hear Persons of different Judgments cite the same Passages of Holy Writ should not give Offence to any Because that Trumpet gives an uncertain Sound I see no reason why the Parties should prepare themselves for Battle and Dispute with so much Fierceness and Rage as generally they do I cannot sufficiently Admire and Commend the excellent Candor and Moderation of the first Pious Reformers of Our Church who in such Articles as are Dubious and Disputable have not shewed themselves Stiff and Peremptory Rigid and Magisterial have not wound up the Strings too high lest they should marr the Harmony and Peace of the Church But where the Arguments are deemed to be Equal on both Sides they have allowed us an ingenuous Freedom and permit us to make use of our own Judgments and yet at the same time severely and indispensably urge upon us all Articles that are of the Foundation and which are certainly known to be True And this brings me to the Fifth and Last Rank of Principles in our Holy Religion and they are Fundamental and Necessary and of the very Essence of Christianity Of which sort are the Doctrines of Man's Corruption and Degeneracy of the Reparation made by Christ the Redeemer of Forgiveness and Justification by his Blood c. with all those substantial Articles of Faith comprised in the Creed which goes under the Name of the Apostles These are the Christian Verities and these are clear and manifest in God's Word and have plain Evidence of Scripture and are agreed upon by all Sober and Considerate Persons who have not renounced the Christian Profession Here it is that we have the greatest Use and Guidance of Scripture and for that plain Direction which it gives us in these we are to Prize and Value it as the Richest Treasure nay as the Only Treasure in the World For from this Inspired Book alone we have these Heavenly and Divine Doctrines they were originally in no other Writings in the World but these Wherefore let us look upon these grand Truths as the main and necessary Contents of the Bible and as the Matters which we are indispensably concerned in As for those Texts which are Obscure and Difficult or which relate not to Faith or Manners and consequently are not necessary to be known let us not be displeased that we cannot reach the meaning of them Let it not seem strange that Interpreters vary here and cannot agree about the Sense of these Places St. Ierom upon the Place saith thus St. Augustin otherwise and St. Chrisostom varies from both and it may be a fourth differs from these and a fifth comes and diffents from them all This doth not offend me in the least for where the Scripture speaks of things that are Abstruse or speaks in an obscure and dark manner it is not strange that we have not a clear and plain discovery of those Passages and consequently that those Writers who have treated of them differ in their Expositions Let not this trouble us for it was God's Will there should be these Difficulties in Scripture and he hath not made it necessary for us to have the certain sense and meaning of these Places But this should satisfy us that whatever is necessary to Salvation is plainly revealed declared and written in the Old and New Testament and that the Knowledge of this alone is absolutely necessary This then is that which I say that if Christian Men would read the Bible to learn thence these undoubted Principles and their indispensable Duty and not to furnish themselves with Matter of Dispute they would be the happiest People under Heaven and be no longer Scandalous to the greater which is the Unbelieving Part of the World by their Dissentions and Disagreements O when will that Blessed Day come when Rectified and Unbiassed Reason and the plain Arbitrement of Scripture shall decide the Controversies in Christendom If these were once admitted as Impartial Umpires they would make short Work of all the Quarrels about Religion namely by pronouncing Many of them to be vain Janglings and Most of them Unreasonable and Absurd by assuring the Christian World That if they would lay aside Prejudice and Interest and Vile-Affections nothing would appear so Clear and Evident and Undisputable as the Fundamental Doctrines above-named and that all who name the Name of Christ are obliged to Embrace and Profess these necessary and unquestionable Maxims and that they ought to be Wary and Modest in their Determinations concerning other Propositions which are uncertain and that in Matters which are Indifferent and Circumstantial it is Reasonable that they should either conform themselves to the Practice of the Church they live in or mutually agree to bear with one another Where then is there any place left for Uncharitable Disputes and Unchristian Animosities No where certainly but where meer Wilfulness and Perversness reign For are not the Rules and Standards of Truth Easy and Intelligible Have we not the Eternal Laws of Reason the immediate Directions of Nature and the Convictions of our own Minds and moreover have we not the Infallible Oracles and Inspired Writings to rectify our Mistakes Have we not Heavenly and Divine Knowledge to Exalt our Natural Notions Hath not the Divine Goodness blessed us with abundant Discoveries both from the Law of Nature and the Positive Laws of Christ Jesus but more especially from the Latter that compleat Body of Divine Laws that Authentick Volume of Religion that Inestimable Treasury of true Wisdom and Knowlege So that if we will sincerely make use of these Helps which God hath given us we shall have no occasion to renew this Demand What is Truth Now to the God of Truth and Father of Lights and to his Son Christ Iesus who is the Way and the Truth and to the Holy Spirit of Truth and Grace be ascribed everlasting Honour and Glory Amen Why Rulers and Iudges are called Gods A Sermon Preach'd before the Iudges at the Assizes held at Cambridge PSALM LXXXII 6 7. I have said Ye are Gods and all of you are the Children of the most High But ye shall die like Men and fall like one of the Princes THIS Psalm may not unfitly be stiled the Iudges or Magistrates Psalm for of them it speaks and for them it was Penn'd that they might understand their Duty and not be ignorant of their Dignity that they might know how to discharge their Office which is briefly summed up in the third and fourth Verses and that they might be assured likewise that Heaven it self hath vouched their Function and authorized their Profession that they might be Ascertained that those of their Eminent Rank and Quality are under the peculiar Influence of Providence that they are God's Charge and that they are themselves Gods I have said Ye are Gods In which Words and the following ones which I have read to you we may take notice of these Two General Parts viz. a Concession and a Correction 1st An honourable Concession of
Heads whilst it hath been cried in their Ears that here is Truth and there is Truth they have grown Perplexed and Distracted and know not how to behave themselves and What Part to take They hear that the Claim to Truth is Universal but then they know This that All the Pretences to it cannot be True and How say they if None of them should be so Hereupon they renounce Religion as a Faction and in plain terms a Cheat and consequently they Live and Act in the World as they Please If Truth be claimed by All the Professors of Religion and those Professors Contradict one another Where shall we find an Answer to This Interrogatory What is Truth In way of Reply it is enough to say at present for I shall answer a great part of these Cavils afterwards in the sequel of this Discourse 1. These Several Divisions and Parties evidently prove a True Religion For it is certain that Rational Men would not Contend for Nothing Unless there were some Reality at the bottom we cannot imagine that Persons of unprejudic'd Minds and sincere Intentions as we must allow a great Part of them to be would thus seriously busie themselves and be so mightily concern'd 2. Some Mens fond and groundless Pretences ought not to be equalled with the Iust Claims of others As long as the World continues in this degenerate posture where it is there will ever be a great number of men who will be pretending to Truth even whilst they are maintaining those Doctrines which are directly opposite to it Therefore we are not to concern our selves for these Pretenders only so far as to slight them as Persons govern'd by Interest or Passion or to pity them as those who are misled by Ignorance or Prejudice 3. As for the generality of Disputes which are at this day on foot Religion and particularly the Christian Religion I mean the Essentials and Vitals of it which give it its denomination are little or not at all concern'd in those Quarrels as will appear from what I shall suggest anon and therefore I shall say no more here But notwithstanding what hath been objected I will go on with my present design which is an Inquest after Truth and I hope the attempt will not prove vain and succesless That we may certainly find it out those Two known but too much neglected Rules or Standards are to be made use of by us viz. Reason and Scripture By Reason I mean the free and impartial use of our Understandings and Judgments