian belief and Churches founded Ephes 2.20 And that no foundation other then such can any man warrantably lay or plead for 1 Cor. 3.11 2 In that it testifies That whatsoever is delivered in any unknown tongue or but in a doubtful and uncertain sence is as barbarism not obliging any to believe it 1 Cor. 14.7 8 9 10. for no man is bound or can infallibly and convincingly believe any thing which is not infallibly and convincingly revealed to him Notwithstanding all the uncertainties afore specified yet how doth each Sect of Christians assert that they are of the true belief and many therefore challenge the highest priviledges of true believers mentioned in Scripture to belong unto them yea and some such do they assume to have as no true believer ever had in this life I shall give instances They assume to be true believers and to have the Spirit of God yea the same as true believers formerly had and by which the Scripture was given forth To be actually justified to have eternal life and to be already passed from death to life To have Christ and his divine nature within them and that white stone wherein a new is written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it c. Wherein if I am not exceedingly mistaken they are first in their conceiving themselves to be true believers yet ground it upon various yea on contrary doctrines and want both the true ground upon which true believers built their faith and the same power whereby true believers were to be known Mark 16.17 18. or that they have the same spirit by which the Scripture was given forth and yet make use of and cite texts amiss rendered in translations even as others do who pretend not to have the Spiâ—it Secondly what can reasonably be imagined or understood by believers being justified by faith I am inclined to think it is no more then their being saved by hope and what is or can be meant by this more then now in this life to hope to be saved hereafter in the life to come as the Apostle reasoneth Rom 8.24 25. where speaking of himself and other believers saith we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for for if we hope for that we see not then do we
place the land of Canaan and would cause them to dwell safely and would give them one heart and one way that they should fear him for ever for the good of them and their children after them Which plainly sets forth the conversion of the Jews to the true fear of God and never more to depart from him and their being gathered out of all Countreys into their own land again to be there safely planted assuredly both they and their children after them to fear the Lord for ever which was never yet performed to this people It cannot be meant that this Covenant is promised to be made with any Gentile believers or Churches already converted whose fathers were never led by the hand out of Egypt nor planted in the land of Canaan to be there again re-planted much less can it be meant of every Gentile Church or Congregation of supposed believers as it is usually expounded and applied by the several Pastors and Ministers to their respective Congregations but they may as soon make me believe that all they say is truth as to believe this exposition of theirs or that this is not meant of Israel and Juda the very natural seed of Jacob or that it doth not mean the general conversion and gathering of that people into their own land again out of which they have been driven even the natural Israelites whose conversion Saint Paul also positively asserts Rom. 11. by the name of Israel the natural branches and his kinsmen according to the flesh affirming them to be holy and beloved for their fathers sake even when they were broken off and in the state of unbelief wherein they yet remain unto this day terming the Christian Romans though their faith was then famous throughout the whole world Gentiles and in comparison of them but wild branches cut out of the wilde Olave-tree and then after many hints of their coversion of their being received and graffed in again at last affirms that all or the whole house of Israel shal be saved and proves it by that which is written in Esa 59.20 which is That the Redeemer shall come to Sion and to them which turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Hence it is evident by Saint Paul's exposition that the great deliverance blessing and mercy intended and meant in this text properly belongeth unto Jacob or natural children of Israel whence it will follow That the great exaltation permanent glory security and peace prophesied and spoken of in the chapter immediately following appertains to them also none whereof being fulfilled when Saint Paul wrote that Epistle nor at any time since it is all yet to be fulfilled to them And therefore whosoever expounds this Scripture otherwise thwarts Saint Paul to the deceiving both of themselves and others which is much and often done by such as turn the true and plain sense of this and other Scriptures into mystical or allegorical meanings the meer inventions of mens brains whereby many excellent passages of Scripture yea in effect the whole Scripture hath been and is perverted and made not helpful but hurtful to many which if rightly understood would be of excellent use and benefit to all men but by such and the like misinterpretations and blind senses put upon the Scriptures by our blinde guides and * And have we not seen Curse ye Meroz displayed nor heard them cursed bitterly who came not out to help the Lord nor yet known many honest and sincere hearts extreamly cheated on all sides and by none more then by such charms and charmers who though they knew little of the right application of that text yet it bearing a sound for their purpose it was made use of by them meerly upon design interest for no sooner did they perceive the waters begin to run besides their Mill i.e. their ambitions covetous domineering ends were not served but they turned cat in paâ— cursed as fast the contrary way this at pleasure upon occasion can they do viz. bless curse curse and bless one the same person one and the same cause one and the same opinion with one and the same mouth and possible from one the same text corrupt interessed men as it may seem the honest zeal and good meaning of these men I speak as charity bindes me hath been so much misled as to conceive themselves divinely authorized to make this rash and un-advised attempt so dangerous both to themselves and the whole Nation But if instead thereof they had imployed all the power interest they had in a lawful way upon a civil account to have procured for the honest and good people of the Nations the performance of such honest and righteous things as of right do belong unto them and are but the just return of all the blood treasure laid out and spent by them for the purchase or rather for the redemption of them and which have been so much and so often promised to them and that upon most-solemn sacred appeals to heaven and yet hitherto most unjustly * But we be to them and him by whom these offences come deteined from them I conceive they had been far less if at all blamable then in that which they have attempted For can they think it just for them to domineer over their fellows and brethren meerly by a supposed divine authority from Scripture and may not any other upon the same account by a contrary exposition put upon the Scripture challenge the like superiority over them and must not we then needs fight it out and after conclude the strongest to have expounded truest for the weakest must to the wall perhaps into some castle or prison or into the bottome of some dungeon as erroneous or heretical persons whilst all such as have but the power over castles and prisons are alwayes orthodox all the world over and who may say to the contrary Or can they think it reasonable or feasable for them to set up that Kingdome of Christ to prevent and save him the labour of coming and so to rob him of the glory of doing it himself by the mighty power of his own arm without the arm of flesh Esa 63.1 to 7 whereby he will exalt his great name and glory to all eternity more then by any of his former archievements The bringing the children of Israel thorow the red Sea out of the hands of Pharaoh was indeed a very wonderful and glorious work whereby God made his Name great in all the earth yet this his deliverance and restoring of them yet to come and his setting up of his Kingdome will so far and so much exceed that
