for a fuller and a more general understanding the obscurest Passages in the Divine Oracles The truth of this Assertion is so clear that it seems little better then Blasphemie to contradict it For to say the Holy Writ is in it self unintelligible is equivalent to the pronouncing it Non-sense or to averre that such and such Books or Passages of it were never to be understood by men is to insinuate as if the Wisedome of God did not onely play with the children of men but even fool with them This is but a Subterfuge of that conscious Church that is afraid of the fulgour of that Light that shines against her out of such places of Scripture as have for a long time seemed obscure The twenty sixth That there are innumerable Passages of Scripture as well Preceptive as Historicall that are as plainly to be understood as the very Articles of the common Faith and which therefore may be very usefull for the clearing those that may seem more obscure This wants no proof but Appeal to Experience and the twentieth Conclusion The twenty seventh That no Miracle though done by such as may seem of an unexceptionable Life and of more singular Sanctity can in reason ratifie any Doctrine or Practice that is repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense or Natural Truths or Science or the common Christian Faith or any plain Doctrine or Assertion in Scripture The Truth of this is manifest from hence That no man can be so certain that such a man is not a crafty and cautious Hypocrite and his Miracle either a Juggle or Delusion of the Devil or if he was not an eye-witness of it a false report of a Miracle as he is certain of the truth of rightly-circumstantiated Sense of Common Notions and Natural Science of the Articles of the Apostolick Faith or of any plain Assertion in the Scripture And therefore that which is most certain in this case ought in all reason to be our Guide The twenty eighth That it is not onely the Right but the Duty of private men to converse with the Scriptures being once but precautioned not to presume to interpret any thing against rightly-circumstantiated Sense Natural Truth common Honesty the Analogie of the Catholick Faith or against other plain Testimonies of Holy Writ The truth of this appears from the Conclusion immediately preceding For why should they be kept from having recourse to so many and so profitable and powerful Instructions from an infallible Spirit when they are so well fore-armed against all Mistake and are so laid-at by so many not onely fallible but fallacious and deceitful persons to seduce them And why is there not more danger of being led into Errour by such as are not onely fallible but false and deceitfull then by those Inspired men that wrote the Scripture who were neither fallible in what they wrote nor had any design to deceive any man Wherefore there being no such safe Guide as the Scripture it self which speaks without any Passion Fraud or Interest it is not onely the Right but the Duty of every one to consult with the Scripture and observe his times of conversing with it as he tenders the Salvation of his own Soul The twenty ninth That even a private man assisted by the Spirit of Life in the new Birth and rightly-circumstantiated Reason being also sufficiently furnish'd with the knowledge of Tongues Historie and Antiquity and sound Philosophy may by the help of these and the Blessing of God upon his industry clear up some of the more obscure Places of Scripture to full satisfaction and certainty both to himself and any unprejudiced Peruser of his Interpretations That this Assertion is true may be proved by manifold Experience there having been sundry persons that have cleared such Places of Scripture as had for a time seemed obscure and intricate with abundant satisfaction and conviction But it is to be evinced also à priori viz. from the seventeenth and eighteenth Conclusions which avouch the Scripture to be the most Authentick Tradition that is as also from the twenty fifth that concludes it not unintelligible in it self nor to mankinde and lastly out of the first that asserts that Certainty of Faith presupposes Certainty of Reason For thus the Object of our Understanding being here certain and we not spending our labour upon a Fiction or Mockery and our Reason rightly-circumstantiated not blinded by Prejudice nor precipitated into Assent before due deliberation and clear comprehension of the matter if after so cautious a Disquisition she be fully satisfied she is certainly satisfied or else there is no certainty in rightly-circumstantiated Reason which yet is presupposed in the Certainty of Faith by the first Conclusion So that the Certainty of Faith it self seems ruinous if no private man have any Certainty of any Interpretation of Scripture that has once been reputed obscure Not to add that all the Scripture that has been once obscure and the Interpretation thereof not yet declared by the Church universal has been hitherto and will be God knows how long utterly useless Which is a very wilde Supposition and such as none would willingly admit unless those that would rather admit any thing then that Light of the Scripture that discovers who they are and what unworthy Impostures they use in their dealings with the children of men The thirtieth That no Tradition can be true that is repugnant to any plain Text of Scripture The Reason is because the Scripture is the most true and the most Authentick Tradition that is and such as the universal Church is agreed in The thirty first That if any one Point grounded upon the Autority of Tradition that has been held by the Church time out of minde prove false there is no Certainty that any Tradition is true unless such as it has not been in the power of the Church to forge corrupt deprave or else their Interest not at all concerned so to doe The Reason is because the Certainty of Tradition as Tradition is placed in this by those that contend so much for it that nothing can be brought into the Church as an Apostolick Practice or Doctrine but what ever was so from the Apostles Wherefore if once a Point be brought into the Church and profest and practised as Apostolicall that may be clearly proved not to be so this Ground for Tradition as Tradition is utterly ruined and considering the Falseness and Imposture that has been so long practised in Christendome can be held no Ground of Certainty at all As not Reason quà Reason nor Sense quà Sense but quatenus rightly-circumstantiated can be any Ground of Certainty of Knowledge so not Tradition quà Tradition can be the Ground of the Certainty of Faith but onely such a Tradition as it was not in the power of the degenerate Church to either forge or adulterate And such were the Records of the Holy Bible onely The thirty second That rightly-circumstantiated Sense and Reason and Holy Writ are
the truest Grounds of the Certainty of Faith This is the common Protestant Doctrine and a great and undeniable Truth and will amount to the greatest Certainty desirable if the Spirit of Life and of God assist For that will seal all firm and close and shut out all Doubts and Waverings In the mean time even in mere Moral men but yet such as use their Sense and Reason rightly-circumstantiated in their Dijudications touching the truth of Holy Writ and Religion it is plain they are upon the truest Grounds of Faith they can goe or apply themselves to forasmuch as the Holy Writ is the truest and most certain Tradition and no Tradition to be discerned true but upon the Certainty of rightly-circumstantiated Sense and Reason as appears by the first Conclusion These Advertisements though something numerous are yet brief enough but very effectual I hope if strictly followed to make thee so wise as neither to impose upon thy self nor be imposed upon by others in matters of Religion and so Orthodox as to become neither Enthusiast nor Romanist but a true Catholick and Primitive Apostolick Christian THE END DIVINE HYMNS DIVINE HYMNS An HYMN Upon the Nativity of CHRIST THe Holy Son of God most High The Historicall Narration For love of Adam's lapsed Race Quit the sweet Pleasures of the Sky To bring us to that happy Place His Robes of Light he laid aside Which did his Majesty adorn And the frail state of Mortals tri'de In Humane Flesh and Figure born Down