which God hath naturally endued us with and which we are obliged to improve and cultivate by the aid of our Bodily Senses by the Testimony of others by serious and steady Observation and well-grounded Experience for these must be assisting to Humane Reason to render it perfect and compleat If thuâ— we would apply our selves to a serious search after Truth we should soon make our selves Masters of it For the Candle of the Lord as Solomon very significantly calls the Reason of Man was set up in our Breasts by God on purpose to discover Truth to us But it must be acknowledged that this Light hath been much impair'd by Man's Degeneracy so that it can scarcely be said to Shine out i.e. perfectly to display it self It hath been Clouded ever since the First Apostacy and obscured daily by the actual Prevalency of Vice An undeniable Evidence whereof were those swarms of monsterous Opinions among the Pagans that gross Superstition and Idolatry of the Gentile World those prodigious Shapes and Models of Religion which were invented by them Oftentimes it happened that the Creature made and framed his Creator they shaped out Deities and the way of Worshipping them according to their own Fancies and Imaginations and a God was even what they thought good to make him Or suppose Natures Light did shine out to the full yet it would not be Clear and Bright enough to give us a Prospect of those Divine and Supernatural Truths which are to bring us to Everlasting Happiness For Nature and Reason cannot Dictate those things which depend wholly on God's Free Grace and Pleasure And such are the Doctrine of a Saviour and Redeemer the Method of Man's Salvation and all the Mysteries of the Christian and Evangelical Dispensation How was Nicodemus a Noted Master in Israel and no mean Possessor of Reason baffled with the Doctrin of Regeneration He might truly be said to go to Iesus by Night who made his Visit only by the dusky and obscure Light of Nature Therefore tho' Reason or rather the Understanding using its reasoning Faculty be a laudable Guide in Religion yet it will not be a safe Conduct to Truth if it be alone There must of necessity be another Guide besides this to lead us to the Discovery of Heavenly Verities and Propositions of Faith There must be Divine Illumination to assist us to find out Divine and Spiritual Truths The Second Standard then of Truth is the Infallible Word of God Divine Truths must be sought for not from Man but from God not from Human Writings but an Unerring Word not from those who are Finite and Ignorant but from Him who is Infinite and knoweth all Things not from the Sons of Men but from Him who is the only-begotten Son of God the Revealer of his Father's Will For No man hath seen God at any time the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him as the beloved Disciple beareth witness Iohn 1. 18. None is able to discover the Divine and Supernatural Mysteries which our Religion is fraught with but the Founder of them We could never have arrived to those Transcendent Notions unless we had been taught them from Heaven We were not skilled to appoint the Manner of Appeasing the incensed Majesty of Heaven and to prescribe the Way of Worship suitable to that Oeconomy This would have been as if it should be left to some silly Country Peasant to assign the Way and Manner of Treating a Mighty King and Monarch Who would not expect in such a case a strange and uncouth a rude and ridiculous Way of Address and Courtship and below the Greatness and Majesty of a Prince But it was requisite there should be a particular Divine Discovery a clearer Light a surer Guide than that of Nature For though God at sundry times and in divers manners had Revealed himself to the past Generations of Men yet to make that Revelation compleat he spoke in the last days by his Son and by the Testimony of the Holy Ghost in the inspired Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists Christ therefore saith and that Emphatically I am the Truth Iohn 14. 6. The Gospel was the last and most corrected Edition of the Doctrin of Truth and we must never look for any other to come forth to the End of the World This is Truth more eminently so called The Truth which came by Iesus Christ as the Blessed Evangelist speaketh
here of no value it is generally despised and rejected You must think of some Other way for This will not do Alas What is TRUTH worth and what are you like to get by abetting it But I rather think that Pilate ask'd This Question in Contempt and Derision I pray Sir What is the Right Definition of Truth Do you pretend to understand the Exact Notion of it I must tell you This Friend Men are as much Mistaken about This as Any thing in the World and I believe You are One of that number You talk of Truth but do you know What it is And as soon as he had started this Query he went off the Bench. By which it appears that his Enquiry was not Serious and that he Cared not for a Reply to it Otherwise if he had been in Good Earnest without doubt our Saviour would not have failed to return an Answer For he was a Person extremely Communicative and used to satisfy all Material Questions to the Full yea above what was demanded As when a Lawyer ask'd him What was the First Commandment he told him moreover what was the Second which was like unto it So when it was asked him Is it lawful to give Tribute to Cesar or no His Answer was more than Satisfactory for he not only acquaints them that they ought to pay Cesar his Tribute but he adds also that God's as well as Cesar's Dues are to be discharged It is not to be doubted that He who was so Ready at all times to Satisfy Mens Demands would have returned an Answer to This of Pilate if this Great Man would have Stayed for it But though Pilate went away in Haste I hope it will be worth our Time to Stay and Satisfy our selves about This Question of so unspeakable Use and Value a Question which is every ways Necessary in order to the Resolving of the Scruples of the Conscientious and Silencing the Cavils of the Atheistical and Prophane a Question whereon the whole Frame and Constitution of Religion depends a Question of the Greatest Importance next to That What shall we do to be Saved Or rather it is of the Same rank with it for as the Apostle hath joyned them together God would have all Men to be Saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth But an Other Question then will arise How shall we come to the Knowledg of the Truth Are we not on every side beset with Mistakes and False Notions Was not Error very Early in the World and doth it not bear Date from Adam I have not Examined whether that be True which One saith That there is but One Speech deliver'd before the Flood by Man wherein there is not an Erroneous Conception But this is certain that Mistake and Falshood enter'd into the World betimes and that ever since a Night of Ignorance hath over-spread our Minds and our Judgments are involved in a Cloud of Obscurity and Imperfection In Cebes's Table which represents Man's Life Imposture gives her Cup to all that come into the World Error and Ignorance are the Potion and every one Drinks of it but some more and some less Hence it is that Pretences and Appearances of Reason cozen us Imperfect Argumentations and Superficial Discourses easily determine us A Petty Inducement a Weak Likelihood a Plausible Harangue are enough to Turn the Scales with us and Weigh heavier sometimes than a Demonstration Hence it is that Truth is so Rare a thing in the World We may justly complain as He of old It is Difficult to find out True Reason Or we may cry out as Hermias the Old Christian Philosopher did Truth hath abandon'd and taken its farewell of the World How then shall we hope to have this Question assoil'd and to know What is Truth Nay We are in as bad Circumstances as before and Pilate's Demand is as far from being Answer'd as it was for as the Sceptick doubteth of all Truth yea indeed denies it so on the other hand we see that All Parties of Religion in the World pretend that they are Masters and Possessors of it Before there was No Truth and now All is Truth If you ask what it Truth you shall not want whole Herds of Men who will come and offer their Service to you and with all Officiousness will tell you that they are able to Resolve you in such an Easy Question as That is Truth takes up its Residence with Vs say the Pagaâ— Worshipers Our Numerous Deities and their Idols have been vouched by Oracles and Divinations and all the ways that are requisite to make a Religion Authentick We are the Parents of Orthodox Faith say the Iews and all the rest of the World are Bewilder'd and Lost being destitute of a Pillar of Light to lead them Alas they are inveloped in Egyptian Darkness and must continue to be so till they take Moses for their Only Guide to bring them out of it But then again Neither Gentiles nor Iews are in the right say the Followers of Mahomet who yet was the Son of a Pagan Father and a Iewish Mother The Alcoran is the True Charter of our Religion and who can suspect it since our Prophet received it from the Angel Gabriel We are the True Musselmen i.e. Believers and all Others are downright Infidels and Miscreants Nay