differ but in Scripture-expressions in which they all agree And is it not the Imposers that not only in the Arminian Controversy which has caused a Schism in the Protestant Countries beyond Sea but in all others that are guilty of the Separation For I do not see as that very Honest and Judicious Man Mr. Hales in his Tract of Schism observes That Opinionum varietas Opinantium unitas are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that Men of different Opinions may not hold Communion in Sacris or both go to the same Church Why may not I go if occasion requires to an Arian Church so there be no Arianism expressed in their Liturgy and were Liturgies and publick Forms of Service so framed as they admitted no particular and private Fancies but contained those things in which all Christians agree Schisms on Opinions were utterly vanished And let me add that not only Schisms or Heresies but all Hatred Animosities and Uncharitableness would be destroyed For then the Clergy since it would be their common Interest to unite together would maintain Peace Love and Kindness amongst themselves and preach the same to the People who would never were they but left to themselves hate or molest one another for meerly speculative Opinions which make but little impression on them especially too when they did not create any Divisions or Schisms amongst them nay then all Opinions of Moment I mean those which Men cannot neglect examining into without a Fault would being handled without Prejudice or Passion quickly be rightly understood and those of little or no Moment which are chiefly kept up by the Hatred and Animosities of the different Sects and the Artifices of the Priests soon fall to the Ground And this is the sense of the ablest Champion that the Protestant Religion could ever boast of the brave Chillingworth who tells us Ch. 3. n. 8. If Men would be themselves and be content that others should be in the choice of their Religion the Servants of God and not of Men if instead of being zealous Papists earnest Calvinists rigid Lutherans c. they would become themselves and be content that others should be plain and honest Christians if all Men would believe the Scripture and freeing themselves from Prejudice and Passion would sincerely endeavour to find the true Sense of it and live according to it and require no more of others than to do so not refusing their Communion to those that do so would so order their Publick Service of God that all may without Scruple or Hypocrisy or Protestation against any part of it join with them in it who does not see that seeing all necessary Truths are plainly and evidently set down in Scripture there would of necessity be amongst all Men in all things necessary Unity of Opinion and notwithstanding any other Differences that are or could be Unity of Communion and Charity and mutual Toleration by which Means all Schism and Heresy would be banished the World and those wretched Contentions which now rend and tear in pieces not the Coat but the Members and Bowels of Christ with mutual Pride and Tyranny would speedily receive a most blessed Catastrophe So Chap. 4. n. 16. This presumptuous imposing of the Senses of Men upon the Word of God the special Senses of Men upon the general Words of God and laying them on Mens Consciences under the equal Penalty of Death and Damnation this vain Conceit that we can speak of the Things of God better than the Words of God this deifying our own Interpretations and tyrannous enforcing them upon others this restraining the Words of God from that Latitude and Generality and the Understanding of Men from their Liberty where Christ and his Apostles left them is and hath been the only Fountain of all Schisms of the Church and that which makes them immortal the common Incendiary of Christendom Ridente Turca nec dolente Judaeo Take away these Walls of Separation and all will quickly be one Take away this persecuting burning cursing damning of Men for not subscribing to the Words of Men as the Words of God require of Christians only to believe Christ and to call no Man Master but him only Let those leave claiming Infallibility that have no Title to it and let them that in their Words disclaim it disclaim it likewise in their Actions In a word Take away Tyranny which is the Devil's Instrument to support Errors Superstitions and Impieties in the several Parts of the World which could not otherwise long withstand the Power of Truth I say take away Tyranny and restore Christians to the just and full Liberty of captivating their Understanding to Scripture only and as Rivers when they have a free passage run all to the Ocean so it may well be hoped by God's Blessing that Universal Liberty thus moderated may quickly reduce Christendom to Truth and Unity But to add a greater Authority even that of the Apostles themselves who tho they were to teach the People the Christian Faith before they baptized them into it nay it 's impossible any should be of the Christian Church before he knew the Faith that must make him a Christian yet they required no more of those that before believed the Unity of God to qualify them to be Members of the Church than to believe Jesus to be the Christ and that God has raised him from the Dead and the Doctrine of Repentance And upon this Belief which all Christians profess they constantly admitted both Jews and Gentiles into the Church and consequently whilst this Belief remains they are not unqualified to be Members of the Church except Men have a Right now-a-days to disown those for Brethren and Members of the Church that the Apostles owned as such But They are indeed as