from above this Day-Star slid Himself in living Earth t' entomb And all his Heav'nly Glory hid In a pure lowly Virgin 's Womb. Whole Quires of Angels loudly sing The Mystery of his Sacred Birth And the blest News to Shepherds bring Filling their watchfull Souls with Mirth The Application to the Emprovement of Life The Son of God thus Man became That Men the sons of God might be And by their second Birth regain A likeness to His Deity Lord give us humble and pure mindes And fill us with thy Heav'nly Love That Christ thus in our Hearts enshrin'd We all may be born from above And being thus Regenerate Into a Life and Sense Divine We all Ungodliness may hate And to thy living Word encline That nourish'd by that Heav'nly Food To manly Stature we may grow And stedfastly pursue what 's good That all our high Descent may know Grant we thy Seed may never yield Our Souls to soil with any Blot But still stand Conquerours in the field To shew his Power who us begot That after this our Warfare's done And travails of a toilsome Stage We may in Heav'n with Christ thy Son Enjoy our promis'd Heritage Amen An HYMN Upon the Passion of CHRIST THe faithfull Shepherd from on high The Historicall Narration Came down to seek his strayed Sheep Which in this Earthly Dale did lie Of Grief and Death the Region deep Those Glories and those Ioys above 'T was much to quit for Sinners sake But yet behold far greater Love Such pains and toils to undertake An abject Life which all despise The Lord of Glory underwent And with the Wicked's worldly guize His righteous Soul for grief was rent His Innocence Contempt attends His Wisedome and his Wonders great Envy on these her poison spends And Pharisaick Rage their Threats At last their Malice boil'd so high As Witnesses false to suborn The Lord of Life to cause to die His Body first with Scourges torn With royal Robes in scorn th' him dight And with a wreath of Thorns him crown A Scepter-Reed in farther spight They adde unto his Purple Gown Then scoffingly they bend the knee And spit upon his Sacred Face And after hang him on a Tree Betwixt two Thieves for more Disgrace With Nails they pierc'd his Hands and Feet The Bloud thence trickled to the ground The Pangs of Death his Countenance sweet And lovely Eyes with Night confound Thus laden with our weight of Sin This spotless Lamb himself bemoans And while for us he Life doth win Quits his own Breath with deep-fetch'd Groans Affrighted Nature shrinketh back To see so direfull dismall sight The Earth doth quake the Mountains crack Th' abashed Sun withdraws his Light The Application to the Emprovement of Life Then can we Men so senseless be As not to melt in flowing Tears Who cause were of his Agonie Who suffer'd thus to cease our Fears To reconcile us to our God By this his precious Sacrifice And shield us from his wrathfull Rod Wherewith he Sinners doth chastise O wicked Sin to be abhorr'd That God's own Son thus forc'd to die O Love profound to be ador'd That found so potent Remedie O Love more strong then Pain and Death To be repaid by nought but Love Whereby we vow our Life and Breath Entire to serve our God above For who for shame durst now complain Of dolorous dying unto Sin While he recounts the hideous Pain His Saviour felt our Souls to win Or who can harbour Anger fell Envy revengefull Spight or Hate If he but once consider well Our Saviour lov'd at such a rate Wherefore Lord since thy Son most just His natural Life for us did spill Grant we our sinful Lives and Lusts May sacrifice unto his Will That to our selves we being dead Henceforth to him may wholly live Who us to free from Dangers dread Himself a Sacrifice did give Grant that the sense of so great Love Our Souls to him may firmly tie And forcibly us all may move To live in mutuall Amity That no pretence to Hate or Strife May rise from any Injurie Since thy dear Son the Lord of Life For love of us when Foes did die An HYMN Upon the Resurrection of CHRIST The Historicall Narration WHo 's this we see from Edom come With bloudy robes from Bosrah Town He whom false Jews to death did doom And Heav'n's fierce Anger had cast down His righteous Soul alone was fain Isa. 63.3 The Wine-press of God's Wrath to tread And all his Garments to distain And sprinkled Cloaths to die bloud-red 'Gainst Hell and Death he stoutly fought Who Captive held him for three days But straight he his own Freedome wrought And from the dead himself did raise The brazen Gates of Death he brake Triumphing over Sin and Hell And made th' Infernall Kingdomes quake With all that in those Shades do dwell His murthered Body he resum'd Maugre the Grave's close grasp and strife And all these Regions thence perfum'd With the sweet hopes of lasting Life O mighty Son of God most High The Application to the Emprovement of Life That conqueredst thus Hell Death and Sin Give us a glorious Victory Over our deadly Sins to win Go on and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. Iud. Flesh and bloud in the moral sense Edom still subdue And quite cut off his wicked Race And raise in us thine Image true Which sinfull * The old Adam Rom. 6.6 Edom doth
thereabout For in that the Church was then measured by a man Apoc. 11.1 but this new state of things by an Angel that simply with a Reed Apoc. 21.25 17. this with a golden Reed it implies that this new state of things will as much surpass that state though the best the Church has yet been in as Angels do Men and a golden Reed an ordinary combustible one Assuredly there was something in thosedays though much better then then when the Church did grossly apostatize that will not abide the fire but consume into smoak and vanish But all in this new Creation is like the Measure it is measured with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle somewhere speaks such as will abide the fire without wasting Thy word is very pure saith the Psalmist Psalm 119. And again Psal. 12. The words of the Lord are pure words even as the silver that is tried from the earth and purified seven times in the fire It is therefore the precious Word of God or pure Law of God which David esteems above thousands of gold and silver which is this golden Reed to which the new Ierusalem is commensurate Psalm 119.72 Nothing is retain'd as having an authentick stamp upon it in this new Dispensation but what is plainly agreeable to the Word of God 1 Cor. 3.12 All the hay and stubble of humane Traditions and Institutions will be burnt up and the pure and Apostolick Doctrine and Discipline will be the sole Measure of all So that the measuring of the City with a golden Reed and the hundred forty four Cubits and the twelve thousand Furlongs end all in this sense That the Constitution of things then will be purely Apostolicall squared all by that Doctrine by that Spirit which is the eternall Spirit of God the Fountain of all holy Truth and Divine Reason Philop. Indeed Philotheus these Interpretations of yours seem to me very natural But are there no farther Characters of this excellent state of the Church in other Visions or Prophecies Philoth. X Several passages of the Mercavah expounded or the Vision of Cherubims seen by Ezekiel There are Philopolis but it were an endless thing to pursue all And yet I cannot abstain from giving you some Intimations from Ezekiel's Vision of the four Cherubims or Chariot of God with which the Throne of God in Heaven amongst the four Beasts seen by S. Iohn has no small correspondency For this you are to understand Philopolis that the great purpose of that early-begun and long-continued Negotiation of the Son of God with us terrestriall Creatures has been the enlarging the Kingdome of God even to these earthly Regions that the Kingdome of Heaven may be also upon Earth perfectly corresponding to the Heavenly pattern thereof And this is that which we are taught to pray for by our Saviour Thy Kingdome come that is to say Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven namely by his holy Angels And therefore the ultimate end of the Dispensations of Divine Providence is as I noted from the Angel's measuring the new Ierusalem to reduce the Church to an Angelicall state or condition that it may answer that Heavenly Pattern in the Visions of God Philop. I do not yet well understand you Philotheus Philoth. But you will do