even among Those who profess Christianity for out of the Best and Purest Religion will arise the Worst of Corruptions and Heresies the Parties and Divisions the Disputes and Claims are not a few Truth is but One and yet they All think they Monopolize it Every Sect is Eager and Violent and some of them Confine All Religion and Salvation to their Own Way Nay they are for Persecuting all Parties but their Own like the Ottoman Princes they must Strangle all their Brethren otherwise they think they cannot Reign safely Ask the Different Parties even from the Highest to the Lowest from the Old Gentleman that sits in the Porphyry Chair to the meanest Quaker or Muggletonian and they will all tell you they are in possession of the Truth Every Perswasion hath this of Popery in it that the Professors of it think themselves Infallible and say they have an Unerring Guide and therefore they take the Chair and Determine Peremptorily on their Own Sides Even whilst some cry This is False and others That if you ask them singly they all say they are in the Right and every one confidently vouches that he is Proprietor of Truth It seems by This that Truth is Equally divided among All Men or rather indeed that the Opinion of it is so And hence it is probable that Scepticism and Indifferency in Religion have had their Rise for too Lavish Pretences to Truth have made some question whether there be Any The Divers Claims and Quarrels in Christianity have wonderfully fostered Atheism For whilst it hath been observed that Divinity hath every where become Polemical and that Men have thrown Bibles at one anothers
Bishop treating of the Office of a Clergy-Man Concerning Basil and Gregory Nazianzen we are told by Rufinus that for Thirteen Years together they laid aside all Books that treated of Secular Matters and applied themselves wholly to the Reading of the Volumes of the Sacred Scripture This most truly may be said that though we are not to neglect other Writings yet these are indispensably Necessary and we must lay aside all other Books rather than not find time to read These And the Reason is plain because no Man can pretend to Theological Studies who hath not acquainted himself with the Sacred Text. For see how it is in Other Arts and Faculties there are Books proper and peculiar to them and without which there is an utter despair of attaining any Skill in them Thus to offer one Example only the Civil Law is gain'd by Reading the Digests or Pandects of which the Institutions are an Abstract compiled out of the Immense Volumes of the Roman Lawyers some of which were Writ before our Saviour's Time and others afterwards and they are no other than the Sayings Responses and Decisions of the Chief of the Learned in the Law by reading the Code which is made up of the Rescripts Decrees and Constitutions of the Roman Emperors and their Wise Councel from Adrian to Iustinian So that this Volume differs from the Pandects as among us the Statute-Law or Acts of Parliament differ from the Common-Law i. e. the Judgment of Lawyers call'd Reports Wherefore the Pandects must give way to the Code this being more Valid than they as the Commands of Princes are of greater Force than the Dictates of Lawyers Moreover by reading the Authenticks or Novels called so because they were New Laws added to the other Lastly by looking into the Feuds i.e. the Customs and Services for the Lands held by Vassals of their Lords which last Volume of the Imperial Laws was not added till about the Year 1150. under the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa There is an utter Despair I say of gaining any competent Knowledge in this Excellent sort of Learning unless a Man peruses these Books and the Commentators on them And so in the Study of Physick no Man can arrive to any Perfection in it unless he be conversant with the Particular Authors whether Antient or Modern that are Famous in the Faculty And the same may be said of all other Arts and Sciences But this is in a special manner true in Divinity the Knowledge of which no Man can possibly reach without a diligent and constant Perusal of the Books which Constitute the Holy Canon the Writings of the Old and New Testament for both are necessary as we see plainly in the Quotations out of the former which we meet with in the latter There are Four and twenty Books of the one cited or referr'd to in the other and out of some of them there are above Forty out of others above Sixty Passages alledged and made use of The Bible then is a Volume of absolute Necessity and cannot be out of the Hands of one that is devoted to the Ministry For this cause it was heretofore ordered that this Sacred Book should be read at Bishops and Priests Tables even at Dinner and still there is a perpetual Obligation on those of the Sacred Function to give themselves daily to the Study of the Scriptures the Divine Writings of Moses and the Prophets and the Books of the Evangelists and Apostles And there is good reason for it because they must Build which is the thing we are now speaking of by a Rule and the Scripture is that Rule But it is impossible we should make use of it to this Purpose unless we be very well acquainted with it We cannot Regulate our own or other Mens Actions by this Canon we cannot Skilfully apply this Rule this Square if we be not very conversant with it and have a knowledge of its Excellent Doctrines and Precepts These are the Writings that have this Peculiar and Matchless Character That they are able to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. iii. 15. for as it follows All Scripture i.e. all Holy Scripture which he had mentioned in the Verse before is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrin for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God the Minister of the Gospel may be perfect throughly furnish'd unto all good Works may be enabled to perform all the Parts of his Duty more especially those which appertain to his Sacred Calling Besides on other accounts the Scriptures are to be admir'd and to have the preference to all other Books whatsoever The Great Admirers of Homer tell us That they find all things in his Poems what is Excellent in any Art or Profession is to be met with there But upon better grounds I could make it appear that the Writings I am speaking of deserve that Character and Testimony There is no Man of clear Reason but is fully perswaded that there is more Undoubted Antiquity more Excellent History more profound Reason more delightful Eloquence more Choice Learning of all sorts in the Bible than in any other Writings extant in the whole World There need then no Elaborate Perswasives to read this Sacred Volume which is the best under Heaven not only in respect of Divine but Humane Literature and that of all kinds contained in it Even as to this latter there is none can be said to be an Accomplish'd Scholar if he be not acquainted with this Book Next to the Infallible Records of both Testaments the First and Antientest Fathers of the Church call for our Esteem and Enquiry Antiquity in Monuments is Venerable in Religion it should be much more so Prescription corroborates the Civil Rights and Tenures I see not why it should not fortify the Ecclesiastical Luther and Calvin are Great Names and will ever be so in the True Christian Church but yet they ought in some respects to Veil to those Greater and Earlier Lights of the Church Ignatius Iustin Martyr Irenâ—â—us Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Cyprian and others of the Antients from whom we learn what Defections there were from the Truth what were the Errors and Heresies and Corrupt Practices of the First Ages of Christianity and how the Virgin Purity and Simplicity of the Church were almost defac'd by them Especially from those that were the Learn'd Apologists in those Times and afterwards who Asserted Christianity against the Iews on one hand and the Pagans on the other we may in a great measure discover what is Orthodox and Authentick and what is of a different Nature And it is reasonable to infer hence that the Church at this day should for the most part be Defended and Vindicated by the Writings of those who were its First Defenders they being so Great Judges of the Primitive Doctrine and Practice Thirdly To Reading I must necessarily adjoin Meditation both which perform'd by due Turns is
