was true which he can never prove that God would not punish us for our wilful errours yet since the consequence of errours doth naturally lead us into the most damnable sins it therefore behooveth us if we tender our eternal happiness to take care to preserve our selves from errour which may be not only of dangerous but of damnable consequence to us What then is the wisest way for the most of men to guard themselves from these dangers This is a question well worth our consideration if we think we have such souls in us as are endangered by errour to be eternally lost and miserable What then must the common people here amongst us the greatest part of which have scarce reason enough to demonstrate themselves to be men do to secure themselves I answer It is the safest way for them to relie upon the Church especially in all matters of indifferency and of unnecessary disputes and upon some of those Guides which the Church hath lawfully called and authorized in all cases of conscience For since as this Gentleman tells us many nay most of men and the wisest of men have erred though they have had all the advantages to improve their reasons that this world could afford them how should any ordinary man who is void of all helps but his own natural reason dare to rely upon it alone in business of so great concern as his eternal happiness or misery Especially since he doth not think it convenient to rely upon it in business of lesser concern viz. That of his health or estate Now I appeal to all men that in difficult cases do consult their Lawyer and Physician whether they do not think it safer to rely upon their judgements then to be governed only by themselves they must say they do so else they were mad to consult them and give them mony for nothing So that this Author hath the suffrage of all wise men against his opinion when he tells us that upon the account of safety we ought to commit our selves wholly to our own reason in the search of truth Nay I will refer it to himself and challenge him upon his reputation if he hath any left to tell me whether his own practise doth not contradict his opinion that is whether or n◠he consults his own reason and commits himself wholly to the guidance of it in cases that concern his life and estate or whether he is guided by the Doctor and the Barrister To this perhaps he will answer that he limits his discourse to the serch of Religious truths in which it is most safe for us to rely upon our own Reason But I pray you Sir why not then in all other can you shew me any cause of difference If you say because Religion is grounded upon probabilities I Answer so is Physick upon much more uncertainty then Religion and the Law is no less built upon uncertainties in many cases which have not been determined by presidents But suppose that religious matters are more intricate and obscure and less certain then other things since errours in Religion are no less dangerous to our Souls then errours in Law and Physick are to our Estates and Lives if we believe we have any souls We ought then to be more carefull to consult our Guides of Conscience then we are to take advice of our Lawyer or Physician But experience and practise is the best teacher Let us now suppose every private person to be wholly committed to the guidance of his own reason according to this Author's Doctrine and let us see what safety he enjoys thereby For then supposing he meets with a cunning Gentleman from Rome that hath been brought up in all advantages of Learning and Education that should baffle his reason for the defence of Protestantism then if he will act rationally he must presently turn Papist and so vice versâ The same thing would also hold if he should be baffled by any Jesuit under the disguise of any other Sectary whatsoever for he must so often change his Religion as he meets with more crafty Disputants than himself By which means he might every hour have a several religion and change so often till at last he had quitted all religion and turn'd Atheist which we see to be the ordinary consequence of frequent changes Nay further suppose he meets with some subtle Jesuit in disguise whose business it is to convert men first to debauchery then to Atheism and so by degrees to Popery who should baffle all his reasons for the practice of vertue nay for the immortality of his Soul and for the being of God as it may well be suppos'd where there is so great a difference in the advantages of the persons What then will become of him if he commits himself only to the guidance of his own reason he must then presently commence Brute and believe that he hath no more soul then his horse or any other beast and that he shall die and perish like one of them nay he must turn Atheist and not only deny the Lord that bought him but that God that made him and so be left altogether without any excuse Is not this person now very safe think you under the guidance of his own reason If therefore it be safe for us to run into Popery Heresie and Atheism let us follow our own Reasons and wholly commit our selves to our own guidance if not Let us follow the Church of England and those guides which she hath set over us in all difficult cases of which we our selves can be no competent judges and when we are press'd with any argument for a change in our religion which we are not able to answer let us repair to our own lawful Minister or to some other that shall direct us for a satisfaction of our doubts and objections And though this may seem a Paradox in this Age of Schism and Faction yet the relying on the Church is the very same direction that St. Paul gives 2 Tim. 3. 