Philopolis if you do but attend to the orderly process of my discourse I say therefore in the first place that the Vision of the Cherubim or Chariot of God seen by Ezekiel but not first by him Ezek. 1.4 for I doubt not but the same appeared also to Moses and Aaron on the Mount Exod. 24.10 is the Pattern of the Angelicall Polity over which God immediately rules Psalm 68.17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels and the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place Now the great design of all is that in the fulness of time the Church upon Earth may be his Chariot as fully and commandingly as the Angelicall Orders in Heaven Philop. Why how fully is that Philotheus Philoth. That methinks the Vision of Ezekiel does lively describe though I will not omit other observables in my brief passage through the Vision and yet think it needless to touch upon all Ezek. 1.4 I looked saies he and behold a Whirlwinde came out of the North a great cloud and a fire enfolding it self and a brightness about it and out of the midst thereof as the colour of Amber out of the midst of the fire This colour of Amber out of the midst of the fire I cannot but parallel to that description of the new Ierusalem Apoc. 21 18. And the City was pure Gold like unto transparent glass Think with your self how near in resemblance Philopolis transparent Gold and Amber are one to another Philop. Very like one another surely But what is the meaning thereof Philotheus Philoth. The fire and the light is the Spirit throughly penetrating and possessing this pure amber-like or transparent Gold as Iron it self looks in a manner transparent when it is ferrum candens which they ordinarily call red-hot Isa. 33.14 Who shall dwell with devouring fire who shall dwell with everlasting burnings Philop. Pure Gold certainly though as transparent as Amber and such as has lost all its Dross They must be of a pure Angelicall nature indeed For God is a consuming fire to whatever is contrary to his own Holiness Deut. 4.24 Philoth. Wherefore there being nothing to resist in this Cherubick Chariot of God they are perfectly obedient to his Will and he has an absolute empire over them they are wholly guided by his Spirit as is also intimated in the Vision more then once Ezek. 1.12 And they went every one straight forward whither the Spirit was to goe they went And in that it is said they went straight forward and that they returned not when they went this signifies the peremptory and irresistible progress of Divine Providence administred by his Angelicall forces Ver. 18. For in that the wheels of his Cherubick Chariot are said to be full of eyes I conceive this is meant thereby That the Circuits and Periods of times and Ages are carried by a special Providence of God who oversees all things And whereas it is said Ver. 19. And when the living Creatures went the Wheels went by them and when the living Creatures were lift up from the earth the Wheels were lift up this signifies the Adnexion of the Dispensations and Periods of times to the Ministry of the Angelicall Hosts and that they spirit actuate and animate all such Circuits and Periods The matter is by the decree of the Watchers Dan. 4.17 and the demand by the word of the holy ones Euist. I had thought Philotheus that these Wheels with eyes might have been the starry Heavens turned about by the Intelligences Philoth. That 's a phancie as far dissonant from the ancient wisedome of the Iews
so a very learned Authour declares for the Appearance of Eliah before his second coming also Philoth. And for ought I know Philopolis that Opinion may be true if rightly understood that is to say neither of Elias the Thisbite nor of Iohn the Baptist personally nor of any one Person exclusively but according to the Prophetick style of the Spirit of Elias in a Company or Succession of persons In this sober sense I know not but this expectation of the coming of Elias first may not be vain Philop. What do you understand then by the Spirit of Elias O Philotheus that we may know where and when he doth appear Philoth. As touching that Philopolis we are not to excogitate what Character we please but casting our eyes upon History and Prophecy we are impartially to gather the true Character of that Spirit out of the Scripture Philop. How I beseech you Philotheus Philoth. XX The Character of this Elias gathered out of Prophecy As first out of Prophecy Admitting the Prophecies to have a double Completion as our Saviour seems plainly to imply a double coming of Elias forasmuch as when the Baptist was beheaded yet he said that Elias will indeed come and restore all things the description of the Messenger of the Covenant in Malachi is an admirable lively description of the Spirit of Elias Mal. 3.1 2 3. Behold I send the Messenger of the Covenant which ye delight in by whom the Hebrew Writers understand Elias behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a Refiner's fire and like Fuller's soap And he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of Righteousness Therefore the Doctrine of casting away all Corruption Insincerity and Hypocrisy is one Note of the Spirit of Elias Again in the Prophet Isay Isa. 40.3 4 5. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the Desert an high-way for our God Every Valley shall be exalted and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low and crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places plain And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Philop. What Note do you gather out of that Philotheus Philoth. A Doctrine or declaration against the Distortion or perversion of the Simplicity of Christian Truth by proud and politick persons who have made Religion a Labyrinth for men to lose themselves in that they may the more easily take them up as a prize and booty The anfractuous serpentine windings of a false Church-policy that has so monstrously corrupted Religion in Doctrine and Practice is here declared against The Voice in the Wilderness bids take it away that the glory of the Gospel may be manifested to all flesh in the genuine purity and simplicity thereof and so all Nations be brought under the Sceptre of Christ. Philop. That meaning is marvellous easie and natural Philoth. A third Character of this Spirit is remarkable in the last of Malachi Behold Mal. 4.5 I will send you Eliah the Prophet before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord that is to say before the Battel of the great Day of God Almighty under the last Vial Apoc. 16.16 And he shall turn the heart of the Fathers unto the Children and the heart of the Children to their Fathers lest I come and smite the Earth with a curse That is to say This Spirit will be no Sectarian spirit to rend and tear but a reconciling spirit to soder together the affections of Magistrate and Subject in the Kingdome of God to prevent the Miseries of this earthly life that arise out of Dissension Tumult and War Philop. This is an excellent Spirit of Elias indeed I pray God hasten his coming Philoth. There is also another very remarkable Character of the Elias to come intimated by our Saviour himself in his discourse with his Disciples after his Transfiguration on the Mount before which time notwithstanding as I told you before the Baptist was beheaded Matt. 17.10 11. yet he being asked by his Disciples touching the Opinion of the Scribes That Elias must first come he answers Elias truly shall first come and restore all things Which effect however to accommodate to Iohn the Baptist I believe would be very hard Philop. Well but what Character Philotheus do you gather out of this Prediction Philoth. That the Spirit of Elias will neither abrogate what is authentick nor introduce what is new but be a Restorer onely of what useful Truths or Practices may seem to have been lost in the long delapse of Ages For the Decursion of Time is like that of a River which if there be not great care taken will bring down straws leaves and sticks but sink what is most solid to the bottome Philop. This consideration of Knowledge Philotheus puts me in minde of that Proverbial Prediction of the Iews touching their expected Elias Elias cùm venerit solvet omnia It seems then he will be a great Promoter of Wisedome and Learning will he not Philotheus