Gospel Faith by which you may judge what the True Church is and where it is to be 〈◊〉 Now a Gospel Faith is an Ancient Primitive Faith for Truth you know was from the beginning yea divers of the Doctrines with which our Saviour enlightened those that came to 〈◊〉 were from the Moral Law before his Personal Appearance for as he well said Abraham saw his Day that it his great Truths and Ways For our Blessed Lord was the Author and Finisher of our Faith in him it begun and was consumated in his Personal Teachings and Instructions of his immediate Disciples and Apostles who by the unerring guide viz. The Spirit left to us what they had received from him True natural Truths are more and more discovered by Time for many go too and fro so that Science is increased But the Divine Truths are most perfect in their Fountain and Original they indeed may and do contract Impurities in their Streams and remote Derivations So that the way to discover the Corruptions is to stand upon the old Ways and see how it was in the Original or Beginning whether that Righteousness which is taught is to Man as well as to God For a good Conscience must and should be always void of Offence towards both and whether their walking is and has been in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord or no if it has but been only in some and not in all verily it cannot nay must not be accounted blameless So by this first and true Character of a true Church and Faith two very dangerous Extreams are condemned as first that of the now Roman Church whose Doctrines and Usages which are truly denyed by that Church to which I am now joyned these following are in comparison Novelties and Innovations viz. their Image Worship Innovations of Saints Half Communion Prayer in an unknown Tongue◠〈…〉 Infalliability and Vniversality with 〈…〉 c. which whatsoever they pretend to I can assure you many of the Learned Divines of the Church to which I adhere have proved that all the before mentioned were generally unknown in the First and purest Times and so must be contrary to a Gospel Faith and True Church The Second on the other Extream is that Faith of the most of the New Sects is to be Condemned because of its Novelty and Innovation For where was Presbytery Independency Anabaptism and Quakerism of Old True I must confess that thâ—â—e were some such like Heresies swiming in the Brains of some Ignorant but Conceited Men and Women then yet never as we Read were they in any general Practise any where For the Eldest we Read of were not above Three Hundred Years ago and some have sprung up even in this last Century or Age which to my Sorrow and Shame I must confess my self to have been of and to have grown and sprung up even from Mine and others sickle Fancys and vain Imaginations And God knows how soon now even amongst such and so many Confusions other new yet unheard of Sects and Heresies may arise and all to the further dividing of the true Church by Law Established and the scandal of Christian Faith and Religion c. True all These like the Pharisees may profess a great many Truths of the Gospel Faith yet for all that as their's had may have too much Leaven to spoil the whole Lump But as the true Faith was of Old ever from the begining So Secondly it was and is to be both Pure and Peaceable for St. James 3. 17. Assures us that Wisdom or Truth which is from above is first Pure than Peaceable Gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie teaching and producing Purity Holiness and Righteousness in Life and Heart For the business of it both was and is to conform us unto Christ and to make us Holy as he was and that in all manner of our Conversations as 1 Pet. 2. 15 16. And not only Holy but Peaceable also for Christ was the Prince of Peace and his Gospel the Gospel of Peace and not of Confusion as is manifested 1 Cor. 24. from the 33. to the end For God is not the Author of Confusion but of 〈◊〉 As in all Churches of the Saints let your Women keep Silenâ—â— in the Churches for it is not permitted them to Speak but these are Commanded to be under Obedience as also saith the Law c. By which second Character of a true Church there are likewire these two aforesaid dangerous Extreams Condemned and Confuted The first of which viz. Popery which apparently teaches not only direct Impieties and Immoralities by the consequences of its Doctrines but also endeavours to Destroy both Ecclesiastical and Civil Peace For First by their Idollatries and Invocation of Saints and Angels which by the Prophets and Apostles is termed Spiritual Fornication and Whoredom by Dishonouring God's Majesty and Affronting his Glory These then must undoubtedly be accounted great Impieties and likewise their Doctrines and Practices of Deposing and Murthering Princes by absolving People from their Allegiance and dispencing with their Perjuries and Rebellions all which are verily high Immortalities and clear contrary to the Spirit and design of the Holy Jesus which came to redeem unto himself a Peculiar People zealous