Mr. Chillingworth observeth the greatest Schismaticks who make the Way to Heaven narrower the Yoke of Christ heavier the Differences of Faith greater than they were made at the beginning by Christ and his Apostles they talk of Unity and aim at Tyranny and will have Peace with none but their Slaves and Vassals 4. But it 's said A Heretick after two or three Admonitions is to be rejected or more properly avoided therefore Difference of Opinions will hinder Men from being of the same Communion By a Heretick is not meant one that thrô the weakness of Understanding is in an Error but an immoral Man that acts against his Conscience for the Apostle describes him as one that 's conscious of his Crime as being condemned of himself on whom Admonitions might have a good Effect or if they should not be sufficient yet that the Trouble and Disgrace of being shunned by his Brethren might reclaim him which Methods could have no such Effect if his Fault had been a meer Error of the Understanding And Heresy cannot but be a Fault of the Will because it 's called a Work of the Flesh and damnable which a meer Error of the Understanding by no means is And
AN ESSAY Concerning the POWER of the MAGISTRATE and the Rights of Mankind in Matters of Religion With some Reasons in particular for the Dissenters not being obliged to take the Sacramental Test but in their own Churches and for a General Naturalization Together with a Postscript in Answer to the Letter to a Convocation-Man LONDON Printed by J. D. for Andrew Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil 1697. THE CONTENTS of the CHAPTERS PART I. Chap. 1. THAT Government is from the People who had a Right to invest the Magistrate with a Power in those Matters of Religion which have an Influence on Humane Societies but not in others that are meerly Religious or have no such Influence Page 1 Chap. 2. That God has not either by the Law of Nature or his positive Law given the Magistrate a Power in Matters meerly Religious Pag. 17 Chap. 3. That a Power in the Magistrate to use Force in Matters of meer Religion tends to Mens Eternal Ruin Pag. 27 Chap. 4. That Compulsion is inconsistent with all those Duties that God for the sake of Mens Temporal Happiness requires of one towards another P. 30 Chap. 5. That the Doctrine of Compulsion is directly contrary to the Honour of God Pag. 47 PART II. Chap. 1. AN Answer to Arguments from Scripture on behalf of Persecution Pag. 68 Chap. 2. Arguments from Humane Authority answered Pag. 78 Chap. 3. Object That Compulsion tends to make People impartially consider examined Pag. 87 Chap. 4. Object That the Magistrate has a Right to use Force to prevent the Increase to those Erroneous Opinions that a Toleration would produce examined Pag. 103 Chap. 5. That all Force upon the Account of meer Religion is inconsistent with the Principles of the Protestant Religion Pag. 117 Chap. 6. Of the Method to destroy not only Schisms and Heresies but Hatred and Vncharitableness amongst Christians notwithstanding their different Opinions Pag. 124 Chap. 7. That the Good of the Society obligeth the Magistrate to hinder different Professions of Religion examined Pag. 144 Chap. 8. Some few Reasons for the Dissenters not taking the Sacramental Test but in their own Churches and for a General Naturalization Pag. 168 Postscript Pag. 176 Errata Page 28. line 5. for Truth read Lawfulness P. 42. l. 12. r. seventy times P. 48. l. ult r. Notion P. 73. l. 21. r. one P. 99. l. 19. r. betrayed him P. 103. l. 22. r. if Force should P. 144. l. 1. r. Chap. VII P. 190. l. 10. r. creating An ESSAY Concerning the Power of the MAGISTRATE c. CHAP. I. That Government is from the People who had a right to invest the Magistrate with a Power in those Matters of Religion which have an Influence on Humane Societies but not in others that are meerly Religious or have no such Influence 1. A Discourse on this Subject cannot be unseasonable whilst so many instead of shewing their Gratitude to the Government for rescuing them from the apparent Danger of Popish Persecution are so disaffected for being depriv'd of the Power of persecuting their Brethren that they had rather run the risque of the Nation 's being ruined by the French and themselves under Popish Persecution than to be without that Power and for want of it do in their daily invective Discourses and Sermons besides a great many other malicious Insinuations pretend the Church now to be nearer its Ruin than it was in the late Reign I cannot but be sensible I incur a great hazard of exposing my self by writing on a Subject in a manner wholly exhausted by the three incomparable Letters concerning Toleration which yet I had rather do than be wanting in my Endeavours to encourage impartial Liberty and mutual Toleration which instead of ruining is the only way to preserve both Church and State Yet this was not the only Motive that engag'd me in this Design for intending to write concerning what is commonly called Church or Ecclesiastical Power I thought it necessary for the better handling that Subject first to examine the Extent of the Magistrate's Power in Matters of Religion lest the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power should in my Discourse what in the World they frequently do clash one with the other I shall therefore without further prefacing attempt to shew what Power the Magistrate has in Matters of Religion Tho to prevent all occasion of Mistake or Cavil I shall first explain those Terms 2. By the Magistrate I mean the Person or Persons who in every Society have the Supream Power which consists in a Right to make Laws and by Force without