15. where he calls the Church of God The pillar and ground of truth For if so then all that are Christians ought to rely upon this pillar and to build their faith upon that which is the ground of truth But I know he there means the Universal Church But you 'l say how should I who am an illiterate person or a private Gentleman and understand not the languages in which the Scriptures and other Church writings are pen'd know what the Doctrine of the Universal Church is for I am not able to search for the Christian Doctrine my self I answer Read the Scriptures in English and practise those things that are plain and easie in them and as for difficult disputes either let them quite alone or else consult in all difficulties the directions of your own Church the Church of England by those guides which she hath set over you But may not these deceive me too as well as my own Reason I Answer It is
man chance to prove that in most cases of our lives we are secure if we follow Authority though we may err thereby may though we err contrary to our own Reason and that on the other hand if we err by following our own Reason against Authority we are clearly left without excuse for our presumption How then what would become of the grand security our Author saith every man hath in being guided by his own understanding Would it not thence be clearly proved that Authority is a much safer Guide in those things then every mans own Reason and yet I think what I have undertaken will neither require any extraordinary brains nor pains to demonstrate For is it not as visible as the Sun in our assent to all matters of Fact from the Authority of Witnesses and in our obedience to Authority in all indifferent things for in both these Cases especially in the latter he that errs with Authority may plead the Authority for his excuse but he that errs against it is quite Ieft without any excuse at all For in all things indifferent in their own nature i. e. all such things which before any Humane Commands concerning them are wholly left to every mans own judgment being neither forbidden nor commanded by God if the Authority of our Governours doth intervene and command that this indifferent thing shall be done though we did think it more reasonable to be left undone yet we must be bound in these Cases to obey Authority rarher then our own Reason For otherwise every mans Reason would be his Magistrate and he should be onely bound to do that which is right in his own eyes and nothing else Would not our Authors Doctrine be very well fitted to the peace of all Society and does not he deserve very well from the publick by doing what lies in his power to wheadle into the heads of his unwary Readers which are the greatest number of men amongst us that it is safer for every man to be govern'd by the Laws of his own Reason then by the Laws of the Church and Nation of which he is a Member But now suppose we should err in doing any indifferent things in obedience to our Governours and that it had been really better that it had not been done yet our obedience though contrary to our own Reason should in this case excuse us Whereas whoso errs in following his own Reason contrary to the commands of Authority in indifferent things is altogether left without excuse either before God or Man unless it be before this good-natur'd Author who is resolved to excuse him by half a Jury of Reasons but I may justly except against every one of them for there is none of them that is both honest and true First Reason is this There is no danger of perishing where there is no disobedience but without this every man may often err the command of God being not to find out Truth but to endeavour the finding it for the Command is Search and ye shall find p. 66 Is not this pleasant For what was the end and design of this Command onely that we should turn Seekers and borrow Diogenes his Candle and Lanthorn and go peeking about all our life time that we might in searching have something to busie our selves about or was it given us that we might find out Truth If the latter was the end of the Command then that which binds to the end commands all the lawful means to that end So that he which is to search for Truth is by that Command bid to make use of all those means that God hath afforded him to the finding it out Wherefore who ever faileth by the wilful neglect of any means he had for the finding Truth is therefore inexcusable Now since Authority is the immediate and ready way by which we find out many Truths as all matters of Fact and History on which the Truth of Scripture it self doth depend if any man being to search for any Truths of this sort shall out of his own self-conceit neglect all Authority by which the matter was onely to be known and shall search onely by the Reason of the thing would not any man conclude him to be just as wise and just