properly Studying And certainly this is of singular Use we cannot more effectually fit our selves for our Great and Important Work that we are call'd to than by serious and sober Reflections on our Minds by Sifting and Examining our Notions and observing what Conformity they bear to our Unprejudiced Faculties by being intimately acquainted with our Thoughts and exercising our selves to a familiarity with Rational and Solid Principles and by causing them to bring their utmost Aids to Support and Maintain the Articles of Christianity Our Reading will be of little use without this for it is by Pondering on the things that we have Read and by Comparing them among themselves that we are able to digest our Notions and to arrive to the true Understanding of Matters propounded to us The Royal Psalmist's Experiment concerning himself is worthy of our Observation I have more understanding saith he than all my Teachers for thy Testimonies are my Meditation Psal. cxix 99. I find a mighty Increase and advance in Divine Knowledge because I use my self to a serious Contemplation on those Heavenly and Sublime Truths and thereby I am capable of penetrating into the profound Nature of them and to discern those wonderful things in them which are hid from others We may take notice that after many seasonable Instructions and Precepts given by St. Paul to Timothy his Faithful Assistant in the Work of the Gospel he adjoins this which is of as great use as any of the rest Meditate upon these things 1 Tim. iv 15. And so again after several Pious Admonitions and Exhortations he adds Consider what I say 2 Tim. ii 7. Which Advice reaches all of Timothy's Character and is as much as if he had said Revolve these things often in your Minds and let this Charge which I leave with you be continually in your Thoughts Accustom your selves to Thinking and know that it is the part of a Christian as well as of a Man but especially it is an indispensable Qualification in a Publick Instructer in one that is to Amend and Rectifie the Sentiments of Mankind If therefore we are desirous to attain to any Improvement and Excellency in our Ministry we must not herd with the Crowd but retire from it and hold converse with our own Minds and thereby Teach and Instruct our selves and so we shall be fit to do the same to others Which is the next thing I shall treat of Fourthly Another way whereby we are to Edify the Church and Excel in it is the Office of Preaching or as the Apostle stiles it Prophesying He gives this the Precedence to all the other Gifts which he mentions either in this or the Twelfth Chapter of this Epistle Covet earnestly spiritual Gifts but rather that ye may Prophesy This is that Endowment which according to him makes most for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry and for the Edifying of the Body of Christ. which Character shews it to be this Gift which I'm now to speak of This is a Complicate Office and contains many Excellent things in it as first the Informing of Mens Judgments and setting them into Right Apprehensions concerning things in Religion The Leading Requisite as I conceive in a Preacher is Orthodoxy He is to be one that owns those Principles and Articles of Faith which have been always profess'd by the Universal Church Let us not assume the Title of Protestants and yet reject some of the Great Heads of Divinity which are acknowledg'd by all Sober Persons of the Reformation Let us not say we are of the Church of England and yet deny some of the Chief Doctrines contain'd in her Articles Let us not profess our selves to be Ministers of the Word and yet renounce those Truths which are formally contain'd in it or are according to it For either Express words of Scripture or Natural and Plain Consequences from it are to be the Standards of that Doctrin which we deliver It is required of us not only to Establish Truth but to Detect and Confute Falshood and Heresy therein following the Example of those Great Men Irenaeus Epiphanius Augustin Theodoret. And truly this is become necessary in this Extravagant Age where so many Wild Notions are entertain'd and so many Old Errors revived The Christian Structure cannot but be expos'd to great Hazards and Dangers when its Foundations are Undermined by some and its Superstructure hath continual Batteries made against it by others In such Circumstances how Careful and Watchful should we be How Vigorously and Concernedly should we act Like those Builders at the Restauration of the Iews with a Trowel in one hand and a Sword in the other We must be in a Defensive and Offensive Posture at once securing and maintaining the Apostolical Faith and grappling with the Opposers of it at the same time But yet I must insert this Caution That we ought carefully to avoid all Unnecessary Disputes for nothing is more unbecoming a Preacher of the Gospel and nothing doth more hinder the Success of his Ministry Accordingly we may observe That the Doctrines which minister questions are opposed to Godly edifying â— Tim. l. 4. We shall effect but little in our Employment if we indulge Controversies and delight in Quarrels and promote Intricacies and Perplexities in Religion Our task is to avoid these with all care and to entertain our Hearers with the Necessary Doctrines of Christianity such as depend not on the fallible Deductions of Men but are fixed and unmoveable founded on the Holy Oracles and deliver'd by Christ Jesus and his Apostles Again a Minister and Guide of Souls is not only to rectifie Mens Judgments and to settle them in the Necessary Articles of Religion but further it is required of him that he take care of their Lives and Manners For though True Notions of Religion and Godliness are to lead the way yet to make a Man Absolute and Complete there must be Uprightness of Life Nay indeed unless this latter be look'd after the former will soon decay By Unholiness and Wickedness we see oftentimes that Men Hazard their Principles If the Practice be Debauch'd if the Life be Impure if the Manners be depraved there will be a Corruption in the Judgment Therefore we that are Dispensers of the Word ought to be as concern'd for Practical Religion as for Truth of Doctrin We ought not only to Instruct our Hearers in Right Principles but with all freedom to reprove their Sins and Vices and pathetically to Exhort and Perswade them to all Vertue and Goodness remembring always that a Holy and Exemplary Conversation is the True Edifying of the Church yea 't is the very Top-stone of the Building It is not meer Speculation or bare Discourse that will atchieve this great Work This is as if a Man should undertake to Build a House by Contriving it in his Head or by Talking of it It is the utmost Perfection of a Christian to Live according to his Excellent
Barbarians was the Disagreeings and Animosities in the Church Socrates Particularly observes this that at the same time that the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy persecuted other Dissenting Christians the Gothes and Longobards invaded Italy The fourth Century had abounded with Schism and Faction as well as Heresies And behold as the Effect as well as Recompence of these the fifth Century labour'd under an other sort of Plagues viz. the Irruption of those Savages partly Pagans and partly Arians who miserably Persecuted the Orthodox Christians in Italy Spain France and other Countries The Church might justly ascribe this to their own Home-Divisions Those Dreadful things it is probable had never come to pass if the Christians had not been Shatter'd and Distracted among themselves if they had not swarm'd with Various Opinions and fill'd every place with Disputes and Controversies if they had not mangled and corrupted many Heads of the Christian Faith if their Bishops had not been Haughty and Proud and not only despised and vilified their Inferior Brethren but likewise had Jarr'd with one another in short if both Governors and People had not been given to Tearing and Rending amongst themselves and if a Spirit of Division had not possess'd them beyond all Exorcism Thus it happen'd to the Church in the fifth Century Again to touch upon an other Coast of History when in Arabia Felix and Syria and the adjoyning Countries several Sects and Parties of Christians had sprung up as Melchites Maronites Eutychians Nestorians Monothelites c. then in that very Arabia but no longer to be call'd the Happy appeared the Grand Impostor Mahomet He and his Successors got up and gain'd Ground not only there but in other Places by the many Disputes and Parties which were among the Christians And whilst the Churches of Ierusalem Antioch and Constantinople unchristianly contended about Priority and such like Points the Turks came and decided the Controversy This is now known to be a Great Truth and not to be doubted of that the Mahometan Empire arose from the Contentions in the East when the Churches were torn asunder with the Arian and Manichean Doctrines For this Dissention bred in many Men an hatred of the Christian Religion and of the very Name of it and then any Opinion or Doctrine especially if grateful to the Flesh could not but be easily entertain'd and embraced Is it not fad to consider that the Vilest Cheat in the World That of Mahometism was foster'd and set forward by the Differences of those who were of the Christian Religion And afterwards it was no wonder that when the Greek Church was divided within it self into Armeniâ—ns Georgians Iacobites c. it was oppressed by the Turks and Saracens and quite over-run by them Their own Divisions armed these People against them their Quarrels among themselves put Weapons into the Hands of their Enemies and helpt them to Vanquish them To make this Reflection the more Authentick I will give it you as it is represented in one of the Homilies of our Church Where after it was observ'd that the Dissention of the Eastern and Western Christians was very much promoted by the Quarrel about Images the Conclusion is this So that when the Saracens first and afterwards the Turks invaded the