of good Works Nay besides these they even strike at the Root and main Design of Christianity by these following Doctrines which renders Repentance and Change of Life unnecessary For as they think so are apt to believe that the Favour of God and Eternal Salvation may be had upon easier Terms namely Crosses Pilgrimages Ave Marias Whipings c. Fastings often with a bare Confession and Absolution They I say do not only think but also really believe that these will do their Business or if these will not but to Pugatory they must go Yet these suppose and verily believe that if they can but procure Money enough to leave for such a number of Masses and Dirgies then they shall be secured of being Prayed out thence So that the greatest design of the Gospel which is real inward Holiness is Destroyed by them for they never so much as think of a Necessity of Cutting off right Hands and plucking out Eyes that is of Subduing and rescinding an inordinate Appetites and Affections which are the great diâ—â—â—culties of Religion These they account hard Sayings and cannot endure either to hear of or practise them Nay moreâ—â—er as for their Unpeaceable Tempers and Behaviours both in Spiritual and Temporal concerns that's Manifested not only from our own but Forreign Histories And the other dangerous Extream is there are many Sects which Forsooth pretend as I once did to my Shame be it spoken to Purity and Spirituality Saying That God sees no Sin in his Saints or Elect they beâ—ng without Sin a Precious and Choice People yea affirming That God loves not for the sake of Holiness and Vertue but freely i. e. for no reason but
meer unaccountable Will And if it be so then it 's in vain for any to amend their Lives or to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in order to their acceptance with God tho' they are contrary in all manner of Conversation as may be inferr'd from their Doctrine yet these have been taught and so fondly think that by being God's Chosen or Beloved they shall be saved which abominable and absurd Doctrine has not only the Malignity of the worst of Popery but of Heathenism too for it makes good Works unnecessary c. True they have a Faith indeed but it 's very Airy which is only a receiving trusting and relying upon Christ by and in which they do well being parts of true Faith But even this the Devils have and practise which as St. James 2. 19. 26. tells us is Dead and Insignificant alone to the purpose of Justification and Acceptance with God Nay Further you know that the imputed Righteousness of Christ is a great Truth rightly understood But some Sects abuse it to this false Notion that all the Righteousness which Christ wrought is formerly and properly theirs as if they themselves had done it So they fondly think that by Christ's Holiness they can and are made Holy and Righteous tho' they have none of their own All which is apparently contrary to that in St. John 3. 9. Liltle Children let no Man deceive you He that doth Righteousness is Righteous So these which I have mentioned that have such Solifidian and Antinomian Notions by placing as I did once their Religion in the Fancy as the Papists do theirs in some External Services do both effectually take away the necessity of a real Reformation and true Goodness Nay I might add a great many more such as their 〈…〉 Infirmities by which they are apt to excuse themselâ—â—â— in their Spiritual Sins and their Decrying Moraiity as a dull low Graceless Thing crying up the Immoral practises of Schisme and Disobedience which they indulge and defend themselves in True I must confess that there are many misled abused Persons of peaceable and quiet Spirits among these Sectaries So that we as Christians are to pray and endeavour that such may be regained And in all Humble submission to my Goverours If the Grand Council the next Sessions thinks fit to abate some lesser things in Consideration of such verily it would in my weak Judgment in all Christian Countries be esteemed Charity and Kindness which I am confident no true Christian either would or could dislike But alas I am not insensible that those which are of the right Sectarian Stamp and Temper will as I formerly did never rest or settle any where nor be satisfied with any Concession God Almighty indeed may change their Minds by his Power But I am afraid nothing less can So that all both you and I and others of our Church can and must do is only to pray to God for the Conversion of such For we have found and I have some Reason to think may now find again as it 's feared by woful Experience that nothing less than the whole Wills of some and an entire Subjection to their Fancies have or will content them for if such were granted all as they were formerly we cannot be assured that these would please long only this we know that formerly they did not nay as St. Jude in his Epistle ver 12. saith such a Whimsicall and Discontented People are as Clouds without Water carried about with every Wind For it is certain that let the Wind be where it