Philoth. Such you do not mean Philopolis as the finding out the Quadrature of the Circle or a perpetual Motion Philop. To tell you the truth Philotheus I do not know what I mean I pray you what do you think of it Philoth. I told you before he will be a Restorer of usefull Truth and it may be of such clear and plain Principles as may solve the most concerning Difficulties that Humane Reason is subject to be entangled withall But I do not believe that he will be an Abettour of any useless Subtilties or of any Knowledge that promotes not Vertue and the common good He is that Voice in the Wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his paths straight His wisedome respects onely the Promotion and Interest of the Kingdom of Christ. XXI His Character taken out of History But now for the Characters taken out of the History of Iohn the Baptist and Elias First it is observable in both their Persons how much sequestred they were from the World what haunters of Wildernesses and Deserts And more particularly of Eliah how his abodes were by Brooks and under solitary Trees 1 Kings 19.8 9 c. in Caves and Mountains as on Mount Horeb where God talked with him after there had passed before him the strong Winde the Earthquake and the Fire Philop. Shall then all that partake of the Spirit of Eliah be Eremites Philoth. That 's not the meaning of it Philopolis but that they shall be of a spirit separate from the World and untainted and unsophisticated by the unwholesome Converse of men that their
to purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may become an holy Temple and Priesthood the new Ierusalem that City of God whose Wall is of Jasper and the City of pure Gold like to transparent Glass The Spirit of Elias is the spirit of Burning and of Anguish the spirit of sharp Reproof and bitter Repentance the spirit of travail and pain in Sion's new Birth But the Regnum Spiritûs is the actual Renovation of the World into perfect Righteousness Peace and Joy Philop. XXIII Certain Principles tending to the acceleration of the glorious Times of the Church You speak of most excellent Things and Times O Philotheus and with such a confident career that you hurry a man away not onely into a belief that they will be but into an impatience that they are not already Which therefore makes me eagerly desire to hear you discourse of the Means of accelerating these good Times Philoth. And that I shall Philopolis but with all possible brevity for fear I should keep you up again too late of the night But I shall impose upon you in nothing but appeal to your own judgement if what I propound be not right As in the first place That Reformed Christendome is the true visible Kingdome of God The First Principle and that therefore all men are bound in Conscience by all lawfull means to promote the Interest thereof Philop. That Reformed Christendome is the Kingdome of God Philotheus I am fully persuaded and of the duty thereupon depending Cuph. But we of the more Philosophicall Genius O Philopolis are not of so easie a belief but make longer pauses in so weighty Points before we close with them Philop. Why XXIV Of Luther's Conference with the Devil touching the abrogating of the Mass together with his Night-Visions of flying Firebrands what 's the scruple now with you Cuphophron Cuph. Why do you think that that can be the Kingdome of God whose foundation is laid by the Activity of the Devil For my part I am no great Historian but what I reade I reade impartially and those that you call the Kingdome of Antichrist do with great noise and confidence averre that Luther abolish'd the Mass upon Conference with and Instructions from the Devil Bath O Cuphophron light of belief Does your Philosophicall Considerateness permit you to give any credence to such things As if either Luther had any real Conference with the Devil about the Mass or if the Devil did dispute against it that it was in the behalf of the Reformation It is true Luther himself a person of great plainness of heart and no great Naturalist saies that at midnight he awakening was presently in a Dispute with the Devil whom he describes speaking with a strong and deep voice to him But thus has many a man awakened into the perception of a struggling with the Night-mare or Ephialtes as with some real person which when they have been more perfectly awaked they have found to be nothing else but a Colluctation with their own phancy the more knowing especially But the more ignorant and superstitious and you know Luther had been a long time a very devout Monk whose Cells are full of the stories and phancies of Apparitions and Devils do ordinarily take such passages for externall Realities Which I must confess I conceive to be Luther's case For he had a body and complexion obnoxious to such Illusions But suppose it was not an Illusion of phancy It does not presently follow that that invisible Disputant was a bad Angel or a Devil That may be imputed onely to the modesty of Luther that he thought so who professes himself no affecter of Dreams nor Visions of Angels And therefore the good man in an humble ignorance took this Dispute to be an Exagitation of the Devil but was so sincere a lover of the Truth that when he was convinced thereof he would not disown it or refuse it though it had been blown upon by the breath of Beelzebub Acts 16.16 As the Pythonissa's witnessing to the truth of the Gospel in the Acts does not put Paul and the rest of Christ's followers out of conceit with the Christian Faith Nor did the Devil's confessing Iesus to be the Messiah Mark 3.11 the Son of God make the Doctrine of Christ less passable with the Apostles or any other Disciples And therefore lastly admit that it was not a good Angel but a Devil it does not follow that the Truth is less Truth or that it is any Argument against the Reformation or that the Devil began this Dispute with Luther in favour of it but rather of Papism For he foreseeing how obvious and usefull those Arguments were for the abrogating of the Mass and that Luther could not but hit on them in the conclusion he like a cunning Sophister to prevent the ruine of his own Kingdome suggests these Reasonings to Luther betime that they being thus disparaged by the first Inventour of them might doe the less execution against the Mass and therewithall against the whole Lurry of Popish Idolatry and Superstition For this was a device worthy that old Serpent Cuph. And you Bathynous I think have a fetch beyond the Devil himself My Philosophy had not considered the thing so throughly But now I am more awakened to consider of it why may it not be some crafty fellow got into Luther's Bed-chamber that thus abused him there are such Stories of men speaking through Trunks and with the same design the Devil is supposed to have had in it this crafty Knave personating the Devil Bath Any of these waies in my judgement are sufficient to take off that odium that some would cast upon the Reformation from this passage of Luther And I look upon the first as not inferiour to any of them as corresponding with the conceit which I have also of his nocturnall visions of the flying Fire-brands Which appearance I believe was onely in his phancy because alwaies after this appearance he was tormented with a grievous distemper of the Head and had usually the oil of Almonds put into his ears for a cure or mitigation Philoth. I can never think of these nocturnall visions of the Fire-brands Bathynous but with a reflexion on the fieriness of Luther's spirit whose invincible zeal so far emboldened him as publickly and solemnly to cast the Pope's Bull and Canon-Law into the fire and in conclusion by the fiery Activity of his indefatigable spirit to burn down a great part of the Papal Monarchy as a * Dr. Heylia in his Geography late Historian phrases it with allusion to Luther's fire Bath That so it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel against the King of Tyre Ezek. 28.18 Thou hast defiled thy Sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities by the iniquity of thy Traffick therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee it shall devour thee and I