Christians the one part of Christendom would not help the other By reason whereof at last the Noble Empire of Greece and the City Imperial Constantinople was lost and came into the Hands of the Infidels And immediately after Thus a Sea of Mischiefs was brought in a horrible Schism between the East and the West Church an hatred between one Christian and another Councels against Councels Church against Church Christians against Christians Princes against Princes at last the tearing in sunder of Christendom and the Empire in two Pieces till the Infidels Saracens and Turks common Enemies to both parts have most cruelly Vanquish'd Destroy'd and Subdued the one part and have won a great Piece of the other Empire and put the whole in dreadful Fear and most horrible Danger Still in pursuance of the Argument I am upon I might remind you that the Discord of Christians was it which lost Ierusalem after it had been held by them Successively a long time after it had cost them so much Blood in their several Expeditions and Crusades The Saracens strength in the Holy Land accrued by the Misunderstandings of the Princes of Europe when the Holy War was turn'd into Civil Dissentions And as Turcism arose and increased by the Dissentions of Christians so it is easy to prove that Popery had the same Rise and Advance for there is abundant History to make it clear that by Divisions in Doctrine and Practice in the Church in the first Ages those Corruptions first crept in Especially by reaso of the Dissention among Christian Emperours Kings and Princes the Papal Religion arrived to what it is For whenever These fell out with one another the Popes stood ready to make advantage of it and they always thereby increas'd and advanc'd their own Power and Authority and consequently the Papal Cause I might leave Christendom and travel as far as China and shew you that vast and spacious Kingdom which above 4000 Years together enjoy'd an uninterrupted Peace and knew not so much as the Use of Arms to defend their Country which no People in the World can say besides them At last the occasion of putting a Period to this long Tranquility was the Discords of this Kingdom among themselves the Divisions and Inflammations within their own Bowels and the Civil Wars occasion'd by Usurpers of the Throne Which were follow'd with the irruption of the Scythians and Asiatick Tartars upon them who in those unhappy Circumstances got the better of them and after a long and bloody War possess'd that Kingdom the wealthiest and most populous in the whole World that we know of and to this Day are Masters of it And now when we are travelling we may visit the Famous Country of the Abyssines or Ethiopia a large Kingdom in Africk but lately shrunk into a lesser Compass and almost lay'd wast by the Natives of the Place some of them having turn'd State-Rebels and others set on by the Iesuites fighting on a Religious Account But I will not wander so far but come home to our selves and prosecute the Argument with relation to this Land of our Nativity They were the Civil Wars of the Antient Britains which tempted Iulius Caesar to invade this Island at first This was the Rise of the Romans coming hither and this was the occasion of the Britains being conquered It is evident from the most Credible Historians that our Ancestours a very warlike and valiant People were vanquished rather by the Perfidiousness of their own Androgeus and the Quarrels of others among themselves than by the valour and force of the Invaders For they tell us that Iulius Caesar was invited over by that Androgeus who at that time quarrell'd with
Cassibelan and other Great Men and so Caesar fought and overcame and made this Island tributary to Rome Though it is true this was not presently Effected but after several Assaults For the Britains who were not inferior to the Roman Legions in Valour repuls'd them at first and Caesar fled from Britain Of this Juncture of Affairs Tacitus speaks acquainting us that the Britains fell into Factions and Parties and could not agree among themselves to resist the common Danger So whilst they fought divided they were joyntly defeated And in succeeding Ages there never was any great Enemy entred this Kingdom but when there were Schisms and Distractions at home Whether other Nations were invited over hither or invaded us it was always occasion'd by Dissention among our selves There different People successively took the Opportunity of overrunning our Country when our Bickrings and Digladiations were great in our own Bowels It was this which gave occasion to the Saxons to invade this Land or if you will rather to our Ancestours to call them in for the Picts who were the Old Barbarous Britains were divided from the rest of the Nation and held Confederacy with the Scots Therefore Gildas expressly sheweth that one cause of the fatal Councel of sending for the Saxons to come and assist them was their Disagreement and Contention among themselves The Southern and Northern Inhabitants were at odds which moved Vortigern the Head of the Natives at that time to send for those Saxons who came over and miserably requited the Britains for the care they shew'd to them and the kind Entertainment they gave them and with many and long Battels made this Land a place of Slaughter Ravage and Bloodshed And afterwards these very Saxons who seem'd to have made amends for all their violence and mischief by the ardent Zeal which they shew'd to the Christian Faith as soon as 't was Preach'd among them by their building of Churches and Religious Houses by their extraordinary Devotion and by their care to propagate and spread the Christian Religion these Noble Converts who flourish'd under their Heptarchy so long a time were ruined at length by their Intestine Broils and Wars as our Learned Antiquary observes And if you consult our Chronicles you will find that nothing gave the Danes and Normans more advantage against our Predecessors than their Divisions and Quarrels among themselves In brief the former State of things in this Nation immediately fore-going the several devastations by Foreign Invasion hath in This as well as in some other Circumstances too near an Alliance and Correspondence with our Present Times I pray God avert the Omen And let us endeavour for now I am coming to turn my History into Application let us I say endeavour to avert it by the most Proper Means we can use that is by studying Peace and Unity and by promoting Love and Goodwill among one another This is the Practical Inference which we are to make from the Premises And certainly if ever there was need of Preaching and Practising this duly there is now more especially We have been and are at this Day a People divided against our selves and therefore it is a wonderful Prodigy that we have not had our final Downfal before this But now we cannot reasonably expect to stand any longer if we continue in our Divisions and persist in our mutual Antipathies Let us then in this our Day know the things which belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes and that for ever Let us agree as Members of the same Community and banish all Dissentions and Animosities I know this hath been a very Common and Trite Subject But assure your selves that at this time it is the most Proper and Suitable one that a Preacher can entertain you with For on the speedy Practice of this depends all your Safety all your Security all your Wellfare and Happiness in this World If you neglect this you plunge your selves into Ruin but if you are so wise as to attend to it you contribute towards the Establishment of the Nation towards the lasting Prosperity of the Publick Amphion is said in a Poetick rant to have built the Walls of Thebes by help of his Musick But it is no Fiction but a solid Truth that Harmony and Concord are the best means of building up the Walls of our Ierusalem and of incompassing it with more firm and durable ones than those of Brass which the Famed Frier as 't is said vainly boast'd he would environ England with Let us then cast away all unbecoming disgusts and grudgings at one another And though we are an Island and divided from the rest of the World let us not be Dissevered and Divided from our selves Let us love as Brethreâ— and acknowledge none to be our Enemies but such as we know are Implacable Enemies to our Religion that is those who have a design to Rob us of that which is dearer to us than our Lives And to urge this Effectually upon you I will offer these following Considerations to you 1st Consider the Scandal of our Divisions It is a Reproach to our Religion as we are Christians that we nourish so many Feuds and Disturbances among us For the Blessed Author and Founder of our Religion pronounced the Peace-makers blessed and made Love and Peace the honourable Badges of our Profession and we find that all the excellent Principles of the Gospel lead to these and that Christianity it selfe inculcates nothing more than the Practice of them But not only thus in general as we are Christians but in a more Especial manner as we are Protestants we are under a strict Obligation of mutual Amity and Agreement There are two things among others which the Church of Rome glories in first that they perfectly agree among themselves secondly that we on the contrary are divided and break out into passionate Heats and Contests That there is too much of Truth in this their Boasting we cannot denâ—â— though with reference to the former part it must be said and that with equal Truth that they have their Divisions and Parties no less than we as I could easily prove if I were at leisure to do it but 't is granted that as to the Main they are at Unity among themselves that is they perfectly agree to oppose the Protestant Cause They consult together with one consent and are confederate against it This is the Great Prop and Preservative of the Church of Rome this buoys up the whole Papal Interest viz. their Agreement among themselves their being all of a Piece viz. with relation to us And is it not a shame that we should learn of them how to behave our selves Do not our own Reason Necessity and the Cause it self require that we maintain an entire Concord Must we go to the Roman Catholicks to be taught our Duty in this Point This is very Scandalous and I cannot mention it without a peculiar Disdain and Regret nor can