as excusable as he who being commanded to look for the Hare when the Dogs were at a loss runs to the next house and falls a pulling off the Tiles to look for her in the roof of the house For might not this wise servant pretend as good a Reason to excuse himself as our Authors wise Reason that he here alledgeth For might he not say to his Master Sir your Command was not to find out the Hare but onely to search for it Do we not think now that this man did very well obey his Masters Command and that he ought to be return'd an abundance of thanks for his pains for alas poor Fellow he did as he was bidden he looked for the Hare nay possibly he could give as good a Reason for the manner of his search as any is in all Humane Reason viz. that he that will find what is lost must search as well where it is not as where it is so that he followed but his own Reason in the search and therefore if our Author was his Master he would without doubt rest very well satisfied with him Secondly Our Authors next Reason p. 67. is this Because we lay the blasphemous accusation of injustice upon God if he punish us for an Errour that we could not avoid These are his words But I suppose it should be thus if we say that he punisheth us for an Error we could not avoid for if God Almighty doth really punish us for such Errors then it could be no blasphemy in us to say so neither would it be any accusation of injustice but onely a declaration of the plain Truth But what man ever said so that understood what he said that God will punish us for Errours that we could no ways avoid What then is this Reason to the purpose Oh! very much saith he For are not all Errours such which we fall into after a full search for Truth according to the best means represented to our understanding I grant it But if we do not rightly inform our understanding when it is in our power to do it nay if we shall neglect any of those means that God hath given us for our information then our Errour will not be such as we could not avoid and consequently without any injustice God may and will punish us for it Wherefore he that shall out of wilful pride neglect Authority or Revelation in searching for Truths that are most properly found out by them does not use the best and most proper means that God hath given him to that end and therefore may as justly be punished for his folly though he may think he follows his own Humane Reason in the search as that Servant did deserve to be well
the Earth as to set him to search for Mathematicks in the centre of himself in which there is nothing but guts and the most of men would have as pleasant a search for Divine Truths in the centre of themselves and as sure they would be to find it there as the Augurs of old were to find out future events by poring on the guts and garbish of brute beasts For is not he think you very likely to find all Divine Truths in the bottom of his heart which are contain'd in the Scriptures who is not able for his heart to understand sense when he reads it in other Authors nor one word of the genuine Languages of the Sacred Writings Truly for my part I am almost of the opinion that since Truth lies in the bottom our Author should have bid them search not in the centre but in the bottom of themselves for it and then to be sure if there was any Truth to be found they must of necessity smell it out immediately For this had been a direction much more suitable to his similitude and no less beneficial to his vulgar Reader unless he will turn Quaker and assert that upon their search they shall immediately be inspired with new Light that shall lead them into all Truth which when he doth he may expect a further answer The third Object is that which he himself calls the most tragical Argument against him pag. 6. viz. That an universal liberty of particular mens discourses would beget as many Religions as there are men which would be inconsistent with the peace of all Societies Which he endeavours to shift off by the Examples of the different Sects of the ancient Philosophers For saith he there were not fewer Sects in Athens then in Amsterdam or London and yet this variety of opinions neither begat any civil War in Greece neither was there any Inquisition nor High-commission to prevent it This Evasion is like a great deal more of his Book meer supposition For I believe it will puzzle this Gentleman to prove that all these Sects amongst the Athenians did do any thing more then dispute these things in the publick Schools onely to exercise their Wits and improve their Reasons to make Truth appear more apparently and to exercise their young Scholars in disputing that they might better know how to defend their Religion As now it is and I believe ever was in our Universities where all or most of those Questions are commonly disputed in the publick Schools that were then argued in Athens to the end that Scholars having heard all Objections amongst themselves might be the more able to defend Truth when they came abroad into the world So thát he that calls these Sects in Athens may as well say that there are as many Sects in Cambridge or Oxford as there are Questions disputed in their publick Exercises which would amount to some thousands every year For as our Universities