necessarily retain a gradual Imperfection throughout And they will be sure to pitch on that Degree that is most for their own ease and the satisfaction of their own Lusts. Sophr. This is a very searching Doctrine indeed Philotheus But what do you drive at an absolute perfection quoad partes quoad gradus as the Schools phrase it Philoth. I drive at an absolute Sincerity by this Doctrine O Sophron that a man should not allow himself in any known Wickedness whatsoever but keep an upright Conscience before God and before men Forasmuch as his own Conscience tells him by virtue of this Doctrine that if he be not wanting to himself God is both able and willing by the Assistence of his Spirit to free him from all his Corruptions And the Scripture plainly declares that this is the end of Christ's coming namely Tit. 2.12 That denying all ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world Ver. 13. looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity according to that exhortation of S t. Peter Wherefore gird up the loins of your minde 1 Pet. 1.13 c. be sober and of a perfect hope in the grace that is brought to you through the Revelation of Iesus Christ As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to former Lusts in your ignorance But as he that has called you is holy so be ye holy in your whole Conversation in every thing you doe Because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy And our Blessed Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount Matt. 5.48 Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect And S t. Paul to the Ephesians witnesses for our Saviour that this was the end of his giving himself as a Ransome or of dying for his Church Eph. 5.26 27. namely That he might sanctifie it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish like the Lamb's Wife in the Revelation which is the new Ierusalem Sophr. I must confess Philotheus these places sound at an high pitch of Sanctity which Christians are called to and yet fall so infinitely short of Philoth. That is for want of this Faith I plead for a Faith in the Power of God and in the Spirit of the Lord Iesus for the purging away all our Corruptions For the New Birth is the Son of the Promise and is that Isaac the Joy of the whole Earth But he is conceived by Faith in the omnipotent Spirit of God who from the four winds blew upon the slain in the Valley of dead mens bones Ezek. 37.9 and made them stand up a numerous Armie who gave the promised Seed to Abraham Rom 4.18 c. who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many Nations For he considered not his own body now dead nor the deadness of Sarah's wombe he staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform This Faith therefore in the Promise of the Assistence of the Spirit of Christ in the new Birth is that which must renew the World into the living Image of God and make all the Nations of the Earth blessed which must bring the new Ierusalem from Heaven and will call down God himself to pitch his Tabernacle amongst men Phil. 4.13 I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens me Euist. Even wonders of wonders I think But this Faith Philotheus in the Power of God and in the Assistence of his Spirit to enable us to extirpate and mortifie all our Corruptions to an happy Resurrection to Life and Righteousness was not the Faith that our first Reformers were so zealous in How was it then I pray you that they should miss of so useful a Truth Philoth. They did not wholly miss of it XXXII The Doctrine of Faith in the Power of God's Spirit for the ridding us of Sin why not so much insisted on at the beginning of the Reformation Euistor in that they did zealously call to men to relinquish humane Tradition and to betake themselves to the pure Word and to the Belief and faith of the Gospel according to that more infallible Rule Wherefore that Faith which they preached having for its Object the pure Gospel of Christ the Doctrines according to Scripture this Doctrine of Faith in the omnipotent Spirit for the vanquishing of Sin being also contained in Scripture must be part of the Object of the Faith which they preached Euist. That is I acknowledge O Philotheus in some sense true But their zeal ran mainly out in declaring and crying up that part of Faith which respects onely Iustification in the bloud of Christ and free Remission of our sins Philoth. And it was very seasonably cry'd up as being a very plain Gospel Truth and such as was trode down under foot in the Church of Rome for the more absolutely enslaving the people of God and holding them under an hard Bondage in that Mysticall Babylon or Land of Egypt they laying many heavy burthens of Superstition upon them onely to advance the King of Egypt's Interest and so to extinguish the Light and Comfort of the Gospel Wherefore that Truth of Iustification by Faith being so accommodated to shake off the Roman Yoke it is no wonder it was so zealously insisted upon and so generally inculcated by the first Reformers Sophr. But this was not all Philotheus For severall things passed from some of them who were otherwise very successful Instruments in the Reformation that seem not onely to favour humane Infirmities and to dishearten men from attempting any such Conquests over our Lusts and Corruptions as your Doctrine animates us to but also on the contrary to savour much of rank Antinomianism as ill a disease as can seise on the Church of Christ. Philoth. I acknowledge O Sophron that Divine Providence might permit such misinterpretable Expressions in some of the first Reformers But you know Luther himself who is most suspected yet wrote against the Antinomians and the Harmonie of Confessions of all the Protestant Churches adjoyns the Doctrine of Sanctification or a Good life to that of Justification by Faith But that such a pitch of Holiness as we now treat of should have been exacted so zealously by the first Reformers from their Followers seems not congruous nor seasonable for those Times The over-severe Inculcation of such Doctrine in opposition to the false Righteousness of Romanism would have drawn away but few Auditours from that Church whose Sanctity was onely carnal They would have thought they had been
to be led out of a lesser Bondage or Captivity into a greater and so that small distinct Number of the immaculate Lambs of Christ had been a more certain as well as a more delicious Morsell for that devouring Wolf of Rome Bath I understand perfectly whereabout Philotheus would be namely That Divine Providence made choice of such Instruments by an externall Instigation as who left to themselves in many things to cut out their own way would fall into such Opinions and Expressions as would be most effectual for the rending or tearing of huge massie pieces from the Church of Rome that in these great Lumps the Gold might be safe amongst the Dross and that in his mixt Numerosity there might be a more safe Protection of the Godly against the bloudy Persecutions and barbarous Tyrannies of the Papal Power Philoth. XXXIII The true means of unity in the Church again glanced at You understand me aright Bathynous But now I say after the Stone was thus cut off again from the great Mountain and safely disjoyned therefrom it was not still to have ly'n unpolished or Moss-begrown for want of Art or Industry in the Master-builders but all of us ought to have become by this time living stones pure and well-polished and through the Unity of the Spirit to have been joyn'd together into one holy Temple of God Which Unity of Spirit Bathynous can never be without Unity of Life For in the Life is the Spirit as I suggested before Nor can this Unity of Life ever be without a through Purification of the Church from Sin and Corruption nor can this Purification be without Faith in the Power of God and the Assistence of Iesus Christ to refine us from all our Dross For he that believes no possibility of any such thing will neither pray for it nor attempt it nor any way go about it Wherefore this general Indulgence to our Corruptions keeping us from the Unity of Spirit and sameness of Judgement in matters of Religion and making us destitute of that healing Vertue of brotherly Love and Charity we are left like so many wilde Beasts and grizly Monsters to grin and spit fire at one another but can never attain to Peace before we attain to a due measure of Righteousness For Christ in the Church must first be Melchizedek