will to Day none can say from what Point it will blow to Morrow just thus as such a People acted by their private Spirit as God knows I was once which is as observed as little certain as the Wind for as I have found by woful Experience the Opinions it suggests are numerous and all accounted Divine and Sacred viz. Gospel-Truths Gospel-Ways which forsooth must not be parted with No in no wise Yea all Laws and Constitutions of Government must be thwarted and overthrown rather 〈…〉 aâ—d all must be Sacrificed to the 〈…〉 the Imaginations of such Oh what Blessed Doâ—â—â— and Days can we expect thence What Peace and Temper have sprung from such Principles the Histories of Germany England and Scotland make us remember for caution only So I heartily wish that no such People in this Age did or would not remember them so well as to put them in Practise which if they do we have no refuge but to use that daily Petition and say Father not ours but thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Which brings me to the Third and Last particular Mark or Sign to know a true Church by and that is that all which it commands is both Reasonable and Certain which the Wiseman alludes to Prov. 20. 27. That the Vnderstanding of Man is the Candle of the Lord the Light of Reason is his Light with that the true Light hath enlightned every one that cometh into the World And now one Light should not be contrary to the other there is I must confess a difference in degree but no opposition of Nature so Faith and Reason accord Yea Faith is an act of Reason for it 's the highest Reason to believe in God and the belief of our Reason is an act of Faith viz. Faith in the Truth and goodness of God which gives no Man faculties to delude or deceive him If so be he doth but rightly Exercise and Employ them yea by Faith Reason is further enlightned and by the use of Reason Faith is applyed c. So true Religion and Reason sweetly agree For nothing can be Religious that is unreasonable which made the great Apostle call the Christian Religion a Reasonable Service Yea so certain is the true Faith that those which had it from the Holy Spirit of God Signed it with their Blood these speaking as they were inspired and that they were really so was no fond Imagination or bold Presumption But a Truth assured by these mighty Miracles they were enabled to perform These are God's Seal and a grand Confirmation of a Commiisson from him and to that proof of their Doctrines both Christ and his Apostles continually Appealed Here was and is then the firm reasonable Foundation of the Christian certainty the Truths we are to believe were confirmed by Miracles than which there can be no greater Evidence by which last Character these two before cited dangerous Extreams are Dispised and Condemned As First that of Popery which imposeth on the Minds of Men as Articles of Religion things that are both Extream Unreasonable Absurd and Uncertain viz. These namely the Worshipping of invisible Beings by Images of Wood Stone or some Mettal c. but more especially that Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is full of Contradictions Since the asserting that the same Body may be in a Thousand places at once and that it may be divided into Parts tho' not into wholes
These and a numerous other Absurdities to the Reason of Mankind are contained in that senseless Mystery of Transubstantiation to defend which their Doctors have been and are forced to deny Reason and say that the same thing may and can be and not be c. But Beloved if neither Reason nor so much as our Senses may be believed Pray what assurance can we have of any thing But Oh! What assurance had 〈◊〉 to strengthen his staggering Faith about our Saviour's Resurrection This only and that particularly from his Lord viz. Stretch out thine hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing Nay further the now Roman Church destroys the Ground of Certainty by an innumerable Company of Lying Wonders which you may Read of in their Legends which the Priests do impudently obtrude upon the belief of the silly and ignorant People only for proof and confirmation of their Religion But on the other Hand the Sects and Sepratists being in as dangerous an Extream concerning Faith c. For I found and have now just Reason to acknowledge that the greatest part of my Religion when among them was made up of senseless and absurd Notions which I am now ashamed of they being as we were wont set forth in unintelligible fantastical Phrases by as 2 Pet 3. 