do allow or at least permit all sorts of Disputations and Questions freely to be debated in their Schools and Colledges in a Language not understood amongst the common people but yet would make a severe example as far as their power can extend of him that should preach to the people any thing contrary to the Orthodox Religion established in our Church and Nation and should endeavour to draw Parties after him so amongst the Greeks and Romans it is most probable that the Custom was the same For we are sure that whatever their Disputes were in their Academies and Schools of Learning they had their stated Ceremonies and ways of Worship as well as their particular Deities which it was in no wise lawful for any one amongst them to dare to contradict in their Discourses or Orations to the common people and though this Gentleman so pertly saith that they had no Inquisition nor High-commission yet Court of Judicature they had wherein they did condemn all Innovators in matters of Religion and punished those that were no orious even with capital punishments Now that I do not speak this by meer supposition and guess as this Author doth most things he here saith I shall give you the testimony of Josephus an Author whose word may go as far as this Gentlemans who about the latter end of his second Book against Appion tells us thus Plato commanded all his Citizens perfectly to learn his Laws and that they should persist in the unalterable observation of them But Apollonius Molon saith the same Author inveigheth against us for not receiving into our Country Men of strange Opinions or Religion whereas not onely we but the most prudent of all the Greeks do the same the Lacedaemonians did expel all strangers neither did they permit their Citizens to travel into strange Countries fearing that by both these ways their Laws might be corrupted Apollonius was ignorant how matters stood with the Athenians and surely the Author of Humane Reason was much more ignorant of them who boast their City was free for all Nations for they did most severely and without all mercy punish those that did but speak any word against their Gods But saith this Gentleman Every one in Greece enjoyed his Opinion with more safety and freedom then either his Goods or his Wife pag. 9. But if he means the publick profession of his Opinions how notorious an hummer he hath told us will be evident from the Examples the same Josephus gives us in the same place Socrates saith he was put to death by drinking Hemlock because he was accused that he corrupted young Men and contemned the Laws and Religion of his Country Anaxagoras for that he affirm'd the Sun which the Athenians worshipped for a God to be a fiery Stone was sentenced to die They also proclaimed that whoever would kill Diagoras of Melus should be rewarded with a Talent for his labour onely because this Diagoras was said to deride their mysteries Protagoras also had by them been taken and put to death had he not made a quick escape onely for that they supposed him to have written certain doubts concerning the Heathen Gods What then would have become of our Author who endeavours to excuse Atheism had he lived in Athens and enjoyed no other liberty of Opinions then they allowed But lest he should object any thing against Josephus his Testimony the same thing is evident beyond all exceptions by their so bloudy persecutions of the Christians both amongst the Greeks and Romans How much afraid were they of all Innovations in Religion when the most cruel Tortures that the wit and malice of men could invent as Racks Gibbets Gridirons red-hot Pincers and fleaing alive were daily inflicted upon Christians onely because they taught a new Religion This was that great Freedom as this Gentleman calls it that was allowed to Dissenters amongst the ancient Heathens I do not wish our Author should meet with the same though he seems to be so much pleased with it and though there was no Inquisition nor
matters of Fact the reason of our belief can be nothing else but the authority of the Witnesses and in all matters of history the reason of our belief is not so much the reasonableness or credibility of the thing that is related as the credit and consent of Authors which is nothing else but Authority from whence it is that we can prove the truth of the Scriptures themselves and if so then surely it was very Christianly said of this Gentleman that we have onely good fortune in our obedience to authority for then we have nothing but good fortune for our belief of the Scriptures themselves since the Reason of it is only grounded on Authority But he proceeds p. 64. That if it lead us into errour we have nothing to plead for our excuse for we have nothing to say for our obedience to that Authority Who would have thought it have we nothing to say for our belief of matters of fact and history if we be deceived in them have we no excuse for our selves certainly any body but this Author would allow us a very considerable nay a full excuse of our errour from the testimony of the witnesses else our Magistrates are in a very hard case who are bound to pass sentence even in cases of life and death Secundum allegata probata i. e. according to Evidence which they have from the