Hebr. 7.2 and introduce his Righteousness amongst us before he can be King of Salem in this sense Isa. 9.6 a Prince of Peace Nor can we have this Spirit of Righteousness communicated to us before we be embued with that Faith in the Power of Christ for the vanquishing of Sin as has been said over and over again Bath Wherefore Philotheus so far as I see this Faith in the Power of Christ for the vanquishing of Sin especially accompanied with Charity may stand in balance against the Romish implicit Faith that they would urge for the suppressing of Schism as if nothing would so well assure the Peace of the Church as for men to have either a perfect upright Conscience or else no Conscience at all But this latter being so hideously detestable we see the greater necessity of exhorting all men with all diligence to make after the former Philoth. Which without this Faith in the Power of Christ for the conquering our Corruptions they will never endeavour after much less successfully attain thereunto Bath So I have said already Philotheus I think or at least intended to say so Philoth. But being full of Faith XXXIV The marvellous Efficacy of Faith in the Power of the Spirit of Christ for the vanquishing of Sin and perfectly persuaded that Christ by his Spirit both can and will assist to the utter vanquishing of all manner of Sin and Corruption in us such I mean as Pride and Covetousness and Uncleanness and all Hypocrisie and Selfishness and the like what is there of all that that disturbs the World and distracts humane affairs that will not flie before so invincible a force If this Faith were once implanted in the hearts of men and they read in the Prophets the lively and lovely descriptions of that excellent state of the Church which is to come what quick approches were they able to make in virtue hereof while they look upon that glorious Pattern and through Faith and holy Imitation be daily changed by the Spirit of the Lord from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.17 18. Philop. The more I consider it Philotheus the more I am satisfied of what infinite importance this Doctrine of Faith in the omnipotent Spirit of Christ is both for the present welfare of the Church and also for the bringing on that future Happiness predicted by the Prophets what searching Physick it is to cleanse the Soul and what a mighty Cordial to revive her So far as I see this kinde of Faith is the Primum mobile or the first Spring of all Motion that can tend effectually towards the Renovation of the World in Righteousness and the bringing on those glorious Times of the Church which you did so graphically describe out of the Visions of the Prophets Sophr. XXXV An Answer to an Objection touching this Doctrine of Faith And I can scarce forbear to cast in my suffrage too Philopolis were it not for this one Scruple That this so high Doctrine of Faith in the omnipotent Spirit for the utter Extirpation of Sin might as well scare people out of the Reformed Churches as have hindred them at first from coming in to the Reformation The truth of the Doctrine rightly understood I do not much question but onely the discretion of professing it Philoth. This is a material Consideration of yours O Sophron. But you are to understand that this Doctrine rightly interpreted does not at all clash with any of those due Comforts that accrue to us from that other of Justification by Faith and of free Remission of sin in the bloud of Christ. These things I write 1 Joh. 2â— 2. saith S t. Iohn that ye sin not But if any one sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And he is a propitiation for our sins All that is aimed at is a chearfull and sincere endeavour of not sinning at all as we pray in our Liturgy every Morning Which constant endeavour if it be used no man ought to be dejected for his Failings till God give more strength but chearfully to rouse himself with a greater indignation and resolution against Sin not at all despairing of forgiveness having so potent an Advocate with him whom he has offended But if any one is content to sin without any endeavour of Resistence or belief of ever being able to overcome and subdue his Corruptions and would forsake the Communion of the Reformed Church for the rubbing up his Conscience with a more wholesome and searching Doctrine and so seek Teachers elsewhere after his own heart's lusts all that I can say is this 2 Thess. 2.11 12. That for
this cause God shall send him strong delusions that he shall believe a Lie that he may be damned for not believing the Truth but having pleasure in Vnrighteousness And I hope very few will venture upon those Pikes This Doctrine can hardly fright any away but such as have an explicite minde and purpose fully to plunge themselves into the filth of sin But what a vast company has broke from the Reformed Churches into private Sects upon pretence that their Doctrine tends not sufficiently to Perfection can be hid from no man's eyes that looks never so little into the World So far is this Doctrine from being against the Interest of Reformed Christendome To all which you may adde that it need not be imposed as an Article but allowed In the mean time that general Languour and Remissness in all Duties of Life or rather that universal Deluge of open Lewdness and wickedness which for ought I know has broken in upon us for want of such Doctrines as would more effectually engage us in all Holiness of Conversation is by far a more formidable Dis-interest to the Reformed Churches then the Profession or Permission of this Doctrine we speak of any way can be For Providence has no obligation to continue their Religion to those be it never so true who have no more Conscience then to hold the Truth of God in unrighteousness Sophr. Nay your Answer I must confess Philotheus is very home and pertinent Philop. And so think I too and am hitherto which I must acknowledge with many thanks to you Philotheus very competently satisfied and therefore am the more unwilling to urge you any farther in any more Particulars touching these Heads feeding my self with hopes of future Conference from your own comfortable Intimation But however I cannot but give you the trouble of passing to the last Point XXXVI Of the Duration of the glorious Times of the Church to gratifie my Curiosity touching the Duration and Permanency of this excellent state of the Church and of describing to me in what order and distinctness things will proceed to the end of all Philoth. This is an hard Probleme Philopolis as well as curious the second part especially For touching the Duration or Permanency of the Church in that glorious Condition the holy Oracles plainly intimate it will be for a thousand years Apoc. 20.3 though I do not think it necessarie to understand that expression as if it should continue no longer For the meaning of that number may be symbolicall But for the order and distinctness of the proceeding of Affairs to the end of the World this a man cannot well know unless he understood the Synchronalls to the seven Thunders into which the last Trumpet is so distinctly distributed Apoc. 10.3 Which I must confess Philopolis was ever out of my reach till I fortunately fell into acquaintance with one Theomanes a very good man XXXVII The Character of Theomanes and most passionate well-willer to the Affairs of the Kingdome of God Cuph. That 's a peculiar Privilege of yours Philotheus to be so intimately acquainted with Theomanes For my part I have often courted him with the best skill and diligence I could but could never yet get into any familiarity with him Sophr. And I think in my heart never will do so long as your name is Cuphophron Philop. I pray you Philotheus what is this Theomanes for a man and what did he impart to you touching the seven Thunders Philoth. I gave you part of his Character already And if you do not yet understand me Philopolis I adde farther That he is a man wholly devoted to the Knowledge of his Maker from his very youth and quitted the World almost as soon as he was born into it having never any design upon any thing that the World is so mad after neither Honour nor Power nor Riches nor carnal Pleasures but his mind has been wholly set to search out true Knowledge in the Light of the Simplicity of Life in which quitting all