16. saith wresting of Scriptures to our own Destruction tho' I indeed then as well as they accounted it the heights of Spirituality and Mystery upon which we valued and boasted our selves as the only Knowing and Spiritual People When as Thanks be to God it is known now to me and all discerning Persons that there was and is nothing in such pretended Heights and Spiritualities but only vain Imagination and Dreaming which are dangerous Deceits For as the Light of Reason and Sense dispels the vain Images of Dreams So these admitted would and will cure all Phantastical Impostures and Delusions for which cause they as well as I formerly declared against nothing so vehemently as Reason under the notion of Carnal and so an Enemy to the Spirit and the things of it True I must needs confess now that there is a Carnal Reason which is Enmity to Truth and Goodness But that as I am rightly inform'd is not the Reason of our Minds but our 〈◊〉 Passions and corrupt Interests which is not Reason truly and properly so call'd no more than an Ape can be call'd a Man And for want of knowing and distinguishing the things which so differ Verily Enthusiasticks rail violently against all Reason as the grand Adversary of the Truths and Mysterys of the Gospel Nay further resolving as I did formerly all assurance either into or upon a bare belief of the Testimony of a private Spirit For as mine was so their Ground and Belief of the Scriptures both was and is this Testimony and consequently whatsoever is received from hence bottoms there The Papists as it 's confest believe the Scriptures on the Testimony of their Church but that Sect of which I was with others believe them on the Testimony of their Spirit That is in Sober Sadness by the Suggestions and Resolutions of their own viz. they like silly Women led Captive believe because they will believe finding themselve inclined to it So upon the same Reason as has been observed when the Imagination and Humour as mine did alters they then may and will cease to believe or as I do now believe the contrary I shall not appeal only to my own Experience but to that in others also For have not some vastly multiplyed Articles of Faith by making all their private Opinions sacred calling them Gospel and saving Truths whereas at the best they were but uncertainties For being senseless Imaginations they are usually false by which they expose the whole Body of Christian Principles to Suspicion and so weaken the Faith of some and destroy that of others So now having given you the Characters of a true Church Namely First that its Articles of Faith and Doctrine are antient viz. as St. Jude saith That which was once delivered to the Saints Secondly That it 's Pure and Peaceable And Thirdly That those things it commands are both reasonable and certain And since for all the fine and gay Pretences I cannot find such a Faith in these two dangerous Extreams which I have fairly and impartially Examined I will by God's assistance Examine and see whether that Church into which I am now entred being by Law Established has those Marks and Characters of a true Faith which I have before described And First I am well assured and so dare boldly assert that the Church Established without fondness or over-weaning doth profess and teach the antient Primitive and Apostolick Faith having admitted no new things that are contrary to it For it was reformed according to the Scriptures and the Apostolick Rules and Ways I say according to the Scriptures as they were interpreted by the first General Councils and Fathers those I mean next to the Apostles whom we ought to believe for they then assuredly understood what was the Apostles Doctrines and Ways nay the Church is truly and rightly called Protestant 〈…〉 against the Roman and Sectarian Innovations so according 〈…〉 Character must be true Secondly It teaches us Righteousness in general namely our duty to God our Neighbours and our Selves in the just Latitude and extent of them For it has no Shifts and Evasions of Repentance and Reformation it allows no hopes of Salvation but upon Gospel terms It teaches no Practise that is either Impious or Immoral nor indulgeth any by its Doctrine perhaps some Rotten Members may wink and connive at such For the Church it self tells us that whosoever is Evil must know it by being Judged and Condemned Nay further the Church leaves no hopes of Salvation but what is grounded on effectual Repentance and Reformation nor imposeth any Articles of belief as necessary to Salvation but the antient Creed and no terms of Communion but reasonable Orders and Decencies as are free from all appearance of Idolatry and Superstition or any thing else that iâ— unlawful and as to the concerns of civil Peace the Church with Christ and his Apostles hath taught all active Chearful and Conscientious Obedience both to God the King and also Subordinate Rulers in all lawful things and a quiet Submission to the Penalties of not Obeying when the things required are plainly or certainly so to its former Praise Renown and Happiness be it spoken So Lastly the Church now Established teaches no Opinions that needs such a desperate Course to defend them For all its Articles are reasonable and may be proved or defended by Reason against all Atheâ—sts or Infidels c. She secures also the certainty of her Faith by resolving it into the Scriptures the true Seat of Infallibility and the belief of the Scriptures on the other hand into the Testimony of the Spirit of God which confirmed it by Miracles So that by these