which all Laws would be to no purpose to oblige the Unwilling and Disobedient to govern their Actions according to them 3. By Religion I understand the Belief of a God and the Sense and Practice of those Duties which result from the Knowledg we have of him and our selves and the Relation we stand in to him and our fellow Creatures or in short whatever appears to us from any convincing Evidence to be our Duty to believe or practise 4. In things relating to our selves or what is in our disposal any Action is lawful where there is no Law to forbid it But there is more than this required to invest a Man with a Right to deprive others of their natural Freedom and make Laws that in Conscience oblige them Whoever pretends to this must have a Commission either from God or Men but there is no Person that can pretend to have an immediate Commission from God therefore they that lay the Foundation of any Magistrate's Power not on a Humane but a Divine Right destroy all Obligation of Obedience to him for why should I be oblig'd to obey him on the account of a Divine Commission when he can neither show nor ever had any such Commission And there are none of his Subjects but what have as good a Pretence that is just none at all to a Divine Right Therefore since no Man can pretend an immediate Right from Heaven all the Right that one more than another has to command must be the Consent of the Governed either explicitly or implicitly given But it 's said the Powers that be are ordain'd of God which may very fitly and justly be said since they are chosen and appointed by those who had not only a Power from God to chuse them but were absolutely required by the Law of Self-preservation imprinted by God on their Natures to avoid the Inconveniences and Dangers of an unsafe State of Nature by placing the Power of governing them in one or more Hands in such Forms and under such Agreements as they should think fit To suppose the Powers that be to be otherwise from God than as they are the Creatures of the People made by them and for them is not only to contradict St. Peter who calls Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Creature or Contrivance of Man but the Experience of all Ages wherein Men have contrived and framed various sorts
make them pay a blind Submission to the Decrees of the Clergy that has been the Cause not only of all the Mischief and Miseries that upon the account of Religion have happened in Christendom but of the great Corruption of Religion which being a thing so plain and easy in it self and suted to the Capacity of the People would never have been so much and so universally depraved had there been an entire Liberty of Conscience for tho upon several Accounts such as Prejudice of Education mistaken Philosophy Interest c. Errors might have crept into the Church yet had they not been established by Penal Laws there would have been some in all Ages who not being under the like Prejudices would have opposed them and consequently upon a free Examination Error could not long have withstood the Power of Truth Luther Calvin c. were more successful than others who before them saw the Corruptions the Clergy had introduced only because they had better Fortune in meeting with Princes that allow'd them a Liberty that was denied to the others 10. One of the chiefest Means of corrupting Religion was occasioned by the Heathen Philosophers those Pretenders to Science falsly so called who when they thought it worth their while tho few or none of them at first were converted to come into the Church and became Governours and leading Men in it brought in with them so hard it is to conquer the Prejudice of Education their absurd Metaphysical Notions wholly inconsistent with the Plainness and Simplicity of the Gospel which they wrested to their preconceived Opinions and being then unwilling to make a meaner Figure upon the account of their Learning than they did formerly they blended together two very different things Christianity and that vain Philosophy St. Paul so much cautions People against And they that succeeded them made it their Business to render Religion more and more mysterious and unintelligible that the Laity should admire them for their profound Knowledg in things past their own understanding and be wholly governed by them in Matters of Religion as being above their Apprehensions and so get their Consciences and consequently their Estates in their disposal Which Design succeeded accordingly for we find that it was wholly left to them to make what Creeds impose what Opinions they thought fit on the Laity who whenever they asserted their Natural Right of judging for themselves and acting according to that Judgment were by the Magistrate's Sword always ready forc'd to a Compliance Thus it was that Priest-craft began and Persecution compleated the Ruin of Religion And if this was the Method the Clergy took in the most early Times what reason is there to suspect that in these latter Times they are less in love with Power and Dominion 9. It 's said That the Magistrate's Force is necessary to preserve Religion because for want of it the World was quickly and universally overrun with Idolatry I answer A Right in the Magistrates to use Force would in no wise have prevented Idolatry except they had been against it when the People were inclined to it which was so far from being true that the Kings themselves as that great and good Man the Author of the Letters concerning Toleration plainly shows were the Promoters of Idolatry by introducing their Predecessors into the Divine Worship of the People to secure to themselves as descended from the