Certainty of all the doctrines of the Gospel may be discover'd yea and demonstrated to the minds of those who are fitted and prepared for it but still the Efficacy of sundry Evangelical Truths is kept secret from some persons for a time and some of them are of that quality that they will ever surmount and baffle the utmost efforrs of our Intellectual Powers In another place Col. 2. 2. the Apostle mentions the mystery of God and of the Father or rather it should be rendred even of the Father and of Christ that is the Gospel or the Christian Religion wherein God the First Person in the Glorious Trinity is declar'd to be the Father of Christ and Christ the Second Person is declared to be the Eternal Son of God and God himself These and the like Fundamental Principles of Christianity are Dark and Mysterious and because of these Sublime Truths Christianity it self hath the name of Mystery given to it If there were no other place in the New Testament but this where the word mystery is found it could not create wonder that the Socinians even for the sake of this alone contend that Christianity is not simply and absolutely call'd a Mystery in Scripture for here the Godhead of Christ as well as of the Father is asserted for the word God is attributed to both Persons God even the Father and Christ being the same with God who is both Father and Christ and consequently if they deny Christ to be very God as they do they must deny the Father to be so too I proceed to another Text in the same Epistle Col. 4. 3. whence it is manifest that in the stile and idiom of the New Testament the Gospel or Christianity hath the name of a Mystery for the Apostle expresly calls it the mystery of Christ the same with the mystery of the Gospel in the place before mention'd and he requests the Prayers of the Colossians for him that God would open unto him a door of utterance to speak this Mystery of Christ i.e. freely and openly to preach the Gospel as appears further from what follows next for which I am in bonds that is a Sufferer a Prisoner for my preaching the Truâ—hs of the Gospel So that it is impoâ—sible whatever is suggested to the contrary to understand the word here any otherwise than of the doâ—trine of the Gospel as it was then preach'd by this Apostle this is Mysterious and Hidden and in many things Inexplicable So again in 1 Tim. 3. 9. by the mystery of the faith which the Ministers and Officers of the Church are exhorted to hold i.e. to defend and maintain must needs be meant the Evangelical Truths and Doctrines The holding the mystery of the faith is the same here with holding fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. that is the Articles of the Christian Faith the doctrines of the Gospel And lastly in that Text on which I found the present Discourse Religion is call'd the Mystery of Godliness for immediately after the Apostle had made mention of the Truth which is held forth as on a Pillar in the Christian Church he assigns some of the greatest and fairest branches of it and in order to that acquaints us that we may the better know the true nature of them that they are a Mystery and that not with relation to the ages and generations before the Gospel but to the present Mysteriousness of this Sacred Institution for by consulting the Context you will find that the words are spoken Absolutely and Entirely without any respect to the past times of the world under Iudaism or Gentilism They represent to us the condition of Christianity as it is at this day and as it is in it self consider'd And so this and all the other Texts that I last mention'd are a baffle to what some late Advocates of Socinianism pretend to prove viz. that in the New Testament the word Mystery is always used to signifie something that is intelligible and clear in it self and in its own nature but clouded with figurative and mystical words but never to denote a thing that is dark and unconceivable in it self The contrary is plain and evident from the fore-cited Texts and every unprejudiced man that duly scans them must needs acknowledge that Christianity is there call'd a Mystery not in regard of what it was but what it is It is true there are some other Texts in the New Testament where the word Mystery is mention'd but it hath there no relation at all to the present Matter viz. the Gospel or Christianity in it self consider'd Thus in Rom. 11. 25. the General and Final Conversion of the Iews in the last ages of the world is call'd a Mystery In 1 Cor. 13. 2. mysteries is a general word for all matters of knowledge that are abstruse and dark and it refers more particularly to the knowledge of future things for to know all mysteries seems to be explicatory of the foregoing phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a gift of Prophesying that is foretelling and declaring things to come as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in the preceding chapter v. 10. In 1 Cor. 14. 2. mysteries is a large and extensive term and used by the Apostle to signifie those divine doctrines which are mysterious and difficult but it is not particularly applied by him and therefore I have not made use of it In 1 Cor. 15. 51. it is restrain'd to a particular Truth which was unknown to the Corinthians at that time but St. Paul reveals it to them behold saith he I shew you a mystery viz. this that we shall not all sleep those that are alive at at Christ's Coming shall not die after the manner of all other men but we shall all be changed they shall undergo such an alteration that their corruptible state shall be chang'd into that which is incorruptible and immortal The Conjugal State is said to be a mystery â—ph 5. 32. because it shadows forth the Union of Christ and the Church as the Sacraments were stiled Mysteries by the Ancient Writers of the Church because they were a Representation of so great a thing as Christ's Body Mystery is applied in the Revelation chap. 1. v. 20. and chap. 17. v. 7. to particular Visions and Revelations which had a mystical and spiritual meaning in them In Rev. 10. 7. the mystery of God is said to be finish'd or fulfilled for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is meant of the Glorious and Flourishing state of the Christian Church in the last times of the world which hath been kept as a Mystery from the generality of men but when the Seventh Angel sounds his Trumpet then as we are there assur'd that Mystery shall actually be accomplish'd and fulfill'd But none of these Texts refer to our present Matter as any Understanding Reader may perceive only I thought fit to produce them that they might
short of the other in this that he hath not attain'd to that Spiritual discerning of Evangelical truths which the Apostle speaks of and without which it is utterly impossible to have such a knowledge of them as will be effectual to Salvation and Happiness I will add only one Text more 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world i.e. Satan hath blinded the minds of them who believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Here it is implied that the Gospel is hid from some persons yea and we are told from whom viz. such as according to the foregoing stile of the Apostle are Natural men those that live in their sins and suffer their minds to be blinded and perverted to be corrupted and debauch'd by the Diabolick Spirit the Prince and Ruler of this lower world To such the Gospel and the Truths of it are meer Darkness Thus it abundantly appears from the Sacred Writ whence we are to fetch our discoveries concerning these things that the Proposition which I laid down is an impregnable and unshaken Truth viz. that Christianity retains still the nature of a Mystery and that more especially as so some persons The Reason is plain because Natural Strength is not sufficient of it self to discover these Divine Truths Unless the Soul be illuminated by the Holy Spirit these remain unintelligible and wholly ineffectual and useless as to any Saving vertue and efficacy This I take to be the meaning of our Saviour's words Iohn 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Unless as the Apostle speaks he be renewed in the spirit of his mind and that by the power of the Holy Ghost he cannot understand aright the Truths of the Gospel which is call'd frequently the kingdom of God and of heaven he cannot see he cannot enter into as 't is express'd in v. 5. those divine things This is that which our Saviour avers Mat. 11. 27. Neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and he to whosoever the Son will reveal him viz. by an Inward and Effectual Discovery for they had the Outward Revelation then When the Apostle St. Peter acknowledged Christ to be the Son of the living God our Saviour told him that flesh and blood had not reveal'd this to him but his Father who is in heaven Mat. 16. 17. It was not the work of Nature but of the Spirit of God the Father that had effectually wrought this Knowledge in him This sort of Light is peculiarly from the Father of lights this Singular Wisdom is from above and accordingly as some interpret that place Iohn 3. 13. the knowledge of these Heavenly and Spiritual things is call'd ascending up to heaven From thence is deriv'd that Insight into the things of God which no Natural man hath attain'd to For in this Degenerate State of mankind the Great Points of our Religion are under a Seal and lock'd up from us and are never to be disclosed till a Divine Light opens our eyes We must of necessity remain Blind till that Eye-Salve Rev. 3. 18. be effectually applied And it can be applied only by the Holy Spirit whose proper work it is to dispel that spiritual darkness whereby the mind is indisposed to understand and discern divine matters aright This is variously express'd in the Holy Writings viz. by such terms as these shining in our hearts to give the light of knowledge 2 Cor. 4. 6. giving us an understanding to know 1 John 5. 20. enlightning the eyes of our understanding Eph. 1. 18. an Vnction from the Holy One 1 John 2. 20. Which cannot be better paraphras'd and explain'd than in the words of an Eminent Prelate of our Church The same Spirit which revealeth the Object of Faith generally to the Universal Church doth also illuminate the understanding of such as believe that they may receive the Truth For Faith is the gift of God not only in the Object but also in the Act. And afterwards in the Close he hath these words We affirm not only the Revelation of the Will of God but also the Illumination of the Soul of Man to be part of the office of the Holy Spirit of God against the Old and New Palagians So that Judicious Writer It is this Holy Instructor that disposes the mind to receive the light of Divine Truth by curing it of its Natural Darkness and Ignorance and by preparing the heart to receive its Rays There is required a Special Grace of the Holy Ghost to enlighten the Soul and to make due impressions upon it The â—aculty of the Understanding must be puriâ—ied and so made fit to apprehend Spiritual objects This is part of the Renewed Nature and Regenerate Principle and consequently where this is not the Great Doctrines of Christianity are Hidden Secrets and Unknown Mysteries From what hath been said I will only draw these Two Corollaries 1. It is no wonder that the Followers of Socinus will not acknowledge Christianity to be a Mystery for they hold there is no necessity of â— Supernatural Light no need of Illumination from the Spirit in order to the due apprehending and understanding of the Divine Truths of the Gospel There is they say in all men that natural ability whereby they are capable of discerning all Spiritual and Heavenly matters in a spiritual way They are enabled by virtue of an Inbred Power in their minds abstract from what is Supernatural to perceive and believe as they ought all the Evangelical doctrines propounded to them Wolzogen ridicules the Internal and Supernatural Illumination I have been speaking of Velthusius an Author that is much applauded by some of Socinus's follwers tells us plainly That the knowledge of a regenerate and unregenerate man concerning the things and mysteries of faith differs not from the light of Reason I appeal to the Intelligent whether this be not an approach to an Heresie long since condemned in the Christian Church It is well known that it was the Pelagian Error to assert that men can attain to a perfect knowledge of their duty and an ability to perform it by meer Natural Reason by the bare help of that light which Nature gives them And in this as well as some other Points the Socinians symbolize with those Ancient Hereticks They cry up Reason as the Only thing in Religion this with them like the Archaeus among the Chymists doth all feats produces all operations Though these men seem to be great Abhorrers of those who talk of the Light within them yet it is evident that they allow of the very same Principle and Practise they equal the Light of Reason to the Holy Scripture and say it will serve instead of this and that it is as good as Scripture because all men may be Saved by it Therefore this they urge
enjoyn'd us but we are to satisfie our selves with this that God's Will ought to be the Standard of ours and therefore we ought to resign our selves to the Divine Conduct And these men allow of this as just and rational and advise that our Natural desires and propensions should give way to our Saviour's Commands he being our Great Law-giver and Master And why then do they shew themselves Partial in denying it reasonable to submit the Intellectual part of the Mind to the doctrines and dictates of the Gospel Is there not as much reason to take care of this Faculty to look to the management of it to keep it within its due bounds as there is to deal thus with the Elective Power of the Soul If they are content to surrender this to the Divine Will why are they against subjecting the other to the Divine Lighâ— and Discoveries If it be commendâ—ble to curb and moderate the Concupiscible or â—rascible part why not also to regulate and govern the Perceptive If the Will must be check'd why must the Intellect be left uncontroulable If they measure the Goodness of the former Power in them by the Laws and Rules of Christ what is the reason that they measure not the Rectitude of the latter by the discoveries of Divine Truth made by the same Author in the Writings of the New Testament Seeing they deem it proper and necessary for humane minds to vail the first to the express Injunctions of the Gospel why do they not think it as requisite to submit the second to the infallible dictates of the Holy Spirit in Scripture why do they not abandon their own weak sentiments about the highest Concerns of Christianity why do they not renounce their private surmises their shallow arguings their sophistical ratiocinations and give them up to be corrected by the light of Divine Revelation why are they not sensible of the deficiency and indigence of their Minds of the narrowness and contractedness of their understandings and why do they not at the same time adore the Divine Perfection why do they not inure their understandings to the dictates of Inspiration and believe what is Unintelligible Particularly in the doctrine of the Trinity why do they lean to their own understandings why do they prescribe to Heaven and set up their own weak Conceptions as the Standard of Divine Truth In a word why do they not make their meer Natural Notions and Principles truckle to Reveal'd Truth and bring their Reason into subjection to the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they come here with their old cry and cavils that the Article of the Trinity and some others that appertain to it are contrary to Reason and are a perfect Contradiction and are Impossibilities as their language is we may for ever silence them with this that they can't with any shew of Reason talk after this rate because they can't pronounce that to be Contrary to Reason the Nature of which they are ignorant of what they can't reach with their Reason they can't say is Repugnant to it Nor can they doom this or that to be Contradictory when they know nothing of the Manner of it And so for the Impossibility of a thing it is rash folly to determine it cannot be when they are unacquainted with the Transcendent Nature of it when the Mode of its existence is hid from them This I think is very plain and it is as pertinent to the matter in hand I having proved that the doctrine of the Trinity and such like Articles of Christianity are hidden Mysteries Therefore let not these men think to amuse and banter us as they would needs do with â—alking of Contradictions Impossibilities c. which are Terms that are nothing to the purpose But this I request of them that they would be Serious and vouchsafe to reflect on what I have suggested under this Head for the Article of the Trinity would be a very clear and bright Truth to them if they would but entertain this one thing in their thoughts that they are oblig'd as much to keep a discipline over their Understandings as over their Wills that the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind are to be in subjection It is mention'd as part of Man's Depravity and alienation from his first Make