Self-relishes he became an entire Servant of God and of the Lord Iesus Christ and a faithfull Minister of his Kingdome Philop. You give the Character of an excellent person But what did he impart to you Philotheus Philoth. The Vision of the seven Thunders if I may so call it for brevity sake But his meaning is the Vision of things synchronall to the seven Thunders Philop. You will infinitely oblige me if you please to communicate them unto us O Philotheus But is he not a man something Enthusiasticall or Fanaticall Philoth. The greatest Fanaticism that I know in him is this That he professes he understands clearly the truth of severall Prophecies of the mainest concernment which yet many others pretend to be very obscure whether he will or no. But he is so far from being Enthusiasticall or Fanaticall that whereas Enthusiasm is a false Surmise of a man's self that he is inspired when indeed he is not he on the contrary does disclaim his being at any time inspired though a man would think sometimes that he is But he imputes all to the Light of the Simplicity of Life the greatest Gift of God that is communicable to the Soul Neither does he boast that this Vision of the seven Thunders is any over-bearing Inspiration though it was the most involuntary thing that ever happened to him perfectly awake Philop. I pray you therefore tell us in what Circumstances it happened to Theomanes For I believe he would conceal nothing from you by reason of your Intimacy with him Philoth. Time will not permit to make any long Story of it The Circumstances therefore in brief are these Upon a time after he had much worn away and exhausted his spirits by a long and serious study in the Divine Oracles he thinking to take a long and leisurely walk into the fields to recruit his Strength by the open fresh air and to let his Mind be perfectly vacant for the relief of his Body of a sudden in the midst of the fields this Vision of the seven Thunders surprised him without his desire or expectation which took fast hold on his Mind and Phancy insomuch that he could not be quiet for the working thereof though it made him so weak that he could scarce go on his legs till he had committed the same to writing Philop. This is something extraordinary Have you a Copy of it Philotheus For the Narration of such things ought to be very accurate Philoth. I have a Copy of it both in my Pocket and in my Memory it has left so strong an Impress upon my minde But I believe you will think it most safe if I reade the Copy for it is yet light enough and I brought it on purpose foreseeing the need thereof in this day's Discourse Philop. I pray you Philotheus reade it to us Cuph. There are ordinarily Politicall and Philosophicall Gazetts but it is our Privilege it seems to have a Propheticall one
to think what is false or else that they never had any opportunity of falsifying in the Points they propound to our Belief Certainty of Sense is also required For if the Sense be not certain there could be no infallible Testimony of matter of Fact and Moses's conversing with God in the Mount may be but a Dream nor could there be any certain Eye-witnesses of our Saviour's Resurrection and Ascension if God will delude our Senses Wherefore to take away the Certainty of Sense rightly circumstantiated is to take away all Certainty of Belief in the main Points of our Religion Secondly Sense and Reason are rightly circumstantiated the one when the Organ is sound the Medium fitly qualified and the distance of the Object duely proportionated and the like the other when it is accompanied with Moral Prudence rightly so called such as it is defined in the above-said Enchiridion Lib. 2. c. 2. that is to say That this Reason be lodged either in a perfectly-unprejudiced Mind or at least unprejudiced touching the Point propounded For there are some Truths so clear that Immorality it self provided it do not besot a man or make him quite mad puts no bar to the assenting to them that is puts no bar to their appearing to be true no more then it does to the Eye unhurt to the discerning of Colours which the Wicked and Godly do alike upon this Supposition Wherefore The third Conclusion shall be That there be Natural Truths whether Logicall Physicall or Mathematicall that are so palpably true that they constantly and perpetually appear so as well to the Wicked as the Good if they be Compotes mentis and do not manifest violence to their Faculties The fourth That these Natural Truths whether Common Notions or Scientificall Conclusions that are so palpably true that they perpetually appear so as well to the evil as the good are at least as certain and indubitable as any thing that the Reason and Understanding of a man can give assent to that is to say There is at least as great a Certainty of these Axiomes that they are true as there can be of any And therefore because there is acknowledged a Certainty in some Points that our Understanding and Reason closeth with let us set down for The fifth Conclusion That these Natural Truths that constantly appear such as well to the evil as the good if they be not crack'd-brained nor do violence to their Faculties are in themselves most certainly true The sixth That what is a Contradiction to a certain Truth is not onely uncertain but necessarily false forasmuch as both the parts of a Contradiction cannot be true The seventh That no Revelation which either it self or the Revealing thereof or its manner of Revealing is repugnant to the Divine Attributes can be from God The eighth That no Tradition of any such Revelation can be true forasmuch as the Revelation it self is impossible The ninth That no Revelation is from God that is repugnant to Sense rightly circumstantiated This is manifest from the first Ground That Certainty of Faith presupposeth Certainty of Sense duly circumstantiated For if our Senses may be mistaken when they act in due Circumstances we cannot be assured that they are at any time true Which necessarily destroys the Certainty of all Revelation ab extra and of all Tradition and consequently of our Christian Religion Wherefore God cannot be the Authour of any such Revelation by Conclusion the seventh For it were repugnant to his Wisedom and Goodness The tenth That no Revelation is from God that contradicts plain Natural Truths such as were above described This is abundantly clear from Conclusion the 1 2 3 4 6 7. For if Reason where it is clearest is false we have no assurance it is ever true and therefore no Certainty of Faith which presupposes Reason by Conclusion the first Besides by Conclusion the sixth That which is contradictory to a certain Truth is certainly false But Divine Revelation is true Therefore there can be no Revelation from God that bears with it such a Contradiction Nay we may adde That if there were any Divine Truth that would constantly appear to Reason rightly circumstantiated contradictory to any constant Natural Truth God would not communicate any such Truth to men by Conclusion the seventh For the revealing of such a Truth were repugnant to his Attribute of Wisedome it making thereby true Religion as obnoxious to suspicion and exception as false For there is no greater exception against the Truth of any Religion then that it proposes Articles that are repugnant to Common Notions or indubitable Science Besides that one such pretense of true Revelation would enable a false Priesthood to fill the World with Figments and Lies Wherefore God will never be the Authour of so much mischief to mankind And lastly since the first Revelation must be handed down by Tradition and Tradition being but humane Testimony and infinitely more lubricous and fallible then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or natural Science how will it be possible for any but Sots or Fools to believe Tradition against solid Science or a Common Notion So that the Result must needs be either blinde Superstition gross Irreligion or universal Scepticism The eleventh That no Revelation that enforces countenances or abetts Immorality or Dishonesty can be from God This is manifested from the seventh Conclusion For it is repugnant to God's Attributes his Justice Fidelity Goodness and Purity or Sanctity The Image of God is Righteousness and true Holiness Wherefore no Doctrine that tends