Gods the greater Veneration from their Subjects and therefore erected such a Worship and such a Priesthood as might awe the seduced Multitude into the Obedience they desired And it 's much more probable that Courts by their Instruments the Priests and by their Artifices the Fables of their Gods their Mysteries and Oracles should thus advance the Honour of their Kings amongst the People for the Ends of Ambition and Power than that the People should find out those refined Ways of doing it and introduce them into Courts for enslaving themselves And it 's no wonder that Absolute and Arbitrary Monarchs as the first Introducers of Idolatry were could impose what they pleased on their Subjects bred up in Slavery and consequently in Ignorance for where Men are poor and miserable the necessary Consequence of Arbitrary Power they have no leisure to examine into Matters of Religion their Time being wholly taken up in providing necessary Subsistence and consequently they must be grosly ignorant and have mean low and abject Thoughts sutable to their Condition So that 't is not strange that these Emperors might by degrees impose on them the worshipping their Ancestors especially when they saw the Priests and Courtiers scarce forbear adoring the present Monarch which is almost unavoidable in Arbitrary Governments witness the most fulsome and blasphemous Flatteries that are offered up to the French King even by his Christian Subjects Nay how many Instances have we of such Monarchs whose Impatience would not permit them to stay till after their Death for Divine Honours which then Custom had in a manner made their Right And 10. One and not perhaps the least Reason why the generality of the Priests are for preaching up absolute Arbitrary Power to be Jure Divino is because that necessarily causes an Universal Ignorance and thereby gives them a fair Opportunity of imposing on the People what they think fit For Ignorance tho it 's far from being the Mother of Devotion to God it 's certainly so to the Church as the Priests call themselves and therefore there is nothing they dread more than a knowing Laity and to show all the Arts and Methods they have taken to keep them ignorant would require a large History And we find that in those Places where the Clergy are most numerous potent and rich the People are most ignorant and superstitious as well as most enslaved and where the Clergy are fewest in Number Religion abounds most as well as Knowledg and Liberty It was Piedmont and some such barren Places which could not well maintain many Priests and where it was scarce worth their while to advance Priest-craft that best preserved the Purity of the Gospel And not to go so far from home as nothing made way so much for the Reformation as the depriving the Priests of their Monasteries and other ill-gotten Goods so nothing has since contributed more to the continuing of it than those Possessions being out of their Hands And the Method by which they have generally corrupted Religion is by wheedling or forcing the People into a blind Submission to what they impose on them And it was by these Artifices that the Jewish Priests and Rabbies imposed on that Nation the Traditions of Men for the Commandments of God And it 's by this Method that the Mahometan Religion supports it self there being no Debate nor Discourse allowed of what the Mufties shall teach the People And every body knows that the forcing People into an implicit Faith is the Bulwark of the Popish Religion And now having answered and I think I may
only way to expiate his former Guilt would be to promote the true Religion by depriving those that are not of it of their Possessions and investing the Church that is themselves with it And to speak the Truth it 's to such that the Clergy have been most obliged either for destroying their Opposers or else for endowing them with vast Riches In a word It 's not meerly Speculative Matters or Forms or Ceremonies wherein the Papists differ from the Protestants but those things which I have now mentioned and wherein they agree that make Popery and Slavery inseparable Nay in Church-Matters do not the Protestant Clergy even those that own the Magistrate under Christ to be no Causes or Persons excepted Supream Head or Governour of the Church claim as well as the Papists a Supream Power and assert themselves Independent and Absolute Governours of the Church And consequently since there cannot be two Supreams in the same Matters they can extend that Power as occasion serves even further than the Pope does since they and not their Subject the Magistrate will be Judg of the Extent of their own Power And have not the Priests of the different Parties as occasion served enlarged their Pretences witness the Kirk which as it had an Opportunity exercised as great a Power and with as high a Hand as the Pope himself And had Laud and that Party conquered there 's no doubt but the People had been as much enslaved to them as they are in other Countries to the Pope In short could any one Party have extirpated by Persecution the others it being the Division amongst the Clergy which of them should lord it over God's Heritage that has hindred each others Attempts we had long before now been under as great a Tyranny as the Papists especially had they those Revenues which in a manner enabled the Popish Priests to effect what they had a mind to and which our Clergy think so much their due that they look on it no less than Sacrilege that they are hindred from enjoying them But 7. This is not all the Mischief that attends forcing the People to a Uniformity in all those Points the Priests get to be