Witnesses But however he is resolved to prove it from the example of Eve who pleaded the Authority of the Serpent and yet was punished Did she not deserve it since she dared to believe the Serpent rather then God himself Aye but Adam too was accursed because he believed that which was figuratively one with him his Wife as Members of the Church pretend to do the Church rather then that which was most certainly and singly one with him which was his own Reason Pag. 64. What a fine story have we here the Author might if he had pleased have made short work and have told us that Adam was accursed for believing his Wife rather then himself But then the pretty Simile had not so well brought in the Church which this Gentleman was resolved to drag in as Henry the Eighth was drawn in just before by the head and shoulders For if ever any thing came in impertinently this does For was there ever any Member of the Church that believed the Church for no other reason but because it was figuratively one with himself if not to what purpose was this parenthesis of the Church crowded in in this place unless it was to make all his admirers to cast off their obedience to the Church But if any be hereby perswaded to it they must be such as are not able to distinguish between Reason and Impertinency But to let that pass I wonder who told him that Adam was accursed for believing his Wife rather then his own Reason whoever he was a Scotch man would call him a merry Gentleman that is in plain English a down-right Liar For if our Author will believe the authority of Moses in the case Gen. 3. 17. he will find that the reason of his curse is there given to be no other then because he had broken Gods Command and had not obeyed his Authority So that his crime was not that he had believed his Wife rather then his own Reason For that Law was not a Law of Nature or Reason but a meer positive Law of God For had not God particularly forbid it it had been for all any reason to the contrary as lawful for Adam to have eaten of that Tree as of any Tree in all Eden But the cause of his curse was this that he followed his Wifes example and perswasion rather then the express commands and threatnings of God What does all this make against Authority since Adam was accursed for not obeying the Divine Authority Who would ever believe any Authority after so grand a demonstration against it fetched from Adams green Breeches As for what he saith p. 65. of blinding our own eyes c. I onely desire him to tell me whether he doth believe that we must never follow nor assent to Authority If he cannot be so ridiculous to believe it then surely our obedience and assent to Authority where it is necessary as in most cases of our lives I have already proved it is is not a blinding our own eyes and a putting our selves into a greater probability of not finding then of lighting upon the true passage to Heaven as he would there insinuate For I must needs tell him that his Book is nothing else almost but a piece of common Sophistry viz. an universal conclusion from some few particulars and this managed by hiding himself in general and ambiguous terms little similies and sly insinuations exactly fitted to deceive the Vulgar and thereby to destroy all Peace and Unity in the Church by making them have so high an opinion of their own Reasons that is of themselves to which they are naturally proue enough for the Fool is wisest in his own eyes that they shall soon scorn and contemn all Authority whatsoever which he endeavours to insinuate by the advantage of safety on the contrary part p. 65. Now contrariwise saith he they that are guided by their own understanding if they commit themselves wholly to it are as safe on the left hand as on the right as secure of happiness in their Errours as others are in the Truths they happen to fall into Hath he not now discovered most apparently what he means by his Humane Reason Is it not the very same with Ralpho's New-light For as of Vagabonds we say That they are ne'r besides their way What e'r men speak by this New-light Still they are sure to be i' th' right Suppose then that any one should commit himself so wholly to his understanding that he should by the Errors of it be led into Theft Murder Rebellion Schism Heresie Infidelity and Atheism it self would not this man hereby think you be in a very safe condition and would not God Almighty at the great day of Judgment be very well satisfied for the commission of all these crimes with this answer that the man did wholly commit himself to the guidance of his own understanding or rather would not his own conscience tell him that he ought to have been better informed and that he might have been so if he had not been so self-conceited of his own Opinions Did ever any man but this Author make such use of his Humane Reason to countenance all the Villanies in the World For what mischief is there so great that a man may not be led into by committing himself wholly to the guidance of his own understanding if it be not before-hand rightly informed and instructed Now should we not have a blessed World were men as secure in these Errours that might lead them into all these Villanies before mentioned as others are in their Truths But further should a