that it will swallow it up and cause it to vanish as the light of a candle will do at the presence of the Sun and so far bury it in oblivion that it shall never more be remembred for ever Jer. 23 from 3 to 9. This whole life is the time for the Saints and righteous to suffer in for and in hope of reward and rest in that Kingdome with Christ at his coming 2 Thess 1 4 to 9 but these men would fain be reaping before harvest and before the time of sowing is ended and be reigning in that Kingdome before the blessed Patriarchs and Apostles who yet sleep in the dust and who are to be the prime heirs and inheritours with Christ of that Kingdome Matth 8 11 Luke 22 30 yea and without and before Christ there raigns himself and before that Kingdome or the time of setting it up be come which may not be But the authority assumed and now attempted by these men seems at least to me to be much like to that which is exercised by his Holinesse the Pope as Christs Vice-gerent upon earth over all both persons and causes for which he pretends divine authority and that from Scripture also for from Ps 91.13 which sayes thus Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and Dragon thou shalt trample under feet By pretence of divine authority from this Scripture he most presumptuously tramples under foot all civil Magistracy and sets his feet upon the necks of Emperours Like as I my self once heard Psa 45.16 expounded from a Pulpit in Pauls the Text runs thus Instead of thy Fathers shall thy children be whom thou shalt make Princes thorow all the earth By Fathers said he are meant the Patriarchs and Apostles and by Children are meant the Lords Bishops who are their successors Hence this learned Preacher in further prosecution of this his Text with great confidence asserted the principality of Bishops and their superiority over other Ministers to be of Divine Right And there 's no doubt but these called fifth Monarchy-men may prove their dominion over all others to be of Divine right as well as this Nay who can doubt but that Presbyters Independents Separatists Anabaptists yea and Mahometan Priests also can prove their several authorities to be of divine right as well as either of the former and that from Scripture too and if they can not they are very unworthy such offices of dignity and such places of profit as to be Masters and Heads of Colledges c. and if the Revenues of the best Bishopricks were also added thereto there 's no doubt but that these would easily swallow it up without making any bones thereat the name being onely changed Nay have we not had some who lately riding on hors-back into Bristol received such honour acclamations and attributes as were given to Christ when he rode into Jerusalem and no doubt but all this was done by some divine authority drawn from the Scripture Mat. 21. where the manner of Christs so riding into Jerusalem is recited And why might not the horse have run and bruised the riders foot against a wall by divine authority likewise from that Scripture which recites how that Balaams Asse dealt so by that false prophet Numb 22 25. But I shall at present forbear to trace this divine Goddess and great Idol any further but shall now leave her to the view of all men as she is set forth in Rev. 17. like a Queen sitting upon her Throne most sumptuously arraied in purple and scarlet and gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls having a cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication upon whom the more I look the more I wonder even with greatest admiration when I consider how such a counterfeit painted strumpet as this hath so much so long and so universally beguiled in effect the whole world and intoxicated many such men as are otherwise most exquisite wise and exact in far smaller matters I shall now conclude removing onely a scruple which from this Discourse may arise in some honest hearts to this effect Object Since there is no name given under heaven whereby men can be saved but by the name of Iesus Christ and none can be saved by that name but such as truly believe therein and none can have a sufficient ground for true and Christian faith but by a true Ministry evidencing the truth and divine authority of their doctrine by demonstration of the Spirit and power of God And if the case be so as by this Discourse it seems to be In what condition are all such who never enjoyed such a Ministry is not their case necessarily damnable Answ I say no for although it be granted That none are saved but by Christ yet many millions of thousands may be and are saved and that by Christ who never enjoyed any such Ministry never believed in Christ nor heard of him for what else think we should become of all infants since Adam who died in their infancy whose salvation at least their freedome from condemnation cannot upon any good ground be doubted of for they have suffered death the natural effect of Adams transgression from which at the resurrection they shall be redeemed and discharged by Christ for what or for whose sin can they then be condemned at the day of Judgement since they have committed none themselves and shall have already suffered death for Adams sin and from which they shall then be acquitted by Christ And their salvation as I conceive is as little to be doubted of because that condition or sort of mankinde which Christ himself did put as a president and example for his Disciples to conform themselves to for to become inheritours of the Kingdome of heaven must needs be inheritours of the Kingdome of heaven but such are little children and Christ affirmed that of such is the Kingdom of heaven and who then hath need or reason to doubt thereof The same may be deemed the case of all born Ideots living and dying so And what may be thought of all the Heathen nations people in the world since Adam that have lived to years of discretion can any man reasonably think that God hath left all these quite destitute of all means of salvation and of acceptance with him did God afford them or any of them such an ample excuse at the day of judgement as they might then have upon that account No surely for then all mens mouths will be stopped and no such reasonable and just excuse shall be found in the mouth of any What meaneth Saint Paul when he saith in Act. 17.25 26 27. That God had made of one blood all Nations to dwell on the face of the earth giving to all life breath and all things as rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness chap 14 17 and to what end did God all this but that they might seek him and