established as necessary to Church-Communion because where People are wise knowing and have any Value for Religion they will be sure to employ their Thoughts about it which if they do it 's morally impossible that they should be of a Mind in all those Points Therefore such a Uniformity is only practicable in a Nation overrun with sottish Ignorance and gross Stupidity But what can be more prejudicial to a Nation than want of Knowledg which is necessary to preserve a State and encrease its Strength and Riches by promoting all useful Arts and Trades which we see by Experience will not thrive but where there is Liberty of Conscience Besides where Ignorance and Superstition the necessary Consequence of Persecution prevails it 's almost unavoidable but that Men either of themselves will run into or else by designing Persons be perswaded into several Opinions prejudicial to the State as amongst the Papists so many Holy-days are or which is much more prejudicial such prodigious Numbers going into Orders by which the Clergy are enabled to carry on the Common Interest and therefore will every where design it which oppresseth the Common-Wealth with so many useless Persons who no-wise contribute to the Support or the Encrease of the Riches of a Country who also considering how they must be maintained will be more burdensome than a standing Army of double the Number These or other as prejudicial Superstitions are scarce possible to be avoided where Persecution reigns 8. But I need mention no other Effects of Persecution than the Disorders Tumults Confusions Wars Desolations which are the immediate and necessary Consequences of it and which have always happened in persecuting Countries which to relate would be to write a History of those Countries and which alone is sufficient to convince any one how fatal it is to Human Societies It was Persecution that so weakened and ruined the Roman Empire that it became an easy Prey to the Barbarians And it had done the same to the Germans had not the Treaty of Munster put some stop to it since which time the Papists and Protestants taught by woful Experience are content to allow one another in several places not only their distinct Congregations but to meet in the very same Churches and which is more to be wondered at the Preferments of those Churches are enjoyed by them alternately with the greatest Quiet and Peace imaginable But if we have a mind to have a nearer prospect of the Advantage of Liberty of Conscience we need not look farther than the Province of Holland which tho a very small Tract of Land labouring under a great many natural Disadvantages and in which before a Toleration was indulged were only a few small scattered Villages and Huts of Fishermen is now crowded with vast Numbers of People filled with immense Riches and adorned with many stately and magnificent Cities and all this in a manner owing to its receiving those Saints and Confessors for so I must call them whatever their Opinions are who for their Love to God and Zeal for his Service were forc'd to leave their Country and fled there for Protection And it 's to this the greatest and noblest Charity that Amsterdam in a peculiar manner the Care of Heaven ows its Greatness Here especially 't is that the Prophecy of Esay seems to be fulfilled that the Wolf shall lie down with the Lamb and the Leopard with the Kid c. each Sect striving to outvie one another in promoting the Interest of the City and in being charitable to those that want it no Differences of Opinions causing the least distrubance to the Publick or hindering the Friendship of private Persons tho it was otherwise not only in this City but in all Places of the Vnited Provinces when they had the unhappiness to be influenced by the Clergy and the weakness to call a Synod on pretence of composing the Arminian or Quinquarticularian Controversies Which as it usually happens only encreased them and which is worse created not only Animosities and Rancour in the Minds of Men but Discontents Disorders Tumults to almost the Ruin of the Common-Wealth whilst in England the Government neither condemning or censuring either Party the Contention had no mischievous Effect but of it self died away Had the Nation acted as wisely with respect to those foolish Controversies about Ceremonies and other Trifles how much Blood and Treasure had it saved and how happy had it been tho now it has grown wiser by Experience clearly perceived that nothing but Liberty in those Points could quiet and compose the Minds of the People or preserve the Nation so much exhausted by Persecution 9. We need not look abroad for Arguments for a Toleration since we never made a step towards it but what has been of happy Consequence
am obliged to submit to the Determinations of the Clergy I may be forc'd to believe what I judg is either adding changing or diminishing the Law of God as it 's manifest all Sects by believing it to be of their own Side do judg their Adversaries do add c. But if it be meant that the Clergy have a Right to make me believe a thing whilst I doubt of the Truth of it that is impossible and so it is to change my Mind before I see Reason for it It may be said tho it 's not in my Power to believe as they will have me yet I may do as they command even whilst I doubt of the Lawfulness of the Action But then to obey them would be the ready way to damn my self for he that acts when he doubts is damn'd No Law whether of God or Man can scarce be of any use without applying it to particular Cases and deducing Consequences from it and explaining Doubts that arise But if the Laity must be determined by the Priests