that he seeks out many Inventions i. e. as the Hebrew word signifies curious Excogitations quaint Arguings fanciful Reasonings These especially in matters of Religion are greedily sought out and pursued by Vain men but where the true force and vertue of Religion prevail there they cast down imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasonings and every high thing every proud Conceit that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought i. e. every corrupt notion and conception which usurps upon Faith This is the Conduct of our Minds which the Apostles teaches us we must quit our false Argumentations and Debates about the the Great Mysteries of our Religion we must not dare to be wise above what is written above or beyond what Divine Revelation hath taught us but we must resolve all our doubts and scruples by appealing to Divine Authority and the Veracity of God It may be the Sagacious Gentlemen we have to do with at present will grant that some Vulgar heads among whom perhaps they will reckon the foresaid Apostle have favour'd the restraining and limiting of the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind but will this pass current they may say with those that are voted for Men of Sense and Wit will it be admitted by Men of Keen Apprehensions men of Judgment and Philosophy Yes most surely if they will be pleas'd to take the Learned Lord Verulam and the Great Des Cartes into that number The former of whom hath left these remarkable words Gods Sovereignty reaches to the whole man extending it self no less to his Reason than his Will so that it well becomes man to deny himself universally and yield up all to God Wherefore as we are bound to obey the Law of God notwithstanding the reluctancy of our Will so are we also to believe his Word though against the reluctancy of our Reason The latter expresses himself thus and though some may think it is spoken in Politick Compliance yet it is more than they can prove and it is certain that they are in themselves words of truth and soberness and worthy of so Great a Man We must saith he always and chiefly remember this that God the Author of things is Infinite and we altogether finite so that when God reveals any thing concerning himself or other things which surpasses the natural strength of our wit such as the Mysteries of the Incarnation or Trinity we are not to refuse to give our Assent to them though we do not clearly understand them And again in the Close of this First Part of his Philosophical Principles he hath left
to defame libel and blaspheme Christianity and all the Mysteries of it and they make use of their Reason to make void their Faith But now all this may be prevented and hindred by a humble and Christian submission to the Sacred Oracles by a free resigning our selves to the Faith of the Gospel and by giving credit to it Articles because they are deliver'd and attested by God himself in the Infallible Writings which even Reason it self dictates to be the best Method we can take to establish and confirm us in our Religion and to assure us of the Truth of all its doctrines be they never so perplexed and mysterious Nor doth this introduce a Blind Credulity and such an Implicit Faith as some of the Romanists defend for when we resign up our judgments to Divine Revelation we are not debarr'd from examining and searching into and satisfying our selves about the Truth of the things we speak of but only of the Mode of them Which makes it a quite different thing from the practice of the Roman Proselytes who are bid to swallow down whatever is dictated to them and that upon the bare Authority and Warrant of the Church But here is no such crude Method prescribed we are to search the Scriptures whether these things be so and we are to make use of Reason to shew and convince us how fitting it is that we should believe what is reveal'd by the Spirit of God For seeing since the Revolt and Original Depravation of Man we stand in need of Revelation to direct us right Reason tells us that it is unsafe to rely on the bare suggestions of our own minds in the great matters of Religion This acquaints us that though we are not capable of answering all difficulties in those Points yet we are oblig'd to give credit to the doctrines themselves because they are founded on Scripture which was divinely inspired This Principle in us assures us that though we can't fully explain these things by Reason yet we have reason to believe the Holy Writ which is the Rule and Measure of our Faith yea notwithstanding those Points seem to thwart the natural principles of Reason Thus far we have Reason on our side And then for Scripture that is wholly and entirely ours Those Grand Articles which our Antagonists renounce are found there Particularly to instance in that Great and Celebrated Doctrine which I have so often mention'd one would think it might suffice that this is so directly so plainly so frequently asserted in the New Testament where we find Three expresly named Father Son and Holy Ghost to whom the Divinity is ascribed and therefore we believe these Three to be One God But how these three distinct Hypostases are one Entire Indivisible Essence is an ineffable and incomprehensible Mystery Yet though we can't conceive the Manner of this yet the Thing it self is clearly and plainly reveal'd in Scripture and consequently the Socinians have no cause to brag that theirs is an Accountable and Reasonable Faith when it absolutely opposes and contradicts the Holy Oracles of the Bible This is the true state of the matter and so it was thought to be by that Learned Writer whom I before quoted who hath the repute even among these men of a Person of Great Reason and Sense speaking of them he thus expresses himself Their Opinion I look upon as fundamentally repugnant to Christianity it self if the New Testament be the foundation of Christianity for I know nothing more express than That viz. the Trinity in those Writings And therefore the denying of the Trinity is the denying of the Authority of the New Testament Or if they will pretend they can interpret things there so as to evade this doctrine by the same reason I think they may evade any and so still the Sacred Writ shall stand for a Cypher and signifie nothing which tends mainly to the enervating of our Faith These are very Weighty words and the more to be consider'd by our Adversaries because they come from One of a Large Compass of Mind and a great Asserter of Reason in Religion which is a thing that these Gentlemen pretend much to The sum of what he saith is this that if the Scripture be true the doctrine of the Trinity is so too if Divine Revelation in the books of the New Testament is to be believ'd then this also must be embraced And on this very account it hath been embraced by all religious and pious minds that have had a reverence for the Holy Scriptures As it was the Faith once delivered to the Saints so it hath ever since been the steady belief of all the Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus and all the True Professors of Christianity and it hath with invincible force in all ages of the Church born down all opposition that hath been made against it And I question not but those violent Efforts and Insults which have been and are made against it in this present Age will prove vain and successless Though we have seen the rain descend and the flouds come and the winds blow and beat upon it yet it shall never fall because it is founded upon a rock the same Rock on which the Church of Christ is built viz. the Confession and Testimony of the Inspired Apostles the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures the Veracity of God and the Certainty of Divine Revelation And all the other Sacred Mysteries of our Religion have the very same stable foundation and therefore are Impregnable Let this then satisfie us that these Doctrines are sufficiently reveal'd though they are not fully known I say they are sufficiently revealed because the Book of God assure us that these things are so but they are not fully known because we are not able to discover the Arguments on which they are founded we discern not the foot on which they stand God hath been pleas'd to hide this from us But then this is to be said It is not reasonable to renounce our belief of that which is plain and evident because it is mix'd with something which is dark and intricate It was an Excellent Caution and Rule of the Great St. Augustine Nunquid ideo negandum quod apertum est quia comprehendi non potest quod occultum est The Truth of a Doctrine may be evident and perspicuous and that is sufficient to command our Assent tho' the Nature of it is not The Modes and Circumstances appertaining to Divine things are not to be accounted for at least if we cannot clear them up we have no reason to quit the Grand Truths themselves These are not to be abandon'd because they are not according to our ordinary level because we are not able to render a punctual account of them because we cannot perfectly Gauge them and sound them to the very bottom in a word because they are not subject to the Tribunal of Reason But if we have any regard to the Sacred and Infallible Volume