to Injustice Unrighteousness and Impurity can be a Revelation from God The twelfth That no Interpretation of any Divine Revelation that is repugnant to Sense or Reason rightly circumstantiated or to plain and indubitable Morality whether it be made by a private or publick hand can be any Inspiration from God There needs no new Confirmation of this Conclusion For the same Arguments that prove that no Divine Revelation can be in this sort repugnant do prove also that no Interpretation of any Revelation in this sort repugnant to Sense Reason or sound Morality can be Divine The thirteenth That no Interpretation of Divine Writ that justifies Sedition Rebellion or Tyranny can be any Inspiration from God This is easily evinced from the foregoing Conclusion For Sedition and Rebellion are gross and ponderous Species of Injustice against the Magistrate as Tyranny is also against the People both such high strains of Immorality that no Interpretation of Scripture that justifies these can be true much less Divinely inspired The fourteenth No Church that propounds as Articles of Belief such things as are repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense and Reason or sound Morality can rightly be deemed Infallible The reason is plain For it appears out of what has hitherto been said that they are already actually deceived or at least intend to deceive others The fifteenth That the Certainty of Faith cannot be grounded upon the Infallibility of any Church
particular or universal as infallibly inspired that is deprehended to be actually deceived in any Points she proposes to be believed as necessary Articles of Faith This is so plain that it wants no farther proof The sixteenth That the Moral and Humane Certainty of Faith is grounded upon the Certainty of Vniversal Tradition Prophecy History and the Nature of the things delivered Reason and Sense assisting the Minde in her Disquisitions touching these matters That Certainty of Faith I call Moral or Humane that is competible even to a carnal man or a man unregenerate as it is said of the Devils that they believe and tremble By Vniversal Tradition I understand such a Tradition as has been from the Apostles that is to say has been always since the completion of their Apostleships as well as in every place of the Church For since there was to be so general and so early a Degeneracy of the Church as is witnessed of in the Holy Scriptures the generality of the Votes of the Church was not alwaies a sufficient warrant of the truth of Tradition But those Truths that have been constantly held and unalterably from the Apostles times til now it is a sign that they were very Sacred unquestionable and assured Truths and so vulgarly and universally known and acknowledged that it was not in man's power to alter them By Prophecy I understand as well those Divine Predictions of the coming of Christ as those touching the Church after he had come By History I mean not onely that of the Bible and particularly the New Testament but other History as well Ecclesiastick as Prophane And what I mean by the Nature of the things delivered is best to be understood out of such Treatises as write of the Reasonableness of Christianity such as Dr. Hammond's and Mr. Baxter's late Book See also Dr. More 's Mystery of Godliness where the Reasonableness of our Christian Faith is more fully represented and plainly demonstrated * Book 7. chap. 9 10 11. that it has not been in the power of the Church to deceive us as touching the main Points of our Belief though they would The seventeenth That no Tradition is more universal and certain then the Tradition of the Authentickness of such Books of the Bible as all Churches are agreed upon to be Canonicall There can be no more certain nor universal Tradition then this in that it has the Testimony of the whole Church and all the parts thereof with one Consent though in other things they do so vehemently disagree Wherefore no Tradition can be of any comparable Autority to this And therefore we may set down for Conclusion The eighteenth That the Bible is the truest Ground of the Certainty of Faith that can be offered to our Understanding to rest in The Reason is because it is the most universal both for time and place the most unexceptionable and universally-acknowledged Tradition that is The nineteenth That the Bible or Holy Writ dictated by the Spirit of God that is written by Holy and Inspired men is sufficiently plain to an unprejudiced Capacity in all Points necessary to Salvation This must of necessity be true by Conclusion the seventh Otherwise the manner of Gods's revealing his Truth in the Holy Scriptures would be repugnant to the Divine Attributes and which were Blasphemy to utter he would seem unskilfully to have inspired the Holy Pen-men that is to say in such a way as were not at all accommodate to the end of the Scriptures which is the Salvation of mens Souls nor to have provided for the Recovering of the Church out of those gross Errours he both foresaw and foretold she would fall into The twentieth That the true and primarie Sense of Holy Scripture is Literal or Historicall unless in such Parts or Passages thereof as are intimated to be Parables or Visions writ in the Prophetick style or the literal Meaning be repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense or natural Science c. For then it is a sign that the Place is to be understood Figuratively or Parabolically not Literally The truth of this appears out of the immediately-foregoing Conclusion For else the Scripture would not be sufficiently plain in all Points necessary to Salvation Indeed in no Points at all but all the Articles of our Faith that respect the History of Christ might be most frivolously and whifflingly allegorized into a mere Romance or Fable But that the History of Christ is literally to be understood is manifest both from the Text it self and from perpetuall and universal Tradition Which if it were not the right Sense it were a sign that it is writ exceedingly obscure even in the chief Points which is contrary to the foregoing Conclusion But that those Places or Passages that are repugnant to rightly-circumstantiated Sense or natural Science are to be interpreted figuratively is plain from the general Consent of all men in that they universally agree when Christ says I am the Door I am the true Vine c. That these things cannot be literally true And there is the same reason of Hoc est Corpus meum This is my Body The twenty first That no Point of Faith professed from the Apostles time to this very day and acknowledged by all Churches in Christendome but is plainly revealed in the Scripture This may be partly argued out of the nineteenth and twentieth Conclusions and also farther proved by comparing these Points of Faith with Texts of Scripture touching the same matter The twenty second That the Comprehension of these Points of Faith always and every-where held by all Christian Churches from the Apostles time till now and so plain by Testimony of Scripture is most rightfully termed the Common or Catholick and Apostolick Faith The twenty third That there is a Divine Certainty of Faith which besides the Grounds that the Moral or Humane Certainty hath is supported and corroborated by the Spirit of Life in the new Birth and by illuminated Reason This is not to be argued but to be felt In the mean time no more is asserted then this That this Divine Certainty has an higher Degree of Firmness and Assurance of the truth of the Holy Scriptures as having partaken of the same Spirit with our Saviour and the Apostles but does not vary in the Truths held in the common Faith The twenty fourth What-ever pretended Inspiration or Interpretation of the Divine Oracles is repugnant to the above-described Common or Catholick and Apostolick Faith is Imposture or Falshood be it from a private hand or publick The Reason is apparent because the Articles of this Common Faith were the Doctrines of men truely inspired from above and the Spirit of God cannot contradict it self The twenty fifth None of the Holy Writ is of it self unintelligible but accordingly as mens spirits shall be prepared and the time sutable as God has already so he may as Seasons shall require still impart farther and farther Light to the Souls of the Faithfull