in all such Cases they must become Brutes and renounce their Reason where they ought to make the most use of it Our Author I confess says not that a Man should rest in the Determinations of the Clergy in deducing Consequences in things explicitly determined by the Law of God But what is meant by things explicitly determined I do not well understand for tho Words are explicit yet the Things implied in those Words are certainly implicit And if the Clergy can oblige Men to follow right or wrong their Determinations in deducing Consequences in things implicitly determined by Scripture they may oblige Men to add change or diminish the Law of God in most Points 3. The Popish Priests never carried their Pretences higher than this Author does they have not the Impudence to assert they can oblige People to believe contrary to the Law of God but that for the sake of the Church's Peace they have a Right to determine those Controversies that may arise among the Faithful and when they have done so none ought to begin to examine those Points again In a word there is no Medium between the Protestant Doctrine of every one having a Right to judg for himself and the Popish one of being obliged to believe as the Church does But this Author is much more absurd than the Papists in making Truth and Falshood to be decided not by an Infallible Pope or Council whose Decrees are to bind the Catholick Church but by the casting Voices of a Fallible Convocation in every Nation which may in Spain oblige the People to believe Transubstantiation in Sweden Consubstantiation in England the Real Corporeal Presence so that a Man may be bound to change his Sentiments with his Habitation and the Difference of a Degree or two may oblige him to opposite Opinions And yet as absurd as this is since the Clergy are so infinitely divided amongst themselves the Laity must either do so or else judg for themselves if it were but to know which of the Clergy were in the Right But 4. The Pamphleteer supposes this impossible and pag. 18. where he speaks out he roundly tells the Commons of England That it 's a little too much to suppose Countrey Gentlemen Merchants or Lawyers to be nicely skill'd in the Languages of the Bible Masters of all the Learning of the Fathers or of the History of the Primitive Church which they must in some measure be who sit Judges of Religious Doctrines and Opinions which ought to be left to their proper Tribunal a Convocation Had People at the Reformation been of this Mind we might still have groaned under the Popish Yoke for the Majority of the Clergy not only in England but every where else were as averse to this Reformation which may justly be called a Lay one as the Jewish Priests were to that of Christ and his Apostles If to be Masters of all the Learning of the Fathers be necessary to the judging of Religious Doctrines it 's as necessary the Laity should understand them because the Clergy are strangely divided amongst themselves about them each Sect pretending they are on their Side which shows that either the Clergy are not to be trusted with giving us the Sense of those Fathers because they make them say any thing according as it serves their present Interest or that the Fathers talk forward and backward contradict themselves as well as one another which if so shows great disingenuity in the Clergy not to own it and if we may trust Mr. Chillingworth a Man unsuspected of the least Priestcraft he tells us Chap. 6. That he sees plainly and that with his own Eyes that there are Councils against Councils some Fathers against others the same Fathers against themselves a Consent of Fathers of one Age against a Consent of Fathers of another Age the Church of one Age against the Church of another Age. 5. The Apostles were so far from requiring the Christians to give up their Judgments to any Number of fallible Men that they command them all to make use of their Reason in judging of Religion commend those as the Bereans that did so and blame those that did not Why have you not judged these things of your selves And if Men were then obliged to try the Spirits because there were many false Prophets gone out into the World there is certainly much more reason to do so now But having spoken fully to this Point in Ch. 2. Par. 1. I shall only add that it 's a Rule authorised by common Sense not to consent to any thing till we are capable of judging of its Truth nor can we without renouncing our Reason suppose God will have us believe any thing without seeing good Reason for it And nothing can reflect more on the Wisdom and Goodness of God than to suppose that he who would have all Men come to the Knowledg of his Will should yet make it so obscure that not one in a thousand is capable of knowing it because it depends upon Skill in Fathers Criticks Church-History c. A Man may therefore justly conclude if there be any such Doctrines pretended as there are in most Systems the impossibility of the Peoples judging of them alone demonstrates they come not from God who as he was able so his Goodness made him willing to express Truth so clearly that all who are not wilfully blind may understand it in order to practice and it would seem strange that God should chuse Fishermen and such simple Persons to preach a Religion intelligible only to the Learned and Philosophers There 's no need of running to Fathers Criticks c. For he that will do the Will of God shall know as our Saviour John 7. saith of the Doctrine whether it be of God that is if it be such as tends to make me love reverence and honour God or is beneficial to Man and a Doctrine cannot shew it self to be of God any